In that case, I'd recommend going as light-weight as you can. A set like the one in the photo will be fine for car camping, but too heavy for backpacking, especially multi-day. Here's what I take when backpacking:

Toaks titanium 700ml pot

BRS ultralight gas stove

Toaks titanium folding spork

And a 4 or 8oz gas canister like this one, depending on how long I'll be going for. Don't get the gas canisters online though, get them at a camping or outdoors store, they'll be cheaper.

Honestly, that's all I need for solo backpacking. If you're backpacking with other people, you would maybe need a bigger pot (like 800 or 900ml), but I prefer to use the smaller one and make batches of food if need be. If I'm going car camping, I can bring more stuff as needed (cups, mugs, bowls, etc).

You don't need to get the exact items I have, but basically just ask for a simple, ideally ultralight gas canister stove, cooking pot (ideally titanium, not stainless steel), and a lightweight spork.

I also don't think you need tupperware unless you're car camping. When I backpack, I bring primarily dried foods that require not much cooking (asian style noodles, oatmeal, couscous, etc), and augment with some packaged tuna or chicken (in a bag, not a can) and spices. You can browse through /r/trailmeals for inspiration on cooking while camping.

I think that as a financier yeah even the gov't should exercise discretion on what it can and cannot fund. However I think it's pretty immature for that government to limit culture based on something so tame as nudity. However, that can be just as applicable to the performance. A nude performance just to act in the nude doesn't really sound like it adds anything other than to be a cheap gimmick. Nude Shakespeare had this problem cause that's all it did. But others that took Shakespeare and blended it with other media or "modernized" it actually had to exercise thought into why it held a purpose.

Not to say all nude performance is just that empty of substance outside of its nudity. But it really is up to the creator to justify it. Yes, nude is our natural, human state. Art and culture aren't natural, human states, though. They're intellectual expressions. So expecting a creator to validate the intelligence of the piece isn't a bad standard to hold, regardless of its subjectivity.

There is an excellent novel called People of the book based on the story of the Sarajevo Haggadah. I really enjoyed it. After I read it, I spoke with someone I know who works with rare books and she said the novel is very well researched and quite accurate in the portrayal of curating and dealing with the manuscript. I highly recommend it.

• Get a rav kav (refillable bus pass), so you don't get stuck with lots of useless coins every time you take a bus! You can ask the driver of any bus for one, it will run you 20 shekel if i remember correctly. You can give cash to the driver to fill it up as well.
  
• If money is at all an issue, go to the Mahane Yehuda market and get good veggies to cook yourself. This will save you a lot of monetary grief if you know how to cook
  
• Make sure you have the right converters for powering your stuff. Most electronics don't need a transformer, just one of these will do (you can also use the european variety if you already have those on hand)
  
• Have identification on you at all times. Kind of a given for any travel
  
• You'll be able to get around fine on just the English, but if you plan returning to Israel for any extended period of time knowing Hebrew will help a lot.
  
• Avoid bureaucracy at all costs. You're only here for a month, don't waste your time in line.
  
• Dress warm! It isn't necessarily the coldest temperature but it can get very windy.
  
• There's lots of cultural events and stuff always happening in Jerusalem. Find out what they are and go.
  
• Feel free to PM me if you have any questions! (I live in Jerusalem) :)
  
  Note: You'll probably get mistaken for a Christian very often in Jerusalem if you look Asian, because most people from Asia that come to Jerusalem are devout Christians

American Jews actually "invented" the modern comic book/super hero industry as we know it. Back in the day, comic books were seen as a "low class" pursuit for artists and Jews were still being pushed out of various high-societal pursuits. There are actually a lot of Jeiwsh paradigms/themes threaded into the stories of major super heroes. It was a match made in heaven. ;)

Book on the subject if anyone is interested.

"I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever be able to think of Israel in any factual sense."

