Internet for Kids

For several years in the frum community there has been much debate and discussion regarding Internet usage for both children and adults.

Rabbi Berger has instituted rules for members of his shul. Rabbi Lowenthal of TA, has presented on the subject to the Baltimore community. Allow me to share my internet set-up in my home.

First we will start with Internet usage.

I have a program on each of my two computers called SafeEyes. This product is sold by InternetSafey.com. The program itself has various control methodologies. The way I set this up is as follows. I have three “accounts”. One is the administrator account. The second is for me and Rikki, we will call it the “parents” account. The third is the “kids” account.

The parents account is set to allow all sites unless they are characterized as pornography, nudity, violence, hacking or some other objectionable characterization.

The kids account is set to ban all websites, unless the site is in a list maintained by the administrator. So the kids can go to Nickjr.com, NFL.com, ESPN.com, sesamestreet.com, etc. But that is it. If the kids want to go to another site they need to ask the administrator to add it to the list of allowed sites.

The administrator of course can go to any site. One might want to give the admin password to the lady of the house. I don’t do that, but I probably should.

There are many other functionalities in the program that I don’t use, but may be useful. The include usage reporting, time limits, and program blocking.

The program cannot be uninstalled unless an uninstall code is obtained from the company by the administrator. I have tried to get around this, but could not.

The cost is $50 per year for up to four licenses. I got it for $35 for the year as a renewal.

Now on to email.

I do not use safeyes for email blocking, because it can only be applied to email received in an email client like MS Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird. It cannot be applied to web based email.

I recently signed up for Zoobuh. I did significant research on this and found that this is the best economical solution that will work with the SafeEyes protocol explained above. I set this up for now, that all email sent to my kids addresses are first sent to my address for approval, unless the sender’s email address is in the whitelist that only I can maintain. If the sender is not in the whitelist, the email is sent to my e-mail account. I can then approve or deny the email. If I approve the e-mail, it is then sent to the kids account. Additionally, I can whitelist or blacklist the sender.

The cost is a dollar per month per email address. So it will cost me for now $24 a year for Doug and Violet to have e-mail.

Detroit

Over the years I have had several friends from Detroit. As a general rule one can assume that if they are my friends, they are good guys. These guys are excellent people. The one thing I don’t understand about people from Detroit is that they think that living in Detroit is one step below living in Gan Eden.

I have only been to Detroit twice, both times for a short amount of time. Detroit is, at best an Average U.S. city. It is dirty, it is freezing in the winter, stifling in the summer, and crime is very high. Not that Baltimore is any better, but I don’t think that people from Baltimore are that fond of their City. Baltimore and Detroit are nice places to live, particularly for frum people, but as cities, they are nothing special.

Here are some crime statistics for 2006 that I pulled from the FBI website.


The nice things I can say about Detroit’s frum community is that they are very nice, friendly, and as a community seem like one big family. They are also serious sports fans.

I just don’t understand the love affair that the people I know from Detroit have with their City. Most of them moved away (to Baltimore, Lakewood, Miami, New York) when they got married anyway. If it is so great, why not settle there?

O's

I went to the O's game last night with David EY, Tzvi EY, Doug, and my nephew. It was alot of fun. We sat in the middle of the upper level right behind home plate. Here is the view from our seats taken with my cell phone.






There was a good amount of hitting and scoring so the game was exciting. Unfortunately the O's made several base running mistakes which led to them losing 6-5 to Detroit (I'll post another time about my Detroit experience)

Old Friend

Below is an article from Mishpacha Magazine about an old friend of mine from when I was in Yeshivah in Israel. He is a very unique and sincere guy. Zoom in, if you can't see the text clearly.

Ahron - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: Ahron

My only comment on this is, take out the words Ahron Horwitz and insert the name of most Lubavitchers...

Of course Lubavtichers have been doing the same thing for decades. That doesn't take away from the greatness of what Ahron is doing. I am just saying it is not a new idea, like the magazine portrays it.

