Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel » Noga Martin

Striking back at El Al

Noga Martin — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 10:16:25 +0000

A girl walks into a travel agency. Her agent recognizes her from across the room and calls out, “Wanna book a flight on El Al?” He’s a funny guy, Illia. Why on earth would I want to book my flight to Prague on El Al? El Al, along with the other Israeli airlines, has called [...]

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Marathon dreams blasted away

Noga Martin — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 22:24:06 +0000

There’s a difference between being injured and being wounded. Wounds are inflicted; injuries occur. Two bomb blasts at the Boston Marathon left three dead and some 100 WOUNDED, not injured, including a number listed in critical and serious condition. Marathoners are no strangers to injury. Pulled muscles, torn tendons and ligaments, dehydration – it’s not a [...]

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Runners 1: Bureaucrats – 0

Noga Martin — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 13:32:46 +0000

I don’t know much about boxing, but I do know that “knockout” is not a term often employed when discussing running. This afternoon, the 2000 or so marathoners who were left out in the cold by the petty self-interest of the decision makers in the Tel Aviv Municipality, got some of their own back. The [...]

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More drama from the marathon that wasn’t

Noga Martin — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 11:36:44 +0000

Two days ago I wrote about two events being scrabbled together to compensate the runners left disappointed and hurt by the municipality’s ignorant and short-sighted decision to cancel this year’s marathon. Tomorrow’s pirate marathon, with no official timing or logistical support, has gotten a fair share of media attention (and not only in this blog) [...]

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‘Splitters!’ The saga of the stolen marathon continues

Noga Martin — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 13:41:16 +0000

Runners, distance runners especially, are a stiff-necked bunch. You have to be to grind out 30+ kilometers at a time. So it’s not really a surprise that after the petty bureaucrats in the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality decided first to delay and then cancel this year’s full marathon, people decided to run anyway. The first pirate [...]

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The marathon blame game

Noga Martin — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 22:15:37 +0000

Last Friday was supposed to be the day. After four and a half long months of training, including distance runs as long as 38 kilometers, I was supposed to be on the starting line for my first-ever marathon. Israel’s short marathon season opens in January in Tiberias. Jerusalem and Tel Aviv hold their respective marathons [...]

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Not to burst your bubble…

Noga Martin — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:59:35 +0000

If Hamas et al want a full-out war, firing missiles on Tel Aviv is a good way to ensure that they get it. Tonight, as many have already observed, the Tel Aviv “bubble” burst but good, as we were treated to a mild taste of the reality that residents of Israel’s South have had to [...]

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We do run run run

Noga Martin — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 13:12:25 +0000

You might want to steer clear of central and northern Tel Aviv this evening. Tonight is the Nike Night Run*, and a record 20,000 runners have signed up for the 10-kilometer race up Ibn Gvirol St, along Rokach Blvd, and through Yarkon Park. For a few hours, the streets belong to us. The event is [...]

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Pigtail pat-down

Noga Martin — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 17:33:01 +0000

Ever since 9/11 convinced Americans that an illusion of safety is more important than civil liberties (something I’d call a resounding victory for terrorism), stories of the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA, or “This Sucks, Actually”) incompetence and ineffectuality have kept the public amused and concerned. The latest example of TSA idiocy? They’ve started checking hairdos. [...]

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‘Howl’ for summer 2012

Noga Martin — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 21:36:30 +0000

I saw the mediocre minds of my generation atrophied by Twitter, starving hysterical naked, Dragging themselves through the packed streets on Saturday nights Looking for an easy fix, Addle-headed hipsters burning for the nearest wi-fi Connection to post their photos of the demonstration That night Who illusory poverty and self-indulgent and outraged hung Out smoking [...]

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Putting out fires

Noga Martin — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 19:18:45 +0000

It’s always easier to start a fire than to put one out. Moshe Silman, who hung on for six days before succumbing to injuries he incurred when he set himself on fire at last Saturday’s social justice protest, meant to go out with a bang, but one wonders whether he considered that others would follow [...]

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A quality of life issue

Noga Martin — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 15:03:25 +0000

Moshe Silman attempted suicide by self-immolation at Saturday night’s social justice protest. But witnesses foiled his plan, putting out the flames, and Silman was left with third-degree burns over 90% of his body. On Monday, he was moved from Intensive Care to the burns unit at Sheba Tel Hashomer Medical Center, where doctors continue to [...]

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Takes one to know one, Doni Kandel

Noga Martin — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 12:17:19 +0000

Doni Kandel is sad. In a blog post today entitled “The Times (of Israel), they are a changin’” (Editor’s note: The post has since been removed from the Jerusalem Post website) he moans that The Times of Israel, a new current events website founded by former Jerusalem Post editor-in-chief David Horovitz, has – in his [...]

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Drop that weasel

Noga Martin — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 19:10:10 +0000

I don’t remember exactly what convoluted series of clicks led me to ferret legging. I know I started out on the aggregate news site Fark.com and from there things went a little crazy. For those of you unfamiliar with this phenomenon, ferret legging is a “sport” in which men compete to see how long they [...]

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The Anglo inferiority complex

Noga Martin — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 13:12:38 +0000

On Saturday evening I published a blog titled “Why can’t the Anglos learn to speak?” in which I pondered why many English speakers in Israel, even those who learn Hebrew grammar and vocabulary, make very little effort to imitate the accent. I could say that I was making an innocent and reasonable observation and had [...]

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