RDX and Ice Cream

Its a scientific fact that ice cream, if it gets on your hands will instantly transfer itself to all parts of your body, your clothes and any items and articles that you may be carrying with you. What I recently learned is that this strange property is also shared by RDX.



RDX is a type of explosive. I used to work a lot with the RDX during my years in the middle east. Hah! I know what you are thinking but I had a license to handle the stuff. See? sez so right there (in arabic).





When you work with RDX there is always some powdery residue that gets on your hands and clothes. From there it may get on to your laptop computer and your luggage. Once it gets into your luggage its never coming out. Its quite happy to remain their for months or even years. And if you are travelling out of Israel and they decide to swab your luggage you are in a world of shit. These boys/girls swab EVERYTHING. Imagine their surprise! It took me 2 hours to explain that I work with the stuff so its perfectly normal for traces of explosive to turn up in my rig bag. It helped that the rig was in the news over there so the police at least knew what I was talking about. Still you are always a little bit uncomfortable around airport police no matter where you are.


I'm so glad to be home.

That'll show 'em

“Jews of Arab Countries: the Congress is convinced that Jews living in Arab countries do not appreciate the kindness and protection that Muslims have granted them over the centuries. The Congress proclaims that the Jews who live in the Arab states and who have contact with Zionist circles or the state of Israel do not deserve the protection and kindness that Islam grants to non-Muslim citizens living freely in Islamic countries. Islamic governments must treat them as enemy combatants. In the same way, Islamic peoples must individually and collectively boycott them and treat them as mortal enemies."
- The World Islamic Congress meeting in Amman, Jordan, 22 September 1967

I'm surprised no one in Indonesia hadn't got round to this earlier.

Today, extremists in Indonesia finally got their revenge on the Jewish Entity. How? you may wonder? Israel a long ways away and there is no border or any direct flights. Heck Israel does not even exist in the Indonesian Psyche. But wait...If you can't find the enemy without then seek the enemy within. All twenty of them. Yep there are Jews in Surabaya! Holy Hanukkah lets have a demonstration! For sure those Jews are causing all that trouble in Palestine. I know...lets seal the synagogue. That'll show 'em. Israel is sure to open the borders now. Hey... Why not just kick em out? Guess where they will go then....hmmm? Now lets get back to our demonstration to show solidarity with Hamas and support for human shields.

I don't really see the point of this type of action . How does closing a synagogue help the Palestinian cause? Never mind the endless litany of "don't attack the religion, its not the religions that are bad". Never mind reinforcing the negative perception of muslims being intolerant. Never mind it was actions like this that saw a huge exodus of Jews from Arab countries to Israel after 1967. Never mind the Jewish community has been in Indonesia since before its inception. Never mind that they have kept a low profile, never bothered anybody, and never proselytised. Never mind they are Indonesian. Nope lets attack 'em anyway. This whole Israeli/Palestinian death orgy is their fault and their fault only.

People of Surabaya you can rest easy tonite. Abdusshomad Buchori has assured your safety. You don't need the Army, Navy, Air Force or Police to protect you. Put your trust in Abdusshomad Buchori and his band of merry men. Tomorrow Abdusshomad Buchori will root out those pesky sympathisers, supporters and Israeli agents that have caused everything from 911 to the Aceh Tsunami. "Go for it!" I say. They shouldn't be too hard to find....


Just look for horns under the hat!

PJ in Jerusalem?

Yup

I had the opportunity a few weeks ago (before the present rukus got going) to spend the day in Jerusalem. Work was kind of slow so four of us chartered a guide and did the tourist thing. Starting in the morning it was about a 2 hour drive from Haifa to Jerusalem.

The first place we stopped was the Mount of Olives. There is an excellent view of the old city from here.

The Golden Mosque is of course the Dome Of The Rock. Could say that the Judeo-Christian-Islamic religions got their start here. This is the place where Abraham was supposed to sacrifice his son but God allowed him to sacrifice a sheep instead (at the last minute). We were not allowed to get too close to this Mosque or the Al- Aksa Mosque so this photo will have to do. The shiny roof was donated by the King of Jordan in 1994

Next stop was the garden of gesthemane (hope I got the spelling). For Christians this was where Jesus was arrested. Some of the olive trees here are well over 1000 years old!

Going down the hill and across the street we finally got to the old city itself

The old city is pretty much in a constant state of reconstruction/excavation.

The western wall - ladies on the right, men on the left. This is apparently all that remains of the 2nd temple of Solomon after the Romans got through with it.

The Via Dolorosa. This is the route that Christ took to his execution. The Christians have helpfully broken it up into several (14) stations with souvenir shops and a small chapel at each one. My hand is in an impression of the rock created where Jesus apparently steadied himself by placing his hand on the wall. Jesus must have had really really big hands.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Doesn't look like much from the outside but the inside is something else again....Much like a tartus unit. I was curious about the ladder(upper right) and later on I found out that it had been sitting on that ledge for over 150 years! How cool/retarded is that? The keys to the door to the chuch have been in the same family since the time of Saladin.

The same church from the inside. My camera can't really do justice here. The whole interior is domes and arches.

Whats this you are wondering? Its the crux of the biscuit imho.

This is apparently a scale model of the planned 3rd Temple. And the small print on the left says: "Buy now before the temple is rebuilt and the prices go up". And guess where this temple is planned to be built....Won't that stir up the Anthill? Can't see this happening anytime soon but there is an element of the population of Israel that wants to see it happen.

Jerusalem as seen from the Old City. Its really quite amazing to see how all of this was built in such rugged country. And its more than a little ironic that a place with such religious significance of three major world religions is such a source of contention between them.

Hope you enjoyed the show.

PJ

Haifa At Dawn

As seen from my hotel room, near the top of Mount Carmel. Every now and then there are benefits to work.