The Helix Nebula

Looking like a great celestial eye, this is the Helix Nebula. Discovered 200 years ago, it is a planetary nebula located in the constellation Aquarius. One of the closest to the Earth of all the bright planetary nebulae.

 NASA's Hubble telescope

(Image posted in the Nature Revives 2020 Facebook group).

 

Pottery masks for sale - Ithaca, New York

In January of 2016 I started to make pottery. I had made pottery when I was a teenager, along with other crafts, but stopped when I graduated from high school. I was inspired to start making pottery again because of a friend of mine who had many hobbies, and enjoyed them greatly. I realized that I didn't have any hobbies, and that I wanted to do something creative that appealed to my artistic side. I took classes at the Clay School of Ithaca, and I got hooked. I started with throwing on the wheel, but I never managed to get as good at it as I felt I needed to be, and took a handbuilding class and discovered that I enjoyed it much more. 

In 2015, on a visit to Israel, I went to an exhibit at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem that displayed ancient stone masks from the Neolithic period. I became fascinated and started to make my own - first trying to copy the Neolithic masks and then creating my own designs based on the stone masks but in my own style.

I'm now selling these masks at a local pottery pop-up store (open until December 23). If you're interested in looking at them in person, they're being sold in the back room at Buffalo Street Books, in the Dewitt Mall, which is open from 12:00-4:00 pm.

 

Biden Beats Trump NY Times front page of Sunday, November 8

 A little tardy, I know...

Trump denounces the "globalists" once again at the end of the 2020 campaign

Another reminder of the 2016 election - the globalists...communists...socialists...wealthy liberals. And who are they? 

Jews, just as in his last advertisement in 2016, which entwined Hillary Clinton together with the "globalists" Janet Yellen, Lloyd Blankenfeld (head of Goldman Sachs), and George Soros.

Headstones in Jewish cemetery in Grand Rapids, MI covered with "Trump" and "MAGA" graffiti today

For those who remember the end of the election campaign in 2016, there are some horrifyingly similar incidents happening now. 

A Jewish cemetery in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was desecrated today, just before Trump's last rally of the election campaign there. Headstones were covered by graffiti in red paint reading "Trump" and "MAGA."

Halloween in Fall Creek, Ithaca

The Fall Creek neighborhood is usually the epicenter of Halloween celebrations in Ithaca. Hundreds of families from other neighborhoods and towns spill into the neighborhood to trick or treat. Little spidermen, witches, spiders, robots, ghouls, bumblebees, lions, tigers, and bears crowd the sidewalks going from house to house and collecting candy into their bulging pillowcases. Residents elaborately decorate their front porches to welcome the visitors. Pumpkins, willowy ghosts floating from trees, skeletons coming out of the ground, whole graveyards in front yards create the spooky Halloween atmosphere.

This year is quite different. There are still decorated porches and front yards, but it's much quieter, with many fewer children and teenagers out trick or treating. Some households decided to offer treats, but used safe methods to deliver candy. A favorite method, suggested by those discussing Halloween in the neighborhood listserve, was the candy shute - a long pipe down the front stairs, with candy sliding down it into the waiting hands of children. 

And then there was the bicycle parade - bikes and trikes ridden by people in costumes, both children and adults, some carrying frames with the sun and the planets glowing in the darkness, a caterpillar in several segments, a giant picture book, a bowling pin, and strings of lights. The parade began at the end of my street and then drove through the neighborhood down to the Commons and then back. 

Welcoming skeleton

Political pumpkins

Decorated porch

Giant tarantula

Masked caterpillar

Cat Tales glowing book

Circus caravan

Suspect in antisemitic hate crimes arrested in Ithaca.

The police today arrested a person whom they suspect of antisemitic harassment in Ithaca in the last couple of weeks. When they searched his residence, they found more hate posters and bomb-making materials. I had feared that he was going to move on from posters and graffiti to physical violence.

From Ithaca Voice (go there for there for the whole story):

ITHACA, N.Y. –– The Ithaca Police Department has internally identified a suspect after at least three businesses in downtown Ithaca were vandalized with anti-Semitic and racist graffiti and posters over the weekend. Upon investigation, police uncovered materials for homemade explosives and firearms at the suspect's residence and at another "undisclosed location."

This weekend's crimes followed a similar incident last week that included the defacement of a sign outside a local chiropractor's office.

