During one of my many, many layoffs, I was unemployed and looking for work. After the initial shock (always a shock to the system, and a forced change in lifestyle) I settled into my “looking for work” routine.
Morning exercise, computer. Send out some resumes and research. Calls, coffee.
Around three hours after lunch time, went to Burger King. At that particular time they were having “Burger Wars”, and their whopper was $1 each. Now, these a big sandwiches, and one could last me all day. And I will tell you all, that’s what I did. I practically lived off those things.
I would drive to the Wrentham State park. Eat my whopper sandwich, and then go for a little walk in the woods. Nature. So nice. Especially in the middle of a week-day afternoon when no one was around.
Yes, I know that living off of hamburgers is not healthy, but I didn’t have much choice. You do what you have to do, and life moves forward.
Hopefully I will never be in that kind of forced impoverishment again, but never the less, I am still suffering PTSD from the possibilities that lie ahead.
Hold on. Deal and cope. It’s all you can do.
Oh, and cats help.
Today…
Do you think Chinese companies will be able to close the performance gap with OpenAI?
Yes.
The Chinese will just throw thousands of Chinese engineers at Chinese companies to close the gap.
The Americans will throw millions of dollars at OpenAI to stay in the lead, but won’t be able to throw thousands of engineers at the company.
That is how China always wins. It’s not pretty, but it always works…
What disturbed you today?
This photo was taken on Elina’s first day of work in a Moscow brothel. She feels both ashamed of what she has to do and afraid of what it will feel like.
An 18-year old had come from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan “to conquer Moscow” three months before this photo was taken. She’d been planning to study for a cosmetologist and had rented an apartment with her best friend.
They were unlucky and got swindled by her compatriots through a fake work advertisement and lost all their money that they brought with them from Bishkek and had to move out of the apartment because they couldn’t afford to pay rent anymore. Next day, without a place to stay and any money, the young girls found themselves in one of the numerous brothels in the city, where they were offered to the clients for 4000 rubles ($50) an hour. Their cut was 40% plus tips.
Elina had done it only twice before and didn’t even like it. There was no choice but to go ahead with it and do what a client would ask her to do. She would like to buy an iPhone. She dreamed about it for a long time now. She would also like to learn to drive a car. One day she would own an apartment and become a small business owner. And of course she would get married and have kids. Back home, she would never be able to get married because she had to be a virgin to become somebody’s wife. There was no way back. She had to stay in Moscow and make her way like thousands of young girls had done it before her. Moscow is beautiful and vast. But she is here with her friend.
Today is a rough day, but tomorrow will be better.
Men Are Giving Up
Clear and profound.
Smoked Tomahawk Ribeye
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
- 1 (3 pound) bone-in beef tomahawk steak
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
Instructions
- Rub steak with olive oil. Season generously with salt and pepper.
- Lightly coat grates with vegetable oil spray. Close cooking chamber lids.
- Place 3 to 5 pounds of charcoal, in center of the firebox. Open the firebox air vent approximately 1-2\’e2\’80\’b3, and smokestack damper halfway. With firebox lid open, stand back, carefully light charcoal and allow to burn until covered with a light ash (approximately 20 minutes).
- Once coals have ashed over, add wood chunks. Do not shut firebox lid until the smoke is clean, often called Blue Smoke.
- Close firebox lid. Adjust the firebox air vent and smokestack damper to regulate cooking temperature. The ideal smoking temperature is 275 degrees F.
- Place steak on smoker for approximately 2 hours or until internal temperature reaches 145 degrees F (medium rare), turning halfway through cooking time.
- Allow steak to rest approximately 5 minutes. Slice against the grain of the steak.
Notes
To make slicing easier, slice along bone and then horizontally against the grain.
Why is cooperation with China so important for Russia?
The entire West is United against Russia
They want to destroy Russia and make it a protectorate of the West, a Gas Station selling cheap Oil and Gas to the West
They want to control those vast assets in Siberia – all that Titanium ore, Metals, Gold, Oil and Gas which is priceless, through their Corporations in New York and Chicago using traitorous Russians in Moscow and Petersburg
Putin has convinced the Russians that they are not a Gas Station but a proud powerful nation and that the Communists weren’t bad people for a long time but just people who lost the game to the West
So it makes strategic sense for Putin to come closer to China
China is an Industrial Superpower who is responsible today for keeping Putins war machine going
Every single piece of electronic circuitry used in Putins Missiles and Guidance since 2023 May is from China
In addition China also floods Russia with Dual Use Goods mainly to be used in Weaponry
For instance in 2024 January – China exported 20,000 VZS High Quality Precision Optical Sensors & Sights with High Power Lenses
That’s more than the entire NATO can manufacture in a year (12000–15000)
They can be used for Missile Tracking and Interception OR Monitor migratory birds and their movement
You really think Russia would buy 20,000 such sensors worth $ 170 Million for studying Migratory Birds????????????
