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Marcus Weisberg or Weissberger or Veiszberger… (d. 1880)

Some people ask me about my last name. “Hey Aharon, where does your last name come from?” etc. It’s a question I’ve long wanted to know myself. I know Varady is a common Hungarian last name and I knew that it was probably something else before it became Varady (or Varadi as some living relatives still spell it). . . . → Continue reading: Marcus Weisberg or Weissberger or Veiszberger… (d. 1880)

Reszi Sunshine (1885-1970)

1913, Regina and Coleman

I look for them in the past and I find their remains, enough to resemble a person, even someone whose passions I can identify more than vaguely with my imagination. Again, I have this feeling that the historical researcher is more than part necromancer. Not only do we create . . . → Continue reading: Reszi Sunshine (1885-1970)

What Happened‽ So what‽ Now what‽

2011 Gregorian. Such a quiet year for the Omphalos.

Even before New Year’s a year past, this blog had begun a mostly uninterrupted slumber beginning in 2009, what with most of my activity focused on directing the Open Siddur Project (2009-present), studying at Yeshivat Hadar (2009-2010), teaching with the Teva Learning Alliance (2010-2011), studying . . . → Continue reading: What Happened‽ So what‽ Now what‽

Beyond the Omphalos: Three Maps of Late Medieval France

When late last year my friend Dr. Allan Tulchin asked for my help preparing two maps for a book on the history of the Protestant Church in medieval France, I was so happy to oblige. I love maps and I love historical research. Preparing these maps would exercise my mapping skills using GIS software and . . . → Continue reading: Beyond the Omphalos: Three Maps of Late Medieval France

Professor Varady in the Netherlands

This is something of a guest post by proxy. My father, Dr. David Varady, is on his sabbatical and working at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. My mother, meanwhile, is working on visiting in person all the Dutch art she scanned from books during her tenure as the visual . . . → Continue reading: Professor Varady in the Netherlands

Post-PresenTense

Fellow Omphalos gazers might wonder what I’ve been doing. And not just in the sense of, “Hey I’m wonder what Aharon’s been up to lately.” Well, after two months of productive work on the Open Siddur Project as a fellow with the PresenTense Institute in Jerusalem this summer, I spent a month in Philadelphia before . . . → Continue reading: Post-PresenTense

At your service

I am an urban planner by profession and degree, but while I’m looking for work I am also a technology consultant, copy editor, bicycle messenger, ipod manager, technical writer, blog reader, proofreader, and coffee sipper.

Perhaps you don’t have a significant other or know-it-all child or lucky friend to ask you for your computer help . . . → Continue reading: At your service

November 4th

Images from the Get Out the Vote drive, election night in Philadelphia 2008 . . . → Continue reading: November 4th

The Idiot Wind’s Gusts are Now a Gale

Xeni Jardin over at Boing Boing has an important post analyzing the dragging death murder of Brandon McClelland, 24, last month in Paris, Texas, an area of our country haunted by a legacy of lynchings going back over a hundred years. Please read it.

In light of the McCain campaign’s stinking “idiot wind” gusting over . . . → Continue reading: The Idiot Wind’s Gusts are Now a Gale

What’s the frequency, Kenneth!? (redux)

So far there is no indication that the recent near fatal beating of KATV anchorwoman Anne Pressly in Little Rock, Arkansas, might be politically motivated other than the fact that Pressly is a member of the media and appeared briefly in Oliver Stone’s just opened critical biopic ‘W.’ But given that the daily vitriol heaped . . . → Continue reading: What’s the frequency, Kenneth!? (redux)