Today’s story is a bit rude. I call it; “Burning a mouse alive in the incinerator when it was trapped in a cardboard box.”

When I worked as a stock boy in a local grocery store, we had an incinerator to burn the cardboard and rubbish. This was well before the environmental regulations that has everyone collecting the cardboard.

And one day this mouse was stuck in a cardboard box and the two other clerks kept him there, going round and round. And then one of us has this shitty ass idea about putting the box in the incinerator. And so we all did, and we watched him burn alive.

Now I was not an active participant. But I stood there and watched never the less.

Being older, today, yeah… I really regret that time. And from time to time, I feel remorse to the little guy squeaking and freaking out there.

Sad story.

How would I feel if it was a rabbit, or a dog or a cat?

So sad and disgusting.

What the Hell were we thinking?

Today…

U.S. Heading Into Economic DEPRESSION

Hal Turner Nation November 08, 2025

70 to 80 % of Americans are going into Ultra Low Consumption mode. We are headed for a depression.

Everyone is figuring out that most things we buy are optional and can, in fact, be made at home or skipped entirely. Let’s start with restaurants. When they were a third of the price, it was a nice treat. Now with their exorbitant prices, time to cut it out. Time to cook nicer meals at home.

People are now using much less toothpaste to brush their teeth. They are using much less detergent to wash their clothes. They are cutting hair at home or going to the barber or hair salon much less frequently. Everything is being cut back or done without.

People are putting off tire changes or brake replacement until it is dangerous or maybe beyond that point. Maintenance and repairs are delayed. Getting the car detailed or just washed can be skipped or done less often.

Home maintenance is being done by the homeowners or put off. Home repairs or home improvements are being delayed or cancelled.

People are changing their buying habits. Now going to the Goodwill or other consignment store is not a source of embarrassment but common sense. Shopping at the Dollar Store is no longer for lower income people.

This is a huge problem for our economic system which relies on overspending and overconsumption. Store brands, once considered cheap, are now popular due to lower prices. If everyone goes full blown frugal, the system will crash. And the fact is that 70 to 80 % of Americans are going frugal to survive.

The whole paradigm of our modern consumer economy is being destroyed before our eyes. Impulse spending is out of style by necessity. We are heading back to the lowest rung of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – Food, shelter, and clothing, energy, transportation.

The fact is that most everything is an optional purchase. Do we really need a second or third pair of sneakers? Another shirt when we already have 5 of them? Do we need that better flat screen TV when the one we have works fine? Of course, the answer is No for most of our purchases. But we used to make these unnecessary, non essential purchases because we could afford it. Now only the top 10-20 % of the population income wise can afford it (but even upper income people are cutting back as well).

We are now in very dangerous economic territory for many people’s jobs depend on the Overconsumption economy which is contracting fast. Without excessive AI spending and US Government deficit spending, the Economy would already be in a freefall.

We are heading for a depression.

What aspects of Western life surprise Chinese people the most?

Xiao Hong Shu opened the eyes of Chinese and Americans to each other’s worlds back in January. The wonderful thing about XHS verses TikTok is that XHS doesn’t separate users from these two different countries. You have to interact with each other which means cultural exchanges happen. The Chinese learned new things about America, such as:

Our kids have live shooter drills and bullet proof vests in some places.
We can’t afford the most basic groceries.
We can’t afford the expensive taxi with red and blue lights, aka an ambulance, if we need to visit a hospital.
We can’t afford the hospital.
We can end up in bankruptcy from one medical emergency.
Our houses are big and everything is more spread out here.

More fun things to come! Can’t wait for y’all to learn about Student Debt, Death Tax, how much it costs to have a baby, and so much more….

kaizenexecutive

China, South Korea, and Japan have agreed to jointly counter U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, following a trilateral economic dialogue in Seoul. The first such meeting in five years, it involved trade ministers Ahn Duk-geun (South Korea), Yoji Muto (Japan), and Wang Wentao (China).

They pledged to strengthen regional trade and expedite a trilateral free trade agreement, aiming for a “free, fair, and mutually beneficial” framework. The move responds to Trump’s 25% tariffs on Asian car exports and broader levies on steel and aluminum, reflecting a strategic push against U.S. trade policies.

How did you learn your child had passed away?

I was at work and got a 911 page to call home (it was in 1997). I called and my babysitter and she said “Blake isn’t breathing” hysterically. I said “have you called 911?”…I ran out of work and raced home, which was luckily only about 2 miles. There was an ambulance and cops everywhere. I jumped out of my car and ran in to see them doing CPR on my precious 3 yr old son. They rushed him to the hospital where he was on life support for 24 hours…they then told me I had to make a decision if I wanted to turn it off or keep him on. I asked if there was any chance he would wake up. They said no, he was brain dead. I made the gut wrenching decision to turn him off. He did not even take a single breath after he was turned off. Last week Would’ve been his 30th birthday. My life has never been the same since that page came in.

U.S. Just Crippled Its Own AI & Semiconductor Industry Forever – What’s Next Is Fatal

Adventures in BIOS Password Recovery

A few months ago, I saved a mid-2012 MacBook Pro from landfill. It’s old, but serviceable. Since it could be cleaned up and passed on, I took it in as a project.

The first thing with any new-to-me Mac is to drop the Mac into Internet Recovery mode, wipe the disk, and install the latest supported OS, in this case Catalina. Once it booted up, the system cheerfully informed me that it belonged to $SCHOOL, reached out to the school MDM (Mobile Device Manager), and gleefully applied a pile of policy restrictions to the machine including setting up accounts that I could not access. Worse, I could no longer wipe the machine again because of the newly installed EFI (bootup) password. Rats! It’s scrap.

Or is it?

I reached out to $SCHOOL and told them the situation and the serial number. Turns out that they had a 3rd party scrap the machines years before and nobody ever cleared the systems out of their database. They kindly disabled the MDM on the machine so that on the next boot, it did a little dance and removed all of the policy restrictions and password. That was easy! Hooray.

Now, I attempt to boot to Internet Recovery again only to be confronted with the still-active EFI password screen. No disk other than the system disk will boot and all accounts have been disabled. Ergo, it is still locked down. After much wailing and gnashing of teeth, I found that they executed their MDM de-registration incompletely, leaving the EFI password in place. Since they did the part that disconnected me from their systems, they were helpless to remove the EFI password. Unsurprisingly, they were unwilling to share the password. They offered to type it in if I brought it to them… in Alabama. The round-trip postage rivals the value of the fully working Mac. Rats. It’s scrap.

Or is it?

After much research I find that Apple has a Sooper Seekrit way to wipe EFI passwords if you can prove ownership of the machine. I initiated a chat with an Apple support representative who tells me that password removal is done at the Apple Store, so I set an appointment and head to the Genius Bar where they do not recognize the exchange of email with the original owners as “Proof of Ownership.” They send me packing.

Now, I start yet another email exchange with the still-patient former owners who graciously assemble a “bill of sale.” After verifying the adequacy of my newly acquired digital title, I set Genius Bar appointment number two. They reluctantly recognize the ownership after some grumbling, but then inform me that they have long since dismantled all of their tooling that could reset the password for a machine of such advanced age. (Gee, Apple, maybe you could have told me that before trip number *one*). They hint in hushed tones that some independent dealers might retain the magick tooling, but they are cagey about this like it’s some kind of secret for the initiated. It’s clear that any independent dealer will charge a potentially hefty fee for such an illicit, un official service. Rats. It’s scrap.

Or is it?

I can’t bear to throw a potentially working Mac away, even if it is old and unloved, so I start delving into the soft underbelly of the Mac community to look for other options. Apparently, I can buy a programmer, desolder the chip, extract the BIOS, edit it with a hex editor, and remove the password, and write the BIOS back to the chip. NOW we have reached the edge of what *even I* am willing to do. Along the journey I found a frustrated community of kindred used laptop owners that have to scrap otherwise working laptops because nobody can remember the password… and the vendors view this as a feature. Since I neither want to invest in a programmer or trust my questionable fine-pitch soldering skills, the Mac is finally, truly scrap.

Or is it?

Unwilling to admit defeat, I eventually stumbled across a YouTube video which showed a USB programmer attached to a motherboard using a wired-in clip that can program a BIOS chip without unsoldering it. What is this dark sorcery? With just a little more research, I find an “EEPROM BIOS USB Programmer Kit CH341A” on Amazon with an assortment of James-Bond class adapters and attachments for the budget breaking price of $13.99, plus a 5% off coupon, from the “FancyWhoop” store. That outlay falls within my “just for laughs” budget, so I order it.

Unsurprisingly, the mélange of electronics arrives with absolutely NO documentation or hints of how it should be used. “If you have to ask, you shouldn’t have ordered it.”. At that price, I am wholly unsurprised. Sadly, the scattered documentation around the Internet is either incomplete, written in frothy bat-jibbering, or documented in shaky, low resolution YouTube video with audio quality similar to 1960s lunar transmissions. Is this an impediment to me? Nope, just makes me more resolved.

