5 January 2007 (15 Tevet 5767)
Not many people may be aware of this, but a good email address is an asset that can even influence how its owner is regarded by others, including friends, colleagues, customers, etc. By a good email address I mean a permanent and "serious" one. For example, a researcher affiliated to some academic institution can use an email address of a free email service, his or her Internet service provider, university, or own domain name (e.g., hershele.ostropoler@webmail.com, hershele.ostropoler@provider.net, hershele.ostropoler@university.edu, hershele@ostropoler.org respectively); each one of them gives a totally different impression about its owner.
An email address of a free webmail service can be permanent, but it is the least "serious", especially if used exclusively by someone who is in the academia. Although that of an Internet service provider can be permanent, it is less permanent than the first as one often switches providers, but it may sound a little more "serious". That of a university is the most "serious" for a researcher, but especially before getting tenure its permanence cannot be guaranteed. That of one's own domain name may be less "serious" than the third, but is far more stable, if not like that of a free webmail service, as one has to continue paying for one's own domain.
I have all these four types of email addresses, but I use the fourth one as my default address as permanence is far more important than "seriousness", though both are of course important. I have experienced the headaches of changing my default email address and notifying it three times. Before I changed it for the third time, I told myself that this would hopefully be the last time to bother not only myself but also my friends and colleagues. Then I acquired my own domain name in January 2002, and since then I have been using its email address as the only publicly known address.
This week, however, I realized that this address is more vulnerable to malfunction than the three addresses I have (and less frequently use). A Massachusetts-based company hosting my domain name experienced an outage last Friday, and it caused damage to all its mail servers in New York, making my email address and those of other customers inaccessible until the problem was solved yesterday. For most of the time during these six days I could not receive messages at this address. This was a far unbearable experience than not having my own computer and Internet connection at home.
Naturally, free webmail services, Internet service providers and universities must have better infrastructures for their web, FTP and mail servers than the hosting company I have been working with for the past five years. In spite of the risk I have to take of being unable to use this email address, the whole service I receive and a good balance of permanence and "seriousness" of an email address with my still justify the bare monthly payment of $5 and its continued used as my default address.
12 January 2007 (22 Tevet 5767)
Having lived in Israel for seven and a half years, there still remain at least two customs I find it difficult to get used to. One is the custom of tipping, which is not restricted to Israel but is rather common in many countries of the world, including those countries I have visited so far. The other is the Israeli version of waiting in line; I can only compare it with how people line up in Japan, which is the only other country where I lived for a long time. I have difficulties in getting used to these two customs as they are practiced in Israel mainly because they seem less logical and less fair than they are in Japan. But of course, this judgment may be partially influenced by the fact that I was brought up in Japanese society.
There are a few things that bother me about the custom of tipping. The most bothering one is its implication that you must make an extra payment to those who serve you in order to ensure that they do their job. If I were working in a service industry, I might feel offended by such an expectation my customers may have from me. Ironically, I have always found service in Japan far superior to that in Israel in spite of the fact that servers are seldom tipped and even if they are, they will decline to receive gratuities. This may also have much to do with an impression I have about those who work in the service industry in both countries; those in Japan seem far more proud of their own jobs and more eager to serve and please their customers. I have encountered not a small number of servers in Israel who will probably be fired within a few hours in Japan. A seeming correlation between the pride they have in their service (hence higher quality of service) and lack of the custom of tipping may result from the fact that in countries with no custom of tipping they are better paid without gratuities, which give them more self-pride.
I have no idea how widespread is the custom of "reserving" your place in line, e.g., in supermarkets, and go elsewhere to do some other things, while naive people are just waiting in line. To the great detriment of my mental sanity, it is quite widespread in Israel. You are waiting in line and think that now it is your turn, then someone whom you did not see at least ten minutes suddenly appears out of nowhere and claims that he or she was before you in line. If I had to spend more than even one minute doing something else elsewhere, I would leave the line and wait at its end again when I finish it. I have come to quarrel with people whom were not in line more than five minutes and never allow them to reclaim their turn they have "reserved". I cannot be so tolerant of people who exploit my time this way. Some time ago when my turn at a cashier in a supermarket in Jerusalem, a man I had never seen in line came running from behind my back and claimed that it was his turn, saying he was there several minutes before, then I told him that I had been there the day before, ;-) and refused to accept his claim.
