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Community Challenge Grants Improve Livability Across CA
Attorney: $14 Million Judgment for MT Victim Could Curb Online Harassment
WA Seniors Applaud Obama as 'Myth-Buster-in-Chief'
SEATTLE, Wash. - All eyes will be on the Senate Finance Committee next week, which is expected to act on health reform. And advocates for Washington seniors credit President Obama with playing a key role as 'myth-buster-in-chief' in his joint session to Congress Wednesday night.
AARP Washington advocacy director Ingrid McDonald says Obama was right to challenge myths about so-called death panels, because she says they are simply not mentioned in any version of health reform. She says the president's decision to set the record straight on Medicare is of vital importance to seniors.
"There are myths that health reform will cut or repeal Medicare, and the president said it clearly and plainly that there's nothing in these proposals that would cut regular Medicare benefits or increase cost-sharing for Medicare beneficiaries."
Washington Republicans credit Obama with giving a strong speech, but they argue he was short on the details, particularly how much the plan will cost. McDonald says the president made it clear that his plan will not add one dime to the federal deficit.
The Medicare prescription coverage "donut hole," is another issue AARP is watching. It's a gap in coverage that can cost people thousands of dollars. McDonald says Obama made it clear that all versions of the health reform plan being debated deal with that problem.
"The House bill would close the donut hole over time, and the Senate is talking about reducing the cost of brand name drugs while people are in the donut hole by 50 percent. Both would be a huge step forward."
An AARP overnight survey of Americans over 45 finds 77 percent of Independents had concerns about health care reform going into Wednesday night's speech, but that 72 percent felt their concerns were addressed by the president's speech.
The survey is at www.aarp.org/research/surveys/care/health/hcreform/articles/pres_speech.html.
Mike Clifford, Public News Service - WA


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Pianist Jeremy Denk combines first-rate playing with innovative programs. He performs a virtual online recital this Friday night for the Wisconsin Union Theater
Jeremy Denk (below) is not only one of the top pianists on the concert stage today. He is also one of the most interesting and thoughtful pianists when it comes to original, innovative and eclectic programming.
Denk will display his talents again when he performs his third solo recital in Madison this Friday night, Dec. 11, for the Wisconsin Union Theater.
The concert of music by Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann, Johannes Brahms and Missy Mazzoli is at 7:30 p.m. and will be preceded by a public Q&A at 7 p.m. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, both the discussion and the concert will be virtual and online.
Access to the online posting is $20 for the general public, $17 for Wisconsin Union members, and $10 for students.
Denk's performance, which is part of the Theater's 101st Annual Concert Series, will include "Papillons" (Butterflies), Op. 2, by Robert Schumann; Three Romances, Op. 21, by Clara Schumann; "Bolts of Loving Thunder" by the contemporary American composer Missy Mazzoli (below); and Four Pieces for Piano, Op. 119, by Johannes Brahms. (You can hear Denk play the lyrically introspective first intermezzo of Brahms' late Op. 119 in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
To purchase tickets to Denk's performance, visit https://union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/event-calendar/event/jeremy-denk/
Ticket buyers will receive an email from the box office approximately 2 hours before the event begins that will contain their link to view the performance. Anyone who purchases a ticket within 2 hours of the event's start time will receive their email within 15 minutes of purchase.
To The Ear, Denk's well-planned and fascinating program seems like a probing contrast-and-compare, narrative exploration of the musical styles and close personal relationships – a kind of love triangle — between Robert and Clara Schumann (below top); between Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms, whom Robert Schumann championed; and between Brahms and Clara Schumann, who also championed Brahms (below bottom) but rejected him as a lover and suitor after the premature death of her husband Robert.
One of America's foremost pianists, Denk is a winner of a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship, and the Avery Fisher Prize, and was recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
In the United States, Denk has performed with the Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony and Cleveland Orchestra and frequently performs at Carnegie Hall. Internationally, he has toured with the world-famous Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and performed at Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms.
Denk's talents include writing about music. Some of his stories about music have been featured on the front page of The New York Times Book Review as well as in The New Yorker, The New Republic and The Guardian. Many of those writings form the basis for a forthcoming book.
His passion for composing both music and writing compositions is evident in his music-based blog "Think Denk" — "to think" in German is "denizen" — which dates back to 2005.
"Jeremy Denk is one of the greatest pianists of our generation," says WUT director Elizabeth Snodgrass. "While many pianists specialize in a particular period or composer, Jeremy is a musical omnivore whose wide-ranging interests span centuries and styles, and he is exceptional at playing all of them. As The New York Times said, he is 'a pianist you want to hear no matter what he performs.'"
Proof of that can be found in the program "c. 1300-c. 2000" he toured with and recorded last year for Nonesuch, which features a sampling tour of 700 years of keyboard compositions.
Said a critic for the Boston Globe: "Denk has "an unerring sense of the music's dramatic structure and a great actor's intuition for timing."
This performance was made possible by the David and Kato Perlman Chamber Music Endowment Fund.
Learn more about Jeremy Denk at: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Website
For more information and a video clip of Denk playing different Brahms, go to: https://union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/event-calendar/event/jeremy-denk/
Tags: #AcademyofSt.MartinintheFields, #AmericanAcademyofArtsandSciences, #AmericanComposer, #AveryFisherPrize, #BBCProms, #Beautifulmusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BoltsofLovingThunder, #BoxOffice, #CarnegieHall, #ChamberMusic, #ChicagoSymphonyOrchestra, #ClevelandOrchestra, #ConcertStage, #ConsortLoanProgram, #Contrast-and-Compare, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #DavidandKatoPerlmanChamberMusicSeries, #DramaticStructure, #ElizabethSnodgrass, #EmailAddress, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Fridaynight, #FrontPage, #GeniusGrant, #HomeWebsite, #husband-and-wife, #InstagramPost, #JacobStockinger, #JeremyDenk, #JohannesBrahms, #LastYear, #LosAngeles, #LosAngelesPhilharmonic, #LoveTriangle, #MacArthurFellow, #MacArthurFoundation, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MissyMazzoli, #MusicalStyle, #NewMusic, #NewYorkCity, #NewYorkPhilharmonic, #NewYorkTimes, #NewYorkTimesBookReview, #NonesuchRecords, #OnlineConcert, #PersonalRelationship, #PianoIntermezzi, #PianoMusic, #RecordedMusic, #RobertSchumann, #RoyalAlbertHall, #SanFranciscoSymphony, #StartTime, #TheEar, #TheGuardian, #TheNewRepublic, #TheNewYorker, #TheU.S., #TheUW, #ThinkDenk, #UnitedStates, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VirtualConcert, #WiscnsinUnionTheater, #World-famous, #YouTubevideo, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, access, Actor, American, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Arts, audience, Avery Fisher Prize, basis, BBC, BBC Proms, beautiful, best, blog, Bolts of Loving Thunder, Book, box office, Brahms, butterflies, Carnegie Hall, centuries, Chamber music, champion, Chicago, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Clara Schumann, Classical music, Cleveland, Cleveland Orchestra, clip, compare, composer, compositions, Concert, concert stage, concerto, contemporary, contrast, coronavirus, David and Kato Perlman Chamber Music Series, Denk, discussion, display, drama, dramatic, Early music, eclectic, Elizabeth Snodgrass, email, event, evident, exceptional, exploration, Facebook, Facebook post, Facebook posting, fascinating, form, forthcoming, forward, Friday, front page, generation, genius grant, German, great, greatest, handful, hear, home website, husband, information, innovate, innovative, Instagram, interesting, interests, intermezzo, international, introspective, intuition, investigation, Jacob Stockinger, Jeremy Denk, Johannes Brahms, Kato Perlman, Keyboard, last year, late, learn, like, link, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Love, love triangle, lover, loving, lyrical, MacArthur Fellow, MacArthur Foundation, Madison, Mazzoli, Mead Witter School of Music, member, minutes, Missy Mazzoli, Music, musical, musical style, narrative, New Music, New York City, New York Philharmonic, New York Times, New York Times Book Review, night, Nonesuch Records, omnivore, online, original, pandemic, Papillons, particular, Passion, perform, performance, period, personal, personal relationship, Pianist, Piano, piano music, pieces, playing, post, posting, precede, probing, program, programming, public, purchase, Q&A, question-and-answer, receive, recital, record, recorded music, reject, relationship, rhapsody, Robert Schumann, Romance, Royal Albert Hall, sample, sampling, San Francisco, San Francisco Symphony, Schumann, sense, share, solo, spans, specialist, specialize, start, story, structure, Student, style, suitor, tag, talent, The Ear, The Guardian, The New Republic, The New Yorker, Think Denk, thoughtful, time, timing, tour, triangle, Twitter, U.S., unerring, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, UW-Madison, view, virtual, want, Website, well-planned, wife, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Union Theater, writing, WUT, you, YouTube
Classical music: After a year recovering from an injury, Chinese superstar pianist Lang Lang says he has become a more serious musician
The Chinese pianist Lang Lang (below) has long been popular, a best-selling superstar and one of the most bankable players in the business.
Yet such was his flamboyant showmanship and self-indulgence that many of his colleagues and critics did not take him very seriously. Many thought of him more as the Liberace of the classical concert stage.
But then a serious injury to his left arm, tendonitis from over-practicing and straining, forced Lang Lang to take a year off to recover.
During that time he married. He worked with young children and music students, even funding a new piano lab. And he released a new CD ("Piano Book") of short pieces that he has loved since his student days. (You can see Lang Lang coaching a young pianist about a Mozart sonata that played a pivotal role in his life during a master class in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Lang Lang now says that during that recovery period he rethought everything about his career and has made some major changes from practicing to performing.
And what seems to have emerged, at age 37, is a new approach that emphasizes more seriousness and regularity coupled with greater respect for the music he plays.
Time will tell – in both live and recorded performances — how much has really changed in Lang Lang's approach to making music.
Nonetheless, the dramatic change was recounted recently in a comprehensive story in The New York Times, which even goes back to trace the pianist's career, including failures, from his early childhood (below) in China.
Read it and see what you think.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/24/arts/music/lang-lang-piano.html
Then tell us in the Comment section if it has changed how you think about Lang Lang.
Tags: #AsianMusicians, #AsianPianist, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChinesePianist, #ConcertStage, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #LangLang, #LiveMusic, #MusicCritic, #PerformingArtists, #PerformingArts, #PianoBook, #PianoSonata, #RecordedMusic, #ShortPieces, #SuperstarPianist, #TheEar, #TheNewYorkTImes, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouTubevideo, 37, approach, arm, Arts, Asia, asian, bank, best-selling, blog, Business, career, CD, change, changes, childhood, children, China, Chinese, Classical, Classical music, coach, colleague, comment, Compact Disc, comprehensive, Concert, concert stage, critic, days, emerge, Facebook, failure, flamboyance, flamboyant, fund, hear, injury, Jacob Stockinger, lab, Laboratory, Lang Lang, left, Liberace, live music, Love, Madison, Marriage, married, marry, master class, masterclass, Mozart, Music, new, over-practicing, performing, Pianist, Piano, Piano Book, piece, pivotal, play, player, popular, post, posting, practicing, recorded, recorded music, recover, regularity, respect, role, self-indulgence, serious, seriousness, short, short pieces, showmanship, Sonata, story, straining, Student, superstar, tendonitis, The Ear, The New York Times, trace, United States, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, year, young, YouTube

