Lecture Notes Taking – A Recipe

כבר הרבה זמן שלא יצא לי להיות בקורס שבו שאין שקופיות מוכנות מראש. עכשיו, אחרי לפחות שנה הפסקה, חזרתי להקליד את כל ההרצאות בעצמי. אז יש לי Word ו-MathType בשביל טקסט וסימנים מתמטיים אבל בהרבה קורסים יש כל מיני ציורים שצריך לצייר. במקרה כזה ישנן שתי אפשרויות: להתחיל לצייר עם הכלים (הלא מדהימים) העומדים לרשותך או לצלם. אז בחרתי לצלם. כשעשיתי את הקורס הקדם-אקדמי, לפני שקניתי לעצמי מחשב נייד, כתבתי הכל על דפים וצירפתי תמונות שצילמתי עם הטלפון או המצלמה. אבל אז זה היה סיבוך לחבר אותם ולהוריד את התמונות וכן הלאה וכן הלאה. היום, זה הרבה יותר פשוט. והנה המתכון. רכיבים דרושים: מחשב נייד לכתוב עליו. טלפון חכם. Dropbox. תהליך: 1) וודא כי המצלמה על הטלפון שומרת את התמונות לספריית התמונות הסטנדרטית של הטלפון (לעזאזל עם Dropbox, זה מה שהוא דורש). 2) וודא עם Dropbox שהוא שולף את התמונות משם ומעלה כל תמונה חדשה לספרייה ידועה. 3) הקלד במהלך השיעור. 4) בהינתן ציור, שלוף טלפון וצלם ככל יכולתך. 5) המשך להקליד במהלך החצי דקה (במקרה הרע) שייקח לתמונה לעלות. 6) עם הצגת ההודעה על תמונה חדשה, פתח אותה עם כל תוכנה שמאפשרת לחתוך אותה. 7) חתוך את התמונה לגודל הרצוי שיציג רק את מה שחשוב. 8) שמור אותה בספרייה נוחה (כמו אותה ספרייה בה שומרים את ההרצאה). 9) אמור למעבד התמלילים שלך לשלב את התמונה במקום הרצוי. 10) להתפעל מעצמך איך, גם עם ציורים, עדיין אפשר להקליד באותה מהירות, אם לא יותר מהר, מהתקדמות השיעור. זה היה קצת מרומם רוח.


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Role Playing Games – A Must

There have been many studies about the importance of play. Just like animals learn their important skills by playing (wolves running, chasing and biting, for example), human kids also learn social interaction through play with other kids and we build up our analytical skills by solving puzzles be it block building or predefined riddles. And if you look at gamers, almost everyone loves a good puzzle games whether they be simple matching puzzles, complex quests or serious brain busting riddles. Even if all you play is sports games, you probably would also enjoy a good puzzle. Puzzle games are today’s extensions of the brain exercise we used to get from physical puzzles and challenges. And this is why I think everyone should play Role Playing Games. Roleplaying games are full of puzzles. They are narrative based and all about some form of engagement. But pretty much all role playing games contain puzzles. They could be riddles, tactical situations, clue hunting or even political plotting. But each of them tend to really task the mind because of their very unique quality: all of them are specifically designed for the particular situation in hand. Meaning, the game setting and the players. When you’re a kid, you go outside, make up games, play with your friends, spend several hours just working your imagination. When you grow up, most of that goes away. Your entertainment turn into going out to drink, watching television, maybe some conversation over dinner. More modern adults also play party Continue Reading →


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Face Value or Sub-Text?

After finishing the Mass Effect Trilogy and filling my head with the Indoctrination Theory, I kept thinking about the idea of the face up value vs sub-text. A lot of games that are available today are simple games, what you see is what you get. Monsters are overrunning the Earth and you need to kill the Devil, ok no problem. Seems pretty simple. And you can find some games whose stories takes a few twists and some things are not as they first seem, for example… [SPOILERS AHEAD! If you see the name of a game you don’t want spoiled, skip it! But there is another section after this.] Portal 2 – One of the more obvious examples when you start out fighting your previous villain only to discover you’ve helped a worse villain. Star Control 2 – You start out thinking you’re fighting to stop this evil race only to find out that they are doing what they are doing because they were burned pretty badly in the past, burned so bad that galaxy wide domination or annihilation is the only choice. Borderlands – At the beginning, the vault is this huge treasure trove but at the end you realise it was a prison. Knights of the Old Republic – You go hunting for a malevolent Sith Lord only to discover that you were the villain that lost his memory. One Must Fall 2097 – You fight through all the tournaments to face the big boss and he’s not piloting his robot, he is his Continue Reading →


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Evans Blue

Are a band I got reacquainted with during my rerun of my favourite songs. I don’t know how they got there but I suppose I found them through the “radio” feature and decided they were cool enough. And after listening to all their albums, I have to say they are very cool. If you like hard rock with a tinge of thrash, you’ll like them. Here is a sample of my favourites among them.  


