One of the popular trends in China are “auto-lacing” shoes. This is a new kind of way to lace up your shoes. It’s all the rage with the kids. My daughter has about five pairs of auto-lacing shoes.
It’s sort of like those lacing shoes on the “back to the future 2” movie. Only it’s not a motor. You just twist a dial. But it’s there, and super easy and convenient. It’s been popular in China every since maybe May 2024.
Something like this…
You press the button and twist. A ratchet mechanism tightens the laces up. Pretty darn cool. Hit the button and twist.
All the Chinese kids are throwing away their Velcro sneakers and going auto-lace. Been this way all Spring, Summer and Fall. You’ll all see Western exported versions soon enough provided that they will be permitted to be imported to your country.
Today…
Why doesn’t China break off diplomatic relations with the US if the US is selling arms to Taiwan?
Sometimes I think that Americans and Soviets should try playing a Chinese board game called Go instead of always playing chess. China also has a game similar to chess called Elephant Chess, which I have played, but I find Go to be more interesting.
（China Chess,Elephant Chess）
The thinking in chess is too linear, and it’s almost a zero-sum game.
The following is an actual game between two top players. The 12 black stones at the top are in dangerous.
Most people might get anxious and try to save them. But in this game, Black 43 surprisingly ignored them and played in the bottom right corner. As expected, White 44 attacked Black’s stones… (The calculations of professional players are extremely complex. If Black 43 dared to ignore the group, they must have calculated it thoroughly.)
This is just a metaphor. In Go, you don’t always have to follow your opponent’s moves. This kind of situation is very common.
The Taiwan issue is similar. Chairman Mao said, “You fight your way, and I fight mine.”
In 1949, just after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the US Seventh Fleet stationed in the Taiwan Strait. What could we do? We had to endure it. By 1972, during the Soviet attack and American defense, Nixon visited China. When he met Chairman Mao and was about to discuss Taiwan, Mao said, “We’re not talking about Taiwan; we’re talking about philosophy.” When I first saw this sentence in my youth, I didn’t understand what it meant. Of course, I still don’t fully understand it now, but perhaps I understand another of Chairman Mao’s statements: “Taiwan is small; the world is big.”
Many years have passed, and we are much stronger than we were in 1949. Grain production has increased 6.5 times, steel production has increased 32,500 times, electricity production has increased 2,000 times, and per capita GDP has increased 470 times…
In human history, it’s rare to see so many people make such great progress. Overall, the progress is significant. If we always focused solely on Taiwan, fighting to the death, instead of “playing elsewhere,” temporarily putting it aside and making efforts in other directions, wouldn’t that be foolish?
I personally like Trump, but as a politician, especially as the leader of a superpower like the United States, I have to say that his way of thinking is too linear, too chess-like, not Go.
For example, he repeatedly threatened NATO member states to increase military spending, and even threatened to dissolve NATO. It seems that this can indeed promote the US economy, but although Go is black and white, in fact, its greatest charm is precisely: there is nothing in the world that is absolutely black and white, and everything contains opposition.
He believes that NATO European member states have taken advantage of the United States, but in fact these member states have also been helping the United States; he requires member states to improve their armaments, but on the other hand, after these countries have all obtained strong weapons, is the US military presence in Europe still necessary?
I certainly don’t dare to say he is wrong, I have no ability to judge, but it seems that he does care too much about the $10 in front of him…
As for the US selling arms to Taiwan, of course, the Chinese are very unhappy, but breaking off relations with the US because of this is unlikely. It’s like in Go, where a beginner often makes the mistake of capturing a single stone or group of stones, losing the initiative.
Taiwan is small; the world is big.
The World’s Most Powerful EW System MURMANSK-BN Paralyzed F-35 Fighters Over The Black & Baltic Seas
What were the greatest last words in history?