Insert a few days in here of downloading various chipset drivers, programming software, and hex editors. At the end of this time-lapse montage, I ended up finding a CH341A driver in some dark corner of the Internet, the AsProgrammer software on GitHub, and the HxD hex editor. Wielding this armament, I march into battle.

For the umpteenth time, I disconnected the MacBook battery and carefully put the clip on the BIOS chip, meticulously preserving the pin order to avoid releasing the Magic Smoke. I watched in amazement AsProgrammer spooled in the eight megabits of the MacBook BIOS. I repeated the process to make sure I got a solid read. Miraculously, the two reads checked out as identical. Using the hex editor, I replaced the password data (marked as $SVS) with all 0xFF bits. I now had a BIOS image that should be password free.

To write new data to a flash BIOS, you first have to erase it completely. This was the point of no return. Did I do it right? Did I have clean data? Is this cheap crappy hardware up to the task or will I once and for all kill this infernal machine? Any failure here is the end of the road (or is it?). Some finger wagging techs in my research insisted that such a write could ONLY be done with an unsoldered chip and that an “in situ” write could lead to the end of modern civilization. Since nobody was arriving from the future in a time machine telling me not to do it, I punched ERASE and waited.

Thirty quiet seconds passed and the software unceremoniously mentioned that I was now the proud owner of a blank flash chip. I took my freshly hacked code, bits still wet, and pushed them into the tabula rasa silicon. Once again, the software nonchalantly suggested success.

After gingerly removing the connector, reconnecting the battery and flipping the patient keyboard-side-up, I plugged in a USB installer stick, applied the power and waited the short eternity for the MacBook chime. After Cupertino’s triumphant fanfare, I learned that the BIOS was not borked, and the infernal password had been consigned to the great bitbucket in the sky.

I’ve now installed a NEW fresh version of macOS, which has not suffered the fate of my last installation a few months back.

So, I guess the moral of the story is this: If you need a password removed from a laptop BIOS, I have recently acquired the skills and tooling to do so. Help me amortize this ridiculous time investment.

Pictures

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Next Time, Perhaps

Written in response to: “Write a story with the line “You never know a good thing until it’s gone.”“

Melissa Temen

“It’s been a long time,” she said, “but I’d know that face anywhere.”He smiled knowingly, slowly looking up to meet her eyes. “Hey there,’ he said, “You look nice.”She let out an uneasy laugh. “No, I don’t but thank you. Life has not been kind to me. I never found my place. I’m starting to think maybe I just don’t have one.”He gently touched her face. “You will always have a place with me, my love.”“What is worse?” she asked him, “To never belong and to be alone all your life? Or to be forced to be something that I am not? You know I can’t pretend, and the only person who will ever be hurt worse than myself would be you.”“What is more painful?” He asked on response, “To exist with hope for the slightest possibility or to discover you were a fool to think so?”She felt tears come to her eyes. “I love you; I’m sorry.”“Why do you always do that?” He asked her. “It doesn’t have to be this dramatic. Sorry for what? I know who you are, I accept that. Neither of us is perfect, nor do we have to be. I want to love you for who you are. It is only you that is convinced that you must be someone else to be loved by me. You don’t have to make yourself a martyr or a victim. You don’t have to walk away injured,” He stopped speaking for a moment, looking at the ground, and said, “Why don’t you just stay for fuckssake?”“I remember…” she began, ” we smiled a lot. I don’t know why we stopped. I don’t even remember what happened exactly; just that I felt like I needed to run. More than that, I don’t want to remember anymore. I don’t want to remember a time where everything was always beautiful – nothing has been beautiful since.”He let loose a heavy sigh. “You’re doing it again. Can’t you just let me love you? Can’t you just accept that, to me, you are enough just as you are?”“I can’t live a damn lie. I can’t stay here.”“Just fucking stop,” he said, “Just stay. If I can convince you that you are wrong, will you stay?”

“You are an old fool. Do we really have that much time left to waste?” she laughed, “I just want to forget it all.”

He looked at her for a long time before saying, “You know, I’ve waited patiently for you. I put my own journey on hold because you always left the door just a little bit open… I’ve watched you get married and divorced three times, Andi. I can’t do this anymore. This is the end of our story. I deserve to be happy and that can’t happen if I’m holding on to something that is always just out of my reach. I was your backup plan, wasn’t I?”

“No! Of course not! I don’t know how to explain it…”

“I’m the dick you keep in the glass case,” he said. She tried to argue, but he cut her off. “ It’s ok. I’ve come to terms with all of that. I let you do this to me – I am not without blame. The responsibility falls upon me to stop it though. One of us has to walk away, Andi, and I have given you so many chances to just split clean; since you can’t do it, I have to.”

She didn’t speak for a long time; she didn’t have to – the tears glistening in her eyes did all the speaking for her. She knew in this moment she should say something; do something… Instead, she remained silent.

“Now, don’t cry. It’s not worth all that. If I was not enough to make you want to settle down in the first place, I’m hardly worth sobbing for. Let me remember your smile,” He let a small chuckle escape his lips. “You know, when I look at you, I always have and always will still see that silly girl I met all those years ago; always in a rush to get nowhere, putting 100% of herself into everything she does, but never into herself. You are a fire storm, carelessly setting a blaze to everything she touches for a moment just to walk away, then leaving it all smoldering in her wake.

“You might be right Andi, there is no pain in living life like you do, but there is no joy, either. I’ll miss you, probably for the rest of my foolish life. That’s my cross to bear. Yours, however, is much heavier. Eventually you will come to realize that you had exactly what you were looking for right in front of you the whole time and never saw it.”

As he walked away, it appeared as if the sun was setting around him. Her body shook; her chest heaved with sobs that wouldn’t fully escape from her lips. The air around her began to get heavy and as her breath began to grow more and more shallow, the world around her got darker and darker…

Some time later –

Andi struggled to open her eyes; everything was so bright suddenly. She looked around, where was she? A young version of herself approached her and kneeled at her side.

“Andi?” the girl asked. “Will you ever get it right?”

“What? Where did he go?”

“He’s gone again, Andi. He’s not coming back. The Universe is growing weary of your stubborn fears. This will be the fifth time you ended a lifetime without the completion of your destinies. You won’t get another chance after this.”

“Am I…?”

“Dead? In a word, yes. How are you feeling? These cycle completions take a lot out of a soul.”

“What have I done? I feel gutted…”

“Well, you know what they say, you never know a good thing until it’s gone. We go through this every time. It would be so much easier…for all of us really, if you’d just trust your heart and allow yourself to feel joy. Well, time’s up! Time to go back again! This time you will meet in grade school….”

The voice faded along with her consciousness. The next thing she saw was a bright, cold light.

What are the trading books I should read before starting?

Great thread and question! It’s one that comes up very often, and for all the good reasons. If you’re getting into trading, reading a book, maybe several, is not a bad idea and it actually can be an excellent way to get yourself going.

There’s already a treasure trove of suggestions in this thread, and you’ll find plenty of classic recommendations. From the basics of trading psychology to strategies on technical analysis, there’s no shortage of great reads. We have nothing to add, but just want to share a brief advice on how to choose a worthy read: reflect on what it is that you want to learn from a book. As soon as you know what to focus your attention on, then you’ll be in the position to pick up books that match your needs.

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All trading involves risk. It is possible to lose all your capital.

Germany wants WAR with RUS, seizes RUS ship. Tribunal Set up for Putin. Putin sabotaged Heathrow?

Russia ‘100%’ doesn’t want to invade ‘Europe’
Trump envoy Germany seizes tanker from Russia’s shadow fleet
Preparation for tribunal against Putin under Council of Europe completed
U.K. Authorities Probing Possible Putin ‘Sabotage’ After Heathrow Airport Fire

The Arcade Machine

Written in response to: “Write a story from the POV of a now-defunct piece of technology.“

Les P

“Are you sure about this, Professor?” a nervous undergrad with a significant moustache said, in a soft voice. He smoked a cigarette in the older man’s garage, gazing at the work.Professor Arthur McMills stood over a half-complete arcade machine, wires exposed. Tools were scattered around the two men. On the far end of the room, a gurney stood, prepped for surgery, in whatever makeshift fashion a computer science professor could arrange in a few hours’ time.”I just know this will work!” exclaimed Arthur. “No one believed me when I brought forward the proposal, but there’s not a chance it won’t! Electrical impulses are the same, whether they come from a machine or a human brain.” Arthur plucked the cigarette from his assitant’s mouth, and took a long puff himself. He then tossed it onto the ground, and snuffed it out with his foot. “Simple as reading a syllabus. Circuit board to brain, and then have the lungs collect quarters. Attach the heart to the power supply, and we’re in business!”The student took off his glasses, and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. “But why have me do this? Really, I’m flattered, but I’m just a sophomore. Couldn’t you get a real doctor to help you?””Have you taken an oath to do no harm?””No.””Perfect. This is going to mess me up, real proper.”

