Apple announced a new milestone for its iTunes U online digital education outlet, which has just crossed the 1 billion download mark. Alongside the announcement, Apple has also informed us exclusively that the company has so far sold more than 8 million iPads directly into educational institution worldwide. iTunes U became a standalone app, complete with its own course marketplace and catalog in June 2012.
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? "Girls Gone Wild" has filed for bankruptcy in a move it says is an effort to restructure its legal affairs after several disputed court judgments.
The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Wednesday in Los Angeles, listing more than $16 million in disputed claims.
The largest claim is $10.3 million that Wynn Resorts is seeking from the company for judgments entered against "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis over a gambling debt and statements he has made about the casino and its founder, Steve Wynn.
Francis no longer owns the company, which has made a fortune selling videos and magazines of young women flashing their breasts.
"Girls Gone Wild" issued a statement that it is financially strong but needed to "re-structure its frivolous and burdensome legal affairs."
Elephants are vanishing from DRC's best-run reservePublic release date: 28-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Stephen Sautner ssautner@wcs.org 718-220-3682 Wildlife Conservation Society
NEW YORK (Feb. 28, 2013) The Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) largest remaining forest elephant population, located in the Okapi Faunal Reserve (OFR), has declined by 37 percent in the last five years, with only 1,700 elephants now remaining, according to wildlife surveys by WCS and DRC officials. WCS scientists warn that if poaching of forest elephants in DRC continues unabated, the species could be nearly extinguished from Africa's second largest country within ten years.
According to the latest survey, 5,100, or 75 percent, of the reserve's elephants have been killed in the last 15 years. These numbers are particularly shocking as the OFR is considered the best protected conservation area in DRC. According to WCS, the primary reason for the recent decline in forest elephant numbers is ivory poaching.
The survey comes in the wake of another grim report earlier this month from Gabon where 11,000 elephants were slaughtered in Minkebe National Park over a ten-year period. WCS continue to sound the alarm that rampant poaching is decimating elephant populations throughout Africa, and more needs to be done before populations vanish from many areas.
"The global poaching crisis for elephants is at epidemic proportions," said WCS Executive Vice President for Conservation and Science John Robinson. "The world must come together to recognize this problem and to stop the killing, trafficking, and demand, or we will lose elephants in the wild in our lifetime."
In the early 1990s, before the civil war of 1996-2003, DRC was relatively calm. In a 1995-1997 survey of the OFR a UNESCO World Heritage Site WCS found that there were approximately 6,800 forest elephants living in an area of almost 14,000 km2 (8,682 square miles).
After the civil war, WCS carried out a second survey in 2005-2007, and found that elephants had suffered heavy losses to poaching with numbers having dropped by 60 percent to approximately 2700 elephants. Despite this dramatic decline, OFR had fared much better than did other protected areas during the civil war. For example, in Salonga National Park, a huge area that once held the largest elephant population in DRC, WCS found that elephants had been decimated to less than 1,000 individuals. Thus, by 2007, OFR had DRC's largest remaining forest elephant population.
During the war, park guards could not protect much of OFR but were able to document elephant kills and ivory poaching. Since the end of the civil war, five years ago, park rangers have reduced the decline from approximately 400 to 170 elephants annually.
Despite this success, the park rangers cannot keep up with the dramatic increase in demand for ivory that is being fueled by economic growth in Asia, particularly China, and facilitated by increased access to previously remote forests. Ivory poaching is increasingly undertaken by highly organized, heavily armed criminal cartels.
Since this last census was conducted, insecurity in the OFR has become far worse. Rebels launched a deadly attack on the park headquarters in June 2012, killing park rangers and villagers and destroying park administrative buildings and equipment. The insecurity continues across the entire Ituri landscape with many villages, including Mambasa the largest and closest town, being attacked, dozens of people killed, and 30,000 displaced.
Despite these hard realities, OFR remains the most important site for the conservation of forest elephants and other large mammals in DRC. Additional results from recent surveys show that other wildlife in the reserve fared much better, including the highly important eastern chimpanzee population (approximately 6,000 individuals), okapi, and duikers (small forest antelopes), with almost no change in their estimated populations between 2007 and 2011.
