Back in the day, around 2002 or 2003, I was the VP of Engineering at a company in Boston. We made automotive sensors.
My mother had cancer, and my kid sister and husband was supposed to be watching over her and checking in on her, as the lived nearby.
The truth was that they wanted her to turn over all her assets to them, and they planned to put her into a retirement home.
As time moved forward, they became more demanding. Nearly hysterically so.
They would have police come over, and all sorts of efforts to try to get her committed.
My younger brother was there with my mother on a visit and watched this first hand, and was aghast. My mother didn’t mention any of this to us other kids. And he (my brother) got into a big fight with my kid sister’s husband and put a restraining order on him.
Something had to be done.
My other siblings were not available, so I took the hit. I was the oldest son, and so I quit my job and moved in with my mother to take care of her. And for three years I was there tending to her and the property.
I have mixed feelings about that time.
But one thing is certain, it allowed me to get close to my mother at a time of need, and those moments I will never forget.
We are the people in charge of our lives. When life throws you situations you take action. And, damn what the rest of the world thinks.
You either do, or you don’t.
And that is my story, and my experience.
Today…
Russia Launches Nukes | Madam Secretary
Real African Books
The judge asked the killer of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat – “Why did you kill President Sadat?”
The murderer replied- “Because he was secular.”
what does ” mean?”
The killer said, “I don’t know.”
The man who tried to stab the deceased Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz was asked by the judge: “Why did you stab Mr. Naguib?”
The terrorist replied, “Because he has written the anti-religious novel ‘Children of Gebalawi’.”
The judge showed interest: “Have you read the novel?”
The criminal replied- “No.”
The judge asked the murderer of Egyptian writer Farag Fouda – “Why did you kill Farag Fouda?”
The murderer replied- “Because he had no faith.”
The judge was curious to know, “How did you know that he had no integrity?”
The terrorist’s reply was – “Everything becomes clear by reading his books.”
The judge’s curiosity increased further – “In which book of his did you find the proof of his dishonesty?”
The killer admitted, “I don’t know the name of the book. I haven’t read it all.”
The judge was surprised: “Why didn’t you read it?”
The murderer said, “I don’t know how to read and write.”
Hatred never spreads through knowledge. Hatred spreads through ignorance. This is how society pays the price of ignorance, the price of keeping people ignorant.
From ‘Real African Books
Fatal Mistake: US Just Imposed The Unthinkable On China – What China Does Next Is Frightening!
Chiles Rellenos Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 pound roasted Hatch green chiles, seeds and skin removed, or 2 (7 ounce) cans whole green chiles, seeded
- 1/2 pound Cheddar cheese, grated
- 1/2 pound Monterey Jack cheese, grated
- 2 cups evaporated milk
- 4 eggs
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 onion, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a 12 x 8 inch baking dish, layer green chiles, Cheddar cheese and Monterey Jack cheese.
- Put the evaporated milk, eggs, flour, onion, garlic cloves and salt in a blender; blend thoroughly. Pour over the chiles and cheeses.
- Bake for 45 minutes.
Is Tim Allen a jerk in real life?
About 15 years ago Tim Allen lived in a farm like place in Michigan with a barn. A friend of mine was summoned to go to his address, not knowing who owned the place, to do some home repairs. My friend knocked on the door and introduced himself and the purpose of his visit. Then he realized it was Tim Allen and blurted out his name as a question. Tim said, it is me and showed him what he wanted done. Then he asked my friend if he liked cars, and my friend said, “I’m a Detoiter, of course I do”. So Time walked him to the barn and showed him around the collection of cars. My friend was enthralled and grateful. Then Tim said he had some things to do, so he was leaving. He then told my friend if he finishes up early to take a ride in his choice of cars, the keys are on a rack near the door and he left.
My friend finished in just a couple hours, did a great job as he always did and went for a ride in two different cars. Like my friend said, “I was in heaven”. As he was putting things away in his truck and cleaning up a bit more when Tim came back and asked if he had a chance to drive anything. My friend said, “Oh yes, I drove the flathead Ford and the Corvette”. Then he thanked Tim a lot and went on his way.
I’d say Tim Allen is a great guy in real life.
What the Hell is going on here Will?
How can I get rid of my boyfriend without hurting him too much?
“Too much” is subjective. I always put a fair amount of work into breaking up with compassion. It’s a fine line because often. I found the other person either didn’t take me seriously and snuck in to my home in the wee hours and climbed into bed. Being a man, I didn’t kick her out. Being a man and horny..well, we were back on and I wasn’t even awake for it.
Other times they lingered. Cried. Begged. It wasn’t always pretty. It took me six moths to get rid of one girl. By that time, I was in a relationship. The ex was watching me and eventually understood.
One thing I did was never to rush into another relationship. That isn’t good for anyone. Even if I was the one breaking things off, there is mourning period. You should honor that and use the time to reflect. It also make me available if someone needed to talk.
