Credit Default Swaps

Matt Taibbi has written an excellent article for Rolling Stone on the financial crisis, including a scathing indictment of AIG as well as a good explanation of credit default swaps and other instruments of failure.

The mistake most people make in looking at the financial crisis is thinking of it in terms of money, a habit that might lead you to look at the unfolding mess as a huge bonus-killing downer for the Wall Street class. But if you look at it in purely Machiavellian terms, what you see is a colossal power grab that threatens to turn the federal government into a kind of giant Enron — a huge, impenetrable black box filled with self-dealing insiders whose scheme is the securing of individual profits at the expense of an ocean of unwitting involuntary shareholders, previously known as taxpayers.

Find the full article here.

Statistically Significant Other

I love math jokes and wordplay.

Menachem and Donash in Rashi's Torah Commentary

Places I've found (via search with Davka's Judaic Classics Library) that Rashi mentions Menahem ben Saruq in his commentary on the Torah:

BRE 11:28 - ur אור
BRE 15:2 - 'ariri
BRE 30:8 - naftulei
BRE 30:41 - hamiksharos
BRE 30:42 - ubeha'atif
BRE 32:25 - v'yei-aveik
BRE 35:16 - kivras
BRE 49:19 - gad g'dud yegudenu
BRE 49:26 - ta'avas

SHM 2:10 - m'shisihu
SHM 3:22 - v'nitzaltem
SHM 9:33 - natach
SHM 13:16 - ul'totafos
SHM 21:13 - tzeidah
SHM 28:22 - sharsheres

VAY 19:19 - sha'atnez
VAY 26:21 - keri

BAM 10:36 - shuvah
BAM 24:8 - yigrom

DEV 7:13 - ashteros
DEV 32:26 - afeihem

Places that Rashi mentions Donash ben Labrat:

SHM 28:28 - yizah
BAM 11:8 - leshed

Negative Interest Rate

I'm a sucker for entertaining any wild idea, as long as you can support it with a logical argument. I love the suggestion that Greg Mankiw recently raised of using monetary policy below the theoretical zero-limit interest rate by implementing a negative interest rate, i.e. if you borrow $100 today, you only have to pay back $98 next year (at a -2% rate). Wild!

Would You Trust a Chinese Condom?

The US Agency for International Development is switching suppliers from Alabama-based Alatech, the only US condom maker, to a Chinese company. USAID has distributed 10 billion condoms in poor countries around the world. According to their web site, Alatech manufactures 1 billion condoms each year. Chinese condoms cost 2 cents each versus 5 cents each from Alatech.

The small town of Eufaula, Alabama (map, pop. approx 14,000) will be severely effected by this change. 300 jobs are expected to be lost.

I'm not sure why more major American news outlets didn't pick up this story. When I searched for it on Google, most of the news hits were from foreign (non-US) media.

Even Fox News got it from the Kansas City Star.

Wallet Pop headline writes had fun with this story: American condom-makers layoff workers as production heads overseas (original headline: American condom-makers get the shaft as production heads overseas)

Reagan Got It, Once

Some memorable quotes from Ronald Reagan's speech introducing Herbert Humphrey:

High prices have not been caused by higher wages, but by bigger and bigger profits.

The Republican promises sounded pretty good... But what has happened since then?

Prices have climbed to the highest level in history, although the death of the OPA was supposed to bring prices down through "the natural process of free competition".

Labor has been handcuffed by the vicious Taft-Hartley law.

Social Security benefits have been snatched away from almost a million workers by the Gearhart bill.

Fair employment practices, which had worked so well during war time, have been abandoned.

Veterans' pleas for low-cost homes have been ignored and many people are still living in made-over chicken coops and garages.

Tax reduction bills have been passed to benefit the higher income brackets alone. The average worker saved only $1.73 a week.

In the false name of economy, millions of children have been deprived of milk, once provided through the federal school lunch program.

This was the pay-off of the Republicans promises...