19 January 2007 (29 Tevet 5767)
Approximately one half and three thirds of visitors to this website and this online journal respectively seem to be using Internet Explorer according an access log I keep. If you are one of them, I would like to recommend you to try Firefox, an open source crossplatform browser used by the majority of the visitors who do not use Internet Explorer, not because it can display this online journal differently or more nicely but in order to enhance your web experience elsewhere.
Firefox itself is not so different from Internet Explorer 7, though it is a great improvement in every respect over Internet Explorer 6, which many people have not bothered to upgrade. What makes Firefox such a pleasure to use, especially if you have to spend a lot of time surfing the web regularly, is the fact that hundreds of extensions greatly improve and supplement its functionality. Of all the extensions I have tried and/or are still using and enjoying I would like to single out five and describe briefly why they have become such inseparable parts of my web experience with Firefox, hoping that you will also benefit from them. They concern one of the three things: web development, web resource management and web annoyances.
Web Developer is the extension I like best and I rely on most as a person who also maintains a couple of websites, including Jewish Language Research Website. As the name suggests, it is a set of tools that can be of enormous help to any web developer, including display of source codes from different angles, page validation in (X)HTML, CSS, etc. It also offers an amazing array of tools that can assist netizens who only view webpages, such as control over style sheets, images, JavaScrip and cookies.
The second extension is Zotero. As it is still new and I found it quite recently, I am still learning to use this feature-rich extension, but I am quite impressed with it. It helps researchers (and non-researchers) collect, manage and cite academic (and non-academic) (re)sources available online. I have started using it for maintaining a wish list of books I would like to buy at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.jp. I am quite convinced that this extension will be more and more popular as an indespensable tool for scholars.
NoScript and Adblock Plus can help you keep your online sanity by removing two kinds of web annoyances. Quite a few sites (ab)uses JavaScript to display dynamic contents that should better been presented statically. NoScript is a whitelist-based JavaScript blocker. You can only allow those sites you trust and enable the use of JavaScript there. Many commercial sites display advertisements, often dynamically, in prominent places to draw the attention of visitors. Although I understand that this is one of the ways of supplementing or even making their income, few people will want to be forced to see the same advertisements every time they visit their favorite commercial sites, such as online newspapers, etc. Adblock Plus removes these annoying images permanently. The same sites appear totally different with and without these extensions.
26 January 2007 (7 Shvat 5767)
I encounter three kinds of English in three different social contexts in Israel. The first is the English used by immigrants from Anglophone countries in family settings. At least my English-speaking friends in Jerusalem are mostly highly educated, so their English is rich and sophisticated as might be easily expected, though their Hebrew is often rather poor. The second is the English used by native and non-native speakers in academic settings, including international conferences and discussions by email, even when they all know Hebrew very well. When I find myself in these settings, I naturally use English, whether orally or in writing, with pleasure.
When I encounter the third type of English, however, I refuse to answer in it. It is the English that uneducated native speakers of Hebrew use in speaking to those they think do not speak Hebrew. There are at least three things that bother me about their use of English. The first is the fact that their English is very poor. I would prefer their poor Hebrew (yes, their Hebrew is also generally impoverished). The second is their lack of confidence in Hebrew. I think that everyone should first try the language that is the most commonly used vernacular in a specific place, not out of chauvinism but out of self-respect. The third is their naive assumption that everyone they think does not speak Hebrew speaks English. I have no idea from where they derive such a strong conviction.
I have noticed a correlation between the use of this third type of English and the seeming educational level of a person who uses it in Israel. The majority of those who use it instead of trying Hebrew first are engaged in occupations that do not seem to require higher education. It is ironic that uneducated people whose English is poor want to use it, while educated people who have a good command of the language keep their "sword" sheathed in this context. Self-respect and pride in our own language may be among the things that education gives us, in addition to better proficiency in it and in English.