The Tenth Plague

 The Bible mentions ten plagues in Pharaonic Egypt. Nine are common occurrences in the Middle East, like locusts and gnats. But the tenth one was a selective pandemic that killed Egyptian children and passed over the Jewish population. How could that happen?

Easily. The Jews had suffered repeated epidemics, while the Egyptians were virgin and specially the children had no experience with the disease. What disease was that? Smallpox, for example. According to historical accounts, age-specific smallpox mortality was gleaned from the age distribution of smallpox burials in York (England) between 1770 and 1812. Smallpox preferentially infects young, pre-reproductive members of the population since they are the only individuals who are not immunized or dead from past infection. Because smallpox preferentially kills pre-reproductive members of a population, it generates stronger selective pressure than plague. Unlike plague, smallpox does not have an animal reservoir and is only transmitted from human to human. Smallpox could have exerted a selective force sufficient to reach 10%. Source: Wiki.

Pic.: A child mummy with smallpox. 

The weekly portion: The Hebrew Slave

כִּ֤י תִקְנֶה֙ עֶ֣בֶד עִבְרִ֔י שֵׁ֥שׁ שָׁנִ֖ים יַעֲבֹ֑ד וּבַ֨שְּׁבִעִ֔ת יֵצֵ֥א לַֽחָפְשִׁ֖י חִנָּֽם׃

אִם־בְּגַפּ֥וֹ יָבֹ֖א בְּגַפּ֣וֹ יֵצֵ֑א אִם־בַּ֤עַל אִשָּׁה֙ ה֔וּא וְיָצְאָ֥ה אִשְׁתּ֖וֹ עִמּֽוֹ׃

We read this week about Jewish laws. If you buy a Jewish slave, he will work for you six years and in the seventh he goes free. If he arrived alone and in the seventh year he was married, he will go free with his wife. If his wife was given to him by his owner and had children, he will go free but his wife and the children will remain with the owner. The Hebrew slave can refuse to accept freedom and he can say "I loved my owner, my wife and my children" then he can stay and be marked so everyone will know that he chose slavery. 

Pain

 I did almost no work this week.  My body opposed my orders to sit and work. Bought new chair, and nothing. 

Start exercising. 

Urbanization Kills

Japan lost 500,000 individuals in 2020, ie its population decreased by half a million. It is a pity, the Japanese nation is intelligent, inventive, hard working and valuable for the human race. All European nations are also in decline. Even "criminal nations" (like Chechens), to employ a Soviet category, are melting down, which is worrying. Urban populations never replaced themselves, even in Antique Greece and Rome. Primitive and savage peoples took their places. 

"Gozque" dogs

 Columbus wrote that he encountered domestic dogs in the Caribbean islands, "gozque" dogs that did not know how to bark. They were miniature animals, very tasty according to the Spaniards that tried them. Soon they got extinguished as did they Indians themselves. The Spaniards introduced hunting and war dogs, that did superb job in frightening the natives.

En palabras de Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo:

"[…] Eran todos estos perros, aquí en esta e las otras islas, mudos, e aunque los apaleasen ni los matasen, no sabían ladrar; algunos gañen o gimen bajo cuando les hacen mal. […]"

En palabras de Guillermo Coma:

"[…] estaban muy buenos abriéndolos por el espinazo y tostándolos ligeramente […]".

The Jewish Space Laser

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has pointed to the Jewish space laser as the pyromaniac machine that caused the California forest fires in 2019. Spontaneous combustion, people just catching fire in the street, is a common phenomenon in the USA. Thanks to Ms Greene, we now know that it is never spontaneous but the invisible Jew-Ray was focused on the unfortunate individual's head. The Jew-owned personal protective equipment (PPP, see pic) factory in China is doing much business these days. 

Legal Cannabis Market

Israel  is developing a sizeable medical cannabis industry. Israel is currently at the forefront of providing technology and knowledge transfer to the other world markets. Its vast knowledge in the agri-space has helped the country to develop new technologies for producing higher yields and new strains. I have some stocks but they are rather stable, as the monetarization of the product/technology encounters foreign barriers.