Google SketchUp

As a kid I used to spend hours sketching space ships... now there is a better way to spend those hours, it is called Google sketch up. SketchUp is a free 3D modeling program that does wonders. Above is a small SketchedUp space craft that I did in the spirit of my childhood drawings. A few fun features:

1. Google has a '3D warehouse' where people can post their designs and you can find many objects.
2. The final rendering style can be chosen.
3. It is quite easy to use, the SketchUp site has many youtube tutorials which are helpful.

Enjoy,

Good night

Amir

Miluim

So,

I returned from a week of reserves duty training last week. Naturally, my objective in this training was to minimize my efforts while maintaining good relations with my environment. I think I did a good job on that front (be the first one to do the training equals a 24 hours break, etc.,)...

On the way home I gave three guys a ride, One of them fell asleep, the other two discussed politics with me. First of all it occured to me that no one talked politics at the training. Maybe this is a supression mechanism that helped us work together dispite our deep differrences. Getting back to the discussion, I was pleasently surprised to find out that there was no argument about facts (like the fact that Israel is a flawed democracy, that the last war in Gaza was pre-planned in order to regain Israels deterant image on the backs of the Palestineans, that we are probably not blood relatives of the biblical jews, etc.,). This does not mean that we agreed on everything, I represented the left side of the political map, the firsat guy represented the right side, and surprisingly, the second guy which is a religious settler was in the middle. The positive side was that these guys are aware of what is going on. The sad part was that guy number one believed that it was all justified.

How to chop a fine salad...

While chopping a salad today I started thinking, how small should the vegitable bits be? In order to answer the question, consider the relevant length scales:

1. Size of mouth - the bits have to be small enough to fit in our mouth and be chewed easily. This means that the bits should not exceed 30 cubic centimetres.
2. Areas of specific taste reception buds- a common incorrect belief (according to Wikipedia - but they do have a reference) is that different areas of the tongue are responsible for different tastes. Therefore this length scale is irrelevant.
3. Size of a single taste bud - this is about one millimetre squared (according to Wikipedia - no reference), so there is no use in cutting your salad bits smaller than that.

There is however a fourth length scale set by the minimum size in which two adjecent vegitables could be distinguished by the mind. Cut your salad to smaller bits than the fourth length scale, and the salad taste will be uniform across the tongue. Cut it larger - different vegitables could be distinguished. This is similar to color recognition by the eye. Draw small enough dots of blue and red mixed together - the result will appear as purple. The dot size needed for the mind to distinguish red and blue is larger than the dot size needed for an individual eye receptor to detect the different colors .

Bottom line: don't eat with your eyes.

;-)

Jerusalm, the Arab capital of culture...

The Arab Capital of Culture is an initiative undertaken by UNESCO, under the Cultural Capitals Program to promote and celebrate Arab culture and encourage cooperation in the Arab region. Each year a different city is chosen as the 'Arab capital of culture'. This year Jerusalem was chosen. What a wonderful opertunity to advance the dialogue between Arabs and Jews, boost the tourism and invite artists from around the world to Jerusalem. Instead... Israeli authorities broke up a series of Palestinian cultural events in Jerusalem on Saturday, disrupting a children's march and bursting balloons at a schoolyard celebration. Israel said the events violated a ban on Palestinian political activity in Jerusalem. Although I am not comfortable with everything that is written in the official site, I think it is a big mistake to ban such activities. Are we so afraid that we send the military to burst childrens balloons? Even if they are in the forbidden colour combination of red white green and black? This is completely redicolous, and only serves to emphasize the problematic fact that Israel is first and formost a Jewish state while democracy is at best at second place.

Happy elections day

In order to celabrate the democratic proccess you can make your own paper dolls of the political figures (Israel, USA). Today feels like filling a lottery ticket, I know the party I voted for will not win, but I can dream about it for a few hours.

;-)

So...

Happy election day to you all

Good news

Hello everyone. As you probably know by now, Avigail is pregnant. The good news is that it is going to be a girl.

This got me thinking on the question, what would have happened if it was a boy? More specifically... circumcision. What reasons are there to perform a circumcision? Although I am of a Jewish heritage, I am a complete atheist. As an atheist Jew I choose which holidays and Jewish costums to celebrate. I think that heritage alone is not a sufficient reason to do... well... you know what. Medically speaking, all big medical organizations agree that there is no medical advantage to circumcision. Some medical benefits do exist, but they are countered by the possibility of an infection and other problems due to the act of circumcision itself. Some atheist friends I talked, to told me that they circumsized their kid mainly to avoid social problems for the kid as he grows up. Is that a sufficient reason? What if the kid is fat, or slow, or a wiseass? Let's admit it, my boy runs a high risk of growing up to be a bit of a geek, he will have his share of social problems anyhow. What about the girls? Will they agree to go out with him (assuming he is into girls)? Is a girl that disqualifies a boy on basis of his being circumsized or not worth the hassle? Maybe by the time he grows up we will live in Europe where less than 20% of males are circumsized?

Well... as I said, the good news is that it is a girl, so I can forget about this bug mess for now...

bye

Amir

Eurabia

At a family dinner a few days ago it was mentioned the Europe is overtaken by Arabs, and that soon it should be called Eurabia. This is a frightning vision, mainly due to the fundamentalist Muslim groups and lack of women rights in the average Arab family. So is ther any hope? Maybe there is...

I started thinking, why did the Arab families go to Europe in the first place? Is it a secret plot to take over the world (like the Protocols of the elders of Zion)? Or maybe they are looking for a better life? But wait a minute... that would suggest that they think life is better in Europe with all of it's democracy this and human rights that. Therefore, the best way to neutralize the extremists in the Arab population is simply to sit tight, and let the Arabs assimilate in the European society. This is a lengthy process (as we know too well, with Ethiopeans, Russians etc., in Israel), but this is the best solution I could think of (at this time of night).

This brings me to the next point. Many 'born again' religious people 'find god' while looking for something that is 'missing' in their lives. Religious preachers prey on these people and show them how shallow the western society is, with sex and violence on TV, interrupted occasionally by advertisements that aim for the lowest common denominator. While we know that western society has a lot more to offer in terms of culture, art, music, philosophy, scientific research etc., these 'higher' cultural aspects fail to sink in to the general population. Good education can also be a powerful tool in stopping ignorance and religious fundamentalism.

Well... now it really is late, I hardly make sense of what i'm writing... so i'll leave you at that...

good night.

J.