BOSS 58 - Magic

Orli Yaniv on Galei Zahal with Bruce Springsteen's new CD "Magic".
23rd September Boss had 58th Birthday.

'Magic' Song Titles:

1. Radio Nowhere
2. You'll Be Comin' Down
3. Livin' in the Future
4. Your Own Worst Enemy
5. Gypsy Biker
6. Girls in Their Summer Clothes
7. I'll Work for Your Love
8. Magic
9. Last to Die
10. Long Walk Home
11. Devil's Arcade

Links:
wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Springsteen
Lyrics from Lebanon: http://www.springsteenlyrics.com/links/index.php
Official Website: http://www.brucespringsteen.net

EU court upholds Microsoft's $613M fine

By MATT MOORE, AP Business Writer 9 minutes ago from Associated Press

A European Union court on Monday dismissed Microsoft Corp.'s appeal against an EU antitrust order that ordered it to share communications code with rivals and sell a copy of Windows without Media Player.

It also upheld a $613 million fine — the largest ever levied by EU regulators.

The EU Court of First Instance ruled against Microsoft on both parts of the case, saying the European Commission was correct in concluding that Microsoft was guilty of monopoly abuse in trying to use its power over desktop computers to muscle into server software.

It also said regulators had clearly demonstrated that selling media software with Windows had damaged rivals.

"The court observes that it is beyond dispute that in consequence of the tying consumers are unable to acquire the Windows operating system without simultaneously acquiring Windows Media Player," it said.

"In that regard, the court considers that neither the fact that Microsoft does not charge a separate price for Windows Media Player nor the fact that consumers are not obliged to use that Media Player is irrelevant."

But it did overturn regulators' decision to appoint a monitoring trustee to watch how Microsoft had complied with the ruling, saying the Commission had exceeded its powers by ordering Microsoft to pay for all the costs of the trustee.

Microsoft can appeal the decision to the EU's highest court, the European Court of Justice, within two months.

The Commission immediately said it welcomed the ruling, without giving details.

The European Committee for Interoperable Systems called the ruling a good result.

"It's a very good day, for it signals that there will be fair competition for the sector," said Maurits Dolmans, a lawyer for the group.

In its 248-page ruling, the court upheld both the Commission's argument and its order for Microsoft to hand over information on server protocols to rivals. Microsoft had claimed these were protected by patents and the Commission was forcing it to give away valuable intellectual property at little or no cost.

The court confirmed "that the necessary degree of interoperability required by the Commission is well founded and that there is no inconsistency between that degree of interoperability and the remedy imposed by the Commission.

___

On the Net:

Court Ruling: http://tinyurl.com/3x2pze

Larry Allison of Oracle in Israel

לארי אליסון, מייסד ומנכ"ל Oracle העולמית יגיע לביקור בישראל
במסגרת ביקורו ייפגש אליסון עם בכירי הממשל והמשק ועם ראשי זרועות הביטחון

לארי אליסון, מייסד ומנכ"ל (CEO) של ORACLE העולמית, יגיע לביקור ראשון בישראל. במסגרת ביקורו ייפגש עם הנשיא שמעון פרס, עם ראש הממשלה אהוד אולמרט, ועם אישים בכירים נוספים בממשל הישראלי. בין היתר, מתוכננת קבלת פנים לכבודו בחסות השגריר האמריקאי.

הביקור, שיחל ב-8 באוגוסט, מוגדר כשילוב בין ביקור ממלכתי-עסקי לביקור פרטי עם משפחתו בישראל.

אליסון הינו מאנשי החזון הבולטים ביותר בתעשיית הטכנולוגיה, אשר הקדים את זמנו וזיהה את הפוטנציאל המסחרי והשיווקי הטמון באינטרנט לפני רבים אחרים.
לפני 30 שנה בדיוק ייסד את אורקל על בסיס תוכנה שפיתח עבור ה-CIA והפך אותה לספקית מסדי הנתונים המובילה בשוק.
אורקל היא כיום הספקית הגדולה בעולם של תוכנות ניהול מידע ארגוניות, עם הכנסה שנתית של 18 מיליארד דולר בשנת הכספים 2007, אשר הסתיימה ב-31 במאי 2007. אורקל העולמית פועלת ביותר מ-145 מדינות ברחבי העולם לרבות ישראל.
אורקל ישראל הוקמה ב-1996 ועוסקת בשיווק, מכירה, תמיכה יישום והדרכת מערכות, בסיסי נתונים, שרתי יישומים, כלי פיתוח, פתרונות ERP, CRM Business Intelligence אינטרנט ואינטרה-נט, ופתרונות נוספים. במהלך שנות פעילותה בישראל הרחיבה אורקל את מעגל לקוחותיה בלמעלה מ-2000 חברות. מספר המפתחים בטכנולוגיות אורקל בארץ נמצא במגמת עליה ומונה כיום למעלה מ-10,000 איש.

