Posted On: Saturday - December 2nd 2023 9:23AM MST
In Topics: Science Inflation
This post is a follow-up to both Thursday's Inflation by Deflation - building materials Part 2 x 2 and our 5 y/o post Inflation by Deflation - building materials version. Why is it "2.2" in the title? We're still talking wooden 2 x 2's [sic] here, but, (call it) the 2nd, "2" is now on its 3rd iteration from my adult recollection of dimensions, 1.5" to 1.4" to, now 1.3125" (1 5/16"). (You too may be wondering about the 1.4", which is not a round English unit value. Perhaps it's off by a slight amount, but it wouldn't be much.)
OK, if I'm going to get into structures a bit, I have to put down a number of caveats here. These slides I found have "formulae" for 3 types of loading. Please realize that there is indeed a lot more to it. A non-Engineer who figures "I can design an experimental airplane because I have a copy of this Finite Element Analysis software" is not necessarily the guy to ride along with on the first test flight. There is much more too it, and blindly following analysis software or formulae without knowing more of the theory usually gives bad numbers.
Firstly, no, 1 x 2's and 2 x 2's are not considered residential structural lumber, as was argued to me in comments on The Unz Review. I get that, but that doesn't mean I haven't used it as such. The table top I mentioned had both types in it, and the idea was to support things. That's structural. Many other uses may be structural. Mostly, sure, these are "furring" strips, used for spacing and attachment* of siding or whatever - even that spacing difference screws things up for us though. For the 2 x 2's, since 2 of them don't match up to a 2 x 4, their use around window framing or whatever may be precluded.
Secondly, regarding the engineering calculations, when it comes to using wood (or anything) structurally, usually we're talking about a more complicated arrangement. 2 x 4's are spaced inside sheetrock as a wall, and columns are made of multiple pieces and all that. Still the basic strength differences, new v old, hold when we go from the simple case to the complicated, i.e. real, application.
Thirdly, I've been writing "strength", but it's not the theoretically precise way to discuss structures, just as, well, good luck getting a mechanic to say "36 psi" is your tire pressure rather than the colloquial "36 pounds". What follows is the same as the footnote in that old 1 x 2 post. This is in regard to discussion of bending, but it applies generally:
Technically, the highest stress in the wood in bending occurs at the outside, it's this stress that goes up inversely with the square of thickness (linear with the other dimension, BTW). We should think of the strength of the material as a property of the stuff, whether, in this case, say yellow pine or poplar. We end up with higher stress in the same strength material which means colloquially "lower strength".Finally, these calculation are based on homogeneous, isotropic materials. The first means material with even properties throughout, and the second (this IS different) means that these properties are equal along all three directions. Well, guess what, wood is neither. As far as homogeneity, on the scale we're using it, it's just a matter of knots and such that make it non-homogeneous. That's part of what safety factors are for. Wood is most certainly NON-isotropic, but these kinds of loading will have the grain direction as the important one. Therefore, we can get a fairly decent number for strength of yellow pine, poplar, whatever it is and a somewhat decent number for that "E" (Modulus of Elasticity, the inherent stiffness of the material) used in the buckling formula.
I'm sorry that ALL THAT had to be said before I get started. Were I knot to (typo intended), it would be fair for someone to give me grief about that. Also, in the calculations below, keep in mind that I'm not taking material strength of the wood itself - see Adam Smith's link under the recent post, as that has gone down too. Let's hold that all equal as the same quick-growth lumber, which IS probably the case from the 1990s on. When I write "strength" here, I really mean the ability to hold a certain loading with a certain geometry vs using the older and bigger material.
Now, for the fun part:
Axial loading, whether compression (with a caveat to check for buckling) or tension is very simple. Stresses are the same throughout the cross-section. The simple "normal" (away from or into the surface) are F/A.
Simple, so let's do this. That X-sectional area of these 2 x 2's has gone from 2.25 in2 in the '90s (call them size "A") to 1.96 in2 at least 5 years back (B) to 1.72 in2 recently (C). Therefore, in axial loading, buckling (of long pieces in compression) excluded for now, B pieces are 87% of the strength of A's, while C pieces are only 77% as strong. Now, if we compare to that mythical(?) ACTUAL 2" x 2" cross-section, we get a reduction to 56% axial loading strength A's, to 49% for B's, and to 43% for the newest, the C's.
There is quite a bit to analysis of bending, not least the loading itself, which comes in in that "M", the bending Moment. Some may prefer to think of a torque, but torque is usually thought of about an (almost always) round axis. Moment is more general. That "moment" is not to be confused with the name for the capital "I' terms. That is Moment of Inertia, which is a geometric property of the cross-section. There's a nice little piece of Calculus behind it, but for a rectangle, I is 1/12 bh3. Wait, which side is "b", the base, you ask, and which is "h", the height"? "b" is the side parallel to the axis about which the beam is being bent. For most uses of 2 x 4's in bending, for obvious reasons, b is the short side, the 1.5". (Note which "b" v "h" gives the higher I.) I wrote that for the general rectangular case, but then we have a square here. I = 1/12 x actual dimension4.
That "c" is the distance to the outer "fiber" (they call it), where the highest normal stress is produced. (It's 0 at the centerline.) For this simple rectangular cross-section, c = h/2.
All other things equal besides our having gotten cheated out of material year by year, the bending stress, hence the reduction in strength, goes inversely with the base (b), and inversely with the square of the height (h), of the cross-section. (Note that I goes as the cube of h, but then c, hence h, appears again in the numerator of the formula.) For a square, then, strength of the structure very simply goes down inversely with b3.
Let's do the calculation for bending normal stress for the 3 square cross-sections. B's have 81% of the bending strength of A's, and C's have 67% of that of A's. Starting from that old mythical wood straight outta Sherwood Forest, we get reductions to 42%, to 34%, and to 28% for A's, B's, and C's, respectively.
As a type of loading, buckling is really an odd duck. If you note the formulae, stress in the material, to be compared with its inherent strength, is not in there. That's because buckling is a phenomenon of instability not strength. At a certain critical loading of a column, any slight offset of the load from the centroidal axis** results in bending, but generally columns don't "do" bending. The more the bending deformation (deflection), the higher the offset becomes, increasing the bending moment more, an unstable situation that's really not good for anybody. (Ha, but, there's a lot more to this also. The end "conditions" - how the column is attached to the other structure - are important, as we see in our nice graphic.)
There's that Moment of Inertia for the cross-section again. That's where the changed dimensions come in. Same thing, I = 1/12 bh3 = 1/12 b4 for this square cross-section.
