Today I had a staff luncheon.
We had a nice Guangdong style meal: one fish, one meat, and one kind of bird. I thought that it was delicious and we washed it down with some nice imported wine from France.
This is the time of the year where we are getting a “machine gun” of parties, and dinners and luncheons. Ah. You get used to it soon enough. Though, I have to tell you, it really wrecks my diet.
*sigh*
Life is all about tradeoffs.
Today…
UNCLE’S MIDNIGHT LOUNGE—1960s Spy-Jazz Chill Mix | Retro Espionage & Smooth Night Ambience | Part 2
Enjoy this vintage BGM while you read today’s installment.
Have you ever seen a kid and just thought “Well, they’re doomed”? 284 more answers
I met a 13 year old girl after seeing an ad that said “Girl seeks family to live with. If you can help, or know someone who can, call XXX-XXX-XXXX.” So I called. She showed up the next day. Her parents were both unemployed junkies. Well, I guess her mom was a self-employed sex worker. She lived with her dad, who was considered the better parent. She came home from school one day to find him dead with a needle in his arm. Her mom was either in rehab or jail. So she placed the ad., being unaware that is not how the world operates.
She moved in with my spouse and me—and our three kids—that day, and lived with us until she graduated high school.
This past June, she graduated from UC Berkeley with a 3.52 GPA.
The resiliency that should have been obvious (what 13 year old puts an ad in a paper looking for a family to live with?) served her well. We still get together every few weeks. And every Father’s Day, she sends me a card, thanking me for being her dad.
She’s my daughter. Maybe not legally, but in our hearts, which is the only place that really matters.
Have you ever been unaware of the type of cargo you are asked to transport with your truck?
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Yeah. Around 2000 I pulled a load oit of upper Vermont to right outside of DC. Large round rolls of something highly secure. When I arrived at this incognito paper plant I was told by security that I couldn’t leave my truck for any reason whatsoever about a half hour later i realized that I had to use the bathroom really bad so I got out and searched for the building entrance to find the bathroom I started walking behind a forklift and several sets of automatic opening doors. As they were approached by the forklift they opened, so I kept following. The environment went from dirty to hospital clean after three sets of doors. One inside i found the restroom inside the employee break room. After I cane out j was getting a coffee from the machine and was rushed by two armed security officers all upset and wondering how I got inside. After I wax thrown out of the building and given the B.O.L. , I noticed that the consignee was Federal Government- B.E.P. It tool me awhile to realize that i was hauling the special paper that currency is printed on. The trailer was secured by two titanium lock bolts with engraved serial numbers. I was given a separate envelope of paperwork to give to any law enforcement if I was pulled over.
Neighbors Called His Tunnel Home Insane — Until It Beat −35°F Winter

Beefy Tater Tot Casserole

Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 2 (10 ounce) cans cream of chicken-mushroom soup (or 1 can each cream of chicken and cream of mushroom)
- 1 to 1 1/2 cups sour cream
- 1 (16 ounce) package frozen Tater Tots
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Brown ground beef with onion in skillet, stirring until crumble; drain.
- Mix soup with sour cream. Mix in beef mixture.
- Place in casserole and top with Tater Tots.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes or until bubbly and Tater Tots are golden brown.
- Serve with salad and rolls.
Notes
I usually add grated Cheddar cheese, to taste, to the beef and soup mixture.
Star Trek TNG – Time Disturbed | Clip
Star Trek The Next Generation: Timescape | S6E25
Captain Picard, Counselor Troi, Chief Engineer La Forge, and Lt. Commander Data are on a runabout, returning to the Enterprise from a conference. As they near the ship, they encounter pockets of temporal disruptions that have very peculiar effects and could be lethal if they pass through them.
How To Go Back
Written in response to: “Center your story around a person who believes they’re the last human on Earth.“
⭐️ Contest #279 Shortlist!