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
BioControl
Vol. 53, No. 3, 2010; Pages: 360 - 366
Molecular characterization and distribution of Bacillus thuringiensiscry1 genes from Brazilian strains effective against the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda
Fernando Hercos Valicente, Edgard Augusto de Toledo Picoli, Maria José Vilaça de Vasconcelos, Newton Portilho Carneiro, Andréia Almeida Carneiro, Cláudia Teixeira Guimarães, Ubiraci G. Lana
Embrapa Milho e Sorgo, Núcleo de Biologia Aplicada, Caixa postal 151, Sete Lagoas, MG, 35701-970, Brazil.
A total of 165 Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) strains that showed larval mortality above 75% were selected from 4459 isolates previously evaluated with respect to Spodoptera frugiperda activity. Molecular characterization was performed based on PCR using specific cry1 primers where 20% did not amplify the expected fragments; 62.4% amplified fragments corresponding to the presence of only one gene, and 15.2%, 1.8% and 0.6% presented a profile of two, three and four different cry1 genes, respectively. SDS–PAGE protein analyses were in accordance with the presence of cry1 genes. The most frequent gene (57.5%) was cry1D, whereas the least frequent genes were cry1Aa/cry1Ad and cry1C (1.2%). However, more than 60% of the evaluated strains had cry1B or cry1E genes. Analyzing cry1 genes and the larval mortality together, the range of activity from the most to least lethal to S. frugiperda was Bt strains with cry1C, cry1B, cry1E, cry1F, cry1A, cry1G and cry1D genes, respectively. The distribution of the strains and cry1 genes varied according to the origin of the sample and the source. DNA sequencing of the PCR products of the cry1C and cry1F genes confirmed their identities.
Keywords: Crystal protein; Bacillus thuringiensis; Spodoptera; cry1 genes


