Monday, December 29, 2014

Y-Not?

This post is in Hebrew, as it’s aimed at Israeli readers. At the bottom I’ve added an English summary for non-Hebrew speakers.

***אני מתנצל על הבעיות בכיוון המילים עקב בעיות תאימות של אתר הבלוג***

כל מי שגלש באתר של ידיעות אחרונות בוודאי מודע לאי יציבות החריפה של האתר, שנובעת מכך שהאתר טוען כמות אדירה של תוכן פרסומי. ריבוי הפרסומות מעמיס על הזיכרון, והכמות הגדולה של סקריפטים שמפעיל האתר גורמת לדפדפן "להיחנק" ולעיתים קרובות לקרוס לחלוטין. הפיתרון האידיאלי לכך הוא פשוט לגלוש באתר חדשותי אחר, אבל למרות הכעס, אני חייב להודות שהתוכן שלהם טוב יותר מהמתחרים ולכן נאלצתי למצוא פתרון אחר המבוסס על חסימת התוכן הפרסומי.

ישנן כמה דרכים לחסום את התוכן, אך רובן מורכבות ודורשות התקנת תוכנות ייחודיות, ולכן הדרך שאני מציע פה עדיפה, לדעתי. היא כרוכה בעריכת קובץ מערכת בשם הוסטס, ושתילת כתובות "מתות" במקום הכתובות של שמהן מושך אתר ידיעות אחרונות את הפרסומות. למי שרוצה לצלול לעומק, הנה הסבר טכני יותר:

כאשר גולשים באתר, אזורים רבים בדף הם הפניות לקריאת תוכן פרסומי מאתרים חיצוניים, כגון האתר

doubleclick.net,

ועוד כמאה ועשרים אתרים אחרים. כדי לקרוא את התוכן מהאתרים, מערכת ההפעלה פונה לשרת די.אן.אס שמתרגם את הכתובות המילוליות לכתובות מספריות (כתובות איי.פי.). קובץ הוסטס הוא פונקציה מובנה במערכת ההפעלה שמאפשרת למשתמש לעקוף את תרגום השמות דרך שרתי די.אן.אס. הפתרון שלי מבוסס על הכנסת שורות לקובץ, שמתרגמת את שמות אתרי הפרסומות לכתובת הקבועה:

127.0.0.1,

שהיא כתובת שאינה אמיתית (כלומר, לא מפנה לשום אתר אינטרנט אמיתי). הפתרון מבוסס על הוספת כמאה ועשרים שורות לקובץ הוסטס וכך לנטרל את כל שרתי הפרסומות. פרסומות מסוימות עדיין יופיעו, כי הן מגיעות ישירות מהשרתים של ידיעות אחרונות, אבל הניטרול עדיין מאוד אפקטיבי ומוריד את צריכת הזיכרון והמעבד של הדפדפן בכמחצית, ומשפר את היציבות בהרבה.

כדי להשתמש בפתרון, פעל על פי הצעדים הבאים. כל שלב מלווה בפירוט הצעדים

א.  הפעל את עורך הטקסט במצב ניהולי

לחץ על התחל

הקלד את הפקודה notepad

לחץ על התוצאה עם הכפתור הימני של העכבר, ובחר Run as administrator

clip_image002

ב.  פתח את קובץ הוסטס

לחץ על File ובחר Open

נווט אל התיקייה c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc

החלון ייראה כאילו אין בה שום קבצים, אך אם תתחיל להקליד את המילה hosts, המחשב ישלים אותה עבורך

לחץ על Open

ג.  הוסף לקובץ את הרשימה של הדומיינים

גש לתחתית הקובץ

העתק את הרשימה שמופיעה למטה, והדבק אותה לתוך הקובץ. התוצאה אמורה להיראות ככה:

clip_image004

ד.  שמור את הקובץ:

לחץ על תפריט File

בחר Save

אשר את שכתוב הקובץ.

ה.  אם הדפדפן שלך היה פעיל קודם, סגור אותו והפעל אותו מחדש כדי שהשינויים יכנסו לתוקף.

ההוראות שלעיל אינן כוללות צעדים לגיבוי הקובץ המקורי, מאחר והוא ריק כברירת המחדל. אם השינויים שלעיל גורמים לבעיות, אפשר בקלות למחוק את השינויים, ואפילו למחוק את הקובץ כולו בלי בעיה. אם בקובץ היה תוכן לפני השינויים (לא כולל השורות שמתחילות ב - #, שהן רק הערות עזרה וניתנות למחיקה), אזי מומלץ לגבות אותו לפני שמשנים אותו.

דבר נוסף שחשוב לדעת הוא שרשימת הדומיינים שלהלן נכונה לדצמבר 2014, והיא עלולה להשתנות עם הזמן. אני ממליץ לבקר בפוסט הזה מדי כמה חודשים כדי לראות אם יש שינויים או תוספות.

רשימת הדומיינים:

