YouTube, Twitter: Weapons in Israel’s Info War

Days after sending aircraft to strike Hamas militants in Gaza, the Israeli government is launching a campaign to dominate the blogosphere.

Among other things, the Israeli military has started its own YouTube channel to distribute footage of precision airstrikes. And as I type, the Israeli consulate in New York is hosting a press conference on microblogging site Twitter. It’s pretty interesting to see the Israeli-Palestinian conflict reduced to tweets of 140 characters or less (“We hav 2 prtct R ctzens 2, only way fwd through neogtiations, & left Gaza in 05. y Hamas launch missiles not peace?”; “we’re not at war with the PAL people. we’re at war with a group declared by the EU& US a terrorist org”).

The Jerusalem Post quotes Maj. Avital Leibovich, the head of the Israeli Defense Forces’ foreign press branch on the digital media campaign. “The blogosphere and new media are another war zone,” she says. “We have to be relevant there.”

It appears, however, that some of the YouTube posts have already been scrubbed. A note on the page of the pro-Israel YouTube channel reads: “We are saddened that YouTube has taken down some of our exclusive footage showing the IDF’s operational success in operation Cast Lead against Hamas extremists in the Gaza Strip. … It is also worth noting that one of the videos removed had the highest number of hits (over 10,000) at the time of its removal.”

source: WIRED.com

Advertisement

12.30.08

Today was my first day back to work in a week and boy am I ever sore and tired! My legs get so sore standing all day and today was especially tiring. We are constantly short staffed since the cut backs in labor and they are really pushing those of us who choose to stay to the limit. Customers are having to wait, the lines at the drive thru are usually long and sometimes even the line in the cafe is long as well. I worked the drive thru today. The sun is brutal from about 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. as it blindingly shines right in the drive thru window– sometimes so brightly that it is difficult to even see the customer. The lot next door is being cleared. I assume at one time it must have been something but now all that is left is a thick concrete slab. This is on the drive thru side and today a big backhoe was working most of the day to dig up and break up and pile up the remaining slab making it quite difficult to hear the drive thru patrons. Then, in the height of the rush hour this morning, the cup labeler broke. If it’s ever going to break, it breaks during the height of the rush hour! So to say it was tense at work today is quite an understatement!

I did have some fun though. Herbert the rat made his debut appearance he he…

I hid him under the mop bucket in the mop drain sink in the back of the store. I was in the drive thru when one of the girls went to fill the mop bucket in the afternoon. I heard her scream all the way from the back of the store. It was quite funny! The highlight of my work day!

Last night my bff went for a sleep study. For some time now he hasn’t slept good at night waking himself up because he stops breathing. When he first started it would wake me up, but now I sleep so sound because I work so hard that it doesn’t wake me up any more. I don’t even think he snores so much any more as he used to– just once in a while do I hear him snore. The sleep study was supposed to last until 7:00 or 8:00 a.m. but they sent him home early– like 4:00 a.m. because he was so miserable and had the obvious signs of sleep apnea as we suspected. I kidded him that maybe he was just not a very good patient he he. I believe he will hear from the doctor in about a week and have to do another sleep study with some kind of divinely romantic apparatus which he will bring home and sleep with the rest of our lives– wonderful well, if it helps him sleep maybe it will be worth it. I hope it helps him.

Sari Beri had an ortho appointment late this afternoon so afterward we stopped off at Chopsticks Chinese Bistro in Peachtree City for dinner. I highly recommend it. Great atmosphere and great food as well– the company was good too, me, Sari Beri and my bff.

12.29.08

When last I left you, BIGGER Tom was waiting to get the chest tube out and Chris and Rachel were waiting to catch a plane out of KC back to ATL for a night of Christmas Party-ing with the family. Most of you probably already know how all that turned out as well as the rest of our eventful weekend. If not, read on and I’ll fill you in.

The chest tube, I don’t think, was as bad coming out as going in and not as bad as BIGGER Tom anticipated. It was quick he said and kind of took his breath away– they basically just jerk it out of you. It looked to be about 12-15″ long. I would post a pic of it here but it’s quite gross. Soon after the chest tube was out an x-ray was taken [one was taken before the chest tube came out as well] and we were released from the hospital about noon on Saturday. Tomorrow he goes back to the surgeon to be sure everything is healing properly, to get another x-ray, find out the results of the ecocardiogram and to see where we go from here.

Chris and Rachel did indeed make a flight out of KC on Saturday around noon I think it was. There were plenty of people praying they would and that’s really the only explanation for them getting on because it seemed that even paying passengers were left behind on the flight they got out on.

We had our family Christmas on Saturday night and that was nice.

