What Makes People Tick?

If you read anything at all today, read this. The story of these people deserves more attention than it has been getting up to now. More attention from the international media and from international aid organisations as well. This 25 July 2014 article from The Wall Street Journal opened my eyes to a side of the MH17 crash that I'd barely given any thought to up until now. Then the plane crashed. The cabin's second-row overhead compartment is in a tree across from the village hall—and suitcases and clothes are in backyards and gardens of square-windowed cottages.  Villagers dashed into their basements, fearing a bomb attack. Residents in a nearby village ran for the church, certain that the world was coming to an end. A colleague of Ms. Voloshina screamed after being nearly hit by the plane's cargo hold.        Days later, the 43-year-old mayor found the bottom half of a man's body in the shrubs next to her office. She has barely slept since then.  ...

Yale University's Avalon Project has a copy of the Hamas Covenant 1988  in their archives. The following is a direct quote. I encourage all readers to read the entire Covenant and to form your own opinion based on your personal interpretation of the document. Article Twenty-two:   For a long time, the enemies have been planning, skillfully and with precision, for the achievement of what they have attained. They took into consideration the causes affecting the current of events. They strived to amass great and substantive material wealth which they devoted to the realisation of their dream. With their money, they took control of the world media, news agencies, the press, publishing houses, broadcasting stations, and others. With their money they stirred revolutions in various parts of the world with the purpose of achieving their interests and reaping the fruit therein. They were behind the French Revolution, the Communist revolution and most of the revolutions we heard a...

Mosab Hassan Yousef is the son of Hamas founding member Sheikh Hassan Yousef. After realising that Hamas was a violent organisation that he did not want to be a part of, he left Hamas and eventually moved to the United States. Mr. Yousef is also the author of the book " Son of Hamas " published in 2010. Judging by the reviews on Goodreads, it looks to be a very interesting book. I have to admit that I'd not heard of this book nor of Mosab Hassan Yousef until about an hour ago when I was alerted to the video below. In this video , Mosab Hassan Yousef speaks to CNN about his decision to leave Hamas and explains candidly why he could no longer be a part of such a brutal regime. If you watch anything today, watch this video! "In the mosques Hamas taught us that without shedding innocent blood for the sake of the ideology we wont be able to build an Islamic state. They were preparing us from the age as young as five years old.   This is the ideology that Hamas w...

Vox.com presents an interesting article with 40 maps that show the start and spread of the internet. It looks like it all started in America, spreading from there to Europe and beyond. Reading this article made me wonder - didn't Dan Brown once write that the internet started at CERN? (Or some part of the technology that makes the internet possible anyway... Heck, it was a long, long time ago that I read his books...) "The internet increasingly pervades our lives, delivering information to us no matter where we are. It takes a complex system of cables, servers, towers, and other infrastructure, developed over decades, to allow us to stay in touch with our friends and family so effortlessly. Here are 40 maps that will help you better understand the internet — where it came from, how it works, and how it's used by people around the world." Source:  40 maps that explain the internet , Vox.com Maps 14 and 15 shows domain names around the world. The first map shows E...

Want to know what life is like in Israel? Watch this very touching video made by Dana bar-on who lives very close to the Gaza border. She brought tears to my eyes, which is why I'm sharing this video. Source: 10 minutes about living on the Gaza border ,YouTube

In een artikel van vandaag bericht De Telegraaf dat het Nederlandse ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken een half miljoen euro aan het Rode Kruis zal geven. Zoals hiernaast te lezen is voegt het Rode Kruis daar zelf 30,000 euro aan toe voor de hulpverlening in Israël. Bedankt, Rode Kruis Nederland. Bedankt dat jullie niet alleen de grote nood in Gaza zien maar ook de nood in Israël zien en proberen om daar te helpen. De situatie in Gaza is vreselijk. Dat ziet iedereen. Maar de verhalen die ik hoor van vrienden in Israël, de beelden die ik uit Israël zie - die zijn ook vreselijk. Daarom, bedankt dat jullie beide kanten zien. Nederland geeft half miljoen voor hulp Gaza   "In Israël werkt het Internationale Rode Kruis nauw samen met Magod David Adom (MDA) en in de Palestijnse gebieden met de Rode Halve Maan. Beide zijn zusterorganisaties van het Nederlandse Rode Kruis. Bij elke inslag of elk bombardement rukken zij met ambulances en hulpverleners uit om gewonden op te halen, te ...

