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Leora of HP

An overdue link and recommendation:  Every once in a great while I come across a blogger whose interests line up with mine and with whom I feel an immediate affinity.  Leora is one of those.  But more, she's a wonderful writer and artist, very knowledgeable about Judaism and a very nice person as well.  I am glad that she stopped here and commented weeks ago, thus allowing me to find her blog and make her acquaintance.

For those interested in art, Judaism, nutrition, psychology, parenting, website design and/or Highland Park, New Jersey, or if you simply want to read an excellent new blog, I highly recommend visiting Here in HP.  Oh and by the way, there's a wonderful interview of Leora up on the Iconia blog, regarding the intersection of faith and art.

Welcome Hungarians...

...who have been pouring in here from the Foldiek blog. Thanks to Istvan for the link.  I had the opportunity to visit your lovely country a year ago.  I loved Budapest - it is a beautiful city.  It also happens to be where my sister-in-law is from. 

Köszönöm for visiting!

Aha!

The Tempe, Arizona mystery has been solved.

What is it? 

It's a search engine spider.

You're it, I Quit

I've been tagged by SoccerDad for the following meme:

The Rules are: Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves.The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed.At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

******************************************************

1.  I like doing memes but I don't feel constrained to follow all the directions.  For example, I have no intention of asking people to read my blog.  They either do or they don't.  Begging is like just too demeaning.

2.   I talked very early, according to my mother.  She told me that people used to hear me and then come closer to take a look in my stroller, and when they did, they were completely amazed at how young I was. One of my first phrases was inexplicably, "Who's the beautiful lady?"  I think I must have heard it somewhere and then repeated it like a parrot saying "Polly want a cracker."

3.  My mother thinks one of her major responsibilities in life is to build my self-esteem. I've always known that her stories about me and my great precocity and brilliance are exaggerations. But I don't dig too deeply.  It's one of those fun fantasies that I kind of enjoy. 

4.  I was never very athletic except in a couple of things:  I could connect a bat with a baseball and hit it much further than I should have been able to for my lack of athletic ability, and I was always a good swimmer. I earned Red Cross certification in senior life saving and taught swimming to kids.  And I used to love to water ski. I could drop a ski and slalom across the wake, man. But I didn't have enough upper body strength to climb the godforsaken rope in gym at school. I hated PE with a passion. Don't even get me going about the puke blue uniform (it was a one-piece thing with snaps down the front, identical to a prison uniform, but it was shorts, not long pants).  They made us girls embroider our names across the left breast pocket. The boys got to wear normal t-shirts and gym shorts. 

5.   I never ate breakfast growing up.  Now I never miss eating it.  I am a firm believer in feeding one's brain and the importance of morning rehydration.  I have tried to impress this upon my children, and now they know my shpiel entirely by heart.  The single missing piece of this successful parenting strategy is getting them to follow through on it by actually eating breakfast.

6.   I love to cook and I love to hear my husband and kids brag to others about the things I make. 

7.  I love all four seasons.  One day we will move to a place where there is no winter and I will miss it for the rest of my life.

8.  When I was 6 years old, we went on a family trip to Washington DC.  While we were standing in front of the White House, President Kennedy landed on the lawn in a helicopter and waved to the crowd. He was killed the following year.

I am tagging the following people/blogs:

Knockin' on the Golden Door

New Era

White Pebble

Throwing Bullets

Andynonymous

Bookworm Room

Oceanguy

Thoughts By Seawitch

Interesting Blogging Meme Stats

Based upon the "Are You Experienced" meme (I called it "Have you Ever?" in my post on the subject) that was traveling around the blogosphere several months ago, Caveblogem has compiled statistics and extrapolated a general profile of bloggers from them.  Very interesting idea.  Take a look.

Good Blogging

Bookworm notes Rosie O'Donnell's inflated opinion of Jimmy Carter and observes what a great pair they make.

Andynonymous ends a string of posts asking why the media can't just report the facts, period. When we want editorializing, we'll ask for it.

Daled Amos explains that the Israel of today is different, and pundits have yet to catch up with the change.  "Oh, for the good old days when it could be assumed that Israel would take action when threatened..."

GMRoper discusses the potential presidential candidacy of Michael Bloomberg. He polls readers: Will Bloomberg hurt the Republicans, the Democrats or will he have no effect at all?

