Tiles from 278 Van Nostrand Avenue

This week I went to my Aunt Florence Jacobowitz's funeral. At the shiva later in Englewood, my cousin Martha Lyons presented me these tiles from the downstairs bathroom, which she found in the attic. My father put in the small bathroom in the sun-room, which he had converted from a porch. The bath was partly for Tiana, his aunt, who moved in with us for a while. Buddy & Florence closed in the windows (lower floor, left) to make the room warmer.

See Click Fix

See Click Fix may be the answer to our dreams. Todd and I were trying to cadge together a reporting system for bike commuters and sidewalk walkers. We used Twitter feeds and an interactive map for users to post their reports.

Chapin Spencer pointed us to SeeClickFix, which does much of this and also allows you to set Watch Areas and direct reports from posts in those areas to the appropriate public official. Here is a first draft:
http://sites.google.com/site/bikereportvt/southburlington/south-burlington-seeclickfix-map

Tweeting the Maps

This blog is about creating tweets that report conditions on bike routes. These link to markers on an interactive map that in turn point to reports on conditions for walking and biking in the Burlington, Vermont, area. Is that clear?

I've been having lots of fun riding around taking pictures of conditions on our bike path system and posting them on an interactive map. Todd Taylor and I established a Twitter account called BikeReportVT. If you post a report on Twitter and use the tag @BikeReportVT, the tweet will show up on the BikeReportVT page . There you can click on a link in the tweet to be taken to an interactive map where you can see the conditions and also add reports of conditions by tweeting from your own Twitter account. Pretty cool.

Here are some recent reports:
davidjacobowitz @BikeReportVT Bikes are not allowed on sidewalks in the Inner Fire District (Great name for a band). http://bit.ly/3frCsD

davidjacobowitz @BikeReportVT Hadley Road one-way is now 2-way for bikes: http://bit.ly/1n4awv

davidjacobowitz @BikeReportVT Now that bollards have been removed from the corner of Swift and Farrell #SBVT, cars have left-turn lane http://bit.ly/44s948

davidjacobowitz @BikeReportVT Recent paving on North Avenue near Burlington High School: http://bit.ly/21hLvI

davidjacobowitz @BikeReportVT Colchester Airport Park bathrooms are closed. Port-a-potty is open: http://bit.ly/2w2rzB

davidjacobowitz @BikeReportVT Bollards on Swift St at Ridgewood Estates removed, bikes riding eastward ride counterflow near traffic: http://bit.ly/2uBIgn

davidjacobowitz @BikeReportVT Bollards removed from the Swift / Spear intersection #SBVT http://bit.ly/LyB4b

View @BikeReportVT in a larger map

Morris Batzer Decommissioned

Every time we tried to retire the old wooden double named Morris Batzer, we couldn't quite bring ourselves to do it. Maybe another layer of fiberglas, clean him up to put on the wall some bar, make an end table... Finally it came to this, October 31, 2009.

From GMR_Boathouse

UVM and Middlebury were dueling it out on the river while we put the SawzAll to the lovely dark plywood shell. Rest in peace.

Bicycle Culture

I got an email from Joshua Lambert, a student at Burlington College. He is doing his 'capstone project, which is documenting the Burlington Bicycle Culture through photographs and audio.' Would I be willing to talk with him?

This made me give a little thought to what makes up the bicycle culture around here.

Here is a list with links.

