That really is awesome, bug.

Owen has seen bits and pieces of Raiders of the Lost Ark--none of the scary parts but he's familiar with the big rock rolling down towards Indy. Well, O got a slouchy cowboy hat in a dress up kit for Christmas and put the hat on this morning and announced that he was Indiana Jones. Then he proceeds to run around the house and tell me that he's running from the "giant ball."

Then he proceeds to run around the house and tell me that he's running from the "giant ball."

He could also be playing "Alias".

Or The Prisoner.

Pretty sure he's not seen Alias or The Prisoner.

Next up: Star Wars.

It's a good thing kids are so entertaining.

that was great to read, Val!

that was great to read, Val!

ditto

Israel has accepted the unilateral cease fire.

I have no words. I should have been glad, but I've seen how those ends before.

Good work, gov of mine. You killed and destroyed and planted a lot of seeds of fear, only to come back, pretty much, to square one.

I wonder how long this will last. Hours? Days? Months? And at what cost?

At least Nilly's brother will be back home.

Great job, Olmert.

Edit: Oh, schools will be closed tomorrow, and all as usual here (as far as it's been for the past three weeks): no gatherings of over 100 people, no work, nada. I fail to understand what have my country accomplished, but I'm sure the propaganda will explain that to me for the next few days/weeks.

Good work, gov of mine. You killed and destroyed and planted a lot of seeds of fear, only to come back, pretty much, to square one.

Oy.

I fail to understand what have my country accomplished, but I'm sure the propaganda will explain that to me for the next few days/weeks.

snerk.

Hopefully it means some "peace" for now. Hopefully they at least hit some targets that will reduce/stop the rocket firing for a little while. Which will hopefully mean that they will re-open humanitarian supplies. Which hopefully means folks will be happy & shiny again (yes, I am ever the optimist, and slightly delusional).

In terms of one sided. Actually Israel did get something, maybe even what the government intended. The Egyptians have agreed to stop tolerating the tunnels and to take U.S. help in finding them. If true that eliminates the main means by which Hamas smuggled in rocket making material. But it also eliminates the main means by which Gazans imported food. The agreement is also that Israel will let more food and medicine, though no requirement that they let in enough to provide basics of health. So if the Egyptians keep their agreement, the rockets will stop as soon as current rockets and suppplies for making them are used up. And the giant prison that is Gaza will be shut absolutely tight, with Gazan civilians subect to the non-existent mercy of the Israeli government. How realistic it is that Egypt will A) seriously make the effort to comply with that part of the agreement B) suceed om that effort I leave to Shir.

Generally the conventional wisdom is that Egypt tolerated the tunnels of Egyptian popular opinion, and could have shut them down any time if they wanted. Don't know how true that is. But since Egypt is a dictatorship, if public opinion is strong enough to have forced its hand on that issue, that certainly raises questions about whether it can defy it now. I guess one sign of the "success" of the truce is will be the Egyptian government cracking down on dissent and killing and arresting a lot of its people.