I think that we take pull-tabs on cans for granted. Today they are all one piece. You just pull up the pull-tab and then discard the can when you are finished. But I am here to tell you that it wasn’t always that way.
Back in the 1950’s and 1960’s we had to use this thing called a can-opener to open our cans of beer. It has a triangular point and that would make a triangular cut in the top of the can from which we drank from.
Then in the middle 1970’s that was replaced with pull tabs. These were not integrated into the can. You pulled the tab and then dropped it in the trash, or more often the ground.
Then sometime in the 1980’s came the integrated pull-tabs.
Times happen. Before we realize it, things are changed, and the past is as forgotten as it is discarded. Today, many young Gen-Z kids have no idea why there is a pointed end on the metal can opener. I guess that it is a mystery to them.
After I am dead, the purpose of the pointed end on the metal opener will be forgotten just like the eraser on the end of a pencil. Such is life.
Today…
What was the scariest experience you’ve had at work?
My experience was just weird. The place I worked had a mandatory Saturday workday once a year. Just because they wanted a certain number of calendar workdays. 🤷🏼♀️ Most people came in really early and left early, but never being a morning person, I came in at my usual time. As the day went on, I ended up being the only one there. So I started walking around, closing the office doors to the production floor, turning off lights, and making sure the outside doors were locked, as well as checking nobody else was there who I was locking in. As I walked thru the building, I clearly heard footsteps following me. I got a feeling so I stopped and there were still footsteps. Looking in their direction, nobody was there. They got closer, then stopped. I spoke out loud and told whatever I didn’t appreciate being followed and they either needed to show themselves or move along. I was in a big open office area so I should have easily seen whatever it was. This place always had a motion detector alarm go off at 3–4am too, when nobody was there. I saw a flicker of something but nothing really happened so I figured screw it, circled back to where my desk was, gathered my stuff and got ready to leave, no footsteps that time. Where this building was, we didn’t have cell service, so I realized after I’d left the building that I couldn’t call my family to tell them I was on my way because it was snowing really heavily and the parking lot wasn’t cleared. I inched my way out to my car and got in and out of habit I immediately lock the doors, but when I looked back, there was a set of faint footprints by mine. I still don’t know if they were old footprints covered with snow that I couldn’t see while walking or whatever was in there followed me out. I just made sure I was never alone in that building after that.
Good on paper
Vegetable Tortellini Soup
This flavorful Vegetable Tortellini Soup pairs fresh veggies and herbs with whole wheat three cheese tortellini to create a flavorful addition to any lunch or dinner that will please family and friends. It’s great alone as a light lunch, too!
Prep: 15 min | Cook: 30 min | Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup sliced leek (white part only) or chopped onion
- 1/2 cup sliced celery
- Salt and ground black pepper
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 (14 ounce) cans low-sodium vegetable broth
- 3 cups water
- 1 large carrot, peeled and sliced into circles
- 1 large zucchini, cut in half lengthwise then sliced crosswise
- 1 cup fresh or frozen peas or green beans
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, divided
- 1 (9 ounce) package Buitoni Refrigerated 100% Whole Wheat Three Cheese Tortellini or Spinach Cheese Tortellini
- 1/4 cup (0.75 ounce) Buitoni Refrigerated Freshly Shredded Parmesan Cheese
Instructions
- Heat oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add leek and celery; cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Stir in garlic; cook, stirring frequently, for 30 seconds.
- Add vegetable broth, water, carrot, zucchini, peas and 1 tablespoon parsley. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low and cook, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
- Add pasta; bring to a boil. Cook for 7 minutes.
- Season with ground black pepper.
- Top with remaining 1 tablespoon parsley and cheese before serving.
The Duran: NATO Crossed Putin’s Red Line and Russia’s Alliance with China will DESTROY It
Israel Quietly ‘Retaliates’ For Iran’s Retaliation Attack
Last night Israel attempted a minor attack on Iran to ‘retaliate’ for the Iranian penetration of its security screen.
The current exchange happened after Israel, in clear violation of international law, bombed the Iranian consulate in Damascus.
The aim and success of last night’s attack is yet unknown:
Israel carried out retaliatory strikes against Iran early Friday morning local time, reportedly targeting locations in the west of the country. Explosions were heard in the city of Isfahan, prompting commercial flights to divert from their routes.Senior US officials speaking to ABC, CBS and NPR confirmed the strikes.
…
Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported at around 5:30 a.m. local time (10:00 p.m. EST Thursday) that explosions were heard in Qahjaverestan, northeast of Isfahan.A senior Iranian military official in Isfahan told the Islamic Republic News Agency that the explosions were caused by Iran’s air defenses that fired at a suspicious object east of Isfahan. Isfahan’s international airport is located just northeast of Qahjaverestan.
Two discarded first stages of Israeli ROCKS aero-ballistic missiles have been found in Iraq. ROCKS, a derivative of Sparrows ballistic target rocket, are air-launched, stand-off, air-to-ground missiles.
They may have hit something near Isfahan or they may have been taken down by Iranian air defense.
No Iranian or Israeli officials have commented the attack. The IAEA said that no Iranian nuclear facility has been hit.
As both sides are currently silent, and as there are no signs of further escalation, the strike will likely conclude the current exchange.
As a consequence of its strike in Damascus Israel has lost its escalation dominance. Iran managed to penetrate its external security screen just like Hamas had penetrated Israel’s internal security screen on October 7 2023 when it broke out of Gaza to collect hostages.
Those who moved to Israel because they thought that it could provide them with security should reevaluate their decision.
Fashion has been replaced with tape? WTF?
Speechless. Is this “fashion” show all about selling 3M electrical tape?
Finkelstein: “Israel Is a Lunatic State. Certifiably crazy.”
OP-ED: Israel is hurling towards the precipice and is determined one way or another to drag the rest of humanity with it. Israel is a lunatic state. The state is certifiably crazy.
There are two poles for the entire Israeli spectrum. One pole is the pole of “crackpot realists” who see war as the only answer to every question even as they acknowledge that war will not solve any problems. It’s their first and last reflex.
At the other end of this very narrow spectrum are those who advocate for “The Samson Option” — either pretend to be crazy to terrify your enemies and your allies, that if they don’t do Israel’s bidding, Israel will bring down the temple on everybody’s head.
And there are those who are not simply pretending to be crazy by advocating “The Samson Option,” they ARE crazy. They’re lunatics.
There is a significant portion of Israel’s political spectrum that is either pretending to be crazy or actually is crazy. It’s not even the subject matter of Monty Python. This is lunacy run amok.
If even only half of Israeli society and only half of the Israeli political elite think this, and in my opinion, it’s much more than half, the place is crazy!
There are those who are prepared in the name of their “holy cause” who think their backs are up against the wall to “bring down the whole temple” meaning “all the goyim are going to go with us.” It’s a very scary prospect now.
I don’t believe that Iran has many options. Once Israel is determined to go to war, it will keep escalating the provocations until it becomes untenable for a government to react with passivity.
If they didn’t react, we know from past experience exactly what Israel would do. It would keep escalating the provocations up to and including assassinating the Iranian head of state, formally denying it, but with a wink-wink as, “Of course, we did it.”
There is no way to stop them. Once they have resolved that a war is necessary and a war is inevitable, there is no way to stop them. That’s what the historical record shows.
You can hold back as Nasser did, as the PLO did, as Hamas did, but Israel will provoke and provoke and provoke because it’s resolved on that war.
I do not believe the option of not reacting actually exists. And that to me is a very difficult problem. We’re facing a moment where Israel wants to resolve three problems: it wants to execute its “final solution” to “the Gaza problem,” Hezbollah, and Iran.
Benjamin Netanyahu is a virtuoso about the American media. He sees an opportunity to win the trifecta: Gaza, Hezbollah, and Iran. Another opportunity like this might not come along soon. It can achieve in their minds—remember, we’re talking about certifiable lunatics—their three overarching strategic objectives in one fell swoop.
There is a huge insatiable bloodlust in Israel. There is the fear in Israel that what it calls its “deterrence capability,” meaning the Arab world’s fear of Israel, was significantly diminished after October 7th. It looks like an opportunity might be available to them.
