Monthly Archives: July 2011

Masada at Masada

Posted on July 31, 2011 | Comments Off on Masada at Masada

A model of the ancient Jewish fortress of Masada at, where else, Masada itself. Of course the model depicts Herod’s intact palaces at the mountain’s north end. They’re ruins today, and explained well here, and rather more completely in this good book bringing all of the archaeology up to date.

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Posted in Israel, Library

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Free-floating planets

Posted on July 30, 2011 | Comments Off on Free-floating planets

This is a recurring nightmare of mine, though not so vivid that it was easy to figure out at first. Sounds awful. Icy, for sure, and dark. Yet, if the populace was far-enough advanced to have developed their own renewable heat sources, they might continue to thrive underground. Or so I imagine.

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Posted in Science/Engineering, Scribbles, Space, Weather/Climate

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Eat your own damn peas, Part II

Posted on July 29, 2011 | Comments Off on Eat your own damn peas, Part II

Obamalot seems to really enjoy frightening seniors by threatening to withhold Social Security checks. They did it again Monday night, asserting that if the debt ceiling isn’t raised, why, those checks might not go out. Which is a lie.

The government is legally obligated to send out the checks and there’s no financial reason they can’t do it:

“In fact, according to the most recent Trustees Report to Congress, Social Security ran a $68.6 billion surplus during 2010. The trust funds’ holdings went up accordingly. Thus the Social Security trust funds held more assets at the end of 2010 than at the beginning.”

So, hey, Obamalot. Stop lying. And eat your own damn peas.

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Posted in Blogosphere, Obamalot

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Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain at Fredericksburg

Posted on July 28, 2011 | Comments Off on Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain at Fredericksburg

Only fair to include this Mort Kunstler painting of Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (bareheaded with pistol) in the Union defeat at Fredericksburg in December, 1862 since I posted the other, Rebel, one.

Chamberlain, of course, was one of the heroes of Gettysburg, the following July. The stand (and concluding charge) of his Twentieth Maine Infantry Regiment on Little Round Top has long been called key to the 1863 Union victory.

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Posted in Civil War, Library

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Doug Godbey, RIP

Posted on July 27, 2011 | Comments Off on Doug Godbey, RIP

It’s bad enough to learn that a friend has died, but even worse to find that he died six years ago and you didn’t know it.

Douglas S. Godbey Douglas S. Godbey, age 55, passed away Saturday, December 17, 2005. Doug was born in Dallas to JJ and Louise, where he was raised with his two younger sisters, Lynda and Anita. When Doug was in his early twenties he moved to Austin where he began work as a sheetrocker. With his talent, creativity, and ingenuity he quickly started his own business and was self-employed as a building and design contractor for the duration of his life. His first child, Jessica, was born in 1979 from his first marriage; he later married Raquelle Smalley in 1992, and they had a son Nikolas, in 1993. Doug will always be remembered by his family and many friends for his warm heart, vibrant spirit, nonstop sense of humor, hearty laugh, unconditional devotion to spirituality and his family, and amazing love for life and all the people in it. He is survived by his wife, Raquelle Smalley Godbey; son, Nikolas Godbey; daughter, Jessica Godbey; sisters, Lynda Chambers and Anita Gideon. A memorial service will be held at Cook-Walden Funeral Home on Wednesday, December 21, 2005 at 3:30 pm.
Via Austin American-Statesman.

I met Doug in 1993 when I hired him to help “frost” a window in the bathroom of our new house so we could take showers in privacy. He found a cheaper, easier way to “fog” it with chemicals. Later he replaced a wood floor in our next house and, subsequently, the illegal cedar shingles of the roof, installing a skylight gratis as a gift for the birth of Mr. B. We’ll miss Doug.

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Posted in Mr. Boy, Obituaries, Texana

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At last: Agreeing with Dhimmi

Posted on July 27, 2011 | Comments Off on At last: Agreeing with Dhimmi

Unfortunately the champion of Palestinian murderers and world dictators generally has so little political credibility that his new coming out for an end to the drug war will have little influence. Pity that.

Although Dhimmi Carter (h/t Monkey In The Middle) is a great, alternative name for him.

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Posted in Israel, Obamalot, Scribbles, South of the Border, The War

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Kosher breadwinners

Posted on July 26, 2011 | Comments Off on Kosher breadwinners

“A king’s daughter must be meek.” And if I hide in my abode, people will say, “You are why he left yeshiva.”

If my calling is to teach, how will I make ends meet? All that I earn from work so bitter will go straight to the babysitter.

“Do not misunderstand my intent,” they say. “You must work to pay the rent, to care for money and payment, but heaven forbid enlightenment.”

Though if I abandon education and deviate from expectation, sullied and disparaged will I appear for choosing the worst of all — a career.

From “Elegy to a Working Haredi Woman,” by Leah Meizel.

Meizel is  “a mother of 17,” it says here. I hope that’s a misprint, but many of the Haredi—who have fascinated me since I visited Israel back in March-April—do have very large families.

Even the penguins (as some Israeli seculars call the males for their black suits, white shirts, and black fedoras), who used to be strictly on the dole, are going to work now.

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Posted in Israel, Scribbles

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