Wikipedia: The Church of the Nativity (Arabic: كنيسة المهد‎) in Bethlehem is one of the oldest continuously operating churches in the world. The structure is built over the cave that tradition marks as the birthplace of Christ, and it is considered sacred by followers of both Christianit...

Here’s the first of SMBI 2009 Night of Music. There are two limitations. You need to go to the Vimeo site to view it in HD. Also I can only upload one HD video per week. If people want to donate $60 for me to get a Pro account to remove those limitations, I won’t refuse. My PayPal is han...

WhitePages.com has an interesting feature that gives statistics on last names. The results for my four last names (the last names of my grandparents) were hardly surprising, but interesting nonetheless. Mast: There are 7,975 unique ‘Mast’ last names in the United States. Mast is the # 3,...

More and more scientists are defecting from the cult of global warming: In early September, I began noticing a string of news stories about scientists rejecting the orthodoxy on global warming. Actually, it was more like a string of guest columns and long letters to the editor since it is hard for s...

Nothing quite like transporting a tree with a bike A unique parking meter system eliminates the need for meter maids and makes sure that you pay before you drive away The subway The trucks in the foreground are trucks for riot police We bought a tour with camels that had admission to the pyramids &#...

As we travel through Europe, we have felt the effects of the Euro 2008 football tournaments. When Turkey beat Croatia, hundreds of Turkish fans marched and drove around and around in the square in front of our hotel at 2:30 AM (it went into overtime, then a penalty shootout) blowing their horns, yel...

Old City Jerusalem Golden Gate Jerusalem panorama Golden Gate Dome of the Rock Orthodox Jews...

When we got to Jerusalem, we were plopped into the middle of jubilant “Jerusalem Day” celebrations. Delicately put, it is a celebration of the “reunification” of Jerusalem. Less delicately, it is when Israel was attacked in the Six Day War and they not only defended themselve...

This post is simply shots of people at the Umayyad Mosque. It was a people photographer’s paradise. The huge open courtyard gave a long zoom lens place to work, the magnificent architecture gave plausible deniability (it was hard to ascertain whether I was shooting people or architecture; Musl...

The entrance to the Umayyad Mosque, which used to be a church The place for immodestly dressed women to put on provided overcoats The courtyard of the Umayyad Mosque Entryway of the mosque Golden bookshelves An inscription in Greek on the outside wall of the Mosque that reads, “Your kingdom, o...