Amiram Hayardeny's My China Experience

A Different, More Inclusive, Look at the Situation

More than twenty years ago, on my second year of college, I took a linear algebra class.  I was fine with the vectors, the matrix multiplications, the works.  But I remember clearly that one day, one of the students asked the professor, Bernard Schwartz, what do four-dimension vector mean?  Professor Schwartz, not surprisingly, gave a long and very interesting answer to the question.  So much so, that it changed my mind completely and formed a new perception on the observed versus the perceived and the real world (whatever that means).  The answer was along the following lines.

Our world is three dimensional (yes, you can throw in time, but lets leave it alone for the time being).  If, for example, someone places a pencil in front of you, you would know right away, by the shape, and the size, that it's a pencil.  If that someone wanted to play a visual trick on you, and place the pencil perpendicular to your eye, so that you can only see the precise circle of the eraser (or the blade for that matter), there's a good chance that you would still know it's a pencil.  The same if you were shown a cross section.  Our three-dimensional eye-sight and our developed brain can overcome the cheap visual trick, and identify the object nonetheless.

But what if we only had two dimensional eye sight, like some animals?  Placing that pencil in front of our eyes in different ways, may be perceived by us as a completely different phenomena.  In fact, when looking at a pencil from five different directions, we may think we're actually looking at five different phenomena, with no connection whatsoever.

Same with vectors.  Being a three-dimensional animals, we understand easily length, width, and depth.  We can add direction and force, and even time. 

But is it possible that we are actually seeing various presentations of the same phenomenon, but our limited senses indicate them to be different phenomena?  I think absolutely.  Does it happen that occasionally someone knows just how to look at the data and interpret it in a way that shows more than the eye can see (literally)?  Yes, indeed.  Just read the book Freakonomics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freakonomics) and you'd see how many things that are apparently not connected at all, are virtually one and the same.

Now just a thought.  A few phenomena are currently watched closely by the entire (media connected part of the) human race.  The sub-prime crisis of the US economy (aka recession, depression, slowdown), the sudden rise in food and oil prices, terrorism as a means to accomplish a political agenda, global warming.  I'm stopping at that to allow for the probable conclusion that not ALL phenomena are connected, and some are after all independent.

So lets see.  The sub-prime crisis in the US caused the stock market in the US to change direction and go down.  Real-estate prices are driven down as well.  These are facts.  The dollar has depreciated in a very significant way.  Fact.  Unemployment up.  Consumer mood index - down.  Facts.  Now the speculation part.

Are the following possible outcomes of the financial crisis in the US?

1. People around the world who have lost fortunes in the stock market and in betting on the dollar are resorting to "lower" foods, like rice, wheat, corn and soy?
2. The data points that there's enough rice to feed the world.  The data suggests that the rise in the prices of food is a financial one, and not a large sudden change in demand/supply chains.
3. OPEC proposes that increasing production of oil will not drive the prices down.  The data suggests that the rise in prices of oil is also a financial one.
   
4. Huge amounts of money looking for an investment home, staying out of the real-estate and the stock market, are being redirected to the commodities market - driving the prices up?  (keep in mind that deals in the commodities market must be backed with future contracts on the commodities themselves).
5. Energy prices have extremely increased in the last year or two making the production cost of food higher, driving prices higher (keep in mind: the growers aren't getting more money for their crops).
   
6. Interim conclusion: increased demands for basic foods, followed by increased production costs and the drought in Australia and the diversion of some corn to ethanol rather than food, followed by the new fashionable place for investment - the commodities market, have caused the price of food to skyrocket.

Is it really so far fetched?  Are these phenomena connected?  You bet.  Will it get worse before it gets better?  Probably.  But hear me out on this.  The short conclusion is the following: investors, looking for a new bubble (after being deprived of the high-tech one and the real-estate one) are bubbling up the commodities market with billions of dollars, driving the prices up, and on the way causing millions of people to starve.  Far fetched?  I think not.

What will possibly follow?  Food riots?  Increased terrorism - now stemming from hunger?  Another bubble burst?  The commodities bubble won't take much time to burst.  It's far too dangerous, and volatile.  It's time to think about the next bubble.  Gold?  Diamonds?

Are we really looking at independent phenomena?  I think not.  Global warming caused droughts, and diverted production of corn to ethanol.  Burst of a bubble plus a serious financial crisis in American and global stock markets diverted huge amounts of money to the commodities market driving the prices up.  Political unrest, food riots are starting.  Connected phenomena?  Absolutely.

Read more:

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSWEN511620080422
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2006770/posts
http://alternet.org/audits/83345/?page=entire

Posted at 10:05AM Apr 27, 2008 by Amiram Hayardeny in Personal  |  Comments[0]

My Very Own Deliverance - My Personal Passover

Passover is a special holiday for the Jewish people.  It's also a special holiday for me.  Personally.  In this holiday, the Jews remember their days of slavery in Egypt, and celebrate their deliverance followed by the glorious entry to the Promised Land after forty years of wandering around aimless in the desert.  Indeed, it's a powerful story, which unfortunately has no evidence whatsoever in the amazingly well-preserved Egyptian archives.  Nonetheless, it was, and still is, a defining moment in the existence of the Jewish People.  There are a few symbols of the Holiday, but the one signifying the holiday most of all, is the absence of leavened bread, or "hametz", and the existence of its evil twin, the Matzo.  The legend says that the Hebrews had to leave Egypt in a hurry.  There was no time for their dough to rise, so they had to bake the dough before it was ready.  The result was an unappealing type of cardboard, which we call "Matzo".  For diet watchers it's the worst of all worlds: it's as fattening as bread, but not as palatable, and most certainly not as filling.

But very few people know what it means for an observant Jew to prepare for the Holiday of Passover.  In fact, slavery seems quite appealing, if you really want to prepare for the Passover the way some truly observant ultra-orthodox Jews do.

Let's start even before the Holiday.  Long before the holiday.  Many Jews would only eat wheat which was "observed", or "guarded" from last year's crops.  It's called "Matzo Shmura" or "guarded Matzo".  In short it means that no leavened dough came anywhere near this flour, and that it's completely kosher for Passover.  The water used for the making of this "guarded Matzo"" is called "our water", water that are beyond suspicion.  The matzo is then baked under heavy guard, just to make sure that no leavened bread comes near it.  The kosher security alert is raised for passover, and is at the red level, the highest possible.  Everyone is under suspicion.

When the holiday comes close, a month before the middle of Nissan (around late March to mid April), things shift into high gear.  Cows in certain dairies have their diets completely changed, so they can lose all their leavened food the natural way, before the holiday, so they can produce perfectly kosher milk for the holiday.  Shelves in certain supermarkets become inaccessible, secured, covered.  They are loaded with Passover food.  Can't go near.

Observant Jews start the spring cleaning.  This is really an understatement.  A closer definition would be something like: "lets burn everything that's come in contact with leavened bread during the past year".  If you have some bread crumbs in your pocket, you definitely run a high risk of being boiled or incinerated by some ultra orthodox Jew.  Rabbinical committees are formed to decide which medications are to be used during the holiday, and which patients should either look for alternatives or get healthy at once.  Dish washing liquids, laundry detergents, toothpastes, soap bars, are all looked at and disposed of if they are not up on par with the demands of the holiday.  And it gets better every year.

When I was married to my ex-wife, I saw it first hand.  Flamethrowers were used to clean the kitchen before the holiday.  The walls, which initially were to be destroyed, were pardoned and sentenced to be covered with aluminum foil instead.  Dishes were boiled, welded, heated to the point of melting, thrown away or put away.  Special dishes were taken out of the attic, dipped in boiling water.  Readied for the holiday.  I was always willing to bet, that if God was watching this lunacy from wherever he is, he would have said: "guys, please guys, all I meant was for you to stay away from the goddamn bread for a few days, you have taken it way, way too far...".  But God is nowhere to be found these days.  Well, maybe in some caves in Afghanistan...

This wasn't the way Passover was prepared by my family when I was growing up.  Sure, spring cleaning was always performed.  But in a nice way.  Books would be taken out, clothes taken out to air.  We always found stuff we had lost over the year.  But no garment was ever suspicious of malicious infestation of leaven, no book was burnt for being indicted of hosting a concealed bread crumb.  It was more relaxed.  And fun.  As a side note - I always remember Moses and Aaron, the two large carps who were swimming in the bath tub for a couple of days before they became Gefilte Fish - or stuffed fish - for the holiday meal...

The Seder, the festive meal of the evening of the holiday, the highlight of the Holiday, was always a nice thing when I was growing up.  My grandfather on my father's side would read the Haggadah - or the special prayer book recited on the eve of the holiday - in both Hebrew and Spanish, an incredible meal would be served, and the children would get real, real nice gifts for the Holiday.  It would usually be over before midnight, and the kids loved it.  It was fun.  It was a fun way of practicing religion.  True to the original instruction by God - a celebration of freedom.  My grandfather on my mother's side would get drunk, and by the end of the meal was never sure what it was that we were celebrating.  As I said - fun.

But at my ex-in-laws, the Seder was, in my mind anyway, nothing less than a celebration of slavery and misery, and not deliverance.  It would start late, because the men were expected back from the Synagogue.  The women are usually exhausted, and the children are starved.  Bread eating is forbidden from the earlier hours of the day, but Matzo eating is forbidden before the ceremonial prayers.  The prayers are read, and read, and discussed, and re-read, and sung, and recited, and re-recited.  Matzo is not just eaten, it has to be eaten in measure.  A precise measure.  And the eating is done quietly.  No word is spoken.  When you're done eating the measure of Matzo, you're usually covered in crumbs, and your stomach filled with dust.  The bitter herbs come next, and each  man eats a full head of lettuce.  When the ceremonial part is over, the men are stuffed with matzo and lettuce, the kids are sleeping at the table, and then dinner is served.  In paper plates and plastic utensils.  What a site.

The next day, the show runs precisely the same only an hour later.  If it was up to me - I'd go back to Egypt.  Building pyramids never hurt anyone...

So Passover is the holiday when I feel my personal liberation.  I feel that I won my freedom, again.  Not out of Egypt, but out of Brooklyn...  The Red Sea didn't part for me, and I didn't wander around in the desert for forty years.  But I was freed all the same.  I celebrate Passover now, with my new family, in a relaxed way, closer probably to the original meaning of God.  Don't get me wrong, I'm still an atheist, but God and I have an understanding.

Posted at 08:24AM Apr 20, 2008 by Amiram Hayardeny in Personal  |  Comments[3]

An Alternative Passover Story

The city of Ramses was almost ready.  The deadline, set for the inauguration of the new king of Egypt couldn't be missed.  When the construction was falling behind, more Hebrew slaves were taken off other construction projects and diverted to Ramses.  There was too much at stake.  The news media from every corner of the world converged on Egypt to cover the inauguration of both the new city and the new king.  Reporters, journalists, cameramen and anchors were pretty much everywhere.  It was almost impossible to find parking, and hotel prices went sky high.  Tent cities were put together near the pyramids, satellite dishes everywhere, like mushrooms after a rain.

The Hebrew slaves, knew that this was a wonderful opportunity to get the entire planet's attention to their misery, and figured that a well staged mutiny, close to the celebration day will capture everyone's minds and make the Egyptians look really bad.  So they contacted a PR specialist, a retired wizard who insisted that his brother is hired as well, and a God.  For years they trained, experimented with blood, swamp and farm animals, various kinds of insects and a lot of light and sound.

A few months before the big day, the Hebrews sent the wizard and his brother to the king.  The strange looking guy with the long hair, the beard and the robes told the king that Hebrews are to be set free or else.  The king found it very amusing.  When Moses turned his stick into a snake, the king's own magicians did the same without delay.  But Moses' snake was hungrier, so it ate the others and turned back to a stick.  Moses left the palace.

A few weeks went by, and the PR specialist instructed the team to start staging their performances.  The God was instructed to simply not let the Pharaoh free the Hebrews until he's been told to.  So the vicious cycle had started.  The Nile river turned to blood, then got infested with frogs.  The media went wild.  The networks started sending more senior anchormen, and was broadcasting live.  Ratings for the Hebrew rebellion went through the roof.  But the Pharaoh wouldn't hear of freeing the Hebrews, the God made sure of that.  So it continued.  Very serious lice infestation mysteriously showed up and the funny side effect was that you could have watched the evening news, with the distinguished looking anchormen, seriously delivering the news while scratching their entire body with long, wide motions.

No deliverance yet.

In the meantime, the media and the world paid no attention to the nearing inauguration of the king and the City of Ramses.  The story of the strange plagues of Egypt was way more interesting.  Game shows, realistic TV, even the Late Night hosts started talking of nothing else.  Retired actors, rock band leaders around the world, who had no clue what being Hebrew is all about, started attending protests, writing articles and letters to the editor, throwing slurs at the Egyptians, while glorifying the Hebrews.  The plan was working well.  Moses and the gang showed up at the palace again, this time smug with the success of the presentation of power, and the media coverage.  But the Pharaoh wouldn't budge, after all, the God was in charge of that, and he was doing a good job.

