More on the Devil

This is the most significant article I have read concerning Arafat's history. I am not very well versed in the matters of Arafat's biography, but this seems quite damning (as if Arafat needed to be damned further). From the WSJ no less.

On the Devil

The Devil can't die, he just takes different form. My dad thinks Israel is grooming Barghouti to be the next Palestinian leader. If my dad is right it is the best call ever.

Music Theory

I got back my first paper from Music 10400: Music criticism and analysis. I just realized though, that while I thought I was writing a paper on the 5th Brandenburg concerto, it was actually the the second I was listenning to. Oh well. I do not think that anyone was the wiser for it however.

Good News for the Jews?

So I promised myself that I would never vote on The Issue. Well it might very well come down to it, because I am left so uninspired by either of our two sterling candidates for President. Here is a really funny/well done/scary breakdown of the question "Kerry: Good news for the Jews?" and here is what the "other side" is saying. And in case Pres. George W. Bush II has not said enough, look here.

Boston Sucks

Firstly, as has been long standing tradition, Boston Bars close at 2am. Now this! Boston dosen't deserve victory. The mayor wants to curb riots by enforcing prohibition??? That will work.

It is times like this that I am proud to be a talmid of YHE (Gush)

While Gushniks are annoying, our Rammim and Roshei Yeshiva are super-cool.

"It is as if a million voices cried out and were suddenly silenced"

I feel like Ben Kanobi after Alderon has been destroyed. Whichever sports gods were assigned to Buffalo suck. Hockey has a lockout, the Bills are 1-4, beating the only other (heretofore) unwinned team, and the Yanks can't get to the World Series.
In other news I wonder how this Op-Ed piece in the NTY will effect the policy towards the Middle East conflict. I wonder if the PA will start opennly pushing for the One-State idea. That could get intense.

Better than Polls

Here is what Bush v. Kerry are trading at now. I will be interested to see how accurate this is versus the pollsters.

Brisk and The Philosophy of Science

It occured to me that the Brisker chakira shares something in common with the deabte over the philosophy of science in the first half of the 20th century. Many of those from the "Vienna Circle" such as Rudolph Carnap in "Der Aufbau" struggle with the notion of science and metaphysics. There was a concerted effort within the Vienne Circle to flush metaphysics from modern philosophy, with only this vague "philosophy of science" remaining. This would allow the world of philosophy to stick to talking about what they know (the red of a traffic light) and not what we don't (how the red of the light appears to us). I first encountered this form of analysis with the nafka mena. So Brisk, in some simplified way, appears to do just this. If there is not practicle or decernible difference between two outcomes (there states cannot be disentangled) then in fact they are the same and do not constitute a valid chakira. It is more insidious than it sounds though, because our whole Brisk-world is confined to-and-by the chakira. It is as if we were in a world where all the doors were locked with the same key. Movement is only completely restricted by doors that did not accept the key. So in effect all our intellectual mobility is constrained and defined by this unique Brisker tool. The "meta"-halacha (not to be confused with Moshe Kopell's meta-halacha) becomes and inaccessable world eternally locked by the lack of the proper key.
In the 20th century this Brisker-derech has made vast strides because it is able to use this powerful and keen tool to plow through halachik underbrush. At the same time I miss the irrelevant "what if" that I as a 2nd grader (and still) enjoy asking. I guess it is the price we pay for saving oursleves countless hours of snot-drippingly boring arguments about what I perceive the traffic light to be.

ברוך דין אמת

Jacques Derrida, another Jewish iconoclast.

The Trinity and Avodah Zarah

I had an idea to put and end the debate whether or not Christianity is Avodah Zarah or not. I heard quoted in the name of the Rav that there are two types of safek: The one where there is a lack of information (Safek more than 1/60 of milk landed in the roast or not) then there is the lack of decipherability (twilight is safek yom, safek layla). From the minimal study of Christianity it appears that the safek whether or not Christians believe in one or three deities is really the latter form of safek (this is to completely skirt the issue of comparative religion). One is three and three is one, sort of like bein hashmashot is both night and day. Then we can just apply our nifty safek deoryta lechumra approach and be done with it. Does someone already bring this down?