Caption: There are only two kinds of people (and elves).
Martians (below). Some say they are crewing drones that orbit New Jersey.
Bullet Points:
** I’m not old, but my dinner and bedtime are getting closer together.
** To truly see someone – anyone – is an act that acknowledges and forgives our common and imperfect humanity. Love enacts a kind of vigilant perception – whether it is to a wife or husband, a child, a co-worker, a neighbor, a fellow citizen, or any other person one may encounter in this life. Love says softly – I see you. I recognize you.
** Your dog isn’t a vegan, and your child isn’t trans.
** Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, is the first libertarian president of a major country in history. In his first year in office, he closed thirteen government agencies, slashed federal spending, achieved Argentina’s first monthly balanced budget in over a decade, and is on track to post the first annual balanced budget in a century. All these deep government spending cuts haven’t been carried out for the sake of itself. Before his election, the central government ran annual deficits exceeding 15% of GDP. It (previously) ordered the central bank to create monetary reserves to fill the gap and credit them to the federal government’s account (i.e., print the money).
“A year into Javier Milei’s presidency, Argentina’s poverty hits a new high,” –Al Jazeera
A small number of the newly impoverished are now unemployed government bureaucrats and employees who previously “worked” for the Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Social Development, and Ministry of Women, Genders, and Diversity. The poverty rate has not increased and has likely come down. Milei’s policies have revealed the poverty rate from the artificially lowered levels reported under previous administrations.
** New data about vasectomies.
Q/A
Q – Are any F-117s still flying
A – Yes. They’re putting one back inside after having her out for playtime! Even though they’ve technically been “retired” for years, you can occasionally catch them flying around in Death Valley and other areas out west for training sorties with other aircraft. The majority of the remaining aircraft are stored here.
On your maps, look slightly northeast, and you can see the weapons bunkers.One of them landed at Winslow–Lindbergh Regional Airport (IATA: INW, ICAO: KINW, FAA LID: INW), which was a USAF base during WW2 and is a divert runway for military and civilian use. The runway is seldom used, but it’s still there. I have no idea what mechanical problem caused the F-117A to land there.
This question came from someone who lives near me and saw the F-117A. I confirmed their account.
Q – Why do they sell junk food in hospital vending machines?
A – This question was posited by MRSLL and again more recently on television. You’d think that hospitals would only sell (and provide to patients) delicious healthy food. I have no answer to the question.
Processed Food Issue
The following information is from Children’s Health Defense.
A recent clinical study published in BMC Medicine has found that carrageenan, a commonly used additive in ultra-processed foods, such as non-dairy milk, frozen meals, creamy salad dressings, and packaged desserts, may harm the small intestine’s lining and contribute to insulin resistance. These effects are believed to increase the risk of chronic conditions such as Crohn’s disease, cardiovascular disease, and Type 2 diabetes, particularly in individuals with higher body weight.
The research on 20 healthy young men revealed that even short-term, moderate carrageenan consumption could trigger gut inflammation and weaken the intestinal lining. This damage reduces the protective mucus barrier, allowing toxins to enter the bloodstream, a condition known as “leaky gut.”
The study’s lead author, Dr. Robert Wagner of the German Diabetes Center, emphasized the potential impact on metabolic health.
“Our study indicates that even a short-term and moderately increased intake of carrageenan may have pro-inflammatory effects in the gut in humans.” – Dr. Robert Wagner, German Diabetes Center
Previous studies have shown that animal carrageenan exposure can lead to gut inflammation and metabolic disturbances. In humans, it has been linked to an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and inflammatory bowel conditions like Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
Research suggests that removing carrageenan from the diet can improve insulin signaling, enhance glucose tolerance, and reduce inflammation. These benefits are significant for those with inflammatory bowel conditions, which are becoming increasingly common.
Given its widespread use in ultra-processed foods, the findings highlight the need for caution when consuming carrageenan products. Avoiding common foods like non-dairy creamers, deli meats, ice creams, and pre-packaged soups could be a vital step toward better health. Limiting intake may significantly benefit individuals at risk for metabolic or gastrointestinal diseases.
