Wealthy Jews making Aliyah

While Israeli bureaucrats are sucking me dry, wealthy people are leaving their home countries and moving to Tel Aviv. The necessary conclusion is that it must not so bad here as I am feeling.

Bloomberg:  "Wealthy Londoners are leaving the city as new taxes make it expensive to inherit. Losing wealthy individuals is normally a sign of trouble in the political economy of a country. Rich people are often the first people to leave, because they can -- unlike the middle class or the poor. Cities that saw large inflows of HNWIs include Auckland, Dubai, Montreal, New York, Tel Aviv and Toronto, the report showed."

HNWI: People who has more than a million dollars liquid.

Geosmin

Today's fish tasted muddy, not because it is bred in sewage-water (which is) but because of an organic compound called geosmin. This smelly molecule is produced by my favorite mold of the order Actinomycetales, and released when these microorganisms die. 

Everyone knows that a few drops of lemon juice on the fish neutralizes the muddy odor. The molecule breaks down in acidic media.

The human nose is extremely sensitive to geosmin and is able to detect it at concentrations as low as 5 parts per trillion. This had important evolutionary impact as it helped to locate fresh pastures after a period of drought. I rather love this earth smell after rain.

H3N2

I live in the Middle East where more than 30% of the people are influenza positive (WHO map above). Much worse than in America.

So I too got it. This flu virus is bad and specially for old people like myself. For the last two weeks I have been weak, feeling bad, unable to sit down for two hours and work. My clients are demanding their projects and boiling of anger that I don't answer the phone. I have been offered a teaching job in a college that is organizing an engineering department, but I had not answered. Bad. Today is sunny, today I may regain my powers.

Nuclear War is not The End

I sense an irrational fear of President Trump, specially in Germany. The fear and horror flows seamlessly from the revulsion Germans felt during Wall Street Crash. This is worrying because Germany again is a big power: Germany exports more than America and its armed forces are more effective. Fake currency replaces real one, and the world is flooded with dollars and the real money goes to the most stable and strongest economy, which many think is the Euro.  Thus, the dollar is sinking. This could get out of hand.

Anyway, nuclear war involving North Korea and the USA could be a geographically limited conflict, but China, Russia and NATO may not be able to keep out. Here, the land of Israel is a Gruyere cheese full of karstic limestone caves so we could find one to hide in. I am not worried, war would not shorten my life by much.

Dollar Devaluation

A year ago the US dollar was worth 4 Israeli sheqels, today 3.38 and it is sinking. What happened? I assumed Israeli exports are flooding the country with dollars, but it is the dollar that lost value. What happened to America that its currency got devalued 20%? Nothing, there is no crisis, in fact, there is raging optimism thanks to Trump's pro-business policies.

The most probable cause, I assume, is the world's panic of a North Korea vs USA nuclear exchange. The Europeans succeeded in creating a crazy image of Trump and frighten themselves and the world. They are selling their dollars. For America, this is an export bonanza.

Evo Morales, Champion

President Evo Morales (55) of Bolivia is a professional football player of the Sport Boys Club. He is paid 220 US$ per month. He is a pure blood Indian of the Quechwa people, married to an Israeli woman.

Khaybar - Where Mohammed defeated a Jewish Tribe

Jewish Stronghold in the Arab Peninsula

 

 

The clip by Shattem Al-Saud shows the Oasis of Khaybar, famous because it figures in the Quran. The Jewish tribes near Mekka refused to accept the Prophet's religion and were defeated. Otherwise, the Muslims would be now... Jews? It could have happened.