text:
The Vilna Gaon, part 3 (Review of Eliyahu Stern, The Genius)
by Marc B. Shapiro
In honor of Sean Penn and Mark Wahlberg, who understand what pidyon shevuyim is all about.
Continued from here.
Returning to R. Sternbuch's Ta'am ve-Da'at, vol. 1, earlier in this book, p. 88, we find the following passage.
שמעתי ממרן הגריז"ס זצ"ל (הגאב"ד דבריסק) שאברהם אבינו לא היה עצבני וחושש ומפחד שהולך לשחוט בנו יחידו, אלא היה לו הלילה שלפני העקדה ככל הלילות, ולא נתרגש מצווי זה וקם בבוקר לקיים המצוה כשם שמקיימים כל מצוה, והשכים כזריזין שמקדימים למצוות, ושש ושמח לקיים מצות בוראו
According to R. Velvel Soloveitchik, Abraham was not emotionally affected by the command to sacrifice Isaac, and on the night before he was to go to Mt. Moriah he slept as well as on any other night. He approached this commandment like any other commandment, and was ready to do it with joy. It is hardly an accident that the Abraham described by R. Velvel very much resembles R. Velvel himself. See also my earlier post here. [1]
The Gaon is quoted as having a different perspective on the Akedah.[2] According to him, since Abraham was engaged in acts of loving kindness all the time, this commandment was designed to develop in him the attribute of cruelty, which is also required at times.
וז"ש כאן בעקידה עתה ידעתי כי ירא אלקים אתה, לפי שקודם לכן לא היה אלא רחמן מאד שהיה מכניס אורחים וגומל חסדים. אבל המדה של אכזריות ולכוף א"ע ולקיים מצות הבורא ית' עדיין לא היה ניכר בו והיו יכולים לומר שאברהם איננו צדיק גמור ח"ו. אבל בעקידה שעשה ג"כ מדת אכזריות שרצה בכל אות נפשו לקיים מצות הבורא ולשחוט את בנו יחידו אשר בו תלוי כל חיותו א"כ עתה נשלם וניכר שהוא צדיק גמור
The Gaon connects this to the commandment to send away the mother bird before taking the eggs. In the Guide 3:48, Maimonides understands this as designed to avoid cruelty to the mother bird. However, the Gaon has the exact opposite interpretation. He assumes that sending away the mother is very cruel, and that is the entire point of the commandment. He points out that in only two commandments does the Torah promise long life. One is respect for parents, which is about compassion. The other is sending away the mother bird, which is about cruelty, The complete personality, i.e., the tzaddik, needs to have both of these characteristics.
לפי שאין השלימות ניכר באדם אלא כשיש לו מדות הפוכות, כגון מדת רחמנות ואכזרות
As the Gaon explains, if someone had only one of these characteristics, you could say that this was just his nature. However, when you see in the same person the opposite characteristics of compassion and currently, applied at different times, this shows that the person is a tzaddik. This also explains why God gave commandments that are characterized by compassion as well as commandments that cause one to act with cruelty.
(R. Moses Cordovero writes that "kindness is not valued in an individual who is naturally kind, only in a person who overcomes his inclination to act contrary [to the dictates of kindness]." See Or Yakar, Hayyei Sarah, p. 110, translation in Paul B. Fenton, "The Banished Brother: Islam in Jewish Thought and Faith," in Alon-Goshen-Gottstein and Eugene Korn, eds. Jewish Theology and World Religions [Oxford, 2012], p. 251.)
(R. Moses Cordovero writes that "kindness is not valued in an individual who is naturally kind, only in a person who overcomes his inclination to act contrary [to the dictates of kindness]." See Or Yakar, Hayyei Sarah, p. 110, translation in Paul B. Fenton, "The Banished Brother: Islam in Jewish Thought and Faith," in Alon-Goshen-Gottstein and Eugene Korn, eds. Jewish Theology and World Religions [Oxford, 2012], p. 251.)
Directly before this explanation in Divrei Eliyahu, the Gaon discusses God's commandment to Abraham to circumcise himself and every newborn boy. According to the Gaon, Abraham was in doubt whether he should fulfill the commandment, since the requirement of such a practice would discourage the pagans from conversion. He thought that perhaps it would be better for him to disobey God's command, and give up his heavenly reward, in order to increase believers in the world.
נתיירא אאע"ה שמא עי"ז לא ימשכו אחריו הבאים להתגייר ונוח היה לו להפסיד לעצמו משכרו הטוב ורק לקבץ מאמינים בעולם
Not knowing what to do, Abraham consulted with Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre, and the first two advised not doing the circumcision, but Mamre advised him to listen to God and that is what he did.
This is a development of an older theme that appears in a number of midrashim and is alluded to in Rashi, Genesis 18:1. According to these sources, Abraham was indeed unsure whether to listen to God, but none of the midrashim offer a reason for Abraham's hesitation. [3] The midrashic notion that Abraham hesitated over following God's command is quite startling, and many commentators deal with it in all sorts of creative ways.[4] The Gaon softens the difficulty somewhat by explaining that Abraham was not in doubt regarding whether to follow God's command because he was afraid of the procedure, but his motivation was much more exalted. Yet the Gaon's explanation is somewhat difficult because the midrashim have Mamre convincing Abraham to do the procedure by reminding him how God saved him from the fiery furnace or how in general God has always watched over him, and there is thus no justification for ignoring His command. This implies that Abraham's reason for hesitation was fear over the operation rather than concern that his proselytizing efforts would suffer.
I would love to know what R. Velvel would say about these midrashim, which show Abraham in a very different light than the way he describes the Patriarch.
Finally, let me mention a story famous in Habad and recorded by the Lubavitcher Rebbe in various places. It shows an attitude entirely at odds with the sort of piety we saw in the last post. Here is a selection from the Rebbe's letter in Iggerot Kodesh, vol. 22, no. 8558 (p. 366). The translation is taken from here.
The Alter Rebbe shared his house with his oldest married son, Rabbi Dov Ber (who later succeeded him as the Mitteler Rebbe). Rabbi Dov Ber was known for his unusual power of concentration. Once, when Rabbi Dov Ber was engrossed in learning, his baby, sleeping in its cradle nearby, fell out and began to cry. The infant's father did not hear the baby's cries. But the infant's grandfather, the Alter Rebbe, also engrossed in his studies in his room on the upper floor at the time, most certainly did. He interrupted his studies, went downstairs, picked the baby up, soothed it and replaced it in its cradle. Through all this Rabbi Dov Ber remained quite oblivious.
Subsequently, the Alter Rebbe admonished his son: "No matter how engrossed one may be in the loftiest occupation, one must never remain insensitive to the cry of a child."[5]
In the last post I showed examples of removing material from the English translation of a Hebrew book, so as not to scandalize the English reader. Here is another example. The Hebrew text comes from Shimon Yosef Meller's biography of R. Velvel Soloveitchik, Ha-Rav mi-Brisk (Jerusalem, 2006), vol. 2, pp. 546-547. I previously mentioned this passage here.
Here is the relevant page in the translation, The Brisker Rav (Jerusalem, 2009), vol. 2, p. 573, and you can see that the story I am referring to has been removed.
For another story about vomiting, see the following passage which comes from the introduction of the Gaon's sons to his commentary on the Shulhan Arukh.
Whether these stories actually happened is not important. What is important is that they were regarded as examples of piety in those days, while today if someone would act this way people would feel revulsion. In fact, since people had such a different response years ago, there is no need to assume that the stories did not happen simply because today the stories seem impossible. When it comes to what people regard as appropriate, one sees enormous changes between generations and cultures. An obvious example is the matter of homosexuality. While a century ago this was pretty much universally regarded as repulsive, among today's younger generation of college educated people you would be hard pressed to find anyone to say this (as I can attest from interactions with hundreds of college-age students). Even among the halakhically observant, i.e., those who accept the prohibition on homosexuality, many do not regard it as inherently repulsive.
When it comes to The Brisker Rav, I have to confess that I was also certain that another passage would be removed, and it was not. I have in mind vol. 3, p. 428 n. 19 (the last paragraph).[7]
P. 140: Stern cites a comment that appears on every other page in R. Israel Salanter's journal Tevunah:
All laws concerning monetary transactions have absolutely no practical authority. For we follow the law of the land. And this is the meaning of the great principle of "the law of the land is final." We study, analyze, and debate monetary topics in the same way in which we study the laws of donations to the temple, tithes, sacrifices and purities, which are not practiced today. They are discussed only in terms of fulfilling our duty to study the Torah.
Upon this, Stern remarks, "While one cannot discount the pressures of governmental censorship that may have contributed to this position, still it marks an important development in rabbinic history. As Elchanan Reiner correctly notes, 'Diverting attention from the actual ruling to the text itself, namely to the very practice of interpretation, constitutes a dramatic shift in the history of knowledge.'"
I don't accept this at all. There is no question that the words quoted from Tevunah were directed towards non-Jewish governmental authorities, if not in Germany (where the journal was published), certainly in Russia, where the journal would find its major readership. How is this an important development, and how does it relate to Reiner's point (made in an entirely different context) when every Jew who read these words understood that that they were not to be taken seriously, any more than the passages on the second page of many rabbinic books stating that all references to non-Jews only refer to pagans in places like China and India?
Let me make just a few more comments about the Gaon. Some people refer to him as Rabbi Elijah Kramer. When I first saw this name a number of years ago, I didn't know who was being referred to since I had never heard of any Elijah Kramer. The first reference in print to Elijah Kramer (or Kremer) that I have been able to discover is Maurice Samuel's 1963 book, Little Did I Know, p. 257. (If anyone is aware of an earlier reference, please let me know) The name was later made popular after appearing in the title of Yaacov Dovid Shulman's 1994 book, The Vilna Gaon: The Story of Rabbi Eliyahu Kramer.[8]
If this post does nothing else, I hope it puts an end to this mistaken practice. The Vilna Gaon was not named Kramer! He was descended from someone named R. Moses Kramer (his great-great grandfather), but the Gaon never used this name and no one ever used it about him, so it is a mistake to call him this.[9] See also note 1 in S.'s post here.
The mistake of referring to the Gaon as Kramer appears in a 2012 book by Rabbis Berel Wein and Warren Goldstein, The Legacy: Teachings for Life from the Great Lithuanian Rabbis, p. 130. The particular chapter I refer to was written by Wein, and on the same page that he mentions Kramer he refers to the Gaon's foremost student as "Rabbi Chaim Rabinowitz". As far as I know, this is the first time R. Chaim of Volozhin has been given the last name Rabinowitz, and I have no idea what led Wein to write this. Perhaps there was some confusion between R. Chaim of Volozhin and R. Chaim Rabinowitz of Telz.
This book (which I do recommend) has an approbation by R. Shmuel Kamenetsky in which he writes that "everything in it is true." I am inclined to think that R. Kamenetsky was only referring to the larger issues discussed in the book rather than attesting to the accuracy of every fact. There is an old saying
כשם שאין בר בלא תבן כך אין ספר ללא טעויות
We can update this saying by adding the word "blog post" after the word "sefer".
Bezalel Naor has published the following letter he wrote to Elliot Wolfson.
Have you read the new book by Eliyahu Stern, The Genius: Elijah of Vilna and the Making of Modern Judaism (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013)? In a lengthy endnote on pp. 196-198 (note 19), Stern polemicizes against your reading of the Vilna Gaon's interpretation of "sefer ve-sefer ve-sippur" (Sefer Yetsirah 1:1). Stern refers to your essay "From Sealed Book to Open Text: Time, Memory, and Narrativity in Kabbalistic Hermeneutics," Interpreting Judaism in a Postmodern Age, ed. Steven Kepnes (New York: New York University Press, 1996), pp. 145-178, especially footnote 14.
Not wishing to rely on memory alone, I consulted the beginning of the Bi'ur ha-GRA le-Sifra di-Tseni'uta:
Sifra–A book (sefer) is the revelation of the thought, for the thought is closed within man and is revealed only by his speech or by his writing. And so En Sof was revealed, and created the world for [the purpose of] revelation and to make Himself known, as it says in the Zohar, and so the tikkunim that are explained in the continuation [of Sifra di-Tseni'uta] also [come about] through these two things, as it says in Sefer Yetsirah (The Book of Creation), "and [He] created His world with book, book and narrative (sefer ve-sefer ve-sippur). The matter of the two books and [single] narrative is due to the fact that in speech, at one stroke his thought is revealed, whereas in a book it takes two times: once when he writes and his thought is revealed in the world, but the book is yet closed; and a second time when the book is read and then revealed. But in speech, both are included at one time." (Elijah of Vilna, Bi'ur ha-GRA le-Sifra di-Tseni'uta, ed. Bezalel Naor [Jerusalem, 1997], 1a)
Elliot, your understanding of the passage is sound. On the other hand, Stern's translation of the first term "sefer" (which he is forced to revocalize "sefar") as "mathematics," would appear to be without foundation. As for the revocalization from sefer to sefar, Stern has drawn on Yosef Avivi, whom he cites. (See Yosef Avivi, Kabbalat ha-GRA [Jerusalem: Kerem Eliyahu, 1993], pp. 32-35.) Yet even Avivi did not have the audacity to inject into the Gaon's commentary the concept of "mathematics." This mathematicization of Elijah's worldview awaited Leibniz.
Elliot, your understanding of the passage is sound. On the other hand, Stern's translation of the first term "sefer" (which he is forced to revocalize "sefar") as "mathematics," would appear to be without foundation. As for the revocalization from sefer to sefar, Stern has drawn on Yosef Avivi, whom he cites. (See Yosef Avivi, Kabbalat ha-GRA [Jerusalem: Kerem Eliyahu, 1993], pp. 32-35.) Yet even Avivi did not have the audacity to inject into the Gaon's commentary the concept of "mathematics." This mathematicization of Elijah's worldview awaited Leibniz.
I am not qualified to express an opinion on the merit of Stern's opinion vs. that of Wolfson when it comes to understanding what the Gaon says. However, when it comes to the Sefer Yetzirah text, we should not assume that Yosef Avivi and Stern are the first ones to revocalize ספר as sefar. This passage in Sefer Yetzirah appears in R. Judah Halevi, Kuzari 4:25, and Hartwig Hirschfeld, in his translation, writes "S'far Sefer, and Sippur." Also, here is a page from the edition of the Kuzari with the commentary of R. David Cohen, the Nazir (Jerusalem, 2002), p. 227, and you can see this vocalization. (On the previous page, he, like Hirschfeld, vocalizes the word sefar in the text of the Kuzari).
R. Joseph Kafih also vocalizes the word as "sefar" in his edition of the Kuzari.
Naor is mistaken when he states that understanding sefar as referring to "mathematics" is without foundation. While it is true that contrary to the implication of Stern, p. 196 n. 19, Avivi does not say anything about mathematics, there are others who do. Returning again to R. Judah Halevi, Kuzari 4:25, here is Hirschfeld's translation:
Naor is mistaken when he states that understanding sefar as referring to "mathematics" is without foundation. While it is true that contrary to the implication of Stern, p. 196 n. 19, Avivi does not say anything about mathematics, there are others who do. Returning again to R. Judah Halevi, Kuzari 4:25, here is Hirschfeld's translation:
As to sefar, it means the calculation and weight of the created bodies. The calculation which is required for the harmonious and advantageous arrangement of a body is based on a numerical figure. Expansion, measure, weight, relation of movements, and musical harmony, all these are based on the number expressed by the word sefar.
See also the page from R. David Cohen above, where he quotes R. Judah Barceloni who states: וספר – זה חשבון והוא המספר
Here is another text woth noting. It is from R. Joseph Kimhi's Sefer ha-Galui (Berlin, 1887) p. 3.
Here is another text woth noting. It is from R. Joseph Kimhi's Sefer ha-Galui (Berlin, 1887) p. 3.
Kimhi tells us that he is going to let us into the secret of this text, which hasn't yet been explained, and he writes: ספר חשבון ומניין. He then explains that this is one of the wisdoms that only humans are privy to. See also the anonymous commentary on Sefer Yetzirah, published by Israel Weinstock (Jerusalem, 1984), which explains ספר ספר וספור as follows:
לעיין תמיד בספרים, ולספור דרכי המספרים, ולחשוב בם תמיד
There are other sources that can be cited, but I think this suffices to show that Stern's reading has to be taken seriously.
Let me conclude by mentioning something already well known, that the Gaon's writings are full of original views. Stern deals with some of them, and there are many others. In The Limits of Orthodox Theology, p. 14 n. 55, I already note that the Gaon apparently believed that of the Thirteen Principles, only the first and second were real dogmas (in the Maimonidean sense).
Needless to say, each of the views I will now mention could have a detailed post of its own. There are obviously many other unique views of the Gaon, but for now I think these few will be of interest to readers as they are not that well known.
1. The Gaon did not wear R. Tam tefillin. We are told that he didn't want to be without tefillin for even a small amount of time. Since the halakhah is in accordance with Rashi, the time spent wearing R. Tam tefillin would be regarded as bitul mitzvat tefillin.[10] R. Elijah Rabinowitz-Teomim writes[11]:
מתחרט אני כל פעם בלבי, על שהנהגתי בתפלין של רבנו תם, בראותי דעת רבינו הגר"א זצ"ל בזה, ככתוב בס' שערי רחמים משמו, אך אי אפשר לי שלא להניח עוד
2. According to the Gaon, non-Jews in the Land of Israel have to observe all the mitzvot. I know this will be hard for people to believe, so here is the text to see with your own eyes. It comes from the first edition of Aderet Eliyahu (Halberstandt, 1859-1860), Deut. 32:9.
This is a very unusual position, and I don't know of any precedent for it.[12] It is so unusual, in fact, that the next printing, Warsaw 1887, simply cut this section out. Here is how the page looks in the Warsaw edition.
Raphael Shuchat notes that in a manuscript version of the Aderet Eliyahu text there is an important addition, which I have underlined:[13]
ואפילו הגוים הדרים בא"י צריכים לקיים כל המצוות, לפי שכל המצוות תלויים בארץ ישראל
But even with this addition the text is still very difficult, and no one has been able to find a source for the notion that Gentiles have to observe all the mitzvot in the Land of Israel, meaning that the idea is probably original to the Gaon. Shuchat offers two suggestions neither of which really fit with the Gaon's words. One is that the Gaon means to say that since today there is no longer a law of ger toshav, any non-Jew who wishes to live in the Land of Israel has to convert. According to Shuchat, that is what he means when he says that non-Jews in the Land of Israel have to observe all the mitzvot. His other suggestion is that while there is no halakhic obligation for non-Jews to observe the mitzvot, by not doing so they are not respecting the sanctity of the Land.
שנכרי אינו חייב מצד ההלכה במצוות בארץ, אך מצד קדושת א"י הוא פוגם אם לא יקיים את המצוות בארץ
R. Eliezer Waldenberg also takes note of the passage in Aderet Eliyahu, and seeing no way to explain it assumes that the text is a mistake – מפי שמועה לא נכונה.[14]
Yet R. Waldenberg was unaware that in Aderet Eliyahu, Deut. 1:5, the Gaon says the exact same thing, namely, that in the Land of Israel non-Jews are obligated in all the mitzvot.[15]
ולכן נענשו אפי' נכרים מפני שלא שמרו את התורה בארץ כמ"ש (מ"ב י"ז) לא ידעו את משפט א-להי הארץ, שישראל מצווה על כל התורה בח"ל ובארץ מצווה אפי' נכרי
This text appears in full even in the second edition of Aderet Eliyahu, which is the edition that censored the comment to Deut. 32:9. R. Elijah Dessler used the censored Aderet Eliyahu so he didn't know the Gaon's comment to Deut. 32:9, but he noted the comment to Deut. 1:5 and expressed his great surprise.[16]
וזה דבר פלא לאמר דע"פ דין תורה כל נכרי הדר בא"י יהי' מחוייב בכל המצוות כל זמן שבחפצו לדור בה, ותו מה יהי' בדבר שמירת שבת, שהרי הגוי אסור בשמירתה, ומה יהי' באכילת קרבן פסח, וכדומה.
While I don't know of any talmudic or midrashic sources to support the Gaon's position that a non-Jew in the Land of Israel has to observe all mitzvot,. there are some earlier texts that place additional obligations on non-Jews than what we normally assume.
Midrash Tanhuma (ed. Buber), Metzora 13, states that non-Jews are punished with karet if they violate the laws of Niddah.[17]
Ibn Ezra, Ex. 13:7, 20:8, Lev. 17:13-14, 20:25, states that a non-Jew living in the Land of Israel (i.e., a ger toshav) is obligated to observe Shabbat. He is also not to work on Yom Kippur, to refrain from eating hametz on Passover, and to only eat kosher food. This is Ibn Ezra's understanding of the peshat of the Torah, but the Talmud records no such laws.
The most significant of the sources I can cite, and the one closest to the Gaon's position, is found in Avodah Zarah 64b. Here the Talmud quotes אחרים as saying that a ger toshav has to observe all the mitzvot with the exception of ritually slaughtered meat. The Hazon Ish, Yoreh Deah 65:6 wonders about this position, since does it mean that a non-Jew must wear tefillin and eat in a sukkah? He assumes that the talmudic passage means that non-Jews in the Land of Israel are only obligated in the negative commandments, and this is required so that Jews not be negatively influenced by their non-Jewish neighbors. See also R. Asher Weiss, Minhat Asher, Bereishit, p. 19.
The most significant of the sources I can cite, and the one closest to the Gaon's position, is found in Avodah Zarah 64b. Here the Talmud quotes אחרים as saying that a ger toshav has to observe all the mitzvot with the exception of ritually slaughtered meat. The Hazon Ish, Yoreh Deah 65:6 wonders about this position, since does it mean that a non-Jew must wear tefillin and eat in a sukkah? He assumes that the talmudic passage means that non-Jews in the Land of Israel are only obligated in the negative commandments, and this is required so that Jews not be negatively influenced by their non-Jewish neighbors. See also R. Asher Weiss, Minhat Asher, Bereishit, p. 19.
Subsequent to the Gaon, the Hatam Sofer claims, based on a comment of Tosafot,[18] that when the Torah forbids something for Jews, it is praiseworthy for non-Jews to also abstain from this. See Hatam Sofer al ha-Torah, ed. Stern, vol. 1, p. 216:
דמה שהוא מדינא אסור לנו, נכנס עכ"פ בגדר החסידות גבי ב"נ
1. If, after all I have written, people are still not motivated to read Stern's book, or they simply don't have the time, you can watch him discuss the topic here.
Quite apart from Stern's work on the Gaon, Shlomo Pick wrote the following in his just published article, "Al Prof. Shaul Lieberman ve-ha-Makhon ha-Gavoah[19] le-Torah she-Al Yad Universitat Bar-Ilan – Perek me-Hashkafato," Badad 28 (Kislev, 5744), p. 10 n. 10.
2. On a recent trip to Toronto I had the pleasure meeting the indefatigable Yehuda Azoulay. Anyone who is interested in the history of great Sephardic rabbis should check out his books here.
