Dry Run?

This story–Terror In The Skies, Again?–has been making the rounds on the blogosphere, but in case you haven’t read it yet, go ahead and read it now. It will chill you to the bone.

It is by a woman who took a plane flight with her husband and child and who may have witnessed a dry run for a future terrorist attack.

We know that the terrorists make such practice runs. Actor James Woods witnessed a dry run preparing for 9/11.

The article describes not only what happened on the flight but also the woman’s efforts afterwards to determine what it was she witnessed and also her efforts to determine what the authorities are doing to prevent attacks based on the apparent method she saw in use on the flight.

It is not certain that the author did witness a dry run, but then again, she may have.

As you can see from the end of the story, the author does not feel that the authorities have done enough to stop this kind of attack, but if there is a ray of hope here it is this: The terrorists may have been scared off by what happened after the flight. They may have concluded that they were too exposed and decided they need to go to ground and call off their plans.

Maybe.

Let’s hope so.

K = Kashrut

You know that K you sometimes see on food products? You may be aware that it is a sign that the food is kosher. But the K doesn’t stand for kosher, it stands for kashrut, the laws governing what is and is not kosher.

Most of us probably have a pretty good understanding of certain aspects of the laws of kashrut–that certain kinds of meat (notably pork) are not kosher, that milk and meat produts cannot be served together, that kosher meat must come from animals killed in a particular way, that more than one set of dishes is used, etc.

Those who have read the Bible all the way through have read the Old Testament treatment of what is and is not kosher, but the modern laws of kashrut have been elaborated and applied in new ways compared to the OT laws they are based on. E.g., the rule against serving milk and meat products together is an elaboration of the OT law against boiling a young goat in its mother’s milk (Ex. 23:19; Ex. 34:26; Deut. 14:21). To make sure nobody does that, milk and meat can’t be served together, which is why you can’t get a cheeseburger at McDonalds in Jerusalem (it also poses problems for pizza and having cheese and meatballs with pasta).

(FYI, if you ever go to Israel, don’t bother eating the westernized food they try to serve tourists. It’s lousy–particularly that stuff they serve in “self-service restaurants” . . . {Cough!} cafeterias. Eat the native food instead.)

Most of us probably have never read a detailed overview of the laws of kashrut, but Wikipedia has an excellent article on them that’s worth checking out.

Here is another good article from a Jewish source.

Save Christmas For The Christians

Don’t you just hate it, when every year more and more stores, businesses, TV and radio stations that used to say “Merry Christmas” start saying things like “Seasons Greetings” or “Happy Holidays”?

It burns me up when they do that.

I don’t mind if they add “Happy Hanukkah” or similar wishes to folks of other religions (though “Happy Kwanzaa” tests my limits, as being black isn’t–or shouldn’t be–a religion).

One of the local country music stations even runs public service announcements that say “Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanzaa! And to everyone else . . . Have a nice day!”

But it really irks me when businesses suppress Christmas entirely and try to get by with a politically correct “Seasons Greetings” or “Happy Holidays.”

I’m sorry, but–as they say–Christ is the reason for the season. Hanukkah isn’t even a major holiday on the Jewish calendar. The only reason it gets prominence in advertising is because it’s close to Christmas (advertisers don’t want Jewish folks to feel left out). I don’t like it when people try to entirely suppress Christ and the boost he gives businesses’ sales at that time of year.

Makes me not want to support businesses who desire reap the benefits of the season without acknowledging its reason.

Turns out some other folks feel the same way. This story tells the tale of a man who is organizing a boycott of such businesses. Exerpts:

Manuel Zammarano has formed the Committee to Save Merry Christmas to protest the fact that big retailers profit from Christmas shopping dollars but refuse to mention the holiday by name.

His group has boycotted Federated Department Stores Inc., which owns Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s, for collecting Christmas cash without giving Christmas credit for all the end-of-year gift buying.

May God prosper his cause.

I don’t like the commercialization of Christmas. In the words of Joel Robinson, Christmas is too often “a Christian holiday ruined by commercialism.” But I don’t like commercialists trying to reap its financial benefits while entirely remove Christ from Christmas.

I may wish you “Merry Christmas!” but I’d mean something entirely different if I said “Merry -Mass!”

ATTENTION OTHER BLOGGERS! IF YOU AGREE WITH THESE SENTIMENTS, CONSIDER BLOGGING THIS STORY! LET’S HELP MR. ZAMMARANO SAVE CHRISTMAS FOR THE CHRISTIANS

FLASH! Human Nature Applies To Blonds!

A new study reports that blonds perform intelligence tests more slowly than those with other hair colors if you force them to read “dumb blond” jokes before taking the test. According to a Reuters story:

“No blonde woman believes she is stupid,” said Jens Foerster a social psychologist from the International University Bremen in northern Germany on Wednesday.

“But after exposure to negative social-stereotypes about them, the fair-haired participants performed significantly more slowly in the tests.”

Foerster explained the result by saying that when people are told they can’t perform a task well, they work more slowly but more cautiously, to try to make fewer mistakes.

DUH! DUR-HEY!Who wouldn’t take an IQ test more carefully if you insulted their intelligence just before you gave it to them!

This obvious fact hasn’t stopped Reuters from using misleadingly anti-Blond headlines like:

* Do Dumb Blonde Jokes Slow Mental Activity??

And worse:

* “Dumb blondes” live up to stereotype

FLASH! Human Nature Applies To Blonds!

A new study reports that blonds perform intelligence tests more slowly than those with other hair colors if you force them to read “dumb blond” jokes before taking the test. According to a Reuters story:

“No blonde woman believes she is stupid,” said Jens Foerster a social psychologist from the International University Bremen in northern Germany on Wednesday.