Plus Key components of Advanced Radars like State of the Art Receiver Arrays and Duplexers which can ALSO be used for Radio Networks
If a Radio Network in the 21st century would spend $ 85 Million on Equipment
It’s why Yellen is SO PISSED OFF
Meanwhile China needs Putin too
China sees a face off with the US soon and needs Russia , the world’s toughest and strongest land army.
China gets CHEAP ENERGY and CHEAP RAW MATERIALS including Enriched Uranium that helps China stockpile and maybe build their secret warhead count to as many as 1000 nuclear warheads by 2030
If only India would see sense and join this partnership fully, that would be wonderful
3 Signs She’s Using You as a Backup Plan
What was the last thing you said to someone before they died?
I will never forget the last thing I said to my daughter before she died. I was tired after working, so I decided to lay down to watch the evening news. My daughter had just finished eating the dinner I cooked. She had Epilepsy and was experiencing frequent Gran Mal seizures, but every time I would call the paramedics, they would tell me just don’t let her hurt herself.
Any way, I told her to go lay in my bed and watch Friends, which was one of her favorite shows. She called out to me, “Mommy, Alice Cooper is on Friends.” I told her I was too tired to get up.
When I got up to see what she was watching a few minutes later, I found her dead. To this day, I will always regret not going in there when she told me that. My brother told me it was probably better that I wasn’t there when she had her final seizure.
The doctor swore to me she wouldn’t die from her seizures. I asked the coroner what caused her to die, and he told me heart failure due to the extreme nature and frequency of her seizures.
My last words to her will be something I will never forget, nor will the last words she spoke to me be either. II think of her all the time. I have not been able to bring myself to get rid of most of her things. They are all I have left of her. I even have clippings of her hair. She was my only child. She was my Roxanne.
I’m sorry this is so long. Once I got started. I couldn’t stop. Now, I need to get something else on my mind. Roxanne died 14 days after turning 16. She would have been 30 years old this coming September 30. Born September 16, 1987-died September 30, 2003
As a parent, what is the most heartbreaking thing your son/daughter has done with you?
After my first husband passed away in 2006, finances were very tight. Once a month, when we received a financial assistance check, we would drive to town for basic groceries and I would treat our 6 year old with a kids meal and play time at local fast food restaurant. I would watch and just talk with him. There were days when he would give me his fries because he knew I was hungry and we couldn’t afford for both of us to order food. Or the afternoons when I would make him a sandwich and take a bite…again I made sure he had enough to eat. He would laugh and say “Mommy takes a bite so I know its made with love”. This is my child who has held my hand as we would cry in grief, would say he didn’t want big toys for Christmas/birthday and celebrated with me when I graduated from nursing school-knowing it was for his benefit. As he turned 18 this year, I get teary knowing how his life was harder than it will be for his brothers who have been born since I remarried. I cry knowing he remembers the month of 1 packet of rice, 1 can of veggies, and 1 4 oz pork chop diced up, was dinner for the 2 of us-for 2 nights. He jokes with me, each winter we no longer get our gas turned off, about no more keeping the house warm with the oven or placing blankets in front of the doors and windows, or boiling his bath water.
Last year the both of us had the opportunity to spread his Dad’s ashes in a state away from our own. The sight of my tall, handsome young man spreading his dad’s ashes with his bare hands, spreading them in water, on trees and along the ground and talking to his dad the whole time, dropped me to my knees. I can not tell you how much this young man means to me, knowing how strong he is and what a survivor he has had to be.
Invasive Feral Cats In Australia Turbo-Evolving
What is the greatest blunder in military history that took the longest to correct?
For blunders in military history it is difficult to surpass the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour for utter stupidity.
Winston Churchill heard the news of the attack from a radio at his desk late in the day. This is what he says. ‘I tried to adjust my thoughts to the supreme world event which had occurred, which was so startling as to make me gasp.’
Startling it was. A tiny country savagely provoking a country as large and as rich as the United States to war was indeed difficult to comprehend. The advantage Japan got was only temporary. With the cream of the US navy destroyed in the attack on the US naval base in Pearl Harbour Japan had a free hand in the South China Sea for its conquest of South East Asia, Philippines and Burma. But soon the US would arm itself at sea, land and air. What after that? Why did not the Japanese, who are considered an astute people, think of that.
Churchill’s joy knew no bounds at the news that the US is now in the war. This was what he said.
‘Yes, after Dunkirk; after the fall of France; after the horrible episode of Oran; after the threat of invasion, when, apart from the Air and the Navy, we were an almost unarmed people; after the deadly struggle of the U-boat war—the first Battle of the Atlantic, gained by a hand’s-breadth; after seventeen months of lonely fighting in dire stress, we had won the war.’
When he heard of the attack he knew that Britain had won the war.
‘England would live; Britain would live; the Commonwealth of Nations and the Empire would live. How long the war would last or in what fashion it would end, no man could tell, nor did I at this moment care. Once again in our long Island history we should emerge, however mauled or mutilated, safe and victorious. Hitler’s fate was sealed. Mussolini’s fate was sealed. As for the Japanese, they would be ground to powder. The British Empire, the Soviet Union, and now the United States, bound together were, according to my lights, twice or even thrice the force of their antagonists. No doubt it would take a long time but there was no more doubt about the end.’
