Traditional Hanukkah foods (Spoon University) are often fried or cooked in oil, symbolizing the miracle of the oil that lasted eight days in the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.
Latkes (Potato Pancakes): Grated potatoes mixed with onions, eggs, and flour, then fried until crispy. They are often served with applesauce or sour cream.
Sufganiyot (Jelly-filled Doughnuts): Deep-fried doughnuts filled with jelly or custard and dusted with powdered sugar. They represent the oil that miraculously burned for eight days.
Brisket: Slow-cooked beef brisket is a popular main course for Hanukkah dinners.
Applesauce: Often served as a topping for latkes or as a side dish.
Matzo Ball Soup: While traditionally associated with Passover, some families also serve matzo ball soup during Hanukkah. It consists of light, fluffy dumplings made from matzo meal in a chicken broth.
Kugel: A baked casserole dish that can be sweet or savory, made with noodles, potatoes, or other ingredients.
Chocolate Gelt: Chocolate coins wrapped in gold or silver foil, often used in the game of dreidel.
Dreidel Cookies: Cookies shaped like the spinning top used in the traditional Hanukkah game of dreidel.
Cheese: In reference to the story of Judith, who is said to have fed cheese to an enemy general to make him thirsty and then gave him wine to make him drunk.
NFPA 72 National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code is one of the core National Fire Protection Association titles widely incorporated by reference into public safety legislation. NFPA 72 competes with titles of “similar” scope — International Fire Code — developed by the International Code Council. We place air quotes around the word similar because there are gaps and overlaps depending upon whether or not each is adopted partially or whole cloth by the tens of thousands of jurisdictions that need both.
Our contact with NFPA 72 dates back to the early 2000’s when the original University of Michigan advocacy enterprise began challenging the prescriptive requirements for inspection, testing and maintenance (IT&M) in Chapter 14. There are hundreds of fire alarm shops, and thousands of licensed fire alarm technicians in the education facility industry and the managers of this cadre of experts needed leadership in supporting their lower #TotalCostofOwnership agenda with “code-writing and vote-getting”. There was no education industry trade association that was even interested, much less effective, in this space so we had to do “code writing and vote getting” ourselves (See ABOUT).
Code writing and vote getting means that you gather data, develop relationships with like minded user-interests, find agreement where you can, then write proposals and defend them at NFPA 72 technical committee meetings for 3 to 6 years. Prevailing in the Sturm und Drang of code development for 3 to 6 years should be within the means of business units of colleges and universities that have been in existence for 100’s of years. The real assets under the stewardship of these business units are among the most valuable real assets on earth.
Consider the standard of care for inspection, testing and maintenance. Our cross-cutting experience in over 100 standards suites allows us to say with some authority that, at best the IT&M tables of NFPA 72 Chapter 14 present easily enforceable criteria for IT&M of fire alarm and signaling systems. At worst, Chapter 14 is a solid example of market-making by incumbent interests as the US standards system allows. Many of the IT&M requirements can be modified for a reliability, or risk-informed centered maintenance program but fire and security shops in the education industry are afraid to apply performance standards because of risk exposure. This condition is made more difficult in large universities that have their own maintenance and enforcement staff. The technicians see opportunities to reduce IT&M frequencies — thereby saving costs for the academic unit facility managers — the enforcement/compliance/conformity/risk management professionals prohibit the application of performance standards. They want prescriptive standards for bright line criteria to make their work easier to measure.
While we have historically focused on Chapter 14 we have since expanded our interest into communication technologies within buildings since technicians and public safety personnel depend upon them. Content in Annex G — Guidelines for Emergency Communication Strategies for Buildings and Campuses — is a solid starting point and reflects of our presence when the guidance first appeared in the 2016 Edition. We shall start with a review of the most recent transcript of the NFPA Technical Committee on Testing and Maintenance of Fire Alarm and Signaling Systems
Public comment of the First Draft of the 2025 Edition is receivable until May 31, 2023. As always, we encourage direct participation in the NFPA process by workpoint experts with experience, data and even strong opinions about shortcomings and waste in this discipline. You may key in your proposals on the NFPA public input facility linked below:
You will need to set up a (free) NFPA TerraView account. Alternatively, you may join us any day at 11 AM US Eastern time or during our Prometheus or Radio colloquia. See our CALENDAR for the online meeting.
