I’ve been lax in posting the kitten pictures; I know. I’ve been busy with work and also still pretty shell-shocked over losing eight months of digital photos when I dropped my WD portable hard drive and broke it. I have since (thanks, Randy) found an affordable data recovery place that partners with Western Digital. I spoke to a representative yesterday and was satisfied it isn’t some fly-by-night outfit. And I checked with the data recovery guru at my place of employment; he says since it’s hardware, he really can’t help much and I should go with the clean room recovery. I’m thinking my tax rebate is going to go for this.

Tig3 has been effectively driving me out of my office for much of the day. I simply can’t work and be a cat toy at the same time. Thankfully, I never really got rid of any of the work files from my personal laptop, so I can work upstairs or down.

He’s very lively, my Tig3.0. He’s ten weeks old today, and weighed in yesterday at 2.4 pounds—a gain of half a pound in a week. Tigger the second was losing that much during the last days of his illness. It’s so nice to have the reverse. Tig3 is also in complete crazy kitten mode. He has a little cry he makes only when he plays that sounds almost like a scream. It makes me laugh every time he utters it. When he gets going, he leaps and hops and simply sails through the air. He jumps at his reflection in the window. He jumps at the wall. He jumps at me. He really likes it when I sit cross-legged on the floor and make his elastic string toy move. He chases it, leaps, grabs it, bites, kicks, and utterly defeats it. Then, flush with victory, he turns on me. We have had words, Tig3 and I, about jumping on Mama’s back and attacking her hair. The words are generally, “Tigger! NO!” followed by my grabbing him and shoving him across the floor a foot or two. Hey, it’s gentler than what his real mother would do. She’d smack him a good one and follow that up with a bite. I think I shall not be biting my kitten, though.

Sometimes I go catfishing. That’s when I choose the rope or the string toy, dangle it, and wait for the cat to bite. He’s light enough that I can generally pull him along the floor once he’s gotten his claws or teeth sunk firmly in the toy. Then he goes for my hand. I suppose I shouldn’t be wrestling him with my hand, but y’know, he hasn’t got any brothers or sisters around, and Gracie isn’t going to play with him, so that leaves me. He rarely scratches me, but his teeth are getting sharper and his bite is getting harder. I’m working on that, but he’s only ten weeks old. A few days ago, he was sitting calmly on my shoulder while I worked, and I thought, gee, this is fine. He’ll be a shoulder cat. Then he did what kittens do. He jumped on top of my head and attacked my hair. We had words over that one, too. Very loud ones.

I will not be letting him sit on my shoulder like that again.

He has a nickname already. He got it fairly early on. It’s “Wild Thing.” I definitely want that song by the Trogs. I intend to make kitten movies of Tig3 going wild, and the soundtrack just begs for that song. It isn’t that he’s doing anything no kitten has done before. It’s just that I haven’t seen a kitten do the kitten crazy in about eleven years. I got Tig and Gracie in June of ‘97, and Gracie was a little wuss even then.

She’s been visiting the kitten and swearing at him through the door. It’s going to be interesting when I finally let him out. That may not be for a while. And definitely not while I’m away at Company in Northern VA. I’ll be keeping his things in the office for a while, I think. I may keep him in this room for a solid month, depending on how whiny he gets about being stuck here at night. Or he may be out of the room by tomorrow. I can’t tell.

In the meantime, he’s finally calmed down enough that I may get out of the room and downstairs to watch my recording of Battlestar Galactica. He’s currently watching me from the shelf beneath the desk. No, now he’s in my lap. And here come the purrs. It’s his favorite thing: Chewing on me while sitting in my lap, or in my arms. That’s why I now wear long sleeve and thick jeans before coming into this room.

And it’s all worth it. The ache of losing Tig the Second is lessening.

In recent days, there have been some really awesome, NASA pictures of the day.

A Place in the Universe

This montage of planetary images was taken by spacecraft managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Included are (from top to bottom) images of Mercury, Venus, Earth (and moon), Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The spacecraft responsible for these images are as follows:

1. The Mercury image was taken by Mariner 10,
2. The Venus image by Magellan,
3. T the Earth image by Galileo,
4. The Mars image by Viking, and
5. The Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune were taken images by Voyager.

