I must say that I have absolutely no reason to even comment on Avis' service. I'm only commenting on their slogan.
Has it ever occurred to anyone that the Avis slogan begs the question, "Why? Because you have to?" ?
Sunday, 29 November 2009
Friday, 30 October 2009
To transliterate or not to transliterate... Why not both?
Finally, this one is another example of something which really gets me. Grrrrr!!!
I call it "Beis Tefilla English". The local RBS Torah publication is riddled with it. What's with the Hebrew-within-English? Why not transliterate like... in the rest of it?
I can't help imagining that he started writing that way and then realised that if he would carry on like that it would come out like this:
With immense gratitude to הקב"ה we are delighted to inform the ציבור regarding the ברית of our son which will take place אי"ה at the hall in בית תפילה יונה אברהם, נחל רפאים 34 on Friday morning at 8:00am. May we continue to share שמחות!
So he decided (I imagine) not to keep writing in Hebrew because it looks silly and is hard to read. But in that case - why not fix what you already did???
Personally I really dislike the Hebrew-words-in-Hebrew style, but if you're going to do it, go all the way. If you can transliterate some times why not every time? Most of us will find it easier to read that way. Only write in Hebrew if you're quoting something where the spelling is important etc.
I call it "Beis Tefilla English". The local RBS Torah publication is riddled with it. What's with the Hebrew-within-English? Why not transliterate like... in the rest of it?
I can't help imagining that he started writing that way and then realised that if he would carry on like that it would come out like this:
With immense gratitude to הקב"ה we are delighted to inform the ציבור regarding the ברית of our son which will take place אי"ה at the hall in בית תפילה יונה אברהם, נחל רפאים 34 on Friday morning at 8:00am. May we continue to share שמחות!
So he decided (I imagine) not to keep writing in Hebrew because it looks silly and is hard to read. But in that case - why not fix what you already did???
Personally I really dislike the Hebrew-words-in-Hebrew style, but if you're going to do it, go all the way. If you can transliterate some times why not every time? Most of us will find it easier to read that way. Only write in Hebrew if you're quoting something where the spelling is important etc.
Thursday, 29 October 2009
Catching up...
It's been a while since I last posted.
Here are some photos I've collected since last time.
This concrete pump is very impressive. But I can't help being scared it'll topple over, despite the supports it has. They just don't look adequate.
Before we get to the other pictures, here's another positive one. This sukkah, while modest in size, does look quite comfortable. It seems nicely constructed. Kind of how I'd like our sukkah to be built, one day.
Credit where credit's due - this box is pretty good. Everything's spelled correctly and the layout is nice. It even manages to keep the toaster sitting still. But watch out, because once you put it on your kitchen counter, things are going to get lively.
I certainly agree that it would be wise to be very careful around a cursed vehicle.
My final new item deserves a post of its own. Coming next.
Here are some photos I've collected since last time.
This concrete pump is very impressive. But I can't help being scared it'll topple over, despite the supports it has. They just don't look adequate.
Before we get to the other pictures, here's another positive one. This sukkah, while modest in size, does look quite comfortable. It seems nicely constructed. Kind of how I'd like our sukkah to be built, one day.
Credit where credit's due - this box is pretty good. Everything's spelled correctly and the layout is nice. It even manages to keep the toaster sitting still. But watch out, because once you put it on your kitchen counter, things are going to get lively.
I certainly agree that it would be wise to be very careful around a cursed vehicle.
My final new item deserves a post of its own. Coming next.
Wednesday, 30 September 2009
Parking Award of the Day
WHY????
I was too nervous to keep trying to squeeze my car through the gap (I started but it was a really tight fit)
I suppose there might have been some extenuating circumstances but it's hard to guess what. I did notice a crutch on the back seat so maybe it was someone who needed to open his door a lot but somehow I'm sure there must have been some other way to do it.
Anyone who was parked on this side of that car would have had a really hard time getting out, too.