Max Sinclair
Speculative Science Fiction Horror
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Do you agree with defence experts who say the new “Trump Class” battleships will be totally ineffective and are already out of date? 26 more answers
What are you talking about???? He knows more than Generals, Admirals, armorers, Naval architects, so of course he should design them. Hey he went to MILITARY school instead of High School! He’s been a patriotic warrior all his life! (Don’t forget he fought the Vietnam War in the VD clinics of Manhattan!)
They will be the Great Golden Fleet.
- It will be Great, greater than great, greater than any great fleet has ever been great. Bigly Great!!
- It will be Fleet, the fleetest of the fleet, so fleet, fleet like you wouldn’t believe.
- And of course Golden. Golden, 24 Karat Gold Armor. Golden ships armored like no one has armored anything before. They will glitter in the sun. Artillery and bombs will bounce off. Guided missiles will be blinded by the light; goldness like no goldness you ever saw.
- The crews will be all men, only men, manly men with golden braided uniforms and gold on their feet. (Well Trump sneakers actually, for which the Navy will pay a royalty. Royalties for the Royalest.)
Oh it will be grand. The Great Golden Fleet will roam the world at will, fighting for Truth Soci… err Truth, Justice and the American Whey.
The first ship will be aptly named the USS Admiral-President Trump .
The second ship will be USS THE Supreme High Imagineer Trump as a recognition of his innovative powers.
If there is a third it will simply be the USS Donald.
Minimalism, you know.
The enemies of The Donald beware!!
Thus the Naval saying “Look, it’s The Donald!” and the enemy’s instinctive response, “Duck!”
In fact I expect “Duck” well become The Donald’s official motto.
And the Navy will acknowledge his contribution by making him Supreme High Admiral Trump.
And in time a fleet of plain jane drones will let the Great Golden Fleet one by one um “sail” to the floor of the ocean to join their comrades from the Black Sea Fleet to make the greatest combined fleet ever.
911 Call Leads to Disgusting House of Horrors
What is normal in the United States that British find weird? 346 more answers
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They shit themselves about everything, all the time. Naked child on a beach? It’ll get kidnapped and shagged. Someone changing on a beach under a towel? Lord preserve us, I just saw the hint of a nipple/ball/cock/minge.. everyone is going to get aroused and start shagging. A woman breastfeeding her child.. heaven help us, a man may see a breast and get aroused and everyone will start shagging.
I saw on here not long ago a young man worrying that if he wore swimming attire people would realise he owned a penis.
Someone walks 100 metres from a hotel to a restaurant. Two cars and a police van stop to ask if that person is ok and ask why they’re walking. That person was me, gentle reader.
Think that swearing is the end of the world.
All of this fretting and worrying and angst from a country that is the largest consumer of porn per capita and who think it’s normal to take guns to the shop. Think it’s normal to buy guns from a supermarket.
Messed up bunch of fuckers.
TOP FEMALE “BLOWING AUTO PILOT” Reactions! Airplane Movie Reaction
Are the US Navy’s nuclear powered Ford-class and Nimitz-class aircraft carriers hindered by needing escort at all times by oil powered destroyers, cruisers, and supply ships that need relatively frequent refueling?
Are the US Navy’s nuclear powered Ford-class and Nimitz-class aircraft carriers hindered by needing escort at all times by oil powered destroyers, cruisers, and supply ships that need relatively frequent refueling?
No, not in practice.
And here’s why: Relatively frequent refueling.
It’s the “relative” part that gets you. Relative to what?
A Burke class destroyer has enough fuel onboard to go full power for seven or eight days without refueling. That’s not “frequent” by my calculations.
Remember that in a high operations tempo (i.e. you are flying the planes, dropping bombs, etc.) the carrier will need replenishment also. It will require JP5 for the planes, munitions, fresh food, etc… So, setting up a tempo that allows for underway replenishment (unrep) every four or five days isn’t “relatively frequent.” It’s just the normal tempo of a CSG underway.
Also keep in mind that an CVN can refuel their escorts in a pinch:
That’s actually a JDF Destroyer, but you get the idea.
