In October 1608, the national government in The hague debated two patent applications - that of hans Lipperhey of Middelburg and that of Jacob Metius of Alkmaar. The application was for a device for "seeing faraway things as though nearby." it consisted of a convex and concave lens in a tube that magnified objects three or four times.

Anyone who is prepared to admit that he lived long enough to remember the sixties will recall a unique period in modern history. It seemed for a few years that on the eve of destruction, a great era of idealism was dawning. There was something in the air…

If you own an MP4 or a CD player, try the following experiment: Turn up the volume until it won't go any further. (Before you do this, take out the disk - this experiment will not work if you have perforated eardrums.)

Lift up your eyes and look into the distance. What do you see? What do you see when you gaze at the furthest point that the eye can see - when you look at distance itself? The color blue.

Miles and miles of endless blue.

Turn on a radio and listen to some "Jewish music." it sounds about as Jewish as Led Zeppelin wearing tefillin.

If the Romans did one thing right, they made great roads. Roman roads are still in use to this day. Why were the Romans so interested in building such long-lasting and straight roads? We live in a world where we increasingly "let our fingers do the walking."

"And the voice of the Shofar grew stronger and stronger..." (Shemot 19:19). The final shofar blast of Rosh haShana.