127.0.0.1 5d457.v.fwmrm.net

127.0.0.1 a.rfihub.com

127.0.0.1 a.visualrevenue.com

127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net

127.0.0.1 ad.turn.com

127.0.0.1 ad4.liverail.com

127.0.0.1 adadvisor.net

127.0.0.1 adaptv.pixel.invitemedia.com

127.0.0.1 ads.creative-serving.com

127.0.0.1 ads.yahoo.com

127.0.0.1 adsrv-fe41.advsnx.net

127.0.0.1 ajax.googleapis.com

127.0.0.1 aka.spotxcdn.com

127.0.0.1 b.scorecardresearch.com

127.0.0.1 bcp.crwdcntrl.net

127.0.0.1 besttv101.cdn.l3.it.best-tv.com

127.0.0.1 bid.g.doubleclick.net

127.0.0.1 bs.serving-sys.com

127.0.0.1 c.betrad.com

127.0.0.1 c.fqtag.com

127.0.0.1 cache.btrll.com

127.0.0.1 cdn.adap.tv

127.0.0.1 cdn.clicktale.net

127.0.0.1 cdn.dynamicyield.com

127.0.0.1 cdn.teads.tv

127.0.0.1 cdn-static.liverail.com

127.0.0.1 choices.truste.com

127.0.0.1 clients.azadv.co.il

127.0.0.1 cm.adgrx.com

127.0.0.1 cm.g.doubleclick.net

127.0.0.1 conversions.adap.tv

127.0.0.1 csi.gstatic.com

127.0.0.1 d.chango.com

127.0.0.1 d5p.de17a.com

127.0.0.1 de17a.com

127.0.0.1 ds.serving-sys.com

127.0.0.1 dt.adsafeprotected.com

127.0.0.1 dtm.advertising.com

127.0.0.1 exposebox.blob.core.windows.net

127.0.0.1 fw.adsafeprotected.com

127.0.0.1 g.live.com

127.0.0.1 go.calcalist.co.il

127.0.0.1 go.xnet.co.il

127.0.0.1 go.ynet.co.il

127.0.0.1 googleads.g.doubleclick.net

127.0.0.1 graph.facebook.com

127.0.0.1 hiro-media-eu.s3.amazonaws.com

127.0.0.1 ib.adnxs.com

127.0.0.1 idpix.media6degrees.com

127.0.0.1 images.outbrain.com

127.0.0.1 js.dmtry.com

127.0.0.1 js.logentries.com

127.0.0.1 l.betrad.com

127.0.0.1 l2.visiblemeasures.com

127.0.0.1 linicom.co.il

127.0.0.1 live.liveadserver.net

127.0.0.1 live.sekindo.com

127.0.0.1 log.adap.tv

127.0.0.1 log.adaptv.advertising.com

127.0.0.1 log.dmtry.com

127.0.0.1 log.outbrain.com

127.0.0.1 match.adsrvr.org

127.0.0.1 media.olsale.co.il

127.0.0.1 mediadownload.ynet.co.il

127.0.0.1 n.us1.dyntrk.com

127.0.0.1 odb.outbrain.com

127.0.0.1 p.brilig.com

127.0.0.1 p.visualrevenue.com

127.0.0.1 pagead2.googlesyndication.com

127.0.0.1 partner.googleadservices.com

127.0.0.1 ping.chartbeat.net

127.0.0.1 pix.btrll.com

127.0.0.1 pix04.revsci.net

127.0.0.1 pixel.adsafeprotected.com

127.0.0.1 pixel.quantserve.com

127.0.0.1 prod-15-ireland.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com

127.0.0.1 pubads.g.doubleclick.net

127.0.0.1 px.dynamicyield.com

127.0.0.1 qlog.adap.tv

127.0.0.1 redir.adap.tv

127.0.0.1 s.tool-site.com

127.0.0.1 s0.2mdn.net

127.0.0.1 s1.2mdn.net

127.0.0.1 s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com

127.0.0.1 search.spotxchange.com

127.0.0.1 secure-us.imrworldwide.com

127.0.0.1 seg.a3cloud.net

127.0.0.1 segments.adap.tv

127.0.0.1 server.exposebox.com

127.0.0.1 sf.exposebox.com

127.0.0.1 st.dynamicyield.com

127.0.0.1 static.adsafeprotected.com

127.0.0.1 static.chartbeat.com

127.0.0.1 stats.g.doubleclick.net

127.0.0.1 stats3.adotube.com

127.0.0.1 sync.adap.tv

127.0.0.1 sync.mathtag.com

127.0.0.1 sync.tidaltv.com

127.0.0.1 t.teads.tv

127.0.0.1 t1.visualrevenue.com

127.0.0.1 t4.liverail.com

127.0.0.1 ta.cc.ta-extra.arti-mediagroup.com

127.0.0.1 tags.bluekai.com

127.0.0.1 totalmedia.ynet.co.il

127.0.0.1 tpc.googlesyndication.com

127.0.0.1 track.eyeviewads.com

127.0.0.1 u-ads.adap.tv

127.0.0.1 usersync.yashi.com

127.0.0.1 us-u.openx.net

127.0.0.1 vast.bp3861239.btrll.com

127.0.0.1 video.sekindo.com

127.0.0.1 videosfr.s3.amazonaws.com

127.0.0.1 vox-static.liverail.com

127.0.0.1 widgets.outbrain.com

127.0.0.1 www.olsale.co.il

127.0.0.1 www.telerik.com

127.0.0.1 www.winwin.co.il

127.0.0.1 www.wtp101.com

127.0.0.1 x.bidswitch.net

127.0.0.1 ynet.hiro.co.il

127.0.0.1 ynethd-f.akamaihd.net

For English-only visitors: This post outlines a procedure to edit one’s Hosts file to address a popular Hebrew website called Ynet (www.ynet.co.il), which is loaded with so much advertising that it crashes the browser often. The article includes a full list of the advertising sites called by Ynet, and instructions on how to add the list to one’s Hosts file.

Monday, September 29, 2014

Auditioning for Last Comic Standing


On Sep 28th I auditioned as part of the closed auditions for the 9th Season of Last Comic Standing. As I’m writing this, I have no idea whether I’m going to get picked for the season, but I want to share some insights about how this works for the benefit of participants in future showcases/auditions.
Before I go on, I should clarify that I’m not really an “expert”. I’m not part of the production and some of the things I’ll say here are just an educated guess. Also, the production of LCS has changed drastically over the years, just like any reality show, so this info might be completely incorrect for future seasons.

For Season 9, the production of LCS has decided to run several semi-public auditions labeled “Showcases”. These were/are being run in Seattle (my location), Minneapolis, Atlanta, Denver, Omaha, Ft Lauderdale, Austin, Los Angeles, Boston, Nashville, New York, Chicago and Washington DC. They might add other locations later and I’ll do my best to update this if I can. We can expect these locations to vary wildly in future years, though I’m pretty sure NY will always be involved.

