Life Equated With Hate

Does anyone get this sign from the Pro-Life rally last week?

Pro-Life is Pro-Hate

But equating Pro-Life with hate doesn't add up.

It actually seems the opposite that if you want to sanctify and protect life that you are loving people, not hating. 

Sometimes to make a point, people will just say anything. 

It's related to "gaslighting" where they want to manipulate you into questioning your own beliefs, values, and sanity.

Perhaps, throwing around terms like hate just dilutes the real meaning of it similar to making other false accusations against people. 

We need to argue the issues, and not attack each other. ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Life Equated With Hate

Cannibals Love To Have You For Dinner

I love this saying from one of my colleagues in the National Security field about the Middle East:

If you aren't invited for dinner, you're likely on the menu!

Oh how true it is. 

It reminds me of a mother-in-law joke my father used to tell about this guy telling his friend:

Yeah, we had my mother-in-law for dinner. And boy was she good!

Anyway, no one can tell a joke like he did. 

Last thing you want to be is on the menu. ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Cannibals Love To Have You For Dinner

NJ Pollution--How Do You Ignore It?

This is the view along the New Jersey Turnpike. 

The pollution and stink coming out of these smokestacks running up and down the Turnpike is enough to make anyone sick. 

Personally, I had to cover my nose and mouth with my shirt just to try and filter this crap out. 

What do people tell themselves that live near these?

Oh, it's okay because the government regulators wouldn't let them be here otherwise!

For real???

If you can see it's nasty, and you can smell that it's nasty, and there is a lot of it, then you better wake up as to what you are breathing, drinking, and eating. 

How about these polluters put a cork in it once and for all! ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

NJ Pollution--How Do You Ignore It?

Help Victims Of Terror (Warning Graphic Content: Not For Children)

I don't usually do this, but I felt this situation truly merits your compassion and charitable giving. 

Niv Nehemia was the victim of terror in 2017 in this Israeli grocery.  He suffered "14 stab wounds to the head, chest, hands, and necks, including a cut in his esophagus."

The article appealing for help to cover his mounting medical costs appeared in the Jerusalem Post last week: Don't leave a hero behind.

I still remember this video from when it happened two years ago. Niv is truly a hero in fighting off his brutal attacker and in saving other store employees and shoppers!

Further, Niv and his wife, Sigal, have 5 beautiful children aged 18 to 4 1/2

If you can kindly open your heart to these victims of terror, here is the link for your donation as listed in the Jerusalem Post:
https://www.jgive.com/new/en/ils/donation-targets/24591.

May Hashem give a full and speedy healing to Niv and may He bless this family and all of us with peace!  ;-)

Help Victims Of Terror (Warning Graphic Content: Not For Children)

How Are These Unlivable "Living Conditions" Allowed To Persist?

Continued to be appalled at the unlivable "living conditions" of the homeless in the Capital. 

Makeshift tents line up and down under the train tracks to Union Station. 

Spikes overhead make this an extra frightening looking arrangement. 

People walking by and to/from work--after a while, is there a mixture of acceptance and indifference?

It's freezing outside and this is NO WAY for any human being to have to live. 

Can we put partisan politics aside for any period of time to deal with the very harsh problems facing real people?  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

How Are These Unlivable "Living Conditions" Allowed To Persist?

Dunkin' Mugs

I love my new Dunkin' Coffee Mugs.

Got one in each color: blue and orange. 

Inside the mugs, there is a finger sign "V" (for victory) and it says "Be Awesome".

These oversized mugs are so happy and I can't wait to fill 'em up.

And they really do make me ready to "Wake Up" for a brand new day. ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Dunkin' Mugs

Visit Back Home

On the way to a family wedding in Monsey.

We stopped back home in Riverdale, NY after 20 years.

Wow, old building still here. 

And the KeyFood supermarket too. 

Had a nice lunch at Kai Fan kosher Chinese food (the Sesame Chicken was great!). 

Went up to my parents old apartment and saw the outlines of where the mezuzah had once stood. 

