What Would You Take With You?

Let’s just say I had a rough night last night.

I was having some issues with my computer, and I was on the phone with Compaq describing the problem to them and this was their response:

“We know exactly what the problem is, please give us your credit card number so we can charge you $40 to walk you through how to insert one line of code into Windows” (WHY DIDN’T I GET A MAC)

Anyways, I said forget it, I restart my computer and am greeted with the message, “We’re sorry, a critical line of code is missing from Windows, please reload your operating system.”

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

I have 2 Recovery DVD’s for my computer, one wipes the hard drive and restores the computer to when it was purchased, wiping the hard drive and all that good stuff. The other fills in missing pieces in Windows.

I have critical data that I hadn’t backed up, so I chose the later.

So I’m sitting there and am told that it will take about an hour to complete the procedure. So I decide to leave it and go daven Maariv and do the Daf. This is a drastic change from when I’d do computer related stuff when I was younger. Then I’d do all sorts of things from pace the room, listen to music, but go the Beis and learn?

Needless to say I was very calm when I rebooted Windows and discovered that the entire “My Documents” folder had been erased!

I had all of my work stuff, school stuff, music, pictures, all of my audio projects. And it was just gone.

So I had take into account, now that it was gone, what would I have to do. Luckily work things were completed, but I do a newsletter and sometime I have to look back at old editions for certain things. The big thing was the 25 page energy audit I was doing for my Environmental Science class. I had been through page 15, and now it was gone. If figured that it would be about six hours worth of work to redo it.

But besides that I have to say I felt relieved. I was free of the burden of my very cluttered drive, and I could let it go. I realized that I could do without most of the files on there. They were only baggage.

So I was up late last night reinstalling programs that had been corrupted. (and I still managed to make it to 6:30 minyan this morning!)

So today I was tweaking, trying to see if there was someway to recover any of my lost files. I was tipped off by the fact that my 100gb hard drive only read 40gb free. All of the folders in the C drive didn’t add up. So I went to the internet trying to find a data recovery program. After numerous downloads and attempts I gave up, the files weren’t in any of the lost files.

Then I decided to just put “Lost My Documents” into Google. . . and my attempt sprung gold!

Instead of erasing my files, the permissions had been changed, all I had to do was sign in in Safe Mode, change the permission and I was good to go!

Well here I am, with my “lost” files back. And it got me thinking about what’s going on in California and Sderot right now. I came across and article asking “What would you take if you had 15 seconds to grab something and get out of the house? Lets say you didn’t have to worry about family members, what object would you consider irreplaceable and would have to come with you. The thing that you absolutely could not live without?

We’ve been discussing in out science class about one of the ways to curb the so-called Global Climate Change, is to like more economically and efficiently. Besides food, shelter, clothing, and religious materials, what is really important?

Just a thought.

Google determines future of Jerusalem!

Take a good hard look at this picture, notice the red line straight down the middle. That's what Google has determined is the line of the border of Israel. Notice how the Kotel and Har Habayit are on the OTHER SIDE!
In related news terrorists are using Google Earth to help plan terror attacks.

"Mother, Father, Husband, Wife" -words banned in Public Schools!

This from World Net Daily:

"Mom and Dad" as well as "husband and wife" effectively have been banned from California schools under a bill signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger , who with his signature also ordered public schools to allow boys to use girls restrooms and locker rooms, and vice versa, if they choose.

"We are shocked and appalled that the governor has blatantly attacked traditional family values in California," said Karen England, executive director of Capitol Resource Institiute

"With this decision, Gov. Schwarzenegger has told parents that their values are irrelevant. Many parents will have no choice but to pull their children out of the public schools that have now become sexualized indoctrination centers."

"Arnold Schwarzenegger has delivered young children into the hands of those who will introduce them to alternative sexual lifestyles," said Randy Thomasson, president of Champaign for Children and Families which worked to defeat the plans. "This means children as young as five years old will be mentally molested in school classrooms.

"Shame on Schwarzenegger and the Democrat politicians for ensuring that every California school becomes a homosexual-bisexual-transsexual indoctrination center," he said.

Analysts have warned that schools across the nation will be impacted by the decision, since textbook publishers must cater to their largest purchaser, which often is California, and they will be unlikely to go to the expense of having a separate edition for other states.

