Einstein Dies

 The type of aneurysm that Einstein had is statistically linked with being old and male. However, the majority of people developing an AAA also have a history of smoking. Only lung cancer is more closely associated to smoking among tobacco-related diseases. In an analysis of risk factors for AAAs in more than three million individuals, 80% of people who developed the aneurysm were smokers. Another systematic study found that current smokers were 7.6 times more likely to have an AAA than nonsmokers. The aneurysm’s prevalence and size are strongly linked to the amount of smoking one does, and Einstein was a heavy pipe smoker for decades.

Einstein’s doctors ordered him to stop smoking during his various illnesses. He sporadically obeyed. When friends gave him gifts of tobacco during these brief periods of abstinence, Einstein would open the gift, sniff to enjoy the aroma, and then give it away to someone else.  But Einstein always succumbed to the overwhelming temptation of his beloved vice. He often resorted to taking tobacco handouts from friends. Dr. Plesch especially felt sorry for the needy, embarrassed Einstein and provided him with a steady supply of tobacco and cigars despite the orders of Einstein’s other doctors and second wife, Elsa.

Einstein and his second wife, Elsa (via Wikimedia Commons).

During his doctors’ smoking bans, when Einstein walked to the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, where he had worked since 1933, the old physicist picked up cigarette butts from the street and filled his pipe with bits of discarded tobacco. He initially walked to the Institute across from the nearby meadow, but he switched routes because the street offered more abandoned tobacco. Einstein tried to summon the courage to openly defy the bans, but he worried about offending his doctors.

Newark: Pay Your Water Bill Immediately

Water is a Human Right, as we all acknowledge, thus on March 31, 2020, an order was issued by the governor of Ohio requiring that public water systems cease disconnecting services for reasons of non-payment, sighting that services still had to be paid.  

The governor has revoked the order to abstain from shutting water off for nonpayment.  The revocation was effective from June 2020. 

To avoid termination of services, plus having additional fees added,  any delinquent balance due should be paid immediately. 

My computer says that the link, to the City of Newark, is Not Secure.  

Shame!

Coronavirus in Israel: Not so Good

About 1500 infected per day - there is a serious infectious disease in Israel but no sense of emergency at all. If I understand the media hidden message, about 500 dead in old age homes were no accounted for as victims of the disease. People stopped using masks and restaurants are re-opening. Apparently the government gave up trying to control the population and let the epidemic run its course. I received two new contracts today, people is building and enlarging their business. My contract with the University was not renewed for this semester, probably because my age. It would be stupid to feel resentful, so I focus on my consulting business. 

World Potash market unsettled by Belarus General Strike

 Belarusian Potash Company  supplies 16% of the world potash market. The main buyers are a consortium of Chinese buyers (Sinochem, CNAMPGC, and CNOOC) that have contracted a price of 220$/ton for 2020. Now the political situation in Belarus is unstable and there is a general strike against Lukashenko. The price of potash and the local Potash company may rise. Looks like a promising speculation. 

Flint, Now Newark, What Tomorrow? Lead Contamination

 

The EPA took filtered water samples from Newark homes earlier this month and found that several of them had lead levels exceeding the federal threshold of 15 parts per billion. 

It was found that lead was leaching into the water because of ineffective corrosion treatment at the city’s Pequannock plant,” The New York Times reported. See the brand new Pequannanock plant (pic) that cost a hundred million dollars.  “Last year, lead levels in more than half the samples tested at homes served by the plant exceeded the 15 parts per billion standard.”

Mayor Ras Baraka and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy issued a joint statement asking the federal government for help in resolving the crisis. 

My Take: After Flint's Lead National Emergency and generous Federal grant, I was expecting another Black city with leaden water. Again, incompetent municipal governance plus lazy water treatment plant personnel. Pic.: Ras Baraka.

Thanks to the Ayatollahs

 

The formalization of the relations with the Gulf Arab states has an immediate meaning for Israel: the opening of a vast market for our military stuff. Depending on the virulence of Ayatollahs, these small states buy about one hundred million dollars worth of materiel. The richest is Kuwait, not yet mature for business, but maturing fast. Aden should be standing in line, then the Hejaz/Saudia. These states were colonized by the British and the Americans, and when these former world powers retire, Israel included in their last will as the legitimate inheritor of these possessions. 

Illustration: The Portuguese Fortress of Macau. The military hardware was purchased from the British.  I admire British products and spent days in London and Manchester awed in the industrial museums. The Economist of today has an intelligent article about the disastrous decline of Britain. I am a lifelong Anglophile and wish it would be different.  

Vino Formosa Rosso

 

Award winning Vino Tinto Fortificado - something new from Taiwan, a tropical island. Interesting. I think it may be very sweet, made from Muscat varieties. Fortificado means that pure alcohol is added to increase its grade. I wonder what award it received.