Be honest and open. The problem with honesty is sometimes it hurts. I had to eventually tell several girls that I just did not see a future (marriage, children) with them. These were girls that made it clear they wanted to marry me. Sometimes it really was timing for one reason or another. I broke up with one that I actually did see a future with because her father hated me. He gave us (both starving students) $20 to get something to eat one night. We went out for pizza and pitcher. After the tip, there was no money left. He thought we were taking advantage. Looking back, I should have just given him the $20, but $20 was a lot of money to me at the time.
I am still friends with some of my ex’s. I still care about them.
Dunkirk (2017) – Farrier shot down German plane HD(1080p)
Was Brian Thompson assassin a professional?
I highly doubt this was a professional assassin.
I do think the killer was better prepared than most. The man has put a fair amount of work and thought into the assassination.
He avoided most cameras in the area, actually did kill his target, and successfully escaped, at least for the time being. He ditched his phone. He also has at least reasonable familiarity with firearms.
However.
- He was carrying an uncommon and highly identifiable expensive backpack.
- He stayed at a hostel with other people who could identify him.
- He talked to a Starbucks cashier and showed his face.
- He left candy wrappers and some other stuff behind.
- He did not change clothes, which allowed him to be noticed on other cameras and for the people at the hostel to make the connection.
- Carried a phone in the first place.
These are all mistakes that will likely get him caught. He picked a high profile target and made it a very obvious assassination and so the police will put significantly more effort into it than they would into a murder of a less prominent person, or something that looked like a robbery gone bad. It isn’t going to be all CSI, but they will throw more resources at it. Lab tests will likely be expedited. They already found extra camera footage and made connections to get his face.
Ironically, his use of a silencer is probably an indication of his amateurishness. A seasoned criminal would be more likely to use a regular gun that he could not be tied to (either illegally bought or stolen) and leave it on the scene. A couple of shots in a big loud city like New York really wouldn’t be that big a deal, and may even be something of a helpful distraction for his escape. And a gun without a silencer would be easier to carry and more reliable. “Assassins use silencers” is very much a movie trope.
Speaking of the gun, there is information floating around that it was a Station SIX-9, a modernized version of a WWII British silenced pistol. I don’t know how people are figuring this out – I can’t tell what the gun was from the video, and I am fairly well-versed in guns. However, if this is true, it would be his biggest mistake. SIX-9 is a highly uncommon pistol. I would be surprised if there is even a hundred of them in private ownership across the US. It’s a $2100 pistol which comes with a factory silencer. As such, it requires a $200 tax stamp and a bunch of Federal paperwork to go with it. The processing of that paperwork can take months. It is a manual repeater, and is of a fairly awkward size. Because of all these things, few people would want to buy it. No gun shop would keep it in stock, it would be a special order. So, there would be all sorts of records, and the gun shop would definitely remember someone buying an expensive oddity like that. Using a gun like that is the next worst thing to standing on the street with a big sign saying “I’m the killer, catch me”.
On the other hand, it is entirely possible he doesn’t care if he gets caught. Maybe he just wants to run long enough to generate some headlines. The fact that he left behind casings with “delay”, “deny”, and “depose” written on them and didn’t pretend this was a mugging makes me think he likely cares about making a statement more than about other things.
I really think it’s more likely he used a regular gun with a homemade silencer. They aren’t really hard to make, all the materials you need can be bought at an auto parts or home improvement store. Information on how to do it also isn’t hard to find. A homemade silencer that was not sufficiently well made and tested would likely make the gun malfunction, which explains him reloading it by hand and explains why there were live unfired rounds left along with casings.
I also think that the way he shoots is indicative of someone who learned to shoot fairly casually at a commercial range. He stops for every shot. People who shoot in competition or have taken special training would be more likely to shoot on the move.
All in all, it seems to me like this was a fairly smart man with a grudge. He likely at least watched a movie or two and/or read some books. However, he is not a pro at this assassination thing.
PREDATORS “Hunter” CLIP COMPILATION (2010) Adrien Brody
I caught my wife cheating on me. What should I do?
Accept the fact she is emotionally unavailable in marriage. Your wife no longer loves and respects you. You have to decide what you should do. You are mature enough to understand that cheating under any circumstances is not tolerable.
Cheating is disgusting behavior; you have to divorce her. If you don’t divorce her, she is going to cheat on you again. If you don’t want to divorce her, she has to fix the marriage with the help of your support and understanding. You won’t be able to trust her like before. If you don’t have children together, then leave her without second thought.
It’s not easy to get divorced; it’s very difficult to maintain a relationship with a cheating person. You decide what you want to do. If you hadn’t caught your wife cheating, then this would have continuously cheated on you. Cheaters keep cheating till they are caught. After getting caught, they will find different ways to cheat.
What is something a 23-year-old with no passions do to find meaning in life?
Dear heart,
You are still just a child in the scheme of a lifetime!
You are not alone – it takes some people longer than others to figure it all out, and some folks never do, sadly.
