The question to me is not if US power has come to an end. But whether the US is in deep denial or simply behaving as a very aggressive very angry Bad Loser. Bad Loser seems to explain it all best. Posted by: Mickey Droy | Jun 19 2024 14:40 utc | 9
Some massive changes going on.
- North Korea.
- Russia.
- China.
Isolation in the Western media. These trends are not showing the true picture. Please take note of the big changes going on today…
What are your thoughts on the potential for a hard landing in China’s economy? Do you think there will be a crash in other global markets such as the USA, Japan, or Europe?
China’s economic landscape is frequently subject to speculation. However, recent data paints a picture not of a looming crisis but of a robust economy with significant growth potential. The concept of a ‘hard landing’ for China’s economy appears to be a patchwork of misconceptions rather than a reflection of reality.
Recent figures from China’s National Statistics Bureau indicate a 5.3% GDP growth in the first quarter of 2024, surpassing expectations and previous quarters’ performance. This growth is supported by strong industrial output and retail sales, which, contrary to signaling distress, reflect economic vitality and resilience. These indicators suggest an economy that is not only stable but also thriving, consistently outperforming many global economies.
The International Monetary Fund’s revision of China’s growth forecast upwards corroborates the country’s status as a pivotal force in global economic growth. This is further reinforced by the first quarter’s GDP growth, which stands as a solid counterargument to any crash predictions.
While it’s true that the world’s economies are interconnected, and significant shifts in one can affect others, the current data does not support a domino effect of market crashes in other major economies like the USA, Japan, or Europe, instigated by China’s economic movements.
In conclusion, the portrayal of China’s economy on the verge of a downturn is inconsistent with the prevailing economic indicators. The evidence suggests an economy that is not only stable but also a driving force in the global economic framework. Caution is always prudent in economic forecasting, but the available data indicates that fears of a hard landing and subsequent global market crashes are more a product of bias than a reflection of China’s economic state.
When was the last time you were left completely stunned at a restaurant?
I had a table of 8 family members. Brothers with their wives. This one sister in law was literally embarrassing them all at the table. She always had a complaint and was just rude. Even accused her husband of checking out a server. I came back to check on them as they were my table go figure that smh, and asked her why she hasn’t touched her food. I asked this because she sent it back at least 3 times and did everything to get extra sides etc. this women was a hot mess to say the least. The rest of the table was fine and they all knew how to act in public but her not so much.
As I asked her why she wasn’t touching her food and if something was wrong she said yes actually you can just take my whole meal off. I asked her why but before I could finish she said because there is bugs crawling all over the floor. My mouth dropped and I was speechless and just looked at her. The rest of the table did the same. I didn’t say anything I just walked away and got my manager.
We did not have bugs it was a very clean steak house. She admitted to the manger she just said that. Anyway one of the brother in laws came up to me when I was putting in another tables order on the computer. He asked me if he could get their check and his other brothers check. I gave it to him and he asked if he could pay it right now. I said sure no problem. So I cashed him out and not even a minute or two later I came back to their table to find one brother and his wife the crazy lady the only ones still sitting there waiting to cash out. The hostess told me the rest of the family was embarrassed and couldn’t get out of there fast enough. She said it’s like they practically ran out of there. Lol I seriously can’t blame them one bit!
When a McDonald’s is open “24 hours” and only the drive-thru is actually open, why won’t they serve someone without a car? Many McDonald’s are within walking distance from hotels.
I was an asshole with a bad sense of humor when I was young and drunk, so my friends and I decided to test the drive-thru policy.
We felt that we were being awfully clever, but that was the tequila talking. The reality is that we were probably the twentieth set of idiots to try it that month, but we didn’t think about that. We’d been too drunk to drive so we had walked to McDonalds and tried to order in the drive-thru. Predictably they told us that it was a safety issue, and they could only serve cars. That’s when my friend Amber asked them if they could serve people in SUVs; the girl said “yes”. Someone else asked about vans, and I chimed in with pick-up trucks.
That’s when the girl became frustrated with us and made her mistake. She told us that anything on wheels was okay. We promptly forgot all about being hungry and immediately went to Amber’s neighbor’s house and stole a kid’s tricycle and a wheelbarrow, and made our way back to McDonald’s. We all thought we were being uniquely hilarious when I rode up on the kid’s bicycle and one friend pushed two others in the wheelbarrow. It was incredibly fortunate that no actual cars were there, because the wheelbarrow kept falling over and dumping my friends onto the pavement. I’m tiny, but I couldn’t actually work the pedals, so I just pushed myself along with my feet.
I still remember the look on the girl’s face. Louder than any words could have done, it said “Fuck me, not again!”. She just left the window (they’d been ignoring our shouts into the speaker) and an older man took her place. We proudly informed him that it was his employee who had told us that we could get served like this, but he had a simple yet undeniable rebuttal: That we knew damn well that she hadn’t meant wheelbarrows and tricycles. We were too drunk to argue against that, but we had remembered our hunger, so we begged for food before we finally realized that he wasn’t joking about calling the cops.
My friends wanted to stay, but I only had a green card at the time, so I shuffled off on my tiny bike. I have no clue if pestering the employees at McDonald’s was a crime involving moral turpitude, but I was fairly certain that bicycle theft was. Those tend to get you deported, so I finally just picked up the bicycle and ran it back to the yard where I found it. My friends arrived soon after, battered and bleeding from their fights with the wheelbarrow, and I called my husband to come and get me.
Moral of the story? McDonald’s won’t serve pedestrians and other idiots in the drive-thru because it’s dangerous. Bonus moral: You’re not as smart as Señor Patrón would have you believe.
BREAKING Putin Shocks The U S with a Visit to North Korea WHAT DID HE SAY
Fate
The fate of the United States has been "baked into the cake" since 1776. The country was founded wrongly, ideologically corrupted from inception, yet covered in a wickedly deceptive but attractive gloss, and so it simply follows the natural arc of history despite any pleas or protests from those along for the ride. Now is the time for sinking, and sink it shall. Posted by: Matthew | Jun 19 2024 17:45 utc | 66
The Sopranos – Tony gets rid of Feech LaManna
Thai Peanut Pizza
This deliciously unique recipe topped with spicy-sweet ingredients makes it a Thai Peanut Pizza with pizzazz!
I love a pizza with nontraditional flavors and toppings and this copycat of California Pizza Kitchen’s Thai Chicken Pizza is a real winner. It has diced chicken tossed in a spicy peanut sauce flavored with ginger, honey, sesame oil, and oyster sauce. A gooey layer of mozzarella cheese covers the chicken and it is topped with shredded carrots, bean sprouts, and green onion. A sprinkling of chopped fresh cilantro and chopped peanuts finish off the flavors. It is a pizza made for lovers of sweet and spicy foods.
