The JackB

"When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'." Groucho Marx

Archives for January 2008

My Treo Was Eaten By An Elevator

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This is one of those posts that make me shake my head and wonder why I got out of bed. I’d like to be able to say that this is just another attempt at trying to come up with something funny, but the truth is that my Treo met a hungry elevator.

The attack was conducted with lightning speed. Really, it is just a blur. One moment it was in hand and the next it was on the floor where it slid into the gaping maw of that horrible creature.

Maybe if I would have had two good hands things would have been different. I tried to save my poor little Treo. I kicked the battery out of the way and grabbed the main unit. And then I watched, helplessly as the back of my Treo was swallowed by that beast.

One moment it was there and then suddenly it disappeared into the shaft. Poor little Treo. Maybe it is time for a Blackberry.

Sunday Night Music

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You Only Live Twice– Nancy Sinatra
Moonraker– Shirley Bassey
Thunderball– Tom Jones
Just Another Day– Oingo Boingo
Gratitude– Oingo Boingo
 Insanity (live)– Oingo Boingo
The Mummers Dance– Lorenna McKennit
Santiago– Lorenna McKennit
Danny Boy– Celtic Woman
Hate me– Blue October
Rebel Yell– Billy Idol
Hot for Teacher– Van Halen
Running With The Devil– Van Halen
Now we are free (live)– Lisa Gerrard
Now we are free – Lisa Gerrard

The Cost: A Portion Of Your Lifespan

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I wonder about many things. If you could extend a loved one’s life by giving them a portion of your own, would you? We’re not talking about transplants or any sort of current medical technology.

For the sake of this discussion we’ll say that doctors have found a way to siphon some of your life and that they could give it to someone else. Imagine it to be similar to a gas tank and all you need to do is take a bit of yours and as a result they would live longer.

Would you do it?

Or maybe a better question is to focus on what exists now. Would you donate a kidney? How far are you willing to go? If you had a child with a terminal disease would you have another child in the hope that they could be a potential donor?

Would you be willing to clone yourself so that if heaven forbid something bad happened you’d have a donor? Where do you draw the line?

Why Am I Typing With One Hand Part Two

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After almost four days of living with a splint I have gained new empathy for Captain Hook and learned a few things about myself:

  1. I have mastered the “pincer grip.” Crabs and lobsters have nothing on what I can do with my thumb and forefinger.
  2. Certain bathroom activities are much harder to do one handed.
  3. Typing can still be done with two hands, but it is awkward and looks ridiculous.
  4. I am doing less typing because it is harder than normal. I owe many of you responses to your comments.
  5. Absentmindedly scratching my nose can be painful.
  6. If I filed the end of my splint into a sharp pointy end I could become a very dangerous man or alternatively well equipped to roast marshmallows.
  7. The Shmata Queen still can’t believe how advanced medicine is. Maybe if she’d stop using the burning river as a point of reference she’d be happier. For that matter if she just listened to me she’d be happy 98.7% of the time.
  8. Driving at night is interesting. If I raise my splinted hand up from the wheel other drivers assume I am making nasty gestures at them.

Ugandan Jews

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Some of you might remember my post about The music of Ugandan Jews. This evening I came across an article about Ugandan Jews that you might find to be of interest.

Here is an excerpt:

“Segments of the Igbo of Nigeria and the Sefwi people of Ghana trace their origins to Jews who traveled from Israel to West Africa, some dating back to the period following the destruction of the first Temple in 586 B.C.E. The once vibrant Sephardic and Mizrahi of Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Egypt, were established in North Africa approximately two millennia ago, but since 1948, the vast majority of North African Jews emigrated, settling in France, Israel, and the United States.

Now, in contrast to these communities, the Abayudaya, which means “Jewish people of Uganda,” proudly reference their conversion to Judaism in the 1920s, stating that they were drawn to Jewish practice by the truth of the Torah, the five books of Moses. Their founder, Semei Kakungulu, was a powerful Ganda leader, and he considered Christianity and Islam, and then according to community elders, said, “Why should I follow the shoots when I could have the root.”

Presently, the Abayudaya number of approximately 750 people, and live in villages surrounding Mbale in eastern Uganda. Many members scrupulously follow Jewish ritual, observe the laws of the Sabbath, celebrate Jewish holidays, keep kosher, and pray in Hebrew. Since the community’s original self conversion, and through the difficult period of Idi Amin’s rule in the 1970s, the Abayudaya have been distinguished by their commitment to following mainstream Jewish practice, an approach that’s been amplified since their increased contact with Jews from North America and Israel since the mid-1990s.”