True indeed, and Churchill was not the only person to think so.
There is only one explanation for the Japanese action. It is found in an ancient Sanskrit saying: ‘Vinasa kale vibareetha pudthi’. This means: When the time for your destruction is at hand you take strange decisions.
Idiocracy Tried To Warn You
It happened at a New York Airport. This is hilarious. I wish I had the guts of this girl. An award should go to the United
Airlines gate agent in New York for being smart and funny, while making her point, when confronted with a passenger who probably
deserved to fly as cargo. For all of you out there who have had to
deal with an irate customer, this one is for you.
A crowded United Airlines flight was canceled. A single agent was re-booking a long line of inconvenienced travelers.
Suddenly, an angry passenger pushed his way to the desk. He slapped his ticket on the counter and said, “I HAVE to be on this flight and it has to be FIRST CLASS.”
The agent replied, “I’m sorry, sir. I’ll be happy to try to help you, but I’ve got to help these folks first; and then I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out.”
The passenger was unimpressed. He asked loudly, so that
the passengers behind him could hear, “DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM?”
Without hesitating, the agent smiled and grabbed her public address microphone. “May I have your attention, please?”, she began, her voice heard clearly throughout the terminal. “We have a passenger here at Gate 14 WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him with his identity, please come to Gate 14”.
With the folks behind him in line laughing hysterically,
the man glared at the United Airlines agent, gritted his teeth, and said, “F*** You!”
Without flinching, she smiled and said, “I’m sorry sir,
you’ll have to get in line for that, too.”
Life isn’t about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain.
MEDICAL OPINION: What is REALLY going on with President Biden (not what you may think)
What was the strangest thing that happened to you as a foreigner in Japan?
I stayed at a guest house once in Japan with my son. In the afternoon, as he often did at that age (he was 10), my son began to badger me for some food. So I decided to go out and get him something to eat. Unfortunately the guest house we were staying at was a short distance away from any shops, in the centre of a residential neighbourhood. When I came down from the apartment I felt pretty lazy to take that 15 minute walk to the 7–11. As I was wondering what to do I happened to see a bicycle near by and on closer examination saw it was unlocked. Most bicycles in Japan are unlocked I later discovered.
I looked around and there was no one around to ask so I thought I would take the bicycle for a short ride to the convenience store. I would be back in a few minutes and no one would be the wiser and I would not have to walk. So I did just that.
I was distracted a bit on the way there by a pretty garden, the queue at the cash counter was long, I got a little lost on the way back and all-in-all it was a bit longer than I anticipated and as I returned, pedalling, I was surprised and a bit shocked to see an anxious looking, well-dressed elderly gentleman standing there. He was clearly the owner of the bicycle and looked surprised to see this foreigner returning from somewhere on his bike.
I returned the bike apologising profusely, but was really surprised by the man’s reaction. As I returned his bike, he leaned forward, bowed a few times and then asked me very politely and with no trace of sarcasm at all, “Would you be needing the bicycle tomorrow?”
That is Japan.
Haddaway – What Is Love (Just Dance – Dance Video & Movie) Roberto F
This is funny with all the cuts from various movies and videos. Cute.
After his wife’s death, he found a letter that revealed a secret that changed everything.
Tony Trapani was 80 years old when his wife died after being married for 50 years, was devastated and felt alone. But after his wife’s death, he found a letter that revealed a secret that changed everything.
When his wife died, Tony began, with a broken heart, to free the house from the things that had belonged to her. But then, one day, he found a letter hidden deep in a closet.
He had just discovered something he had not been prepared for: the letter was addressed to him, but it was from another woman.
The moment he opened the letter and read the first lines, he was really shocked. The letter was 56 years old and had been written by a woman Tony had met when he was about 20, named Shirley.
Shirley wrote to him that she often thought of Tony, but that was not the shocking part, at the end of the letter he found out that he had a son with her, named Samuel!
Tony was really petrified, he had just discovered that he had had a son without knowing it for 61 years, and he realized that his wife had hidden the letter because she could not have children.
Here is what Tony confessed to Fox17:
“I have no idea why my wife didn’t tell me about it. She wanted children, but she couldn’t have them, we kept trying. He’s my son, I’ve had him my whole life but I didn’t know. It is beyond me why she hid the letter “.
After calming down, Tony found a new meaning to his life: finding his son.
Said and done, he found him on Facebook. Metro journalists write that the meeting was emotional, especially because his son had believed all his life that his father did not want to deal with him!
This incredible story shows us how everything in life can change in an instant! At the age of 81, Tony’s life took on a new meaning, one he had always wanted but thought he would never know…
How Cats Broke The Game
Actually I like the format; the Video Game on-going meme theme of this informative video.
Shorpy
Woman Says She’s “Too Pretty” To Work And Gets Humbled
Would you hurt someone if they did something unspeakably horrible to your child, even though you’d go to prison?
In short yes.
However, when I was at University in 2006 I studied criminal justice and psychology, end of term the University invited two men who were criminals to give a talk on their experiences of prisons and their time there, the first told us how he’d inadvertently become involved in a bank robbery and did 4yrs for that, he was released a few weeks back and was remorseful for his actions. The second, an older man, probably mid fifties explained he was in prison for murder to which we all uncomfortably shifted in our seats, he was not sorry for what he did.
Yikes, right? Then he told us how the murder came about, he was a architect and wealthy, raised from a good family, he’d married his college girlfriend had the 2.4, a son and a daughter, now both in their 20s, he and his wife worked hard to afford their lifestyle but somehow never had time for each other, weekends were a whirlwind of family time and trying to be good parents and juggle careers, when one day his best friend from university turned up, they’d been room mates and house mates for their time, he was newlywed and his wife was on a business trip locally so he accompanied her and decided to visit his old friend.
They’d not see each other for a while cos life and all that and he’d be in town for a week, they went for a drink and our criminal confessed how he and the wife never got any time together anymore and he missed that, the next day the old room mate shows up with tickets to a theatre performance for that coming weekend and tells them he will babysit the children who were 6 and 3, they can go out have fun and enjoy themselves, now the criminal told us his and wife’s family lived Scotland way so they didn’t see them often and so they jumped at this chance of a babysitter and night out.
Friday comes and friend turns up, children are already in bed, literally all he needs to do is listen out for them and watch Sky tv all night, the criminal and his wife left the house and have been driving for about 30mins when they realise the theatre tickets are on the mantelpiece, this is before you could download them, you had actual tickets, they turn round and drive home, he leaves wife in the car, runs into the house, friend isn’t in the lounge though, he grabs the tickets and goes into the hallway, he can see his daughter’s bedroom door open and she’s been going through a nightmare stage so heads up to see if everyone is okay, he opens the door to see his friend raping his daughter.
He says he doesn’t remember what happened next but he grabs a wooden toy off the shelf and effectively beat this man to a bloody pulp for what he had done, next thing he remembered was his wife and daughter screaming as he was dragged to a police car and paramedics tried to rescue his victim cos that’s what they have to do, friend died two nights later from injuries and he was charged with murder, his wife divorced him and his kids became estranged, he hadn’t seen them in some 20 yrs as wife moved back to Scotland and remarried, he said he lost half his life to prison but didn’t think he’d do anything any differently because he had tried to protect his daughter and felt so guilty for putting his friend in their life, also turned out friend wasn’t married, he’d recently been discharged from prison for sexual assault on underage children, despite the police finding this information the criminal wasn’t given leeway because even if this worthless piece of trash probably deserved what happened murder is still illegal, I often wonder where that man is now some 20yrs on.
Just too adorable
Accident on the Waterloo
Submitted into Contest #8 in response to: Write a story about an adventure in space. … view prompt
P.A. Tebbe
“Some dock tech pulled out a tub of homemade Vodka.” Zander’s thoughts were sluggish and took effort. “And I think I tried it?”
“You tried a LOT of it. Quite a bit, I imagine, even before my friends and I joined you.”
“I…don’t remember anything else.” Zander had let out a weary sigh. “I’m sorry, who are you?”
“Vivian,” the eyes answered patiently. The toes wriggled in a wave at her.
That was only a couple hours ago and now Zander was fighting her way through a ship she barely knew to try and save Vivian. She grabbed the manual hatch release to the access shaft and froze. The indicator displayed an X, glowing in a bright auto-luminescent red. There was hard vacuum on the other side of the hatch.
She knew that most ships this size were built with parallel access shafts on either side. Maybe she could cut across this deck and use the other tunnel. She reached for the nearest compartment hatch just as a power conduit blew near her. Sparks shot out, bouncing off her arm and hand. Some stuck and they burned into her skin before she could brush them off. Using the back of her other hand she tried to wipe away the tears of pain from her face. Zander was looking for a change, a little excitement, but this…none of this, was what she had imagined.
“You were quite talkative last night,” Vivian had explained earlier that day. “Told us all about going to university, but you struggled in classes. Came to the moon with friends for Spring Break and decided to stay. Bounced between minimum wage jobs until you ended up making protein noodles in Food Court 7.”
Zander remembered groaning in embarrassment.
“Oh, don’t feel bad. You made it all sound very dramatic and entertaining,” Vivian cooed in response. “Not at all whiny. And then you signed on as crew with the Waterloo.”
“The what?” Zander had scanned her brain for any more memories of the previous night and came up empty.
“The Waterloo sweetie. This,” Vivian’s toes wriggled indicating the surrounding space. “You’re aboard the commercial space vessel Waterloo.”
“You mean we aren’t on the moon? This isn’t Luna City?” Zander had asked in a panic.
“No,” Vivian’s body slipped back into the hammock until just her eyes were visible again. “We left lunar orbit hours ago. We’re under thrust for Mars. Our next performance is there.”
“Wait, what kind of ship is this?” Zander asked.
“Why this is Moriarty’s Magnificent Menagerie sweetie.” Vivian’s eyes had twinkled merrily. “Last night you joined the circus.”
Evidently, Zander signed on as their new animal handler. She wondered if anyone bothered to mention the possibilities of freezing to death in space, asphyxiation, or radiation dangers when she’d signed up. Surveying the room she was now in, she was certain they hadn’t explained what they meant by “animals” either.
Space was limited on a ship so large animals weren’t an option. She also knew some species didn’t adapt well to low gravity. The Menagerie apparently made do with the options that were left. A mix of frightened chirps, squeaks, and hoots assaulted her ears. The long room was filled with various containers, obviously specially designed, for their occupants. Most seemed secure but one had been dislodged and sat at an angle, its lid cracked open.
Slowly she surveyed the room. The container didn’t have a label and Zander had no idea what type of creature might have been released. In the reduced light she was unable to spot anything stirring and cautiously started moving across the room.
The caress came first on the corner of her ear. And then across her right cheek. The featherlight touch of spider silk. It triggered in her an urge to get away. A reflex buried deep in her subconscious that moved faster than rational thought. She jerked back, brushing frantically at her face. In the zero g environment the reaction made her body spin wildly.
With effort, she managed to grab a handhold and stop spinning. Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm herself. On the list of current dangers, a spider really shouldn’t be that high. Although, judging by the size of the container and the web Zander wasn’t eager to learn how much of a danger it should be considered. Using the ceiling mounted hand holds she pulled herself across the rest of the room quickly.
On the far side, she found the last enclosure was filled with mice. Zander marveled for a moment at how, even in zero gravity, they were able to wedge themselves into the small plastic tunnels and continue to scurry about their business. She wondered for a second how mice were used in the show, until it dawned on her. They were food. Probably for Monty, the second thing she had met on the Waterloo.
Zander had been laying on Vivian’s floor, eyes shut, trying to stop the world from spinning and to piece the previous night’s events back together.
“This is a mis…eeeai!” The small scream slipped out unbidden as she opened her eyes. Two slitted eyes atop a small triangular head gazed at her from only a few inches away. A thin tongue flicked out repeatedly, tasting the air.
Pressing her hands against the floor, Zander tried to push away from the snake, but it was already on top of her. It seemed to watch her for several seconds before sliding its head down her shoulder and toward the floor.
Zander’s heart skipped a few beats and her breathing stopped. She lay tense as nearly two meters of snake slid across her. Finally, it slipped off her body and she took a sharp inhale of air.
“That’s Monty.” Vivian was looking down at her from above again. “She must be curious about you. Normally it takes her longer to come out of hiding after a prolonged time in zero gravity.”
“Let me guess, you’re the snake charmer?” Zander asked softly as she tried to scoot her body further away from the snake.
“I can charm all kinds of things,” Vivian had answered with a throaty chuckle. “But yes, Monty is part of my act. I think you were about to say something about this all being a mistake?”
“Yes.” With effort Zander pushed herself into a sitting position. “This is a mistake. I need to get out of here.”
“You’ll want to talk to Zed then.” Vivian’s face disappeared back into the wrappings of the hammock, losing interest in the conversation.
“Zed is the Captain?”
“Captain. Pilot. Clown. Magician. Check the bridge. Out the hatch and to the left. Take the access tunnel all the way to the top.”
And now Zander was struggling with the release on a similar access tunnel to go back down. At least this one, she noticed with relief, didn’t have vacuum on the other side. However, as she pulled it open a chirping noise like an electronic cricket started. The sensor attached to her chest was indicating dangerous levels of radiation in the tunnel. The crew quarters were only two more levels down though. If she moved fast enough she should be alright. Unless that level’s hatch was jammed. Or the level itself had already been flooded with radiation.
Refusing to think about the decision too long, Zander flung herself into the tunnel. She yanked her body painfully to a stop two levels down and struggled with the latch. Her skin felt like it was burning, but she realized that was probably her imagination. Probably.
With a final shove the hatch swung open and Zander scrambled through, sealing it shut behind her. She found Vivian’s room and the auxiliary control panel outside. Desperately she tried to remember the instructions Zed had given her to free the door.
She argued with Zed for almost twenty minutes before he agreed to let her out of the contract. He was a short disagreeable man. Bald, unshaven, and missing one leg. Which in retrospect Zander could now understand since he lived on the Waterloo. He agreed to drop her off when they got to Mars, it wasn’t like they could just turn the ship around Zed explained.
“What am I supposed to do then?” she had asked. “How am I supposed to get back home?”
“Not my problem. You did sign a contract after all.”
The ship had shuddered before she could argue further. Alarms and flashing warning indicators filled the bridge. Zed shoved her aside and slid into the pilot’s chair.
“Something hit us. Rock or piece of space junk. Blew right through the port deflector. We’ve got a hull breach.” With an amazing sense of calm, Zed begun to check systems.
Electrical popping noises had come from a series of panels to her side before they went dark. The sensation of gravity ceased and Zander found herself slowly floating up.
“Port electrical relays just blew,” Zed growled. “The fusion engines have tripped.”
“Zed, need some help here.” Zander recognized Vivian’s voice on the intercom. “The door’s jammed. I can’t open it.”
“Hang tight. I’ll get someone down there,” Zed had answered. He continued to manipulate controls and check screens until his shoulders slumped. “Oh hell.”
“What? What is it?” Zander had asked.
Zed jerked around to look at her, as if he’d momentarily forgotten she existed. “We took more damage than I thought. Secondary coolant is leaking into the ship. Radiation is moving toward the crew compartments.”
His frown grew and made Zed look more unpleasant to Zander. “You’ll have to go down and get Vivian out,” he’d said with unhappy resignation, turning back to the console.
“I can’t do that. I’m not even supposed to be here!” The volume and pitch of Zander’s voice increased as she spoke, sudden fear leaking through.
“There’s no one else. Mustapha is trying to bring the engines back online and Percival is working on the hull breach. Unless you know how to fly an old Class D colony ship, you’re all Vivian has.”
Reluctantly she had agreed and Zed explained what she would need to do.
Which brought her here, one hand stuck inside the panel pumping up the manual hydraulic release. The metal in the hatch groaned under the strain. Then whatever misalignment was jamming it gave way and it sprang open with a metallic clang. Vivian was floating on the other side, one arm held against her body and a slight trickle of blood on the edge of her forehead.
“I hit my arm when the ship lurched,” she explained. “I think the bone is broken.”
Zander grabbed her by the front of her ship suit and pulled her carefully into the corridor.
“One access tunnel is open to space. The other is flooded with radiation,” Zander quickly explained.
Vivian nodded down the corridor. “Third hatch. There’s an emergency crawl way to the next level. The main computer core is there. It’s the most heavily shielded part of the ship.”
They started toward the hatch before Vivian grabbed her arm. “Wait! Monty.” She looked at Zander with pleading eyes.
Zander exhaled, half in frustration and half in exhaustion. “Keep going. I’ll get her.”
She pulled herself back into the room and toward the corner the snake had retreated to earlier. Approaching with trepidation she peered under the cabinet that was set into the wall. Underneath she could see the snake, coiled up into a ball as it floated, trapped between the deck and the cabinet.
As she reached in the snake gave a menacing hiss, its mouth open in warning. “Easy Monty,” Zander whispered. “Just be a nice snake and we’ll be OK.”
Zander closed her eyes and slowly moved her hand closer to the snake. Its tongue brushed against her and she tensed. Instead of a bite though, the snake started to wrap itself around her arm as it crawled toward her. Gently she retracted her arm with the now attached Monty. Hurrying, she headed back to where Vivian was waiting. She could feel the snake wrapping around her shoulders and torso but tried to ignore it.
Vivian was correct. Once through the crawl way and into the cramped computer core space they were protected. Whatever opinion Zander might have of the Waterloo itself, the efficiency of her crew couldn’t be argued with. In short order they had the hull breach sealed and the contaminated areas flushed. They’d even managed to get the engines back online at low power, providing roughly lunar equivalent gravity.
A tall spindly man with shining white skin named Percival appeared and helped Vivian to their small medical bay. As he began treating her arm Zander noticed that she was watching her, a small smile raised one corner of her mouth. Looking down Zander realized that she was absently stroking Monty’s smooth skin. The snake was still wrapped snugly around Zander with her head tucked into an arm pit for warmth.
Vivian brushed Percival aside and stepped over to Zander. She wrapped one arm around her in a tight embrace.
“That’s for saving Monty. This is for saving me.” She lifted Zander’s chin and kissed her fully on the mouth. Zander could sense the blood rushing to her cheeks as Vivian returned to Percival’s silent manipulations.
“We should be OK now,” Zed announced from the door. “Backups are all online and a Navy patrol vessel is coming to check on us, just in case. It’ll take us a little longer to reach Mars at this speed, but we’ll get there.”
Zed glanced at Zander. “Don’t worry. We’ll find you a spot on a ship heading back to Earth and back home.”
Zander looked over at Vivian, who was watching her with twinkling eyes. Even Percival stopped what he was doing and gazed at her silently. Zander looked down at the snake wrapped around her and slid her hand down its body lightly before looking up at Zed.
“No, that won’t be necessary. I think I’m going to stay.”
Zed looked from face to face in confusion. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. After all, I did sign a contract.”
“Victor Davis Hanson: I’m RISKING it all to tell you the TRUTH…”
What are school lunches like around the world?
Thanks for the A2A, Samuel.
My daughter is currently in a Chinese primary school in Shanghai, China. I have seen her lunch.
When I was in her age, we didn’t have canteens in the school. Everybody was supposed to take their lunchbox (prepared by parents) to school in the morning, tie up the box with a small wood nameplate (students’ names written), pass it to the school staff. They will heat hundreds of them in a huge steam boiler before noon. (You know, most Chinese people LOVE warm food and HATE cold ones. Most of us deeply believe that cold food is bad for us.) You were supposed to find your lunchbox from hundreds heated ones, and eat. The lunchboxes were required to be a metal one (usually aluminum) due to the way of heating. Something like this:
I remember once my classmate wrote an essay about the school lunch and our teacher read it in class. She said her lunchbox usually included a drumstick or some pieces of meat (which I, and many classmates were so envy about). But one day, when she opened the lunchbox after heating, there were only rice and Chinese cabbage stew. She couldn’t believe it’s her lunch, asked many classmates trying to find out who mistakenly took hers. Later when back home, her dad told her he mixed up her lunchbox and her mom’s that morning. It was the first time she realised she was the only one who had meat for lunch in her family.
It was many years ago. I guess if I told this story to my daughter or her peers, they would hardly understand the heart warming feelings from a lunchbox with pieces of meat. With living in a time almost all kinds of food are easy to reach, I hardly recall the appreciation or the “I wish I could eat it every day” feelings to drumstick, roasted pork or most food, well, simply because “I can eat it every day” anyway.
2 years ago, my friend came back from a voluntary work in a Hope Primary School (schools funded by a charity program called ‘Project Hope’ to support children from poor families) in a remote mountainous village. She told me it’s a boarding school because it’s impossible for students to commute 20km of trail on foot daily. She said she got SHOCKED about the school meals- there were no real school meals actually. Similar to my childhood, there was a huge steam boiler in the school. Students brought rice to the school on Monday or the day they came back from a home visit.
Every meal, they put some rice and some water in their boxes, cooked them in the steam boiler, and ate the same kind of food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Everyday! Some students brought homemade pickles or chillies. Nothing else. Nothing.
It was hard to imagine some peers of my daughter living in some place couple of hours drive from Shanghai had nothing but rice to eat. It was hard to imagine some kids live a tougher life than I used to live decades ago.
My friend told me her experience in that school with teary eyes. She wished she could help more. She helped me, my daughter and many people donate to the school and directly to some families.
This summer, she brought me this BIG NEWS.
The school built a canteen! They got government subsidies, corporate sponsors and private donations to buy food, kitchen equipment and hire staffs. Now students there have not only rice but vegetables, meat, eggs, even fruits to eat every day!
I’m so glad at the happy ending.
Though I know there might be new problems and troubles. The food hygiene, the nutritional balance, the quality control and finance management of the canteen, the change of needs of students… I know there would always be some new challenge and never be an ending.
Still those bad news, good news, and those changes make me rethink food, and everything I own and experience in life.
I pretty much like this name- ‘Project Hope’.
Food brings hope. And so do changes.
What was a moment you had where you decided to step in to the parenting of someone else’s child?
Not my own parenting story, but my father’s.
Back then when I was 8 or 9 y.o my father’s godson came to live with us. My sister and I knew him very well, calling him our cousin and spending a lot of time with him as children. He couldn’t bear living with his mother and stepfather anymore, I don’t know the details but I think it was really rough for a teenager to live in such an environment.
He was 16 or 17, a big guy who would easily get involved in trouble and not take part in house chores. My father and the whole family welcomed him. My dad taught him life with patience (and a big voice sometimes). He never raised a hand on him (while his stepfather often did). My sister and I never tried to get him into trouble (while his stepsister often did). We loved and respected him and sometimes it was rough. Our parents had a shop and our cousin was our bodyguard in this big merchant street. We had a lot of good times, bad times as well for sure. When he needed independence my father built a studio in the garden for him (and there were a lot of p*rn posters on the walls, believe me !). When he needed to let go of the pain and anger he would go to a kickboxing club with my sister. They had a very special relationship, a beautiful one (they were almost the same age, while I was the kiddo, the one they looked after all the time).
My father became kind of his father, without ever pretending to be. He raised him and helped him go through teenage years in a way that made him the man he his today. A good career, happily married, stepfather to one beautiful girl (whom he loves and cares for) and father to one adorable babyboy. It took our cousin a lot of effort and will to get there. It took my father a lot of patience, goodwill and love to get him there.
But I’m proud he did. And shall this happen in the future again, I would do the same.
Spicy Lemon Pesto Flat Iron Steaks
Grilled Spicy Lemon Pesto Flat Iron Steaks are delicious.
Prep: 10 min | Cook: 14 min | Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
Spicy Lemon Pesto
- 3 large cloves garlic, minced
- Salt
- Freshly grated lemon peel (optional)
- 1/3 cup prepared basil pesto sauce
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon peel
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
Steaks
- 4 beef Flat Iron Steaks (6 to 8 ounces each)
Instructions
Spicy Lemon Pesto
- Combine ingredients in small bowl. Set aside.
Steaks
- Press garlic evenly onto beef steaks.
- Place steaks on grid over medium, ash-covered coals. Grill, covered, for 10 to 14 minutes for medium rare (145 degrees F) to medium (160 degrees F) doneness, turning occasionally.
- Season with salt, as desired.
- Top steaks with pesto.
- Garnish with lemon peel, if desired.
