This lunch is 500 yen ($4.80) at Sukiya, a Japanese fast food restaurant which belongs to a category with about three big competitors.

I love the aesthetics of this category and they’re under remarked upon.

I think people underestimate QSRs in terms of social utility, but Sukiya et al describe themselves as mission-oriented enterprises. I believe this is largely sincere, and goes back to the 60s and 70s, when the clientele was primarily manual laborers who had migrated to work.

Japan was not a rich nation at the time, and day laborers in particular were both unlikely to be able to cook for themselves and unlikely to have much of a food budget, and so the chains sprung up offering an honest-to-goodness cooked meal delivered in under a minute for cheap.

This heritage continued over the years, even after Japan became a much more wealthy nation, and these chains function as social support and dignity for folks in diminished circumstances.

They also are a wee bit of a cartel, and I appreciate the aesthetics of the cartel:

Back when I was first in Japan, in the mid 2000s, there was an increase in the price of beef.

And the heads of the three chains got together, and decided that the price of the basic beef bowl needed to increase, but given the economic circumstances how could they hold the line.

So I thought the whole "paid newsletter" thing was dumb.

So naturally, I tried it out as an experiment.. The results were kinda nutty. The newsletter started bringing home $49k per month (!) -- Here's the backstory

"what was the newsletter about?"

Well - for the past year, I've been doing a podcast called My First Million. Gimmicky name, but whatever.

It's a pod where me and @theSamParr (and friends like @awilkinson @_jacksmith etc.) brainstorm business ideas based on trends we see

Anyways - the podcast has gotten pretty big. We do over 350k downloads/month.

People like listening to us shoot the shit, brainstorming ideas.

But as the nearest schmuck will tell you - ideas aren't shit without execution!

The problem is - execution is less sexy.

Usually when people talk about execution, it's in the past tense. We did X, and voila, we won.

They edit & cut out all the dead ends they hit, the stuff they tried that failed.

This gives people a f*cked up idea of what execution really is.

Still - there's demand for learning how to execute better.

The number one question I get in my DMs everyday is: "I love that idea from the pod, how would you approach it?"

There's no simple answer. So for months I just ignored them.

Family member asks me to buy pepperoni.

I search for "pepperoni".

201 results returned.

That's a lot of items with pepperoni.

1/x

Wondering if they have large bulk packages of pepperoni, I change the sort order to "Price: high to low" with hopes that any bulk items will show up at the top.

All the results are pizza snacks: tiny pizzas and pizza rolls.

There are now only 17 "pepperoni" results returned.

I filter for "Meat" and still only get pizza snacks.

And the number of pepperoni results drops to 7.

This isn't helping me find a large quantity of pepperoni.

I start over with a new search for "pepperoni".

I get 201 results, and the results displayed above the fold are the same as my original search.

I filter for "Deli".

It now shows 51 pepperoni results.

I have some thoughts on this.

Coming from a former alt-righter and former cult member who is still deradicalizing.

This is gonna be long.

Thread time.

This is de-radicalization going terribly wrong. This is keeping the tactics you learned in a hate group, but turning them on others. This is not unlearning. This is changing targets.

This is weaponizing what you learned to harm those who personally don't back you.

Look, I could sit here and break down my life. Break down the threats I've faced. Break down the ways I learned to find people IRL. Break down why I endorse being anon if you need to. Break down why this behavior is wrong.

But you know what? Screw that. Others covered that.

What I am going to say, is that it is a tactic of cults to teach you that you are the bravest, the strongest, the best, because of your membership in a group and your goals. That you are better than the masses. Above them. You are superior. "The Alpha", as Amy says.

It teaches you to be belligerent. Aggressive. If they're not with you, they're against you. It teaches you to center yourself. Everyone else doesn't matter. They don't understand. They aren't on the same level as you.

It's a delusion.

Having reviewed the information provided by COG-UK, as well as the UK govt report here is my updated assessment regarding the new strain in the UK. 1/n

1. There is a substantial number of mutations relative to the previously prevalent strain, which is impressive, however viruses present such odd patterns. The number of mutations in the spike protein is worrisome primarily for the vaccine effectiveness.