The younger man stood silent for a long moment. “You said I’d get an A on the final project if this goes off without a hitch?”

“On my honor as a man.”

He took another deep breath. “Alright then. Get on the bed.”

***

A truck pulled up to an arcade in the suburbs of Boston, the driver sweating profusely from his moustache as he got out. A tarp covered a large object on the bed of his truck. He rushed inside.

Finding the nearest employee, he spoke hurriedly. “Hello, miss. Is the owner available?”

“Willis? I think he’s in back,” replied the recentionist, unpurturbed. “Should I get him for you?”

“Yes please,” he responded. “I have an old arcade machine I need to get rid of.”

“Huh. Okay.” She began to walk in the direction of the building’s office nonchalantly.

Once she’d returned, she had a heavy-set old man, who both looked and smelled like the color grey, in tow. He wore a brightly patterned Hawaiian shirt, but his expression was grim and mirthless.

“What can I do for ya?” he asked with his best impression of a businessman.

“I’d like to give you a used arcade machine.”

“How much do you-” he cut himself off. “Wait. Give?”

“Give. My grandpa passed, and no one wants to buy it off me. He would’ve liked for it to get played, I think. Dying wish, or something like that?” He made as much eye contact with the proprietor as possible, hoping the man would buy his story. “Would you be able to take it off my hands, and give the machine a new home?”

Willis stood stock still for a minute. “Well, I know what they say about gift horses. Let me see the thing.”

***

Two weeks later, Willis watched a news broadcast inside his office. The face of a moustached young man, apparently his yearbook photo, was hovering on the screen.

A woman spoke over the image. “Carl Essamson, pictured here, is wanted for murder. The pre-med student is the last known associate of his professor, Dr. Arthur McMillis, who was found dismembered and mutilated in the garage of his Boston home. Essamsom is believed to be armed and dangerous, and should not be approached. If you have any-”

“Isn’t that the guy who sold us the lucky Space Invaders machine?” asked Willis’ employee.

“Maybe. All sorts of guys have moutaches like that, you can’t just go around accusing people of- Wait, lucky? How is it lucky?”

Sabrina gestured out onto the floor through the one way mirror. Three Space Invaders machines stood out there, but two were entirely unused, while one had a line, six deep, to use it. At the front, a young boy attempted to get past level two. However, his attempts were thwarted, and his ship was once again blasted into digital oblivion. The young man made to put another quarter into the slot before the next person in line, an older girl, stopped him. The two began squabbling in a way that looked like a fight might break out. So Willis found it necessary to come out of his hermit crab shell to see the commotion.

“Hey, hey, hey!” he shouted as he approached the small crowd. “What’s this about, eh? There’s two empty machines and everyone’s making a fuss about this one in specific? It’s not special!”

“It is special, mister,” said one of the children in line. “If the machine likes you, you can get to level three easy!”

“Oh yeah?” Willis asked skepically. “We’ll see about that.” He put a quarter from his pocket into the slot, and it fell through with a surprisingly meaty thunk. The screen went blank for a second, and then for a fraction of a second, a tiny heart appeared on screen, before disappearing as quickly as it appeared.

The first two levels were a breeze. Willis couldn’t help but feel as if the game were playing itself, and that he was just extraneous to the whole experience. His ship moved out of the way of oncoming projectiles when they should have hit him, and during those exhilarating moments when he needed to hit the last alien invader, they seemed to just wander straight into his bullets.

The children in line gathered around him, enraptured.

“No one beats level three…” whispered one boy.

“Says you, kid,” Willis muttered. But the child’s words rang true. His bullets weaved between the invading aliens, and his remaining lives were quickly evaporated. His last life succumbed to an alien projectile, “GAME OVER” flashing onto the screen. Raging, Willis slammed his fist onto the control panel, and kicked the machine. Although he didn’t notice it himself, the screen flashed with a broken heart, before returning to the usual sequence that played when no one was at the machine.

“Hey, bud. We’re all just trying to beat level three to see what happens after that. Can we get back to playing?” asked the older girl who was next in line.

Willis took a deep breath in, then out. “Alright, but keep it civil. No fights, yeah? Anyone who throws a punch is automatically banned from this establishment, got it?”

“Got it!” responded most of the children in his audience. The older girl was already putting her quarter into the slot.

***

A young man attempted to pick the lock of the back entrance to the small arcade. “You sure about this, Nita?”

Snow fell, soft as cats’ paws, as a teenage girl and her slightly older companion attempted to break in. She carried a crowbar. “Sure as shit, Huey. As sure as your mom cheats on your dad and your dad cheats with his mistress. Get out of the way.”

She gave him a half moment to move his face before swinging at the lock herself. The sharp point of her metal instrument broke the lock with one swing. Huey stared at her in disbelief.

“Well?” She grabbed her backpack. “Let’s go.”

The pair entered. They left the back door open behind them, their winter coats still on.

“There!” said Nita. The power was off in the entire building, besides the emergency lights. However, one machine still glowed brightly among all the darkened ones. A Space Invaders machine that refused to power down. That refused to let you reach level four, if you weren’t one of a chosen few. The rat bastard machine that had stolen Nita’s allowance, week after week, while steadfastly refusing her hope to get onto the leaderboard.

She twirled the crowbar, nicked from her dad’s garage, as if it were a flag, her color guard skills serving her well. Huey followed at a short distance.

Nita dropped her backpack onto the floor with a thunk. She reached into it, and produced a pink spray can. “You wanna do the honors, or should I?”

“It’s all you, Nita. I’m just here for the quarters.”

She moved to the left side of the machine. “CHEAT” she spelled in large, pink letters.

She chuckled. “Time to die, bitch.” She twirled her crowbar back once, and then swung it at the face of the machine. Its small mechanical noises died down, repeating and murmuring.

“Don’t forget the money!” yelled Huey, having drawn some distance away from the actual machine.

“Oh yeah!” Nita now swung the crowbar at the body of the machine, near the quarter slots. She repeatedly did this until she heard the pained whisper of change against sticky arcade floor.

In near darkness, Nita chuckled contentedly. “That’s what you get.” She picked up a quarter from the floor. She was surprised to find it oddly slick. Raising it to the light of the emergency exit, she saw it was a dark red color.

“Nita?” Huey asked nervously. The machine was leaking a dark liquid from within, and the screen had turned back on, despite the broken screen, now flashing repeatedly with a broken heart.

She stared, dumbfounded. “Oh, shi-”

***

Carl Essamsom watched in the television room of his high security psych ward. A fire was being reported on. An arcade. The very same arcade where he managed to offload Arthur. He sighed.

Trump’s Tariff World War Will Kill the Dollar

The tariff threat that Trump had been looming for two months has finally landed. Chinese strategist Professor Wang Xiangsu pointed out that it unsurprisingly backfired on the United States itself, and it will accelerate the decline of the US dollar hegemony.

April 3, 2025

On April 2, Donald Trump announced tariffs of at least 10% across all countries, with rates going even higher for 60 countries. CNBC reports goods imported from China now face a 54% tariff rate, CNN stating “China hit hard”.

However, China’s Xinhua News Agency called it “self-defeating bullying.” Chinese strategist, Professor Wang Xiangsui, pointed out two fundamental logical flaws of Trump’s new tariffs war that would accelerate the decline of the United States, and its dollar hegemony.

First, by imposing tariffs on the world, the world is essentially sanctioning the US

Besides China, Trump’s tariff plan also targets allies such as Australia, Japan, Canada and the European Union. However, nearly all countries have now introduced reciprocal tariff retaliation policies against the U.S. As a result, the U.S. is becoming the country most restricted by tariffs in global trade. Analysts and media worldwide have pointed out that Trump’s new tariff policy harms others without benefiting the U.S., causing severe disruptions to both the American and global economies.

Professor Wang believes that while Trump’s plan is highly destructive to the global economy, it offers almost no constructive solutions. This policy will tear apart the post-World War II global trade network, leading to the formation of multiple regional trade networks centered around major economies, with lower internal tariffs, competing against each other. In this new structure, China’s early-established multi-layered circulation economic system will demonstrate resilience and advantages.

China’s former Finance Minister Lou Jiwei (L) gives a speech with the guests of the signing ceremony of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, 2014

As early as 2013, China launched the Belt and Road Initiative. In 2020, China introduced the concept of a “dual circulation” economy. The “domestic circulation” refers to China’s vast domestic market of 1.4 billion people, ensuring that, regardless of global uncertainties, there are no internal tariff barriers or local protectionism between provinces and cities, allowing uniform policies for global investors, thereby providing maximum certainty in an uncertain world.

On the “external circulation” front, China maintains strong diplomatic and trade relations with Russia and ASEAN countries, linking a middle-tier trade network that encompasses one-fourth of the world’s population, characterized by complementary industries and lower internal tariffs. The BRI has further driven the development of the Global South. With a solid domestic circulation and a stable middle-tier circulation, China will have significant bargaining power when dealing with high-tariff trade networks in the U.S. and Europe.