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John and Diane's 125-day Adventure at Sea
By Johnny B,
December 22, 2016 in Holland America Line
MMDown Under
Sorry to hear that the ATM ate your credit card. I can well imagine the stress that caused.
Like you, I love Singapore.
San Luis obispo, CA
I agree, but another part of my philosophy is that life is too short to drink bad Champagne.
easyboy
Friday, March 10 - Sunday, March 12 - Days 65, 66, 67
Singapore to Kuala Lumpur to Cochin, India - then to Munnar, India
What a whirlwind three days it's been. Unlike some of our friends who left the ship at 3:00 AM, we had a leisurely morning and met near the gangplank at 12:15 to meet our 12:30 shuttle to the airport - over one of the most beautiful freeways I've ever seen. It had flowers on both sides and both greenery and flowers covering every overpass (here it's a "flyover.")
We took off almost on time for a quick one-hour flight to KL, where we had a three-hour layover - time to grab a dinner snack before reboarding our flight to Cochin, where we were met at the airport and driven to our beautiful hotel to begin our eight-day tour of Kerala in southwest India, sometimes called "God's Own Country" because of its tropical beauty. Our hotel was called The Eighth Bastion because it's on the site of some important military history. Since we arrived at the hotel at about 11:00 (1:30 AM body time), we didn't have a chance to really enjoy the hotel or learn more about its history, but the good news was that pickup in the morning wasn't until 10:00 AM.
The next morning we met Raj, our guide for Cochin, and Pindi, our driver for the whole eight days. After a three hour tour of Cochin, we dropped off Raj and Pindi navigated the four-hour, hair-raising drive to Munnar. If you remember E rides at Disneyland, this was one of them! Munnar is well-known for two reasons: it's the center of tea growing in southern India and it was the summer escape for the English in southern India during the Raj. Our hotel is Windy Woods, and, as you might guess, it is set in a forest and overlooks acres and acres and acres of tea plantations. Our Indian travel agent, Ajay, always makes sure we get the best rooms, and he certainly did so here. As I write, John is sitting out on the balcony with a Diet Pepsi (40 cents) and enjoying the view.
It turns out that Will and Nancy were assigned a lovely suite, so instead of being jealous, we've turned it into "meeting central." We found when we arrived that the hotel does not have a bar and does not serve alcohol in the restaurant, so our driver volunteered to drive down the mountain and pick us up some beer. When he returned an hour later (it was a long way), all 10 of us headed to Will and Nancy's room with beer, wine, and Alan and Annie's bottle of gin (yuck!). After "cocktail hour" we headed to the restaurant, where we enjoyed the Indian (what else?) buffet. It turns out that southern Indian food is pretty much not what is served in the Indian restaurants we're used to, so we've been introduced to many new dishes. Most are vegetarian, but there were some with chicken and fish. You're not going to get a cheeseburger here!
An explanation about the lack of alcoholic beverages: there is a law in Kerala state, enacted in 2015, that says that only 5-star hotels and state stores can serve alcohol, and although we're staying in a 5-star hotel, their application is caught in Indian bureaucracy and hasn't been approved yet. Yet another first world problem. Apparently the drunk driving situation in this particular state is the worst in the country, so the laws have been tightened up quite a bit.
Today was our tour of the Munnar area, and Pindi drove us into the town where we picked up our guide Sanu, a 25-year old with lots of black curls, a great smile, and an admirable fluency in English with little accent. We had been scheduled to visit the national park to see the rare mountain goats, but he told us it was closed for two months because this is the mating season. Instead, we drove to and walked across some quite scenic dams, and then back into Munnar for lunch (with beer - the guys were thrilled!). Afterwards Sanu took us on a walking tour of the city and the enormous market, which alternated between the smells of fresh fruit, dried fish, and leafy coriander (which we know as cilantro). John took a three-minute video of walking through the market and posted it on Facebook (dianeandjohn st john). We both love markets and wish we could have spent longer there.
Our next and last stop was at the tea factory. We learned about and saw the whole procedure, which was much more extensive than I had ever imagined. I thought they picked tea, let it dry, shredded it a bit and either sold it loose or packed it in teabags. Instead, we learned that the three types of tea - black, green and white - are picked differently and the processes they go through are extensive, from pressing to shredding (four times) to oxidizing to a sort of roasting. Of course there was a small shop where we could buy tea, but since there was no clerk there, it certainly wasn't the usual pressure place after the tour.
Then it was finally time to get back to our hotel, relax for a while, dress for dinner and gather in Will and Nancy's room at 6:00. So far the group is congenial and a lot of fun. Nobody gets too stressed (yet) and everyone's on time. What more do you need for good traveling?
TAD2005
I sure hope that the Amsterdam never converts the piano bar into the new Billboard-Onboard. If they do that would be the end of the wonderful talents of Debby Bacon that we have experienced many times. I think that Billboard Entertainment does the talent booking and Debbie is most likely not on their list of dueling piano artists. She doesn't need any help from a 2nd singer/musician.
I couldn't agree more about Debby. We love her and she is probably the most talented person on the ship.
Monday, March 13, 2017 - Day 68
Munnar to Periyar, India
India is really as incredible as the slogan says. We were able to sleep in this morning, since our driver wasn't going to begin until 10:00. That gave us time for a leisurely breakfast and a photo-op on the terrace overlooking the tea plantations. We were ready to ask a waiter to take the group photo, but an Anglo-Indian man who lives in Leicester, England, offered, pointing out that he is the official photographer for the Leicester soccer team and one of the top 120 photographers in the world! We were impressed, and after his wife arranged us nicely, he took a great photo of the group. I asked her if she was the photographer's assistant, and she answered that she was a photographer in her own right and had photographed Princess Diana.
We began our day's drive by taking a shortcut that would have made Mr. Toad's Wild Ride proud. It was all dirt for the first hour and had enough potholes to keep us all bouncing. Then, thankfully, we arrived at a paved road and two more hours took us to Periyar, one of the homes of Ayurveda medicine and massage.
Our first stop was at a "spice garden," where another Anglo-Indian took us on a walk around the garden, pointing out different spice plants and telling us about their medicinal uses. We crushed and smelled and occasionally even tasted what he was showing us, and after we were done, we were ready to cross the street to buy some spices for ourselves. I bought candied ginger and mace, and our friend Annie said she spent $20 US on an amount of whole nutmeg that would have cost her $50.00 at home.
Then it was time to check into our hotel, where lunch was waiting. I don't think I've written enough about the food here. It is fantastic and comes in huge quantities. Today we were presented with soup first and then plates with chicken and sauce alongside finely ground beets. We thought that was lunch, but no! Then came the rice, and then the naan, and then the curry and then, and then, and then. Finally there was dessert, consisting of a triangle of chocolate, another sort of chocolate pudding in a small dish, fruit, and a sweet yogurt mold. Oh my!
Finally we were able to check into our rooms, but they are separate cottages with thatched roofs, spread all around the numerous acres of the resort. The inside of each cottage is luxuriously simple with a well-stocked mini-bar, a king-sized bed, and a huge shower in the bathroom.
Most of our group wanted to go to the elephant sanctuary this afternoon, both to observe and to ride, but as we were eating our 3:00 lunch, the thunder, lightning and rain began - and continues still. That pretty much put a lid on the elephant idea. When we talked to Pindi, our driver, he said that we were booked for a dance performance at 5:00, but when we checked with our group, they were loving the resort so much that they didn't want to go, so it looks like we'll all meet at the bar at about 7:00 (ah, the benefits of a 5-star hotel) and then have dinner around 8:00.
Tomorrow, however, is another story. Pindi told us to tell everyone that he'd pick us up at 6:30 - and when we called each room to let them know, they all had the same response: 6:30 AM!? Yes, that's the time. We're going boating to see wildlife first thing (VERY first thing) in the morning and then coming back to the hotel to have breakfast and check out. Then, finally, we're going to the elephant sanctuary! Afterward it will be onward to Kumarakom, where we will again spend just one night. Everywhere we've been has been wonderful, and we're only sorry that some of our destinations are only for one night.
P. S. John's video of the market in Munnar wouldn't post, even though he tried it multiple times. The only one that posted was of the ladies of our group working a Chinese fishing net.
P. S. John finally was able to get the video posted - it only took a couple of hours!
sweetipie
I am looking for persons going on the Queen Mary 2 on April 1st out of Hong Kong. We will be on the ship until the 8th of May and really would like to get together with others that are planning some trips. I believe we will be staying at either the Cordis or the Ritz Carlton for 4 days before the cruise. Have not made reservations yet. We are on the Volendam now headed toward Hong Kong. We have never sailed on the QM2 and are anxious to know anything anyone knows about the ship. Carrie and Barry carriebethel@gmail.com
Suggest you also post this on Cunard Forum.
Tuesday, March 14, 2017 - Day 69
Periyar to Kumarakom, India
What a day we've had! There was payback for all those 9:30 and 10:00 starts we've had when we had to report for duty at 6:30 to walk a quarter mile to the bus which took us to Periyar Lake for a 90-minute boat ride through a beautiful man-made lake. We saw bright turquoise kingfisher birds, cormorants and several other types of birds as well as lake otters (smaller than the ocean otters near us) and wild boar on shore.
After our early morning nature tour, we headed back to the hotel for breakfast, checked out, and drove probably one kilometer to the elephant safari, where we rode some beautiful animals through a dense forest. They are so well trained that the mahouts (elephant trainers) just call instructions and the elephant does what it's told. That always worked for our dogs, but who knew it would work for that huge beast. I understand that one mahout works only with one elephant, and they become "family," so the animal responds very well - and they're treated very well, too.
After that excitement, we headed off on a much smoother road than yesterday, and about three hours later we arrived in Kumarakom and the best hotel yet. It's the Kumarakom Lake Resort, and we couldn't believe how luxurious it was. Ajay, our Indian travel agent, had upgraded out rooms here, and each of our luxurious accommodations has doors opening to the swimming pool/canal that flows through the property. There are tiled steps leading from our terrace down into the water, and I think everyone in our group has taken some time for swimming, especially since the water is just perfectly warm. The rooms also have not only outdoor showers, but outdoor bathrooms, with the sink and toilet areas covered but not the shower. The only other time we've had an outdoor shower was in Africa, but we've never had them move the whole darned bathroom outside.
After everyone had tucked into their rooms and had a swim, most of us headed to the beautiful outdoor bar which overlooks the lake. We sat, enjoyed some Kingfisher (definitely NOT the bird this time) and exclaimed to each other how every hotel seems to get better. This one not only has the extremely long pool that snakes around the resort but an infinity pool that we haven't even seen yet.
At dinner time, the buffet was far more elaborate than any we've had thus far, with fresh-made naan (bread) and a chef who was sautéing calimari as well as chicken wings. There were just too many choices, and then the desserts were fantastic too, including a choice of two ice creams: cardamon and butterscotch. Both looked delicious.
During dinner we had quite the light show, with lightning providing illumination over the lake and throughout the resort, followed by thunder that almost made us want to climb under the table. It was basically a repeat of yesterday's thunderstorm, but bigger and even better.
Tomorrow our pickup isn't until 11:00, so we'll have time to enjoy the resort, perhaps even getting a massage. Then we have a one-hour drive to our houseboat on the Kerala backwaters, and all ten of us are really looking forward to that. This trip is just one treat after another!
cccole
I had not heard of houseboats in India so I googled Kerala houseboats. WOW!!!! I can not wait for this part of our adventure to begin. Thank you for bringing us along!!!!! Cherie
Where did you get your Indian travel agent Ajay? It sounds like he does a wonderful job arranging tours.
harrodsfan
Really enjoying being an arm chair traveler on your trip! I read up about your hotel. Prince Charles spent his 65 birthday there. and the BBC calls it one of the best hotels in the world! It looks fabulous! We so enjoy India. Sounds like a great trip.
The adjoining suites where Charles and Camilla stayed are right across the meandering pool from us. They're now named The Prince of Wales Suite and The Dutchess of Cornwall Suite. This is truly a fantastic hotel.
Regarding Ajay, our Indian travel agent (since 2008), CC doesn't allow us to include agencies' names, but if you'd email me at johnyb4ataoldotcom I'd be happy to give you all his contact info.
Wednesday, Thursday, March 15, 16 - Days 70, 71
The Backwaters of Kerala to Kovalam, India
Our Kerala overland tour continues to be an amazing adventure. Yesterday we drove about an hour to Alleppey, where we boarded our four-bedroom houseboat. There are five couples in our group, but the largest boats have only four bedrooms, so Will and Nancy, who just added onto the tour shortly before we left, were to have their own one-bedroom houseboat. That changed when we checked in, so we had one boat for three couples and another for two.
You would assume that with one party of ten that the two boats would be the same, but that was not to be. John and I were on the three-couple boat and we had full-time air-conditioning, a cooperative crew, and excellent service. Rich and Ginni and Will and Nancy did not have the same good luck. They almost had to threaten bodily harm to get the crew to turn on the A/C, there were ants in one of the showers, and it took them almost an hour to even get coffee this morning. Needless to say, tips on that boat were non-existent and their review was quite negative.
Regardless of the unusual bad experience, however, the houseboat cruise on the backwaters of Kerala is an experience that everyone should experience. We sat up on the upstairs lounge area (AKA our Crow's Nest) for much of the day, and we watched the small villages, houses, old churches and water life. These canals connect the villages that we saw and are used for local transport. After boarding and setting sail (so to speak), we had lunch on board and the afternoon was spent sitting upstairs watching this fascinating area as we passed it. At one point, a gate was opened at a duck farm and hundreds of ducks swam out into the canal.
We stopped in a small village to see the local market and the old church, but didn't have a lot of luck. There was a well-attended mass going on in the church, making us unwilling to look inside, and when we tried to enjoy the market, another thunderstorm began. Our friend Rich commented that the afternoon thunderstorms were like clockwork, and this one was a doozy. We had to run back to our houseboat, and just barely beat the heavy rain that continued for about an hour. The thunder and lightning were just getting started, though, and lightning continued to illuminate our houseboat for several hours. I never could get it on film however.
Our friends from the two-couple houseboat joined us for dinner, and then we played "Oh, Hell" for a couple of hours. It's a card game I've never played, and even though my score was decent, I still really have no idea of how to play it. Bedtime was early - about 9:00, and since we were parked on a small bank just next to our friends' boat and next to a rice paddy, it was quiet enough for a good night's sleep.
This morning we arose early to call our daughter and granddaughter in California, and then showered and headed upstairs to spend time with our "shipmates." Breakfast was a combination of European and Indian, with scrambled eggs, sausage, fruit, and Indian "pancakes," made of ground coconut wrapped in a banana leaf. Then we headed back to the dock, where we arrived, as scheduled, at 9:30, and Pindi, our wonderful and talented driver, was waiting for us. As soon as the luggage was stowed, it was time to hit the road to Kovalam and the Leela Hotel, another amazing 5-star hotel, courtesy of our wonderful travel agent.
The rest of the day was at leisure, a welcome break, and after lunch we headed for the hotel's enormous infinity pool. The exciting part of our stay here is that much of the hotel has been reserved for an Indian wedding party, and a group of shirtless drummers were on hand at the front of the hotel to welcome groups of arriving wedding guests. While we were having lunch, the grandmother and aunt of the bride stopped by our table to chat and were nice enough to invite us to tomorrow evening's pre-wedding activities as well as the actual wedding the next day. We'll be happy to attend tomorrow, but the next morning it's time to leave this beautiful part of India and fly to Mumbai, where we'll rejoin the ship and enjoy one of our favorite cities.
Friday, March 17, 2017 - Day 72
Another wonderful day in Kerala. Although I thought we'd skip the tour to Trivandrum today and just hang out at the hotel, when we found out it would only be a three-hour tour, it sounded better and better. Pindi called for us at 9:30, we met our guide, Naveen, and we headed into the city which is the capital of Kerala. We learned on the way that the city has over a million residents and that Kerala has the highest literacy rate in India. The population is about 19% Christian, 25% Muslim, and most of the rest are Hindu, with a smattering of other religions.
When we arrived in the city only 20 minutes later, our first stop was a long walk down what seemed like the main street, with shops of all kinds on each side of the street. We waved at merchants and admired merchandise, and Naveen bought a beautiful floral piece (much like a lei) for Ginni, since it's her birthday today.
Then we headed into the city's fruit and vegetable market, with hundreds of stalls selling everything from bananas (six different kinds) to prickly cucumbers to tomatoes to almost everything. I took a great (in my opinion) photo of a man selling different kinds of bananas with the fruit both on his stand and still on the stalk, so I decided I had to buy some. The ones I chose were baby bananas, which we eat frequently when we're in Hawaii, and they were delicious.