3. In the previous post I wrote about the title of the newspaper Yated Ne'eman, and how yated is actually a feminine noun. All that I wrote in that section was tongue in cheek, as I think readers realized, but by mistake I didn't include a footnote that was supposed to go in. In that note I pointed out that despite what the grammarians might say about the word yated, there are plenty of sources, from long before the newspaper came into existence, that use yated as a masculine noun. The following passage, which has both masculine and feminine,[20] appears in Teshuvot ha-Rashba, ed. Dimitrovsky, vol. 2, p. 529:
ובמלאת הימים האלה יהיה היתד הנאמן תקועה בלבם יתד לא תמוט
4. In the last post I referred to R. Mordechai Agasi's Asurei ha-Melekh, a recent book dealing with the halakhot of being in prison. One of the commenters noted that this is an example of "life imitating art", and he referred to a parody of Artscroll available here here where you can see the imaginary new English sefer The Laws of Incarceration. (I recommend also clicking on the links at the bottom of phony Artscroll website.)
Yet what we see from Asurei ha-Melekh is that this is anything but a joke. The parody has as one of the questions answered by the fake Artscroll book, "What are the requirements for conducting Bedikas Chometz in one's cell?" In Asurei ha-Melekh, vol. 1, pp. 161-162, Agasi, discusses this very case. (All references to Asurei Melekh will be to vol. 1 unless otherwise mentioned).
Believe me when I tell you that pretty much all the possible halakhic problems a prisoner can think of are dealt with in the book. He even deals with some very far-fetched cases. For example, on p. 17 he discusses how one is to put on tallit and tefillin if his hands are in chains. His answer is that a non-Jew can put them on the prisoner, and the prisoner can still make the blessing.
I know that many people have made a joke of Asurei ha-Melekh. But this is a very serious book that serves a real purpose. It also comes with a letter of approbation from R. Shalom Lipskar. He heads the Aleph Institute, one of whose purposes is to reach out to Jews in prison. With the great increase in haredi prisoners, it is important for them to be given halakhic guidance, and the way to do this is with a sefer. (The Modern Orthodox will need an English language book.) Just because someone makes a mistake and has to go to prison doesn't mean that he should make matters worse and give up Torah observance. There are also new halakhic problems that have to be dealt with. For example, Agasi, p. 123, discusses the case of one who is under house arrest but is permitted to go to synagogue. To enforce the house arrest, the man has to wear an electronic monitor. Is one permitted to go to synagogue on the Sabbath with the electronic monitor since as soon as he leaves his house it starts to record his movements and causes various LED lights to go on? Agasi's answer is that the man must not leave his house on the Sabbath.
The federal government has made matters easier for observant prisoners by turning Otisville Federal Penitentiary into the place where many non-violent haredim (and other Orthodox Jews) are sent if they are convicted of a federal crime. It has a full-time Jewish chaplain and kosher kitchen.[21] The prison commissary list of food[22] helpfully notes those that are kosher (regular hashgachah) and also those that are "super-kosher" under the hashgachah of the CRC (Central Rabbinical Congress, i.e., Satmar).
Returning to Agasi's book, while it has certain value, as I indicated, it also has great problems. Let me begin, however, by noting something positive. On p. 42 he states in no uncertain terms that one must follow the Law of the Land, and this includes taxes, traffic, and building laws. He states that violation of the Law of the Land is a Torah prohibition.
Yet I must also state that the book is biased against the American justice system, which he thinks is putting away too many haredim. He tells us that Jewish law, unlike secular law, does not sentence people to prison as a punishment (p. 11). Historically this has been true, but that is because the Jewish communities didn't have real prisons. At most they had small jails to keep people for limited periods of time. (See R. Ephraim ha-Cohen, Sha'ar Ephraim, no. 83, who discusses if the communal jail needs a mezuzah.) If they were dealing with a real criminal who had to be stopped, they turned him over to the non-Jewish authorities or they dealt with him through physical punishments. Jewish courts in Spain would deal very harshly with those they wanted to punish. They even cut off tongues and noses as forms of punishment. Considering the alternative, one would think that Agasi would be happy that we have progressed to prisons, which seem much more humane than how medieval Jews dealt with troublemakers. Yet from Agasi's standpoint, long prison sentences are what he regards as cruel and unusual punishment.
מאסר למשך זמן רב הינו עונש עינוי אכזרי מתמשך ביותר
He also states that prison is not a deterrent. But his real problem with prison is that the Jewish prisoner, once he is incarcerated, can't fulfill his appropriate spiritual tasks (p. 12).
המאסר שולל ממנו את החירות הדרושה לו כדי למלא את תפקידו הרוחני בעולם הזה, וכיון שכך, הינו מעכב את טובתו
Agasi contrasts the moral bankruptcy of prison with the Jewish approach, which doesn't sentence a thief to jail but forces him to become a slave. And when someone kills accidentally, he is not sent to jail but instead has to live in a City of Refuge.[23] Agasi tells those unfortunate enough to be sentenced to prison that they should reflect on the fact that this is not the Torah way (p. 23):
אם חלילה נגזר עלינו לשהות בו תקופה ממושכת, בגין כל סיבה שרק תהיה, יש לנו להתבונן בהבדל המשמעותי שבין תורת ישראל לבין חוקי כל עם ולשון, בבחינת "ראו מה בין בני לבן חמי."
In order that the prisoner not feel alone in his predicament, Agasi includes a long list of stories so the prisoner can read about how others had also been improperly incarcerated. Among the figures to read about include Joseph, Samson, R. Meir of Rothenburg, R. Yom Tov Lippman Heller, R. Shneur Zalman of Lyady, R. Yehezkel Abramsky, and many others.
At the beginning of vol. 2, pp. 1-2, he notes that many of those sitting in prison are wondering what they are doing there when lots of non-Jews who did worse are free. Agasi's response is to blame anti-Semitism. The non-Jews have it in for the haredim and that is why they are putting them in jail.
מאז ומקדם היו אומות העולם שונאים לבני יעקב. . . . נהנים ומתענגים לראות את בני ישראל שבורים ברוחם ורצוצים בגופם
His reply to the anti-Semites is that while they can imprison the Jew's body, they can't destroy his soul (p. 4):
עם ישראל לכל אורך הדורות תמיד ידע דבר אחד: אפשר לכלוא את גופם בתא מאסר, אפשר להצר את רגליהם מלכת, אפשר לאסור באזיקים את ידיהם, אפשר להשליכם אל צינוק חסר אוויר, אך, אי אפשר לכלוא את רוחם ונשמתם של בני מלכים הדבוקה בחי העולמים, אי אפשר להגיע אל נקודתם הפנימית המקושרת תמיד בבורא כל עולמים.
On p. 43 he states that according to Jewish law you can't punish someone without two witnesses, even if you have clear proofs: הוכחות אפילו ברורות ביותר
Since the U.S. government is not obligated to operate according to Jewish law, I don't know why this is relevant (unless he assumes that lacking witnesses the government only has the right to charge non-Jews). I have said it before, and let me now say it again. The Torah obligation for two witnesses was never how Jewish society operated. As has been pointed out by many, it is impossible to run a society that would require two male witnesses – not to mention the requirement of warning a perpetrator – in order to punish criminals, as such a system would not be able to convict anyone and thus would not have any power of deterrence. (Why the Torah has rules and procedures for criminals that can't be implemented in the pre-Messianic world is a topic for a future post.) Jewish courts always did what they thought was necessary in order to secure order, and halakhah gives them this authority. To say otherwise is itself a hillul ha-shem because it means that when it comes to dealing with crime Jewish law is unworkable, while the truth is that Jewish law can deal with every possible situation.
Here is what the Rashba says on this issue (Teshuvot vol. 3, no. 393), and his words have been quoted again and again. Note expecially his strong language that insisting on Torah requirements will "destroy the world".
ורואה אני שאם העדים נאמנים אצל הברורים רשאים הן לקנוס קנס ממון או עונש גוף, הכל כפי מה שיראה להם, וזה מקיום העולם, שאם אתם מעמידין הכל על הדינין הקצובים בתורה ושלא לענוש אלא כמו שענשה התורה בחבלות וכיוצא בזה נמצא העולם חרב, שהיינו צריכים עדים והתראה, וכמו שאמרו ז"ל לא חרבה ירושלים אלא שהעמידו דיניהם על דין תורה, וכ"ש בחוצה לארץ שאין דנין בה דיני קנסות ונמצאו קלי דעת פורצין גדרו של עולם ונמצא העולם שמם
See also R. Hayyim Ozer Grodzinski, Iggerot R. Hayyim Ozer, vol. 2 nos. 833, 837.
On p. 58, Agasi writes:
On p. 58, Agasi writes:
הנוגע בנכרי ובכל חפץ של עבודה זרה או הנוגע בישראל מומר יש להחמיר ליטול ידיו
Something tells me that this is not exactly the type of "humra" to be adopted when one goes to prison. Heaven help the Jewish prisoner if the non-Jew or non-observant Jew figures out what's going on. To put it another way, I wouldn't want to be in the prison yard when the good ol' boys hear that Yankel has a problem shaking their hands.
I also wonder how smart it is for Agasi to tell the haredi prisoner the following:
אוכל נבילות להכעיס הרי הוא אפיקורס, והאפיקורס או ישראל המחלל שבת בפרהסיא אסור להחזיר להם אבידה, כעובד כוכבים.
Agasi does add that there are times when the lost object should be returned, but still, why even create the possibility that someone might want to be mahmir? Again, I wouldn't want to be there when the non-Jew or non-observant Jew figures out who has taken their lost property.
I also don't know how practical the following halakhah is, since prisoners don't get to choose who their cellmate is (p. 58).
לא יתייחד ישראל עם נכרי, מפני שחשודים על שפיכות דמים
Finally, on p. 184 he gives us the following halakhah:
אסיר שברח מבית הסוהר, מברך ברכת הגומל, שאף אם ייתפס וייאסר פעם נוספת אין זה המשך המאסר הקודם אלא מאסר חדש, ואין לומר דכיון שיש חשש שמא ייתפס עדיין לא מקרי שישתחרר לגמרי.
When I told a friend this halakhah, he assumed that I was pulling his leg, just like the story of the man who had to be unburied since his tachrichin were made of sha'atnez, which was around the same time as the sha'atnez in the baseball gloves.
[1] Among the stories I record in this post is that when one of R. Velvel Soloveitchik's sons died shortly after birth, and the family was crying, R. Velvel insisted that they stop their tears, since there is no avelut before thirty days. This sort of response can also be found in medieval times. In thirteenth-century England, R. Moses the Pious's son hanged himself before Shavuot. R. Moses "did not leave his room nor did he shed a tear, but studied in his library as if no evil had befallen him, asserting that his son had caused his own death." See Elliot Horowitz, Reckless Rites (Princeton, 2006), p. 154.
[2] See Divrei Eliyahu (Israel, n.d.), parashat Va-Yera. The two passages I quote also appear in Kol Eliyahu (Petrokov, 1905)
[3] See Torah Shelemah, Genesis, chs. 14 no. 56, 17 no. 173, 18 no. 17.
[4] For one creative solution, see R. David Halevi (the Taz), Divrei David to Gen. 18:1, that Abraham was never actually commanded to circumcise himself!
אין מצוה זו לאברהם דרך צווי כשאר מצות, אלא נתן לאברהם הברירה אם חפץ הוא שיתקיים העולם ימול, ואם לאו שאינו חפץ לימול לא יתקיים העולם, וא"כ אין הכרח שימול עצמו, לזה ביקש עצה מג' אוהביו מה יבחר לו
R. Judah Kahana (died 1819), Terumat ha-Kari (Jerusalem, 1997), Introduction, claims that Abraham never had any doubt that he would follow God's command. However, he wanted his companions to attempt to convince him not to circumcise himself, as his fulfillment of the commandment in the face of such arguments would therefore be a higher level of service of God, as the Sages tell us: לפום צערא אגרא. This is a strange position, since when is one supposed to purposely test oneself in such a way? Just as strange is R. Yisrael Yaakov Fisher, Even Yisrael al ha-Torah (Jerusalem, 2007), pp. 19-20. He argues in a similar fashion as R. Kahana and claims that just as Maimonides in Shemonah Perakim, ch. 6, tells us that the highest level is one who desires to commit (certain) sins but overcomes his inclination, so too one should feel a desire not to observe positive commandments and nevertheless overcome this desire. Since Abraham had no evil inclination, and was obviously going to observe God's command, he wished to create the equivalent of an evil inclination by having his colleagues argue against circumcision.
מעתה מבואר היטב הא דנטל אברהם אבינו עצה על המילה, דהרי אמרו חז"ל בב"ב (יז ע"א) שלשה לא שלט בהן יצה"ר אברהם יצחק ויעקב, וא"כ כשנצטוה על המילה לא היה לו יצה"ר להסיתו שלא יעשה ויהיה כוסף שלא לעשות, ואח"כ יעשה, כי הוא המעולה והמשובח כמש"כ הרמב"ם, ולכן הלך אצל ג' אוהביו כדי שהם יסיתוהו שלא יעשה ואח"כ יעשה כי הוא המשובח והמעולה.
Try to imagine going through life thinking that the positive commandments you do (wearing tzitzit, eating matzah, taking a lulav, etc.) you really don't want to do but only do so because you are commanded. This is not exactly a recipe for making Judaism appealing, however much it might please Yeshayahu Leibowitz.
[5] One day during the forced evacuation of Amona, R. Avraham Shapiro was unable to deliver his shiur. He told the story of R. Shneur Zalman and his son and concluded, "I too cannot teach at a time when children in Israel are crying from the cruel blows delivered by their brothers." Yitzhak Dadon, Rosh Devarkha, p. 160. See also Daniel Sperber, On the Relationship of Mitzvot Between Man and His Neighbor and Man and His Maker (Jerusalem, 2014), pp. 57-58.
[6] The story appears in R. Ephraim Zaitchik, Ha-Meorot ha-Gedolim (Jerusalem, 1969), p. 38 (no. 108).
[7] This last paragraph brings up an issue that I have discussed quite a bit on this blog. Recently, the news was awash with the great kiddush ha-shem performed by Rabbi Noah Muroff when he returned a bag containing nearly $100,000 to its rightful owner. I then listened to his talk at the Agudah convention here.
I am curious if anyone else had my reaction. While his return of the money was definitely a kiddush ha-shem, I think that his speech has the potential to be a hillul ha-shem, nullifying the kiddush ha-shem. First of all, he lets the world know that there are those who told him that it was forbidden (!) to return this money. He then tells the audience that his justification of returning the money was in order to make a kiddush ha-shem. This approach, which received applause at the convention (but not from those on the dais!), is not what he explained in a prior interview with the Los Angeles Times that his reason was "to do what is right, and thinking about the feelings of others. It's looking out for one's fellow man, and not just for one's self." (I assume this is how he really feels, not how he expressed himself at the convention.)
I am curious if anyone else had my reaction. While his return of the money was definitely a kiddush ha-shem, I think that his speech has the potential to be a hillul ha-shem, nullifying the kiddush ha-shem. First of all, he lets the world know that there are those who told him that it was forbidden (!) to return this money. He then tells the audience that his justification of returning the money was in order to make a kiddush ha-shem. This approach, which received applause at the convention (but not from those on the dais!), is not what he explained in a prior interview with the Los Angeles Times that his reason was "to do what is right, and thinking about the feelings of others. It's looking out for one's fellow man, and not just for one's self." (I assume this is how he really feels, not how he expressed himself at the convention.)
Let's leave aside the point that as best as I can determine, according to secular law one is indeed obligated to return lost property of this sort. I understand that for those who don't accept the Meiri, the halakhah Muroff is discussing can be quite a challenge in modern times. But I wonder what is going through the heads of the Agudah leadership. Do they really want the entire world to know that their approach in this matter has nothing to do with helping one's fellow man, but is about doing what will make Jews look good in people's eyes? Isn't this the sort of thing that would be best not spoken about in public?
[8] R. Nathan Kamenetsky, Making of a Godol, vol. 2, p. 1261, refers to R. Eliyahu "Kremmer".
[9] A great nephew of the Gaon was named Elijah Kramer. See R. Avraham Benedikt, "Ha-Gaon Rabbi Yaakov Zvi Neiman," Moriah 10 (Heshvan 5742), p. 82.
[10] See R. Asher ha-Kohen, Keter Rosh (Jerusalem, 2012), no. 13. See the discussion of the Gaon's opinion in R. Hayyim Eleazar Shapira, Divrei Torah, vol. 7, p. 865, and in Ot Hayyim ve-Shalom 34:2.
[11] Nefesh David, p. 123, published with Seder Eliyahu (Jerusalem, 1983).
[12] For Karaites who held this position, see David Sklare, "Are the Gentiles Obligated to Observe the Torah," in Jay M. Harris, ed., Be'erot Yitzhak (Cambridge, MA, 2005), pp. 311-346.
[13] "Eretz Yisrael be-Mishnat ha-Gra," Ha-Ma'ayan (Tamuz 5758), p. 16.
[14] Tzitz Eliezer, vol. 16, no. 60. (In Hilkhot Medinah, vol. 3, p. 6, R. Waldenberg quotes this text of the Gaon and doesn't raise any questions about its authenticity.)
This is the exact sort of approach that R. Waldenberg criticized R. Moshe Feinstein for adopting when confronted with a difficult Tosafot. R. Moshe argued that the text should be emended. R. Waldenberg responded forcefully (Tzitz Eliezer, vol. 14, no. 100):
והנה עם כל הכבוד, לא אדוני, לא זו הדרך, וחיים אנו עפ"ד גאוני הדורות, והמה טרחו כל אחד ואחד לפי דרכו לבאר ולהעמיד כוונת דברי התוס' בנדה וליישבם, ואף אחד מהם לא עלה על דעתו הדרך הקלה והפשוטה ביותר לומר שיש ט"ס בדברי התוס' ובמקום מותר צריך להיות אסור.
I have earlier commented on how on a number of occasions R. Moshe discarded sources that did not fit in with his understanding. See The Limits of Orthodox Theology, p. 101 n. 73. See also R. Yehoshua Mondshine's discussion in Beit Aharon ve-Yisrael 21 (Tishrei-Heshvan 5766), pp. 150-151. Mondshine discusses a text of R. Jacob Emden that R. Moshe declared inauthentic, yet we have the text in question in Emden's own handwriting.
New information on R. Moshe's outlook can be found in the recently published Mesorat Moshe (Jerusalem, 2013). Not only was R. Moshe's approach in this area not scientific, but it is quite untraditional, even radical. See ibid., pp. 506, 507, 508, 520, 522, 525, 590, where R. Moshe rejects the authenticity of comments of Rashbam, "Rashi" on Chronicles, Ramban, and Sforno. Regarding the Ramban, he thought that real heresy had maliciously been inserted into the commentary, a view that as far as I know has never before been suggested. In other cases where he rejected the authenticity of comments of Rashbam and Or ha-Hayyim, he only retracted his view when he saw that there was midrashic support for these comments.
After seeing all this, I think it is impossible to take seriously R. Betzalel Deblitsky's assumption that when R. Moshe referred to a text as inauthentic, it is likely that he didn't mean this literally but was merely adopting a respectful way of disagreeing with an earlier authority. See Deblitsky, Beit Aharon ve-Yisrael 21 (Kislev-Tevet 5766), p. 170:
והכל יודעים שברוב המקומות אין לשון זו אמורה אלא כלפי דברים הדחוים מחמת עצמם אם מסברא ואם ממשנה. ולשון כבוד הוא, כאומר שאין לתלות האשמה במחבר עצמו ובודאי תלמיד טועה כתבו. הנסיון לאמת קביעה זו של "תלמוד טועה כתבו" בבדיקה בכת"י, משול כמעט למי שילקט לשונות "כי ניים ושכיב אמרה", ויברר ע"פ מקורות נאמנים כי אותו חכם אשר עליו נאמר לשון זה, אמר לההיא שמעתתא בשעת צילותא ולא כמתנמנם.
See also the discussion here.
Finally, R. Hillel Goldberg called my attention to the Gaon's commentary to Yoreh Deah 201:1 where he writes: וכתבו בספרי הטבע. This is further evidence that the Gaon read scientific works. Goldberg also called my attention to the Hazon Ish, Mikvaot 7:4 (first series) who refers to the Gaon's commentary ad loc., and writes: ונראה שאין זה ממשנת הגר"א ז"ל. Yet this is incorrect as the Gaon's commentary was printed from his manuscript without any changes being inserted. Goldberg discusses the Hazon Ish's comment in his Hallel ha-Gadol (Denver, 2008), p. 20. See also Betzalel Landau, Ha-Gaon he-Hasid mi-Vilna (Jerusalem, 1978), p. 220, who cites a hasidic author, R. Abraham Joshua Freund, who stated that this passage was not written by the Gaon, "but some mistaken student wrote it in his name."
Finally, R. Hillel Goldberg called my attention to the Gaon's commentary to Yoreh Deah 201:1 where he writes: וכתבו בספרי הטבע. This is further evidence that the Gaon read scientific works. Goldberg also called my attention to the Hazon Ish, Mikvaot 7:4 (first series) who refers to the Gaon's commentary ad loc., and writes: ונראה שאין זה ממשנת הגר"א ז"ל. Yet this is incorrect as the Gaon's commentary was printed from his manuscript without any changes being inserted. Goldberg discusses the Hazon Ish's comment in his Hallel ha-Gadol (Denver, 2008), p. 20. See also Betzalel Landau, Ha-Gaon he-Hasid mi-Vilna (Jerusalem, 1978), p. 220, who cites a hasidic author, R. Abraham Joshua Freund, who stated that this passage was not written by the Gaon, "but some mistaken student wrote it in his name."
[15] For earlier statements regarding Aderet Eliyahu, and the assumption that certain passages were actually authored by his son R. Avraham and others, see Dovid Kamenetsky, "Kitvei ha-Gra bi-Defus u-vi-Khetav Yad," Yeshurun 24 (2011), pp. 940-951. R. Avraham denied the accusation that his words are included in the commentary. See Yeshurun 4 (1998), pp. 2-3. Regarding the general issue of citations of the Gaon in later works, including their reliability, see Yaakov Shmuel Spiegel, "Kuntres Amar Eliyahu," Yeshurun 6 (1999), pp. 734-762, ibid., 7 (2000), pp. 707-734. (Here is good place to note that many writers use Spiegel's research without acknowledgment.)
[16] Sefer ha-Zikaron le-Ba'al Mikhtav me-Eliyahu (Bnei Brak, 2004), vol. 1, p. 45. R. Dessler mentions which edition of Aderet Eliyahu he used.
[17] See R. Yaakov Hayyim Sofer, Kerem Yaakov (Jerusalem, 1989), pp. 92-93.
[18] Ta'anit 11a s.v.אסור
[19] According to some, including the Gaon, this is how the word גבוה is pronounced. See the Gaon's Dikdukei Eliyahu (Lodz, 1939), p. 22. Others think it should be pronounced "gavowah". See R. Ben Zion Cohen, Sefat Emet (Jerusalem, 1987), p. 59. It is a mistake to pronounce it "govoha" (as in the official name of the Lakewood yeshiva, Beth Medrash Govoha).
[20] It is corrected to all masculine in one of the manuscripts. See Dimitrovsky's note, ad loc.
[21] See here.
[22] See here here.
[23] R. Yissocher Frand has a similar approach to that of Agassi. See his essay here where he writes:
Torah justice differs significantly from today's legal systems. Modern justice attempts to go beyond the actual crime, into the mind of the criminal, to determine why he committed the crime. Was he abused as a youngster? Perhaps the discrimination suffered by people of his race caused him to commit the crime? Was he fully coherent when he committed the crime? Maybe he was insane at the time… Hundreds of criminals are freed each year because the jury or judge trying their case felt that they were able to evaluate the motives of the criminal, and based on their evaluation, the criminal should not be punished for his crime.
Truthfully, however, we mortals have no way of determining most people's motives. In the Torah justice system, the dayanim (judges) are required to rule cases based on cool, calculated examination of the evidence, with absolutely no leniency for what they might consider to be extenuating circumstances.
This is a complete distortion of how Jewish courts operated. There was a reason why it was so rare that the courts executed someone. It was precisely because they did not rule cases "based on cool, calculated examination of the evidence." Based on what I have quoted, it appears that Frand believes that Jewish courts are supposed to execute someone even if he was not fully coherent. Some people assume that the reason the Sages set up so many roadblocks in the way of executing someone was because they wanted to prevent possible execution of an innocent man. Yet Gerald Blidstein suggests that it might be because they didn't want to execute a guilty man. See his "Capital Punishment – The Classic Jewish Discussion," in Menachem Kellner, ed., Contemporary Jewish Ethics (New York, 1978), p. 316.


