This is a very cool story, from Ynet, about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lew Alcindor) whose father helped liberate the Buchenwald extermination camp in World War II and personally saved a future prominent rabbi of Israel.
Now, the famous son, a Muslim convert no less, is going to make a movie about his dad and his 761st Tank Battalion’s help at Buchenwald. That should shake up the Holocaust-denying mullahs and jihadis.
Watch your back, Kareem.
Via Elder of Ziyon.
Putting a prayer paper in the Western Wall, the Kotel, in Jerusalem.
It was for Russ Wheat, an old Army buddy in Texas, who wanted to memorialize the men of his platoon who were killed in action in Vietnam.
His request for me to do this while on my trip to Israel is interesting.
It underscores the fact that even non-Jews (Russ, who lives in Canyon Lake near San Antonio, is a church-going Methodist) still see religious significance in the Temple Mount.
Because of, at the least, the destroyed Herod’s Temple of the Jews.
(The photo is lopsided because the photographer was trying to be surreptitious about it. It was the sabbath and the Kotel-controlling Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) forbid photographs on the sabbath.)
And where do all these pieces of paper eventually wind up? See here.
Comments Off on A Plea to Hashem
Posted in Israel, The War, Troops, Viet Nam
Tagged Jerusalem, the Kotel, Vietnam combat veterans, Western Wall of the Temple Mount
Our heatwave is continuing, fueled by our drought, which the meteorologists say is the third worst October to April dry period since 1856—when the reliable record keeping began.
We’re in the 70s at night and 90s during the day, which is very unusual for April. Reason seems to be that the ground is so dry that, instead of absorbing some of the daily UV, it’s radiating it back into the atmosphere, heating up the air.
Brush fires are becoming common and high winds are making some of them dangerous. A neighborhood in Southwest Austin lost almost a dozen homes to a brush fire the other day. No fires yet where we live, though we do have some brush (in a dry creekbed) a block or so away.
So I have a garden hose connected out front at the rancho where I usually don’t have one. May, on average, is our wettest month. So maybe….
Comments Off on Our drought and brushfires
Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Scribbles, Texana, Weather/Climate
Tagged Austin brushfires, Central Texas drought, Central Texas heatwave in April
“Can anyone detect a pattern here? Mubarak must go. Qadaffi must go. But no diplomatic pressure on Assad, nor, aside from the occasional Obama video, any tough talk to the Iranians.”
Can anyone in Obamalot play this game?
My novel has received a four and three-quarter star boost from Red Adept Reviews, one of the gold standards of Indie book reviewers.
Wrote reviewer Jim Chambers: “I’ve long considered Michael and Jeff Shaara’s Civil War trilogy to be one of the benchmarks for Civil War historical fiction. Knoxville 1863 came very close to that mark.”
The complete review is here.
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Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Scribbles
Tagged Jim Chambers reviews, Knoxville 1863, Red Adept Reviews
It seems to me that Israel’s new “Iron Dome” short-range rocket interceptor will have the same problem that the American Patriot system does.
It nails the approaching rocket, true, and that’s impressive. But the explosion scatters fragments of the interceptor and the incoming rocket all over the place, some big enough to cause serious damage to people and other living things.
If they scatter on Gaza, from whence the rockets come, that’s one thing. If they scatter on the Israeli town that’s the target, or points in between, well…
Comments Off on The problem with Iron Dome
Posted in Israel, Science/Engineering, The War, Troops
Tagged Iron Dome, Israel, patriot, rocket interceptors
Snoopy says the Rehovot area is enduring its first major Khamsin wind of the year.
It’s sunny and a scorching 97 degrees F there at 1 p.m. and forecast to reach 101. Then (“…as it is mysteriously traditional on Passover”) to fall back into the 70s daily tomorrow with overnight lows in the 50s through Friday.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 