Sunday, May 24, 2009

The necktie, an unnecessary relic from the past

The necktie, an unnecessary relic of the past

By David Verveer

Can anybody explain me why people put on a necktie, what is the purpose of this peculiar part of the dress code? It doesn't have any purpose, and so far I could look it up, it never had a task, like a hat, or trousers, a shirt or jacket, or socks and shoes for that matter. What I noticed when I started to look it up are the negative arguments against the necktie, without anybody promoting it, besides the manufacturers and fashion people.

According the articles I read, the necktie originated from the 18th century, blood soaked ties worn by the Croatian soldiers returning from the war in service of the French king (Louis 14th), and was then adopted by him as a status symbol, the "cravat".

Others opinioned that the necktie is a male phallic symbol, in my mind, a bid far fetched, but if you think about it, it must have had somehow a function, even if it served only as male indicator.

But do you realize the dangers of the necktie, starting with causing problems with your eyesight, if the tie is worn too tight, to an epidemic bacterial spreader, from getting dirty in the soup bowl to getting caught in the door or by moving equipment parts.

Here in Israel ties are worn by elder people, orthodox Jews or at Weddings and official ceremonies, most young people refrain from putting on a tie, logically because our warm climate. In the time of the pioneers (thirtieth, forties and fifties) wearing a tie was thought freaky, even though bank employees were required to were ties. In 1958, in my kibbutz, my friends borrowed ties I had brought with me from Europe, and after I made their knots (they had no notion how to do it) we went dressed up with ties to our Purim celebration (our kind of carnival). It was a great hilarious success, with my friends trying to be gallant with the girls, as they had seen in the movies, by helping them to sit down near the table, opening the door for them, and so on, and actions uncommon by Sabres (Israeli born).

However, still, anchormen on the Israeli Television are forced to wear ties and wear a jackets when on screen, a requirement which is silly and does not make any sense, but several times, I saw that they wore it with jeans, as the camera films only their upper part of the body.

I noted that in the tropical and subtropical countries the dress code requires a neck tie, while cooler Western Europe, the tie is getting less popular, which does not make sense, but wearing a tie has nothing to do with sense and logic.

The Dutch / German prince Claus, the late husband of Queen Beatrix, at an official ceremony, removed his necktie and placed it very demonstrative in front of his wife, the queen. His action caused the establishment of a movement called the Anti Necktie organization, which never managed to influence the official dressing, code, especially not in snobbish restaurants were only tie wearers are allowed to dine, I wouldn't go there, even if they paid me.

I think we have to ask All Gore to join the Anti Necktie movement, as people wearing ties produce more Carbon dioxide, (bullshit) and cause an increase in Global warming.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Who are we kidding?

Who are we Kidding?

By David Verveer

The forth-coming trial of Demjanjuk (or Ivan the terrible) is a stupid act of vengeance, which does not make any sense, other than giving this arch criminal another opportunity to get in the public lime light.

Of course, I do not think one moment that he should not be punished, and regret it that the Israeli Justice system did not permit his indictment on ground of insufficient evidence that this poor excuse for human being is indeed Ivan the Terrible.

But let us one moment consider the possibility that Germany has fewer scruples and after a year of limelight, and another few years of appeal, they finally decide to kill the bastard. Of course, you are not allowed to execute somebody who is terminally ill, so they will provide him with the best medical care available, paid by the tax payer, until his time finally comes and his soul will go to hell. I assume that in hell they have long forgotten his crimes against humanity, like most people on earth.

The truth is that we are too late for vengeance and punishment, and opening all the nightmares of the few surviving inmates, most all over 80 years old, who wont be able to identify somebody who terrified them so long ago, but will re-suffer their terrible ordeal, only in order to get even, which is an impossible task.

I can't think of any reason why they put up this circus, in order not to forget and not to forgive? In order to do justice? Or to show that the Germans were not the only guilty party, also Ukrainians and many other nationalities committed terrible crimes.