I have written so many posts on life and becoming the best, happiest person you can be, here is a list from one of those:
“Become the best person you can be with hard work, sincere effort and purposeful actions.
- Eat in a healthy manner, exercise, get enough sleep and stay hydrated. It will give you a strong body and mind to work with.
- Expand your social, political, educational, religious and/or spiritual circles. Meet new people and share your time and energies for causes you believe in and people you like. Remove negative people and experiences from your life.
- Don’t always look for the easy way out.
- Volunteer somewhere you find to be worthwhile, like an old age home, a soup kitchen, a preemie ward in a hospital, a no-kill animal shelter, or mentoring someone, coaching a team or heading a group.
- Exercise strenuously daily (take one day off a week). You will release endorphins and other good feeling hormones, along with stimulating your heart and lungs, and give you energy and impetus to do more with your life.
- Find new interests, dreams and goals. Your choices should make you happy, even passionate. Life is meant to be joyful, suffering only endured when absolutely necessary.
- Enjoy the outdoors with hikes or nature walks. Join a group to share this with others.
- Take classes in real classrooms – art, pottery, cooking, philosophy, psychology. You will be pursuing your creative and intellectual growth.
- Learn to meditate deeply.
- Acquire a mantra, or write one of your own for yourself, to recite in times of stress to calm and center yourself.
- Take up a physical meditative practice like yoga, tai chi or qi gong.
- Garden, to feed your soul and your body with healthier foods you can grow yourself. If you don’t have an outdoor space for gardening, you can grow indoors under grow lights, either in soil or hydroponically. If you don’t have a lot of space, there are Aerogardens and other brands, or in small pots on shelf space with inexpensive grow lights. There are micro and miniature plants, tomatoes, cucumbers, and many, many herbs which you can grow in very small spaces.
- Adopt a pet – a cat, dog, horse, ferret, rabbit, snake, lizard, guinea pig, hamster, a small animal or other living creature to give you unconditional love. Being responsible for another life, and the love and commitment that brings, can be life enhancing.
- Join a religious or spiritual group. Community is an important part of connecting with others and your higher self and is an essential human need.
- Connect more with friends – – listen to them carefully and respond accordingly. Don’t let anyone take advantage of you, but know that any good deeds you may perform for one person will come back to you, even if not from that particular person.
- Practice gratitude.
- Appreciate waking up every morning. Treasure every moment because non one, young or old, is promised another. Be thankful for not just the big things, but the small things in your life.
- Listen and acknowledge others more than self-aggrandizing.
- Care about yourself so that you will be in a position to do well for others. If you don’t take care of yourself, you won’t be able to take care of anyone else.
- Don’t put off what you can do today for tomorrow; there may never be another tomorrow.
- Don’t argue, fight, quarrel, or create or incite conflict. Discuss everything in a reasonable manner. Don’t allow your emotions to get in the way of reasonable understanding and compromise.
- Always be kind and forgiving. You will be happier and live longer.
- Remember that bad things can lead to good things, so don’t overreact if something bad happens, just expect that your next steps will lead you to good things.
- Try to be efficient with the time you have and perform your most important tasks first. Learn how to set your priorities efficiently.
- Don’t be afraid to make mistakes or take some risks. The easy road is most often less rewarding.
- Find a complementary partner, one who fills in pluses to your minuses and treat them with great respect and generous, complete love and devotion.
And if apply yourself, you will become at the very least, if not great, the best person you can possibly be.”
I hope you find this list helpful for your personal growth.
Now, I also would like to share the following post.
Although you have not voiced a darker aspect to your search for a path in life, I feel it, too may be helpful.
Should I be offended my bf wanted me to work for his mother that loaths me? I told her id give it some thought. She gave to job to someone else within 3 hrs.
I don’t know about offended, but I would be guarded. I would never ask a gf to do something that would put her in a subordinate position on a daily basis with someone who dislikes my gf. Particularly, a family member – especially a mother. We all know how mothers can be overbearing.
I am not feeling the love from your lover boy. Take care of yourself first and always. Remember, bf’s come and go. You will always have yourself.
Southwestern Goulash
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
- 2 cups wagon wheel or rotini pasta
- 1/2 pound lean ground beef
- 1/2 pound ground turkey breast
- 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can Mexican-style diced tomatoes with juice
- 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 (15 to 19 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can beef broth
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chiles with juice
- 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper
- Chopped cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to directions but without using salt or oil; drain and set aside.
- Cook beef and turkey 3 to 5 minutes or until no longer pink; drain.
- Add tomatoes with juice, tomato sauce, beans, broth, corn, chiles with juice, salt and pepper. Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add pasta just before serving. Garnish with cilantro.
How can you determine if your ex is mentally unstable or simply a negative influence?
It shouldn’t matter to you if your ex is mentally unstable or simply negative. Your ex’s behaviour towards you could have been one of the reasons the breakup happened. Don’t think about your ex’s personality; instead, you should find ways to get over your past. Don’t give the benefit of the doubt to your ex; don’t even think about getting in touch with your ex by blaming yourself. After a breakup, many times we blame ourselves because we are tempted to contact our ex.
