I have related the story of my good friend; Jerry Marcus, who killed himself.
As a recap, he was my younger brothers friend, who by association became my friend. He was five years my junior. And he was a bit of a unique fellow. Not bad, just quirky.
And one day, while he was living with his mother, he sent his mother out to get groceries. While she was away, he left a note for her on the kitchen table. Stripped nude on his bed. Laid down on a plastic sheet. Put a shotgun to his mouth, and blew his brains out.
Shocking to me and my brother and all our small circle of friends.
Indeed, he was a fighting demons and issues that he preferred to keep on the “down low”. Whether this was due to stupid Male Pride, or the face that us Bros and friends didn’t know how to identify a cry for help. I don’t know. But when I saw him, he was always happy to see me.
In fact, his mother told me that I was a “really good influence on him”.
Hum. Not just her. So did my other friend’s mothers. Especially Robbie’s mother. She once told me that Robbie was uncontrollable, but after he came home from spending the day with me, he was calm and happy. Like a completely different person.
But today’s little story is not about Robbie, or Marcus.
It’s about his family.
Sometime in the 1950’s, two beatniks set up a commune in the woods near Kittanning, PA. This community existed for maybe five or eight years. They played the bongos, wrote and read poetry, farmed a small garden and did what beatniks did best; whatever that was.
To get to the property, you had to take a rural highway, and then go though the woods on a long “driveway” road. Quite long actually. And there it would open up to a beautiful 1920’s era Art Deco home. It nested in a clearing in the middle of a beautiful wood.
Because it was so long, and such an effort to get to, the fellow commune members referred to it as “Endsville”.
And thus when I first associated with Jerry and his brother, I would know where to go due to the small sign at the almost hidden entrance; a sign that said “Endsville”.
The house was a beautiful “Craftsman” style house, and the interior was all nice hardwood. There were Art Deco statuettes on such things as the mantle and stair rail, and a beautiful stained glass Art Deco (of course) window that overlooked the main living room.
It was a nice place. I babysat his two cats for a spell there for him while he was overseas. Nice place.
It was a perfect boyhood house to grow up in. His father was an investment banker type of guy that also did estates, wills and stocks. When my first wife and I were heading off into the unknown in our van, he gave up words of encouragement and some money. (Though later when he saw him decades later, he became gruff and embittered, saying that it was a foolish youthful dream.)
Ah. Somethings come around in a kind of strange cycle.
Marcus’s father was a dreamer; a beatnik who founded a commune of dreamers and counter-culture folk. And evolved into a person who manipulated money .. eventually turning embittered and shriveled; a discouraged old man.
Marcus was born in Endsville, and took his life in Endsville. A flash in the pan on the grand scale of things.
Life can be hard. It can.
But don’t take it to Endsville.
Today…
Is it possible that someday China would abandon their thousand years of authoritarian regime and embrace democracy? If not, what are the reasons why China couldn’t do that?
The democratic package sold by Westerners is extremely narrow, and many of them do not even know the true meaning of democracy. They think that the one person, one vote election model is the standard paradigm of democracy, but in fact, it is simply a game of tycoons and monopolists, a tool for confusing ordinary people’s rule. In fact, the public cannot choose truly senior administrative officials. These elected individuals are essentially a group of hypocritical actors or speakers who do not represent the interests of the people, but only pretend to please voters.
For example, Western media are monopolized by Jewish Ansar, and their voices are generally consistent. They have a strong ability to brainwash and spread rumors, and ordinary people are unable to judge the authenticity of news. Public opinion is manipulated by the media, and there is no talk of independent elections.
2. On the other hand, there is the ability of leaders elected democratically. Look at Biden or Trump, their ability to govern or serve the people is extremely low. How many jobs have they created, how much convenience have they provided to the people, how much infrastructure has been updated, or what achievements have they made in technology during their tenure? Apart from mutual slander and urinary incontinence, I can hardly find where their achievements lie? The same goes for politicians in Europe.
I believe that the goal of democracy should be to benefit the people, create more wealth for them, enable them to have their own jobs, realize their own value, and feel safe, happy, and fulfilled anytime, anywhere. If this goal can be achieved, it doesn’t matter what political system it is. If you focus on a certain political form rather than the goal, it’s putting the cart before the horse.
Have you ever taken the law into your own hands?
I have not but I knew someone that did.
When I worked in the oilfield I crossed paths with a man that was a natural clown. He was know, of course, as WILDMAN. He could make you laugh, in fact he if didn’t make ya laugh he would. He was a fantastic person. One weekend a couple of friends stopped by. After that a married couple with two kids came on a visit. So 7 people and two kids on a summer afternoon. WILDMAN was in his element.
Another person, a couple of doors away, was having a bad time, the running conversation involves jokes, he could hear their laughing.
So he made sure he had a round in the chamber, he walked up behind Wildman, and shot him at close range.. The friends grabbed the gun, and stomped on him. A stomping is a little rough, it leaves the recipient unconscious and a number of bruises from steel toed boot. Then they called the police.
The neighbor was bonded out, by a local. That was what was needed. Wildman’s father was also an oil man, he was an executive in a different company.
The neighbor, his new friend picked him up, took him back home, and left him. The three people inside took care of the rest. Daddy was there, he pulled the trigger, and the body was left behind.
Scott Ritter Statement Following FBI Raid on his home
See, the USA hydra is stomping on free speech.
Here’s what they have done to Scott…
- Made him a “sex offender”.
- Seized his passport. Didn’t give it back.
- Searching / raiding his home.
What is next…
I’d advise leaving the USA post haste.
Have you ever walked into a room and seen something that made you go, “Nope,” and turn 180 degrees and walk away? What was it?
Yup. Once, when in a particularly low place I was walking to the train home from work, down New St in Birmingham (UK), and was approached by someone asking if I was OK. They seemed very sincere and said that they were part of an outreach program that encouraged positive mental health. Their base was just round the corner and we could sit and talk, and I really appreciated the opening so I followed them.
We got into a lift in one of the buildings just off the main road and talked as the lift went up. Something seemed a bit off as when they asked how I coped with stress and I answered “well, I chain smoke” they responded “Oh good, at least you have something”??
The lift opened and directly in front of the lift doors was a bust I vaguely recognised, along with the name plate “L. Ron Hubbard”. I didn’t even know scientologists had a base in the area at that point.
I just mumbled “Sorry, I’m in the wrong place” and dashed through the fire door, doubletimed it down the stairs and got the hell out of the building.
Is Simu Liu, the actor playing Shang-Chi in the new MCU movie, ugly in Chinese culture and handsome American culture?
I’m Chinese.
I wouldn’t say Simu Liu is ugly. But he sure is not good looking to most Chinese netizens either.
However, the actor of Mandarin, Tony Leung Chiu Wei has been considered one of the most good looking people in China for years, maybe even decades.
One more thing, Chinese netizens like to call good looking girls “Goddesses”(女神), there’s a male version of it too “男神”. I can’t figure out an appropriate translation, but you’ll get it.
When Chinese netizens use the word “男神”, this Chinese American actor/director/producer is referred to very often.
His name is Daniel Wu 吴彦祖. Star of AMC’s Into the Badlands. He also played a few roles in Hollywood movies too, like Lu Ren in Tomb Raider 2018, Gul’dan in Warcraft. Considered one of the most handsome men by Chinese netizens.
Here’s another well known Chinese actor John Lone 尊龙.
He was voted one of the 50 Most Beautiful People of the Year by People Magazine in 1990.
He played Puyi in The Last Emperor, Joey Tai in Year of the Dragon, and Song Liling in M. Butterfly.
I think John Lone is a very good example of Chinese and American having a common(similar, at least) taste for the appearance of men. And I don’t think Marvel cast Simu Liu because they think he is a good looking man. Simu Liu just looks more stereotypical. They cast Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson as Caucasian leading characters(These two are beautiful AF, let’s be honest). But when it comes to a Chinese leading character, they pick a stereotypical one. Think about it.
However, as a Chinese, I will never go to the cinema or rent a DVD for Shang-Chi. And I’ve watched every MCU movie in the cinema since 2012, the year The Avengers was released. I have nothing against Simu Liu. It’s all about the Shang-Chi character and the stories. The stories about Shang-Chi are just insulting to us Chinese people and our ancestors.
BTW, when a native English speaker tries to pronounce “Shang-Chi”, it always sounds like 疝气 in Chinese, which means hernia. The pronunciation of Shang-Chi(上气) in Mandarin is more like “Shawn Chi”. And the meaning of Shang-Chi(上气) in Chinese is “being angry” or “getting angry”, not “rising chi”.
It Begins… Migrant Thieves Raid NYC Warehouse
Honey Mustard Pork Tenderloin
Ingredients
Pork
1 pound pork tenderloin
Glaze
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoons mustard
1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper
Instructions
Place pork on a greased rack in a baking pan lined with foil.
Combine glaze ingredients in a bowl, set aside 3 tablespoons glaze. Spoon remaining glaze over pork.
Bake uncovered at 400 degrees F for 28 minutes or until done, basting occasionally with reserved glaze.
Let stand for 5 minutes before slicing.
Why is China getting more and more isolated? Why are most countries keeping China at a distance? Why is China being treated as a rogue and rowdy nation?
Recently, there was an UN vote about America’s embargo on Cuba.
This was the result, with 184 in favor, 2 against, and 3 abstention.
The US and Israel voted against ending embargo. Brazil, Columba, and Ukraine didn’t want to support the US, but couldn’t go against it neither, so they gave up voting.
Weeeel…. I guess someone is kinda lonely.
Everyone IS SCREAMING FOR AN EMERGENCY RATE CUT…
What is the nastiest thing you’ve done for revenge?
I had a fella that borrowed 10 large from me, turned out he was a degenerate gambler and this is Las Vegas. I secured the loan with his house or partial, he defaulted on his loan. I had to take the house and payments until the prepayment penalty expired. He was more than a slob, didn’t lift a finger to help clean for his move out. So I’m on my knees attempting to clean a disgusting toilet amid tossed betting slips from the book. That’s when I grabbed his toothbrush to do the detail work around the hinges, he wasn’t much of a good aim. When I completed that job I returned the toothbrush to its home and I still get a wee bit of pleasure when I think about it. Clean is free and gambling is a fools game. I rented that home, shortfall of $50 a month until his high interest loan was in my rear view mirror. Sold her to a family that couldn’t seem to secure a property, big housing boom. Made money, helped a young military family and got the bad vibes out of really nice home.
If Israel defeats Hamas, Russia will defeat Ukraine, then China will invade & defeat Taiwan. So if we support Ukraine & Taiwan, shouldn’t we also ought to support Hamas? At least freedom loving Taiwanese people understand this basic truth very well.
Actually, all these conflicts revolve around a single rainmaker.
Yes, America.
The long 20th century has taught us a vivid lesson in the power of hegemony. Go against American interests and your country burns or at best, suffers.
America makes cruel examples of some countries, to make the rest toe the line.
If that binyamin chap can fly stateside and receive standing ovations in congress as an icc fugitive while leading a country party to serious icj charges, most of the media narratives are just click bait fluff.
The struggle requires a clash of power, between the American led order and the rest, a system of systems competition that can go bad very quickly, if either side isn’t careful.
I empathize deeply with the plight of the gazans, and wholeheartedly believe in their cause for their own homeland, because history owes the Palestinians a grave, and present injustice.
But support for Hamas, and feeling good if they make gains or even better, win an unlikely victory? That’s just vanity, not least because the conflict is much broader with many moving pieces.
I made donations to the red cross to send aid to the Palestinians. I spent many sleepless nights fretting over the death and destruction overwhelming my feed, and prayed the killing would stop.
Eventually, I snapped out of it, but it was a mighty struggle. It is not my fight, and there is a long, hard road ahead for the Palestinians. There may not even be an end to hostilities on the horizon.
Whichever side you are on, remember this. The world can only be more stable and peaceful if it is multipolar, and there is a true balance of power. That’s the fundamental condition for the rule of law.
Israel, Ukraine, taiwan, Cuba will disappear as flashpoints with the ebbing of American power.
Such is the nature of the world we live in.
As east Asians, we can help recenter the world economy back to Asia, as it has been for millennia.
Remember, these are not our conflicts, and we do not have to take sides. It is enough to follow developments with clear eyes and weigh information from all sides to take the pulse of the situation. Make a principled stand for the killing on both sides to stop.
Anything more is time better spent participating in your own country’s economic growth.
The West is About to Face Unbelievable Hardships | Dmitry Orlov
Since entering August, the Chinese yuan (RMB) has appreciated rapidly. Is this related to the global expectation of the Fed’s interest rate cut? What does this mean?
Not only is the RMB appreciating, but the yen and the euro are also appreciating. The root cause is that the US dollar is weakening.
The US “inflation bill” has not achieved obvious results, and the core inflation rate remains high. The superposition of the US debt crisis and the inflation crisis has made the prosperity brought by high interest rates unsustainable. The global financial industry believes that the Federal Reserve is unlikely to raise interest rates further in the short term, and many institutions predict that the Federal Reserve may start to cut interest rates from the third quarter of 2024.
The Fed’s stimulant is almost over.
$35 trillion in debt means huge interest and default risks. The United States continues to challenge the debt ceiling and burn the international credibility of the US dollar, making all countries extremely wary of the US dollar.
The Fed’s interest rate cut means that the US dollar will flood into the market like a tide, which is an expectation of depreciation. It is normal for people to sell the US dollar.
Let’s look at China again. China has not followed the US dollar in raising interest rates in the past two years. It is one of the few countries in the world that has reversed operations. They have even carried out several rounds of interest rate cuts. China’s stock market has also remained low, and inflation is almost zero. This makes the Chinese economy, although not as prosperous as before the pandemic, almost non-existent in terms of systemic risks. In the first half of 2024, China’s economy recovered steadily, with economic growth of 5% and a trade surplus that broke the historical record. According to the data in July, China’s foreign trade volume hit a new high.
The cold data shows that China’s economy has been recovering and growing steadily, and it is not “about to collapse” as some Western media have exaggerated.
If people think that the US dollar will depreciate, they will inevitably look for a new currency to replace their positions after selling the US dollar. You can’t always exchange the sold US dollars for potatoes. There are not many reliable options in the world, nothing more than a few currencies such as the euro, yen, and RMB. Or invest in gold. In fact, the price of gold has risen by 26% in the past 12 months.
At present, the appreciation of the yen is more obvious, but this is because the yen has just experienced a sharp depreciation in the previous few months, and the appreciation of the yen has a rebound effect. The appreciation of the euro is not as good as that of the RMB
Unlike the euro and the yen, the RMB is an upward currency. At present, due to the continuous development of the BRICS organization, a large number of RMB transactions have been moved outside the SWIFT system. China settles oil and gas transactions in OPEC countries in RMB through the BRICS Bank and encourages the use of RMB as a foreign trade settlement currency. Many BRICS countries and Belt and Road countries use RMB to pay for imports from China.
RMB transactions have become a new international trade route in addition to US dollar transactions.
At present, the proportion of RMB in China’s own foreign settlement currencies has exceeded 50%. As the world’s largest trading country, China has more than 6 trillion US dollars in transactions each year. This means that the share of RMB in international transactions is actually much greater than that reflected by SWIFT, and the degree of RMB internationalization is actually much higher than the World Bank’s data.
This makes RMB a very popular safe-haven currency in international currency transactions. As an investor, when I try to sell US dollars, RMB will occupy a very important position in my basket of choices.
Scott Ritter: Russia’s GLOVES ARE OFF as NATO Makes Fatal Mistake, Ukraine in Trouble
What happened to your school bully?
When I was in primary school, a new kid arrived one day. He had a blonde pageboy haircut and was much bigger than me.
I probably sealed my fate when he decided to stage a KISS tribute air-band concert in his basement.
I watched as he and some of my other friends, dressed in shredded garbage bags, kicked their silver duct-taped, Kodiak boots into the air.
I didn’t get it.
After that I was a dead man walking.
My longest, “bestest” friend, whom had been in every class with me since grade 2, loudly proclaimed that he was happy that we wouldn’t be in the same class the next year.
Then the physical abuse began. I would be shoved to the ground on my way home, etc etc.
Then they all started smoking pot, and taking acid.
I’m talking about 12 year old kids.
One of the kids was a straight-A student and quarterbacked his football team.
I haven’t seen or heard from any of these kids since high school. There’s no sign of them on Facebook.
I know that one of them was stabbed to death with a screwdriver after he testified against a drug dealer who shot him and left him paralyzed.
There’s as least 4 of them who seem to have simply disappeared.
Recently one of then popped up on Facebook. He started his own company painting houses. I hired him to repaint my ceiling after a water leak. He told me how he wasted most of his life addicted to drugs but has finally turned things around. He’s 58 now.
I felt bad for him. We saw Beatlemania when we were kids. He had a bright future ahead of him… but then the “cool kid” showed up one day and sucked everyone around him into a vortex of bullshit.
What is something most people wouldn’t understand unless they grew up poor?
Here are some things I remember from growing up in rural poverty in the USA:
- Living in an apartment with no heat except for one very small wood stove, with only unseasoned firewood “included” in the rent. My mother would turn on the gas oven and open the door to heat the kitchen enough so that we wouldn’t see our breath.
- In that same apartment, my sister’s bed caught on fire because the electric blanket she used (because it was sooooo cold at night) had an electrical short. Fortunately, I was in the bunk above her and woke up and was able to get her out of the room before the smoke got really bad.
- Always running out of toilet paper – buying in bulk simply wasn’t an option for us.
- Digging through the sofa cushions for change for reduced school hot lunches.
- Government issue cheese, peanut butter, and evaporated milk. We called the cheese “welfare cheese” – it was sort of a cross between cheddar and Velveeta. We never went hungry, but my mom had to get pretty creative with food shelf donations, and fresh fruit (except apples – we always had apples) and vegetables were a rarity.
- Anything that broke wouldn’t get fixed. Because we were always broke and there was no “extra” money for repairs or preventive maintenance.
- My mom always overpaid for vehicles and always had a car payment. In the extremely cold & snowy climate where we lived, having an unreliable car could be fatal. So she would trade in whatever almost worthless thing she was driving for a new one, and then drive that one into the ground.
- When I was in 5th grade, we had so little $ that for an entire school year, I had only 1 pair of pants. I wore them every day, and I washed them every other day. No one ever said anything to me about it, fortunately.
- The only time my sister and I bought clothes was just before going back to school. Usually we were allowed to pick out one pair of pants and two shirts, and my mom would take out a store credit card to pay for it.
- We very frequently did not have phone service due to disconnection for non-payment. My entire senior year of high school, we did not have a phone. This is before mobile phones existed. If I wanted to make plans with friends, I had to walk or bike 3 km to the general store and use the pay phone.
- Despite living in northern Vermont, I did not have proper winter clothes. My winter boots were LL Bean “duck boots” (no insulation!). My walk to the school bus was 3 km. When it was about -25 F, by the time I got to school I had severe frostbite on my feet. A few days later the skin on my toes turned grayish yellow and peeled off. This happened a couple times. I still have nerve damage in my feet.
- After I was out on my own and earning money, there were many times when I found myself considering a purchase from the perspective of a poor person and then suddenly realizing that I didn’t have to do that. Only in the last few years have I been able to buy things for myself without any guilt or gnawing feeling that I should save the money instead (I have plenty of savings already).
- In the last 6 months, I have arrived at a place of financial security where if I lost my job, there would be no financial panic. This is an amazing feeling and gives me a feeling of freedom that my parents never had.
I resolved to never be poor and have been very fortunate. Being poor was a great motivator for me and gives me empathy for why poor people make the choices that sometimes don’t seem to make sense to anyone who hasn’t experienced poverty.
Kidnapping Victim’s Escape Leads to Horrifying Discovery
https://youtu.be/gH9r_aY8VEQ
Have you ever taken the law into your own hands?
Yes. When I was about 8 years old we lived in a house where the back yard was enclosed by a six foot high fence. Our first pet “Tiger” was a cockapoo a cross between a cocker spaniel and a toy poodle. I was there when Tiger was born.
One day my brothers and I were playing, tiger was out side with us, when the neighbor’s German Shepard jumped the fence and attacked Tiger. I grabbed the baseball bat and beat the German Shepard to death. The German Shepard had nearly ripped Tigers rear leg off. We yelled and our parents came out to see what was going on. They loaded up both dogs and took them to the vet. The German Shepard was pronounced dead on arrival. Tiger went into surgery. He was sewn up and bandaged. Several days later he was brought home.
We informed the neighbor about his dog accompanied by a police officer. The neighbor tried to attack me. The police officer held him back.
The neighbor took us to court. The neighbor wanted me punished for brutally beating his dog to death. And he wanted another dog. The judge listened to both sides and then asked the neighbor some questions.
The questions went like this.
Judge: You had a German Shepard?
Neighbor: Yes, and this little brat brutally killed it.
Judge: is there a 6 foot tall fence between your yards?
neighbor: yes.
Judge: was your dog capable of jumping that fence?
Neighbor: I have never seen him do that.
Judge: Is there a gate between the two yards?
Neighbor: No.
Judge: How do you think your dog got into their yard?
Neighbor: well it is possible that my dog jumped the fence.
The judge then asked me some question.
Judge: why did you attack this man’s dog.
Me: The German Shepard jumped the fence and attacked Tiger. We yelled but the dog would not stop. I had the bat in my hands and was not gong to take the chance the dog would kill tiger or attack someone else. I kicked the German Shepard off tiger but he went back. I kicked him again but this time I also hit him with the baseball bat. He kept trying to get at tiger. So I ended it. I hit the German Shepard till it quit moving.
Judge: were you scared?
me: I was. But I was more angry than scared. No one attacks my family. And tiger is family.