I am getting SO sick and tired of simple webpages taking minutes to load because there are so many advertisements and moving images on the page. Today, it was CNN's website. All I'm trying to do is to read TEXT, just plain text. What happens?  First, a photo loads. Why? I'm not here to view the photo, I'm here to read the text.  Then the top bar, something about an edition I've chosen? Noooo... I didn't choose anything. Software did, by reading my IP address to determine where I'm from. Why? Is the article I'm trying to read different depending on the version? Is the American version different from the international version for instance?  Next are links to other articles. Again - not here to read those other articles, just here to read the article that the search engine just found for me... Which I'm still waiting for... Underneath the photo, the first lines of text appear. Scrolling is still impossible. Reading the rest of the art...

I thought I was doing reasonably well. Honestly - I did. Walking around, talking, moving, doing my thing... I didn't lose a friend or family member. I know people who lost friends and loved ones. I think 99% of The Netherlands probably knows someone who knows someone that died... I am shocked, saddened, angry, hurt... I am a lot of things, however not personally involved. I didn't lose anyone who meant the world to me, I didn't lose the love of my life or my parents or children or my entire family. Then earlier today I read a newspaper article that made me sad, almost out of the blue. While a moment ago you would have sworn you were coping fine, suddenly all you can do is cry, cry, cry. Cry for the unfairness of war and loss and pain and cry for those poor people who died (What must their last seconds have been like?) and perhaps even more for their loved ones who have to learn to keep going, knowing they will miss those who died every day for the rest of their liv...

Yale University's Avalon Project has a copy of the Hamas Covenant 1988  in their archives. The following is a direct quote. I encourage all readers to read the entire Covenant and to form your own opinion based on your personal interpretation of the document. Article Thirteen:   Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement.  Abusing any part of Palestine is abuse directed against part of religion.  Nationalism of the Islamic Resistance Movement is part of its religion. Its members have been fed on that. For the sake of hoisting the banner of Allah over their homeland they fight. "Allah will be prominent, but most people do not know." Source:  Hamas Covenant 1988 , The Avalon Project Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited the Middle East this week. He met Israeli Prime-Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and gave a speech on Tuesday 22 July 2014 from Tel Aviv, Israel. It gladdens me that the United Nations fully support Israel's right to protect itself. It gladdens me to see that the UN condemns the use of their facilities for terrorist purposes. It gladdens me to see that the UN, unlike so many people I hear from and speak to these days, seem to care about both sides instead of praising one side and condemning the other. "My message to Israelis and Palestinians is the same: Stop fighting. Start talking. And take on the root causes of the conflict, so we are not back to the same situation in another six months or a year." Source: Ban Ki-moon's speeches: Remarks at press conference with Benjamin Netanyahu , United Nations News Centre

Yale University's Avalon Project has a copy of the Hamas Covenant 1988 in their archives. The following is a direct quote. I encourage all readers to read the entire Covenant and to form your own opinion based on your personal interpretation of the document. Article Seven:    The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said:    "The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees.    The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.    Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews."  (related by al-Bukhari and Moslem). Source: Hamas Covenant 1988 , The Avalon Project Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library

Israel National News reports that for the second time since the start of Operation Protective Edge; United Nations workers have found rockets stored in one of their schools in Gaza. United Nations relief agency UNRWA has discovered, for a second time during the current war in Gaza, Hamas terror rockets stashed in one of its vacant schools.  A statement by UNRWA Tuesday said that “Today, in the course of the regular inspection of its premises, UNRWA discovered rockets hidden in a vacant school in the Gaza Strip.” Source: Again, Rockets found in UNRWA schools , Arutz Sheva - Israel National News

