[Insider] Bryan O'Keeffe had struggled with his weight his whole life, trying every diet and workout regime under the sun but feeling like he was losing and gaining the same 40 pounds again and again.
So he decided to do something drastic.
O'Keeffe, 34, from Ireland, weighed 338 pounds when he moved to a small village in Spain, quit his job, and cut off all communication with his family and friends.
Seven months later he had lost 137 pounds, more than half his body weight, and went home to Ireland to surprise his loved ones, capturing their reactions in a TikTok video that has been viewed over 32 million times.
In the video, O'Keeffe said that after 15 years of trying fad diets and workouts, he decided to stop focusing on the scales and instead on being mentally resilient and building discipline.
Speaking to Insider, O'Keeffe said that losing the weight was incredibly hard, and he acknowledged that his methods were extreme.
New drugs such as semaglutide that have helped people lose weight after years of struggling reflect how being overweight isn't simply a problem of poor self-control and a lack of will power. And experts generally advise people to lose weight gradually by slowly building up healthy habits without too much restriction.
#2
^ more about gentrification of what areas are available to people with money and land is scarce. The Dutch are generally tolerant but not stupid, thus not allowing the zombies take over their cities like Donks in America do.
#3
/\ Urban crime centers are democratic incubators. Democratic voters leave the urban ghetto and take their voting habits to the safety of surrounding suburbs.
#12
With a Soros DA, every street is an environment for street walkers. A red light district will not impact the current quantity of Bay Area street hookers. There is no overhead required for the current business model. The John drives the venue to the transaction. Hookers don’t have capital and/or credit to rent SF overpriced locals. If they did, why would they rent a location when they make more money not having a room in a red lights district. If the city is providing the flop house, then the city becomes the trafficker.
Ultimately, enforcing vice laws is the only thing that changes the business model. There is currently no enforcement in SF. If there was, there would not be a street walker problem. Failure to enforce vice laws always gets you more vice.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/11/2023 23:13 Comments ||
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#4
Given the particulars of the situation, WWJD doesn't seem a likely way to think about it.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/11/2023 10:23 Comments ||
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#5
"Your honor, my client had no choice but to down a few tequilas before he could even hold the wheel straight."
"That's the very definition of driving under the influence, counsellor. Why shouldn't we charge him?"
"It was the llamas, your honor. It was the llamas that's responsible! At best it's a case of unintended DUID. As per a recent judgement in ..."
"Wait. What? Y'know, I thought you said 'llamas'."
"That is correct, sir. The llamas. Now as I was saying, this recent judgement in the court of his honor..."
"What about these llamas?"
"Well, your honor. They have feelings too you know? The world is exceeding unkind to them and they're these cuddly stupid things with silly faces. Here, we have submitted a photograph. My client sleeps with a lady who cares immensely for them and..."
"Awww. Why didn't you say so? Case dismissed. You're free to go, mister."
[NYPOST] Make your footwear last a little longer with Big Red.
MSCHF — a product design studio on a mission to go viral with every launch — announced the upcoming release of a peculiar-looking pair of shoes, dubbed "Big Red Boots."
The company describes the latest piece, made with a combination of polyurethane rubber and vinyl acetate, as "cartoon boots for a cool 3D world."
However, Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried... many believe the shoes are directly inspired by the Japanese manga comic book series and its titular man character, Astro Boy.
"Bro I need them Astro boy boots 😂💯," wrote one eager buyer in the comments section of a TikTok clip posted by Bowery Showroom, a New York City-based boutique that specializes in novelty designs and local artists.
"How y’all got the Astro boy boots alreadyyyyy?" rued one late shopper.
MSCHF has said they incorporated "cartoonishness" into the shoe design, so wearers could feel freed "from the constraints of reality."
"You never design shoes to be shaped like feet. Big Red Boots are REALLY not shaped like feet, but they are EXTREMELY shaped like boots," the meme-making company shared in a statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/11/2023 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11133 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
many believe the shoes are directly inspired by the Japanese manga comic book series and its titular man character, Astro Boy.
#2
All the foot sweat will be trapped by the vinyl. The model looks cute but her feet will not be able to breathe.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/11/2023 13:38 Comments ||
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#3
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/11/2023 13:58 Comments ||
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#4
Stinky boots? Wet boots? Wet sneakers? PEET Boot Dryer is the best thing since sliced bread! Something that fixes crazy like the chick that wants ret plastic boots -- can't help you on that!
Rudaw has been liveblogging reports around the earthquake at this link since Monday.