For other things equal, the end conditions, that material property, E for the type of wood, etc, we'll do this buckling load comparison. In this case, I really shouldn't use the word "strength" at all. I'll just refer to how much that critical buckling load - the max limit - is reduced.
Critical load for buckling for B's is 76% of that for A, and for C's it is down to 57%. As compared to the 2 x 2's used in that old mead lodge, we're talking 31%, 24%, and 19% for A's, B's, and C's, respectively.
That's a lot of numbers, so I may make a nice table elsewhere, take a screenshot, and put that in another post. Suffice it to say that, not only are we getting screwed by obvious huge price increases in lumber, but this cross-sectional-dimension version of inflation by deflation is bringing the strength of our wood down, meaning we need more to do the same job.
... and this was to be a short post. Ya' see what I mean?!
* Attaching siding or whatever to a narrower piece can reduce strength of the project too, depending on the application.
** This involves another Calculus-adjacent property of areas (the cross-section again, in this case), the Centroid. It's all cool stuff, IMO.
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[UPDATE 12/02 Eve:] Oops, I = 1/12 bh3. Had left out the 1/12, very important, of course to get the actual number, but it washes out in the comparisons anyway. [NOBODY CARES! - Ed.]
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Comments (4)
Peter Brimelow speaks
Posted On: Friday - December 1st 2023 7:42PM MST
In Topics: Commies Immigration Stupidity Pundits Anarcho-tyranny Legal Stupidity
Of the 2 videos embedded here, only the 1st one is really about Peter Brimelow (along with VDare, the castle, etc.) It is an interview OF him, while the second one is a video BY him. I meant to post something about the first one when I first saw it, about some specific point important to me. (... which I'll add when I watch it again and remember what it was!)
What does link these 2 videos is that both of them talk about Communists, using the term liberally, well Classical Liberally, how about?
I can't say I'm responsible for many more VDare writers calling the ctrl-left of today what I call them, but I was ahead of them on this anyway.
A little over 2 weeks back, James Fulford posted Full Video Of Peter Brimelow On Infowars Discussing Letitia James’ Attack On VDARE.com. InfoWars' Harrison Smith is the interviewer for this 20 minute segment.
Then, yesterday, Pat Cleburne posted Wondering Why U.S. Immigration Policy Is Run By Communists? LISTEN To Diana West And Peter Brimelow!. Though it's more of a conversation too, Peter Brimelow asks lots of question of Diana West here. I had never heard of her before (or don't remember hearing...), but I sure like her opinions! The two talk about the connection between the Communism of old and that of today. Mrs. West doesn't see much difference at all between the left of today and that of yesteryear. I beg to differ: Hair dye, tattooes, large-sized yoga pants... The Bolsheviks didn't have any of that stuff.
Here's the first video in which the Lawfare by the Commie Letitia James of NYC against VDare is discussed, along with other Anarcho-Tryanny:
Here's the second video in which Diana West and Peter Brimelow converse about her work and then about the history of leftist infiltration into American Gov't and then all the Institutions.
I haven't finished this one - I will later on. It's very enjoyable hearing people you like discuss the truth.
PS: I felt lucky to get either of these, much less both, to embed here. The first is on rumble, and the second is on bitchute.
Comments (5)
Inflation by Deflation - building materials Part 2 x 2
Posted On: Thursday - November 30th 2023 10:10PM MST
In Topics: Economics Inflation
After that long treatise(?) about the Great German Hyperinflation of one century ago, I figured this would be Inflation Week, here at Peak Stupidity. In other words, for the same donations, you'll get fewer posts. No, that's not ...
Time really flies! It's been 5 years since I wrote this post about the shrinkage of 1 x 2's, and that came out of my having purchased some pieces of 1 x 2 [sic] for the top surface of an outdoor table. It seems like I did that work recently! You can read that post, but I'll just say here the change was marked and very obvious, even before I broke out the calipers.
Anyway, I started a way O/T discussion on an iSteve thread about the shrinkage of bigger lumber, such as some 2 x 8's, being under the mistaken impression that they had shrunk in width (the "8" inch dimension) recently. I was about to write a post here, but, as much as he won't stop arguing, I'm glad Jack D (along with commenter Res, but he with less certainty) corrected me. I had been wrong for years in thinking that all the "Two by" lumber had actual dimensions of 1 1/2" x [nominal - 1/2"] That is true for 2 x 4's and 2 x 6's, but the wider stuff is 1 1/2" x [nominal - 3/4"]. OK, fine, but I have another example that IS true and is pretty damned egregious.
That would be the cough, cough, 2 x 2's, spit. Maybe a reader here would have a more recent and/or precise date, but I do know that through the fairly late 1990s, I would use these on projects, and they would be 1 1/2" x 1 1/2". Because I'd used a few pieces for that same table 5 years back, I can say that the size of this wood has been reduced significantly before that time. I just don't know how long beforehand. Yes, it's significant when they used to look a bit like lumber, and now they look more like walking sticks.
To get data on the old stuff, I went out to the garage with my nice dial calipers I "obtained"* long ago. After scraping the edges and some dirt off, I got just a couple of thousandths under 1.5" for the one dimension and 20 thousandths over for the other. (You could tell these things were ripped, as in sawn the long way, so that explains the difference. I'm not sure if other 2 x 2's of the day were milled on all surfaces, but ones on my old porch are ripped too.)
Then, I found I had a perfect example of the modern 2 x 2 vs the older ones, side by side:
They are both 2 x 2's. The reason the front one looks like it has a rectangular x-section is because I have a 45 deg. cut there for looks.
That's that very same small table. This holds some firewood. It used to be inside, but the wife demanded it go out, so I replaced the maple top, luckily just screwed on, with those spit, 1 x 2's. I had the old 2 x 2's as part of the structure way before, but 5 years ago put 2 little sections for support (with diagonal cuts for looks), screwed right on. The old and the new are happily both flush with another surface at their tops. So I got to use the depth gauge feature of my nice calipers. They showed 0.098 on the dial. Yep, down from 1.5" square to 1.4" square, old to new.
But, WAIT, as they say, there's MORE! MORE inflation, that is, meaning even less material. I went to the Lowes website:
I enlarged it this time. Wow! They're down to 1 5/16" square now.
Wait, at least one more exclaimation point is needed. Five oh freaking eight?!! (Yeah, 2 will do.) That piece would have been 45¢ or something 30 years ago, and with much more material to boot! (One more.)
I'm too pooped tonight, but I'll do some axial loading, bending, and buckling calculations tomorrow. I'll also figure out an inflation rate based on both price and mass of material. Can't they just up the price but leave the dimensions alone?! This is exasperating.