So, what you do is invest in a fleet of these bad boys:
Supply-class fast combat support ship – Wikipedia
Yes, sir. That there is the USNS Supply. The most creatively named ship in the US Navy.
“So, what we gonna call the new supply ship?”
“Sorry, did you say supply?”
“Gotcha. USNS Supply it is.”
“Wait.”
If you have enough logistics capacity, you can simply resupply your fleet underway wherever you want. This means that your non-nuclear escorts have “infinite” range. That’s not really true, but they’re not limited by fuel. Not in actual practice.
To be clear, the reason why US carriers are all nuclear is not because of range. It’s because of efficiency and packaging. In order to power the MASSIVE diesel engines required for a ship of that size, the ships would need to carry an equally MASSIVE amount of fuel to power them. In a CVN, this saved space can be used for storing JP5 or other stores. The nuclear propulsion gives the ship the power and electrical generating capacity it needs to do its mission. Range isn’t the primary driver.
Daughters Lead Police To Mother’s Dead Body
Col 28-Book 503 – The Cluckaneer’s Code (A Tale of Pirate Etiquette, Waxing the Plank, and the Most Glamorous Breadbox in Farm History)
Ah, dear reader—prepare your monocle, slick back your feathers, and adjust your eyepatch (drawn in charcoal, optional but highly recommended). Today’s story does not begin with a quack, a snort, or even a kazoo blast.
It begins with a squawk.
A crisp, commanding, pirate-approved “YARRR-HONK!”
So hoist the mainsail, polish your plunder, and step boldly—preferably in platform sneakers—into The Cluckaneer’s Code.
Act I: The Raft of Many Rules
It began, as all great mutinies do, on a Tuesday—golden, still, humming with the lazy buzz of bees and the distant snore-squeak of Porkchop mid-nap.
Captain Cluckbeard stood atop the Grotto-Glider (still on three legs), eye patch askew, tail feather tucked behind one ear like a quill, addressing his “crew”:
- Squawk, first mate (a nervous black hen with a clipboard)
- Pluck, quartermaster (a chick who carried a single, suspiciously smooth pebble in a velvet pouch)
- The Valley Chicks—Tiffany, Brittany, and Amber-Louise III—drawn by the promise of adventure (and potential glitter opportunities).
“Avast, me hearties! Today marks the maiden voyage of the S.S. Barnacle II—and with it, the sacred Cluckaneer’s Code!”
He unfurled a scroll—written in beet juice and sealed with a wax stamp shaped like a very serious rooster.
The Code, read aloud:
1. No glitter on the poop deck!
2. Parrot impersonations require prior approval (and a signed release from Doris).
3. Treasure must be at least 60% metaphorical.
4. Walk the plank ONLY after proper footwear inspection.
Tiffany gasped.
“Omg. It’s, like, so structured.”
“Structured! Structured!” echoed Ditto—who’d rigged the mainsail with disco balls.
Act II: Wax the Plank? Walk the Plank?
Disaster struck on the third lap.
Cluckbeard, testing the “Walk the Plank” protocol, pointed his cutlass (a bent spoon) at the raft’s sole plank—a weathered board salvaged from Handy Hank’s “Spaghetti Canoe Incident.”
“Brittany—you’re up, lass! Walk the plank!”
Brittany blinked.
“Wait—wax the plank?”
“Wax! Wax!” echoed Ditto—who’d already produced a bottle of “Moonbeam Gloss™” (courtesy of Chef Remy’s “Cosmic Spa Line”).
Before Cluckbeard could correct her—
SPLISH-SPLASH-GLIMMER!
The Valley Chicks descended—sponges, towels, and glitter buffer in paw—and gave the plank a full spa treatment:
- Exfoliation (cornmeal scrub)
- Hydration (lavender-infused slop mist)
- Shine (biodegradable glitter just under the “poop deck” line—technically compliant)
The plank now gleamed—golden, smooth, and slightly sticky.
Cluckbeard stared.
“By me barnacles… it’s beautiful.”
“Beautiful! Beautiful!”
