Accepted new job - Manager of Business Development at Answers.com
I accepted a new job this past week as Manager of Business
Development at Answers.com - NASDAQ: ANSW. Naturally, I wanted to give my attorneys time
to negotiate the agreement and report to training camp before I blogged it,
thus making it officially official 
I first met with Answers.com more than a
month ago. Apparently, I didn’t
sufficiently woo them to get the job initially. When they called me back to schedule a second series of meetings the
week before last, I took a slightly hungrier approach. Towards the end of my upbeat meeting with
Jeff Cutler, Chief Revenue Officer, I pointedly asked him, “so what do I have
to do to convince you I’m the right guy for this job?” I think this question sealed it for me. Sometimes it pays to be forthcoming and
direct.
expected, and there were times I considered shifting focus all together, but I
remained resilient and ending up at a place like Answers in this role with this
team makes it all worthwhile. At
Answers.com, we are creating the definitive reference tool on the web. We already have more than 3.3 million topics
licensed from respected sources such as Roget’s, Columbia University,
McGraw Hill, Thomson Gale, AMG, Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Britannica in
addition to our own proprietary content. The information is cleverly presented based on relevance so a search for
Boeing
787 will first show results from Wikipedia, which is the best source for
information on the new airplane. Similarly, a search on Thomas
Jefferson will show information from Who2 and American Heritage first. Our traffic ranks us in the top 200 of all
internet properties; very impressive for a company less than two years old. Answers.com also has developed several nifty technologies
of their own, including one-click
answers, which enables a user to Alt-Click any word or phrase in any
document on the screen and pull up a call-out window providing informative
explanations and research. This is a
magnificent tool for virtually anyone who reads content on their computers and
particularly helpful for those professionals working with terms and definitions
in addition to any students or other learning-focused individuals. One-click can be downloaded here (or here for Mac
users) and I encourage everyone to do so. It’s a true value-added feature.
I’m thoroughly excited to start working with them. With company headquarters in Jerusalem, it also looks like I’ll have the
opportunity to do some work abroad. The
ability to travel to Israel for work certainly wasn’t one of the criteria used in my job search, but it’s an extra nice perk. Expect great things from
Answers.com in the near future.
Irresponsible reporting by leading publications reveals larger anti-Israel bias
This photo was emailed to me with the following capton:
Do you see the "problem" with this picture? The last "body" in the back is getting up too early. These are the "57 dead" in Qana and the journalist goes along with it.
In case you missed this piece of news last month, Lebanese journalists initially reported that 57 people had been killed including 37 children in the Israeli bombing of Qana. This led to the Israeli government suspending air strikes for 48 hours. Human Rights Watch later reported that, in fact, 28 was the number dead, which included 16 children. Its hard to argue over numbers of dead, especially since I believe every single one of the lives lost in this conflict were killed unnecessarily. However, in the crucial war of public opinion, the Arab nations battling Israel continue to gain support, and with much assistance from foreign journalists who do not seem to care about reporting news factually. I am reminded of the NY Times photo in September 2000 of Tuvia Grossman, a Jewish student from Chicago, blood streaming down his face, which included a caption describing him as a Palestinian victim of Israeli abuse. The report proved to include other factual errors including the location where it was taken. The point here is that a strong anti-Israel sentiment continues to plague honest reporting around the world, particularly reports from the region of conflict. One might expect this type of biased coverage from Lebanese or Syrian sources, but from the NY Times and Washington Post….its very disappointing.
Sketch from Israeli soldier on front lines
My cousin, Dagan, was called up from the IDF reserves three weeks ago and is serving in the current conflict at an undisclosed location. He sent me this sketch which he drew while on the front lines last week.
Brigitte Gabriel speech at Duke anti-terrorism speak-out
Someone sent me the transcript of a speech given by Brigitte Gabriel at an anti-terrorism speak-out at Duke in 2004. This is particularly relevant given what’s happening in Israel today. It’s also significant to me because as an advisory board member to Duke’s Freeman Center for Jewish Life, the anti-terrorism speak-out stands in direct contrast to the Palestinian Solidarity Conference that chose Duke’s campus for their rally last year. The world is divided over the Arab-Israeli conflict and I believe unjustifiably so. The beginning of the speech is below and I link to the full transcript. Its powerful and worth a read.