Don't you think that the money wasted in this trial would have been spend much better on providing the Holocaust victims an easier retirement, but who are we kidding, this publicity stunt serves only the politicians. I hope he will die soon in prison, in terrible in-human pains and suffering.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Circumsision is a religious act or justified as preventive health method

Circumcision is a religious act or justified as preventive health method?

By David Verveer

The other day, as reaction on a fiction I had written, we suddenly, jokingly started to discuss circumcision, which is performed on the Jewish boy, when only a week old, in order to allow him to join the agreement between God and the Jews. Not being religious, I still think the circumcision is a positive act, but like many others, I prefer that this rite is performed in hospital by a qualified medical doctor rather than an orthodox Jew, who specializes in circumcision, and knows which prayers to utter when he removes the foreskin of the baby boy's pin.

I personally was circumcised by the latter type, but something went wrong, and I nearly died due to loss of blood, and most probably this is the reason I got only daughters and no sons to continue our dynasty, but girls are also nice, and they do not require you to play football with them.

But getting to the point (no pun intended) why do the Jews and also the Islamic people circumcise, surely not because religious reasons, but in our dusty Middle East, and shortage of water, the space between the foreskin and the pin gets easily infected, a painful and dangerous complication, which is prevented by removing the skin.

I have read studies made by scientists against circumcision, claiming that it causes a shock and trauma to the poor boy, which will never heal, but if you consider the number of Noble price winners, who were or are Jewish, it seems that the trauma is manageable. Others claim that it reduces the pleasure in sex life, a subject I can't check, as my sex acts as a one week old boy were rather limited.

Only currently I read a study that circumcised men are less likely to get sexual related diseases, I don't know if that is true but it makes sense. Today, many boys are circumcised in hospitals around the world, without any religious seasons, as health preventive measure.

Let me end this learned discussion on circumcision by quoting an anecdote dated from the British Mandate era in Palestine.
A Jew was asked by a British Policeman, what they do with the foreskin, after removing it. The Jew told him that these foreskins are buried in the ground, and added; we than carefully irrigate them in regularly intervals, in order to get them to grow. The Policeman was amazed and asked, "Growing into what?" The Jew answered "Policemen of course, smucks all of them! This is of course only a joke; as they say, many of my best friends are British Policemen.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

An exercise on irrelevant comments

The result of the exercise on comments irrelevant to the article, published in the Daily Telegraph on May the 13th.

The current Pope had 2 Jewish Grandparents
Wednesday, May 13, 2009, 07:34 AM GMT [General]

The current Pope had 2 Jewish Grandparents



By David Verveer



I admit, I am an Internet junky, as retired senior citizen I read every morning the reader's talkbacks and opinions in numerous newspapers over the net. I read Dutch, Belgium, English (UK and US) and of course, local Israeli papers, and in general, the reactions on the article itself, if it was sufficiently controversial, will turn into a fight between extreme and highly opinionated writers looking for an excuse, to attack one at the other, on irrelevant subject that have non or an invisible relevancy to the article in question. Since the existence of Internet and E-mails most reactions intent to shock you and will include insulting remarks, un-acceptable language and angry retorts.



In order to proof the above theory, I hereby submit a fictive story, not based on anything, which could or would have happened, but still, sufficiently controversial (I hope) to create the chain of reactions, which I am looking for.



My story starts with a rumor in a French scandal paper, in which the grandparents and parents of the Pope's mother were not practicing Jews, which makes according Jewish but also the Nazi law, our Pope, a Jew. It seems that his grandparents had immigrated to Germany around the beginning of the 20th century, adopted a German sounding name of Von Regenstein, and even sent their children (including the future Pope) to Catholic schools.



The Vatican reacted last night by saying that the story was un based, and pure fiction, the Pope grandparents were never, I repeat never, never Jewish.

However, after researching the book written by the Pope himself, in his days of Cardinal, he admits that the origin of his maternal grandparents were unknown to him, a fact he tried to keep secret, for his personal safety during the Nazi period.



