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"The Basketball Game" is a graphic novel adaptation of the award-winning National Film Board of Canada animated short of the same name – intended for audiences aged 12 years and up. It's a poignant tale of the power of community as a means to rise above hatred and bigotry. In the end, as is recognized by the kids playing the basketball game, we're all in this together.

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Tag: home

Working to embrace change

We’re hoping the school bus will know to pick up our twins at the right address when school starts. They’re starting Grade 6 this fall. We’ve finally gotten good at figuring out the back-to-school letter, so we send them with most of the right supplies.

Yesterday, I took them shoe shopping, because, apparently – even though kids’ feet grow all year round – you can only buy sneakers for them before school starts. I even know where their lunch kit is located. Last year, the kids got good at packing their lunches – with mom supervision, of course.

I dread the start of school. It’s full of pitfalls. Inevitably, the bus doesn’t come, maybe one twin has a conflict and gets in trouble, or the teacher isn’t connecting with the other one. Things don’t always go smoothly. I have to line everything up as well as I can and hope for the best.

We’d be way ahead of schedule if it weren’t for one thing. We moved this summer. We only moved a short distance. It’s a little less than two kilometres if you walk from our old house, built in 1913, to our new one, also built in 1913. The differences lay in the neighbourhoods, zoning and a few other details.

Our “old” house was entirely habitable, aside from some walls cracked by nearby construction. It’s currently for sale as I write this. We staged it with our furniture and now we’re sleeping on the floor at the “new” house.

Our current home is almost twice as big as the previous one. It has a bigger yard in a quieter neighbourhood, amazing woodwork, a library, leaded glass, two enclosed sun porches, a second floor open-air porch, and more. It’s got all the fine details one might expect of a house built for a doctor who was the head of the Manitoba College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1913. It’s also got only one working bathroom – several remain broken – and only about half of a kitchen. The other half of the kitchen was demolished due to some, umm, small issues like freezing pipes, and structural concerns that need to be fixed.

We moved for a variety of reasons, but we loved how close the new home would be to the synagogue we attend most of the time. To be more clear, the synagogue we used to attend in person and now mostly livestream, due to the pandemic! We imagined that the easy walking distance would be great if Shabbat observant relatives came to stay, for instance. We like walking in nice weather. Then? Things changed.

It turned out the synagogue needs to do big renovations. It has just “moved out” of the building for two years to have asbestos removed, the HVAC system fixed and a few other updates done. Services will now be held in two other places in the Jewish community – both of which require driving. Oh well.

Change is challenging. Our dog isn’t ready to be by herself in the new house. She let us know this yesterday. She broke out of the third floor bedroom, where we had left her for an hour, complete with her dog bed, the radio on, a dollop of frozen peanut butter, and several other treats. She greeted us, in high anxiety, at the first floor front door with all the same toys surrounding her. While we appreciate her intelligent, Houdini-like abilities, we still do sometimes need to leave home. This morning, we signed up to a new dog daycare at the last minute so we could attend a weekend bat mitzvah for a family with whom we’re close.

I could go on with examples because, with the pandemic fluctuations, the house move and other work changes, our life is really keeping us on our toes just now. Like many people, we’re continuing to roll with it. What else can we do?

Around us, we see people nostalgic for some mythical normal they want to get back to experiencing. I’m stymied by this because, at least in Manitoba, even as pandemic restrictions go away, more people continue to die due to COVID. It ain’t over yet, folks.

When I bump into friends or neighbours while walking the dog, everybody asks how we’re managing. We’re probably more deadpan or low-key than people expect. I mean, what are our other options?

At the dinner table, I mentioned these exchanges with my husband and he said, “You know, I’m out of bandwidth right now. I hope that I act appropriately and keep moving.” That is when it hit me that, during these times of big stress, it isn’t uncommon to act this way. We function automatically. When I taught high school, my students called it “home training.” Jewish tradition might call it “derech eretz” or “how to behave.” We’re all doing the best we can, relying on basic skills and manners learned in childhood about how to do the right thing.

We hope that, in every autopilot email, conversation with a neighbour or phone call, we’re behaving in an upright and kind way. Right after we mention this lack of bandwidth, we remember how lucky and grateful we are. We have a home, food and clothing. During this summer of “the great move,” we’re doing fine. We’re not facing any of the many awful things that Jews have had to face. It’s not the Inquisition, a pogrom, the Holocaust or, in 2022, time spent in bomb shelters in Israel or Ukraine.