PS: Sorry to the readers who can only deal in SI units. Being a curmudgeon and an American both, I am happy to stay in English units for most things. Also, though, this wood is all dimensioned both nominally and actually in round numbers in English units.
* There is a story behind that which might be worth a post here. It's about bureaucracy and patience.
Comments (8)
Let the candy floss your head, on Sugar Mountain
Posted On: Wednesday - November 29th 2023 6:00PM MST
In Topics: Music China
Not Sugar Mountain, far as I know. This is in China, where they're not big fans of sugar. They sure do have some hairy terrain though. From one direction this wall looked over vertical.
We'll do that song-out-of-the-blue thing again today, as in the old days of the blog. When he wrote this great folk song in 1964, Neil Young was referring to his home in Winnipeg, Manitoba, but this makes me think of North Carolina. There is a Sugar Mountain there.
This song never made it to an album until long after, with Mr. Young's big (3 vinyl record) Decade compilation. From wiki regarding this song:
On the bootleg album Live on Sugar Mountain, released just days after the concert at which it was recorded (on February 1, 1971, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles), Young talks at length about the lyrics. He says that when he first wrote the song, he wrote 126 verses to it." Now, you can imagine that I had a lot of trouble figuring out what four verses to use... I was underneath the stairs at the time... Anyway, this verse that I wrote... It was the worst verse of the 126 that I wrote. So, I decided to put it in the song, just to give everybody a frame of reference as to, you know, what can happen. What I'm trying to say is, by stopping in the middle of the song, and explaining this to you, is that... I think it's one of the lamest verses I ever wrote. And, uhh...it takes a lotta nerve for me to get up here and sing it in front of you people. But, if when I'm finished singing, you sing the chorus 'Sugar Mountain' super loud, I'll just forget about it right away and we can continue."As Peak Stupidity's been telling ya'll for a long time, good lyrics can be nice, but with a great tune, they just don't matter. This is such a case. Without an internet and all earlier, I did not know this one line until today, when I finally looked it up:
It's so noisy at the fair,For the life of me, all I could make out of it was "...and the candy floss your head.", cause well, I get that they were at the fair and all, but... look, why didn't you translate it into American, if you're gonna move here, Neil? It's cotton candy! Ohhhhh... duh!
but all your friends are there,
and the candy floss you had,
and your mother and your dad.
I used to be able to play this on guitar - not too hard. I like the hammer-downs that Neil does on acoustic guitar, but his way of using the guitars for both melody and percussion is something I couldn't do.
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Seven Years of Peak Stupidity
Posted On: Tuesday - November 28th 2023 8:20PM MST
In Topics: General Stupidity Websites
... the blog that is, as stupidity itself is still ramping up. The peak is nigh!
Yep, that's right. I won't put that Beatles song back into readers heads again, just after y'all shook it off, right? It is, though, 7 years since Peak Stupidity's blog post #1, with the personal self-assessment FIRST POST - Am I a curmudgeon?.
We - long term readers know that means "I" - analyzed this a bit and determined:
The above [complaints about modern music], and other thoughts - let me write about Windows software another time - make me realize that it's not me, it's the world that is the problem.So, that could be taken as a no, but I'd say I am a curmudgeon and wouldn't like things changing even it they weren't bring us toward Peak Stupidity. Speaking of the downward trend in music, to make up for that, we started off the music embedding in that first post, with Billy Joel's Scenes from an Italian Restaurant.
Within a month and a half this site had 100 posts up, with no more worries about running out of material. We hit 200 posts within 3 months. Early on, most of them were fairly short though, 1/4 to 1/2 the size of our average post now.*
By the one year anniversary, we clocked in at 500 posts. (I made a special effort to make that work out.) At the time we noted Peak Stupidity Celebrates 2nd Blogversary!, we were at 866 posts. The 3rd year anniversary coincided with Thanksgiving**, and the post count was 1263. After 4 years, 1704 posts, and the heart of the Kung Flu PanicFest, we announced that The Peak of Stupidity has been postponed... and the updating of our "NACA" graph on engineering paper on our header.***
We didn't even notice the anniversaries in '21 and '22, but the post counts were 2118 and 2451, respectively. This is post #2788. That's a yearly average of just under 400 posts and a weekly average of ~7 1/2 posts.
Quantity is not everything though. The content has shifted slightly. Going by recollection here it's gone from losts of curmudeonry, look-at-what-this-guy-wrote****, wild-and-crazy stuff, music out of nowhere, direct Steve Sailer-discussed stuff out of the NY Times and its ilk toward many series on special or general (ex., inflation) topics, more books, movies, and Rockford Files. Lastly we have gotten closer to current events, as the elementary school teachers would call news. I don't know if that latter is such a good thing. There ARE many stories now that go along with our most important areas of stupidity, and we like to discuss them without delay. That interrupts the flow of the series and precludes the subsequently forgotten odd stuff.
As far as the flavors of stupidity covered, the topic keys, going many-to-one of them with blog posts, are one way to keep track of this. Those topic keys, well, we've added a handful or so in the last few years, but older posts are not all back-filled with them. I looked back and saw that we had tables showing the quantity of subject matter based on those keys in our 1000th post. One can look back there, at the post count 36% of the way to now. I may get the info in that same format later, but I can say the following:
The top 3 topic keys here haven't changed in order of occurrence:
Music is still topic key #1 with 542 posts now, 236 then.
Humor is #2 with 435 posts now, 153 then.
Immigration Stupidity is #3 with 337 posts now, 137 then. That's the highest actual flavor of stupidity, and that one is to be expected. It's EXISTENTIAL.
Some things have changed. The #4 topic key now is Kung Flu Stupidity. Of course, we didn't even have this topic key by post 1000 (March 28th '19). Then, following are #5, US Feral Gov't and #6 Economics. Back at post 1000, # 4 was Pundits, #5 was our beloved Curmudgeonry, and #6 was Trump. Hey, what happened there? (Economics was #7 back then, BTW.) This is not very scientific, as it's all in the labeling to begin with.
As far as business goes - we don't make money here, of course, so I mean the business of reaching readers - things are not bad but have been much more stagnant over the last few years than I'd have like to see. I can produce stats on that another time. It's kind of depressing, but then, I do want to see the difference during the PanicFest time.
Speaking of that, we'd have a few hardy commenters a couple of years in (don't know what happened to BernCar - hope he's A-OK), but commenting really picked up as the PanicFest did. I thank all of you all who write for keeping the comment section going strong for the last few years!
