I have a question for you all. I know that fads come and go, but why doesn’t anyone still enjoy these fads from the 1970’s? I don’t know, but I would like to poll the readership. Do any of you still have one of these items in your household?
Platform Shoes: Platform shoes, particularly those with exaggerated heels and soles, were a fashionable trend among teenagers, especially in the disco scene. These shoes were often worn by both genders and were seen as a symbol of style and confidence.
Mood Rings: Mood rings, which purportedly changed color based on the wearer’s emotions, gained popularity during this time. Teenagers embraced the trend, wearing mood rings as a form of self-expression and amusement.
Waterbeds: Waterbeds became a symbol of counterculture and alternative living in the mid-1970s. Many teenagers embraced the trend, viewing waterbeds as a cool and unconventional form of bedroom furniture.
Bean Bag Chair: A bean bag chair is a large, typically soft chair filled with small polystyrene beads (“beans”) or similar filling material. It is designed to conform to the shape of the person sitting in it, providing a comfortable and relaxed seating experience. Bean bag chairs became popular in the 1960s and 1970s as part of the broader counterculture movement.
Lava Lamp: A lava lamp is a type of decorative lamp consisting of a translucent glass vessel filled with a colored, oily liquid and wax that flows and moves in a mesmerizing, lava-like manner when heated. The mesmerizing, slow-moving blobs of wax floating in the colorful liquid became synonymous with the psychedelic aesthetic of the 1960s and 1970s, and lava lamps remain popular as retro decorative items and conversation pieces to this day. They are often used in bedrooms, living rooms, and recreational spaces to create a relaxing and ambient atmosphere.
Macramé ; Macramé of the 1970s refers to a popular crafting technique that involves creating decorative textiles using knotting techniques. This craft reached the height of its popularity during the 1970s and became closely associated with the bohemian and hippie counterculture movements of the time.
They came…
The went.
Now are mostly FORGOTTEN.
What about you?
Today…
What advice would you give to a person who takes life too seriously?
I remember I was in College making fun of a bunch of nerds, “What’s going on with those guys? Why do they take life so seriously?”
I was a terrible student and by criticizing them I was hiding my lack of competitiveness. I thought “I was enjoying life,” but the deeper truth was I was not facing my reality.
It took me years to understand that by criticizing others I was hiding my own pain, trying to find “allies” of my own misery.
So, to answer your question, this is what you can tell them:
“Hey dude, relax, take it easy, good things come for those who wait! Look at me, I enjoy life. Why worry?”
And most likely you will get an answer like this:
By the way, I do take life seriously.
Why?
Because I’ve tried living in the “relaxed” mode and the results were painful.
I learned that while I can live relaxed avoiding my reality, it’s a matter of time that life kicks-in.
Which reality?
I don’t know about you, but I hate the feeling of losing my freedom. Freedom of living life on my own terms, not living life on the terms of others. I hate living in debt, not being able to do what I want, work on whatever I want, travel or give my family everything I dream of.
So,I choose to take life seriously. For me it’s a winner’s mindset and lifestyle.
As a result I assume responsibility for my family and my life and act accordingly. I hate mediocrity and have decided to set the bar high for my life and live my life to the fullest.
Today I have the privilege to relax and do whatever I want, whenever I want to. I’m in control, but it didn’t happen until I took my life seriously. There are NO shortcuts.
Who is the most immature adult you’ve ever met?
I had a roommate who had no common sense. She honestly didn’t know things that children would know. It wasn’t her fault, she came from a very wealthy family. They wanted her to be a tennis pro, so they sent her to private schools throughout her life. She was on my university’s tennis team and she was very good. Her parents had paid for her to live in a dorm on campus her first three years of college. By the time she reached her senior year of college, she’d never done anything for herself in her life. She was 22. That’s when I met her.
I put an ad out online because the person me and my other roommate had previously lived with graduated the semester before and moved out. A girl named Hannah replied to the ad. She was cute and nice so we let her sign a contract and move in with us.
Sometimes I felt like I was raising an 8 year old, living with her.
She kept not paying rent. I’d get a notice from the landlord saying a portion of the rent hadn’t been paid. I’d tell my roommate she needed to pay and she’d pay immediately. This happened for three months in a row. Finally, I said “Hannah, I’m not your mom. I can’t remind you to pay rent every month. You need to do it yourself.” Her eyes got really big. She said “Oh, I didn’t know that rent had to be paid at a certain time every month.”
