Somewhere over the rainbow

The return of the diva

Niri sings a lullaby

Lullaby – Natan Alterman

From Hebrew: Yishai Boasson

The palace and the town fell silent

And quiet is the marketplace

While in the distance sounds of music

With violin and double bass

They whisper, do not linger longer

And then there is silence.

It’s true; we ran and ran for nothing,

But finally we are all humbler

It matters not if king or slave

For in the end, there is just slumber

Hush little baby, Rock a Bye

What’s that little star I wonder?

Sleeps the tree and sleeps the apple

Jester, king all sleep as well

Sleeps the shore and all the rivers

Go to sleep too drum and zithers

Perhaps a midnights snack instead?

No, it’s the end.

The anger, fury and the burden

Of lusts to which by day we bow

Have passed away, away like drifters

Just let them pass, I’m sleeping now

There is no use, no point in asking

What, where, when who and how.

Among the multitude of songs

The lullaby our moms were singing

That which was hidden all these years

That song alone, it just keeps clinging

It stays and sings, just let me be

Release us all for we are leaving

Nears its end the path we keep

Jester tells the king to sleep

All the ships have gone to shore

History repeats not more

Would someone please turn off the light?

Yes, sleep tight.

Free Hoder!

garagegeek

Joined a GarageGeeks meeting with Hanoch Piven and had a great time.
I ended up creating Kishkashta, a TV character I grew up with.

Watching Kishkashta was my first interactive media experience. I was 3 years old in Sara's daycare, seeing a TV for the first time (imagine that...). The TV spoke directly to me, asking me to play with the people and puppet on the screen. Of course, for a grown up to think the TV sends personalized messages is a clear sign of paranoid schizophrenia, but for a 3 year old, unaware of the concept of broadcasting, the interactive experience is in one's head, rather than in the media.

picture taken and posted by Amihai Neiderman

the goodbye season

we call it "the goodbye season". it's that time of year where friends are saying goodbye and moving on.
my daughter hates it.
my father in law was visiting with us, leaving to go back home a couple of days ago. he came along to drop my daughter off at her preschool on the day he left. she was not happy. in fact, she stood there with tears in her eyes and we were all feeling very sorry for her.
the same day, i had lunch with one of my favorite people, a true mentor, friend and a real mensch.
when we said goodbye, i knew exactly what my daughter felt that morning.
i hate the goodbye season.

a thirty sisxth

according to the Talmud, at any one time there are thirty six hidden righteous people around the world. it is the presence of these people that keeps the almighty from engaging in some intelligent destruction.
i think the same applies to the internet. there has to be some very powerful forces of good to keep it from just imploding.
here's one:
arugslife

Creation

MIT Fraternity Accused Of Robot Hazing | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

We finally made the front cover!
thought it was kind of funny...

Pandora

lately i've been using this free music streaming service called Pandora. it works by asking you for an example for music you like, and providing you with similar pieces of music. by similar i mean having similar traits, not by the same artist. it's called the music genome project and it's fueled by a ton of people listening to music and tagging it for its attributes. there are other free music streamers out there that work automatically by comparing your listening preferences to those of people listening to similar stuff (obtained through monitoring their players). there are dynamic considerations that might support any of those very different models. bottom line is i like the pandora interface and performance. most of the time they manage to surprise me with nice new stuff. if you try it out and like it, i can send you my stations as well.

on technorati now

I'm the only blog about me.

Maya the good fairy

sometimes when you type a URL, you forget to switch back from hebrew to english. this results in something like:
נםשדדםמץנךםעדפםאץבםצ, which of course would get you nowhere (although it's very nice and biblical looking).
capitalizing on the fact that many browsers automatically query a search engine in case of a weird URL (like google), Maya created a series of webpages that would cause google to link to her webpage upon such unfortunate event. which is fortunate because she doesn't use it for her own advantage, but rather to provide a link to the actual web-page you were looking for :)
this is great because it's selfless and because it utilizes something (google, automatic search and automatic linking) to perform a sort of metatask that was not planned by the creators of the search scheme.
this is also cool because i've complained about this for so long and finally someone does something about it that does not require the obvious plugin. respect!
URLazy

Trump trumps Nobel

They published my letter to the editor :)
i had a very long and eloquant letter, but decided succinctness would serve here.
Anyway, some points to think about:
even smart people get confused between TV and real life
MIT alums land great jobs every day, like faculty positions, top management, finding a cure for something, starting up their own company or fighting world hunger.
it's hard using the media to advertise MIT. scientists are usually portrayed as either crazy or evil. when Paper Chase came on TV, Harvard School of Law applications shot through the roof. that doesn't happen for MIT...

