Random Thoughts- Do They Have Meaning?

There is someone very dear to me who is in the midst of a terrible challenge. Out of respect I won't divulge their name but I'll say that one of their parents is very ill. It is with them in mind that I write this post. Actually the previous post was sort of inspired by them too. Not sure that inspire is the appropriate word, but it will work for now. Life and death has been a fairly common theme here. I suppose that part of it has to do with my own experiences. I have been to more funerals than I care to think about. Many of my friends have lost a parent. Some of them were quite young, but most were somewhere between their teenage years and their twenties. One of these days I want to try and find out if my experience is normal or abnormal because it seems to me that I have been to many more funerals than most people I know. Or maybe it is my own misconception, not like we keep funeral scorecards. In my effort to support my friend I have been thinking about this a lot. I ha

I won't ever forget the day I got the call from my mother. She and my father had flown out to the east coast for the bris of one of my nephews. She and my father were on their way to the emergency room. I asked to speak with him and she put him on the phone. The conversation was awkward and strange and it was clear that he wasn't right. Mom took the phone again and told me that she would call me when she knew more. A short time later she called to let me know that they had placed him on a ventilator and that they didn't know much, but that it was very serious. At some point she must have passed the phone to my brother-in-law, the doctor. I asked him to tell me if my father was going to die and he said that he couldn't guarantee it, but that it was highly probable. When we hung up the phone I sat there in shock. I was almost 35, but it was clear to me that I still thought of my father as being the strongest man I knew. He couldn't be that sick, he couldn't be

We didn't like the new commenting system so we scrapped it. We'll keep searching for something better.

Dear Readers, I am always tempted to address that as "dear reader" and not readers. ;) Anyway as you can see I have installed a new commenting system courtesy of the folks at JS-Kit and I would like to get your feedback about it. What do you think? Do you like it? Do you hate it? Is it better or worse than the old system? I am still evaluating it and am interested in hearing what you have to say. Thanks for your help, I appreciate it.

Allow me to have a Ricky Henderson moment. Today Old Jack found himself feeling rather ornery and irritated. Blame some of it on the crazy women he had to deal with, but the majority can be attributed to 'rasslin with technology. It started mid morning when the 'puter decided that it wasn't going to cooperate with me. First me internet connection (when did I decide to go pirate arrrgh!) got a bad case of the hiccups. For a while it was in and out and in and out. That is a nice place to get a burger or a fine way to spend some free time but it is not the way to surf the net. So I did what every civilized man does and I threatened the modem, the computer, the little guy inside the computer that puts the words on the screen and the hamsters that power it all. When that didn't work I threatened to hit Ma Bell so hard she wouldn't touch the ground until cleveland wins a championship. Who knew that the old broad was a sports fan because just as soon as I mentioned tha

Here is a quick roundup of recent posts that have appeared here: Keywords- How You Found Us A Few Words From Our Sponsor The Bicycle Haveil Havalim #210- Locke, Hurley and Starbuck Edition Sadat's Widow's Words CNN has an interview with Anwar Sadat's SouthPark on the Bailout Jericho Has Twitter Helped/Hindered Your Blog? My Brain is Stuck In Neutral

Here is a partial list of keywords that you used to find The Shack. duggar family random thoughts What Makes a Community tweeting meaning besheret the heart wants what the heart wants stairway to heaven backwards battlestar galatica favorite song lyrics the heart wants what it wants ONE SIDED FRIENDSHIP the road not taken meaning how to come up with a blog name meaning of Darth Vader in business world passover lunch texting killing grammar costco kosher hot dog religious voicemail greetings how to write a professional blog going commando a loveless marriage meaning of hooters do men have emotions songs that make you cry everyone loves jack

To me the most challenging part of blogging is the aggravation I feel when the words don't flow from my fingertips. That is because writing is something that is easy for me. It usually doesn't require much effort for me to construct these posts. I just sit down and start typing. And while I have often wished that I was a better writer I rarely find myself comparing my ability to another. I do what I do and most of the time that suffices. Parenting is a different story altogether. I think that I am a good father. My children are happy and well adjusted, but it is hard not to second guess decisions. It is hard not to wonder about some things. It is hard not to look at my own childhood and feel badly that my children don't have everything that I had. Let me clarify what I mean by that. From a number of perspectives they have far more than my siblings and I ever did. They have plenty of toys and have had many experiences that I didn't get to participate in. But there are