After the market, we walked down the street to the Padmanabhaswamy Temple (just try to pronounce that - I dare you), where there were crowds of people getting ready to go in to pray. There are three rules: only Hindus may enter the temple, men must be bare-chested and have a white wrap around their lower body, and women must wear saris, also with the wrap. The belief is that blessings come to men through the heart and to women through the forehead.
Our last stop was an old part of the royal palace which has been converted into a museum, so we could get some idea of what life was like under the maharajas. The palace itself was fascinating, with each room having a rosewood ceiling with a different pattern. There were weapons from the colonial period, thrones on which the rulers sat, and dozens of beautiful paintings showing what life was like a few hundred years ago - if you were of the ruling class, of course.
Then it was time to return to our hotel, where we found the Indian wedding in full swing. I haven't seen so many beautiful saris since we attended a former student's wedding last fall. The music was loud and lively and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Because the wedding took over some of its facilities, the hotel provided a complimentary happy hour for those not involved. Of the approximately 360 guests at the hotel, 300 were wedding participants. Indians do know how to put on a wedding.
In the afternoon, several of us went down to the hotel's beachside restaurant, The Tides , for lunch. Afterwards, it was time for a dip in the Arabian Sea, which was warm, clear, and just wonderful.
It was an early evening, since we had an early call this morning. Pindi was to call for us at 7:30, so we needed to get our beauty sleep.
Oak Hill Cruisers
This is a great blog. Makes us water at the mouth in anticipation of our 2018 HAL WC.
Question for John & Diane: Did HAL give you guys guidance/instruction on the number of visa pages needed per country visited? We're getting initial guidance that we'll need two empty visa pages per the 20 countries that they will be getting us visas for -- that's 40 blank pages. Most everyone will have to get new passports.
Below is a post from our Amsterdam 2018 WC Roll Call:
Mark and I have read conflicting information on the number of passport pages required for this trip. We asked HAL and they said:
"Thank you for your recent correspondence with Holland America Line regarding your upcoming sailing on the ms Amsterdam.
After reviewing the itinerary and countries we'll visit throughout the voyage, we recommend having two blank passport pages for each country visited. Some countries will stamp the page coming into the country as well as stamp another page upon exiting. A quick count of approximately 21 countries that may require this means up to 40 pages may be used. We also recommend bringing 2-4 additional passport photos as some areas may require to hold an additional photo."
However, we have been on the Islands of the South Pacific and the Grand South America cruises and not received a single stamp. 40 pages is beyond the normal passport. Hoping someone with past World cruise experience can tell us if we need to get new 52 page passports just for this trip. Thanks Bonnie
Saturday, March 18, Day 73
Mumbai (AKA Bombay), India
How is it possible that when all you do is sit all day that you are exhausted at the end of that day? Such are travel days. We had a 7:30 pickup, but Pindi was 15 minutes early and we were all ready to go. It was only a 20-minute drive to the airport, where check-in and security were really quite easy. One interesting aspect of security for women is that they go into a small booth where a female security guard "wands" us and pats us down, but in total privacy. Indians, after all, are a pretty modest people.
Boarding was painless and we took off a few minutes early for our two hour flight to Mumbai. One little glitch had to do with yours truly. The day before, for the first time in four India overlands, I got a bit of "Delhi belly" and I guess I was fairly dehydrated when I boarded the plane. At one point, they were serving food and the smell pretty much got to me, so I headed back and asked the flight attendant if I could get past her. She told me to wait for just a moment, and the next thing I knew I was flat on my back in the aisle with our friend Jane, a nurse, holding my shoulders and telling me to wake up. It was the weirdest thing, since I have never fainted. I would have thought that one would be dizzy first, but there was absolutely no warning, so there I was, having hit straight back, back of my head first. From what I was told later, a sports trainer we had met at the gate as well as two doctors headed to help, and two flight attendants were "Johnny on the spot" to help. Fortunately there don't seem to be any lasting effects from either the 24-hour Indian bug or the fall, so all is well. We can't say enough about the efficiency of Jet Airways, though - they were just great, moving us to first class for more space.
The adventure just continued when we arrived back near the ship. Our instructions had been to go to the Yellow Gate, pick up our boarding passes (pre-made out) and then proceed to the Green Gate where we would board. Well, that doesn't ever seem to work well. Two years ago, we spent about two hours at the Yellow Gate waiting for the elusive boarding passes until finally a call to the ship finally got those blasted passes to us. This time was worse. First we went to the Yellow Gate where we were told, quite clearly, that our passes were at the Green Gate. There we went with our patient driver, to the Green Gate where we were given boarding passes to fill out and told we had to have passport copies - which would all be accepted - at the Yellow Gate. Next drive: back to the Yellow Gate where we waited patiently at the gate's police office and finally had our passes stamped and told to go back to the Green Gate. Thus goes Indian bureaucracy. Two and a half hours later we were able to thank (and tip) our driver generously for his patience, board a shuttle and drive 15 minutes to the ship. That was a new bit too. On previous cruises the ship has been a fairly short walk from the Green Gate, but not this time. Oh well.
The afternoon just begged for a long nap, since I was still a bit under the weather, but afterwards I made it to dinner and now everything seems in good working order.
What a trip it was! I cannot say enough about our friend Ajay who arranged a wonderful tour of Kerala, which is said to be the most beautiful part of India. We rode boats on a lake, elephants on a howdah, and a van on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. We stayed in five-star hotels and experienced an Indian wedding and a 1/2 mile "meandering pool" at the hotel where Prince Charles and Camilla spent his 65th birthday. A few words of advice about traveling in India: remember that it's not part of the western world but that it is extremely charming in its own way. When you book with an Indian travel agent, always get the best hotels available; they will cost very little more than lesser ones and you'll be very glad you did. If you like Indian food or spicy food in general, you'll love eating in India; if you don't, there are always other things you can find. People in the service industries in India really can't do enough to make you happy; if you want something (like less spicy food), just ask. If you haven't been to India - GO! If you love it (like we do), you'll go again. If you hate it - oh well. It's crowded, parts of it are run down, and there are lots of stand-up toilets, but if these two seventy-somethings can enjoy it for nine days, so can you!
P. S. Regarding the visa pages question, since 2009, when we got our new passports, we have gone on 5 world cruises. We did have new pages added (I know you can't do that anymore, but you can pay for extra pages when you get a new one), and we're still using the same passports which still have several extra pages available, and we're expecting to use these passports until they expire in 2019. I don't want you (or me) to get in trouble with HAL, but I think 40 pages is way off, especially because, looking through our passports, the average used page has 3-4 stamps, and you're right, many countries don't stamp at all. Hope this helps.
NordicPrince
Continued good sailing.
I'll have to remember to faint on my next flight so they can move me to first class (good to know you are A-OK).
Enjoying much your review.
Sunday, March 19 - Day 74
What an amazing city is Mumbai. It's the largest city in India, the center of Bollywood, and a place where you can shop markets and get gorgeous clothes for next to nothing (if you're a shopper - I'm not). The most spectacular hotel in Mumbai is the Taj Palace, just across from the Gate of India, one of the two hotels which fell victim to terrorists several years ago. Because we'd been in it several times, it was hard for me to accept the reality of people shooting innocents in what is one of the most elegant places on earth. I was reminded of that yesterday when our friend Rich and I entered the hotel (after tight security checks) and the first thing that hit me was the smell of jasmine. The lobby sparkles and appears that nothing bad could ever happen there, but of course it had.
Earlier in the day Rich, Ginni, Leslie and I took a cab to the Oberoi Hotel, a favorite destination of many cruise passengers. Do they go there for the elegant surroundings or the great food? No - they go there for the pharmacy. If you take virtually any medication, you can buy it for a fraction of the cost in India, and this particular pharmacy seems to be the favorite. For example, some people bought Z-Packs, an antibiotic, for $1.00 each. Now if you're thinking, "I'd worry about buying drugs in a place like India," you should be aware of how many of our drugs are produced there - basically born there and "raised" in the US.
Afterward, our friendly taxi driver dropped off Ginni and Leslie at the Calaba market where they fulfilled my shopping request: a finely woven Indian linen shirt for John ($18.00). It is beautiful and fits him perfectly. Then Rich and I were taken to the Taj. Why do I like the Taj so well? It's my favorite place to have a pedicure! It costs about $17.00 (at one of the finest hotels in the world), they bring me a cappuccino just the way I like it, and while the toes are being attended, another attendant gives me a head and neck massage - all for one price. What's not to like?
Rich and I arrived back at the ship about 1:30, where I joined John for lunch we just relaxed the rest of the afternoon. We had to rest though, because yesterday was our friend Will's birthday and last night was his birthday dinner with all of our tablemates. Ginni, who is a fantastic artist, had painted portraits (actually miniatures) of each of the gentlemen who had had a birthday in the last three weeks (four of them), and presented those as cards along with personalized Micky Mouse ear hats that she had purchased at the new Disneyland in Shanghai. All we did for two hours was laugh, sing the Micky Mouse Club theme song, and enjoy the evening.
Luckily we have two sea days coming up to rest up from our overland, Mumbai and the birthday dinner, even though we're celebrating those other birthdays tomorrow night. I guess the fun really does never stop.
At Sea en route to Muscat, Oman
(and, as it turns out, Muscat, Oman)
The excitement lately around the ship is pirates! Well, we haven't seen any yet, but we're sure getting ready. The sound blasters, the water cannons and the razor wire are all in place and today was our first "intruder drill." The captain came on and told us the drill was imminent and explained how many blasts of the alarm meant what. The main instruction is that if there is one long ring of the ship's alarm followed by the announcement "Testing, Testing, Testing," passengers are to move out of
staterooms and stay in corridors or interior spaces. Everyone who was on the back of Deck 8 by the pool had to come inside. We are to stay away from windows and doors, sit down (in case the ship needs to make sharp maneuvers) and wait until the captain gives the all clear.
The piracy danger area is the Straits of Hormuz between Oman and Iran and then sailing around the Arabian peninsula into the Red Sea. Recently a small Greek freighter was overtaken by pirates in this general area, although the crew was later released with no ransom asked.
What equipment do we have to repel pirates, who usually approach in small Zodiac-type boats holding 5-6 individuals? First is the razor wire, which has been placed around the open parts of Deck 3 to prevent anyone boarding the ship. We have charged water hoses ready on both sides of the Lower Promenade Deck (Deck 3). We also have four long range acoustic devices set up. These look a lot like the huge early TV dishes and put out such strong sound waves that anyone who is their target is not going to be able to hear again for a very long time - if ever. We have also boarded extra security guards and the Bridge will be keeping a close radar watch. I think they have it covered.
The last thing (which most people don't even notice) is that we've increased our speed from our usual 13-14 knots up to about 20 knots as we head toward Muscat. As Captain Jonathan said in 2015, "In these waters, it's best to put the pedal to the metal."
Because of our speed, we'll be arriving in Muscat at 5:00 this afternoon instead of 8:00 tomorrow morning, so many of the passengers will take the opportunity to go ashore.
If you've never read about these measures in the past, don't worry. In six world cruises, we've seen these practices taken every time and we've never even had a hint of a problem. I think this comes under the category of "It's better to be safe than sorry."
Last evening the show was just our four singers: Maddie, Oliver, Brianna and Tom, with Ollie providing piano accompaniment as well as singing. What a multi-talented guy he is. The show was, as usual, wonderful and I'll reiterate that this is the best group of "Amsterdam Singers and Dancers" that we've ever experienced.
Tonight is sari night (Hindi translation: strips of cloth). Yesterday there was an instruction class in how to wrap and tie a sari, and mine, courtesy of Susie, will be put on in her stateroom, since she actually knows how to do so while I don't. In addition, this is our second birthday celebration at dinner, and the Mickey Mouse hats are again to be worn. I love our table.
Wednesday, March 22, 2017 - Day 77
Oman is an interesting country. It is ruled by a sultan who believes that every citizen should have free health care and education, up to and including university for both males and females. It is the most religiously tolerant Middle Eastern country and the sultan makes sure that the infrastructure of the country is well taken care of. When we drove 90 minutes out of Muscat today, it was on a smooth, well-maintained, four-lane freeway. Oman is not what you think of when you think of a typical Middle Eastern country.
Our tour today was to Wadi Shab, which means "wadi for the young." And boy, was it ever. A wadi is a dry riverbed, and since Oman only gets a few days of rain a year, there are a lot of them. We drove along the coast to a town called Quriyat and then beyond it to the wadi. The tour description said that we would be taken for an "easy" walk through the wadi for about 40 minutes through the canyon and green terraced gardens, which would bring us to a series of streams and pools. Then we would have the opportunity to swim in clear water and swim through a narrow keyhole into a cave and then to an inspiring waterfall. Sounds great, doesn't it?
Well, that wasn't exactly what happened. It turned out that the walk was more like an hour and easy it wasn't. The description said that it was "strewn with rocks and pebbles" but it was more like rocks and boulders, many of them wet, with a 40-foot drop to the water below. I certainly could see why this was the wadi for the young. Our group of 16 all began the walk, but two by two began to turn around and head back to the beginning. We made it about halfway, and when we found out that we had another 30-40 minutes to go, John's bad knees said "No thank you." We also then turned around and walked the same amount of time to return to the tented area, where we, along with 10 of the 16 tour members, sat and drank Pepsis and watched the goats climb up and down the rock formations.
The six that went to the pool (singular) said that they did not see a keyhole, a cave, or a waterfall, so I don't think we missed a lot. The other disappointment was that we were supposed to do some four-wheel driving, but that never happened.
After we were all together again, we headed to an Omani restaurant for lunch, where we had a choice of chicken or fish, and it was a very generous meal with vegetables, rice, sliced tomatoes and naan. Yummmm! Then there was only one stop on the way back to the ship - at a sinkhole, of all things. This isn't just any sinkhole; this one is huge - probably a hundred yards across - and at the bottom there's beautiful cobalt blue water in which some people were swimming.
We arrived back at the ship at 4:15 for a 4:30 all aboard, but our 5:00 departure was extended until about 6:30 because some important cargo had not arrived yet. Now, as we sail out into the Gulf of Oman, everything has been delivered and put on board.
Sailaway was on the back deck where we sat with all of our tablemates and enjoyed watching the other ships in the harbor, including the sultan's two (yes, two) yachts.
I also need to mention our table's second birthday dinner last evening. This one, which included not only our regular table group but Will and Nancy, was graced by our two favorite officers, Dr. Dave and Georgia, the third officer. Everyone who hadn't already presented gifts did so, and the Mickey Mouse hats made another appearance. We were pretty sad, though, to learn that Georgia's contract is up on April 3, so she will be disembarking in Piraeus (for Athens) and we will certainly miss her.
Tomorrow will be the first of five sea days as we sail to Aqaba, Jordan, the port for Petra. We're really looking forward to the free time and hoping that all our friends get better from the various ills that ail them. There's nothing like sea days to recharge the batteries.
Thursday, March 23, 2017 - Day 78
At Sea en route to Aqaba, Jordan (for Petra)
The whole ship seems to have relaxed. Early breakfast was pretty empty, so we know that a lot of sleeping in has taken place. The anti-pirate tools are still in place, but it seems that everyone is taking them in stride and going about their leisurely business as usual. The only conversation I've heard about the upcoming five sea days reflects a bit of relief after several high-energy ports, and for many people, overlands through India and even a bit of "Delhi belly."
For the five sea days between San Diego and Hilo, Gene conducted a "marathon," which had participants walking 20 laps around Deck 3 each morning at 6:30 for a total of 26.2 miles by the end of the week. The reward was 400 Grand Dollars each day, and a total of 2000 for the week. For this five-day segment, Gene has organized a similar activity, but because of the complaints from the passengers on Deck 2 below the "marathon," it now begins at 7:00 and the total "dollars" for the week is 1000. So sad! I had forgotten that it began today, and I'm still not sure I'll participate for the rest of the week. The key word there is "rest," and I think I'll do better to take it easy between Muscat and Aqaba than to race-walk around Deck 3 twenty times each morning. I guess time will tell - and how I feel tomorrow morning.
I did get to take some time today to get out to "the beach" by the Deck 8 aft pool, in a further effort to ruin my skin, but it was lovely to have the free time to do so. All of my friends had gone in by the time I arrived, so I was free to read quietly (behind the beautiful forevers for book club) and take a bit of a nap.
This evening we will be attending our second sommelier dinner on a French theme of "Joie de Vivre." It is to be a six course dinner paired with wines, so I'll get all those delicious details to you tomorrow.


