And how long would Haaretz (and most bloggers for that matter) be in business if not for bad news? The airplane that lands safely without incident doesn't make the headlines. (Guilt trip alert!) For many of use who don't know anyone living in Israel and have never been to the region, blogs like yours are the best way to get well-written perspective from those most affected by events that we read about in the detatched, often biased news media. Face it, most of my fellow Americans have no idea what Tel Aviv is like, and rarely if ever get a pro-American, anti-Jihad perspective from an Egyptian like Sandmonkey. People like you who can offer a local, personal perspective have more impact on their readers than you might suspect- even if we know that it's the viewpoint of one person among millions. I'm thankful that I'm able to form opinions based on sources other than CNN or (heaven forbid) the AFP. I hope you'll keep it up, and not allow the bad news or lack of commenters to put a damper on your blogging. Thanks for all you do.