1. Local Motion
2. Community: Bike Recycle Vermont
   
3. Burlington Walk/Bike Council
4. Vermont Bicycle & Pedestrian Coalition
5. South Burlington Recreation Path Committee
6. Safe Streets Collaborative
7. Chittenden County Metropolitan Planning Organization
8. Bicycle Polo
9. Burlington Bike Path
   
10. UVM Cycling Club
11. Green Mountain Bicycle Club Discussion List
12. Skateboard/Bike Park
    
13. Critical Mass Ride
14. Ski Rack (shop)
15. North Star Cyclery (shop)
16. Old Spokes Home (shop)
17. Earl's Cyclery and Fitness (shop)
18. The Alpine Shop (shop)
19. Commuting Bike Report (traffic and conditions)
20. Touring Group: Silver Spokes
21. Touring Group: Silver Streakers
22. Touring: Colchester Causeway Bike Ferry
    
23. Touring with GMBC
24. Touring: Annual VerMontreal ride to le Tour de l'Ile Montréal
25. Maps: Lake Champlain Bikeways
    
26. Maps: Local Motion Trailside Center Sales
    
27. Racing: Green Mountain Stage Race
    
28. Racing: Burlington Criterium is part of the GMSR
    
29. Racing: Mountain Bikes at Catamount: Cyclocross
    
30. Racing: Mountain Bikes at Sleepy Hollow
31. Fellowship of the Wheel, FOW
    
32. Racing: Colchester Triathlon
33. Racing: Burlington Triathlon
    

Visit from Librarian

Jessamyn visited last evening and helped me figure out a bunch of techie issues. I've been working with Todd Taylor at Local Motion to put together a system for reporting bad conditions on the paths and bike routes around here. We are using Twitter to gather reports, which are then posted at a website along with an interactive map to give users an idea of where the problems lie.

Albuquerque

In late October I flew out to Albuquerque to visit my cousins Beth and Judy. Beth is 6 months older than me and Judy is about Ira's age. We timed the trip to meet Ira and his motorcycle buddies Bill Leenheer and Wayne Miller.


Motorcycle Gang: Ira, Wayne, Uncle Bill, (Judy, Bike Chick).


Beth's boys are Steve Shain and Matthew Shain. They are each married and each has a child.
Steve and Stacie are parents of Kadin, and Matt and Jeannie have Lilly. Lilly is a conscientious student. She had her books open and worked on her projects while visiting with the family. Judy helped her set up an interview with an expert on cults, which is the topic of her project.

Kadin is 11 and rides horses and ropes. He explained how he heads off the cow and ropes the head and his cousin ropes the rear legs.


Dave & Kadin play miniature golf on the phone.

That's Uncle Bill in the background.

The Palace Almost Kills Josh Farr

I stopped to help a young artist who was working on a set of stone etc sculptures/constructions on the Lake Champlain shore near the water treatment plant and railroad roundhouse. Josh staggered up from the lake; he was trying to place a rock high on one of the sculptures and it fell on his head. He was bleeding and was pretty disoriented. He knew he needed help.
We called 911 and the EMT folks came and checked him out.

I looked for him over the next few weeks and didn't see him. Feared the worst. But Josh had told me where he went to school, so I called the registrar and she sent him a message. He's OK.

He started this blog to post photos of the installation. Josh Farr and Mikhaela Stinson's The Palace.: http://thepalaceburlington.blogspot.com/

Here are the "After" photos, taken in mid-October, 2009.

sculpture

Shag Bark Hickory Ride

I stopped by Tim Parsons' house on the way back from Colchester. He is back riding after separating his acromioclavicular joint (same as I did years ago). He wanted to visit the scene of his crash, so we rode down to Oakledge Park. He's taking a tree-identification course and wants to decide which trees to keep on the beach in his neighborhood. Can we identify a shag bark hickory? As a matter of fact, there is one right in Oakledge. A grand old dame. We had a visit and Tim took a twig to help identify the sample back home.

Forrest Church

Jay Gallagher, famous cancer patient, has blogged about Love & Death, a recent book by Forrest Church. Church himself recently died of cancer. He wrote about his reaction to his diagnosis from the point of view of his role as a Unitarian minister. I heard him interviewed by Terri Gross; he allowed as how he had reconciled himself to his impending death, but his wife pointed out that there were others involved who might not have arrived at that state. Jay has been writing a lot about life and death -- as well as politics, his great joy and bemusement.