Judge: Do you like dogs?
me: yes, very much.
Judge: before this, were you afraid of the German Shepard?
Me: before this, I had never seen the dog. He barked a growled a lot. But he was always on the other side of the fence.
Judge: so you didn’t hate the dog.
me: I didn’t know the dog. Never met him.
The judge feeling he had all of the information needed made his determination. The neighbor was charged with having a vicious dog. Was ordered to pay our vet bill. He was told that if I had not killed the animal it would have been put down as a dangerous animal. After having cleared a 6 foot fence and attacking another’s pet and possibly children playing in the yard. I probably would have done the same thing as this young man. There will be no retaliation of any kind.
Ironically the neighbor got another German Shepard. A puppy. He introduced us to the dog and our dogs got along great. We moved about 6 months later. Tiger had complications from the surgery and started having seizures. My dad was in the navy and we often moved. Tiger was put down about two years later because we could not afford his medical care. I was told by my parents he was sent to a farm. I looked my parents in the eye and said “tiger was in bad shape. If you put him down just say so. Please don’t lie about it.”
When A Killer Has No Idea He’s Being Recorded
The U.S. stock market has plummeted, putting increasing pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates. The U.S. has lost the financial war. At this moment, China has dealt another heavy blow to the U.S. by reducing its holdings of 228 billion U.S. real estate. Yellen issued a warning that the U.S. debt may face a collapse. Why do we say that the U.S. has lost the financial war? What signal does Yellen’s warning send?
In 2018, the United States unilaterally launched a trade war against China, and then provoked a technology and financial war. Now, the global game between China and the United States has lasted for nearly 7 years. I thought that this confrontation that determines the world pattern would be a slow process. After all, the game between major powers is to see who has better determination. Moreover, the United States has “dollar hegemony” and can collect wealth from various countries by issuing U.S. bonds globally. Relying on U.S. bonds and the dollar, the United States has successfully survived many financial crises. But this time, the United States took the initiative to provoke a financial war against China, and they themselves were the losers. Federal Reserve Chairman Powell made it clear that interest rates may be cut in September. Obviously, the United States can no longer withstand the financial war.
There is a saying about the Sino-US financial war: “hypertension vs. hypoglycemia”. From the perspective of the United States, they are facing high inflation that has been slow to be curbed, huge debts, and high interest rates caused by multiple aggressive interest rate hikes. Although China is the world’s largest manufacturing country, its consumption power is not as good as that of the United States, the world’s largest consumer of goods. In other words, China has goods but lacks money, while the United States has money but lacks goods. The essence of the Sino-US financial war is that the United States wants to harvest China through aggressive interest rate hikes. While China is improving its financial defenses, it is waiting for the United States to be dragged down by its own debts.
But in this process, the United States made two fatal mistakes.
First, the United States forgot the fact that “finance is a derivative of trade.” Although the United States has dollar hegemony, China has the most complete manufacturing sector in the world, which makes it have a long-term trade surplus and has $3 trillion in reserves. Therefore, the United States can hardly influence China’s exchange rate;
Secondly, the United States has never considered that its aggressive interest rate hike strategy will push its allies into a dead end and eventually force them to “turn against the United States.” According to 环球网_全球生活新门户_环球时报旗下网站, Japan has already started to raise interest rates on the yen, which is a dead end for the United States. Previously, due to the high interest rates in the United States, many international investors borrowed yen at ultra-low interest rates and then converted them into dollars to buy U.S. bonds. Now, the Federal Reserve has just released a signal of interest rate cuts, and Japan has immediately raised interest rates, which will trigger investors to transfer assets from the United States to Japan. In other words, Japan has implemented a reverse “harvest” on the United States.
It is worth mentioning that as early as two months ago, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that maintaining high interest rates may put US debt at risk of collapse. But Yellen did not expect that what happened later would be more serious than she expected. On Monday, US stocks suffered a sharp drop at the opening, with technology stocks such as Nvidia and Tesla falling by more than 10%. At the same time, a large number of Chinese buyers were worried about the US economic situation and began to sell their properties in the United States. According to public data, in less than two years, Chinese buyers have reduced their holdings of US real estate by 228 billion yuan.
By August 5, the onshore RMB exchange rate against the US dollar reached 7.1150, a surge of 1,000 points. The reason for the strengthening of the RMB is that the US non-farm unemployment rate has reached 4.3%, which is not only the worst in the past three years, but also far exceeds expectations. This makes international investors believe that the risk of an economic recession in the United States is increasing. It is worth noting that this time Japan raised interest rates and announced how much foreign exchange it used to intervene in the exchange rate. In the face of this “turnaround” approach, the United States did not make any accusations. Obviously, the United States is also very clear about how serious the situation it faces!
This news is brought to you by Host Anton
08-06 19:36 from Hong Kong
5 Most DISTURBING Deaths of Tourists in Thailand…
https://youtu.be/A1XrrG3Nrgk
Shorpy
What was so bad about the USSR?
Was the USSR really that bad?
I don’t know what exactly you were told about USSR, but it was at least 10 times less bad than you’ve been told.
Everyday life in USSR wasn’t that much different from social democracies of today:
- There was work, properly regulated to 8 hours a day and 2 days off.
- During dinner break, you’d get to eat at an eatery, usually one affiliated with your workplace.
- There was almost 0% unemployment. The country always had work that needed doing, but if they didn’t, they’d invent some work for you, like digging holes or filling up holes.
- The work was paid for properly at the end of the month.
- People would spend their money in shops, to buy food and things.
- Unlike capitalism, there usually was more money than things to buy.
- The amount of stuff owned by a typical Soviet person wasn’t that much different from stuff owned by a typical worker under capitalism.
- Food shortages were the exception, not the rule. But growing or foraging your own food was a thing.
- Everybody had a roof over their heads, usually provided by the government for a small rent/tax.
- Less lucky people lived in dormitories and communal apartment, more lucky ones lived in their own apartments.
- Wait time to get one’s own apartment was similar to time for accumulating money to buy an apartment in capitalist Russia, but one could use their money freely.
- Violent crime was pretty low, while black market seems to have flourished.
- Newspapers did not go out of their way to scare people, so people felt much safer.
- Life in prisons was worse, as it should be. Still, prisoner lifestyle was regulated, so they wouldn’t go hungry unless the whole country did.
- That joke from “Operation Y” where an prisoner builder gets a 3-course dinner with shahlyk and a poor student working part-time (who has to buy his own food) gets some bread with kefir is a comedic exaggeration.
What are good practices that make people live longer?
One thing that really helps is having a goal — something you want to do before you pass. Like Jeanne Calment who made a deal with her rotary André-François Raffray in 1965, when she was 90 years old… in exchange for having the right to continue living in the property, she’d sell the apartment to Raffray, for him to use after she passed. He sure felt he’d made a pretty sweet deal with the little old French lady…
Only Calment didn’t die… she kept living. And living. And living. By 1995, Raffray had already paid Calment many times the value of the property she was living in. A piece of property he legally owned for some 30 years but couldn’t sell or make use of. He died, in 1995. And Calment, 120, continued to live for another 2 years, finally dying in 1997 at age 122 with Raffray’s widow and children continuing to pay her generously for her refusal to meet her maker.
Calment lived another 32 years after reaching 90, and it made her a fortune in her day’s currency. She was paid generously just for being alive, despite continuing to smoke and drink and live merrily. “Sometimes in life, one makes a bad deal,” Calment simply said. And sometimes, people make mighty good deals.
Why She LEFT the USA and Moved HOME to ASIA!
Do Americans really avoid hospitals, even in serious situations because of the bills that follow after?
We sure do!
I pay more than $1000 a month for “good insurance, and last month I fell. I knew something was wrong and instead of going to the ER, I went to urgent care because it would be so much cheaper.
It almost killed me.
You see, I had broken three ribs and punctured a lung. I was bleeding into my chest cavity and the longer I waited to see the cheap doctor, I was losing my ability to breathe. At one point a lady sat next to me. She took one look at me and screamed at the front desk to call an ambulance. I told them it would cost too much and I would drive myself.
Luckily for me, they stopped me from driving and the ambulance soon arrived.
I stayed in the hospital for 3 days and demanded to be released because I couldn’t afford to be there any longer. I was released AMA and I got lucky that I had someone at home to care for me. It has taken weeks for me to be able to take a breath without pain, and while my doctor wanted to see me at the two-week mark, I waited until 4 weeks to see her.
I am now waiting for the bills to arrive. I know that my deductible for the year is $17,000 and that will be what I will have to pay before the full insurance kicks in, but I will STILL have more deductibles to pay!!
Our system is BROKEN!! The MAIN reason people file for bankruptcy is medical bills, and we are supposedly a first-world nation!!!!
People are so damn worried about paying for everyone to get medical care that they would rather go bankrupt than pay LESS than we do now for actual care! They seem to forget that they are already paying for roads, schools, first responders and so much more, but heaven forbid they pay for medical!
It would be CHEAPER FOR EVERYONE!!!
PLUS our politicians are in the pockets of the insurance companies who will lose billions if we were to have universal healthcare. So, we continue to see the decline in our health, die earlier, and lose mothers during childbirth at a rate higher than some third-world nations, and all people can think of is “Well at least I didn’t pay for someone else to live”.
Absolute stupidity!
Alien
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
Ash Brinton
The alien snorted, “That’s kind of self-absorbed.”
“Yeah,” I laughed, “but science proved them wrong. When the part of the Earth that we are standing on turns away from the sun and it goes dark, we say the sun goes down. We call that time night. That’s when we can see the moon and the stars up in the sky. Do you have that on your planet?”
“No. There’s two stars, one on either side of my birth planet, so it’s always not-night.”
“Day. The word you’re looking for is day.”
“Wow. Humans name everything, huh. What do you call your moon?”
“Well, technically the moon’s name is Luna, but there’s only one, so we just call it the moon most of the time.”
“Cool!” He exclaimed, “We don’t have a sky. Mama says the atmosphere’s too weak for us to have a pretty sky like the one on Earth.”
“Light pollution blocks most of the sky nowadays, so don’t be disappointed if you ever see it.”
“Mama and Grandmama have always wanted to go to Earth. They were so excited when you got to the end of your solar system. We’ve been watching you progress for a while. Mama said humans were resilient and stubborn and would never give up, but Papa thought you were going to give up because you kept finding rocks and that was it.”
“They were cool rocks,” I nudged him, “Space rocks.”
The alien clapped two of his arms together, which I was quickly learning was how this species showed delight.
I hated to burst the alien’s bubble of innocence and wonder but…
“Do you know the worst thing about Earth and living there?”
The child’s face dropped and the spiky arm-like appendages fell to their side.
I continued, “The worst part about living on Earth, or at least in my country, isn’t the pollution, poverty, hunger, or even abuse. It’s the tension. The fear that we’ve entrusted the keys of mass destruction to a lunatic or a villain. The constant worry that one day you’ll turn on the tv and hear that a war has broken out in our country and a nuclear bomb has been dropped. In my country, we are always at war, but it is always pushed under the rug and ignored. For stuff like that to be shown on the news, it would have to be on our own soil. Either a civil war or a world war. It would destroy anything. No one would survive, and if they did… that fate might be even worse.”
“So… you don’t want to go back to Earth?”
I shrugged helplessly, “Humanity destroyed Earth. Maybe when your grandmama saw it, Earth was more beautiful, more loving, more kind, but more likely is that the effects of humanity’s cruelty were only just starting to show on Earth’s surface and it wasn’t as noticeable yet. To truly see Earth, you have to get up close, beneath the clouds, into the cities. Still… I do want to go home. I want to rebuild and restore Earth to its former glory, if it ever had any when humanity lived on the Earth. I want to see the animals, healthy and thriving, not on the brink of extinction, and to see the moon surrounded by stars, and see the milky way hovering in the sky like it did when my grandparents were little. I want to go home.”
“Can I help?”
“I don’t think so, little friend. It’s not fair to pull you into our mess.”
“So? I want to see Earth too! I want to help the humanities.”
I smiled sadly and patted the alien’s baby curl. “Let’s just get me home first. Just imagine being the first of your species to reach Earth’s surface. Your mama will be so proud.”
I looked out the small window at the wide expanse of nothing, with stars twinkling in the distance, almost too far away to see.
“Let’s go home.”
West Panic: Italy’s Meloni In Beijing For Desperate Reset, Russia Drops Major BRICS Update
Why do Chinese trolls always fantasize that Japan and South Korea are American colonies? How can we cure their delusions?
Alex Julius, you should be the one who must be cured of your delusions.
You are likely too young, but know that it’s not just Japan and South Korea, there are almost 800 of such “colonies” in the world.
We’re still doing this – added Finland recently. And restored another – the Philippines.
This is the rare occasion where what trump claimed is actually true – Americans can literally shoot anybody on main street and can’t be touched. Young Filipinos may not know these, but Filipinos were target practices once they get too close to Clark and Subic and of course, they could treat their women however they feel they want. And Bong Bong wants all these American liberties back in his country.
The only difference is that its so much more for Japan and South Korea – its Washington that dictates their national foreign policies – that when the American president tells them to jump, they ask how high. . . where the government of Japan can’t fly over Tokyo without permission of the U.S. military commisioner . . . where South Korea can’t do anything involving their military without the permission of the U.S. military brass. . . .where its president must know how to sing Karaoke when making state visits. But of course, to maintain the pretext of democracy, they have to do the work of governing their own people – that they can do themselves. Isn’t all these describing running “colonies” by enjoying the best of both worlds?
Today’s MM image generations
The focus is on admiration, and the god of the vine. It’s a hodgepodge of prompts and resulting in very interesting images.
Many nudes. But you all know that I am figurative art lover.
I really love the style, and the color composition. But I am having problems with the image arrangement. But I think that in time things will straighten out.
Personally, I don’t like full nudes. I prefer partial nudes, and elements of clothing with folds, and details.
So I changed things out. And I started to require loin cloths and other attire elements.
Some didn’t have the elements of clothing, but the colors were great.
In the ones where everyone was clothed, it became too formal. I wanted something less formal.
Maybe something more like this…
This is pretty good.
So is this one.
And this one.
The careful placement of arms was really nice.
This is fine…
What was the hardest thing you went through in life, and how did you get past it?
Originally Answered: What was the hardest thing you went through in life and how did you get past it?