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OMG!! 4 HOURS!! This is so Big Easy! He could not open the briefcase in Dubai, he sucks at puzzles! ONE TEAM TAKES A FOUR-HOUR PENALTY WHEN UNABLE TO COMPLETE THE ROADBLOCK.
Detour: Golem or Disco??
I think they're going from the Detour to the Roadblock. Meghan looks as though she's got some clay on her pants (from the end of episode preview), so I think Meghan and Cheyne do the golem as well?
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Graham Readfearn | July 18, 2012
By Graham Readfearn • Wednesday, July 18, 2012 - 02:07
ANYONE who places stock in safeguarding the current and future climate (and for that matter anyone who doesn't) should prepare themselves for the risk that very soon, climate science deniers, contrarians and sceptics will be running the show.
All the polls suggest that a Liberal-led coalition will sweep to power at next year's Federal election in Australia - the world's biggest exporter of coal and on track to be the biggest exporter of liquified natural gas.
Current Liberal leader Tony Abbott, if we care to remember, once described climate change as "crap". Views shared among Abbott's parliamentary coalition ranks are that climate science is a "leftist fad" and a "work of fiction".
The Liberal-National Party's new Queensland Premier Campbell Newman and his environment minister Andrew Powell are currently presiding over a massive boom in coal and gas projects. Both have said they're unable to accept the evidence of human-caused climate change, going against the scientific findings of the country's main science agancy the CSIRO and the country's Bureau of Meteorology, plus every major science academy on the planet.
Instead the Newmans and Abbotts of this world would rather stake the future of their constituents, our economies, our food supplies and our coastlines on the ideologically-blinkered pseudo-science of narrow vested interests and free market fundamentalists.
The latest snapshot on this inglorious race to the bottom came last week during the Queensland LNP state conference with a motion proposed by the Noosa LNP member Richard Pearson.
Pearson's motion called on the state's education minister John-Paul Langbroek to "remove environmental propaganda material, in particular post-normal science about 'climate change', from the curriculum and as adjunct material at exam time". The motion was passed with party members overwhelmingly in favour.
LNP state representative Glen Elmes recently thanked Pearson in parliament for helping him win his Noosa seat at the state election earlier this year (perhaps those visits to Noosa by fake climate experts Christopher Monckton and Professor Bob Carter have rubbed off on the Sunshine Coast community).
As reported on Brisbane Times, Pearson said: "Few people understand that the so called science of climate change is really what can be defined as 'post-normal' science," before apparently arguing that climate change went beyond traditional understanding of science based on experimentation and falsifiable theories.
To Pearson and others, the experiments of John Tyndall in 1859 which established the warming properties of what we now know to be greenhouse gases just didn't happen. Not in existence either, are the reams of scientific papers over many decades which have attempted but failed to falsify the "theory" that burning fossil fuels is causing the world's average temperature to rise, the oceans to become more acidic, the sea levels to rise and the ice at the poles to melt.
Also not in existence is last week's study by almost 400 scientists (they're everywhere) which showed that greenhouse gas emissions were increasing the likelihood of extreme weather events.
So far, Premier Newman has clarified that while Pearson's motion has been passed by the party, this doesn't mean it will be adopted by the parliamentary group which he leads.
"We will always do the right thing by Queenslanders ahead of the LNP", he said, forgetting that just a few weeks ago he told Queenslanders the state was actually "in the coal business".
Regardless, reaction to the motion has been damning. Anna-Maria Arabia, the chief executive of Science & Technology Australia, which represents almost 70,000 scientists and technology experts in Australia, described it as "extremely harmful".
The secretary of the Queensland Teachers' Union Kevin Bates told The Australian that it was important schools taught children to have an "open mind" (but presumably not so open that your brain falls out). "Our greatest concern is that this is a government that is going to interfere in the education process," he said.
One blogging research scientist wrote that the motion was "preparing our children for future ridicule".
Helping in this process is the Institute for Public Affairs, which has been sending out a discredited book on climate change to Australian schools. The book How To Get Expelled From School, written by Professor Ian Plimer, a member of the board of two of Gina Rinehart's mining companies, was launched by former Prime Minister John Howard.
At the launch, Professor Plimer said "one of the aims of this book is to maintain the rage, because we have an election coming". Clearly, Professor Plimer sees his book as a political tool.
While consistently claiming that school children are being brainwashed by climate change "propoganda", those who push this line rarely (if ever) produce any actual evidence. Pearson didn't define what he meant by "propoganda" or "post normal science".
Plimer's genuine piece of propaganda was described by the Commonwealth Department of Climate Change, which analysed his book, as "misleading" and based on "inaccurate or selective interpretation of the science".
It should not be forgotten that Tony Abbott isn't afraid of pushing his own misinformed climate dogma on young schoolkids when given the chance.
In 2010, the Catholic Jesuit told a class of five and six year olds in Adelaide: "OK, so the climate has changed over the eons and we know from history, at the time of Julius Caesar and Jesus of Nazareth the climate was considerably warmer than it is now."
Nobody should be surprised that conservative politicians are unable to accept climate change science. A survey of political representatives at local, state and federal level carried out in late 2009 found that acceptance of climate change science was divided along political lines.
The University of Queensland survey found only about one third of Liberal/National politicians accepted the world was warming because of human activity. This compared to nine out of ten Labor politicians and practically all Greens.
Then there's the "conservative white male effect" discovered by scientists (yes, them again) in the US linking the described demographic to the denial of human-caused climate change.
The Australian conservative political movement's lurch towards the denial of human-caused climate science is like a mirror-image of the same enlightenment-crushing ideas of many US Republicans.
None of the recent candidates for the Republican presidential nomination (excusing possibly John Huntsman) were able to publicly back climate change science, with some reverting to scepticism after previously accepting the issue.
Also in common with the US, is the existence of Tea Party-style "grassroots" activism in Australia helped along by free market think tanks that claim regulating greenhouse gas emissions is an attack on our freedom.
But rather than have an honest debate about a policy response to a real world risk, they sink to trying to discredit climate science while telling the public that carbon dioxide from burning coal is just "food for plants".
Earlier this week the climate sceptic organisation the Galileo Movement, founded by two retired Noosa (is there something in the water there?) businessmen, tweeted a link to a document written by Viv Forbes claiming coal was not dirty and CO2 was plant food. No mention anywhere in the document that Forbes is a director of Stanmore Coal.
Galileo's patron is Sydney radio host Alan Jones, who recently told a crowd that climate science was "witchcraft" and a "hoax".
Our descent into the deluded world of pseudo-science occupied by astrology, creationism, crystal healing and homeopathy is almost complete. It's a place where progress dies and business-as-usual thrives.
climate criminal replied on Permalink
One has to admire Plimer
Plimer has been debunked by so many times, by so many people, that he must have a hide as thick as a Plimer. In-fact he has also been debunked by himself, repeatedly!
It's perfectly clear that if Plimer can't even agree with himself, that he certainly isn't worth listening to, unless one wants a good laugh!
What's the big deal
@ In 2010, the Catholic Jesuit told a class of five and six year olds in Adelaide: "OK, so the climate has changed over the eons and we know from history, at the time of Julius Caesar and Jesus of Nazareth the climate was considerably warmer than it is now."
GR - I didn't see anything scientifically problematic with the above statement in parentheses and don't understand why you suggest that it is climate dogma. First lets examine the null hypothesis of the first part of the statement which is, "climate has not changed over the eons". Is the null hypothesis correct? I could provide you with volumes of climate change occurences over the eons as well as just during the Holocene, but do I need to? So that isn't dogma. Next.
The links you provided did not lead to specifics on the type of "history" that was used by the Catholic Jesuit to support their contention that, "at the time of Julius Caesar and Jesus of Nazareth the climate was considerably warmer than it is now" or I missed it. There is however scientific evidence that suggests that there were years around the time of Jesus that might have been warmer than 2010. "Considerably warmer" might be an exaggeration but where is the dogma? Look these are six year olds, they don't vote and by the time they do vote they will have forgotton what they were told at age six so how big of a deal is it? I found the comment comparing climate science to "witchcraft" to be a far more compelling example of dogma, and this dogma IS dangerous because it is being offered to adults who do vote.
Not global
"that there were years around the time of Jesus that might have been warmer than 2010."
Windy. What don't you guys get about that period being a regional event? Not a GLOBAL event.
Last year you myopic warmist zombies used the state of Texas to
define global warming and drought while it new cold weather records and snow in the Sahal Desert, Europe, Alaska and Australia were being set. I know that was global warming too. It is interesting to see you with your panties in a bunch simply because there is better data than Mike Mann's hockey trees that show the hockey stick had these regions being cooler than they really were. One wonders how good the rest of the hockey stick resolution is and that question is certainly in play? There are other studies showing that the Arctic was also Warmer during the RWP and China has also come out with reconstructions to support these findings so the evidence is larger than your myopic view based on your lack of climate data.
The Catholic Jesuit comment is fine. Pull your panties out of your butt and relax.
climate criminal replied on Permalink
Instead of vague claims, point to the studies.
Instead of making vague claims, point to the studies.
Vague claims are sign of dishonesty.
Now that's rich irony
vague claims are the lifeblood of the CAGW movement. Remember the 20 foot sea level rise by Al Gore? lol
Did you read the peer reviewed study in my first comment?
Here's another using 120 proxies covering the Northern Hemisphere.
climate criminal replied on Permalink
Do you read these studies?
Do you read these studies?
What were you attempting to demonstrate?
Ignorant is, as ignorant does...
Windy… Did you notice that the paper was not about global warming?
Here's the data they analyzed;
"We here address these issues by developing a 2,000-year summer temperature reconstruction based on 587 high-precision maximum latewood density (MXD) series from northern Scandinavia (Fig. 1). The record was developed over three years using living and subfossil pine (Pinus sylvestris) trees from 14 lakes and 3 lakeshore sites >65° N (Methods),"
That paper is about Northern Scandainavia Warming or the lack there of. We're here to talk about global warming. Right?
To conclude that a paper about Northern Scandainavia is in fact a paper about the whole world is stupid in the extreme.
Here's a map of Windy's new world for everyone to see;
I love when you build strawmen
and accuse me of saying things I never said.
GingerLadySlipper replied on Permalink
Pope Benedict doesn't agree
I'm surprised a Jesuit is leader of a political party, but evidently he doesn't listen to his Pope:
"…we must protect the habitat that sustains us. The believers among us ask God to grant us this wish." This followed a presentation by climate scientists.
Plimer,Abbott et al
Yes,we've got them here,alright. On present indications Abbott will be PM sometime next year.This is not because he or his party are held in high regard it is simply that the present Labor government is on the nose.The same situation applied in the recent Queensland state election when "Can Do" Newman became Premier. This is a rather sad state of affairs but it is not unusual in a 2 party system.
Abbott's religious leanings are not relevant.He is Catholic but certainly not a Jesuit nor ever has been.He did do a short period as a novitiate with the Society I believe.Catholics are not especially noted for being climate change deniers in Australia. He was an amateur boxer and is still physically fit and proud of it.It remains to be seen what a liberal government led by Abbott would be like.There are various shades of opinions in this party.Some likely candidates in an Abbott cabinet would certainly not agree with him on climate change.
Re Allan Jones - He is very anti Coal Seam Gas and has performed stirling service for the movements which oppose this. He is an accomplished and persuasive public speaker.I was very disappointed to learn that he is a climate change denier.
Plimer is a sick joke but in the circles he frequents this is no disadvantage.


