A story indicative of the state of the American psyche. No one stopped to help, and those who did only kind of helped, but not really. This is really sad.
 
 
Man Dies After Getting Caught In Escalator

Posted by: Caveman | May 17 2026 14:36 utc | 3

Ooh ooh got a thought.
The arc of histor,  as it repeats. 
The MAGA neo nazism.
 
 
Fascist methods of fearing the ‘Other. I hope I can keep it short.
Grab a drink worshippers of the MoA kirk  and lend me your eyeballs.
 
 
Believing that the ‘American State’ was any thing else but a Robber Barons creation has been one of the greatest lies that yanks and collective waste now believe with our hollywoodised ‘history’ consumption.
If it is on a screen it is real!
 
 
The great con – the sudden abracadabrad ‘American’ “race” – as somehow not ‘AngloEuropean’.
 
With millions of African slaves and labourers transported from Asia as well as the tens of millions sucked out of Europe being pushed to emigrate.

That ‘sudden’ creation was wholly planned by the global robbers. The drama of the creation myth, the founding fathers myth, the Washington chopping down the cherry tree myth all as subtle as the ‘first’ Millenia, Year Zero, myth of the judaeo Christianity of the Holy Roman Empire; created to supersede the no longer believable Roman Gods and Wolf raised children who founded that ‘empire’.

Science was insisting that the universe didn’t revolve around the earth never mind the sun and planets! Or their fake gods chosen representatives in the world with power of life or death over all creation! The Old Bastards always reinvent with new fictions! 
 
MAGA:MIGA
 
Make America Go Away : Make Izzyhell Go Away.
 
 
That’ll do. Amen. 
 
From The River to The Sea Palestine always will be! 

Posted by: DunGroanin | May 17 2026 15:07 utc | 5

thanks b….. so many challenges face the world today and there are many good people trying to make a difference… i hope that is all of you too! 

Posted by: james | May 17 2026 15:24 utc | 7

“We Analyzed Thousands of News Articles: Here’s the Proof of Pro-Israel Bias in Mainstream Media – Intercept”
Anyone who needs this article at this point in history is absolutely clueless.  Is there any debate about it among honest people?
 

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | May 17 2026 16:46 utc | 9

Vis-a-vis Hollywood AI stories here is a plot for “Revenge of the Whales”, wherein AI is used to decipher Cetacean language and the Whales rat out the hidden submarines that have been tormenting them across all the Seas.
 

Vowel- and Diphthong-Like Spectral Patterns in Sperm Whale Codas
 
Abstract
 
The sperm whale communication system, consisting of groups of clicks called codas, has been primarily analyzed in terms of the number of clicks and their inter-click timing. This paper reports spectral properties in sperm whale vocalizations and demonstrates that spectral properties are highly structured, discretely distributed across codas, and uttered in dialogues, rather than being a physical artefact of whale movement. We report formant structure in whale codas and uncover previously unobserved spectral patterns. We argue that these spectral properties freely combine with the traditionally analyzed properties. We present a visualization technique that allows the description of several previously unobserved patterns. Codas are on many levels analogous to human vowels and diphthongs and can be conceptualized in terms of the source-filter theory: vowel duration and pitch correspond to the number of clicks and their timing (traditional coda types), while spectral properties of clicks correspond to formants in human vowels.
 
…
 
This paper proposes that another dimension—spectral properties of clicks—are highly structured, discretely distributed among codas, and thus potentially meaningful in the communication system of sperm whales. We hypothesize that recurrent spectral patterns can be observed across individual whales. We report formants (or resonant frequencies) in codas and describe and quantify these patterns, raising the possibility that sperm whales actively control spectral properties which have the potential to carry meaning.
 
and so on ==> https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12594577/

 
Perhaps the most useful feature of Large Language Models is translation.
 

Posted by: too scents | May 17 2026 16:59 utc | 11

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | May 17 2026 16:50 utc
 
 
I’m a tool because I’m sickened that no one stopped to help? I’m sorry, I don’t understand your attack on me. 

