Baby Got Burqa

Cartoon by Cox & Forkum
- posted by Eran @ 6/11/2004 12:05:10 PM

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Alex Epstein - Intellectual Bodyguard
If your intellect ever needs a bodyguard, turn to Alex Epstein.
His site is rich with content, well designed, and interesting.

In the past few months I have noticed a few interesting ARI Op-Eds by this guy. They were well-written and well researched.

I define a good article as an article that is interesting to read even if you completely agree with the author, and makes you rethink your position if you don't. Other exceptional writers: Thomas Sowell, Robert Tracinski, Michelle Malkin.

Shame on me for linking you to other writers. If only I had more time to produce my own...
- posted by Eran @ 6/9/2004 04:40:26 PM

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Earthquake.
In the last few days it's seems that almost every day there is a small earthquake, clearly felt here at the top of Mount Carmel.

Just now there was a big one. Probably 5.1 (yes, this is a big one here).

In the past few months there have been more earthquakes here than in the whole of my life before that.

So, if I suddenly stop blogging - you can no longer just assume I was killed in a terrorist bombing.

Speaking of blogging - I was looking at TypePad, which seems like a very good paid blogging service. For 15$ a month, the most expensive deal, you get practically everything you can ever wish from a blog - except writing itself. ;-)
- posted by Eran @ 6/9/2004 04:03:51 PM

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I have 1 Invitation to Gmail left!
I have recently received the priviledge to invite 3 people of my choosing to receive a free GMail account as a beta-tester.

2 of them are gone, and the third... well I have a pretty good idea who's going to get it, but you can still bribe me for it.

Hint: I need a job in the US. ;-)

(This should attract a lot of improper replies... )
- posted by Eran @ 6/9/2004 12:22:32 PM

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Retraction
A user sent me a page explaining the reason that MSN's sites are shown incorrectly on Opera. It is different than previous articles I've read, and indeed it seems that Microsoft sent a distorted page specifically written for Opera browsers.

Tha fault did not lay with Opera, but with MSN.

Therefore, I retract my previous post supporting Microsoft and condemning Opera on the technological level.

However, I still think it is the right of any company to write any page of its website any way it sees fit, including writing it specifically for its own browser. So there should have been no settlement.
- posted by Eran @ 6/9/2004 10:44:59 AM

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Krugman's Economy
[LTE by Eran Dror, in response to Reckonings; After The Horror - A column in the New York Times by PAUL KRUGMAN from September 14, 2001, Friday]

Only 12 million square feet of office space were destroyed in the WTC collapse, says Paul Krugman. Not anywhere near the 3.5 billion square feet of office space in the United States as a whole. Thus, he concludes, the economic impact of the September 11th attack "will probably not be that bad".

Apparently, the terrorists could have taken down the White House, the Empire State Building, and the Sears Tower as well, without creating a serious office space shortage. But the obvious truth is that the amount of space destroyed is economically insignificant, relative to the question of what, and who, was in that space when it blew up.

Krugman's concept of the economy is just as hollow as his "office space": Announcing that the slowdown was created by a lack of business investments, he rejoices in the fact that now businesses will have to invest in rebuilding - ignoring the fact that rebuilding means creating something that had already existed prior to the attack, contributing absolutely nothing to the economy as a whole.

At the end of his column, while promoting increased public spending, Krugman uses the same trick: he ignores the source of the government's money. But the fact is that taking money from one pocket and investing it in the other does not make one a richer man.

Actually, who knows? Maybe it does. Anything is possible in Krugman land.
- posted by Eran @ 6/5/2004 05:36:10 PM

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God's Police [Hebrew]
This old article was written against the censorship of erotic channels in Israel, which was since repealed.

It was published at the time on two websites.

Read God's Police in PDF Format
- posted by Eran @ 6/5/2004 04:44:21 PM

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eHow - check it out!
This site will tell you how much you don't know: www.eHow.com

Believe it or not, I was looking there for tips on how to mop the floor!
Apparently when my roommates do it, it takes them less time, and looks better.

So here's what they had to say about it: http://www.ehow.com/how_115_mop-floor.html

Actually, that's about what my mother taught me. :)


- posted by Eran @ 6/5/2004 03:10:39 PM

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Bad Searching
Someone had recently reached my site by searching the phrase "contacts address of terrorist and religious fanatic in saudi arabia" in Google. Now, this is ,plain and simple, bad searching. I am often amazed at how bad people search.

This query shows a total lack of understanding of the basic difference between man and machine.

