shalafi

I have 2.5 acres of swamp in Florida. I would starve very quickly if confined to that land. Yes, even with all my modern tools and knowledge, even given electricity and clean water.

From my casual reading of history and what was invented/discovered at what times in different areas, life before, say, 1830-1850 would be unrecognizable to us. Hell, drop me back in my teens and I’d struggle to remember how to navigate the 80s! In just 55-years, I’ve seen such radical changes I sometimes feel swamped by history and tech.

Health risks aside, I hate Teflon shit. It wears out, throw it, buy another. And it’s not a thing you usually get used because it’s trashed.

I’m all in on cast iron, but now I have my eye on carbon steel pans. Had carbon steel knives for years, love to try a pan!

I’m not picky with fast food, but the local Wendy’s is revolting. Only went in there for the chili sauce, now that’s not enough to tempt me. The Burger King is even worse and the McDonald’s get worse with each visit.

Cookware is all but free in America. Spend a Saturday hitting garage sales as they close down and people are giving stuff away. Wife toted a load home last week, $.25 an item or free, couple of things were $1.

I could see a mechanism for this. Wife and I just had COVID, and I seem to have scored the long-form version. My lungs are so fucked up that walking to the bathroom and back gets my heart racing.

She scored a banging deal and a metal shed we need, went to take it apart yesterday. Pretty hard work disassembling the thing for an hour and a half in the heat.

Today my lungs are better than they’re been in weeks and I suspect that came from pumping air in and out.

Grateful you’ve written all this, and I read every word and upvoted every post.

If you’re not American, you sure know our history!

Maybe I missed it, but again, give out fluctuating politics, why would anyone build factories here? If we had a hard line on tariffs, were willing to eat the short term pain, and stuck with it, I can see results. Looking at it from a capitalist’s point of view, all I see is wild risk, better to hold my cards for now.

Here’s the rub, and you said it: The tariffs may not last and our politics come in 4-year intervals. Who in their right mind is going to build factories here given the outrageous risk?

Also, not sure what you’re on about with America not being able to defend itself? Chinese rare earth export bans?