There is no way Peak Stupidity can even keep up with material that I've already thought of, much less run out. Time is another story.
I don't know about another 7 years. I truly think that we'll have enough other things to worry about such that writing posts here would be too trivial a thing to be doing... or we'll all be on twitter, even THIS GUY!
Have a nice evening, Peakers.
PS: Typos and grammar errors have been a long-term problem here. I self-edit, but often, I find things days and months later. I doubt the problem has gotten worse - I just found 2 typos in Post !. FIXED, 7 years later!
* I didn't do any stat on that, though I guess that'd be fairly simple, based on word counts in the dBase.
** Ahaa, I didn't recall, but per a suggestion from long-term reader/commenter Dtbb (Downtown Bobby Brown) I put Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant Massacree in that post, and he just now suggested it. Sorry, I'd forgotten, Dtbb. It does go with Thanksgiving.
*** The old one was out of date to begin with, showing the peak of stupidity being in '14 or so - not even close!! I did note in the 1st post that I'd had the URL for a while and worked on some things, such as that banner, quite a while earlier.
**** Or girl, of course, such as Ann Coulter. There still are lots of excerpts, but we try not to make too many posts anymore just based on one cool bit of writing by somebody.
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Dispatches from The Middle Kingdom: Peking Smog
Posted On: Tuesday - November 28th 2023 6:29AM MST
In Topics: China Environmental Stupidity
I left out a couple of points I was going to make in the most recent Dispatches from The Middle Kingdom: post called WoKeiProp.
Firstly, yeah, note the smog in the picture above. This is one of a dozen or so I "snapped", as we went touring around Peking. This is not just low visibility in mist. It wasn't particularly humid and/or chilly (this was in August), so this was pollutants rather than water, and it was THICK*. Visibility was 1/2 a mile to two miles generally.
So, there they have their CCTV ads about the windmills and "The wind and the sunshine playing the city melody.", but that looks pretty unhealthy there in Peking still for those susceptible. Additionally, the number of coal burning power plants being built yearly is something else! Industry comes before quality of life there. That's understandable, but cut the TV Ad BS. Are the Chinese people susceptible to that?
Secondly, I had unfortunately left my phone/camera in the hotel room at breakfast the previous day in this same place, so I missed a picture of something interesting. That would be the TV showing massive violence in the Capital City. No, not Peking, this was Washington, FS, of the USA. The violent people were the J6 protesters, running around, throwing shit, and doing all kind of mayhem.
It's the same Narrative they've been playing here for almost 3 years, on Chinese CCTV. Now I see the propaganda value for China in this. "Don't make waves, Chinese people. See these hoodlums in the US that almost overthrew their duly elected Gov't (just like ours is)?! It's anti-Establishment, it's non-conformist, it's egregious, and the nails that stuck up are getting hammered down. Take heed!"
PS: The sound was down. It'd have been nice to get the tone of it and maybe hear some of the English in the footage. Otherwise, I'd sure like to have recorded it for a translation. Dang, opportunity lost! (What kind of slack-ass "journalists" are employed by this outfit anyway?)
* I questioned myself on this due to my not personally being sensitive to smog. In Los Angeles, I was with a lady who could really feel the stuff in her throat and lungs - this was long ago, when it was worse. For me, I was aware of it only when I first saw the wall of rock of the San Gabriel Mountains to the north and thought, "Hey, why haven't I seen them before?!"
Back to Peking, as we went uphill toward the Great Wall on the one day, it did get misty, and I that's why I wondered about it.
Comments (2)
The Great German Hyperinflation of one century ago
Posted On: Monday - November 27th 2023 8:05PM MST
In Topics: History Economics Inflation World Political Stupidity
It was a century ago this week,
when inflation hit the very peak.
Had my Reichmarks in a big old pile.
'bout enough to buy a toenail file.
So let me introduce to you
a monetary tale o'er some beers.
It's Woodie Wilson's reparations plaa-a-a-aan.
The hyperinflation that crushed the economy of Wiemar Republic Germany in the early 1920s is not something you could put an exact date on. However, the reason Peak Stupidity picked this week, it's importance for the usual Beatles take-off lyrics notwithstanding, is that it WAS right around this week - the article we'll introduce says "by December '23" - that the Reichmark hit its low of 4.2 TRILLION of them to a US dollar. Well, the regular German people would not have been able to deal in dollars, but that'd have been about the amount of currency it took to buy food for the day*)
We can split the difference between that "by December" and November 16, 1923, when (per per wiki, the new Rentenmark was introduced to replace the worthless paper Reichsmarks. The new Rentenmark was set equal to one 1 Trillion Reichmarks (12 decimal places were lopped off), so Voila!, now you could get a days food for a 4 Marks... I mean for that day, anyway, as that wasn't near the end of it all. However, ~this week in century-ago Germany was Peak Stupidity of the Monetary Policy variety.
I am very glad my recent copy of the John Birch Society's The New American arrived last month with a very good retrospective, Germany’s Hyperinflation of 1923. A helpful commenter on The Unz Review going by MEH 0910 gave me that archive link, as otherwise, it's been paywalled. For those with the extra $99 political account funding available - because one can read current issues of their magazine on-line for free anyway - JBS is a great org to support. They are Conservative with Christian aspects and also Libertarian, Constitutionalist, and anti-Globalist.
The article a nice medium-length history of this terrible period in German history, with lessons for the future, perfect for my kid's first written paper. I don't have much to write that's not in there. However, economics is a big topic key for us here, and inflation is a more special niche interest - in German that's (due to) nichts interest... groan if you must...
Let me at least point to the causes of this calamity. I noted Woodrow Wilson's WWI Versailles Treaty screwage of Germany, but that was for the song meter and only one of the causes. The reparations were onerous, but much debt existed from borrowing during the war. Per the article, Germany expected to win and pay back the debt via reparations on the French! A little big of old-fashioned Karmflation was coming down.
No matter all the debt accumulated, with Germany having not been on the gold standard, the Wiemar Gov't printed as much money as needed to INCREASE the Welfare State and keep taxes low. In those times, Germany was really close to becoming Communist, so perhaps that was the impetus to (try to) keep Germans satisfied, with the usual wanting to stay in business as a government too. This was actual printing, of course, long before computers,in the actual "money printer go brrrrr" fashion (more like bang-bang in huge machines back then). The article discusses that the money printing was limited by facilities and even fatigue of the workers in them. (Couldn't they have paid them more? Wait ...)