Tamer leads Nielsen's North Africa & Levant sub-region, which includes Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. He is responsible for developing and implementing Nielsen's business strategy for the region, while maintaining the financial health and operational efficiency, to ensure sustainable and profitable growth. Tamer started out in marketing and brand management of global consumer brands. He then moved into the telecom industry, first in Mobinil (Orange Telecom), and eventually moving to Vodafone where he spent 10 years developing skills across different disciplines from marketing to customer intelligence and strategy. Tamer holds a Bachelors Degree in International Relations – Political Science from the American University in Cairo His hobbies include fencing, motorcycles and traveling.
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text:
"We're very excited," Allen said as he watched the results come in with friends at the Claim Jumper Restaurant. He said he believes his strong showing was the result of his 10 years serving as the public information officer for the highway patrol.
"I've been a very visible law-enforcement face in the community for over a decade and I've established a rapport with the community," he said. "My platform has been a commitment to the community. I really believe every sheriff has to be engaged with the citizens he serves. I'm going to continue to do that."
Kuzanek, who was endorsed by Haley, said he was happy to be in the top two.
"The campaign starts tomorrow," he said. "I'm not taking anything for granted. I'll keep working. I'll keep moving forward."
He said his experience with the sheriff's department make him the best candidate in the general election.
"I've been with the agency for 21 years — I've promoted through every rank," he said. "I have command experience in every bureau in the sheriff's office. My experience far surpasses my opponent's."
Allen and Kuzanek beat out three retired sheriff's department officers in primary voting: Jim Lopey, 59, retired from the sheriff's office in 2007; David Butko, 58, who also retired in 2007; and James Beltron, 54, who was a sergeant when he retired in 2012.