At the end, he summarizes major initiatives

adequate low-cost housing

civil rights

prices people can afford to pay

a labor movement freed of the Taft-Hartley law

Human Rights for All

In a reversal of a Bush administration policy, President Obama and his administration support human rights for all and have decided to sign a U.N. declaration that condemns human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Wikipedia entry with the text of the declaration
Reuters coverage

Check out this NY Times article from back in December when the declaration was first brought up. At the end of the article, the former US position is explained:

The official American position was based on highly technical legal grounds. The text, by using terminology like “without distinction of any kind,” was too broad because it might be interpreted as an attempt by the federal government to override states’ rights on issues like gay marriage, American diplomats and legal experts said.

“We are opposed to any discrimination, legally or politically, but the nature of our federal system prevents us from undertaking commitments and engagements where federal authorities don’t have jurisdiction,” said Alejandro D. Wolff, the deputy permanent representative.

So suddenly the (thankfully former) administration woke up to the federal system and couldn't find the authority to support a declaration that the entire EU and every major western country has supported. They can figure out how to twist the Commerce Clause in such a way that allowed them to raid the homes of terminally ill patients who are trying to get some relief with medical marijuana, but they couldn't figure out how to support human rights for all citizens of the world without peeking into their bedroom. Sheesh!

Medical Marijuana Enforcement

Last week, Attorney General Holder announced that the federal government will limit raids on distributors of medical marijuana in states where such distribution is legal, even when the distribution is illegal under federal law.

NY Times covered the announcement.

This announcement led me to an interesting case that was decided by the US Supreme Court in 2005. The case, Raich v Ashcroft, goes to the heart of states' rights vs. federal power. Specifically, what happens when an act, such as the distribution of medical marijuana, is permitted by state law but considered criminal by federal law?

This question in its simplest form is answered in the Constitution by the Supremacy Clause, which states:

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.

However, the powers of the Congress in making laws are limited to the powers enumerated in Article I Section 8 of the constitution. If you look at the list of enumerated powers, which include powers such as taxation, maintaining a military, establishment of a post office, etc, the only category of power that an anti-drug law could possibly fall under is the Commerce Clause, which states:

The Congress shall have power . . . To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes.

Therefore, one of the key questions in this case was whether the federal regulations prohibiting medical marijuana fall under the category of interstate commerce.

Salon has excellent coverage of this case and the decision.
The unabridged opinion is available at the SCOTUS site (pdf).
Washington Post coverage of the decision.

Dave's Not Here, Man

A small house fire in Peterson resulted in a big drug bust. After extinguishing the fire on the first floor, firefighters went upstairs and discovered 130 marijuana plants and 10 pounds of dried marijuana.

Sun-Times article is here. Chicago Breaking News from WGN has coverage also.

What freaked me out is that this "sophisticated" marijuana operation was located only 2 blocks from a Jewish elementary school and 1 block from a Jewish high school! There's no evidence that indicates that the children were influenced by this home-grown pothead, but it's scary to think that the kids are going to school in a neighborhood where this is going on. It's more-or-less an upper middle-class area, and it surprises me that this was happening.

WBBM identified the suspect as Lan Luu-Nguyen.

You can see some video footage on the NBC site.

After you get over the shock, be sure to read some of the comments in the articles linked above. Some of my favorites:

• I'm sure this didn't mean what it sounded like: "Police remained on the scene long after the fire was put out, authorities said."
• And sales of Chili and Cheese Fritos in the neighborhood stores were up briskly this morning.
• I volunteer to help with the clean-up as soon as I stop to pick up some twinkies and doritos.
• Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...I forgot what I was going to say.
• Dave's not here, man.

My own take on it:
Firefighters were immediately suspicious when they arrived on the scene. Rather than pleading with them to save his children or pets, the homeowner was shouting "Save the plants! Save the plants!"

WikiHow: How to Keep a Career Journal

WikiHow is a wiki-style site that focuses on how-to articles. Very eclectic. I like it a lot and I have the wikihow gadget configured on my iGoogle home page.

I found the "How to Keep a Career Log" page particularly interesting and relevant.

Whether you're actively looking for a new job or maintaining your current position, it's important to keep a record of the projects you've been involved with, your responsibilities, your skills and training and the people who know your good work and can provide good references.

I can tell you that there are many times that I've said to myself "I wish I had kept a journal of all the things I did at my previous job."

Check it out.

Art Institute Increases

It was announced today that the Art Institute will be requesting an increase in its entrance fees from $12 to $18. Students/seniors will go up from $7 to $12.