In the Salem witch trials of 1692, 81-year-old farmer Giles Corey was falsely accused of witchcraft. They placed him on the ground, put wooden plates on him and covered these with large rocks. This would slowly break his body and make it harder for him to breathe. For two days they kept increasing the weight, as each torturer would ask him in between rounds of torture, whether he would like to confress…
Each time, Corey said only two words:
“More weight!”
He kept it up. Even when the weight got so heavy that his ribs began breaking, blood coming out of his mouth. At one point, his tongue was pressed out of his mouth, an one of his tormenters pushed it back inside the old man’s mouth with the tip of his cane…
They asked him, one final time, to confess. Giles Corey smiled and screamed out: “More weight!” They obliged him, and finally the weight of the rocks crushed his chest entirely, killing Corey after two days of excruciating pain.
The UK Rejects Punishing China EVs, Canada Makes Surprise Visit To Beijing (Just In Case)
What did Timothy Treadwell do wrong after years of close contact with bears (to have been killed by one)?
For starters, he completely lost the plot. He began think he could be best friends with the bears. Or, as one expert put it, “He began to think these were people in bear costumes.
Namely, he made a few huge mistakes during his final year there:
He stopped bringing bear spray with him, which is absolutely crazy to me. He had no defense outside of his arms and legs which are completely useless against such massive kodiak bears.
He didn’t pay attention to rising signs of aggression in a few of the bears, who had become normalized to his presence, and became more comfortable approaching him. There was one bear in particular, who is believed to be the one that killed him. It was being especially aggressive in footage during the documentary.
And then there are the endless warnings and violations he’d committed with the park service, with many rangers begging him to stop.
Treadwell was extremely unprofessional and put other people’s lives at risk in what he was doing.
All of that aside, I’d never wish what happened to Treadwell on my worst enemy. Bears are one of the last animals you want to kill you.
Why? Because they don’t kill you. They just start eating.
His final words to his girlfriend were, “Get out of here. I’m getting killed.”
Mozzarella Meat Balls and Spaghetti
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 cup fresh white breadcrumbs
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- Salt and pepper (optional)
- 1 egg, beaten
- 5 ounces mozzarella cheese
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 (14 ounce) can tomatoes, chopped
- 12 ounces spaghetti (or preferred pasta)
Instructions
- Put the beef, breadcrumbs, garlic, half the parsley, salt and pepper into a bowl. Add the egg and mix well.
- Cut the mozzarella cheese into 16 small cubes. Take a heaped teaspoonful of beef mixture and form it into a ball around each cube of cheese.
- Heat the oil in a large covered pan, add the meat balls to the pan, cover and cook until brown on all sides.
- Add the onion to the pan, cook for 2 to 3 minutes, then add the tomatoes and juice. Bring up to a simmering point, cover and cook for 30 minutes.
- Uncover pan and cook for a further 10 minutes to allow the sauce to reduce and thicken slightly.
- While the meatballs are cooking, cook the spaghetti in boiling water until done to your preference.
- Drain well and divide among 4 warmed plates.
- Divide the sauce among the plates of spaghetti, and sprinkle with the remaining parsley.
Shorpy
Can’t the Chinese feel their lack of freedom?
I’m (ethnically) Chinese, maybe not entirely culturally Chinese as I’m a risk taker, far more violent and many China born Chinese consider me an illiterate thug.
I was born in the UK.
I currently live in Hong Kong. I may be spending a couple weeks cycling around Meizhou.
So with direct experience… rather than the vicarious experience westerners have? I can compare directly.
I also owned (past tense) a home in Dongguan which I finally sold after being Covid blocked.
So freedom?
What can’t I do in Hong Kong that I could do in the UK?
In Hong Kong I cannot promote separatism or take money from outsiders to promote separatism. The same is true in the Mainland.
That’s it.
You think people online don’t call politicians nasty names?
