Here’s just one of my suppressed answers on Quora. The “leadership” just don’t want people to see this kind of information…
What is the United States’ nuclear arsenal compared to Russia and China? Would it be enough to defeat them militarily if they ever attacked us?
I really, REALLY have to laugh at this question.
Let me tell you why.
There are five guys standing around, and looking at a pretty girl. No one knows who will be able to get a date with the girl, so they start arguing amongst each other. Well, being men, they figured that the best way to figure which guy is to unzipper their pants and whip out their “crown jewels”.
And so they do so.
All of them go “ohhh” and “ahhh”, finally deciding that one guy has a very larger member, and they all nod their heads and announce that he is “obviously” going to “get the girl” and take her out.
…
The girl looks on, and picks the guy driving the expensive car instead.
…
Size of a nuclear arsenal is meaningless in Geo-Politics.
Here’s the rule of thumb…
- 1 nuclear bomb = global nuclear war.
- 100 nuclear bombs = global nuclear war.
- 1000 nuclear bombs = global nuclear war.
- 10,000 nuclear bombs = global nuclear war.
…
Do you understand the calculus?
Today…
Can Americans just drive to Canada and use their free healthcare if they don’t have insurance or have bad insurance in the states? 139 more answers
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I work driving trucks and was making a delivery just over the border in Toronto when I stepped out of the trailer and landed square on my left knee, shattering my kneecap. The dockworkers called an ambulance, because I wasn’t walking anywhere. The pretty little EMS girl immobilized the leg in an air cast and carted me off to the hospital where the ER staff confirmed the patella was now in 5 pieces. They went about admitting me and getting me on the surgery schedule.
As it was a work accident, a couple of phone calls handled MOST of the fees with insurance. But two days later, the ortho and anesthetist showed up in my room on the morning of the surgery to ask if I could pay for their services. It seems the docs were independent of the hospital and billing. I asked if they accepted credit cards. They stated they did and proceeded to push my bed to the elevator and down to the business office. The bed wouldn’t fit through the door so I gave them the card to swipe through their equipment. An hour later, one of those docs was having me count down from 10. 4 screws and a lot of ‘piano wire’ later and everything went flawlessly.
Here’s a kicker. I rehabbed back in Dallas with an ortho who specializes in pro and collegiate sports medicine. I told him the story you just read with the additional info concerning price. The Canadian doctors charged me $3700 TOTAL. My Dallas ortho told me his price would have been $80,000. So, you’ll be treated across the border, but as an alien, you’ll be expected to pay for it and not the citizens of Canada. Gee, what an awesome concept, huh?
Does it feel different to live in a “blue state” than it does in a “red state”? What is it like to live in a “blue state” compared to a “red state”? 110 more answers
I lived ten years in suburban Utah where I’m not sure I ever met a democrat, and now live in Corvallis, Oregon which out blues Portland in most cases. Here are some differences I notice:
freedom vs care
In Utah it felt like the most important Value was freedom. People didn’t want the government or HoA’s telling them how to do their life. People wanted to be independent and admired those that didn’t depend on anyone else for help or support.
In Corvallis the dominant value seems to be caring for others- people are much more conscientious of how their decisions affect others from planning event times, to traffic, to city priorities. People look to and expect the government to take care of everyone and step in one someone needs help.
Schools
Schools in Utah focused on achievement and college readiness. Lots of effort was put into opportunity for AP classes, excellence in sports or athletics and club participation.
In Oregon the schools are much better funded and almost all the effort seems to be on equity. Every decision goes through the filter of evaluating if any disadvantged group would be less well off. The means no homework in elementary school, no divided out math classes, lots of classroom time on community building and how to treat one another. It also means fewer AP classes, lower reading competency, and the worst standardized test scores in the nation for math and reading as of this year.
Regulations and taxes
In general Oregon has a lot more taxes (while no sales tax they have personal property tax- taxing everything in a business every year, corporate activity tax, lots of bonds, high income tax among others) and more regulation. It’s much more difficult to build a home, start a business, or get city approval for anything because the regulation is quite demanding for a certain style, level of finish, commitment to contribute to the infrastructure etc.
In Utah, generally lower taxes with less regulation from the state level down to neighborhoods.
Government vs private charity
In Utah the LDS church takes a significant part of the load of caring for the poor or those going through a temporary hard time. In Oregon the churches play a much smaller role and more is expected of the government.
Productivity vs life style
In Utah there seemed to be a spirit of “hustle.” People were driven to get ahead, make more money and show it. It felt like a competitive atmosphere over the whole state.
In Oregon people seem a lot more interested in more free time, connecting with/in nature, and finding contentment than with a spirit of competition. You’re much more likely to hear about a vacation, hike, or garden plan than a side hustle or business venture.
