tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68416544617737052832011-10-09T03:52:34.436+02:00Urikalizing computers, biology, philosophy, mythology, physics, math and science fictionUri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.comBlogger591100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-37364553218188917132010-04-02T18:20:00.006+03:002010-04-02T18:36:18.482+03:00

Purim is a festival that celebrates the deliverance of the Jewish people living throughout the ancient Persian Empire from a plot by Haman the Agagite to annihilate them. According to the Book of Esther, Haman, royal vizier to King Ahasuerus planned to kill the Jews, but his plans were foiled by Esther, his queen. Mordecai, a palace official, cousin and foster parent of Esther, subsequently

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-49863622268462574022010-01-07T02:37:00.017+02:002010-01-09T17:30:24.366+02:00

Say you’re in a club with a friend, and see a very attractive girl sitting in the next table. Both of you wanna ask her out, so your friend offers to resolve that issue by a coin toss winner takes the girl. Well, there's a variation of Bertrand's Box that might help you here... You’ll need 3 napkins, 3 beer bottles, and a pen. Ask your friend to mark the napkins this way: First napkin marked with

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-77240967868645766912009-12-03T00:47:00.003+02:002010-03-29T00:27:34.252+03:00

What an amazing concept! My company just had a creative camp. It’s a two day off-work geek-style camp designed to let the more “creative” people in the company mingle and have fun, in an attempt to initiate future productive cooperation between employees from different departments who wouldn’t have met otherwise. Some of the content was provided by our amazing human resources department, and some

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-69976793233897395872009-07-10T17:25:00.016+03:002009-12-15T00:39:40.153+02:00

Let’s assume there’s some deadly disease out there, but there’s a pretty good test for it which is 90% accurate (if a person is sick – the test will claim he’s sick in 90% of the cases, and if a person is healthy – the test will claim he’s healthy in 90% of the cases). Now, assuming you took this 90% accurate test, and got a positive result implying you are sick - what are the odds that you are

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-80716480283647483082009-07-05T00:28:00.039+03:002009-07-05T02:59:04.302+03:00

It’s so sad, and so unfair… just days before his last tour This Is It. He was probably the greatest entertainer the world has ever seen; a legendary singer, song writer, musician, dancer and choreographer. Every kid in the 1980’s (myself included) wanted to be Michael Jackson, and was secretly practicing his unique dance moves in front of a mirror (just like Michael). Billie Jean, Beat It,

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-10201591759362859622008-12-12T02:24:00.031+02:002008-12-16T00:07:33.460+02:00

Not many people know this, but my dad has a magical garage; it has a door on the front, and a door on the back, and these 2 doors can be opened or closed instantly (within zero seconds).Since my parents are away and I’m extremely bored, this is how I wanna spend my afternoon:My friend will open the front door of our 4 meter long garage, and I shall speed with my dad’s 4 meter long Ferrari into

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-64745558296823398262008-10-16T17:05:00.015+02:002008-10-19T12:48:55.587+02:00

One of the most famous stories in Greek mythology is the one about the flight of Icarus. Daedalus, a master craftsman, and his son Icarus were imprisoned in Crete by King Minos after Daedalus gave Minos' daughter, Ariadne, a clew of string in order to help Theseus survive the Labyrinth. Daedalus came up with an escape plan and built two sets of wings made from melted wax and gull feathers. Before

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-26288422755369563122008-09-28T00:05:00.014+03:002008-09-28T10:36:04.469+03:00

It's not easy being a rock star…About 2 months ago, we were asked by human resources to act as the house band for the company’s summer event. After about 10 rehearsals (meaning 10 nights of not seeing my family), we were ready. We had a drummer (Pini), a bass player (Asi), an electric guitar player (Sami), and our musical producer (Arni) played the keyboard. As for me, I was the lead singer,

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-80433941447209020282008-08-17T16:08:00.002+03:002008-08-17T16:08:58.478+03:00

No need for words - 8!!!

