Tales of 'Near-Death Experiences' in Israel

Erica Chernofsky at The Jerusalem Post takes an interesting look - and takes the time to write a long-format article (not sure if it's also as long in the print version) - on the subject of "Near Death-Experiences."

From Wikipedia:

A 'core' near-death experience reflects — as intensity increases according to the Rasch scale — peace, joy and harmony, followed by insight and mystical or religious experiences (Lange, Greyson & Houran, 2004). The most intense NDEs involve an awareness of things occurring in a different place or time. Among the clinical circumstances that are thought to lead to an NDE we find such factors as: cardiac arrest, shock in postpartum loss of blood or in perioperative complications, septic or anaphylactic shock, electrocution, coma, intracerebral haemorrhage or cerebral infarction, attempted suicide, near-drowning or asphyxia, apnoea, serious depression (van Lommel et al., 2001).

Worth a read.

Here's a compelling YouTube entry about the subject:

HezBow-Flex! For a Firmer, Tighter Katyusha

Flat Fatima is Back!

From The Jerusalem Post:

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has responded positively to Lebanese Amal head Nabih Berri's peace-talk overtures, calling the Lebanese Shi'ite leaders words "interesting."

"Anytime an Arab leader says he wants to talk peace, we have to listen," Olmert told reporters.

From Ynet News:

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the Lebanese authorities on Thursday to take a lesson from the recent war between Israel and Hizbullah and quickly agree on a plan for disarming Hizbullah.

Refrigerator magnets of the gods: Now available on this site

Mideast mayhem got you down?

Bored stiff waiting for that special email to arrive? Did'ya get stood up when your IM chat partner wrote "brb" (be right back) - but wasn't?

Hey, no worries, we got you covered, bunky!

Look over there at the top, left side of this page - just beneath the "profile." That's right, go ahead and scroll - I'll wait...

Right. They're refrigerator magnets. Moveable by you, along with hundreds (...ok, five or six) of others in real-time.

Just click the mouse cursor on a letter, hold it, and drag it around. Until somone else does... Make nice.

Go. You know you want to...

Free Palestine! (While stocks last)

From Ynet News:

An Israeli was moderately injured early Thursday morning in a shooting attack near the Fadouel settlement in the West Bank.

The man said terrorists opened fire on him as he drove his car on t he road leading to the settlement. The Israel Defense Forces searched the area in an attempt to locate the perpetrators.

From Haaretz:

In an interview with Haaretz published Thursday, senior cabinet minister Meir Sheetrit (Kadima) said that Israel should hold permanent peace negotiations with Arab states based on the Saudi initiative.

Sheetrit also said that Israel should agree to negotiate over the Golan Heights if Syria halts its support of terrorism.

From The Jerusalem Post:

Defense Minister Amir Peretz secretly met Tuesday with veteran settlement leader Ze'ev [Zambish] Hever Wednesday night, according to a Channel 2 report.

The two reportedly discussed a plan in which a number of illegal West Bank outposts would be voluntarily evacuated by settlers, while around 10 others would be given legal status as permanent settlements.

JerusalemOnline news update: Oct. 19th (Video - Channel 2 TV)

• Peres makes 2nd bid for presidency
  
• Katsav hints at inside info on sex charges
  
• Business: Sudden CEO change at drug giant Teva
  
  
  
  Click here or on image for latest
  Israel Channel 2 news update
  

  
  
  (Cross-posted at Israelity)
  

'My Name is also Rachel' (a terror-ISM reminder)

Keshertalk, offering a timely reminder that Rachel Corrie wasn't the only young Rachel killed in the conflict notes:

The original US producer of the new off-Broadway run of the London hit "My Name is Rachel Corrie" wanted to "contextualize" the play by providing for structured discussion...

If you did not know that Corrie protected smuggling tunnels, or that her organization the ISM has openly praised and abetted suicide bombers, or that suicide bombers existed, or that the bulldozer driver couldn't see her from where he was sitting, you would never find it out from this study guide.

Eight Israelis named Rachel, along with 950 others, including Israeli Arabs, Palestinians, tourists, guest workers and others were murdered by Palestinian terrorists in 2003, the year Corrie was killed.

