Chinese Agriculture

 China imports 150 million tons of grains per year. It consumes some 700 million tons.  Chinese agriculture's problems are profound, but they are progressing.  

Tehran waterless in the coming summer

 

The Yemenites On Us

 An hour ago, the Houti (a Shia Sect) shot a ballistic missile on Central Tel Aviv.  This piece fell on a School near Jerusalem. It looks clean inox steel, not like a filthy Yemenite ballistic missile.  I think it is from our interceptor. We did nothing to those Arab fanatics, and try to ignore them. 

Oriental Phantasies

 

"A View for the future" is a cold, reasoned study of Israel's situation in 2030 (five years from now). Basically, the Palestinian author errs in extrapolating the trends of this time and does not take into account that everything is changing and that we, Israeli Jews, are the most dynamic force in the world and most certainly will not watch passively and dissolve like other "colonial" projects. 

A Sioux in 1810 could have written a similar scenario of the natives overwhelming the small American settlements on the sea board, but he too would have been wrong. The settlers did not sit quietly in Boston and Manhattan; they expanded inexorably till they conquered the Far West and then annexed half of Spanish Mexico and bought Alaska. Their momentum took them to the  Caribbean islands and to occupy the Spanish Philippines.  Fifty years later, they occupied Japan and South Korea. Then, the Yanquis took a rest, and the future is unknowable. In the same way, we cannot imagine the fate of this small but dynamic Jewish nucleus in the Middle East.   

US Defense Secretary Hegseth

Commonplace among GWOT veterans that fought against jihadists abroad. It’s a symbol of defiance against the bad guys.

See also his Hebrew tattoo: ישוע  =   JESUS.

Hegseth is a surname of Norwegian origin. The suffix "-seth" or "-set" in Norwegian refers to a settlement or farm, and "Heg-" could be related to a specific geographical feature of that location.

Overweight Jackals

 Tel Aviv and its surrounding areas are seeing a proliferation of wild fat jackals. The animals smell a barbecue and come in from miles away to feast. They also feed in open garbage bins. Jackals are expert hunters of rats and birds, but ours are lazy and overweight. They are known to make loud, high-pitched wailing howls. My auntie, who lived in Palestine before independence, told me about the frightening, outworldy midnight howling jakals on the streets. But I never heard them. 

The North Star

 I was astonished to discover it in the night sky when I was 8 y/o/ in a pioneer summer camp. I had long wondered what was its significance if any. It was autumn.

China Hoarding Food

 

Argentina is following the evolution of cereals and meat markets (see left) and has arrived at the conclusion that China is hoarding food as never seen before. China buys up 70% of the corn and half of the wheat available. Apparently, China is expecting a scarcity and higher prices, or a war.  In other words, China's agriculture continues to fail and still cannot feed the population. It would be interesting to know how Japan and South Korea are standing in this area. 

P.D.: Japan attacked America as a reaction to the embargo in the late thirties. There was not enough rice and not enough fuel. The situation was desperate, so they conquered the Dutch colonies in Indonesia for their oil and rice. I hope America will not pressure China to the point of seeing its salvation in war.

Success in the Bubbles Project

In the beginning it seemed a lost cause. The WWTP of the Industrial Park of Ariel is out of service, and no new industry is allowed to connect to the wastewater system. The main challenge was to deal with a crushing permitting regime that slows or outright bans industrial initiatives. Daniel is a friend, and I took it upon myself to get the permit for the new factory (pic). Today, Sivan told me that the license was issued. Good!

Ettinger's Second Thought

 Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, “Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative” March 6, 2025

In 2024, the number of Israel’s Jewish births was 138,698 – 73%
higher than 1995 (80,400), compared to 42,911 Arab births – 18% higher
than 1995 (36,500).

2024 Jewish births were 76% of total births, compared to 69% in 1995. The surge of Jewish births has taken place due to the unprecedented rise of births (since 1995) in the secular sector, notwithstanding a rising level of education, income, wedding age, and expanded urbanization. Since 1995, Israel’s ultra-orthodox sector has experienced a mild decrease in fertility, while the modern orthodox rate of fertility has been stable.

The Muslim fertility rate has been Westernized: Jordan has 2.87 births per woman, Iran has 1.91, Saudi Arabia has 1.87, Morocco has 2.25, Iraq has 3.1, Egypt has 2.65, Yemen has 2.82, and the United Arab Emirates has 1.61.

Yoram says that the leftist politicians are negotiating with the Arabs in a cold sweat, anguished by the unstoppable growth of the Arab population. His analysis shows that there is no worry, since the fastest-growing population in the Middle East, including the Palestinians, are Israeli Jews. 

May I add that all the peoples who had some contact with the Jewish people—the Egyptians 2500 years ago, the Greeks of Antiquity, Tzarist Russia, and the Germans a generation ago—were impressed and frightened by Jewish fertility. 

