tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90894429121522918602024-03-12T21:20:56.234-07:00Cool Ideazfor making life better!Erez Ben Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404738228099173557noreply@blogger.comBlogger72125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9089442912152291860.post-72550445027151345262022-07-29T11:19:00.001-07:002022-07-29T11:19:03.728-07:00<p> As our planet is getting warmer, more and more people are considering getting an AC. Those who own a home often opt to get a central AC - a unit that attaches to the houses furnace and channels cold air via the floor vents to cool the entire house, as opposed to installing individual AC devices in each room. </p><p><br /></p><p>Keeping the entire house cool 24x7 is cool in both senses of the word, and seems like the sensible thing to do…but it is? Today I'll be making the case for the opposite solution.</p><p><br /></p><p>The main driver for writing this piece is that my state is going through a major heat wave now, and it is slowly becoming a regular thing. Every time we have one, the central AC systems used by many people and business craps out, as these systems were not designed to handle continuous 100 degree heat for several days. The result is that the people who repair these things are insanely overbooked, and anyone whose unit has stopped working might find themselves waiting for several weeks for a repair. Similarly, anyone who is now baking in this heat and wants to have a unit installed might find themselves waiting until September or even October to book an install. Quite unfortunate.</p><p><br /></p><p>I, on the other hand, have chosen to adopt a model similar to the RAID concept used in computers. When building servers, it is customary to install a set of simple and cheap hard drives, rather than one large and expensive one. RAID stands for "Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks". The idea is that each drive costs about $100-200 and isn't large, but when you put 8 of them together, you get a lot of space. Not only is this cheaper than a much-larger single drive, but also provides redundancy. The data is programmatically spread across all the drives, so that if one of them fails, the others "step in" and no data is lost. In the case of air conditioning, I also opted to buy three simple window AC units, each costing about $300, and have one in each room of my house. Installing a central AC would have cost at least $6000, and possibly as much as $9000, as my furnace and vents are old from 1961 and would probably need to be replaced or upgraded significantly. And as I noted above, having one central unit also is a risk for it being unable to handle the crazy weather and leaving me stranded with zero cooling for weeks. </p><p><br /></p><p>Another advantage of individual units vs central is the fine-grain control, as the cooling can be tuned differently in every room and part of the house. For example, if your house has two floors, then the top floor typically receives more radiation from the sun and gets hotter. The AC will blow the same amount of air into each room, so depending on thermostat settings and where the sensor is located, it might either have the bottom floors nice and cool, but the top floor will be too warm, or it might keep the top floor nice, but the bottom floors uncomfortably cold. Similarly, if grandma is living with you, then the 69-70 degrees most people like might be too cold for her bony ass, putting either all of you at her mercy, or vice versa (I've seen people who literally have a space-heater on in one room at their AC-cooled house!). </p><p><br /></p><p>A counter-point that was brought up is the fact that central AC units are designed to be more efficient than individual ones, so it would consume less power than running multiple individual units. In theory, if you were indeed running individual ACs in each room, 24x7, then that's true. However, if there are 2 or 3 people living in a large house, then they don't need all of it cooled, certainly not 24x7. With individual ACs, they can turn each on or off and set different levels of cooling based on their actual needs (and today, with Google Home and Alexa, you can easily control all of that with your voice, as well as timers and "routines"). Rather than waste all that electricity cooling a room you might rarely be-in, or during times when you're mostly not at home, you can set it to be more specific and save a lot on energy. The price for this, of course, is the need to manage all of this, and the fact that if you only remember to turn the AC on when you walk into a room, you might need a few minutes until it cools down. </p><p><br /></p><p>Naturally, the bigger one's house is, the more challenging it can be. If you live in a 5000 square-foot house, it can be unreasonable to have to buy 15 AC units, and another factor is noise, as individual units are typically more noisy as well, and can be quite an eye-sore, both from the inside, as they block a big part of the window, and from the outside of the structure (some HOAs may even forbid these). But for smaller places with good room separation (unlike big, open-space), I vote for individual units. Disagree? Comment here and convince me!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Erez Ben Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404738228099173557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9089442912152291860.post-68512405137106336222022-07-19T19:10:00.003-07:002022-07-19T19:10:59.788-07:00Making a Jurassic Park prehistoric mosquito in Amber<p>When I visited the Universal Studios theme park last year,
their store had a "mosquito in amber" artifact from Jurassic park. I
inquired about getting one, and they emailed me saying "due to the
possibility of unauthorized Dinosaur recreation, we only offer these as
displays in our shop ". Real cute. So this week, after catching a large
Crane-fly, I made one myself with resin. I’m quite proud of how real it looks.
In case you're wondering, the store "artifact" also had the
appearance of a "found" amber piece, rather than a polished
egg-shaped cane grip the movie featured, and that's what I was going for.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Here’s how to make this (scroll to the bottom for some
history/info on this, if you like)<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Find a Crane-Fly that you will put
inside the artifact. In most of the world, you can easily find one in certain
times of the year and climates. If not, you might be able to find one for sale
on eBay or Etsy, though sellers of bugs aren’t very consistent. Naturally, you
can use any other insect to do this, if you’d like to just make a DIY insect in
“amber”, although many gift stores sell these quite cheaply, so I’m not sure it’s
worth the effort. This would be a good idea if you have a pet insect that
perished and that you want to preserve.</li><li>Find a stone or rock to serve as
the shape template. Could be any, but should be 2-3” diameter, depending on the
size of your crane fly or other object.</li><li>Make or buy a frame for the
outside frame. You can construct one out of plastic, wood or thick cardboard.
If the stone is is up to 3”, you can get a 4” pipe piece at Home Depot. This is
a piece of pipe that’s about 4” wide and long and is perfect for a frame.</li><li>Get silicone mold polymer, or some
other molding material/kit. Remember the rule with mold – you use a soft mold
for hard cast, or vice-versa, so for this, you cannot use plaster or anything
else hard. I used this kit: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B094W15XPF">https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B094W15XPF</a>
. It cost $20 and I needed about 70% of the amount in it. A difficult choice is
how much to get, as you probably want to keep costs down, but not end up stuck
without enough material. You can calculate the expected volume by measuring the
stone’s volume with water-displacement, and calculate your frame size by simple
geometry, but be sure to get at least 20% more for safety.</li><li>Get polymer resin of some kind.
These can get VERY expensive, so consider whether you want something super
high-end. The cheaper stuff might be less clear than the good stuff, and also
produce more bubbles or have a very long cure time. My favorite is <a href="https://www.resin4art.com/">https://www.resin4art.com/</a>, though it’s
not cheap (I used 3 OZ resin for my stone, and that cost about $2 per ounce).
If you get bigger containers of standard resin, prices can be as low as 50
cents per ounce. </li><li>Get dye to color the resin. You
can use real amber color, if you can find any, or something similar. Keep in
mind that in nature, amber comes in different shades and colors (including Red,
Blue and even clear), so you can take some license with this. I used green food
coloring. </li><li>Place the frame on a surface, and
use a glue-gun to seal the edges around it. </li><li>If your stone is dirty, wash and
scrub it well, and dry well.</li><li>Place the stone on the bottom of
the frame.</li><li>Prepare (mix) about 2/3 of the
silicone molding material and pour it into the frame. Pour from about 8-12 inch
above to minimize bubbles and air-pockets. </li><li>Once the silicone has fully cured
(typically, 12 hours), remove it from the frame CAREFULLY. Do NOT remove the
stone from it.</li><li>Cut 2-3 “keys” into the top of the
frame. Keys are holes into which the top-part of the mold will fit, to make
closing it easier. Make this intentionally a-symmetric.</li><li>Take a little Vaseline and rub it
on the surface of the mold in a nice, thick layer. Make sure it goes into the
keys you cut as well. You can do this with a brush, cotton swap or your
fingers, but don’t let it get TOO thick. </li><li>Put the piece back in the frame.</li><li>Mix the other 1/3 of the mold
material and pour into the mold until it covers the stone well (ideally, at
least ½” above). Let it cure.</li><li>Remove from the frame and separate
the mold. Do this carefully and slowly, as the top part might stick to the bottom
a little despite the Vaseline. It might require some force, but be careful not
to tear it.</li><li>Remove the stone from the mold
completely, and turn it over (the top of the mold will be the bottom when you
cast)</li><li>Ideally, the bottom of the mold
will have a hole, where the stone was standing-on. If there is none or it’s
very small, cut it a little open. You need to have room there to pour-in resin
later. </li><li>Mix your poly-resin as per the instructions.
Most of them are 1:1, but some are 2:3 or other variations. If your stone is
like mine, about 3”, mix 1 or 1.5 OZ using a scale…and be ACCURATE. </li><li>Add coloring to the mix to make
the resin look like amber. I used just ONE drop. Keep close track of the quantifies
you used in this step and the previous, as you’ll need to do this TWICE more
and you want the proportion of resin to dye to be the same so as to avoid
color-bands in the result.</li><li>Pour the resin into the bottom
(which was the top beforehand) to its brim. Try to avoid spilling, but it’s OK
if it’s not all the way to the brim.</li><li>Give the resin some time to
harden. Doesn’t have to fully harden, just enough so that the bug won’t sink in
(most resin will be there in 2-3 hours, some less)</li><li>Place the bug in the middle and
close the mold above it.</li><li>Let it stand for another hour or
two to make sure the bug is stuck in place</li><li>Prepare another serving of the
resin and dye and remember – the proportion of dye needs to be identical. It’s
generally better to make a little too-much resin and throw it away then to get
stuck without enough in the middle of a step.</li><li>Pour the resin into the mold
carefully and slowly, so it surrounds the bug and builds around and above it.
It should engulf the animal, but doesn’t have to do so fully (we waited earlier
so it stays stuck in place and doesn’t float)</li><li>Let the resin harden for a bit –
doesn’t have to be fully, an hour or two will suffice.</li><li>Prepare a final batch of the
resin, with the same proportions and pour it in. The idea is to NOT fill the
mold all the way to the top but a little below. That will create a flat
surface, which will be transparent and let you see into the amber. Just make
sure the bug is fully covered. </li><li>Leave the resin to harden
(typically 12 hours). You can test it with a toothpick, but carefully to not
leave dimples in the casting. If you had leftover in your mixing cup, that is a
good way to test if it hardened or not.</li><li>Demold the result, carefully and
slowly. Good chance some resin will have crept between the mold pieces like a
film, which you need to cut out and remove carefully. It might leave behind a
lip, so grind that down with a nail clipper or with a mini grinding wheel (Dremmel,
or similar)</li><li>That’s it – it should look nice
and pretty!</li></ol><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u>Now some history lesson:</u><o:p></o:p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><o:p></o:p></p><div>
<p class="MsoNormal">The mosquito seen in the movie (attached to Dr. Hammond's
cane, and depicted as the source of the blood used to recreate dinosaurs) is
actually Toxorhynchites, or "elephant mosquito". These aren't
"real" mosquito, as they eat other insects, just like the Crane fly,
rather than blood. However, the film makers wanted something more impressive
than a real mosquito, which is just 0.15-0.4". The elephant mosquito is
about an inch, so fits the idea that prehistoric mosquitos were huge, even
though it's not true. In reality, prehistoric mosquitos were about the same
size as today's. There *were* giant insects, like a prehistoric dragonfly, with
a wingspan of 30" (size of a crow), but not mosquitos. The crane fly I
used was about an inch, so it's fairly screen-accurate.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">BTW, Amazon sells a replica of the cane grip, but it
actually contains only a flat graphic of the "prehistoric" mosquito.
My piece is fully 3D.<o:p></o:p></p></div><p class="MsoNormal">
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><o:p></o:p></p><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><o:p></o:p></p>Erez Ben Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404738228099173557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9089442912152291860.post-61653764779606037752022-07-04T14:31:00.000-07:002022-07-04T14:31:16.194-07:00TV Wallpaper<p style="text-align: left;">Several friends and guests asked me about the Video wallpaper running on my TV. It's pretty cool - a video of short segments flying over cities around the country. It's actually just one of several I have on my TV, and this is how it's done.</p><p style="text-align: left;">In general, this is a video called "flying over the USA", which you can find on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YIIZL2n8lc">YouTube </a>(BTW, thanks to my darling <b>Raven </b>for cluing me in to it!). If your TV supports YouTube, you can simply play that video, which is 12 hours long (It's actually a 45 minute video, looped 16 times). There are many other "scenery" videos. Many come with soothing music, which might like, or prefer to mute.</p><p style="text-align: left;">If you have a simple TV, like mine, you can use a "stick" PC, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PVNS2P9" target="_blank">like this </a>(*) as I do, running Windows and using <a href="https://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html" target="_blank">VLC </a>as a video player, as well as some custom code I wrote using <a href="https://www.autoitscript.com/site/autoit/downloads/" target="_blank">AutoIT</a>. On the computer, I put 12 videos of different subjects, like an art slideshow, the Matrix code, views of Nebula in space, and more. The custom code (below) shows buttons to select and play any of the videos. </p><p style="text-align: left;">* This stick is the cheapest Amazon has, and costs $93, and I've seen them "pre-owned" cheaper on eBay. You can also find Android-based ones for as low as $40, but you'll have to write some scripts to make that work nicely (I built such a thing once, but wasn't able to figure out a nice-enough user-interface to pick the movie on-screen).</p><p style="text-align: left;">The code I wrote for AutoIT is below. It simply shows 12 big buttons. Each will launch VLC, adding a parameter for the video file name, and parameters to play it in full-screen, in an endless loop and SILENT (because the TV is in my living room, which is a party space). Here's the code:</p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">#include <ButtonConstants.au3><br />#include <GUIConstantSex.au3><br />#include <WindowsConstants.au3><br />$StartX = 20<br />$StartY = 20<br />$ButSizeX = 150<br />$ButSizeY = 120<br />$ButInterX = 20<br />$ButInterY = 20<br /><br />$Button1Action = "Apple"<br />$Button2Action = "Art"<br />$Button3Action = "Earth From Space"<br />$Button4Action = "Fireplace"<br />$Button5Action = "LG"<br />$Button6Action = "The Matrix"<br />$Button7Action = "Nature"<br />$Button8Action = "Satisfying"<br />$Button9Action = "Scenery"<br />$Button10Action = "Snow Mountains"<br />$Button11Action = "Space Nebulas"<br />$Button12Action = "Flying over USA"<br />$theGUI = GUICreate("formWithButton", 1200, 500, 50, 50)<br />$button1 = GUICtrlCreateButton($Button1Action, $ButSizeX*1+$ButInterX*1, $StartY+0, $ButSizeX, $ButSizeY)<br />$button2 = GUICtrlCreateButton($Button2Action, $ButSizeX*2+$ButInterX*2, $StartY+0, $ButSizeX, $ButSizeY)<br />$button3 = GUICtrlCreateButton($Button3Action, $ButSizeX*3+$ButInterX*3, $StartY+0, $ButSizeX, $ButSizeY)<br />$button4 = GUICtrlCreateButton($Button4Action, $ButSizeX*4+$ButInterX*4, $StartY+0, $ButSizeX, $ButSizeY)<br />$button5 = GUICtrlCreateButton($Button5Action, $ButSizeX*1+$ButInterX*1, $StartY+140, $ButSizeX, $ButSizeY)<br />$button6 = GUICtrlCreateButton($Button6Action, $ButSizeX*2+$ButInterX*2, $StartY+140, $ButSizeX, $ButSizeY)<br />$button7 = GUICtrlCreateButton($Button7Action, $ButSizeX*3+$ButInterX*3, $StartY+140, $ButSizeX, $ButSizeY)<br />$button8 = GUICtrlCreateButton($Button8Action, $ButSizeX*4+$ButInterX*4, $StartY+140, $ButSizeX, $ButSizeY)<br />$button9 = GUICtrlCreateButton($Button9Action, $ButSizeX*1+$ButInterX*1, $StartY+280, $ButSizeX, $ButSizeY)<br />$button10 = GUICtrlCreateButton($Button10Action, $ButSizeX*2+$ButInterX*2, $StartY+280, $ButSizeX, $ButSizeY) <br />$button11 = GUICtrlCreateButton($Button11Action, $ButSizeX*3+$ButInterX*3, $StartY+280, $ButSizeX, $ButSizeY)<br />$button12 = GUICtrlCreateButton($Button12Action, $ButSizeX*4+$ButInterX*4, $StartY+280, $ButSizeX, $ButSizeY)<br />GUISetState(@SW_SHOW)<br />While 1<br />$nMsg = GUIGetMsg()<br />Switch $nMsg<br />Case $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE<br />Exit<br />Case $button1<br />Run ("c:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe ""c:\Sync\Videos\TV stick\" & $Button1Action & ".mp4"" -f --loop --no-audio" , "" , @SW_MINIMIZE)<br />Case $button2<br />Run ("c:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe ""c:\Sync\Videos\TV stick\" & $Button2Action & ".mp4"" -f --loop --no-audio" , "" , @SW_MINIMIZE)<br />Case $button3<br />Run ("c:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe ""c:\Sync\Videos\TV stick\" & $Button3Action & ".mp4"" -f --loop --no-audio" , "" , @SW_MINIMIZE)<br />Case $button4<br />Run ("c:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe ""c:\Sync\Videos\TV stick\" & $Button4Action & ".mp4"" -f --loop --no-audio" , "" , @SW_MINIMIZE)<br />Case $button5<br />Run ("c:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe ""c:\Sync\Videos\TV stick\" & $Button5Action & ".mp4"" -f --loop --no-audio" , "" , @SW_MINIMIZE)<br />Case $button6<br />Run ("c:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe ""c:\Sync\Videos\TV stick\" & $Button6Action & ".mp4"" -f --loop --no-audio" , "" , @SW_MINIMIZE)<br />Case $button7<br />Run ("c:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe ""c:\Sync\Videos\TV stick\" & $Button7Action & ".mp4"" -f --loop --no-audio" , "" , @SW_MINIMIZE)<br />Case $button8<br />Run ("c:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe ""c:\Sync\Videos\TV stick\" & $Button8Action & ".mp4"" -f --loop --no-audio" , "" , @SW_MINIMIZE)<br />Case $button9<br />Run ("c:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe ""c:\Sync\Videos\TV stick\" & $Button9Action & ".mp4"" -f --loop --no-audio" , "" , @SW_MINIMIZE)<br />Case $button10<br />Run ("c:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe ""c:\Sync\Videos\TV stick\" & $Button10Action & ".mp4"" -f --loop --no-audio" , "" , @SW_MINIMIZE)<br />Case $button11<br />Run ("c:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe ""c:\Sync\Videos\TV stick\" & $Button11Action & ".mp4"" -f --loop --no-audio" , "" , @SW_MINIMIZE)<br />Case $button12<br />Run ("c:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe ""c:\Sync\Videos\TV stick\" & $Button12Action & ".mp4"" -f --loop --no-audio" , "" , @SW_MINIMIZE)<br />EndSwitch<br />WEnd</span></div>Erez Ben Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404738228099173557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9089442912152291860.post-28955460438459123902022-06-16T09:35:00.006-07:002022-06-16T09:35:36.286-07:00Programmatic/script access to FetLife<p> In case you never heard of Fetlife, it is the social media
website for the alternative-lifestyle community, also known as the sex-positive
community. In other words, it’s the home for almost every kinkster in the
world, used for dating, event planning and more. As such, it is highly secure
and only visible to users, rather than the public, meaning you need to have an
account and login to access the site. Due to the sensitive nature of the
content, FetLife sure as HELL don’t want people to access their site with code
(so no one uses code to harvest all their user’s data and photos) and have
implemented a fairly complex session management mechanism. I have not been able
to beat it despite writing code that emulates a browser (sends the login-page
credentials and stores and sends back the session headers later). I’m not sure
if that’s just my programming inadequacies or their security having some layer
I haven’t cracked, but I have come up with a different method, presented here
for your convenience.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The method is based on <a href="https://www.autoitscript.com/site/autoit/downloads/">AutoIt</a>, the
UI-based automation language. It has an object designed to interact with a
browser, which displays the browser window, so you can perform the login. Once
done, it will store your creds (just like you normally do when logging into
websites) for a while, and that will allow the script to harvest the HTML data
from queries. In the example below, I’m doing a search for a user, to retrieve
the HTML content that will have their link (their unique user ID). <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>#include <IE.au3><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>#include <WindowsConstants.au3><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Local $oIE = _IECreateEmbedded()<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>GUICreate("Embedded Web control Test", 640, 580, _<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(@DesktopWidth
- 640) / 2, (@DesktopHeight - 580) / 2, _<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>$WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW + $WS_CLIPSIBLINGS + $WS_CLIPCHILDREN)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>GUICtrlCreateObj($oIE, 10, 40, 600, 360)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Global $g_idError_Message = GUICtrlCreateLabel("", 100,
500, 500, 30)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>GUISetState(@SW_SHOW) ;Show GUI<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>_IENavigate($oIE, "https://fetlife.com/search?q=BigBoobs")<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>$sBody = _IEDocReadHTML ($oIE)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>sleep(5000)<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>_IEAction($oIE, "stop")<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>FileWrite( "C:\temp\FetOutPut.txt", $sBody)<o:p></o:p></b></p><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u>How this works:<o:p></o:p></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Line 1-2 calls the includes for basic operations with IE and
Windows. Line 3-9 creates the IE browser object. Line 10 tells it the URL to
display in the browser (the 1<sup>st</sup> time you run this code, it will
display the login window, and once you’ve logged in, run it again to actually
do the query). Line 11 reads the output into a variable (<b>$sBody</b>) and
then line 12 sleeps for 5 seconds. That sleep is the period that allows you to
login if it’s the 1<sup>st</sup> time or if your session has expired (if 5
seconds is too short, you can change it to an amount of time that suits you).
