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31 August 2009

No Sunspots ... The Solar Minimum



by Robert Zimmerman (Batchelor's friend)

For the past 3 centuries, the sun has followed a regular and reliable cycle. Every 11 years, it experiences a peak and a valley in its activity, called the maximum and minimum, respectively. During maxima, there are numerous sunspots (cool and dark areas on the sun's surface), the polarity of the sun's magnetic field weakens and then flips, and the solar wind fluctuates wildly. During minima, the sun is relatively placid, with no sunspots, a steady and strong magnetic field, and a more-or-less constant solar wind.

As of today, the solar minimum continues, as deep and as quiet as scientists have ever seen. And there remains significant disagreement within the panel, with a large minority still unconvinced that the new prediction is right.
Read more


Where Are All The Sunspots?

"We're experiencing a very deep solar minimum," says solar physicist Dean Pesnell of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. In 2008, no sunspots were observed on 266 of the year's 366 days (73 percent). Sunspot counts for 2009 have dropped even lower, percentage-wise. As of March 31st, there were no sunspots on 78 of the year's 90 days (87 percent).

Sunspots are planet-sized islands of magnetism on the surface of the sun, and they are sources of solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and intense UV radiation. The sun has a natural cycle of about 11 years of high and low sunspot activity. This was discovered by German astronomer Heinrich Schwabe in the mid-1800s. Plotting sunspot counts, Schwabe saw that peaks of solar activity were always followed by valleys of relative calm—a clockwork pattern that has held true for more than 200 years.

In a way, the calm is exciting, says Pesnell. "For the first time in history, we're getting to observe a deep solar minimum." A fleet of spacecraft — including the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), the twin probes of the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO), and several other satellites — are all studying the sun and its effects on Earth. Using technology that didn't exist 100 years ago

The Great Global Warming Swindle



Perhaps this will also be of interest.

30 August 2009

Future of Communications

Senate Bill Would Give President Emergency Control of Internet

Details of a revamped version of the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 show the Senate bill could give the president a "kill switch" on the Internet and allow him to shut out private networks from online access.

A Senate bill would offer President Obama emergency control of the Internet and may give him a "kill switch" to shut down online traffic by seizing private networks -- a move cybersecurity experts worry will choke off industry and civil liberties. Details of a revamped version of the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 emerged late Thursday, months after an initial version authored by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., was blasted in Silicon Valley as dangerous government intrusion.



Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet. They're not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors. CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of S.773 (excerpt), which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency. [perhaps setting us back to the old landline phones]

“… troubling due to its vagueness,"

says Larry Clinton, president of the

Internet Security Alliance



Mystery:
States Say 'No Thanks' to Mystery Laptops

Even during tight budgetary times, a growing handful of state governors are proving too wary to accept laptop computers that have shown up at their offices this month, unsolicited. Officials in West Virginia, Vermont, Wyoming and Washington state have reported receiving between three and five laptops, each over the course of two separate deliveries — but none had ordered any of them.

"They immediately raised a red flag," ...
"No one said, 'Hey, we got a free gift."'


Who knows, perhaps they will bring back the "Public Phone" system that is people-friendly.

For an interesting article on the Sun-Powered Phones and the Future of Telephones, read about the S-Com.

Just let them try ... to get control of the sun!

Jews of France Come Home!



British Jews Come Home!

Hold on Folks, It's Getting Bumpier

Bill Would Give President

Emergency Control of Internet


Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet.

They're not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors. CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of S.773 (excerpt), which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.

28 August 2009

Rosh HaShana 5769 Preparations



Interesting finds:

Zoo Rabbi has an excellent article
Exotic Shofars: Halachic Considerations and in Israel you can arrange a presentation on the topic, contact the Zoo Rabbi

In preparation for the coming High Holy Days,
Israel the Beautiful has captured it in his Photo of the Week: “The owner of these garments was sweeping his courtyard as I passed by and looked curiously at his peculiar load of laundry. Observing my interest, he called to me to come have a closer look...I gained a better perspective from which to shoot and, through our brief encounter”.

