I bought a T-shirt at the Marxism2004 conference. Well, not really. They've put up a booth with promotional material outside the IOE. I passed it on my way from the nursery to the office, and decided to stop for some entertainment.

The outfit looks like a goods stand at a rock gig. Complete with socialist worker party mugs, lighters and pens. CDs labeled stop the war fundraiser ft. Ms Dynamite, Billy Bragg and Asian Dub (I bought one, a real bargain for a fiver). And of course, loads of T-s. Most of them where so in your face, I couldn't ware them even as a joke. Finally I found one - its got a rough photo of Malcolm X, holding a rifle. The inscription reads By any means necessary.

The guy at the counter said, in heavy Glasgonian, Wer reealy pushin the sob scib sauns this weeek. You gait yr free copy an also a compeemantry socialist party girl magazeene. I said his methods don't seam very marxist to me, to which he answared by quoting my new T.

Diane sent me a link to Lev Manovich's "DATABASE AS A SYMBOLIC FORM" on Cristine Wang's on-line exhibition Defining Lines: . As usual, I read around. As usual, I wish I had the time to really look into this stuff.

The rich get faster cars, the poor get less rice.

Wash with warm water.
Use mild soap.
Dry flat.
Do not use bleach.
Do not dry in the dryer.
Do not iron.
We are sorry that Our President is an idiot.
We did not vote for him.

Tim Bihn laptop bags.

About time

Internet Explorer has been officially declared a virus. Windows in general has been declared a carrier.

"the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), the official U.S. body responsible for defending against online threats. The group on Friday advised security administrators to consider moving to a non-Microsoft browser among six possible responses."

"There are a number of significant vulnerabilities in technologies relating to" IE, the advisory stated. "It is possible to reduce exposure to these vulnerabilities by using a different Web browser, especially when browsing untrusted sites."

The advisory noted that Internet Explorer has had a great many security problems in several of its key technologies, such as Active X scripting, its zone model for security and JavaScript. However, the group pointed out that turning off certain features in IE increases the security.

"Using another Web browser is just one possibility," said Art Manion, Internet security analyst with the CERT Coordination Center, which administers US-CERT. "We don't recommend any product over another product. On the other hand, it is naive to say that that consideration should not play into your security model."

CERT also noted that people who opt for non-IE browsers but who continue to run the Windows operating system are still at risk because of the degree to which the OS itself relies on IE functionality.

http://asia.cnet.com/my/0,39002192,39185013,00.htm
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/2648149
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/28/ie_is_complex/
http://www.vnunet.com/news/1155868

H. and the kids went to Inverness market, to buy some fruit and veg's. As they occasionally do, they asked the dealer for cooking instructions. He gave them a recipe for a fresh broadbeans salad, which would seam to be anything but English. Yum.

WoW!!!!

My Mejadra recipe is featured on the front page of Wikibooks:Cookbook!

I'll supress the slight irony in the back of my head, and cherish the moment.

The last post reminded me of -

IDF questions reservists who organized Hebron photo exhibit

By Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent

Israel Defense Forces Military Police on Wednesday interrogated three reserve soldiers who had organized a Tel Aviv photo exhibit documenting their compulsory military service in Hebron, on suspicion they had abused Palestinians, looted and destroyed property

When: Friday July 9th, 2004, from 19.00 onwards

Where: The Courtroom, Toynbee Studios, 28 Commercial Street, London E1 6LS
Near Brick Lane and the Whitechapel Art Gallery (Aldgate East tube)

How much? Free, but bring your chequebook. We are suggesting a donation
of at least 24 pounds sterling.

What's happening?: Drinks, food donated by *Story organic deli, celebrity
speakers to be announced, music, performance, exclusive footage of Steve
Kurtz speaking at London's Natural History Museum and many other
entertainments. If you are interested in art and the freedom of knowledge
this is the time to lend your support.

For numbers, please let us know if you are planning to come:
020 7375 3690 or info@artscatalyst.org.

High Court rules out 30km stretch in separation fence route

Ha'aretz, 30/06/2004

So, not a perfect democracy, but still as close as you can get in the mid-east.

On Sunday, 20 June, Daniel Tsal was jailed for the 4th time for refusing to take part in the Occupation.

Letters of support can be sent to: Jehoshua@freud.tau.ac.il

"I'm trying to get in touch with my feminine side, but she's not returning my calls"

Mozila is soooo coooool! (I know, I'm a geek, can't help it..)

If you still drink Coka-Cola, here's yet another reason to stop.

I was looking for a link for the events in Az awyya, and found:

Women And Girls Lead Blocking of Bulldozers in Az Zawiya village today.

I also came across the Masha Camp blog, which is affiliated with the Stop the wall campaign.

whispers speak louder than stones.

Marbel asked if I've heard about the "Breaking Silence" exhibition. She pointed me to the piece in the Guardian.

