My son had a bagrut exam this week in history. We were listening to the news broadcast on the radio the other day and they were talking about Bibi’s Bar Ilan speech, the criminal antics of Dudu Topaz and the unrest in Iran. “This” I said to him, refering to the latter item “is what [...]
Archive for the ‘Reflections’ Category
Historic times?
Posted in Current affairs, Israel, Reflections on 18 June, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Spin – the movie
Posted in Ethics, Reflections, Seen on the web, Video on 4 June, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Saw this on Shaul B’s blog “free thought”.
[Click here to watch, if the video doesn't show]
Made me think of the old paradoxes connected with free-will, pre-destination, time travel and the like. How far do the consequences go? What would happen if you were to fiddle with natural cause and effect?
More down [...]
“The weak strata”
Posted in Israel, Reflections on 26 May, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
That is Hebrew PC-speak for “poor people”. In Hebrew “השכבות החלשות” or “HaShkhavot HaHalashot”. I heard on the radio this morning that the proposed imposition of VAT on fruit and vegetables may cause the weak strata to buy less fresh food. Why not just say “the poor”?
Cyborg beetles
Posted in Ethics, Reflections, Seen on the web, Technology on 24 May, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
An article I saw in Technology Review. A researcher named Michel Maharbiz at the University of California, Berkeley has fitted out giant flower beetles like the one on the right with electrodes and a receiver. He can then fly them from a remote control connected to his laptop.
Dr. Haharbiz is very proud of his creations that [...]
In search of value
Posted in Blogs I read, Jewish Thought, Mending the world, Reflections on 16 September, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
This was the title of a post on Seth Godin’s blog yesterday. Seth says forget the falling stock markets and get out there and create value.
In general I agree with him. Everyone, whether they be a creative type or not should be concentrating on creating real value for the World and the human race. [...]
On Teshuva
Posted in Goals & Resolutions, Jewish Thought, Jewish Year, Reflections, Self improvement on 3 September, 2008 | 2 Comments »
I mentioned in my post yesterday that with the start of the Jewish month of Ellul we are entering the annual period of introspection and improvement – a process known in Judaism as Teshuva.
Teshuva is a very big thing in Judaism. the idea is that we are required to be in a continuous process througout [...]
The time you don’t spend watching TV
Posted in Blogs I read, Reflections, Time management on 30 July, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I read Seth Godin today with a sense of deja-vu. If you don’t watch TV, or like me don’t even own one, all of a sudden you will see that you have loads of time for painting, programming or writing or whatever it is you do.
If you also ration the number of blogs you read [...]
Positive side of the end of the exhibition
Posted in Exhibitions, Painting, Personal, Reflections on 22 July, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
At the end of the exhibition I was left with the question of what to do with the pictures I got back. What was more pressing is what to do with the pictures I had framed because I don’t have any space to store them at home in their framed state.
My walls at home and, [...]
Letting go of a picture
Posted in Painting, Reflections on 19 June, 2008 | 3 Comments »
One of the most common questions I get asked is “How do you manage to part with your artwork when you sell it? I would never be able to!”.
If I had to make a league table of questions this would probably come in third place after:
“When do you find time to paint?” and
“Why are you [...]
Is Google Making Us Stupid?
Posted in Internet, Jewish Thought, Reflections, Technology on 18 June, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
This is the title of an article by Nicolas Carr published in The Atlantic that I saw linked somewhere and read.
The thesis is that in our new media hyperlinked world we are thinking differently and that this spills over from what we do on screen and affects the way we carry out the rest of [...]