Road humps get the hump

It’s not just a London thang. In California I found that one of the most contentious issues getting people hot under the collar is…speed bumps, barriers and other traffic calming (ludicrously named) measures.

Far from calming traffic, road humps incense traffic and can lead to more dangerous driving. Drivers, motorbike riders and their passengers (including seriously injured people in ambulances) are discomforted travelling at or below the speed limit. Cyclists have to stand up or get crotched.

Fortunately the tide is beginning to turn in the face of anti-car (really anti personal choice) fanatics, a small minded but vocal minority of residents and assorted low-calibre local government employees, determined to make others’ lives as miserable and limited as their own.

Even some of those who previously campaigned for road humps have had to admit that their lives have not miraculously improved. Those living on humped roads have experienced increased noise and pollution as irate drivers rev, change gear and brake over each hump, loud banging of loose items in vans flying into the air then landing and the characteristic scraping of vehicles bottoming out and even audible expletives. Buildings close to humps have been cracking.

In addition the emergency services here and in the US are now presenting hard evidence of the of delays and rough journeys resulting in delays, further injuries and even deaths outweighing any decreases in accidents.

Camden council, one of the most vindictive and anti-progress in London and vying with Islington to hump every single road in the borough before they are forced to remove them, recently told the ambulance service to use bicycles rather than ambulances to reach people in emergencies…

On the other side of the pond I spent some time in Palo Alto, home to Stanford University, the birthplace of Hewlett Packard and Silicon Valley’s café society pavements of choice. Now the Palo Alto city council has just voted to do away with traffic calming barriers on the basis that they have not achieved their objectives, caused greater problems and enraged drivers.

In London, the unlikely hero of the moment is Brian Coleman, a Barnet councillor and deputy leader of the Greater London Authority conservatives. Barnet’s policy is to remove all bumps and similar and to develop a more creative approach to traffic management.

Other London boroughs now reconsidering road humps include Westminster, Enfield and Richmond. Indeed our local council decided to not install humps on our street, a busy main road used by buses, police, emergency services and all manner of transport vehicles. We’re instead getting wide red lines down the middle of the road, radar-activated ‘slow down’ lights that illuminate if vehicles are over the speed limit, centre bollard islands, zebra crossings and a roundabout. I’m now calmed.

Amnesty International

In the dead tree version of the Jerusalem Post, there is a readers letter from 'Angela Paul' of New Zealand who 'listens in vain for Amnesty's condemnation of 'Palestinian' terrorist attacks against Israelis. She can find it here.

An extract:

However, no violations by the Israeli government, no matter their scale or gravity, justify the killing of Sinai Keinan, Danielle Shefi, Chanah Rogan or any other civilians. The obligation to protect civilians is absolute and cannot be set aside because Israel has failed to respect its obligations. The attacks against civilians by Palestinian armed groups are widespread, systematic and in pursuit of an explicit policy to attack civilians. They therefore constitute crimes against humanity under international law. They may also constitute war crimes, depending on the legal characterisation of the hostilities and interpretation of the status of Palestinian armed groups and fighters under international humanitarian law.

Just because the Post doesn't see fit to publish it does not mean it didn't happen. Amnesty paid the price as well, now being banned from Libya through Kuwait.

The media in Israel regularly condemns AI when it mentions Israel. There is a deafening silence when AI blasts the following countries:

Saudi Arabia

Lebanon

Kuwait

The list is endless. None of us are perfect. Attacking the messenger and hiding our heads under the blanket are not a solution.

Cold peace without honor

Moshe Arens tries his hand at historical revisionism yet again. He was Minister of Defence during the first Gulf War and has always claimed that the IDF should have been allowed to go into Iraq to stop the Scuds. Proof indeed of his poor judgment.


In his analysis of the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt he fails to mention the peace offer that Sadat made to Golda Meir in 1971 which was rejected out of hand. He also fails the mention the boost to Arab morale that came from the Yom Kippur war. Egypt achieved its war aims, Israel didn't. Calling that a victory after 2,688 dead Israelis is plain wrong.

