Since I know that everybody will want to buy my new book for Christmas I should probably point out why I did not list every Amazon site. The book is available at Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, Amazon North Korea, of course, but I would actually prefer it if everybody could buy it from a single version of Amazon. Or from another site. It seems that Amazon has found a clever way to avoid paying people what is rightfully owed.
If you sell a book on Amazon and live outside of the United States, as many of us do, Amazon will only pay you after you reach US$100 in sales. After all of their fees and taxes, of course. $100 does not seem insurmountable but there is a catch. Amazon divides each national website. If you sell enough to make $99 at each of their 12 sites they do not pay you $1188. They pay you absolutely nothing. If you make $100 at one site and $99 at the other 11 they do not pay $1189. They only pay the $100.
I seem to be more populat at Amazon US and Amazon UK. I make money from those sites but nothing from the others. I have sold a lot of copies from Amazon Germany but not $100 worth, so I might not see that money for years, if ever. I have currently sold one copy from Amazon Mexico. I will never see those 98 cents. Most sales are from Amazon US, so it makes the most sense to only advertise that site.
So if you are one of the five people who are thinking about buying this thing from Amazon, all I ask is that you use amazon.com.
As long as I am spamming my own blog I might as well remind everybody about the first book. It is still available. What better way to say Happy Christmas to loved ones than to give them a book by somebody who does not celebrate Christmas.
Barnes and Noble
Amazon
Kobo
Sony
iTunes
Bookworld
distributor
21 December 2013
20 December 2013
Fortnight in the Philippines
So it turns out my blog post about the Philippines was long enough to be a book. It is a bit of a short book but a book nonetheless.
It was such a unique experience that writing about it was both very easy and a bit of a challenge. There is so much to say about what happened, what we did, the ongoing situation. I could have made an epic that rivaled War and Peace. In length. Not so much in artistic value. But who has time to write such a thing. And, frankly, who would ever read it.
It is currently available in a variety of digital formats. Print versions will likely take a while. I am still trying to get Letters to Friends in paperback. That one is flying off the shelves like a zeppelin. This one might have to wait.
Kindle
A bunch of different formats
Barnes and Noble, Sony, Apple are all coming soon.
15 December 2013
Tagalong Writing
I started writing about my time in the Philippines. I’ve yet to finish. I cannot say what will happen with it whenever I am finally finished. It is already too long to be a blog post. But I doubt it will ever be long enough to be a book.
I suppose I could add more to it to make a book length but that would take some time and I have no real desire to do such a thing. My current plan is to write whatever comes out and decide what to do with it later.
Stay tuned. Maybe there will be an epic multipart post in the coming weeks.
Update: Nevermind.
I suppose I could add more to it to make a book length but that would take some time and I have no real desire to do such a thing. My current plan is to write whatever comes out and decide what to do with it later.
Stay tuned. Maybe there will be an epic multipart post in the coming weeks.
Update: Nevermind.
06 December 2013
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela was internationally known as a peace activist. The world will remember him as the first black RSA president. When I was a child he was known as a hero by blacks and a criminal by whites. He helped found Umkhonto we Sizwe, which was a terrorist organisation by anybody’s definition. Mandela freely admitted to the treason and sabotage for which he was imprisoned. MK killed countless civilians in bombings and guerrilla attacks. Their victims were black, white and everything in between. I vividly remember their attack at Durban’s Golden Mile just after my seventh birthday, although I did not know any of the people killed or injured. I do not think any 7-year-old should have to deal with the racial injustice of apartheid but I do not think any 7-year-old should have to know about terrorism either. Mandela has since acknowledged that he and MK violated human rights.
People who want to deify Mandela tend to whitewash his early terrorist activities but I think it is important to know where he came from in order to understand where he went. One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. To the radical blacks he was helping to free them from oppression. And there was serious oppression under apartheid. It was not simply segregation and inequality. Blacks were treated as common criminals simply for being born black.
But killing people who have nothing to do with your inequality has nothing to do with freedom. Killing blacks to free blacks from oppression simply makes no sense. There were a lot of whites who campaigned against apartheid. Whites were subject to banning just as easily as blacks. It was far easier to be white but most whites had no control of the government at the time, just as most blacks have no control today. Then and now it was a very small group of people who wielded the most power.
Fortunately for everybody, Mandela mellowed out during his years in prison. He gradually evolved from advocating radical urban warfare to a more moderate approach. By the time he was released he sounded less like Malcolm X and more like Gandhi. I never would have voted for the ANC just after my seventh birthday, were that possible. But I campaigned for them just before my fifteenth. I did not vote for obvious reasons. We were all pretty excited when they won and Mandela became president. I would doubt that I knew anybody who had a problem with it. We were glad that South Afrika had finally become South Africa again. Mostly we were happy that apartheid was truly dead.
The reason Nelson Mandela is so well known throughout the world and we are all talking about him now is not because of anything he did in office. His presidency was not very noteworthy save for being the first democratically elected president. He became famous for being in prison and stayed famous for what he did after he left office. He did more for human rights than all the other former South African presidents combined. Though in retrospect that does not say much.
I think Mandela was a good president. He did what he could to unite the races. No minor feat at the time. And no one can deny that we all get along much better than before he was president. There are certainly fewer necklacings. His biggest mistake was ignoring AIDS, as his predecessors and successors have done.
But I still think de Klerk was a braver president. It is much harder to end an entrenched corrupt system than to start a new one.
Mandela did two great things as president. One was to force reconciliation down our throats. Weather we liked it or not. There were more than a few people who wanted to kill all whites. Or at least kick them out of the country. Mandela knew that such a thing would destroy the economy permanently. No country outside of Africa would ever trade with us if we were so hostile to such a large minority of our own citizens. Especially when they are white people. You can disenfranchise whatever minority group you want but if they are white then you lose all support from Europe, North America, Australia, Japan. Trading only with African countries is a horrible fiscal model.
Mandela was willing to trade with absolutely anybody, regardless of traditional allies and enemies. He did not care if you were communist, socialist, capitalist. He reached out to dictators, democratically elected representatives, military strongmen. If you were willing to trade with and invest in die Nuwe Suid Afrika you were golden. Some people did not feel that was the best policy. Getting in bed with the wrong sort usually has lasting consequences.
But Mandela’s government spent a lot of money trying to lift blacks out of apartheid. All those new social programmes were not free. They did a great deal of good but somebody had to pay for them. Raising taxes on people who make $1 a day is not an option. Taxing the hell out of whites would only lead many to leave the country, which a lot of blacks wanted, but would be almost as economically reckless as kicking them all out. Countries like the US and UK were more than happy to criticise apartheid and praise Mandela’s release but they were not so enthusiastic about new investment in the new government. They were happy to hurt the economy with sanctions but far less interested in helping the country when the sanctions were lifted. Symbolically jumping on the hero bandwagon is a lot easier than actually spending money on that which you claim to believe. Mandela’s government had little choice but to seek investment from international leaders who never increased their own popularity by praising Mandela.