2. It is generally rare that a new strain dominates at times of high prevalence but if on top of this there is rapid growth due to increased people circulation and contacts, something we saw in London, then even rare strains can dominate by chance without any selective advantage.

3. The strain has been around at least since September and has already been found in other countries in Europe and in Australia. However, so far we have not seen a similar expansion in other countries, which would have been expected if the transmissibility was indeed 70% higher.

4. There have been reassurances that the vaccine will not be affected but given the number of mutations, I would be a bit more reserved about this statement, but of course we all hope it is true.

Thread:
What does State Sponsored Genocide on ethnic #Amharas and #Agaws in Metekel Zone in BSG look like?
Representatives of ethnic #Amhara residents in Metekel have travelled to #BahirDar to raise the ff grievances:

Ato Ayal Engide

“In April 2011,Ethiopian Calendar(1/)

[two years ago], right after Ethiopian Easter, they(ethnic Amharas and Agaws) were forcibly chased out of the rural parts, before they could even finish their Easter celebrations. When we knew we were next, then those of us who were in the urban areas, ended up moving to (2/)

Amhara Region. In May, there was a reconciliation between Mandura Woreda in BSG and Guanga Woreda in Amhara RS. All of us that were displaced believed that this was a true reconciliation and moved back to BSG. But those from the rural parts were still not allowed to go back. (3)

“Targetted killings of ethnic #Amharas and #Agaws has been happening for a while now. But recently, it has been out of control. For example, three brothers who were my neighbors were killed in 2011. Their names were Habte, Ayalew and Yeshewas and are all buried together. (4/)

After the reconciliation, the BSG administration started bothering us again. 12 families were killed in Banjimago. We can tell you by name who are doing these killings and it’s the Zonal administration. (5/)

Now onto a astrological point. The GREAT CONJUNCTION what a time to be alive‼️‼️ Dec 17th saturn move into Aquarius and Dec 19th Jupiter followed behind. Then finally these 2 giants planets will connect as exactly 0° Aquarius tomorrow. This will free the 3d world from us that has

I have loaded the vibe trebuchet and launched into the world a large number of bublasuars, Ivysaurs, and Venusaurs. The reason for this is not clear to me. Although I do have reasons for having done so...

Sometimes our artistic nature allows us to intuit what is coming prior to the even showing up. It is sometimes the case that there is something inside us, something deep, that only comes out by way of expression and art.

It is not always symbolic.

So the bulbasaurs are not symbolic of some ideas, they are something I felt the need to express, so I did. As odd as it sounds, like a sad person plays a song, or a happy person does a dance, I am contemplating the current social and political milieu so I tweeted bulbasaurs.

I have been tweeting less threads, with less regularity, because there has been a shift in the social and political milieu and I am still attempting to apprehend it. I have not nailed it down exactly, as the shift is subtle, but it is there and has been since the start of October

I don't mean to be cryptic, but there has been a change and I do not fully understand it yet. Woke ideology (AKA critical social justice) has not changed, it is still postmodern and it still uses critical theory, but something else has changed. There is a shift in the air...

holy shit the journalist girl in love with martin shkreli is on clubhouse and the story just keeps going.

"So who's the villain in this story?" these mods are so being so gentle and diplomatic.

"Do you feel like you've been manipulated?" "No. (laughing)"

A gentle question/inquiry about how she feels after losing so much in this process, and she replies saying that it was hard, but she has no regrets, and says that without it she would not have had her eyes opened to how bad the criminal justice & prison system is

Thank god for the woman who is zeroing in on the details of the exact ways he was manipulating her by saying that he had anxiety & panic attacks too (telling her what she wants to hear, mirroring her personal wounds so he can bond with her over them)

Oh my god not some guy derailing the entire room by trying to make the conversation about CLUBHOUSE and asking her how she found the app, who invited her, if she's had a welcome room yet. dl;skadlaksds

As I completed 23 years on this lively planet and 5 years in this stock market, I want to share my 23 mistakes of my Investing journey.

