When I was in my early teens, but before I started working, my mother would drop us kids off at a nearby pool to spend the day at.
It was a swimming complex.
It has an attached golf course, and I would (most of the time) play golf and then just kill time. My sister, at that time, was relentless in ridiculing me, making fun of me, and making my life just miserable. So I avoided the pool. It was a hostile environment to me.
For a spell, perhaps when I was in 6th grade, or so, the pool was doing work on the pool. And the one side was torn up and exposed. And being a boy, I couldn’t help be explore it. And there, to my great surprise was piles of shale.
This, in case you don’t know it, is just layers upon layers of compressed grasses and leaves from the Carboniferous era.
I couldn’t believe my luck. I would easily chip open the blocks of stratified rocks and see images of leaves and plants that no human had ever seen.
Of course, my entire family thought I was nuts. My sister constantly made fun of me. My other brothers and sisters ignored me, and my father and mother complained about hauling home rock after heavy rock.
But I loved it.
It is the perfect pastime for the children.
Give them a hand trowel, and let them go to work. They will get an interest in history, in geology, and in collecting. In a world where everything comes with a price tag (in the United States) it’s free and cheap entertainment.
Today…
What was your first clue you were no longer as young as you thought you were?
It’s interesting that this question came along because I just recently got a clue.
It was , quite frankly, devastating. 🤣😂🤣😂
I went to see my son recently in Washington state.
We needed to take his van to the shop and used an Uber for transportation.
The driver was mid 40s or so. He was really friendly and very talkative about all the money he makes driving Uber. 😳
My son elbowed me and said hey this could be an easy way to make extra money and winked at me.
The Uber driver proceeds to say, “ Uber driving isn’t safe for woman especially elderly ones.
You could hear crickets. I’m thinking, is he talking about me? And my son is thinking, oh no, I hope he wasn’t referring to mom.
Because not a word was being said the driver asks , “ Mam, did I say something to offend you?
I said no, then we arrived at our destination and exited the car.
I turned to my son and just said, what the hell was that?! I felt as though I was being gaslit! I was just floored. And on top of everything I have never liked being called mam!🤣😂🤣😂
I asked my son if he would describe me as elderly? He said absolutely not mom, and anyway who is he to judge , he was pushing fifty at least!!!
Ok so I can laugh at it now but it really did a number on me.
Of coarse this became the theme of the trip. Every time we did something physical I would ask if this was something an “elderly” person would or could do.?!
We played badminton, we played frisbee, we hiked in the mountains, we replaced broken handles on his van. He lives upstairs and I took those stairs repeatedly like nothin!
Does that sound like an elderly person to you? 🤣😂🤣😂
I looked up what is considered elderly and the general consensus is 60 to 65, I will be 64 the end of the month.
I don’t know, but personally I have regarded being elderly as more of a physicality not age. Like the inability to do normal everyday activities without help of a person or device like a walker or wheelchair etc.
I guess it’s all one’s own perspective. I’m not oblivious to the fact that I’m not as young as I feel or think but having it thrown in my face like that was unnecessary !!
Alfred Hitchcock Presents S05E37 Escape To Sonoita
In your school, has a bullied ever snapped and beat the bully?
I was in seventh grade and there was a boy who was known to be handful to most of the teachers and a bully to a lot of the students. He tormented the girls. I was no exception. He was known to grab the girls in ways that would get him a “me too” hashtag today, though back then teachers brushed it off as “boys will be boys,” or “Oh don’t be so sensitive; he just likes you.”
Frankly I had endured his hands on me for the last time. One afternoon I was at my locker exchanging books for my classes. My hair was French braided, I had on a blouse, skirt, and dress shoes. This will be relevant in a moment.
The young man in question came behind me, sunk his hand into my braid down to my scalp and jerked my head straight backwards. Heaven only knew what he was going to do next but he didn’t get that far.
I spun around and slung my purse across his face like a sword, but I wasn’t done by a long shot. I dropped everything in my hands and took off after him when he started to run. Down the hallway we went. I was calling after him something along the lines of, “You think you’re tough, picking on the girls and grabbing us. How does it feel, huh?”
I cornered him and grabbed one of my dress shoes and walloped him over the head a few times before a teacher pulled me off of him.
Now it should be noted, I don’t condone violence and as an adult I have never put my hands on anyone in violence, but when someone continuously shows contempt for others, one must expect there will be consequences and you are not always free to choose the consequences.
Some have asked if I were in trouble for my actions. I was given a stern lecture for my “unladylike behavior” but that was as far as it went. Technically it could have been worse since I had “fought back” and they had a “zero tolerance.” But he had caused so much trouble in the past, and they knew my family would raise cane for punishing me for defending myself, that I think they felt it wise to leave it at that. And no, he never bothered me after that.
Toward a Second Cuban Missile Crisis? – Theodore Postol, Alexander Mercouris & Glenn Diesen
How well do you think English signage is done in China?
I think it’s done very well.
In the 80s and 90s, there were hardly any Chinese characters on signs and advertisements in Beijing; they were all in English letters and Japanese kana.
Were we angry? Very angry.
Because we were poor, lacking technology and money, we had to swallow our pride. This included signs and subways; sacrificing the national pride of the entire population, we could only hope for more foreign investment.
Now, it’s required to have big Chinese characters on signs. No Chinese characters? Get lost! Do we really care about a few euros? Are you kidding?
Recently, a small African country launched a movement requiring the removal of Chinese signs and replacing them with local languages.
Because they said, “Our capital is almost turning into a Chinese county.”
All Chinese people feel: “Great, it should be like this!”
At least, in my opinion, it can be bilingual or trilingual.
- In their country, their language should be on top, with Chinese or English on the second line.
- Their native language font should be the largest, with Chinese or English reduced to 2/3 the size.
- Even in Beijing, English letters still be the same size as Chinese characters, which makes me very unhappy.
Can’t the Chinese feel their lack of freedom?
The word “freedom”, if we go by what Franklin Roosevelt said, includes freedom of faith, freedom of expression, freedom from fear, and freedom from want.
I do feel that China has done very well.
Freedom from want – in China, you may not get rich, but as long as you are willing to work, you can always get by.
Of course, housing prices in the big cities are indeed very high, such as Beijing and Shanghai. But outside of the big cities, other things are not that expensive – meat, grains, transportation, industrial goods, clothing, etc.
The high housing prices in the big cities, I admit that this is a problem. However, if you don’t necessarily have to live in the big cities, housing prices in the smaller cities or rural areas are much more affordable.
Freedom from fear? I feel China has done very well in this regard. With nearly 10 million square kilometers of land, I don’t feel afraid to go anywhere. I’m not sure I fully understand what “freedom from fear” means.
I’m afraid of small meteorites hitting the earth, and I feel very fearful about that. But there’s no way to be free from that, right? I can only control myself, like saying I’m afraid of heights so I won’t go to China’s dangerous historic sites. Is that “freedom from fear”?
As for freedom of faith, I think China has that. There are over 300 million religious believers.
Take Islam for example, which the West has been constantly lying about – just in Xinjiang alone, there are 25,000 mosques. The entire US only has 2,000…
It’s true that Communist Party members are not supposed to have religious beliefs, but for ordinary people, who cares what you believe?
Atheism, agnosticism, and indigenous folk religions – aren’t they also forms of faith?
Freedom of expression.
At times, I really feel that the Chinese and American people, who has more of this freedom.
Yes, we can only use VPN to access the global internet, like the one I’m using for Quora now, which costs an extra $1.5 per month. It’s annoying to pay that extra $1.5, but it’s not that expensive. That’s all about it.
Chinese netizens chased and cursed at the Israeli embassy’s Weibo account, and in the end the embassy had to call the police. But the Chinese police could only advise the netizen to “be gentler”.
Chinese netizens made lots of mocking videos about Kim Jong-un, and North Korea put pressure on China through diplomatic channels. China’s response was: the netizen’s behavior was self-initiated, we can’t stop it.
Yes, I don’t dare make any mocking videos of Xi Jinping, but I also don’t want to, because I think he’s doing a good job. Even if I did mock him, I’d just get a scolding, nothing would happen to me. But I just don’t have the motivation to do that, because I genuinely think he’s doing well.
At the end of the day, you think we lack freedom and should resist. But if we feel we’re doing quite well, what should we do?
Barbara Bel Geddes As “Sybilla” – The Perfect Wife? | Hitchcock Presents
What did your sister do to you that you can never forget?
My sister is 10 years younger than me.
Once, when I was 13, I was in my room studying, when she waddled in.
“Watcha doin’?” she asked.
“I’m reading,” I replied, without looking up from my book.
“Why?”
“I’ve exams in school.”
“Why do you have essams?”
This is not going to end well, I thought to myself. I need help!
“Mom!” I yelled. “Get her out of here! She’s disturbing me!”
“Kiddo! Come over here, and don’t disturb your brother. He is studying,” my mother called out from the other room.
“I won’t dissurb him,” my sister yelled back. “I’ll be quiet.”
“Are you sure?” asked my mother.
“I promise!” she affirmed.
I decided to let it go. I did not want to waste any more time.
She picked up one of her books and sat on the floor, looking at the pictures. She was true to her word: she did not disturb me… for all of five minutes. She then looked around, pulled up a stool, and sat near me.
I ignored her.
She started “reading” aloud from her book.
I ignored her.
She stopped reading and looked at me.
I ignored her.
“Mom!” she yelled. “Tell brother to get out! He’s dissurbing me and not letting me read!”
How come the presidential succession process in China is not written down? What if President Xi is killed by a foreign power and China needs the new president quickly to make major urgent decisions?
It is not written down because China is not the US.
Chinese know that the most sensitive issues need to be decided by the right people at the right time while they are facing a challenging and fluid situation.
How can a written-down rule by dead people capture the dynamics of a challenging and fluid situation for living people?
It can’t…
That is why living people need to appraise the situation and decide what to do.
China’s opening vs. U.S. closing? Jeffrey Sachs explains the shift
Realistic and holistic approach that China is taking regarding itself and Geo-political issues.
The Economic Crash
Guest Post by Giuseppi Filotto
May finally be starting.
Nearly 3 Trillion USD wiped off the stock market in one day.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1931549/global-financial-meltdown-markets
Tel Aviv diplomats leaving Israel.
Iran saying a “decisive” response to Israel is coming in the next 24 hours
(((America))) sending warships to the middle East
It is starting to line up quite a bit.