Mandela’s other great achievement as president was to serve only one term. He voluntarily retired when he could have easily been elected several more times. Lesser men would have worn out their welcome. Others would have tried to make themselves dictators. Mandela probably could have given himself far more power but he was obviously serious about making his country a democracy.
Nelson Mandela was our George Washington. Neither was a great president but both were necessary for the country to grow and move forward. Both could command attention and respect by simply walking into a room. Everybody liked both men and now historians treat them as noble heroes while ignoring their serious flaws. In many ways both countries need them to be as elevated as they are. We need our heroes to be larger than life.
People who want to deify Mandela tend to whitewash his early terrorist activities but I think it is important to know where he came from in order to understand where he went. One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. To the radical blacks he was helping to free them from oppression. And there was serious oppression under apartheid. It was not simply segregation and inequality. Blacks were treated as common criminals simply for being born black.
But killing people who have nothing to do with your inequality has nothing to do with freedom. Killing blacks to free blacks from oppression simply makes no sense. There were a lot of whites who campaigned against apartheid. Whites were subject to banning just as easily as blacks. It was far easier to be white but most whites had no control of the government at the time, just as most blacks have no control today. Then and now it was a very small group of people who wielded the most power.
Fortunately for everybody, Mandela mellowed out during his years in prison. He gradually evolved from advocating radical urban warfare to a more moderate approach. By the time he was released he sounded less like Malcolm X and more like Gandhi. I never would have voted for the ANC just after my seventh birthday, were that possible. But I campaigned for them just before my fifteenth. I did not vote for obvious reasons. We were all pretty excited when they won and Mandela became president. I would doubt that I knew anybody who had a problem with it. We were glad that South Afrika had finally become South Africa again. Mostly we were happy that apartheid was truly dead.
The reason Nelson Mandela is so well known throughout the world and we are all talking about him now is not because of anything he did in office. His presidency was not very noteworthy save for being the first democratically elected president. He became famous for being in prison and stayed famous for what he did after he left office. He did more for human rights than all the other former South African presidents combined. Though in retrospect that does not say much.
I think Mandela was a good president. He did what he could to unite the races. No minor feat at the time. And no one can deny that we all get along much better than before he was president. There are certainly fewer necklacings. His biggest mistake was ignoring AIDS, as his predecessors and successors have done.
But I still think de Klerk was a braver president. It is much harder to end an entrenched corrupt system than to start a new one.
Mandela did two great things as president. One was to force reconciliation down our throats. Weather we liked it or not. There were more than a few people who wanted to kill all whites. Or at least kick them out of the country. Mandela knew that such a thing would destroy the economy permanently. No country outside of Africa would ever trade with us if we were so hostile to such a large minority of our own citizens. Especially when they are white people. You can disenfranchise whatever minority group you want but if they are white then you lose all support from Europe, North America, Australia, Japan. Trading only with African countries is a horrible fiscal model.
Mandela was willing to trade with absolutely anybody, regardless of traditional allies and enemies. He did not care if you were communist, socialist, capitalist. He reached out to dictators, democratically elected representatives, military strongmen. If you were willing to trade with and invest in die Nuwe Suid Afrika you were golden. Some people did not feel that was the best policy. Getting in bed with the wrong sort usually has lasting consequences.
But Mandela’s government spent a lot of money trying to lift blacks out of apartheid. All those new social programmes were not free. They did a great deal of good but somebody had to pay for them. Raising taxes on people who make $1 a day is not an option. Taxing the hell out of whites would only lead many to leave the country, which a lot of blacks wanted, but would be almost as economically reckless as kicking them all out. Countries like the US and UK were more than happy to criticise apartheid and praise Mandela’s release but they were not so enthusiastic about new investment in the new government. They were happy to hurt the economy with sanctions but far less interested in helping the country when the sanctions were lifted. Symbolically jumping on the hero bandwagon is a lot easier than actually spending money on that which you claim to believe. Mandela’s government had little choice but to seek investment from international leaders who never increased their own popularity by praising Mandela.
Mandela’s other great achievement as president was to serve only one term. He voluntarily retired when he could have easily been elected several more times. Lesser men would have worn out their welcome. Others would have tried to make themselves dictators. Mandela probably could have given himself far more power but he was obviously serious about making his country a democracy.
Nelson Mandela was our George Washington. Neither was a great president but both were necessary for the country to grow and move forward. Both could command attention and respect by simply walking into a room. Everybody liked both men and now historians treat them as noble heroes while ignoring their serious flaws. In many ways both countries need them to be as elevated as they are. We need our heroes to be larger than life.
04 December 2013
What I Did On Thanksgiving
I have returned from the Philippines. It was an amazing experience and I am still processing the tsunami of information floating around in my head.
The IDF sent 234 people, including 150 doctors, nurses, medical technicians. We set up a field hospital, found a lot of survivors, found even more dead people, built schools, created entire water systems. The doctors treated 2686 patients, including 848 children, and delivered 36 babies. Two of the children were brought back to Tel Aviv for cleft palate surgery that could be better performed at an actual hospital.
My team spent a great deal of time flying over islands and being endlessly impressed with how powerful a typhoon can be. The mayor of one of the smaller cities said it looked like a war zone. Some areas looked like pictures of Hiroshima after the atomic bomb. There would be a lone tree trying to stay up surrounded by debris as far as the eye could see. One of the big differences was that most of the dead in Hiroshima were incinerated. In the Philippines there were dead bodies everywhere.
On an ironic note, the Japanese delegation in the Philippines landed next to a monument dedicated to the people of the Philippines who died in the Japanese invasion.
I will have much more to say about this later. By this I mean the typhoon and our relief mission, not the Japanese.
The IDF sent 234 people, including 150 doctors, nurses, medical technicians. We set up a field hospital, found a lot of survivors, found even more dead people, built schools, created entire water systems. The doctors treated 2686 patients, including 848 children, and delivered 36 babies. Two of the children were brought back to Tel Aviv for cleft palate surgery that could be better performed at an actual hospital.
My team spent a great deal of time flying over islands and being endlessly impressed with how powerful a typhoon can be. The mayor of one of the smaller cities said it looked like a war zone. Some areas looked like pictures of Hiroshima after the atomic bomb. There would be a lone tree trying to stay up surrounded by debris as far as the eye could see. One of the big differences was that most of the dead in Hiroshima were incinerated. In the Philippines there were dead bodies everywhere.
On an ironic note, the Japanese delegation in the Philippines landed next to a monument dedicated to the people of the Philippines who died in the Japanese invasion.
I will have much more to say about this later. By this I mean the typhoon and our relief mission, not the Japanese.
05 November 2013
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Before we got the new car, the future Mr and I were a single car family. One car between two people might not seem like an insurmountable obstacle but the combination of different work schedules, my far superior driving skills and his male ego made me want to go out and buy a new car.
It was his car so you might think I would be content to let him drive. But then you have clearly never seen him drive. He is simply not very good at it. He thinks he should be constantly accelerating up until he has to slam on the brakes. He thinks those lines on the road are for decoration and should be ignored at will. He considers the brake a last resort when the horn is in perfect working condition.
