Always_Ask_Questions

Forum Replies Created

Viewing 50 posts - 6,551 through 6,600 (of 8,818 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • in reply to: covid forecast #2033233

    RW > Why do those with antibodies from 18 or 6 months ago at risk If they still have antibodies

    I did not research what times and levels are appropriate. What is your antibody level now?

    in reply to: Trump 2024? #2033130

    To compare governing styles – B still can’t fill position of FDA chief after dismissing T’s nominee without waiting for new one. After months of deliberations, B finally settled on an innovative idea – use same chief as O did! He was now late submitting documents to Senate by a week (for the guy who already had these documents in a lockbox) so this is going in 2022. And this is for the agency that is making critical covid decisions. I think half of those who voted for B will not do it again out of embarrassment.

    in reply to: I have COVID #2033125

    Kluger,
    this is complex and unclear stuff, so let’s try to be accurate:

    1) as I mentioned above, “vaccinated covid PATIENTS have exactly the same viral load” does not mean that vaccinated PEOPLE are the same risk to others: because vaccinated PEOPLE have less chance of becoming PATIENTS. All of this when you compare same demographics and same behaviors.

    2) you may be misunderstanding something or you are using secondary sources that misunderstood or misinformed you, or maybe someone used inaccurate language. Could you give me a reference that I can check out this data. “CDC says” – maybe author and date or newspaper article title.

    in reply to: I have COVID #2033126

    bored_teen> I’m gonna sit this one out!

    You seem to be the wisest teen in this generation. I think a lot of confusion now is due to availability of information and misinformation that we all are not equipped to process. During WW2, it was US radio v. Nazi radio. Now, we are being bombarded by numbers from all sides and each one makes their numbers to look better. I just read an excerpt from Scott Atlas where he brings very reasonable arguments showing that CDC director at some point said nonsense. All his numbers add up, and he even quotes a “Harvard epidemiology professor” who agrees with him. I looked up the professor and he is a complete political nutcase, writing about politicians and nothing about science. So, I understand that those who try to extract knowledge from listening to CNN with one ear and to Fox with another are totally confused. Just switch them off. Listening to two sides works only when you can master a subject. Here they all are fooling us.

    in reply to: What do you do to earn a living #2033108

    GH > facilitate support groups for those suffering from TDS

    I am afraid you aint earning much. Most are still in denial. You may be the only one that went in and return whole, maybe thanks to CR.

    in reply to: What do you do to earn a living #2033107

    > Do the “computers” organize and attend asifahs where you and other computer rebbeim

    well, currently a lot of people scream that AI may be has veshalom unethical and inequitable. If NY had a problem searching guilty cars more often than non-guilty, then what do you say when computers send police to the locations of likely crimes? in truth, the Chinese “social credit” system is terrifying. If people know more about it, we would stop subsidizing China by buying their trinkets.

    in truth, computers do some damage also, but only if you attach them to airplanes.

    in reply to: Aramaic grammer #2033088

    ujm, sorry for the confusion, did not send a telegram for a long time.

    in reply to: Kids Used As Mules, Pidyon Shevuyim #2033084

    Avira > We definitely don’t have an idea of jail as a punishment in halacha.

    right, this would be a reason to try to save someone from a punishment that is too cruel from halachik POV. for simplicity, someone steals in Saudi Arabia or in Soviet Russia – we would not turn him to police that cuts hands off or sends them to Gulag.

    > has no bearing on sheltered yidden in eretz yisroel who might not have heard of the past events

    Do they know that Mcdonalds are not kosher or do they unwittingly eat hazer there? Even when sheltered, you can learn not to steal and break rules directly from Gemorah. Also, same way community is protecting this kids from assimilation, they should be protecting them from other aveiros. Imagine, a tax-cheater walks in Mea Shearim and kids are running behind him shouting “geneiva, geneiva” the same way they protest shabbos violations.

    in reply to: Kids Used As Mules, Pidyon Shevuyim #2033087

    > Our fiduciary obligation is to give 10 dollars to each of 1000 meshulachim, not to gave 10,000 to one.

    you are fiduciary for the money of the poor. this basic approach diversifies so that you don’t give to one ganav and also keeps shalom between many. Still, would you do it with your own money – spending $10 on different pursuits or do you invest your money/time in a smaller number of carefully selected projects? So, if you happen to know worthy causes, makes sense to focus mroe on them.