It is a fact that most of the material about Israel and Palestine is what we can call "advocacy" by partisans of both sides. I would ignore most of the Internet sites, blogs and posting and go for the original source materials prepared by those with less attachment to either side and based on their conversations and observations. To start, I would go to:

1. US Archives--Foreign Relations of the United States. Includes reports from Ambassadors and other US diplomatic officers from Palestine, Israel and other mideast nations. Goes up to early 1960's. The link below covers Palestine and starts in 1947. However the site is fully searchable:
   
   http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?type=article&id=FRUS.FRUS1947v05&did=FRUS.FRUS1947v05.i0016&q1=Jews
   
   You might also want to go to the New York Times Website's archives and read articles on Israel/Palestine going back well before 1948.
   
   A good (and classic) book on Jerusalem and 1948, respected by Jews and Arabs alike, is "O'Jerusalem" by Larry Collins and Dominique LaPierre. Here is a link to Amazon:
   
   http://www.amazon.com/O-Jerusalem-Larry-Collins/dp/0671662414/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394386663&sr=8-1&keywords=O%27Jerusalem
   
   
   

http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Type-2nd-revised-expanded/dp/1568989695/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1320103677&sr=8-3

http://www.amazon.com/Interaction-Color-Expanded-Josef-Albers/dp/0300115954/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320104020&sr=8-1


http://www.amazon.com/Power-Center-Composition-Visual-Anniversary/dp/0520261267/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320103713&sr=8-1 (this one can be a bit esoteric but if you stick with it, its good)

There are also roughly 6 elements to keep in mind when making compositions and you will have to read more about them and seek out examples. they vary depending on where you look but this has some: http://www.wiu.edu/art/courses/handouts/princdesign.html

This also has some good material: http://photoinf.com/General/Robert_Berdan/Composition_and_the_Elements_of_Visual_Design.htm

None of those links are perfect, and they are not quite the way I learned it either, but you should just do exercises to work on them. For example, In a 5x5 square, do compositions using just 10 dots of the same size. Make each composition represent a word such as unity, variety, movement, stillness, and others like that. Thats just a quick example.

Not rude at all :)

Aside from primary sources (yay for learning the Bible in Conservative Jewish day school!) I'd recommend "The Jews: A History". It's a pretty broad-spectrum tome (it only starts losing detail in the late 20th century), but its first chapters are very relevant to the history of these terms. (I'm not saying it's necessarily better than other survey texts, but it's the one my Berkeley Jewish History professor wrote, so that's what I have.)

For example, here's the second paragraph of the first chapter (in the first edition, not the second, since that's what I have):

> One reason it is difficult to fix a clear starting point for Jewish history is that it is not clear what Jewish means exactly and how it relates to or differs from overlapping terms used in the Bible, such as Israelite and Hebrew. The term Jew derives from the name "Judah" or Yehuda, but even in the Hebrew Bible that term has several possible meanings, referring to an Israelite tribe, to a territory in the southern part of Canaan, and also to a kingdom based in this territory and ruled by David and his descendants. After the end of the biblical period, the terms Judean and Jewish acquired still other connotations, coming to signify a particular way of life or adherence to particular beliefs. The term's ambiguity continues to this day, with Jewish signifying a religion for some, for others a cultural or ethnic identity that may not be religious in orientation, and for still others a national identity such as French, Turkish, or American. To fix a single starting point for "Jewish" history would commit us to a specific definition of Jewishness at the expense of other definitions that also have merit.

Maybe you'll respond to this then:

Why do you claim that one needs to live in Israel in order to understand the "facts on the ground". Did one need to live in apartheid South Africa in order to understand the facts on the ground there, or does one need to live in Tibet, or Darfur, etc. etc. to understand the facts on the ground there?

What "blanket statements" and "loaded terms" are you referring to in mredd's posts? Do you think that "occupation" is a loaded term?

You have stated that the British "shipped in tens of thousands of Arabs". What is your source for this unusual claim? I can find no trace of this. E.g., here is a scholarly article, anti-Arab in tone, titled The Smoking Gun: Arab Immigration into Palestine, 1922-1931, and nowhere is there any reference to the British shipping in any Arabs, not to mention tens of thousands of Arabs. Where did you get this? Not even the Wikipedia article on Palestine has anything like this. Pending a clarification from you, one has to assume this was just made up.