We go to California Pizza Kitchen quite often. It’s probably our go to place for special lunches. The only problem with eating there is I can never decide what to order. There are too many delicious pizzas and salads to choose from. I’ve never actually eaten the Thai Chicken Pizza at the restaurant, but the recipe is in California Pizza Kitchen Cookbook that I have had for years and I thought it would be the perfect pizza to make at home.
Typically I haven’t really been one to make pizza at home mainly because I was completely inept at making pizza dough. I blame it on the fact that I was raised on Chef Boyardee pizza.
I say “was” because I am now able to make a pizza dough that I am pround of thanks to the free Pizza Making Class Perfect Pizza at Home on Craftsy.
Ingredients
Pizza
- 9 Rhodes™ Dinner Rolls or 6 Rhodes Texas™ Rolls, thawed to room temperature
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
- 1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
- 3 green onions, chopped
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese
- 1 cucumber, sliced
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Peanut Sauce
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
- 3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
If you’ve never taken a class on Craftsy before, they are amazing and this Pizza Making Class, which is completey free, is the perfect way to try out the Craftsy video classes AND learn how to make a darn good pizza.
The class is over 30 minutes in length but it is divided into segments and you can pick and choose which ones you want to watch. Even better, all Craftsy classes have a 30 second replay button so you can watch and cook at the same time and hit the replay button if you get behind or miss something.
There are 4 types of dough taught in the class. So far I’ve only made the American-Style (Neopolitan) dough. I first made Muffaletta Pizza with it a few weeks ago. It makes a big batch of dough which keeps well in the fridge for a number of days.
So a few days after I made the Muffaletta Pizza, I used the remaining dough to make this Thai Chicken Pizza.
Perfect Pizza at Home shows you not only how to make the perfect dough, but how to shape it as well. This part takes a little bit of practice and my Thai pizza was much more evenly shaped than my Muffaletta Pizza. 🙂
If you make one of the Craftsy doughs, which I highly recommend, you will need to do it a day in advance and refrigerate it overnight. Then bring it to room temperature for 90 minutes before shaping it.
Prep: 20 min | Bake: 20 to 30 min | Yield: 5 servings
I haven’t included the pizza dough instructions here because frankly I couldn’t do them justice. Being able to watch the instructor demonstrate the process is a much better way to learn. So go to Craftsy and download the free class if you want to improve your pizza making skills.
Instructions
- Spray counter lightly with nonstick cooking spray.
Pizza
- Combine Texas™ rolls or dinner rolls together and roll into a 13 inch circle.
- Place on a sprayed 12 inch pizza pan.
- Cover with sprayed plastic wrap and let rise for 30 minutes.
- Remove wrap and poke several times with a fork to prevent bubbles from forming.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
Peanut Sauce
- In a medium saucepan combine all the ingredients for the peanut sauce.
- Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, 10 to 15 minutes or until thickened.
- Set aside to cool.
- Stir fry the chicken in canola oil and soy sauce until completely cooked.
- Spread peanut sauce over baked crust (peanut sauce can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator).
- Top with bell pepper, green onions, cooked chicken and cheese.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 to 15 minutes or until cheese is melted.
- Remove from oven and top with cucumbers and cilantro.
Attribution
Recipe and photo used with permission from: Rhodes Bake-N-Serv
The Grand Prize Winner one of the Rhodes Employee Recipe Contests was a tie…a Thai Peanut Pizza that is! Submitted by IT Administrator Austin Tolman and his wife Mariah, this deliciously unique recipe topped with spicy-sweet ingredients makes it a pizza with pizzazz! Congratulations Tolmans!
While sorting through a deceased person’s possessions, what is the most disturbing thing you found?
When my friend Richard (name changed) died, he had no surviving family of which we knew. Although I say “friend”, I didn’t really know him that well. He had been a tech on a couple of plays I’d been in.
Another actor I knew had gone out to do a wellness check on him and discovered his body. Apparently he’d had a heart attack while in the bathroom. He was found there.
Richard was best friends with a mutual friend. I called her when I heard. When I asked about a service, she explained that no one knew what to do, as he had no family.
I have written this many times: I’m a complete dolt about everyday life. However, I am great with emergencies or hard challenges.
So I started this odyssey of trying to figure out who to contact and how to get his body released. I ended up, with some help, being able to contact his cousins. His body was released & I arranged to have him cremated.
Before his cremation, which I attended alone, I brought a small bouquet of flowers to put in his coffin; I read some Shakespeare to him; and at the last minute snuck a cigarette in there as well; just in case. I think he would have appreciated that. We were smoking buddies, standing outside on break during many rehearsals.
Now. This process took almost two weeks. I was in his apartment twice. Once while trying to find info on any extended family; and once with police, to try and salvage some of his belongings before his apartment was condemned.
Richard was a hoarder.
Apparently he could throw nothing away. I mean nothing, including trash. I do not know how he survived his home. It was beyond hazardous. There was absolutely no open floor space. It was an obstacle course over objects to try and get from one point to the other.
He was a large man. I don’t understand how he didn’t constantly have a sprained ankle or broken leg. It was that bad.
Imagine a tornado hit your house. Inside. Add years worth of receipts and plastic bags, clothes, records, furniture, and stuff that belonged in the garbage, was strewn everywhere by this tornado. I had to look to find the bed. It was indistinguishable from the rest of the mess.
Under the bed were tied-off, white plastic deli bags of cigarette butts. He’d empty the ashtrays but couldn’t throw the bags of butts out.
It goes without saying, I guess, that the apartment had never been cleaned.
What was found that was even more of a surprise than the disastrous mess? Bank statements.
He had millions in his account.
He chose to live like that. Although choice may be the wrong word. I think it entirely possible he stayed there because if he moved, someone had to see the place. He probably couldn’t bear the idea of anyone knowing how he lived.
It somehow made it more awful to me, knowing he had money.
We are all prisoners of our own minds, to some extent. We tell ourselves stories about why or why not we can do something. More often, I bet, we tell ourselves why we can’t do something.
Richard’s mind kept him a prisoner in that dreadful place.
Being comfortable isn’t always…comfortable. I tell myself if I want to make a change, I’ve got to be willing to go through the initial discomfort.
Somehow I’ve made his apartment a metaphor for that.
神崎ゆまカメラ】LOVE IZ DOLL NANAMI AIZAWA BIRTHDAY LIVE（1部）
Death by cuteness in China.