Finally, line 13 kills the browser and line 14 saves the content retrieved in
line 11 into a file, which you can then read and parse as you please. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As I said, this query just runs a search for the string “BigBoobs”,
so you can parse the output HTML to find users it may have found, or whatever
page you are looking for. You can also use the format “<b>https://fetlife.com/users/14385601</b>”
or “<b>https://fetlife.com/Master-Kama</b>” to read the page of a specific user
and parse-out their details or the format “<b>https://fetlife.com/search/events?q=kinky+poker</b>”
to retrieve the events page and list events. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Naturally, this is just the fundamental structure and the
real work is reverse-engineering the structure of the HTML output of the site
to find enclosing phrases for bits you might like, and then write a function that
uses the <b>StringInStr</b> and <b>StringMid </b>commands to dig-out these
bits. For example, the event query page would have a list of event links that
look like this:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>onclick="openLink(event, '/events/1123425?sp=1')<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Each event would have a different ID number, so by looking
for that string format, you can create a list of events found on that page with
the format: (the <b>?sp=1</b> is irrelevant)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>https://fetlife.com/events/1123425<br />
https://fetlife.com/events/1123527<br />
https://fetlife.com/events/1123433<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p><br /><p></p>Erez Ben Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404738228099173557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9089442912152291860.post-91205838069008097142022-06-15T22:23:00.005-07:002022-06-15T22:23:38.539-07:00Programmatic/script access to Gmail.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Access to your Gmail using a script can be extremely useful,
as it allows you to export data from it based on queries or parameters and
manipulate the data freely. However, Gmail is highly secure, so this can be a
little tricky. Here’s how it’s done.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Download GIT and install it
from <a href="https://git-scm.com/downloads">https://git-scm.com/downloads</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Visit the GIT repository for
the Gmail PowerShell extension to download and install it: <a href="https://github.com/nblagoev/Gmail.ps#install">https://github.com/nblagoev/Gmail.ps#install</a>
<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]-->3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Open Windows “Credential
manager” from the start menu<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]-->4.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Go to the Windows
Credentials tab<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]-->5.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Click “Add a generic
credential”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]-->6.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Add your Gmail account
credentials<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]-->7.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Open a PowerShell admin
window<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]-->8.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Install the PowerShell
Credential Manager:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b>9.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></b><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><b>Install-Module -Name
CredentialManager -AllowClobber -Force
-Verbose -Scope AllUsers<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]-->10.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Get your own “App Password”,
which is a unique character string that Google generates for your account. This
article shows the steps: <a href="https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/185833">https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/185833</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]-->11.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Use the following code to auth
to Gmail in the PowerShell window:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst"><b>$Gmailcred = Get-Credential</b> <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
</p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">(Then select your Gmail account, and type in
the app password you obtained in step 9)<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>This creates a Gmail
session you can work-against:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraph"><b>$Gmail = New-GmailSession -Credential $Gmailcred<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Use the following loop to
retrieve messages and dump them into a text file. You can use various other
filters to create your query, such as a date/time range, subject keywords,
whatever you want. This example is for emails received from a specific contact:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst"><b>$messages = $inbox | Get-Message $Gmail
-From "joe@cnn.com" | Receive-Message <o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><b>$File
= 'c:\temp\DownloadedMessages.txt'<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><b>$Stream =
[System.IO.StreamWriter]::new($File)<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><b>foreach ($msg in $messages) {<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: .5in;"><b>$Stream.WriteLine($msg.Body)<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
</p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast"><b>}<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">The resulting file is a flat text with the full body of the
messages, which you can then parse using any other script you like, or just
archive for whatever purpose. You can also use other options instead of <b>$msg.Body</b>,
like <b>$msg.subject</b>, if you just want to list the subjects. You can also
substitute the <b>$StreamWriteLine</b> with some other commands to process the
messages as they are read by PowerShell. For example, you might prefer to
create an individual file from each message, or fish-out specific pieces of
text from the messages. There’s no limit to what you might do.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><br /><p></p>Erez Ben Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404738228099173557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9089442912152291860.post-77216621125012408392022-05-17T08:48:00.004-07:002022-05-26T08:25:37.068-07:00How to get decent profile photos<p>Nowadays, everyone has a very high end digital camera on
their phones, so one might think that it would lead to more people having good
photos of themselves (in addition to photos of whatever they had for lunch
every single day since getting the phone). However, if you spend a few minutes
on Facebook or dating apps, it becomes apparent that the majority of people still
have no idea how to take decent ones.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Is it important to have a good profile pic? Perhaps not to
everyone. Focusing too much on one’s appearance is shallow and for many, is a
repulsive trait. However, the point here today isn’t to obsess about your looks
and take dozens of photos daily, but rather to be able to have a few that
reflect how you look like in-real-life. If the only photo you have that feel OK
to you is some grainy, fuzzy shot someone grabbed at a bar 7 years ago, you can
probably do better. Today I’ll discuss some techniques that might help.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Having your photo taken is both a skill and art-form, and
not just a product of your appearance. In other words, you don’t have to be
beautiful to look decent in photos. Admittedly, there is a limit to the “magic”
those skills can provide, and some people will not have Brad Pitt’s dashing
good looks no matter what they do, but still, a few tweaks and experience can
help most people look a lot better than the majority of what I see online. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Before I start, let's address the question of the CAMERA. We've all seen pro photographers with their giant cameras and lenses (*) that probably cost more than a car. Indeed, most of them spend thousands, but that's not the key to good photos anymore than a good knife being the key to good sushi. The camera in most of today's phones is quite capable of producing studio-quality shots, and you can get there too, using the following tips and tricks. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;">* Why do pros still spend thousands on these machines? Well, some of is is just for flare, because it might look ridiculous if a professional photographer would be jumping around the studio with a tiny camera. Beyond that, the pro models can do some fun stuff, like faster and more efficient focus and taking a lot of photos continuously (for example, Canon's EOS-1D X Mark III can shoot 16 photos per second). They also have other tech that can produce decent shots in sub-optimal conditions, like low-light, weird-light or fast moving situations, such as those needed by journalism photographers. The big lenses they have are also optimized for such harsher conditions.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For starters, the most important & ignored thing for any
photo is LIGHT, and that’s what most photographers spend their time on
studying, and their money on buying. I cannot cover the entirety of light
theory here, as it requires a whole book, but the fundamentals are that a light
needs to be STRONG, DIFFUSED, and have the right COLOR. The LED light that your
phone has is not serious, and neither is the standing-light you have in your
bedroom, even if it is a halogen. Without serious light, even the most
good-looking face will look too-dark, lacking in details, and have unnatural
colors. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To be fair, a serious light doesn’t mean you need to go
spend hundreds of dollars. Most of us have a very serious light at our service,
and it’s usually free. It’s called “the sun”, and unless you live in Seattle,
you might have seen it occasionally, when taking a break from reading this
website. A professional photographer would indeed have spent hundreds of
dollars on specialized light fixtures (although you can get a decent set of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B096TGMZZQ" target="_blank">soft-lights for about $65</a>), but you can get great photos by
using sunlight to light yourself. But wait…don’t rush to the back yard quite yet.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The 2<sup>nd</sup> factor is diffusion. Sunlight can be TOO strong,
and that causes an issue of shadows. Normal faces have elements like eyebrows
and nose that can cast shadows around them and that doesn’t work well, so it’s
as-important to diffuse the light. Professional photographers might use a
reflector, which is just a large white or silver panel that is placed or
held such that it reflects the light from another angle, thus illuminating the
shadows created by the sun. While a reflector isn’t too expensive (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DIHSZCC" target="_blank">you can buyone for $15</a>), it does require expertise to setup right, but an alternative is
simply using INDIRECT light. One way is to take the picture in a shaded area,
like under a tree or behind a structure. It can be tricky to find a good
balance of light that is both diffused, but still bright enough, though.
Another trick is to take a photo either very early in the morning, or very late
before sundown. During these times, the angle of the sun to earth is such that
the light comes through the atmosphere from the side, and is more diffused and
thus less stark. It also ads a bit of a softer hue to the light, making the
photos look a bit “dreamy”, which is usually good for portraits. Another trick
is to take a picture indoors, in front of a window. You would stand at the
window, looking out, or at the side of the window. In such a scenario, the
window will let a lot of light in, but not direct sunlight, so it’s diffused.
Yet another hack is to take a picture inside your car. In a car, you are
surrounded by several windows, so a lot of light comes-in, but also indirectly,
and that creates really well-lit and balanced light. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The light color-temperature is another aspect. Every light
source has one, and some are better than others. This is not a huge factor, as
cameras have a “white balance” feature, which can compensate for issues with
the color temperature, but one thing to keep in mind is to avoid taking
pictures under fluorescent lights, as those are notoriously difficult to get
right even with the best camera. With pretty-much all phone and simple digital
cameras, white-balance will be automatic and you don’t need to fidget with it
(unless you intentionally turned it off). If, however, you notice your skin
looks weird in your photos, like ghost-white, too-red, then it might be your
light source having a really bad color temperature that your camera isn't able to adjust-to. This might be possible to fix that with some retouching, but I recommend getting better light as a 1st step, as retouching has it's limits too.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Beyond these basic light tips, there are many ways to setup
lighting for different looks and effects. If you’d like to dig deeper, this
article covers some of these scenarios:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.camerapro.com.au/news-and-reviews/post/essential-lighting-setups-portrait-photography">https://www.camerapro.com.au/news-and-reviews/post/essential-lighting-setups-portrait-photography</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Another important aspect of photography is position and
posture. Many of us take photos standing up or sitting on a couch, and that
rarely works well. A prop that has proven itself consistently is a simple
high-stool (one that’s high enough so that your feet don’t touch the ground and
you need to prop them on the stool support beam). These stools force us into a
straight-back posture that is much nicer than an awkward stand, and usually
eliminates the double-chin that often accompanies sitting-down on something
more comfortable like a couch or sofa. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The next skill is figuring out which side and angle works
best for YOU personally. The majority of people don’t have a fully symmetric
face, and so one side will look better than the other. In general, taking a
photo staring straight into the camera is almost never going to do you justice,
and the angle that works for most people is “3/4”, meaning you point your head
to the side of the camera about 45 degrees, while still making eye-contact with
the camera itself. Make sure that the camera is at eye-level or a little above
it, but never below as that distorts the face badly. Ultimately, different
angles work differently for different people, and are also affected by things
like your personal eye structure (and other facial features), scars, skin
condition, etc. There’s no substitute for experimentation, so be ready to take
a few dozen pictures, covering various angles, until you find a decent one. A
key here is repeatability. Once you find the right angle, you should be able to
get decent shots almost every time.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One thing to keep in mind is camera distance. Non-professional
cameras are optimized to include as much into the scene (a.k.a. “wide angle” or
fish-eye), and that tends to distort things and can make you look fatter or
cartoonish than you really are. An optimal distance to take a photo is at least
4-6 feet away, so if you were hoping to just take a selfie while holding the
phone, this will only work if you have very long arms. In all other cases, ask
a friend to take the photos, or use a selfie-stick or tripod, or simply prop
the phone on something (again…make sure it’s at eye level!), and use the
self-timer option. By the way, if you have a Samsung phone, they have a feature
that will take a timed-photo when it recognizes an open-palm. Instead of
fidgeting with the settings, just stand and wave your arm…and the phone will
take a photo automatically.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Next thing to consider is your eyes. Many people open their
eyes too-wide, and end up with a deer-in-headlight look. Instead, try to keep
your eyes naturally open, or squint a little bit. As with the angle, some
trial-and-error is the way to find what works best for your face. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Something that many people seem to struggle-with is the
smile. Most people know that smiling in a photo is a good idea, but many
struggle to produce a fake smile that will look nice, and end up as if they are
grimacing, smirking, or looking like an idiot (the cliché and horrible ‘say
cheese’ phenomenon). Professional photographers learn to talk to their subject
while they are photographing them, and try to hone-in on subject of fun and
interest, in order to elicit a natural smile, as those typically look best. If you
have a friend to do that for you, that would be ideal, and if not, try to think
of fun and pleasant things while you do this, or recall a funny video or joke.
If you’re running into a blank with smiling, try a low-key fake smile that has
your lips closed (no teeth showing), and smiling with just the edges of the
mouth. Keep in mind that a smile is also in the eyes, so try to consciously
smile with your eyes too. Whatever you do, avoid the duck-lips and open-mouth
smile, as those almost always look bad. Some photographers suggest doing a
joint-shoot with your kids or a romantic partner, as the love between you can
bring your face to life and bring out natural happiness and joy. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If, with all the above, you are still unhappy with the
results, another trick to try is simply making faces and gestures. As you take
the photos, simply “act” out different thoughts and moods. Shock, surprise,
horror, hunger, “wondering”, questioning, doubting, etc. If you are capable of
unusual facial gymnastics like raising a single eye-brow or moving your ears,
try these too. Supplement those with body and hand gestures, like raising your
hands up, pointing a finger at the camera, making a “hello” gesture. A common
posture is one where you lean your elbow on your thigh or knee, and lean your
face onto your palm. This posture tends to put you in a good angle, and can
also be useful in concealing a part of your face, if you’d like (for those of
us who have some nasty scar, bad facial hair or multi-chins). <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Another thing to consider is the background. It's less critical than the above, but can make a difference. It doesn't have to be a "professional" background (although you can <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EMDPUD2">buy that</a> for as low as $50). You can hang a simple blanket or sheet using clips or tacks, or simply do it in front of a clean wall. If you do use something, try to get something neutral to contrast with what you're wearing, so you stand-out, and avoid strong or loud patterns. If unsure, you can't go wrong with simple white background. If you absolutely cannot setup a good background, there are <a href="https://www.experte.com/background-remover" target="_blank">some websites </a>that can automatically remove it for you. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ultimately, even with all these tricks, there’s no
substitute to a experience, and that means taking a lot of photos as you
work your way through what looks best. Keep in mind that even a professional
photo shoot also involves taking dozens or even hundreds of photos, knowing
that the majority of them will be discarded. Thankfully, with digital
photography, all you’re wasting is time and no film. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If despite all this, nothing works, consider going to a
professional photographer. At some chains like <a href="https://www.jcpportraits.com" target="_blank">JC Penny </a>or <a href="https://www.picturepeople.com" target="_blank">PicturePeople</a>, you can get a session
done for a reasonable amount of money, and this is decent investment in order
to build yourself a serious online presence and dating profile (I, even though
I’m quite capable of self-photography, do this every 2-3 years to get a fresh
set). It’s also an opportunity to learn by interacting with an experienced shooter and seeing what he or she does to “get” you to look good. Naturally,
they will have other tricks and high-end equipment and lights, but trust me…the
main trick is your face, not just the hardware. <o:p></o:p></p>Erez Ben Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404738228099173557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9089442912152291860.post-24311717394271791102022-05-03T05:16:00.005-07:002022-05-03T05:16:41.334-07:00The origins of Shabbat<p>Jewish law is affluent with rules and regulations, such as the famous “Kashrut” laws that forbid certain food items. Many are aware that Jews are forbidden from consuming pork products, but Karshrut is actually a very long list of regulations that limit not only things one is allowed/barred from eating, but also preparation methods and other restrictions. For example, blood itself is the most un-kosher thing, so one is forbidden from interacting with it, and so men are forbidden from touching a woman during her menstrual cycle (and some won’t touch a woman at all to eliminate all risk of accidental exposure). Another part of these laws is concerning the Shabbat, the day of rest. Jewish law forbids doing any deliberate work during the Sabbath, which includes a wide array of activities. Lighting a fire is a well-known one, but some of the other restrictions seem absurd, like one that forbids exchanging money or walking long distances. The question on my mind today is WHERE it all came from?</p><p>Religious scholars have postulated that Kosher laws came to be as a way of protecting people from unhealthy foods. The theory suggests that the foods that are un-kosher have been designated so because they present a higher risk of contamination or food-borne illness. For example, pigs are known to carry the parasite trichinella, making it riskier than other types of meat. Similarly, the bacteria Vibrio is often carried by shrimp, prawn and crab, making them riskier to eat than other marine animals. Today, we have various techniques to reduce the risks, by chilling and freezing products, and we are also aware of the existence of microscopic bacteria and parasites, so we know that certain foods need to be cooked to a certain temperature to be safe (for example, pork is recommended to be cooked to 160 degrees, higher than other meats). The theory is that thousands of years ago, before people were aware of bacteria and refrigeration was not readily available to all, avoiding these foods was a way of reducing food poisoning and death. Religious teaching say that the prophet Moses, who led the Jewish people out of Egypt to their freedom, received the Torah directly from God, and that included the various rules of Kashrut. Atheists like me believe that the more plausible explanation for various religious stories is that the being humans perceived as “god” at the time was actually an advanced race, possibly extra-terrestrial, and it’s plausible to think that such a race was aware of the risks associated with certain foods and included them in the rules delivered to Moses as “divine” guidance (as we all know, this sort of guidance, by its very nature, is unquestionable and thus doesn’t “require” an explanation). </p><p>I theorize that the rules of Shabbat, which are also divine and part of religious teachings, have a plausible practical origin. Breaking down the calendar to “weeks” with a day of rest in each predates Judaism. This was practiced in Babylon, although in a slightly different structure, which was based on breaking-down the lunar month to 4 periods, rather than counting the days themselves. My theory is that the day of rest was a time where people could “let loose” and consume alcohol and drugs (in old times, hallucinogens like mushrooms and cannabis were legal and common), and so the rules were put in place not to force one to rest, but to prevent people from engaging in activity that might risk or harm them if done while inebriated. For example, going far while drunk risks getting lost, robbed or falling off a cliff. Similarly, lighting a fire while hallucinating could lead someone to get injured, or forgetting to extinguish the fire could end up in burning down the village. My theory is that the same people who gave mankind kashrut laws under the false pretense that it’s a divine rule did the same with Shabbat rules. They were just trying to protect us from self-destruction. </p><p>Naturally, I’m no historian, nor am I a religious scholar. The above is just my rambling at 5am on some idle Tuesday. Maybe it will seem sensible to someone…</p><div><br /></div>Erez Ben Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404738228099173557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9089442912152291860.post-43378504655793641882022-03-24T10:23:00.008-07:002022-03-24T10:23:45.381-07:00Gmail manual spam filtering using keywords<p>While Gmail comes built-in with pretty good spam filtering, there are many people out there spending major resources on trying to circumvent those, and so anyone who uses email will inevitably end up receiving a certain amount of spam, no matter what they do. For some, you can unsubscribe using the advertiser's own button, and for others, you might be able to gain some quiet by using Gmail's own "report spam" button, but these too don't always work as there are quite a few very effective and persistent spammers out there. The good news, though, is that Gmail does have a function to create your own custom filters, which can allow you to get rid of spam using keywords you define on your own. Here's how to use this feature. </p><p><u>Step 1: do the math. </u></p><p>To be able to filter the spam, you need to figure out a pattern that you can set your filters to. That pattern can be a keyword or two in the subject or body, for example, or a specific sender. This is the hard part, as it will require you to out-smart the spammers to some level. They do use various mechanisms to escape the filtering, such as changing their email or name (sometimes several times per day), or replacing characters in words (like using "S@le" instead of "Sale" or "Win ner" instead of "Winner"), so be prepared for this to require some thought, and likely some trial-and-error and time until you catch all, or at least most of them. For example, a filter you might come up with could be "messages with the words 'custom watches' or 'quick sale' in the subject". Keep in mind that targeting a single keyword is risky, because that risks missing emails that you DO want, so it's important to test out your filter carefully before using it.