Dear secular Israelis

To survive and strive, the Jewish state also needs the “other Israel,” it needs all those black-suited rabbis and students.

Israel, a modern democratic state, is taking in fact the opposite path of the West, which repudiated its own religious history, culture and tradition and it is now culturally and physically exhausted.

That pious, humble and religious Israel, with its the prodigious familiarity with G-d and Jewish religious tradition, has been essential in keeping Israeli society strong, especially such a besieged society encircled with enemies.

The religious communities are the bulwark of Israeli society. If you try to integrate them into general society, Israel will benefit from it. If you try to assimilate then, Israel will lose the baricenter of Jewish strength.

Knesset dissolved, Israel going to elections – ‘Liberman trampled the haredim’

The 21st Knesset has been dissolved, less than a month after it was sworn in. The Knesset approved the Knesset Dispersion Law on Wednesday evening by a majority of 74 to 45.

The elections for the 22nd Knesset will take place on September 17, just six months after the last elections.

“The Israeli public made a clear and unequivocal decision: That I would be prime minister and that the Likud would lead a right-wing government. The public chose me to lead the State of Israel. The various parties that ran for Knesset, many of them said they would support me. 60 out of the 65 mandates granted to the right did what they undertook upon themselves to do. One party did the exact opposite. Avigdor Liberman misled his voters. From the get go, he had no intention of joining the government,” said Netanyahu.

“In eight months Avigdor Liberman is dragging the country twice to elections because of personal whims and an attempt to get a few more seats. Simply unbelievable. Avigdor Liberman is now part of the left, he is the heart of the left,” Netanyahu continued, blasting the Yisrael Beytenu chairman.

United Torah Judaism chairman, Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, said after the Knesset was dissolved, “The holding of new elections a month after the last elections is contrary to the will of the people and contrary to all common sense. This is political coercion for no real reason, with an awful waste of billions that can go to important things like adding resources to the health care system, education or any other purpose for the good of the public.”

“The cynical use of the Draft Law is an outrageous excuse meant to confuse the public with the goal of inciting against the haredi public and making political capital on it. Torah study has always been and will always remain an important value for the people of Israel. Preserving the status of yeshiva students was the basis for our joining every government and every coalition. It is clear to everyone that we will not be able to agree to any law that restricts Torah scholars in Israel,” added Litzman.

”The decision to go to new elections is a scandal and a failure caused by one politician named Avigdor Liberman, who chose to disguise his desire to prevent Binyamin Netanyahu from establishing the government for his own reasons with a campaign of incitement and blatant humiliation of the haredi public, its leaders and representatives in the Knesset.

Throughout the entire period of negotiations, I said on every stage that what bothers Liberman is not the issue of enlistment, but rather his obsessive desire to hurt Netanyahu because of personal motives and this, unfortunately, was proven true.

We always knew that Liberman, unlike Yair Lapid, did not hate the haredim and was always proud of his closeness to them. Nevertheless, he chose cynicism and cold-bloodedness to trample on the haredi public and to misrepresent in order to serve his political and personal motives on our backs.

History has proven time after time that those who persecute the Torah have disappeared from the public agenda and have been forgotten, and his fate will be the same.”

Experimental WebGL Websites. Why are coding artists so obsessed with it?

WebGL is no longer a technology exclusive to big projects containing 3D scenes, storytelling-based narratives and complicated visual effects, it’s been with us for a few years and its use today has now been extended to secondary elements in the composition and small effects with filters (shaders) that can’t be replicated with javascript or CSS outside the canvas.

There are libraries to make the immense task of creating a three dimensional scene directly in WebGL easier – as you know Three.js is the most used, but not the only one. There are a good amount of frameworks, tools, game engines and libraries which are also worth experimenting with.

You can find frameworks specialised in WebVR like A-Frame and the Physical Based Render engines (PBR) that create surprising scenes and highly realistic materials in our browser.

