Jun 4 2012

Red Sea dwelling Jellyfish in Eilat

Jellyfish I think are the weirdest of God’s creatures ever.

They aren’t fish, they some completely different genus from shellfish, their transparent gloop-like elasticy of their bodies make them completely unique.

There is no skeleton or rigid structural parts to their bodies, nor do they have any obvious things like eyes and mouth.   The four ‘gland’ type things I can see I wonder is their brain, breathing, reproductive and digestion components?

These ones are everywhere in Eilat, in the top of Red Sea, and they are purply colour.   This adult one is about ten inches across, like a typical sized dinner plate.

Apparently they do sting, but very mildly like a slightly unpleasant rash.    These ones are more like inverted flowers rather than the long decorative tentacle draped lampshade-like ones people think of has been exotic and deadly.

Anyone who knows me well, knows I can’t swim.   This is always and awkward subject, as people look in astonishment and tell me its “easy” and ‘I came 1st in XYZ swimming competitions… blah blah…..”    Geez thanks people.   Shall I go up to a disabled person and laugh and say “haha!! you can’t walk!!”

I had a fear of drowning as a child, combined with the evil swimming teacher woman from hell circa 1985 when I was about 9, in addition to not seeing now how my average 5’10” frame can propel in the surface of the sea without me getting into a panic of inhaling water.   Yes – I have tried.  But prefer to admire the sea no deeper than my knees which suits me fine.

Before I got to see the incredible exotic fish here which rival the sort you would expect from being in the Caribbean or a Pacific Island, I didn’t get to visit the Marine aquarium this time, but the Jellyfish and serene stripey and mauve fish that are a complete world away from fish you see in Southern England are a real treat to see.

Jun 3 2012

Cowboy bus driver in the desert

This was our driver who took us from Jerusalem to Eilat, a fairly punishing 311Km trip all the way down the Negev desert to the very south point of the country.   And I do mean a ‘point’ as that’s exactly the bottom shame of Israel’s Red Sea city tightly between Egypt and Jordan.

There is something a little unconventional about this driver’s uniform.

Stopping at a petrol station for a bathroom stop, (4 and 3/4 hours, no toilet on the bus)  made me think we were in the Nevada desert rather in the holy land.

Actually judging by his accent, this gent was a regular Sabra Israeli, ie: not an immigrant from anywhere else.  I think he likes his job as a cowboy driver across the desert.

To be honest, as we alotted seating, I was on the very back seat in the middle which is not so good for seeing scenery, it was full so there was no chance of moving later.

Actually this man reminds me of another driver, this time of a well known black GMC van.

Mr T became a Christian back before the A-Team, there is a good article here.

Athough not in the newest A-Team movie, he hasn’t aged that much, and as he is a leadership position in his current church, I think it would be good if he could lead Christian groups to Israel and hire the above chap as the tour bus driver!

I can just picture this; “I pity the fool, who follows BDS!!”  if you want to obey God, you need to pray and support Israel Sucka!!!

May 26 2012

Flight purchase blues

Ordering flights online isnt usually too bad of an experience, just this week its be fraught with gremlins 😦

I am trying to get some plane tickets to go home and see family, lately I have been disappointed at airline web sites.  I avoided using Easyjet this time make a quick journey back to my house rather than go to Luton, I am using them to go back as I need to visit Wales on the way back to Israel.

First is Jetairway an airline I am not familiar with but wrote about their new route between Liege, Belgium and Tel Aviv, I bought my ticket, then Google Chrome came up with an odd error message towards at the end of the purchase that some parts of the web site are missing and asked if I want to display the non-secure parts.   I clicked yes.   It then took me back to the first stage all over again!!    Thinking I had not had my payment go through, I did it all over again and then realised I had bought two tickets.   I regret not hitting ‘printscreen’ and getting a shot of this error now to prove this issue.

My fears were confirmed by this message I had a short while later,

Later I called up and was told nothing could be done by phone and I would need to email back, responding back to this specifically, which I thought was an automated generic response.

I got this message.

Ok, I got my funds back, but “contrary to your claim”???? the tone of the email lacks any kind of empathy or customer service and forces me that its my fault and not a technical issue with the site 😦     It doesn’t make me think about using this airline again afraid.    Wouldn’t of hurt to have a spell checker as well!!

As they have my name and title, its normally common courtesy to refer to me to as “Dear Mr Hayward” I think, and give the name of the person dealing with the complaint, you know, those usual business type traditions that show respect.

I looked at another airline Flybe to get the 2nd leg of my journey, to go from Brussels to Southampton.   I wasnt sure if this combination was possible.   Rather than a simple message why, when clicking on this link….

I was choosing different options between using Eurostar between Belgium and the UK, or flying.

So when ordering a ticket to go from Brussels to Southampton, I got this this rather oversized blue screen which means I have to scroll down to see Belgian airports that is inconsistent and vague to the user’s simple request to find out if he can go that combination of cities to fly is possible.

So why is it asking me to go flippin’ Dubrovnik?? (which is in Croatia)

Its most annoying that airlines don’t provide a simple method of seeing which combination of cities are possible, and this blue window has the bottom cut off, as the web seems poorly thought out.

Eastern Airlines could take me from Brussels to Southampton but at nearly £200.  Hmm.

I looked at one of the ‘best price’ type sites called ‘cheap flights’, with some odd results:

In other words, you have to use a German site, even I am using this on a computer in my flat in Israel!!    I guess the web site made a guess at my IP address and tried to give a page better for my location but got it totally wrong!

So next trying Eurostar….

Heres the ticket I wanted…..

Payment declined, oh man…

I called my bank who told me theres nothing wrong with the payment method, I called Eurostar to be told I could buy the leg of the trip that goes from Brussels to London, but not the bit for going home, I got on the phone to Eurostar’s customer support, with a nice friendly chap called Peter said it was simple to get Brussels to London bit booked.   I was told ring someone called ‘Bob’ who could give me an explanation for the rest of of the journey, which was largely unknown why this part wasn’t possible to order online or on the phone (engineering works or something maybe)

Later I got this email….

This below also seems like a poor job of doing the emails out to customers as it seems some part of the formatting or any logos and branding are all messed up.  Might be Gmail sometimes screws this up a bit, something that ought to be tested given how popular Gmail is.

Should say “we¿re sorry for these grammatical problems as well!”

I don’t want to put people off booking journeys online as it still is the best form of commerce the internet does best at, but I hope these odd problems could get notice but the airline and railway PR people maybe.

Does anyone want to hire me to test usability on your airline’s retail system from a customer perspective?   Whether you offer a free flight or a financial payment, I could do with something like this to help me with the big costs associated with travelling for the volunteer work I do.   Feel free to contact me on jp.hayward A T gmail.com


May 18 2012

Bible translated into Inuit language

Exciting article about a new translation of the bible into a Inuit language, only took 34 years!

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/bible-translated-into-inuit-language-after-34-year-canadian-project-1.431288

This bit made chuckle:- “Another example is the translation of shepherd, which appears in the Bible often. In Inuktitut a shepherd tends to children of dogs, not goats and sheep, which aren’t found in Nunavut.”

Not sure why, but the arctic has something of a fascination for me, and seeing the gospel reach the very extremes of the world is exciting stuff.

May 9 2012

Olympics and Palestinians

Various news sites I sometimes read came up with this:

Apparently the Olympics web site admitted an ‘error’ on their web site, and changed it later.  They also ought to realise that official languages in Israel are Hebrew, Arabic, English and Russian too.

Also Israel is considered part of ‘Europe’ here: http://www.london2012.com/countries/area=europe/ the rest of the Middle East is under Asia: http://www.london2012.com/countries/area=asia/

Looking at the official web site via the search engine, there is no mention of the 40 years anniversary of the tragedy that killed 11 Israelis in 1972 Olympics in Munich.   There really ought to be a special moment to remember that sometime in the schedule this year.

I wasn’t aware that the Palestinians have a representation this year even though they are not a sovereign nation as of yet, I don’t even know that they have a national anthem if they were to get a medal, after quickly checking out Wikipedia there is one disturbingly, the lyrics shown translated into English have some worrying theme, read this Wiki article on it here.  Here is another article from Arabic Wikipedia also in case perhaps I am being unfair.

Is there any calls from any moderate Arabic speaking country to challenge them into having a song with less violent sounding words I wonder? Rather than a  “volcano of my vendetta” or “And my intention a bullet and a volcano retaliation” or whatever it is.

The Olympics shouldn’t be a political event.  But it should recognise people lost from terrorism in 1972, just as it should kick out cheats and dopers, and so far the authority are making a very poor effort.

Interesting related article:- Nazi Germany involved with the 1936 games in Berlin

Apr 28 2012

Holocaust remembrance day

At work, we were asked to stop for a few minutes when the siren goes off to remember the six million who perished in the holocaust, so me and some colleagues walked about 200 yards into the centre of town.

Just 10 minutes from my office is Zion Square, a junction between Ben Yehuda Street and Jaffa Street, which more recently is now completely car free, just an electric rail system passes through.

People just stop what they are doing, when the siren goes off.

In other parts of the country, people stopped their cars in the middle of the highway and stood on the road with doors open.

The noise is a chilling drone, probably coming from two directions, aimed mainly at alerting the public if a threat of war necessitates people needing to get into a bunker.   Its an awful noise, but serves as a reminder of the worse tragedy in history.

 

 

 

Apr 26 2012

Jaffa/Tel Aviv – 4. Independence day and a concrete stable

Whats this building?

Looks like something dull like a tax office or something, but actually this unassuming building in Tel Aviv is where Israel was declared a nation 64 years ago today!   I was here in February when it was cold and windy though.

 

Apart from closely looking at these plaques on the walls, you probably wouldn’t know.

The bible gives a prophecy about plans for the founding of the 1948 modern day state of Israel, about ~1,878 years after the Jewish people were spread to all corners of the world.

Isaiah 66: 8 Who has ever heard of such things? Who has ever seen things like this?
Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment?
Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children.
9 Do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?” says the LORD.
“Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery?” says your God.
10 “Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her;
rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourn over her.

Its odd than this concrete looking place with tiny windows was a meeting place for the government of a fledgling nation, but then again our Lord Jesus was born in stable,  so from utilitarian places, great things can be developed.  I didn’t see what this building’s current purpose is now or if you can visit.

1. Jaffa/Tel Aviv – coastal city of oranges

2. Jaffa/Tel Aviv – Graffiti and wall art

3. Jaffa/Tel Aviv – Whales and hovering trees

4. Jaffa/Tel Aviv – Independence day and a concrete stable

5. Jaffa/Tel Aviv – Yitzhak Rabin

 

Apr 24 2012

3. Jaffa – Whales and hovering trees

One characteristic of the narrow streets in old Jaffa you don’t have in Jerusalem is these pretty blue plaques on the walls here.

They are quite different from the ceramic tiles often sold by the Armenian Christians who live in Jerusalem Old city quarter.

Is Jaffa mentioned in the bible?  Actually I tried to search and couldn’t find any reference to Jaffa or Yafo at all.

Actually, later I found it is, but it was called Joppa.

This statue of a Whale is a tribute to the biblical story of Jonah who got eaten by a big fish which is thought to be here on the Mediterranean.  It seems the ship was heading to Tarsius, where Paul was from in Asia Minor, what we now call modern day Turkey.

Later after having dinner at an Arab restaurant with my friend, I bid him goodbye and made my way back to my hostel.  I had some troubling things that caught up with me, and the dark and narrow passageways with few people around seemed like a good place to pray – oddly, from a distance I saw this strange looking tree that appeared to be hovering above the ground

Looking closer its a piece of art with the container the tree sits in being held in place by some steel wires adjusted very tightly so it doesn’t move at all.   I saw this strange sight as an answer to prayer that the Lord can make things happen through hard to fathom methods.  I can’t imagine to feel what it would be like to be swallowed by a big fish, heck, I can’t even swim.   I think like Jonah we can be tested especially we go against God’s specific orders.   I have seen how fierce the Mediterranean gets from being at Tel Aviv and Akko before.

In fact, this very week, I have just read more about the Talpiyot tomb near my house, a well decorated grave thought to be from the time of the bible could bear the name of Jonah: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/04/20/ancient-bone-box-called-oldest-christian-artifact/

1. Jaffa – coastal city of oranges

2. Jaffa – Tel Aviv & Jaffa graffiti and wall art

3. Jaffa – Whales and hovering trees

Apr 23 2012

Easter at the Garden Tomb 2012

This is me and my friend Jimmy, hes an older gent in his 70s from Florida who works in the Bridges for Peace food bank.

We got up very early to get to an Easter service at the Garden Tomb, there must be 1,000-1,500 people there, and the worship band was made of people mostly from my church but a few others as well.

Getting their early meant we got a seat close to the front, hence doesn’t look that packed….

Its a real privilege to be spending this special day in a place most likely to be thought where the world’s shortest required grave ever.

Not seen this before, but Jimmy pointed out to me a kiosk with an Arab gent that does very nice Arabic coffee for a bargain price of 5 Shekels (85p – half what you pay in usual places in town)   So this was a nice way to get prepared for the rest of the day as I ride 4 miles back across town to my flat.

The folks coming out of the alley way where the garden is didn’t seem to notice this place, I think he deserves more business.   I think he mostly sells coffee, orange juice and cigarettes to people getting on the Arab buses which are heading to Ramallah, Nabulus or the other Palestinian cities.

I wrote on easter here in Jerusalem when I went last year also.



Apr 22 2012

Using Google Streetmap view in your blog, possible security concerns to be aware of

As Google recently release Streetmap view in Israel and Ukraine recently, I’m betting that lots of bloggers interested in the middle east will want to make use of this in their writings.

I wrote a few days ago, with some screen shots of my browser, I have noticed a few things that you might want to be aware of:

Firstly, if you make screen shots of your computer’s browser, be sure to obliterate any occurrences of your name or email address you see, this is quite important when using Google’s services which are all tied to a Gmail address.

Where I have written an “X” – don’t use this URL as a link to your site at the top of your browser, it won’t work, it will just take a click directly to the regular maps.google.com address.

Instead click on the little chain icon here as shown by arrow, this will give you a usable URL your visitors can click on to get to a certain angle of street you want to look at.

Now this bit is important:

If lets says, you enter your home or workplace address, then jump to a different place, the URL you plan to make public will show the original place I did a search for.   Zoom on this pic and look at the underlined bits I have highlighted in orange.

Hence, be careful!  you might give private details of where you live or work to the whole world!

Instead, clear any search inquiry, and just zoom straight in on the place you want to take a shot off, copy and paste the URL you plan to make public on your blog or social media, and look carefully at the (very long) URL to make sure there is nothing personal that indicate a previous search you did.

Here is an example of this done without care:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=downing+street,+london,+uk&hl=en&ll=51.506967,-0.124023&spn=0.007519,0.01929&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=39.099308,79.013672&hq=downing+street,&hnear=London,+United+Kingdom&t=m&z=16&layer=c&cbll=51.506967,-0.124023&panoid=cgfjh0ts_Mc38hIdERRcoQ&cbp=12,329.67,,0,2.6

This web address actually is close to Embankment in London, but I actually changed the location of the place I was searching from 10 Downing Street to another location, but the search terms are still embedded in the URL.

I tend to paste this into a different web browser, in this case Internet Explorer 9 which I don’t use very often, clearly shows where I searched for.

So there you have it, just be careful if you want to show Streetmap view snapshots of places, and have fun!