</p><p><br /></p><p><u>Step 2: Write the filter.</u></p><p>To be effective, you'd typically want to create few or one filter rule, rather than a dozen, so grouping keywords together is important. For this, Gmail uses the pipe symbol. Also, to use a keyword set with a space in it, you need to enclose it in quotes, otherwise Gmail will look for EACH word separately. To filter for words in the subject, use the keyword "subject:" and to search in the body, use "body:", so a search filter might look like this:<br /></p><p>subject:("pretty jewlery"|"one time sale"|"buy now")</p><p>or:</p><p>body:("waiting for your reply"|"don't wait"|"urgent matter"|"hurry up")</p><p>There are other things you can filter by, though those might not be useful for spam specifically. Adding them here just for informational purposes:</p><p><b>Size</b>, by adding "size:5mb" to filter for emails larger than 5mb. </p><p><b>From </b>or <b>to</b>, by adding that keyword, like "from:john@watches.com"</p><p><b>Negative keywords</b>: adding a minus sign, like "-erez" will exclude emails which have that word from the filter</p><p><b>Has attachments</b>, by adding "has:attachment"</p><p><br /></p><p><u>Step 3: Test the filter</u></p><p>To test your filter, paste it into the Search box on the Gmail inbox, and see what it produces. If you already have some spam in there, this is how you see if it catches it or not, as well as if it catches "good" email you don't want to filter. If it did, it will show you in yellow what keywords caught that email specifically, so you can use that to refine the filter. Ultimately, this is a bit of a give-and-take. The tighter the filter, the more likely it will catch some emails you do want (a.k.a. False Positives). You might be willing to live with that, or prefer to loosen up the filter and deal with some spam that will escape it.</p><p><br /></p><p><u>Step 4: Apply the filter</u></p><p>Use Gmail's Settings and go to the "Filters and blocked addresses" tab. In there, create a new filter and paste in the filter you came up with, and then use "continue" to choose what to do with these. You can delete them, or just archive them (which is safer, as it would still allow you to search for them later, if you suspect you may have missed an important email).</p><p>Good luck with your spam-catching!</p>Erez Ben Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404738228099173557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9089442912152291860.post-77713015341467457452021-03-21T09:32:00.001-07:002021-03-21T09:32:07.225-07:00How to print a book<p>So you want to print a book? Good call. This blog post isn't going to be about "getting published" (the art of getting a professional book publisher to pick your work and make it into a book), but about the technical process of creating a printed and bound copy of something you wrote. If you tried it yourself, you might realize that it's more than just writing words into a document and clicking "print". Here's how to do it RIGHT.</p><p>1.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Start by deciding on the size of the book. There are different sizes for different audiences, and picking the wrong size might make the book challenging to read, or feel weird. For example, a common size is 6"x9", which is suitable for most things, but if you are a photographer wanting to publish your photos, that format is not right and you would want to go with something much larger. One way to decide is to go to a book store or library, and pick a few books on topics similar to yours, and see which size is the most popular. Too lazy? I get it. Just go with 6x9. It's very common and easy to work-with.</p><p>2.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Choose a font size. While Microsoft Word defaults to size 11, people find it more comfortable to read at size 12. You can choose any font you like, but I recommend being conservative and going with well-known ones like Times New roman, Calibri, Arial or Segoa. Whatever you do, do NOT use fancy fonts. They make reading more taxing on the eyes and look tacky and unprofessional.</p><p>3.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Set your margins. Most books should have 0.75" margins, though photography books could have bigger. The margins should be bigger on the side that is bound, so set that to 1". If you are using Microsoft Word, make sure you set the margins to <b>Mirrored</b>, so that ODD pages have the bigger margin on the left, and EVEN pages have it on the right. </p><p>4.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Set your line spacing to <b>double</b> (that's under <b>Paragraph/Spacing/Line Spacing</b>). Having a large spacing between lines makes it easy to read. By the way, adjusting the line spacing is a quick way of making the book much bigger or smaller (page count, that is). If your book feels too thin, increasing the line spacing could easily double it's size.</p><p>5.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Set your indentation to <b>first line</b> and <b>0.3</b> (under <b>Paragraph/indentation/special</b>). This makes the 1st line of every paragraph indented automatically. Don't be tempted to do this manually by using the Tab key or spaces, as it creates inconsistency.</p><p>6.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Write your content (or paste it in, if you already wrote it). If you are pasting from another document, better use the "paste special" option and paste <b>unformatted unicode text</b>, so that the text gets the format from the new document, rather then the original.</p><p>7.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>If you want to emphasize certain words or phrases, use <i>italic</i> font, rather than UPPERCASE or <b>bold</b>. It's good fucking taste. Bold is used for stuff like instructions, to indicate text the reader might see, like on-screen text ("click on the <b>next</b> button"). Uppercase is used for when a character is yelling or screaming ("He told his wife GET OUT OF HERE!").</p><p>8.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>If you have chapter titles or something similar that would warrant a table of content, mark the heading of each and use the <b>style</b> box to set that to some heading style (<b>heading 1 </b>is suitable for main chapters, <b>heading 2 </b>is suitable for sub-sections inside chapters, if you'd like to have those). Then, use the <b>Reference</b> tab to insert a table of contents, which is automatically updated from these headers. Consider <i>where</i> to put the table. Some people like it before everything else, others like it after the introduction. It should definitely be after the title page. This is a good time to remind you that any book should have:</p><p>a.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A title page</p><p>b.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Table of contents</p><p>c.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Introduction/forward</p><p>Many books might need an "afterward" or "thanks" pages, and some might need an index or bibliography section at the end. Creating an automatic index is possible, but it's a specialty thing so I won't go into it here.</p><p>9.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Go over the book, and add blank pages before main chapters as needed, so that the 1st page of chapters are always <i>odd</i> pages. Keep in mind that a printed page only costs about 3 cents, so don't skimp on blank pages....it looks much more professional. An easy way to add a blank page in Word is to press Ctrl+Enter</p><p>10.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Since you now changed the page numbering, go to your Table of content and click <b>update table</b> on it.</p><p>11.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>If you are inserting pictures, double-click on each and set it to <b>Wrap Text</b> and then <b>square</b>, <b>tight</b> or <b>through</b>. That allows you to place the photo on the page and have the text flow around it. Make sure the photo doesn't go over the borders. If your source images are small (400 pixels or smaller), make sure not to make them too big, as that brings out pixelization. A 400 pixel wide image should not be more than 2" wide on the page.</p><p>12.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>If you can spare the time (and you should), go over your content slowly and carefully, to make sure sentences are dotted, and that there are no spelling mistaked or typoos. If you can afford it, hire someone to proof read the text. While a professional editor could cost thousands, it's worth it if the book is going out into the world to be read by a lot of people. If it's a limited print, you could hire some student or even a teenager for minimum wage. You will be surprised at how many errors and mistakes an outsider will find and save you face. Another option is to hire a freelance editor from overseas. Even though overseas people are not native English speakers, many of them speak better English than Americans (even if their accents are not great). This is especially the case for people from India, as many of their schools are in English, so they speak it fully and from an early age.</p><p>13.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Don't forget to go over the text once again and make sure your chapter first pages are still odd, and then <b>update table</b> once again, in case some pages have moved around.</p><p>14.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Finally, save the document as PDF, and embed fonts. To do this, click on the <b>Options</b> button on the <b>save-as pdf </b>page, and under <b>PDF Options</b>, select <b>PDF/A compliant</b>. This isn't just for compliance…many printers will only accept the file if it's set this way.</p><p>15.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Design your cover. This is more complex, because it has to have margins and bleed, so I will cover that in a separate guide.</p><div><br /></div>Erez Ben Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404738228099173557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9089442912152291860.post-84063855618847324032020-09-22T19:35:00.005-07:002020-09-22T19:35:42.524-07:00MY FACE mask<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal">When COVID19 started in March 2020, the idea of making a mask
with my own face seemed pretty obvious to me. After all, I’ve made plenty of
t-shirt prints over the years and was quite experienced. I thought it would be
common, as the craft isn’t very difficult. However, since then, I’ve been getting
a lot of compliments on it, and in 6 months I’ve yet to see another person with
one, so I figured it’s time I share how to do it. Quite simple.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The essential process is creating an image of your face,
printing it on inkjet iron-on paper, and then ironing it on a simple plain-white
mask. Here’s how it’s done.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Order the iron-on paper. There
are many brands, but I recommend <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000W4H606">this one from Amazon</a>
(PPD), as I found them both affordable, and reliable (some other brands I’ve
tried can be hard to peel-off the paper backing). It’s $14 for a pack of 20,
and you can also get a 10-pack for $10. Depending on your mask size, one sheet
would make 2-3 masks, so for $14 you can make masks for the whole class.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Take a photo of your face.
You’d probably wear your mask mostly indoors, so the photo should be indoors
too, to match the colors and white-balance best. Take the picture from 3-4 feet
away to avoid lens-distortion, but not much farther so as to not lose
resolution (unless you have a very modern phone with a high-res camera). <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Remember that the mask
stretches around your face, so a front-face photo won’t do and we need to stretch
it a bit. For that, you’ll need graphics software. No need for anything
expensive or to be a “photoshopper”. I use the <a href="https://www.getpaint.net/">free paint.net</a>, and it works perfectly. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Measure your mask
dimensions, as well as your face. I recommend measuring the distance between
your nose-bridge (where the mask reaches) and chin (where the print would end),
as well as the distance between the ends of your mouth. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Open your photo in
Paint.Net and crop it from the bridge of your nose (where the mask would reach)
to the chin. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfbbwa2GArWIF8mMXh61_nlHK9oIEIKLXYswbdDmaib0HNc27PttXktZHAEeuQ1x5IcM-ZWiUiYvMUmr7BZFJRzDpZS1wpFZ5Hf2EspQsu4o3yauivCnVbIeWw52oph6ZgDq_UFFtwPtuW/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="171" data-original-width="252" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfbbwa2GArWIF8mMXh61_nlHK9oIEIKLXYswbdDmaib0HNc27PttXktZHAEeuQ1x5IcM-ZWiUiYvMUmr7BZFJRzDpZS1wpFZ5Hf2EspQsu4o3yauivCnVbIeWw52oph6ZgDq_UFFtwPtuW/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Resize the image so that
the height matches what your face size is (use Ctrl-R and specify the height on
the bottom, in the “print size” area). That would be about 3.5” high for most
adults.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Assuming your photo was
taken straight, the width should be good. You can confirm by cropping around
the mouth, and then pressing Ctrl-R and seeing if the “width” at the bottom
matches what you measured your face to be (about 2 inches for most adults)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMc_oXGchznFesjU1Dn0yqKQrie3UkUq2aMSO5gHpoDYCOw7VVxy5nCvvYxvQCGf7AzfVKe7uf76UC-tANvfXcs_vkFnaYdDhCCNuicLmD6cpes6cXVT9H1AaP7mtvJccC099G9BxcGMBl/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="276" data-original-width="395" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMc_oXGchznFesjU1Dn0yqKQrie3UkUq2aMSO5gHpoDYCOw7VVxy5nCvvYxvQCGf7AzfVKe7uf76UC-tANvfXcs_vkFnaYdDhCCNuicLmD6cpes6cXVT9H1AaP7mtvJccC099G9BxcGMBl/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">If its not perfectly the same, don’t fret
too much – you are likely to need to print several times to get a good match
anyway, so just resize the image to get reasonably close and move-on.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Now, create a new document at
the size of your mask.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">9.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>From the other image, select
the middle square, about 1/2 inch away from the mouth edge on each side. Copy,
and paste it into the new document, in the middle:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhd2NJ3aTAEMkHaKsfrDE80tZxEpoxQcoWsv9i8CrjQi5ARyxVcdKiAfYBLkwwKAHSUtYivpdw_VcR3ObW5BCJBPKo_4kXFfKftTKP_fMbQnSXI-Wi49tS6U7OliDhs01Rr22-DkWj7KTl/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="198" data-original-width="385" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhd2NJ3aTAEMkHaKsfrDE80tZxEpoxQcoWsv9i8CrjQi5ARyxVcdKiAfYBLkwwKAHSUtYivpdw_VcR3ObW5BCJBPKo_4kXFfKftTKP_fMbQnSXI-Wi49tS6U7OliDhs01Rr22-DkWj7KTl/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">10.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Next, the left and right
sides of the face need to be copied and pasted on the left and right of the
mouth, but they need to be STRETCHED to fill that space. You need to SELECT
that area, copy it into a new document, and then RESIZE it with the “maintain
aspect ratio” turned off. The exact sizes change from person to person, but for
an average person, that would be stretching a piece that’s about 50 pixel wide
to be about 150 pixel wide. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0RPvYaeq7O_YVYTesI8gepq23VmrdbAjPGmAjhHVRi_SyFhH3wR0v1IiDYVjXjv_wNiRHHwg2eqiqMRYhVIgY3FeH1iJQFH9AEI_TCJyMH1GIgRnQWfV8EGUXyFUteIoHSpEq78ezIwbT/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="699" data-original-width="1458" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0RPvYaeq7O_YVYTesI8gepq23VmrdbAjPGmAjhHVRi_SyFhH3wR0v1IiDYVjXjv_wNiRHHwg2eqiqMRYhVIgY3FeH1iJQFH9AEI_TCJyMH1GIgRnQWfV8EGUXyFUteIoHSpEq78ezIwbT/w640-h306/image.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">11.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Take the stretched piece
and paste it onto the other image, and the same for the right-side.<o:p></o:p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWGVEhqV0mSb6TO1uH0Trsya5X4sw7FL2OcnsFPGsdinVAPgHorkB7igu7HlpgVSfcjUutKAuCMDsrjZRbUiqW-U8p2GUUfVYCHfnl8fu7DM9lXxITu8SQqWXMn51lApNgYUNSZfF9kEbD/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="222" data-original-width="432" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWGVEhqV0mSb6TO1uH0Trsya5X4sw7FL2OcnsFPGsdinVAPgHorkB7igu7HlpgVSfcjUutKAuCMDsrjZRbUiqW-U8p2GUUfVYCHfnl8fu7DM9lXxITu8SQqWXMn51lApNgYUNSZfF9kEbD/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">12.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>The inkjet-transfer is done
in mirror, so next, you need to FLIP the image horizontally (from the ‘Image’
menu). Once it’s ironed-on, it will look normal. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">13.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Finally, use the Eraser tool
to erase the “background” on the sides and bottom. For a better result, make
sure you set the “Hardness” slider to a low number, like 20%. That way it’s
less likely to leave-behind dark markings. This is the most tedious and
error-prone part of the job, so be patient. This process is known as “burning”
and it’s one of the things graphics designers practice the most. Photoshop has
some tools to automatically do it for us, but it’s not 100% reliable. Keep in mind
that you can adjust the brush-size to make the work easier. Also, SAVE your
work every few minutes, just in case you make a mistake and want to go back
(you can also use UNDO if you were a bit rough). Finally, keep in mind that
that part of the mask is going to be just at the edge of the face, so most
people won’t notice if it’s not perfect.<o:p></o:p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu1Ro-TU_yLhVGcAuTlmi6AIJLKXBJtnSZeBrmtJOlcH1GfR3SrMDqpFqUsA3394n9IziX1VGfYKDWUbsRrS4l7jTg6_OtTrCdFVXbMzjy7SUIOEdEkKJRdL4FsBENCtKw_Bz7i3Yxvbj3/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="229" data-original-width="435" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu1Ro-TU_yLhVGcAuTlmi6AIJLKXBJtnSZeBrmtJOlcH1GfR3SrMDqpFqUsA3394n9IziX1VGfYKDWUbsRrS4l7jTg6_OtTrCdFVXbMzjy7SUIOEdEkKJRdL4FsBENCtKw_Bz7i3Yxvbj3/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">14.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Now, you are ready to
print. I recommend copy/pasting the image into WORD, where you have easier control
over the size of the print. Use that to stretch it to the right width<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">15.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>I suggest to make a
test-print on regular paper, and then cut around it and put it on your face,
and check in the mirror if it looks allright. If you were careful with your measurements,
it might be a perfect fit right away. If not, you might need to shrink or stretch
the image and try again once or twice until it matches the face perfectly (then
again, you might WANT it to not match and look a little weird)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">16.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Once the print looks good,
print it on the inket transfer paper you ordered. Note that the paper needs to
be fed into the printer at a certain direction so that the print is done on the
smooth side. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">17.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Use scissors to cut around
the face area, but do leave at least ¼” margin all around, as the ironing
process can sometimes melt the inkjet die and cause it to ooze. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">18.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Follow the transfer-paper
instructions to iron the print to the mask. Usually, that entails heating the
iron to the max temp, ironing it on in back-and-forth motions for about 2-3
minutes, letting it cool down for 2-3 minutes, and then peeling off the paper.
With any luck, you’ll be done.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">19.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Remember that the inkjet
transfer is a relatively thin plastic film, and not designed to withstand punishment.
I advise:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">a.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Not washing it in the
washing machine at all, but doing so by hand with luke-warm water or colder<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">b.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>If you do wash it in the
machine, at least don’t tumble-dry it. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">c.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Not folding the mask<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">d.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Not leaving the mask in the
sun or other harsh weather<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Good luck!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Erez Ben Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404738228099173557noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9089442912152291860.post-47894112449683344162020-03-06T14:42:00.001-08:002020-03-06T14:42:28.882-08:00Printing and cutting graphics professionally<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
As most of us have access to cheap printers these days, many
want to print stuff like business cards, greeting cards and other “collateral”
(as these are often referred to in the advertising industry). While clicking
“print” seems easy, there are a few more things to know and do in order to
create a professional looking result. Today, I will discuss some of these
techniques and processes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While printing is not difficult, there is a difference in
designing graphics products that make a lot of difference between a “hobbyist”
level piece and what is more professional. The 4 main things that make the most
difference, in my opinion (*) are <b>paper weight, cutting, crop-marks</b> and <b>Bleed</b>
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In this article, I will talk mostly about business cards, as
many people need to print just a handful, while most printing shops would only
do a minimum of 100, which many people won’t want to waste money on.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>* I myself am NOT a professional graphics designer, but I
lived with one for two decades and picked up a skill or two. </b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>Paper Weight<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Paper weight refers to the thickness of the paper you print
on, and using the right one makes a lot of difference. The main challenge is
that in America, paper weight is calculated in a way that’s somewhat
convoluted, and often times it’s hard to find the right one, or even understand
what the number on the packaging means. For example, business cards are printed
on fairly thick paper, but there’s no paper in office supply stores that says
“Business card paper”. In Europe, paper is labeled almost universally, so if
you buy “170 GSM”, or close to it, you can know for sure it’s a fit. In
America, the closest paper you can easily find to that is labeled “poster
board”. You could also get “65 lb Cover” or “90 lb Index”, and if you want even
thicker, you could get “110 lb Index”, “80 lb Cover” or “100 lb Cover”. In this
weird labeling system, “Cover” and “index” refer to other properties of the
paper, rather than it’s thickness, and so “100 lb cover” is actually thicker
than “110 lb index” (in Europe, 110 lb index would be labeled “200 gsm” and 100
lb cover “275 gsm”, which much more clearly illustrates the thickness). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This also means that many times, you might find yourself
staring at bundles of paper in the store, unsure what the thickness ACTUALLY is
(if the package is sealed, that is). Also, you might find that certain paper
types come in sizes that won’t match what you want to do. For example, poster
board is a very available and affordable paper for postcards, greeting cards and
business cards, but it comes in large format that you can’t feed into your
printer. For me, almost every print I do other than simple copy-paper is done
on poster board, and to get around the size issue, I buy the big sheets (about
$1 in most office/craft stores, and 2 for 1$ at the Dollar Tree) and then cut
them into “Letter” size manually. This way I get 12 sheets for 1 dollar (from
the Dollar tree), and since I can print 10 business cards on one sheet, that
dollar yields 120 cards (not including ink, of course). If I were doing
greeting cards, the common folded-style 5x7 card would require a 7”x10”
surface, which fits on one “letter” size sheet, giving me 12 cards for 1$. Both
of these are good deals for small-scale production.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Poster board also comes in additional colors, which can be
nice for some designs that aren’t based on white. A close option to that is
photo paper, which isn’t quite as thick, but it’s glossy, fairly affordable,
and can be found pre-cut to letter-size, so you can jump in and print without
much trouble and cutting.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When printing at home, we would usually have the paper
larger than what we’re printing. Whether it’s a greeting card that needs to be
trimmed down to 7x10 or business cards that need to be cut into individuals, we
would need to cut it down, and that is more complex than it looks. Sure, you
can use simple household scissors to cut it, but very few people can hold
scissors straight enough to get that “professional” look. Even if you cut along
the line (which you shouldn’t…but we’ll get to that), it’s just not feasible to
keep it perfectly straight. The answer is to use a box-cutter (a.k.a. Snap
Knife) and ruler to do the cutting, on a cutting board. This way, the ruler
helps you keep a straight line…but that’s not always that simple either.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>Cutting paper<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First lesson in cutting is getting the right ruler. Wood
rulers are not suitable, as the blade can cut into them instead of along them.
