MarkFord
Do orangutans share with us humans the same sense of wonder and humor? Look at this.
Do You Remember Bob Ross?
When I was in my 30s, I occasionally watched a PBS instructional series on painting, starring a tall, White guy with an afro named Bob Ross. During the 11 years he appeared on The Joy of Painting, he recorded more than 400 videos.
Ross had a gentle, upbeat way of speaking – not unlike Mr. Rogers – that made him easy to watch and learn from. Plus, he used and taught techniques that were easy to replicate at home.
I thought my interest in him was esoteric. I’ve never known anyone else that watched him. In fact, I don’t think he or his show ever made their way into any conversation I’ve ever had.
When Netflix released a documentary about Ross in 2021, I was surprised to discover that there was more to him than “happy little clouds and trees.” Titled Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed, it was revealing and somewhat disturbing. And now it turns out that a feature film loosely based on his life – titled Paint – will be airing next month on Netflix. Another surprise. This one’s a comedy! And it will be starring Owen Wilson, of all people, as the Bob Ross-esque character.
Take a look at the trailer here.
The Supply Chain Is Mostly Fixed
But Cost of Shipping Is Still High
The supply chain, a major headache during the pandemic economy, is now in much better shape. According to Bloomberg:
“Containers that took up to 120 days to ship between warehouses in China and the US during the pandemic now take about 14 days, and the spot price for shipping a container from China to the US has declined from a peak of about $20k to about $1.2k, roughly equivalent to pre-pandemic prices.”
So why is the cost of shipping still so high?
For one thing, the costs of goods shipped to the US from Europe are still three times what they were before the pandemic. For another thing, shipping prices are usually determined by long-term contracts, so many importers are locked into rates set in 2021 and 2022.
Also…
* The cost of storage and truck and train shipping within the US is still high.
* Warehouse vacancy rates are low, pushing up rents.
* The logistics sector has struggled to hire and retain employees, which has led to higher salaries.
* The price of diesel fuel is twice what it was in the summer of 2020.
Is There Really a Fentanyl Crisis?
If you watch conservative media, you are familiar with the claim that the Biden administration’s border policy has resulted in a flood of fentanyl into the US and a huge surge in fentanyl-related deaths.
Is that true? Or is it just right-wing bias? Is America’s southern border really an open door for one of the world’s deadliest recreational drugs?
In this podcast, a seemingly reasonable doctor tries to answer that question.
Parental Love or Child Exploitation?
Meet 10-year-old Noella McMaher. In August, she became the youngest ever trans model to walk the runway at New York Fashion Week. In the photo above, she is modeling an outfit from TCC (Trans Clothing Company), an “all-inclusive brand with clothes for trans and gender nonconforming people of all types.”
When this story first came out in the media, most of the reports were positive. “Noella doesn’t ever get nervous or scared by anything,” one of Noella’s proud parents told Metro UK magazine. “She’s a tiny professional!”
“Okay,” I thought. “Whatever.” But when I saw the photo below, of her two trans parents, and learned that they had decided she had gender dysphoria when she was two and began her transition at age four, I felt deeply uneasy. Was Noella an example of true parental love? Or a victim of self-centered child exploitation?
You tell me…
About the Tangled Web of War in Ukraine
“Involved on the side of the rulers in Kyiv are all the 30 governments of NATO, led by Biden. On Moscow’s side are the five other governments of CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Russian version of NATO. Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, and Tajikistan), plus those of Iran, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Syria. To these, it is a near certainty we can add the rulers in Beijing and Venezuela. This is a total of 42 governments, give or take, depending on your definition of involvement. World War I involved about 30 governments. The present war is likely unfolding as WWII did.” – Richard Maybury, US & World Early Warning Report
The COVID Response. What We Got Wrong.
The Conspiracy Behind the Theory That Turned Out to Be a Fact
You’ve probably read about the recent statements by the US Energy Department and FBI. They believe, they now say, that the COVID-19 virus originated, not naturally in a Wuhan wet market, but in a Wuhan laboratory that had been doing gain-of-function research on viruses with funds contributed by the CDC.
This is big news. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the question of how the virus came to be has been a political litmus test. If you believed in the natural theory, you were pro Biden. If you believed the virus came from a lab, you were MAGA.
I’m hardly MAGA. But in the Nov. 29, 2022 issue, I said that I was taking the lab leak theory seriously, because I was gradually realizing that almost all the “facts” about COVID published by the CDC, announced by Dr. Fauci, and promoted by the major media were turning out to be wrong. And not just wrong, but stupidly or maliciously wrong.