In Seattle, the showcase was split into 2 shows, with approximately 20 participants in each (I believe the total was 45 participants). To choose the people for the show, the producers watched local open-mic nights for several weeks before the show ran to hand-pick most of the participants. Some people were added directly by local contacts due to their prominent presence in the local scene (for example, I myself was probably selected at least in part due to my strong performance as a local producer than only due to being a good comedian). Note that all this happened during August-September 2014, which is more than ½ a year before the actual filming of the season is scheduled to take place. Some of the performers were invited to the showcases based on tape-submissions they sent to the production directly. I also know of at least a few performers who came to Seattle from other cities to perform.

I believe some cities had only a single showcase (for example. DC), while others had 2. For the showcases, each comedian was allocated 3.5 minutes of stage-time (strictly enforced) with no additional guidelines (see my tips below). The venue sold tickets for the show at very low prices (3$ for regular tickets and $5 for higher-class “VIP” seating). Some cities sold tickets for a higher price point, but generally, the purpose of this wasn’t to make money but to fill the venue as much as possible. I personally gave a large number of discounted and free tickets to my colleagues at work, which might account for the large occupancy (the room was packed with about 300 people). I should note, BTW, that proceeds from the ticket sales went to benefit Seattle Children’s hospital, so I’m very happy about that.

For the show itself, comedians were asked to arrive 1 hour prior to the show’s start, and fill out a form. The form asked for contact details, as well as whether the comedian had representation. It also asked for info about the comedian’s last 3 jobs, info on how they started in comedy, and 3 things that make them “unique” (see my tips below). Before the show, a producer working for the venue shared the final list of performers in order.

Once the show started, the producer rounded up the comedians in groups of 5, and led them behind the stage (“the green room”, which in the case of the Parlor Seattle is a corridor leading to the back of the room), where we each waited to be called up by the host (the TERRIFIC Manny Martin, who hosted both shows and regularly works for the Parlor as their House MC). During this, the comedians weren’t allowed in the showroom during the show, so none of us had a chance to see others perform, other than the 4 people immediately after or before yourself.

The big question, of course, is what’s next? Who’s going to go forward? I don’t have concrete answers to that, I’m afraid. Last year, no less than 100 comedians got in the actual show (4 episodes, during each 25 comedians did a set before 90 of them were eliminated and 10 made it through). If the show auditions ~40 people in each of the 13 cities and would be choosing 100 people, then that makes for very high odds for myself and others to get on national television (about 1:5). Then again, they might choose a different number, do more cities, and inject people directly into the show, so it’s impossible to know for sure. For this reason, productions like this typically like to leave their options open to the last possible minute. The filming of LCS is generally in April, so I don’t expect to hear anything before February, and I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that they call people a day before filming and asking them to fly-in immediately. Another blog post suggests they might be doing this now to prepare the show for a possible early launch in mid-season (January instead of the regular May). I know at least one person from Puget Sound who was called by the production company the day after the audition and invited to fly to LA to perform in front of NBC executives in November, so apparently, they are working on a short-list.

Another angle, which is pretty well known, but I might as well mention it here is that reality shows are usually about audience-connection and not just about the “best”, and so the production often picks people not for their quality, but for their background story. That’s why so many participants on these shows have some kind of sob-story to tell about recovering from serious diseases, overcoming poverty or tragedy, or being unique/weird/crazy/funny in some way. For example, a 14 year old comedian would have a much higher chance of making it over an average one. This is why the detail form I mentioned earlier asks for one’s previous job and unique things about us.

The bottom line is that my colleagues in Seattle are terrific and very talented people. If even a single one of us makes it to live TV, I’ll be extremely happy. If I end up being one of them, all the better!

Tips for future contestants:

1.       When filling the forms, make sure you write legibly and clearly, taking the time to think about what you’re going to write and how to put it forward eloquently. The producers need to read through hundreds of these, so don’t give them any reason to dump your form because they can’t read your chicken-scratch.

2.       Bring a good and comfortable pen with you to the audition. The cheap plastic pens they typically give out are likely to negatively impact what you write and how it looks.

3.       Think ahead of what you want to write when listing your jobs and unique properties. This is your chance to stand out, and even if your job title was simple “mail delivery”, try to figure out a way to put it more interestingly. For example, maybe “mail delivery with the highest rate of road-rage related incidents in the county”. Same for “unique” traits…everyone has a day-job and kids, many have weird medical conditions and there are plenty of LGBT members around...but maybe you are the only guy who used to be a VP for some company? Maybe you raped your high-school teacher in the ass daily? Perhaps you’re the only guy who founded MENSA, the high IQ society?

4.       When selecting your material for the show, keep in mind that if you do end up on TV, you need to do relatively clean material. It can be about sex, but if your joke’s “power” is based mostly on using the word “Fuck” or “Nigger” a lot, that might classify you as having a limited trajectory in the eyes of the producers. You might want to start and finish on hard-core jokes to make the most impact, but try to have at least 1-2 cleaner ones in the middle.

5.       Most comedians talk about one of a small group of common topics. Marriage, kids, drugs, being drunk, nasty boss…etc. Try to set yourself apart by choosing a different topic. Even if you do go with the classics, try to find something that’s at least a bit outstanding (for example, if it’s kids, keep in mind that ALL kids say and do stupid and funny things…but maybe yours is retarded or exceptionally violent…that might be your key to being unique)

6.       It might be too late now to develop an on-stage persona or unique characteristic, but if you haven’t, consider it. Some comics exhibit the “confused” persona, while others play the misanthrope. I start every routine claiming to be “an Alien” (as if from Outer Space), and then “admitting” that I’m not THAT kind of alien, and concluding with the kind I really am (immigrant) with some crack about stupid stuff immigrants are known for. For example: “Not the kind that’s here to butcher mankind…the kind that’s here to butcher the English language”.