Metal rulers are better, but they are often thin, meaning there’s a risk of the
blade slipping over their edge and cutting into YOUR fingers. Plastic rulers
are also soft and can be accidentally cut-into by the blade. I recommend PCB
ruler (a.k.a Circuit Board ruler). These are mostly made to be decorative and
cool, but they are also very suitable for this purpose as they are both thick,
and resistant to cutting. These can be found on eBay. Another option is to use
thick Acrylic, which can be found at plastic stores. Yet another option is to
take a simple and thin metal ruler, and just stick two of these on top of each
other with glue. Either way, make sure your ruler is long enough. It’s ideal
for it to be larger than the paper you’re cutting, but a 12” ruler that you
move during the cut will do the job…but if you go to short (like a 6” ruler), you’ll
be moving it too much and risk getting lines that aren’t straight. If you are
very new to using a snap-knife, I might also suggest wearing a protective glove
on the hand that holds the ruler. A Thick leather glove, or fish-handling glove
would be ideal, as they are designed to stop a blade.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As for the knife – box cutters come in either “small” or
“big”, and I recommend the small, as it gives you finer control. However, it’s
also important to get replacement blades and replace them <b>often</b>. A dull
knife seem less dangerous, but it’s actually is more so, because the dullness
would drive us to put more pressure on it, which increases the chance of it
breaking and flying somewhere, or causing it to slip and cut your fingers. Box
cutters usually have blades that can be trimmed, thus get a new cutting point without
replacing the whole blade…but even replacing the whole blade would only cost
about 10 cents, so that too can be done without spending too much. I recommend
snapping the blade for a new point every 100 cuts or so and don’t cheap
out…that’s where people lose fingers. Another reason to keep the edge sharp and
new is that a dull edge might tear your paper instead of cutting it, resulting
in ugly work that’s hard to recover. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Next, it’s important to cut on a good surface. You don’t
want to do this on your table, as it would ruin it, but there are plenty of
cutting board options. Office supply stores have “self healing” boards made of
special rubber that’s hard, but can “take” a knife. A kitchen cutting board is
another option, but those are usually both too small, and if you grab one from
your own kitchen, it probably has a lot of “wounds”, making for a less smooth
cut. It could also dirty your paper if it’s not perfectly clean. There are
plenty of glass-based cutting boards, but I don’t recommend those, as they put
a lot of wear on the blade, and also tend to be slippery for the knife, making
it more risky. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When cutting, it’s important to put pressure on the knife,
but not TOO much pressure. It’s common for people to try to stack sheets, and
cut many together, but that’s once-again where fingers get slices, and paper
gets cut crocked. I suggest putting a low amount of pressure, to only cut one
or two layers, and passing the knife over it over-and-over to cut deeper and
deeper. When doing so, make sure you are STANDING and not sitting down. Our
hands aren’t built to apply pressure sideways, so standing above your surface
will get much better and more reliable results. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>Crop Marks<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since we will be printing an image that’s smaller than the
paper, we would need to trim it to size, and thus need to know where to cut.
The beginner way of doing this is by printing the image with a border around
it, and then cutting along the border. However, this is suboptimal, as we risk
having the border be visible in the result (unless the design is supposed to
have it, of course). The answer to this is using “crop marks”. Crop marks are
cross-like graphics that are placed on the image’s sides, but outside the usable
graphics area. Then, we would place the ruler on the marks and cut along it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Professional design software includes built-in functions for
crop marks, but they are not that hard to do manually. If your graphics
software supports layers, then it’s fairly easy:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Resize your project “paper
size” to be about 1/8” larger on each side (if working at 300 DPI, that’s about
37 pixels)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Create another layer above
the current one<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Use the pen/line tool with
a line thickness of “1” (pixel) to draw lines across the image and around it,
like so:<o:p></o:p></div>
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o:title=""/>
</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span><br />
(I’m actually using a 4 pixel line here, to make it easier to see)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Use the <i>select</i> tool
to select a few pixels outside the frame, and <i>delete</i> it, thus leaving
just partial crosses at each corner:<o:p></o:p></div>
<br /><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3DEUnhKBBRwONtEKZVl9iGgIVjHBSVgIiD1R335-1iAuIxrpZtJZAd0N2rQGGtDuCNj-Ten-mbbxNuY-3vxXIknK-wJD16GFlkGV06xTiJSly-e0hneN4oh5KwwpqzvD9x9lhJ4fo7RZ1/s1600/Crop2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="735" data-original-width="748" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3DEUnhKBBRwONtEKZVl9iGgIVjHBSVgIiD1R335-1iAuIxrpZtJZAd0N2rQGGtDuCNj-Ten-mbbxNuY-3vxXIknK-wJD16GFlkGV06xTiJSly-e0hneN4oh5KwwpqzvD9x9lhJ4fo7RZ1/s400/Crop2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>You can now merge-down the
layer, if you like, or if you need to export it to JPG or PNG<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you are planning on printing multiple copies of the same
graphics on a page, then you would do similarly, but also put in lines
in-between the copies, and delete them the same way:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6vcpflMZcineK0GkTo9Wee2CZ1aZ6vX9edWloLeEbXhN5l7JZbMRTwReQ5ISslF3vGgVE0HSiYM74dFCaMdvT5wE35FPJpnCWhAdwd4mKUlOq2cOK20zfrtTQdVttGUXsvWjjAd2x8zdi/s1600/Crop3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="537" data-original-width="1097" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6vcpflMZcineK0GkTo9Wee2CZ1aZ6vX9edWloLeEbXhN5l7JZbMRTwReQ5ISslF3vGgVE0HSiYM74dFCaMdvT5wE35FPJpnCWhAdwd4mKUlOq2cOK20zfrtTQdVttGUXsvWjjAd2x8zdi/s640/Crop3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
If your graphics software does not support layers, then
you’d be better off switching to something better (even the free Paint.NET has
support for layers). If there’s no option, then you can draw the marks manually
outside the area with layering, but that’s a lot more work, and would
potentially be less accurate.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One caveat of crop marks is that they do take a bit of
space, thus limiting you from using the entirety of the paper you’re printing
on, but that’s a small price to pay, in my opinion. If you do this, you will
notice how your results are more accurate and professional looking right away!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>Bleed<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another challenge with printing is that we typically use
white paper, while the print may have a different colored background. When we
cut a print to size, even if do it very accurately, there’s always a risk of
having a thin white line at the edge, and this is where the concept of Bleed
comes in. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bleed is an adjustment in the design of the graphics that
extends beyond the border of the target cut. This way, even if the cut is not
perfectly accurate, it will still be in the graphics and not on the background,
thus looking more professional. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bleed needs to be part of the design process, and it
basically means doing the graphics so that they go outside the target by 30-50
pixels. If we are working with an existing design, then it’s usually possible
to simply replicate the last few pixels of the graphics (this is less easy if
the graphics is very complex or patterned). Naturally, we would also need to
adjust the Crop Marks to align to the original size. This is how this could
look like:<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBAQL46OVcsQ8sSROYilhyphenhyphenOXBqzwn7QVmH1iFfg6l4rcctx2RW5ZPNs8H6TW8zkb2CqPB1rMH9JVBsEseCE_AiVMumJzHsEA3lCqc7Pixs4d_aOwSM16QXOxDZbO7D-ZeolpcaYNrHu5qK/s1600/Crop4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="770" data-original-width="1600" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBAQL46OVcsQ8sSROYilhyphenhyphenOXBqzwn7QVmH1iFfg6l4rcctx2RW5ZPNs8H6TW8zkb2CqPB1rMH9JVBsEseCE_AiVMumJzHsEA3lCqc7Pixs4d_aOwSM16QXOxDZbO7D-ZeolpcaYNrHu5qK/s640/Crop4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
As you may notice, the top-left crop marks are not highly
visible in this example, because the graphics is red. In some situations, it
might be better to use white or yellow crop-marks, to make then stand-out
better. You may also notice that the graphics are imperfect on the left and top
sides, as I replicated the pixels and the bubbles don’t align. This could be
fixed with a bit more work (which I do with real designs), but I intentionally
left it here like this to show the “down and dirty” way. Since the bleed would
be almost completely (depending on how accurate you cut) outside the result,
then it usually doesn’t really matter if it’s perfect or not. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />Erez Ben Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404738228099173557noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9089442912152291860.post-86855936750691446702019-10-28T10:42:00.003-07:002019-10-28T10:42:47.892-07:00Precision in word-counting<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I was developing my career and skills as a writer, I needed to learn some of the quantitative aspects of the work. Writing, as it turns out, is more than just putting words together well, but also about putting in the RIGHT amount of words. This might be foreign to people who write mostly "to the drawer" or self-publish, but any kind of commercial writing work has a framework that needs to be adhered to. For example, if you write an article for a newspaper, you can't just write until you feel the topic is covered. Newspapers have a finite size, and each editor is allotted a quota of pages (or space on a page). Then, when they ask their writers for an article, they would ask for a certain length, to which the writer must stick to, just like a carpenter would need to adhere to the client's specifications when building a cabinet or couch. Usually, there is some leeway, so if the editor asked for 500 words, a writer can submit 550 (even 600 if there is a good relationship with the editor, or if the writer is highly reputable) and the editor would either squeeze it in, or edit it down to the right size. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To the aspiring or new writer, I would strongly advise to be super precise with word count, because if you submit 600 words and the editor needs to cut out 100 words, you will have no control over which changes they will make. The more you go over-board, the higher the risk of something becoming less clear, or even incorrect. By being more precise, you can increase the likelihood of your work being presented as-intended, and it will also present you as more professional to your boss, and build yourself a good reputation.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When dealing with other sorts of media, there are other ways of measuring volume. For example, if you are doing a presentation, you might be asked for a "1 academic hour" presentation. If doing comedy, you might be asked to generate material for "3 minutes". If you are writing a script, you might be required to write one for a "half hour" show. If you wondered how these translate into word counts or other counts. Here are some facts on the topic.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<u>Books and novels</u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A young-adult novel will run between 20,000 and 40,000 words. That would also be the length of a novella in mainstream fiction. A typical page of a paperback novel will run around 400 words, while a typical page in a default page in Microsoft word is about 500 words (that is, with a default font setting of Calibri 11, and a 1" margin on all sides). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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A mass-market western, mystery or SF novel used to run to 60,000-70,000 words, which results in a 150-200 page book. However, nowadays they're more likely to hit 90,000 words. Fantasy novels are frequently about 125,000 words per volume. Mainstream fiction would be about 55,000 words. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Technical books are all over the place, often reaching 800 pages (average is 400-500 pages) but their word-count is usually 15-20% less than other types of literature due to a high number of screenshots and illustrations, as well as lengthy index sections. On the other hand, their page-size is larger, so keep your aim at 400 words per page of "final" content.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<u>Movies and TV</u></div>
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<br /></div>
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Scripts are written very differently, because the guiding principle is screen-time. Scripts contain a lot of background info, like descriptions of action or of the scene itself, which aren't spoken words. For a screenplay, a page would typically result in 1 minute on-screen, so for a "half-hour" TV show (which would be 21-23 minutes "net" without commercials and start/end credit sequences) would require a 20-25 page script. However, just like any other media, more content is produced than is needed, so a half-hour script can often be almost twice that size. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In a typical script, you would have about 125 words per-page, as the language represent normal dialog which has relatively short sentences. A script also needs to have large margins for the actors to take notes. A "feature" movie can run anything from 80 minutes to 135 minutes, with many directors being self-indulgent and producing movies that cross the 2.5 hours mark. A 2.5 hour movie would require a 150+ page script with close to 20,000 words.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<u>Radio and public-speaking</u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The average person speaks at somewhere between 125 and 150 words per minute, so when producing content for a radio or public speaking, that's the numbers that should guide you. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Be wary of over-cramming content into presentations, in case you are preparing a slide-deck to accompany a presentation. The slide-deck is not supposed to contain everything you are going to say, but the opposite - a slide supports your words, so you should only write down key words or short phrases (some places have even been know to ban slides completely). A slide-deck would typically include 1 slide per 2 minutes of presentation time, and contain no more than 40 words per slide. The best speakers out there often have 2-6 words per slide, thus making sure the audience is focused and listening to THEM, rather than trying to catch-up to what's on-screen. Some world-leading presenters avoid words altogether and just have images and graphics up there. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Keep in mind that an average adult can read about 200 words per minute (with College students clocking-in at around 300 WPM). Many people aren't mentally able to "let go" and keep cramming text into their slides, but if you are able to produce high-quality (= low word count) slides, you can get-away with as much as a slide per minute. It's always a good idea to cut your content by 15% to leave time for Q&A. Also, keep in mind that in many places an "hour" of presenting actually means only 45 minutes (also known as an "Academic hour"). </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you like to be fully prepared, or if it's a topic you never presented before, it's not a bad idea to write-out your full text, factoring in around the number above (125-150 spoken words per minute). Naturally, you can't read off-the-page while presenting, so a good idea is to convert the text into a bulleted-list, with each bullet item only 2-5 words to remind you what it's about, and representing about 1-2 minutes of actual speech.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><u>Comedy</u></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Telling jokes goes around the same rate as public-speaking (125-150 WPM), but writing jokes is even more precise than other types of writing. Well-established comedians like Jerry Seinfeld or Jay Leno can afford to tell a "story"-type joke, which would go on for a few minutes until the punch-line is reached, but unknown comedians need to work harder to keep their audience engaged. For such, a joke should be about 30-50 words long, taking about 15-20 seconds to tell. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Some comedians use the term "LPM" or Laughs-per-Minute to measure the quality of their material. A good guideline for LPM is to aim for 4-6 LPM. That doesn't necessarily mean you need to tell six 10-second jokes every minute, but a single joke can include more than one "laugh". For example:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>"My company is interviewing people this week, and my boss told me that if I'm interviewing a woman, I can't take pictures of her during the interview. Isn't that unbelievable??? Like…we are interviewing WOMEN now???"</i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The above joke is 35 words long (15 seconds), but it actually has 2 laugh points - one at "<i>during the interview</i>" and a second at the end of the joke. If all your jokes are at that level, you could reach 8 LPM, which is fantastic. The numbers above do mean that a 1-hour comedy show, which is the average for most shows, would require you to write, organize and memorize up to 240 jokes. </div>
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<br /></div>
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If you are wondering how one remembers so much material…it's not easy. With most comedians writing their own material, they would typically remember the joke, but they might not remember which jokes they want to include and in what order. However, when you see a tapes comedy show on TV, that would typically be recorded after the comedian has toured with the show for months, giving them time to both iron-out the kinks, and memorize the sequence. Often the show is recorded several times and then edited together to eliminate jokes that fell flat, or audience heckling, etc. </div>
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<br /></div>
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During the period of preparing for a taping, some comedians would use a simple notebook or sheet of paper to help remember. Some use their phones or write stuff on their own hands. Some write or print stuff in large fonts and tape it to the floor, so they can glance down and read it. A trick I myself usually use is taping a list of jokes on a water bottle (which I either carry in my hand, or place on the customary stool that most comedy stages have). The bottle can also be used as a prop for some stories. Like in presenting, it's important to be able to summarize a joke into a 1-3 word phrase that you can read quickly and be reminded of what it is. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Erez Ben Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404738228099173557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9089442912152291860.post-1524020779645602132016-04-09T20:43:00.001-07:002016-04-09T20:43:40.671-07:00Take a deep breath
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As a insulin-dependent diabetic (Type 2), a primary challenge
has always been to figure out the right amount of Insulin to take, and deal
with the fact that injected insulin, despite being referred to as “rapid”, has
a 4-hour absorption curve. That means that if I had a meal but didn’t take
enough insulin, I’d be stuck with the elevated blood-glucose level for another
4 hours. As this happens to me fairly often, this is quite detrimental to my
health, long-term.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A few months ago, an amazing company by the name of Mannkind
released the perfect solution – Affreza…inhalable insulin with a super-rapid
acting time of less than an hour. Finally, I can take an insulin correction and
have it take effect within minutes rather than hours. In addition, this gets
rid of the need to tear holes into my flesh (not to mention worrying about
sterility, disposing of used needles, and finding a place to perform the
injections while out of the house without freaking people out). </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So, if you’re a diabetic and never heard of Afrezza, go ask
your endocrinologist about it…it WILL change your life! However, when I first
tried Afrezza, I ran into an unpleasant and detrimental side effect…coughing.
Afrezza comes as a powder that you inhale deeply, and my body’s defenses
against foreign bodies flared up, causing me a severe cough that led to the
Afrezza powder being coughed-out before it had the chance to do its work. Today
I want to share not only the news about Afrezza, but also my way of handling
the challenge.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After speaking with Mannkind and other Afrezza users, I
learned that a cough is not uncommon, and most people get used to the powder
and stop coughing within a few weeks of continued use…so if you’re coughing, don’t
give up on it…fight though it and you should get used to it pretty fast. If
not, however (like me), I did figure out two tricks.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The 1<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">st</span></sup> trick is that drinking some liquid after
inhaling seems to suppress the cough. This can be water, juice or anything you
like drinking. The only trick is to be able to hold the cough for a few seconds
until you can get a sip in. Using this method, I was able to avoid coughing 90%
of the time. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A few weeks later, though, I found an even more effective
way. As it turns out, my cough-defense can actually be fooled into “thinking” I’m
OK by simply coughing AHEAD of taking the medicine. By intentionally coughing
once or twice before inhaling the Afrezza I was able to get myself to be “coughed
out” enough so that when I did inhale the drug, I wouldn’t cough at all! I’ve
been using the 2<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">nd</span></sup> work-around for months now, with great
satisfaction. Now Afrezza works for me 100% of the time, and as a result, I’m
very close to 100% balanced, with a super low HBA1C values (probably even
better than most pump users). </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Hope you find Afrezza to be useful, and the above tips
useful as well!</span></div>
Erez Ben Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404738228099173557noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9089442912152291860.post-20782351755853838242016-03-27T21:19:00.001-07:002016-03-27T21:19:21.855-07:00Washington democratic Caucusing 101
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This entry is a little late for the 2016 elections, but
having gone through it recently, I feel this info might be useful next time
around and worthy of noting down for future voters.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Why caucus? Well, if you have to ask that, you might have
come to the wrong place, but generally, the answer is that it’s a way to be
much more influential in the election process. In the general elections, a
person’s vote is one out of hundreds of millions, but in a caucus, it’s
relative strength is much stronger and therefore, a better use of one’s time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you are outside Washington State, keep in mind that the
process is somewhat different in different states, so the info below may not be
accurate for your region. Same goes if you’re a republican, as the Republican
Party has a different process. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Democratic Party splits the country into several levels,
starting with the top (national), through the State, congressional district,
county, legislative district and finally, precincts. At the precinct level,
anyone can attend, and if they are of legal voting age (or will be at the
actual elections), they can vote as well. It is recommended to pre-register on
the Washington democratic website (</span><a href="http://www.wa-democrats.org/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">www.wa-democrats.org</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">),
but not required – you can also do this at the event itself, but you should at
least use the site to figure out where your precinct’s caucuses are held
(typically somewhere in your neighborhood, like a school or other public venue).
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Caucuses are typically held on Saturday, usually starting at
10am. Depending on how busy and active your town is, crowding might be a challenge,
so I recommend arriving 30-60 minutes ahead, especially if you’re arriving by
car and need parking. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Once you arrive, you will have the chance to register and
sign-up if you haven’t done so online yet. This includes either signing up to
be a voter generally, or signing up to the caucus itself (or both, of course),
so if you’re legally allowed to vote but haven’t registered yet, this is a good
place to do it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The caucus, also referred to as a “convention”, things will
typically start with a 30 minute introduction, where a local volunteer will
read out the precinct names and provide some other high-level info, and then
ask the people present to move-off to their precinct tables. This varies by
location, but precincts are typically around 50 people each, so the location
would typically have many tables setup, sometimes all in one big room, and
sometimes in several rooms. Rarely any place has actual tables that can seat 50
people, so some people will have to stand up (if you can’t due to personal
limitations, I’m fairly sure someone at the table will give you his or her seat…we
are all friends at the caucus!). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Each precinct must have a chair-person, which requires some
training, so it typically will be someone from the organization assigned to
your precinct. The chair-person can be anyone, really, so don’t expect anyone
too formal – it could easily be your neighbor’s 17 year old son or his
grandmother. There’s no dress code to the entire thing either, so most people
just show up in their daily jeans and t-shirt, including the chair-person.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The chair-person will have an envelope with forms and a “script”
to go through the process, and will start by collecting the registration forms.
