The doctor(s) keep telling me that high blood pressure is not a problem. They say “you cannot die from high blood pressure“. And this, of course, is the Chinese stance on the matter. That blood pressure is dynamic, and not static, that it goes up and it goes down. And that you want to manage your lifestyle to keep it in a relatively low state, but not to get upset if it raises up high.

Meanwhile the Western advice for what my current blood pressure seems to be is…

Which is quite different from the Eastern belief.

When I entered the hospital emergency room, my blood pressure was 214. The Western medical advice and warnings are…

I think that it was prudent that I went to the emergency room, no matter what the doctors say. And I most certainly did not want to endure a stroke or a heart attack.

You all, please be careful and safe.

Today…

In the military, have you ever seen a superior officer berate a junior officer for giving enlisted unnecessary grief?

In 1973 while a specialist (E4) in the 82d Airborne Division, I had to draw a travel pay advance to go TDY (temporary duty) for 179 days.

This was well before direct deposit or electronic payments.

We actually got paperwork processed then went to a teller’s window who dispersed cash.

When I arrived at the division finance center the waiting area was full to overflowing.

As I found a place along the wall to stand a soldier near me said, “You’ll be here a while. ”

He pointed to another soldier and said he had been there two days in a row before that day attempting to get an advance to go home on emergency leave.

Several other soldiers confirmed what he said. They too kept returning and waited their turn until time for the center to close, then they returned to their barracks and came back the next day.

After an hour or so with only a couple of troops called to the desk to be processed (by now it was late morning) a full Colonel arrived and signed the waiting list at the front.

As he took a place along the wall one of the soldiers told him he would have a long wait. Someone else told him about the guy who needed to go on emergency leave.

After about 30 minutes, the colonel went to the clerk at the sign in desk and asked to speak to his boss.

The clerk went to the back office area and returned with a senior NCO, E6 or E7 as I recall. The sergeant asked the colonel how he could help him.

The colonel replied, “I asked to see this clerk’s boss, the person in charge here.” The Sergeant said, “I’m his boss.”

The colonel then said “I want to see the OIC (Officer In Charge) out here, right now.”

He was very polite and spoke in a slightly lower volume than if in a normal conversation, however when he approached the sign in desk all conversation in the room ceased and we could hear what he had to say.

Full Colonels, O-6s, don’t like to be kept waiting.

The Sergeant (staff sergeant or sergeant first class) went to the office area and returned from a small separate office with a junior officer, a captain if I recall correctly.

Very respectfully the finance officer asked the colonel how he could help him.

The colonel said he was going on TDY and needed his advanced travel pay. The finance officer said, “Yes sir we’ll get you taken care of right away.”

The colonel then said “I need to leave tonight.”

“Yes sir, no problem.” was the reply. The colonel said “

All these men that were signed in before me are ahead of me. They will get their money before my advance gets processed. Are we clear on that, Captain?”

A very red-faced, obviously shaken junior officer, now sweating bullets, assured him everyone in the waiting area would be processed that day.

It was amazing how quickly paperwork was processed after that.

The guy waiting for emergency leave was called back almost immediately and the rest of us were taken care of very expeditiously in the order in which we signed in.

The colonel was looking out for men who weren’t directly in his chain of command but he made sure everyone was taken care of appropriately.

He could have “pulled rank” and left with his money in just a few minutes.

He could have made one phone call to division headquarters and had the officer and the NCOIC replaced, but a low key, on the spot correction resolved the immediate issue.

I’m sure the situation was discussed with both the OIC and NCOIC privately and in much greater detail later.

That was an experience I learned from and never forgot as I rose through the enlisted, warrant officer and commissioned officer ranks during my 24 years of service.

Chili Louisiana-Style

Yield: about 3 quarts

Ingredients

• 2 pounds ground beef
• 1 pound ground hot sausage
• 2 medium onions, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 whole clove garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 (15 ounce) can stewed tomatoes
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 3 (15 ounce) cans New Orleans style kidney beans, drained
• Louisiana hot sauce, to taste (optional)

Instructions

1. Combine first four ingredients and brown in a large frying pan. Drain all excess fat.
2. In a large slow cooker, combine all the remaining ingredients. Add the cooked meat mixture. Cook on LOW overnight.
3. Remove garlic clove before serving.