All current search algorithms are based on words appearing on the page, not the human interpretation of these words. Did the person searching the above line in Google expect to find a contact page for a terrorist organization? If there was such a thing, he could certainly find it this way. But the page would have to look something like this:

CONTACT ADDRESSES FOR TERRORISTS AND OTHER RELIGIOUS FANATICS

SAUDI ARABIA

Hello to all the fellow terrorists and religious fanatics! I have compiled a list of addresses for us guys, so that you can communicate more freely and share information. I hope to see more collaboration in the future. So, keep in touch, don't be obnoxious!

al-Haramain Foundation
Phone: 45456-45-645-6
E-Mail: terrorist@haramain.org

al-Qaeda
Phone: 1234-5678-900
E-Mail: fanatic@alqaeda.net

Mujahedin-al-Islam
Phone: 987-6543-211
E-Mail: religious@mujahedinalislam.biz
.
.
.

This is ridiculous.

To search the address of a terrorist organization, assuming it is even published, you have to first find the name of the organization from a western source that DEFINES it as a terrorist organization. The organization itself will NEVER call itself terrorist or fanatic (what was this man thinking?!).

After you have the name of the organization, you MAY find its address online. But anyway not if it is a real important underground organization. Not even on Google. :D
- posted by Eran @ 6/4/2004 03:04:23 AM

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Ubi bene ibi patria
This Roman proverb, taken from Aristophanes's last play, means "Where it's good, that is the homeland".
This is the essence and the base of rational patriotism, as against collective nationalism.

As it goes, Menahem Begin, a former prime minister of Israel, apparently rephrased it once to say: "Ubi patria ibi bene". This is a piece of collectivist nonsense.

I think that most Israelis today think the first, but feel the second. That's why most of them are afraid to go, but secretly admire those who have the courage to immigrate and find a better life.

But now I must ask you, readers:
"Ubi bene? Ubi patria?"
- posted by Eran @ 6/2/2004 12:00:25 PM

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Michael Moore's America
I have read a lot recently about Michael Moore, in news articles.
He sounded to me like the average angry liberal - desperate for attention.

Today I saw an old re-run of his show The Awful Truth.

Despite countless warnings, and my growing knowledge of modern day America,
the very name America always retained in my eyes a certain glow.
A country established with respect for the individual, and the love of
achievement in mind. A country where one could be free to lead an honest
life, to be successful without having to apologize for it every day of your
life, a country where your rights would be upheld not only because they are
laws, but because they were recognized as rights by the general population.

The kind of America that accepts and supports a man like Michael Moore, and
a show like The Awful Truth, is nothing but a rotten, worm-eaten corpse -
festering with hatred of man, of achievement, of the good - a growing,
smelly lump of decay where the heart of freedom used to beat.

A country where a toad like Moore can get his fame by irresponsibly
slandering, mocking, and badgering the great men and women of his time,
while spitting in the face of virtue, is not a country where I want to live
or raise my children.


How many people support the kind of hatred Michael Moore is projecting? Is
America still a sane place? Does Moore's views accurately reflect the views
of the majority of Democrats? Do they consider him an "extremist" while
secretly admiring him? What is the general public reaction to his shows?

I will be happy to hear your opinion on the matter.
- posted by Eran @ 5/31/2004 12:32:57 PM

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The Nigerian Sting, Part 2
Remember I told you about the Nigerian Sting?

I decided that from now on I shall post here every Nigerian-Sting-Style scam I receive. Some of them are quite amusing, and that last post on the subject seemed to help a lot of people to identify Prince Bolkiah as a fraud.

Today, I'm featuring an e-mail I got, allegedly from a Dr. Francis Moris, of the NHACRC:

NATIONAL HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY CONTRACT REVIEW COMMITTEE (NHACRC)

HELLO,

I am DR.FRANCIS MORIS, I am forty-five years old, married with three children. I entract your utmost reliance in this information's and the transaction as whole.

I am the head of the National House of Assembly Contract Review Committee(NHACRC), this is a committee set up by the National House of Assembly members/senators, to review all the contracts awarded by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Department of
Petroleum Resources(D.P.R) ten years ago (1994-2003) to foreign firms on Turn around/General maintenance of the Refineries. This action is
reached as a result of the collapse of all the
Refineries in our Country that has led to the importation of Fuel from Brazil, this has resulted to persistent Fuel scarcity in my
country.

In the course of our assignment I discovered some contract misappropriation(OVER-INVOICE) among them is this particular contract that was OVER-INVOICED of the tune $25 Million Dollars(Twenty-five Million U.S Dollars) which I the head of this committee have resolved to use as a compensation for this great assignment, since then I have been safeguarding this tune that has been lying in the Bank unclaimed, awaiting the appropriate time to channel this tune(amount)
into an Account for my Utilization.