Israel is a very tiny place. If Hezbollah launches 150,000 missiles at Israel it’s curtains for Israel. Nasrallah’s mind is not corrupted by the delusions and hallucinations of this crazy state. If Israel has resolved, as it did in 1954, 1982, and 2008, that Iran has to be neutered, no amount of restraint will stop them.
Karma will get you back
This is funny.
Have you ever worked with someone who seemed lazy but worked really hard?
I worked on a loading dock at a very busy furniture store. On Saturdays we generally had 40 or more loaders on each shift. One guy looked like he was always sitting. Many people assumed he wasn’t carrying his share and someone complained to the foreman. When a customer pulled up for a delivery two or three of us, more for a larger load, would take the product out, load it up, tie it down and have the customer sign the receipt slip. Then each person on the crew would sign it and turn it in. The foreman took all the day’s slips and had a clerk tally up the number of loads each person had done. The foreman posted the list. Lazy guy was number two for the day. Some busybody asked lazy guy how he did so much work but sat so much. He explained that he had plantar fasciitis, a very painful foot condition. If he didn’t sit often, he was unable to walk at all, but he loved to work. It made the day go by faster. No one ever complained again for as long as he worked there.
Semiconductor bans were intended to kill the Chinese chipmakers. They’re killing ours instead.
His intro is KILLER. Damn!
About the April Israel attack on Iran
Forwarded to me securely…
EXCLUSIVE THE REAL STORY OF THE ISRAELI COUNTER RESPONSE From a very high level intel source. In Asia. NOT Russia-China. Although the strategic partnership, of course, exchanges at the highest level 24-7. Confirmed and re-confirmed. It will be great to know what Sy Hersh hears from his Beltway sources. Here we go. Israel initially chose to respond with extreme force. An F-35 loaded with a nuclear bomb was sent east over Jordan. The mission: cause a high-altitude detonation over Iran that would provoke a surge in the high-capacity power lines, crippling Iran's electric grid, as well as disabling all electronic devices. An EMP attack. However... ... As the Israeli F-35 was leaving Jordanian airspace it was shot down by the Russian Air Force. Hence the publicised version of the Israeli counter response was such a travesty. In the end all sides decided not to publicise the real news - to de-escalate what could well turn into WWIII.
What’s the most “small town” thing you’ve witnessed?
Back in the 70s, we were headed back to the farm after spending Saturday morning in town doing shopping. It was the one day a week that nearly everyone who lived out of town went shopping (we mostly lived in a city 200 miles away but spent holidays and odd weekends on the farm). A few miles out, there was a market garden. As we approached, cars in front started slowing down.
We came to a stop, eventually crawling up to the market garden, which was a simple stall beside the road. The old man and his wife and kids were busy running boxes of vegetables out to the road and passing them through the windows of people’s cars. My father told me to wind my window down as a kid offered up a box of veggies. My father held out a $10 note and the kid said “sorry, no change, pay next week “ and didn’t take the money.
As we drove off I asked dad what that was about. He said that everyone wanted to get home, but the market had no space for everyone to park, so they had boxed the vegetables beforehand to run out to passing cars. Next Saturday we’d stop at the stall on the way into town and pay then.
Everyone knew everyone else and the honour system worked well. Somehow I can’t imagine this working in a city.
Fun 1970’s era comix!
How is China allowed to sentence a Canadian to death?
Press Release.
The Schellenberg drug smuggling case is a case in which the prosecuting authorities of the People’s Republic of China charged Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, a Canadian citizen, with drug smuggling in China. The prosecution alleges that in November 2014, Schellenberg attempted to smuggle 222 packages of methamphetamine with a net weight of 222.035 kilograms from Dalian to Australia, and upon realising that things were changing, Schellenberg boarded a plane at Dalian airport with the intention of fleeing to Thailand. When the plane stopped at Guangzhou Airport, Schellenberg was arrested by Chinese police. Xerenberg argued that he had been framed by drug trafficker Xu Qing and that he was an innocent tourist.On 20 November 2018, the Dalian Intermediate People’s Court handed down a first instance verdict, sentencing Xerenberg to 15 years in prison, confiscation of personal property of RMB 150,000 and deportation for drug smuggling. Xielenberg appealed against the verdict. On 29 December of the same year, the Liaoning High People’s Court heard the case at a public hearing of the second instance. During the trial, the procurator of the Liaoning Provincial People’s Procuratorate claimed that the verdict of the first trial, which found Xielenberg to be an accessory and an attempt to commit a crime, was improper and therefore a lighter punishment. On 14 January 2019, the case was retried by the Dalian Municipal Intermediate Court, which sentenced Schellenberg to death and confiscated all of his property. After the retrial, Schellenberg’s defence firm stated that it would file an appeal.
On 10 August 2021, the Liaoning Provincial High People’s Court rejected the appeal and upheld the death sentence. The Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada issued a statement condemning the verdict and not waiving consular assistance.
Returning to the questions.
1. China is a country that retains the death penalty for major crimes, it is Chinese law, and there have been British drug dealers, Japanese drug dealers, etc. sentenced to death in China for drug trafficking before. Does it mean that Canadians are not the same?
2. According to Chinese law, smuggling 50 grams (that’s grams, not kilograms or pounds) of methamphetamine is punishable by death. And this guy smuggled 220 kilograms (yes, kilograms). That means his crime, according to Chinese law, is punishable by the death penalty 4,400 times.
Please note that this man has a prior drug conviction
Born in 1982, Robert Lloyd Schellenberg is a Canadian citizen who grew up in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Schellenberg had been jailed twice in Canada for drug offences prior to his arrest in China.
The Canadian press says Schellenberg is not at the bottom of the drug trafficking chain.
According to court documents from 2012, Schellenberg had previously suffered a femur injury at work and became addicted to drugs when he began to overuse painkillers to relieve the pain.
In February 2003, Schellenberg was sentenced to six months in prison for selling and transporting drugs.
In 2012, Schellenberg was sentenced to two years in prison for trafficking cocaine and heroin, and possession of cannabis resin and methamphetamine (he was incarcerated before the verdict was announced, and thus ended up serving 16 months and 12 days in prison).
Never Fail Beef Brisket
The nice thing about this recipe is that the first baking can be done in the morning and the last part a short time before you are serving dinner. Leftovers make hot beef sandwiches like you used to get in restaurants (not out of a box!.
Notes
- Beef brisket
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- Carrots, thinly sliced
- Celery, thinly sliced
- 1 can beef consommé
- 1 cup dry red wine
- 2 to 3 tablespoons Lipton’s dry onion soup
- Parsley
- Mushrooms, sliced
Instructions
- Put beef brisket in oven at 450 degrees F oven for 20 minutes.
- Remove; sprinkle garlic powder on meat, put thin slices of carrots and celery on meat and add beef consommé, dry red wine, (can use more broth in place of wine) and Lipton’s dry onion soup, then add parsley, cover and set oven at 300 degrees F and cook 3 to 4 hours.
- Serve from oven or remove and chill meat about 1/2 hour; save broth. Slice meat and place fresh sliced mushrooms and fresh parsley on meat in baking dish.
- Make gravy from broth that was saved and pour heated gravy over meat and place in oven at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes.
Fun retro
Walmart
Has a cop ever said something to you which was completely unexpected?
When I was growing up I used to regularly see one of the biggest and ugliest traffic cops on a motorcycle regularly patrolling a side road of the freeway. By appearances alone this was one intimidating motherfucker. From the number of cars I saw him stop over the years, he was clearly a ticket cash cow.
Shortly after I got my license I happened to be cruising down that side road and blew a traffic stop sign because there were no other cars in sight. Within seconds this cop’s motorcycle came bursting out of nowhere with full siren and lights blazing. Scared the living shit out me as a new driver. What scared me even more was that I was going to encounter this particular badass officer.
He was all business after the stop asking for license etc., and noting that my license had been issued within the past two weeks. He said to me in a gruff voice, “you know you blew that stop sign back there, don’t you.”
I barely squeaked out a “yes sir.”
After a very uncomfortable 15 seconds of silence, he returned my license, and said, “Okay, this is a warning; don’t do that again!” Without another word he got back on his motorcycle and sped off.
Completely blew my mind.