Hypothetically, is Iran were to actually nuke Israel, as in really wipe it off the map, the Jewish bankers running America would undoubtedly try to go for global nuclear war in a fit of demonic rage, so it could get really bad.
Then again, the guys actually pulling the nuclear triggers MIGHT suddenly be struck by conscience (doubtful) either way, it is unlikely that is Israel was wiped out the global war would not intensify.
The point is that the puppeteers, whatever you believe about them and whoever your own research states they are, are not, ever, going to be removed from power by peaceful means.
Nor will they stop with their demonic agenda.
Once you DO do your own research and look into it, the conclusion that these people are operating under a spiritual, that is, religious, belief system to at compels them to act as they do is inescapable.
And that religion is “Illuminism” and their God is Lucifer, the light-bringer. And their coming of the “Messiah” is what Catholics have predicted for centuries: The Antichrist.
I was never a religious person and I thought Catholicism was absurd (because the Novus Ordo Satanic “Catholic” Church that has masqueraded as Catholic since 1958, IS absurd, AND Satanic).
It took a literal road to Damascus moment to show me God is real and God is Love. And I then spent the next 4 years obsessively educating myself on Christianity. And finally concluded real Catholicism (only espoused by Sedevacantists today) was indeed the closest and best representation of reality, and in testing it ever since, I have only had repeated, unfailing proof that it is in fact the best and truest way to interpret reality as it is.
I no more wanted Demons and Satan to be real than any other libertine still stumbling around addicted to pleasure and excitement. But reality is as it is, not as we wish it to be, and ultimately, no one will be left on the sidelines.
As our Lord explained some 2000 years ago:
Either you are with Him, or you are against Him. Those are the only two choices available. Ultimately the choice between Good or Evil is binary. Though the road to it is far from binary, the final choice is.
And you will not be spared the having to choose; because not choosing is also a choice for the darkness.
So. Pick your master, for we all have one.
I pray those of you as hard-headed as I was get your road to Damascus moment right now, and that those of you a little smarter can get there by logic and reason alone, but I pray you all get there.
God is real. So is Free Will.
You are not a puppet. You get to choose.
I hope you choose well. Sedevacantism is indeed the Way. Research it for yourself, don’t take my word for it.
Oscar Winning Walter Matthau In “Very Moral Theft” | Hitchcock Presents
Was there ever a time in your life where you had little to no social interaction? How long? What happened?
I recall a couple of episodes of about three weeks each.
The first was during a winter break during my second year of law school. I think my finals must have been extraordinarily early, because I had an entire three weeks off, and the four-bedroom house I was sharing was vacated by my three housemates, all of whom scattered for long family holiday plans. I decided to clean out the basement of the house, part of which had been left untouched since I moved in, and was packed with various old tools, painting supplies and junk. In the process, I found some sandpaper, tack cloth, brushes and some ancient spar varnish that looked in great shape, so I decided to refinish my dining room table. I’d never done anything like that before and it was in the days before YouTube (or any internet, for that matter), so the fact that it turned out beautifully still amazes me.
I never left the house for those three weeks except to walk across the street to drop a library book in the return bin. I spoke face-to-face with only one other person, an ex-boyfriend who dropped off a Christmas present for me, and that was limited to the basics, Hello, How are you, Thanks for the thought. Good-bye. I probably spoke with my mother on Christmas Day, because I can’t imagine that she wouldn’t have called. And that was it.
I probably read a couple of dozen books, listened to a bunch of records, reorganized the hall closet, and built a couple of fires in the rarely used fireplace.
It was glorious.
The second was at a very rustic weekend vacation cabin I had bought on an Indian reservation north of Seattle (I owned the cabin, but it was on leased Indian land).
I was a practicing attorney at the time. A couple of cases scheduled for trial unexpectedly settled and freed up a block of three weeks with nothing that urgently required my presence, I hadn’t had a vacation in years, but it was on too short notice to do anything like foreign travel, so I packed up three weeks of supplies and a gallon of bleach to sanitize the well and went to stay at the cabin.
For those three weeks, I read, puttered around the cabin fixing things, hand-sewed some curtains, painted the interior, and saw nobody except the few cars a day that traversed the road in front of the cabin. I had no telephone (this was in the days of landlines only and there wasn’t one installed there) so I didn’t talk to anybody either. I had no TV, stereo or radio (except the radio in my car), so nobody talked at me, either. The only social interaction I had was that I did treat myself to a dinner out, alone, at a restaurant in a nearby town, and spoke to the waiter to give my order, ask for my check, and thank him on the way out. I’m pretty sure that was the only person I spoke to for three weeks. The only complaint I remember was that I didn’t bring quite enough books and quite enough wine.
Both of those episodes were long before the days of the Internet, social media, cell phones, email, etc. Isolation like that would be quite difficult today, I suspect.
After both of those experiences, I felt that I could have easily and enjoyably continued my isolation for another two or three weeks before I might start wishing for human contact.
Shorpy
What are the risks of allowing Chinese EV imports into the US?
It would risk shattering the illusion that Chinese Technology is just copies and fakes.
Just like how Japan proved they caught up to America when their cars and electronics sold in the USA are found to be better quality and more high tech than American Products, Chinese EVs will show to Americans that Chinese products can be worth the money and high quality too.
If American start buying expensive goods from China too, then US industries are in trouble.
BANGS Rage Quits Over TRANS debate?
What’s the most unreasonable request you’ve received from your boss?
I had a job threaten me about missing work for my then wife’s surgery.
I worked in solid waste. Basically, I was a garbage man. I did commercial dumpsters for 11+ hrs a day, 5 days a week. Great money, but long, long hours. I had been in solid waste at the time for about 13 yrs.
So, on to the story. I was married at the time. My then wife had found out she had a bone issue in her foot. The bone had become necrotic, and they were going in to basically try to cut out the dying bone, use other bone and something called ‘bone putty’ to save her foot. This surgery was scheduled weeks in advance. We had just moved to the area we were living in maybe a year and a half earlier. Any family we both had were states away, and anyone that could help basically were still working. At first, I was like… okay. I’ll burn up a few vacation days so I can take her to the surgery and for a few days of recovery. But, as we got closer to the surgery, they were thinking she would be out of commission longer than originally expected. So, the doctor told me to get FMLA paperwork from my job. Basically, paperwork that allows you to miss work for medical reasons for yourself or a family member. I’m like, great. This will make sure I can be there for her and still keep my job. 5 weeks out, I get the paperwork, and fill it out. I take it to the doctor, and they fill out their part. It became one of the most annoying, stress filled things I’d ever be involved with. Several times each week leading up to the surgery date, I was constantly checking on the status. My employer would have a different excuse every time. “Oh, this wasn’t filled out correctly” or “they didn’t receive the 2nd page on the fax” or something. The doctors office hated me. About the 12th time I called the office to ask them to check on this or that and please re-fax it, they were almost to the point of ignoring me. I asked was this typical, and everyone I talked to were like, no. This is not typical. Some were like, I’ve never seen a company do this to their employee.
So, it’s the day before the surgery. I had been very vocal at work as to what was going on, and why I wasn’t gonna be there. Midway through my shift, my supervisor calls me to tell me that the FMLA paperwork still wasn’t correct. It’s not been approved, and I quote, “if you are not here tomorrow, I’ve been told to tell you that there will be consequences.”
I’ve never had issues with attendance. In the whole time I had worked for this shop, I never missed a day, never been late. I had coworkers who would call off to “go to the beach”. I remember just a few months earlier, I had to cover part of a route because a dude was going to a Nascar race weekend, and it was like, oh. Well, they called out. Here, here’s a few pages of their route. Just work it in. Nothing was ever done or said. But, I legitimately had a family member having a major surgery done and it was just the two of us in the area and less than 24 hours beforehand they are gonna tell me there would be consequences if I called out, having plenty of PTO time banked?
I remember telling them, look. I’m not going to be here. This isn’t up for debate now. They reiterated the threat. That day, I knew I’d never drive another garbage truck again. I knew that was the end of that career and chapter in my life. I had worked for several companies in several states. Some great. Some, not so great situations. But, this was the first time I had ever gotten put into a situation where they were either just wanting to be jerks, or show some form of power over me.
I’ve always given 2 week notices and even since this time, I always parted from jobs having given them plenty of time, trained a replacement. Tied up all loose ends. I believe in avoiding burning a bridge, but in this situation, I was done. I had a nasty voicemail left the night of. Then, literally while she was in surgery, i got a call that it was approved and it was only for that day. The surgery had further complications, and was worse than originally thought. I played phone tag with my supervisor and manager. Asking for a few more days. Then, I got a letter stating I had abandoned the job.
I’ve since gone on to other careers. Went back to college and got a degree related to the IT field. Worked several years in that field for a couple companies. When covid hit, I decided to follow a long time dream/fascination of getting into Healthcare. I’ve spent several years now working as a nursing assistant in a hospital. I’m going to college to be a respiratory therapist. This has been the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. Part of me wants to look at it as everything happens for a reason kinda thinking. I do think if they had acted differently, there’s a good possibility I’d still be a garbage man. I enjoyed the job, itself. The pay was great. But, the biggest problem I always saw in that field was the way the shops were ran. The way management treated their employees. This shop was and I think still is one of the biggest haulers in the US. I had worked for them previously when I was living in Ohio, and based off of my reputation in OH, I acquired the same job in NC after having lived in FL and was moving north. But, I think it was just my time to move on. It was a lesson learned. Same with the 7 yrs I spent in IT. I think it was a character builder, and I think it helped me to be able to talk with and empathize with my current patients. I do wonder, will I ever run into those who were in upper management in my current job. Obviously, I’m going to give them the best care that I can provide. I guess I’m just wondering how they’d treat me.
This Isn’t Your Wife! | House M.D.
Since China sent military and coastguard vessels into Japanese territorial waters near the Diaoyu Islands, why did Japan send the Suzutsuki into Chinese waters and provoke China?
Japanese ships come if they want to, after all, our warships sail through their strait every day as if it’s just a regular street. Japan must have mustered great courage, trembling with fear, to come this time.
In the past, the U.S. would come once a month. They didn’t have much to do when they came; coming was the purpose itself.
You know, once a month, like clockwork, which made me suspect that if the U.S. Navy had a gender, it would definitely be female.
Now the United States is not coming, maybe to save fuel, it ordered its minions to come, last month the Netherlands, this month Japan. What use can a small raft be? It’s like a small dog, it barks happily.