I have mixed feelings about this increase. On the one hand, $18 is an awfully high admission fee, especially for a family. I think even the current $12 fee is a bit steep. That's $60 for a family of 5! I can't imagine that many families or individuals are going to be paying the full $18 per person if the fee is increased. Visitor numbers are likely to decrease, possibly to a point where total revenues will not increase.

Consider also that just 3 years ago there was no mandatory fee, just a "suggested donation". I wonder, though, how many people, after waiting in line and being asked by the attendant for the so-called "donation", declined to make the donation and just walked in for free. That would be an interesting statistic.

On the other hand, the Art Institute does offer free Thursday night admission year-round and free Friday night admission during the summer months. Admission is free all day every day during the entire month of February as well.

Considering all those free times, it's unlikely that the admission fee increase will effect me. I visited twice recently, both during free hours, and I'll continue to make use of those free times in the future. I suspect others with limited discretionary income will do the same.

Math and Computer Careers Top the List

I saw a piece in today's Sun-Times (special advertising supplement "EdGuide") which referenced an interesting survey from CareerCast.com. Their survey ranks careers, not just on the basis of the employment outlook (which is, of course, important) but it also took into account the work environment, income, physical demands and stress. You can find the survey results here: http://www.careercast.com/jobs/content/JobsRated_Top200Jobs

I found it interesting that of the top 10 careers, 5 of them were in the math and IT fields:
1. Mathematician
2. Actuary
3. Statistician
5. Software engineer
6. Computer systems analyst

Scratch 2 Win vs Lottery Odds

I have a great interest in gambling odds. Not gambling itself, just the theory and mathematics behind it. So I was intrigued by the Sun-Times Scratch 2 Win game that's running for 8 weeks in February and March.

It's a simple "scratch off" type of game. You get a card in the Wednesday paper. There's a scratch-off section for each day, two for Sunday. Each day, you check that day's paper and get the 5 numbers of the day. Scratch those numbers off to reveal an amount under each. If 3 of the 5 have the same amount, you win that amount. There are 4 possible amounts to win: $100, $500, $1,000 and $25,000.

The odds of winning on a weekly basis are listed on this web site:
$25,000: 1 in 420,000 (1 winning card is distributed per week)
$1,000: 1 in 70,000 (6 per week)
$500: 1 in 70,000 (6 per week)
$100: 1 in 13,548 (31 per week)

Therefore, the expected value based on a cost of $0.50 to buy the Wednesday paper to get a card and assuming you could find out the winning numbers for free is:
-0.50*(419,986/420,000) + (25,000 + 6000 + 3000 + 3100)/420,000 = -.4999833+0.0833
= -0.41665

That means for every $0.50 you spend to buy a Scratch 2 Win card (theoretically, I'm sure no one actually does it), you would expect to lose 42 cents. I.e. for every dollar you bet on Scratch 2 Win, you could only expect to get about 16.7 cents back. Those are pretty low odds.

How do those odds stack up against the Illinois State Lottery games, especially the scratch-off games?

I looked on the Illinois Lottery web site and found that they don't list the precise odds for their scratch-off games. However, looking at their annual report for fiscal 2007 (the latest available at the web site), I found some interesting facts:

• Scratch-off games are by far the biggest revenue producer for the lottery.
• These games brought in about $1.040 billion in revenues (51% of total revenues) and they paid out about $707 million in prizes. There are also $38.7 million in prize liabilities for instant games.

With this information, we can make a rough estimate that the expected value of the Illinois Lottery instant games is approximately (707+38.7)/1040 = 0.717. So for every $1 that is played in the Illinois Lottery instant game, you can expect to get about 72 cents back.

Hillel's Famous Dictum

In yesterday's column, Neil Steinberg offhandedly quoted the Talmudic sage Hillel saying "the rest is commentary."

The full story (loose translation) is as follows:
A non-Jew approached Hillel and said that he would convert if Hillel could explain the entire Torah to him while he (the non-Jew) stood on one foot. Hillel responded and said, "That which you dislike, do not do to your friend. The rest is commentary. Go learn [it]."

Appartently, the potential convert was trying to understand the essence of Judaism. Or possibly, he was looking for an uncomplicated religion, one which revolved around a central principle. He had approached Shammai before approaching Hillel, but Shammai pushed him off.

