The hole in the city wall by Jaffa Gate

There is a wide entrance just by Jaffa Gate breached through the 16th century city walls that surround the Old City.

I read today that this section of the wall was knocked down and the opening made on the order of the Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II, so that his visitor, Kaiser Wilhelm II could arrive in style with his retinue without having to dismount from their horses and carriages

Although that article does not mention when he visited, a Lutheran website mentions the Kaizer 'building' the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer (which stands in the Christian Quarter of the Old City) in the late 1800s and dedicating it in 1898.

The breach in the walls would have made it convenient for General Allenby to enter on his horse when he entered the Old City in 1917, save that out of respect for the City and what it stood for, he entered on foot.

The lessons of History

I read that the Wingograd Committee has concluded that the army played too big a part in the decision-making at the political level during what is called the Second Lebanese War last Summer.

The Committee says this problem was compounded by the Government's lack of military experience.

It so happens that I am near the end of Amos Elon's 'The Israelis: Founders and Sons' and in Chaper 11 he writes that the external threats that make Israel a "nation in arms" make it ripe for militarism and a mentality that would ensure the supremacy of the army over the civil authorities.

And yet, he say, this is not the case. He talks about the army's comparative informality, the forced retirement of officers at an early age, the ideals of the unprofessional soldier, of the farmer who leaves his land to fight and then returns to pick up his plough.

Elon wrote this in 1972. Has the ideal been abandoned?

And a question I have. If war is defined as a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations, or tribes, or groups, then how does a conflict between the State of Israel and Hizbollah meet that definition?

Of course we use the word 'war' in other senses - such as the 'war on terror' or the 'war against poverty'. And yet it seems dangerous culturally and psychologically to describe the conflict between the State of israel and a group of terrorist/freedom fighters/guerillas (you choose your definition) as a war.

Unless one considers it a proxy war between Israel and Syria/Iran.

May

Colours of Spring

Lightroom and Aperture

I have been using Apple computers since the early eighties. I had an an Apple 2e and then a 2c and then, a lot later, we had (still have) a green G3 iMac. And now a G5 iMac and an intel Macbook Pro.

I have also been using PCs for about the same length of time, but as machines at work, mostly using WORD and EXCEL.

I like the graphical interface on Macs and the easy way everything can be found, moved, renamed, and played about with; seemingly without the restrictions that affect PCs.

I have been playing around with, but not seriously using, Aperture for a month or two. I haven't really enjoyed using it but I put that partly down to having to learn a new system of commands. I have had my hands full with other things and I half-promised myself I would sit down and learn more about Aperture when I had a clear head and a few hours to spare.

Meanwhile I have been following the development of Adobe Lightroom and a couple of days ago I downloaded it.

I am not going to make any comparisons of the capabilities of the two programs to 'develop' a digital negative because they are both good.

What I can say without doubt is that Aperture is slow compared to Lightroom and not as useable. Lightroom is fast and useable and it is such a pleasure to use brought a smile to my face.

One feature I really like in Lightroom is the 'compare' feature, where one can see the 'before' and 'after' states side by side as one develops an image with sharpening, white balance etc.

Another feature I like about Lightroom is the ability to export (i.e. save) images to the hard disk and Lightoom automatically makes a subfolder within the folder from which the original image came, titles it and saves the images there. It can make a large jpeg and a save-for-web jpeg so fast that I had to go check the image had really been saved.

And for some reason, the Ligthroom program is one quarter the size of Aperture (about 50MB compared to 200MB) - now why should that be?

Cat in a trough

This cat was sitting sunning itself in a small flower trough on top of a wall facing onto a residential street. It is a fine example of how relaxed many of the cats here are. As to why they are relaxed might best be left for a political analyst, a psychologist or a social anthropologist.

Flower Heads and the New Railway

in the Machene Yehudah market there is a shop selling spices, herbs, teas and flowers - like the flower heads here.

One part of the of the market is somewhat narrow and dark and intimate and seems older and further from the modern world than other parts. Which makes one think what the area will be like when the light railway that is intended to run along the road by the market, is built.