Gaza Notes From Twenty Years Ago

Watching the genocide in Gaza from across the ocean I spend much of my time feeling both angry and helpless, surrounded by people who seem indifferent to that horror. I am horrified that Congress is so intimidated that in a recently constructed concentration camp the IDF is killing small groups of unarmed Palestinians daily.  As the Israel-Hamas war nears the end of the second year I recall some observations I noted about twenty years ago which I noted at the time. 

Israel's connections with Palestinians were quite different twenty years ago as this shows. The following is a transcription from my old blog.  The NPR link has survived at this writing but the contents have since vanished. The voices made the story unforgettable. Fortunately I copied this much at the time...  

Here is a great story that NPR ran four years ago that caught my attention at the time. It describes a curious symbiosis between Israel and Gaza reflected in how automobiles were tagged in Gaza City. This was prior to Sharon's removal of Israeli settlers from Gaza, making me wonder if some of them may have had a surreptitious part in the story.

An Odd Hierarchy of License Plates in Gaza

The local government in Gaza issues a unique kind of license plate: one for stolen cars. Driving school owner Raeed el-Sa'ati decodes the region's vehicle license plates.

SIEGEL: Last week, as we were riding through the streets of Gaza, our interpreter, Hosam Arhoun(ph), pointed out something that is, so far as we know, unique to that isolated strip of Mediterranean coast. It's a kind of license plate. I thought he was kidding. We would be behind a car, and he would say, `See that pair of Arabic letters on the tag? That indicates this is a stolen car. And that one,' he said, `that's an official stolen car.'

Well, we dropped in on Raeed el-Sa'ati, who owns the Ekhlas Driving School in Gaza, to get more details. And he explained that Gaza license plates can be red for official, green for taxis, and white for private vehicles. The lower the number on the red plates, the higher the position of the official. The number 30 designates a truck.

All this is pretty conventional stuff for license plates. But then...

Mr. RAEED EL-SA'ATI (Ekhlas Driving School): (Through Translator) And then the cars which, written in Arabic, the letters M and F, it is the stolen cars.

SIEGEL: The stolen cars?

Mr. EL-SA'ATI: (Through Translator) And then there is these plates which, M-H-F--it is stolen cars, but working at the authority, means, aha, it is a stolen governmental car. There's also another kind, but this is the same plates; the numbers are different. The numbers which started with 25, it is a stolen car, but it is allowed to work as taxis. This is a very modern law in the world.

SIEGEL: As you can hear, our man Hosam could hardly stop laughing as he translated this.

It turns out this system is a legacy of the most efficient but embarrassing example of Israeli-Palestinian cooperation in the 1990s: auto theft. The Palestinian Authority took over Gaza, and the Israeli police were out, so Israeli car thieves fenced thousands of stolen cars into the Gaza Strip, about 15,000 of them, where they were then sold. Thousands are driven by Palestinian security and other officials. A lot of them are in that stolen taxicab category, vehicles that provide income while costing a lot less than a legal yellow minivan.

When their cars were stolen, the Israeli car owners would get reimbursed by their insurance, and they would go buy new cars. So in effect, Israeli insurance companies were paying for Gaza's used car trade. When the insurance companies sued, the Palestinian Authority settled, and the settlement cost was offset in part by much higher registration fees for cars that had been stolen. So to designate those cars, they were given special license plates. According to the Transportation Department in Gaza, the news is that the Authority has decided in principle to end stolen car plates. Everyone will pay the same registration fees. But since this may put a lot of self-employed taxi drivers out of work, no one is saying how long it will take to abolish the license plate that says, `This car was stolen.'

Programmable Digital Currency -- Today's afternoon fun

This afternoon was my first learning of programmable digital currency.  I had just listened to a lengthy conversation about the possible (perhaps deliberately planned) explosion of interest rates expected to result in the current tampering, both national and global, expected by many to result from the extreme fiscal and monetary shocks triggered by the famous Big Beautiful Bill expected to be signed by President Trump tomorrow morning. 
[Here is the link to Richard Wolff & Michael Hudson: Trump's "The Big, Beautiful And The Ugly". These are two of my favorite people and their appearances on Nima's place are always delightful and smart.]

