The Happiest People On Earth

This past weekend I went to Denmark to visit with my old roommate, Thomas Schack von Brockdorff. I learned a number of lessons during the trip. First of all, Thomas no longer goes by SvB, and hasn't for the past decade. His current last name contains an Æ one of the three letters (Æ, Ø, and Å) that Danish has, and English doesn't. Perhaps that's why I had a hard time finding him.

Thomas and I were roommates in 1988-89 in Jerusalem. You may wonder, why a non-Jewish Dane was living in Jerusalem? Thomas went to Israel in 1987 together with some of his high school buddies to volunteer at a kibbutz. Thomas eventually left the kibbutz and found a job at Cowboy Fudge, located in the back of Happening on Ben Yehudah Street. My girlfriend at the time was the manager of the fudge stand, and in one fell swoop, Thomas found a job and a place to live. Things didn't work out with my girlfriend, and the weekend she moved out, in late November 1988, I went AWOL from the army with two of my friends, Phil and Freddie Fresh. The next twelve days became "Freedom Fest," a time when our little group would grow closer and wilder, and our apartment became known as The Swamp.

Recently, Oprah called the Danes "The Happiest People on Earth." I wanted to find out if this was true, so I took every opportunity to ask Danes if they agreed. In this clip, I get answers from Thomas, his old friends who came to Israel with him in 1987, strangers in night clubs, and Thomas' girlfriend Chrissilda. (Look for the segment where the Danish goyim break into song with "Heveinu Shalom Aleichem.")


Clipping the card:

When using the public transportation system in Denmark, one of the most economical ways to go is to get at 10 ride klippekort, or cut card. When entering a station, you put your clip card into a machine that stamps the time and cuts off a piece of the card itself. The card can be used for transfers within two hours of clipping. By the end of the weekend, I was an expert in clipping the card.



Quick Summary of the Vacation:

• A good schvitz.
  
• Live jazz at La Fontaine.
• Frequent visits to Christiania. Bevar Christiania!
  
• Glass Candy at Vega.
• Drank lots of Tuborg Julebryg, and that's before I saw the commercial which predates the beer.
  

What I leaned on the trip:

• The Danish eat danishes, but they call it wienerbrød, which means Viennese Bread.
  
• Danes don't dress up for Halloween, but kids do for Fastelavn, which, like other Carnival celebrations, falls out closer to Purim. During this holiday, kids play slå katten af tønden, which means "beating the cat out of the barrel." Although today it's more of a piñata-style game, it began with a real black cat beaten out of a suspended barrel.
• When you share your wisdom with someone, it's called, sharing the golden nuggets. At least that's what Christian Brøns told me as he wrote down some of my classic one-liners.
• Hi in Danish means, "hi." Like the word shalom in Hebrew, it's used for hello and goodbye.

At the end of a long Swampy weekend, both Thomas and I were wiped out. After 20 years, nothing has changed.

Thomas in 2009:

Thomas in 1989:

Hi hi, Danmark, tak for alt det sjove.

Here's all the pictures:

I Love Music

City Hall

Taken with the spy camera.

DJ Deck and Bicycle

Spying on the Monkeys

Today I became a member of the Philadelphia Zoo. As zoos go, I guess it's alright. I hadn't anticipated how packed it would be, and how many small children would be in costume. So, it was a little crowded. Also, I went to the zoo today in order to observe the golden lion tamarins. After having a conversation with a zoo employee dressed as Super Mario, I learned that, the golden lion tamarins weren't available to hang with the guests. Instead I got stuck looking at the pied tamarins. The pied tamarin is a hideous beast, with a glare that is disturbing. A big momma walking near the pied tamarin cage at first told her daughter to look at the monkey, but after giving it a good look, changed her mind and said, "Yo, that monkey's crazy." A good friend of mine has suggested that, even though he's a member of the gorilla society, the only way to deal with the pied tamarin is with fire. And lots of it. In fact, the native population of humans made their best attempt to exterminate this freakish species. But the Philadelphia Zoo is taking the lead in helping this hideous creature survive.

