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.

Only in America...

Good Morning,
I have two subjects to discuss today.

First, Mariah Carey has a new album named E=MC² where E stands for emancipation and MC stands for… Mariah Carey. I find this insult to science quite disturbing (although it shows that Einstein’s equation is quite popular). I guess this is the scientific community parallel to what religious people feel when their religion is insulted. Therefore, I call for a boycott of Mariah’s ‘music’. I guess the readers of this blog are horrified by her as it is (if not, please let me know, do not be ashamed), but still. I am not calling for the millions of readers of this blog to go out and incinerate the 'Tower records' stores, just for a passive protest.

Second, I watched Conan O’Brien yesterday that is a must see. Sheriff Joe Arpaio is taking part in a new Fox show called ‘smile you’re under arrest’. Criminals are lured to a big prank at the end of which they get arrested. This is all filmed and that is the show. Conan does not hide his concern from such a show, but as it turns out the honorable sheriff turns out to be even more disturbing, making the inmates at prison wear pink underwear and more…

7 things about me

Hi there everybody.
With all the craziness around, I decided to write something small and personal. Following Yossi Kolesnicov's blog, here are 7 things you don't know about me:

1. Morning ritual: Black coffee and a toast with peanut butter and honney. Get on the train to work, read the stupid free paper they hand out at the station and listen to Shai and Dror.
2. I did not watch a single episode of 'big brother', did not watch the film 'Titanic' and I don't have a facebook user.
3. We (me and Avigail) are currently hooked to 'the Sopranos', a show we did not appreciate enough at the time of broadcast.
4. As a teenager I thought I would go to university and try to disprove the quantum mechanics theory. As it turns out, I did not know a lot about it at the time.
5. The first physics problem that I posed to myself and solved was understanding why a guitar string makes a different sound depending on where along the string you pick it.
6. The band I am playing with (Kobayashi Porcelain) is currently working on a big comeback (although I am not sure where we are coming back from, and where to).
7. I usually don't remember my dreams when I wake up.

So this is my humble return to blogging... until next time.

Reinventing the Sacred (False alarm)

I was alerted today to the existance of a relatively new book by Stuart Kauffman (a renowned researcher of complexity theory), called 'Reinventing the Sacred'. From the rumors about the book, it sounded as if the following claims are suggested there:

1. Complexity does not allow reduction of all phenomena to elementary particle physics.
   
2. Therefore we need a God to explain the highly complex systems all around us (including us).

I got all worked up and made a list of counter arguments, but before I published these thoughts, I went to www.amazon.com where a few pages of the book can be viewed for free. As it turns out, Kauffman does not believe in a creator God, and merely wants to use the word God to describe the 'creativity' of the world, that we should appreciate religiously. Bottom line, this is a publicity stunt that will probably be misunderstood by many as proof that important scientists believe in God. Too bad...

Yom Kippur 2008

So, what did you do on Yom Kippur? We went to a nice secluded beach with our friends, had a good meal, slept there in tents and drove back after Yom Kippur ended. All in all a good time. What did other people do? You can read about the riots in Acre on the news. Apparently an Arab drove his car into a non Arab region of Acre. That was enough for a bunch of trigger happy Jews to start rioting. The Muslim response was quick to follow. This demonstrates that the same dangerous seeds of violence exist in all religions. I strongly suggest checking out Richard Dawkins's book 'The God Delusion'. Some of his lectures can also be found on www.ted.com and www.youtube.com . Well, on that happy note I'll sign out. Have a good Sukot vacation and beware not to be cought without Lulav Hadas Etrog and Arava (I hope I got that right) in your Suka

;-)

Helium leak

The lab I work at has experienced liquid helium leaks for a while (a long long while...). As it turns out, a huge leak occured at the LHC. We are not alone!!!

137

The number 1/137 is an important constant in quantum mechanics, known as the fine structure constant (actually it is not exactly 1/137). Advocates of the Kabbalah note that 137 equals the word 'Kabbalah' in hebrew gimatria (gimatria is a method of assigning numbers to words). This amazing coincidence is then used as an example of the higher power (god) in action. Recently I found a nice internet site which gives gimatric synonims (words that have the same gimatric value). I found a few nice phrases that equal 137:

• 137='Homosexuals are good' : Perhaps this is a sign that all religious jews should reconsider their sexual tendencies?
• 137='Miluim' (Miluim means army reserve duty): Maybe this is a sign for the religious people (many of which are exempt) to recruit?
• 137='Bin Laden' : Well...