WebGL (Web Graphics Library) is a JavaScript API for rendering interactive 2D and 3D graphics within any compatible web browser without the use of plug-ins. WebGL is fully integrated with other web standards, WebGL elements can be mixed with other HTML elements and composited with other parts of the page or page background.

Fenwick Musée is an example of storytelling experience taken to the next level.

Sticking to the roots of this approach by carefully picking up the information, sorting it into digestible portions and presenting it in an eye-pleasing manner, the team was managed to build a top-notch website. To spice things up, they have opted in favor of WebGL and GSAP, making the project, not just informative but totally engaging.

View also: https://get.webgl.org/, ANIMAL

Color blindness and design. There is no cure.

Red-green color blindness is the most common form, followed by blue-yellow color blindness and total color blindness.

Males are at a greater risk of inheriting an X-linked mutation because males only have one X chromosome (XY, with the Y chromosome carrying altogether different genes from the X chromosome), and females have two (XX); if a woman inherits a normal X chromosome in addition to the one that carries the mutation, she will not display the mutation. Men do not have a second X chromosome to override the chromosome that carries the mutation.

Ishihara Plate No. 1, presented here in black and white so that even the fully colorblind get a sense of how the test works. Look for the number represented by dots of a different color as they shift from black through grey to white.

Designers need to take into account that color-blindness is highly sensitive to differences in material. For example, a red-green colorblind person who is incapable of distinguishing colors on a map printed on paper may have no such difficulty when viewing the map on a computer screen or television. In addition, some color blind people find it easier to distinguish problem colors on artificial materials, such as plastic or in acrylic paints, than on natural materials, such as paper or wood. Third, for some color blind people, color can only be distinguished if there is a sufficient “mass” of color: thin lines might appear black, while a thicker line of the same color can be perceived as having color.

Designers should also note that red-blue and yellow-blue color combinations are generally safe. So instead of the ever-popular “red means bad and green means good” system, using these combinations can lead to a much higher ability to use color coding effectively. This will still cause problems for those with monochromatic color blindness, but it is still something worth considering.

When the need to process visual information as rapidly as possible arises, for example in an emergency situation, the visual system may operate only in shades of gray, with the extra information load in adding color being dropped.

Some tentative evidence finds that color blind people are better at penetrating certain color camouflages. Such findings may give an evolutionary reason for the high rate of red–green color blindness. There is also a study suggesting that people with some types of color blindness can distinguish colors that people with normal color vision are not able to distinguish. In World War II, color blind observers were used to penetrate camouflage.

Israel’s Top Cannabis Companies Lost a Combined $307 Million on TASE

Israel’s eight leading public medical cannabis companies lost a combined NIS 1.1 billion ($307 million) of their market capitalization on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange over the past three months, bringing their combined market cap to NIS 1.7 billion ($475 million).

The largest slide was of InterCure Ltd., chaired by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, which lost 34.3% of its market cap, NIS 438.4 million ($122.6 million), after peaking at NIS 1.27 billion ($355 million) in March. The company’s market cap at Sunday’s trading close was NIS 837.6 million ($234.3 million). Barak, who has company options worth 3.68%, lost NIS 16.3 million ($4.56 million) on paper.

Together Pharma Ltd., chaired by former Israel Police chief Yohanan Danino, dropped from its February peak of NIS 350.2 million ($97.9 million) to a market cap of NIS 220.2 million ($61.6 million) on Sunday close. Danino, who holds a 1.45% stake in the company and options worth 2.89%, lost NIS 5.6 million ($1.57 million) on paper.

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, who is an advisor to and an investor in Univo Pharmaceuticals Ltd., lost NIS 1.4 million ($390,000) on paper from his options worth 3.7%, after Univo dropped from NIS 159.2 million ($44.5 million) to NIS 110.9 million ($31 million) within a month.