Pluto is not shown as no spacecraft has yet visited it.

The inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, moon and Mars) are roughly to scale to each other; the outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) are roughly to scale to each other.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL

In Ultraviolet Light

One of a series, this image of Saturn was taken when the planet’s rings were at their maximum tilt of 27 degrees toward Earth. Saturn experiences seasonal tilts away from and toward the sun, much the same way Earth does. This happens over the course of its 29.5-year orbit. Every 30 years, Earth observers can catch their best glimpse of Saturn’s South Pole and the southern side of the planet’s rings. Between March and April 2003, researchers took full advantage to study the gas giant at maximum tilt, using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to capture detailed images of Saturn’s Southern Hemisphere and the southern face of its rings.

Image Credit: NASA and E. Karkoschka (University of Arizona)

Additionally NASA recently featured a really nice photo essay: Cities at night: the view from Space that started off with the following shot and had several other views of the Earth from space.

Really amazing stuff.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Uzi Arad, a former director of intelligence for the Mossad, has an op-ed in Ynet today that states exactly what I’ve been saying for decades: When Jews say “Never again,” we don’t mean that never again will the world commit genocide, or that we won’t let it happen. That’s a given. We have no control over the world, nor over mankind’s basest instincts (which is why there is Darfur and was Cambodia and will be somewhere else in another few years). But we do have control over what happens to Jews.

“Never again” means never again will we go down without a fight. “Never again” means never again will the world be able to nearly exterminate the Jewish population of nation after nation, indiscriminately, without any real punishment. “Never again” means never again will Jews rely on the kindness of others to save us from the genocidal maniacs that roam the earth.

It is clear that the threats hurled at us frequently by Iran’s leaders and their emissaries (Hamas, Hizbullah, etc.) are no less than a call – or pledge – for genocide. Some of them deny the Holocaust, yet at the same time justify their war against us by claiming that Israel was forced upon the region by those who perpetrated the Holocaust – and this entire twisted argument is meant to pave the way for the holocaust that would befall Israel.

The world hears the voices and sees the deeds, yet aside from a few (but important) friends it watches idly and adopts a complacent attitude. In fact, predictions regarding Israel’s possible demise are becoming increasingly fashionable among some elements worldwide: Within governments, at university campuses, and in intellectual magazines. Apocalyptic terms have gained a foothold even in Israel.

[...] However, on Holocaust Memorial Day, we are permitted to – and in fact, obligated to – make it clear to others that there will be no situation whereby the State of Israel will be harmed without those who perpetrate this, including their collaborators, paying the full price for it. The decree “Never Again” does not only mean that no longer will we be defenseless, but also that those who harm us will not be spared.

Peres and Ben-Eliezer made it clear - and they were telling the truth. Recognizing this would ensure the realization of the “Never Again” decree’s original meaning – there will no longer be anyone who will dare rise against us.

Shimon Peres is not known as a hawk, and yet, he told the world that attempts to destroy Israel are a two-way street that would result in the destruction of the aggressor. God forbid that it should be so, because I don’t want to see a nuclear device go off in Israel. But seventy years after the onset of the Holocaust, it’s only right that Israel should be pointing out that Jews today are a lot better armed than we were in 1938. Harm us at your peril, this time.

The IDF has released video proving that the blast that killed a Palestinian woman and her four children was due to a terrorist wearing explosives and hiding in civilian areas.

The cell members were spotted moving 400 meters (1,312 feet) away from the forces. At 8:13 am, an aircraft fired at two of the cell members, killing one of the terrorists wounding the other. The army continued to follow the injured terrorist, and about a minute later the aircraft fired another missile at him, identifying an accurate hit.

Footage released by the IDF on Friday shows that civilians standing several meters away from the terrorist were not hurt, as the missile used to target him was accurate. The location selected by the IDF to target the second terrorist is close to a grape orchard, where not every civilian can be seen, and about 3 meters (9.8 feet) away from the gate of the Palestinian family’s home.

Let me note here that the Palestinian spokesliars claimed that the terroris was “400 meters” away from the house.

