30 Shevat 5766 * 28 February 2006: Ro'sh Hodhesh 'Adhar/Public Sleeping Day/Shrove Tuesday/National Pancake Day

Greetings.

I know we had a National/International Pancake Day last week. Go figure.

And now to clean out my “for the blog” folder:

• “Govs. Press Bush on Nat'l Guard Strength”
  
• “Urban Legends Reference Pages: Inboxer Rebellion (National Pancake Day)”
  
• “Man Pleads Not Guilty in Voting Device Case”
  
• “Mardi Gras parades lampoon politicians, agencies”
  
• “No: Middle class would be cheated”
  
• “EU okays $143m. in aid for PA”
  
• “Chocolate Does a Man's Heart Good”
  
• “Revoke the "Paradise Now" Oscar Nomination Petition”
  
• “Pakistani Kids Rally Over Prophet Cartoons” (Submitted by Barry.)
  
• “Muslim Preacher on Temple Mount: Restore Worldwide Islamic Rule ”

Enjoy, and happy new month.

Aaron

29 Shevat 5766 * 27 February 2006: Carnival Monday/International Polar Bear Day

Greetings.

Relevant to today’s holiday: “Polar Bear” at Wikipedia and ״דוב הקוטב״ בויקיפדיה.

News: “Pakistani police detain protestors in anti-cartoon rally”.

Cartoon: “A Real Shmendrik”.

Today’s weird thing is “Project: Parasitic Power in Shoes”. Enjoy.

Aaron

28 Shevat 5766 * 26 February 2006: National Pistachio Day

Greetings.

Today’s news:

• “TIA Lives On”
  
• “UAE accused of being on both sides of war on terror”
  
• “Urban Legends Reference Pages: Politics (AOL/Yahoo! E-mail Tax)” (OK, so maybe I made a mistake making that petition worthy cause of the day.)
  

Today’s weird thing is Roaming Gnomes. Enjoy.

Aaron

26 Shevat 5766 * 24 February 2006: International Pancake Day

Greetings.

And now for today’s news:

• Akropolis World News, which bills itself as “THE SITE OF WORLD NEWS IN ANCIENT GREEK”. Barry pointed this one out to me, and I’m not sure whether to be amused or scared.
  
• “Canadian college curbs Wi-Fi, fears health risks”. This is sheer paranoia. There’s a reason why they call it “non-ionizing radiation”: it cannot break molecular bonds.
  
• “Jurassic mammals weren't all tiny”
  “Science grows a human prostate”
  
• “Watchdog Group Questions 2004 Fla. Vote”. This was submitted by Barry.
  
• “Asteroid Mining: Key to the Space Economy”. This one was submitted by Barry, too.
  

Today’s weird thing is a little something from Emily’s collection, included below. Enjoy, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

---

THROUGH THE EYES OF CHILDREN.......
An acquaintance of mine who is a physician told this story about her then four-year-old daughter. On the way to preschool, the doctor had left her stethoscope on the car seat, and her little girl picked it up and began playing with it. Be still my heart, thought my friend, my daughter wants to follow in my footsteps! Then the child spoke into the instrument: "Welcome to McDonald's. May I take your order?"

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Children on Religion.....
A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin, 5, Ryan, 3. The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake. Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson. "If Jesus were sitting here, He would say 'Let my brother have the first pancake. I can wait.' Kevin turned to his younger brother and said, "Ryan, you be Jesus!"

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A father was at the beach with his children when the four-year-old son ran up to him, grabbed his hand, and led him to the shore, where a seagull lay dead in the sand. "Daddy, what happened to him?" the son asked. "He died and went to Heaven," the dad replied. The boy thought a moment and then said, "Did God throw him back down?"

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After the church service a little boy told the pastor, "When I grow up, I'm going to give you some money." "Well, thank you," the pastor replied, "but why?" "Because my daddy says you're one of the poorest preachers we've ever had."

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At Sunday School they were teaching how God created everything, including human beings. Little Johnny, a child in the kindergarten class, seemed especially intent when they told him how Eve was created out of one of Adam's ribs. Later in the week his mother noticed him lying as though he were ill, and said. "Johnny what is the matter?" Little Johnny responded, "I have a pain in my side. I think I'm going to have a wife."