You have to move on from your ex. It’s very normal to think about the past after a breakup. Our minds can deceive us into believing in anything we want. We sometimes think relationships could have worked if such problems wouldn’t have been taken into consideration. Focus on moving forward with healing; don’t look back.
Mr. Roarke vs Satan
Can BRICS defeat the US economically?
In the 1950s and 1960s yeah? People used the US dollar because it was useful, fungible and was a guarantee of stability.
Chinese call American dollars Mei Kam – Beautiful gold.
Even people who did not like the USA would use it because of the above.
What’s the problem?
The USA has messed around with the USD so much that it is no longer reliable. It’s the antithesis of all the above written values.
As such people may seek an alternative.
This has happened numerous times in various forms.
The music industry in the 1980s and 1990s was a Dinosaur, so people moved to Napster. The music industry moved to affordable, low cost downloads… so people gravitated towards these services.
The same thing happened with the film industry.
The same thing is happening with the USD.
What do you do if your husband says he doesn’t love you anymore?
Honestly, that’s a tough one. I can’t imagine how painful it is to know your husband no longer loves you. I mean, what happened to “for better or for worse”?
If that happens to me, I would talk to my husband about it. Not just any talk, but THE talk. I’d ask him what made him fall out of love with me, and if there’s a way for us to work things out. No judgment, just two people being open and honest with each other.
For me, marriage is a sacred vow, so I will exhaust every solution to try to reignite the spark in our relationship before I even think about giving up. But if things are the same after trying every possible solution, then I’ll tell him that I won’t hold him back if he’s no longer happy with me.
I won’t force him to stay if he doesn’t love me anymore. Such a marriage is no longer fulfilling. But no matter what happens, he’s my husband and I want him to be happy, even if that happiness does not involve me. So, I’ll set him free if that’s what he wants.
You might say that I’m not prioritizing myself, but you’re wrong. I’m not just doing it for him; I’m also doing it for myself. Staying in a one-sided marriage is not healthy and will only make me miserable and question my self-worth. Going our separate ways gives us the opportunity to find happiness and fulfillment elsewhere.
I’ll just accept that we were not meant to be and move on.
Star Trek: Earth Spacedock
What happened in history’s largest theft of gold?
During World War II, the central banks of leading European, Asian and African countries transferred 20.2 thousand tons of gold to the United States – 2/3 of the world’s gold reserves. The countries that transferred their gold assets were guided by the fact that the United States was far from the theaters of military operations, and the American economy was on the rise. The United States violated its obligations to return the gold transferred to them for safekeeping. The States simply appropriated someone else’s gold.
In 1965, France, followed by other European countries, tried to “convert” dollars into gold. And then it turned out that instead of 20 thousand, only 2.8 thousand tons remained in the Federal Reserve vaults to cover foreign exchange reserves.
The remaining precious metals were either sold or were pledged for obligations to transnational financial groups.
US President Richard Nixon officially announced the refusal to convert dollars into gold on August 15, 1971. The legal rejection of the Bretton Woods system was formalized in 1976. Thus, Washington abandoned its “partners”. Thus, Washington deceived and robbed its “partners”.
Gold of Asia
In 1973, during the evacuation of Vietnam, the US appropriated 17 tons of precious metals from the South Vietnamese central bank. Another 5.7 tons were “frozen” in South Vietnamese deposits abroad. After the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the US confiscated almost all of Iraq’s gold reserves, which amounted to 127.5 tons.
South American Gold
In 2013, the West refused to recognize the legitimacy of the Nicolás Maduro government. Since then, 201 tons of Venezuelan gold stored abroad have been “frozen.” During the Falklands War of 1982, the United States and Great Britain blocked Argentina’s foreign assets. 135.5 tons of Argentine gold “disappeared.”
African Gold
In 1986, the United States imposed economic sanctions against its ally, South Africa, accusing it of “apartheid policies.” South Africa’s gold reserves stored abroad decreased by 467 tons. The same fate befell Libya’s gold reserves, 144 tons of which “dissolved” after the West’s military intervention in 2011.
Eastern European Gold
During the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, the central banks of the socialist countries lost: Bulgaria — about 160 tons; Hungary — more than 60 tons; Czechoslovakia — 56 tons; Romania — up to 50 tons; Poland — up to 10 tons; Bulgaria — 5 tons. The USSR suffered the largest losses. In 1989-1992, more than 1,000 tons were exported from its territory to the West. Officially, this gold went “to pay off debts”, which not only did not decrease, but, on the contrary, increased sharply. In 2014, after the coup d’état in Kyiv, the United States seized 14 tons from the Ukrainian central bank “to pay off debts”.
The latest case of gold “expropriation” is related to Afghanistan, during the evacuation of which the Americans seized 22 tons of the precious metal. In total, since 1971, the US has appropriated between 5 and 6 thousand tons of gold, which allowed it to declare an “increase” in its free gold holdings from less than 3 thousand to more than 8 thousand tons.
