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USB Menorah
Fiver-rah writes "There's USB Christmas trees; lame acrylic things with LED lights that are powered by your computer. It's an amusing idea, but it doesn't really take advantage of being attached to a computer. Enter the USB Menorah. It can correctly calculate the dates of Hannukah for at least the next few thousand years (or any historical date back to 2 B.C.E.). As well as 'lighting' the candles based on when the sunsets (I set the default geography for San Francisco/Berkeley, but you can enter any latitude/longitude and (assuming you don't live too close to the arctic
circle) it will be correct to within a few minutes. Furthermore, the shamas (candle you use to light the other candles) can blink out any morse-code message you want--it'll convert the words to morse code for you! And you can even put it into Kwanzaa mode! Each candle can take three different colors (Red, Green & Yellow),
allowing you to do some animation. Software is a GPL command line program for Mac OS X. Basically only the USB communication stuff needs to be ported for other OS's. Delcom
(the manufacturer of the USB interface chip) supplies drivers for
Windows, and a few people have written Linux drivers, so it wouldn't be
too hard for a motivated individual."
as long as all 8 candles are at the same elevation, and the Shamash (the candle you use to light the others is higher), it's all kosher.
I woud love one too. Maybe there is some electronics magazine with the schematics for one? If you don't mind going over the top, then there is WiNRADIO and for Linux LiNRADIO which makes use of it.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
http://www.usbgadget.com/usb-misc.htm
...
I got mine for 10 from www.maplin.co.uk - they don't seem to carry them anymore tho
anything YOU cant power with usb
Yes, anything needing more than 500mA of power.(For those who are interested)
Although, most people who use this would probably know that this should not be intended to replace the actual lighting of a menorah.
In order to fulfill the religious requirement of lighting the menorah for the 8 nights of Chanukah, you need to use either candles or olive oil (to burn). (the other requirement is that all the candles except for the one used to light the others, must be at the same height)
The key word is candles, though, or preferably olive oil. LED's don't count as fire even for prohibitions against lighting fires on the sabbath or similar things and are certainly subotimal for candles.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
(to start, this may be offtopic, but I am merely responding to the above question to settle this issue which seems to come up every time something Jewish or Israeli appears on Slashdot)
There are many kinds of zionism.
Zionism is a political point of view; Judaism is a religion which may incorporate some kinds of Zionism.
The term Zionism comes from biblical verses referring to Jerusalem as Zion (or Tsion in Hebrew). At its core, Zionism is the belief and aspirations that the Jews should have a homeland in Israel.
As I stated at the beginning, there are many kinds of Zionists..
- Political Zionism - there should be state that can be used to protect Jews from violence (i.e. holocaust, etc.) and will give them a sence of normalicy
- Cultural Zionism - Israel should be the cultural centre of the Jewish people.
- Labour Zionism - To express the love for the land through working it (i.e. agriculture)
- Religious Zionism - Certain Jewish laws can only be kept in Israel, as a result, in order to fulfill these laws, one must be in Israel
- Socialist Zionism - To build Israel as a socialist state where all classes can unite and overcome anti-Semitism.
It should be noted there are other Zionists that are not Jewish that believe that all the Jews need to return to the Holy Land in order to fulfill the messianic prophecies
I hope this helps.
Or 100mA for non-powered hubs.
But...wasn't jesus a Jew?
He is using the computer's clock. But that's not quite enough. This year Chanuka began on the evening of December 19. Next year it will begin on the night of December 7. Computing the phases of the moon doesn't seem to be built into my BIOS, is it in yours?
Amps are for measuring current. You want watts.
Given that USB's power is at 5V DC, that comes out to 2.5W of power.
But then again, I could be wrong.
He's not as paranoid as you should be
The war victory is celebrated with Al HaNissim added to the Shemoneh Esrai (daily prayers), and Birkas Hamazon (the blessing after a meal); you must be refering to the answer to "Mai Channukah" in Talmud Bavli, Mesechta Shabbos 21b. That does make the reason for the holiday occuring when it does and how many days it does because of the miracle - but our sages found ways to celebrate both aspects of the holiday. Even this often-quoted-as-support by some scholars passage mentions the millitary victory somewhat parenthetically "when the kingdom of the Hasmoneans became strong and overcame them."
Of course, our Rabbis did oppose the Hasmoneans in retrospect - one answer given as to why their reign gave way to Roman domination was that the Hasmoneans when victorious gave the kingship to the hereditary priesthood (kohanim) rather than to the Davidic line.
On Channukah, except on those days that fall on Shabbos, handling electricity, going to work, driving a car, etc, are all allowed. Although important, important enough to warrent the majority of the seven non-biblical commandments, Channukah does not have the status of a "chag" or festival, such as Pesach or Rosh Hashanna, so most activities are permitted - though many poskim forbid work by women while the menorah is lit because of Judith's key role in the victory of the Maccabees.
Well, I don't know where you got your information, but my Master's Degree in religious studies and my Jewish mother both tell me that a "Menorah" means any candle holder of any shape, size, or sort, while a Chanukiah is the specific one used for the holiday of Chanukah.
Orthodox jews will not turn on electric lights on the sabbath,
Not really because of the "fire" aspect. It's actually because it completes a circuit. And such completion would constitue "Binyan", or building, of of the 39 forbidden activities.
Have you read my journal today?