There are moments when hosting Haveil Havalim very much reminds me of the cabin scene from A Night At The Opera. There are so many different thoughts and ideas that can get crammed into one of these things. A smarter host than I am minimizes all of the noise and focuses upon one theme. But that is just not how I play this game, or maybe it is my not so subtle way of imitating the guys who wrote that finale to BSG. So here we are at Haveil Havalim #210, entitled the Locke, Hurley and Starbuck Edition, also known as two dead people and an escapee from a mental institution. My apologies if that doesn't make sense to you. One more thing before we go on. Driveshaft was one of my favorite bands. Charlie LIVES! And now onto the carnival. Haveil Havalim is the weekly "blog carnival" of the Jewish/Israeli blogosphere, created by Soccer Dad and currently maintained by me . Judaism Daled Amos has a heart warming post called Today, My Son Is A Jew . Follow that bridge to Kesher T

CNN has an interview with Anwar Sadat's widow , Jehan that was somewhat interesting. I appreciate much of what she said, but at the same time wish that she was more balanced and honest. The peace between Egypt and Israel has held and I am appreciative of that. But it is a cold peace and Egypt could do more to foster peace in the region. Mubarak could still be classified as dictator light as he has led Egypt for almost 30 years now. I suppose that what struck me were her comments about the border. Egypt could do far more to help control the tunnels from Egypt into Gaza. Egypt could help cut down on the transport of illegal weaponry. If Egypt did that it would help cut down upon the violence and help to establish a foundation for having discussions about peace and a real cease fire. But I don't have high hopes for such a thing. Mubarak hasn't done enough to help cut down on the anti-Israel rhetoric in Egypt. And when you combine that negative influence with that exerted by

( Originally published here .) I met Jericho in a time and place that no longer exist. The people we were are long since gone. Now they drift through time and space in a place that I call memory or perhaps it is just my imagination. If you ask Jericho she'd probably push for imagination. She'd want to say that what I remember has been obscured by my own desire for the future. She'd tell you that it was never as good as I remember it. But if you took her aside and caught her in one of those moments she'd admit that it was exactly the way I remember. She'd admit that as the queen of low expectations it is easier to think of things that way. She'd tell you that to really remember is too painful, too tragic. So old Jericho set up those walls, long and tall, deep and wide. She lies in wait behind those walls waiting for the future to come. She lies behind those walls and watches the days pass in front of her. There are some really happy times, some good moments tha

A question for those of you on Twitter. Do you think that Twitter has had a positive or negative impact on your blog?

It is approaching that time people refer to as late morning and my brain is stuck in neutral. Yes, you read that correctly the pea sized object that resides in the great melon that rests upon my shoulders is on, but operating in the neutral setting. It is a silly way of saying that I am conscious of the giant list of things that must get done yet remain undone. The great lies before me. On a yellow writing pad that is placed in front of the computer monitor I see line item after line item of things that I have to work upon. In fact as I stare at the pad a pen magically stands up and adds 5,987,087 more things to be done to the list. Somewhere in the distance I think that I can hear a little girl whispering " they're back! " Ok, none of that really happened but I wouldn't be surprised if it did. The giant list is daunting in its size, overwhelming. Yea, overwhelming is the right word. That is why I am busy staring at it and not working. It is not like I haven't

Back in my school days we'd occasionally disrupt class by answering questions with the exclamation, "It is a cookbook!" Oh the things that we used to do for laughs, some were funnier than others.

Kind of interesting . But after chewing the fruit and rubbing the pulp against the tongue, the berry, known by a promising name -- "miracle fruit" or Synsepalum dulcificum -- releases a sweetening potency that alters the taste buds. For about 15 to 30 minutes, everything sour is sweet. Lemons lose their zing and taste like candy. Oranges become sickeningly sweet. Hot sauce that usually burns the tongue tastes like honey barbecue sauce that scorches as it trickles down the throat. Through word of mouth, these miracle fruits have inspired "taste tripping" parties, where foodies and curious eaters pay $10 to $35 to try the berries, which are native to West Africa. About five months ago, a Miami, Florida, hospital began studying whether the fruit's sweetening effects can restore the appetite of cancer patients whose chemotherapy treatments have left them with dulled taste buds. "What happens in patients is the food tastes so metallic and bland, it becomes

