David Shanske – Page 42 – The Definitive Location

I’ve been watching reruns of Quincy M.E. on local TV and tuned in to an episode from 1982 called Stolen Tears, where Martin Balsam plays a Holocaust survivor fighting a Holocaust denier, played by Norman Lloyd. Somewhat ironically, Norman Lloyd(born Norman Perlmutter) is also Jewish. I was a fan of his work on St. Elsewhere.

It put me in mind of the 1991 TV movie, Never Forget, starring the late Leonard Nimoy as Mel Mermelstein, and directed by the late Joseph Sargent. Sargent, also director of the original Taking of Pelham One Two Three(which starred Martin Balsam), died a year ago tomorrow. So I bought a copy of the movie on Amazon’s video streaming service, which I haven’t seen since the 90s, and watched it.

In the movie, based on the actual story, Mel Mermelstein is a Holocaust survivor who has a small exhibit at his place of business, and goes to schools and other groups to talk about his experiences. He attracts attention from a Holocaust denying organization and feels the need to challenge them, despite the fact that most Jewish organizations tell him to simply ignore it and not give the hate group any further ammunition. There are people who consider Nimoy’s portrayal of Mermelstein to be one of, if not his best dramatic performances.

Replied to Lessons from trying to help with Android/iOS transfer (tommorris.org)

This weekend, I have been helping an Android user I know switch over to iOS.

What a fucking mess. The tech industry really ought to feel collective shame for the horror movie that is trying to switch from one platform to another…

Few things here. As an Android enthusiast, I recognize people prefer Apple, even if I don’t. I do hate everyone looking at my devices and automatically assuming anything nice must be made by Apple. But good for them for building that rep.

It isn’t as if iOS hasn’t had its share of scandals recently, including their recent app usage of restricted functions…functions Apple thought they could restrict by scanning for them in the code. But, either way…

The MTP issue isn’t a Samsung one. It was thought a security issue to allow direct access to the filesystem of the device by USB cable. The old solution was partitioning, but it meant a hard limit on app installs. So, MTP allows a single filesystem, but the media coming out securely and easily(well, not in your case). The MTP experience on a computer is definitely a problem though.

WhatsApp no making it easy to work with their data is a symptom of the bigger data portability problem. I really think your problem isn’t Android and iOS and the bad transfer experience. The issue is that few companies makes it easy to take data out of their siloed systems. Most people will give up on the effort.

Happy Chanukah

The Last Night of Chanukah. Going authentic this year with olive oil

Post Kinds Improvements

For those who have been following my Indieweb activities, I have for a little over a year been developing a WordPress plugin called Post Kinds. The plugin is based on the built-in Post Formats feature, but focuses on different types of specialized post types or kinds. I figured I would motivate myself by writing out some of the improvements under development.

Picking the right icons to represent the kinds has always been a challenge, because they were part of an icon font. Icon fonts are ‘fake’ fonts that are actually composed of symbols. The latest version of Post Kinds under development switches to SVG. SVG is a text format that defines a complex shape. As it is text, it can be embedded directly in the page. You can compare the two below.

Version 2.3.0

Enable the Jam post type. A Jam is used to share a particularly meaningful song you are listening to. distinguished from the existing Listen type, which is a more passive type designed to store songs you have listened to.
Support for start and end date, which will be used to enhance activity kinds. This will prepare for support for events, travel, and exercise in a future version. I really want to build travel in soon, but I have a lot to put in before all the pieces come together.
Improvements in parsing to bring in better and more consistent data from URLs provided.
Help within the plugin. This will be the first version to add built-in help.

This version will not go out until the above, as well as improved presentation(which I’m currently building) are complete. I’ve been working on the presentation rewrite for over a week now, trying to make it a significant improvement over the previous incarnation.

The 1986 Kennedy Space Center Mystery

I have had this tendency of late to produce trip reports. I visited the Kennedy Space Center for the first time since 1986. So, even though I’m away from home, and my archives are a bit disorganized, I figured I’d reflect on my first visit, for a moment.

I was able to locate these images from that visit.

I also apparently saw an IMAX movie. The dream is alive was released in June of 1985 and prominently featured the Challenger. I do not remember much of that trip clearly.

Attempts to narrow down when I was there exactly have intrigued me, because January of 1986 also marked the Challenger disaster. I wonder how close I was to one of the sad chapters in American Space Exploration.

The Challenger was scheduled to depart the 22nd of January, but it ultimately didn’t happen till the 28th due to a combination of factors including a prediction of inclimate weather for January 26th. In the pictures, I am carrying an umbrella.

Martin Luther King Day was observed nationally for the first time on Monday January 20th, 1986. From recollections of the other parties, we left Florida after that and were back in New York when the disaster occurred.

That would put the trip sometime in the range between Monday, January 6 and Friday, January 17th. We know the previous mission, STS-61C, operated by the Columbia, had an aborted launch on the 6th, and was cancelled on the 7th due bad weather at the contingency landing sites in Senegal and Spain. There was a mechanical problem on the 9th, and on the 10th there was heavy rainfall at the launch area at KSC. It finally launched on the 12th and it later didn’t land at Kennedy Space Center on January 18th due to inclimate weather, ultimately landing at Edwards Airforce Base.

If there had been a launch attempt any day we were there, it would be something that would likely stick in our minds. There is a vague recollection of the shuttle being on the launch pad. But it was most likely the Columbia, not the Challenger as suggested. But who knows?