The Pope, who is a known theologian, has always expressed his love for the Jews, a religion he considers related to Christianity. Funny enough, the Pope, if this story is true, he can claim "right of return" and receive the Israeli Nationality, even though, he will need to be circumcised, in order to be fully accepted.


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David - Not true. I'm an uncircumcised jewish gentile and fully accepted by the Israeli community. there is more than one religion in Israel. I for one am a Christian. Do you your homework.
The Apiarist
May 13, 2009
07:42 AM GMT
Delete Comment



Dear Apiarist,
I am sorry to read that you are not circumcised, if you really want to reach heaven, please get it fixed
david
May 13, 2009
07:50 AM GMT
Delete Comment



I always wondered why the prépuce was so important. Can you enlighten us? (You might need to Google that.)
Janus
May 13, 2009
08:28 AM GMT
Delete Comment



David - Jesus said there was no need. I'll follow his lead. Besides there is no one brave enough to put a razor blade near my thingymabob
The Apiarist
May 13, 2009
08:38 AM GMT
Delete Comment



There is also the issue of "Hyper-sensitivity". being a man I don't wear silk undies. could end up with a rash you know.
The Apiarist
May 13, 2009
08:42 AM GMT
Delete Comment



The Apiarist
Jesus was circumcised as a Jew, you claim that circumcision is against Christianity,or in other words, getting baptized with holy water wont safe me? Please tell me, don't fool around with the future of my soul.
david
May 13, 2009
09:07 AM GMT
Delete Comment



David - Jesus did say that Gentiles would also be allowed into heaven. Haven't you read the Bible. It's in there somewhere. Circumcision is neither for nor against Christianity.
Jesus said "It didn't matter" any more. So my willy keeps its sleeve.
The Apiarist
May 13, 2009
09:15 AM GMT
Delete Comment



The Apiarist
My Bible is your Bible, but Your Bible is not my Bible.
But thank you for you allowing me in, with or without holy water
david
May 13, 2009
09:20 AM GMT
Delete Comment



David - If you ever want to reach heaven then I am sure Australia will let you in. come around anytime.
The Apiarist
May 13, 2009
09:28 AM GMT
Delete Comment



Dear Apiarist,
Not interested, in Australia they play cricket and drink tea with milk, Spend 3 year in the UK, that was sufficient to last me for a life time, I prefer Falafel and Humus
david
May 13, 2009
09:33 AM GMT
Delete Comment



David - There is only one heaven on Earth.
"Australia". It's in the Bible too. No kidding. They call it Paradise.

The Apiarist
May 13, 2009
09:39 AM GMT
Delete Comment



"Falafel and Humus."

Me too! And pita, olives, shwarma, tehina, peppers and that flat Turkish bread that they cook on the domed steel griddles. I would kill for a recipe for that.
help ma boab
May 13, 2009
09:52 AM GMT
Delete Comment



The Apiarist
You wont see me in paradise, for one bloody apple, you get kicked out, and I do not like snakes, which reminds me of the pope, wonder if he eats apples, or likes felaffel and humus?
david
May 13, 2009
10:19 AM GMT
Delete Comment



David - I think he likes them both. He's been seen in Italy buying "Roma Kebabs"
The Apiarist
May 13, 2009
10:22 AM GMT
Delete Comment

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Tuesday, May 12, 2009

The current Pope had 2 Jewish Grandparents



By David Verveer



I admit, I am an Internet junky, as retired senior citizen I read every morning the reader's talk-backs and opinions in numerous newspapers over the net. I read Dutch, Belgium, English (UK and US) and of course, local Israeli papers, and in general, the reactions on the article itself, if it was sufficiently controversial, will turn into a fight between extreme and highly opinionated writers looking for an excuse, to attack one at the other, on irrelevant subject that have non or an invisible relevancy to the article in question. Since the existence of Internet and E-mails most reactions intent to shock you and will include insulting remarks, un-acceptable language and angry retorts.



