re: Pru U'revu and 39 melachot

I want to read this later.
and this

A bissel Kipling

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master,
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And - which is more - you’ll be a Man, my son!

-Rudyard Kipling

pee wee lipa?

Today's secret word is: pilegesh. (Just kidding, though I wound up using that in conversation at work yesterday, and that amused me very much. I wish I could remember the context.)

Sefiratastic, indeed!

Hey, a capella-only people! Check this out, from Lyrics Born (there is some not-a capella stuff here, but it's all clearly labeled). Below is a copy/paste of their email newsletter.

L-Beezies,

106 KMEL in San Francisco has been playing "Differences" pretty regularly, but they have yet to add it to the rotation. That's where y'all come in!

We need ALL the L-Beezies out there to call in and email KMEL to request "Differences".

(800) 955-KMEL

kmelequest@gmail.com

Make as many requests per day as you can. Even if you're not in the Bay Area you can still participate. If you don't want to call, make sure you email your request.

Together we can get LB on major rotation on KMEL. Let's do it up, do it big!!!

Here's a special message to all of y'all from LB himself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZg0u7VPADs

================

The latest LBTV clips are right here:

4.22.08 was the date of release for the new record from Lyrics Born, "Everywhere At Once". This is the fourth in a series of exclusive video clips showing a day in the life of Lyrics Born -- this being the day his new album dropped.
The day continued as LB hit Rasputin Music in Berkeley, CA for an exclusive in-store performance and album signing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxVUM99_BwY

Lateef The Truthspeaker (Latyrx, Mighty Underdogs), Trackademicks (Honor Roll) and DJ D-Sharp (Quannum Projects, Urban Republic) discuss the new record, "Everywhere At Once".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQdnv4eggOM

=================

We've got somethin' very special for all of the L-Beezies; a capella versions of the current LB singles, "I Like It, I Love It", "Hott 2 Deff", "Differences" and "Top Shelf". LB wanted to share these with y'all as a thank you for everything.

Feel free to use these vocals-only tracks to make your own remixes. If you think you've got a hot mix go ahead and send it in and who knows -- maybe LB will throw your mix on his next Variety Show mixtape.

Download the clean a capella versions here (right click and "save target as"):

"I Like It, I Love It"

http://www.lyricsborn.com/mp3/acapella/ilikeitiloveit_acapella.mp3

"Hott 2 Deff"

http://www.lyricsborn.com/mp3/acapella/hott2deff_acapella.mp3

"Differences"

http://www.lyricsborn.com/mp3/acapella/differences_acapella.mp3

"Top Shelf"

http://www.lyricsborn.com/mp3/acapella/topshelf_acapella.mp3

Send in your mixes to lbmusic@lyricsborn.com

This month LB got the honor of being NPR's artist of the day on May 16th with "I Like It, I Love It".

"...at a time when too much rap feels grim and cumbersome, the throwback vibe of "I Like It, I Love It" speaks to simple, often distant pleasures — a moment when hip-hop, pop, R&B, and a sing-along hook rolled together as one."

click here to view the entire article and hear the song

The song continues to get international exposure on radio and the web with no signs of slowing down. Look for a video of the song coming very soon directed by Neon (the same people who have done videos for Common, Kanye West and others).

As LB himself would say, "...they can't stop us!"

-JB

I really feel for this woman

I wish I had an answer.

Excerpt from link above:

Autism is a developmental disorder that affects a person's ability to communicate and interact with others. It is more severe in some people than others. Adam has limited verbal skills.

Walz did not return calls seeking comment, but Jane Marrin, who works for the Diocese of St. Cloud and is acting as a spokeswoman for the parish, said the church board tried working with the Races to find "reasonable accommodations." That included offering a video feed of Mass that could be watched in the church basement.

The family refused all suggestions, she said.

"It's a difficult issue," Marrin said. "There are no easy answers."

Carol Race dismissed the church's suggestion that Adam watch a video feed in the church basement, saying that "does not have the same status as attending Mass. Otherwise we could all just sit home and watch it on TV and not bother to come in."

"It's considered a sin in the Catholic church not to attend Mass on Sundays and every holy day of obligation," she said. "And that's what this is about. I'm just trying to fulfill my obligations."

Chillulim U.S. / "Where will you spend eternity?"