***********************************************************
A WISE LITTLE GIRL
A certain little girl, when asked her name, would reply, "I'm Mr. Sugarbrown's daughter." Her mother told her this was wrong, she must say, "I'm Jane Sugarbrown." The Vicar spoke to her in Sunday School, and said, "Aren't you Mr. Sugarbrown's daughter?" She replied, "I thought I was, but mother says I'm not."
********************************************************
TOO ROUGH
A little girl asked her mother, "Can I go outside and play with the boys?" Her mother replied, "No, you can't play with the boys, they're too rough." The little girl thought about it for a few moments and asked, "If I can find a smooth one, can I play with him?"
**********************************************************
SO KEEP THE SINGING DOWN, OK?
A Sunday school teacher asked her little children, as they were on the way to church service, "And why is it necessary to be quiet in church?" One bright little girl replied, "Because people are sleeping."
**********************************************************
THE PRESSED LEAF
A little boy opened the big and old family Bible with fascination, he looked at the old pages as he turned them. Then something fell out of the Bible and he picked up and looked at it closely. It was an old leaf from a tree that has been pressed in between pages. "Momma, look what I found," the boy called out. "What have you got there, dear?" his mother asked. With astonishment in the young boy's voice he answered: "It's Adam's suit!!!!!"

25 Shevat 5766 * 23 Februrary 2006: National Dog Biscuit Day

Greetings.

Today’s weird news:

• “the Dry Bones Blog: The Cartoon "Debate"”
  
• “Justices allow halucinogenic tea” (So Roberts may not be a mere Bush-parrot after all.)
  
• “Mutant Chicken Grows Alligatorlike Teeth”“Bush Didn't Know About Ports Deal” (Yeah, right. What the Hell is he thinking threatening to veto any bill Congress passes prohibiting giving a United Arab Emirates company control of US ports?)

Today’s weird thing is “Quantum computer works best switched off”. (I absolutely cannot make something like this up.) Enjoy.

Aaron

Worthy cause of the day: Stop AOL's e-mail tax

Greetings.

The good people at MoveOn.org have a new petition up: “Stop AOL's e-mail tax”. Please sign and help keep the Internet democratic and control of what is considered spam soley within the province of the end-user. Thank you..

Aaron

24 Shevat 5766 * 22 February 2006: Green alien lands UFO in field near mountain

Greetings.

This picture I drew trying out a program called Seashore with which I hope to use to draw cartoons for two contests. (It's supposed to be an alien and a UFO.) One contest is the World Union of Jewish Students Global Campaign Against Hatred "Fight hate with humor" Cartoon Contest. The other is that stupid Iranian cartoon contest, whose theme is “Why should the "Palestinian people" pay for the "holocaust" story?” Barry has told me that he E-mailed the people holding the latter contest, and “They are willing to take cartoons which comment on the reason that contest is being held.” We have thus come up with some ideas for cartoons which aim to answer the theme question, only not in a way that would be appreciated by Islamo-fascists. Go forth and speculate, and feel free to send the Iranians cartoons which tell the real reason the Stateless Arabs are suffering. If you do your cartoons right, you ought to be able to submit them to both contests.

And now for today’s news:

• “Death Toll Rises in Nigerian Violence”
  
• “Bush Blames Cuts at Energy Lab on Mix-Up”
  
• “Four charged over guerrilla T-shirts”
  
• “Pakistanis, Iraqis Protest Cartoons”
  
• “U.S. Reclassifies Many Documents in Secret Review”

Finally, I would like to note the article “The Click That Broke a Government's Grip”, which is about a journalist in China who managed to defy the government and evade censorship by proper use of the Internet. In honor of this accomplishment and in order to let people know that government censorship does not work, please feel free to E-mail the URL of the story to others and encourage them to E-mail it to others. Enjoy.

Aaron

23 Shevat 5766 * 21 February 2006: International Mother Language Day

Greetings.

In honor of today’s holiday, today’s post is in my mother tongue: English.

Today’s weird things are some stuff Barry sent me and stuff that was accumulating on my desktop. Someone tell the forces of politics and evil to take a week or two off, please.

• “Stop undermining parents”
  
• “Computer Lets Parents Track Kids' Eating” (I love this idea!)
  
