Life is a daring adventure, or nothing at all -Helen Keller
Well, now Target is in on the Kabbalah racket with their Red Strings to protect you from the evil eye. (thanks Harry!)
Australia. Specifically, Melbourne, where the fast is over at 6pm. I'm jealous of TK.
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.
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.
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).
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.
Back to our regularly scheduled air-headedness. don't worry, i won't get too serious on you.
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.
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.
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?
Talking to S about someone guy that my mother was asking about on behalf of my little sister...
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.
Leno was talking about the running of the bulls last night...'or as the bulls call it: Revenge of the Atkins Diet.'
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!'
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.
