We all have different faces. Some we show the world, and some we show our family and friends. It’s important for you to know which one is the real you.
Every mirror is a judgmental time machine.
Bullet Points:
** SECSTATE Rubio, whose interest in Latin America was a key talking point in his nomination to his role in the State Department, made a blitz of visits and diplomatic actions to various nations in the region to secure American interests early during the administration. Most recently, he extracted Venezuelan opposition members to the U.S. from the regime’s grasp. As the Trump administration turns its attention to issues like immigration, fentanyl trafficking, and curtailing Chinese influence globally, Rubio is a key player, and he’s doing an outstanding job.
** Democrats are desperate for a recession to give them something to run on in 2026. Their hopes for a recession lie in the “trade war” that was declared by American newspapers within weeks of President Trump taking office. But so far, no trade war has materialized. And perhaps it won’t, as American and Chinese negotiators have quickly agreed on a framework for a trade agreement:
** Scientists say that events are unfolding hundreds of miles off the coast of Oregon, where a large undersea volcano shows signs of impending eruption. https://cnn.it/3RVrMhK
** The world will not treat you better just because you’re a good person.
** Where are we headed in Space? (h/t Claudio) The referenced article here is interesting as far as it goes, but the granularity isn’t there. The only game in town in 2025 is SpaceX. Will humanity shoot itself in the foot with the propagandist’s vilification of Elon Musk? Will we return to a space dark age for the vindication of the radical left, or will we push out to colonize the Moon and Mars? The success of President Trump’s Golden Age requires taking the steps necessary to spread our DNA beyond the Third Rock.
** Russian forces have not seized any significant towns in Ukraine since the seizure of Avdiivka in February 2024, and the only mid-sized settlement that the Russian troops have seized in Ukraine since December 2024 is Velyka Novosilka (pre-war population of 5,000). Ukrainian sources previously reported that Russian forces were trying to seize Pokrovsk, Chasiv Yar, Toretsk, and the remaining area of Luhansk Oblast and advance into Dnipropetrovsk Oblast by Victory Day on May 9. Russian forces did not accomplish any of those objectives, and have been trying to seize Pokrovsk, Chasiv Yar, and Toretsk for roughly a year.”
** Bloomberg – “Banks and brokers are seeing rising demand for currency derivatives that bypass the dollar, as trade tensions add a sense of urgency to a years-long shift away from the greenback. Firms are receiving more requests for transactions including hedges that sidestep the dollar and involve currencies such as the yuan, the Hong Kong dollar, the Emirati dirham, and the Euro. There’s also demand for Yuan-denominated loans, and a bank in Indonesia is setting up a desk for the Chinese currency.
Most foreign-exchange trades use the dollar even if they transfer money between two local currencies. For example, an Egyptian company wanting Philippine pesos will typically transfer its local currency into the greenback before buying pesos with the dollars it receives. However, companies are increasingly looking at strategies that skip the dollar’s role as a go-between. The attempt to find alternatives is another sign that companies and investors are abandoning the world’s reserve currency. This week, amid shifting bets on trade deals, the currency experienced a wave of selling.
** Another insightful VDH piece that asks why. (h/t Claudio) Progressive cause and effect.
Males in Women’s Sports
I thought this had been curtailed, but apparently not. He couldn’t make it playing against other males. How is this allowed? I cannot understand what passes through the minds of people who organize these sports teams.
It Could be a Recipe for Cornbread
One person explained: “The Riddle of Phaistos — A Spiral into the Soul of Minoan Thought.“
In the feverish summer of 1908, amidst the excavation dust of the palace of Phaistos on Crete, one of the most intriguing artifacts of the Bronze Age came to light: a round clay disc, adorned with enigmatic symbols spiraling toward a hidden center. This disc, now known worldwide as the Phaistos Disc, remains an unparalleled archaeological paradox.
What truly makes the object unique is not merely the unknown script or language, but the symbols were not carved by hand — they were stamped with engraved seals. This makes it the earliest known example of “printing technology” in human history. This phenomenon would not reappear until the invention of the printing press thousands of years later in Europe.
The disc features 45 distinct pictographic signs, including human figures with unusual headdresses, flying creatures, plants, tools, and weapons. Their spiral arrangement suggests a ceremonial or ritual significance from the outer edge inward, possibly intended for reciting a hymn, prayer, or incantation. Some scholars have even proposed that the object functioned as a liturgical tool, meant to be read while rotating, like a prayer wheel avant la lettre.