Seven minutes after the second missile was fired, reports were received about civilians being hit, and several hours later it was reported that the family members were killed. According to estimates, weapons carried by the terrorist caused the heavy damage. The house’s gate is believed to have flown at the family members, who were at the time outside the house, inside the grape orchard.

A number of sub-blasts took place following the first explosion, as a result of the weapons carried by the terrorists, which were not directly caused by the missile explosion. As part of the inquiry, the IDF examined previous incident in which similar missiles were fired.

Utterly safe predictions: The AP will not lead with this. Reuters will not lead with this. CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, the BBC, AFP, and all other major media outlets will not lead with this vindication of the IDF. The fact that the terrorists are the cause of the deaths of the family will not matter. Israel’s detractors will once again claim that Israel shouldn’t be fighting terrorists so close to civilian areas, rather than pointing out that hiding among civilians is a war crime.

But that’s no surprise. The Quartet came out with a statement today that says Israel needs to stop expanding settlements, because that’s the real barrier to peace. Not terrorists with explosives trying to murder Israelis, and using civilians as cover. Not rockets being fired nearly every day from Gaza, but Israel’s response to that rocket fire.

There are some days when I feel more positive than others, but on most days, I know in every fiber of my being: The world does not like the Jews. Therefore, no matter what we do, we will always be in the wrong.

Yeah, well eff you, world. That’s one of the reasons I manage to keep on writing these posts every day. Because I know it isn’t we who are wrong.

How do the Palestinians commemorate Naqba?With a play, of course.

LGF in And now the Nakba dwarf describes the scene.

… a malignant dwarf with an automatic rifle, dressed as a stereotype Jew.

Snapped Shot (and a h/t for alerting me to this) in Naqba Coming Soon: Those Dastardly Zionists

Seriously, I’m not sure what I find funnier about this picture—The fact that they use midgets to represent the IDF, or the fact that there is almost nobody watching (at least, judging by the background).

Israelly Cool’s take:

Apparently, the palestinians believe that in 1948, they were attacked by Zionist mafia dwarfs.

Of course though we may laugh at the absurdity of the scene, what’s being promulgated here is a real life caricature of the short, hook nosed Jew that is so common in Palestinian cartoons. And of course such stereotyping isn’t unique to the Palesitnians; it has long been the caricature of Jews by those who hate them.

I recently saw an essay equating Naqba-denial with Holocaust denial. What the writer failed to grasp is that much of what fuels Naqba commemorations is the same hatred that, unchecked, fueled the Holocaust.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

With the same inevitability as the increase in terrorist attacks and rocket scientists’ activity toward Jewish and Israeli holidays, the so called Jewish anti-Zionists get restless during the period. The phenomenon usually manifests in a joint letter, published in a sympathetic newspaper. And in UK you can hardly get a more sympathetic one than The Guardian, of course.

This time the wretches couldn’t even wait for the Holocaust Remembrance day to be over.

In May, Jewish organisations will be celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel. This is understandable in the context of centuries of persecution culminating in the Holocaust. Nevertheless, we are Jews who will not be celebrating.

And then the usual tripe, half-truths, distortions, etc. And the usual list of signatures with painfully familiar names. The democratic nature of the list is touching - professors, writers, thieves, rabbis, you name it.

There is one thing I would like to understand better: why should a person declare with such pomposity and publicity that he/she doesn’t celebrate this or another holiday? I mean, if I decide not to celebrate, for example, St. Patrick’s day (rest assured I shall not do so, it’s just for illustration) - should I get a space in a Turkish (to use another example) newspaper to announce this decision to the world?

There is another issue unclear to me: who asked these people to celebrate? As far as I know, Olmert is too busy these days, what with all these investigations and stuff, and his ministers are too busy watching him - not to miss the moment he stumbles or blinks first.

And the last, but not the least: who cares? As far as I, and the other 99.9% of Israeli citizens are concerned, this whole list could collectively kiss our collective rosy posterior.

And it is only of respect to the place where this post will appear that I refrain from posting a certain picture I have in mind.

Cross-posted on SimplyJews.