Lebanon

On Friday in Seatle a man attacked a Jewish Center.  He was provoked by the violence that is currently occuring in Lebanon.  I am amazed that anyone can find such conviction in such a crazy situation.  I, myself,  find it hard to sort out my feelings towards the war in Lebanon.  I understand Israel's need to protect itself and to show Hezbollah that it will not tolerate acts of war directed at Israel.  However I don't think Hezbollah represents the entire nation of Lebanon so seeing civilians being bombed because they are in the middle of things does not raise my sympathies towards Israel.  At the same time the murder of one innocent women and wounding of several others doesn't help me sympathize for Lebanon either.  What is wrong with a world where the only way to make a point about something is to blow something up or kill an innocent? 

This war began when Hezbollah forces engaged in a cross border raid killing eight Israeli soldiers and kidnapping two.  The way I understand it is that fighting would not have escalated as far as it has had the two kidnapped soldiers been returned to Israel.  That is what kills me! 

There is a story in The Old Testament from the book of Judges.  Chapters 19-21 tell of this great civil war that took place between the tribes Israel.  It starts with an outrage being performed on one member of a tribe by members of another.  It is oversimplifying it to call it merely an outrage; a woman is gang-raped and dies, her husband seeks justice from the leaders of his people.  The people of  Israel gather together to correct the injustice.  The tribe responsible for the crime will not accept responsibility nor bring forth the guilty parties.  This leads to a civil war within the tribes of Israel. The death toll, in my calculations, is about 60,000 by the end of the three day war.  Why does this biblical story remind me of what is going on now?  An incident which in my Bible takes half a page to narrate leads to a war that takes the remaining four pages of the Book of Judges.  Is it possible that world events can be simply explained as a big game of "Quien es mas macho?"  I keep thinking that someone will accuse me of downplaying the catalysts.  But when we look at the results, shouldn't we say, "Wait a minute, this is getting out of hand."

Long Beach Aquarium

We drove out to Long Beach to see the Aquarium.  Downtown Long Beach is nice, real nice.  They keep it real clean.  The Aquarium is located in an area called The Pike and there are tons of things to see there.  There is a ferris wheel and a pontoon rental area.  Also tons of shops and restaurants.  Unfortunately the day was too hot to enjoy any of the outdoor activities but just walking around Pike center would have been nice had it not been.

The actual aquarium is pretty cool.  Lots of different species.  But too many of one in particular.  Homo-Sapiens.  It was too crowded to enjoy the many exhibits.  The Great White Shark exhibit was impossible to get close to.  It seems that once people got up close to the sharks they wouldn't leave.  Great whites are magnificent animals.  I wanted to be right up against the tank's glass to observe them but the people in the front rows would not budge from those spots.  Walking through the Aquarium was tedious.  Slow mobs moving one way, trying to avoid walking into someone's picture or not running into a wayward child were a few of the challenges posed.  If you have patience though it is a pretty fun place.  There are plenty of guides to help or answer questions like, "is an eel a fish?" (sorry Vince I forgot to ask)  Jellyfish tanks are mesmerizing.  Children surround tanks full of clown fish with moms looking on saying, "There's Nemo."  There was a tank with small phosphorescent fish and I thought "starter fish" but they have another name which I have already forgotten. 

I took a picture of myself in front of a model of a Blue Whale.  If that is an actual size model, WOW!  Seeing one of those in person would blow me away.  A month from now we will be in Hawaii.  Maybe I'll see one. 

Hope everyone is doing well this very hot summer.

Movie Review

Hello again.  The picture is my browser on Sony Pictures' site for the movie "Click".  Do you know how to take a snapshot of your computer screen?  Ask me and I will show you how to do it on a Windows machine.  It is a useful tool.

To get into someone else's air-conditioning we went to the movies yesterday and watched Click.  There is one thing that an Adam Sandler movie will always supply; a great soundtrack.  I like the fact that they used contemporary artists like Snow Patrol and Gwen Steffani (one of the songs i enjoy by her) but also squeezed in Foreigner and other late seventies and eighties bands. 

Adam Sandler comedies never surprise us in regards to plot lines.  We can call this one Capra -esque.  Still the movie was enjoyable.  Funny was funny and there was a tinge of sadness in some scenes.  I heard some sniffles in the audience.  The message strikes a chord in a world where unbridled ambition stands opposite family togetherness.  I loved the premise; a remote control that can control our personal universe.  It seems  our control of the television and computers frustrates our control of the real world.  Sometimes I find myself wanting to right click my cursor over situations and people whose properties I want to discover and I am not talking about just when I am in front of my computer. 

Also, I enjoyed seeing the actors playing Adam's parents in the movie.  Both actors I have enjoyed in the past.  Don't want to reveal their names here.  But they always warm my heart because they've been around so long and I equate them to some of my favorite characters.

Click did not dissapoint.

I have heard the complaint that this blog does not fit on the screen.  I too have noticed that.  There are a couple of fixes you can try.  On the bottom of the browser there is a horizo scroll bar.  You can center your position on the screen using that scroll bar.  Also,  you can place your cursor on the blue line at the right side of the browser.  It will turn to a line pointing right and left.  You can use this line to widen the browser.  Oh yeah, have you tried maximizing?