All posts by kirsch

Falafel and more, Keep Austin Weird

Israel Block Party 2010

Leave a comment

After two very tough acts to follow (Berry Sakharof in 2009 and HaDag Nachash in 2008), the annual Israel Block Party organized by Texas Hillel was held yesterday in UT. All in all it felt like it was less advertised, smaller, emptier, and with less energy than the previous years. Even the usual pro-Palestinian protestors didn’t show up! (or perhaps they left early).

They had a pretty good DJ playing but I don’t know who he is or where they got him from. I did not try the falafel but I did get some free tea, pumpkin seeds, and an army dog tag that does not have my name on it, so I won’t wear it to battle. Did you go?

Falafel and more, Keep Austin Weird

5th Annual Kosher Chili Cook-off

1 Comment
5th Annual Kosher Chili Cook-off

This afternoon the 5th Annual Kosher Chili Cook-off was held at the JCAA. This is a probably the only kosher chili contest in the world – blending Texan and Jewish culture together (although I’d prefer a kosher BBQ cook-off).

I promised last year to enter for 2010, but due to unforeseen reasons, I did not. Most of the chilies I tried were not very spicy, but there were some good things out there. I’m warming up to the idea of vegetarian chili. What’s wrong with me? Well, perhaps I will enter in 2011.

I didn’t stick around until they announced the winner, so please comment if you know. In the meantime, a few photos after the break.

Continue reading 5th Annual Kosher Chili Cook-off →

Keep Austin Weird

Plane crash nearby

3 Comments

This is a photo I just took of what is apparently the smoke from a plane crash on MoPac and 183. I took it from the eight floor of my building at work:

Plane crash in Hwy. 183 & MoPac

There’s not a lot of news out there but KVUE has a report (with video): Apparently a 1-engine Cessna crashed onto the Echelon building.

According to my calculations, in the embedded map you can see how far from me it happened:


View Larger Map

[UPDATE]: Two people still unnacounted for. Let’s hope they’re ok!
[UPDATE 1:13 PM]: There was a big column of smoke I could see from my building this morning (before the crash). It was a house on fire. It’s possible that this is the house of the pilot that smashed a plane this morning, Joseph Andrew Stack. His suicide letter is online on his website.

Random junk

Kokoloko

3 Comments

While digging through an old little box accurately labeled “Morralla“, I found a Kokoloko token. Kokoloko was the best bar in downtown Monterrey back in the nineties. They were open for a very long time and went through several remodelings (hanging chairs? phone booths? rooftop bar? Star Wars theme?). They eventually shut down and even though they reopened later in other parts of the city, it was never the same. I used to be there on most Fridays.

Instead of money, you used tokens in order to pay for drinks. You’d get a couple at the door for your $30 pesos cover charge. Today, a Kokoloko token is valued at over $40,000 USD (personal estimate). Here’s the photo of a Kokoloko token, probably the only one on the whole Internet:

More fun facts after the break…

Continue reading Kokoloko →

Jogo Bonito

Mexico vs. history

1 Comment

Scary post from futbol y más regarding the history of World Cups and the host nation. As you know, the opening match of the FIFA World Cup is Mexico vs. host South Africa. As the table below shows, the host nation has never lost their first match, and they have always qualified to the second round. If this holds true for the 2010 edition, this means that Mexico will not win their first game and since only two of four teams qualify, they’d be fighting for that other spot against France and Uruguay.

Year Host 1st match win? 2nd round? # won # tied # lost Group rank
1930 Uruguay Yes Yes 2 0 0 1
1934 Italy Yes Yes NA NA NA NA
1938 France Yes Yes NA NA NA NA
1950 Brazil Yes Yes 2 1 0 1
1954 Switzerland Yes Yes 2 0 1 1
1958 Sweden Yes Yes 2 1 0 1
1962 Chile Yes Yes 2 0 1 2
1966 England Draw Yes 2 1 0 1
1970 Mexico Draw Yes 2 1 0 2
1974 W. Germany Yes Yes 2 1 0 1
1978 Argentina Yes Yes 2 0 1 2
1982 Spain Yes Yes 1 1 1 2
1986 Mexico Yes Yes 2 1 0 1
1990 Italy Yes Yes 3 0 0 1
1994 U.S.A. Draw Yes 1 1 1 3
1998 France Yes Yes 3 0 0 1
2002 Korea Yes Yes 2 1 0 1
2002 Japan Yes Yes 2 1 0 1
2006 Germany Yes Yes 3 0 0 1
My Blog

Kirsch Industries

Leave a comment
I really like their logo as well.

A reader sent me this screenshot of TV show Leverage, which I had never heard of. Turns out that my top choice for the name of the online publishing empire I’m building, future parent company for The MKX® is already taken… and they specialize in pigments. Most people think that a last name with 5 consonants but only 1 vowel would be rarer. They’d be surprised.