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The Conversation – January 28, 2020
OP-ED: We Hasidic Jews of Monsey must ignore the outsiders who want us to take up arms and politicize our tragedy
By SHIMON ROLNITZKY
MONSEY, N.Y. (JTA) — A short while after the worst anti-Semitic attack ever carried out against haredi Orthodox Jews in New York, those present in the Forshay neighborhood of Monsey witnessed an unbelievable scene.
Members of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg's community in Monsey, N.Y., gather in front of the house where five people were injured in a knife attack during a Hanukkah party. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
At Congregation Netzach Yisroel, the synagogue attached to the rabbi's house in which the horrific attack took place, the Rebbe of Koson, Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg, sat down to celebrate a Hanukkah and Melave Malkah Tish.
Together with his Hasidim, ignoring all of the chaos and panic outside, he sang songs and praises to the Almighty for all of the Jews who miraculously survived the attack.
https://www.jta.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/WhatsApp-Video-2019-12-29-at-12.45.49-AM-1.mp4
The rebbe spoke with the community, quivering while reciting the words from Song of Songs 4:8, "you shall look from the peak of Amanah" — emphasizing that, according to the Jewish tradition, we are to sing to the Lord and have faith in his salvation, even before he delivers it. The wounded and badly injured Jews, including at least one of his sons, were being brought to the operation room — but he implored us to "thank the Almighty for the generosity that he will certainly show with their ultimate complete recovery."
How many times throughout history has the strength of the Jewish faith been demonstrated before the eyes of the whole world?
The same strength played out at a Torah dedication ceremony the next morning. The community had just come away from a terrifying tragedy and the rebbe's house was still a crime scene with blood everywhere. But we Jews do not raise our hands in resignation. No! We did not give up in the concentration camps, when Jews were set on fulfilling commandments, despite life ostensibly having no more meaning, and we will continue not giving up.
We will just go on with our lives. We will not let the horror of Jew-hatred gain dominion over our lives. We will remain subjects of the King of Kings.
Vile attacks and murders bring out the horror in a small amount of people, but they much more bring out the beauty and nobility of the great majority of God's creatures.
The hero of the Monsey story, Yosef Elyah Glick, talks down his role (throwing a table at the attacker) with humility, saying that God gave him the strength and will to do what he did.
But in his interview with CNN, his message to the political leaders was that they must do their duty to condemn anti-Semitism and violence in all circumstances, and not use their positions to incite negative emotions among races and communities.
That is, in my opinion, the strongest message that can be taken from the attack. The natural friends of Orthodox Jews are other minority communities next to whom we live. A large part of the black, Latino and Muslim communities, our neighbors, look at us religious Jews as their natural allies against a world of enmity and hate.
Regrettably, some hotheads and pundits try to fuel hatred among the various communities for their own political interests. But I cannot count how many times I personally have received favors from members of minority communities. Take away the self-serving political officials who pit one community against another due to vile political interests, take away the demagogues, and you have terrific communities who live side by side in harmony and happiness.
When I stopped at a gas station on Skyline Drive in Ringwood, New Jersey, several weeks ago, the gas station attendant dropped everything and volunteered to show me which products were kosher. He himself uses kosher symbols, he explained to me, because he eats halal.
My twin boys were raised with the help of a black woman who developed a taste for cholent and gefilte fish and was extraordinarily loyal to my children. After the attack in Monsey, she called to express worry and sympathy about what happened.
On a recent trip, I stopped to visit the Ghostly Manor Haunted House in Sandusky, Ohio, noted as one of the top-rated haunts in the United States. Waiting to go in, an African-American family came up to me and asked me to go in front of them — the place is so scary and they were afraid to go in alone. I wondered to myself if a white American family would have similarly trusted a haredi Jew with beard and sidelocks.
After the earthquake in Haiti in 2010, Rockland County Legislator Aron Wieder arranged a massive campaign to procure hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from the haredi community of Rockland to send to those suffering in Haiti as a friendly gesture to the Haitian community of Ramapo.
When the community heard in 2014 that a lowlife had stolen money collected for the burial costs of a Latino child who died in a tragic accident, haredi Jews quickly came up with the money to cover the damages. After the attack in Jersey City, while mourning our own victims, haredi Jews secured tens of thousands of dollars for the family of Douglas Miguel Rodriguez, the immigrant from Ecuador who was a good friend to the the city's small haredi community.
Haredi leaders like Yosef Rapaport, Alex Rapaport and Chesky Deutsch have used the terrifying tragedy to heal wounds and improve relations between the Hasidic and African-American communities of Jersey City — by organizing, among other things, a large venture to help the local black and Hasidic communities.
The haredi community is also blessed with having outstanding relations with minority politicians who are fighting for our rights and of late have been the right messengers to fight anti-Semitism. The attorneys general of New York and New Jersey have positioned themselves against Jew haters with a strong hand because, as minorities themselves, they are sensitive to our pains. (The predecessor to Letitia James in New York seemed to care little for the wave of anti-Semitism despite being Jewish.)
Unfortunately, there are also hotheads who position themselves as friends of the community only after we come under attack: people who stoke emotions against haredi Jews and call them all sorts of names, and then, when something happens, come into haredi neighborhoods with a group of people and declare that only they can protect us from our enemies.
About these people we say the known proverb from Rashi: "Don't give me the honey and spare me the sting." Thanks but no thanks.
We also do not need any help from demagogues who are busy after every attack with ridiculous finger-pointing, whether there is more white anti-Semitism or more black anti-Semitism, if the Jew haters are more likely to be found in the right camp or more on the left, and which parties are taking the danger to Jews more seriously.
Jewish blood is flowing like water and these people are busy with political accounting.
The haredi community also must be wary of the hotheads and demagogues who incite them to throw under the bus those officials like Mayor Bill De Blasio of New York, who has paid a heavy political price for the sin of treating all the communities in New York fairly.
And we must be wary of those who say that guns are the answer. From the time that haredi children are very small, we learn to despise weapons. The words of my teacher ring in my ears: "Our strength is only with our mouth (praying to the Almighty)." When we learned the Talmud tractate of Shabbat, the teacher pointed out that the sages say (63a) that a person is not allowed to go around with a weapon on the Sabbath because their purpose is "shameful," they are a disgusting item. We always heard from our religious leaders that the weapon of a Jew is the voice of Jacob (Genesis 27:22).
They educated us to be pacifists and talked to us about how nice it will be when the Messiah comes, when "nation shall not lift the sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." (Isaiah 2:4)
The great majority of haredi Jews do not want to take up weapons. Jews who come to the Chanukah lighting of their rebbe, like those who had to struggle against a murderer with a big machete on Saturday night, are generally the type of people not to kill a fly.
Speaking in Yiddish and in English [0:28] Rabbi Rottenberg, rejects guns! #MonseyStabbing pic.twitter.com/9UVk6bY9nN
— 𝙔𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙛 𝙍𝙖𝙥𝙖𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩 (@YosefRapaport) December 31, 2019
I still remember when I brought home a toy gun for Purim and my mother took it, saying that "Jews don't have a use for guns."
How is it that certain haredi Jews can be heard expressing support for the gun policies of the NRA for the safety of a community that despises "you shall live by the sword"? (Genesis 27:40) It is critical that there should be stricter laws to ensure that no harmful guns and deadly weapons come into the hands of criminals, anti-Semites and terrorists who will use them to hurt innocent people.
This is just a direct result of propaganda from pundits and media figures who use their positions to incite hate, panic, chaos and hatred, and convince Americans to support issues directly antithetical to their interests.
In their warped minds, we Orthodox Jews are not good Jews unless we condemn political officials who they consider insufficiently pro-Jewish. They will not rest until they create a gigantic division between us and the nearby communities, and between us and our responsible political leaders.
The good news is that our communities are gifted with responsible leaders who shake off the politics of enmity and hate — and who do not allow for outsiders with blind intentions to overcome us and ruin our friendly relationships. So much progress has been made in recent years in Ramapo to smooth out the relationships among the communities. There is still much work to be done, but we will stubbornly continue to extend an olive branch to our neighbors and live with them in peace and harmony.
We now step out of the holiday of Chanukah that is the holiday of light.
"A little bit of light dispels a lot of darkness," said the holy Baal Tanya, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi. It is up to us to be that light.
This article, originally written in Yiddish, was translated by Professor Nick Block.
Harold Singer graveside rites slated for Sunday afternoon
SAMUEL HAROLD SINGER, a former hardware store proprietor who was known by friends and family by his middle name of Harold, became a blessed memory on January 15, 2020. He was 96 years old.
A New Orleans native, Singer spent...
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Two local favorites, Germany and Brazil are set to prove their fate in their respective openers tomorrow.
Fans across Solomon Islands will have breathless moments and sleepless hours to support , predict and even say a prayer for the two teams.
Germany was drawn to Group F with Mexico in their opener at 2am, and will meet Sweden and South Korea in their later group matches this week.
Germany's head coach Joachim Loew, with his earlier confidence said there is no greater challenge than defending the World Cup title.
He said no country since Brazil in 1962 has successfully retained the World Cup.
Meanwhile, Brazil fans anxiously await the moment to see the Seleção take the pitch in their opening match against Switzerland, at 5am tomorrow morning.
Brazil is part of Group E, along with Serbia, Costa Rica and Switzerland.
There is so much debate and gossip about Brazil Neymar Junior as one of the candidates to star at the World Cup,with him voicing his confidence that the most important thing for him, is to win the tournament.
In FIFA's Focus page, Neymar said he does not want to be the best in the world, but to win the cup.
After the opener against Switzerland tomorrow morning, Brazil will face Costa Rica, and Serbia in their final group match.
Newer PostMarau: Some businesses are reserved for indigenous.