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-90347339242466749042008-07-26T03:32:00.012+03:002008-08-07T07:35:06.727+03:00

The Happening movie SPOILER WARNING!!!A few days ago, I saw Night Shyamalan’s movie The Happening. Main idea: since we ruin the environment, the plants begin to see us humans as a threat, so they release a toxin into the air that destroys human self-preservation instinct, causing all the people to kill themselves.OK, I know what you’re thinking... "Plants cannot defend themselves in such a

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-72383552395561916092008-07-10T02:36:00.014+03:002008-08-19T10:24:33.871+03:00

After several billion years of trial and error, something extraordinary has emerged from the African savanna. Enter Homo sapiens. Not quite as strong as a Dynastes hercules (able to carry 850 times its own body weight), as fast as a Falco peregrinus (diving at almost 140 km/h = 87 mph), nor as deadly as a Chironex fleckeri (that its sting can kill 60 adults in 3 minutes), but it strongly insists

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-11802697431520886352008-06-25T00:11:00.008+03:002008-06-25T09:03:40.614+03:00

Have you ever wondered how your 4 year old kid will look like as a teenager?Would you recognize your face if given a glimpse into the future, 30 years from now?How would you look like if you were born in another continent?The Face Transformer is a very cool program developed by the computer science department at The University of St Andrews, the oldest university in Scotland. They have a simple

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-19464575670343825202008-05-11T10:22:00.025+03:002008-06-10T13:39:27.741+03:00

Part 1 - May 12I'm leaving for some infantry training as part of my upcoming army reserve duty. Me and my dear old worn out army bag (in the picture) are getting ready.See you.Part 2 - May 15I'm back home for a short vacation. It seems like this round is going to be safe for me, since this time, instead of patrolling our assigned sector, I'm supposed to assume a role in our Command and Control

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-61740707023885931842008-05-09T16:42:00.013+03:002008-05-09T22:15:22.763+03:00

Sorry for once again posting about a math related issue. I’ll try some biology or physics next time…Let’s say you think the IRS shouldn’t take so much of your hard earned money. So, you sit around and just fake the numbers. Do you think you can get away with it?Benford's Law, also called the first-digit law, states that in lists of numbers from many real-life sources of data, the leading digit is

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-55251673007076244492008-05-08T02:12:00.019+03:002008-05-09T00:43:09.103+03:00

Let’s say my hypothetical math teacher wanted to show me that the odds for heads or tails (on a fair coin toss) are about 50:50, so he gave me homework to toss a coin for 100 times and write down the result.Well, I certainly have better things to do than tossing a coin 100 times just to demonstrate a simple probability of 50:50, so I decide to fake it.I sit around and just randomly write “H” and

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-24720098523100946682008-04-28T01:58:00.014+03:002008-10-18T00:14:31.670+02:00

BlogCatalog is probably one of the best bloggers’ online hangouts nowadays. It’s a blog directory, a help forum for bloggers, a general discussion board, a social network, and much more - all rolled into one site.Anyway, the other day, the BlogCatalog admins were looking for a slogan for a new BlogCatalog T-Shirt. First I thought about paraphrasing Julius Caesar, so I came up with “I came, I saw,

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-76453340346774859782008-04-21T17:05:00.011+03:002008-04-22T11:48:51.545+03:00

The Eternity II puzzle is an edge-matching puzzle invented by Christopher Monckton, and is marketed and copyrighted by TOMY UK Ltd. The prize for the first person who submits a correct solution is $2,000,000.This puzzle involves placing 256 square pieces into a 16x16 grid, constrained by the requirement to match adjacent edges (see picture). Each puzzle piece has its edges on one side marked with

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-72890913708254953712008-04-03T00:13:00.004+03:002008-04-03T00:59:05.511+03:00

Four friends are trying to cross a dark tunnel with a single torch.Aragorn can cross the tunnel in 1 minute.Legolas can cross the tunnel in 2 minutes.Gimli can cross the tunnel in 4 minutes.Frodo can cross the tunnel in 5 minutes.The tunnel is very narrow, so they can walk alone or in pairs, but no more than two at the same time.If two friends are walking together, they walk at the speed of the

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-42061018939582414632008-03-29T17:12:00.011+03:002008-06-10T11:58:10.010+03:00

I came across this weird test. It displays a spinning silhouette of a dancer, and asks you to decide which way the dancer is spinning.It claims that if you see it rotates clockwise, then you use more of the right side of the brain, meaning these would describe you: emotional, uses feeling, "big picture" oriented, imagination rules, symbols and images, present and future, philosophy & religion,

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-44540191330694488892008-01-25T16:02:00.001+02:002008-04-07T08:57:09.128+03:00

