It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement and arguably the most important day on the Hebrew calendar. Some say it is Shabbat but I personally disagree. I am firmly in the Yom Kippur camp. It is the day we ask for God’s forgiveness for everything we have done against him and each other. Some of us do more harm to God than to man. I have been told that we are the worst people but I think it is the opposite. God can handle whatever I do to him. People are much less resilient.

Military Censorship

Current Events Yet Again

First came the typhoons and I did not speak up because there are no typhoons here.
Then came the floods and I did not speak up because there are no floods here.
Then came the famines and I did not speak up because people are not hungry here.
Then the air killed us all and there was no one left to speak up.



Not my problem


A moral outrage


Who is she wearing?

Even More Current Events

Americans are proud of their reputation for religious tolerance. Except when they are not. Sometimes it seems that American tolerance means Catholics and Protestants can live side by side peacefully. That is great but what about all those heathen religions? The ones practiced by those whiteless Americans who are not real Americans since their grandparents came from somewhere other than Europe. From my experience Americans are far more intolerant of Muslims than are Israelis. And Israeli xenophobes have a better case for concern. And Israel never claimed to be tolerant.

More Current Events

Are most goyim antisemitic? I am not sure how you would quantify such a thing. Polling 100 people in Ohio is not the most representative sample. Nor are 100 people in Iran. If you could poll a billion people all over the world then maybe we would have something. Go to any website with a story about Israel or the IDF and if they allow comments then you will see some of the most racist things anybody could possibly say. But is the hate and idiocy online a reflection of offline attitudes or do people use that anonimity to say the craziest things they would never say in person?

A Few Current Events

I’m not an extremist. I do not believe that unions should always have their way and I do not believe that managers should always have their way. I think every case should be viewed on its own merit. In this case I think the unions should be thankful to have jobs and happy that the government is even offering anything at all. The fact that top government officials live in luxury is irrelevant. That is an issue for the courts and the voters to correct. I can sympathise with people who work hard for little money but I’m having a hard time sympathising with people who risk the education of children and the health and safety of the public for 1.6%. The average RSA high school teacher makes R10 000 per month. An extra R160 does not seem like enough to put people at risk. That is three extra Starbucks coffees each month.

My New Niece

Dara and Shirah are both resting comfortably. Coming to life seems to take a lot out of a person. Giving life does not seem like much of a picnic either. When people announce births they always mention how much the baby weighed and how many inches she was. I have never really understood that. Does anybody need to know how many inches any baby is? I think as long as she is healthy and has all the right parts that is what matters. So you will get no baby inch report from me. Sorry. Quite frankly I could not say. I have no idea. I could ask her mother but she is probably asleep right now. I could phone her father but he is probably asleep right now. I could ask Shirah’s grandmother. I know she knows that sort of thing. But she is probably asleep right now. We seem to sleep a lot in my family. Especially in the middle of the night.

Lost in Translation

But sometimes being older and more experienced helps. I was on a test run in the AS565 with an older and very experienced flight instructor who was watching every move I made. It probably did not help that he was one of those old cranks who thinks that women should not fly. But I’m used to that type. What did help is that I think safety is more important than anything else. I did a full IFR flight plan just as I always do. I went over the WX, I did the full checklist, I did the walkaround, I made sure the fuel cap was secure. This is more important than some people realise. I checked the tie downs and tail. Just as I always do. Too many pilots are too complacent. Especially when they have more experience. Experience has told me to always check the TITS. Which is a safety acronym and has nothing to do with couture.

A Sale of Two Titties

There was never anything wrong with Joëlle’s tits. She is on the other side of 30 so maybe they do not stand at attention the way they used to but they still get the job done. Even so, time is crueler to women than men. Or maybe it is society and not time. We are taught from a young age that our sexuality revolves around our appearance. Sometimes short hair is fashionable, sometimes it is long hair. But you always have to have great tits to be a real woman. Boys seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses. And they really don’t want to get to second base and discover it is all tissues.

How to be Celibate

The psychological part is easy for me. I have been in an actual impact descent. It is nothing like the simulator. In the simulator you know that you are going to crash. You wake up in the morning knowing that you are going to crash several times that day. You also know that you will very likely survive. There are professional divers in the pool with plenty of oxygen for everybody. There are trained emergency medical personnel nearby just in case something goes awry. You know exactly where you are at all times and will never have to deal with environmental situations other than the water in the pool. Once you get out of the water you are done. There is no floating around in the ocean for days waiting for somebody to find you. None of this is available in a real crash.



Some of my favourite actors

Ants in My Pants

I never had any kind of curtains on my windows in China. My bedroom and laundry room faced a field. The other side of the house faced another house but my kitchen was at roof level with the house across the street. Without curtains the light from my windows attracted all manner of flying insects at night. The flying insects attracted geckos. I grew up with geckos, especially in Durban, so they do not bother me.

