Israeli Robo-Printer Wins International Prize

Article: a Jerusalem start-up company has won the top technology prize for its robo printer, beating out industry giants and thousands of other products at the Las Vegas electronics show. The Israeli portable, palm-sized printer works by running across a page and printing out text exactly like a regular printer would do. But instead of loading paper into a feed, the content is loaded directly onto the paper. It prints in about the same time as a regular printer--about 40 seconds. It has a rechargeable battery with an off-on switch, can be connected to a computer and can print on any size piece of paper. 

The Innovation Award is extremely coveted in the industry. The Israeli company can now put a sticker on its products which says it is the winner of the Innovation Award. This is especially exciting for the small Israeli start-up. It was expensive for them to come to the contest--they had to rent a booth, buy plane tickets and hotels, hire PR, etc. When asked about the award, one of the Israelis said, "Beyond the honor this award brings to the Israeli electronics industry, it also helps out the other Israeli companies at CES by drawing attention to Israeli innovation, and to Israel as an advanced, technologically advanced, country.” What do you think? How is this good for spreading Israel's story? How is this product good for people in general? 

Watch a video about it here. 

When Is A Good Age to Get Married?

Article: In Nepal, there is a custom for parents to marry off their boys around age 9. The law says you cannot get married before age 18, but the law is not always followed, particularly for Hindus who are of the lowest caste. The marry off their children young because they cannot afford to take care of them and the dowries are lower the younger the child. What is a dowry? What are types of dowries we see in the Western world? (Bride's family pays for wedding? Wedding gifts?) Often kids around age 9 will get married, then go back to live with their families. When they are around 12, the girls go to live with the boy's family, often serving as servants for the mother-in-law. The boys drop out of school and start working. When you ask the kids, they say they don't want to get married so young but do not have a choice. This has been the tradition for generations. What do you think of this? Does your family have any traditions that you do not like? If so, how would you try to change them?

Drones and Satellites Monitoring Old Jewish Cemetaries

Today is a crazy busy day at work, so instead of writing out a synopsis of an article, I'm going to provide an article to discuss that isn't too long for you to read on your own. It is about how using drones and satellites, we can now monitor Jewish cemeteries in lands that no longer have any Jews. 

Ask your kids: what would you want to monitor (the condition of the cemetery, changes to the cemetery, etc.); how are cemeteries important ways to learn about history? What can you discover from reading tombstones and visiting graves? How do Jews mark a grave they have visited? (with a rock) Why?  

Who's a Better Teacher: A Person or a Computer?

Article: A classroom in New York is experimenting with a computer being the teacher! In the 6th grade math class at Boody High School in Brooklyn, classrooms are blended. This means computers choose which students sit together, figure out what the children know and how well they know it, choose what problems the children should work on and give teachers which lesson to teach next.

Here's how it works: When 6th graders arrive in class, they log onto their laptop or check a computer at the front of the room. It tells them where to sit and what kind of lesson they'll do. A computer voice "teaches" them at their various stations. However the students do answering questions decides where they will sit and what they will learn the next day.

So far researchers don't know if this makes students learn math better. Some say it only works if the teacher and computer work together. But some teachers are letting the computers do all the work, and so the kids aren't learning. Teachers like that it reduces their workload, especially for grading papers and deciding homework. But others say it reduces creativity. What do you think of this style of teaching? 

American Consulate in Jerusalem and Security Guards

Article: The American Consulate in Jerusalem has recently announced that it is hiring 35 new Palestinian security guards from East Jerusalem, who are being trained in Jordan and America on how to use weapons and fight. This is in direct violation of an agreement between Israel and the Consulate, which says that only former IDF soldiers protecting the consulate may have weapons. Why do you think Israel has this agreement? Some of the Palestinians being trained have spent time in Israeli jail for throwing stones at Israelis or have relatives who have been convicted for terrorism or are part of Hamas. There are other Palestinian guards in the consulate, but none who have weapons and strategic training. Why do you think that Israel is worried that these people will now have weapons? Do you think these people are a threat? The US consulate claims that it wants Palestinian guards to take them to the West Bank, not Israeli guards. Some claim that the new head of the US Consulate in Jerusalem is anti-Israel; he has fired 7 Israeli guards since he arrived and only 1 Palestinian guard; his most senior adviser is someone who spent time in Israeli jail for being part of the PLO and another employee's relative is the head of Hamas in Jerusalem.

