After I left the Navy, I lived with my paternal grandmother for a spell while I worked at a steel factory. Later on, they would lay me off and I would go on my great adventure. But during this snapshot in time, I was spending about four months living with my grandmother; saving up money so that I can afford an apartment to live in.
She was very traditional. And she refused for me to do anything… anything in the kitchen. That was her domain.
For me… No cooking. No cleaning. No washing the dishes, doing the laundry. Not even emptying the trash.
Those were her “womanly tasks” that “real men” would never, and should never do.
That was my grand mother.
My parents were more progressive. Boys did the dishes. Emptied the garbage. Mowed the lawn. While the girls cooked, and darned clothes.
Something went seriously wrong in the United States sometime between 1913 and 1935. Because after that, the bedrock of familial roles shifted, and continued to shift until you have the cluster fuck family structures that you see today.
I miss my grandmother.
She was a smart, wise, and wiry woman with whom I greatly adored.
Today…
How will the US tech restrictions on mainland China’s semiconductor industry affect the country’s manufacturing supply chain?
The Chinese have been building and installing Chinese components to replace the components the U.S. has blocked so that Chinese supply chains are not affected.
Did you expect the Chinese to stop and give up because of the sanctions?
Sorry, that isn’t how the Chinese work.
Mark Sleboda: Putin and China Issue DEVASTATING Warning to Blinken, Neocons and They’re Not Bluffing
International Relations and Security analyst Mark Sleboda explains how Blinken’s latest visit to China exposes the weakening position of the neocons and their inability to compete on the world stage with both Russia and China, both of which are warning that further escalation will lead to all out war. This is not a bluff, so be sure to watch the video in full to understand how HUGE this all is.
What is the worst thing someone has done that broke you?
Not too long after my late wife passed (not nearly long enough), I got involved with a woman (I use the term loosely) who was supposed to have been one of my wife’s good friends. It was a vulnerable time for me and I had no business being involved with anyone at this point.
I will refer to this woman as “CB” (short for crazy bitch.)
The first few months of being involved with CB were fine, she did and said all of the right things until she felt she had me where she wanted me. I let her into my home, I helped her financially, treated her children well, and went out of my way to make them all feel welcome in my home.
One day, it was like someone threw a light switch and turned on her narcissistic, rage. She became violent with me and even attempted to do away with me using a boat oar to my head. I thought I was at rock bottom and broken at this point, but it actually got worse. Once I got her out of my home and out of my life (I thought), the real kick in the junk came. It turns out, the entire time I was working to make them feel welcome in my home, working my full time job, and doing the things you do for people you care about, she had been stealing all of my personal information. This CB had not only assaulted me physically, she had stolen my identity and when all was said and done, she had run up over $170K in debt under my name. This literally and financially broke me. I lost my home and so many of the things I had worked so hard to earn for so many years. It was the most expensive lesson I have ever learned. It was my rock bottom and became the motivation for me to climb out of the darkness and work on myself. It has been a few years since it all happened and while I am still fighting the financial fallout from being too trusting to the wrong person, I am no longer a broken man. Life has a way of making us move on and luckily, I made the right choices from then on. If Karma is real, CB is in for a world of hurt.
Do people in countries where you can’t openly criticise the government find it strange that you can do that in some countries?
That’s a loaded question if I ever saw one.
Last night somebody said me in China would be immediately executed if I was critical of Xi Jinping. He spoke with ABSOLUTE CONFIDENCE because being a westerner makes you omniscient.
Funny, I live in China Hong Kong province. Where I see Falun Gong operate openly and distribute their publication everyday and they call for the destruction of China and the government. Similarly Shun Bot on here is openly critical of Xi Jinping as am I, and I don’t know about him, but I go over to Shenzhen a fair bit and yet here I am totally not dead.
In that just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen! It’s almost like Americans! Everything outside stopped once the USA was founded. Stuff goes on when you’re not looking.
Oh sure you can call Biden an ass, but guess what? It does nothing other than make you feel good momentarily.
So there’s totally no name calling in China? Oh there is if you understand Chinese and go on Chinese forums, but you can’t read that can you?
There’s also something completely unknown by those omniscient westerners. In that if you have a real grievance? You complain via official channels, but here’s the catch it needs to be genuine and you need to have evidence. The fact that numerous CPC officials RIGHT at the TOP have been sentenced to death for corruption instigated by people complaining is pretty telling.
