non-Dhamma, but useful

Opinion Guest Essay Larry David: My Dinner With Adolf April 21, 2025 By Larry David Mr. David is a comedian and writer who created “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and was a co-creator of “Seinfeld.” Imagine my surprise when in the spring of 1939 a letter arrived at my house inviting me to dinner at the Old Chancellery with the world’s most reviled man, Adolf Hitler.  I had been a vocal critic of his on the radio from the beginning, pretty much predicting everything he was going to do on the road to dictatorship.  No one I knew encouraged me to go.  “He’s Hitler.  He’s a monster.”  But eventually I concluded that hate gets us nowhere.  I knew I couldn’t change his views, but we need to talk to the other side — even if it has invaded and annexed other countries and committed unspeakable crimes against humanity. Two weeks later, I found myself on the front steps of the Old Chancellery and was led into an opulent living room, where a few of the Führer’s most vocal suppo...

I was filing taxes for my parents   Using irs.gov free tax file service, which lists partner companies that have websites that will do your taxes for free if you are low enough income, usually under $84,000 or so. My parents adjusted gross income for 2024 is $76,000. At that income level, most companies will do federal filing for free, but charge a fee for a state, anywhere between $15 - $25 is typical. 1040.com was a company that advertised free filing for both federal and state for my parents situation (under $84,000).  When I set up an account there, after entering all the tax forms for income, 1040.com confirmed I qualified for free federal and state taxes. Then when it got to the final page, filing for federal was free, but when I got to state filing, it tried to charge me $25. Even though our income was $76k, which qualified for free, and 1040.com had confirmed it was going to be free federal and state earlier in the process. So I got a live chat with a representati...

Both of these have the same user review rating, 4.4 stars out of 5 on amazon. The Yiriso has "amazon's choice" endorsement. It seems to sell 5-10 times the volume of the philips.   I've used the philips as my every day facial hair shaver, for probably over 10 years, philips PQ 206 battery shaver  (two head rotary) about 20$ My first one still runs. I bought the second one because I thought the blades might be slightly dull (manual recommends replacing after 2 years). I didn't see that much of a better cut buying the second one. The second unit lastedt 4 years and then the motor died. So I thought I would try a different brand on the next shaver. My usual filtering process for a purchase, when there is no clear recommendation from a trusted source,  is look at the amazon reviews, look for high ratings that aren't obviously gamed or bought  (farms can be hired to produce fake positive reviews for your product), This one looked promising, it also got an "ama...

 

2 video clips, 3 news articles I think are more noteworthy, they dive into more interesting details  1) washington post - interesting comments from her coach on her samādhi 2) nytimes 3) nbcsports: about Alysa and her dad in Chinese Spy Case. CCP has a history of human rights violations and spying on ex Chinese internationally, often bribing, military force to coerce foreign governments into assisting these illegal activities. Alysa's dad was a protester in Tiananmen square in the 1980's, was a political refugee who settled in Oakland, CA, USA. 9 min video: her winning program to win 2025 world championship: 7 min. vid: her winning short program from two days ago:  7 min. vid: 14 yr old Alyssa from 5 years ago Interviewed on national "tonight show" as 14 yr old youngest U.S. Women's champion Interview also has Alyssa's dad Arthur - she gave her gold medal to him from washingtonpost.com In a stunner, Alysa Liu completes return to skating with gold at worlds htt...

  Awesome free independent noncommercial service comparing monthly rate for all cel phone services. be sure to check out the plan finder on there to filter and set parameters for what kind of usage you're searching for https://prepaidcompare.net/ thread on cheapest annual plan with low minutes, just to keep phone number alive https://www.reddit.com/r/NoContract/comments/1jl8obd/what_is_cheapest_annual_price_to_maintain_a/ cheapest prepaid annual plan with unlimited voice, text, some 5g data for between 60$-100$/year https://www.reddit.com/r/NoContract/comments/1jl46by/99_for_5g_moto_phone_1_yr_unlimited_talk_and_text/ tracphone (they use verizon network) also includes free new moto G play 5g phone. Seems like you'll get the best deal if you just by a new phone+unlimited 1 year plan every year between nov. black friday and end of december Not sure if you'll be able to smoothly port and keep your cel phone number doing that. Services I use: 1) Page+plus, uses verizon network,...

frankk comment: What's really interesting to me is how the 81 yr old rapist,  who has a terminal illness, what need does he have to still publicly lie about his crimes? He partially admitted blame,  but to me this just shows how hard ego and pride are to eradicate, even for the worst criminals. Who do they think they're fooling? You have to at least respect pedophiles who know they're guilty, admit their crimes fully,  realize they are sick and want to change for the better. The second interesting thing is how it almost never came to public light. It took one victim confessing to another, and her reporting to the police to  finally get the wheel of justice turning and finding out there were maybe dozens more victims for a period of decades. In an earlier time, before the internet, cel phone cameras, and social media, these kinds of mass pedophile rings never get exposed. Harvey Weinstein (hollywood power brokers), Catholic Church, Bill Cosby, Larry Nassir, (women's o...