She used to make giant pots of soup and leave them on the stove for days, unrefrigerated. I got concerned and told her she shouldn’t eat something that had been sitting out uncovered for three days. She was confused. I had to explain to her how she’d probably get very sick and food can go bad if it’s not refrigerated properly or not eaten for too long.
After that, my other friend left some soup in our fridge that she wanted to come back and pick up the next day. When I came home the next day, Hannah was eating it. I said “Hannah, why are you eating my friends soup? She said she was going to pick it up today.” Hannah replied, “Well I took the soup out of the fridge and left it on the counter because I knew she was going to come pick it up. But she didn’t come for a while, so I figured the soup was going bad like you told me, so I thought I’d eat it.” I just replied “Why didn’t you just leave it in the fridge until she arrived?” Hannah apparently never thought of that.
Once some mice invaded our home. Hannah left her food in the cupboards uncovered, like her rice and cereal. I told her she had to box them up or the mice would get in her food and poop in it and make her sick. She tied some rubber bands around some of her food but that was it. I had to secure all of her food for her because I worried about her, and I wanted the mice gone.
Another time, we went on a hike together and saw a tent made to look like a teepee in the forest. She asked “Do you think pilgrims live in there?” I’m pretty sure she meant Amish people, but either way, I was dumbfounded.
Up to a year after we were roommates, she would call me asking me about random bills that got charged to her that didn’t relate to me at all. I couldn’t believe some of the stuff she got into just because she had no common sense.
The thing is, she was pretty book smart. She got good grades in her major. She was amazing at tennis which takes intelligence. She just had zero common sense. I had never met someone like that before. I was basically her caretaker all year. She was super sweet and I liked her, but wow did I get annoyed with her sometimes.
Anyways, she’s probably going to become a pro tennis player now. She’ll have a coach or enough money to have other people handle her life for her, so I think she’s going to turn out okay.
How I see the US after living abroad for 5 years
If a random person came up to you in the street, ready to fight and asked you “What the F are you looking at” How or what would you do in response?
This might sound crazy, but this happened to me three times in the 1990’s. Twice in a bar and once at an all night diner sorta like Denny’s in Blufield,WVA.
All three times some drunk guy just walked up to me and said something like,” I don’t like you and I’m gonna kick your ass”.
My response, all three times was, “ okay man, if that’s what you want to do, but just tell me first, why do you want to kick my ass?”
All three times it led to the person saying…”I don’t know, I just want to”..and within a minute or two, we were sitting talking and they decided they were now ok with me.
The third one in West Virginia…was strange cuz I was sitting in a booth, the first booth in the restaurant, when this obviously very drunk guy came up to me and said that he wanted to kick my ass. I responded as I do and next thing I know, he pulls up in the booth and starts crying and trying to tell me his problems.
The waitresses were apologizing to me about him and trying to get him to leave, when eventually his wife and mother or mother-in-law came, got him and apologized profusely for him bothering me.
I figured out a long time ago to be meek and not to act like a bad ass. The Bible tells us to be meek, have self control, be patient, have charity.
Why This Modern Woman Keeps Her Baby Daddies Away From Her Family – You Won’t Believe The Reason!
What if someone shows evidence of Chinese government officials detaining millions of Uighurs in concentration camps under the false pretense of “re-education” to the Chinese Communist Party?
The Chinese themselves openly confirmed this didn’t they?
They openly said they were detaining Uyghur families who were supporting the ETIM and had a role in the 2007/8 terrorist incidents and other separatist factions
They openly established Re Education camps where Uyghurs were detained
The Camps are now closed. The last camp was closed in 2020 after Covid when they took a decision that 9 years was enough
And it’s not millions
It’s around 100K-120K people
They are on home surveillance now for 15 years
All this is available on People’s Daily
They agreed they were detaining and re educating these Uyghurs
They themselves said so before anyone else did
The Allegations against the Chinese were not of Detention of and Re Education of Terror suspects or ETIM sympathisers
It was
- Genocide of Uygur People
- Slave Labor of all Uyghur People
The Allegations were of Death or Extermination Camps where Uyghurs were enslaved and killed
These are Total Lies
The Locations shared by Google Earth were visited in detail by many UN Officials and close to 1000 reporters from over 50 Countries including 14 Islamic ones
Not a shred of evidence
A Camp leaves some sign
The Nazi death camps had signs for decades
Likewise Slave Labor is a myth
This has been proven conclusively over and over again
Why would a region import Harvesters worth $ 15 Billion if they aimed to have cotton pickers?