Meanwhile, has anybody been investigated in western governments? Jon Corzine literally diverted 1bn USD into his Caymen islands bank account and paid a small fine for it, he didn’t end up picking up any soap in a prison shower.
Tony Blinken’s Stern Warning to China| More Hubris!
Was Antony Blinken’s recent visit to China a complete failure or just another round of political posturing? Dive into the details of the U.S. Secretary of State’s three-day interaction with Chinese officials and explore whether any real progress was made on critical issues. Despite the positive rhetoric, it seems the visit may have fallen short of expectations.
Join me as I dissect for you the nuances of Blinken’s diplomatic efforts & unravel the complexities of U.S.-China relations. Is it all just a facade for domestic audiences?
Some comics
Polish-Style Roast Chicken
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
- 2 (3 1/2 to 4 pound) whole chickens
- 1 onion, peeled and quartered
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled
- 2 tablespoons sweet Hungarian paprika
- 2 teaspoons salt + more to taste
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper + more to taste
- 14 1/2 ounces reduced sodium chicken broth, defatted
- 1/3 cup vodka
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill
- 2 tablespoons sour cream (optional)
Instructions
- Position oven rack in lower third of oven; heat to 350 degrees F.
- Remove giblets. Place hearts, necks and gizzards in roasting pan and reserve livers for another use.
- With a sharp knife, remove excess fat.
- Dry insides with a paper towel.
- With your fingers, loosen skin over breasts and thighs to make pockets, being careful not to tear the skin.
- In a food processor or blender, combine onion, garlic, paprika, 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper; puree until smooth.
- Spread 1/4 cup onion puree in the bottom of a roasting pan.
- Place chickens in pan, at least 1 inch apart.
- Rub 1 tablespoon puree into each cavity and spread remaining puree under skin.
- Tuck wings back and tie legs.
- Roast chickens for 20 minutes.
- Drizzle with 1/4 cup chicken broth and roast for 40 minutes more, basting with pan drippings every 20 minutes.
- Tent chickens with aluminum foil and continue roasting for 30 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, away from the bone, registers 180 degrees F and the cavity juices run clear.
- Transfer chickens to a platter and cover with foil to keep warm; leave giblets in pan.
- Pour pan juices into a bowl and chill in freezer for 10 minutes to bring fat to the surface.
- Meanwhile, add remaining chicken broth and vodka to roasting pan and bring to a boil over medium heat, scraping up any browned bits adhering to the pan.
- Add any juices accumulated on chicken platter.
- Skim off fat from chilled pan juices.
- Add juices to roasting pan and return to a boil. Strain juices through a fine sieve into a medium saucepan.
- Bring to a simmer over medium heat.
- In a small bowl, blend water and cornstarch; whisk into simmering gravy.
- Cook, stirring, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute.
- Whisk in dill and sour cream, if using.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Carve chickens, discarding skin.
- Serve with gravy.
Brazilian Woman Arrested After Trying To Use Her Uncle’s Corpse To Get A Bank Loan
Érika de Souza Vieira Nunes has been charged with theft by fraud and abuse of a corpse after allegedly wheeling her deceased uncle into a bank to sign for a loan.
Bank workers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, received the shock of their lives after a woman brought her deceased uncle to a bank to sign for a loan on April 16, 2024.
The woman, who claimed to be the man’s niece, allegedly wheeled him into the bank and attempted to force a pen into his hand. Workers noticed the bizarre scene and called emergency workers. A medical examination later confirmed that the man had been dead for at least two hours.
Now, investigators are trying to determine the full story of how this disturbing incident unfolded.
Érika de Souza Vieira Nunes’ Attempt To Use Her Uncle’s Corpse To Commit Fraud
On April 16, Érika de Souza Vieira Nunes entered the Itaú Bank branch in Rio de Janeiro. In tow was her 68-year-old wheelchair-bound uncle, Paulo Roberto Braga.
The two came to the bank to take out a loan equivalent to $3,250.
While the duo signed for the loan, the bank employees noticed the oddity of the scene. For one, Braga did not move at all, and Nunes seemed to force a pen into the man’s hand, stating:
“Uncle, are you listening? You need to sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, because I can’t sign for you. Sign so you don’t give me any more headaches, I can’t take it anymore,” a video of the incident aired by g1 showed.