Underwater Archaeology in Israel

Article: Israel is a pioneer in underwater archaeology. Recently, underwater archaeologists discovered the preserved remains of a prehistoric village submerged off the coast of Haifa! They found a water well that may be the oldest wooden structure ever found and the oldest evidence of a prehistoric ancient olive-oil industry from the New Stone Age, over 7000 years ago. It was found buried under 100 meters of sand. Scientists think that 6 Neolithic villages near Haifa became submerged as the sea level rose, possibly as the result of icecaps and glaciers melting massively (i.e., climate change). They have also discovered 9000 year old stone wells, stone basins used for crushing olives, and thousands of olive pits. The scientists think the people in the village lived until the age of 50 (a long time, at that time) because of their healthy Mediterranean diet. There is also evidence of human diseases in discovered bones such as malaria and tuberculosis!

What do you think are the challenges faced by doing archaeology underwater? How do you look for ancient artifacts in the sea? See here for pictures.

    

What is the one of the Most Important Medical Discoveries all time?

Article: What do you think is probably one of the most important medical discoveries of all time? Believe it or not, it was the discovery of using soap and water! Here's the story. In 1946, no one knew anything about germs or what caused illnesses to spread. A Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis (possibly Jewish), wanted to study why women in the hospital having babies kept dying from a type of fever (puerperal fever). In one clinic, women were treated only by male doctors, in another clinic, only by female midwives. When he compared the data of women from each clinic, he found that the women staffed by the doctors died nearly 5x more than those in the midwife ward. Why?

He looked for the difference between the two clinics. In the doctors' clinic, women only had babies while lying on their backs. But when Dr. Semmelweis asked them to move positions, it didn't change the death rates. Then he found that in the doctors' ward, priests would walk by ringing bells. But when he asked the priests to stop doing that, it also didn't change the death results. Then a doctor became ill with the fever. This caused Semmelweis to realize that the fever wasn't something unique to the women. So Semmelweis guessed something else. The doctors were holding the bodies of women who died, then they would help deliver babies. So something on the doctors' hands was passing back and forth between the women who had died from fever and women who were still alive. Maybe this is what was causing the fever to be passed around. So he ordered the doctors to all start cleaning their hands and instruments not just with soap but with chlorine (now known as the best disinfectant in the world). And women stopped dying!

Semmelweis discovered that hand-washing is one of the most important tools to keeping people healthy. It can keep people from getting the flu, prevent the spread of disease and keep infections away.

Sadly for Semmelweis, it didn't end happily. The doctors were angry that Semmelweis made it look like they were spreading the disease. They made him lose his job and he eventually died in a hospital with a disease likely caused from getting infected by someone who didn't wash hands!

Israeli 9th Grade Girls Conduct Ground Breaking Science Experiment about Space!

Article: Four 9th grade girls from Bat Yam, Israel, wanted to study how low gravity conditions in space influence the development of shrimp eggs compared to the influence of the earth's environment on shrimp eggs. The purpose was to see if living organisms can develop in space. Their experiment was chosen out of more than 50 high schools around the country because it was creative, innovative, and had potential for continued scientific experiments. The girls go to a special school established in memory of the late Israeli astronaut Col. Ilan Ramon.

The girls' experiment was conducted on the International Space Station. They prepared a special test tube with a divider between the shrimp eggs on one side and salt, water, and oxygen (needed for the eggs' growth) on the other. US astronauts took the tubes to space and carefully removed the divider according to the girls' instructions, connecting the two parts of the tube. Meanwhile, the girls did the same experiment at their school. A few weeks ago, they got their test results. The eggs developed and multiplied slower in space than on land. The girls presented their research at a festival at their school. Scientists around the world have praised their experiment and their findings and posted them on international websites.