Now the Narrative is CULTURAL GENOCIDE
God knows what the next will be
China is no longer fire fighting and waiting for the next accusation to prove
They are simply opening up Xinjiang and saying “SEE FOR YOURSELF”
The US is desperately dialling back and forbidding Americans to visit Xinjiang
Always a bad move because Americans HATE to be DENIED anything and that makes them all the more determined to visit the place themselves
American Reacts To How Has Your Concept Of Freedom Changed, As An American Living Abroad? | Part 1
Freedom propaganda.
Why are Americans so much smarter than Europeans, especially British people?
You won’t like this answer but…..
In the UK there is a long running television program called university challenge where teams of students from each university in the country battle it out to become the cleverest university for the year on TV.
A similar program used to exist and for all I know may still do in the US called college bowl.
Some years ago now a British university was invited to a college bowl episode to compete against an American team.
The organisers rather arrogantly gave the British team a head start by giving them a number of points, presumably because they thought the British team might not be so familiar with the American TV show or maybe the American centric questions that might arise.
The contest began and the British team went on to thoroughly rout, Indeed, totally spank the American team to the extent that even without the head start they had been given. The difference in scores was truly embarrassing.
This contest was never repeated and I have struggled to find any reference to it on YouTube or elsewhere. That episode seems to have been eradicated from history.
I think I have answered the question.
Chicken and Dumpling Casserole
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
Chicken
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/2 cup chopped onions
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon dry basil
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 (10 ounce) package frozen peas
- 4 cups cooked chicken, cubed
Dumplings
- 2 cups buttermilk biscuit mix
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 2/3 cup milk
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish.
- Chicken: In a large kettle melt butter and sauté onions, celery, and garlic until tender.
- Add flour, sugar, salt, basil, pepper and chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Boil a minute then add chicken and frozen peas.
- Pour into prepared pan.
- Dumplings: Combine biscuit mix, basil and milk. Stir until moistened and use spoon to drop dumplings onto casserole (12 dumplings).
- Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.
- Cover and bake 10 minutes more or until dumplings are done.
Apparently Women Are Facing An UNPRECEDENTED Crisis of Loneliness
Why is it so difficult for British people to learn foreign languages but foreign people can learn English so efficiently? What are they doing which us Brits are not?
A few years ago, I went to a restaurant in the Algarve. Because I am tall and blonde, the waiter immediately spoke to me in English. I replied in Portuguese, and kept speaking Portuguese all through the meal and in all my interactions.
At the end of the meal, the waiter asked if I would mind answering a question. He said they were taking bets in the kitchen about my nationality, with some thinking I was Dutch, others thought I was Italian, perhaps German, but obviously I couldn’t be English or American because I spoke Portuguese. However, I had a foreign accent they couldn’t place.
“I’m English” I told him. He was amazed… English people are renowned for their lack of languages.
Now, years later, Portugal is full of English speakers who think Portuguese is too difficult and anyway, nearly everyone speaks English. Indeed, they complain vociferously when they don’t.
English speakers don’t have early exposure to other languages via TV, films and music. We’re just not used to hearing foreign languages, and certainly don’t need to speak them. The idea persists that learning another language is difficult. Getting our tongues round those foreign sounding words is hard and we resist certain sounds as being just too weird.
In schools, teaching used to be fairly diabolical, in my experience, with English-accented teachers wanting us to listen and repeat foreign phrases mindlessly, without real social meaning and context.
When I arrived in Portugal, I didn’t have any real idea about how to learn a language. But I was really determined to try. My husband was Portuguese and I wanted to become part of life in the country. So I did.
When I visited my old school and told them about where I was living and admitted to being fluent in Portuguese, the old teachers said “Aren’t you clever!” As if I had done something extraordinary, although it is not, actually. In the rest of the world, acquiring second languages is commonplace.
Have you ever accidentally asked somebody out on a date?
I once asked my colleague who sat behind the cubicle, “You want date?”
