Hebrew Speaking/Israel Loving NBA Stars
http://www.tmz.com/2010/08/02/shaquille-oneal-hebrew-jewish-boa-rosh-hashana/
Tim Tebow’s new friar ‘do
Everyone likes Tim Tebow—why wouldn’t they like him in Super Timmy in Denver? (Some people have their reasons.) Make that Friar Tim. The joys of being a rookie.
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the american mah jongg blog
A JUDGMENT CALL
GO JOKERLESS OR NOT?
The other day I was playing in a game and after the one of the hands was over, one of the players confessed that she was faced with a dilemma. A somewhat robust discussion followed about what she should or should not have done.
Here’s the story. We’ll call the player Madge. Madge was “waiting” for Mahj—-she needed one tile for a Pair. Her hand had only one Joker which she used for a Pung. She had made no Exposures. The game was about 2/3 over and one of the tiles she needed for the Pair was already out and one tile toward the Pung was out. Then another player discards the second of the tiles needed for the Pung. Technically, the Pung in Madge’s hand was complete. So the question was, Should she call for the tile to complete the Pung, make it “natural” to try for a Jokerless hand and discard the Joker?
There were those who said Yes, of course she should have called the tile. She had a good possibility of declaring a Jokerless Mahj—a consummation devoutly to be wished. If she didn’t call for the tile to make the Pung a “natural”, the possibility of her picking the tile for the Pung would be zero, because now two of the tiles were out. She couldn’t Mahj with a Jokerless hand. If she did call for the tile, the Exposure might not “tell all” and even if it did, she still could have picked the Mah Jongg tile herself.
That argument is a valid one. A Jokerless hand is worth double (if your group plays for money) and if she Self-Picked the Mah Jongg tile she could collect four times the amount the hand called for from everyone. So there was the financial aspect of the game at stake, as well.
I, on the other hand said “Wait a minute. Her discarded Joker would be a big clue that she was waiting for a tile to complete a Pair.” But since she had no other Exposures, it would be difficult to determine her hand. But not impossible. We were all experienced players knew the card thoroughly. Her Exposure would have given away a huge amount of information about what Pair she needed. It narrowed the search down and from the discards she had made during the game (a most important factor) and a quick perusal of the discards out, it would not have been too difficult to determine her Mahj tile. But even if we could not have reached a definitive conclusion, the discards other players would now make, become very judicious. And Madge’s own discards would be more carefully scrutinized.
If Madge didn’t make the Exposure, the possibility of someone discarding her Mahj tile was much greater since there was no information about the hand she was playing. And because one of the tiles she needed for the Pair was already out, the chances of it being discarded again was also greater.
Actually, Madge did not expose and she did win—-on a discard, but not Jokerless.
‘Til next time,
MAY THE TILES BE WITH YOU..
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‘The Last Excorcism’ at Grace Community Church
I saw “The Exorcist” at the Fox Village during my first weekend in college. (I’m getting old, but this was the re-release.) A good movie, though I wonder what I’d think of it after five years of having a reporter’s eye for religion.
Because we live in an era when every movie, recent or old, gets a sequel or a spin-off or a rip-off, “The Last Exorcism” is about to hit theaters. Here’s the Wiki synopsis:
The film is told from the perspective of a disillusioned Protestant minister, who after years of performing exorcisms decides to participate in a documentary chronicling his last exorcism while exposing the fraud of his ministry. After receiving a letter from a farmer asking for help in driving out the devil, he meets the farmer’s afflicted daughter. The tagline and premise of the movie is “If you believe in God, then you believe in the Devil.” The film itself is presented as “found footage”.
I’m pretty tired of the “found footage” gimmick. It was great for “Blair Witch Project” and even “Cloverfield.” But enough already.
As for the plot, I’m not sure what to make of it. It has potential, though I’m pretty skeptical of a story like this being told in a meaningful way, even if John Anderson at Variety thinks “‘The Last Exorcism’ makes first-rate use of religious doubt and religious extremism to concoct a novel horror-thriller clever enough to seduce unbelievers while satisfying the bloodlust of its congregation/fanbase.”
Whose bloodlust?
Anyway, advertising for “The Last Exorcism” has started to pop up, and my law school classmate Joy Odom spotted the poorly placed bus bench spot shown here.
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Webcast: L.A.’s young Iranian Jews benefit from JVS’s scholarships
The Los Angeles based Jewish Vocational Services (JVS) since 1930 been providing programs and services to various individuals who have been financially struggling. These services include efforts to help countless folks become self-sufficient and even offered scholarships to college students in need who show potential. Last month I attended the JVS’s Scholarship awards night and was surprised to find that a majority of the 100+ scholarship recipients this year were local young Iranian Jews.
JVS’s Scholarship Manager, Cathy Kersh Millstein, spoke with me after the awards night held at Sinai Temple in West Los Angeles about JVS’s need to have more Iranian American Jewish donors for their scholarship program. Even though some financially struggling Iranian Jews in the community benefits from these scholarships, it seems as if those who may be well off have not been exposed to the JVS’s work.
Kersh Millstein discusses the need for more Iranian Jewish donors in this video interview…
In this video interview some of the 2010 Iranian Jewish scholarship recipients discuss the benefits of being awarded a JVS scholarship…
Those individuals looking to become donors to the JVS scholarship program are asked to contact JVS Chief Development Officer,{encode=”RLapin@jvsla.org” title=” Randy Lapin”}
For more information on L.A.’s JVS organization visit: www.jvsla.org/
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