Evidently, bank employees told Nunes that her uncle appeared unwell, to which she responded:
“He is like that. He doesn’t say anything.”
But the strangeness of it all was too much for the bank workers. They quickly called for an ambulance, and when the doctors arrived, they confirmed the worst — the man was dead.
The Ongoing Investigation Into Paulo Roberto Braga’s Death
g1/YouTubeSurveillance footage of Érika de Souza Vieira Nunes and her deceased uncle, Paulo Roberto Braga.
According to a medical examination, Paulo Braga had been dead for over two hours when Nunes brought him to the bank. His cause of death was respiratory aspiration of stomach contents and heart failure. However, the situation became muddied when both Nunes and her lawyer claimed that her uncle was alive when he arrived at the bank.
“The facts did not happen as they were narrated. Mr. Paulo arrived at the banking unit alive. There are witnesses who, at the appropriate time, will also be heard. He started to feel sick, and then he had all these procedures. All of this will be clarified and we believe in Mrs. Érika’s innocence,” Ana Carla de Souza Correa, Nunes’ lawyer, told TV Globo. Just a day before, Nunes had taken Braga to the emergency room.
Despite these pleas, police arrested Nunes on two separate charges of theft by fraud and abuse of a corpse.
Now, authorities are conducting an investigation into Braga’s death. So far, doctors know that Braga must have died lying down, evidenced by the way blood pooled in his vessels. He could not have died sitting in the wheelchair.
Authorities know that Nunes took a taxi to the bank, so they are now trying to determine if Braga could have died lying down in the back of the cab.
“The main thing is to continue the investigations, identify other family members and find out if, when this loan was made, he was alive,” Fábio Luiz Souza, a police officer on the case, told O Dia.
For now, Nunes will remain in custody until the investigation concludes.
The Chinese owner of TikTok claims they would rather shut down than sell TikTok. (To the surprise of many lawmakers who voted to ban TikTok). Do you think they are serious or bluffing?
They are dead serious
Selling TikTok would mean the US can bully every Chinese company doing Business in USA to divest or leave
There are laws about transfer of IP or IP licenses belonging to Chinese entities without permission of the Government
So selling TikTok isn’t an option.
Meanwhile if you notice, China is becoming more and more conducive to foreign investments
Tesla is the best example
China didn’t force Tesla to divest 70% to BYD or Geely. .
China already has the money and capital
As US acts insane and stupid, newer Chinese entities who once would have gone to US for establishing a startup or a business will stay back in China and develop there
China has the under rated stock market today
Soon it’s possible that emerging economy players will seek financing in China over the US for unique high technology products especially as China has the enormous Capital and the Market and the Supply Chain
China can replace the US in Capital today with $ 19 Trillion in Public Savings
China has the huge market of 430 million consumers
The only thing stopping people from going to China to seek capital and establish business is because China is authoritarian and US has all these laws and systems
Now as US abandons these laws and systems, Chinas system begins to look less authoritative and that’s what China is aiming for
So why would they sell TikTok?
Bytedance has more revenue earning products including DOUYIN
Anything that makes the US look insane is a Chinese win
What’s the poorest judgment you’ve ever witnessed from someone else?
My wife has had a concussion ,that she never fully recovered from a few years back. It can make her impulsive and has really messed with her sense of balance. I have asked her not to go down our steep basement stairs by herself, as an example of my concerns. My wife does not like other people doing things for her, she hates the idea that she might need help.
We retired out in the country, but still had the place in the city, which was empty because we were getting ready to sell it. The insurance company removed our burst pipe insurance, because no one was living in it. We had a cold snap and it dropped below minus 40 in the night, and didn’t get above minus 30 during the day.
So I went to the city to do some work on the house, and make sure a pipe didn’t burst.
The previous winter, our high efficiency furnace exhaust at our country place had frozen up, and shut down our furnace when it reached minus 35 for a week. So I insulated the exhaust pipe. Which on an older furnace would have been called a chimney. I was satisfied that it would take more than a week to freeze up this time.
So I am in the city, sitting out the cold snap and my wife is in the country. The furnace is running fine, but she can’t get to sleep, worrying that the exhaust will freeze up.
So at 1:00 in the morning, in minus 40 weather, she puts a ladder up against the house, grabs a crowbar, and climbs onto the snowy roof, and chips the ice that has formed on the exhaust off. She didn’t bring her phone with her.
