Friday, March 25, 2011

Coca-Cola for Godzilla

Greetings.

Jewish date:  19 ’Adhar Sheni 5771 (Parashath Shemini).

Today’s events:  International Waffle Day, Pecan Day, International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade (UN), Independence Day (Greece, Cyprus).
    I think I am going to be going through the collection of pictures I have taken here in Israel but have not shown to anyone.


    These are photographs of the Coca-Cola plant in Bene Beraq.  Notice that the architect got somewhat silly and made several buildings look like soda cans.

    Caption:  The last thing the White King expected was to be assaulted by black pawns on Lassale Street in Tel ’Aviv.

    This actually is Lassale Street in Tel ’Aviv, but these are not chess pieces.  Rather, they are part of a barrier system to keep vehicles and pedestrians separate.  They have these all over Israel, but few look as much like chess pieces as these ones.

    This last one is more puzzling that strictly weird.  This is a mouse or other rodent which showed up right outside of synagogue recently.  (And I apologize for the picture quality, but I do not take my high-quality camera everywhere with me, and I had the choice of using my cell phone under suboptimal conditions or not photographing the rodent at all.)  What I do not understand is why the rodent let me photograph it rather than running for its life.  (Humans are huge compared with most rodents and thus very dangerous to them.)

    Enjoy, share the weirdness, and Shabbath shalom.

    ’Aharon/Aaron
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    Friday, March 11, 2011

    Theodore Herzl, superhero of Israel

    Greetings.

    Jewish date:  5 ’Adhar Sheni 5771 (Parashath Wayyiqra’).

    Today’s events:  Worship of Tools Day, Johnny Appleseed Day, Nametag Day, World Plumbing Day.  (I got a complaint last time I posted for labeling Black History Month a “quasi-holiday” because it is not religious.  It is hard to claim that any of today’s quasi-holidays or whatever you want to call them are not events.)

    I started work recently, and I am trying to fit things, including blogging, into my new schedule.  One of the things that I do manage to do is photography, which works out nicely since there are a lot of unusual things here in Israel all over the place.  (Actually you could probably say the same for most places, but I happen to be here to do the photography.)  I found myself starting to post unusual pictures on Facebook recently, and since blog is “Weird thing of the day”, it occurs to me that this might be a better place to be posting such things.  So on with today’s weird things:

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    Caption:  Beware, evildoers!  Theodore Herzl is watching from above, waiting for the right moment to strike!

    Actually this picture was taken from a bus on Tuesday while passing through Herṣeliyyah. My caption is probably not what the people who created this water-tower art intended and should not be construed as historically accurate.

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    Caption:  Little did I know when I moved to Giv‘ath Shemu’el that there are Smurfs living here.

    Yeah, that’s not really not Smurf houses you’re looking at.  Israeli architects have a lot of fun creating art for cities and towns, and the theme of Giv‘ath Shemu’el includes giant mushroom sculptures.  I took this picture yesterday on the way back home from the post office.  There are a bunch of other giant mushroom sculptures on Jabotinsky Street.  (Somebody please remind me to try photoshopping them together into a whole Smurf village at some point.)

    And finally, one that some might find somewhat uncomfortable.  Those who feel squeamish should skip to the end.


    These are two earthworms which infiltrated my apartment and were caught today.  The lower one got caught under the door and was somewhat mangled.  The upper one somehow made it all the way to under my coffee table, where it got covered in dust bunnies.  This picture was taken after I apprehended the invaders and put them outside, where I hope they will live happy and healthy lives.

    Enjoy, share the weirdness, and Shabbath shalom.

    Aaron

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