Aya Hahatula, 1996-2007

איה החתולה
1996-2007


It is with great sorrow that I report the passing of our beloved Aya on Friday evening. An abrupt seizure took her away from us in a matter of seconds, unexpectedly and without warning. There is solace in that her demise was quick and painless but her sudden departure from our lives, without preamble or warning, has plunged us into sadness and regret. If only we had just one more day with Aya to hug and bid farewell. Her high-pitched friendly meows still linger, echoing from the crowded bookshelves of our small apartment. Not even Yohanan's cries of sorrows can overcome them.

Aya's eventful life spanned two corners of the globe. She enjoyed hunting Israeli cockroaches in her early days in Givatayim, and towards her 6th year undertook a transatlantic voyage with Yoav to seek novel opportunities in the new world. In Boston however, the absence of a work visa and a vexing empathy for squirrels resulted in early retirement to a carefree life of leisure. She greeted each morning sun stooped beside the window sill, taking a breath of fresh air to induce an appetite. She would then park herself in front of her food bowl for lengthy amounts of time, occasionally grazing at her semi-private wheat garden to facilitate digestion.

Aya was never particularly agile or cunning, and was therefore put at a disadvantage for gaining food over Yohanan's adversarial behavior. She compensated by her keen sense of hearing, clumsily rushing from the bedroom to the sharp opening sound of a can of cat food to beat her competition. She was a keen lover of corn nibblets and on the rare occasions in which she was offered them, she indulged in roasted beets. She loved company, and would often jump on the lap of formal guests, or a juicy plate of chicken legs, which we have since abolished. Each night she fell asleep at our feet on the communal bed, and that is how I will remember her. To her last day, Aya was a "cat's cat" --- outgoing, cheerful and boisterous. We are so fortunate to have had her.

Commencement 2007

Folding the flags in front of Widener Library signaling the end of commencement ceremonies for 2007. By my count, old Widener Library has seen 90 Harvard commencements since its solemn dedication in 1916. During my masters commencement it rained heavily. Umbrellas, it turned out, are useless when 20,000 people sit huddled together.
My rented gown, having been dirty to begin with, ending up a disgusting pile of damp cloth. I saw my PhD commencement in Pierce hall through closed circuit television. On T.V., the event has its own official commentators, as if it's a sporting match.

Sipholux

The city of New York has launched a campaign to encourage the drinking of tap water. Ironically, despite the healthy allure of bottled water, their effect on the environment is undoubtedly negative. Most plastic containers end up in land fills, use up energy during transport, and require refrigeration. Springs and rivers used as bottling sources suffer a significant reduction in output and flow, with dire consequences to local wildlife. For club-soda enthusiasts like myself, home carbonation systems that were very popular in Israel in the '70s (see picture), and offer a green, economic alternative to the bottled alternatives. However, I have not been able to find a product that can handle more than 1 liter. The alternative is to buy several, but they are quite expensive, I found.

bournemouth, Brighton,...

First it was the British academic union in Bournemouth, now it's the British workers union in Brighton. Any suggestions as to the name of the next seaside British town to host a union meeting calling for the boycott of Israel?

Dana, Nika and Maya

The latest summer chart toppers have brought me to update Israel's list of leading export commodities. In the fifties, it was oranges; in the nineties, it was high tech; and in the naughts, it is transsexual female vocalists. Yes, in addition to the venerable Dana International, who has a new carefree single, we also have Nikka, the chanteuse produced by Henree, and Offer Nissim's creation --- Maya. Incidentally, Dana's advert promises that "open doors" occur at 23.30...

Boycott of Israeli academics by the British union of academics

For the third year in a row, the British union of academics have recommended to their 120,000 members to boycott all academic ties with Israel.

I find this decision to be in very poor taste, when Israel is the only country in the middle east in which Arab academics, along with their Jewish colleagues, can pursue their work freely and openly, when that work is often critical of the country that provides them with this very opportunity. That is the way a healthy democracy works. In contrast, researchers in the Arab world face social and professional excommunication, harassment, and even death for attempting to collaborate with their Israeli counterparts.

This decision is especially cynical, while Arab and Jewish students and faculty at Sapir college, near the city of Sderot, are gripped by fear and confusion from the threat of Kassam rockets fired daily by the Palestinians. While the decision to boycott Israel was taken in peaceful Bournemouth, my sister, who teaches at the college, and along with the rest of her students, is absolutely terrified, try to continue their academic pursuit of knowledge under the harrowing threat of the air raid siren, signaling a frantic 20 seconds during which they must find adequate cover.