The bills signed by Schwarzenegger include SB777, which bans anything in public schools that could be interpreted as negative toward homosexuality, bisexuality and other alternative lifestyle choices.

There are no similar protections for students with traditional or conservative lifestyles and beliefs, however.

"SB 777 will result in reverse discrimination against students with religious and traditional family values," said Meredith Turney, legislative liaison for Capitol Resource Institute. "These students have lost their voice as the direct result of Gov. Schwarzenegger's unbelievable decision. The terms 'mom and dad' or 'husband and wife' could promote discrimination against homosexuals if a same-sex couple is not also featured.

"Parents want the assurance that when their children go to school they will learn the fundamentals of reading, writing and arithmetic – not social indoctrination regarding alternative sexual lifestyles. Now that SB777 is law, schools will in fact become indoctrination centers for sexual experimentation," she said.

England told WND that the law is not a list of banned words, including "mom" and "dad." But she said the requirement is that the law bans discriminatory bias.

"Having 'mom' and 'dad' promotes a discriminatory bias. You have to either get rid of 'mom' and 'dad' or include everything when talking about [parental issues]," she said. "They [promoters of sexual alternative lifestyles] do consider that discriminatory."

Also signed was AB394, which targets parents and teachers for such indoctrination through "anti-harassment" training, CCF said.

Schwarzenegger had vetoed almost identical provisions a year ago, saying existing state law already provided for penalties for discrimination.

"We had hoped that the governor would once again veto this outrageous legislation but he obviously decided to side with the out-of-touch extremists that control the legislature. This law does not reflect the true values of the average Californian," said England. "True leadership means standing up for what is true and right."

Thomasson said SB777 prohibits any "instruction" or school-sponsored "activity" that "promotes a discriminatory bias" against "gender" – the bill's definition includes cross-dressing and sex changes – as well as "sexual orientation."

"Because no textbook or instruction in California public schools currently disparages transsexuality, bisexuality, or homosexuality, the practical effect of SB777 will be to require positive portrayals of these sexual lifestyles at every government-operated school," CCF noted.

Offenders will face the wrath of the state Department of Education, up to and including lawsuits.

CCF noted that now on a banned list will be any text, reference or teaching aid that portrays marriage as only between a man and woman, materials that say people are born male or female (and not in between), sources that fail to include a variety of transsexual, bisexual and homosexual historical figures, and sex education materials that fail to offer the option of sex changes.

Further, homecoming kings now can be either male or female – as can homecoming queens, and students, whether male or female, must be allowed to use the restroom and locker room corresponding to the sex with which they choose to identify.

AB394 promotes the same issues through state-funded publications, postings, curricula and handouts to students, parents and teachers.

It also creates the circumstances where a parent who says marriage is only for a man and a woman in the presence of a lesbian teacher could be convicted of "harassment," and a student who believes people are born either male or female could be reported as a "harasser" by a male teacher who wears women's clothes, CCF said.

Thomasson said Schwarzenegger also signed AB14, which prohibits state funding for any program that does not support a range of alternative sexual practices, including state-funded social services run by churches.

Affected will be day cares, preschool or after-school programs, food and housing programs, senior services, anti-gang efforts, jobs programs and others.

Thomasson said it also forces every hospital in California – even private, religious hospitals – to adopt policies in support of transsexuality, bisexuality, and homosexuality and opens up nonprofit organizations to lawsuits if they exclude members that engage in homosexual, bisexual, or transsexual conduct.

"It's the height of intolerance to punish individuals, organizations, businesses, and churches that have moral standards on sexual conduct and sexual lifestyles," said Thomasson, in response to the signing of AB14. "This is another insensitive law that violates people's moral boundaries."

The vitriol over the issue rose to new levels in its latest campaign.

As WND reported a board member for the homosexual advocacy group Equality California verbally attacked and threatened CRI for its opposition to the bill earlier.

The board member sent an e-mail and video to CRI threatening the group would be buried if it continued efforts opposing the homosexual advocacy.

"The shocking hate mail we received shows that those behind this legislation do not promote true tolerance," said England. "Only politically correct speech will be tolerated. Those with religious or traditional moral beliefs will not be allowed to express their opinions in public schools."