Posted by: Caveman | May 17 2026 17:08 utc | 13

Posted by: Caveman | May 17 2026 17:08 utc | 13
 
 
I get it now. You don’t understand the demographics of the area. The people walking by him were mostly, I would assume, condo owners who displaced the actual residents of Somerville, Harvard Business School students, Tufts Grad School students, and other community destroyers. If you want the working class, you have to go to the other end of the train line, to JFK, Savin Hill, Shawmut, and Ashmont. Those people would not have walked on by because those are real neighborhoods.

Posted by: Caveman | May 17 2026 17:17 utc | 15

Posted by: UWDude | May 17 2026 17:26 utc | 16
 
 
 
I used to know a girl many years ago who would scream rape then her and her boyfriend would rob whoever came to help. Grim shit. I can understand not running to help someone screaming, although I probably would, but when someone is dying right there and there are definite, obvious options to help them, I can’t understand not doing so. I would bet that a lot of these people will be facing charges for not helping now. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t, I suppose. I would rather do and be damned, I guess. The only times I have been in a position to help, I have done so. I punched a guy many many times-who later identified himself as cop-for assaulting people out side of a bar once. Turned out he was a constable, and when the actual cops showed, he put his badge away real quick, but still, I’m glad I acted. 

Posted by: Caveman | May 17 2026 17:36 utc | 17

Posted by: UWDude | May 17 2026 17:26 utc | 16
“I’ve saved a man’s life at threat risk of getting shot. (I bluffed.  I was armed to scare away three blacks guys beating a tiny little white bum to death.)” [modified punctuation]
+++++
 
Virtue has its own rewards…
 
I once aided a drunk woman in distress when working a summer job in college with college mates. (We put linseed oil on cement bridges to stop frost damage. I was a flagwoman.)
 
The crew would stay in hotels and motels across the state. One hotel had a pool hall in its bar, thus my meeting a drunk woman in the WC one evening after supper while playing pool. I offered to call a cab for her.
 
My reward?
 
The bully who brought her to the pool hall and fed her drinks was busy playing poker for money at a table in front. He followed us out after he collected his loot. He was not happy to be interrupted.  He punched me in the mouth, fracturing my jaw and breaking a front tooth. I looked at him like the idiot i was and said, blood dripping down my face and hand — with which i touched the impact site, “You hit me.”  No shit sherlock.
 
As the criminal absconded with the drunk woman, picking her up to stuff her in his car, she screamed at me, “Don’t press charges! He’ll kill me. He’ll kill me.”
 
 
~~

Posted by: suzan | May 17 2026 18:09 utc | 19

see the 20-second video at the link
 
 
 
https://x.com/wyattreed13/status/2055979078331638170
Wyatt Reed  @wyattreed13 
 
A massive crowd assembled in La Paz’s working class twin city, El Alto, to demand Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz resign 
 
Indigenous-led demonstrations come as the Bolivian regime was caught preparing to launch a US-backed operation to kidnap Evo Morales with 2,000+ troops & cops
 

Posted by: michaelj72 | May 17 2026 18:23 utc | 21

the story where I saved the guy happened on a bridge,about three minutes after the beaters fled, a cop was driving down the bridhe, so I flagged him down, told him everything, (with bum sitting on curb, mouth drooling blood, and blood coming out of an ear), and the cop didnt even get out to look at the guy.   In fact, he took no statement and kind of smirked when I was telling him the story.
 
My suspicion is it was a punishment, the bum had strong meth vibes, so I am thinking he may have ripped off the cops’ favored gang or something.

Posted by: UWDude | May 17 2026 18:30 utc | 23

Posted by: Patroklos | May 17 2026 19:26 utc | 24
 
People have always been, by and large, cowards, nor do they act well under pressure without training.
 
Caveman, watching the video, talking about what could have been done.   Most people wouldnt think to hit a big red button at a gas station if an fire broke out.
 
