and Great Walls of Fire
My first encounter with the term firewall was back when I worked for an ISP, and it was in the sense used in computer communications. That is, a system that controls the network traffic both into the network and out of the network. Usually the rules that govern network traffic, or access to the network, …
Douglas Hofstadter Translates a Poem, and then Writes a Book About It
It's not that simple. First, the book was published in 1997, and it's been a few years since I read it. Being a Hofstadter book it's worth returning to occasionally. It's not that simple also because when Hofstadter writes about something he rarely writes about just that one thing. I bought the book because I …
The Other Timeline is like a Foreign Country. They Speak Differently There
One of the common tv tropes in science fiction involving aliens is that the aliens all speak English. Some movies and tv shows throw in some lines about a universal translator (Star Trek), or a Timelord gift (Doctor Who) that the Doctor can share with others. If the aliens happen to come to Earth, they …
Brief and to the Point – ITA Short Talks Lecture Evening
The ITA's October lecture evening offered a collection of short talks. couple of weeks ago the ITA treated us to a lecture evening format it hadn't tried before – short talks. Over the past decade or so I attended quite a few open source/free software and Perl conferences where one of the most popular sessions …
שיר, תרגום של שיר, וקצת הסטוריה של השחמט
ב-1913 פירסם הרולד מארי (H.J.R. Murray) את ספרו על ההסטוריה של השחמט. הספר מתאר גרסאות הסטוריות שונות של המשחק מהודו, סין, יפן, פרס ועוד. הוא עוקב אחרי פריחת השחמט תחת האיסלאם. ומשם הוא ממשיך ועוקב אחרי התפתחות המשחק באירופה, אליה הובא על ידי המוסלמים דרך ספרד. בתיאור המשחקים השונים מארי עוסק לא רק במהלכי הכלים …
Wij dragen… – We carry… – אנו נושאים … A poem written in Theresienstadt
A poem written in Theresienstadt by Sophie Cohen-Kleermaker Translated from Dutch to Hebrew and English by Mirjam Bruck-Cohen, Sophie`s granddaughter Wij dragen… We carry… אנו נושאים … Met onze moede handen dragen wij de zware manden wij dragen van d'ene kelder naar d'ander de zware manden met elkander. With our weary hands we carry the …
The Languages of Haifa
A multilingual menu on a shop in Haifa. This multi-lingual menu was photographed by my mother outside a shop in Haifa. Most of it is written in four languages. Hebrew, English, Arabic, Russian.