Morning. Cooking is one of the methods I use to experience different cultures when there is not the time or budget for a personal visit. Last week ...

finally had the courage to try croissants after viewing an old Julia Child show where her technique was very casual.

This week I may use the flour canister to experience Japan.

Restaurant-Quality Ramen Noodles From Scratch (Foolproof Homemade Recipe) (7:22 min)

For more authentic Japanese recipes visit Sudachi.

Once winter weather arrives it is easy to sit around too much. A comfortable chair by the fireplace, a cocoon of warmth and I am set for the day. This article is a reminder to get up and move.

Sitting Too Long Can Harm Heart Health, Even for Active People Nov 14, 2024

More time spent sitting, reclining or lying down during the day may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and death, according to a study in JACC, the flagship journal of the American College of Cardiology, and presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2024. More than roughly 10-and-a-half hours of sedentary behavior per day was significantly linked with future heart failure (HF) and cardiovascular (CV) death, even among people meeting recommended levels of exercise.
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In an accompanying editorial comment, Charles Eaton, MD, MS, Director of the Brown University Department of Family Medicine, said the use of wearable accelerometers has shown that exercise is significantly over-estimated by self-report and sedentary behavior is under-estimated.

Eaton said that replacing just 30 minutes of excessive sitting time each day with any type of physical activity can lower heart health risks. Adding moderate-to-vigorous activity cut the risk of HF by 15% and CV mortality by 10%, and even light activity made a difference by reducing HF risk by 6% and CV mortality by 9%.

“This study adds to the growing evidence of a strong link between sedentary behavior and cardiovascular health,” said Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM, Harold H. Hines Jr. Professor at Yale School of Medicine and Editor-in-Chief of JACC. “The findings strongly suggest that we need to get people moving to promote better health.”

The article is long and the clips are a brief introduction. Worth reading the full article to learn some of price control methods used by large companies to increase or maintain market share. This is not a Democrat or Republican issue the lack of enforcement of price control has been going on through multiple administrations. In the pharmaceutical market legislation, regulations and court decisions have supported the current non-competitive market.

Secret Documents Show Pepsi and Walmart Colluded to Raise Food Prices Across the Economy Matt Stoller Dec 12, 2025

Last month, the Atlanta Fed came out with a report showing a clear relationship between consolidation in grocery stores and the rate of food inflation. Unsurprisingly, where monopolies prevail, food inflation is 0.46 percentage points higher than where there is more competition. The study showed that from 2006-2020, the cumulative difference amounted to a 9% hike in food prices, and presumably since 2020, that number has gone much higher.
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And yesterday, we got specifics on just how market power in grocery stores works. The reason is because a nonprofit just forced the government to unseal a complaint lodged by Lina Khan’s FTC against Pepsi for colluding with Walmart to raise food prices across the economy. A Trump official tasked with dealing with affordability tried to hide this complaint, and failed. And now there’s a political and legal storm as a result.
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So why are we only learning about this situation now? Well, the original allegation was filed in January, in the last days of the Khan FTC. We knew the general outline of the argument, but we didn’t know specifics, because the complaint was highly redacted. Was it a real conspiracy? Was it just that Pepsi considered Walmart a “superstore” and had different prices for different channels? Was there coercion? None of these questions could be answered; there were so many blacked out words we couldn’t even say for sure that the large power buyer referenced in the document was Walmart.
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And that was where it was supposed to stay, secret, with mean-spirited name-calling and invective camouflaging the real secret Ferguson was trying to conceal. That secret is something we all know, but this complaint helped prove - the center of the affordability crisis in food is market power. If that got out, then Ferguson would have to litigate this case or risk deep embarrassment. So the strategy was to handwave about that mean Lina Khan to lobbyists, while keeping the evidence secret.

However, the anti-monopoly movement and the court system actually worked. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance, an anti-monopoly group filed to make the full complaint public. Judge Jesse Matthew Furman agreed to hear ILSR’s case, with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Pepsi bitterly opposed. Last week, Furman directed the FTC unseal the complaint. So we finally got to see what Ferguson and Meador were trying to hide.
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But there’s also something deeper happening. Earlier this week, More Perfect Union came out with an important investigative report on a company called Instacart, which is helping retailers charge individual personalized prices for goods based on a shopper’s data profile. The story went viral and caused immense outrage because it said something we already know. Pricing is increasingly unfair and unequal, a mechanism to extract instead of a means of sending information signals to the public and producers to coordinate legitimate commercial activity. And there’s a historical analogy to the increasing popular frustration.
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Over the past five years, we’ve seen a similar upsurge in anger over prices that drove the grangers, John Wanamaker, and the anti-chain store movement. Prices are becoming political again.

This revival is being driven by two things. First, technology is enabling all sorts of new ways to price, which is to say, to organize commercial and political power. And we all feel the coercion. Second, we’re beginning to relearn our traditions. Our historical memory was erased in the 1970s by economists, who argued that price discrimination is affirmatively a good thing. But fortunately, they are losing the debate.

NOTE: Yesterday access to the videos below were loading rapidly with no problem. Today extreme delay and message from Google unexpected delay in the system for unknown reason. Do not have the problem on other videos being viewed on Youtube on different channels. May need to attempt multiple times to view.

The lawsuit brought by Attorney Peter Stassen to prove among others Bill Gates, Mark Rutte (prime minister of the Netherlands from 2010 to 2024, current Secretary General of NATO), and Albert Bourla (CEO Pfizer) have committed crimes against humanity is still working its way through The Netherlands court systems.

A translation of the Press Conference was provided by Sasha Latypova

New Evidence in Two Legal Procedures
Mr. Stassen explained that the new evidence was formally presented on December 7 to both the Court in Leeuwarden, where the main procedure is ongoing, and to the Court of Appeal in Amsterdam, where an appeal has been filed. The material consists of video messages and written reports from five international experts, supported by hundreds of source references.

The attorney
Peter Stassen: The Great Reset on Trial Dec 15, 2025 (9:14 min)

Expert witness statements

Dec 12, 2025 (18:12 min)

Catherine Austin Fits (13:51 min)

Sasha Latypova (7:12 min)

Dr Joeseph Sansone (10:33 min)

Katherine Watt Statement (10:28 min)