7.       Another way to be unique is to use some prop or costume that people might remember. This is a bit risky because you don’t want to go overboard and be remembered ONLY for that…but it can work (just like Carrot-Top made his career about little more than prop comedy)

8.       Time your routine PERFECTLY. Overtime is rarely tolerated in our business, but in this case it is an “easy” way to get ruled out. Get a stop-watch (hay! Your iPhone has one!) and go through your set at least 4-5 times to see where you’re at. It’s better to cut a joke and have 10% spare time than risk getting “killed” (getting your mic muted) or disqualified.

9.       Reality shows often mix-in a few VERY bad performers, to give the judges and audience easy targets to pick on and ridicule. It’s a valid strategy to intentionally be that guy by doing a terrible job on-stage (tripping, forgetting your lines, mumbling, crying etc). This is a risky strategy so I don’t really recommend it, but if you really feel you don’t have a shot for who you are, it might be a worthwhile last straw. I’ve also heard of a few that used this to get-through the 1st round, and then change their tune later and try to do well (then again…surprising the production this way is also risky…they can edit your video and make you look even worse!).

10.   Finally…be NICE, HUMBLE and RESPECTFUL. This should be the foundation for any performer, but even more important here. Be nice to your competitors, and forthcoming with anyone you see during the audition. You never know if that quiet guy who came to shake your hands isn’t actually a top-level producer or manager, or whether some polite geeky-fan might turn out to be a club owner who wants to hire you for a gig. Also, other comics might be your opponents tonight, but next week, they might be a big-time producer that might want your involved if you’re friendly.
 
Good luck to all of you!

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Is Israel killing Arabs in Gaza senselessly, and other FAQ about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict

While I don’t typically go into politics, and I don’t claim to be an expert on this topic, I have spent the majority of my life living in the Middle East, and I’ve taken the time to study not only the major religions, but also the cultures surrounding them and the psychology of the people involved. Since I have a somewhat public profile, I get asked for clarifications about this topic, and so I decided to put together this FAQ, based on stuff people asked me. I hope you find it useful.
 
Is it true that Israel started all of this?
Depending on your definition of “it”, the answer differs, but mostly the most general answer is “no”. If you really go all the way back, then Abraham, the 1st Jew, “start” it by moving from his home land to modern-day Israel, based on, supposedly, what God said to him. After that, most of the “its” were started by Arabs. The current war (mid 2014) was started when Palestinians grabbed and murdered 3 Israeli teenagers, which quickly escalated to launching rockets randomly into Israel, to which the Israeli army responded by trying to vanquish ammo depots and missile launchers. Other conflict such as the 1st Israeli war was initiated by several Arab countries attacking Israel shortly after it was founded.
 
Is Israel trying to annihilate the Palestinians?
Absolutely not! Even though Israeli actions in Gaza are leading to an unfortunately high number of deaths, it is by no means an attempt to conduct genocide. Even if you don’t believe me, consider this: Israeli has hundreds of planes and thousands of rockets. Does it make sense that it would drop hundreds of bombs per day but only succeed in killing a dozen people in such an attack?
 
What then, is the purpose of the Israeli actions in Gaza?
The purpose is two-fold: One is to find and destroy the many tunnels that go from Gaza directly into Israeli cities and used by Hamas operatives to infiltrate and attack civilian population centers. The 2nd is to reduce the Hamas’ ability to launch additional rockets into Israel. The 1st part is done by infantry, scanning the Gaza strip for such tunnels and blowing them up (which includes an occasional battle with Hamas infantry). The 2nd part is done by gathering intelligence of ammo depots and launch sites and bombing these depots and sites from the air.
 
Why doesn’t Israel, instead of bombing Gaza, try to block the tunnels from the Israeli side?
On the Israeli side, the tunnel exists are randomly located in a massive area (over 7000 acres) and are well-concealed and some aren’t even open (as in, digging stopped a feet below the surface to avoid detection). It’s literally a needle in a haystack. Inside Gaza, though, the entrances are large and possible to detect due to supplies stocked next to them and evidence of the construction which are often left around. By the way, the bombing isn’t against tunnels – it’s against rocket launch sites and ammunition stockpiles.
 
Why don’t the Israeli simply kill all Palestinians?
While there are some extremist who want that, this is definitely NOT something Israel would ever do. Virtually all Israelis just want everything to stop, and to live their lives peacefully without fear of attack or war. Even before the current conflict of 2014, many Israelis live in fear. In the South, the fear is from random rockets coming in, which happens occasionally even during times of rest. In most major Israeli cities, a lot of people are afraid of going on busses or into shopping malls, because there were many of suicide bomb attacks over the past decades. I myself left Israel in 2008 in large part due to wanting to live without the threat and not wanting to raise kids in that sort of “atmosphere”. However, the idea of removing the problem by genocide is so far from the Israeli state of mind that I can guarantee it’s NEVER going to happen.
 
Why are there so many casualties in Gaza?
Beyond the fact that the numbers are often exaggerated for publicity sake, the ammo depots and launch sites targeted are always located (often hidden) in highly populated areas, so when these are bombed, it’s not possible to completely avoid hurting bystanders. Keep in mind that the Hamas is intentionally using population centers to host and hide their activity, because they benefit politically from the carnage.
 
Why are there many more casualties in Gaza than in Israel?
Even though Hamas is launching dozens of rockets daily, they are optimized for distance in order to reach as far into Israeli cities, which means they are extremely inaccurate. In addition, Israeli’s Iron Dome defense system eliminates a large portion of the incoming attacks.
 
Does Israel want peace?
Virtually all Israelis, other than a handful of extremists, do want an everlasting peace, or at least quiet coexistence. This has always been the case, but the reality is that peace requires two sides.
 
Do Palestinians want peace?
Many of them do, but their leadership is against it on principle. Offers for peace have always been offered, and in fact, back in 2000, Israel’s Prime Minister Barak extended an extremely generous offer to then-leader Yasser Arafat, which would have given Palestinians almost all the territories they ever claimed, but this too was rejected by Arafat. The current rulers of Gaza, the Hamas, have made it a core of their charter to destroy Israeli completely, and have re-stated that intent publicly over and over again, so it seems pretty clear that the desire for peace is unilateral.
 