I wanted to hear their voices through the door and go in to see them again.

It was very emotional, but I felt like their presence was there with us. 

Enjoyed seeing how some (very few) things have changed and all that has otherwise stayed the same 

With seeing my wife's family, some after many years, it was like I had never not seen them. 

I imagined that this is what dying must be like when you go to the afterlife and there is no time and you see everybody and it's just like they have always been there. 

That was an amazing realization and feeling for me. ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal) 

Visit Back Home

@Eastern State Penitentiary

Photos are from my tour of Eastern Penitentiary in Philadelphia. 

The prison cells were in these tomb thick concrete structures, freezing cold, and completely claustrophobic!

You have to stoop through a tiny doorway to get in and out. 

The cell with the car in it shows how small these prison cells were.  

There is a photo of a cell with a stinking toilet and also the one with a barbers chair. 

Then there is the picture of the fancy cell which is that of Al Capone's (right after the regular disgusting cell). Pretty sure Capone had some real pull with the warden and guards, and I'm sure they were afraid to cross him.

There was even a synagogue in this frightful gothic-style prison with a light that says Shalom (peace).

One cell had art painted on the walls and had many of these dreamy-looking women in Island type spots so far away from the reality of these horrible prison conditions. 

It was also interesting the the prisoners inside these walls were I'm sure dying to get out, and yet the visitors to the prison were lined up at the ticket booth to get a glimpse inside. 

The whole experience was so full of juxtaposing contrasts. 

I feel like I learned a lot. Overall, a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live here! ;-)

(Credit Photos: Andy Blumenthal)

@Eastern State Penitentiary

Project Governance and Gate Reviews

Thought this may be helpful for those looking at a Governance Process and Gate Reviews for project management. 

This aligns the Capital Planning and Investment Controls (CPIC) process of select, control, and evaluate phases with the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC). 

There are 5 notional gate reviews with associated documentation for project conception, initiation, planning, execution, and launch.

Of course, this can be modified as needed based on the project threshold and governance stringency required and seeks to create strategic alignment with the goals of the organization. 

(Credit Graphic: Andy Blumenthal)

Project Governance and Gate Reviews

Anti-Semitism: Preparedness Can't Be Blind

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, "Anti-Semitism: Preparedness Can't Be Blind."

As I'm standing there, I feel someone coming up behind me and then running into me. Of course, with anti-Semitic attacks prominent and growing, I may have been at a slightly higher state of alert, and I turn around ready for whatever or to give someone a few choice words...And then I see the cane from a blind person.

So even in these times, when there are gangs, drugs, violence, and anti-Semitism, and "we can't be careful enough" (especially given our long, deep history of religious persecution), at the same time, we need to judge our fellow man favorably first and foremost, and still we must be prepared for, G-d forbid, the worst at any time.

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Anti-Semitism: Preparedness Can't Be Blind

Airplane Art

Why aren't airplanes really decorated like this?

It would be so much more fun to get on a plane that displayed some pizzaz!

All we hear about are plane delays, cancelled flights, mishandled baggage, and involuntary bumping.

Oh, and don't forget the ever more cramped seating and the entertainment system that is habitually broken.

How does this industry get away with all this crap? ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Airplane Art

Sucking It Up

Here we are sucking up leaves in January. 

It almost looks like we're sucking up the whole ground with it!

After the warmest decade on record, we seem to be having the warmest year on record. 

It's 52 degrees out, and we've been reaching up into the high 60's so far this month.

Global warming or the big fires in Australia or action with Iran are heating things up here in Washington, D.C. ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Sucking It Up

G-d Hears Your Prayers

My son-in-law reminded me of a beautiful Jewish saying about prayer:

Even if a sharp sword rests upon a person's neck, he should not refrain from praying for mercy. 

One can still hope for mercy from the Almighty even at death's door. 

This is truly beautiful and uplifting--we can approach G-d anytime, and as long as we are alive, there is always hope.