She also cited an informational document published by the Gay-Straight Alliance Network and the Transgender Law Center that already is lobbying for special treatment in the school system.

"If you want to use a restroom that matches your gender identity … you should be allowed to do so," it advises. "Whenever students are divided up into boys and girls, you should be allowed to join the group or participate in the program that matches your gender identity as much as possible."

Further, the groups advise, "If you change your name to one that better matches your gender identity, a school needs to use that name to refer to you." The advocacy group also warns schools against bringing parents into any such discussion with students.

WND has documented a number of other cases in which educators, including leaders in California, have taken it upon themselves to promote a homosexual lifestyle to children under their charge.

WND reported California Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, under whose supervision hundreds of thousands of children are being educated, has used his state position and taxpayer-funded stationery to praise a "gay" pride event used in the past to expose children to sexually explicit activities.

That drew vehement objections from several educators, including Priscilla Schreiber, the president of the Grossmont Unified High School District governing board.

"I am outraged that a person in this high-ranking elected position would advocate an event where diversity is not just being celebrated but where pornography and indecent exposure is being perpetrated on the young and innocent children of our communities," she said.

This is just plain sick, and I want to point out a striking coincidence.
This past week's Torah portion talked about the destruction of Sodom. Sodom was famous for its sexual immorality.

How was Sodom destroyed? With fire.

What's happening in California right now?

Just a thought.

OK, that's just plain incredible

Rubiks' Cube solved in 10.56 seconds

Rabbi Fass in Baltimore

Last night Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, founder and director of Nefesh B' Nefesh, gave a very passionate and moving speech about the importance of Aliyah. He didn't preach it, just talked about the importance.

The core of his talk was based on five points, five areas in which we have to improve, in order to bring 100,000 olim from North America to Israel in the next 10 years.

Very briefly, his five points were:

1) We shouldn't wait for the rabbis to lead the way.
2) We shouldn't teach our children (or think ourselves) of Israel primarily as a charity case, as a refuge for persecuted Jews or as a country under siege.
3) We have to learn to separate current headlines about Israel from the gift of Eretz Yisrael that Hashem gave us.
4) We shouldn't be concerned that our support for Israel and for aliyah calls into question our loyalty to America. The American Jewish community has matured beyond that stage.
5) We must learn to continuously marvel, appreciate, never lose sight of and enhance all the miracles Hashem has bestowed upon Israel in the last 60 years.

If you want a copy of the MP3 recording of the talk, let me know what your email address is.

A Look at the Arabs relationship to the Shmittah year

Everything I'm about to say is highly theoretical, but I think is something that should be thought about.

A look at some events that happened during the Smittah year for the past 42 years:

5726/September 1965-September 1966: In 1966 security restrictions placed on Arab citizens of Israel were lifted and efforts began to integrate them into the countries life.

Until 1966, Israel's principle arms supplier was France, however in 1966, following the withdrawal from Algeria, De Gaulle announced France would cease supplying Israel with arms (and refused to refund money paid for 50 warplanes)

5733/September 1972-September 1973: 11 members of the Israeli team to the Munich Olympics were kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists.

And let's not forget that 10 days after the end of the Shmittah year, Syria and Egypt started the Yom Kippur War, which was being planned during Smittah

5740/September 1979-September 1980: For the most part was quiet except for the residents of Yamit and other Sinai Jewish residents as the Sinai Peninsula was given to Egypt in April 1979

5747/October 1986-September 1987: Palestinian Arabs start first Intifada (terror war) on Israel

5754/September 1993-September 1994: Rabin and Arafat shake hands on the White House lawn, three days before Rosh Hashanah 5754.

The DOP established May 1999 as the date by which a permanent status agreement for the West Bank and Gaza Strip would take effect. Israel and the PLO subsequently signed the Gaza-Jerico Agreement on May 4, 1994, and the Agreement on Preparatory Transfer of Powers and Responsibilities on August 29, 1994, which began the process of transferring authority from Israel to the Arabs.

On July 25, 1994 Jordan and Israel signed the Washington Declaration which formally ended the state of war that had existed between them since 1948.

5761/September 2000-September 2001: In the Fall of 2000, talks were held at Camp David to reach a final agreement on the Israel/Palestine conflict. Although Israel offered to meet the Palestinian requests for territory and political concessions, including the Old City of Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank, Arafat chose to walk out of the talks.

