David beats Goliath and builds hilltop city--archeological find now open to public

David's city, built after victory over Goliath and the Philistines.

Nearby on the hill are many ancient, random carob and fig trees, with sweet fragrant fruit and crunchy pods, completely free for the picking.

This is a rich land, where the planters of these trees gave gifts to us across the centuries.


Fascinating article on the city's history and the dig.
in-a-palace-at-qeifaya-david-savored-his-victory-over-goliath/

R&D expenditures as a percent of GDP - Israel is unique

Somehow, despite everything, our social systems 

encourage people to contribute inventions for the world's benefit

I tell Moses: "Do your homework." 

Sderot social services - a well-guarded castle

A castle keep

The Sderot social services seems pretty much overbooked. I have called and visited and left messages saying we are in a situation here, I am getting too weak to do many daily things, and my business is hardly booming with all these booms overhead, etc....and there has been no response.

So today I went again and pounded on the locked door until they opened it. After that, a social worker explained that they keep their door locked and don't post their public hours on the door because otherwise "it would be chaos." In other words, they would be swamped with people coming and asking for money every day. She seemed to have a lot of experience in patiently telling people that the social workers do not dispense money. OK, she is correct, that is not really what social workers are supposed to do. But this is some barometer of the state of affairs among Sderot's people. Honestly I think we are better off than many of them.

However, one thing I hate is politicians making empty promises when TV cameras are rolling, and then the promises never materialize. So such promises were made during the war--yes, yes, we will help the people of the South around Gaza, we will support those who were displaced, and provide compensation to affected businesses...blah blah blah sounds so good and responsible of them when the cameras are rolling. So as I go about my various inquiries at government offices here, I make sure to ask whether or not they have any responsibility for accepting claims for compensation from the promised funds. They all say no. I think, then, that the politicians must have been imagining things. Meanwhile, the money that they imagined has not materialized here in any way. If I find I am wrong, I will try to report that here some day.

And I recall reading that the people in Gaza have gotten dispensations of $40 million. In cash. From their people in Qatar.

[update the next day]
So the social services did a sudden turnaround after I posted the post above, and their intake guy called me up and began the intake process. My main takeaway was a tough one--unless you are injured at work, it is very tough to get disability, crippling arthritis may not be enough. The easiest way to get all kinds of disability benefits is to convince the government that you are subject to mental illness. They volunteered this information. I think the incidence of PTSD among residents here is extremely high, so maybe it is expected that people will take such a path.

I credit them for their unexpected responsiveness, even though I don't much care for this policy.

The full intake will not happen for another several weeks. The lag between an inquiry and the opening of a new case is roughly two or three months.

School year starts

School boys clapping to greet Netanyahu, who came to school to encourage them.

Bibi among the children.

Video: Bibi visits Sderot schools at start of school year

So after a summer of uncertainty about whether children could even start school on September 1, or would have to start and go through the whole year under fire... we had a week of quiet, no rockets. We managed to get through the normal pre-school rush of organizing books, clothes, supplies, haircuts, all the while calming the slightly jittery nerves of a kid who is changing schools. The ordinary is like a miracle.

Everything has worked out fine, so far. It is not every day that the PM comes to school.  All the excitement! When things calm down tomorrow, the adjustment will begin.