LIMITED TIME OPPORTUNITY: Order a Customized Pet Portrait From My Daughter

Due to the COVID19 lockdown, my 14 year old daughter has some extra time available to do commissioned portraits. On the right is a commissioned portrait she did last year. You can see more examples of last year’s commissioned pet…

I am sharing a Spotify playlist about emojis that I prepared last summer. To prepare Spotify thematic playlists, I do keyword searches to assemble a super-set of candidate songs (in this case, I think it was over 400), and then…

Last month, I blogged about a bad experience with United Airlines. The short story: due to maintenance issues, United canceled our flight from Tel Aviv to San Francisco at 2am in the morning, triggering a cascade of failures. United had…

I’m not teaching this semester, so I have a flexible schedule. As always, if I’m going to be in your neighborhood and you’d like to connect, let me know. Jan. 23-24: UCLA conference on algorithmic criminal justice Feb. 6: Developed/The…

My wife, my 14 year old daughter, and I were passengers on United flight #955, from TLV to SFO, scheduled to depart December 26, 2019 at 12:55 am. Due to the departure time, many passengers will stay awake the entire…

Some Personal Good News: I Received SCU's Highest Award for Scholarly Achievement

I am the 2019 recipient of Santa Clara University’s “Award for Sustained Excellence in Scholarship,” the University’s highest award for scholarly achievement by a professor who has been on the SCU faculty for more than 10 years. (I joined the…

Channel Islands Restoration (CIR) Volunteer Trip to San Nicolas Island

Yesterday, I did a service trip to San Nicolas Island through Channel Islands Restoration (CIR). If you’re considering doing a similar trip, I hope this post will help you know what to expect. About San Nicolas Island The 8 Channel…

Order a Custom Pet Portrait By My Daughter

My daughter Dina is a gifted young artist. As one of her projects for this summer, she is offering to paint custom pet portraits. I know it’s early to start thinking about holiday gifts, but this is a gift every…

The Parents' Blessing from Our Daughter's Bat Mitzvah

Our daughter was bat mitzvah’ed in December at Congregation Beth Am. The photo album (including photos from her excursion to make her own tallis). It was a lovely ceremony and a wonderful family celebration. The temple expected us to give a…

I’m not sure if people still do Spotify playlists any more. Maybe it’s passe. In any case, I maintain several. Today, I’m sharing my 1960s playlist, consisting of close to 1,000 songs with a release date between Jan. 1, 1960…