Only In Israel: Olive Pits To Power The World

Image: Genova's pilot plant in Julis (a Druze village), Credit: Israel 21^st Century

With all of the other useful ways Israeli's are discovering to power our crowed planet, this by far has to be the most humorous (in a good way).

After consuming an olive, most people prefer to simply discard the pits, seeing them unfit for the stomach but fit to rot among all of God's creatures.

But one scientist has decided to take olive pits (along with other olive wastes) and find a way to convert into energy.

(Israel 21^st Century) First, the olive waste is heated and dried and then it is introduced into the reactor. Here it undergoes two processes, pyrolysis and gasification, which involve the biomass being heated to 800 degrees centigrade, at which temperature its molecules break down. A combination of high-calorie gases including methane and carbon monoxide are produced which, because they are lighter than air, flow upwards through a pipe into a standard gas turbine to generate electricity in the usual way. The other by-product is coke, which can be turned into the active type of coke that can be sold for use to power air conditioners or as filters for various substances.

Harnessing the power of biomass is not a new industry and there are a number of companies around the world who are attempting to show that biomass can replace some of the fossil fuels we use, but Genova's technology employs a novel technique, which the company prefers not to disclose, for maintaining the high temperatures needed for the process. This technique means that "only ten percent of the electricity we produce is used to power the [olive waste conversion] process," Granot told ISRAEL21c. "The process is 90% efficient. Our competitors are only 50% efficient, at best." Thus, where the cost of a kilowatt/hour is 9 cents for the company's competitors, Genova's cost is only 2 cents per kw/h.

Granot's invention has attracted the attention from Australia, and the US, as well as from Israel Electric (the nations sole provider of electricity according to the article).

With the reduced savings, Granot will be able to invest more into his new invention which may help Israel (and eventually humanity) become more energy independent instead of relying upon foreign oil and gas for power.

Would You Pay $200,000 For A North American Immigrant?

It looks as if Israel will (in the future) be ramping up their Aliyah campaign for Jews living in North America (which probably refers to Jews living in the United States and Canada, as I am not too sure what the Jewish society is like in Mexico).

A new study has recently come out highlighting that a Jew who commits Aliyah (or immigrates to Israel) may be worth up to $200,000 a piece!

(Globes Online) A study on the economic impact of immigration from North America found that the value to the Israeli economy of an immigrant from there was $200,000. This estimate is based on level of education, professional experience, participation in the labor force after immigrating, and financial assets. The study found that immigrants from North America had a 90% rate of participation in the labor force after one year in Israel.

This rate of participation is far greater than the participation rate of Israelis and of immigrants from many other areas. In addition, the average output of an immigrant from North America is $24,000 a year. Two-thirds bought a car within a year of arrival.

Although there have been many reports of Jews making Aliyah from North America, this part of the word seems to be the hardest when it comes to marketing the promises of the holy land.

So my fellow Israeli (or pro-Israeli readers), how can Israel do a better job of convincing Jews from the US or Canada to cross the ocean and put their stake in American soil?

Cell Therapy Helping Crippled PAD Patients Walk Again

It looks like a new cell treatment developed in Israel may help those suffering from peripheral arterial disease (or PAD) to be able to once again enjoy using limbs (such as legs) that were crippled by this disease.

(Israel 21^st Century) The resulting cell-based therapy, MultiGene Angio (MGA), harnesses cells taken from the patient's body (sometimes a 10 cm. vein segment stripped from under the arm), activates them with the insertion of specific genes in a lab, and injects them back into the patient's artery.

These new empowered cells are designed to trigger angiogenesis, improving blood flow to the leg, arm, or heart - in the case of patients with blocked coronary arteries - by causing small blood arteries to expand and grow, bypassing the blocked arteries.

"Everyone develops some collateral arteries, even those with gangrene who will eventually have to undergo amputation," Flugelman tells ISRAEL21c. "We can enlarge these arteries and prevent the need for amputation."

There are currently no medical trials for this new approach (as according to the article they were still testing this on animals). Dr. Moshe Flugelman seems to be optimistic about this treatment, although it may be quite some time before his medical breakthrough hits the general market (due to various lab tests).

Note: More information can be found over at Multi Gene Vascular Systems.

Can Israeli Lasers Fix Glaucoma Eyes?

