Pigs and Dogs Puzzle

Richard Feynman and his wife were having a holiday in Guatemala. The wife joined a tour and he was bored in the hotel room. He wondered about the strange figures in the tourist magazine. The Mayan numbering system appeared to be based on the number nine, while the Mayan calendar was still a mystery. Feynman recognized its multi-cyclical nature based on cycles of 240 and 365 days and that very afternoon solved the riddle. Now that I have told you the key, you can easily verify it on the Mexican calendar stone (at the right). Fortunately, still there are ancient riddles waiting to be solved, and here is one.

Three thousand years ago the people in the Middle East  had a board game, the first in the world. Recently a complete set of figures was unearthed (see pic) but the board could not be found. The game set consists of colored stones, something must be related to the color in the game. The two main animal figures are pigs and dogs. Considering the shapes and numbers of the stones, it appears that the game is based on number four. 

Anybody spending a lazy afternoon in a hotel room? Could you retro-engineer this game? 

Israel escaped by a hair breadth

The leftist media waged a dirty campaign against Netaniyahu to the point that I was fearing that he may not win this elections. In that case, Israel would have spent another year without a government  flying on autopilot, unable to take decisions. Fortunately, the masses dismissed all leftwing propaganda and the Likud party won a large victory. The opposition party, Blue and White, formed ad hoc by three different fractions, will now disintegrate and disappear as if never existed. Its leader, Gantz, a former general, resulted no public speaker, and impressed me (and others) as a weak personality. So we will have again an able prime minister. Pity he comes attached with that psycho "First Lady" who never leaves him alone. 

Turkey - Syria (Russia) Border War

Turkey is waging an air campaign run entirely by armed drones backed up by heavy rocket artillery. It has destroyed three Soviet anti-air batteries. Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said Ankara destroyed eight Syrian helicopters, 103 tanks, 72 artillery and rocket launchers, and three air defence systems. This is a new, advanced type of attack, with almost no infantry or mechanized forces. For me this already counts as war. Turkey is a serious force, a reborn regional hegemon, and does not hesitate attacking Russia. Pic: The capture of Azov by the Russians, 1696. 

Virus Phylogeny

Someone in Washington State, USA, created this graph showing the evolution of the coronavirus. It appears that WA2 variety in the USA is not a new introduction from China but descendant of WA1 found previously in the country. It means that the WA virus has been around for several weeks and evolving. Other lines also are evolving independently. Maybe the Japanese doctor's approach is the most appropriate: The virus cannot be contained, most people will be infected and feel nothing, a few will develop flu, seniors may develop pneumonia and be treated in a hospital. The Wuhan statistics are mostly meaningless. 

Endless Mourning and Suffering

My intellectual wife and daughter took me to the Cameri Theater to suffer endlessly a long psychodrama by Chanoch Levin (see script in Hebrew if you dare): "Endless Mourning". A man loses his only son and in his crazy mourning, re-acts yearly the death and mourning through killing a child like his son. Lamentation and crying in High Hebrew, literary and poetical words we never hear in the shuk (market). The play may relate to the Israeli experience, but it is too esoteric for this drunken mujik.   

Itching palms

If your left hand's palm itches, you will lose money or be punished. Right hand itching, you will receive money soon.

It was common knowledge in my infancy in Hungary. 

One million Syrians moving to Europe

The fighting in the north Syria border has caused the uprooting of a million Syrians and they are moving to Europe. Europe does not want them, so they will settle in Eastern Turkey. Russian forces are in the field supporting the Syrian army, while the Americans have retreated. The last peaceful era in the area was the French Protectorate after WWI, a hundred years ago.