The people from the isles

Before the Arabs conquered our land and settled here, there were many other occupants. Thirty two centuries before today, the Egyptians ruled Eretz Israel, when the whole Middle East was disturbed by the concerted attack of the Peoples of the Isles, currently known as Sea Peoples. It is surprising that of all the mighty peoples that lived here, none was able to establish itself for long, and it is the Arabs who inherited it (temporarily, because we are back). In comparison, the Han settled in the Yellow River valley some 5000 years ago, and no one could displace them. The Greeks settled in the isles and the mainland, and they are still there. In the Middle East, none of the ancient settlers survives. Not them nor their genes.  

The earliest mention of the Sea Peoples proper is in an inscription of the Egyptian king Merneptah, whose rule is usually dated from 1213 BC to 1204 BC. Merneptah states that in the fifth year of his reign (1208 BC) he defeated an invasion of an allied force of Libyans and the Sea People, killing 6,000 soldiers and taking 9,000 prisoners. 

About 20 years later the Egyptian king Ramses III was apparently forced to deal with another invasion of the Sea Peoples, this time allied with the Philistines. In the mortuary temple he built in Thebes, Ramses describes how, despite the fact "no land could stand before" the forces of the Sea People and that they swept through "Hatti, Kode, Carchemish, Arzawa, and Alashiya" destroying their cities, he defeated them in a sea battle. He gives the names of the tribes of the Sea People as including: the Peleset, the Tjeker, the Shekelesh, the Denyen, and the Weshesh. 

However, because this list is identical to the one Merneptah included in his victory inscription, and because Ramses also describes several fictitious victories on his temple walls, some Egyptologists believe that he never actually fought the Sea Peoples, but only claimed the victories of Merneptah as his own - a common practice of a number of the Pharaohs. 

Apparently the Weshesh are the tribe of Asher, the Denyen - the tribe of Dan and the Tjeker - Menasseh, while the Shekelesh were Issachar. The Northern Canaanite cities of Tzur and Tzidon were the only ones not attacked, probably they were related to the attackers or their allies. The Peleset were the Plishtim of the Bible, the Philistines, clearly a proto-Greek group. 

Ice People in Bed

A noticed that some scandal-mongering "journalists" are feeding the scandal-hungry world population with malicious rumors of bedtime issues between Donald and Melanie. That she is not accepting his hand when walking together, that she is cool and alien towards him, that she is dressing to give a heart attack to her poor old hubby. She is a proud model, Donald's infidelities that are surfacing in these days must be driving her mad. If Donald sought solace in porn star prostitutes instead with her monumental wife, there must be something wrong. Nordic "Ice people" are stereotyped as cold, frozen, frigid. I am an old faux-Orthodox Jew, more interested in the stock exchange than in sex workers in general, and zero experience with Slovenian models in particular, but I have my opinion, and it is that Melanie is sex bomb. 

Slippery Sloping Skyward

I was invited to submit a proposal for a project in the Alon Towers in Tel Aviv. The illustration is 5 years old, in the meanwhile, it was built. The structural work was done by a Turkish company, the rest Israelis. I sent a very low estimate.

A few years ago I took several projects in "luxury" tall buildings, but I purposefully downgraded my jobs because hated to work in large teams with authoritarian/sadistic  project managers. I specialized in small projects and my practice is prospering, but the cream tends to float to the surface, and so I am slippery-sloping upwards to Tel Aviv prestigious jobs. As I grow older and fatter, the more I hate working at those altitudes. I have ten more working years left, maybe. 

Rat Disease Epidemy in Israel

The Ministry of Health has forbidden the access to the Northern rivers because a dozen boys caught the rat disease, Leptospirosis. No, the boys did not turn into Splinter (pic) but it is to early to make a judgment.  When I was lecturing in hospitals and occupational safety groups, I used to emphasize that no sewage-related disease is recognized by the Social Security, except one:  Leptospirosis. Should anybody catch the disease, he/she/it is entitled to receive disability payments for life. No one ever claimed this benefit, because the disease was not present  in Israel. Now there is, but I doubt if the children will be able to claim occupational disability.

The truth about the Falashas finds its way to HaAretz

A ranking Haredi linked with the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi (pic) writes in today's HaAretz, my favorite extreme left-wing fishwrap, that "Yes, They are Jews-in-Doubt". "They" are the Ethiopian Jews. There was no Ashkenazi rabbi who opined that the Falashas are Jews, and it was the act of a sole individual - the late Chief Sepharadi Rabbi Joseph - who certified their Jewishness and forced the State of Israel to bring them all from Ethiopia. His motives were clear: to increase the "Sepharadi" voting mass and gain power through his Shas party. The article accuses the Sepharadi Haredim of hypocrisy and racism, because their Yeshives (high schools) reject Ethiopian students and they never marry Ethiopians. 
 The Ashkenazi Haredim, more honest, declare them non Jews and deal with them as human beings. They will not certify as Kosher the wine touched by Ethiopians because religion forbids drinking wine touched by non-Jews. There is a ferocious power dispute within the Haredi community, for a variety of issues. The Haredim are less than 10% of the population of Israel. 

Girls

Maggie Tabibi, a TV personality. In fact, more than personality, she is an image. Israel has girls. 

INTEL NVIDIA ET AL

Regular INTEL chips are losing popularity and newfangled accelerated graphic chips are interesting. They consume much electricity and emit much heat, creating refrigeration problems. I am betting in Nvidia but INTEL is bigger and interesting. It is difficult to displace a monopoly. The 36 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Intel Corp have a median target of 58.00,  +19.71%
increase from the last price of 48.45. The question is what are doing the Chinese and the Japanese. China depends on foreign-made chips. It imported $227 billion worth of integrated circuits in 2016.