When men have NOTHING left to lose. The masculinity crisis pushed too far.

Men being treated like second-rate citizens in the modern day is nothing new, but what happens when they end up being pushed to the very edge? Men were not designed to lie down and be taken advantage of. Eventually, all men rise up against oppression and take their final stand. This is a frightening world we’ve created.

https://youtu.be/aOnsLtmIPb8

On a plane, is it rude to ask someone to move to another seat so you can sit with your friends or family?

Literally this just happened to me a few days ago. I live in Virginia (USA) and I was flying to Athens, Greece. We booked the trip on a Saturday and left three days later, very last minute. Because it was an overnight flight and more than 9 hours we purchased the tickets in business class so we could recline to sleep. I like to read before sleeping so I purposefully selected (on Saturday) the window seat so I could lean up again the wall and look out the window while reading. As soon as I got onboard and got to my seat (hadn’t even sat down yet!) the woman in the aisle asked me switch with her husband who was seated on the middle row on the aisle. I said “No thank you, I’m good with where I booked”. I was polite but firm. Later during the flight she asked when I had booked and I said three days ago and she said that they had booked months before. What actually irritated me was that MONTHS went by where she (they) could have adjusted their seats to be together. Why then does it become MY problem to give up what I paid for. So yes, I find it exceedingly rude to ask someone to give up their seat.

P.S. Athens, Mykonos and Santorini were fabulous and I can’t wait to go back!

Why does the West vehemently back Israel?

They don’t

Get your facts straight

The West has a history of Anti Semitism that would make your blood run cold

I don’t mean just Uncle Heini

Jews have been deported enmasse from 8 European Countries from the 12th century to the 20th in their thousands, forced to live in Ghettos, speaking a slavish language Yiddish for the most part

Guess where they were treated better than in Europe?

Yep.

The Middle East , the Muslims

The Jews had their best time under the Ottoman Empire and with the Arabs. Both sides minding their own business

And once again who ruined it?

Yep

The West – in the form of the United Kingdom

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This is Klaus Barbie – a Psycopathic Anti semite who sent many jews to their death in camps during WWII

He was the butcher of LYONS

Yep that’s France

Frenchmen, Poles, Czech and Ukrainians watched and silently endorsed the slaughter of Jews and making them soap , a term that our friend Jean-Marie Valheur takes such strong offense against

Auschwitz, Riga, Sachenhausen – they aren’t in Moscow or Beijing or Delhi or Tehran

They are in Europe

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This gutter dreg who took orders from Himmler or his men and who had jewish blood on his hands

He got a standing ovation in Canada

Standing Ovation!!!!

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So dont ever say the West backs Israel

The West wants a guard dog in the Middle East just like you want a Foreman in prison, in case the inmates get violent

The West believe the Middle East is their playground and to keep things in order, fund organizations and terror groups and keep organizing small and large scale chaos

Israel does what it’s told

As simple as that

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The West will never see Israel as part of it’s Anglo Saxon heritage

Not even Eastern Europe whose idiots think they are a part of the grand alliance of the West

They aren’t

The West is US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Austria, Italy and Scandinavia

Every one else from Spaniards to Slavs to Greeks to Jews to Balts to Chinese to Indians to Malays to Serbs are expendable and will be dropped like hot potatoes if it suits the West

How powerful is the Triad? Does the triad engage in a gunfight with the Chinese police?

The Triads? They’ve long since become regular business men.

The last triad gunfights were in the UK around 1997 vs the Vietnamese gangs. The Vietnamese gangs had guns the Chinese triads didn’t.

The last gunfights in Asia were Yip Kai Foon. He had a type56 Chinese AK and rarely got into gunfights. He eventually did get into a gunfight with police and was hit in the spine and captured shortly after.

What is the fastest anyone has been fired from a job?

I got fired during my interview.

I had already been given the job. Been told my start date and salary. The owner was my brother in laws father.

I had sat and chatted with him one evening having just left the army. He told me the job was mine. But he had already arranged the interviews so told me he had to go through with them but inserted me into the interview process.

I mean this job couldn’t of been more nailed on. Ever.