Cannabis insurance company Cannasure Insurance Services LLC dropped from NIS 161.1 million ($45 million) at its peak to NIS 98.6 million ($27.6 million). Herodium Investments Ltd., which on Sunday received approval for its merger with cannabis outfit Panaxia Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., lost 62.4% since its February peak, falling from a market cap of NIS 181.5 million ($50.8 million) to NIS 70.2 million ($19.6). Intelicanna Ltd. dropped from NIS 370.8 million ($103.7 million) to NIS 175.2 million ($49 million).

 

TASE – Tel Aviv Stock Exchange

Source: CALCALISTECH

Supporters of global deep-state suffer setbacks but this would change nothing

Parties representing the European branch of the Global Deep State largerly remained in control of the European Parliament. Political forces representing interests of the European nations and states failed to deliver a devastating blow to the bureaucracy and globalists and would remain in the opposition.

This is an important symptom of the current state of the EU political landscape. The wave of terrorist attacks and violence as well as the radicalization of the society and the decreasing  real earnings of the population did not affect the mainstream political parties as much as some experts had expected. Taking into account this and the large-scale propaganda campaign in the mainstream media in the support of the globalist, “neo-liberal” world order, constructive European political forces would likely not be able to strengthen their positions further in the next electoral cycle. The window of opportunities to change the current course and move towards the national and industrial development of the core European countries is closing.

Russia’s Soyuz rocket HIT BY LIGHTNING during launch

The thunderstorm began shortly before launch of the device which is carrying the Glonass-M navigation satellite. Yet, the strike was no obstacle for the cosmodrome team, and the space journey continued as planned.

The stunning video was later published by chief of the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin.

“The weather is not a hindrance, we are an all-weather troop,” General Major Nikolai Nesterchuk proudly said. For the Soyuz-2.1b, this is the first flight from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome this year and 37th since the first test launch in 2004.

Lutte Ouvrière – Communiqué sur les élections européennes du 26 mai 2019

La bourgeoisie des grandes puissances impérialistes a trouvé avec le parlementarisme un système qui lui permet de dissimuler sa mainmise sur la société, en donnant à la population l’illusion que c’est d’elle et de ses votes que dépend la vie sociale, alors qu’en réalité, elle est soumise à la dictature impitoyable du grand capital. Mais cette illusion ne fonctionne que tant qu’elle est crédible. C’est de moins en moins le cas.

http://stefan-szabo.eu/lutte-ouvriere-communique-sur-les-elections-europeennes-du-26-mai-2019/

About ClassicPress being business-focused

”My suggestion here is “professional-quality” rather than “business-focused”.

”I would leave “Powerful. Versatile. Predictable.” exactly as it is, these are great qualities in a CMS. The only other thing that would need to change is the “ClassicPress is a modified and enhanced version of WordPress (without Gutenberg) that serves the business website market” line – I’m not so sure what to do with that one.”

I don’t have any issue with ClassicPress being called business-focused other than the fact that others have mentioned that it sounds exclusive to business and not inclusive to others.

A little bit too late, don’t you think, James Nylen? That’s why only one of my websites are running in CP.

Shopping Cart Abandonment

According to Optinmonster.com, the average shopping cart abandonment rate in 2019 is 76%. In addition to this piece of information, if you analyze 41 different studies on cart abandonment rate, you’ll see that the lowest rate was over 56%.

The statistics show that if you have 1000 visitors a day, that added products to the shopping carts, over half of them or even 760 of them will leave your site before purchasing the items.

Israeli Rabbinate Accused of Using DNA Testing to Prove Jewishness

Israeli rabbinical courts are increasingly relying on DNA tests in cases where the Jewishness of individuals seeking to marry is in doubt, recent complaints suggest.

In almost all of these cases, the individuals who were asked or advised to undergo genetic testing were immigrants from the former Soviet Union or their offspring.

About half a dozen complaints about the practice have been filed over the past year or so with ITIM, an organization that assists immigrants and converts challenged by Israel’s religious bureaucracy.

“It is really terrifying thinking where this could lead,” Elad Caplan, the director of the advocacy center at ITIM, told Haaretz. “Judaism is about belonging and community – it’s not about race and blood, as our worst enemies have claimed.”

