My friends AfterpartY, the coolest pop/retro band in Toronto, Canada, and the world at large, are now offering their latest songs for sale via iTunes Music Store.
So if you are an iPod lover, who happens to like 80s-style pop music, be sure to click the iTunes logo below and get their songs. I bet they’ll be a wonderful addition to your precious music box. If you are also a myspace fan, you can become their friend, and recieve alerts for their upcoming events.
Categories: music
Tagged: AfterpartY, iTunes
Since I live very close to where I work, a few weeks ago I decided to buy bicycles, and I decided to buy them online. I used a shopping portal called getit, which sold me the bicycles from a supplier in Yavne, near Tel Aviv.
They promised delivery within 14 business days. After about 10 days I begun to worry (other things that I bought online here in Israel, like a washing machine, arrived within 48 hours, so why is this so different?). So I called the supplier, and discovered that it is almost impossible to get a hold of him. First of all, he rarely answers the phone. Second, his voice-mail prompt is as follows (emphasis mine):
“Hello. Service is given between 10 am and 3 pm. Please do not leave a message.”
WTF? When I eventually got a hold of him, he said the package will arrive by Sunday. He was not very nice, and clearly he didn’t consider customer service to be part of his job.
(I later discovered that he doesn’t really own a bicycle/sporting store. He is literally just a supplier, and considers himself to be working with getit, not with me)
On Monday, after the package didn’t arrive, I called getit to cancel the order. They were very nice indeed. They said I need to talk to the supplier to cancel the order. When I pointed out that I can’t get a hold of him, they said they’ll call him and tell him to call me.
Eventually I didn’t cancel, and the package arrived on Wednesday. The delivery company, Aviv Shiloach, forced me to be at home between 2 pm to 4 pm. I asked for an evening delivery, given that I am working during the day, but no, they can’t do that. So I asked, given that my work is near by, that the delivery guy calls me 15 minutes before he arrives. Nope, they can’t do that either, because he doesn’t have a cell phone, just a Mirs device. WTF? who ever heard of such a lame delivery company?
Anyways, I got the Bikes, and they are pretty nice. The description on getit says that they are shipped 95% assembled – all you need to do is attach the handlebar and the front wheel, and you are good to go (actually, good to ride).
Well, that’s not exactly true … you need a #6 Allen screw driver to attach the handlebar, and I didn’t have one with me. Even if I did, the tires were shipped flat – without air – so you need to pump them up, and I didn’t have a pump with me either 
To getit’s credit, I should mention that they called me for a follow-up on my complaint, and I told them that they shouldn’t work with that supplier. I hope for other future buyers that they’ll take my advice.
Categories: consumerism
Tagged: bicycles, getit, screw up
A couple of weeks ago I attended the 11th annual rally to commemorate Yitzhak Rabin’s memory. The memorial took place at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv; The square was previously named “Israel’s Kings square”, and was renamed after his assassination.
The impact of the assassination over the Israeli society has been compared to that of the Kennedy assassination in the US. I certainly believe so. The assassination gave birth to the so called Candles Children. I was just finishing my boot-camp in the army at that time, so I spend all my time running in the mud instead of lighting candles at Rabin Square, but those kids are essentially from my generation.
This rally was the first grand event of political importance that I had a chance to attend since I moved back, and I was looking forward to it. I was looking forward to a sweep of nostalgic feelings, and perhaps for something that would reaffirm my feelings about politics in Israel.
(I have always been on the left side of Israel’s political map, but the damn map keeps changing 
My ideology hasn’t changed a bit in the last 8 years while living in Canada, but the political representatives keep getting worse and worse)
I didn’t find exactly what I was looking for, but it was still a very interesting experience.
The crowd consisted mostly of teenagers who came for the music. It’s no secret that the annual rally is an opportunity to gather an impressive line-up of singers. Most of the people in the crowd came for Ninet (link in Hebrew) and Aviv Gefen (link in Hebrew). Nonetheless, the crowd was mixed, and there were older people around as well. I even spotted a retired couple, who hugged and cried during Dalia Rabin’s speech.
I find two events during the memorial particularly worth noting here. First, Amit Farkash, who, in my mind, is becoming a symbol (link in Hebrew) of the last war in Lebanon, sang her song in memory of her brother Tom, who died during the war. You can read the words here (link in Hebrew), and even listen to it here.
Second, David Grossman, a prominent Israeli novelist and peace activist, who also lost his son during the war, was the keynote speaker (full text in Hebrew here, in English here). He once again demonstrated that he is not only a gifted writer, but also a gifted speaker. He very eloquently captured the public mood in Israel, and expressed the problems that we are experiencing and the difficulties that we are facing. He heavily criticized the present government, and he said, among other things (translation by Haaretz, emphasis mine):
How did this happen? When did we lose even the hope that we would eventually be able to live a different, better life? Moreover, how do we continue to watch from the side as though hypnotized by the insanity, rudeness, violence and racism that has overtaken our home?
…
One of the most difficult outcomes of the recent war is the heightened realization that at this time there is no king in Israel, that our leadership is hollow.
Categories: politics
A few weeks ago, I decided to register a Canadian domain name. Unlike the .com domains, .ca domains are reserved for Canadian citizens, residents, and various types of Canadian entities – public schools, municipalities, companies that hold Canadian trademarks, and so on.
So I browsed to the website of cadns, a Canadian dns registrar, and I started the registration process. When prompted to select my registrant type, something odd caught my eye. Check out the last entry in this list
Of course, I registered as a Canadian citizen. However, before writing this post, I returned to the site, and tried to register as Her Majesty the Queen, to see what will happen. Nothing special happened. The registration process continued as usual – I was prompted for my name, address and so on. I stopped the process when I was asked for my credit card information.