Well, you can't get away with fake money - tens, thousands, millions of times as much in circulation chasing the same amount of goods - for long without inflation. The more fake money in relative terms, the higher the inflation. Here are some numbers:
The cost of living in 1920 was 12 times what it had been in 1914.So 1923 was the big year. Because standard bills became worthless quickly, larger and larger denominations were being printed. (Here in America, denominations have been going in the other direction, for, IMO, even more nefarious reasons.)
By January 1923, an American dollar (which itself had lost purchasing power as a result of the U.S. government’s own inflationary practices) could buy someone 17,000 marks (the German currency). But it would get worse — much worse. By July, that same dollar would reward the buyer with 353,000 marks, and then, just one month later, in August, it would take 4.6 million marks to obtain one American dollar.
In September, the value of the mark had sunk even lower, and it now took nearly 99 million marks to obtain a dollar. Just a month later, in October, a person would need 25.3 billion marks to equal one dollar, followed by an astounding 2.2 trillion marks in November. Finally, by December of 1923, a person with one American dollar could have purchased 4.2 trillion marks.
One thing the New American article doesn't mention is an important difference between "hyper-" and standard sucky-as-normal inflation. Of course the prefix "hyper" is Greek for "extra high", as in hypertension. However, I've read that a fundamental difference with hyperinflation it happens when the population has lost all faith in the currency. Maybe there is not clear divide there, and there are steady gradations, I dunno.
I'll make a few more points regarding the suffering of the population due to this financial evil. There are the stories everyone has heard about one needing a wheelbarrow full of Marks in whatever denomination that week to buy a loaf of bread. Well, then there were the increased denominations. If the printers could keep up, that solved that problem for a short while at a time. Better have kept that wheelbarrow though, just for the fact that it was a hard asset if nothing else.
Next, the devaluation of the money was so rapid that one had to spend it quickly after being paid, or one would lose significant buying power. This one is really something if true:
The rapid increase in prices led to some stories that were probably apocryphal, such as the story that if one did not eat his meal fast enough at a restaurant, the bill would be higher when he finished the meal than when he ordered it.I have been said to inhale my meals, to this would not be a problem for me. Bring it!
OK, seriously again, the biggest evil of hyperinflation is that saving any of one's money in this currency in the usual conservative fashion, in a bank or home, was, using the adjective in the article, nonsensical. How could anyone who did not already own significant REAL assets get anywhere financially? This is a Middle Class killer. The poor don't make enough to save much, and the rich have those big real assets. I don't see how any of the normal people could stand to live like this - by definition, everyone but the rich was forced to live literally paycheck-to-paycheck.
Wait, maybe they could have borrowed for a house or something. That's the last point here on the effects of currency devaluation (one good definition of inflation). Ben Franklin said "Neither a borrower or lender be." In normal times, sure thing - I like that. Thanks, Ben. In highly inflation times, it goes like this, though: "Be a borrower, but you're an idiot if you're a lender!" Were an idiot lender to "front you 100,000 Marks for 2 weeks, I promise, man, I'll pay you 20,000 more!", it could have been worth half, one tenth, hell, 1 thousandth of the value when you got it back. Anyone holding debt, as in mortgages, would be in great shape. "Hell, tell you what, Fourth Eighth Bank** of Germany mortgage officer, I feel rich today. Let me bring in my wheelbarrow to the bank and pay off my whole 200,000 Mark home loan. Or, I can come next month and bring it all in my front pocket."
Would any bank lend out mortgages though? I'd say not without equivalently-valued physical collateral. Therefore, only the big entities with lots of debt per their formerly non-conservative business models, came out ahead in the hyperinflation. Soon enough, they had title to everything. This had the effect of pissing off a lot of people, as financially conservative folks had been thoroughly ruined. There was more than that as far as suffering:
Mass starvation was a looming reality by the last months of 1923, and malnutrition was a major cause of an increase in cases of tuberculosis. By the summer of 1923, nearly two-thirds of East Prussian schoolchildren were under observation for the disease.Whaddya know, but it was in this month that Adolph Hitler attempted a coup to create a National Socialist dictatorship, his truly presiding. This Beer Hall Putsch didn't take, Hitler went to prison for a while, he wrote a book, and he was most definitely heard from again.
I highly recommend the New American article written at the century mark from this financial stupidity in the otherwise highly functional country of Germany. It's 2023 now, so that stuff is all over, right? I mean, we can use computers and fancy FED schemes to create "assets" now, right? OK, sure, there's been steady inflation of Peak Stupidity-estimated 4-5% annually for a couple of decades, and lately that 8%, per the government. We can stop printing money at any time. It can't go hyper because the Almighty Dollar is the Reserve Currency. That status lasts forever, right?
I don't know. History may yet rhyme on this score. I have one nice wheelbarrow - with a solid tire (compressed air may become dear) - so if I have to, I can head over to the grocery with the wheelbarrow full of iPhones with barcodes showing. Welcome to Weimar America!
* Per this official US CPI page, lacking Peak Stupidity's caveats that there've been greater increases than official over the last couple of decades, that's $17 in today's currency. Yeah, that could buy food for the day - but did they have Mac & Cheese back then...?
** Well, there's an entity called the Fifth Third Bank with over 1,000 branches. What's up with THAT name?
Comments (11)
No bearing on the matter?
Posted On: Saturday - November 25th 2023 6:20PM MST
In Topics: Cheap China-made Crap Big-Biz Stupidity Customer Care
OK, look, this was my screw-up to begin with. Because the local place was dragging ass on trying to find these certain tapered roller bearings I needed, I went on-line. I'd pay a decent amount more to just be able to go get 'em, but that's the world now, especially with the fallout - STILL - from the economic damage of the Kung Flu PanicFest ("supply chain, supply chain, supply chain" Ahhh, shut it...)
These were to be Timken bearings for quality, and, by mistake, I thought that any bearings with the same 5 digit model number would be made by Timken. No, the number must have become a generic spec, I guess.
I got plenty of search results from "Timken [Bearing #]". Well, lookie here, I was surprising myself by buying bearings from Wal-Mart but hey, there they were on the first page, for the lowest price around with these bearings actually in stock.* I ordered 4 bearings and 4 cups (separate outer races). They came to the house in a week, and let's see.... Whoa, these are not my beautiful tapered roller bearings! Those are not my beautiful bearing cups!
They were made in China. There were Chinese characters on the side walls. Wait, WTH? I checked the Wal-Mart site and nope, it never said these were Timkens. Now, my search was for "Timken", if you recall, but that doesn't mean all results would be. That was my screw up. However, I don't want to take a chance on these. So, I order the ACTUAL Timken bearings of this number. They came a few days back, and well, what to do with $100 in China-made parts? They HAVE to go back.