(Image Credit: Israel 21^st Century)


Glaucoma is one of those "inevitable diseases" that many people acquire as they age into the golden years of their life.

Previously in order to remove (or counter) this disease, patients had to undergo risky surgery that can potentially damage the eye or use somewhat effective drugs to counteract the "the silent sight thief."

Fortunately it seems as if an Israeli scientists new piece of technology could not only reduce the risk of surgery, but enable surgeons with little experience to perform this complex surgery.

(Israel 21^st Century) And Assia is one of the few eye surgeons in the world who can perform the procedure. It requires a surgeon to scrape off a thin layer of the wall of the eye, leaving only a razor thin layer (5%) intact. This layer has to be thin enough for the excess liquid to drain out of the eye and thick enough that the eye remains protected.

Performing such a surgery is like balancing on a tightrope: It is both difficult and extremely risky if something should go wrong. Eyes collapse, infections, cataract formations and more. That is why few choose to operate and opt to prescribe a long-term, but less-effective, drug alternative instead. [...]

Using the IOPtima device, the laser switches off the moment before the eye membrane is perforated - at exactly the same time when the liquid is able to pass through the membrane, but when the membrane is thick enough to keep the eye protected.

According to the article eye surgeons are already impressed with the new device, and are already organizing clinical trials in Canada, Europe and the US.

Note: For those seeking more info about this new device can visit this link for more details.

Google Israel Improves Google Trends

It looks like the Google Israel team has done a fantastic job at making Google Trends a lot more useful.

Globes Online highlighted that Google's offices in Tel Aviv had improved upon this product, which is confirmed when one visits the post on Google's corporate blog.

(Official Google Blog) Fortunately, Google Trends is now updated every day with the latest information. (Until now, Trends was only updated once a month.) Now we can follow the console race (or any other topic) every 24 hours, whether it's The Office vs Heroes or the candidates for the next presidential election.

In addition to daily updates, we've also created an iGoogle gadget and a feed for Hot Trends. If you have ever wanted to know what the Internet was thinking right now, Hot Trends can tell you just that. Hot Trends shows you what the fastest rising search queries are on Google. Now you can keep track of Hot Trends three ways: by visiting the site, adding the gadget to your homepage, or subscribing to the feed by adding the feed URL to Google Reader or your favorite feed reader.

This feature will probably prove to be quite useful, especially for marketing departments and politicians who desire to understand the pulse of the net.

Note: Who is more popular? Israel or Iran?

Congress Rebukes Anti-Israel Insurance Companies

(Image Credit: Wikipedia)


Despite the fact that I work in the insurance field, I was a bit surprised to learn that there existed some insurance companies that displayed "business bias" towards those visiting Israel by charging higher premiums.

Congress seems to have been outraged by this, and the House just passed a measure banning this practice.

(Globes Online) The travel fairness provisions included in bill protect travelers from denial of life insurance, simply because they may plan international travel or have traveled internationally in the past. The bill is designed to protect passengers against insurance companies that refuse to sell life insurance policies on the basis of an applicant's past travel or future plans, or which charge a high and unwarranted premium on passengers with certain flight patterns. This practice particularly affects business travelers from the US to Israel, with the result that US executives of some companies have avoided making business trips to Israel.

Thanks to groups like the Anti-Defamation League for pressuring Congress to do the right thing. Hopefully the Senate can pass this bill quickly (and have Bush sign it) as Israel's tourism is already setting new records.

Tourism In Israel Is Up, Up, Up!

(Hat Tip: Israel Times)

After suffering a brief slump during the Second Lebanon War, it looks as if Israel's tourism has not only recovered, but many hotels are expecting a record year for 2007.

(Jerusalem Post) About 223,000 tourists entered the country last month, boosting the total by 9.1% to 1.46 million in the eight months through August, the Central Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday. Arrivals in August 2006 fell because of the Second Lebanon War, which broke out the month before. [...]

"It's been the best-ever July and August," said Rafi Baeri, vice president of marketing and sales at the Dan Hotels Corp. He said that the hotel chain, which owns the historic King David Hotel in Jerusalem and 12 other four- and five-star hotels around the country, is expecting a "record" year for 2007.

Even more tourists are expected in Israel next week as 6,000 Christians from over 90 countries will be participating in the upcoming Feast of Tabernacles (or Sukkot) in Jerusalem.

Israel's tourism will probably pick up again around Christmas, although hopefully Bethlehem (currently in PA control) will be open to outsiders.

TeraDiscs May Make CD's, DVD's Extinct

(Image Credit: Israel 21^st Century)

A new Israeli invention may threaten the reign of CD and DVD as the staple for storing information off of ones computer.

Called TeraDisc, this device will allow users to store up to 1,000 Gigs of info on a single disk.

(Israel 21^st Century) Mempile's TeraDisc is the next-generation storage disc. The disc is divided into 200 different layers, five microns apart, each comprising 5GB of storage space. Unlike standard multilayer DVDs, the layers are not physically stacked and stuck together. Instead, they are solid and use a translucent polymer mixture known as ePMMA (polymethyl methacrylate) that gives the discs their distinctive yellow color. The mixture was specially developed by Mempile and Arkema, a spin-off of French company Total, one of the world's largest petrochemical companies. Arkema began as a strategic partner in Mempile, and is now a strategic investor.

"We think it's game changing technology. It's a niche in the home where there's nothing to fill it today. It's not replacing something, it's filling a void," says former New-Yorker Erez.

According to Huppert, the TeraDisc has a 50-year lifespan, and is likely to be a fraction of the price of alternative solutions on the market.

Unless you are a movie buff, storing a 1,000 gigs of info may seem to be overwhelming as most people (currently) do not have that much storage on all of their home computers, laptops, iPods, CD and DVD's, combined--let alone on another disk.

IT professionals will probably love this product (as they can easily back up whole servers on less than a half dozen disks) although it will be interesting to see how Mempile sells this disk to the masses.

Israel: Affordable Solar Housing For All?

(Hat Tip: Israel Times, Image Credit: Inhabitat.com)

Hy (Chaim) Brown whose notable projects include constructing Disney World in Florida, as well as the World Trade Towers (that were sadly destroyed on 9/11, 2001) may be making yet another mark upon humanity by constructing affordable solar houses for "the rest of us."

(Jerusalem Post) The model of the 70-square-meter houses, which he says can be added onto as families expand, was the brainchild of his engineering students at the University of Colorado, where he commutes to teach. They twice won a US government-sponsored competition to create a workable home that runs exclusively on solar energy, the second time for building one that families could afford.

The house, fully equipped with appliances - including dishwasher, washing machine, refrigerator, oven and tailor-made items such as a Shabbat heating plate (or, for Beduin needs, a courtyard for livestock) - costs $50,000, and can be assembled from start to finish in two weeks. All it requires to run efficiently, says Brown, is four days of sun per month. Though perfect for the climate of the Negev, the house can be erected anywhere.

"My idea is to dream big," he says. "Who knew we'd have Israel?"

Although a 70-square meter house may not be a dream home for some individuals and families, this type of housing may appeal towards the lower income families, especially since they come with "free" electricity.

Note: I am unable to find Brown's website via Google search, although if anyone out there knows it, be sure to let all of us know in the comment section!

Israel To Russia: Visa's Not Required?

(Image: US Visa Image, Credit: US Embassy Israel)

The government of Israel has recently passed a measure that will allow Russian citizens to visit the holy land without the need (or hassle) of applying for a visa.

(Ha'aretz) The cabinet voted yesterday to cancel the visa requirement for tourists arriving in Israel from Russia. Only ministers from Shas voted against Tourism Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch's proposal.

The move will only take effect if the Russians reciprocate by canceling the visa requirement for Israelis, a subject the Foreign Ministry is now handling.

Removing the visa requirement could help open the eyes of Russian citizens of what life is really like in Israel. To my knowledge, a large number of Russian Jews have actually left the former USSR (due to persecution) and made Aliyah towards the holy land.

If Russia responds in kind, this could help their country benefit from the expertise of many Israeli scientists, especially when it comes to nuclear waste.

Update (9/24): It looks like Russia is all for it.

Israeli's Love Their Turkey! For Vacation That Is...

Turkey seems to be the prime spot for Israeli's to "get away from it all," beating even the United States (which came in second place).

(Globes Online) Turkey was the most popular holiday destination for Israelis, with 195,000 visitors in August 2007, 15% of total outgoing travelers, the Israel Airports Authority reports. The second most popular destination was the US, with 151,000 travelers, followed by France with 119,000, and Italy and Germany with 93,000 each.

