BIG Announcement & a Meme

Ok guys, here goes, the reason I haven't been blogging lately.

www.SwapNotes.com

Its a project I've been working on with a couple of friends (including another blogger). For those who have been to YUMesorah (which I was also involved in), this is a bigger and better version. Upload your notes and exams, rate your courses and the files for those courses. Add new professors, courses, etc. There's lots of fun to be had.

Think of it as the Facebook for class notes. A huge social networking site, 3,400 schools in all (so far) with the aim of having notes for every class in the country.

I'd like to invite you to join. You don't have to be a student. Professors and those out of school sign up all the time. You know what, let's turn it into a meme.

I tag Nephtuli, CWY, Krum and OrthoMom to say 5 things about the site. What they like, recommendations, etc. So check it out and pass it on.

Nuts, Life, and Sins

I was thinking of going out of my way to eats nuts this Rosh Hashana. After all, the gematria of egoz is 17, which is only one off of 'chai' - or life.

A few bloggers know why I haven't been blogging lately. I hope to have an interesting announcement soon, and then to resume my regularly scheduled pace of posts. Stay tuned...

5 years later

The 5th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks are coming up. CNN has just announced that they will be airing their original September 11th coverage, beginning 8:30am. You can watch it free online. More info here.

I think the footage should be shown more often. Hearing the voices, watching people jump off the WTC in vain attempts to save themselves, watching the buildings fall, reading the stories, seeing pictures of NYC plastered with "Missing" posters, all of whom were, in reality, already dead, is tough and can bring anyone to tears. But it serves as a reminder of the world we live in. Something we should never forget.

Blessed Union of Souls has a mix of "I Believe" in memory of 9/11. Throughout the song you hear radio conversations and telephone calls, including one cut off as a plane crashes. Shivers go down my spine whenever I hear it. I won't even begin discussing the memorial concert that was held soon after, where it seemed like every surviving firefighter and police officer was in attendance.

One moment that will forever stick in my mind occured the first Friday following the attacks. I was on my way home for Shabbos, awaiting the next train from the LIRR. In front of the main ticket center for the LIRR, sat a man, a firefighter. In full gear. Covered in ash of the building and his friends. Helmet half on, face partially obscured. Back against the pole, slumping with his legs out in front of him. His face empty. Dozens approached, some trying to thank him, others asking if he was ok and could they get him something to drink. Only when one woman touched his shoulder and said 'thank you' did he even stir.

Come Monday, CNN will allow us to go back in time. To look outside and remember that Tuesday morning, 5 years ago, when hundreds of firefighters and police officers rushed to their deaths, when people stayed behind to help their friends and paid with their lives. The clear blue sky that was soon marred with death.