Postcard from Wolf Translated

Henny Lewin, who taught a course in Yiddish that I took at UVM, was kind enough to attempt a translation of Great Grandfather Wolf's postcard to his son, Elias, my grandfather.

The original image annotated.

Societa Italiana Auto Trasformazioni Accessori

Bob Immler sent some links to Siatas. These wonderful classic Italian cars were coveted by collectors and cognicenti. The car with the closed light lids was owned by Norman Jacobowitz.

Bob sent a link to a collection of Siata history.

The red car here was owned by Steve McQueen.

Siata stands for

Societa Italiana Auto Trasformazioni Accessori (Italian car modification company; est. 1926; Turin, Italy)

Elm Bark Burn 2

Another bark problem with elm tree on Phase III Rec Path,

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=maple+research+station,+spear+street,+south+burlington,+vt&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=33.352165,78.662109&ie=UTF8&ll=44.453439,-73.189212&spn=0.001834,0.004801&t=h&z=18&lci=com.panoramio.all

Linda Related to Duck.

Elizabeth Duck is Linda Rodd's 8th great grandmother.

Linda Rodd

Ted Rodd
her father

Lela Rodd
his mother

James Calvert
her father

Joseph Calvert
his father

John Calvert
his father

John Calvert
his father

Joseph Calvert
his father

Thomas Calvert
his father

Deborah Calvert (Harlan)
his mother

Elizabeth Duck
her mother

Mmmm, Pie

Here's what happens when you go blueberry picking and then make a pie. It gets eaten. Yummy.

Beeping Guitars

Saul' company, Harmonix, makes the cover of NYTimes Magazine.

These guys have hired lots of people in the Cambridge area. Saul seems to fit right in.
He says they have given him a task and the resources to do it, and have let him at it.
Audio Quality Assurance. I'm not sure he's working on the Beatles project.

I was looking at phono postcards from a link at Jess's Metafilter site.

Here were postcards that you could listen to from the early 20th century.
I believe that my dad pressed some of these that were inserted in the backs of books or other promotional materials. They were usually cheaply produced and did not bear much playing.
Read more of the story at http://www.lotz-verlag.de/Online-Disco-Phonocards.html

Kathy Lapan Camera Swap

Bob Immler, Michele Immler and their friend Kathy Lapan stayed with us on Thursday night before attempting their ride around Lake Champlain. Lou Bresee, Tim Parsons and I rode with them up toward the islands. We stopped in Colchester where Lou and I headed back.

From 2009 Bike Rides

Lou took this photo with Kathy's camera, which then wound up in my camera case.

Kathy is a school teacher in Guilford. She developed a curriculum for a one-room schoolhouse.
It turns out that Tim had been a principal in that system in the old days.

Bear the Malamute

Bruce Cunningham sent this photo of our old malamute, Bear, taken in 1981. He was a good dog. A bit aggressive, but very sweet with Linda and me. The kids had a more difficult time.

We got him from Manus (now Daniel) and Jill Pinkwater in North Carolina. His parents were Juno and Arnold. Arnold was a beautiful and quirky animal. Once we were taking care of him and he played the 'poor abused malamute' ploy by hiding under the kitchen table and complaining that we were beating the living shit out of him. I grabbed him and took him outside and had a firm discussion about appropriate malamute behavior.

Let me see if I can find a picture of these dogs.

Hornpipe at Point Bay Marina, Lake Champlain, Vermont

 

 

A fine Sunday sail with Stu and Corrie Graves.
Point Bay Marina on Thompson's Point, Lake Champlain.

Morton Men Scan Project

 

We brought back a whole bucket of photos to scan for the genealogy project.
These young Morton men are Linda's uncles, Edwin, Donald and Harold.

Saul's Birth Day Photo

The Burlington Free Press did a feature for Father's Day, 1980. We agreed to allow a reporter and photographer to visit our home in Winooski, where as luck would have it, Saul would soon be born.