My Favourite Climbing Partner

He found a new life, got himself an education and married the woman of his dreams. He named his first two daughters after his real parents and kept searching for more information about the past while he and his wife built a future. They were the happiest couple I have ever seen. I’m sure they argued from time to time but I do not remember that. What I remember was two people who genuinely loved each other and never held back on displaying affection in public. When I was younger I had friends who were always embarrassed when their parents kissed each other or them. I never was. Probably because it happened all the time. It was completely natural to me.

Ngiyanemukela

I think it was in the United States once, even though Americans do not care much about football. They have a completely different game they call football. It is more like rugby. Americans may not care about football and their team has never won the World Cup but they have to host it because their people are more willing than Asians and Africans to spend money frivolously. And that is really what FIFA cares about. It has nothing to do with where the most fans are or who joined their club first. South Afrika was the first country outside of Europe to join and it only took 100 years to host.

But My TV Said So

If your TV is anything like mine it told you that crime rates in China are rising and it is almost impossible to really know what the figures are. But your TV probably never mentioned that Chinese schools are amongst the safest in the world. School shootings are unheard of. There are no gangs. Not in the schools at least. Chinese gangs are more interesting in controlling gambling than recruiting children. Teen pregnancy is not simply well hidden. It is really not an issue. Most teenagers stay away from sex to avoid family shame. That still means something to the Chinese. It is also very hard to find any privacy when you live with several generations in the same house.

As-Salamu Alaykum

Catholics have a pope. If he tells them all to wear blue shirts you will hear about it. You will probably even see a few people wearing blue shirts. Jews have not had any central leader since the temple was destroyed. There are community leaders all over the place and influential organisations. Israel's Chief Rabbinate is generally regarded as the highest governing body, though many people in other countries disagree. If they tell everybody to wear blue shirts you might hear about it. I'm not sure how many people would actually do it. Muslims have different leaders in different countries. Iran has their ayatollah but he is mostly a political leader. He does not hold much sway outside of Iran. If he told everybody to wear blue shirts you would probably never hear about it and it is even less likely you would see anybody do it.

Thou Shalt Not Proselytise

In my experience the least tolerant are the atheists. They will often accuse anybody with a different point of view of “bible thumping” even when such people never quote their particular bible or push any belief. The atheists always seem much angrier than anybody else. Online at least. People often behave very differently offline. Even the most fire and brimstone Christians cannot match the hateful online rhetoric of some atheists.

I do not need anybody telling me that Jesus died for my sins and I do not believe that he did. But the people who say so usually also tell you to have a nice day and are much friendlier than the atheists who blame anybody with faith for all that is wrong with the world. If religious people are so judgemental and want everybody to believe what they believe and the atheists are supposed to be the opposite then should they not be more open minded toward different beliefs?

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

The other day I crashed 6 helicopters into a corvette, killing a total of 21 passengers, 8 flight crew, 2 ground crew and sometimes myself. Not to mention destroying $20 million in equipment. Fortunately, this was all done in a simulator.


 
This is how it looks live. As you can see there is very little margin for error.

Sometimes You Should Shoot the Messenger

Nixon was more qualified to be president than Kennedy in 1960. He took his work more seriously and earned everything he had, as opposed to Kennedy’s sense of entitlement. Kennedy was barely younger but looked much younger and he was far more comfortable in front of the camera. He probably won because of the televised debates.

Carter was much younger than Ford and had a full head of hair at the time. Ford was winning the election until they went on TV together. When Carter was the incumbent he was winning until he went on TV with Reagan, a former actor. Reagan won in a landslide.

Dukakis lost to the first Bush largely because he seemed distant on TV. He was also a hairy Mediterranean immigrant’s son running against a Connecticut WASP from a political dynasty.

The first Clinton was a generation younger than the first Bush and looked a lot better on TV. He was more charming and more articulate. Women wanted to sleep with him. And many did. Nobody wanted to sleep with Bush. Clinton easily won.

Obama looked young, charming, non-threatening, articulate. McCain looked old, crippled, sometimes mean. Who did you expect to win?


Gordon Brown's official Downing Street portrait

Mavet la Mickey Mouse

Israel produces propaganda also. But it is usually more upbeat. Israeli propaganda is more along the lines of Israel being a beacon of light for Jews looking to escape oppression and bigotry. I have never seen anything with Jews decapitating anybody or calling for death to anybody who draws a cartoon about Moses. I guess that is one of the differences between a stable democracy and a terrorist organisation.

War and Remembrance

Yom HaShoah is the day we commemorate the six million people who were murdered by bigotry. It is a national day of mourning and a religious observance, though the religious aspect is debated. It is one of those days when you will find secular and religious ceremonies at the same time. You can go to any government office, school, library, hospital, military instillation, synagogue, mosque, church and people will be praying and lighting candles. You hear a lot about tensions between Israelis and Arabs in the international media but I have never seen any Arab not observe the two minutes of silence. In my family it is also a day when the TV is absolutely forbidden. This is a custom I’ve grown to appreciate more as I got older. And TV programmes got worse.