Then she climbs back down the wobbly ladder. Its in deep snow and hasn’t sunk all the way to the ground.
She goes to bed and gets a good night’s sleep.
She is so proud of herself, that its painful for me ,to tell her to never do that again. Our nearest neighbor in the winter is a kilometer away. If she had fallen, or if the ladder had fallen, leaving her trapped on the roof in minus 40. She wouldn’t have lasted 2 hours, and she didn’t even take her phone.
I have gone up there and done the same thing. But never in the dark, never alone, I always had someone watching me. I always dug out the snow before placing the ladder. I never went up when it was below minus 35, though I would have if I had to.
What is the strangest reaction of someone who has just been fired?
The person to be fired was sitting in the VP’s office. Also present were an HR Rep, a person from Legal and the department manager (the immediate supervisor was not present).
The VP opened a folder and began to explain all the evidence they’d gathered. Theft of time, theft of property, misuse of resources and a few other things.
The firee held up his hand and said “Hey, you don’t need to read all that to me, and I’m sure you missed quite a bit. If that document you have there is an admission of wrongdoing, I get to say I was a voluntary quit and I can go my merry way as long as I don’t go around s**t-mouthing you, let me have it.”
According to the HR person (who told me about this), dead silence for a moment. Jaws dropping, and then the employee said “You guys are sloppy so maybe you should hire me back to stop people like me. I never got away with my crap anywhere else as long as I did here.”
More silence, then:
“Look, you know as well as me that if what I got away with ever got out to the clients, they’d be tripping over each other to rip up their contracts. You’re busy I’m sure and I guess I have to go get another job now so no games, okay. Just let me read that to be sure it won’t bite me and I’ll be on my way.”
The VP silently handed him the document, he read it, signed it and dated it. His parting words were “By the way, there’s nothing at my workstation I want, so just toss it if you like. See ya …”. Legal started to say “but we need to tell you about COBRA and your unemployment claim …” and he answered with “I probably know that stuff better than you. I can’t afford COBRA, I don’t qualify for unemployment because I’m a voluntary quit under what amounts to a gag agreement and I was never in the company retirement plan. See ya … got things to do.”
And he was gone, taking the 20 steps to the elevator never to be seen (by us) again.
Let it be said that there were a few VERY embarrassed people in that room. It soon became evident that he was telling the truth about all he got away with. A lot was right under the noses of the two area supervisors, but we had nothing in place at that time to pick up abuse of our email system (employees didn’t yet have Web access).
What caught him was that our Operations Manager, responsible for phone use, picked up on him quickly once he started abusing the phones (by calling 900 numbers). He hadn’t been misusing the phones prior to that. So the OpMgr was not only safe, but somewhat a hero. The employee, by not staying, never heard the part about his phone misuse and so never knew exactly how he was caught.
As a result:
- Both supervisors were put on final written warning.
- The department head got an oral to start paying more attention to what was going on “out there on the floor.”
- IT was authorized to hire a SysAdmin and to immediately implement steps to prevent future email abuse.
Never Become Reliant On Other People or Things For Peace and Happiness
It’s so damn easy to get caught up in the trap of thinking that our happiness is dependent on external factors.
We convince ourselves that we’ll finally be content and at peace when we have that perfect relationship, that dream job, that luxurious house, or that fat bank account.
But here’s the harsh truth: relying on other people or material things to make you happy is a recipe for perpetual disappointment and dissatisfaction.
Because the reality is, no one and nothing outside of yourself can fill the voids within you. That’s an inside job.
Sure, a loving partner, a fulfilling career, and financial abundance can certainly enhance your life and bring you joy. But if you’re not already at peace with yourself, if you haven’t cultivated a deep sense of self-love and self-worth, those external things will never be enough.
You’ll always be chasing the next high, the next temporary fix, the next shiny object that you think will finally complete you. But it’s a mirage. A fleeting illusion that leaves you thirstier than before.
The truth is, genuine, sustainable happiness comes from within. It comes from learning to love and accept yourself fully, flaws and all. It comes from discovering your passions and purpose and pursuing them with unbridled enthusiasm. It comes from developing a rock-solid relationship with your own damn self.