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Uncontrolled or slow movement is a problem with muscle tone, usually in large muscle groups. The problem leads to slow, uncontrollable, jerky movements of the head, limbs, trunk, or neck.
Alternative Names
Dystonia; Involuntary slow and twisting movements; Choreoathetosis; Leg and arm movements - uncontrollable; Arm and leg movements - uncontrollable; Slow involuntary movements of large muscle groups; Athetoid movements
The abnormal movement may be reduced or disappear during sleep. Emotional stress makes it worse.
Abnormal and sometimes strange postures may occur because of these movements.
Common Causes
The slow twisting movements of muscles (athetosis) or jerky muscle contractions (dystonia) may be caused by one of manyconditions, including:
Cerebral palsy
- Drug side effects
- Genetic diseases
Hepatic encephalopathy Huntington disease
- Stroke
Sometimes two conditions (such as a brain injury and medication) interact to cause the abnormal movements when neither one alone would cause a problem.
What to expect at your health care providers office
The doctor will perform a physical exam. This may include a detailed examination of the nervous and muscle systems.
The doctor will ask about your medical history and symptoms, including:
- When did you develop this problem?
- Is it always the same?
- Is it always present or only sometimes?
- Is it getting worse?
- Is it worse after exercise?
- Is it worse during times of emotional stress?
- Have you been injured or in an accident recently?
- Have you been sick recently?
- Is it better after you sleep?
- Does anyone else in your family have a similar problem?
- What other symptoms do you have?
- What medications are you taking?
Tests that may be ordered include:
- Blood studies (such as
metabolic panel,complete blood count ( CBC), blood differential) CT scan of the heador affected area EEG EMGand nerve conduction velocitystudies (sometimes done)
- Genetic studies
Lumbar puncture MRI of the heador affected area Urinalysis
Treatment is based on the movement problem the person has and on the condition that may be causing the problem. If medicines are used, the health care provider will decide which medicine to prescribe based on the person's symptoms and signs.
Home Care
Get enough sleep and avoid too much stress. In severe cases, take safety measures to avoid injury. Follow the treatment your health care provider prescribed.
Call your health care provider if
Call your health care provider if:
- You have unexplained movements that you cannot control
- The problem is getting worse
Uncontrolled movementsoccur with other symptoms
Griggs RC, Jozefowicz RF, Aminoff MJ. Approach to the patient with neurologic disease. In: Goldman L, Schafer AI, eds. Goldman's Cecil Medicine. 24th ed. Philadelphia, PA:Elsevier Saunders; 2011:chap 403.
Lang AE. Other movement disorders. In: Goldman L, Schafer AI, eds. Goldman's Cecil Medicine. 24th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Saunders; 2011:chap 417.
Review Date:
Reviewed By:
David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine. Also reviewed by A.D.A.M. Health Solutions, Ebix, Inc., Editorial Team: David Zieve, MD, MHA, David R. Eltz, Stephanie Slon, and Nissi Wang