Now you might be tempted to write things like:
Free internet – except the western internet has numerous blocks on it too, usually in the oh won’t anybody think of the children. The UK for instance had an extreme porn law. Franklin Veaux would likely violate many of the things in UK extreme porn law. Oddly enough the USA blocks my access to some of their websites too. I can’t access anything .mil for instance.
Free press don’t make me laugh, western press hasn’t been free for a long time now. The most notable incident was the 448 incident where just by complete coincidence almost all western news stated that 488 million paid comments existed on the Chinese internet. Funny how they all got that typo the same. 77th brigade and CIA literally has sock puppet accounts
Free elections There are elections in China and Hong Kong, westoids love to say if it doesn’t deliver the result WE DEMAND then the vote is illegitimate! Nicolás Maduro isn’t recognised despite contesting and winning elections. The 2021 HK election was observed by international monitors and opposition parties and people were allowed to stand but westoids say it’s not legitimate! Because they say so!
Gun ownership Funny enough I was once a member of the exclusive HK gun club. It’s invitation only and very expensive. Most Americans baulk at the cost of a box of .45. The HK gun club was even more expensive think $5USD a round.
PRC China Nopes no guns.
On the other hand what freedoms do I have here that western countries have?
It’s safe here, the crime rate is a tenth of what it was in the UK. After years of living here? I’ve finally started unclenching my fists. In the UK I was always expecting violence or a fight and walked around being alert to possible theft and violence. Check our this photo
Look at that goods on shelves OUTSIDE the shop. That would be UNTHINKABLE in the UK. There’s security tags on milk
Medicine
I experience what I experience in 1990s UK. 1990s UK I wasn’t scared of getting ill or hurt, maybe it was because I was younger, but over time NHS services seemed to be increasingly difficult to access. While here? Access has been widened and affordable for all.
I wrote a couple months ago about my dad and prostate cancer. He was seen, had surgery and treated within a week. He paid less than $5000USD out of pocket.
Another one of my friends. He was in HK and vanished for a week. Turns out he’d gone to Guangzhou he had a tumor on his spine. He went to a doctor, that night he was admitted to hospital. They operated in the morning removing several tumors and gave him some drugs of some kind and he has radiotherapy traveling 200miles to Guangzhou to get it. That cost him about $2500USD.
Judgement Day Arrives For Single Mum Wife Who Sabotaged Husband’s Chance At His Own Child
What is the most shameful thing you’ve seen someone do at a restaurant?
We were having a family get together at a new restaurant. When our salads arrived, one of my cousins said to the waitress, “I ordered my salad without dressing.” The waitress immediately took the salad back and replaced it without dressing. No problem. When the manager came by to ask how everything was, this cousin said, “Well we were having a lovely family get together, when MY salad came with dressing on it. It ruined my whole meal.” The manager said to the cousin, “We will not charge you for your meal.” This same cousin then noticed another cousin was not eating her meal. She asked if there was a problem. The cousin mentioned her chicken was a bit raw. (She was not complaining) First cousin yells, “Oh waiter.” Another meal came off the bill. When the bill arrived, which we were paying, there were three meals taken off the bill.
We protested to the manager and told him this was not necessary. We wanted to pay the whole bill. All the problems were easily corrected. He refused the extra money.
While we were walking out to the car, one of my young sons asked if this cousin brought her own rubber cockroaches? We were all embarrassed by this cousin’s behavior.
When I got home, I sent the restaurant a check for the three meals with a note telling the manager, he was a wonderful manager and although we appreciated the discount, it was not necessary. We wanted to reimburse the restaurant. They did cash the check.
Several years later, we were with this same cousin at a different restaurant. One of our party was complaining that her meat was tough. The cousin yelled out, “Oh waiter” I said to myself, “Oh crap. Here we go again” But in this case, the restaurant just replaced the meal with another choice.
How The Chinese See The U.S. In 2024 | Asmongold Reacts
This is an American reacting to the video presented earlier.
As a lawyer, when has a client completely ignored your advice and turned out to be right?