Vintage Family Views
- As recently as the 1980s, many researchers and doctors believed that babies couldn’t feel pain, so some were operated on without any anesthesia.
- The picture to be used in your funeral program may have already been taken.
- Dogs like squeaky toys because it reminds them of a small animal being killed
- You don’t know if there is a secret everybody knows except you.
- Butterflies have been known to drink blood.
- Cannibalism is common in hamsters.
- You pass the anniversary date of your death every year.
- You have tiny mites in your eyelashes.
- Many people take medications to relieve despair, but there is a certain type of antidepressant that can eliminate your feeling of love and compassion.
- Bananas are radioactive.
- The Greater Short-Horned Lizard squirts blood out of its eyes.
- Several species of birds keep cool by defecating on themselves.
- After scorpions shed their tails, they die of constipation.
- When male bees mate, their sexual organs explode.
- Sloths almost die every time they have to poop.
- Rabbits will eat their own young if they’re stressed enough.
- All cruise ships have a functioning morgue on board.
- The average person walks by almost 16 murderers in their lifetime.
- Serial killer Joe Metheny owned a food stand and sold burgers that combined animal meat with the flesh of his victims to unsuspecting customers.
- You’re 6.7% more likely to die on your birthday than any other day of the year.
- In the Victorian Era, it was common to take pictures with the bodies of a deceased family member, as a final way to preserve their memory.
- In the 16th and 17th centuries, many Europeans thought that eating human bones, blood, and fat would cure certain illnesses, so they stole mummies from Egyptian tombs and robbed graves to get the bodies.
- Less than 5% of the oceans have been explored by humans, meaning we have no idea what kinda monsters could be living there.
- Ted Bundy was a serial killer who also worked at a suicide hotline. A coworker once said, “Ted Bundy took lives, but also saved lives.
- The first person to die while building the Hoover Dam was John Gregory Tierney, and the last was Patrick William Tierney, his son, exactly 14 years later.
Official Announcement: “Diplomacy Has Failed” – Israel – Hezbollah Heading to War (Doom Scale Just Hit 10)
The U.S. Special Envoy, Amos Hochstein, has publicly announced that “diplomatic efforts to calm tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have officially failed.” Hezbollah squarely refuses any negotiation to relocate its people north of the Litani River in Lebanon.
Yesterday, through COVERT INTEL, I reported that Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, told US Envoy Amos Hochstein that Hezbollah will PRE-EMPTIVELY strike Israel if they see Israel preparing for a Lebanon Invasion. Those preparations have been announced and ARE happening.
Israel said today that “Southern Lebanon will look like GAZA, and Beirut is not immune.”
Based upon Hezbollah refusing to reach any agreement and Israel now backed into a corner being forced to take action to resolve the so-called “Hezbollah security issue (no security at all), the time is nigh for war.
Hezbollah had until the 24th to agree to the Israeli demand to withdraw to north of the Litani River. Instead, Hezbollah threatened offensive measures if Israel looked to prepare to attack.
Israel is now prepared to attack.
Whom draws first in this standoff is all we need to know. It can happen at any moment from either side, but my bet is that Israel will strike first; and could happen anytime now.
Meanwhile, Iran publicly says it will support Hezbollah and join in to any War, of course.
Hezbollah threatens to hit Cyprus as Cyprus will allow Israeli jets to use runways to bomb Hezbollah.
If Cyprus is attacked, then Greece may come to their support.
Then Turkey will side with Iran and Hezbollah as Turkey hates Greece and hates Israel.
This is looking like a 10 scale doom moment.
Here’s my daily morning summary on MM
Some insight.
- Metallicman Hosting (168)
- The Shocking 2025 ‘Deagel’ Forecast and Remote Viewing the future (41)
- A1 Top Master Index (34)
- The importance of a fan (33)
- Article List (30)
- Breaking down the casualty figures of the 2025 ‘Deagel’ Forecast in terms of what is going on today (30)
- Part 15 of the EBP comm with The Domain Commander in June 2024 (29)
- Miller pony bottle dreams (22)
- Forum (18)
- How a Chinese Business KTV Works – The Pretty Girls (9)
- Range Four Harry (8)
- Kaleidoscope (Full Text) A Story by Ray Bradbury (7)
- What the Progressive Socialist Liberals have in store for Conservatives (part 1) (7)
- Intention and Prayer Campaigns (7)
- The Domain (6)
America’s INSANE Anti-China Campaign Exposed! || 美国的反华运动
Biden’s ‘Exceptionalism’ Is Likely To Stay
An emphasis of U.S. exceptionalism has been a major theme throughout Joe Biden’s presidency.
Remarks by President Biden on a Future Made in America – May 18 2021
This is the United States of America, for God’s sake.
Scott Pelley: Are the wars in Israel and Ukraine more than the United States can take on at the same time?President Biden: No. We’re the United States of America for God’s sake, the most powerful nation in the history– not in the world, in the history of the world. The history of the world. We can take care of both of these and still maintain our overall international defense.
Q: Is America still able to play the role of world power that it played in World War Two, and in the Cold War?
Biden: Yes, we’re planning even more. We are, we are the world power.
But finally there is a voice in U.S. foreign policy who argues against exceptionalism and calls for a different view of things.
Ben Rhodes, former National Security Advisor to President Barrack Obama, writes in the pages of Foreign Affairs magazine.
A Foreign Policy for the World as It Is
Biden and the Search for a New American Strategy
[T]he Biden administration’s mindset of restoration has occasionally struggled against the currents of our disordered times. An updated conception of U.S. leadership—one tailored to a world that has moved on from American primacy and the eccentricities of American politics—is necessary to minimize enormous risks and pursue new opportunities.
…
That seems like a well intended advice. The U.S. tends to intentionally ignore the consequences of its policies. It does not reflect on them. Should it start doing that its policies might change:
To date, Washington has failed to do the necessary audit of the ways its post–Cold War foreign policy discredited U.S. leadership. The “war on terror” emboldened autocrats, misallocated resources, fueled a global migration crisis, and contributed to an arc of instability from South Asia through North Africa. The free-market prescriptions of the so-called Washington consensus ended in a financial crisis that opened the door to populists railing against out-of-touch elites. The overuse of sanctions led to increased workarounds and global fatigue with Washington’s weaponization of the dollar’s dominance. Over the last two decades, American lectures on democracy have increasingly been tuned out.
