Reading a Holocaust Book

So, I had this Holocaust book sort of thrust upon me. I am usually not one to read Holocaust books, but somehow I wound up reading it.

It's not a very well written book. I don't think the author is a good writer. But the stories are compelling. The history of another small town in Galicia that I'd never heard of. Really the same story as all the other towns.

The book is basically a guy trying to figure out what happened to a part of his family during the war. Just a regular guy, just a regular family.

Here's something he says that I didn't know about (assuming it's true). Apparently, the constant shooting of women and children eventually got the to German soldiers and they were having problems doing it. That is one of the reasons why they had to switch from mass shootings to gassings.

I have to confess, as I was reading the stories of the degradations and the depravity of what the Nazis did to the poor people of this town, I started having sort of subliminal thoughts - maybe this is being exaggerated. It was really hard to believe that this could actually be true. But then I remembered of what happened at Abu Ghraib with the US soldiers and the Iraqi prisoners and I thought better.

Some Ska for Friday - Midnight Sushi

Ladies and Gentlemen, the St Petersburg Ska Jazz Review

Anxiety

Was listening to an anxiety researcher on the radio. According to her, Americans have very high anxiety levels, much higher than say Nigerians, or Chinese, or Monterrey Mexicans despite what we would think would be much less stressful lives.

According to her the key differences are - the rugged individualist ethic of Americans, which means no reliance on community or extended family, and the abundance of choice with the corresponding stress of making the right choice.

"I Married A Jew" - Atlantic Magazine, Jan 1939

Interesting article...

To me, one of the interesting things about is the fact that she keeps referring to Jews as a race. I wonder if this was prevalent in the 1930's...

Operation Barbarossa

At 4 am on the morning of June 22, 1941 Hitler's army began the bombing of the Soviet Union, initiating Operation Barbarossa.

We are the optometrists that say "Ni"?

The Cynical Dairy Farmer's Guide to the Middle East...

Saudi Arabia
You have two cows with endless reserves of milk. Gorge them with grass, prevent them from interacting with bulls, and import South Asians to milk them.

Iran
You have two cows. You interrogate them until they concede they are Zionist agents. You send their milk to southern Lebanon and Gaza, or render it into highly enriched cream. International sanctions prevent your milk from being bought on the open market.

Syria
You have five cows, one of whom is an Alawite. Feed the Alawite cow well; beat the non-Alawite cows. Use the milk to finance your wife's shopping sprees in London.

[full article here]

Joseph Conrad - born in Berdichev

Yet another weird thing I learned today...

Klezmer Hip-Hop

Well, everyday I learn something new. Today I found about two things. The first was Edward VII's siege d'amour, but that's not important right now.

Apparently there is an interest among (gentile) hip-hop musicians to remix klezmer music:

Some examples:

The Kiss

Music Monday - Klezmasters - Charabanc

Henley kills

From Wikipedia...

In a 2009 interview, Plain Dealer music critic John Soeder asked Don Henley this about the lyrics:

On "Hotel California," you sing: "So I called up the captain / 'Please bring me my wine' / He said, 'We haven't had that spirit here since 1969.'" I realize I'm probably not the first to bring this to your attention, but wine isn't a spirit. Wine is fermented; spirits are distilled. Do you regret that lyric?

Henley responded,

"Thanks for the tutorial and, no, you're not the first to bring this to my attention—and you're not the first to completely misinterpret the lyric and miss the metaphor. Believe me, I've consumed enough alcoholic beverages in my time to know how they are made and what the proper nomenclature is. But that line in the song has little or nothing to do with alcoholic beverages. It's a sociopolitical statement. My only regret would be having to explain it in detail to you, which would defeat the purpose of using literary devices in songwriting and lower the discussion to some silly and irrelevant argument about chemical processes."

Music Wednesday, Y'all - My Friend by Jimi Hendrix