When you’re truly at peace with who you are, when you’ve built an unshakeable foundation of self-love and self-respect, external circumstances lose their power over you. You’re no longer a slave to your surroundings, no longer dependent on others for your emotional wellbeing.
You become the master of your own happiness, the alchemist of your own joy.
And from that place of inner peace and wholeness, you can build deeply fulfilling relationships and achieve incredible things. But they become the cherry on top, not the entire fucking sundae.
So stop waiting for someone or something outside of yourself to make you feel complete. Stop giving your power away to external forces that are ultimately beyond your control.
Start turning inward. Start excavating the gold that’s already within you. Start cultivating an unbreakable bond with yourself.
Because at the end of the day, you are the only one who can give yourself the love, acceptance, and validation you crave. You are the only one who can fill your own cup until it overflows with abundant peace, happiness, and self-assuredness.
And when you learn to do that, when you become your own primary source of joy and fulfillment, you become truly unstoppable. You become the kind of person who radiates contentment and gratitude wherever you go, regardless of your external reality.
That’s the kind of happiness worth striving for – the kind that comes from within and can never be taken away from you. The kind that endures through life’s inevitable ups and downs. The kind that allows you to weather any storm with grace and resilience.
So stop searching for yourself in other people and things. Stop making your happiness contingent on circumstances beyond your control.
Start digging deep within yourself. Start unearthing the peace and joy that’s already there, just waiting to be unleashed. Start cultivating an ironclad sense of self-love and self-reliance.
Because when you do, you’ll find that everything you’ve been searching for has been inside you all along. And that, my friend, is the ultimate freedom.
Some AI generations
What is the craziest reason someone threatened to fire you?
A new consultant was hired by my company. I was working my first real job out of school (sales). The consultant came out to spend the day making sales calls with me. He critiqued my work, I listened to him, and tried to implement some of his advice in the next calls. He was very full of himself and full of something else too. Most of his advice might have applied to someone making sales calls on people in offices. We were calling on farmers. He spent the day talking down to me.
I took him back to his hotel, then made the 25 minute drive to our house. I called the CEO of our company (our families were friends) and told her to never send the guy back to work with me. She began to laugh, which was very annoying. When her laughter had slowed down a bit, I asked her what she found so funny. ( I was still pretty angry.) She told me that the guy had called 20 minutes earlier and fired me.
This was the second guy who had fired me from the same job, and for the same reason: I wasn’t a “polished” salesman. The CEO knew when I was hired that it would take me some time to learn the business, so she ignored both of them. I was promoted back to the home office, and was still working for that company after both of the folks who had “fired” me were gone. The consultant only lasted a few weeks. He pulled the same stunt on others that he had on me. The CEO got rid of him.
What happens inside casinos that most people don‘t know?
- As someone who cleaned crime scenes, it is both amazing and creepy how well casinos would make every effort to cover up any suicides in the parking lots. The casinos know this is bad PR and they don’t want anyone to know that such occurs more than what one may think. Gambling addicts have the highest rate of suicide amongst all other addicts combined. Don’t believe such a statistic? Feel free to research it.
- Casinos make the majority of their profits from gambling addicts. The kind who will gamble any time they have $20, electric bill be damned. If it wasn’t for the gambling addicts, casinos would not prosper nearly as much. It isn’t the high rollers nor the couple who goes out for a date. Those folks definitely help the profit margin but at the end of the day, the compulsive gamblers are where the majority of their profits originate from.
- Casinos give the option of banning yourself but it’s a laughable illusion. I’ve known many folks who banned their self for five years and never had an issue entering during their ban. If you chest the casino, then somehow their facial recognition technology suddenly works. Imagine that….
- Whenever a person jackpots, the manager of whatever area of the casino will come by and congratulate you. They will then take your I.D. ad disappear for a bit. What they are doing is trying to find out any possible way to not pay what is owed. Banned? You aren’t entitled to your jackpot. Have warrants? Good luck with that. The manager will then return with some dimwitted hostess. No one knows what the hostess actually does besides stand around and wear that plastic smile of theirs. They of course expect a nice tip for not actually even accomplishing anything. I will tip the folks cleaning out ash trays becsuse those workers actually have a real job which doesn’t rely on flirting with old men for better tips (basically prostituting one’s self in a way).
There are other things as well but I don’t wanna end up typing out a rambling explanation which goes on for hours.