If we talk about political wisdom, we have to look at Europe. Last time the United States pulled a group of people to conduct military exercises near China, Spain sent the warship in the picture – let me ask you, is this a warship? A real sailing battleship!
Kishida Fumio is just like Bongbong Marcos, they are definitely doomed, maybe even along with South Korea’s Yoon Suk-yeol. But what else can they do? They have to make some moves; if they do nothing, they’ll just wait to suffocate to death.
Even pigs squeal and twitch a few times when they’re being slaughtered, let alone the Japanese Prime Minister.
But it’s useless.
Modern Women Are UPSET BECAUSE Men Keep Avoiding Them At Work
Beef Stew with Dumplings
This beef stew with mushrooms, dumplings and sour cream is a substantial and satisfying main dish. Serve it with a green vegetable salad and French bread.
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
Stew
- 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 pounds (1kg) stewing steak, trimmed of fat and cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1 ounce (30g) (2 tablespoons) butter
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 large onion, finely diced
- 2 tablespoons brandy, warmed (optional)
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 pints (5 cups) homemade beef stock
- 6 ounces (185g) mushrooms, wiped clean
- 5 fluid ounce (150ml) (5/8 cup) sour cream
Dumplings
- 8 ounces (1/2 pound) bread crumbs made from day-old white bread
- 4 tablespoons water
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 1 onion, grated
- 1/2 teaspoon ground mace
Instructions
- Heat the oven to warm 325 degrees F (170 degrees C).
- Mix the flour, salt and pepper together on a large plate. Roll the beef cubes in the flour mixture until they are lightly coated.
- In a large frying pan heat the butter and oil over moderate heat. add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 7 minutes, or until it is soft and translucent. With a slotted spoon, remove the onion and set aside on a plate. Add the beef cubes to the pan, a few at a time. Brown them well, adding more oil and butter if necessary. Remove the beef cubes as they brown and place them in a large ovenproof casserole. If you are using the brandy, put it in a metal ladle. Set it alight and pour it, still burning, over the beef cubes in the casserole. When the brandy has stopped burning, add the onion to the casserole with the bay leaf and stock. Cover the casserole and place in the oven to cook for 2 hours.
- While the meat is cooking, make the dumplings. Put the bread crumbs into a large mixing bowl. add the water, a little at a time, and toss lightly with a fork. the bread crumbs should be just moistened, not soggy. Still using the fork, lightly mix in the eggs. add the salt, pepper, parsley, onion and mace. With floured hands, shape the mixture into walnut size balls. add the dumplings to the casserole, with the mushrooms, cover and cook for 30 minutes.
- Spoon over the sour cream just before serving.
Why did Sweden make their own fighter jets?
Because for a long time during the world wars and the cold war and quite some time before and after Sweden had a policy that was summarised as “Alliance free in peace, neutrality in war”. Now being neutral makes some people think that the country is vulnerable or a pushover. The opposite is generally true in reality. Neutrality only works if you have something to back it up with. It also means that you need to consider your weapons systems incredibly carefully.
Buying fighter jets from NATO or the USSR (though the latter would never really be the case for Sweden) means becoming dependent on their supply chains, their expertise and often conceding to some of their terms. This was not seen as acceptable, so Sweden started a domestic arms industry of some magnitude. This kept us less bound to NATO and also gave us the opportunity to create fighters based on Swedish circumstances and Swedish defence doctrine.
Swedish defence doctrine is basically summarised as going apeshit until either we get support from the side that didn’t invade us or until the opponent realises that it isn’t worth it. Every adult over 18 in Sweden can be called in for service in case of war, all discussions of surrender is to be treated as false and there are small bunkers, radar stations, hidden roads for air fields and so on everywhere and we have an arms industry that builds almost everything the Swedish defence needs.
This has been somewhat softened after the cold war ended, but a lot of it is still in place and our arms industry is one of the pieces still going strong.
A Gripen can be serviced by a conscripted 18 year old for most things, it can take off from small roads in the woods, from quickly converted airfields (my old University was built to be converted to an airbase in case of war) or basically any somewhat straight piece of hard ground. This makes it essential for the Swedish style of total defence. Any somewhat straight road, and we have a lot of them can be used to stations a quick refueling and service station for Gripens. Sure it can’t match the top of the line American fighters in many other fields, but for defence it doesn’t have to and it’s a lot cheaper for us to produce ourselves than it would be to buy something that while better in many other ways, don’t fit our doctrine.
Tension Subsiding in South China Sea
Elephant In The Room Shaped Like A Monkey
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
Perry Terrell
Elephant In The Room Shaped Like A Monkey
By Perry Terrell
“You suck.”
“Lauren!” yelled Jared. “For lack of a better term?” He thought she was joking.
“There is no better term. You just plain suck.”
“Why?” Jared asked.
“Why? Why? Why, you ask? I see that monkey. I know it’s dark in this space ship, but I see that monkey. I thought since the two of us won this mission, it would be a great chance for us to be close and really get to know each other. But you brought a monkey along? Why would you do that? Why?”
Jared looked puzzled. He was almost dazed and confused by Lauren’s outburst and attitude.
“Suppose I want to kiss you and wind up kissing that monkey.”
“Well, she has lips too.” He laughed so hard. He couldn’t see what the problem was with the monkey. Also, he still thought she was joking.
“She? She? It’s a she?” Lauren was screaming.
Jared was making frowning faces but Lauren couldn’t see his expressions because of the darkness.
For a moment there was silence.
Lauren went to the window and raised the shade. They were already on the moon and all she could see were Lunar Craters. Hundreds and thousands of them.
“I want to go home,” she said.
“Ahhh, we’re on the moon, Lauren. We have data to gather and pictures to take. Besides, you could have brought a pet.” Jared was trying to comfort her. He was saying to himself that this was going to be a real long mission if she keeps this up.
“Well, my horse was in the shop and I couldn’t get him out in time for this trip.”
For a moment Jared thought she was going to join him in a little humor. He went over to her by the window and put his arms around her waist.
“Monkey, monkey, monkey,” she started yelling. “Get your monkey away from me.”
Jared threw his hands up and back away. He said to himself again, yep, this is going to be a very long and painful mission.
Meanwhile, the monkey was kicked back trying to see what she could see, mostly listening.
Jared went over to his monkey and patted her on the head.
“How did you get that monkey on this ship? I didn’t see you with a monkey packed with your things.”
“The Captain put the monkey on the ship for me.” Immediately after he said, “for me,” he regretted it. He should have made it seem like the Captain did it as a part of the mission.
“So, it is your monkey,” said Lauren.
“The monkey is a part of the mission.”
“By doing what exactly? You do know that three is a crowd.”
“Lauren, please. Let’s just do our job and get along. The monkey is not a problem.”
Lauren had romantic feelings for Jared. She was good friends with the moderator and had her manipulate the drawing to have the two of them paired up to take this mission together. There were a couple other candidates qualified to take this mission and gather the necessary data, but by the luck of the draw, she was paired with Jared.
But with that monkey in the room, she had regrets. Although, she did fancy herself as romantically persuasive, she decided to ignore the monkey and try and concentrate on Jared. Besides, they were going to be stuck in this space ship on the moon for 27.3 earth days or there abouts.
In her astronaut training, she think she read that if a person stays in one place on the moon, then the sun rises, stays up for about two earth weeks, then set, and stays down for about another two earth weeks. Then that makes a complete day on the moon which lasts as long as 27.3 earth days, or something like that. She was almost sure she remembered the correct calculations.
“OMG!” said Lauren. “This monkey is going to start stinking. I’m not going to try and clean her up.”
“Okay, Lauren,” she said to herself. “Get a grip. Ignore the monkey in the room. Twenty-seven point three days alone, well almost alone with Jared is going to be a good thing. At least the monkey won’t be talking.”
Lauren took a few deep breaths and composed herself the best she could. Then she started feeling around and trying to see Jared. She couldn’t find him, so she called out.
“Where are you, Jared?” Then she thought that he better not be hugging that monkey. She didn’t mention the monkey as she was trying to make peace.
Jared wanted out of this trip too, but it was so very much too late and only the first day.
“I’m over here getting the cameras in place. We need to take the videos and digital snapshots.”
Lauren couldn’t help herself. She said, “snapshots and videos of what? Selfies with you and your monkey?”
“You are a brat, Lauren.”
“You are calling me a brat?”
“Yeah, I call ‘em as I see ‘em.”
“Well see this.” The monkey handed her a banana peel and she threw it across the ship.
“You know, I never wanted to go out with you, Lauren.”
“But you did. Why? Was your monkey busy that night?”
“Well, why did you accept?
“I took one look at you, Jared, and you looked like an idiot looking for his keys under a street lamp because that was where the light was. And I said to myself, he can’t be that pathetic. He is an astronaut afterall. You see, I have a weakness for the underdog.
“Oh, you flatter me.” In his mind he called her a witch and a few other things.
“You are like a non-drowsy sleeping pill and a crash landing all rolled up in one, Lauren Dear.”
“Wait. Are you calling me an oxymoron?”
“Well at least you are not an idiot, yet. But you do have more beans inside you than a burrito.”
Lauren realized she was not accomplishing what she had set out to do which was to keep Jared in her life. She felt that she was getting to know him alright. But, so far, they were not getting closer.
She thought it over in her mind. We need to call a truce. I suppose I should jump to it first.
“Truce, truce, truce,” she kept saying.
Jared took a deep breath.
“A truce? That works for me.”
Jared started feeling and looking around for Lauren, slipped on the banana peel and landed on top of her.
She put her arms around him and was thinking to herself that Jared’s monkey might not be too bad to have along after all.
Jared knew where the banana peel came from and was thinking the same thing.
“This is going to be a great mission, Lauren felt good to say.
“Yes, Dear, it’s going to be great waking up every morning and not feel like I’m in the middle of the freeway.
Lauren wanted to react to that remark, but she let it go and kept holding Jared in her arms.
Men being men
What do you eat when you have nothing to eat?