Our married love life was wonderful, Blessed with cute baby girl , added more and more love to our lives. Perfect love life , both of us were equally romantic and made for each other in all aspects . But he fell sick one day, severely sick. Lost his job soon due to the serious health reasons . I was not working and no experience though well qualified. No one earning at home , worst phase of our lives .I started hunting for job , use to seek help with whomever I know , giving my resume. Since it was already 4 years that I had finished my degree, securing a job was really too hard and challenging. I use to drop into offices , use all my limited intelligence and resources to get a job. Everywhere , every effort was a failure, I was good at nothing , hopes were very less with the future. Somewhere luck clicked , a gentleman agreed to help me , but I had to go far off – 1000 kms from my town . I took the bold step, left the beloved family back . I got a break, worked very hard without caring the number of working hours , my food , my comforts despite of my gender constraints. I did not had anyone to care about me . I had save every penny and money order to home. My life was very hard , but started feeling bit ease with finance. I could meet my family first time after a gap of 10 months. I endured all the pains , discomforts to save our lives . Slowly in 2 years my financial status became very sound and everyone happy at home. All the needs and luxuries of each individual were met with my income. This is 20 years old story , but when I look back now , I wonder myself with the journey. Everyone in the family knows about my success , no one knows the struggle I had in the initial stages especially when alone , away from home. But I am happy I could take care of my loved ones…!! I have cut the very long story short though here. Thanks for reading through this.
Edit 1 :
Dear all my friends , I am adding some more details as asked by you . My smart and intelligent husband lost many of his metal capabilities permanently , he just survived with no physical handicap. As of today he is very casual person with no job , no responsibility and no emotions to me and my daughter.
Yes I could meet all the materialistic needs of the family, but the love which I was dying for , I haven’t experienced again.
The reason I am anonymous here is , I have managed to keep this story very secret as much as possible due to many reasons . I had lots of hopes that I would get my love back , year on year realized that it would never happen, Along with that with growing daughter I wanted to stay strong , avoid any negative emotions , keep the father and daughter bonding as well as family bonding intact . My journey along had been very very rough while managing to take care of crooked in laws , take full responsibility of my sick parents ( my younger brother had died in road accident then ) , emotionless and half sensed husband. I avoided myself in all the social gatherings due to his behavioral issues, it is all a daily battle. I wanted to ensure my daughter will not suffer psychologically in this bargain. It was all tight rope walk for me , lost my youth , real happiness in life . But only satisfaction is my daughter is like a fresh flower with full of fragrance, she is undisturbed with all the tragedy which occurred in our life when she was close to 2 years old.
Materialistically I gained many many things in life but the wonderful love which I received from my husband is just a dream now. Many good things happened to me in my career unexpectedly .There are many many bitter most things about my husband which is still going on my life . Life has taught me the art of living .. and it is going on & on
Edit 2.
Friends , my thanks to all of you . Your responses has made me to feel lighter with the hard and helpless feelings that I have that I am not able to fix my husbands problems. I could have donated any part of my body to resume his love , medically there is no brain transplant . Miracles may work ??
I had shared a part of my story here earlier ,
Someone anonymous’s answer to What is the loveliest thing a child has ever said to you?
when I get chance I would share the details of deadly disease that my husband survived with, how I handled both my challenging IT career, responsibility of all the dependents , how my husbands family took undue advantage of his illness and emotionless status
Edit 3
Friends ,My daughter loves her dad a lot , has accepted him fully for what he is , tried her best to make him to understand his responsibility , no luck but. Our sorrow never reflects in our faces, not an exaggeration we look our best , lively and cheerful . Also look like sisters as per the comment we keep receiving from others. She is bold , practical, very independent, kind and considerate . Though she knows the hardships of mine she does not simply sympathize and am not emotional burden on her. She flew abroad recently for her masters and has lot of ambitions in life. She has her own passions besides academics.
My love life has been fully empty, I have been trying to overcome by indulging in my work , disciplined life & hobbies . My love to the family has been stronger not giving me a chance of seeking love elsewhere . Probably my brought up has a bigger role here
Missing woman found underwater
What famous people in history knew that their next action would lead them to ruin, but they did it anyway?
It was Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov in April 1967.
He had been selected as the pilot for the Soyuz-1 mission, which was to take place on April 23, 1967.
And he knew full well that it would mean his death.
The spacecraft had shown problems during the tests, and it was clear that the man inside would not come back alive.
(Vladimir 1967 with wife and child).
Vladimir’s friend and colleague Yuri Gargarin acted as a substitute.
Another Soyuz spacecraft with a crew of three was to follow the day after. This was to include a docking and transfer of Khrunov and Yeliseyev (two other cosmonauts).
Although the dangers were clear, no one was willing to back down and risk disappointing the Soviet high command. At the time, after all, spaceflight was a competition between the USA and the USSR, and any failure would have proved the “inferiority” of the respective side.
Even Komarov himself refused to back out of the project because otherwise he would have doomed his replacement and friend Yuri Gagarin.
Already during the entry into orbit there were malfunctions, which soon resulted in aborting the whole mission and then trying to bring Komarov back.
Before the “landing” of the return capsule, the main parachute remained in its container due to design and manufacturing defects. The reserve parachute, activated at an altitude of about 5000 m, did not fully deploy.
Komarov burned up on impact of the landing capsule, while the Soyuz hurtled through the atmosphere at unimaginable speeds.
This made Komarov the first human to ever die in spaceflight.
Even before his fateful flight, he was so certain of his death that he requested an open-casket funeral.
You can see that in the picture above. All that was left of Vladimir Komarov was a broken heel bone and a misshapen, melted lump of remains.
Through the open coffin, he had wanted to force his superiors to look at what they had done to him.
To this day, this photograph of his remains continues to tell his tragic story.
Streets are now named after him and he received posthumous high honors.
By the way, sources like Wikipedia only say that he died on impact.
But the picture tells a different story.
His sacrifice was in vain, by the way.
A year later, Yuri Gargarin and a colleague were on a routine training flight when their MIG crashed.
Both men lost their lives.
Man Returns from Parallel Universe (The Peter Williamson Account)
How much damage could a single highly trained special forces soldier do if he were to go rogue? Could he evade capture for a long time?
1990-0802, Delta Force Rapist.
MSG Marshall Brown, 1st Special Forces Operations Detachment Delta Operator, arrested while TDY in East Providence, RI. He raped five women. MSG Brown escaped custody & was captured 3-days later.
In 1988, an investigation began when two women were attacked in Raleigh, one @ North Carolina State University, apparently by the same man, a stranger, who climbed in through their second story windows, hooded & dressed in black, ordered them to silence with a knife held to their throats, covered their faces, then raped them. During the rapes, he apologized, telling them that he didn’t want to hurt them & that he “had to do this.”
On June 11, 1989 in Cranston, Rhode Island, Marshall Brown was taken into custody & charged with the rapes of two Rhode Island women. These women were raped with the same modus operandi as the North Carolina women. While in custody, Marshall was deferential to the police, calling them by their ranks & observing scrupulous courtesy. Police described him as soft-spoken. He even spoke approvingly of the professionalism of the arrests & complimented one officer for his handcuffing technique. He had been arrested for prowling in Fayetteville, North Carolina, earlier that May. He had forfeited his bond for a dismissal of the charge.
Marshall went to work in jail, studying the patterns of the federal marshals who transported him to & from court & making friends with a 20-year-old inmate named Frederick Heon. He stayed in shape in jail, using his exercise periods to run.
