A Hat for All Seasons!

With the recent release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, came a tidal wave of Indy related merchandise, most of it fun (I have to track down and retrieve my Indiana Jones' M&M guys from my daughters all the time), some of it cheesy (check my blog for my review of the Indiana Jones Adventure Spoon. I'm not kidding) and some of it is not only valuable to the die-hard Indy fan, but also high quality and functional.

The best example of this is the Indiana Jones Outback (Crushable) Wool Felt Hat by Dorfman Pacific. I think some of the negative reviews of this hat are, partly, due to an inadequate description of the product.

The reason it's called "Outback" is that it intentionally has a full 3 inch brim (as opposed to the Indy standard 2 ½ inch brim.) When Raiders of the Lost Ark was being made, the costume designer, Deborah Nadoolman Landis, had to find the "right look" for what would become the signature trademark of the Indy Franchise. In an interview with Raiders.net, Deborah talks about trying on hundreds of hats, before finding the right one:

"When we found one that could be adapted, crown shortened, brim narrowed, I travelled to Herbert Johnson's hatters in Saville Road to find the model which most closely resembled the one in my hand. They offered an "Australian" model - which, with fiddling, became the Indiana Jones fedora."

This "outback" version restores the full brim, while retaining the shorter crown. And, for me, that actually works better. Don't get me wrong, I love the classic Indy hat (keep reading - I've got every version that you can think of) but if you're actually to go to use this hat for more than the occasional costume party, then you need something more practical and durable. The wider brim is more practical for two reasons: sun and rain. Living in Southern California, the sun is obvious. Given recent attention to the dangers of overexposure to the sun and skin cancer, I'm covering up more these days. The rain is less often but, as the old song says, when it rains, it pours. The "crushable" part of the description means just what it says: you can accidentally sit on this hat and, with only a little straightening out, you can bring it back to near show-room condition.

For an example of this, see the picture I uploaded showing my own Indiana Outback - it has a somewhat battered appearance for good reason: just last Monday I was exploring an ancient Peruvian temple in the pouring rain. Well - sort of. I was at Disneyland riding on the Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye ride!

But it was pouring rain, which had two positive benefits: my family and I practically had the place to ourselves (the longest we waited for any ride was 30 minutes) and my Indiana Outback kept my head warm and dry. Just how crushable this hat is was proven after surviving the Temple. It's a hide-speed roller coaster ride and they warn you to cling tight to any valuables (camera, fedoras, children). In the best Indy tradition I clutched my hat in a death grip and it came out the other end of the ride looking like it had been trampled by a herd of wildebeests! After only a few minutes of pulling and shaping I was ready for our next thrilling adventure (I think it was the Winnie the Pooh ride.) Try that with your wool-felt fedora!

The other "version" of the official licensed fedora I like is the Indiana Jones Men's Weathered Cotton Hat - this one also suffers under inadequate product description. It's not just cloth, its oiled sailcloth, the same material that's been a favorite material in hats and dusters for years, prized by American Cowboys and Australian Drovers for its weather proofing and durability. And the weathering makes it look like leather, so it's slightly dressier that you'd think by looking at the picture.

In addition to the four versions of the Indy fedora you can find on Amazon (there's also the standard Indiana Jones Men's Water Repellent Wool Felt Fedora and the pricier Indiana Jones Fur Felt Fedora), there's two more that you'll have to find elsewhere: the Khaki Safari version and the Straw Panama version. I've uploaded a picture of all five of the official versions, in case you're interested.

Dorfman-Pacific licensed about a zillion retailers to peddle these official licensed versions and so you can find a number of vendors on Amazon offering, essentially, the same hat. Shop around and you may be able to save a few dollars. Just be sure somewhere they mention that it's licensed by Dorfman-Pacific. If you're like me, you could end up spending a lot of dough on hats, you'll want to be sure they're the real deal.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Audio CD Review

It's something of a cliché to say that any novel is better than the movie made from it. However, when you consider that this Audio CD is really a novelization based on the script of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, then how good the movie could've been really jumps out at you.

Living in Southern California, I spend a lot of time sitting on freeways. (Notice I didn't say "driving" on freeways.) To make the time lost in rush hour traffic more palatable, I've got a ton of Audio CD's that save me from boredom or the horrors of talk radio.