[Rudaw] A magnitude 7.5 earthquake followed a disastrous 7.8 quake on Monday in southeast Turkey, also rocking northern Syria. At least 18,991 people were killed in Turkey, while over 3,384 were reported dead in Syria.
[Rudaw] People continued to be miraculously pulled out from underneath the rubble on Saturday as the corpse count from the devastating earthquake in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... and Syria surpassed 24,000 and rescue efforts persisted despite bitterly cold temperatures.
At least 24,218 people were killed in both countries when a powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the city of Kahramanmaras in southern Turkey.
A 70-year-old woman was saved from underneath the rubble in the city of Kahramanmaras in Turkey on Saturday morning, 122 hours after the quake struck, according to state-owned Anadolu Agency. And in the Kurdish city of Diyarbakir (Amed), a 55-year-old woman was found alive.
Ottoman Turkish President Fuat Oktay late Friday said a total of 67 people had been rescued in the past 24 hours.
In rebel-held areas of Syria, volunteer first responders the White Helmets said in a presser on Friday they had stopped rescue efforts in all but three locations where they expect to continue working for the next 48 hours.
The UN warned that at least 870,000 people were in urgent need of food in both countries after the quake, which in Syria alone left around 5.3 million people homeless.
On Thursday, the first UN aid crossed the border into northwest Syria. Six trucks from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) brought basic relief items, shelter materials, and solar lamps for 5,000 people. "We are working very closely with authorities to support in any way we can and hope that aid will quickly reach those most impacted," said IOM Director General António Vitorino.
An immediate ceasefire was urged by the UN in Syria to help facilitate the delivery of aid for all citizens affected by the quake. "At this terrible time in Turkey and Syria, we call for the urgent delivery of assistance to ALL in need," the UN Human Rights office said in a tweet on Friday.
The rights office also urged all actors in the affected areas to allow the flow of humanitarian aid.
Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... ’s government said it had approved the delivery of humanitarian aid to earthquake-hit regions of the country’s northwest under rebel control, which were some of the country’s areas worst impacted by the tremor.
Raed al-Salah of the White Helmets said Friday they expect to receive international aid within hours, but that it would be too late to assist with rescue efforts and would be used to recover bodies and remove rubble.
In Turkey, the government faced criticism as anger continues to build over its handling of the quake as well as the poor quality of buildings that crumbled, inflicting devastating damage to ten provinces in the country, particularly Kurdish-populated ones.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) — a Kurdish group that has waged an armed insurgency against Turkey for decades and designated a terrorist organization by Ankara — declared a ceasefire within Turkey’s borders in order to focus all resources on rescue efforts.
[Hot Air] NYC fired teachers who refused the COVID vaccine.
That, in itself, is an outrage. Those fired teachers are suing, unsurprisingly.
The firing, though, was just the first part of the punishment. In the process of fighting the lawsuit the lawyers for the fired NYC workers discovered that the teachers who refused vaccination had their files flagged and passed along to law enforcement, including the FBI and New York Criminal Justice Services. The story is from Michael Kane, the founder of TeachersforChoice.org
Along with their fingerprints. They were flagged as troublemakers and their information was forwarded to law enforcement, tagging these ordinary citizens as potential threats to the public. They will forever be in law enforcement databases as potential criminals.
#4
I considered doing some substitute teaching when I was working night shift in the early 2000’s. That required prints and a background check. Likely, that is the standard throughout most states.
I think I would still sue. How are fingerprints relevant to solving the crime of not being vaxed? Should they have forwarded a shoulder print set?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/11/2023 23:22 Comments ||
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[NY Post] The US shot down another high-altitude "object" over the waters off Alaska on Friday afternoon — six days after a fighter jet took out a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina — an operation President Biden deemed "a success."
The latest object, which was detected within the past 24 hours, was downed on Biden’s orders at 1:45 p.m., Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said. What page to locate this story?
Good question.
The US has not yet determined the object’s "capabilities, purpose or origin," Ryder said. Officials hope to answer those questions after they recover and analyze it.
The object was first picked up on ground radar Thursday, prompting the military to scramble fighter jets to observe it from the air, Ryder said. Pilots determined the object was unmanned, and later used an F-22 to shoot it down after the president gave the go-ahead.
"I ordered the take down of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace. [NORAD] shot down the object over the Yukon. Canadian and U.S. aircraft were scrambled, and a U.S. F-22 successfully fired at the object," Trudeau said in a statement on Twitter.
"I spoke with President Biden this afternoon. Canadian Forces will now recover and analyze the wreckage of the object," he said.