Continuing in the spirit of Tishrei, Rabbi Lazer Brody brings us
Emuna and Gratitude in Every Limb (HaKoras HaTov)

Rabbi Pinchas Winston brings us the American conundrum of
Is Aliya Obligatory? for those who even scarcely doubt the existence of this glorious mitzva: “if you will not listen to Me and do all of these commandments; if you will deride My laws and detest My judgments and not do all My commandments…”

Review from last Elul, End of Days is worth re-reading,
777 Ticks Into History, and his article from 2007, A Gathering of Seventy Wolves.

And for those interested in exciting and new recipes for the holiday,
Magical Honey Cake, Greek Pistachio Honey Cake, Chocolate Honey Cake, and Beekeeper’s Honey Cake, and a Chicken Soup to win hearts, with tantilizing and luscious pictures to help you along, can be found at Baroness Tapuzina.









A visit over to The Yeshiva Guy will bring one to thoughts of Old Age and how to make the most of your Young Years, which is another recipe especially for this month of Elul.




27 August 2009

We All Need Common Sense


There is ONE person who is causing Americans to WAKE UP to a myriad of subversive underpinnings creeping into American law and changing the historical foundations of the Once Great American Nation!

You can learn all about it at
The New Republic and as he urges you to Speak Without Fear and The One Thing.

Please view this astonishing
Americans are Stupid.

Everyone needs Common Sense: Glenn Beck’s
Common Sense: The Case Against an Out-of-Control Government, inspired by Thomas Paine, and please “Look Inside” because the principles can be applied to ANY government.

WHY?

Letter to a Friend:

Why do Israeli Orthodox Jews need A Place to Hide, A Place to Heal: A Battered Women's Shelter for Orthodox Jews?


Forgive me Hashem but my heart is heavy.


When ruffians create an atmosphere of fear and intimidation, and others fear they might get 'beat up' for not complying to extreme lifestyles, I feel the middah k'neged middah response to such behavior could be the occurrence of INCREASED threats and terror from the enemies of the Jewish People.


You have NO IDEA what is happening here in America.


Right now, the President Obama, the United Nations General Assembly, the PA thugs, Hamas thugs, Hizbullah thugs, Persian thugs, Swedish govt. and all the others soon to follow, are planning chas v'shalom an "Ambush and Great Onslaught" to be perpetrated on Yerushalayim, and all the Israelis:


A plan to TAKE YERUSHALAYIM,

YEHUDA and SHOMRON AWAY FROM ERETZ YISRAEL

and give it to a branch of the family of Tribes occupying the surrounding lands of millions of inhabitants.


Back to Israel


I do not like the "modesty squads" patrolling religious neighborhoods, I don't like brainwashing innocent children to extreme ideas of Judaism not the way of their parents, I do not like the fighting of Jew vs Jew at

karta, there is much more I do not like and do not believe it is healthy frumkeit.


Why?


The ways of Torah are ways of pleasantness, and that doesn't mean to browbeat people or portray hospitals and their religious doctors as nazis. I believe you fight for Shabbos by spreading shalom, sharing your Shabbos table with others, doing acts of kindness to show how the Torah is a true reflection of Hashem.


What secular Israeli could embrace yiddishkeit when 'ultra' and 'haredi' and 'hasid' become anathema to the rational thinking frum and not-yet observant Jews in Israel? How can you speak about the beauty of tsnius when "young haredi MEN" attack a young lady for walking with a young man (orthodox), throw bleach on women because of their clothing, beat-up middle aged-women on buses because they had the audacity to sit in the front of a public bus, attack a young girl who didn't wear socks with her sandals; this sounds strange[ly like fascism], not like the "ways of pleasantness."


Why?


I love our beloved Eretz HaKodesh; the trees, stones, the expansive sky that seems to rise all the way to Shamayim.


Isn't it enough that the arabs are planning our chas v'shalom demise (80,000 missles in Hezbollah with chas v'shalom Israeli town names printed on them!). Why don't the war-mongering people in Israel realize that those missles will be unleashed unless there is more tolerance, chessed, and cooperation between the differing perspectives. Eretz HaKodesh is an island oasis in a sea of hostility and hatred.