One of my latest acquisitions was James Rollins' adaptation of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Read by L.J. Ganser, I almost liked it more than the movie.

As with any book, you get more of the "back story" usually based on the internal monologue of the characters. Here you get a lot more. While the movie starts with the break-in at Area 51, Rollins starts his book by answering the question, "how exactly did Indy end up in that trunk?"

In addition you learn what the relationship between Oxley and Marion is and why it estranged Indy from both of them for years. It makes the story of Mutt's relationship with "Ox" more believable. And it even explains why Oxley would retrieve the skull, go all the way to Akator, then turn right around and put it back where he found it, something that was just a little bit vague to me after only having seen the movie.

There's also a chapter in the book where Irina Spalko performs an autopsy on the Roswell alien stolen from Hanger 51 and she discovers that the alien's have a crystalline skeletal structure. It sounds like it could've been a scene in an early draft of the script and goes a long way in explaining the Soviet Union's interest in the subject.

As for the tale itself, Rollins' takes Spielberg's wild tale and keeps you engrossed enough that you don't have time think to yourself "ya gotta be kidding me." Unfortunately, the same wasn't true of the movie.

Spielberg's on-screen fascination with aliens started with Close Encounters of the Third Kind, followed by the Sci-Fi Channel mini-series Taken and, unfortunately, ended up as the main plot-point in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I don't have a problem with alien movies, per se, but there were so many tortured premises in the movie that I personally felt that it detracted from what could've been a much more successful (certainly more easily understood) tale.

Given Lucas' penchant for making movies in threes, I'd hoped for at least one more Indiana Jones movie. But given the relatively lukewarm response, even from die-hard Indy fans, I'll be surprised if another script is green-lighted (as they say in Variety-speak.) Hopefully, I'm wrong. The movie came in with so much build-up, and so much anticipation, that perhaps nothing could've lived up to the expectations of the fans.

Back to the Audio CD, there was one reference to "retinal scans" that was so out of period that I noticed it. Sure the idea was around in 1935, but the first actual device wasn't invented until 1975.

But I'm nit-picking. Science Fiction, whether read, heard on an Audio CD, or seen in a movie requires a suspension of disbelief; at least if you're going to do more than just roll your eyes and groan, "ya gotta be kidding me!"

Rollins tells a good tale and L.J. Ganser does an excellent job performing all of the spoken parts. It's a great way to pass the time stuck in gridlock. Personally, I'd much rather be following Dr. Jones' latest adventure, instead of worrying about getting to that meeting on time.

Thanksgiving Recipes: Chicken Rustica over Penne Pasta

Being Italian by osmosis, sometimes our holiday menu's are a little different. Christmas and New Years is usually either lasagna or "Italian Enchiladas." Thanksgiving is the exception, where we do the traditional Turkey and Ham (I'll be up at 5 AM tomorrow to smoke the ham over mesquite! It don't get any better than that.)

But, Mary being a nurse, she usually ends up working one major holiday or the other (Darn sick people!). This year it's Thanksgiving. So, we'll celebrate the holiday tomorrow, when we can get the tutta la famiglia together. Which leaves the kids at the mercy of Dad's cooking for dinner. Since this is the first day off I've had in about three months, I'm not going to get too crazy. I'm a big fan of crockpot recipes that you can throw together and ignore all day while they cook for you.

Today we're having Bistecca Pizzaiola, Pineapple Ricotta Pie, and Chicken Rustica over Penne Pasta.

Chicken Rustica

• 2 1/4 pounds boneless chicken breasts, cut in 1-inch strips
• 1 1/2 tablespoon real bacon bits or crumbled cooked bacon
• 1 1/2 can (14.5 ounce size) diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 1/2 can (15 ounce size) artichoke hearts, quartered
• 1 1/2 can (4 oz size) sliced mushrooms, drained
• 1 1/2 envelope dry chicken gravy mix
• 3/8 cup dry red wine
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• Penne Pasta

Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker; stir to combine. Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours. Serve over Penne pasta.

Buon appetito!

BECKHAM '08!

And I don't mean the soccer guy...

Behind the Scenes Footage from Indy 4

Yet another attempt to glom onto the Indiana Jones Juggernaut, the Mystery of the Crystal Skulls. Although the UFO angle is looking more and more likely...