לארי (לורנס ג'וזף) אליסון (62) נולד בניו יורק לאם יהודיה. הוא אומץ על ידי זוג יהודים, קרובי משפחתה של אמו .
עוד כילד גילה אליסון כשרון מיוחד למתמטיקה ומדעים, והוכרז כסטודנט השנה באוניברסיטת אילינוי. הוא עזב את האוניברסיטה בסוף השנה השניה ועבר לאוניברסיטת שיקגו, שם נתקל לראשונה במקצוע תכנות המחשבים.

בשנות ה-70 החל לעבוד כמתכנת בסיס נתונים בחברת אמפקס, שם בנה את בסיס הנתונים עבור ה-CIA שנקרא ORACLE. אליסון הושפע מדף בנושא בסיסי נתונים שנקרא "מודל עבור בסיס נתונים לבנק גדול" שנכתב ע"י איתגר קוד עבור IBM . IBM לא ראתה פוטנציאל מסחרי בקונספט הזה שנקרא Structured Query Language (SQL) אך אליסון ושותפיו ראו. בשנת 1977 הקים אליסון את אורקל, תחילה בשם SDL (Software Development Laboratories), בהשקעה של 2000 דולר. הם פיתחו תוכנת מסד נתונים המתאימה גם למחשבים גדולים וגם למחשבים אישיים, שינו את שם חברתם ל-Relational Software Inc ואחר כך ל-ORACLE על שם המוצר. הלקוחות הראשונים למסד הנתונים של אורקל היו בסיס חיל האויר רייט פטרסון וה-CIA. ב-1980 מנתה אורקל 8 עובדים וגלגלה מחזור של 1 מליון דולר, אך בשנה שלאחר מכן, IBM אימצה את ה-SQL של אורקל למחשבי המיינפריים שלה. בשבע השנים שלאחר מכן הוכפלו מכירות אורקל כל שנה. מחברה של 1 מיליון דולר הפכה לחברה של ביליון דולר.

אורקל המשיכה להצליח בשנות ה-90. הבנקים, חברות התעופה, יצרני המכוניות וענקי הקמעונאות תלויים במסדי הנתונים של אורקל. אורקל הרוויחה גם מהתפתחות המסחר האלקטרוני באינטרנט. הרווח הנקי שלה גדל ב-76% ברבעון אחד בלבד בשנת 2000, ושער המנייה שרד את התנפצות הבועה של ההיי-טק ושמר על יציבותו.

Darwish Mahmoud. Came back to Haifa. "Why Have You Left the Horse Alone".

Four years to Yaffa Books and Coffee Shop, Shimon Peres Becomes a President. I bought a book by Darwish in Hebrew. "Why Have You Left the Horse Alone".
Biography From Official Website:
Darwish is considered to be the most important contemporary Arab poet working today. He was born in 1942 in the village of Barweh in the Galilee, which was razed to the ground by the Israelis in 1948. As a result of his politi-cal activism he faced house arrest and imprisonment. Darwish was the editor of Ittihad Newspaper before leaving in 1971 to study for a year in the USSR. Then he went to Egypt where he worked in Cairo for Al-Ahram Newspaper and in Beirut, Lebanon as an editor of the Journal “Palestinian Issues”. He was also the director of the Palestinian Research Center. Darwish was a member of the Executive Committee of the PLO and lived in exile between Beirut and Paris until his return in 1996 to Palestine. His poems are known throughout the Arab world, and several of them have been put to music. His poetry has gained great sophistication over the years, and has enjoyed international fame for a long time. He has published around 30 poetry and prose collections, which have been translated into 35 languages. He is the editor in chief and founder of the prestigious literary review Al Karmel, which has resumed publication in January 1997 out of the Sakakini Centre offices. He published in 1998 the poetry collection: Sareer el Ghariba (Bed of the Stranger), his first collection of love poems. In 2000 he published Jidariyya (Mural) a book consisting of one poem about his near death experience in 1997. In 1997 a documentary was produced about him by French TV directed by noted French-Israeli director Simone Bitton. He is a commander of the French Order of Arts and Letters.