The War in Gaza hasn't really ended it has just moved into a different venue . Now we get to see it taken apart within the blogosphere and the MSM . Not to mention the report filed by the UN. If you know nothing about the war and rely solely upon these stories and reports you receive a very skewed perspective that lacks context and context is everything. These articles do a very fine job of painting a picture of a Big Bad Israel that is intent on murder, mayhem and mischief. The lack of context creates a very fine narrative for the sort of screenplay that movie watchers love. You have a noble underdog fighting to free themselves from the yoke of some oppressive tyrant. Pardon me for a moment, I think that I am getting a bit choked up about it. What they neglect to mention is that the noble underdog helped to create the problem by indiscriminately firing rockets into Israel. Nor do they spend time discussing the actions of the peaceful government of Gaza. You know, the fine fel

I give him credit for getting out there, but he looks like the crazy uncle at a bad wedding.

Do you remember the story of The Sword of Damocles because at the moment I feel a bit like the guy sitting beneath the sword. The good news is that the point on this particular blade is relatively dull. Nonetheless it can't be pleasant having a twenty pound weight come crashing down upon your skull, even when you have a head as hard as my own. All of this is a fancy way of saying that I have some tough decisions ahead of me and I find myself agonizing over what path to take. I have spent a lot of time trying to analyze the options and am stuck because in some cases you just can't predict the future. The best that you can do is develop an educated guess and then hope that you are right. There is nothing truly insightful or profound in that, it is just how life is. But if you have a mind that operates like my own you tend to think in very colorful and graphic terms. In this particular case I see myself canoeing down a river that winds through some exotic jungle. It is unchar

Friends it is time to answer another question. If you could have any superpower what power would you choose?

I need to work this into Fragments of Fiction. There is one hell of a post tied into that simple word, karma. There is one hell of a long story that I could tell that would tie in perfectly to that word, karma. It would be ever so sweet to share the story that is flowing inside the melon on my shoulders. It would be so much fun to say those simple words, "I told you so" and then follow it up with a snappy "Karma is a bitch." It would be more fun than I can express to gloat a bit and say that misery loves company but you already were a miserable son-of-a-bitch so you know it better than I do. But while at times I have been miserable I am not miserable now. No sir, no maam, no way, no how. I am positively gleeful because I was proven right. I know, I said that I wouldn't gloat. I said that I wouldn't lord it over you triumphantly because I am better than that but, heck it feels so damn good. Because you stupid son-of-a-bitch you made my life far more diff

Sorry for the late notice but it is hard to get on the computer on days like this where it is 85 degrees outside and not a cloud to be seen in an endless blue sky. Anyhoo, the incredible Mr. Lovitt not to be confused with Mr. Limpet has graced us with the latest edition of Haveil Havalim. Go read Haveil Havalim #209: Ahhhhh......Spring! and don't forget to tell your friends, family and neighbors about it. If you have any questions about hosting, life or more contact me here. And if you haven't yet signed up you are cordially invited to join the Haveil Havalim Facebook group . See you around, Jack

Tonight marks the series finale of 'Battlestar Galactica.' I was a latecomer to the show. I didn't start watching it until sometime during season three. Before some of you purists have a fit let me clarify by saying that I didn't just jump right in to the show. Thanks to the magic of Netflix I was able to start from the beginning and catch up. Initially I was a bit hesitant to watch. I watched the original series and figured that there was no reason to watch this one. I have fond memories of taking the Universal Studios Tour and going through the BSG section. I still remember that cylon that would talk to us. Anyway, I didn't get caught up in the questions about whether the show spent too much time moralizing or preaching. I don't watch sci-fi for lessons in morality or ethics. I get that sort of stuff from more appropriate places. It was the interaction between the characters that really drove the show for me. The people made it fun to watch. So tonight I&#