The Archaeological Institute of America has printed a really excellent article addressing real life Crystal Skulls.

Also, Indy has his own magazine.

Travel the Indy Way!

A couple of travel company's have jumped on the Indy 4 bandwagon and are offering tours designed to let you experience some of the excitement of the world's greatest adventurer.

Expedia is offering what they're calling Indiana Jones Travel Experiences, a series of 10 tours each with some (often strained) connections to one of the movies or the three year run of Young Indiana Jones series. Strangely enough, the Southwestern US tour is the most expensive. But the other tours are fascinating, taking you to such exotic locales as Egypt, Jordan, Cancun, etc.

A Spain-Based company is offering what they're calling "Viajes Con Imaginación" (Vacations With Imagination). They've taken the tour one step farther, combining elements of dinner theater with travel to exotic locations. So, not only can you tour the pyramids, but you may have to fend off a scimitar swinging ruffian.

I've been promising the wife a cruise for some time now....

Ford and Willis voted best action heroes

Obviously, I'm not surprised at Harrison Ford's nomination. But Bruce Willis? I was a young cop in the 80's and never thought Willis' John McClane anywhere near as interesting or well developed as a character as Ford's Indiana Jones. Being a cop made me look especially hard at on screen depictions of police, which, most of the time, just pissed me off.

Cops are generally depicted in the movies as either hopelessly corrupt, suicidal dare-devils, or, at best, lone-ranger vigilantes who persevere despite the ineptitude of the rest of the force.

Joseph Wambaugh, who's actually been there and done that, is the exception and I'd walk a beat with his cops any day.

On the other hand, scientists, except for the freaks creating monsters from dead bodies, or trying to take over the world, are generally portrayed in a relatively positive light.

And, as everybody knows, archaeologists are accurately portrayed by Indiana Jones.

For some funny (and generally accurate) cop stereotypes, look here!

Indiana Jones Adventure Spoon!

The hype for the new Indiana Jones Movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is in full-throated roar and you can hardly walk through a Kwiki-Mart or grocery store without being confronted by loud adverts screaming movie tie-ins. Yesterday I found my new favorite (well, until I find something else), the Indiana Jones Adventure Spoon!

Definitely a collector's item!

Kellogg has a whole slew of promotional items. Go to their search page, enter "indiana jones" and you'll be taken to descriptions of the Indiana Jones Search Light, the Indiana Jones Canteen, and a couple of DVD offers.

Movie tie-ins like this are a huge source of profits for movie-makers and the entire concept was pioneered by Amblin/Dreamworks, starting with Star Wars. I remember saving my pennies up to buy all the little character figures, Millennium Falcon models, and so forth. By the time the first Indiana Jones movie caught on, anyone who had anything to sell was trying their best to catch some of the movies reflected success.




For some truly awful (but tasty) movie tie-ins, go here.

Inshallah

I've long thought that one of the unintended consequences of our presence in Iraq would be a sort of cross-cultural pollinization. During the first Desert Storm, we weren't in the Middle East long enough to do more than wreck things and take a few pictures. After five years in Iraq, thousands of service men and women will have begun to assimilate the culture and bring those experiences and beliefs back home with them. Inevitably, some of those mores will creep into stateside popular culture.

I'm just old enough to remember when this happened after the Vietnam war. There was a heightened interest in Buddhism (particularly after Buddhist monks began immolating themselves as a protest against the war) and phrases like beaucoup dinky dau (a mash up of French and Vietnamese dien cai dao, meaning "crazy in the head") became common slang.

Recently, I was talking to a friend's son who'd returned from two tours that added up to about three years of his life. At some point in the conversation I said something to which he replied, Inshallah.

I recognized the term, but his mom didn't and he had to explain that it'd become common slang among the troops and essentially meant, who knows?

Maybe that's the way the troops are using the phrase, but that's not what it means. Most English translations render it, God willing (from the Latin Deo volante), but the Arabic usage is more specific: not just a hope for the some future occurrence, but an acknowledgment that all of human destiny is subject to the will of Allah.