Israel and Turkey already have very friendly relations with each other, so it should not be a surprise to see Israeli's choosing this Arabian nation as a favorite vacation spot.

Note: If Israel were physically closer to the US, I wonder if these numbers would actually change?

Alan Greenspan Praises Israel's Economy

It looks like the former US chairman Alan Greenspan is praising the Jewish state's economy for thriving in one of the world's roughest regions.

(Israel National News) Outgoing US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan wrote in his new book "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World" that Israel's economic growth demonstrates that economies can thrive even in times of violent conflict.

Greenspan writes that he draws encouragement from the ability of market economies to hold on in the face of violence and the threat of violence. He also cites Lebanon and Iraq as examples.

Despite the "love treatment" Israel is experiencing from its neighbors, Israeli citizens experience a life style similar to that of their American friends over seas.

Note: For those wondering whether or not their actually is more to life in the holy land beside what they see in the news, Isrealli has a video of "a regular Joe" showing what life really is like in Israel.

Oracle Deepens Its Investment In Israel

Oracle's President, Safra Catz has recently announced that his company will be putting more of its money inside the kosher state.

(Globes Online) Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL) intends to make further investments in Israel, said company president Safra Catz yesterday at a reception for investors, venture capitalists, and high-tech executives in Palo Alto, California. The event was also attended by Ministry of Finance director general Yarom Ariav.

Addressing the group, Catz said that Israel must be an active player in the global market, and export everything it produces, "even Prigat fruit juice."

Earlier this year, Oracle opened up its first R&D center in Petah Tikvah, and has been one of several companies (ranging from Microsoft to Google) seriously investing themselves within the Jewish state.

Hopefully more technology companies (as well as Hollywood) will begin to follow Oracle's lead, as Israel has a lot to offer to the digital/hi tech/media geek world.

Google's YouTube Squeezes Ahead Of Tapuz's Flix

It looks as if the search engine king's site YouTube has surpassed Tapuz as the number one "user generated" (aka web 2.0) site in Israel. Can Google be stopped?

(Globes Online) Video sharing site YouTube has overtaken local portal Tapuz as the most popular user-generated content site, reveals a survey by TNS/Teleseker for August. The survey found that YouTube came seventh with a weekly exposure rate of 26.9% compared with 25.4% in July. Tapuz fell to eighth place with 26.6% weekly exposure rate compared with 26.6% in July. However, Tapuz's video sharing site, Tapuz Flix, rose from 9.5% in July to 10.5% in August.

Tapuz owns a video sharing site called Flix, which seems to be very popular among Israeli's. Although Flix has also grown in traffic, YouTube seems to have surpassed both Tapuz and Flix altogether.

Google seems to be dominating the scene in the holy land, previously beating Walla as the top Israeli site, not to mention gobbling up an impressive startup as well.

Note: Could this be the reason why Google is expanding their office space in Tel Aviv?

Israel Helping Nigeria To Turn Deserts Into Gardens

(Hat Tip: Israel Times, Image Credit: State.gov)



An Israeli-American company has decided to partner with the nation of Nigeria in order to combat the ever spreading deserts that seem to be taking over the northern part of the country.

(Business Today Online) The projects, conceived by Framan Agridev, a Nigerian-Israeli partnership, is aimed at combating desertification across the northern part of Nigeria, provision of thousands of houses for displaced persons and creation of over two million jobs within three years.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the parties on August 20 2007 revealed that the "Desert to Food"project will gulp the sum of N1.92-trillion ($15-billion) in two years, while the "Swamp to Food" programme will gulp the sum of N256-billion ($2-billion).

Emeka Mba, FramanAgridev's managing director and group project coordinator, who spoke on the project, stated that agriculture could earn the country three-fold income than what oil could generate and that the three-tiers of government would be provided alternative sources of income through the project.

When it comes to turning deserts into gardens, Israel probably has the greatest experience in this arena, and it is good to see them sharing this know how with other countries.

Israel has already been sharing some of their secrets with Tibetan's, and hopefully the farmers of Nigeria will also pick up "a green thumb" from their Jewish friends.

Jewish Holocaust Victims Honored By Pope

Pope Benedict XVI decided to weather the rain in order to honor those who had fallen during one of humanities darkest hours.

(Jerusalem Post) Braving pelting rain, the German-born pontiff joined Vienna's chief rabbi, Paul Chaim Eisenberg, in quiet prayer before an austere stone memorial honoring the 65,000 Viennese Jews who perished in Nazi death camps and others burned at the stake in the 1400s after refusing to convert.

