No, I meant the fire alarms.

Oh. Duh.

IIRC the strobe alarms are controversial, as they can induce seizures in some people.

IIRC the strobe alarms are controversial, as they can induce seizures in some people.

That place sucked.

Do you have the extra-fun kind with the strobe lights?

It does flash, although not that fast. It also has the bonus EAR-PIERCING SCREECH, which I might appreciate were there an actual fire.

It's been quiet for about 15 minutes. I think they're lulling us into a false sense of security.

Has anyine heard anything about the terrorists arrested in LA for a 9/11 plot to hit synogogues and national guard centers? It was a blurb on the news this morning, but i haven't seen anything anywhere else.

Allyson, here everything is the disengagement and the 3 Palestinians murdered (by a Jew), so even though usually news involving Jewish-related possible targets hit the headlines here, I didn't see anything about it in every news site I checked today (and, due to the heavy news stream, I'm checking them constantly. I just don't seem to be able to stop).

A photo of yesterday's laptop stampede: [link]

Yikes!

eta: and a slideshow

Where are the settlers being moved to, Nilly? Is there some sort of housing set up for them?

How to build a flamethrower: [link]

Where are the settlers being moved to, Nilly? Is there some sort of housing set up for them?

Well, yes and no. Like everything, this is so complicated.

In theory, there are. There are several towns in Israel who arranged in advance to receive all the families of one (small, obviously) settlement, so that the communities won't need to break apart. Some of the less "hard core" settlements are already empty and their citizens all moved.

There are temporal housing arrangements for other communities, caravans (not on wheels, ones that actually stand on the ground, with full facilities) waiting to be filled, some already occupied. Some families are going to temporarily stay in hotel rooms until a more permanent solution is found.

Some families, the more "hard core" ones, refused to consider any sort of temporary living accomodation, didn't even pack anything. They insisted in following their beliefs that such an "evacuation" wouldn't happen. I don't think any of them knows where they're going to end up in. School starts in two weeks, and they have no idea where their children will learn. Like I said, complicated.

This is a very difficult day. Regardless of any political opinion. One of my cousins volunteered to take part, as a soldier (usually in a different job) in the disengagement. Another cousin lives there with her husband and family for years. They make their living through their greenhouses there. Their settlement (Ganey-Tal) was evacuated today, with no violence, as far as I could read. I have no idea where they are now. And then this crazy person killed 3 innocent people. It's a very difficult day.

[Edit: sorry. I try not to talk politics here, this is my "escape" place. I don't want to spoil that, but that last paragraph just came out after I answered Allyson's question. Sorry.]

Nilly, I am so sorry for what Israel is going through, and I hope everything works out for the best. The stories in the media that, with some exceptions, the soldiers and settlers treating each other with such respect and understanding the painful circumstance each other is in, the settler who cried to the general that he served under him and the two of them hugging, the soldiers who waiting respectfully as the settlers finished their prayers, Sharon pleading with the settlers to "attack him, accuse him" and not the soldiers. It's heartbreaking.