An Autumn 2007 article in American Scholar talks about the recent adoption of Inshallah among American troops in Iraq. While I specifically disagree with the author's definition of the term as he claims it's used by Iraqi's (and his conclusion in general) he did get one thing right:

To Americans the future is malleable, and it lies in our human hands to shape. Options are always on the table. At the end of his adventures, Huck Finn says “no thanks” to “sivilizin’” and decides to “light out for the territory” to the west. Baseball, the national sport, has no fixed time limit; a game could theoretically continue in extra innings forever. We nurture venture capitalists, but also a breed of “venture philanthropists” bent on bringing forth the novus ordo seclorum— a “new order of the ages”— proclaimed on our dollar bills. The ending of The Sopranos may have dissatisfied some viewers, but it left open the door to multiple imagined futures, American-style. In a passage in one of his newly published Notebooks, Robert Frost contrasts the sensibility on the opposing shores of the North Atlantic. He describes Europe as clotted with an overabundance of culture, and writes of America: “Our most precious heritage is what we haven’t in our possession— what we haven’t made and so have still to make.” As our TV announcers say, “Stay tuned!”

To Americans, the future is undefined - to Muslims the future has been ordained by Allah and man can do little to change it.

Inshallah has it's roots in the Qur'an, Surah Al Kahf, 23-24:

And never say, regarding any matter: I will do this tomorrow" -
But only: "If GOD pleases" and remember your Lord if you forget, and say "It may be that my Lord will guide me nearer to righteousness."

(You can find minor differences in the various English translations of the Qur'an. My copy is The Glorious Qur’an: Text and Translation by Dr. Ahmad Zidan.)

It's revealing in that I've come to understand that Islam is, in addition to being a religion, is also a way of life permeating every facet of the Muslim's daily life.

A couple of thoughts about what this means for the future.

First, Islam is the fastest growing religion on earth and, in particular, in America.

In the United States, for example, nearly 80 percent of the more than 1,200 mosques have been built in the past 12 years.

Some scholars see an emerging Muslim renaissance as Islam takes root in many traditionally Christian communities.

The American military, reflecting the same pressures is also increasingly Muslim. I recently received word from a friend I served with that, on his first tour in Iraq, he'd converted to Islam and sent me the translation of the Qur'an I have. He urged me to read the Qur'an, along with some pamphlets about Islam - this was his way of practicing da'wah.

The word "Da'wah" in Arabic simply means to invite to something. When it is used in conjunction with Islam it is understood to mean "Inviting to the Way of submission and surrender to Allah."

This also has it's roots in the Qur'an, Surah An-Nahl 125:

Call mankind to the Way of your Lord with wisdom and sound advice, and reason with them in a well mannered way. Indeed your Lord is aware of those who have gone astray from His Way, and He is well aware of those who are guided.

About a month ago, I was at the Tyler Mall and two young men from the Islamic Center of Corona/Norco had set up a table with a banner advertising the website, WhyIslam.org. They were handing out copies of the Qur'an and explaining Islam to anyone who would listen. They were polite, clean-cut, and reminded me of me, years before, when I was a junior pastor in the Pentecostal Young Peoples Association.

I won't say it was a life-changing experience, but it did get me to thinking. We're going to see a growing Islamic presence in the United States and greater societal acceptance. True Islam will become better understood as American's learn to differentiate between the followers of the Sunnah and the fanatical few that have hijacked the trappings of Islam to serve their own violent agendas.

The barbarism that is happening in the world today under the name of "Islamic Terrorism" is completely removed from the moral teachings of the Qur'an; it is the work of ignorant, bigoted people, criminals who have nothing to do with religion. The solution which will be applied against these individuals and groups who are trying to commit their deeds of savagery under the guise of Islam, will be the instruction of people in the true moral teaching of Islam.

I didn't mean for this to be so long, so I'll just bottom-line it here:

• Our veterans returning from Iraq will have a decidedly different view of the Middle East and it's cultures than most Americans (note that I'm not saying that it will be uniformly positive.)
  
• Islam will continue to grow in the American population and it's military.
• With this growth, as a nation we will see that Muslims are not just some boogie-man stereotype "over there," but our neighbors and coworkers.
• As we get to know our Muslim brothers and sisters, we'll learn to differentiate between true Islam and the barbarians who claim it's mantle.
• Expediting that understanding, by study and contemplation, can only help us learn to coexist not just in America, but in the world, where every nation is dealing with it's own version of the same situation.