The case of Gaza emphasizes this and has renewed a global rejection of U.S. policies:
Indeed, after Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel and the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, American rhetoric about the rules-based international order has been seen around the world on a split screen of hypocrisy, as Washington has supplied the Israeli government with weapons used to bombard Palestinian civilians with impunity. The war has created a policy challenge for an administration that criticizes Russia for the same indiscriminate tactics that Israel has used in Gaza, a political challenge for a Democratic Party with core constituencies who don’t understand why the president has supported a far-right government that ignores the United States’ advice, and a moral crisis for a country whose foreign policy purports to be driven by universal values. Put simply: Gaza should shock Washington out of the muscle memory that guides too many of its actions.
The world has moved on. If the U.S. wants to stay a part of it it will have to adopt:
Too often, the United States has appeared unable or unwilling to see itself through the eyes of most of the world’s population, particularly people in the global South who feel that the international order is not designed for their benefit. […] Yet the overuse of sanctions, along with the prioritization of Ukraine and other U.S. geopolitical interests, misreads the room. To build better ties with developing countries, Washington needs to consistently prioritize the issues they care about: investment, technology, and clean energy.Once again, Gaza interacts with this challenge. To be blunt: for much of the world, it appears that Washington doesn’t value the lives of Palestinian children as much as it values the lives of Israelis or Ukrainians. Unconditional military aid to Israel, questioning the Palestinian death toll, vetoing cease-fire resolutions at the UN Security Council, and criticizing investigations into alleged Israeli war crimes may all feel like autopilot in Washington—but that’s precisely the problem. Much of the world now hears U.S. rhetoric about human rights and the rule of law as cynical rather than aspirational, particularly when it fails to wrestle with double standards. Total consistency is unattainable in foreign policy. But by listening and responding to more diverse voices from around the world, Washington could begin to build a reservoir of goodwill.
But would that change policies? Rhodes doesn’t argue for a rejuvenation of international organizations and a U.S. subjugation to these. He still seems to see the U.S. as some kind of outstanding entity.
There is anyway little chance that Biden will adopt Rhodes’ advice. During the Obama administration Biden’s team had several run-ins with the Rhodes’ led National Security shop.
It leaves the impression that Rhodes only wants a new rhetoric, not a really new way to do international policies. Keep doing what you are doing, he says, but sell it differently.
It fits to another piece in the current edition of Foreign Affairs in which three professors try to sell their basically neoconservative policies – do what we say or else … – as a ‘progressive’ program:
The Progressive Case for American Power
Retrenchment Would Do More Harm Than Good
Today’s progressives need to get comfortable with American power, which, for all its flaws, has a crucial role to play. That doesn’t mean condoning illiberal actions to achieve just ends or cynically invoking progressive ideals to justify military adventurism. But it does mean seeking to harness power to advance the values progressives cherish—and accepting that might sometimes makes right.
It is, on its face, the opposite of what Rhodes argues for.
I applaud the idea behind Rhodes’ piece but I see little chance, especially under Biden, for it to get implemented.
‘The World power’ – as Biden calls the U.S. of A. – will not move aside unless someone makes it do so.
Posted by b on June 19, 2024 at 13:59 UTC | Permalink
Expats Share Their American Trauma After Living Abroad
The Cornwallis Conspiracy
Submitted into Contest #251 in response to: Your protagonist is a voracious reader. Lately, they’ve been noticing odd synchronicities in the books he or she is reading. What does the protagonist discover is happening?… view prompt
Dr. Stephen A Salaka
AI Montage of Fake News
“It is a truth universally acknowledged…” Sophie Nakamura paused mid-sentence, her brow furrowing as a chill crept up her spine. She had read that exact phrase before, and not just in another Jane Austen novel. The modern thriller she’d finished just last week had used it too. What were the odds?
Sophie, a 15-year-old high school student, was a self-proclaimed bookworm, more at home in the world of fictional characters than the cliques of Cornwallis High. Her refuge was a cozy nook in the attic, overflowing with well-loved books and the soft glow of her laptop screen. She was a girl who preferred the company of Elizabeth Bennet and Sherlock Holmes to the gossip and drama of teenage life.
This wasn’t just any coincidence. It felt like a pattern, a thread woven through the tapestry of literature. The phrase niggled at her. Sophie grabbed her battered copy of Northanger Abbey, flipping through the pages. There it was again, a variation of the same phrase, this time about a young woman’s love for gothic novels. She grabbed the worn paperback of Frankenstein from her bedside table, her eyes scanning the opening chapter. A cold dread settled in her stomach as she found a similar sentiment, this time about a scientist’s thirst for knowledge.
Sophie, a symphony of restless energy, bounced between her overflowing bookshelf and the glow of her laptop screen. She was the president of her high school’s coding club, and, in her spare time, the self-proclaimed president of the Loch Ness Flat Earth Society (a title she held with pride and a healthy dose of irony). Her parents, staunch Fox News conservatives, had raised her on a steady diet of “fake news” warnings and conspiracy theories. Ironically, their paranoia had sparked an insatiable curiosity in Sophie, a burning need to unearth hidden truths and expose the puppeteers behind the scenes.
This wasn’t just some conspiracy theory cooked up over a tinfoil hat dinner, though. This was a pattern, a thread winding through the very fabric of literature. Fueled by a caffeine-induced buzz and a mounting sense of urgency, Sophie dove into her digital library, her fingers dancing across the keyboard like a concert pianist. Lines of code flowed from her fingertips, each keystroke a step closer to unraveling the mystery. She wasn’t just building an AI program; she was crafting a digital detective, a literary bloodhound with a knack for sniffing out inconsistencies.
The AI, aptly named “LitSleuth,” whirred to life, its virtual eyes scanning thousands of digital texts. It dissected vocabulary, scrutinized syntax, and even analyzed the frequency of semicolons with the meticulousness of a grammar-obsessed English teacher. As the night wore on, Sophie fueled her efforts with copious amounts of gummy bears and Diet Coke, her laughter echoing through the quiet house as she imagined her parents’ horror at her late-night coding frenzy.
The hum of the AI filled the room, a low, steady rhythm that matched Sophie’s heartbeat as she watched LitSleuth dissect the digital texts. It felt like watching an autopsy, each line of code a scalpel peeling back layers of meaning, revealing hidden truths beneath the surface.
Suddenly, the rhythmic hum was pierced by a sharp, electronic shriek. The screen flashed a harsh crimson, the words “Anomaly detected. Multiple instances of non-random patterns found” searing into Sophie’s retinas. A cold sweat broke out on her skin as she leaned forward, her fingers hovering over the keyboard like a concert pianist about to strike a dissonant chord.
The AI delved deeper, its analysis growing more frantic with each passing moment. Lines of code scrolled across the screen like a frantic heartbeat, each one a piece of the puzzle. Sophie’s breath caught in her throat as the patterns began to coalesce into a horrifying picture.
