Pinnacle-Ferring

Had a really nice hanukkah evening with my family

Last night I fried up some good old-fashioned latkes for the sixth night of hanukkah. Revel in their oily goodness!

You might find this interesting, then.

Here you go... Bask in its glory.

ברוך דיין האמת. I grieve with you and send all of the hugs.

Speaking of which, a giant sky-filling face that a character has to bargain with.

Ha! Joke's on you! I already have the Rocky Road to Dublin stuck in my head. And nothing short of a metaphorical earthquake will shake it loose!

I'm curious as to what you mean by Judaism's polytheistic past. According to the Torah, an Asherah is a tree which has been (or is being) used in pagan worship. What does this have to do with Judaism?

To be fair, while the background stuff could be pretty whimsical, the main plot was pretty serious and even creepy at times.

A while ago with my old RPG group (now sadly defunct) we were playing this system that was based off of conspiracies and secrets. It was extremely flexible about its settings, so we decided to set it in a massive crossover of everything Disney. We then decided that everyone had to choose an existing character from the Disneycanon. Specifically a Disney princess. Keep in mind that we were a bunch of dudes (and one girl) ranging in age from 15 to 26...and everyone was a Disney princess. I was Merida because SCOTLAND. Unfortunately though, I wasn't able to bust out my Scottish accent because we were playing in Hebrew. We also had a Snow White (complete with a dinky, high-pitched voice and mandatory vegetarianism in her kingdom), Tinkerbell (sassy and with very random and potentially deadly magic. We turned into fish once), Venelope von Schweetz from Wreck it Ralph (hyperactive and insane), Mulan (actually pretty quiet and tame. And the only one actually played by a girl) and Elsa (the mom of the group and perpetually face-palming at our antics. Also a pretty good strategist). We didn't finish the entire storyline, but it was fun while it lasted. Edit- I also got poisoned at least two, maybe three, times. I think the GM was trying to tell me something. Also we met a middle-aged, washed up Peter Pan and the Genie was the innkeeper in the classic tavern scene at the beginning of the game (and we got into a tavern brawl with Captain Hook).

There are times when I am immensely grateful to have this fandom and the Shard because everyone in it is just so gosh darn nice. But I'm posting in the bad day thread because another fandom of a show that is close to my heart, RWBY, is becoming putrid with vitriol and hateful shipping wars. It just really breaks my heart that people can take something so beautiful and precious to me and make it the subject of such discourse and anger. I posted a kinda-sorta rant on a RWBY facebook group that I'm on here. It has spoilers, so read at your own risk. I just...why can't every fandom be like this one? It's not fair! Ugh.

Canada actually has provinces and territories. I'm not sure what the difference is, but apparently there is one.

@Delightful I agree with @AnanasSpren about Celtic Woman if you want some Irish goodness. I'd also check out the High Kings or Celtic Thunder if you like Irish stuff. If you're into acapella, I'd suggest Peter Hollens on youtube. He's got a wide selection of genres, all in acapella. He's seriously talented.

It is a Biblical name. I'm just not sure what it means. Knowing how ridiculously off-topic it can get, the talmud probably has several explanations for the name. Once in the middle of a tractate about Purim, I found myself reading about the physical dimensions of the city Rome.

Sorry...

Tel Aviv actually has a very interesting history with its name. And a really cool name in general. Tel Aviv was one of the first cities to be founded after Jews started to emigrate back to Israel. However most cities then were either built upon the sites of ancient Jewish cities and named after them or at least had a name from the Bible. Tel Aviv was not. "Tel" means "ruin". As in the noun. Usually a hill that contains the ruins of an ancient city. We've got a lot of those here. However, "Aviv" means "spring", the symbol of growth and rebirth. This city's name is literally saying "Out of a ruin, we have reborn", and I find that extremely inspiring. I'm not sure where the word "Ashkelon" comes from. "The Mountain of the Golan" "The Opening of Hope" "The Warding Ruin" "The City of the Four" Yeah, these totally sound like fantasy names. Btw, Tel Hashomer is actually the name of a small city near Tel Aviv. The hospital's name is "Sheba" or something, but people call it by the name of the city for some reason.

You're right. "Adamah" means ground and Adam's name comes from that word because he was made from the earth. And yes, an apple is never mentioned in Genesis. The imagery of the apple came mainly from later Christian interpretations. In the talmud there are several opinions as to what the fruit was, including a fig (because Adam and Eve made clothes out of fig leaves after they ate the fruit) or even wheat. The wheat creates an interesting interpretation, though. Cultivating wheat was a huge step forward for mankind, enabling them to easily make bread. Could this be a kind of metaphor for mankind no longer depending on G-D and being hunter-gatherers and becoming self-dependant farmers?

Noooooooooo..... *slowly backs away*

Although, I wouldn't turn down an opportunity to visit Minas Tirith...

In Israel we have some funny names for chips. So the salty, crispy kind we call "tapuchips" which is an amalgam of the word "tapuach adamah"(potato- literally "ground apple") and the word "chips". For the fried kind we commit an egregious grammar crime. We double the plural suffix. So we call them "chips", but in plural we call them "chipsim". This has been an impromptu Hebrew lesson.

Well, I live in Israel, so it's not too much of a stretch to go there.

I know this was posted forever ago, but once when I was walking down the streets of Tel Aviv and I saw a street performer playing traditional Passover songs...on bagpipes...in the middle of the summer. (For those who aren't aware, Passover is in the spring.) It was...interesting.

I spent the day at an awesome sci-fi/fantasy con with @Delightful. It was a long, yet satisfying day. Also, we went to a lecture about Sanderson's three laws of magic and it was nice seeing all of the local sanderfans collectively geeking out over his books.

I read it as Seran.

I think it means a word that sounds like a color, but isn't a word by itself. I.e. Brawnz Ni, the leader of team BRNZ from Vacuo. This is from the RWBY wiki: "Glynda's name is redundant with her surname, Goodwitch. "Glynda" is based from the name "Glenda", the name is originally coined in Welsh's glân (“holy, fair”) and da (“good”). The concepts derived from Glynda's name, namely "holy" and "good" are often associated with the color white." I agree, it's a bit of a stretch, but it works. As for Ozpin, the creator specifically mentioned that Ozpin was an exception to the rule for "reasons" (his exact wording). This alludes to the fact that Ozpin was born before this became a custom after the Great War. Maybe even the wizard....