Why is the Palestinian leadership not interested in peace?
It seems weird to reject peace when it seems to cost SO much, but the reality is that Palestinian leaders are not only detached from their people and their suffering, but also benefit greatly from the ongoing war. The people of Gaza receive huge amounts of money from countries like Qatar, as well as donations from other countries, and significant parts of that go directly into the pockets of Hamas leaders. For example, Khaled Mashal, Hamas leader, owns multiple properties in Gaza and Qatar, and other leaders have comparable fortunes. In fact, after Yasser Arafat’s death, it was discovered that Arab leader had over a billion dollars stashed away – all carved off money received to benefit his people. In addition, promoting anger and hate against Israel serves to divert the people’s attention from this sort of corruption. They gain the public’s support by promising revenge against Israel’s, and then promote further violence to fuel the hate. It’s a vicious and endless cycle.
 
Hamas fires missiles to Israel, Israel fires missiles to Gaza. What’s the difference?
The key difference is that Israeli missiles are precisely targeted to destroy Hamas missile stores and rocket launchers. Each missile or bomb is dropped to a specific point determined by military intelligence and surveillance. Hamas rockets, on the other hand, are only roughly aimed at Israeli cities, trying to cause as much death and destruction. Israel’s rockets are preventative measures, trying to destroy military supplies using very small explosive charges so as to cause as little casuals as possible. Hamas’ rockets are intended to inflict as much suffering on Israel as possible.
 
Isn’t what Israel does similar to what the Nazi’s did to the Jews in world war two and the holocaust?
Far from it! Unfortunately, Palestinians are wounded and killed daily as part of the conflict, but this is an unavoidable as Hamas weapons are used and stored within heavily-populated places. When these are destroyed as part of Israel’s effort to reduce the number of rockets fired at it daily, innocent bystanders get hurt. Israel takes many steps at great costs to minimize this, including informing civilians of precise future attack targets, but this isn’t always possible. The Nazi’s, on the other hand, personally executed millions of Jews (up to 3000 people PER HOUR in a single camp!) without warning. The Nazi’s actions were specifically and efficiently targeted at wiping out the Jewish people.
 
Why so many Palestinians get killed if it’s not the purpose?
This happens for two reasons. When Israel finds a location of a missile launch site or ammunition depot, it’s not possible to destroy it with a 100% precision. A bomb typically levels a building, but damage to surrounding structures is inevitable, usually, especially with Palestinian architecture not being very sound to begin with. The 2nd reason is that Hamas is actively and intentionally keep civilians as close as possible to these targets because they WANT casualties, as this promotes their goals and agenda (The Israeli army, as well as the UN itself discovered many missile stocks hidden inside hospitals and schools)
 
Israel has such advanced Army, so why not be more precise?
When a launch site is discovered, it’s usually not possible to just walk into a crowded city and hit it. The time it would take would easily allow the missile launchers to clear out, and moving large army forces inside a hostile territory would inevitably lead to a large volume of casualties for Israel. This is a price the Israeli government isn’t willing to pay and instead, they alert the population of impending attacks with enough time to let them clear out. Some choose to ignore the warnings, or stay intentionally, and the result is casualties.
 
If Hamas's weaponry is so substandard as to cause minimal damage, then the carnage caused reciprocally seems unnecessary, right?
Keep in mind that when an Israeli bomb kills Palestinians, it's not a "retaliation" or "revenge", and so it's not supposed to be "reciprocal" or proportional. It's a specific action aimed at reducing the Hamas’ ability to launch additional rockets. Israeli leaders would prefer to reduce the death count as much as possible, which is why they drop warning leaflets and send out text messages to the population, to give them a fair chance to clear out.
 
If residents of Gaza know about upcoming bombing, why do they stay and get killed?
There were a few occasions of misunderstanding that led people to think their neighborhood is in the clear, but for the most part, this is because Hamas leaders instruct the population to ignore the warnings. In fact, there were several documented cases where residents, including women and children who were violently forced into targeted locations.
 
Isn’t there a way for Israel to stop Hamas missiles other than bombings?
The only way to reduce the death toll would be to send in troops on the ground to do this, which would lead to a much higher death toll for Israeli soldiers (you can see the high number of casualties in the IDF in the tunnel-related operation). A Palestinian life is just as precious as an Israeli one, but a military leader can’t be expected to send his own men die solely for reducing numbers on the other side. Also, the human-shield policy used by Hamas would inevitably lead to many casualties in any type of military operation.
 
Do the deaths of three individuals (the Israeli teenagers murdered in June) justify killing over a thousand?
Of course not! However, this is not the right way to see it. The military action in Gaza and the resulting deaths are NOT “punishment” for the murdered kids. In fact, Israel didn’t retaliate for that at all. A group of Israeli individuals did try to avenge by murdering a Palestinian, but that was a singular action for which Israel took immediate action (of capturing the Israeli murderers). At that point, things escalated to firing massive numbers of rockets into Israel. The Israeli action is strictly preventative.
 
So, do the rockets launched from Gaza justify the deaths of Palestinians?
“Justify”…not exactly. There’s nothing “just” about death, but the circumstances mitigate the seemingly unjust decisions and actions. As I explained earlier, Israel is doing a lot to minimize the death toll, but it absolutely has to try and reduce the number of incoming rockets.
 
Why isn’t Israel simply giving the Palestinians what they want?
Israeli is actually willing to give the Palestinians ALMOST everything they want, but not all. Most of the what is known as “the occupied territories” is in total Palestinian control anyway, but the Palestinians are also demanding full ownership of core parts of the state of Israel (such as the city of Jerusalem). Jerusalem is still a site of major importance to Jews and giving it up would prevent Jews from accessing some of the most important places such as the Wailing Wall and the old city.
 
