Busy Days

In the past few months I was contacted by two people, from Toronto, who wanted my advice on whether they should make Aliya (move to Israel) or not. I don’t know them personally; they both received my contact info from a mutual friend, and they both work in hitech.

I told both of them that the hitech market is booming now. I made this observation based on my experience 5 months ago when I was looking for a job. However, I can not give advice to anyone about big decisions such as making Aliya. At its core, this is a very intimate and personal decision.

Why do I mention this? because I think that right now the hitech market in Israel is even hotter than it was 6 months ago. The newspapers are full with articles about “The return of the bubble” (there are also articles like “Beware, the bubble is going to crash next year”, but hey, at least they are acknowledging that there is a bubble ).

A few weeks ago I decided to look for a new job. I am not happy at my current place. There are a few reasons for this, but I am not going to describe them here. At least not yet
(I know it would be very much along the spirit of the modern, haphazard, twitter-style blogosphere to rant on you boss and take all the crap out on your company, but I’d rather keep my ethical integrity in one piece)

Last week I gave notice at work that I am leaving. I few days before that I already contacted a couple of placement company and gave them my resume. Ever since then, the phone doesn’t stop ringing. So far I was contacted by 14 companies, and there would be more calling, had I not told them to stop the flood.
(By the way, two great Israeli placement companies that specialize in hitech are Nisha and JobInfo)

Please let me emphasize that I am not bragging about my resume. I was contacted by many companies not because I am special (I am not), and not because I have a great resume (I don’t). I know other people in the field who’ve had exactly the same experience when they were looking for work. There is simply a shortage of good hitech employees right now. It’s the simple math of supply and demand.

Scheduling interviews with so many companies is a tiring process, and it is even more tiring when you are trying to do it behind your manager’s back. That’s why I decided very quickly to give notice at work, despite the fact that I haven’t signed a new contract yet. I simply couldn’t manage my schedule this way.

Most companies try to have a recruitment process which involves three interviews. First there is the technical interview, typically with your would-be manager. Then there is an interview with the development senior manager, and then with an HR person. Some companies even have a forth interview, in which you need to do GMAT/GRE-style tests. Small start-up companies usually skip the third phase, and virtually all companies try to merge two of the interviews (or all of them) into the same meeting, so you can save time by visiting the company only once. They want to finish the process quickly and give you an offer asap, otherwise they’ll lose you to other, faster companies.

As I said, it is a tiring process, both physically and mentally. Since I am still working, I can have the interviews only in the mornings or evenings. I scheduled 2 interviews for almost everyday, but I just had to take an evening off every few days because I was exhausted. I am also quite tense at work, because it is awkward being there after I announced that I am leaving.

Anyways, all this is just an excuse to explain why I haven’t been writing on the blog lately. On top of that, my computer died a few days ago, and I haven’t been able to revive it yet. I have a bunch of bookmarks and a draft ready for a follow-up on my Nature’s Capital post, but I guess they’ll have to remain lost for a little while longer.

To make a short story long, looking for a job is in itself a full time job … and, if you are working in hitech, and you are thinking of making Aliya – well, what are you waiting for? We need you here (last link in English).

What Do You Mean There Is No Stove?!

Last week my friend Ben, from Toronto, came here for a visit. One evening we were sitting down for a beer at a pub, and we entered a conversation which was, in retrospective, quite predictable. Ben made Aliya a few years ago; having made Aliya, he understands all the difficulties and nuisances I experienced in the first month or so here. He was eager to hear my input on those experiences and sympathize with me, and I was eager to receive a reinforcing response from him, like “yeah man, the same thing happened to me too”.

That is exactly what happened. Very predictable.

For example, I mentioned my search for an apartment. It lasted almost a month and a half. In Toronto it never lasted more than a week. Anyways, being used to a certain standard in Toronto, I was surprised, and sometimes very annoyed as well, to find that apartments for rent here, more often than not, don’t include an oven, stove and a fridge. In Toronto, I took it for granted. Here, you’ll find an apartment with those appliances only if you are lucky, or willing to pay more.

As I was telling Ben all this, it was like he already knew what I was going to say before I knew it
He stopped me and said:

Yeah, it’s like “what do you mean there is no stove in the apartment?!? Where the hell is it?”

In my apartment, there was only a fridge, and even that was in there because I insisted, and the landlord had a spare one to put in. Other than that, it was bare. No furniture at all, except for a built-in closet. My apartment is not in a building, but even if it was, there wouldn’t have been any laundry room in the basement, let alone a basement at all.

Next there was the issue of the washroom. In many apartments here, the washroom is so small that you can’t open its door all the way in, because it is blocked by the sink. In my apartment the problem is somewhat different. The sink doesn’t block the door, but it is intrusive nonetheless. It is kind-of in-your-way when you sit on the toilet seat. I won’t go into the details here, I let you see for yourself. If you look at the picture, you’ll see not only the the sink is really close to the toilet seat, but also the shower itself is pretty damn close as well.