Iraqis say Marines handed out Christian coins

I missed the story about someone using the Quran for target practice. That's reprehensible. Nobody's holy books should be used for target practice. That's not right. And not while in uniform. What's that line (was it in the g? I don't remember) about how if you've got to go to a whorehouse, you should ditch your clothes and don't mistake your plate for your toilet, to put it in not-obscene terms? And I disagree vehemently with any use of that line of thinking to excuse inappropriate behavior -- people just shouldn't behave inappropriately, period -- but I, too, am human, and I certainly can't make rules for anyone but me.

re: (from article above, and in general) "Where will you spend eternity?"

more to come shortly ...
sorry. today got very busy. maybe later in the weekend.
okay, I'm back; got word a loved one isn't well. That sucks. Anyway ...

Why do people care what happens to them after they die?
To me, the heaven/hell thing (and if it works for you, that's great; I just mean for me) is a tool used to control the behavior of people who don't know/understand to just do the right thing. Now, don't get me wrong; I was in Tzivos Hashem, filling out Mitzvah Mission forms when I was little, racking up points and stuff. But somewhere along the way I heard of the concept "saving up in the bank of heaven," and that's what it is, to me. And that doesn't jive with Olam Haba, and I don't buy it. I think it's kind of insulting, actually. We should do the right thing because it's the right thing, not because you get any sort of reward after you die. That's silliness (or I'll find out when I get there, but no rush).

pants, pants revolution

just a thought. And, yay, I have a bunch of freelance work lined up over the next week or so. If you'll be in midtown on Sunday afternoon and want to grab a slice of pizza at JII, give me a holler. I'll be working next door, in the afternoon/evening, probably.

Gaucho pants from the Gaiam website:

related to women studying gemara

Designated Heimish <--check out the comments (talkbacks). There's some high comedy in there.

Hirhurim I
Hirhurim II

This entry is related to this.

I'm boycotting certain words

Goy, goyim, shiksa, shaigetz. (I don't say schvartzeh, but if I did, I'd stop using that, too.) There are too many people who use those words in a not nice way. It's not cool, and I don't want to be associated with that. I can't change people, just my reaction to their actions, so there it is. Besides, people manage to learn that I'm Jewish. I'm glad to learn what their belief system (or lack thereof) is called. That's just simple respect and courtesy toward my fellow (hu)man.

Disclaimer: If I write man, it's short for human, if I'm not referring to someone in particular. There's nothing sexist about saving keystrokes.

This is kind of a stupid post. I've been having lots of fun over at Heshy's place (blog). And working. I need to do that more.

More stuff about women and pants

(because if I post a link on Frum Satire, I have to wait for Hesh to moderate it for it to show up)
Question & Answer With Miriam Woelke - Retaining One's Essential Character
Check out the comments, particularly by William Kolbrener.

Link #2: Scroll down to 10 Elul 5764

Fun with Pirkei Avot

Alice's Restaurant

name I want to remember: ben ish chai. not to be confused with chazon ish.

If anyone wants to discuss cultivating tzniut in today's youth and daily life, I'd be glad to.

Where I go for Parshat HaShavua stuff

Shirat Devorah
She picks cool stuff to share.
There are some other good sites in my list of links for that, too.

I want to unpack my apartment this weekend

That's hilarious. Most of my stuff is still in boxes. Life is good, though. I am thinking nice things. It feels good. I did some research on music and sefirah, earlier this week. I'll try to remember to grab it and paste it here, too. I'm sleepy. Good night.

A good article / kosher croutons?

Here.
Thanks to Baal Habos, who posted the link to it in this piece.

Seriously! Please let me know. The ones I got just don't cut it. I should probably make my own.

Life is good.
The weekend, shabbat, judo, chasing away congestion, medical qigong, all good. I'm happy.
---

Criminy, it's Thursday night, now. Nobody makes good kosher croutons? lol No. Nobody reads this. That's okay. :)

words and relationships (side of funk and Homer)

for the sake of time, I'm not really putting this into sentences right now, but it's my basis for supporting the notion that sefirah is related not only to counting, but to middot. Yeah, yeah, I know it's just Hebrew being Hebrew. I'm having fun, and I'm not hurting anyone.

"I'm learning." -Ralph Wiggum
sefirah
sefirot
tonight's (h)omer
fun with numbers and shemita year and stuff
Jubilee is a fun word.

A blog with great funk goodness

My Sefirah Challenge (side of AC/DC Bag and Big Cypress)

As mentioned not far from here, I learned that the "plague" was lack of v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha, and I don't know about you, but not listening to music doesn't teach me to be good to people; not cutting my hair (or any of the other usual mourning 'cause people died stuff) doesn't remind me to be nice to people; and everyone mourns differently, so this is my way of "mourning."

