Blog/September 2010/Sep 3rd

Sep 3rd (See this week's devar torah)
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Hi again!

It's hard to write this week. Once again, our hearts are heavy after the demonstrations of peaceful coexistence to which we were treated this week, and to which the world has been -- as usual -- silently complicit.

Our family had a busy and quiet week. Esther and I worked as usual; I had a medical appointment which had some interesting points; Sarah commenced her training for National Service, and that is going to be interesting. She also found out her scores on the bagrut exams (80s and 90s, mostly!). The BBQ construction project proceeds, and I found a "new" cousin I'd never heard of. Pretty soon I'll have to hire a stadium for any family reunions. And Esther and I went to the local shooting range and had a blast.

Based on what I've seen in the "mainstream" media, many of you will not be aware of the horrifying events of this past week here in the Land. This past Tuesday evening, an Israeli couple were returning from a school planning meeting, with two hitchhikers in their car; they were returning from Efrat (just south of Jerusalem) to their home in Beit Hagay, near Hevron. A car full of armed Arab terrorists sprayed their car with gunfire; they then returned and shot each of the car's occupants again, "to make sure". Some fifty or sixty rounds had been shot at the car. Hamas took "credit", for the "heroic act". Naturally, the sub-humans in Gaza celebrated the murders of the five innocent Israelis (one of the victims was a pregnant woman).

More horrifying than the brutal act is the international lack of concern. Even worse that that is the dangerously politically-correct bullshit of the New York Slimes: "JERUSALEM — The killing of four Israeli settlers, including a pregnant woman, in the West Bank on Tuesday evening rattled Israeli and Palestinian leaders on the eve of peace talks in Washington and underscored the disruptive role that the issue of Jewish settlements could play in the already fragile negotiations.". Excuse me all to hell?!? Seventh-century barbarians with 21st century weapons are allowed to drive around freely and murder innocents (because of our idiot government and pressure from the baboon in the White House) -- and somehow Israeli civilians driving home along a public road are a disruptive force? And to top it off, our Jester in Charge here in Israel (that would be Netanyahu) says that Abbas is his "partner for peace". Abbas can't even control the parts of Judea and Samaria our criminal government has given him power over. He is (in fact) an illegitimate leader, having now overstayed his elected term of office by a year. He holds no sway whatsoever over Gaza, let alone Hebron. So ... just who is fooling whom? Damn, I'm getting upset!

Back to us, my blood-pressure requires it. So this week I had a somewhat invasive medical exam (I'll spare you the details). When I went to the doctor, he told me to go to the doctor in the other room, and she would get me prepped. Fine. So I went there, and the nice Russian doctor told me to "drop my pants around my knees" (she had given me a "drape", thankfully). As I'm standing there with my pants down, she starts talking to me -- about where I'm from, what languages do I speak ... all sorts of things. There was a time in my life when I would have been paralyzed from embarrassment. I guess it's a mark of really becoming Israeli that I can now converse with complete strangers while my pants are at half-mast -- and not even find it all that strange. By the way, the doctor said the results were "perfect", so I can be more relaxed going into the Holidays.

Sarah spent two days in Tel Aviv this week, undergoing training for her year of National Service. It was also an opportunity for her to get to know her roommates a little. Next week she has another two days of training, in Jerusalem. So far, it looks like she's going to have a busy but interesting year.

Sarah has been dreading the results of her bagrut (Israeli matriculation) exams ever since she took them. The other day someone told her she could check the results on-line, and today she finally did. We saw her ascend the stairs with a heavy tread, entering her "cave" so she could get the results. But alas! She couldn't actually get in -- the site wouldn't let her in. Later she remembered what her password probably was, and so we checked then -- and B"H! -- her scores were not only "not bad", they were quite good. So the only thing remaining for her to get her actual "diploma" is to pass the physical-education exam (why? 'cause that's the law, apparently). Anyway, she is very happy with the results -- and we are happy that she is happy, believe me!

Because of the aforementioned "invasive exam", I wasn't able to put in as much work on the BBQ project as I was hoping to. But today I added a few more layers of blocks, and it is rising -- I still think I can get it functional by sukkot. However, it definitely won't be ready for Rosh Hashanah, which is this coming week.

My mother's cousin told her about another cousin from a branch of our family tree I don't know much about. Mom sent me the information, and because this person is actually well-known, I was able to look her up and contact her pretty easily. If you're a Bloom, you can contact me and I'll tell you more...

And just today, my lovely wife and I went to our local shooting range. I've been considering the pros and cons of getting a weapons license here in the Land (it's not so simple to get one; unless you're an Arab, in which case you just steal a weapon). Anyway, current events have convinced me that it is a good idea to have a credible response should the need arise. Therefore we went to the range today, and actually had a good time. The instructor was very nice, and gave good advice. Even though I'm a reasonable shot, his advice gave me better accuracy. Esther too is a credible shot, though she never practiced before.

So. Here's the continuation of my mini-series on Linux -- part III: making it work for you. Here's an interesting (to me, anyway) article on moving an office from Windows to Linux -- in a practical way.

Various things:

• What are they smoking in Los Angeles?
• Your privacy is really gone now
• How to sweet-talk your computer
• Very cool science. The strange case of how something which cannot interact with anything seems to nevertheless change something immutable

Next week we have a 'three day weekend'; two days of Rosh Hashanah, then shabbat. So next week's blog will be very short. This week Sarah is with us, and we're having lunch tomorrow at a friend's house. Our menu is therefore tiny: fish croquets, soup, baked chicken and potatoes, salatim, chocolate cake. But all I really want right now is wine ...

Until next week,
Shabbat shalom !

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