In case you are wondering about the two hoses that are on the floor, that’s because the washing machine is working now (needless to say, many, if not most, apartments for rent here don’t have an appropriate fixture for a washing machine).

I’ll finish at this. That’s all I have to say about apartments so far. Lets keep at this for now.

In other news, I sold the crappy bicycles to the highest (and only) bidder. I bought new bicycles, from a store in Tel Aviv, and I am very satisfied. I am riding them to work almost everyday now, and it’s fantastic

Small Acknowledgments

We are using a few open-source projects at work. I discovered a few problems with one of them, and I emailed the author (surprisingly, some successful open-source projects have just one author). Following a couple of days of correspondence, he wrote to me:

… You help me fix three bugs in a row ! This plugin is available since January 2002, and for the last two years there were few bug reports (despite 50000 downloads per months), so fixing three bugs before releasing version 3.2 is really nice. …

This really made my day. With minimal effort, I was able to contribute to an open-source project and feel appreciated for it. Talk about good karma for the techie geek in me

Nature’s Capital

A few nights ago I was at a bar with a friend, and over the course of the conversation I was able to explain something that was, until then, not completely coherent in my head. It must be the alcohol that suddenly made it clear

In any case, I want to share it here as well. What I want to talk about is the concept of a progress trap, and how it relates to my decision to stop eating meat.

This concept is introduced by Ronald Wright in his great book “A Short History of Progress” and the Massey Lectures that followed it. The idea is simple: progress is made in small steps, each of which seems to be positive, but the overall effect becomes, at a certain point, negative.

A classical example of the progress trap is the development of weapons. From the rock and club we progressed to the knife, arrow and bow, then to guns, rifles, continued to machine guns, artillery, then to tanks, air-born missiles, bombs and eventually … the atomic bomb. Each step, when viewed in a narrow context, seems to be positive. It increases efficiency in some form – perhaps in the magnitude of killing, or the magnitude of the impact (e.g., the psychological effect of using, or threatening to use, the weapon), or it minimizes the risk to the user of the weapon.

However, with a rifle we can’t destroy humanity. With an atomic bomb, we can. A bigger out-of-the-box view of the progress that led to the creation of the atomic bomb shows a gloomy view of how we can (and perhaps we are) destroying ourselves. When exactly did the progress become “bad” instead of “good”? It is hard to tell, but that is the nature of a progress trap.

Another topic, more relevant to our discussion, is the nature of hunting. At first, the prehistoric man (I think the book refers to the neanderthal man, but I don’t remember for sure) wasn’t much of a hunter. Perhaps he used rocks, clubs, and even his bare hands, but that didn’t get him much. He was partly a gatherer, and partly a hunter. Then the bow and arrows were invented, and man was able to hunt bigger animals. More meat means easier, more relaxed lifestyle, meaning more children. More children means more mouths to feed, thus more hunting, but it also means more hunters. This leads to a period of expansion until man overgrows his environment (i.e. he hunts too many animals), thus starting a period of decline – those periods could last tens of thousands of years.

A major breakthrough in hunting occurred when man discovered that he can induce complete herds into a panic-stricken stampede and push them over a cliff. A pure form of easy, piece-of-cake mass killing that feeds the entire tribe for the whole season (perhaps for many seasons, I am not sure how they could preserve the meat).

Enter the progress trap. Archaeologists now know for certain that some periods of decline in the dominance of the neanderthal man precisely followed the period in which he was most prosperous – namely the periods in which he was the most efficient hunter. The push-over-cliff hunting method is highly efficient, but it does not scale, meaning that it is not sustainable in the long run. Scalability is the key here. Man exhausted the resources from nature too fast, and induced upon himself a period of decline. A similar pattern can be seen in the evolution of agriculture.

This is, as far as I understand it, the main theme of the progress trap when it is discussed in the context of our evolution: we improve in the way that we manage and consume resources, until the point that we consume too much, and more importantly, too fast.

Nature has a way to renew itself. Trees regrow, forests expand, animal procreate. However, the process takes time. Why did sheep herders, a thousand years ago, have to be nomads? Why didn’t they stay put at one place? Because their herds graze the land, and they run out of grass and other vegetation. So they move elsewhere, but their movement is cyclical – they can come back to the same place after a few years because the grass regrows. Today it is not that simple – in most places on earth we have a problem of overgrazing (for more info, read Tragedy of the commons, or just google it).

This is a prime example of Ronald’s point that we used to live off nature’s interest. As long as nature can renew itself faster than our rate of consumption, then we are living off its interest. As soon are we are consuming resources faster than nature can create them, then we are living off nature’s capital.