A problem with food banks, and eating randomly when the opportunity arises, it that a lot of what these agencies provide is processed foods that are heavily laden with salts, sugars, non-nutritious fats, and many chemicals (including preservatives) that can be toxic to the body. If I were low on monetary and food resources, I would shoot for the natural, nutritious foods that are inexpensive or easily obtainable. Buy them in bulk if possible. Examples of inexpensive foods that pack a nutritional punch, ones that are also tasty:
- The humble potato. They can be chopped up, smeared in extra virgin olive oil and baked in a microwave oven. Avoid the butter, margarine, ghee, etc. Do not fry the potatoes like they do the French fries. You could add spices, depending on your taste. Also add tomato paste before the baking. The nutritional value of the potato is very high, but loading it with trans-fatty oils, high cholesterol fluids will negate the value. And the potato is tasty and filling.
- But for those who are diabetic or pre-diabetic, an alternative to potatoes that is both filling and low sugar and calorie is the carrot. And carrots are both inexpensive and easy to consume as either raw, medium-cooked, or fully-cooked. You can more easily lose weight while eating carrots, although they are not as nutritious as potatoes, But eating a balanced assortment of nutritious foods will make up for that.
- Tomato paste, mentioned above is a thoroughly inexpensive way to eat tomatoes. The red paste is a concentrated and safely processed form of the highly nutritious tomato. A huge bulky can is sold for about $5, would last for weeks in the cooler, even if you use a lot of it every day.
- Some in the bean family such as cowpeas, lentils, and garbanzo beans. Buy them raw, to defray the expenses and to avoid the salted canned ones. Place them in water overnight. This will hydrate and soften them and make them easier and faster to cook the next day.
- Oatmeal. A canister, depending on size, will last you weeks or even months.
- The egg is famously nutritious, and one a day is enough. Boiled, or fried in olive oil. Wonderful animal protein, many B-vitamins.
- Drink your tea or coffee in moderation. The antioxidants are there and helps keep you alert. Use stevia, the natural no-calorie sweetener….inexpensive and not bulky. Cut out the sugar, the Equal, and the Splenda. Go for Stevia….comes in several name brands.
- An orange or tangerine a day does wonders.
- Carrots are another inexpensive nutritious powerhouse.
- Eat your nuts. The least inexpensive way to consume nuts , and to avoid overeating them is to buy them in bulk at the grocery store or places like nuts.com. And of course, many roasted nuts from the stores are overrated. If say you placed small amounts of a Brazil nut, almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, pepitas, peanuts, flaxseeds, etc (or whatever you prefer) in a small Pyrex bowl, added some water and olive oil, microwaved the mixture, you would come out with a very nutritious homemade power bar. Just don’t over roast or burn. Having natural foods at home is not only cheap, but deters you from overeating, and eating processed foods. Also, prepare your snacks at home. Nuts place you in a good mood
- Banana. Delicious and nutritious, and filling, mood-enhancing, hydrating, inexpensive. One a day does the trick.
- Water…drink your water. This can’t be emphasized enough. This is the medium of body and other functions
- Go for inexpensive vegetables, rainbow colors, instead of the tv diners which are hazardous to your health. Eating natural foods makes it so much less expensive to manage your health
- Exercising goes well with eating inexpensively and nutritiously, whether you are on a budget or not. My list is inexhaustible, but I suppose a reasonable guideline.
- A bit of garlic/onion should be incorporated in the diet, daily.
Be the Rufus
“No one ever buries a hoard of coins, especially precious metal coins, without intending to retrieve it.” Christopher Ratte.
Some Persian soldiers had buried their treasure at the time when the last remnants of Persian soldiers and Persian sympathizers were driven out of Hellenistic Greece. Archaeologist Christopher Ratte and his team have been in Western Turkey for years working on the ancient site of Notion – then part of Ionia – and have found a pot of rare Persian gold coins in what appears to be a basement room.
Credit: Notion Archaeological Project.
The New York Times has published a story on this find, with interviews of Christopher Ratte. Here is a share of that article:
By Franz Lidz, Aug. 2, 2024
It is the late fifth century B.C. and a mercenary soldier kneels in his modest quarters, digging a hole in the earthen floor. He places a small jug, called an olpe, in the hole for safekeeping and covers it with dirt. In the olpe are his savings — scores of gold coins, known as darics, each one equal to a month’s pay.
But something happens to the soldier — possibly something sinister — and he never retrieves his hoard, which remains undiscovered for the next 2,400 years.
That is one of several scenarios proposed by Christopher Ratté, an archaeologist at the University of Michigan, to account for the cache, which he and his research team recently unearthed from the ruins of Notion, an ancient city-state in modern-day Turkey. While digging beneath the courtyard of a house dating to the third century B.C., the excavators found the remains of an earlier dwelling. “The coins were buried in a corner of the older building,” Dr. Ratté said. “We weren’t actually looking for a pot of gold.”
Darics were chiefly used to provide payment to soldiers of fortune. Andrew Meadows, an archaeologist at the University of Oxford who was not involved in the project, said he knew of no other hoard of this type to turn up in Asia Minor. “This is a find of the highest importance,” he said. “The archaeological context for the hoard will help us fine-tune the chronology of Achaemenid gold coinage.”
The archaeological site at Notion spans 80 acres atop a promontory in western Anatolia, a borderland dividing Asia from Europe. It was one of the Greek-speaking communities that emerged in the region during the early first millennium B.C., perhaps because of migration across the Aegean Sea. The deposition and loss of the Notion hoard occurred at a time of warfare, insecurity and great power machinations in a contested frontier zone.
This was true in deepest antiquity, as remembered in the story of the Trojan War,” Dr. Ratté said. “And it remains true to this day, as demonstrated by the Syrian refugee crisis.” He noted that the small harbor on the east side of the city was one of the departure points for Syrian refugees who fled across Turkey to Europe during the refugee crisis a decade ago.
Anatolia is the birthplace of the Western world’s first state-issued coin, the stater, which was created by a seafaring people called Lydians. King Alyattes standardized the weight and design of the Lydian stater, which, beginning around 610 B.C., was struck in electrum, a natural alloy of gold and silver. The king’s son and successor, Croesus, is credited with minting the first true gold coin, the Croeseid. The expression “rich as Croesus” refers to his extravagant wealth as well as the opulence of Lydia during his rule.
Fortifications at Notion, a Greek-speaking community that emerged in western Anatolia during the early first millennium B.C. Credit: Notion Archaeological Project/University of Michigan.
Excavations at Notion last year. While digging beneath the courtyard of a house dating to the third century B.C., researchers found the remains of an earlier dwelling and a cache buried there. Credi: Notion Archaeological Project/University of Michigan.
In 546 B.C., the entire area, known as Ionia, was conquered by the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Although Croesus was defeated in battle by Cyrus the Great, his gold-based monetary system lived on. The Persians continued to manufacture Croesids until they introduced their own bimetallic currency, made up of silver and gold coins. The silver coins were called sigloi, and the gold ones were darics — a name derived from either Darius I, who ruled the Persian Empire from 522 B.C. to 486 B.C., or dari-, the root of the Old Persian word for gold.
In 427 B.C., according to the Greek historian Thucydides, an Athenian general named Paches attacked and killed a troop of pro-Persian mercenaries at Notion after luring their commander into a trap. The Persian sympathizers were then expelled, and Notion was reorganized under Athenian supervision.
Two decades later, a decisive naval battle in the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta was fought off the coast of Notion, which the Athenians had been using as a naval base. Dr. Ratté said that the gold hoard might have been connected to the events of 427 B.C., or later, with the Athenian evacuation of Notion.
“It is possible it was not associated with either of these dramatic events,” he said, “but was simply the savings of a veteran mercenary soldier in a time and place when soldiers of fortune could make a lot of money if they were willing to risk their lives for the highest bidder.” Many Greeks fought for the Persian Empire, including the Athenian historian Xenophon, who was an active mercenary for the Persian king Cyrus the Younger from 401 B.C.- to 400 B.C. — the same time period when the Notion hoard was tucked away.
In 387 B.C., within a generation after the Athenians were defeated by the Spartans, Notion and the other cities of Ionia were reintegrated into the Persian Empire. They remained Persian possessions until the conquest of Alexander the Great in 334 B.C., at which point production of the daric quickly declined. Alexander and his immediate successors had many of the existing gold pieces melted down and recast as coins bearing their images, making darics rare today.
The Notion darics are stamped on the front with a likeness of the Persian king kneeling in a long tunic. In his left hand is a bow; in his right, a long spear. The backs of the coins are blank, except for a punch mark. The hoard is being stored at the Ephesus Archaeological Museum in nearby Selcuk, Turkey, along with imported Athenian pottery that was recovered at the dig.
Dr. Ratté believes that the fact that the loot was never reclaimed is a clear sign of disaster. “No one ever buries a hoard of coins, especially precious metal coins, without intending to retrieve it,” he said. “So only the gravest misfortune can explain the preservation of such a treasure.”
Truth
Why do mathematicians and physicists have issues with infinity being real? How does it break our understanding if things?
Why do mathematicians and physicists have issues with infinity being real? How does it break our understanding of things?
How did you draw the conclusion that; “mathematicians and physicists have issues with infinity being real?”, explain go into more detail. Unless of course you are a mathematician or psychist and you yourself have issues with infinity being real?
In mathematics, infinity is not just a vague notion of endlessness, but a rigorously defined concept that can be expressed in multiple ways, i.e., cardinality of sets, ordinal numbers, limit concept, symbolic representation, to name a few. Mathematicians have developed sophisticated tools to work with infinity, which strongly suggest that overall they do not have issues with it.
But, from a physics stand point things start to get complicated as the concept of infinity is more problematic and often indicates a limitation of our theories rather than a physical reality. This manifests itself in a number of ways, cosmology and quantum mechanics being prime examples. It is also a challenge when we start talking about black holes and singularities that represent points where physical quantities become infinite, suggesting a breakdown of the theory of infinity, as “normal” rules just don’t apply or they breakdown completely, which in real terms is nothing more than the end point of our understanding.
Many physical models use infinity as a form of idealization, and what I mean by that is, a lot of physical models use infinity as a convenient approximation (e.g., point particles, infinite potential wells), while still recognizing these are idealizations. Keeping in mind that no physical measurement can ever yield an infinite value, as all measuring devices have finite ranges, otherwise what’s the point of attempting to measure something in the first place?
You have not covered the philosophical perspective of infinity in your question which in many ways is just as important as it is in physics, mathematics and the physical world itself. Things like; does infinity actually exist in nature, or is it merely a useful mathematical construct? Infinity leads to numerous paradoxes (e.g., the paradox of Hilbert’s Grand Hotel, for more detail on this go to Wikipedia) that as a thought experiment challenges our intuitive understanding of what we believe infinity actually is. Infinity often represents the boundary of what we can know or are able to measure, that highlights the limits of human understanding.
