Thursday, April 29, 2010

...a total of US$1,000,000



Application for Status of Claimant

This statement outlines the rules covering the offer made by this Foundation (JREF) concerning psychic, supernatural or paranormal claims. Since claims vary greatly in character and scope, specific rules must be formulated for each applicant. All applicants must agree to the rules set forth herein before any formal agreement can be entered into. Completing this form is mandatory; there are no exceptions to this rule.

Applicant will declare agreement by signing this form where indicated before a notary public and returning the form to the James Randi Educational Foundation. Applicant must state clearly what is being claimed as the special ability upon which they wish to be tested, and test protocols must be agreed upon by both parties before any testing will take place. All tests must be designed in such a way that the results are self-evident, so that no judging or voting process is required. We do not design the protocol independently of the applicant, who must provide clear guidelines so that the test(s) may be properly designed and carried out.
All applicants must clearly identify themselves properly before any discussion takes place. Applicants must supply the JREF with a proper postal mailing address, and an e-mail address – if one is available.(read more...)

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Dugout Dick Died


Known as the "Salmon River Caveman," Richard Zimmerman lived an essentially 19th century lifestyle, a digital-age anachronism who never owned a telephone or a television and lived almost entirely off the land.
"He was in his home at the caves at the end, and it was his wish to die there," said Connie Fitte, who lived across the river. "He was the epitome of the free spirit."
Richard Zimmerman had been in declining health when he died Wednesday.
Few knew him by his given name. To friends and visitors to his jumble of cave-like homes scrabbled from a rocky shoulder of the Salmon River, he was Dugout Dick.
He was the last of Idaho's river-canyon loners that date back to Territorial days. They are a unique group that until the 1980s included canyon contemporaries with names like Beaver Dick, Cougar Dave and Wheelbarrow Annie, "Buckskin Bill" (real name Sylvan Hart) and "Free Press Frances" Wisner. Fiercely independent loners, they lived eccentric lives on their own terms and made the state more interesting just by being here.
Most, like Zimmerman, came from someplace else. Drawn by Idaho's remoteness and wild places removed from social pressures, they came and spent their lives here, leaving only in death.
Some became reluctant celebrities, interviewed about their unusual lifestyles and courted by media heavyweights. Zimmerman was featured in National Geographic magazine and spurned repeated invitations to appear on the "Tonight Show."
"I ride Greyhounds, not airplanes," he said in a 1993 Statesman interview. "Besides, the show isn't in California. The show is here."
Cort Conley, who included Zimmerman in his 1994 book "Idaho Loners," said that "like Thoreau, he often must have smiled at how much he didn't need. What gave him uncommon grace and dignity for me were his spiritual life, his musical artistry, his unperturbed acceptance of life as it is, and being a WWII veteran who had served his country and harbored no expectations in return."
Read more: http://www.idahostatesman.com/

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Watch and Enjoy:The Band's Visit (Bikur hatizmoret)


When the Ceremonial Police Band of Alexandria, Egypt, journeys to a gig in Israel, they can hardly anticipate getting stuck in a rut. But upon arrival at the Israeli airport, their hosts and transportation fail to show. So begins first-time director Eran Kolirin's fish-out-of-water comedy The Band's Visit (aka Bikur Hatizmoret, 2007). Trapped in a middle-of-nowhere desert town, the group members try to figure out what to do and where to go. In desperation, two of the musicians -- conductor Tawfiq (Sasson Gabai) and playboy Haled (Saleh Bakri) -- accept an invitation from sexy café owner Dina (Ronit Elkabetz) to bunk at her residence, and seemingly within no time, the unlikeliest of interracial (Israeli-Palestinian) romances begin to blossom -- not only between Tawfiq and Dina, but between Haled and local wallflower Papi (Shlomi Avraham), whose night together at a roller disco turns into a veritable comedy of errors. Meanwhile, the remainder of the bandmembers room with local resident Itzik's (Rubi Moscovich) family, which produces overwhelming conflict and innumerable tensions. As the days roll on, the co-mingling of Egyptian bandmembers and Israeli residents imparts each individual with insights into his cultural identity and that of the others.

