|¥|@µ®¡'s ß└°g

Why having a Samsung Galaxy I7500 both sucks and rocks

2010-10-27T21:20:00.000+02:00

So I recently got a Samsung Galaxy I7500 with an Android operating system. This phone is one of the first Android phones to come out, and so it came with one of the first Android operating systems, 1.5

It sucks having it because Samsung won't release any updates for it (3 more versions of Android have been released since 1.5), they refuse to even answer emails of users asking about updates, and working on an update or giving support to users has never even crossed their minds, because Samsung sucks like that.

On the other hand, having a Galaxy I7500 rocks because there is a big community of users and developers that have been working on creating their own updates and support each other. Right now, Android operating system 1.6 (Galaxo 1.6.3.4) has been created and released by Drakaz, and he is working on porting Android operating system version 2.2 (newest one when this post was written) to this device.

In what Samsung falls short, a big community is striving, helping each other with problems with the Galaxy, helping each other upgrade their crappy-slow-crashy phones to the newest operating system version. All in the spirit of Open Source, inspired by Google's Android platform that was created in open source precisely for this reason, to be able to get past the short-fallings of manufacturers and empower users to better the Android system.

Although this device isn't the fastest or most advanced Android phone, I'm happy I have it mostly because of the community that surrounds it. Other Android phones, even though they're faster and more advanced, don't count with a community as active and helpful as the Galaxy I7500's, and that is the only reason I'm not bitching from here to the moon about this Samsung's device, because of the community, not because of the manufacturer.

As an active part of the community, I try to help users posting replies in forums and I even posted my own tutorial on how to upgrade the old 1.5 operating system to 1.6.3.4, I've received a lot of feedback and it makes me happy to be able to help other Galaxy I7500 owners upgrade their phones.

I'm eternally thankful to Drakaz for his work on the phone's updates and plan on keep helping other users with their Galaxy I7500s until I get a new phone ;)

That's why it both sucks and rocks having a Samsung Galaxy I7500.

The Downside of living in the Jewish State -- Una desventaja de vivir en el Estado Judío

2009-09-27T15:31:00.002+02:00

There is a great thing about being a Jew living in Israel. I no longer have to explain why I can't come to work or school on the Jewish Holidays, and I don't have to take any sick days off work/school to be able to celebrate the different holidays. I get 'official' days off on the holidays and the Sabbath, and so does the rest of the country.

Pretty cool right? Well you would think so, except for when it has to do with you trying to live in this 21st century that depends [almost] completely on technology. And what happens when your internet connection is down? Or when the electricity in your house stops working, or you have a major water leak? Nobody will help you. Everybody is taking the day off and won't help you, and if they are willing to do so, it will cost you more than double the normal price.

Right now I'm writing this post in my computer that is not connected to the internet, I'm offline, disconnected from the world, because my internet connection is down and when I tried calling both the infrastructure provider (HOT) and the ISP (Netvision), their recordings welcomed me saying that they're closed until tomorrow night, have a nice holiday... that means, close to 30 hours without internet :'(

It makes me reflect upon the fact that today, a computer without internet, is like a car without gasoline. You can enjoy some of the neat things that it can do, like turning the lights on and off, listen to music, but it won't take you anywhere.

I like living in Israel, but the "service culture" could improve a lot. For example, there could be small 'emergency-teams' that work during the holidays in companies that provide services as important as the internet, electricity, water, cellular communications, etc.

What I have left now is to pray that a miracle will happen and that the internet will come back on it's own. Maybe when all the other Jews go to pray and stay off electric and mechanical machines the internet will free up and return to me.

Or maybe it's just a Jewish conspiration to disconnect us all from our computers and make us atone on this Yom Kippur.

Whatevs!

While waiting for the internet to come back, Gmar Jatima Tova and Shana Tova,

Disconnected,

|¥|@µ®¡

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Hay algo genial sobre ser un Judío que viven en Israel. Ya no tengo que explicar por qué no puedo ir al trabajo o a la escuela en las fiestas judías, y no tengo que tomarme días de enfermedad del trabajo / escuela para poder celebrar las diferentes festividades. Aquí nos dan 'días oficiales' de vacaciones durante las fiestas, al igual que los sábados, y es lo mismo para todos los ciudadanos del país.

¿Bastante bien no? Es lo que se podría pensar, a excepción de cuando tiene que ver con tratar de vivir en este siglo 21 que depende [casi] totalmente en la tecnología. ¿Y qué ocurre cuando tu conexión a Internet está caída? ¿O cuando la electricidad en casa deja de funcionar, o si tienes una fuga de agua? Nadie te ayudará. Todo el mundo está tomando el día libre y no te hacen caso, y si están dispuestos a hacerlo, te costará más del doble del precio normal.

Ahora mismo estoy escribiendo este post en mi computadora que no está conectada a Internet, estoy fuera de línea, desconectado del mundo, porque mi conexión a Internet está caída y cuando he intentado llamar tanto a los proveedores de infraestructura (HOT) y al proveedor de internet (Netvision), sus grabaciones me reciben diciendo que están cerrados hasta mañana por la noche y que me desean felicidades por las fiestas ... Eso significa cerca de 30 horas sin internet :'(

Esto me hace reflexionar sobre el hecho de que hoy en día una computadora sin internet, es como un coche sin gasolina. Puedes disfrutar de algunas de las cosas interesantes que puede hacer, como prender y apagar las luces dentro y fuera, escuchar música, etc., pero no te llevará a ninguna parte.

Me gusta vivir en Israel, pero la "cultura de servicio" podría mejorar mucho. Por ejemplo, podría haber "pequeños equipos de emergencia" que trabajan durante las festividades en las empresas que prestan servicios tan importantes como el internet, electricidad, agua, comunicaciones celulares, etc

No me queda nada mas que orar para que un milagro suceda y que el Internet regrese solito. Tal vez, cuando todos los Judios se vayan rezar y se mantengan alejados de aparatos eléctricos y mecánicos, el Internet se libere un poco y regrese.

O tal vez es sólo una conspiración judía para desconectarnos a todos de nuestras computadoras y nos haga expiar en este Yom Kipur.

Whatevs!

Mientras espero que vuelva el Internet, Gmar Jatima Tova y Shana Tova,

Desconectado,

|¥|@μ®¡

If only breaking up was so easy

2009-08-01T22:40:00.003+03:00

If only breaking up was so easy...