On July 30, he was cuffed to another prisoner in the back of a federal marshal van & driven to Providence to attend his hearing. When the back door opened, Marshall – who had picked open his handcuffs – walked with the escorting marshal & his fellow inmate for a bit, then sprang past the startled federal marshals & ran like an Olympic athlete up the street & out of sight.
Heon was out on bail & had rented a car, per Marshall’s instructions & was waiting @ an appointed rendezvous point & drove Marshall to the Connecticut state line. Heon then went to a church where he was told he’d find money, which wasn’t there. Three days later, Marshall was caught in a stolen car & re-arrested. Marshall told the police about Heon’s assistance & Heon was taken back to jail for a parole violation.
Marshall had burglarized a house 15 miles outside of Providence for food & credit cards & was camping in a pine grove nearby. He stole the car in the same neighborhood. When back in custody, he admitted to nine rapes in Rhode Island, Texas, Arizona & North Carolina. Marshall had been attending the Naval version of the Sergeants Major Academy in Norfolk when he was caught the first time.
His wife, Michelle, who was taking care of their young son, was stunned.
I can’t even pretend to understand Marshall Brown, after spending many hours with him & going on one combat operation with him. I have heard the statement that rape is not sex, it is an exercise of power. I don’t buy it. Rape is violent power, but it is sexualized power & it is also violent sex. Sex in patriarchal society is in almost every case practiced, portrayed & understood as a form of aggression & power & all power is in many ways sexualized.
Marshall’s brother-in-law spoke with me many years later & said that Marshall told him that he felt he had to use his skills somehow, or he’d begin to lose them. Marshall saw the rapes as a training opportunity @ some level & therefore the women as training aids
One might suppose, since he repeated this ritualistic rape @ least nine times, that there was some rush he needed. I don’t buy it. He had jumped out of airplanes a thousand times, was a proficient technical climber, had been in combat. I think the rush – if that’s what it was – was transgression. Nancy C. M. Hartsock, in Money, Sex & Power – Toward a Feminist Historical Materialism, said that “without the boundary to violate, the thrill of transgression would disappear.” Marshall’s criminality was not in spite of his religious conversion, his squeamishness about sex, or his uptight WASP upbringing in East Texas. It was an outcome… of all those things, but also of a masculinity defined by a culture of rape & a man who had made a career of pursuing that masculinity.
Marshall Brown served in a profession with a constant subtext of physical coercion & in a field within that profession (Delta Force/Special Operations) where we were expected to work outside the rules, behind the scenes, in the shadows, employing a host of very specialized skills, to “preserve a way of life.”
Sometimes
Green Corn Tamales
I got this recipe from the mother of the owner of the Brahma bull breeding ranch just down the road from me. Green Corn Tamales can be made ahead and reheated by steaming.
Ingredients
- 2 dozen ears white corn (save husks)
- 1 pound lard
- 2 pounds longhorn cheese, grated
- 1 pint cottage cheese
- 16 ounces canned whole green chile, cut into strips
- 1 tablespoon salt (or to taste)
- Milk, if necessary
Instructions
- Cut the stem ends off the corn and carefully remove the husks the husks will be used later. Cut the kernels from the ears into a large container.
- Grind the kernels very fine.
- Rinse and drain the corn husks, preferably the inner ones. Cut the green chiles into strips.
- In a separate bowl, beat the lard until creamy. Combine well the masa (ground corn), lard, cottage cheese and about half the grated cheese along with the salt. If too thick for spreading, add a little milk.
- Hold a corn husk in one hand. Place a tablespoon of the masa mixture in the middle. Sprinkle on grated cheese and some strips of green chili. Fold the left side of the husk over the masa. Fold the right side over both, then bring the top down over all. Place the packet in a steam roaster on a rack with the open end of the tamale pointing up so the filling doesn’t fall out. Repeat until all packets are standing upright in the steamer. (They can wrapped well and frozen at this point).
- When all the tamales are made, add hot water to the steamer, but do not let it touch the tamales. Cover and place over medium to low heat and steam for 45 minutes, making sure the pan doesn’t run dry.
- Remove one tamale for testing. If the masa is runny, steam the tamales longer.
Is there any way to look young and fit for your whole life?
My father has served for 4 decades in the Indian Army. He retired last year but still looks like a young gentleman. Here is his pic:
Following are the things he does daily in order to maintain that fitness, happiness, and energy:
- Early 2 bed & early 2 rise: He sleeps by 10 pm and wakes up at 5 am. Those 7 hours are pure sound sleep.
- Fresh Air: Upon waking up, he goes for a walk/jog along with our dog.
- Morning Nutrition: Next, he drinks Mulethi Tea, which has immense and immense benefits.
- Being Natural: He also does Brushing with Neem twig sometimes before normal brushing. He applies Mustard Oil. He hasn’t used shampoo even once in his life and still at the age of 60, he has black & naturally strong hair.
- Exercise: Next, he performs yoga and calisthenics.
- Spirituality for positivity: After having a bath, he does pooja, which according to him gives him positivity and strength for the odd things.
- Do what you love: Then he goes to work. Right now after retirement, his work is to look after our farms. Despite having servants, he also does some farming himself which gives him joy.
- Love what you do: In his small-small work, whether household or be it when he was in the Army. He is determined and has will power to do the work. He takes full responsibility and doesn’t procrastinate. He does his work happily. He accepts responsibilities and problems rather than blaming or cursing. This reduces stress and increases productivity.
- Nutrition on time: He ensures that he takes his meals on time (Lunch before 1 pm and Dinner before 7.30).
- Proper Nutrition: He also ensures that he eats natural things and things with more health benefits rather than going for taste. For example, we eat black wheat roti, self-grown vegetables & and fruits, pure milk, and whatever we can arrange naturally.
Activate super-mom mode
What’s the biggest don’t judge a book by its cover moment you have seen?
- We were having dinner at the private Magic Castle in Hollywood. At the next table was a stereotypical studio executive type; you know, 50+ years old, ultra tan, long (hair plugged?) grey hair, flashy suit. With him was a20ish young, hot model type, with a low cut backless dress that showed off her tattoos, among other things. Yup, I thought; fossil studio exec pulling a Harvey Weinstein with some actress. Except as they were leaving, the young woman said to him Dad, when Mom gets back from New York, maybe we can have dinner again!
- Having dinner in a restaurant. The guy next to us appears to be having a tough time with his date. He does all the talking, and his date just gives him a half smile; jokes, funny stories, ordering the food, just a half smile from the women. We thought it might be a first date, maybe off of the internet or a blind one. Except when they were about to leave, the guy got her wheelchair and helped her sit in it; she obviously had had a stroke or something, and thus she could only muster a half smile and not speak.
- Las Vegas: we enter the Wynn Hotel, and see a scantily clad (mini skirt, halter top) woman walking with two security guards on either side. We thought it was a hooker being escorted out of the premises. However, this was Las Vegas. She was instead wearing the standard waitress outfit for the hotel. Sorry, our mistake!
American Dad
What kinds of inside jokes do commercial pilots tell each other?
A young pilot got a job as a bush pilot flying float planes in Alaska. On one of his first jobs, he flew out to a remote lake to pick up a hunter who had been dropped off the week before.
When he got there, he was horrified to discover that the hunter had bagged a full grown bull moose. He also had several hunting rifles, a canoe, several boxes of ammunition, plus all his camping gear.
“That’s too much,” he protested. “I won’t even get the plane into the air with all that weight.”
