So, it's a long slow tedious road to new elections. I predict the end of the Labour party as a force in Israeli politics as well. Possible Sharon will manage until March but no longer. So far, the 21st Century has been far too interesting to be comfortable. I'd like the old one back please. In pink if that's possible.

I like the office where I work. It's a converted flat, high on the hills, overlooking the Mediterranean. Fitted out with network cable, it has a number of advantages over a conventional cube.
We have a proper bathroom, with a shower and a space intended for a washing machine but perfect for all the bulkier supplies. The kitchen holds the twin main servers as well as the obligatory fridge, microwave and coffee maker. I work in a reassuring room with 5 mm steel shutters over the window with two PC's and various paintings I enjoy looking at.
There is a balcony where I have a cigarette break and watch the passing traffic, both pedestrian and people. Far down the hill I can see the sea.
The main space doubles as a lunch space and meeting area.
I can even park right outside.

As an extra bonus, there is a copy shop just below. That means we don't need a photocopier or a laser printer. A 30 second walk gets us whatever we need there.
Various take out places deliver a variety of hot food when we need it.

Couldn't be any better.

In five weeks it will be my birthday. Here's a list I gave my SO:

Things I would like for my birthday:


1) Trip to Disney with son. Must be Florida.
2) Trip to Prague plus car and trip to Western Czechoslovakia. Especially mountain defences of 1936-1938. Solo.
3) Trip to Egypt to see Pyramids (Safe?). All. Drive?
4) Ski trip somewhere weird such as Romania, Turkey etc . With son number 1.
5) Parachuting. Solo. Not Israel?
6) Drive a tank. Possibly son one as well
7) Visit Gallipoli (Gelibolu ) via Istanbul. May need a car.
8) Visit Crete N.B Crete has over 3000 caves including the birthplace of Zeus (Jupiter). For Cave fans and all.
9) Visit Cambodia and Angor Wat. N.B. Insurance required due to excessive land mines and bandits. Rifle training optional.
10) There is no number 10.
11) Bull running at Pamplona , Spain. Insurance needed. All. July next year though.
12) Visit St Petersburgh and the Hermitage musuem.

All BOFHs and PFYs should read this from Vulture Central as well. I quite agree.

The Register is one of favourite techie news sources and I thoroughly recommend to my reader. This story has me puzzled though. Why on earth should Reuters do such a thing? Seems the timings are all close here. 40 character ID code indeed. Seems more like a PGP key.

So, the Labour Party in Israel is slowing withdrawing from the Government. Only to be expected really. If they want to have any chance in the next elections then they have to make some clear blue water between themselves and Likud. Expect an election in March.

I never understood why a coalition government is seen as so important during a time of conflict. It doesn't seem to have done anybody any good in the long run. Israel has been in some sort of conflict since its birth. That's no reason to abandon democracy.

This article in the New York times is worth reading. It gives a better picture of Israel than I have seen for a while.
There is a lack of hope here. When the head of Yesher can be threatened by settlers, there is little hope for a peaceable solution now. Too much distrust on both sides.
Sharon has forced a rejection of the latest draft, apparently without reading it much. It seems the speech Bsh made a while ago is the defintive plan. as I recall, it calls for a democratic Palestinian state, reforms and a possible few cantons to rule over. Must look it up.

So I'm taking a coffee break and decided to see if I could get a draft of the 'Road Map' that Prime Minister Sharon is so exercised about. Search in Google for "quartet israel road map palestine" and right on the google page is an advert for Exclusive Hebrew XXX for download. I won't give the link. If anybody has a copy of this, please let me know.

For those who wonder why software goes wrong in strange and wonderful ways, wonder no longer. It was me all along.

I've just noticed a bug in some software I'm editing. Yes, if a URL exceeded 256 characters, my software would crash. Not very
likely of course but possible. So, up it goes to 1024 chars. Better now?

