Now that the election in the U.S. is over, we’re gearing up for our own poll – and as usual, security weighs heavily for local voters. Israelis feel that we’re at the epicenter of world terror – that nowhere else in the world is as dangerous, except for Iraq, Africa, and a few other places you wouldn’t want to live anyway. There’s always something to worry about here, the conventional wisdom says. But on one day recently, Israel looked a lot safer than many other places, when seen through …

In this age of e-mail, SMSing, and who knows what other communication wonder they’ll come up with next, there are still people who use the “regular” – also known as “snail” – mail. Are these people Luddites, or what? And we’re not talking about an insignificant tribe. Judging by the traffic on my local e-mail community list, “can anyone take a letter to the States for me” ranks just behind “Looking for a lift to X” on the hit parade of favors people are always seeking. Maybe it’s …