I was a freshly minted lawyer (the ink on my bar card hadn’t even dried) and had been assigned to represent a young man in juvenile court charged with possession of marijuana and transportation of same back in the days when such activity was a felony offense. Although tried as a juvenile he could face severe penalties, time in juvenile hall, placement in a group home, removal from his family.
He also had the near perfect grounds for a motion to suppress the evidence-the first such motion I’d come across in real life. It was a near certainty to win the case for us on a “technicality” – it was a bad detention and search and the evidence would have been barred from the case. Without it the case had no legal grounds upon which to proceed and the charges would have to be dismissed.
I took great pains to explain this to my client, Billy. He asked me what would happen if the motion were not run. I told him his conviction on the charge was an absolute certainty and all I had described above would probably happen. He was by all accounts, including his own mother’s, something of an incorrigible young man, an academic truant, with many close scrapes with law enforcement, etc. etc. and I knew it highly likely that he’d be removed from his mother’s custody and become a “dependent/ward of the court” and could remain on probation until he reached his majority. I also knew that were he to re-offend his future treatment would only get more harsh. Once in the system, he’d be ridden hard and I didn’t think he’d want or endure that well.
He asked me if he could prevent me from filing the motion to suppress.
Me: “Well, yes, but if we don’t there’s nothing to prevent your being found guilty and there’s not much I can do to prevent your removal from your mother’s custody. You’ll totally be at the mercy of the court and probation. We might as well waive trial and go straight to sentencing.”
Billy: “That’s what I want to do. I don’t want a trial. I’ll plead guilty.”
Me: “But Billy. We (I) can win this case and there’s nothing they can do to you if you get the dope suppressed!”
Billy: “You’re my PD, right? And you said I have the absolute right to go to trial or not right? I want to plead guilty. No trial.”
I did as he ordered and as expected the court did impose custody time in the hall and ordered that he serve additional time in a group home (sort of a parole home) for juveniles. At his sentencing he shook my hand and thanked me for my efforts on his behalf.
About a year and a half later I was out and about when a young couple walked up to me. The young man called me by name. I’ve never been particularly comfortable with anyone calling me formally except in a professional venue. I looked at him but didn’t recognize him or the young lady affectionately draped across his arm.
“Mr. Lee, it’s me, Billy ———-!”
“Billy,” (now placing name and somewhat older face together), “How are you?”
“Doing great, sir! Just saw you and wanted to thank you for everything you did for me.”
“But Billy, you told me not to fight your case and you wound up on probation and everything else.”
“That’s true but it also got me away from my mother and older brother who were just fucking up my life. I never told you how much of my shit back then was a result of the way I was being treated at home and all the crap around me. I’m not saying what I did was right, but I needed to get away. After I got out on probation and into the group home, I got my shit together, graduated high school, and now I’ve got an apprenticeship as a union meat cutter, and I’m making good money, and I have a lovely girlfriend. And you helped make it all happen.”
“No Billy, I was just being a (know-it-all) lawyer and apparently not anywhere near as smart as you. Seems you’re the one who made the right call.”
Thanks for the A2A.
And thank you, Billy, wherever you are.
UPDATE, Feb. 2020
Wow! Over 11,000 upvotes and 150K+ views! My most popular posting and people are still reading about Billy. Thank you all, but the biggest thanks to Billy who taught a young lawyer the value of listening to the human being (however flawed s/he might appear) and though I possess greater knowledge it does not guarantee greater wisdom.
Billy, by my calculation, about 57 years old now. I trust, and pray, still possessing his innate common sense, wiser with years and experience, happily with spouse and progeny. He remains one of my most memorable and favorite clients. I still delight in telling his/our story and how he’s helped me keep my ego in check and a plentiful store of humility. The state made me a lawyer but God made me a human being. Billy reminds me of that almost every day of my life.