The problem with software is that it has a variable environment and unpredictable inputs. For example, one piece of software I wrote has to run on Windows 98, ME, NT4, W2000 (a.k.a NT5) and X (a.k.a NT5.1)
Just testing a change of one line of code takes around one full man(person) day. Not easy for a small company.

An now this is good. Got here via TalG. It's not easy living in Israel even for a Sabra. As an oleh hadash, it's been hard for my family. External constructive criticism is always welcome though but extreme rhetoric from left right or the centre is not.
Last night, I was sent a nice power point presentation on the 'Occupation'. It gave a good show of the history of Israel and how we ended up in the state we are now in. I agreed with everything it said. What I question is that it only covered the past and the present. There was nothing about the future at all.
Too many Israelis I have met have retreated into a self made shell where the family, friends and work are the entire sphere of their lives. This is not healthy. Israel will pay a heavy price at some point in the future for inactivity now.
I find this article from Haaretz very worrying.

This article from the Jerusalem post is worth reading. I always failed to see how taking Ararats toilet paper away would stop Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Engaging in the opening shots of the Civil War Over Settlements is self indulgence on Fuads part.
Ah well, elections to come. I can't wait.

Time to put commenting back. Lets see how it goes. When I feel a bit more flush next month I'll upgrade to Blogger Pro.

Now this is interesting. I had thought that we were very close to Gulf War II but perhaps we're not now. These guys will take some months to train properly.

I still think that the whole idea is bad. However, I have no objection to the International community making life very difficult for Saddam as long as it doesn't interfere with the war on terror.

Here in Israel , I know who my dangerous enemies are: Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah. Not the Palestianin people.

Lost my blooging brit link when I changed the template (again). Llet's see if I can get it back. It's strange, I'm fine with assembler and C++ but HTML has me stumped a lot of the time.
Another Sunday at work. Last night , at the peace vigil, there was a very loud mouthed woman supporting the settlers. I've never heard such filth from a woman in Israel before. Reminds me of the pubs in the East End when I was a student.

I've just been re-reading a biography of Rabin and understanding just why he never trusted Peres. In 1979 he wrote '[When I appointed Peres as defence minister]I did so with a heavy heart. It was an error I would regret and whose price I would pay in full.'
My partner said in a recent interview Peres said they had their differences but in the last year they had become friends.

I still think that Peres puts himself first and everything else last.

Well this story doesn't make me a happy camper at all. Leave the stupid bastard alone.

And of course, all my enations comments have gone due to a template change. Damn

A debate here is worth following.

Long time no post. I've been fairly busy at work and the home PC has been ill. Getting back to normal now though. Currently surronded by the faint whiff of rotting garbage as the local dustbin men are on strike.

Gulf War II might be running a little later than planned. Sometine before the 5th December is my best guess.

Whenever an American tells me again, how great their country is and what a shithole the rest of the world is I'll point them here and ask how come the number of people in poverty is going up.

Having 31.5 million people below the poverty line is nothing to be proud off.

So another day dawns. I'm musing on how long my start up company can carry on with no sales to date. Only three programmers left and the IDF wants two of them. The prospect of the Iraq war recedes a bit and I'm no longer sure of the November 9th date. It might all have to wait until early next year.

The UK looks more and more attractive. Israel is heading down the wrong path again and I'm not sure I want to be part of it.

It's been a while since I posted anything. That's not because I had nothing to say, I probably had too much. So, I'll go back to every day, posting a little at a time rather than all at once.

At the Egghead household, we discovered a new hobby. Last week was Succot and we were out and about a lot. My partner discovered a number of posters calling for the transfer of the Arabs to solve the Palestinian problem. As only a deranged maniac would support such a thing, we promptly stopped and scrapped the thing of the bustop it was defacing. Six down, one hundred to go. I see some other people have joined in as well. A tip of the hat to the policeman who stopped on the other side of the road and applauded.

I just read TalB blog again. The comments are more insightful than the text. Remember, the majority of Israelis want the settlements dismantled.