I have never heard of burning trash, setting fire to baby diapers, trashing the streets you live on, attacking social-workers, attacking anyone who doesn't believe "your version of the story plot."


How long will this animosity continue between

BOTH SIDES?


MEANWHILE ... while civil war breaks out within ...



Netanyahu to UK: Jerusalem is Sovereign Capital of Israel

[methinks he doth protesteth too much]


Mitchell, for Obama, is keeping Netanyahu distracted, worried, and busy creating ways to stall the 'ambush and onslaught' of the '70 nations' pushing Israel into a Middle East corner.


Talks Conclude with .. a date to 'Talk' again



[With so much 'talk' one could imagine that

ALL the problems of the whole world were being solved! It's more like the

psychological warfare emanating from Pharoah's inner chamber

in the west wing of the Middle East.]




However, Abbas said in Ramallah on Wednesday, that there may be talks but NOT

ANY NEGOTIATIONS, adding that he is "determined to establish an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital," without letting Israel exercise sovereignty over any land that was restored to the Jewish State in 1967."


IT SEEMS THAT THE FINE POINTS

ARE BEING DECIDED EXTRANEOUSLY!


[WND's Aaron Klein informs us of what is really happening 'on the ground' and in 'real time' without the political theatrics, arm-twisting, foreign-shuttling to 'explain the Israeli position', keeping the world entertained.]


voi⋅là


The Obama Plan:

Temple Mount Under Arab-Muslim Sovereignty


The Middle East peace plan that United States President Barack Obama will unveil soon involves the creation of a Palestinian Authority state by 2011 and the transfer of Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem [presumably including the Temple Mount – ed.] to Arab-Muslim sovereignty, Saudi newspaper Al-Ukaz has learned.


According to the report published Sunday in Al-Ukaz, the Obama plan also includes the following elements:


*There would be an international presence in the Jordan Valley and other parts of Judea and Samaria;

*The Palestinian Authority terror organizations would be disbanded and turn into political parties;

*The large settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria would not be dismantled;

*The fate of smaller Jewish settlement areas would be decided in a three-month-long negotiation period.



EVERYONE SEEMS TO BE IN ON

THIS BACKROOM DEAL EXCEPT FOR ISRAEL!


Washington Post […] A reporter for the Saudi newspaper received the information from Hassan Harisha, the Second Deputy Speaker of the Palestinian Authority Parliament. Harisha told him that the U.S. has handed over a draft of the peace proposal to the PA and other Arabs for their perusal.


"As the U.N. General Assembly meets in late September, Obama aims to announce the opening of a new negotiating process between Israelis and Palestinians, along with 'confidence-building' steps by Israel, the Palestinian Authority and a number of Arab governments," the columnist wrote. Obama "will probably lay out at least a partial vision of the two-state settlement that all sides now say they support, and the course that negotiations should take. More significantly, he intends to set an ambitious timetable for completing the peace deal -- something that will please Arabs but may irritate Israel."







26 August 2009

Ambush: '48 and '67 and '73 ........ Déjà Vu


Obama Planning Israel Ambush at Next UN Opening!

Several sources have informed One Jerusalem that the Obama Administration is planning to significantly step up the pressure on Israel by announcing a comprehensive plan for Israel and the Palestinians at the opening of the United Nations General Assembly in September.
The anti-Israel nations of the world surrounding President Obama as he demands that Israel give up sovereignty over Jerusalem, abandon settlements, and recognize a terrorist state on the West Bank.
If this happens, Israel will be isolated from the rest of world in a very dramatic manner
The first sign that something was up came when Egyptian President Mubarak said that the Obama Administration was ready to propose a plan in September, and the White House rushed to dampen expectations by declaring that they are nowhere near to readying a plan.
Our sources confirmed that the Obama administration is contemplating this ambush of Israel at the United Nations.


AND IF THAT WON'T WORK ...

PA to Seek International Court Ruling on ‘Occupation’

"The Palestinian Authority is setting up a de facto state as a step to appeal to international courts to declare Israel an occupying power, according to James Hider, the Middle East bureau chief for the Times of London. Fayyad is preparing a new plan for the PA economy and security forces, and told the Times in a separate interview that it will enable the PA to establish a de facto state in two years."[...]