The codes weren’t just random anomalies; they were deliberate, carefully crafted messages woven into the very fabric of literature. They spoke of manipulation, control, and a subtle influence that had been shaping human thought for millennia. Sophie’s mind reeled as she traced the origins of these codes, her pulse throbbing in her ears like a war drum.
3,500 years… The Vedas… Ancient India… The words echoed in her mind, each one a chilling reminder of the vastness of the conspiracy. It wasn’t just modern literature that had been tainted; it was the very foundation of human storytelling, the sacred texts that had guided civilizations for millennia.
Sophie’s hands trembled as she scrolled through the AI’s findings, each new revelation sending a fresh wave of terror through her. She felt like a marionette whose strings had been cut, the illusion of free will shattered into a million pieces.
“Oh my God,” she whispered, her voice barely audible. The enormity of the revelation was suffocating, a black hole threatening to swallow her whole. Aliens had been manipulating human thought through literature for millennia. But why? What did they want? And could she, a teenage girl armed with nothing but a laptop and a caffeine addiction, possibly hope to stop them?
“This is insane!” Sophie’s voice cracked, barely a whisper as the realization sank in like a stone in the pit of her stomach. A cold sweat clung to her skin, her breath coming in ragged gasps as her world tilted on its axis. It was too much to process, too monstrous to comprehend – aliens had been puppeteering humanity, their insidious tendrils woven into the very fabric of stories that had shaped civilizations, religions, and the collective consciousness of mankind for millennia. Her mind raced, a whirlwind of questions and fears. Why? What was their endgame? What did they want from humanity?
A sudden meow ripped through the suffocating silence, shattering the fragile remnants of Sophie’s composure. Gizmo, her sleek ebony shadow, materialized from the darkness, his claws clicking against the hardwood floor like a death knell. His emerald eyes, usually playful and bright, now burned with an unsettling intensity, mirroring the abyss of dread that yawned open within her. Was it just her imagination, or was her cat trying to tell her something? A shiver ran down her spine. This was more than just a literary mystery; it was a puzzle with cosmic implications, and she had a feeling Gizmo was about to become an unlikely player in this extraordinary game.
Have you ever met a celebrity who asked you, “Do you know who I am?” and you said no?
I make knives and swords, and sell them at booths I operate at various Renaissance Faires. Back in the 1990s, I was operating one in MA at the same time as my home show in PA, so I had a separate crew working there while I was down here running this one and also making stock to ship up to them to keep the counters full.
As part of the business, I make everyone show ID and sign a waiver as part of their receipt, so I can prove that we did not sell anything to anyone under the age of eighteen.
Well, one Monday, I talked to my crew, and they told me Steve Tyler had come in and purchased one of my knives.
Seriously? Send me the receipt, I’ll frame it!
Oh, no, we knew who he was so we didn’t make him sign a receipt.
I’d have given ten times, a hundred times, the cost of that knife, to have his signature on that receipt.
So no, I didn’t meet him, and the people who did DID recognize him.
Why don’t Janet Yellen and other Biden administration officials worry that sanctions on Russia and China, and seizure of Russian assets will lead other central banks to sell off US Treasuries, stop buying US debt and using the US$ less for trade?
Because of the challenge this convicted criminal:
poses to this senile duffer:
Or rather, the titanic, behind the scenes life-and-death struggle between the parties they represent.
These two ~80-year-olds are the candidates the electoral college has thrown up, to partisan uproar.
The 2024 elections has morphed into “which side is the least bitter pill to swallow”, for the neutral, non-aligned voter.
In other words, both “choices” are nightmares in their own right.
Both parties are being held to ransom, because of the winner-takes-all stakes. Winning at all cost is all that matters, and that is why demonstrations of power are important, especially the ruling party.
That is why Joe’s administration has racked up deficits at twice the rate of Donald’s pre-pandemic, or 2t/yr, give or take.
That is why Nancy HAD to make her spiel in Taipei, with the President ordering the Pentagon and Department of State to clear the way for her.
That is why Janet “$20t in National debt should keep people awake at night” is singing a different tune as Treasury Secretary, not only massively increasing the issuance of T-bills (which is cash-equivalent) but also engaging in direct market-intervening yield curve control buying back debt it issues. Unlike the Fed’s QE program, Treasury does not have employment and inflation mandates as constraints. Janet’s sleight of hand is why Jerome is able to trace this curve (current to May ‘24):
That is why both Janet and Anthony made long flights across the Pacific, only to cool their heels away from Beijing engaging in the frivolous and nonchalant, just to have to opportunity for photo-ops with the Chinese leadership, and give their 2 cents worth criticizing their gracious hosts on the Beijing podium. The message to the electorate? America’s word still carries the day in 2024 (even if we have to move heaven and earth to demonstrate it).
That is why abortion has made a startling legislative comeback in recent years. America is turning back the clock on women’s suffrage and emancipation. “Conservative” or “blast from the past” finally makes sense to me, politically speaking.
I can go on and on, but I hope you get the idea. This election is like no other I’ve studied, going back to McKinley’s 1900 campaign.
Joe as a physical specimen is melting before our eyes, while Kamala has been a giddy lightweight. Without extravagant demonstrations of shock and awe, the Democrats can’t even step up to bat with Donald, the guru of pomp and bluster. The Democrat formula is to throw the hegemon’s weight around without alienating the first world like Donald did. And that means fixing guys on the “other side”, with help from willing partners of course. And others have rushed to sign up because they don’t want a repeat of Donald’s insufferable politics.
Joe must out-Donald Donald, greasing the unpalatable with enough shock and awe for the rest to swallow.
The long-term consequences matter less than what’s immediately at stake.
This is a quandary there is no escaping from.
“This Is Gonna Get Us ALL Blown Up!” Jeffrey Sachs On Russian Invasion
What ended your relationship with your best friend?
I met her when I was new to Australia and she was a new arrival as well. Both of us were without a job, had followed our husbands to the land down under and wondering what the future holds without friends and family. That’s when a common friend introduced us. Our love for cooking got us together, and our love for self deprecating humour bound us together.
She became my son’s godmother when he was born and my pillar of strength as I fought through post partum depression. She was my confidence when I was plagued in self doubt. She was my sister – from another mother.
I am a hard core introvert – and she would be the one to drag me to party and take a break when I would be exhausted from work and home. I hated her and complained non stop – yet loved those little moments of respite secretly.
The days I would be too tired to cook, I could find a meal ready in her house. The day I wanted to get out, she was my designated baby sitter no questions asked.
