Israellycool

Israellycool.com has arrived!

I will leave this blog up until all the archives have been transferred over to the new location. In the meantime, please update your links.

A huge thanks to Gary for all of his help. He has also kindly insisted that I remain a part of the Gravett empire, despite the move to my own domain. I would be honored.

So what are you all waiting for? Come on over!

Israel has won its first medal of the Games - a bronze - courtesy of Arik Ze’evi in the judo.*

Mazal tov, Arik.

* which is one more medal than Iran.

Joseph Alexander Norland from Israpundit would like to remind readers about the Israel Referendum, and how we can all help. Click here for more details.

Question: What kind of bear is more Australian than a koala bear?

Answer: This type:

A black bear was found passed out at a campground in Washington state recently after guzzling down three dozen cans of a local beer, a campground worker said on Wednesday.

“We noticed a bear sleeping on the common lawn and wondered what was going on until we discovered that there were a lot of beer cans lying around,” said Lisa Broxson, a worker at the Baker Lake Resort, 80 miles (129 km) northeast of Seattle.

The hard-drinking bear, estimated to be about two years old, broke into campers’ coolers and, using his claws and teeth to open the cans, swilled down the suds.

It turns out the bear was a bit of a beer sophisticate. He tried a mass-market Busch beer, but switched to Rainier Beer, a local ale, and stuck with it for his drinking binge.

Wildlife agents chased the bear away, but it returned the next day, said Broxson.

They set a trap using as bait some doughnuts, honey and two cans of Rainier Beer. It worked, and the bear was captured for relocation.

Guess who’s back?

(Reuters)

It even looks like he is bugging the same soldier, who seems to be patiently telling him to shut up.

My advice to the tool would be to listen to the soldier and not intrude on military operations, unless he likes the thought of having the gun lodged where the sun don’t shine.

Update: What do you make of this “peace” tool?

(Reuters)

Dare I say that he looks like he would actually enjoy having a gun lodged where the sun don’t shine.

(Thanks to Blue Octavo Notebooks for the tip)

Jailed PLO Arab terrorist Marvin Marwan Barghouti is following in the tradition of PLO Arab leaders, by deceiving his own people and feigning bravery, to disguise his true, cowardly self.

Many cases of strike breaking have been reported on the fourth day of the Palestinian security prisoner hunger strike, including imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti and other strike leaders, who have been put together in separate cells.

The Prison Services released a film Wednesday filmed by a hidden camera that shows a man, apparently Barghouti, eating in his cell with the door and window covered by a cloth.

Marwan Barghouti, the highest ranking Palestinian in Israeli custody, is serving five consecutive life terms after being convicted of involvement in fatal attacks.

Barghouti, the West Bank leader of Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement, was one of the organizers of the hunger strike.

The black and white film carries a date of Aug. 17 in the lower right corner. It shows a bare-chested man who looks exactly like Barghouti washing his hands and then eating.

Prison Services spokesman Ofer Lefler said Barghouti asked wardens for the food and ate without knowing that a camera was filming from a small hole in the wall. Israel wanted to show fasting prisoners how their leader was behaving, Lefler said.

“I want to show the world and the Palestinians that we are dealing with terrorists,” Lefler said. “Barghouti is sitting on a pot of meat and he sends his friends to die.”

But maybe I am being harsh. After all, even prophets made mistakes.

Update: Allah weighs in. Classic.

Israel’s involvement in the Olympics extends way beyond the participation of Israeli athletes.

As the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens began Friday, officials touted the $312 million security system installed to protect athletes, spectators and residents in the Greek host city. At least 20 Israeli companies as well as Israel’s police, army and naval forces, offered their border protection and software expertise, supplying infrared cameras, closed circuit TVs, patrol boats, software systems, even miles of black irrigation tubing, for the Olympic sites and streets in Athens.