Now there are just cameras to prove it.
 
It reminds me of a check I got when you get:
 
My roommate told me he and his friends had just been robbed, at gunpoint, in their house, by two Mexicans with masks for about $800 worth of weed.
 
The mexicans said, “stay calm, gives us the weed, and we’ll go”.  They comply.  over in a minute.
 
He finished the story, and I said, “man I woulda this and that and that and this”  You know, a lot of talk, that does not actually consider the gravity of the situation, and instead just plays out some fantasy
 
He replied, “yeah you think that but in actual situation…”.
 
He was right, in my minds eye, it was happening in my own house, not a strangers house, in my. minds eye, I was aware, and had my gun nearby, ready to go.  In my minds eye I was a fearless hero like the movies.
 
But movies are about heroes for a reason, be ause heroes are RARE.
 
 

Posted by: UWDude | May 17 2026 19:44 utc | 25

Tickle Vs Giggle: ‘Sex is Not Biological’
 
https://jbilek.substack.com/p/tickle-vs-giggle-is-no-laughing-matter
 
“…Australia, where the case of Tickle Vs Giggle was decided, is not just any jurisdiction. It is a a global leader in assisted reproductive technology. A significant percentage of its children are conceived through IVF. The same society that is technologically disassembling reproduction is legally disassembling sex…”

Posted by: John Gilberts | May 17 2026 20:26 utc | 27

Fun with fiat currency; via https://no01.substack.com/p/weekend-thoughts-0e3 this chart appeared, showing the gold price in Weimar Marks up to 1923: https://x.com/Silver__Santa/status/2055442913669132490
 
An extreme example of what can happen when counterparties lose confidence in the “full faith and credit” of the currency issuer, and the currency issuer does not have the military means to enforce acceptance at the point of a gun, or by deployment of a Carrier Battle Group that has been nullified by advances in missile capability.

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | May 17 2026 20:28 utc | 29

Another example of how disruptive AI is:

The Detector Prospector site was amongst the, if not the, best for finding honest info and review on all related. Meaning it was very grounded by knowledgeable contributors. Previously, when looking for information, it would be two or three dedicated forum sites that would appear, now it takes quite specific searches. The rest of results given are sales, bland generated reviews, more trivial forums and so on. It is now hard to find a way through the endless repetition and empty info, those not used to decent forums would not even try probably, for not knowing better existed.

“March 31, 2026 – When I wrote this post in July 2023 my life was obviously headed in a different direction. Unfortunately a side effect of this was that the forum no longer received the attention from me that it had in the past. New forms of social media also took a toll. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐀𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐨𝐧. In the end though I have to say it was really me withdrawing from daily involvement that lead to where we are now. As of 3/31/2026 I have closed the forums to further new activity. The site will remain frozen in time and in place for as long as ad revenue at least breaks even with support costs. In closing, my thanks to the many fine people who contributed and made the forum what it was. Farewell.

Steve Herschbach”

https://www.detectorprospector.com/topic/23503-over-50-years-of-metal-detecting-gold-prospecting/

Posted by: Ornot | May 17 2026 21:12 utc | 31

I can’t make heads or tails of the escalator death video. Of course the media won’t show the whole thing as it played out in a continuous segment. So it’s hard to pass judgment. Either way, I’d like to think I’d have tried to help, more than what others did anyway. Did the guy look tipsy/drunk as he stepped onto the escalator at the top to anyone else? Seemed a little wobbly to me. 
 
I’ve rarely found myself in a situation like those others have described above. Several times I’ve intervened in fights between two dudes if it looked lopsided or like bullying, but I’m willing to take a punch if needed. Never actually did get punched tho. The only incident that stands out in my mind was at a Whataburger drive-thru in West Texas late at night on a weekday. I don’t even remember what I was doing there, but I was parked in a lot looking down on the drive-thru window and a dude had passed out in his car while waiting for his food.  The worker was able to get him to wake up, but some busybody off duty cop happened by the scene and started roughing him up trying to pull him out of the car. I think it’s actually a crime to do so in most states, but I stupidly yelled down that I was a defense attorney and I was watching and would represent the guy in court if the cop didn’t stop his shit. Surprisingly it worked and he left. Afterwards I climbed down there and asked the dude if he was OK, trying to see if he should be driving in his condition. Turns out he was a narcoleptic and not drunk, had an episode due to not enough of some medication. Said he lived a few blocks away and I stopped being nosy at that point and watched him drive away safely. 
 