“But after exposure to negative social-stereotypes about them, the fair-haired participants performed significantly more slowly in the tests.”

Foerster explained the result by saying that when people are told they can’t perform a task well, they work more slowly but more cautiously, to try to make fewer mistakes.

DUH! DUR-HEY!Who wouldn’t take an IQ test more carefully if you insulted their intelligence just before you gave it to them!

This obvious fact hasn’t stopped Reuters from using misleadingly anti-Blond headlines like:

* Do Dumb Blonde Jokes Slow Mental Activity??

And worse:

* “Dumb blondes” live up to stereotype

"Psst. Pass it on . . . Grey is the new black"

There’s a scene in Babylon 5 where Captain Sheridan confronts a mysterious man named Justin, who is part of the Shadows’ conspiracy. When Sheridan first meets Jusin, he quizzes him on his identity (quoting from memory, so this won’t be exact):

“Who are you?”

“Now that’s really not important.”

“Who are you?”

“Who decides that the workday will be from 9 to 5 instead of 10 to 4? That the hemlines will be shorter this year, longer the next? Who defines the borders? The political boundaries? Who makes the thousands of decisions that happen invisibly all around us?”

“I don’t know.”

“Ah. I’m . . . with them. Same group. Different department. Think of me as a sort of ‘middle man.'”

Well, it seems that Mr. Justin is with the Color Marketing Group, a group that remains totally hidden to most of us. It was founded in 1962 (NOTE: The year before the Kennedy Assassination!), and now there are allegations that it is the center of a sinister conspiracy to . . . Dum! Dum! Dum! . . . CONTROL THE COLORS OF THE OBJECTS IN OUR LIVES, EVEN THE VERY CLOTHES WE PUT ON OUR BODIES!!!

Dragging this conspiracy into the light is this blog, which reveals the following shocking details:

I’ve known people who think official color reassignments are a conspiracy theory. The short answer is that they are a conspiracy, but they aren’t theoretical. I submit as evidence the assigned colors for 2004, 2003 and 2002. And here are some recent specimens of the new range, to give you a better idea of what they look like when in use.

Who does this to us? An outfit, founded in 1962, called the Color Marketing Group. These are the people who wished avocado green and harvest gold kitchen appliances on America, and put the 1980s into those mauve-pink shades that looked so peculiarly horrible on so many of us.

Basically, the CMG is a trade organization, with 1,500 members drawn from a bunch of different industries. Twice a year they get together in Alexandria, VA, to come up with long-term and short-term color predictions. The long-term prediction is a set of sixteen colors that will be profitably marketable two years hence. That is, the 2003 palette was distributed to manufacturers in 2001. The short-term prediction is a palette of colors declared to be currently the thing.

It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. Nobody’s obliged to follow CMG’s lead; but a manufacturer who ignores them is likely to find that all his competitors’ products are in fashionably compatible colors, while his own clash.

READ MORE AND LEARN WHAT SINISTER PLANS THE CONSIRACY HAS IN STORE FOR US!

FIGHT THE FUTURE!

“Psst. Pass it on . . . Grey is the new black”

There’s a scene in Babylon 5 where Captain Sheridan confronts a mysterious man named Justin, who is part of the Shadows’ conspiracy. When Sheridan first meets Jusin, he quizzes him on his identity (quoting from memory, so this won’t be exact):

“Who are you?”

“Now that’s really not important.”

“Who are you?”

“Who decides that the workday will be from 9 to 5 instead of 10 to 4? That the hemlines will be shorter this year, longer the next? Who defines the borders? The political boundaries? Who makes the thousands of decisions that happen invisibly all around us?”

“I don’t know.”

“Ah. I’m . . . with them. Same group. Different department. Think of me as a sort of ‘middle man.'”

Well, it seems that Mr. Justin is with the Color Marketing Group, a group that remains totally hidden to most of us. It was founded in 1962 (NOTE: The year before the Kennedy Assassination!), and now there are allegations that it is the center of a sinister conspiracy to . . . Dum! Dum! Dum! . . . CONTROL THE COLORS OF THE OBJECTS IN OUR LIVES, EVEN THE VERY CLOTHES WE PUT ON OUR BODIES!!!

Dragging this conspiracy into the light is this blog, which reveals the following shocking details:

I’ve known people who think official color reassignments are a conspiracy theory. The short answer is that they are a conspiracy, but they aren’t theoretical. I submit as evidence the assigned colors for 2004, 2003 and 2002. And here are some recent specimens of the new range, to give you a better idea of what they look like when in use.

Who does this to us? An outfit, founded in 1962, called the Color Marketing Group. These are the people who wished avocado green and harvest gold kitchen appliances on America, and put the 1980s into those mauve-pink shades that looked so peculiarly horrible on so many of us.

Basically, the CMG is a trade organization, with 1,500 members drawn from a bunch of different industries. Twice a year they get together in Alexandria, VA, to come up with long-term and short-term color predictions. The long-term prediction is a set of sixteen colors that will be profitably marketable two years hence. That is, the 2003 palette was distributed to manufacturers in 2001. The short-term prediction is a palette of colors declared to be currently the thing.

It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. Nobody’s obliged to follow CMG’s lead; but a manufacturer who ignores them is likely to find that all his competitors’ products are in fashionably compatible colors, while his own clash.

READ MORE AND LEARN WHAT SINISTER PLANS THE CONSIRACY HAS IN STORE FOR US!

FIGHT THE FUTURE!