Si tan solo cortar con tu novia fuera tan facil...

Where do you come from???

2009-02-22T20:13:00.005+02:00

Hello y'all!

Since I started this blog I've seen the number of visitors grow and grow. And the little map at the bottom of the blog shows people coming from the most random places.

Sometimes I wonder how people found this blog.
Would you mind sharing with me how you found my blog? Comment.

Thanx!

Israel Football League

2009-02-06T17:15:00.007+02:00

I was watching the Superbowl on METV (Middle East TV, a Lebanese channel) because they show the original American feed, that is, with the original commercials and the whole shabang. During one of the commercial cuts, the American commercials didn't come on, and instead, the METV commercials showed. One of those commercials was about the IFL (www.ifl.co.il). I went to check out their website and decided that I needed to go see one of these games. First of all, because I like football, and second of all, because I had to see with my own eyes football being played in Israel.

The games are played either on Fridays before Shabbat starts or on Saturday evening when Shabbat is over. Today's game (Friday morning) was played in Yoqneam, a small town 40 minutes north of where I live. The Haifa Underdogs received the Jerusalem Kings. It was obvious from the first look that this was an amateur league, with no goal posts (I'm wondering if there is any field in Israel with football goal posts), no scoreboard, no clock and the field was only 70 yards long (mid field was on the 35 yard line). But besides the things before mentioned, the players were wearing the full gear and were pumped up, there were 4 referees that called the plays (mostly well) and a small group of fans, most of them relatives of the players or coaches, cheering for their teams.

This league is by no means professional, and you won't see the next Roger Staubach being scouted from this league, but it has a great significance. The fact that there is an American Football League in Israel means that the sport is becoming more popular... and perhaps one day it could become a real pro-league.

In the meantime, I'm planning on not only going to see more games, but actually getting involved in some volunteering capacity. Who knows, maybe one day I'll be coaching my own IFL team ;)

-------------------------------------------------------

Some of the jokes/observations I blurbed out of my mouth today:

"If we get lost, we can't ask for directions... nobody around here knows what football is."
"Show the replay!"
"Challenge that call coach!"
"Where's the guy that sells beer?"
"What's the halftime show?"
"Why isn't the PA system playing any music?"

-------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for reading,
Mau

PS: The Underdogs creamed the Kings

ACA

2009-01-14T02:48:00.004+02:00

Jan 1^st, 2009

I woke up in my sister’s house at 7:00am. The temperature outside was 6°C (43°F), when I got out of the house I could see my breath, it was really really cold. Got in the van and started driving southwest. About 400km and 4 hours later, got out of the van and found myself shveetzing at 31°C (88°F).

I thought to myself “it’s so nice to be able to wear shorts in January, this rocks!”

Went straight up to the room to change into a bathing suit and made my way down to the pool and beach area. Drank the coconut juice straight from the coconut and once I finished the juice I asked the “señor” to take the coconut to peel and cut, prepare it with lemon and “salsa buffalo”; ate the whole thing. Awesome! The temperature of the water is perfect, the sand on the beach is great, I’m sitting on a pool side bed, under not so hot sun, but hot enough to tan you; and aside of the bubbles of dirt that sometimes float in the water, it’s all great!

I’m here with my sister, brother in law and my two nephews, I hadn’t plan to come to Acapulco, so my sister and her family inviting me over has made this Mexico trip a greater experience than expected.

Dad’s birthday/family reunion on the 31^st was also great. Seeing [almost] the whole family, brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews was also superb!

I can’t get enough of this beach and it’s paradise like weather! I ♥ ACA!

Travel Blog entry #1 - Security

2008-12-27T16:32:00.000+02:00

As I was getting in line for the security inspection at the [Ben Gurion] airport, you know, where they x-ray your bag, the man in front of me started to take off his coat, belt and shoes, when the x-ray machine operator told him in a really thick Israeli accent “no, no, there is no striptease here”, to what the man responded with an incredulous “what do you mean”, the Israeli security guard then said “we don’t do that in Israel, no need, here fine.”

That’s cool, I thought to myself without making too much of it; but life can surprise you sometimes with this kind of little things. Got on the plane and four and a half hours later I landed in Paris, got off the plane and started to try to make sense of the crazy disarray of how the Charles DeGaulle airport is built. I finally figured out that I had to take a bus to terminal 2E, when the bus finally showed up, the doors of the building opened to let us out and to let us feel the freezing cold outside (0°C or 32°F). To my surprise, the bus was as cold as the outside, no heating! And every time it stopped, the lady driver would leave the doors open to let nobody in and us freeze inside! It sucked! I don’t think any of the airport terminals are really conditioned, it’s so freaking cold!

I finally got to terminal 2E, got my boarding pass for the next flight and got in line for the security inspection. Oh boy! French security is retarded!!! A line of about 10 people took about half an hour! They made everyone

take out of their bags laptops, phones, ipods, mp3 players, cameras, camcorders, disk on keys, phone chargers, any cables or anything electronic related. Other things that had to be put in those plastic trays to be x-rayed were: coats, hats, belts, shoes, jewelry, change, etc. It took for freakin’ ever!!!

Then I started walking around the terminal to find out that there isn’t a single place where you can smoke, and worst of all, the whole airport smells like perfumed fart! Everywhere smells like fart, just with a little perfume on top, it’s disgusting!!!

But after those two completely different experiences in security screening, I have to say that I still trust about 50 times more the relaxed, super high-tech security check in Israel than the slow but “thorough” security check in France. I know that the plane leaving from Israel won’t get highjacked or explode in mid air, while the plane that leaves from Paris, well… who knows? And if you’re wondering about rudeness, the French turned out to be way more assholes than the Israelis… at least so far.

Bottom-line, can’t wait to get out of stupid Frenchland, where they charge for the internet and a cup of coffee is 5 Euros!

The only good thing that I found in this place is that there are a couple PlayStation3 demonstration stations where you can actually play for free… mostly non violent demo-limited games, but hey, it’s free PlayStation! Gots to play!

(Still smells like fart)

About the following posts

2008-12-27T16:10:00.003+02:00

I'm traveling in Mexico and in this blog I will try to plasm an anthropological image of my experience here, and of what used to be my day to day life, with all the folklore that becomes part of the routine and the ordinary for somebody who lives here, but that is exotic and interesting to foreign eyes.

I hope it comes out well.

2008-12-16T22:55:00.002+02:00

I haven't written in a while, and in English even longer... Keeping up a blog is hard, even though I have thousands of ideas that cross my mind every day, and there is always something worth dedicating a moment to contemplate, sometimes I even think of writing about it in this blog.
But things happen so fast and situations lead to other situations, and by the time I reach a computer so many things have happened that created a whole experience, a complete day, and I can't get myself to reflect upon only one thing to spill it in this blog.

I guess that is the frustration of the newbie bloggers, who don't know what to write about, can't find the time to do it, or are just procrastinating and just can't get themselves to do anything at all (all apply to me, yes).
Sometimes, there is a kind of pressure that prevents you from writing in your blog. Like what are the readers going to think? Will they like it or not? Will they be offended by something I wrote? Can they misunderstand my intentions? Do they think this is stupid? Will they disagree? And a million more other questions that just don't let you write.

But the truth is that a blog is supposed to be anything, or not nothing... well, anything. Got me?
Postmodern? Oh, fuck yeah! But it is important to understand, that [at least] this blog is just a collection of thoughts, images, sounds and other random shit that appears before me and that I choose to share with you.

About all the questions that I wrote before, the truth is that I don't care about the answers, this is my blog, if you like it, you are invited to read it and participate; if you don't like it, well, thanks for coming anyway.

If you're still reading this, good for you! ;) I'll keep doing what I've been doing. Wishful thinking makes me want to say that I'll write more, but you know how it is, blogging and procrastination come hand in hand.

Today I'm writing not because I'm not busy, because I really am, but because I came around to my blog and was sad to see that I haven't updated it in a while, so here you have me.

As a reward for your patience, I share with you this link for an awesome auto-cooperative game, help yourself have fun and enjoy! http://www.nekogames.jp/mt/2008/01/cursor10.html

Visit my cellphone photo blog and my website for other random stuff.

Podcast #12

2008-11-12T18:49:00.002+02:00

Si es que alguien tiene la necesidad de hacer algún comentario sobre el podcast #12, por favor háganlo aquí.

Cometín: Seguro tu tienes algo que decir al respecto no?

http://mauweb.net/

Bart Simpson's wet dream

2008-10-09T20:54:00.001+02:00

Smoker's area... more like Smoker's dead trap

2008-06-30T18:04:00.007+03:00

I've been meaning to write this post for a while now, inspired by my last few trips out of Israel since I took up the new [nasty] habit of smoking.

I noticed that smoking is prohibited in most public places around the world, but in the major airports around the world they managed to understand the stupidity of all the human beings that decided to smoke despite the known deadly consequences of this deadly habit. In all these airports that I'm talking about (Madrid, Rome, Poland, Mexico City, etc.) smoking areas with air purifiers, smoke exhaust fans, windows, and other ventilation systems, were set up around the premises of the airports to allow the smokers to indulge in their vice.

Frequent cleaning of these places is a constant in all these airports, these areas are also easy to find (plenty of signs around) and they are small enough to encourage the smokers to have their cigarette and leave to make room for other smokers.

The Ben Gurion international airport in Israel seems to be the exception. The smoking area located in a difficult to find corner of the airport (almost no signs at all), has no ventilation or air purifying system, it's dirty, sticky, crowded, smokey and disgusting! The garbage, cigarette butts, and ashes pile up in disgusting stinky mountains. Sometimes, there are so many people in there smoking that you would need infra red gogles to find your way around this thick smoke filled room.

Last time I was flying out of Israel, I found myself sitting in this little room with a bunch of time and a laptop, so I decided to write an email to the person in charge of Public Relations of Ben Gurion Airport (telmas@iaa.gov.il), and it read as follows:

"Hello:

I am an Israeli citizen and resident, and a smoker. I travel a lot from and to Ben Gurion airport around the year and I am dissatisfied with the smoking areas at the airport.

I do not intend for you to make this areas bigger, more central or more comfortable. All I ask is for some ventilation in there. It is really unpleasant to walk in there and smell the scent of old cigarettes and smoke. While I don't think that these should be central areas of the airport, I think that at least you could organize some ventilation in there and an hourly clean-up.

I know I'm not the first person to comment on this, and I respectfully urge you to do something about it.
Thanks in advance,
------------"

Several months have past since I wrote that email and I haven't got any responses. I encourage you to write as well and demand that these people, the smokers, are treated with respect and dignity. And if you don't want to do it for the smokers, do it for me! Cause even though I don't fly out of Israel that often, I would like to be able to have a cigarette before I get on the plane and not have my clothes, hair and body smelling like a beduin after cooking for the whole chamula for a straight week!

Dedicado al dictador argentino eSe >:( !!!!

2008-05-13T15:58:00.002+03:00

Ya saben, el que tiene nombre de actor de telenovela.

MINGA TU CHADRE BASDITO MALTARDO!
Los que entendieron este post, dejen comment.

Efemérides

2008-05-04T15:06:00.007+03:00

"Yom HaShoa ve HaGbura" es el Día de Conmemoración del Holocausto y de la resistencia y el levantamiento en armas de los Judíos en el Holocausto, se celebra el 27 de Nissan del calendario judío, que es una fecha diferente cada año en el calendario gregoriano. Este año se la fecha coincidió con el 1° de Mayo, que es otro día importante para la sociedad mundial.

Yom Hashoa es un día que se observa en Israel de forma oficial, los negocios trabajan solamente medio día y el ambiente es muy solemne en todo el país. En la radio se escuchan solamente canciones relacionadas con el Holocausto y la televisión no transmite programas de entretenimiento. Generalmente solo hay dos o tres canales locales que muestran documentales u otros programas relacionados con el tema. A las 11:00 am se escuchan sirenas por todo el país a lo largo de un minuto, en ese momento todo el país para. Los peatones se detienen e inclínan la cabeza, los autos en las calles y las carreteras se detienen y la gente baja de sus autos. Otras personas permanecen en sus casas con sus familias y en la noche asisten a ceremonias de conmemoración que se celebran en todos los centros de las ciudades del país.

El 1° de Mayo, el "Día del Trabajo" es un día en el que se celebran los derechos de los trabajadores, la jornada laboral de 8 horas, vacaciones, retiro, sindicato, etc. En muchos países alrededor del mundo, incluyendo Israel, se celebra saliendo a marchar a las calles exigiendo el cumplimiento de los derechos de los trabajadores y celebrando la existencia de los mismos, además de ser una manifestación es también una gran fiesta.

Este año, al coincidir ambas fechas y con el evidente conflicto de sus formas de celebración, se tuvo que cambiar la fecha de una de estas efemérides. No voy a entrar en detalles de las consideraciones que se tomaron en cuenta para llegar a la conclusión, la onda es que cambiaron la fecha de celebración del Día del Trabajo para este 5 de Mayo.

El 5 de Mayo se conmemora la Batalla de Puebla, en la que el Gral. Ignacio Zaragoza venció al Gral. Charles Ferdinand Latrille al frente del ejército francés de Napoleón III. Es un día de orgullo mexicano, se celebra haber vencido al ejército más experimentado y reputado de la época. Aunque siempre ha sido un día feriado y celebrado en México, en los últimos tiempos, con la migración más extensa de mexicanos, los paisanos han tomado este día como una forma de celebrar la independencia en las narices de los colonizadores. No es sorpresa que el lugar del mundo donde más personas celebran el 5 de Mayo es en EEUU; de la misma forma en que los esclavos negros del siglo XIX inventaron canciones de protesta que cantaban frente a sus amos y ellos ni cuenta se daban de lo que se trataba, los mexicanos hoy hacen lo mismo con la fiesta del 5 de Mayo.

O sea que aquí el único que se jodió fui yo! Este año no podré celebrar el 5 de Mayo... ¡chale! Con lo que me cagan los franceses!

Always use protection...

2008-05-02T11:37:00.000+03:00

Ley anti tabaco, Vips, corrupción, manipulación... ¡huevos!

2008-04-18T02:24:00.009+03:00

No cabe duda de que los seres humanos y las sociedades seguimos patrones de comportamiento.

En mis últimos viajes a México, he visto como estos patrones se van siguiendo. Un ejemplo de esto es lo que ocurre con las leyes anti tabaco. En Israel ya pasó lo que está pasando ahora en México, y esta es una predicción de lo que va a suceder con la ley anti tabaco en México.

Los primeros pasos fueron la separación de áreas de fumar y no fumar, después solo se podía utilizar una parte de la sección exterior para el área de fumadores, luego solo se podía fumar en áreas separadas por una barrera (pared y puerta), posteriormente se prohibió fumar en cualquier área del establecimiento, o sea todos los lugares se convirtieron en aviones.
Y hablando de aviones, debo denunciar que en el aeropuerto Ben Gurión de Tel Aviv, el "área de fumadores" es un cuartito cucho en el culo del aeropuerto, separado por una pared de vidrio del resto de los seres humanos, para entrar ahí hay que estar preparado para salir apestando como si te hubieras fumado mil millones de cigarros y a que alguien te pegue alguna enfermedad venérea. Ahí los fumadores son mostrados a través de la vitrina, señalados y marginados. No los mataría hacer algo por la ventilación de ese espacio y una limpiecita por lo menos cada seis horas. El "área de fumadores" es asquerosa y degradante.

En el aeropuerto Benito Juárez de la Ciudad de México, en la nueva terminal número dos, la más moderna y avanzada de Latinoamérica, no existen áreas para fumadores, cero, nada, ni una esquinita. Solo se puede fumar afuera de las instalaciones, y no cuentan con ceniceros ni basureros en el exterior, y si te ven tirando la colilla, ahí están los polis listos para salirte con el clásico "¿Qué pasoo jefeee? Aquí no se puede tirar basura, a ver muéstreme sus papeles, que se mi hace que aste'es terrorista. A ver pareja búsquele las bolsas, si nos sale narco también hasta salimos en la tele ." hijos de su p#]@ %!"#$8/()=?¡]¨*_:[*¨}]?/&%)( !!!!!!!!!!!!
Después de mucha presión (lobbying), sobre todo por parte de los restauranteros (restaurantes, cafés, bares y demás tuburios), en Israel la ley cambió para volver a permitir las áreas de fumar en los lugares públicos siempre y cuando exista una barrera física que separe las secciones.

Ahora en México, Vips está liderando el camino para llegar a esta misma conclusión, solo que con una pequeña diferencia, y esa es la gente que está detrás de esta iniciativa. En Israel fueron los pequeños negocios y la cultura de la sociedad, en México también lo es la cultura de la sociedad, representada por un corporativo internacional.

La cadena de restaurantes Vips promovió el primer amparo contra la Ley de Protección a la Salud de No Fumadores del Distrito Federal, lo que significa que esta ley no se aplica en sus establecimientos, o sea que ahí se puede seguir fumando. Eso le da a la cadena Vips una ENORME ventaja contra la competencia: pequeños cafés, restaurantes y bares; que no cuentan con áreas para fumadores.

Pero, ¿quién es dueño de Vips?
Vips pertenece a WalMart, la empresa más grande y poderosa del mundo con ventas de casi el 60% del PIB de México. Si Walmart fuera país sería la potencia económica 15 del mundo.

Scratch needle Pero no quiero hablar de WalMart ni de la maldad que representa, además, este no es un post de esos propagandistas que dicen que WalMart es evil (aunque si lo sea) solo intento mostrar como las leyes de México son manipuladas a conveniencia de una empresa privada y no a conveniencia de la sociedad y de los seres humanos.

YO personalmente soy fumador social, o sea que la ley me afecta directamente a mi, estoy a favor de la separación pero en contra de la prohibición, y me caga la madre que una pinche empresa privada sea la que dicte como tiene que ser la ley. ¡Me caga! Aunque estoy de acuerdo con lo que creo que va a ser la conclusión de este drama, que será igual que aquí en Israel, odio lo que lo la impulsa.

Pero fumadores, no desesperéis, que nosotros los humanos seguimos patrones y llegarán a la misma conclusión a la que llegamos aquí, se puede fumar en el mismo establecimiento si las áreas están bien separadas.

Comprendo a las personas que sufren del humo de los fumadores, yo también sufro de lo mismo. Aunque fumo ocasionalmente, realmente me molesta el humo de segunda mano, conozco los efectos de su inhalación y además hace que me ardan los ojos. Pero creo que todos tenemos que vivir en equilibrio con los demás, aceptar a todos como son y respetarnos mutuamente. Todos tenemos que ser más conscientes de la existencia de los demás y aprender a coexistir de verdad.

Relaaaaaaaax!!!

Jan 10, 2008: Yotzim la derech

2008-01-11T01:26:00.000+02:00

Words can hardly express exactly what happened in there, after many years of knowing what the right thing to do is, after a long time of trying to reach compromises to make things work, after having several meetings to try to reach a solution, and after all that failing, the time came to take one of the most important steps in the development of the bogrim (alumni) movement of Habonim Dror.

Confrontation has always been a very difficult thing for, to have to confront a person that I appreciate and I like, was particularly hard for me. I went into that office after not sleeping well for two weeks, very anxious and nervous. At the beginning of the meeting I was all choked up and wishing myself in a calm beach in the Mexican Pacific. One of the things that kept me going was knowing that We knew that this is the right thing for the movement and that the chaverim of the movement are doing this together, as a movement, because we recognize that it is our responsibility to take this movement back to its historic place of being the hard-core of the Jewish people.
I naturally had to refer myself to the authors, the movement founders, the historical leaders of this movement, for instance, Zivia. In a different way than any time before, I understood what Zivia meant by saying that "The Movement always knew how to demand everything from its members. The Movement’s goal has always been to educate a new kind of man, capable of enduring the most adverse conditions and difficult times while standing up for the emancipation of our people, of the Jew, of mankind. It was our Movement education which gave us the strength to endure." I pushed myself to confront my fear of confrontation and do what's right.

The meeting went well, with a good, pleasantly tense and calm atmosphere, things were said very clear from both sides, and an agreement was reached; the agreement was on disagreeing and on going on a struggle where the winner will be the one that stands by their principles the longest and who receives the support of the rest of the members of the movement around the world, not to mention whoever can do all this while still managing to pay the rent and feed their spring.

At the present moment we are all in shock, all parties involved and bystanders. We are thinking and re-thinking every thing that happened in the meeting and after it, every comment, every phone call, every muscle spasm. I honestly thought that after today's meeting I would be able to go to sleep easily, but I don't think that's exactly what's going to happen, I still feel a nut in my stomach and feel more responsible than ever to do what's right for this movement, the movement that taught me to stand by my principles, to fight for my rights, to not accept to ever be oppressed, to believe that all human beings are equal just for being humans and to live by my values (among other things).

These are crucial times that will determine whether Habonim Dror will become, first of all, a real movement with education as it's most important priority, and then the movement that it aims for by working in the bettering of Israeli Society and positively affecting the future of the Jewish nation, or whether it will become a pluralist club with no values to actualize in it's center, a place where educational processes are not the priority, a pyramidal structured organization, "an empty semel" (symbol) that will eventually disappear because of apathy or bankruptcy.

Our recognized enemies are apathy, greed for power, capitalism and post-modernism, our allies are our values and principles, and knowing that we are part of a movement of people that is willing to live according to their beliefs.
If you are a member of Habonim Dror from any country, and somehow got to this post, you are welcome to email me with your concerns, advise, questions, comments, or any thing you can think of. I only represent my own opinion and view, but more than anything, I'm just writing to express what I'm personally going through in this stage of my life as a life-long member of Habonim Dror.

Ale v'hagshem!

Mauri

Nuevo Podcast

2007-12-11T02:51:00.000+02:00

Jejerejeje

Mauri ya subió un nuevo podcast: Sueño Venezolano

Es el nueve.

Bájenlo, no me se el link, pero háganlo.

Te gané Mauri

visitenme en www.elblogdemaurice.blogspot.com

tengo un podcast también en www.radiomaurice.blogspot.com

Disculpa Mauri por hacerme de tu medio para publicitarme.

Saludos

Atte. Mauri

Brillantemente genial

2007-12-07T11:58:00.000+02:00

¿Y tu?... ¿Has estado en una situación similar?

|¥|@µ®¡'s P0d©A$t

2007-11-30T23:17:00.000+02:00

|¥|@µ®¡'s P0d©A$t #8 - "Polonia y la violencia" ¡Está aquí!

Haz Click aquí para bajarlo a tu computadora, o aun mejor: Subscríbete al |¥|@µ®¡'s P0d©A$t en iTunes (solo haz click aquí). Tu iTunes abrirá la Tienda iTunes, haz click en SUBSCRIBE (los podcasts son 100% gratis)

Jerusalem - I love this song!

2007-08-13T23:24:00.000+03:00

When I tell you that I love you
Don't test my love
Accept my love, don't test my love
Cause maybe I don't love you all that much

Don't ask what kind of music I'm gonna play tonight
Just stay awhile, hear for yourself awhile
And if you must put me in a box, make sure it's a big box
With lots of windows
And a door to walk through
And a nice high chimney
So we can burn burn burn everything that we don't like
And watch the ashes fly up to Heaven
Maybe all the way to India
I'd like that

All the ancient kings came to my door
They said "Do you want to be an ancient king too?"
I said "Oh yes very much
But I think my timing's wrong"
They said "Time is relative
Or did you misread Einstien"
I said "Do you really mean it?"
They said "What do you think we come here for
Our goddamn health or something?"

Everybody's waiting for the Messiah
The Jews are waiting
Christians are waiting
Also are the Muslims
It's like everybody's waiting
They been waiting a long time
I know how I hate to wait
Like even for a bus or something
An important phone call
So I can just imagine how darn impatient
Everyone must be getting

So I think it's time now
Time to reveal myself
I am the Messiah
I am the Messiah

Yes I think you heard me right
I am the Messiah
I was gonna wait till next year
Build up the suspense a little
Make it a really big surprise
But I could not resist
It's like when you got a really big secret
You're just bursting to tell someone
It was kinda like that with this
And now that I've told you
I feel this great weight lifted
Dr. Nusbaum was right
He's my therapist
He said get it out in the open

I spent ten whole days in Jerusalem
Mmmm Jerusalem sweet Jerusalem
And all I ate was olives
Nothing but olives
Mountains of olives
It was a good ten days
I like olives
I like you too

So When I tell you that I love you
Don't test my love
Accept my love, don't test my love
Cause maybe I don't love you all that much

----------------
Now playing: Dan Bern - Jerusalem

Would you dare?

2007-08-11T23:19:00.000+03:00

As many of you, I have heard some crazy stories or urban myths about the soldiers in the Israeli Army, from the rambo type operations to medics using iv's just to cool down in the Israeli summer.