Go to Egypt and enjoy

One Israeli felt at home. If we get paid, perhaps this would be a better outing than going to the Yachad inaugural meeting on Wednesday. It is our wedding aniversary.

Passover blues

Pesach is on it's way and I'm feeling pinched. everyone we know will be away for the holiday except us. Work calls and it's suggested that workplace will pay us before the holidays. Lucky us.


In the meantime, I'm struggling with focus listeners in java JTables and a near empty office. I wish I could write about something profound in Israel but I can't. I'm too empty right now.

Another blogger

Say hello to a new Jewish blogger. Out of Step Jew. Thanks to Dutch Blog Israel for the link. Having spent all morning on generating html help pages I'm feeling rather overstuffed with HTML 4 tags. Expect embedded tables and various script oddities for the next few days.


On a side note, the Israel blog ring seems to have died. If nobody else wants to do it, I'm prepared to start another Israel blog ring if there is sufficient demand. Email or comment to show interest. Yes, I can cope with Hebrew. Even Russian given a while. Learning Perl and SmallTalk was harder.

Arbel pushes for Sharon indictment on bribery charges

I wonder what will happen here as the State Prosecutor Edna Arbel recommends that Arik Sharon be indicted for bribery. I would not like to be the Attorney General right now.


'She Who Must be Cosseted' became incensed last night whilst surfing the english new channels. Why does it have to be headline news so quickly she asked? I see her point. I get rather worried about her sometimes. Whilst watching an Israeli TV discussion of the Gaza settlements she took to shouting at the television and frightened the dog. Perhaps there's a support group for stressed Israelis somewhere.

Back in Blighty

I’m back in London and very glad to be back in spite of flying from a 28 deg C heatwave to nearly freezing overnight temperatures. The skiing was superb, the weather everywhere wonderful. Calif is indeed great to visit on holiday but there’s more to life than weather…more anon. Oh, and must remember to put the clockx forward 1 hour – why do we still do this?

New commenting system.

I finally had it with the old comment script. It's Haloscan from now on. Apologies to all whose comments were lost in the process. Feel free to try them out.

Six Apart Trains Guns on 'Comment Spam'

For those of you bothered by 'comment spam' here is a solution on its way.

Text of proposed U.N. Security Council resolution vetoed by the United States

Weasal words as usual in the Security council. This is the text of the proposed (now vetoed )resolution. Still no further forward right now. There is some surprise here in Israel that Hamas doesn't seem to have done anything yet.

Lay down your arms

An unusal advert from Palestinians reported here.

A half-page advertisement in the PLO's Al-Ayyam newspaper called on Palestinians to lay down their arms and turn to peaceful means of protest to end Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The ad reflected apparently growing sentiment among many Palestinian leaders and intellectuals that military struggle is not helping the Palestinian cause

Whilst is can be said that this is just 'the usual suspects' it a step forward none the less.

Israeli IT bounces back

It says so here so it must be true. Cisco returning is a good sign.

Geneva Accord

I haven't seen this Geneva Accord web site before so here is the link. Before you all rush to condemn, I would like to hear your views on the details of a Palestinian-Israeli peace deal. Alternatives, not blind condemnation.

Getting hotter

The weather has turned warm and so is the Northern border. The IDF hit some terrorists from Ahmed Jibril's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in Lebanon. They've been quiet for a long time leaving Hezbollah to be seriously annoying up to now.

Chian blogs

It would seem that the Chinese government does not like bloggers. Two blog sites have been shut down.

Now for the rest.

It would seem that Defense chiefs here have decided tohave a go at the rest of the Hamas leadership as well as anyone else they think is leading a terror group. Ararfat is immune from this for the time being as the USA have said 'hands off' repeatedly.


I shall wait and see before deciding whether this was a good move or not. My local restaurant was empty last night as many Israelis decided to stay at home where it is relatively safe.

The Logic of Israel's Targeted Killing - Middle East Quarterly - Winter 2003

Thanks to Nikita for the link to this excellent article.The Logic of Israel's Targeted Killing - Middle East Quarterly - Winter 2003

Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin

Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin has been killed in Gaza. This can go either way. The faction leaders realising that they are next, ask for a truce. The alternative would be a short intense war.