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Holiday Inn Phoenix - Chandler
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Kids ages 18 and under stay for free when sharing their parents' room. Up to four kids ages 11 and under eat free any time of the day in any Holiday Inn® on-site restaurant.
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Lawyers for James Ashby plan to file his sexual harassment case against former parliamentary Speaker Peter Slipper with Fair Work Australia on Friday.
A spokesman for Mr Ashby told reporters outside the Federal Court in Sydney an appeal against the court's recent dismissal of the case would be lodged in mid January.
Anthony McClellan, a spokesman for Mr Ashby and Harmers Workplace Lawyers, said that contrary to some public perceptions Mr Ashby's sexual harassment case against Mr Slipper had not been heard in court.
"No judicial finding has been made as to whether James was sexually harassed by Mr Slipper."
He said the only matter that had been heard over the past eight months was Mr Slipper's abuse of process case.
Mr McClellan said the aim of filing the case with Fair Work Australia was so the whole evidence and witnesses could be tested in open court at the appropriate time.
"This is designed to preserve and protect James' legal rights," Mr McClellan said.
Federal Court judge Steven Rares last week dismissed Mr Ashby's case as an abuse of process and said it amounted to a "political attack" against Mr Slipper.
Justice Rares also said in his judgment that Mr Ashby's "unreasonable acts of instituting and prosecuting the proceedings" had caused Mr Slipper to incur costs.
In court on Friday, Justice Rares disqualified himself from hearing Mr Slipper's applications for full costs to be paid by Mr Ashby and his lawyer Michael Harmer.
He said it was more appropriate that another judge heard the cost applications.
Justice Harmer adjourned the matter until February 6 for a directions hearing before another judge.


