Finestkind Clinic and fish market

Shipping news and other domino effects of the Iran conflict

2026-03-04T09:43:00.001+08:00

there are links about these stories on the youtube site.

All I know about this is that I was working in Liberia when a previous war closed the Suez canal, and all the big tankers had to go around Africa. This was before container ships by the way.

We had a contract with some shipping firms to treat sialors... many small ships would go around the hump to local ports, meaning first to Sierra Leone then to Monrovia, so most of those we treated were for diseases the sailors picked up from the nice ladies there. And since I spoke some Spanish (lots of Portuguese seamen could understand Spanish) and German (lots of Polish seamen could speak German) it meant I got to see a lot of these in our clinic.

since Monrovia's artificial port is small, it meant we had to go out to the larger ships to evacuate patients which I did a couple of times.

Things are now different: Container ships for example, and LPG not just tankers...

The video discusses the money part, about insurance coverage, and about the dark fleet to get around sanctions.

And don't forget China. LINK

Tanker traffic through the energy chokepoint effectively halted after the US and Israel began a bombing campaign over the weekend that has prompted Iran to respond with strikes across the region. As the world’s largest oil and gas importer, China is among the most exposed nations — while it has ample reserves, almost half of its crude imports transited the strait in December.

And he reminds people about the Houthis who are Iranian proxies, who will probably start shelling ships from neutral countries in the Red Sea.

Translation: This will cause many ships going to Europe to divert around Africa, and also impoverish Egypt since it won't collect fees from ships using the Suez canal.

Another change: Huge numbers of Filipinos are seamen and in danger.

There are over one million Filipino OFW in the Middle East, and over 1000 have asked for help to come back home, mainly from Dubai.

But trouble in the area has other implications for the Philippines.

and here in the Philippines, the gov't is worried that the price of oil/petroleum products will go up. This means higher diesel prices for those of us who farm (using hand plows instead of water buffalo), higher prices for fertilizer, (even organic chicken manure fertilizer needs to be bagged and transported to the fields), higher prices for anything that has to be transported, higher prices for people using public transportation to work, and higher prices for LPG to cook food (the alternative wood means deforestation).

So use modern solar farms? Yup. We have them being placed all over our valuable rice growing areas here but they aren't on line yet.

we are seeing a few e-bikes being used as tricycles (which is what ordinary people here use for transportation) But you can't use solar energy for handplows.

Or for backhoes either.

Right now, the winter harvest is almost done, and it's too early to prepare the fields for rice planting, so a lot of farmers around here are renting backhoes to dig up the soil so they can pan for gold. We hope this won't destroy the rice paddies, but hey poor people are more worried about eating today than about possible ecological problems in the future.

(Note: We are approaching hunger season, when the money from the last harvest runs out but no money until the next harvest).

Sigh.

putting the war on Irn into context

2026-03-02T10:18:00.000+08:00

Iran has been destablizing the Middle East for 49 plus years via their proxies including Hamas in Gaza, Assad in Syria, the Houthis, and by taking over Levanon.

Bit the USA essentially helped the crazies take over by encouraging the dying Shah to leave. And as a result, the Mullahs declared war against the USA:

And because Jimmy Carter was a Christian who hated war, he did nothing even though attacking an embassy is essentially a declaration of war...So nothing was done. Well, almost nothing.

In those days, Hollywood didn't hate America, so helped rescue some of the hostages, and later a film was made about this: Argo..

I couldn't find free movie on line but it is streaming on Netflix if you have it.

But there was another rescue, of American civilians, arranged by their boss: Ross Perot.

,.....

War is not the answer, but. peace doesn't work either

2026-03-01T14:47:00.004+08:00

.....

🚨 EPIC! Massive amounts of Iranians spotted dancing to YMCA holding up "THANK YOU, TRUMP" signs in Washington DC

Incredible things are happening right now.

A liberal's mind BREAKS just looking at this!