For more information, read the full article here.
Military Food Issue – Pentagon funds alternative meat protein from fungus
(more here) The Pentagon is funding alternatives to meat protein, which includes using fungi for food for U.S. service members as part of the White House’s sustainable bioeconomy agenda.
The Department of Defense is focusing on investing in fungi protein as an alternative to animal protein. Earlier this year, it sought to fund lab-grown meat to reduce carbon emissions. Critics have resisted such initiatives, arguing that they negatively affect the military.
In November, the DOD announced that it had given 34 awards totaling over $60 million to bioindustrial firms under the Distributed Bioindustrial Manufacturing Program (DBIMP). $1.38 million was given to The Fynder Group “to plan a bioproduction facility for fungi-based proteins that can be incorporated into military ready-to-eat meals.”
I can’t tell you how happy I am to be out.
From our friends at Ammo.com
We know that American civilians own more guns than any other country in the world. But how many American homes have guns in them?
Naturally, the answer varies by state, but it also varies by year. Here are a few of our findings in our latest publication:
- 42% of U.S. households, or approximately 53 million, have at least one firearm.
- Household gun ownership declined from 47% in 1990 to 45% in 2022.
- Montana, Alaska, and Wyoming have the highest rates of household gun ownership.
If you’re as interested as we were about household gun ownership in the U.S., please read and share our full report:
https://ammo.com/research/how-many-households-have-a-gun
Red China Blues
“A prominent Chinese economist just said what many people suspected: China’s official GDP numbers may not be accurate. “We do not know the true number of China’s real growth figure and maybe some other numbers,” Gao Shanwen, the chief economist at SDIC Securities, said on Thursday.
Many people speculate that “after the pandemic, those numbers may not be so accurate,” he said at an event hosted by the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, DC. Gao previously advised the country’s policymakers. Gao said China’s GDP has probably averaged around 2% in the last two to three years, even though the official number is “close to 5%. ” “If my speculation is correct, I think it might be more reasonable to expect a growth rate between 3% to 4% in the coming years, for the next three to five years,” Gao said. “But we know, and I think, the official number will always be around 5%.” China reported 5.2% GDP growth last year and has a growth target of “around 5%” this year, which economists say is ambitious.
Gao made headlines recently for his comments at an investor conference about “lifeless” Chinese youths. Chinese censors have since taken the speech off the internet.
In the speech, Gao said his analysis of regional data found that the younger a province’s population is, the slower its consumption growth. China is now “full of vibrant old people, lifeless young people, and middle-aged people in despair,” he said. “Young people are tightening their belts and eating noodles with the lights off,” Gao added.
There’s always a bigger fish…
Identify the Aircraft
1
Not an Aero Commander.
2
271 built – note Swedish livery
3
4
It was destroyed at Bordeaux in June 1940 to prevent capture by German troops.
5
It was also used in a movie. The tail number should help.
Parting Shot
A gorilla goes into a bar and orders a martini.
This amazes the bartender, but he thinks, “What the heck, I guess I might as well make the drink.” So he mixes the martini. He returns to give it to the gorilla, and the animal holds out a twenty-dollar bill.
Well, now the bartender is just at a loss for words. He can’t believe that a gorilla walked into his bar, ordered a martini, and had a twenty-dollar bill to pay for it.
So, in amazement, he takes the twenty and walks to the cash register to make the change. While standing in front of the cash register, he stops and thinks, “Let me try something here and see if the gorilla notices anything.”
So he walks back over to the gorilla, who hands him a dollar change. The gorilla doesn’t say anything and just sits there sipping the martini. After a few minutes, the bartender can’t take it anymore.
“You know,” he says to the gorilla, “we don’t get too many gorillas here.”
The gorilla says, “At nineteen dollars a drink, I’m not surprised.”
