tariffs on pharmaceuticals are complicated. yes, it's shitty to try to increase the cost of medicine. however, you want to manufacture these items locally, too. it's important to point out that slapping tariffs on pharmaceutical imports is extremely unlikely to actually succeed in increasing domestic manufacturing, as it doesn't address any of the root causes of the problems. if government steps in, it's just a handout to drug companies. the united states needs more intelligent drug plan reform than this!

however, semiconductors and chips (and evs and weapons and vaccines and medical equipment) are the kind of thing that you correctly use tariffs to protect the domestic manufacturing of, and i would support high tariffs on these items. 

i'm far from an advocate of free markets. tariffs aren't good or bad, what they are is hard. most politicians don't have the brains to use them, fuck up and get burned for it, so the broad advice is don't try, citing the wisdom of homer j. trump will lose, overall. he's right this time.

i was just tested at the highest testosterone level i've ever been tested at.

it's still very low, but it's higher than it's ever been, and this is the outcome i was dreading. it's abundantly clear that i've been drugged. however, you wouldn't realize that if you weren't familiar with my chemistry.

i'll have to write an essay.

Normal testosterone levels in adult males typically range from 8.7 to 29 nmol/L.

in women, the normal range is 0-1.8.

i generally test at < 0.4 - trace levels. 

this result was 0.5, indicating it was not trace.

what it demonstrates is that the t-blockers are clearing the t out.

sunday's meal: a can of beans cooked in a can of vegetable soup, plus spices and vitamins.

monday's meal: two cans of chicken noodle soup, plus spices and vitamins. 

i finally made it to one of the food banks this afternoon, and what i got is very focused on the pasta i'm going to be eating almost every day for the rest of this month. i also filled in some ingredients, like avocados and carrots and ceasar dressing and cheese and juice and this is ready to go for the next several weeks. as was the case previously, the first days directly after the food bank are dedicated to consuming the less nutritious donations. 

i had two builders protein mini bars to start, one at 4 pm and one around 10 pm. these are chocolate and peanut butter and have 10 g of protein, 1.75 mg of iron, dangerous amounts of sugar if you're diabetic and zero vitamins or other minerals. they tasted pretty good. i'd call these junk food, but they were decent sources of energy when i was biking around town grocery shopping.

i took a walk to get a coffee around 23:00 because i couldn't believe that coffee was $15 until i checked every store. i drink a lot of coffee and i'm going to have to pay it, but i'm annoyed. coffee used to be $5.99/canister and it was $9.99 forever, until a few weeks ago. this is rapid and sudden, given that we're talking about small amounts. 

the tim's was closed, so i had to go to the 7-11 on wyandotte instead. *shrug*. i was going to get a muffin, but i got a taquito with my coffee.

i am now sitting in front of the computer, about to watch jon stewart, with a bag of sour cream and onion "real vegetable chips", which are chips made out of sweet potatoes and parsnips. they have a ms vickies type taste to them, but are sweet and not spicy. i also have a regular bag which will be consumed quickly. i might suggest ms vickies instead.

i will be making a few containers of chinese noodles, with rice and some other things, this morning. this will be the crux of the tuesday meal.

i have some other thing like halloween size crispy crunches, licorice, ginger bread, baby cookies, jello and goldfish crackers, but this is the crux of the "junk food" to be eaten in the first iteration.

i will post my chinese noodles recipe. it won't be very chinese, but i do have some tamarind sauce.