Oww.

I spent an hour and a half shoveling some really heavy crap out of the driveway and throwing it on top of four to five foot high piles of the same. I know one isn't supposed to do that, but there is nowhere else to put the stuff.

I ache.

There is a dog sleeping in my lap, covered by a pink shawl.

I am thinking about applying for a job in Bowling Green, Kentucky. I probably won't, though, but it sounds like a good job, one I'd certainly go for if it were in Vermont, Maine, or upstate New York. But Kentucky? I looked up Bowling Green and found out first that it is the home town of Rand Paul, and next that it was the seat of the Confederate provisional government of Kentucky. I might do as well to look for work in Braunau am Inn.

They do have lizards there, though.

Israel

Surat al-Baqarah speaks rather a lot of Banu Isra'il, sons of Israel. Since in Hebrew it is supposed to mean "he wrestles with God", the corresponding Arabic name ought to be based on sara`a, to throw down, or its derived form saara`a, to wrestle: "yasra`il", perhaps, or "yusari`il" instead of the meaningless "Isra'il". ` is `ayn, in Arabic a voiced pharyngeal fricative, whereas ' is a glottal stop; moreover, the s in Isra'il is sin, but the s in sara`a is sad.

There's no way this name got into the Qur'an from Hebrew.

The Sirat Rasul Allah and other biographical sources say there were three Jewish Arab tribes living in Medina in Muhammad's time: Banu Qaynuqa, Banu Qurayza, and Banu Nadir. Surely must have known how to pronounce "Israel".

Perhaps they weren't really Jews at all, or maybe they never existed.