Venezuela without Electricity and Water

The Communist legacy of Chavez  is gradually suffocating Venezuela. The water rich country has built its electricity production on large hydroelectric projects, but the reservoirs are empty because of prolonged drought. And Caribbean socialism.

92 years old elected President of Malaysia

I think of myself as old old so it comes as a shock that a large and rich country, Malaysia, has elected a 92 years old politician to power. The man appears to be healthy without incipient signs of senility. Walks fast and speaks clearly. Has all his hair. Does it prove that I am mistaken about myself and I am just a baby?

Rectifying Right and Left

Spandrell rectifies the meanings of the words:

 "...the Left is the forces of chaos, led by sociopathic status maximizers (SSM), while the Right is the forces of order. Outside the theory, the Left is whatever gets called the Left, and the Right is whatever gets called the Right in a particular place and time."

Learned a new word: SSM.

In Dalian

The Chinese and he North Korean Leaders are vacationing in Dalian. Since every detail has a deep meaning, the fact that Kim was served tea in a SMALL cup, may signify that he is less than welcome. There is no teapot on the table, so that's is it.

Headaches

An architect is calling me thrice a day demanding to finish the plumbing plan for his project. I can't suffer him anymore. I was so tired that went to sleep on the sofa.

Que reviente!

Argentina: The run on the peso

On May 6 there was a run on the Argentina peso, that was stopped immediately by the Central Bank raising REPO interest rates to 40%. International interest rates are about zero, which illustrates the level of chaos in Argentina's finances.

I know bunches of solid, hardworking, decent Spanish and Italian people in Argentina, I find no reason for its chaos and instability.

P.S. Argentine finance minister Dujovne (a relative?) traveled to New York to beg Madam Lagarde (IMF) for a 30 billion dollar loan. 

25 year in the University of Ariel in Samaria

This is my 25th year teaching in the university. At first I was teaching on a temporary basis, without even a contract, then the University started to get organized and offering one-year contracts. By then I have reached retirement age, too late to ask tenure. It is so that this temporary job is lasting more than all the other employments I had in my life. I had received "kviut" (tenure) in TAHAL, in the WWTP and also in the Water Authority, but I got bored and abandoned those safe and well paying positions for new ventures. As they say: In Israel, the temporary is forever, like in "the temporary emergency tax"  that turned out to be permanent, as most knew from the start.

Like the "occupation" of the West Bank. Driving through and working for 25 years in Samaria I witnessed how the land became urbanized, with many 4-5 stories buildings in the Arab villages. This part of Samaria was industrialized, there are very large industrial areas and thousands of Arab peasants working there as salaried employees with all the benefits of the Israeli welfare State. I see the informal taxi and minibus stations that take them back at 5 PM to their villages. The roads are full of heavy trailers transporting construction materials, industrial raw materials and foodstuffs. My impression is that the Shomron is now the heart of Israel's light industry. The optimists like Sharon were right. The left, that believed that it could not be done and the Jordanian West Bank had to be "returned" were wrong.