• “BMA to doctors: abandon bug-spreading ties” (This is a great excuse for me since I hate ties.)
  
• “The Growing Global Bully”
  
• “Media Perspective”
  
• “The 'freedom' to disrespect”
  
• “Why I Published Those Cartoons”

Enjoy.

Aaron

22 Shevat 5766 * 20 Februrary 2006: Washington’s Birthday

Greetings.

Material relevant to today’s quasi-holiday: Urban Legends Reference Pages: Holidays (Presidents Day).

They showed Terminator 3 on TV last night, and I find myself confused about it. The heroine, Kate Brewster, dresses modestly despite being physically attractive, and at no point does she do anything more intimate with the hero, John Connor, than hold hands. For a modern, popular American movie, this is practically unheard of. On the other hand, the plot was little more than excuse to smash as many things as possible within 2.5 hours, so maybe the whole thing is just a fluke.

Today you’re getting a bunch of news, especially since Barry seems determined to keep me from delving into my stash of weird things:

• “How to shoot yourself in the foot” (Not contributed by Barry)
  
• “Study: T. Rex Had Acute Senses” (Not contributed by Barry)
  
• “Qatar strips 15,000 Qataris of citizenship -”
  
• “Study: Cultures Affect Captive Gorillas”
  
• “U.S. Company Plans $265M Spaceport in UAE”
  
• “Astronomers get shortlist of possible ET addresses”
  
• “Baffled Scientists Say Less Sunlight Reaching Earth”
  
• “Ocean Was a Hot Tub in Dino Era”
  
• “Soldiers Get Crash Courses on Gestures”

Enjoy.

Aaron

21 Shevat 5766 * 19 February 2006: "Robot combined with swallowable camera could give docs a better look inside the small intestine"

Greetings.

More news of immature, violent behavior:

• “Police seal Islamabad, arrest lawmakers”
  
• “At Least 15 Die in Nigeria Cartoon Protest”

Today’s weird thing is “Robot combined with swallowable camera could give docs a better look inside the small intestine”. Enjoy.

Aaron

19 Shevat 5766 * 17 Februrary 2006

Greetings.

Weird news:

• Another Wikipedia article being maliciously edited (Sorry. Couldn’t resist. Blame Barry.)
  
• “Cleric: $1 Million to Kill Cartoonist” (Submitted by Barry.)
  
• “"Holy Terror, Batman!" Superhero takes on Al-Qaeda” (Submitted by Barry.)
  
• “TA artist takes on Iranian cartoons” (I cannot make something like this up.)
  
• “PA officials to lose VIP status” (Finally! Sensible behavior from the Israeli government!)

Today’s weird thing is “The Dead Grandmother/Exam Syndrome and the Potential Downfall Of American Society”, a statistical article which Barry sent me. The author should have used Poisson regression, of course. Enjoy, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

19 Shevat 5766 * 17 Februrary 2006

Greetings.

Weird news:

• Another Wikipedia article being maliciously edited (Sorry. Couldn’t resist. Blame Barry.)
  
• “Cleric: $1 Million to Kill Cartoonist” (Submitted by Barry.)
  
• “"Holy Terror, Batman!" Superhero takes on Al-Qaeda” (Submitted by Barry.)
  
• “TA artist takes on Iranian cartoons” (I cannot make something like this up.)
  
• “PA officials to lose VIP status” (Finally! Sensible behavior from the Israeli government!)

Today’s weird thing is “The Dead Grandmother/Exam Syndrome and the Potential Downfall Of American Society”, a statistical article which Barry sent me. The author should have used Poisson regression, of course. Enjoy, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

19 Shevat 5766 * 17 Februrary 2006

Greetings.

Weird news:

• Another Wikipedia article being maliciously edited (Sorry. Couldn’t resist. Blame Barry.)
  
• “Cleric: $1 Million to Kill Cartoonist” (Submitted by Barry.)
  
• “"Holy Terror, Batman!" Superhero takes on Al-Qaeda” (Submitted by Barry.)
  
• “TA artist takes on Iranian cartoons” (I cannot make something like this up.)
  
• “PA officials to lose VIP status” (Finally! Sensible behavior from the Israeli government!)