In order to proof the above theory, I hereby submit a fictive story, not based on anything, which could or would have happened, but still, sufficiently controversial (I hope) to create the chain of reactions, which I am looking for.



My story starts with a rumor in a French scandal paper, in which the grandparents and parents of the Pope's mother were not practicing Jews, which makes according Jewish but also the Nazi law, our Pope, a Jew. It seems that his grandparents had immigrated to Germany around the beginning of the 20th century, adopted a German sounding name of Von Regenstein, and even sent their children (including the future Pope) to Catholic schools.



The Vatican reacted last night by saying that the story was un based, and pure fiction, the Pope grandparents were never, I repeat never, never Jewish.

However, after researching the book written by the Pope himself, in his days of Cardinal, he admits that the origin of his maternal grandparents were unknown to him, a fact he tried to keep secret, for his personal safety during the Nazi period.



The Pope, who is a known theologian, has always expressed his love for the Jews, a religion he considers related to Christianity. Funny enough, the Pope, if this story is true, he can claim "right of return" and receive the Israeli Nationality, even though, he will need to be circumcised, in order to be fully accepted.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

the Pope and I


The Pope and me

By David Verveer

Today, the Pope is coming to visit us here in Israel, and indeed, as head of state and leader of the Roman Catholics, he should be treated with the Red Carpet protocol with trumpets and guards of honor. Our President, Prime Minister and other important people will be there to welcome him and tell him that we are happy with his kind gesture to come and visit us, 60 + years after his native people finished slaughtering our brethren.

Of course, we can not blame this German priest for the wrong doing of the Nazi beast; he was at the time only 16 years old, and member of the Hitler Jugend, the Nazi youth group. His participation or non-participation as young boy in extermination of the Jews would not have made any difference, and sure, more than 60 years have passed for him to regret his miniscule role in this sad era, I personally do not hate him for that.

But something peculiar is happening on his holy-land tour, instead of asking our forgiveness for this sad era, his deeds and un- holy thoughts, this ultra conservative German prince of the Christian World, comes here to criticize us, to tell us how to treat the Palestinians, at the same time, his rulings on issues such as his opposing to the use of condoms (while Aids are daily killing thousands of good Catholic Africans every day), the same representative of God on our earth, who declares homo sexually people, mentally ill. Could it be that this priest has doubts on God's creations, as the homo sexual is just like his holiness him self, a product of creation (or is my logic betraying me).

He is the last person on earth to be critical of the Jews and Israel, both because his murky past and human consideration with the plight of others. This un-clean person is today paying a visit to Yad va Shem, the Holocaust museum, to pay his tribute to the crimes of his countrymen 60+ years ago, and of course, he will claim innocence, like all Germans he will say something in the genre of "Ich habe es nicht gewust".

Does his holiness realize on his historical pilgrimage, that his God was a full blood, pedigreed Jew, as were his disciples, including Saint Paul, all with 4 Jewish Grand Parents? We should realize that this dictator who rules the Catholics world-wide is a watered down replica of the popes during the crusades, whose visit to the Holocaust memorial museum is an insult to their memory.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

this time they failed


This time, they failed!

By David Verveer

AMSTERDAM -- The man who drove his car into a crowd of parade spectators and killed six people died of his injuries Friday, leaving unresolved the mystery of why he tried to attack the Dutch royal family. The 38-year-old suspect, identified by Dutch media as Karst Tates, had been in critical condition since the attack Thursday on Queen's Day, the Dutch national holiday.

Ten other people were hurt when the man rammed his small black car through police barricades toward an open-topped bus carrying Queen Beatrix and several other members of the royal family.

He told one of the first police officers to rush to his car that the attack was aimed at the royal family, prosecutor Ludo Goossens said Thursday. But the motive was unclear. "It is very difficult now that we no longer have the suspect to reconstruct what was behind this," said Fred de Graaf, they mayor of Apeldoorn where the incident occurred.

