Recovering from a near-fatal chocolate overdose, it's...
T H E J U I C E A N D G I N
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Term XXXIX, Issue 8 (#171)
Weather outlook:
The calm before the crap.
************
* Contents *
************
- Editor's Blurb
- Ongoing Events
- Photographia
- Greg's DTK
- Humour
- General Info
******************
* Editor's Blurb *
******************
Hey all
Hope everyone had a peachy keen Hallowe'en and didn't gorge themselves
too much on the candy. You may think it's not a contest to see which
house gets the most kids, but it is. This is serious business.
And now that All Hallow's Eve is over, the best part of All Hallow's Day
is that suddenly all of that store candy is now HEAVILY DISCOUNTED UP
THE WAZOO! Feel free to begin the gorging all over again! Bwahahahaha!
Until next time,
"Winner" is just a fancy word for loser!
Michael (mailto:nutsinfo$yahoo.ca)
And now, the rest of the story...
******************
* Ongoing Events *
******************
[See the Event Calendar on the web site for full descriptions.
--Ed.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pool League
===========
Mondays
STILL NEW LOCATION!
http://www.solutionsatsource.com/pool
Contact: Larisa and Michael (mailto:pool$solutionsatsource.com)
View the current players' statistics at:
http://nutsevents.topcities.com/events/pool/index.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Indoor Rock Climbing
====================
Thursday evenings
Contact: Claire (mailto:Claire.Mettier$alcatel.com)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
****************
* Photographia *
****************
I was going to dig up a Hallowe'en inspired Punch Of The Week, but it
looks like some of the archives are currently hiding somewhere. And
right now I'm too lazy to go and dig up the backups. So you get a
regular Punch Of The Week. Perhaps I'll get around to it next week. If
you're good.
http://nutsevents.topcities.com/pictures/Punch/index.html
http://torpedo.ca.newbridge.com/mirror/pictures/Punch/index.html
******************************
* Greg's Deep Thought Korner *
******************************
Israel and Palestine.
I've hesitated to comment on the situation in this particular part of
the Middle East because, quite frankly, while criticizing Palestinians
is acceptable, anyone who criticizes the foreign policy of Israel is
often condemned as an anti-Semite. Even Jewish people who criticize
what is being done are called "self haters". On the other hand, there's
a whole *lot* of ignorance out there about the present situation and the
historical context of the Israeli occupation of Palestine, so let's
start with a primer on the conflict.
1. Israel is occupying Palestine.
Seriously, a large chunk of the population is so confused that they get
this principle fact backwards. Israel has a modern army and air force
called the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) which is currently occupying the
lands allocated by treaty to the Palestinians. The IDF controls the
air, the roadways and the potable water in Palestine. Palestine, by
comparison, has militias nominally (but not very thoroughly) under the
control of the PA (Palestinian Authority), a quasi-democratic
institution which controls Palestine to the extent that the Israeli
government allows it.
2. Israel is illegally placing racially segregated settlements inside
Palestine.
Please see this map:
http://www.palestinecenter.org/cpap/maps/settle_westbank.html
There are a great many maps that can be found online or in libraries.
(Or, hell, if you want you can ask your MP to send you such a map if you
don't trust the Internet. I've yet to find a single version of this map
which looks substantially different.) The grey area is the treaty land
allocated to Palestine as of 1967. The triangles? Those are
settlements placed by the Israel government in which only Jewish people
are allowed to live. That these settlements exist is a fact. That they
are illegal, according to international law and UN resolutions, is also
a fact.
A much larger and more detailed map is available here:
http://www.btselem.org/Download/Settlements_Map_Eng.pdf
3. Every party is committing acts of terrorism.
Terrorism, as was mentioned last week, is an act of violence, against
noncombatants, in order to effect a political change. When Palestinians
strap bombs to their chests, enter Israel or an Israeli settlement and
blow themselves up, killing innocent bystanders, they are terrorists.
They are killing noncombatants in order to effect a political change
(the removal of the settlements). When Israeli jets and helicopters
fire missiles in to apartments buildings and kill people in order to
punish the families of dead terrorists, or kill and injure dozens of
noncombatants to get at one militant leader that might be hiding in the
basement, they are also killing noncombatants for political reasons.
They are also guilty of terrorism.
4. Religious muslim leaders are calling for the destruction of Israel.
Indeed, this seems to happen fairly frequently. Apparently, at some
point in the past, the last Friday of Ramadan was
declared by fundamentalists to be "get rid of Israel" Friday, or some
such thing. The latest call for the destruction of Israel came from the
Prime Minister of Iran, just last week, but such statements indicating a
desire to "push Israel in to the sea" are not uncommon. It's a rather
effective way of limiting any attempt at a "peace movement" inside
Israel itself.
What do I see when I look at this mess? Fundamentalists. Religious
fundamentalists. They're Muslim, Christian and Jewish. The Muslim ones
want to push the Jews in to the sea. The Jewish ones think the bible
gives them deed and title to land where other people are already
living. The Christian ones think that Christ can't make his second
coming until all of Palestine is controlled by the Jewish
fundamentalists (I'm not kidding, some 10-15% of americans actually
believe this).
Do the people actually living in Israel, whether they be Jewish, Muslim
or Christian, really want in on this nonsense? Not likely. Even in
fundamentalist dictatorships, the actual percentage of people believing
the fundamentalist line is usually low. It's the people in power,
questing for more power, manipulating religion and government, that
cause the problems. Sharon expands his settlements. Bush gives him
aid. Bin Laden and the late Arafat laugh, basically unharmed, and
expand their recruiting. Who really benefits from all this?
Greg.
[Send responses to DTKs or new Editorials to mailto:nutsinfo$yahoo.ca]
**********
* Humour *
**********
[Forward any good jokes or interesting web sites you see to
mailto:nutsinfo$yahoo.ca]
[Disclaimer: The Humour Section may contain content that includes dirty
words, adult situations and jokes that make fun of American
politicians. Viewer discretion is advised. --Ed.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cool Illusion
=============
Thanks to Greg G. @ Alcatel
Fun with your eyes! [I actually jumped when the dots disappeared.
--Ed.]
http://www.patmedia.net/marklevinson/cool/cool_illusion.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Modern Dating Scene
=======================
Thanks to Linda G.'s Missed Shout-Out
A guy meets this girl in a bar and asks, "May I buy you a drink?"
"Okay. But it won't do you any good."
A little later, he asks, "May I buy you another drink?"
"Okay. But it won't do you any good."
He invites her up to his apartment and she replies, "Okay. But it won't
do you any good."
They get to his apartment and he says, "You are the most beautiful woman
I have ever seen! I want you for my wife."
"Well," she says, "that's different. Send her in!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
****************
* General Info *
****************
Contact the NUTS Committee:
mailto:nutsinfo$yahoo.ca
The NUTS Website is:
http://nutsevents.topcities.com
http://torpedo.ca.newbridge.com/mirror (for people within Alcatel)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright (c) 2001, 2005 N.U.T.S. All rights reserved.