Jarrod Morgenstern

Reading: The Thrill of Flying the SR-71 Blackbird - Gizmodo

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 12:58:34 -0500

Reading: The Thrill of Flying the SR-71 Blackbird - Gizmodo:

One day, high above Arizona , we were monitoring the radio traffic of all the mortal airplanes below us. First, a Cessna pilot asked the air traffic controllers to check his ground speed. ‘Ninety knots,’ ATC replied. A twin Bonanza soon made the same request. ‘One-twenty on the ground,’ was the reply. To our surprise, a navy F-18 came over the radio with a ground speed check. I knew exactly what he was doing. Of course, he had a ground speed indicator in his cockpit, but he wanted to let all the bug-smashers in the valley know what real speed was ‘Dusty 52, we show you at 620 on the ground,’ ATC responded. The situation was too ripe. I heard the click of Walter’s mike button in the rear seat. In his most innocent voice, Walter startled the controller by asking for a ground speed check from 81,000 feet, clearly above controlled airspace. In a cool, professional voice, the controller replied, ’ Aspen 20, I show you at 1,982 knots on the ground.’ We did not hear another transmis sion on that frequency all the way to the coast.

Never seen basketball like this before. (at Allen Fieldhouse)

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 01:14:49 -0500

Never seen basketball like this before. (at Allen Fieldhouse)

How Technology Destroyed The Once Substantive Presidential Debate | TechCrunch

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 17:25:14 -0400

How Technology Destroyed The Once Substantive Presidential Debate | TechCrunch:

Oh, those were the days.

How It Used To Be

To get a taste of just how much debates have changed, take historian Neil Postman’s description in Amusing Ourselves to Death:

On October 16, 1854, in Peoria, Illinois, Douglas delivered a three-hour address to which Lincoln, by agreement, was to respond. When Lincoln’s turn came, he reminded the audience that it was already 5 p.m., that he would probably require as much time as Douglas and that Douglas was still scheduled for a rebuttal. He proposed, therefore, that the audience go home, have dinner, and return refreshed for four more hours of talk. The audience amiably agreed…”

Mike @Lazerow kicking off the Marketing Cloud keynote. Crushing...

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 16:47:50 -0400

Mike @Lazerow kicking off the Marketing Cloud keynote. Crushing it! #DF12
(Taken with Instagram)

Ok. This Dreamforce thing might be kindof big. #Surreal...

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 12:19:48 -0400

Ok. This Dreamforce thing might be kindof big. #Surreal #HammerTime #DF12 (Taken with Instagram)

Aaron Rabinovitz (1932-2012)

Mon, 03 Sep 2012 00:54:00 -0400

Aaron “Zeyda” Rabinovitz died peacefully on September 1st, 2012 in Overland Park, Kansas succumbing to brain cancer at the age of 79.

A lifelong learner and storyteller – Aaron’s zest for life was an inspiration for everyone he touched. His fiery passion for the Kansas Jayhawks and Kansas City Chiefs was only surpassed by his love of family and commitment to the Jewish community.

Aaron loved to learn new things. He studied everything from theoretical mathematics to musical composition to Talmud. He was wry, witty, and always armed with the worst possible pun for any situation.

After retiring in 2002, he kept active by pursuing Judaic studies, playing bridge with friends, exercising regularly and debating philosophy and current events.

He was an active member at two synagogues, Congregation Beth Torah in Overland Park, KS, and B’nai Emunah in Tulsa, OK. He also volunteered and tutored GED preparatory students.

A master-griller, he loved to cook for his family and friends. His steaks, Challah and chicken soup are legendary.

Family Man

 Aaron was born in 1932 during the Great Depression in Milwaukee, WI to a small family with two sisters, Leah and Mimi. Aaron worked at the family grocery store at a very young age. His mother, Pauline, died when he was a teenager.

During leave from the Army in March 1955, he married his long-time sweetheart Shirley Spector. They met at Jewish Summer Camp when they were 16. She followed him to Germany where their first child, Paul, was born.

