And the winner is…

The Forbes 100 powerful women list is out.

So, what have we got?

1 for Yahoo, 0 for Google (I guess they don’t count being vp of ui that powerful)

2 queens (1 of UK, 1 of Jordan)

1 for Israel

Just over 50% are from the US, despite (or due to, depending on which way you look at it) the recent economic downturn

And the winner is… Angie (yes, that’s how they “fondly” call her in Germany, my sources tell me)

And of course… Senator Clinton, this year’s winner of the title “woman with the highest public profile”. Ooh wow. Surely it is going to make her feel good not having being elected “president of the united states” this year. What a consolation prize.

Because clearly, the real winner here is Gov. Sarah Palin, who didn’t even make the list. Brilliant move by the McCain campaign, what can I say.

Olympics Utopia

Yesterday I watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing.

It was magnificent. I was awed. Seeing the whole act in this amazing ceremony. And seeing the completed “Bird’s Nest” Stadium in Beijing, after seeing some of the preparations to the Olympics in Beijing last year, made it even more special for me. Seeing all the different countries’ athletic teams all in one event.

This ceremony really made me feel like we are so close to world peace. It felt so ideal. Of course I was aware of all the controversy regarding the Chinese government, but still, watching it really did feel that we have reached, or have gone very close to reaching, some sort of utopia.

And then I woke up this morning. Battles in Georgia. An American tourist killed in Beijing. Iran nuke sanctions revisited. Car bomb in Iraq killing 18. Syria prevents UN observers to inspect nuke activity. And the political and security situation in Israel hasn’t changed either.

We are definitely not there yet.

The World’s Food and Commodities Crisis Has Only Just Began

My Aunt who’s in Connecticut said they are limiting the amount of rice you can buy at Cosco. A similar case occurred in a supermarket here in Israel not long ago. Oil prices are surging. China and other producers are restricting the export of grains in order to ensure domestic food supply.

The world has become so needy and accustomed to exhausting energy sources, natural resources and commodities. Even though it is a stretch to say that the living outnumber the dead (the current world population outnumbers the combined historical world populations), however way you compute it. Still, more people are alive today than have ever lived before at any given time.

Therefore, there are far greater considerations as to supply of goods that haven’t been taken into account. 100 million people have already been put in danger by the current situation. We used to think this situation will not affect us. Many people feel that at the western countries, one can always pay more and get what he want. So maybe we will have to pay for food what we do now for gold?

Well, maybe. But maybe the now “poor” countries will realize that their gold is worth them their lives, and simply won’t sell it.

Possible Conclusions: Buy commodities, Live in Asia, Develop alternative energy sources (conserving energy is not nearly enough – we will use it all up sooner or even sooner), stock up on food, what else?