The War has not ended

 

Bad news. The government announced that after conquering Rafiah, the war would continue with the Hizballah in the North. The Northern towns and villages have been abandoned and the roads closed (pic). I am sick of this long war. 

British Water companies under Attack

From Financial Times: 

Water companies in England and Wales will be required to install monitors on an additional 7,000 emergency overflow pipes used to dump sewage into the nation’s waterways, the environmental watchdog has said.

Although companies often blame unpredictable weather and climate change for causing more frequent untreated sewage overflows, a study by Imperial College London last year found that by far the biggest problem was insufficient capacity at wastewater treatment plants, which meant they were releasing sewage into waterways even during dry periods. The regulator is now investigating six water companies over concerns that they might have breached sewage regulation. 

The EA is also conducting its largest ever criminal investigation into potential widespread non-compliance by water and sewerage companies at more than 2,200 sewage treatment works. Water UK, which represents the industry, said: “Water companies are committed to robust monitoring of storm overflows across England and Wales. “Due in part to their operating outdoors and in all weather conditions, some monitors will occasionally be temporarily out of action while maintenance is under way. This has improved, and the regulator has taken tough new powers to ensure the highest standards.”

Yesterday I tried Claude to admit that Thames Water's financial failure was due to over-regulation. The above article makes my case.  

Sixty Years Ago

 I was there in 1969 - in San Francisco, in Berkeley, in New York - I was everywhere traveling and sleeping with a free Greyhound ticket. Who would have imagined that the flower generation would give birth to the horrible antisemite generation of today? 

Thames Water haunted by the Specter of Failure

Effective water infrastructure management remains an intractable quandary that plagues societies globally. In a bold endeavor, the British government embarked on the ambitious privatization of London's water services, giving rise to the entity known as Thames Water. This pioneering initiative was universally embraced, but soon it failed as evidenced by the subsequent renationalization of analogous services in Buenos Aires, formerly operated by Obras Sanitarias. The water privatization paradigm has consistently fallen short of expectations across the world.

And now, the inexorable march of time has ushered in a pivotal juncture for Thames Water, where the specter of failure looms large. Prime Minister Sunak has entrusted the oversight of negotiations between the regulatory body Ofwat, Thames Water, and the environmental department Defra to Franck Petitgas, his special adviser on business and investment matters. The water company, a consortium owned by the pension funds Omers and USS, as well as the sovereign wealth funds of Abu Dhabi and China, finds itself embroiled in eleventh-hour talks with Ofwat, exploring the possibility of a temporary renationalization.

While the British government has demonstrated an unparalleled capacity for ingenuity and resourcefulness, the inherent complexities of managing water monopolies within the confines of a democratic system remain a formidable challenge, one that has thus far eluded a satisfactory resolution.

Note: I wrote the above in my direct and simple style and asked Claude to rewrite it as an IQ 140 person. See above. I find it horribly loquacious and long-winded. It is correct but I don't like things like "the specter of failure". Who writes like that? I don't.

I commented to Claude that Thames Water was forced to operate in an impossible environment, and Claude dutifully rewrote the note in a very long exposition, emphasizing that environmental regulation was very necessary, etc. I cut short that part. Here:

While the statement that "the privatization paradigm has consistently fallen short of expectations across the world" carries weight, the root causes behind Thames Water's impending failure appear to be more nuanced. Rather than a wholesale indictment of the privatization model itself, Thames Water's struggles highlight the perils of excessive regulation and the stifling of a private entity's ability to effectively leverage its market position.

Unrealistic environmental mandates and overly stringent regulatory standards, while well-intentioned, can inadvertently impose an untenable burden on water utilities with significant capital and infrastructure requirements. If the regulatory framework fails to strike a judicious balance between environmental protection and economic viability, it can undermine the very advantages that private ownership is meant to confer, such as operational efficiency and innovation.

Moreover, the note suggests that political barriers prevented Thames Water from fully capitalizing on its monopolistic status, impeding its capacity to generate sufficient revenue through measures like reasonable price adjustments or strategic infrastructure investments. Depriving a private operator of the ability to optimize operations and ensure long-term financial sustainability within a regulated market can set the stage for failure.

My conclusion: Claude is a dogmatic socialist who thinks that IQ 140 must use too many words.

Don't Stop Now

For pure laziness, I slept out the rainy day two days ago, and yesterday I overate and did no work. Now I have difficulty in starting to work again. I just rejected a nice easy job in Hilkiya. I have no desire to work. After these three days, it is most difficult to restart.  Bad.

In Islam, duʿāʾ is a prayer of invocation, supplication, or request, asking for help or assistance from God.

Winding Back the Cultural Revolution

A generation after the Cultural Madness that destroyed all tradition and antiquity, China is moving to restore them.  The 700-year-old axis was built in the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), when Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan and ruler of the Mongol Empire, moved the capital to Beijing in 1264. Although construction was carried out during the time of an ethnic minority regime, the capital was built by the Rites of Zhou, a book on organizational theory that dates back over 2,200 years.