Why is Israel occupying the Palestinian lands?
Israeli presence in Palestinian areas is actually very small, but it still has to exist because there are many Israelis living in these areas or very close to them, and this necessitates an armed presence to defend them. In addition, Israel has to secure the passage between Gaza and the west bank to prevent terrorists from sneaking in (such attempts occur daily).
 
Why do Palestinians have to be humiliated and mistreated just because they want to travel to work inside Israel?
Border crossings between Palestinian territories and Israel are FAR from efficient, and no doubt the experience is sometimes rough. The long lines are not unusual (you get the same if you drive from the US to Mexico or back) but unfortunately, the men who secure the passage are young soldiers. They aren’t versed in Arabic or Palestinian culture and due to the high threat level and tremendous stress, the results are sometimes humiliating to those coming through. When a security event happens (and those happen almost every day), things can get even worse as the lockdown can grind things to a halt. No one wants or enjoys it, but just like the TSA in the US sometimes detains someone needlessly due to some random error, Israeli border patrol makes mistakes too.
 
Why are there Israeli settlers in Palestinian territories?
Mostly for financial reasons. Because the Palestinian territories are mostly uninhabited and very far off Israel’s main cities, land there is extremely cheap and so many Israelis have chosen to live there over the years. In addition, taxes are significantly lower. For most of Israeli’s history, the area officially belonged to Israel and at times settling was even actively encouraged by the government of Israel. Over the years, Israel has cleared a significant portion of settlements, but some existing settlements aren’t that easy to remove. I should say that ejecting all Israelis from Palestinian territories wouldn’t really benefit anyone, because there’s no shortage of free land there. On the same note, there are several million Arabs living inside Israel and no one is wanting to eject them.
 
Why are so many newspapers saying that Israel is bad, then?
Many people think that the media reports facts and do so accurately, but the reality is that it’s not like that at all (and I know this because I worked as a journalist for half my life). Journalists have opinions, and they often reflect in their writing, and their editors’ opinions affect the depiction and topic selection as well. In addition, Journalists report info that is given to them, and that’s not always accurate. For example, the Palestinians often twist facts and conceal info, but journalists don’t question it because it comes from an “official source”. Many don’t conceive that a government rep might lie, nor do they have a means to check the facts. In reality, the Palestinians think it’s perfectly fine to lie, and have been caught red-handed falsifying footage and photos multiple times.
 
Why is the UN always blaming Israel?
The UN is supposedly a body that is neutral and peaceful, but the reality is that a significant number of UN members are pro-Palestinian by default because they are either Arab or anti-Israeli. These members use their combined numbers to drive the agenda of the UN. They offer proposals and drive decisions that are against Israel, with little to no resistance or opposition. For example, resolution 43/54 from 1988 that condemns Israel clearly describes how it’s based on the twelfth Arab summit. In reality, the United Nations is little more than “United Arab Nations”, and the organizations is exploited by Arab states as a platform to attack Israel on a regular basis.
 
If Israel is not in the wrong, why then all of Europe is condemning Israel all the time?
The Europeans have good intentions, but there are two main things that affect their conduct. First is the fact that a significant part of the population of many European countries is Muslim and therefore automatically against Israel and pro-Palestinian. This puts a lot of political pressure on leadership, which often leads to biased opinions and actions. Secondly, many European nations have participated in aggressive occupation and persecution in their past, which leads to a heightened sensitivity to the topic and a desire to distance themselves from stuff they did. The British, the Germans, the French and the Spanish have all tried (with various level of success) to conquer the world, destroying and killing anyone who stood in their way, and their collective guilt leads them to be as vocal as they can against Israel for fear of their own past being brought up against them.
 
Is there a solution to this never-ending conflict?
Many have tried over the years, and I certainly am no smarter than experts and leaders, so I don’t claim to have a solution. I believe there’s a lot of will and readiness within both the Israeli and Palestinian population for co-existence, but it takes only a handful of extremists to break the balance. After all, a single individual Palestinian independently launching a few rockets into Israel, or a single individual Israeli doing something crazy could easily set the region ablaze very quickly (in the current conflict of 2014, a murder of Mohammed Abu Khudair by an Israeli in revenge of the killing of 3 Israeli kids is what lit things up). Given that, and how the fighting benefits Palestinian leaders, I think it would be very long before a permanent solution is ever reached – probably not within my own lifetime.
 

Thursday, May 15, 2014

I broke my screen!

Today’s mobile phones, with the beautiful screens and luscious colors have one major pain point…one little drop in the “right” angle, and the screen shatters, making usage of the phone hard and often times very annoying (for some, even embarrassing). A screen protector, despite its name, doesn’t actually prevent screen cracking – it’s only designed to prevent scratches to the screen directly. A good case can reduce the chances, but the reality is that screens break even with most cases.

Having the screen replaced usually costs at least $100, and often times over $200, which leads most people to just grin and bear it until the phone’s 2 year contract ends. However, if you have stable hands and a strong heart, you can probably fix this yourself for around $20. Let’s see how!

To be clear, a new screen for a phone does cost a pretty penny – usually at least $80, but the good news is that for many phones, the screen has two parts – the display, and the digitizer. The digitizer sits above the display, and it’s the components that reads your finger touch and tells the phone where you touched. The digitizer is also the part that usually breaks when the phone takes a blow, and the best news is that the digitizer is relatively cheap to replace.

I should say, before we go any further, that replacing a digitizer is a job that requires steady hands and nerves of steel. If you’ve never done this, you’ll be feeling like you’re destroying your phone, and if you’re easily shaken, stop reading now before you incur any expenses. The article discusses the process of replacing the digitizer on a Nokia Lumia 920, and replacing the digitizer for other models is similar.