China cannot prevent the U.S. from committing suicide, but after the current global trade order collapses, China—leveraging its strategic foresight and systemic advantages—will inevitably take the lead in reintegrating the fragmented regional trade networks.

Second, by sweeping new global tariffs, the U.S. will make the world less dependent on the dollar

Trump claims that raising tariffs will generate more fiscal revenue to address the $36 trillion debt crisis. However, his erratic tariff policies and aggressive stance towards allies have undermined the very foundation of the U.S. dollar—national credibility.

The U.S. dollar is the world’s reserve currency primarily because it dominates the settlement of commodities like oil, but more importantly, because of America’s strong national power compared to other countries, making its sovereign credit a global anchor. How much is U.S. credibility worth? When the Bretton Woods system was established, one ounce of gold was fixed at $35. However, as of April 2, 2025, gold has surged to over $3100 per ounce—suggesting that the dollar’s credibility has depreciated by 98%. Can a fiat currency with eroded credibility still serve as the world’s reserve currency? This is a question worth considering globally.

Trump on Feb 22 said Elon Musk will be looking at Fort Knox, the legendary depository in Kentucky for American gold reserves, to make sure the gold is still there.

Furthermore, the dollar-dominated global monetary system is increasingly disconnected from the real trade pattern. For example, in 2024, China accounted for approximately 19% of global GDP and 14.5% of global exports, yet the CNY’s share in global payments remains below 5%. However, Professor Wang also pointed out that while gold is a reliable benchmark for currency value, its inefficiencies in settlement and circulation make it unlikely to replace the dollar or restore a gold standard. Instead, digital currency may offer a new solution.

Unlike speculative cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum promoted in the West, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), represented by the E-CNY, are issued by sovereign central banks with substantial assets as backing. Professor Wang argues that CBDC can be anchored to a weighted index of a country’s minerals, food, energy, and industrial productivity, objectively reflecting each nation’s weight in global trade, thus fostering a fairer financial order.

Russia has successfully implemented commodity-backed currency policies. Following Western financial sanctions during the Ukraine War, the ruble-dollar exchange rate plummeted to a historic low in March 2022. In response, on April 1, 2022, Putin mandated that “unfriendly countries” purchase Russian oil and gas in rubles. Consequently, while energy prices in sanctioning European countries skyrocketed—leaving citizens struggling to afford heating—the ruble rebounded, appreciating nearly twofold by June 2022, surpassing its pre-conflict value by 30%. This demonstrated the superiority of currencies backed by tangible assets.

On the other hand, why China and Russia didn’t directly adopt cryptocurrencies like bitcoins? Venezuela has already proven the risks. The U.S. has long suppressed Venezuela, using financial tools to devalue its currency, plunging the world’s largest oil-rich country into artificial poverty. In 2018, Venezuela launched the Petro, an X11 algorithm-based design cryptocurrency backed by its oil reserves, attracting $3.3 billion in investments within its first month. However, in January 2024, a corruption scandal within its oil sector led to the project’s downfall.

In contrast, China has taken a stable and methodical approach to CBDCs. By late 2019, China began testing the E-CNY in several cities. Unlike Petro, the E-CNY is issued centrally by the People’s Bank of China, ensuring transparency, security, and seamless integration into the banking system. By July 2024, China had established E-CNY pilot programs in 26 cities, with 180 million users opening accounts and transactions reaching ¥7.3 trillion. The digital yuan has also been incorporated into Huawei’s HarmonyOS, enhancing its hardware-level security. Beyond China, other Global South nations are also exploring CBDCs. On January 12, the China Electronic Banking Network reported that Brazil’s Federal Bank had completed the first transaction using its CBDC, Drex. Major economies such as India and Russia have also launched their own CBDCs.

Professor Wang notes that as more Global South nations adopt CBDCs, these easily tradable digital currencies—backed by real-world resources and productivity—will decentralize monetary power and promote global financial equity. This shift will help resource-rich but historically exploited African and Latin American nations escape financial subjugation and gain the respect they deserve. In Chinese, the word “货币”(currency) consists of “货” (goods) and “币” (money). If resource-producing countries remain in monetary poverty, it only proves that the system is fundamentally distorted. Such a system is bound to be discarded by history.

Now, when US allies such as Australia criticize Trump’s decision as “not the act of a friend,” China—equipped with a longer-term economic vision, firmer strategic judgment, and stronger comprehensive national strength—has long recognized the irrationality of the US dollar hegemony. Through self-development, international cooperation, and technological innovation, China has devised a blueprint that is fairer, more inclusive, and more sustainable.

What renders Trump’s tariff policies ineffective is not only China’s economic strength but also a form of freedom and composure rooted in Chinese classical wisdom. Around 2,200 years ago, Zhuang Zhou proposed that true freedom is a state of non-reliance and non-expectation on others. If European and Canadian governments truly stand for their people’s interests and break free from dependence on the U.S., they can embark on an independent and long-term development path, ultimately attaining the same highest form of freedom as China. This is the most serious perspective worth considering amid Trump’s tariff drama. While Trump destroys the global free trade system with tariff weapons, China and BRICS nations are building new transnational trade frameworks. We firmly believe that global public opinion will side with the builders.

Orange Shrimp Quinoa Bowls

A Bowl Full of Flavor

The sauce is light and has a sweet yet spicy vibe. Everything rests over 1 cup of steamy quinoa – a filling base that also serves as an easy way to add some healthy grains to your diet.

Yield: 2 servings

(Culinary.net) If you’re looking for a dinner or lunch combination that is wholesome, filling and, of course, easy, you’re not alone. Meal prepping is a popular trend for many people (and families) who are working on healthy eating habits but are constantly on the go.

No matter if you’re searching for a healthy family dinner, a quick lunch at home or an easy idea to meal prep for the week ahead, this Orange Shrimp Quinoa Bowl is perfect for seafood lovers who also enjoy a hint of spice. It’s fresh, healthy and full of deliciously prepared shrimp and veggies, including mushrooms, peppers and cucumbers.

To make this quick and easy recipe, prepare the quinoa according to the package directions and set aside.

Next, combine orange juice, hot sauce, honey, soy sauce, vegetable oil, lime juice and miso in a medium bowl and whisk together.

Pour about one-fourth of the liquid into a separate bowl and set aside the smaller portion.

In the medium bowl, add shrimp to marinate for about 15 minutes.

Add butter to a hot skillet, along with the shrimp mixture. Cook shrimp for 2 minutes on each side then add mushrooms and cook until tender.

Now it’s time to assemble your bowls. Start with quinoa then top with bell peppers, cucumbers, green onions, avocado and the perfectly pink shrimp. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and cilantro for some extra texture. Drizzle bowls with the remaining sauce.

Find more wholesome and healthy recipes at Culinary.net.

Watch video to see how to make this recipe!

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa
1 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon soy sauce
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon white miso
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 pounds shrimp, peeled, deveined and tails removed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 cucumber, sliced into half moons
5 green onions, sliced
1 avocado, sliced
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped

Instructions

Cook quinoa according to package instructions. Set aside.
In medium bowl, whisk orange juice, hot sauce, honey, soy sauce, vegetable oil, lime juice and miso until combined. Pour one-quarter of liquid into separate bowl. Set aside.
Add shrimp to remaining mixture and marinate 15 minutes.
Heat large skillet over medium heat with butter. Add shrimp, salt and pepper. Cook 2 minutes on each side until pink. Add mushrooms and cook until tender.
In two serving bowls, divide quinoa, bell pepper, cucumber, onions, avocado and shrimp. Sprinkle sesame seeds and cilantro over both bowls.
Drizzle with reserved dressing.

Is China’s latest 6th generation jet fighter really all that great?

I don’t really care for assessing this aircraft on the basis of dogfighting or whatever other strained use case people reach for. What the ostensible “J-36” represents is a procurement pipeline that, for now, is ahead of the US. In any sort of fight between the two countries, both are going to suffer losses and both are going to have to adapt to new realizations. This is a bad sign for US adaptability in the most likely kinetic scenario.

We know that China has been targeting similar system-of-systems goals. This seems like a good candidate for such development. The rest we don’t know, but this doesn’t mean we can’t observe things like “the US is probably behind China.” China has something in the air and we don’t have an equivalent despite having similar targets. The F-47 is still in the works.

Cope in the end is cope.

For additional analysis. Also see the comments:

Sir Whiskerton and the Great Farm Feast: A Tale of Greed, Corn, and Second Chances

The Feast Preparations Begin

The farm was alive with excitement as golden afternoon light spilled over the barnyard. The annual Great Farm Feast was underway—a celebration of the harvest where every animal contributed something delicious. Bessie the Tie-Dye Cow had donated fresh milk, Doris the Hen and her entourage had laid a mountain of eggs, and Porkchop the Pig had outdone himself by rolling in the finest mud-seasoned truffles. Even the farmer had set out baskets of ripe corn, their golden husks gleaming in the sun.

