The Big Brother IS Watching You

We have finally arrived:

 “You turn on your smart TV. It is probably identifying everything you watch and sending the data to the manufacturer, third parties, or both.

“If you had time to read the privacy policies of the objects you buy, you would also have noticed that your TV picks up and records your spoken words and reserves the right to transmit them to other organisations.

“Intelligence agencies such as MI5 and the CIA can make your TV look as though it is off while they record you. Your digital assistant Alexa may be listening too.”

Read the whole article over here

Liberation Day

 Well, technically it was Saturday, the day that face masks were officially abolished, but I visited a supermarket for the first time today. I saw one man with a mask on. He was Chinese. And three women. The rest, including the elderly, were all running around without and thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Now I should say our supermarket was never very strict with enforcing the rules, unlike some others, but it's probably best not to talk about it too much:)

Anyway, it's finally freedom! I hated the nasty things. (Though you still have to wear one in public transport). I just wonder for how long, before a new horrible mutation will reach us...Right now I'm in a celebratory mood, though. What about you?

On "Sweet And Submissive" Foreign Women

 But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites;

2 Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love.

3 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.

There is a whole group of male online "experts" which will try to convince you that Western women are all bad, slutty, feminist, you name it and suggest moving to some "based" Latino/Asian or more recently, Eastern European country which are all full of "sweet and submissive", feminine women, who would love you a long time, and if not exactly "nubile virgins" , they will be reasonably young and fit and simply dreaming of marrying an overweight Anglo/American man in his late 40s and 50s.

The countries they name are all overwhelmingly very poor and corrupt, the moment a country's living standard raises just a bit, they will tell you that "women have become too Western and feminist" for their taste.

These same guys will constantly mock older/divorced women "who hit the wall" if they go to some non-Western country searching for romance, while advocating exactly the same for men. Apparently, it's different for men because these women they hook up with in exotic countries, do it out of pure love and devotion and not at all for money, yet, is it true in all cases? As a certain famous person says, let's find out!

So here is a recent story from Britain:

This is a story about how a British man lost most of his life savings, as well as his dignity. And how Ukraine's justice system laughed in his face.

James is not his real name.

Such is his embarrassment that he's told no-one in the UK his story, not even his family. The BBC has verified his account of what happened using bank documents, official records, text messages, and interviews with many of those directly involved. 

It used to be Poland, but then women in Poland got "too Western"

Ukraine is one of Europe's poorest countries, with an average wage of about $350 (£247) a month. There's a thriving "dating" industry here. It's multi-faceted and ranges from pay-per-mail email services to face-to-face "romance tours", where Western men pay thousands of dollars to meet a series of prospective young Ukrainian "wives".

I have come across some men promoting Ukraine as the latest destination for "submissive wives" lately, I wonder if they are involved in this "industry" somehow. 

A charity worker living in the UK, he was asked by a friend in 2015 to help set up a new project supporting children fleeing the conflict zone in Ukraine's east...

Then that winter, a heavy snowfall brought their work in Odessa to a halt. There wasn't much to do, so Julia suggested that James might like to go on a date with one of her friends.

That friend was Irina. Then 32 years old, she was from Donetsk, one of the cities in eastern Ukraine that are now occupied by Russian-backed fighters. It soon became clear that her troubled past went much deeper than just fleeing war.

"She immediately told me about two previous marriages and why she didn't want to marry a Ukrainian man again," James says.

 Apparently, 2 failed marriages only count as "red flags" in western women.

There was an age difference of 20 years but James says they got on "like a house on fire". 

The poorer the country, the more your chance for a "nubile young virgin" or something very close to it is! 

So as is the case with much of Odessa's "dating" scene, a translator, in this case Julia, was always there - and getting paid up to $150 (£107) a day.

Two proverbs come to mind. There is no fool like an old fool, and a fool and his money are easily parted. 

But intimacy, even kissing, was off-limits. Translator Julia was always there and Irina told him she didn't believe in sex before marriage.

"I thought: 'That's a very high moral standard'," James says. "She'd obviously been brought up very well."

Yes, unlike the Western wh*res, these women are all pure and innocent, even after 2 divorces...

To cut a long story short, the woman and her friend then scammed him out of a big part of his live savings, and even went so far as to arrange a sham marriage between James and Irina's friend Kristina, all for the purpose of money transfer. Both women were married at that time and Kristina temporarily divorced, then remarried her Ukrainian husband again.