Lately, I've been thinking about the iv thing... I'm not really considering it (of course), I'm too much of a whooz to let a needle get even close to my precious body, but I've been wondering about the kind of person it takes to do it, just for the fun of it.

This is the scenario told by the myth: An israeli medic is shveetzing in the middle of the summer, in the middle of the desert. Over 40°C (104°F for you funny americans). The medic happens to have a refrigerated bag of intravenous solution. So he plugs himself for cooling off his body. It lowers his body temperature and he feels good! No damage done, except for the little pain of the needle.

I would never be able to do it, as discussed before.

Would you do it?

What if it was really really hot? ;)

I would like to know what you would do. Leave a comment, I'll write back, I give you my word.
Write in any language, I don't care, balls: I'll even try to write back in עברית

How I didn't want to join facebook

2007-06-24T20:28:00.000+03:00

Yeah, I really didn't want to do it, but I got so many invitations, emails and told so many times that I should join, that it all started as innocent curiosity, but once you sign up and give them your email, everyone who has been looking for you there, pretty much become your contacts automatically, then you start looking at their pictures and at their funny little things that they put on their profile pages, and then that's it, you're already in, tunneling down the infinite spiral of profiles.

Although, there is a good thing that can be said about this website. Unlike the other ones, it allows you to personalize it a little bit more, add little applications and upload as many pictures as you want.

I guess the conclusion of this post is that I am weak and that I can succumb to peer pressure. So, step off!

And... look for me in facebook :D

Pequeñas reflexiones de mi viaje a México

2007-06-24T14:43:00.000+03:00

Los amigos... los verdaderos amigos, son para siempre.
La familia estará siempre ahí para ti, en las buenas y en las malas.
Los judíos mexicanos viven en una ilusión; piensan que viven bien, con seguridad y estabilidad. Es solo una ilusión.
Vivimos en un mundo postmoderno, todo es relativo y las relaciones humanas han pasado a segundo término. Lo más importante es el dinero.
En México la gente vive para acumular dinero, ese es el propósito máximo de su vida, su ocupación principal, su forma de vida. Si es necesario aplastar al de al lado para lograrlo, que así sea. (En México puedes mandar matar a alguien por $50 USD)
Descubrí que hay personas en México que siguen teniendo un fuerte significado en mi vida, para bien y para mal. (little scary)
Israel está lejos de ser perfecto, lejos de ser el mejor lugar para vivir, lejos de ser un lugar seguro, pero aun así, prefiero estar aquí.
No hay como la comida mexicana.
El futbol israelí es una basura.
Solo existe un lugar en el mundo que me hace sentir cosquillas en el estómago cuando llego: Israel

My trip to Mexico

2007-06-20T23:09:00.000+03:00

After thinking much about it, I decided to write this post in English, so more people can understand it.

The odyssey started when I got to Ben Gurion airport at 3:00am the day of my flight (5:20 am). Since I had done the internet check-in I could get in the business line. I got to the counter and was informed that my flight from Amsterdam to Mexico had been canceled, so I was sent to the ticketing office.
I was offered to take the flight of the next day at 8:30am (29 hours later), which I of course refused, cause I had the shpilkes and wanted to get to Mexico asap. After waiting for about an hour and a half, I was given my new route. Instead of Tel Aviv - Amsterdam - Mexico City, it was now going to be Tel Aviv - Amsterdam - Chicago - Mexico City. This was only at 4:30am, which left me with 50 minutes to go through security, customs, buy cigarettes and alcohol at the duty free and make it to my plane.
I ran, literally, ran, and barely made it to my plane.

Once I got to Amsterdam, I had 50 minutes to do the connection, which included getting in a 35 minute line to get my new boarding passes. Once I got them I kept running to the next plane that would take me to Chicago. Once I got to Chicago, I had 40 minutes to connect and catch my next flight to Mexico City.

Finally arrived in Mexico City just to find out that one of my two bags hadn't made it there. And of course, it was the one that was completely empty. Cause I took one full bag with clothes and presents and an empty one to bring presents back. Anyways, I got the empty one and had to wait for 3 days before I got the bag with my clothes.

Mexico was a lot of fun, I got to hang out with all my friends and family. When I got to my house I had the urge to take a shower, and when I got out of the shower Gabriel, Pepe and Leah (Pepe's girlfriend) were already waiting for me. Oh (sighs), it was great!

I spent the following days mainly hanging out with my brother and my friends, I had the great opportunity to see some old friends from highschool and catch up with some other important people in my life that I left back in Mexico.

Then the bachelor party came. OMG!!! Was it ever fun?!? Lots of alcohol, lots of laughter and good times. Mariachis, singing, dancing. Hard to describe in words.
After a couple weeks the day before the wedding came. I got to spend the whole day with anxi Gabriel. I met his Israeli cousin Roi who is a great guy, and got to have those last late night conversations with bachelor Gabriel. And then the day of the wedding.

The ceremony was beautiful. I've attended many weddings, of close friends and even close family, and I had never cried in a wedding until now. It was a funny feeling, knowing that my best friend was getting married, achieving one of this dreams, building a new part of his life and with the partner that he chose, that he loves... Tamy.

Then the party started, great food, an awesome band that played all night long, lots of drinking and more laughs until breakfast. The pozole was freaking awesome! And then the time to say goodbye came, cause Gabriel and Tamy were about to leave on their honey moon, which meant that I had to say goodbye to Gabriel until the next time. Again the tears rolled down my eyes just to think that I don't know when exactly will be the next time I see him.

After the wedding I had nothing left to do but to buy some presents that I still needed to get for my kvutza, pack and leave to spend 8 wonderful hours in Amsterdam.

The second I got back to Israel I had things marked to do in my calendar, got home and started working right away, even before I could even nap.

See some of the pictures of this trip here

You've got to appreciate

2007-05-03T22:50:00.000+03:00

She offered to pay for her coffee (which of course I refused)
...she left the tip
;)

Oh Jerusalem!

2007-04-13T19:25:00.000+03:00

In the series of auto-photos that I'm taking (like the one that I use in my profile here in Blogger), I try to pick a nice background, maybe even something meaningful, on a nice day with a nice sky (whenever possible) and shoot it!