The REAL Difference Between Chinese, Korean & Japanese People
Fun.
Why were Nazi Germany’s Waffen-SS soldiers more likely to be shot even if they had surrendered to the Allied soldiers in WW2?
If you are asking why Waffen-SS solders were more likely to be shot, read this:
Photo of SS Standartenfuhrer Kurt Meyer and fellow officers before the massacre.
In the early days of the Normandy campaign 20 Canadian soldiers, members of the North Nova Scotia Highlanders and 27th Armoured Regiment, were captured and executed by Waffen SS forces in a monastery near Caen, France. The incident was a direct violation of the Geneva Convention, which was signed by Germany before the war.
The executioner was the infamous SS Standartenfuhrer, Kurt Meyer. Meyer was in charge of the 25th Panzer Grenadier Regiment and under its wing, the fanatical 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend. The Hitlerjugend, were sent to Caen to participate in combat against the invading Canadians. Meyer was overheard to say to his fellow officer: “What should we do with these prisoners; they only eat up our rations?” They settled on the “no prisoners” policy afterwards.
Their senior officers were battle-hardened Waffen SS members. Among them was Kurt Meyer, nicknamed Panzermeyer. Meyer was found guilty of inciting his troops to commit murder and of being responsible as a commander for the killings that happened in Ardenne Abbey. He was sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Kurt Meyer was set free on 7th September 1954, after serving nine years in prison in Canada.
The captured Canadians were all young men, barely out of school, with no combat experience. They were outmanoeuvred and captured in June 1944. The headquarters of the 25th Panzer Grenadier Regiment was located in the Ardenne Abbey, so the soldiers were taken there. The rest of the story is based on evidence gathered during an investigation of the massacre.
Photo of Canadian troops on Juno Beach June 1944
Their bodies were discovered on July 8th, 1944, after the Abbey had finally been liberated by the Canadian Army. First, they found the body of Lieutenant Thomas Windsor. Some of the bodies were found by the villagers around the premises. Examinations of the remains revealed that the soldiers had either been shot or bludgeoned directly in the head. After the discovery, their bodies were properly buried. In addition to the 20 confirmed cases, two more Canadian soldiers are believed to have suffered the same fate on June 17th, also on the premises of the Abbey, but their bodies were never found. The soldiers were shot in the back of their heads, one by one, as they finished questioning them. When the Canadians realized what was happening, each prisoner shaking hands with his comrades before walking to the garden and being shot.
In 1984, a monument was erected for the victims of the Ardenne Abbey massacre. The inscription, followed by the names of those killed, reads:
“IN MEMORIAM. ON THE NIGHT OF 7-8 JUNE 1944, EIGHTEEN CANADIAN SOLDIERS WERE MURDERED IN THIS GARDEN WHILE BEING HELD HERE AS PRISONERS OF WAR. TWO MORE PRISONERS DIED HERE, OR NEARBY, ON 17 JUNE 1944. LEST WE FORGET.”
Today’s collection of MM art
Is it possible for the US Navy to detect Russian or Chinese submarines?
Of course.
The US was the first to build a underwater hydrophone detection system. It was called the SONUS. The new detection system uses fiber optic cables that detect changes in the length of the fiber optic cable when sound passes through the fiber. They have different lengths to detect different frequencies.
Then there is satellite SAR that can detect wakes of underwater submarines. This can only detect submarines at a depth of 50 meters underwater. There are rumors that new SAR wake detectors can detect submarines at 100 meters but who knows if that is true or not.
Then there are magnetic anomaly detectors. However the US version requires the detect to fly as close to the surface as possible so the detector is on drones that the P-3 can release.
Then there are sonobuoys. They are released from aircraft or helicopters. They ping the water to look for subs. The new buoys open up and drop sensors deep into the water and then ping.
There are towed fiber optic cables that submarines and ships have to detect submarines.
And then there are sensors on the sub itself to detect submarines.
