How is it a stimulus to dealers? Looks to me like they're being driven out of state.

The only place I know where this works is in Venezuela.

Literally, I read an article (years ago) that said there were illegal gold mining towns in Venezuela where you could use gold dust to buy things.

Do you know - do you have to pay sales tax in your jurisdiction, when buying gold?

There's been a recent change in Washington State in this area. Gold sales now being taxed in Washington State

He checked it out:

I don't think many people here would have a good opinion of Mamdani. And I don't either. But this clip from a debate among the NYC mayoral candidates was illuminating.

Basically, all the candidates EXCEPT for Mamdani said their first visit to a foreign country, after winning the election, would be to Israel.

And Mamdani said that he would stay in NYC, serving the people of NYC.

That clip will open the eyes of people who, like me, didn't realize how powerful Israel is in US politics.

I know someone who, after every workout, treated himself to his favorite food, Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Needless to say, not a recipe for health...

What food do you grow?

Dude, I can't figure you out. You're insanely pro-China. Where does that come from? Care to enlighten us?

Really? Don't they make the items we buy much more expensive?

Or are you saying the pain for citizens of other countries is worse?

Too bad the nutritional guidelines don't even recommend low carb for those with metabolic disorders. Nina Teicholtz (author of The Big Fat Surprise) is trying to change that, wonder what'll happen.

My take on this - diet is a negative effort. In other words, you're NOT doing something. You're not eating the trash.

Exercise, though, is a positive effort. You're doing something extra. To me, that takes more energy and willpower.

I don't know, maybe I'm just past the stage where junk foods are tempting to me, so I don't even notice the "effort" in the diet aspect.

Yeah, that stuff can be insanely contagious. It whipped through our whole family one Christmas, years ago.

That's what struck me - it was exactly, in the same order, rewriting what I said.

Yeah.

It's gotta be extremely difficult nowadays to algorithmically distinguish between humans and bots. Because I know that some of the captchas that I run into nowadays? Some people I know, especially older ones, couldn't solve them.

I just did a little volunteer chore for a local organization, with lots of older people. It involved people clicking on a link, and filling out a simple short form. About 25% of people requested help with it.

Translation

Cuban folktale, actually made up based on real events, but it's anonymous because any Cuban who lived through it knows what it's about. It goes like this: A chicken was running at full speed, and millions of Cubans were chasing after it. Now, the pig says to the cow, "Hide, because they'll come for you!" To which the cow replied, "Bah, don't worry about me, because they've already forgotten about me."

Moral of the story: In Cuba, we stopped eating meat every week, and we don't even see it in spiritual centers anymore. It's gotten so bad that we don't even know what it tastes like anymore. Be careful, you might end up vegan 🤣 or chasing after eggs

The local grocery used to give beef fat trimmings away for free. Now they charge a little bit for it - only $.49/lb. An amazing bargain. I now prefer tallow over butter.

I'm completely shocked that ground beef can be 2.99/lb in California! That goes against my bias about prices there.

I've definitely been doing the big 10 pound rolls of ground beef. I have a developed by trial and error a pretty good way of dividing it up (after messing around WAY too much, weighing out ground beef in ziplock bags).

My method is - just cut the 10 pound roll in 3 parts, of 3.3 pounds each. Leaving the existing plastic on. Then take a circle of plastic from a cut-up thick ziplock bag. Put it on each of the cut ends, and secure with a silicone band (silicone bands last way longer than rubber bands, and are far more resistant to cold and heat).

Then I don't need to worry about freezer burn, and using 10 pounds of ground beef at one time.

Also, even if a don't need the 3.3 pound package, I'll always just bake some meatballs or patties of the leftovers. Nothing is wasted.