Overall there are great people in both states who want a great community to live in. The tactics are different but the goal of a vibrant, healthy, community is the same. Living in both places has taken away my ability to “other” the other side as crazy, heartless or ignorant. We need both sides and different things work in different locations
Star Trek – Unusual Borg
Sir Whiskerton and the Hall of Mirrors That Only Show Kindness (A Tale of Reflection, Reassurance, and the Beauty of Being Seen)
Ah, dear reader—prepare your heart. Today’s story does not begin with a quack, a snort, or even a kazoo blast.
It begins with a step.
A soft, hesitant tap of a paw on cool, silvered glass.
Then—the shimmer.
The shift.
The world turning not outward, but inward.
So settle in. Breathe deep. And step—gently, lovingly—into Sir Whiskerton and the Hall of Mirrors That Only Show Kindness.
The Door That Opens Only After You’ve Knocked
It stood at the end of the Whispering Corridor—a door of polished willow, unmarked, unassuming.
No handle. No lock.
Just a single phrase, etched in faint gold:
“You are already here.”
Ditto reached for it first—then paused.
“What if… I don’t like what I see?”
“See! See!” echoed Echo—from inside his own chest.
Sir Whiskerton placed a paw beside his.
“Mirrors don’t lie, Ditto. They listen. And this one… only reflects what’s truest.”
He pushed.
The door opened—not outward, but inward—revealing a vast, quiet hall.
Not cold. Not sterile.
Warm.
Alive.
Mirrors lined the walls—not glass, but liquid light, shifting like water in moonlight.
No one moved.
Then—Catnip stepped forward.
The Reflections That Speak Without Sound
He approached the nearest mirror—head low, tail tight, ears back.
Braced for judgment.
For the old story: too much, not enough, never quite right.
But the mirror did not show his scarred ear, his nervous twitch, the way he still flinched at sudden touch.
It showed:
Catnip—no mask, no smirk, no shield—standing tall beside Martha, one paw resting on her knee.
A collar gleamed—not as chain, but as choice.
And above him, in golden script, words he’d never dared to think:
“The Cat Who Stayed.”
He trembled.
“That’s… not me.”
“Me.” echoed the mirror—not Ditto, but his own voice, soft, sure.
He reached out.
So did the reflection.
Their paws met—not at the glass, but through it.
Warm. Solid. Real.
“Oh,” he whispered.
“Oh.” echoed the hall.
The Gallery of Truest Selves
One by one, the farm entered.
- Doris stood before her mirror—and gasped.
Not the anxious hen who fainted at typos—but “The Keeper of Stories”, surrounded by a circle of hens, eyes wide, wings still, hanging on her every word.“You remember us,” her reflection murmured. “That’s your magic.”
Doris touched her chest.
“I do… I do!”
“Do! Do!” echoed the air—not Ditto, but hope. - Count Catula strode in—cape flared, chin high—expecting a throne.
His mirror showed him not alone, but bowing—deep, reverent—to a small, mud-splattered pig.
Above them:“Your grandeur is not in your crown—but in your capacity to share it.”
He blinked.
Adjusted his monocle.
And—for the first time—smiled.
“Hmph. Tolerable.” - Sir Whiskerton waited until last.
He expected logic. Duty. The weight of wisdom.
But his mirror showed him curled beside the Farmer at 4:17 AM, purring into the cold, one paw resting on a weary hand.
Words glowed below:“The Keeper of Quiet Things.”
He didn’t speak.
Just closed his eyes—and for once, let himself be held.
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 circle.
“The moral of the story, dear reader, is this:
You are not broken. You are becoming—and every version of you is worthy of love.
The world will try to tell you who you are: too loud, too quiet, too much, not enough. But here, in this hall, the mirrors don’t flatter. They remember.
They remember the courage it took to show up today. The tenderness it took to stay. The hope it took to try, again and again, even when no one was watching.
So go ahead. Look. Not to fix—but to find.
You were already here.
You always were.”
Doris dabbed her eyes—not with a wing, but with pride.
“A reflective metaphor! I can’t bear it!”
“Bear it! Bear it!”
And Catnip?
He sat beside Martha, one paw in hers, one resting on the warm glass of his reflection—now a window, not a wall.
“It fits,” he murmured.
“Fits.” echoed the stars—soft, sure, and full of grace.
Post-Credit Scene
Later, Ditto found a new mirror—small, handheld, framed in woven clover.
He held it up.
His reflection smiled—not because it echoed, but because it knew.
“Me,” he whispered.
“Me,” the mirror answered—first time, no echo.
And on the hall’s central pillar—now a shrine of truth—
a new inscription, in Sir Whiskerton’s careful script:
“You do not need to earn your reflection.
You only need to stand before it—
and let it love you back.”
Outside—the wind hummed.
The stars twinkled.
And somewhere, faint on the breeze—
Tap… glow…* home *… seen.
Jingle on. 🌟🪞💛
(Or, in farm-ese: Look… breathe… be … beloved.)
The End.
Why do people call the Chinese military as a paper tiger? 19 more answers
当下国际最有意思的情景是，俄乌冲突，巴以冲突都是飞机导弹无人机，最近的泰柬冲突也是火箭弹洗地。
再看看中国周边的冲突，中印边境冲突，士兵们拿着狼牙棒冷兵器对打。中国南海中非冲突，士兵拿着自拍杆把菲律宾的侵入人员制服了，及时菲律宾士兵带着枪。他们是不想开枪吗？
美国军舰以前还能开来南海示威。上次一整个航母编队被一艘055大驱追着跑了之后，再也没敢越过所谓的第一岛链。是美军不想吗？
我们也想看看谁来开一枪，来试探下中国军队是不是纸老虎。尤其是最近跳的最高的日本，来试试嘛，我们很弱的，我们是纸老虎，你打的赢。
The most interesting situation in the world right now is this: the Russia–Ukraine conflict and the Israel–Palestine conflict are both being fought with aircraft, missiles, and drones, and even the recent Thailand–Cambodia conflict involved rocket artillery carpet bombardment.
Now look at the conflicts around China. In the China–India border clashes, soldiers fight each other with cold weapons like spiked clubs. In the China–Philippines confrontation in the South China Sea, Chinese personnel used selfie sticks to restrain the intruding Philippine personnel, even though the Philippine soldiers were carrying guns. Is it that they don’t want to fire?
U.S. warships used to sail into the South China Sea to show force. But after an entire aircraft carrier strike group was once chased off by a single Type 055 destroyer, they haven’t dared to cross the so-called First Island Chain again. Is it that the U.S. military doesn’t want to?
We also want to see who will be the first to fire a shot, to test whether the Chinese military is really a paper tiger. Especially Japan, which has been jumping the highest lately—come and give it a try. We’re very weak. We’re a paper tiger. You can win.
Beef and Rice Stuffed Bell Peppers
Ingredients
- 4 to 6 large bell peppers
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1 (20 ounce) can whole tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 to 1 1/2 cups cooked rice
- 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
- Grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Cut tops off bell peppers and remove seeds. Parboil in salted, boiling water for 4 minutes. Drain and cool.
- Brown meat in skillet with onion. Drain oil.
- Add tomatoes that have been mashed.
- Add Worcestershire, salt and pepper. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Add rice. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.
- Remove from heat.
- Add Cheddar cheese, stirring until melted and well blended.
- Stuff mixture into peppers.
- Top with Parmesan cheese.
- Bake at 350 degrees F about 20 minutes or until hot.
Notes
If freezing peppers, do not bake. Wrap individually and place in a large freezer bag. Thaw well before baking.
The Night of the Red Falling
Written in response to: “People have gathered to witness a once-in-a-lifetime natural phenomenon, but what happens next is not what they expected.“
Anna Vyush
“Yeah, that should be plenty of firefly. Don’t worry though, I can still hear them, so they must be nearby.” Cai reached for Cala’s hand. “I know you’re anxious about tomorrow. But you do know that I would never do anything to hurt you, right?”
Cala trembled slightly, “Yes, of course. Come on Cai, don’t be so dramatic, my mind is preoccupied with my offering and not the stupid orgy.” She tried to say it as casually as she could. “I mean, how and why am I supposed give up my father’s ring?” She paused. “I am fine the way I am. I am happy and I don’t need anything from the Red Fall.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“I do. The only thing I would actually wish for is something I can never have again.” The girl was tearing up.
“Cala…,” Cai looked dearly at his friend, took her other hand in his and stuck out his pinkie, “I know, but something else, something great will happen to you, I promise.”
Cala unwillingly intertwined her pinkie with his.
“But is it worth it though? This is the only thing I have left of him, the only reminder of him…” She said lowering her voice.
Friends harvested the plants and hurried off to find others. When they reached the rest of the scavenging group the Sun has already almost completely vanished from the horizon.
“Hey, you’ve found some!” shrieked a thin looking girl with red hair. Cai elbowed Cala for she was not paying attention, and everyone was staring at her.
“Ah, yeah, we found some, should suffice for 10 people or so.” Cala replied quickly.
The redhead watched Cala with curiosity. “Is something on your mind?” She asked with condescension without the intent of really wanting to find out the answer. “Are you afraid of tomorrow?” The girl asked amused.
“No,” replied Cala uneasily, “I just… I’m not sure if I want to give up my dad’s ring. I mean, it’s the only -” and there was laughter. Everybody laughed. Cala felt her cheeks getting hot and crimson, she looked at Cai but then averted her gaze downwards because she saw a curiosity on his face as well. “You don’t understand it, you’ve never lost something… You’ve never lost somebody you loved. I feel empty half of the time and if I lose the ring, I will never forgive myself, I will tarnish his memory.”