This was the cover of the Vermonter section on birthing options published on Sunday, June 15, 1980. Here is scan of the article in several pieces, named homebirth*.jpg.

Jan van der Ende Visits Burlington

After a 20-year electronic friendship, Jan and I finally met in person. He has worked with ASEBA materials in the Netherlands as a researcher and distributor. June 2009 was the occasion of a big ASEBA conference in Burlington, and Jan attended, along with researchers from all over the world. These are people whose names I had known, but had met only a few. I'm sorry that Linda and I were out of town for all but the last day of the conference. Jan and I took the afternoon to ride out to the "Cut" on the Colchester Causeway.

So what is the etymology of "causeway?" It has to do with heels and sheep.
Here is a photo from an earlier visit to the Causeway.

Ken's Good Ride Around De Kalb

We made it to De Kalb through a pretty good rain around Chicago.

Ken took me for a ride this morning. We went to the outskirts of Sycamore and then past Oak Crest, where Ted Rodd spent the end of his life.


Yesterday we took a 3 hour break in Kinderhook, MI. Linda went for a walk and I took a ride.
Since I didn't know where I was going, I called her whenever I made a turn. This turned out to be a bad idea. She was not enjoying playing support. Next time I'll do and out-and-back while she walks.

Postcard from Wolf

Sol Krongelb has a postcard dated December 13, 1912, from my great-grandfather Wolf Jacobowitz to his son, my grandfather Elias Jacobowitz at 7 Montgomery Street, Jersey City, NY. This is the address of the cigar store Elias managed with his brothers.

View Larger Map

The return address is 112-14 E. 111th Street, NYC. Pretty far from the Lower East Side. The text is in Yiddish. The language is formal, in that Wolf signs his full name.



View Larger Map

le Tour de l'Île de Montréal 2009

Four days of great weather. We rode from South Hero to Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu on the first day. Then to Granby by way of Bromont and Yamaska Provincial Park on Day 2.
Day 3 took us to Chambly (see the rapids, fort, and canal) and then to Longueuil, where there is a bike/ped ferry that takes you to downtown Montreal. We rode up the hill to the Crown Plaza, which is right on the route of le Tour de l'Île de Montréal.

(I left my fanny pack with wallet, money, id, and passport at a rest stop and I had a serious panic before Charlene called and confirmed that the support folks found it.)

From Vermontreal 2009

All my photos:

Vermontreal 2009

Saul and the Beatles

Saul works at Harmonix, the publisher of RockBand, in Audio Quality Assurance.
He is now free to reveal what he has been working on:

beatles game trailer

Saul J

9:17 AM (12 hours ago)
http://www.thebeatlesrockband.com/trailer.php

it's official.

--
Saul Jacobowitz
address and contact elided.

To Las Vegas

Concept II and Cabot Cheese have me hooked.
If I log my time exercising they will convert the time to distance.
When I get from Vermont to Las Vegas, I will have had many chances to win prizes.
Log time at http://www.cabotcheese.coop/vermont-to-las-vegas/

Maps Maps Maps

Here is the full 4-day version of the 2009 Local Motion VerMontreal Ride.

View VerMontreal Tour - 4-Day Route in a larger map

There is a 3-day version as well. We ride up to Montreal for the annual
Tour de l'Ile.
This year is the 25th running and they expect 30,000 riders.

I've been using MapMyRide to generate the routes under the direction of Lou Bresee.
He knows where the route leaves the road and follows the excellent Route Verte paths.
Here is the section from the start of the third day -- from Granby to Chambly.


From Chambly the route is the same as that taken by the 3-day ride.
I'll post a link to the entire map when I get it.

I've also been helping out with the Local Motion Trail Finder. Todd Taylor has been doing a fabulous job making this site deep and informative.