Then we come to the practical implications of infinity. Some theories for example that produce infinite results often lose their predictive power, which indicates a lot more refinement is required. Infinite series and processes must be truncated for practical calculation purposes, which introduces a need for approximations, as there is absolutely no point them going on forever.
The appearance of so-called infinities in physical theories often drives a search for a more comprehensive framework to work within, (i.e., quantum gravity attempts to resolve singularities in general relativity). This is a signal, or indication that different thinking needs to be applied and more intensive research is required. To that end, in my mind infinity is not an end point, but simply a marker that requires one to go onto the next stage, whatever that may be.
Infinity in mathematics is a well-defined and useful concept that allows for the exploration of abstract ideas beyond finite limitations. In physics, infinity often signals the limits of a theory’s applicability, which then prompts further, deeper investigation and refinement of our understanding of the physical world. The interplay between mathematical infinity and physical reality of infinity is basically a work in progress and will continue indefinitely, as, when you think about it, is there any end to infinity?” Perhaps no…as that is what infinity is, across just about all domains no matter how one thinks about it or how it is expressed.
- Q1: Why do mathematicians and physicists have issues with infinity being real?
- A1: I don’t think they really do..is infinity is a concept on all levels is not fully 100% “resolvable”.
- Q2: How does it break our understanding of things?
- A2: Again, I don’t think it does, it is more a boundary where our understanding stops and it is merely an indicator that we need to dig deeper, refine and further our understanding. Human knowledge always has and always will have a limit, it will never, ever be infinite.
At the end of the day, there will never be an answer to your two-part question, it will go on forever, all the way to infinity and beyond…whatever that is…
ALIEN (1979) MOVIE REACTION!
Is a commander legally allowed to order a soldier/subordinate to his death?
Yes.
This was brought home to me during an exercise in the mid-80’s when I was a young Engineer Platoon Leader. My platoon was attached to an Infantry Battalion for a long field training exercise. We were equipped with HMMVW’s with TOW missiles and were trying to operate against tanks. That turned out to be pretty tricky, the tanks were very good, and the tactics we were using were not fully developed. We ended up getting kicked around the training area pretty routinely.
In one scenario, the Brigade Commander, a full Colnel and a Vietnam Veteran ordered the Battalion I was working with to hold a particular pass “at all costs.” The Battalion did a credible job defending, but then got flanked, which led to the Battalion Commander, also a Vietnam Vet, to order a withdrawl.
I was pretty new, but I thought at the time that this was a good call. In my view, holding onto the position any longer than we had would have led to the extinction (ln the exercise) of the Battalion, about 500 guys. The Battalion Commander wanted to live to fight another day, and what he was doing was doctrinally sound.
This particular point got discussed at length during the After Action Review. The Battalion Commander got asked why he ordered the withdrawal when he was ordered to stand. He laid out his reasoning, which made sense to me. I was there. There wasn’t anything else to do.
There was this long silence. Then the Brigrade Commander looked at the Battalion Commander with this laser-beam look and says, “John, if I tell you to go die on some hill, I’ve got a damned good reason for doing it. My concerns, the Division’s concerns, are bigger than yours. If I have to sacrafice your Battalion in order to preserve something bigger, it’s my job to order you to do it. It’s your job to take your boys and go out and die.”
This is the dark side of combat that no one really likes to talk about. It doesn’t happen often, normally because of a miscalculation or mistake, but units get asked to make these kinds of sacrafices. When you are an officer, if you’re doing your job right, your unit is like your family. Words that describe how close units bind together in combat fail me. Others have done it much better. These are your brothers, your sisters, your children. When you get asked to do something like this, it’s like asking your children to go out and die for you. Then you have go out and die with them.
Anyway, I’ve never forgotten it. It made me think through a lot of things before I became a Company Commander and had to take folks to war.
Its all about timing
Is the “face culture” of the Chinese superior and more civilized than the “honor culture” of North Americans, Arabs, Somalis, Afghans, Nigerians, Turkic and Mongolian peoples, etc.?
- Face culture comes from Confucian culture. As a unique cultural and psychological phenomenon of the Chinese people, face culture has greatly influenced the daily social life of the Chinese people.
- North Americans are Christian culture
- Arabs, Somalis, Afghans, Nigerians are Islamic culture
- Turkic and Mongolians are nomadic culture
- The values of Dignity, honor, face are different among Christian culture, Islamic culture and nomadic culture, and the difference is very big.
Honor and face cultures attach great importance to regulating individual behavior by social expectations and cultural norms. However, the two cultural phenomena differ in several crucial aspects.
The new cultural framework of dignity, honor, and face was proposed based on three different cultural logics and reveals that while both honor culture and face culture place importance on adhering to social norms, honor culture places greater emphasis on both self-awareness and external evaluations for self-worth, whereas face culture places more weight on external evaluations.
Additionally, honor culture is characterized by an unstable social hierarchy prone to competition, violence, and virtue, while face culture prioritizes modesty, harmony, and cooperation within a more stable hierarchy. Especially at banquets, whether or not to drink is directly related to face.
From indigenous perspectives, the self-image and social image in honor culture are relatively consistent, and honor encompasses moral, gender, and family-related aspects that may be defended through violence. In contrast, self-image and social image in face culture tend to be incongruent, and face involves morality and social achievement, which is expressed through the dimensions of seeking face and avoiding losing face with an emphasis on status and authority.
Combined with the above two perspectives, these core differences between honor and face cultures can be attributed to the moralization and instrumentalization of social cultural norms.
Specifically, honor tends to moralize social and cultural norms by transforming descriptive norms into prescriptive norms, where majority and typical behaviors that exist in a culture are considered behaviors that group members should or must abide by. In contrast, face instrumentalizes social and cultural norms by using descriptive and prescriptive norms as means and tools to maintain relationships, demonstrate status, and uphold authority.
This perspective provides new insights into cultural phenomena, such as the positive correlation between violence and virtue in honor cultures, where violence becomes a social norm that adapts to the honor culture environment and is moralized into a virtuous attribute. The social norm of harmony in face culture exists both as value-oriented harmony influenced by Confucian culture and instrumental harmony in daily life, leading to a dissonance between face and heart.
Biscuits
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
Roisin O’Riordan
“Ok, I won’t deny it. I took the biscuits.” He raised an eyebrow. “Is there anything else or…?”
“Well… well… what do you have to say for yourself?” Her voice got weaker and weaker throughout the sentence. She really had no idea where she wanted to go with that.
“…They tasted nice?” Oh, that made her blood boil.
“Nice? Taste? That’s not what I was asking. Do you know how much trouble you could be in for this.” He was an idiot, he had to be. Maybe, he just didn’t care. No that couldn’t be it, could it? This job involves being away from Earth for years at a time and being fired tends to mean never getting work anywhere else. Maybe he thought the job would be easy and that he would get away with stuff like this. Not on her watch.
“I know how much trouble I will be in-none. No one cares. No one apart from you. Speaking of which, why do you care?”
He is unbelievable. “I care because I was put in charge of making sure everything is ready for when the passengers wake up.”
It is a requirement of every shuttle to have at least one engineer, and, if asked, she would tell people that she is the engineer-because she is. However, the shuttle is built fairly sturdy, and the AI seems to be doing a fine job of maintaining everything. It’s not that she wants things to go wrong… it would just be nice if there were a few mishaps that called for her assistance. This lack of jobs can make floating in space a tad boring, hence her eagerness to take on the role of an over-glorified party planner.
“Look,” he said, closing his book, “in eight months time we’re stopping for fuel at a space station. If we happen to be low on supplies-which we won’t be ’cause these passengers have more than enough-we can stock up then.”
“What if one of them wakes up?” It’s a weak argument but one she feels strongly about. She has read every story there was on passengers waking up from the deep sleep they are put into before take off. The passengers they were currently transporting were Taubverlians, so the four year journey would probably feel like a human’s version of a week to them but apparently it’s a week they would rather sleep through. What if they woke up angry? What if they got so annoyed they decided to file a complaint? What if those biscuits were the only thing that would have been able to calm them down and stop them from demanding the whole crew gets fired? It’s unlikely, but it is possible.
“Really?” He asked. She glared at him with cold, unforgiving eyes. “You need to calm down before you give yourself a stroke. I check, double check and triple check each passenger’s pod everyday and there hasn’t been even the slightest hint that one of them might wake up before they’re supposed to.” He let out a sigh and for the first time since she met him, his smile faltered. “It’s your first trip right? Thought as much. You see, after a while, you will start to get bitter. You’ll start to resent the passengers, our bosses, whoever it is at home that you’re sending your wages back to. The thought that you will more than likely be working here until the day you die and the knowledge that it is extremely rare for a crew member to ever see Earth again combined with the fact that if someone in charge screws up and needs someone to blame we will probably be killed… well, at some point or another, it gets to you. That’s why I play around with the AI and steal the occasional biscuit. That’s why Ellie stole a bottle of whiskey. That’s why Charlie is cheating on her husband with Smith. These acts keep us sane. And they’re not hurting anyone-not if no one finds out.”
She could somewhat sympathise. Ok, she could sympathise a lot. She was bitter. Of course she was bitter about… everything, but she wasn’t going to complain. Her family needed her to have this job, and so must his-it’s not like he would ever see his wages, so they have to be going somewhere.
“Our supervisors don’t care as long the passengers get to their destination safe and sound. You can relax, Birdy.”
She fought the urge to roll her eyes. “That is not what the B stands for.”
His smile was now back to full voltage as he realised he won. “We have been in this tin can for seven months and I still don’t know anything about you. What are your hopes, your dreams, your fears? Where are you from? And what exactly does the B stand for? It doesn’t stand for Biscuit, does it?”
She may come to regret this, but at the moment her stress is leaving her and she feels… lonely. She doesn’t have anybody to talk to on this shuttle apart from when she is arguing with him. Hearing him talk about their colleagues that he clearly knows so much better than she does just reminded her of how much she has isolated herself. “Brooklyn.”
“You’re from Brooklyn? Cool, I have a cousin that lives there, or used to at least.”
“No-well, yes I am from Brooklyn but, that’s what the B stands for.” The look on his face was almost worth it. Almost.