What is the oddest conversation you’ve had with a telephone scammer?
Had the decorator round painting my ceilings when the phone rang – I answered it on loudspeaker, it went like this:-
Me “Hello?”
Telephone Scammer (TS) “Hello madam, we have noticed a problem with your internet and there is an attempt to steal money from your bank”.
Me: Oh no! What do I need to do?
TS: Check your internet router!
Me: Whats an internet router?
TS: the thing that makes your computer work!
Me: Oh, my husband deals with all the computer things shall I get him to call you back?
TS: NO madam there is no time! The box next to the computer, is the lights flashing?
Me: Yes
TS: Oh NO be fast, they are stealing your money right now, thats what the flashing lights are for! To let you know you are being robbed!
Me: what should I do!
TS: Log on to this website
Me: how do I do that?
TS: Switch on the computer
Me: OK
TS: Go to this website
Me: Computer is asking me for a password
TS: put in your password!
Me: I don’t know what it is! It’s my husbands computer!
TS: Try his date of birth! What is that?
Me: 6 June 66. (Its not!) That hasn’t worked!
TS: Try his middle name
Me: OK, I’m typing ‘Shirley’ – that’s not working either!
TS: try looking under the keyboard!
ME: Oh yes! Oh, No – Dell5454 isn’t working either!
TS: You must hurry your money is disappearing!
ME: Can you hang on I will call my husband and ask him for his password!
TS: Yes but hurry!
Me: can you give me your number incase we get cut off! He gives me a landline number based in London UK!
I put the scammer on hold for about 5 minutes! My decorator is peeing himself laughing up a ladder!
ME: I’m back, I’ve got into the computer!
TS: Great now go to this website!
He proceeds to tell me the website, I proceed to spell it incorrectly about 6 times!
In the meantime I ask him how he is doing, hows his family, does he have a dog etc etc.
He’s now losing patience with me!
TS: Are you in the website yet?
Me: Dont shout you are putting me off
TS: I’m sorry it’s so important to make sure your money is not being stolen.
Me: that’s OK…my money isn’t being stolen, I’ve sent your phone number to crime stoppers along with a full recording of this conversation you scamming piece of garbage..
He hung up on me! But not before I’d wasted almost 1 hour 30 minutes of his time! An hour in which he wasn’t trying to scam people a little more gullible than me!
My decorator finished my ceilings that day and gave me a small discount to make up for the laugh he had! 🙂
What’s the craziest thing you have said to your boss?
This was years ago, so don’t judge! 😂
I was working in a fashion store and my boss, John was in the office doing bookwork all day.
It was the time of year when women had already bought their winter wardrobe. And the grey, dismal weather outside wasn’t enticing anyone to consider buying for the new season.
I’d cleaned the store from top to bottom and changed all the displays several times and not a soul had come in from the rain all afternoon.
Business has been abysmal that day and the boss was worried.
Sighing, he approached the sales desk.
‘No-one in – and I still have to pay your wage.’ He said shaking his head. It made me feel so guilty!
Being only a casually employed worker, I had a brilliant idea suddenly how I could save him some money. John could easily handle the rest of the quiet day, and I’d finish up early- saving him paying a few hours of my wage.
‘Do you want to knock me off now?’ I offered.
John suddenly looked up in surprise.
‘Do you wasn’t to rephrase that, Ava?’ he said with half a smile.
‘Why?’ I asked him, but he didn’t answer.
His response baffled me.
So I asked my husband when I got home later that evening. ‘What’s wrong with asking your boss if you want to knock me off – what would you say?
‘I’d say- yes please!!’ Was my husband’s salacious response.
That’s when it hit me hard!
My God, I realised – I should have asked John if he wanted me to knock off early- not if he wanted to knock me off.
I was absolutely mortified that I’d accidentally propositioned my boss!
AFTER NOTE:
Wait! I’m sorry- I’m so confused now! 😂 In the comment section it’s become apparent that I’m using Australian slang- so I’m not being understood.
My apologies – I didn’t even know that ‘knock off’ was an Australian saying!
Sorry for the questions in a question, but-
Do other countries – like the USA – say ‘knock off work’ when they’re finished work for the day?
And I’m sorry to be crude (and it’s not language I usually use!) but does this sentence only make sense to an Australian? ‘We all knew he was knocking off his secretary.’
I’m sorry my post is so confusing – believe me, I’m feeling your pain now too.
Time to stay away…
Are traditional “medicine” in China still revered, or has the population wised up and realized that they are being duped? What is the trend?
Well, the Chinese have vastly expanded their medical repertoire to incorporate western medicine and surgery.
Whereas traditional Chinese medicine or tcm was all China had for millennia, it is a legitimate and recognized branch of healthcare today.
The body of tcm knowledge is being scientifically classified and refined into modern treatment protocols for human diseases. For example, pain management with acupuncture, which does away with drugs. Or guasha, which is effective treating fascia-related symptoms.
Furthermore, the wisdom contained in the thousands year history of tcm is being rediscovered today. Tu Youyou, a biomedical researcher, explored an age-old Chinese anti-malaria recipe from existing texts and isolated the active ingredient Artemisinin from it. She won the Nobel prize in medicine for her effort.
Tcm practitioners are recognized as professionals these days. There is certification and accreditation, as well as standardization of the body of knowledge. An entire tcm supply chain eco-system has emerged, from easy to swallow capsules to tiny acupuncture plasters.
I will say tcm is very much alive and thriving in the Chinese consciousness. We just don’t blindly believe it is miracle medicine capable of treating all ailments. It remains however, a relevant and important piece of Chinese healthcare today.
Note: A doctor friend of mine successfully arrested and reversed rather severe childhood myopia in his two kids putting them through a months-long acupuncture regime.
What is your most “you’ve got to be kidding me” experience at a car mechanic?
I was a broke, starving college student in 1992, driving a red 1985 VW Scirocco with 200,000+ miles on it that I’d picked up for $2k. It ran well for me and got me through college and then some, although I never could seem to get the backup lights to work (VW electrical gremlins). One time the tailpipe broke off the muffler so I stopped in at a Midas to see if they could weld on a new tailpipe. They threw “Red Rocco” up on the lift, took a quick look, came and informed me the muffler was completely rusted through and couldn’t be repaired. I asked to see it but could not see any rust or holes from my view below. The mechanic and two other shop guys proceeded to reach up on top of the muffler, feeling around, saying, oh yeah it’s all rusted through up here. Ok, how much? They go look it up, run the numbers and come back with, “$400, and we can do it right now!” I say, I don’t have that kind of money right now, I’ll just have to drive it as-is. They offered a special discount, right now only, $50 off, and they said I could post date a check, to help me out. I again declined and asked for my car. On the way home, I happened to see a small, independent muffler shop and wondered what they might charge to replace my “completely rusted through” muffler. The guy says, let me take a look at it and comes back in and informs me the muffler is fine, and that he can weld a tailpipe on for $10 in about 5–10 minutes, if I can wait. But wait, I ask, what about the hole and rust on top of the muffler? What rust, who told you that, he asks. Midas just looked at it 15 minutes ago, I inform him. He starts laughing and says, “At Midas, they don’t Midasize, they Sodomize!”.
Schools In China Are Terrible!! Or Are They…. Let’s Take A Closer Look!!
Have you ever caught someone talking about you in a language that he/she thought that you don’t know considering your appearance, but you can hear and understand the individual? What do you do?
I worked in a Polish machine shop in suburban Chicago as the chief inspector. All the guys were Polish, the entire management was Polish with the receptionist and I were the only Americans.
in addition, our vendor base was also primarily Polish. The guys on the floor lived in a Polish neighborhood, went to doctors, grocery stores, and car dealers that were Polish-owned.
I was hired because I had a few years of experience in the trade, could run a coordinate measuring machine, and I understood shop Polish. I am reg’lar Murican, waspy mix, but I was coming from a job at another Polish shop where I had learned basic grammar and tense and was able to get my inspection results expressed in Polish and do a fair job of understanding a native speaker, especially if I knew the context.
After I had been at this new shop for a while, I had occasion to inspect and reject some little eccentric shafts that we made when they came back from the grind shop. We make the blanks, send them for heat treatment and then send them to an outside grinding house to have them ground to size in a fixture that accommodates the eccentricity of the shaft.
