View source for Blog/July 2015/Jul 17th

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{{bheadernew|July 17th|http://ronware.org/devar/matot-masei5772.pdf}}

It’s been a long, hot week.  Not surprising, since it’s summer and the days are long.  The summer became quite a bit hotter this week, with the unsurprising revelation that the “negotiations” with Iran were instead capitulation to Iran. [http://www.timesofisrael.com/16-reasons-nuke-deal-is-an-iranian-victory-and-a-western-catastrophe/ Peace for our time!]

I say “unsurprising”, because the pattern has been clear for a long time.  Western nations simply no longer have the desire to make tough decisions and preserve themselves or their culture.  Hedonistic nihilism is the game of the day.  The immediate benefits of cheaper oil (due to Iran’s massive oil supply becoming available) and increased international trade and concomitant higher profits in the short term, are all that the “negotiators” care about.  The situation in five or ten years?  Who cares!  [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt1022.htm#13 …‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die!’].  

But we in Israel as well as our Sunni neighbors are not — and cannot be — satisfied with the outcome of the compromises of the craven.  For we, unlike they, must live with the consequences in the near term.  A vastly more powerful Iran, emboldened by the retreat of the West, which sees no need whatsoever for restraint.  A messianic theocracy, bent on reestablishing the ancient Persian Empire — in Shi`ite garb.

Of course, the Western nations are also in the mullah’s cross-hairs.  Does anyone ''truly'' believe that the Iranian long-range missiles (which can reach Europe ''today'') will not eventually be turned against the “Great Satan” of the US?  Does anyone ''truly'' believe that Iran will not continue to actively develop nuclear weapons, and once having acquired them refrain from using them?   Can anyone [http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/198113#.VaTk2HWlyko really be that naïve]?  

Wait; yes, they can!  Then president Bill Clinton signed a [http://hotair.com/archives/2015/07/16/media-flashback-clintons-nuclear-deal-with-north-korea/ deal with North Korea] and said, “North Korea will freeze and then dismantle its nuclear program”.  That worked out really well, didn’t it?  This is the week, loyal readers, when future historians will [http://www.israellycool.com/2015/07/14/when-the-world-looks-back/ look back and say] the West surrendered like a beaten cur, tail between its legs.  Mark the date.

Anyway.  

We finally started venturing into the “paid advertising” realm.  Just baby steps: we gave Facebook a small amount of money to “promote” a post about our availability to do contract work.  The goal was to get our name more widely distributed, and to see how effective this sort of campaign might be.  We do see increased traffic to our site, though the “click-through” rate is only about 2% (that is, out of every 100 times our ad is shown, only two people click on it).  Don’t know if that’s good or bad or indifferent, but it’s data for us to ponder.

We’re also working on finishing up the “1.1” release of [http://8th-dev.com our product], which will free us to expand our offering into the “[http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/E/embedded_system.html embedded]” market.  That is a space where we may have a pronounced advantage to offer.  We’ll see; people have shown interest in our moving that direction, but until they cough up money it’s hard to make that kind of commitment.

Esther and I are looking forward to ''shabbat'' and more or less peace and quiet.  The forecast is for continued seasonal summer heat.  Let’s pray that’s all the heat we get.

This week Sarah’s being replaced by Dinah.  The three of us will have:<br>
chicken with potatoes and yams,
stuffed artichokes,
roasted beets,
green beans,
meatballs and rice,
''salatim'',
and mint-chocolate brownies.


Until next time,<br>
''shabbat shalom''!

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