Switzerland you were gipped – your Gotthard Tunnel opening celebration choreography is a hot mess
Excuse me, Switzerland, but the choreographer you hired had a single goal in mind: to make a laughingstock out of you and your tunnel opening ceremony. And he (or she) did an excellent job of that. It manages to be both bizarre and silly.
Seeking authentic religion, 600+ Colombian evangelist Christians convert to Judaism
John Cleese on oversensitivity & taking PC way too far
The reasons for this may be, as Cleese relates, this: “Robin Skinner said something very interesting to me: if people cannot control their own emotions they have to start trying to control other people’s behaviour.” And well, see the rest of what he says for yourself. It’s a quick watch, and worthwhile.
NPL hosts event for launch of book on outstanding women in Puerto Rican history on June 29
A book signing and reception will follow the talk and reading.
Book Release Event for Nationalists Heroines:
Puerto Rican Women History Forgot, 1930s-1950s
Wednesday 29 June | 6 PM
@ The Newark Public Library
Centennial Hall
5 Washington Street, Newark, NJ
973-733-3637 or 973-733-7772
Adam Grant says: Be an original thinker – and possibly change the world
Innovate, procrastinate, take risk, try, get messy, Adam suggests. Try something new – because you could change the world. And remember, creative people are on a different time schedule. A quote I love from this TED Talk: “You call it procrastination. I call it thinking.”
Thanks, Adam!
Knowing Newark book available for free at NPL locations
Knowing Newark: Selected Star-Ledger Columns by Charles F. Cummings is available for order on Amazon.com. The 112-page book is available for $6.74 ($2.75 for the book + $3.99 shipping). The book will be available free of charge at any Newark Public Library location.
The Library has also created a companion Knowing Newark website that will make all 500 of Cummings’ columns available for the first time. The first 100 columns are already online at knowingnewark.npl.org and the rest will be added over the course of the year. Each column is illustrated and keyword searchable.
UBER begins operating in Newark legally – and will pay $10M for airport access
This is the first agreement UBER has made with any major city in New Jersey and consists of:
- UBER drivers may not stand in areas set aside for taxi waiting and will wait at an off-airport dispatch location to receive calls through the UBER app.
- UBER drivers are prohibited from staying at Newark terminals to receive dispatches.
- The City of Newark can receive a $3 Million up-front payment as part of the previously announced $10 Million permit fee to be paid by UBER over 10 years specifically for operating at Newark Liberty International Airport.
- Even if a state-wide law is passed regulating UBER, UBER will remain obligated to pay the $10 million.
- Newark may audit UBER’s compliance with this agreement annually.
- UBER will provide $1.5M of commercial liability insurance coverage for all drivers operating on the platform.
- UBER will conduct background checks on all drivers through a nationally-accredited, third-party provider. These checks will examine county, state and federal records, as well as motor vehicle records, sex offender registries and terror watch lists.
- UBER will enforce a zero tolerance policy for drug and alcohol use by drivers using the UBER app.
Mayor Baraka said, “My goals have been to protect the safety of UBER riders, to require UBER to pay its fair share including fees and permits under the same kind of regulations as other businesses in Newark, and to create a level playing field for UBER and the Taxi and Limousine Industry. The agreement is fair to all and allows UBER to become a good corporate citizen of Newark. This agreement is good for economic development and job growth in Newark. UBER is an important addition to our city’s rapidly expanding technology sector.”
Cis seems like just another word for ‘straight’ … and about gender as a spectrum
Came across the word cis today, which I looked up and discovered it means exactly the same to me as the word ‘straight’ always meant. So, has straight been run over by the politically incorrect bus and I can’t use that word any more?
Cis (aka cisgender) is the term for people biologically born as women, who identify as women or people born male, who identify as male. So, another way of putting would be: cis is a person whose gender identity matches the sex into which s/he was born.
