Reader Reuven contributes fanmail (thanks) and a link to what we all should have seen coming: chometz-selling on ebay.

This sort of occured to me yesterday. How would you compare the looting still going on throughout Baghdad at the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime with the ancient Israelites, newly liberated from an oppressive totalitarian regime (that surely would have stockpiled WMD were they around back then), emptying Egypt of its material wealth on their way out - at God's own command to Moses? I have the beginnings of a few ideas, but I'd like some feedback first, if for no other reason than to confirm my suspicion that people actually read this. If you'd be kind enough to submit anything to avraham@thebronsteins.com, that'd be really cool, and, needless to say, I'll post anything interesting.

Reader Ephraim Checks In:

1-it seems that ?? ????? is a religious hermaphrodite polygamist, as he/she appears on onlysimchas several times daily as engaged, married, or newly circumcised.
2-your gadol dude should put up a disclaimer cuz otherwise he would be retroactively condemning all previous pdf veiwers to owing money which aint very nice.
If the author was smart, he'd have set up a website to sell the books the minute after the cherem and would have become a millionare.

Mohammad Saeed Al-Sahhaf Update: Well, we're still not sure where he is - maybe we'll find him in Syria? - but here's a really funny article by ESPN.com's Jim Caple. Something to do until http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com gets a faster server.

Best of the Web links to this article from the Gulf Daily News.

Steps were taken by a distributor for Apple Computers to ensure that Israeli-made parts do not enter Bahrain after an Israeli-made battery was discovered by a customer in an old Apple Computer model.
Apple Centre manager Asif Mohammed Irfan said the battery powers the calendar and clock of an old Apple G4 model but added that he didn't believe that it was sold in large numbers. . . .
He said that Arab Business Machines had sent them replacement batteries, which have already arrived.
"Anyone who finds that their computer is powered by such a battery can come to us and we will change it for them free of charge," said Mr Irfan. . . .
". . .This raises interesting questions about how widespread it may be. We could have Israeli parts in our mobile phones, cameras and even our vehicles and not even know it."

"I object to this because of what they have done to the Palestinians for the last 50 years. Hardly a day goes by when a Palestinian is killed by the Israelis and nothing is done about it."

As expected, Making of a Godol needs your help. Just received this e-mail from the host of the site:

Steve,
Thanks for posting the link with the file containing extensive selections of R. Kamenetsky's Making of a Godol that I uploaded. Could you inform your bloggers that while R. Kamenetsky was opposed to the dissemination of selections of his book in its current format due to the ban, he has expressed his expectation to receive appropriate compensation for his copyrighted work. I think that in light of the format, the lack of hundreds of pages and the fact that all of the money is to go directly to the author, a fair payment should be at least $10 or NIS 50 (this was concurred by my rabbi).
Checks should be sent to the following address:
R. Nathan Kamenetsky
9 Sorotzkin St.
Jerusalem
Israel
ALSO, the website hosting the file is expiring after Pesach. Would it be possible for you to host this file on your site or any other site that you have access to continue to circumvent the dreadful ban on the book and enable the inspiring truth to be made know to the general frum world.
TIA and best wishes for a Hag Pesach Kasher v'Sameach.
B'virkat HaTorah

I'm not sure how long this is going to stay up, but in the meantime you can sign the guestbook for the onlysimchas page honoring the engagement of Jennifer Garfunkel to ?? ??. I think that about says it all.

News Flash from the Jerusalem Post: Saddam's Fall Alters Israel's Strategic Situation: Experts.

From depriving the family of Palestinian suicide bombers of a $10,000 dividend, to placing Syria in a geographic vice, to removing the threat of a hostile eastern front, diplomatic officials and experts believe Saddam Hussein's fall will have immediate strategic ramifications for Israel.