I was too nervous to keep trying to squeeze my car through the gap (I started but it was a really tight fit)
I suppose there might have been some extenuating circumstances but it's hard to guess what. I did notice a crutch on the back seat so maybe it was someone who needed to open his door a lot but somehow I'm sure there must have been some other way to do it.
Anyone who was parked on this side of that car would have had a really hard time getting out, too.
Tuesday, 18 August 2009
What part of "optional" didn't I understand?
I was sending an invitation on LinkedIn and didn't feel like sending the default note. So I deleted it. After all, it's optional.
What part of "optional" didn't I understand?
(If you like things like this, you might enjoy this site.)
What part of "optional" didn't I understand?
(If you like things like this, you might enjoy this site.)
Thursday, 6 August 2009
Grrr Would people please be precise
This was sent around at work:
Now, I know what they want to say, but I have to stop myself taking what was written literally - which implies that until that car was broken into, all was well. But now the risk is greater.
It would make sense if that car had contained everyone else's car keys...
נושא: ראו הוזהרתם :)
לתשומת לבכם,
לתשומת לבכם,
עקב פריצה לרכבו של אחד מהעובדים, אנא המנעו מהשארת חפצים בעלי ערך ברכב החונה בחניון.
ראו הוזהרתם.
Now, I know what they want to say, but I have to stop myself taking what was written literally - which implies that until that car was broken into, all was well. But now the risk is greater.
It would make sense if that car had contained everyone else's car keys...
Saturday, 11 July 2009
A non-hechsher
I'm impressed...
(For those who don't read Hebrew, the important bit here is that which says:
"Chief Rabbinate of Israel
Not for consumption
Hechsher not required")
(For those who don't read Hebrew, the important bit here is that which says:
"Chief Rabbinate of Israel
Not for consumption
Hechsher not required")
Sunday, 5 July 2009
Some people could park better
Sometimes I feel like pointing out to people that they could have parked more considerately - but mostly it seems pointless.
I wonder - if someone was desperate and resorted to this solution to their parking problem - would it get the message through?
Source: http://xkcd.com/562/
I wonder - if someone was desperate and resorted to this solution to their parking problem - would it get the message through?
Source: http://xkcd.com/562/
Thursday, 18 June 2009
Back to our scheduled programming :-)
Here's another one...
Looks like a Chrysler Cieon or something like that. There's a letter missing, about enough space for an 'i'.
I've never seen that model before. Chrysler Neons are quite common but apparently this car's not one of those...
(I know not everyone's English-literate here but surely they could just reproduce what's on the car's manual without needing to be able to read it???)
Looks like a Chrysler Cieon or something like that. There's a letter missing, about enough space for an 'i'.
I've never seen that model before. Chrysler Neons are quite common but apparently this car's not one of those...
(I know not everyone's English-literate here but surely they could just reproduce what's on the car's manual without needing to be able to read it???)
Helpful Labelling (="Only in Israel"?)
Have you ever noticed that some food products have a helpful comment ברכתו מזונות (or the like)? Just in case you're not sure from the ingredients what brocho to make.
Apparently it's possible to be even more helpful. I'd had never occurred to me that someone would care to put this on but here's an example:
I'm impressed...
(Credit where credit's due - this is a Barkol own-brand product)
Apparently it's possible to be even more helpful. I'd had never occurred to me that someone would care to put this on but here's an example:
I'm impressed...
(Credit where credit's due - this is a Barkol own-brand product)
Thursday, 28 May 2009
Sunday, 10 May 2009
This is not a kosher phone
I think it should be clear why such a phone would not be considered tzanua
Saturday, 2 May 2009
Heeeeeeeelp!!
We just had a rather exciting Shabbos and that prompts a rather different blog posting from previous ones.
We'd had kiddush and were just on the verge of going out to friends for lunch and all of a sudden my wife screams!!! --- there's a snake in the kitchen!
