Evacuating

Israeli Military Issues Evacuation Order for Lebanon's Baalbek City for Second Day in a Row. October 31st, 11AM 

Wiki: A few kilometers from the swamp from which the Litani (the classical Leontes) and the Asi (the upper Orontes) flow, Baalbek may be the same as the manbaa al-nahrayn ("Source of the Two Rivers"), the abode of El in the Ugaritic Baal Cycle

 discovered in the 1920s and a separate serpent incantation. Baal is the principal Aramean god, although the pantheon includes El which is superior to Baal, and Anath or Oshrat, the sister and consort of Baal. And Mot (the Death god) and Yam (the Sea god).  The serpent incantation appears to be an amulet that consists of an incantation written on a common domestic earthenware.

The incantations are both stylized and structured, and consist of various elements, such as opening formulae, name invocation, sequences in both mystical and liturgical styles, biblical quotations and stories of magical activity located in the distant past in which well known figures of authority, such as great sages and prophets, successfully vanquished demonic forces. At the same time the incantations also have the form of legal documents, and so depict the belief that supernatural beings are subject to a juridical system that covers all created beings. In the Jewish texts, the ultimate authority is the Jewish God; in the Mandaean it is ‘The Great Life’; in the pagan and Gnositc texts the nature and identity of that which holds supreme authority is less clear. This is best illustrated in how adaptations of the legal formula found in the Jewish bill of divorce, the get, are prevalent in the bowl incantations. Simply put, the logic is that just as the get is a binding legal document that affects the separation of man and wife, so too it has the force to separate and banish demon from human.

The Onitsha Market

 

Many years ago Mr Egbo took me in his Mercedes to Onitsha on the mighty Niger.  He had a son in a school and the Headmaster had called him. The Onitsha market was the largest in Africa, and it was well-ordered. I bought lots of locally made iron tools; unfortunately, I had to leave them in Bauchi, which was never sent after me to Buenos Aires. The Ibo had advanced in metallurgy and fabricated wonderful brass sculptures, iron farming implements, and weapons. The Hittites reached the iron age about 3500 years ago, while the Nordics only 1500 years ago. The Ibo were well-advanced on the path to industrial economy. The contact with the Portuguese resulted deadly for them. 

The girls of Caphtor

 

Knossos fresco. Now, they are known as Minoans, an invented name. They were originally from Caphtor (see the Tanach).

Negotiating the 2025 national budget

 

The official picture says it all: Netanyahu, Smotrich, Head of Bank Israel et al. deciding the fiscal year 2025 national budget. Observe all of them with tightly closed fists on the table, muscles contracted to the breaking point, not a paper anywhere, - why should they need tables when it has been decided that they will not release even one shekel? There is no need for Excel tables; it is a fight to the death for each penny. 

British, we are not.    

Fire in Karaj

 The internet reports that a nuclear energy facility caught fire. The Picture shows three cooling towers, so it may be hot. The wind is steady at 14 km/hour toward the East, so the radioactive isotopes may reach Tehran in 4-5 hours. I hope it is not true. 

Claude says Karaj is approximately 20-30 km west of Tehran's western edges. Assuming an eastward wind, smoke or airborne particles take around 1-2 hours to reach western Tehran. That means that by now radioactive smoke has reached the capital.Wow!

De-Cluttering

I took a lot of my beloved books to the waste and observed that the former lot of my books was there. It has been there for three days, and no one wants them. People in this building and on my street are uninterested in my books. Big, new, luxurious dictionaries purchased when I was penniless will be recycled. I had been offering my daughters Please take some books, but nobody reads books these days. 

My shoes and the rest are gradually disappearing. We are an old couple living in a large five-room apartment and my wife is emptying it, starting with me and my things. I shall take nothing with me to the tomb, there will be no place there. In Kfar Saba, three bodies are laid one above the other in every square meter. Like in the old Frankfurt ghetto's cemetery. 

FDTEC (Information Technology ETF)

 

The fund invests at least 80% of assets in securities included in the fund's underlying index.

 The fund's underlying index is the MSCI USA IMI Information Technology 25/50 Index, which represents the performance of the information technology sector in the U.S. equity market. It may or may not hold all of the securities in the MSCI USA IMI Information Technology 25/50 Index. The fund is non-diversified.

Annual Total Return (%) History

Year

FTEC

Category

2023

53.30%

43.43%

2022

-29.59%

-37.39%

2021

30.49%

15.09%

2020

45.87%

55.91%

2019

48.93%

37.49%

2018

-0.37%

-3.21%

2017

36.83%

35.35%

2016

13.92%

10.84%

Steady She Goes

Globes:  Over the past week, the shekel has been the strongest currency in the world against the US dollar, strengthening by 0.8% while the dollar weakened on average by 0.5% against the basket of major currencies.

Secondly, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange TA Index rose by 3% last month, more than the average rise of 3% by European stocks and slightly below the S&P 500's rise of 3.4%.
Thirdly, the gap between 10-year Israeli government bonds and their US counterparts narrowed by 0.5% over the past three weeks.
Fourthly 108,000 new jobs were created in the Israeli economy between April and June 2024.
Fifthly the average salary in Israel in July 2024 was NIS 13, 591, up 6% from July 2023.
Zabezhinsky says that investors understand that despite concerns about the war in Lebanon, "It is clear that the consequences are less threatening on the routine operation of the economy." If the market is right, Zabezhinsky's assessment is that growth in Israel will be higher than expected.