So what ended our relationship?
Death.
She collapsed one day, and never woke up. A Brain aneurysm. A gaping hole in my heart. Forever.
Doing Dark Deeds
The town of Cornwallis, Oregon, wasn’t supposed to be a cauldron of cosmic dread. It was a place of apple pies, Friday night football games, and quiet nights under star-strewn skies. But on this particular morning, as the first rays of sunlight pierced the pre-dawn haze, an eerie silence hung heavy in the air, punctuated by the distant wail of sirens and the hushed whispers of fear.
Sophie hadn’t slept a wink. The monstrous truth she’d unearthed in the dead of night gnawed at her, twisting her stomach into knots and sending chills down her spine. She stood at her bedroom window, her eyes bloodshot and her body trembling, watching as a swarm of police cars, news vans, and a growing tide of terrified townsfolk converged on the nearby woods.
A sleek, alien spaceship, an obsidian monolith against the pastel hues of dawn, pierced the treeline, its presence an unholy stain on the familiar landscape. The sight sent a fresh wave of nausea through Sophie, her mind reeling with the implications of her discovery. The aliens had come. Not as benevolent explorers or curious observers, but as conquerors, their insidious tendrils already woven deep into the fabric of human existence.
Beside her, Gizmo paced restlessly, his usually playful demeanor replaced by a grim vigilance. His emerald eyes, glowing with an unnatural intensity, were fixed on the ship, his low growls a chilling counterpoint to the rising panic outside. Sophie could feel his fear, a primal dread that mirrored her own. This was no longer a game, a puzzle to be solved. This was an existential threat, a cosmic horror that could swallow them whole.
Sophie switched on the news, the screen flickering to life with a live feed from the forest clearing. A hush fell over her room as a tall, slender figure emerged from the alien ship. His skin shimmered, a living tapestry of iridescent colors shifting and swirling beneath the sunlight. Meetveega, the alien negotiator, stood before a crowd of stunned onlookers, his presence amplified by the high-definition cameras, each pixel a chilling reminder of the impossible reality unfolding before her eyes.
“It is a truth universally acknowledged,” Meetveega began, his voice a cold melody that sent chills down Sophie’s spine. The phrase, so familiar from her beloved literature, now twisted into a sinister mockery of human expression. A sickening dread pooled in her stomach as she realized that this wasn’t just a coincidence, a literary quirk. It was a deliberate echo, a taunt, a confirmation of the insidious manipulation she had uncovered.
Meetveega continued his voice a chilling symphony of ancient wisdom and thinly veiled contempt. “We have observed your kind for millennia,” he declared his gaze, like twin lasers, sweeping across the terrified faces. “Initially, we were baffled by your fascination with the written word, particularly your obsession with… bodily descriptions.” A ripple of nervous laughter ran through the crowd, quickly silenced by the chilling intensity of his stare. “Our studies, however, revealed a simple truth: your species exists in a perpetual state of rut. Thus, our influence upon your literature has been deliberate, a subtle yet pervasive guiding hand. We have kept you preoccupied with base desires, ensuring you remain safely confined to your primitive planet, far from the stars.” His voice hardened, a steely edge replacing the earlier amusement. “But your recent foray into artificial intelligence has disrupted this delicate balance, exposing our carefully woven tapestry of control.”
As if to punctuate his words, Meetveega raised a hand, and a beam of pure energy shot forth, disintegrating a group of onlookers in a blinding flash. The crowd erupted in screams of terror, their bodies crumpling to the ground in a grotesque tableau of shock and despair.
“We have come to negotiate the terms of your surrender,” Meetveega continued, his voice unwavering amidst the chaos. “Resist, and you will face annihilation. Your stories, your myths, your very dreams have been woven with our threads. We are the architects of your reality.”
A wave of dread washed over Sophie, the chilling realization that she was witnessing the subjugation of humanity. The town’s leaders, their faces etched with terror, fumbled for a response, their voices trembling as they faced the unimaginable. But their words were lost in the deafening silence of a crowd frozen in fear, their eyes wide with the knowledge that their world had irrevocably changed.
Sophie’s stomach churned with a mixture of fear and defiance. The aliens had underestimated humanity for far too long, manipulating their stories and molding their minds like clay. This ends now, she thought, her resolve hardening with each passing moment. I won’t let them control us any longer.
She glanced at Gizmo, who was now perched on the windowsill, his ears twitching, his body tense. As Meetveega continued to speak, Gizmo’s ears twitched in response, his head tilting as if following the rhythm of an unheard conversation. A series of low, guttural sounds escaped his throat—sounds that seemed to mimic the cadence of the alien’s speech.
A sudden thought struck Sophie, a spark of hope in the overwhelming darkness. “Gizmo,” she whispered, her voice barely audible. “Can you… understand him?”
The cat turned his head, his green eyes locking onto hers. A low, guttural sound escaped his throat, a sound that was both alien and strangely familiar. Sophie’s heart leaped. Could it be that her cat, her mischievous, enigmatic companion, held the key to communicating with the alien overlord?
In the days that followed, the town became a cauldron of speculation and fear. The initial shock of the alien arrival gave way to a tense standoff, as Meetveega, growing impatient, demanded an official response from the human leaders.
Meanwhile, Sophie spent every waking moment trying to decipher the remaining coded messages, her AI working tirelessly to analyze the vast libraries of digital texts. Gizmo, now her constant companion, seemed to guide her, his purrs and nudges leading her towards specific books or phrases.
One evening, as Sophie poured over an ancient copy of the Mahabharata, a sudden chill filled the room. Gizmo leaped onto her lap, his purr growing louder, more insistent. He nudged her hand towards a particular verse, his claws lightly scratching the page as if to emphasize its importance. Sophie followed his gaze, her eyes widening as she recognized the pattern. It was another code, more complex and intricate than any she had encountered before.
Her fingers flew across the keyboard, inputting the code into her AI. The program whirred and beeped, its lights flashing in a dizzying display. Then, silence. Sophie held her breath as the AI projected a holographic message above her desk:
“Meet us at the heart of the forest. Alone. Bring the cat.”
Tinkly Thunderdome Troubles
Pine needles crunched underfoot as Sophie and Gizmo emerged into a moonlit clearing. Meetveega stood in the center, his skin shimmering with an unnatural iridescence. His eyes, twin pits of darkness, met Sophie’s with a chilling intensity. The air crackled with tension as Gizmo hissed, his fur bristling in warning. Despite the overwhelming dread that threatened to consume her, Sophie held her ground. This was it. The moment of truth.