I told her to get out of there calmly, which she did, and I could hear the snake hissing as she did that. I remembered that there was someone who had advertised that he would catch snakes in the neighbourhood, but not who he was (and nothing in the Shemeshphone either)! I suggested that my wife go over to our hosts and inform them of our predicament - perhaps they would know someone who could help us (our immediate neighbours didn't know of this person either). Meanwhile I stood outside the kitchen, watching, to make sure that it didn't come out and go elsewhere in the flat. We shut Miki [the cat] in the mamad (mama"d??) in the meantime, which she didn't like but I reckoned that this was only loose confinement (and therefore not major "tzod") and also contributing to pikuach nefesh as maybe should would scare the snake.
It took a while but when my wife came back it was with our hosts' son and Rabbi Natan Slifkin. So he wanders into the kitchen, and... no snake. (I hadn't been watching the snake, after all, only the kitchen). So he pokes around for us under the dishwasher as maybe it went there but no luck, no snake (only balls of dust...). Well, we'll just have to wait for it to come out. Nothing to do so we went to lunch.
We come back from lunch, still no snake but no calm either (where's the snake now??!!). Straight to bed for a nap (well away from the kitchen). We did actually sleep despite the worry.
I woke up a little late to get to the Rav's shiur on time but decided that if there was a snake around it would be better not to leave my wife alone so I wouldn't go, not even to mincha. But she said I should go, so up I get, and as I look around the living room on my way out, there's the snake by the balcony door, which I had left closed. If it had got out we would have been on a wild goose (ha ha) chase looking for a snake which had gone - better to be looking for something which was there. So here I am with a snake in the living room. In grabbing a chair to sit and keep an eye on it I make a noise which scares the snake into slithering into the corner, but by looking under the side table I can see it there. I call my wife over and ask her to watch the snake and I go off looking for Rabbi Slifkin. At this point I didn't know when I was going to catch mincha but it turned out that I caught up with him at the beginning of his mincha minyan so I got to daven there too.
After mincha, off we go to catch the snake (with a friend of his and the same hosts' son in tow). To cut a long story short, after some deliberation over what to do (kill, catch etc., because Rabbi Slifkin was tending towards thinking it was not poisonous) we end up chasing it around the living room, hurriedly shifting furniture to do that, and finally catching it under a plastic container.
Well, this snake wasn't too happy about that and was hissing away etc but we were a lot calmer knowing where the thing was and we got to eat seudah shelishis. The snake calmed down too for a while.
After Shabbos we got hold of the snake-catcher, whose name is Meir Goldsmith, and he and Rabbi Slifkin came over. Reb Meir had a look at this snake and finally declared it to be a Palestinian viper (which is poisonous...). With his gloves on he started working on getting the snake out from under the container but the snake proved to be more than a little annoyed so he got all kitted up (arm protectors and all) and eventually pulled the snake out from underneath. He had tried to get the snake to go straight into a container of his own but it was wanting to strike him so that wasn't going to happen. Don't try this at home, I suppose, but he got it out by grabbing the tail - which had come out from under the container when he'd moved it - and pulling it out slowly until he could grab it sufficiently close to the head.
Reb Meir showed us the snake, which was quite irritable, close up. It's quite amazing. He showed us how it bites - it was holding on to his gloved finger with its jaws open to 90 degrees! (Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of that) Finally he put it away in a container he brought. He'll release it deep in the mountains.
So... an exciting (and somewhat stressful) day. BE"H I'll post photos (from after Shabbos obviously) soon.
Many thanks to Reb Meir Goldsmith and Rabbi Natan Slifkin!!
Shavua tov!
We'd had kiddush and were just on the verge of going out to friends for lunch and all of a sudden my wife screams!!! --- there's a snake in the kitchen!
