Beware of obscure punctuation

Greetings.

Jewish date:  29 Tammuz 5769.

Today’s holidays:  The Three Weeks, Last Day to Do Laundry Before the Nine Days.

Today’s quasi-holiday:  National Tug-Of-War Tournament Day.

Worthy cause of the day:  “A.G. Holder: Appoint a Prosecutor”.

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:

1. A bad case of jumping to a conclusion:  “Riots flare in Blantyre over suspected satanic practices”. General rule about attacking anyone:  MAKE SURE THEY ARE GUILTY FIRST!!!  While dumping dead chickens in a river might conceivably be part of a satanic ceremony (I suppose), it is not necessarily so, and there is a big gap between water pollution and fatal traffic accidents which needs verification that a causative relationship actually exists and (preferably also) how it works.
2. More oppression:  “European Court rules against the Sikh turban in French schools” and “Oregon's Fashion Police” (denial of freedom of religion to public school teachers).  France I can believe, given that the government there has no regard for freedom of religion; this is the same government which thinks that banning all religious clothing of any kind in schools is a good way to fight against terrorism.  (How something like that is supposed to work, I have no idea.)  But Oregon, here in the United States, now has decided that public school teachers having the freedom to follow the clothing dictates of their religion is wrong.  Why?  How is this not unconstitutional?  And what is this teaching students about freedom of religion?  Are we trying to give the impression that they should not get used to the fact that there are people of different religions around and learn to be OK with it?  Are we trying to give the impression that everyone must hide what he/she believes on the off-chance that someone might be somehow offended?  Are we trying to give the impression that freedom of expression is bad?
3. “Hizb Ut-Tahrir: Shariah Takes Precedence over U.S. Constitution / Imam Promises to Fight "Until Islam Becomes Victorious or We Die in the Attempt"”:  I cannot make up the level of paranoia or poor-quality lying depicted in this article.
   
4. Emes Ve-Emunah: A Forum for Orthodox Jewish thought on Halacha, Hashkafa, and sociological issues of our time:  This is a blog written by an extremely courageous man, certainly braver than I am.  It is very easy to criticize people other than one’s own and find fault with them.  (I know.  I do it often.)  But it is very different to criticize one’s own people, to complain about their problems.  It risks the ire of one’s own community, and it may be personally painful to do so.  Unfortunately, problems which go unrecognized are much less likely to be fixed.  And so I must applaud Rav Harry Maryles for addressing uncomfortable issues with in the Orthodox Jewish community, and I pray to YHWH that he be successful in helping us overcome some of our faults.
   

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Arctic Mystery: Identifying the Great Blob of Alaska”
  

Today’s weird thing is irony mark (؟).  Enjoy (or be puzzled by why it would even be necessary) and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Beware of lines

Greetings.

Jewish date:  28 Tammuz 5769.

Today’s holiday:  The Three Weeks.

Today’s quasi-holiday:  Moon Day.

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:

1. “Protesters Gather Outside Islamic Conference Near Chicago”:  General rule:  Never trust anyone when there is good reason to believe they are lying.  And while some people have a good reason to lie (e.g., they are going to be killed if they tell the truth about what they really believe or do), viewing positively those who lie to cover up their support of terrorism are not among them.
   
2. “Opinion: Gov. Mark Sanford writes about scandal:  Mistakes can offer valuable lessons”:  This is an apology by the governor of South Carolina for his recently publicized mistakes (to put it gently).  The good news is he places himself in God’s hands.  This is a start.  However, repentance is more than feeling bad and surrendering to God; he needs to do something to change his behavior, or he will likely make the same mistakes again.  Once in God’s hands, he just stays there and expects things will get better.  His plans for future action seem to be limited to better advocacy of his political agenda.  Nowhere is there any mention of doing anything about his marital indiscretions or his going absent without leave from his job as governor.
   
3. Time for an update on the latest episode Kings, this time “The New King, Part One”.   The part that looks the most like Samuel is that Silas is out to kill David, much as Sha’ul tried to kill Dawidh.  Also David, despite this, remains as loyal to Silas as possible, much as Dawidh remained loyal to Sha’ul.  Silas is also angry at Jack for his support of David, paralleling Sha’ul’s anger at Yonathan for his friendship with Dawidh, and in a shift from its original context Michelle helps David escape, albeit without the statue Mikhal used as a decoy to help Dawidh escape.  On the other hand, the handover of Prosperity City to Gath, the attempted assassination against Silas, Rose and William’s machinations, and Silas going to his mistress’s house to die in peace are all without Biblical precedent.  In the next and final episode, I expect the series to end with the wedding of David and Michelle and David becoming king.  Intuition also suggests that Silas and Jack will die.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Iranian Street Scene”
  
• “Where, Exactly, Does Your Garbage Go After You Toss It Out?”: People will study anything.
  
• “From a Pre-Teen Mind, a Robot that Solves Rubik's Cube”
  
• “New black spot on Jupiter”
  

Today’s weird thing is “Speed Of Line at Market”:

Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron