When I first moved to Shenzhen and living with my wife and her dog, PP (who was soon to be my dog) he was very stressed. And also, very excited. And when a dog is stressed, he cannot help himself… he starts peeing everywhere.
it was starting to become a real problem and we had to keep him in a cage in the house as he was drenching everything. The couch, the chairs, the rug, the mats, the porch the… heck, you name it… and he peed on it.
I well remember the time when we were going out for dinner and a drink. We were in the elevator moving from the 38th floor to the lobby. And somewhere around the 17th floor an attractive gal enters the elevator.
She was all made up. Clean, perfume, fixed hair and brand new dress with nylons and high heels.
And here is PP…
He lifts his leg to spray all over her, when i stop him and give him a swift kick that threw him to the side of the elevator. The dog pee spraying all over. But, thankfully missing the girl, and everyone else in the elevator.
Phew!
Well, we had to deal with that kind of behavior for a while until we got rid of the the younger dog; “Super” who was the one causing all the stress. But until then it was really touch and go.
PP had this thing about roads.
As soon as we were in the middle of the road, he would sniff it and start to take a dump right there and then. The on-coming cars would screech to a stop and start honking like crazy. Damn! We couldn’t take him anywhere.
Well, eventually he calmed down, and all was good. But, for the first year or so, it was Hell on earth. Yellow pee was flying everywhere.
But, at least, it wasn’t on that pretty girls leg.
Thank God!
Today…
Do you expect more countries to claim that China approached or intimidated one of their warships or aircraft in the East or South China Sea?
Yes. As long as they are US allies, they will work for USA to spy on China on the edge of Chinese territory.
The latest example is Netherlands.
In name of doing the job for UN to maintain security on Korean peninsula, a Dutch warship sailed thru Taiwan strait which is far away from Korea. … it is Dutch who told the world that the Korean mission was a lie. Spying on China is the real reason.
After finished with the Korean mission, why must the Dutch sail on the edge of Chinese territory at East Sea? The Dutch made itself a suspect of a crime.
Psychology says that normally a criminal reacts more violently than the victim. To hide its illegal activity, a criminal normally will intimidate the victim by barking on top of their lung, hoping their bark will cover their cowardice.
Hence, we see the Dutch barked at China when they were expelled by China.
Another reason to bark loudly is to make sure its “owner” – USA can hear it. “Job done, Boss USA.”, said the Dutch.
In terms of conspiracy ie lie, there is a saying: When a lie is barked 1 million times, a lie will become truth.
Like Jesus. According to Jewish history, Jesus was a man who rebelled the Jewish authority. Got caught & sentenced to death. A hero to some people has become son of god for 2000 years.
See, you say a lie 1 million times, The lie will become truth one day.
All cultures have creators. All creators made the SAME sun, rain, humans, animals, plants etc. It means it is the same creator, be in polytheism or mono.
Different wisdom will create different cultures incl religions. But Christians think Jesus is son of creator.
What is the most depressing thing a student has said to you?
Student was failing math and was sent to my office for a “pep talk.” I tried to get the student to understand that it really is harder to get an “F” grade in a class, than to do the bare minimum and receive a passing grade.
He looked at me and said that he had reviewed the “new” summer school policy adopted by the district that stated, in essence, that if a student receives a “D” or “F” grade in a core subject, he/she is entitled to repeat the class (remedial) free of charge during summer school session.
However, if the student receives a “C” grade or higher, and merely wants to improve his/her grade, the cost of retaking the class would be $360.00, a sum that his parents could not afford.
Therefore he intended to fail the class, retake it during the summer session and strive for a “B” or “A” in the course.
I was stunned by his logic, but also quite impressed by his savvy. His reasoning was sound. Having no strategy to defend such a ludicrous district policy, I told him to sit quietly in the class for the balance of the semester, not disturb or distract others, and wished him well during summer school as he repeated the course for free.
Word spread quickly and summer school quickly filled up with “remedial” students.
FYI- He “blew away” the summer session and received an “A” in the course.
The logic of the student was brilliant. The depressing aspect of the story was the stupidity of the district leadership and board to adopt such a asinine policy.
Russia Exposes The Dollar’s Hegemony As US Lawmaker Admits “We Could Seize China’s Assets”
Biden says China wants to become the most wealthy, powerful country but it’s “not gonna happen on my watch”. What methods has he taken? Has he achieved it?
Biden is a fucking jackass. What’s wrong with China becoming the most wealthy and powerful country?
At least, unlike America, China is a peaceful nation. It has fought no wars in the last 45 years. Remind me how many wars America has fought during this period.
Unlike America, China works to bring peace to the world. It brokered an historic peace deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia. It called for peace negotiations in the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas conflicts. It called for the Palestinians to have their own independent state.
But America blocked all of this.
Unlike America, China is helping developing countries with the Belt and Road Initiative. America has done fuck-all for these countries.
Unlike America, China does not punish countries with sanctions for not complying with its foreign policy.
Biden and America can just fuck off.
When did you first realize your child was different?
I first suspected the day after he was born. He was alert and looking around. Yes, I know they can’t focus their eyes but this kid was staring right at me. I felt he was staring through me. I told my wife it was like a sentient being was staring at me from behind those eyes.
At two weeks he would hold his head up to get a better view.
I was song leader at church and during service sat on the platform next to the pastor when something else was going on. My wife sat on the front row holding the baby. At six months he noticed me on the platform and mouthed “Hi, Pop” to me as clearly as day. The pastor noticed and whispered “He said ‘Hi, Pop.’” I nodded in agreement.
I started to write that he began walking at 9 months. In fact, he hit the floor running and has never slowed down.
His older brother and sister are smart and smarter. They both swear that he is smarter than either of them. Unfortunately he was diagnosed late with ADHD. He found it very hard to focus on boring things and developed bad study habits. He attempted college twice but never took to book learning. He drives a truck for a living. He also plays ukulele, recorder, and bass guitar. He juggles, makes glass marbles, roasts and grinds his own coffee brand, yo-yoes competitively, and is a former state spin top champion. He sews costumes for himself and his kids. He can also wire a house, rebuild a car engine, and create graphic art.
Oh, and he is 6 feet 4 inches (1.9m) tall and 240 pounds (108kg) of solid muscle. Best of all, he is still my sweet,tender-hearted, little boy.
PEPE ESCOBAR: RUSSIA READIES FOR WAR WITH NATO AS PUTIN DROPS BOMBSHELL ON U.S. DOLLAR
Super exciting!
Why do you think China’s zero tolerance on corruption made China great today?
I was spending a lot of time in China for business during the early 2000s. Corruption was a real and growing problem and dealing with it was a dilemma my team there faced on a regular basis.
You know it’s a problem when you meet with the son of a high ranking provincial government official and he starts complaining about corruption!
I was still traveling frequently to China as Xi Jinping’s crackdown on corruption started. I was very skeptical it would be effective because I viewed it as a ploy to consolidate power.
I’m still not convinced that wasn’t one of his goals, but one change I noticed immediately was at the 5* hotel I usually stayed at in Changsha. Prior to the crackdown, its restaurants and lounges were thronged with officials entertaining business contacts and throwing expensive banquets. After the crackdown started, it stopped; the whole place was empty.
The other thing I noticed was thoroughness of the crackdown. A local business contact with whom I had negotiated a joint-venture due to his strong connections with the mobile industry was pulled in for lengthy interrogation by Public Security — simply because his contact at China Mobile had been found guilty of corruption. The police were talking to everyone in his network. In fact, I was warned to stay away until things had blown over.
I suppose it’s a smart and pragmatic policy that consolidates power while at the same time dealing with a problem that if left unchecked could in time threaten the Party’s legitimacy.
I’ve seen the corrosive effect of corruption on countries such as Indonesia, Cambodia and the Philippines. Unless it is dealt with, it becomes endemic. It also gets worse over time. I think the clean up of graft was a necessary step in China’s ongoing development. There’s still a ways to go, but it seems to be heading in the right direction.
Can you destroy your entire life with one wrong decision?
Yep. When I was young I sat on a First Degree murder trial of a 19-year old Marine who, on payday, went out with a friend on Friday night. They met a couple of girls at a bar and began drinking. At one point the girls introduced them to a guy friend of theirs and all had a great time, drinking and carousing. Then, late into the evening, the guy friend said “let’s roll a boot”, meaning rob a new recruit. Their plan was for the girls to lure two new marines to a vacant house out in the desert east of San Diego, where the three guys woul lie in wait until the girls could get them really drunk and then the guys would burst in, hold them up and steal their paychecks.
Sounded simple, if criminal, and this is where things went pear shaped. First, the three guys who were part of the plan armed themselves. Then one of the victims tried to run and the girl’s friend shot the kid as he tried to run off into the desert in the night. Poor boy had no chance. He was picked off as he came out the back door.
The defendant wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger. Had no priors and was in his way to a great life in the USMC. However, because he and his friend allowed themselves to get pulled into the robbery of the two younger marines, the shooter went away for life (had a wrap sheet as long as my arm, apparently, as did the girls). The two older Marines were both found guilty under the Felony Murder Rule. We had no option. The defense’s argument simply didn’t meet reasonable doubt requirements, and the kid at my trial went away to state prison for a long stretch. We heard about what a great kid he was and how his family and friends were shocked that he’d do something like this, but nothing could bridge the gap that he was there, part of the other crime (to rob the two boys), and therefore, he was guilty under the rule.
His life was ruined all because his common sense was impaired by lust and alcohol and he exercised really poor judgement.
Stubborn Cat Only Likes Listening To One Song | Cuddle Buddies
This is beyond adorable!
When Pinar went to a clinic she saw a cat named Goat hiding in a box all alone. The vet wanted to put her to sleep but Pinar refused to let that happen. When she brought her home she nursed her back to health and started singing to her. Goat loves when Pinar sings and she always wants to listen to the same song. They have formed such a strong bond together and Pinar could not imagine her life without Goat
https://youtu.be/A7m5qfBUyFg
When was the last time you screamed as loud as you possibly could? And why?
In August of 2016. My baby sister refused to die. Her entire body was eaten with cancer and her pain was unbearable. The hospice said a 300 lb biker would die in 24 hours from the amounts of fentanyl etc she was getting . But I knew she was not going to die until September 11. Our father died on 9/11 …15 years earlier. She was waiting for him to come get her.
She would scream in pain. She would scream “Laura, save me” Then they would come with more drugs and try to quiet her. It never lasted long.
One night I could not bear the screams and I left the hospice and started walking, but I could still hear her. “ Laura, save me”. About 2 blocks away I could not hear her any more. I sat down in the grass and I started screaming . I screamed because she was dying. I screamed because she would not die. I screamed because I was beating cancer and she wasn’t. I screamed because I could not save her. I screamed until the police came and they talked me into going back.
On 9/9 she stopped screaming. She just lay there with her beautiful blond hair on the pillow and her big blue eyes looking at me. She patted my hand. She had a little smile on her lips. On the morning of 9/11/2016 she gently slipped away. I think our Daddy came for her. I did not scream again.
Peaceful Husband Secretly Records Coercive and Controlling Wife | Sheree Spencer Case Analysis
What is the most clever defense you’ve seen someone use in the courtroom?
This isn’t something along the lines of the “Twinkie” or “affluenza” defenses, but it was the most clever defense strategy I’ve seen in over 30 years as a commercial litigator.
By way of backstory, this case started in the early 90’s and it was a beast. Our clients had purchased a portfolio of mobile home loans with a total face value over $100,000,000. Our folks got crossways with the seller and there were claims going both ways – including fraud and other nasty allegations. One of our co-defendants was represented by a truly remarkable lawyer, Henry. He was somewhat of a legend in the Houston legal community.
Henry had been practicing for decades by this time, and one of the things that made him so remarkable was his ability to command all of the facts of each case. By the time he got to trial, Henry knew EVERYTHING about the parties, the facts, the documents, the witnesses, the judge, etc. If it was in any way important, Henry knew it. That’s what allowed him to use this particular defense strategy in all his cases.
What Henry would do, even in a case like ours (multiple parties, hundreds of exhibits, dozens of witnesses), was walk into the courtroom with NOTHING but a Big Chief tablet and a pencil. That’s it. How did it work? Like a charm.
The plaintiffs walked in with 3 lawyers, 4 paralegals, other support staff carrying 20 or more boxes, and there was Henry, alone, with just a pad and a pencil. To the jury, he looked like the little guy up against overwhelming opposition. That gained him and his client the potential “sympathy” advantage and, whenever he would ask to use an exhibit the other side marked, it looked like he was using THEIR documents against them. It wasn’t true, of course, but that was the impression it left on the jury.
Classic Pizza Margherita
(Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil Pizza)
Thin, crisp crusts like this one are the hallmarks of much Italy’s pizza. Another vital element is not overloading the pie with toppings – less is definitely more on pizza. This dough goes together quickly and can be used after a single rising. If time is very short, blend, knead, rest for 30 minutes, and roll out. No baking stone is needed, since you slip the crust out of the pan and crisp it directly on the bottom rack of the oven during the last two minutes of baking. Use stone-ground, organic flour if possible.
Yield: 1 (14 to 16 inch pizza), serving 4 to 6.
Ingredients
Neapolitan Style Pizza Crust
- Generous 1/4 teaspoon dry yeast
- 1/2 cup warm water (about 100 degrees F)
- 1 teaspoon all-purpose unbleached flour
- 1 to 1 1/4 cups organic, stone ground all-purpose unbleached flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Additional flour
Margherita Topping
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 medium onion, minced
- 1 sprig parsley, chopped
- 1 large clove garlic, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon dry oregano
- 1 1/2 cups canned whole peeled tomatoes
- 1/3 cup packed fresh basil leaves, torn
- 3 ounces fresh mozzarella (in liquid), thinly sliced
- 2 to 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- Freshly-ground black pepper
- Salt
Instructions
Neapolitan Style Pizza Crust
- In a medium mixing bowl or food processor, blend yeast, water and teaspoon of flour. Foam should form on surface in about 8 minutes (if not, yeast is past its prime; find fresher).
- Blend in remaining flour and salt, forming a smooth, quite soft, slightly sticky dough. Blend in food processor no more than 30 seconds (then knead 5 minutes by hand); in mixer blend for about 5 minutes; by hand stir to blend and knead for 5 minutes.
- Place in a large oiled bowl, cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let stand in a cool place until doubled in bulk (about 1 1/2 hours). If not ready to bake, keep dough covered and hold up to 8 hours.
- About 20 minutes before baking, punch down, knead a minute or two and then form into a ball, cover.
- To make pizza, lightly oil a 14 to 16 inch pizza pan. Heat oven to 500 degrees F, setting rack as low as possible in oven.
- Roll out dough as thin as possible to about a 16 inch round (no more than 1/16 inch thick). Spread over pan, rolling in edges to form a rim. Let rest for 10 minutes.
- Top as desired or suggested below and bake for 10 minutes.
- Using a spatula and thick oven mitt, slip the pizza off the pan directly onto the oven rack by pulling out rack, grasping pizza pan firmly with protected hand, and using spatula or pancake turner to slip pie off pan and onto rack. Slide rack back in place and bake 2 minutes. Slip pie back onto pan, remove from oven. Cut and serve.
Margherita Topping
- In a 10 inch skillet heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium high heat. Sauté onion and parsley to golden, then stir in garlic and oregano for a few seconds. Add tomatoes, crushing them as they go into the pan (do not substitute crushed tomatoes). Boil, stirring, 5 minutes or until thick.
- Spread sauce over rolled out crust, sprinkle with basil, mozzarella, and finally the oil. Finish with generous black pepper and a little salt. Bake as directed above.
Notes
Variation: In Naples, fresh or canned tomatoes often replace tomato sauce on pizza. Make sure tomatoes have big, rich flavor and use them judiciously.
More Variations: Use any of the following flavorings sparingly, but only enough to flavor, not overwhelm: Sliced red onion, pitted olives, pepperoni, anchovy, sliced mushrooms, steamed broccoli or cauliflower, salami, prosciutto, roasted peppers, shrimp, cooked Italian sausage, hot pepper, fresh herbs such as marjoram, oregano, mint, garlic, rosemary or sage. For “Americanized” pizza, use tandoori marinated chicken breasts, oven roasted vegetables, salsa and anything else you desire.
Have you ever woken up one morning and said, “I’m done” and then walked away from your life?
It’s never quite that simple. I had been going to University, my dad had a heart attack, and I quit university to go run the family business until it could be sold.
That was walking away from one life path.
Then about the time the business was sold, 4 years later, I was reading Dear Abby, and someone wrote in, and said I’m 32, I want to go back to university and get qualified for my dream job, but in 4 years when I graduate, I will be 36, what should I do. Dear Abby said, how old will you be in 4 years if you don’t go get your dream job?
I was 4 years older than when I quit university, I wanted different things now. So when the business sold, I ran away to sea. That was walking away from two life paths, university and the family business, all at the same time.
Eventually I became a ships Captain and fulfilled my dream of seeing most of world. Then I noticed that all of the crew over 35, were either divorced or estranged from their kids. I couldn’t just walk away, I worked 4 months a year, and got a degree in something that I hadn’t even thought of when I was 18. Then I walked away from working at sea.
I got a great job, but unfortunately it paid a bonus for productivity, and I got hooked. I was making twice as much in bonus, as I was making from my generous salary. But I was working 12 hour weekdays, and 8 hour weekends. My mother got very ill, and I walked away from that job, and took one that gave lots of time off.
Then finally when covid hit, I said enough is enough, and I walked away from that and retired to the wilderness…
Chang’e 6 Moon Rover on Far Side in 4K panorama
[I just had a conversation with Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Axel Springer SE, a board member of Netflix, and the owner of Politico. His newspapers strongly advocate Western resistance towards Eastern despotism. We discussed this argument, which you also hear in Switzerland. They say, ‘Well, you know, China is a threat; they are evading WTO rules. We have Russia, which is an autocracy.’ There is a sense, and I think it’s an authentic sense, with these voices that our way of life, our democracy, is threatened. Therefore, we have to contain these countries, these powers. I’m sure you’re confronted with this argument as well. What do you counter in this sense? What’s your answer to that?]
"Well, first of all, it's a meme or a theme that goes back to Herodotus in the Greek-Persian Wars. It's a theme since Alexander and the Hellenistic empires that he created. It is a theme of the Roman Empire in its battles with the Parthians, with the Persians, that went on for several centuries. It is a theme during the Crusades and the infidels to the east. It is a theme that was part and parcel of the rhetoric of the British Empire, and it was a theme of the Enlightenment—Asian despotism, Western values. It's extraordinarily trite is what it is. It is trite; it is simple-minded. [Is it paranoia?] It is ignorance, basically. People should go out and go to China, make some friends, have some Chinese students, go to Moscow, go to other places in the world. This 'us versus them' mentality is kind of primitive. Maybe it's a basic psychological state. Evolutionary biologists think that because small bands competed with each other over campsites and foraging areas, group solidarity and otherness of the other side is a fundamental theme. But the East-West theme is at least 2,400 years old. It's a little boring, and it's such a crude character. When Biden came into office, of course, he's not a very intelligent person even when he was younger, but his whole foreign policy was 'democracies versus autocracies.' I didn't know whether to put my thumb in my mouth and suck my thumb for how stupid this was or how dangerous this kind of divide-the-world approach is. Turns out it's the latter. Biden meant it. He's absolutely dividing the world. He doesn't sit down to have conversations with anybody. We're great; they're evil. By the way, you know, your friend at Springer—China's really going to endanger the American way of life? Come on. Are you kidding? What are you talking about? [Is there a sense of an identity crisis here in the West? We have this woke philosophy, the questioning of everything—even biology. Then you have this kind of moral absolutism, not just in foreign affairs but also in interior affairs, cancel culture. These could be read as symptoms of a severe identity crisis, which is somehow compensated by these pictures, you know, by this kind of Dr. Strangelove way of looking at the world.] I think it's actually something a little bit different in my view, although there are many interpretations. But you know, in 1095, Pope Urban called for the First Crusade. Europe was pretty pathetic at that stage. It was peasants as serfs on manorial farms. But the idea was the crusade against the infidel and the reconquest of the Holy Land, and all of that. It started what was a thousand years of Western ascendancy looking back. The idea that the West has the dominant moral, religious philosophy—that it should lead the world. Crusading became not only a literal series of wars but an idea. The idea of the West spreading Western values, Western dominance, whatever those values were: African slavery, conquest, empire, whatever. Then, of course, the next phase was the voyages of Columbus and Vasco de Gama. Adam Smith, writing 275 years after that, said those were the two game-changers of the world because it basically became an interconnected but Western-led world. Then with the industrialization of the 19th century and with Darwinism, by the way, in its interpretations by social Darwinists, the idea was Europe is superior in power, superior in values, probably superior in genetics. That became the new idea when the idea of evolution and genetics came at the beginning of the 20th century. [So you would say that this is kind of a superiority complex that is still raging within the West, if I correct?] Yes, but with one major fact, which is that it's so flawed, so arrogant. Now we live in a multipolar world. The great trick of Protestantism was teaching people how to read. Literacy came early to Europe's north. That was a huge economic advantage, by the way. Huge. Probably the most significant thing was the printing press and Luther saying, 'Read the Bible on your own,' and Calvin saying, 'Read the Bible.' Suddenly, literacy. The rest of the world was basically illiterate. One part of the world was literate and then saying, 'We're literate, we have advanced technology, we're superior. Oh, we're genetically superior. Oh, we're racially superior.' So this became the idea. Now all of it was kind of cruel nonsense, even in historical terms, because the other great civilizations were like, 'Well, you know, we've been here too for 3,000 years, sorry to tell you.' Now we're truly at a moment where the United States can't get its way in Ukraine. The United States can't get its way in Taiwan. The United States can't get its way in the Middle East. The Arabs have woken up, by the way. They've been manipulated by the British Empire, by the French, by the American Empire for a hundred years. They're saying, 'Stop, no more. Don't manipulate us.' What's happening is a thousand years, or you could say since Herodotus, but basically a thousand or 500 or 200 years, depending on when you want to date it, of perceived European superiority. What your counterpart at Springer said, you know, 'Western values,' that's not just 'we have our values,' that's 'our superiority' is what's being expressed there. This is being challenged, understandably, properly, by the fact that there are other people in the world. Thank you. When I add up the vote count, as it were, the U.S. has 335 million people, the European Union has 450 million people. Add in Switzerland, add in Norway, add in Britain, and you get maybe 900 million people. Add in, if you want, though it's kind of arbitrary, Japan, Korea, add in Australia, New Zealand, maybe you get to a billion people. That's 12.5% of the world population. We're going to run the world? Come on."
Excerpt from remarks by Professor Jeffrey Sachs, American economist and academic, in an interview with Roger Köppel for Die Weltwoche, June 6, 2024.
China, and not the US, just built the world’s first Artificial Intelligence hospital.
China just do rather than talk.
“HUGE Legal Victory – HFDF Wins Appeal in Ninth Circuit” – Barbara Ann
.Take note. - MM
Note: I am not a lawyer and the following is not intended as a legal treatment of the issues presented. I welcome expert opinions from any lawyers among the Committee.
“The Ninth Circuit ruling today demonstrates that the court saw through LAUSD’s monkey business, and in so doing, it made clear that American’s [sic] cherished rights to self determination, including the sacred right of bodily autonomy in matters of health, are not negotiable. This is a great triumph for the truth, decency, and what is right.”
This is the statement issued by the Health Freedom Defense Fund (HFDF) on a recent ruling by the Ninth Circuit appeal court against a Vaxx mandate imposed on all employees by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The LAUSD Vaxx mandate is currently suspended and was originally implemented with the sanction of the loss of employment. The ruling covered at least three important points:-
The court recognized that the COVID-19 Vaxx is not a “traditional vaccine” as it does not prevent infection and transmission
The court recognized that the original ruling (in LAUSD’s favor) did not extend to “forced medical treatment” for the recipient’s benefit (the LAUSD had cited the precedent set by a 1905 decision on mandated smallpox inoculations)
Although the mandate is not currently in force, the court dismissed a mootness argument given that the LAUSD “expressly reserved the option to again consider imposing a vaccine mandate” (quote from the opinion summary)
Here is a paragraph from the HFDF’s statement:
The court declined to give any deference to pronouncements by the CDC that the “COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective.” As the court asked rhetorically, “safe and effective” for what? The majority pointed to HFDF’s allegation that CDC had changed the definition of “vaccine” in September 2021, striking the word “immunity” from that definition. The court also noted HFDF’s citations to CDC statements that the vaccines do not prevent transmission, and that natural immunity is superior to the vaccines.
HFDF is a non-profit fighting Vaxx mandates. Their full statement on the result of the appeal is here:
https://healthfreedomdefense.org/huge-legal-victory-hfdf-wins-appeal-in-ninth-circuit
Here is the summary of the court’s opinion:
https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2024/06/07/22-55908.pdf
Comment: Our Barbara Ann found this decision by the 9th Circuit Court to be important enough to suggest it as a post. It is a legal decision that a California school district could not mandate Covid vaccinations as a condition of employment although the district already did away with the mandate. I would have glossed over the decision without another thought, but maybe I’m missing something.
It looks like the 9th Circuit decided the Covid vaccine is just not that good a vaccine. Would they have made this decision if it was wildly effective? If they were faced with the decision back in 1905, would they have struck down the mandated smallpox vaccination? Back then, teams of NYC police and doctors roamed the streets forcibly vaccinating recalcitrant New Yorkers. We didn’t go that far during the Covid pandemic.
I also wonder how the 9th Circuit would decide if a challenge is made to our military’s mandate on vaccines such as the annual flu vaccine. The efficacy of that vaccine is perennially in doubt, but it is still mandated in our military. This is from the USMC implementation message:
“3.a. Per refs (a), (b), and (c), all Marine Corps active and reserve component personnel shall receive the 2023-2024 seasonal Influenza vaccine(s) unless medically or administratively exempt. The Marine Corps active component shall ensure 100 percent of personnel are compliant with DoD policy (vaccinated or approved medical or administrative exemption) no later than 15 Dec 23. The Marine Corps reserve component shall vaccinate at least 90 percent of required personnel no later than the DoD goal of 15 Jan 24.“
TTG
Is there any special treatment for people who fly on privately owned planes at airports, such as faster security checks?
Yeah, the fastest… NO security checks! Some places will drive your rental car up to your plane so you can toss your bags in and drive away, right from the ramp. Most places will also let you drive on the airfield to load your bags into your plane. Usually they have fresh cookies and free water/coffee/tea, a room to nap in (if you need it). It’s so, damn, nice. Also they’ll usually let you take a car, free, for a few hours if kept locally.
Now, I say “free” but you’re paying. For a small plane like mine I get hit with around $50 in ramp fees, per night, and maybe $30 in facility fees which are waived with 20 or so gallons of gas, which is outrageously priced at $8–9/gallon. However that all varies with the size of the airport. Some places charge zero, but all you get there is a smile and a bathroom. Maybe a pot of coffee.
The major advantage is the time saved, and the lack of hassle. No TSA idiot going through your bags and rubbing your balls looking for that nickel you forgot to take out of your pocket, no traffic, no crying babies or obnoxious people. Kids are always well behaved, people are always quiet and nice. Upper crust types (of all colors for you gen Z racists out there who were about to pull the white privilege card).
It’s expensive, but so worth it. As Homer Simpson told Marge after flying on a private plane vs commercial “It’s the difference between drinking champagne and carbonated pee.” And I’m an airline pilot so yes, I know first hand.
You are Gay Now – It’s Pride Month Again!
Do you support efforts to bring China into arms control talks, as pledged by Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, a year ago?
Whatever USA say eg arms control, climate change or more. The intention is to limit other’s development. To stop others from surpassing USA. That is all. … USA thinks it is god. The world must take its order.
USA has a treaty with USSR-Russia to limit the spread of nuclear weapons, mid-range missiles & more.
In Trump’s time, USA unilaterally tore the treaty. USA’s excuse was that China must be in the treaty too. But the number of Chinese nuclear weapons is way way below USA’s. The truth surfaces in 2024: USA installed mid-range missiles in Philippines. USA created Cuba crisis 1.0 in 1962. Now USA is creating Cuba crisis 2.0 in PH.
Same thing for Climate Change. USA asked China to reduce CO2. The plot was to slow down China’s development to become a developed country with full industrialisation.
What shocks USA is that China takes Climate Change seriously by working hard to develop green energy products eg electric car, solar panel, wind turbine etc. Very successful as of 2024.
Now, USA complains China is too successful by accusing China of overcapacity of electric cars.
Back to the question. Arms control talks? With USA? It is a waste of time. Because USA is not serious about world interest. Only US interest.
Besides, who does USA think it is to tell others what to do? god?
China built 10 missile cruisers in 48 months, packing 1,120 missiles.It’s true? Why can’t the US do the same? Doesn’t the US have a larger defense budget?
If this is in reference to the Type 055 program, it’s 8 in 8 years (2014–2022), from hull-laying to commission. That’s probably unmatched delivery schedule, for a brand new >10,000 tonne warship class.
The impressive aspect of this program is the abrupt announcement of the program’s existence and the decision to serially produce an initial batch of 8 ships. Usually, yards take their time to construct and test the lead ship of a new class, which serve as a systems demonstrator. Evidently, the engineers must have tested the individual subsystems to death to confidently build the ships in parallel. By all indications, Nanchang, the lead ship, has fulfilled its operating envelop. There are plans in place for another batch of 8.
The American Arleigh-Burke, in its third iteration from 1980s roots, is also being laid and commissioned at a rate 1 per year. It is the only American destroyer in production currently, and displaces ~9,000 tonnes.
The difference between the Americans and Chinese is the latter operating more than one Destroyer class. The Type 052D is a 7,500 tonne-class warship announced in 2012. Construction probably begun in 2010. Between 2010–2022, 25 ships have been laid and commissioned, for a rate of ~2 per year.
In other words, China’s demonstrated destroyer output in the past decade and a half is at least 3 per year. Going forward, it is estimated that the Type 052DL program will deliver 3–4 ships per year. If the Type 055 program is expanded, that’s 4–5 destroyers a year in the coming decade.
America has had immense difficulty delivering clean-sheet designs this century. Even the Constellation class, which is developed off a licensed and proven FREMM design from the 2000s has run into construction snags. The problem? Backlog and lack of skilled workers.
Fundamentally, American shipbuilding is in a horrible state of neglect, with heavy shipbuilding a dead end commercially. Only military shipyards remain viable, and there is a general lack of skilled workers in the industry. Boomer retirement is eroding institutional memory, while union protectionism add to self-renewal woes.
China has over 500,000 workers in the shipbuilding industry, which produced >50% of the global merchant tonnage delivered last year. There are at least 30–40 dry docks that can accommodate >100,000-tonne ships. Chinese shipyards are now capable of building the most challenging designs, such as ice-breakers, LNG carriers and ocean liners, using precision-controlled hull block modular construction techniques that significantly reduce build times and defects.
American shipbuilding suffer from a deficit in scale, and increasingly, skill and technology.
What was the most expensive thing you ever got for free, because someone made a mistake and didn’t charge you?
Once I was traveling across western Kansas with my two young children and I needed to get home. I hadn’t let anyone know that I was down to my last, last money and highly stressed about the trip – nervously running the math of miles and miles per gallon and how many gallons my tank held – all while I drove in silence. This was in the late 1980s.
Somewhere across the great empty expanse of rural Kansas – I stopped for gas. I gave the cashier my last $20 plus some change. So say the gas was $16.53. And I gave her my precious only $20 bill plus $1.53 so I could get a $5 back. I needed a miracle to make the $5 stretch to get us home and had no idea how it could happen. The kids were asking for drinks and my response of a hard “No” let them know we were not in a good place with money. They went back to the car quietly and I felt bad that I let them see my stress.
In the meantime, the cashier handed me back about $25. I looked at what she put in my hand and said, “I don’t think that’s right…” She cut me off with a snippy response that of course it was right. She didn’t do this as a gift – she was offended that I thought she couldn’t make change correctly.
I stood a second and looked at the cash in my hand – essentially the last tank of gas I was going to need to make it back home safely…
I accepted the gift. I’ve never forgotten it.
Brian LECTURES The Ladies On Why Men DON’T Wanna Be Gentlemen Anymore!
What is your best advice when firing someone?
I fired someone a few years ago. She had “injured” herself in a minor accident in my store. She took 11 weeks off. I dropped over to her house two weeks after the accident and she was busy cleaning the junk out of her back yard and redoing her gardens. She looked pretty healthy. Cleaning out her yard was a lot harder work than her job. At that point, I wrote her off.
Ten weeks after my visit, she was supposed to attend a meeting with the Workers Compensation person and me to discuss returning to work. She didn’t show. She said that she was too injured. Apparently, she had a doctor who was known for signing anything. So two weeks after that, I phoned the Workers Compensation people, and asked them what to do. I needed a person there. They said to fire her. As a small business under 20 people, I could do that. I came from a large corporation and we would not do that so it felt odd. So I fired her. She was given 2 months salary. By the way, she wasn’t a good employee. She avoided work and showed up late all the time. We were going to terminate her anyways.
A few months later, she sued me under Human Rights. She said that she could work just fine.
I fought it. Her problem was that she went back to Workers Compensation saying she could not work and got another ten weeks of pay. I asked for that information that she had submitted to them but she refused to supply it. Basically, she got caught in a lie. She had been defrauding the Workers Compensation for the eleven weeks plus another ten weeks. She should have gone back to work the next day after the little accident.
So the lawsuit ended.
So when you are firing someone, be careful of things like Human Rights. They can override legislation.
What was the stupidest thing someone has called the police on you for?
Someone called the police on me while I was trying to help them when they called the police for help.
Here is the set up… information I gathered during the investigation…
Joyce had a protection order against Paul.
Paul was at a bar enjoying a burger and a beer after helping the bar with some work.
Joyce and her friends Bob and Jay had decided they might get burgers themselves. Originally Bob and Jay were going to go and they were going to bring Joyce’s burger back to her.
Bob or Jay called Joyce and told her that Paul was there.
Joyce, all of the sudden, decided it would be more awesome to go to the restaurant and enjoy the burger fresh rather than after it had been driven 20minutes to her home.
Joyce arrived at the bar.
Paul saw her.
Paul wolfed down the rest of his burger and gulped down his beer as Joyce was calling police telling them Paul was in violation of the protection order.
—
I arrived after Paul had left. Joyce, Bob, and Jay were still on scene. As were the bar owner and the bar manager.
After hearing Joyce’s story about Paul violating the protection order (but not the details about anything else) it felt odd to me.
I talked to the bar owner and manager.
Based on the fact they told me Paul was there BEFORE (WAY BEFORE) Joyce got there and that Paul left the “second” he saw Joyce…. I asked more questions.
When I started asking more questions to ensure I had the story right (I talked to Bob and Jay first) Joyce got upset. She called my dispatch center and started to complain about how I wasn’t doing anything about the protection order violation.
Dispatch connected her to a deputy with the sheriff’s office who knew what I was investigating.
—
After a complete and thorough investigation and hearing Joyce tell me how the district attorney and the victims’ advocate told her that Paul had to leave where ever she was, and dashing her dreams of that being true- at least where I was responsible for applying the law, she left in a huff. She was in more of a huff when I told her that any other calls like this would result in her being charged with false reporting.
I told her to go back to the district attorney and to the vicitms’ advocates and ask them to set me right if I were, indeed, wrong about this case.
She either never did OR she was def. wrong in what she told me they said.
Shorpy
LtCol. Tony Shaffer: No Way Ukraine Can Win
NATO needs to understand that playing Russian roulette with a nuclear superpower is never a good idea
What is the most embarrassing thing you’ve witnessed on a cruise?
We’ve been on quite a few cruises, (it’s a lazy way to travel to a destination and a really good way to relax) so we’ve been witnesses to some *crazy* scenes.
On longer cruises, there’s usually a couple of formal events where the drinks are free for a couple of hours. I was wearing a cocktail dress and heels… and nearly got flattened by a group who charged for the drinks table to help themselves to the free alcohol.
It was a small group of men and women who hadn’t bothered to dress formally. They just shoved their way past everyone and then they started loading themselves up with drinks. They clearly had favourites because they stripped out an entire row of a specific cocktail by taking 5 of them each. It was weirdly fascinating.
It didn’t matter if there were people waiting to get one of those drinks. They took them all. They didn’t even have trays. They just held one arm close to their bodies and slotted multiple glasses along their arm while holding the drinks against themselves. (It was… quite talented in a weird way).
Then they filled up the table they were sitting at and went back and did again to another line of drinks. And they kept doing it until their table was filled.
Then they proceeded to quickly get tragically wasted.
They literally shoved right by me to get to the drinks in front of me. There was an older lady left standing empty-handed and shell shocked with me who looked at me in horror and blurted “I think they’re human locusts”. That gave us both a much-needed laugh.
There’s this thing that happens in New Zealand. No one eats the last bit of anything because they’re worried that someone else won’t have enough. At buffets or dinners, (in my group) for people check that others have enough or that no one wants anymore before they help themselves. There’s often one bit of everything left.
Watching the group of locusts push past everyone and ignore everyone else who wanted a drink was embarrassing for me to watch but the group that did it were shameless.
Are you surprised that the incident in which four US college instructors were stabbed in an attack at a public park in China has been censored on China’s internet?
I learned some details by asking the locals.
The story is very simple:
A retired worker named Mr. Cui from Jilin went to the park to practice Tai Chi sword in the morning.
It is not allowed to bring sharp weapons into Chinese parks.
The Tai Chi swords used for fitness are not sharpened, they are just fitness equipment.
During his exercise, four so-called US college instructors collided with him and pushed Mr. Cui.
Mr. Cui got anxious, so he used the Tai Chi sword to injure the four so-called US college instructors. The injuries of the four Americans were not serious because the Tai Chi sword used for fitness was not sharpened.
Therefore, I advise foreigners who travel to China:
China is not America, nor is it Europe. When traveling to China, you must abide by China’s rules and do not bring your own domineering ways in other countries to China.
Respecting the elderly is a part of Chinese Confucian culture.
In China, you should respect the elderly.
Don’t push old people who are smaller than you. The old people in China are different from the old people in wheelchairs in your country.
What was the most bald-faced lie you have ever heard a witness say under oath? How did you react?
I was in the courtroom waiting for our turn up before the Judge.
This one is FAR BETTER than a bald-faced lie! READ ON!
There was this “Paternity” feud occurring between the soon to be ex husband and ex wife. His wife gave birth the child, but he refused to provide the DNA and proof of being “sterile”.
JUDGE: I am going to court order you right now for the DNA test. If you refuse, I will hold you in contempt and without bond.
The Guy protested, his lawyer told him he had nothing to worry about for if he was sterile, it wouldn’t matter what the DNA was on his side.
The Bailiffs swabbed him and the DNA was now sent away.
JUDGE: May I ask what Urologist had told you that you were sterile.
HIM: You’re a what?
Lawyer: Telling him what an Urologist is.
HIM: I didn’t see a You’re A What ist doctor.
JUDGE: Your Primary Physician?
HIM: Don’t have a Doctor.
JUDGE: Then what doctor told you that you were sterile?
HIM: None of them, my Uncle told me I was sterile.
JUDGE: _____________________________________
People in the court room: ___________________________
JUDGE: (tilts his head, making weird expressions) Okay, so it was your Uncle?
HIM: Yes your honor.
JUDGE: What kind of a Physician is your Uncle?
HIM: He was a Pneumatic Mechanic
JUDGE: _______________________ (really staring at this guy) _____________________ PLEASE TELL THE COURT HOW YOUR UNCLE HAD DETERMINED YOU TO BE STERILE AND WHAT IS HIS FULL NAME AND WHERE DOES HE LIVE?
HIM: (gives name) and gives the name of the Cemetery.
JUDGE: Hold it! Hold it! Are you just informing us that your Uncle is deceased?
HIM: Yes Sir.
HIS LAWYER: Objects!
JUDGE: Overruled, your client informed everyone that his Uncle had deemed him sterile. We have to know exactly how was he deemed sterile.
I have two questions for you: Question number one: Were you snipped?
HIM: ________ (looked confused)__________
LAWYER: My client is not an animal!
JUDGE: It’s called a vasectomy! Did you or did you not have this procedure done? YES OR NO?
HIM: No
JUDGE: What was your sperm count?
HIM: I never counted, never looked to see them.
(People in courtroom laughing)
JUDGE: You just told everyone in the courtroom that you were sterile. I need to know the sperm count, documentation of proof that you are sterile.
HIM: __________________
Lawyer: Objecting
JUDGE: Overruled, your client constantly makes these claims that he’s sterile! I am ordering proof of your client being sterile.
You, Sir? How did your Uncle confirm or acknowledge you were sterile? Please tell us.
HIM: Well, when I was a teen, my Uncle caught me jacking myself off. He told me because I was doing that and if I kept doing it I would become sterile! So there’s your answer.
JUDGE: _________ (his FACE was priceless) ______________
His Lawyer: ________ his jaw drops _______________
(People snickering and laughing)
Judge court orders him to an Urologist, and approves of child support temporarily for the sum of $xxxx a week. The final amount will be determined after the Urologist’s report.
::::::::::::::::::::: FOLKS! PLEASE DO NOT BELIEVE EVERYTHING THAT’S SAID IN YOUR FAMILY! THERE ARE THOSE WHO WILL REALLY BELIEVE STUFF LIKE THIS! :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
US Missiles STRIKE Russia! Army Colonel Reveals What Happens Next
When have you felt like all men are not the same?
Not once, but a number of times actually.
Let me share my very first experience of realizing not all men are the same.
I was studying in 12th standard in a Government school. Because it was a board examination, we were supposed to take it seriously. There was no faculty for Physics in my town, so I had to wake up at 4 A:M in winter mornings to ride my bicycle for 8 KM to attend a tuition class at 5:00 A:M (because of high demand of that teacher, his other batches were packed and only this early morning batch was available).
I was the only girl in a class of around 100 boys and some other boys also used to go to attend the same class.
It was a big deal for my mother to see me leaving in dark every morning to attend the class as she was afraid something bad could happen to me on the way. She used to tell me innocently to dress up like a guy and cover my hair so no bad guy can figure out I was a girl and this could protect me from any misshapen.
One day while I was riding my bicycle to the class, I realized a guy (from my class, I knew him but never spoke to him) was following me on his bike. I could literally feel him chasing me. I increased the speed and so did he. There was not a single person on the road to whom I could reach for help. My heart was beating really fast and I remembered everything my mom used to tell me. I knew it didn’t matter to me if I was the only girl in the class because I really wanted to study science instead of Arts or Commerce and just because it was safer, I couldn’t consider those subjects.
Fortunately the guy couldn’t get the courage to stop me on the way.
It kept on happening on regular basis and I used to wonder why he keeps the speed of his bike slow to match the speed of my bicycle when he could really ride much faster than me?
And after a few weeks it happened. On a Sunday morning, when I woke up, I found the same guy in my house where he was talking to my dad and my mom was making tea for him.
I was very surprised to see him like this.
Dad called me and told me this –
“Hey, look, your classmate is here. He was telling us that you’re so brilliant and talented and that he really admires you. He was also telling that you’re the top scorer in the class so far. Why you didn’t mention his name before?”
And I was like – WHAT?
Later on when we were alone he told me this –
“Sanhita, I’m really sorry that I couldn’t get the courage to come and talk to you before. But, now I have realized my mistake. I think I have scared you, but trust me, my intentions are not bad. By following you on your way to tuition, I was actually trying to protect you. One day I found a few guys talking about you on the usual street you take every day. They were discussing how can they trouble you in the morning when no one is around. I don’t know whether you would believe me or not, but I just did what I could possibly do. I followed you every day , so if they ever get the guts to trouble you, I can actually fight along with you against them.
And one more thing, like other guys, I won’t tell you to do friendship with me or become my girlfriend, but yes, I know you don’t have a brother. Can I fill that space? Can I be your brother, please? It would be my honour to call a girl sister who is the top scorer of the class and oh yes, you would obviously help your brother in studying, right? :P”
I did accept him as my brother on that day. For a few years I celebrated Rakhi with him. Now, we’re in different cities and he is happily married, but sometimes I call my brother and we chat about childhood 🙂
What was the worst secret you discovered about your children?
Three months after adopting our 12 month old daughter, we finally got her case file. It was supposed to come with her, so to speak, but these things are always messy. We knew she had been removed from her birth parents as they had somewhat low IQs, criminal histories, and were unable to care for her, despite major assistance including 24 hour in-home carers (this was not a possible permanent solution). So we were nervous, but we decided to put our names forward to adopt her.
We were chosen and had experienced a chaotic but deliriously happy three months with a little 1 year old dynamo – she had some quirks, but was overall a happy, friendly wee girl.
And then the report arrived and shook us to the core.
She’d experienced sustained and high levels of in-utero drug and alcohol abuse (marijuana, synthetics, meth).
She had witnessed frequent physical abuse – dozens of police reports, both parents beating each other.
The real soul-destroyer? She’d experienced severe physical abuse at the hands of her birth father, between the ages of 2 and 7 months – until the 24 hour care started and he did it in front of them. Her crime? Not lying perfectly still while getting her diaper changed.
The birth mother stayed (and is still with) that horrible man, despite losing her daughter. She still has visitation rights and we are constantly abused by the birth father, but he does not have visitation rights at the moment and hopefully never will, but we can’t guarantee it.
it sickens me, that anyone would hurt my precious bubba. But now we knew why she freaked out when my husband tried to change her diaper.
What factors should be considered before granting sovereignty, autonomy, or nationality to Taiwan?
Aviation art various
The Time Thief
Submitted into Contest #251 in response to: Write a story about discovering a lost manuscript. It can be from a famous (or infamous) author, or an unknown one.… view prompt
Jim LaFleur
With a swirling cloak and a heart pounding against the corset of his own deceit, Simon returned to his era, leaving behind an anachronism that would unravel time’s tightly knit fabric.
The morning sun, indifferent in its rise, found Edgar Allan Poe in contemplative solitude. As light spilled across his desk, the unusual sheen of the abandoned smartphone caught his attention. It lay there, stark and intrusive among the soft yellowing papers of his literary endeavors. Curiosity, that relentless driver of human behavior, prompted Poe to reach for the device, his fingertips brushing against the cold, smooth surface. The screen flickered to life at his touch, illuminating his face with a pale, eerie glow.
Simon, safely ensconced back in his time, felt the immediate ripple of his accidental influence. The Baltimore he returned to bore scant resemblance to the one he had left. Buildings bristled with unfathomable technology, the skyline jagged with the spires of progress grown wild, fed by an anachronistic seed. His stomach churned with the realization that history had veered catastrophically off course.
Poe, meanwhile, was originally viewed as the harbinger of this new era. Word spread through the city with the speed of fire through dry timber. The enigmatic device held secrets of light and knowledge, screens within screens—miracles undreamed of even in the fevered pitches of the most fantastical literatures.
It wasn’t long before Poe was thronged by the curious and the ambitious, their minds alight with possibilities. Inventors, scholars, rogues—they all wanted a piece of the future unveiled. Each touch, each interaction spun a new thread of history, weaving a tapestry far removed from the one Simon knew.
Back in his altered present, Dr. Simon Dorset was consumed by an urgent need to correct this unintended aberration. The historical and cultural legacy of Poe, once defined by his mysterious and macabre tales, was now overshadowed by a technological boom he had unwittingly initiated. Simon’s own research spiraled into obsolescence; the Poe he revered was lost to a world dazzled by premature progress.
The gravity of his error was a weight he could barely sustain. Turning to his colleagues and historical chronicles yielded only scant mentions of Poe—the poet and author were eclipsed by Poe, the accidental father of a technological revolution. Simon’s isolation grew, paralleled only by his desperation.
Resolving to undo the harm, Simon reactivated his time machine, dismissing the cascade of warnings displayed by the machine’s diagnostics. The temporal navigational systems, designed to prevent precisely such paradoxes, blared their reluctance in stark red warnings across the interface. But Simon pushed forward, driven by a near-mad obsession to restore the literary giant’s legacy.
As the machine whirred to life, encasing him in a cocoon of pulsating energy, Simon felt the pull of temporal forces contorting the fabric of reality. A misstep in calculations, coupled with the machine’s strained capabilities, wrenched Simon from his intended course. The world around him blurred—an array of colors and sounds, history replaying all its possibilities simultaneously.
He found himself trapped, a ghost in the looping scenes of his interactions with Poe. Each cycle through the loop sharpened his understanding of the cascading consequences of his actions, yet he remained powerless to intervene directly. His presence was spectral, an observer cursed to watch his folly unfold in perpetuity.