I told her to get out of there calmly, which she did, and I could hear the snake hissing as she did that. I remembered that there was someone who had advertised that he would catch snakes in the neighbourhood, but not who he was (and nothing in the Shemeshphone either)! I suggested that my wife go over to our hosts and inform them of our predicament - perhaps they would know someone who could help us (our immediate neighbours didn't know of this person either). Meanwhile I stood outside the kitchen, watching, to make sure that it didn't come out and go elsewhere in the flat. We shut Miki [the cat] in the mamad (mama"d??) in the meantime, which she didn't like but I reckoned that this was only loose confinement (and therefore not major "tzod") and also contributing to pikuach nefesh as maybe should would scare the snake.
It took a while but when my wife came back it was with our hosts' son and Rabbi Natan Slifkin. So he wanders into the kitchen, and... no snake. (I hadn't been watching the snake, after all, only the kitchen). So he pokes around for us under the dishwasher as maybe it went there but no luck, no snake (only balls of dust...). Well, we'll just have to wait for it to come out. Nothing to do so we went to lunch.
We come back from lunch, still no snake but no calm either (where's the snake now??!!). Straight to bed for a nap (well away from the kitchen). We did actually sleep despite the worry.
I woke up a little late to get to the Rav's shiur on time but decided that if there was a snake around it would be better not to leave my wife alone so I wouldn't go, not even to mincha. But she said I should go, so up I get, and as I look around the living room on my way out, there's the snake by the balcony door, which I had left closed. If it had got out we would have been on a wild goose (ha ha) chase looking for a snake which had gone - better to be looking for something which was there. So here I am with a snake in the living room. In grabbing a chair to sit and keep an eye on it I make a noise which scares the snake into slithering into the corner, but by looking under the side table I can see it there. I call my wife over and ask her to watch the snake and I go off looking for Rabbi Slifkin. At this point I didn't know when I was going to catch mincha but it turned out that I caught up with him at the beginning of his mincha minyan so I got to daven there too.
After mincha, off we go to catch the snake (with a friend of his and the same hosts' son in tow). To cut a long story short, after some deliberation over what to do (kill, catch etc., because Rabbi Slifkin was tending towards thinking it was not poisonous) we end up chasing it around the living room, hurriedly shifting furniture to do that, and finally catching it under a plastic container.
Well, this snake wasn't too happy about that and was hissing away etc but we were a lot calmer knowing where the thing was and we got to eat seudah shelishis. The snake calmed down too for a while.
After Shabbos we got hold of the snake-catcher, whose name is Meir Goldsmith, and he and Rabbi Slifkin came over. Reb Meir had a look at this snake and finally declared it to be a Palestinian viper (which is poisonous...). With his gloves on he started working on getting the snake out from under the container but the snake proved to be more than a little annoyed so he got all kitted up (arm protectors and all) and eventually pulled the snake out from underneath. He had tried to get the snake to go straight into a container of his own but it was wanting to strike him so that wasn't going to happen. Don't try this at home, I suppose, but he got it out by grabbing the tail - which had come out from under the container when he'd moved it - and pulling it out slowly until he could grab it sufficiently close to the head.
Reb Meir showed us the snake, which was quite irritable, close up. It's quite amazing. He showed us how it bites - it was holding on to his gloved finger with its jaws open to 90 degrees! (Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of that) Finally he put it away in a container he brought. He'll release it deep in the mountains.
So... an exciting (and somewhat stressful) day. BE"H I'll post photos (from after Shabbos obviously) soon.
Many thanks to Reb Meir Goldsmith and Rabbi Natan Slifkin!!
Shavua tov!
Friday, 27 March 2009
Food presentation by Mum
We went to dinner at my parents' on Monday.
I noticed a salad on the table from an angle and didn't think too much of it.
But then someone (Orly, my sister-in-law, I think) drew my attention to it and I realised that it was quite innovative...
You can see the time I took the photo (we adjusted it just before)
Well done, Mum!
I noticed a salad on the table from an angle and didn't think too much of it.
But then someone (Orly, my sister-in-law, I think) drew my attention to it and I realised that it was quite innovative...