Anyway. I was so blasé about it. I went into the interview not even thinking it was an interview and chatted away to him. Next thing I’m laughing and joking with him about my time in the army. About the crazy funny antics we got up to. Like skidding tanks. Trying to spin the tracks on tanks in the mud. Breaking so hard to see how much you could nose down.. how I run my colnel of the road snaking down the road in a tank. I thought I was hilarious. I thought he thought I was hilarious

This was for a job as an articulated truck driver.

I even walked out pleased with how it went. Absolutely clueless

Needless to say. I got a call next day saying I didn’t get the job.

The most ridiculous part of this story is that the penny didn’t drop for years for me. I just assumed he had only given me an interview to keep the family happy. That I was never going to get the job and was annoyed he’d wasted my time.

It was only 20 odd years later I had that awful.cringe moment. Like. Oh god! No! Did i actually go into an interview for a driving job. Bragging about how irresponsible a driver I could be. Yes. I did.

A need to rewrite marriage laws

The latest generation is simply not getting married, and will result in this…

Do the Chinese know how much worse a war with the United States would be for their country than for the Americans?

Terry, you have everything upside down.

China and the Chinese do not have to be reminded of the horror of wars. They have the century of humiliation that reduced their entire country to destitution and hundred of million dead. It is this existential awareness that is in fact going overdrive to ensure this never ever happen again.

On the other hand, the U.S. has never been touched by war because of geography – not WWI, not WWII. This is why after WWII it is only the U.S. and our industrial base coming out totally unscathed that allowed for our hegemony.

We’re the clueless.

And today, it is the U.S. who must be reminded that we have a peer military power. China has the capability to kick our ass if we try an offensive run at them and can accommodate in kind with a nuclear MAD. So, how is it that they will suffer more in case of war with us?

Have you ever gone for a date without knowing it was a date?

I went to a late afternoon house party at a neighbor who lived a block over from my house.

The host was wealthy. She had a beautifully designed Tuscan, two-storied house, with art of various styles and sizes adorning the walls throughout.

Although I was younger than most by decades, everyone was very welcoming to young buck Sean.

Everyone had brought a dish of food and they had some music playing.

My intention was to just stay for an hour, make the rounds, introduce myself to some neighbors and get to know them as it was rare to see a lot of these people that I shared close proximity with.

(For the record, I wasn’t a freeloader – I’d made brownies that I’d brought with me as well.)

There’s a crowd of us on the back porch talking. I’m in a circle with the host, her daughter, and 4 other people.

So out of the blue, the host says, “We’ll just let you two talk for a bit.”

And everyone evaporates into the house and here I am stuck on this back porch with her daughter.

It felt like I blinked and the world disappeared and I was locked in a closet with a stranger.

“So Sean – do you like it here in Tampa?”

You’ve got to be kidding me. This is a setup…..

She was pretty and friendly enough.

However she was not my type and I was not psychologically/emotionally prepared to be on a date that moment. My ex and I had broken up 2 days before this.

I got through it. We spoke and I stayed long enough so as not to be rude and/or hurt her feelings. Then I went home, curled up in a ball and sucked my thumb.

But hey – at least the experience made for an OK Quora answer.

My pain for your pleasure.

Did he handle this situation properly?

Making a day better

Yesterday, we had a horrible customer at the restaurant, he yelled at the bartender because we didn’t have club soda. The bartender explained we don’t have club soda because we don’t have liquor (just beer and wine) and therefore we don’t have a soda gun behind the bar. He didn’t like that.

Then he asked for a cheese that we don’t have, even after she read him the cheeses we did have – twice. She explained we don’t have that cheese. Then he LOST it and started yelling at her as if she was hoarding the world’s supply of this cheese for herself. Ridiculous.

He eventually left in a big huff and every other person within earshot of his temper tantrum was thankful.

Even after he left we still had a black cloud over us. Admittedly, we let this man and his behavior affect our day.

That is until an older gentleman and his adult son came into the restaurant and changed our whole mood. They are relatively new regulars (started coming in a month or so ago). The son has Down Syndrome and his father takes care of him throughout the day.

The father is very talkative, but his son (Peter) never spoke to us – he was always happy to eat his sandwich and bop along to the music (he really likes Grateful Dead songs).

As they were getting ready to leave, the father waved us over. We got to the table and Peter looked up at us and said…

“I’m happy here, I see you give out hugs, can I have a hug?”