“I don’t see why not,” the hunter replied. “You strap the canoe to one of the floats, the moose to the other float, the baggage in the back seats, and I sit up front with you. Alf Smith did it last year, and he got us into the air.”
The young pilot’s ego was wounded. “Well, if Alf Smith can do it, so can I. Give me a hand.”
He taxied downwind to the far end of the lake as far as he could go, spun around into the wind and gave it full throttle. The plane staggered into the air and just barely cleared the trees at the far end. Ahead of them, however, was a low ridge. Using every ounce of flying skill, he managed to nurse the airplane over the trees at the top of the ridge. Before he could relax, however, he realized to his horror that there was a second, even higher ridge a half mile in front of him. There was nothing he could do but pancake the airplane into the trees.
As he and his passenger crawled out from the wreckage, he surveyed the destroyed plane and wept “My God, what have I done?”
“Don’t feel too bad,” said the hunter. “You made it half a mile farther than Alf Smith did last year.”
Load those arms up
Has a cop ever said something to you which was completely unexpected?
I was driving along a two lane road in rural Minnesota, at or just below the speed limit (55mph) when I saw a cop pull out from a side road. He quickly caught up with me and lit me up. I found a driveway where I could pull over safely and stopped. As I was getting my license and insurance ready, he walked up and asked the usual question, “Do you know why I pulled you over?”.
I said, no, I can’t think of anything I was doing wrong.
He told me that he had seen me give room for a lady pulling out slowly, and didn’t blow my horn, flash my lights or seem irritated that she had blocked my path, but let her get up to speed and gave her plenty of room. I also returned a wave from her as she turned off the road.
He handed me a card that read “Good Driver Award”. He told me that if I needed to use it, to show it, and they’ll forgive minor things like too long in a metered parking space. Not only that, but he was very cordial and friendly. Told me to have a nice drive home. He also told me to show it either the McDonald’s or Burger King just up the road for a free soda.
Made my day!!
Syrians Retaking Oil Fields From U.S. Forces IN SYRIA!
Why does the US have Tonya Harding Syndrome against China?
Haha. Tonya Harding Syndrome. What a perfect description of the mentality of USA against anyone that is strong, be it China or Russia.
After WW2, USSR was militarily strong. USA said USSR threatened US (dominance). USA then collapsed USSR in 1991. Today Russia is still militarily strong, then thru Ukraine, USA is to weaken, if not break up Russia.
In 1980s’, when Japan was economically strong being #2 in the world & when its semiconductor surpassed USA, USA then beat Japan down making Japan lost 10–20 years’ of development.
Today, China is both economically, militarily & technologically strong. Of course, USA cannot sleep well at night.
Dont ever think USA is gentle to EU who is also competing with USA. USA pulled down Euro once. One reason for the Ukraine war is to weaken Europe’s economy.
So … USA suffers Tonya Harding syndrome against anybody who is developing well & challenging US hegemony. Not just against China.
USA was successful in beating down USSR & Japan. But has & will fail in China though.
If the Chinese Communist leadership decided today to invade Taiwan, how long would it take them to prepare before the first attack?
Perhaps you’ve forgotten that China’s President Xi Jinping is the son of one of China’s greatest generals?
That he spent three years in uniform as Assistant to the Secretary of Defense?
That in the past two years he has repeatedly called on his 2,000,000 man army to ‘prepare to fight and win wars’?
That, when Gallup asked people around the world, “Would you fight for your country in case of war ?”, 87% of Chinese are willing and ready to fight–almost three times the percentage of Americans or anyone else?
Today, China overmatches the US in its Near Seas and my guess is that it will choose to act there in order to open a potential second front to take pressure off Russia. A credible sequence goes something like this: in close coordination with Russia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Hezbollah…
1. Announce an ADIZ, below, over Taiwan and the Taiwan Strait that excludes all military aircraft and requires permission for every civilian flight in and out of Taiwan. The US cannot prevent this and it paralyzes Taiwan.
2. Issue an arrest warrant for Tsai Ing-wen on a charge of treason and incitement to war and warn that anyone attempting to assist her will be charged as an accessory.
3. Announce that the Taiwan Strait is Chinese, permanently closed to military vessels.
4. Announce that the entire South China Sea is Chinese, permanently closed to military vessels.
5. Show off a few new weapons systems to complement its remarkable missiles and its fleet of Type 055 heavy cruisers, the most powerful surface combatants afloat.
6. Place the entire nation on a war footing, call up the reserves and activate all radars, light up all missile launching facilities, etc.
These actions would be front page headlines in every new media on earth yet, if you do the math, you’ll see that the cost is….$0.00.
And China hasn’t invaded Taiwan yet. Hasn’t hurt a fly, in fact.
China’s capacity to sustain combat in its Near Seas is far bigger than Western media have been telling us (read the USNI papers to see what I mean). America is no match for China there–on land, sea or in the air.
And, as Clausewitz might have said, fleets win battles but economies win wars and China’s economy is far bigger, growing much faster and is more capable of ramping up than ours.
Would invasion even be necessary?
Ya The West is in full collapse
UK is crumbling.
BTW... I love that park that he is in. -MM
What happened to your school bully?
As a female autistic growing up in Outback Australia in the 1960’s I was bullied a lot. Really nasty stuff, it was only when I was in my 40’s that I got diagnosed as High Functioning Aspergers. I have always used education to get out of bad situations and high school was a particularly bad situation! Getting my head flushed down the toilet daily by a group of six or seven laughing girls was just something I had to deal with.
I left as soon as I was able, went to the nearest big city, got a job and continued to study at night school. Over the years, I built up this small base into a very comfortable career, married, had children and continued to work in a job I enjoyed, was good at, and that paid well. I have travelled the world and learned several languages, since I have an affinity for it.
One of my “nerdy” friends stayed on in the small regional town I’d gone to high school in and we kept touch. She was able to tell me what became of the bullies who used to torment us.
The leader of the group was a girl who was voted by our class as “the most likely to succeed”, apparently because she was regarded as pretty and used to date a high school sports jock. She ended up living in a caravan with a dozen children all from different fathers, working occasionally in low-paid jobs and living on welfare and whatever she could make by peddling her body. My friend told me that I wouldn’t recognize her as she got onto meth and used to pick at her skin leaving bleeding sores all over. She eventually died of a drug overdose a few years ago.
Another girl who used to delight in putting out cigarettes on my skin if she caught me going to the loo while she was there ended up dying, her car wrapped around a tree late one night when her boyfriend, who was driving drunk, was speeding.
A number of other bullies, the low-level ones who just went along with the major bullies and joined in if they had nothing better to do, ended up spending their lives working in the vegetable cannery or the chicken processing plant or the abbatoirs (I lived in an agricultural community, and those where the big employers.) There are probably worse jobs about than gutting chickens for a living, and it is at least good honest work, I suppose…
Another one, a boy this time who used to enjoy getting a seat behind me on the two hour bus ride to and from school and whacking me across the back of the head with a book, also got his karma – he became a welder after he left school, was working inside a silo one day and there was a build-up of gases. When he turned on the welder, the gases ignited while he was inside the silo and the result was that he lost both his legs. Now he has no choice but to sit – in a wheelchair.
Whereas I have lived a comfortable and mostly content life, doing a job I love, running my own business, and owning my own houses, some of which I rent out. One of the best things I ever did was to leave the small-town bullies and small-minded losers to their own devices and leave. I’ve never regretted going.