Rashi has two interpretations of Hillel's dictum "That which you dislike, do not do to your friend." The first interpretation is that the "friend" refers to God (HaShem). Hillel is therefore saying: Do not transgress God's will, just as you would not appreciate it if someone else did that which you don't like. Now, you must go learn what God's will is - as described in the rest of the Torah.

Rashi's second interpretation is more in keeping with how I think most people interpret this saying: Do not do things which other people dislike, just as you wouldn't want them to do thing which you dislike. I.e. love your neighbor as yourself.

Two apparent difficulties with the second interpretation are:
1. why didn't Hillel simply quote the famous verse of "love thy neighbor etc"?
2. if this is the essence of the Torah, how do we understand all the commandments which are between man and God such as keeping the Sabbath and not praying to idols or other gods?

These questions may be what motivated Rashi's first interpretation.

Nonetheless, we can attempt to answer these questions:
1. Perhaps Hillel was indeed quoting the famous verse. However, since the non-Jew did not understand Hebrew, Hillel was paraphasing it in the common language - Aramaic .
2. Perhaps the essence of the Torah is indeed to produce a healthy society where individuals only do that which is pleasing and benefits his fellow. However, that is only possible if individuals understand that all people were created by God, in His image (b'tzelem Elokim). Therefore, HaShem gave us instructions (commandments) on how we can internalize that fact by serving Him in many different ways.

The Mesorah and the Text of the Torah

In a recent thread on AJCP, we discussed various online sources for the digital text of the Torah. The following resources are available:
Shamash
Mechom Mamre
Snunit
The Aleppo Codex (Keter Aram Sova)
Google Directory of Online Texts
Halacha Brura list of online Tanach (many from HebrewBooks.org)

In the course of my analysis of the texts, I found several differences between them. These "discrepancies" should not be taken as any indication of an issue with the authenticity of the Mesorah. An excellent treatment of these differences and how they actually reinforce the authenticity of the Torah text that we have today can be found in the essay entitled The Accuracy of Our Written Torah by Rabbi Dovid Lichtman of the Discovery project of Aish HaTorah.

Other interesting reading:
Choosing the "best" Tanach - discussion on the Avodah email group
The Letters of the Torah - AishDas Pamphlet #9

My list of differences:

Bereishis
4:13 mineso (chaser/malei vav)
7:11 kol-mayenos (chaser/malei vav)
8:20 hatehorah (chaser/malei vav)
9:29 vayehi/veyihiyu
35:22 piska b'emtza pesuka

Shmos
Differences in numbering of the pesukim in perek 20 - aseres hadibros
25:31 tei'aseh (chaser/malei yud)
28:26 ha-eiphod (chaser/malei vav)

Vayikra
no differences

Bemidbar
1:17 besheimos (chaser/malei vav)
10:10 chodsheichem (chaser/malei yud)
22:5 ben-be'or (chaser/malei vav)

Devarim
2:8 piska b'emtza pesuka
5:18 piska b'emtza pesuka
Differences in numbering of the pesuking in the aseres hadibros
23:5 piska b'emtza pesuka
33:12 k'saifav (chaser/malei yud)
33:19 u'sefunei (chaser/malei vav)

The Jewish View on Stem Cell Research

President Obama lifted the ban on federal funding of stem cell research today. Coverage from NY Times.

For the ethical take of this hotly-contested issue from the Jewish viewpoint, refer to the Aish HaTorah piece by Dr. Daniel Eisenberg along with his more extensive essay at JLaw.

For non-Jews, the issue appears most direct. The combination of the pre-embryo never having existed within a uterus and the generally accepted leniency toward abortion within the first forty days, would strongly argue for a permissive ruling regarding the destruction of pre-embryos for stem cells.

Regarding Jews, the answer is more complicated. [...] Based on these rulings, it would seem that we now have a practical answer to our question of stem cell research. If the pre-embryo may be destroyed, it certainly may be used for research purpose and other life-saving work. In fact, Rabbi Moshe Dovid Tendler, in testimony for the National Bioethics Advisory Commission, argued strongly in favor of the use of pre-embryos for stem cell research. Nevertheless, it is important to realize that this conclusion is not unanimous and that all of these rulings are predicated upon the understanding that the pre-embryo is not included in the prohibition of retzicha (murder).