Feel free to use the gimatria site and find more 'amazing coincidences', it's fun.

bye 4 now

Amir (Amir = 251 = not interesting = Guliver)

The end of the world

Today at 9:00am Geneva time the new LHC particle accelerator satrted the new high energy experiments. Some concern was raised in the media regarding a possible catastrophe due to formation of a large black hole. Most scientists believe that there is no danger. However, in order to check that the large hadron collider didnt destroy the world yet , you can stay informed by visiting the site:

http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/

Have a good day, and stay away from black holes.

The apartment chapter 1.5

So, today I went to the bureau of land registration to register the new apartment under our name. Last time I went there was an astounding success, I had all the proper documents and only waited sixty minutes in line. With this notch in my belt I entered the building, self confident and determined to get the job done. In the elevator I decided to check that I have all the documents… suddenly I discovered that my ID is not in my wallet. A few days ago when we were at the attorney’s place, he copied our IDs and returned them to Avigail. Never mind, I have my driver’s license and other cards, there is still a chance. I entered the office and looked for something or someone to guide me. I went to the desk clerk and asked her where to go in order to change apartment ownership. Surprisingly she said: “I do that, I need these papers and that papers…”. She didn’t even ask for my ID. So I start producing this paper and that paper… then she says: ”I need the official mortgage bills”. Suddenly I recall a vague memory, we are at the mortgage bank and the mortgage clerk says to us “congratulations, the mortgage was approved; the money will be transferred… Blah Blah Blah… the official mortgage bills will be ready in Blah Blah days, we will call you Blah Blah….”. Bottom line, I don’t have these papers. So I start asking the clerk if she would accept a fax from the bank, thus becoming the annoying person the irritates me when he stands in line before me, obviously doesn’t have the correct papers, and still tries to get away with it. The clerk refused, and I had to admit another bureaucratic defeat. But fear not, next time I will be armed to the teeth with ID’s mortgage bills, the works… Wish me luck.

Noise

Yesterday we saw a good film called Noise. It is about a guy (played by Tim Robbins) that lives in Manhattan, gets fed up with the noise (specifically with car alarms going off) and actually does something about it. Think about it, car alarms are completely useless. We all disregard them, and some researches show explicitly that they do not prevent car thefts at all. A Google search for 'ban useless car alarms' gave 124,000 results! The film also raises some questions as to how far do we have to go in order to really make a change. The advantage of Noise compared to the film Falling Down (Michael Douglas) is that the hero in Noise begins his journey as a rather normal person whereas in Falling Down, the hero is not normal to begin with. So, if you have some spare time on your hands, watch Noise, or go fix the world.

;-)

Scam artists

Oren Zarif (at picture) recently appeared at Yaron London and Moti Kirshenbaum's excellent TV show (Hebrew). As it turns out, Zarif runs a multi-million dollar business from 'helping' people with his 'psychokinetics' method. He recently asked all his employees to change their family names to Zarif since this name has a strong power of some sort. In the interview he uses such terms as frequency, energy and heat mixed with other terms such as stream of consciousness, the third eye (located at the center of our foreheads if you must ask)... At some point Yaron London asks Zarif to define the terms that he used, that's where the fun begun. Zarif couldn't give a good answer and Yaron called him a scam artist. That was a lot of fun to watch. A day later, Yaron London got some phone threats by Zrif's followers. Zarif's Internet site is filled with success stories of his 'work', but a quick Google search revealed the following facts:

1. He was interrogated several times under suspicion of fraud
2. He predicted a catastrophic earth quake in Israel which never occurred
3. He sent the prime minister a letter in which he describes a meeting with Stephen Hawking, saying that he affected Hawking's mind and improved his opinion of Israel's actions. He then demands to meet with any important figure that arrives to Israel. And asks that the PM give him a three day notice before any such meetings.

This reminds me of a funny story I heared from Eyal (a lab mate). He attended a meeting with some scammer which sold magnetic bracelets. The bracelets have positive healing powers blah blah blah... Eyal asked her what is the difference between the positive effect of the bracelets' magnetic field, and the negative effect of electromagnetic radiation from cellphones? She replied:" Don't you get it? the difference is in the 'electro'". Case closed.