Act III: The Breadbox Brig
Just as the crew prepared to test the waxed plank, Squawk tried to demonstrate “Treasure Inspection Protocol.”
He lifted the lid of the “Chest of Infinite Riches” (a repurposed breadbox, labeled “Gold Doubloons (Mostly Crumbs)”).
“Behold—the spoils of the high cornfield!”
He leaned in—too far.
The lid snapped shut.
CLUNK.
Squawk was trapped—wings splayed, beak pressed to the glass, eyes wide with bureaucratic horror.
“I’ve been… filed!”
“Filed! Filed!” echoed Ditto—who tried to echo through the glass, resulting in a muffled “Mmmph! Mmmph!”
Pluck offered the pebble.
“It’s… rare?”
Cluckbeard tried to pry the lid with his cutlass.
“Stand fast, Squawk! I’ll breach the brig!”
But the latch—a bent paperclip, secured with a gumdrop—would not yield.
Then—Tiffany had a vision.
“What if… we treat it like a facial?”
She applied warm slop compresses to the latch.
Brittany hummed a soothing lullaby (“Bread is Life, Bread is Light”).
Amber-Louise III gently massaged the hinges.
CLICK.
The lid popped open.
Squawk tumbled out—dusted in flour, calmer, and deeply moisturized.
“Next time,” she whispered, “I’ll file Form 7B: Pre-Plunder Wellness Protocol.”
“Protocol! Protocol!”
The Moral of the Story
That evening, as fireflies rose and the farm hummed in C-sharp, Sir Whiskerton addressed the animals—not from the roof, but from the waxed plank, now repurposed as a sunbeam lounger.
“The moral of the story, dear reader, is this:
Tradition isn’t about rigidity—it’s about rhythm. And sometimes, the best way to honor a code is to interpret it with kindness, creativity, and just a little bit of spa-grade glitter.
Cluckbeard didn’t need obedience. He needed collaborators. The Valley Chicks didn’t need rules. They needed a canvas. And Squawk? She didn’t need rescuing. She needed a facial.
So go ahead. Walk the plank. Wax the plank. File Form 7B.
The sea is wide.
The raft is sturdy.
And the treasure?
Always metaphorical.*”
Doris dabbed her eyes.
“A maritime metaphor! I can’t bear it!”
“Bear it! Bear it!”
And Cluckbeard?
He pinned the pebble to his chest—next to the glitter buffer—and raised a toast:
“To the crew who turned mutiny into manicures!”
“Manicures! Manicures!” echoed the raft—now gleaming, joyful, and very, very sparkly.
Post-Credit Scene
Later, Chef Remy unveiled his newest invention:
“Pirate’s Parfait™”
(Layers: crushed cornbread “gold,” slop “amber,” glitter “foam.” Served in a breadbox.)
Mr. Ducky bought the rights:
“Now with 200% more mutiny!”
And on the barn wall—still faintly glowing—
a new sign, in Ditto’s careful paw-print:
“Cluckaneer Code, Amendment 1:
Spa Days Are Mandatory.
(Glitter: 10% max. On poop deck: 0%.)”
(Footnote: “—D.D.”)
Outside—the wind hummed.
The stars twinkled.
And somewhere, faint on the breeze—
YARRR-HONK… buff…* shine *… ahoy.
Jingle on. 🏴☠️✨🐾
(Or, in barnyard buccaneer: Wax… plank… glitter … arrr.)
The End.
Given Up
Written in response to: “Center your story around a person who believes they’re the last human on Earth.“
Ghost Writer
What’s the craziest reason you’ve seen someone get fired at work, like trying to steal a laptop on their first day? 24 more answers
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Watched a co-worker get fired for stealing from her own “company”.
The store I worked at had a bank of coin operated vending machines; candy, small toys, stickers, etc. On her first day she got dropped off by her husband and realized later that she’d forgotten her lunch and her purse in his car.
So, being the actual owner of the vending machines inside the store, she got her keys and raided a few of them for some candy to at least get her through the rest of her shift.