With the death of the one time Senate President CHIEF CHUBA OKADIGBO and the recent change of the NNPC Group Managing Director CHIEF GAIUS OBASEKI these are the two persons I foresee as threats to the arrangement. I now deem it appropriate/necessary to transfer this
tune into a UTILISATION foreign account, but this arrangement will not be complete without a foreign utilization account as this fund is
lying in the Foreign Contract Awardees Department (FCAD). It is in this regard you are contacted (partnership is required)as arrangement have been concluded to present you as the Beneficiary of this fund, pending my arrival there in your Country for sharing and utilization.

For effective actualization you are to forward to me the following informations;-

A) Your name in full and brief information on your profile.

b) Your personal/confidential Fax numbers

c) Your Telephone/Mobile numbers

d) Your full contact /office address.

I have agreed to offer you 40% of the total sum for this essential role, 5% has been ear-marked for settlement of any incidental expenses that may come up in the course of this transaction. Please note that the hope, confidence bestowed on you should not be over-emphasized, and you are also to assist me in investing my share of 55% of the total sum while I am there in your country.

NOTE: EVERY INFORMATION SHOULD REMAIN A TOP SECRET AS I AM STILL IN ACTIVE SERVICE HERE IN MY COUNTRY.

Please forward the anticipated information's by return mail as all arrangements are in place for a hitch free transaction.You can also reach me with my confidential email,francisemorris@netscape.net

Regards,

DR.FRANCIS MORIS,
NATIONAL HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY,
CONTRACT REVIEW COMMITTEE,
(NHACRC).

Dr. Moris, I give you your 15 minutes of fame! :-)
- posted by Eran @ 5/29/2004 03:44:44 PM

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Non-Objective Art? That's so 20th century!
Modern and postmodern artists and critics live and survive by the argument from intimidation.

"If you really can't understand this art, you must not be refined/intelligent/cultured/educated/sensitive enough."

"If you don't like it - you must me old-fashioned."

These people are actually throwing at us their biggest fear: they are threatening us with the thing that they themselves consider the doomsday weapon. Disapproval and disrespect.

While thriving off controversy, they are actually terrified of one thing: that we will all wake up one morning and decide to ignore them. That being already incomprehensible and uninspiring, they will become also unfashionable.

So from now on don't say: "I don't understand this art." Laugh a condescending laugh and say "NON-OBJECTIVE ART? But DARLING, that is SO 20th century!"



[As an antidote to what is usually called contemporary art, see this gallery of REAL contemporary art - Quent Cordair Fine Art - www.cordair.com]
- posted by Eran @ 5/29/2004 01:30:01 AM

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El-Al Finally Private!
Finally! El-Al, Israel's national airline was finally fully privatized this week, with the control moving from government to private investors. Keep the good work!

Next on the list:

- Israel's Electric Company
- Mekorot - Israel's Water Company
- Israel's Railroad and Trains Company
- Maatz - Israel's Roads and Highway Company
- Israel's Ports Authority
- IBA - Israel's Broadcasting Authority

And deregulation should start immediately on:
- Israel's healthcare services.
- Israel's Television & Radio Authority
- Israel's Telecom Industry
- Israel's Education System

The happy news is that on most of these accounts, privatization and deregulation work is already underway. Good work! Don't let fools stop you from saving this country.

- posted by Eran @ 5/26/2004 07:39:36 PM

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The Identity of Change - Part 2
In The Identity of Change - Part 1, I've shown that Change is an axiom of human knowledge.

But what is the importance of axioms in general? Axioms provide the basic truths supporting all human knowledge. They provide the certainty, without which all human knowledge, values, and achievements would become arbitrary and collapse like a house of cards. They provide man with a reliable point of contact with reality: an unquestionable truth, relied upon even by those who reject it, undoubtedly true - and therefore serves as an anchor to reality.

There is one additional benefit that Ayn Rand wrote about in Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology:

The concept "existence" does not indicate what existents it subsumes: it merely underscores the primary fact that they exist... This underscoring of primary facts is one of the crucial epistemological functions of axiomatic concepts... The special underscoring, which is of no concern to animals, is a matter of life or death for man - as witness, modern philosophy, which is a monument to the results of the attempt to evade or bypass such reminders.

Ayn Rand, Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, Meridian, New York City, 1990, p. 59.

This stressing of a basic fact of existence helps us keep reality always in mind, and allows us to create theories which are more reality-oriented, more economical, more efficient - and, of course, true.