A race to the wire as old hand at Morse code beats txt msgrs - Britain - Times Online

A race to the wire as old hand at Morse code beats txt msgrs - Britain - Times Online
i couldn't help but smile while reading this. A couple of old (not aged, senior, etc. these guys are OLD, at least chronologically) guys were able to send and decipher a message (full text) quicker than a nimble 13 year old girl, armed with a lexicon of SMS shorthand was able to send an SMS with the same content. i could just imagine the smile on the faces of 93 years old Gordon Hill and his young counterpart, 82 years old Jack Gibson.

there is just one thing to say:
- .... . ... . / --. ..- -.-- ... / .-. ..- .-.. .

VidLit� - House Of Lies

Some of my best friends are consultants. I mean it. Really nice, bright, hard working people who do in fact contribute real value to organizations smart enough to hire them. Still, this is pretty funny.

Ayelet's blog

ziplocked life is Ayelet's blog.
some fun facts about her blog:
1. it's smart and funny
2. it's purple
3. it's in hebrew
4. you don't have to know hebrew to look at the pretty pictures

sleepless

Adam Smith wrote this in 1759!
''Let us suppose that the great empire of China, with all its myriads of inhabitants, was suddenly swallowed up by an earthquake, and let us consider how a man of humanity in Europe, who had no sort of connection with that part of the world, would react upon receiving intelligence of this dreadful calamity. He would, I imagine, first of all express very strongly his sorrow for the misfortune of that unhappy people, he would make many melancholy reflections upon the precariousness of human life, and the vanity of all the labours of man, which could thus be annihilated in a moment. He would, too, perhaps, if he was a man of speculation, enter into many reasonings concerning the effects which this disaster might produce upon the commerce of Europe, and the trade and business of the world in general. And when all this fine philosophy was over, when all these humane sentiments had been once fairly expressed, he would pursue his business or his pleasure, take his repose or his diversion, with the same ease and tranquillity as if no such accident had happened. The most frivolous disaster which could befall himself would occasion a more real disturbance. If he was to lose his little finger tomorrow, he would not sleep to-night; but provided he never saw them, he would snore with the most profound security over the ruin of a hundred million of his brethren.''
(Smith, A. 1759/1976. The theory of moral sentiments. Indianapolis: Liberty Classics).

TownOnline.com - Bedford Minuteman - Opinion & Letters

TownOnline.com - Bedford Minuteman - Opinion & Letters

I always end up sounding contrarian. I'm particularly arrogant to counter anything said about the Red Sox. However, this can be generalized to more than the Sox taking the world series.
All the comments by the nice kids writing essays are rooted in a fallacy. The fact the the Sox could not have taken the world series had they not stuck to it, been united, believed in themselves and the rest of the crap does not mean that these things are what caused them to win. The fact that there can be no B without A, does not mean that A is THE cause for B.
furthermore, I hardly believe you can achieve everything if you believe in yourself and set your mind to it.
coming to think about it, there might be something here to project on case studies too (oops, here goes my grade).
I'm not sure taking an exceptional case, painting a picture of it totally out of context and out of it's environment and going "if you want to succeed, this is what you need to do..." is a serious approach.
perhaps case studies were not intended for that anyway. However, MBA's oftentimes come out of school believing they have (or they are) the silver bullet, because they have seen exactly such a case before. The truth is there are no two similar cases, and the environment in which firms operate is in constant flux. It is perhaps why I find the Porter five forces model more appealing, since it forces one to look at this environment, while other models would have you label resources as valuable or whatnot, enabling you to forget those resources are valuable in a given situation which is always different from the situations you will encounter in real life.