"I was told that divorcing Kristina then re-marrying Irina would be an easy thing to do."

The money was released and that very afternoon Kristina and Irina announced that all of the $200,000 had been spent on an apartment. He would later discover the new place had actually cost just $60,000 (£42,310) and was not his alone, but jointly owned with his legal spouse (the wedding planner) Kristina.

"I was such an idiot," James would later say.

...

James didn't know it at that point, but his fiancee Irina already had a husband. Official records seen by the BBC show that she's been married to Andriy Sykov since August 2015, three months before she met James.

Kristina the wedding planner also had a husband, called Denys, but he was apparently more willing to play along. Records show Kristina divorced Denys three weeks before she signed the paper to marry James. Once the scam marriage was over, she married Denys again.

 On his wedding night, the unlucky James was poisoned with a spiked drink and ended up in hospital. When he finally realised he had been scammed, he went to police, with predictable results:

Four times he went to the Odessa police, giving his account of what had happened and the evidence he'd collected.

"At times they laughed in my face," he said.

Ukraine's police force, and Odessa's in particular, have a pretty rotten reputation for fighting crime. Marriage scams, even unusual ones like this, are a long way down their list of priorities...

Getting the police to act often involves bribing them but it was something which James refused to do.

 The same internet personalities often will extoll the virtues of the countries where the police and other officials are easily bribed, btw.

James says he decided to tell the BBC his story to warn others tempted to seek romance in Ukraine. 

I doubt it will help as these men will rather believe some "bro expert" online than anything from the MSM.

James himself, btw, didn't learn much, either, and got involved with another charity:

James has endured too much to get his hopes up. He's got another charity job now and is trying to move on.

A part of the white man's burden , I guess!

Detoxifying From News

 Even though it is Guardian:

 News is toxic to your body. It constantly triggers the limbic system. Panicky stories spur the release of cascades of glucocorticoid (cortisol). This deregulates your immune system and inhibits the release of growth hormones. In other words, your body finds itself in a state of chronic stress. High glucocorticoid levels cause impaired digestion, lack of growth (cell, hair, bone), nervousness and susceptibility to infections. The other potential side-effects include fear, aggression, tunnel-vision and desensitisation.

Father Knows Best

 Happy Belated Father's Day, everyone!

I honestly was very busy yesterday...

The Real Toxic Femininity

 While your smartphone is spying on you, your lipstick is killing you, slowly:

More than half of popular cosmetics being sold in the US and Canada are likely to contain high levels of toxic chemicals called polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a new study has warned.

Researchers from Notre Dame University tested more than 200 products including concealers, foundations, eye and eyebrow products and lip products, and found evidence of PFAS in around half (52 per cent) of them.

Guys, beware:

 Worryingly, previous research has linked certain PFAS to a range of health issues, including kidney cancer, testicular cancer, hypertension, thyroid disease, low birth weight and immunotoxicity in children.

Professor Graham Peaslee, who led the study, said: 'PFAS is a persistent chemical - when it gets into the bloodstream, it stays there and accumulates.

Apparently, it's killing the environment, too:

'There's also the additional risk of environmental contamination associated with the manufacture and disposal of these products, which could affect many more people.'

 I'm glad I hardly ever use it, last time I bought a lipstick and a tube of skin cream it was from an organic store, but now I'm not sure whether they could be trusted, either...

 

WHO Has Good Ideas Sometimes

Women of childbearing age should be banned from drinking alcohol says the World Health Organisation.

Its latest Global Alcohol Action Plan calls on countries to raise awareness of alcohol-related harm and its harmful use.

A first draft of the plan says 'appropriate attention' should be given to the prevention of drinking in children, pregnant women and women of childbearing age.

Last night the drinks industry described the proposal as paternalistic and sexist. 

When you just know these guys have your best interests at heart, lol!

Read the whole article over here.  

Visiting A Zoo

 It's allowed nowadays, and they are even talking about abolishing face diapers inside, the end of the next week!!! It's hot over here, so my time on computer is rather limited, but I still wanted to post the pics...

 this one is rather unfortunate, lol

I think the camels have the nicest accommodation, they practically live in freedom and can walk around.

a selfie

a mother-baby moment, the baby is practically just as big as the mother already:)

a bit of Australia...

and Wild West

 

 

This is Max, btw!

Well, may be it's not really that spectacular, but last time we visited a zoo was like October or November 2020, so it was a whole event for us!

A Strange Case Of A Collapsing Soccer Player

 I was away at the camping, otherwise I would have commented on it earlier.

