Out of the Woods

Here is a wonderful essay detailing the first-hand experience of a person observing Tisha B'Av with the traditional walk around the walls of the Old City in Jerusalem. The Tisha B'Av commemorates the destruction of the first and second temples on the Temple Mount. As you might expect, the Jerusalem chief of police announced several days ago that the Temple Mount would be closed to all non-Muslims as well as Muslim males under the age of 45 on Tisha B'Av. It was a visit by Ariel Sharon to the Temple Mount back in 2000 that is often cited as the straw that broke the camel's back in starting the current intifada.

Having spent 10 days in Israel in December 1999, I could picture the procession and its sights in my mind as I read Judy's wonderful prose. The event so typifies the Jewish mentality I experienced while in Israel. Peaceful observation of holy days by huge numbers of people who just want to be left alone to live their lives according to the laws set forth by God. No rowdy chants, flag burnings, rock throwing, or other civil disobedience. I have never understood the centuries-old persecution of the Jewish people. Why can't people just let them live in peace?

Posted by Ken at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I’m constantly amazed when comics—like Dilbert—and essays pinpoint what it’s like to work in a technical job. You’d swear the author was working at the next desk with how perfectly they describe situations or managers. While the latest essay I came across doesn’t hit on all cylinders, it’s still surprisingly accurate.

Posted by Ken at 10:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Why is it that private industry can accomplish in less time and for less money things that Big Government could never dream of? Slate has a great article on the FBI’s archaic technology and their failures at trying to join the 20^th century (never mind the 21^st century!).

Posted by Ken at 10:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ever since we watched the kickoff of the NBC show “The Book of Daniel” the other day, I’ve been trying to figure out how to succinctly put down in words my feelings of utter disgust for the show. How refreshing it was to come across a blog entry that perfectly sums up my take on it. Check out “What NBC Thinks about Christianity.”

Posted by Ken at 5:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It seems many people think the poor apostrophe is so underused in the English language that they take it upon themselves to use it all over the place, even when it’s completely incorrect. One of my biggest peeves is when the spelling of the possessive form of “it” is spelled with an apostrophe. True, an apostrophe is normally used to indicate possession. However, the possessive form of “it” is “its” with no mark. “It’s” is only correct when indicating the contraction of “it is” or “it has.”

Another very common and very incorrect use is in making a word plural. Most plural forms are made by appending an “s” or “es” to the end of the word. No extra marks are necessary. Even acronyms should simply have an “s” added (e.g., “VCRs”).

I came across a great cartoon drawing that summarizes the rules perfectly. Check it out.

Posted by Ken at 1:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When McDonald’s runs their Monopoly promotion every so often, I have fun collecting the game pieces to see how many I can get before they run out and the game ends. I don’t go out of my way to eat there, but someone in the family usually blows through the drive-through a few times a week, so they can add up pretty quickly.

I was just perusing the rules page, and made it down to the table at the bottom of the screen that lists your odds of winning something. The instant-win prize odds look about as you’d expect, with the chances in the range of one in a few thousand to one in a few hundred thousand. Get down to the big prizes, though, and yikes! You’d do better playing Powerball. Your chances of winning a movie package by collecting the yellow properties or an electronics package by collecting the green properties is one in two billion. You want to win the Dodge Viper by collecting all four railroads? Prepare for one in 17 billion!

I can’t imagine McDonald’s spends much on prizes for this game, because the chances of anyone winning anything are nearly zero.

Posted by Ken at 1:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here’s an excellent essay examining the leaked Via Media USA minutes. The document supposedly reveals this ECUSA-supported organization’s plans for doing damage control after General Convention 2006 should ECUSA not go far enough to heed the warnings in the Windsor Report. Well thought out and balanced.

Posted by Ken at 4:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I came across a very “timely” blog entry chronicling what it’s like to install Apple QuickTime on a Windows machine. There is something satisfying about knowing I’m not the only one annoyed by the whole process.

Posted by Ken at 1:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The other night, we decided spur of the moment to go catch a movie at the drive-in. We’d been having dinner about ten minutes away from our favorite local theater, and a quick call to their hotline revealed that “March of the Penguins” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” were playing on one of the screens. We moved several of the van’s seats out onto the ground and sat under a clear, cloudless sky watching the movies.

My gaze wandered up every now and then, and I was struck by the fact that at any given time, I could pick out at least one, and sometimes up to four, airplanes flying over. Most were at the usual 35,000-foot cruising altitude, but they were still easy to spot with their flashing beacons and straight-line movement. Most were also flying generally northeast, so I figure we were under a common corridor to Boston.

Isn’t it remarkable how commonplace and even necessary air travel has become? Less than 100 years ago, the thought of flying at all was almost ludicrous. I recall the eerie silence in the days after 9/11 when all planes were grounded. There is an almost imperceptable rumble of background noise outside due to overflying aircraft. We don’t notice it in our day-to-day life, but certainly miss it when it’s not there.

Another byproduct of our technological society is light polution. I could see only a fraction of the stars in the sky that I know were up there. Perhaps we’ll have a large-scale blackout some evening and we’ll be able to step out our back door and see the sky anew as our ancestors once saw it.

I also caught four shooting stars that evening, one streaking across the sky just above the screen. It made for some excited chatter among the kids who have never really seen one.

By the way, “March of the Penguins” was fascinating, holding the attention of everyone in the family from start to finish. “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” just stunk. It was one of the worst movies Cindy and I have ever seen. That’s one DVD that won’t be coming into our house.

Posted by Ken at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just finished watching the latest Geico ad (for the twentieth time) that I’m sure some ad agency thinks is cute and clever, but I find it simply repulsive. In the background is the image of a large sailboat coursing through the ocean waves. Text scrolls up the screen and a voiceover reads it to us. It starts by stating that Connecticut is the wealthiest state in the U.S., but it’s in danger of losing that honor. Fortunately, Geico comes to our rescue by offering low insurance rates, thereby protecting our lofty position from other inferior states.

We have Fairfield county and its NYC money to thank for our “wealth,” but try to convince the hundreds of homeless and thousands living in poverty in Bridgeport, Hartford, Waterbury, New Haven, and other cities that they are better for living here. I’ve never like Geico, but this ad is a new low and puts them in the same league as ambulance-chasing lawyers in my book. They don’t even acknowledge it on their web site, which has a section specifically showcasing their various ad campaigns. Hey, Geico. Stick to stupid-looking lizards.

Posted by Ken at 11:58 PM | Permalink