The saving from G-d is like "the blink of an eye." ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

G-d Hears Your Prayers

I Say Upside Down You Turn Me

I liked this advertisement for WOOW eyewear. 

Like the faces, the colors, the upside down and right-side up orientations. 

Seems cool, hip, with it. 

Happy hippie times. ;-)

(Credit Photo: Michelle Blumenthal)

I Say Upside Down You Turn Me

Roosters or Homelessness?

So I had to drive into downtown Washington D.C. 

Along the way, I saw this colorful artistic rooster. 

I appreciate this quick pick-me-up from this. 

Yet, all around the streets were homeless people. 

One was literally collapsed on a narrow island between the opposing lanes of traffic.

Some horrible-looking food, rags of clothes, and two bottles of liquor lay next to him and one of his arm hang almost into the moving traffic. 

This was just one of many that I saw in abject poverty and desperation. 

So I really feel conflicted looking at this colorful rooster. 

What good is it when the people are homeless, sick, and starving? ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Roosters or Homelessness?

EMP Attack-->Danger, Danger, Danger

Saw the Movie E.M.P. over the weekend.  

Everyone needs to see this!

The explosion of a nuke(s) in the atmosphere over the country causes an electromagnetic pulse that fries all our electronics. 

Nothing would work!!!

Think cyberattack on steroids with everything out of commission and basically little to no chance of recovery. 

Prognosis is for mass riots, starvation, and illness that wipes out most of the population. 

Easy then for the enemy to swoop in and conquer the country with no resistance and the basic infrastructure still intact for them to build on. 

Just having mutually assured destruction is not enough!

We need to genuinely be able to counter these threats and not just say: "You'll die if we die." 

How stupid and immature is that thinking?

There are more than a share of radical nuts out there who don't care if they die as long as they take us down.

These are the threats we need to pay attention to before...before...before...it's too late. ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

EMP Attack-->Danger, Danger, Danger

Traveling Chasidim @AISH Greater Washington DC

(Credit Video: Andy Blumenthal and Credit Photo: Minna Blumenthal)

Traveling Chasidim @AISH Greater Washington DC

A Vision of Jewish Strength

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, "A Vision of Jewish Strength."

With the rebirth of the State of Israel came the rebirth of the Jew. No longer the Jew cowering in the face of pogroms, Inquisition, Crusades, persecution, expulsions, and the Holocaust. The new Jew, as epitomized by the brave men and women of IDF, would be remade in the image of Moses who led the Jews out of Egyptian slavery, and King David who vanquished our enemies in our land, as well as the Jews of Purim and Hanukah, who fought ever so valiantly and to victory against the great empires of Persia and Greece or for us, whoever rises against us as the modern day equivalent.

But as important to the new Jew as our physical survival is that of our spiritual wellbeing. The persecution of Jews over thousands of years was not just a physical attack, as horrible as it was, but also a spiritual, religious, and cultural one, where Jews were prohibited from learning Torah, worshiping, and practicing as Jews. Thus, the second point of criticality in having the State of Israel is that it provides for Jewish sovereignty and ensures "the Jew as actor, determiner of his or her own destiny." The Jewish people to truly thrive must be able to express themselves through their own language and history, religiously and culturally, and practically through their own leadership and decision-making to forge their own future.

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

A Vision of Jewish Strength

3D Printed Octopus: "Shabbat Shalom"

This is a 3D Printed Octopus.  

The bendable legs are cute. 

It's sitting on a camera and tripod. 

Soon 3D Printed Objects will even talk, and when they do, this one will say: 

Shabbat Shalom!

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

3D Printed Octopus: "Shabbat Shalom"

Pacemaker No-No!

So I learned that this is called a Van de Graaff Generator.

It generates very high voltage electricity. 

The guy setting it up asks me:

Do you have a pacemaker?

I respond in the negative and ask what's the danger zone on this thing.

He says: 

You probably wouldn't want to get within 10 feet of this!

Good to know. ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

(Please note that blog is not to be taken as medical advice.)

Pacemaker No-No!