So last month we went to Costa Rica during Passover vacation.
For two weeks we took it slowly, enjoyed the Pura Vida, and traveled between national parks, forests and volcanoes.
We saw many animals, high up and down below, flying, jumping or just chillin’
Hiding under a leaf, or waiting silently in the nest.
The butterflies were colorful and friendly.
…
Overall it was a wonderful trip :)
Now you tell me, is that a real crab or a toys-r-us plastic look-alike?
A few days ago Tally and I went to The Orchid Show at the New York Botanical Garden. While it is located in the Bronx, it is still very accessible – just about an hour by subway. The garden itself is huge, and time was limited, so we focused only on the orchid show this time.
The exhibition is very impressive. It is set up so the flowers grow in their natural environments – that is, like in a rain forest. The design is delicate and takes into account the effects of light and its changes during the day (incidentally, or maybe not, in most places there is enough light so cameras work fine too).
It is also very colorful. The orchids are all lovely and lively, and appear to say “Spring is here” with all their hearts and souls. Even the cacti that they threw in for good measure were interesting.
Anyways, here are a few of my favorites on display. You are invited to see the full album, which Tally posted here (picasa) and here (facebook).
Straight from Disney World, thanks to the Levanon family.
I recently received an invitation to join a new social network – a private, Jewish-Israeli, invitation-only network. I don’t want to inadvertedly hurt anyone, so I won’t mention its name here.
The person who sent me the invitation knows the founder and entrepreneur behind this network, so you can say that I am two degrees away from the center.
So I signed in, and I discovered a useless website, basically another facebook-wannabe. What’s even worse, a couple of days later, I had in my inbox a welcome message from the founder. Here is a short quote from his first message:
Our goal is to develop this private community of leading Jewish prof’ who are just a bit better.
At that point, I stopped reading.
The first voting round at change.org/ideas closed only a day or two after my previous post. The top three ideas in each category made in to the second round, which is going to close in a few days. So there is still hope, your vote counts, so please consider voting for your favorite ideas.
Of those ideas that I presented earlier, some didn’t make it, and some made it and are already in the top 10, so my lobbying for them isn’t all that necessary. End Corporate “PERSONHOOD”, though, is only at 13th place and needs about 800 more votes to make it to the top 10.
I am particularly fond of this idea, and I officially endorse it, so please consider voting for it. Or else … I know where you live :)
My friend Lavi started a daily “I appreciate …” blog. I think it’s a pretty cool idea, and readers are commenting. Check it out here. I think it would be cool to add some links or photos too. Lavi, here are a couple of mine:
Although the results of the US elections are not final yet, the direction seems clear. I allow myself to raise a toast for the Democratic party, and for the hope that the next 4 years will be better for this country.
This is not just a virtual toast. I am at home now, watching CNN and actually drinking a cup on wine (Pinot Grigio, in case you were wondering).
Like many others, I have been following the US presidential race in the news. Since I am living in the US now, I find it even more interesting than before. In NYC it is quite obvious that the overwhelming majority of people are Democrats, so as far I am concerned, I am in good company. Not that it matters much – I can’t vote in these elections.
However, on a national level things are obviously different. In the past few weeks the race has been heating up, and a lot of filth, mud, false accusations and plain lies have been thrown into the air. While I am sure that the Democrats are not innocent of those acts, it appears to me, to put it mildly and in a polite way, that the Republicans are much more inclined to use those ugly tactics.
Perhaps politically it makes sense because polls are predicting a Republican demise, so they are backed into a corner and are shooting at all directions. However, I wonder how far down can these dirty politics drag our society. I feel that in the battle to win all moral guards are being ignored. “Our society”, in this case, means the American society, but unfortunately I see many parallels to Israeli politics, and it worries me because Israel is also facing elections in a few months.
What moral guards am I referring to? Obviously, the last 8 years with Bush were mediocre at best, and the trivial conclusion one should reach is that voting has very real-life consequences, as Bob Herbert explains in his column. Therefore, I think it is important for every voter to make a well-informed decision, or rather to have a well-informed opinion.
The democratic strategy today, I think, essentially asks voters to do just that. To have an informed opinion. The republicans, however, seem to want the opposite. They really want voters to make their decisions based on misinformation. Unfortunately, they are succeeding. For example, as Nicholas Kristof discusses in his column, almost one third of voters think that Obama is a Mulsim, a fact that is false but has been repeated over and over again by the Republicans – long enough until people believe it.
And this is just one example, there are many more. The primary problem is not that Republicans are lying to voters for the short-term gain. What scares me the most is that this problem is compounded by the Republicans’ belief (as represented politically today by the Bush-doctrine) that once power is granted to them, they can do whatever they please. They don’t believe in checks-and-balances.
In other word, they are trying to cheat their way into the white house. While this is not news, it seems to me that this kind of behavior always appears in its most aggressive, malignant, poisonous and destructing way on the right side of the political map, both in the US and in Israel.
I read today in this article that Ann Coulter, when referring to Obama’s alleged connections to the P.L.O, dared to compare Obama to Hilter. She said that Americans who will vote for Obama will later shake their heads in disbelief at their own choices just as Germans who voted for Hitler did after he hijacked the German democracy.
Not only that I find her words appalling, I find it ironic and sad that the opposite is actually true. If McCain does win, voters who will have voted for him will later shake their heads in disbelief when they find out that Obama is not really a muslim (or other false facts that they were scared into believing), but by then it will be too late. They will swear not to repeat the same mistake again … but we have heard all this four years ago, haven’t we? :(
As for Ann Coulter, what can I say? I think she is an exemplar of a person that actively contributes an overall negative value to society. Unfortunately she makes a good deal of money from that, so she’ll continue to spread her poisonous venom around. Maybe if Obama wins she will be quiet for a while. I hope that she gets sued for libel or something like that.
Today is Halloween. My nephews will go trick-or-treating tonight. I am somewhat too old for that, so instead Tally and I went to two Halloween parties last night – one was at the NYU Law School, and the other was a city-wide party at the Mansion for law students from all across the city.
I dressed up as the devil, and Tally as an angel. The costumes themselves were very low badget, as you can see. We bought them in Toronto, where we also carved pumpkins for Halloween. This is the first time I ever carved a pumpkin, and it was a lot of fun (Thanks Yoav and Denise!). Tally wrote about it as well, and also posted pictures.
ScriboErgoSum 