I spent almost six hours on the road last weekend – not my idea of a relaxing Sunday afternoon. The most frustrating part, however, was not the couple of hours I spent cruising along at 65 mph – it was the couple I spent crawling at 5 mph. And when the traffic finally broke up, I discovered that it wasn’t even because of any accident or closure. They had just closed two of four lanes of I-95, and caused backups through three states.

With Thanksgiving, Christmas, (Chanukah) and New Years on the horizon, I’m sure we’re all looking forward to the rewarding experience of sitting in traffic – a family bonding experience for all, I’m sure. It’s 2006 – almost 2007 – cars have been around for more than a century, and we can’t yet figure out how to keep traffic flowing?

Well, at least we have brakes. It turns out that in space there’s even heavier traffic – hundreds of thousands of objects traveling around the earth at breakneck speed, with no driver or brakes, just waiting to crash into one another…

Shahar Pe’er recently made her Top 20 debut on the WTA Tour Rankings. Very cool, congrats Shahar!

Here’s a bit of background on the tennis pro, brought to you by Wikipedia:

Shahar Pe’er (born May 1, 1987, Jerusalem, Israel) is a professional female tennis player. She turned professional in 2004 and has been rapidly improving since. She achieved her highest WTA ranking of # 20 on Novemeber 13, 2006. Shahar has already played in all four of the sport’s Grand Slam Tournaments: the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open.

As a 19-year-old, Pe’er recently joined the Israeli military, as military service is mandatory in Israel. When not abroad participating in tennis tournaments, she spends her mornings working as an administrative secretary for the Israeli military and her afternoons practicing tennis.

According to the Blogosphere and HAARETZ, Google bought the Israeli start-up iRows, which develops online spreadsheets. If the reports are correct, this is the first Google acquisition in Israel to-date. For a better explanation, and let’s face it, just better writing, see the story below.

Google buys first Israeli startup: iRows

By Lior Haner

Google has bought its first Israeli startup, iRows, which has developed a browser-based spreadsheet service.

“Access your spreadsheets from anywhere. Nothing to download, all you need is a browser,’ iRows explains on its home page.

Actually, Google already has an online spreadsheet service, Google spreadsheets, but apparently feels that iRows can help it create a better product.

As we were drinking our late morning coffee, and perusing YnetNews, we came across a cool story about Matisyahu’s soon to be released DVD– produced while playing in Israel last December. It was made during his performances at Tel Aviv’s Barbie and Ma’abada club in Jerusalem.

Unfortunately we missed the show, but we did manage to find a clip on YouTube. It definitely rocked, and we apologize for any obnoxious volume fluctuations. We didn’t make this one, just posted it.

The story is after the jump:

Tourists in Israel come in all shapes and sizes. North American, European, Asian. Backpackers, scuba divers, pilgrims, and retirees. Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, you name it. And in case you think I’m exaggerating, I think the above video proves my point.

Israel is a country built for tourists. They’re everywhere – stopping natives on the streets of Jerusalem to ask for directions, sunning themselves on the beaches of Eilat, filling the nightclubs of Tel Aviv, and of course covering themselves in the mineral-rich mud of the Dead Sea.

But this I’ve never seen.
Wow.

Check out Israel’s Pro-Wrestling Association:

The future of the film industry lies in the hands of a group of bright Israeli students, who were awarded first prize for the ‘Best High School Drama’ in the prestigious annual International Student Film Festival held in Hollywood last week.

The graduates of the Hebrew Reali School in Haifa – Omer Feler (director and cinematographer), Ilia Parfel (editor) and Gili Braslerman (producer) represented Israeli schools in the competition, with their film titled ‘After Twenty Years.’ The Haifa film overtook hundreds of other student films that were sent by universities and colleges worldwide, including from the US, Australia, Poland, Sweden, Turkey, Canada and Germany.

The International Student Film Festival Hollywood is giving student filmmakers from around the world a unique opportunity to showcase their work in the entertainment capital of the world, ” Hollywood”, said the organizer of the competition, veteran film editor Robert Saban.

“After Twenty Years” tells the story of a meeting between two friends set 20 years ago. Over time, it emerges that one of the friends had become a wanted criminal while the other became a policeman. The meeting between the two raises several dilemmas; the main one being whether the policeman should turn his criminal friend in.

As I was reading the Wall Street Journal last week, I glimpsed into the column “Gift of the week”. I was very pleased to see that Mr. Irwin Jacobs, co-founder and chairman of Qualcom Inc., and his wife Joan Jacobs made a substantial donation of $30 million to Techion, the Israel Institute of Technology in order to rename and expand the university’s graduate school including funds for fellowships and research. What really surprised me is what I read further down on the article. Mr. Jacobs is not a member of Technion’s alumni. Alumni members tend to give back to the school they graduated as a token of their appreciation for being the springboard for their professional development. But Mr. Jacobs, an engineer professor himself, never studied or taught at Technion. But he has known Technion graduates for years first as a teacher and later through his companies. In addition, he familiarized himself with the School, the campus and its faculty thanks to a facility Qualcom opened in Haifa twenty years ago and came to deeply appreciate the work carried out there. This led the Jacobses to making this substantial donation to Technion that would also help boost Israel’s economy.

It was a very “New York” experience.

People hung out of apartment windows, music was blasting, whistles and cheers filled the area, all in honor of the New York City Marathon and its runners. And among the 37,000 runners were more than 50 representing Israel, cheered on by hundreds more who turned out to support them. Names written across many of their t-shirts, the Israeli runners were cheered loudly as they ran by supporters, many of whom waved flags (Israeli and others).

Of the Israeli runners who participated, six finished the marathon in less than two and a half hours, including 27-year-old Omri Holzman, who attained 54th place overall.

Donations from JLOVE.com made it possible to provide the Israeli runners with professional running shirts emblazoned with an Israel flag and the words “Israel Loves New York”.

For those of you who appreciate good rock music and enjoy a good live performance, we recommend attending Ivri Lider, live in New York. Lider is one of the most successful and esteemed Israeli rock artists of his generation and will be performing at the Avalon on Saturday, 11 November 2006 at 8.30 pm.

Ivri Lider, at the age of 32, has released five personal albums that have been very warmly received in Israel. He has also composed original music for films such as Eitan Fox’s “Walk on Water” and for world acclaimed dance groups such as the Batsheva Dance Company.

The New York concert will be the last one in a series of live performances Lider gave throughout the US.

In a phone conversation with YNET, Lider said: “My music is well received at the performances. Reactions have been positive and the performances are warm and energetic. It is even more interesting because it seems that even people who are not familiar with my music are enjoying it”.

A truly diverse talent worth seeing live. Don’t miss it!!!!

For tickets and more information please visit www.israelatheart.com, the organization that brought Ivri Lider to the US.

One of Tel Aviv’s oldest neighborhoods Neve Tzedek has been undergoing a transformation of late.
Since the Suzanne Dellal Centre opened in 1989, what were once dusty, quiet streets, have been gradually revitalized, and now burst with chic restaurants, cafes and artists’ homes.
So much so that it has attracted the attention of New York Times travel writer Sarah Wildman, who wrote a piece on the neighborhood, which was published in Sunday’s paper.
The next time you find yourself in Tel Aviv, remember: it’s well worth a visit.

Check out Sarah’s NYT story.