Sunday was a special day. Every Sunday is a special day but this Sunday was especially special. It was my father and mother’s 50th wedding anniversary. They were actually married on a Sunday afternoon 50 years ago on yesterday. For a year now the family has been planning and working on a special surprise celebration for their 50th. We hired the best caterer we knew, the best florist and the Lord has just made so many things come together to make their special day so much more special than we ever could have. It was just a miracle!

First of all let me say this was supposed to be a surprise, but it turned out not to be. We mailed invitations the day after Thanksgiving and you probably won’t believe this but my mom has this friend [if you can call her that] that on the day she received the invitation called my mom and said, “I don’t like surprises, and I just wanted you to know that your family is having a surprise 50th wedding anniversary celebration for you and Tom on Sunday, December 28… and I’m just telling you this because you might want to get your hair done or buy a new outfit and be sure Tom doesn’t have a stain on his shirt…” Can you believe someone would do that!?! My mom just told me that yesterday during the reception when I asked if they were surprised. So, no they weren’t surprised at the event. However, they were surprised at how nice it was and how many people showed up. There were between 300-350 people. It was AMAZING to watch all these people that I haven’t seen in years and years and years just keep pouring in the door. It turned out great!

see the photos

And this actually even gets a little better. When my mom’s friend called her to tell her about the surprise, it upset my mom really bad that she would do that. It upset her so much that she couldn’t sleep for two nights! That’s the only part that really bothers me– not so much that the surprise was revealed but that it upset my mom so much. Anywho… so my mom called my aunt to tell her about it, because my aunt too knows this crazy lady. So yesterday, when the crazy lady arrived, she went over to my aunt and said, “Well, do you think they’ll be surprised?” Seriously, she did! It’s a good thing I didn’t know all this when I so warmly greeted her at the door yesterday and told her how glad I was that she came! BIGGER Tom says she’s evil 😮

Money left behind at West Milwaukee Starbucks

West Milwaukee – Police are looking for someone who left a large sum of money at a Starbucks Coffee shop earlier this month.

The money was left at the Starbucks at 1130 Miller Park Way on Dec. 18, West Milwaukee Police Sgt. Robert Bennett said today. It was turned over to the police department by the shop’s general manager after no one returned to claim it.

Police will release the money to its owner, who should be able to describe the quantity of money and the container that it was in, Bennett said.

The owner should contact the police department at (414) 645-2151 to set up a meeting. The report number for the matter is 08-009241.

source: jsonline.com

Chick-fil-A has FREE Chicken Biscuits (with any purchase) on New Years Day

The Chick-fil-A Chicken Biscuit giveaway will be advertised during the Chick-fil-A Bowl broadcast, which airs nationally on ESPN at 7:30 p.m. (EST) on Dec. 31. A mass email campagin is also underway– got mine yesterday. The invitations will be distributed at participating Chick-fil-A restaurants beginning Jan. 1 (while supplies last), and can be redeemed through March 28, 2009.

Happy New Year!

Atheists and Chick-Fil-A

On a couple of occasions during this Christmas season, the subject of where we shopped came up among friends and family members. Invariably, statements like “I don’t shop there because they don’t allow the Salvation Army bell ringers” or ” I don’t shop there because they support gays” came up.

I really hadn’t thought about the issue of whether Salvation Army is or isn’t allowed to stand in front of some stores. I assume they do receive a large part of their support via the “red kettles.” I wrote the Salvation Army a sizable check because I think they do a great work, not because I felt guilty every time I walked past the red kettle. I would have sent the check regardless.

I couldn’t think of a single retailer I purposely do not support because of their “support of gays” or any other group for that matter. Because I believe the Bible, I also believe homosexuality is a deviant behavior. People can and DO think I’m wrong. OK. So, I Googled “gay friendly companies” and discovered that Dell, Boeing, Best Buy, Clorox, Coca-Cola, just about every major auto manufacturer including Ford, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Toyota, and Saturn, among a host of other corporations have been rated as “gay friendly.” Hmmm. If I was going to start boycotting “gay friendly” companies, looks like my list of acceptable shopping choices would be pretty limited. That still doesn’t change my mind, but that’s not the point of this post.

Since there are folks-let’s be honest, it’s mostly those who identify themselves as Christians- that are specific about which companies they do and do not support based on certain behaviors/things they consider to be sin(s), my question is: “Do non-Christians (atheists/agnostics, etc) boycott business for similar reasons, i.e. they are “Christian friendly?” Chick-Fil-A is owned by an openly Christian family. They don’t allow their franchises to be open on Sundays. The same goes for Hobby Lobby stores. Do people avoid these and similar companies because of their owner’s religious beliefs?

source: WATWUZITHINKIN

Physicists Prefer Mac OS X

Apple is featuring an article on one of the physicists working at the Large Hadron Collider, who just so happens to be a huge Mac fan. According to Brian Cox, any physicist will tell you that the Mac is the way to go, especially if you need to run both new apps and old UNIX programs.

read more…