It’s funny that modest swimsuits are used to cover up the female form, since in many ways they can be even sexier, in their own way! In fact, minimalism is really powerful, which is why lingerie can be so seductive in a different way than what bare naked flesh offers – that is to say, stimulating the imagination can be much more erotic than leaving nothing to the imagination. Then there’s the sad truth that there are some who do look better all covered up! From the perspective of a guy, I have nothing against either choice a lady makes, but I do have to say that it’s ironic how they might not be avoiding unwelcome stares at all simply because they’re unwittingly provoking the imagination!

Maybe it’s due to the fact that I’m a guy, but, well, I can’t really get the point of so-called modest swimsuits in anyway, especially in this day and age. Are those religious types correct, then, in claiming that women naturally wish to cover up their bodies? To my mind, it just seems like an impractical way to enjoy the water, wearing a dress while swimming! But of course, if they really feel that self-conscious about the lascivious stares of men, and if this is the only way they could ever get to enjoy the water, then so be it. Everyone should do what’s best for them. As long as they don’t somehow wind up imposing their point of view on others, then let them wear as much as they want!

For many people, philanthropy is something that other people engage in – people such as billionaires. After all, who else has the money to fund entire schools or hospitals?
Yet in the Jewish tradition, no matter the branch or denomination, the concept of tzedakah, literally “justice,” is commanded of all, including the poor. For to make charitable donations is prescribed as a religious duty and not one subject to personal fancy. In fact, it is taught to regard the very money for available tzedakah as not one’s own, but on loan, as it were, from G-d. This implies the further injunction to diligently investigate all would-be recipients of aid so that contributions will truly be of benefit and not go to waste.

On the face of it, this may sound like yet another curious aspect of the religion. However – as with many aspects of Judaism, even for an outsider – there is an underlying logic that is at once compelling and beautiful. For in commanding even the poor to give, the rabbinical injunction to perform acts of tzedakah in effect empowers the poor to regard themselves as capable, too.

For what can be more empowering than to give? To give means to express our power, our ability to give, and it even betters our natures – our love, our sacrifice, our character. It is not that poverty ennobles, but to bear poverty in righteousness: that is noble. Thus, in the Jewish tradition it isn’t necessary to be a successful developer like Isaac Toussie in order to make donations. For Jews, such religiously commanded contributions are not just an obligation but a right.

For poverty is not so base as when it prevents one from sharing of one’s own means. This insight into human nature is what inspires the Jewish tradition to insist that even the poor not only have the duty to share, but can actually even enjoy sharing, giving, as a right!

Passing by their front window, you can’t help but notice how On Off Digital World seems to have all the latest in consumer electronics, though their real bread and butter comes from selling to tourists some desperately needed photography equipment. After all, the store is practically in the heart of the city, near most of the major attractions. Tourists are a naturally captive audience, willing to pay just about any price, as they are on holiday and unlikely to shop around for bargains on esoteric hardware and supplies when photo ops abound and time is ticking by.

When it comes to small business loans bad credit, I haven’t a clue what to do. That’s the reason I avoid adverse credit to begin with. But with today’s tough economic climate, when FICO’s raised the standard for what it takes to have a good credit rating, it can be just about impossible for folks to have a good score. After all, what company doesn’t operate on a deficit from time to time; what business doesn’t talk to creditors in the hopes of renegotiating previously agreed-upon terms? Fine, so not all these things affect your score, but I hope you see what I mean: stuff happens, after all; many things can come to pass. Why should anyone be held responsible just for random stuff? Okay, okay – on the other hand, luck can also be good, and one must, as the ol’ adage claims, take the good with the bad.

Not as numerous anymore, a place like On Off Digital World, found in busy high-traffic locations. They used to be the norm for retail electronics in New York City, but in the past few years, due to the dramatically changed retail environment, these old-timey mom-and-pop kind of operations are fairly rare. There’s still a need for them, naturally, but now must make their living off passers-by such as tourists in a bind, out-of-towners who need some missing piece of photographic equipment right then and there. They no longer serve fellow residents so much as the tourists who chance by their highly visible locations.