Today’s weird thing is “The Dead Grandmother/Exam Syndrome and the Potential Downfall Of American Society”, a statistical article which Barry sent me. The author should have used Poisson regression, of course. Enjoy, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

18 Shevat 5766 * 16 February 2006

Greetings.

Weird news:

• “Apple Seeks (Poetic) Justice”
  
• “'Waiting and enjoying' at the Interior Ministry” (Don’t you just love the indomitable spirit of bureaucracy?)
  
• “Toxic Toads Evolve Long Legs and Take Over Australia” (Evolution happens.)
  
• “Oprah Winfrey, James Frey and public truth”
  
• “WUJS Global campaign Against Hatred "Fight hate with humor" Cartoon Contest” (I plan on entering.)

Today’s weird thing is “Iranians turn on Danish pastries in cartoon row”. (I cannot make up something this silly.) Enjoy.

Aaron

Prosecuting politicians

Greetings.

I just realized that there is at least one way politicians can be prosecuted, because it has been done before: they can be tried, convicted, and sentenced for war crimes. Now, as we know, George W. Bush has violated the Geneva Conventions, specifically the Third Geneva Convention, which deals with the treatment of prisoners of war. Bush has made flimsy excuses as to why enemy combatants from the Iraq War are not protected by the Geneva Conventions, and he has aided and abetted their torture. Bush is therefore a war criminal, and since government officials are subject to prosecution for war crimes, Bush is subject to prosecution. QED. My next question is how to get him arrested.

Aaron

17 Shevat 5766 * 15 February 2006: "Dammed Beavers!"

Greetings.

I had a wild idea last night. Would it be possible to sue politicians for violation of campaign promises and otherwise lying as a form of fraud? E.g., Bush outright lied to the US about weapons of mass destruction in order to get support for going to war with Iraq. As a result, thousands of people have been killed and wounded. Could Bush not be prosecuted for (at least) manslaughter and be held liable to pay for the care and treatment of all those wounded? Feel free to discuss both on and off this blog.

More news:

• “'3rd intifada on its way'”
  
• “US denies 'plot' to topple Hamas gov't”
  
• “Iranian paper wants Holocaust cartoons”
  
• “Pakistan: Rioters set alight McDonalds'”
  
• “OSx86 10.4.4 Security Broken. (Guess Who Done It?)”
  
• “Staying Informed”

Today’s weird thing is the true story wandering the Internet “Dammed Beavers!”. Enjoy.

Aaron

16 Shevat 5766 * 14 Februrary 2006: Ferris Wheel Day/Valentine's Day

Greetings.

And now another desktop-cleaning update. Someone please tell the Muslims to stop rioting so I do not feel inclined to keep pointing out what a bad idea such behavior is.

• “Cheney Violates Cardinal Rule of Hunting” (Guns don’t hurt people. People who get careless with guns hurt people.)
  
• “How Did Dick Cheney Break the No. 1 Rule of Hunting?”
  
• “Cartoons: Divisions and inconsistencies”
  
• “Let Dark Chocolate Be Your Valentine”
  
• “Palestinian children demonstrate against Denmark” (Or rather: Stateless Arab children taught to hate.)
  
• “New Grant System Excludes Mac Users” (Solution until the US Government fixes the problem, which should never have existed in the first place: Grants.gov for Mac OS X.)
  
• “Cartoons kindle Arab rights debate”
  
• “The Region: Appeasement redux” (Summary: Expect World War III soon.)
  
• “Muslims Claim West has Double Standard on Cartoon Controversy” (Good example of Muslim misrepresentation of Islam and assuming they deserve better treatment than everyone else.)
  
• “The Letter of the CAN-SPAM Law”
  
• “Muslim graves desecrated in Denmark” (An unjustified reaction to the unjustified violent protests. Two wrongs do not make a right.)
  
• “Survey: Disengagement was 'useless'” (And to think Olmert wants to repeat that stupid mistake...)
  
• “Healers help mend Maasai broken hearts”

Enjoy.

Aaron

15 Shevat 5766 * 13 Februrary 2006: Jewish New Year for Crops/Get a Different Name Day

Greetings.

In honor of the Jewish New Year for Crops, I had raisins with my breakfast.