Article Twenty-Two: For a long time, the enemies have been planning, skillfully and with precision, for the achievement of what they have attained. They took into consideration the causes affecting the current of events. They strived to amass great and substantive material wealth which they devoted to the realisation of their dream. With their money, they took control of the world media, news agencies, the press, publishing houses, broadcasting stations, and others. With their money they stirred revolutions in various parts of the world with the purpose of achieving their interests and reaping the fruit therein. They were behind the French Revolution, the Communist revolution and most of the revolutions we heard and hear about, here and there. With their money they formed secret societies, such as Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, the Lions and others in different parts of the world for the purpose of sabotaging societies and achieving Zionist interests. With their money they were able to co...

Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Frans Timmermans spoke to the United Nations Security Council about the 'downing' of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 carrying a total of 298 innocent men, women and children, 193 of whom were Dutch. Parts of Mr. Timmermans' speech were shown on Dutch television news ( NOS Nieuws ) such as the statement I transcribed below in order to share it with readers of this blog. Minister Timmermans' speech can be viewed here on YouTube . Any transcription errors are mine. "Just for one minute, I'm not addressing you as representatives of your countries... But as husbands and wives, fathers and mothers.  Just imagine that you first get the news that your husband was killed. And then within two or three days you see images of some thug removing a wedding band from their hands. Just imagine that this could be your spouse.   To my dying day I will not understand that it took so much time for the rescue workers to be allowed to do their ...

Een kort artikel met wat uitleg over de handelsrelaties tussen Rusland en verschillende Europese landen, waaronder Nederland. "De Europese ministers van Buitenlandse Zaken zijn dinsdag bijeen om te spreken over eventuele handelssancties tegen Rusland. Sommige van hen vinden dat de Europese Unie moet ingrijpen om te voorkomen dat het land wapens blijft leveren aan de pro-Russische separatisten in Oekraïne. Maar hoe groot is de handel met Rusland eigenlijk?" Bron: Overzicht van handel met Rusland , Nieuws.nl Gepubliceerd: 22/07/14

Did you know that cashew nuts are a natural anti-depressant? According to website Natural Cures, Not Medicine , eating just "two handfuls of cashews is the therapeutic equivalent of a prescription dose of Prozac." The article explains in some very big words exactly how and why cashew nuts are so amazing. Suffice to say that cashews have lots of good stuff in them that our bodies can convert to help make us feel better. The article also lists many of the other health benefits of cashews.  Source: Cashews Are A Natural Anti-Depressant at Natural Cures, Not Medicine

BBC News reports earlier today that Dutch experts have been given limited access to some of the bodies of the victims of the rocket attack against Malaysian Airlines flight #MH17. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose country lost 193 people, said all political and economic options were on the table if access to the crash site remained unsatisfactory.  "We want our people back," he told parliament in The Hague. Source: MH17 plane crash: Dutch experts examine bodies , BBC News

Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported yesterday that some of the bodies of the 298 innocents who died after being shot down BY A ROCKET  (which according to both Ukrainian and American sources was sent from the rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine area) last Thursday were being kept in a train. The train not only stored bodies of the victims, it also kept these bodies cool (to keep them from smelling, decomposing etc.). In the middle of European summer, that was very necessary. De Telegraaf reports today that the cooling system in the storage train had been TURNED OFF overnight from Sunday to Monday. Apparently no one understands how this could happen...

