Sunday, August 29, 2010

Neologism

We've just come with a new word. It's what a husband does when his wife is driving and he's holding the map.

Nagivate.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Things Are Not Always As They Appear*

One night outside a small town, a fire started inside the local chemical plant. In the blink of an eye, it exploded into towering flames. The alarm went out to all fire departments for miles around. When the volunteer fire fighters appeared on the scene, the chemical company president rushed to the fire chiefs and said, "All our secret formulas are in the vault in the center of the plant. They must be saved. I'll give $50,000 to the fire department that brings them out intact."

But the roaring flames held the firefighters off. Soon more fire departments had to be called in as the situation became desperate. As the firemen arrived, the president shouted out that the offer was now $100,000 to the fire department who could save the company's secret files.

From the distance, a lone siren was heard as another fire truck came into sight. It was the nearby Chasidic Jewish rural township volunteer fire company composed mainly of Jewish, ultra-orthodox men over the age of 65. To everyone's amazement, their little, broken-down fire engine roared right past all the sleek newer engines parked outside the plant.

Without even slowing down, it drove straight into the middle of the inferno. Outside, the other firemen watched in amazement and disbelief as the Chasidic old-timers jumped off right in the middle of the fire and fought it back on all sides. It was a performance and effort never seen before. Within a short time, the Chasidic old-timers had extinguished the fire and saved the secret formulas.

The grateful chemical company president announced that for such a superhuman feat he was upping the reward to $200,000, and walked over to thank each of the brave Jewish fire fighters personally. A local TV news reporter rushed in to capture the event on film, asking their chief," What are you going to do with all that money?"

"Vell," said Chief Epstein, "Da foist ting ve gonna do is fix da brakes on dat focking truck!"

*Humor forwarded courtesy of my cousin Deb, who I can't wait to see over Labor Day at MiDC's Bar Mitzvah.**

**Egad, I'm old.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Jamey Turner's Glass Harp

I met three great kids this weekend, at a wedding. They were experimenting with variable wavelengths of sound, as propagated through friction, water and crystal.

OK, what they were really doing is that thing where you wet your finger and trace circles on the rim of a crystal glass. I love that.

I told one of them about Jamey Turner's glass harp, and suggested she check him out on YouTube. But maybe her Mom or Dad, or one of her uncles, aunts or grandparents will see this and forward it:

I've been listening to Jamey Turner on street corners for darned near two decades. He makes astonishing music. He's a born educator. He plays at Mozart Festivals around the country. If you ever have the chance to see (and hear) him, you'll be cheating yourself if you pass it up.

Here are two videos. The first is Mozart.



I'll let you guess on this one. Jamey gives the answer at the very end.