The problem isn’t whether the US can do these things or not. The problem for the US is that China also has these things too. And the ECS and SCS and Northern Chinese waters is the most sensor dense in the world. They also have everything the US has and they researched and built things that the US doesn’t have.
For instance the magnetic anomaly detector. They built a better version using superconducting quantum phenomenon. It is billion times more sensitive than the ones we use.
They have satellites that detect wakes. They have have satellites that use dual frequency lidar to “map” the ocean floor at 500m. This thing can also detect submarines as the resolution is much much lower than a submarine.
They have built who knows how many submarine drones with towed fiber optic cable and sonar pingers. They don’t care if the US sub detects the drone and takes action. Then they know exactly where the US sub is.
There are rumors that the Chinese have put underwater fiber optic sensors in the Marianas Trench. The Marianas Trench is a long thin deep trench. It is very quiet in there. And it filters out sound from the rest of the Ocean. So anything passing over the Trench can be easily heard and tracked.
Their underwater network is wired together back to a data center with supercomputers to process the data and look for sound anomalies. In other words sounds that don’t sound like the background noise.
The Gunfighter Theory
Submitted into Contest #24 in response to: Write a story set in the dark recesses of space where the two main characters are often at odds with each other in humorous and comedic ways.… view prompt
Rudy Uribe
“So, did you learn how I created the universe?” The Big guy asked.
“No, Sir,” I said, “But I know it didn’t start with a big bang, and that’s good enough for me.”
“Well, that’s not good enough for me. Now get back out there and find the answer to your question.”
The Big Guy was tougher than my physics teacher. I found myself back in the dark vacuum with Jimmy.
“Why did you come back?” Jimmy asked.
“The big guy wants me to stick it out and see how he created the universe.”
“Maybe there are more than two rocks,” Jimmy said. “I still think a collision is imminent.”
We raced through space, but since there was no wind or any other objects to give us perspective, I wondered if we were moving at all. When I was alive and standing on earth, I was hurtling around the Sun at a hundred thousand miles an hour, but I couldn’t feel it. Standing on this rock felt the same.
Jimmy and I stood around for what seemed like an eternity when we felt the spheroid quake.
“Something’s happening,” Jimmy said.
“Do you really think there’s another rock that we’re going to crash into?” I asked.
“Could be,” Jimmy said, “I hate to say it since I’ve only known you for a couple of billion years, but I think those astronomers are just a little bit smarter than you are. If they say two rocks collided, I believe them.”
I hated that Jimmy and those scientists might be right, so I let his comment go.
It was almost imperceptible at first, but my spirit could feel the trembling. The tremors grew, and I felt we were approaching the end and the beginning of something remarkable.
I focused all of my attention on the rock that was now generating heat. I felt an increase in pressure. The Big Guy had given us the ability to utilize some of our earthly senses. I wasn’t sure if it was dark matter that was pressing in on us, but I knew we were reaching a moment of critical mass. The pressure was increasing exponentially. The ground shook harder and a minuscule crack appeared in the asteroid. “Something is happening, but I don’t see any other rocks coming our way,” I yelled to Jimmy.
“That’s because there’s no light,” he replied.
Dang, it. Jimmy had an answer for everything.
Gas spewed forth, and my excitement grew. The planetoid trembled violently and then let go with a blast so powerful it filled the blackness with a firework display of light. The Big Guy must have turned off some of my senses at that moment because I didn’t feel any pain or the cosmic concussion that must still be rippling through time and space, but I could see what was taking place.
Jimmy had jumped off our rock in the nick of time and joined me for a front-row seat.
Simultaneously, or so I sensed, the other rock underwent a similar fate. Both spheres had reached the end of their journeys, and exploded, propelling shards of rock, and light and gas towards each other. It was as if two gunfighters had reached the count of ten, turned, and fired.
