Last Night's Victory

 

Pic of one of the ballistic missiles that fell near the Dead Sea. Of the 300-something missiles fired last night at Israel, all were neutralized and caused no damage. It is a fantastic achievement, a large victory. 

Mala tempora currunt, sed peiora parantur

Craig says we own nothing and that regulatory changes can erase even the illusion of owning financial goods.  True, there is no safety in financial property. In fact, there is no safety in any kind of property, not even your knowledge or prestige. 

Prestige used to be safe, but now the most famous scientists are being disinvited from meetings because they are Israelis or Jews or politically incorrect. The Haaretz supplement brings a psychologist who wrote a professional article on his treatment of Jewish refugees from the Gazan border and was refused because he had been treating people who were a potential danger to the Palestinians. 

I always knew that nothing is safe and money is nothing since Hungarian Jews - my grandparents - had to give up first their jewelry, then their businesses, and in the end their very lives. This is the unstable, unsafe environment we have to carry out our lives. 

More on Thames Water

Financial Times:  At the end of 2022, a group of large pension plans, including funds from Canada, Japan and the UK, discovered that they had lost a large part of the £5bn investment in Thames Water that they had recorded on their books. This Easter, they learnt that they had probably lost all of it. There is only one way for a water utility serving the capital of a G7 country to lose so much value so fast: it was never worth £5bn to begin with.  Yet its owners denied this reality for years. The signs that Thames Water and its parent Kemble Water Finance constituted a high-risk, low-profit business were there all along. The cost of capital in this investment should have been considered quite high (and increasing over the years) and its value much lower. 

For twenty years it was generally supposed that infrastructure investment was low-risk and producing steady, reliable cash flow. An ideal investment vehicle for a pension fund that has to pay out regular benefits. Thames Water is simply not that. Nothing that relies on regulation and political situation can be ever low risk. Nobody can know what the all-powerful regulators will dream up and impose on businesses. In the public mind and for left-wing regulators, business is intrinsically dirty and businessmen are all pigs. Profits are stealing from people, so there must be no pity for them. 

The Unfolding of WW3

 Noah Smith writes a very comprehensive analysis of the world political-military situation. I capture two points: (1) he mentions the danger of civil war in the USA, and (2) China's preparations for a war, with increased food production, big navy & weapons industry, etc. 

American decline may explain Bibi's defiance of American dictates in Gaza. He knows America intimately and if he defies America, he must be sure that Biden is weak.  I want a strong America. We just killed Ismail Haniyeh's three sons (3 of 13). Haniyeh is the elected leader of the Palestinians. 

All these make me feel uneasy. 

Preparing for the battle of Rafah

 The Defense Ministry has purchased 40,000 tents to better enable evacuation and operation in Rafah in the near future. 

PIC. Typical tent. 

En Guardia

It appears to me that Israel is readying itself for a ballistic exchange with Iran. What can I do? Hope for the best. 

Minister of Defense Yoav Galant at Tel Nof Air Base: "I can't promise you that you'll go on leave tomorrow, but I can tell you it will be interesting, you'll have something to tell your children, and then your grandchildren after that".

Today is 清明節 the Tomb-Sweeping Day

Qingming Festival, or Tomb-Sweeping Day, one of China's traditional festivals, is dedicated to remembering and celebrating one's honorable ancestors.

 https://youtu.be/amJjeM8omS4?si=aIZ1rhPQB7r_MgkK

Food is always a central part of Chinese festivals. Qingtuan is the traditional food eaten during this festival. It is made from glutinous rice mixed with mugwort filled with sweet bean paste. Eating Qingming cake brings good luck and health. Mugwort was brought to North America as a garden medicinal and has since become a weed.

Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) is a massively aggressive spreader. The plant has a strong, resinous smell and spreads by the most aggressive lateral underground runners ever. These mostly remain near the soil surface, but they are so numerous that one has to dig extensively to remove the whole underground plant.