Ten weeks later, in the Feb. 14 issue, I further predicted that as the facts about COVID gradually came to light, the CDC, Fauci, and the Biden administration would attempt to exculpate themselves from the damage done by their reckless propaganda campaign by pretending that they were “operating on the best information available at the time.”
That is exactly what they did during the last two weeks of February, as study after study came out validating all the conspiracy theories they had spent more than two years denouncing.
And that is exactly what they did by calling the lab-leak theory a conspiracy and promoting the wet-market theory, which any virologist that wasn’t on the CDC payroll recognized as absurd.
As I will demonstrate in future issues, the wet-market narrative was created for financial purposes and then promoted for political purposes. And it was all a definite and purposeful lie. Not just a lie, but one that cost the US billions of dollars in wasted expenditures and who knows how many lives.
This is probably the most egregious act of political sabotage done on the American public in my lifetime. And yet, almost nobody is writing about it – and especially the CDC, which created the false narrative, the politicians that promoted it to put Biden in office, the mainstream media that promoted it simply because they thought it would hurt Trump’s chances of being reelected, and the social media giants that banned, cancelled, and outed anyone that promoted the theory that now, almost every scientist that has studied the facts, is admitting the truth: COVID began in a Wuhan lab that was conducting gain-of-function research, promoted by the US government.
Click here and here and here and here for some of the latest reports.
The conservancy that I’m developing in West Delray Beach, FL, has one of the largest and best-curated palm tree collections in the world, as well as a growing collection of outdoor sculptures, a traditionally styled Japanese tea house, a stock of African cycads, and dozens of other exotic plants and trees.
This is one of the palms you can see and learn about if you visit:
Yatay Palm
Also known as Jelly Palm
Binomial name: Butia yatay
The Yatay Palm is one of my favorite palms in the gardens. It’s big. It’s imposing. And it has a distinctive appearance.
The species, formally Butia yatay, is native to southern Brazil and northern Argentina. It is one of the few plants where the scientific name is completely derived from Native American languages. Butia – referring to the spines of this species – is from a local Brazilian vernacular word meaning “thorny thing.” Yatay is adopted from a Guarani word that refers to the small hard fruit.
For more information about Paradise Palms, click here.
Responses to my posts about statin drugs keep coming in. Friend and neighbor JS said this after reading my last little essay on why I don’t trust statin drugs:
“My doctors are Chicken Shits. Why didn’t they yell at me and tell me that I was the cause of my high cholesterol count!
“I ate garbage sugar, processed foods, grains that I couldn’t even digest properly, and loved every damn minute! My doctor could have told me the truth. That I had to change my diet. Instead, he prescribed a statin pill.
Months later, JS was diagnosed as a pre-diabetic. Again, his doctor could have told him to exercise and change his diet. Instead, he recommended another statin.
“Boy, was that good news! I could continue to eat junk, get fat, and hang out on the couch, without worrying about my cardiovascular health. All I had to do was drop a pill once a day. Thank God for modern medicine!”
Since then, JS had done a lot of research. Here’s what he says now:
“Statin therapy. Is total – and I mean total – Bullshit! Doctors that recommend it should be charged with attempted murder. You think I am kidding? How about these simple facts…
“The real number of people statins save from heart attacks is 1%, not 33% as the advertising states. How do they claim 33%? Just by, using statistics. You may want to search the term Relative Risk Reduction or RRR to understand the deception that it creates.
“If you don’t believe me, ask your doctor. I did that several times, and he finally told me the truth and confirmed the 1% absolute result of a statin and then commented, ‘But 1% of a million people is a lot!’ In my book, a lot is a vacant piece of property. Tell that to the other 990,000 that got nothing in return!”
Re my Feb. 17 article on “Mentoring the Second Generation,” JV – one of the “kids” – wrote in with this:
“Hi Mr. Ford. I’m writing to give you updates on where I’m at.
“I am already seeing the results of immersing myself in copywriting.
“I am passionate about copywriting. I think copywriting paired with ads is my dream career and I want to thank you for opening up that door for me.
“I also got myself a job in Publix, and I do Uber as well. I know you support hard work. I don’t know what Publix will teach me about business, but I know that is a great example of creating loyal customers.
“In the meantime, I will be looking for a job in sales and will be crafting copy.
“Thank you again Mr. Ford. I hope you have a great week.”
Take a look at this recently release promotional video for Rancho Santana. I think it does a good job of demonstrating the comfort and luxury of living at the resort.