We happily raised our hands to start the hug and he quickly pulled us in and gave us the strongest bear hug we’ve ever received in our life. He lifted us off the ground – anyone that has ever met us face-to-face will attest, that is no easy task.

Thank you Peter, with one (just shy of unbearably strong) hug, you made our entire day better (and gave us a free back (alignment) You’re an awesome man.

What are your thoughts on the Israel-Palestine conflict?

Regardless of the military outcome of the war in Gaza, America, and Israel are already big losers. In a UN resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire and a humanitarian corridor in Gaza, a staggering 120 countries voted in favor. Only 12 other states backed America and Israel. Massive protests are erupting in major cities around the world, from Sydney, London, Paris, New York to Washington, and across much of the Muslim world. Israel has the audacity to question UN’s legitimacy after it passed the unfavorable resolution and doubled down by demanding an apology from Secretary-General Guterres and his resignation for condemning Israel’s indiscriminate bombing in Gaza.

The biggest losers are, sadly, the Palestinian people. Consider these sobering facts. Fully 85% of Hamas fighters are orphans who grew up in hate, many as young as 12 who stand shorter than the rifles they carry. Thousands of children are buried alive in the rubble, and thousands of expectant mothers are denied medical care because hospitals are either bombed, overstretched, or critically short of essential supplies. It is a humanitarian disaster on a scale unseen since the last world war. Israel keeps killing while the whole world watches—in its own shameful Holocaust against the poor Palestinians.

Brushing aside the UN resolution, Netanyahu seems constitutionally incapable of compromise. Turkey calls him a war criminal and is crouching to strike, as is Iran. The 6th full-scale Israeli-Arab war looms.

When Hamas killed and captured Israeli civilians, they were crucified by Western politicians and pundits. But as Netanyahu made good his threat to reduce Gaza to rubble in a frenzy of murderous bombing that took the lives of aid workers, journalists, women, and children, world opinion swiftly shifted. Four European minnows plus eight tiny Pacific Island states like Fiji opposed the resolution, as their support can affordably be bought. Even traditional staunch Israeli and American allies voted to abstain.

The root cause of the conflict is Israel’s 50-year-long brutal suppression of Palestinians, who subsist as stateless people in their own country. In World War II, Jewish people won universal sympathy as the oppressed. Now, they have mutated into brutal oppressors themselves. Netanyahu has Nazified the Israeli military.

In a fatal strategic miscalculation, the US rushed warships to the combustible region, ostensibly to deter Iran from entering the conflict. But Biden is sending a wrong and strong signal that emboldens the bloodthirsty Netanyahu to carry out his Gaza massacre. America has failed to put Bibi on a leash and he is spilling oceans of blood.

This conflict has reshuffled the geopolitical deck, with Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon already engaging Israel sporadically. Heavy hitters like Turkey and Iran are crouching and poised to pounce. Russia, too, is entering the equation, airlifting supplies to Gaza and threatening all-out war if its planes are fired upon. The war in Ukraine is becoming a side-show, with NATO support possibly waning or wavering. China is seen as a potential credible mediator. America, by contrast, stands discredited as a meddler, aiding and abetting Israel’s unjust war against a downtrodden people. It is fast losing its halo as the world’s self-appointed policeman.

If the war widens, America and Israel will be fighting on multiple fronts. I see no long-term winners, even if Israel wipes Hamas off the map. Genocidal oppression breeds its own revenge and lethal vicious circle. That is why Netanyahu, the butcher of Gaza, is a danger to Israel’s legitimate existence. China is walking taller among nations. That explains the mild thaw in US-China relations during the Chinese foreign minister’s recent visit to Washington. Both Blinken and Biden notably toned down their anti-China rhetoric. With two wars raging, America reluctantly seeks dialogue to restore bilateral relations to a normal footing.

Wars are notoriously unpredictable. Who will emerge on the right side of history? No one knows. But one thing is certain: injustice is inherently unstable. Regardless of military muscle, with shifting allegiances on a crowded planet, world opinion matters.

Has someone ever been fired because of you?

Absolutely and I would do it again!

I was in line at a market and there was just one person ahead of me. The assistant manager was at the register and just as the person in front of me left, the regular cashier returned from her break.