In his defence, my fiancé learnt to drive in Israel. This is not a country known for patient and attentive drivers. Israelis think that people in the road are playing chicken and the speed limit is a dare. Conversely, I began my driving days in a land where grazing gazelles always have the right of way.
I would drive his car more often than not. I felt more comfortable doing it, it got us to work on time and nobody got hurt. But having only one car forced us to alter our schedules. His work schedule has always been more erratic than mine. I do not keep banker’s hours but I know when I will be going to work for the next week. His hours can and do change at the drop of a turban.
A funny little quirk about his job is that people need to know exactly what streets he takes to get there and approximately when he should be where. He downplayed the significance of this when he first explained it to me but it did not take me very long to figure out that it is all about sending out a search party should he not show up on time. If I do not show up for work, they will phone me and wonder where I am. If he does not show up, they will actually send somebody out to look for him. I guess it makes a difference when some people want to kill you. Nobody wants me dead. Aside from the usual wiping us off the map and all.
Not very long ago I was taking David to work and we were running late. I could say that it was an unfortunate series of events that delayed us but in truth the blame lay solely on one person. I shall not say whom. His or her name begins with a consonant and is immediately followed by two vowels. But that is all I will say about that.
Since we were running late, I decided to take a few different roads that should have got us there faster. It was a good plan. Any map and a basic knowledge of local traffic conditions and it all makes perfect sense. However, neither of us took into consideration that people were looking for the wreckage of his bombed and burning car at the same time that I was driving it headlong into those same military police. We were stopped by a patrol surprised to see a woman driving his car. They thought for a second that perhaps he had been kidnapped by a woman. This only embarrassed him and his male ego. Surely he would be able to defend himself from me.
No. I would mess him up.
It was his car so you might think I would be content to let him drive. But then you have clearly never seen him drive. He is simply not very good at it. He thinks he should be constantly accelerating up until he has to slam on the brakes. He thinks those lines on the road are for decoration and should be ignored at will. He considers the brake a last resort when the horn is in perfect working condition.
In his defence, my fiancé learnt to drive in Israel. This is not a country known for patient and attentive drivers. Israelis think that people in the road are playing chicken and the speed limit is a dare. Conversely, I began my driving days in a land where grazing gazelles always have the right of way.
I would drive his car more often than not. I felt more comfortable doing it, it got us to work on time and nobody got hurt. But having only one car forced us to alter our schedules. His work schedule has always been more erratic than mine. I do not keep banker’s hours but I know when I will be going to work for the next week. His hours can and do change at the drop of a turban.
A funny little quirk about his job is that people need to know exactly what streets he takes to get there and approximately when he should be where. He downplayed the significance of this when he first explained it to me but it did not take me very long to figure out that it is all about sending out a search party should he not show up on time. If I do not show up for work, they will phone me and wonder where I am. If he does not show up, they will actually send somebody out to look for him. I guess it makes a difference when some people want to kill you. Nobody wants me dead. Aside from the usual wiping us off the map and all.
Not very long ago I was taking David to work and we were running late. I could say that it was an unfortunate series of events that delayed us but in truth the blame lay solely on one person. I shall not say whom. His or her name begins with a consonant and is immediately followed by two vowels. But that is all I will say about that.
Since we were running late, I decided to take a few different roads that should have got us there faster. It was a good plan. Any map and a basic knowledge of local traffic conditions and it all makes perfect sense. However, neither of us took into consideration that people were looking for the wreckage of his bombed and burning car at the same time that I was driving it headlong into those same military police. We were stopped by a patrol surprised to see a woman driving his car. They thought for a second that perhaps he had been kidnapped by a woman. This only embarrassed him and his male ego. Surely he would be able to defend himself from me.
No. I would mess him up.
21 October 2013
Where Shadows Fester
Chevrolet Volt
Toyota Prius
We looked at a few conventional cars but then decided to go electric. Tel Aviv is one of the greenest cities in the world and Israel is supposed to be at the top of the environmental food chain. At least that is what they keep telling us. There are charging stations all over the place, tax reductions for those who go electric and even free parking spaces for electric vehicles in some places. Free parking is a wondrous thing.
I see the Toyota Prius driving around town every day. But I was not at all impressed with their hybrid technology. It is like the worst of both worlds. You get the high fuel costs of internal combustion combined with the slow speed and short range of an electric vehicle. I also did not care for the way it felt when the car switched between the two.
The Chevrolet Volt is essentially the same except that it is far more expensive. Probably because it is built in the United States. The Prius is built in Japan and China.
Renault Fluence
Then we looked at the Renault Fluence. It is fully electric, reasonably priced and has an amusing history. Renault originally partnered with Better Place to develop the car and put automated battery stations all over Israel. Their goal was to have as many electric cars as internal combustion on the road by 2016. Instead, they went bankrupt.
That pretty much killed sales but it does not bother me at all. The Better Place system was too authoritarian. They owned the batteries, without which the car does you very little good. They had a complicated leasing system and series of payment plans based on how much you drove, where you drove, what time of day you drove. It was like the early days of mobile phones when companies charged everybody for every little thing.
Now that Better Place is all but dead, Renault has taken over the batteries. It simply comes with the car as it should. Where and how I drive has nothing to do with the company that sold me the car.
You were only allowed to charge your battery at home or at Better Place stations under the Better Place plan. Now you can charge it anywhere. My building put in charging stations two or three years ago which I can now use. Rather than paying Better Place fees to charge my batteries I can charge them at home for free since the stations at my building are solar powered. I went from pay far more for petrol than any American ever has to paying absolutely nothing to fuel my car. Assuming I only charge it at home.
Even if I charge it at a charging station I have to pay for, the prices are a tiny fraction of what it costs to fill a conventional tank.
The only aspect of the Better Place system I would like to see are the automated battery switching stations. The Renault Fluence battery can be quickly removed and replaced and Better Place built a few automated stations where you could replace a dying battery for a new one in about a minute. The stations still exist but nobody really knows what will happen to them now that their company is no more. I can still charge my batteries and/or replace them but not automatically within a minute. Charging from almost empty to full takes about eight hours and replacing them myself takes a good ten minutes. In our instant society, ten minutes is an eternity.
06 October 2013
Fundamentally Judgemental
David and I did some shopping after the death of my beloved Z06. It has often been said that men do not particularly enjoy shopping with women. Images are bandied about of men standing stupefied in corners whilst holding purses and mumbling football statistics to themselves.
Automobile shopping is another matter entirely. David was as giddy as a teenage girl looking at shoes when he kicked tyres and looked at engines. To be fair to teenage girls, I never actually saw him kick a tyre. But he looked at a lot of engines.
The salesmen were not as keen on showing me any engines. This may very well be the 21st century but car salesmen still see women as too feminine to have any interest in camshafts and alternators. As far as the men and more than a few women who sell cars for a living are concerned, women care more about fixing their hair than the structural dynamics of their potential conveyance. It is all very insulting to rugged outdoor types such as myself.