A parting thought. If you get a chance, go to YouTubeIslam.com and search up the videos of Yusuf Estes. He's a former fundamentalist preacher converted to Islam. I enjoy his talks because he's a Texan (and talks with a twang) and his style is that of the old-time tent revival preachers I grew up with. In particular I recommend his explanation of Islam.

Related Links

Islam Tomorrow: Home Site of Yusuf Estes

Islam Denounces Terrorism

Islamic Center of Riverside

IslamiCity.com

Best YouTube videos for Wetshaving

Mantic59 has a slew of great videos on wet shaving, all very informative for the newbie DE shaver. Below is Mantic's introduction to Traditional Wet Shaving.




Check it out and your on your way to a better way to shave!

More Shave Geekery

As I've blogged before, one of the real joys I have in my morning routine is a good old fashioned wet shave with a straight razor. And now, thanks to that wonderful resource for a excellent shaving experience, Lee's Razors, there's a inexpensive way to get your start in the wonderful world of wet shaving.

The proprietor, Lee Cantor, is offering the Greenhorn Straight Razor Deluxe Shaving Package for newbies who're interested, but not willing to invest a fortune to get started. Starting at $99 (you can choose to upgrade your brush, or add a strop or paddle stone) you get a Dovo Straight Razor, Vulfix Shaving Brush, two different pucks of Colonel Conk's Shaving Soaps, Shaving Mug, and Brush Stand.

What makes this such an outstanding deal is the Dovo straight razor. When it comes to shaving, your razor is where you don't want to go cheap and Dovo makes one of the finest razors in the wet shaving world. Dovo razors, all by themselves, start at $97 and can run as much as almost $400.

Colonel Conk's, despite the corny name, makes some of my favorite shaving soaps. They smell like unconditional love and whip up into a hot, frothy lather that you'll want to let soak in for a little while.

So if you're interested in wet shaving, this a great way to get all the basics. As I've warned before, be very, very careful with anything as sharp a Dovo razor. You've been warned.

And Lee's customer service is phenomenal. After placing my order I received an email confirming my request, providing a tracking number and it arrived, priority mail in about three days - that's service! So, while there's a lot of specialty shaving sites out there, I really can recommend Lee's to anyone.

A couple of great blogs for beginners are at WetShaving.net (where they have some really good tutorials) and my current favorite website, Badger and Blade. If you have plenty of time to kill it turns out that there's about a zillion YouTube videos concerning wet-shaving!

Indiana Jones IV Trailer

In this trailer, Indy says: "It's not as easy as it used to be" - ain't it the truth. Still, Indy's back and has aged well. For those of us who were fans in the 80's and 90's it's encouraging news.




The movie premieres on May 22nd - just in time for my birthday. I can't wait.

Other States get Snow Drifts...

...in Southern California, we get tumbleweed drifts...
On the other hand, we never get a snow day!

Fred Thompson is Chuck Norris!!

Fred Thompson is Chuck Norris!

• There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of animals Fred Thompson allows to live.
• When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Fred Thompson.
• When Fred Thompson does a push up, he isn’t lifting himself up, he’s pushing the Earth down.
• Fred Thompson can slam a revolving door.
• The French surrendered to Fred Thompson just to be on the safe side.
• Some people wear Superman pajamas. Superman wears Fred Thompson pajamas.

Who knew?

Holiday Candy Cane Cake

This isn't a recipe so much as an activity. Christy and me used up a cold afternoon in a warm kitchen with this one. A much better cake decorator than me can really make this look snappy. Actually, a drunken Capuchin using only it's tail could do a better job, which is just another reason I tend to stick to pies. As it was, we just took it Grandpa & Grandma's and most of it was gone the same night.

• 1 packaged yellow or white cake mix. We used a Duncan Hines butter recipe white cake mix
• 1 cup milk
• 1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract (depending on whether or not you like peppermint. Be careful how much you use; a little is okay - too much is overpowering. )
  
• 2 tubs of white frosting. This sounds like a lot of frosting, but you're going to be using it to "glue" parts of the cake together, so better to have too much than not enough.
  
• 2 to 3 rolls of that strawberry fruit stuff called, "fruit-by-the-foot."
  

