Are YOU Being Googled?

This from the New York Times online:

There is a new common symptom of the flu, in addition to the usual aches, coughs, fevers and sore throats. Turns out a lot of ailing Americans enter phrases like “flu symptoms” into Google and other search engines before they call their doctors.

That simple act, multiplied across millions of keyboards in homes around the country, has given rise to a new early warning system for fast-spreading flu outbreaks, called Google Flu Trends.  (Read the rest of the article here).

All good and well, but doesn't it make you wonder what else they're tracking, without our knowledge?  Our Blogger blogs, among other things...

תהיו בריאים -- Keep healthy this winter.

Keep the balance,

ALN

Customer's Rights...

Isn't this heartwarming...

HOT Cable Systems Media Ltd. (TASE: HOT) was recently handed a court order to pay NIS 2,750 to a customer for the financial damage caused him when their technician failed to turn up....

The "Technicians Law" was recently enacted under which customers who wait longer than two hours for a technician are entitled to receive NIS 300 compensation from the company without any need to prove damage and NIS 600 for waiting more than three hours after the appointed time.

Read the rest here at Globes Online.  For those of us who've been waiting for the asimon* to drop over here in the Middle East, it's finally happening.  Spread the word.

Keep the balance,

ALN

* An asimon is (or rather, was) a token used in public phones.  It was about the size of a nickel, with a hole in the middle and a groove running through the center.  The Hebrew phrase nafal li ha-asimon -- נפל לי האסימון -- is the equivalent of "the penny dropped," i.e. I finally figured it out.  We still say it, despite the fact that these coins have long been replaced by plastic cards, which hardly anyone uses these days anyway, considering the national average of  +/-1.5 cellphones per person here in Israel.

Thought for the Day

I found these photos pretty fascinating, c/o The New York Times.

Not to exaggerate a metaphor, but how aware are we, really, of the effects and ramifications of everything that comes out of our mouths?

Apparently it's graphically traceable: By virtue of our very movement, we affect the world around us in countless ways.

What a thought.

Keep the balance,

ALN

Agunot: What's Being Done, and What You Can Do

Please jump over to  The Rebbetzin's Husband, who gives us a crucial reminder of all the successful, behind-the-scenes efforts to release women from their recalcitrant husbands.   With every success, you have turned a family's world back around, strengthened the community, and restored the faith and hope of many.

(By the way, the same thing also happens in my line of work... we hear about all the tragedies, but in reality 80% of pediatric cancer patients survive their illnesses.  We, too, have to remember to constantly inform the public of our successes, in order to balance out the pain of the failures).

Meanwhile, on the aguna / msurvot get front, there is much work to do.   Jameel has photos up on The Muqata.  Finding these guys brings the women one step closer to freedom (until we manage to institutionalize the solution), and now we have the technology to advance the issue.  It was heartwarming to hear that the Rabbinate as an institution is taking a step in the right direction, in addition to the many efforts, large and small, of rabbis all over the world.

For the record, That Guy I Married and I set up not one, but two pre-nups:  one with the Beit Din (Rabbinical court) and one with the secular Israeli court system.  Then, soon after the wedding, we let all our friends know we had these agreements, with a full explanation of how we arranged for them.  May we never need them.

Keep the balance,

ALN

Let's Not Be Sorry

I direct your attention to Conversations in Klal's post (and my comment) regarding water urn safety.  I say some things are worth the extra expense, or go without.

Addendum, September 2:  Note that the Zomet Institute's Shabbat water urns (pictured here in the NY Times) do have latching lids, but still feature the free-flowing spout, located fairly low down on the urn.  One out of two is better than nothing, but not perfect.  Most of the models pictured look massive, and are therefore less likely to be pulled down by a small child.

Does anyone have connections there and can bring the safety issue of the spout to their attention?

Keep safe.

ALN

At Least I Can Explain Two Tin Cans and a String

This morning on the way to work I called my grandmother.  (I know, I know - chastise me later.  For the record, I used an earphone and dialed before pulling out of the driveway).   

My morning commute is one of the only times I can call her.  I'm usually on the road by quarter to seven in the morning  -- that's 8:45 pm Pacific, a relatively lively hour for her -- and none of my kids are around to do that thing kids are known to do as soon as Mommy gets on the phone, which is to appear out of nowhere with some sudden and exceedingly urgent concern in need of your immediate and total attention.

Grandma:  So, what did you think of the speech?  

Me:  (Speech. Speech?  What speech?...  Oh, THAT speech.)  Actually, Grandma, I had to miss the speech.  I have to be at work for a 7:30 meeting.  I'll catch it later, on the internet.  (to self:  Oops.  That last comment was completely useless).

G:  People are saying he sounded, well, very presidential.

Me:  Yeah, that would make sense, under the circumstances.

* * * *

Later I was reminded of a question I'd been meaning to ask Grandma during our mutual visit in Southern California;  namely, would she be interested in receiving a digital picture frame so she could receive updated pictures of the kids on a more regular basis.  Only I had no idea how to phrase the question.  I made a mental note of a couple of previous Grandma conversations my younger brother had recounted.

Grandma:  Did you also get copies of those photos that your Mom sent of [ALN] and the kids?

Younger Bro:  Yah, Grandma, she sent them directly to me by email.

G:  So you already hung them on your fridge?

YB:  No, Grandma, they're digital.  They're still on my computer, I haven't gotten them printed, so I can't hang them.

Grandma:  But I thought you just said she already sent them to you?

YB:  No, Grandma, they're --  (Never mind).  Yeah, I put them on my fridge.

* * * *

And that conversation doesn't begin to compete with this one, between Grandma, Younger Bro, and Sister-in-Law, while the latter two were showing Grandma some pictures on their laptop.

Younger Bro:  So, Grandma, what do you think?

G:  Yeah, that's nice.  Uh, what did you say this was called?

YB:  This is a photo browser.  It allows you to view photos, edit them, add text, run a slide show, or publish to the web.  (Grandma looks puzzled).

Sis-in-Law: (shaking her head at YB)  Grandma, this is a computer.

G:  (Face lights up)  Oh...  A computer.

Retrospectively, maybe the two of them should have borrowed my college roommate L's one-size-fits-all explanation of how these things work:  Magic.  Except that Engineer Bro and I grew up with Engineer Dad, who used to made us solve math problems by drawing on the napkins at the dinner table, and who's always insisted on understanding how things really work, by researching and preparing explanatory articles complete with illustrative diagrams.  So while "magic" sounds good, we know better than to buy that one.

* * * *

I remember hearing a Lubavitch concept: "If you know aleph, teach aleph,"  (i.e. teach as much as you know, and don't worry about the rest for now).  So here I was, driving the car, talking on the phone to the other side of the world (another nice piece of magic, wouldn't you say?), while my left- and right- brains were making a united attempt to translate into Grandma-ese an explanation of digital photography, the internet, and wi-fi technology, none of which (let's be honest) I really understand myself.  But I tried anyway.  I figure, at least she'll understand that I respect her enough to assume she might follow.

Our review of digital picture frames eventually came to a close with her concluding that it would be nice to have such a thing, but actually using it would be completely beyond her.  

I'll look into it anyway.  If it does work out and we end up buying her one, I only hope she won't try to hang it on her fridge.

Keep the balance,

ALN