"Blaming both Israel and the PA for the current stalemate, he said that Fayyad’s plan “would be to grow a functioning state around the continuing Israeli occupation and then ask the international community to judge whether such a military occupation was acceptable.”

Arab League Furious ... over Jewish Prayer

"This is the first time since 1967 that Jews have conducted prayers on Al-Aksa during the month of Ramadan," Moussa declared. "We condemn this act," he added, "in the name of the 22 countries belonging to the League." "The prayer session was a serious blow to the holiness of the site," Moussa claimed.

  • ARE THEY REVOKING THE BALFOUR DECLARATION?
  • ARE THEY IGNORING THE FACT THAT THEY ATTACKED THE FLEDGLING STATE, AND THE JEWS FOUGHT BACK AND PREVAILED;
  • ARE THEY IGNORING SAID INTERNATIONAL LAW;
  • THAT SAID INTERNATIONAL LAW PERMITS THE PREVAILER IN A WAR TO KEEP ALL LANDS WON IN SUCH WAR.

AU CONTRAIRE, THE HOLINESS OF THE JEW PRAYING ON THAT MOUNTAIN RETURNS KEDUSHA TO THE PLACE FOR THE FIRST TIME ... SINCE THE LAST TIME THEY PRAYED IN THE SAME SPOT!


MIDDLE EAST JOKE OF THE DAY - MK Ahmed Tibi has issued an appeal to United States President Barack Obama asking the president to fight “institutionalized discrimination” in Israel by giving millions of dollars in American money to Israel's Arab citizens.


24 August 2009

Something Stinks in Sweeden and ...

Its Not Just the Rotten Blood Libel


Findings indicate that fungus removed from the feet of innocent Norwegian fishermen, gives the Swedish pickled salmon its “Special” taste.

OSLO – Gravad lax – or pickled salmon – is one of the most popular Scandinavian dishes. Its preparation process is simple and quick, and its ingredients are seemingly identical everywhere: Salmon fillet, salt, sugar, oil, and herbs.

Residents of east Norway villages, known for not changing socks for long months, were therefore an obvious target. And so, Sweden established the Strumpor Stinkande elite unit, responsible for fresh supply of stinky human feet for the Swedish salmon industry

However, despite this, those in the know and lox connoisseurs have been claiming that the Swedish gravad lax tastes differently than the Norwegian, Finnish, and Danish variety. “The Swedish variety contains some sort of slight sourness, “ says Danish Chef Richard Muller Holstrum. “I was never able to detect its source.”

Well now we know: here’s the full The Full Dirty Secret.

Gravad lax, somonun marine edip dereotuyla birlikte yedikleri yemeğin adı.


Turtle Traffic

At least 78 turtles spotted on runway
at JFK - Kennedy Airport, NY



NY Lawyers Protest Turtle Crossing!

A runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport was shut down briefly Wednesday morning after at least 78 turtles emerged from a nearby bay and crawled onto the tarmac. Grounds crews eventually rounded up the wayward reptiles and deposited them back in the brackish water farther from airport property, but not before the incident disrupted JFK’s flight schedule and contributed to delays ....

A six-hour tarmac wait for some air travelers this weekend has two New York legislators calling for a law protecting flyers from having to wait out delays in the cramped quarters of an airplane.




Palestinian Women Knit Jewish 'Yarmulkes'


Palestinian women make Jewish skullcaps in the West Bank village of Deir Abu Meshal near Ramallah August 12, 2009. REUTERS/Fadi Arouri

Deir Abu Meshal, West Bank - Of all the cottage industries you might expect to find in the Israeli- occupied West Bank, the crocheting of Jewish skullcaps by Palestinian hands seems one of the oddest. A must must read

23 August 2009

Most Haredim Want Secular Higher Education

Most
Charedim
Want
Secular
Higher
Education



Of the 53% who that said they were interested:
63% female vs 41% males
59% Chassidim vs 42% Lithuanian


Does this Survey Reflect a Change in the Status-Quo?

