Yossi Piamenta’s music was what I listened to when I first started to move out of more traditional Jewish music into more recent compositions. There is little I can do to honor his memory…save pull out my collection and listen.
After a bit of hiatus, yet another part of this story. Hope the suspense has helped fuel interest.
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
After we left the Western Wall plaza, we ascended a long series of stairs up to the Jewish Quarter, where we stopped for lunch, then headed for the Four Sephardic Synagogues. The synagogues in question are all adjacent. After the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, the synagogues were desecrated and turned into horse stables. Most synagogues in Jerusalem were destroyed or desecrated during the 19 year Jordanian occupation of Jerusalem.
The Four Synagogues are the: Yochanan ben Zakai Synagogue, the Istanbuli Synagogue, the Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue, and the Emtsai(Middle) Synagogue.
The Yochanan ben Zakai SynagogueThe Emtsai(Middle) SynagogueIstanbuli SynagogueThe Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue – A Class was In Session Here
This is probably not King David’s tomb
We then headed to the Tomb of King David. The tomb is somewhat questioned as to its authenticity. Many scholars agree that King David was not buried in this location. There has been no scientific analysis on the contents of the tomb. Our guide suggested he had been reinterred here subsequently, but I couldn’t find anyone else mentioning that theory. Either way, the entire complex, which also includes the room where the Last Supper allegedly happened, is administered by Yeshiva University, who offers free access to all. The tomb also doubles as a synagogue.
We also visited the Tower of David…also not associated with David. It is a Citadel that dates to the Mamluk and Ottoman periods. A Herodian era foritification also stood on the same site. You remember Herod, the King who our tour guide repeatedly called a meshugana paranoid. I kept challenging him, pointing out if people actually wanted to kill you, you technically weren’t paranoid. On the other hand, he did execute several members of his immediate family. So, who knows?
It is currently a museum of the 4000 years of the history of Jerusalem. The best part was the view from the top of the Citadel.
The View from the Tower of David Citadel in the opposite direction. The large building in the middle is the King David Hotel, opened in 1931. To the extreme left of that is the Dan Panorama Hotel where we stayed.The View Facing the Dome of the Rock from the Tower of David Museum
After the day’s activities, we spent a brief time at the hotel pool. It was at the top of the hotel. The water was cold, and no one was in it. The only people around aside from the disinterested lifeguard were two old women reading their Kindles.
After a brief rest, it was time for a birthday celebration. It was my birthday, so my father and I headed down to the lobby, asking for a good light place. This continues the lesson I learned…Don’t trust Israeli hotel concierges.
Following the directions given, we headed down toward the German Colony. We walked a long distance till we finally arrived at the place he recommended….which closed down, according to the sign, 2 weeks earlier. Tired and hungry, we ended up having dinner at a Waffle Factory. I had a birthday waffle with ice cream.
My father valiantly tried to explain to the server that it was my birthday. Considering the other birthday celebrant in the room whom they did acknowledge, I’m chalking it up to a language barrier.
A piece of my childhood returns. Hydrox, which predated Oreo, is finally making a comeback.
A few years ago, tech personality Leo Laporte referring to the Hydrox Cookie as an Oreo knockoff caused me to write off a letter regarding this.
I was most disappointed to hear disparaging remarks about the Hydrox cookie on your program. For your information, it is Oreo(1912) made by the National Biscuit Company(Nabisco) that ripped off Hydrox(1908) made by Sunshine Biscuit Company.The name Hydrox, which comes from Hydrogen and Oxygen…admittedly wasn’t the best name for a cookie, but in the latter years, till the product was discontinued, it was rebranded as Droxies. I remember, a few years ago, for the 100th anniversary, Keebler, who now owns the Sunshine brands, did a limited run of Hydrox cookies. You see, as a child, I couldn’t have Oreos on religious grounds. I am Jewish, and Oreos were originally made with lard, which for many years, meant that they were not kosher. It wasn’t until 1998 that Oreos were certified as kosher. So, Hydrox were the sandwich cookies of my childhood. Religious issues aside, I am not the only person for which such passion exists. A quick internet search shows much love for the now discontinued Hydrox cookie. Since I cannot get Hydrox, and at the moment I really am craving a cookie I haven’t had since 2008, I will have to go buy Sunshine’s 1947 bestseller, still in existence, the Vienna Finger.