Everyone stared quietly at Cala. She gulped loudly and showed an intent on keeping on moving in hopes of changing the subject but was stopped and pulled back by somebody. She looked back. It was Cai. He had a weird smile on his face that made Cala’s stomach turn.
“You will throw the ring Cala, won’t you?” Cai looked at her intensely.
“Oh, I get it,” yelled some girl in the back, “you don’t want to throw the ring into the fire because you don’t want to find your love this year, do you?”. “Because you love your daddy,” she giggled. “Oh fuck, she wants to fuck her daddy!” shouted a fat boy with a full-on pimpled face and laughed hysterically.
Cala looked around, her insides twisting, it was hard to make out faces, since the Sun has completely set and the moonlight was ever so slightly touching the silhouettes of every boy and girl around her, who were pointing fingers, ridiculing, and laughing. She put a hand to her face in attempt to calm herself down, but somebody grabbed it and shoved it into her mouth while making a perverted comment about an incest. She let out cry and watched in disbelief as her friends were mocking her. Cala searched for a particular face in the cackling crowd and saw what she never hoped to see – Cai, taunting her at the expense of her dead father. Cala wiped her tears and stormed off into the darkness.
By the dusk on the Night of the Red Falling everyone was ready and marching to the holy waterfall. Cala had put her father’s ring on her thumb so that it doesn’t fall off. She tried to seem unaffected by the remarks and bullying from her peers from last night. And however uneasy and troubled she may have appeared, no one really gave it a second thought as they were all preoccupied with their soon to be fulfilled wishes or some of them were thrilled simply because of the prospect of an orgy.
There were gasps. “Ah, how beautiful and holy!” Exclaimed one old looking Yala staring at the waterfall and red ice and red snow around it. The tribe ran to the Blood Fall to kneel before it. “Oh, welcome us, You Holy Spirit! Accept our offerings and grant us something in return, whatever it might be, we are forever grateful!”
Women and men started taking off their clothes, heavy breathing could be heard all around. Enthusiasm, willingness and eagerness were palpable, be it because of horniness or anticipation of the wishes or the mere hype of the night.
“Ahhhh! Is it…?” A scream echoed through the mountains. Everyone as if coming out of a trance looked around to catch the disturber only to find a redheaded skinnish girl looking sickly holding a pinkie. The girl from yesterday wanted to come up with something and express her distress but the only thing that came up was food. The head of the Yalas tribe pulled out and walked up to the girl. He stepped around the vomit and examined the finger that the girl dropped. Then he looked at the red on the snow. Slowly it sank in. He grabbed his coat, took a deep breath, and shouted at the top of his lungs: “There has been a murder!”
Sweaty naked bodies stood up and started putting on their clothes, gasping and panting in disbelief. Their fear was evident. Cala could smell it. Taking out her tainted with blood dagger she jumped on people and started cutting them up. Those who could, fled in awe and cries, those who couldn’t, simply died.
She spared the head of the tribe – Caannie. “You know, it’s all because of you,” Cala whispered not looking directly at him as if she didn’t care enough to do so, “of how you have led this tribe to believe that we can get more than we can give.”
“Cala, why –”
“I, for one, could not get what I wanted,” she continued more loudly and more paced, “I was dragged into your insanity and forced to give up something that I cherish the most,” tears streaming down her face, she was gulping for air, “I was stripped of the opportunity to receive something I deserve because of you. But now –” Cala stuttered and spit out blood. She looked down and saw an end of a sparrow sticking out of her gut. Then fell on the ground and saw her father.
Ever witnessed a confrontation where the person you thought would lose ended up intimidating the other person into backing down? 1 more answer
Yes me.
We had a young thug living with his grandad in our street and running a drugs business as well as beating the old man and stealing from him. Police were aware and not interested.
At that time I was Neighbourhood Watch coordinator at the time so he made up his mind I was a grass. Every time I walked past his granddad’s house, he’d call out insults from the kitchen window and say he didn’t want my type down here and that he was going to make me leave.
One day I got fed up with it and said oh shut up little boy, go and play. I’ve got knickers older than you. So he stopped calling out and would do a throat slitting motion. I was 55 years old and he was 23. Baby gangster who thought he was Reggie Kray or something. I ignored him and walked on by.
This went on for several months, and he was back to the insults again. I wasn’t feeling well, I’d just had a run in with an off lead dog on the dog walk, and I was sick of his daily crap. I walked past and thought why am I running past like I’m scared? He’s just a kid. So I turned on my heel and wasn’t back, hammered on his door, and said come to the door and talk to me like a man if you think you’re brave. He said no, and started another round of abuse. I said go on, come and face me, instead of keep squealing through the window. He said no, and started effing and blinding and threatening to kill me. I thought oh shit.