Linguists have studied the symbols, which do not match Linear A or B, the known Minoan and Mycenaean scripts. As a result, the content of the message on the disc remains undeciphered and unconfirmed to this day. Theoretical interpretations range from a hymn to a goddess to instructions for ritual dances. One theory even suggests it is a migration document from a non-Cretan culture — an echo of a lost civilization that speaks to us only through this solitary object.
No comparable artifacts have been found, making the disc both exceptional and suspicious. Some skeptics have even speculated that it could be a modern forgery, a creation of the early 20th century. However, laboratory analyses confirm the authenticity of the clay used, the firing technique, and the stratigraphic context in which it was found.
The discovery’s location, the palace of Phaistos—a lesser-known yet spiritually charged counterpart to Knossos—adds another layer of mystery. Was this the heart of an alternative Minoan religion? A center of secret knowledge, where symbols spoke rather than words?
To this day, the Phaistos Disc remains a voice from a time that refuses to reveal itself, an echo from an underground temple of meaning. It now rests in the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion as an ensouled disc of silence — a mystery still waiting for its reader.
Western Civilization
The Left decries even the suggestion of the Great Replacement Theory as a right-wing conspiracy. Yet, any rational objective thinker can contrast illegal immigration under “Joe Biden” and President Trump and see that it is a categorical fact. No new laws were needed, just the enforcement of existing laws. Period. Why? Political power, sure, but there is also contempt for Western Civilization. If you support Trump, you are a racist, a bigot, etc.
Here is the simple fact: Western Civilization, as epitomized by the writings of the Greeks and Romans, but especially by the French and English philosophers of the Enlightenment, and then put into practice by the Framers of the Constitution, IS SUPERIOR to all other governing strategies. That, to me, is not open to debate. The proof is that populations from all over the world want to come here: China and North Korea don’t have illegal immigration issues bc who the hell would WANT to live there? They hold their populations captive and view them as property.
So, if you ask yourself who is defending Western Values more, President Trump or Pedo Joe Biden, Viktor Orban or Justin Trudeau, the answer is obvious.
The Left wants to flood Western countries with people who do not believe in Western Values. Again, Why?
Would you rather be gay, female, or a religious minority in America or Pakistan? The Left wants to import bigotry, racism, and misogyny into their own countries from abroad while at the same time accusing the Right of all those things! It’s absurd. But one man stood in the breach, while his opposite number opened the gates. The numbers don’t lie.
I tend to look at things from the perspective of generations or centuries. Donald Trump is a historic President, no doubt. I think I will be long dead before his place in our history is understood, but it is bigger than that. This is genuinely a Civilizational contest. Does Ireland belong to the Irish or Muslim immigrants? It is not an abstract question, sadly.
***
What’s Happening to Pharma?
Trade
(zerohedge)“Bottom line is that on tariffs, the President spoke, the market listened and reacted poorly, the administration watched market reactions. It started softening their stance and here we are, back at something that may or may not deliver the goals of the administration but is certainly in the “manageable” range for global markets.
We might never know why 50% was “leaked” on Thursday night or why the President, on Truth Social, sent out on Friday that 80% seems about right, but the good news is that each social media post will translate to smaller market moves (which is a good thing).
It does seem that the President is back to viewing stocks as an up-to-date measure of his policies, and that he wants it higher because it means he is winning.
We are all very familiar with that from Trump 1.0, and it seems that we can be at least somewhat comfortable with his return to this stance.
The Main Street over Wall Street narrative seems to be over, though I think the two “streets” go hand in hand if we are going to create successful policy.
We now have a few months to see how the economy “shakes out” given these tariff levels.
I think we also have to assume that if any problems start to materialize and get press, the administration will likely respond.
We saw a lot of tough talk and the ability to pivot away from problematic (even destructive) polices.
Identify the Aircraft
1
It was a developed prototype, but never reached prime time (production). Three flying models were built.
Identify the Armor
2
Parting Shot
End
Disk of Phaistos – obviously an art student’s ironic annual project.
– Kle.