    One word of caution: if you give $10 to everyone knocking on hyour door, do NOT give $100 to some of them. A friend gave one guy more than usual, and within a month multiple people showed up, asking for the higher amount. Apparently, not due to inflation, but via shared marketing lists between the meshulachim.

    in reply to: Trump 2024? #2033080

    To the doubters – there is a (leaked?) poll apparently conducted by Trump-associated group that shows T beating B in 5 critical states he lost last time around, and having massive 10+ point advantages on most issues.

    T can become president in 2021/early 2022 – run for Congress, become speaker, impeach B and KH.

    Prefer T to imitators, despite reservations because:
    1) Many politicians talk nicely about issues, there is 10% chance they’ll do something, and even then in some limited way. Jerusalem as capital is a good example. The law is on the books for decades, every President says he’ll do it, and then does not, until Trump.
    2) He has an un-orthodox business approach to matters. Sometimes risky, but he got results in areas where there was a stand-off for decades.
    3) There is evidence that the risk above is mitigated by him actually listening to people and changing his mind when confronted even by people who are not his natural allies (delayed Afghanistan withdrawal, for example)

    in reply to: What do you do to earn a living #2033071

    > I’m a professional babysitter, since that’s the heter

    I presume you charge competitively to other babysitters. I heard one Rav in my Father’s O’H shul explaining along the same lines that he finished law school to be able to charge them more for rabonus.

    in reply to: What do you do to earn a living #2033073

    I teach computers

    To do things people do not want to or do not know how to do.

    Also, it is less bothersome than teaching people. computers tend to follow instructions better. Sometimes it is annoying. Do what I mean, not what I say!

    in reply to: I have COVID #2032857

    I’m saying that statistics like politics are local. You are affected by statistics of your neighborhood, your community, your friends. This statistics is not published, but you can collect it from the anecdotes and personal experience. So, personal experience useful addition to the statistics you read.

    TABaum, make a list of things you want your kids to know, be able to do AND want to do it when you are not there. Check off items that you think school is helping with (verify, do not assume). Then, work on the rest at home.

    in reply to: I have COVID #2032765

    > our own experiences carry very little weight o

    not always true. We read “average” numbers – for the world, country, state. You should also pay attention to your community and immediate environment. Your risk is much higher if people in your shul are coughing. Same goes for how many people are vaccinated, previously infected, etc.

    you do need to tie your observations with the bigger picture, of course.

    in reply to: I have COVID #2032763

    Kluger, there are 2 parts here
    1) vaccinated people are less likely to get infected and sick. It was 15x less likely for the original virus and right after vaccination (Phase 3 trials Nov 2020). It is less for Delta and 6 months out, probably 5x less likely.

    2) even at this less likely rate, those who are infected are shedding less virus (this is what a just published paper above says) and thus are less likely to transmit.

    High cases among vaccinated is due to people “rewarding” themselves – I am vaccinated, reducing my risk by 5x, now I can go to Turkey, increasing my risk by 10x.

    in reply to: Aramaic grammer #2032751

    > sends a telegram in Aramaic.

    might be shorter than English when paying per letter. But Chinese is even better.

    in reply to: Kids Used As Mules, Pidyon Shevuyim #2032746

    the practical situation is tragic, I donot have an opinion on what to do, but looking at the origins:
    those who said “kids make mistakes” will be ight presuming parents/teachers/community did their part instilling the right values. Were they taught halakhos of honesty and business to the same degree as shabbos and kashrus? wih pictures, tests, illustrations, rishonim, shouting, pointing possible aveiros, kicking out of school those who do not comply, ec?