Building Crimes

To receive a building permit in Israel is an extremely complex bureaucratic ordeal requiring hundreds of signatures from various authorities. During my time serving on vaadot (councils) that deliberated and approved projects, I often struggled to fully understand what was being discussed.

Recently, the Land Authority concluded an extensive investigation into several buildings and is now prosecuting fifteen former members of the Bnei Brak city councils, two former City Engineers, and multiple architects and directors from the Register Department. They stand accused of a serious crime: issuing permits for illegal construction projects, including two high-rise apartment buildings erected on public land. This is being handled as a criminal prosecution, with the physical existence of these buildings serving as tangible evidence of the wrongdoing. Money changing hands has not been mentioned. 

I never imagined that participating in those soporific proceedings could land someone in jail.

Imprisoning both current and former City Engineers, alongside numerous past members of the vaadot, will certainly send a powerful message. The inevitable consequence will be municipal bureaucrats becoming even more reluctant to sign documents. This heightened caution will create additional obstacles to obtaining permits, making it substantially more difficult to advance not only my construction projects but everyone else's as well.

The Tel Aviv Central Project

 
Yesterday I took the 567 bus to Tel Aviv to see the next project. Basically, it is a fuel ("soler") station and a garage for buses within a closed environment. I had to walk the labyrinthine corridors and driveways to find the place. Already it is the next day and I am still feeling the effort. But I am not yet dead, so I have to concentrate and work! I'll have more than enough time to rest in the grave. Pic: Prague.

Quam-Core processor

 I know nothing about quantum computing, but this thingie seems very advanced. Israeli, of course. Not Palestinian from Gaza. 

Germany's Mirror

 
Spiegel's editor writes an opinion piece:

There is no reason why 500 million Europeans shouldn’t be able to defend themselves against Russia on their own.

But that changes nothing about the fundamental shift that has taken place: Trump and his cronies have shattered the world order that has guaranteed security and prosperity in Europe and the United States since 1945. It was a unique system built on the foundation of an economic and military alliance within which the U.S. held the leadership role, but which depended on close cooperation.

The new U.S. president only sees the burdens this alliance placed on America’s shoulders; he is blind to its benefits. He sees the world through the eyes of a 19th-century imperialist: In his view, the world’s great powers should divide the world among themselves and demand complete subservience from their vassals. But Europe cannot succumb to this worldview. It must now rediscover its economic and military strength to survive in this new world – one defined by the naked pursuit of power.

Germany is very important. Spiegel is well-informed (it was the first to accuse China of the COVID epidemic). Not long ago its industry outcompeted all. Is Germany homecoming to its historical obsession, the "pursuit of power"? 

Memories from Budapest 1956

These very sounds bring to my memory the shooting on Almasy Ter where we lived during the October revolution. 

Nightmare

 
Around 1 AM, I watched X about the massacres of Alawis in Syria. The Muslim rebels made the prisoners walk on four and bark like dogs. Then I heard dry shots and they were dead. The worst short was a rebel with a big knife, asking three little boys who they wanted to be slaughtered first. The boys, were terrorized, pointed at each other, and waited for death. Before waking up I felt myself in a room with other children and my mother, and many Gilette razors and knives flying around, I was terrorized as I imagined the flying razors cutting cleanly into the muscles. As far as I remember, I never had nightmares. I am changing.

Selling to China

 
Colonial Mexico's silver poured into China because the Spanish could not sell anything else there. For 300 years, the British tried to trade with China, but they too had to pay with silver, which caused a recession in all of Europe. Only by selling opium (an illegal drug) was the balance of trade established around 1800. When the Chinese government tried to stop the contraband, the British Navy attacked and conquered China. Today, China is more advanced in every industry, beating the world even in AI and quantum computers. We are, once again, the Western Barbarians. We have nothing to offer them. 

Lent

From USA Today:   Aaron Mockrish, right, receives ashes at the Florida Capitol from Rev. Bill Trexler during Ash Wednesday on March 5, 2025.

I never heard about this ceremony. I am learning new things every day.

Litigation Dismissed

Legal filings reveal that Trump’s Department of Justice agreed to dismiss a long-running lawsuit against the operators of a synthetic rubber plant in Reserve, Louisiana, allegedly responsible for the cancer risk rates in the surrounding Black neighborhoods.

The litigation was filed under the Biden administration in February 2023 to curb the plant’s chloroprene emissions, a likely human carcinogen. It had targeted both the current operator, the Japanese firm Denka, and its previous owner, the American chemical giant DuPont, and formed a central piece of the former administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) efforts to address environmental justice issues in disadvantaged communities. (From The Guardian)

It reminds me of the Floyd lead in the water "national emergency", caused by incompetent operators in that Black town. That was in Barack Obama's times. 