I did receive an on air apology from Leo Laporte, who proclaimed he actually had liked the Hydrox. I’m tempted, when the first ones become available, to ship him a package with another note.
Decided to watch the new Late Night with Colbert to see if I might like it. He insulted Hydrox. Someone at the company relaunching it should jump on this and send him some. I’m not writing a letter this time.
Shana Tova, and Happy New Year to those who celebrate it. To those who don’t, have some honey cake.
It’s been a while since I’ve updated on some of the work I’ve been doing. A lot of it has been behind the scenes. I’ve been working on improving some of the things I’ve built. Some of the work is rather subtle. For those of you not interested, feel free to skip this.
So, since 2014, I’ve been working toward getting certain building blocks available in WordPress, along with several other people.
A webmention is a way to notify another site that you’ve linked to their site. Once you have that notification, there are things you can do with it. Webmentions have been developed as a plugin for WordPress.
Linking itself has utility. But by marking up content, the receiving site can take action.
Microformats would be the markup you can use to have cross-site commenting and other forms of communication.
That would be the purpose of the Post Kinds plugin. It allows posts to be marked up as Likes, Bookmarks, etc. These things could be marked up manually, but some people would prefer a more automated solution.
Separately, there are two theme options now that mark up WordPress theme elements with microformats.
On the receiving end, the Semantic Linkbacks plugin takes incoming mentions and tries to interpret them….turning them into comments, likes, etc. This would be how you would derive value.
Finally, Micropub support. Micropub is a standard to create posts on a site from a third-party client. It means that be it WordPress on the backend, or something else, you can create with the same tools.
There is slow but regular improvements in both the Indieweb in general. Nothing is ever as fast as one would like it to be. But think of what can be done…
Guess what came in the mail today? I’ve been waiting over a decade for this.
My Google Cardboard has arrived. This is the most fun I’ve had with a cardboard box since I used to play inside one.
This morning, Open House NYC held its annual open house at the TWA Flight Center at JFK airport. I headed down for a bit before work. The building opened in 1962 as the TWA terminal at the airport. Designed by Eero Saarinen, the building was in use until October of 2001 when TWA merged into American Airlines.
In 1994, the building was declared a landmark by the city. In 2005, the Port Authority and JetBlue Airways began constructing the new T5. The original concourse was knocked down. The only part of it saved was part of the departure lounges, known as the Trumpet, which was lifted and moved at a cost of $895,000, but was ultimately demolished. Despite promises of a complete renovation and use for the space, in the last decade, it has been only open for events such as the Open House.
Just a few days ago, it was confirmed, after years of discussion, that JFK’s first onsite hotel would be built there. According to the renderings I saw today, the hotel would be in two sections at the edge of the terminal near the old tubes that led between the ‘headhouse’ and the concourse, and would not obstruct the views of the existing building.
The administration acknowledged its own role in the proliferation of tests, and urged schools to make exams less onerous and more purposeful.
Finally. I’ve been watching this obsession with standardized testing. It may have taken well too long, if they follow through, the nightmare is ending.
E. Virgin Conway, chairman of the MTA from 1995-2001 passed away this week at the age of 85. Here he is, consenting to a picture with me at an event at Grand Central Station in the late nineties
E. Virgin Conway, chairman of the MTA from 1995-2001 passed away this week at the age of 85. Here he is, consenting to a picture with me at an event at Grand Central Station in the late nineties
This morning, Open House NYC held its annual open house at the TWA Flight Center at JFK airport. I headed down for a bit before work. The building opened in 1962 as the TWA terminal at the airport. Designed by Eero Saarinen, the building was in use until October of 2001 when TWA merged into American Airlines.