    As said above, if people think smuggling something “innocent” “for the family” is OK, then they are prime candidates to be ewxploited for a more serious crime. This is done by mifia, KGB, etc – compromise a person with a honeypot or unpaid taxes and then you can force him to do other things.

    in reply to: Should Rittenhouse have been there. #2032747

    Yserbius, what if you had $1 mln of uninsured merchandise in the store that you mortgaged your house for? you would still do nothing? just trying to see how far your attitude goes?

    TSBaum> School is school. Home is home. If the teachers want work done, …

    You hired a teacher to help you fulfill the mitzva of chinuch. If you feel like you outsourced it completely, why don’t you also outsource pru u’rvu to the school. You’ll have even more time ” to relax and do other stuff.”

    in reply to: Dead Sea #2032506

    GH, yes, but Hamas is mainly digging in the wrong direction – parallel to the beach instead of from sea to sea. Maybe need to mess up with their compasses.

    in reply to: Scheduling Email #2032495

    Scheduling emails is not yet widespread. I schedule emails for the beginning of work day so that peope do not get beeps when they sleep or feel pressured to answer if they don’t, and some people presume I am working hard at 8 am … Before pareve milk was not widespread, you were supposed to keep the package on the table.

    There is also an issue of asking someone to do an action, starting from reading your email, responding, or doing some activity you asked for.

    The easiest case is sending to a shomer shabbos Jew in another time zone and let him deal with whatever you need.

    in reply to: I have COVID #2032489

    Also, when we compare viral load of a sick person with and without vaccine, this is AFTER they are sick. Vaccinated people are at least 5x less likely to get sick across all age categories.

    in reply to: I have COVID #2032486

    kluger > viral loads are basically the same in vaccinated and unvaccinated patients.

    just the title of the paper is sufficient here:
    Lower Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Viral Shedding Following Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination Among Healthcare Workers in Los Angeles, California
    Paul C Adamson November 2021,

    . The median cycle threshold (Ct) value was 20.1 (IQR, 16.9–25.1) for tests done prior to the first vaccine dose, .. 24.9 (IQR, 16.4–32.4) for tests done on or within 6 days after the second dose, and 30.4 (IQR, 20.8–34.1) for tests done 7 or more days following the second dose.

    in reply to: Kyle Rittenhouse #2032485

    re: Sanhedrin 72a. CM 425:1 if we are clear that he does not intend to kill, we are not allowed to kill – as clearly seen in Gemora’s discussion about father/son

    interestingly, Gemora is also discussing a difference between owner and a vigilante

    Pesachim 2b is ganav and a similar discussion that if it is clear to you that he is not planning to kill, you also do not.

    in reply to: I have COVID #2032479

    Syag > whomever catches it from you will get their own response regardless of how yours presented.

    I agree that immune response is not directly proportional to the stimulus. Still, I’ve read a lot of articles about differences due to amount of exposure.

    Btw, anecdotally, I now know more people who had it twice than vaccine breakthrough cases.

    in reply to: I have COVID #2032467

    Klugeryid, also why does it bother you that immunity is for 6 months? his is what the virus is and what scientists were able to create and test in one year. Next, let’s complain why a day has only 24 hours…. You need to learn to live with a reality provided by Hashem. If you have ideas how to improve it, please do.

    in reply to: Dead Sea #2032466

    Maybe Israelis can connect Hamas tunnels under Gaza with the seas and Gaza will become an island?

    in reply to: Dead Sea #2032464

    RW, Israel up to Jordan is part of African tectonic plate, Jordan is part of Arabian. The easiest way to see how different plates match (and the source of original idea) is to cut Africa and South America from your map and then match them to each other. Play with the kids.