In Pirkei Avot 2:5, Hillel offers a long list of instructions for how to behave, including: “In a place where there are no people, strive to be a person.” Every day, if Jews recite any prayers at all, we’re reminded to be grateful, caring, appreciative people. The emphasis is to be a mensch, an upright, good person, even in a moment when no one else might be acting as such, or when no one else is around.

It’s really easy to get worked up and dread transitions and the start of new challenges. It’s harder for me to step up, not just face these changes, but to embrace them with good humour and enthusiasm. I wake up each day, heave myself up from the mattress on the floor, recite a very informal Modeh Ani (a prayer of gratitude for waking up) and hope I will meet the day with the right intention. Someday soon, when our furniture makes the move, too, I hope it will feel like less of an effort to get up and meet the challenge.

I hope you have a great start to the school year, and that you are also celebrating some big milestone events! Here’s hoping it all goes smoothly.

Joanne Seiff has written regularly for CBC Manitoba and various Jewish publications. She is the author of three books, including From the Outside In: Jewish Post Columns 2015-2016, a collection of essays available for digital download or as a paperback from Amazon. Check her out on Instagram @yrnspinner or at joanneseiff.blogspot.com.

Posted on August 19, 2022August 18, 2022Author Joanne SeiffCategories Op-EdTags change, COVID, home, Judaism, lifestyle, school

חמש שנים לעבודה מהבית

לפני חמש שנים קיבלתי אישור מהמנהלים הבכירים במקום העבודה שלי לעבור לעבוד מהבית. ארזתי את מעט החפצים שלי שהיו במשרד בדאון טאון ונקובר והעברתי אותם לביתי. חברת הובלה העבירה את הכל השאר, כולל: מחשב, שולחן למחשב עם שני מוניטורים, כיסא משרדי, מגירות על גלגלים ועוד.

לראשונה בחיי עבדתי מהבית בקביעות וזה מאוד מאוד מתאים לי. כמבקר החברה אני צריך שקט בסביבה, בזמן שאני עובד ובודק האם הכל נעשה בחברה כשורה. מכל מקום בגלל אופיי אני מעדיף תדיר לעבוד לבד, לא בקבוצות, לא בצוותים ולא עם אחרים. סוף סוף הגשמתי את רצוני ואני עובד מהבית וזאת עוד הרבה לפני מגפת הקוביד.

המשרד של החברה נמצא במרחק של פחות מחמש עשרה דקות הליכה מביתי, כך שאם אני צריך להגיע לפגישה או לדיון כלשהו, זה נמצא ממש קרוב אלי. ובעצם אני יכול ליהנות משני העולמות: לבצע את העבודה יומיומית שלי מהבית ולהגיע למשרד כשצריך.

אחרי הצבא עת גרתי בישראל: התחלתי לעבוד בדרך כלל במקומות עבודה שיותר קרובים לביתי בזמן שגרתי אז בירושלים. הדבר נמשך עת עברתי לתל אביב. גרתי במרכז העיר ומקום עבודתי תמיד היה במרחק הליכה קצר.

כשעברתי לוונקובר לפני שבעה עשרה וחצי שנים, במרבית הזמן אותו נוהג שלי נשמר. אני גר במרכז ומקום העבודה קרוב. במשך עשר השנים הראשונות כאן שכרתי דירה קטנה ברחוב בארקלי בווסט אנד בסמוך לסנטלי פארק. אחרי שבעה חודשים של חיפושים אחרי עבודה התחלתי לעבוד במחסן של חברה לאספקת תכשיטים. כל יום צעדתי למחסן במשך כ-45 דקות. את אותה דרך עשיתי בהליכה בחזרה לבית. לאחר מספר חודשים עברתי לחברה העוסקת בגבייה ותפקידי היה לחפש מידע ובעיקר מספרי טלפון של חייבים. (זאת, עקב התמחותי בחיפוש מידע ולאור העובדה ששימשתי עיתונאי בישראל במשך שנים רבות). כמובן שמיקומה של החברה היה בדאון טאון של ונקובר, ובמרחק של כעשרים דקות מביתי לכל היותר. עבדתי בחברת הגבייה למעלה משבע שנים ורק בשנה האחרונה שלי שם קרה שינוי מהותי. בגלל שינוי בבעלות בקרב בעלי המניות והעליה המהותית בשכר הדירה, החברה עזבה את הדאון טאון ועברה לעיר ברנבי הסמוכה לונקובר. המשרדים החדשים מוקמו בצפון ברנבי בסמוך לברנדווד מול. כיוון שאני לא מחזיק ברכב מאז שעברתי לוונקובר, נאלצתי כל יום לבזבז קרוב לשעה כדי להגיע לעבודה. הייתי נוהג ללכת ברגל עד תחנת הרכבת הקלה של סקייטריין, ברחוב בווררד. ומשם הייתי מגיע לתחנת הרכבת של ברנדווד מול בברנבי, והולך ברגל עוד מספר דקות עד למשרד.