WCS, in partnership with the DRC government's wildlife department (Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature ICCN), is committed to ensure the viability of the Reserve for the wildlife and people of DRC, the fifth most biodiverse country in the world.
James Deutsch, WCS Executive Director for Africa Programs said: "We salute our partners at ICCN for their dedication and commitment to protect wildlife under the most difficult circumstances. We remain stalwart in our partnership with them and will continue to work in their country to protect elephants and the landscapes where they live. We urge the international community to support the DRC in the fight against the threat of extinction of the forest elephant."
WCS works to stop the killing by collaborating with partners to prevent criminals from slaughtering elephants in Africa's worst killing fields. WCS recruits, trains, and supports eco-guard patrols, focusing their efforts through local intelligence networks and aerial surveillance, and ensuring they get the backup they need from the police, army, and courts.
To stop trafficking, WCS works with governments to detect smuggled ivory at key ports and airports at different points in the trade chain in Africa and East Asia. Techniques are varied and include sniffer dogs to detect ivory, and working with judiciaries and other agencies to increase the number of cases taken to court and rates of successful prosecutions. On both the political and technical sides, WCS aims to ensure that future large ivory shipments are sampled for their DNA, to allow the point of origin of the ivory to be determined, thereby facilitating increased protection of those populations.
Stopping the demand will involve focusing on Chinese social media platforms to encourage public engagement and influence how Chinese government agencies respond to the illegal ivory trade. WCS plans to support the creation of a social media hub, run by a team out of Beijing, that focuses on information sharing, opinion mapping, monitoring and calibration, building partnerships, engagement and mobilization all based on the real and immediate impacts of poaching and illegal ivory trade.
###
The surveys in DRC were conducted by WCS and ICCN. Funding for the three censuses came from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the Central African Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE) a US Agency for International Development (USAID) initiative for biodiversity conservation in central Africa, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).
The Wildlife Conservation Society saves wildlife and wild places worldwide. We do so through science, global conservation, education and the management of the world's largest system of urban wildlife parks, led by the flagship Bronx Zoo. Together these activities change attitudes towards nature and help people imagine wildlife and humans living in harmony. WCS is committed to this mission because it is essential to the integrity of life on Earth. Visit: www.wcs.org
Special Note to the Media: If you would like to guide your readers or viewers to a Web link where they can make donations in support of helping save wildlife and wild places, please direct them to www.wcs.org.
The Wildlife Conservation Society saves wildlife and wild places worldwide. We do so through science, global conservation, education and the management of the world's largest system of urban wildlife parks, led by the flagship Bronx Zoo. Together these activities change attitudes towards nature and help people imagine wildlife and humans living in harmony. WCS is committed to this mission because it is essential to the integrity of life on Earth. Visit: www.wcs.org
CONTACT: STEPHEN SAUTNER: (1-718-220-3682; ssautner@wcs.org)
JOHN DELANEY: (1-718-220-3275; jdelaney@wcs.org)
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Elephants are vanishing from DRC's best-run reservePublic release date: 28-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Stephen Sautner ssautner@wcs.org 718-220-3682 Wildlife Conservation Society
NEW YORK (Feb. 28, 2013) The Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) largest remaining forest elephant population, located in the Okapi Faunal Reserve (OFR), has declined by 37 percent in the last five years, with only 1,700 elephants now remaining, according to wildlife surveys by WCS and DRC officials. WCS scientists warn that if poaching of forest elephants in DRC continues unabated, the species could be nearly extinguished from Africa's second largest country within ten years.
According to the latest survey, 5,100, or 75 percent, of the reserve's elephants have been killed in the last 15 years. These numbers are particularly shocking as the OFR is considered the best protected conservation area in DRC. According to WCS, the primary reason for the recent decline in forest elephant numbers is ivory poaching.
The survey comes in the wake of another grim report earlier this month from Gabon where 11,000 elephants were slaughtered in Minkebe National Park over a ten-year period. WCS continue to sound the alarm that rampant poaching is decimating elephant populations throughout Africa, and more needs to be done before populations vanish from many areas.
