Socratic Dialogue in the Senate

 Socrates used to harass Athenians shopping in the market with unanswerable questions like What is beauty? What is Good? In the confirmation hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, Sen. Marsha Blackburn asked the Supreme Court nominee to define the word “woman.”

“I can’t — ” Jackson replied.

“You can’t?” Blackburn said.

“Not in this context. I’m not a biologist,” Jackson said.

“The meaning of the word woman is so unclear and controversial that you can’t give me a definition?” Blackburn asked. …

“The fact that you can’t give me a straight answer about something as fundamental as what a woman is, underscores the dangers of the kind of progressive education that we are hearing about,” Blackburn said, before turning to Thomas (a castrated male swimmer), who has been at the center of the debate over policies for transgender athletes.

Blackburn asked what message allowing Thomas to compete sends to “girls who aspire to compete and win in sports?”

“Senator, I’m not sure what message that sends. If you’re asking me about the legal issues related to it — those are topics that are being hotly discussed, as you say, and could come to the court,” Jackson said.

After studying the nominee's record and watching her performance this week, I cannot and will not support Judge Jackson for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court," Senator McConnell said from the Senate floor. 

Advances in Water Engineering

 

From the site of Autocad, there is a very interesting article on a WWTP (Toledo, USA). The whole plant has been designed with 3D Autocad, and the construction is based and followed by over-positioning the actual situation on reality. Later the physical operation can be compared with the pic on CCTV with the design. That is great for the manager, who can see from the "war-room" what is going on in the plant and record it and analyze it post-factum. On the other hand, the hours on Autocad work add to the cost of the project planning. 

My instinct is to find faults and disorders. Look at the trap-door in the middle of the central avenue, which in the design is open (right side)  - in reality (left) it is closed BUT creating an obstacle to free traffic in the avenue. The door is not painted to show a warning and it will certainly cause accidents. On the right side of the avenue, and on the floor (left side), there are many objects thrown in disorder, while on the design there are apparently storage cells with doors. Am I right that I see an operator sitting in the side and eating? Absolutely prohibited to eat in the sewage treatment area. 

Azriel Cannabis Farm

 

Yesterday finished the last stage of the Azriel moshav project, answering the 20 questions of the Health Ministry. It was 1 AM Sunday. Could not sleep till 0300 and now I am too tired to start something new. Most of the questions referred to imaginary menaces, such as using old pipes, crossing drinking water pipes with irrigation, or firefighting water pipes. Irrigation water - kolhim in Hebrew - is supposed to be of drinking quality. The settlement is named for Azriel Hildesheimer.

Rabbi Azriel Hildesheimer (1820-1899) served as rabbi in Eisenstadt where he founded a pioneer Yeshiva, in which secular studies were integrated - “Torah with Derech Eretz”. In 1869 was appointed as Av Beit Din of Berlin, where he established his Rabbinical Beit Midrash. Led German Orthodox Jewry.

Mourning

 Police officials have made a request to the Israeli public to avoid driving to the Gush Dan region except those seeking to attend the funeral. "This is a national event, one of the biggest the State of Israel will experience," the police chief said. Rabbi Kanievsky, leader of the Lithuanian faction of the religious sector, has died of old age. 

Puerto Rico vs Aurelius

 

PR has outstanding bonds for 72 billion and has declared bankruptcy. Aurelius, a vulture fund son of Elliott the Father of all Vultures, bought some very depreciated bonds and now demand to be paid in full. The island is a dependency of the USA and the federal taxpayer will have to pay. The debts are the legacy of corrupt politicians of the past. 

The issue is that many municipalities and States like Connecticut and New Jersey have also sold bonds that cannot re-pay. Kostolanyi had an informant (spy)  in the Danish Government so he knew that they had decided to pay the debt - and then bought a big lot on credit very cheap. He made a fortune. That was before WWII. 

Vladimir Vladimirovich

 Watched BBC's film about Putin. Many interviews are very credible. He is (was?) the richest man in the world. He was advanced by Yeltzin because he protected his disgraced boss in Saint Petersburg. Loyalty, a most scarce quality (I don't have it), was rewarded. 

Creative Destruction

The fresh U.S. aid to Ukraine includes a longer-range anti-aircraft system, 800 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, 9,000 anti-tank missiles, and 7,000 small arms along with 20 million rounds of ammunition. Previously the U.S. supply included 600 Stinger antiaircraft systems, 2,600 Javelin anti-armor systems, helicopters, and patrol boats, 200 machine guns, 200 grenade launchers, and 40 million rounds of small-arms ammunition.

What is the meaning of this? Wall Street is celebrating. America is playing the strategic encirclement game (Wei qi 围棋  = go) and that is driving crazy the Russians. Further dismantling Russia will increase Germany's security. Russia is resisting and is ready to throw in its nuclear weapons. 

The negotiations between America and Iran are stalling, which always favors the stronger party. It may be the American strategy vis-a-vis Iran.  China continues to build itself but is approaching some kind of Japanese stasis. The only active enemy of Israel is Lebanon's Hizballah. It seems to have been forgotten, but our people must be thinking hard about how to manage it. Am reading Kissinger's "On China". Photo: Russian and Japanese negotiating the end of the 1900 war.