Pep Talk on a Dark Day
Clusterfuck Nation
You realize, don’t you, that what’s going on in our country is the collapse not just of an empire, or an economy, but a comprehensive paradigm of human progress. The hallmark of post-war life in Western Civ was supposed to be a return to sanity after the mid-twentieth century fugue of mass psychotic violence. The wish for just and rational order was not entirely pretense. But that was then. Now that we are going medieval on ourselves, the not-so-ironic result will be our literally going medieval, sinking back into a pre-modern existence of darkness, superstition, and penury, grubbing for a mere subsistence in the shadow of scuffling hobgoblins, our achievements lost and forgotten.
What’s most appalling is that our governing apparatus is visibly willing that to happen. When Barack Obama warned America to not underestimate Joe Biden’s ability to fuck things up, was that some kind of joke? After all, it was Mr. Obama and his fellow blobsters — the cabal of Intel spooks, covert Marxist bureaucrats, lawfare ninjas, globalist megalomaniacs, post-liberal think tankers, weapons grifters, degenerate billionaires, and assorted mentally-ill camp followers — who inflicted Joe Biden on the body politic. And then ran him on the country like some demon algorithm designed to wreck the USA as fast as possible.
The source of anguish in all that is the struggle to understand why they would want that to happen. What debauched sense of history would drive anyone to such lunatic desperation? It’s a cliché now to say that the Democratic Party has turned its traditional moral scaffold upside down and inside out. It acts against the kitchen table interests of the working and middle classes. It’s against civil liberties. It demands mental obedience to patently insane policy. It’s avid for war, no matter how cruelly pointless. It’s deliberately stirring up racial hatred. It despises personal privacy. It feeds a rogue bureaucracy that has become a veritable Moloch, an all-devouring malevolent deity. And now, rather suddenly, it aligns itself with a faction that seeks to exterminate the Jews.
And how did the opposition to that epic divergence into bad faith turn so flabby? How did the Republican Party roll over and wheeze so feebly while the FBI ran amok swatting grandmothers in dawn raids, and the US attorney general made justice a whore, and a Republican Congress allowed the Frankenstein agency of Homeland Security to flood the country with its enemies and give them gobs of operational cash? If Mr. Trump was unappetizing to them as a leader, why were they unable to produce an alternative figure of standing and stature at least equally resolute? They look like traitors and cowards.
For the moment, the country lies mired, inert, and demoralized in the face of in those terrible mysteries. But events are still tending and the hidden hand of emergence still operates backstage, preparing surprises for us. You are necessarily aware that the center did not hold. It’s even hard to locate where the center used to be with the action so heavy on the far-out margins. You’re watching drag queens importune young children to shove all the Jews into the sea. And the kids are sitting next to their mommies. What happened to the mommies’ brains that permits them to think this spectacle is okay? How will the mommies ever get their minds right?
In some quarters, a great rage is building. Not a few resent the overthrow of common sense, common law, and common decency. You better believe they will be aiming to do something about it. They will stand up for their dignity, their culture, their history. Virtue isn’t dead; it’s just broke down on a lonely highway waiting to hitch a ride back to where the lights are still on. Don’t forget that this really is the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Meanwhile, prepare for action. It’s obvious that the enemies of the people don’t intend to rest. They are going to try to play out this string to the last move because otherwise a lot of them will be going to jail, or might even hang for their wickedness. Once they turned criminal, there was no turning back. They have dishonored themselves and they’re trying to dishonor their country.
It’s true nonetheless that we’re moving into a new disposition of the human project. It’s going to be smaller and leaner, and not nearly as complex as the tottering Rube Goldberg apparatus we’re currently trapped in. We don’t know yet what the shape and texture of that America is going to be. As the sage Yogi Berra observed, our whole future is ahead of us. If you’re not among the insane, have faith. We’ll get there and everything is going to be all right.
Do you want to move to China from the US?
I am neither Chinese or American but am an Australian outsider observer! From where I stand I would wonder why anyone from a thriving, prosperous expanding nation would want to move to.
Why would an American want to move to China?
Different people have different reasons.
I came to China because the Chinese government agreed to support my research and give me opportunity to build a team to pursue solutions for health problems with genomics. I tried again and again through the grant process and VC channels in the US. For grants, if you weren’t part of the group that gets most of the grant money or one of their proteges (“the club”), you weren’t getting a grant. And, if you weren’t 20 something with no experience but full of wild ideas VC funds weren’t interested, they are all looking for the next Zuckerberg or Gates. They didn’t care about sound business plans.
