I finally got to post the first piece from my new Tech that Matters column on Friday, which profiles a company called Skin Analytics that has created a great, pretty affordable device that screens for skin cancer. Since 97% of people diagnosed with skin cancer at stage 1 survive, this could be huge.
This is a very sweet video of Israeli celebs, including Bar Refaeli, supporting a civil union bill. To give some background, Yesh Atid, a large centrist party in Israel, introduced the legislation in late October. It would not only give same-sex couples access to marriage benefits, it would also free heterosexual couples that can’t (or don’t want to) get married through Israel’s Orthodox Rabbinate. Right now, Arab-Israelis can get married through Islamic or Christian authorities, and Jewish-Israelis can only get married through the Orthodox Rabbinical Court. If either group wants to get married to a same-sex partner, intermarry, or get married outside of religious strictures, they must get married abroad.
The video, which was released on Sunday, asks the question “Why do I support the civil marriage bill?” At the end, the video asks people to share the video and raise awareness about the new bill. Hopefully the bill will be voted on in December. I don’t normally ask people to share stuff on my blog, but I feel this is important. So if this moves you (even though you can’t understand all the Hebrew…thankfully the visuals tell most of the story), please share this with your friends!
This is a really sweet video from The New York Times, titled “Vows: In Sickness and in Health. It’s the story of a man and woman that have been dating for six months, and then find out the woman is diagnosed with breast cancer. The guy proposes in the hospital: Watch the video if you want a Sunday-morning pick me up.
This story profiles lawyer Mary Bonauto, who “some say is almost single-handedly responsible for the same-sex marriage cases now pending before the Supreme Court.” I like these kinds of stories because it reminds us that social change happens because of individuals who put in a lot of work over a long period of time. This article from the New York Times is a nice, positive, instructive read.
This a moving story about Jo Berry, a woman whose British MP father was killed by Pat Magee, a bomber from the IRA. When he was released from jail as part of final peace negotiations with Ireland, she sought to develop a dialogue with the man who killed her father. They have been in a dialogue ever since.
They both visited Israel and told Ynet their story. The piece is moving and thought provoking, and I personally doubt that I would have the fortitude to do something like Ms. Berry did. I wonder how many stories there would be like this if peace were negotiated in Israel/Palestine?
Rating: Stuff that makes me happy/ Sh*t is complicated
Laura Rosbrow-Telem 