Confidence in the principal study (NTP, 1998) is judged to be high as it was a well-designed study using two test species (rats and mice) with 50 animals per dose group.  (I am not proposing that there was absolutely no risk, but that it was extremely small. No epidemiological studies of human cancer were mentioned in the studies. The EPA only considers the risk for the more extreme cases, say for sickly newborns. The cost of protection against the probably inexistent risk was in the hundreds of millions of dollars. It would have been cheaper to resettle the community.)

Fat, Healthy and Happy

Scientific American: 

Growing evidence shows that many people can be considered overweight and healthy The new medications, technically known as glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, are used to promote substantial weight loss, cause a host of cardiometabolic improvements, and treat type 2 diabetes. (Drugs for the latter include a form of semaglutide sold as Ozempic.) But when a person who had been taking one of these medications stops, the hunger cues it had suppressed come raging back, which causes the weight to return. Other health benefits of the drugs, such as reduced blood pressure, also tend to bounce back after stopping treatment.

Bad day

My Gan Yavne project finds resistance in the Bodek Techen engineer. He has an inferiority complex, tries to impress me, is an imbecile, disputes the Certified surveyor's plan, and semi-insults me.                                                                                                                                            Lavenganzaseraterrible.                                                                                                                                                                                                   The next morning, I mailed a detailed description of his cretinous demands to my client and his boss. It was a mistake! No one loves trouble; they want to believe that things are working out smoothly and human relations are harmonious. I may be stamped as a troublemaker to avoid.  

Yet Another Day

Had a phone meeting with Nissim of the Taagid and Avi of AMPM at 07.00 AM because of Nissim's daily schedule. I have to adjust my hours to the business hours of my environment. This change reduces my productivity. 

President Trump imposed a 25% tariff on imports and suspended foreign aid, and the NASDAQ fell. The Trump administration said the tariffs were necessary to stem the flow of fentanyl into the United States. Weapon industries are thriving. I bought מנועי בית שמש that works for the Army. 

Another day

Started my day at 07.00 AM and had a long video meeting about the endless Bitzron project. 

This picture attracted my attention. According to the magazine, it is artificial and meets 100% of the beauty criteria. The next was an ugly actress with 98%.

Israel Sees Wartime 'Baby Boom' With 10 Percent Rise in Births in Final Months of 2024. Peace kills. 

Failed Regime Change

 I got used to working late into the morning and starting the next day at 9.30 AM. But most people start working at 8 AM and phone me five minutes later. So I decided to change my regime and go to sleep at 9-10 PM as before and wake up at 7 AM. But I did not fall asleep until midnight, so I took a tranquilizer pill. I did fall asleep but woke up at 10 AM stiff and with aching muscles. Tonight, I shall try again.

Great Television

 
The Atlantic's take on the event: 

Zelensky objected when the vice president castigated the Ukrainian president for not showing enough personal gratitude to Trump. And then in a moment of immense hypocrisy, Vance told Zelensky that it was “disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media.” But baiting Zelensky into fighting in front of the media was likely the plan all along, and Trump and Vance were soon both yelling at Zelensky. (“This is going to be great television,” Trump said during the meeting.) The president at times sounded like a Mafia boss—“You don’t have the cards”; “you’re buried there”—but in the end, he sounded like no one so much as Putin himself as he hollered about “gambling with World War III,” as if starting the biggest war in Europe in nearly a century was Zelensky’s idea.

The Economist was there

 
During the Vance-Zelensky scuffle, Mr Trump initially appeared almost passive, the good cop to Mr Vance’s bad cop. Then Mr Zelensky went too far. “During the war, everybody has problems,” he asserted. With a “nice ocean” America was insulated for now “but you will feel it in the future.”

Mr Trump plainly did not like that. “Don’t tell us what we’re gonna feel,” he snarled, as the summit meeting tipped into catastrophe. He then added that Ukraine was in a bad place and was “gambling with world war three”. He warned that “what you’re doing is very disrespectful to this country.” Mr Vance jumped in to helpfully remind the president that Mr Zelensky had appeared with Democrats in Pennsylvania during last year’s campaign, and told the visitor to show more appreciation to his benefactors. Mr Trump’s anger deepened.

It wasn’t long before Mr Trump was rambling about Hunter Biden, the son of the former president, and pointing out that he had provided Ukraine with Javelins when Barack Obama had refused to provide lethal aid. The president lamented, “it’s going to be a very hard thing to do business like this,” and continued to belittle Mr Zelensky and his country.

I watched the whole thing. I was surprised by the brutal attack on Volodimir Zelenski, but it is known that he bribed Hunter Biden. "You have no cards", said President Trump. The question in my mind is if the Europeans will finance alone the Russo-Ukrainian war.