Recent content by Lethe200

Great whites are not the mankillers the movies like to portray them as. For one thing, humans don't taste very good, LOL. Seriously, most sharks take one bite and then leave. Of course, that bite can be deadly - due to blood loss. Sever an artery and a human bleeds out in minutes...

Nope, a fad and nobody misses it. I doubt Gen Xers and younger have ever even SEEN one, let alone slept on one.

No vaccine is 100% guaranteed or trouble-proof. But the dangers from virus pandemics is VERY real, and not to be ignored. Remember that "herd immunity" is to protect those who CANNOT be vaccinated, such as babies, or anyone with a compromised immune system, such as recovering cancer patients (of...

Don't mistake currency exchange rates for a nation's GDP. My take? The US is currently in THE most enviable position in the world. The problems we have, are shared by many countries whose economies are doing more poorly than ours. Our currency remains stable, the Fed has managed to bring...

Australia has become the leading source of US-purchased lamb because it's cheaper than most domestic lamb. Raising sheep isn't as profitable as cattle ranching and as even cattle ranchers are having financial issues, supply is down and therefore prices go up - capitalism in action. 'Gaminess'...

I would assume Quaid realizes that there is NO ONE GRID. Power transmission is broken up into little fiefdoms run by separate utilities which install, repair, and maintain their own geographical grids - no one else's. In one sense, it makes the US vulnerable to area/regional breakdowns. From...

Yes, we did extensive investigation when my MIL needed to move to a seniorcare facility. Visited 8, selected the 3 semi-finalists, made another round of visits to those 3, got it down to 2 and made ANOTHER round of visits, investigating all parts of the facility including watching the activity...

Worst advice: "Why buy LTC insurance? It's much too expensive and you probably won't need it." It's true, we might not need it. But if we DO, the costs would quickly put the surviving spouse in straits. And if BOTH of us need care - we are only 2 yrs apart - we would run through our entire...

A bit of irony in unintended consequences: This immigrant group used to fill S.F.’s bars, fire houses with workers. The pipeline has gone dry SF Chronicle March 17, 2024 Back in 2008, when bar owner Brian Sheehy had just three San Francisco drinking establishments, nearly half of his 30...

Nope, was never interested. We use a professional CFP firm for our investment portfolio and are happy with the results. We never needed to play the game of "who has the most $$$$$$$?" Spouse and I long ago decided that a good work/life balance was worth more than killing ourselves on high-stress...

LOL re Musk. If you have any working knowledge of financial institutions, the Federal Reserve, and global banking transactions, you would know that Musk - even IF he had any such intentions - hasn't got a snowball's chance in you-know-what of accomplishing it. "X" has long been a nickname for...

Interesting that there was no bi-partisan support for Schakowsky's bill; you'd think this is an issue that crosses political boundaries. I guess that's the way it goes these days, in Congress. When Medicaid Comes After the Family Home Federal law requires states to seek reimbursement from the...

Adventurous, long-time high-end gourmet, altho we stop short of ridiculously excessive tasting menu restaurants like Alinea and Benu, as Spouse isn't a big fan of 'frou-frou' food, as he likes to describe it. We do go to more reasonably priced (comparatively speaking) 1- and 2-star Michelin...

Polio was essentially wiped out in the US due to an intensive, mandatory vaccination program when the Salk vaccine was perfected. Thus, need for new iron lung machines disappeared, and eventually became a smaller and smaller 'replacement parts' manufacturing. There was no reason for...

If you’re still using these dated words, you’re not alone Washington Post by Benjamin Dreyer, guest columnist March 12, 2024 Benjamin Dreyer, the former executive managing editor and copy chief at Random House, is the author of “Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style.”...