Central Park
(Image: Sergey Semenov)
I love New York.
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Category Archives: Society
No, No, No!
Ever have one of those days when you’re all ready to have some fun…
… and life just seems to get in your way?
I hate days like that!
The Great Divide (reblogged from Lust & Rum)
Powerful imagery from the man behind the lens behind the Lust & Rum blog. This piece stopped me in my tracks!
New York City has always been a place of contrast and struggle. The gap between the privileged rich and the dirt poor has never been wider. Emphasized this week by the rolling, opulent bandwagon that is NY Fashion Week. A heady, shimmering display of extravagance and indulgence. As a photographer at the event, I guess I am part of it. Helping to feed and perpetuate this glittering circus and earn a living along the way. All of the images below are mine but I think the last one puts the whole thing into perspective.
Purim is NOT the Jewish Halloween!
I’m afraid I have to vent about something.
This year, the Jewish festival of Purim (commemorating and celebrating the events of the biblical book of Esther) falls on Sunday February 24th. If all goes well, I will be in Israel then and for the first time (hopefully) will avoid the subject matter of this blog post.
(A Scroll of Esther)
Many non-Jews, in an attempt to wrap their well-meaning minds around Jewish concepts, ideas, holidays, customs, food, themes, etc., often try to compare or connect them to things with which they are familiar.
“OK, now… Hanukah. That’s like the Jewish Christmas, right?”
“Mezuzahs? Those are good luck amulet things on your doors, right?”
(Yeah, I kinda figured that one out on my own)
“Passover… is that the one where you sit around eating crackers for a week?”
G-d bless their little cotton socks. This is normal. This is to be expected.
This is also a bit tedious yet kinda tiresome, usually. In a way. Well… it depends, really.
I’ll try to explain.
In the interests of multiculturalism and understanding (not to mention peace and love) between ethnic groups, I try to be sort of an ambassador for Judaism and the Jewish people, if you will, whenever I can. Most people who ask questions like this above genuinely mean well, generally. They just need a bit of Jewish education. I am happy to help put them in the picture… if for no other reason that to stop even one more person saying that Hanukah is the Jewish Xmas.
If the person is asking a sincere question and wants to know something about Jews and Judaism, believe me, it’s my pleasure. If they are genuinely interested… I am there with both feet.
But… every once in a while, we get the wise guys with their smarmy, smarty pants questions.
(“I’m just sayin’… [that I think you’re a moron]!”)
“Why do you spell it ‘G-d?’ Is it because you’re afraid you’re going to hell if you get Him mad? If it’s ’cause you’re not supposed to say His name… umm… you know that G-d isn’t His real name, right?” <insert self-satisfied smirk here>
“Kosher laws were like ancient biblical food health and safety regulations from before you guys had refrigerators, right? So… why do you still do it?” <unsaid: It’s because you’re an idiot who blindly and unquestioningly follows outdated customs, isn’t it?>
“Do you seriously think an ‘almighty deity’ cares if you turn on a light switch or scribble a note on Saturday?” <add raised eyebrow and/or condescending sneer>
These aren’t really questions. These are statements (e.g. “you’re stupid!”) masquerading as questions.
Because they’re not really questions I don’t really answer them. I just give the person the patient sigh and the pressed smile. It’s not all that difficult ignoring the non-questioner. They’re annoying but… that’s all. Just annoying.
I don’t engage with these types of people for the same reason I don’t play chess with pigeons. They knock over the pieces, crap on the board and then strut around like they’ve won the game.
(Psst… Saying it loudly doesn’t make you right)
And I won’t even get into the whole hostile evangelical questioner thing! [1] [2]
So… bottom line. Purim is not the Jewish Halloween. Hanukah is not the Jewish Xmas. Passover is not the Jewish Easter. Moses is not the Jewish Jesus. If you want to know the real authentic answer to your questions, as your friendly neighbourhood Orthodox Jew. [3]
In a few days, I will be flying to Israel for two weeks. I’ll let you know if any secular Israelis or born again tourists ask me anything!
