Random Musings

Today (9/17/24), around 3000 pagers exploded more or less simultaneously in Lebanon. The pagers were used by members of Hezbollah. Pagers are more secure than mobile phones, which is why these members were using them.

In recent years I’ve often seen articles and posts about the possibility of “terraforming” Mars. Terraforming is the attempt to change a planet’s environment to make the planet more habitable by humans. The hope is that some day people could live on that planet without requiring special protective gear.

In an effort to distinguish between ordinary, civilized Muslims, and those terrorists who commit atrocities in the name of Islam, a new label has been created. Those murderers are not Muslims; they are Islamists. I don’t think this is a valid distinction.

There is a custom among some Muslim women to wear a veil that covers all of her face except for her eyes. This is called a niqab. In western countries, some efforts have been made to ban this custom, at least in public places. It has been met with vehement anger, often accusing the proponents of the ban of “Islamophobia.”

Iran has publicly announced that, through its proxy Hezbollah, it will target Israeli civilians when it launches its retaliatory attacks. To which I say, “no shit.”

On July 27th, 2024, a rocket fired from Lebanon by Hezbollah killed twelve children playing soccer in a field at Majdal Shams. Normally when children are killed in war, they are identified as children. The outrage of civilian deaths in war is bad enough; when it is children, it is especially brutal. Unless the kids are Israelis.