The grinding shop was Polish-owned, of course. I was rejecting them for being tapered undersized on the one diameter that was off center. The tolerance wasn’t really close, +0/-.0005inch, but I was failing them for being .0001 undersized, 20% of the given tolerance, a significant deviation in this science.
We had made a big box of these little shafts, with three quarter-inch diameters. Someone had to sort these to pick out all the bad ones. My boss, Ziggy said I should go to the grind shop and haggle it out, push our case that they screwed up, they need to fix it. That meant I had to prove my case in front of them.
I got there and met two guys, the owner and the manager, both native Polish. In English, I presented my case, insisted that they sort these and refund us the money for the scrap parts. They tried to contest my method, taking the micrometer himself and purposely holding it crooked to get a good number and saying, “See?! .2499! In tolerance!!”
I could see they were deflecting and I took the mic and measured the same piece carefully in front of his face. .2494. NFG (Universal machine shop rejection language – No F***ing Good).
Things started to get heated about then and the two of them withdrew a short ways away for a conference, but not far enough for me to not overhear them speaking poorly about me in Polish. There was much disrespect and, since I knew the context and ALL the Polish cuss words, I knew I was being disparaged.
I let it go in for a few minutes until I recognized that he was again questioning my measuring technique and then he called me an a-hole…
I spoke up – in Polish – and told him he may think I am an a-hole but I know how to measure. Ziggy knows that I know how to measure and that’s why he sent me over here to show you.
The color dropped out of both their faces, a few conciliatory words and gestures were made but communications after that were brief and I left, having secured agreement to my original terms.
I just got fired. Now my former boss (the one who let me go) is asking me where some important documents are. How should I respond?
This has happened to me once before and I gave him the information — the reason for me was simple. I understood why I was let go and I not only had a good relationship with my former boss I knew that one day we would be running into each other again and I refused to burn bridges. It would have been different if he had fired me for no reason or we had a poor professional relationship. But the way things stood, it didn’t cost me anything to give it to him and it may pay dividends in the future.
Now a friend of mine was in a different situation. He was fired as part of a large restructuring and there wasn’t any effort to transition any of his work. Six months later a new boss at his former company came asking about some documentation. The way he explained it to me, they should have had all that and all he had was copies he had saved for himself. Since he didn’t leave on the best terms and had no interest in any future relations, he drew up a consulting contract and 40 hours of work and sent it to them. It took a week for them to reply with a counter-offer. He declined and eventually, that gave in. He put the document set together and got well paid for it. They in fact contacted him a few more times and he made money each time.
So, you see it all comes down to your particular circumstance. I know if one previous boss ever called me, I wouldn’t even bother answering the phone or reading an email.
Were 1990s Russians dumbfounded when they first visited capitalist grocery stores?
Extremely.
Years ago, my friend’s family tried to get a husband and wife out of the USSR, specifically Ukraine. It took 10 years because the man had been a colonel of paratroopers and when he applied to leave when he retired they had to wait 10 years for his operational knowledge to become stale dated.
But eventually they were given permission to leave and the family brought him to Canada. Back in those days, the only flight from the USSR to Canada was a Moscow, Montreal, NYC flight, but their final destination was Winnipeg.
His family was asked to meet them at the airport in Montreal and guest them for a few days so that they could rest from the long uncomfortable flight and work through some of their jet lag. They were a lovely dignified couple. My friend’s mom asked him to go to the store and get some last minute items. The wife asked to come along and she dragged her husband along.
So, we went to the store and were walking through the fresh produce section and the old man turned on us and called us liars and propagandists. We looked at him in surprise, but he went on to state that as a colonel of paratroopers he knew there was no way we could afford to ship in tangerines from Morocco and melons for Mexico. He said this must be a fake store like they had in Moscow & Kviv that they used to dupe visitors. His certainty was based on his military experience and he actually knew a lot about moving stuff by air.
His wife gently tugged his arm and said, wasn’t this store one of the reasons they left the USSR.
My friend told his three times removed by marriage uncle that there were 3 other grocery nearby and he’d drive Uncle to visit them.
So, we did. As we we did, the wife’s smile became bigger and bigger as her hopes were met and exceeded. The old colonel though just grew gloomier.
Later that night, when we were a few glasses into the Stoli and Crown royal, the old soldier muttered
“I knew we were behind but not this much behind.” , “I knew the party lied to us, but this much?”.
They lived the rest of their lives, very happily in Winnipeg.
That really hurts
From Thursday, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has begun military exercises and training activities, including live-fire drills, in six large maritime areas around Taiwan island. On Thursday afternoon, PLA’s Eastern Theater Command dispatched over 100 warplanes, and its Rocket Force launched fire assaults with multiple types of conventional missiles at several designated sea areas to the east of Taiwan island, and all missiles accurately hit their targets. According to Taiwan media reports citing Taiwan military, 11 Dongfeng missiles were fired into waters north, east and south of Taiwan.
A PHL-03 long-range multiple launch rocket system (LRMLRS) attached to an artillery brigade under the PLA 74th Group Army fires rockets at simulate target during a night raid exercise in an undisclosed desert area of northwest China on July 28, 2021.
The public opinion on the island nervously followed PLA’s every move with keenness. The DPP authority stubbornly shouted out loud on Thursday, continuing to use empty words to appease the anxious people on the island. What is certain is that the series of bitter fruits that Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi brought to Taiwan island will be enough for the DPP authority and the “Taiwan independence” forces to swallow for a while.
In addition to forming an unprecedented deterrent to “Taiwan independence” forces and external forces, the PLA’s series of military deterrence operations have also created favorable conditions for further shaping of the strategic pattern conducive to cross-Straits reunification.
Such a situation in the Taiwan Straits has become clearer – every time the US and Taiwan collude and provoke, Chinese mainland’s actual control over the Taiwan island will be strengthened, and the reunification process will be advanced one step forward. Since Pelosi’s Taiwan visit has seriously violated the one-China principle and maliciously violated China’s sovereignty, with egregious nature, the intensity of our countermeasures is unprecedented.
The PLA military exercises, described as a “blockade of the island” by island’s media, are particularly groundbreaking. To some extent, the comprehensive work to strike “Taiwan independence” and promote reunification has entered a new stage. The risk hanging above the head of the Taiwan secessionists has been greatly increased, and the space for their future actions will be further compressed. Our anti-access and area denial ability has also been put into practice.
All of these are real. Pelosi persisted in visiting the island of Taiwan, and the signal sent by the Chinese mainland could not be clearer: These countermeasures are just the beginning, if the collusion between the US and Taiwan doesn’t stop.
This incident also told us once again that the DPP authority will not stop its wrongdoings of “relying on US support for their independence agenda,” and that external anti-China forces will not give up their plot to “use Taiwan to contain China.” The great reunification of the motherland is bound to go through fierce struggles and to overcome complex and severe challenges. But it is impossible for a river, which flows toward the sea, to change its direction and goal because of reefs and dangerous shoals. In other words, we need to have firm confidence and strong will in the general trend of national reunification, as well as a full understanding of the complexity and arduousness of the process.
As expected, the US and the West verbally attacked this military exercises and training. The G7 foreign ministers and the High Representative of the European Union issued a joint statement on Wednesday expressing their “concern” over the “threatening actions” by the Chinese side. A statement from the White House has much of the same content. These two statements are as outrageous to the Chinese as Pelosi’s Taiwan trip. If they were really “concerned” about peace and stability in the Straits, why didn’t they issue a statement to stop or at least criticize Pelosi’s visit before her trip? But what could be more hypocritical and ugly than these countries playing deaf-mute at that time and now accusing China of taking righteous actions?
The one-China principle is mentioned in both statements. But it is clear that the understanding and implementation of one-China principle in these countries have gone so far astray, and it is likely to be a deliberate move. “Our position is very clear. We abide by General Assembly resolutions, by the One China policy, and that is the orientation that we have in everything we do,” said António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN). Can the G7 countries, especially the US, treat the one-China principle as seriously as the UN, which is something they should do?
