Blog/October 2009/Oct 16th - Revision history

Ron at 11:18, 23 October 2009

2009-10-23T11:18:45Z

Ron at 12:06, 16 October 2009

2009-10-16T12:06:01Z

Ron at 11:31, 16 October 2009

2009-10-16T11:31:53Z

Ron at 19:32, 10 October 2009

2009-10-10T19:32:54Z

Ron at 17:49, 10 October 2009

2009-10-10T17:49:48Z

Ron at 17:44, 10 October 2009

2009-10-10T17:44:18Z

Ron: Replacing page with ' {{blog}} {{bheader|Oct 9th|Devar/5770/Bereshit}} Hi again! * Even SNL knows [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mMR9Ztva58 Obama ha...'

2009-10-10T17:44:00Z

Replacing page with ' {{blog}} {{bheader|Oct 9th|Devar/5770/Bereshit}} Hi again! * Even SNL knows [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mMR9Ztva58 Obama ha...'

Ron: New page: {{subst: :Blog/Latest}}

2009-10-10T17:42:17Z

New page: {{subst: :Blog/Latest}}

New page

{{blog}}
{{bheader|Oct 9th|Devar/5770/Shemini Atseret}}

Hi again!

Well, this was a week full of adventure! Being the intermediate days of Sukkot, we wanted to "get out" a bit. So on Sunday, Esther and I were planning to go a free tour put on by the Ministry of Science and Technology. According to the [http://www.most.gov.il/%D7%99%D7%97%D7%99%D7%93%D7%95%D7%AA/Science+and+Community/National+Science+Festival1/mapMopim.htm official web site], the place we were intending to go was halfway between Hevron and Jerusalem. So we went... and went... and ended up almost in Hevron when we decided that we must have the wrong instructions. So we asked someone nearby, who told us the place we were looking for wasn't between Hevron and Jerusalem, but between Beer Sheva and Hevron! At least we got a nice drive out of it.

Monday we decided to go to [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Archaeology/Telshilo.html Tel Shilo]. Using our trusty map, we followed route 60 north out of Jerusalem and promptly ended up almost in Ramallah. We (I, really) didn't pay attention to a sign [[Media:no-entry-to-jews.jpg|like this one]], which reads: "This road continues to 'Area A', which is under the control of the Palestinian Authority. It is ''forbidden'' for Israelis to enter Area A, is a ''danger to your lives'', and constitutes a ''criminal offense''.". So the Palis are well on their way to getting their Judenrein state of terrorists. And we, idiots, are making it possible.

Monday night we had my cousins over. Tuesday we rested, after all the excitement; but then the roof blew off our sukkah, which added back a certain level of excitement we had been missing. Wednesday we drove to Raanana to visit friends. Didn't detour to any Area A attractions, thank God! And Thursday we had a friend over for lunch, then I visited another friend. All in all a very interesting and mostly restful week.

As a joke, I gave the following ''derasha'' on Monday night: "Our Sages mentioned that the 70 bulls brought as sacrifices during the sukkot holiday, correspond to the 70 nations of the world. But they don't explain why bulls are brought. Perhaps it is God's way of telling us the nations of the world are full of bull!". I didn't realize that I would be proven right so soon! By now you've heard the incredible news that the Obamanator [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1254861907276&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull won the Nobel Peace prize]. Not only has he accomplished ''nothing whatsoever'' in his nine months in office, the parties in our neck of the woods are even ''farther apart'' than ever! It makes me wonder: just how much of a bribe does a Nobel Prize actually cost? I mean, he was President of the USA for only two weeks before the nomination process for the prize was closed...

In other news: I made a new release of my halachic times calculator, [[Zemanim]] (version 2.01), this week. Well, I think it's exciting even if you don't!

Shabbat (and yom-tov!) is almost here, and I better finish getting ready. So...

Until next week,<br>
Shabbat shalom and Hag sameaH!<br>
{{hebs|שבת שלום וחג שמח!}}

{{nav|Blog|Blog|Blog/October 2009/Oct 2nd|Oct 2nd||}}

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:18, 23 October 2009
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	Shabbat shalom!<br>		Shabbat shalom!<br>

−	{{nav\|Blog\|Blog\|Blog/October 2009/Oct 9th\|Oct 9th\|\|}}	+	{{nav\|Blog\|Blog\|Blog/October 2009/Oct 9th\|Oct 9th\|Blog/October 2009/Oct 23rd\|Oct 23rd}}

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:06, 16 October 2009
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	It was ''really'' difficult to return to work after having a week off, but since they continue to pay me, I figured I should show up again. The bosses gave me the first three days of the week to dedicate solely to getting our product up and running on Linux -- which I did. As part of that effort, they forbade anyone bothering me -- which was heaven on Earth! But alas, come Wednesday I was back to working mostly on "production" issues, so it was essentially back to the regular grind.		It was ''really'' difficult to return to work after having a week off, but since they continue to pay me, I figured I should show up again. The bosses gave me the first three days of the week to dedicate solely to getting our product up and running on Linux -- which I did. As part of that effort, they forbade anyone bothering me -- which was heaven on Earth! But alas, come Wednesday I was back to working mostly on "production" issues, so it was essentially back to the regular grind.