End
5 is 1990 SCALED COMPOSITES INC 151
State hospitals in my state are not allowed to sell junk food but the canteen run by volunteers can. Found out when I was a patient 10 years ago.
Packaged and processed food with additives – heavy in salt and sugar – should be reconsidered IMHO.
My wife had a heart cath at the Kansas heart hospital in north Wichita across from Jabara airport. While she was in recovery she suggested I get a bite to eat. They had a top notch grill in the lobby with all of my favorites including a bacon cheeseburger. I commented on the irony to the cook. He simply replied; “dude it’s not my job to lecture you on your choice, just to cook it for you!”
Bacon, cheese, a bun made from refined flour and sugar, and half a pound of ground cow – BUT you added vegetables like tomato, onion, and lettuce, so you were still a little heroic.
That’s why you add a fruit bowl to offset…net zero when doing the math. (Hey, if it works for”enviro-sensitive “green” homes it should work for the human body.)
Someone has the saying, “knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.” The same sentence works with avocado instead of tomato.
.
There is no better group of propagandists in the world than the vegetarians. Convincing the entire world that adding pieces of lettuce leaf and a slice of fruit makes a burger better for you has to be admired. As rough rule, fruits are less toxic than vegetables because the fruit is “designed” to attract animals to eat them and spread the seeds, but that’s giving fruit a halo of its own. There are poisonous fruits, too. When you meet a bunch of carnivores that completely dropped any plant matter from their diet and got rid of conditions that had been bothering them for decades, not to mention losing up a hundred pounds, you start to wonder.
Fruits don’t work well for diabetics. And since Altzheimers is now Type 3 diabetes – not well for them either. Pedo Joe would be well advised to skip the ice cream.
Identify the Aircraft:
1. Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander
2. Caproni Ca.313
3. Messerschmitt Me 163S
4. Loire-Nieuport 10
5. Scaled Composites ARES
Fast!
“You’d think that hospitals would only sell (and provide to patients) delicious healthy food. I have no answer to the question”
The problem lies in the question, “delicious healthy food” its an oxymoron. Such a thing simply doesn’t exist.
Maybe we need to zero in on patently unhealthy food and eliminate that.
Some of the unhealthiest eating people I know are doctors/nurses. I once watched a heart surgeon I know pretty well, a heart transplant guy, for heaven’s sake, put six packets of sour cream on a baked potato that was already swimming in butter. Casually asked if he knew any heart surgeons, he grinned and said that worrying about such things was over-rated. I’m over seventy and notorious for still eating like a teenager, but even I wouldn’t do that………
My last Primary Physician (that relationship ended with Covid) was obese.
At least he never chided me for my weight.
Selecting a fat doctor is not a bad strategy. I had a thin doctor who suggested that I could lose ballast. I pointed out that his nurse had to weigh twenty stone and the flesh seriously lopped over the edge of the chair she dropped into. He sadly nodded and moved on.
What about putting prophylactics, in the vending machines?
So a number of years ago I attended this over-week-long residential lecture series run by a big cardiology research foundation (no, NOT industry). They made a big point of serving a healthy diet that strictly adhered to “heart healthy” guidelines, including caps on fats and sodium. The participants were physicians and epidemiologists, heavy on the public health side. (Who have a tendency to be preachy and sanctimonious.) By day five people were literally sneaking in squeeze bottles of supermarket chocolate syrup and so forth. What was ironic and sad was that this was at a very nice lodge-type place frequented by rich people and known for the good food. Sure it was in a very beautiful area, but we were chowing down on low-sodium, low-fat, (AND minimally spiced, i.e. bland) “healthy” food while people around us were feasting on steak, trout cooked in butter, and so forth. What a shame.
—
@WWW: Absolutely. In the Before Times when pharma could sponsor “educational dinners” I used to see cardiologists eating the worst shit, and excessive quantities of it to boot. (Pretty sure other specialties also eat crappy diets, but I don’t hang out with them.) And it’s not as if the nurses and techs don’t over indulge either.