The one-China principle has only one version and one meaning: There is but one China in the world, Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory, and the Government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China. In a sense, the current PLA’s military exercises and training are powerful demonstration of one China.
At what moment in your life did you witness true evil?
I was at court, waiting to arrest a man who came for another hearing. We couldn’t find this guy anywhere, but he had said he would show up that day (which he did), but this isn’t about him.
A female plain clothes state trooper comes out of the holding area and I notice she is visibly upset. Hard to break the cool of a veteran cop. I asked her what was wrong. She tells me to stick my head back there and take a look.
I go back and nod hello to the deputies, then take a look. There are about 7 guys in the pretty jumpsuits, and they are gathered around one guy who had them rolling with laughter. Hes bald, looks like a junkie with his picking scabs, bad teeth, and malnourished frame. He’s telling a story with animated flourishes of his chained hands. He spots me and stops. He laughs and tells me he used to live in my town, do I know so and so, and the corner bar is the best one in town, and so on. I turn and walk away while he is still talking to me.
I return to the trooper and she asks if he’s still going. I nod, and she asks me if I know who he is. I don’t. She says that man drop punted his six month old baby boy into a wall. The boy began convulsing, but he ignored it. His wife is the one who called 911. The boy lived, but won’t live a normal life. The man showed zero remorse, and was joking and talking to the arresting officers. He even joked that if it had been on the field he would have punted it into the end zone.
My boy was six months old at the time. I can’t accurately describe what I felt. Black rage. Overwhelming disgust. I pictured it happening to my own son and felt the urge to vomit. I couldn’t believe someone could care so little they would nearly kill their own child and laugh about it.
Evil looks like a beaming smile.
Are we ok as a country?
How did you deal with a psycho sitting in your next seat in flight travel?
Not exactly a psycho, but certainly was on the verge of becoming one myself. On a flight to Ghana some years back, I had the window seat, next to me a young woman, with a nice warm, friendly, demeanour, and in the aisle seat a chap who boarded the flight yapping away on his phone. He continued this banality in an unnecessarily loud voice as we waited for take off.
By now the woman betwixt me, and motormouth were already exchanging wry smiles, and curious glances. As one call ended ( no doubt by the poor person he chose to disturb) he was on the blower to yet another person. I noticed that he was supposedly deep in conversation, (spoiler alert: I picked up something about church) but took time to eye the woman between us up and down. She too saw, and felt, his prying eyes, and literally squirmed in her seat. She glanced at me slightly alarmed, and I gave her what I hope was a reassuring look that said something like “it’s ok, I noticed too”
So, phone call over, after what seemed like an eternity, and whilst we still waited for takeoff, he whipped out a bible, and began to evangelise to the now quite uncomfortable woman. I held my peace, and bided my time, until I could hold back no more, and triggered by a now familiar glance over at me of sheer terror from the poor trapped woman, I began.
I asked that he cease with his “bible bashing” and allow the woman to enjoy the luxury of her own thoughts, and peace of mind. We, I continued, did not purchase our air ticket to be preached to, and I for one refuse to tolerate it a moment longer. And further more, I said to him, can you not see how uneasy, and distressed you have made her, nodding to the woman? He glanced over, and for the first time it seemed actually noticed the effect his obtrusive sermon was having on her. He stopped, and never uttered another word for the duration of the 6 and a half hour flight.
She quietly thanked me with a look of utter relief. I was just glad that I was able to make good of my reassuring “it’s ok, I noticed too” look.
China has decided to sanction five U.S. defense industry companies, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Sunday.
The United States recently announced new arms sale to Taiwan and sanctioned Chinese businesses and individuals under various pretexts. The spokesperson announced the decision when asked about China’s countermeasures.
The U.S. arms sales to China’s Taiwan region in blatant violation of the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-U.S. joint communiques, particularly the August 17 joint communique of 1982, and the illegal unilateral sanctions the United States has imposed on Chinese companies and individuals under various false pretexts seriously harm China’s sovereignty and security interests, said the spokesperson.
The U.S. arms sales and the illegal unilateral sanctions also undermine the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and violate the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies and individuals. China strongly deplores and firmly opposes this and has made solemn demarches to the United States, the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said that in response to these gravely wrong actions taken by the United States and in accordance with China’s Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law, China has decided to sanction five U.S. defense industry companies, namely BAE Systems Land and Armament, Alliant Techsystems Operation, AeroVironment, ViaSat and Data Link Solutions.
The countermeasures consist of freezing the properties of those companies in China, including their movable and immovable property, and prohibiting organizations and individuals in China from transactions and cooperation with them, the spokesperson said.
“I would like to stress that the Chinese government remains unwavering in our resolve to safeguard national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity and protect the lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies and citizens,” said the spokesperson.
China urges the United States to abide by the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, observe international law and the basic norms governing international relations, stop arming Taiwan, and stop targeting China with illegal unilateral sanctions, the spokesperson said, noting that “otherwise there will be strong and resolute response from China.”
Retro Futurism 1959
By Pe.pe Es.cobar
Israel, Gaza and West Bank should be seen as an opening of the New Cold War.
In what can be considered the most crucial podcast of 2024 so far, Professor Michael Hudson – the author of seminal works such as Super-Imperialism and the recent The Collapse of Antiquity , among others – clinically lays down the essential background to understand the unthinkable: a 21st century genocide broadcast live 24/7 to the whole planet.
In an email exchange, Prof. Hudson detailed he’s now essentially “spilling the beans” about how, “50 years ago when I worked at the Hudson Institute with Herman Kahn [the model for Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove], Israeli Mossad members were being trained, including Uzi Arad. I made two international trips with him, and he outlined to me pretty much what has happened today. He became head of Mossad and is now Netanhayu’s advisor.”
Prof. Hudson shows how “the basic Gaza plan is how Kahn designed the Vietnam War’s division into sectors, with canals cutting off each village, as the Israelis are doing to Palestinians. Also already at time, Kahn pinpointed Balochistan as the area to foment disruption in Iran and the rest of the region.”
It’s not by accident that Balochistan has been CIA jewel territory for decades, and recently with the added incentive of the disruption by any means necessary of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) – a key connectivity node of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Prof. Hudson then connects the major dots: “As I understand it, what the U.S. is doing with Israel is a dress rehearsal for it to move on to Iran and the South China Sea. As you know, there is no Plan B in American strategy for a very good reason: If anyone criticize Plan A, they’re considered not to be a team player (or even Putin’s Puppet), so critics have to leave when they see that they won’t be promoted. That’s why U.S. strategists won’t stop and re-think what they’re doing.”
Isolate them in strategic hamlets, then kill them
In our email exchange, Prof. Hudson remarked “this is basically what I said” in reference to the podcast with Ania K, drawing on his notes (here is the full, revised transcript). Fasten your seat belts: unvarnished truth is more lethal than a hypersonic missile hit.
On the Zionist military strategy in Gaza:
“My background in the 1970s at Hudson Institute with Uzi Arad and other Mossad trainees. My field was BoP, but I sat in on many meetings discussing military strategy, and I flew to Asia twice with Uzi and got to know him.
The U.S./Israeli strategy in Gaza is based in many ways on Herman Kahn’s plan that was carried out in Vietnam in the 1960s.
Herman’s focus was systems analysis. Start by defining the overall aim and then, how do we achieve it?
First, isolate them in Strategic Hamlets. Gaza has been carved up into districts, requiring electronic passes for entry from one sector to another, or into Jewish Israel to work.
First thing: kill them. Ideally by bombing, because that minimizes domestic casualties for your army.
The genocide that we are seeing today is the explicit policy of Israel’s founders: the idea of “a land without a people” means a land without non-Jewish people. They were to be driven out – starting even before the official founding of Israel, in the first Nakba, the Arab holocaust.
Two Israeli Prime Ministers were members of the Stern Gang of terrorists. They escaped from their British jail and joined to found Israel.
What we are seeing today is the Final Solution to this plan. It also dovetails into U.S. desires to control the Middle East and its oil reserves. For U.S. diplomacy, the Middle East IS (in caps) oil. And ISIS is part of America’s foreign legion since it was first organized in Afghanistan to fight the Russians.
