http://www.kkl.org.il/kkl/kklMain_eng.aspx
The Jewish National Fund (Hebrew: קרן קימת לישראל, Keren Kayemet LeYisrael) (abbreviated as JNF, and sometimes KKL) was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine (later Israel) for Jewish settlement. The JNF is a quasi-governmental, non-profit organisation. [1][2] By 2007, it owned 13% of the total land in Israel.[3] Since its inception, the JNF has planted over 240 million trees in Israel. It has also built 180 dams and reservoirs, developed 250,000 acres (1,000 km2) of land and established more than 1,000 parks.[4]In 2002, the JNF was awarded the Israel Prize for lifetime achievement and special contribution to society and the State of Israel.[5][6] The JNF was founded at the Fifth Zionist Congress in Basel in 1901 with Theodor Herzl's support based on the proposal of a German Jewish mathematician, Zvi Hermann Schapira.[7] Early land purchases were completed in Judea and the Lower Galilee. In 1909, the JNF played a central role in the founding of Tel Aviv. The establishment of the “Olive Tree Fund” marked the beginning of Diaspora support of afforestation efforts. The Blue Box (known in Yiddish as a pushke) has been part of the JNF since its inception, symbolizing the partnership between Israel and the Diaspora. In the period between the two world wars, about one million of these blue and white tin collection boxes could be found in Jewish homes throughout the world.[8] From 1902 until the late 1940s, the JNF sold JNF stamps to raise money. For a brief period in May 1948, JNF stamps were used as postage stamps during the transition from Palestine to Israel.[9]
Friday, October 14, 2011
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Chronicle for Higher Education: Politics and the University: Views From the Campuses
The value of a higher degree is not what it could be since the global economic slowdown has stalled production, growth, and employment. Universities in the US however do not recognize this trend and continue to raise tuition costs at rates higher than the national inflation rate.Potential students are pondering the value and cost of a higher education degree when there is no promise it equates to better employment or employment at all. Used to be that a slow economy meant students went on to graduate school to wait out the bad economy and time their dive
into the employment search pool with a higher degree in their hands. Now it seems not only are students doubting the promises of higher education, but perhaps the future as well. Nevertheless, this time should be seen as a chance for universities to provide the leadership with the US to encourage optimism, design education and employment directives, and coordinate with industries for research and development.
The Chronicle for Higher Education offers some more insight by experts:
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Hey, Einstein... who's your congressman ?
In recent years, there has been a trend for the training of scientists to enter into public service leadership positions. Perhaps the most recent and most notable is US DOE Secretary Steven Chu. Secretary Chu is considered a Washington-outsider with an objective analytic outlook on America's energy issues. Really, you think so ? Even as a scientist, Dr. Chu had his own scientific predilections at Stanford and SLAC; why would he not have a political oppinion. So, the thinking in the science community has been to get others like Dr. Chu into public service leadership posts. Dr. Chu was appointed by the President, but it's alot harder to win an election. Another physicist, Bill Foster ( from Fermilab ) was formerly a Democratic congressman from Illinois and served one term then lost in his incumbent race to a Republican.
Some advocates for scientists in Congress say that scientists should enter the public service in order to vote on legislation and $100 million budgets that effect science and education. But transforming a professional scientist to become a professional politician would require some special training beyond advocacy. Why not just gather scientists to advocate for their causes and put their money where their mouths are and campaign for actual politicians who will be on their side. We need more scientists not scientists becoming politicians. Bigger science and smaller government would be better.
For more reading, see the NY Times:
"My looks are not great" - Yoshihiko Noda, new PM of Japan...
Here's some expert Q&A from Prof. Michael Green at CSIS:
http://csis.org/publication/japans-new-prime-minister
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
The Burroughs Welcome Fund - supporter of the biomedical sciences
The Burroughs Wellcome Fund (BWF) is a private, independent biomedical research foundation based in Research Triangle Park (RTP), North Carolina.RTP is one of the most prominent high-tech research and development centers in the United States. It was created in 1959 by state and local governments, nearby universities, and local business interests. RTP has attracted many foreign universities to also come and join the North Carolina region which has boosted the local economy.The Burroughs Wellcome Fund is dedicated to advancing the medical sciences by supporting research and other scientific and educational activities.This sort of general vision is common among organizations promoting science and the careers of young researchers. However, more specifically BWF looks to support young investigators who are working in, or entering, fields in the biomedical sciences that are poised for significant advance but currently " undervalued and underfunded". The development of scientists early in their careers is crucial to independent and curiosity-driven discoveries.
