• Posted 12/19/2024.
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    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
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    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Another food controversy

The report outlined that simply eating 50 grams of processed meat each day -- the equivalent of two slices of ham -- can increase the risk of such cancer by 18%. However, the authors say the risks are relatively small to begin with.
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The article doesn't say what the actual risk level is. If the risk is originally 0.02%, an 18% increase is only 0.0002/0.18 = 0.001, or 0.1%. It may be a biologically insignificant difference.
 
Didn't we already kind of suspect this was the case. It isn't really going to change my eating habits. I try to eat somewhat healthy but despite what the health nuts say I think a healthy diet tastes like crap and its a PITA to prepare and its expensive. Those are my opinion based on my experiences and no one is going to change my mind. It really pisses me off when people try to tell me that eating healthy can taste as good as eating unhealthy. Is there healthy Bacon? If not then no, healthy food can not taste as good as food that is bad for you.
 
Well, fact of the matter is, we are all going to die sooner or later. So would you rather die (maybe) later eating stuff you really don't like, or die (maybe) sooner eating stuff that you enjoy?

Quite frankly, you really might not live longer eating "health" foods. It will just seem like life is dragging along longer than you want it to.
 
It seems to me that food recommendations are like women's fashion, they change regularly. Some claims made years ago have completely changed.
There ARE food recommendations I take seriously: I refrigerate mayo, I don't order fugu.
But the claims about the current controversy don't provide convincing info, and I believe there are other agendas, such as water conservation, the claims of worsening rep and job performance of the FDA, and so on that may be at play here.
 
WebSlave said:
As a general personal policy, I just flat out REFUSE to knowingly eat anything that comes out of China. Period.
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That is a rational and intelligent decision. Giving up the bacon, ham, and sausage that my local hog farmer produces and sells is not.
 
We've taken to read labels on just about everything we buy at the grocery store lately to see where it is actually made. Some things are surprising. Connie really likes candy corn, so she picked up a back of Brach's at the grocery store. -> http://www.brachs.com/products/candy-corn/

Notice the "America's Candy Maker"? Guess what? The candy is actually made in Mexico. Says so right on the bag if you look hard enough when you have the bag in your hand.

And a lot of offerings will only tell you "Packaged in the USA", not where the PRODUCT itself actually originates from.

And do you think the USA government is really going to do anything to restrict food imports from Daddy Warbucks China?

I'm really surprised that China doesn't have a huge manufacturing facility in a town in China that they rename "USA" (which will be short for "Uncle Sam we Ain't". I mean, you go to Harbor Freight and buy products with labels of "Pittsburgh Tools" and "Chicago Tools" and have to wonder why those Chinese made tools are labelled such. So apparently China has COMPANIES with those names within it's borders. Renaming a city would just be a very small step from that subterfuge.

Anyway, Connie and I rarely eat out any longer, simply because you can't read the labels on the food they are cooking in those kitchens at the restaurants. Darn good chance they are just buying the cheapest product they can, which pretty much guarantees that most of the food is imported. We hear of people we know getting sick after eating out quite often. Coincidence, maybe? :nonod:

You have to ask yourself, why is China importing OUR food and exporting THEIR food? Local seafood is hard to find around here. Want to know why? Most of it is being shipped to China. Yet many of the local restaurants along the Gulf of Mexico are serving imported seafood. Go to Crisfield, Maryland, touted as the Blue Crab Capital of the World. Guess what? You can't find local seafood at the restaurants there. We tried several years ago, and there was only one place that had local crabmeat. Placed called Linton's.

So should this all be worrisome? :shrug01: You are what you eat. So what do YOU want to be?
 
Food import/export itself is fairly normal. For example, the majority of our pecans are shipped to Asia because frying in pecan oil has become really popular. In New Zealand I couldn't actually buy any mutton or lamb because most of sheep meat is exported.

Buying local is always a better idea though. Local farmers markets are great.
 
Yeah, but the thing is, you get someone from the midwest visiting the Gulf of Mexico area who stop in at a local restaurant sitting right at the edge of the water. So without asking the source of the items on the menu, they order a seafood dinner. What are they assuming?

I ALWAYS ask. And I know I've been lied to.

Oh and to anyone who likes to eat "farm raised" seafood, do yourself a favor and find out what "farm raised" really means.
 
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