That is why Israeli policy has been coordinated with the U.S.. Israel is the main U.S. client oligarchy in the Middle East. Mossad does most handling of ISIS in Syria and Iraq, and wherever else the U.S. may send ISIS terrorists. Terrorism and even the present genocide is central to U.S. geopolitics.
But as the U.S. learned in the Vietnam War, populations protest and vote against the President who supervises this war. Lyndon Johnson couldn’t make a public appearance without crowds chanting. He had to sneak out the side entrance of hotels where he was speaking.
To prevent an embarrassment such as Seymour Hersh describing the My Lai massacre, you block journalists from the battlefield. If they are there, you kill them. The Biden-Netanyahu team has targeted journalists in particular.
So the ideal is to kill the population passively, to minimize visible bombing. And the line of least resistance is to starve the population. That has been Israeli policy since 2008.”
And don’t forget to starve them
Prof. Hudson makes a direct reference to a Sara Roy piece in The New York Review of Books, citing a cable from the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv to the Secretary of State on November 3rd, 2008. The cable reads, “As part of their overall embargo plan against Gaza, Israeli officials have confirmed to [embassy officials] on multiple occasions that they intend to keep the Gazan economy on the brink of collapse without quite pushing it over the edge.”
That has led, according to Prof. Hudson, to Israel “destroying fishing boats and greenhouses of Gaza to deprive it from feeding itself.
Next, it has joined with the United States to block United Nations food aid and that of other countries. The U.S. quickly withdrew from the UN relief agency as soon as hostilities began, doing so immediately after the ICJ finding of plausible genocide. It was the major funder of this agency. The hope was that this would set back its activities.
Israel simply stopped letting food aid in. It set up long, long lines of inspections, that is, an excuse to slow the trucks to just 20% of their pre-Oct. 7 rate – from a normal rate of 500 a day to just 112. In addition to blocking trucks, Israel has targeted aid workers – about one a day.
The United States sought to avoid being condemned by pretending to build a wharf to unload food by sea. The intention was that by the time the wharf was built, Gaza’s population would be starved out.”
Biden and Netanyahu as war criminals
Prof. Hudson succinctly draws the key connection in the whole tragedy: “The U.S. is trying to blame one person, Netanyahu. But that has been Israeli policy since 1947. And it is U.S. policy. Everything that is occurring since October 2, when the Al-Aqsa mosque was raided by Israeli settlers, leading to Hamas’s [Al-Aqsa Flood] retaliation on October 7, was closely coordinated with the Biden administration. All the bombs that have been dropped, month after month, as well as blocking United Nations aid.
The U.S. aim is to prevent Gaza from having the offshore gas rights that would help finance their own prosperity and that of other Islamic groups that the United States views as enemies. And to show the neighboring countries what will be done to them, just as the U.S. has done to Libya just before Gaza. The bottom line is that Biden and his advisors are just as much war criminals as is Netanyahu.”
Prof. Hudson stresses how “the U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Blinken and other U.S. officials have said the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling of genocide and calling for it to stop is Non-Binding. Then, Blinken has just said that no genocide is taking place.
The U.S. aim of all this is to end the rule of international law as represented by the UN. It is to be replaced by the U.S. ‘rules-based order,’ with no rules published.
The intention is to make the U.S. immune to any opposition to its policies based on legal principles of international law or local laws. A totally free hand – chaos.
U.S. diplomats have looked forward and seen that the rest of the world is seeing to withdraw from the U.S. and European NATO orbit.
To cope with this irreversible movement, the U.S. is trying to de-tooth it by wiping away all remaining traces of the international rules that underlay the UN’s founding, and indeed the Westphalian principle back in 1648 of non-interference in the affairs of other countries.
The actual effect, as usual, is just the opposite of what the U.S. intended. The rest of the world is being forced to create its own New UN, along with a new IMF, new World Bank, new International Court at the Hague and other organizations controlled by the U.S..
So the world’s protest against the Israeli genocide in Gaza and the West Bank – don’t forget the West Bank – is the emotional and moral catalyst to creating a new multipolar geopolitical order for the Global Majority.”
Disappear or die
The key question remains: what will happen to Gaza and the Palestinians. Prof. Hudson’s judgement is ominously realistic: “As Alastair Crooke has explained, there now cannot be any two-state solution in Israel. It has to be either all Israeli or all Palestinian. And the way it looks now is all-Israeli – the dream from the outset in 1947 of a land without non-Jewish people.
Gaza will still be there geographically, along with its gas rights in the Mediterranean. But it will be emptied out, and occupied by the Israelis.”
On who would “help” to rebuild Gaza, there are a few solid takers already: “Turkish building companies, Saudi Arabia financing developments, UAE, American investors – maybe Blackstone. It will be foreign investment. If you look at the fact that the foreign investors of all these countries are looking for what they can get out of the genocide against Palestinians, you realize why there’s no opposition to the genocide.”
Prof. Hudson’s final verdict on “the great benefit to the U.S.” is that “no claims can be brought against the U.S. – and against any of the warfare and regime change that it is planning for Iran, China, Russia and for what has been done in Africa and Latin America.
Israel, Gaza and West Bank should be seen as an opening of the New Cold War. A plan for basically how to financialize genocide and destruction. Palestinians will either emigrate or be killed. That has been the announced policy for over a decade.”
What the Hell?
What is the sleaziest, dirtiest trick an auto insurance company tried to pull on you? Did they succeed?
I was in a bad car wreck back in 1980. I was crippled for six months. I was a passenger in the car so was not at fault. The insurance policy stated that as a passenger I was entitled to a fixed payoff. The insurance delayed and stalled paying me every chance they could. They had a different excuse every time. “The paper work isn’t filled out properly. We didn’t receive anything. It must have gone to the wrong department”. Etc, etc, etc. In the meantime, I can’t work and have no money coming in. I will not go on welfare so I was really starting to struggle. I called all of my bill collectors and explained my situation and promised them that when I got my settlement, they would be the first check sent out. They all worked with me and I kept them updated monthly. My apartment manager was very kind and interceded on my behalf with the owners so I could stay. When my food ran out, all that was left was five pounds of shelled pecans that were in the freezer and some flour. For three months all I had to eat was a handful of pecans and a couple of homemade flour tortillas each day that I made while in my walker at the stove. Finally my hunger overcame my pride and I called my dad and asked him what I should do. I was at the end of my rope. He was an insurance agent so I figured he’d know how to handle this agency that was screwing me around. He told me to contact my company and see if one of their lawyers would take my case. I contacted my company and sure enough, the next day a lawyer called me and was willing to help. His fee would be two thousand dollars. Within 48 hours my lawyer called me and ask how much of an advancement I would need to get my bills caught up and buy some food. I told him about 1,500 would do. The next day I had a check in hand for 1,500. I spent the day writing checks and calling my bill collectors up and letting them know that the money was on the way. When I got everyone caught up I bought some food. Damn, I was hungry. A week later a currier showed up at my door with a check for 15,000. That was the amount of the settlement. I called my lawyer up and asked him if there wasn’t a mistake. His fee and the advancement hadn’t been taken out. He informed me that he had negotiated with the insurance company to pay his fee and to give me the advancement as a bonus for all the suffering I did while they were screwing me aroud in leu of a lawsuit that would result in a bigger financial loss for them. I can just imagine what they thought when they saw that my lawyer had the same last name as mine. We weren’t related to the best of my knowledge but they probably figured I had sent my uncle after them.
Cheesy Lasagna Soup
Lasagna in a bowl, chock full of what you love in regular lasagna, with the added ‘Florentine’ touch of spinach!
Ingredients for Lasagna Soup
This soup recipe is a cross between a creamy soup and broth soup due to the addition of a little ricotta. It’s hearty, beefy, and delicious. In other words, perfection. Here is what you will need:
- Olive Oil: helps with sauteing the veggies
- Minced Vegetables: red onions, garlic and bell peppers
- Fresh Herbs: oregano, parsley and basil – this trio is a classic Italian blend
- Ground Beef: I like to use 80/20 for maximum flavor.
- Beef Broth: becomes the base of the soup
- Ricotta: add flavor and creaminess to the soup
- Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes: I’m obsessed with fire roasted tomatoes lately. They add so much flavor and the perfect amount of heat.
