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{{bheadernew|Feb 12th|http://ronware.org/wiki/Devar/5769/Terumah}}

Yet another busy week in our Judean Hills stronghold!  The weather started off cold and rainy, and eventually meandered through “cold and dry” to “cool” and now it is supposed to become “pleasantly warm”.  So it looks like we’ve exhausted the winter rainy weather and are moving straight into “spring” — maybe “summer” — by this coming Thursday.

We invested a fair amount of effort at the beginning of the week preparing for our upcoming relationship with a software distributor.  Contracts were flying back and forth, Skype conversations took place across several time-zones.  Website modifications were made. It was a bit intense, as well as nerve-wracking.

In the meantime, we made [http://8th-dev.com/forum/index.php/topic,794.0.html a new release of 8th] (yes, our second in two weeks). Partly because we wanted to simplify a number of features to make it easier for our users as well as for support personnel to explain.  But also because a few ''very energetic'' users found some issues which we felt should be addressed as soon as possible. So I was ''very'', very busy this week.

Design (in particular the area called [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_experience_design “UX”]) is something on which successful companies spend a lot of capital.  Apple has become famous for their attention to UX, but recently [https://www.techinasia.com/disconnect-hell-happened-apple seem to be losing their ''mojo''].  We are trying to improve our product’s attractiveness to users while making it easier to use, more powerful, and more reliable.  So far, we’re doing very well on those counts — but there’s a long way yet to go.

Various points of interest:
* Western “reporters” in Israel [http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7271/palestinians-western-media are astonishingly ignorant] of the basic facts.  They apparently don’t get briefed by their respective organizations before being “let loose” in the field.
* Obama [http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/207933#.Vr14bZN95E4 opposes anti-BDS provisions] in a trade bill, despite bilateral support in Congress.  I guess [http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/207935 J. Lo and Beyoncé] didn’t get that memo.
* Israeli MK Anat Berko (of the Likud) brought down irate Left-wing scorn on herself this week when she stated that [http://www.jewishpress.com/news/theres-no-p-in-palestine/2016/02/11/ there’s no “P” in Arabic], so the Arab’s choice of “Palestine” as the name of their country is ironic — seeing as how they can’t ''pronounce'' it.  I’ve been saying for years that “Palestine” is not any kind of Arab country or concept! The area was called “southern Syria” under the Turks, and never amounted to more than a backwater province under any Arab or Muslim conqueror. But one should never let facts interfere with one’s preconceived notions.
* And in an amazing moment of “duh”, a Harvard study finds that [http://www.dailydot.com/politics/worldwide-survey-of-encryption-products/ the US can’t control encryption] because it’s too widely available outside the US.  Well, knock me over with a feather!

This week also saw [http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35524440 scientific confirmation] 
of Einstein’s [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_relativity theory of general relativity].  One hundred years after he formulated it and made certain predictions based on it, scientists were able to observe the phenomena he predicted. [http://xkcd.com/1642/ Signals from the edge of the universe]. That’s pretty cool, if you ask me!

My dear long-suffering wife decided that I was in danger of becoming a troglodyte, and needed a vacation from my house.  So she took me to the ''shuq'', where we did some people-watching, some eating, and some purchasing of amazing produce. We followed it up with homemade martinis.  Thank you, my love! I ''love'' the ''shuq''!

Back to the usual crowd this ''shabbat''. The three of us will enjoy:<br>
''kebabs'',
grilled tofu,
roasted veggies,
green beans with mushrooms,
split-pea soup,
rice pilaf,
beet salad,
''salatim'',
and fresh strawberries (love the ''shuq''!).


Until next time,<br>
''shabbat shalom'' and happy [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adar ''Adar-aleph'']!

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