Hairless Cat

One friend had one in Kfar Saba. Entertaining as it climbed cupboards and jumped from the top of one cabinet to the other. 

Russian Blue Cat

This cat, originally from the Amur region, is not really blue but grey. But soon someone will find a blue gene and this cat will come in shining metallic blue. There is a lot of money to be made in genetics. 

Is Los Angeles safe for Jews?

 

There was a large pro-Palestinian demonstration on Wilshire Avenue in Los Angeles, blocking the entrance to the synagogue on Pico Boulevard, where an event on real estate investment in Israel was being held. 

This Hamas war is hurting us.

Wasting time

 
The problem of being retired and working is that there is no one to urge me to finish the project. So I waste my irreplaceable time watching serval cats. 

The Linx Cat

 

It's the European wild cat, feeding on rabbits and small deer. It is almost extinct but several lynx resettlement projects begun in the 1970s have been successful in various regions of Switzerland. Since the 1990s, there have been numerous efforts to resettle the Eurasian lynx in Germany, and since 2000, a small population can now be found in the Harz mountains near Bad Lauterberg. 

The lynx is also found in the Białowieża Forest in northeastern Poland, which is one of the last and the largest remaining part of the immense primeval forest that once stretched across the European Plain. The forest is home to more than 800 European bison.

Omer Smadga fell in Gaza

Omer (left), the son of Oren Smadga (right), the first Israeli Judoka to win an Olympic medal, was killed in battle yesterday in Gaza.  He was 27. זכרונו לברכה.  

The Quartet

The Carmel Quartet led by Prof. Yoel Grinberg, gave a concert in Raanana. He explained what Benjamin Britten, Robert Schumann, Alexander Borodin, Oded Zahavi, and the other composers tried to say, so I could follow the intended moods and expressions. We came with a couple who sat in the first row because she is hard of hearing, on the first opportunity I moved to the back. Sitting in the middle of four energetic performers is excessive for me. European high culture - what can I say? I prefer an extra hour of sleep. As a child, the Hungarian state identified me as a potential music talent, but by the grace of God, I escaped from the Music School. 

Canine Zionist

 

The blondie handler of a heroic dog warrior of ZAHAL. The fearless animal penetrated a deep HAMAS tunnel and discovered a nest of terrorists, saving the lives of soldiers. A Zionist dog.

The twitter informs me of the fake news that Israeli dogs are trained to rape Palestinians. We also train wild boars to destroy their crops (sic). They have a vivid Oriental imagination. 

Gaza Pier Functional

It was poorly planned and at first, did not survive the strong coastal current. The Nile pours large volumes into the Mediterranean, creating a stream. A stone barrier like Herzliaya's marina would have been advised. The internet made fun of the 200 million dollars the US Navy invested in it, but today I read that it has been repaired and is working. The media is full of disinformation, making it difficult to know what is happening. 

Pilgrimage in Deadly Heat

 The pilgrimage is increasingly affected by climate breakdown, according to a Saudi study that said temperatures in the area where rituals are performed were rising 0.4C (0.72F) each decade.

The Saudi National Meteorology Center said that temperatures hit 51.8C at the Grand Mosque in Mecca on Monday. The dead are counted by the hundreds. Every Muslim must do the Hadj pilgrimage once in life if he is able.  

Kfar Saba city is also hot, and I am suffering. Today I had diarrhea and weakness, cannot sleep regularly, and lost all enthusiasm for working. I am nearing 78 years old and all my classmates rest underground, in Hades. Why am I still alive and working? I need no more money. Yet I have to buy my small daughter a gold chain, but I do not feel like going out into the sun shopping.  

Working at night

I noticed a change in my work habits: I sleep siesta and work till 2 AM. Also, ZAHAL has changed the war - it allows a humanitarian pause at midday and is active at night. There is an intense heat wave in Israel and we have the air conditioner running for many hours. I have this Schiff project on the table for two weeks and it is not ending. Projects I closed two or three years ago are being subjected to renewed criticism and demanding additional work. Clients are not paying for that extra work, but soon I must start demanding payment. 

Europe is stopping AI

 Europe does not like progress and new things. It has forced Meta (the Facebook company) to put plans for its AI assistant on hold in Europe after the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) asked the company to delay training its large language models on content posted on the internet. Europeans are basically primitive folk with weird traditions and beliefs. Pic.: The Mamoiada parade in Sardinia.

Le maschere tipiche della sfilata di carnevale di Mammoiada sono quelle del Mamuthone e quella dell’Issohadore ( o Issocadore) . Il nome Issocadore deriva dalla “so’a (o soca)”, ovvero la corda usata per catturare gli animali. L’Issohadore è l’immagine del vincitore, mentre il Mamuthone rappresenta la bestia soggiogata. I tratti marcati della sua maschera rappresentano l’angoscia per la sottomissione, questi tratti così netti ricordano moltissimo le sculture africane. I campanacci sulle spalle dei Mamuthones vogliono accentuare ancor di più l’umiliazione a cui è sottoposto. 