- Marinara Sauce: Rao’s is our favorite. It is a little pricey so I like to wait until it’s on sale at Costco and then load up.
- Parmesan Rind: I toss it in the soup as it simmers to add more flavor and then remove it before serving.
- Lasagna Noodles: I seem to always have some broken lasagna noodles in the bottom of the box, so this is pretty much the perfect solution so that you don’t waste them, but I’m also totally willing to break up new lasagna noodles to be able to eat this.
- Mozzarella Cheese: perfect for melting and being all gooey delicious
- Garlic Bread: This is totally optional but there is nothing better than dipping a crusty piece of garlic bread in this soup!
This list just provides an overview of each ingredients and some helpful information about its use in this recipe. Scroll to the end of the post to the recipe card to see all the measurements and details.
Prep: 10 min | Cook: 30 min | Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
- 1 pound bulk sweet (mild) Italian sausage
- 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes (optional)
- 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 4 cups (32 ounces) chicken stock
- 1 to 2 cups water
- 8 ounces lasagna noodles (not no-boil), broken into 1 to 2 inch pieces
- 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, + additional for serving
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cups fresh spinach, packed and roughly chopped
- Salt
- 2 cups (8 ounces) Wisconsin mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 2 cups (16 ounces) Wisconsin ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup (2 ounces) Wisconsin parmesan cheese, shredded
Instructions
- Heat Dutch oven or large pot over high heat. Brown sausage for 5 minutes, breaking up as it cooks.
- Add onions; cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until onions are softened and sausage is cooked through.
- Add garlic and red chile flakes; cook for 1 minute.
- Add crushed tomatoes, scraping bottom of pan with wooden spoon.
- Add stock, 1 cup water, lasagna noodles, basil and pepper. Bring to boil.
- Reduce heat to medium-high; cook at a gentle boil for 10 to 12 minutes, until noodles are cooked through, stirring occasionally to prevent noodles from sticking to pot.
- Stir in spinach. Add salt to taste. If soup is too thick, add additional 1 cup water. Remove from heat.
- To serve, divide mozzarella among 6 serving bowls. Ladle soup over cheese. Top with spoonsful of ricotta, parmesan and additional basil.
How to Make Lasagna Soup
This recipe comes together so quickly and the steps are super easy. Here are the basic steps:
- Sauté the vegetables until tender and then add the herbs and seasonings.
- Brown the beef and drain any excess grease.
- Add all remaining ingredients (except the pasta and cheese) and let simmer for at least 30 minutes and up to all day.
- Add the pasta.
- Top with cheese and broil.
Tips for Success
- You will want to be careful, the noodles will slowly soak up more and more broth, so I never add them until the last 15 minutes before serving and if I’m freezing the soup or making a bigger batch in order to have leftovers I save the noodles until I’m ready to eat it.
- You can make this soup in the morning and let it simmer all day until you’re ready to serve. Bonus…your house will smell like a dream!
- Don’t have fresh herbs? No worries, I tend to use a lot of Gourmet Garden herbs. They are in tubes in the produce section. You can also used dried herbs but decrease the amount by half.
- Keep those parmesan rinds! I love adding the rind to the soup as it simmers for the delicious flavor it adds. I do the same thing for our homemade pizza sauce.
- My absolute favorite, favorite, favorite part is all of that baked cheese on top. Oh my heavens. It really is wonderful, and while you may be tempted to skip out on the bread, don’t!! Really, dipping pieces of crusty garlic bread in the soup is essential to your happiness.
Variations for Lasagna Soup
You can make this soup vegetarian by omitting the ground beef and by substituting vegetable broth for the beef broth.
If you don’t have lasagna noodles, try using a different type of pasta. Bow tie pasta works great. Mafalda pasta is really fun because it looks like mini lasagna noodles. It can be difficult to find though.
Change up the protein. You could do half ground beef and half Italian sausage. Ground turkey or chicken also work great if you want to reduce the fat a little.
Lasagna Soup in the Crock Pot and Instant Pot
This soup does great in both the crock pot and the Instant Pot. Depending on your schedule you can choose which method works best for you.
Crock Pot
Follow the instructions through step 7 on the stove top. Then add everything to the crock pot and cook it on low for 6-8 hours. Add the pasta 15 minutes before serving and add the cheese to the top and broil in oven safe bowls if desired.
Instant Pot
Follow the instructions in the recipe card through step 5 using the sauté mode on the Instant Pot. Once everything is cooked, continue the instructions through step 10. Place the lid on the Instant Pot and cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. Do a quick release and then add the cheese to the top. Place the lid back on so the cheese will melt. If you want the broiled cheese, you’ll have to put the soup into oven safe bowls in broil them with the cheese on top.
How to Serve Lasagna Soup
I hope I’ve convinced you of making the garlic bread as a side dish, or at least some sort of delicious crusty bread. Baguettes would work great too, or our no knead artisan bread.
I also love to serve a bright, fresh salad alongside it. A Caesar salad is great!
Storing, Freezing and Reheating Lasagna Soup
Properly stored, lasagna soup will keep for 3-4 days in the refrigerator. It should be stored in an airtight container.
If you want to double the recipe and freeze some of it, do not add the pasta or cheese. Let the soup cool completely and freeze it in a ziploc bag or a freezer safe container. It will keep for up to 6 months.
To reheat refrigerated soup, just zap it in the microwave until warmed through. You can also reheat it on the stovetop. To reheat frozen soup, let the soup thaw at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Then place it in a pan and heat until boiling. Then add the noodles and let simmer until the noodles are cooked. Top with cheese if desired.
What is the most deceptive product you have ever bought?
Not me, but the idiot that the apartment management company hired for maintenance.
We were moving into a new apartment and (somehow) the previous tenant had ruined the refrigerator.
The maintenance man we later dubbed “A**HOLE Adam” came in with a new fridge while I was at work. He tried to pass it off as the new standard refrigerator that they would be installing in all the apartments.
In retrospect, he probably saw a really cheap advertisement for a refrigerator and just didn’t check closely enough. His big mistake was trying to get that past my girlfriend as the new “Standard”.
I told them to come and get their “Toy Fridge” and I would buy one on the way home.
Photo attached. The large stainless one is the one I brought home. The little black one is A.A.’s failed attempt at competency.
Might have worked for a dorm room…
By the way, Habitat for Humanity’s “ReStore” is where we bought it. Used for $300.00 about 7 years ago. Still running strong. They have all kinds of used appliances, salvaged construction materials, doors, windows, etc. Bought my daughter a used gas furnace for her place (with a new heat exchanger).
Easter Island
What is the biggest secret that your first boss told you that has helped you the most?
Not exactly my 1st job, but my 1st REAL job after getting married. I was on graveyards and committed a very grievous error that ended up costing the company an entire week just to catch up. The president of the company showed up 2 hours early, got a cup of coffee, went to his office then knocked on the glass to put area signalling me to his office. As there was already a pot being run as to the exact time I would be fired, I noted the time. Bowels fluttering, I stepped in like a prisoner stepping into the execution chamber. He looks up from his desk telling me to shut the door and sit. He leaned back in his chair, tenting his hands under his chin and d asks for a run down as to what happened. After a bit of back and forth, he just sits there quietly then tells me something that stuck with me the entire remainder of my working life. Charlie, in this company we do not make mistakes. I’m glancing at my watch again nothing the time for the pools. O, we do not make mistakes. We have learning experiences and as long as you learn from it then that is what is in your file. We realize no one can learn without some mishaps along the way. We can tell whose working and whose not because the only person not making mistakes is the one not working. Now, get out of my office and go out there to help where you can to get this straightend out. Ward Lott, I never did tell you how that affected the rest of my working life.
Shorpy fun
What is the fastest you wiped that smirk off your manager’s face?
I made the mistake of taking a customer service job at a certain Asia-based bank that had bought out a Buffalo-based, family owned regional bank. While it was supposed to be customer service, they spent six weeks of training drilling into our heads that our main purpose was to sell. This despite the fact that they already had a dedicated sales team. Even if all a person wanted was his branch hours of operation, we were required to try to sell something.