Maariv article here


Blogosphere reactions.

An Unsealed room.
Anglosaxy.
Stuart Hughes

In memory

George Khoury who was murdered today by Palestinians.

Book

I am currently re-reading The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order by Huntington. In it he says:

Some Westerners , including Bill Clinton , have argued that the West does not have problems with Islam but only with violent Islamist extremists. Fourteen hundred years of history demonstrate otherwise. The relations between Islam and Christainity, both Orthodox and Western , have often been stormy. Each has been the other's Other. The twentieth-century conflict between liberal democracy and Marxist-Leninism is only a fleeting and superficial historical phenomenon compared to the continuing and deeply conflictual relation between Islam and Christianity.

I suppose he would classify the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict as one of the fault line wars between civilizations. It does not bode well for Israel though. The current attempts for regime change is Syria would inevitably bring about a regime that is still hostile to Israel as Iraq will eventually become. I remember well an argument with a departing colleague about whether Gulf War II would be good or bad for Israel. It is unlikely to be good.

One year on

Ian Murray from England's Sword has an interesting piece on the Madrid bombings and why he doesn't think the bombings are a surrender to terrorism. He's wrong on one point though. He refers to a BBC pollwhere he states that 70% of respondents do not think the UK Government lied over Iraq and WMD. I read it another way. 40% think it was exaggerated and 22% think a lie. Hardly support especially as 57% are dissatisfied with Tony Blair. Still, he's more trusted than any other political leader. Whatever the British think about Iraq, it won't help the Tories.

Galloway wins damages for Saddam slur

Gorgeous George is a dickhead but he wins damages from the Christian Science Monitor over allegations that he took 10 million from Saddam. I doubt you will see any corrections from the many bloggers that took up this tale. There has been a welter of forged documents coming from Iraq, notably the idea that Saddam has any WMDs worth fighting a war over.

Facts About Dihydrogen Monoxide

As a public service, I would like to draw the attention of our readers to the dangers of Dihydrogen Monoxide. This substance can:

Death due to accidental inhalation of DHMO, even in small quantities.

Prolonged exposure to solid DHMO causes severe tissue damage.

Excessive ingestion produces a number of unpleasant though not typically life-threatening side-effects.

DHMO is a major component of acid rain.

Gaseous DHMO can cause severe burns.

Contributes to soil erosion.

Leads to corrosion and oxidation of many metals.

Contamination of electrical systems often causes short-circuits.

Exposure decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes.

Found in biopsies of pre-cancerous tumors and lesions.

Often associated with killer cyclones in the U.S. Midwest and elsewhere.

Thermal variations in DHMO are a suspected contributor to the El Nino weather effect.

Keep your kids away from this dangerous stuff. Drink beer instead.

Pakistan becomes a major ally.

So helping the Taliban, developing nukes, withdrawing from the NPT and helping North Korea and Libya with WMDs is perfectly acceptable now. Balls.

Yossi Beilin

Even though we didn't vote for him, he has an impressive vision and drive.

For instance, Beilin is planning to appeal to the Israeli public, primarily to partymembers and its potential voters, and ask each household to contribute NIS 900 to the empty coffers of Yahad - the maximum permitted by law. These days, this is no simple request. He is planning to convene all of the members of the party - about 21,000 people - on March 31, at a hangar at the Tel Aviv port, for what he calls a "convention": discussions and speeches. No one has done this before.

And in his plan, he has abundant other ideas and initiatives intended to breathe life into the sagging sales of the party that lost its vitality, its attractiveness and its relevance in the three years of the intifada. And he is not dreaming for a moment of leaving the job to anyone else, be it his good friend Avraham Burg or Yossi Sarid, who said here two weeks ago that he may be back to run again in two years' time

David Satterfield speaks

I read this speech with interest. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Satterfield spoke to an Israel Policy Forum last week. The vision is still there it seems, a two state solution.

Welcome Narnia - I'm the what

Feeling scared after the 'What Country are You' debacle, I thought I try this one courtesy of Second Breakfast. Not much better though.