Issue: [15-213]
Category: Fire Safety & Security, #SmartCampus, Informatics
Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Joe DeRosier, Josh Elvove, Jim Harvey, Marcelo Hirschler
The development of this standard is coordinated with the ICC Group A Codes. We have tracked concepts in it previous revisions; available in the link below.
As always, we encourage our colleagues with workpoint experience to participate directly in the ICC Code Development process. CLICK HERE to get started.
Issue: [15-283]
Category: Athletics & Recreation, Architectural, Public Safety
Contact: Mike Anthony, Jack Janveja, Richard Robben
Sport programs, facilities and equipment support one of the most visible and emotionally engaging enterprises in the education communities. These programs are central to the brand identity of the community and last, but not least, physical activity keeps our young people healthy in body and mind.
ASTM International is one of the first names among the 300-odd ANSI accredited standards setting organizations whose due processes discover and promulgate the standard of care for the design, construction, operations and maintenance of the facilities that support these enterprises. The parent committee is linked below:
While ASTM bibliography is largely product-oriented, there are many titles that set the standard of care for sport enterprises and the accessories to these enterprises. To identify a few:
When the General Requirements of an athletic facility construction project indicates: “Conform to all applicable standards” then, in the case of an sport facility, the ASTM title is likely the document that defines the standard of care from a product standpoint. Interoperability of the products in a sport setting are quite another matter.
The ASTM standards development process depends heavily on face-to-face meetings — typically two times per year – in different parts of the United States. The benefit of this arrangement lies in the quality of discussion among subject matter experts that results produced from face-to-face discussion. The price to pay for this quality, however, lies in the cost of attendance for the user-interest in the education industry. Relatively few subject matter experts directly employed by a school district, college or university who are charged with lowering #TotalCostofOwnership can attend the meetings. Many of the subject matter experts who are in attendance at the ASTM meetings from the education industry tend to be faculty who are retained by manufacturers, insurance, testing laboratories, conformity and compliance interests. (See our discussion of Incumbent Interests)
That much said, ASTM welcomes subject matter experts on its technical committees (Click here) We encourage participation by end users from the education industry — many of them in the middle of athletic facility management organization charts. The parent committee meets twice a year; after which we usually find public review redlines developed during those meetings to hit our radar. The link to the schedule of face-to-face meetings appears below:
Note that the August 2020 cancelled but the November 2020 meeting still appears on the schedule. It is likely that much of the committee work will be done online.
We are required to review draft ASTM consensus products with some care — owing to copyright restrictions — so we do it interactively online during teleconferences devoted to Sport. See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.
Why are there at least 10 publicly funded radio stations receivable in a 75 mile radius (back and forth, up and down) the I-94/I-75 corridor of Michigan — all of them domiciled in public universities? These stations also receive revenue from other non-profit organizations, unending funding drives and private advertising from multinational financing organizations such as Schwab, Fidelity and other for-profit corporations. Most of them purchase their “content” from the same source; reflecting the same large government bias seen across the entire nation; concentrated in college towns with spotty intellectual history.
Within an approximate 50 mile radius of the University of Michigan, five national public radio stations are receivable:
WUOM University of Michigan Ann Arbor
WEMU Eastern Michigan University
WDET Wayne State University
WKAR Michigan State University
WGTE University of Toledo
Move 25 miles to the northwest and two more are receivable:
Standards for radio broadcast coverage can vary depending on factors like location, broadcasting technology, and regulatory requirements. Here’s a general list covering various aspects:
Technical Standards:
Transmission Power and Frequency Allocation: Standards set by regulatory bodies like the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States or Ofcom in the UK regulate the power levels and frequencies allocated to radio stations to prevent interference.
Audio Quality: Standards for audio encoding and decoding, such as those defined by organizations like the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) or the Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) standards.
Antenna Design and Installation: Standards for antenna design, placement, and maintenance to ensure efficient transmission and coverage.
Content Standards:
Language and Content Regulations: Regulations on language, decency, and content suitability enforced by regulatory bodies to ensure broadcasts adhere to community standards and do not contain offensive or harmful material.
Advertising Standards: Guidelines on the content and placement of advertisements to prevent deceptive practices and ensure fairness and transparency.
Copyright and Licensing: Regulations governing the use of copyrighted material and licensing agreements for broadcasting music, interviews, and other content.