“So, you’re from Brooklyn… and your name is-”
“Oh, shut up.” She tried to fight a grin.
“…Were your parents really worried about you forgetting where you lived?”
“I shouldn’t have told you. I should have just stuck to Biscuit.”
He let out a laugh at that. Dear god, it was brighter than his smile. “Ok, ok, I’m sorry Biscuit.” She shot him a glare with much less heat than the previous one. It was kind of nice talking to him-not that she would ever dream of saying it to him. Just before she got a chance to retort, a series of short beeps filled the room. “Time for me to go check on the passengers again.”
“Oh, right. I have work I need to go do as well.” She turned to leave, ignoring the pang in her chest. She has her work to focus on, friends would just take up time.
“Wait.” He tossed her a small metal box. She stared at the box, then at him, then back again. At his nod she opened up the latches and the contents very nearly managed to surprise a snort out of her. Biscuits.
Tension Subsiding in South China Sea
Changing Geo-Political arrangements.
What terrifies you about Xi Jinping?
Mr. Xi doesn’t terrify me, but he certainly “terrifies” my German friend. Let’s call him Karl.
Obviously, Karl isn’t a basketcase of nailbiting anxiety and fear over a man a continent away. But he related a spine-tingling moment some years back listening to the news while driving on the autobahn.
Before we get into that, a little background about Karl.
Karl, perhaps unsurprisingly, speaks Chinese. What tickles me though, is he speaks funny Chinese.
Notice I said Chinese and not Mandarin.
Karl speaks a creole of accented Mandarin and horror of horrors, the Changsha dialect.
Now, try making sense of the hilarity hearing a thick German accent fighting his own tongue to make the proper tone for Mandarin words abused by the Changsha pronunciation.
After all these years, I have concluded he has been putting up a show all along to bewilder and get a rise out of me deciphering his words.
He has a future in standup, if he ever needs a change of scenery.
Back on topic. What piece of news made him nervous? It was a single statistic from China’s anti-corruption drive.
“More than a million party officials have been disciplined.”
He was flabbergasted by how seriously the Chinese were taking the campaign because when he was there, he had concluded corruption was so deeply ingrained in the culture it was impossible to root out. In fact, that was a primary reason why he left China, even though the money was lucrative.
Karl has an interesting way of bringing his point across, and he was ready when I pressed.
“China isn’t Germany. A million out of a billion is a mere drop.”
“Yes, but China either gives lip service or they do a thorough job. 1 million is a thorough job.”
“True. But why should that jolt?”
“Because nothing happened, Bill.”
“What do you mean nothing happened?”
Evidently he was waiting for this moment of weakness because he broke into a sly smile and declared:
“Nothing happened to President Xi.”
I was truly incredulous.
“I lost you Karl. You expected him to fall victim to the campaign he initiated because he is dirty too?”
“No, silly. The fact nothing happened means we have witnessed the coronation of the first Chinese emperor of the 21st century, if only in practice.”
“Now you sound like a flat earther.”
“No no. Nothing far-fetched. How do you think they land a big fish like Zhou Yongkang? Using the police? Or the army?”
“The President probably ordered his arrest personally.”
“Yes but what was the investigative apparatus and how did they manage to arrest him? Zhou was the security tsar.”
“Oh. I think I’m understanding. Even the FBI will have trouble arresting the vice President.”
“Sort of. The Xi administration basically set up their own supralegal modern day Embroidered Uniform Guard that was vested with political power to deal with anyone, even the biggest fish. The million they mentioned? A substantial number are senior cadres, nodes in the power structure. The Chinese think in terms of guanxi or relationships so tackling corruption equals identifying and destroying webs of collusion.”
“Do you think Xi went too far?”
“No. He did a fantastic job. I am just surprised the faction wars didn’t flare up in response. Not even a whimper. Xi has great standing within the party.”
“Ok, so he cleaned up. Why does that terrify you? He is more powerful than ever?”
“Not really. People fail to realize the five year plans were being executed like clockwork in the midst of rampant corruption. He would have reached the state objectives without rocking the boat.”
“He did not need to pick this fight?”
“No. He had to. It was the right time.”
“The stars didn’t align for Jiang and Hu?”
“Yes. The force was not with them.”
“The FORCE? Dude, you have been playing me all day!”
“Electricity, my boy. You can build the fanciest roads and buildings but without electricity you cannot urbanize.”
*Incredulous stare*
“For sure it is electricity. Hu was a hydroelectric engineer. China’s electricity output increased more than 2-fold during his time in office.”
“What does it have to do with corruption?”
“China essentially went full steam ahead to urbanize. Jiang wasn’t even sure how the system would work as it transited from Central planning to market economics as it spread inland from the SARs. Hu laid the foundation to guarantee future growth. The GFC gave China the breathing space to shape a cultural change among the ruling elite. A bunch of people got rich too quickly and developed money fever.”
“What does the GFC have to do with it?”
“China’s economy fundamentally shifted post 2008. China finally flexed her domestic muscle and decided they had to be less reliant on the west. But they had to inevitably slow down as the west recovered from a balance sheet and sovereign debt crisis. It is this recentering to OBOR and domestic growth that gave Xi the breathing space to tackle corruption nationwide.”
“Man, that’s deep but all that says is China has a good man at the helm. What makes him fearsome?”
“Well, when I was there the way the Chinese were throwing money around was unbelievable. Too much waste. And too many funny things going on. Putting a stop to that means the Chinese are getting on board the next stage of growth, one that is much higher in quality, and sustainable. The Chinese rocket shot up the sky in spite of excesses. Can you imagine a people without? Us Germans are counting the days when the Chinese become direct competitors to German technology and quality. The Chinese are getting their act together.”
Note: The emperor reference is no insinuation of shenanigans. Rather it is Karl’s intent to frame how far the Xi administration can push reform. In other words, Xi has the people’s mandate, just like a legitimate Son of Heaven.
Karl is real, but I’ve paraphrased our conversation.
Note: The profundity of Karl’s astute observations is contained within the satellite composites of nightime China, taken two decades apart.
Bill Pfeiffer’s Chili Capital Punishment
Bill Pfeiffer’s Chili Capital Punishment is the winner of 1980 World’s Championship!
Yield: 14 to 18 servings
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- 2 tablespoons paprika
- 2 tablespoons MSG
- 9 tablespoons chili powder
- 4 tablespoons cumin
- 4 tablespoons beef bouillon (instant crushed)
- 2 cans beer
- 2 cups water
- 4 pounds extra lean chuck (chili grind)
- 2 pounds extra lean pork (chili grind)
- 1 pound extra lean chuck, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
- 2 large onions, finely chopped
- 10 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup oil or kidney suet
- 1 teaspoon mole (powdered)
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
- 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 tablespoon Masa Harina
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- In a large pot, add oregano, paprika, MSG, chili powder, cumin, beef bouillon, beer and water. Let simmer.
- In a separate skillet, brown 1 1/2 pounds of meat in oil or suet until meat is light brown.
- Drain and add to simmering spices. Continue browning meat in batches until all meat has been added.
- Sauté finely chopped onions in oil or suet. Add to spices and meat mixture. Add water as needed. Simmer two hours. Add mole (MOE-lay), sugar, coriander, hot pepper sauce and tomato sauce. Simmer for 45 minutes.
- Dissolve Masa Harina in warm water and add to chili. Add salt to taste. Simmer for 30 minutes.
What was your first clue you were no longer as young as you thought you were?
I was born in 1965, which means I am 59 as I write this response. In the 1980s, I worked as a DJ in a bar called The Notorious Club 26, and I played music from the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s.
As the DJ, I would say things like, “Remember, never trust anyone over 30. If you are over 30, don’t trust yourself.” As a 20-something, I thought I was being funny. Then a horrible thing happened: I turned 30 in 1995.
I was single at the time, and I realized that all the time I wasted being a DJ interfered with my social and personal life. I worked 6 days a week, and on Tuesday of each week, I got paid. Who wants to go out on a date on a Tuesday? Who wants date some who works from 9 pm until 3:30 AM?
I wass 30, looking back from where I came, and realized that I had wasted the last 10 years of my life. I worked, made very good money, got a lot of cash tips for the customers, loved my job, but my life sucked. All I did was work, sleep, and do household jobs. I had no social life.
I kept working but I also went back to college, and finally finished the work for my BA. After that, I was able to quit the DJ job and work during the day instead of being a vampire on a day pass.
I’m not going to lie: 30 seemed old to me. When I turned 40, I got a card that said something like 40 is the new 30.
I’m 59 years old now, and my hair is gray, just like my beard, and my body is a wreck. However, I know that my life has been full and fun. I’m not sure what comes next, but I am looking forward to the trip.
Johnny West 1960s toy figurines
Are you proud to be a Chinese person?
As a Chinese person, I never felt any connection to the “patriotism” that the Chinese Communist Party instilled in me since childhood.
In elementary school, our teachers told us, “The most important principle in writing is to show your love for China.” Well, I didn’t understand at all. How could a child possibly grasp what it means to “love China”? For an elementary student, “patriotism” is nothing but outdated stories and empty political slogans.
As I grew older, my aversion to “patriotism” only increased. The reason was obvious: if “patriotism” had a significant impact on one’s well-being, why had I never seen anyone get rich because they “loved China”? And why had I never seen anyone fall into a miserable situation because they “didn’t love China”?
When I started using the internet, I discovered more meaningful things. I realized that China could only avoid destruction by embracing Western political systems. During that time, I read many articles by “independent Chinese intellectuals,” including economists, Chinese immigrants abroad, lawyers, and entrepreneurs.
Back then, I hoped these independent intellectuals could awaken the “numb Chinese people” through their writings. They were active on BBS, blogs, social media, and China’s version of Twitter. I spent a lot of time reading their articles and enthusiastically commenting. I admired them and saw them as the future political stars of China. At that time, I had my own blog called “A Chinese Citizen,” with the slogan “For a Bright Future of China.” I wrote every day, and when I had nothing to write about, I would repost negative news about China and add my own gloating comments.
The trolls on Quora today are nothing compared to the old me.
Later, I got married and had my own child. As a freelancer, I had time each day to spend with my growing child. To expose my child to nature, I took them to many places. Busy with accompanying my child, working, cooking, and doing laundry every day, my life focus gradually shifted.