September 28, 2000-two days before Rosh Hashanah-Arabs launch Second Intifada

In October 2000, Palestinians destroyed Yosef's Tomb, a Jewish shrine in Shechem. They also stoned worshipers at the Western Wall (Kotel) and attacked another Jewish holy site, Rachel's Tomb (Kever Rochael).

With the Peace Process increasingly in disarray, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak called a special election for Prime Minister. Barak was hoping that a victory for him would give him renewed authority in negotiations with the Palestinians. But Barak's hopes were not to be, and in February 2001, opposition leader Ariel Sharon was elected PM in a special elections for Prime Minister in 2001. After this election the system of directly electing the Premier was abandoned.

Last time an Israeli Prime Minister was elected, a party was elected in 2006, but not the Prime Minister.

4 years later the elected of that election, Ariel Sharon, threw 10,000 Jews out of their homes in Gush Katif.

5768/September 2007-??: November 26, 2007, a planned "Peace" conference is set to take place in Annapolis, MD, with the possibility of once again offering Jerusalem and the West Bank to the Arabs.

Only time will determine the outcome.

Great, I'm a Missionary, and the history of Christianity

OK Tuesday, that means more fun with my lab partners. This week I was talking with my remaining lab parter (one was absent and the other was, well, lets just say indisposed as I wrote a few weeks ago), and the topic got to politics, religion, and other fun stuff.

One of the things we were discussing was our former lab partner who took his anger out by going downtown to hang out with the crack heads. I mentioned to him what I'd written, that without a good relationship with your parents or teachers, you really don't have anywhere to turn to for support.

Here we go with some history, when the Romans entered Israel 2000 years ago, one of the things they were shocked to find in the Jewish community was that everyone was literate, there was a welfare system set up for the poor, and the entire community provided for the orphans.
The Rambam says that it is an absolute requirement to educate your children, period. The Gemara in Kiddusin (I think 29b, but I might be wrong, it's around there though) says that educating your son (teaching Torah and a trade) are one of the things that a father is required to do (I don't remember off the top of my head what it says about the girls, but the Gemara in Ketubot 52b says that a father has to adorn his daughter with pearls so the men would be attracted to her).
And as all good Jews know and do (right?) that you have to give 10% of your pre-tax earnings to charity.

So my lab partner found all of this stuff fascinating, and said to me, "That's awesome, man, I want to become Jewish!"

Of course I probably could have mentioned Brit Milah to him, and I think he would have changed his mind. (What I could have done was tell him baout the 7 Noahide laws. Oh well, next time)

So this leads to the next thing I want to talk about.

Christians.

I had said that there were three things I had to defend from three different sets of people.
I had to defend the Land of Israel from the Arabs and Leftists (why they go together I still don't know)
I had to defend the Torah from the Christians.
And I had to defend G-d tom the non-religious Jews and Aliyah from the religious.

So regarding point #2, some more history, regarding our favorite people. . .the Romans.

I'm listening right now to a phenomenal audio series from Rabbi Ken Spiro, I highly recommend it. (you can download it here)

Anyways, one of the things he talks about is how the Roman conquering worked.

I guess the Romans liked to collect things, and whenever they'd conquer a new city, province or country, they'd all of the local gods to their own collection.

Then they found the Jews.

The idea of one G-d was entirely new and very cool to them, a single, invisible, all powerful G-d, what a concept.

They also liked all of the cool things that those crazy Jews did, like Shabbos, and eating kosher, but we'll get back to that, now for some history of the J-man.

At the time the Romans entered Israel the Jewish people were a wreck. The Kehuna (High Priests) was corrupt, the people were divided on every issue, no one followed the Oral Torah, which led to false messiahs popping up all over the place.

Mr. J was not unique in any way, there were hundreds if not thousands of these false prophets coming out of the woodworks, each preaching his own, corrupt version of the Torah. Anyways JC never said anything about atoning for sin, or the perfection of man, that can a few decades later when Paul came on the scene.

Now remember how the Romans were really fascinated with Judaism? Well there were a few things hindering them from becoming Jewish, namely, laws.

A big turn off for them was the fact that they would have to get circumcised, a big no-no to them because they saw the human body as something sacred, and not to be "desecrated."

So what did Paul do?

