Safra-Knit

Because of my profession and job, I take copyright very seriously.  Recently a large box of patterns was given to me, and I decided to give them away to members of my group.  Unfortunately, she had made many copies of the patterns for herself to work from (which is fine from a copyright point of view), but they can’t be given away to separate people.  I started sorting through the patterns, but I didn’t get too far.

For everyone out there who is interested in how copyright is applied to knitting patterns, take a look a this website, which has an excellent review.

• On the needles: Fingerless glove swatch, and bubbles II

While leaving work today, I got in an elevator with another employee of the University (who I know by sight, but not by name).  He was pushing a cart with fresh apricots, fresh cherry tomatoes, and peanuts. 

 I commented about the odd mix of food and he asked me if I liked apricots.  I said yes, and he offered me some.   I took one, and he said take more.  I took three, and he reminded me to say "Shehecheyanu" if I hadn’t eaten them yet this year.  And by the way, he isn’t religious (at least in appearance).

 It is just nice…

• On the needles: Elisa Nest Tote (still)

I know I’ve been absent… Twitter and Facebook have been taking over my time. There is one thought I wanted to share about Purim and the story of Megillat Esther.

I always considered myself to be rather a peacenik and although my views about Israel are rather rightist, I still had a problem with certain verses (chapter 8 verse 11) and chapter 9 verse 13. In summary, Esther is asked by the king what do you want to do, and she answers, kill and maim people for one day, then the king asks her the next day what she wants, and she answers another day to kill etc…

Until this year, I thought that sounded very bloodthirsty…why couldn’t she ask for self rule in the land of Israel (if he had control of India through Ethiopia…that is definitely in the middle). So what changed my mind? Cataloging. Well, not simply cataloging, but a specific collection of personal videos by professor Dov Levin. As a Jewish partisan, and survivor of the Kovna Ghetto, he has collected videos with personal narratives, and meetings of groups of survivors. The most touching for me was the gathering of child survivors from Kovna, where the “older survivors (who were 12-17 at the time) told the younger survivors (infant-8 or so) what went on and helped them to understand things that at the time were beyond their comprehension.

So what does this have to do with the story of Esther? Most of us think of the Holocaust as Hitler and the Nazis, or Germany killing all the Jews. Unfortunately, that is very incorrect. The survivors of Kovna, and other places recount how before the Nazis even crossed the border into Lithuania, and Poland, the natives of those places started their killing spree. The hatred was there…just waiting for an opportune moment. In the Purim story, the decree to kill the Jews had been sent out and then retracted, but the underlying hatred and bloodlust was still there. If the Jews hadn’t defended themselves, they probably wouldn’t have survived that day… sort of a gee, we never got the retraction notice…maybe it got lost in the mail…

So, there you go…my thoughts for the year on Megillat Esther….

In an attempt to improve the visibility of my workplace, I’ve created a twitter account and a fan page on Facebook. Please sign up and let all your friends know!

11AM In the Meantime, Play Fetch with the Virtual Dog
Office lady on phone to son: I don't know, I think we have it on tape… on tape. Video tape. No, not DVD, video tape. It's black and rectangular, and you put it in the VCR to watch movies. The VCR?… It's… look, just wait till I get home, okay?

Picktown, Ohio

Overheard by: trying not to laugh
via Overheard in the Office, Aug 15, 2008

Thank you again Overheard in the Office. By the way, I work with even odder tapes… U-Matics, BetaMax and S-VHS.

For work I had to scan images from a film that we have in our collection. I fell in love with the film…the colors were beautiful, the girls in the film were human sized (and not toothpick models), and their dresses are coming back in style.

Go see for yourself how Three Girls filmed in 1958 feels to you. The three girls in the film are now 66 years old. I’d love to meet them. (I’d also love to be transported back to that time period in Israel.)

Due to a well baby check-up, I came to work late. While waiting for my second bus, there were three guys who were bemoaning the lateness of the bus. One asked me if I would be interested in splitting a taxi. I thought it was a good idea and joined them.

Guess who didn’t get the front seat? Somehow I thought being the only woman (and being dressed in somewhat religious garb) would get me the front seat. At least I got the side and not the middle.

And then, the organizer of this ride sat in the front and spent all his time turned around talking to his friend.

No Googling potential clients. Yeah, very dangerous thing to Google someone prior to having a signed contract. She (boss lady) went “l’kulah” because she knows I’m an information addict. She was going to tell me not to Google clients at all….

*L’Kula- taking the lenient way…

I’ve had a few questions about jobs for librarians in Israel. I think the biggest employer in Jerusalem is ExLibris. They are always looking for librarians (and computer techies too). I got an offer there, but the hours weren’t good for a mom.

Here is the current posting I saw:

POSITION: INFORMATION SCIENTIST/LIBRARIAN

Job description:

We need information Scientists/Librarians for the Support and Implementation teams

Requirements:

* BA/MA in information science - Must
* Good knowledge in English (writing and reading skills) - Must
* Strong technical abilities - Must
* Residence in Jerusalem area - Must
* 2-3 years experience in relevant fields - Advantage
E-mail: EXLibrisJob@gmail.com with English and hebrew CV

Here is an actual client exchange, and Israeli history lesson for you.

Client: Do you have any films on "Oto Valley"

Me: Ummm…what?

Client: Oto Valish

Me: Could you give me more information…what is that.

Client: It is a person

Me: Do you have any more information?

Client: No, I don’t know who it is.

Me: Nope nothing…sorry.

Postscript: Of course being who I am, I surfed the web (in Hebrew) untill I found "Ota Valish" who designed the Israeli

Declaration of Independance, and designed Israeli stamps. (Nope we still don’t have any films about him.)