I've been talking to municipalities and other entities that manage trails and asking them to link to the places on the Trail Finder where the trails are posted. For example, Burlington Parks and Recreation lists their Ethan Allen Park at this link. There is a link on that page to the trail maps that Local Motion volunteers put together with GPS devices and Google Earth. Here is the link.

VerMontreal Day 2 of 4 Maps

Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu to Bromont (Morning)

Lunch in Bromont to Granby for Dinner.

Bad Knee Follow-Up

After the knee felt sore I did a lot of gentle bike riding. I led the Covered Bridges Ride, went out with the Silver Spokes, did a morning ride with Tim, and took several hour-and-a-half long afternoon rides.

All these things were supposed to help the knee get gentle action to clear up the soreness, but what happened was that the quadriceps tendon got even more inflamed. Finally on Saturday evening (the 9th) Linda talked me into calling the nurse hot line. The nurse on duty heard 'red' and 'swelling' and 'hot' and worried that there was an infection. So I went to Fanny Allen 'walk-in' clinic on Sunday morning. A great way to spend Mother's Day with Linda.

Not an infection. But lay off the riding. Ice it. Rest it. Ibuprofen. Elevate. Don't ride.
I wonder if I will be ready to help with the VerMontreal ride with Lou the first week of June.
(We were going to check out the route last week, but it rained.) Time to re-evaluate.

Traffic Skills 101 Follow-Up

We had a dozen + students for the Traffic Skills class.
Ken Picard from Seven Days was there and wrote this article.

Student feedback indicated that the parking lot drills were not well organized, the on-road part was also not long enough or well-coordinated. There was a lot of standing around in iffy weather. It rained during lunch, so we decided to stay indoors and watched a video until the rain cleared a bit.

The three lane change to a left turn from the LTO lane was not pure. A light pulsed the auto traffic and several bike riders would wind up at the next light so they couldn't produce an independent set of lane change maneuvers.

Also, we offered to teach how to change a tire but only discussed it. Next time get a real wheel, tire and tube.

Motorcycle Skills Test Failed

It couldn't have gone worse. The weather was changing. I found the DMV CDL and Motorcycle Test Course at Fort Ethan Allen to be much smaller than I expected.

View Larger Map


I had an early lunch and made sure I had the registration, insurance paper, my license, motorcycle learner's permit and passport (for identification) and headed out to the Fort on the Triumph Bonneville I borrowed from Bruce Cunningham.

There was a steady stream of young men there to take their skills test.

I walked out in the parking lot to see what the course looked like, but the inspector cautioned me back to the grass. The guy ahead of me took his time and asked for clarification. Good moves.

The course was much smaller than the parking lots I have been using for practice. It would have been a good idea to measure out and create a copy of the course for myself.

The first exercise was to ride right around the first pylon, weave left and right, and exit the last one into a U-turn back to the other side and stop in a box. Well, I started left and so by the end of the pylons I was on the wrong side. The inspector let me take it again. This time I put my foot down in the U-turn. But I stopped OK.

The next exercise was to go 12-20 mph from a standing start, and after passing a line, stop quickly. I slowed the bike and didn't do the exercise in the time limit. So the inspector let me try again. This time when I stopped I forgot to pull in the clutch and stalled the Bonnie. When I went to start again, the box was still in gear, so it lurched and fell over. I don't think I could have made more mistakes.

Now my left leg is sore from where I tried to hold up the falling motorcycle. No damage to the bike, Bruce.

The wind started up and blew papers all around. The inspector told me I could reschedule and comeback. I think maybe there are good reasons to test rusty motorcycle riders.

Traffic Skills 101

Preparing to teach Traffic Skills 101.
This used to be called LAB Road I.
http://www.bikeleague.org/cogs/programs/education/course_detail/2157
I'm teaching with Nancy Schulz of the Vermont Bicycle & Pedestrian Coalition.

