Link Potpourri - Productivity, Chanukah, etc.

How am I supposed to get anything done, while this whole Internet thingy is still going on?

PRODUCTIVITY

• Try to do one nagging task each day, or even better, avoid having a nagging task. by Gretchen Rubin at the Happiness Project



• Never underestimate the power of a checklist.



• Leo Babauta wrote this great concise recap of the heart of GTD: Focus on Actions to Get More Done in Less Time for FreelanceSwitch.

CHANUKAH

• Check out this cute home brewed menorah.



• Ted of Help! I have a Fire in My Kitchen wrote this excellent and comprehensive chanukah article, which I have bookmarked for future forwarding to anyone looking for background on Chanukah.



• Jack did a great job with Havel Havelim 144



• Five things people say about Christmas that drive me nuts by Penelope Trunk



• Apparently, great minds think alike! SimpleJew also made a chanukiyah shaped challah last week!



• Torahlab: The Scroll of Antiochus, free PDF in Hebrew and English, translated by Rabbi David Sedley. (Requires free newsletter subscription to download.)



• Babkanosher's clever method of telling the chanukah story , adjusted perfectly for an elementary public school classroom, highlighting the Macabees' fight for freedom of religion, without bringing religion into the story. What a great balancing act!



• I'm not sure which impressed me more about Danya Ruttenberg's recently republished wrenching and thoughtful article, Moving Past Two-Mindedness - the conclusions she reached, or the path she took to get there.
  
  She describes meditating on her anger with Judaism in the glow from chanukah candles that she continued to light, despite her frustrations. This iconic image will remain with me as a symbol of the commitment and intellectual honesty required for our Jewish national pastime: wrestling with G-d.
  
  In 2004, I enjoyed the collection of essays she edited, Yentl's Revenge: The New Wave of Jewish Feminism (** see disclaimer, below) and thus found the evolution of her rapprochement with Chanukah and Judaism - and her honesty and rigor within her progressive feminist paradigm - particularly interesting. (Even her creative use of pronouns was new to me.)
  
  I also plan to follow her suggestion to put applesauce and sour cream in squeeze containers when serving latkes, like she observed in Germany, which apparently is not the only place in the world where they put bacon on just about everything.
  
  As a kosher-cooking Jew of Yekkish (German) extraction, I've read so many recipes in non-kosher German cookbooks that my brain automatically translates "half a pound of bacon" to "a stick of margarine and a full package of onion soup mix" without conscious intervention.
  
  She also shared The Grinch Who Stole the Latkes



• If you're worried about the lead content in the children's toys, here is a new lead test kit.



• Texas No Limit Holdem Dreidl game by ModernTribe (via Judaica Journal)

ETC.

• A mathematical equivalent to moral relativism? I guess it all depends on what units you use.



• Good to know: Superglue can be removed with Vaseline.



• Pop Quiz: Neil or Carl?



• Now I know why scientists to work in labs, rather than in cubes. (via mindhacks)



• This idea for augmenting store-bought maternity clothes makes me want to make something similar (from outgrown t-shirts, probably) for the girls.
  
  At a minimum, can just sew contrasting outgrown shirt piece onto the bottom of the next one, in order to stem the insidious, burgeoning population of belly shirts collecting at the bottom of my girls' closets.
  
  Will probably try this with and without a coordinating ribbon on the front (to hide/disguise the seam.)



• This book signing proposal made me smile.



• I believe with perfect faith that the Internet will soon provide me an opportunity to use the word snoutband in a sentence.



• Yoda pizza could be made kosher, I think. Must keep this on file for my Star Wars-obsessed daughter's birthday party.



• This one made me sigh: The Man Not in the Mirror.



• I wish there were a way to make a Torah scroll's handles from this tree.

Gut Chodesh, everyone!

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Disclaimer: I read widely and have eclectic taste. I seek and enjoy diverse perspectives, distinct voices, and opinions that differ from my own. I don't restrict my reading to "kosher" lists or sources. (Or blogs, for that matter!)

Orthodox readers who prefer to limit their exposure to non-Orthodox material should not construe the expression of my appreciation of this book as an indication that this book meets their requirements, or as an endorsement of its authors' arguments, conclusions, or lifestyle choices.

If you're trying to keep your bookshelves hashkafically pure, then this book is not for you.

I found it a fascinating collection of well-written essays from young women trying to reconcile their identities, Judaism, post-feminism, yearning for spirituality, and practical concerns. As they wrestled with G-d, I didn't always identify with or cheer about the outcomes, but I did appreciate the integrity of their struggles.