Nostalgia Sunday – The Holy Land in Stereo

April 5, 2010 - 12:24 AM by · 3 Comments
Filed under: Art, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Nostalgia Sunday, Picture of the Week, Religion, Technology, Travel 

Back before Avatar, kiddies, there was stereoscopy. The technology today seems fairly simple — two separate images printed side-by-side and peered at through the lens of a stereoscope viewer — but the invention was groundbreaking and it was the virtual reality of its day.

The difficult part was providing the public with new and different pictures of faraway places that they could only dream of visiting. Intrepid photographers ventured forth to gather images from such places and, as was to be expected, the Holy Land proved a popular subject.

Take, for example, this glimpse of an “Easter procession of Greek Patriarch, entering the Church of Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem”.

Each Stereoview image came with a descriptive text, such as: “Pilgrims on the Via Dolorosa – the route to Calvary – Jerusalem”.

“Baptising in the Jordan, Palestine”.

These images are gleaned from the World of Stereoviews, an informative website and reasonably priced online shop featuring over 14,000 stereoscopic images dating from the 1850s onwards by well known photographers of the day such as the 1850s views by Francis Frith, B.L. Singley’s Fine Art Photographers’ Publishing Co. and Keystone Views (1890s up until the mid 20th century), the Underwood Company, and M.E. Wright’s Excelsior Publishing (1900s).

“Barley harvest near Bethlehem, Palestine”.

“Jaffa Gate, Jerusalem, from outside”.

The site’s owners, Jenny and Ray Norman note that Wright “was a quirky publisher who either stole or bought images from others… He is known to have produced Middle East views by dressing up his family and taking them in Lancashire – saved the trouble of the journey.” However, these fellows seem to be the real thing!

“Bedouin robbers, wilderness of Judea, near the road to Jericho, Palestine”.

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Road carnage in Israel

July 12, 2009 - 10:32 AM by · 3 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, Crime, General, Israeliness, Life, Travel 

The aftermath of Friday Beit Shemesh crash.

The aftermath of Friday's Beit Shemesh crash.

This carnage on the roads of Israel has to stop. The news over the weekend of a group of drunk Beit Shemesh youth barreling head on into a car driven by an older couple which left six dead is indicative of the level to which we have fallen.

All the jokes about Israelis learning how to drive from manning tanks in the army, or that Israelis drive fast because of the hectic pace of life here have worn thin over the years. The fact of it is that Israelis are horrible, reckless drivers – and I’m talking a mass generalization here of an estimated 50-70% of drivers, not a manageable sub-sector minority.

Three examples. There’s a stop sign near the bus stop on the street next to my house. While waiting for the bus, I play a game of counting how many drivers actually stop, or even pretent to take their foot off the gas. 50% stop and the other 50% slow down a bit, look around and continue right through the intersection.

Example two are Egged bus drivers. Riding a bus home two or three nights a week on five miles of downhill highway (partially through a tunnel), I’m amazed at the speeds which the drivers achieve. As far as I know the speed limit is 80 km (55 miles per hour) but, the norm for Egged’s finest is more like 110 km (80 mph). Whenever I’ve queried the drivers (when I’ve been brave enough to open my eyes), they just laugh it off and say “Don’t worry, we’re fine, I’m in perfect control. You want to get home quickly, don’t you?”

The last example is on the Jordan Valley road (Ghandi’s Road) which goes south to north from near Jericho to Beit Shean. It’s got some hairpin turns through the hilly region, and the road isn’t too great to begin with.

The two or three times a year I travel on it at night, I make sure to keep to the speed limit of 80 kmh. Every single car flashes me and passes me (some on the hairpin turns).

I may sound like a crotchety, old driver, but enough’s enough. And the trend of driving while drunk, which until a few years ago was not really a factor in Israel, is like giving terrorists extra ammunition.

As long as drivers in Israel feel invincible and behave like the road is their personal domain, then we’re taking our lives in our hands each time we turn the ignition key. And it’s not just one segment of the population, although a higher percentage of accidents involve men, young drivers, and Arab drivers. But it’s a problem that faces all of us, and it’s not going to go away until everyone takes responsibility for themselves.

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