Today (Fri, Apr 13) I went on a tour of the security fence in Israel/Palestine. It made my stomach turn a few times, when I heard of some of the arbitrary abuses that Israel has done to some Palestinians (some may even say, to the whole Palestinian people).
I saw with my own eyes the fences, the walls, the villages split in two, and I couldn't see any Palestinians, since they were all on the other side.

But almost at the end of the day we came into Jerusalem, (sigh) oh the holly city! It's so pretty! And even though I have been there many times, I just couldn't resist the beauty of the Dome of the Rock on a sunny Friday afternoon to take one more auto-photo for the collection.

Looking at the city from this view point, it's hard to believe that it is the center of both the most important religions of the world and of such an intense and violent conflict. Being there, just looking at the view, it made me forget for a second about all these problems, war, house destructions, suicide bombings and all that other shit. I just took a deep breath, straightened my arm and pressed the shutter button.

By the way, my head is blocking thousands of Muslim worshipers attending Friday afternoon prayers in the Al-Aqsa mosque.

La aceleración del tiempo

2007-03-26T17:13:00.000+02:00

Publicado originalmente el 10 de marzo de 2006.

Hace más o menos 4,000,000 de años, los primeros seres, antepasados de los seres humanos, caminaron por la tierra. A través de laaargos periodos de tiempo, esta especie fue evolucionando, cada vez más y más rápidamente, veamos:

existieron hace
Australopithecus: 4.5 millones de años
Homo (habilis,erectus,sapiens): 2.5 millones de años
Homo sapiens neanderthalis: 250,000 años
Homo sapiens sapiens: 50,000 años

Eso es en cuanto a la evolución de una especie a otra, pero también podemos ver la evolución de la presente especie:

hace
14,000 En Europa es domesticado el caballo y el perro.
12,000 fue posible que se realizaran los primeros cultivos
10,000 En el medio oriente se había domesticado la cabra y las ovejas.
9,000 Cultivos en los valles de la India.
8,000 Es posible que aparecieran las primeras granjas en Europa y surgieran las primeras sociedades agrícolas en China.
8,000 Jerico, primer ciudad amurallada de la que existen registros.
7,000 Primeras comunidades agrícolas en meso América.
4,500 Vestigios de sociedades agrícolas Mayas y de Sudamérica.
3,500 Los sumerios empiezan a utilizar la rueda.
3,000 Invención del ábaco
2,800 Escritos ideo silábicos egipcios y utilizan hojas de papiro.
1,400 Surge la escritura fonética.
960 Gutemberg inventa la imprenta
800 Aparecen los primeros escritos fonéticos griegos.
350 Hipocrates funda una escuela de medicina racional en Grecia 387 Platón funda la Academia, considerada como la primer universidad europea.
era común:
50 Diocles escribió el primer libro conocido de anatomía.
1266 Roger Bacon estableció la importancia del uso del método experimental.
1500 Época en la que vivió Leonardo da Vinci, reconocido pintor, anatomista e inventor.
1,600 Invención de la Pascalina
1700 Newton escribe las leyes de gravitación universal.
1789 Revolución Industrial
1790 Liebing estudia la química aplicada a la agricultura
1837 Invención de la máquina de escribir
1859 Ch. Darwin publica la obra "On the origin of species".
1943 Primer ordenador electrónico (Colossus)
1960 Invención de los circuitos integrados
1990 Invención del internet

Lo más obvio de observar es que estamos evolucionando cada vez más y más rápido. El mismo proceso de evolución que antes llevaba millones de años, hoy solamente tarda unos cuantos años (ni siquiera lustros, décadas o siglos).

Pero esta aceleración no es solamente tecnológica, también se puede sentir de muchas otras formas. Por ejemplo, en la mente... Cada vez estamos perdiendo más la paciencia y tolerancia mutua, los conflictos bélicos, en vez de haberse sosegado se han aumentado y escalado. Todos pensábamos que con el final de la Guerra Fría todo iría en dirección positiva, hacia la paz global, pero la falta de paciencia y tolerancia nos trajo hasta este lugar/momento. Eso (según yo) es debido a la aceleración de nuestra evolución, la aceleración de la humanidad, la aceleración del tiempo.

Hoy en día parece que nos dirigimos a un holocausto nuclear inevitable. La intolerancia entre el oeste y los países árabes nos ha llevado a una espiral de violencia que al parecer no tiene final, bueno, o el final será el uso de armas de destrucción masiva. Algunos expertos en la materia dicen que esta será la secuencia de eventos: Israel lanza un ataque aéreo sobre una instalación nuclear Iraní - Iran lanza misil(es) con armas químicas a Israel - EEUU interviene con armas nucleares, bombardea Iran - Israel (o lo que quede) ataca a Iran con fuerza devastadora.
Esto daría comienzo a una etapa completamente diferente en la historia de la humanidad, pues EEUU estaría justificando el uso de armas nucleares,(sin importar cual es la justificación, lo importante es que "se puede justificar"), lo que abriría paso al uso de armas nucleares en cualquier otro conflicto.

Se estarán preguntando si hay alguna forma de evitar que esto pase, y si hay algo que ustedes pueden hacer. La respuesta a ambas preguntas es SI.
El "¿cómo?" lo podrán ir descubriendo aquí (en el internet) junto conmigo.

Gracias a los que se toman el tiempo de chutarse mis debrayes.

The blog world

2007-03-24T17:57:00.000+02:00

So I’ve been working a little bit on my webpage (not too much as you can see), as I was ordering things around I realized I had a couple of comments on my blog, that for some reason, hadn’t been published (as in, the settings for my blog comments were messed up), that way I stumbled upon blogs of friends of mine. I had no idea so many people were using them and that there were so many people into these blog things.

I found Jake’s blog: http://ontopofthehill.blogs.friendster.com/
Dovi’s blog: http://dovimyers.blogspot.com/
Rafi’s blog: http://pristoop.blogspot.com/
hell, even Ana’s blog: http://seaceptanmascotas.blogspot.com/

When I just started to write a blog, I had no idea what to write about, what people would be interested in reading, or even why people would read what I have to write about. But as I started reading my friend’s blogs I realized, it’s interesting enough to read what people I know have to say about… mainly, life.

So check out their blogs, and try to interact, it’s really encouraging to receive comments.

Till next time,
|¥|@µ®¡

The hierarchy of the backpacks

2007-03-24T17:40:00.000+02:00

NOTE: If you have nothing to do with the Habonim Dror or Hanoar Haoved ve Halomed movements, you’ll probably understand little.

