War-walking in Nazareth

Apparently, finding an Internet cafe in the Holy Land is more challenging than I'd been led to believe.

Taking advantage of some free time before Kinnernet, Yossi Vardi's conference retreat at the Sea of Galilee, I thought I'd visit a few iconic historic locales, and make a few late-night Skype calls. I've been told by some natives that somewhere in town there is a bistro called "Coffeenet," but so far it retains mythical status.

But even in a small town in the Middle East, there could be free bandwidth floating out there somewhere. After wandering the narrow streets for a time, I sat at a bus stop with St. Mary's Basilica in view, outside a large office building. Sure enough, an open access point.

I assume this isn't common behavior in Nazareth, however, because it's enough of a curiosity that numerous town-dwellers have stopped to watch me, with a few people attempting futile conversation in anything but English.

Watching the street traffic provides a fascinating perspective on contention-handling, as large tourist buses and small delivery vehicles routinely attempt to occupy the same space on the street. The local equivalent of CSMA/CD seems to be honking. If Bob Metcalfe had used Israeli traffic as a model for Ethernet, colliding packets would simply have yelled at each other until one got out of the way.

gB