Bad animals started showing up from the desert next.  But nobody really paid attention, in fact, they were attracting all the excess lice, relieving the residents of Egypt.  When the plague started hitting the cattle, everyone immediately blamed the neighboring countries for deliberately infecting them with the Mad Cow disease.  When the boils started appearing on the bodies of the Egyptians as well as the media, the summer heat and global warming was blamed.  The Pharaoh was unimpressed.  Deliverance?  Give me a break.  The media continued a full 24 hours coverage, live, but the anchormen, infested with lice, and covered in boil scars, started to look somewhat tired of the ordeal.  The inauguration of the king and the city was promptly forgotten.

Hail followed by locusts which all got lost in the complete darkness which followed.  Imagine that: reporters standing in the spotlight, everything else is pitch dark, large locusts are flying around, and the boil scars and the scratch marks still clearly visible.  Ratings broke the records of the 2000 BC Olympic Games.  It was a media frenzy.

Finally, following the death of the firstborns, and with a lot less people around, including quite a few reporters, the Pharaoh gave up.  He ordered the Hebrews to just get the hell out of sight, and out of Egypt.  They really wanted to take their time packing and organizing delegations to explore possible residence, but the media managers told them that if they don't rush out, there will be no coverage.  So they quickly packed, got ready to leave.  A baking fiasco made all their bread look like cardboard, which the media found mysteriously appealing.  The Hebrews have left Egypt.  The media forgot why it has shown up in Egypt in the first place, and went down to the Red Seashore to watch and cover the final presentation of power by the Wizard, his brother and the God.

Thousands of reluctant Hebrews were standing at the seashore, waiting for some sign.  Moses raised his stick.  The red sea started rising right away.  But the OWTV cameraman missed the shot, so he asked Moses to repeat that motion, this time a little more gently.  Moses did, and the sea rose faster.  Everyone drowned.

Moral of the story: none.  Well maybe one.   Or more.  Don't underestimate the power of the media.  Don't assume that media coverage is always impartial.  Don't assume that the media designation of the victim is always correct.  Don't assume that the media designation of the villain is always correct either.  Always doubt coincidences.  Myths are powerful, but not always they are well aligned with reality.

But maybe most important of all: the media can manipulate events and to drive the outcome.  But neither the media, nor the public opinion are there to understand the consequences, to deal with the results, to fix what was broken.  The media assumes the "obligation to report" but denies the driving of the public opinion and therefore its influence of the turn of events and consequences.  As I said before: myths are powerful, but not always are well aligned with reality.

If you are one of those who observe Passover, have a great Holiday.  For those of who don't, have a great Holiday as well. 

Posted at 10:03AM Apr 16, 2008 by Amiram Hayardeny in Personal  |  Comments[3]

Children of the Sabbath

My wife has strict instructions not to forward email to me that has to do with religion, God, anything that has to do with missionary work of whatever religion.  When I saw this in my mailbox, I was somewhat upset.  It had all characteristics of cheap religious propaganda.  But, since my wife did send it after all, I read it to the end.  And then I thanked her for sending it.  It touched me.  It may you too...  It has nothing to do with religion, it has everything to do with special children, with sensitive children.  And adults as well...

Originally in Hebrew, here's my own translation, the best I could come up with.  It didn't have credits.  I looked it up, and found none on the web either.  If it's yours, just say so and I'd be happy to add the credits.  Thank you for touching...

Here it is:

I've been stuttering since I was four.  When I was a child I stuttered a lot, to the point of losing the ability to speak at times.  Besides this impediment, I was a very active kid, I had many friends, I was an excellent athlete, and a good student too.  In short, I was quite a happy child.  Yet, in every fight, every time someone wanted to hurt me bad, they always used the obvious:  stuttering was always there for everyone to see.  It always worked.  Every single time.

One day, when I was six, I came home crying.  I didn't want to talk to anyone.  I just kept crying.  In the evening, my Dad came from work, my mother told him that I wouldn't talk to anyone, and that I was crying hard since I came back from school.  My father came into my room and asked me what happened.  I didn't answer.  He asked again.  I didn't answer again.  Finally I told him that I hated God.  I think he took it pretty hard...