Heat oven to 350°F. The recipe calls for generously greasing a bundt cake pan with shortening - but who has actually has shortening laying around? For this cake, I've never had any success with the various no-stick sprays you can buy, so instead I'll lightly coat the inside of the pan with butter, which works just fine, thank you. Lightly flour.

While the oven is heating up, I'll place the cream cheese on the range, towards the back, where the heat vents just a little - but not too much. By the time the oven is heated up, the cheese is soft enough to beat. (Children may be confused and say something silly, like, "you're putting cheese in the cake?!" Ignore them. This step makes for a much tastier and moist cake.)

Beat cake mix, milk, cream cheese, vanilla and eggs in a large bowl with electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute, scraping bowl as you go. Beat on medium speed another 2 minutes, or until you can pour into the pan.

Bake about 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes; then loosen sides with a knife and turn upside down onto wire rack and remove pan. Allow to cool completely, about 1 hour.

To assemble, cut the cake in half crosswise. Place half of the cake on a serving plate to form the crook of a candy cane. Cut the remaining half into 5 equal pieces (about 2-inches wide).

This next part is optional and, depending on my mood, I'll go easy with it (which can give you just a hint of peppermint) or do away with it entirely. It just depends on how big a fan of peppermint you are. I can take it or leave it. Stir half of the peppermint extract into each tub of frosting. Attach the cut pieces to the crook of candy cane with frosting, alternating pieces to form the straight part of the cane. Frost cake.

To decorate, arrange strips of fruit snack rolls on cake to look like stripes on a candy cane. Since I'm doing this with my kids, we tend to get a little creative, though you're going to have to work hard to restrain an 11 year-old armed with red and green sugar crystals.

And voilà! You have a fun and tasty treat for any holiday occasion.

WARNING: New Home Improvement Scam

A friend just wrote to warn me about a new scam happening in the parking lot of home improvements store:

Just passing on a warning for all you guys who shop at Home Depot--

"Over the last month I became a victim of a clever scam while shopping at Home Depot. Simply going out to get supplies has turned out to be quite traumatic. Don't be naive enough to think it couldn't happen to you or your friends.

Here's how the scam works:

Two seriously good-looking 20-21 year-old girls come over to your car as you are packing your shopping items into the trunk. They both start wiping your windshield with a rag and Windex, with their chests almost falling out of their skimpy T-shirts. It is impossible not to look. When you thank them and offer them a tip, they say 'No' and instead ask you for a ride to another Home Depot or Lowe's. You agree and they get in the back seat.

On the way, they start undressing. Then one of them climbs over into the front seat and starts crawling all over you, while the other one steals your wallet.

I had my wallet stolen Nov 4th, 9th, 10th, twice on the 15th, 17th, 20th, & 24th. It happened three times just yesterday and is very likely again this upcoming weekend.

So tell your friends to be careful."

I'd comment on this, but I'm on my way to Ace Hardware...

Walls of Nehemiah Found

In one of the greatest stories of leadership ever told, Nehemiah tells the story of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. The city has been destroyed and rebuilt several times over it's 2,500 year old history. However, evidence for the biblical account has been lacking.

A report in the Israeli publication, The Trumpet, says such evidence has been discovered:

Archaeologists who reject the biblical narrative or who believe the historical account is, at best, grossly exaggerated sometimes point to the wall Nehemiah is said to have built around Jerusalem during the 5th century b.c. and ask why none of its remains have ever been discovered.

Now those remains are beginning to turn up.

Dr. Mazar was introduced yesterday as the first speaker at the conference. Walking up to the podium without the benefit of any notes, she delivered an impassioned, persuasive 30-minute presentation straight from the heart. She spoke about the fantastic discoveries made at the palace during the last two years: the 5-meter-wide wall, the rooms, the collections of metal industry, the pottery and the bullae. She concluded by revealing the details about her most recent find: a tower from a wall that Nehemiah built.

After hearing about the great affliction of the Jews in Jerusalem, that the city walls were broken down and the gates burned, Nehemiah appealed to God for intervention. At the time, he was serving in the court of Artaxerxes as a cupbearer. When the king inquired about his distress, Nehemiah said he had a heavy heart because “the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire” (Nehemiah 2:3). He asked the king for a leave of absence so that he might coordinate several construction projects in Jerusalem. Nehemiah made this request in the 20th year of Artaxerxes, or about 445 b.c. (see Nehemiah 2:1).

