Disgruntled customers target RIM

Customers of Canadian tech giant Research In Motion (RIM) Ltd. are apparently still very outraged over the BlackBerry maker's global outage earlier this month. Device users in Canada and the United States have joined with the Consumer Law Group to file a class action lawsuit against the Waterloo, Ontario based company. The suit cites RIM's failure to directly compensate smartphone users who regularly pay their monthly data fees. An offer of $100 worth of preselected applications from the RIM's "App World" store did little to appease angry clients.

Fraught with product issues left and right, the class action suit was brought before Superior Court in Quebec on Oct. 26, on the heels of RIM announcing that their new PlayBook's 2.0 software will not be ready until sometime next year.

Will the judge have the people's best interests in mind? Guess it depends if he or she is a BlackBerry user too. What say you?

Shemini Atzeret / Simchat Torah 101

That's right! It's just about time to turn the pages back and start anew on the Torah reading cycle as we celebrate Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. How much do you know about the traditions and customs to observe during the final days of the Sukkot festival? Here's a little primer from CHABAD.ORG.

These two days constitute a major holiday, when most forms of work are prohibited. On the preceding nights, women and girls light candles, reciting the appropriate blessings, and we enjoy nightly and daily festive meals, accompanied by the Kiddush. We don't go to work, drive, write, or switch electric devices on or off. We are permitted to cook and to carry outdoors (unless it is also Shabbat).

The first day, Shemini Atzeret, features the prayers for rain, officially commemorating the start of the Mediterranean (i.e., Israeli) rain season, and the Yizkor (prayer supplicating G‑d to remember the souls of the departed).

We no longer take the Four Kinds, and we no longer mention Sukkot in the day's prayers; in the Diaspora, however, we do still eat in the sukkah (but without reciting the blessing on the sukkah).

The highlight of the second day....well those can be found by clicking here.

For Gilad... FREEDOM!!

GILAD SCHALIT IS FREE! GILAD SCHALIT IS FREE!

Chag sameach to all.

Noam Schalit embraces Gilad upon his arrival in Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu looks on in background.

Netanyahu welcomes Gilad back home to Israel.

Sukkot preparations in song

What is a Jewish holiday these days without some form of a musical parody? Here at The CJ Shmooze on the eve of Sukkot, we thought we'd bring you this musical tale of preparing to build the holiday dwelling of the sukkah to you. Enjoy and Chag Sukkot sameach! from The CJ Shmooze and The CJN.

Mike Myers joins protest on Wall Street

The #Occupywallstreet march received celebrity support from new father and now American citizen Mike Myers. Born in Scarborough Ontario, Myers is best known for his international man of mystery Austin Powers, his animated alter ego Shrek, rocker Wayne Campbell of Wayne's World and stereotypical Jew Linda Richman on the Saturday Night Live sketch Coffee Talk. On camera Myers stated he arrived in the US with a Canadian dollar and a dream. He believes in capitalism and a level playing field between the rich and the downtrodden.

Hundreds of people will gather next in the heart of Toronto's financial district at Bay and King starting October 15. Preparations will be made for the march to commence October 17 as the Toronto Stock Exchange begins its trading for the week. Occupy Wall Street will then be entering its third week and at present shows no sign of slowing down. These are troubling times indeed for the United States as they move into a major election year, with big decisions ahead to be made.