    Abba: Israeli oil is not same as what Saudis have. In general, oil was mostly a curse for most countries except he most developed ones: Arabs, Iranians, Venezuela, Russia, etc.

    in reply to: Dead Sea #2032459

    for those looking to pour water from one place to another, first check with Egyptians and Kazakhs what kind of disasters his can create. We are not fully ready to emulate Hashem here.

    in reply to: I have COVID #2032450

    klugeryid > any other vaccine that requires a booster less than a year
    n0 > Immunity can be as low as fifty percent with the annual shot.

    indeed, I think flu vaccine last for 6 months. The reason for annual shot is because flu is not circulating during summer. Possibly covid will adapt to a similar cycle. Note Southern sates had higher rates during summer, northern during winter – whenever people are more inside with closed windows.

    in reply to: It can’t be Chanukah already??? #2032439

    GH > you’ve also found good excuses over the past 7 weeks to avoid dismantling

    you are too neurotic, you need an excuse to DO something. You don’t need an excuse not to do something. To yourself, I mean, not to your spouse of course. I have simply scheduled dismantling the sukkah after taking air conditioning off. After 6 months, you are on a winning side, as every day is now CLOSER to sukkos.

    > nothwithstanding cognitive decline, you can still remember whether it is by the front door,

    Hey, I did not claim decline, I never remembered anything, but it is hard to forget something you bump into daily. Maybe your yard is too large.

    in reply to: Kyle Rittenhouse #2032437

    ujm, what is your source hat you can kill someone who is not a threat to life, but only to property. Or maybe I misunderstood your words.

    in reply to: Local elected frum people #2032335

    There are many Jews who occupy a position of politician’s in-laws. Clinton, Trump, Biden ..

    in reply to: Seminary girls getting engaged #2032333

    GH > high welfare dependency in certain communities are well known and politicians have refused to limit those payments

    I don’t know who is using what sources, how would you know. There are bunch of yeshiva bochrim selling iphones on amazon. They might be losing on storage fees or be millionaires based on a hidden brochos.

    as for using welfare sources, if you would have payments clearly going to Jewish recipients and community understands what it is for, then, I guess, you can say that the community is willing to support Torah studies and this is kosher. I doubt that this is the case, though. In most places, Jewish recipients are subsumed among larger numbers of non-Jews, and even when this is not so, a lot of government payments are coming from non-local sources, including federal.

    Syag, if I remember correctly, claimed that government worker said to her that she is ok with supporting wonderful Jewish community. I think this is the same as when a store worker gives you free stuff – he is not the owner.

    in reply to: Jewish Celebrities #2032331

    Gershon Distenfeld – see WSJ article 2 days ago, a bond guy who also plays professional poker once in a while, donating all $300k of his earnings. supports a bunch of things, inlcuding a kew yeshiva in Teanack.

    in reply to: Aramaic grammer #2032321

    > LIVING LANAGUAGES EVOLVE OVER TIME

    it was also spoken over multiple countries leading to geographic differences.

    in reply to: Chasimas Hatalmud: How did it come about? #2032320

    Kivult, this seems to be the case that some Tannai had their own private records, but it is clear tha they were incomplete. For example, a recent daf had it hat R Akiva knew about machloket between b’Shammai and b’ Hillel but did not remember who said what.

    r Ashi is considered to be of generation that organized Bavli, butI think academics find several later generations continued editing.

    in reply to: It can’t be Chanukah already??? #2032307

    Brain processes less video frames per second with age, so the time literally goes faster with time if you count in frames. This is not bad. I think this means that an experienced person does not need to look at the table 60 times per second to see that it is still there. Like you, I know that my sukkah is in the same place it was 2 months ago, I don’t need to look..

    in reply to: What seforim does every Frum house need? #2032305

    You can also live near a shul or a kollel and save your living space. Soon, Jews will be last people to own the tree-made books. And even they. When I study with kids, I model reading from a book, while they are perusing online. We have encyclopedia and it is used once a week when I tell them some history nuggets and we need to look up details.

    in reply to: What seforim does every Frum house need? #2032302

    > Why is 300 or at least 1200 baud insufficient?

    tircha detzibura, I can learn faster than that. I also remember wanting to upgrade to 2400

    > And a bunch of paper to print what we are studying for Shabbos!

