In the past month I went in for a couple of scans to determine brain and heart/artery health as I go forward without taking statins. I looked at the latest results this morning and am happy to report that both are excellent. The test from last week shows no artery problems. The score is zero. So I'm going to keep on with this almost-keto diet and not go on any of the medications that she keeps for folks who "don't tolerate statins well."

This week I've worked on an essay that I want to be short. It takes more time to write a short piece than it does to write a long one, like the long letter Mark Twain once apologized for (the sentiment often attributed to Mark Twain but earlier versions exist). It's going to be my next letter to each of my representatives but it is also going to be posted widely as a blog post, and in future I plan to publish my remarks to my representatives publicly (so those friends who want to call or write but aren't sure what to say will have something to choose from, should they wish.)

Patty, in that book on scrap and recycling I came across a possible answer to the trimmer you had problems with this winter. It seems that the scrap and recycling programs in China are huge, and one particular city has a corner on the market of refurbishing stuff that Americans and Japanese and people of other wealthy countries don't bother to repair. They have spare parts from all of the disassembled items and they repair, repackage, and sell them. It's an honorable practice, I'm just sorry your trimmer didn't work out the way you hoped (and what they planned for when refurbishing it.)