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[1] The loud, arrogant and downright rude biblethumper who points his finger an inch from your face or chest and says, “You Jews rejected your Messiah!” (No… we rejected YOUR Messiah. BIG difference!)
[2] I had one enthusiastic born-again preacher literally walk over a picnic table and run out to me on a sidewalk in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in order to pick a fight with (aka ‘witness to’) me. I must have stuck out like… well… a Jew walking along the sidewalk in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
[3] NB: ‘Messianics’ or ‘Hebrew Christians’ (e.g. Jews for Jesus) do not practice Judaism. That’s because what they believe in is Christianity. The answer you’ll get from them is basically no different than the one you will get from any other born again evangelical fundamentalist Christian.
These Are The Good Old Days
Years ago, I was accused by a judge of trying to re-institute debtors’ prison!!
As I have often said, just about every good thing in our society…
…decent prisons, unemployment insurance, children’s aid societies, minimum wage, child labour laws, unions, 40 hour work week, product safety standards, workers compensation boards, youth criminal justice acts, public heath laws, etc…
…ALL of these things were a direct result of how horrible things were 100 – 150 years go.
As Carly Simon sang, “these are the good old days.”
All photos by Conor Cullen. They were taken at Kilmainham-Gaol in Dublin, Ireland.
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This post arose as the result of my reply to a comment by my dear friend Elaine who visited Kilmainham-Gaol.
100 Things You Can Say To Irritate A Republican
I found this wonderfully amusing article at AddictingInfo.com.
This happened very shortly after I had to take an ultra-conservative acquaintance of mine, sit her down and explain, “It’s President Barak Obama. It’s not President Mitt Romney. It’s not President John McCain. You lost those elections. BADLY! Keep up your far-right ranting and you’re going to lose again… and probably get President Hillary Clinton.”
I thought she was going to have a stroke.
ANYWAY… direct from AddictingInfo.com…
100 Things You Can Say To Irritate A Republican
Conservatives are so easy to anger these days. Even the most insignificant statement can set off their tempers. If you want to enrage a conservative, I suggest saying the following:
1. A Socialist wrote the Pledge of Allegiance.
2. Jesus healed the sick and helped the poor, for free.
3. Joseph McCarthy was an un-American, witch hunting sissy.
4. Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee were traitors.
5. The South lost the Civil War, get over it.
6. The Founding Fathers were liberals.
7. Fascism is a right-wing trait.
8. Sarah Palin is an idiot.
9. The Earth is round.
10. Reagan raised taxes eleven times as President.
11. Reagan legalized abortion as Governor of California.
12. Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency.
13. Ronald Reagan supported gun control.
14. Global warming is real.
15. Republicans hate illegal immigrants, unless they need their lawns mowed or their houses cleaned
16. The military is a government-run institution, so why do Republicans approve the defense budget?
17. The Cold War is over and the Soviet Union no longer exists.
18. Paying taxes is patriotic.
19. Republicans: Peddling the same failed economic policies since 1880.
20. The Republican Party began as a liberal party.
21. The Presidents’ full name is Barack Hussein Obama and he was born in the United States of America.
22. George W. Bush held hands with the King of Saudi Arabia.
23. President Obama saved the American auto industry, while Republicans wanted to destroy it.
24. Hate is not a Christian virtue.
25. Jesus was a liberal.
26. Republicans spend MORE money than Democrats.
27. Tea parties are for little girls.
28. Public schools educate all children; private schools are for indoctrinating children.
29. The Constitution is the law, NOT the Bible.
30. Sharia law doesn’t exist in America.
31. The President is NOT a Muslim.
32. Corporations are NOT people. People are people.
33. Fox News isn’t real news, it’s just a racist, sexist, hateful, right-wing propaganda machine.
34. The Federal Reserve was a Republican idea.
35. Women are equal citizens who deserve equal rights.
36. Women control their own bodies.
37. Abortion is a relevant medical procedure, just ask Rick Santorum.
38. Please use spell-check.
39. It’s “pundit”, not “pundint”.
40. Social Security is solvent through 2038.
41. Health care is a right, not a product.
42. Roe v. Wade was a bipartisan ruling made by a conservative leaning Supreme Court.
43. G.O.P also stands for Gross Old Perverts.
44. The donkey shouldn’t be the Democratic mascot because Republicans are the real jackasses.
45. Barack Obama ordered the killing of Osama Bin Laden. It took him two and half years to do what Bush couldn’t do in eight.
