Britannia Rules the Seas

 

The Iranian clerical regime attacked the Mercer Street commercial vessel and killed a British sailor. I do not know the details but the Iranian comunicado sounds menacing, presumptuous, and Third-World level. Iran is not like that, something went wrong. The quotation is from. 

“Iran is concerned about the obvious violation that Britain did against the Iranian oil tanker in international waters. My strong advice to the British government is to pay attention to its responsibilities and duties. The security of the Persian Gulf is a red line for Iran, and we did our best to protect this waterway from the insecurities of countries like Britain.”

Why Mercer Street? there is a Monument with seven sundials and dozens of gin stores. The Beatles had their London office there and also the Monty Python Flying Circus. 

Afghan interpreters live in terror

The plight of hundreds of Afghan interpreters who have once believed they had a plum job, is becoming increasingly desperate. They are hunted by a resurgent Taliban. They are executed for “collaboration”. 

Pic: Protesting in the British Embassy in Kabul. 
 

The Gulf Stream is collapsing

Humanity will survive. Some countries will not. 

The COVID Omega Variant

This epidemic is not looking good.  A confidential CDC document said delta (pic) is more transmissible than the common cold, the 1918 Spanish flu, smallpox, Ebola, MERS, and SARS. All the time the Delta is being transmitted actively, it evolves into a more and more transmissible virus. The Lambda variant is already common in Peru, but apparently is milder than Delta. 

In Kfar Saba, we can only hope that Kupat Holim Clalit will save us.

 When the virus reaches its omega variant, we shall not be able to comment anymore. 

Water Bureaucracy

A year ago I prepared a submittal for the permit of a large events hall in Bat Yam. The place is old and decayed, stitched together from smaller units and open rooftops, all connected in a labyrinthic way. I fought out its permit but it did not profit because of the epidemic. Now, a full year after, the Celestial Authorities looked down and saw that they need more paper. I am already fifty plans after, and now I have to work gratis on a thankless project. Mood: Frustrated.

North Korean Class-less Society

 

North Korea was founded in the late nineteen forties establishing a strict caste system as a way to maintain the survival of the new communist government. The newly established secret police and communist party reported on everyone making it possible to create an official list of every family assigned to one of 51 social classes. Most (29) of these classes were composed of people considered either hostile to the government or leaning that way. These new lower classes included business people, the most successful farmers, professionals, etc. Most of the population belongs to these 29 social classes. After decades of imprisonment or execution of any lower caste North Koreans who showed any sign of disloyalty, the survivors learned to hide their true feelings and forget nothing. This lower class lives bordering starvation, because of the permanent agricultural crisis. Incredibly, N.Korea's GNP is only about 30 billion dollars. The population has a high IQ but is undernourished and short. 

The children of the higher-class families can afford more food and luxuries like electronic devices to view forbidden content stored on USB or MicroSD devices crammed with recent South Korean entertainment and news video. MicroSD cards are cheap (a few dollars for a Chinese or South Korean card that carries at least 32 gigabytes of data). 

The Best Investment Adviser

 

I have sold most of my losing stock to cover debts (not mine but, among others,  my daughter's divorce settlement). I am now looking at what remains and noticed that my best bets were those when I followed one of the bank advisers. Only one of them, a friendly fat lady from Tel Mond, helped me to make money. She made me diversify and buy American index vehicles, such as the EQM online retail index (see left) when it was cheap. I enjoyed her advice only for a short time, as she was transferred to another branch. I miss her. My only "romantic" affairs are with bankers...