You're The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe!

by C.S. Lewis

You were just looking for some decent clothes when everything changed
quite dramatically. For the better or for the worse, it is still hard to tell. Now it
seems like winter will never end and you feel cursed. Soon there will be an epic
struggle between two forces in your life and you are very concerned about a betrayal
that could turn the balance. If this makes it sound like you're re-enacting Christian
theological events, that may or may not be coincidence. When in doubt, put your trust
in zoo animals.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Yahad has a new leader

It's Yossi Beilen even though She Indoors and I voted for Ran Cohen. Yes, we are paid up members of Yahad.

Water and Kashrut

It surprised my fellow Israelis who were unaware, as I was, that pumping water from the Kinneret is suspended during passover in case some fisherman throws the remains of his or her lunch out of the boat thus adding hametz to the water supply.


This year however, Infrastructure Minister Yosef Paritzky of Shinui has decided to keep pumping. Why I hear you ask? Well, if the pumping stopped the dam at the southern end of the lake would have to open thus wasting lots of very nice fresh water. So there. Let them drink Perrier.

Workplace

Things are not going well at workplace. It looks like I'll be job huntng yet again. Perhaps it won't happen.

More bombs

Israel recovers from yet another suicide bombing and ponders Sharon's Gaza pullout plan. It seems the a majority of Israelis (56%) support the idea.

Global Stupidity Advisory System

Thanks to homokaasu for letting me add the Global Stupidity Advisory System to our blog. You may view the rather worrying high risk down at the bottom left.

Poll - Will this Government survive the full term?

I thought I'd try my hand at an online poll.

Will this government survive the full term?

NoYesYes but with a coalition change.

View the results Hosted by WebEnalysis

Al-Qaeda 'claims Madrid bombings'

The horrific bombings in Madrid has an Al-Qaeda m.o but I wouldn't rule out some ETA involvement. Still, there are plenty of Moroccans in Spain. One of them stole my passport some years ago.

Goldenlines - Israel

Would someone in Goldenlines , Israel please do something to address the numerous complaints of spam sources coming from hijacked machines on their network. They could also correct the RIPE entry which has Goldenlines located in Great Britain rather than Israel. This sort of thing looks bad.


The relevant SBL entry is here. They are becoming known as a spamhaus.

Maariv Online Poll

A rather unfortunate poll in Maariv International asks where will Israel be in ten years. Choices are

In the EU

The 51st State

Neither

Not around



My fellow countryman have a rather pessimistic view and seem to prefer 'not around'. The correct answer is 'neither' of course.

Israel and Mothers

'She Who Must be kept Calm' is very bothered by the bombs in Madrid and the situation in general. Her temper has not been made any better by the discovery of just what was making the strange smell in our clothes closet. She now wishes to move. Son number one has also made her feel worse by announcing he intends to up his profile with the IDF in order to get into a combat unit. This she did not want. Ah well, everyone's in the front line these days.

Die spammer, die...

For those who appreciate my constant battle against spammers, here's some heartening news. It would appear that AOL, Earthlink, Yahoo! and Microsoft are all using the new CAN-SPAM act to go for some of the more obvious spammers. Right now the lawsuit is against some 200 John Does but that should change.

Israeli Weddings

I staggered from my sick bed to attend the wedding of a fellow worker. Well, the idea of free drinks and food also appealed. She Who Must be Kept Warm came down with the same illness I had so was left behind. Now, I would like to explain that I do enjoy Israeli weddings. It's just that I don't understand them.

My first mistake was to turn up on time. It said 7.30 p.m on the invitation. When I got there the staff were still cleaning the floor. An hour later, things started to move. We eat and drank with no sign of the bride and groom. Eventually they arrived with a fanfare, announcements with a side dish of flaring fireworks and dry ice.

The hoopa was crowded. Three officiating gentlemen , bride, groom, four mothers and fathers, two witnesses, video cameraman, still cameraman and sound recordist. You could just see the bride. The brief ceremony over, everyone attacked the buffet dinner for a second round and the dancing started. I left early having put my offering in the box provided. Cheques are OK it seems but no presents. Beats going to funerals.

