Why Yes to the Burka

Eating disorders (anorexia) are a growing plague in the world. The numbers are appalling. Even in China, there are some 20 million boys and girls affected by this mental disease. We have it in our family! I looked up where it is more prevalent, and Australia appears to be the most affected country. Modernity, wealth, and the cult of the body are the main factors. In Afghanistan, it is unknown. Why? Poverty and famine could be one reason, but so could the strict prohibition of female skin exposure. The burka hides the female figure (pic), so girls are less troubled by a little bit of fat. 

Claude says that about 10% of Israeli adolescents suffer from eating disorders, and about 20% of affected girls die of the illness (this is a professional's verbal statement, not a published statistic). 9% of the US population, or 31 million, will have an eating disorder in their lifetime. Up to 23% of individuals with BED had attempted suicide, and virtually all (94%) reported lifetime mental health symptoms: 70% mood disorders, 68% substance use disorders, 59% anxiety disorders, 49% borderline personality disorder, and 32% posttraumatic stress disorder. 

In my opinion, there are important reasons to adopt the burka, but all over Europe it is forbidden. The burka helps women's mental health and self-assurance. It defends them from male harassment in public spaces. And of course, it protects against the sun much more efficiently than those zinc creams. It is most necessary in Australia, where melanoma is very prevalent.  

AI Woman

 

We are powerless against AI. In ten more years, it will be more intelligent than us, and we shall be unable to understand it. The perfect relationship will be with an automaton. 

Severe High Temperature Warning

 
It is very hot in Kfar Saba, on Trailblazer  Street 开路人. I cannot work. Wifey opposes air conditioning because her feet are cold. I feel tired. Pic. Sledding dogs in the Arctic.

Hungarian Jews under Nazi Occupation

The Jewish Community of Budapest Social Committee: Jewish Brothers, in these serious times, Be Unseen and Unheard! 

A very wrong policy. But no one can judge them because they were living under a death sentence, and Eichmann was zealously organizing their deportation to the Auschwitz death camp.

Kaifeng Jews 25 years later

When I worked in Kaifeng, I toured the Jewish Street and also had dinner with a Jewish family in their modest restaurant. The woman told me that they gave gold to Jewish refugees, which I interpreted as she expected me to give her money. I had the impression - like others visiting the city - that there were no bona fide Jews but impostors trying to milk rich foreigners. When the factory tried to connect me with a "Jewish" employee, it soon became clear that she was a Hui, that is, a local Chinese Muslim. Wikipedia has a more complete history, and it mentions that the Kaifeng Jews did in fact give gold to Russian Jewish refugees. So my impression may have been totally wrong; sorry, but the past cannot be repaired. It may even be true that the factory woman was a Jewish descendant. 

The Communist control and terror drove the few Jewish clans underground, or to melt into the Hui community. According to today's Tablet, the Central Government has focused on them, and they are under close police supervision, which could lead to the revival of some kind of community. I don't think that being a Jew is a privilege (on the contrary, we are persecuted everywhere), and I am not a missionary. The commercial picture above is a famous bridge that I visited. In the photo, it looks romantic, but I found it unremarkable. In general, Kaifeng was grey, built in the Soviet style, poor and joyless. Of course, that was 25 years ago, and China is very different now. 

Eichmann in Argentina

  The Nazi criminal arrived in Argentina in 1950 with a Red Cross passport under the name of Ricardo Klement, without money. He found employment in the Province of Tucumán with a consulting engineering firm CAPRI. He worked as a hydrologist, measuring river flow rates. In 1952, his wife Vera Liebl arrived with their three sons, Klaus, Horst, and Dietter. They had another son in Tucumán. Eichmann worked on the Feasibility Study of the Potrero del Clavillo dam. The site was found unfit, and the dam was never built. Later, he worked at the University of Tucumán and then moved to Buenos Aires, where he was employed by Mercedes-Benz as a mechanic (see factory pass). Obviously, he was not a deranged Nazi; he could do productive work and maintain his family. He was assigned the job of mechanic in the car factory, and he performed satisfactorily. When given the task of deporting Hungarian Jewry to Auschwitz, he threw himself into the project and outperformed himself. Made little difference to him. 

Dark Ages Ahead

I am following The Economist's weekly data table and wondering why GNP growth has stopped across the West.  In the USA, the size of the workforce has fallen by over 1 million people in the past year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It’s now 169.1 million, compared with 170.4 million last July, according to agency data. The strongest factor is the ongoing retirement of baby boomers. The youngest boomers are now in their early 60s, and their continuing departure from the workforce is “the most steady thing pushing the rate lower. That’s the clear, sustained decline.

Europe is no different. But the most dramatic case is Japan, which was once the most dynamic economy of all. More than stagnating, it is contracting rapidly. If they start to sell their mountain of dollar savings, the dollar will lose its value even more. 

Difficult times are a-coming. I have played my cards and shall sit on the side as a kibitzer.