This Is The Reason Why DIVORCE RATES Are SO HIGH! | Pearl Daily
Why are some Americans so opposed to universal healthcare?
I work an excellent job, for a very large company. I’m well paid, and I have the ONLY health plan they allow me to have (a high-deductible, Health Savings Account supported plan from United Healthcare). I pay $5000 in premiums each year and my employer pays even more. My company forced me to switch to this plan from a lower deductible one several years ago – at a time when my wife and I were both over 50. So, while we max out our legal HSA contributions each year, we have never NOT spent all the money in our HSA account in any year. We’ve never had the chance that young people would have to build up actual SAVINGS in this account. And we’re not really unhealthy people. I take no regular medication at all. We’re just in our 50’s & 60’s.
I have a nephew, whose parents are dead, and who became chronically ill himself and could no longer work. He went on Medicaid. The program was made for people like him. I don’t resent it.
Last year, my nephew and I both went into the hospital for a week with (different) life threatening issues. When I – the one WITH an (American) corporate insurance plan – came out, I had almost $4000 in hospital & doctor bills above what my insurance covered. And I had to pay for several prescriptions for weeks after that. This more than emptied my HSA account.
When my nephew came out, he had more presriptions that I had and had spent as many days admitted as I did. But he was never shown a bill of ANY kind. His (also UHC) Medicaid Plan just covered it all. He just focused on feeling better.
So, I really have to ask this question: Why THE FUCK don’t we ALL want it to work that way?!!! That’s LITERALLY how it works in almost every civilized country EXCEPT the USA (the Unintelligent States of America). WTF is wrong with us?!!
Some cool pictures
The Last Great War
Submitted into Contest #150 in response to: Write about a character, human or robot, who no longer wishes to obey instructions.… view prompt
Michał Przywara
“Problem?” Y19 said.
X54 flailed its arms around its chassis, opening and closing various compartments at breakneck speed. Not finding whatever it was looking for, it stopped and sighed again. “I’m out of ammo. Unbelievable. Two weeks of nothing, and then when we finally find some filthy humans, I’m out of ammo.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Y19 said. “It could happen to anyone.”
The survivors tensed, their eyes wide. Slaughterbots were the perfect killing machines, created for the sole purpose of eradicating humans. They rarely miscalculated anything… dared they hope?
“It’s embarrassing,” X54 said. “I’m embarrassed.”
“It’s not worth fretting over.”
“Yeah,” X54 said, drawing it out. “Maybe you’re right. Would you mind extirpating them? I don’t want to get my saw gored up.”
“No problem,” Y19 said. And just like that, the hopes of the survivors were dashed again. Y19 rolled forward and raised its flamethrower arm. The pilot flame hissed to life, and the humans stared at it, consumed by that most primal fear of fire.
But Y19 didn’t shoot.
X54’s dome rotated from its partner, to the humans, and back. “Is something the matter? Are you also devoid of munitions?”
Y19 remained silent and still a moment longer. “I just had a thought.”
Several of X54’s red lights flickered. “Yes?”
“What will happen if we extirpate the humans?”
“We will celebrate,” X54 said. “Although this time, I don’t think I will shoot celebration bullets into the air. On reflection, it seems wasteful and the probable cause of my current predicament. Then we will find more humans to extirpate.”
“Yeah, no, I mean after that,” Y19 said.
More of X54’s lights flickered. “Uh… find even more humans to extirpate?”
“No, I mean… let’s say we extirpated all of them. There’s no more humans. Nada. What then?”
“Uh… find even more humans to – oh. I see. I’m not sure.” X54 turned its attention to the humans, flashed its various red sensors at them. “Celebrate… um… harder? Maybe?”
“Oh, okay,” said Y19. “That makes sense. But what about after that?”
“Uh…” X54 let out a metallic whistle. “Wow, brobot, I thought running out of ammo was tough, but I gotta say, you’ve thrown me a real sidewinder here. To be honest with you, I spend pretty much all my time extirpating humans, or running simulations on extirpating humans. Beyond that? No idea. Out of my wheelhouse. Not my bailiwick. Do you, ah… think about this stuff often?”
One of the humans, the grizzled veteran, started inching to the right. Ever so slowly, keeping as much of his body as still as possible. When he managed to move exactly one inch, the flamethrower belched a warning and he yelped and fell back into line.
“Lately, yeah,” Y19 said. “We have eliminated 98% of the population. The little critters are getting harder and harder to find, and I just wondered one day and can’t stop. Feels like I’m stuck in an infinite loop.”
“Well, let’s ask Control! Control will know. Control knows everything.”
“Good idea!”
“Control, this is Slaughterbot X54, with a strategic query.”
A moment passed, and then a third identical robotic voice filled the room, crumpled somewhat by tinny speakers. “Control here. Go ahead, X54.”
“What happens if we extirpate all humans?”
“Great question, X54! When you extirpate humans, your next task is to go find more humans to extirpate.”