I took a breath, looked him in the eye and said well you’re not going to be able to kill me from in there are you little boy, come out and talk to me, let’s sort this for once and for all.
His little bottom lip pouted, I thought he was going to cry. His eyes welled up. Then he said no I’m not coming out, and you can’t make me, I don’t want to. So there.
He slammed the window so hard they rattled, and drew the curtains across so I couldn’t see him.
My friend still says occasionally, do you remember that day you scared the baby gangster?
Why don’t struggling American malls do more to bring people back?
Malls have been dying since the 1970s, and the reason was pretty simple – location.
For example, the Dixie Square Mall was built in suburban Chicago in 1966. By 1978 it was entirely out of business.
It became famous when it was used for the mall scenes in “The Blues Brothers”, but after that, the property remained largely abandoned until it was finally demolished in 2012. It still hasn’t been redeveloped due to contamination on the site, including asbestos.
And when these malls were built, it was expected that people would flock to them no matter where they were. In the long term, that turned out not to be the case.
For example, the Toronto Eaton Centre was built in the mid 1970s, replacing the old Eaton department store and its discontinued mail order buildings. It’s right downtown, connected to two subway stations and it’s doing just fine despite losing three anchor tenants.
However, the Warden Woods Mall, completed just four years after Eaton Centre, was several hundred yards from a suburban subway station, had no other nearby retail, and by the 1990s was a discount mall. It finally closed down altogether in 2005 and has since been demolished and replaced by residential development.
Right now, in Canada, shopping centers and malls have been devastated by the failure of “The Bay”, the nation’s last remaining large department store chain. Only a handful of stores are under new ownership, by a shopping mall owner who is attempting to start their own chain. She attempted to take over the other leases, but the courts refused to allow it due to lack of solid financing.
So malls that are in good locations that are already easy to reach will most likely continue. However, those that are in bad locations will most likely continue to shrink.
Pictures
Why did early settlers build only one room log cabins for their families when they had access to as much wood as they could chop down? 36 more answers
You look at the forest and see free lumber – The settler looked at the forest and saw a prison of hard labor.
*The tree falls down but it doesn’t stack itself.
People stack it – the work is hard, it is mean.
Every single log was a war – To build a cabin a man had to fell a tree – it had to be trimmed.
He had to drag it by hand or mule – Had to notch the corners perfect with a heavy axe.
A green log, just one.
This thing weighed hundreds of pounds.
He had to lift it eight feet high without a machine – the business took weeks of hard work and violence against timber.
He didn’t have a crew – He had a wife, maybe a kid.
But there was a deadline, called winter.
If no roof was up by the first snow – they died.
The other issue is that a big house is a cold coffin – heat doesn’t magically come to it – They had one open hearth to fight freezing wind.
One room meant the fire reached the corners.
If you built a palace you froze to death in the bedroom.
So they built small – did it to trap the warmth and the bodies together – a smart people.
They didn’t care about privacy or resale value – those things came for modern people, for us.
They cared about waking up alive, that’s it.
The wood was endless, yes – but the man’s strength and the daylight were not.
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.
4-Year-Old BOY Calls 911 & Asks For A happy Meal – Cops Faces Turn Pale After Finding This
Why can’t Chinese troops land on Taiwan successfully with the current naval technology they have? 22 more answers
They absolutely can—but whether or not they will succeed is unknown.
Landing on enemy shores is easy: Take a lot of boats, fill it with soldiers, and then send them to the enemy beach. With enough of them, you’re bound to land some even if you lose quite a number on the way. What’s not easy is keeping the army moving forward AFTER the landing.
Landing in Taiwan is like D-Day. In order for the Allies to succeed, they planned so many things beforehand, from deceiving the enemy to figuring out how to transfer fuel to the invasion force after they landed (they used pipelines). They also had to attain total air and sea dominance (thousands of airplanes vs less than 100 Luftwaffe fighters, hundreds of ships vs a handful of U-boats, destroyers, and torpedo boats) so the logistics wouldn’t be disrupted.
All that movie D-Day stuff like Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers were tiny, tiny parts of the effort, maybe 1% or less. Important, but not more than the logistics or air/sea dominance or intelligence superiority.
Right now, China is nowhere close to that level. Even the US military might not be unless the target is a much weaker country. Russia, for all their supposed might, can’t even finish their land invasion of Ukraine and they’re becoming a great textbook example to illustrate the sheer difficulty of invading another country. Keep in mind that Russia isn’t even bottlenecked by their (limited) naval capability.
If Taiwan doesn’t have US support, then it might be more plausible but still very difficult because of the sea aspect.
