Art Deco

A nude by Tamara de Lempicka (a "countess" from Warsaw. The "de" comes from her time in Mexico as a Jewish refugee.) 

Price: about 6 million pounds.

51 public works contracts = 500 million US$

"51 contratos que le fueron adjudicados al Grupo Austral, propiedad de Lázaro Báez, ex socio comercial de la ex vicepresidenta." 

 The former President of Argentina (pic) has been sentenced to prison for corruption, specifically for the 51 public infrastructure contracts with a company called Austral, which is partially owned by her. She and her partners in crime will have to return 500 million dollars to the State. 

La Monde: La toute-puissance technologique d’Israël

 La toute-puissance technologique d’Israël ne lui a pourtant pas épargné le traumatisme du bain de sang du 7 octobre 2023. Mais même un tel choc n’a pas convaincu l’armée israélienne de changer d’approche à Gaza, où le recours systématique à l’intelligence artificielle, plutôt qu’au renseignement humain, a été dévastateur pour la population civile.

Are we all-powerful? Is Claude managing the war in Gaza? Some French philosophers think so.

Austria Today

 This morning,  a former student of the Bundes-Oberstufenrealgymnasium Dreierschützengasse (BORG Dreierschützengasse), a federal upper secondary school in Graz, Austria, assassinated 8 students and 2 teachers. Twelve others were wounded. The criminal shot himself.

I spent time in a Vienna school and have good memories of fellow students. They were generous and helpful. I cannot imagine the anger, the hate, the criminal had in his black heart. Pic.: a random BORG class. 

Morning anxiety

I slept well, but in the late dreaming phase, I woke up in fear (aka morning cortisol spike anxiety). I was taking part in the announced action to enforce the blockade of Gaza, and I carried a military shoulder bag containing my weapons and my money. I lost it and found it with Ilana Ben Ami's help. Then, in the chaos, I lost it again and did not find it, so I woke up in fear. Pic.: Gerta receiving a sandwich from an Israeli girl combatant. 

Another successful project

 

I had a pair of days when I did no work at all. I had been working intensively, focused on the supermarket project, which was rejected once and again by a new מגישה girl called Sahar. She did not even open the zip files but said that it was no good and that she would not further it to the Ministry of Health for approval. I got so depressed that I stopped working on the project and informed the Client to hire another engineer. 

Then I was informed that the Kfar Bilu Country Club permit, after a year of successive rejections, had been approved, and I'll be paid next month. It was a difficult project, with several swimming pools, gyms (pic), pilates, classrooms, hardened refuges, a boiler room, and 15 other facilities. This unexpected success restored my spirits, and here I am working on another problematic project in the Industrial Park of Hartuv. 

Me, worry...?

 For the record, Paul Krugman says on Yahoo that the dollar interest rate is extremely high, and at the same time, the dollar is losing value.  Conclusion: The world is losing confidence in us. The Treasury said that it cannot see how the US can repay its foreign debt, causing Krugman to wonder what made him say that.