Eventually Aaron and Shirley settled in Lawrence, KS and had three more children: Shanny, Joel and Mark. Their respective families and Aaron’s grandchildren were truly the center of his life.

He was a constant comforting presence in his four children and seven grandchildren’s lives.   He attended nearly every graduation, concert, school play and sporting event for all of his grandchildren.

In spite of the fact that Aaron only had four biological children he often claimed that he really had eight kids. He always included his three daughters-in-laws, Amy, Debi and Susan and his son-in-law Eric when counting up his blessings.

A few years after Shirley died in 1999, he moved back to Kansas to live with his daughter Shanny and Eric.

Shortly after moving back to Kansas, he met Gloria Gershun. After a few short months of courting - playing bridge, dinner dates and giggling like a couple of teenagers, — they became best friends and romantic partners in 2004 and lived together until her death in 2010.

He often said with a glint in his eye how lucky and blessed he was to have found two soulmates in his life.

Professional and Military Career

Aaron began studying chemical engineering in Wisconsin but he had to put his education on hold, when he was drafted in 1954. He joined the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps and he was stationed abroad in France and Germany. His accolades included both a Good Conduct and Safe Driving Medal. Aaron was discharged in 1956 with the final rank of Specialist – E4.

When Aaron was discharged from the army, he moved to Lawrence, KS and continued his Chemical Engineering education at the University of Kansas, but he soon gave up his studies to work at his in-law’s scrapyard. He continued to work in recycling for most of his professional life.

He also lived in the Kansas City area until 1975 and moved to Tulsa, OK to work at Borg Compressed Steel from 1975 until 2003. For the last nine years, he has lived in Overland Park and Leawood, KS.

Family of Aaron

He was preceded by his parents Pauline and Albert Rabinovitz, his wife Shirley Rabinovitz and his partner Gloria Gershun.  

Survivors include his sisters and their husbands - Leah and Yale Knight and Mimi and Harold Paley, of Milwaukee, WI.  

His four children and their spouses are Paul and Amy Rabinovitz, from Omaha, NE; Shanny and Eric Morgenstern, from Overland Park, KS; Joel and Debi Rabinovitz, from Fairview, TX and Mark and Susan Rabinovitz, from Tulsa, OK.

His seven grandchildren are Jarrod Morgenstern from New York, NY; Kailee Rabinovitz and her fiancé Landon Hughes from Irving, TX; Avi Morgenstern from Overland Park, KS; Zachary Rabinovitz from Dallas, TX; Katelyn Rabinovitz and her partner Justine Skipton, Amanda Rabinovitz, and Adam Cooper from Omaha, NE.

Memorial Services 

A memorial service will be held on Monday, September 3, at Congregation Beth Torah in Overland Park at 4 pm. A graveside service will be held on Tuesday, September 4, at Rose Hill Cemetery in Tulsa.

Donations

Please consider a donation in Aaron’s name to Congregation Beth Torah, B’nai Emunah, CASA of Jackson County, or Jewish Family Services of Kansas City.

“Not Bad.”

‘How are you?’ friends would often ask Aaron.

“Not bad…for an old man!” he would say with a smile and a laugh to anyone who cared to listen.

Aaron’s legacy of community, commitment to family, lifelong education, and passion for love will reverberate with his family forever.

Not bad indeed.

The Disciplined Pursuit of Less - Greg McKeown - Harvard Business Review

Mon, 03 Sep 2012 00:50:51 -0400

The Disciplined Pursuit of Less - Greg McKeown - Harvard Business Review:

Hustle with purpose

First, use more extreme criteria. Think of what happens to our closets when we use the broad criteria: “Is there a chance that I will wear this someday in the future?” The closet becomes cluttered with clothes we rarely wear. If we ask, “Do I absolutely love this?” then we will be able to eliminate the clutter and have space for something better. We can do the same with our career choices.