Ynet reports that the a United Nations Human Rights Investigator alleges that Israel committed war crimes during Operation Cast Lead. Color me skeptical but the UN is not exactly a bastion of human rights. In fact if you look at who sits on the human rights committee and their supporters you'll see examples of countries that are human rights violators. Color me skeptical but the man appears to have taken Palestinian press releases and just regurgitated them on UN letterhead. It is common knowledge that the terrorists do not wear uniforms and intentionally operate from within densely packed civilian areas, but that doesn't matter to Mr. Falk. Before we go any further let's look at an excerpt from the story. A United Nations human rights investigator said on Thursday that Israel's military assault on densely populated Gaza appeared to constitute a grave war crime. Richard Falk, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, said the Geneva Con

I don't know about you but the idea of wearing a blow up doll on my body is repulsive, moronic and ridiculous. Look at this comment from the designer: " I customize existing tracksuit tops with parts of the blow-up dolls – the head, the breasts, the vagina, the anus. These dolls are so ugly and vulgar that turning them into something beautiful has become a challenge for me. The doll is a means to convey something else." Is it wrong for me to say I want to punch him in the mouth. I don't have a good reason other than his comment is so ugly and vulgar I want to try and turn it into something beautiful.

Gizmodo has a story about a bus ad that shames you into joining a gym by displaying your weight to all who pass by. For the full story click here .

An incomplete list of some of what I have been listening to: The Chain - Fleetwood Mac Go Your Own Way - Fleetwood Mac Still Crazy After All These Years - Ray Charles All I Ever Need Is You - Ray Charles Broken Hearts - Living Colour Fire - Ohio Players Fire - Bruce Springsteen I Still Haven't Found What I Am Looking For - U2 & Bruce Springsteen Every Breath You Take - The Police Jai ho - Slumdog Millionaire Down On The Corner - Creedence Clearwater Revival

I find this fascinating . The eruption began Monday after a series of earthquakes near Tonga, a 170-island archipelago between Australia and Tahiti, residents told the Associated Press . There were magnitude-5.0 quakes there Sunday night and Monday afternoon, according to the U.S. Geological Survey . Though the Wellington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) issued an advisory for the area, the plume isn’t engendering island residents and so far hasn’t hurt fish or other animals, according to the AP. Yesterday a plume rose to between 15,000 and 25,000 feet (4.6 to 7.6 kilometers), the Smithsonian's Global Volcanism Program reported . "It's a very significant eruption, on quite a large scale," Tonga's chief geologist, Kelepi Maf, told the Times of London. This is not unusual for this area and we expect this to happen here at any time.

It is heading towards midmorning and outside the ever present blue skies are teasing me with thoughts of non work related activities. I try not to look out the window because I don't want to be any more distracted than I already am. Granted I am seated in a coffee shop where I am in the middle of a business meeting. Just across the table a man is trying to sell me on an idea that he says is going to make all of us very wealthy. All he needs is the opportunity to make it happen and it just so happens that he thinks that we can provide it to him. I frequent these coffee shops on a regular basis but it is usually with one of the boys. We all have non traditional jobs, or should I say jobs that don't have traditional hours. It is not unusual to find us here during the middle of the day during the work week. We are never alone. These places always have a steady stream of customers. Even during hard times people still need their caffiene fix. The man is still talking but I am jus

Playing in the background Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald . Earlier this evening the eight-year-old boy that lives here, not the one that lives inside me, asked me how I figured out what kind of work I would do for a living. It was a good question and it made me smile. I like having these sorts of discussions with him. It is fun to answer his questions and to try and figure out how his mind works. In so many ways he is just like me and in so many he is his own person. Before I could answer he looked up at me and asked me why I was smiling. I smiled back at him and told him that since I haven't grown up yet I am still not sure what I am going to do. What he didn't realize was that I didn't really say it in jest. I am not entirely sure what it is that I want to do. I have a lot of ideas and thoughts about it, but the actual position is a bit different. Jack The Folk Singer meet Jack The Astronaut meet Jack The Professional Ballplayer Meet Jack The Professional Writer Meet

From a recent conversation: "Dad, do you know why I like using the bathroom after you," asked the young man. "No, why don't you tell me," I said. "It is because you leave the seat nice and warm." All I could do was nod and smile.