Today, the 25th of January 2008, is Urikalization’s first birthday!!!The past year has been a great experience for me. After a few years of ignoring the phenomena, I finally joined the Blogosphere. It was a great fun, even when it kept me up till 3:30AM when I need to wake up at 7:30AM.During this year, I created 40 posts, that’s an average of about 1 new post every 9 days. I admit this rate of

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com37tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-1702263113784440672008-01-12T01:46:00.001+02:002008-05-09T17:05:34.300+03:00

A few decades ago, when I was in school, our math teacher gave us an assignment for homework. After a few days, the teacher came clean. This was what we had to prove:It is impossible to separate any power higher than the second into two like powers.You might recognize it in this form:If an integer n is greater than 2, then the equationan + bn = cnhas no solutions in non-zero integers a, b, and

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-84660203359575384762007-12-22T22:58:00.011+02:002011-09-22T22:39:31.311+03:00

I just came back from army reserve duty doing a few days of field artillery training. December is definitely not the best time of the year to hang around in the deserts of southern Israel. Pros: the guys at artillery battalion 8157, the endless wind-sculptured untamed view, the undisturbed round rainbows, the unpolluted night sky, and the extra time to think. Cons: missing the family, the

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-36547977237949834422007-12-04T01:28:00.002+02:002011-09-24T15:22:03.510+03:00

I admit it. I’m a huge fan of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity (the parts that I can understand). These ideas from the beginning of the 20th century are so beautiful! Mass-energy equivalence, the speed of light, reference frames, length contraction, time dilation, gravitational space-time curvature, relativity of simultaneity, the Twin Paradox etc. How can you not fall in love with Albert’s

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-29148566556684823172007-11-19T02:12:00.001+02:002008-01-04T03:37:56.715+02:00

* Rob a bank and leave a picture of you with your blog URL written on your forehead. You'll see, the gullible policemen will handle all your advertising for free.* Go to the zoo and exchange links with caged animals; preferably, exotic ones (just don’t trust bunnies, they’ll probably screw you).* For your site about necrophilia use a domain name like games-for-kids dot com. Some parents might be

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-16435061865430335222007-11-12T00:39:00.002+02:002008-05-09T17:04:07.582+03:00

The DNA difference between humans and chimpanzees is very small, currently estimated somewhere around 1%-4%, depending on which source you read, and what exact pattern matching algorithm you use for the comparison. This small evolutionary step in the DNA code of our ancestors was obviously enough to build a whole different brain. To paraphrase on Neil Armstrong: one small step for genotype, one

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-35747315443106612922007-10-16T23:47:00.000+02:002008-01-01T23:46:23.447+02:00

Recently, I’ve found out that almost all programmers truly believe that writing code the right way, can be considered an art form. This is my minority report…Regarding intention… Although art is a term almost impossible to define, Wikipedia claims that art is a product of human activity, made with the intention of stimulating the human senses as well as the human mind, by transmitting emotions or

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-60406285617232187252007-09-18T00:08:00.001+02:002009-01-07T08:36:11.852+02:00

Meet Andromeda, a beautiful spiral galaxy (you must see this) bigger than our own, approximately 2 million light-years away. Andromeda is blue-shifted, meaning it’s heading our way, however this does not mean it will definitely collide with our Milky Way, since the galaxy's tangential velocity is unknown. Galaxies colliding is a frequent event within galaxy groups, and there are signs that

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com39tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-29658154627970924152007-09-05T00:38:00.004+03:002009-08-16T23:11:42.542+03:00

Meet Asafa Powell, the 100m current record holder. If chased by a lion, he’ll make the first 100 meters in 9.74 seconds so find another partner for that dangerous backpacking trip to Africa...EDIT: Since this post Usain Bolt has done it in 9.58 seconds.Meet Maya, my 1.5 year old daughter (I have another 3.5 year old son named Yoav). When she runs, her feet twist inwards and her upper body leans

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-67606023104338103542007-08-13T17:52:00.000+03:002007-08-13T21:31:14.804+03:00

This is an Ankh - the ancient Egyptian symbol of life. They believed in immortality and the afterworld that was filled with comfort and happiness, and were probably anxious to get there. I don’t. This is why I write this post.Life expectancy is constantly rising; the world average is almost at 70, and in some modern countries it is already above 80. Still, a person living for more than 90 years

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-15222202417016015702007-08-03T16:01:00.000+03:002007-08-03T16:59:09.571+03:00

