Thanksgiving Mindfulness

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Thanksgiving Mindfulness

WTF Is It?

Art but what the heck:

Do these thingamajigs represent people standing tall and with arms raised high?

Are you supposed to hang things off of it like jewelry?

Can you place on it reminder notes or small pictures using push pins?

Then again maybe it's a toy for a child or even a pet?

In the end, all I can say is WFT is it?

Perhaps that's what the meaning of art is!  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

WTF Is It?

Cycling In Multicolor

Something about this drawing at a local kosher restaurant really stood out. 

The weird cycle with the exaggerated extra big wheel in front.

The crazy looking skinny bodied person with long arms and legs and wild hair sitting on top.

The bright green, blue, orange, and yellow colors. 

It just made me laugh at the whole thing. 

It's not exactly art, but it sort of is.  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Cycling In Multicolor

Reach Out And Grab Ya

This is a candleholder. 

But in a bizarre way it looks almost like a toilet. 

The place for the candle is the toilet!

Sort of would make a pretty scary toilet in real life if the back of it (ie. tank) has a body with arms that looks like it is reaching out to grab you as you take your royal seat. 

Hey, someone let me out of here!

Ok, I have definitely been shut in too many days due to this Coronavirus thing. 

I am imagining the world's scariest toilets. ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Reach Out And Grab Ya

A Deal Of Dread

I would imagine that very soon there will be ATA-boys, pats on the back and high-fives, photo ops, more gushing smiles, and of course the coveted Noble Peace Prize. 

But as we move ever closer to a deal with Iran on Nuclear Weapons Of Mass Destruction all I feel is complete dread.

I wish I could be happy--really I do--because we had a strong and verifiable deal that protected us all, but instead...

I am afraid for the State of Israel--holy to Jews, Christians, and Muslims around the world--as a nuclear capable Iran and their terrorist proxies renew vows to annihilate Israel--only 70 years after the Holocaust that erased 6 million Jewish lives, their souls rising in the billowing smoke of the furnaces of the Nazi crematoria. 

Further, I am afraid for the dimming prospects of true world peace based on the tacit acceptance of an eventual nuclear-armed Iranian regime, still the leading state sponsor of world-wide terrorism. 

Every day, we are bombarded by a cacophony of what seems an unending litany of concessions to Iran:

1) Today, the latest is that Iran wants a complete lifting of the U.N. arms embargo including ballistic missiles. 

2) Yesterday, it was that Iran wants an immediate doubling of oil exports.

3) Last week, it was that rather than gradual sanctions relief for compliance, instead now Iran would get a $150 billion signing bonus  - that is 25 times the annual budget of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard and could be used to finance and carry out yet more global terrorism. 

4) And that for vital inspections for nuke compliance, "anytime, anywhere, unimpeded" of suspicious military sites would now only be a highly watered down "managed access" of inspections.

5) Three weeks ago, the U.S. said that Iran no longer needs to account for the past nuclear weapons research that world representatives from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), had been trying to pry out of them for than a decade. 

6) In March, as part of the framework deal, we learned that Iran's freeze on sensitive nuclear activities would only be 10 years, and even that Iran was calling "unaceptable."

7) Moreover in March, we learned that despite any agreement, Iran was continuing to pursue banned items for nukes and the missiles to deliver them. 

In April, we were reminded of the dangers of failed nuclear agreements when China warned about North Korea's ever expanding nuke arsenal, which critics have pointed out mimics that of the deal with Iran. 

Aside from the dangerous weaknesses in the emerging deal, Iran's hatred for the United States is unmitigated as a general in Iran said just last week that the U.S. remains "our worst, most vicious enemy."

Moreover, as Iran's Parlimant bans access to its military sites, they continue unabated their generational old chant of "death to America."

In these fateful times, when our decisions now will affect the lives of untold millions in the future, let us pray for G-d's mercy.

May the L-rd above bestow the strength of good character, wisdom of our ancestors, and the fortitude of our great heros to ensure a good deal--or no deal at all--with our avowed and undetered enemy--and may he bring a true peace to us all.

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

A Deal Of Dread

Amazing Advances In Prosthetics

Watch this video...

Where a man who lost both arms over 40 years ago is fitted with these amazing dual prosthetics that he is able to control with his mind and muscle movements. 

Made with financing from the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA).

John Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab shows the possibilities for the future for helping everyone from Wounded Warriors to those disabled from accidents and disease. 

G-d creates and we imitate and together we make an incredible flourishing world. ;-)

(Note: My gratitude to Rebecca Blumenthal for sharing this video with me.)

Amazing Advances In Prosthetics