ביקור התזמורת

תזמורת משטרה מיצרית מגיעה לישראל במטרה לנגן במרכז חדש לתרבות ערבית בפתח תקווה, הם מגיעים לשדה התעופה תלושים מהמציאות לבושים בבגדי תיזמורת יפים מסודרים ונקיים אך מחרידים להפליא , רק בשביל לגלות כי אף אחד לא טרח לבוא לקחת אותם, אז מפקדם החרוץ ששון גבאי מנסה להוכיח לתזמורת כי הם יסתדרו בכוחות עצמם אך נכשל במשימתו ונבוך הוא שמגלה שסחב את כולם לבית התקווה מקום שכוח אל שם מוצא למזלו את המושיעה והמלאכית רונית אלקבץ יושבת עם שני בחורים מובטלים במזנון הקטן שלה , המפגש בינם לבין ביקורם המפתיע של התיזמורת המצרית שצצה משום מקום, מקורי אך מתאר מפגש חיים פשוט ומרגש. חובה לראות 
Визит оркестра
Александрийский церемониальный полицейский оркестр в составе восьми человек прилетает в Израиль, где должен играть на открытии нового Арабского культурного центра. Музыкантов никто не встречает, и они пытаются добраться до нужного города самостоятельно. И оказываются буквально посреди пустыни, в маленьком и не очень дружелюбном на вид городке...
"Из географического казуса режиссер сделал милейшую комедию: конкретно - об арабах и израильтянах, а вообще - о понимании и человечности."

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

שירת האבן של טוביה יוסטר Tuvia Yuster: a sculptor of the holy and the profane



In what he does, Tuvia Yuster walks between the local and the universal. In touching the philosophical polarity that characterizes our lives, originality compared to infinity, his works raise questions of identity and belonging. As an artist, he does not completely ascribe himself to formal abstract or figurative sculpture. At the same time, Iuster finds the main inspiration for his work in the Bible. He therefore sees himself as "a sculptor of the holy and the profane".

שירת האבן

ביום שישי הקרוב, 23 באפריל 2010 , בשעה 11.00
בבית העלמין בעין הוד
אזכרה לטוביה יוסטר ז"ל
במלאת 5 שנים למותו
בשעה 12.00 – פתיחת תערוכה מעבודותיו בגלריה

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

The Balls of Fire



Bookstore chain removes leftist book from shelves
Days after it began selling the political doctrine The National Left, written by playwright Shmuel Hasfari and attorney Eldad Yaniv, which was sold for NIS 1 ($0.27), Tzomet Sfarim bookstore chain on Sunday announced it will stop distributing the book.
According to information received by Ynet, right-wing elements have been pressuring the chain's management in recent days to stop distributing the book in which the authors make harsh accusations against settlers and the settlement enterprise, calling to dismantle it and "stop the occupation."
The bookstore chain's spokesperson said, "Tzomet Sfarim is a chain for all of the people of Israel and has no political affiliation. It is never responsible for the content of the books that are distributed in its stores. Because we received many complaints that the book hurts the feelings of some of our customers, we decided to stop selling it."
Last September, the authors began distributing the book, which contains ideas on how to resurrect the social-democratic dialogue, and is written in a witty language, interwoven with provocations.
The authors described the settlers as "the lords of the land, hardly pioneers. They never planted a tree or built a house. It’s the Ahmeds that did all that for them. For years the settlers have been forcing us to build the future Palestinian land – at our expense." The authors continue to slam the settlers and write, "The settlers operate on a different type of fuel, which is called messianism. Their god appeared at once and defeated their enemies. After his mishap during the Holocaust – he is back and mightier than ever. They graduated from yeshiva high schools and stormed Judea, Samaria and Gaza with unconquerable messianic passion.
"No one realized that the 'new pioneers' were possessed by demons of messianic madness. Think about the brainwashed minds, hypnotized zombies, gangs of horny teenagers forcing themselves on the country. The young generation of settlers forgot what it's like to be a Zionist."
'Settlers rule the land'
In the book, the authors also describe the differences between the Right and the Left, "A rightist is conservative. A yapper. Polemicist. Resistor. Especially in the face of change. A leftist is a revolutionist. Practical. Leads the way, dares and is victorious. The Right believes that if we continue having the upper hand, we will be saved by the heavens. The Left believes that we must redeem ourselves, by ourselves. That is the reason that Zionism is leftist."
(via YNET read more...)
(Photo by Judy Jaffie)