The question remains, did he or did he not???

Chastity Is Back In Fashion

 The rise of neo-Victorians:

 Narayan and his close male friends are all around the same age. They’re all elite guys working in tech and finance — and all either dating to marry, or already married. In what amounts to an informal 21st-century marriage brokerage, they and the wives of already-married members of their friend group collude to track down potential partners. But they’re picky — and Narayan is blunt about the criteria. It’s not just about being educated, ambitious or pretty. ‘Guys who say they don’t care about their wife’s sexual history are straight-up lying,’ he tells me. All the men in his group, he says, would strongly prefer their future wives to be virgins on marriage. Some categorically rule out women who aren’t: ‘No hymen, no diamond’.

The Horrors Of International Adoption

 It's Mommy dead and dearest all over again:

 A white mother has been charged, accused of faking her adopted daughter's illness and subjecting the child to 500 unnecessary treatments, including several invasive surgeries.

Sophie Hartman, 31, is accused of falsely claiming her six-year-old daughter suffered from a rare neurological disorder known as alternating hemiplegia of childhood.

Authorities in Seattle, Washington, say Hartman has subjected her daughter, who was adopted from Zambia as an infant, to unnecessary medical procedures since she was two years old.

The girl was forced to wear leg braces, use a wheelchair, and was fed through a surgically implanted feeding tube. She also had a tube implanted in her intestines to help her go to the bathroom, according to court documents.

Hartman was charged last week with one count of second-degree assault against a child and one count of attempted domestic violence assault against a child.

No father in sight, but lots of virtue signalling present:

According to Hartman's social media accounts, she worked as a missionary in Africa and adopted two daughters from Zambia. She also attended a Bible college in Washington state and is deeply religious. 

We all know the type, I guess.

A social media page and various fundraisers were set up for the girl over the years and she was even granted a wish in 2019 by the Make-A-Wish Foundation based on her diagnosis.

But, of course...

Prosecutors say Hartman had asked doctors to give her daughter a surgical hormonal implant to stop the early onset of puberty. 

She is one of those, too. 

That's what happens when you remove all control over female behaviour. 

Is Your Phone Spying On You?

 Interesting.

 

Should You Buy 2nd Hand Clothes?

 Several years ago I'd say, yes. Now I'd probably say, no, unless you are in reduced circumstances.

First of all, the clothes which end up in these stores are nearly never new (sometimes they get some new stuff from big retailers, but it doesn't happen very often). Mostly they are well worn out, and you can see it.They generally don't look very nice per definition, unless it's a well-known quality brand whose  owner only put it on a couple of times (granted, this happens, too).

Next, of course, I'm aware that they all get washed and disinfected and what not, but have you never noticed that people generally leave some imprint on their surroundings and the things they use? Like, for instance, in some houses you feel sad while in others you will feel happy? 

I realise it sounds a bit new-agey, but you have no way to know what sort of person wore this item before and how it could influence you. I would say it's different with the big stuff like furniture, but clothes is something you put on yourself, close to your skin and then have on a couple of days or even longer, if it's something like a cardi, for instance.

2nd hand clothes are usually quite cheap. Herein lies the problem. You aren't on your guard around cheap things, hence you are much more prone to impulse buying than normally. After regularly visiting a thrift store, you can easily end up with lots of stuff you don't really need or like which later goes direction the garbage can anyway, and you waste more money than buying some new item from a regular store.

Also, nowadays you have cheaper retail and markets which sell decent-looking, average quality clothing which is quite affordable, and doesn't look like something out of Granny's closet. I do think it's different when you get stuff from family and friends, especially for kids who are growing very fast so they only wear these donated items like several months or year at most. Grown-ups are a different matter.

That said, I still enjoy visiting thrift stores. I just noticed that of all the clothes I bought there over the years I only kept like 2 things total, all the rest was like a couple of months on average and then out it went, while most of the new things I buy I keep wearing until they start falling apart. There are exceptions, of course, but still...

Any thoughts?

(Nearly) Summer

We are finally having some warm weather. It really feels like summer at last. Warm, but not hot, with lots of sun. I try to spend as much time outside as possible, when I'm inside I'm busy around the house and with cooking.

My help quit recently due to a burnout and I decided not to hire anyone else right now. I have come to the conclusion that I want to bond with my home (my husband thought me crazy but I really enjoy it). 

Hence the relative lack of content, but I'll try to update with something new and exciting very soon, I promise!