You can see the time I took the photo (we adjusted it just before)
Well done, Mum!
Monday, 23 March 2009
לימות השנה בלבד
Since I mentioned לימות השנה בלבד I should add:
Every time I see those badatz hechsherim which say that, I think of Ben Zoma in the Hagadda: ימי חייך", הימים; "כול ימי חייך", הלילות" (courtesy of Mechon Mamre).
I mean, Pesach's during the year, isn't it?, so do they mean their hechsher doesn't cover night-time??? ;-)
Every time I see those badatz hechsherim which say that, I think of Ben Zoma in the Hagadda: ימי חייך", הימים; "כול ימי חייך", הלילות" (courtesy of Mechon Mamre).
I mean, Pesach's during the year, isn't it?, so do they mean their hechsher doesn't cover night-time??? ;-)
Not so deadly but even more kosher
Simon wrote recently about caustic soda.
I just noticed a similar hechsher. And this one says it's Kosher for Pesach... (year round, or is it a special run???)
This is on a spray can of air freshener, by the way.
I can't help but wonder if they'll decide they want to have an Eida Chareidis hechsher or suchlike. We might end up with a case where something in the fragrance is grain alcohol based and the better hechsher will disagree with the rabbanut hechsher, saying לימות השנה בלבד...
I just noticed a similar hechsher. And this one says it's Kosher for Pesach... (year round, or is it a special run???)
This is on a spray can of air freshener, by the way.
I can't help but wonder if they'll decide they want to have an Eida Chareidis hechsher or suchlike. We might end up with a case where something in the fragrance is grain alcohol based and the better hechsher will disagree with the rabbanut hechsher, saying לימות השנה בלבד...
Phases of help desk call resolution
The first stage in help desk call resolution is to translate what the user is telling you (if taken literally) into what is actually happening.
I can sympathise with the following problem but if we took it as written we'd be astounded to see that this user consistently finds it easier to print with her computer turned off than with it turned on:
I can sympathise with the following problem but if we took it as written we'd be astounded to see that this user consistently finds it easier to print with her computer turned off than with it turned on:
Israeli sights no. 2
Bodywork people in this country take great care to restore a damaged car to as-new condition, it's quite difficult to tell when a car has been repaired (tongue-in-cheek alert!!!). I have very sharp eyes so here and there I do manage to spot tell-tale signs of repair work.
Here are two similar cars (one of them belongs to a neighbour - my photo was taken without permission but I hope it's OK with them). One has been repaired but it's almost impossible to tell. Which one do you think it is?
Here are two similar cars (one of them belongs to a neighbour - my photo was taken without permission but I hope it's OK with them). One has been repaired but it's almost impossible to tell. Which one do you think it is?
Israeli sights no. 1
Here's a positive sighting. A very nice idea. For those of you who don't read Hebrew, the sign says:
Every Jew is invited to lay tefilin! as a support for our victory over our enemies. Please come in!
I hope it's OK that my picture shows whose sign it is...
Every Jew is invited to lay tefilin! as a support for our victory over our enemies. Please come in!
I hope it's OK that my picture shows whose sign it is...
Saudi Clerics Urge Ban
OK here I am again, catching up
Here's one of today's headlines from foxnews.com
It's a stretch but I can understand them wanting to ban "Music on TV". But to ban "Women"? That seems a bit much :-)
Here's one of today's headlines from foxnews.com
It's a stretch but I can understand them wanting to ban "Music on TV". But to ban "Women"? That seems a bit much :-)
Thursday, 8 January 2009
Israeli? English no. 3
Why Ynetnews.com doesn't have native English speakers writing or translating for them, I don't know*. On the front page right now I just found the following.
Not to make light of the story - it's sad news - but I don't think anyone can be killed any way other than mortally...
* IMHO if they are English speakers they could be better writers...
Not to make light of the story - it's sad news - but I don't think anyone can be killed any way other than mortally...
* IMHO if they are English speakers they could be better writers...
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