"The global poaching crisis for elephants is at epidemic proportions," said WCS Executive Vice President for Conservation and Science John Robinson. "The world must come together to recognize this problem and to stop the killing, trafficking, and demand, or we will lose elephants in the wild in our lifetime."
In the early 1990s, before the civil war of 1996-2003, DRC was relatively calm. In a 1995-1997 survey of the OFR a UNESCO World Heritage Site WCS found that there were approximately 6,800 forest elephants living in an area of almost 14,000 km2 (8,682 square miles).
After the civil war, WCS carried out a second survey in 2005-2007, and found that elephants had suffered heavy losses to poaching with numbers having dropped by 60 percent to approximately 2700 elephants. Despite this dramatic decline, OFR had fared much better than did other protected areas during the civil war. For example, in Salonga National Park, a huge area that once held the largest elephant population in DRC, WCS found that elephants had been decimated to less than 1,000 individuals. Thus, by 2007, OFR had DRC's largest remaining forest elephant population.
During the war, park guards could not protect much of OFR but were able to document elephant kills and ivory poaching. Since the end of the civil war, five years ago, park rangers have reduced the decline from approximately 400 to 170 elephants annually.
Despite this success, the park rangers cannot keep up with the dramatic increase in demand for ivory that is being fueled by economic growth in Asia, particularly China, and facilitated by increased access to previously remote forests. Ivory poaching is increasingly undertaken by highly organized, heavily armed criminal cartels.
Since this last census was conducted, insecurity in the OFR has become far worse. Rebels launched a deadly attack on the park headquarters in June 2012, killing park rangers and villagers and destroying park administrative buildings and equipment. The insecurity continues across the entire Ituri landscape with many villages, including Mambasa the largest and closest town, being attacked, dozens of people killed, and 30,000 displaced.
Despite these hard realities, OFR remains the most important site for the conservation of forest elephants and other large mammals in DRC. Additional results from recent surveys show that other wildlife in the reserve fared much better, including the highly important eastern chimpanzee population (approximately 6,000 individuals), okapi, and duikers (small forest antelopes), with almost no change in their estimated populations between 2007 and 2011.
WCS, in partnership with the DRC government's wildlife department (Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature ICCN), is committed to ensure the viability of the Reserve for the wildlife and people of DRC, the fifth most biodiverse country in the world.
James Deutsch, WCS Executive Director for Africa Programs said: "We salute our partners at ICCN for their dedication and commitment to protect wildlife under the most difficult circumstances. We remain stalwart in our partnership with them and will continue to work in their country to protect elephants and the landscapes where they live. We urge the international community to support the DRC in the fight against the threat of extinction of the forest elephant."
WCS works to stop the killing by collaborating with partners to prevent criminals from slaughtering elephants in Africa's worst killing fields. WCS recruits, trains, and supports eco-guard patrols, focusing their efforts through local intelligence networks and aerial surveillance, and ensuring they get the backup they need from the police, army, and courts.
To stop trafficking, WCS works with governments to detect smuggled ivory at key ports and airports at different points in the trade chain in Africa and East Asia. Techniques are varied and include sniffer dogs to detect ivory, and working with judiciaries and other agencies to increase the number of cases taken to court and rates of successful prosecutions. On both the political and technical sides, WCS aims to ensure that future large ivory shipments are sampled for their DNA, to allow the point of origin of the ivory to be determined, thereby facilitating increased protection of those populations.
Stopping the demand will involve focusing on Chinese social media platforms to encourage public engagement and influence how Chinese government agencies respond to the illegal ivory trade. WCS plans to support the creation of a social media hub, run by a team out of Beijing, that focuses on information sharing, opinion mapping, monitoring and calibration, building partnerships, engagement and mobilization all based on the real and immediate impacts of poaching and illegal ivory trade.
###
The surveys in DRC were conducted by WCS and ICCN. Funding for the three censuses came from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the Central African Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE) a US Agency for International Development (USAID) initiative for biodiversity conservation in central Africa, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).