I also found this interesting post from Toby Katz at the Orthodox blog Cross-Currents of interest. Toby typically takes a more conservative view than mine, so it was interesting to find her leaning toward the more liberal approach on this issue. Here's a snippet:

In the case of stem-cell research, halacha would probably permit research in the first couple of weeks after fertilization, when the “embryo” is, as I said, a ball of cells. [...]

As it so happens, there are now other methods of producing stem cells for medical research, so the question of embryonic stem cells may soon be moot. But if it should turn out that embryonic stem cells have the greatest potential for therapeutic use, it would not be against the halacha to use them. Again, please be clear: we are not talking about creating a whole fetus, waiting until the third or fourth month, and then cutting the baby up in order to use its liver or kidneys. We are talking about taking a ball of undifferentiated cells in a laboratory and coaxing those cells to grow liver cells or kidney cells WITHOUT becoming a whole baby. We don’t believe that that ball of cells has a soul in it yet.

Many people think that Jews and Christians are on the same page on these issues, but it isn’t so, and it’s our own fault, because we have been such passive and silent allies to the pro-life movement, rarely telling anyone what Judaism actually teaches about when life begins or when the soul enters a fetus.

Great online resources for Hebrew and Yiddish books

HebrewBooks.org has scanned over 32,000 sifrei kodesh, Jewish holy books, all in Hebrew, and put them online in PDF format. The point-and-click interface makes it relatively easy to search for books by title or author, even if you don't have Hebrew Windows.

The National Yiddish Book Center has also scanned thousands of Yiddish books and put them online. However, it looks to me like the search function is limited to English-language characters.

Yet another URL shortener - tr.im

In addition to tinyURL and is.gd, a new URL shortener has popped up: tr.im. I saw it refereneced in a RedEye article this morning.

tr.im offers the following features:
Tracking link statistics
A FireFox extension
OS X dashboard widget
Bookmarklets (for FireFox, Safari and Opera) to compress the current page URL and tweet it
Integration with Mozilla's Ubiquity
Credentials (username/password) integration with Twitter and Indenti.ca - kinda scary!

I found this article which is a good review of how URL shorteners work along with a quick review of some of the more popular services and a link to a Mashable post with a list of 90+ URL shortening services.

Chicago's Largest Companies

I've always felt pretty comfortable working in a large company. In my experience, they tend to have standard corporate policies, better benefits, more diversity in both the people you work with and the type of work you do, and more room for advancement.

If you're looking for a new job opportunity, it's logical that larger companies tend to employ more people and are more likely to have job openings. Therefore, it makes sense to look closely at those larger companies in your job search.

You can find a list of the largest Chicago-based companies (based on annual revenues) at: http://www.chicagotraveler.com/chicago-companies.htm.

Keep in mind that there are many companies, including my own, that employ many people in Chicago, yet aren't based here. So don't consider this list a definitive source for which companies employ the most Chicagoans.

Balashon

I stumbled across a blog yesterday called "Balashon". In this blog, the author analyzes words in the Hebrew language, traces their etymologies, notes influences of other languages into Hebrew and tries to get precise definitions of words which may appear to be ambiguous.

I've studied Hebrew since I was young and I have a great love for the language, especially Biblical Hebrew. Balashon, who calls himself a "Hebrew Language Detective", is of a similar spirit.

I especially like his "Kri and Ktiv" game in which he provides you with the definition of two words. The object of the contest is to find two words that are spelled the same in Hebrew, but with different vowels, and mean the two things given in the game.

New Online Collaboration Tool - Wiggio

I just got an email invitation from a social entrepenurial group that I'm part of at DePaul. They're using a new collaboration tool called Wiggio to do things like send mass emails, share and collaborate on files/documents, keep a shared calendar and take polls.

I watched the video on the Wiggio site and I didn't see anything that jumped out at me that said "Wow, that's so cool and a brand new idea." I'll reserve judgment until I start using it and see how it works. I've been disappointed in Microsoft's attempt at file collaboration, Office Live Workspace, so I'm eager to see what Wiggio has come up with. Stay tuned.

Advice to Job Seekers

I love to help people find jobs. If I can help you in any way, let me know.