[Breitbart] A US fighter jet shot down an unidentified object drifting high over Alaska on Friday, the White House said, just six days after the downing of an alleged Chinese spy balloon sparked a fresh diplomatic rift with Beijing.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said it was unclear what the purpose or origin of the new object was, but said that it was taken down because, floating at 40,000 feet, it was a threat to civil aviation.
"The president ordered the military to down the object," Kirby said.
The object was much smaller than a huge Chinese balloon that crossed the United States last week and was shot down by a US fighter jet off the Atlantic coast on Saturday, Kirby said.
It was "roughly the size of a small car," he said.
"We do not know who owns it, whether state owned or corporate owned," he said. "We don’t understand the full purpose."
The incident took place amid a new alarm over what US officials say is an ongoing program by China to fly surveillance balloons to collect intelligence around the world.
US officials said such balloons have flown over 40 countries, including at least four times previously over United States territory.
#5
So multiple foreign vehicles aloft. What is, or was the retrieval plan? Are foreign vessels loitering in the Caribbean or Atlantic awaiting retrieval instructions ?
#7
Retaliating for the 'crimes' of the Gweilo Freedom of navigation exercises through the South China Sea and the Taiwan Straits? Not that the Middle Kingdom needs to justify any of its actions of course (/sarc).
#8
Thank goodness we have at least 1 fighter that can go above 60,000 feet.
In Vietnam, I was an intelligence briefer for the airwing. We were informed about SR-71s have a track in our operational area. Usually above 60,000 ft. We used to brief these to the next flights. Then we realized that the F-4s we had weren't quite up to fighting something that high!
#7
Sort of doesn’t match the policy that is blowing up international pipelines. Are we appeasing or saber rattling? The policy rambles like one of his stories.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/11/2023 22:03 Comments ||
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[ShabelleMedia] At least five people are reported to have been killed in latest festivities in Las Anod city, Sool regional capital.
Health officials say scores of people who sustained wounds in the fighting were admitted at the hospital, some are at death's door.
Somaliland troops stationed East of the town came under repeated attacks from SSC fighters, who are controlling Las Anod.
The war continues for the 5th day in row with US describing the indiscriminate shelling on civilians "unacceptable" and called for an immediate cessation of the hostilities.
Somaliland lost the northern city last month after public uprising against the presence of the breakaway regional forces.
The president of of Somalia Hassan Sheikh urged both sides to come to the negotiating table to resolve the conflict in a peaceful.
Local elders from Sool, Sanaag and Cayn (SSC), held a meeting in Las Anod which resulted the formation of an autonomy.
[FOX] No injuries were reported and police said all army and emergency service personnel were accounted for.
Army specialists had been cutting the bomb using a technique that creates a slow burn of the explosives, police said. Workers began attempting to cut into the bomb on Thursday.
Police captured video of the explosion via their drone.
[AP] BEIJING -- The United States on Friday blacklisted six Chinese entities it said were linked to Beijing's aerospace programs as part of its retaliation over an alleged Chinese spy balloon that traversed U.S. airspace.
The economic restrictions followed the Biden administration's pledge to consider broader efforts to address Chinese surveillance activities and will make it more difficult for the five companies and one research institute to obtain American technology exports.
The move is likely to further escalate the diplomatic row between the U.S. and China sparked by the balloon, which was shot down last weekend off the Carolina coast. The U.S. said the balloon was equipped to detect and collect intelligence signals, but Beijing insists it was a weather craft that had blown off course.
The incident prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to abruptly cancel a high-stakes trip to Beijing aimed at easing tensions.
The U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security said the six entities were being targeted for "their support to China's military modernization efforts, specifically the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) aerospace programs including airships and balloons."
"The PLA is utilizing High Altitude Balloons (HAB) for intelligence and reconnaissance activities," it said.
Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves said on Twitter his department "will not hesitate to continue to use" such restrictions and other regulatory and enforcement tools "to protect U.S. national security and sovereignty."
The six entities are Beijing Nanjiang Aerospace Technology Co., China Electronics Technology Group Corporation 48th Research Institute, Dongguan Lingkong Remote Sensing Technology Co., Eagles Men Aviation Science and Technology Group Co., Guangzhou Tian-Hai-Xiang Aviation Technology Co., and Shanxi Eagles Men Aviation Science and Technology Group Co.
The research institute did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The other five entities could not be reached.
#1
Beijing Nanjiang Aerospace Technology Co., China Electronics Technology Group Corporation 48th Research Institute, Dongguan Lingkong Remote Sensing Technology Co., Eagles Men Aviation Science and Technology Group Co., Guangzhou Tian-Hai-Xiang Aviation Technology Co., and Shanxi Eagles Men Aviation Science and Technology Group Co.
Blacklisted ?