A thread🧵

1. Quick Money
I begin with the stock market in a thought that it is an easy and fastest way to make money. Initially, I begin with buy and hold strategy but I felt, that is not what I came for and so I initiated with trading and in few months, (1/n)

I made some good returns, in the next succeeding month I lost my profit and my initial capital. (due to demonetization).

One quote revamp my mind “Rome was not built in a day and Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed in a day” (2/n)

2. Taking tips from News Channels
I lost my faith in 2016 due to such a heavy loss and embark to take tips from TV channels and follow them on daily basis. I don’t know about others but this step failed me miserably. (3/n)

TV channels are just for TRPs, if they don’t provide tips, viewers shift to another channel, while you know the rest.(4/n)

1/21 Don't fear it, secure it.

A thread on creating a secure #Bitcoin backup with the Hodlr Disks from @hodlrswiss.

If you value permissionless money & the ability to transact without being censored then self-custody & get your bitcoin out of third party control.

2/21 This thread is the short version of a more detailed article which can be found on my

3/21 Covered here is unboxing, setting up, & torching the Hodlr Disks made by @hodlrswiss. In Nov. Hodlr Swiss reached out to see if I would be interested trying their new stainless steel backup. It looked really cool so I said "hell

Thread: No Black Hole - Proved by Indian Scientist- No means No
Indian Scientist A.K. Mitra who contested Stephen hawking since 1998 and proved that true black hole do not exist. His research is being avoided from last 22 Years , and Indians are just Sleeping. #BlackHoleMyth

1.Mitra 1st showed his proof regarding true black holes in 1998 , in his research paper he proved that the mass of black hole will be zero that means it do not exist.
2.He put forward a new alternative for such ultra massive object - Eternally Collapsing Object
#Blackholesmyth

3. He was the 1st scientist to solve Hawking's Black Hole Information Paradox, 13 years after his research hawking shown the same thing what mitra told.
4. His research papers were published in top science journals and no one disproved his basic Proofs till now.
#BlackHoleMyths

5. His alternative explanation MECO has many observational evidence while many Obs. Evidence are against Black Hole.
6. Harward University officially accepted his research in their press release.
7. Neither Mathematical nor Obs. evidence support black hole

8. Even the famous black hole image is also misleading, it was the shadow of black hole mimicker , there is no any single evidence for singularity and event horizon , so no black hole.

Paul Preston & the New California State update on Saturday Night Livestream with RedPill78

California's are sick of the Liberal Tyrants in Sacramento

No more Newsom and Pelosi for the majority of California residents sounds like a smart

In an effort to keep myself accountable and to “build in public” as many do on Twitter, I’m going to share my training and thoughts in my build up to running the 2021 Barkley Marathons.

A thread:

1/ I’m out of shape right now.

That needs to chance quickly as the race is approximately 3 months away. If you don’t know what the Barkley Marathons is, there are some great documentaries on Amazon & YouTube you can search for.

2/ Essentially it’s a 100+ mile ultra marathon held in Frozen Head State Park in TN. It is a 5 identical looped course of unmarked trails and cross country scrambles over steep terrain.

Each loop is over 25 miles in length with +14,000 feet of climb.

3/ Just 15 people have finished the full five loops in the event’s 35 year history. You have 60 hours to finish and no one has finished under 52 hours.

Most years there are no finishers.

4/ I first toed the line at the Barkley in 2014, but I first read about it in 2005 or 2006 just as I was getting into running ultras. I found the website, read this poem and immediately added the event to my bucket list:

Q’s Farewell.

“Anonymous 12/20/20 (Sun) 16:14:32

“Dear Patriots,

“Some of you may recognize my name. I have daily briefings with POTUS and have posted here before a handful of times as a ‘helper’.”

“What I'm about to disclose is the most important post you'll read before the inauguration.”

“Q will not post here again, at least not for a while. The operation is ongoing but must run silent at this point.

“Once we wind down you will not hear from Q again. Don't let this worry or upset you.”

“We are in perhaps the most critical juncture of American history. POTUS is fully aware of the gravity of this time period. We have prepared from before 2015 for this exact moment.”