Today you are getting yet another list of things which accumulated on my desktop, including stuff on immature protesters against cartoons.

• Darwine (This is a program which allows Windows applications to run under Mac OS X. They now have a version out which works on Intel Macs. For those of us who aspire towards Microsoft-free computing, this is good news.)
  
• “Interesting Times: The race for identity”
  
• “Graphic anti-Semitism”
  
• Public Domain Movie Torrents with PDA iPod Divx PSP versions (This is useful for anyone seeking a Flash Gordon fix.)
  
• “Oops! - Bush Unaware Mikes Were Still On”
  
• “Mind Control by Parasites” (I cannot make something like this up!)
  
• “Kashmir women's group vows to stop Valentine's Day celebrations” (I have heard about Muslim morality police before, especially in Saudi Arabia, but this the first time I have heard about women in such a role.)
  
• “the Dry Bones Blog: The Neighborhood (1985)”
  
• “Buying a Valentine's diamond? Pop question first”
  
• “Mr. Bush and Genocide” (Summary: Bush will almost certainly do nothing about the genocide in the Sudan other than complain.)
  
• Something along the lines of what I am thinking of buying in the way of a backup solution once I actually get some money: Brick Mobile Hard Drive and Brick Desktop Hard Drive
  
• “the Dry Bones Blog: Looney 'Toons”
  
• “Ahmadinejad blames Israel for cartoons” (Summary: Ahmadinejad demonstrates the religious fallacy of assuming a conspiracy for which absolutely no evidence exists and assumes the alleged conspiracy is behind something he finds offensive. I think he just won a mention in my book-in-progress of religious fallacies and misinformation, tentatively titled Burn This Book.)
  “E. J'lem youths try burning Danish flag”

Enjoy.

Greflar the Sarcastic

14 Shevat 5766 * 12 Februrary 2006: Darwin Day/Lincoln's Birthday

Greetings.

Today is Darwin Day, which celebrates Charles Darwin and evolution. Since evolution is much maligned and misunderstood, I felt it appropriate to give a little relevant material to help shed a little light on the issue. First, I would like to note the National Center for Science Education, which focuses on fighting teaching of creationism (including “intelligent design”) in the public schools. Second, I would like to debunk the misconception that all religious people (at least those of the Abrahamic religions) are creationists. “Churches celebrate Darwin`s birthday” is an article about the Christian celebration of Darwin Day, and the Clergy Letter Project is dedicated towards letting the clergy show their support for evolution. Finally, more on the weird side, I present the “Parodies of the ichthys symbol” article at Wikipedia. I wish I had more material, but I have had other things to work on besides this blog. Those who have good evolution sites, feel free to send me URLs to post. Enjoy.

Aaron

12 Shevat 5766 * 10 February 2006: Umbrella Day

Greetings.

I am feeling better than yesterday, so now you’re getting a large amount of accumulated news:

• “Male circumcision protects women from AIDS: study” (Submitted by Barry. Who knew?)
  
• “Bush Calls for End to Violent Protests” (Double-talk trying to satisfy the West and Muslims and ending up pushing a fantasy version of Islam and censorship.)
  
• “Nasrallah to US: 'Shut up' about Muslims” (I guess that even he is not buying Bush’s “Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance” rhetoric.)
  
• “Oldest T. rex relative unveiled”
  
• “New House GOP leader's lobbyist ties scrutinized” (You would have thought that they would have tried to avoid making the same mistake they did last time.)
  
• “Windows on Mactels using WINE” (Die, Microsoft! Die!)
  
• “Hamas saved Israel” (Submitted by Barry)
  
• “Anti-cartoon protests go online”
  
• “Muslims say Western media hypocritical on cartoons” (The true hypocrisy in the claim. Many newspapers in the West carry virulent anti-Israeli cartoons.)
  
• “Pawning NASA's Crown Jewels”
  
• “Danish ed.: I'd print Holocaust cartoons”
  
• “KR Washington Bureau | 02/09/2006 | Furor over cartoons has some asking, `Can't Muslims take a joke?'”
  
• “Translating Arabic into injustice” (Submitted by Barry)
  
• “Sikhs, Hindus seek open-air cremations”
  
• “Majority of religious Jews say Net not a danger”

Enjoy, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron