Apr 6 2010

Easter weekend & Pesach

Spent Easter sunday and monday wandering around the old city.   On sunday there was an early morning worship service at the Garden Tomb. Some of my friends went to this, but it was 6am and I slept in, so I got there later in the afternoon only to find it shut (it doesn’t normally open sundays)  After the early morning service there done by my church (King of Kings Jerusalem)   there was several other services in French, Spanish, Swedish and Arabic by some other Christian organisations.  I then went to a conventional service at my church in their regular building.

Not to worry, I got to visit the tomb today (Easter Monday)  as its the last day of the Jewish holiday of Pesach as well.  Its really easy to forget as gentiles, but Jews wont eat anything with yeast in on this time, so going to the bakery near my work place was shut for the weekend, as any conventional form of bread, cake or pastries are not available.  At this time Jews eat Matzvah which looks like an oversized cracker bread instead.  So stick some hummus or jam on it, and its pretty good.

The tomb was quite busy today of course, with Christian visitors from all over there, the garden looked very pretty too.

Apr 4 2010

Easter is truly about the greatest story ever told

Is the story of Jesus relevant today to those who are not Christian?   I have been thinking about some well loved movies and these recent stories has some startlingly similar elements to them.

The Matrix

Thomas Anderson aka ‘Neo’ is picked by his new employers to save the world, aside from as a software developer he does not really have the means to be a slick, fast thinking and smart super agent.  However his mentor Morpheus soon get him trained up and running.  Here just like Jesus was tempted in the desert, Neo is searched at his work place and consequently arrested and offered to have criminal accusations dropped in return to cooperate with the demands of Smith and his secret police.

Rather than walking on water, Morpheus teaches Neo that he can do miracles if he just trusts he can do it, ie: leap off of buildings and jump huge heights to another location, and cheat death by bouncing off the road, or dodge bullets.

Of course here, one of the members of the team, Cypher is really a defector working for Agent Smith.  Judas in the bible had the responsibility of looking after finances, here Cypher has the responsibility of being the main IT systems administrator and to oversee possible security threats to his employer, in both circumstances these roles are abused.  Instead of pieces of silver, Cypher sits in a software-virtualised high class restaurant and is told he can have ‘anything you want!’ by Agent Smith if he traitorously turns over the secrets of his organisation.

The Bible calls Satan the Father of all lies, and here in the Matrix, Agent Smith can easily clone himself or morph himself or his minions into any kind of person to his deceptive advantage.

Fact:
1) Egypt banned the Matrix film because it contained the word ‘Zion’
2) The ship the Nebuchadnezzar has an inscription that reads “Mark III No. 11 made in the USA year 2069.” Mark 3:11 reads “And whenever those possessed by evil spirits caught sight of him, they would fall down in front of him shrieking, ‘You are the Son of God!'” – quoted from Wikipedia

Star Wars

Here as an enthusiastic young man who group up an ordinary background wanting to become part of the rebel alliance, Luke Skywalker has two mentors Obi Wan Kanobi and Yoda, both of these well respected individuals die, well they actually just seem to suddenly fade away, but only to be still around in spirit offering help when Luke goes through tough decisions.

Later on when Luke has a showdown with the Emperor, he is tempted by ‘I am unarmed, strike me down’ encouraging Luke to be more angry and resentful, seeing as he made his father turn away from good to evil.   Of course Luke after getting caught in this mistake before, he knows this is a trap and that the Emperor gets more powerful from absorbing hate, and uses talk of good things to ultimately defeat this particular character of Satan.

Of course, I do also like the building and scenery from Star Wars with white stone buildings although in a futuristic setting, and not a million miles away from the ancient buildings I see around in Jerusalem.

Fact: Endor, the home of the Ewoks tree top village, is also a place in the Bible.  See Joshua 17 1-12

Red Dwarf

In one episode, the four members of the ship Starbug, are looking for an essential spare part on a seemingly empty planet until a strange entity suddenly appears (voiced by actor Stephen Fry)  who announces himself as ‘My name is Legion, for we are many’  here there is an exact reference to a demon that spoke in Mark 5 : 10.

The Lion Witch & the Wardrobe.

Where as CS Lewis was a Christian, this probably has to be as a fictional story, the most closest set of ideas with Aslan the lion who mimics the death and resurrection of Jesus and with Eustace who betrayed Aslan for some Turkish Delight, albeit with a smaller (4 I think?) number of followers that the original 12.

Here, I think even the most hardened atheist should agree that the story of Jesus’s birth, ministry work, death and resurrection has had elements imitated in most probably thousands of books and movies ever since, we should be thankful for that the story this Easter really is part of the Greatest story ever told. 🙂

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Apr 1 2010

Rebuilding an Arabic PC

Work today was good, got quite a lots done, a computer came in from a friend of staff member, an Arab family who the computer is used by their son.  A very badly dented case with the drive bay covers partly fallen off and a CD drive that was stuck.  Windows XP would not boot, and safe mode, and last known good configuration, and even a repair install from my XP CD would not get it working.

Tried some new tactics which worked quite well to rescue this reasonable spec Athlon 64 PC to remove it from an impossibly tangled up operating system which rendered it completely useless.

Using one of my favourite tools, Hirens boot CD (currently on version 10.2) is my preferred Swiss army knife of dozens of software tools to do all kinds of fixing work.  Some of these apps boot from DOS or from a live version of Windows which starts without touching any of the files of the hard disk of the computer on the bench being tested.  Here I used a tool which scans the hard disk for licence keys for Windows and Microsoft Office.  Here I could find these and write them down on a bit of paper.  Here in the middle east software and DVD piracy is rampant but its not my place to accuse someone breaching a licence of software.  Here this process lets me find the key of the software off the non-bootable hard disk of the computer and keep it safe for re-installation using my own set of media, using their key.

I took a spare 80gb hard disk off my shelf of spare parts, and disconnected the drive from the computer and rested the spare drive on the sideways-turned tower unit of the PC, and set about a fresh install of Windows.  Here I am using XP with Service Pack 3 merged in, after the usual 45 minutes, XP is running and I get the hardware drivers of the web site of the PC board manufacturer.  Then (with no live connection to the internet yet) I put on IE8, and Adobe Acrobat reader, I put in the network connection and put on the free AVG 9 antivirus.  Then I go about putting on all the Windows updates, theres a lot of them, so I can leave it for an hour and continue closing some helpdesk calls, fixing a loud fan on my Talpiyot office PC, checking the network, and also doing face to face support with the users at this site.

Later on, I set up the original (only 10gb) hard disk as a secondary drive and search it for viruses and spyware.  It came up completely clean. Office 2003 got installed with the previously written down licence key.

Next was to copy each of the files of the three user profiles onto the new install of XP from the old installation, all office files, photos and music, browser favourites, etc.  I have done this quite a bit in my old job and is quite easy.  However the profile names are in Arabic which I don’t speak.  But I can use F2 to rename it, but instead of renaming, I copied the highlighted Arabic script to make some new profile names.   Under the language set up in Windows XP I already have Hebrew and Arabic as well as US English, so its easy to change the keyboard layout to either of these three.

Incidentally a new challenge I found was Windows XP language set up shows multiple variations of Arabic, for various nations such as Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, etc, as there is no option for Israeli or Palestinian Arabic, I chose Jordanian Arabic I guess would be the closest.

Now all the files salvageable were on the new build of the computer.   There were some games and language translation software but without the media these would need to be reinstalled by the user.  I decided to clone using Norton Ghost the contents of the hard disk that was property of my work to the original drive inside the computer.   The files copied across perfectly but again Windows crashed when starting.   It was here I decided the original 10gb drive was defective, so I put it in the bin, and my manager was happy to give this old drive as a gift to this user, as I had plenty of spares.

As the case on this PC looks battered and damaged, I took the chance to transplant over the whole innards to the now empty chassis of another clone PC which looks a lot nicer, plus there’s a replacement CD drive in it (I tend to throw old CD drives away as all PCs used by volunteers and staff have new DVD writers.  I wrote a letter and taped it to the computer to explain the work I had done and hope they enjoy the completely overhauled machine.

Jonathan is well conversed in doing helpdesk and support across several countries and continents for this current role and my previous regular paid jobs.  He is looking for sources of financial help as I provide the backbone of IT assistance to a busy charity in the holyland, both face to face, using remote software, or even ‘blind’ by talking through users through using icons, menus or commands from memory. If you would like consulting or support of any kind of IT challenge for your home or business PC or laptop in exchange for a small financial gift please do get in touch. :o)

Apr 1 2010

Why Twitter = Twaddle

Some people who know me know I don’t like Twitter.

I have an account and its really only to promote this site, on some people I follow occasionally something could be interesting on IT, the middle east and various other topics that interest me.   Often Twitter is used as a casual way of running commentary of your life, as below:

MrXYZ – The number 7 bus is 6 minutes and 24.54 seconds late
about 2 hours ago
On my Texas Instruments scientific calculator

MrXYZ – I am putting on some trousers
about 3 hours ago
On the web

You also have people following VIPs, with people such as Stephen Fry who are the most followed people.  Stephen is absolutely brilliant man and a genius of acting, speaking and writing, one of the absolute legends of Britishness.  Its no secret he suffers from depression, but I think if you are going through something like this, its better to phone up or see a close friend and spill out what’s troubling you rather than write it online, like what happened recently when he ceased using Twitter for a short while due to he perceived as being people mocking or being unkind about something that was troubling him.

Gowala is one of the pointless add ons I see with iPhone users I see, “I am in blahblah pub” or such and such a place, as if anyone would ever care.

I don’t have an iPhone I only have a fairly simple clamshell type handset, mainly because where as I just need to make calls, I used to like the Voice notes feature which used to be on almost Motorola handsets in the last 10 years or so, press the side button where you can record your voice (including in a call)  and then set it to a alarm message, which was a brilliantly simple feature which needs a minimum of button pressing to keep something an important reminder, sadly my current now two year old V8 phone doesn’t have this.   I would quite like to have some simple version of Google documents and Gmail, seeing as I like to type notes and access to brief writings of things to do on any computer anywhere on the internet, with this I have more or less dumped my need to use Microsoft Office or Open Office now, or remember which of my work or home PCs or USB sticks I saved something on.  For this reason I might opt for Android phone at some point in the future.  The iPhone is a very slick and well designed piece of kit, I am not knocking it, its just I don’t want to pay £600 for 18 months worth of ownership for a phone, be it, by a contract or pay as you go.

Because of the portable, update from on the toilet or anywhere nature of Twitter, people may write things when they are angry, emotionally damaged or drunk, this could lead to writing things you later regret and at worse could cost a relationship or career.

I quite like blogging.  Twitter has meant a few people I have seen that used to blog, don’t bother any more and only put small snippets of the things that interest them on Twitter instead which is sad.   One of the things I like blogging as articles stay there on the internet indefinitely, so a helpful how-to on doing something I have learnt or want to share with the rest of the world, the ethic the internet should be; sharing what you know and learn what you don’t.  With articles of Twitter no one cares what you wrote yesterday, and I am not even sure if old tweets can be found with Google.

Like Facebook its often a vehicle to spread rumors and weighs on peoples naivety with the huge potential to spread scams and spam.   For instance today, as its April fool’s day, apparently numerous fake stories ended up on some newspapers as fact.  I also sometimes worry about those short URL type sites that condense web addresses into something brief that make it fit into the limited amount of space for a tweet, this could send you to something quite unsavoury or dangerous.

I think its likely the Twitter will get replaced by something better and will probably fade away after a couple of years or so.

Maybe an analogue version of Twitter would be to wear a hat and put some velcro letters on about what you are upto?

The only thing I do like about is purely to point people towards a more detailed writing about something, a free taste of a more detailed piece of information.

Using WordPress is a template for my blog I have mixed opinions on.  Its great that its free and has many different features to edit and change things how you like it, its not at all standards compliant, and changing the the layout of your blog often makes formatting go screwy, what’s in the draft layout is not always what you get in the final published result.  There’s also Blogger (owned by Google) and some other ones which are also free, and good as a ready to run way to blog without needing web developer background.  I like to call this freeze dried web design.  You use your own creative knowhow to write the content and there is a pre-fabricated template to put it all together.

I like and deeply hate Facebook at the same time as well, but that’s for article another day.

Mar 31 2010

Pesach holidays and cycling

Because of Pesach, I had half of Monday and the whole of Tuesday off work.

Got to go to two gatherings over this week to celebrate Pesach, as we eat foods like herbs and Matzah bread as a symbolic way to celebrate the Jewish people escaping from Egypt.  Both were good, one from my church ended up having 20 odd people crammed into someone’s flat, one was with my work at the food bank at Talpiyot.

Tuesday I went and bought a bike, I settled on the first one I saw a week previously, as I visited about 4 bike shops in total, and this one was 450 shekels, although after getting helmet, lights and lock, the shop made a deal on 550 all in.  I haven’t really owned a bike since I was a child, I am actually very happy getting about now.  Its ok to ride on the pavement as long as you are sensible, I only go on the road that are very quiet.  I think in my first day I did about 20kms around the city and back home.  Anyway I am still concerned about getting sources of sponsorship but this tool is kind of an investment, as it saves me the 49 shekels a week on bus (and that’s just for work, not any social trips)  I don’t see many cyclists here, and therefore there was plenty of new bikes for sale but extremely few used ones.  Even when looking in my church’s newsletter which has a columns with things for sale, houses to rent and jobs, there were a couple of bikes at least 1000+ shekels.   As like any new hobby there doesn’t seem much point in paying more than necessary.

Now getting used to making sure the brakes are used in the right sequence so not to throw me over the handlebars, and this thing has about 16 gears, er, I can just about get used to 5 on a car, I am not sure how they work!

On the Wednesday, I was going to the park with meet up with some friends to play some games, but I first went to Mamilla shopping centre to call for another friend, whilst waiting outside the coffee shop, I got approached by four young Arab teenagers who one of them appeared to threaten me, it was hard to make out, I just tried to mention I am a foreigner working here.   Two of the other lads were very apologetic and seemed embarrassed by their friend’s actions to me.  Anyway I didn’t manage to find my good friend K, (who is also an Arab) as after calling him realised I was at the wrong coffee shop, after a quick ride over to Ben Yehuda Street I met up and went down to the park, and learned a new card game, ate some nuts and dried fruit and got some time to relax out in the park with six of us, then did a bit of frisbee whilst the weather was still warm.

After then decided to do a bit of riding around town, entering on the edges of Meir Shareem, the Ultra Orthodox neighbourhood with the folk there in there familiar hats and black coats, there were barriers put up across the street to stop people driving, as  this is always done on Shabbat or on holidays.  I didnt want to upset anyone so did a U-turn here.

Today after being back at work, I went to the Shuk to go food shopping, and a Arab lady came up to me begging.  I see quite a lot of beggars but this one was different.   After giving her about 2 1/2 shekels which was all I had in my pocket, she ask me to pray for her, I felt a bit bad as I was trying to stuff a large bag of oranges into my rucksack.   I asked her name, she was called Luce or Luis I think, I told her I was pray for her later, she mentioned her brother was going blind and she was trying to provide for her children, the poor lady seemed genuine.   Made a note on my phone of her name there.

Found some shorter ways to ride home.  Plus I get a chance to ride across the Peace Park Promenade on my way to work which is stunning.  I will put some pictures of this location here soon.   Why does God bless me with some unexpected things like this.   At the moment life is good.

Mar 31 2010

Searching for Jerusalem’s hidden bits

Everyone knows there is lots of tunnels under the old city, from various different eras.  But did you know there’s another hidden way to get around the old city?

Try looking up.

But how to get up onto the roof tops?

Well last year I saw these steps, at first I thought it was just a person’s private stairway to their house, but after some other foreign people went up, I decided to take a look.  If you are in town and want to see for yourself, do a search for the street name on google maps.

Here you walk quite a way around on the roof tops, often bordering onto people’s yards.   Look to the left of the tall aerial and the concrete dome thing and you might be able to see a police kiosk, some kind of check point.   I had to leave to get to my church service, but I will look at this in more detail another day.

In someways just like the Bourne Ultimatum film where Jason Bourne goes leaping over a city in Morocco, It could be fun to run along and hide amongst all those funny balconies, steps and passageways up on these roofs.

Mar 29 2010

My neighbourhood, rain and towers of noise

I noticed after prime minster Benjamin Netanyahu avoided making any compromises on land after pressure from Obama in recent meetings last week, the next day it rained here in Jerusalem.  🙂 No trivial thing when water is precious here and four or five months can go with absolutely no rain at all.

On Saturday I went walking around my neighbourhood, my house is close to an Arab town of Al Sawahira, as after looking on Google maps I can see my flat is right on the 1949 Armistice line.  Yep you guessed it, I live next to the Palestinians.  From a brief look around, there’s not been any signs of unrest here, seems people generally live together ok.  When walking out and about in this street on Saturday, people seemed pretty friendly, perhaps a little surprised to see a foreigner there.

Looking out of my bedroom I can see in the distance this scrap metal yard in the distance.   Standing 100 yards away, here in the foreground you can some fruit trees which don’t appear to be affected by any chemicals that’s quite likely to seep out of waste metal products.  Recycling and caring about environmental impact isn’t a high priority here in the middle east.

Here you can see one of the minarets, these are Islamic prayer towers that give off this terrible noise that have often woken me up (like when I was in Jordan in December in a hotel right next to one)  as this one is at least 1km away, its not too noisy.

I like this picture as if you take a closer look you can see the rather grey cloud surrounds this tower but the weather is bright and clear in the distance 🙂

On day 2 of my return to Jerusalem I was walking through the Peace Park Promenade which is 1.5km in the other direction, and the voices from the towers started up, the blackbirds which were singing nicely in the trees in the park suddenly stopped and standard making their frightened “ping-ping-ping” sound like when a cat comes near them.   When you think that animals and birds usually get used to man made noise that regularly appears near them like trains, its funny that the Blackbird one of God’s most vocally talented birds doesn’t like the minarets either.

Mar 29 2010

Accidental archaeology

I was walking through part of the old city with this Irish priest I got chatting to the sunday before last.

I took a shortcut through the centre of the old city, up the steep edge of the south side of the city


These interesting bits of pottery were just spotted loose within the grass.  Don’t know how old they are or from what period (Byzantine, Ottoman, British Mandate?) of who was in Jerusalem at that time.  I put them on the wall to photograph and put them back from someone else to discover afterwards.

Click on the picture for a bigger view, if you can identify any of the markings please do comment.

Mar 29 2010

Who is Steve’s Packs? The famous business in Jerusalem that isn’t online

Steve’s Packs Jerusalem is quite a famous business, for one thing I have seen the merchandise, rucksacks and outdoor gear with the instantly recognisable sun logo sewn on the UK, so its a famous enough brand I have seen all over the place, and a label that should be popular with Kibbutzniks and young Israelis who like to go traveling around the world after they have done their mandatory army service.

But since last year, the web site www.steve-israel.com leads nowhere, its dead.  But you can become a fan of Steve’s on Facebook, and the internet has a fair number of people asking similar things like me.

I went looking for a backpack last year and looked for the Steve’s shop in Hillel street in central Jerusalem, but couldn’t find it, so ended up buying a generic dark green rucksack from some other outlet which both the plastic fasteners on the straps broke whilst out on a expedition into the desert.  Meh. 😦

Later I found out the shop has moved to another part of the city, so I wished I got one of the famous bright yellow logo products from there now.  Looks far cooler than these wannabe surfer/snowboarder type brand name type outdoor brands I see back at home.

So here is the famous Steve’s Packs store, its just off Ben Yehuda Street, about half way down on the left.

So Steve, if you are watching this, please say hi and tell us about you and how you started your outdoor supplies shop which is shrouded in mystery, and please get your web site up and running. 🙂