As for the commitment to education and pedagogics displayed by the Palestinian government, it is suffice to read this article describing the indoctrination into fundamentalism of young minds. As another example, consider this ironic adaptation of an icon of Western imperialism, enlisted for the Palestinian "cause" of Jewish annihilation.

Five Boro bike ride

I recently participated in the NYC five borough bike tour. This year, the tour celebrated its 30th year, and included 42,000 riders, a 42 mile traffic-free route, five magnificent bridges and one ferry ride. There were official inspection points along the route, where massive security personnel pulled aside the free riders that tagged along. The route itself was surprisingly flat, enabling an effortless ride through narrow streets, large highways, bridges and tunnels, culminating in a crossing of the dramatic Varrazano bridge from Brooklyn to Staten Island. Riding on a bicycle allowed to fully appreciate this man-made monster of steel. that On the way, we got to experience some of the colorful neighborhoods in this great city that are so close to Manhattan, and yet a million miles away.

See some more pictures here, or watch the "official" documentary on youTube.

Baby potatoes

In America, 90% of toddlers under the age of two watch more than 90 minutes of TV per day. Here's a sure fire economic initiative --- toddler TV dinners. I guess you can't begin the exposure to those car and prescription medicine commercials too early.

Dryers

Here's an anecdote for those who don't realize the extent of energy consumption in America. As this NYT piece quotes, There are 88 million dryers in America. If Americans stopped using them for 6-months, the USA would decrease its carbon emission by almost 4 percent. Growing up in Israel, I can't think of anyone I knew that had a dryer; If it weren't for the movies I wouldn't know they existed. (Anyone care to comment on the dryer-index of contemporary Israeli families?) Makes sense because the climate in Israel is laundry friendly. In America, clotheslines are endemic of poverty. Many leases forbid their use. No one, not even the dwellers of Arizona and Nevada, not even the die-hard ecologists use a clothesline.

Trains and planes

A French TGV train broke the speed record today at 547 Km/h. At their normal running speed (300 Km/h), this train would take just over an hour to get from South Station in Boston to Penn Station. No airport congestion or traffic jams, and it's infinitely more energy efficient than the number of planes it would take to haul the same amount of people. At 300 Km/h, it would take 12 minutes to get from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. At 547 km/h, the train needs 30 kilometers to come to a halt. That's half that distance.

Potatoes

This is an ideal week for buying potatoes for Passover in Israel. The IDF has forbidden crop dusting planes from taking off near the Gaza strip for fear of being shot down. It's almost organic !

Free iPod Hebrew support for windows users

This site provides free Hebrew iPod support for windows users. A blessed development given that Yeda, apple's representatives in Israel, have begun charging for this feature for those who did not buy their iPod through Yeda. I am very interested in hearing user's comments about whether the free software works.

Legal sentencing recommendation software

Researchers of AI at Bar Ilan University have written a program to generate recommendations for criminal sentencing.
Many interesting questions arise. How to scientifically evaluate the performance of such a program ? What training-set of past human-generated sentencing should be used ? If past sentencing was legally or morally flawed, wouldn't the program generalize those flaws to new sentences ? Will convicted felons be able to challenge their sentencing if their is a discrepancy between their sentencing and the software's recommendation ?

Snow in the Galilee

While Cambridge is basking in balmy unseasonable weather, Israel's vineyards in the Galilee have covered themselves in a beautiful white cloak.

Greedy Israeli apple reps

Yeda, the sole company in Israel authorized to carry apple products, is notorious for its disappointing service and lacking commitment to customers. Indeed, apple's lackluster performance in Israel can be attributed in large part to Yeda's inflated prices and poor professionalism, a striking difference compared to apple's solid reputation in the U.S.

Yeda has recently hit a new low by pricing version 2.0 of its Hebrew iPod support software, iPodHE, at 49 NIS (~$12). Oh, did I mention you can get it for free if you buy your iPod through the yeda store ? But for that luxury you must pay an average of $80 extra per model.

Where's the logic here ? Hebrew support for the iPod is not a "product"; it is (just) one of the steps Yeda should be taking in order to increase the popularity of apple products by Hebrew speakers. But apparently, this is not Yeda's goal. What next ? Expect to have to pay for Hebrew support on Leopard OS X. It's only natural, according to Yeda's scandalous business ethics.