Manager caught her and fired her on the spot. Wouldn’t even listen to “reason” Theft was theft, even if it wasn’t the store’s property, whether she had a key or not or any other kind of proof that she and her husband owned and operated these machines all over town.
Worker was then banned from the store for a period of three years, meaning she couldn’t even come into the store to fill the machines. Manager was pissed when husband showed up to remove them.
For a more personal story, I got fired the first day of a job for listening to “devil music” while on my break and reading “inappropriate materials” in the break-room. I was listening to Marilyn Manson (with headphones) and reading The Satanic Bible, manager was a hard-ass Baptist and her husband was a minister and even though I explained that it was school-work (the book anyways really was, the music, not so much) and that technically firing me for reading that book was religious discrimination, she was willing to take the chance.
Beefy Cheesy Casserole


Yield: 12 servings
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 (28 ounce) can tomatoes
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 2 teaspoons salt
- Black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 package egg noodles, cooked
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
- 6 green onions, chopped
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 cups grated Cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Brown beef over medium heat. Drain fat.
- Add garlic to skillet and cook until soft.
- Add tomatoes, honey, salt, pepper, bay leaf and Tabasco. Lower the heat to simmer for 30 minutes.
- Combine the cooked noodles with the cream cheese, green onions and sour cream.
- Grease a 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan and alternately layer noodle mixture, tomato mixture and grated cheese, ending with the cheese on top.
- Bake covered, in a preheated 350 degrees F oven, for 30 minutes or until heated through and bubbly.
Notes
You can freeze this before or after baking.
What’s a fact about World War II that is not commonly taught in schools?
The fact that China despite being poor and weak was able to survive and resist Japan was literally the reason why Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.
Of all the Allies, China actually fought the longest, for fourteen long years. It had no industry to arm and supply its millions of soldiers, nor did they had the money to pay them. Japan ruled the skies, and their warships patrol China’s rivers from the Yangtze to the Pearl River.
And yet, China survived, its armies, greatly inferior they were compared to the enemy or any of its worldwide contemporaries, remained intact, victorious even.
While they have lost the battles at Shanghai, Nanjing and Wuhan, the Chinese then won battles at Taierzhuang, Wanjialing, Shanggao, and three times at Changsha. Mao’s Communists for their part undertook their own offensive involving hundred guerrilla regiments, destroying railroads and attacking behind enemy lines, further negatively impacting Japan’s invasion.
Their failing invasion of China, initially successful at first, has drained Japan’s resources for little to no gain. Worse, Western nations now refused to trade with them and provide them with the needed resources, such as scrap metal and oil. If Japan will not have these resources, not only their invasion would come to a stop, they might also be driven out of the country altogether. After all, the Chinese themselves have already did two successful all-out offensives entirely on their own: the Winter Offensive which made minor gains while also defeating Japanese forces in Henan and Suiyuan provinces, and the aforementioned Communist Hundred Regiments’ Offensive that degraded the ability of the Japanese to supply their forces in the field.
So Japan’s leaders were like “give us what we need and let us trade with you or we attack you” and when America refused, they then attacked Pearl Harbor. The Japanese thought that the Americans would simply give in to their demands, but no. They blundered themselves into fighting a multi-front war while still dealing with their bogged-down invasion of China.
During the closing months of the war, the Chinese are now actively engaged on a grand offensive aimed to wipe out the Japanese occupants and liberate the occupied territory. Two atom bombs dropped in the Japanese mainland that forced their emperor to announce surrender stopped them from continuing their offensive, as the invading Japanese forces surrendered en masse to the Chinese army anyway.
Chinese officers inspecting a surrendered Japanese unit before herding them to a prisoner of war camp, September 1945.
By the war’s end in 1945, China, having survived and remained in the field for 14 years, emerged as the strongest nation in Asia.
19-Year-Old Runs into Her Home During Traffic Stop, Ends Badly
On April 26th, 2025, officers conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle when the driver suddenly ran into her home. This footage is of the events that followed