זו הייתה השנה האחרונה שלי בחברת הגבייה. משם עברתי לעבוד בחברה המספקת הלוואות בסב-פריים למי שאינו יכול לקבל הלוואות מהבנק, בשל קרדיט גרוע. בחברה זאת אני עובד במשך למעלה משמונה השנים האחרונות ממש עד היום.

בחצי השנה הראשונה שלי: משרדי החברה היו ממוקמים במערב העיר (במקריות בקרוב למחסן התכשיטים בו עבדתי בעבר). לאחר מכן עברנו לשמחתי לדאון טאון, כך שהייתי צועד כיום יום כחמש עשרה דקות למשרד. לפני כשבע שנים עברתי לדירה משלי בצד השני של רחוב בארקלי, בסמוך לרחוב בווררד. שוב מדובר היה במרחק הליכה קצר של כחמש עשרה דקות מהבית למשרד. ולפיכך העיקרון שלי לעבוד קרוב לבית נמשך כמעט כל חיי בישראל וכן בקנדה.

כאמור לפני חמש שנים ממש שברתי את העיקרון של עצמי והתחלתי לעבוד מהבית. אני מקווה שזה ימשך לעד.

Posted on August 5, 2022Author Roni RachmaniCategories עניין בחדשותTags home, Israel, Vancouver, work, בית, ונקובר, ישראל, עבודה
Personal robots help at home

Personal robots help at home

Can’t be home for bedtime? Temi lets you read a story to your child remotely. (photo from Temi)

In the fourth season of the sitcom The Big Bang Theory, theoretical physicist and all-around nerd Sheldon decides that he no longer wants to physically interact with his friends and colleagues. He cobbles together a telepresence robot with his face on its screen, which navigates around his home and office and turns toward whomever Sheldon is speaking. This fictionalized glimpse of a future filled with personal robots is simultaneously hilarious and creepy.

“We took the creepy factor into account when we designed our robot,” said Danny Isserles, chief executive officer of the U.S. division of Temi, an Israeli robotics firm that is building an almost functionally identical (but a whole lot spiffier) version of Sheldon’s telepresence unit.

Temi has a sleek, semi-rounded body – it looks a bit like a high-tech vacuum cleaner with a subtle human presence – and stands three-feet tall on its four wheels. Inside Temi are two main computers. The first comprises Temi’s “face,” made from a customized version of an Android tablet.

“It’s nothing special,” Isserles conceded in an anything but robotic conversation with Israel21c. As with most Android-based mobile devices today, the Temi tablet can display video, play music or call up the internet by voice command.

“We’ve done a demo of Temi controlling a smart home. It can turn the lights on and off,” Isserles said. Any Android developer could add other apps; for example, to make Temi control a smart home thermostat.

Temi’s “body” has a full Linux-based computer inside plus an array of sensors – LiDAR, 2D and 3D cameras, encoders measuring the wheel’s movements – that help Temi navigate smoothly.

“In order to get from one side of the room to the other, we humans instinctively choose the easiest path to follow with no effort, passing over small obstacles and around bigger ones,” explained cofounder and Temi Israel CEO Yossi Wolf. But this is a complex task for robots and the shortest way is not necessarily the fastest.

“For example, when you move from the kitchen to the living room, you can pass through sofas and slalom through all the kitchen chairs or you can bypass them the long way, which will be the fast and natural way.”

Temi’s sensors ensure it won’t fall down the stairs or run over your small dog. “We had a live case study in our office – my dog,” said Isserles. “I said, the first time this robot touches my dog, the robot is going out the window.”

Temi’s designers “built an algorithm to connect all the sensors together and enable Temi to construct a path through a space,” said Isserles. “Because of the navigation, we have a platform with abilities no one else has yet achieved.”

That may not last for long. Amazon reportedly is developing a robot known as Vesta, which follows users around like a mobile Alexa. Other home robots in the works include LG’s Hub bot, Mayfield Robotics’ Kuri, and Jibo out of technology powerhouse MIT.

Isserles said competition is good “because this will build the market, take the robot out of the niche and bring it into the mainstream.”

Temi formally launched sales at CES 2019 in January and expects first deliveries to be made this month. The robot can be ordered now on Temi’s website and through select retail outlets in the United States.