		+	The surgeon who operated on Esther gave her a clean bill of health. So even though she still has discomfort and some pain, she is 90% back-to-normal. It's the last 10% that takes the most time (just as it does in programming).

		+	We went to the ''shuq'' this morning to get some good things for shabbat -- nice cheese, nuts, olives and wine. Speaking of olives: the ones I put up from our trees are ok. A little too bitter for my taste -- next year I'll let them ripen more on the tree before picking them -- but good. Esther and Sarah like them, so that's a good thing.
		+
		+	Geek news:
		+	* Updated my [[vim\|Windows port of ''vim'']] with feedback from my brother
		+	* Updated [[zemanim]] to allow changing the values used to determine 'dawn' and 'dusk', among other things
		+	* Finally figured out how to get [http://www.kde.org/ KDE] to switch keyboard layouts using just the keyboard
		+
		+	The weather is going to be a beastly hot 37C (98F) here this shabbat. I think winter is not quite "just around the corner"; or perhaps we're just making up for having had a mild summer. In any case, need to make sure we have plenty of cold water in the 'fridge!
		+
		+	I keep getting asked about how we came to move to Israel. So I've updated my [[aliyah\|aliyah page]] a bit. Please go there first if you want to understand ''why'' we moved. I've also been asked about how we came to be "religious"... and so, I hope to put up another page explaining that as best I can. I'll keep you posted...
		+
		+	Even before the ludicrous awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Obama, SNL (not exactly a bastion of right-wing ideology) did a spoof with the theme that [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mMR9Ztva58 Obama has done nothing whatsoever]. But just to prove that there are people with no sense of humor at all, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7x-dzXVcOw&feature=related CNN investigated the jokes for accuracy].
		+
		+	Not precisely related, but this week an [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1254861911521&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull Israeli woman] won the Nobel prize in chemistry. The funny thing about it is that she's (apparently) brilliant in chemistry, but too stupid to keep her mouth shut about things she has no understanding of. And to think, it was only this past Monday my ''chevruta'' Fred and I were talking about just that concept (e.g. people discoursing on things about which they know nothing).

−	* Even SNL knows [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mMR9Ztva58 Obama has done nothing], but [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7x-dzXVcOw&feature=related CNN had to investigate] the jokes for accuracy.
−	* And an [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1254861911521&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull Israeli woman] wins the Nobel prize in chemistry. Too bad she's not smart enough to shut her mouth about things she ''doesn't'' understand (apropos Fred's comments)

	Until next week,<br>		Until next week,<br>

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:32, 10 October 2009
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	* Even SNL knows [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mMR9Ztva58 Obama has done nothing], but [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7x-dzXVcOw&feature=related CNN had to investigate] the jokes for accuracy.		* Even SNL knows [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mMR9Ztva58 Obama has done nothing], but [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7x-dzXVcOw&feature=related CNN had to investigate] the jokes for accuracy.
		+	* And an [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1254861911521&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull Israeli woman] wins the Nobel prize in chemistry. Too bad she's not smart enough to shut her mouth about things she ''doesn't'' understand (apropos Fred's comments)

	Until next week,<br>		Until next week,<br>

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:49, 10 October 2009
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−	* Even SNL knows [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mMR9Ztva58 Obama has done nothing]	+	* Even SNL knows [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mMR9Ztva58 Obama has done nothing], but [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7x-dzXVcOw&feature=related CNN had to investigate] the jokes for accuracy.

	Until next week,<br>		Until next week,<br>

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 Hi again!

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 {{blog}}
-{{bheader|Oct 9th|Devar/5770/Bereshit}}
+{{bheader|Oct 16th|Devar/5770/Bereshit}}
 Hi again!

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 {{blog}}
-{{bheader|Oct 9th|Devar/5770/Shemini Atseret}}
+{{bheader|Oct 9th|Devar/5770/Bereshit}}
 Hi again!
-Monday we decided to go to [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Archaeology/Telshilo.html Tel Shilo].  Using our trusty map, we followed route 60 north out of Jerusalem and promptly ended up almost in Ramallah.  We (I, really) didn't pay attention to a sign [[Media:no-entry-to-jews.jpg|like this one]], which reads: "This road continues to 'Area A', which is under the control of the Palestinian Authority.  It is ''forbidden'' for Israelis to enter Area A, is a ''danger to your lives'', and constitutes a ''criminal offense''.".  So the Palis are well on their way to getting their Judenrein state of terrorists.  And we, idiots, are making it possible.
+* Even SNL knows [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mMR9Ztva58 Obama has done nothing]
 Until next week,<br>
-Shabbat shalom and Hag sameaH!<br>
+Shabbat shalom!<br>
-{{nav|Blog|Blog|Blog/October 2009/Oct 2nd|Oct 2nd||}}
+{{nav|Blog|Blog|Blog/October 2009/Oct 9th|Oct 9th||}}