By applying tougher criteria we can tap into our brain’s sophisticated search engine. If we search for “a good opportunity,” then we will find scores of pages for us to think about and work through. Instead, we can conduct an advanced search and ask three questions: “What am I deeply passionate about?” and “What taps my talent?” and “What meets a significant need in the world?” Naturally there won’t be as many pages to view, but that is the point of the exercise. We aren’t looking for a plethora of good things to do. We are looking for our absolute highest point of contribution.

Joe Posnanski on Kansas City

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 18:04:00 -0400

Joe Posnanski on Kansas City:

I wasn’t homesick for KC during the All-Star game festivities…and then I read this.

And, more often than not, all of this brings out the generosity of Kansas City people. I’ve always said, people are people, but the place you live might highlight certain traits. I’ve never thought people in New York are rude, but the rush of the town might make them so. The traffic in L.A. and Miami and other places can turn drivers hostile and cutthroat. Kansas City’s general ease, its often brutal weather, its great restaurants, its neighborhoods tend to spark friendliness. It also tends to spark hopefulness. Some of the most optimistic people I know live in Kansas City.

The Unimportance of Practically Everything

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 15:55:00 -0400

The Unimportance of Practically Everything:

None of this would matter if activity and reward were linearly related. But we live in a world where almost everything is worthless and a very few things are exceptionally valuable. This is a counterintuitive idea. After all, the idea that 50% of results come from 50% effort is appealing. It seems fair. Yet, research across many fields paints a very different picture.

Hustle with purpose. Effort makes no difference. Only results matter.

Google vs everyone: an epic war on many fronts — Tech News and Analysis

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 15:52:18 -0400

Google vs everyone: an epic war on many fronts — Tech News and Analysis:

Pride goeth before the fall…

Daring Fireball: iPhone First Impressions

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 15:52:14 -0400

Daring Fireball: iPhone First Impressions:

Still remarkable.

"November 16, 2006, Palm CEO, Ed Colligan “We’ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring..."

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 15:52:06 -0400

“

November 16, 2006, Palm CEO, Ed Colligan

“We’ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in.”

”

- you don’t say…

iPhone turns 5: Here are the naysayers

"Now, we all know delays are part of software as much as anything else. Engineers will work like..."

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 07:24:05 -0400

“Now, we all know delays are part of software as much as anything else. Engineers will work like crazy if their time estimate was off to try and make it work. Engineers don’t hate hard work or long hours; we hate when it doesn’t pay off.”

- The care and feeding of software engineers (or, why engineers are grumpy (Via @MikeLuby)

7 goals in Argentina-Brazil. Three for Messi. This was ideal...

Sat, 09 Jun 2012 21:40:20 -0400

7 goals in Argentina-Brazil. Three for Messi. This was ideal soccer. I will never watch soccer the same. (Taken with Instagram at MetLife Stadium)

Doesn’t quite feel like summer until I go to a baseball...

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 19:04:07 -0400

Doesn’t quite feel like summer until I go to a baseball game. (Taken with instagram)

Q: why is the traffic bearable in LA? A: this #latergram (Taken...

Sat, 19 May 2012 09:32:32 -0400

Q: why is the traffic bearable in LA? A: this #latergram (Taken with Instagram at Venice Beach)

The degree of difficulty when Kobe hits shots is patently...

Fri, 18 May 2012 23:13:13 -0400

The degree of difficulty when Kobe hits shots is patently absurd. #LakeShow! #Playoffs! (Taken with instagram)

notes.unwieldy: The $144,146,165 Button

Mon, 14 May 2012 19:51:58 -0400

notes.unwieldy: The $144,146,165 Button:

unwieldy:

The average New York City taxi cab driver makes $90,747 in revenue per year. There are roughly 13,267 cabs in the city. In 2007, NYC forced cab drivers to begin taking credit cards, which involved installing a touch screen system for payment.

During payment, the user is presented with three…

"Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have..."

Mon, 14 May 2012 17:02:57 -0400

““Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.””

- Teddy Roosevelt

Yah, I’m ok waking up here. (Taken with Instagram at...

Sun, 06 May 2012 08:55:52 -0400

Yah, I’m ok waking up here. (Taken with Instagram at Pocono Lake Preserve)