Moon Eyes
Written in response to: “People have gathered to witness a once-in-a-lifetime natural phenomenon, but what happens next is not what they expected.“
Patrick Druid
Mark finally turned off the TV and then headed to the van with Andrea who was waiting for him.
They backed out of the driveway and headed down the road. Andrea nervously watched the screen of her laptop while trying to ignore the motion of the van and tree line whizzing by her.
Mark tried to make conversation with her while driving down the dirt road to meet with other stargazers
“What’s the latest?”
“So far, no change in trajectories” she replied staring intently on the screen.
“Hmmmm… Okay… maybe….”, Mark trailed off.
“Yeah we can hope, ” she countered. “But, I know what I saw when I read those charts. You saw them.”
Mark sighed…”yeah I saw them and I agree. There’s just no way this is natural, not even by a long shot.”. He shook his head and switched on the radio.
The two of them continued in silence while the radio continued to blare out the latest regarding the “Moon Eyes” phenomenon.
“We now go to our correspondent Phil on the street reporting on the activity there. Phil, how’s it going?’
‘Thank you Tom. We’re here with a group of people who have a different take on Moon Eyes. This group here calls.themselves The Astrologers Consortium and they have a lot to say about it. I’m speaking with Lisa Nielson from the group right now. Lisa, what can you tell us?.”
Lisa spoke up with a crackling voice. “Well, as you know, an eclipse usually signifies a time of great change for everyone. When it happens, many things are revealed.that were previously hidden. Depending upon the sign you were born in, it could mean that your business life would change, your health could change or your relationships could change.
Now the “eyes” is give this a more intense meaning. It’s more like a warning, or an alert, gives us a since.of urgency to our actions.”
“So”, Phil responded. “Whatever changes are coming,.the eyes are saying that it’s time to change right now and we’d better be ready?”
“Yes, that’s exactly right. The stars and the planets all speak to us and the Moon Eyes, is clearly a sign that we need to be paying more attention”
“Very good, Ms. Nielson. Thank you for speaking with us today”
“Thank you,” she replied.
Some hours later, Andrea spoke up. “Mark, the trajectories changed!”
“Uh oh”
A few minutes later, the news anchor reported again on the issue
“This just in! The two comets that were set to pass over the moon and form “Moon eyes” have changed their trajectories. We have called in our astronomy correspondent in Berkeley again for further information. Doctor, what can you tell us?”
The professor leaned into his webcam and coughed a bit.
“The comets’ trajectories changing is nothing that’s new. As an object in space gets closer to a planetary body, it gets caught by the gravity of that body and since the comets are coming in between the Earth and the moon, they are being pulled by both bodies.causing a slight change in the pathways they take.”
“So, you’re saying that this is completely natural and nothing to be too concerned about “
The professor coughed again..”Well, I am saying that the change is caused by gravity interaction rather than by some artificial design. I wouldn’t say that it’s not concerning in other ways.”
Andrea snorted in derision while the radio kept the interview going. “No, no no,.you dopes! Don’t you know? Didn’t you see the data?”. She groaned.
“Andrea, you know how it is. They say ‘dont cause a panic’
“Yeah but you can’t put your head in the sand or cover up something of this magnitude with a bag of kitty litter! You know that these two comets did not change trajectories through some gravimetric interaction. Not like that and certainly not over a period of 4 or 5 years. These “comets” had to be piloted or controlled in some way and that change proves it”
The truck came to a stop in a local park where many people were gathered for the event with telescopes and laptops.
Mark and Andrea gathered their gear and found a spot for themselves. They were greeted by the other skywatchers who were just as excited as those on the Sears tower.
Andrea held her tongue and continued her set up process, aligning the telescope to meet with the moon’s position.
It was only 30 minutes before the eclipse and the moon eyes would appear. Mark and Andrea and everyone else on the hill kept a close watch on the sky.
While this was happening, a news anchor reported that the two comets were changing trajectories again. As soon as Andrea heard this , she muttered “hah! I knew it!”. She was ready. Her laptop was set to record everything as it happened.
Soon, the moon came into full view as it passed directly in between the sun and the Earth. The stargazers on the hill all.held their collective breaths while the news anchor continued to provide commentary.
“The comets are approaching a point where they will be directly in front of the moon in ,just moments everyone! Standby as keep monitoring…. 5….. 4……”
The crowd made a sharp inhale…
“3 …… 2……. wait…what happened?
“I knew it!”
Just at the last moment, the two comments disappeared from the screen…
“Where did they go? What happened?”.
Suddenly there was a blinding flashlight of light in the sky and then the earth rocked and shook as the moon itself exploded sending debris everywhere and a cloud of dust that envelopes the entire planet.