So, I came to China where I was first able to almost immediately raise money from VCs and then after a year the Chinese government agreed to support me, my team and my projects.
China is the land of opportunity for talented scientists. They are putting a lot of money into developing a broad group of technologies of which biotech is one. A key focus of the education system is STEM graduates. So, for me, China was the obvious choice.
Note: I could’ve gotten a job in the US and been paid a very good wage, although I am doing well, especially by Chinese standards, I would’ve made more in the US. But, here I am supported to pursue my passion. And, it is a very good opportunity to experience the culture and the people.
The largest group of American expats here in China are teachers though. In China, teaching is a very well respected profession and the teachers are well compensated with lots of perks. They came here, some for the experience, most for the increased wages and respect that they found they lacked in the US.
My father left my brother/sister very little inheritance compared to me due to little contact with him. They feel I should give them a bigger part of the inheritance. I’d like opinions on whether my father’s wishes should be followed or not?
I have a simular situation — my older sister (79) took my dad (99) to a dealership and she used my dad’s debit card to buy a car — $36,000 and $6000 cash down last year. She paid him $400 monthly for a year! How does that add up to $30,000?
He bought her a house in 1980 cash in Calif. Dad also gave her his stamp collection ($80,000). Dad pays $1100 a month to live in her and her husbands (96) house. They called me over to help care for my dad so I do most his stuff and became his POA (they charge me $500 plus $250 food to stay here). My sister takes care of her husband. Dad has about $70,000 cash and he wrote a will splitting it between my brother (71) and I (68) only. My sister got upset!
My Sister originally had it written that she would keep the car plus $20,000 cash, stamp collection and I for some reason would receive nothing —leaving my brother to get the rest.
I am the closest to Dad. I am in the nursing field and was the only one of us kids to care for my Dad’s Mom a year, my Mother’s Mom 10 years in my home. And my Mom 5 years who had a terrible illness with no help from siblings. My Sister will demand we split the remaining cash 3 ways but Dad wrote it his way and I will honor it the way he chose it.
What is the most petty thing you’ve done, or someone has done to you?
This girl stole my thermos that my dad gave to me with his company’s name on it, and tried to pretend that it was hers all along.
Let’s call this girl Maya.
Now, Maya and I weren’t friends, but we were pretty friendly. Just the normal, ‘hi’ and ‘hello’ occasionally.
She was really good friends with some of my friends at that point.
One Friday I had left my thermos at school. It sucked, but I waited until Monday to get it back.
I searched all over the school for it, but I couldn’t find it.
A week later, a friend of mine pointed out Maya’s ‘new’ thermos and asked, “Wait, isn’t that your thermos?”.
It most definitely was mine.
Of course, I made sure that it was, in fact, mine.
Scratches that I made in it with a pencil? Check.
Company name etched into it? Check.
Was it literally the exact same thermos I had lost a week ago? Triple check.
After eliminating any and all possibility that this was not my thermos, I finally confronted Maya.
She decided to play dumb.
Me: Hey, Maya, where’d you get that thermos from?
Maya: Uh, my mom bought it for me.
Me: Huh, where does your mom work?
Maya: At some nursing place, why?
Me: I see…and is that the place written on your thermos?
Maya: …Yup.
*she tries to walk away at this point but I stop her*
Me: Well, that’s odd, because I had just lost a thermos recently that was the exact same! Funny how that company is actually my dad’s and how it’s a trucking company.
Maya: Um, I’ve had this thermos for a couple weeks now.
Me: …Is that so? Well, if you see my thermos around please tell me!
Maya: Will do!
It was so frustrating because she was obviously lying to me. I knew she was lying. She knew I knew she was lying. But she kept lying.
I tried to address our mutual friends but they took her side. They lied and said that she’s had it ‘since Christmas’, when Maya said herself that she’d only had it for a couple weeks.
I felt extremely frustrated with the entire situation so I vented to a teacher I was close with and trusted.
He said that I should just leave it be if I already addressed it with her since it was only a thermos.
IT WAS NOT ONLY A THERMOS!
If she got away with this once, that would give her a reason to do it again and again!