During my time in the movement, I have always yearned to have that last coolest t-shirt. I started by receiving my first shirt when I first went to machane in Mexico in 1992, it was “Machane Intertnuati” with Hashomer Hatzair and Hechalutz Lamerchav. The t-shirt that we got as a souvenir from machane was white with a brown silhouette of a bunch of people raising their hands in the front and the name of the machane and participating movements written in the back.

It was hard to hide the pride of wearing that shirt, I worked in the machane so hard (and I was only a chanich) that it felt like I earned it. The feeling of coolness and satisfaction of wearing that shirt are hard to explain, all I know is I wanted the next one!

As years went by and I got more and more t-shirts, I realized I started to get some compliments on some of the shirts from my collection. Some people like more the really old ones, and others the smartly designed. But they all seemed surprised by the number of items in my collection and show either distress or respect.
Wearing these t-shirts also forces me to have some unusual conversations. Unkown people recognize the semel and start up conversations with you, sometimes we end up realizing that we know somebody in common or that we knew each other many years ago.

Something similar happens in the movement of Hanoar Haoved ve Halomed (NOAL) in Israel. Some time ago I got a backpack (tik comunar) from NOAL and the same thing started to happen, some unusual people have sat with me on the train and struck up conversations in bus stops and other random places. A few weeks ago I got my hands on the newest tik comunar and I started to realize a difference that I hadn’t experienced with the t-shirts. People assume different things on me, depending on the tik comunar I carry. The first thing I started to notice was that people assumed I was a certain age, then I started to notice that when having the older bag, the young ones didn’t approach me, and when using the newer one, the young ones do (especially soldiers).
The other day, a guy and a girl stared at me mischievously for twenty minutes before they passed by, showed their NOAL bags on their backs and then came to me and struck up a conversation, investigating (of course) what shichva (age group) I am from, what I do and who I know.

Now, before I pack my bag to go away on a seminar I have to think with what kind of people I might be interested in having a conversation during my travel time, or if I want to leave the tik comunar at home and use an unidentifiable backpack, maybe or maybe not wearing a Habonim Dror t-shirt… it all depends.

When Katyushot hit Hadera

2007-03-24T17:30:00.000+02:00

Sun Aug 6, 07:44 PM

Friday evening, I have a headache so I go to take a nap before Shabbat dinner. I go into my room, lay in bed and close my eyes, the headache is strong and I can’t fall asleep… after a few minutes, I manage to fall asleep. I still feel the pain and I’m half awake, half asleep. It’s been about 20 minutes since I’ve been lying in my bed.

All of a sudden a loud long siren goes off. I jump of my bed, grab my sandals in my hand and run out of my room. We’re all running downstairs, calling the dogs to come after us, and sit ourselves in the safest place in the house against these type of rockets.

We’re downstairs trying to catch our breaths and calming the dogs down when we hear the first “boom” that also made the house vibrate a little bit… a few seconds later, a second boom accompanied by vibration as well.

We turned on the news on the tv, the newspaper on the computer and the radio too. After something like 4 minutes, they started reporting that 3, or 2, or 1 rocket(s) fell in the Hadera area, no reports of dead or injured, just 2 women trated for shock.
This is the first time that Hizbulla has fired rockets at this city, life here hadn’t been affected by the new conflict, until tonight.

I never felt unsafe, scared, nervous or anything. The only thing that I felt was anger. I was sooo pissed off!
My headache didn’t go away, in fact, it kind of got a bit worse. After 20 minutes of making and receiving phone calls to people to let them know that we’re all ok, we went back upstairs to have dinner and watch a scary movie (The Shining).

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1st comment ever:
Glad it didn’t hit your place. I think you should definately think about installing anti-katushya software on your computer.
— Jake Aug 16, 05:21 PM

La 4ta dimensión

2007-03-24T17:13:00.000+02:00

Bueno, pues aquí comienzo mi primer intento verdadero de tener/mantener un blog. Nunca he tratado, así que no se si esto vaya a ser estimulante o no.

La primer y más obvia pregunta es: “¿De que $%..”” escribir en este blog?... Ya veremos.

Y la segunda, es en qué idioma? ¿Español, English, עברית?
Hoy, como ya empece en Español, pus me sigo ;)

El primer comentario que me gustaría hacer es sobre la nueva dimensión del internet. La 4ta dimensión, o sea, el internet, es una red de la que todos somos parte, y la cual es parte de nosotros. El internet es una expresión tecnológica de nuestra intuición por evolucionar.
¿Se acuerdan de esos gueyes que salían en la tv en los 80’s que podían mover cosas con la mente? ¿Y cuando se empezó a hablar de la telepatía? Bueno todas esas son cosas que nuestro cerebro tiene la capacidad de hacer, solo que todavía no hemos evolucionado a ese punto, pero estámos en camino. El caso es que el internet es un paso tecnológico más (como el telégrafo, teléfono y fax) que trata de responder a nuestro deseo de comunicación e interacción a través de la tecnología (en vez de la mente).

Hoy en día, podemos saber cualquier cosa a cualquier hora, solo hace falta “entrar” al internet, ya sea en una pc, laptop inalámbrica, palm, celular o muchos otros dispositivos, y tenemos toda la información necesaria a unos cuantos clicks de distancia. Nos comunicamos al rededor del planeta, instantaneamente, en cualquier momento, en cualquier lugar. Por ej.: Yo les estoy escribiendo desde Israel y muchos de ustedes están en México, estamos creando una conciencia común, aunque estamos en lados opuestos de la tierra.

Déjate llevar por la 4ta dimensión, utiliza tu ética e integridad para usarla de forma adecuada y te puede llevar al conocimiento iluminador.

Empecé hablando de internet porque ultimamente he encontrado mucha información relevante a mi vida, que no sabía que existía. Y no se puede decir que no paso suficiente tiempo en internet, porque si lo paso, la información siempre ha estado ahí, solo que yo no sabía que la estaba buscando hasta que me tropecé con ella. A través de este blog espero poder compartir algunos de los caminos que he recorrido en la 4ta dimensión para obtener conocimiento y reflexión.

Escríbanme para decirme si les gusta lo que escribo o si me estoy debrayando mucho y creen que debería internarme en una institución mental.

שלום

|¥|@µ®¡

(Picture by Ceci Oriz López)