Virtually all of the meat that we consume today is not hunted – it is domesticated. We eat mostly farm raised livestock. Since the last century, we have made tremendous progress in the way we raise, butcher, handle, ship and consume meat (perhaps even a few centuries. I am not sure about the time frame here). Every element, and every aspect, along the production line, from the farms at one end, to your local grocery store at the other end, has been improved. The meat that you eat is better refrigerated today than it was a 100 years ago. The health, or lack there of, of the animals is better controlled.
(This is related to the major technological advancements in our society in general; it is not just about food)

Enter the progress trap, again. Ecological markers show that until the 60s we were consuming up to, or less than, a 100% of nature’s interest. In the 80s we were already consuming more than a 100% of nature’s interest – we were already chewing of nature’s capital. In the year 2000, our consumption rate was around 125% of nature’s interest. These numbers are of course an estimate, but they show a clear trend.

As time goes by, there are more people on the planet. The prediction for year 2050 is that there will be more than 8 billion people on the planet, and that we’ll consume approximately 150% of nature’s interest. Meat will be more expensive, and there will be less of it for everybody.

I believe that our current way of growing meat is not sustainable (by “ours” I basically mean society at large). We are facing a progress trap, and we already know it. The environmental impact of growing livestock is much greater than that of growing vegetables. Pound-for-pound, vegetables require less land and less water (I can’t find the reference for this. When I do, I’ll post it). Thus, I made a personal choice to not eat meat, in part because I don’t feel comfortable with the destructive effect associated with it.

This is a pretty gloomy situation. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t claim to have a solution, and I don’t know of any other way that our lives can be. I am not preaching to anyone else to become a vegetarian. I just want to use this self-proclaimed stage here to explain my point of view. Isn’t that what blogging is all about?

A bad Shopping Experience – Part 2

The story with my bicycle is not over yet. I finished the last post at the point where I already got the bicycles, but I haven’t assembled it yet. Before assembling it, I took the wheels to a gas station to inflate the tires, and I discovered that one of them is flat – the inner tube has a tear, so the air is all going out. So I bought a new one, re-inflated the tires, and assembled the bicycles.

Then I discovered that the wheels are bent – that is, they require the equivalent of a wheel-alignment for automobiles. When the tire rotates around its axis, it occasionally shifts to the side and touches the frame of the bicycle, making it impossible to ride the bicycles.

I speculated that the wheels got bent during the shipping, thus also causing the flat tire. I called the supplier (who doesn’t normally answer his phone, as I explained earlier), and he agreed to replace the bicycles, provided that I drive to his warehouse with the old one. I, of course, wanted him to deliver the new bicycles, but he refused (chances are that paying for another delivery will eat his entire profit from the sale). I got into some legal argument between him, myself and getit. I’ll spare you the details – it’s enough to say that the end result was that I had no option but drive to the warehouse.

Eventually I drove to Yavne, got new bicycles, and drove straight to a cycling store so they assemble it (having the bicycles assembled by a professional is required for the warranty). They did assemble it, and they did a good job, but they also told me that these are among the crappiest bicycles that they ever saw. The wheels were bent, again, and they straighten them up for me.

The bicycles themselves are not a fun ride. As far as I could tell, some of the gears don’t work.
In short, I got pooched. I thought that I was being a smart customer, but it turned out that I was a cheap customer, buying the crappiest stuff possible online, from the crappiest supplier who makes a living from unknowledgeable, naive customers like me.

I placed a for-sale ad for the bicycles in a couple of online Israeli sites. I’ll sell them to the highest, lowest, or any bidder , and if I can’t sell them, I’ll just give them to charity.

Tomorrow I am gonna buy real bicycles, from a real store (recommended by a colleague at work), and for a lot more money.

AfterpartY is Now on iTunes

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.

AfterpartY on iTunes Music Store

A Bad Shopping Experience

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.

There is No King In Israel

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.

God Save The Queen

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.

An Air Canada Fiasco

I chose to start this blog with a story that happened in Toronto a few weeks ago.

My dad travelled from Israel to Toronto, with a short stop in Boston to visit my brother and his family. After he landed in Toronto, he was shocked to discover, together with the rest of the passengers from Boston, that Air Canada’s crew forgot to load their luggages on the plane. I don’t mean one or two suitcases here and there, I mean the entire cargo, of all the passengers.

Now, this is something I have never heard of before. Imagine 200 or so passengers, tired and grumpy, waiting for their luggages that never arrive. I feel sorry for the poor guy that had to announce the mistake to them. Talk about “don’t shoot the messenger”.

Another image that comes to my mind is that of the ground crew in Toronto. Imagine the expression of surprise on their faces, when they opened the plane’s cargo compartment, and discovered that it is empty.

The above image is most likely unrealistic. Why? I suppose that the mistake was already discovered in Boston, while the plane was in the air, so by the time it landed, the ground crew already knew what to expect (or not to expect ).

I don’t know if this story made it to the local news in Toronto. I wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t, as Air Canada has an interest in hiding it; Not only because this is a stupid and lame mistake. What if it wasn’t a mistake at all? What if the problem (whatever it may be) was discovered in Boston before the plane took off? Could it have been a conscious decision made by the ground crew in Boston to let the plane leave without the cargo? And if so, can we sue them for millions?