From Israel Matzav:  "The Hebrew daily Maariv is reporting that Israel is preparing to attack Iran's nuclear weapons sites in cooperation with the United States." However, as Carl notes, this is not the first time rumors of a strike have been heard.  Preparation does not mean they have a definitive plan to take action just yet.

Mark enlightens us with a quote concerning faulty translation from Irshad Manji's book, "The Trouble With Islam Today." This is the book, by the way, that I found several copies of turned around and facing in the wrong direction and placed in the Judaism section of Barnes and Nobles at Tyson's Corner Center (I described this in a post of a few weeks ago). 

Shirl shares the Rules of Lomography and her mother's beautiful delpheniums.

Oceanguy comments on palestinian fantasies, war, and our options. "If the Arabs will not step up and help themselves and will not acknowledge their role in creating the disaster on their palestinian brothers, then they are doomed to civil war and we are doomed to be sucked into it..."

Jack of Random Thoughts observes the changes that occur over a long period of blogging.  Do all of us tend to become more reserved over time?

SoccerDad discusses and provides many links on the question of whether or not Fatah "took a dive" and willingly allowed Hamas to take over for tactical reasons.

Smooth Stone reports about fears in the Arab World following the Gaza coup.

Ilona posts a map comparing Israel in King Solomon's time to Israel of today. 

Patti continues to GET BETTER!

Yankee From Mississippi reassures us by observing that most of the young people she knows may watch Steven Colbert and Jon Stewart, but they are NOT the source they use for getting serious news.

Treppenwitz lists his 100 favorite movies.  It's an excellent list, with one exception. No Groundhog Day!

And last, but not least, Seawitch asks us to vote for our favorite alien.

May I Direct Your Attention...

....to another interview! Linda of Auterrific asked for questions and has answered.

A sample question:

"You are going to bury a time capsule which will be opened 200 years from now. What three items would you include to give people an idea of life in the early 2000’s?" 

Find out what Linda replied.

Interview Meme

Maybe I should have asked him which underwear out of all the world's most famous philosphers would he most like to wear...?

Don't miss Mark's interview responses.

Interview Meme

Don't miss Andy's answers to the Interview Meme.  He's supplied some interesting food for thought, as usual, and some good links too. 

Highly Recommended

Be sure to stop by and read Oceanguy's responses to the interview question meme.   

Thank You DG, Otherwise Known as SD

Gee, a post of mine seems to have been submitted for the weekly Watcher of Weasels vote. I wonder who I should thank?

Budapest

A short while ago, I posted a query asking if anyone could help me find out information about attending a seder in Budapest.  A few days passed, and I thought, oh well, guess I'm not going to hear anything...

Then suddenly, a reply.  TM from Jewlicious directed me to Bruno,  the author of the Judapest blog.  Within hours, I had all the information I needed. Even better, Bruno has posted all the contacts re: Seder 2007 in Budapest for anyone else who may be searching for them - in English, as well as all kinds of terrific links and facts about visiting Jewish places of interest.

Thanks very much, TM and Bruno!

Rubicon's Current Most Popular Post

The posts which draw a crowd always seems to surprise me.  Hulk Hogan and the Orthodox Jews was a huge one, but it's possible that the 300 Workout post may surpass it.  From my stats I can tell from where people are coming to visit this blog, to a great extent.  I know if people are coming from Google, from another website/blog that linked here, or from aggregators like Bloglines, for example. 

The Hulk Hogan post deluge of visitors seemed to be coming from an email list orginating in Canada. It was a mystery to me as to who spread the word and why.  I would have loved to have seen the discussion that prompted hundreds upon hundreds of visitors to come by.  But darn it, the passersby did not leave comments, thus revealing no clues.

The crowds of folks coming to see the 300 Workout post are entering via google search, interestingly.  So they are a disparate group, only linked by a desire to know how the actors pumped themselves up for the role. 

Having a blog, even a small one like this, is a fascinating peak into the behind-the-scenes workings of the internet.  Like any other blogger, I do love to receive comments, but even without them the feedback I receive from statcounters and sitemeters keeps me going.  I am aware of the fact that there's an audience of readers who come by daily or several times a week, week in and week out. Thanks for your interest and for taking the time to stop by.

Testing

Windows Writer Beta. Will it work? 

Blogging Anonymously...

...strikes me as a prudent thing to do.  I feel that way even more so when I read things like this.

Like to Read Good Blogs?

Shannon is blogging again.  This woman can write. 