Amidst the ceaseless cycles, a flicker of anomaly caught his attention. Brief moments appeared where versions of himself overlapped—past, present, and future converging. It was an unintended side effect of the time stream’s fracture, a shimmering crack in the oppressive wall of endless repetition.
With renewed purpose, the Simon Dorsets of different times began to recognize each other. An understanding sparked between them, each iteration contributing his unique perspective on the predicament. Together, they constructed a plan—a message ensconced within the digital confines of the smartphone, coding it into the metadata of the device. A cryptic puzzle designed for Poe’s keen and curious mind, leading him to restore the timeline undisturbed by technological marvels.
The contriving of the message was meticulous, a maneuver engineered with the precision of a master clockmaker. Hidden within the coding, Simon embedded the instructions—a route back to temporal stability, crafted specifically to attract Edgar Allan Poe’s intrigue with cryptology and the unknown. It was more than just a recovery mission; it was an appeal to Poe’s intellectual appetites, a call to explore and unravel the mystery set before him.
The loop provided Simon endless opportunities to refine his approach, each iteration fine-tuning the message embedded in the strange artifact from the future. When Poe finally discovered the embedded instructions, hidden amidst what appeared to be common applications, it struck a chord deep within his writer’s soul—a mystery woven by fate or circumstance, begging to be unraveled.
His brows furrowed, Poe set about deciphering the cryptic clues with a zeal that had often been reserved for his literary compositions. The message guided him to a precise location, an act in itself harmless but pivotal—a secluded corner of the Baltimore docks at dawn, where the water whispered secrets to those patient enough to listen.
Meanwhile, Simon watched these moments unfold, his heart thrumming with a mix of hope and apprehension. The plan was simple yet reliant on Poe’s willingness to engage with the unknown without fully understanding the forces at play. It was a gamble, staking everything on the intellectual curiosity of one man.
As the appointed time approached, Poe, cloak billowing behind him in the pre-dawn wind, approached the designated spot. He carried the device, its screen dim in the soft light. Following the last of the instructions, he left the smartphone nestled within an old fish crate, obscure and seemingly inconspicuous.
The crate, Simon knew from his meticulous studies of the timeline, would be destroyed in a warehouse mishap mere hours later, the smartphone lost forever, consumed by the flames—an incident that originally occurred without historical significance but now charged with the weight of resetting history.
Simon’s vision blurred, the looping finally slowing, reality solidifying with the promise of release. As the time streams began to align, the world around him steadied, the oppressive weight of temporal distortion lifting. The colors and sounds that had haunted his senses merged into the rightful hues of his time.
When he next stepped out of the machine, the air was different—fresher, somehow more correct with the essence of his original timeline. Buildings, people, the very atmosphere buzzed with subtle but significant changes back to the familiar. Poe’s literary legacy had been restored to its rightful place, his technological influence erased as if it were merely a ghost story, fittingly ephemeral.
Simon Dorset found himself back in his study, the walls lined with books, the familiar scent of paper and ink a soothing balm. His heart, though weary from the journey, was buoyed by the restoration of history. His respect for the delicate fabric of time had deepened, each tick of the clock now a reminder of the dance between chance and choice.
He resumed his academic pursuits with a newfound reverence for the past’s fragility and the unknown variables of history. The world around him continued, blissfully unaware of the catastrophe averted, a tale of what-if preserved only in the quiet confines of Simon’s experience.
In his diary, filled with the wild scribblings of his adventure, Simon penned a final note—an acknowledgment of the power held by both time and literature, the twin forces of creation and destruction. He wrote, “In our pursuits, we must tread lightly upon the tapestries of the past, for they are woven with the threads of potentiality, delicate and profound.”
The sun set over a world untouched yet changed in ways unseen, as Simon Dorset closed his diary, the book of his extraordinary journey through time concluding with the silent assurance that some mysteries, like some manuscripts, were best left unaltered.
ESCALATION: Russia Has Surrounded The US With Dozens Of Submarines Armed With Nuclear Missiles
Chicken Cordon Bleu Pizza
Tired of the same old pizza? Chicken Cordon Bleu Pizza will elevate taste buds to a whole new chicken variety.
Prep: 15 min | Total: 40 min | Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
- 1 (13.8 ounce) can Pillsbury™ refrigerated classic pizza crust or 1 can (11 ounces) Pillsbury™ refrigerated thin pizza crust
- 1/3 cup garlic ranch dressing
- 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded smoked provolone cheese
- 1 (4 ounce) package refrigerated roasted chicken breast strips
- 2 ounces sliced Canadian bacon, halved
- 2 tablespoons cooked real bacon pieces
- 4 medium green onions (1/4 cup), sliced
- 1/4 cup chopped tomato
- 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- If using classic crust: Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray or grease a 12 inch pizza pan.
- Unroll dough in pan. Starting at center, press dough to edge of pan.
- If using thin crust: Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray or grease 15 x 10 inch or larger dark or nonstick cookie sheet.
- Unroll dough on cookie sheet. Starting at center, press dough into 15 x 10 inch rectangle.
- Spread dressing over dough.
- Sprinkle with provolone cheese.
- Top with remaining ingredients.
- Bake classic crust for 18 to 22 minutes, thin crust for 16 to 20 minutes, or until crust is deep golden brown.
- Cut into 4 servings.
What is the most inappropriate thing that you have ever witnessed at a funeral?
My mother’s mother died in 1976. Angie Ensulo was her name. She had a ton of grandkids all in the same age range. We called her “little grandma” because even at thirteen we could stand next to her and look straight down at the top of her head. We thought that was amazing as kids. She had a bunch of Italian sisters. They spoke “Broken English,” a peculiar patois, unique to Brooklyn and apparently New Orleans. Go figure.
Her sister Anna, whom everyone called “Thanna” for no apparent reason, showed up at the funeral home after everyone else had assembled. The funeral home was called, and I shit you not, “Guido and Sons.” Anna was also only about three feet tall. She was a true character who bootlegged cigarettes from North Carolina and played the theme song from The Godfather on a continuous loop in her little house. After the room went quiet with anticipation, Anna screamed at the top of her lungs…”Angie! Get up!!!!!!”…commanding her dead sister to rise out of the casket. Needless to say…Angie did not comply. Anna commanded her sister to rise from the dead again and when no miracle occurred she made a running start right down the middle aisle and then leaped through the air and landed on my grandmother in her casket. The room broke into complete pandemonium as the coffin rocked on the pedestal as my Aunt tried to pull her sister out of the coffin. Tears were flowing, people were screaming, chairs were scattered and a general state of hysteria ensued. After order and decorum were restored, people got on nervously with the task of mourning.
As is traditional…flowers are a very theatrical occurrence at old time Italian Brooklyn funerals. A giant clock appeared made out of many tiny little flowers with the hour hand boldly stopped at the hour of death of the decedent. A rosary was brought in (presented by all the grandchildren). These were laid in the casket with the beloved. It was literal, as in literally made of unopened little bud roses. Actually quite beautiful if you ask me. The giant “Empty Chair,” often five feet by five feet in size, made of styrofoam jammed with flowers was brought in with ceremonial purpose. The empty chair was a reminder, I guess, that the deceased would never sit again? I don’t know! I always found the “Empty Chair” fascinating as it was present at so many of my family’s wakes. Another one that got a lot of attention was inspired by the fact that my grandmother loved “Sweet and Low” with her coffee. So…wouldn’t you know….a giant floral cup of coffee made of carnations with a giant pink carnation “Sweet and Low” packet of sweetener sitting next to the cup was brought in with a flourish and deposited next to the other surreal arrangements. That presentation was accompanied by a lot of oohs! and ahhh’s! when it was delivered by the fellow from the local flower store who everyone called “slow in the head.” The coup de grace was (and will always be)…the “Gates of Heaven”….a truly monumental extravaganza that stood eight feet tall and ten feet wide and was two tall gates swung open and completely encrusted with flowers. The murmur that went through the crowd was impressive. Everyone present thought that this was all normal…but like Marilyn from the Munsters, I was different, I observed things, and I knew enough to commit these events to memory.
