I would like to wish all of my blog readers a Shana Tova.
May the coming year be blessed with health, joy, happiness, inspiration, creation, innovation, prosperity and success. To you and your beloved ones.
And as for New Year’s inspiration, how about this?
Can’t believe it has been a year since the previous visit of the Israeli New Media Delegation to Los Angeles. Next week it will happen again and I will participate in it for the 3rd year in a row (see my post about the 2007 visit).
The delegation is organized by Yossi Vardi and Arnon Milchen and its purpose is to give young Israeli start ups the opportunity to meet with potential investors and executives from large media companies and pitch their companies and products in a speed dating format (participants — make sure you practice on your elevator pitch).
I will take part in a breakfast panel where the participating companies will meet a few Los Angeles based Israeli executives for tips and advise, Q&A and some networking. Together with me the panel will also include Alex Sirota from Yahoo/FoxyTunes, Roy Bahat from IGN Ent., Yair Landa ex President of Sony Digital and Leor Stern from Google. After two years of sitting together on this panel, I will miss my friend Nimrod Lev who recently packed his staff and family, left Fox/MySpace and moved back to Israel.
In addition to days full of meetings, the participating companies will also enjoy some fancy cocktails and dinners, LaLaLand style. So if you happen to be at the BetaSouth event next week in Santa Monica, you will have a chance to meet them over there.
Finally, here is more information about the visiting companies as provided to my by the organizers.
Photo credit: Menetnashté (On Vacation)
I took my 8 & 5.5 year old sons and their 10 year old cousin who is visiting from Israel to watch the friendly game between LA Galaxy vs Barcelona at the Rose Bowl on Saterdauy. It was a fantastic night and a great memory for all of us, especially for Evyatar, my oldest son, who celebrated his 8th birthday that day.
Notes:
I uploaded plenty of pictures and videos (including Barcelona’s first goal) to this Flickr set but here is a taste.
We are in the midst of amazing two weeks for football (a.k.a soccer) fans:
Most of the times blogging can be thankless since people rarely leave comments or join the conversation, while at other times it can be tremendously rewarding. Here’s an example of the latter.
The comment below was left by Vivek Golikeri who lives in Trinidad on my post about my personal memory related to the Israeli Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism Remembrance Day.
You mentioned Amnon Kadmon. I was his family’s neighbor in Victoria Gardens, Diego Martin, in 1972 and 1973 when his father Gideon Kadmon was working as an agricultural advisor to the government of Trinidad and Tobago. Amnon was a baby at that time, and I in my final year of high school. I used to run around and play in the streets with Adi, his oldest brother. I remember his mother Miriam, and his siblings Adi, Noam and Tamar.
Amnon’s nanny, a black Trinidadian lady named Beulah, used to bring him out for walks in the evening. He was so cute, chubby and cuddly that I began calling him “duckling.” His mother, loved that pet name. Amnon would rest his head of curly golden hair on my shoulder and say “Uncle Veek!….I LOFF you!”
A few years ago I googled his name, wondering whatever became of the Kadmon family. Tears welled up in my eyes when I learned that my pet “baby duck” had been killed in a war. I used to say “If I ever have a son, I want him to be just like Amnon.”
If the Kadmon family ever see this post of mine, I ask them if they remember the Hindu family down the street on Jacaranda Avenue whose son, Vik, loved their baby so much. Later on, they moved to Orchid Avenue, a little away. I always walked there to play with my “baby duck.”
SHALOM, my little puppy. I hope you are at peace on the other side.
Last weekend I participated at the first ever Kinnernet USA, an un-conference, inspired by Tim O’Reilly’s foo camp, that was organized by Jeff Pulver and Yossi Vardi. The camp was at the beautiful Bolger Center at Potomoc MD and it brought together about 100 people who came from all over the US, Europe and Israel to interact, discuss, create, play (music and games) and share thoughts and ideas.