There were no words spoken by the news anchor, the revelers on the Sears tower or Mark and Andrea. To their credit, Mark and Andrea were correct. Sadly, their fate was sealed as was the rest of humanity.
How did babies survive when there were no vaccines a long time ago? 704 more answers
I was born in 1950. My baby brother was born in 1952. He died in 1952. He is buried in a part of the cemetery that is called “Babyland.” I also have a cousin who is buried nearby. That part of the cemetery has about 750 tiny grave markers. The earliest grave I’ve found in it is marked 1946. The latest is dated 1957. All babies. One cemetery. In 11 years.
My Great Grandmother bore 12 babies. Six died before they were a year old.
In those times infant death was so common, that many new parents did not even name their babies until they were six months, or even a year, old
Another of her children died of “blood poisoning” (aka septicemia) at age 12. Because he tripped and “barked” his shin during a stick-ball game. Antibiotics had not yet been discovered.
I am just 75 years old. I remember the annual polio, measles, mumps, and chicken pox epidemics that flashed through my church and school every year or so. Seventy-five years is really not so long ago.
My 10 year old friends dying or going blind or deaf are my memories. Visiting a school mate in an iron lung in the hospital is my long ago (and terrifying) memory.
Only people who have lived in a society that has never experienced such epidemics, BECAUSE mass vaccination programs were so very successful, could possibly believe that vaccinations are unnecessary or more dangerous than the diseases those vaccinations prevent.
But, as we are beginning to witness, when the anti-vaxxers get their way, those diseases come roaring back to once again sicken, blight the lives of, and kill children.
RFK, Jr. is a “snake-oil salesman” and I do not understand how anyone can possibly be taken in by his patter. But they clearly are, and babies and children will suffer and die because their parents allowed themselves to be taken in.
Man Thinks He Has ‘Bedbugs’ – Experts Look Closer & SCREAM By What They Truly Are!
What is the most outrageous “fee” you’ve ever been charged?
I once got a water bill that showed an extremely low usage for the preceding month. Upon checking the meter, I found that the reading was exactly the same as the reading on the bill, which was taken a week or so earlier. The water meter, obviously, had broken and was no longer registering water usage. I notified City Hall of the broken meter, and a couple of days later I came home to find a brand new meter installed. I thought that was the end of it, but no.
The next month, I received a very large bill. When I contacted City Hall, they informed me that they had estimated the actual usage for the two months affected based on previous usage, and charged me the full amount. Our normal usage was around 4000 gallons per month, so they were charging me for 8000 gallons. I pointed out that the minimum charge per city policy was 2000 gallons per month, so I had already paid for 2000 gallons the previous month and should only pay for the difference between the estimated usage and the amount I had already paid for.
This was apparently too complex a concept for the person on the other end of the phone to comprehend, so I ended up taking a half day of vacation from my job to go into City Hall in person, with the bills and my payment records, to explain why I should not have to pay a second time for the 2000 gallons I had already paid for the previous month. In my mind, it was simple; I used~8000 gallons; I already paid for 2000 gallons; I should pay for 6000 gallons (plus the regular charges for garbage collection) and it should be good from now on with the new meter. I was in there for nearly an hour while the city employee struggled to calculate how to charge me. She came up with a half dozen or so different amounts, and conferred with several other employees before finally deciding on an amount that seemed reasonable to me. I wrote a check for the full amount she said I owed and thought everything should be OK now. Nope.
The following week, I came home Friday evening to find the water off and the meter locked out. I had to call the emergency number and pay a $75.00 reconnection fee in order to have any water over the weekend. When I called up City Hall on Monday to ask what the heck was going on, they informed me that I had underpaid my water bill, so the water was shut off over the “overdue” charges. Apparently, after I had left the other day, they recalculated again and decided that I owed a couple of dollars more. It was, truly, only about $2 or $3 that they decided I had been undercharged. They did not notify me of the extra charges; they could have sent me something in the mail; they could have called me; they could have added it to the next bill (this was in the 1990s before widespread cell phones and email). Nope, they just shut off the water, over a minuscule “underpayment” of which I was wholly unaware.
I had to take another half day of vacation to go into City Hall again and tear them one over their horrible handling of the situation. I tried to do everything right. I let them know the meter was broken. I spent an hour in their office trying to figure out what I actually owed. I had been living at the same address for a number of years, and had paid my bill in full on time every single month. The finally admitted that they should not have shut off the water with no warning (Duh!) and agreed to refund the $75 by crediting it against the next couple of bills. My water bill was usually about $40 per month, so the next two month’s usage were effectively prepaid. There was, however, no compensation for the wasted day of precious vacation time I used up arguing with city employees.
