Facebook's Community Standards and the community

Before I was allowed, to set foot in the Bodleian library in Oxford, I had to participate in an ancient ceremony and take an oath: “I hereby undertake not to remove from the Library, nor to mark, deface, or injure in any way, any volume, document or other object belonging to it or in its custody; not to bring into the Library, or kindle therein, any fire or flame, and not to smoke in the Library; and I promise to obey all rules of the Library.”

The Bodleian library was opened in the beginning of the 17th century, and is still one of the most revered halls of western civilization.

The oath cannot guarantee that readers will not damage the building or the collections of the library. Yet the founding fathers of the institution regarded this symbolic act as a contract. They trusted that it would create a  connection between the reader and the library and promote appreciation and responsibility. 

Until recently libraries like the Bodleian used to be the world greatest source of information. Their collections and the information in their catalogues could be compared, in the internet-driven information age, to a leading search engine like Google or an online social networking website like Facebook.

Please keep reading in the Times Of Israel 

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/facebooks-community-standards-and-the-community/

“It’s A Scary Thing, How Quickly The People Closest To You Can Become Strangers.’’

Sometimes one line makes a film: last night on the flight back from JFK to Ben Gurion  I watched the romantic drama The Longest Ride, based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks. It tells the story of two parallel pairs of star-crossed lovers. Within the fictional world the line “It’s a scary thing, how quickly the people closest to you can become strangers” refers specifically to lovers falling out of love. But it is also applicable to alienated family members or to good friends who, for no apparent reason, become distant. 

For me those words express much more than communication problems between close family and friends,  they describe the way I feel about my own community. The recent manifestations of hatred and violence toward minority groups and those who hold different opinions make me feel, for the first time in my life, estranged from my people.

Please keep reading in the Times Of Israel 

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/its-a-scary-thing-how-quickly-the-people-closest-to-you-can-become-strangers/

On Ice Scrapers And Other Solutions

This morning I had to scrape ice off my car's windshield. This statement may appear banal unless I add that it was the first time ever that I experienced such low temperatures in Tel Aviv, a city where  the average temperature during the winter months is 18 °C and it can easily go up to 25°C.

Since I don’t own an ice scraper, I resorted to the old trick of using a credit card, which I learnt during my long stay in cold climates in the US.  My partner was impressed, he has never seen ice on a windshield before, and thought me resourceful.

Since Thursday we have been having a historic winter storm in Israel. In Tel Aviv it has been raining continuously, and we had several hail storms. Also, it was the heaviest snow storm since 1953, Jerusalem is still covered with almost a meter of snow and is disconnected  from the rest of the country.  Snow continued to fall across Israel till Saturday afternoon resulting in major power outages and road closures. At its worst 60,000 houses did not have electricity, now it is down to 18,000.

 Back when my daughters were young we went down from Iowa City to St Louis for Thanksgiving.  At the end of the weekend when we were heading back, we heard a winter storm warning. Still we decided to take a chance and drove back hoping that we would be able to get home on time.

Unfortunately, as we drove north the weather got more and more severe, with a blizzard and zero visibility. We almost made it, but near Fairfield Iowa, a mere  59 Miles / 94 Km south of Iowa City, the highway was blocked and rescue operators  evacuated the stranded passengers  to the homes of the townspeople who offered to put them up for the night. 

The whole operation was swift, efficient and calm, our very young daughters (2 and 3) were not even alarmed.  The four of us spent the night at a home of a very welcoming couple who fed us and put us up.

The generous members of the Fairfield community opened their homes to strangers in need as a matter of fact.  Besides the humanity of the invitation, what impressed me most about this solution was its simplicity. As the weather became increasingly dangerous, the rescue forces  prepared for the eventuality of closing the road and lined up volunteers.

I have been listening to the Israeli radio since Friday, hearing speculations and accusations of who is to blame for the unfortunate outcomes of this winter storm. I am sure that we could find numerous errors and poor judgments, but there was no way to predict something so unfamiliar, which has not happened in Israel for 60 years. Perhaps a simpler  question to ask is who is responsible for the winter storm, and that of course would be God or Nature, thus it could be easy to just pin the blame on Him.

At the end the army was called to the rescue; it has the right equipment and the expertise. As Israel allocates so much money to the needs of our Defense, it is only fair that the army come through at a time of need by clearing the closed roads and helping those who were stranded in their homes without electricity, water or food.

But perhaps  before  the next winter storm it is a good idea to line up a pool of volunteers in other cities who would put up people who are at risk of being stranded in case of a storm. When the storm starts they could be transported to safety before the roads are completely closed.

 The rescue operation in Fairfield was simple and inexpensive, and in the freezing weather it really felt like a heartwarming solution.