Earplugs:

I usually take earplugs to weddings. The foam type that reduces sound by about 20 decibels lets me really enjoy the band and the dancing, without pain. When I’m dressing for a wedding I ask myself this question: Should I bring a pair of earplugs, or should I bring a dozen pairs and sell them?
I once attended a wedding in a building that was basically one big room, a kitchen and no lobby. It was cold and raining outside. There was nowhere to go to escape the loud band.

Do you like kumquats?

Do you like kumquats? If you do, you can get delicious "canned" (in a jar actually) sweetened kumquats for Passover. The product is made by Agam Hagalil, and is easily available in supermarkets at Pesach time. There's a catch though: the product is CALLED "mini oranges in syrup." But believe me, it's kumquats.

Ratzinger:

Endlich: ein Papst, der eine Sprache spricht, die ich fast verstehen kann.

How to concentrate on the drosh:

Last shabbat I learned how to really focus my mind on the drosh, no danger of dozing off or my mind wandering. I played with Lego pieces. (Don't ask me how they came to be in the Shul.)

Shocktroops:

I've been reading at Mail Jewish about Haredi who use cell phones, but have arranged with the manufacturer to disable Internet and messaging features so they won't be forced too far into the 21st century. Regardless of how you view such hairsplitting, the fact is that these people are shocktroops in a war that will embroil us all this century unless the Messiah soon comes. It will be increasingly difficult for us to live in a world in which:

• Every large piece of household equipment is computer controlled.
  
• It becomes almost impossible to move about a home without issuing verbal commands to the house computer.
  
• Only computer-driven books are published.
  
• Lighting systems are required by law to be computer controlled and sensitive to where people are, to minimize the use of electricity.
  
• We are all expected to have computer chips implanted in our bodies.
  
• Many countries make it illegal to try to conceal our movements from the GPS system that tracks our every step.
  

The non-machine sabbath life is going to get harder and harder to achieve. And harder.