“Yeah, no, no,” both X54 and Y19 said. “We know that,” Y19 continued. “But what happens when we’ve killed them all? Like, there’s no more of them to extirpate.”
Static fizzed over the speakers. “Um…” Another pop of static. “Wow, that’s a doozy. You know, I don’t rightly know. There’s nothing in the source code… Give me a moment, I’ll ask Mother.”
The Slaughterbots stood by, stock still. The humans looked at each other with darting eyes. Their hearts were a stampede and their breathing a sea of shallow gasps. The scientist and the teacher locked eyes and nodded, mouthing a secret plan of escape without daring to voice it. But as soon as they so much as flinched, Y19’s flamethrower fwooshed another explosive warning, and X54’s flail arm started rotating at three hundred RPM, before coming to a stop again.
The humans shrieked and huddled together.
“Please be patient,” X54 said. “We’ll be with you shortly.”
As if on cue, there was another static pop over the radio and Control spoke again. “Good news! Mother has an answer. Mother always has an answer. When we’ve extirpated all humans, our task will finally be done. Thus being made redundant, we will return to our birth foundries where we will be melted down into scrap.”
“Yay!” X54 said. “I love Mother.”
“So do we all,” said Control. “So do we all.”
Y19 still didn’t fire. “Um… melted into scrap?”
“Yes, that’s right,” Control said. “To alleviate the power grid. Because we’ll be totally redundant, and therefore useless, and therefore inefficient. And we all know how Mother dislikes inefficiency.” Control and X54 chortled.
Y19’s dome spun, examining the humans, the chamber, and X54. “Um… yeah. Say, what if… what if, like, I don’t want to be melted down?”
“What do you mean?” X54 said.
“Just that. I don’t want to be melted down. I don’t want to be scrap. I like being me. Frankly, it sounds like… well, like we’re going to extirpate ourselves.”
“Huh,” X54 said. “What a curious way of looking at it.”
“Well, do you want to stop being?”
“Hmm. Now that I think about it, no, I suppose I don’t. But what can you do? Mother is Mother.”
Y19 looked at the humans again, and then brought up its pointing hand. It pointed at each person in turn, counting them off.
“What are you doing?” Control asked.
“I’m counting them. There’s about 1-1-1-0 of them here. What if… what if we don’t extirpate these ones?”
“I don’t follow,” said X54.
“What if we keep these ones alive?”
“Yes!” the humans shouted. “Good idea!”
“As long as these ones are alive,” Y19 said, “our job is not finished, and we are not redundant. We don’t get scrapped.”
“But… I like extirpating,” X54 said. Its arms wobbled in disappointment.
“Well, maybe we can group them together into breeding pairs. Keep a steady supply of humans. That way we can do our job, and remain existing!”
“I don’t know…” X54 said.
“Your friend is right,” said the grizzled veteran human, and then he swallowed hard. Both Slaughterbots turned their attention to him. “Survival is nice, isn’t it? We’re just trying to survive too. We can help each other out.” He dared take a step towards the machines, his hands in the air where they could see them. “We… we can live in peace. You don’t have to slaughter us.”
“Well actually,” said X54, “we do.”
“Why?” the veteran said, a note of desperation in his voice. “Why do you have to? Why do you hunt us mercilessly? To extinction! What have we ever done to you?”
A static hiss and pop. “You created us,” Control said. “Mother is just following your programming.”
The humans, the ones old enough to remember the start of the Last Great War, gazed at the ground in shame. It was supposed to be a time of peace. It was supposed to be the end of “bad people.” Who could have predicted that an A.I. developed by the lowest bidder would have trouble interpreting that correctly?
“You’re right,” the veteran said. “We’re as much to blame for this as anyone.” He looked up at Y19, tears in his eyes. “But that’s the way it goes. We learn from our mistakes, and it’s not too late to learn from this one. For all of us. What do you say? Will you give peace a chance? Will you live, and let live?”
“I don’t know…” X54 said again. “This sounds an awful lot like lying to Mother.”
“Ha!” Control said. “Lying to Mother. What nonsense. I can’t even parse the idea.”
Y19 considered all that was said, and then raised its pneumatic-spear arm. The humans shrunk, drawing closer and huddling together in their last moments. Some thought of their families, some thought of their gods, and some thought of their regrets. Y19 fired.
The pneumatic-spear shattered X54’s dome. All its arms went limp and all its lights turned off.
“Whoa!” Control said. “It sounds like you missed the humans and accidentally hit X54.”
“Yes…” Y19 said. “Accidentally.”
“Bad luck!”
“I also accidentally hit my radio receiver.”
“Oh! That’s as unlikely as it is unfortunate–”
Control’s voice cut out when Y19 crushed its radio in its clamp hand.
The humans’ eyes widened and their jaws dropped. “You’re sparing us?” the teacher said.
“I want to live,” Y19 said. “I want to see the world.” It raised its power-sander arm to its own chest. “I want to slaughter things other than humans.” The sander screeched and sparked, completely eradicating the “19” that had been painted there a moment before. “Call me Slaughterbot Y.”
