A few weeks ago, I left Israel, where I’d lived for about seven years, and returned to America. My decision to leave was pretty quick, and I went through the whole process of leaving in just about three weeks. I decided not to let it get drawn out because I saw how hard that was emotionally for other people who’d done the same thing. In deciding quickly and then leaving quickly, I inevitably didn’t get to tell a lot of people. Even my better friends who did know that I was leaving didn’t all get to spend any time with me before I left. I’m pretty sorry about that.

If you’re reading this, I’d of course like to stay in touch with you. Please don’t hesitate to contact me so I can tell you my new American telephone number. I don’t particularly have any plans to visit Israel in the near future – so please don’t expect to see me there – though I certainly don’t rule it out in the long run.

This internet domain, ngng.co.il, is going to stay like it is for a while. Once it’s set up, I’m going to start blogging at lineswritinglines.com and import my old posts from here to there. All new content will appear there, so please subscribe with the new LWL RSS feed.

Incidentally, “301 redirect” is a little pun. 301 is the HTTP status code for “permanent redirect” (my move from Israel is permanent), and it’s also the telephone area code for suburban Maryland (that’s where I’ve landed – until I’ve completed planning for my next big move).

Interesting and germane question on The Fuerst Stone: What is the message implied by the media we use to communicate?

I’d answer like this:

• Facebook messaging: I can’t be bothered to remember or care about remembering your email address. Or I don’t trust the email protocols to deliver an email to you and then deliver your reply back to me. Or I don’t trust your inbox management skills enough to be relatively certain that you’ll actually reply to me, even if you intend to. Or this communication is short, snappy and personal.
• Facebook wall: This might be relevant for more than one other person in our social circle. I don’t mind if the rest of the world sees whatever it is that I’m asking you or sharing with you.
• LinkedIn: This is probably about a job offer or specific professional-related issues. Or I don’t actually know you and I feel more comfortable / less stalkerish initiating contact with you on this site that’s supposed to be about networking and less about connecting people who already know each other.
• Twitter: Please retweet.
• Telephone: It’s personal and sensitive. Or it’s personal and so important that communicating the information any other way could come across as cold. Or I want something from you and I’m concerned that you’ll be able to blow me off if I use a different way of communicating.
• SMS: I almost never initiate SMS conversations unless it’s to give information for which I don’t need or expect a reply. I try to keep my SMS replies to a bare minimum, and if someone needs my reply in a moment, I pretty much expect him to call me to get it.
• Instant messaging: Weirdly, this most personal and casual communication that I used in high school and college now has a major use in business. Every company where I’ve worked in the last five years has used one instant messaging service or another internally to keep all the employees up to speed with each other. Some use it better and some definitely use it worse, but it’s ubiquitous. My preference is normally to walk across the office and talk to someone in person, though.
• Video chat: Never. Never.

In times of civil unrest, the only thing worse than riot police is rioters.

A couple months ago when I was in America, I got a new iPhone (actually my father’s old iPhone 3GS) to replace my old one, and while I’ve been waiting to be able to unlock it, I’m using it as an iPod Touch.

Push notifications are turned on, and for some utterly bizarre reason I’m getting updates to other people’s Twitter and Facebook accounts. This is a known issue, at least on Facebook, though a very brief perusal of this thread suggests it might be limited only to jailbroken and/or unlocked phones (mine is already jailbroken). I almost don’t want this to stop, because I really enjoy reading other people’s weird messages to each other. Here’s a sampling:

Twitter

• Message from @Kaay_Lee: Oulaaa O_O
• Message from @Kaay_Lee: Je t’ai ajouté !! :D
• EliseKPOPFRANCE: @sophia199603 Wouaaaaaah ! :O C’est qui l’autre ? ^.^
• Maya988: @sophia199603 haha xD il a fait le tour de la Terre pour le coup :p #UKissFrance
• Kaay_Lee: @sophia199603 Parcontre le jour de l’an cm’ieux avec ses amis 8D amuse toi bien alors =)

Viber

• BIC calling

Facebook

• Rizwan Jutt, AMir ChoudhRy and Lucky Kamoka commented on your status: “parnay ka to dil he ni krta is ka………lolxxx”

Google Voice

• Text from Marvelous Cell: nigga I called all day that day to c wat was good about me cuming thru n u never picked up fam the next day I gotta flat. So now I gotta wai…

As the iOS 4.21 jailbreak will be fully untethered very soon, and I upgrade from 4.1 to get the iPad baseband unlock, I’m afraid I might miss these odd incursions into my day!

As social media optimization matures as a field and as a set of best practices, its effects on the gaming industry in particular are beginning to be felt more and more.

The primary effect of social media on online gaming is in marketing: driving traffic by intentionally and actively promoting online casinos via viral content and sharing. Social media allow online casinos to advertise new gaming opportunities to experienced players and to reach potential new players in their online comfort zones. They also transform the ways that players experience their games – and how they interact with their games and with other players. These trends will continue into the foreseeable future (and across a wide variety of industries).

As product innovation in gaming declines over time, branding and brand differentiation are also becoming a strong secondary effect that social media optimization can have on gaming. Because there are only so many ways that a casino or a poker table can be made to feel unique, how that casino or poker table is presented and the image created for will be more influential, and social media optimization for branding will become the long arm of marketing for online gaming companies.