text:
Royals add Guillen
Three years, $36 million, the Kansas City Royals sign Jose Guillen and get some much-needed offensive punch.
The signing creates roster flexibility because it leaves the Royals with a glut of outfielders. Guillen can play left or right field, which could allow the Royals to shift Mark Teahen to first base.
Club officials must also decide what to do with outfielder Emil Brown, who led the club in RBIs in each of the last three seasons. Brown is eligible for arbitration after making $3.45 million in 2007.
The Royals are also now better positioned to field trade offers for David DeJesus and Joey Gathright. DeJesus had drawn heavy interest from several clubs, including Texas and Atlanta.
The Braves are believed to be offering lefty Chuck James for DeJesus. James, 26, is 22-14 with a 4.05 ERA over the last two seasons.
Mizzou wins the Border War
Sunday, November 25 2007 @ 03:50 PM CST
I refuse to buckle to PC pressure and call it the "Border Showdown." Glad to see the Kansas City Star editors seem to agree:
Border War Special Section
Congratulations to Mizzou.
Go Rabbits!
SDSU Defeats UNI
My boys in yellow and blue, the South Dakota State men's basketball team, finally had a quality win at home last Friday night. SDSU's men's basketball team evens its record at 2-2 while giving Northern Iowa their first loss of the year.
It was probably SDSU's best win in three years of competition at the Division I level.
Meanwhile, SDSU's women's volleyball team awaits their destination in the NCAA volleyball playoffs, and SDSU's women's basketball team is off to a 5-1 start, the 1 loss being at top-20 George Washington.
Biggest upset in football history?
Saturday, September 01 2007 @ 01:49 PM CST
Division I FCS Appalachian State (two-time FCS champions, by the way) just went to Ann Arbor and defeated Division I FBS Michigan today.
You blinked, didn't you . . .
Wednesday, August 22 2007 @ 12:19 PM CST
CENTRAL W L Pct GB RS RA L10 Str
Cleveland 68 56 .548 — 614 566 4-6 L2
Detroit 68 57 .544 1/2 694 638 5-5 W1
Minnesota 62 63 .496 7 554 551 4-6 L2
Chicago 56 69 .448 13 536 646 2-8 W2
Kansas City 55 70 .440 14 568 603 4-6 L3
How much football is enough?
Monday, August 20 2007 @ 02:40 PM CST
Front page article in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required):
Time Warner Cable Inc. and Cablevision Systems Corp. are refusing to carry the NFL Network, launched in 2003, on the league's terms. Charter Communications Inc., whose controlling shareholder owns the Seattle Seahawks, stopped carrying the network in late 2005 because of a contract dispute. Comcast Corp., the country's largest cable operator, yanked the NFL Network out of millions of homes after a bitter battle. The NFL tried to stop Comcast by suing, but lost. The case is now on appeal.
At the heart of the debate: how much pro football is enough for America's already robustly served TV fans. The NFL, which has long been able to command top dollar by packaging its games myriad ways, says viewers are still insatiable. But after years of budgetary woes caused by the skyrocketing cost of football, cable executives say they -- and viewers -- have had enough. Die-hard football fans can now watch as many as 16 regular-season games a week via broadcast, cable and satellite operators.
I'm not sure that it's a good thing for us lowly consumers for sports leagues (and, parenthetically, content-producers of any type in our media age) to exclusively own their distribution media.
On a related thought: Are the people who were outraged about Rush Limbaugh's brief stint as an NFL studio analyst for ESPN lining up to protest Keith Olbermann's upcoming gig on NBC's Sunday night football programming? Just wondering . . .
NCAA tightens up on schools moving to D-I
Friday, August 10 2007 @ 10:48 AM CST
NCAA puts a moratorium on new members of Division I:
The Division I Board of Directors has enacted a four-year moratorium on permitting institutions to begin the process of joining the division – an action that among other things will prevent a school from moving from another division into Division I or moving between its subdivisions until August 2011.
Although the division recently enacted new Football Bowl Subdivision criteria and established procedural steps to become a Division I member, standards for Division I institutional and conference membership were not reviewed.
The moratorium, which is effective immediately, does not affect 20 institutions that already have entered the seven-year Division I provisional-membership process for new NCAA members or the five-year process to move from Division II -- including institutions that currently are officially exploring Division I membership.
The moratorium also prevents institutions in Divisions II and III from seeking reclassification of a specific sport into Division I under multidivision-classification legislation, and prevents a new single-sport or multisport conference from achieving Division I membership until the moratorium ends.
Hat tip: Terry Vandrovec's Sioux Falls Argus Leader Sports blog.
Don't look now, but the Royals aren't awful any more
Monday, July 30 2007 @ 07:33 AM CST
The Kansas City Royals, that is. They've had their second consecutive winning month. If this keeps up, they might just finally escape 'laughing-stock' status around baseball.
UPDATE: And then, of course, they go to Minneapolis.
Big 12 and Summit League championship sites
Friday, May 25 2007 @ 07:38 AM CST
Kansas City gets the 2008 Big 12 Football championship game, and the 2010 and 2011 men's and women's basketball championships:
"We're ecstatic," said Kevin Gray, president of the Kansas City Sports Commission. "It demonstrates that if you have the facilities, you can be competitive in these situations."
Meanwhile, Sioux Falls and Tulsa are the finalists for hosting the Summit League (nee Mid-Continent Conference) men's and women's basketball championships:
The league, which is changing its name from the Mid-Continent Conference on June 1, will make a site visit to Sioux Falls next week for the 2009 and 2010 tourneys. Conference commissioner Tom Douple said Sioux Falls and Tulsa, Okla., are the only two in the running.
Berroa Sent Down
The Kansas City Royals finally lost patience with shortstop Angel Berroa. After a 2004 season where Berroa won the AL Rookie of the Year award, he struggled through two dreadful seasons where he couldn't hit or field at the major league level. So, yesterday, the Royals sent him to AAA Omaha after acquiring Tony Pena Jr. from the Atlanta Braves organization.
Pena looks to be the starting shortstop for the Royals on opening day,


