Hey everybody - Got a requst for you all. Please daven for the immediate recovery of ChananVelvel ben Bryna.

This is a man who has been more of an uncle to me than my uncles, whose children are my siblings and cousins and friends.

And the situation right now is the sword on the throat kind.

So please - say some Tehillim, do a little learning, and daven that this man should see his grandchildren celebrate their weddings.

UPDATE: NAME CHANGE: His name is now Chanan Velvel SIMCHA ben Bryna

Be sensitive

M1 = primary motor cortex (moves whiskers)
S1 = primary sensory cortex (senses whisker movement against objects)
A1 through E3 — barrels (columns) in sensory cortex, each responsive to a single whisker movement

Such is His Will.

How do we know this, you ask? This is how (click to enlarge):



(source)

Workspace

I apologize for two posts in a row and low picture quality (taken with my phone before I clean up).

Weirdness salad

How the mind of a Russian looks from the inside:


(click on the picture to enlarge)

[via Artemiy Lebedev’s business lynch]

Riddles

What can run but never walks,
has a mouth but never talks,
has a head but never weeps,
has a bed but never sleeps?

~~~~~~~~~~
Pronounced as one letter,
And written with three,
Two letters there are,
And two only in me.

I'm double, I'm single,
I'm black, blue, and gray,
I'm read from both ends,
And the same either way.
What am I?

~~~~~~~~~~~~
In a marble hall white as milk
Lined with skin as soft as silk
Within a fountain crystal-clear
A golden apple doth appear.
No doors there are to this stronghold,
Yet thieves break in to steal its gold.

An important question

Does anyone know a good, mouthful-of-syllables, recognizably ashkenazi-Jewish name? I need one for a story. Depending on who -- if anyone -- buys it, the story will probably show up here.

Out of the woodwork

After a flurry of intense negotiations regarding multimillion dollar contracts (they had to have happened sometime in in human history, no?) the notorious lurker Modeh B'Miktsas has joined basement blogging. Not a native of Crown Heights nor a member of the Lubavitch underground, this move has been hailed by diversity advocates as a huge leap forward towards that great day in the future when goats will have tenured faculty positions.

Rev. B'Miktsas was not available for comment. When last heard from he was working on a Star Wars novel centered around a Sith lord named Darth Kushentuchus.

I agree

Guzel bir baslangic wrote:

Kullanmad���n�za pi�man olacaks�n�z
3 ayl�k k�r ile 3 le 7 cm aras�nda b�y�meyi garanti ediyoruz.
Mucizevi bir tamamen do�al bir takviye Hayat�n�zda m�kemmel bir ad�m at�n.
3 kutu kullan�mda i�e yaramazsa para iadesi
�u an stoklar�m�zda �stanbul i�ine 2 saatte teslim ediyoruz.Dilerseniz kap�da kredi kart� ile �deme.
Kargo �cretinizi biz kar��l�yoruz.I

An Important Question:

Why is a mouse if it spins?

Good comment from Yitzi

Hi, I just happened upon BB ..

was curious to read the comments of this post..
to know how Chabadnikim think of the Rebbe currently.. [I only know some of the Hassidut of the Alter Rebbe] Thanks to all of you for sharing.

If I could share my thoughts (limited by the fact that I haven't had the benefit of much exposure to the Rebbe's Hassidut -- only one sicha) I would think that it's clear from Igrot haKodesh (in the Tanya) in the letter the Alter Rebbe wrote to console the mourners of the Pri HaAretz, that during the Rebbe's corporeal lifetime, our ability to perceive the Rebbe's ahavah/yirah/emunah were hidden and now it's possible to experience (ie. l'hasig) them directly through our love for him.

@Altie, I'm assuming you don't have children -- I think when you have children, you will better understand what it *feels* like to be a parent and to treat every little thing your children produce as if it is more precious than gold -- maybe then you will really be able to *feel* that the Rebbe not only reads but prizes your letters. [which reminds me of a teaching that touched me from the Baal Shem Tov, (i believe in Tzava'at HaRivash) that just as a father is excited when his child says 'abba' even if the child doesn't even know what he's saying, so too HaShem takes great joy in our calling out His name, even if we don't know what we're saying.]

For myself, all I can say is that I wish I had a chance to see the Rebbe.. even if it was only as a child and I had forgotten the memory.