A half-dozen immediate applications for Temi come to mind.

In the office, a staffer on the controlling side of the robot can make like Sheldon and attend a business meeting without actually being there. A manager can stroll around chatting with colleagues and, unlike video conferencing, there’s no need to interrupt anyone’s workday to assemble in a meeting room.

Temi can serve as the host at a restaurant (“Hello, I’m Temi. Welcome to Applebees”), a hotel concierge, a sales clerk, an airport check-in agent, a museum docent, a remote yoga teacher, a playmate for the kids (imagine hide-and-seek with a robot), an aid for home-bound seniors and a remote-care physician. But the main idea is to provide a telepresence in the home.

“It’s not the same as being there, of course, but think of a deployed soldier in Afghanistan who can hop into a robot and hang out with his family for a couple of hours.”

“If you’re stuck at work, you can hop into your Temi, press ‘Bobby’s room,’ and Temi will go there so you can read Bobby a bedtime story,” Isserles said. “It’s not the same as being there, of course, but think of a deployed soldier in Afghanistan who can hop into a robot and hang out with his family for a couple of hours.”

But why do you need a robot for that? Couldn’t you just Skype from the computer or an iPad?

“This is a much better experience,” contended Isserles. “It’s more like hanging out. If I’m on a Skype call with my nephews, they say hi, then run away and my sister has to chase them to come back. The robot can hang out, explore, wander around, talk to different people.”

You can also ask Temi to initiate the video by tapping Temi on its head or saying, “Hey, Temi, call Mom.” Temi will lock on your position, plan an efficient path to get to you wherever you are in the house, initiate the call and then follow you around while you talk.

Isserles said Temi’s aim is to appeal to busy families where the parents work long hours, travel a lot and love technology.

It still sounds a bit creepy – would you want your robot father sitting at the dinner table with you, turning its Android head from side to side to keep the conversation flowing?

“My experience is that everyone who came in thinking it’s creepy, after a minute or two of demonstrating how it works, they ask, ‘How much is it?’” said Isserles.

The price is cheap by robot standards – just $1,500 US. That’s partly because Temi was not built, like most other robots, for defence purposes, where a single robot could run up to $200,000.

That said, Temi got its start from the defence industry. CEO Wolf previously cofounded Roboteam to build tactical robotic systems for reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, search-and-rescue and delivering payloads to soldiers in the field. Temi was originally part of Roboteam, but the companies decided to split, with Wolf going full-time to Temi and cofounder Elad Levy remaining at the helm of Roboteam.

Temi employs 65 people, most in the Tel Aviv research-and-development centre plus 10 people in New York and 20 in China, where the robots are manufactured. The company has raised $82 million, including $21 million in December 2018 from former Alibaba chief technology officer John Wu, Italy’s Generali Investments and Hong Kong-based internet-of-things company Ogawa. Temi and Ogawa have established a strategic partnership with an emphasis on selling in China.

“We could build a mechanical arm with an accurate and gentle grip, no problem, but then it would be a $20,000 product, not a $1,500 one.”

While Temi is being initially positioned as a roaming telepresence device, the robot can work without someone on the other side. Ask it to play a song and Temi will call it up using its built-in wi-fi connection, then blast out the tunes via 20-watt Harman Kardon speakers. Temi’s 10-inch touchscreen is great for playing YouTube videos, too.

Temi gets eight hours of continuous use per charge and has a docking station for repowering.

Temi has one more unique selling point: a tray. Tell Temi to fetch some tea from the kitchen and the robot will return with the chai, although a human has to load and unload the teacups.

“We could build a mechanical arm with an accurate and gentle grip, no problem,” said Isserles, “but then it would be a $20,000 product, not a $1,500 one.”

The tea tray turns out to have been the genesis for what would evolve into Temi. Wolf was visiting his grandmother and she offered him some tea.

“But her hands were shaking and he was worried,” Isserles recalled. Wolf asked her if she’d like a walking cane. “She said, ‘No, I’m not old.’ So he asked her, ‘Would you like a robot?’ That, she would go for. She wanted something cool.”

Every Jewish start-up “starts from the grandmother,” Isserles quipped. Even those building personal robots.

For more information, visit robotemi.com.

Israel21c is a nonprofit educational foundation with a mission to focus media and public attention on the 21st-century Israel that exists beyond the conflict. For more, or to donate, visit israel21c.org.

Format ImagePosted on March 8, 2019March 6, 2019Author Brian Blum ISRAEL21CCategories WorldTags home, Israel, robots, technology, Temi
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