No one in the conversation mentioned bitcoin. But as they described the historic monetary shocks of the past and how they affected the social disparities between wealthy and poor people often resulting from sudden fiscal and/or monetary disturbances I was reminded of digital currency. 

As my imagination wandered I remembered stories about fortunes made and lost in connection with bitcoin and a quick search just now spit out this interesting bit of AI wisdom:

What if you put $1000 in Bitcoin 5 years ago?

• 5 years ago: If you invested $1,000 in Bitcoin in 2020, your investment would be worth $11,748.

• 10 years ago: If you invested $1,000 in Bitcoin in 2015, your investment would be worth $408,108. 

• 15 years ago: If you invested $1,000 in Bitcoin in 2010, your investment would be worth about $1.07 billion.

 Leaving a comment in the discussion section following the video I mentioned my suspicion that there may be some connection between deliberate efforts to stir the global fiscal pot in a way that people with access to the right technology might well be planning sudden fortunes. (That would make tulip bulbs unimaginably quaint.)
That's when someone replied that programmable digital currency might well be the medium of exchange in the future. I never heard of this, so I did some homework and thus far this is what I have turned up.
[This copy and paste method works pretty good with AI. I suppose as long as I reveal what I'm dong I'm not doing anything illegal.]

Programmable currency refers to digital money with embedded rules and conditions that govern its usage, often implemented through smart contracts on a blockchain.

It allows for automated financial operations and the execution of transactions based on predefined logic. This concept enables various applications, including conditional payments, automated processes, and enhanced regulatory compliance within transactions. 

Programmable currency exists as digital or tokenized representations of value, rather than physical cash. 

Welp. That's as far as I have come this afternoon.

I have been planning to stop blogging because it's so old-fashioned, but this seems to be a good way to keep personal notes.

And since my blogs have always been public (and advertisement-free) somebody might want to check it out and leave a message. 

 

Pascal's Wager Explained

The philosopher whose "wager" is famously associated with the afterlife is Blaise Pascal.  

Pascal's Wager, as it's known, is a philosophical argument suggesting that when faced with the uncertainty of God's existence and the possibility of an afterlife, a rational person should wager on God's existence. 

Here's a breakdown of the core concept: 

~ The Options: Pascal presents two possibilities regarding God's existence and the afterlife:

• God exists.
• God does not exist.

~ The Wager: Because reason alone cannot determine which option is true, a choice or "wager" must be made through how one lives.

~ The Outcomes: The potential outcomes are analyzed based on whether one believes in God or not:

• Believing in God and God exists: One gains infinitely, such as eternal happiness in heaven.
• Not believing in God and God exists: One loses infinitely, such as eternal damnation in hell.
• Believing in God and God does not exist: One loses nothing or only a finite amount, such as the perceived restrictions or sacrifices associated with living a religious life.
• Not believing in God and God does not exist: One gains nothing or experiences a finite gain by living as one pleases.

Pascal's Conclusion: The rational choice is to wager on God's existence, as the potential infinite gain outweighs the possible finite loss. 

➤  Pascal's Wager suggests that betting on God is the most prudent strategy when considering the afterlife, as the potential reward is infinite and the potential loss is minimal compared to the alternative. 

Arab support for Gaza -- AI Comments

AI search for this question...
"Why is the greater Arab world not supporting their brothers and sisters in Gaza?"

➤ Several factors contribute to the complexity of the Arab world's response to the situation in Gaza, despite widespread public support for Palestinians: 

1. Internal Politics and Regime Stability:

Authoritarian regimes: Many Arab leaders fear that public protests in support of Palestinians could become a platform for broader dissent against their own governments and policies.

Controlling the narrative: Arab leaders often attempt to divert attention from political issues, including the plight of Palestinians, by promoting consumerism and controlling political discourse.

Fear of destabilization: Some countries, like Egypt, have had negative experiences with Palestinian refugee populations in the past, leading to concerns that a large influx of Gazans could increase instability within their borders. 

2. Geopolitical and Strategic Considerations:

Relationship with Israel: Some Arab countries are pursuing normalization deals with Israel, viewing closer ties as beneficial to their own strategic and economic interests. These efforts are hampered by public outrage over Israel's actions in Gaza.

