Ron at 06:41, 1 January 2021

2021-01-01T06:41:21Z

Ron at 08:01, 25 December 2020

2020-12-25T08:01:43Z

Ron: Created page with " {{blog}} {{comment|Dec 25th}} Today is the fast of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenth_of_Tevet Tent..."

2020-12-25T06:27:21Z

Created page with " {{blog}} {{comment|Dec 25th}} Today is the fast of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenth_of_Tevet Tent..."

New page

{{blog}} {{comment|Dec 25th}}

Today is the fast of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenth_of_Tevet Tenth of Tevet], so I haven’t had any coffee. Please bear that in mind as you read on.

Our bid to join the roster of Banana Republics is nearly ensured, as we [https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/knesset-to-dissolve-ahead-of-march-23-election-652932 dissolve the Knesset] and move to the ''fourth'' round of elections in two years. Aren’t we special?

We got my mom her first of two vaccination shots (for COVID-19) this week. Despite polls saying Israelis are not rushing to get the inoculation, the place was full. Despite ''that'', it went relatively quickly. Much more well organized than our gov’t, thankfully!

Esther and I are both hesitant to take the vaccine, as are most of the people I’ve spoken with here. Our concerns boil down to a couple issues: first, it is completely new technology with no track record. Second, it was rushed into production without the possibility of any long-term effects studies. In particular, the long-term effects on the immune system have not been studied (and you really do need that bit working properly!). Lest you think we’re antivaxxers or low-information Neanderthals or something, I refer you to an excellent (and a bit long) podcast [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifPjaVL_1yw from two scientists] discussing the pros and cons in some (technical) depth. We’ll just wait to see if my mom grows another head, first…

Of course, we may be forced into taking the vaccine: but since the gov’t has disbanded, perhaps not so soon.

Apparently Israel is one of the countries rolling out the vaccine most aggressively. On “social media” the anti-Israel crowd is claiming we’re “not giving the Palestinians” the vaccine. So first of all, they’ve got their own government and loads of funding and can make their own public health policy. Secondly, [https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/palestinians-we-didnt-ask-israel-for-covid-19-vaccine-652703 they didn’t ask us] for any vaccines, nor do they want the help we’ve offered. So there’s that.

Maybe of interest:
* A “zero-day” iMessage vulnerability was used [https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/12/zero-click-imessage-zeroday-used-to-hack-the-iphones-of-36-journalists/ to hack journalists’ phones].
* No, Cellebrite cannot [https://signal.org/blog/cellebrite-and-clickbait/ ‘break’ Signal’s encryption]. You can relax!
* More on the [https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2020/12/more-on-the-solarwinds-breach.html SolarWinds breach].
* Did you know that China [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSURUOn19T4 controls 100% of the supply of rare-earth] metals? Did you know that those are used in ''quite literally all'' your high-tech devices? Do you understand the ramifications of that control? [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NIMBY NIMBY] is a poor strategic policy.
* A lawyer explains in detail why [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2P6XYv3ShY Texas’ lawsuit] did not work. That’s not to say there hasn’t been a serious and concerted [https://patpmovie.com plot against the President].
* CNN gives us some hard-hitting reporting once again: [https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/19/politics/barack-obama-2020-favorite-songs/index.html Obama’s favorite songs] of 2020. I’ve been unable to sleep at night, wondering what his favorites were!
* “Asymptomatic spread” [https://www.aier.org/article/asymptomatic-spread-revisited/ isn’t rare or even unusual]. According to a massive study from China, it’s ''not a thing'' at all.

I’ve been cranking out code, improving some bits of 8th. My latest effort is to allow rendering [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown Markdown] in the GUI. It’s much easier to work with than HTML, and the ability should prove quite useful. In case you were wondering, [https://8th-dev.com/forum/index.php/topic,2232.msg12940.html our year-end sale] continues through next Thursday.

Sarah will be on another “forced vacation” since the gov’t [https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/coronavirus-third-lockdown-rules-everything-you-need-to-know-653072 has voted to shut us down], for the third time. At least she will (probably) get unemployment benefits.

Daniela and Jeremy took a well-deserved but short vacation. They left the twins with their nanny, and took a couple days to reset. Sounds like it was a good plan!

The weather was once again cool this week, and rainy a few days. It’s supposed to stay cold but dry for the weekend and into the coming week. Just like it was last week!

We’ll celebrate this ''shabbat'' with:<br>
homemade ''ḥalla'',
vegetable-lentil soup,
Aunt Nancy’s chicken,
fluffy rice,
egg salad, tuna salad,
various other ''salatim'',
and oatmeal cookies.

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

{{nav|Blog|Blog|Blog/December 2020/Dec 18th|Dec 18th||}}

← Older revision		Revision as of 06:41, 1 January 2021
Line 46:		Line 46:


−	{{nav\|Blog\|Blog\|Blog/December 2020/Dec 18th\|Dec 18th\|\|}}	+	{{nav\|Blog\|Blog\|Blog/December 2020/Dec 18th\|Dec 18th\|Blog/January 2021/Jan 1st\|Jan 1st}}

@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 We’ll celebrate this ''shabbat'' with:<br>
 homemade ''ḥalla'',
-vegetable-lentil soup,
+tomato soup,
 Aunt Nancy’s chicken,
 fluffy rice,
 egg salad, tuna salad,

Blog/December 2020/Dec 25th - Revision history

Ron at 06:41, 1 January 2021

Ron at 08:01, 25 December 2020

Ron: Created page with " {{blog}} {{comment|Dec 25th}} Today is the fast of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenth_of_Tevet Tent..."