The Wildlife Conservation Society saves wildlife and wild places worldwide. We do so through science, global conservation, education and the management of the world's largest system of urban wildlife parks, led by the flagship Bronx Zoo. Together these activities change attitudes towards nature and help people imagine wildlife and humans living in harmony. WCS is committed to this mission because it is essential to the integrity of life on Earth. Visit: www.wcs.org
Special Note to the Media: If you would like to guide your readers or viewers to a Web link where they can make donations in support of helping save wildlife and wild places, please direct them to www.wcs.org.
The Wildlife Conservation Society saves wildlife and wild places worldwide. We do so through science, global conservation, education and the management of the world's largest system of urban wildlife parks, led by the flagship Bronx Zoo. Together these activities change attitudes towards nature and help people imagine wildlife and humans living in harmony. WCS is committed to this mission because it is essential to the integrity of life on Earth. Visit: www.wcs.org
CONTACT: STEPHEN SAUTNER: (1-718-220-3682; ssautner@wcs.org)
JOHN DELANEY: (1-718-220-3275; jdelaney@wcs.org)
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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BARCELONA (Reuters) - A strange phenomenon hit Hong Kong in late 2011.
As the clock hit 10 pm each night a Coca Cola ad aired on television, prompting thousands of viewers to grab their phones and start shaking them frantically to virtually "catch" the falling bottle caps on the screen and win instant prizes.
Dubbed Chok! Chok! Chok! - meaning rapid motion in local slang - the interactive campaign by McCann Worldgroup became a hit, and sent viewers at home, in cinemas and in front of giant outdoor screens into a frenzy. (http://link.reuters.com/wux36t)
Nine million people saw the ad - 380,000 downloaded the Chok! Chok! Chok! app in the first month - and its success indicates that marketers may be finally figuring out how to direct adverts at consumers via mobile phones.
"The consumer is there so we as marketers start to salivate," said Mike Parker, chief digital officer for McCann, in an interview at the Mobile World Congress. "But people are so underwhelmed by banner ads on tiny screens. We are all still searching for the best way forward."
Mobile advertising is set to grow by more than 50 percent a year over the period to hit $40 billion in 2016, according to Informa research, but the figures are still tiny compared to television ads. Global ad spend in 2012 was $500 billion.
Though advertisers are keen to harness the mobile boom, no one has perfected the art of using mobile devices to target adverts to consumers.
There remains a vast discrepancy between the amount of time consumers spend on their mobile devices and the advertising dollars companies spend there. In the U.S., mobile ads only accounted for 1 percent of marketing spend in 2011, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau, even though people spent some 10 percent of their media time looking at their phones.
Mobile has long proved almost impenetrable for a host of reasons, including the small screen, poor presentation of mobile websites and consumers' resistance to the invasion of a space seen as more private than a computer.
Even Google, which dominates online search, is still grappling with how to make money from ads on smartphones, while Facebook is trying to weave marketing messages into people's newsfeeds without offending them.
WINNING FORMULA
With many brands still wary of annoying consumers with lots of tiny ads or repetitive text messages, some like Coca Cola hit upon the idea of rewarding mobile owners with coupons, prizes or free content as a way to make a connection.
Helping them make that link is Brian Wong, chief executive of San Francisco-based kiip, a mobile app rewards network that connects brands and companies with consumers. He says his startup has found a winning formula - and that people have contacted him to say thank you for the adverts.
"The rewards are a pleasant surprise for the user. It's like a gift that comes out of the blue," Wong said.
In one campaign run via kiip by Pepsi, a person logging their morning 5 kilometer jog on a fitness app like MapMyRun sees a grey band pop up on the top of their smartphone screen. If they click on it, a window appears: "What a workout! Refresh yourself with a bottle of Propel Zero" and they are emailed a coupon for the fitness drink to redeem at a local store.
Targeting such "moments of achievement", such as when a gamer passes a level or a cyclist beats his personal best, allows marketers to target people at opportune moments in ways that are relevant to them, Wong says.