Dutch media, citing neighbors, said Tates recently was fired from his job as a security guard and was to be evicted from his home in the small eastern town of Huissen because he could no longer afford the rent. Police said he had no history of mental illness or police record.

The neighbors described him as friendly, but a man who kept to himself, the NRC Handelsblad reported.
He was a "quiet man". Or a "loner". We don't know yet.
Prosecutors said the suspect's death ended the criminal investigation against him, but that they would continue to investigate whether he acted alone. "So far there are no indications" anybody else was involved, prosecutors said in a statement.

Police who searched the man's house Thursday "found no weapons, explosives or indications of other suspects," prosecutors said. No links with terrorism or ideological groups were immediately uncovered, they said.
Quote of a news flash published on the Net.

My theory

Reading the newspapers on the terrorist attack on the Dutch Royal Family, and the expert's conclusion, that with the death of the culprit, there is no way to discover his real motives, or if he was only a tool in the hand of anti-royalist movement or even Islamic terrorists, or who knows which twisted brains, used this peculiar loner in order to disrupt and attack the Royal family.

Let us one moment assume that a desperate man, who lost his job and becomes homeless, does not decide on going to kill the popular Dutch queen, just because he feels that he lost his taste for living, there are much easier ways of suicide, in which mass killing is one of the most unlikely alternatives.

As reported, Karst Tates was reported mentally stable, and not thought to be the type to reach in such a state of confusion to create the havoc in Apeldoorn, but the fact is, he drove into the crowd, in the direction of the Royal family as a zombie, which make me think that he was drugged, but according the police, no sufficient traces of drugs (one newspaper wrote that there were traces of cannabis found in his blood) but insufficient quantities to explain his behavior.

But let us assume for one moment that it was a conspiracy to harm the Queen, Mister Karst Tates, as a known loner, was a perfect candidate to execute this attack without leaving any traces or connecting anybody else to the crime, provided Karst indeed, would not survive the attack. We eliminated drugs, mental stress, the only other possibility remaining is, that Karst was hypnotized and programmed to execute the attack. This might be the explanation why he did not instinctively hit the brakes when plowing into the spectators, a reaction which a normative person automatically will do when he collides with people, but Karst did not release his foot from the gas, kept on racing, in the direction of the Royal Bus. Failing to hit the Bus was due to the fact that the front window of the car shattered on collusion which made it impossible for him to see his target, the Bus, and ended up hitting the monument.

The above theory is based on my phantasm, after trying to read between the lines of the reporters' impressions, the scarce information provided by the authorities and a lot of imagination, required to create likely scenery for an assignation attempt of the Royals, without leaving any traces, or a so called "perfect crime".

The motive

It is clear to anybody that Karst did not have any motive to kill or harm the Dutch Royal family, his personal problems (unemployment and homeless) are not in the jurisdiction of the monarchy and it is unlikely that he would consciously chose to hurt a family, extremely popular by the Dutch, because his personal problems, in order to commit suicide, being desperate, why would he harm others?

But if he really was hypnotized, his actions would not have been motivated by any logic behavior, and thus, becomes a perfect tool in the hands of the real killer.
I imagine that in order to create chaos and terror and confusion, by Islamic terror, choosing as target, the Royals, would be rather unlikely, but on the other hand, groups such as anti royalists, nihilists and the extreme Right, toppling the Monarchy might be an unrealistic but possible target.

Kidnap attempt?

But, what if the attack was in actually a botched plot, in order to kidnap one or more of the Royal family? What if Karst's function was simply to derail the Bus and the rescue team was the kidnapper, who due to the fact that Karst did not hit the bus, was not required and fled the scene of the crime?

The Dutch Royal family is extremely rich, kidnapping one or more members from this family would provide a large ransom possibility.
I believe the kidnap possibility is the most likely reason, as no organization claimed to have organized the attack, and all the blame is put on Karst, who conveniently died and can not spill the tale.

Dear Dr. Watson, I think I solved this rather obvious and simple case.