Athens’ total security budget is more than $1.5 billion a record for the Olympics, and Israel is playing a large role. The entire system was set up by San Diego-based Science Applications International Corp., an American-led consortium that included companies such as Germany’s Siemens AG; General Dynamics of Falls Church, Virginia; New Jersey-based Honeywell International and more than a dozen Israeli companies, including Elbit Systems, Israel Shipyards, Motorola Israel and Check Point Software Technologies.

“The Israelis aren’t the first in security at the Olympics, but they’re clearly in the top four,” an industry source told ISRAEL21c.

And not just in security. According to an Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute study carried out earlier this year, Israeli companies won tenders and carried out projects worth an aggregate $220 million for the Athens Olympics. Communications firms won tenders worth $30 million, coastal and port security companies will be earning some $120 million; infrastructure suppliers won tenders worth $30 million; environmental, transport and parking companies will earn around $30 million and security consultants won tenders worth $10 million.

If the Arab/Muslim states (and non-states) wanted to be consistent, you would think they would boycott the Games.

And in more Olympic news, here is a story that I just found, which fell through the cracks. Do you remember Sofia Sakorafa? She is the Greek javelin thrower who would rather be throwing molotov cocktails at Israeli soldiers. A while back, she gained PLO Arab citizenship in a quest to compete for the non-entity of Palestine. Well, guess what..

A Greek javelin thrower cannot compete with the Palestinian Olympic team because she did not meet the qualifying standard, Athleticsí world governing board said Tuesday.

Sofia Sakorafa, a 48-year-old former javelin champion, stirred controversy when she became a Palestinian citizen this year and applied at the last minute for a berth on the Olympic team.

IAAF general secretary Istvan Gyulai told The Associated Press that he informed the Palestinians that Sakorafaís recent throws were well below the minimum standards.

Of course, the PLO Arab response was predictable.

Palestinian officials and Sakorafa called a news conference in which they criticized Olympic officials, calling the decision a pretext and questioning the officialsí motives.

The only word missing here is Zionist before pretext. And how is this for a quote?

“The invocation of a procedural discrepancy is due either to ignorance or expediency.” Sakorafa said.

Talk about trying to sound intelligent.

But suckerupper Sakorafa has pledged to continue supporting the PLO Arabs.

Later, she said on private Mega television: “This was a symbolic gesture to show my support for the Palestinian people … I will continue to support them.”

I am not sure whether this means that Egged bus drivers should be on the lookout for a Greek woman wearing a large coat in the middle of Summer.

In examining the issue of blog crushes, David at Treppenwitz differentiates between the following two concepts:

Blog Envy ñ When a blogger views another blog with envy due to its high traffic, killer design, technical prowess, brilliant insights or some combination of thereof. At its worst, blog envy can sometimes result in poor blog-image, and even the inability to write (bloggerís block). At its best, it can inspire a writer to take his/her blog to the next level.

Blog Crush ñ When a reader begins to have frequent thoughts about what it would be like to meet and befriend one or more of his/her favorite bloggers/journalers. This can be accompanied by a growing loyalty to the bloggerís views, politics and even tastes. A fully developed blog crush can even result in an irrational desire to defend a blogger when a derogatory or rude comment is posted on their blog.

This has inspired me to explain a number of other blog-related concepts:

Blog Performance Anxiety - What a blogger experiences when the loading time of their blog is slow. Often occurs when the blogger uses copious amounts of third-party script on their page, the blog’s server is slow, or the blogger belongs to the Gravett Empire (j/k Gary). Blog performance anxiety is particularly acute when the blogger gets linked by an established blogger, but realizes that most visitors are not patient enough to wait for the page to load.

Premature Blogulation: When you finally have that scoop you were waiting for, and immediately blog about it, only to find out later that it was not true (usually after a reader emails the relevant Snopes link).

Blog Puberty - That period of a blog’s development when it experiences a major growth spurt in traffic, yet begins looking a bit awkward, due to the blogger tinkering around with the template after he/she realizes that they actually have readers.

