Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Conflict in the Gaza Strip

Israel The Gaza Strip and everything in between

Its finally happened. The Israeli army has struck back after Israeli border towns and beyond have been receiving a relentless pounding. So far the military action has gone well for Israel as a lighting surprise attack on Saturday caught the Hamas completely unprepared. The gruesome pictures of mangled Hamas policeman have become an iconic picture of the devastation unleashed by Israel. For Israel this has been the easy part of this new mini-war in the Middle East. There have been no Israeli military casualties so far as the fighter Jets have not met with any resistance. Now the agonizing decision to introduce ground troops falls on the shoulders of Israel’s defense minister Ehud Barack . It is likely to happen in the next few days as Israeli armor could be seen heading towards troop buildups near the Gaza strip.

Even if the Israeli military action is deemed a huge success it seems no one on the Israeli side knows what to do next. As Israel pulled out of the strip a few years ago its political brass do not want to retake responsibility on the Arab inhabitants of the strip. On the other hand leaving the strip will most likely cause the same scenario that made the Israeli army enter the strip to begin with.. This is a bleak scenario but one that is agreed upon by most experts. The most than can be hoped for is that the Hamas will not shoot rockets once the Israeli army leaves Gaza. If this happens then Israel’s “ deterrent “ strategy will have worked. This however seems very unlikely as Hamas Ideological Roots seem very strong. Those roots seek the destruction of Israel, nothing looks to change this,

This my friends is the unending cycle of violence that does not have any real end in sight. If the Israelis do decide to stay in the strip for a few years to hunt down Hamas Leaders there may be a longer respite for Rocket attacks on Israel.

No one in Israel is really happy about the current situation. No one really understands where it is all heading

Monday, December 22, 2008

How greed and fraud are closely related

Madoff Made off with billions.

When you come to think about it, it should not come as a big surprise. Very rich people wanting to become even richer, whatever it takes. Aside from the all the worthy charities that have closed many already very wealthy people have lost extraordinary amounts of money. Many can’t seem to escape the feeling of satisfaction that those incredibly rich victims were getting what they deserved. These greedy out of touch individuals may should have been more careful. Their pursuit of even more millions or billions in a reckless fashion is what pushed Mr. Madoff to commit his crimes.


Doubtless even the staunchest of capitalists are thinking that what comes around goes around in this craziest of frauds schemes ever perpetrated. Those who were “lucky enough “ to invest there money with Mr. Madoff felt themselves special and chosen. You had to be part of the special club, part of an aristocracy. It smacked of old country clubs where blacks and Jews were denied entry. Now it was the very rich and well connected who had an advantage that no one else could attain. Being Jewish didn’t hurt either. In fact the overwhelming majority of the private investors were Jewish as they felt they could trust one of there own. They were wrong.

Greed my friends pushed so many to trivialize apparently clear messages that Mr. Madoff was a fraud. Money blinded otherwise rational individuals and brought some to complete ruin.

It remains to be seen how many other hedge funds or brokerage firms are breaking the law or are walking a tight rope in their investing practices. The suspicion from investors has now reached a new low. The Madoff scandal combined with other Financial collapses will already weaken whatever investor confidence there was left.

Bernie Madoff is a fraud and a cheat. He has lived a pampered life few even dream about while swindling billions in the process. He has scarred the financial world and destroyed confidence in investors worldwide. Though his criminal actions have harmed many Jews this has not prevented anti-semitic rhetoric to be used again in many circles.


He never deserves to see the light of day.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Google, the iphone and the future

Google , Sounding better all the time

Are you tired of typing things into Google all the time? Are you suffering from typing on your computer to much? Do you need information on the fly? Well Google may be the answer to your problems. You can now ask Google in your own voice whatever you want and get results fast and easy. All you need to do is purchase a iphone and access the app store on the portable phone. You then will go to "Google Mobile App.". When this is installed all you need to do is say what you want and you will get results. There have been some complaints that the voice recognition system only likes American accents. This make some sense as the service only works in the US for the time being.

What will be Googles next step with all this?


In time even on ones own PC searches will be able to happen without ever clicking on a key board. All you will need to do is say “ google search “ this will open up a google page and then say the search term you are looking for. Google will immediately give you search results.

Just like that.

All the problems associated with Voice recognition Software will likely disappear on a PC in someone’s home. The Software will not be hampered by outside noise and will quickly “ learn “ the sounds of the main user and make searching for something as easy as saying “ good morning “.


That just may be the beginning.

Individual voice commands may be able to unlock a PC or Laptop and do almost everything a key board does. It may revolutionize the computer n the same way the mouse did.

Sounds interesting

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Google they never quit

Ladies and Gentleman Google has just introduced a brand new feature, Google SMS. It’s incredible in its simplicity. The Idea is essentially designed to contact people who are not online when Google Chat is enabled. The service enables the receiving of messages from their Google contacts on their Cell phones as Sms Messages. This means that if someone is in a rush and cannot wait for a message on Google chat he can still get his message on the go through this system.

Up till now skype has offered SMS services for a fee as well as voice mail.One would wonder if Google is trying to bury Skype with all these new free additions. Yahoo allegedly offers some of these same services but no one seems to know anything about them. Skype may slowly lose its reason for existence as Yahoo mail seems to be doing right now.


As more and more people are using Gmail and its almost bottomless capacity for E-mails they are finding just easier to stay on G-mail for chats as well. Even Die hard users of Skype seem to be using G-mail more and more and using Skype less and less. All this is for good reason as the G-mail and chat and almost everything else is all on one page. It is a one stop solution for Web communication.

Even the way the interface of this product is genius in it simplicity. When regular chat is impossible the SMS option appears in the exact same place and format with a warning that the recipient may need to pay for the incoming SMS and a quick option to go back to free chat.

Google says that this service is only applicable in the US for the time being. In many places where incoming SMS messages are completely free this service would provide another free communication channel. In fact it would be very easy to send SMS messages from many free Wifi spots to any Cell phone in the world. All this free. This actually has been the trend to make everything free while earning money on advertising.

Google is the best