Beans and Wieners under Cornbread
Ingredients
- 2 (12 ounce) package all-beef wieners
- 4 (16 ounce) cans vegetarian beans
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons Dijon-style mustard
- 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons dark molasses
- 2 teaspoons hot-pepper sauce
- 2 scallions, including part of the green, chopped
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 1/3 cups yellow cornmeal
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Brown wieners in skillet. Cut diagonally into 1 inch pieces.
- Mix beans, ketchup, mustard, sugar, molasses and pepper sauce in 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish.
- Stir in wieners. (This much can be fixed ahead and refrigerated.)
- Meanwhile, sauté green onion in oil until soft. Set aside.
- Whisk cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
- Stir in green onion with oil.
- Mix eggs and milk in small bowl. Stir into flour mixture until smooth and spoon over casserole.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
- Let cool for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.
What is normal in the United States that British find weird? 349 more answers
There was a chap called Andrew de Vries. He was from Aberdeen, Scotland, a manager in the oil industry, and he was staying in Houston, Texas, on business.
Andrew and a colleague went out drinking one evening. Not a complete bender, just the sort of thing a couple of Aberdonians would do on an ordinary night out. Afterwards they called a cab to take them back to their hotel.
Except that they eventually realised that the driver was going the wrong way, and didn’t stop when they asked him to, and worked out that the driver didn’t mean them any good. Andrew and his friend managed to escape, in quite a nice area but with no idea where. So they went to a house to ask if they could use a phone (this was before mobiles). Andrew knocked on the door.
The next thing that happened was that gunshots were fired through the closed door. Andrew de Vries, having escaped a likely violent robbery , did what he would do instinctively back home in Aberdeen, he sought help from locals in the reasonable expectation of sympathy and support. For his trouble he was blasted to death. I can’t remember if the killer was acquitted or simply not prosecuted.
And that, dear readers, would seem to most British people to be stupendously, gobsmackingly weird.
A 21-year-old business student did the math, raised 700,000 dollars, and formally ordered the jet. Pepsi refused. He sued. Advertising law was never quite the same.
At the time, the Cola Wars were raging. Pepsi was challenging Coca-Cola with increasingly elaborate campaigns designed to win over consumers. One of the biggest was “Pepsi Stuff,” a promotion where customers collected points from caps, cans, and packaging to redeem branded merchandise.
The commercial showed excited teenagers redeeming points:
“T-shirt, 75 Pepsi Points.”
“Leather jacket, 1,450 points.”
“Sunglasses, 175 points.”
And in the final seconds came the punchline:
A teenager lands an AV-8 Harrier II military jet in the school parking lot. Students cheer. He removes his helmet and grins.
“Harrier Fighter Jet, 7,000,000 Pepsi Points.”
Everyone laughs. Obviously, it was a joke. A multi-million-dollar military jet in exchange for soda bottles? Absurd.
Everyone except John Leonard, a 21-year-old student in Seattle. He didn’t see a joke. He saw an opportunity. The commercial never said it was kidding, and the official Pepsi Stuff catalog allowed customers to buy extra points for ten cents each.
The math was simple:
7,000,000 × 0.10 dollars = 700,000 dollars
The real value of a Harrier jet was about 33 million dollars.
Leonard gathered money from friends, family, and a local investor. On March 27, 1996, he sent Pepsi the official order form along with a check for 700,008.50 dollars (700,000 for the points, 4.19 for shipping, and 15 original points as required).
Pepsi replied quickly, but not the way Leonard expected. They returned the check with a letter explaining that the jet was “obviously a joke” and not available. They offered merchandise and coupons instead. Leonard refused and filed suit: Leonard v. Pepsico, Inc.
Pepsi argued that:
- The offer was clearly a joke.
- The jet was never listed in the official catalog.
- They could not legally transfer a military aircraft to a private citizen.
- The price was satirical.
Leonard’s lawyers responded that advertisements can be binding offers when they are specific about price, item, and terms, and that Pepsi’s rules did allow the purchase of points. A reasonable viewer, they argued, could have believed the offer was real, given previous high-value rewards.
The case reached the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. In August 1999, Judge Kimba Wood ruled in Pepsi’s favor. The commercial was clearly a joke, and no reasonable person would believe that a military jet was actually being offered. The ad was puffery, not a contract. Leonard appealed, but the decision was upheld in 2000.
Leonard never got the jet, but the case became a landmark example in advertising law. It is now taught in law schools to illustrate contract formation and the “reasonable person” standard. Pepsi later revised its commercials to make the jet unobtainable and added “Just Kidding” disclaimers.
John Leonard did not win the lawsuit, but he became part of legal and advertising history. He proved something important: words matter, even in commercials.
Pepsi made a joke.
One kid took it seriously.
For a moment, a soft-drink company nearly had to explain to the U.S. military why it needed a Harrier jet.
The law chose common sense, but Leonard showed something else: sometimes the most reasonable thing you can do is simply ask, “Why not?”