Google Presentation works like Powerpoint. This may not work for you.
http://docs.google.com/Presentation?docid=dptw5hx_119c6jtmd6&hl=en

Jacobowitz descendents

Jacobowitz descendents

Letter from Jiri Jacobowitz in Brazil to Harold Krongelb and David Jacobowitz

February 25, 2009; 8:04 AM

Dear Harold and David,
I am realy very glad that thanks to you and David we are able to renew
contact wirh our american relatives.
Before your mother Gladys has the chance to contact us, we know only
that our great grandparente Esther and Bernath immigrated with they
children (excepting the oldest daughter Fanny) to USA so about 1895.
After we have contact with great uncles Jonas and Arnold (Jacoby). Only
through your mother we have informations about Chava's and Wolf's
family.
So my grandmother Fanny and her husband Arnold Jakobowicz (I suppose
that they was cousins) remains in Szobránc (a little village in
Austro-Hungarian Monarchie) and moved to Komancza (Poland) in 1890),
where was born Josef (my father - 1891-1943), Sala (1897-1944), Kuba
(1898-19440 and Herman (1901-1976). Arnold died in Vienna (1916) and my
grandmother Fanny married Sigfried) in Budapes so about 1930, but
divorced 2-3 years latter, when she moved to Ungvár and lives withm her
daughter Sala.
That time also my father's family lives in Ungvár (a city 18 km. far
from Szobránc, village where was born Chava, Wolf and Bernath and
their kids including my grandparents Fanny and Arnold. The youngest son
of Fanny, HERMAN, imigrated to Brazil in 1927, where he constructed
with aunt Dora a nice family.
In 2006 I visited Ungvár and Szobránc, but to the 2 w.w.'s and
political changes I was unable too get some additional informations.
Your mother sent us an invitation to Jacobowitz Jamboree 1989, but
unfortunaly it was not possible to attend her invitation. SORRY ....
Myself: I have 5 greatsons, 4 greatdaughters and 2 great-great
daughters (twins).
I hope that this time we will mantain contacts, because it is very
pleasing to know any news about our family.
Best regards Jiri and brazilian family
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Na Oi Internet você ganha ou ganha. Além de acesso grátis com
qualidade, você pode ter contas ilimitadas de email com 1 giga cada uma,
suporte grátis e muito mais. Baixe grátis o Discador Oi em
http://www.oi.com.br/discador e comece a ganhar.

Agora, se o seu negócio é voar alto na internet,
assine Oi Internet Banda Larga e ganhe o modem grátis. Clique em
http://www.oi.com.br/bandalarga e aproveite essa moleza!

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Resumé

Resumé -- David Jacobowitz

Home Address:
9 Andrews Avenue, South Burlington
VT 05403-7811.
Phone (802) 658-6536
Cell (802) 578-8803
E-mail: David.Jacobowitz@uvm.edu
E-mail: davidjacobowitz00v@gmail.com

Web page: http//:www.uvm.edu/~djacobow/

Professional Development:

Clerk; US Dept of the Census, Bureau of Commerce, late 2008

A short-lived retirement pursuit that was not a good fit.

Researcher/Analyst, 2004 - 2008 (retired at the end of May, 2008)
Statistician Programmer November, 1987-2004
ASEBA, University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry, Thomas M. Achenbach, Director.
- Devise psychological assessment instruments for children and write software to score and present the results. Conduct associated statistical studies. Design forms and procedures for automated processing. Support users of software. Support computer use within our group. Application programming in Pascal, FoxPro, dBASE, and BASIC, and statistical programming in SAS, SPSS, and other statistical packages.

Computer Analyst Programmer 1985-1987
State of Vermont, Department of Health, Statistics Division
Burlington, VT. Steve Kappel, Supervisor, Mary Ann Freedman, Director
- Direct the data processing of the Hospital Data Council's review of all Vermont hospital budgets. Produce hospital-specific and statewide reports of budgets. Wrote Lotus 123 macros to allow hospitals to submit their budgets on disk. Program the Hospital Utilization database; Design research and fill statistical data requests; produce the Utilization Monograph series. Serve as SPSS-X coordinator on DEC 2040 under TOPS 20. Act as microcomputer specialist; create procedures to pass data between micros and mainframes; programming in PL1022, Lotus 123, SPSS-X and BMDP. Support and train micro computer users.

