Giovanni Batista Lulli

 

The Oracle's Latest חוכמה

 In 1958, Phil Fisher wrote a superb book on investing. In it, he analogized running a public company to managing a restaurant. If you are seeking diners, he said, you can attract a clientele and prosper featuring either hamburgers served with a Coke or a French cuisine accompanied by exotic wines. But you must not, Fisher warned, capriciously switch from one to the other: Your message to potential customers must be consistent with what they will find upon entering your premises. At Berkshire, we have been serving hamburgers and Coke for 56 years. We cherish the clientele this fare has attracted.

CENTCOM

Following the American airstrike against Iranian targets in Syria, Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central) Commander, Lt.-Gen. Gregory M. Guillot completed his first visit to Israel on Friday. Guillot was hosted by his Israeli counterpart, Commanding Officer of the Israeli Air Force, Maj.-Gen. Amikam Norkin.  The scene reminds me of the Warsaw Pact general visiting Budapest, with the difference that the Russians were the hated occupying army of Hungary.

It is bad to lose one's independence and become part of a foreign power, but since Suez we know we are not truly independent. It is better this way.

P.S.: At ten, my dream was to have a WWII  Army jacket, something like Guillot is wearing. When arrived as refugees in Vienna, the Americans distributed Army surplus and my uncle Gyuri got one.   

America Strikes

Feigning indifference, the Biden administration bombed last night an Iranian facility in Syria. There is continuity in American foreign policy. As one IAI man told me once, America is an empire, and like a big ship, it cannot turn around on the spot, it needs space to change direction. In the pic, a Big Bad Black Man, I am starting to like him. 

Alt-Neu US gov

 The new Democratic Party administration is taking form and formulating its policy. First impression; The Black riots have never happened and changed nothing. The prisons for underage infiltrators have been reopened in Texas. America is not closing bases nor bringing troops home. On the contrary, NATO is being integrated into the Pacific alliance and Israel has been subordinated to the US Army in Europe. America has decided to peacefully outcompete China, firstly in the technological area. No military confrontation planned. It is the Cold War again. China sent a vehicle to the moon, America sent one to Mars. 

Murder in Canton

 

Robert van Gulik's   狄公案  gong'an detective novel of Judge Dee's adventures. The most complicated and implausible story, containing State Secrets of the Tang Chinese Empire (The Emperor is dying and the transgender Chief Eunuch of the Imperial seraglio is conspiring to change the dynasty) and exotic and passionate prostitutes living on floating hotels. In the end all the personages are poisoned, suffocated by a silk handkerchief with a silver coin in it (so the dead man's spirit will not haunt the murderer), pierced by a javelin thrown through the window. 

Too much for me. 

Waiting for My Man

I'm waiting for my man

Twenty-six dollars in my hand

Up to Lexington, one, two, five

Feel sick and dirty, more dead than alive

I'm waiting for my man

Hey, white boy, what you doin' uptown?

Hey, white boy, you chasin' our women around?

Oh pardon me sir, it's the furthest from my mind

I'm just lookin' for a dear, dear friend of mine

I'm waiting for my man