Here is a gathering of people and things that I feel are persoanlly important to me and things I have done. It includes political rants and raves, and just some living
observations. I also have included here a bit of my poetry, storytelling and photographs, although I also paint, draw, and do a bit of reading.
I recently finished my masters degree in Computer Sciences at Long Island
University - Brooklyn Campus. I was already familiar with LIU because I graduated Pharmacy School from
there in 1988. So it was a bit of a home coming to return to Campus in 2014 to pursue a Masters. I've learned
a lot, and I finished a truly wonderful thesis on Computational
Computing and Artificial Intelligence in Development Cladistic Maps in Paleontology. I'm very
excited about this. Phylogeny is an exploding are of research in both biology and computer sciences and I hope
to apply a variety of map algorithms to these problems and look closely at the ct scans and 3d models of
skeletons for machine evaluation with either traditional expert systems of through machine learning. I am hoping
to go on for a PhD in this area, and at 57 years of age, maybe that is a pipe dream.
This has been the Summer of Hell with the Subway and the MTA has a fix, and it is gonna cost you.
How is it possible that after recently pouring billions of dollars into track work and platform improvements, to the tune of over 40 billion dollars of MTA capital debt, that the system is now incapable of its primary function which is to move trains and people in a clean, and safe manner.
The NY Times is not just off the rail since the election, but it keeps printing
bias tripe as news facts. In this case, this article from from SCOTT SHANE, MATTHEW ROSENBERG and ERIC LIPTON is both dangerous and flatout wrong. It is a dangerous lie that whitewashes the real threat of Islam
and push for Shariah law from ALL segments of Islam.
Febuary 2nd, 2017, NY Times: This worldview borrows from the "clash of civilizations" thesis of the political scientist Samuel P. Huntington, and combines straightforward warnings about extremist violence with broad-brush critiques of Islam. It sometimes conflates terrorist groups like Al Qaeda and the Islamic State with largely nonviolent groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and its offshoots and, at times, with the 1.7 billion Muslims around the world. In its more extreme forms, this view promotes conspiracies about government infiltration and the danger that Shariah, the legal code of Islam, may take over in the United States.
Friends
- I've managed to collect a few friends from around the world and some are worth mentioning.
DRM Protesting in Washington DC
NYLXS at Lake Placid about Winter of 2000
They tend to cluster around a few places,
Brooklyn, New York City, San Francisco, Israel, and to a lesser degree in Amsterdam. This is more than a reflection of my travels.
Early into the era of the internet, I was amazed at how broad my associations where becoming on a geographical basis. I once gave a lecture on
Chumash and Rashi and needed to send Chumashim to 6 Continents. In 1992, this was quite awl-inspiring. Today, I have family around the globe
whom I speak to weekly, and trade texts and emails with continually. Anyone growing up in the post-internet world can never know just how
local local can feel, when one gorws up in a neighborhood and full universe a couple of blocks large.
- Richard Stallman is a good friend from New York who lives more or less in Boston when
he is not extensively traveling. We don't always or even usually agree but he is always thoughtful and I love him as a friend. We do agree about
Free Software and Copyright Issues.
Richard Stallman and Friends in Rick Moen's Kitchen in Menlo Park, California
- Evan Inker who I met at work and has been a strong supporter
of NYLXS since its inception.
- Michael Richardson another NYLXSer who has taken to the calling of the
Universalists Church
- Paul Robert Marino yet another NYLXSer who is handing building Succahs as well
- Adam Kosmin An NYLXSer who started the Windows Refund Project
- Rick Moen of Menlo Park who is a close friend and somewhat kindered spirit in Free Software,
technology and culture. Rick writes extensively and we can banter someone acrimoniously on the hangout mailing list. He is always well thought out and donates considerable time to friends and community.
- Amy Harmon is the best Science reporter in the US and a constant penpal
- Aviva Zeltzer - is a beloved friend and lawyer stationed in Los Angeles,
which is unlucky for me. We met at the Avenue M Subway Platform, and at the time she was was engaged to a Chabadnick.
The marraige didn't work out but we have stayed in touch over the years. She is
a breast cancer surviver, and about as warm of a person as I had ever met. She is a social gadfly and loves Chalbach Shules
on both coasts.