At this time the suspect is not being named, and their status is unknown except for that they are, "not out in the community," according to an IPD press release. However, police did say in their release that they plan to pursue multiple counts of Criminal Mischief in the fourth degree as a Hate Crime.

One of the hate posters is below. There's a threat of violence on the left-hand side: "Guns are the only way to smoke your predators," next to the photo of a pistol. This poster was glued over the Black Lives Matter sign on Moosewood Restaurant a couple of days ago. 

The Sunny Days store on the Commons was also defaced with spray-painted hate symbols, and more of these posters, and last week, an anti-racist banner on a chiropractor's office on Court Street was blocked out by the word "kike." (The sign originally said "End White Silence," and the owner had it repainted, but then the vandal tore the whole banner down).

Press release from the Ithaca Police Department:

End White Silence - fighting against racism and antisemitism.

The repainted sign on Court Street in Ithaca.

A visit to Taughannock Falls

I went to Taughannock Falls yesterday afternoon with a friend. The falls are 215 feet high, higher than Niagara Falls (but nowhere near as wide!). We're having the last of the fall weather and the trees have shed most of their leaves, but there were still some colors there yesterday. We didn't expect a lot of people there, but there were many people coming and going to the Falls - fortunately, almost all of them were masked and they generally kept socially distanced. 

Why the rogue cloud appeared over Jerusalem

 From the Facebook page of Yerushamayim, the Jerusalem weather site -

"Someone said: sometimes Jerusalem is the center of the world"

And the explanation from Boaz (who runs the Yerushamayim site) - translation by Rahel Jaskow

A rogue cloud in Jerusalem

It rained in Jerusalem today - the first rain of the fall, an exciting event in Israel, where it doesn't rain all summer.

The rest of the country was dry, and the rain was not predicted by the forecasters.

Rogue cloud treats Jerusalem to first surprise shower of season

A freakishly hot summer in Jerusalem is being capped by a freak rainstorm that has swept across the city, bringing showers and joy to the capital.

The rainstorm is freakish not for the time of year — in fact it’s a bit late for the first rain of the season — but because it appears to have come out of nowhere.

Forecasts for Tuesday called for unseasonably warm weather and partially cloudy skies. The storm appears to be the result of a single large cloud that sneaked across the city.

“One cloud (the sky is clear nationwide) throws off all the models,” tweets the amateur meteorologist behind the popular Yerushamayim weather site, which crashes thanks to the storm.

“Fine, you caught me with my pants down. You don’t need to bring down the site,” he adds.

The first rain of the season is always an event in Israel, where the dry season lasts from mid-spring until early fall.

Antisemitism is alive and well in Ithaca, New York

 

Defaced sign on a friend's business in downtown Ithaca. "End White Silence," and the word "Kike" written over "Silence."

Ithaca is a liberal small city in a conservative area of upstate New York. There have been some right-wing demonstrations here lately, mostly for "Blue Lives Matter." I've seen other racist graffiti in downtown in the last few months, and recently the "Black Lives Matter" mural on nearby streets was defaced (see entry below). In Ithaca in the 1980s, there were some antisemitic incidents when a notorious antisemite and Holocaust denier was living here (he's no longer here, thank goodness).

I hope we can find out who did this and call them out for their antisemitism and racism.

Trees and flowers.....

 

It tolls for thee.

The first death of a person from Covid in Tompkins County just occurred today. The person was 95 years old. The name hasn't been released. May their memory be for a blessing for family and friends.

No man is an island,

Entire of itself,

Every man is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less.

As well as if a promontory were.

As well as if a manor of thy friend's

Or of thine own were:

Any man's death diminishes me,

Because I am involved in mankind,

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;

It tolls for thee.

--- John Donne

Black Lives Mural in Ithaca defaced last night and then repainted today.

Here in Ithaca, NY, on August 22, a beautiful Black Lives Matter mural was painted on Plain Street, at the intersection with State/Martin Luther King Street), by a whole group of people. I still haven't had a chance to look at it but I have seen photos of it. (See here for a photo series of the mural painting).

This is what the mural looked like soon after it was originally painted on the street (photo taken by a drone):

Yesterday afternoon there was a pro-Trump, "Blue Lives Matter" demonstration in downtown Ithaca (this was the second one - the first one was last week or the week before).

Late last night/early Sunday morning, at 3:30 am, a group of people went to the BLM mural and defaced it with gobs of black paint, which they then spread over the word "Black," so that it read "Lives Matter." (A security camera on the street filmed them doing it). 