The time has come again.Exactly one year has passed since the war in Lebanon, and I’ve been called again to serve in my army reserve unit.General location: Israel’s eastern border.Specific location: unknown.General mission: secure the border.Specific activities: unknown.General time frame: one month.Vacation policy: unknown.Today in Israel, although it’s supposed to be compulsory, only about half

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-12558512452000558512007-07-27T13:55:00.000+03:002007-07-31T02:08:58.518+03:00

The Turing test is a proposal for a test of a machine's capability to demonstrate thought. A human judge engages in a natural language conversation with two other parties, one a human and the other a machine; if the judge cannot reliably tell which is which, then the machine is said to pass the test.The way I see it, there are two ways to build a computer that can pass this test. The first way is

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-12311070952790280762007-07-22T01:22:00.000+03:002008-02-04T01:41:49.964+02:00

Assaf Koren a.k.a. “Suffik”, left my company this week to pursue his dream, founding a new startup named WebSpeakup. Apart from being a very good off-work friend of mine and a personal loss, it’s been the third ultra-talented guy leaving us in the past few weeks. “Boogie”, “Suffik” and “Shorty”, have all jumped overboard to their own startup boats, leaving the rest of us dangling on the deck of

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-80152014980459713902007-07-16T00:56:00.000+03:002007-07-25T10:06:59.496+03:00

Do you remember why you started blogging in the first place? Try to remember… Way back, before you found out all you do is recycle content from other websites, before you scrolled down and discovered your whole blog is embedded with stupid movies from YouTube, before the HitCounter rush, before the FeedBurner hysteria, before the Analytics reports, before the AdSense clicks… It was about making

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-52248130371728744002007-06-30T03:32:00.000+03:002007-09-05T10:43:51.626+03:00

A new version of our product is just around the corner. We’ve just passed the code-freeze date, meaning no more writing code. The plan is to spend the next few weeks hunting down all those elusive bugs lurking viciously beneath the unsuspecting user interface. The rigorous checking and rechecking of all the features will probably prove to be a very boring task, so I came up with this alternative

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-52469144709696727652007-06-15T00:07:00.000+03:002007-07-25T10:07:53.095+03:00

A few years ago, an architecture student told me it’s very frustrating to finish university and get flushed to the real world with all those innovative ideas, only to be faced with the harsh reality and discover people insist on living in simple rectangle shaped houses with boring square rooms. A few years after replying him with “it’s only natural” I want to recall my statement. Snowflakes and

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-46097909777672267672007-06-10T02:35:00.002+03:002011-02-24T15:44:49.533+02:00

Last week, Oren Ellenbogen a.k.a. “Boogie”, a colleague from work, a living blogging legend, the one who convinced me to create this blog and a good friend of mine, left my company to pursue his dream, for a new web 2.0 related startup named Delver. Boogie, We only worked together for a few months, but I feel very fortunate and privileged to be given the chance to know you, my good friend.

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-13151876477561265082007-06-05T22:11:00.000+03:002007-07-25T10:09:25.820+03:00

Somewhere on December 2004, Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck drilling and blowing up an asteroid in space stopped being amusing. A newly discovered asteroid was thought to be on a collision course with Earth; predicted impact energy: 400 megatons (~30,000 Hiroshimas); ETA: April 13, 2029. This asteroid was named ‘99942 Apophis’ after the evil demon, the deification of darkness and chaos in Egyptian

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-32441035213588936262007-05-28T01:44:00.000+03:002007-07-25T10:09:54.601+03:00

If this universe is just a computer simulation (read this), then somebody programmed it.It could have been a man, a woman, some advanced A.I. software, a very impressive chimpanzee, or more likely, a tiny pink dotted purple armadillo that loves ice skating on Tuesday nights and dislikes small talk with eels.Would you consider this armadillo as God? Would you still go to church / synagogue /

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-80507936559135077472007-05-19T18:07:00.000+03:002007-07-25T10:12:17.985+03:00

About a year ago, someone broke into my car, smashed a window and stole my radio. When I went to the police, they sent me to their forensics division to try and extract fingerprints. It was nothing like the high-tech CSI labs you see on television; two bored officers with old computers, huge paper piles on their desks, and a small suitcase-sized kits with some low-tech tools. Although the person

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-33226724861153653772007-05-11T03:17:00.000+03:002007-07-25T10:12:47.806+03:00