He saw a market.

Take away the "bad stuff" about Judaism, and bing bang boom, you're in business.

So think about this, Christianity, one of the worlds major religions, has its entire basis, created solely on a really good marketing strategy.

So let me ask you this. This man, was supposed to atone for all of our sins, was perfect right? Not to much mention in the Christian text on JC's mess ups right? Why does the Torah mention Moshe's and Avrahams and Aharon's mistakes?

To show that they're human, and humans by definition are fallible. They way we can learn from them. How do the Christians learn?

Lets say that a man kills 100 people. He gets to go to Heaven for being "saved" while the little Jew in Israel, is sent to Hell?

Logic, man.

Anyways, not to knock Christians out there, there are some great Christians who are friends to the Jewish people and to Israel, but the point is don't try to missionize us. We're happy to accept your support, but with no strings attached. My mom's family is Christians, some of them are in this group of friends, while the other is in the group of, "We need to be saved." (I have noticed that these conversations start after I leave the room, but...

Anyways, next I want to write about how frum Jews don't use the name of G-d in their daily speech like the Christians do. But that's for a different post.

An Aliyah Update

So the first step of paperwork is done (only 21,000,000 more to go) I got my birth certificate off to California last week for an apostille (HOW COME NONE OF THE SPELL CHECKERS HAVE THAT WORD IN THEIR DICTIONARY?!!). I should get it back sometime next week, then I can send my info to the Israeli Embassy in Washington, along with a letter from my high schooling saying that I actually was in high school instead of trafficking drugs somewhere over the Mexican border, letter from the Rabbi, and a few other things that I don't remember off the top of my head, but don't worry, everything is under control (AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!).

So after I get these documents in order I get my Israeli passport (yaaaaay), and can get my Aliyah file moving, contact Nefesh B' Nefesh, and look forward to that July 15th flight.

Now you're probably wondering why I have to get my Israeli passport before I make Aliyah. Well you're going to have to wait for the answer to that question in a different post.

How to Backup your Ipod without using any external Programs

I keep hearing all of these horror stories of people who have not backed up their Itunes libraries and all of their music is on their Ipods.

Then their Ipod stops working/breaks/gets stolen/gets lost. I am going to present to you an extremely easy way to back up your Ipod. The only thing you will need are DVD''s to burn the files to, or an external hard drive.
Note: this is only for Windows. The Mac instructions are posted elsewhere on this blog.

1. The first thing that has to be done is to locate the music on your Ipod in My Computer. This can be done by clicking in the Ipod icon in My Computer (just as a side note the Ipod should be plugged into the computer for the entire process). There should be an icon that says "Ipod control." If there isn't, located at the top of the window click Tools>Folder Options. Click the "View" tab, and go down to where it says "Hidden Files and Folders." Make sure that line that says "Show Hidden files and folders" is clicked on.
Now go back to the Ipod folder and the icon "Ipod Control" should be located there in a lighter yellow from the folders around it.

2. Now click "Ipod Control>music." This will bring you to a lot of folders that start with the letter "F." I'm assuming that this refers to the Drive letter. My Ipod is drive 'f' so I''m assuming that most others are, but the letter isn't important, it's the numbers that are.

3. Now is when you can start backing up your music. If you are burning DVD's, open the program that you use to burn CD/DVD's (I like to use DeepBurner mainly because it's free and it works) and simply drag the folders from the Ipod into the burn list. You can burn about 10 folders for each DVD.
If you are backing up to a hard drive simply drag and drop the folders onto the drive.

Now you're done! You're current library is backed up, but I would highly suggest you have some sort of schedule to back it up in the future.

The only downside to this procedure is that you can't go and take individual songs off of your backups. Apple makes very obscure titles for the file names even though the Track information is the same as it would be on your Ipod. Now we'll talk about getting the music back onto you're new/refurbished/memory-wiped-clean Ipod.

5. To get music back onto the Ipod simply plug the empty Ipod into Itunes, adn drag-and-drop all of the music from the folders into The 'music' part of the Ipod.

NOTE: This will work for all movies that were backed up as well.

So hopefully now you'll fell a little bit more comfortable with the knowledge that all of the music on your Ipod has been backed up.

Hell yes! Aaron Klein!

Terrorists in search of 72 virgins