Trump has just stunned the world 🇺🇸🇮🇷pic.twitter.com/2lPSnT2s2x
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 1, 2026

the next epidemic thanks to research on viruses

2026-03-01T14:29:00.006+08:00

Cell phones are destroying the environment

2026-02-28T05:46:00.003+08:00

A lecture about it from a UK College:

Posted mainly ro listen to later on my tablet. But I have posted about this in the past.

Family news

2026-02-27T17:27:00.002+08:00

Joy ia still visiting family in the Visayas. I thought someone was sick there, but apparently it is a family reunion to settle the will of her deceased parents who had land etc there.

While she is gone, Kuya is busy fixing up the house, including putting new screens on her bedroom windows (which had rusted out and had holes leaving mosquitoes inside).

The latest news for our rice land: One more harvest to go, but a good winter harvest.

But even though we are in the major rice growing part of Luzon, there has been pressure to divert land for solar energy farms.

And now: A gold rush:

Someone found gold nearby so a lot of farmers are digging up the superficial soil to pan for gold. Presumably they will put it back into place before planting season in June.

grok says there are no reports of gold in our area, although it can be found 45 km from here in Palayan.

Gapan City in Nueva Ecija, Philippines, does not appear to have active gold mining, significant gold deposits, or gold panning activities directly within or immediately around the city itself. Nueva Ecija province has some historical and limited association with gold, primarily in other areas:

There are mentions of small-scale or historical placer (alluvial) gold in parts of the province, such as near Palayan City (where a "Palayan Gold Mine" was referenced in older reports, located about 45 km north of Gapan City and near Cabanatuan).

Some copper-gold occurrences or prospects have been noted near Cabanatuan (close to Gapan), but these are not major operations.

........more here is history

The province is better known for agriculture (as the "Rice Bowl of the Philippines") and tourism spots like Minalungao National Park in General Tinio, which has been poetically called a "mine of gold" due to its scenic beauty (e.g., clear river, limestone formations, and cave), not actual gold resources. Gold panning was historically restricted there to protect the environment after it became a protected area. No recent news, discoveries, or active mining operations show up specifically tied to Gapan City. Searches for gold mining, deposits, or panning in the area mostly point to jewelry shops, pawnshops dealing in gold (e.g., Cebuana Lhuillier branches, local jewelers like Helen Jewelry Shop or Chinatown Gold Center), and buy/sell posts for gold items in Gapan and nearby cities like Cabanatuan. If you're referring to buying, selling, or pawning gold jewelry/items in Gapan City, it's a commercial hub with several pawnshops and jewelry stores where gold is commonly traded (often at rates aligned with current Philippine gold prices, around PHP 5,000–8,000+ per gram depending on karat and market fluctuations). If this query is about something more specific—like a particular news story, investment, historical site, or local business—feel free to provide more details for a deeper look!

The clergy are silent

2026-02-25T03:57:00.001+08:00

Sigh. IN our prayers

2026-02-19T13:34:00.007+08:00

How to fix a leaky Submarine

2026-02-19T10:16:00.009+08:00

Instapundit has a comment on fixing leaks on a post about NASA trying to stop hydrogen leaks from their latest rocket.

But I am old enough to remember another story on how a common radiator repair fluid saved a sub:

Epstein was here (Philippines)

2026-02-18T21:48:00.001+08:00

\]]

ABSCBN article states

congress plans to do an investigation: “A recent report indicates that email exchanges from the Epstein files show that Epstein and his associates engaged a Philippine-based team to clean up hisonline image after his conviction as a sex offender,” Elago said. ///The investigation shall cover allegations of media manipulation and reputation management conducted from the Philippines supposedly to shield Epstein from accountability.

many groups help the local cops and charity outreaches, including NGOs anc churches, but as this report notes: there have been times when abusers infiltrate the charity outreaches to abuse children or to make money.

Sigh. One of the problems, and not just here in the Philippines

...this is from two years ago:

.government report on sex trafficking:... https://philja.judiciary.gov.ph/files/journal/vol6issue21.pdf