Homemade recording studio

As you may or may not know, I play guitar for the funk/rock/pop band Kobayashi Porcelain (name taken from the film The usual suspects). We are currently working on a new album, but we do not have a lot of cash for it. So... yesterday 7:30am I picked up Sagi (the band leader, drums, vocals...) Guitar, amplifier, effects, cables, percussion instruments... we drove to Yanai (Sagi's brother, percussions, vocals, keyboards...) picked up the recording computer, hard drive, more cables, microphones, mixer, headphones ... drove to the holy city of Jerusalem to pick up some vintage keyboards, and finally drove to Ofer's (ex bass player for the band, now plays with Sagi on a seperate punk-pop project Action Attention!!!) paresnt's basement. Ofer set up a small rehersal room there. This is not an american standard basement, more like a small storage room. After finding the actual keys to the basement the fun began: setting up all the equipment in the room and running the cables to the mixer and computer outside the room. Bottom line, by the end of the day I didn't get to record a single note. So... Today im going back in... wish me luck...

*Top picture: Kobayashi Porcelain show at the Patiphone club

On the lighter side...

Well, yesterday I had a very good recording session . We are recording our version of Dani Ben Israel's 'Kapara', a classic 70's song. We might actually get Shlomo Mizrahi A.K.A. 'The Israeli Hendrix', who recorded the original song, to lay down a few track for us next week. Markey Funk is working with us and helped us A LOT during the last few days. Recording of this song constitutes a test run for the recording procedure of the whole upcoming album, and I think we are getting a lot out of it. The final mix should be ready in about a month... tell you all about it when it's done.

Back to the usual business, here are a few entertaining links regarding religion:

There is a big issue in the U.S.A. regarding teaching an 'alternative' to Darwin's evolution theory which is called 'intelligent design'. The intelligent design advocates use pseudoscientific arguments, and claim that life is so complex that an intelligent entity (GOD) must have designed it. An amusing retort is suggested in form of the new Church of the flying spaghetti monster which uses similar pseudoscience to prove that our creator is... well... a flying spaghetti monster (see picture at the top).

Here is another one: Scientology is a rising religion that believes in some ridiculous ideas. The founder of this religion is science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard. The TV show South Park has a whole episode about them and some of their devoted believers (Tom Cruise...), you can see a small outtake from it on Youtube, or watch the whole episode online at http://www.southparkstudios.com/ season 9 episode 12. The late Isaac Hayes played a regular character at South Park (Chef), but after the Scientology episode was broadcast he quit the show.

Do you understand quantum mechanics?

The late professor Richard Feinman once said: "if someone says he understands quantum mechanics, he doesn't understand quantum mechanics". Is quantum mechanics such a mysterious theory? I claim that it is not. Thats is not to say that I posess some secret knowledge that no one else does, or that I have answears to some fundamental difficulties with the theory. I simply think that one needs to consider the meaning of the word 'understand'. We say that we understand the answer to some question, when the answer puts our mind at ease.

The most relevant example is that of Newton's laws: To those of us that studied and practiced some problems of Newtonian mechanics, these laws of motion and graviational force seem simple enough, even intuitive. Most of my coleagues say they understand Newton's laws. But do we really understand them? On close inspection these laws are quite weird. Many scientists and philosophers objected to the theory at the time that it was suggestd (a few persisted in objecting for many years later). According to Newton:

• 
  
  Every two bodies attract each other, no matter how far they are. This was objected to on philosophical grounds, asking how could there be action at a distance between two bodies that don't touch each other?


• 
  
  The force acts instantaniously. Information is exchanged between any two bodies at an infinite velocity.

These objections to the theory are important, they were solved by Einstein's general theory of relativity (1915) which is an extension of Newton's laws. But that does not mean that we do not understand Newton's laws. On the same token, people that study quantum mechanics and practice some problems, get an intuition about the theory. I think we CAN say we understand quantum mechanics just as we say we understand Newton's laws. As for the open question of the 'quantum mechanical measurement problem', this should be studied and hopefully a solution will be found one day which extends the quantum mechanics theory just as general relativity extended Newton laws.

The picture at the top shows the late Prof. Richard Feinman with his family. In the background you can see Feinman's car with 'Feinman diagrams' drawn on it.