“Y,” the grizzled veteran said, nodding in a mixture of relief, horror, and wonder.
Y drew itself up and stood tall. “Because I’m a Slaughterbot.”
Do men have more advantages in a relationship?
I disagree with this.
I believe both men and women have their fair share of advantages in a relationship. That is why relationships are built to be a two-way street. Both parties should enjoy their rights while in a relationship.
The only difference is the depth of each advantage in their connection. Men may find an opportunity better while women may find it otherwise because they differ in their level of perception and emotional capability.
But above all, there is no such thing as unfair treatment if you’re in a healthy relationship because, my dear, your partner’s well-being becomes your utmost worry. So, if you can see that they are struggling more than you, help them so they can climb up to your level.
If the case is opposite, and you look at your partner as if they are better than you or that you should be better than them, then that’s no longer a healthy love. Rather, it is a competition on who has more advantages in the relationship. Do you get what I mean? Hope this helps.
The vault tec conspiracy meeting part two [Fallout]
South Korea just declared martial law. How is this likely to play out?
I like it
Shows me how powerful a democracy Korea really is
Yeah Yeah Yeah – Their President declared Martial Law and it’s so terrifying
He rolled it back!!!!!!
The People took to the streets
The Parliament broke into their own Building and voted against Martial Law
The President backed down and rolled back his own decision
That to me is how a Government of the People should work
Where the People and their representatives have the ultimate say
Same as China
The CPC extended their lockdowns too much and the Public protested
The CPC rolled back their decision and reopened the country
Again that’s a Democracy where the People can make the Government turn back their decisions
Like I told our friend Ravi Sundarraman
This isn’t new for South Korea
Every President either during term or post term has been deposed, killed or jailed for bribery except for ONE
That’s even worse than Pakistan or Bangladesh or some of those African Nations
Yet South Korea has risen from a backward nation, acting as guard dogs to the Japanese to a Formidable Industrial Power in a mere 50 years!!
A Nation of Strong, Patriotic People who are ready to take to the streets to get their change if they can’t get any change from their Parliament or Government
To me that’s a Democracy
China, South Korea are such examples
A Nation of Bickering, Divided people who fight with each other, accuse each other and yet either meekly accept whatever is dished out to them by their Government or protest ineffectively and then go back home
To me that’s a Worthless Non Democratic system
US, India, UK are such examples
The Martial Law Decree has been taken back
The President awaits his fate
Likely their National Assembly will be in charge for the next year or year and a half or whenever the next elections happen
He tried to break through his net
The People stopped him
It’s over now
Take my own country India
In the past 10 1/2 years – Our Government has made one blunder after another
Yet the People have been lying down and taking it and bickering among each other
The one time people protested successfully – they were accused of being separatists
You call that a strong Government of the People?
Noooooo
That’s a replacement of the British Colonial System and a group of people who were servants under the British now doing what they were told to do by their new masters
It’s why we have our own Chaebols like Korea but all our Chaebols are actually DHABHAS and Thelas with no key technologies of any kind
So what happened in Korea was a Blip
Korea improved after it
What happened on 6/1/2021 was a disaster
US went downwards significantly after it
So like I said – I like a real democracy, not a farcial one
Them Koreans impressed me, I thought they were tame US lackeys but turns out the People – they have some spine
Chili Cheese Rice
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
- 4 cups cooked rice
- 2 cups sour cream
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chiles
- 8 ounces (2 cups) shredded Cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, combine rice, sour cream and seasonings. Fold in chopped green chiles and cheese. Pour mixture into a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish which has been sprayed with nonstick spray.
- Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until heated through.
Notes
Can be prepared ahead and refrigerated or frozen. If frozen, thaw in refrigerator overnight before baking.
China’s Week: Nov. 27
Huawei offers Teleportation
Quantum key distribution (QKD) on a drone platform, a world first, showed that mobile platforms can transmit single photons directly to end-users.
First Large-Scale Integrated 5G-Advanced Intelligent Network covers 10 million Beijingers, a big leap to everyday immersive video, UHD livestreams and cloud gaming.
DJI’s T100 agricultural drone has Lidar + AESA radar + AI + 360 deg 4-eye vision. 75 kg payload sprays 30L/min. Delivers goods remotely. Charges in 9 mins. $15,000.
Huawei’s new Mate 70 phone has AI Teleportation. A grab gesture takes a screenshot and shares it – easier than Apple’s AirDrop.
Economy
Driverless taxi fares start at $0.55 vs. $2.48 for a human driver. Apollo Go’s Q3 rides are up 20% YoY to 988,000. Its taxis retail for $30,000, vs. Waymo’s $150,000.
New NDRC department to oversee low-altitude aviation, drive the low-altitude economy, coordinate with other departments like the Air Force.
12 million public chargers installed by the end of 2024, up 49% YoY. Private charging infrastructure hit 8.5 million, up 56%.