It was late evening on the office in Jakarta. We were discussing about annual Eid holiday plan, when I asked the question out of the blue. She went silent for quite long, maybe surprised, and spoke very slowly, “Err… yes…”
I was a bit confused with the reaction, and then she continued, “What time?”
It took us around five seconds to realize the misunderstanding.
Both of us were sitting completely silent separated by the cubicles. I did not dare to stand up and looked to the next cubicle because it would be awkward. What I tried to offer her is a pack of date fruit which is pretty common during Ramadan month before the Eid holiday. I decided to just shove the fruit box from above the cubicle separator, told her “here you are”, and she grabbed it.
And still, silence.
Damn. It was awkward.
To this day, I believe she still wonders whether I pranked her.
Lesson learned, next time use Bahasa Indonesia instead of broken Asian English.
What are some sad truths about life?
Chris Langan was born with a freakishly potent brain, having arguably the highest IQ of any living person.
Langan began speaking at six months old and went on to skip several grades. He had an adult vocabulary by age 10. He breezed through college-level tests as an adolescent. He took his SAT several years early and got a perfect score in half the allotted time and took a nap.
Today, he is a rancher. He never finished college. Most of his adult years were spent as a bouncer at a bar, and in manual labor jobs.
It all stemmed from his rough childhood. He grew up in a poor family. His mother married multiple times before he turned 12. One stepfather committed suicide. Another was psychopathic and abusive.
His stark upbringing created behavioral problems and a persisting contempt for authority. Combine this with inadequate mentorship, resources, and an absent professional network and he never weaponized his extremely rare gift.
The sad truth is that there are many like Langan, who are like the gifted child working on a 3rd world farm, born into poverty and dealt a common, cruel blow to the chance of success.
What work secret did you accidentally find out that changed everything?
I worked for a private family-owned company. Business was so good that the company needed additional public share capital to continue . I was doing the ground work (valuation ) in order to proceed with investment advisors to take a company public. My findings were presented to the president in a highly-confidential , private, internal valuation memorandum. I entered the office of the president to discuss my findings and conclusions. He read the three-line summary of the memo. Then he excused himself to his private bathroom. He never returned. His secretary checked on me in ten minutes, found me alone and demanded that I leave immediately.
What happened? the valuation of the company was very much higher than expected. His net worth had exploded in those three lines of the summary. The corporate secret was that he was an alcoholic and that he could not possibly take this corporation public. He could not be trusted in a public environment. The company had a wider culture of long alcohol-laced lunches and no effective board oversite, due to family connections. After a confirming professional valuation, the company was sold to a competitor for cash (at my $$ number) and the entire head office staff, excluding a very few, were laid off. I left before the sale occurred.
Some great open GEN artwork from LeonardoAI
Woman Admits Men Are Right About Everything. Modern Women Can’t Find Or Keep A Man
More fun with LeonardoAI
What is the sleaziest, dirtiest trick an auto insurance company tried to pull on you? Did they succeed?
About 30 years ago I was driving on the freeway at highway speeds. My wife was my passenger. The car behind me was driving rather close to my bumper. Traffic ahead had come to a stop as evidenced by lots of brake lights so I hit my brakes. The car behind me slammed into me causing a total wreck. The police came to assess what happened. The young girl driving the car that hit me claimed I hit my brakes to hard. The officer explained to her she was following too close. The police report clearly stated the accident was her fault.
I was young and driving a “beater”. my car was maybe worth $3,000. I only had basic liability insurance because my car wasn’t worth much. My car itself wasn’t covered. She was insured by State Farm so I filed a claim with her insurance company seeking $3,000. My wife and I had back pain but I didn’t even ask for payment for my medical damages. The State Farm adjuster told me that even though the police report said the accident was their clients fault, they believed their client and would not pay my claim. Oddly, they did not go after me or my insurance company for her damages. When I threatened to sue, the agent laughed and said she doubted I’d find an attorney to take my case.
I in fact did find an attorney. That’s when the State Farm adjuster called me to offer the $3,000 I had originally asked for. I told her to talk to my attorney and pointed out she was wrong for telling me I’d never find an attorney to take my case. State Farm ended up paying over $20,000 for my car, medical bills, attorney fees, and pain and suffering. They chose to deny my claim because most people would have gone away quietly.
Cheez-It Chicken Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 package chicken tenders
- Salt
- Pepper
- 1 (8 ounce) carton sour cream
- 1 box Cheez-It crackers, crushed
- 1/2 cup melted butter
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Fill casserole dish with boneless, skinless chicken breast tenders; sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Spread sour cream over chicken.
