Wednesday, June 19, 2024

Pilgrimage in Deadly Heat


 The pilgrimage is increasingly affected by climate breakdown, according to a Saudi study that said temperatures in the area where rituals are performed were rising 0.4C (0.72F) each decade.

The Saudi National Meteorology Center said that temperatures hit 51.8C at the Grand Mosque in Mecca on Monday. The dead are counted by the hundreds. Every Muslim must do the Hadj pilgrimage once in life if he is able.  

Kfar Saba city is also hot, and I am suffering. Today I had diarrhea and weakness, cannot sleep regularly, and lost all enthusiasm for working. I am nearing 78 years old and all my classmates rest underground, in Hades. Why am I still alive and working? I need no more money. Yet I have to buy my small daughter a gold chain, but I do not feel like going out into the sun shopping.  

Monday, June 17, 2024

Working at night


I noticed a change in my work habits: I sleep siesta and work till 2 AM. Also, ZAHAL has changed the war - it allows a humanitarian pause at midday and is active at night. There is an intense heat wave in Israel and we have the air conditioner running for many hours. I have this Schiff project on the table for two weeks and it is not ending. Projects I closed two or three years ago are being subjected to renewed criticism and demanding additional work. Clients are not paying for that extra work, but soon I must start demanding payment. 

Sunday, June 16, 2024

Europe is stopping AI


 Europe does not like progress and new things. It has forced Meta (the Facebook company) to put plans for its AI assistant on hold in Europe after the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) asked the company to delay training its large language models on content posted on the internet. Europeans are basically primitive folk with weird traditions and beliefs. Pic.: The Mamoiada parade in Sardinia.

Le maschere tipiche della sfilata di carnevale di Mammoiada sono quelle del Mamuthone e quella dell’Issohadore ( o Issocadore) . Il nome Issocadore deriva dalla “so’a (o soca)”, ovvero la corda usata per catturare gli animali. L’Issohadore è l’immagine del vincitore, mentre il Mamuthone rappresenta la bestia soggiogata. I tratti marcati della sua maschera rappresentano l’angoscia per la sottomissione, questi tratti così netti ricordano moltissimo le sculture africane. I campanacci sulle spalle dei Mamuthones vogliono accentuare ancor di più l’umiliazione a cui è sottoposto. 

The typical masks of the Mammoiada carnival parade are those of the Mamuthone and that of the Issohadore (or Issocador). The name Issocador derives from the "so'a (or soca)", or the rope used to capture animals. The Issohadore is the image of the winner, while the Mamuthone represents the subjugated beast. The marked features of his mask represent the anguish of submission, these clear features are very reminiscent of African sculptures. The cowbells on the Mamuthones' shoulders want to further accentuate the humiliation to which he is subjected.

Friday, June 14, 2024

El camino es culebrero

Last years of the Fuel Age



The Stone Age ended not because we ran out of rocks. Neither will the fossil fuel age. Other sources of energy are taking over. Some foresee an excess oil production in a few years and the collapse of oil prices and oil-based economies. But...

Se acaba la papa, se acaba el maíz

se acaba los mangos, se acaban los tomates
se acaban las ciruelas, se acaban melones
se acaba la sandía y se acaba el aguacate

Y la cosecha de mujeres, (nunca se acaba)
La cosecha de mujeres, (nunca se acaba)
La cosecha de mujeres, (nunca se acaba)
La cosecha de mujeres, (nunca se acaba)
LOS WAWANCO

Thursday, June 13, 2024

Parade of the Year's Newborn

Yesterday we celebrated the Hag Ha-Shvu'ot (the traditional first harvest festivity) in the kibbutz. Ivry was among the year's celebrities, among the 18 newborns of the kibbutz (26 including the descendants of the kibbutzniks that had left it). This kibbutz was established in 1939 by 25 Romanian and 25 German Jews and is one of the wealthiest thanks to its industries. As of 2022, it had a population of 870. Therefore, the kibbutz has a birth rate of 2% and a natural growth of about 1%. I had to take a seat in the first row with the old farts and their Phillippine caregivers. 

Monday, June 10, 2024

The phantoms of my past

The phantoms of my past are coming back to me from the Netherworld. This man looks like my childhood friend in Buenos Aires, Tommy Marjos, long dead.