Food ref

The artwork above, created by Alli Arnold, accompanied a 2004 piece I wrote for the Weekly about Seattle's Jewish dining scene. In light of Jew-ish.com editor Leyna Krow's recent post about the relative abundance of kosher options in town, I figured it was worth digging up. If only for the awesome illustration.

Call me Ishmael

Car on the fritz? Consider investing in a WhaleMobile. Craig's List, you're an ongoing study in human wonderfulness. Long may you live! (Thanks to Dane for sending this my way.)

Intermarriage does not = abduction

I've always disdained anti-intermarriage campaigns built entirely out of xenophobic paranoia and offensive hyperbole, and this is a prize specimen. As one commenter notes, you don't strengthen ties between Israel and the Diaspora by insulting a significant percentage of Jews' spouses. How misguided and vile.

Once again, we take the blame

Hilarious. Thanks to Mai Li for the tip-off.

The man behind the curtain

According to NPR, it's getting harder for those who spew bile online to maintain their anonymity. As someone who's been cyber-harassed, I appreciate that.

A superb "Arkanoid" clone for Mac

Arkanoid, colloquially known as "Breakout" (it's basically Pong solitaire with several twists), has long been one of my favorite retro arcade games (of which I admittedly have many). Imagine my joy, then, to discover that a fantastic clone of the game exists for Mac -- and it's free! The graphics and sound are top-notch, and the "special" bricks -- the ones that spice up what would otherwise be a deadly dull game -- are quite creative. As an added bonus, the large assortment of boards is littered with nerdy homages to icons of the computer and video-game worlds, including this little beauty:


Also worth noting: Hardwood Euchre, a 15-day trial version of which you can download for free. It's well designed, easy to use, and fun to play. In fact, the game is enough to make me want to assemble a Kibbutz euchre club. (For those who didn't grow up in the Midwest: It's like bridge but with fewer cards.)

221.8 pounds

That's how much I currently weigh, as of this afternoon, per the doctor's scale. According to the Body Mass Index, I'm obese. Then again, the BMI is a questionable tool, as a helpful Flickr set illustrates. Particularly effective are the images that juxtapose a confident, beautiful person with the "obese" label:

Cassie is "obese"
5'4", 175 lbs., BMI 30