Last night while watching Hiro Nakamura and Nathan Petrelli doing their thing on Heroes, I came to the conclusion that strolling through the forth dimension is much more fun than flying through the other three. While time traveling seems like a great way to spend your weekends, is it feasible?Forward time traveling is relatively simple. It can be achieved by accelerating to extremely high speed

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-41197156565023276982007-04-23T02:07:00.005+03:002010-12-14T20:09:44.425+02:00

It appears that my job security as a software engineer depends on the price of bananas. Since my yearly performance review at my company is just around the corner, I made some quick calculations to see how much I’m needed. An IBM research conducted a few years ago, claims that the average software engineer writes about 10 lines of functional code each day. Assuming an average line consists of

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-78013047110601922452007-04-14T00:17:00.001+03:002008-10-18T00:16:53.142+02:00

They say children are born angels, transform into demons, and only then become human beings...In spite of all my efforts, one day out of the blue (around the age of two), my son discovered the phrase “I don’t want to!” As the blazing sun dissolved into the endless sea, clearing the twilight sky for the ivory moon to rule, I saw my son’s pure white feathers melting into wax, revealing the dark

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-35524025513169627452007-04-07T02:50:00.000+03:002007-07-25T10:14:04.966+03:00

I’ve gathered my top 20 myths and urban legends from several online sources. 10 are true, the other 10 are false. Can you tell which is which?Guess first and only then check the answers (on the comments section).True or False?#1 - The woman Jack Nicholson always thought to be his sister turned out to be his mother.#2 - Eating carrots will improve your night vision.#3 - Water drains backwards in

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-26288625075515593702007-04-05T13:48:00.000+03:002007-07-25T10:14:25.220+03:00

Prison Break SPOILER WARNING!!!Kudos to the guys behind Prison Break! The second season finale was superb. Just when I though it can’t get any better… The twists and turns in the plot were handled brilliantly (as always), still maintaining a reasonable reliability factor throughout the two long seasons. The cast is every director’s dream. I have my criticism about mister face-freeze

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-40304702513127418962007-03-31T02:46:00.002+03:002008-03-04T18:53:12.201+02:00

Although science is constantly expanding our understanding of the human body, alternative medicine is on the rise, sneaking in through the conventional medicine’s back door, disguising itself as “complementary” medicine. I admit western medicine is still very young and has a long way to go, but falling back to unproven old eastern techniques is just loco.To set things straight, I think that

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-45745795545985305092007-03-15T04:30:00.002+02:002008-10-18T00:16:09.042+02:00

You know what’s my problem with Einstein’s theory of relativity? Not that it’s inaccurate (like I would know) or inelegant (like I would care), but that it’s god damn useless. OK, sorry, I admit it, there are about ten guys from NASA that must use the Lorentz factor every once in a while, but what about the rest of us 6,599,999,990? Are we not worthy of enjoying uncle Albert’s heritage? I say no

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-27726940795989907902007-03-13T02:46:00.000+02:002007-07-25T10:16:00.658+03:00

BattleStar Galactica SPOILER WARNING!!!Oh my God, they killed Starbuck! You bastards! At exactly 00:40:12 into last week’s episode of the science fiction television show Battlestar Galactica, Kara Thrace’s viper blew up in the maelstrom, sending a galactic shockwave through my peaceful world. Starbuck is dead. The beautiful rebel-tomboy-ace-pilot, played brilliantly by Katee Sackhoff is my

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-43400270619738741602007-03-11T23:48:00.000+02:002007-07-25T10:16:21.752+03:00

A sick software engineer is a strange mammal. His mind is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. I’m sick. I got high fever, 38.9°C (102.02°F), so I didn’t go to work today (sorry Yossi, it seems like the dynamic scheduler will need a miracle in order to be ready on the feature-freeze date). As expected from a married man over 30, I’ve spent the whole day in bed, mainly moaning and

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-28561991712075683202007-03-10T09:08:00.000+02:002007-07-25T10:16:45.074+03:00

I don’t believe they're already here. No UFOs flying at night across the Nevada desert. No grays abducting people to perform surgical operations. No LGM creating magnificent crop circles. No flying saucer crashed in Roswell. No alien craft hidden in area 51. No prime numbers transmitted from planet Vega. No government conspiracy. No secret agency. No black suits. No Will Smith. No Tommy Lee Jones