You said that the British (allegedly) promoting Arab immigration was "harmful", and imply that if they had promoted Jewish immigration instead, that would have to be considered beneficial and appropriate. Why should anyone think that something that is "harmful" if Arabs can do it, is "beneficial" if Jews can do it?

You claimed that the Arab presence in Palestine only arose in the last two centuries, that they overall are not indigenous to Palestine. Trying hard not to insult you, but this claim was made in the book From Time Immemorial, which was notoriously proven to be a hoax. Do many Israelis such as yourself continue to believe the claims made in that book?

You believe that your being there in Israel gives you what is necessary to achieve the special insights you claim to have. It may be the opposite. You need to step outside your comfortable box. Perhaps residence in Israel, in your case at least, has helped cloud insight, not enhance it. You should get out more.

Hey so similar as in the states, you have plus with two prongs and sometimes the third middle ground that's like a triangle. Here it's all the same size, with the middle one being prong. Whether you need 2 or 3 comes down to the USA electronic you plugging in. If all you charging is phones most only have the typical two flat pins.

But also keep in mind that israel is on 220v vs usa 110v. So while your phone and laptop is dual voltage, things like shavers, blow dryers, etc are not. You'd need a converter/transformer to make it work or it will literally burn out in 10 min.

You can get a pack of 12 adapters for like $10 on amazon Ceptics USA to Europe Asia Plug Adapter High Quality - CE Certified - RoHS Compliant -12 Pack https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0084OIY0M/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_w63qzbA6ZYS77

Even the three prong usa plugs would fit in here with the ground not going into anything. I do it sometimes.... But worst case pick up one 3 prong adapter too.

If you going to charge multiple stuff like phone laptop iPad all at once bring along an American power strip because it's really hard to find one here. Israel only has like 2 outlets in a room, and they are by law higher up than in the states, which is why that power strip comes in super handy.

I would suggest taking all of this is more than a grain of salt. Read more than what these die-hard defenders of Israel will tell you, because they will link you to very simplistic overviews that leave out a considerable amount of information needed to draw an informed conclusion.

There are numerous books that provide a fairly measured look at the history, but finding anything close to an unbiased link from this sub is unthinkable. Now that I have said that, I will look biased as I offer some links, so take these with a grain of salt as well.


Avi Shlaim's has numerous books on the subjects discussed here.
Gregory Harms has a great 'intro' book. [The Palestine-Israel Conflict] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Palestine-Israel-Conflict-Introduction-Edition/dp/0745332137/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381278085&sr=8-1&keywords=gregory+Harms)

John Quigley's [The Case for Palestine] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Case-Palestine-International-Perspective/dp/0822335395/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381278333&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Case+for+Palestine)

If you have access to a journal database link JSTOR, look for authors like Avi Shlaim, Ella Shohat, Yehouda Shenhav, Tom Segev, Benny Morris, Joseph Massad, Aziza Khazzoum, Walid Khalidi, and Michelle Campos.

I know that's a lot suggestions without answers, but there aren't simple answers. If you want to have a discussion, I'd be glad to offer specifics based on my own academic research- but it's difficult to have an honest debate in this sub.

You need a popping machine :)

It's special purpose hair dryer that's fun to watch in action. It's easy and doesn't make a mess.

interesting. "Ottomans and Spanish Arabs loved him." Hah, yea right.. Also, Mizrahi Jews got tossed out pretty quickly from Muslim countries.

On "can actually speak real Hebrew." Ummm modern Hebrew exists from the resurrection of Hebrew in the Pale as well as because of Mizrahi influences.

"Speaks weird German language." Can say the same about Ladino as with Yiddish "speaks weird Spanish language."

Seriously, enough inter-Jewish ethnic divisions. How about good old Jewish unity? Can that ever exist in any form?? We all say the same shema, all follow the same Torah, all are eligible for aliyah, and all would be sent to the same ovens.

O Jerusalem

by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre

https://www.amazon.ca/Jerusalem-Larry-Collins/dp/0671662414/ref=sr_1_1?hvadid=208425627839&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9000439&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=10197744848757891610&hvtargid=kwd-296293639094&keywords=o+jerusalem&qid=1554217974&s=gateway&sr=8-1

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