Sir Whiskerton, perched atop the fence with his usual air of dignified amusement, surveyed the preparations. “A fine spread indeed,” he remarked, flicking his tail. “Though I suspect we may have a slight issue with equitable distribution.”

Doris flapped her wings indignantly. “You mean Genghis? That pompous furball’s already eyeing the corn like it’s his personal treasure!”

“Treasure!” Harriet echoed.

“Pompous!” Lillian added before fainting onto a hay bale.

Sure enough, Genghis the self-proclaimed “Kingpin of the Barnyard” was lurking near the corn baskets, flanked by his ever-loyal lackeys—Lester, Clyde, and Loomis. The four cats had a notorious reputation for “redistributing” farm resources (usually into their own stomachs).

“Alright, boys,” Genghis purred, his gold chain glinting. “Operation Corn Conquest begins now.”

The Great Corn Heist

While the other animals were distracted by Ferdinand the Duck’s dramatic rendition of O Quack mio, Genghis and his crew sprang into action.

Loomis, the brawn of the group, hoisted an entire basket of corn onto his back with a grunt. “Boss, this feels… wrong,” he muttered.

“Nonsense!” Genghis scoffed, shoving three ears of corn into his mouth at once. “We’re merely streamlining the feast’s logistics.”

Clyde, the most nervous of the trio, kept glancing over his shoulder. “But Sir Whiskerton’s watching us. He always knows.”

“Relax,” Genghis said through a mouthful of corn. “What’s he gonna do? Lecture us with morals?”

Meanwhile, Porkchop trotted over, his snout twitching in horror. “Genghis! You took all the corn?!”

Genghis swallowed hastily. “I was… redistributing it.” He patted his stomach. “To a very deserving cause.”

Sir Whiskerton, who had been observing the entire scene from the shadows, finally stepped forward, monocle glinting. “Ah, Genghis. I see you’ve embraced the spirit of sharing—by keeping all of it for yourself.”

The Reckoning of the Greedy

Genghis’s plan unraveled spectacularly.

First, Lester tripped over his own paws while carrying a stolen corn basket, sending kernels flying into the duck pond. Ferdinand, mid-high note, inhaled a stray husk and spent the next five minutes hacking dramatically into a handkerchief.

Then, Clyde—racked with guilt—attempted to return some corn but was intercepted by Rufus, who mistook the kernels for a game of fetch. The ensuing chaos involved a golden retriever, airborne corn, and Doris squawking about “grain-based anarchy.”

Finally, Genghis himself faced the ultimate humiliation: his hoarded corn stash had attracted the real rulers of the farm—the squirrels. Led by Nutters the Squirrel King, they swarmed Genghis’s hiding spot, stripping every last kernel from his clutches.

“Unhand my corn, you furry thieves!” Genghis yowled, batting at them in vain.

Nutters smirked, tossing a kernel into his mouth. “Sorry, Your Greediness. Finders keepers.”

By the time the dust settled, Genghis stood alone—no corn, no allies, and a very empty stomach.

The Moral (Served with a Side of Humble Pie)

Sir Whiskerton sauntered over, tail flicking. “Well, Genghis? How does absolute monarchy taste?”

Genghis scowled. “Like regret and squirrel saliva.”

Porkchop, ever the philosopher, trotted up with a fresh ear of corn and plopped it in front of Genghis. “Here. Lesson’s simple: greed leaves you empty. Sharing? That’s where the real feast is.”

Genghis stared at the corn, then at the other animals—now happily passing dishes among themselves, laughter ringing through the barn. Even his lackeys had abandoned him for Doris’s famous scrambled eggs.

With a sigh, he took the corn… and shoved it toward the center of the table. “Fine. But next year, I’m stealing the pie first.”

Sir Whiskerton chuckled. “Progress, my pompous friend. Progress.”

The End.

Moral: Greed leaves you empty; sharing brings abundance.
Best Line: “I was redistributing it. To my stomach.” – Genghis, probably not invited to potlucks.

Are you concerned about the U.S. government’s proposal to hit China-built containerships with steep fines when they call on U.S. ports?

No. My concern for the current fiscal quarters of geo-economic turmoil resulting from Americans’ militarization of trade and vandalization of trade systems and infrastructure is heavily outweighed by the irremediable universal distrust of the USA and the now cascading inevitable devastating consequences.

Consequences for the upward 19 out of 20 living everywhere but that 50 state MAGA cesspool?

A few fiscal quarters’ global ‘reconfiguration’. A long overdue unpleasant corrective seachange relegating the US from pivotal to pariah position.

Consequences for the 1 out of 20 whose nation is now incurably terminally ill from MAGA brain cancer? Consequences for those pathetic few whose access to resources, markets, welcome – to opportunity beyond the ‘stars’n’bars’ border – is inexorably shrivelling? Shrivelling at an ever-hastening pace? Projecting their current national trajectory? Their wet dream of ‘soaring to reborn greatness’ is now ‘a failure to launch nosedive into despised irrelevance’.

The cretins in MAGA hats – incl. those wearing those in (liberal) invisible spiritual hats – have, within weeks of gaining absolute control over their executive, legislative and judicial branches, watched as America went from the idiotic self-isolation of their ‘wheeler-dealer’ Prez’ strategy to a now intensifying externally imposed “You want isolation, a**-holes? Here. We will gladly give you isolation.”

Anything broadening, deepening, entrenching the shared global contempt for the American nation and alienates Americans from the civilized world whose rule of law they’ve held themselves above or beyond – is a very very good thing.

In this specific case? Over half of all commercial container vessels currently afloat had their keels laid in China. Over half of all vessels currently on drydock slipways are being built in China – under binding contract. The great majority of those are registered elsewhere. A vast majority are owned elsewhere – often by transnational corporations with shareholders in multiple nations. And their containerized cargos? They’re owned by virtually every nation on earth. The ‘steep fines’ would, at worst, eat into the immediate fiscal quarters’ profits. That’s how long it would take to simply redesignate which ships are scheduled to visit US ports. That’s how long it would take for the American resale chain to exploit their generally clueless customers by “What can we do? It’s all those tariffs and now those fines. Sigh.” shrug.

It’s kinda clear the dominant US retailers – the likes of Walmart (and now Costco?) know the ignorant gullibility of their customer base. It’s unbelievable they are ignorant of the realities underlying the products they buy from China. They’re unlikely to be ignorant of the fact that Chinese manufacturers’ profit margins average under 5%. Meaning they’re unlikely to sincerely believe those firms would (could) offer to pay the 10% inflicted on the average US retail mark-up of +/-100%. Impossible. It’s immoral of them to attempt such a demand. It would be stupidity to expect any fatally self-sacrificing compliance. The almost certain intent of this inane immoral action is to be able to shrug to the US consumer “We did all that we could. It’s those Chinese. Sigh.” Instead of camping out in the White House and GOP Congressional lobbies demanding a stop to this ugly insanity.

Bottom line? Every ugly, stupid, immoral, and in many cases illegal US action just adds cement into America’s own overshoes.

Snow White FLOPS in China, locals say NO to Disney

An exposed rock

On May 1, 1999, American climber Conrad Anker noticed a large slab of flat rock while climbing the northern slopes of Mount Everest. However, when Anker moved closer to examine it more closely, he realized that the “rock” was actually the exposed back of George Mallory, a famous British explorer who had disappeared on the mountain about 75 years earlier and who may have been the first person to reach its summit.

https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-ad622d8a414433f6dbe194ab2a61b838

The passage of time had deteriorated most of Mallory’s clothing, but the icy conditions of Everest had preserved much of his body, which helped experts reconstruct the final moments of his life. Because Mallory had a broken right leg and arm, and an ice axe was discovered above him, it appeared that he had probably died after a bad fall during the climb. Tragically, his death was probably not quick. Before he expired, Mallory had apparently crossed his uninjured leg over his broken leg to ease the pain, realizing that the idea of being saved was hopeless.

As China exports only about 10 to 15% of its exports to the USA, will Trump’s tariffs have much effect on China?

Your numbers are incorrect.

The 10% to 15% represents all companies that (in some way) operate within China, and that exports to the United States.

Most of the companies within that bracketed numbers are American companies, operating within China, but exporting to the Untied States. These companies only utilize Chinese labor, within Chinese soil. They also rely on Chinese supply trains, and Chinese raw materials.

Nike
iPhone
Black and Decker
Whirlpool
KitchenAid

Thus, this number is incorrect in this particular question.

The number of actual Chinese companies exporting to the United States is much smaller. Perhaps 3% maximum. You probably never heard of many of the brands that the Chinese export, but that is because the United States has banned them.

Gree
BYD
Hi Phi
Hisense
Redmi
Shaomi
Huawei

So to fully understand the impact one must recognize that the BIGGEST impact on these Trump Tariffs will be American Companies exporting to the United States from China.