46. Waterboarding IS torture.
47. 9/11 happened on George W. Bush’s watch, therefore he did NOT keep America safe.
48. Republicans invaded Iraq for oil, so Iraq should be allowed to invade Texas to get it back.
49. Separation of church and state is in the Constitution, it’s called the First Amendment.
50. Muslims are protected by the Constitution, just as much as Christians.
51. Barack Obama is the first African-American President, get over it.
52. The Oval Office is NOT a “whites only” office.
53. America is a nation of immigrants, therefore we are all anchor babies.
54. The white race isn’t disappearing, it’s evolving.
55. God is a particle.
56. Evolution is real.
57. The Earth is 4.54 billion years old, not 6,000.
58. The Founding Fathers did not free the slaves.
59. The Revolution was NOT fought over slavery.
60. Paul Revere warned the Americans, NOT the British.
61. Federal law trumps state law.
62. The Civil War was about slavery, NOT state’s rights.
63. Corporations care more about profits than they do about people.
64. Getting out of a recession requires government spending.
65. Glenn Beck is a nut-job.
66. Republicans: Paranoid since 1932.
67. Republicans don’t want to pay for your birth control, but they want you to pay for their Viagra.
68. Republicans actually NEED Viagra.
69. Fox News is owned by an Australian and has a Saudi prince as an investor.
70. Republicans complain about immigrants taking American jobs, then freely give American jobs to foreigners overseas.
71. Republicans hate communism, so why do they refer to themselves as red states?
72. Labor unions built this country.
73. Republicans hold America hostage as a political strategy; the temper tantrum throwing kind of political strategy.
74. Jesus was a Jew, not a Christian.
(Remember this guy? That’s OK… no one else does)
75. When Republicans see black, they attack.
76. Inside every Republican is a Klansman or a Nazi waiting to bloom.
77. Republicans only care about children BEFORE they are born.
78. Republicans are hypocrites, they’re just too stupid to know it.
79. The Christian-Right boycotts movies that have violence, and then promotes guns and insurrection.
80. I think therefore I am NOT a Republican.
81. Republicans that oppose gay marriage are most likely in the closet themselves.
82. Churches should stay out of politics, or be taxed.
83. People are too poor to vote Republican.
84. Democrats think for themselves, Republicans form think tanks to do it for them.
85. Republicans hate education because they couldn’t hack it in school.
86. Greed is one of the seven deadly sins and Republicans wallow in it.
87. A little socialism on the Left is better than a little fascism on the Right.
88. The current corporate tax rate is the lowest in 60 years, so stop whining about it being too high.
89. Republicans: Anti-Gay Marriage, Pro-Lesbian sex.
90. Republicans: Terrorizing the American people since 1981.
91. Republicans have their own terrorists, just look up Timothy McVeigh.
92. Republicans love outsourcing, just ask the Chinese Communists.
93. The Republican answer to the oil spill was to apologize to BP, a foreign oil company.
94. Democrats will be working hard to bring jobs to Americans, while the Republicans tea bag each other in the middle of the aisles.
95. Voter disenfranchisement is immoral and un-American, that’s why Republicans do it.
96. Republicans would let your house burn down unless you pay them to put it out.
97. Democrats want to take care of the sick. Republicans take their credit cards and then deny them medical attention.
98. Republicans say teachers are union thugs, then proceed to rape and mug the entire middle class on behalf of corporations.
99. Republicans think rape isn’t a crime, but miscarriages are.
100. Republicans are idiots and arguing with them is a waste of time!
Bottom line? If you want to anger a conservative, tell them the truth.
