Wednesday, July 28, 2004

In Target we trust

Well, now Target is in on the Kabbalah racket with their Red Strings to protect you from the evil eye. (thanks Harry!)

And if that doesn't work, don't worry—there's always a handy-dandy obituary service, so you don't have to think one up yourself.

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

Dreaming of:

Australia. Specifically, Melbourne, where the fast is over at 6pm. I'm jealous of TK.

Smelling the food that everyone's brought in for lunch. I think I might have to leave the office for now, just to avoid it.

Monday, July 26, 2004

before it's too late

I always assumed that the reason we don't eat meat or drink wine during the 9 days is as a sign of mourning. Turns out I was wrong. Over shabbat, my friend's stepmother pointed out that while it's true that during shiva (which the 9 days are supposed to mirror, or at least shavua she'chal bo [the week of tisha b'av itself]), you can't have wine, you definitely can have meat. The real reason of not having meat & wine during the 9 days is actually because it reflects the lack of korbanot (sacrifices), which were most often meat and/or wine.

Who knew!?

In Israel

It's Tisha B'Av already in Israel, which sort of makes me feel like it should be Tisha B'av here too. After all, this is a specific event that took place at this moment, as opposed to other Jewish holidays which are tied to the more general date of the calendar. Anyway, you can read about what's going on here. I find it especially interesting that it's legislated that all places of entertainment in Tel Aviv must be closed.

Meaningful fast to all.

Friday, July 23, 2004

Beer makers of the world - Unite!

Molson and Coors are merging, as I'm sure you've heard. I don't know much about Coors, but couldn't Molson merge with a beer with more personality? Like Fosters. OK, maybe that's a little far off (being Australian-based--though come to think of it, I think Molson does their North American brewing).

Considering I don't even drink the stuff, I don't know why I'm even thinking about it, other than the fact I have much empathy for Molson drinkers. It must come from Molson's Hockey Night in Canada. Even though it's not sponsored by Molson anymore. As much as that was the end of an era, this really puts the nail in the coffin. Well, I hope it helps out with their businesses, but I can't help but think that hiring a more effective marketing team might help.

Sigh.

Thursday, July 22, 2004

with marriage comes...

...divorce?

But that part's not legal yet.

Tuesday, July 20, 2004

at the races

There I was, watching the Olympic trials on Sunday night, having meat leftovers before it was too late. How sad is my life? Anyway... one of the commentators noticed that one of the competitors in the women's hurdles event was in the starting blocks, resting on her knuckles, instead of her fingers like all the other runners. A bit odd, but I didn't think anything of it.

Until, of course, they interviewed her after the race (she came in third), and I noticed that she would have had to rest on her knuckles — her fingernails were literally 2 inches long (at least). Now, other than being just plain icky, doesn't that increase wind resistance? I mean, figure that could have sliced off a full .1 seconds off her race time — in Olympic terms, that could have moved her up from third to second... or even first in a very tight race!

Monday, July 19, 2004

and now...

Back to our regularly scheduled air-headedness. don't worry, i won't get too serious on you.

there and back again

After Arafat, in his infinite wisdom, decided to fight charges of corruption & cronyism by appointing his nephew as Gazan police chief, he now flip-flopped back. To the original corrupt & criminal law enforcement official. I guess he figures better the devil you know than the devil you don't know. I just find it disturbing that there was no apparent third alternative. You know, an official that might not be such a blatant fraud.

So I guess the unrest in the PA areas is just the violent culture there backfiring on Arafat. Too bad it never leads to anything the least bit constructive.

Friday, July 16, 2004

more from Gaza

It seems like there's a total loss of any semblance of control by the PA in Gaza. Five French citizens have been kidnapped, along with another police official who had fired some of his employees. Apparently, they weren't so appreciative.

Have many thoughts on this, but I really do need to get work done before I leave for shabbat.

coup in the offing?

Militants kidnapped the Gaza police chief, demanding that he be dismissed and put on trial for suspected corruption. Surprisingly, Arafat agreed. Does this mean that he'll be dismissing himself and putting himself on trial for suspected corruption too?

Even more interestingly, does this mean that Palestinians are starting to blame their own leaders for their awful situation? Does anyone think this might possibly be the start of a grass-roots movement to clean up their leadership? To force the PA to use aid money for their actual constituents? Or is that just wishful thinking?

Perspectives

Talking to S about someone guy that my mother was asking about on behalf of my little sister...
 
S: What kind of person is she looking for?
Me: Who? My mother or my sister?

Thursday, July 15, 2004

Cool Story...

About Israeli Olympic athletes in The New York Times today. Check it out.

Wednesday, July 14, 2004

sleeping in and random other thoughts

I finally figured out how to switch my alarm's radio station, so I'm now waking up to ESPN radio. Well, waking up might be an exaggeration.

I can't bear to wake up to 1010 WINS, since, though I might get the world in 22 minutes, I also get nightmares during that half-sleeping phase during which I'm trying to get up, but really just sleeping. News stories just make me want to burrow and sleep some more.

But now that hockey season is over, ESPN is not much better at getting me up in the morning. After all, I'm really not all that interested in which completely overpaid and overrated athlete a New York team is trying to land. It doesn't make a difference to me whether it's the basketball team or baseball team. In fact, the last sports bit that interested me, was when a few months ago, it was announced that Shea Stadium was switching its popcorn-peanut combo to Fiddle Faddle (or something) from Cracker Jacks.

Why do I care, you might ask?

Well, it's got everything to do with Cracker Jacks being kosher and the new brand, which is not. Anti-Semites, I tell you.

All this is mostly just to say, that I'm looking forward to waking up to music again, once the three weeks are over.

Thursday, July 08, 2004

lines from leno

Leno was talking about the running of the bulls last night...'or as the bulls call it: Revenge of the Atkins Diet.'

I was amused. Maybe it's just because while shopping for food (read 'ice cream') last night, I saw that Skippy now makes Low-Carb peanut butter. Maybe I'm mistaken, but wouldn't peanut butter be fattening no matter how many carbs there are?? Outta control!

Wednesday, July 07, 2004

my well-taught minions

I was discussing a problem on our web site with one of the developers today, a lovely, quiet, hard-working guy. After which he exclaimed: 'It's OK! We just tell them it's not a bug, it's a feature!'

Such nachas!

ergh

Asking: who's better to participate in learning for a siyum? A kofer who's male, or someone frum, who's female. Some in my family would seem to choose the former.

Thursday, July 01, 2004

Happy happy

Happy Canada Day to all!

Happy 1rst anniversary to my sis & bro-in-law.

Happy 1rst time completing a series of sql statements to me. And it only took 3 days to get it right.