Browsing category Nerdy Esoterica

IValidatableObject in .NET


Maybe our blog is turning into a code blog? Nah. All of my creative writing is bent towards rabbinical school these days, is all, and I absolutely don’t want to write about politics or everything since October 7th. For the longest time, I’ve been using FluentValidation as my go-to for complex validation on objects. Somehow,

Open Source Synagogue Management


I never really had an opportunity to contribute to some of the other open source projects of a Jewish nature. I maintain a very full programming and project schedule already, between paid work and non-profit work. I’ve developed Android and iOS versions of my app, “The Kosher Backpacker Appalachian Trail Guide,” which is not open

The Luddites Will Kill Us – Our Nation’s Bizarre Need to Broadcast Scientific Illiteracy


In the 19th century, textile workers afraid of machines replacing their role in their industry started destroying mechanical equipment as a form of protest. Now, they weren’t, as many people believe, opposed to technological advancement, but they were highly concerned about their diminishing role in the future of their work. Today, we do associate that

I don't want to live in a world without lions, and without people who are lions.

Werner Herzog

The Time I Met Werner Herzog


I was thinking the other day that it would be a good time in Amelia’s life to show her either “Aguirre, the Wrath of God” or “Fitzcarraldo” and introduce her to Werner Herzog. The man is one of my favorite filmmakers. His films often beat you over the head with imagery. When he’s paired with

It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support. ... May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants—while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.

Geroge Washington's Letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island

Religious Freedom Day


A week ago, Amelia came home with a social studies assignment.  Given that Thomas Jefferson was on a three month four of southern France and northern Italy during the Constitutional Convention, how did he influence the document? Enter the Historical Acknowledgment Du Jour – “Religious Freedom Day.”  Today’s historical significance talks about our First Amendment right,

Shut Up, Billy Joel is Awesome


Tablet’s Liel Leibovitz offers us a rehash of Ron Rosenbaum’s 2009 Slate Article, telling us that Billy Joel is basically a master of evil, the musical corollary to Donald Trump. Eat my ass, Leibovitz. I wasn’t jiving in junior high to Trump’s Art of the Deal. Our civics teacher latched on to “We Didn’t Start

About Brian

Brian Kresge

Brian Kresge

Writer, President of Bangor's Congregation Beth Israel, soon-to-be-retired-soldier, programmer, father, musician, Heeb, living in the woods of Maine with three ladies and a dog. Brian is also a rabbinical student with the Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary.

About Leah

Leah Kresge

Leah Kresge

Director of Education for Congregation Beth Israel in Bangor, Maine, runs joint religious school with our sister congregation, special educator and former school board member, mother to Avi and Nezzie.

follow me

Flickr

Flickr Feed
Flickr Feed
Flickr Feed
Flickr Feed
Flickr Feed
Flickr Feed