Is the Phaistos Disc an anti-counterfeiting key exchange party? Everybody in the new administration record the imprint of your wax seal stamp on this signature card? Written in a spiral so there’s no room for additions, the same way we fill the amount in words field of a check with a line?
Too many duplicated symbols, maybe they’re signing each others’ keys.
Identify the Aircraft:
1. Morane-Saulnier Epervier
Identify the Armor:
2. Marder II
Excellent
The Earth is just too small and fragile a basket for the human race to keep all its eggs in.
Robert A. Heinlein
X2 – Musk keeps saying the same thing.
Musk also made rockets land like RAH intended they should!
Indeed, he did. These days, people are very critical of Elon Musk because he supports the US government. I admire him, but wouldn’t want to “be him.”
It would have been fine if Musk had supported the Leftists desire for TOTAL power. If he had only made Twitter more repressive the Left would have given him a pass.
Not quite. We still don’t have nuclear tea-kettles, basically nuclear high-pressure steam/plasma rockets. Yet.
“That’s a man, baby” and it used to be called cheating and everybody knows it. More to say about the lack of morals of its implementation by its coach and the teams that confront it, but we all know that too, so I won’t bother.
Weak men allow this mess, afraid of suburban “soccer moms” who are worse in their pushing this demented behavior by their sons. Gotta be in the food supply, because we never had this problem in the seventies. We included girls if they wanted to play, but always took it easy on them. Me, this kid shows up to my daughters game and there’d be a melee.
PaulM, I live in the middle of nowhere for a reason. And even here, in a winter population of under two dozen, I keep to myself for the most part. Most people who live near me share my politics, but I don’t want to be ‘triggered’ by anyone. I can shuck off the online keyboard commandos.
.
Today is a windy day at the White Wolf Mine, and other than an afternoon journey to the mail box a league distant, I’m working on the Civil War Era series now that the short story collection is finally in the bag. I don’t know if the series will be worth reading, but it’s a different approach to the topic than others have taken, as I’ve mentioned here before – focusing on the British Secret Service involvement in the War of Northern Aggression and later on the expansion West from a different, but completely historical approach.
Looking forward to the series.
Me too, having grown up in Bucks County, PA, Colonial central for a lot of that history. Always enjoyed reading the history, curious on LL’s approach.
Easiest way to solve all this ‘Chicks with Dicks’ thing is the same way I used to do armor inspection in the SCA. “Cup Check” with a sledge-hammer handle. Light tap to the area will indicate whether someone’s armoring their wedding tackle. If someone’s cheating, they either quickly fall out of line before getting the mushroom and two potatoes whacked with said stick. Or they’ll experience ‘External Ovarian Pain’ or something. Either way, if they’re wearing a cup, not a jill (a jill is a semi-flat piece of plastic that covers the female stuff) or they experience pain down there due to no personal armor, then, well, they shouldn’t be playing in womens’ sports.
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And, back in the day, it was not uncommon for an especially hot female to do cup checks by doing ‘The Fondle.’ If things are covered, well, that’s good. Else long fingernails will bring about some form of pain. And now I’m getting weirder so…
cue Nine Inch Nails – Closer – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTFwQP86BRs
PDJT SISU MAGA has the world on notice he’s not like the coaches of girls teams, willing to say the truth right to their faces…in a velvet hammer sort of way. (Except for Ms. ABC News yesterday who, while standing in the Oval Office, asked the zinger question only to have it boomerang on her by him.) Trump is keeping the ball in all their courts, which is where WTP want it…and the Dems are on their heels while their operatives, The Left are grasping at straws tying to trip him up. Their strategy of old is not working, which is getting humorous, despite the seriousness of Trump and Team fixing the mess these politicians have created for America. The market is up again, which sends them into a tizzy. Hahahah, sucks to be them.
***
Every once in a while I look in the mirror and see that 12yo boy staring back…not this morning tho. Time waits for no one, we only have so much to do what we are supposed to do. It should get easier as we age, I think…dragging experience and wisdom forward from all those years circling the sun. In the meantime, the chores await and no one will do them for me.
Is the Phaistos disk a recipe for cornbread? Did the Minnow-ans even have corn? I have an old memory that corn wasn’t known in Europe until Columbus brought some back, but maybe they were here first.
To get real, one of the more interesting little stories I’ve run across.
No, they didn’t. So we rule out cornbread, and the other new world specialties like tomatoes, potatoes, yams, etc. And Asian ingredients as well.