E85

When we were in Denver, I noticed that some of the gas stations sell E85. E85 is a motor vehicle fuel that is 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. The ethanol is made from corn which is grown domestically.

Not all cars can use E85, but some can. Some cars are manufactured as “flex fuel” vehicles which can run on regular unleaded gasoline or E85.

According to http://www.e85refueling.com, there are five E85 stations within Maryland that are open to the public. The closest one to Baltimore is 28 miles away in Annapolis, MD. There is one in Annapolis, one in Greenbelt, one in Frederick, and two in Rockville. There are closer stations, but they are only available to the government. So if you live in Baltimore, there is basically no way you can use E85.

In Colorado there are 52 E85 stations. There are three in Denver and several others not far outside Denver.

Why don’t we have this in Baltimore? A gallon of E85 was only $2.79 vs. over $4.00 for regular unleaded.

Maybe the problem is shipping, since I guess most of the corn is grown in the Midwest.

Low Octane

Another interesting experience in Denver. In Baltimore and the surrounding areas, the gas stations carry three grades of Gasoline. There is 87 Octane (Regular), 89 Octane (Plus), and 93 Octane (Premium).

In Denver there are also three grades. There is 85 Octane, 87 Octane, and 91 Octane. These three are given the same grades respectively.

Apparently in higher altitudes, engines can run on lower octane gasoline without knocking.

I used the 85 Octane, since it was a rental car and it worked fine.

The prices are similar to Baltimore even though the octane rating is lower. Not sure why. The 85 Octane in Denver was around the same price as the 87 Octane in Baltimore. Maybe there are more taxes.

Also interesting, when I was in Florida a few years ago, there were five grades available. If I remember correctly, there was 86, 87, 89, 91, and 93.

Cobalt vs. Corolla

Rikki and I went on Vacation to Denver this week (more about that later). We reserved a compact rental car (as it was just the two of us). When we arrived, we received an almost new Chevrolet Cobalt. What a piece of junk. The trunk is impossible to access as the opening is just too small, the seat belt is difficult to reach, the emergency brake is placed under the armrest, so it cannot be engaged unless the armrest is lifted. This causes the contents of the armrest to fall out. The seat is so firm that it is uncomfortable. The engine is very noisy, but produces minimal power. The various panels on the dashboard and steering wheel are not even or flush with each other. The rear window is so small, that it is dangerous backing up. Just an overall junky car.

On Thursday we got a flat tire. We called the rental cal company and they said it would be at least an hour until they could get a service truck to us. They said I can change the tire myself and bring in the car and trade it for a new one. I did that.

When I returned the car, for some reason they just told us to go to a certain area and pick any compact car. So I picked an almost new Toyota Corolla.

This car is similar to the Cobalt in class and size, but is a vastly better vehicle. Everything just works and is easy to use. The trunk is huge and easy to access, the emergency brake is easy to pull, the seat belts are easy to reach, , the seats are very comfortable, the engine is quiet, and all of the components fit together like they are one big piece. The Corolla is a vastly better vehicle than the Cobalt.

Consumer Reports gives the Cobalt a 50 out of 100 and a Corolla a 71 out of 100.

Then, on our way home we heard on the radio that GM is no longer paying a dividend, closing factories and laying off workers. No wonder.

Identity Theft

I just saw a funny article on Yahoo News from the Associated Press. Here is the link.

The article points out an interesting contradiction between Federal Agencies.

My own summary and additions follow:

According to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission): “Don't carry your Social Security card in your wallet or write your Social Security number on a check. Give it out only if absolutely necessary or ask to use another identifier”. Click here to view.

But guess what? Here is a picture of the front of a Medicare Card. One of the elements is the Medicare claim number. This number is almost always the beneficiary’s Social Security number, plus an Alpha suffix. Sometimes, it may be the beneficiary’s spouse's SSN, if the beneficiary is only entitled because of their spouse.




But here is the kicker. On the back of the card it says “Carry this card with you when you are away from home.



The IRS requires that you write your SSN on any check that you send them. Here is a picture of a 2008 form 1040 ES. Notice that it says “Write your social security number and “2008 Form 1040-ES” on your check or money order”.