Research and Statistics Analyst 1984-1985
State of Vermont, Department of Social Welfare, Waterbury, VT, Donna Jenckes, Supervisor
- Create an extract of the ongoing caseload for statistical analysis; design simulations of effects of rule changes and population projections on departmental resource allocation. Programming in Natural against Adabas under CICS (16 months), SPSS-X under CMS (24 months), and FOCUS (4 months) on an IBM 3081. Develop specifications for purchase of microcomputers; configure systems and recommend purchase of hardware and software. Programming in Knowledgeman database manager, BASIC, Lotus 123 and DOS utilities. Train and support other workers on microcomputers using spreadsheets, database managers, word processors, and graphics software and hardware.

Research and Statistics Specialist 1982-1983
Vermont Department of Social Welfare (as above), Gerald Mayer, Supervisor.
- Design, implement and analyze studies of departmental function using SPSS. Provide small database for ad hoc information requests. Facilitate conversion to SPSS-X and advise on acquisition of microcomputers.

Director of Education 1981-1982
The Computer School, Winooski, VT, Gordon Jackson, President.
- Design curriculum and teach courses in microcomputer data processing, word processing, and BASIC programming on TRS-80 microcomputers. Design computer assisted education modules in BASIC.

Instructor and Adjunct Faculty 1979-1983
University of Vermont, Church Street Center, Burlington, VT.
- Teach courses in computer literacy and programming on microcomputers and DEC 2040. Create computer assisted training modules using GNOSIS written in ALGOL.

Lecturer in Statistics 1980
Basic and Applied Social Sciences
Trinity College, Burlington, VT, Barbara Cheng, co-teacher.
- Teach Introductory Statistics and direct student projects.

Adjunct Faculty 1980
Department of Psychology, Johnson State College, Johnson, VT.
- Teach courses in Social Psychology and Adolescent Psychology and supervise student research.

Lecturer in Psychology 1972-1979
Department of Psychology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT., Richard Musty, Chairman
- Teach courses in Psycholinguistics, developmental, systematic, child, memory, consciousness and introductory psychology. Program in FORTRAN (12 months on DEC 2040) and in SPSS (6 months).

Research Consultant 1975-1976
Vermont Child Development Project, Jon Rolf, Director.
- Provide FORTRAN programming (6 months) for factor analysis project.

Other programming experience: BASIC programming on Commodore 64 at home. Short courses with children on word processing and LOGO at The SchoolHouse. In service training for teachers and staff on computer concepts at The School House.

Education:
Work toward Ph.D. 1967-1970
Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Developmental Psychology and Psycholinguistics
M.A. in Psychology 1967
Hollins College, Roanoke, VA. Experimental Psychology
A.B. in Government 1965
Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY. College Newspaper, Community Council.
Course work in Statistics and Computer Programming
PSYC 380, Structural Equation Modeling (Howell), Spring, 1995
STAT 223, Applied Multivariate Analyses (Mickey), Fall, 1990, UVM
CS 12, Computer Programming, Spring, 1989, UVM

University Teaching:
North Carolina State University 1971-1972 Psychology.
North Carolina Central University 1971 Psychology.
University of North Carolina, 1967-1969 Teaching Assistant

Community service:

South Burlington Recreation Path Committee: 2004 to present, Chair since 2009.
Vermont Bicycle and Pedestrian Coalition: 1999 to present, Treasurer through 2003. Secretary December 2003 -2005?.
Vermont Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports: Councior, August, 1996 to November, 2003; Treasurer, April, 1997 to 1999.
Winooski Valley Park District: Representative from Winooski and chairperson (one year): (1978 - 1986).
Green Mountain Athletic Association: Past President and newsletter editor.
Green Mountain Bicycle Club: Longtime member and former newsletter editor. Current manager of GMBC-L, discussion list.