Instead of simply walking away and letting her take care of me, he turned to her and began yelling at her because she was 3 minutes late coming back from her break! “How dare you take up my time, I am way more important than you and I could fire you for this!!” he screamed, as I was standing there waiting to pay for my groceries and leave.

The poor girl was incredibly embarrassed and turned to me to apologize and I lost it!

I looked him square in the eye and said “How dare you dress down a staff member in public! I manage a staff of 60 and would NEVER yell at my staff in front of anyone because it is incredibly unprofessional and embarrassing for every person standing in this line! Where is the manager?” I asked and proceeded to hunt him down.

I spent 10 minutes dressing down the manager in his office and told him that I would take it to the corporate level if that man was not promptly fired for his actions.

I found out later that he had been harassing this poor girl for weeks and no one had gone to the manager about it out of fear of retribution. I never again saw that assistant manger and later heard that he was fired on the spot after I left. The staff was so much nicer and happier without him there and I received a personal letter of apology from the manager that thanked me for letting him know what had happened that day.

BTW, I have done this 3 other times at different places and had the same outcome at all of them. I am not looking for someone to be fired when I walk in the door, but I know what it feels like to have a boss that thinks it’s okay to terrorize his staff and I refuse to allow it to happen in front of me ever again.

No one has the right to go after a staff member in front of customers. It is unprofessional and makes those in charge look like they are power hungry bullies who out of control.

Someone has to be the champion of those who are too afraid to speak because they are so afraid to lose their job, and being the loudmouth that I am, I am happy to step up!

A tiny tiny house

What is the cheapest thing you’ve seen a mega-rich person do?

I am a pediatric dentist. I had a patient who was autistic and had ADHD (male, 5 years) with a huge swelling on his cheek because of an infected tooth. Generally, 5 years old understand and sit on the chair, but because of his problems, he just wouldn’t sit and made a mayhem in the clinic. My assistant then restrained the child and we drained the pus.

Now, the mother started to cry when the payment part came. She told us she was separated from her husband and he wasn’t paying support. Because of the special child, she couldn’t even work, so please make it free.

Thankfully, my assistant knew her. She and her husband had two apartments worth 7 cr each in Mumbai and were in the middle of a deal worth another couple crores. My assistant was with the broker who had initiated the deal, so he knew for sure. But the lady wouldn’t budge. At the end, she paid 50 percent and left, and didn’t turn up for the next appointment.

Fast forward a month, the kid had swelling and pain again, because of the incomplete treatment. She pleaded to come, and promised to pay. But this time, because of the pain, the kid didn’t allow me to even have a look. He was feverish and in a bad condition.

So I told the parents (dad had also come) that the kid would need a treatment under general anesthesia in a proper hospital. We explained everything, they nodded with great interest, then asked for the cost. It was going to cost more than a lakh.

The dad straightaway asked me to slash my charges completely. Because, anyway I was earning from rest of the patients and didn’t really need the money. Then he asked for the cheapest hospital possible. I told him I don’t go to charitable places because of questionable hygiene, and lack of ICU. I don’t compromise with the safety. He then argued for an hour over the charges. I refused to budge. I have done numerous free cases, but I wasn’t going to do charity here. He then asked me to wait for two months as he had enquired about an insurance plan, and the wait period was two months. And give the kid medicines to stop the pain.

I was aghast. I told him the kid needed treatment now. All his teeth were in a bad shape. And medicines wouldn’t help after a while, and it wasn’t his decision to make. The medicines also have numerous side effects, if given unmonitored.

Then he started to blame me for the charges. I politely told him to go to a govt hospital where he would be treated for free. He declined, because they had a really long waiting list, just to be seen.

Lastly, he told me to go ahead, but that if his kid had any problem post treatment, he would see me in the court.

I folded my hands, and asked him to leave. Anyway I didn’t want to treat after such a long argument. And no one wants to work under threats.

He got furious and stormed out. We heaved a sigh of relief.

He kept calling for the next few days, bargaining. Even told me he would refer me ultra rich patients if I treated his boy for free.

No thanks, I said. I am happy with my patients who trust me.

So, a super rich man and his wife(at least for me) declining urgent healthcare for his kid to save money and insulting the doctor is the cheapest and most despicable person for me.