Would I do that again? Definitely not the part about saying I was a lawyer, and probably not at all. I have no idea what would’ve happened if I didn’t intervene other than someone getting beaten up, accused of assaulting an off-duty cop (cops and bullies always accuse the victim of what they are the ones doing) and had the on-duty cops called on him. But I’m pretty jaded and cynical now. My own albatross to bear, I guess. Still think I’d have tried to help the escalator guy. 

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 17 2026 21:29 utc | 33

@34 bling

Sometimes it seems to be how various legal systems work…from the Samaritan angle of “stopping to help people in need” however.

They also appear to encourage being called upon by “criminal predators pretending to be helplessly stranded”, at least as long as there is something to be had from that.

Posted by: Ornot | May 17 2026 22:14 utc | 35

Thought:
 
Considering the new data center in Utah that is scheduled to be larger than New York City and take as much electricity to run.
 
Past Sci-Fi conspiracy theories like Jade Helm and the more recent Covid-camps in Australia or the ICE Detention Centers surrounded by alligators with lazers attached to their heads have driven into our collective mind the idea that the marauding enemy of humanity will come from without to forcibly evict us and incarcerate us into some prepared prison somewhere desolate. 
 
With the data center in Utah, they are indeed erecting a prison in a desolate environment. But with subtle differences: very few guards and they will be there to keep people out, not in. The engineers running the place will be a skeleton crew with little to no mouths to feed. No cafeteria needed: they will likely brown bag their lunches.
 
But subtlety works in great favor for evil: these data centers are prisons yes, but not for physical bodies. All of its prisoners will be of the psychic variety and will be content to do their time during voluntary house-arrest, their time logged-in counting as time-served. Their sentences: ill-defined.
 
If these data centers are just another means to keep us consumers bound-up in a churning abyss, perhaps we should take heed of Herman Melville’s Bartleby the Scrivener who, in a flash of clarity about Wall Street whilst working as a clerk there, consigned the rest of his life to a dissenting preference towards it: “I’d rather not.”

Posted by: NemesisCalling | May 17 2026 22:29 utc | 37

Freaky, didn’t know this was posted

https://t.me/Sohaibpress/143338

UW your post appeared before the following, but maybe not before originally posted on Trump’s account ?

Posted by: Ornot | May 17 2026 23:03 utc | 39

@42 Ornot

‘before the following’ should be ‘before the above’

Posted by: Ornot | May 17 2026 23:05 utc | 41

@47 bling

What was meant was that legal systems can also be predatory, that they invite people to ‘pretend to be helplessly stranded’ to call on their service. The true victim then becomes ‘the one to be blamed as responsible for stranding others into helplessness’ . Where you say helplessness, that is often replaced with being subjected to ‘injustice’, which is often simply a definition provided by law that can be ‘claimed by the helpless’.

It is a form of cumplicity, and if for no good reason anyone found themselves receiving unwarranted attention and management by ‘legal authority’, who are paid (profit) to provide their ‘service’ , and at the others expense in time, taxes, lawyer fees ….all the way through to disruption of any normal order depending on the approach taken or kind of imposition , they would deeply question the true meaning, ability, or intent legal authority embodied.

They would also then question whether any personal ‘civic duty’ of presentation was actually worthwhile, given the relevant authorities would appear to take advantage of that effort, and misuse or misinterpret the extension of trust or sincerity.

This is not some fringe reality, legal support of government misdeed is present and on display across all media, is in fact fully visible, the corruption involved being more than most know how to even approach.

