Scribe, ut possis cum voles dicere: dices cum velle debebis (Pl. Ep. 6.29)
It came to me in a dream once, inspired by Supergrass' "Late in the Day", then re-inspired by Mike Watt's "Intense Song for Madonna to Sing" and zombo.com.
C Ab7 Keep me, these moments next to you, Fm9 Ab-maj G Drip me, i am never through, C Ab7 How can you be so intense, Fm9 Ab-maj G7 Keep me strumming as we dance
מאת: אמיר אהרוני
דואר אלקטרוני: אמיר_א_א@נטוויז'ן.נט.איל
מוסד/גוף: אני אזרח פרטי
כתובת למשלוח מכתבים: רח' הצבעוני 7, נשר 36831
כבוד השר,
שלום רב
כיצד יש לומר את שמו של אחד האתרים ההיסטוריים והתיירותיים החשובים ביותר בארץ-ישראל - מצדה או מסדה? Metzada או Massada? בפרסומים שונים, בעברית ובלועזית, מופיע השם בצורות שונות והדבר מבלבל אנשים רבים, ישראלים ותיירים כאחד. מן הראוי הוא שתהיה מדיניות אחידה בנושא - שהשם יופיע בצורה זהה בכל השלטים, הספרים, הנאומים, וכן - שכל מדריכי התיירים יתורגלו לומר אותו בצורה אחידה. ניתן לסמוך על האקדמיה ללשון להמליץ על הצורה המחייבת, ורק שתהיה ברורה ומוכרת לכל.
לטיפולך בנושא אודה,
אמיר אהרוני.
Hello,
What is the correct way to say the name of one of the most important historical and touristic locations in Israel -- Metzada or Massada? In various publications, Hebrew and foreign, the name appears in different spellings and confuses many people -- both Israelis and tourists. There should be a consistent policy -- the name should appear in the same spelling upon signs and books and in speeches, and all tourist guides should be trained to pronounce it consistently. You can count on the Hebrew Academy to recommend the compulsory spelling -- one that should be known to everyone.
Thank you for your attention,
Amir Aharoni.
It is XHTML 1.1 now, although still not 100% valid, but again -- only blogger code is to blame. Mostly under-the-hood improvements.
TODO:
You really don't have to read this entry unless you are interested in XML and HTML.
Now i'm strict XHTML 1.0. Not yet 100% valid, but that's only because of the auto-generated blogger advertisement code. I complained to them about it. XML "validification" included:
TODO: CSS validification. Currently it is very messy. And also -- XHTML 1.1...
On Wednesday i filed a request to check my resignation options.
On Thursday there was a team evening at Almog's place, which was surprisingly relaxing, considering that Rakhamim was there. Almog's mother is a classical pianist and she begged me to play something on her new 50,000 NIS Kawai. I was terribly shy at first, for i am very far from being a classical pianist, and i see myself as a shitty amateur. I started with "Imagine", which proved as a winner and went on with "Avshalom", and surprised myself with how great it came out. She was so happy. She told that it's her dream to play pop-muzik and not classical. Chicks luv me.
At the end of the evening i decided to give Rakhamim another chance.
I have a problem.
When i talk to an English-speaking person, and can't hear a word or a sentence he says, i ask him: "What?"
It's terribly impolite. It sounds very "Israeli". In English one should say "Excuse me?" or "I beg your pardon?..", even when talking to friends -- and i say "What?" when talking to people i don't know. Every time i do it, i regret it the moment after, but just can't rid myself of it. I should try to do better when i'm in London Town.
I really don't like to write about my job in the blog, but the situation there gets curiouser and curiouser.
I had a very hard talk with Rakhamim1 today, vented a lot of frustration at him, and right in the middle Amir G. comes in, flashes a nasty grin at me, asks Rakhamim something unrelated, and he replies -- as if i'm not even there. I quietly pointed out to Amir G.2 that i never interrupt his personal meetings, to which he replied: "You show too much chutzpah lately, and we should have a talk about that." Oh yeah, definitely, we really should talk about anything, you egocentric anti-communicative jerk of an "IT department manager".
Rakhamim came into my office later and said that he advises that i send Amir G. an apology letter. I guess it is a good idea ... for me to poop on. No chance of that happening, ever.
1 Rakhamim -- my boss.
2 Amir G. -- Rakhamim's boss. Bald.
It might be good that the wheel is in Egged's hands™, but their hands shouldn't touch any telephones. Their service is terrible.
Yesterday morning i forgot my bag in the baggage when i arrived from Jerusalem to T.A. I hated the bag and if it's gone forever i'll be glad, but inside it there were my hardcover Cassel's Latin Dictionary and "Beginner's Lithuanian" by Dambriūnas et al., both brand new and also my university notebook. Let alone the expensive books, i'm particularly sorry about the notebook, which is the best i ever had. So good that other female (!!) students asked for it, to photocopy the lessons they missed. That a female student should be able to even look inside my notebook without having to be hospitalized was unimaginable until recently, so i'll really miss it if it will be lost.
Anyway, Egged's handling of the case was disgusting, their service skills are appalling. I'm not giving up, but it's still a little depressing.
I'm going to London with El'ad 29-DEC-2003 - 03-JAN-2004. New Year's Day. Ya mama. I didn't celebrate the New Year since i came to Israel in 1991. El'ad is leaving the job the day after we return, so it's a good surprise. 649$ for flight (very good hours!) and 5 nights in 4* Victoria Plaza near Victoria Station. Thank you, American Express.
Imagine that you enter a beautiful church in Italy. There's a fresco of some night scene (Jacob's dream? Jesus' birth?) On the fresco you see a night sky, some mountains and some clouds. All this is painted church-fresco-style.
That's what i see in my window right now. The best view ever. These clouds are fresco-style. I wish i could take a picture. Amazing.
The weatherpeople say that it is the official beginning of the winter. The first actual rain, not the pilot. It is beautiful.
Told Mira stuff about Israel: about conversion to Judaism, Haredim and Eliezer Ben-Yehuda. Successfully pointed her to the Knesset site with an IP address and taught her about ping and DNS on the way.
Then she introduced me to her friend Omatchi, an Emarati who speaks Italian and we had a little impromptu Italian chat. Lui studia in Università Americana John Cabot a vicino di Via Trastevere, dieci minuti da Vaticano a piedi. C'è anche una fermata di ferrovia. A nice coincidence -- yesterday i started the second part of my Italian course, again with Paola. I'm still better at writing than in talking.
I also learned something important about the Lithuanian language today -- that it is really hard! I ordered Beginner's Lithuanian, which is supposed to be a revised version of the book my professor uses.
Yesterday evening on my way to Jerusalem i read the Latin textbook. It was the first time ever that i enjoyed homework and felt that i really should do it, the first time ever! It was worth it. Oh, the joys of Latin.
My crazy dream comes true -- i study three languages at a time and devote quite a lot of time to it! I might add Aramaic in the 2nd semester.
Good movie. One disappointment though -- i wish that the last line was different: "Does she know that my last name is Gates?"
Got myself Cassel's Latin-English English-Latin Dictionary (143NIS). Here's what it has to say about Vaticanus:
The Vatican hill on the West side of the Tiber ... ager vaticanus, the country round the Vatican, notorious for its bad soil, which produces poor wine, Cic.
N.B.: This entry looks quite differently in Mozilla and IE. Mozilla is cooler although neither is perfect.
Binamo lost big-time -- no surprise there. The Greens got 3 seats, Shinui got 1. Ya mama.
A curiosity -- everyone passed the barrier, even Labour!