Shani Safir, Aviva Safir, and Aviva Zeltzer
- Ronnie Eran Wright is a very special friend
is from Jerusalem. I met Ronnie in Granada Spain and we stayed together for months, traveling about from Washington DC, New York, Lake Placid,
Amsterdam, Harlem, Jerusalem, Tzfat, Tiberias, Hebron, and Granada. I thought we might do more, but she went back to Jerusalem and I had to finish
school, and as fast as it seemed to happen, it seemed to stop. She was the best travel partner one could have.
- Emma Pearl - who is one of my oldest and dearest friends, and a nice Jewish girl.
She has a heart of gold, a velvet voice, even with her English accent, and an
expansive mind which absorbs art and culture as quickly as you can feed it.
Emma Pearl in Los Angeles at the Getty Museum 2014
- Michael George a dear friend and early supporter
of Barrak Obama. Michael was my co-worker from NYU College of Dentistry. He has suffered a stroke and not doing that well, as I understand it. He is
always in my prayers.
- Maneesh Kongara is a grad student at LIU and contributor to the NYLXS Journal
- Kamran Mirzoyev is a graduate of LIU/Brooklyn's Comp Sci Masters Degree programm and also a contributor to the
NYLXS Journal
- Anthony 'Pelican' Reyes is Captain of the of Marilyn Jean IV and a mentor for all things fishing. We fish all seasons, and
I have learned a lot about both life and fishing from this gentleman who is easy to underestimate, and greatly appreciated.
- Rabbi Schmuel Zev Friedman -
I should probably have put this on top. Rav Friedman was a student of
Reb Moshe Feinstein,
poskin of our generation.
Rav Friedman was the founder and spiritual leader of Marpeh Le'Nefesh, a small synagogue on Bedford Avenue in Flatbush Brooklyn. He is a great Rav,
and a man of true patience and compassion. His family is from Austria and he grew up on the Lower East Side and raised his family
in Flatbush on Avenue I. He has stood by our family through think and thin, and has been a partner in any and all success that
we have had. I love this man and his family as much as anyone and will forever be in his debt. Like many members of this congregation,
he now resides in Lakewood, New Jersey.
- Ephraim Nussbaum Great friend from Marpeh Lenefesh (see above) who is a
CPA in Flatbush.
Dovid Shimon Safir's Bris Melliah at Marpeh Lenefesh
- Jonathan Grabel - My neighbor at shule and member of Marpeh Lenefesh
Jonathan Grabel at his son's Bar Mitzvah
The Lovely Sharyn Lewis - Best Travel Agent on the East Coast
- Sharyn Lewis - one of my oldest friends who is also my travel agent. I met her on the upper levels of the concourse of Rockefeller Center when
I needed plane tickets to visit my fiance in Colorado Springs. If she didn't write that ticket. my life would be very different. Lewis Travel
202 Thomspon Street
New York, NY
1-212-460-0009 NYSharyn@aol.com
- Robert Menes - Member of NYLUG-Hack and Free Software kin from NJ
For over 30 years I have maintained a collection of finches and
song birds in the house. I have found that they are an edge against
depression, and make extraordinarily pets. Unfortunately, this
little apartment I have now has such poor air quality that it can
not sustain birds who have sensitive breathing when constrained
to a cage. I think the boilers are under my floor and in the
winter product fumes they are sensitive to. The loss of my birds
saddens me deeply.
Photography - over the last 30 years, well over 40,000 photographs have been taken by me and my family. Originally I had a Cannon AE-1 which
I purchased from my friend, Gary Stein before leaving for Israel. I had to scan a large number of photographs over time, as we slowly migrated to
digital photography. Now we take pictures willey nilley and I have a huge gallery scanning all that material.
Areas of photgraphy include:
Coins - marco-photography. the collection was stolen
City Life and Brooklyn
Museums and Paintings - especially Van Gogh and Dutch masters
is a very special friend
is from Jerusalem. I met Ronnie in Granada Spain and we stayed together for months, traveling about from Washington DC, New York, Lake Placid,
Amsterdam, Harlem, Jerusalem, Tzfat, Tiberias, Hebron, and Granada. I thought we might do more, but she went back to Jerusalem and I had to finish
school, and as fast as it seemed to happen, it seemed to stop. She was the best travel partner one could have.
Pelican Reyes, Little Anthony, and Felix 
