Hanukka

 Today the grandkids came for candle lighting and singing. Six energetic, noisy little savages. I took the day off. 

Indoctrination

 

Hanuka, November 2021. Ella and a boy with long hair. 

Tel Aviv has been ranked the world’s most expensive city to live in

Yet people are dying to live in Tel Aviv. It is difficult to find a place to rent or to buy. I always wonder why things are so cheap in London, etc. Illustration: Brain density in Tel Aviv. 

KABALAT SHABAT

 

ELLA gets religion. The boy seems more interested in the cake. 

Incurable Idiot (me)

 

An important Client asked me to prepare a submittal plan for the Municipality. It is the house of his brother-in-law. The contractor did not follow the instructions and the sewage pipes are all UNDER the building, without any protection. PE pipes expand and contract, so it is sure to break in a few years at most. Somebody made a big mistake. I prepared a sensible plan hoping that it will be approved and the "broch" will be kicked into the foggy future. I said I'll do it for free, cannot charge this young couple and the even less the Client. 

I know. I am a sucker!

Pacing myself

 I worked three nights and days on the Hachsharat Hayishuv, Bnei Brak, project. I mailed the design yesterday night. This morning at 0630, changes were waiting for me on Whatsapp, but I let them be. The service center I'm working on for the last three years was finally signed by Valery of the Ministry of Health. I wasted more time on Twitter, hypnotized by interesting sex-hungry girls. I took the day off.  

Broch (=Trouble) with China

Twenty years ago The Economist had an article pondering if it would be clever to help China to feed itself (that was in doubt in those times) and to allow it to export and develop its economy. China was a very poor country then. The conclusion was that it would be immoral to let a quarter of humanity starve and condemn them to misery. There was also something about opening new markets. I went to China at those times and was received very nicely, and got the impression that China was freer and richer than imagined. I was convinced that it would be sinful (and unthinkable) to re-colonize and enslave these friendly, good-willing, intelligent people, as the cruel British imperialists did with the opium wars. (see caricature).

Now Prof. Mearsheimer writes in Foreign Affairs that this liberal policy was a fatal mistake, realism should have dictated a hard policy, and now America has got itself into difficult rivalry with China, a big broch. He predicts war.

These conflicts would be fought mainly in open waters between rival air and naval forces, and in those instances in which control of an island was at play, small-scale ground forces would likely take part. Even a fight over Taiwan, which might draw in Chinese amphibious forces, would not involve huge nuclear-equipped armies crashing into each other.