(no subject)

Jenin 'massacre' reduced to death toll of 56
(Washington Times [I previously wrote Post -- sorry!])

JENIN, West Bank — Palestinian officials yesterday put the death toll at 56 in the two-week Israeli assault on Jenin, dropping claims of a massacre of 500 that had sparked demands for a U.N. investigation.

[...]
The destruction, pictured graphically on television, appeared linked to Israeli bulldozing of the houses from which the remnant of the resistance forces were firing.

In fact, it covers the size of a large football field and constitutes only about 10 percent of the housing in the camp, and a far smaller proportion of the housing in the city, which was largely left untouched by the Israeli incursion.

[...]
The propaganda war continues, meanwhile, in the refugee camp itself. Families whose homes had been destroyed were ordered to sit and lie inside tents pitched near the destruction, to be available for interviews and filming with foreign reporters and photographers. At dusk, with the press opportunities concluded, they returned to houses offered to them in the undamaged city or in the rest of the refugee camp.


Full article

(no subject)

I always get a little nervous when contractors say "hmm, I think I can do that" to what I thought were simple questions. But the electrician we had in this morning says that yes, he believes he can add the new outlets we need in what will be my office, on a different circuit from where the air conditioner will go, and that he can put appropriate outlets in the new TV room. (This room currently has no outlets. How in the world did that ever pass inspection?)

A different contractor will be by in a few weeks to do some minor remodelling in the new TV room, so he'll be able to patch up any holes left by the electrician at the same time. Then we can go out and buy furniture, and maybe even a new TV. The current TV is starting to get flaky, and it's a little small for the current state of my vision anyway, and it's so old that it can't handle a DVD player. So we may enter the 1990s in terms of television technology. :-) (We're pretty sure we don't give a hoot about HDTV, at least at current prices.)

It's funny: I thought Dani was joking when he said he wanted to window-shop for TVs and gravitated toward the large flat-screen models. I think Dani has a secret vice he's been reluctant to let me see, as he is actually driving this more than I am.