Purim Megillah readings in North Jersey 2016
Purim sameach! Book of Esther Megillah readings for Northern New Jersey, Purim 2016:
Megillah Readings Wednesday night 23 March 2016
| 7:20pm | Arzei Darom, Teaneck | |
| 7:40pm | Anshei Lubavitch, Fair Lawn | |
| 7:40pm | Teaneck Jewish Center – Pressburger | Regular Megillah Reading |
| 7:40pm | Teaneck Jewish Center – Library | Quiet Megillah Reading |
| 7:50pm | Shomrei Torah, Fair Lawn | |
| 8:00pm | Zichron Mordechai | |
| 8:00pm | Zichron Mordechai | |
| 8:15pm | Teaneck Women’s Tefillah | |
| 9:00pm | Arzei Darom, Teaneck | |
| 9:15pm | Darchei Noam, Fair Lawn | |
| 9:30pm | Keter Torah, Teaneck | |
| Bnai Yeshurun | ||
| 9:45pm | Beth Aaron, Teaneck | |
| 9:45pm | Shomrei Torah, Fair Lawn | |
| 10:00pm | Anshei Lubavitch, Fair Lawn |
Megillah Readings Thursday, 24 March 2016
| 5:55am | Shomrei Torah, Fair Lawn | |
| 6:40am | Shomrei Torah, Fair Lawn | |
| 7:30am | Teaneck Jewish Center | |
| 8:10am | Shomrei Torah, Fair Lawn | |
| 8:30am | Anshei Lubavitch, Fair Lawn | |
| 9:25am | Shomrei Torah, Fair Lawn | |
| 9:45am | Paterson Federation Building (and special event*) | Contact JerrySchranz@gmail.com |
| 11:00am | Teaneck Jewish Center – Women’s Reading in Stein | Contact Judi Resnick |
| 2:00pm | Anshei Lubavitch, Fair Lawn |
Shuls/Reading Locations
Teaneck Women’s Tefillah: 595 Wyndham Road, Teaneck.
More Megillah readings and special Purim events
- Chabad Megillah Readings list
- Paterson Federation Building Megillah Reading and Light Breakfast
Learn more about the last of the Jews of Paterson and enjoy a light breakfast/seudah with these seniors, so come with costume, come with ruach! Parking is available on the street and just across the street at Rosa Parks School (former Yavneh Academy)
Veteran dogs program won best commercial award in the Netherlands, for good reason
Guide Dogs TV commercial from the Royal Dutch Guide Dog Foundation (KNGF Geleidehonden) won the Dutch 2014 Gouden Loeki award for best commercial. The work entitled “We not only help people who cannot see, but also those who have seen too much” shows the assistance a specially trained dog can offer to a military veteran coping with severe war related trauma.
Hat tip to Han Broekman for the great find.
What was Christie was thinking while Big Donald ranted? (very funny video)
Great laugh! Salon takes a shot at guessing what was going through Christie’s mind after he endorsed Donald Trump and got to stand behind him like a chump listening to mad-man’s semi-literate ravings. Christie looks more perplexed and disgusted the longer the man speaks – must be imagining what it would be like to have this dog for a boss. Oh well CC, should have thought before you leapt onto the Drumpf bandwagon and endorsed stumpy-fingers.
What was Chris Christie really thinking?
Ansel Adams’ slides portray the lives of detained Japanese Americans in 1943 WWII internment camps
110,000 Japanese American citizens, some of them US military personnel, were detained in detention camps during the WWII. In 1943, Ansel Adams documented the lives of Japanese living in the Manzanar War Relocation Camp in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Adams donated the photographs to the Library of Congress in 1965, commenting,
The purpose of my work was to show how these people, suffering under a great injustice, and loss of property, businesses and professions, had overcome the sense of defeat and dispair [sic] by building for themselves a vital community in an arid (but magnificent) environment.”
Name the GOP boy band
~Donald and the Trumpettes~
~Four Boys//One Wall~
~Closed-Eye Carsons~
I personally like Red Tie Brigade. Add yours in a comment!
Wishes to all for a Happy New Year of the Monkey!
Wishes to all for a Happy New Year of the Monkey! In 2016 the Chinese New Year begins today 08 February and lasts through 27 February. I’ve gathered together some guides for celebrating, which includes various traditions practiced in Asian households around the world and my fun Chinese New Year collection at Pinterest.
The Year of the Monkey stamp is the ninth of twelve stamps in the Celebrating Lunar New Year series. The stamp art depicts two bright reddish orange peonies against a purple background. Peonies symbolize wealth and honor in Chinese culture and often decorate the sides of the traditional drums played during the holiday festivities. Artist Kam Mak created this original painting. Art director and stamp designer Ethel Kessler incorporated elements from the previous series of Lunar New Year stamps — Clarence Lee’s intricate cut-paper design of a monkey and the Chinese character for “monkey,” drawn in grass-style calligraphy by Lau Bun — to create continuity between the stamps in the series.