Twice on the past week I made matzah ball soup. Used the same little mix that vomes from the little box, same brand, same amount of eggs and so on. The first time, the matzah balls came out big and fluffy. The second time, they came out small and hard. I have no preference for either type, yet no one seems to be able to predict when nor tell why sometimes they come out one way or the other.This is one of the last great misteries in the world, right up there with the Loch Ness Monster. If I had a way for you to provide feedback in this poor excuse for a blog OR if I had any readers, I could ask you to provide some insight. But I can’t.
Colorful week of Passover
It’s been 6 days of Passover. I’m sick and tired, all I’ve been eating is beige. Matzah, matzah ball soup, gefilte fish, chicken, tuna, coconut macaroons, mashed potatoes…. you name it.I want beans.
Canned farts
Credit for this invention goes to Mr. Robert Thurman. Using a can of Office Duster 3 (For precision cleaning of hard-to-reach areas on computers and electronics office equipment) and your arm pit, you can create fantastic fart noises. Excellent ice-breaker for those tough job interviews or meet-your-in-laws dinners. Cracks me up everytime. I have been experimenting creating different pitches by using your arm, leg and stomach (the flabbier, the deeper the sound)
Warning: Please note that shaking the can, holding it upside-down or overuse may cause frostbite. Keep away from eyes and out of reach of children.
Pearl Jam
Last Saturday I went to the Pearl Jam concert in San Antonio. It was kind of a random last-minute thing. Alex Schwarz drove from Monterrey to Austin on Friday, called me about, told me about the concert and we bought the tickets. Good concert, even though I’m not a big Pearl Jam fan.
Next show: Cirque Du Soleil
NI Eagles climbs back to top of the league!
This morning, the NI Eagles (my soccer team) played the former leader of the season. We completely demolished them by an outrageous 7-0 (not a single one of them mine 🙁 …). Great! one more game and unless we screw up big time, we’ll climb up to the next division.
Liberte, Fraternite, Egalite
Yesterday, a sad, terrible, deplorable thing happened in Paris.
In the middle of a manifestation against the war in Iraq, in which you could see hundreds of people wearing keffiah (traditional arab head-wear) and carrying Iraqi and Palestinian flags, two counselors in the jewish zionist youth movement Hashomer Hatzar happened to walk by. One of them 25, the other 18, were first insulted by the crowd, then phisycally attacked. They ended in the hospital.
During this whole thing, you could hear insults against jews. On a loadspeaker, one of the manifestants yelled (roughly, my french is not so good) “Nous, les musulmans, nous les Arabes, nous pouvons nous promener la tute haute dans la rue. Eux (jes juifs, ndlr) sont obligs de se cacher. Un verset du Coran dit : Ce que l?on vous a inflig, vous pourrez l’infliger. Mais la patience est une vertue. Sachons attendre, la roue va tourner.” – it translates: “Us muslims, us the Arabs, can walk around on the streets with our heads high. Them (the Jews) are forced to hide. A verse from the Coran says: Those who inflicted upon us, you can inflict on them the same. But patience is a virtua. We must know to wait. The wheel will turn” (excuse any errors on this translation).
After this, the members of Hashomer had to go to the place where they carry out their activities and lock themselves inside, while outside many people went out of the path of the manifestation to yell, hit on the doors and terrorize them. There were about 150 kids inside, between the ages of 6 and 15 most of them, about thirty in their early twenties or less.
I am myself a member of Hashomer and went as a kid and as a counselor in Mexico for about 12 years of my life. What happened in France is shameful, a true showing of violent antisemitism. The saddest part, is the weak covergae by the French and world media and the apathy shown by the French government on the face of such event inside their own society.
Shana Fleszler is a counselor in Hashomer Hatzair Paris, and a personal friend. She told me about what happened over there (she was in the middle of the whole thing, of course). My disbelief is incredible. I post this humble words as a show of support for the people of Hashomer and for those that were personally attacked. Refuah shlema (health) to them. I hope I can help to raise consciousness in any way.
Last, I’d like to briefly sum up the ideology of the Hashomer Hatzair movement. This is an educational movement, started in Poland in 1917. It is a left wing movement which that founded over 85 kibbutzim and is one of the strongest advocates of dialogue with the Palestinians and the formation of a viable Palestinian state through territorial concessions.
Links:
Article in Proce-Orient (Google translation)
Article in JT Digipresse (Google translation)
Molotov is in the house
Last night, as part of the South by Southwest music festival, I went to a concert in The Vibe in 6th street
Two bands from Monterrey, México played, Panda (not so good) and Jumbo (very good). Then the Peruvian band Libido played.
The main event of the night was the band of chilangos Molotov. I was very impressed how they rotated the instruments, and you could tell they are far better that the other bands right away just by listening to them for five minutes. There was slam, ripped clothes, blood, the whole thing. The played some of their hits and some of their new songs (Frijolero, Queremos Pastel, Dance and Dense Denso) but to my dissapointment there was no Chang�ich a la Chichona.
Cerati in Monterrey
Last night, Gustavo Cerati, former lead singer of the greatest latin rock band ever Soda Stereo had his concert in the Escena discotheque, in Monterrey, Mexico for his latest album Siempre es Hoy. Unfortunately, I could not go. Here’s hoping that he will come to Austin, Houston, Dallas, or anything within reach.
Happy birthday Moi
See his blog.
ROBOCATEPETL coming back?
Warning: The following post is based entirely upon rumors and speculation
It has been recently heard that Team ROBOCATEPETL, famous for their ROBOCATEPETL 3 ball sorting robot (second place at NI-TECH 2002), has been in talks about creating a ROBOCATEPETL 4 for the NI-TECH Robolab tournament to be held later this year. Confirmation will follow.