By way of Language Log, I came across the UnSuggester at LibraryThings. I now have a new way to waste away hours of my life on the internet.
The idea is that the user enters in the title of a book, and the UnSuggester will offer up anti-books, which are the polar opposite books. Interesting idea: not just the Amazon suggestions of “hey, other people spent their money on these titles, too,†but “hey, you should really avoid these.†But why bother with that? Well, homophily, that’s why.
A few weeks ago, right after Purim, we had the parsha of Ki Tisa, which I particularly enjoy. This parsha was supposed to be my oldest daughter’s since this is the weekend that we originally scheduled for her Bat Mitzvah. However, deployment came, we changed plans, extension came, we changed plans again, and here we still are. In a sense, life parallels the parsha: while I have the orders, everyone has to pay a price, some price, as a result. And it isn’t fair to say I or any of my family bears the burden heavier, since in the end we all pay the same price of separation, daily difficulties, and interruption of our lives. We get a subtle reminder of that with the prohibition with directly counting the members of the tribe: to start with one point or another might lead to the mistake of thinking that one is more important than another. That is simply not the case, all are equal in merit and all will be noted in time.
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