There is an Alanis Morissette song wherein the waiter of a fancy restaurant treats her condescendingly because she is dressed like a hobo. The message in the song is that even though she was wealthy enough to pay for not only the meal but the entire restaurant, she refrained from telling the waiter to eat it. I could relate to that while automobile salesmen were talking more to the man I was with than with me, despite the fact that I was the actual shopper. David was far more excited about looking at the cars but we were looking for me.
I am a military officer. I fly into potentially hostile environments and drag broken and bloodied bodies out of harm’s way with relatively little regard for the safety of the people around me. I am trained on the use of automatic weapons and can theoretically beat a man to death with my bare hands. I run and/or swim every single day, rain or shine. I am engaged in some form of physical activity or another more often than some people watch TV. I have climbed large mountains. Salesmen should not look at me and only see a radiant and beautiful young woman. They should also bow down to my commanding presence. Or at least realise that if I am the customer it will not help them at all to kiss my boyfriend’s ass.
To be fair, I was not at all interested in looking at engines and I was having a bad hair day.
Automobile shopping is another matter entirely. David was as giddy as a teenage girl looking at shoes when he kicked tyres and looked at engines. To be fair to teenage girls, I never actually saw him kick a tyre. But he looked at a lot of engines.
The salesmen were not as keen on showing me any engines. This may very well be the 21st century but car salesmen still see women as too feminine to have any interest in camshafts and alternators. As far as the men and more than a few women who sell cars for a living are concerned, women care more about fixing their hair than the structural dynamics of their potential conveyance. It is all very insulting to rugged outdoor types such as myself.
There is an Alanis Morissette song wherein the waiter of a fancy restaurant treats her condescendingly because she is dressed like a hobo. The message in the song is that even though she was wealthy enough to pay for not only the meal but the entire restaurant, she refrained from telling the waiter to eat it. I could relate to that while automobile salesmen were talking more to the man I was with than with me, despite the fact that I was the actual shopper. David was far more excited about looking at the cars but we were looking for me.
I am a military officer. I fly into potentially hostile environments and drag broken and bloodied bodies out of harm’s way with relatively little regard for the safety of the people around me. I am trained on the use of automatic weapons and can theoretically beat a man to death with my bare hands. I run and/or swim every single day, rain or shine. I am engaged in some form of physical activity or another more often than some people watch TV. I have climbed large mountains. Salesmen should not look at me and only see a radiant and beautiful young woman. They should also bow down to my commanding presence. Or at least realise that if I am the customer it will not help them at all to kiss my boyfriend’s ass.
To be fair, I was not at all interested in looking at engines and I was having a bad hair day.
08 September 2013
Weapons of Mass Distraction
What do people have against chemical weapons anyway? They are bad. They kill. They can cause a great deal of pain and suffering. How is this different from all the good weapons we have and use with impunity?
As an enlightened and civilised species we have banded together and told ourselves and each other that we shall no longer use chemical agents to kill each other. There was even a UN resolution against it. We all know how sacrosanct those resolutions are. Since we are not Godless animals, we should only kill each other with weapons of limited destruction and things that explode.
I do not favour chemical weapons. I think they are as bad as everybody who does not use them says. My concern is how much we legitimise more conventional weapons whenever we try to preach against those weapons of war we despise.
Sarin is horrible and does nothing good to the human body. The same can be said for bullets. They generally only kill one person at a time, unless you get in a very lucky shot, but they kill all the same. Death by bullet can be quick, but it can just as easily cause a very slow and painful death. A tiny bullet can take away parts of your body that you may have wanted to use later.
Bullets are also very unpredictable. A single shot can kill you, simply cause an irritating scratch, or do anything in between. Where you are hit often matters less than how you are hit. John Kennedy died quickly from a bullet to the head. James Brady is still alive 32 years later.
Bullets are perfectly acceptable because they are small and generally only kill one person at a time. Something like sarin can kill hundreds at a time. But how much sarin is there in the world compared to the number of bullets? I have never held any sarin in my hands, but I have handled more than a few bullets. I have some bullets in my house. My future husband has even more. Neither of us keep any sarin in the wardrobe. Not everybody has bullets in their home, but I can safely guarantee that there are more bullets in your community than there are chemical weapons.
We as a species also feel safe with much larger projectiles that can kill far more people at any given time. Rockets, missiles, grenades, bombs and all manner of explosive devices are considered perfectly acceptable ways to kill each other. Is being blown up better than being poisoned? I’ve yet to do either but I would prefer another option. There are many types of missiles that can kill far more people than any sarin attack. Is being set on fire from an explosion better than being gassed?
Some will say that guided missile systems are better precisely because they are guided. Chemicals tend to go wherever they want to go. A missile can be targeted to hit a very specific location. This is all nice in theory, but we have seen time and again how often these surgical strikes kill innocent civilians. It happens so often that somebody even came up with a cute little euphemism for all the children accidentally blown up; collateral damage. Which sounds more benign and abstract, “more dead children than anticipated” or “collateral damage”?
Then there are nuclear weapons. In what universe is a nuclear warhead less destructive than any chemical agent? How can the US, Russia, China, UK, India, Pakistan, France, North Korea, Iran very soon, Saudi Arabia soon, Israel maybe or maybe not, ever complain about anybody using chemical weapons when they are all or soon will be capable of launching the most destructive attack the world has ever seen. Even a French nuclear warhead of today is one thousand times more destructive than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. What happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki is small by today’s nuclear standards yet each of those cities suffered more casualties than the world’s largest chemical attack. More people died in each city than in all of the chemical attacks of World War I combined.
The next nuclear warhead to hit a city will probably kill millions of people. In such an attack, nobody is collateral damage.
As an enlightened and civilised species we have banded together and told ourselves and each other that we shall no longer use chemical agents to kill each other. There was even a UN resolution against it. We all know how sacrosanct those resolutions are. Since we are not Godless animals, we should only kill each other with weapons of limited destruction and things that explode.
I do not favour chemical weapons. I think they are as bad as everybody who does not use them says. My concern is how much we legitimise more conventional weapons whenever we try to preach against those weapons of war we despise.
Sarin is horrible and does nothing good to the human body. The same can be said for bullets. They generally only kill one person at a time, unless you get in a very lucky shot, but they kill all the same. Death by bullet can be quick, but it can just as easily cause a very slow and painful death. A tiny bullet can take away parts of your body that you may have wanted to use later.
Bullets are also very unpredictable. A single shot can kill you, simply cause an irritating scratch, or do anything in between. Where you are hit often matters less than how you are hit. John Kennedy died quickly from a bullet to the head. James Brady is still alive 32 years later.
Bullets are perfectly acceptable because they are small and generally only kill one person at a time. Something like sarin can kill hundreds at a time. But how much sarin is there in the world compared to the number of bullets? I have never held any sarin in my hands, but I have handled more than a few bullets. I have some bullets in my house. My future husband has even more. Neither of us keep any sarin in the wardrobe. Not everybody has bullets in their home, but I can safely guarantee that there are more bullets in your community than there are chemical weapons.
