Ha’aretz reports some movements on Sharon’s right side (arm and leg). It is at this point that I can no longer resist.

One of my contacts at Hadassah hospital forwarded me these reports on the tests:

2:11 p.m.: PM’s ankle unresponsive

2:13 p.m.: PM’s right leg moved.

2:14 p.m.: PM’s thighs really ugly, can you say, “Cellulite surgery”?

2:15 p.m.: Left-side technician glaring at me. Yossi can’t start testing until I’m finished. Think I’ll take a very long time to finish my work. Serves him right for voting for Mitzna.

2:16 p.m.: Stuck PM’s pinky finger, middle finger jerked out. Must have been a reflexive reaction.

2:18 p.m.: PM’s right arm responding normally, but middle finger still pointing towards me. Must confer with doctors when I finish the test.

2:19 p.m.: Finished last reaction test. PM poked me in the eye while I was examining his hand. Could have sworn I heard laugh. Yossi says I imagined it. His turn now. Will watch and wait.

2:24 p.m.: PM’s left hand now has middle finger extended. This is the most curious reaction I’ve seen in all my months as a resident. Must do more research on this: Go home and watch ER DVDs.

2:30 p.m.: Yossi is working his way down the PM’s left side. Told him he wasn’t following proper procedure, got major glare. This can only end in one way, and it won’t be good.

2:40 p.m.: Yossi leaning over PM’s leg the wrong way while testing for reaction. There was definitely a reaction. Yossi only took five minutes to recover from the kick. I think I saw tears. Asked him if he wanted me to finish test. Yossi limped and picked up his clipboard, then glared at me. Not my fault he wasn’t smart enough to position himself away from the kick. Or wear a protective cup.

2:45 p.m.: Testing is finished. PM is smiling. Wasn’t smiling when we started. Eyes still closed. Middle finger of left hand still extended, but right hand relaxed. Well, time to watch tapes of Grey’s Anatomy. Why so few Jewish doctors on that show, anyway?

Yet another reason why the wrong people in the Middle East are being demonized.

Problem: Bomb-sniffing dogs are unwelcome in Muslim societies because dogs are considered “offensive.”

Solution: Train bomb-sniffing goats.

“When I served as a dog trainer in the army, there was a problem of getting dogs into certain vehicles due to the presence of Islamic holy books in the car. The placing of dogs in homes also provoked fury and anger among people who were not involved in terrorism and were merely screened. Compared to that, a goat is a very friendly animal and it is accepted in the Muslim world,” Zin said.

His breakthrough came with a young goat he was raising, Lalosha, who is able to sniff out explosives.

The minute she identifies explosive material, she sits down, giving a signal to a soldier next to her that the individual in question must be carefully checked.

Haveil Havalim (the Carnival of the Jews) is at Israel Perspective this week. I feel like I should give them three links, because they gave me three. Instead, I think I shall simply blogroll them. (This is a really easy way to get my blogroll updated–every new-to-me Jewish blogger who hosts HH gets on my list.)

Soccer Dad has a post about the future of Kadima.

The Carnival of the Cats is at Pages Turned. (Cool blog name!)

You know, I can read Lair Simon’s main site from work, but not the Dead Pool site. Go figure. Anyway. This post has given me evil ideas.

I think I have found the ultimate tribute to Ariel Sharon. This one carries a spit-monitor warning. And Snoopy Fisks Robert Fisk, which is always an amusing act. And now I’m sad–WTOP is going to change ownership? There go my traffic reports while traveling past DC. Damn.

Oh, look. Dov Bear indexed his site. The hard way. WP indexes my site the easy way. Nyah, nyah. Oops, sorry. Anyway, go ahead and see if something catches your fancy. He and I do not agree on many things, but boy, is there a lot to read on that site. Especially the comments on the religious posts.

I have not mentioned Rachel Sawyer of Tinkerty Tonk (I love that name) lately. Her site is a delight to read at any time, but it seems even better when I forget to go there for a few weeks. It’s like discovering a new site all over again.

The Wandering Jew is another blog I haven’t sent you to in weeks. Go and look, for it is beautiful.

Feel free to post links to other weblogs or posts that you liked recently.

The Jewish and Israeli blogger awards winnowing process begins today. Preliminary voting is going to narrow down the fields. I’m in three categories: Best Post, Best Israel Advocacy, and Best Personal Blog. If I had my druthers, it’d be Post and Advocacy–I don’t feel that I post enough personal information for this blog to be a personal weblog.

Make that Best Overall Blog, a category I am definitely interested in winning. (Thanks, Snoopy.)

I don’t think I’m going to pull out a win this year, though. The big-traffic blogs are in the Advocacy category. There are a couple I don’t think belong there who will make it impossible for the low-profile Jewish and Israeli blogs to win, but that’s a story for another time. Except that I don’t believe those blogs should be in the category, as I don’t believe that Israel advocacy is their theme–only their sometime-recurring topic.

Which is not to say that I still don’t want to try to win. I was greatly surprised to hear my rabbi mention my blog and the JIB awards during announcements on Friday. It reminded me that yeah, I do have an ego. I want to win.

Ariel Sharon is breathing on his own at the moment, one of the first steps in the awakening process.

Senior physicians treating Ariel Sharon at Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem, said Monday that the prime minister had begun breathing on his own after his sedation was reduced but that his condition remains critical and he was still hooked up to a respirator.

The level of sedation is to be reduced gradually to gauge Sharon’s responsiveness and the extent to which the 77-year-old leader’s faculties have been impaired. The process could take hours or even days.

“The prime minister started immediately to breathe on his own but he’s still hooked up to a respirator,” Hadassah Hospital director Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef said Monday morning.

Physicians were likely to gradually reduce the activity of the respirator, to gauge the extent that the prime minister was capable of maintaining his respiration rate independently, one specialist said.

I stress that I am not a doctor, but it must be a good thing that he immediately began breathing on his own.