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Wednesday 9th April 2014
It's official!! Sigma's perfectly pitched sunshine smash "Nobody To Love" is the top selling record in the UK!
The track is now Number 1 on the official midweek chart as well as being Number 1 on the Vodafone Big Top 40.
And the chances of the drum and bass duo holding on the top spot look pretty strong. According to the Official Charts website "Nobody To Love" is currently outselling closest rival "Last Night" by The Vamps by more than 18,000 copies at this mid-way stage!
Check out the video:
If you didn't already, make sure you get your copy of the single or remixes before Sunday and let's get D'n'B up where it belongs!


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Domestic Harmony relies on contributions to continue to provide supportive services for those affected by domestic violence.
The organization recently received funding from the V.C. and Velma Knight Memorial Fund as well as the Healthy Senior/Healthy Youth Endowment Fund.
The non-profit organization provides legal advocacy, counseling and shelter for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking.
Domestic Harmony�s Prevention Education Program Coordinator Nichole Dunlop said the staff and board would like to thank the Hillsdale County Community Foundation for their work in helping to secure this funding for the agency.
The amounts include $500 for the V.C and $500 for the Velma Knight Memorial funds and $2,000 for the Healthy Senior/Healthy Youth Endowment Fund. While the former two are to benefit residents and victims of abuse in Hillsdale County, the latter focuses on prevention education.
Dunlop presents education programs to ninth- and tenth-grade students throughout the county on topics including domestic violence, healthy and unhealthy relationships, gender roles and how they all play into domestic violence.
�This program is vital in helping break the cycle of violence through education and awareness,� Dunlop said. �Numbers from last year�s stats for the high school year include 296 affected by domestic violence in Hillsdale County.�
Dunlop reported that 51 percent of those said they had witnessed teen violence, 28 percent said they had domestic violence in their homes and 15 percent said they were victims of teen dating violence.
�Through these contributions, Domestic Harmony can continue to provide Hillsdale County residents with supportive services for those affected by domestic violence,� Dunlop said.
All services are free and confidential.
Victims can call the toll-fee crisis phone line 24 hours a day at 1-888-439-1454. For more information about Domestic Harmony, go to www.domesticharmony.org.
Funding awarded to Domestic Harmony


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Chinese artist Liu Bolin does a wonderful job of hiding himself in all kinds of locations, but this video reveals exactly how he does it.
A time-lapse taken at this year's TED conference, it shows Bolin on stage, being painted in-situ. The artist explains:
"For the talk, I stood up on stage with my outfit pre-painted and then one of my assistants worked with the camera and stood back to instruct the other painter on what to do, where to paint, what colors to use, until from the camera I appear invisible."
You can see more of his work—and less of him!—right here. [TED via Verge]


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The future may not be as rosy as the winners believe.
The presidential election is history. It's time to cry over spilt milk, even though we shouldn't. As an official pessimist, I'd like to share my doom and gloom.
I'm not Nostradamus, but I'll make a few predictions based on what I fondly believe is logic.
America's future continues on its path, and neither the winners or the losers can be certain of how things will play out. Winners might be quickly brought down to earth, losers may turn out to be winners (after a fashion.) A few losers will be so upset they'll leave the country or even life.
This election was a referendum on how the economy is to be managed. Reaction has begun. I believe the economy will head downhill because business owners know bad things such as Obamacare and higher taxes are inevitable. Unemployment will go up. The stock market has trended down since November 7. I think it will trend down for a while. That's not the problem.
The various factions that favored Romney are going crazy trying to reason out how America could have reelected Obama. Republicans are terrifically disillusioned: how can the American people be so stupid? They worry that people who live off the government might now be the permanent majority. People who work for a living have lost voting power. Most Republicans will fight on, but are now mostly irrelevant. It doesn't matter much what we think or try to do. We're like passengers on an Italian cruise ship that has struck a rock, dependent on how our incompetent captain decides to handle the situation.
On the bright side, pessimists like me seem to be in the minority. A bit more than half of the voters think everything is wonderful. Big government will take care of all our problems (There's a federal program for that. Or, there's a subsidy, tax deduction, or regulation. Or, a committee is working on it.) Big Brother is watching over us. We love Big Brother. (Yes, I read Orwell's 1984.)
Obama retains control of the Senate, but not the House, until the mid-term elections in 2014, when the Senate may tip back to Republicans, the House to the Democrats, or not. Unless an epidemic of real bipartisanship suddenly breaks out, Congress will remain isolated and dysfunctional, and the two branches of Congress no doubt will keep on blocking each other. As in the past two years, Obama won't be able to get any legislation passed, and will only be able to rule by executive order and disregard for the Constitution, and that's what he'll continue to do, becoming more and more like a dictator. Republicans will be increasingly enraged by that.
People who depend on government largesse may be ecstatic now, but Democrats won't reform anything – they always kick the can down the road. However happy Democrat fans are now, we may have a total collapse of the American economy within a year or two. This would have unpredictable results, all very, very bad – for all, but especially those depending on big government. Entitlements may be gone or sharply reduced because we can't afford them. Starvation, riots, and revolution aren't inconceivable after such a collapse. Can you spell Greece?
President Obama has said he will work with Republicans, but he has always said that and never actually has done so. He has already drawn lines in the sand after pledging cooperation (as has Speaker Boehner.) Because of his contempt for ideas other than his own, he can't change. As the economy continues to decline, the President may have a nervous breakdown because when he blames his predecessor, it will be himself.
So, America may be destined for fiscal collapse or other major problems. I'd like to be optimistic, but I'm (originally) from Missouri. You'll have to show me.


text:
23 February 2007 12:30
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We believe in the open web, think internet services should be sustainable, build for the long term.
While we are re-launching the service, we only accept new members through invitation.


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Cool Jp magazine. SEMA JeepsPosted in News on November 7, 2013
We've brought you all kinds of Jeeps from this year's SEMA show. Some we can all agree are cool, and some we can all agree might have had a monkey kicking the designer in the head in order to come up with the idea. Then, there were a few in the middle where all of us sort of looked at them, and said, yeah I can see why that is cool, but I'd never do that if I owned that Jeep. You got to see some cool military Jeeps, a whole bunch of JKs (there were a lot of them), but here are some of the really neat Jeeps we saw that fell somewhere in the middle of that 70-some-odd year range
SEMA isn't where you go to bring your Jeep with new springs and shocks. No, it is all about over the top, and that might help explain some of the other Jeeps we showed you this week. But, in our opinion, there are no excuses for low-profile tires on a 4WD Jeep, and we just can't see why a 4-door JK could possibly need that much more storage space. Be that as it may, while we might not build all of these Jeeps, at some point in time we have thought about it, and at any point in time we'd be happy to own all of them shown here. SEMA 2013 is coming to a close, but we did take lots of pictures, so there might be more SEMA fun down the road. More at jpmagazine.com


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Black Speech
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Revision as of 22:29, 17 December 2013
The Black Speech was created by Sauron during the Dark Years to be the sole language of all the servants of Mordor, replacing the many different varieties of Orkish and other languages used by his servants. When Sauron was overthrown at the end of the Second Age the ancient "pure" form was forgotten by all but the Nazgûl. When Sauron returned it was once again made the official language of Barad-dûr. However, a more "debased" form was used by the soldiery of Barad-dûr at the end of the Third Age.[1] The only example given of "pure" Black Speech is the inscription upon the One Ring[2]:
Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul,
ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.
When translated into English, these words form the lines:
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.
These are the first two lines from the end of a verse about the Rings of Power.
Many Orkish dialects had adopted words from it.[1] The Black Speech was at least in part based on Valarin.
In real life, J.R.R. Tolkien created this language with the intention of making it harsh and ugly,[source?] although people who speak the European languages that he emulated may disagree with his methods. The Black Speech is unfortunately one of the more incomplete languages in Tolkien's novels, because the forces of good refuse to utter it, as it attracts the attention of the Eye of Sauron. Unlike Elvish, there are no poems or songs written in it (apart from the Ring's inscription), and because Tolkien designed it to be unpleasant, he did not enjoy writing it. The result is a random collection of words that are hard to actually use in day-to-day conversation. We learn from the text in the ring and its translation that the Black Speech is a strongly agglutinating language.
Tolkien linguist Helge Fauskanger has noted a theory proposed by Russian historian Alexander Nemirovski, that the Black Speech, according to the shape of words, agglutination and grammar, shares many similarities with the ancient Mesopotamian language Hurrian.[3]
Portrayal in adaptations
2001-03: The Lord of the Rings (film series):
- Linguist David Salo used what little is known of the Black Speech to create enough of a language for use in the films.[4] This is usually referred to by Tolkienists as neo-Black Speech.
See also
External links
- Orkish and the Black Speech - base language for base purposes (Ardalambion)
- Black Speech analysis by Craig Daniel
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix F, "On Translation"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "The Council of Elrond"
- ↑ Helge Fauskanger, "Orkish and the Black Speech - base language for base purposes", Ardalambion (accessed 12 January 2013)
- ↑ Language in The Lord of the Rings Movie (August 12, 2003) at Elvish.org (accessed 26 December 2010)


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Hendersonville Mayor Barbara Volk was out for a stroll with her husband and grandsons in Patton Park Tuesday afternoon when they encountered something unexpected.
Hendersonville Mayor Barbara Volk was out for a stroll with her husband and grandsons in Patton Park Tuesday afternoon when they encountered something unexpected.
"As we crossed the bridge, we said, 'Let's see if can see any fish,'" Volk said, relating the conversation with her grandkids. "And there were dead fish."
Volk used the city's "SeeClickFix" cellphone app to report the fish kill, which several other citizens called into the Henderson County Fire Marshal between 3:30 and 4 p.m.
Roughly 70 to 100 fish ranging from 1 to 7 inches in length were found belly up in Brittain Creek, a tributary of Mud Creek that winds through the park, Assistant Fire Marshal Joe Swain said late Tuesday afternoon. Most were found along a stretch from the park's administrative office downstream to the last footbridge.
State water quality officials took samples from the creek, as did the Environmental and Conservation Organization. Brittain Creek is one of 26 biological monitoring sites that ECO samples for bug life twice a year and one of 33 sites tested monthly for 11 chemical parameters.
State officials who responded to the fish kill said determining its cause will be difficult.
"Whatever killed them was a real acute event," said Susan Wilson, an environmental engineer with the N.C. Division of Water Quality's regional office in Asheville, holding a plastic bag of dead mottled sculpins and suckers. "Usually by the time we get here, whatever it was is gone (downstream)."
Chlorine was one suspected cause, since the affected stretch of stream was downstream of Patton Park's pool. But Swain said he contacted a city supervisor, "and he said if they drain the pool, it discharges directly into the wastewater system, not the creek."
"You don't know whether somebody dumped something, it gets dispersed so quickly," Swain said.
On a positive note, officials spotted a school of minnows still swimming in the creek, so some aquatic life avoided the kill.
Brittain Creek, spelled Britton on some maps, is considered "pretty impaired," said Seirisse Baker, ECO's water quality administrator. Data collected by ECO shows the creek's Patton Park stretch suffers from high amounts of sediment from erosion and stormwater runoff.
"It's an urban stream that faces a lot of threats," Baker said, including heavy metals and oil running off nearby pavement into the stream. However, compared to others in the Mud Creek watershed, she said its water quality ranks in the middle of the pack, with an "average" chemical rating.
Water samples collected by ECO Tuesday afternoon will be sent to the Environmental Quality Institute, an independent lab in Asheville, for analysis, Baker said.
Reach Axtell at 828-694-7860 or email@example.com.


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Tech innovation can originate anywhere in the world, with the Internet significantly lowering barriers to the spread of great ideas and products. Indeed, many gadgets and IT hardware are designed and manufactured in Asian countries such as China, South Korea and Japan.
With this in mind, we are launching the Asian Technology blog to keep TechRepublic readers posted on the latest developments on the Asian tech scene. We will endeavor to attend trade shows and connect with these companies to bring new technologies and ideas to your attention, with a special emphasis on business-centric technologies that may help your organization.
For a start, we want to focus on the developments on Asian technological giants such as Sony, Samsung and Lenovo - well-known brands that you are no doubt already familiar with. Moreover, we will also be on the lookout for tech companies that may be less visible, but which are already making waves in their respective niches.
Finally, while the lion's share of new tech products is unveiled in the United States, many others are actually released first in Asia - with some literally months ahead of U.S. launch dates. Examples of these include the Galaxy Note, Nokia Lumia and the second generation Samsung Series 9 laptop. To give you advance notification of things coming up on the horizon, we will bring them to your attention as well.
Stay tuned, and feel free to drop me a line via the TR contact form or on Twitter at @paulmah.
Full Bio
Paul Mah is a writer and blogger who lives in Singapore, where he has worked for a number of years in various capacities within the IT industry. Paul enjoys tinkering with tech gadgets, smartphones, and networking devices.


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Tony Danza Alive, Another Death Hoax Victim
Tony Danza, though believed to have fallen off a cliff in New Zealand to his death, is in fact alive and well.
The 61-year-old actor is the latest victim of several death hoaxes involving several celebrities this week. Websites have perpetuated false reports and misinformation about high-profile celebrities previously, including John Cena and Morgan Freeman on their pages to increase traffic to their sites.
One site claimed that Danza died on Sept. 10 in an identical story to the made-up deaths of Cena, Freeman, and Jerry Springer.
"Actor Tony Danza died while filming a movie in New Zealand early this morning- Sept. 10, 2012 Preliminary Reports from New Zealand Police officials indicate that the actor fell more than 60 feet to his death on the Kauri Cliffs while on-set," an unreliable site posted.
Not only is the actor not dead, but Danza is currently promoting his new book, "I'd Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had." The "Taxi" star has appeared on television this week and also frequently posts on his Twitter account.
"Hey, everyone," Danza posted on Saturday. "My book comes out this week. Think you'll want to apologize to every teacher you've had after reading!"
Moreover, Danza appeared on the "Today" show on Monday as well as guest-hosted on "The View." He will be at Ursinus College this Saturday for a book signing.
Other false rumors surrounding the actor have circulated in the media recently, including his interest in running for mayor of New York City.
"For the record, I am not considering running for mayor of NYC," he posted to Twitter.
Danza was nominated for an Emmy Award and four Golden Globe Awards for his role on the television series "Who's the Boss?" and won the People's Choice Award for the sitcom "The Tony Danza Show" in 1998.


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Charlie Sheen Jokes About His Sobriety in Dutch Beer Commercial
Charlie Sheen stars in a commercial for Dutch beer Bavaria, where he pokes fun at his own drinking problem and rehab. No, there's no declarations of "Winning!" or references to tiger's blood and Adonis DNA.
He is also minus a couple of goddesses in this lighthearted look at Sheen's past troubles. Well, if you can't laugh at yourself let the Dutch do it. That's the expression right?
In the ad, Sheen leaves rehab and that's when some peculiar things happen. He leaves the clinic, says goodbye to the doctors, joking "Let's not have a drink sometime" with his attending doctors.
He's starting anew, enjoying the sun-splashed California day. He notices everyone who shouldn't be drinking beer doing so: pregnant women, people on the job, cops, fitness freaks on treadmills and more. Wow, we want to live in this world!
Sheen really has no other choice but to be the guy who left rehab and can drink responsibly.


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An awesome pack of monsters and assets to create your own monsters that can be used on everything. Theres over 30 assets available!
A few characters have already been created for instant usage. Every single asset is 100% customizable, from shape to colors, edit everything to your wish.
This package comes with an EPS and AI file. Free font used is Anja Eliane.
If any support is needed, feel free to message me.