To do this, here’s what you’ll need:

1. A new digitizer for your Lumia 920.

2. A cellphone 2mm double sided tape

3. A mini screwdriver kit with Torx and regular bits

4. A tool to separate the digitizer

5. Compressed air (can)

6. Q-tips

7. A strong vacuum handle, such as a GPS device’s car window clip

8. Tweezers

9. A hair dryer

A new digitizer can be found on sites such as Amazon or eBay, for around 20-30$. Often times, the cheaper options are low-quality non-original parts, and I can’t recommend them. These are usually less responsive than an original part and that could be annoying. Some digitizers come with double-sided tape, which makes the job easier. If yours doesn’t have the tape, you’ll need to buy it separately, and it should cost around $3 for a roll that will suffice for more than one replacement. The tool for separating the digitizer can be a simple guitar-pick, but I recommend the specialty tool that watch-makers use (see picture below).

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Process outline:

1. You open up the phone

2. You disconnect the digitizer connector from the phone’s main board

3. You pull off the old digitizer

4. You peel off and clean up the glue that connected it to place

5. You connect the new digitizer and test it

6. You apply a new tape, if needed

7. You clean up everything

8. You stick the screen in place

9. You close the phone

10. Tada!

Part one – opening up the phone and removing the old screen

Opening up the Nokia Lumia 920 is relatively easy – you remove the two screws at the bottom of the phone, and push the inner part out of the casing by applying pressure on the corner of the screen, at the bottom of the phone.

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To remove the broken digitizer, you need to disconnect its connector from the board. The connector is at the bottom of the phone, and covered by a metal piece, which is screwed into place. Remove the screw, the piece, and use a small screw driver to pry out the connector gently.

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Take your new digitizer, and connect it to the board. This is JUST for testing purposes because if the new digitizer doesn’t work for some reason, you don’t want to remove the old screen and be left with a non-working phone altogether. If the digitizer appears to respond correctly, disconnect it and continue with the process.

Now comes the hard part – removing the digitizer. It’s glued into place with a pretty strong bond, which makes this challenging. If you warm up the glass with a hair dryer, it weakens the glue, but it’s difficult to know how hot you can get it without it starting to melt the phone’s plastics, so my advice is to pull the glass by force. To do so, use a GPS’s dashboard vacuum holder to hold on to the glass, and pull it out. Because the board connector is at the bottom of the phone, start pulling from the TOP of the phone. Keep in mind that this pressure does risk breaking the glass, so this sort of thing is suitable only when the glass is already damaged and you got nothing to lose (in other words, don’t do this just for fun). Once you’ve been able to pry the glass off a bit, you should switch to a watch case opener tool. Slide it under the open area and start pushing it around to pry off the rest of the glass. This part is very nerve-wracking, because if the glass is fractured, the pressure will crack it further, making you feel like you’re killing the phone. Just be careful not to slide the watch opener too much in, so that it doesn’t accidentally scratch the screen itself, which is about 1 millimeter below the digitizer.

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Once the glass is pulled mostly off, gently push out the connector from the back side to release it (essentially, you’re throwing the glass away, so you can rip it, but be careful not to damage the phone itself by using too much force). Now, use tweezers and a knife to clean off any remaining glue from the phone’s body. It might not be possible to remove all of it, but try your best.

Part 2 – prepping the phone for the new glass

As I said before, some digitizers come with a double sided tape already mounted, so all you would need to do later is to peel the cover off and stick it into place (don’t do it yet). If not, then you need to get double-sided tape too. Don’t try to “walk” the tape all around the phone – that’s virtually impossible. I recommend working in pieces that are about 1.5-2” long and cover the entire frame. The tape won’t hold the glass as strongly as the original glue, which is good, because you can take it out again without using too much force. It might be tempting to not even cover the entire frame, but I recommend making the effort of having glue all around because if you don’t, dust can leak into the phone and stick to the screen from inside....which is really nasty and annoying.

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Part 3 – finish up

Place the new digitizer on the phone, and insert the connector through the frame. At this point, the double-sided tape is still covered, because you need to test everything before sticking things together. Connect the digitizer, wake up the phone and confirm that everything still works. Now carefully clean up the screen with q-tips and compressed air, peel the cover off the double-sided tape and stick it in place. The phone’s body has grooves to help you make sure the digitizer is perfectly in place. Be sure to work with gloves and in a super-clean environment because if any dust sticks to the glass or the screen before you close it, or you get fingerprints on it, it can drive you mad.

Finally, put everything back into the phone’s case, tighten the screws, and go show-off your handy work!

Monday, May 5, 2014

Win a million dollars? Think again!

Many competitions and reality shows out there flaunt a big prize. “The winner of Americas got talent will win a million dollars and headline show in Vegas!” is one example, and the currently running Monopoly game at McDonalds offers the same amount. Doesn’t that sound alluring? If so…take a closer look!

If you do take a closer look, you’d see that those terrific million dollars are actually given out in an annuity!

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This means that the lucky winners will be getting only 50,000$ a year for 20 years, rather than the million dollars. A similar deal goes on with America’s Got Talent big million, but it’s spread out even more over 40 years, which means they will be paying the winner only about $2000 every month. For those contestants who were hoping on buying a nice house or a fancy car, you can forget about. Even if you do win the McDonalds grand prize (and your odds, as stated above, are one in 3 billion), the best you can hope for, after taxes, is enough for an average SUV. On AGT, the prize would barely cover the rent.

Why do they do this? Well, paying out in an annuity translates to a much lower sum of money. Money, you see, costs money. That’s why you pay interest to the bank if you want to borrow money, and the same trickery happens in almost all financial deals. If you have a large amount of money and deposit it in the bank, it earns you money the same way. For the production company that produces AGT, this is good because they don’t really have to come up with a million dollars. All they have to do is put aside a sum of money that will generate enough interest over 40 years to cover 1/40 of a million every year. The actual number differs, but generally speaking, it’s about a third. This means that the production company only has to set aside about 330,000$, and that’s it. In the case of McDonalds, which, according to investor Joshua Kennon, earns about 36% on their financial assets (like money they have in the bank) and so their cost for the annuity is actually only $137,000.

Is this fair? Well, it is legal, but it really stinks in my opinion. After all, America’s Got Talent pays out several millions a season to every one of their 4 judges, and they sure as sh** won’t be getting an annuity. They also openly ask the contestants “what will you do with the million”, letting these poor suckers fantasize about stuff that won’t happen even if they win.