She's been through a blow recently, and I've found that she has a great ability to describe precisely what she's feeling in a way that I can so relate to, though we are miles apart in age and background.  So, though it's a terrible cliche, I will say it anyway - I feel her pain.  To be young and sad is simply not allowed - especially in one so talented, thoughtful and bright.  But she's only sad because she allows herself to feel things deeply, and I can't fault her for that.

Shannon blogs about wideranging subjects from current events to movies to law and politics. If you like to read good blogs, go take a look.  I hope she receives lots of encouragement so she keeps writing.

A 93-Year Old Writer

What a rare find.

Jewish Blog Awareness Month

I have been remiss (my Jewish guilt-o-meter is in the red zone) in my lack of observance (the worst Jewish sin) of Jewish Blog Awareness Month ("They tried to kill us, they failed, let's blog").  You may have noticed (or not - my sidebar is like a three-ring circus) that in the sidebar of this blog, there is a sign acknowledging Jewish Blog Awareness Month (JBAM).  If you click on it, it will take you to a group Jewish blog where people discuss the ins and outs of JBlogging.

Chaim of the Life-of-Rubin blog came up with the idea of JBAM, and has suggested that we do an occasional round up of JBlogs and try to include one or two that we've never read before. So, squeaking through before the month ends, here is a JBlog round-up for your reading pleasure:

Bagel Blogger announces the inauguration of the JPIX Carnival.  This will be a collection of the best photographs of the Jewish Blogosphere.  Click here for the details.

Bookworm continues to think Jimmy Carter is a bad man, and provides fact-based evidence from a recent article written by Claudia Rosett.

Jeremayakovka provides a brilliant defense of why we fight this war written by a soldier who was subsequently tragically killed in Iraq. 

Alcibiades of Kesher Talk reports a recent story about which I meant to blog but didn't, so I am glad to be able to mention it here.  Yemenite Jews have been threatened by Islamic extremists to the point that they had to flee their homes. Also, Judith has some interesting thoughts on President Bush holding hands with the Saudis and the effect on oil prices.

At Musings of a Jewish Soul, a dialog about thinking about the existence of God.

Imshin has found a wonderful video of Paul Simon singing "Something So Right."  She posted it for her husband - hope she doesn't mind sharing it with us too.

Oceanguy isn't feeling well.  Wishing him a refuah shleima (complete recovery) asap.

See Jack of Random Thoughts attempt a world record for the post with the longest set of song lyrics ever.

Smoothstone reports that withdrawal from Judea and Samaria is once again being discussed with the Palestinian Authority. According to World Net Daily, negotiations have been taking place behind the scenes for the past few weeks. Why on earth would they consider such a thing, in this climate, with kassams from Gaza continuing to rain down?

SoccerDad revisits the Munich Olympic massacre and turns up some truly outrageous background information on Avery Brundage, then president of the International Olympic Committee.

Treppenwitz goes to India.  The usual excellent blogging ensues.

The latest edition of the Kosher Cooking Carnival is up at Elisheva Blogs. You will find many truly delicious recipes.

Patti continues to soldier on through cancer treatment. Please visit her blog and wish her well.

Last but not least, the latest edition of Haveil Havalim is up at Yehuda's blog.  He has written a creative story as a way of showcasing all the posts.   

That's it for now.   

Comments

I don't know if anyone else is having any trouble, but I've been unable to answer anyone's comments on the blog today.  The comments feature just isn't working for me.  Sorry.

Haveil Havalim #94

I am Koheleth; I was king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I applied my heart to inquire and to search with wisdom all that was done under the heaven.
It is a sore task that God has given to the sons of men with which to occupy themselves.
I saw all the deeds that were done under the sun, and behold, everything is vanity and frustration.
What is crooked will not be able to be straightened, and what is missing will not be able to be counted.
I spoke to myself, saying, "I acquired and increased great wisdom, more than all who were before me over Jerusalem"; and my heart saw much wisdom and knowledge.
And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I know that this too is a frustration.
For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge, increases pain.

...The end of the matter, everything having been heard, fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the entire man.
For every deed God will bring to judgment-for every hidden thing, whether good or bad.
- Kohelet/Ecclesiastes

Welcome to Haveil Havalim, a selection of posts concerning Jewish and Israeli issues of the past week.

I could have included so much more, if only there was time.  The Jewish blogging community has grown by leaps and bounds, and there are some really terrific writers out there...

Enjoy:

Pillage Idiot provides an excellent post-mortem analysis of the Jewish vote in the recent US interim elections.