In the morning, my father woke me up with a story:

Up in the sky, he said, there's a huge baby factory.  All the angels work around the clock, manufacturing babies for the entire world.  The pressure is enormous to meet the deadlines.  They receive orders from China, Japan, America, Europe and Africa.  even Australia.

There's a lot of work, and little time, and everything must be precise.  The angels have special recipes for the creation of all kinds of children.  There's brain material, beauty material, height material.  There are raw materials for good traits, and raw materials for bad traits.  Everything is precise.  There are huge machines, the size of an entire room...

The angels work hard every day.  Dawn to dusk.  No breaks almost.  Taking turns sleeping, and eating while standing up.  All week long.

And then, on Friday, just before noon, a gentle bell rings.  The angels turn the machines off, they turn off the lights at the factory, and they start getting ready for the Sabbath.

Every angel takes a hot shower, and then they all take a a nap.  Just before the Friday night meal, the angels put on special wings, a glowing halo, and white robes.  God prepares the meal, it is filling and tasty as it is beautiful.  The angels tell stories, God does too.  Everybody is busy singing and dancing.  Then everyone clams down and they all go to sleep.  After all, they are tired from a full week of hard work.  In the morning, they sleep in...

God, though, isn't sleeping.  God doesn't work on the Sabbath.  He doesn't make rain or shine, peace or war.  He doesn't make decisions or calls meetings.  Everything is automatic.  He's bored...

So God sneaks out, when nobody looks, to the baby factory.  He collects leftover raw materials from the angels' workbenches, walks over to a corner, and prepares a child.  On his own.  And when God does something, he does it the best possible way.  No recipe, no plan, but wholeheartedly.  So he puts in more brains, more beauty, more personality.  He only puts in good traits.  But then, God realizes, that he has created a child too perfect.  And he realizes that he can't send a too perfect child into the world.  Everyone would know right away that he's been made by God.

So he creates a small imperfection.  Unimportant, negligible...  One of the children is a little short, the other is has a slight limp.  One is cross eyed, and the other, well is stuttering.

Those kids are called the Children of the Sabbath.  And you Michael, my father said, you are one of them...


Every time you see a child with a slight limp, a little cross eyed, a little short, or fat, or stuttering - don't laugh, he may be a Child of the Sabbath.  He may have been created by God Himself...

Posted at 03:16PM Apr 15, 2008 by Amiram Hayardeny in Personal  |  Comments[1]

Celine Dion in Beijing - What a Show!!!

Celine Dion was coming to Beijing.  Big ads were placed in the expat magazines, and I'm sure elsewhere.  I have to admit, that with one exception - the Titanic theme song - I'm not exactly familiar with Celine Dion's work.  I am, however, familiar with her great voice, polished performances, but more from the occasional Oprah's show sightings at home, than from the viewpoint of a fan.  But when a global, entertainment figure such as Celine Dion comes to town, I get tickets, I dress up, I get a babysitter and off we go to the concert.  From previous experience I learned that even if you aren't familiar with the material, even if you don't like the genre, a concert is still plenty of fun.

We didn't get the most expensive tickets, nor the cheapest ones.  We bought the tickets which would have gotten us close enough to stage center, while avoiding taking a second mortgage to finance them.  We were excited.

My wife and I don't go out so much anymore.  I'm not sure whether it's the age, the small children, Beijing.  In any case, this outing would have been an exception.  To the point that our nine year old was pre-occupied with it most of the day.

Anyway.  April 13 came.  The babysitter showed up on time.  The kids were already washed and wearing pajamas.  We were washed and dressed up.  We were ready to go.  Then came a phone call.  The friend on the other side of the line, whom we were to go to the concert with, informed us that the concert was canceled.  We doubted, check the web, confirmed, mourned, and then started to question the refunds.  Since we were already dressed up, the kids sufficiently upset that we were leaving them alone, in the dark, with a familiar stranger... we had to go somewhere.  First order of business: trying to get a refund.

As a side note I would state that I was extremely surprised on multiple levels.  At first I thought that Celine Dion was protesting the Tibet situation with the Chinese government.  That proved wrong.  In fact, Celine Dion stated that she supports the Olympic Games, and she actually DID perform in Shanghai just a few days prior to the scheduled Beijing concert.  I then found out that she was worried that the frequent "sand storms" of Beijing (maybe a better word for pollution) will harm her voice.  Indeed, I question the reason simply because the venue was known months in advance, at least by the time we purchased our own tickets...

