Rambly Bits for a Wednesday (now with horrid bilingual puns!)

[gnomi]

-- The Boston Globe this morning, in an article about the new travel regs starting 23 January, mentioned that only 25% of US citizens have a passport. I find this number surprisingly low. It may just be that more of my friends, on average, have passports than the average group of Americans.

-- This morning, I felt quite righteous for not kicking a Jews for Jesus cultist member for trying to thrust a flyer at me as I headed for my train at Harvard Square. I found out later from a commuting buddy that they were handing out flyers at Alewife, as well. For future reference, here is a PDF of a flyer by Jews for Judaism on methods of responding to J4Jers. Thanks to mabfan for the link.

-- Proof that coffee is necessary for Chanukah: "Nescafe hayah sham"

-- Proof that cell phones were going to be popular in Israel, no matter what: "SIM card l'artzecha"

-- Is Chanukah too early to decide that I'm never going to finish the box of matzah crackers I have in my cube (left over from Pesach)?

Comments

[sdelmonte]

Americans tend not to leave America. So I'm not too surprised.

Whereas Jews tend to visit Israel. And are sometimes ready to leave at a moment's notice, even when things are good for the Jews. So at elast some of the people you know are bound to have passports.

FWIW, I let mine lapse and didn't have a valid one for about six years.

[joecoustic.livejournal.com]

I got my passport about 23 years ago to go to Israel and never got a new one when it expired. Back then they had 4 year passports and I have wondered if it is more likely I would have renewed a 10 year one.

[lisafeld.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm guessing your friends are mainly middle-class college graduates and mostly Jews. I'm guessing all the ones with passports have either A: been to Israel at least once, or B: did a semester abroad/summer in Europe. People tend to have things they need, and not bother getting them if they don't need them, which is why so many people show up for their flu shots only after they've gotten the flu and can't be innoculated. :)

[madfilkentist]

Active science fiction fans are also big travelers and more likely to have passports than the average American.

I just happened to post a blog entry on Jesus today; it's from an atheist perspective, but has some points in common with the Jews for Judaism leaflet.

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

>>"Nescafe hayah sham"<<

a great coffee happened there? :D i did facepalm, tho.

hanukah is probably too LATE to decide that you're never going to finish the box of crackers that's been in your cube since passover. they're not stale yet? o.O

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I just got my passport a couple months ago when they started talking about putting the RFID chips in. I hate RFID, so, on the chance that I'd need a passport eventually, I got one before the RFID thing went into effect.

Otherwise, I wouldn't have. 'Course, now, we're planning an out-of-the-country trip, so I guess it's a good thing I have gotten one.

I've never been out of the country. I've never been in Canada, and, if it weren't for my wife and the rest of my family, I never would go out of the country. Heck, I don't leave Massachusetts if I can help it.

I'm more extreme than most Americans, but I suspect I'm closer to the mean than you are.

[kuroshii.livejournal.com]

the nice thing about matzah crackers is that they're so dry they can't exactly go stale. or mold, for that matter, unless you live in a swamp!

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

The only other country I've ever been to is Canada, twice. Not that I don't want to visit othr countries and see the world; it just hasn't been a priority for me.

[xochitl42.livejournal.com]

Hee! I love the nescafe and sim card lines! I'm curious about how they sound in Hebrew, because my internal audio defaults to the commercial sounds of everyday English.

Now, on to J4J. I'm not Jewish; I call myself a syncretist, for argument's sake, and also because it annoys the living daylights out of wandering proselytizers. But J4J just gets under my skin. They really, really bother me. There was an ad campaign in the New York subway system, which I'm sure you saw in similar if not identical form in the T. These soft, B&W (or duotone, heck I don't remember) of people smiling beatifically, talking about discovering some inner or deeper truth.

It just offended the heck out of me. It was so presumptuous, so juvenile, so self-righteous. Ugh. Bleah.

Natch. Just read the BYG nonsense on the Jews for Judaism website. Now I understand, in a lot more concrete terms, why they bug the [expletive not included because I do not wish to mar such a lovely LJ] heck out of me.

Argh. Ugh.

Good for you not kicking a J4J drone. He ain't worth the sidewalk detritus collected on your shoes.

[twitch124.livejournal.com]

In 1993 when I got my first passport only about 10% of Americans held them. (According to the "Your New Passport" literature that came with my passport. Which also said that American passports were often stolen and fenced for $250 in Europe, making them the most expensive black market document in common circulation.)

This was after passports became good for 10 years for adults, 5 for children. But getting my passport still just involved a copy of my birth certificate, my mom filling out the paperwork and the post office lady signing a form saying she'd known me for 10 years (as the second witness in the old incomplete documents passport process, at a post office that was a passport center too). She had known me for 10+ years, since my mom had been bringing me along to the post office for my whole life.

[ckd]

Not only do I have a US passport (renewed before the RFIDs and good through 2014), I also have an Irish passport (with neither RFID nor even OCRable text, and good through 2008).

I would expect your friends to be more likely than average to have passports for various reasons; among other things, I believe that statistics show that liberals are more likely to have passports (or that passport holders are more likely to be liberals).