We as a species also feel safe with much larger projectiles that can kill far more people at any given time. Rockets, missiles, grenades, bombs and all manner of explosive devices are considered perfectly acceptable ways to kill each other. Is being blown up better than being poisoned? I’ve yet to do either but I would prefer another option. There are many types of missiles that can kill far more people than any sarin attack. Is being set on fire from an explosion better than being gassed?
Some will say that guided missile systems are better precisely because they are guided. Chemicals tend to go wherever they want to go. A missile can be targeted to hit a very specific location. This is all nice in theory, but we have seen time and again how often these surgical strikes kill innocent civilians. It happens so often that somebody even came up with a cute little euphemism for all the children accidentally blown up; collateral damage. Which sounds more benign and abstract, “more dead children than anticipated” or “collateral damage”?
Then there are nuclear weapons. In what universe is a nuclear warhead less destructive than any chemical agent? How can the US, Russia, China, UK, India, Pakistan, France, North Korea, Iran very soon, Saudi Arabia soon, Israel maybe or maybe not, ever complain about anybody using chemical weapons when they are all or soon will be capable of launching the most destructive attack the world has ever seen. Even a French nuclear warhead of today is one thousand times more destructive than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. What happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki is small by today’s nuclear standards yet each of those cities suffered more casualties than the world’s largest chemical attack. More people died in each city than in all of the chemical attacks of World War I combined.
The next nuclear warhead to hit a city will probably kill millions of people. In such an attack, nobody is collateral damage.
18 August 2013
Mt Everest Q&A
I’ve yet to decide if I shall write a book about the expedition. It seems like such a book would be a time consuming proposition. On the other hand there is plenty to say. If any book does exist in the future, my loyal reader(s) will be the fifth to know.
Did you make it to the top?
You will have to read the book should it ever exist. If I eventually give up on the book idea then I will likely write a blog post or two.
What is the food like?
In our case it was absolutely dreadful. Every expedition is responsible for its own food so it is possible to have pleasant meals. But nobody goes up Mt Everest for the dining experience.
The point of eating is to make up for all of those calories lost whilst climbing and to keep you from starving to death. Snacks and sweets are easy to carry and very useful. Meals are very utilitarian. We ate a lot of rice.
Did you get altitude sickness?
Yes. Almost everybody in our party had at least some symptoms. None were fatal and we all got over it quickly enough. Water, oxygen and analgesics are wonderful things.
How do you go to the bathroom?
Very carefully. At base camp it is just like any outdoor wilderness endeavour. Higher up but below the Death Zone it is a simple case of whipping it out and letting it go. There is a simple device for women to urinate man style. Beyond the Death Zone you are better off holding it in. Some people even use incontinence products or simply wet themselves.
How do you bathe?
That is best done at base camp. Beyond that it is difficult and not entirely necessary. When you spend days in a very clean mountain environment you don’t get as dirty as you do in a city environment.
Why does a trip to Everest take so long?
Mt Everest is very high up and nowhere close to where anybody lives. It takes time to get into Nepal and get all of the paperwork approved. It takes time just to get from Kathmandu to your base camp. Those of us who live at lower elevations have to adjust in Kathmandu and then slowly head up to base camp. A fast trip can actually kill people. You are really not supposed to go any higher than 1000 feet per day.
A climb like Everest is also not a simple process of going up and coming down. It requires several ascents and descents at different rates and altitudes to acclimatise. Most of us can do it in two or three months. Very few people can make the trip in one month.
There is also an issue of weather which cannot be ignored. There was a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal which obviously never reached Nepal but it did briefly affect our weather and internet access, which we needed to check the weather.
Some climbs seem like you are at the top but you are really not. Are there any false summits on Mt Everest?
You definitely know when you are not at the top.
Did you make it to the top?
You will have to read the book should it ever exist. If I eventually give up on the book idea then I will likely write a blog post or two.
What is the food like?
In our case it was absolutely dreadful. Every expedition is responsible for its own food so it is possible to have pleasant meals. But nobody goes up Mt Everest for the dining experience.
The point of eating is to make up for all of those calories lost whilst climbing and to keep you from starving to death. Snacks and sweets are easy to carry and very useful. Meals are very utilitarian. We ate a lot of rice.
Did you get altitude sickness?
Yes. Almost everybody in our party had at least some symptoms. None were fatal and we all got over it quickly enough. Water, oxygen and analgesics are wonderful things.
How do you go to the bathroom?
Very carefully. At base camp it is just like any outdoor wilderness endeavour. Higher up but below the Death Zone it is a simple case of whipping it out and letting it go. There is a simple device for women to urinate man style. Beyond the Death Zone you are better off holding it in. Some people even use incontinence products or simply wet themselves.
How do you bathe?
That is best done at base camp. Beyond that it is difficult and not entirely necessary. When you spend days in a very clean mountain environment you don’t get as dirty as you do in a city environment.
Why does a trip to Everest take so long?
Mt Everest is very high up and nowhere close to where anybody lives. It takes time to get into Nepal and get all of the paperwork approved. It takes time just to get from Kathmandu to your base camp. Those of us who live at lower elevations have to adjust in Kathmandu and then slowly head up to base camp. A fast trip can actually kill people. You are really not supposed to go any higher than 1000 feet per day.
A climb like Everest is also not a simple process of going up and coming down. It requires several ascents and descents at different rates and altitudes to acclimatise. Most of us can do it in two or three months. Very few people can make the trip in one month.
There is also an issue of weather which cannot be ignored. There was a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal which obviously never reached Nepal but it did briefly affect our weather and internet access, which we needed to check the weather.
Some climbs seem like you are at the top but you are really not. Are there any false summits on Mt Everest?
You definitely know when you are not at the top.
17 August 2013
Catching Up
I was out of town for a bit. I am back.
What happened while I was gone?
On the international stage Syria and Egypt were in the midst of civil wars, terrorist organisations were playing their part, Zimbabwe was looking forward to some illegal election antics, Iran was denying building nuclear weapons while increasing their production of nuclear weapons, the American president was under fire for taking a holiday while his people were complaining about drone attacks.
If you look at a newspaper from the day I left and another from the day I returned, you would see very little difference.
Domestically, the UN is “warning” Israel not to undermine “peace talks”. Why do they never send such warnings to Palestine? Ask Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman.
Far more interesting, but with little to no coverage from CNN, my mother was married in a quiet little ceremony in Jerusalem. She married her rabbi, whom she had been dating for only a few months. Much can be said about their brief courtship but I think at their age there is very little point in taking your time about things. They were both previously married to people with whom they thought they would live for the rest of their lives. But not everybody lives the same amount of time.
Somebody told me that it was amusing that my mother married before I did. That seems pretty normal to me. The point is supposed to be that I have been dating my intended off and on for about seven years whilst my mother and her new husband probably only hit the sheets on their wedding night. As far as I know.
I have no problem with my mother being married. She was married throughout my entire childhood. It is a different man with whom my sisters and I have a completely different relationship but she is still a mother, daughter and wife.
