Wow, Jameel has asked me, JoeSettler, yet again to be a guest blogger at the Muqata.
Admittedly, my turn isn't until Tuesday, but I decided to get a head start and do something I've wanted to do for a while now.
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael - because I bought one of those stupid Jerusalem Compasses TM which supposedly always points towards Jerusalem, but in reality only points East, so if you're standing on the Mount of Olives you're actually going to be facing in the wrong direction (sort of like the Arabs do to the Kodesh Kedoshim).
10 comments:
ROTFL
I like those siddurim with the built-in compass that you can line up with the nearest major city marked in lines around it, and it shows you the angle towards Yerushalayim. Or something like that.
That would be a cool Java App to write. It figures out where you are location wise based in IP address, shows your location on a globe, and then it points in the direction of Israel...
I see the carnival has begun ;-)
Uh, GPS?
JoeSettler: A java app for your blog...the blog...get it? A widget?
Something to put in the sidebar?
Widget? Don't they come in cans of beer?
Um, wouldn't it depend on which way your computer faces? That would be really hard to program. Imagine if it's a laptop, and you turn it around - does the JavaApp go haywire?
True story - when in Israel two years ago, our tour guide took us right outside Yerushalayim, I forget the exact location. We got out of the bus and looked out over the har habayis -- an incredible view. Some people were overcome with emotion and pulled out a tehillim -- and there -- as we all stood in awesome sight before us -- the remains of the beis hamikdash -- someone asked "which way do I face to daven"?
I guess the compass has its market....
Well, you could be facing Yerushalayim with your back to the place.... it's either five minutes behind you, or twenty three hours and fifty five minutes ahead. If you start walking now, you'll be closer in while.
I hear you, Ifyouwillit! (Alas there aren't many others who remember that advert- wrong nationality)
I want to post a correction.
The Jerusalem Compass will apparently point in the right direction.
It has on it a grommet that you rotate for various localities which realigns it to the proper orientation.
Post a Comment