Earlier Friday, Benedict told reporters on his flight to Austria that the poignant and highly symbolic stop at Vienna's Judenplatz, or Jewish Square, was intended to show "our sadness, our repentance and our friendship to the Jewish people."

The Vatican has been taking enormous strides to court the Jewish people, with Pope Benedict having previously met with President Peres as well as knighting a Jewish man.

Hopefully Benedict could follow this up by actually visiting Israel, as I am sure many people would welcome his visit to the holy land.

Does The Fountain Of Youth Lie In Israeli Skin Cream?

(Hat Tip: Israel 21^st Century)

It looks as if a new skin cream by Dr. Orit Bossi could not only make people retain their youthful image, but also protect peoples skin against harmful UV rays.

But what separates this cream out from similar products may reside in the fact that it can outlast its competition.

(Jerusalem Post) The new antioxidant, according to Bossi, is stable in high temperatures, soluble in water and does not easily oxidize, allowing it to retain its efficacy over a long period. [...]

Unlike sunscreens, which merely protect the skin from much of the harm of UV rays, Bossi said her antioxidant retards the aging of the skin. Unlike cosmetic preparations, she said her discovery "deals with the deepest layers of the skin and not only the epidermis."

Dr. Bossi was able to do an experiment of the cream using the skin cells of mice. After exposing a group of them to UV rays she discovered that the skin cells treated with her antioxidant skin cream seemed to be "much happier" than the ones without.

There is no word on when this cream will hit the market (as Dr. Bossi is still getting this product patented) although it may not be too surprising to see Bossi's "youth cream" outselling (or integrated with) the competition in the near future.

(Image Credit: Israel 21^st Century)

Video: Urban Aeronautics Flying Cars Making Jetsons A Reality

An Israeli company called Urban Aeronautics is promising to produce the worlds "first" flying car by "early 2009."

The flymobile, named X-Hawk urban is about the size of a large car (or van) and if all goes according to plan will be able to "hug" the side of a building, a feat that the best helicopter is unable to perform.

(Video: A short animated film on the X-Hawk urban, VTOL aircraft. Credit: Adventure Publishing, Ltd., Via Urban Aeronautics)

(Israel Times) Founded by Dr. Rafi Yoeli, UrbanAero has established an early lead in developing a compact VTOL vehicle with no exposed rotors that is tailored to meet FAA requirements for powered lift vehicles and also capable of flying and operating inside of complex urban and natural environments. [...]

It is anticipated that X-Hawk's initial implementation will be mainly for urban rescue and medical evacuation. The variable work module, however, allows for tailor-made modifications that adapt the aircraft to an unlimited variety of tasks. Examples include utility work (i.e. power line maintenance or bridge inspection), civil policing and intra-urban or ship-to-shore taxi service, to name just a few.

There does not seem to be any indication on whether this flymobile is powered by fossil fuels (or is entirely electronic in nature), but if the former then hopefully it will be able to fuel up at the average local gas station.

If the craft turns out to be less expensive than a helicopter, then citizens worldwide may find an X-Hawk being used at their downtown hospital in the not-so-distant future.

215 More Jews Make Aliyah (With 96 Being Single?)

It looks like more Jews have decided to support their mother land by leaving their respective countries in order to establish a new life in the holy land.

(Ynet News) Nefesh B'Nefesh, an organization dedicated to revitalizing aliyah from North America and the UK, brought its final summer flight to Israel on Tuesday, carrying the last 215 of over 2,200 new immigrants who moved to Israel on 15 aliyah flights over the last few months.

Tuesday's flight, which brought 96 singles and 29 families to Israel, marked the end of Nefesh B'Nefesh's summer influx of immigrants. Over this season, the organization helped over 2,200 people make aliyah - including almost 400 singles, 265 families with approximately 600 children, and 115 people who joined the IDF.

Of the 215 who landed within Israel, it seems almost half of them (96 approximately) are single. Whether that means they simply came by themselves or that they are single, the article did provide any specific details towards.

Note: Jacob may have some images of the Olim, so bookmark his site for some smiling faces of Israel's newest citizens.

Israeli First: Shahar Peer To Advance To Quarter Finals (Tennis)

(Hat Tip: Isrealli.org)

Shahar Peer has made history by being the first Israeli to advance to the Quarter Finals in the US Open.