Muhamoud Darwish is the winner of 2001 Lannan Prize for Cultural Freedom. The prize recognizes people whose extraordinary and courageous work celebrates the human right to freedom of imagination, inquiry, and expression. As defined by the foundation, cultural freedom is the right of individuals and communities to define and protect valued and diverse ways of life currently threatened by globalization.

In the words of poet Naomi Shihab Nye. Mr. Darwish is “the Essential Breath of the Palestinian people, the eloquent witness of exile and belonging, exquisitely tuned singer of images that invoke, link, and shine a brilliant light into the world’s whole heart. What he speaks has been embraced by readers around the world – his in an utterly necessary voice, unforgettable once discovered.”

Mr. Darwish published his first book of poetry, Leaves of Olives, in 1964, at the age of 22. Since then, he has published more than twenty poetry books, including The Adam of Two Edens, Mural, Why Have you Left the Horse Alone, and Eleven Planets. The University of California Press has published his prose work, Memory For Forgetfulness. In 2000, Gallimard published the latest French anthology of his work and, in 2002, a new English translation of Mr. Darwish’s Selected Poems will be published in the United States.Among his accomplishments is the 1969 Lotus Prize and 30 compilations of poetry and prose.

Carefull at 7pm 07.07.07

The Seven Wonders of the World.
7 Wonders of Ancient World:
Great Pyramid of Giza
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
Statue of Zeus at Olympia
Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus
Colossus of Rhodes
Lighthouse of Alexandria


New Seven Wonders Candidates:
Number Wonder Location
1 Potala Palace Lhasa, Tibet
2 Old City of Jerusalem Israel
3 Polar ice caps Polar regions
4 Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument Hawaii, United States
5 Internet N/A
6 Mayan ruins Yucatán Peninsula, Mesoamerica
7 Great Migration of Serengeti and Masai Mara Tanzania and Kenya
8 Grand Canyon (viewer-chosen eighth wonder) Arizona, United States

Charming Sam Blog

TheJC - Print Article

TheJC - Print Article
Want to help Israel? Help its Arab citizens

28 June 2007

By By Paul Usiskin

Over the past few months, Anglo-Jewry has become increasingly aware of the discrimination against Israeli Arabs — or Palestinian Arabs, as they now prefer to be called. The Abraham Fund, which promotes Israeli-Palestinian Arab dialogue, launched a UK branch earlier this year. The Pears Foundation brought community leaders and Israeli Jewish and Arab experts together in March, to discuss how best to increase funding to Palestinian Arabs. And the UJIA’s CEO, Douglas Krikler, admits there is real urgency about the Palestinian Arabs’ situation.

They are one of the poorest sectors in Israel’s economy and neither contribute to nor benefit from Israel’s consistent growth. The discrimination against them is the culmination of nearly 60 years of betrayal of Palestinian Arabs. Asking “what is this to us?” is rather like the Simple Son at the Passover. It should be a matter of concern to all Anglo Jews.

Israel’s Declaration of Independence included a promise to the Palestinian Arabs that they would “play their part in building the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its institutions”. Instead, there has been persistent discrimination, the stain of which Israel must remove.

From 1948-66, the bulk of the Arab population lived under Israeli military administration. The Naqba — the tragedy, as Palestinian Arabs call the War of Independence — delivered a national concussion from which they were unable to recover until after military administration ended. Yet even then, higher education, jobs, housing and municipal services all were and are inadequate and hard to access. Mass land expropriations in 1976 only exacerbated matters, and villages — a misnomer for townships of 20,000 plus — were placed under curfew whilst their land was seized.

No one should be surprised that Palestinian Arabs, watching Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank, fear being squeezed out of what remains of their own land.