Thursday, April 8, 2010

America’s future is exceedingly bright.


Over the next 40 years, demographers estimate that the U.S. population will surge by an additional 100 million people, to 400 million over all. The population will be enterprising and relatively young. In 2050, only a quarter will be over 60, compared with 31 percent in China and 41 percent in Japan.

In his book, “The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050,” über-geographer Joel Kotkin sketches out how this growth will change the national landscape. Extrapolating from current trends, he describes an archipelago of vibrant suburban town centers, villages and urban cores.
Over the next 40 years, Kotkin argues, urban downtowns will continue their modest (and perpetually overhyped) revival, but the real action will be out in the compact, self-sufficient suburban villages. Many of these places will be in the sunbelt — the drive to move there remains strong — but Kotkin also points to surging low-cost hubs on the Plains, like Fargo, Dubuque, Iowa City, Sioux Falls, and Boise.
The demographic growth is driven partly by fertility. The American fertility rate is 50 percent higher than Russia, Germany or Japan, and much higher than China. Americans born between 1968 and 1979 are more family-oriented than the boomers before them, and are having larger families.
(read more...)

Ein Hod and Golden Calf 2010 (золотой теленок эйн ход)


עיצוב העגל: גיא לוגשי, צילום: מריאן מאיר, עריכה: גלריה לבנדל-בלוך
עגל הזהב 2010
עין הוד

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

The Revenge of Dr Robert Atkins

It is widely believed that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables can reduce the risk of cancer. In 1990, the World Health Association recommended eating five servings of fruit and vegetables a day to prevent cancer and other diseases. But many studies since then have not been able to confirm a definitive association between fruit and vegetable intake and cancer risk.
The authors found a small inverse association between high intake of fruits and vegetables and reduced overall cancer risk. Vegetable consumption also afforded a modest benefit but was restricted to women. Heavy drinkers who ate many fruits and vegetables had a somewhat reduced risk, but only for cancers caused by smoking and alcohol.
The authors caution against attributing any risk reduction to diet and they conclude that any cancer protective effect of these foods is likely to be modest, at best.
(read more...)

Sunday, April 4, 2010

The Howlin' Wolf Story: the definitive documentary


The Howlin' Wolf Story was directed by Don McGlynn, director of Charles Mingus: Triumph Of The Underdog and many other prize-winning film biographies. It was produced by Joe Lauro, whose company, Historic Films, Inc., supplied much of the footage for Martin Scorsese's blues series on PBS. Their in-depth look at Wolf's life and music includes astounding, rare film footage and never-before-seen photos of Wolf stalking the stage at the 1964 American Folk Blues Festival, on the TV show "Shindig" in 1965, at the 1966 Newport Folk Festival, and in the Chicago clubs in the '50s and '60s.

It also includes entertaining and revealing new interviews with Hubert Sumlin, Jody Williams, Billy Boy Arnold, Sam Lay, Paul Burlison, Wolf's stepdaughters Barbara and Bettye, Dick Shurman, and many other people who played with and knew Wolf in his heyday. This is the definitive documentary about the Wolf—the most complete, personal, and exciting look at the blues legend ever put to film!(via Boogie Disease)