"I’m proud and honored to stand here today as a Lebanese speaking for
Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East. As someone who was raised
in an Arabic country, I want to give you a glimpse into the heart of the Arabic world. I was raised in Lebanon where I was taught that the Jews were evil,
Israel was the devil, and the only time we will have peace in the
Middle East is when we kill all the Jews and drive them into the sea. When the Moslems and Palestinians declared Jihad on the Christians
in1975, they started massacring the Christians city after city. I ended
up living in a bomb shelter underground from age 10 to 17 without
electricity, eating grass to live and crawling under sniper bullets to
a spring to get water. It was Israel who came to help the Christians in Lebanon. My mother was
wounded by a Moslem shell and was taken into an Israeli hospital for
treatment. When we entered the emergency room, I was shocked at what I
saw…." Click here for the full speech transcript.
Eric Hoffer on Israel from 1968
This comment in 1968 by Eric Hoffer - author of The True Believer - was posted by Michale Ledeen on the National Review blog today. The world has held Israel to a terrible double standard, really since its establishment as a state. This quote from 1968 is as spot on today as it was then. There are numerous possible reasons for this, but the fact that it exists is indesputable from my vantage point. More to come on Israel in the coming days.
The Jews are a peculiar people: things permitted to other nations are forbidden to the Jews.Other nations drive out thousands, even millions of people and there is no refugee problem. Russia did it, Poland and Czechoslovakia did it, Turkey threw out a million Greeks, and Algeria a million Frenchman. Indonesia threw out heaven knows how many Chinese-and no one says a word about refugees.
But in the case of Israel the displaced Arabs have become eternal refugees. Everyone insists that Israel
must take back every single Arab. Arnold Toynbee calls the displacement
of the Arabs an atrocity greater than any committed by the Nazis. Other
nations when victorious on the battlefield dictate peace terms. But
when Israel is victorious it must sue for peace .Everyone
expects the Jews to be the only real Christians in this world. Other
nations when they are defeated survive and recover but should Israel be defeated it would be destroyed. Had Nasser triumphed last June [1967] he would have wiped Israel
off the map, and no one would have lifted a finger to save the Jews. No
commitment to the Jews by any government, including our own, is worth
the paper it is written on .There is a cry of outrage all over the world when people die in Vietnam or when two Blacks are executed in Rhodesia.
But when Hitler slaughtered Jews no one remonstrated with him. The
Swedes, who are ready to break off diplomatic relations with America because of what we do in Vietnam,
did not let out a peep when Hitler was slaughtering Jews. They sent
Hitler choice iron ore, and ball bearings, and serviced his troop
trains to Norway.The Jews are alone in the world. If Israel survives, it will be solely because of Jewish efforts. And Jewish resources. Yet at this moment Israel is our only reliable and unconditional ally. We can rely more on Israel than Israel
can rely on us. And one has only to imagine what would have happened
last summer [1967] had the Arabs and their Russian backers won the war
to realize how vital the survival of Israel is to America and the West in general.I have a premonition that will not leave me; as it goes with Israel so will it go with all of us. Should Israel perish the holocaust will be upon us.
Aroma comes to Manhattan from Tel Aviv
Aroma espresso bar from Israel opened their first U.S. store last week on Houston St near Wooster.
In a first time for this blog, I’m posting in real time on location. Personally,
I never thought their coffee or simple salads/sandwiches were anything special.
Their frozen blended drink - Ice Aroma - is
okay, but I would have been content
saving these for special occasions while visiting Israel. What makes Aroma nice
- in addition to the red leather swivel chairs, euro-style tunes and sleek
modern design - is the Israeli clientele. There are more people speaking
Hebrew in here right now than English. Looking around, I feel like I’m in
Tel Aviv (not a bad thing). I have a
feeling this place could be serving fried dirt and still be packed. They
also offer free wi-fi, which makes it a more attractive place to…well,
blog. During my visit, the lights
inexplicably dimmed and brightened several times, something burned in the oven
filling the space with a strong odor and some guy walked in insisting on practicing
his Hebrew with the man behind the counter (unfortunately, the guy taking his
order was Asian, one of the few non-Israelis working) – only strengthening the
Israeli feel. And while probably not a
design feature, I think JDate may have some stiff new competition.