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)