Disney lawsuit could ripple through Corporate America

Disney lawsuit could ripple through Corporate America
One should always remember that nothing in the world can strictly be called "mine". What comes to a person comes to him because of a combination of causes and conditions; it can be kept by him only temporarily and, therefore, he must not use it selfishly or for unworthy purposes.
The best way for a ruler to reign over his country is first of all to rule himself.If an important minister of state neglects his duties, works for his own profit or accepts bribes, it will cause a rapid decay of public morals. People will cheat one another, a strong man will attack a weaker one, a noble will mistreat a commoner or a wealthy man will take advantage of the poor, and there will be no justice for anyone; mischief will abound and troubles will multiply.
Under such circumstances, faithful ministers will retire from public service, wise men will keep silent from fear of complications, and only flatterers will hold government positions, and they will use their political power to enrich themselves with no thought for the suffering of the people.
Under such conditions the power of the government becomes ineffective and its righteous policies fall into ruins.
Such unjust officials are the thieves of people's happiness, yet are worse than thieves because they defraud both ruler and people and are the cause of the nation's troubles. The king should root out such ministers and punish them.

The Teaching of Buddha

Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai press, Tokyo

Blogging for Business

I know, I know, i'm being graded on these postings. And we are supposed to comment on the importance of this corporate blogging phenomenon. However, this article upset me on so many levels, I just had to say it.
SO WHAT?
There are a million and one blogs out there. Behind many of these blogs are individuals or small groups of people who are passionate about what they are doing, and who are using the blog to connect to other people who are passionate about the same stuff.
well, maybe connect is too big a word. I mean, sure, sometime they try to connect. but sometimes it's just a way to say what you have to say uninterrupted.
ain't that the corporate big-boss' dream? you're big. and you're powerful. and those pesky media types insist on editing you, as if not realizing the demi god status you have achieved.
i'm just being unfair here. there are many great and deep thinkers who have made it to the top of the corporate world, and we should all be so lucky to get a chance to read an unedited version of their writings (without having to buy a book). but still, there are many great and deep thinkers out there and many of them have blogs.
popularity wise, the fact that these blogs might prove popular does not neccessarily indicate their quality. i can think of several kinds of stuff to put on my blog that would make it popular, as well as extremely googleable.
another faulty reasoning is in the Jeff Pulver story. He advocated a point of view. The FCC decided not to regulate something. hence - he affected change. that is so less than scientific proof. it's a logical fallacy. and the booster to this piece is the fact that he managed to recruit a 100 people to test an application in 24 hours through his blog? what does it have to do with it?
what does it say about the corporate world? I don't know. I have to admit it's interesting to hear the thoughts of some of those people. but the stuff about rank and file employees being free to write whatever they want on company blogs, as long as it's not confidential? c'mon, give me a break. maybe it says something about the reporter who quoted that? or was she counting on the intelligence of the reader to make us smile?
i mean, i might find myself reading some of these guys blogs, especially if i was looking into their companies, either for research or for job hunting (if it's for any other reason, who has the time...), but whenever i turn on my laptop, i would be sure to check out this management guru's site first.

Taken today (digital) at the westgate playground.
Probably belongs to this family.

Some campus wildlife. Taken with film camera (on my balcony), no cropping or editing. 

O'Brien to replace Leno

O'Brien is to take over the helm of the Tonight Show from Jay Leno, in 2009! Welcome all you new MIT freshmen with your 2008 t-shirts. By the time you graduate, Leno would still be hosting the show. Feel better now?anyway, here are a couple of links to this story.

here

or here

The articles were supposedly written by different people. If news was academia, they would be expelled. Both stories are the same story, verbatim (at least significant parts of them). Wonder how that goes.We can look at TV networks as trying to have competitive advantages over each other, with assets (or resources) being people like O'Brien and Leno. Trying to keep those assets means paying them lots of money, as well as binding them contractually for long periods of time. In this case however, they are trying to keep their asset with a promise (backed by the huge penalty for breaking this promise which is in the contract) of something this asset really really wants. As this asset is valuable, rare and hard to imitate, it would provide the network with sustained competitive advantage (maybe). So far, that's pretty Barney. However, looking at it in a Porter way, O'Brien may be a costumer for the network, as well as a supplier of services (is it a two way relationship, depending on how you look at it?). There is threat of substitution, meaning he can go for what he needs (airtime, salary, ego boosting, perks and whatnot) somewhere else, with a switching cost that might be paid by his new employer. After all, he might be worth it. If the switching costs are low, try to raise them! Which they did. Now he'd be losing the Tonight Show. Cool. On a different note, publishing these plans reduces the chance of O'Brien being approached by another network. In a more general sense, keeping secrets costs you money and puts you at risk of these secrets being exposed when the timing is not right for you. It is very wise not to keep secrets unless you have to. That's true on any level, but is the subject of a different discussion altogether