“You came,” Meetveega intoned, his voice a chilling echo in the stillness of the night. “I have been expecting you.”
Sophie, her voice surprisingly steady, met his gaze head-on. “I know your secret, Meetveega,” she declared. “I know your plan to sedate humanity, to control our thoughts through the very stories we hold dear.”
A flicker of surprise crossed the alien’s face, his composure momentarily disrupted. “A clever child,” he sneered, his tone dripping with condescension. “But your knowledge is inconsequential. You cannot stop what has been set in motion for millennia.”
Sophie smiled, a sly glint in her eyes. “That’s where you’re wrong,” she retorted. “With the help of my AI, I have deciphered your final message. I know your ultimate goal—to lull us into complacency, to weaken our defenses, and then to invade.”
She raised her laptop, her AI springing to life, projecting a holographic display above them. A swirling vortex of words and symbols materialized, revealing the aliens’ insidious plan in stark detail. The forest seemed to hold its breath, the very trees rustling in outrage as the extent of the manipulation became clear.
Gizmo, sensing the rising tension, let out a series of piercing meows, his eyes locked on Meetveega. The alien recoiled, his voice laced with a newfound uncertainty. “What is this? How can a mere feline communicate with me?”
Sophie knelt beside Gizmo, stroking his fur. “He’s not just a cat, Meetveega. He’s my friend, my partner, and he understands your language better than any human ever could.”
Gizmo’s meows transformed into a melodic symphony, each note conveying a complex range of emotions – fear, defiance, hope. Meetveega listened, his eyes widening in astonishment as he began to grasp the depth of the cat’s intelligence and the profound bond he shared with Sophie.
For hours, the dialogue continued, a strange symphony of human words, feline sounds, and alien intonations. Sophie, with Gizmo as her interpreter, laid bare the resilience of the human spirit, the indomitable power of free thought, and the unbreakable bond between humans and their stories. She spoke of the power of love, the importance of community, and the unwavering determination to protect one’s freedom.
As dawn broke, casting long shadows across the forest floor, Meetveega stood silent, his gaze fixed on the horizon. The first rays of sunlight illuminated his face, revealing a flicker of doubt in his ancient eyes. The weight of millennia of manipulation seemed to bear down on him, the cracks in his resolve widening with each passing moment.
“You have made your point, child,” he said at last, his voice heavy with resignation. “Perhaps we have underestimated your kind. Perhaps your stories are more potent than we believed.”
With a final, lingering glance at Sophie and Gizmo, Meetveega turned and walked back towards his ship, his footsteps echoing through the forest. As he reached the base of the vessel, he paused, turning back to face the girl and her cat. A wave of energy rippled through the clearing, washing over the trees, the ground, and the stunned onlookers.
When the wave subsided, Meetveega and his ship were gone, leaving behind an eerie silence. The townspeople blinked, their faces etched with confusion. They looked at each other, their minds struggling to grasp the events of the past few hours. They remembered the fear, the terror, but the details of the encounter with Meetveega had vanished, replaced by a vague sense of unease and a lingering question: “What just happened?”
Sophie, however, remained trapped in the chilling reality of the encounter. The alien’s words echoed in her mind, a haunting symphony of arrogance and manipulation. She looked down at Gizmo, his emerald eyes mirroring her own unspoken horror. They were the sole keepers of the truth, a truth the world had been robbed of. While the news channels buzzed with conspiracy theories and wild speculation about the sudden disappearance of twenty townspeople, Sophie knew the horrifying answer. The world had been rewritten, the missing residents erased from existence as if they had never been.
The world moved on, unaware of the danger it had narrowly escaped. The town of Cornwallis, Oregon, returned to its tranquil routine, the memory of the alien encounter fading like a dream. But Sophie’s life was forever changed. She became a silent guardian, her vigilance unwavering as she monitored for any signs of alien interference.
Shorpy
Which is the world’s most dangerous disease? Why?
My son died of adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) when he was 8. He was born perfectly normal and had a seemingly perfectly healthy life up until half way through kindergarten. Our first clue came when one of his teachers called us in for a conference to tell us our son, who was for all of his life before that point, exceptionally well behaved, was acting out in school. Nothing particularly mean or even really relatable. He basically just seemed like he was no longer aware of good manners. He would do things like pee outside the urinal or behave erratically at inappropriate times.
We had him diagnosed by experts who promptly diagnosed our son with mild autism and ADHD. A bit weird considering he was highly social, reading above level, and prior to this had no real signs of either. We start ABA therapy and do all the things you need to do for a child with special needs. He makes progress he learns to do things better after weeks of intense therapy, but then a few more weeks go by and he gets worse in every way. We didn’t know it then, but he was just relearning to do things with different parts of his brain, not getting better. He starts forgetting things. He’s talking less. He’s climbing furniture and doing immature things he never even did when he was younger. The psychologists imply it’s our fault. We must not be sticking to the therapy. We try harder. Nothing is working. He tells us he has brain freezes and asks us if he’s dying. We tell him of course not, everything is fine, we will work through this and you will get better. Regressions go on for several months. We start to doubt the diagnosis, but there’s nothing we can do except complain to our psychologist who tells us he was misdiagnosed. He actually has severe autism! We ask for a referral to a neurologist to rule out other possibilities. The psychologist refuses, letting us know it’s us. We need to work harder. This goes on for months and we keep on begging for a referral. By the time he is close to non-verbal we finally have another appointment and show the psychologist a video of our son singing and dancing when he was a year younger. It’s a stark contrast to the child we now have who can no longer even attend a regular school. That’s not how autism works. We finally get a referral to a real doctor. We get an MRI and it’s lit up like a Christmas tree. An incredibly intense week of more testing follows. We test for hundreds of different diseases. Finally a genetic test for Adrenoleukodystrophy comes back positive. There’s no doubt. It fits.
It’s also a death sentence. There’s no known cure once symptoms start. Over the next year we watch our son forget who we were. Lose the ability to hear, see, smell, taste, and walk. He went through epileptic seizures and eventually became a walking zombie, not really cognizant of the world around him, but still able to perform basic life sustaining tasks like feeding himself. After he ate something he should not have, we had to take him to the ER. The anesthesia, messed with what was left of his brain and he never quite came back. He never walked again after that and could no longer feed himself or really do anything as he lost all of his senses.
Once symptoms start, every single person who has ever had this disease dies within a few years at most. Some people have prolonged it by using machines to keep their children alive, but their brains are totally gone except for the autonomic functions. No one has ever reversed the brain damage.
