The return of the curse of the creature’s ghost

Word on the street is that quite a few NHL teams are planning on introducing the third jersey once again. It’s another shameless bit of commercialism and a quick fix (for cash) that the league does ever so often.

In addition to being shameless in terms of product placement, these third jerseys have almost always been aesthetically unpleasing and loud. I’m not sure the fans really care, but if they do, it’s another demerit on North American hockey fans. Why isn’t there more of an outcry against Gary Bettman and his staff beyond „I hate him because he moved team [x]„, or the fact that Bettman moved the NHL (in the US) from ESPN to the VS network? It seems to me that the average hockey fan is unaware of the league-wide issues, such as the declining talent pool (due to over-expansion and now the declining value of the American dollar vs. the Euro) as well as the rampant cronyism that infests North American hockey. When Terry Murray gets a job again after 8 years of unemployment, John Paddock after 10, or Barry Melrose after 13, and there’s hardly any protesting from the fans, it means there’s a criminal lack of awareness of this issue.

עטװאס אינטערעסאנטס

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7504194.stm

Here’s a good, brief report about the role of Germany in international diplomacy. Superficially, it’s quite impressive how Germany has changed so much socially (although much of the former DDR is still very depressed economically) since the war, entirely for the better. Many other industrialised nations would do well to undergo some sort of national introspection and reconsider their place in the world.

Insomnia is my muse

One of the most irritating consequences of textualism is that the hoi polloi feel that nitpicking is somehow virtuous, and that fretting over existential-but-irrelevant ideas is worth wasting time on. A good example of this is the imbecilic debate over whether or not there is any kind of halachic obligation to follow the remedies given in the Gemara. If the hoi polloi spent some time doing real learning instead of shouting and bellowing and being irritating, they might stumble across a nice, clear statement in the Pilpula Charifta commentary to the Rosh in the first chapter of Avoda Zara.

Mentioning Pilpula Charifta reminds me of the genius of its author, דער הייליגער תוספות יום טוב זצ“ל. His works are invaluable, and he was part of the Prague intellectual movement that flourished during the „Golden Age“ of East/Central-European Jewry. One of the revolution’s* goals (besides burning of all lightboxes) is to restore this order to its natural, dominant position atop the jiddische Nahrungskette.

While still feeling acerbic, another pet peeve of mine is the existence of Arizona. The social dynamic is like a whole state made out of San Diego and Orange County (CA), but given that much landmass, Arizonans seem to be much more destructive to the environment, and more xenophobic extremism (not to mention UFOs and other secret „government stuff“) is fomented there than is acceptable.

Another nasty thing about Arizona is that it is home to many of the WHATEVERniks, an especially belligerent and aggressive breed of generation Y-ers, who feel that ignorance and apathy are virtues which need to be evangelised.

* ק“ק מערה דפילוסופים**

** .תנועה איסט איין קאלק פאן בעװעגונג, איך מיינע דאס איסט ניכט זא פאסיג.***

*** .איך מאג שטערנע

…הױטע לערנטע איך

• ספר החיים
• משניות שביעית פרק ח
• גמרא שבת דף ג
• טור ולבוש או“ח סי’ שמז
• דרשות הר“ן דרוש ז

ברוך מחיה מתים

I hope to not write or decode any Ripuarisch, Preussisch, or any other related Martian jargons for a couple months now. Yes, I’ve been that busy since February, but now it’s July, and what better time to waste than midsummer?

Upcoming features:

1) Interesting things learnt

2) NHL teams as film directors

3) boring personal musings

4) boring linguistics musings