Kiip only gets paid if the customer redeems the reward and as a result brands are willing to pay more for a system based on results. Although Wong won't say how much kiip charges, it is likely more than the average price for mobile ads, which in turn are cheaper than ads on PCs. A perception that banner ads on small screens are not very effective and the glut of available space has kept prices capped at around $1 per thousand views.
LOCATION TARGETING
For mobile ads to become more effective - and lucrative - marketers have to get more creative at tapping mobile's advantages, such as the direct link to a person all day and the location data.
The industry is also working on coming up with better metrics to measure effectiveness of mobile ads, which could one day boost their value.
One way to improve the effectiveness of mobile marketing is to link up a person's web browsing history on computers with their smartphone. Mark Strecker, the chief operating officer of mobile advertising technology company Amobee, said companies were in the early stages of such work.
For example, when a shopper walks into a retailer like the Gap, their phone would know they had earlier looked at jeans on the store's website from their home computer and send them details about availability of their size.
The additional information about users also means agencies now make fewer mistakes.
"If we see, from the location, that someone has gone to a car showroom then we could send them car ads," said Dani Cushion, executive at mobile ad platform Millennial Media.
"But if we see they go to the showroom every day, then they probably just work there."
(Reporting by Kate Holton; Editing by Sophie Walker)
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 22 people were killed in a series of blasts in Shi'ite neighborhoods of Baghdad on Thursday, police sources said, as Iraq's precarious sectarian balance comes under growing strain.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Sunni Muslim insurgents have been redoubling their efforts to undermine the Shi'ite-led government and spark deeper intercommunal fighting since the start of the year.
Two car bombs, one parked near a crowded restaurant and the other close to a football stadium, exploded around sunset and killed at least 18 people in Baghdad's southern Shula district.
Violence in Iraq is increasing as Sunni opposition swells against Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, whose power-sharing government has been all but paralyzed since U.S. troops withdrew in December 2011.
Another car bomb and six roadside explosive devices planted at a market killed four other people in mainly Shi'ite Mahmoudiya, also in the south of Baghdad.
"I was inside my shop when the explosion happened," said photographer Ibrahim Jassam. "There were a groom and his bride preparing to have their wedding picture taken. They left everything and ran away after the blast. I hid in my shop."
A curfew was imposed on the area following the attacks.
Tens of thousands of Iraqi Sunnis have staged protests against Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government in their western stronghold of Anbar on the border with Syria, and al Qaeda has urged them to take up arms.
Al Qaeda-linked militants appear to be regrouping in Anbar's caves and valleys, with some moving into Syria to join the fight against Assad, whose Alawite sect springs from Shi'ite Islam.
Iraq is calmer than in the communal bloodletting of 2006-2007, but Shi'ite leaders fear the war in neighboring Syria could push the country back towards sectarian strife.
(Reporting by Kareem Raheem, additional reporting by Suadad al-Salhy; Writing by Isabel Coles; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Roger Atwood)
Our father, Rav Mordechai Michoel Miller z?l was born in 1943 in Boston to his parents, Rabbi Yeshaya and Mrs. Yehudis Miller. The spiritual climate in Boston in those years was in decline, and most of our father?s peers forsook a Torah life, with only a small minority even remaining Shomer Shabbos. At 18, recognizing the direction in which his peer?s lives? were heading, he firmly resolved that he does not want to lead such a life, but felt a strong desire to lead a Torahdike life. At the time, Rav Leib Heiman headed a mesivta in Boston and so our father approached him to arrange for chavrusas.
Two years later, at 20, he married his devoted wife, our chushuve Mommy, Rebbetzin Chana Miller sthichy?e. While our father was accepted into Harvard and could have entered the professions, setting aside time to learn Torah every day, and live a normal olam hazeh life, our parents did not want this; they wanted a life of only Torah. Togeth er, they chose to live in great poverty and dedicate themselves exclusively to Torah learning ? regardless of the difficulties, even holding their wedding in the yeshiva lunchroom instead of a normal wedding hall, so as to save money for living expenses after the chasunah. Thus began their life-long career of shunning materialism and devoting themselves solely to Torah.