So many people simply don't know what goes on. I don't think you can actually convey the tragic absurdity of it to someone who hadn't been there. That's why it always infuriates me when soldiers' actions are judged by supermarket standards. On the other hand, it amazes me how people can live 5km from the wall and ignore the things that are done in there name. I guess its a survival strategy, but its a short-term one. Maybe if people see this exhibition (or this site*) something will finally click.

---
* - Daber is a site which is devoted to publishing Israeli soldiers' stories from there service in the occupied territories. Its is all Hebrew, and maybe it should stay that way (or, translated to Arabic at most).

Shaken, not stirred

I fell off my bike today. Well, more like flew off. And to be honest, I had it coming.

You know those speed bumps? The huge ones that scrape the bottom of fancy sports cars (ha ha)? Well, some time ago I discovered this biking technique, where instead of slowing down you speed up when you approach one, and then just when the front wheel goes over it - you give the handlebar a good jerk. The results are amazing but - kids - don't try this at home.

Over the last couple of months I've been perfecting my speed-bump-flying art. Today I was cycling with Seb, on our way to work, when along comes a speed bump. Seb, being sane, slows down. At which point I bypassed him, pedaling as hard as my feet would go, and muttered: "Hey, here's something you can do with these bumps", jerk on the handlebar and fly like a bird.

It was a perfect takeoff. I think its time to start working on my landing technique.

By the way, why is it that the Wikibooks sudenly look so much like Plone?

As my humble contribution to Pim's Around the world in a bowl of rice, I posted my Mejadrah on Wikibooks:cookbook.

As usual, I missed the dealine, but might get in on account of the editor's kind heart.

Neal's yard dairy. Borough market, Saterday afternoon, April 2004

On the train back from Berkhamsted, Itamar asked me for my notebook and a pen. He wrote down a quick summary of the day, to help him write a full account at a later time. It goes: Train pub pool castle football farm horses pheasent rabbits enter forest raindeers walk on more deers sheep bufelo bluebells bar Taxi Train I would add only one thing: rain.

Freak-out protection

I have added the following line to the template I use for my PhD. I placed it in the center of the page header.
T H I S     I S     N O T     T H E     T R A C T A T U S

Yesterday I had a chat with my sister about identity. What does being Israeli mean to us? What does being Jewish?
She said (more or less) that she feels her image of herself as a Zionist has been robbed by the meaning the word has taken.
I said (more or less) that for me, actively opposing what Zionism has become is my Zionism. Paradoxical? well, that's life.

I woke up today, and after an hour or so I noticed that I'm constantly humming mellow, somber, old-fashioned Israeli songs. Natan Yonathan, Shalom Hanoch, Arik Einstein, Coffee with Berta.

Ah, yes, I thought. Of course. Memorial day. .

Two new refusniks on memorial day.

I remember kites.

I was a 19 year old infantry soldier, on a watch tower in Gibalia, in the first intifada.
It was a bright summer day. I was standing clad in my protective vest, armour and helmet. Gun in hand, looking at the refugee camp around me. The Gaza skyline stretched to the sea, and above it hexagon white kites. I thought of Albert Camus. I thought of a Saturday walk with my father, I'm 7 or 8, and he takes a pen knife out of his pocket to cut some reads. Later, at home, he will split them and dry them and show my how to tie three sections together to construct a kite frame.
I want to take my armour off. Take off my jacket. My uniform. I want to run barefoot in the sands, and fly a kite.
You can beat a stone, you can beat a gun. You can't beat a kite.

Dedicated with admiration to the brave non-violent protestors in Bidu, Beit Surik, and elsewhere.

Today is the national memorial day in Israel. I prefer to interpret it as a memorial day for all those killed in war. A day for reflecting on why war still is, and what can we do to stop it.

Gila Svirsky writes:

Friends,

I just spoke to Molly Malekar on her way to Sha'arei Tzedek Hospital in
Jerusalem, and here is what she reported:

"We were about 60 women, only women: roughly 1/3 Israeli, 1/3
Palestinian, and 1/3 internationals. We gathered at Bidu to protest the
construction of the wall in this village. It was a quiet march, with
women carrying signs and walking toward the area where soldiers were
guarding the construction of the fence. At a distance of about 10
meters
(30 feet) from them, we stopped walking because the soldiers turned to
point their rifles directly at us. I called out to them in Hebrew, "Don't
shoot, we're not armed, this is a nonviolent demonstration." Suddenly
there was an onslaught of teargas and stun grenades, falling all around
us, completely out of proportion to the quiet, nonprovocative nature of
our action. The grenades fell right there at our feet and we were
choking, unable to breathe. Most dispersed and ran back. Soldiers
charged toward us and fell upon the women, grabbing some whom they
arrested. By then, there was no demonstration at all, nothing to
disperse. Most of the women had run back, trying to recover from the
tear
gas, but I remained as I wanted to talk to the soldiers to prevent the
arrest of the four women. Suddenly out of nowhere four horses
charged,
with border police mounted on them. I started to run away, but one of
them ridden by a girl soldier caught up with me and she struck me on
my
head with a baton. I fell, and then a second horse charged toward me
and
I felt more blows on my head and back. There was no provocation
whatsoever at any point while this was happening."