dagblog - Comments for "Snow in the Desert"

Those were great pictures A.

Resistance — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 09:14:55 +0000

In reply to Bigger & better collection of

Those were great pictures A.

Bigger & better collection of

artappraiser — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 06:21:52 +0000

In reply to Snow in the Desert

Bigger & better collection of photos @ The Atlantic:
Wintry Weather: Middle East Edition

Yes it is reminiscent of the

artappraiser — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 00:47:07 +0000

In reply to Geeeez, this takes one back

Yes it is reminiscent of the famous WWI story.

Snowfall is magic until:

you have to shovel it for the tenth time;
it partially melts and then refreezes with exhaust dirt and dog urine on the surface

Back to fresh snowfall..There is something about the quiet it causes that soothes the savage beast, a nervous system thing maybe? (Even polar bears hunt quite calmly and quietly. )

Another interesting thing is how a community binds together in good cheer when the get great dumps of snowfall way beyond normal, helping push cars of strangers, plowing and shoveling gratis, etc. This wears off, too, though, when I think of some of the fights I've seen about shoveling out cars buried on the street in NYC....it always takes a couple days before things turn back to nasty normal?

Snow is why everyone in

erica20 — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 23:28:47 +0000

In reply to Geeeez, this takes one back

Snow is why everyone in Minnesota and Canadians are so nice.

It is a known fact.

Geeeez, this takes one back

Richard Day — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 22:45:48 +0000

In reply to ?Snowball truce? brings brief

Geeeez, this takes one back to a hundred years ago. Was not it about 1916 and some Allied soldiers sitting in the trenches heard Germans in their trenches singing Christmas songs.

so the soldiers met with each other and sang Noels together?

Sometimes, I think I actually can believe in magic!

Why not?

?Snowball truce? brings brief

artappraiser — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 22:07:58 +0000

In reply to Snow in the Desert

‘Snowball truce’ brings brief joy, laughter to war-weary Damascus
By Erika Solomon, Reuters, Jan 10, 2013

[....] “Last night, for the first time in months, I heard laughter instead of shelling. Even the security forces put down their guns and helped us make a snowman,” Iman, a resident of the central Shaalan neighbourhood, said by Skype on Thursday. “It was the first time in a long time that I remember talking to our neighbours who are pro-opposition.”

[....] “We felt a smile that has been missing from our faces for almost two years and we were all just Syrians,” said Amin, a resident of central Damascus, speaking on the Internet. “For a few hours our hearts were as pure as the snow.”

[....] on Wednesday night, residents in several neighbourhoods said they had stayed out until the early hours to enjoy the snow, teased by soldiers who usually stand in grim silence.

“We were out until 2 a.m. just playing ... Last night there were woman and children and men outside and no one was afraid,” said a resident speaking by internet from Midan, a largely pro-opposition neighbourhood in Damascus. With the daily reality of war returning however, he refused to give his name.

“Last night the soldiers threw snowballs at us from their checkpoints. Everyone started coming out and the soldiers would joke: ‘Oh no, is this a protest?’” he said. [....]

Al Arabiya video: Residents

artappraiser — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 21:51:39 +0000

In reply to Snow in the Desert

Al Arabiya video: Residents enjoy rare snowfall in northwest Saudi