I gotta admit that the Wal-Mart on-line returns process was great. I'd expected to have to go to the store and hash it out. Now, you take care of most of it on-line, such as filling out the on-line form, you get a barcode, and you go to the store with that. Actually, this lady was very nice and efficient... unexpectedly.
What to put for down for my reason for return? "Made in China", as per the image above. Shouldn't that have some bearing on the matter? Yeah, that's my comment above. We'll see if I ever get the hundred bucks back.
PS: BTW, this was a 3rd-party vendor, not WalMart actually sending (and going to receive) these bearings. They use WalMart's "platform" in Big Biz Geek parlance.
PPS: I forgot until now that Peak Stupidity has written about cheap Chinese bearings before. It wasn't really about the quality, but about the TYPE used, in an exercise bike. The 3rd one was the charm - see The
* To give myself a break here, the prices were in a +/- 50% range at least, so, this seemed legit.
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[UPDATED 11/29:] Added PPS.
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Comments (7)
When Irish Eyes are no longer smiling
Posted On: Friday - November 24th 2023 8:54PM MST
In Topics: Immigration Stupidity Media Stupidity alt-right
I'm trying to be somewhat timely for a change, so please accept my apologies for not writing back to the nice comments under the last post, for now. This is about the rioting going on in Ireland right now, amazingly being perpetrated by THE IRISH. I understand there's soccer (football) hooliganism and that, but it seems most rioting in White countries is done by blacks and/or foreigners these days.* Rioting by White people about anything is a big no-no. (See again.*)
The story started with an act of multiple stabbings, including of children by a man who is said to be a 20-year "National", meaning an immigrant. A "national" is not illegally in a country, though he may have started that way, but is not a citizen either. No matter the details, the guy is said to be some Algerian.
Though not as far gone as Sweden and France as far as the Moslem immigration invasion goes (or any other ethnicity), Ireland has seen its share of this cultural destruction. Peak Stupidity has seen some and blogged about it in Summer '22, including in the post A man's home is his castle. Our concluding paragraph of that post reads:
If the Irish allow large groups of foreigners to immigrate, these newcomers may eventually sound Irish, which is pretty weird when encountered, BTW, but they will not become Irish, even culturally. 10's of thousands of them in big cities will build their cultural fortresses, as those actual fortresses such as the Kilkenny Castle will be let to crumble and fade from history.The "Fighting Irish" is the name of the (American) football team, and stereotypes come from some truth. Perhaps the Irish are a little bit quick to anger. However, as in all of the Western White world, you get in a lot of trouble for showing the least big of anger against these immigration invasions. Everyone's been keeping a lid on it Well, the anger of the Irish may have just simmered over yesterday.
The Daily Mail article I read on this** has as its URL "Get-Furious-Dubliners-drive-police-City-Centre-five-people-including-three-children-stabbed-unverified-rumours-swirl-suspect-foreign-national.html" Talk about your bias here, that "unverified rumours" [sic] business is there to tell the reader that this anger and the rioting is probably bigoted and completely unjustified! First of all, in my best Irish brogue, which is better read than heard, "Unverified, bloody hell! Just look at the foooking mook, mate! That aside, who else DOES that?"
The Irish have a reason to riot against the Globalist authorities there even if these children (and whomever else) HADN'T been stabbed the other day. The fact is, the average Irishman never wanted these extreme foreigners (something like 15,000 Nigerians and a total # that's 12% of the fooking population) in their country.
One Micheal Martin, Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland, says of these riots, "This is not who we are. Quite to the contrary, this is EXACTLY who the Fighting Irish are, and this happening is very heartening!
Getting to a critical mass of people who can't be all be carted off and charged with "hate crimes" is not something very easy to plan and not very predictable. It can take the right spark, whether that particular spark is a justifiable reason or not. However, how many Irishmen go around stabbing children? I think this is justifiable, for the record only. I am hopeful this kind of thing spreads throughout the White Western world, until the Globalists stand down.
PS: Steve Sailer has a post up about this with a pretty solid opinion: A Riot Is the Voice of the Unheard, Unless It's Irish Hooligans. The comments there should be very good. It'd be great to see some here too.
That title of his reminds me of a quote from the guy who was assassinated 60 years ago the other day: "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable." The Globalists would be wise to back off before JFK's adage comes to pass.
* ... with an exception being the very justifiable riot/protest of 1/6/21 over a fraudulent Presidential election. Yes, the term "rioting" is correct (for, what, 1% of the crowd or less?), but "insurrection" is most certainly not.
** I'm not linking to it simply because it's a huge file, taking forever to simmer down. has the following as its URL, the modern practice being that they are very descriptive to remain distinct, I guess...
Comments (13)
Happy Thanksgiving '23!
Posted On: Thursday - November 23rd 2023 10:46AM MST
In Topics: Immigration Stupidity Pundits Race/Genetics Holiday from Stupidity
(Thanks go to Adam Smith for the graphic.)
The one topic key rarely used is Holiday from Stupidity, for obvious reasons. However, the reader may notice the other here 3 this time, as I gotta put a plug in for Ann Coulter yet again. This does relate to being thankful though.
I can't tell if it's the VDare editor or Miss Coulter who wrote at the top of This Thanksgiving, Joy-Ann Reid Has Much To Be Thankful For, "My new Thanksgiving tradition." I like it, but I do imagine Miss Coulter could find some new ungrateful one every year rather than just this Guyanan immigrant I've honestly never seen talking*.
I'll just excerpt this small part of Ann Coulter's take on why this Joy-Ann Reid should be thankful:
In the sage words of the Instapundit, Heh! and Indeed.
• You were admitted to Harvard with SAT scores that would have gotten an Asian kid disowned by his parents.
• You manage to keep your show at MSNBC with ratings that would get a white person canceled.
• People try harder to laugh at your excruciating jokes than they would for a male of any race.
• Plus, I have it on good authority that no one at MSNBC has pestered you about touching your hair.
OK, enough about these two ladies and America's problems... for today. I am thankful for family and friends, our health, for peace here for now, for our good and stable financial situation (no, not America's!), for the wonderful weather, and for the enjoyment of the internet for some purposes including this blog and the great commenters and other readers (gotta assume the latter are great, or they wouldn't be here).
I'm also thankful I can write what I'm writing right now without being told to call this Happy DeColonized day by a couple of not-so-thankful Injuns named Sean Sherman and Chase Iron Eyes. Pass the turkey, Mr. Eyes, and no, Sean, no more stuffing, thanks, before I end up in a triptophanic trance. (Actually, we're having a duck.)