How do you think this study will impact future research? What experiment would you like to do? 

Obituary: Bess Myerson, First Jewish Miss America, Dies at 90

Article: Bess Myerson, 1945 Miss America, died at 90 in Santa Monica this week. Bess  was born in the Bronx in 1924, the second of three daughters. Her younger brother, Joseph, died at age 3 of diphtheria. Her father was a handyman, carpenter and painter of houses.She grew up in a very Jewish housing project, surrounded by artists and musicians. Bess was a gifted pianist, starting to play at age 9 and later accepted into a prestigious music high school. Her family was poor; she gave piano lessons at $.50/hour just to pay for her own lessons. Her sister, Sylvia, entered her picture into a NYC pageant because the winner would get a scholarship to college. Bess won the contest and then Miss America, wearing a white bathing suit, playing Gershwin on the flute and Grieg on the piano. She was the first and only Jewish Miss America, crowned just days after WWII ended. She was tall at 5'10" and had luxurious brown hair. She was also very smart and witty--unusual for most women in the Miss America contest. When she won Miss America, the announcer shouted, "Beauty with brains, that’s Miss America of 1945!” Every Jew at the time felt that Bess' victory was their victory.

Unfortunately, because of anti-Semitism, few sponsors wanted a Jewish Miss America to endorse their products. When she toured the country after the pageant, many country clubs and hotels wouldn't let her in. As a result, her tour was cut short. Ms. Myerson said she felt very rejected. She continued to perform piano concerts ando helped Jewish charities, like the ADL. She led two New York City agencies, advised three presidents, and advocated for social causes and politicians, such as Jewish NY Mayor Ed Koch. Many say Koch would never have won if not for Ms. Myerson' endorsement. She even tried to be a Senator! She married twice. Later in her life, when asked if she was glad she had been Miss America, she replied, I needed money and wanted to be a concert pianist. That's why I did it.

     

Real Life Spies: good and bad

Two interesting articles appeared in today's news, both about spying. The first news item says that Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terrorist organization based in Lebanon, has recently discovered that an Israeli Mossad agent was secretly pretending to be Hezbollah Chief Nasrallah's close aid, rising to the elite branches of Hezbollah. But really, this man was an Israeli spy finding out information about Hezbollah and passing it back to Israel! He is credited with stopping Hezbollah from doing several attacks against Israel. What dangers do you think this brave Israeli spy faced? 

The second news item says that Israel's Mossad alerted Peruvian police that a Lebanese Hezbollah agent, Mohammad Hamdar (age 29) was living in Peru, married to a Peruvian woman, and planning on carrying out attacks in Lima. Locate Peru on a map and find the capital Lima. Mohammad has a Sierra Leone passport (find on map). When police raided his apartment after receiving the tip from Israel, they found explosives, chemicals for use in bombs, and information on his computer with photos of important places in Lima. Why? What types of places? The places were the airport, banks, police stations, government buildings, hotels, etc. During interrogation, Mohammad admitted he was a Hezbollah member, hired in Beirut, given a fake identity, told to marry his Peruvian girlfriend and live in Peru.

There are three different spies in these articles. Can you name them all (two Israelis, 1 Hezbollah agent). Would you want to be a spy? Why or why not? 

Recycling in Israel

Welcome back to the blog after the holiday season! In honor of my having laryngitis and not being able to share any current event with my kids, today's kick-off current event is a video. This video, encouraging Israelis to recycle, went viral in Israel. Share the video with your kids and then ask:

• What color is the recycling trash can in Israel? What color is it in your neighborhood? 
• What types of things were they recycling in the video? Do we recycle those things? 
• What did the girl on the balcony say after she made her shot? ("Yesh!") This word has two meanings in Hebrew (YES! and "have") Use it in a sentence, using both meanings. 
• Can you make a shot like they did in the video? Try with a trash can at home.