Each piece of granite and iron grew to enormous proportions. The gasses coalesced and formed galaxies. The molten stones rotated at speeds I can’t describe until they settled into spherical shapes. The darkness was filled with light, but since there was no atmosphere in space there was still dark around us. Incredible.
The blasts represented the beginning of two timelines. Earth existed in one of the universes, but did it also exist in the other? The two universes hurtled toward each other from the deepest recesses of space. Was this the beginning of everything?
Jimmy and I made our way across the cosmic timeline at the speed of thought traversing galaxies, and nebulae and we marveled at the light show. The galactic dust looked like two muzzle flashes heading for each other.
“God must like westerns,” I said.
“Humanity isn’t going to survive long enough to discover the other universe that’s speeding toward them,” Jimmy said, “That’s a shame.”
“Just as well. Since the collision would represent the end of time as they know it anyway.”
“Well,” Jimmy said, “I have to admit that you were right and I was wrong. What are you going to dub this event?”
“I kind of like, The Gunfighter Theory.”
“Not much of a theory since we saw it happen.”
“I guess,”
Jimmy and I had our answers. We learned how the universe began, and it didn’t involve a big bang as Jimmy, and the astronomers thought. But unraveling one mystery only presented me with a couple of others. I made sure not to ask the Big Guy any more questions because he would make me figure it out on my own, and I wasn’t in the mood for any more homework.
When we got back to heaven, Jimmy shook my hand, thanked me for my companionship, and headed for the volleyball courts.
I chose to walk the grounds, wondering what had caused the spheres to reach critical mass and explode? I was deep in thought and hadn’t noticed the Big Guy was watching me. “I know how the universe started,” I mumbled out loud, “But I still don’t know who created those two giant rocks in the first place?” The Big Guy cleared his throat.
I looked up. “Oops, sorry, Big Guy.”
Reaction to Our Latest Street Interview in China
The backlash of bullshit to this video is epic!
Has a doctor ever made a mistake while treating you? What happened?
While having surgery for nasal polyps I was bleeding a lot so the surgery lasted 3 hrs so a catheter was started. Upon waking in recovery I felt uncomfortable and sore on my penis and asked if they ran a catheter which they confirmed. It took over 2 hours in recovery trying to wake up and I struggled horribly to get the energy to move. Someone mentioned I lost a lot of blood and that was the last I heard until the follow up a week later. During the week I couldn’t figure out why I was a grayish blue color and was incredibly weak. At the follow up the surgeon realized how much blood was actually lost (3 units of blood lost during surgery) and also realized she never ordered 3 units of blood to be transfused. She immediately arranged for blood transfusions the following day.
Fast forward 2 years when I had a bout of kidney stones and required a surgical procedure to have them removed. No problem with the surgery but the urologist discovered blockage in the urethra that needed to be cleared. The damage was from the catheter used for the nasal polyp surgery.
Fast forward another couple of years and the blockage is back and from what the urologist revealed is this will keep coming back unless they cut out the bad area and fuse it back together. Reluctantly I agreed to the procedure which worked ok but another catheter was inserted during surgery. This was kept in place for 2 weeks till it all healed up and the catheter was ready to be removed. The urologist was the person removing the catheter which seemed odd but what do I know. She grabbed the catheter and yanked it out like she was starting a lawn mower only she didn’t deflate the ball. This caused permanent damage internally so I now have Peyronie’s disease. After complaining to the department head I was given a written statement that I obviously was having rough sex with my wife!
The final left over from the nasal polyp surgery was almost 10 years later I found out through blood tests checking for arthritis issues that I have chronic Hepatitis B. I’m not 100% sure on this but with a blood transfusion there is a very good chance that’s where the hepatitis came from.
The US Literally Cannot Repay Its National Debt.
Which famous or infamous people in history should have never been underestimated?
When he was only a child, Alan Turing displayed signs of the genius that would later change the world.
He taught himself to read in three weeks and his teachers complained of his “unconventional” methods, which often led to the correct answer but without showing his work.