- Sprinkle crushed Cheez-It crackers over sour cream.
- Pour melted butter over Cheez-It crackers.
- Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown.
What can I do to not live in a fast paced life or live in the accelerated pace for the rest of my life?
To escape what is commonly called “the Rat Race”, you will need the following:
- permanently assured accommodation that doesn’t depend on high, regular payments to maintain; for example a small house that is fully paid for and where you could always stay and wait out periods between jobs;
- savings, so that you aren’t under pressure to bring in money every month in order to survive;
- get rid of all debts;
- a profession that is versatile and in demand, so that you can find work wherever, whenever, change jobs when you feel like it, and negotiate part time work arrangements; things like nursing, programming, or security might always work;
- low bills. Drive an old, but reliable car that never needs fixing, don’t smoke or drink, learn to cook properly and to budget and plan, and do it, and generally avoid an expensive lifestyle.
- remain flexible and open minded about what it is you might be doing professionally. Driving forklifts this year, teaching CAD next year, writing ad copy after that… these kinds of hops should not scare you.
- give up career thinking. If you are serious about moving up, that kind of lifestyle is unattainable. Relegate yourself to letting someone else be boss, and just do your bit. Ambition is the thing that causes us the most suffering.
- decide that you will be happy within that little world you are creating for yourself, and that any adversity you encounter in it will be dealt with, not evaded by giving up and moving away. A little oasis of peace is still something situated in the hostile context of life on this planet, so you need to have a will and the means to maintain and defend it.
I have organised my life in this way a few years ago, and the effects are remarkable. My stress levels have gone down noticeably, various health issues have disappeared, and I am generally a much happier person now.
A life like that doesn’t need to look small and grey, either.
What was a loophole that you found and exploited the hell out of?
There are two and they were both sort of theft. The laundromat in my apartments had a coke machine, 50 cents for a can of soda. This was in the early 90s so I was maybe 10. My friends and I found a particular spot you could punch the machine (not hard, but precision was key) and it would drop 10–20 cents, over and over. Free sodas, sure! But then I started using it for other things, like comics. It didn’t take long for that machine to get replaced.
The other loophole, which I now understand how it worked was one I used at arcades and movie theatres (because they had arcade games). Remember change machines? Specifically the older ones where you laid a bill on a flat metal tray and slid that into the machine, then it gave you 4 quarters. It turns out there is a sensor that reads one corner of the bill to verify and check the denomination, and an arm that grabs the bill to pull it into the machine, but that arm is on the other side of the bill. So, I’d tear off a corner of a bill, place it accordingly, the machine would read it and give me four quarters but it could NOT take that one corner which it had read, so I would turn $1 into $10, given enough time. My mom actually caught me doing that instead of an employee.
American Reacts to Americans Who Moved Abroad, What Are The Things You No Longer Fear? | Part 1
What’s the most enjoyable thing you’ve ever said to a manager as you’ve quit your job?
When I set up a small freelance bureau, my first client was run by a no-nonsense CEO and we agreed on a contract where I got paid for every day I worked in their offices plus a percentage of any new business generated. This worked OK for a couple of years until he put in a new tier of managers to run the company, who were incentivized by the profitability of their accounts.
The new director began a cost-cutting drive about wasting photocopier toner etc. to try and boost the bottom line, but most of all she hated the fact that I cost her money. So after a month or two she told me I needed to switch to a commission-only contract where I got nothing for project delivery and client management, just a percentage on new sales. She told me to present a revised contract reflecting the new reality, which I was happy to do as they had been soaking up too much time, now that I was getting more business from other clients.
She seemed slightly surprised at my pleasant acceptance of what she saw as harsher terms, but I said I could see it made sense for her and I’d bring a new contract in a few days. When I did, she immediately checked the clauses on no payment for on-site time and signed both copies.
A few weeks later, with a healthy order book projected for the next year, she asked the accountant how much she owed me and what it would cost her to get rid of me that Christmas? The accountant looked at the jobs remaining and she told the new director she would probably have to cut me a modest check for about X grand. The director immediately emailed me that she wanted to end our collaboration and I wouldn’t be needed in the new year. I said that was OK and as per our contract I would spend the notice month getting everything in good shape. I spent a few days firming everything up and asked if she could let me know what numbers she was working from so I could make the project list match up.