Bar Code Inventor Dies
Norman Woodland, co-inventor of the bar code, the inventory tracking tool that transformed global commerce in the 1970s and saved shoppers countless hours on the supermarket checkout line, has died, his daughter said.
Woodland, 91, died Saturday from complications related to Alzheimer’s disease in Edgewater, New Jersey, said Susan Woodland of New York.
Today, five billion products a day are scanned optically using the bar code, or Universal Product Code, or UPC, according to GS1 US, the American arm of the global UPC standards body.
The handheld laser scanner inventories consumer products, speeds passengers through airline gates, tracks mail, encodes medical patient information, and is in near universal use across transportation, industrial and shipping industries worldwide.
We owe you so much, Mr Woodland. Thank you… and may your spirit be lifted up
Wolves, Bears, Mountain Lions to Move into Cities??
Now here’s a disturbing headline for us city types…
It is well known that coyotes have been making inroads into a number of Toronto neighbourhoods.
The boys over at ScienceDaily.com report that scientists have located the smallest known coyote territory ever observed about five miles from Chicago O’Hare International Airport. For at least six years, a coyote community has maintained its existence within about a third of a square mile.
“That’s an indication that they don’t have to go far to find food and water. They’re finding everything they need right there, in the suburbs of Chicago,” said Stan Gehrt, an associate professor of environment and natural resources at Ohio State University who has led the tracking of coyotes around Chicago for 12 years. “It amazes me.”
Coyotes are the largest of the mammalian carnivores to have made their way to, and thrived in, urban settings, Gehrt said.
“The coyote is the test case for other animals. Raccoons, skunks, foxes — they’ve already been able to penetrate the urban landscape pretty well. The coyote is the most recent and largest. The jury’s out with what’s going to happen with the bigger ones,” he said.
The bigger ones include wolves, mountain lions and bears. Mountain lions have been seen on the fringes of cities already, and one was shot near the Wrigleyville neighborhood of Chicago.
In the last few years, there have been several cougar and bobcat sightings in my area, the Niagara Region of Southern Ontario, Canada.
So let’s keep our eyes out, boys and girls!
Stay in School!
In most parts of Canada and the U.S., school starts this week.
With that in mind, here’s some unsolicited advice for high school students.
Stay in school!
Finish high school. Seriously. I mean it.
If you think life in general is hard…
Try life without a high school diploma.
Bill Gates (supposedly) once said, “If you think your teacher is tough…
Wait til you get a boss!”
Studying is not fun. Studying is rough.
And do yourself a favour… don’t use short-cuts.
They’ll test you on the parts of the book that weren’t in the movie.
OK, that was my rant for the day.
Go forth and slack no more!
Macabre Fascinations (1): Weird Things Under Glass
In the early 60s, the successful television series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” enjoyed its share of unsettling episodes, but none so viscerally creepy as “The Jar,” which aired Feb. 14, 1964.
(Skull and snails under glass)
The episode stars Pat Buttram (Mr Haney in “Green Acres”) as a down-on-his-luck yokel who purchases a jar full of mysterious contents from a carnival. The container attracts scores of visitors, each of whom see something different in its murky water — and something awful. Buttram’s new-minted popularity doesn’t sit well with his wife, Thedy (Collin Wilcox, Mayella Ewell in “To Kill a Mockingbird”), who attempts to have the jar destroyed. However, as she soon finds out, not only does the jar not go quietly, her husband is also none too eager to lose his one chance at respectability — and he’s all too ready to go to extremes to preserve it.
(Girl’s head under glass)
I remember the first time I watched that episode. It creeped the hell out of me. I’ve never forgotten it.
I also recall going to my small town county fair and seeing freak show specimens preserved in formaldehyde.
(Rag doll… or is it?)
Since then, I’ve always had this dread fascination with macabre things kept or preserved in glass containers, especially large apothecary jars.
Maybe I’ll start my own macabre little collection one day.
Vampyre Fangs 