He was a bit of a loner, preferring puzzles and science experiments to socializing, but perhaps it was this solitary nature that allowed him to delve so deeply into the complex world of mathematics and computation.
Turing’s eccentricities were often misinterpreted as arrogance or aloofness.
He had a habit of wearing his gas mask while cycling to avoid hay fever, a sight that no doubt amused his colleagues at Bletchley Park.
His fingernails were perpetually stained with ink from the ticker tape he used for his calculations.
During World War II, while the world was focused on the battlefields, Turing was waging a different kind of war in the hidden corners of Bletchley Park.
He was the architect of the Bombe, a machine designed to crack the Enigma code used by the Nazis.
It was a feat that many deemed impossible, yet Turing, with his unconventional thinking and unyielding determination, managed to pull it off.
His work on the Enigma is estimated to have shortened the war by two years and saved millions of lives.
Yet, despite his contributions, Turing was largely overlooked and underestimated.
His homosexuality, considered a crime at the time, led to his chemical castration and ultimately his tragic suicide.
It was a cruel irony that a man who had done so much to protect his country was persecuted by it.
Alan Turing was not your typical war hero. He wasn’t a soldier on the front lines, nor was he a charismatic leader rallying the troops.
He was a quiet, unassuming genius whose weapon of choice was not a gun, but his brilliant mind.
His legacy is not measured in medals or monuments, but in the very technology we use today.
Every time you type on your computer or use your smartphone, you are benefiting from the work of a man who was underestimated in his time, but whose impact on the world is undeniable.
Pasta with Garlic and Oil
Ingredients
- 1 pound spaghetti, broken in half
- Cooking oil
- 5 cloves fresh garlic, sliced
- 2 tablespoons butter
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Parsley
- Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Cook spaghetti according to directions; drain, reserving 1 cup cooking water.
- In a small sauce an, sauté garlic in about 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons oil, until just starting to brown.
- Add butter, garlic and oil to cooked pasta and toss.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Sprinkle with a little parsley, and top servings with grated Parmesan cheese.
Here’s some of today’s favorites on the MM art scene…
A bunch of figurative art; read “nudes”. It used to be quite common in the old days, but now is considered “perverted”. But, I don’t give a FUCK.
It was popular in the past. In those days, figurative art went into private homes; private collections…
And into men’s bars, Men’s clubs… Men’s organizations. Men’s gyms.
Of course, none of that exists any more.
So the market for figurative works is really low. But really, guys. I love the genre.
Here’s my latest “figurative” art. And I’m rather proud of it. I’m still tweaking the process, but I am seeing improvements.
Some of the male art seems to come off as “too gay”, but I like it anyways.
Lots of cats; worship, wine and gals. Many (since it is a figurative work) are nudes.
As a wheelchair user, what is the rudest thing a person has said, done, or assumed about you?
Assuming that because someone is in a wheelchair or using a power scooter has no abilities to stand or walk whatsoever.
My mother is on oxygen, she walks into the store and uses a power-scooter to get around. She got out of the scooter to reach something up on a higher shelf and a guy went nuts! It was her fault there wasn’t a scooter for his wife who had to now wait in the car. My mother simply asked if he’d cracked a window for her.
It was raining one day, heavily, so instead of walking mom in, I let her off at the door. A man watched me walk her in, help her with the scooter and then proceeded to yell at me for blocking the front of the store. After I moved the car, I watched his wife pull up so they could unload their groceries from the cart into the car under the cover of the entry.
I’ve had people yell faker at my mom when she stands up from her wheel-chair at the back of the car and walk to get inside because the wheel-chair wouldn’t fit between our car and the badly/illegally parked car next to us. They’ve even asked if her oxygen is real or if we’re faking that too.
Just because you see a person stand or walk a few feet doesn’t mean they don’t need help or assistance of a wheel-chair or scooter.