These are supposed to have your full details, as well as the name of the
candidate you support, and whether you are willing to be a higher-level
delegate for your precinct. In the 2016 caucus, the online forms many people
used actually told us NOT to fill this section, which was a mistake that led to
some contention. If this happens again later, make sure you DO fill out those
details. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">What does being a higher-level delegate entail? This is
typically a second caucus, a few weeks later, with selected few delegates from
each precinct representing and voting for their candidate at the
legislative-district convention. What starts out as millions of voters at the
precinct level slowly thins out to be less and less people at the higher
levels, until reaching the national level, which is about 5000 delegates total.
If you continue to step-up and get elected, you might end up going to the
nationals (typically somewhere on the east coast) and that’s pretty much the epitome
of being involved in the process. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The chair-person will collect the forms, and ask for someone
to volunteer to be a secretary and take notes of the caucus, as well as a
tally-person who will help count forms and numbers for everything. Once the
forms are collected, the tally-person will count how many votes each candidate
has, as well as how many people volunteered to be delegates to the next level. Often
times, there are at least a few people who are yet undecided (“uncommitted”),
and the chairperson would then offer the people at the table an option to say
something generally or specifically to the undecided. This is the real meaning
and purpose of the caucus, and while time is usually limited, there should be
at least 20-30 minutes available to discuss and deliberate. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Different precincts have different numbers of delegates, and
for each delegate, there must be an alternate (in case the delegate can’t make
it for any reason). Depending on the vote count, the number of delegates for
each candidate varies. For example, if your precinct has 50 voters, and
assigned 6 delegates, then if one candidate has 33 votes and the other has 17,
the 1<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">st</span></sup> candidate will have 4 delegates and the other 2. The Chair
person’s packet includes information on how to calculate the number of
candidates, of course.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">If the number of delegate volunteers isn’t sufficient to
cover the required number of delegates and alternates, the chairperson will ask
the table for more volunteers, though it’s often the other way around – there are
more volunteers than needed delegates. In such a case, the chairperson would
ask the table participants to vote on the candidates. If you feel your precinct
might be in such a situation, and you really want to be a delegate, the common
practice is to talk to your own neighbors (who are in your precinct) ahead of
time to find those who support you and/or your position, and might show up to
vote for you to be delegate. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Once all the delegates and alternates have been selected,
the chairperson would hand out certificates to each, noting their precinct,
name and role (primary or alternate), and the caucus should be concluded. Later
on, as the democratic org website is updated, more information would be
provided about the next level, and it’s up to each delegate to find out where
and when that is, and show up to continue the process.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At my caucus this week, I was selected as delegate, and I
will blog about that experience afterward as well, on April 17<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> or
a little later.</span></div>
Erez Ben Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404738228099173557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9089442912152291860.post-64810016321572488792016-02-10T00:06:00.002-08:002016-02-10T00:06:20.967-08:00Land of opportunity<div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<b><u><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Land
of opportunity</span></span></u></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As an immigrant who has integrated well into 21<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">st</span></sup>
century America, many friends ask me about living here, usually as part of
their own quest or aspiration to immigrate to the USA. To help future friends
and colleagues get the right info, rather than relying on them asking the right
questions (and me, remembering all the details) every time, I’ve decided to put
it all down in writing. Here goes…</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Where to live</span></u></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When moving to the US, pretty much everyone sets their eye
on either New York or Los Angeles. Other prime targets are Boston, San
Francisco, Florida, Washington DC and Las Vegas. These are the most populous
and well-known cities in the country, and therefore sound to many like “the”
place to be. One thing to remember is that the high demand leads to a major
competition for resources. Residents compete for every job, every parking spot,
every house, every lane on the street, etc. Businesses compete for every
customer and every dollar. The result is a dog-eat-dog society and the
proverbial “rat race”. This is even worse for new immigrants, who have to deal
with learning a new culture, geography and language. Truth be told that while
costs are higher in the more popular cities, wages are higher too. However, in
the big cities, the delta between the costs and income is smaller, leading to
an overall lower quality of life. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In other words, I strongly recommend against taking up
residence in those cities and focus your attention on the lesser known and less
populous regions. Texas, for example, is a great target to consider. It has
plenty of work, open spaces, decent prices, and the only downside is the heat
(which can actually be an attraction for Israeli and Indian immigrants, who
might be used to the heat). Another great option is North Carolina, which also
offers plenty of opportunities but without so much competition. Other than
those two, the US has over 40 other excellent states with thousands of cities
that, despite not being ‘the big apple’, still offer every possible modern
convenience. Even if you have to wait a couple of years for Justin Bieber to sing
in your city, isn’t getting a nicer house and spending less time in traffic
worth it? I think so, and this is why I picked Seattle.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Housing in America</span></u></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">America is a big country, and so generally speaking, land is
abundant and cheap for most of the country. The exceptions to this are the
high-demand cities New York and San Francisco. Like anywhere else, residence is
cheaper the farther you go from the city center, but still, the primary form of
residence in the US is in houses (as opposed to apartments). Apartments do
exist, but most Americans live in houses, many of which are over 200 square
meters (2150 square feet). The costs vary in different regions, but the general
average is that in major cities and their suburbs, you can rent a small
apartment for around $1000 a month, and a sizeable house for around $2500. As
you go farther away and into the “middle” (states like Montana, Wyoming, Utah
etc), prices drop significantly, and a similar house would cost only around
$1500. Then again, in good old San Francisco, you can expect to pay upwards of
$6,000 for the same exact thing. Another common form of residence is the
“town-house”, which is a small-footprint house that goes upwards. This format
allows sizeable houses to be built in areas that are in high demand, like major
cities. The cost is typically a little less than a regular house, and these
places typically have a tiny yard, or no yard at all. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The residence rental market is highly developed in America,
with millions of families who live as renters throughout their entire life. To
cater to this market, house owners use management companies to manage their
property. These companies collect the process the rent and taxes, maintains the
property, and basically isolate the owner from the tenants…for a fee that’s
around 10% of the monthly rent. Also, there are many real estate companies who
build housing complexes that they rent out individually. Such companies have an
office for the complex-manager and his team, who do all the management and
maintenance. All this leads to a very streamlined experience for the renter,
which makes it easy and convenient to live as renter for many years. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For those who prefer to buy a residence, things are
trickier. Unless you have the cash in hand, getting a mortgage in the US
requires a “credit rating”, which new immigrants don’t have (it takes time to
build…more about that later), as well as a down payment of at least 10%
(preferably 20%) of the house’s cost. Another challenge with buying a house in
the US is that when getting a mortgage, the mortgage company will examine your
finances very thoroughly (to protect themselves from fraudulent buyers who
can’t really afford what they are buying). This can come back to bite you, as
you will have to explain in detail not only your income, but also the money you
have for the down-payment. If you got that as a gift from your parents
overseas, you’ll need to get some tedious paperwork to prove that. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Being a home owner carries the advantage that you can get a
tax-refund on the interest you might pay for your mortgage, but the
disadvantage of having to pay homeowners tax (usually around 0.1% of the
houses’ cost per month), homeowners insurance (typically around $1000 a year),
and of course, whatever maintenance expenses show-up along the way. Another
thing to keep in mind about houses is that maintaining one is a lot different
than maintaining an apartment, and there’s no single and simple way to learn
how-to. For example, how to deal with a woodpecker that has decided to hammer
the wall on the other side of your bed, or what to do if your gutters get
clogged up (they do every year or so) or how to continue living when you have a
power outage for 6 days (not uncommon in many parts of the country). My advice
for any new immigrant is to NOT rush into buying a house. Instead, I recommend
living at least a year in a rental apartment or house, which will give you a
chance to learn more about how this country works, as well as traffic patterns
which might steer your house selection and may not be obvious at first. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Earning and working in America</b>. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Salaries are usually listed yearly in America, and
before-tax, so it’s not always easy to understand what kind of money you’ll be
ending up with. Also, many places pay salaries twice a month instead of once
(this can affect your cash-flow, positively or negatively). The taxes you pay
on your income vary by state, county and city, so some areas have very low
rates (as in, just Federal income tax) like Washington and Alaska while others
have much higher rates, like California and Oregon. In addition, most state
have a ‘sales’ tax (comparable to the V.A.T that many countries have), which
can be up to 9.45%. This is still low compared to countries like Israel, which
charge almost 20%, but then again, some states like Alaska and Oregon has none
at all. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As you probably know, America requires all citizens to file
an annual tax report. This means that citizens can elect to not pay income tax
during the year, and just pay the total sum annually. This also means that a
significant number of residents get a tax refund after they file, and many
others have to pay additional sums at that time. The American IRS also requires
everyone to report about assets held outside the US, so immigrants who have
houses or large bank accounts overseas are required to report, and sometimes
pay taxes on that money. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The world-famous American “capitalism” has made the US great
in many ways, but it also means that the law is frequently on the side of the
business, and not the employee. If you come from a European or otherwise
socialist country, the realities of this might seem harsh. For example, in many
states, you can get fired from your job for ANY reason…or for no reason at all,
and most states you’re not entitled to a notification period or for severance
pay. Likewise, an employer has very little requirements related to employee
benefits (for example, an employer doesn’t have to give you paid time off, or
even sick-days). Then again, if you open up your own business and hire employees,
the same laws will protect you as an employer, and help you screw your
employees and make more money. Hopefully, you will choose not to exploit them
too much. The US is world-famous for have better work-life balance than many
countries, though it pails compares to some European and south-American
countries. Things are actually pretty bad for people in the retail industry.
While corporate employees often get as much as 7 weeks of paid vacation and a
40 hour work-week, retailers often work 10+ hours days and 7-day workweeks,
with little options other than be patient until they move up the ranks or get
some other corporate desk-job. From watching TV, you might get the impression
that Americans are very laced-up, square and strict in the workplace, but that’s
not always true. There are many friendships established at work, and it’s not
unusual for someone to mutter a “fuck” or “shit” at work, even in meetings or
presentations. Still, there are many places with harsher conduct code or
policies where you would have to call others “Sir” and “Ma’am” and wear a
suit-and-tie all the time. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Life expenses</span></u></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In America, materials are cheap, and man-power is expensive.
This means that the stuff you buy is affordable (TVs, computers, food and other
stuff), but getting work done by human beings is very expensive. For example, a
plumber or carpenter often charges upwards of $100 per hour. If you come from a
country where getting an interior car-wash is simple and common, you’d be
surprised to find it can costs hundreds of dollars in the US. This is also why
medical services and education cost huge amounts of money here. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you’re curious about routine expenses and costs, here are
some general examples. Keep in mind that they vary from area to area (for
example, heating is hardly needed in California, but is a major thing in
Alaska, obviously). </span></div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; list-style-type: disc;">
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">
Internet. Typically $50-90,
depending on speed and service type (DSL, Cable, Dish, fiber etc)</div>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">
Cellphone. Typically $30-50
per line, depending on smaller to larger providers</div>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">
Home phone. Typically $30 a
month. Can be cheaper if bundled with internet and cable TV.</div>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">
Alarm system. Typically $20
per month</div>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">
Trash. Typically $30 per
month</div>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">
Electricity. Typically
$80-100 a month, depending on season and regional climate.</div>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">
Gas. Not used anywhere. Can
reach $300 in harsh winters if used for heating</div>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">
Water. Between $70 to $160.
Higher end is for those with yards or gardens that need watering.</div>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">
Sewer. Usually separate
than water, around $65 per month</div>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">
Cable TV. Starts around $20
and can reach over $100 for a wide range of channels. Can be cheaper if bundled
with internet and phone.</div>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">
Gardening. Depends on your
area, usually around $80-100 a month. Can reach hundreds for large homes.</div>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">
House cleaning. Typically
70-90$ per visit. </div>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">
Baby Sitting. Typically $12
per hour. </div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Other regular costs are day-care for young kids and
private-school for older kids (many prefer that, as its higher quality
education than public schools). This is typically $1300-1800 per month, which
can be very hard if you have more than one kid. Public schools (free) are from
age 6, and in some places, from age 5. Many parents who want child care as
early as a few months old have to figure out a way to pay for it. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A major expense to most families is health insurance. News
article sometime makes it seem like health in America is terrible, but the
reality is that for most people, it’s actually very good. The health industry
is huge and very rich, so for those who do have health insurance, things are
usually very good. There are certain people who can’t get health insurance for
various reasons, but those are a small minority. Health insurance pays for
almost everything, even bariatric surgery and psychotherapy, and although there
are situations where the insurance may refuse to cover something, this is also
a fairly rare situation for most people. One thing to keep in mind is that the
best health insurance is given to employees by their employer (some even give
it for free) and those who are unemployed or self-employed may be in a tougher
spot. Typically health insurance starts off at around $200 per month per
person, and high-end plans can cost upwards of $600 per person. For low income
families with many kids, even the low-end insurances can be a major burden, of
course. Most people pay around $350 per person. All insurance plans have a
deductible, just like a Car insurance has, and this means that healthcare does
cost money above the monthly costs. Usually, the out-of-pocket is capped so
that you don’t end up with huge debt, but the caps are typically a few
thousands per year for a family. This means that if several medical events
happen all at once, you might find yourself paying a lot.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Food is relatively cheap in America, especially with chains
like Costco, Sam’s club and Cash-and-carry, which sell stuff in large boxes,
suitable for long-term purchasing or large households. “outside” food,
especially fast food is so cheap that it’s often even cheaper than cooking your
own food (for the cost of veggies for a large soup, you can typically buy 5-7
meals at McDonalds, for example). Costo operates a prepared-food counter in
each branch which sells food at incredible prices (for example, $10 gets you a
huge pizza that can easily feed 6 people). </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Culture</span></u></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In some circles, Americans have a reputation for being
unfriendly and cold, but that’s not very true. Some of them are, but that
depends mostly on where they are rather than some ingrained cultural thing or
genetic makeup of the population. If you choose to live in an area where there’s
less competition for resources (as mentioned earlier, as farther from the
high-demand cities of NY, LA etc), you would find that people are friendly, outgoing,
caring and fun. Another reputation is that Americans’ are ‘square’, but that’s
also not the case, and a lot of them are fun-loving and open. Another major
factor in is how open YOU are to assimilating in your new environments. Being
an immigrant is tough and scary to many, and a lot of people deal with it by
retreating to what they know. Many immigrants socialize almost exclusively with
their own race/culture, and spend most of their energy and time on replicating
the environment they are used to (TV, movies, literature, food and other
commodities of their home country). Many don’t bother learning English properly,
not to mention refining their accent or exploring American culture, and all this
often leads to poor assimilation and an increasing feeling of loneliness. My
advice is to go against your instincts and do the opposite. Keep your food and
a handful of close friends, but try to meet and develop relationship with the
locals (not necessarily people from work) and explore the local culture as much
as you can, from reading the news in English (not your native language) to
getting used to watching TV and movies without subtitles.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Marriage and family</span></u></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Immigration is often a huge blow to marriage. At first,
everything is exciting and new, and people are overwhelmed by the abundance of
material luxury. However, this rarely lasts more than a few months. Many
immigrant families have only one working parent, with the other typically
unable to work due to Visa limitations and/or language and culture barriers.
The non-working parent often becomes a stay at home mom or dad, and that’s also
fun at first. You get to spend time with the kids, rest more and build a nice
home. However, usually within a year, this gets old and tensions start to
build. Home-life becomes boring and repetitive, and the stay-at-homer often
starts to feel lonely and depressed (the other parent being successful and
happy at work only makes things worse), and oftentimes develops strong
nostalgia for home (where everything was so ‘great’…). With that, the home
parent starts to develop a desire to go back to the home country, which is
rarely met positively by the working parent. This kind of situation often leads
to a break up, or to artificial (and usually false) means of bolstering the
marriage such as moving to different residence, or having more kids. Needless
to say that this rarely works out. One way to prevent that is to make sure that
both parents work, even if the work is only volunteer-based or part time
(sometimes developing an art-form is a good substitute). Good emotional
intelligence and open communications is also key to preventing tension and
false pretense build-up. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Similar issues can develop with kids. Kids above the age of
6 typically have active social life, and aren’t happy about starting fresh.