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Imagine if there were no pirates…

NetFlix will have to write their own subtitles… Ubisoft will have to disable their annoying copy protection on their own… They will also need to convert their own audio files… Artists will have to be sought out for their music… It will be a tragedy. On the other hand: Music sales will go up… People everywhere will pay to watch TV shows… Authors will be much more well known for their work… And every form of media we wish to consume will be readily and easily available… It will be a utopia. (Hint: No, it won’t).


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People Will Rise Up: Babylon 5 vs The Hunger Games

This thought coalesced around the time I saw this lecture and we were talking about The Hunger Games. One of my first problems with the story is that I think there is no way people will be willing to live under oppression and fear. One of the things I loved most about Babylon 5 is when they described the Earth-Minbari war, the Minbari were superiour to the Humans in every way. They were beaten back and the Minbari got all the way to the Sol System. They fought all the way to Mars and Humans were on the brink of annihilation. It wasn’t what stopped the war but the Minbari were in awe that a people were so stubborn and so unwilling to give up. Only on the footsteps of Earth did they acknowledge surrender and even then, people still joined in a fight, that they knew could not be survived, just so civilian rescue ships could evacuate. Because people are stubborn and will fight for what they think is right. And so, I was facing a big problem with the idea that The Hunger Games were 74 years on going. And I was shocked that a people were oppressed for so long without a fight. I can’t remember, in human history, an oppression so long without some fighting, some resistance. And it resonated for me with the Arab Spring. Here was our current real-life example that a people in the dumps, knowing and seeing that things could be better, chose Continue Reading →


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What We Did For Our Anniversary

It all started off quite innocuously as I sent Maayan flowers to work on Wednesday, the actual date. Picture of bouquet to follow since the only other picture I have is in an MMS message and it will take more will power than I have right now to get it. Any road, I apparently set a bad example for husbands everywhere. We couldn’t do much for the actual anniversary since it was too much in the middle of the week. So we had to compensate. On Wednesday, after work, we went to one of our favourite restaurants and shared a burger. Which was kind of fun since another family in a table nearby celebrated a birthday.                                             And thanks to Keren who actually called to congratulate us. :) Next day was my big surprise day. Since it was Thursday, we could afford to do something that could be followed by not waking up in the morning. So, I took Maayan sailing. She mentioned something about it and I was actually planning it since last year but it was fun to actually put it into practice. We get to see Haifa a lot from all sorts of angles and we do think it’s a beautiful city. But there is only one way to see it like this and that is what we did.                   Continue Reading →


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So… New Job, eh?

Yes. New job. Not much to say about else-wise. It’s software engineering. The environment is great. I like the people. It’s security related so I can’t say much more. I still don’t understand all of it myself. So, my life just got a bit more complicated and hopefully for the best. More to follow. Eventually.


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Sometimes Goodbye is a “Second Chance”

I love my parents. I love the place where I grew up. But it’s a cradle. And you have to leave your cradle. It’s not just a metaphoric observation on some option in life, this is an imperative. I’m not saying everyone should leave their home but your home doesn’t make you who you are. Even your parents. Sure, you inherited their genetic material and that and the place you grew up in define you but they shouldn’t constrain you. You should go and find your own place in life. These are the kinds of thoughts that have been running through my head since I was ten. Yes, ten, I’m not kidding. Since then I was thinking about what I want to do with my life and where that life should take me. It took me until I was about 14-15 to really nail it down but I was thinking about it even then. And these are some of the main topics of my life. Because – and again, I mean no disrespect to my parents – but my father can be a bit pressuring at times, to the point where you think that you’re not the one running your own life. And I think this is one of the main reasons why I turned up the way I am, always have to do things my way, most often in the complete opposite way as everyone else, just so I could feel that I’m in control. And since this is Continue Reading →


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Taking Some Time

I am currently working on my last project of the semester. Basically, a client-server application I need to build from the ground up. Along with that, I’m gonna start a new job soon. My first professional, actually in my profession, work. Which means, I am very much trying to keep myself busy with the things I need to do. I have some things I want to write but those will have to wait until I can concentrate on anything other than work. Until then, this blog is going on hiatus. Until mid-September at least. So no worries.


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