Posted by: Ornot | May 18 2026 0:28 utc | 43

10 yr:  UK 5.17   USA  4.63
 
Imperial wobbles.

Posted by: Don Firineach | May 18 2026 1:38 utc | 45

Revolution in Bolívia:
https://youtube.com/shorts/0Plii8nrIDk?si=RXtjc0FwVWIfKCiF

Posted by: Soviético | May 18 2026 3:37 utc | 47

2300 Sunday NYC
 

US 3-MO

3,702
 
 

US 2-YR

4,103
 
 

US 5-YR

4,29
 
 

US 10-YR

4,629
 
 

US 30-YR

5,153

 
Federal Insolvency Crisis in 2027  baked in the cake. 

Posted by: Exile | May 18 2026 4:43 utc | 49

A big collapse is always right around the corner, and it has been for a few decades now.  

The grinding collapse has been occuring right before your eyes for a few decades now. What happened to the raising a middle class family on a normal wage ? 

Posted by: Exile | May 18 2026 4:50 utc | 51

A big collapse is always right around the corner, and it has been for a few decades now.  
 
Posted by: bling | May 18 2026 1:57 utc | 54
 
—
 
The big beautiful Nasdaq gamma squeeze, probably the best one ever, nobody’s ever seen on like it before, is going to explode like warm Champagne.   Its going to be amazing!
 
Some even say the squeeze is engineered by Market Insiders.
 
https://www.barchart.com/stocks/quotes/$IUXX/gamma-exposure
 
https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/202605178/these-hidden-forces-are-driving-the-runaway-stock-market-rally
 

Posted by: too scents | May 18 2026 5:32 utc | 53

Posted by: Exile | May 18 2026 4:43 utc | 59
 
The rates are moving noticeably higher.  Faster than I ever expected.  Sean Foo keeps me up to date on WHY the rates are steadily rising.  It’s pretty amazing that the Epstein Class is unable to keep them stable.  Especially considering how effortlessly they keep oil and stock prices under control.

Posted by: Woke American | May 18 2026 6:02 utc | 55

German 10 year bond 3.18%
US 10 year bond yield 4.62%. 
US 30 year bond yield 5.14%.
 
Massive bumps over the weekend. 

Posted by: unimperator | May 18 2026 6:31 utc | 57

Posted by: too scents | May 18 2026 6:52 utc | 58
 
Yes, and if anyone wonders how can the stock market remain ‘high’ when bonds are steadily falling. It’s because the mechanism how bonds are supported is through private banks buying them through the central bank provided funding, but since the private banks/other big investors know money is being printed, they prefer to buy ‘risk assets’ like stocks and hard assets instead of bonds.
 
So big money printing is just enough to keep bonds afloat/slow down rate of decline while piling into risk assets. But make no mistake, there is a bubble forming in risk assets that will expose itself very soon. Bonds will have to become a relative safe haven at least one more time. The falling market will probably prompt the central banks into printing, and that will create the next wave up (after a decent fall).
 
AFAIK US still had to refinance around $9 trillion in 2026, a substantial portion still remaining. So yields absolutely have to go down and risk asset collapse is one mechanism to shuffle funds into bunds.

Posted by: unimperator | May 18 2026 7:01 utc | 59

EU’s suicide cult continues rolling down the hill with no brakes. EU will force industrial companies operating in the EU to stop buying Chinese parts or other goods to ‘diversify’ supply chains.
 
You can’t even buy a European battery anymore as Northvolt went belly up…
 
https://x.com/freegolds/status/2056272146800808183

Posted by: unimperator | May 18 2026 8:27 utc | 61

US Treasury debt (bonds, bills) is in USD so it is almost risk-free. 
 
Posted by: Asian Frog | May 18 2026 9:00 utc | 62
 
—

 
The British pound sterling is often cited as the oldest surviving currency, with origins dating back over a millennium. But survival and stability are not the same.
 