Chocolate and hot peppers too…
Some hot peppers came from Asia. We take so much for granted in terms of the food available today in comparison to times past. As we’ve discussed on the blog recently, salt was historically very significant. Today we don’t think twice about salt or pepper.
Googles AI said,
“While chili peppers are widely used in Asian cuisines, their origin is in the Americas. “
My friend Rick has demonstrated that the Minoans were in Lake Superior and presumably removed large amounts of copper from the Upper Peninsula.
They would have been exposed to maize.
‘Corn’ often refers to, in pre-Columbian times, grain. Pert near any grain. Or something that’s been taken off the stalk or made into grains, like corned gunpowder.
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Then again, we’re Americans, so we have corn (not maize) and buffalo (not bison) because ‘Murica.
I was going to make some sarcastic remarks about Marissa Rothenberger, but now my heart’s not in it. That said, I’ll do it anyway, but I don’t think this is a Lia Thomas situation where some mediocre male athlete starts talking about “transitioning” at age 19 and starts HRT at 20.
Ach. Let’s get this over with, shall we? (read that in your Critical Drinker voice)
“Leave her alone! Marissa is of multiple protected classes: SHE is trans, she is mentally ill, and given the surname, may be of yet another protected class.”
—
Okay, with that out of the way… Apparently the mother had a new (altered) birth certificate issued for Marissa (henceforth MR) at age NINE stating that “she” was biologically female. This says a hell of a lot about the mother, and also says not good things about the State of Minnesota for going along with it. One wonders whether the poor kid had anything to do with this decision at all, or if this was largely a thing on the part of the parent, or parents. Normally I would not deadname MR by noting that her birth name was Charlie Dean, because deadnaming is Hate, but I think it is important here, as is the fact that MR’s father is called Russ. Charlie son of Russ doesn’t sound very Ashkenazic [1], so it’s quite possible these are just German people, which is the opposite of a protected class. So hopefully there’s at least that.
—
The other thing is that while MR is big and tall for a “female, her” shoulders are narrow relative to the hips, and MR would be a funny-looking guy as a guy. I don’t know much, if anything, about this sex-transition stuff (they certainly didn’t teach it when I went to med school; one wonders what they teach now…) but I wonder at what age was MR put on exogenous hormone “therapy” or if this is the natural body shape. Which, again, seems a bit weird for a normal male. This is probably a very complex case full of psychopathology all around (particularly looking at you, Ma Rothenberger), but much as I despise Victim Culture, I really think MR actually is a victim here.
—
[1] but then again “Mike” doesn’t sound very Sinotic, so you never know.
Children become the victims of mentally ill parents, and some medical practitioners seem to embrace that illness – or are they just in it for the money – or do they do it Mengele style in the name of ‘medical research?’ Stick to Beagles, crazy doctors! (Maybe that avenue is closed now, but you take my point.)
On a slightly different track, Big Pharma is having its lawyers go after President Trump’s executive order to match what the US Medicare system will pay to international prices. I’ve seen that when outside of the US too. What I would pay in Latin America is a fraction of what I’d pay for the same pills in the US.
MR’s mother should be in jail for child abuse. Curious what “Russ” says…no real dad would allow his son to be subjected to overwrought estrogen, in the mother and injected into his kid. Guessing (total spitball) they are divorced and the boy (as born) was trans’d by his mental mom who was given full custody by some mab-hating activist judge…who likely marched in the George Floyd is a victim parade.
While I agree with the concept of leveling the prices between nations of pharmaceuticals, I can’t grasp the legality or wisdom of price fixing via EOs.
Well, it was the Dems (under Senator Hillary ‘Cankles’ Clinton) that passed legislation that increased drug prices drastically, some by over 1,000%, here in America.
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Prescriptions like EpiPens, which went from around $40-50 per to $500 or more. Insulin that was $20 a vial went to $200-400 a vial, even though the formula and the process had been around for over 40 years for bio-synthesized insulin (Humulin) and over 100 years for animal-synthesized insulin.
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Funny, before Cankles and the Pharmacy executives went for windfall profits, the pharmacy companies were still making tons of profits. With the new legislation, which was pushed as needed to cover ‘research costs because reasons,’ pharmaceutical companies really started raking it in. With a decent portion of those same raked in excess profits being used as bribes to politicians.