The Burroughs Welcome Fund http://www.bwfund.org/
NYT - "All Together Now" By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: August 27, 2011
HOLD onto your hats and your wallets. Since the end of the cold war, the global system has been held together to a large degree by four critical ruling bargains. Today all four are coming unstuck at once and will need to be rebuilt. Whether and how that rebuilding happens — beginning in the U.S. — will determine a lot about what’s in your wallet and whether your hat flies off.
Now let me say that in English: the European Union is cracking up. The Arab world is cracking up. China’s growth model is under pressure and America’s credit-driven capitalist model has suffered a warning heart attack and needs a total rethink. Recasting any one of these alone would be huge. Doing all four at once — when the world has never been more interconnected — is mind-boggling. We are again “present at the creation” — but of what? Let’s start with the Middle East, the world’s oil tap. Libyans just joined Tunisians, Egyptians and Yemenis in ousting their dictator, while Syrians and Iranians hope to soon follow suit. In time, virtually every Middle East autocrat will be deposed or forced to share power. The old model can’t hold. That model was based on kings and military dictators capturing the oil revenue, ensconcing themselves in power — protected by well-financed armies and security services — and buying off key segments of their populations. That lid has been blown off by an Arab youth bulge that today can see just how everyone else is living and is no longer ready to accept being behind, undereducated, unemployed, humiliated and powerless. But while this old Middle East system — based on an iron fist and a fistful of petro-dollars holding together multiethnic/multireligious societies — has broken down, it will take time for these societies to write their own social contracts for how to live together without an iron fist from above. Hope for the best, prepare for anything.
Bloomberg - Labor Expert Is Right Choice to Lead Obama’s Economic Team: View
Aug. 28, 2011
With unemployment stuck above 9 percent, the U.S. needs all the job-creation expertise it can get. For that reason, President Barack Obama’s choice of Alan Krueger, an eminent labor economist, to head the Council of Economic Advisers is an inspired one.
Krueger, a Princeton University professor, has built his academic career on the study of labor markets, wage structures and long-term unemployment. He also has strong policy-making credentials. During the first two years of the Obama administration, he served as chief economist at the Treasury Department, where he helped devise the first stimulus package, the cash-for-clunkers effort and the Build America Bond program.
Krueger has shown that he understands the need for a strong government role as an anti-recessionary force, especially after a contraction brought on by a severe financial crisis. He also has made clear that there can be no meaningful job recovery if business confidence isn’t restored.
With unemployment stuck above 9 percent, the U.S. needs all the job-creation expertise it can get. For that reason, President Barack Obama’s choice of Alan Krueger, an eminent labor economist, to head the Council of Economic Advisers is an inspired one.
Krueger, a Princeton University professor, has built his academic career on the study of labor markets, wage structures and long-term unemployment. He also has strong policy-making credentials. During the first two years of the Obama administration, he served as chief economist at the Treasury Department, where he helped devise the first stimulus package, the cash-for-clunkers effort and the Build America Bond program.
Krueger has shown that he understands the need for a strong government role as an anti-recessionary force, especially after a contraction brought on by a severe financial crisis. He also has made clear that there can be no meaningful job recovery if business confidence isn’t restored.
WaPo - Suspected North Korean cyberattack on a bank raises fears for S. Korea, allies
By Chico Harlan and Ellen Nakashima,
SEOUL — After nearly half of the servers for a South Korean bank crashed one day in April, investigators here found evidence indicating that they were dealing with a new kind of attack from an old rival: North Korea.South Korean officials said that 30 million customers of the Nonghyup agricultural bank were unable to use ATMs or online services for several days and that key data were destroyed, making it the most serious of a series of incidents in recent months. But even more troubling was the prospect that a belligerent neighbor had acquired the tools to disrupt one of the world’s most heavily wired nations — and that even more damaging attacks could be in store.
Cspan - cyber security
James Lewis, Catherine Litronte, and Alan Paller talked about U.S. ability to thwart and prevent attacks on private and public computer systems.
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