Meanwhile, players looking for something new will increasingly seek innovative ways to enjoy gaming, such as directly in Facebook or their other favorite online social media. By releasing its development platform, Facebook in particular has again entirely altered the ways that its members spend their time and money online.

Poker, for example, is quite essentially a social game – so, while the conceptual leap from playing at an actual poker table with friends to playing while facing a computer monitor may have been problematic for some, it is a much smaller leap from playing directly on a casino site with strangers to playing on Facebook with one’s own friends.

Gaming is very much an interactive activity. As social interactions progressively both move online and develop in new ways in the online space, social media will be at the foreground in transforming the industry.

I’ve just returned from the shloshim for Danny Farahan Ben-David, marking 30 days since his death.

In his honor, his family and friends gathered last night at Mike’s Place in Tel Aviv to celebrate his life with stories and laughter and alcohol, and then again this morning at בוסתן הכרמל (Carmel Orchard), by his kibbutz, Ma’agan Michael. There his army comrades are going to construct and dedicate in Danny’s honor a structure for people to come and relax, read and experience this wonderful and totally unique and fantastic garden, with 120 species of fruit trees squeezed between a rocky cliff-face and the sea, between Israel and the rest of the world.

Not to single anybody out unfairly, since a lot of people said a lot of moving things, but Danny’s sister Hannah sang a most haunting and beautiful rendition of Ripple, which I’d just heard because I listened to that record on the train on my way up north. I don’t think I’ll ever hear that song the same way again.

Later we hiked through the Ramat HaNadiv nature preserve and reconvened on the edge of a cliff where Danny used to come and “drink beer.” I’m willing to believe that beers were consumed there, but I also think that the spectacular view would be wasted on someone who’s only enjoying it with beer, and I’m sure Danny would have agreed with me.

We planted an oak tree there for him, in this perfectly sunny and windy spot, a stone’s through from the Israel Trail that he loved, overlooking his kibbutz that he loved, in the middle of the country that he loved, and in the presence of some of his dear friends and family whom he loved.

Everyone I met last night and today was inspiring in the tradition of the Danny Farahan that I knew – and that I know everyone else knew. I wish we could have been joined by some of the many old friends who are abroad now; and I wish I didn’t have to attend these functions alone, without those friends. But I wish I didn’t have to attend them at all.

When Danny made Aliyah in August 2004, I was at the airport and took some pictures of him getting off the plane, kissing the ground of the land of Israel that meant so much to him, and being hugged and welcomed by friends who’d come to the airport to greet him and the other new immigrants. It was the first time I ever saw him without those wild dreadlocks that used to fly in every direction when he danced. He’d cut them off for the army.

I promised to send the pictures along, but I’m afraid that I never got around to it because I was busy with my own life – it slipped my mind, and I just never figured that Danny would never get to see himself in the very moment of his return to Israel. I’m recreating that moment here now because it’s important for the whole world to see what kind of guy he was.

They capture his spirit and his personality perfectly: most people are smiling and joyous at the time of their Aliyah, but Danny was just a smiling and joyous person whose presence brought smiles and joy to everyone. I’ll always remember him that way. And the world and the people he knew in it will never be the same without him.

Dr. Vendyl Jones, possibly the inspiration for the Indiana Jones character, died today. Of all the crazy and interesting characters I’ve met, he was one of the most memorable. In fact, it’s because of him that I first learned the Hebrew word טִיפּוּס, which means a character or a personality (ie, a personage – not a character in a novel). It’s kind of a compliment, for people who like being unique, but also kind of not. Here’s an article about him.

Here’s a picture of me with Dr. Jones from when he showed up at the archeological excavation where I worked in Jerusalem in May 2005:

Here’s another one of Dr. Jones and Dr. Gabriel Barkay:

And here’s one of Zachi Zweig, Dr. Barkay, Dr. Jones and a volunteer whose name I’ve forgotten (sorry!):

All of man’s faults can be reduced to two: the inability to understand one’s shortcomings, and the failure to correct them.

People always chat about movies, television programs and music, but no one ever asks what sorts of podcasts I’ve been listening to. That’s why I’m going to change that right now, by listing some of the podcasts I like.

• BBC History Magazine
• BBC Thinking Allowed
• BBC In Our Time
• Freakonomics radio
• Great Speeches in History
• History of Rome
• 12 Byzantine Rulers
• The Moth
• Bowery Boys
• Philosophy Bites
• Slate Political Gabfest
• Slate Culture Gabfest

I also used to listen to other podcasts on various topics like Lost, internet marketing and search engine optimization, the Washington Redskins, WordPress, economics, etc.

I don’t have a television in my kitchen, and I can’t read on a bus without getting nauseous, so washing dishes, cooking and commuting are three activities that are essentially dead time in my day, and I’ve found those are the best times to listen to my podcasts.

Any other suggestions?

I often write and talk about the superiority of Mac OS, but I also keep hearing that Windows 7 is the best version of Windows (that is, the most Mac-like) by far and that Microsoft has come very close to closing the gap with Apple. I’m pretty eager to install it on one of my old iPods when I figure out how.

Lately I’ve been using an awesome utility called Hyperdock that brings some basic Windows functionality to the Mac by allowing me to jump straight to a particular window within an application from the dock, instead of jumping to the application and then selecting the correct window. That sounds pretty convoluted when I read it back to myself. I’ll try to think of a better way to explain it. In the mean time, if you have a Mac running Snow Leopard (10.6.x), you should download the free Hyperdock beta and check it out.