We’ve yet to set a date for my wedding. We are still looking at locations and where we do it will determine when. Our families vote for Jerusalem. The city is full of history and culture and is very important to our people. It is also centrally located and easy for everybody to get to. The groom votes for Tel Aviv. There are plenty of parks, beaches and five star hotels that would work and the Mediterranean is an excellent backdrop. I vote for Yam HaMelach. It is one of my favourite places and significant to our relationship. Time will tell.
In sadder news, my beloved sister crashed my beloved car. She was not injured but the car was destroyed. The cause of the accident was the simple fact that Israelis drive like idiots. The effect is that my beautiful black Chevrolet Corvette C5 Z06 is no more. I bought it in America when I moved to Israel and had it shipped at great pain and expense. It was a fine automobile that did everything I asked of it and provided years of comfort, style and serious horsepower.
The future husband suggests I get a more family orientated car. With any luck and a great deal of practise we should have children in the near future. He thinks said children should not ride around in a sports car. I think any biological children of mine would loathe a Volvo V70.
2004-2013
RIP dear friend
What happened while I was gone?
On the international stage Syria and Egypt were in the midst of civil wars, terrorist organisations were playing their part, Zimbabwe was looking forward to some illegal election antics, Iran was denying building nuclear weapons while increasing their production of nuclear weapons, the American president was under fire for taking a holiday while his people were complaining about drone attacks.
If you look at a newspaper from the day I left and another from the day I returned, you would see very little difference.
Domestically, the UN is “warning” Israel not to undermine “peace talks”. Why do they never send such warnings to Palestine? Ask Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman.
Far more interesting, but with little to no coverage from CNN, my mother was married in a quiet little ceremony in Jerusalem. She married her rabbi, whom she had been dating for only a few months. Much can be said about their brief courtship but I think at their age there is very little point in taking your time about things. They were both previously married to people with whom they thought they would live for the rest of their lives. But not everybody lives the same amount of time.
Somebody told me that it was amusing that my mother married before I did. That seems pretty normal to me. The point is supposed to be that I have been dating my intended off and on for about seven years whilst my mother and her new husband probably only hit the sheets on their wedding night. As far as I know.
I have no problem with my mother being married. She was married throughout my entire childhood. It is a different man with whom my sisters and I have a completely different relationship but she is still a mother, daughter and wife.
We’ve yet to set a date for my wedding. We are still looking at locations and where we do it will determine when. Our families vote for Jerusalem. The city is full of history and culture and is very important to our people. It is also centrally located and easy for everybody to get to. The groom votes for Tel Aviv. There are plenty of parks, beaches and five star hotels that would work and the Mediterranean is an excellent backdrop. I vote for Yam HaMelach. It is one of my favourite places and significant to our relationship. Time will tell.
In sadder news, my beloved sister crashed my beloved car. She was not injured but the car was destroyed. The cause of the accident was the simple fact that Israelis drive like idiots. The effect is that my beautiful black Chevrolet Corvette C5 Z06 is no more. I bought it in America when I moved to Israel and had it shipped at great pain and expense. It was a fine automobile that did everything I asked of it and provided years of comfort, style and serious horsepower.
The future husband suggests I get a more family orientated car. With any luck and a great deal of practise we should have children in the near future. He thinks said children should not ride around in a sports car. I think any biological children of mine would loathe a Volvo V70.
2004-2013
RIP dear friend
29 April 2013
Letters to Friends
Does anybody read old blog posts? Let’s find out.
You may have noticed that this blog is not quite what it used to be. That is because I deleted most of it. You might not have noticed any such thing.
About a year ago a publisher or editor or somebody approached me about writing a book. He saw this blog, showered me with flowery compliments and offered me a deal. I said no. I’m not a writer. The lifestyle does not interest me. I do not want to spend all day isolated in a room somewhere. I like being around people and being outside. I would be a terribly miserable person if I spent all of my time online trying to market and sell some book in a world where fewer and fewer people read books.
I have come across a few writers online and they all seemed obsessed with finding new ways to promote their book. I suppose if you are JK Rowling or whoever wrote all that Twilight crap then you rarely have to worry about it. But I’m sure that 90% of authors are lucky to sell enough copies of their book to buy a book.
A month or two ago an editor approached me about writing a book. She saw this blog, showered me with flowery compliments and offered me a better deal. I said sure, why not. I like the idea of having something to look at long after Blogger has made it impossible for people to use without their Google browser.
With a little effort this blog became a book. Or about half of it did. Rather than simply be lazy and publish the blog as is I went through it all and did some heavy editing. The book is roughly half of this blog with brand new extra special additions and a bunch of ravings I always meant to post but never got around to. There are also bits that I thought too personal for a blog. So I put them in a book that might still be around long after the blog is dead.
The first draft was entirely too long. Apparently your first book is supposed to be about 60 000 words. Mine was closer to 225 000. My editor politely set me straight. The conversation went something like this:
“Nobody wants to read a 900 page book.”
“People read War and Peace.”
“Most people don’t.”
She had a point. But my blog will never be considered one of the great works of Russian literature. For several reasons.
So I settled on a theme. The blog is pretty random. The book has a narrative. More or less. Telling a story made it much easier to decide what went in and what got cut.
They did not want what they are trying to sell to be available here for free, so I deleted a good deal of the blog. Even though there are many differences between the two. I also don’t want to deal with issues of plagiarising myself. Each post is now an excerpt of what it used to be or what is now available in book form. Depending on your point of view. I kept the post pages so I can put it all back when this book fad wears off.
My editor wants me to write a book about climbing Mt Everest. I’m not sure I can do that. That seems like the kind of thing that would take up a great deal of time. Climbing the mountain is hard enough. I don’t want to be typing on a computer whilst doing it. And it would probably take years if I wrote it all after I got back.
The current book is supposed to be an introduction to me so that the Everest book sells. A book about Mt Everest by somebody who has never written a book is not likely to attract any readers other than people who read Everest books anyway. The theory is that if I already have something available and have built some sort of following then there will be a larger audience for the Everst book. Just like in any other field, the people who are the most successful have the most success, thereby making them more successful.
The problem with all of this is that I’ve not actually gone to Everest yet. It is impossible to predict how it will turn out. And there are more than a few scenarios that are not book friendly.
Right now I feel as though I might as well give it a go. I can always make whatever I come up with a blog post if I do not have enough material for a book or I abandon the idea altogether.
Letters To Friends is currently available in pretty much every electronic format known to man.
Kindle versions are at Amazon.
The Nook version is at Barnes and Noble.
The iTunes version is at Apple.
It is at the Sony store. I am not even sure what the Sony version of a digital book reader is.
The Kobo version is available here. I’ve no idea what Kobo is but it exists nonetheless.
I am not sure what the format is, but it is at Bookworld.
Kindle, ipad, nook, kobo and a million other formats are available directly from the distributor but you have to have an account with them to buy anything. I think that is stupid since they sell books, but they mostly sell to booksellers and not to individuals. Anybody can create an account but it just seems an unnecessary extra step when you want to buy something.
I am part of a programme that makes books available to libraries for free but I have no idea which libraries will have my book.