I had to do good, vigilante-style justice, to teach Ms. Maya a lesson.
During my 8th period class I asked my teacher if I could fill up my water bottle.
I knew what class she had then: Band.
Now band is pretty chaotic, but the music teacher thinks I’m an awesome person since I stay in there during lunch all the time.
No one gave me a second look when I walked in.
I spotted Maya. She was in the far corner of the room by the piano joking and laughing with the very friends who had lied to me.
She had left all her belongings closer to the door where I now was.
I walked by them but saw that the thermos wasn’t there.
I looked back over to the piano and there it was, in all its glory.
The thermos!
My thermos.
It was sitting at the top of the piano while she was sitting on the piano bench facing the other way.
I walked up as casually as possible, planning on getting the thermos and getting the hell out of there.
A friend of hers saw me and I mentally froze.
I got over my initial shock and then gave her a smile and a ‘Hey!’, and pretended I wasn’t doing anything wrong.
She smiled back and went back to talking with Maya.
I gave a sigh of relief and decided to just go big or go home.
I grabbed the thermos, turned around, waved to the band teacher and made my way to the door.
Mentally praying, ‘please don’t let her see me, please don’t let her see me, please don’t let her see me..’, I made it all the way to the door.
In a moment of weakness I took a quick glance back to make sure I wasn’t spotted.
They were still talking and laughing, oblivious to the fact that I just won this one-sided war.
I smiled to myself and walked out the door and back to my class.
Maya never knew what happened to ‘her’ thermos.
And I never brought it to school again.
Crab Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 4 tablespoons butter, divided
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/4 cup chopped onion
- 1 (6 ounce) can crab meat or 6 ounces imitation crab meat
- 1 can mushroom stems
- 1/3 cup crushed saltines (10)
- 2 tablespoons parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon salt pepper
- 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
Instructions
- Cover chicken breasts with plastic wrap and pound to a 1/4 inch thickness.
- In saucepan, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter.
- Stir in flour until smooth.
- Gradually stir in chicken broth and milk and bring to a boil. Boil and stir for 2 minutes.
- Remove from heat and set aside.
- In a skillet, sauté onion in remaining 1 tablespoon butter until tender.
- Add crab meat, mushrooms, crushed saltines, parsley, salt and pepper and 2 tablespoons of the white sauce; heat until warm.
- Place 1/2 cup or less of mixture on each chicken breast. Roll up and secure with wooden picks.
- Place in greased baking dish with secured side down. Top with remaining sauce.
- Cover and bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes or until chicken runs clear.
- Sprinkle cheese and paprika on top.
- Bake uncovered 8 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.
- The hottest place in hell is reserved for those who deliberately arouse someone’s love without the intention of loving them back.
- Pretty people aren’t always beautiful, and beautiful people aren’t always pretty. I hope you know the difference.
- You’re not really rich until you have something that money can’t buy.
- The more you can talk about uncomfortable things with someone, the more comfortable you’re with them
- The less you react, the more stable you become. Yes, chemistry works in real life situations too 🙂
- Don’t judge the choices someone made if you don’t know the options they had to choose from.
- Be sweet like sugar but don’t let people use and dissolve you as per their requirement.
- No one ever became big in life by showing how small someone else is.
- If there is no one to hold your hand, put your hand in your pocket and continue.
- Everyone loves you until you become competition.
- One must not lose faith in humanity . humanity is like an ocean , if few drops of ocean is dirty , ocean doesn’t become dirty.
- We can complain rose bushes have thorns or we can rejoice that thorn bushes have rose. So it always our choice to be positive or negative.
- Not everyone you lose, is a loss.
- I read this one somewhere- The best way to be safe is to be dangerous.
TESLA KNEW The Secret of the Great Pyramid: Unlimited Energy to Power the World
This is really great!
TESLA KNEW The Secret of the Great Pyramid of Giza: A Power Plant to Generate Unlimited Free Energy for the World Nikola Tesla believed that he could harness the energy from inside the earth and transmit that power wirelessly around the world. His early experiments were successful. But his research mysteriously vanished after his death. There is no evidence left of Tesla’s wireless power technology. Or is there? For years we were taught that the Great Pyramid of Giza was a tomb for a king. It wasn’t. It had a different purpose. Tesla didn’t invent wireless power. It’s been here for 5,000 years. And probably a lot longer than that. Let’s find out why.