Ill

I'm ill. Bloggering will be light over the next few days. Is that the right verb though?

CJI

I note that Computer Jobs in Israel got a mention in the Jerusalem Post. I hope that they hit his charity jar.


I filled in his survey as I do every year. You can read the results here.

Warning: Blogs Can Be Infectious

No, no that kind of virus, nor the one that knacks your computer. According to Intelliseek's BlogPulse Web crawler Web crawler , authors of popular blog sites regularly borrow topics from lesser-known bloggers -- and they often do so without attribution. Here's the BlogPulse link.

Happy Birthday Spam

It's ten years since some landsharks called Canter and Siegel spammed Usenet groups touting Green card lotteries. They still don't admit they did anything wrong. Apparently their 'freedom of speech' was more important than the whole world wide Usenet community as ISP's went down under the complaint load.


They even wrote a book explaining to others how to do it. Since then, spammers have moved to email and are busy wrecking that medium.

IHT: What's the rush, America?

I agree with this IHT article.Why the June date for Iraq?

Haircuts

She Who Must be Trimmed is off for a hairdo yet again. As she still hasn't passed her Israeli driving test, muggins here must go all the way to a Druze village and wait for her there. I shall take the dog this time.

Weather and plans

The recent hot spell, no make that more heat that brings sweat and biting insects has broken in favour of a very pleasant set of rain clouds from Europe. Thanks guys. Much better than dust laden winds from Egypt.


The local builders managed to break the water supply for the fifth time this year and get is repaired in less than two hours. We don't appear to have and water leaking in anywhere and the fungus patches have taken a holiday. All of which doesn't lead me to an headline in Ha'Artez which claims that the Gaza Disengagment Plan is on hold until after the US November elections. Another reason to wish it all over as soon as possible.


I see it's fine in California. Have a nice holiday Cathy.

Book

Just finished reading The clash of Civilisations
by Samuel P. Huntington . An interesting book. I shall now hunt out some of the books marked in the bibliography. Some quotes:

Islam has bloody borders.

The history of Islam is littered with the failure of social democracy in all its forms.

The decline of the West is inevitable.

David Kay's final report

An interesting article by David Kay, the chief Weapons Inspector in Iraq.

He now believes the west's intelligence agencies got it wrong for two reasons. First, they were manipulated by Ahmed Chalabi and other dissidents whose central interest was ousting Saddam. Just mentioning the name of the Iraqi National Congress leader makes Kay laugh. "Here's a guy who's so transparent. Chalabi asked me in Iraq once: 'Why are you so concerned about WMD? No one cares about WMD.'

The second factor, in Kay's opinion, was a fundamental cultural misunderstanding. The CIA, MI5 and the other western agencies saw blatant smuggling at a time when the regime could quite legally import basic civilian goods, and came to the conclusion the contraband must be military. They failed to understand that smuggling was more lucrative. "You had the Turks, the Syrians and Jordanians - everyone got a cut, so it became in everyone's interest to do it illegally," he says. Meanwhile in Iraq, scientists and officials were busy thinking up as many missile projects as they could, as a means of extracting funds from the regime.

Having said all that, he does believe the war was justified.

What country am I

I took this quiz after following a link from AngloSaxxy and I'm North Korea! Oh dear. Axis of Evil and all that. I can expect a visit from the men in suits soon.

You're North Korea!

Look out!  You're absolutely wacko.  Completely insane.
 There's no telling what you're going to do, and it could make you a danger to
yourself and others.  People are so scared of you that they usually just cover
their eyes and pretend you're not there.  The main impact this has had is to
make you even more scary, as you yearn for attention and contact with the outside
world.  Everyone just wants you to calm down.
face="Times New Roman">Take the href="http://bluepyramid.org/ia/cquiz.htm">Country Quiz at the href="http://bluepyramid.org">Blue Pyramid

Sauce for the Geese

At long last, force feeding geese will stop in Israel. : "Knesset panel unanimously decides on complete cessation of force-feeding of geese in Israel within six months."