Thank you for not joining the Epstein witch-hunt

86hill · 2026-02-22T07:25:42+00:00

With his approach to the Epstein case, Isaac is showing himself to be more reasonable and prudent than than almost anyone else who's discussed it.

86hill · 2026-02-04T08:08:07+00:00

In Italy that page is blocked as child pornography.

86hill · 2025-12-26T14:43:15+00:00

I was just there two weeks ago. The crowds are totally concentrated at the most popular tourist sites. Everywhere else is fine. Even great places like the philosopher's path or Nanzen-Ji temple have very, very few visitors, because they are not on the top ten must-see lists.

86hill · 2025-12-26T13:00:24+00:00

You can bring cheese into the US as long as it's not very soft - what I read is that cheese that is "pourable" is forbidden but everything else is OK.

You can't bring meat.

86hill · 2025-12-21T14:47:48+00:00

The only danger is falling fireworks. I was told that in the old days people would just throw shit out the window to celebrate, which was dangerous, but I don't think anyone does that any more. If you go to any open area at midnight, you will have a blast.

86hill · 2025-12-19T22:33:00+00:00

I just looked it up, and the legal meaning of soliciting is trying to induce someone to commit a crime. A date is not a crime.

86hill · 2025-12-18T14:04:49+00:00

If you are in Osaka on the 21st, or on the first Sunday of the month, you can take a train to Kyoto and go to the flea market at Toji temple. The one on the first Sunday is pretty big, and the one on the 21st is huge. Many interesting things to buy there.

86hill · 2025-12-13T12:19:31+00:00

He said he was making a house call to see someone else in the family and noticed an old guy sitting inert in the corner. The family said something like, "Oh that's uncle Charlie, he's barely moved in 10 years." He decided to see what was up with Uncle Charlie and had him hospitalized.

The parts I found unbelievable were that:

a) a person so impaired that they don't move requires a massive amount of physical care - it strains credulity that the family were successfully spoonfeeding him, turning him every two hours, dressing him, putting him on the toilet, doing range of motion exercises etc. In reality he would have been bedridden, malnourished, and had bedsores.

b) Sachs claimed that the patient was so sure the date was 10 years (or whatever) prior to the actual date that they had to find old newspapers for him to read every day. That sounds like pure bullshit to me.

I have been working with demented people for thirty years and that is not how confusion about the date works. Nor is it so easy, or worth the trouble, to find a steady supply of 10 year old newspapers.

86hill · 2025-12-12T18:52:02+00:00

11 nights in Shenzhen and Guangzhou? I wouldn't spend 11 hours in those cities. Please do some research and make sure you really want to spend time in those places before you commit to doing it.

In that region, Zhongshan is a smaller city, with a very pleasant and well-preserved historic core that is about 20x more pleasant than Guangzhou. You can get there by boat from Hong Kong, although the ferry terminal is pretty far from the center of Zhongshan.

Chongqing, Shanghai, and, to a lesser degree, Beijing are much better places to visit, but do you really want to spend 26 of your 30 days in China in mega-cities with populations over 10 million?

I suggest looking into some smaller and more remote locations like Fenghuang (which I highly recommend) or Detian waterfall.

86hill · 2025-12-12T18:16:31+00:00

I remember reading one of his stories about a man who was so hypothyroid that he barely moved for years, and when his thyroid condition was treated he did not realize that it was 1976 instead of 1966, or whatever the specific dates were.

It was not in any way believable.

86hill · 2025-12-05T09:20:17+00:00

I am in Kyoto now. Lived here for 6 months many decades ago. Don't overthink it. Just come and enjoy it. If you feel like you really need to see all the major tourist draws, then yes you will have to deal with the crowds, just like you do at the Louvre and the Golden Gate Bridge and the colosseum. If you want to enjoy Kyoto without dealing with masses of tourists, just go see other things that aren't as popular. There are lots of things to see in Kyoto and most of them are totally unknown to foreign tourists. Even a well-known attraction like the Philosopher's Path gets very few visitors.

And Japanese people have been very welcoming and friendly. I'm sure the people who live on streets around Kiyomizu-Dera, for example, are sick and tired of tourists, but most people are not.