Often times, parents deal with that by presenting the move as temporary, which
often puts the kids in a problematic place. They don’t want to bond to their
environment, and instead, spend their time and energy waiting for the move back
(sometimes pushing and nagging their parents to go already). This can also be
detrimental to the success of the relocation, as well as to the marriage. My
advice is to set clear and correct expectations, and don’t define the move as
temporary unless you have a very specific return plan (many immigrants have a
rough idea on the length of their stay, but later on find it very hard to
actually start the move-back process, and end up staying much longer, and even
forever). </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Conclusion</span></u></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This is pretty much it. I could probably write much more on
the topic (and someday, I might expand this), but this is the basic stuff that
should be kept in mind. Some of it is positive, and some not so much, but if I
wasn’t clear – if you make the right choices, living in the US is a LOT of fun,
and has a quality of life much higher than most countries in the world (even
those who are higher on various ‘quality’ charts that papers like to print). If
you do right by your family and actively work to take a full part of the
country and the culture, you too can live like a king!</span></div>
</div>
Erez Ben Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404738228099173557noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9089442912152291860.post-15620913712956141582015-09-22T11:47:00.001-07:002015-09-22T12:01:13.902-07:00Simple Remote control with HTTPLauncher<p>As a system engineer, the ability to remotely control computers has always been high on my priority list, and even though there are plenty of solutions on the market, they are all pretty complicated to use, or too cumbersome. They typically involve installing a dedicated client, and even those that are built-in windows like Remote Desktop are not ideal since they are not designed for automation. </p> <p>I’ve finally decided to design a solution of my own for this – <strong>HTTPLauncher</strong>. It’s fairly limited, but it’s very easy to use, simple to install (just copy it to the target machine, and run it!) and very light at 71 KB. </p> <p>Other than remote controlling a computer, this tool can also be integrated with other stuff, like <b>Arm</b> <b>Suwarnaratana’s </b>Home-automation bridge, and this integration allows you to perform tasks on the computer by issuing voice-commands to Amazon’s Echo device (Alexa). I’ll talk more about that in a later post.</p> <p>Here’s how HTTPLauncher works:</p> <p>1. You copy the executable and configuration file to a computer that you want to control.</p> <p>2. You run it</p> <p>3. On another computer (which could be ANY device that has a browser, including any Smartphone on the market), you type a URL into the browser, with a command embedded in the URL.</p> <p>4. The target computer executes the command as-is</p> <p>The command you put in the URL can be any standard Windows command, like you would type into the <b>Start/Run</b> dialog. This could be launching an application, running a script, and pretty much anything you like.</p> <p>Naturally, this kind of thing can be VERY dangerous if some hacker gets into your network, so I also embedded some security measures:</p> <p>1. The command has to have an authentication token. The default token is 39ed173-b77a-5e41-812d-7be9e992f920, and you can change it by editing the configuration file that comes with the application. </p> <p>2. The launcher will reject commands that match one of the words in the Black List (for example, Format, Del, Delete). You can edit and expand the list to your liking.</p> <p>3. The launcher has a delay of 3 seconds (configurable) between executing commands, so trying to brute-force the authentication token would take forever.</p> <p>4. The launcher limits the command length to 120 characters (configurable), so that even if the password is somehow broken, it limits the things the attacker can do remotely.</p> <p>The syntax for issuing a command is:</p> <p><strong>http://<target IP or hostname>:<target port>/<token><Command></strong></p> <p>The default port is 8008, and you can change it in the configuration file, alongside the other stuff I mentioned earlier. The command comes right after the token, without any separators and delimiters. For example:</p> <p><strong>http://ErezBedroomPC:8008/39ed173-b77a-5e41-812d-7be9e992f920c:\program files\skype\skype.exe</strong></p> <p>As you can guess, this launches Skype on the remote computer. Note that you need to specify the FULL path to the executable! Similarly, you can close the program remotely, though that’s a little more complicated. Programs don’t normally accept a command to exit, but you can do this by using the system’s <strong>TaskKill</strong> utility, which is built-into windows. To use it, you would issue a command like this:</p> <p><strong>http://ErezBedroomPC:8008/39ed173-b77a-5e41-812d-7be9e992f920c:\Windows\System32\taskkill.exe /f /im skype.exe</strong></p> <p>When you run this, the browser will convert the spaces to %20, but that’s OK – the Launcher will be able to understand it, and it will also convert back-slashes to forward slashes. You can also use it to execute commands that aren’t executable by launching them with a CMD. Keep in mind to specify the full path to the command prompt. For example:</p> <p><strong>http://ErezBedroomPC:8008/39ed173-b77a-5e41-812d-7be9e992f920c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe /c dir "c:\temp" >c:\documents\FileList.txt</strong></p> <p>Note that I’m using /c as a parameter for CMD, so that it closes after it executes the command. You can use /K instead to leave the window open if you’re having trouble for debugging purposes. You can also examine the log created by the launcher to see what it did, and if it ran into errors. </p> <p>Finally, keep in mind that these commands can be launched from anywhere! While the server-side (the launcher itself) is for Windows computers, the web requests that run the command can be launched on ANY browser that’s connected to the same network. For example, you can save the URL URL <strong>http://ErezBedroomPC:8008/39ed173-b77a-5e41-812d-7be9e992f920c:\Windows\System32\shutdown.exe -s -t 1</strong> as a bookmark on your phone, and just visit it to tell your computer to shutdown. In fact, If you <b>dare</b> publish the target computer through your router to the public internet, then you can even do these things remotely from anywhere in the world, without installing any other special software (to be clear…the security measures on the launcher are, in my opinion as a cryptography engineer (***), NOT sufficient for a public-facing remote-control tool…so I do NOT encourage, condone or support doing this!). </p> <p>Hope you like the tool!</p> <p>*** I’m also working on a more business-oriented version of this engine, which will support more advanced security options, like HTTPS connections, White-listing commands, White-listing remote IPs, Hashed password, Central config file and more. Once it’s ready, I’ll release it and details on the blog. If you have ideas for other security measures or features, please drop me a line.</p> Erez Ben Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404738228099173557noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9089442912152291860.post-34038209473204569722015-08-25T10:54:00.001-07:002015-08-25T10:54:26.064-07:00Citizenship be gone<p>About 7 years ago, my wife and I won the American green-card lottery and moved to the USA. 5 years later, per the standard waiting period, we received American Citizenship as well. Even before that, it was pretty clear to us that once we become American citizens, we will want to renounce our Israeli Citizenship, and a few days ago, we completed that process. I’m sharing my experience here for the benefit of those who want to do it as well.</p> <p><b>Why?</b></p> <p>Several of our friends and relatives were surprised to hear that we were doing this. Some even took it as some kind of betrayal. Well, everyone has the right to have an opinion, but the main issue is due to the fact that an Israeli Citizen cannot travel out of Israeli without a valid passport. This leads to a string of administrative work that can end up badly in several ways. Here are some of them: </p> <p>1. That’s 3 extra passports to keep track-of and renew every few years</p> <p>2. Any travel to Israeli requires carrying a double stack of passports – double the space, double the stuff to safeguard.</p> <p>3. Common strikes at either the ministry of interior and ministry of foreign affairs jeopardizes the ability to renew passports on time. <a href="http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2013-07-31/news/fl-israeli-consulates-closed-20130731_1_israeli-strike-chaim-shacham-israeli-consulate">Example</a>.</p> <p>4. Spelling means trouble. For example, last year my wife was detained for 2 hours in Israel because our last name is “Benari” on American documents and “Ben-Ari” on Israeli ones.</p> <p>However, the main reason we did this was the Israeli Army. As you know, being an Israeli citizen includes the mandatory army duty for my son. We would, of course, file the paperwork to dismiss him when he’s at the right age, but this can go wrong in various ways. For example, <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/australian-visiting-israel-jailed-for-draft-dodging/">this horror story</a> about such a mishap is a stark warning of what the “benefit” of citizenship can amount to, as well as <a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3314064,00.html">this one</a>. </p> <p><b>How?</b></p> <p>Renouncing the citizenship is, in theory, only a matter of filing a form and paying the fee ($92), but in reality, there are some complexities. </p> <p>1<sup>st</sup>, this is one of those asks that require the requestor to visit a consulate <b>in person</b>. For those living close to a consulate, like residents of Boston, LA, NY and <a href="http://www.science.co.il/Embassy.asp">other locations</a>, this would not be a big deal. For those living farther, such as me (Seattle), this requires some planning and some major expense. We did a 2-day trip to San Francisco, so that if something didn’t work out on the 1<sup>st</sup> day, we could come back the next day. </p> <p>If you were thinking of just taking care of this on your next visit to Israel, this is not actually possible. This sort of request can ONLY be filed abroad. There are over 100 consulate offices world-wide, so with any luck, you can just pick one at a nice destination and have a family-vacation at the same time. </p> <p>Secondly, if you have children, this can make things more complicated. For kids under age 16, the parents would include the kid in the request. Israeli law requires that any citizen of Israel who has a kid born abroad registers the kid with the Israeli government (which grants the kid citizenship). While this isn’t strictly enforced, this might trip-up the process. If the ministry of internal affairs is aware of the child (***) the consulate staff might refuse to accept your application because you failed to register your child. If, like me, you had to spend hundreds of dollars to go to the consulate, you might want to avoid the risk and register your child before filing the application.</p> <p><b></b></p> <p><b>*** I don’t know what info or data the ministry collects regarding citizens, so this is more a case of paranoia than anything else. I suspect that the existence of a child can be flagged somewhere in their computers, and they might become aware of the kid if you travel to Israeli with him</b></p> <p>Luckily, you can register the child on the same visit to the consulate. This can be tough, as the consulate requires that you show a birth certificate that has an <b>apostille authentication</b>. That’s <b>not</b> equivalent to the regular stamp or signature that birth certificate have, and would typically require you to specifically ask for it from your local <b>Department of State</b> office (this can take a couple of weeks to get). </p> <p>By the way, you can download the various forms you need <a href="http://mfa.gov.il/MFAHEB/ConsularService/WorldConsularService/Pages/vitur_ezrahut_Israelit.aspx">here</a>.</p> <p><b>Taking the trip</b></p> <p>If getting to the consulate requires a special trip, don’t forget to prepare and take everything with you. You would need:</p> <p>1. American passports</p> <p>2. American certificate of citizenship</p> <p>3. Israeli passports</p> <p>4. Child’s birth certificate with Apostille authentication</p> <p>5. Forms for registering the child</p> <p>6. Forms for renouncing the citizenship for you and spouse, and any kids above 16 YO (no need for kids under 16)</p> <p>7. Multiple payment forms. The consulate can take a credit card, but I’d advise to bring cash and checks as backup</p> <p>8. If there has been any name changes in the family, bring supporting paperwork.</p> <p>Some consulates are busier than others, so try to figure out what lines you’re expecting. Most people who go to the consulate take a while to finish their business, so even if there were only 4 people behind you, you can get stuck for an hour or more. </p> <p>I would also advise filling up the forms ahead of time, so that you don’t end up missing info, or writing hastily and unclearly on them. I actually loaded the form into Word and filled the details in print, and also brought a few extra copies just in case I spilled coffee on them or something.</p> <p><b>Hiccups</b></p> <p>Spending time and money getting to the consulate only to find that something is missing or wrong can be very annoying. However, most consulate employees have a very good service attitude and can help work out stuff. For example, when I made my visit, my son’s birth certificate didn’t have an Apostille stamp, but the consulate staff allowed me to get a new one and send it to them via FedEx. This way I was able to complete the process without having to travel again. If you run into a hiccup, try to think positively, and work with the consulate staff with the “what would it take to do this” approach rather than getting angry and confrontational.</p> <p>Another hiccup I ran into was that the ministry of internal affairs needed a proof of foreign citizenship for all 3 of us. We did give ours during filing, but the consulate forgot to get our son’s, so after 3 months of considering the request, the consulate contacted us and asked us to send over a passport copy for the kid. You can avoid this delay by making sure you’re giving the consulate all the paperwork they might need, if they fail to ask for some.</p> <p><b>After the trip</b></p> <p>Once the paperwork is filed by the consulate, the ministry of internal affairs needs to review and approve the request, and each request is personally signed by the Minister. This means that it takes about 2-3 months for this to go-through, and you will be notified by the consulate (not directly by the ministry) about the results. Assuming the request is approved, the consulate will call you personally and ask you to send them your passports and Israeli ID cards. Once they receive your passports and IDs, they will mail you back a document confirming your status. This last step can take another month. For us, the whole process from setting foot in the consulate to getting the final certificate took 5 months. </p> <p>The document you receive will be a standard Israeli ministry of internal affairs blue paper, saying that your citizenship has been revoked, plus a second page showing any kids who were part of it. You will receive 2 copies per person, and they look like this:</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-80l3aCVllbI/VdyrzzjQuRI/AAAAAAAABHY/q_6aU1bYXDg/s1600-h/clip_image002%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img title="clip_image002" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline" border="0" alt="clip_image002" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xSfAI1rT9zk/Vdyr0cozuhI/AAAAAAAABHc/xYuD8TSilJ0/clip_image002_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="301" height="428" /></a></p> <p>As you can see, the document clearly states that you need to display this paper when entering or leaving Israel. It is unclear to me whether the border-patrol computers will ever be updated with my status. A relative of mine says he needs to show the paper every time, even though it’s been 30 years since his citizenship was revoked. Upon my next visits to Israel, I’ll update this if I have more information.</p> <p><b>I want it back!</b></p> <p>So what if, after a few years, you suddenly have a change of hearts and want your citizenship back? Well, I’m not familiar with anyone who has done this, so the following is speculation, but the <a href="http://www.nevo.co.il/law_word/Law01/189_001.doc">law of return</a> specifically says that any Jew has the right to receive an immigrant Visa, with the only exceptions being if the person has acted against the Jewish people, or is a danger to the public or the state. That means that if you ever change your mind, you should be able to go back to Israel, get citizenship and even receive the benefits of a returning resident (תושב חוזר). Whether the ministry of internal affairs recognizes your special circumstances and give you a hard time is anybody’s guess. I believe that they won’t, and even if they did, this wouldn’t prevent you from visiting, living and working in Israel. The law says that you would need to apply for a Visa for those things, but I’m being told that beyond border patrol, this is rarely actually enforced.</p> Erez Ben Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404738228099173557noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9089442912152291860.post-72722280636500690632015-07-02T13:13:00.001-07:002015-07-02T13:13:13.865-07:00Truth, justice and the American way<p>Last week I had the honor of serving on Jury Duty for the Seattle superior court. As I was preparing for this and participating, I was surprised to see how little info people actually have about this, so I decided to write it up for any future jurors. </p> <p>The jury duty starts with a random selection done by the county. They have a computerized list of every resident of the county, and every period, they select a group of people from it. Only 18+ American Citizens who are residents of the county can participate, but the list the county has sometimes has errors (for example, my wife was selected for Jury a few years back, before we were citizens). If someone receives a jury summons while not meeting the criteria, they can and should respond to the summons via the mail, stating the error or issue. One can also ask to be excused if they are out of the country or have other reasonable excuse (no, you can’t ask to be excused because you’re busy watching the Tonight show). </p> <p>On the day you are summoned for, you are asked to show up at 8am, which is quite early (I had to get up at 6:15 to make it on time), but on later days you can show up at 8:45. I live in Sammamish and the court is in Seattle, so that was quite a way off. The court recommends using public transportation, and so do I. While using my own car would be more comfortable, it wouldn’t actually save time as driving alone would get me stuck in traffic, and parking around the courthouse is limited and expensive. The courthouse is next to Pioneer square, so virtually every major bus line goes there and there are no less than 3 lines from my town directly to the court. I took the 6:40 bus and arrived at the court at 7:40. </p> <p>At the courthouse, you have to go through security screening, so it’s best to make sure ahead of time not to bring anything problematic (like pocket knives) and to wear a belt that’s easy to remove. I was able to get them to use the wand-scanner instead, but only after a bit of argument. Then, it’s off to the Jury assembly hall, which is a fairly large place, lined up with chairs (soft and comfy ones!) for about 200 people, I estimate. There were plenty of available seats.</p> <p>At 8:20, a court clerk began a presentation, which took about 30 minutes and included a movie outlining various principles of the law, and how a Jury works. I’ll detail some of this further down. After this, they started calling people for trials. The way this works is that the court has one or more trials each day, and for each, they need a certain number of jurors (typically 20-30). When they summon the Jury weeks before, they don’t know how many trials will be on the specific day, so it can go either way...some days only a handful of people are picked and the rest dismissed, and other days many or most of the people are used. Sometimes they even run out of jurors and have to pick more from the next day’s batch. While waiting, we were also asked to fill a form with some personal details like my place of birth, workplace and job (this would be used by the attorneys later if I get picked for a trial).</p> <p>The court computer picks up random names of people from those who showed up, and the clerk calls them out. These selected then go up to the courthouse, and the rest continue waiting in the assembly room. As the day goes on, there might be more trials, and more rounds of calling people out. Once people have been called out for all the day’s trials, the remaining people are typically dismissed. On my day, there were only 3 trials and I didn’t get picked for any of them, so by noon, they dismissed me with several dozen others. </p> <p>While waiting to be called, the assembly room is fairly nice and convenient. They keep a good temperature, they have a bunch of vending machines and a kitchenette I could use to put or prepare food. There’s also a water cooler and an “office”, which is a separate room with desks and power outlets, where people can work if they choose to. There’s also unlimited free WIFI access throughout the place. All in all, a pretty nice environment, and everyone is very nice and friendly. It’s clear that they really care about the well-being of the jurors and don’t take them for granted, even though it’s a mandatory service.</p> <p>Jury duty is defined as mandatory 2 days, which means the process I described above continues to the next day. If you weren’t picked up on the 1<sup>st</sup>, you are supposed to show up the next day and as they court goes through trials that are scheduled for that day, you might get picked for one. If during the 2<sup>nd</sup> day you aren’t picked either, then you’re free to go. In my case this week, there weren’t any trials scheduled for the 2<sup>nd</sup> day, so all jurors that started their service with me and didn’t get picked were told that there’s no need to show up on the 2<sup>nd</sup> day and we’re done. Lucky us! We weren’t actually old this on the day, but rather through the court’s phone hotline and website, which is updated on a daily basis. </p> <p>Since I wasn’t picked for any trials, the next section is a tad more vague, as it’s based on the info we were provided (and my understanding of it) and not my personal experience. </p> <p>Once a group of Jurors is picked for a trial, they are sent upstairs to the courtroom where the trial is to be held. At that point, the judge assigned to the case instructs and guides the jury members about the case and the law related to it. This includes specifics about the case and the defendant, as well as meeting the lawyers representing both sides (defense and prosecution). The judge also provides an estimate of the trials length, and then gives each juror a chance to ask to be excused due to “undue hardship”. For example, if you have a planned trip that will collide with the trial, or if you have some business or family matter that will complicate your life significantly, you can ask to be excused. Then, it’s the lawyer’s turn to interview each of the jurors. This is to allow them to get rid of jurors who might have bias, or in other ways make the trial “unfair”. Essentially, lawyers use this to eliminate jurors that decrease their chance of winning, or lead to a more severe punishment. For example, if the defendant is accused of rape, and a certain juror has been raped in the past, she is more likely to treat the defendant harshly, and so the defense lawyer would prefer her to be excused. </p> <p>During the interview process, each of the sides can excuse a juror for a “good” reason…or for any reason (meaning the real reason is uncool, embarrassing or otherwise better be left unsaid). The number of jurors that could be excused for “any” reason is limited, though, so as to not encourage too much of that. The number of people that can be dismissed for a good reason is not limited, so sometimes after both defense and prosecution are done, there aren’t enough jurors left and they have to call the jury assembly downstairs and ask for more people (this actually happened during my service – they initially had 90 jurors, but that wasn’t enough and so they called in 30 more). I’m not sure how they determine how many actually jurors are needed for each trial, but the panel actually includes one or more “standby” jurors, which can be called in in case one of the jurors needs to leave mid-trial for some reason. The common opinion is that defense lawyers usually excuse highly-educated people (especially those with legal education), as well as people with extensive trial experience. They also don’t like people who are pro-death-penalty and in general, anyone who is very assertive or strongly opinionated about anything (because these </p> <p>Once the jury panel is finalized, the trial can begin, and once all the evidence and witnesses has been introduced, the Jurors’ go into the deliberation room, where they need to elect a “leader”, who steers the deliberations, finds info from the judge or lawyers when needed and ultimately also reads out the verdict. The deliberations might require the verdict to be either a majority decision, or unanimous, depending on the issue. Criminal cases typically require the decision to be unanimous, while civil stuff usually only requires a majority vote. Once a decision has been reached, the court re-convenes and the jury leader reads out the verdict. At that time, the jury is dismissed to return to their families and/or workplace. </p> <p>So…I got off pretty quick this time. I spend about ½ a day waiting in the assembly room, and was then dismissed for the day and told to not come back for the 2<sup>nd</sup> day. I’ve heard that Jury duty is rare in Puget Sound, so I might be scot-free for a decade. I guess time will tell!</p> Erez Ben Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404738228099173557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9089442912152291860.post-15137960031618867792015-06-26T11:24:00.001-07:002015-06-26T11:24:29.651-07:00Break up with your mechanic (Honda Pilot and other heavy cars break issues)<p>For a number of years now I’ve been the proud owner of a Honda Pilot. That kind of size fits me really well, as I’m pretty big fellow. However, there’s one downside to owning the Pilot, which also applies to several other big vehicles. Stopping heavy vehicles takes a lot of breaking power, but many SUVs such as the Pilot are equipped with relatively-small breaks that aren’t really fit for the job. When you break the car, the strain causes the breaks to heat-up, and if you break extensively (for example, if you drive a lot in a hilly area), the breaks overheat and the metal plates known as break rotors start to deform. When this happens, you start to feel the car vibrate when you break. At first, it’s just minor shaking when breaking at high speeds, but as time goes by, it can become noticeable even when slowing down at low speeds. </p> <p>How soon this happens depends on your driving and where you live. For people who drive a lot down the hill, this can start to happen within a year of buying the car. The “fix” for this is “turning” the rotors, during which the rotors are taken out and get a run-over with a lathe, which grinds a layer off the rotors and returning them to their former smoothness. Unfortunately, this isn’t really a fix, because not only will the rotors heat-up and deform again, they will actually do so faster as they are now (thanks to the turning) thinner and more sensitive to the heat.</p> <p>A better fix is replacing the rotors with new ones, but if you just get regular rotors, you’re buying yourself a year or two at the most. About half the cost of either replacing or turning the rotors is the labor, as taking apart everything takes about 1-1.5 hours (auto shops often charge 100$ and up per hour). Usually, the deformed rotors also wear-out the break “pads” faster, so most mechanics will recommend replacing these too (some will outright DEMAND it). </p> <p>When my previous Pilot had this issue, I paid a mechanic about $440 for the whole thing, including parts, labor and taxes. However, when I needed to do this again a year later, I decided to not take the lazy and expensive way out, and researched my options a bit better. Here are my lessons, and hopefully, this can save you too some money and heart-ache.</p> <p>The 1<sup>st</sup> thing I learned is that there’s actually an even better fix – Drilled rotors. This is something that’s typically done to Race cars to improve the break’s performance. This entails drilling about 20 holes in the rotor, which allows it to cool faster. With race cars, this improves the reliability of the breaking system, and for us home users, it improves the cooling, which means the breaks can sustain more action before deforming. This doesn’t mean it’s foolproof…if you drive down all the way down from Mr. Rainier, they will still heat up and possibly deform, but for normal driving, drilled rotors will last much longer. Another thing that can be done to rotors is “Slotting”, which entails making deep grooves in the rotor. Slotting also improves the performance, although lesser so than drilling.