Post with utterly no redeeming Jewish, Israeli, or Palestinian value...

Sometimes at night, scientists stare out at the vast universe, and they wonder what’s out there. They wonder if it’s wondering about us. They wonder if whatever's out there is, at that very moment, looking down and marveling at the Great Wall of China or the glimmering lights of our magnificent cities. Or the giant faces of our fast-food mascots.

After many months of secrecy and hiding enormous tiles behind its back whenever anyone walked in the room, KFC revealed an 87,500-square-foot smiling mug of Colonel Sanders yesterday, installed in the Nevada desert near Area 51 (of course). The icon has earned KFC the distinction of being the world’s first brand to be visible from space, made possible by some 50 designers, architects, engineers and astrophysicists who surprisingly didn’t have more pressing tasks to attend to.

(And to think: I spent my high-school, wonder-years, jes' a-slavin' away over a deep-fat fryer at - of all things - the competition: Church's Chicken... damn good spicy chicken, though - treif as hell, but good!)

Appeal to Israeli bloggers: Town hall meeting in Sderot (UPDATED)

(UPDATE) Thanks to all, like Yid With Lid, who are writing in. Keep those ideas coming, and I'll let you when and what develops. DB

In the wake of this morning's lethal Kassam rocket barrage in Sderot, and the lack of a coherent, effective, and ongoing Israeli government media response, not to mention the chronic under-coverage by international - and often local media, I am calling upon Israeli bloggers, and Israel's supporters abroad to work together as a non-partisan group to hold a town hall-style meeting in Sderot.

This meeting should include full, real-time video/audio/written/photographic coverage, as only the blogosphere knows how, including one-on-one and voxpop interviews, first and foremost with the beleaguered residents, on-the-scene analysis, and reax from local and national officials and experts.

I welcome thoughtful responses offering practical ideas for organization and content, underwriting, invitees, format, etc with an eye towards international coverage, and making it happen as soon as practical.

Sderot: Kassams kill woman, wound def. minister's guard

Sderot billboard: "Who's next in the lottery?" near site of
repeated Kassam rocket strikes. (Photo: Dave Bender)

Defense Minister Amir Peretz, are you hearing the message yet? (then again, maybe the shorthand use of "def" in the title really is the proper term...)

Westbankblog puts it best:

What Will The World Say When We Die?

We all know how apesh*t the world went when the IDF fired, by mistake, and killed Palestinian civilians in Beit Hanoun while targeting terrorists. What will the reaction be to a Jewish woman killed by Kassam rockets deliberately aimed at civilians?

Enraged? Hysterical? Upset? Concerned?

I doubt it.

Come on world, prove me wrong.

From Ynetnews:

Six rockets land in Western Negev Wednesday morning. One lands in busy street, kills woman and seriously wounds one of Amir Peretz's bodyguards. Locals call on government to 'wake up'. Islamic Jihad, Hamas both claim responsibility.

Sderot children donning protest ribbons at May 2006 protest tent
demanding effective government action against years of
Kassam rocket strikes. Meanwhile, the barrages continues.

(Photo: Dave Bender)

Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal at May press conference calling for a stronger

government response to the ongoing steel rain. (Video: Dave Bender)

Gmail: !werbeH ni woN

How do I change the text direction while composing a message?

If your Gmail interface language is set to Arabic or Hebrew, you'll be able to select either Left to Right or Right to Left directionality when composing a message. A message can contain any combination of right-to-left and left-to-right paragraphs. By default, Gmail starts composing a message with the Right to Left button active in Hebrew and Arabic interfaces.

To change the text direction:

At the beginning of a message or new paragraph:

1. Click the Left to Right button in the formatting bar of the compose window. The cursor will move to the left side of the compose pane.

Of an existing paragraph:

1. Highlight the paragraph to edit
2. Click the Left to Right button in the formatting bar of the Compose window

Noo Yawkah gives Borat knuckle sandwich - My knuckles are feeling the love

This is soooo satisfying:

BORAT star Sacha Baron Cohen was beaten up by a passer-by after he tried to play a prank as his alter ego.

He approached the man and said: “I like your clothings. Are nice! Please may I buying? I want have sex with it.”

But the bystander didn’t see the joke. He took one look at Cohen and punched him in the face.

The funnyman — known for his Borat catchphrase “Jagshemash!” — yelled for help but was slugged again and again.

New York, my kinda' town...

And not to seem prejudiced against the rest of the good ole' US of A, here's the response of a southern resident to the humoristic stylings of Mr. Cohen:

Is it just me, or does something stink in this Pollard story?

Something here seems really off about this story, as though the FBI is going out of its way to cause a stink about Pollard, and thrash even any possible chatter of a "release deal:"

From The Jerusalem Post:

According to new evidence released by the FBI on Monday, Jonathan Pollard not only passed classified information on to Israel, but also to Pakistan and Australia.

