World AIDS day - Israel fights HIV

Where to even start. The spread of HIV and AIDS raises so many issues and creates so many problems it’s hard to know where to even begin. What is one to do on World AIDS Day? What are you supposed to be thinking about? There are so many angles to be tackled in this problem.

There is the need for support for those infected and their families. The need to make medication readily available around the world. The need to fight against discrimination because of the virus. The need to educate against its being spread. The list goes on and on.

Around 40 million people have to deal with the reality of being infected on a day-to-day basis, every day. And that number continues to grow despite our efforts. So how can we not feel helpless?

The answer, fortunately, is very simple. There are some stellar examples around the globe of the tremendous breakthroughs being made in the field of HIV-AIDS. One of them is Dr. Tamar Jehuda-Cohen, a religious woman and mother of seven who, living in Israel, has developed a revolutionary tool for early detection of the HIV virus (as well as HCV, which causes chronic Hepatitis).

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White Homeroom Soothes the Soul

Some things are universal: everybody hates taxes. Root for the underdog. Monday mornings suck.

These truths aren’t only universal geographically, they’re universal generationally, as well. Twenty-five year-olds hate paying taxes just as much as senior citizens, you root for the Chicago Cubs the same way you root for the little kid fighting a bully, and Monday back at school is just as bad (if not worse) than Monday in the office.

Well, except for the students at Wilkomitz Elementary School in Rosh Pina, Israel. Their principal, Chava Inbar, has developed an innovative approach to getting rid of those Monday morning blues and any others that might arise throughout the week. At Wilkomitz, whenever a student is feeling overwhelmed, or uninspired, or just bored, they head over to a special room designed to brighten their day – aptly nicknamed ‘the White Room.’ Upon entering, one encounters a floor lined with white pillows, soothing music playing in the background, aromatic scents floating through the air, and dim lighting.

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MissFlag

The music industry has changed so much over the last three decades; we have moved from the long play discs to CDs, to downloading our favorite music from the internet to people promoting their music themselves. This is exactly what happened to the five youngsters from Jerusalem, who, according to YNET, set up their band called MissFlag two years ago. The band was performing in English and the music was reminiscent of that featured on the British ‘indie’ scene, but alas, their music was initailly not very well received in Israel.

Difficulties did not discourage them and following the popular trend, they designed a cool MySpace. They uploaded their music and got thousands of listeners. Their single “Hidden Thieves” was selected by MySpace critics to lead the charts for four consecutive weeks.

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Virtual Aquarium

Take a Wednesday morning break in our virtual aquarium brought to you by ‘evakni’. Every once and awhile we like to post some relaxing video clips of Israel’s small stretch of aquatic paradise in the southern port city of Eilat, just to remind us that other people are having a great time.

Hope you enjoyed.

National Geographic Presents, ‘Israel Gone Wild’

Every society has its own sense of humor. Israel happens to be a bit self-critical when pinning for laughs. Naor Zion, a famous Israeli stand-up, earned his acclaim by doing just that.

So welcome fellow bloggers, fans, and surfers to the long awaited in-depth documentary on the Israeli ‘Arsawat’, brought to by our very own Naor Zion. We hope you enjoy this bit of shtick with a heavy side of salt.

If you have any questions, comments, or need a further explanation click here, and we’ll do our best.

Face To Face With Leat Klingman: 23 Questions To An Israeli In NY

Leat with her niece
1. Name: Leat Klingman
2. Born in Tel Aviv
3. Moved to New York in 2003 to do a Masters in Fine Arts at the School of Visual Arts
4. My neighborhood is Prospect Heights and I like it because it is quiet and safe
5. For a living, I teach art at “Gateway”, a school for students with learning disabilities and also Hebrew at 92nd Y as a foreign language.

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Yoni & The Flying Wheelchairs

Isn’t it strange how there’s always one person on crutches in graduation pictures? I’ve found this to be a universal truth. No idea why. I remember thinking in anticipation of my own high school graduation ‘who’s it going to be?’ – and sure enough, with only a couple of weeks to go before graduation, someone broke their leg and got put on crutches.

About two years ago, my wife (at the time my girlfriend) was on crutches after some minor foot surgery. She had to spend about six weeks on crutches, and then another 6-10 in a walking boot, before she was recovered. It wasn’t that big of a deal, but I remember that when trying to catch trains, or visit museums, or even just go to the beach, the minor cast became a major handicap. We would need a wheelchair, or an elevator, or a handcart. And people stared, too. I couldn’t figure that out – I mean, some injuries are hard not to gawk at, but a standard cast and crutches? They’re not all that uncommon. And really not that interesting, either.

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Cool New TA Site

Hello World,

As we await winters eventual arrival to NY– not that we really want it to arrive, but these 60 degree days are beginning to give me the chills– we have been perusing the travel sites to find the best airfare for a quick week on the beach in Tel Aviv. Besides hanging out on the lounge chairs drinking Gold Star and eating watermelon, we obviously would like to get the low down on what’s new, cool, and edible in the Middleterranean beach city, when lo and behold this email pops into our inbox:

Hello & Shalom,

I am writing to you regarding a new and exciting project called www.telavivcity.com

Telavivcity.com (Hebrew version) has been online for a few years and launched a new version earlier this year.

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Micro-Penetrating Robots

Well I was blown away when I heard about the ‘PillCam’™, which, as the name suggests, is a small ingestible pill with a camera in it, designed by Israeli company Given Imaging, that provides your doctor with access all areas to your intestines. This little pill simply and non invasively saves lives, as it provides a diagnosis for such afflictions as Crohn’s Disease, Celiac disease, tumors of the small intestine and the like. To date, over 400,000 patients worldwide have experienced the advantages of painless and effective PillCam™ Capsule Endoscopy.

Well now some smart folk at Technion University in Haifa, Israel have taken things one step further, having succeeded in finding a way to move a swimming micro-robot through the human body. Add the camera, and the possibilities are endless, as you order the robot to swim its way to wherever you want and have it film the whole procedure.

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Free Hugs

Because it’s Monday morning after a long holiday weekend here in the States, we figured everyone could use a little cheering up. We present you taltalblog who was inspired to create a Free Hugs Campaign in tel Aviv.

In their own words:

Our Free Hugs campaign was inspired by Juan Mann’s video. We had no secret agenda - we just wanted to go out there and hug some people, believing that it will make all of us feel a lot better, and make the world a little nicer.

I hope you’ll enjoy the clip, forward it , and go hug your loved ones…

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