Astrud Gilberto

What worries the internets

By the end of this century, whites will be on track to becoming minorities in almost all our historic homelands, even within Europe. The majority of births in the United States are already to non-whites. This shift will have major political, economic, religious, and cultural implications. Whites can expect Zimbabwe at worst, South Africa at the norm, and something like Lebanon in the best case.

The scope of the change paradoxically makes it hard to talk about. It is so massive that to define it makes one sound like a lunatic. 

The above is too pessimistic. Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) was a paradise not long ago. If worse comes to worst,  America will look like Brazil or Mexico, which is not so terrible. Whites live very well in Brazil. I like Brazil. I like Astrud Gilberto. 

The price of salt

 
I have been increasingly skeptical of statistics. Already in my time, Argentina was falsifying its national numbers (until the World Bank publicly rejected them as lies). In China, I was amazed by the brazen fabrication of figures. Now, The Economist concludes that even American statistics are of dubious value and that the economists who base their complicated equations on them must be wrong. Napoleon demanded to be informed about the price of salt in various provinces, probably because it could not be falsified, or none of his own functionaries would be interested in misguiding him. Salt was vital to conserve food, so it must have been linked to the general welfare of the population. Speculators must use only unfalsifiable information, such as night satellite photos of cities. Or other observable market prices: The "Big Mac Index" - which is internationally comparable; basic commodity prices in open markets (salt, rice, etc.), and black market exchange rates versus official rates (the gap itself is informative). BTW,  prices at the Rami Levy supermarket are shocking, indicating the galloping inflation of the sheqel.  

70 years after Bandung

In high school, I became very interested in the Bandung Conference and sought books and documents on this event. There was hope that a new era was starting, and the formerly colonized peoples would transform the world. Tito (right in the pic) led Yugoslavia (a country that disintegrated), Egypt's dictator Gamal Abdel Nasser (in the middle), Nehru from India (left), Sukarno (Indonesia), and an African whose name I forgot. Chou Enlai was there too. 

The Bandung Movement is still alive as the Progressives.  However, only China realized the Bandung hopes. The rest are still beating the long-dead horse of Colonialism. 

Another water conflict?

The Pakistani government said it would view any attempt by India to stop or divert water belonging to Pakistan as an "act of war."

"Any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan as per the Indus Waters Treaty... will be considered as an act of war," said the statement by the prime minister's office.

The Indian government announced the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty as part of a host of retaliatory measures it took against Pakistan.

I wonder what happened after President Trump protested Mexico's disregard for century-old water accords. 

Wasting time

 
The internet has studied me and is sending me pictures, short reels, and articles that I cannot resist and that trap me into watching them. I just spent two hours in front of the computer and asked myself what I learnt - in fact, what did I do? I cannot answer myself; I just wasted the whole morning. 

Ecoterrorism

On Earth Day,  a somewhat heathen Eco-celebration of Nature, ecoterrorists or just garden-variety vandals cut down the trees in Los Angeles.  

They are (were) Indian laurel fig, Ficus microcarpa. We have these giant trees on my street.  Thousands of fruit bats, green parrots, and unidentified flying things inhabit them. 

How the British became Christians

 I am reading about the almost instant conversion of the English nation from ancient German paganism to Christianity. Pope Gregory begged European kings to send missionaries because the English were ready to convert, but there were no volunteers. So Rome sent monks armed with the Rule of Benedict (pic). Once they understood the system, they adopted it enthusiastically. The only obstacle was Danish immigration, but those Vikings, too, forgot their Scandinavian gods as soon as they saw the English winning in war. England filled up with monasteries and nunneries, and schools to prepare monks, and soon they were sending missionaries back to the continent. Ireland had a different shade of Christianity, and they, too, were very missionary. I think the British have a natural talent to organize themselves and an inborn inclination to reform and reorganize the rest of the world.

Yale lecture on text analysis

 

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This quiet Friday afternoon, I watched lectures by a Yale University teacher (Prof. Martin) about the New Testament. By cutting up and comparing the historical text, he arrives at an understanding of what may have happened. Paul (Shaul) from Tarsus had great success among the Greeks. The main community of Jerusalem was strictly national Jewish, and Paul - in his letters - tries to demonstrate that he was equal to the apostles and leader of the nascent Church. Interestingly, the Greeks easily discarded their gods and philosophy and adopted a narrative (i.e. religion) based on revelation. They liked the story of Moses coming down from the mountain with two tablets with commandments more than Plato's reasoned dialectics.  