In a presentation given by FBI agent Ronald Olive that was broadcast on Channel 10, it was also revealed that Pollard was illegally involved in arms sales to Taiwan, France, Kenya, Afghanistan, and Argentina.

Court snubs Pollard claim against Eitan

In his report, Olive made no mention of what type of information Pollard passed to Australia and Pakistan, nor of how it was transferred.

I saw the film clip on Channel 10 this evening, where Olive boasted about what he considered the amateurishness of how Rafi Eitan ran the affair, and something - maybe just my "Spidey sense" - redlined.

Background about Pollard

JerusalemOnline news update: Nov. 12th (Video - Channel 2 TV)

• Olmert hints at military response to Iran
• IDF Chief, war probe head lock horns
• Off-road cyclists rocket downhill

Click here or on image for latest
Israel Channel 2 news update

So, maybe size really does matter after all...

Size Of Israel.Com

Jerusalem neighbor, media colleague, professional videographer and tour guide Ross Culiner has a beautiful take of a chopper's-eye view of Israel at the Canadian Jewish News:

I’ve had several opportunities in recent months to journey the length and breadth of Israel by helicopter. Helicopter flights are becoming an increasingly popular component of the tourist experience for those who can afford them. Not only is it possible, by economizing on travel time, to squeeze more into a single day, but there’s simply no better way of getting a real feel for the lay of the land.

The big vistas from overhead give a very different picture from the one gained through incremental, sideways-looking eyefuls of Israel at ground level. And speaking for myself, I was astonished, despite my close familiarity with this country, at the incredibly rich and compressed diversity of landforms, land uses, climatic zones, and historical treasures that unfolds before your gaze.

Here, for example, is a photo I took from a helicopter flight over Jerusalem this season last year:

The Malha mall is at the bottom right, along with Teddy Stadium; the capital's southernmost neighborhood of Gilo is the ridge immediately above it, and Bethlehem and neighboring Beit Jala - both in Palestinian Authority areas, are right behind.

And finally, for those who like to compare sizes, here a brand spankin' new website that shows Israel's size - West Bank included - in comparison to major cities abroad.

Pretty revealing, after all.

(HT: Backspin)

Israel & Iran: Reaching For The 'Big Button'

Click here or on the image for the illustrator's site

From Haaretz:

Iran filed a complaint Saturday to the UN Security Council over remarks by Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh that Israel must be ready to prevent Iran's nuclear program "at all costs."

(...) Sneh suggested in comments published Friday that Israel might be forced to launch a military strike against Iran's nuclear program - the clearest statement yet of this possibility from a high-ranking Israeli official.

Which then prompted this ripost from Teheran:

"If Israel takes such a stupid step and attacks, the answer of Iran and its Revolutionary Guard will be rapid, firm and destructive and it will be given in a few seconds," he said.

And finally (umm - so to speak), from The Jerusalem Post:

Israel has to prepare for a full-scale war, in which Syria will be an important player, an Israeli military official told the British Sunday Times. "The challenge from Iran and Syria is now top of the Israeli defense agenda, higher than the Palestinian one," another official said.

For perspective, here are a few recent Iranian comments about Israel:

• "Israel must be wiped off the map of the world…and God willing, with the force of God behind it, we shall soon experience a world without the United States and Zionism."
  
  
• "the establishment of the Zionist regime was a move by the world oppressor against the Islamic world"
  
  
• "the Islamic Umma (Nation) will not allow its historic enemy to live in its heartland"

and more recently:

• "All the conditions for the removal of the Zionist regime are at hand."
  
  
• "Nations in the region will be more furious every day. It won’t take long before the wrath of the people turns into a terrible explosion that will wipe the Zionist entity off the map."
  
  
• "The basic problem in the Islamic world is the existence of the Zionist regime, and the Islamic world and the region must mobilize to remove this problem."

(HT: Daled Amos)

More on this further down.

Kinda' makes you wonder if the preceding, bucolic "Field of Dreams" post, is fast morphing into a field of fused glass.

Ahh, and I wouldn't hold my breath on this
one, especially after the US midterms...

Click here or on the image
for the illustrator's site

Baseball in Israel: 'If You Build It,' 'Ein Zo Aggadah'

From Bangitout (gotta' love that name...), something I wrote about back in September:

If your reason for not making aliyah was not having your kids be raised on baseball, you had better pack your mitt on your next trip as may have found it's new favorite pastime (assuming they have the patience for nine innings). Sure, Israelis think baseball is a Hollywood sport and ranks on the popularity charts next to sunflower-seed-spitting, but Israel's first baseball league held tryouts this week, and apparently, they didn't suck as badly as they thought they would. Their goal: to teach Israelis that headbutting a 95-mile-per-hour baseball hurts, and to be invited to the 2009 World Baseball Classic.