This was my 3rd Kinnernet (first two were the “original” ones in Israel). It was very enjoyable & also different than the Israeli version. Kinnernet USA had less of the wild outdoors activities Kinnernet is known for like drag racing, robotics, fireworks, water activities and others and there was more focus on workshops & discussions. Similarities included tons of food, very little sleep, very funny Eggstravaganza, extremely creative Gadgethon (winners were a computer powered sand table and Zoozbeat created by the very talented Gil Weinberg), Midnight Cooking Madness (I think it was the best ever) and fun jam sessions.
The biggest evidence to how different this Kinnernet was compared to its Israeli version could be found in the gaming section. The game room, typically the most crowded place 24×7, was well equipped with plenty of gaming consoles, large screens and massive sound systems. However, it remained empty most of the time. At the same time, plenty of folks played all night long, sessions of Werewolf games thanks to Jimmy Wales who initiated this. Not only that, Werewolf has made it to future Kinnernet’s official playlist and got Yossi’s blessing.
Overall, it was a very fun weekend as you can see in some of the photos I shot and in the videos uploaded to qik here.
And here’s the presentation I gave at the opening ceremony. Named “Kinnernet For Dummies”, it is a quick start guide for newbies done using photos from past Kinnernets.
Remembering my childhood friends, Amnon Kadmon (died Nov 26, 1990) & Shaul Hilevitch (died Oct 29, 1991) and my wife’s boyfriend at the time Nir Evron (died Feb 2, 1994). It has been almost 20 years and I can not stop thinking what if…
I hope you all have a good Passover. The Huffington Post has an interesting article about Passover traditions from all around the world.
Happy Freedom Holiday.
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i send the locusts on a wind (365-169) – happy passover from the ten plagues!, originally uploaded by michele cat.
Earth hour 2009 is this Saturday, March 28 at 8:30 pm.
To participate, turn off your lights for one hour and help Mother Earth fight climate change.
Earth hour started in Sydney in 2007. More than two million Sydney businesses and households turned off their lights for one hour. This helped to send a powerful global message that it’s possible to take action on climate change. In just one year, Earth hour has reached more than 50 million people in 35 countries across 18 time zones, and the campaign shifted from a Sydney event to a global sustainability movement. In 2009, the goal is to reach one billion people in 1000 cities worldwide.
For more information, visit earthhour.org
btw, all year around you could help save energy & reduce your electricity bill using Snap’s CO2Saver. It is a lightweight program that manages your computer’s power usage when it’s idle, saving energy and decreasing the demand on your power utility. Download it here.
Mother Earth will thank you.
Last May I posted about the unbelievable achievement made by my long time favorite Israeli basketball club – Hapoel Holon. This is part two of the story.
Shortly after winning the Israeli 2008 championship the future of the team looked very dark. Miki Dorsman, the owner/manager/coach left the team, the budget for the 2009 season was unknown and the the entire squad moved on to other teams.
A few weeks before the current season began, the club somehow managed to resurrect itself. A tiny budget was formed, a young coach, Dani Franco, was signed, and a squad of fairly unknown players was assembled. The fans had one hope – that the team would not fall apart and drop to the second division.
Well, apparently, this club has something else that is worth a hundred times more than superstars earning millions or experienced coaches. It has a big heart. And big heart is what wins big games.
Last year, it was Malik Dixon who scored the winning shot only four seconds to the end of the Israeli championship game against Maccabi Tel Aviv, one of the most successful basketball clubs in Eurpoe. It was Holon’s first championship title, and Maccabi’s 2nd lost of the title in 34 years.
Last night, in the Israeli Basketball Cup final against the favorite Maccabi Haifa Heat, the drama was even bigger. With less than a second on the clock, and Haifa leading 68-66, the seasoned Brian Tolbert scored an amazing three-pointer with the buzzer to give Holon a 69-68 win. It was the team’s first cup title ever.
Take a look at this great video, shot by one of Holon’s fans, to experience the drama and the excitement after the victory. Holonia plays in yellow, Haifa in green.
Holon is now holding “The Double” (when a team wins both champoinship & cup titles at the same season), and if you want to make an analogy to the high tech/venture capital environment, this is like seeing a serial entrepreneur building two companies on very little seed money, and scoring two huge home runs, one year after the other. And as a fan, I am as proud and happy as a share holder could be from these liquidity events.
