My model collection is all in scale 1/1200. That means a 1 inch long model represents a 100 foot long vessel. Commercial model makers used to work in cast metal when I started collecting. Making a master for casting was an expensive project and many ships, especially smaller ones, were rarely included in their offerings. … More Small Scratch Built Models
On July 20th the official Palestinian TV, Al-Ayyam, aired an interesting short item. It seems that young women in Gaza want to marry men who have been wounded during confrontations with Israeli forces. For a young man in Gaza there is a possible choice between earning a university degree, and then being unemployed, or to … More How Gaza Residents See Things.
UNIFIL (UNITED NATIONS INTERIM FORCE IN LEBANON) just had it’s annual mandate renewed on August 29th. The organization currently comprises some 10,500 personnel from over 40 countries. Participation ranges from over 1300 Indonesians to single individuals from several different countries. What they have in common is an assignment to try to keep the Lebanon-Israel border … More UNIFIL is still with us
The latest events in our neighborhood have an almost surrealistic aura about them. I mentioned previously that Nasrallah and Hizbullah in Lebanon were making threats. I also beleive taht when Nasrallah threatens something. he intends to make it happen. Well, maybe not this time. According to a report that surfaced in the London Times there … More …And Getting Burned
This past week has seen a sharp rise in the number of incidents on the borders of Israel. Some of them have been in the South, where there have been rockets, mortar fire, and attempts at infiltration by individuals armed with grenades, knives, and firearms. Others have been in the North, Iran continues to send … More Playing With Fire
When I was returning home about 30 minutes ago the entrance to our village was blocked. There were several security vehicles on the road and an a mass of personnel from the police, military, and rescue organizations (fire and ambulance) all over the area. A couple of hours earlier an off-duty policemen from the Hebron … More This Time It Was Closer to Home
Winston Churchill wrote a book about the Sudanese Campaign in which he participated over a century ago. The First edition of that book contains the following prescient passage. “How dreadful are the curses which Mohamedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy. which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in dog, there … More Islamic Fanaticism – Earlier Version
Last night an 18 year old student was stabbed to death. His body was dumped just a few meters off the road we took this morning to go mail a letter at a nearby post office. The murder was attributed by the police to “nationalistic” motives. Obviously the killing didn’t deter us from traveling on … More About 3 km from My Home …
I’m what is called, euphemistically, a “senior citizen”. That means I have control over what I do most of the time. I’m no longer a wage slave. Being free to change my schedule at a moments notice has some real advantages. One of my grandsons, a 16 year old, dropped in on us the other … More A Great Way to Spend an Afternoon
Yesterday I decided to take a lunch break from my ongoing struggles with reorganizing data on my computer. I took a little piece of leftover chicken an stuck it in the microwave oven to warm up while I selected a couple of salads to have with it. The microwave beeped to notify me that my … More A Microwave Saga
Wetherhorn 