The most confounding thing is that I couldn't find my camera today. I figured it was with my hoodie, since I couldn't find that either. So as I rode my bike to the zoo, I stopped at a drugstore and picked up smallest cheapest digital camera I could find. I doesn't really have a viewfinder or screen or anything, so there was a lot of guesswork. I didn't take many pictures in the zoo, because I felt creepy, being an adult male, alone, and surrounded by families and small children in halloween costumes. I did manage to get one picture of the Bolivian titi monkeys. It's not that great a pic, but if you know titi monkeys, you will have no problem identifying them in the photo.

On the way home, I decided to walk my bicycle along the banks of the Schuylkill while listening to Gil Scott-Heron's Pieces of a Man. Every once and I while I would attempt to take pictures of things. As I was finishing one of these picture taking attempts, a man noticed my tiny camera and asked if I was a spy. I assured him that I was not, and that he wouldn't be able to prove it anyways.

Corn Forks Version 0.8

I was having a tech problem with this mix. After discussing the issue with some of my geekier friends, I've resolved the tech problem.

I'm having a problem with the mix itself. It was created for the drive to and from the shore this summer. Now the leaves are starting to change colors, and I feel differently about the mix.

So, after a long delay, here's your preview of Corn Forks.
Download the mix as a zipped folder with MP3s.
Download the mix as one big WMA file.
See the playlist with links to videos of the songs.

Feedback and comments are appreciated.

A Happy Yom Kippur on Twitter

Yom Kippur was trending on Twitter this year. Trending means that it's one of the most common terms being used on Twitter at that moment. It's interesting to see what people were tweeting about. There were a ton of tweets about either having the day off of school or not having it off. The same applies to work. It also seems a lot of people had extra time on their hands since the commute was so much easier without all the Jews going to work. Then there were people saying "happy yom kippur," others saying, "it's solemn, not happy," and yet others saying, "get over it."

Here's My Top Ten Yom Kippur Tweets for 5770:

• 10 - Ground Rules

@HowardKurtz

A rabbi says atoning for Yom Kippur on Twitter & Facebook doesn't work. Gosh darn it. http://tinyurl.com/y9gf3e6

• 9 - Half Jewish

@russpalmer:

waaaait...I just realized, if it's Yom Kippur, and I'm semi-jewish..I'm not supposed to work..which means I can leave the office
(It launched a discussion of being half-Jewish on his page: are you half-circumcized?)

• 8 - Not Even Half

@jmarrapodi

Yom Kippur. Jewish day for repentance & thoughts of atomement. I am remembering my at-one-ment with God thru the Messiah, Jesus.

• 7 - I Am My Own Jewish Friend

@swarheit

Called a colleague today, totally forgetting he's Jewish and today is Yom Kippur. What makes it really bad is *I'm* Jewish. Oops.

• 6 - Twitter Is Better Than Hebrew School

@igby0315

Thanks twitter for reminding me I need to call my grandparents... it's Yom Kippur. I already missed Rosh Hashanah... oops.

• 5 - No Clue About Yom Kippur or Jews

@SnowKingKC

Happy Yom Kippur to all my Jewish buddies out there. Take it easy on the Menishevitz. That could lead to one nasty hangover.

• 4 - Noticing the Divine Hand

@Blazey

i think god may be punishing me for going to work on yom kippur. "oh you want to work on the holiday? Fine, work all 24 hours then."

• 3 - Wishing On A Weinstein

@jonnymilba

TBS is playing the banned-by-Fox Jewish episode of Family Guy. On Yom Kippur. Huh. #badtiming

• 2 - Where Do YOU Go To Shul?

@Malkah

Tweeted about my breasts in a synagogue and gained a handful of pornbots and a @TinyJesus. I *might* be doing Yom Kippur wrong.

• 1 - Just As Fast

@79protons

It's ok to eat Burger King on Yom Kippur because it's "Fast food"