On the last night of a three day ordeal, and after grandma’s skin started turning a strange color, they held a service with a priest in the funeral home. My Aunt Anna must have felt how close eternity was and she started reflecting on her long life of crime because all of a sudden…during the litany of “Hail Mary’s” she started repeating at the top of her lungs and louder than anyone in a room of at least fifty people….”Hail Mary, full of grace, the lord is with thee” over and over….well this tickled my funny bone and I started to laugh at her desperation and audacity. But I had to cover it up by making believe I was crying. So I was heaving up and down with my face buried in my hands, hysterically laughing and muffling it all to sound like tears. People were comforting me and telling me everything would be okay until I finally burst out of my chair and ran out of the room and into the street. It was like the scene in the famous Mary Tyler Moore episode where the priest is eulogizing “Chuckles the Clown” who was dressed like a peanut and got killed by an elephant. Mary Richards couldn’t control her laughter during the solemn but unintentionally hilarious eulogies and it went down as the funniest episode of that series.
On the morning of the burial, the massive flower arrangements were unceremoniously hurled onto the top of the “flower car” which drove right behind the hearse leading the cortège of Cadillacs and Buicks and my father’s station wagon among dozens of other cars. At the cemetery, Thanna decided to have one final scene-chewing moment and flung herself, in the rain mind you, onto my grandmother’s open grave. Or at least the big mound of dirt next to it. Pandemonium erupted, again, and she was dragged muddy and forsaken from the grave. The priest barely reacted…he’d seen this sort of thing a thousand times and besides…he was awaiting his “envelope full of money.” Money was always changing hands at the oddest times during family funerals.
I’ve never put any of this in writing before…and it happened a long time ago. My God! It all sounds so crazy! It is truly funny in hindsight. We didn’t know that this was not how things were done because it WAS how it was done in Italian Brooklyn.
I finally went to Naples in 1998….I walked the streets, I observed life as it is lived, I ate the food and drank the wine. I passed a dead dog in the middle of a busy traffic circle on my way to dinner. Traffic was being diverted as the poor animal lay there. I was bereft because I love dogs. I couldn’t even eat. On my way back from dinner I discovered that the dog wasn’t dead after all! It was just taking a nap and the crazy Neapolitans had simply steered their cars around the sleeping dog. No one thought to move the dog!
I looked up into the sky that night and forgave my mother’s family for driving us and her crazy for all those years. I finally understood! It was bred in the bones and they were just being who they were meant to be. Now I wouldn’t trade it in for anything.
Thanks for reading this…I truly appreciate it.
Would a military submarine be the safest place to be if there was ever a nuclear war on Earth?
You might think so but no. There’s an episode of Rick and Morty that explains it. Rick makes all every $1 of their currency worth $0.
So what?
In a nuclear war, all money has suddenly become worthless, most nation states have ceased to exist… as a result what maintains discipline and for men to follow orders?
To king and country? (or whatever system your country is based on) – It no longer exists
Punch clock soldiers – Money no longer exists as anything useful.
Those things maintain order usually. So the only thing enforcing order is violence and cram a bunch of men with limited food supply strict discipline and nothing to fight for in a nuclear sub… and that may easily collapse.
Imagine you’re the captain of a boat like that.
You order a crewman to do something, he said no why should I?
Whatcha gonna do? Shoot him? Put him in the brig?
As a lawyer, what is the easiest case you’ve won?
Well, I had a client walk in my office with a Quarterpounder box from McDonald’s. He told me that the day before he ordered a sandwich with no pickles and he mentioned it to the order taker and the shift manager, mentioning he was deathly allergic to something in the juice. He was assured that there would be no pickle on the sandwich
When his sandwich came up he was given the sandwich and shown on the paper taped to the box that the sandwich had no pickle.
45 minutes later after having his stomach pumped he discovered he had ingested 3 pickle slices.
The emergency room report indicated that the stomach pump had removed the contents of his stomach which included the 3 pickle slices.
The manager had offered the kid 100 bucks for the box and some coupons.
I called and spoke to the owner’s attorney and offer to settle out of court for 15000 dollars ( the client needed 10K for something). I told him the claim would be worth far more in front of a jury. We had 3 witnesses that heard the kid very clearly mention he was allergic and could die if he ate a pickle.
Long story short, I had a 15,000 dollar McDonald’s check delivered to my office by a courier by the close of business 3 days after the incident. I took my 33 percent and for a couple of phone calls and a letter. Got paid 5K .
What was the world like between year 1 AD and 1000 AD?
One absolute truth, that most people rarely consider, is that the world during the first millennium was a very, very dark place after nightfall. Even though cities existed during that thousand year epoch…the world descended at night into a darkness we would have trouble comprehending. Even the interiors of people’s homes were pitch black except for minuscule pools of dim candlelight. Other than vague moonlight, the only available light was small oil lamps or camp fires…as well as torches. But that would have only been a tiny glow in a vast blackness. It’s why the world is still diurnal. For the entire history of our species, humans have slept at night because of the often impenetrable blackness and the lurking danger that used the darkness for cover.
The beauty of this situation was that the clear night sky would be ablaze with stars and planets, galaxies, moons and comets, asteroids and meteors. It was so vivid that ancient people not only looked at the night sky with curiosity, they studied it. They had naturally “dark adapted” eyes. The night sky was so clear that they became familiar with it to a degree we can’t imagine. They understood its contours, they had names for everything. The Milky Way has a name like an avenue because it was an imaginative route to be traveled and understood. It wasn’t just something out there to be feared…it was fully present and revered. It is ironic that the more we know the less we see. Our modern astronomers and telescopes are reaching back nearly to the Big Bang and the beginning of time in our universe, able to literally see the invisible, but most of modern humanity is wholly unacquainted with our own cosmic neighborhood because the night sky has been rendered almost meaningless.
Ancients the world over “read” the night sky and correlated it to the passage of time and the change of seasons and they wove its meaning into their daytime pursuits. As agriculture took root and cultures shifted from nomadic to agrarian with the consequence being the establishment of settlements and villages, then towns and then cities. The night sky helped guide the people towards accurate planting and harvesting routines. They were inextricably linked to the heavens in a way that we aren’t. It fueled mysteries that defied knowledge and it became central to ancient religions. But it also hastened the growth of civilizations. The insatiable ability for humankind to not just acquire knowledge but to actually imagine it into reality is nothing less than miraculous.
It was the night sky and people’s confident knowledge of it that guided the early Polynesians to populate the Pacific. The Sun and stars kept the Mediterranean abuzz with international trade and it was the night sky that possibly guided the Chinese and Leif Erikson to cross vast oceans to plant seeds of new cultures on new continents and sowed the seeds of destruction of many civilizations in the “new world”. Early mariners charted their courses by the night sky as well as in tandem with the motion of the sun. The sky told them when the easterlies would blow them across the Atlantic or when to hunker down because the coming season would produce no trade winds. Across the Islamic world, founded in the first millennium, the daily calls to each of the five prayers are timed to the position of the sun yet the Islamic calendar is lunar based. The modern constellations descend from such ancient observations. Our current map of the sky and its constellations is a living record of the past. It’s right there, in front of us. Our earliest mechanical clocks, dating to the second millennium, had hands that circled the dial like the earth spinning on its axis, counting the beats of time like metronomic slices of the universe itself, cosmic ideas turned into lyrical realities, existence made measurable and certain.
Modern society has virtually erased the night sky with twenty four hour global economies and the glowing lights that illuminate such economies…but our modern world owes a huge debt to the wisdom that was gleaned from a strikingly visible universe that held profound existential meaning to our ancient ancestors. It was during the first millennium that the knowledge of the previous several thousand years began to coalesce. They beheld the vastness of the night sky and tried, with wonder and great success, to figure out our place in that cosmic firmament.
Do yourself a favor…drive out to Joshua Tree National Park…or Anza Borrego State Park east of San Diego…or deep into the backcountry wherever you are…pack a tent, some blankets and pillows and whatever gear will help you survive the night…lie back under the ceaseless inky dome, listen to the coyotes yelping and bickering in the darkness and then watch the spectacle unfold above and all around you. It is breathtaking. It is humbling. It is the infinite. It’s what the night sky looked like a thousand years ago for everyone. See what they saw ! Carpe Noctem !
Guy Meets 250 Cats Every Day And They LOVE Him
Let’s end with this sunshine…
https://youtu.be/10-1tVj8m_8