</p> <p>This doesn’t mean you drill your rotors yourself, of course. There are many break manufacturers who offer drilled, slotted or Drilled & slotted rotors. Some better known brands are DBA, StopTech, Power Stop, ACDelco, Raybestos and Brembo.</p> <p><strong>Below you can see regular rotors, slotted rotors and then rotors that are both slotted and drilled:</strong> </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-iO4caQ0e8vM/VY2Y02HyohI/AAAAAAAABFA/ORHVpi2gwcU/s1600-h/image%25255B4%25255D.png"><img title="image" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-O8mENdUyDfA/VY2Y1chmeaI/AAAAAAAABFE/rOeH-c1jwAo/image_thumb%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="417" height="167" /></a></p> <p>If you go to your auto shop and ask, they should be able to get you such improved rotors, but as I’ve found out, parts cost a LOT more at ALL car shops. I’ve literally called up dozens of them, and they all quoted me upwards of $150 per rotor, plus around $35 per break-pad, plus labor and tax. My solution? Buying online!</p> <p>Sure, buying car parts online is scary. It’s hard to know if the part is good or not, and it can be hard to know if it will actually fit your car. It’s also hard to know if you really bought everything you need, or whether you’ll find out last-minute that you’re missing a part. Well, being Frugal can be stressful, and I can’t recommend this to everyone, but even if you do go and get the parts at a garage, make sure you shop around and haggle down the price. If a set of drilled and slotted rotors and pads can be had online for $190 (shipping included), there’s no reason a mechanic should charge you $500 for it. Their typical excuse is that it’s the price “their computer” gives. This is bullshit, of course…if they stick to a supplier that is charging them twice the market value, they are screwing themselves AND their customers, and they won’t lift a finger to get you a better deal, find another place. Most cities will have dozens if not hundreds of shops, and since replacing your rotors is usually not very urgent, put in the time to shop around. By the way, Amazon’s site can actually tell you whether a certain part fits your car. When you search for stuff like break rotors or break pads, you can tell Amazon which car you have, and it will tell you. Power Stop is a highly rated maker of breaks, and they are very affordable, and also offer kits that include a full set of rotors and pads that’s cheaper than buying separately. Below you can see the fit guide. My kit was <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AN5S7FW">this</a>. </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-hgft6dgn7gU/VY2Y2A6tOmI/AAAAAAAABFM/ZtzjUcsd3eY/s1600-h/image%25255B8%25255D.png"><img title="image" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4PPZsGMTRJs/VY2Y2rymJyI/AAAAAAAABFU/hc59QD-Zjc8/image_thumb%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="383" height="284" /></a> </p> <p>Next thing to consider is labor, of course. Replacing rotors is one of the simplest jobs for a mechanic. It’s not “easy”, but there are really no variables or diagnosis. With the right tools and experience, a mechanic should be able to complete this (replacing 2 rotors and pads) in 1 hour. Without the right tools (for example, without a good lift or an impact-drill to remove the bolts), it could take 1.5 hours, but absolutely not more. A decent car shop should charge no more than $100 per hour, and it’s worth asking explicitly how much labor this job is, and how much they charge per hour. If they want more than $150, then you’re dealing with crooks. Again, to be clear…this isn’t one of those things where there’s “quality”…it’s not like a Doctor doing heart surgery. Replacing breaks is more equivalent to a nurse putting on a bandage, and there’s no reason to pay a lot for it. If the mechanic charges more because he has 80 years of experience…than he’s just playing you for a fool.</p> <p>Personally, I know how to do this sort of work myself, and I could have stopped there, having spent $190 on a full set of parts, but I decided that at my age, I shouldn’t break my back and risk getting hurt (I’m a tad clumsy with the tools), so I decided to go ahead and pay for someone to do the work.</p> <p>Most shops I asked don’t want to give up the nice margin they make on parts, and refused to do the work with parts “from dat damn innernayt”, and others tried to deter me by proclaiming they can’t warrant the job if it’s not their parts. I told them all to get lost, as they were quite a few shops that were happy to do the work (in fact, several even SUGGESTED I get the parts myself to save costs). The one I picked was a local company called CTU. Their benefit? They COME TO YOU (hence the acronym CTU). They charged me $90 for the work (which was already lower than most others) and performed this in my driveway quickly and easily. This way, I didn’t have to waste time driving around or waiting around for the job to get done. Furthermore, they actually were happy to do this on Sunday, so my car was getting fixed as I was watching a good episode of CSI. </p> <p>The <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ctuautoservice">CTU</a> I’m referring to works around Kirkland, Washington, but comparable companies usually exist all over the country. You might need to look them up on YELP or Craigslist (type “Mobile Mechanic”). Naturally, they can’t make all kinds of repair on the go, but for stuff like breaks, changing a battery, lights and stuff that doesn’t require specialized equipment or parts, this kind of service is super convenient. </p> Erez Ben Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404738228099173557noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9089442912152291860.post-39260422183731289962015-02-13T10:22:00.001-08:002015-02-16T09:36:04.415-08:00Pure Cheenius (cheese making 101)<p>As you may know, I’m an Israeli living in the USA. There’s a certain type of cheese which I love, called “Tsfatit” (or Tzfatit) that’s very common in Israel, but does not exist in America. As a result, I had to learn how to make it myself (same reason I learned to cook and make most of the things I do…). I also realized that there are many others who are interested in this cheese and learning how to make it. I also learned that many people are publishing misleading info about cheese-making, making it sound more complicated or difficult than it really is. Here’s my guide to making cheese. </p> <p>While I’ll be talking a lot today about this Tsfatit cheese, it’s important to know that the basics of making cheese are common to almost all kinds, so this guide isn’t only about the Israeli cheese, but many others as well. The basic idea of cheese making is taking some milk, and causing it to coagulate into curds. Then, these curds can be turned into various types of cheeses based on certain steps and processes. For example, adding just a little salt and applying low pressure to the cheese leads to the creation of Tsfatit, but simply adding more salt and pressure would make it a Feta cheese. If, on the other hand, you add less salt and do some kneading on it, it would become Mozzarella. </p> <p>The basic ingredients for cheese are:</p> <p>1. Milk</p> <p>2. Coagulating agent (Rennet)</p> <p>3. Additional flavorings, if desired (salt usually, and other stuff at will)</p> <p>You’re also going to need at least one special piece of equipment – a <strong>cheese cloth</strong>. It’s a type of cloth that’s specially designed to allow you to press the cheese curd into a final density and texture. Cheese cloth can be purchased at most supermarkets for about 2.5$ per square yard, and naturally, cheaper online. Essentially, you can wash the cloth after making cheese and reuse it, but I find that to be very difficult. You can’t simply put it in the washing machine with cloths, and hand-washing might leave some cheese on it, which would spoil, stink and might be risky for your next batch of cheese. Since it only takes about ¼ Sq. Yard for a batch of cheese, I just discard it after a day of cheese making and use a new piece next time around. Note that not all cheesecloths are created equal. Many are very fragile, which would mean you’d need two layers to hold the cheese together. This also makes them harder to clean and re-use. I recommend this brand: <a title="http://amzn.com/B006JWL22I" href="http://amzn.com/B006JWL22I">http://amzn.com/B006JWL22I</a> . At $7.5 for 4.8 square yards, your cost would be only about 38 cents per batch even if you don’t reuse the cloth at all. </p> <p>Another specialty hardware that’s not strictly required, but highly recommended is a cheese mould. This is a plastic cylinder which helps press the cheese into its desired form. A skilled person can simply squeeze the cheesecloth with his bare hands, but the mould gives it a better form, and makes for a consistent and nice looking piece of cheese. A basic mould costs about 20$, such as this one: <a href="http://amzn.com/B008K19FNE">http://amzn.com/B008K19FNE</a> . Its size is targeted at making about 1-2 pound piece of cheese from 1 gallon of milk.</p> <p>The coagulating agent used in cheese-making is <b>Rennet</b>, which is a group of enzymes that cause the proteins in the milk (kappa casein molecules) to stop binding to the water molecules in the milk, and instead, bind to each other, forming the curd. Rennet is usually made from meat, but there’s vegetable based Rennet, which is suitable for vegetarians, as well as kosher observant Jews (the Jewish religion forbids mixing of dairy and meat products). Rennet is available in many supermarkets in tablet form, as well as online (<a href="http://amzn.com/B006JMJK2C">http://amzn.com/B006JMJK2C</a> ), typically at around $10-12 for 10 tablets. Only ¼ tablet is actually needed to make a batch of cheese, so those ten dollars go a long way. There are some recipes that call for using various acids (citrus juice, vinegar etc.) instead of Rennet, but my experiments with this didn’t lead to good curding, so I recommend sticking to Rennet. Rennet is also available as liquid, which is a tad more convenient, but its shelf-life is a lot shorter, so I’m not a big fan. </p> <p>Other items you need, and should be available at any kitchen is a pot to heat the milk, a colander to filter the curds out and a stirring spoon. Here’s how it’s done:</p> <p><strong>Step 1 – choose and get milk</strong></p> <p>1 gallon of milk typically makes 1-1.5 pounds of cheese. If you press the cheese more, you will squeeze out more water, making for heavier, denser cheese (and less of it, of course). I advise working with half a gallon, as it’s easier to work-with. You can use any milk, except milk that’s ultra-pasteurized (the ultra-pasteurization prevents the coagulation of the milk into curds). Since most of the milk is water, and the resulting cheese is about 1/5 of the original milk volume, low-fat (1%) milk will product cheese that’s around 5% fat, while whole milk (3%) will produce cheese with around 15% fat. You can also use half-and-half (10% fat) to make 50% fat cheese (YOLO, MOFO!!!). </p> <p><strong>Step 2 – make the curds</strong></p> <p>To form the curds, the milk needs to be warm. Various guides out there spit out crazy complicated heating-and-cooling, but I find that it doesn’t need to be crazy hot or crazy-accurate to work. Heat the milk up in a pot to somewhere around 90-110 degrees F. If you are using Rennet tablets, crush and dissolve them in a little (teaspoon or tablespoon) or luke-warm water, and then pour that into the milk. If you’re using liquid Rennet, just drop it in. Mix it up a little and gently. Put aside and wait 10-15 minutes. Once you’re back, the milk should have curded and the entire pot would be like white soft jelly.</p> <p><strong>Step 3 – slush the curds</strong></p> <p>Use your stirring spoon or a knife to cut the curds vertically and horizontally every inch or so, to end up with a sort-of “salad”. Don’t be rough or over-do it, because we want to have big chunks and not tiny ones (those will simply squeeze out of the cheese cloth and leave you with little to no cheese). If, for some reason, the curd you have is so soft that it falls apart to tiny curds, dump it and start from scratch. This could happen with certain types of milk and there’s nothing you can do other than get another type.</p> <p><strong>Step 4 – dry the curds</strong></p> <p>Use a colander or straining-spoon to filter the curds from the water. I like using a pot with an attaching colander-lid, but you can use any way you like as long as you’re gentle enough not to crush the curds. Don’t feel that you need to filter it COMPLETELY. That’s hard and not necessary, as long as you got most of the liquid out. The curds typically sink in the fluid, so usually swirling it in the pot would send more fluid up for you to spill out until the curds are fairly dry.</p> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="400" border="0"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="400"> <p>Optional: expedite the reduction</p> <p>If you want to hasten the completion of the cheese, you can warm the curds a little, which causes them to expel their water faster. You can stick them in the microwave for 30-45 seconds, or if they are still in the pot, put it back on your stove for a minute or two. Doing this makes the pressing part a bit easier, as you’ll have less water to squeeze out in the mould. Just be careful when heating to not burn the curds. With careful warming and experience, you could get to a level where the cheese is almost fully done in minutes. </p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p><strong>Step 5 – flavor the cheese</strong></p> <p>At this point, your cheese will have ZERO flavor, so now is the time to add some taste. One table-spoon of salt for ½ gallon of milk produces Tsfatit. Two table-spoons will produce the saltiness of Feta (Bulgarian cheese). Other interesting additives are ground Pesto, crushed Garlic, sun-dried tomatoes or shredded Salmon.</p> <p><strong>Step 6 – press the cheese</strong></p> <p>Assuming you have a mould, line it with a ¼ square yard of cloth (about 20”x20”), and pour the curds into it. Now “close” or fold the cloth over the curds (they would still be very soft and gelatinous). Place the mould’s follower (the flat plastic disc it came with) over and press down to compress the cheese and squeeze out more liquid. THIS is the important part…the more you squeeze, the denser the cheese (and less of it you’ll have). If you started with ½ gallon and using an 800 Gr mould like I suggested above, an ideal target would be about 1 ¼-1 ½ “ thick. If it’s thicker, it might be too soft and fall apart. Thinner might be tough to chew. Squeeze gently, and if you reach a point where the cheese resists and you see it extrude through the mold (instead of water coming out), don’t push more. Simply leave the mould in a bowl, with some weight (like a large can of tomatoes) on it, and it will slowly leak out more water and squeeze on its own. I recommend putting the whole thing in the fridge over-night, and by morning, you should have perfectly formed and shaped cheese. </p> <p> </p> <p> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="1"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="734"> <p><strong>Don’t have a mould?</strong></p> <p>If you elect not to use a mould, you can simply dump the curds into the cloth, and then tie it around the curds and squeeze it by hand. It’s a lot messier as your hands will be covered by the white whey-water. This also tends to get the cheese-cloth stick, so that when you open it, it will peel off some of the cheese. However, it’s a reasonable alternative if you need to save money. </p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </p> <p><strong>Step 7 – other types of cheese</strong></p> <p>Other types of cheese start out almost the same, but additional steps are taken onward. Yellow cheese typically require the curds to be pressed for an extended period in a humid and warm place (3 weeks for simple yellow cheeses and up to several years for advanced stuff like Swiss and Gouda). Mozzarella is another alternative where the cheese is kneaded like dough until it gets to the right consistency and texture. For Bree, parmesan, blue cheeses and other, special types bacteria is added, which gives the unique tastes of these cheeses over a number of weeks to years. </p> Erez Ben Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404738228099173557noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9089442912152291860.post-26154474716929889922015-02-09T14:53:00.001-08:002015-02-09T15:14:37.385-08:00AGT (America’s Got Talent) auditions…changes in Season 10<p>While attending the auditions to Season 10 today, I noticed a few changes to the process, so I figured I’d share them, and point out a few things a lot of people seem to miss. I’ve only been to the audition in Seattle (actually Tacoma), so these might not apply elsewhere.</p> <p>1. During the paperwork phase, pens were provided freely, so everyone could focus on writing their info.</p> <p>2. The exact questions on the form (in case you want to plan your answers) are:</p> <p>a. Stage name or group name</p> <p>b. Briefly describe your talent</p> <p>c. Age or age range of your group members</p> <p>d. Occupation</p> <p>e. City of birth and residence</p> <p>f. Title and artist of the song performing to at this audition</p> <p>g. How long have you been doing your act and how did you learn it?</p> <p>h. What is your dream?</p> <p>i. What obstacles have you overcome in pursuing your act?</p> <p>j. Talk about your biggest supporter?</p> <p>k. Why is this talent important to you?</p> <p>l. What other talents do you have?</p> <p>m. Have you ever auditioned for this or any other talent competition reality show?</p> <p>n. Please list any additional interesting information about you or your act that we should know.</p> <p>3. Here’s the actual form. Note that the lines are fairly small, so if you want to make the producer’s life easier (more about that in a second), copy the questions to your favorite word processor, type in your answers, print and bring with you to the audition:</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-4DS42IpOS38/VNk6XHk19LI/AAAAAAAAA-Q/lhbtk8_5buk/s1600-h/clip_image002%25255B5%25255D.jpg" target="_blank"><img title="clip_image002" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="clip_image002" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-XIOVhFVwNVI/VNk6XvSx5WI/AAAAAAAAA-U/QV3YSzdqcog/clip_image002_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="415" height="574" /></a></p> <p>4. The audition start time was 8am, as opposed to 9am in 2012. I showed up at 6:45 and was no. 52 in line.</p> <p>5. At least part of the time, The performers were not separated to singers and other, and the audition wasn’t 1:1 for everyone. I was part of a group of 6 that were brought in as a group, and stood in line against the wall, and called up by the producer one after the other to the center of the room to introduce ourselves and perform. I know some other folk who were seen 1:1, though. </p> <p>6. It was made clear to us that decisions will not be done today, but later, and if we passed, we would get called or emailed within 3 weeks. </p> <p>7. The 2012 process was a bit messy, but this time around things seemed very finely tuned. Putting aside the 75 minutes I came early, it went pretty smooth and I was done and out by 9:30. </p> <p>I forgot to mention this last time, but at the audition, the performance is limited to <b>90 seconds</b>, which isn’t a lot. This doesn’t include the introduction, and it’s not enforced too strictly (as in, the floor doesn’t drop at 91 seconds). However, I strongly advise rehearsing and timing your performance, and aim for 80 seconds to give yourself some buffer. If you end up slipping to 100 seconds, it won’t hurt, but you should risk out-staying your welcome and appear unprofessional. </p> <p>Another tip I can offer for AGT is that the supply is HUGE. They literally need to screen thousands and thousands of people and thin it down to a few hundreds for each city with the celebrity judges. You might be a great musician or singer, but being good alone doesn’t come close to cutting it. That’s what the form is about…finding people with some sort of distinction. The production likes sad stories and stories of overcoming great difficulties in life (related to the performance or not). There’s also preference for other stand-out talent (weird looking, strange behavior etc). The producers need to give the celebrities the best, but also the worst…people they could make fun-of on national TV. You can’t just be a little out of tune to be among that group…we’re talking crazy hair-dos, weird hats, crazy behavior or voices, mentally-ill behavior patterns etc. Another thing they like is people who will evoke emotions with the viewers, so being cool, well-mannered and polite is not it. If you cry easily, look very nervous or afraid, frantic or super-excited, that’s a bit Boone for your chances. Another thing to keep in mind is that even those who do get to perform in front of the celebrity judges may not end up onscreen. A typical audition day for the judges is 10-12 hours, during which they see around 100 people, but only a fraction of those end up on the broadcast (typically about 15-20). Those who are shown are usually those who are known to have moved-on to the Vegas/NY day step, plus a few others and a handful of terrible/crazy/stupid acts. </p> <p>Regarding the form and readability – the producers will use what you write to help them pick out the outstanding performers, so writing effectively and clearly is key. If you got a sloppy hand-writing, slow-down and write CLEARLY. You can also pre-print the info as I suggested above. If you write sloppily, the producers will most likely just move on to the next guy, so you’re basically screwing up your chances completely. This is THE place to write clearly.</p> <p>For comedians, especially, I can offer the following advice:</p> <p>· You’re performing in front of a single person, who may or may not be interactive. This is VERY detrimental for comedy, so prepare with a friend (to sit 10 feet away and look down at the desk). This could help you keep your balance and not lose yourself.</p> <p>· The room doesn’t have a Mic, which is very unusual for us used to holding the Mic or using it as a prop. Practice without a Mic for this one.</p> <p>· The pressure could make the best performers forget their setup, even if it’s only 90 seconds. Prepare a cheat-sheet. Some like to use the back of the hand, but whatever you prefer, as long as you have SOMETHING to back up your human memory.</p> <p>· Making comedy work in 90 seconds is VERY tough. Many comedians only do 1 or 2 jokes in that timeframe, but keep in mind the producers don’t have the time or willpower to get invested in a story. Keep your jokes short and plentiful. Figure out a way to make them 15-20 seconds, if you can, so you can cram 6-7 jokes instead of 2. </p> <p>· In addition to funny jokes, try to create some memorable character for yourself…something to stand out as a “personality” rather than another set of jokes.</p> <p>· Keep in mind that you’re auditioning for a family-friendly show, so make sure your material is clean enough for national TV. That usually means less funny, but these are the rules of TV.</p> <p>Good luck!</p> Erez Ben Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404738228099173557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9089442912152291860.post-28324445782571645012015-01-30T10:15:00.001-08:002015-01-30T10:15:07.297-08:00Visualizing one’s DNA<p>23andme has been around for years, and offer relatively cheap service of DNA analysis. Their tech allows anyone to see health issues related to their specific DNA composition, as well as familial connections and history. As a customer of 23andme, I enjoyed the info they provided, but I was also looking for a way to visualize my own unique DNA…similar to how you’d see it on crime shows like CSI. </p> <p>Unfortunately, 23andme doesn’t offer any info or service on doing this, so I had to investigate myself. Thankfully, they DO allow you to download your “raw” DNA, which is a 20+ MB text file with tons of rows like this: <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="bottom" width="93"> <p><b>RSID</b></p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="88"> <p><b>chromosome</b></p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="71"> <p><b>position</b></p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="67"> <p><b>genotype</b></p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="bottom" width="93"> <p>4477212</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="88"> <p>1</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="71"> <p>82154</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="67"> <p>AA</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="bottom" width="93"> <p>3094315</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="88"> <p>1</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="71"> <p>752566</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="67"> <p>AA</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="bottom" width="93"> <p>3131972</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="88"> <p>1</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="71"> <p>752721</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="67"> <p>GG</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="bottom" width="93"> <p>12124819</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="88"> <p>1</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="71"> <p>776546</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="67"> <p>AA</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="bottom" width="93"> <p>11240777</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="88"> <p>1</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="71"> <p>798959</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="67"> <p>AG</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="bottom" width="93"> <p>6681049</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="88"> <p>1</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="71"> <p>800007</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="67"> <p>CC</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="bottom" width="93"> <p>4970383</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="88"> <p>1</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="71"> <p>838555</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="67"> <p>AC</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="bottom" width="93"> <p>4475691</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="88"> <p>1</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="71"> <p>846808</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="67"> <p>CT</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="bottom" width="93"> <p>7537756</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="88"> <p>1</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="71"> <p>854250</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="67"> <p>AG</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="bottom" width="93"> <p>13302982</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="88"> <p>1</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="71"> <p>861808</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="67"> <p>GG</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="bottom" width="93"> <p>1110052</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="88"> <p>1</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="71"> <p>873558</p> </td> <td valign="bottom" width="67"> <p>GT</p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </p> <p>The table is actually something along the line of almost a million rows, so turning all this to something visible isn’t that simple. The first question is WHAT is it that we want to visualize. Well, DNA is composed of 4 nucleotides – A, C, G and T, but it’s far more complex than even those million lines. In fact, a full DNA sequence is typically several BILLION items long (if you stretched it out, it would be 2-3 meters long, yet only 2.5 Nanometers wide (if you scaled it up to the thickness of a human hair, which is the smallest thing we can see without a magnifier, it would be about 100 kilometer long!)