@tomsdesk said:

I'm thinking when a day of Atonement becomes enough time, a day of Thanksgiving may then be seen as too short. Imagine that!

Excellent!

@thoscon said:

Dear Gidon,

May I ask if you are of a Christian or Jewish family heritage? I'm curious to know whether you were raised in a religious home.

Best Regards,

Thomas

Hi Thomas,
I was raised in a Jewish home. My late father was vehemently anti religious while my mother always had clearly Conservative leanings. Nevertheless they were one of the most loving couples I had ever seen. My fathers anti religiousity was a direct result of having lived through the Holocaust. Curiously enough, so were my mothers conservative religious leanings. He was from Belgium and she was from Hungary. They were both pre-teens during WW-2. All during my childhood we observed the different holidays and it was only as an adult that my fathers feelings regarding religion were made known to us, his children. Before my father died, some 5 years ago, he made it clear that he would have no objection to a traditional religious burial ceremony so as not to hurt my mothers and my sisters (my sister being a ultra-orthodox)feelings.

Gaieus, I think there are many things that non-religious people can learn from religious texts and traditions precisely because these texts were, first and foremost, written by people. All profound religious texts were written by profoundly wise human beings. These texts more often than not reveal the incredible depth and breadth which human compassion and understanding can reach.

Today was Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which for religious Jews is the holiest day of the year. Traditionally it is during this day that all Jews are evaluated by God and are earmarked for reward or punishment, prosperity or poverty, health or sickness, life or death. Observant Jews fast and spend the entire day in the synagogue praying for forgiveness and mercy before Lord of Hosts.
There is one particular aspect of the traditions of this day that I have embraced wholeheartedly for years. The first and most crucial step in the process of atonement is an honest, intensive and uncompromising introspective soul searching that has to be followed up with actively seeking out all those who you believe you had wronged during the course of the year and asking their forgiveness. Whether you wronged that person in business or spoke ill of them or lied to them or what-ever, you have to personally face them, admit your transgression and ask forgiveness. Only after you have squared yourself with your fellow man can you then begin to beg mercy for yourself from God. That to me is a very powerful idea.
Now I'm sure a number of you will remember that I am an atheist and will ask why I should be so profoundly moved by this tradition. The answer is that in it's essence it isn't so much a profound religious idea as it is an astounding social one. What we are basically looking at is the setting aside of one day in a year in which one is compelled to take a long hard look at ones-self and then go and do what is probably the most difficult thing for a person to do – to ask forgiveness. Not from a God who is believed to be infinitely loving and forgiving to begin with but from our fellow man, who we know is just as pig headed and stubborn and irrational as we are.
Traditionally Jews fast on this day as a sign of their willingness to suffer hardship in order to atone for their sins. I don't fast. The whole fasting thing strikes me as somewhat childish. Going without food or drink for a day is difficult? Please! There's nothing to it! Going a whole day without making excuses for yourself or rationalizing your misdeeds – now that's hard. You can go for days without food and months, even years, without sex. When was the last time you tried to get through one day, just one day, without excuses. Without a rationalization? It's next to impossible!
That's what makes this day so profound, so special.
There's only one other holiday that compares to it and that's Thanksgiving. It is equally important to set aside a day to truly count your blessings as it is to count your transgressions. For just one day a year you should stop your whining and complaining and bitching and generally feeling sorry for yourself and take a good look at how much you have to be thankful for.
As far as I'm concerned, if everyone all around the world would adopt these two special days you can chuck all the other holidays out and the world would be far better for it.

Mike, thank you so very much!
I can't remmember when I'd downloaded a utility and immediatly used it again and again and again, smiling and chuckeling to myself the whole while. I must have blessed you and the people who created it at least 50 times just today.
So again,
thanks.

Tom, I know you said it has to be something you'd made yourself but I don't know how to make them and I got very very very frustrated so I'm using someone elses that pretty much sums up my frustration.

BTW, how do you insert this sort of thing into the body of the post rather than as attachment?

Brilliant!

"If you don't know where you're going, you'll never get there"

@gaieus said:

[Didn't mean to criticise you Gidon - it was (or at least seemed) just unusual to me.

I didn't think you were criticising me, my friend.
And even if you were, a bit of criticism from friends is a good thing .

Oooooooooooooooooooh! Very crafty John!
13 faces, cut the middle one in half and join the co-planer halves.
Fiendishly elegant solution !

I lived in South Africa for 6 years (1971-1977) and got seriously hooked on rooibos (which means "red bush" in Africaans). Eversince I got back to Israel I regularly have my friends in South Africa send me a supply.
There's nothing like it for upset stomachs and insomnia.
Actualy, I suspect that the insomnia-cure part is probably more auto-suggestion than anything in the rooibos itself but then again, who cares. You can't sleep, you make yourself a cup of rooibos, you settle back with a contented grin sipping your rooibos tea, and before you know it, you're nodding off.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Good night guys

@sorgesu said:

Something pithy, discussed with the greatest sense of polite respect, like we used to. Gidon, you start. I'd like to hear more about that amazing university professor that you had. The one that talk about desecrating a sacred rock by sitting on it. Go...!

Susan Hi! It's so nice to hear from you again!
How's this for an idea: I'll start a thread at the corner bar called "Sitting on a sacred rock." and we'll see how many people jump in.
I must say I was almost tempted to start one where I'd ask to hear peoples views on what's happenning in Gaza with the Hamas coup but remembering the intensity of the last political discussion I started, I refrained .

@unknownuser said:

Gidon, you need to get your priorities right!

You're right Ross! First the news then the mail.

@shaun tennant said:

actually I just realised something else too, there are so many knowledgable users here that there are a lot fewer questions.. seriously - I haven't seen too many "how do you do this?" or "where did this go?" or even "what rendering program is the best" type posts.

Shaun, I'm sure that must be it. As soon as I read that I realised that you hit the nail squarely on the head. Many of the posts, though they may start off with a spcific question or request, develop into more of a conversation which could quite easily have been posted at the corner bar ( or Falafel stand, if it were here in Israel) .

I don't know about you all, but this is the first place I go to every day after checking my mail and the news.

Is it just my imagination or have things really slowed down here?

Hi Tod.
Nice to finaly meet you avatar to avatar.

Thanks Dean.

@bytor said:

Very Nice Gidon!

Thanks for sharing, is this your own design?

Bytor

Thanks Dean.
No, it's not my design. I've seen a lot of them and I'm working on a small restuaraunt/diner and needed that sort of table and thought maybe others would find it useful.

@gaieus said:

Really cool Gidon - though a bit "unusual" for a sqare table to have three legs.

Unusual? Not realy. I've seen a lot of these sort of table in cafes and diners where they want small tables that can comfortably seat 4 people yet be always stable and not wobbeling because one of the legs bent or the plastic cap on the bottom fell off or what-ever.
Three legs is always stable.

Welcome Joe.
Make yourself at home.

Here's another little thingy.

3-legged table.skp

I was hoping you'd show up here, Tod. Funny, I always pictured you with a beard. Don't know why...