(US Open) Playing in her third US Open, No. 18 seed Shahar Peer has become the first Israeli woman in tournament history to reach the quarterfinals and is truly becoming a force to reckon with on the court. In addition, while making steady progress up the tennis rankings she is also making a strong impression on the hearts and minds of tennis fans. [...]

The 20-year-old Peer, who is also in the second year of her mandatory Israeli military service, displays an on-court tenacity that equals that of any of the other top players. Her focus during matches is unwavering and she is all business on each and every point.

Hopefully Peer advances all the way to the finals, although defeating the Williams sisters may take a miracle from on high (as to my knowledge usually one or the other dominates the game).

(Image: Shahar Peer in a Fourth Round match on Day 8 of the 2007 US Open. Credit: Rob Loud / USopen.org)

Video: Extreme Reality As The Next "Nintendo Wii?"

An Israeli startup company called Extreme Reality is looking to take gaming to the next level by allowing players to allow their physical movements to be mimiced within the game virtually.

Although other systems such as Nintendo Wii (or games like Dance, Dance, Revolution) have pioneered this already for years, what separates Extreme Reality from the rest is that players will not need a remote control in order to partake of the fun.

(Israel 21^st Century) This is XTR - Extreme Reality, a south Tel Aviv startup that has developed a technology that allows a user's three-dimensional body movements to be translated onto the computer in real time. When you run, so does the animated character in the game. When you throw a punch, or mimic the moves of tennis, the computer character does the same.

While many game developers are moving rapidly into this field, what makes XTR unique is that players don't require any special hardware to play these games. All they need is an ordinary webcam - something many computer users already own - and software. ThinkMinority Report, but without the glove.

What makes this technology really interesting is the fact that users can also apply similar movements towards "everyday business chores" which will probably make this software a corporate fad at offices around the globe.

Note: From the video, it looks as if the software is "WinXP friendly," although it would be great if they made this Linux, Mac and Windows Vista friendly as well.

Japan To Israel: Lets Be Business Buddies

(Image: Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso with Prime Minister Olmert. Credit: AP via Ynet News)

It looks as if Israel's previous attempts at courting the land of the rising sun are beginning to pay off.

(Ynet News) In an attempt to encourage ecnomic cooperation between private companies, Matsuda said, "We have cancelled some of our visa restrictions on Israelis to Japan, in order to allow Israel businesspeople to come to Japan. Furthermore, we are attempting Israeli PR in Japan. Most Japanese know about the conflict between Israel and its neighbors, and few are aware that as a Jewish country there is a very high level of scientific and technological development here.

"We are trying to increase the extent of tourism between the two countries, and for that purpose we are trying to promote a route of direct flights between Japan and Israel, in contrast to the situation today.

Israel has been seeking to partner with Japan (business wise) and at least one Jewish company already has a strong market within the Asian empire.

Japan seems to be very interested in Israel's defense technology (among other things) but ironically it was Israel's attitude towards the West Bank that drew Japan's attention.

Is Madonna Good Or Bad For Israel?

It looks as if the Jewish state is humming about their "favorite Kabbala girl," Madonna. While the serious faithful look upon the material girl with much scorn, it seems the business folk are seeing her arrival as a blessing in disguise.

(Israel National News) However, tourism and business are expected to boom with her visit, and the Florida Jewish federation has pledged $8 million in contributions for projects in the region, including $100,000 to start an international Kabbala center.

Realtors also will benefit. Madonna is planning to buy a house in the Rosh Pina-Tzfat area.

Madonna's entrance into the Israeli scene may not improve the spiritual climate of the holy land, but it definitely will help raise the financial state of the region (at least for the tourism sector).

Note: While Madonna is in Israel, someone should encourage her to visit Sderot, as she may help bring some more attention to that region.

(Image Credit: Wikipedia)

Updating Weblog...

Note: I'll be upgrading IsraGood, or rather changing the skin of this site.

Try not to laugh too hard if the page looks ugly for 10-20 minuets.

~Darnell

Update: It took a little longer than I thought, but I am now finished updating the site.

Unfortunately, I lost my previous poll feature asking why people loved Israel (sigh), but I simply created a new one in the sidebar.

I am debating about changing the header, although I may do that later on today (or even tomorrow).