The accountant sent me her X grand number and I replied with my number which was seven times as high. The accountant said she had agreed X with the director and listed the projects involved that would complete the year’s work. I suggested she tell the director to check her contract and come back with the correct number, which included all the work booked for the following year.
This caused an immediate flurry of action and resistance, which prompted me to alert the CEO and send him a copy of our original contract that I had written , and which had not changed in terms of commissions. He called us into his office like two naughty children and the director said by her calculation she thought I was due X as final commission on items uncompleted by my enforced departure.
I agreed but added that the contract differentiated between commission entitlement – which occurred at time of sale – versus commission draw-down, which happened in stages as project milestones were reached. The only reason I was demanding my full year’s entitlement of 7X up front was because I was fired and had managed during my notice period to get all sales confirmed in writing. Had I not been fired I would have overseen completion of all projects, without charge and been paid the commission in stages as per contract.
The CEO asked for the director’s response, but apart from saying she didn’t agree, she avoided all eye contact. The CEO asked me would I negotiate and I replied I was agreeing to meet in his office rather than in court, where as the author of the contract I was likely to prevail and claim for damages on top.
The CEO closed the meeting and told the director to take me down to accounts and cut me a check for the full amount. Once cleared, I treated myself to a new motorcycle and saved the rest.
With so much unchecked power at the top, how has China sustained its success for so long without falling prey to debilitating corruption? What checks and balances allow Chinese leaders to focus on the country more than individual enrichment?
With so much unchecked power at the top, how has China sustained its success for so long without falling prey to debilitating corruption?
I’m not claiming that there is no corruption in China; I imagine there is. But without freedom of press, without an independent judiciary, and without a democratically elected head of state, what checks and balances allow Chinese leaders to focus on the country more than individual enrichment?
This is a very good question. The OP obviously has a brain.
To quote Holmes, “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.”
Well we know that unchecked power always leads to massive corruption, and we know that although corruption is a problem in China, it’s not terribly bad either.
So the logical conclusion is – that the power to engage in corruption is somehow checked in China.
China has a completely different philosophy on power, which is “the more power one has, the higher level of restraints one should live under.” Putting it in practice, it means that…
At the junior government level, you have very limited power, and so you only have the responsibility to follow the rules yourself. If you are wearing an expensive watch and some anonymous citizen takes a picture and sends it to the Party Discipline Committee, then it’s your responsibility to prove that the money comes from legitimate sources.
At the mid-government level, you have much greater power, so you have to report the assets of yourself, and 3 generations of your linear relatives (i.e., your parents, your wife, your children, and their spouses). Any hint of impropriety, and you’ll be put under investigation. Also, if you don’t keep your family and your assets in China, you can’t serve in the government at this level.
At the senior level, it’s per se illegal or corrupt for you to have private meetings with other people. Period. All meetings must be in public and in the presence of other government officials. Your children will have to live under assumed names so that other people don’t know their connections to you. You are expected to work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, and spend the rest of your time with your family or feed the goldfish or something completely innocuous.
But what about the right to privacy?
Well, what about it?
You signed on to this when you take the job. You don’t have to take the job, but if you do, you have to agree to this.
With great power comes great responsibilities. It’s a matching set.
You have great power, so you have the responsibility to live like a model person.
Sometimes the rules go over the top.
For example, a new rule says that mid-level government officials and above must give the Central Discipline Committee 6-month advanced notice if he’s going to host a wedding for his son or a funeral for his aged parents (so he can be spot-checked for signs of extravagance), with restrictions on the size and participants of these events, and it caused a bit of mumbling, like
“I’m really, really, trying to follow all the rules, but I really can’t predict when my mom is going to die 6-month ahead.”
At which point in time the response is…
“Oh, well, we can be considerate, but why don’t you give us a heads-up when she gets sick or something.”
And the lower level reaction is…
“F*ck.”
Also, China applies a de facto RICO statue to government corruption.
Basically, if I can’t sort out who’s more guilty because you guys won’t talk, then you can all rot in jail for the rest of your lives.
If you take a look at, for example, the Tianjin Explosion that killed 165 people.
A bad industrial accident stemming from poor code enforcement.