Emergency Broadcast Standards:
Emergency Alert Systems (EAS): Standards for implementing emergency alert systems to disseminate important information to the public during emergencies or disasters.
Public Safety Communications: Standards for communication protocols and procedures to coordinate with emergency services and agencies during crises.
Accessibility Standards:
Closed Captioning: Standards for providing closed captioning for the hearing impaired, ensuring accessibility to radio broadcasts.
Descriptive Video Service (DVS): Standards for providing audio descriptions of visual content for the visually impaired.
Ethical Standards:
Journalistic Integrity: Guidelines for ethical reporting and journalism standards, including accuracy, fairness, and impartiality.
Disclosure of Sponsored Content: Standards for disclosing sponsored or paid content to maintain transparency and trust with the audience.
Conflict of Interest Policies: Standards for identifying and managing conflicts of interest in news reporting and programming.
Health and Safety Standards:
Electromagnetic Radiation Exposure Limits: Standards set by health organizations and regulatory bodies to limit human exposure to electromagnetic radiation emitted by radio transmitters.
Workplace Safety: Standards for ensuring the safety of radio station personnel and compliance with occupational health and safety regulations.
These standards are often enforced by governmental regulatory agencies, industry organizations, and professional associations to ensure the quality, integrity, and safety of radio broadcast coverage.
National Public Radio is the soundtrack of American academia and American academia has always been partial to large government:
“It was always the woman, and above all the young ones who where the most bigoted adherents to the party” — (George Orwell, ‘1984’)
“View of the Colosseum” 1747 Giovanni Paolo Panini
Play is the making of civilization—how one plays the game
more to the point than whether the game is won or lost.
The purpose of this standard is to establish the minimum requirements to safeguard health, safety and general welfare through structural strength, means of egress facilities, stability and safety to life and property relative to the construction, alteration, repair, operation and maintenance of new and existing temporary and permanent bench bleacher, folding and telescopic seating and grandstands. This standard is intended for adoption by government agencies and organizations setting model codes to achieve uniformity in technical design criteria in building codes and other regulations.
This title is on the standing agenda of our Sport, Olahraga (Indonesian), رياضة (Arabic), colloquia. You are welcomed to join us any day at with the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.
At the April International Code Council Group A Hearings there were three candidate code changes related to the safety standard of care for athletic venues:
These concepts will likely be coordinated with another ICC regulatory product —ICC 300 – Standard on Bleachers, Folding and Telescopic Seating, and Grandstands — covered here previously. ICC 300 is a separate document but some of the safety concepts track through both.
The ICC Public Comment Hearings on Group A comments in Richmond Virginia ended a few days ago (CLICK HERE). The balloting is being processed by the appropriate committee and will be released soon. For the moment, we are happy to walk through the proposed changes – that will become part of the 2021 International Building Code — any day at 11 AM Eastern time. We will walk through all athletic and recreation enterprise codes and standards on Friday, November 2nd, 11 AM Eastern time. For access to either teleconference, click on the LIVE Link at the upper right corner of our home page.
Issue: [15-283]
Category: Athletics & Recreation, Architectural, Public Safety
Contact: Mike Anthony, Richard Robben, Jack Janveja
The International Code Council has launched a new revision cycle for its consensus document — ICC 300 – Standard on Bleachers, Folding and Telescopic Seating, and Grandstands. The purpose of the effort is the development of appropriate, reasonable, and enforceable model health and safety provisions for new and existing installations of all types of bleachers and bleacher-type seating, including fixed and folding bleachers for indoor, outdoor, temporary, and permanent installations. Such provisions would serve as a model for adoption and use by enforcement agencies at all levels of government in the interest of national uniformity.
Comments are due December 4th. The document is free. You may obtain an electronic copy from: https://www.iccsafe.org/codes-techsupport/standards/is-ble/. Comments may be sent to Edward Wirtschoreck, (888) 422-7233, ewirtschoreck@iccsafe with copy to psa@ansi.org)
* With some authority, we can claim that without Standards Michigan, many education industry trade associations would not be as involved in asserting the interest of facility managers in global consensus standards development processes. See ABOUT.
New update alert! The 2022 update to the Trademark Assignment Dataset is now available online. Find 1.29 million trademark assignments, involving 2.28 million unique trademark properties issued by the USPTO between March 1952 and January 2023: https://t.co/njrDAbSpwBpic.twitter.com/GkAXrHoQ9T