Dave of Israellycool has been invited on an all-expenses paid blogging trip to France for the launching of a new TV network.  Find out why he isn't going.

NJDC.org claims to have "The Best Jim Baker Reference Ever."

Daled Amos surveys the record of Congressman John Conyers D-MI, who is likely to become the new chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.  He notes that last year, Conyers held a "mock impeachment" trial of President Bush, just for practice.

Yaakov Menken expresses extreme disgust with Fox on for their promotion of OJ Simpson's book "If I Did it."

SoccerDad takes a very interesting look at OJ Simpson and compares and contrasts him to another murdering celebrity. (While you're there, don't miss a close up picture of a gorgeous clove-embedded etrog made by SD and his children.)

The bus schedule in Israel. Why do we care?  Because, as Ben-Yehudah explains, recent changes portend even bigger changes ahead. "...the new bus routes are also in preparation for the the next expulsion of Jews from the Shomron...With a simple snap of the fingers, the new, Line 148 can disappear, cutting Shilo, Eli, Ma'aleh Levona, Rehalim, and K'far Tapu'ah off from public transportation." Link

My Right Word objects to remarks made by former President of Israel's Supreme Court, Aaron Barak, with regard to Reform vs Orthodox Judaism. In another post, discomfort with Tony Blair's pressure on the US to resolve the Palestinian conflict is expressed.

Snoopy the Goon writes about a truce that never was.

Bagel Blogger has a way with politcal cartoons.  Check out his Bagel Strip. Well done.

Eliyahu m'Tsiyon doesn't like Presidents George Bush junior or senior, and he explains his grievances in great detail.

Yehuda hopes to achieve peace in the Middle East through board games.  Wonderful idea.  Board games are terrific ice breakers and conversation makers.

Is Olmert ready to give up Judea and Sumaria for an impermanent, unreliable Hudna - - and nothing else? Israel Matsav has the story, as well as an analysis of the weak Israeli government response to weapons smuggling in Gaza.

A Must Read:  Judith of Kesher Talk has a conversation with the parents of Rachel Corrie. Their daughter's view of Israel was skewed, and unsuprisingly, so is theirs. Hard to reconcile their polite, smiling American gothic veneer with Rachel's extremist flag burning...

Westbankmama will be observing her one-year bloggiversary shortly, and has a unique idea to celebrate it.  She is asking for people to tell "only in Israel" stories to which she is planning to link to on her anniversary day. Westbankmom has written her own story regarding the custom of truma and maaser.

Bec describes the emotional bungee jump involved in making aliyah. When she arrives in Israel, it is likely that she won't have to put up with having to witness Jews celebrating Christmas anymore.

Charles Johnson writes, "...mainstream media is an absolute disgrace—and this time we can’t even blame it on local stringers doing the work of Hizballah. These distortions were perpetrated by Western editors, sitting in comfortable offices, demonizing Israel and covering up evidence of Hizballah war crimes and collusion with the Lebanese Army." The evidence.

Speaking of anti-Israel media bias, Lynn of the InContext blog reports on a blatant case from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Meryl Yourish notes that war crimes committed by Palestinians are completely ignored, "Because, of course, the palestinians can never be anything but victims. And victims can’t commit war crimes, right? Shyeah." (That "shyeah" speaks volumes, doesn't it?) 

Esser Agaroth tackles the subject of Israeli settler footwear. (I tried to read between the lines and to understand the cultural subtext in order to derive the real meaning of this post. I have an idea, but am not entirely sure I "get it." Best for me to keep my ideas to myself under those circumstances.  Just my way of saying that I think this post is about more than footwear.)   

The Town Crier announces Zachary Baumel's 46th birthday.  Baumel is an American born Israeli who has been imprisoned in Syria since 1982. I wonder, where is the UN taskforce looking into this violation of the Geneva Conventions?

Rabbi Moshe Hauer is horrified both by the idea of a "Gay Parade" in Jerusalem and by violent Orthodox protesters, and he writes very eloquently of his concerns at Cross-Currents.

Jameel of the Muqata blog attended the funeral of Faina Sloutsker in Sderot, and writes movingly about it.  At her funeral, he notes little was said about the woman who was killed. Smoothstone writes about her life and her tragic and bloody death.

Oceanguy wonders if Israel is going to end up being turned into "Jewdetenland" and says it's not a stretch to compare today's situation to 1938.

Rafi G has a story about an adult doing a shalom zachor in order to improve his brain power.