No mention made of: US Parters (GD, Raytheon, BAE, Lockheed Martin, etc)? Previous cooperative agreements? USG contracts? US employees? US Subcontractors? US Technology or systems provided to them ?
More information please, or.... must we go behind the Green Door ?
#3
/\ Relatively inexpensive ability to hover and provide persistent surveillance. Ability to 'flood the zone' to provide targeting data or Battle Damage Assessment (BDA).
(Tethered Aerostat at Kabul, AFG used for perimeter defense, circa 2010 )
#5
/\ Likely figured the damn things would escape notice or be labeled 'aliens from outer space.' Shooting them down risks the payloads falling where a farmer could pick it up and call the media for a look.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/11/2023 10:27 Comments ||
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#7
Israel used aerostats to monitor the Sinai at least as early as 1982. They work. They were operational south of Fort Huachuca, AZ, on border patrol in the nineties. They worked.
[Breitbart] The happiest place on Earth is swimming in a sea of red ink and pink slips.
The Walt Disney Co. is eliminating 7,000 jobs worldwide, or more than 3 percent of its workforce, as CEO Bob Iger aims to slash a stunning $5.5 billion in spending in an attempt to save the once formidable company.
Bob Iger announced the cuts Wednesday during Disney’s first quarter earnings report, saying it was not an easy decision to make. "I have enormous respect and appreciation for the dedication of our employees worldwide," he said. "While this is necessary to address the challenges we face today, I do not make this decision lightly.
Disney employs around 220,000 people worldwide, meaning the layoffs will impact 3.2 percent of the company. The layoffs are expected to hit U.S. employees the hardest, with the "DMED" team — or Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution — bearing the brunt of the cuts.
DMED encompasses Disney’s streaming initiatives, including the Disney+ streaming service. In November, Disney reported that its streaming services lost a mindboggling $1.5 billion in the fourth quarter alone as the company attempted to spend its way to streaming dominance.
Disney’s layoffs are part of a larger media industry bloodbath that has seen competitors including Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount Global, and Netflix slash their headcount in the face of a weak consumer sentiment brought on by runaway inflation and the prospect of a prolonged economy under President Joe Biden.
#4
Agree with #2 ed in texas. I've lived through quite a few corporate downsizings, and they never get rid of the right people. The political favorites, who often do the most damage through either ignorance or malice or both, always manage to survive.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/11/2023 13:30 Comments ||
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#5
Well, it's a good thing isn't it? I hope they go belly up and have to resort to lap dances by furries for sick men identifying as kids.
Thanks to more and more Wakandan fights at Disneyland [hilarious by the way], it had become an unsafe place to take your children anyway I'll bet.
[BBC] Canadian PM Justin Trudeau has said the deaths of two children at a daycare that police say was deliberately rammed by a bus driver was "unimaginable".
Mr Trudeau spoke as he attended a vigil on Thursday evening for the victims north of Montreal.
Two four-year-olds were killed in Wednesday morning's attack. About a dozen people were injured in the crash, including six children.
Two of the children have since been released from a hospital in Montreal.
The rest were in a stable condition and expected to recover.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault visited the crime scene earlier in the day to offer his condolences.
Mr Legault laid a wreath and spoke to parents and staff who worked at the Garderie Educative Ste-Rose daycare.
Residents and police remain puzzled as to why the suspect attacked the busy daycare.
The defendant, identified by police as Pierre Ny St-Amand,
...a good French-Canadian name, eh?
51, has been charged with first-degree murder.
He appeared in court via video conference on Wednesday afternoon from hospital, where he was reportedly undergoing a psychiatric evaluation.
Hamdi Ben Chaabane, an eyewitness, told reporters that the suspect got off the bus after the crash, removed his clothes and began shouting incoherently.
In the depths of a Montreal winter? Sounds like a nutter to me. Or possibly drunk.
Mr Chaabane added that some people were helping children who were trapped underneath the vehicle's wheels and inside the daycare before first responders arrived.
The suspect had been employed as a bus driver by the local public transit system for 10 years, and has no criminal record or incidents of note on his file.
A bit late for schizophrenia to bloom... had he recently started doing pot?
Nor had the suspect previously sought out any psychiatric or mental healthcare, according to public health records.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] They get upset every year. St. Valentine’s Day is not hindutva, donchaknow. A nice variety of imams and mullahs get upset, too — showing your sweetheart that you cherish her is apparently unIslamic.
Involuntary celibates, I believe is the modern term. Premarital sex and courtship still being such a taboo an' all. In truth they're mostly lecherous hypocrites trying to obstruct others.