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

I got my first passport in 1997 for my trip to Israel and Egypt. By the time it expired, it included not only a stamp from Israel and an Egyptian visa (which is a gorgeous little work of art), it included stamps from Canada, Germany, England and Scotland. Mexico, when I went, didn't require a passport, but if it had, I'd have a stamp from there, too. That passport has since lapsed, but I have to get a new one for my 2007 adventure to Kenya (and so I can visit my friends in Vancouver BC). I can't imagine living without a passport now, mainly because I can't imagine not traveling.

My parents never left the North American continent, but they raised me on National Geographic and Smithsonian magazines, so I grew up with a passion for wanting to see the spectacular places I read about. Having been out of the country, I can't imagine not traveling again.

And I agree with sdelmonte and madfilkentist: Jews and science fiction types tend to travel more than the average American.

[sorek.livejournal.com]

"Is Chanukah too early to decide that I'm never going to finish the box of matzah crackers I have in my cube (left over from Pesach)?"

Nah, I'd say you have to Feburary or maybe even early March. They should, hoever, be one of the first things you toss when you start *thinking* of cleaning for Pesach.

[docorion.livejournal.com]

Gods, I'd feel utterly naked if I didn't have a passport; I've had one since I was something like 4. Growing up overseas has that effect, though. I still remember turning 17, when all good resident aliens must go to the police station and get their very own visa to stay in the Netherlands, rather than mooching off my parents' visa.

Mine is good until 2009; I'll probably head to Europe in 2009 (if not sooner) and get it renewed at a consulate. It's a fetish-passports used to have the numbers perforated onto them, with a letter which designated where you got it (Massachusetts was 'E'). All passpports issued overseas had a 'Z', and I was inordinately proud that my passport had a 'Z'. Nowadays, it still says where it was issued, but the numbering system has changed, so one can't tell from the outside where it was issued. But I'd still like a passport issued in Rotterdam (where most of my previous ones came from-it was the closest consulate to my house).

[jenwrites.livejournal.com]

I have a passport, but it expired eight years ago so it probably doesn't count. My husband doesn't have one, because the only time he traveled internationally as an adult was in the military. So yeah, we're two data points for "no passport."

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

I got my first passport at age 14 for a family trip to the South Pacific. Worst photo ever!

I had to renew mine a couple of years ago for a trip to the UK. No...not renew, replace. I couldn't find the one I had at the time, though I knew it was in the house somewhere and perfectly valid, so I got a new one. If it's still possible to get a non-RFID passport, I may yet replace it again just to eke out a few more years of RFID-less travel.

It's difficult for me to imagine not having a passport. I love to travel, I love the freedom of being able to go just about anywhere (as long as I can afford it, that is), and I also appreciate the idea that I could escape if I had to -- and believe me, the thought has not-so-idly occurred to me a few times over the last 6 years.

[kuroshii.livejournal.com]

i got my first passport when i was around five. i didn't go anywhere that needed it, but my parents knew that it would be easier for me to renew vs. getting a new one as i got older. this was true even thirty years ago, and it's even more true now.

it expired five years later as per the rule with young folk, but i didn't renew it until five years ago when i went on a cruise in the mediterranean with my parents.

[michelel72.livejournal.com]

Never had one. I've never been able to afford (time or money) to travel anywhere that needed one (Canada previously didn't), and I saw no reason to give the gummint my money for something that might expire without ever being used. I figure if I need one, I'll get one then, and until that point I have that $75/ten years or so for my own nefarious purposes.

I hope to see Vancouver sometime in the next five or ten years, so I will need one eventually ... but until then, my kids need shoes. Or, more accurately, my kittens need kibble.

[perpet.livejournal.com]

I've no passport, although I really need to get one. I have a friend who keeps going overseas or to Canada to do post-grad work, and it'd be nice to be able to see her.

As for Jews for Jesus: If I ever see one [rare in these parts, as it's mostly idiot "Christians" who tell me wearing pants will send me to hell], I will happily kick it in the butt.

[nwl.livejournal.com]

I'm not surprised that 25% of Americans have passports, when you consider all the places they could go without one until a few years ago. More people will get them now that they need them to visit their neighbors to the North and South as well as a few islands. Growing up, we could hop across the border to shop in Canada. Kids from Canada would come to our local dances. Today, you'd need a passport.

Travel is expensive, so not everyone can travel. We are also blessed with a BIG country that has a lot to see. When we were in Scotland, we crossed an entire country in an hour! We'd just get to the next city here in an hour. Heck, it takes an hour to just get to the airport here.

[caryabend.livejournal.com]

I translate that as "A Coffee Miracle Happened There"

And how does one actually know if matzoh has gone stale?

:)

[pisicutsa.livejournal.com]

I got my first passport at 4 months. My dad's hands are holding me in it. :)

I thought that JFJ were a joke when I first got a approached in 2000 on the UWS... I remember saying "urm, are you confused? Jews for Jesus would be Christians". (They continue to bug me since for some reason I seem unlikely to kick them... now I just mock them and ask them if they'd like to support my group - Catholics for Mohammed).

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

I wonder if living on the coast has anything to do with it? People who live in the landlocked center of the country, that much farther from foreign countries - and with so many other states to explore around them - may be less inclined to leave the country. Just musing.

hahahaha!

[queendeb.livejournal.com]

we are laughing in israel!!!!!

lovelovelove the horridy bilingual puns!

[zsero.livejournal.com]

If Europeans could go anywhere in Europe and North Africa without a passport, most of them wouldn't have one either. And if USAns needed one every time they wanted to go farther than the corner shop, more of them would have one.