According to Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry data, 49.1% of haredi women of working age participate in the labor market, higher than the 37.4% rate for haredi men aged 20 to 64, but lower than secular women's at 70%, and secular men's at 79.9%.

In the years 2002-2007, the average size of the haredi population was 637,000, 8.8% of the total population. There were 233,000 haredim aged 20 to 64, including 118,000 men. Some 12.4% of haredim had at least a bachelor's degree, compared with 37.2% of the secular and traditional population. In addition, 19.9% of haredim served in the army, compared with 72.2% of the secular and traditional population.

The average monthly salary of haredi women was NIS 3,690, 40% lower than that of haredi men (NIS 6,123). The average salary of secular women was NIS 5,698, 36% lower than that of secular men (NIS 8,955). Haredi women earned 35% less than secular women, while haredi men earned 30% less than secular men.

"A lot of the tension and polarity in our society is a direct result of the fact that the haredi population does not integrate into the labor force," said Shay Cohen, CEO of Chakima.

"There is no doubt that as soon as they start to join the workforce, with all the implications of such as move, barriers that separate between people will fall."

Ben-Eliezer wants to adapt Haredi Employment Center Nationwide … Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer plans to adapt Modi'in Illit's employment-center model to the rest of the country in an effort to bring thousands of haredim into the workplace. Industry, Trade and Labor Minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, his deputy minister, Orit Noked and Modi'in Illit Mayor Ya'acov Gutterman visit a training center for haredim in Modi'in Illit.
Photo Courtesy of the ITLM

21 August 2009

Shabbat Shalom!

'depiction of Aishel Chayil blessing'



Chodesh Tov!
Shabbos Parshat Shoftim


Ketivah Vachatimah Tovah!
"May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year"


Break Up Peace Now NOW!

SPOKEN LIKE A TRUE LEADER

Break Up Peace Now...

MK Danny Danon of the Likud has called on the Registrar of Non-Profit Organizations to drop Peace Now from its list and to officially dismantle the group. “Peace Now is acting as an agent on behalf of foreign governments, which blatantly interfere in internal Israeli affairs.”

MK Danny Danon “In the eyes of the Israeli government, the life of Jews in Israel must come before anything else,” ... “The government is responsible first and foremost to protect its citizens.”

“We were elected to change the policy of Kadima and Labor, and not to implement the policy of Meretz and Labor,” ….

It was announced this week – less than a month after the Knesset narrowly passed the controversial lands privatization bill - ... Galilee farmers sold their lands to Persian Gulf tycoons, and protestors will gather on Thursday at the monument to Alexander Zaid - a man who gave his life for the sake of keeping the land Jewish.

Mevo’ot Hermon Regional Council head Benny Ben-Merhav said that dozens of dunams (quarter-acres) have been sold recently to foreign elements, and the mayor of Rosh Pina, Avihud Raski, said, “The farmers’ financial situation left them no choice. I raised the issue with the Jewish National Fund and the Israel Lands Authority, and I said that we have to establish a mechanism to ensure that our lands remain in Israeli hands – but they did nothing.”

Danon: Land Compromise Against Likud Principles

MK Danny Danon, a member of the Likud party, says Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's agreement to a building freeze in Judea and Samaria goes against traditional Likud values. “It's outrageous that this is happening while we are in power.” ...Many Likud members share his feelings, Danon said, as do members of the Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) parties.

“Netanyahu will eventually have to face it. Deep inside he knows the truth, but there's a lot of pressure from Washington.” Danon doubted rumors that the U.S. administration has insisted that Israel freeze construction in order to win support for an air strike in Iran. American leaders understand that Iran is a threat to the entire Western world, and not only to Israel.

Jews Must Live Everywhere in IsraelDeputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon expressed strong support for continued Jewish growth in Judea and Samaria.


“Jews can and must live in every part of the land of Israel.”







MK Danny Danon is someone to keep your eye on

Shalom Pollack: DECEMBER TOURS

Wednesday, December 18 A special "hilltop" visit, plus .. We will begin our day in the Shomron (Benjamin Region) where we will hav...