The Records of Ritual and Music in the Rites of Zhou detailed the regulations for constructing a capital city: the court in the front, the market in the back, the ancestral shrines on the left, and the sacrificial altar on the right. Beijing was constructed following this layout, with the arrangement and functions of the city extending from both sides, all interconnected with the Central Axis.

The Beijing Central Axis is seeking to attain UNESCO World Heritage status. But that is not the ultimate goal. What comes along with the world heritage bid is the revival of long-deserted ancient architecture, the discovery of scattered history, the combination of ancient buildings and city development, and, of course, an attraction for global visitors. China wants to become what it traditionally had been. I would not be surprised if a new dynasty is proclaimed. 

Rain

Winter returned and it is raining again. I spent the whole of yesterday sleeping, except for one correction to the Salomon submittal. I am not fully aware nor working yet. 

I made personal history today. While sleeping, my savings account grew, doubled, and reached my goal. I had adopted the strategy of holding large companies with a moat for very long periods, and it worked.  

The Word Largest Library

 

The new library and cultural center in Beijing is a 16-meter-tall hall with a roof formed by ginkgo leaf-shaped elements. It is special and it is beautiful. It has isolated gardens with a view of the river for peaceful meditation. The Chinese are retaking their traditional place as the main civilization while the rest of us - inassimilable barbarians - are busy fighting each other. 

Dark Feelings

 

I'll have to look inside me and search for why British countryside paintings do not stir dark nationalist, fascist emotions inside me. While visiting museums, my overeducated wife used to stand fascinated and lose her sense of time passing in front of these wall-hanging decorations. Yes, I felt some dark feelings of boredom and desperation. 

The Trend of Today's TASE

The day finished with a 0.5% loss but I discovered the trend: ONLY those stocks in the computer programming area are green (NICE more than 3%) while ALL the rest are in red.  If that is the trend, I should sell all the infrastructure stocks I hoard and buy hi-tech.

Discipline

 I finished all pending urgent projects a few days ago and relaxed my daily routine. Four or five days have passed and now I have difficulties even sending mail. I stopped taking short walks. I took 10 mg valium to keep down distractions and restart working. And collecting the monies owed to me. 

 

Coming to Jesus

The first time the phrase “come to Jesus moment” was utilized was in 1999. It was utilized as “a moment of sudden realization, comprehension, or recognition that often precipitates a major change”.

In the original usage of this phrase, it was secular; however, many people also use this phrase about the moment when they accepted Christ as their Savior and became a Christian. Therefore, “come to Jesus” can have two different meanings; one is secular, and one is faith-based.

In the secular sense, a “come to Jesus moment” can refer to the definition above or it can “refer to that point in time when someone has a realization, becomes enlightened, understands the core values that must be preserved in a situation”.

“Come to Jesus” in the secular sense could be used for any major change, such as realizing one needs to change their job or one who is struggling with alcohol dependency chooses to stop drinking. Simply because “Jesus” is part of the phrase does not mean it has any faith-based belief ties nor does it mean it is orthodox. 

Pic.: President Biden was caught on hot mic talking with Senator Michael Bennet, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. REUTERS

Inscrutable Brits

 

Rosemarie Mallett pictured in 2016 as vicar of a church in London's Brixton district. She is now Bishop of Croydon, overseeing several suburbs on the outskirts of the UK capital. From CNN.

"The Church of England has welcomed a report that calls for it to spearhead the establishment of a £1 billion ($1.3 billion) fund to address its historical ties to slavery.

The document, released Monday, recommends that the church’s initial commitment of £100 million ($127 million) to the “Fund for Healing, Repair and Justice” should form the nucleus of a bigger initiative that would target assets of over £1 billion."

Having read a lot about Africa and visited the Portuguese Castles along the coast, I feel surprised by such British mea culpa. English protestants were the force that forbade the slave trade, and the Royal Navy patrolled the coast till it was universally extinguished. England should be proud of its anti-slave history, not paying reparations for slavery. The idea is more amazing today when millions of Africans are voluntarily risking their lives to move into civilized countries to work as kitchen help, as de-facto slaves.   

The New Brits

 

The political leaders elected in Rochdale, 29-2-24. Strong, somewhat eccentric individuals. I like them all. Rochdale has a special significance for me, for the co-operative movement was born there. That area was the heart of the Industrial Revolution. 

George Galloway (pic) targeted Muslim voters specifically with messages about Gaza and won by a large margin. Hating the Jews still works in 2024.

As of 2021, the town of Rochdale's population was enumerated at 111,261, and its ethnic makeup was 57.2% White, 34.3% Asian, 2.6% Mixed, 3.4% Black, 2.1% Other, and 0.5% Arab. The town's religious makeup was 38% Christian, 36% Muslim, 24.2% No Religion, and has small Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and Jewish communities.

Strong Shekel

29-2-24 The shekel is continuing to strengthen sharply against the world's major currencies. The shekel is at its strongest against the US dollar for nearly nine months. The TA Stock Exchange is undervalued relative to NASDAQ but it started to rise lately. The Gaza war is a public relations disaster, but our leaders seem to care not. For illustration, see the image of a stern Sea Captain.