Of course, these tariffs will impact supply chains and the entire world of product manufacture.

But the influence on China will not be as large as one might think.

…

Looking at the entire situation, we must ask ourselves what will happen?

Will China collapse because of this?

No. China has planned for this for decades.

Will factories return back to the United States?

Some will. But most will not. It takes time to set up a factory, and the United States is devoid of skilled workers, infrastructure and worker protections. So the factory workers will be expensive, disgruntled, and mercurial.

What is likely to happen in the short term?

Factory margins are razor thin (3% tops). The big profit is in retail (35%). The supply chains will still continue out of China and from other nations. But the tariffs will be passed on to the American consumer resulting in a large spike in inflation. This might trigger a depression.

What is likely to happen in the long term?

Some factories will set up in the United States, but they will be a minority. It will take years to set up a factory, and Trumps and his policies will change in four years. Companies will probably bear the costs of the large prices, and continue sourcing internationally as their sales volume shrinks.

What can mitigate the influence on these tariffs?

If Donald Trump eliminates the Federal Income Tax, most Americans will see an increase in their take home pay, and this will mitigate the impact of the tariffs. I bring this up because some people are talking about this on various channels.

Ginger Beef and Noodle Bowls

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

1 pound beef flat iron steaks or 1 beef top round steak, cut 3/4 inch thick
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
2 large cloves garlic, minced
Salt and pepper
2 (13 3/4 to 14 1/2 ounce) cans ready-to-serve beef broth
3/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
2 tablespoons mirin or rice wine vinegar
6 cups cooked fresh Oriental-style thin cut noodles or unseasoned instant ramen noodles
1/2 cup shredded carrots

Instructions

Cut steaks crosswise into 1/4 inch thick strips; cut strips in half. Heat 1/2 tablespoon sesame oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot.
Add ginger and garlic; cook for 1 minute.
Add 1/2 of beef; stir-fry for 2 minutes or until outside surface of beef is no longer pink. Remove from skillet. Repeat with remaining oil and beef. Season with salt and pepper, as desired. Keep warm.
Add broth, green onions and mirin to skillet; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; simmer for 8 to 10 minutes.
Meanwhile divide noodles and beef evenly among 4 large soup bowls.
Bring broth mixture to a boil over high heat; ladle boiling mixture evenly over beef and noodles. Garnish with carrots.

What are some myths and facts on trading?

Trading has gotten so popular nowadays that you have so much resources on it and this sphere is expanding day by day, and it’s astonishing given the fact that forex market is already worth around 7 trillion, and there is still plenty of room to expand to. Growing popularity of deman of course triggers growing supply of services, as there are much brokers, and of course a lot of resources on education. However, most of those resources are of basic quality, designed just to lure in people, and to get attention people can compose any stories they want, and this have led to a situation where some major myths are ruling the market, and perhaps maybe preventing people from beginning trading. I will try to bring on several popular myths and explain what is the actual matter:

Myth #1. Trading is the same as gambling

This gotta be the most widespread fact, but it’s infact there, and there are many people who think this way or they say they felt it on their own experience. What really happened was that they just saw the graph and decided they can just know where the market is going to go, and when they opened a trade and put out all their money, the market did not go their way and they lost all their money in an instant. It’s true that trading included financial risk, however, if this risk is not controlled, the outcome is going to be sad as in this case right here. Therefore, they claim that they lost money quickly, so they equate it to gambling, having absolutely zero information about this sphere.

The reality of this matter is that trading is far from gambling, even given the elevated risk. For instance, if your local broker allows you to buy Tesla stock, this you would call – investing, which is somehow different, but still the same thing. If the stock goes down and the company has bad press, you can loose the money the same way. In scenario of trading, you are in control. Gambling is not based on anything legit rather than coincidence and luck, in trading – there is no place for sheer luck. Traders spend years on their education, perfecting their skills and practising what they have learned on the chart. Using various methods of different analysis techniques, patterns, and other strategies, they get their profit, and this ain’t gambling for sure.

For instance, you can analyze the Forex market using differnent analysis methods as fundamental: where you look for economic news to get the overall high timeframe movements and technical: to identify entry points and crack open short-term movement. The same goes to trading shares, where a trader would spend a lot of time analyzing the earnings calendar of the company to predict it’s stock price.

Myth #2. Trading is costly, you need a lot of money.

Funny enough, this is an actual scenario for trading real stocks, not CFD as many good brokers offer. See CFD as we talked many times – means that you can trade shares and not worry about owning them, you just trade their price without owning the product, and this makes it so much easier because you don’t deal with all the hassle. Moreoveer, you will get much more leverage on CFD, like 1:20 right here.

So when you try to trade real shares, most places couldn’t even offer 1:2 leverage, it’s mostly 1:1 and this means you would actually need some serious money to make profit. For instance, if you have 1000$ in trading real shares, and the share price moves 10% in a month in your direction, then you get $100 profit, and even less because you would pay the comission and trading fees and all the extra fees. While trading CFD, you get 1:20 leverage which means that with 1000$, you can control a 20k$ position and 10% swing in your way means 2K$ and brokers like Neotrades here only charge for spreads. Of course you would not be opening a position for your whole budget as this would be too risky, but still the opportunities are much more when trading CFD.

Myth #3. CFD trading is only short-term

Well, simply put – it is not. Sure that most people may prefer to trade assets like Forex or Commodities intraday, trading CFDs can be great for long-term as well. For istance, many prefer holding their positions on indices for a long time as they tend to have a continuous trend, and there have been cases of people holding SnP500 index for months and get the whole bullish trend (or bearish). What you will pay is swaps, as the position crosses from one day to another, but this would only be a minor part of the sum.

Myth #4. There’s no Crypto CFDs.

And yep this sounds a bit strange, but I’ve seen some people talk about why they don’t wanna trade crypto. Their reasons was that they don’t wanna get involved in all of that headache with opening wallets and buying cryptos, exchanges, swaps and all those things which are fairly complex for beginners in this sphere, they want to trade cryptos but don’t wanna mess with all the rest that comes when buying or selling them. However, there are crypto CFDs and you won’t need to worry about all of those things, you can just have a trading account and trade crypto as you would trade forex or other assets, as this would be CFD trading, you wouldn’t need to worry about owning the coins, you just trade their prices.

Myth #5. Trading CFDs is too complicated for beginners.

I am not trying to say trading is easy, in fact it’s indeed a complex matter to get into. However, when you get an opportunity to change your life and be able to trade profitable, it means you can trade from wherever you want and whenever you want – this liberation is worth studing and struggling for. What is a myth in this case is that it’s “unlearnable” and this is absolutely wrong, because there are so many educational resources, if you choose the right one, you can learn it, but you gotta give it your whole self.

Myth #6. CFDs are limited to only some assets, like Forex and Stocks.

And surely this is not true indeed, because when I was opening a buy position on OIL earlier this day, they must have delivered a couple of barrels into my apartment LOL. But there are CFDs for almost all asset classes, and CFD brokers only offer this type of trading, so you just trade the price without actually owning anything, and this is much more convenient. This is the main reason why brokers can provide some lucrative leverage.

Myth #7. Trading is about getting rich quick..

This is perhaps the most dangerous misconception about trading which has cost a fortune to many, many people. If you wanna get rich and you open a trade on GOLD and you go all in, and somehow you get some profit, the next is going to be loss, because it turns into gambling, which actually is bound to a myth number 1. Trading is never gambling, but illiterate trades can turn it into gambling, but real trading that leads you to stable profit is never about gambling. So if you want to trade because you wanna get rich overnight, save yourself the trouble and don’t even start.

Nothing here is investment advice, either on the landing page or the Terms of Service page. Don’t follow anything without thoroughly researching it.

Rory Gallagher – Bullfrog Blues | REACTION

What would a 2025 naval battle between blue water navies look like, say between China and the U.S. over Taiwan?

Contemporary naval warfare will also be beyond-visual-range combat.

The Chinese Navy’s YJ-21 has a range of more than 1,500 kilometers (930 miles), beyond visual range.

Simply put, ‘I can hit you, but you can’t hit me.’

Now, China’s new stealth fighter threatens to end U.S. air superiority, stripping NATO forces of their ability to operate effectively.

Ukraine War underscores this vulnerability.

Despite strong situational awareness capabilities, NATO-supplied armoured vehicles have struggled to gain an advantage over Russia without air support. In many cases, they have even struggled to defend themselves.

NATO’s navy is also set to suffer. This is because two configurations of China’s new stealth fighter are respectively designed for Air Force and Navy, similar to the J-20 and J-35 programs.

If this is the case, NATO forces could soon lose air superiority on both land and sea.

In such a scenario, NATO fleets might encounter a situation even more precarious than what Iraq faced against the U.S. Air Force—overwhelmed by swarms of Chinese drones.

China’s Record breaking 10,000 drone show creates HD ‘screens’ in the sky

The strategic balance between the United States and China has shifted.

