I meant to say earlier how utterly ded from cute I am with all the Buffista kidlets, and Hec's recent post just made me dedder.

One baby to rule them all.

(I just watched all the LOTR movies....)

Sorry, Tommy, I edited to include older spawn and made you look craxy. Babies, kidlets--they're all pretty damned cute.

I'm watching a couple of students take a special make-up exam. They're so few, and it's so early in the morning, I put them in my room in the university.

That's a perfectly good excuse to play on b.org, right? I mean, I don't have enough attention span for both watching them as well as actual work, right?

Hey, Nilly! I'm looking at a clock that reads Israeli time right now! My 16-year-old cousin, who just got back from the "most amazing trip ever" to Israel, is madly in love with your country and culture, so she still has the clock in your time zone in her room. (I'm staying in her bedroom in Arizona one more night--been here celebrating Christmas.)

Kristin!

What is Arizona time? Is it like the board's, or a different timezone?

Also, yay for enjoying a visit to Israel! Where has she been? Was this an arranged-for-groups (err, where is my vocabulary?) trip, or something smaller? [Edit: hmm, and what does she mean by "culture"? Just one? We have so many! But maybe that's the culture she's talking about? Hmm.]

Everybody should come visit Israel! Um, and not even because I am here and will get to see you. Because it's lovely.

Arizona time is one hour later than board time for half the year and the same as board time the other half. They don't change for daylight savings time. Right now it's an hour later than board time.

Cousin L. went all over the country but mainly Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Eilat. She says that her entire host stay in Eilat was amazing--they had a student exchange, so she stayed with the family of the girl who L. hosted here in Arizona earlier this fall.

The program was through the American Israel Friendship League. (L. is here dictating to me as I ask her your questions, so my response may seem choppy.) She toured Tel Aviv University--is that where you are, by chance?

ETA: And she says she visited the Diaspora Museum.

Oh, Eilat is probably the most relaxed place to be in Israel - that's the first vacation choice for so many people. And it's lovely. Did she see the underwater observatory? And the reef?

Tel Aviv University isn't the one I go to, but it's not far away.

The Diaspora Museum in Jerusalem? "Yad Vashem"? It's very impressive, even on repeated visits.

I'm so glad she enjoyed her trip! As if I'm in charge of Israel being nice, or something. Silly patriotism, I guess, but there you go.

She said that yes, she did see both the underwater observatory and the reef, and she's tickled that you're asking her these questions.

She's a very thoughtful, mature young woman, so I think what makes me happiest about her experience is the richness of her appreciation now of Israeli culture. She reads constantly and has had a close Palestinian friend for years, so she was worried about going to Israel and being "biased," but she said that that friendship only added depth to what she saw and learned in Israel. She and I talked for awhile about the teacher strike and the horrible status of teachers in the country, too, and I was really impressed with her balanced thoughtfulness about all kinds of issues. She said that one of the things she valued the most about the trip was seeing another country that is a vibrant "democracy in action," not afraid to hash out tough issues. She felt truly valued by the people she met and has forged firm friendships with many Israeli teens. So yes, she has a wonderful opinion of your beloved country.

She did all of this on full scholarship. I'm so proud of her.

Via Matt Yglesias - formal ethnographic study of the relationship between (American East Coast) Jews and Chinese food. It may be the only formal ethnographic study ever to include the following joke:

"According to the Jewish calendar, the year is 5749. According to the Chinese calendar, the year is 4687. That means for 1,062 years, the Jews went without Chinese food."

(PDF) [link]