Sinwar Out. Lord Balfour In.

 

We have decapitated the HAMAS organization. 

The alliance with the Sunni states is holding, and we shall re-connect Iran to the Middle East. We shall complete Lord Balfour's hundred-year-old scheme for the Middle East. Oil will flow once more through the TAP line to Haifa, and the Eilat-Ashkelon Line will feed Iranian crude to Europe.

Skinny Egyptians - Anno 100

 

Columbus genotype

 

The bones of Cristobal Colon and his son were analyzed and it shows that the man, as well as his son, were 100% Sepharadi Jews. It has been long concluded that Colon had no knowledge of the Italian or Ligurian languages and used Catalan/Asturias expressions. His signature is bizarre and no one was able to discover its meaning. He ordered his descendants to use the same signature. Colon is a typical Jewish name in Catalunya and there are living Jews with the same name. My boss in Tahal was Nathan Columbus. a very closed fellow. 

 Another Jew and I am not surprised. 

Alarms and Encounters

Alarms were activated in Tel Aviv, Bnei Brak, Petah Tikva, Ramat Gan, Kfar Chabad, Hadera, Kfar Yona, and Netanya. The Home Front Command informed that alarms were activated in more than 180 localities.

The IDF Spokesperson's Unit stated "Sirens sounded in several areas in central Israel due to projectiles fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory. The details are under review."

About 15 minutes later, the IDF put out a further statement, saying, "Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in central Israel, several interception attempts were made toward several projectiles that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory. Details to follow."

The IDF later confirmed that three rockets were fired from Lebanon at central Israel, all of which were intercepted. No injuries have been reported.

I took refuge in a grocery store and met an Argentine girl. We talked. She has an ugly elephant tattooed on her arm. Her brother, a truck driver, sent her a WhatsApp photo: "Don't worry about me; I'm protected. I'm wearing a hard hat." 

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

I learned about the Yankees from this book.

I traveled widely in New England but found no Yankees but many nice and polite people. Nothing special. 

I found more impressive people in Salt Lake City. 

Addio Dahiya

 

The Dahiya doctrine is an Israeli military strategy involving the large-scale destruction of civilian infrastructure to pressure hostile governments. The doctrine was outlined by former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of General Staff Gadi Eizenkot : Israel "should target economic interests and the centers of civilian power that support the organization". The logic is to harm the civilian population so much that they will then turn against the militants, forcing the enemy to sue for peace.

It doesn't work in Gaza but has been tried for only one year. 

Addendum: Reading ancient Greek war histories, like Xenophon's stories, it is evident that surrounded cities surrender only when people fall dead of hunger in the streets. If they have water and food, they never surrender. Gazans are being well-fed and supplied with water in abundance. I don't see them surrendering. 

Hundreds of MIssiles

 

I was taking my midday siesta when I heard planes passing over the house for a long time. It was quite frightening. Then I woke up and stopped the fan, and the noise was gone. Just now, I am hearing planes passing over the city again, but it may be just a heavy truck. But no, they are jets in the sky. Last evening we had to alarm calls, and we took refuge in the hardened room of the apartment. That's life here in these days of war. 

Need to Keep Working

 I have to finish the Bashari project in Shtulim ("Planted"). Two big farmhouses. Apparently, the existing farmhouse only needs "ishrur" (ratification).  These farmers are very subtle and may be trying to confuse the Vaadah Ezorit (the Regional Authority) to save taxes.

This moshav was founded in 1950 by Jewish refugees from Yemen, with the name taken from a passage in the Book of Psalms 92:13: "They are planted in the house of the Lord, they flourish in the courts of our God."  

 I was planning to continue working only 7 years after retirement age, but here I am still working on AutoCAD and sending new proposals. I have no alternative plan and no hobbies that could satisfy me. Earning money seems to be my sole fulfillment. I am going to buy a home for my daughter who is renting. The finance people in Israel foresee the coming end of the war and an immediate improvement of TASE, the local stock exchange. Moody's is strongly pessimist. 

Very quiet Shabbat in my place. 

Huey Tzompantli

The Aztec (Meshica) skull rack in the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan aka Mexico City. Some 600 sacrificed people were ordered in rows and exposed to the public. When a professional European soldier appeared and was willing to fight the Aztecs, the terrorized peoples sided with Cortes and destroyed this death culture.  

Rocket after 2000 km trip

 

One of the 180 Iranian missiles landed in the Negev in one piece. 

Iran Attacks with Ballistic Missiles

 Sharpshooters, no doubt.

Aboriginal Battle

 

The battles in the plain before Troy must have looked similar. Below: Zahal enters Lebanon, today.

A small primitive tribe in Yemen has closed down an important international sea route. Open and free seas are a sacred law. Egypt - the most affected - and the European countries are impotent. Israel, 2000 km afar, has to do their work.