Until the U.S. can field its own sixth-generation fighter to counter China, it will never dare to call the shot of World War III.

After China test-flew sixth-generation aircraft, some officials in the US claimed the B21 is a sixth-generation aircraft—although the B21 is an excellent bomber and undoubtedly a component of future US air combat systems, labeling it as a fighter jet is quite amusing.

China’s sixth-generation fighter jets have already been mass-produced, unlike the United States’ sixth-generation fighter jets which are still on the PPT in the Oval Office.

For example, the serial number of this J-36 fighter jet is 36011, which means that this is the 11th J-36 fighter jet.

Trump promised that F47 could be completed during his term and be cheaper than the F22. Currently, the likelihood of achieving this is slim, given the absence of even an engineering validation model.

And during the time it takes the U.S. to catch up, China’s researchers are unlikely to remain idle.

After all, if conflict in the Taiwan Strait becomes unavoidable, it will be a war that China is determined to win.

Jurassic Pork

Written in response to: “Center your story around a character who’s struggling to let go.“

Joshua G. J. Insole

This story contains themes or mentions of physical violence, gore, or abuse.

In the distance, the T. rex roared like a man stubbing his toe on the coffee table after getting up to pee at night.Marsh Buckley’s gut dropped, a Jeep falling from a tree. Unlike a few unfortunate souls in their party, they’d scraped through the last encounter. Who knew toilets could be so dangerous? Marsh wrapped his arms around the kids’ shoulders. ‘Now, don’t you worry, kiddos. I recognise that roar, I learned it in dinosaur school. What he’s saying is, “I am sufficiently full for the foreseeable future. I wouldn’t even contemplate chowing down on a couple of children.”’The kids did not return his smile. Johnny Wintringham, the youngest, frowned up at him, disbelieving. The boy seemed to look right through his disguise. Bridget, meanwhile, continued to stare straight ahead with wide, unseeing eyes. She looked like a Vietnam vet suffering war flashbacks. Bridget moved, zombie-like, through the prehistoric undergrowth wherever Marsh and Johnny directed her. But she hadn’t uttered a syllable since the rex bit that poor chap in two whilst he was going number two.Marsh chewed his lower lip. Hm. This dilemma was a tricky one. He’d gone from sharing a ride with them to becoming their guardian by proxy during the carnage. He’d even started to like them. And now, here they were, survivors one day later. They struggled with the previous day’s events – what with all the dinosaurs and death. Marsh had gotten their bodies through it. But what would Grandpa say if he returned the kids in a dissociated state? No, Marsh had to get their minds through it, too. He cast his thoughts back to his childhood to try to recall how being a kid feels. What would have helped him? All he remembered was rough-housing and—That was it!The best way to help kids during traumatic events was to prank them and make them laugh. All would be well if the kids were chipper when they returned to the lodge. Marsh grinned as he pulled back the leathery fronds of a tree to make way for Bridget.Johnny guided her through the branches, pausing to wipe the spittle that had pooled on her chin. ‘C’mon, this way, Bridge. You’ll see that once we get back to the lodge, everything will be all right. Why, I’m sure Grandpa has already sellotaped that nice man back together.’Marsh debated letting go of the branch and letting it swing back to swat the siblings right in their faces. That would be a laugh. But no, they were already banged up, with cuts, scrapes, and bruises adorning their bodies. He let the idea go instead of the branch. There had to be a funnier prank to lift their spirits – no physical pain. It wouldn’t be proper at a time like this. But he had to do something before they returned, and he had to do it soon. If his calculations were correct, the lodge was beyond this hill. Marsh let the children pass and followed them, allowing the branch to swish behind him.They fought through the ancient foliage for a few more minutes before the trees opened onto a field. Johnny – in the lead – froze in place, blocking the way. ‘Uh oh.’Marsh’s fried nerves crackled. What now? He pushed past Bridget, rejecting the hilarious idea of shoving her into the bushes. He came up alongside the boy. ‘What? What is—’There stood a huge beast, but not of the saurischian variety. The electric fences towered 24 feet high. The thick, metal posts had high-tensile wires strung out between them. The gaps in the wires made the structure look like the skeleton of some mechanical dinosaur. The cold, utilitarian design contrasted with the surrounding green jungles. The air here held the lingering notes of ozone, which danced above the forest’s perfumes.Marsh paused, mouth open, brow creased. He should’ve thought about this, but he hadn’t. During the chaotic events, it had slipped his mind. Seeing that the fences failing had started this mess, he should have remembered them. Their tour of the park from the comfort of their Jeeps had turned into a nightmare because of those damn fences. Why, the very image of the T. rex snapping his enclosure’s cables had seared itself right into Marsh’s—

Wait a second.

The power for the electric fences had gone down during the storm; they posed no danger whatsoever. But, given little Johnny’s reaction, the boy hadn’t put two and two together yet. And Bridget was, at the moment, unable to tie her shoelaces. A plan began to form in Marsh’s mind. A grin crept onto his face, and he fought to suppress it. ‘Okay,’ he said, ‘you kids wait here. I’m going to go check it out. If it’s safe, I’ll call you up.’

Bridget stared ahead, eyes glazed over, jaw slack like a cow chewing the cud. Johnny looked alarmed but didn’t stop him. The boy only said, ‘Please be careful, Mr Buckley.’

Marsh turned from the children and allowed the smirk to find its home on his face. Crouching, casting well-acted furtive glances from side to side, he approached the fences. ‘Oh man,’ he chuckled under his breath. ‘This is gonna be great.’

A black-and-red warning sign dangled from the fence. It read: ‘DANGER 10,000 VOLTS’. Next to it was a symbol of a human hand with a lightning bolt passing through it.

Marsh was so excited that his hair was prickling up. The humming chatter in his head grew in volume. He reached for one of the cables with two open hands. He glanced one final time over his shoulder. ‘Don’t try this at home, kids.’

Johnny’s eyes widened. He jumped forward, flapping his hand like a kid gone mad. ‘WAIT—’

But Marsh didn’t. He was already getting into character to play the part of the electrocuted man. And so, Marsh made the final mistake of his life. He grabbed the wire in both fists instead of testing the fence with the back of his hand.

In the background, Johnny continued to scream. ‘—LIGHT’S STILL ON, THE LIGHT’S STILL ON!’

Marsh gasped as his fleshy human frame completed the circuit. A freight train of electricity shot up his arms, burning his flesh and making his nerves scream. Every muscle in his body seized up – glueing him to the fence. His hands started to cook, melting like cheese on a burger. He tried to scream, but his chest muscles had tightened too much to let air escape.

There was a loud snap like God clicking his fingers, followed by a steady fizzing sound. Sparks jumped from the fence, offering sharp, staccato cracks of miniature lightning.

Marsh wanted to let go, but he couldn’t. The muscles in his hands had responded to the stimulation, locking him in a death grip with the fence. Shock immobilised him, scrambling his thoughts. Marsh shook, boogied, and jived as 10,000 volts raced through him. His hair caught fire. His eyes exploded like cherry bombs filled with red jelly. His heart beat its face against its cell bars until it had a black eye, a broken nose, missing teeth, and a concussion. His insides barbecued.

Nearby, Johnny shrieked. Bridget, shocked out of her comatose state, joined him. The kids’ screams harmonised, and – not too far away – the rex joined with a lovely bass melody. The crackling of human skin offered a syncopated rhythm.

Marsh whined as he fried. Here, in the end, he realised there were times when jokes were inappropriate. And if you insisted on being a jokester despite the poor timing, you ought to expect a roasting. He struggled with every fibre of his being – which was now on fire – to let go. Marsh tried and failed; his muscles were too contracted to fight.

The reek of burning hair and flesh overwhelmed the forest’s floral aroma. Marsh’s boiling fluids added an acrid odour. It was like overcooked pork mixed with an electrical fire at a wig factory.

Marsh, who’d survived both T. rexes and falling Jeeps, died as the fence microwaved his brain into soup.

Defunct Relics

Written in response to: “Write a story from the POV of a now-defunct piece of technology.“

Patrick D

In a old Canadian attic, a forgotten Royal typewriter and an original Nintendo reminisced about their glory days.“Remember Christmas 1985! When they unwrapped us?“Unforgettable! They were so excited they nearly broke us getting us out of our boxes! There was wrapping paper everywhere, and Back to the Future was playing on the TV, ” said Nintendo.“We were superstars; I was the most popular typewriter that year.”“And I was the most advanced entertainment system ever made, state-of-the-art! Shoppers would fist fight over me, I was mandatory under ever tree!”“Have some humility Nintendo,” laughed Royal. “I’ll admit you were highly addictive, Chris played games until his thumbs were callused,”“And Kristen must have written 1000 stories on you,” said Nintendo. “We had many great years with them, didn’t we?”“Ten wonderful years Nintendo, I thought it would never end, until we were knocked off our pedestal by Super Nintendo and the PC, who would have seen that coming?”