Demonstrations in support of the Palestinians lead to the October 2000 tragedy, in which 13 Palestinian Arabs were killed in riots. Seven years later, no Israeli has been sentenced for their part in the loss of lives.

Worst of all, Israel is actively trying to create a Jewish majority in the Galilee, where at the moment, 52 percent of the 1.149 million residents are Palestinian Arabs. The Galilee and Negev redevelopment plan first published in November 2004 totalled £2.09 billion. Palestinian Arabs have not had enough of a voice in this strategy. Over the past year, ex-Gaza settler families were offered £11,220 to resettle in the Negev or the Galilee. In June 2005, a conference in Carmiel discussed the details of the Galilee re-development. No Arabs were invited.

NGOs now lead Palestinian Arab civil society in trying to crystallise the direction of a new Palestinian Arab collective. The first and most significant expression of this was “The Future Vision of the Palestinian Arabs in Israel”, released at the end of 2006. Produced by a committee of heads of local authorities, and specifically not Palestinian Arab Knesset political parties, the Vision stated what the Palestinian Arab community wanted in its relationship with Israel. Every aspect of the life of a national minority was covered, including collective rights; national identity; representative institutions; participating in the peace process; furthering dialogue.

Israeli reaction was dismissive. Israelis are anxious about Hizbollah, Iran, Hamas. The Azmi Bishara case, in which the Arab Israeli MK was accused of spying for Hizbollah during the 2006 Lebanon war, has intensified suspicions that the Palestinian Arabs are a fifth column.

More than tzedakah, Anglo-Jewish engagement with these issues can lead to a vital role in assuaging past agonies and future fears. There is a blatant need for social justice for the Palestinian Arabs, without whom Israel’s democracy is the poorer.

Paul Usiskin is co-chair of Peace Now-UK

O C C U P I E D: "Bimkom" Conference in Jaffa

O C C U P I E D: "Bimkom" Conference in Jaffa

Widely used diabetes pill Avandia might significantly increase the risk of heart attacks.

Study raises questions about Glaxo diabetes drug
By Stephanie Saul

Tuesday, May 22, 2007


NEW YORK: Clinical trials show that the widely used diabetes pill Avandia might significantly increase the risk of heart attacks, according to an article being published in The New England Journal of Medicine.


The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued what it called a "safety alert" in response, advising patients who are taking Avandia, particularly those at high risk for a heart attack, to seek advice from their doctors.


The agency also said it had been evaluating a possible risk increase since August and announced plans to convene an advisory panel to review the issue as quickly as possible. But government regulators cautioned that they had not confirmed the significance of the findings.


The New England Journal of Medicine posted the paper Monday on its Web site, ahead of its print publication June 14, a step that the editors take with matters they consider to have implications for public health.


"We view this as the best publicly available data on a very important question," said the editor of the journal, Dr. Jeffrey Drazen. "It shows what we regard as a preliminary, but worrisome, signal about cardiovascular toxicity of this drug."


While noting possible weaknesses in data used in the analysis, an accompanying editorial calls for a review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It also questions why physicians would prescribe Avandia, which is made by the British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline and is known generically as rosiglitazone.


In a statement, Glaxo said it strongly disagreed with the conclusions of the report, Reuters reported.


"GSK stands firmly behind the safety of Avandia when used appropriately, and we believe its significant benefits continue to outweigh any treatment risks," the company said.


Avandia, on the market since 1999, is used by an estimated two million people a year worldwide for the treatment of Type 2, or adult-onset, diabetes. With $3.2 billion in worldwide sales last year, it was Glaxo's second-biggest product, after the asthma drug Advair.


Drazen said patients concerned about the drug should meet with their doctors to decide whether to remain on it or switch to another drug.


The finding - that Avandia raises the risk of heart attack by 43 percent - was based on a review of 44 studies of the drug. The review was conducted by Dr. Steven Nissen and Kathy Wolski of the Cleveland Clinic, where Nissen is chief of cardiovascular medicine.


Nissen was among the first doctors to raise questions about the cardiovascular safety of Vioxx, the Merck painkiller that was withdrawn from the market in 2004.