</p> <p>Research has found that only a small fraction of the DNA is actually used in our “construction”, and the rest is just filler. When DNA is scientifically analyzed, all that filler is disregarded, and scientists have created a database of DNA pieces that “matter”. In this database, each such piece is numbered, and is known as a “Single Nucleotide Polymorphism” or SNP for short (it’s pronounced “snip”). </p> <p>When a person’s DNA is analyzed, like 23andme does, instead of just listing out your entire DNA, they match your nucleotides to those listed in the database, and the result is a long list of those. If we look again at the table above (my 1<sup>st</sup> chromosome), we can see that nucleotides from position 1 through 82153 were disregarded, but the nucleotide in position 82154 is significant, and having AA there was recorded as SNP number 4477212 in the database (anyone can look it up here: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/SNP/">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/SNP/</a>) . After that, we jump ahead over 600,000 nucleotides to reach another one. </p> <p>23andme doesn’t actually give you the ENTIRE DNA, so even if I wanted to visualize the whole thing, I wouldn’t be able to. Even the reduces set is a bit much, as it’s almost a million records, each with a SNP ID between 0 and about 80 million. What I elected to do is represent each SNP ID with a color in the range of 16,777,216 shades a computer can display. In case you weren’t aware, a computer displays color as a combination of Red, Green and Blue, with each color ranging on a palette from 0 to 255. The range of colors goes from 0 Red, 0 Green and 0 Blue to 255 Red, 255 green and 255 Blue. Technically speaking, this type of visualization is for entertainment purposes only, and has NO scientific accuracy or value. You would never be able to convert the graphics back into a real DNA sample. </p> <p>To actually produce this, I’ve created a simple program, which processes one’s DNA file and creates one of 4 styles of visualization. You could choose to use any or all, and do whatever you like with them – use as Wallpaper, print on a shirt, mousepad or poster, or anything else. Here are two of the visualizations:</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-Er4ZsTYeAo8/VMvKHKkieeI/AAAAAAAAA8o/1_3fYGOBVZ4/s1600-h/Vis4s%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Vis4s" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline" border="0" alt="Vis4s" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-TJiK2-Umc5E/VMvKHQu7tVI/AAAAAAAAA8s/lgCkmXsb15I/Vis4s_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="276" height="148" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-GW4KL8vJrBY/VMvKHyOj0KI/AAAAAAAAA80/iHIFNG914AI/s1600-h/Vis3s%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Vis3s" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline" border="0" alt="Vis3s" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-6esbDAvbdM4/VMvKIRDQkFI/AAAAAAAAA88/gOC2enzmhzY/Vis3s_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="276" height="160" /></a></p> <p>Depending on demand and feedback, I might come up with additional variations of the visualizations. Here are the instructions:</p> <p>1. To get the application, <a href="http://www.erezbenari.com/DNAVisualizer.exe">click here</a>. It’s 135KB, and there’s no installer…just drop it somewhere on your hard drive.</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-GpgkKI4SAVY/VMvKIsL2W6I/AAAAAAAAA9E/d5AHYj_GtaQ/s1600-h/image%25255B3%25255D.png"><img title="image" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-JXnBgZcBPZg/VMvKI1odNMI/AAAAAAAAA9M/YB1hLr-Z6kM/image_thumb%25255B1%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="316" height="268" /></a> </p> <p>2. To get your RAW DNA, go to <a href="https://www.23andme.com">23andme’s</a> website, and login.</p> <p>3. Click on your name on the top-right, and choose <b>Browse Raw Data <br /></b></p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-eX8ZKMLrvt8/VMvKJgxu2EI/AAAAAAAAA9U/82FKAwgM9xA/s1600-h/image%25255B6%25255D.png"><img title="image" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-liBCeq9k7VM/VMvKJ8OYP2I/AAAAAAAAA9c/QU1-yMWdaHg/image_thumb%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="244" height="187" /></a> <b></b></p> <p>4. On the top-right, click <b>Download</b>. You will be asked to sign-in again.</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-lIuov-vazX4/VMvKKS0RzzI/AAAAAAAAA9o/YPnHPIReDhk/s1600-h/image%25255B9%25255D.png"><img title="image" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-S81IdupTiWk/VMvKKi4rD3I/AAAAAAAAA9s/TLMLWlxStic/image_thumb%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="244" height="130" /></a> </p> <p>5. Download the file as ZIP, and expand it.</p> <p>6. Launch my application, and browse to the text file you extracted from your ZIP</p> <p>7. Click <b>Pre-process</b>, and wait for it to complete (should be about 5 seconds)</p> <p>8. Click on the samples to see the visualizations, and then on one of the corresponding buttons</p> <p>9. Take a screenshot, and paste it into your favorite graphic application (I highly recommend Pain.net)</p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p> </p> <p>***I should note that since DNA files don’t really come-around easily, I was only able to test this with my own DNA. I can’t promise the app won’t choke, crash or fail to process your own file. If it does, though, I would appreciate it if you contact me through the form on the right and let me know, so I can fix up whatever error there is. </p> Erez Ben Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404738228099173557noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9089442912152291860.post-76647465704303245432014-12-29T10:43:00.001-08:002014-12-29T10:50:17.359-08:00Y-Not?<p align="right">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.</p> <p align="right"><strong>***אני מתנצל על הבעיות בכיוון המילים עקב בעיות תאימות של אתר הבלוג***</strong></p> <p align="right">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.</p> <p align="right">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: </p> <p align="right"> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="1"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="719"> <p>כאשר גולשים באתר, אזורים רבים בדף הם הפניות לקריאת תוכן פרסומי מאתרים חיצוניים, כגון האתר</p> <p> doubleclick.net, </p> <p>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:</p> <p> 127.0.0.1,</p> <p>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. </p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </p> <p align="right">כדי להשתמש בפתרון, פעל על פי הצעדים הבאים. כל שלב מלווה בפירוט הצעדים</p> <p align="right">א.  הפעל את עורך הטקסט במצב ניהולי</p> <blockquote> <p align="right">לחץ על התחל</p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p align="right">הקלד את הפקודה notepad</p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p align="right">לחץ על התוצאה עם הכפתור הימני של העכבר, ובחר Run as administrator</p> </blockquote> <p align="right"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-iekJmGpzq-E/VKGg2RN5ADI/AAAAAAAAA6c/apNxwaYrEkc/s1600-h/clip_image002%25255B3%25255D.png"><img title="clip_image002" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="clip_image002" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-78XFRj4DdIM/VKGg2uqj8kI/AAAAAAAAA6g/GtdsmyDgmjk/clip_image002_thumb.png?imgmax=800" width="200" height="244" /></a></p> <p align="right">ב.  פתח את קובץ הוסטס</p> <blockquote> <p align="right">לחץ על File ובחר Open</p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p align="right">נווט אל התיקייה c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc</p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p align="right">החלון ייראה כאילו אין בה שום קבצים, אך אם תתחיל להקליד את המילה hosts, המחשב ישלים אותה עבורך</p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p align="right">לחץ על Open</p> </blockquote> <p align="right">ג.  הוסף לקובץ את הרשימה של הדומיינים</p> <blockquote> <p align="right">גש לתחתית הקובץ</p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p align="right">העתק את הרשימה שמופיעה למטה, והדבק אותה לתוך הקובץ. התוצאה אמורה להיראות ככה:</p> </blockquote> <p align="right"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-pKvZUwQvc7s/VKGg298fJAI/AAAAAAAAA6o/_ytVnLf9srU/s1600-h/clip_image004%25255B3%25255D.png"><img title="clip_image004" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="clip_image004" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-vvQkwBWf04s/VKGg3aRQt7I/AAAAAAAAA60/neYFWXLGGOY/clip_image004_thumb.png?imgmax=800" width="244" height="237" /></a></p> <p align="right">ד.  שמור את הקובץ:</p> <blockquote> <p align="right">לחץ על תפריט File</p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p align="right">בחר Save</p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p align="right">אשר את שכתוב הקובץ.</p> </blockquote> <p align="right">ה.  אם הדפדפן שלך היה פעיל קודם, סגור אותו והפעל אותו מחדש כדי שהשינויים יכנסו לתוקף.</p> <p align="right">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.</p> <p align="right">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.</p> <p align="right">רשימת הדומיינים: </p> <p> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="1"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="719"> <p>127.0.0.1 5d457.v.fwmrm.net</p> <p>127.0.0.1 a.rfihub.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 a.visualrevenue.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net</p> <p>127.0.0.1 ad.turn.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 ad4.liverail.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 adadvisor.net</p> <p>127.0.0.1 adaptv.pixel.invitemedia.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 ads.creative-serving.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 ads.yahoo.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 adsrv-fe41.advsnx.net</p> <p>127.0.0.1 ajax.googleapis.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 aka.spotxcdn.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 b.scorecardresearch.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 bcp.crwdcntrl.net</p> <p>127.0.0.1 besttv101.cdn.l3.it.best-tv.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 bid.g.doubleclick.net</p> <p>127.0.0.1 bs.serving-sys.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 c.betrad.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 c.fqtag.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 cache.btrll.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 cdn.adap.tv</p> <p>127.0.0.1 cdn.clicktale.net</p> <p>127.0.0.1 cdn.dynamicyield.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 cdn.teads.tv</p> <p>127.0.0.1 cdn-static.liverail.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 choices.truste.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 clients.azadv.co.il</p> <p>127.0.0.1 cm.adgrx.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 cm.g.doubleclick.net</p> <p>127.0.0.1 conversions.adap.tv</p> <p>127.0.0.1 csi.gstatic.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 d.chango.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 d5p.de17a.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 de17a.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 ds.serving-sys.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 dt.adsafeprotected.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 dtm.advertising.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 exposebox.blob.core.windows.net</p> <p>127.0.0.1 fw.adsafeprotected.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 g.live.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 go.calcalist.co.il</p> <p>127.0.0.1 go.xnet.co.il</p> <p>127.0.0.1 go.ynet.co.il</p> <p>127.0.0.1 googleads.g.doubleclick.net</p> <p>127.0.0.1 graph.facebook.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 hiro-media-eu.s3.amazonaws.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 ib.adnxs.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 idpix.media6degrees.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 images.outbrain.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 js.dmtry.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 js.logentries.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 l.betrad.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 l2.visiblemeasures.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 linicom.co.il</p> <p>127.0.0.1 live.liveadserver.net</p> <p>127.0.0.1 live.sekindo.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 log.adap.tv</p> <p>127.0.0.1 log.adaptv.advertising.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 log.dmtry.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 log.outbrain.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 match.adsrvr.org</p> <p>127.0.0.1 media.olsale.co.il</p> <p>127.0.0.1 mediadownload.ynet.co.il</p> <p>127.0.0.1 n.us1.dyntrk.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 odb.outbrain.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 p.brilig.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 p.visualrevenue.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 pagead2.googlesyndication.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 partner.googleadservices.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 ping.chartbeat.net</p> <p>127.0.0.1 pix.btrll.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 pix04.revsci.net</p> <p>127.0.0.1 pixel.adsafeprotected.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 pixel.quantserve.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 prod-15-ireland.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 pubads.g.doubleclick.net</p> <p>127.0.0.1 px.dynamicyield.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 qlog.adap.tv</p> <p>127.0.0.1 redir.adap.tv</p> <p>127.0.0.1 s.tool-site.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 s0.2mdn.net</p> <p>127.0.0.1 s1.2mdn.net</p> <p>127.0.0.1 s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 search.spotxchange.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 secure-us.imrworldwide.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 seg.a3cloud.net</p> <p>127.0.0.1 segments.adap.tv</p> <p>127.0.0.1 server.exposebox.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 sf.exposebox.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 st.dynamicyield.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 static.adsafeprotected.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 static.chartbeat.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 stats.g.doubleclick.net</p> <p>127.0.0.1 stats3.adotube.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 sync.adap.tv</p> <p>127.0.0.1 sync.mathtag.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 sync.tidaltv.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 t.teads.tv</p> <p>127.0.0.1 t1.visualrevenue.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 t4.liverail.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 ta.cc.ta-extra.arti-mediagroup.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 tags.bluekai.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 totalmedia.ynet.co.il</p> <p>127.0.0.1 tpc.googlesyndication.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 track.eyeviewads.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 u-ads.adap.tv</p> <p>127.0.0.1 usersync.yashi.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 us-u.openx.net</p> <p>127.0.0.1 vast.bp3861239.btrll.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 video.sekindo.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 videosfr.s3.amazonaws.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 vox-static.liverail.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 widgets.outbrain.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 www.olsale.co.il</p> <p>127.0.0.1 www.telerik.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 www.winwin.co.il</p> <p>127.0.0.1 www.wtp101.com</p> <p>127.0.0.1 x.bidswitch.net</p> <p>127.0.0.1 ynet.hiro.co.il</p> <p>127.0.0.1 ynethd-f.akamaihd.net</p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </p> <p>For English-only visitors: This post outlines a procedure to edit one’s Hosts file to address a popular Hebrew website called Ynet (<a href="http://www.ynet.co.il">www.ynet.co.il</a>), 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. </p> Erez Ben Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404738228099173557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9089442912152291860.post-47410333448411547392014-09-29T13:12:00.004-07:002014-09-30T13:20:07.520-07:00Auditioning for Last Comic Standing<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On Sep 28<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> I auditioned as part of the closed
auditions for the 9<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> 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. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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 </span><a href="http://erezbenari.com/?page_id=595"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">local producer</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> 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. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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 </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/manny.martin1"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">Manny Martin</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, 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.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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. <a href="http://thecomicscomic.com/2014/09/23/advice-from-the-last-comic-standing-judges-as-you-audition-online-or-in-person-at-showcases-nationwide-this-fall-for-last-comic-standing-9/">Another blog post</a> 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.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Tips for future contestants:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">6.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">7.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">8.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">9.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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 1<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">st</span></sup> 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!).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">10.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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. </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Good luck to all of you!</span></div>
Erez Ben Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404738228099173557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9089442912152291860.post-59641880653565130722014-07-30T19:41:00.001-07:002014-08-06T18:18:36.585-07:00Is Israel killing Arabs in Gaza senselessly, and other FAQ about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Is it true that Israel started all of this?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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 1<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">st</span></sup> 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 1<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">st</span></sup> Israeli war was initiated by several Arab
countries attacking Israel shortly after it was founded. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Is Israel trying to annihilate the Palestinians?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What then, is the purpose of the Israeli actions in Gaza?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The purpose is two-fold: One is to find and destroy the many
tunnels that go from Gaza </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/world/middleeast/tunnels-lead-right-to-heart-of-israeli-fear.html?_r=0"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">directly
into Israeli cities</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> and used by Hamas operatives to infiltrate and attack civilian
population centers. The 2<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">nd</span></sup> is to reduce the Hamas’ ability to
launch additional rockets into Israel. The 1<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">st</span></sup> 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 2<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">nd</span></sup> part is
done by gathering intelligence of ammo depots and launch sites and bombing
these depots and sites from the air.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Why doesn’t Israel, instead of bombing Gaza, try to block
the tunnels from the Israeli side?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Why don’t the Israeli simply kill all Palestinians?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Why are there so many casualties in Gaza?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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
<b>intentionally</b> using population centers to host and hide their activity,
because they </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/24/world/middleeast/israel-says-hamas-is-using-civilians-as-shields-in-gaza.html?_r=0"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">benefit
politically from the carnage</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Why are there many more casualties in Gaza than in
Israel?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Does Israel want peace?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Do Palestinians want peace?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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 <b>Barak</b> extended an extremely generous offer to then-leader
<b>Yasser Arafat</b>, 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 </span><a href="http://www.palestine-studies.org/files/pdf/jps/1734.pdf"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">core of their
charter</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> 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.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Why is the Palestinian leadership not interested in
peace?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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, <b>Khaled Mashal</b>,
Hamas leader, owns </span><a href="http://www.jpost.com/Business/Business-Features/The-corruption-at-the-head-of-Hamas-363550"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">multiple
properties in Gaza and Qatar</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, and other leaders have comparable fortunes.
In fact, after Yasser Arafat’s death, it was discovered that Arab leader had
over a <b>billion</b> dollars </span><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/arafats-billions/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">stashed away</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> – 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.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Hamas fires missiles to Israel, Israel fires missiles to
Gaza. What’s the difference?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Isn’t what Israel does similar to what the Nazi’s did to
the Jews in world war two and the holocaust?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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 </span><a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/07/13/331122214/palestinians-flee-gaza-after-israel-drops-warning-leaflets"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">informing
civilians of precise future attack targets</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, but this isn’t always possible.
The Nazi’s, on the other hand, personally executed millions of Jews (</span><a href="http://www.pbs.org/auschwitz/40-45/killing/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">up to 3000 people PER HOUR
in a single camp!</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">) without warning. The Nazi’s actions were specifically
and efficiently targeted at wiping out the Jewish people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Why so many Palestinians get killed if it’s not the
purpose?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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 2<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">nd</span></sup> 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 </span><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/07/31/why-hamas-stores-its-weapons-inside-hospitals-mosques-and-schools/?tid=hp_mm"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">hospitals</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
and </span><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/17/1314652/-UN-finds-20-missiles-in-Gaza-IN-A-SCHOOL"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">schools</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Israel has such advanced Army, so why not be more
precise?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">If Hamas's weaponry is so substandard as to cause minimal
damage, then the carnage caused reciprocally seems unnecessary, right?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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 </span><a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/07/13/331122214/palestinians-flee-gaza-after-israel-drops-warning-leaflets"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">drop
warning leaflets</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> and send out text messages to the population, to give them
a fair chance to clear out. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">If residents of Gaza know about upcoming bombing, why do
they stay and get killed?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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 </span><a href="http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/07/10/hamas-is-using-civilians-as-human-shields-but-its-latest-directive-is-the-most-shocking/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">instruct
the population</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> to ignore the warnings. In fact, there were several
documented cases where residents, including women and children who </span><a href="http://universalfreepress.com/watch-one-video-shows-how-hamas-is-getting-its-own-civilians-killed/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">were
violently forced</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> into targeted locations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Isn’t there a way for Israel to stop Hamas missiles other
than bombings?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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 </span><a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/as-israel-hunts-for-terror-tunnels-after-soldiers-killed-abbas-to-meet-hamas-chief-for-ceasefire-talks/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">high
number of casualties in the IDF</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> 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 </span><a href="http://cnsnews.com/mrctv-blog/curtis-kalin/hillary-clinton-hamas-uses-human-shields-because-gaza-pretty-small"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">human-shield
policy</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> used by Hamas would inevitably lead to many casualties in any type
of military operation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Do the deaths of three individuals (the Israeli teenagers
murdered in June) justify killing over a thousand?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Of course not! However, this is not the right way to see it.
The military action in Gaza and the resulting deaths are <b>NOT</b> “punishment”<b>
</b>for the murdered kids. In fact, Israel didn’t retaliate for that at all. A </span><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/07/09/israel-palestine-murders-reaction-column/12363495/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">group
of Israeli individuals</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> 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. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So, do the rockets launched from Gaza justify the deaths
of Palestinians?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">“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. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Why isn’t Israel simply giving the Palestinians what they
want?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Why is Israel occupying the Palestinian lands?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Why do Palestinians have to be humiliated and mistreated
just because they want to travel to work inside Israel?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><u>Why are there Israeli settlers in Palestinian
territories?<br />
</u>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. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Why are so many newspapers saying that Israel is bad,
then?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Why is the UN always blaming Israel?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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, </span><a href="http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/43/54&Lang=E&Area=RESOLUTION"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">resolution
43/54</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> 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. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">If Israel is not in the wrong, why then all of Europe is
condemning Israel all the time?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Is there a solution to this never-ending conflict?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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, </span><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/israeli-suspects-arrested-in-killing-of-mohammed-abu-khdeir-1.2697920"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">a
murder of Mohammed Abu Khudair</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> 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.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
Erez Ben Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17404738228099173557noreply@blogger.com0