Following their wedding they moved to New York where our father, upon the advice of his esteemed uncle, HoRav Avigdor Miller zt?l, went to learn by HoRav Yehudah Davis zt?l in Brighton Beach. He was the first, and for a while the only kollel member, but this did not disturb him and he learnt in the yeshiva with incredible hasmada for a few years until their money ran out. With no income, our parents sought a way to continue learning and contacted Rav Leib Heiman and asked if he would allow them to live in the yeshiva dormitory in exchange for tutoring bochurim. Rav Heiman was amazed to see a couple so devoted to Torah learning to the extent where they were even willing to live in a dormitory and immediately agreed. And so our parents with their young daughter moved into the Boston yeshiva?s dormitory, and our father, with his trademark intensity, learned in the yeshiva for a number of years. When the yeshiva closed, the family returned to New York where our father became a Magid Shiur in the mesivta of Kaminetz in Boro Park, where he taught for twenty-five years, and then, for the last twelve years of his life, served as an eighth-grade Rebbi at Yeshiva Tiferes Yisroel in Flatbush.
Our father strove to turn his hundreds of students into Torahdike talmidim. He had an enormous influence on scores of talmidim and truly concerned himself with their success ? even years after they left his class. He felt that a boy who was once his talmid is always his talmid. As Rabbi Yehudah Jacobson shlita, said, ?Rav Miller?s sense of achrayus was legendary. As an illustration, a talmid was unable to go to camp and so our father learnt with him throughout the summer ? without pay. And he did this for several consecutive summers. And this was not an isolated incident. This was not something that he did; it was who he was. By him, it was poshut that this is what you have to do. His attitude was always: ?He is my talmid; it is my achrayus to take care of him!? Our father did not teach a class of twenty-five boys, but rather twenty-five yechidim in a class. And he cared about each one individually. Our father did not teach gemara; he taught talmidim, and with his incredible depth of understanding, enjoyed great hatzlacha in helping them realize their potential.
Totty was an all-around lamdan and spoke with his talmidim not only in learning, but was also able to talk with the boys? about literature classics, scientific analysis, vocabulary literacy, mathematical theories and any and all subjects. His talmidim loved to see him; they basked in his trademark smile and felt his warmth and genuine caring. One talmid told the family that our fathers? smile was so warm and caring that he felt as if our father was hugging him. He created a close kesher with many talmidim who kept up with him, and were heard, even years later, quoting their mesivta Rebbi. They saw in him a true Torah personality and wanted to be close to him and be influenced by him.
Our father was an incredible masmid. Throughout the year, he would get up every day at 4AM to learn before Shacharis then go to yeshiva to teach, then immediately after yeshiva, to his afternoon seder, and then, after a quick supper, on to his night seder chavrusa. The gadlus of our father was that he kept to this schedule ? every day ? with absolutely and literally no exception. No matter what was occurring in his life, our father was up at 4AM the next day. During the summer, the family went to a bungalow colony within wa lking distance of Camp Morris. Every day, our father went to Camp Morris for shacharis and, immediately after davening, sat down and learned straight ? with deep intensity ? until 7PM, except for a few-minute break where he would eat an apple and a plain rice-cake?. On Shabbos, our father never took a nap. Immediately after the seuda, he would go to Lakewood Minyan and learn all afternoon until Mincha. And he did this every Shabbos ? without exception. We were brought up in a home, where our father had an acute awareness of what we are here for. Our father would frequently tell us: ?Life is short. I can?t waste it? And he literally lived his everyday-life in accordance with this recognition. Perhaps, a possible interpretation of ?Tzadik b?Emunoso Yichye? is that, while we all ?believe?, a Tzadik ensures that he consistently in fact lives his life, i.e. ?yichye?, in a manner which conforms to that which he believes, i.e. b?Emunoso?.
The family jokes that our father never came on time for davening. It?s true; he always came early. To him, on-time meant, at the very least, twenty-minutes before the scheduled time. We children often could not understand why he was rushing to, say, Mincha, when it was starting in thirty minutes and it was only a six-minute walk?.