My opinion:  Paul's movement ultimately seized power in the Roman Empire, which proves that from the beginning it had been a subversive POLITICAL movement. In retrospect, this outcome justifies the Roman occupation's execution of Jesus for being a political rebel, intent on becoming King of Judea.

Family Prayerbook

It was printed by Schlesinger Jos. Budapest-Wien a hundred years ago. Now that I speak Hebrew, the translation seems rather poor to me. Hungarian words and expressions have evolved to the point that it sounds artificial and wrong to me. 

The Morag

The Economist published a map of the Morag Route, which is intended to isolate and later to depopulate the Rafa sector.  Morag was an Israeli settlement established in 1972. It was located in the southern part of Gaza. In August 2005, Morag was evacuated along with all other Israeli settlements in Gaza as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan implemented by then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. This disengagement involved the removal of approximately 8,000 Israeli settlers from all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip. The reconquest of Morag proves that the evacuation of the Gaza Strip in 2005 was a mistake and a tragedy based on the delusional evaluation of the Palestinians.

 Morag (מורג) means "threshing sledge" - a farming tool traditionally used to separate grain from chaff. The Romans called it tribulum, but it was known already in Pharaonic times.

Houthi Order of the Day

The Houthi High Command gives the order to answer "I don't know". If nobody knows, it did not happen. 

Five minutes ago, the Houthis fired a ballistic missile at Israel. The alarm sounded all over Israel. What happened? I don't know. In Kfar Saba, everybody is sleeping the Sunday siesta. 

Zahal reports that they are checking if it fell in Israel. Lately, Houthi missiles have been falling in Jordan and Saudi Arabia or the Red Sea. 

Humans

 British judges wear white " wigs " (masks)  to give the impression of advanced age and wisdom. German judges dress up in violently scarlet garb to induce fear. It is the same as ancient warriors, such as Hercules, who wore lion skins and faces. The suggestion works on the wearer and the observer; it definitely works as the habit has survived for so long. No other animal is known to follow this habit. People can believe that they are animals or different persons. Isn't that bizarre?

Water Accounting

 

Canada will not sell water to the USA. It prefers to let it flow into the Pacific. Mexico is receiving its quota in Baja California and is misusing it to flood and wash salty soils. 

A commenter explains: The 1944 treaty requires the US to allow 1.5 million acre-ft of water to flow into Mexico from the Colorado river and requires Mexico to allow 350,000 acre-ft from the Rio Grande into Texas.

Mexico hasn't lived up to their responsibility while the US has been. Mexico often requests more water and it had been granted every time despite them not living up to their mandated amount.

I think that President Trump is touching on a very sensitive issue and creating border conflicts. Water may not be worth it. 

Egyptian traditions

"A moment that changed me: I brought a baby gorilla home – and learned so much about being a parent" (from The Guardian). "The seven months I spent hand-rearing Afia fast-tracked me through every stage of parenting: love, laughs, and pride, followed by inevitable separation and loss."

Aelian (Claudius Aelianus) was a Roman author who wrote in Greek. In his work "Historical Miscellany" (Varia Historia), he recounts an anecdote about foreigners arriving at a port in Egypt.

"When certain foreigners disembarked at a port in Egypt and saw Egyptian women cradling monkeys and baboons in their arms instead of children, they remarked: 'Are there no children born in this country, that the women nurse and cherish monkeys?'"

Krach!

President Trump is a businessman and understands that China and the rest of the world have been "dumping" their goods on the USA and ruining American industry. Nixon was too generous opening America to China's exports. He caused chaos and fear at the starting point of the coming commercial negotiation. 

Jewish Kids according to UNICEF

 

The end of Globalism

Globalism was a liberal dream that made everybody richer. Nationalism replaced it. Trump today has semi-closed America to rebuild its industry because it cannot compete against China and Germany. It may be necessary, but NASDAQ will be hurt.