Belize. Tiny country next to Mexico and Guatemala. I was there in August for scuba diving. Population under 200,000.

It’s British Commonwealth so everyone speaks English; has Mayan ruins and extensive caves; it’s next to the second largest reef system in the world and has fantastic scuba diving.

Old time comic W. C. Fields was once asked how to become successful.

He said a man should castrate himself, burn out his taste buds, make himself as blind and deaf as possible, and then the only thing he could enjoy was money.

[off topic]

A while back I gave my friend $50 for his birthday. I got fifty ‘gold’ dollars at the bank and gave them in a drawstring purse [the kind Robin Hood or Conan the Barbarian would carry]

He really enjoyed it.

Yeah, a factory worker would get $5 and pay back $6 the next week. That was a terrible crime. Then Reagan deregulated the banks and it became business as usual.

Sounds like ‘pay day loans’ in the US.

Back in the day, a loan shark was a criminal who charged an outrageous 20% interest for money. Working class folks were at the mercy of these “six-for-fivers.”

Ronald Reagan became President and now established banks could charge 35% or more.

I have a 5 liter pot. I’ll make a big batch of chili/stew/soup and freeze it in pint size containers. Right now I have portions of lentil soup and chili sitting in the freezer. It takes me five minutes to microwave.

Try this one.

“Altered States.”

A Harvard neuroscientist is experimenting with sensory deprivation and other hallucinogens.

I just noped out of a book called “Exquisite Corpse” by Poppy Z. Brite. It’s torture porn with necrophilia and sadism by the ton. It’s actually well written, but I just got sick of it.

First school book I ever noped out of.

I saw it as a play, and it was amazing. Never understood why English teachers have students read plays. The whole point of a play is to have it performed. It’s like trying to teach swimming in an empty pool.

And your comment is relevant to 0.005% of the people in the world.

Addiction is separate from circumstances.

Look at Heath Ledger, Amy Winehouse, Michael Jackson, etc etc etc.

Heath was young, successful, dating a billionaire, and had everything in the world at his fingertips. He decided to have a one man party with drugs and alcohol.

Think about it this way. In 1960, minimum wage was $1.00/hour and the average home was $11,000.00 In 1968, when Richard Nixon took office, ‘middle class’ meant one Union job supporting a family of four. By the time Bush Sr. left office in 1992 “middle class” was two college jobs to support the household.

Anyone can meditate.

You don’t have to imagine the beach or the mountains. Just find a quiet spot in your mind. Some folks just look at the inside of their eyelids.

It took me a long time to get the racing thoughts to settle down. One thing I would do is close my eyes and start the meditation by thinking about fireworks going off. After a few explosions it was easy to tell myself it was time to relax.

Inhale on ‘one,’ hold a beat and then exhale on ‘two.’ Repeat.

Even if it’s five seconds to start it’s a beginning.

You can also do it while walking or riding a bike. Obviously you don’t close your eyes, but you try to think about nothing but the next step or push on the pedal.

You can learn to meditate anywhere.

It’s like any other skill, you have to put some effort in at the start, but the results are worth it.

You don’t need meditation tapes, candles, or anything else.

Find a quiet place, sit down, close your eyes and try to find a quiet spot in your mind. A beach or a mountain top or grandma’s kitchen; wherever you feel most serene.

You can just count “one, two one, two” as you breath in and out.

Just try to keep your thoughts quiet for ten seconds to start. Then work up to 30 seconds, and then a minute.

“My dad says you used to be evil, but now you’re just cranky.”

iirc

Does this mean that by voting Republican we can secure abortion rights? The answer is no.

Actually, by your own post, in Alaska it does.

New York City established Ranked Choice voting in 2020 under a Dem Mayor and majority Dem City Council.

[off topic]

I remember the golden age of the DVD Man. That noble soul who had all the latest movies on DVD a day after they opened. Quality ranged from someone recording the movie in the theater with a camcorder to perfect copies taken directly from the source.

Find a successful club and talk to the people who run it.

Doesn’t have to be related to your particular area; just a club that’s been running a while.

Also, these things take work. I do a bit of work in the groups I belong to, and I see the folks at the top doing way more work.