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-55095204494289308692007-02-17T19:40:00.000+02:002007-07-25T10:17:39.965+03:00

A few days ago, a friend of mine told me he’s thinking about buying a boat and learning how to sail it himself. He told me nowadays everybody keep sight of land at all times and just sail parallel to the shore, so it should be a piece of cake. When I asked him if he’ll be brave enough to go on a sea-crossing voyage without a GPS, he just smiled. That reminded me of the famous longitude problem.In

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-21088749375199538292007-02-15T01:57:00.000+02:002007-08-31T17:15:08.635+03:00

About a year ago, I encountered a noble grid computing project, run and funded by IBM, called the World Community Grid. World Community Grid is an effort to create the world's largest public computing grid to tackle scientific research projects that benefit humanity, and it’s making the technology available only to public and not-for-profit organizations. It’s running medical projects like Cancer

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-32727189521215861062007-02-11T00:44:00.000+02:002007-07-25T10:18:51.402+03:00

Choose a pill, red or blue. Picked one? Great! I guess you believe you could have picked any color you like, right? I don’t. I don’t believe in free will.Causal determinism claims that future events are necessitated by past and present events combined with the laws of nature. In principle, if I would to know all the facts about the past, the present, and all the natural laws that govern the

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-4597893151529684862007-02-07T02:23:00.000+02:002007-07-25T10:19:18.988+03:00

Sometimes, when a pilot flies at night with no visual reference, he gets disoriented, and his senses and intuition can cause him to think the instruments aboard his plane are wrong. He can be on a straight and level flight, but feel like he’s turning or even flying upside down. This dangerous phenomenon is called Vertigo. Pilots train for this condition and know that when their intuition

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-42364741546013269872007-02-04T01:33:00.000+02:002008-01-23T22:30:13.516+02:00

When I’m having a bad morning at work, the fastest way to make me smile again is a greasy hamburger for lunch. I have noticed there is a direct correlation between the percentage of fat in my food to the size of the smile on my face, 'cause the fattier it is - the better it tastes. But why is that? I can think of three possible reasons, and they are all about evolution.First, fat is the best way

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-22976091873122687352007-02-03T17:49:00.001+02:002008-10-18T00:14:59.157+02:00

Human teleportation, the instant transport of people from one place to another without travelling through space, is by far the coolest way to travel in almost every sci-fi (science fiction) book or movie. There are mainly two ways to teleport a human. The first, like in the movie ‘Contact’, is through some kind of a wormhole, a hypothetical topological feature of spacetime that is essentially a

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-60991747076863054452007-01-29T23:45:00.002+02:002008-08-19T10:20:48.354+03:00

Have you ever wondered why almost every modern clock or watch with Roman numerals uses ‘IIII’ instead of ‘IV’ to represent 4 o’clock? There are several possible explanations.One likely explanation is that the strict use of IV instead of IIII wasn't common until after the Middle Ages. Clocks and watches are patterned after sundials, which were in use long before the Middle Ages.Another likely

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-91827555202822925302007-01-27T23:43:00.002+02:002008-08-19T10:21:12.600+03:00

It seems to me like Homo sapiens' natural biological evolution is over. There is no higher force to take the blame for it. No radical climate change resulting in a new ice age, no dangerous virus causing a global plague, no doom’s day asteroid sending us back to the Stone Age. It was self inflicted. We did it ourselves by inventing artificial ways to help people that would not have survived

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-57826885870422222592007-01-26T23:39:00.000+02:002007-07-25T10:21:34.509+03:00

For centuries, we have been trying to understand, is this world the ‘real’ world? The movie ‘The Matrix’, although not presenting any new ground braking idea, has done a great service to philosophy and science by bringing this question to the attention of the ordinary man. It’s Descartes’ deceiving demon idea resurrected, and all the brain-in-a-vat like theories returning in one colossus

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6841654461773705283.post-46490233311209411192007-01-25T23:35:00.000+02:002007-12-13T08:53:43.936+02:00

To be honest, I’ve always thought blogs are just pink static HTML pages designed by 13 year old girls with pigtails writing about how they love Britney Spears. Although pictures of Spears are probably considered well spent kilobytes by most of the Y chromosomes on the western world, writing about her seems to me like a complete waste of good hosting server disk space. I never read a blog and

Uri Kalishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08561692601016236573noreply@blogger.com4