The hallmark of our father?s personality was his midah of Emes. This midah permeated every facet of his life. Our father despised sheker and could neither tolerate nor relate to any behavior that was not entirely genuine. While Emes is typically understood as ?being honest with others?, and our father was renowned for his remarkable honesty, we refer here, primarily, to his extraordinary self-honesty. As an illustration, once, in his later years, his son-in-law, Rabbi Avrohom Goldberg, asked him why he does not wear a kapota, as by then he was a Rebbi for over 30 years and many of his contemporaries wore a kapota. His answer t ypifies his approach to his Avodas Hashem. He replied, ?You know, when I was a young man and for a short tekufa learned in the Matesdorfer Yeshiva kollel, the Rov asked me to grow a beard as the chasidishe bochurim in the yeshiva could not relate to a yungerman without a beard. So I grew a beard. And I felt that I lost fifty-percent of my drive to grow in learning since I already had a beard and felt like a choshuve person. If I were to wear a kapota, I would lose all my drive.?
Totty had no shtick. He was an absolutely real person and was only concerned about p?nemius. Once, when an old talmid met him and asked what he was involved with, our father answered, ?I am working on the sub-basement?. He meant that he was working on his inner self; his inner p?nemius. This is all that mattered to him. He gave no credence whatsoever to any and all externals.
Our father was not a man of means, yet he somehow managed to send substantial checks to nu merous talmidei chachomim in New York and Eretz Yisroel every month ? for over thirty years. How did he do this? Those that know the family well, know, that, our father was able to do this because he ? and our Mother shtichy?e ? literally did not need anything for themselves. They, by choice, lived b?dachkus gadol that it is hard to believe; we usually associate such a standard of living with the gedolei Eretz Yisroel. Whether it was two tiny rooms off the kitchen in the Mountaindale yeshiva, the dormitory in the Boston yeshiva, a basement, an attic, and finally when they bought their house, they always lived in such a plain simple manner. And they were joyful. They felt they had it all as they were leading such a full meaningful life. For himself, he needed nothing. Literally. For others, his generosity of spirit knew no bounds. Literally.
Our father lived with Hashem and often spoke about how Bitachon is a matter of experience ? not faith. He freque ntly related how Hashem has helped him and how if we only take the time to think, we can see Hashem?s hashgacha protis so clearly. When asked how he was doing, our father, with great exuberance, would invariably reply, ?Wonderful! What could be better? I am alive! And I am learning!?
Four years ago, on Shabbos Parshas Ki Sisa, the 18th of Adar, our father sat at the dining room table learning mesichta Tamid. He completed the mesichta and then got up to wash for Shalosh Seudos when he was suddenly niftar ? marking his siyum on his personal ?Mesichta Tamid? ? his lifelong perpetual non-stop Avodas Hashem.
An appreciation of our father is of course incomplete without speaking about his life-long helpmate, our Mommy shtichye, who, for nearly forty-six years, devoted herself with extraordinary single-mindedness solely to the cause of ?Totty learning?. There are no words, however, that are adequate to this task, so we will simply quote wha t our father himself so often told people: ?My wife makes me feel like a million dollars! All my Torah and ruchniyusdike growth is to her credit!? And he meant it. And, dearest Mommy, we, your children and grandchildren, know it?.
Our father used to tell us that we should daven not only for arichas shanim, but also for arichas yomim, meaningful days. Totty, you not only merited arichas yomim ? you personified it. May we, your children and grandchildren, be g?bentched with the sechel and wherewithal to follow in your ways so that we too, can be zoche to true arichas yomim ? meaningful days.
Yehi Zichro Boruch
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Apple announced a new milestone for its iTunes U online digital education outlet, which has just crossed the 1 billion download mark. Alongside the announcement, Apple has also informed us exclusively that the company has so far sold more than 8 million iPads directly into educational institution worldwide. iTunes U became a standalone app, complete with its own course marketplace and catalog in June 2012.
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Public release date: 28-Feb-2013
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[By: A. Miller]
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