I hope you all have plenty to be thankful for too!
T HA N K S G I V I N G !
See, now the graphic above would have been something to be proud of, some real HTML fu, back in 1996. Now, not so much... We're pretty old school here and will have to change, but NO tweeting, excuse me, Xing!
* Being off TV, almost 24 years running, is another thing to be thankful for. The internet, well, I'm not so sure...
Comments (35)
The John F. Kennedy Assassination - 60 years ago
Posted On: Wednesday - November 22nd 2023 3:35PM MST
In Topics: History Pundits Dead/Ex- Presidents
I was not aware of this important happening on November 22nd of 1963. Now, right at 6 decades later, I would not have been aware of the anniversary yet but for the Steve Sailer post from today noting that It Was 60 Years Ago Today.
I don't doubt Mr. Sailer's arithmetic. As far as the significance, I somewhat agree with his writing here:
In Boomer mythology, America changed between the assassination of JFK on 11/22/1963 and the Beatles’ appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show on 2/9/1964. Over the decades, I’ve come to believe that cliche is largely true.The Shea Stadium show would have been nice to have gone to, though I'd rather have had my ears blown out from big woofers playing Rush or Zeppelin than screaming female Beatles fans.
What I do doubt is the downplaying of anything off the (Warren Commission) narrative involving other players and conspiracies, as Mr. Sailer seems to. I claim no special knowledge of this assassination having only read part of one book (it got boring) and possibly having seen the Oliver Stone movie. (I really can't remember, so I'll check it out again and see.)
Another pivotal event from 2 generations later was 9/11, and as per our 2 y/a post At Peak Stupidity club, YOU! DO! NOT! TALK! ABOUT! 9/11!, I don't mind some comments about JFK - anywhere and anytime the reader would like - but I won't get into this too much.
In comparing these two events and the possible real stories, there seem to be two big parts to this type of speculation*: Motivations and the Details.
For the speculation on motivations, it's fairly easy to read up on the politics in order to come up with pretty good reasons that some other party or parties must have been involved. That's why I think most conspiracy theorists start from this side. "These people HAD to want him dead." or "These people would of course have wanted to blame the Moslem world for this huge attack." Lots of these theories make lots of sense.
As for speculation and calculations on the details, that's quite a bit more difficult. When it comes to the earlier event, JFK's assassination, this is not ridiculously difficult. It's about ballistics, fields of view, bullet impact(s) on the body, autopsy information, etc. About the most difficult thing is the problem of the amount of time that has gone by... after a time in which there weren't a whole lot of cameras around, and one could get away with a whole lot more, sight unseen, hence unrecorded.
As I wrote in the post about 9/11, the details on the airplane impacts and effects on the building structures are not something I know so much about, but there's one thing I am pretty confident on. That is how difficult if not impossible it is to model what went on, with high-velocity impact, fast-moving burning jet fuel, and all that. Additionally, of the one area I DO know a lot about, the aviation side, even one of the internet commentators I really like let me down on the subject at the very beginning of a long video on his theories. If he doesn't understand that part, how could I trust that he understands the rest of it? So, I don't know, and motivations alone don't make a case for me.
Back to this JFK assassination anniversary, and going back to motivations, here is my main reason for thinking over the last 60 years America has not been told the true story by the big media. There were just too many people or organizations that WOULD have a motivation to off that President! Maybe it was his understanding of sound money - my favorite explanation just because I care about that - that made him "not viable" as President. I have run into so many other reasons. Was it just the one Communist Lee Harvey Oswald that didn't like anti-Commies, as iSteve thinks? With all those other people with reasons to get him, if nothing else, they could have really "used" a dupe like that. In this case, I'll admit, I've only followed some of the details. I won't say I'm sure things didn't go down as advertised, because, as I wrote above, motivations are not enough. Still, there were a LOT of people motivated ...
Speaking of the Commies and the events of 60 years back today, Mr. Sailer included (from an 11 year ago TakiMag article of his) this excerpt from the widow:
When Jackie Kennedy learned the unwelcome truth, she lamented, “He didn’t even have the satisfaction of being killed for civil rights. It had to be some silly little communist. It robs his death of any meaning.”Wow, what a proto-Woke little ninny Jackie was 6 decades ago! I mean, Communism was THE big issue, problem, and worry back then. Being shot dead by a Communist was anything but silly in 1963. What an airhead, but, they say she was hot …
Maybe I got her all wrong. Was she upset that the assassination had the unfortunate effect of setting Civil Rights efforts forward 10 years? I'd have been.
We close with a comment by Alarmist in which I have added 4 lines. Going back to the Beatles, who weren't on the Ed Sullivan show till 59 3/4 years ago, I wouldn't be able to read Mr. Sailer's title without their A Day in the Life in my head:
🎶 It was sixty years ago today.
Lyndon Johnson told the band to play.
He was shot inside a half a mile.
Now convertibles are outta style….
So let me induce in you
some vomiting from all these fears
of Johnson and his ruin-America plaaaaaan.🎶
Any improvement will be welcomed.
* A third one could be the trust, or lack thereof, of Americans in the ability/desire of the media of the time to even make a serious effort to delve into other possibilities. That had plunged a lot already from 1963 to 2001. Now, only 22 years further on? People would be less ignorant without the Lyin Press.
Comments (8)
Uptight (Everything AIN'T alright)
Posted On: Tuesday - November 21st 2023 7:04PM MST
In Topics: Music Political Correctness
"Uptight." I hadn't thought of the word in a long time. I know that commenter Hail may go check out the ngram's or whatever, but it seems like the word faded out before this century began. With "square" no longer in use, except by Huey Lewis (yes, and The News), "uptight" was used to describe those not relaxed, ready to go straight to the rule book over anything. [No, tampon jokes will not be permitted - Ed.]
That's not to say those derided as uptight back in the day weren't in the right. The nation was still kind of Conservative, which is not a bad thing.
Well, I think we need to bring back this word. I've been experiencing the wrath of PC lately, closer to Wokeness, and the people pushing this stuff are, well, yeah, uptight! In the corporate world, which I try to stay out of as much as possible, I can't imagine how it would be to work there everyday among lurking uptight HR department minions and others whose uptightedness is unknown.
It'd be utter misery. I mean, you can't say anything! I refer now to that more-than-humorous but also very anti-PC clip from The Office ('05-'13 TV show) that was included in this Peak Stupidity post. It's kind of a defect with the English language I suppose. Michael Scott is upset about the corporate "suits" not liking his un-PC antics*, and rants "The problem is, apparently I can't say anything." Then, Jan Levinson, corporate muckety-muck, later Michael's lover in a dysfunctional relationship and fired... says "Well, that's true, in a way, you can't say anything."