Personal Information:
Date of Birth: June 13, 1942
Place of Birth: Jersey City, N.J.
Home Address: 9 Andrews Avenue, South Burlington, VT 05403-7811. Phone (802) 658-6536

Other Activities:
Course: Myths and Legends of the Trojan War, Robert Rodgers, Fall, 2001, UVM
Short Course: Trees of Vermont, Fall, 2000, UVM

Short Course: Blues (with Clyde Stats), Fall, 1997, UVM
Course: The Novels of Vladimir Nabokov (with Kevin McKenna), Fall, 1999, UVM
Course: World Music (with Tom Toner), Spring, 1996, UVM
Course: Yiddish (with Henia Levin), Spring, 1995, UVM
Memberships: GMAA, Green Mountain Bicycle Club, Burlington Rowing Club
Runner, race director, finish line timing and scoring for Vermont City Marathon and Burlington Triathlon, bicycle commute and tour, volleyball player, rower (scull on water and ergometer).
From 1995 to 1999 I participated in the World Indoor Rowing Championships (CRASH-B Sprints).
Volunteer basketball and baseball coach, South Burlington youth leagues, fund raising for The International Experience

Personal:
Married to Linda J. Rodd, Ph.D. Two children: Eli Snow Rodd Jacobowitz (b.1977) and Saul Abraham Rodd Jacobowitz (b.1980).

Jacobowitzes in Brazil

Barbara Jakubovic Canejo

My great grandfather Wolf's brother Bernath had children who moved to Brazil.
Barbara Jakubovic Canejo is my third cousin twice removed.

Me →Norman Jacobowitz my father → Elias Jacobowitz his father → Wolf Jacobowitz his father → Bernath Jacobowitz his brother → Fany his daughter → Josef JACOBOWITZ her son → Jiri JACOBOWITZ his son → Suzana JACOBOWITZ his daughter → Barbara Jakubovic Canejo her daughter.

Who knew?

Leah Kreinik Jacobowitz's Birthplace

View Larger Map

I'm putting more details in the genealogical software.

I couldn't insert the link or the map directly over there.

Mel Looks Thinner These Days

Mel

Eli got Mel as a kitten in about 1989. She was always self-assured and assertive. She would face down dogs who dared to pass the house. She and Philo were great friends, though. He came to our house as a puppy, and Mel took to him right away.




Mel has a kidney disease and had lost a lot of weight. We put her on a special renal diet. She also can't hear very well, which means that she speaks very loudly when she is looking for us. Being thin she needs to seek out auxiliary heat -- mostly Linda's lap and our bedclothes at night.





Here she is last summer on the lawn:

From Family_Photos

Re-Retired or Just Tired

I left the Census today. I'm a poor fit in the kind of military organization that is the Census.
"Management by Humiliation" seems to be the norm. My emotional reaction gets in the way of doing a good job and feeling that I am actually retired.

Pyrophones, Fire Organs

Jessamyn must have noticed my previous post, because she expanded on the topic at MetaFilter.
I'm still getting used to this kind of communication.

Fire Organ/Pyrophone

Linda and I were in Bristol, Vermont, on New Year's Eve for "Best Night." Linda's music group, Full Circle was playing at the Baptist Church on the green. On the way across the green we saw Antoinette Jacobson playing her Fire Organ.

Antoinette's sister Nora made a film, Nothing Like Dreaming, about some Vermonters that featured the Fire Organ. She showed it at Colby-Sawyer in 2004. This review explains that Antoinette and Michel Moglia built the large organ used for the film and a series of smaller organs like the one we saw on the Bristol Green.

There is an interesting history of musical instruments that use fire, heat, or explosions to vibrate tubes or pipes. Physicist Georges Fredric Eugene Kastner created one in 1875.