The typical masks of the Mammoiada carnival parade are those of the Mamuthone and that of the Issohadore (or Issocador). The name Issocador derives from the "so'a (or soca)", or the rope used to capture animals. The Issohadore is the image of the winner, while the Mamuthone represents the subjugated beast. The marked features of his mask represent the anguish of submission, these clear features are very reminiscent of African sculptures. The cowbells on the Mamuthones' shoulders want to further accentuate the humiliation to which he is subjected.

El camino es culebrero

Last years of the Fuel Age

The Stone Age ended not because we ran out of rocks. Neither will the fossil fuel age. Other sources of energy are taking over. Some foresee an excess oil production in a few years and the collapse of oil prices and oil-based economies. But...

Se acaba la papa, se acaba el maíz

se acaba los mangos, se acaban los tomates

se acaban las ciruelas, se acaban melones

se acaba la sandía y se acaba el aguacate

Y la cosecha de mujeres, (nunca se acaba)

La cosecha de mujeres, (nunca se acaba)

La cosecha de mujeres, (nunca se acaba)

La cosecha de mujeres, (nunca se acaba)

LOS WAWANCO

Parade of the Year's Newborn

Yesterday we celebrated the Hag Ha-Shvu'ot (the traditional first harvest festivity) in the kibbutz. Ivry was among the year's celebrities, among the 18 newborns of the kibbutz (26 including the descendants of the kibbutzniks that had left it). This kibbutz was established in 1939 by 25 Romanian and 25 German Jews and is one of the wealthiest thanks to its industries. As of 2022, it had a population of 870. Therefore, the kibbutz has a birth rate of 2% and a natural growth of about 1%. I had to take a seat in the first row with the old farts and their Phillippine caregivers. 

The phantoms of my past

The phantoms of my past are coming back to me from the Netherworld. This man looks like my childhood friend in Buenos Aires, Tommy Marjos, long dead.  

Israeli commandos

 
The picture was taken when the police commando YAMAM appeared exiting the helicopter with a hostage. The first impression is that the former hostage (in red underwear) has no shoes and appears just rising from the bed. The tall commando boy with a blue penguin badge is on his way to become our Prime Minister (Bibi and Ehud Barak and other leaders were commando). Behind him comes a second hostage, in a black T-shirt. The soldier to the right has a mysterious sticker on his hat:  RG. What does it mean? RG typically stands for "Regimental Goat". It is a slang term that refers to the regimental mascot goat. In the dark background, to the right, I seem to identify an Iranian ayatollah. What is he doing in the copter arriving from Gaza? He must be a paying passenger. But, he is not. He is the third hostage. The poor doctor (back, left) seems to be carrying a whole hospital on his legs and body. 

Beauty Pageant

 

Miss Milliken (right) will represent Alabama at the national contest. Some expressed gratitude for the fact that at least Milliken is a biological female, unlike the winner of Miss Maryland USA, who is a man. The winner of this year’s Miss Germany wasn’t even German.

Rugrat

Rugrats (II) is a personal TV series focused on the experiences of a courageous, adventurous six-month-old baby named Ivry and his group of playmates. Here, Ivry wonders what those mysterious eccentric adults around are. 

"Massive Approval of Building Permits is Required"

 Jerusalem, Israel's capital and biggest city has become the country's first city to see its population exceed 1 million, the Central Bureau of Statistics has announced ahead of Jerusalem Day. Tel Aviv, Israel's second largest city has less than 500,000, although the Gush Dan inner metropolitan region has a population of 1.5 million.

60.5% of Jerusalem's population is Jewish and others, of which about half (29.2%) is haredi, while 39.5% of the population is Arab. The average birthrate in Jerusalem is 3.68 children per woman, well above the national average of 2.89. The birthrate is 4.3 among the Jewish population in Jerusalem, and 2.81 among the Arab population.

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On Independence Day eve Israel's population reaches 9.9m

Most of the population growth in Jerusalem is natural, with 20,500 more people born than died in 2023. 4,000 people migrated to the city last year, while 11,000 left. People came to the city from Bnei Brak, Beit Shemesh, and Tel Aviv and left it for Beit Shemesh, Tel Aviv and Beitar Illit.

To meet the population growth, massive approval of building permits is required. In 2023, 7,800 building permits were issued in Jerusalem, the most among all Israeli cities. Over 10% of all building permits issued in Israel were issued in Jerusalem. Although construction is slowing down in most of the country (down 8.9% in 2023 compared with 2022), in Jerusalem construction jumped, with 14.8% more construction starts than in 2022.

 (I am working on several building permits. Each one is a Via Dolorosa.)

Pesti Vicc

 

How old are you?

Eleven.

At your age, I was already twelve.

You have to be Hungarian to get the point. 

Esperanza

Institutional investors, local and foreign, have left TASE. Yet there is an opportunity in the battered local stock market: The shares here are cheap. It's like a spring waiting for things to clear up, and when that happens there will be a big upside here.

I am not consistent and believe only half-heartedly in myself. Yesterday I bought an American hi-tech ETF.