I thought that this article was interesting and that it might not be so far fetched. Biblical scholars have long argued that the Dead Sea Scrolls were the work of an ascetic and celibate Jewish community known as the Essenes, which flourished in the 1st century A.D. in the scorching desert canyons near the Dead Sea. Now a prominent Israeli scholar, Rachel Elior, disputes that the Essenes ever existed at all — a claim that has shaken the bedrock of biblical scholarship. Elior, who teaches Jewish mysticism at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, claims that the Essenes were a fabrication by the 1st century A.D. Jewish-Roman historian Flavius Josephus and that his faulty reporting was passed on as fact throughout the centuries. As Elior explains, the Essenes make no mention of themselves in the 900 scrolls found by a Bedouin shepherd in 1947 in the caves of Qumran, near the Dead Sea. "Sixty years of research have been wasted trying to find the Essenes in the scrolls," Elior te

My traffic received a nice bump when Yahoo! picked up my post Want to Boycott Israel . It also generated a ton of comments, most of which were not approved because of their racist and hateful overtones. If you are unclear about the comment policy here I invite you to go read this post . Ok, for the purpose of educating the troglodytes who won't click on the link the basic policy says that hate speech isn't allowed here. You want to spew antisemitic venom go hang out on one of those neo-nazi websites, they love that stuff there. Want to carp about how it is possible to be anti-Israel without being antisemitic prove it by not including comments about Jews in your post. Also I encourage some of you to remember that comment moderation cannot be overcome by trying to post the same comment three times. That is directed primarily at the guy who accused me of trying to use "Jew propaganda" to promote my agenda. Watch out I have used my diabolical skills as an Evil Zionist

If I Were a Billionaire I might choose to live in a house like one of these .

Hat Tip: Lady Light

Haveil Havalim #208 is now live. Go check it out here .

I am simply disgusted by this man . The damage he has done is immeasurable.

This story was really interesting . I wonder why I haven't seen more about it. "He has been confined to a wheelchair for 20 years. Now a paraplegic man is walking again, and his doctors call it a miracle. CBS13 went to Manteca to find out how a spider bite helped get him back on his feet. "I closed my eyes and then I was spinning like a flying saucer," explains David Blancarte. A motorcycle accident almost killed David 21 years ago. At the time he might have wished he was dead. "I asked my doctor, 'Sir what happened? I can't feel my legs'," said David. Ever since, David's been relying on his wheelchair to get around. Then the spider bite. A Brown Recluse sent him to the hospital, then to rehab for eight months. "I'm here for a spider bite. I didn't know I would end up walking," says David. A nurse noticed David's leg spasm and ran a test on him. "When they zapped my legs, I felt the current, I was like '

I thought that this was kind of interesting : "LONDON – A British academic says he's found proof that Britain's legendary outlaw Robin Hood wasn't as popular with the poor as folklore suggests. Julian Luxford says a newly found note in the margins of an ancient history book contains rare criticism of the supposedly benevolent bandit. According to legend, Hood roamed 13th-century Britain from a base in central England's Sherwood Forest, plundering from the rich to give to the poor. But Luxford, an art history lecturer at the University of St. Andrews, in Fife, Scotland, says a 23-word inscription in a history book, written in Latin by a medieval monk around 1460, casts the outlaw as a persistent thief. "Around this time, according to popular opinion, a certain outlaw named Robin Hood, with his accomplices, infested Sherwood and other law-abiding areas of England with continuous robberies," the note read when translated into English, Luxford said. Lux

Most of us grow up in environments in which we are told to do the right thing. It is something that I remember hearing quite frequently. It stood alongside all sorts of phrases such as "you can't screw an old head on young shoulders" and "leave the table." If you ask my middle sister she'll tell you that I spent more dinners in my room than I did with the family. That is not how I remember it, but little sisters love to try and stick it to their older siblings. Anyway the beauty of being an adult is that you find out that life can be very complicated and that doing the right thing is not always readily apparent. Sure, there are plenty of situations in which you can argue that there are only two choices, right and wrong. But the reality is that much of your everyday life falls into categories in which doing the right thing is better classified as taking an educated guess. I suppose that I should mention that the genesis of this post stems from a conversat