Snoopy the Goon seriously amuses with a description of Islamic attitudes about "excessive femininity."  The post ends with an exciting new burqa fashion statement.

Jack explains why the Baal Teshuva world irritates him.

Miriam Shaviv of the Jewish Chronicle blog asks, if you had a million pounds to give to a Jewish cause, to whom would you give it?  She then proceeds to give, in my opinion, the perfect answer. 

The Jewish Blogmeister describes a controversy between a Hassidic synagogue and a next door neighbor YMCA. (In this corner, we have "I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOUR BODY, DON'T MAKE ME LOOK!"  And in this corner, we have, "LOOK AT ME, I'VE JUST DONE 1,000 ABDOMINAL CRUNCHES, YOU MUST LOOK, I INSIST!" Oy.)

Dag of No Feminists on a Sinking Ship wonders about hatwear (black hat vs powdered wig) and davening. I myself am not a hat person, though I think they look fine on others. Dag also arouses some interesting commentary from readers on the question, "Is there a difference between Aish and Jews for Jesus?"

Reb Chaim HaQoton discusses Bakol, the daughter of Abraham.

Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein condemns the unintelligent adoption of Intelligent Design on Cross-Currents.

Modern Uberdox has a detailed survey of Jewish rock n roll entitled, Jewish Rock 101.

Life of Rubin shares a video of Yosef Kaduner performing Shir Hamalos. Must see.

What's wrong with Borat? I don't know, but Letters of Thought has an idea or two on the subject.

Ezzie of SerandEz thinks Borat exposes hidden antisemitism and approves.

Bookworm has yet another take.  Anti-semites can be found anywhere.  They do exist in the American south, but so do many lovely people who like Jews and love Israel and perhaps vice versa.  Isn't it time to stop stereotyping southerners?

Muse provides a lovely description of seasonal change in Israel, along with some beautiful pictures.  Also, she provides a yummy link to the 12th Kosher Cooking Carnival.

Irina is upset that Aussie Dave is no longer going to host the JIB awards.  What are/were the JIB awards?

The word JIB, besides being an acronym for Jewish and Israeli blog, also represents the small triangular sail of a sailboat, as compared to the main sails. The jib's role is to direct the wind into the main sail, just like a role of Jewish, Israeli, and pro-Israel bloggers is to direct world opinion in favor of Israel. And to really stretch the metaphor, the object of these awards is to direct new readers towards Jewish, Israeli, and pro-Israel blogs. While weblog awards of this kind mean little in the grand scheme of things, they are a fun way to increase blog readership, and, in the case of the JIB Awards, promote Jewish, Israeli, and pro-Israel blogs.

Aussie Dave explains his reasons for no longer hosting.

Irina also notes life is short, tragic things happen, and we should pay attention while we still can.

A Mother in Israel discusses Israeli "rules" for raising toddlers.

Boker Tov, Boulder! has the story of the night that 17-year old Yosef Lepon was stabbed in the back by an Arab who "just wanted to kill a Jew," through Lepon's mother's eyes. 

Treppenwitz "lets the cat out of the bag" about two of Israel's newest citizens.

Akira of Minor Fast Days shares the very moving speech he gave at his son's recent bris. (Mazel Tov!)

AbbaGav conducts his first interview.  The topic: Globalization.

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Hope I didn't miss anyone.  If I overlooked your post, feel free to email me and I will add it.  Also, if you find any broken links, let me know!

The next edition of Haveil Havalim will be hosted by Smoothstone.  You can submit an artivle via the blog carnival form or email them directly to Smooth at One_smoothstone at Yahoo.com.

Hobbyblog's Ancient Coin Collection...

...is the energizer bunny of ancient coin collections.  It just keeps going and going and going and going...

A look through Hobbyblog archives is a real treat.

Gimme Your Stuff

Welcome to Gimme Your Stuff, the cultural exchange blog where you can swap items of significance to your area with items from others around the world. A conduit for many an international cuisine to change hands. A place where you can trade a newspaper from South Africa, or a CD from Finland. A place where we take no responsibility for anything anyone else does. A place where we are Changing the world with other people’s stuff.

Trouble Reading/Commenting?

A few people have told me that they've had trouble reading and or commenting on this site.  Please let me know if this is the case for you, and if so, what is wrong.  The password request should only show up for Crossing the Rubicon2.  This site (Rubicon3) does not require  a password.

If you want the password for Rubicon2, email me and let me know.