Philadelphia Orchestra Cellist Kathryn Picht Read tells of the importance of her early music experiences to her career.
Recently, I traveled to Madison, Wisconsin for the 50th anniversary celebration of the founding of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra. During my four years of membership in that group, I received wonderful orchestral training that would otherwise have been unavailable. The WYSO organization has grown tremendously in the past fifty years. There are now four orchestras, a brass ensemble, a percussion ensemble and a chamber music program, with plans to add a fifth orchestra in the fall.
Orchestra violinist Philip Kates shares his love for the Philadelphia Orchestra, for music, and for life in general.
Orchestra violinist Philip Kates shares his love for the Philadelphia Orchestra, for music, and for life in general on this facebook post which you can read here.
On May 16, we will be leaving for a tour of Asia, with concerts in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Macau, Tokyo, Osaka, and Kawasaki.
We have been to Asia many times, and over the years we have developed a special relationship with China, where we made history in 1973 by being the first Western orchestra to play there. Below are three photographs from that tour.
We look forward to sharing photos and accounts of our tour on our Facebook page and in next month's newsletter.


Slow Motion Photo Booths are the hottest event trend right now and for good reason! Slow Motion Booths are much more interactive than regular Photo Booth Rentals, allowing you and your guest's to capture moments that were never before possible.
Our software allows your guests to review the video instantly, still get photo prints, and share their creation with the world via Social Media on the spot!


text:
/****************************************************************************
 * Included Files
 ****************************************************************************/

#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <ctype.h>

#include "cfgparser.h"

/****************************************************************************
 * Definitions
 ****************************************************************************/

/****************************************************************************
 * Public Data
 ****************************************************************************/

char line[LINESIZE+1];

/****************************************************************************
 * Private Data
 ****************************************************************************/

/****************************************************************************
 * Private Functions
 ****************************************************************************/

 /* Skip over any spaces */

static char *skip_space(char *ptr)
{
  while (*ptr && isspace((int)*ptr)) ptr++;
  return ptr;
}

/* Find the end of a variable string */

static char *find_name_end(char *ptr)
{
  while (*ptr && (isalnum((int)*ptr) || *ptr == '_')) ptr++;
  return ptr;
}

/* Find the end of a value string */

static char *find_value_end(char *ptr)
{
  while (*ptr && !isspace((int)*ptr))
    {
      if (*ptr == '"')
        {
           do ptr++; while (*ptr && *ptr != '"');
           if (*ptr) ptr++;
        }
      else
        {
           do ptr++; while (*ptr && !isspace((int)*ptr) && *ptr != '"');
        }
    }
  return ptr;
}

/* Read the next line from the configuration file */

static char *read_line(FILE *stream)
{
  char *ptr;

  for (;;)
    {
      line[LINESIZE] = '\0';
      if (!fgets(line, LINESIZE, stream))
        {
          return NULL;
        }
      else
        {
          ptr = skip_space(line);
          if (*ptr && *ptr != '#' && *ptr != '\n')
            {
              return ptr;
            }
        }
    }
}

/* Parse the line from the configuration file into a variable name
 * string and a value string.
 */

static void parse_line(char *ptr, char **varname, char **varval)
{
  /* Skip over any leading spaces */

  ptr = skip_space(ptr);

  /* The first no-space is the beginning of the variable name */

  *varname = skip_space(ptr);
  *varval = NULL;

  /* Parse to the end of the variable name */

  ptr = find_name_end(ptr);

  /* An equal sign is expected next, perhaps after some white space */

  if (*ptr && *ptr != '=')
    {
      /* Some else follows the variable name.  Terminate the variable
       * name and skip over any spaces.
       */

      *ptr = '\0';
       ptr = skip_space(ptr + 1);
    }

  /* Verify that the equal sign is present */

  if (*ptr == '=')
    {
      /* Make sure that the variable name is terminated (this was already
       * done if the name was followed by white space.
       */

      *ptr = '\0';

      /* The variable value should follow =, perhaps separated by some
       * white space.
       */

      ptr = skip_space(ptr + 1);
      if (*ptr)
        {
          /* Yes.. a variable follows.  Save the pointer to the start
           * of the variable string.
           */

          *varval = ptr;

          /* Find the end of the variable string and make sure that it
           * is terminated.
           */

          ptr = find_value_end(ptr);
          *ptr = '\0';
        }
    }
}

/****************************************************************************
 * Public Functions
 ****************************************************************************/

void parse_file(FILE *stream, struct variable_s **list)
{
  struct variable_s *curr;
  struct variable_s *prev;
  struct variable_s *next;
  char *varname;
  char *varval;
  char *ptr;

  /* Loop until the entire file has been parsed. */

  do
    {
      /* Read the next line from the file */

      ptr = read_line(stream);
      if (ptr)
        {
          /* Parse the line into a variable and a value field */

          parse_line(ptr, &varname, &varval);

          /* If the variable has not value (or the special value 'n'), then
           * ignore it.
           */

          if (!varval || strcmp(varval, "n") == 0)
            {
              continue;
            }

          /* Make sure that a variable name was found. */

          if (varname)
            {
              int varlen = strlen(varname) + 1;
              int vallen = 0;

              /* Get the size of the value, including the NUL terminating
               * character.
               */

              if (varval)
                {
                  vallen = strlen(varval) + 1;
                }

              /* Allocate memory to hold the struct variable_s with the
               * variable name and the value.
               */

              curr = (struct variable_s *)malloc(sizeof(struct variable_s) + varlen + vallen - 1);
              if (curr)
                {
                  /* Add the variable to the list */

                  curr->var = &curr->storage[0];
                  strcpy(curr->var, varname);

                  curr->val = NULL;
                  if (varval)
                    {
                      curr->val = &curr->storage[varlen];
                      strcpy(curr->val, varval);
                    }
                }

              prev = 0;
              next = *list;
              while (next && strcmp(next->var, curr->var) <= 0)
                {
                  prev = next;
                  next = next->flink;
                }

              if (prev)
                {
                  prev->flink = curr;
                }
              else
                {
                  *list = curr;
                }

              curr->flink = next;
            }
        }
    }
  while (ptr);
}

struct variable_s *find_variable(const char *varname, struct variable_s *list)
{
  while (list)
    {
      if (strcmp(varname, list->var) == 0)
        {
          return list;
        }

      list = list->flink;
    }

  return NULL;
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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