theDrahos

I don’t go to Starbucks very often. It’s usually if someone else suggests it. I prefer to get my coffee sitting down at a diner watching people of all sorts come and go, with real waitresses who look like they would smack me if I tried to order a “grande.” Coffee served with a cup and saucer is what I’m looking for. Where I go that’s called “coffee.” I don’t drink coffee at my desk, so it is either at a diner or eating out during a meal. I have always been suspicious of Starbucks, since the first time I … Continue reading →

Originally published in Ancient American Magazine Issue # 105 When we think of ancient trade by ancient merchants, we usually think in terms of durable goods, that is, things or materials that have survived rot and decay to the present day. We think mostly of those things because it’s what we can see or touch. It’s not just earthworks, stone, shells, bone, metal, ceramics, or fabric, either. Pollens, foodstuff remains, wood, seeds, insect remains, domesticated plant and animal remains, paint, language, and the big one, DNA, drive our thoughts and are all are tools we can use to reconstruct some … Continue reading →

The US media is full of stories about how the Obama administration is going to punish Israel for re-electing Bibi Netanyahu in an election marked by demagoguery and arrant racism. The New York Times EVEN warns President Barack Obama may back a series of  UN resolutions demanding that Israel withdraw to its narrow 1967 borders and there create a viable Palestinian state. Hardly.  “King Bibi’s” re-election makes Israel virtually unassailable and master of all its surveys. Who is going to force Israel to follow this sensible, two-state solution to the misery of the Palestinian people? Obama could not even stop … Continue reading →

Potatoes are one of the world’s most common, and most beloved, vegetables—and they can be used for much more than just sustenance. 1. WEAR THEM Potatoes come from a nightshade plant called Solanum tuberosum, which blooms with white, pink, red, blue, or purple flowers. In the late 1700s, in an effort to inspire their starving subjects to plant the newly introduced vegetable—which the Spanish had brought to Europe from the New World—Marie Antoinette wore potato flowers in her hair, and her husband King Louis XVI wore them in his buttonholes. This inspired potato flowers to be a favorite of the French nobility for a … Continue reading →

The Regime in Washington is the only government asserting the supposed right to carry out summary executions anywhere on the face of the globe, so we shouldn’t be surprised to learn that it also claims the right to impose “sanctions” on foreign citizens who publicly criticize it. On March 11, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added Russian academic Alexander Dugin to its roster of “individuals and entities to be sanctioned over Russia’s interference in Ukraine.” This decree means that any property belonging to Dugin that is within reach of the Soyuz (aka the country formerly known as the … Continue reading →

Can you pinch more than an inch around your middle? That flabby flesh seems to settle and spread out around the waist, creating a belly bulge that looks as though you’ve spent every one of your Saturdays drinking beer. A protruding belly and love handles isn’t considered the most flattering look going. But what’s more, that belly fat can be a hazard to your health. In medical speak, subcutaneous fat is the belly fat that you can feel when you grab the skin and tissue around your middle. Then there’s visceral fat, which is more dangerous. It’s the belly fat … Continue reading →

While Washington works assiduously to undermine the Minsk agreement that German chancellor Merkel and French president Hollande achieved in order to halt the military conflict in Ukraine, Washington has sent Victoria Nuland to Armenia to organize a “color revolution” or coup there, has sent Richard Miles as ambassador to Kyrgyzstan to do the same there, and has sent Pamela Spratlen as ambassador to Uzbekistan to purchase that government’s allegiance away from Russia. The result would be to break up the Collective Security Treaty Organization and present Russia and China with destabilization where they can least afford it. For details go … Continue reading →