The result is 49 people going to jail, and the most guilty one getting a death sentence. China Jails 49 Over Deadly Tianjin Warehouse Explosions
The punishment is quite severe.
Overall
So this system may not completely root out corruption, but it makes corruption both hard to do and highly risky.
The truly determined and ingenious ones have to develop some 007-type skill set to engage in corruption.
Not surprisingly, the biggest “fish” caught in the anti-corruption net to-date is the old spymaster of China.
And the risk is not just on the corrupt official personally, but on his family too.
Daddy has to tell little Jimmy “don’t wear that expensive pair of shoes outside ’cause you could land me in jail”.
Things like Clinton’s “I’m just having a private dinner with some Goldman bankers” – that’s per se corruption in China, and you are out of a job even if you only ever talked about weather.
Now if we take a look at the checks and balances listed in your question, i.e., freedom of press, independent judiciary, democratically elected head of state.
If they work so well, why do we have 2008 meltdown, the Iraq invasion, the missing WMD, Iran-Contra, the Congress throwing money at the Military when even the Pentagon says “we don’t want it”, all the Wikileaks stuff coming out during the campaign, etc. …
…and not a single person is ever punished in any shape or form?
Well obviously these checks and balances don’t work so well.
The higher the elites go, the bigger moat they get to build around themselves.
The best moat money and power can buy.
And if you look into these things a bit more, you’ll see that most of these things are where BOTH political parties benefited & were implicated while the American people were screwed.
Interesting, isn’t it.
The question is, this may be fair for the rich and powerful individuals, but is it fair for the PEOPLE?
What can I do to not live in a fast paced life or live in the accelerated pace for the rest of my life?
To escape what is commonly called “the Rat Race”, you will need the following:
- permanently assured accommodation that doesn’t depend on high, regular payments to maintain; for example a small house that is fully paid for and where you could always stay and wait out periods between jobs;
- savings, so that you aren’t under pressure to bring in money every month in order to survive;
- get rid of all debts;
- a profession that is versatile and in demand, so that you can find work wherever, whenever, change jobs when you feel like it, and negotiate part time work arrangements; things like nursing, programming, or security might always work;
- low bills. Drive an old, but reliable car that never needs fixing, don’t smoke or drink, learn to cook properly and to budget and plan, and do it, and generally avoid an expensive lifestyle.
- remain flexible and open minded about what it is you might be doing professionally. Driving forklifts this year, teaching CAD next year, writing ad copy after that… these kinds of hops should not scare you.
- give up career thinking. If you are serious about moving up, that kind of lifestyle is unattainable. Relegate yourself to letting someone else be boss, and just do your bit. Ambition is the thing that causes us the most suffering.
- decide that you will be happy within that little world you are creating for yourself, and that any adversity you encounter in it will be dealt with, not evaded by giving up and moving away. A little oasis of peace is still something situated in the hostile context of life on this planet, so you need to have a will and the means to maintain and defend it.
I have organised my life in this way a few years ago, and the effects are remarkable. My stress levels have gone down noticeably, various health issues have disappeared, and I am generally a much happier person now.
A life like that doesn’t need to look small and grey, either.
Here, my cheap little house and my 35 year old car I’ve had for 27 years now:
The dollar value on these things is minimal. But I can maintain them with ease, come what may.
COMMENTS
Nice post! I’m glad I learned this lesson at an early age as well. I avoided the rat race, chose a profession I enjoy that is low stress, and kept my bills to a minimum. Now I look younger than my colleagues and always get mistaken for a 25 year old! The secret is simplicity and not letting society pressure you into becoming something you don’t aspire to be, or to have things you can barely afford to impress people who don’t care.
Working you’re body to death but having all the latest material fads and addictions just isn’t worth it…
Your cheap little house would be no less than 350k (U.S.) where I live. The sad thing is in the U.S. you must have money to survive and you better be working your tail off night and day if you even want a roof over your head. Or share everything with family assuming you have family who have anything. People actually wonder why our homeless situation is so rampant. Much of It is because people give up on trying to get up after chasing the U.S. ‘dream’ in endless circles never finding an opening out of poverty. The ones who are not caught in the circle have a solid base to begin with or no bad luck along the way.
It’s wise to view it as a long term project, indeed. This lifestyle requires preparation and planning, so it is a good idea to approach it the way you mentioned – giving yourself a few decades to get there. But the main thing is to have and work toward that goal.