In one recent case, he said, a bride-to-be was sent for DNA testing because she was born quite a few years after her parents were married, and doubts were raised as to whether she was the biological daughter of the woman.

In another case, Caplan said, a woman was sent for DNA testing after she reported that her mother was in her mid-forties when she gave birth to her and doubts were raised as to whether this could have been possible.

A Jewish bride and groom must marry through the Orthodox-controlled Chief Rabbinate’s office if they wish to be recognized as married in Israel. All couples seeking to marry through the Rabbinate must first register at one of its local offices.

These offices will typically refer individuals to the rabbinical courts if no certification exists that the mother of the bride or groom was married through the Rabbinate (or by a rabbi approved by the Rabbinate if they are from overseas). Likewise, couples will be referred to the rabbinical court if suspicions have been raised about the authenticity of the documentation they presented.

In several recent rulings of the rabbinical courts, Caplan said, DNA test results have been used to provide further evidence of a person’s Jewishness. But to the best of his knowledge, he said, they have never been relied on exclusively.

In some cases, individuals have been asked to provide DNA proof that their mother was, in fact, their biological mother. This is because Jewish religious law, or halakha, defines a Jew as the child of a Jewish mother. In other cases, individuals have been asked to provide DNA test results that show they are of Jewish-Ashkenazi descent.

Mitochondrial DNA is inherited exclusively from a person’s mother, so genetic markers can be traced back many generations to determine a person’s maternal ancestors with a high degree of certainty.

A 2006 study showed that 40 percent of all Ashkenazi Jews are descended from just four Jewish women who lived more than 1,000 years ago.

That study concluded that if someone bears specific mitochondrial DNA markers, there is a 90 to 99 percent chance he or she is descended from one of those women.

None of the individuals who received requests for DNA testing, whose identity is known to ITIM, were willing to speak with Haaretz.

Within the Orthodox movement, there has been a push in recent years to get the Rabbinate to recognize DNA test results as a legitimate way of establishing whether an individual is Jewish according to halakha.

Among the topics discussed at the annual convention of Israeli rabbinical judges, held last week at Kibbutz Lavi in northern Israel, was the reliability of DNA testing in making such determinations.

A driving force in the campaign to get the Rabbinate to use DNA testing more widely is Eretz Hemdah, a Jerusalem-based institute that trains rabbinical judges. Several halakhic opinions on the matter have been published by the well-respected institution in recent years.

Advocates maintain that DNA testing could assist individuals whose Jewishness has been called into question by helping them avoid the time-consuming and difficult procedure of conversion to Judaism.

An estimated 400,000 Russian-speaking Israelis are not considered Jewish by halakha and, therefore, face huge challenges when trying to get married in the country.

“Thirty years ago, during the massive wave of aliyah from the former Soviet Union, the attitude of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef – who was the Sephardi chief rabbi – was that if these people say they’re Jewish, we should take their word for it,” said Caplan. “But ever since the bar of suspicions is constantly being raised, and this is just the latest example.”

Asked to comment, a spokesman for the Rabbinate referred Haaretz to the spokesman of the rabbinical courts. The spokesman of the rabbinical courts said: “We are not commenting.”

Source: Judy Maltz – HAARETZ

Take the 2019 WP&UP Mental Health and Well-Being Survey

WP&UP is a mental health and well-being charitable organization founded by Dan Maby in 2018, whose mission is to promote positive mental health throughout the WordPress ecosystem.

The organization is currently hosting a survey to better understand the needs of the community.

”WP&UP recognises that members of the WordPress community can potentially manifest mental health issues from a variety of pressures. The WP&UP Health Hubs are designed to provide holistic support for the individual.”

”We understand the challenges, the extreme highs and extreme lows of running WordPress focused businesses, because we are WordPress business owners ourselves. We understand the potential for isolation, loneliness, anxiety and depression, because we’ve experienced it first hand!”