Cooter (Turtle) Stew

Ingredients

• 2 to 3 pounds cooter*
• 2 quarts water
• 4 tablespoons cooking oil
• 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 large onions, peeled and chopped
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 10 peeled, seeded tomatoes or 2 large cans tomatoes
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 3/4 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup green spring onion tops
• 1 pinch each paprika and cayenne
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 1/4 cups good sherry (not cooking sherry)
• 1 tablespoon molasses or brown sugar
• 6 to 8 hardboiled eggs, chopped
• 3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
• Seasoned salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup crumbled bacon

* Substitute dark-meat chicken, catfish, veal, or all three.

Instructions

1. Cover meat with water and parboil on medium heat for 20 minutes.
2. Set aside to cool and then trim to small chunks. Skim fat from broth and set aside.
3. Heat oil to just short of smoking. Stir in flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 15-20 minutes to make a dark roux.
4. Add big onions, garlic, tomatoes and tomato paste.
5. Add 4 cups of reserved broth and meat and cook 30 minutes on medium-high.
6. Add celery, spring onions, seasonings, bay leaves, sherry and molasses or brown sugar and cook 30 minutes. Add water to thin stew, if needed.
7. Add chopped eggs and cook for 1 1/2 hours.
8. Add potatoes and cook 20 to 30 minutes longer, until potatoes are tender.
9. Taste and add seasoned salt and pepper.
10. Sprinkle bacon over top. Remove bay leaves.
11. Serve in large bowls with a salad on the side and hot bread, preferably corn bread made in a black iron skillet.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Big Cup of coffee

What is the best moment you witnessed in which somebody proved they weren’t “all talk”?

I watched an elderly man in San Francisco, on the tough corner of Eddy and Hyde streets, being threatened by a thuggish stranger on the street, and being told “I’ll kick your ass.”

The old man laughed, and said quietly, “No, you won’t.”

The thug made a quick move and the old man flinched. The thug laughed and said, “Scared?” The old man said, “Yes. And it’s not healthy to scare me.”

Suddenly the thug was on his back on the sidewalk and the old man was sitting on his chest and beating him across the face, still talking quietly, saying “You better not mess with strangers. I could easily kill you, but I won’t. But you’ll have enough pain so that you’ll remember this for a long [BAM] long [BAM] time.” [BAM]

The old man got up, dusted himself off, picked up his dropped belongings, and left the thug laying bleeding and dazed on the street.

The “Urban Alchemy” private security people across the street, stationed in the area as part of the city government’s last desperate attempt to maintain civil order in the anarchic “Tenderloin” district, didn’t even have time to react. It was over that quick.

I was in awe. My jaw literally dropped. I was walking ten feet behind them, I heard and saw everything. I’m pretty old myself, and I’m no stranger to street confrontations. I’ve never seen any such situation where the outcome was like that. Not ever.

And I’ve never envied one of the participants so much in my entire life.

Why was salt so valuable in ancient times and even used as a currency, when all you have to do to get it is let sea water evaporate in the sun?

It’s not that easy.

Yes, if you can get sea water to evaporate, you get salt. However, you need to get a lot of sea water to evaporate to get an appreciable amount of salt out of it. For that you need a lot of flat land by the seashore. It needs to be at or very close to sea level so that you can let the water roll in before you close off your salt pans. And you need a lot of warm, dry, sunny weather to evaporate the sea water and leave the salt behind. Land behind the sea shore rises too quickly? Can’t make salt. Too much rain? Can’t make salt. Storms driving large waves that wash over into the salt pans? Can’t make salt. Too cold or humid so evaporation is slow? Can’t make (meaningful amounts of) salt.

So it turns out that there are actually very few places where it’s actually feasible to make salt by evaporating sea water. So few that those very, very few places which can historically grew rich by doing it and salt mining could remain a viable competitor. Venice, for example, occupied a shallow lagoon backed up by marshes. The sheltered lagoon protected the marshes from large storm surges, the marshes weren’t too elevated to convert into salt pans, and the Mediterranean has a warm, sunny climate. Consequently, it first became wealthy in the salt trade. But you simply couldn’t do that around places like Genoa or Bruges, which had the wrong geography and/or the wrong climate. Sure, you can get salt out of sea water, but it’s a lot harder to do on an industrial scale with historical technology.

The lack of a father….