The king granted his request and provided enough materials for Nehemiah to rebuild the gates of the temple, the wall around the city and a house for himself. A few Bible commentaries speculate that the house Nehemiah built for himself in Jerusalem might have been where David’s palace once stood. Even though the Babylonians had left the entire city in ruin early on in the 6th century b.c., Nehemiah knew right where David’s palace had been built (see Nehemiah 12:37). Wherever he chose to build his home, it must have been the size of a royal palace. While rebuilding, the Bible records, Nehemiah invited 150 construction workers to join him for dinner at his table (Nehemiah 5:16-19).


In Nehemiah 3, you can read a detailed account of the wall’s reconstruction. Nehemiah refers to 10 gates in the chapter. In verse 1, he mentions the northern entrance to the city—the Sheep Gate, where animals were brought into the temple for sacrifices. After that, Nehemiah describes the rest of the gates on the wall in order, moving around the western side of the city in a counter-clockwise direction and then up the eastern side back to the north end of the city.

By the time he gets to the Fountain Gate in verse 15, the passage becomes much more descriptive. “But the gate of the fountain repaired Shallun … and the wall of the pool of Siloah by the king’s garden, and unto the stairs that go down from the city of David.” The Fountain Gate, also referred to as the Spring Gate today, was located somewhere near the Gihon Springs, which is a short walk south from where Dr. Mazar’s palace excavations are going on.

In verse 16, Nehemiah mentions the tombs of the kings of Judah, which have not yet been discovered today. But putting Nehemiah’s description together with what Dr. Mazar keeps finding in the City of David, they must be close by.

Many of the landmarks described in Nehemiah’s book can now be clearly identified today thanks in large part to the work of Eilat Mazar. She has been working hard and fast, just as Nehemiah did 2,500 years ago. Nehemiah’s frantic pace resulted in his crew completing the wall in 52 days (Nehemiah 6:15), which might explain why the tower began to collapse over the summer!

While he was working, Nehemiah had to withstand the attacks of numerous critics who were determined to slow down his progress (Nehemiah 4:8). Yet he kept right on building, working with a hammer in one hand and a weapon in the other (Nehemiah 4:17-18).

Chuck Swindoll has written an excellent book using Nehemiah's example as a model of leadership in "Hand Me Another Brick."

You can read more here, here, here, and here.

Southern (California) Ham & Beans

A traditional Thanksgiving (at least in my house) includes two main dishes: Turkey and a spiral cut, honey glazed ham (somewhere around here I have a great recipe for apricot glaze - but that's a recipe for another blog.).

After the inevitable turkey and ham sandwiches, you're left with a nice big ham hock, covered with plenty of meat, but no single piece large enough to justify slapping it between two pieces of bread.

So as not to waste all that yummy goodness, we'll save that hock; sometimes wrapping it up and freezing it until we want to use it later, but more often I'll make a big pot of my SoCal style ham and beans. Even if you're still full after the Thanksgiving gorging, these beans can easily be packaged up in nice dinner sized packages and frozen until you want them later for an easy to fix, and filling, side dish or even main course. Having lived in Southern California most of my life, I've learned that there's very few things that can't be heated up and slapped in to a flour tortilla and made delicious with enough Tapatío. These beans fall into that category.

This is also a crock pot recipe, meaning that you can put it together in the morning and let it simmer all day with only minimal attention until it's time to eat. In fact, you have to - I'm big on easy and most crock pot recipes are, at a minimum, easy. For this you're going to need a medium-to-large slow cooker: I've got two, one big enough to roast a pig and a more practical four-quart. I use the smaller one for most everything.

Your main ingredients are pinto beans and a left-over ham hock. Don't buy a ham-hock from the store and expect to get a whole lot of meat from it. The expert butchers who work those over are skilled at taking all the meat off, right down to the bone. So, while you'll get the flavor, you won't get a lot of the meat that makes this filling enough to use as a main course. And don't worry if your thanksgiving left over ham hock doesn't look like it has a lot on it: there's more than you can see just waiting to be liberated from it's bony prison.

