so the news is depressing, so let's look at history

 one of my leisure activity is looking into technical evolution in ancient times, and also examining the background of the Heian period of Japan that predates the Samurai wars.

No olive oil, very little butter (the Buddhist monks led to butter and yogurt being introduced since it was a religion from India, but with time the vegetarian practices led to dairy products stopped being used.)

So what did they use for lamps?

Rapeseed oil. A mustard like seed.

Wikipedia: has details:

Rapeseed belongs to the genus Brassica. Brassica oilseed varieties are some of the oldest plants cultivated, with documentation of its use tracing back to India 4,000 years ago, and use in China and Japan 2,000 years ago

so used for oil lamps (or a variation of it in Chinese food).

So canola oil? No: Not quite the same thing.

Rapeseed oil is green, has a lousy taste and a chemical that is a little dangerous:  

So voila, the Canadians cross bred it, and made Canola oil

Canola was originally a trademark name of the Rapeseed Association of Canada; the name is a portmanteau of "can" from Canada and "ola" referring to "oil"

we docs started recommending Canola oil as a way to a healthy oil, but this year it is one of those seed oils that is in the crosshairs of the health nazis.

Heck, there are dozens of videos on youtube insisting it is jet fuel or a lubricant for machinery so if you use it for your food, as if you are eating the industrial oil, not the food variety. 

Don't ask me. We use Palm oil, which was a no no a decade or more ago and was blamed for heart disease if you ate cinema popcorn which was how they used it in the USA.but now they are re examinig it and say it's okay.

WTF?

Well you gotta die from something. Sorry Bobby K Jr.

The Great game: Look squirrel propaganda in the US MSM ignores the big picture

She starts with analyzing how Rubio is working with local governments to stop the powerful drug cartels that threaten these governments.

Number of overdose deaths are down in the USA, but then the picture moves to Canada's shennanigans that include drug labs and Chinese using US/Canada trade agreements to get their cheap shoddy goods into the USA and bypassing tariffs.

 as for Canada: how does  Canada join the EU with a single person in the EU saying it's okay? 

 

and then she discusses the Greenland treaty.

Remember the MSM ridiculing Trump saying he was worrying about Greenland and might have to take it over?

Backstory: This is about the air defense of the USA, keeping the sea lanes in the Arctic open, and keeping China from grabbing their ports and rare minerals via Chinese companies (like was done to the Panama canal and in central Africa). No one believes the companies are just companies, but proxies for the Chinese government policies.

so expect the MSM to pretend this is just the ssame as the old treaty, while ignoring that tthis defense treaty includes provisions that are new, and will stop China's economic takeover and let the US defend a weak Denmark/Greenland from Russia.

now one hopes someone in the USA MSM will notice that China is increasing aggression against the Philippines. inside the Philippines economic zone.

The reason China was allowed to dig up the seabed to make artificial islands in the West Philippine sea is because Obama pressured PNoy not to interfere, but to rely on the UN court. So the Philippines won, but China ignored the courts.

And China is pushing against the Philippines to try to get the Philippines to back down and not try to stop them from taking over Taiwan, which would allow them to block shipping from West  Philippine sea to the Pacific ocean via the Luzon strait.

and of course no one in the US MSM seems to be aware of how China and Russia  are part of the great game in Iran...

If the Democrats win thanks to Islamicist and socialist propaganda, then the real winner will be China, who not only will again have access to Iranian oil, but will be emboldened to push more aggression against the Philippines figuring the US is too weak to stop them.

The history of a mansion

 

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it says a lot when the video starts with an apology that it is an independent story, and don't attack them for posting it. The conspiracy theorists have distorted the story so much that people no longer believe what they saw with their eyes.

family news

Kuya is leaving later this week to check on his mom, who wants to move to the Phiippines instead of staying at a care center. The problem? She might need dialysis and Medicaid does not cover treatment in the Philippines. Oh well.

In other news, my main watchdog, Barry, died. He has been ailing for the last year and slowly getting thinner. when the vet checked him he was anemic but I didn't do more tests because he is getting old, although I did get him treatment two years ago for a medical problem. He was a good dog. Sigh.

the future of eldercare?

Japan also has been pushing robots for nursing their growing elderly population, 

and China is putting out videos of dancing robots etc and getting breathless reports by the US MSM who push the story without any scepticism.

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and yes Ray Bradbury fortold this years ago. Twilight zone even had a program based on his short story:

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We remember those who walk into danger to save others