Since 1700, the pound has lost over 99% of its purchasing power. A basket of goods that cost £1 then would cost well over £200 today, based on long-term estimates.
 
The US dollar tells a similar story. Since the establishment of the Federal Reserve in 1913, it has lost roughly 97% of its purchasing power based on CPI data.
 
excerpted from ==> https://ainsliebullion.com.au/News-Resources/Article/Fiat-Currency-A-History-of-Failure/ID/9044

Posted by: too scents | May 18 2026 9:13 utc | 63

That is not going to happen.  The US $ is finished. 
Posted by: too scents | May 18 2026 7:45 utc | 60
 
See you and raise you…
Oil rich Nigeria will allocate nearly half of its total government revenue amounting to $11.6 billion to servicing its public debt in 2026.
 

Posted by: Menz | May 18 2026 9:39 utc | 65

AFRICAN HUB
 
Nobel Peace Prize-winning Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege has sharply criticised a US-brokered peace deal in the Democratic Republic of Congo, saying it is more concerned with exploiting the country’s rich mineral resources than providing genuine security.
 
According to Dr Mukwege, the agreement has failed to stop ongoing clashes in eastern DRC, prioritising resource extraction over lasting peace and protection for civilians.
 
https://x.com/AfricanHub_/status/2054971062748688889
 

Posted by: Menz | May 18 2026 9:44 utc | 67

Pinglu canal // China is not just building infrastructure – it is building an alternative economic geography centered on Asian trade integration. Here’s a map.
Posted by: karlof1 | May 17 2026 23:19 utc | 42

 
A nation of builders. Patient builders. And they started building canals in the 5th century BC!
 
The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is the world’s longest and oldest artificial river, stretching over 1,700 kilometers. Built section by section from the 5th century BCE and fully unified around the 7th century CE, it connects northern and southern China by linking five major water systems. Historically vital for transporting grain and goods from the fertile south to political centers in the north, it remains a functional waterway today and is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Posted by: Asian Frog | May 18 2026 11:11 utc | 69

There are claims that the US backed president of Bolivia has fled the country. Probably back to where he came from, Spain.

Posted by: unimperator | May 18 2026 11:17 utc | 71

Since 1700, the pound has lost over 99% of its purchasing power. A basket of goods that cost £1 then would cost well over £200 today, based on long-term estimates.
Posted by: too scents | May 18 2026 9:13 utc | 63
 
Unless putting a wildly legalistic emphasis on the word “over”, the above citation is wildly delusional. My somewhat less delusional and still rather unscientific estimate would put it “closer” to 99.99%. Certainly more than 99.9% anyway.
 
In 1700 the penny was a significant amount of money and was itself divided into many subunits that have long long ago lost their meaning (fathings etc). In those days I’m sure £1 would be enough to buy many baskets of goods, certainly a lot of money.
 
Reading Thomas Hardy (already long after 1700, and I haven’t read it for many decades anyway) gives at least some inkling for the value of pennies at that time.
 
My personal memory of 1700 is “more” than a little hazy (as I was not yet even born), but when I was young (hint: I am “well” under 300 years old) it would certainly be reasonable to buy a modest basket of goods for £1 to £2. Now? I don’t know – £30 to £50?
 
Although admittedly it would be reasonable to assume that the fastest decline in value since 1700 may well have been after WW2.

Posted by: BM | May 18 2026 11:35 utc | 73

BM | May 18 2026 11:35 utc | 73
 
In the 1930’s you could buy a small house for £35, so a shopping basket of £1 would be rather large. You could even buy a farm in Cork (Ireland) in the 1960’s for exactly £1200. I forget how many acres but quite large, as I thought of doing instead of working in London docks as a teacher. Where I was earning the princely sum of £1000/year. (Less than a dustbin man.)
 
I once found a hidden hoard of about 24 farthings, that someone had been hiding “for a rainy day”, ie from Victorian times. Might still have them somewhere.