“I suppose we’re lucky, we weren’t thrown away,” said Nintendo, “How long has it been?”

“Thirty-five years Nintendo. At least Chris still plays with you occasionally, Kristen hasn’t written a story on me in decades. We would write the most epic tales together, one of her stories was published in The New Yorker.”

Nintendo sensed a vibration. “It’s coming.”

Royal and Nintendo watched from the window as the dump truck pulled up, a man stepped off the back and threw the garbage in, a discarded vacuum cleaner pleaded for it’s life, but it was futile the vacuum was tossed in with the rest.”

“Poor vacuum,” said Nintendo.

“That’s our fate Nintendo, one day that truck will take us to the landfill, and we will never return.”

***

One Sunday afternoon the attic hatch opened. Royal and Nintendo watched in anticipation to see who was coming up. The ladder extended down and Kristen climbed up, followed by her daughter Gina.

“You can have this space for your writing,” said Kristen, “nice and private.”

Gina took in the room, “it smells like old books up here, I love it!”

Royal focused on Kristen, longing for her attention.

We’ll put things in three piles, garbage, Salvation Army, and keepers,” said Kristen.

“Garbage!” Exclaimed Royal.

“The Salvation Army? Royal what is that?”

“We’ll be drafted into some sort of war Nintendo!”

Kristen picked up Royal and blew the dust off, “My old typewriter, I really should donate it.”

Gina could see the look of nostalgia on her mother’s face, “Does it still work?”

“I think so, I’d have to buy ink for it, not even sure if they sell it anymore.”

“Can I have it?”

“Sure.” Kristen placed Royal back on the table.

“I think Gina just saved my life Nintendo!”

Kristen and Gina began handing down boxes to Chris. After they cleared the debris, they laid down a rug, hung posters and Christmas lights for ambience.

Royal and Nintendo looked around in approval, “Enchanting,” remarked Royal.

“I’m going to come up here all the time,” said Gina.

“I would have killed for a space like this when I was your age. Come on, let’s go make something to eat.” Kristen and Gina climbed down and closed the hatch behind them, and their voices moved out of range.

“We survived another round of cleanup,” Said Nintendo.

“Seems we did.”

“They couldn’t get rid of us, could they? We’re state of the art.”

“I’m afraid we’re not Nintendo, we are one trick ponies, these new machines serve multiple purposes now.”

Royal and Nintendo watched Chris take the boxes from the attic to the road, the act of placing something at the curb seems to summon the street scavengers, who appear out of nowhere.

“Where does all that stuff end up?”

“God knows Nintendo, the dump truck will claim what they leave.”

***

Gina and Kristen returned the following weekend. Kristen had a stack of paper and a new ink-ribbon, she placed the paper on the table and opened up Royal to installed it.

“What’s happening?” Asked Nintendo

“I’m coming out of retirement!”

Kristen inserted a piece of paper and rolled the knob until it was in place, she pressed keys at random.

“I can feel the ink running through my veins Nintendo! Just a few more key strokes” The letters became brighter with each passing, until they shined midnight black.

Kristen gave Gina a tutorial. “With typewriters you have to put a little more thought into your writing, it’s not easy to correct mistakes.”

After Kristen was happy with her lesson, she kissed Gina on the head and climbed down the attic hatch.

Gina stayed all night, typing away at Royal. “Why did people stop using these, they’re so fun.”

“I have no idea!” Answered Royal.

Nintendo was living vicariously through Royal, “I’m happy for you, my friend!”

“Thank you, Nintendo. feels nice to be appreciated.”

***

Royal looked down on the driveway, Kristen’s car was gone she had taken Gina somewhere. They must be out getting me more ink, thought Royal.

Moments later Chris opened the attic hatch and climbed up, he grabbed Nintendo and Royal and brought them downstairs and placed them in a box by the front door. All the garbage from Christmas was waiting there to be taken out.

Nintendo looked at the garbage bags and came undone, “we’re being thrown out Royal! This is outrageous! I’m a state-of-the-art entertainment system! He can’t!”

“Let’s meet our end with dignity Nintendo, we knew this day would come. Whatever horrors await us at the landfill we will face together.”

Chris was putting city tags on the extra garbage bags when the doorbell rang. Chris picked up the box with Royal and Nintendo and opened the door.

A man was standing there.

“It’s the garbage man, you son of a bitch Chris,” screamed Nintendo.

“Hi Dave?” asked Chris.

“Yes, hi Chris, we spoke on the phone, nice to meet you.”

Chris set the box down in front of him, “so, you collect 80’s merch?”

“Yes, I collect everything 80’s.” The man picked up Nintendo and Royal, appraising them both. “I’ll give you $150 for the Nintendo and games and $100 for the typewriter.”

‘We agreed on $225 for the Nintendo and games over the phone.”

“I’m sorry but it’s not in mint condition.”

“We’re being sold Nintendo!”

Chris’s attention shifted when Kristen and Gina pulling into the driveway.

Gina got out first and the man moved aside for her. Out of her periphery, she noticed Royal, “Dad don’t sell the typewriter, I’ve been using it!”

“$125 for the typewriter.” The man intervened.

“Dad!”

Kristen stepped in when she realized what was happening, “I’m sorry there’s been a mistake, that typewriter is not for sale, it’s mine.” Kristen grabbed the typewriter and gave Chris a cross look on her way in with Gina in toe.

“Nintendo!!!” Royal screamed as they were separated.

“$200 for the Nintendo and games,” the man countered.

Nintendo used every ounce of his being to telepathically project two words into Chris’s mind: DON’T SELL.

Chris held his Nintendo in his hands. The man reached out, which made Chris instinctively pull away, and that seemed to wake him up, “I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but I can’t sell it.”

The man held eye contact with Chris, “What?”

Chris realized he had to make a concession, he pulled a twenty-dollar-bill from his wallet. “I’m very sorry about all this, take this is for your time and gas.”

The man reluctantly took the bill; he mumbled something under his breath as he walked back to his car.

Chris went back in the house where he was verbally abused by Kristen, Gina, Royal and Nintendo. He returned Royal and Nintendo back to the attic.

“Can you believe it Nintendo? The magic power of nostalgia! We are collector’s items; we’ll never see the landfill!”

“State-of-the-art!” Replied Nintendo.

What happens if a chain smoker quits smoking suddenly?

Just to give an idea of what can be done, here is some context – I started smoking when I was 13. Started to smoke almost a pack a day. The last day I smoked I smoked 3 packs. Don’t be surprised that was my regular diet. It used to go up, if I was in a party or stressed more than usual. My parents and wife had given up that I will ever leave smoking, neither I thought of ever leaving it. Most of people around me are like I will kick this habit next Saturday, next month, next year. I on the other hand never thought about it. I just did it out of habit and never guilt tripped or anything.

And one day I just announced a day that I will leave smoking forever. So after 18 years of smoking, the final day came. By the habit or way I had been programmed, I bought the packet from the same shop, before I realized this is the day that I had announced to leave smoking. I returned that packet to the shop, he was not happy at all because he was losing his most loyal customer 🙂 He even offered me credit for a month to keep going.

The first day was good, felt confident that it is better etc. But the very next day, I started to feel anxious, sad, angry all at the same time. Made it worse, when I was stressed in office I used to go out to smoke, but now i didn’t so all those emotions started showing up. After few days I realized that all those times when I was pissed off at everything else going around in my life, cigarette used to calm me down or that’s what I thought.

Another change that started to happen was I started coughing a lot, I mean a lot like I had TB or something. At one point I thought I coughed up a black gooey stuff. My parents started telling me that I should quit smoking. I told them that I did but no one believed me, unfortunately they still don’t 🙁

It had been 3 months since I had smoked. One of close colleagues from college who I was meeting after a few years, persuaded me to have a drag for old times sake. I obliged thinking I am strong enough, and once the first puff went in, the taste of it, yuck.. I remember looking at the cigarette and thinking, how the heck did I smoke 50 of these in a day. That was my last puff.

I have been clean for 2 years now. I sometimes feel like it, and because of leaving cigarette I have also left drinking tea because I think it still triggers me. I still miss smoking when the first rain happens, when I go on a roadtrip with my friends. One other thing that has happened is my taste for food has returned, some of the things that I had never noticed almost my whole life (appreciating my wife’s cooking more now).

I still go out on smoke breaks with my colleagues because non-smokers are not rewarded for the healthy habits anyways 🙂

If you want to stop smoking don’t think too much of it as a bad habit, just think of it as another thing that you won’t be doing from tomorrow. You will have withdrawals but that’s ok. All the best!

I L.D daily. Imagine the worlds I have been to, places I've visited, things I have seen. Its a different…

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Are you going to release all these other things out to the public at this time. I would say It’s…

Thanks for coming up for some air. Long time. Great to see your comment. -MM

Yep, that makes a lot of sense to me. I can't wait to (soon) get to the interesting part of…