Israel Water Masterplan

How fast the time passes! Only twenty years ago I was working in the Water Authority and marginally involved in the preparation of the Israel Water Masterplan 2000 - 2020. That document has been forgotten by everybody and never updated or revised. The only good thing I can say about it that it was a Masterplan. Today we have none and no one is working on a new one. Another comment is that twenty years is nothing, a national Masterplan has to comprise at least fifty years. Singapur has mapped its future till 2060. Admirable!

Israeli Lunar Craft

The Chinese have a vehicle on the dark side of the moon. We too are sending a craft to the moon (left). Israel will be the fourth country with its flag "flapping" in the solar wind on the moon.

Nice, but I am losing lots of sheqels with the Israeli communication sector. The satellite company lost one in space and is broke. Bezeq, the phone company, is being liquidated. Tower, the chip fab, lost half of its worth in the last bear market.

If you ask me, the moon will not go away and the project could wait, but I need money now, here on Earth. 

Mikveh near Tel Aviv

This morning I went to a Mikweh (ritual bath). The Ministry of Religion had invested in the renovation of this facility, and I was invited to do an AS MADE plan and certify it. The entrances for men and women are on different sides of the building, and there are intimidating steel turnstiles to get inside. No gender mixing here. The bathing installations are inviting, nice and clean, so much that I thought about installing a mini-bar at the poolside, and maybe a small nudist gym annex for the religious gay. The mikweh could be then operated on a profit basis like a bathhouse.

The pipes and the machinery were a mix of old and new, and the old badly renewed (see the hot water tank "renewed" with transparent plastic tape!). There are at least ten thermometers, measuring anything between 20 to 55 Centigrades.

Who was the Flint Water Poisoner?

As remembered, the City of Flint changed its water source without adding the necessary buffer, causing the leaching of lead from old house water lines. The fuckup was inflated and made into a racist conspiracy (genocide of the poor Africans) and President Obama declared National Emergency and transferred fantastic budgets to the City. Croft (pic) had been head of Flint's Public Works and in spite of being a rooted Flint African American, he was accused of Conspiracy to Commit False Pretenses.  

Howard Croft: Croft was the City of Flint’s Director of the Department of Public Works from December 2011 to November 17, 2015. He was charged with:

• False Pretenses, Felony: 20 Years and/or $35,000, or 3 times the value of the money or property involved, whichever is greater.
  • Croft is alleged to have aided and abetted Defendants Ambrose and Earley in a process that allowed the use bonds to fund the construction of the KWA pipeline despite the City being broke. The City of Flint exploited an exception to state law by claiming the bonds were needed to fund an emergency cleanup of a retention pond, when in fact the funds were intended to pay for the KWA. During that time, the defendant actively worked in various fashions to discourage a return to using water produced by the Detroit Water and Sewer Department, require the use of Flint River water through a Flint Water Treatment Plant, that was deemed unready for service by several people involved with its management, and to ensure the construction of the KWA.                                                                                
    
    OK, the poor devil tried to do his job and get the pipeline built. His superiors had decided to build the KWA pipe and stop buying water from Detroit when they had the Flint river for free. The river water is certified drinkable, and lead free. A perfectly rational decision and Croft tried to make it happen. The accusation implies that the project was criminal and the Director of Public Works should have known it, is simply ludicrous. If he mis-stated that the money was needed for an emergency cleanup, then it was with the approval of his bosses. Croft looks intelligent; he is not the type to lie without higher protection. Croft is a victim of American Justice.

Winter Depression

Like all animals and plants in this planet, I follow the length of the day in my biology. Just now it is dark outside, there was no blue sky or sun all day, it is raining all the day, and I am feeling depressed. I spent half a day in bed and cannot start working. Light therapy may help - after two weeks, may be. No time for that. Having started, half of the job is already done. So, I am starting.

Calculate the path of Oumuamua

Nobody can. It’s velocity and predicted path started to change right after it passed by the Sun, which can’t be explained. Right after it passed by the Sun it immediately started traveling faster. Since it is not emitting gas jets, it must have another source of energy. It is a solar wind sail. 

Buying Bayer

Bayer is a120 years old German chemical company, the best of the best. It made the mistake of buying Monsanto, an American agricultural chemicals company, producer of glyphosphate herbicide. Der Spiegel has a decent article on the following debacle and crash of Bayer's worth. Since I know that the product is not toxic and it is being attacked by the green ecology movement without any scientific basis, I believe that stupidity will not prevail and Bayer will extricate itself from this "migraine". Bayer is a buying opportunity. That company have made many people wealthy in the past, and I expect to keep prospering in the future.