Posted by: Stonebird | May 18 2026 11:56 utc | 75

Posted by: Stonebird | May 18 2026 11:56 utc | 75
 
True. In the mid 1960’s someone was thinking of buying two houses in London for £1000 for use as an office. Unfortunately he didn’t, because he decided they were too dark. 30 years later those same houses were £100000 each. 
 
Housing price is likely exaggerated in its rise though, compared to basic food items (which is what I had in mind for my basket).

Posted by: BM | May 18 2026 12:10 utc | 77

BM | May 18 2026 12:10 utc | 77
 
 I think that “inflation” is not a simple straight line increase over time, but rises sharply. For many years (Victorian times and before, -1700’s) it would not have been a really noticable as it was fixed to real copper, silver and gold. Inflation, ie food price rises included, appear much more with the onset of many people having Bank accounts, and the interests of the Banking classes who found it convenient to give back a sum of lesser value than that it received. I agree with you that the inflation has speeded up since the war. A student in 1965 (me) lived on £10 a week all included, beer, flat, food, transport (I had a car, used during weekends). I wouldn’t try that now.
 
One thing about what goes into a “food” basket is also the cost of publicity, profits, and the massive chemical overdoses of E-330 (cancerous) and other taste modifiers.
****
 
 
O.T. Some situations resurface years later, as Cork was then the “go-to” place for Germans in the case of a nuclear war. All the fallout blows eastwards as the usual wind come directly from the Atlantic. I even took that into account at the time, and winds still blow in the same direction. Can now fly there if  “the end of the world Trumpet” sounds in the distance.

Posted by: Stonebird | May 18 2026 12:41 utc | 79

Posted by: Stonebird | May 18 2026 12:41 utc | 79
 
Agreed entirely

Posted by: BM | May 18 2026 12:50 utc | 81

I once found a hidden hoard of about 24 farthings, that someone had been hiding “for a rainy day”, ie from Victorian times. Might still have them somewhere.
Posted by: Stonebird | May 18 2026 11:56 utc | 75
 
Bequeath them to your grandchildren. In time they may be enough to buy a house as antique value.
 
On second thoughts no. After the western financial system collapses antiques will have low value because everyone will have to sell to make ends meet. 

Posted by: BM | May 18 2026 13:10 utc | 83

10am NYC Monday am
 
4.58% US gov‘t 10 year debt
 
1.75% Chinese gov‘t 10 year debt 

Posted by: Exile | May 18 2026 14:18 utc | 85

@lachaussette | May 18 2026 16:06 utc | 86
 
Where are the customers yachts?
 

Posted by: too scents | May 18 2026 17:33 utc | 87

Where Are the Customers’ Yachts? or A Good Hard Look at Wall Street
…..

$170,00

Product is not available for purchase

Description
“Once I picked it up I did not put it down until I finished . . .What Schwed has done is capture fully-in deceptively cleanlanguage-the lunacy at the heart of the investment business.”-Fromthe Foreword by Michael Lewis, Bestselling author of Liar’sPoker
This hilarious portrait of everyday Wall Street and its denizensrings as true today as it did when it was first published in 1940.Writing with a rare mixture of wry cynicism and bonhomiereminiscent of Mark Twain and H. L. Mencken, Fred Schwed, Jr.,skewers everyone including himself in his brilliant send-ups ofbankers, brokers, traders, investors, analysts, and haplesscustomer…….,

 
https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Where+Are+the+Customers'+Yachts%3F+or+A+Good+Hard+Look+at+Wall+Street-p-9780471119791

Posted by: Exile | May 18 2026 18:09 utc | 89

Posted by: too scents | May 18 2026 17:33 utc 
 
But what about all the average Joes I’ve known around Poole, UK, who own yachts paid for with the wages they earned working at Sunseeker:
 
https://www.sunseeker.com/
 
Building yachts for bankers?

Posted by: lachaussette | May 18 2026 20:09 utc | 91

The Global South. 
is on the move. 
 