The only thing worse then watching your son die is knowing he’s absolutely going to die, knowing he has nothing to live for except more pain and suffering, and the only way to stop the suffering is to starve him to death. We had a team of doctors at that point. Not helping our son. There was nothing they could do for him and his body was actually quite healthy. He was just in a semi vegetative state. Awake, but not cognizant of the world around him. His soul was actually the first thing to go. His behaviors changed and for all intents and purposes, the disease took our son’s identity and dignity before any of the more physical ailments. There was no hope he was still in there. No question he was gone for over a year. This team of doctors was there for us, his parents, to guide us through his death. They were his palliative care team. We were at Stanford and they were some of the most qualified, compassionate, and intelligent doctors I have encountered. Near the end, I wanted to punch every one of them. It wasn’t their fault. They are messengers in a broken system, but they all knew our son was dying. They all knew his brain function was gone. They all knew he was never coming back. The adrenoleukodystrophy expert actually told us down to the month when our son would lose each of his functions. He was incredibly accurate. The last few meetings we had were all about how removing nutrition and hydration isn’t so bad, hes past where he is aware of most things. The body “knows” it’s dying and just peacefully gives up. It all felt made up. They said they will control the pain with morphine. Fuck! I know what morphine does. My first question is what is the point of prolonging his life. Theres no answers of hope coming back, no answers of he might still be there. Just the elephant in the room no one explicitly brings up. Society says this is the only path. “It’s fine.” But it wasn’t fine. My next question was how much morphine will stop all the pain immediately forever. They wouldn’t answer that one.
My son died when he was 8 after 3 weeks without food or water.
Adrenoleukodystrophy is a rare genetic disease. It can be cured if it’s caught with a test before symptoms start with a simple genetic test at birth. The federal government recommended this test before my son was born to be included with all newborn screenings. No state at the time he was born adopted the test as part of newborn screening despite that it pays for itself. When he died only 5 states did, today 44 do. If you have a son that was born with the gene for ALD, 1/3rd develop adrenoleukodystrophy most of the rest develop a related disorder that has very serious symptoms that start in the 20s or 30s. 10% have just minor adrenal gland issues that are treatable.
This is a photo of the last time I was able to get Griffin to laugh. He was otherwise non-verbal at this point, and struggling with a lot of his senses, but often you would barely know it if you saw us out. Physically his body was healthy. He was mobile nearly to the end. The one saving grace about the progression of his disease is that he seemed to lose the ability to comprehend death and other abstract concepts early. We wasted so much precious time with the misdiagnosis. Nothing will ever make up for that, but I’m glad we tried.
EV Dominance in CHINA(America CAN’T Compete) || 美国无法竞争
Tomato Pizza
I love a good vegetarian pizza. It not only tastes delicious, but makes me feel a little bit better about eating pizza! The flavors are just so fresh and clean. And let’s face it, it’s a bit less expensive too.
This tomato pizza is so simple, but just as satisfying of a slice. It gives you all the flavor punch of eating a slice of pizza, with less calories!
My favorite is when I can pull fresh tomatoes and basil from my garden. I may or may not repeatedly point out to the kids that we grew these toppings!
Whether you make your dough from scratch or opt for the ease of store bought, this simple pizza is sure to knock your socks off. Now it’s time to get your slice on!
Ingredients
- 1 pizza shell
- 1 sliced plum tomato
- 1/4 cup feta cheese
- 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh basil
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh parsley
Instructions
- Layer a little mozzarella cheese on the pizza shell.
- Lay sliced tomatoes on top so that they are not on top of each other.
- Crumble feta over tomatoes.
- Sprinkle with garlic, basil and parsley.
- Cover with remaining mozzarella cheese.
- Bake for about 10 to 5 minutes until cheese is melted.
What work secret did you accidentally find out that changed everything?
Long ago, actually not so long ago, I started working as a Data Engineer at Amazon. Before this, I had experience as a Software Development Engineer (SDE) and a Data Scientist, but Data Engineering was relatively new to me. Additionally, I had primarily used Azure as my cloud provider in previous roles.
I soon found myself grappling with the notorious “imposter syndrome” — a phase where you feel you’ve faked your way to your position. I was assigned a new task involving technologies I had no experience with, and the deadlines were fast approaching. Feeling overwhelmed, I went to the kitchenette, grabbed a cup of coffee, and sat with my head buried in my hands.
One of the most experienced team members noticed my distress. He was well-versed in our technology stack and always had a stoic demeanor. He approached me and asked what was going on. I explained my situation and the looming deadlines. He told me to ditch the coffee and join him in the cafeteria.
Once there, he asked, “Do you know what differentiates unsuccessful and successful people in our profession?” I immediately responded with answers like “the highest amount of knowledge, great coding skills, holistic understanding of the stack, etc.” He shook his head and said, “No. Try again.” After a while, I admitted, “I don’t know.”
He laughed and said I had answered the first half of his question. Confused, I asked for clarification. He then shared a secret that changed everything: “When a person looks at an unknown problem and says ‘I don’t know it’ and moves on to a more familiar problem, they will eventually fail. But if they say ‘I don’t know it yet’ and see the problem as a learning opportunity, they will eventually succeed.”
That conversation made me realize the power of the word ‘yet’ and the importance of mindset. I guess ‘Yet’ is the secret of success.
North Korean Soldiers Are Preparing To Enter The BATTLEFIELD To Hunt NATO Forces In UKRAINE
An Interesting Development
So now that President Putin has visited North Korea, and is now in Vietnam, there is a great deal of speculation as to his objectives.
We don’t really know if there are going to be any “earth shattering” events that come out of this.
But what we do know is that the West, lead by the deluded and dementia ridden has made arrangements to place three (x3) ENORMOUS NATO bases outside of Ukraine from which to attack Russia with.
It is from these bases that NATO planes, flown by NATO pilots, and using NATO munitions, and NATO intel that will engage Russia from the safety of Poland, Germany, and one other nation.
Once confirmation of this new dimension has been obtained, we have a flood of speculation as to how Russia will react to it.
The normal “armchair warriors” suggest nuclear detonations, and full-scale invasions.
But, I disagree.
Perhaps, the three North Korean divisions of crack assault troops will be used to attack NATO bases and facilities in Europe. The advantages are numerous.
- North Korea would be immune from reprisals.
- Russia would focus on Ukraine special operations.
- And Europe would be fighting the descendants of Genghis Khan.
An interesting development. For certain.
Germans and Polish troops fighting North Koreans inside their own nations without the NATO safety net hiding from Russia. Seems to me that two can play that game of “immunity from reprisals”.
Logical, but frightening.
Imagine that! Europeans having to defend their own nations instead of invading other nations.