Good stuff. I love the excuses given by the bureaucrats as to why they cannot change the system so that they stop using and requiring SSNs.

Bad Things

I heard a nice dvar Torah from Rabbi Kaplan this weekend that I wanted to share. In this week’s Parsha there was a dispute among various elements of the Bnai Yisroel. Some felt that Aharon did not deserve to be the Kohain Gadol. They felt that Moshe was unfairly appointing his relatives to important positions. The dispute was centered on, who appointed Aharon as the Kohain Gadol. Was is Hashem, or did Moshe do this on his own?

A test was agreed upon by all parties with signs determined that would tell all who was correct.

The Torah tells us that the ground opened up and swallowed Korach, Dasson, and Aviram, along with their entire families. But still people felt that the conflict was not resolved. Then a fire came down from heaven and killed the 250 men who each felt that they should be Kohain Gadol. But still the people were not convinced. Then there was a plague that killed thousands. But, the people still were not sure.

Finally Moshe setup sticks of wood in the ground near the Mishkan. One stick for each tribe. In the morning the stick which represented Aharon and the tribe of Levi had sprouted almond leaves, almond buds, and ripe almonds (all at the same time). This event convinced the masses that Hashem had truly chosen Aharon and that Moshe was not merely peddling influence.

Why did the tragic events which obviously were Hashem’s response to the conflict, not convince the masses, but the stick spouting almonds finally put the issue to bed?

There are some people within every religion that attempt to explain why bad things occur. American soldiers died because of homosexuality, Katrina wrecked Louisiana because of a breakdown in morals, Ariel Sharon is ill because of Gaza, Israeli soldiers died in Lebanon because they were not observant, the Holocaust occurred because of… (I am sorry; I can’t even repeat this one).

The lesson we learn from the episode in this week’s Parsha is that we do not have a right to create moral equivalencies. Just because something bad happens to a group or to an individual does not allow us to explain why it occurred. Even if it seems obvious. We don’t know, and cannot know why G-d punishes people or groups. Our job is to accept bad things as G-d’s will, but not to explain why an individual or group suffers. (Writer's addition - How we view bad things that happen to ourselves is different. I think that Rabbi Kaplan was referring to how we view bad things that happen to others).

But when something positive happens, then we can create an equivalency. When the stick sprouted almonds we had the right to equate it to Aharon’s merit.

Welcome Back Avnei Yarok

I wasn’t sure how to pluralize Even Yaruka in Modern Hebrew, but I think in Lashon Hakodesh it would be Avnei Yarok, like “moznei tzedek, avnei tzedek, eiphat tzedek v’hin tzedek” (Vayikra 19:36)

They are back. David, Tzvi, and Yeshaya stopped by the house this morning as I was leaving for work. They had some questions about the first day of T.A. camp, but they have no phone or cell service yet. It was really great to see them. Ok, Penny and Greg. When are we going to Accents?

Calculators and Phones

Why are the numbers on a calculator and the numbers on a phone in reverse order? This has bothered me for a very long time and I have never found a satisfactory explanation.

A phone starts at 1 on the top left, continues to the right, and then down.



A calculator starts at 1 on the bottom left, continues to the right, and then up.



This results in another conflict. Does zero come before 1 or after 9. A calculator reads from the bottom, 0123456789, whereas a phone reads from the top, 1234567890.

I am not a proponent of either order, but I don’t understand why they are different. They should be the same.

It is particularly bothersome when I use my cell phone as a calculator. Most cell phones can double as a calculator. My phone is particularly irksome as it has a calculator program as well as a full keypad. The keypad is of course in the “phone” order. But when the calculator program displays on the screen the numbers are in calculator order. So if I want to key the numbers on the keypad, but look at the screen it is very confusing. Just make them the same and all will be fine.

I wonder if Mr. Monk has an explanation.

Zoo Torah

I have added a new blog to my favorite blogs list. http://www.zootorah.blogspot.com/

Also, see his website http://www.zootorah.com.

Thanks to Rikki for the info.