There's also the rising fear of the first significant wave of the free sex and LGBT movements here in India. And things like this serve as a 'lesser evil' type counterbalance. Sometimes you can't fight the irrational with rationality.
#5
I'm afraid wokeness has entered bollywood scfi.
Pregnant men looking for jobs, waifish dykes arm wrestling goons into submission, Moslems and their problems, or just ... pure commie have-not whataboutery against the establishment.
Bollywood has always been more for the masses. The educated never find it entertaining beyond a certain ridiculous comedic value.
[IsraelTimes] Responding to Public Diplomacy Minister Galit Distel Atbaryan’s assertion, Ambassador Seibert decries comparison of Germany, an ally, with regime dedicated to Israel’s annihilation
German Ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, hit back at "disappointing" claims made by Public Diplomacy Minister Galit Distel Atbaryan, that asserted "German and Iranian money" was behind ongoing anti-government protests sparked by government plans to overhaul the judiciary.
Speaking to Army Radio on Tuesday, Atbaryan, from the Likud party, said that "funding from foreign nations and actors, most of whom are antisemitic, taking people out into the streets without them knowing that the money behind the protests ultimately comes from countries like Germany or Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites.... — that’s what’s on the [political] left."
Seibert called out the minister’s comparison between Germany, an ally of Israel, and Iran, a sworn enemy state that openly declares its desire to annihilate the Jewish state.
"It is disappointing that Minister Galit Distel chose in this context to mention Germany, a friend and democratic partner of Israel, alongside totalitarian Iran," the Haaretz daily quoted Seibert as saying.
The German diplomat continued: "I believe that in this freedom-seeking country, Israelis in general need no instructions from abroad to protest for what they believe in."
Siebert said he hoped to meet Atbaryan in the near future to "discuss this personally."
The coalition led by Netanyahu has been pushing a dramatic overhaul that would increase government control over the judiciary, allow it to override court decisions with the barest majority, and give it full power over judicial appointments.
Critics say that along with other planned legislation, the sweeping reforms will impact Israel’s democratic character by upsetting its system of checks and balances, granting almost complete power to the executive branch, and leaving individual rights unprotected and minorities undefended.
In her interview with Army Radio, Atbaryan took aim at those opposed to the judicial makeover, accusing them of using the international media to ramp up domestic pressure on the government.
Referring to the pro-Paleostinian Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement, Atbaryan said "this is no longer BDS from the outside, but BDS [from within Israel]."
"None of us on the right ever turned to outside actors. None of us ever briefed journalists abroad against Israel. Not Netanyahu and not anyone on the right. Nobody incited rebellion like Ehud Barak is doing," she said.
Last week, former prime minister Ehud Barak made comparisons between President Isaac Herzog’s reconciliation attempts with that of former UK prime minister Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement efforts vis-à-vis Nazi leader Adolf Hitler ...late Fuehrer of Germany, founder of the Third Reich, currently communing with his pals Himmler and Heydrich. He is reincarnated every few days as a politician somebody doesn't like... Barak later walked back the comparison and apologized.
Atbaryan insisted she was "not lumping together all the people marching at the protests."
"They’re good people, my brothers and sisters. I am convinced that many of them are unaware of the truth. As much as we try to sit down for a respectful, factual debate, they refuse."
Directly addressing the legal overhaul championed by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, she said the move "will strengthen democracy and return the ever-important balance between the branches and power to the people. Right now Israel is not democratic."
[Evansville Courier & Press] The world got its first official look at the Toyota Grand Highlander on Wednesday night. It's the newest product to roll off the assembly lines at the company's plant in Gibson County, Indiana.
It made its debut at the Chicago Auto Show.
The SUV offers a third row of seating and 98 cubic feet of space in the cabin (with all seats folded down). The Detroit Free Press described it as "a new, bigger member to its family of SUVs, offering a larger third row of seats to compete with vehicles like the Kia Telluride, Hyundai Palisade and Chevrolet Traverse family hauling SUVs."
The Grand Highlander boasts a 12.3-inch multimedia display in the dash, with a configurable center console large enough to fit a tablet. There's also a wireless charger, two USB ports, and three cup holders — including one capable of holding a large water bottle.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] A little late to the party.
The unarmed missile was launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara at 11.01pm on Thursday
Officials said the test launch was 'not the result of current world events'
But it comes amid a diplomatic crisis with China after a Beijing spy balloon was shot down after flying over a sensitive nuclear missile base in Montana
#2
...The good news is that we do live launches (with instruments in place of warheads, of course) on a regularly scheduled and notified basis. The bad news is that I think this one was postponed for quite some time because we didn't want to ruffle anyone's bloomers.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.