So we get into the car, and head to the Worker's Stadium, a major landmark of Beijing.  Trying to lower expectations, I offered to my wife that chances are we will not see money back.  At all.  She started to warm up the engines.  I said, listen, it will take time, negotiations, and some running around to get the money back.  Don't sweat it.  Paying cash has its advantages and disadvantages.  But she wasn't listening.  She was already planning moves, shining armors, sharpening teeth and swords and words.

We arrived at the Workers Stadium, wandered about for a few minutes, until someone directed us to the box office.  The area was fenced, with quite a few security guards walking the area.  When we entered, an attendant took our tickets, verified their authenticity, filled up a few forms, had us sign them and sent us on our way to the cashier.  We were out of there with the entire refund (nothing retained for 'shipping and handling'), in a matter of three minutes at most.  I was floored.  So was my wife, who now was all wired up for nothing...

So, we didn't see a concert, but we most certainly saw an amazing show of customer care, effectiveness and efficiency in defusing a potentially volatile situation.

Celine, I was not much of a fan before.  I am now.  Nothing to do with entertainment or voice.  Everything to do with business.

Posted at 10:18AM Apr 14, 2008 by Amiram Hayardeny in Personal  |  Comments[2]

http://bigmouth.imserious.org/

Always wondered what it's like to have my own blog, in my own domain.  Now I do.  You're invited.  http://bigmouth.imserious.org/

Posted at 09:20PM Apr 09, 2008 by Amiram Hayardeny in Personal  |  Comments[0]

Have a Humorous Day!

A married couple seeks counseling from the village pastor.  They are obviously upset.  They stand before the pastor, and the pastor asks what brings them over.  The man says that they just had a baby boy, and they can't agree on a name.  The husband wants to name him after his father, and the wife wants to name him after hers.  The pastor asks the husband what his father name was.  "Jacob" comes the answer.  Then he asks the wife for her father's name, and the wife says "Jacob".  Then the pastor asks the husband what was his father's occupation, and he says "my late father, may he rest in peace was a petty thief".  To the same question, the wife answers "he was a good-for-nothing bum and drunk".  The pastor then says to the frustrated couple: "why don't you name him Jacob and wait".  He takes a sip of his hot tea and adds: "if he turns out to be a petty thief, then he was named after your father" he says to the husband.  He turns to the wife and says: "And if he turns out to be a good-for-nothing bum and drunk", then he certainly is named after yours.

Funny?  Arguably so.  Hilarious?  Probably not.  But try to tell this joke to a lady I love with all my heart: my mother.  Her facial expression will not change even a little, she will most certainly not laugh.  She will, however, start an inquiry: "but they both had the same name, didn't they?", "what if the boy turns out neither a thief nor a bum?".  And then the following statement will come: "this joke isn't funny".

It's quite discouraging to tell a joke to an audience made up of people like my mother.  For sure, there'll be no laughter.  There may be a lot of questioning, with a conclusion at the end that may encourage you to become a stamp collector rather than a comedian.  My mother-in-law is not too far behind.  In fact, I was thinking, if I could get both of them into Carnegie Hall, with no choreography and no script, and absolutely no preparation, sell tickets and just let them tell jokes to each other, I would be the proud owner of an over night smash hit.  I can imagine people laughing out of breath.

But seriously, what constitutes a good joke?  And even more interesting, what constitutes a sense of humor?

I found two definitions.  Humor: the trait of appreciating (and being able to express) the humorous;  (http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=sense%20of%20humor)
Humor: the ability or quality of people, objects, or situations to evoke feelings of amusement in other people. The term encompasses a form of entertainment or human communication which evokes such feelings, or which makes people laugh or feel happy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense_of_humor)

In short, the ability to tell jokes in a way that makes people laugh, and to laugh at a good joke (agreeably a subjective issue), constitutes the presence of a sense of humor.  Clearly, some have it, some don't. 

And what constitutes a good joke?  I really can't tell.  But it may have something to do with expectations.  Read this (http://www.maddogproductions.com/ds_expectations.htm), you may find it funny, or at least interesting.

Last but not least: would you consider the following a good joke?  A married couple is having a conversation.  Out of nowhere the husband asks his wife if she would consider changing positions.  She goes: "of course, love! why don't you come here and do the ironing, while I sit and burp in front of the TV..."

Have a funny day!

Posted at 08:45AM Apr 09, 2008 by Amiram Hayardeny in Personal  |  Comments[0]

Kudos China, Kudos Air China

Two years ago, when I moved to China I flew Air China a couple of times, once to San Francisco.   Following the flight to SFO I made it my business to try and find an alternative airline.  Late last year we flew to Bangkok, and early this year to India.  With Air China.  The transformation was nothing short of amazing.  On time departure, excellent service, better food.  Flying to the US now, and obviously around China, Air China has become my airline of choice.  Well done!

Last week I flew to Shanghai.  From the brand new terminal 3 in Beijing International Airport.  One word: outstanding.  Terminal 3 puts Beijing International in the first row of international airports around the globe: Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Charles De Gaulle, Paris.  It's huge, beautiful, comfortable.  Well done.

I'm hoping that the Olympic Games will not be taken hostage by whoever to fix things need fixings.  I would vote for separation.  Things are changing here, and not so slowly.  But time is of the essence.  Let the athletes play, let China shine.  Beijing is shaping up for the Olympics, it will be spectacular.

Posted at 10:43AM Apr 05, 2008 by Amiram Hayardeny in Personal  |  Comments[2]

Fighting an Already Lost War Part II

I don't usually write sequel posts.  But this time I felt that one was in order.  Two issues needed further explanation in my mind: what does it mean to "win a war", and what does the GDP comparison have to do with anything.  Being me, I will probably write some more views following the two topics.

What does it mean to win a war.  What's victory?  I propose that there isn't one definition, nor is there agreement on the definitions.  Here's my interpretation.  To permanently drive the enemy away from its claims for land or riches.  If you read carefully, the word permanently is key.  Lets take Israel for example.  Israel, despite its willingness to pay heftily for the right to be where it always has been (there was a continuous Jewish-Israeli settlement in most parts of Israel for thousands of years), was unsuccessful in driving the enemy's claim for it's entire territory.  It did win a couple of battles over the years, but it most certainly didn't win the war.  I contend that it simply can't.  The reason is that the claims will remain for the foreseeable future, possibly indefinitely.  Demographics and perseverance may prevail eventually.  Does Israel seem to be a strong country?  Indeed.  Does it have the most powerful military in the Middle East?  Most certainly.  Is it able to use this powerful army to eliminate its enemies' claim for land and riches?  I think not.  Is there a victor in this conflict?  I can't see it.  Is there a loser?  I see one at least.  Possibly more.  Two neighboring peoples sacrificing their best, brightest and youngest, raising generations upon hatred, terror, suicide.  Victory?  Don't think so.

What does the GDP have to do with all this?  Simple.  The more you have, the least you want to sacrifice, the more you have to lose.  For Israelis (and Americans) to go back to basics (i.e. bread, cheese and an occasional olive) is unthinkable, unacceptable, unimaginable.  For Israel's neighbors that's not a long way at all.  Israel is not doing so badly.  But is it up to its potential?  No way!  A million Israelis have left the country since it was established in 1948.  Many of them are in the US, inventing stuff.  All those guys could have been placing Israel at the top of the game from a high tech viewpoint.  (indeed, you may claim that Israel is at the top of the game, I contend it could have been even more).  Israel spends on security relative to GDP more than any other country in the world.  Spent on education and medicine, even art, it could have been heaven on earth.  Instead, it's losing its edge on education and science.  Sorry to raise the obvious question again: who's winning???

The US is in a similar situation.  The US spends $1B on each Stealth Bomber.  Who knows how many billions on an aircraft carrier.  What if all this money was spent on public medicine for example?  Wouldn't it cover all those who are middle class, but work in jobs without medical insurance, but make too much to be eligible for Medicaid?  Maybe allow a few more thousand of less privileged people to get college education?  Who's winning?  A few more years in Iraq will bring America to its knees, while for the Afghans as well as the Iraqis, it will mean a few more years of bread, cheese and an occasional olive.  And if the objective is indeed to have a democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq, then I'm willing to bet, a loser will be identified, soon.  Take a guess.  Who would that loser be?

Posted at 09:21PM Apr 01, 2008 by Amiram Hayardeny in Personal  |  Comments[2]