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The companies will still be raking in huge profits here in America. Just not ginormously titanically overly large huge profits.
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Yanking away a lot of the bullscat legislation regaring Medicare and Medicaid will also reduce overall costs due to regulations and that will help offset some or a lot of the ‘loss of income’ due to Trump’s wishes.
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Anyone remember when Trump dropped insulin costs? And then on Biden’s first day Trump’s EO was cancelled and insulin prices shot up (with Biden’s admin blaming… Trump)? And then Biden’s admin dropping prices right before the midterms back to Trump’s levels? I do. Grrrr….
“increased drug prices drastically, some by over 1,000%”
Hah! Not hah about the price gouging. Hah because I couldn’t remember Martin Shkreli’s name. So I googled “shithead pharma executive” and he was basically the entire first page of hits. (We can’t generalize about an entire people from one individual, but that obligatory remark made, SHPE is not helping the reputation of Albanians.) So far as the EpiPen goes, that was Joe Manchin’s girl, Heather. Still don’t understand if she has an MBA from WVU or not…
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We have the best people, the most moral people, and real humanitarians yet, in charge. Yew betcha.
(Nearly) all children are the product of their parent(s) – and their teachers with whom they spend (usually) at least 6 hrs/day ~ 3⁄4s of the year.
I have no idea how much abuse, physical or mental, per parent, sibling, peer, teacher, or self, may account for this particular illness
If only if it was for money. Or for Mengelitism. Because then you could bribe them out of it. In many cases it’s genuine conviction that they’re doing The Right Thing, which is harder to bribe or threaten people out of. Bear in mind that most MDs are not original thinkers, and are not particularly courageous, morally speaking. The system selects for higher-IQ but not creative people who bow to hierarchy and salute the rank, regardless of whether the rank is pinned on a good man or on an idiot. If you weren’t that way going in, the clinical training program beats it into you.
—
No, I’m not bitter about it, and I fully recognize that you can’t have ANY system full of essentially anarchists (high-IQ weirdo idiot political philosophies notwithstanding). But modern medicine is about conforming. A LOT of medicine is pattern recognition and following algorithms (Guidelines). This is not a criticism per se, Evidence-based Guidelines are great, most of the time. Cardiology is one of the most evidence-based specialties (and I LIKE that there is a lot of quantitative data supporting our professional society guidelines), but this pattern recog/guidelines way of thinking spills over into other stuff. If an “expert” in a position of “authority” tells you so, an MD is unlikely to be the person saying, “Wait a minute, let’s go back to first principles and think about whether this is morally justifiable.”
—
All that said, I’ve been immersed in Academic Medicine (at leading institutions, yet; I said modestly) and Academic physicians tend to be more leftist than private practice guys. And “top” medical schools generally lead the “progressive” edge of generally lefty academic medicine. So one might dial back what I said above 15-20%. But not much more than that. As I said to two colleagues and very good friends last week (both Trump hating, dead-Pope Francis loving; one atheist but (shockingly not obnoxious about it), the other a devout Roman Catholic) “I’ve essentially been behind enemy lines my entire professional life.
No wonder the medical delivery system is a hosed up mess. To your point, we don’t see a doctor regularly, healthy, and for me, rather not know until I’m half dead. But we got forced into the system a few years back. Things like, “We have no records for you, did you get a Covid vaccine?”, to which I launched into my rant…err…calm statement…that it wasn’t a vaccine but an EUA unlabeled blah, blah, and there exists not vaccine for coronavirus, GoF’d or regular flavor.”
Seriously weird situation being told we were not in the system (HIPPA be damned I guess). Turns out it was downhill from there, the MD was useless, read from her Big Pharma flow chart of “things”, the cardiologist never pulled out his stethoscope, and more bloodwork than we could have imagined. Then, after working hard on the situation ourselves, got to some resolution with an top person in her field, who suggested “virus”. But we needed more “checking” as things were seriously out of balance. In that last phase, the last medical professional we saw was a PA at a local Urgent Care…he was/is a 1000 fold better than the MD. In short order, after two years of crazy, we gained full resolution…because he asked the right questions, used his head, looked at the CT scan, got confirmation from a radiologist, researched a few things, and sent us to a neurologist that apparently takes 8 months to get an appointment these days…due to “the system” run by insurance crooks. The neuro got to bottom of the “fix” inside of of an hour. No more pharma required. No more guessing by people who have mo business being clinicians.
