The Rambam (Maimonidies) once wrote a letter in which he described a trip to Israel. In it, he mentions that he went up to the "Great and Holy House of God," which many see as a reference to the Temple Mount. As if to reinforce that point of view, he writes that he's made the day he went up a personal holiday.

I just came across that letter again, and it's reminded me to set the 15th of Kislev as the day I mark. I hereby set it down.

Another letter of mine- with a point I made below- made it to The Corner! (Edited to add: Someone else succeeded with my technique. Hee!)

This may reveal more about the cynical pathways of my mind than I'd like, but shortly after 9/11- it may have been the very day, with the Towers still standing, for all I know- I recall thinking, "I bet some relatives of victims didn't get along at all with the deceased, and will now gladly use this tragedy as a springboard for whatever agendas they may have." Oh, come now, you think. Well, I remember Mr. Zelmanowitz' sister, whom he hadn't spoken to in years, immediately launched into an anti-Afghan (!) war crusade using his name. And the more the "9/11 Widows" (I mean the agitators' group we usually think of when we use that term- "The Jersey Girls," as Rush calls them- not the whole generic class) shrilly attack Republicans and the President whenever they get a chance- this week, it's intelligence reform- I'm reminded of my initial impression.

Uncharitable? Maybe. Unseemly of them? Without a doubt.

The World Almanac used to have a rule: Wait until after the World Series in odd-numbered years and after the election in even-numbered ones, so as to get the information in. I think they gave up in 2000, what with the long election count, and not only don't wait for election results anymore, but don't even include the Series. I'm not sure what the problem is- it's still published in mid-November, and I imagine printing technology has improved so they can take even less time. Maybe it's competition from other publishers, but I still don't like it.

Speaking of baseball, the DC team is going with "Nationals," the official name of the original Senators for almost all of that team's existence. The reasons they didn't go with the obvious (the latter name) were, I think, because another team (Minnesota? Texas?) still owned the name (which makes sense), and because the mayor of DC argued that Washington has no senators (which is stupid). In any event, it's a nice touch of historical awareness (as "Grays" would have been) so why not? I can always go for history. (And, unlike before, it's even an NL team.)

Well, it's nice that they have a team again. It would have been nice had Bonds not messed up his pursuit of Aaron (would said pursuit then have existed?), but that's another story.