Blog Nemesis - That other blogger with whom you have a real or imaginary intense rivalry. The blog nemesis is usually someone who began their blog around the same time as you began yours, has a similar amount of traffic as yours, writes about similar things as you do, and has not acknowledged your blog by linking to it.

Blog Standoff - A situation that occurs between you and another blogger, when you are both willing to link to each other’s blogs, but are waiting for the other party to initiate. Can drag on for years.

The following poll, located on the Athens 2004 section of an Australian sports site, is further proof that Aussies do not mess around when proffering their opinions.

BE HONEST

When you saw a Chinese girl had beaten Brooke Hanson and Leisel Jones in the 100 breaststroke did you think:

On the juice

Bad luck for our girls

Well done to our girls

At least it wasn’t an American

Heh.

Update Tue 3:45PM: Results so far:

On the juice 30 %

Bad luck for our girls 11 %

Well done to our girls 16 %

At least it wasn’t an American 43 %

Iran have explained why Iranian world judo champion Arash Miresmaeili avoided facing his Israeli opponent. You see, it was all part of their plan for world peace (via MEMRI news ticker).

THE IRANIAN GOVERNMENT SAID THAT JUDO OLYMPIAN ARASH MIR-ESMAILI REFUSED TO FACE HIS ISRAELI OPPONENT SO AS TO PROMOTE INTERNATIONAL PEACE. AN IRANIAN GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN SAID: ‘INTERNATIONAL PEACE WILL BE AVAILABLE WHEN OCCUPATION COMES TO AN ENDÖ IRAN DOES NOT RECOGNIZE ISRAEL OR ANY INDIVIDUAL CARRYING ISRAELI FLAG.’ (IRNA, TEHRAN, 8/16/04)

Meanwhile, Yudi Vaks, the Israeli opponent whom the Iranian refused to fight, has shown how Israelis are the biggest threat to world peace (hat tip: Allah).

At the rear of the Ano Liossia Olympic Hall yesterday, Yudi Vaks squatted down onto his heels and buried his big square head in his arms — imagine the fetal position gone vertical — and sobbed.

The 24-year-old judoka wept for Arash Miresmaeili, the young Iranian who didn’t fight him because Mr. Vaks is a Jew from the hated state of Israel, and the Islamic Republic of Iran does not let its athletes compete against Israelis. He would rather have had Mr. Miresmaeili beat the snot out of him, as indeed the reigning world champion in the half-light class likely would have done, than advance through the first round via a DNS — short for did not show.

“It’s not the way I wanted to win,” Mr. Vaks said. “Sport is more than two people fighting judo; it’s contesting. It’s really unfair for him. It’s a small world, judo. I admire him. He’s a great player.

“I’m sure, given the chance,” he said, voice breaking a little, “he would fight. It feels horrible, for him. I don’t have to imagine how I feel when I lose, but this is worse. They didn’t even let him fight.”

Update: Here is more on Iran’s tireless work for the cause of peace and stability in the world:

Iranian officials continued threatening Israel and the US Sunday, saying that they can now strike anywhere in Israel with their latest missile.

The threats are a response to Iranian fears that Israel or the US may try to destroy the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities. “The entire Zionist territory, including its nuclear facilities and atomic arsenal, are currently within range of Iran’s advanced missiles,” the ISNA students news agency quoted Yadollah Javani, head of the Revolutionary Guards political bureau, as saying.

One of the funniest features from my Mad magazine collection was The Shadow Knows. If I recall correctly, it was done by Sergio Aragones, and involved cartoons of people in different situations. In each picture, the people’s shadows were drawn to represent the people’s true colors or feelings. For instance, a man is drawn walking with his wife and looking straight ahead as they pass an attractive woman. His shadow is turning back and ogling the woman.

I say all of this by way of introduction to this AP photo of Yasser Afatrat: