Hebrew Crunk

Just got this from my sister….too good to pass up:

Shanah Tovah. Now Go Visit Bubbe.

Happy New Year!

It’s Rosh Hashannah, the Jewish new year. Good Jews spend the day in synagogue reflecting, reading their machzor, and listening to the shofar, or ram’s horn. I will not be doing any of those things, as my work and teaching schedule has gotten in the way.

But Jewish law is widely known for flexibility, especially when it comes to sports. The Jerusalem Post has a really interesting article on obervances throughout US history, which recalls a 1934 Detroit News headline, “Talmud clears Greenberg for Holiday Play”, referencing Tiger star Hank Greenberg in a pennant race. Greenberg apparently had quite a day. A Cleveland paper characterized Greenberg’s two home runs as ‘blowing the shofar twice’ thus ‘making the ears of the Boston Red Sox ring’. The article also shares this tidbit from 1965:

Sandy Koufax, pitching star of the Los Angeles Dodgers, was with his team in Minneapolis for the opening game of the World Series. The game fell on Yom Kippur, so manager Walter Alston used his other ace, Don Drysdale, to open the series. Thus on Yom Kippur, Koufax attended services at a synagogue in Minneapolis while the Dodgers were losing the game in dramatic fashion. Whitfield found this quote from Drysdale to his manager when he was being taken out. “I bet right now you wish I was Jewish too.”

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

According to Pam’s House Blend, those North Carolina fundies sure know how to give their pizza boxes a second lease on life. This young woman got quite flustered when Pam asked why she wasn’t out protesting divorce. And the folks at Good As You know the reason why.

Oh Pam, you silly — this young lady can’t speak out against divorce on this day. Divorce messages can only be carried on the backs of those nacho containers with the separate cheese compartments. You know, like the ones you get at baseball games? If you would read your “Dogmatic Fast Food Receptacle Handbook,” Pamela, then you too would know they breakdown:

PIZZA BOX — For damning gays

GREASY TACO BAG — For denouncing abortion

NACHO CONTAINER — For condemning divorce

CARDBOARD 4-CUP CARRIER — For rebuking atheists

And of course the most elusive of all the container-based evangelism:

IMAGINARY PACKAGING THAT WILL SOMEDAY CARRY SOME SORT OF YET-TO-BE-INVENTED SPACE FOOD — For remembering to not be so judgmental or to act like you have all the answers

‘Cause I Like To

This almost made me wet my pants I was laughing so hard.

Well, I’m just SHOCKED.

clipped from perezhilton.com

Giant Tortoise Rides Again!

Yay! I love tortoises and am happy to hear this species may not be extinct.

clipped from news.nationalgeographic.com A giant tortoise species from the Galapagos Islands thought to be extinct since the 1800s may not be gone after all, according to new research findings.

Working for Good

Here’s something good you can do with your horror about Future President Palin, which arrived in my email box today:

We may have thought we wanted a woman on a national political ticket, but are you as sick in the stomach as I am at the thought of Sarah Palin as Vice-President of the United States? Since Palin gave her speech accepting the Republican nomination for the Vice-Presidency, Barack Obama’s campaign has raised over $10-million dollars. Some of you may already be supporting the Obama campaign financially, but the question now is ‘Are you happy with Palin’s views, especially on women’s issues?’ If your answer is ‘NO’, may I suggest the following fiendishly brilliant alternative? Please made a $5 donation (minimum) to Planned Parenthood in Sarah Palin’s name. A donation to Planned Parenthood is tax deductible BUT here’s the good part: When you make a donation to PP in her name, they’ll send her a card telling her that someone has contributed to Planned Parenthood in her honor and that the money will be used wisely. Here’s the link to the PP website:

Click here to make your donation. So that PP knows where to send the ‘in honor of’ card, use the address for the McCain campaign headquarters: Sarah Palin c/o McCain for President Headquarters, 1235 South Clark Street, 1st floor, Arlington VA 22202

Feel free to send this along to your friends (women and men) who feel as we do. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to help a good cause (Planned Parenthood) while delivering a message of ‘NO to Palin’?

Thanks.

So DO IT already!

A New Friend

This Sunday I went to the Urban Country Fair in Somerville, MA. It was fun. I did not buy any post-apocalyptic yarn. But I did get a new friend as a present from my dearest love. His name is Maybe Piglet and he is a crocheted hedgehog. I love him.

Houdini the Beagle