Google translate - now in Hebrew!

by Google.

It is still in Beta and some tests I have made returned funny results, but this is such a great step forward.

You should run your own experiments and let me know what you think (or even better - comment in my blog in my native language!)

This is only few weeks after the roads of Israel were finally inserted to Google Maps. Here is my new address in Tel Aviv, and here it is with the Hebrew names of the streets shown.

Thanks Google Israel!

We Love Art

by Tel Aviv art galleries.

As every year, Tel Aviv celebrated the begining of the art exhibitions season with the annual "We Love Art" project - the open exhibition that takes place in the city's main boulevards.

More than 50 art installations took part of the exhibition and were placed in the boulevards. This year the exhibition was themed "Amusement Park which is like no other". And of course, all the galleries and museums in the city opened their doors to the public.

My new apartment (a post about this will be up one day soon) is in Chen Boulevard, one of the boulevards in the heart of Tel Aviv, and our balcony was right in front of all the happenings. In front of our apartment Hila Amram and Demi Livshits displayed their project - "Einayim Zazot" ("moving eyes") which is a cool and cute display of big plastic googly eyes on the trees. When I saw them from my balcony preparing I run down and asked them if they would like me to put some eyes on our balcony as well. They happily said yes and this is how our balcony was part of the display in the exhibition!

Here are few photos of this project, the first is our balcony as it looked from the street (and you can see me there too...) and the others are of some of the now-more-human trees. You can click on the images for a bigger version of them, or see the rest of the photos on the project's flickr page.

LHC rap

by CERN.

Everybody around is talking about the huge experiment that started last week under Europe and I have heard many dark forecasts of what may happen as the experiment goes own. In my new apartment we are even planning to host an "end of the world" party for the night before Oct 21st.

All I knew about the LHC is that it is going to produce black holes. And that sounds crazy. And then I encountered this song, written and performed by Kate Mcalpine (aka alpinekat) from CERN and few of her coworkers. The shooting was done on site.

UPDATE: Apparently, this is Kate's second try at scientific rap. Her debut song, "N3UROCH!P Rap", is about two physicists from Tel Aviv who imprinted rudimentary memories onto a network of living neurons.

Wasted

by Brandi Carlile (and Zoe).

I love this version so much.



If you had eyes like golden crowns and diamonds in your fingertips you'd waste it
If shining wisdom passed your lips and traveled to the ears of god you'd waste it
And so I hate you're overrated most revered and celebrated because you waste it

Then again it's good to get a call now and then just to say hello
Have I said I hate to see you go

Every time you close a door and nothing opens in its place you've wasted
And when you speak the words you know to those who know the words themselves you're wasted,
You're such a classic waste of cool, so afraid to break the rules in all the wrong places

Then again it's good to get a call now and then just to say hello
Have I said I hate to see you go

we are not athletes

we are not athletes is a site that I helped to build in the past month.

The site is about "two ordinary guys who decided to run the New York City Marathon to raise money for two great causes", and this is of course in their own words (I don't think they are ordinary at all).

In the site you can watch their training progress, bet on who finishes the race first and their race times, participate in an open "group blog" and of course, donate to the charities they run for, The American Cancer Society and Hole in the Wall Camps. After you donate you can add yourself to the donors gallery.

The website was designed and built by a very talented and creative designer, Chesley Andrews. All the photos and videos on the site were taken by Erika Kessel. I just helped a little bit with the php code.

I really love the result and hope that the site will fulfill it's purpose and raise lot of donations. This way we are all winning.


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