Happy St Valentines Day!
A multicultural day
From the Jewish State!
“Love is being
stupid together.”
(The Sculpture says Love in Hebrew)
Simon Says Postcards 02/07/2012
Safed in Israel, like Santa Fe,
NM, has turned its
remote beauty and
implied spirituality
into a hundred
gift shops.
Geopolitical Thinking I
I’m struck by the idea that the US, and others in the West, may be trying to goad Iran into a war. Before they get the atomic bomb. It would explain the assassinations, the tension in the Straits of Hormuz, the conflict in Syria and the drumbeat for more sanctions.
Tricking Iran into a war may not be a bad idea but it is very Machiavellian and if it doesn’t work you end up with a very angry pariah nation with a bomb. If it does work it might save Israel, keep the oil flowing and make Hillary Clinton President.
Note the roman numeral. This is the first of three geopolitical thinking posts all with quotes that are almost nonsequiturs. Yes the spelling is correct. I had to look in a printed dictionary. Since the Microsoft office dictionary doesn’t have a good sense of the absurd and therefore doesn’t have “nonsequitur” in it.
Rose Parade 2012
The Rose Parade is not held on Sunday so this year we walked down and saw it on Monday (1/2/12). What a nice social event it is for those of us who have a way to get there without traffic.
The weather was salubrious. About 70F and sunny. Kenny G was on one of the floats.
The Royal Swedish Naval Cadet Band reminded me of my brilliant idea last year to organize a Marching Band from Israel for the parade. What a great idea.
Happy New Year
Top Ideas in 2011
In the last year I have posted about 40+/- items in the ideas category. Some are repeats, some are maxims about ideas but it looks like there are about 30 new ideas and some of them are pretty good ideas. There are social ideas as well as product and service ideas. Some of them are original like the Israeli Student Marching Band in the Rose Parade and some of them are giving publicity and perhaps a tweak to an idea that someone else is developing on a regional basis like Cereal Boxx in Tucson.
a wreath by Lillian
To See All of the new ideas in the last year click here
My top ideas from this last year:
- Tears of Affliction a product
- What is growing there? an iPhone app
- Guilt Free Garage Refrigerator a product
- Cereal Boxx a restaurant concept
- Emergency Preparedness personal readiness
- Spanx Improvement a product for those of a certain age
- Hamburger Phone the product you need to drive and talk
- A New Rose Parade Entry a marketing idea for Israel
- Charity Christmas Card Combo a fund raising idea for charities
- Zip Lines of Pasadena urban zip lines what a great idea
Let me know which one you like or hate by leaving a comment below.
Thanks
Simon
Saif Qaddafi Speaks
“Do you know why we Arabs have lost all of our wars with Israel? Because Israel is democratic, and we are undemocratic. So in one of our states, the worst general becomes army chief of staff, because he is no threat to carry out a coup d’etat. Loyalty to the strongman is all that matters. Democracy, on the other hand, is a competitive mechanism- and that is why Israel wins.”
Saif Qaddafi
Davos 2005
as quoted in National Review
Last I heard Saif was in hiding negotiating with the world court to cop a plea and save his and the remainder of his families lives.
October 27, 2011 Maxim
“I don’t care about inequality.
I care about how well the people at the bottom live.”
Dennis Prager
Author and Scholar
New Book Still the Last Best Hope
October 13, 2011 Maxim
“Experiences are better than things.”
Dennis Prager
Author and Scholar
New Book: Still the Last Best Hope
L’Shanah Tovah
Happy New Year!
Jewish New Year that is.
“love” in Hebrew
5772 to be exact. It starts tonight at sundown with, of course, a festive meal followed by services.
L’Shanah Tovah means “for a good year.”
L’Shanah Tovah is a shortening of “L’shanah tovah tikatev v’taihatem” and it means “May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year.”
pronunciation guide: shanah tovah, like hanna with a sh and tovah with a soft t rhymes with shanah.
And finally a link to a very Happy New Year greeting sent to me by one of my friends from the Prager Israel trip Gil C.
Forwarding positive messages about Judaism is the way of our people.
Israel Trip Photos
We had a great trip to Israel and I finally got the album posted on Flickr.
For those of you who aren’t interested enough to see all 100 pictures here are three of my favorites:
The Roman Aqueduct at Caesarea.
The Bahai Temple in Haifa
Nurit and I near the old city of Jerusalem wall at sunset.
What a lucky man I am.