25 April 2013
On the Road and Hanging By a Song
The future husband and I leave for Nepal on Thursday. I understand that the people of Cyberia hang on my every word and wait anxiously for my next update but you are going to have to do without for a little while. I can pretty well guarantee that there shall be no updates while we are climbing the mountain. We will have internet access almost the entire time. Nobody goes up Everest without all of the latest satellite navigation and positioning systems. It is also very important to have up to the second weather information and a reliable way to play Solitaire online. But I will be otherwise occupied.
I have a big announcement that I’ll post in the next day or two, but after that this blog will be as dead as objective reporting on TV news. At least until we get back. Then I’ll have a bunch of mountain stories to tell until everybody is sick and tired of hearing them.
So if you think I am not the most prolific blogger in the world, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
I have a big announcement that I’ll post in the next day or two, but after that this blog will be as dead as objective reporting on TV news. At least until we get back. Then I’ll have a bunch of mountain stories to tell until everybody is sick and tired of hearing them.
So if you think I am not the most prolific blogger in the world, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
18 April 2013
Mother Superior Jumped the Gun
So a rabbi and my mother walk into a bar.
My mother has just announced that she and her rabbi are dating. Nobody is more surprised than I. Or my sisters. Or my grandmother. Or everybody who knows my mother.
I’m sure somebody knew about it, but I was completely in the dark. I have never heard my mother talk about him other than in a rabbinical context. She always had nice things to say about him but she is not the sort to say bad things about her rabbi anyway.
For anybody unfamiliar with arayot, there is nothing untoward about a person such as my mother dating a person such as her rabbi. His wife died several years ago. Her husband died 10 years ago. There are no halachic restrictions on their dating, hitting the sheets, shacking up or even being married. A rabbi is generally considered a good catch and more than a few mothers have been known to hit great lengths to have their daughters marry amongst the rabbanim.
We are all supposed to be married at a younger age and remain married until both partners die hand in hand of old age in their bed. But that does not always happen. It probably rarely happens. People live a lot longer than they did a few thousand years ago and not everybody can stick around as long as everybody else. My father was 59 years old when he died and my mother was only 53. She could theoretically live another 40 years and it is unrealistic to assume that she would remain unmarried for the rest of her life.
An interesting point here is that if they are to marry, when will this happen? Weddings are a pretty big deal in my family and right now everybody is talking about mine. I’m finally marrying. Everybody always puts the finally in there. Will my own mother’s wedding steal some of my spotlight? That’s probably not something most people think about.
Not that I mind. I like the idea of taking some of the focus off of me and letting everybody ask her a million questions every day. I have absolutely no objection if she wants to marry before me, after me or even on the same day. Though a double wedding with my own mother might be a little more than I can tolerate.
Of course, they are only dating. Talk of marriage might be premature. But people like my mother who are my mother’s age do not date lightly. To her mind the sole purpose of dating is to check the horse’s teeth before you buy it. I would be very surprised if she simply rides him around the stables a few times only to mount another steed.
Which brings us to sex. Are they getting any? I’ve no idea. But I am morbidly fascinated with the idea. My mother has been celibate for the last 10 years. To the best of my knowledge. She was something of a hellion in her younger days but she likes to pretend that was a lifetime ago. Given her frequently vocal disapproval of my loose morals it would be hypocritical of her to sleep around like a TV doctor.
What is it like to get some after a 10 year drought? I hope I never find out first hand. They say the longer you go without the easier it is to go without. I have found that the longer I go without the hornier I get and more willing I am to do things I just might regret later. Fortunately I’m recently engaged. This is probably the most sex I will ever have in my entire life. I am happy to report that I’m starting to walk funny. Everybody who has ever been married in the entire history of the world will tell you that there is far less sex after marriage. Entire movies, sitcoms, comedy routines revolve around this concept.
Should my future husband die far earlier than I do, I can’t say that I would ever be married again. But I can’t imagine I would deny myself the fleshly needs of human contact. It took me 31 years to find the first man I wanted to marry. How old would I be by the time I found the second? Or do you lower your standards with age? At 20 I had a very wide selection from which to choose. At 80 just finding a man who can breathe on his own is a plus.
My sisters and I are very happy for our mother. Her rabbi seems to be a nice enough man. My older sisters know him far better than I do and they approve. Our grandmother is more relieved than anything else. She thought her daughter was going to remain alone for the rest of her life.
It’s supposed to be a serious adjustment for children when one of their parents remarry. But we are all very much adults and our father has been gone for a long time. We have no fear of any man replacing him. We know that he was the love of our mother’s life and you certainly can’t accuse her of not observing a respectful mourning period. We also know that a companion for the rest of her life would be a positive thing and no future husband can ever make her forget about our father.
My future husband joked that at least she can’t have another child. That would just freak me out.
My mother has just announced that she and her rabbi are dating. Nobody is more surprised than I. Or my sisters. Or my grandmother. Or everybody who knows my mother.
I’m sure somebody knew about it, but I was completely in the dark. I have never heard my mother talk about him other than in a rabbinical context. She always had nice things to say about him but she is not the sort to say bad things about her rabbi anyway.
For anybody unfamiliar with arayot, there is nothing untoward about a person such as my mother dating a person such as her rabbi. His wife died several years ago. Her husband died 10 years ago. There are no halachic restrictions on their dating, hitting the sheets, shacking up or even being married. A rabbi is generally considered a good catch and more than a few mothers have been known to hit great lengths to have their daughters marry amongst the rabbanim.
We are all supposed to be married at a younger age and remain married until both partners die hand in hand of old age in their bed. But that does not always happen. It probably rarely happens. People live a lot longer than they did a few thousand years ago and not everybody can stick around as long as everybody else. My father was 59 years old when he died and my mother was only 53. She could theoretically live another 40 years and it is unrealistic to assume that she would remain unmarried for the rest of her life.
An interesting point here is that if they are to marry, when will this happen? Weddings are a pretty big deal in my family and right now everybody is talking about mine. I’m finally marrying. Everybody always puts the finally in there. Will my own mother’s wedding steal some of my spotlight? That’s probably not something most people think about.
Not that I mind. I like the idea of taking some of the focus off of me and letting everybody ask her a million questions every day. I have absolutely no objection if she wants to marry before me, after me or even on the same day. Though a double wedding with my own mother might be a little more than I can tolerate.
Of course, they are only dating. Talk of marriage might be premature. But people like my mother who are my mother’s age do not date lightly. To her mind the sole purpose of dating is to check the horse’s teeth before you buy it. I would be very surprised if she simply rides him around the stables a few times only to mount another steed.
Which brings us to sex. Are they getting any? I’ve no idea. But I am morbidly fascinated with the idea. My mother has been celibate for the last 10 years. To the best of my knowledge. She was something of a hellion in her younger days but she likes to pretend that was a lifetime ago. Given her frequently vocal disapproval of my loose morals it would be hypocritical of her to sleep around like a TV doctor.