Nissen's letter noted increased cardiovascular problems in a 5,000-patient clinical study. GlaxoSmithKline sponsored the trial in an effort to expand use of Avandia beyond a treatment of diabetes to a prevention of it.


In the trial, patients taking Avandia had 66 percent more heart attacks, 39 percent more strokes and 20 percent more deaths from cardiovascular-related problems.


The New York Times



Copyright © 2007 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com

Steve Ballmer’s comments bring MS Shares down FT.com

My Windows 98 crashed so this is with Linux!

FT.Com Writes:

Microsoft shares fall after Vista warning

By Kevin Allison in San Francisco

Published: February 16 2007 22:44 | Last updated: February 17 2007 02:33

Microsoft shares suffered their biggest intra-day fall in nine months on Friday, a day after its chief executive warned that some analysts’ revenue estimates for the new Vista operating system appeared to be “overly aggressive”.

Steve Ballmer’s comments, made at a presentation to Wall Street analysts, came two weeks after the long-awaited launch of Vista, Microsoft’s next-generation operating system.

Vista, which is intended to replace Windows as Microsoft’s core profits earner, is the company’s most important new product since the launch of the Windows 95 operating system nearly 12 years ago.

Mr Ballmer on Thursday cautioned that Vista would not lead to a big increase in Microsoft sales in the coming fiscal year.

“You shouldn’t think of a huge surge in fiscal year ’08 relative to ’07,” he said.

Roger Kay, an analyst at Endpoint Technologies, said the comments may have been a way for Microsoft to damp expectations for the coming quarter, which typically marks a seasonal low for consumer personal computer sales.

“Most consumers aren’t buying PCs right now, and corporations are serious when they say they are not going to start adopting Vista until 2008,” he said.

Mr Kay, who expects Microsoft to ship 72m copies of the operating systems this year, said Microsoft’s internal estimates for Vista sales may have been overly optimistic as well.

“Ballmer has always been very much a salesman, and he has tended to tout things on the high side,” Mr Kay said.

Most big companies, which account for the bulk of PC sales, are expected to upgrade to Vista gradually over the next few years.

Microsoft’s shares fell as much as 2.7 per cent in early trading in New York on Friday, recovering slightly to close down 2.4 per cent at $28.74. The shares had risen from a low of $21.51 in June, an increase of about 30 per cent.

However, shares in the world’s two biggest personal computer makers, which are relying on Vista to boost sales of PCs this year, drifted slightly higher yesterday. Hewlett-Packard rose 0.21 per cent, while shares in Dell rose 0.04 per cent.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007

Massarano's Jerusalem. Bloggers United!

END-OF-Blogger-Beta Bloggers United!
http://chanasys.blogspot.com
http://chanasystems.blogspot.com
Bussed to Jerusalem to meet Avraham Massarano
Yizhak came together with John his friend who took over the talking.
Trouble and Scandle in the Police.
Saw The Queen last night. My Comments on Imdb.com

 http://imdb.com/user/ur0498043/comments

Video-Schedule

Video-Schedule: "TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY

Mortimer and Raymond Sackler
Institute of Advanced Studies

In coordination with
The Moshe Dayan Center for
Middle Eastern & African Studies


אוניברסיטת תל-אביב

המכון ללימודים מתקדמים
ע'ש מורטימר וריימונד סאקלר
בשיתוף עם:

מרכז משה דיין
ללימודי המזרח התיכון ואפריקה


Professor Bernard Lewis
Professor Emeritus
Princeton University Princeton, U.S.A


פרופסור ברנרד לואיס
פרופסור אמריטוס
אוניברסיטת פרינסטון
פרינסטון, ארה'ב



Lecture



הרצאה




ORTHODOXY AND HERESY IN MIDDLE EAST RELIGIONS"

My Last day of 2006

Here in Jaffa at Midnight there were many Fireworks for the New Year 2007 and Eid al-Adha.
I heard Nachman Shai in the Morning about Iraq and Iran.
He said that Israel should take the "Backseet" and not sit in front over the Iran Issue as it concerns many countries.
I had a Last meeting with Noah Shai Anavim, and exchanged cards.
I told her about http://groups.myspace.com/jaffaduet My New Group called "Duet in Jaffa".
Many Thanks to Noah.
Best wishes to Everyone.
Sam in Jaffa.