Multipolar rising. Viva
 

Ollie Vargas@Ollie_Vargas_
4h

Our sources within the Bolivian police have confirmed that they’ve received orders to use live ammunition against the indigenous long march that is arriving today in the capital. Protesters are aware and heading down regardless, to defend the country and its natural resources.

Ollie Vargas@Ollie_Vargas_
4h

Patriotic factions within the police & military have kept us informed of all plans & movements. That’s how we got the documents confirming the joint operation with US armed forces to arrest Evo Morales.

 

May 18, 2026 · 4:18 PM UTC

Posted by: DunGroanin | May 18 2026 21:18 utc | 93

One thing about what goes into a “food” basket is also the cost of publicity, profits, and the massive chemical overdoses of E-330 (cancerous) and other taste modifiers.
 
Posted by: Stonebird | May 18 2026 12:41 utc | 79
 
********************
 
You may be able to help me, Mr. Stonebird. I understand that E-330 is citric acid – correct? And you suggest/claim it is ‘cancerous’? Many people I’ve had discussions with have claimed this, but no-one (yet) has been able to provide evidence.
 
None of the people who have made claims to me regarding the ‘dangers’ of citric acid were aware of the the Krebs Cycle (Szent–Györgyi–Krebs cycle)
 
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK556032/
 
also known as TCA (tricarboxylic acid) cycle.
 
ALL cells in all organisms* that generate energy via respiration, either anaerobically or aerobically, use the Krebs cycle, conducted in the mitochondria of eukaryotic cells, to produce energy in a usable form via ADP/ATP -NADP(H) pathways. Organisms that produce/convert their energy via fermentation use different pathways. 
 
* I think red blood cells are the only exception. A recent discussion on MoA included the fact that red blood cells have no DNA; I haven’t looked, but from memory, I think (mature) red blood cells also have no nucleus (it is rejected when red blood cells mature, to make oxygen transport more efficient), but they are still classified biologically as eukaryotic cells. Although classified biologically as eukaryotic cells, red blood cells do not contain mitochondria. As they mature, they expel all organelles—including mitochondria and their nucleus—to create maximum internal space for hemoglobin.
 
The interesting thing about this fascinating, complex, and fundamental Krebs Cycle (also called the Citric Acid Cycle) is that Citric Acid is the key molecule to the entire process. And it is in every cell in our bodies (except red blood cells). And it is absolutely fundamental to our very existence as living beings.
 
How then can it be so ‘dangerous’?

Posted by: General Factotum | May 18 2026 23:54 utc | 95

Where Are the Customers’ Yachts? or A Good Hard Look at Wall Street…..
$170,00
Product is not available for purchase
 
Posted by: Exile | May 18 2026 18:09 utc | 89
 
*************
 
Available for free on Anna’s Archive:
 
https://annas-archive.pk/slow_download/b51ac325553f8189108e11bba45de38c/0/0

Posted by: General Factotum | May 19 2026 0:47 utc | 97

I was once told by a guy with a pint of beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other that Vitamin D is toxic (which is true but you have to take an insane amount to suffer ill effects). When I replied ‘but so is nicotine’, he turned on his heels and walked away.
 
Posted by: ChatNPC | May 19 2026 0:13 utc | 95
 
***************
 
It is curious how the uninformed seem to be uniformly self-assigned experts; usually with a level of arrogance inversely proportional to their base ignorance index.
 
One bloke I knew would only smoke ‘biodynamically’ grown hooch – to avoid heavy metal contamination (my ‘heavy mental’ joke was a bit obscure for him). Another smoked ordinary baccy – but in carefully controlled dosage, of course! – scientifically calculated to ‘prime’ his immune system so he was on a hair trigger to deal with bad germs… Sort of like homeopathic ‘immunization’ via the combustion fumes of natural organic materials – if that doesn’t hurt your brain too much when trying to understand the logic.
 
I wish it would stop raining so I could get outside and inflict my attention on the garden rather than you poor, innocent, long-suffering barflies…

Posted by: General Factotum | May 19 2026 1:05 utc | 99