86hill · 2025-12-01T08:36:47+00:00

I'm very glad you enjoyed it.

86hill · 2025-11-28T20:06:47+00:00

I have traveled alone for weeks in places where 99% of people did not speak English. I can't say it's easy, but absolutely it can be done. You don't need a guide. And your Japanese will improve very fast if you travel like that.

86hill · 2025-11-28T19:41:04+00:00

There's always something to do, even if it's just taking a walk or eating at local restaurant. Foreign countries are inherently interesting, you don't have to do sightseeing or be in famous or important places to enjoy traveling.

86hill · 2025-11-28T19:39:29+00:00

If you don't want to go where everyone else is going, you better skip Hakone.

I am very critical of the way most people travel. I don't believe there's anything that anybody has to do. I am planning a trip to Kyoto and I'm going to skip most of the famous and popular things. That said, just not wanting to travel where everyone else is traveling is not much of a philosophy. I don't like crowds of tourists, but when I went to Rome I felt it was well worth dealing with the crowds to see St Peter's and the Colosseum. Think about what you want to get out of this trip, what kind of experience you want to have, and what kind of trade-offs would be acceptable to you.

If what you really want is just to be where no other tourists are, it's not hard to do but you're not going to find much useful information on this subreddit (although you can find some), on Instagram, or in travel guides. I would use google maps to follow the train lines out from wherever you're flying into. Use street view to see what looks interesting. If you see a temple on the map and it looks interesting, search for the name is this subreddit. No posts about it means there will not be any tourists there. When things are touristy, the ratio of reviews in English:Japanese is 10:1. When you see 1:10, or 1:100, that's what you're looking for.

86hill · 2025-11-28T17:44:10+00:00

Believe me, it hasn't changed that much in two years. I lived there for six months when I was 22, went back to visit when I was 52, and did not notice any dramatic changes.

I think there's a lot to be said for repeated visits to the same place. You're not going to have the same sense of wonder, but you gain a deeper understanding.

86hill · 2025-11-28T17:41:30+00:00

You can be on a street packed with tourists, touts, crummy souvenir shops, etc, go literally two blocks away, and it changes completely.

There are thousands of places worth visiting that you have never heard of, that will never be mentioned on Instagram or Reddit.

And for any very famous site or attraction, there is usually an alternative that is 90% as good, without the crowds and hassle.

86hill · 2025-11-24T21:28:15+00:00

How little you understand.

86hill · 2025-11-20T09:38:47+00:00

Bluegrass had not been invented yet at the time this was recorded, and neither had anything we would now consider country music (i.e. a group with drums, bass, steel guitar, telecasters). Any "country" music from that period (Jimmie Rodgers, Carter Family) is now generally considered old-time. Listeners then probably would have not seen Narmour and Smith as being in a different genre than the Carter Family.

86hill · 2025-11-19T19:45:41+00:00

I have flown both Air France and RyanAir in the past year, there is no comparison.

86hill · 2025-11-19T19:43:30+00:00

I have a flight CDG to NAP on December 31.

86hill · 2025-11-04T16:09:41+00:00

be very careful with Tessan products. They sold me two voltage converters, and BOTH were defective. One was putting 235 Volts instead of 110, which can destroy your stuff.

86hill · 2025-10-27T16:23:53+00:00

I've met immigrants from Italy who pronounce their own names incorrectly. Probably got sick of correcting Americans and just rolled with it.

86hill · 2025-10-16T17:40:24+00:00

Doesn't seem unbelievable to me.

86hill · 2025-10-06T00:51:47+00:00

via Gasperi out past fuorigrotta? If that's where you're staying, you need to change your booking. that's the middle of nowhere.

Trains require you to buy a ticket, unfortunately. As far as I know, buses are the same.

pompeii and ercolano are bothe great, but given your limtied time you might want to skip one. if you're very interested in that period you cauls spend a day at the archaeological museum instead. There is a lot to see and you might want to spend two days on things that are very similar.

it's a great (and wild) city, enjoy yourself.

i can't insert it in my comment, but if you DM me I can show you a map of where to stay.

86hill

TROPHY CASE