If you're looking for an opportunity because you lost your prior job (for whatever reason), don't worry - it's going to be ok. I know it's tempting to freak out. Feel free to do that for about an hour. Then get down to the business of finding the next great thing that will put bread on your table.

Here's some advice that I offer to most job seekers. Since I've repeated it many times, I decided to put the advice in a list and make it available here on this blog.

1. Send me your resume. My email address is my full name (no dots or dashed) at yahoo dot com.
2. Check out my company's web site at: http://www.wolterskluwer.com/ to learn more about the company and what we do.
3. Search the Wolters Kluwer career opportunities site by going to http://wolterskluwer.apply2jobs.com/. We have openings at many of our offices across the US, especially in Sales and Account Management. If you find something that fits your background and experience, apply online and then send me your resume (which hopefully you've already done in step 1) with the job # that you applied for. You can optionally include a cover email telling me how excited you are about the opportunity and how your skills and experience match the job requirements and description. I'll then submit your resume through our Employee Referral program.
4. Check out the OU job board. They list lots of jobs in all areas of the country. Also, make sure your resume is posted on all the standard places: Monster, CareerBuilder, HotJobs, etc. If you're in IT, post your resume at Dice and ComputerJobs as well. I'm sure there are other industry-specific job sites as well. Review these sites on a regular basis (2x a week) for new posts.
5. If you find an opportunity at some other company, especially in the Chicago area, let me know. I may have someone in my network who can help you get your resume into the right hands at that company.
6. Create a profile on LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/), search for me and link to me. That'll put you in touch with part of my network. I strongly suggest that you develop your professional network using some online tool. IMHO LinkedIn is the best. LinkedIn is professional. I don't recommend using social networking sites (such as Facebook, MySpace, etc) for job searches.
7. Consider using a reputable staffing agency or temp agency to place you. These people do the leg work of finding you work (either permanent or contract) and, for their efforts, take a chunk of your billing rate as their fee. If it's a permanent position, they'll negotiate a flat fee, usually based on your starting salary, from your new employer for placing you. It's usually worth it. Make sure you understand how benefits and taxes are handled when you work through a staffing agency. Also, you will never need to put up any money up front or pay a fee of any kind to the agency. The fees are always paid by the employer. If someone asks you for money, politely decline and leave.
8. Do your legwork every day. A new job is not going to fall into your lap. You will have to work to find it.
9. Feel free to email me with any questions you have. I hope I can help you find a new position.

War Powers Consultation Act of 2009

Something caught my eye in the USA Today yesterday. An opinion piece by two former secretaries of state - Warren Christopher and James Baker. The two of them co-chaired a bi-partisan commission which studied the constitutional question of which powers are vested in the which branches of the government concerning going to war.

We know from the constitution that only Congress has the right to declare war. On the other hand, the President is the Commander in Chief and we have seen several "military actions" that have been undertaken by the President in that role which for all intents and purposes are identical to a declaration of war. So the definition of these powers is not so clear.

The commission studied the War Powers Resolution of 1973 which attempted to clarify the roles of the branches of government, and has been criticized as impractical and, in part, unconstitutional.

The results of their analysis is a proposal, the War Powers Consultation Act of 2009, which attempts to define the ways in which the Executive and Legislative branches must consult and work together in making decisions regarding engaging in military conflict.

The full report can be downloaded from the Nation War Powers Commission web site.

Some interesting websites

Is.gd - a URL shortener, similar to TinyURL

Cramberry - make your own online flashcards. I love it!

MakeUseOf - a cool site aggregator

Qwitter - trackers people who stop following you on Twitter
Tweetsum - a tool to manage your Twitter followers
5 More Twitter Tools via MakeUse Of
Since I don't use Twitter, I don't know if any of these tools is useful, but I'm passing them along.

Bald eagles

One of these years I'm going to make it out west to the Mississippi or Illinois River to see the bald eagles that roost there this time of year. I've always wanted to do it, but haven't found the time yet.

I'd always heard that the Quad Cities had spectacular viewing spots, but the Sun-Times has an article in today's paper about viewing them in southwest Illinois in the Alton-Grafton area. I absolutely love state parks and Pere Marquette State Park and Lodge has a fantastic facility with viewing space in their visitor's center.

One of these years... *sigh*