Do it yourself

Quote: rxwine

You still got time to start that youtube channel. Lettin' all that profit potential go to waste sittin' in your easy chair.

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One evening in late June, as the day’s heat settled to a temperate 102F (38C), a small crowd gathered on a desolate plot of land in the far reaches of the California desert.
No cellphone? No problem! The vintage radio enthusiasts prepping for disaster

An unrecognizable flag whipped high above a concrete square, where a weather-beaten wooden desk and phone booth had been strategically placed. A glassy security guard booth set in the dirt instructed visitors to “register with border police”, but inside stood only a stoic mannequin wearing a police uniform. Clouds of sand hung like fog on the horizon.

One man held court over this apocalyptic scene, beaming under a stiff military-looking hat threaded in red and gold.

“Thank you, sultan,” said a visitor from the crowd, gripping his hand and smiling for a photo.

Here, more than an hour south of Palm Springs and miles from the nearest town, Randy Williams, a 46-year-old radio DJ from San Diego, is not Randy Williams – not really. He is the self-appointed “sultan” of Slowjamastan: a “micronation” occupying 11 acres of glorified desert scrubland.

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But Slowjamastan (an nod to the “slow jams” music genre) is not legally considered a sovereign nation, and it’s not recognized by any government entity. Williams merely bought the land in 2021 for $19,000, promptly declared independence from the United States, and established his micronation as a light-hearted, tight-knit community that pokes fun at the typical trappings of statehood.

Today, it boasts thousands of “citizens” (none of whom actually live in Slowjamastan), hailing from more than 100 different countries. The group has its own federal holidays, laws, parliament and national animal (the humble raccoon). There’s even a faux Slowjamastan border, demarcated by official signs and haphazard sections of barbed wire, small enough to step easily around.

Not everyone gets the concept – including Williams’s mom, who considered his plan to buy the land “very foolish”. But many have gravitated towards the jokey premise for very real reasons: simple connection, a source of daily humor or as a refuge from instability in their home countries.

“For the people who understand Slowjamastan,” Williams said, “it is absolutely a reprieve and an escape from everyday life, which today unfortunately includes so much fighting, so much political divisiveness.”

And Slowjamastan isn’t alone. There are roughly 100 active micronations around the globe, which differ in size and form but typically involve legally unrecognized states that nevertheless “mimic acts of sovereignty”. Many of their leaders, Williams included, attempt to prove their legitimacy by referencing an international agreement signed in Montevideo nearly a century ago that states the qualifications for statehood as merely having a permanent population, a defined territory, a government and the capacity to enter into agreements with other states.

Quote: rxwine

Aluminum foil = from a video on ways to use foil, besides a hat

Make a foil dish for your bar soap. (if you use any bar soap) so no melty mess to clean.

Same foil can eventually be crumpled and use to clean the sink.

Quote: odiousgambit

hints from heloise lives again

Quote: rxwine

... a foil dish for your bar soap. (if you use any bar soap) ...

Quote: odiousgambit

when I visit my brother who has young adult kids, I use the same bathtub/shower as them. The tub is ringed with all kinds of body washes and shampoos, but no bar soap ... which I fetch from the sink to shower with. This bodywash stuff is clearly just more shampoo

Quote: DRich

I counted this morning. My wife has 22 different bottles of product in the shower. I have one.

Quote: rxwine

With that many layers of product, are you sure she is still under there? (all this stuff leaves a film on your skin, IMO)