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Another anecdote…
MrsPaulM was a senior in veterinary school, one day out and about ran into an old friend. Gal wasn’t doing well…for a year. Doctors were baffled…tests, drugs, more tests…spitballing without a clue or resolution. MrsPaulM hears this, then immediately says, “sounds like plague”. It was, and the correct meds took care of the problem inside of a week, whereas the MD’s had no clue and put this gal through a protracted hell. Tunnel vision is never good on such things.
It’s amazing and scary how many cases of ‘plague’ are actually here in the US of A. Not uncommon at all on Indian Reservations out west, nor in big cities. And the usual diagnosis is ‘illness of unknown origins’ and definitely not plague.
Anarchists are British persons who play repetitive rock music too loud and light cars on fire during riots; I’m a libertarian. If a libertarian political philosophy were to actually work as advertised then by definition it doesn’t matter how other people feel about it. None work yet, but it’s close.
I was astounded when stationed in NoDak how many “Jewish” names I found – in people of (unquestionable) Swedish/Danish Lutheran extraction across the river in Minnesota
Jewish Vikings?
I like that top picture!
~~
The volcano off Oregon? Not new, it last erupted 10 years ago. “During the volcano’s last eruption in April 2015”
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Q- “Will humanity shoot itself in the foot with the propagandist’s vilification of Elon Musk? Will we return to a space dark age for the vindication of the radical left, or will we push out to colonize the Moon and Mars?”
A- Well yes, the cabal will do whatever is required to discredit Trump, their power is ALL that matters & Trump is their ONLY enemy. (That’s easier to do when you own the media).
~~
Bloomberg – Isn’t he one of the democrat oligarchs? Keeps trying to disarm Americans?
Bloomberg is a switch-hitter. He was a Democrat until 2001, when he switched to the Republican Party to run for mayor. He switched to an independent in 2007 and registered again as a Democrat in October 2018. I think that he’s still a democrat, but it could change based on historical precedents. He only wants his bodyguards to have firearms. I can’t say as I blame him. In the world of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
If you support Trump, you are a racist, a bigot, etc.
Yes, I am.
But maybe not Islamophobic. Pres. Trump seems to be getting on well with the Arabs these days.
Me too…and when the government says buy a garage full of TP…I don’t…yet watch the panicked hordes at Costco with disbelief and disdain…as I add more chicken soup, popcorn, and ice cream to my cart.
I must confess to having a spare Costco 40 pack of Costco TP and paper towels in addition to the pack in use at the moment. 2 is 1 and 1 is none… This is since COVID. Prior to that, I made do with one 40-pack of each, replenishing as needed.
We rural folks don’t count as excessive having an extra bulk pack of TP, tissues in both long and square box, and paper towels (which double as napkins) on hand in the garage any more than having a few extra [thousand] rounds of ammo. That’s just smaaatt, as they say in Southie.
Okay I used to keep closets and cabinets full of paper towel, toilet paper and Kleenex. We’d laugh and he would respond that he’s going to use it someday someway and when it’s on sale buy it. This is before Costco or Sam’s club.
I don’t know what happened there but I was talking about my dad.
Never hurts to be prepared…even if on funny stuff you can stock up on at a moments notice. Brother had his prepper room, shelves with all manner of stuff, and I mean everything imaginable, some of it cool. He had to keep a spreadsheet inventory to rotate thru on stuff that could go bad. We pick on him that he won the “whoever dies with the most stuff wins”…but man…if ever the zombie apocalypse happens we all know where supplies can be had that’d last a year off grid. Heh
Ah So! The sales guys at TOTO (washlet) have finally realized how to sell a $1000+ toilet seat
There’s always pine cones and sticks and snow in higher country.
I bought a Toto toilet a number of years ago. I think it’s the best brand of toilet you can buy. The design is very well done. Low volume toilet with high flow and an adjustable setback.
If China’s economy is failing, why invest in the Yuan?
They readjust the value of the RMB all the time, so you have no idea what it will be worth in relation to major currencies. If they benchmarked the RMB and kept it there they couldn’t manipulate currency, which is the PRC’s stock in trade.