The price of salt

 
I have been increasingly skeptical of statistics. Already in my time, Argentina was falsifying its national numbers (until the World Bank publicly rejected them as lies). In China, I was amazed by the brazen fabrication of figures. Now, The Economist concludes that even American statistics are of dubious value and that the economists who base their complicated equations on them must be wrong. Napoleon demanded to be informed about the price of salt in various provinces, probably because it could not be falsified, or none of his own functionaries would be interested in misguiding him. Salt was vital to conserve food, so it must have been linked to the general welfare of the population. Speculators must use only unfalsifiable information, such as night satellite photos of cities. Or other observable market prices: The "Big Mac Index" - which is internationally comparable; basic commodity prices in open markets (salt, rice, etc.), and black market exchange rates versus official rates (the gap itself is informative). BTW,  prices at the Rami Levy supermarket are shocking, indicating the galloping inflation of the sheqel.  

70 years after Bandung

In high school, I became very interested in the Bandung Conference and sought books and documents on this event. There was hope that a new era was starting, and the formerly colonized peoples would transform the world. Tito (right in the pic) led Yugoslavia (a country that disintegrated), Egypt's dictator Gamal Abdel Nasser (in the middle), Nehru from India (left), Sukarno (Indonesia), and an African whose name I forgot. Chou Enlai was there too. 

The Bandung Movement is still alive as the Progressives.  However, only China realized the Bandung hopes. The rest are still beating the long-dead horse of Colonialism. 

Another water conflict?

The Pakistani government said it would view any attempt by India to stop or divert water belonging to Pakistan as an "act of war."

"Any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan as per the Indus Waters Treaty... will be considered as an act of war," said the statement by the prime minister's office.

The Indian government announced the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty as part of a host of retaliatory measures it took against Pakistan.

I wonder what happened after President Trump protested Mexico's disregard for century-old water accords. 

Wasting time

 
The internet has studied me and is sending me pictures, short reels, and articles that I cannot resist and that trap me into watching them. I just spent two hours in front of the computer and asked myself what I learnt - in fact, what did I do? I cannot answer myself; I just wasted the whole morning. 

Ecoterrorism

On Earth Day,  a somewhat heathen Eco-celebration of Nature, ecoterrorists or just garden-variety vandals cut down the trees in Los Angeles.  

They are (were) Indian laurel fig, Ficus microcarpa. We have these giant trees on my street.  Thousands of fruit bats, green parrots, and unidentified flying things inhabit them. 

How the British became Christians

 I am reading about the almost instant conversion of the English nation from ancient German paganism to Christianity. Pope Gregory begged European kings to send missionaries because the English were ready to convert, but there were no volunteers. So Rome sent monks armed with the Rule of Benedict (pic). Once they understood the system, they adopted it enthusiastically. The only obstacle was Danish immigration, but those Vikings, too, forgot their Scandinavian gods as soon as they saw the English winning in war. England filled up with monasteries and nunneries, and schools to prepare monks, and soon they were sending missionaries back to the continent. Ireland had a different shade of Christianity, and they, too, were very missionary. I think the British have a natural talent to organize themselves and an inborn inclination to reform and reorganize the rest of the world.

Yale lecture on text analysis

 

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This quiet Friday afternoon, I watched lectures by a Yale University teacher (Prof. Martin) about the New Testament. By cutting up and comparing the historical text, he arrives at an understanding of what may have happened. Paul (Shaul) from Tarsus had great success among the Greeks. The main community of Jerusalem was strictly national Jewish, and Paul - in his letters - tries to demonstrate that he was equal to the apostles and leader of the nascent Church. Interestingly, the Greeks easily discarded their gods and philosophy and adopted a narrative (i.e. religion) based on revelation. They liked the story of Moses coming down from the mountain with two tablets with commandments more than Plato's reasoned dialectics.  

My opinion:  Paul's movement ultimately seized power in the Roman Empire, which proves that from the beginning it had been a subversive POLITICAL movement. In retrospect, this outcome justifies the Roman occupation's execution of Jesus for being a political rebel, intent on becoming King of Judea.