Time to put the spiritual money where the mouth is. Ha yom yom challenge -- for every day of sefirah, I am making an extra effort to do something to the tune of VLK. There are myriad things one can do (of course, everyone is always good to everyone because they're so darn respectful, right? Right.); it should be easy.

All of this came together over the past few days, so I will double up to complete it in time for Shavuos (still shouldn't be hard). Did yesterday; did today. Un, deux, trois - cha, cha, cha!

Lyrical accompaniment: excerpted from AC/DC Bag (Phish)

... Time to put your money where your mouth is
Put 'em in a field and let 'em fight it out
I'm running so fast my feet don't touch the ground
I'm a stranger here I'm going down

Let's get down to the nitty gritty
Let's get this show on the road
I'll show you mine if you show me yours
I'm breathing hard - open the door ...

I was at this show; it was awesome. Note: Live music footage of song excerpted above contained in video below. There are many longer versions of this tune on youtube.


The other super-memorable AC/DC Bag that comes to mind was at Big Cypress, in the middle of the night, 1/1/2000. I went to get a sandwich shortly after midnight and couldn't find the folks I was with afterward. So I wandered.

I was at my car, feeling alone in the world, figuring that was appropriate (born alone, die alone, year has three zeroes alone, why not?). I heard them go into AC/DC Bag, and remembered why I was there, and headed back to the concert field, and everything in the world was fine. I didn't see anyone I knew until after sunrise.

Now that I think about it, it might have been David Bowie; let me check the set list. It was very powerful. And I was wrong! It was David Bowie. lol Here it is, anyway (all of Big Cypress).

Tale of Block 24

This is a long one, but it's well worth reading, imo. Disclaimer: content includes concentration camp "brothels." ThanBook linked to it. I've enjoyed his blog for a long time, now.

Hot for Caro

Not hot like sexual attraction, I just want to read some stuff my him. I've seen lots of his stuff quoted. Next stop:
http://www.kabbalaonline.org/Safedteachings/otherkab/Yosef_Caro_Selections.asp
I know a bit about angelic mentors. He may have had what I have, just without medication. There is a long history of correlations between the two. Please don't think I'm sticking my nose in kabbalah without a seatbelt on. I was looking up even haezer, and I wound up there. But when I was here and I read this:

Maggid Meisharim: Rabbi Caro's only overtly kabbalistic work, comprising teachings that he learned from a heavenly maggid, an angel that privately taught him. It was published in two parts: the first part, covering Bereishit to Metzora, was published in Lublin in 5405; the second part, completing the Torah and on Prophets and Writings, was published in Venice in 5414. Rabbi Chaim David Azulai (the Chida) notes that only about one fiftieth of the manuscript was ever published.

The work covers an astonishing variety of subjects, including ethical exhortations, explanations of the ten sefirot, secrets of Creation, the Divine Names, levels of the soul, treatises on the revelation of Elijah the Prophet, reincarnation and resurrection of the dead, miracles, Divine Providence and free choice, dream interpretation, the mystical intentions of eating, the mystical intentions of some of the mitzvot, the nature of sin and the harm it causes, and mystical interpretations of passages in the Torah.

my TLE radar went off, so to speak, and I knew I wanted to read more. But I doubt I'll find a copy of it easily. It's on my to-read list.

re: women's stuff and boards

I like this site: http://www.yoatzot.org/
It may not necessarily be stuff that applies to my everyday life, but it's got a ton of information on women's-type things if you're running in any sort of ortho scene. I'm throwing it in my links, but I wanted to draw some attention to it, as well.

And for a different perspective, there are the message boards at calm kallahs (it's a wedding planning site).

I really like imamother forums, which I don't read often enough. It's got a TON of topics and forums, and the women are pretty neat. It's not often I set foot in such territory, but it's nice to catch a written glimpse.

Sefirah Soundtrack / Theme Songs

I wrote something here about Lennon and my ride home tonight. I'll add to this list.

John Lennon: Instant Karma
(actually, you could probably do an entire sefira just with beatles songs, if you wanted to ... I'm tired, and will sleep now, but I will come back to this tomorrow or later this week.)
Put It There - Paul McCartney
Let Me Roll It - Paul McCartney (that has nothing to do with sefirah, I just like it)

... further development on the sefirah theme ...

Time to put the spiritual money where the mouth is. Engaging in extra acts of VLK during sefirah. One a day. (two, now, 'cause sefirah's been going for a while) I'm up for the challenge.

Liquid Funk Jug is Delicious

Musical content (not live). It's a podcast. Rockin' my socks off.

If you liked that, try this: The Craig Charles Funk and Soul Show
Three delicious hours every week!