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As to food in general, Bradley Cooper (Michelin-starred chef Adam Jones) has a point:
https://youtu.be/aCXIyygYb90?si=Sy1k0731r2MSDFK6&t=15
Food Supply- There was a time when We The People could mostly trust what our government was doing…not entirely but certainly a reasonable amount. Today? It’s foolish to trust anything our government tells us. (Drones over Joizee is a prime example.)
–
Our food supply has been manipulated by Big Ag and whatever Fed-level letter agencies who believe they know better than the consumer…and the consumer has gotten indoctrinated over 40 years to trust whatever fare that is offered at the Acme will be good for you. It’s foolish as money trumps ethics far too often. The joke here in Colorado was the Statehouse Dem’s made some ‘symbolism over substance’ (h/t Rush) feel-good social justice decision to require all eggs sold in the state to be ‘organic”. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out how that rolled out, let alone the comments in the egg aisle (including the inevitable price hike). Same goes with ‘no plastic bags’ at the checkout (decades ago plastic was the savior of trees, now paper – at 10c a pop if you forget your ‘tote’ in the pickup – is the newest (old) savior of the environment). Who are these people telling us “what is good for us” when after decades of “healthy lifestyle” push-narrative, running, working out, juicers, etc…We The People have gotten more unhealthy?
***
Guns in the home- We have none, nada, nope “in the home” (hint: define “in”). Juss sayin’ it here for the overlords.
***
Using the “love” quote…and with Jesus’ birth celebration in a few days might just end up in a mini-sermon at the ranch gathering.
The F-117 Nighthawk was, at its introduction, a revolutionary aircraft, one of the first in the world to incorporate stealth features. However, with the arrival of the F-22 Raptor, the F-117 became redundant and was retired from service. Or so it seemed. Despite the official retirement of the Nighthawk from active service in 2007, the U.S. Air Force still regularly operates a fleet of about forty-five F-117s.
https://armyrecognition.com/news/aerospace-news/2024/16-years-after-being-decommissioned-is-the-nighthawk-still-flying#:~:text=The%20F%2D117%20was%20officially,training%20missions%20beyond%20this%20date.
Why do they sell junk food in hospital vending machines?
It’s what sells and the hospital is a major profit center for the American Medical Industry.
Also, healthy snacks have a short shelf life and are… BOOOORING!
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Then there’s the stress factor. When one is under stress, the body craves fats and carbs, especially sugars, in order to combat said stress. Even more so if it is the type of stress that you cannot beat, hit, shoot, whack, chop, cut, grind, set on fire, blow up, manipulate with your hands, choke the living carp out of, stab, slice, yada yada. Mental stress and having to sit and wait and wait and wait while they ignore you while you’re waiting on intel on your loved one is a horrible thing. You are Schroedinger’s Cat. Things are both Good and Bad, Yes and No, and that’s a metric carp-ton of stress that there’s no physical way to handle burning off said stress. So, well, EAT THE STRESS. Trust me, munching on carrot sticks or a nice light salad with low-carb dressing or other healthy foods just doesn’t handle the stress-need. Chips, cruncy things like granola, candy, candybars, good french fries, a burger, burrito, you know, food you can sink your teeth into and tastes, to your stressed-out head, good are the solution.
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Wife and I went to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL for a consult. All the food was fresh, healthy, tastyish and by the time we left there the need for a candy bar or a milkshake or some hot fries and a burger was a needful thing. Because fresh healthy food just doesn’t hit the spot.
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It’s like, well, after you go and blow sh…tuff up or chop trees down and do some serious firewooding or hunting and getting an animal or fixing one’s car, do you: A. Go do a salad with a nice sparkling water? or… B. Alcohol, greasy foods, meat and fat, with all the fixings including ketchup and honey and salsa and and and? Be honest. It’s ‘B,’ isn’t it? Yeah, I thought so.