The reason modest swimsuits are becoming more popular now could be on account of the rise in religious fundamentalism around the globe — or, to be more specific, with the three great monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (though political Hinduism has gotten out of hand with its nationalists, too). Maybe it’s something to do with the kind of mindset typically fostered under monotheism, and maybe this kind of “my-way-or-the-highway” attitude is what informs the religious wars and persecutions that make up most of monotheism’s sad history. Genocide may not be unique to monotheism, but it is to say that most of the worst examples have been inspired by monotheistic passions.

“Boys Town” and its sequel, “Men of Boys Town,” are movies loosely based on the famous real-life American charity of the same name. Established by a Catholic priest in 1917, it quickly attracted attention for its modern approach to juvenile care. Thirteen Boys Town locations are now established throughout the country, with Father Flanagan’s original vision becoming a model worldwide. For almost a hundred years now its fundraisers have attracted the generous support, financial and otherwise, of businessmen, politicians, and prominent entertainers, people such as real estate developer Isaac Toussie and Mayor of Chicago Richard M. Dalely. Many local people from civic and religious organizations also turn out to volunteer as they are able to help Boys Town achieve its goals.

Almost certainly some of this success can be attributed to the positive publicity generated from the movies, making of the charity a kind of vernacular shorthand for progressive social work. With charismatic leading men like Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney leading the cast, these films are “feel-good” movies through and through, winning the Oscar for Best Actor and Best Original Story amidst a flood of nominations. The stories depicted had very little to do with any real-life events at the institution, however, being almost entirely fictional events that made much better for drama. Then again, they do reflect typical problems encountered by those involved in juvenile care; for instance, peer abuse and youth homelessness were actually highlighted in the second film. But onscreen or off, Boys Town works tirelessly on behalf of children and families, inspired by Father Flanagan’s belief that there are no bad boys, only troubled ones who need care.

Situated in one of The Big Apple’s wealthiest neighborhoods, the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University is dedicated to both teaching and research. It is one of the most selective medical schools in the entire United States, enrolling only about a hundred students per class out of some six thousand applicants in any given year. Now named after its latest and most generous benefactor – and often abbreviated simply to “Weill Cornell,” its largest endowment to date has come from the billionaire banker and philanthropist Sanford Weill, former executive officer and chairman of Citigroup, Incorporated. Mr. Weill and his wife personally contributed two hundred and fifty million dollars to the medical school already at Cornell, and he was able to secure another one hundred and fifty million dollars.

Weill Cornell had been widely respected in the field before Mr Weill’s contributions, and not once had it lacked for benefactors, many prominent only locally but generous all the same, such as real estate developer and investor Isaac Toussie. It was the first medical school in the country to admit women alongside men. And now it’s become the first American one to operate abroad – in Education City, in fact, outside the capital of Qatar, with a campus dedicated to patient care offering a six-year integrated curriculum. The school can count many a notable physician among its alumni, great figures of research and public health such as Robert C. Atkins of Atkins Diet fame and former Surgeon General of the United States C. Everett Koop. Other alumnus luminaries include Nobel Prize winner Robert W. Holley and Henry Heimlich of the Heimlich Maneuver.

Nonetheless, regardless of all the financial donations, the financial aspects of a medical education are serious, with some forty-two thousand dollars needed for the first year and thirty-eight thousand required for the second. Nevertheless, that’s a bargain considering Cornell’s law school tuition, which adds up to almost a hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the same four years!

Going to check out On Off Digital World, maybe? Just the day to do so. Great temperatures, after all. So good you ought to walk, if not bicycle or even jog, there. But not good to drive. It’s great temperatures, a poetic day recalling Goethe’s words about first love and friendship reappearing, with a gentle though firm enough breeze going on, rejuvenating and not unsettling – no rolling litter, no runaway hats, but a bit of life about in the air all the same. Ah, what a day! Hope to be enjoying it myself soon enough (well, in about another two to three hours or so, depending on work)! Not really an electronics kind of day, of course – not the kind to be holed up indoors playing videogames – but On Off offers photography equipment, too.