I have become more and more suspicious of population numbers over the last few years. I spent a lot of years in the long term care insurance industry. At one point, a Chinese firm thar was a type of real estate conglomerate was in talks to purchase Genworth which has the largest book of LTCI policies in the US. It was a weird deal that ultimatelydid not come to fruition, but basically, the story/issue was China knew where it was heading due to an aging population and one-child rule - who was going to take care of everyone? Anyway, you have, what two generations of one-child rule, yet the population kept expanding? Did people in Africa/India, etc. have double the number of kids to make up for that, especially as western birth rates fell? If you can't afford four kids, are you going to say, "Well, we need to make up for China's short fall this year, honey - move over!" Even if they did, it still too short of a time period. Last time I checked, it still takes 9 months, not counting nursing time, etc. I am not smart enough to figure the math, but something just doesn't seem right about it.
Did you know that the UN designated 10/12/1999 as 'The Day of Six Billion' ? I am willing to bet a nickel there is probably more to that. Right at the end if the 20th century and on the cusp of forever wars. The fact the rhetoric about climate rose at the same time makes me go 'hmmmm".
And yes, the argument that people are living longer - I am not saying that that is not true. But in 25 years we went from 6B to over 8B? A single generation and how many wars fought by people of child bearing age? Something does not add up. It is akin to the same idea that if it comes from Official Sources (TM), it must be true. Like 'breakfast is the most important meal of the day'. But is it?
I read something several years ago on generations - this was probably when Millennials were being fawned over in the media. It defined them as 'the wanted children ' because Gen X wad the generation the boomers took the pull to avoid having. The author admitted that stung, but didn't deny it either.
The pill is the absolute game changer that doesn't get the attention it should.
The word search puzzle analogy is a good one. I know exactly what you mean when the word suddenly appears. It is like those pictures that were popular back in the 90s. It looked like a blob of color but if you stared at it long enough, you would see the 3-D wolf or sailboat or whatever. But once you saw it, you could not unsee it.
From the Just the News article:
"The Democratic staffer told FBI agents during an August 2017 interview at the Bullfeathers restaurant in the nation’s capital that he was told by various HPSCI staffers in the October 2016 timeframe that if former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won the November 2016 election, Schiff would be offered the position of CIA director. The staffer told the FBI in December 2017 that “the mood within HPSCI was indescribable” after Trump's win, and that Schiff “was particularly upset, as he believed he would have been appointed as the Director of CIA” had Clinton won the election."
These things deserve nothing but our scorn.
I always saw him as more of a Manchurian candidate - he was a powerful tool. The whole shift of the institutional press to not criticizing government began with him.
(One thing I noticed in the thread was the reference to the next 90 days. That puts us to the week of the initial drops.)
I don't use an app, but this was a good way to do it. I have just cut back and buy less and less but still pay more and more. What really gets you now are non-food items - cleaners, paper products, shampoo, toothpaste, etc. All are $10-$20, easy. You really have to look hard for a decent price.
Hubby got his first increase since 1/2023. It was...$0.80. He had capped back in 2023, but things are waaay different.
It was really insulting TBH - this isn't 1956. You couldn't up it to a buck? Seriously? The sad thing is we need it, but CPI in the same time frame has increased almost 8% and that doesn't take into account food/energy. Considering the taxes that are taken out, he basically was given an egg an hour.
Ditto on the phone. And don't remember the PW. And the phone is one day gonna give up the ghost. I have checked email accounts, you name it. I guess eventually I am going to have to just start over which kind of sucks because I saved a lot of stuff.
There are literally so many options out there to watch/listen. Regardless of the programning, they act like there is still only AM in the car, and TVs where you have to get up to change the channel. Anything that was on those channels can be found in multiple other places.. So why do we continue to fund it?
(I know why, but the argument needs to be made to the handwringers - this was the buggy whip factory. Time to learn how to code!)
This might explain the story about "nuclear wasps" (i.e. Murder Hornets = hired killers). The story screams comms, but I couldn't figure out the SC angle. I forgot about they died there.
https://dailycaller.com/2025/07/31/radioactive-wasp-nest-nuclear-weapons-plant-south-carolina/
I have a friend who is like this. It is disappointing. I want to shake him a bit and say ' Dude, you can't afford to be an ostrich..'
When I think about it, he does have a lot on his shoulders. His dad passed a couple of years ago and he is the patriarch now - not just in his immediate family, but his birth family and his wife's family (her parents are gone and her brother would like to be the man, but he is a flake). However, I try to hint that because of your responsibilities, you need to pay attention to what going on because you are going to be the person they turn to first. So far, haven't had much luck.
He still eats lunch at this place called Sam's in downtown SF. He has a table in the corner where he kind of holds court. He sits in the corner, facing the room to observe, and usually has a few people with him. The last time I was there was maybe six months ago for a client meeting. I noticed he is really starting to slow down. Has an aide and not the political kind. It's the kind to help you get up and walk around.
I was never a fan of his politics, but he is not dumb. He comes from a time when they were corrupt and smart. Now you have corrupt and stupid. That's not an improvement.
After the Santa Rosa fires, I attended a talk where representatives from AIG's fire division (they had their own firefighting unit at the time) and CalFire reps were presenting on best practices for fire prevention. This must have been 2018-2019. One thing I learned was a healthy forest has 80-90 trees per acre. California averages 300 trees per acre and at the time was estimated to have a million dead trees. The fuel load is INSANE. Still is and yet, little is done.
I am not giving a pass to insurance carriers here. BUT - it is not a bottomless pool of money. The government plays a huge role in this - they set the terms, they approve the products, the permits to build and they manage the land - or are supposed to theoretically. Personally. I think they like having insurance to be the convenient boogeyman for their failures - intentional and unintentional - because it is an excuse to cry for more tax money- why? You aren't using it properly now, why should you be given more? (I know, I know)
Okay, I have a question. Most of the elevators in high rise office buildings don't have buttons in them anymore - this was common in SF even before CV and I have to think it is the same in NY, especially in buildings with high profile tenants. If you are an employee, you have a key card. If you are a guest, everything is controlled from the lobby. You don't just walk up the elevator bank and "pick one" because it now has to be "told" where to go.
So, how did he get where he was going? I seriously doubt it was blind luck.
After my grandma died several years ago, a letter from the county came to her house - she had been living in assisted living before she passed. She was also under a conservatorship managed by my mom, and if you are familiar with conservatorships, the county is very involved. It was from the elections board, saying they had received notice of a change of address. (Uh, yeah, you might call it that.) I wonder how many "change of addresses " are out there.