The final clue is a trip to Disney, taken as part of the same trip, which shows a sunny day. So, we need two days together, one inclimate, one nice…not hard in Florida weather. But lacking concrete historical weather data for 1986(anyone have access to that information?), or more clues, it seems unlikely I can narrow is down further.

The Columbia, which operated STS-61C, disintegrated on February 1, 2003 on reentry. The two shuttle disasters claimed the lives of 14 dedicated men and women.

The search is ongoing for additional visuals from this trip. The mystery remains.

A little piece of home. Ben’s of Boca Raton

Space Shuttle Atlantis

WordPress 4.4 was released today. For the first time, I was one of the core contributors. Before you sound impressed, there were 469 of us. But after over 9 years of WordPress use…nice to be involved.

Tonight is the first night of Chanukah. I’d mentioned I was listening to some Chanukah music. Wanted to give a few quick recommendations. I have nearly 200 Chanukah tracks.

It’s Chanukah(Amazon link) – An album released back in 2011 by a friend of mine, Scott Eckers. It features the students of the I.L. Peretz Jewish School. It’s a nice production.
A Maccabeats Chanukah(Amazon link) – Just released, the Maccabeats cover some classic Chanukah songs.
Woody Guthrie’s Happy Joyous Hanukkah by the Klezmatics(Amazon link) – Several rerecord Woody Guthrie Chanukah songs, Guthrie poems about the holiday, and some instrumental compositions by the Klezmatics.
Hooked on Chanukah(Amazon link) – Nothing like a classic Boy’s Choir to sing some holiday songs.

There are many more I haven’t mentioned, like the five different version of the classic Ladino song, Ocho Candelikas. And I’m skipping I have a little Dreidel. But to continue to expand my collection. Any suggestions?

I walked into a store right after Thanksgiving and started hearing Christmas Music. I see this as a signal to bring Chanukah Radio on the air. Broadcasting wherever I am.

Israel: Part 9 – The New City Part 1

It’s been a while since the last post on this matter…but I intend to finish this narrative.

Thursday, June 11, 2015

We headed to Ammunition Hill. I have to say that their museum’s video display was one of the most well-done presentations I can recall seeing in a museum. Ammunition Hill was a Jordanian military post in East Jerusalem and the site of one of the battles of the Six-Day War.

The Jordanians seized control of the hill during the 1948 conflict, which severed the connection between Mount Scopus and West Jerusalem. On June 6, 1967 at 2:30AM, the Israelis attacked. However, due to faulty intelligence, the size of the Jordanian forces was three times as much as expected. The battle ended four hours later, with 36 Israeli soldiers and 71 Jordanians killed.

We returned to just outside the gates of the old city to see a common site…young boys preparing for a Bar Mitzvah at the Western Wall. They are escorted from outside under a chupah with friends and musicians.

The Knesset is the legislature of Israel. It first convened on February 14, 1949, and moved to its current location in 1966. The Menorah is located in front of the Knesset and was presented in 1956. It took over six years to finish, and depicts various scenes from the history of the Jewish people.

At the Israel Museum, you can not only see the Dead Sear scrolls(no photography permitted), but the Holyland Model of Jerusalem. Commissioned in 1966 by the owner of the Holyland hotel, it was relocated to the museum in 2006.

Since 1965, the majority of the Dead Sea scrolls can be found at the Shrine of the Book, at the Israel Museum.

Next time…we finish off the New City with Mount Hertz and Yad Vashem and move on to the final touring day.

Ellis Island Hard Hat Tour

After living in New York City my entire life, I finally got around to visiting the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island today. I went on the Ellis Island Hard Hat Tour.

“Your tour guide will take you to select areas of the 750-bed Ellis Island Hospital, including infectious and contagious disease wards, kitchen and the mortuary and autopsy room. At its peak of operation in the early 20th century, this was the largest Public Health Service facility in the United States. Following in the footsteps of the dedicated doctors and nurses of years gone by, you will learn the fascinating history of the hospital and its role in preserving public health. You’ll also visit the Laundry Building, with much of its original equipment still in place, where over 3000 pieces of laundry were washed and sanitized daily.”

A ward, last used as a Coast Guard office in the 1950s

Most people do not realize that Ellis Island had a hospital, or the controversial nature of it. From 1902 to 1930, the hospital treated immigrants who were identified with a health deficiency of some kind. One in five immigrants who passed through Ellis Island were identified as having an issue, and nine out of ten of those were eventually cured and allowed to enter the United States.

It was an amazing concept then, as it would be today. It was one of the largest public health hospitals in U.S. history. It was designed based on the philosophies of the time, with isolated wards to keep disease from spreading, large windows and other natural methods of circulating air, a mattress sterilizer, and a dedicated laundry for hospital linens.

By the thirties, advances in technology, including air circulation systems, made the hospital increasingly obsolete. It was receiving little upgrades or equipment. Ultimately, the hospital was closed and was used as a military psychiatric hospital during its later years.

In the end, on November 12, 1954, 61 years(less one day) to the day I stopped by, the hospital closed for the last time. There was no removal of fixtures or supplies. The fixtures were so antiquated, the employees simply left everything where it was…where it remained…ready for the next day that never came. Over the next few decades, the island was looted and vandalized, until it was reopened as a museum.