Feel free to suggest what I should call my online publishing empire, because I’m out of ideas.

Falafel and more, Music

Moon

1 Comment

Moon

My first memory with your beauty does not sweep me,
I throw my guitar and my father yells at me,
My mother says: “That’s my sinner”,
And she takes me for a comforting walk in the moonlight.

My second memory: Your eyes do not sweep me,
I left home to the dangers of time,
When I asked you “Will you always be mine?”
You replied: “Look to the moon, a man’s already been there”.

After a year we rented
A room in front of the moon,
I started playing in a dark bar
On the street of the metal workshop.

And they screamed: “Take down
The short guy in the tuxedo”,
And only one said: “Kid, kid,
You shall yet bring down the moon of them”.

It was such a time
When happiness came through anger,
We laughed about everything,
Burned whatever we got our hands on,

There was nothing left
But to hug our troubles,
To say: “Yesterday was good
And tomorrow will be too”.

Yesterday was good,
Yesterday was good,
Yesterday was good,
And tomorrow will be too.

It’s hard to concentrate,
Because your beauty still haunts me,
It’s hard to say “It’s a shame”
Or to say “Maybe”.

Instead, I dance
And yell to the moon: “Come down”.
And blame the world
For my pain.

Sometimes I forget,
How I started in front of the moon,
When you forget, yes, yes,
Poor you

There’s rain in the sky
No moon in the meantime,
When it comes out we’ll walk together
Until we disappear.

It was such a time
When happiness came through anger,
We laughed about everything,
Burned whatever we got our hands on,

There was nothing left
But to hug our troubles,
To say: “Yesterday was good
And tomorrow will be too”.

Yesterday was good,
Yesterday was good,
Yesterday was good,
And tomorrow will be too.

ירח

,וזכרוני הראשון אם יופייך אינו מטעה אותי
,משליך גיטרה ואבי עלי צורח
,”ואימי אומרת “זה החוטא שלי
,ולוקחת אותי לטיול מנחם מול ירח

,וזכרוני השני, אם עינייך אינן מטעות אותי
עוזב את הבית אל סיכוני הזמן
“?כששאלתי אותך “האם תהיי לי לעולמים
.”ענית: “תביט לירח שם יש כבר אדם

ואחרי שנה שכרנו
,חדר מול ירח
מתחיל לנגן בבר קודר
.ברחוב המסגר

והם צרחו “תורידו
.”ת’נמוך עם הטוקסידו
ורק אחד אמר:”ילד ילד
“.עוד תוריד את הירח בשבילם

היתה תקופה כזו
,שהאושר בא בזעם
,צחקנו מהכל
.שרפנו את מה שבא ליד

לא נשאר לנו אלא
,לחבק את הצער
להגיד “אתמול היה טוב
.”ויהיה גם מחר

,אתמול היה טוב
,אתמול היה טוב
,אתמול היה טוב
.ויהיה גם מחר

,קשה לי להתרכז
,כי יופייך עוד מהמם אותי
קשה להגיד חבל
.או לומר אולי

במקום זה אני רוקד
.”וצועק לירח: “רד
ומאשים את העולם
.בכאבי

,לפעמים אני שוכח
,איך התחלתי מול ירח
,כשאתה שוכח כן, כן
אתה מסכן

יש גשם בשמיים
,אין ירח בינתיים
וכשיצא נלך ביחד
.עד שנעלם

היתה תקופה כזו
,שהאושר בא בזעם
,צחקנו מהכל
,שרפנו את מה שבא ליד

לא נשאר לנו אלא
,לחבק את הצער
להגיד “אתמול היה טוב
.”ויהיה גם מחר

,אתמול היה טוב
,אתמול היה טוב
,אתמול היה טוב
.ויהיה גם מחר

One of my favorite songs ever, by Shlomo Artzi. Listen on YouTube.

Around the world

Water squirting nickel

1 Comment

I recently purchased a water squirting nickel for something like $3. It’s the best $3 I’ve ever spent: funniest thing ever. I took it to Monterrey on my most recent trip for my cousin Jaco’s Bar Mitzvah and entertained myself (wow, that sounded dirty) endlessly by squirting just about everyone there. The story: look for the telltale signs of a supposedly counterfeited nickel, which I swapped right before showing the defect to the victim.

I only taped a small percentage of the victims that night and posted it as a mind-numbing 1:46 minutes long YouTube video. Trust me, you had to be there, it was hilarious.

I feel like I can finally post this, even though it will ruin the joke in the future, because:

  1. Joseph took my nickel.
  2. Most of the people I know have seen it by now.

For the record, everyone I pulled this prank on fell for it. But only one person fell for it TWICE!!!