On to the recipe! It's best if you start this first thing in the morning:

• Place your ham hock in the slow cooker and turn on to high simmer.
• Add two cups of pinto beans.
• Add four cups water
  

A word about beans: always check these thoroughly for "bad" beans and rocks. The beans you get in the store are thoroughly sifted (I hope) but there always seems to be a few rocks and just plain ugly beans that sneak though the process. I always measure my beans out onto a plate and shuffle through them until I'm confident I've got all the tooth-crunching surprises out of the lot. As I inspect the beans, I put them into a colendar for rinsing. Some people will steep these over night, but, just personally, I find this leaves the beans too "mushy" for my taste. I like a little "chewiness" but not too much. Inspecting, rinsing, and simmering all day gives me what I consider just the right texture.

• Mince in four lobes of garlic. (five-sixths of my family is Italian. Senza l'aglio, non è solo lo stesso!)
• Add a large brown onion
• Cut-up a red bell pepper and a yellow bell pepper (not too fine). Rinse to remove any seeds and add to mix.

Just FYI, green bell peppers are just unripened red, yellow, etc., bells. They tend to be a little less sweet and a little hotter that the fully ripened fruit. I also find the red bell peppers to be sweeter than the yellow.

• Add two cans of stewed tomatoes.

Depending on what I'm planning for these beans I'll sometimes get the Italian-style (flavored with onions, sweet peppers, garlic, oregano, olive oil and sugar) or the Mexican-styled stewed tomatoes (flavored with onions, celery, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and Tapatío.) Just ordinary stewed tomatoes work just fine, but lack the spicier flavor SoCal natives enjoy.

• Let simmer all day long.

After it's had time to steep, say four or five hours later, I'll add a table spoon of corn starch to thicken it up. And that's all there is to it. Also, just a teaspoon of baking soda will make the beans creamier and less gassy - but what's the sport in that?!!

Following this recipe gives you a hearty, slightly spicy, concoction that's good as a burrito, a side dish or just a bowl-full as a main course. My wife and I enjoy the many vegetables in it and my kids will smother it with shredded cheese and make a meal out of it.

Best Fire Video Blog

In addition to it getting hot again and, thanks to the fire season, everything smelling like a camp out, I've picked up some bug and been sick as a dog. So, having nothing better to do, I've been trying to keep up on the fire situation.

According to Fox 11 News, 500,000 people have been evacuated, 1,300 structures destroyed, and about 640 square miles have burned to the ground.

The good news is the wind appears to have slowed down (at least enough that my cats are venturing out again) and hopefully crews can get these things under control.



I've also found a really good blog, the Firefighter Spot, which hosts tons of fire info, pictures and videos.

The Governor has set up a web page addressing the 2007 fire season, it's called "Battling California's Wildfires" and it's pretty up to date.

Something that's always worried me about this time of year is how easy it would be for some nut job to set these fires for kicks and how many of them are arson. The Sun reports at least one investigation is pointing to arson.

Check out the InciWeb: Incident Information System website for really good info on incidents in progress.

And, just to keep everything interesting, we also a had a 4.3 earthquake this morning.

Now, I'm dragging myself back to bed...

Fire Season

California's four season are hot, wind, fire and riot. In fact, we're thinking of changing the name from "State of California" to "State of Emergency."

Depending on which weather report you read, winds are predicted to die down around 6 PM tonight or sometime tomorrow.

LA County fire has a great interactive map showing all of the fires (more than a dozen at last count). Clicking on any particular fire will give you details on that fire's status. So far, only one, the Big Bear fire, is 100% contained. The Sun, Daily Bulletin, and Redlands Daily Facts have pooled their resources to put together a composite Fire & Wind Coverage Blog.

A brief round-up of Inland Empire reports (as of 5 AM):

• Fontana Herald-News - Fire burns 300 acres in northern Fontana; no injuries reported
• Desert Sun - Calif. wildfires force mass evacuations
• Desert Sun - Coachella Valley joins wildfire relief efforts
• Redlands Daily Facts - Redlands offers emergency services aid to area hit by fires
• Press Enterprise - Firestorm: More than 135 homes in the S.B. mountains are consumed
• The Sun - Nearly 128 Homes Have Burned