Here's a couple of stills, showing part of the mural already defaced:

Today, the defaced portion of the mural was beautifully repainted.

I hope there won't be any more attempts to deface it and take away the important message that Black lives do matter. This statement doesn't exclude people of other races or ethnicities, but asserts that in the United States, where Black lives have for so long not mattered, it's necessary to work against racism and for racial justice.

Articles about the vandalism and the repainting:

https://www.14850.com/100416036-vandals-mural-2010/

https://www.14850.com/100416060-mural-restored-2010/

Who are the Proud Boys?

 

The #ProudBoys have released a new logo/graphic. In case you had any doubts as to who’s secured the overt white supremacist vote. #PresidentialDebates2020 pic.twitter.com/Z0lEASrXc9

— Raquel Evita Saraswati (@RaquelEvita) September 30, 2020

'Stand back': to take a few steps backwards

'Stand by': to be or to get ready to act #Debates2020

— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) September 30, 2020

The refusal of the President of the United States to denounce white supremacists on nationwide TV when asked to do so directly, launches us into a new and very, very ominous place.

— Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sifill_LDF) September 30, 2020

Are the Proud Boys antisemitic?

The phenomenal @BenjaminSales wrote this in 5 minutes! No, seriously, it's not a case of Trump inadvertently boosting a story Ben's been working on for a week! https://t.co/LL1AYYCVnJ via @jtanews

— (((Ron Kampeas))) (@kampeas) September 30, 2020

Trump gives go-ahead to fascist "Proud Boys" for violent action during the election

New York Times reporting on Trump's remarks about right-wing extremists at tonight's debate. He directly addressed the Proud Boys, a violent, fascist militia that attacks Black Lives Matter protestors and others demonstrating in favor of racial justice.

President Trump refused to categorically denounce white supremacists on Tuesday night, diverting a question about right-wing extremist violence in Charlottesville, Va., and Portland, Ore., into an attack on “left-wing” protesters.

“Are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and groups to say they need to stand down and not add to the violence and number of the cities as we saw in Kenosha and as we’ve seen in Portland?” Chris Wallace, the moderator, asked the president.

“Sure. I’m willing to do that,” said Mr. Trump, quickly adding, “Almost everything I see is from the left wing. Not from the right wing.”

When Mr. Wallace pressed on, the president asked, “What do you want to call them?”

“White supremacists,” the moderator replied.

“Proud Boys, stand back and standby,” he said, apparently addressing the far-right group, then added: “But I’ll tell you what. I’ll tell you what. Somebody has to do something about antifa and the left. This is not a right-wing problem. This is left wing.”

Mr. Trump highlighted left-wing violence when asked to condemn white supremacists, despite racist extremists’ committing more lethal attacks in recent years. Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, the acting deputy secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, said days later that “when white supremacists act as terrorists, more people per incident are killed.”

When Mr. Wallace pointed out that Mr. Trump’s own F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray, had said that antifa is an idea, not an organization, the president replied, “You have to be kidding.” (The director also said this month that “racially motivated violent extremism,” mostly from white supremacists, has made up a majority of domestic terrorism threats.)

More on the Proud Boys from the SPLC - https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/proud-boys.

Ruth Bader on "One People" after the end of WWII

When she was in eighth grade, Ruth Bader (later to become Ruth Bader Ginsburg), wrote a very thoughtful article for the graduation issue of the Bulletin of East Midwood Jewish Center.

Some highlights:

"The war has left a bloody trail and many deep wounds not too easily healed. Many people have been left with scars that take a long time to pass away. We must never forget the horrors which our brethren were subjected to in Bergen-Belsen and other Nazi concentration camps. Then, too, we must try hard to understand that for righteous people hate and prejudice are neither good occupations nor fit companions. Rabbi Alfred Bettleheim once said, 'Prejudice saves us a painful trouble, the trouble of not thinking.' In our beloved land families were not scattered, communities not erased nor our nation destroyed by the ravages of the World War."

"Yet, dare we be at ease? We are part of a world whose unity has been almost completely shattered. No one can feel free from danger and destruction until the many torn threads of civilization are bound together again."

 

The smoke from the west coast fires has reached eastern Massachusetts

None of these photos shows the true color of the sun. It was very hazy, and the sun was orange. It was almost possible to stare at it directly.

200,000 Americans have died of Covid since the end of January, 2020