I objected to this on multiple levels, the main one being that sales and service are separate functions. If your car breaks down, the salesman is not going to be the guy to fix it, but rather the trained mechanic. And if the mechanic is competent and honest, the customer will return to the dealership for his next car but he’s not going to sign the papers with the mechanic.
My supervisor, for the sake of avoiding BNBR violations, was a real piece of…work. She constantly reminded us that customer service costs money and that we were to make up for our uselessness by aggressive selling. In corporate jargon a given unit or function is referred to as a cost center, kind of like how stores in a chain each have individual numbers. In this case facilities and departments were a cost center with a number. This piece of work actually made us go to meetings and chant “We are a profit center” like a mantra, reminding us throughout that we are an expense. Piece of Work knew I had objections to this, and I became the scapegoat. She made a point of ostracizing me from little team events, denying me break times, once even removed personal property from my station and only returned it when I threatened action for denying me medication.
I got a call from Joe Customer who had just about everything. Joe started with the original, regional bank and continued after the takeover. Savings, checking, CDs, credit cards, car notes, mortgage, home equity, if a bank had it so did this guy after over 30 years of patronage. He wanted a balance on a particular account. I found it after looking through roughly five pages of information. He had so much business with the bank that there was nothing more I could do. Here’s your balance, thanks for calling.
Within two hours Piece of Work came by and ordered me to pull up the man’s information. In her hand was a monitoring printout with my failure boldly written in red, and she waved it in my face repeating “What’s wrong with that? What’s wrong with that?” like she was scolding a child who left crud on the dishes before stacking them. She lit into me about how she was going to lose a supervisor contest to win a TV based on team sales, because of my attitude. I pointed out that there was really nothing left to offer him; she pointed out I could have offered securities.
“Yes, I could have,” I said. “And I could also serve a minimum of five years of federal prison time for acting as a financial advisor and selling securities without a license. I’ll be Goddamned if I let you throw my right to vote and leave the country at will under a bus so that you can win a TV.” She stood there a moment looking like I had just whacked her in the face with a wet chicken, then turned on her heel and stomped off without a word.
By the end of the week I was taken into a meeting with senior staff and HR and given the option of resigning with a three month severance, or be fired. Piece of Work was nowhere to be seen. I took the money and ran.
Killer Patents & Secret Science Vol. 1 | Free Energy & Anti-Gravity Cover-Ups
What has a car salesperson said to you that resulted in you immediately leaving?
This isn’t a story about a rich guy dressed in torn jeans trying to buy a Rolls Royce. I’m not a rich guy. This is about me and my daughter (when she was 8). I lived in Miami, Florida, then. I had to replace my old car and I had decided to buy a 3-year-old Toyota Camry (in 2003) because that was all I could afford, at the time. I checked out the ads and decided to look at the same make and model (Toyota Camry) in two different dealerships, so I could compare and buy from the one that offered the best deal.
But, at the very first dealer I visited, I saw a Camry that I liked in every way — colour, mileage, price, etc. This wasn’t a Toyota dealership but a used-car dealership. My daughter was with me. She was 8 years old, then. Obviously, she didn’t understand gears, cylinders, etc. But she knew that Daddy was buying a new car and was excited to be part of the process.
So, anyway, I told the lady who was selling me the car that I liked the car and that I wanted to buy it. Financing was done, at this point. We had agreed on a price and on payments, though I hadn’t signed the deal yet. The paperwork was in front of me. All I had to do was to sign it. I was happy about the deal. I was smiling. So was my daughter. I looked at my daughter and I asked her, “Do you like the car?”
Before my daughter could answer, the sales lady said, “Are you buying this car or do you need your daughter’s permission?”
I walked out without another word. I bought a nearly-identical car from the other dealer (also a non-Toyota dealership) on identical terms. That car worked for 20 years (from 2000 to 2020), though I gave away that car in 2017 and leased myself another one. So, I made a good decision, though it was an emotional decision. I have never regretted it. I would do the same again (though my daughter is now 26).
I had a similar experience in 2017. It was a Toyota dealership (in California), this time. This time, I was alone. Again, all of the paperwork was nearly done (for a 2017 Toyota Camry). All I had to do was to sign. Then the manager said, “You don’t know how much you earn. I do.” This was after I had shown proof of income. Again, I walked out, went to another dealership, about 20 minutes away, leased exactly the same car. My income and proof of income didn’t change, in 20 minutes. Not only that, I paid 10% of the down payment that I had agreed to, at the previous dealership. And I ended up paying off my lease (with no late payments) 6 months ahead of time. Plus, I got a pretty good (lease) deal for my 2020 Camry when I returned the 2017 Camry.
Fast thinking
I am planning to quit my job but my boss said to hold off on quitting until we can at least hire someone otherwise he said “I will make things very, very bad for you.” How should I respond to this?
Ask him to repeat it – in front of HR. It is an empty threat.
Turn in your resignation, date and sign it, and submit it directly to HR.
Given his insulting threat, say this: “I have valued my tenure at xx (company name) and as stated verbally to Mr. Bb on (date), I wish to provide my two weeks’ notice. Please let me know how I may help to achieve a seamless transition until my departure.”
“I was told by Mr. Bb on (date) that I should withhold my resignation until a new hire was on board, accompanied by a verbal threat that if I did not do so, ‘I (Mr. Bb) will make things very, very bad for you.’ I trust that HR and leadership at xx fully realize that such threats are unlawful, and may be reported to the state labor board for investigation.”
“I request the following, either immediate and paid release, or that my last two weeks of employment not be under Mr. Bb’s supervision; that Mr. Bb receive formal counseling from HR on his unlawful statement; and that all reference checks state that I am eligible for rehire and route through HR. I will not tolerate threats and intimidation in the workplace, and I hope that xx does not either. I respectfully await your response.”
Give Mr. Bb something to remember you by; he is not supervisory material and he has put the company in a tenuous legal position. Keep a copy of the letter for potential submission to the state labor board. Tell no one where you are headed (your new job). Privately rejoice that you never have to work for Mr. Bb again, he’s way, way, way out of line. (Never ever use him as a reference, of course, use an alternate leader or a client.)
Cats are fast
What do you like about Elon Musk?
1995 — Applied to Netscape for a job and got rejected
1996 — Was forced out of his CEO position from his own company Zip2
1998 — Struggled to make PayPal succeed
1999 — Almost died when he crashed his $1M Mclaren F1
2000 — Was kicked out of Paypal while on his honeymoon
2000 — Got sick with malaria
2001 — Russia refused to sell him a rocket
2006 — First SpaceX rocket launched failed
2007 — Second SpaceX rocket failed
2008 — Third SpaceX rocket failed with NASA satellites onboard!
2009 — Tesla almost went bankrupt.
2013 — First rocket landing failed
2014 — Several Tesla Model S caught on fire
2015 — Four rocket landings failed
2016 — Model X deliveries delayed over a year
2016 — 300M Facebook satellite rocket launch exploded
2018 — Broke the internet when he took a puff of cannabis on a live show.
2018 — The SEC filed a lawsuit against Musk
2019 — Model 3 deliveries were delayed
2020 — TESLA stock became the most shorted stock in history
To answer your question, what do I like about Elon Musk?
I admire this man’s courage and relentless character.
While most of his critics would shrink before small obstacles in life, we can’t deny that this man has proven to be an unstoppable genius of our era!
What guys are afraid of
What was the shortest first date you ever had?
I went out for dinner with a young female I had met in my class.
We had turned up to a pizza restaurant, we ordered and sat down.
Within the first five minutes my ex-girlfriend walks in.
She sits down beside me and looks at the girl opposite me and looked her square in the eyes and said “You can date him but know I love him”.
The girl got up didn’t say a word to either of us and left.
I sat there dumbfounded and looked at my ex-girlfriend and she said “I was going to get some take-away but now we can share.”
I sat there in silence and watched as my ex-girlfriend ate the pizza that was ordered for someone else.
After ten minutes of silence had passed.
She said “I think we should give it another shot?”
I said “You cheated on me?!”
She said “How did you know about that?”
I got up and left and still count that as one of my strangest experiences of my young adult life.
BREAKING U.S Withdraws from Niger “It’s Official”
Very BIG news and tells you everything about the TRUE face of Geo-politics today.