One summer evening when my child was three years old, we drove to a famous large lake in northern Xuzhou called Weishan Lake. A section of the Grand Canal passes through the Weishan Lake area. The sunset bathed the hundred-kilometer-long embankment road along Weishan Lake in golden light. My wife, captivated by the beauty, asked me to stop the car for a while. I parked by the roadside, and we were greeted by the cool evening breeze and the slightly fishy smell of the lake water. We all quietly listened to the waterfowl returning to their nests.
When a long line of cargo ships appeared at the end of my vision on the Grand Canal, another fleet from the opposite direction sounded their horns as they passed through the Linjiaba lock. The sunset deepened, and the afterglow moved from the embankment road to the surface of Weishan Lake. The vast lake, looking like an ocean, stretched beyond the horizon. Waterbirds in the reeds were startled by passing ships, taking off with pleasant sounds. Watching my child jumping with joy and my wife enjoying the cool breeze, I felt a deep sense of happiness. In that moment, I suddenly realized something:
Weishan Lake is a gift from nature to the locals; the Grand Canal is a monumental achievement by our ancestors. The various aquatic products from Weishan Lake have nourished generations of people on this land. Today, these endless cargo ships continuously transport energy and agricultural products to ports along the route. We enjoy the tranquility of nature, while our material life benefits from China’s vibrant economic system.
The natural geography is a gift from God; historically, it is a territory our ancestors expanded on horseback; and in reality, it is the result of countless generations of Chinese people’s hard work. For economic and social activities to run efficiently, the country’s leaders need exceptional talent to design reliable development plans. Without all this, there would be no individual happiness. The CPC is a positive part of this picture—not the whole, but just as important as all other parts.
I live on this land in this lifetime, and so does my child. Everyone I love and everyone who loves me live on this land. I love them and hope they remain healthy, happy, and joyful. Protecting them means ensuring that this land is free from war, plague, hunger, and poverty. Only when these foundations are solid can I fully devote myself to life and family. Isn’t this the relationship between an individual and their country? The CPC has achieved this, so what exactly am I complaining about every day? Should I deny everything just because of some bad news on the internet and some unfortunate events on this land?
By Weishan Lake at that moment, I grasped a simple truth: to love this country, to love its mountains and rivers, its history and culture, the heroes who shed blood and tears in modern history, and the forces leading this country to rejuvenation. At the same time, when my child grows up, they should see themselves as a master of this country, participating in its development. This is what a young boy should aspire to.
There is no such thing as love or hate without reason in this world. To love something, you must first understand it, knowing its strengths and weaknesses, and recognizing its significance to us. Otherwise, “forced love” is fake, blind, and short-lived. “Patriotism” is no different. Only by fully understanding this land, this country, and the forces driving China’s progress, with all their pros and cons, can one develop genuine love.
I am becoming such a Chinese person.
She Gave Him PRE and POST Date Bill and it Backfired
The Trigger For WWIII Just Arrived – What Are The Implications For Americans?
Guest Post by Brandon Smith
If the year of 2024 has proven anything so far, it’s that our worries about the potential outbreak of WWIII are absolutely reasonable. The skeptics making accusations of “conspiracy theory” and “doom and gloom” have been proven wrong yet again. The geopolitical atmosphere is turning sour fast.
I still don’t think a lot of people realize how truly volatile the situation is globally right now. From my point of view, WWIII has already begun, at least in economic terms.
Let’s not forget the fact that Ukraine is essentially a proxy for all of NATO against Russia. And, the situation in the Middle East is about to become much worse. Because of the alliances involved and the fragile nature of global energy exports there is a danger of systemic collapse should a wider war break out between Israel and multiple Arab nations. It appears that such a war is imminent.
But why should Americans care? It’s pretty simple – War spurs shortages, and shortages in the middle of a stagflationary crisis are a very bad thing.
Sanctions against Russia affect around 10% of the global oil market and around 12% of global natural gas consumption. But so far all that oil and natural gas is still flowing around the world, only the trade routes have changed. The Middle East, on the other hand, accounts for over 35% of the global oil market and 18% of the natural gas market. Widespread chaos in this region would mean economic crisis on a scale not seen in a century.
Think we have problems with stagflation now? Just wait until energy prices go to the moon.
Around 30% of all oil exports travel through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow passage which a nation like Iran can easily block for months at a time. Sinking a few larger vessels in the straight would obstruct all cargo ship traffic and oil tanker traffic. Trying to clean up the mess would be difficult because artillery, which is almost impossible to intercept, can rain down from Iran on any vessels trying to drag sunken ships out of the way.
Iran has mutual defense pacts with multiple governments in the region including Lebanon and Syria, along with military ties to Russia. The Turkish government is unlikely to allow western troops to use their airspace to launch attacks. The US military presence in Afghanistan is gone and the Iraqi government will never allow foreign troops to use their land to come to the aid of Israel.
This greatly limits the west’s launch points for an offensive large enough to blitz Iran. The vast majority of attacks would be from the air, and if the Russians start supplying Iran with batter radar and missile technology then there’s no guarantees Israel or the US would gain full control of the air space. In other words, if a wider war breaks out it will not end for YEARS and it’s going to be fought on the ground.
Of course, most establishment experts have claimed that the situation will never escalate to that point and that the threat of direct confrontation between Israel and Iran is minimal. I have been predicting the opposite for a number of reasons, just as I predicted that there was a high chance of war in Ukraine months before it happened.
In October of 2023 in my article ‘It’s A Trap! The Wave Of Repercussions As The Middle East Fights “The Last War”’ I warned that a multi-front war was about to develop between Israel and various Muslim nations including Lebanon and Iran. I noted:
“Israel is going to pound Gaza into gravel, there’s no doubt about that. A ground invasion will meet far more resistance than the Israelis seem to expect, but Israel controls the air and Gaza is a fixed target with limited territory. The problem for them is not the Palestinians, but the multiple war fronts that will open up if they do what I think they are about to do (attempted sanitization). Lebanon, Iran and Syria will immediately engage and Israel will not be able to fight them all…”
My purpose in that article was to outline the dangers of US involvement in a larger war that would require conscription and escalation with Russia. Despite the “experts” insisting that the odds are overblown, it now appears that the next stage of escalation is about to begin.
Iran, Lebanon and Israel have been exchanging limited fire for months now. This is nothing new. What is new is the change in tone after a Hezbollah rocket strike on a children’s soccer game in the remote Druze village of Majdal Shams that killed 12.
On the other side, Israel’s brazen assassination of the Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian soil this week is a clear catalyst for war. Haniyeh has been engaged in a diplomatic mission to start peace negotiations in Gaza. His assassination sends a clear message that Israel has no intention of entering into talks with Hamas.
IDF officials also announced that they had killed top Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in a precision missile strike Tuesday in Beirut. There’s no escaping it now.
Iran’s supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered retaliation against Israel and issued an order for Iran to strike the Israelis directly. Iran will likely use extended missile barrages, but also stage troops in Syria and Lebanon. The Houthis in Yemen will then increase their attacks on ships traversing the Red Sea. It’s hard to say how much Russia will involve itself at first, but I have no doubt more advanced Russian missiles and other weapons will make an appearance on the battlefield.
The prospect of world war is immense. Israel will not be able to fight in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Iran all at the same time. Energy exports in the region will definitely face a slowdown, if not a complete breakdown. At that point the war won’t just be about Israel, it will be about a global energy crisis. I don’t see any scenario in which the US government doesn’t get involved.
The high risk of terrorism this entails should not be overlooked. We’ve had an undefended border and record illegal crossings for a few years now under Biden. There’s not telling how many foreign agents are in the country and I believe this was by design. I think the establishment maintained open border policies because they wanted such people here. The more terror these agents cause the more the public will be tempted to increase government powers to deal with the attacks.
Beyond that, the political left in the west has tied itself to the Palestinian wagon as if it’s their business. In reality, leftists view the war in Gaza as just another vehicle for their outrage. They use minorities, they use gays and now they’re using Muslims. It’s the classic Marxist strategy of hijacking the social causes of other groups and co-opting their momentum.
Gaza is just another excuse for progressive spastics to riot and start burning more of the west down (their true goal). Anyone that opposes them will automatically be accused of being a “Zionist sympathizer” even if Israel is not their concern. So, there will surely be Muslim terror attacks, but also civil conflicts triggered by leftists exploiting the situation to their advantage.
The timing of these events in tandem with the election is definitely not coincidental. Whoever ends up in office will essentially be “stuck” with the war, inheriting a disaster from day one. Once US forces are committed to an allied effort, there’s no chance any president (including Trump) will pull those forces out. If things get bad enough, there might not even be an election in November.
For those that think we can “win” on multiple fronts, the truth might shock you. Eric Edelman, who serves as Vice Chair of the US National Defense Strategy Commission, has given warning about the impending conflict, stating:
“There is potential for near-term war and a potential that we might lose such a conflict…We need our allies to produce more. Our defense industrial base is in very bad shape. The European defense industrial base is in even worse shape. We need our industrial base, their base, and the industrial base of our Pacific allies. Australia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan–they all need to be stepping up because to match what Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are doing is beyond our ability to do it ourselves.”
I have written about the logistical shortcomings of the west in a WWIII scenario for some time now. At the top of the list will be manpower, just as we have seen in Ukraine. This is why we have been hearing military and political officials hint about a new draft over the past two years. They know what’s coming.
A draft to fight for globalist causes is unacceptable. I’m not going to delve into debate over whether it’s right or wrong for western countries to throw their weight behind Israel. Frankly, I don’t care about that argument. I don’t have anything invested in either side of the conflict. I care about Americans. And, I know that making the US military the go-to solution to the Middle East problem is going to end with a lot of dead Americans. I also know that the expanding crisis would make certain special interest (globalists) very happy. As I noted last year:
“The establishment seems particularly obsessed with convincing US conservatives and patriots to participate in the chaos; there are a number of Neo-cons and even a few supposed liberty media personalities calling for Americans to answer the call of blood in Israel. Some have described the coming conflagration as “the war to end all wars.”
I believe that the real war is yet to truly start, and that is the war to erase the globalists from existence. They want us to fight overseas in endless quagmires in the hopes we will die out. And when we do, there will be no one left to oppose them…”
The trap has just been set. We’ll have to wait and observe the scale of the response from Lebanon and Iran, but I believe the worst case scenario is at hand. There are multiple powderkeg events in progress around the world right now, but the Middle East situation looks to be the most disastrous by far in terms of how it will affect the US.