Note how the different emphasis changes the meaning totally. Jan is right, but unfortunately, the situation for those White men (especially) worried about their careers is closer to Michaels meaning. You're better off not saying a freaking word. Everyone is too damned uptight.
Going back almost 58 years, the word had a different meaning in this Stevie Wonder song:
She says "baby everything is alright, uptight, out of sight.
Baby, everything is alright, uptight, clean out of sight."
I'm gonna start calling some of these PC/Woke people uptight - we'll see if it sticks.
PS: Calling someone "uptight" predated "lighten up, Francis" even. We had that one for about 1/4 century, until nobody got it anymore, even this guy.
For the record:
* Freaking hilarious, all of the times he got in trouble for PIC - this time it was for forwarding emails. The one time when he imitated Chris Rock - truly LOL funny!
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[UPDATED 11/23:] Added PS on "Lighten up, Francis."
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Comments (5)
Traitorous Globalist vies for US Presidency
Posted On: Monday - November 20th 2023 7:22PM MST
In Topics: Elections '16 - '24 Humor Globalists The Neocons Orwellian Stupidity
I got that meme from a friend. Thanks, Andrew!
We'll ramp back up stupidity production here starting tomorrow.
Just a quick update here: Fox News reports that Nikki Haley walks back 'verify everybody' social media proposal, wants free speech for 'anonymous Americans'. However, "What I don’t like is anonymous Russians and Chinese and Iranians having it", Haley told CNBC. Sure, yeah, we need to keep up with all of these people when they go on-line. Russians and Chinese, and Persians, oh my!
She's not just a traitor to South Carolinians and a Globalist NeoCon, but Nimarata is a ditz to boot.
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[UPDATED 11/21:] Added that Nimarata walked back her suggestion, per Fox News.
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Comments (2)
Main Street by Bob Seger
Posted On: Friday - November 17th 2023 5:12PM MST
In Topics: Music
We're gonna have to go quiet till Monday or even Tuesday. Part of it is just taking a short internet break, but there's actual work to do too.
We try to relate the music to the posts here, but this one is just out of the blue. From his very popular Night Moves album of 1977, here is Bob Seger and his Silver Bullet Band with Main Street. There was so much music this great in the 1970s that people thought it would always be that way. I've been wrong before, but, man, not this bad!!
Peak Stupidity is backed up again with posts yearning to hit the site running, more on the Depopulocalypse, something on the writer extraordinaire, Lionel Shriver, the topic of China as related to the long Atlantic article, China's Age of Malaise that we just touched upon here last week. We'll have more from our road trip too. Then, the immigration invasion has not quit, and the country is going to hell and all that ...
Okay, then. Have a wonderful weekend, Peakers! Thanks for reading and writing in.
Comments (4)
Peak Stupidity is FOR the alleged Depopulocalypse - Part 3: Anecdotal Interlude
Posted On: Thursday - November 16th 2023 9:49AM MST
In Topics: The Future Female Stupidity Muh Generation
This is continued from Part 1 and Part 2, but those posts were put up Sept. 8th and Oct. 3rd, respectively, so I don't expect any reader to have been anxiously awaiting this one. ;-}. Hell, I barely remember writing them! I'll try to do these things much closer together, as in, in a row, for the next idea.
File photo here again. I would have had a heck of a time asking search sites to find a face to match the one in question. I wouldn't know how to start. I picked a face at the same level of prettyiosity.
The very long but very interesting substack (Postcards from Barsoom is the substack site title) article by one "John Carter" I refer to in these posts is called The Depopulocalypse. Links to the 3 pages are below.*. My contention
1) ObesityThe seem fairly comprehensive to me - if you've got another, please write it in the comments.
2) Hormone-disrupting chemicals
3) Urbanization
4) Difficulty finding a spouse
5) High expense of housing and children
6) Long duration of education
7) Incompatibility of family and professional lives
8) Child-rearing being seen as low-status
Here's the problem, though. My anecdote here doesn't fall under ANY of these 8 reasons. Let me give you the basics:
For a couple of days a while back I worked with a woman colleague, or "girl" is how I should put it, because she is young and hot. We don't work in cabana wear, mind you, so I'm going by her face and mannerisms, then again I could see enough in work clothing to know she was in very good shape. I'd have guessed she was 25 y/o, but she is 32.
This young lady got married very recently.to guy who just got started in a very solid career. It can't be outsourced, and the pay is very decent. This colleague herself is in a career that is even better at this stage, with its ups and downs - right now it pays pretty darn well.
"Do you have kids?", I asked.
"No, we have the dogs and cats."
"Are you gonna have some?"
"No, we like things like this. It's great."
Did I mention this woman is very pretty? I didn't mention that she must be a pretty solid person for the job she's doing. I cannot be completely sure of (2) up in the list, as people may not want to mention some problem. However, the next day, when I couldn't help myself and told her, "You really ought to have some kids.", she could have told me "We can't" or something to that effect.
Again, "No, we like it like this." Well, I'm not her Mom or Dad, so all I left her with is my reminding her that once she gets to 38 or so, everything gets more difficult with baby-making. (See our old post Feminism 101 - It's not nice to fool Mother Nature!.) That's 6 years or so in which to change her mind. (Then again, if she looks like 25, maybe she's stronger than most...)
So, let me do this list. What's the fertility problem here?:
1) Hell No.
2) I am pretty sure not.
3) No. They will be able to live anywhere, based on salaries and their careers.
4) No. I'm sure it was NEVER a problem for her, and kudos to the guy.
5) No, they've got it covered for 5 kids, probably more.
6) No. Done and done, with time to spare.
7) No. It might be bit trickier than in some careers, but it's not a problem.
8) This is a more general question. There's no reason to think this, so No.
The lady is an only child. I'm not her Mom, but Mom and Dad are not likely happy inside about this. (She noted her Mom's view only.) The husband has nephews, so they've all got that, at least.
Look, I'm not here to tell people what they've gotta do. I didn't write this to support a Handmaid's Tale arrangement for America... though it might be nice to participate, if it comes down to that. Some of us have personal reasons for this or that. I just think this: Here's this beautiful woman, happily married with great financial resources going into the future. They would be able to raise beautiful/handsome well-taken-care of kids. Shouldn't she be one of the ones having babies, if anyone at all is?!
This doesn't bode so well ...
* Depopulocalypse
Depopulocalypse II – Solutions That Don’t or Won’t Work
Depopulocalypse III – From SINK to FLOAT
Comments (12)