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I have taken to packing my lunches and snacks for me and the dog when Mrs. Andrew goes into surgery because after sitting for 4 hours I don’t want to go to the cafeteria and get something, or it gives me the option to go get something hot or something home-packed. But food from home? Healthy to a point, but chips, some candy, stuff like that. And I’ll still hit the gedunk machine for processed garbage because STRESS IS AN INTACT FEMALE DOG OF BREEDING AGE!
Fungus in field rations? The Cs I had back when I was in could be bad enough.
Firearms in households. That number would be much higher if not for boating accidents.
Then there are the pet-owned firearms such as Banner’s, that can’t be attributed to others.
Banner has problems completing Form 4473 and I’m not allowed to help.
Once you connect his neuralink to the AI interface, he’ll be doing your taxes for you.
Why is the pentagon funding fungi proteins? Shouldn’t that be the bureau of prisons?
It must be very woke for the Pentagon to want to do it.
I’m glad hospitals don’t sell healthy food. An unpleasant visit would be even more unpleasant if all that could be had with a hot cup of coffee was a carrot.
I’m not sure that coffee is good for you. Maybe room temperature water and a sprig of broccoli. Carrots have sugar.
Nope on broccoli … it contains goitrogens that interfere with with your thyroid. And if on blood thinners it can cause increased bleeding… plus it gives you gas. Stick with the T bone steak. Leave all those veggies for the critters to eat so they can provide nutritious delicious T bones.
So much for that theory.
OTOH: fewer (heads of) households are willing to state (truthfully) that there is a gun in the house considering the level of media furor over gun ownership in the United States of America today and the complete lack of understanding (of the majority of people) of the background/history of the 2nd Amendment as has been taught by the Marxist-educated secondary school teachers of American and World history (if there’s any need for further clarification I’d be happy to do so on a personal level via email)
why in the world would I ever be willing to put down on paper or answer this question to some officious, nosy busybody,
personally, I sooner answer “how many bowel evacuations do you take/make in a week?” or “how many rolls of what brand of toilet paper do you purchase on a monthly basis?”
the answer would be the same to all three questions
I wouldn’t go so far as to lie about things like that. No, I wouldn’t. Like HELL I wouldn’t!
Anyone stupid enough to expect the truth in answer to that kind of question is just begging to be lied to.
I bring an Arkansas toothpick in a sheath to the appointment to dispel doubts.
Animals in bars:
1. So a horse walks into a bar. The barman yells, “Hey!” The horse says, “Sounds good. I’ll have that, and a pilsner.”
2. So a Swedish horse walks into a bar. The barman cries out, “Hey!” The horse replies, “Hej! Ett glas rött vin, tack.” This is funny because “hej” means hello in Swedish, and it’s pronounced like “hay” (and “hey”), so the horse thought the barman was greeting him. You see. It’s also funny because horses don’t talk but the one in this little story does, so you know it’s a kind of a fable. And if horses did talk they’d speak Dutch, prolly, and not Swedish. Also, if horses could speak and order in bars they’d likely order beer instead of red wine. Or maybe an apple martini, if the horse is secure in its masculinity. (Autistic-style explanations of bad jokes are the death of comedy, I admit it.)
Are we sure the fungi protien won’t just be old mold comsumed rations that the pentagon will repackage to save money?
Not sure.
I do not have A gun in the house.
Very subtle us e of the English language there, EB.
I found this sad.
“I have to be honest, I don’t think James Bond is a hero,” one Amazon executive said during a recent meeting about upcoming Bond content, the outlet reported. That quote seemed to point to Broccoli’s fear that Amazon does not understand the very character that she has dedicated her career to.
It explains the sort of morons who rise at Amazon
Let us hope that the new administration puts the kabosh on green fuels and green foods. Servicemen need fats and sugars when eating contained rations, along with animal proteins. Too much soy or other vegetable proteins are very bad and will increase gas generation by said servicemen and that’s not good in an enclosed space like a foxhole, an IFV, a tank or any other restricted airflow location.
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And, really, fungi? There are a lot of people who have issues with fungi, whether it’s an outright allergy or a sensitivity to fungi.