As Haifa University professor and blogger Steven Plaut acerbically points out:

Corrie died as a result of her own stupidity. She was in Gaza to help promote Palestinian terrorism and to prevent Israel from protecting its own citizens. She died protecting the illegal tunnels into Gaza from Egypt, through which the suicide bombers obtained their materials. The most lasting images of Corrie was of her face contorted with rage and as she burned an American flag. When Reuters reported that Palestinians "honored" her after her death in a "symbolic funeral" by flying U.S. flags, James Taranto from the Wall Street Journal remarked that if Corrie were still alive, no doubt she'd have burned the flags.

Even the far-Left Mother Jones magazine considers her a dangerous and deluded little twit. The Israeli army investigated the death and concluded that Corrie had effectively committed suicide. Taranto also suggested that Corrie be awarded the "Idiotarian of the Year Award" for playing chicken with a huge earth-mover.

The ISM is not simply an innocent, if evil, fringe debating society. Within Israeli territories, its members have actively collaborated with terrorists. They hid weapons and wanted terrorists in their offices. The local ISM offices hosted two Moslem suicide bombers from the UK, who had entered Israel as "peace activists," only to blow a Tel Aviv bar to smithereens the next day.

The Israel Wayback Machine: (pre, pre, pre, pre- 'Skype Out')

One Jerusalem has a cute item illustrating what I've been trying to tell my kids for a long time: what using telephony here was like BEFORE the Internet, and the advent of SkypeOutMSNMessengerAOLYahooGoogle, cellphone SIM cards, prepaid calling cards, you-fill-in-the-blank, etc...

Click here or on the image for the translation

Ok, granted, they go a bit further back than I was aiming for - 1925(!) - but hey, the dialing instructions for calling Bethlehem from Jerusalem (about two whole miles - tops) are worth the price of admission. What I still don't though, get is where the "asimon" telephone token goes:

Remember these? My kids don't.

(Crcoss-posted at Israelity)

A sudden suicide bombing. Slowly (Video)

From Vital Perspective:

A television commercial aimed at thwarting terrorism has hit Middle Eastern television networks using high-tech time-suspension "Matrix" effects to show the anatomy of a suicide bombing in graphic detail. The $1 million ad uses the film techniques to show bodies, cars and broken glass flying in slow motion through the air:

This Just In! Barbie: the ME conflict edition

Co-blogger and journalist Allison (welcome back from the land of the round doorknobs), over at Israelity posted a great pic (via Danya) of Barbie all, er', dolled out for Simchat Torah:

Meanwhile, though, Hamas, in an effort to beat the Jews (literally and figuratively), and gearing up for more "struggle" in Gaza against the IDF and neighboring Sderot's residents, has wasted no time in bringing out their version of the dimunitive "dosit" - just in time for the festive end of Ramadan:

Ahh, fashion Barbie. Such a harsh mistress.

McDonald's - I'm Hatin' it!

A group of about 15 "twenty-something," self-described animal-rights supporters and anarchists held a protest vigil outside the downtown Jerusalem branch of McDonald's Monday evening.

The group, blowing whistles and shouting through a megaphone, called on passersby near the Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall not to eat at the restaurant, due to what they described as the food corporation's harmful policies.

"McDonald's puts profits before people, animals and the planet," group leader Amnon Keren, 24, of Jerusalem, told Israel At Level Ground, and called on Israelis to boycott the chain.

Keren, noting that the group had numbered about 30 earlier in the afternoon, added that similar vigils were being held concurrently in front of branches in Ra'anana, Kfar Saba, Haifa, Rehovot and Beersheba, as well as at many locations worldwide today.

There was a brief, non-violent, altercation with a diner, who, stepping out to protest the noisy demonstration loudly argued with Keren over the usefulness of such vigils.

A small crowd of about 20 pedestrians gathered across the narrow street, and spirited discussions about the eatery were bandied about. Several, apparently bemused, kipa-wearing Jews, ironically found themselves on the same side of the ideological divide as the protesters, due to McDonald's non-kosher status because the chain is open on Shabbat.

Demonstrator in front of downtown branch,
as Ronald and "Happy Meal" look on. Poster:
"McDonald's 'McExploits employees.'"
(Photo: Dave Bender)

Diner, waving ice cream cone in face of protest
group leader, argues that noisy demonstration
disturbs those inside eatery. Lower poster:
"McDonald's 'McPoisons' children."
(Photo: Dave Bender)

(Cross-posted at Israelity)