As I promised in the first part, I will now redefine some of the basic physical concepts in light of the new axiom:

[Note: while my approach in explaining my theory may seem deductive, I have reached it almost solely on inductive means, by looking at modern and classical physics and trying to make some sort of order. Change, while being the first element deductively, is actually one of the LAST things I realized. Maybe one day I will write about the real process I went through in this regard.]


Energy

Energy is Change. Simply put: the measure of energy in a given system is the measure of change in that system. Energy is simply Change, approached as a scientific, measurable attribute, based on the law of identity.

Kinetic Energy is the measure of change by movement, Electric Energy is the measure of change by the movement and actions of electrons, Thermal Energy is the inner change of particles inside a body - producing heat (which is a kind of change transferable to other bodies).

One could say that Potential Energy is Potential Change, but that's an example of inexact thinking. Change can never go out or come into existence. Potential Energy is merely change happening in an unseen level (for example - sub atomic levels), waiting to be released into the seen levels. When you hold a ball in the air, the Potential Energy that will drop it to the ground if you release it, is not a passive element - but an active one continuously pulling it down. It is an actual, not potential Change.


Time

Time is an Objective Measurement of Change. Humanity could live and survive without a concept of time. Many primitive cultures had no concept of time, beyond the natural cycles of day and night, winter and summer. In the Middle Ages time was only told by the set times of prayers.

However, not a single man can survive without a concept of Change. Change is implicit in every observation, every action, every piece of knowledge. It is only the more developed societies that started measuring change, and by abstracting all specifics (direction, speed, object) have reached the abstract concept of time.

What is time? Where is it? It is in our clocks, watches, calendars. It is an abstract axis to which we allegedly compare every process. But how does the actual measurement take place? Is it by comparing a process of change to the axis itself? Of course not, because there no such axis in concrete, actual reality. The measurement, like any measurement, is done by comparing two instances of the same attribute. In this case - two instances of Change. Ayn Rand Writes about measurement:

Measurement is the identification of a relationship - a quantitative relationship established by means of a standard that serves as a unit. Entities (and their actions) are measured by their attributes (length, weight, velocity, etc.) and the standard of measurement is a concretely specified unit representing the appropriate attribute. Thus, one measures length in inches, feet and miles, weight in pounds - velocity by means of a given distance traversed in a given time, etc.

Ayn Rand, Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, Meridian, New York City, 1990, p. 7.

Since the amount of Change in the universe is set (as I've shown in the first part), the fact that Time is perceived as an unchanging, infinite axis is not inaccurate. When looking at the universe as a whole - we can understand why men mistake Time to be a true existent. It is like the everlasting clock, timing the change in the universe for eternity.

But, of course, Time is a human abstraction - and does not exist in itself, no more than Length or Width, two other dimensions, exist independent of objects.

Change is axiomatic. Change is eternal. And Time is the objective measurement of change.


Space

Space is the collection of all existing places. The term Space may be inherently misleading, since it implies a gap, a nothingness, between existents. Since nothingness does not exist, anything that obviously exists, as "space" - must be defined in positive terms. Not a gap, but an existent with specific attributes. Place is a better term.


Place

Place is an existent that can either contain other existents, or exist in itself as "empty". I am currently thinking about the epistemological status of Place. I think it may also be an axiomatic concept. After all, the words contain, within, inside, full, empty - all pertain to Place alone, and are suspiciously synonymous. So, is it "Place Places"? A new axiom? I still have to think this through, but it very well may be.


Velocity

Velocity is a constant change of place. As I noted in the first part, once an object is moving with a certain velocity, only an external agent of change can change the direction or velocity of the object. Change requires change. And even Change of Change requires Change.



Acceleration/Deceleration

Acceleration is a constant change increasing velocity. Deceleration is a constant change decreasing velocity. This is nothing new in physics. But using the word Change is useful because it lets you understand the inherent connections between concepts like Energy and Acceleration, which until now were clear only through equations.


Mass

Mass is Identity, viewed from the aspect of Change. This is a very important thing to grasp. As far as I know, nobody - until now - had given a satisfactory definition of the concept of mass. Among the existing definitions:

"Mass is the property of a body that causes it to have weight in a gravitational field."

(And then you define gravitational field by: the field which affects all objects possessing the attributes of mass, drawing them to one another.)

The mass of an object is a fundamental property of the object; a numerical measure of its inertia; a fundamental measure of the amount of matter in the object.

It is true that mass is affected by the amount of matter in the object, and that it affects the measure of its inertia (meaning: how hard or easy it is to move the object, or stop it in its tracks). But these are effects. What IS mass?

Mass is Identity, viewed from the aspect of Change. To put it differently: mass is the "Change-Identity" of the object. How susceptible or impervious the object is, by its very nature and identity, to change.

