One for the Little Guy

For all of us who have ever complained of poor service on buses, trains, etc. JPost finally has an answer. If only other agencies could be held liable for their follies (MTA?):

Bus passenger wins suit for years of service disruptions

A court has awarded a bus passenger NIS 17,800 in damages in a precedent-setting lawsuit against the Egged bus company, court documents released Tuesday showed.

The claimant, Yitzhak Carmeli of Kiryat Ye’arim, sued the national bus company in Jerusalem’s small claims court following a decade of repeated service disruptions on the Egged bus line between his home and the capital, and after hundreds of complaints to the bus company and the Transportation Ministry went unheeded.

Judge Avraham Tenenbaum ruled on Sunday that the passenger, who rode the line four times a day, was right in all his complaints and fined the bus company the maximum amount allowed by law in such a case, adding that the claimant actually deserved to be awarded an even higher compensation.

The judge wrote in his ruling that buses that leave late or change their routes inevitably end up hurting all the passengers and not just the claimant, adding that he encouraged other passengers to “stand up for their rights” and file complaints with the bus company if they encounter such unacceptable and inexcusable service disruptions.

“The time of the public is not to be forfeited, not even one minute of its time,” Tenenbaum wrote in the ruling, adding that sometimes harsh punishment needed to be meted out.

A secondary lawsuit against the state for negligence was rejected.

Isreali Explaining Chanukah

During Chanukah, Israeli’s eat powdered sugared jelly donuts known as sufganyiot. The video above gives a comprehensive history of why this is so.

Giant Israeli Flag Breaks World Record

Nothing much to add for this one.

From HAARETZ:

Giant Israeli flag breaks world record for largest in world
By The Associated Press

Beneath the ancient Jewish desert strongpoint of Masada, the world’s largest flag was unfurled Sunday, covering a large stretch of sandy hinterland.

The huge blue and white Israeli flag, 660 meters (2,165 feet) long and 100meters (330 feet) wide and weighing 5.2 metric tons, breaks the record for the world’s largest, according to the Tourism Ministry.

It was measured by representatives for the Guinness Book of Records.

Continue reading Giant Israeli Flag Breaks World Record…

Iran, Israel, Ahmadinejad, Gays, New York

Amosmos & DD bring us some street interviews from New York City, where they ask New Yorkers what they think of Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s comments yesterday at Columbia University. We think you’ll like…

Happy New Year

For all you folks who don’t know, Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) begins tomorrow evening and to wish a happy new year in Israel or with your Jewish friends you say, Shana Tova!

The NY Post Cartoonist Does it Again

Pimpin’ IS not Necessarily Easy

In more fake news this week, our distinguished Ambassador to the UN made an appearance on the Daily Show in continuance of our efforts to engage with America’s youth (i.e. everyone working in this office). All in all, we think he held his own with a stiff upper lip. However, according to our colleagues at the UN mission, Amb. Gillerman does not necessarily think that ‘Pimpin’ IS Easy’ despite his measured reading of the script.

From Ynet:

Gillerman goes on The Daily Show

Israeli ambassador to UN steps into the ring as first ambassador to be interviewed on Jon Stewart’s satirical news show. In effort to reach young audiences with Israeli public relations, Gillerman answers questions on nukes, having a country run by Jews - and reads from porno script

By: Yitzhak Benhorin

WASHINGTON – In attempt to reach a new audience to improve Israel’s public image, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman decided to be the first ambassador hosted on the television satire The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Continue reading Pimpin’ IS not Necessarily Easy…

Red Nose, Giant Shoes and a Stethoscope

In the wake of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, Israelis were among the first on the scene, offering to help. But rather than arriving dressed in army gear and flak jackets, some wore red noses and oversized shoes.

Taking seriously the old saying that laughter is the best medicine, the University of Haifa in Israel is now offering perhaps the only degree program in the world in medical clowning. I kid you not. Students take courses in the Theater Department, the Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Studies, and a course entitled the Sociology of Humor and Clowning.

Check out the story from our friends at Israel21c.org.

Israeli degree in ‘medical clowning’ a prescription for health
By Asher Goldstein

Laughter is the best medicine - an old saying, but one that the University of Haifa is taking seriously by introducing Israel’s first degree program - and perhaps the only degree in the world - in medical clowning.

“It’s a kind of start-up actually,” said Herzel Ziyoni about the pilot program being offered by the university’s Department. of Theater.

Ziyoni is one of the 19 students in the special, one-year BA degree program, all of whom already practice medical clowning. They belong to a group of 36 medical clowns who call themselves “Dream Doctors.” The group, set up four years ago by the Keren Magi Foundation, is now a fixture in 16 Israeli hospitals from Nahariya to Beersheva. The foundation is also paying these students’ tuition.

Though the hospitals accept the presence of medical clowns, they don’t consider them part of the staff. The students hope that the new degree program will change this situation.

Continue reading Red Nose, Giant Shoes and a Stethoscope…

You Go Girl

Getting people to talk about themselves is easy. But having the New York Times write a half page expose on your history, talents and exploits definitely takes more than the gift of gab or a talented publicist. So, we have to give props to Iris Bahr, the young Israeli- American writer and performer of the play “Dai”, who the NYT profiled last week.

You may recognize the writer, actor, neuropsychologist from her hilarious role as the uptight Orthodox girl sitting next to Larry David on the ski lift in Curb Your Enthusiasm…

So Many Different People to Be, Onstage and Off, if She Can Dodge the Trucks

By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON

Iris Bahr’s résumé reads as if it were pasted together from the résumés of a bunch of people who have never met.

At one point she’s working for Israeli intelligence; then she’s the author of a memoir about, among other things, her attempts to lose her virginity. Here she is playing opposite Larry David on television; here she is playing opposite Larry the Cable Guy in a movie. Oh, and here is Ms. Bahr studying neuropsychology at Brown University.

Continue reading You Go Girl…

Save Me Falafel Man

We all love comics, even if we all can’t admit it. Whether its X-Men, Silver Surfer, Peanuts, or Far Side, few are impervious to the humor and drama found in the drawings both crude and sophisticated of our modern day minstrels of ink.

Now there is a new edition to the pantheon of heroes and villains who excite and mystify the minds of pre-teens and middle age closet comic lovers alike: Falafel Man. I know, I know, bare with me here.

Falafel Man is the creation of Dorit Maya-Gur, an Israeli student at the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art in New Jersey. She was inspired to create this unlikely culinary hero when she was rescued by the NJ police and fire department while unsuccessfully cooking falafel in her college dorm.

In the book, Falafel Man, like some of his comic counterparts, became a hero during a freakish laboratory accident in an experiment with Falafel. He is a beer bellied, falafel eating, crime fighter who has an affinity for California’s governor…

Don’t ask, just read the original article here .

BTW- the new comic book was presented at the Ka-Boom 3 annual comic’s convention in Tel Aviv.