Notes
Flat iron steaks are also known as top blade steaks. Flat iron steaks benefit from marinating. You can substitute flat iron steaks in any recipe calling for flank or skirt steak. This cut is best grilled over a medium-high heat. Don’t go as hot as possible unless you pick up a very thin cut. Because of the density of the meat, it is generally best to start with a quick sear before moving to a lower temperature to finish off to the desired doneness.
BRICS Bombshell! They just scored a KNOCKOUT blow to the US Dollar
What is the most inappropriate clothing you have seen a student wear at school?
I was teaching an introduction to Calculus class for Summer School at Brea Olinda High School, in Brea, California.
The first day of class I watched as the students filed into the classroom one or two at the time; nearly seventy-percent of the seats had occupants. Suddenly, I watched as a six-foot-tall young girl enter the classroom, wearing 4″ heels, along with a tiny pair of cut-off jeans that exposed her naval down to her crotch, and a halter-top three-sizes too-small for her …. girth.
All banter and chatter ceased as she found a seat and silently opened her text book and her notepad. As I called the roll, the students would answer-up and I would move-on to the next name on the enrollee list.
I presented the materials the class will cover over the the next six-weeks, after which I dismissed the class, with the exception of the young girl previously mentioned.
She came to the front of the class and immediately apologized for her wardrobe. She told me that she was 18 years-old and five-days a week she was the greeter at a gentlemen’s club. I politely asked her to please bring a change of clothing to her job and change before entering the next class meeting.
She graduated from Loma Linda High School in June of that year. However, University of California Irvine noted that she had neither taken nor passed introduction to calculus.
I agreed to let her stay in the class provided she was properly dressed. The principal of the High School asked me if I had met the young lady taking my class. He further said that she was her class’ valedictorian.
We kept in-touch and I continued to help her with math at the university level. Today, she works as a scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.
Various images
What is the most inappropriate interaction you have had with a lawyer?
I would have to state the 3rd lawyer that represented my soon to be ex-husband! You see, he was engaged to her daughter for awhile, and while he was married to me.
I would have to imply she didn’t have the “brightest light bulb” functioning. She made several mistakes, she phoned my number (I had caller ID and it had her name and the other number, had her law firm) – I had my classmate (who at that time was the Police Captain) to come over to answer the phone.
We recorded it.
I then alerted my lawyer and she didn’t buy it, totally disregarding it, so from that office I went to the courthouse and handed it over to the Secretary.
Upcoming hearing:
JUDGE: I cannot accept you (lawyer) to represent your client (husband). It is a conflict of interest.
HER: (startled)
HIM: (grumble grumble)
HER: Your honor? How so?
JUDGE: I have evidence and you’re dismissed from being a counselor.
HER: Objection! He hired me to…
JUDGE: Interrupts… I don’t care. To the fact, your client is engaged to him while he is married is a conflict of interest. You are the client’s possible future “son in law”.
HIM: *gasp*
HER: *totally perplexed* (100% clueless) Objection! You have no evidence!
JUDGE: ::: slides over the photograph ::: taps on the cassette…
HER: Viewing photograph – SO?
JUDGE: You called this woman. I have the Police report right here … sliding paperwork to her.
HER: I withdraw! (gets up quickly and leaves)
HIM: tries to take a look but the Judge pulled it all back.
JUDGE: You can leave, and find another lawyer to represent you . We will reschedule for the hearing next Thursday at 11 AM.
HIM: I am not sure if I can find a lawyer that fast!
JUDGE: Not my problem!
After he quickly left, my lawyer left, I said “Your honor? May I say something?”
JUDGE: (Pauses) Yes, go on!
ME: Could you possibility find out if he’s living there because I know for a fact, he’s not at my property at all, he has 29 migrants and illegal immigrants living in my house and the Cops were called multiple times!
JUDGE: (fully alert) Is that so?
ME: Yes, I drove by it several times, they are literally destroying my property that I own. I had reported all these to my lawyer but not going anywhere.
JUDGE: (reviews paperwork) calls for the Bailiff and requests a full Report of all calls at (property) and to find out if he (husband) is living at (xxxxxxx address), and send Police to verify and report it all back to me quickly please. I will see if I can do something about it.
Yup! Everything I reported was factual, since my husband had just found the attorney, that lawyer requested a reschedule because he didn’t have everything up front to represent his client yet or who the other lawyer (mine) was. It was a last minute alert, prior to the hearing.
However, the Judge ordered my lawyer and I to remain for a few moments.
My lawyer got reprimanded. He had all the Police reports in front of him, plus additional documentations and he told that lawyer she better work up on her client relationship or he was going to dismiss her!
The Judge knew this lawyer very well, one of the top divorce lawyers in the County and a specialist of those who are under police protection (yes, my son and I were under police protection).
From that standpoint on, the relationship went for the betterment.
Why GOD Sent You a Cat – Unveiling Feline Spiritual Significance
Cat Spirituality owner Don’t know and never in their minds. Beyond companionship the psychic abilities of cats. there’s a belief they have special Secret power. They believe that cats can feel bad energies around them and even get rid of them. according to this belief when a cat rests for an extended period it transforms negative energies share your beliefs.