The more particles constitutes an object, the more change, in general, is required to affect it. But some particles have more mass than others, so the amount of matter is not necessarily the only criterion.


Force

Force is a constant change in velocity of a specific object. Note that the physical equation here is F=M*A, meaning that the measure of force equals the measure of Acceleration times the specific object's mass. Meaning, in practicality, that Force is a more specific form of acceleration: it is a specific acceleration, projected on a specific object.



That's it. I think I wrote enough for one post. On next posts I will discuss the necessity of Place, The Discrete Universe, and How to create NEW physical equations. I will also define concepts such as: Wave, Temperature, Heat, Entropy, and more... It will take some time to write.

In the meantime, what do you think?



The Identity of Change is the title for my future book on the subject, which I imagine will be based on the posts in this blog, and on your comments. So, of course, on these posts like on the rest of this blog - © All Rights Reserved.
- posted by Eran @ 5/26/2004 02:55:33 PM

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Ode to Spot
By: Data, from Star Trek

Felis Cattus, is your taxonomic nomenclature,
An endothermic quadruped carnivorous by nature?
Your visual, olfactory and auditory senses
Contribute to your hunting skills, and natural defenses.

I find myself intrigued by your subvocal oscillations,
A singular development of cat communications
That obviates your basic hedonistic predilection
For a rhythmic stroking of your fur, to demonstrate affection.

A tail is quite essential for your acrobatic talents;
You would not be so agile if you lacked its counterbalance.
And when not being utilized to aide in locomotion,
It often serves to illustrate the state of your emotion.

O Spot, the complex levels of behaviour you display
Connote a fairly well-developed cognitive array.
And though you are not sentient, Spot, and do not comprehend,
I nonetheless consider you a true and valued friend.
- posted by Eran @ 5/25/2004 03:02:01 PM

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Ode to RSS
By: Eran Dror

My site, alas, today was read,
By twenty people - alive or dead.
How can I tell, my counter messed?
They did not surf - they RSSed!

With Readers come they. Aggregate.
They draw all content from my gate.
The visitors read posts alone,
And from the homepage - they are gone!

Like druggies, Newsfeeds in their veins,
With much to lose and nought to gain.
They come and go through XML.
And do they read? I cannot tell.

My counter seems to take vacation,
Since I revealed my syndication.
I hope that you appreciate,
The agony of this sad fate.

But to be fair, I must confess,
That I too, often RSS.
I come with readers. Aggregate.
And draw all content to my gate.
- posted by Eran @ 5/24/2004 09:40:36 PM

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Googlized Government?
Gooqle's PageRank patent can be described as follows: every link from page X to page Y is counted as a vote for page Y. PageRank measures the importance of each page, on a scale of 1 to 10, according to the number of votes.

Is this an instance of democracy, then? Definitely not. Because every vote is calculated according to the linking site's importance, his PageRank. So, for example, if an important site like Yahoo links to my site, it will influence greatly on my rating, while John Doe Private Bloq linking to me will have relatively little effect.

What other system works like this? The free market, in a sense, does. The more people buy from me, the more money I have. The more money I have, the more I can pay to other businesses, thus making them more influential.

This it obviously more accurate, and produces higher quality results, than a mere democratic process.
Why not apply this principle to general elections?
- posted by Eran @ 5/24/2004 09:34:53 PM

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Reality Worship
Objectivists are often wrongly portrayed as some kind of devout cult or religion.

There are INDEED some similarities between Objectivism and the religions of the world. The most striking similarity is the Objectivist moral clarity, that most people associate with religion. The other is the Objectivist sense of worship. This worship is aimed not at a higher force, but at man, life on this earth - and reality.

Every rational man must treat Reality as a religious man treats his God:

- A religious man obeys the dictates of the divinity without pause or hesitation. So must a rational man obey the dictates of Reality.

- A religious man has holy scriptures, or ceremonies, to decipher the will of the divinity. Those become holy in themselves, by their special relationship to the divinity. The rational man must hold reason as holy, because it is the only tool with which to reach Truth, and therefore Reality.

- A religious man's concept of virtue is being 100% consistent with the will of God. A rational man must strive to become 100% consistent with the demands of reality.



Here ends the similarity between Objectivism and religion.
- posted by Eran @ 5/23/2004 11:55:31 PM

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Four Kinds of Leaders
Observation: The two kinds of leaders that are immensely popular in history, are those who make enormous historic mistakes, and those who correct those mistakes after enormous difficulties.

The two kinds of leaders that are immensely hated in history, are those who make many small mistakes, and those who make no mistakes at all.
- posted by Eran @ 5/23/2004 11:52:39 PM

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