EZ Reads 2/21/11

Happy Presidents' Day!

• RafiG discusses R' Ginzberg's piece in the 5TJT on blog commenters and in particular on anonymity. I've long felt that while there's a purpose and reason in rare cases for someone to be anonymous, we'd all be better off if people decloaked and stood behind their statements. Anonymous commenting allows people to say things that not only would they not be comfortable saying under their name, but things they simply shouldn't be saying.
• Via Neil Harris, this Aish video is quite good. I like the subtitle: The only failure is not trying.
• Batya talks about the NCSY Ben Zakkai Dinner, where Serach's aunt and uncle David & Vivian Luchins were honored along with old family friends Zeev and Rivka Leff.
• 10 good tips for Microsoft Word (Gizmodo). I'll admit to only knowing 3-4 of these beforehand.
• How to complain to get what you want (Lifehacker). I've always found that coming in prepared is the key; when you have all the data and just coolly explain what the issue is, you'll usually get a positive response, though usually you'll have to ask for a supervisor. Note that the first person is almost always there to take your info and try to convince you you're wrong, and has no clue or ability to help, so just ask for their supervisor calmly and explain the issue to them.
• Here's links to starting your own society, with the basics of everything. Pretty cool. It's intended for third world countries to assist them in developing rapidly.

YU & NCSY

Chana has posted her [as usual] incredible notes from the YU & NCSY dinner. It's fascinating in a number of ways, from how they approach kiruv to addressing some of the criticisms aimed at them to some of the difficulties they run into to simply discussing their own experiences and ideas. It's worth taking the 10-15 minutes to read it; it's a tremendous insight into NCSY.

I did find interesting the acknowledgment of the limitations of NCSY and, really, most kiruv organizations: Follow-up. Keeping that strong connection going after people have moved past the stage where NCSY et al are making their impact. I think that's one of the strengths of BeyondBT, which started to try and fill that gap, and is having a nice small impact in just a couple of years.

Ezzie's Blog Roundup, 10/29: All Around

A number of interesting posts out there worth reading:

• 7) Ezer has a list of the 10 Plagues of Cleveland Sports.
  
• 6) R' Ally wonders about the forgotten favors people do, and how we recognize those. A great point and message.
  
• 5-4) WestBankMama asks about people's stories with NCSY; Chana follows up and asks what people did, what they thought, etc.
  
• 3) Sephardi Lady notes and comments on a great letter about debt in the Yated.
  
• 2) R' Gil discusses whether college newspapers are a waste of time, then segues into an interesting discussion about how YU helps students respect other viewpoints.
  
• 1) JoeSettler has a fascinating analysis of how murders by Palestinians terrorists directly correlate to how much money the PA received in the year prior (I think it's actually a few months, but okay). Oy.
  

Check it out.