    Save the trees! If you have good memory, you can learn by heart what you learned during the week. If you do not, you can continue learning the same small sefer again and again, like I do.

    in reply to: Dead Sea #2032306

    I think dead sea/Jordan is a remarkable place – it is actually a boundary between African plate and Saudi one. So, Israel is part of Africa and totally different land from Jordan. This might explain why Arabs are (un)luck to have oil, and Israel not.

    in reply to: Tal Umotor Reminder #2032300

    There is a fascinating discussion there about rain being on par with giving of Torah, etc. I think what Gemorah is saying that natural sustenance that Hashem provides is no less miraculous than big events, and we need to pay attention and be grateful and study them. Appropriately, this is followed by a scientific discussion where the rain is being formed.

    Today’s WSJ has an op-ed bya Chinese guy. He says his kid is shocked by the lack of both work and homework in American schools.

    One down side of the homework is that it sucks parents into devoting time encouraging/ pleading/ monitoring doing homework instead of influencing their kids directly. So, parents become teaching assistants, enjoyment is taken out of learning. I got sucked in early into thst, took me some time to realize. try to see what the kid is not learning rather than what he does, and try to enrich him with that.

    in reply to: Seminary girls getting engaged #2032290

    currently, people get benefits before investing. You get house first and then pay mortgage instead of saving first as Gemora and Rambam recommend. So, it is possible to satisfy both opinions: marry early if a person is on the way to earn a living, whether a good solid job, like a plumber, or an uncertain one, as a lawyer. Those who reach the age without preparing to support the family are either relying on the emergency measure from 80 years ago, as mentioned above, or plan to marry someone who will agree to life in poverty, whic is a heilecke ting to do, or expect to live at someone else’s expense (hopefully freely giving in-laws and donors rather than unwitting taxpayers)

    in reply to: Kyle Rittenhouse #2032288

    jackk > How many other people were killed during the Kenosha protests ?

    What I am saying is that the jury decided that he had a reasonable fear for his life. That is, those other guys possibly were a real threat to him. This is similar to halakha when someone digs into your house at night, you can presume that he is ready to kill you if needed to avoid arrest. Thee was a lot of property damage and when someone tried to stop them, they did not stop.

    in reply to: Kyle Rittenhouse #2032285

    ujm> if someone (other than your parent etc) breaks into your house

    in the dark, I believe. Otherwise, you can safely retreat. In this case, one might argue that he is defending whole community law & order so retreat was not an option (similar in halakha when a border city is attacked is different from regular robbery)

    in reply to: Price of The Hamodia #2031709

    > for under $80, now it is $13 a month which is $156 yearly.

    that’s as fast as the price of gas.

    Hazora is important for all subjects. Material goes away without it, whether kodesh or secular. Where hazora is happening is immaterial. Preferably, hazora is active – not just writing pages of boring material, but discussing, learning how to use material that you learned.

    School leacture/homework approach was good when it was needed, but current technology, I think, calls for opposite. Currently, everyone goes to his little school for a lecture, and then reviews on his own. Lectures should be listened online or via recording from best teachers, and then local teachers
    should help in active review. That is, you first do homework by listening material and then you go to school to discuss with the teacher. This is happening in some places with large lectures and then small seminars – both in good colleges and probably Talmud time academies (with metargumans).

    While we are waiting for this system to come back, parents should make sure that homework is something that activates knowledge rather than repeats the material. Someone from Brisk mentions that his father was asking him questions while walking about anything around – houses, bricks, just to make a kid think actively. Avira probably knows who it was.

    in reply to: What seforim does every Frum house need? #2031698

    2400 baud modem and sefaria

Viewing 50 posts - 6,551 through 6,600 (of 8,818 total)