To be clear…McDonalds earns a million dollars every 90 minutes or so. Both these companies, as well as most other big competition runners would barely feel a loss of one million dollars, but they are counting on the fact that they have millions of people lined up to compete, and that most of them don’t realize the annuity concept at all. Once these people do win, they really don’t have much choice other than shut up and take what they’re given. In fact, most of these people don’t even consider that the IRS would be taking a serious cut out of their winning anyway, so in the case of McDonalds, they’ll probably end up with about $3000 in their hand every month…barely enough for an apartment in most major cities. Keep all this in mind next time you get tempted by those promising competitions!

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Cleanup, aisle 1


When you're raising kids, or puppies, part of the game is having to deal with various spills. Pee, vomit, juice and mud are part of daily life. For years, I used standard kitchen towels, but as my dog grew old and started peeing on my carpets twice a day, I got weary of the costs of burning through a roll a day.

What I figured out is that what's good enough for the public toilet in the mall is good enough for me! The companies that sell the huge industrial dispensers to stores offer their stuff online too, and so after some research, I found that the paper rolls by Georgia-Pacific are very economic. Instead of paying $15 for 8 paper towel rolls (which are 56 feet per roll), these babies cost $7.77 for a 400 feet roll (usually in a pack of 6). Yup, that's 42% cheaper, not to mention that the 400 feet rolls last for a very long time.

The rolls can be used as is, but the company also sells a "trial kit", which has the dispenser and two rolls for $20 (with free shipping). That’s like paying $4.5 for the dispenser.

You can also buy the “brown” variety of paper, which is even cheaper (around 8.8 cent per foot, or about 55% less than the white paper and 73% cheaper than traditional paper towels). Honestly, this type of industrial paper (both brown and white) is thinner than regular kitchen towels, and absorbs less, but it’s still a lot more economic when dealing with the kind of frequent accidents that living with pets or kids includes.
Now all I need to do is figure out dealing with the smell...

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Why is my phone charging so slow?!?!

Most electronics these days are designed to charge of standard USB ports, which makes it convenient as you don’t have to buy and carry around endless chargers. However, even though USB ports all look the same, the electronics that power them are not, and this can lead to some weirdness.

Many of us are used to think about chargers in terms of the physical properties of the plug, and the more savvy are aware of the voltage as well (as in, if a device requires 12 volts, you can’t charge it off a 5 volts charger even if the plug fits). There are, however, additional properties for electric current which impact this as well. The one that affects charging a lot, as it happens, is the Ampere (often referred to simply as “Amps”).

Ampere is a way to describe the amount of electric charge (passing a point in an electric circuit) in a certain time. You can read more about it here, but let’s forget formulas and science-studies for now and focus on the realities…

When something (like a charger) provides power, it would always have a certain voltage, wattage and ampere rating, which designate what it can “give” out. A high-quality one will have a clear label listing those, though most chargers will only list the voltage and ampere, because those matter most. Also, there’s a direct relationship between the three, so if you know two, you can calculate the third, if you want. The bottom line here is that the properties of a charger determine not only whether it CAN charge your device, but also how FAST it will do so.

Some electronic devices come with a wall charger that hooks directly into the device and to the wall socket. Other electronics, like the iPhone and iPad come with a wall-USB charger and a separate USB cable. This modular approach is nice, because instead of having two cables, you can hook the phone to the computer or the wall using the same cable. Naturally, you can also go on the road and charge multiple devices using the same charger (and sometimes sync with the same cable). If you look at the charger that came with your device, it should list the Ampere rating it supports. For example, here is a standard Apple iPhone USB charger:

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In the photo above, you can see that this charger is rated at 1A, or 1 ampere. Most chargers out there are rated at 1 Ampere too, so this is pretty common. However, if you go and buy another one and not pay attention, you might find yourself with a weaker charger, like this:

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Supporting only 0.7 Ampere, this charger would charge your device 30% slower than others, which could be bad news. On the other hand, if you DO pay attention, you can easily find chargers that support a higher rating – some as much as 2.6A. For example, this charger by Anker has 2 ports, each supporting 2.4A (for a total of 4.8A):

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This charger will charge your iPhone about 2.4 times faster than the charger that comes with the phone (and it doesn’t cost too much either!)

Naturally, having a higher Ampere rating is something manufacturers want to do, but not all of them actually bother with being clear about it. For example, you might be lured into buying this car charger, thinking it’s more than 3 times faster than the standard Apple charger:

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However, the 3.1 Amps rating here actually refers to the COMBINED output of both ports. In reality, the top port provides 1 Ampere, and the bottom one 2.1 ampere. This is why the bottom port is labeled “for iPad”, because if you attempt to charge an iPad on the 1A port, it will take a LOT of time. In fact, if the iPad is on at the time, its power usage will probably out-pace the power produced by the charger.

Another note on this topic is that even though the higher Amp rating doesn’t necessarily increase the cost of the device, buying these at many stores can easily cost an arm and a leg. Radio shack, for example, has a 2.4 Ampere charger, but it will set you back over $30. In online shopping sites like Amazon and eBay, you can easily find a comparable device for as low as $6 (in addition to the one by Anker I listed above).

Last note about this is that even though saving money is good, I wouldn’t advocate going too far on this. Reducing costs often requires reducing the quality of parts or performing little to no QA (Quality Assurance) by the manufacturer. This could lead to various malfunctions which could include:

1. Underperforming (lower voltage or lower current which could slow down or stop charging)

2. Over performing (higher voltage, which could damage the device you are charging or cause it’s battery to explode)

3. Overheating, which could lead to melting, shorts or even explosions

In addition, lower-end chargers might actually be falsifying their labels and sell you a 1A charger with 2A on the label…and testing it is quite difficult. In other words…shop around, but try to aim for products with good reviews, or least a brand-name you can trust.