Why is the US not attacking Iran? Haven’t the US had enough of this ayatollah’s nonsense? I’m always interested to know what the end game for the US is here?
There’s a hot topic on the Chinese internet: Is the United States now at the end of the Tang Dynasty or the end of the Ming Dynasty?
I’m in the Ming Dynasty camp.
The fall of the Tang Dynasty was essentially due to the power of the Guanzhong aristocratic group blocking the upward mobility of the Hebei class. Although it was nominally due to the rebellion of the An-Shi insurgents, it was actually a civil war between the Han Chinese of Hebei and the Han Chinese of Longxi.
（What really led to the demise of the Tang Dynasty was this brutal battle in which most of the army was destroyed.）
Similarly, the fall of the Ming Dynasty was also essentially an internal Han Chinese issue.
Even though there were massive problems with the distribution of interests between the north and the south, it was essentially a civil war between the north and the south.
Since both falls were due to unequal distribution of interests leading to the collapse of the country, why do I insist that the United States is currently at the end of the Ming Dynasty?
Three characteristics:
First, during the fall of the Han and Tang dynasties, these massive entities in Chinese history still maintained overwhelming military advantages over surrounding ethnic groups, whereas the United States does not have this advantage now.
Second, before the fall of the Ming Dynasty, there was a period of, uh, I’m not sure if I should say this, but it is indeed recorded in history books, a so-called “men dressing as women,” and LGBTQ was very prevalent. I have no discrimination against homosexuality, truly none! In ancient China, including the Warring States period and the most prosperous Han Dynasty, there were many rulers who were homosexuals, whom I admire! Look, I’m saying this, so I definitely do not discriminate against homosexuals, right?
What I want to say is that when these rulers were homosexuals, soldiers and ordinary people did not have a tendency to change genders, but at the time of the dynasty’s collapse, there were many grassroots males doing this…
I mean absolutely no discrimination, but it is very similar to the records of the late Ming Dynasty…
Third, spending countless amounts of money and achieving nothing. It’s incredibly frightening. Hundreds of thousands of taels of silver invested, achieving nothing…
In general, I believe that the United States now resembles the end of the Ming Dynasty very much.
The real fall of the Ming Dynasty happened during the “Three Great Campaigns of Wanli,” when the Ming Dynasty still seemed very strong and launched three large-scale military campaigns. But seriously, hasn’t the United States also fought in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan? These three seemingly world-shaking wars actually only fattened the military leaders?
A hot topic on the Chinese internet is: Who least wants the United States to collapse?
80% of the answers are: China.
Chinese netizens are very clear that this world is maintained by the United States. If the United States collapses, it would be a disaster for the world, including China. No one can escape. So we clearly provide this answer based on our own interests: United States, you must not collapse!
The battle that marked the fall of the Ming Dynasty was the Battle of Salhu.
I do not want the United States to engage in wars in the Middle East again, as it is clearly America’s Salhu moment.
That would be a disaster for China, the United States, and the world.
In this world, no one can defeat the United States, except the United States itself.
Should China receive refugees?
No.
I’m from Hong Kong, a city that took in Vietnamese boat people who fled the Vietnam War, at the request of the United Nations. It placed huge economic and social burdens on the city, and the United Nations, after decades, has yet to pay back the 1.3 billion HKD it owes us for our efforts in accommodating them (as of last year, they’ve only paid back 166 million HKD, a mere fraction).
Taking in refugees is an expensive affair that doesn’t always come with benefits. We had enough trouble accommodating ethnic-Chinese Vietnamese people, who were culturally similar to us. Could you imagine if they were from an Islamic-dominated culture? I’m not just talking about the child sex rings, gang-rapes or honour-killings you see in Europe and the UK, I’m talking re-education, teaching them our language and culture, which is difficult and rarely succeeds, in addition to helping them find low-paying jobs, which affects the livelihoods of our grassroots citizens.
I understand the humanitarian principles of helping those in need, but taking them in is not the best solution. The elites who decide on our behalf to let them in can do so in their own good conscience, because they’re not the ones who have to bear the consequences. It’s not their jobs that will face higher competition from low-skilled foreign labour – if anything, they stand to profit from saving on workers’ wages. It’s not their wives and children who have to put up with the gazes and advances of lonely, desperate men (Dr. Clemens Ladenburger being an exception). It’s not their neighborhoods that will face greater poverty and crime. It’s not their communities that will be fractured, as the original residents move out to make way for the new ones moving in.
But most of all, I think young men fleeing their own countries just offends us on a cultural level. You see, there was a time when China wasn’t the second largest economy on earth. Our grandparents had to deal with the Imperial Japanese military, then considered to be one of the finest fighting forces in the world. Even western powers in the Far East couldn’t stop them – Hong Kong (then a British colony) fell in two weeks, with the Japanese only losing a few hundred men.
Guess what the Chinese people back in those days did about it? They fought back valiantly, and suffered the second-most casualties in WW2. Even those who fled to America supported the war effort by sending home what little money they made working jobs white people felt were beneath them.
Refugees (especially young men) should stay in their countries and work to make it a better place for their countrymen. No one can save you but yourselves. The Chinese have known this for at least a century now.
No saviour from on high delivers
No faith have we in prince or peer
Our own right hand the chains must shiver
Chains of hatred, greed and fear
– The Internationale
The Psychopath | House M.D.
Why is North Korea so hated?
I’m going to give a pro tankie answer, even though I am not a big fan of tankies. That’s because I have to agree with them here.
There is absolutely no reason for North Korea to be hated by the West. They are this defensive because they know they are hated and the West just wants to destroy North Korea… and for zero geopolitical reason at that.
The USA destroyed every city in North Korea, and put more bombs on North Korea than they did on Japan which brutally invaded Asia and attacked America’s Pearl Harbor. 635,000 tons of bombs were dropped on North Korea, compared to 160,000 tons of bombs in Japan.
North Korea had 9.26 million people before the war. More than 1 million North Korean civilians were killed or missing due to the Korean War. To compare, less than 1 million Japanese civilians died in WWII, with 100,000+ of them killed in the atomic bombings, in a population of more than 70 million.
The war that America waged on North Korea wasn’t even a war at this point. It was outright genocide. Hitler would be proud of this. Every last North Korean was a target (and some South Koreans too, No Gun Ri Massacre was an example). The aim wasn’t even to put pressure on the North Korean regime, it was to give civilians hell. That is what strategic bombing is aimed to do, give civilians hell.
North Korea would not be justified to invade South Korea (which, frankly, is a capitalist hellhole as much as North Korea is a radical communist juche hellhole today). If North Korea did such things, I would condemn North Korea as well and demand that North Korea go back to its borders.
But it would be very justified to build hundreds of nuclear weapons, and set conditions for its use being the second total destruction of North Korea as happened during the Korean War. Luckily for normal people, North Korea only has dozens of nuclear weapons, and it has only very recently acquired the ability to hit the US mainland with nuclear weapons using just one nuclear weapons platform.
When you read the North Korean history, it makes sense why Kim Jong-un is so preoccupied with building nuclear weapons. If I was him, I would also build nukes.
I’m happy to see countries be able to defend themselves from imperialists the hard way against all odds, be it Israel or North Korea.
America Compared: Why Other Countries Treat Their People So Much Better (Reaction)
The truth hurts.
How did the ancient Chinese study for the imperial examination? Did they just repeatedly read dozens of scrolls every day?
The imperial examination system was a talent selection system implemented in ancient China to build a vast bureaucratic system and control the entire empire.
For its time, this system was quite advanced.
Firstly, it ensured a relatively open path for social mobility, giving children from poor families a chance. Secondly, it was relatively fair; while the winners of the imperial examination might not have been outstanding managers, they were certainly not fools.
At the very least, they had to read an immense amount of books, be knowledgeable, and be intelligent.
(Someone:Let me tell you something, folks, nobody reads more books than I do. Believe me. I’m the best at reading, okay? I’ve read more than anyone else—more than all the other politicians combined. They say, ‘ how do you know so much?’ Well, I’ve got the best books, the smartest people, and I understand everything. I know all the facts, the details, you name it. Nobody’s smarter, nobody’s better informed. It’s tremendous, folks, really tremendous. And believe me, when it comes to being well-read, I’m simply the best.”)
Moreover, the exams were not purely about comparing poetry or essays but included a large number of “strategy and policy” questions.
These questions are somewhat similar to modern civil service exam questions or political knowledge tests for students.
I found a few examples of ancient exam questions and, trying to adapt them to today’s global situation, rephrased them.
You can take a look to get a sense of the type of questions.
1 The United States has established hundreds of military bases around the world, while China’s military strength is mainly concentrated domestically. What are the reasons for these two strategies, and what are their respective advantages and disadvantages?
2 China’s ethnic policies are inherited from the Soviet Union, which has been criticized by many. However, it seems to be functioning well now, better than the Soviet Union. What do you think is the most important reason for this?
3 Roosevelt’s New Deal has some socialist characteristics, while China’s economic policies have many capitalist features. Share your views on this.
4 During President Trump’s tenure, what were some characteristics of the government officials he hired?
(Someone:I’ve got the best, the smartest, the most incredible people working for me. I pick winners, and let me tell you, they make America great again—just like I promised. The greatest administration, believe me. We’re bringing jobs, we’re bringing prosperity, and we’re making this country shine like never before. It’s fantastic, really fantastic,the best team, making America greater than ever. No one does it better.)
5 During the Korean War, China and the Soviet Union were allies, but in the Sino-Vietnamese War, China and the U.S. became quasi-partners. Share your opinion on this.
These are five exam questions related to politics, history, and military affairs, each requiring a detailed answer. There are also other questions covering topics such as education, economy, diplomacy, and so on.
Additionally, there was the Eight-Legged Essay examination, where candidates were required to use the sayings of sages as arguments and write an essay strictly following the standard format.
Overall, answering these questions well within a limited time is quite challenging, especially considering that you are competing with thousands of the most diligent and intelligent individuals in China.
An interesting fact: The top scorer in the imperial examination was called the “Zhuangyuan.” Only one was selected every three years. Over the 1,300-year history of the examination system, there were a total of 504 Zhuangyuans.
The first one was from the Tang Dynasty, and the last one was from the Qing Dynasty. Their hometowns were very close to each other, and today this area is known for having one of the strongest cities in China’s college entrance examinations, Hengshui City in Hebei Province.
The United States Financial System is a Joke …
The United States is sinking fast…