Dependence on the US: Many Arab states rely on the US for security, and fear that supplying weapons or actively supporting Hamas could jeopardize this relationship.

Concerns about Hamas: Some Arab governments view Hamas as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, a movement banned in several Arab countries, and do not want to see its influence grow.

Perceived threat from Iran: Some Arab states prioritize countering Iran's influence in the region, viewing it as a greater threat than Israel.

Border control: The geography of the region, specifically the closed borders between Gaza and neighboring countries like Egypt, makes direct intervention and aid delivery difficult without permission from Israel and Egypt. 

3. Economic Challenges:

Financial Strain: Many Arab countries are facing their own economic difficulties and are not in a position to absorb large numbers of refugees. 

Despite these challenges, it is important to note that Arab countries have taken some steps to support Palestinians: 

Diplomatic efforts: Some countries have engaged in mediation efforts to secure ceasefires and increase humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Humanitarian aid: Some Arab countries have provided humanitarian aid and established field hospitals in Gaza.

Reconstruction plans: Egypt has proposed a plan for the reconstruction of Gaza, and other Arab states are supporting similar efforts.

Public pressure: Arab publics have consistently expressed strong support for the Palestinian cause, putting pressure on their governments to take action. This public pressure has influenced regional dynamics, including hindering normalization efforts with Israel. 

In summary, the Arab world's response to the situation in Gaza is a complex interplay of internal political concerns, geopolitical considerations, and economic constraints. While there is strong public support for Palestinians, governments face a difficult balancing act in navigating these different pressures. 

Staffing Guideline

Staffing Guideline

Many very gifted people are born into a situation that will never, and I mean never either see, appreciate or develop whatever natural gifts they may have. It has been my privilege to work with a handful of very fine people whose lot in life has kept them among the working poor, not by any deficiencies on their part, but because they were/are simply trapped. But being trapped does not stop them from doing simple, hard, honorable work consistently well. These people are the foundation of this and every other economy in the world.

I have also seen what can happen when people come into this country as immigrants - torn from their homelands for any number of reasons, unable to speak English - and become very high achievers. I learned long ago that what we like to think of as "intelligence" is nothing more than an intellectual construct, normally used when we need to put someone down and don't have the courage to admit that what is really at stake is our own inability to help them.

Story: When I first started in the cafeteria business I noticed one day the contrast between a very old employee and one of the high school kids working part-time.

The old lady was slow and physically limited. She wobbled as she walked and trembled so badly that we couldn't let her serve vegetables because she would either get burned or burn someone else with spilled hot vegetable juice from the little bowls. But she could serve bread okay and keep up with the dessert station. She also answered the phone nearby with "Thank you for calling [company name], this is Blanche. How may I help you?" Unfailingly gracious and polite, her uniform always neat, she was a model employee who would do anything I asked cheerfully and to the best of her ability.

High school and college kids are a wonderful resource because they are quick to catch on, fast and efficient, and much easier to cross-train than older people. So this kid was all over the place, carving meat, back in the dishroom rolling silverware, out in the dining room clearing tables, learning to do the checker's job making tickets for people at the end of the line...whatever was needed. I realized two things. First, the old lady had been there for years and the kid was just hired, probably just for the summer, yet their pay was only slightly different (we are paid for the job we do, not our abilities, and the rate is set by the marketplace, not the proprietor). Second, the actual productivity of the kid was a lot more than that of the old lady.

Thinking about that I came to the conclusion that the gracious manners, mature example and model attitude of one was a fair trade-off for the measurable productivity of the other. I decided that my expectations should be changed from "Do as much or more than everybody else" to "Bring to this job your individual best, whatever that might be. "

You might notice that what we call "intelligence" has nothing to do with valuable contributions. Those who think in those terms need to take a closer look at how they assess people, beginning with the "mentally-challenged" individual bagging groceries and continuing until they will themselves face challenges, if they are lucky, as the result of getting old.

I wrote these thoughts at my first blog twenty years ago. I'm making another copy because I lost control of that blog years ago (long story) and I don't want this to get lost.