What is it like to get some after a 10 year drought? I hope I never find out first hand. They say the longer you go without the easier it is to go without. I have found that the longer I go without the hornier I get and more willing I am to do things I just might regret later. Fortunately I’m recently engaged. This is probably the most sex I will ever have in my entire life. I am happy to report that I’m starting to walk funny. Everybody who has ever been married in the entire history of the world will tell you that there is far less sex after marriage. Entire movies, sitcoms, comedy routines revolve around this concept.
Should my future husband die far earlier than I do, I can’t say that I would ever be married again. But I can’t imagine I would deny myself the fleshly needs of human contact. It took me 31 years to find the first man I wanted to marry. How old would I be by the time I found the second? Or do you lower your standards with age? At 20 I had a very wide selection from which to choose. At 80 just finding a man who can breathe on his own is a plus.
My sisters and I are very happy for our mother. Her rabbi seems to be a nice enough man. My older sisters know him far better than I do and they approve. Our grandmother is more relieved than anything else. She thought her daughter was going to remain alone for the rest of her life.
It’s supposed to be a serious adjustment for children when one of their parents remarry. But we are all very much adults and our father has been gone for a long time. We have no fear of any man replacing him. We know that he was the love of our mother’s life and you certainly can’t accuse her of not observing a respectful mourning period. We also know that a companion for the rest of her life would be a positive thing and no future husband can ever make her forget about our father.
My future husband joked that at least she can’t have another child. That would just freak me out.
16 April 2013
Take a Cruiser with All Hands
Many Americans cheered when Osama bin Laden was killed. Some people said that was in poor taste. Osama was a bad guy to most of us. He was a terrorist. He was responsible for the murder of thousands of people. Sane people would not mourn his death. But openly applauding the murder of a fellow human being is a bit much for some.
My personal view is that people can cheer his death as much as they want. He was evil. Plenty of people are vilified and characterised as evil but he truly was. I did not applaud his death but I do not mourn him either.
Many Brits are now cheering Margaret Thatcher’s death. Some Americans say it is all in poor taste. Maggie was a bad person to many. She was not a terrorist by any stretch of the imagination. But one could argue that she was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people. Though I doubt she ever ordered anybody to strap on a bomb and blow up children.
I will not mourn her death. She was the leader of a country with which I have no special connection. I reacted to news of her death in the same way that I reacted to the death of Roger Ebert. Neither was a particular surprise.
A glaring difference between Thatcher and Osama, other than the terrorism and democratic elections, is that one of them was the active leader of his group while the other had been out of power for more than 20 years. I can see rejoicing when Thatcher left office. But there seems little point in gloating at her death. If you think she was a terrible leader who ruined your country, fair enough. But she stopped doing that a long time ago. Dying changed nothing.
Americans, those people who were called gauche when Osama died, rejoiced when Richard Nixon resigned. I don’t remember any of them cheering when he died. Perhaps the British could learn something from their backwoods cousins.
My personal view is that people can cheer his death as much as they want. He was evil. Plenty of people are vilified and characterised as evil but he truly was. I did not applaud his death but I do not mourn him either.
Many Brits are now cheering Margaret Thatcher’s death. Some Americans say it is all in poor taste. Maggie was a bad person to many. She was not a terrorist by any stretch of the imagination. But one could argue that she was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people. Though I doubt she ever ordered anybody to strap on a bomb and blow up children.
I will not mourn her death. She was the leader of a country with which I have no special connection. I reacted to news of her death in the same way that I reacted to the death of Roger Ebert. Neither was a particular surprise.
A glaring difference between Thatcher and Osama, other than the terrorism and democratic elections, is that one of them was the active leader of his group while the other had been out of power for more than 20 years. I can see rejoicing when Thatcher left office. But there seems little point in gloating at her death. If you think she was a terrible leader who ruined your country, fair enough. But she stopped doing that a long time ago. Dying changed nothing.
Americans, those people who were called gauche when Osama died, rejoiced when Richard Nixon resigned. I don’t remember any of them cheering when he died. Perhaps the British could learn something from their backwoods cousins.
22 March 2013
Obamania in Israel
Much to the surprise of the exploding sandbox ilk both McCartney and Obama survived their trips to Israel. The rest of us never even considered otherwise until we were told by outsiders that we are supposed to always assume that everybody who comes here is in danger.
A more important difference between the two is that I saw Paul McCartney perform. It was a very good show and the only time I did not have to make any special plans to see him. I paid very little attention to the Obama visit.
A more important difference between the two is that I saw Paul McCartney perform. It was a very good show and the only time I did not have to make any special plans to see him. I paid very little attention to the Obama visit.
12 March 2013
Island of Peace
Now that King Hussein is dead and political life in Jordan has changed, there are more frequent calls for the unconditional release of this murderer. Prominent leaders have tried to get him released since it happened, and came close in 2011. Now they are trying again, only with more public support than usual. With all of the revolutions and civil wars in Arab states, this is exactly the kind of thing that a government might cave in to just to appease the masses.
28 February 2013
Always From Now Until Then
If you do not worship these men then what difference does it make if they resign rather than stay in the job for life? I see the benefit in not having people resign helter skelter but anybody who hits 80, 90, 100 has earned the right to take a break. If you want them to stay in office longer then pick younger people. Being the pope is a job, no matter how important a job you might think it is. Everybody should have the right to retire from their job. Even the queen of England can retire. Though nobody wants her to because then her son would be king.
26 February 2013
A Silver Model of a City on the Air
I was going to comment on Garry’s comment, but then I ended up writing a book about it, so I might as well make it a post.
21 February 2013
Like Crimson Curtains Slowly Rising
Unless you can somehow take a story of Israel taking in refugees and turn it into a crime against humanity or racial profiling or sexism or whatever you want it to be. Israel takes in refugees and lets them become full members of society rather than houses them indefinitely in refugee camps or turns them away. I think that is a good thing. Israel is a very small country. There really is not all that much room. But we know why it is bad to turn away people who will probably be imprisoned and murdered in their homelands.
04 February 2013
Lord, I Can’t Believe My Eyes, I Must Be Dreaming
And if all that was not enough, my boyfriend is now my fiancé. David got down on his busted knee and begged me to make him the happiest man in the world. Then he changed his mind and asked me to marry him. I thought about how this would affect the most important thing in life, my Facebook status, and said yes. Now we have to plan a wedding while planning an expedition to the highest mountain in the world.
10 January 2013
All the Way Home I’ll Be Warm
I used to live in Alaska. If you want to impress me with a large amount of snow you will have to do much better than anything Jerusalem can ever come up with. This year’s most snow in the last 20 years is nothing compared to Alaska’s most snow in the last 20 minutes.
05 January 2013
You Came and You Gave Without Taking
I understand all the filler in between sets. People have to move all of those instruments on and off the stage and TV audiences cannot be expected to stay tuned for five seconds without something shiny to keep their attention. All the tributes to everybody who ever lived anywhere near New York and New Jersey were a bit much but you have to expect that sort of thing from Americans. The comedy bits could have been cut entirely. That drunk guy thing from Saturday Night Live was terrible. Is this what Saturday Night Live does now? Bad drunk impressions are not as edgy as they were back when Buster Keaton did them.
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