We are going to continue to see more examples of government using various forms of social media to communicate with the public. (CNN) -- When a report of a possible explosive device on the roof of a city parking garage came in to the Lakeland, Florida, Police Department, public safety officials there sprang into action.They sent out a squad to investigate and they posted a notice on Twitter. Social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook are mostly used by those who want to keep their friends and families informed about their lives and activities. But increasingly, police and fire departments across the country are tapping into social networking to disseminate information to the public. "We think the police department has an obligation to get information out to the community through whatever means or mechanisms we have at our disposal," said Lakeland Police Assistant Chief Bill LePere. "Traditional media releases, expecting the local print media to pick it up

A few links about Charles Freeman and some excerpts: Blame the 'Lobby' - Washington Post FORMER ambassador Charles W. Freeman Jr. looked like a poor choice to chair the Obama administration's National Intelligence Council. A former envoy to Saudi Arabia and China, he suffered from an extreme case of clientitis on both accounts. In addition to chiding Beijing for not crushing the Tiananmen Square democracy protests sooner and offering sycophantic paeans to Saudi King "Abdullah the Great," Mr. Freeman headed a Saudi-funded Middle East advocacy group in Washington and served on the advisory board of a state-owned Chinese oil company. It was only reasonable to ask -- as numerous members of Congress had begun to do -- whether such an actor was the right person to oversee the preparation of National Intelligence Estimates." Deconstructing Stephen Walt Yourish Stephen Walt, co-author of the odious Israel Lobby, the man that sees Jewish conspiracies under every ston

Ok, this diet won't work for everyone but I know a few people who just might try it. For as long as she can remember, Peggy Griffiths has had a sweet tooth. And after eating 30 bars of chocolate a week for the last decade, it is a miracle the 100-year-old has any teeth left. Click here for the full story .

As is our wont here is a partial list of keywords that you used to find your way here: one day we will get married. Johnny loves June "behind the scenes of virtual jihad" the heart wants what it wants quote jews in space man eater animal meaning of diggity how to come up with a blogger name circumcise me who says i love you first how many veins does the butt have Duggar family How can I be an Octomom Gaza war how to become a blogger do children do better in a loveless marriage or divorce Live like you were dying lyrics meaning about dad wkrp in cincinnati venus flytrap teaching about the atom Dr. Seuss what is expected of a good dad What Makes a Community james joyce the sordid details of his armies stuck under his very nostrils pick up lines for girls to use on guys world's greatest lover how can i have two facebook accounts

I just love going through old posts in which I featured a YouTube video only to discover it has been removed for copyright violations. Look I get it, I understand the hows and whys of the whole thing, but it still bugs me. Don't they understand that I have a blog to run. Everytime they pull a video they throw a monkeywrench into the whole thing. And believe me, I have far too many monkeys to deal with. Bad enough that I have to contend with all those wacky clevelanders, this just complicates my life. Oy.

Used to hear stories about people going over in a barrel, but this sounds more like a suicide attempt. (CNN) -- A man went over Niagara Falls and survived Wednesday afternoon, one of the few people to ever survive the plunge unprotected, authorities said. The man was seen entering the icy water just above Horseshoe Falls, on the Canadian side, and apparently jumped in about 2:15 p.m, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Fire Chief Lee Smith said. Smith said the unidentified man was in the near-freezing water for "40-plus" minutes before he was rescued by Niagara Parks Police and Niagara Falls firefighter Todd Brunning. Brunning, who was tethered to shore, swam about 60 meters (nearly 200 feet) into the river and was able to get hold of the man and bring him to shore.

I have a question that I'll pose for whomever wishes to answer. How often do you purge your blogroll and what criteria do you use?

In my post about defining a successful blog Batya mentioned that acknowledgement by other bloggers is among the criteria that can be used to determine success. I agree with that and would like to note that one of my posts was submitted to The Watcher's Council . About Watcher of Weasels Each week, the members of the Watcher's Council nominate one of their own posts and a second from outside the Council for consideration by other council members in a contest for the week's best post. I meant to mention that my post Israel on College Campuses was submitted to the Watcher's Council. I missed winning first place by the small margin of 2.75 points, but losing to Michael Totten isn't such a bad thing now is it.

I made another spelling error on one of my Twitter Tweets. It irks me. It chafes my hide because there is no way to correct it. That mistake just sits there and mocks me. At least blogging offers a way to edit your posts so that you can correct your mistakes. Unless I am mistaken Twitter does not. So the moral of the story is to tweet carefully.