The always inspirational Hillary Clinton, former First Lady, former Secretary of State and presumed Democratic presidential candidate, appeared on the 15 July 2014 episode of The Daily Show. She gives a candid four-part interview, talking about a very wide range of topics. I highly recommend watching all four parts of the interview -  part one  here and part two  here. Parts three and four deal with the ongoing attacks against Israel and the war in Gaza. The Daily Show The First Video: Part Three The Second Video: Part Four

"Yesterday, in the course of the regular inspection of its premises, UNRWA discovered approximately 20 rockets hidden in a vacant school in the Gaza Strip.   UNRWA strongly condemns the group or groups responsible for placing the weapons in one of its installations. This is a flagrant violation of the inviolability of its premises under international law.   This incident, which is the first of its kind in Gaza, endangered civilians including staff and put at risk UNRWA’s vital mission to assist and protect Palestine refugees in Gaza."  Source: UNRWA strongly condemns placement of rockets  in school , UNRWA Published 17 July 2014.

“Hamas was perfectly well aware what would happen if they started raining rockets on Israel. They fired a thousand of them, and they have a strategy designed to force Israel to kill their own civilians so that the rest of the world will condemn them.” ~ Former US president Bill Clinton Source: Bill Clinton says Netanyahu 'could and should' clinch peace deal , The Jerusalem Post

Dutch television just showed an interview with a Ukrainian man who explains what he saw and heard yesterday after Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by a rocket over eastern Ukraine. The interview was subtitled in Dutch, the translation to English is mine. The images belong to Dutch NOS television . "An explosion and a bang. Then people fell from the sky. People started appearing right out of the clouds. A large piece of wreckage landed at the end of the street. People fell on the rooftops of houses and on the asphalt." Two hundred and ninety-eight innocent men, women and children. Dead through no fault of their own because they were dragged into a conflict they had nothing to do with. Dead because ... Because why? Because what?

Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 flying from Amsterdam (The Netherlands) to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) was shot down yesterday over eastern Ukraine. By a rocket. A passenger jet carrying 298 innocent people was shot down BY A BLOODY ROCKET. A very sophisticated one too, apparently. Both Ukraine and Russia deny involvement, point at the pro-Russian separatist movement who are in control in eastern Ukraine as the culprit. Last night, the Americans confirmed that a rocket had  indeed hit the plane. Today they were able to confirm that the rocket that killed 298 innocent people originated from eastern Ukraine. Two hundred and ninety-eight innocent people shot down. That is the kind of damage one rocket can do in the hands of the wrong people. While yesterday the confirmed Dutch death toll stood around 90, those figures were revised upwards last night to 154 and again to 189 earlier this afternoon. One hundred and eighty-nine of my people are dead because the Ukrainians and the Russi...

While Israel defends itself from rocket attacks and suicide bombings, the world sits by, waiting as if for a miracle, and calls for Israel to be 'moderate' and 'exercise restraint'. When will enough really be enough? How many more rockets will Hamas' fighters have to send at innocent people before 'the west' and the international press decide that Israel's finally allowed to defend itself? When will enough really be enough? How many more rockets will Israel's innocent people have to endure before 'the west' and the international press decide that Hamas has gone too far? When will enough really be enough? How many more rockets will Gaza's innocent people have to endure before they themselves and their brethren in the West Bank decide that Hamas has gone too far?   Source : Twitter account @ IDF Spokesperson Ayelet Shaked, a member of the Israeli parliament wrote the following: Our residents in southern Israel have endure...

There's a story in the Bible about a wise and just king named Solomon. Perhaps the most famous story about Solomon is a story about two women who come to the King and ask him to decide which of them is the true mother of a newborn baby. Source : The C Section The story is recounted in 1 Kings 3:16-28. Two young women who lived in the same house and who both had an infant son came to Solomon for a judgment. One of the women claimed that the other, after accidentally smothering her own son while sleeping, had exchanged the two children to make it appear that the living child was hers. The other woman denied this and so both women claimed to be the mother of the living son and said that the dead boy belonged to the other.  After some deliberation, King Solomon called for a sword to be brought before him. He declared that there was only one fair solution: the live son must be split in two, each woman receiving half of the child. Upon hearing this terrible verdict, the boy...