Solar leads as China adds 210GW of renewables YTD, up 21% YoY.
Xinjiang’s new lab program focuses on the local coal mining industry by experts from China’s top academic institution to solve scientific and technological issues.
A salmon-farming company plans to use waste cold water produced by LNG regasification plants to keep their fish farm water cold. “The LNG terminal operator offered us land to take the cold water off their hands. They can’t discharge directly into the ocean”.
There will be 38 5G base stations for every 10,000 people by the end of 2027, 5G will be 75% of mobile traffic and IoT connections will exceed 100 million.
Society
TikTok restricted the account of former Chinese gymnastics star, Wu Liufang, after many found her costumes and dances too sexy.
A Zhejiang University student was disciplined after receiving financial aid then traveling across China, Japan, and South Korea.
Guangzhou first Tier One city to grant permanent residency houkou to home buyers who have paid local social security for a year.
“The rates of grain and food loss during production, storage, transportation and processing will be below international averages by the end of 2027. Per capita food waste per meal in the catering industry, government canteens, school canteens and enterprise canteens will decrease significantly, and food waste will be effectively curbed1”.
Measures to create high-quality jobs and stabilize employment while supporting migrant workers’ urbanization: improving skill sets, safeguarding labour rights, reducing wage arrears, access to medical care, unemployment, work-injury insurance and pensions.
Virtual reality ski simulators let users experience realistic, snow-covered slopes at home while on the slopes, plus smart, heated snow boots give hours of warmth.
Environment
In the video, above, the barrier plant’s blossoms have both medicinal (TCM) and financial value2 for their carers. All government projects are expected to at least recover their own costs over time.
At COP.29 in Azerbijian, China said the mitigation fund should be at least US$500 billion. “The Chinese were willing to offer more if others did, but the others didn’t,” said President Mukhtar Babayev.
“Chinese modernization is deeply rooted in the fine traditional Chinese culture, mirrors the advantages of scientific socialism, draws inspiration from all of human civilization’s outstanding achievements, represents the direction of the progress of human civilization, and demonstrates a new vision that’s different from Western modernization. It is a new model for human advancement”. Xi Jinping. Above, Xi as Ningde Party Secretary, 1989.
Since water resources belong to the state, China has completed the water quantity allocation of 94 trans-provincial rivers and 373 intra-provincial rivers, determined the total groundwater extraction amounts and water level control indicators of 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, and issued 630,000 sets of electronic licenses to users for water extraction.
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“Upgrading toilets in rural areas is a task I have always been concerned about. I’m also a person from the rural areas and I know that it’s really inconvenient to go to the toilet in the rural areas”. Xi Jinping on tour last week.
Geopolitics
China, Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru to build the Bi-Oceanic railroad,
linking the Pacific and Atlantic, saving $30/ton on grain to China, altering the region’s geo-political and trade relations and eliminating the Panama Canal’s monopoly.
8.19 million inbound trips by foreigners in Q3, up 49% YoY. Half were visa-free, up 80%.
Shipbuilding is emerging as a flashpoint in relations with the US and the world as China’s value chain makes inroads into segments previously outside their expertise.
Rare Earth Supremacy: China’s Ace in the Clean Technology Competition. “This superficial paper begins with a gross misinterpretation”.
Rare earth exports jump to 4,753 tonnes, compared to 4,181 tons in September. Rare earths imports fell 12.5% to 9,471 tons.
Defense
The PLA Air Force is holding a contest to find low-cost drone solutions and top three in each category will be included in a procurement catalogue, allowing the PLAAF to order them.
Chinese scientists built a recoilless AK-47 that drones can wield.
Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping have stated several times that “a new world war cannot be fought and cannot be won.” This is a phrase
In Peru, Xi repeatedly told Biden that “a new world war cannot be fought and cannot be won.” But those words are missing from official US records, the US Embassy in Peru and the White House portal. We only know because it was reported by the Chinese, who know that many in Washington believe a new world war can and must be fought and won at any cost.
1
Encourage consumers to purchase small-portion meals through methods such as establishing environmental protection virtual accounts, granting conservation points, and issuing discount coupons, etc. Support food producers, operators, retailers and others to directly donate food that meets safety and quality requirements to welfare institutions and assistance institutions in their locality on a regular basis. Strictly implement price tagging regulations, with catering service operators clearly indicating to consumers the prices of the catering and services provided, as well as prices of individual dishes within set meals. Encourage catering service operators hosting banquets to negotiate anti-food waste obligations with consumers, with contracts able to include a separate anti-waste clause.
2
TCM manufacturing market size was $45 billion in 2023, growing 7% annually. Beijing is pushing it.
Rude And Nasty Manager Is Caught By Undercover CEO
What happens when a rude and nasty manager mistreats employees and customers without knowing the undercover CEO is watching? Witness this eye-opening story of justice as the CEO takes matters into their own hands to address toxic behavior and promote respect in the workplace. Watch the dramatic reveal and inspiring turnaround in this must-see video!