When I lived in Indiana, my wife and I took up dancing as a hobby. And Lordy, we did become good at it. We were pretty high up on the skill level, and could dance (in Silver and Bronze categories) Lain (Rumba, Tango, Cha-Cha, merengie, Pasa Doble, Salsa) as well as the American dances from Swing to Fox Trot and Waltz.
We would join the Delco Electronics dances twice a week (until I was laid-off and then banned from all activities.), and were very active. We even danced, and PERFORMED country line and country dances. All a lot of fun. Kept us fit, and we loved how everyone loved our rhythm.
Now the funny thing is that outside of our dance instructor’s studio we didn’t have anywhere to practice, and sometimes, we just wanted to get away and dance. So what we did was a work around.
There was a countryside cemetery not so far away, and we would drive to it. There, in the field was a flat cement crypt that stood perhaps a foot high, but was wide and large enough to dance upon. And so that is exactly what we did.
We would dance on someone’s grave.
We didn’t think much about it until the local newspaper had a “Letter to the Editor” asking who were those people dancing on the graves of the deceased and wondering what that person must have done to make us so happy about their death.
LOL.
Well, that wasn’t the situation, but I did get a little chuckle out of it. Yeah. we stopped dancing in the cemetery, but still, looking back it was a hoot.
Today…
Zelenski’s Summit Has Failed
The reviews of Zelenski’s latest show ain’t positive:
- Russia’s ghost loomed over Ukraine peace summit – Politico.eu
- In Ukraine, soldiers and civilians shrug off Zelensky’s summit – AFP
- Ukraine’s Global Diplomatic Flurry Fails to Outflank Russia (archived) – WSJ
- Significant support for Ukraine at peace summit – but key nations hesitate – Sky News
- India opts out of Ukraine declaration at Swiss peace summit as Russia stays away – India Today
- Major Ukraine summit ends with fresh plea for peace but key powers spurn final agreement – CNN
- Disappointing end to Ukraine summit as allies agree to watered-down peace declaration – Telegraph
The summit served warmed up bullshit without any significant nutritional value. The most important points weren’t even discussed:
Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand – 8:48 UTC · Jun 17, 2024Genuinely astonishing how the final communiqué of Swiss “Summit on Peace in Ukraine” (link) is basically 6 out of the 12 points of China’s February 2023 “Peace plan” (link), and only that.
In short it’s the Chinese peace plan, without:
- A call for a cessation of hostilities
- A call to resume peace talks.
- A call to “abandon the Cold War mentality”
- A call to resolve the humanitarian crisis.
- An agreement to remove “unilateral sanctions”
- An agreement to support post-conflict reconstruction
The only points it keeps from the Chinese peace plan are:
- Point 1: To base the resolution of the conflict on the UN Charter
- Point 6: Asking that all prisoners of war and detainees should be released
- Points 7 & 8: Calling for nuclear plants to be safe and stating that nuclear weapons shouldn’t be used
- Points 9 & 11: Asking that food security and supply chains be maintained and be weaponized
And that’s almost 1 year and a half AFTER the Chinese Peace Plan, which the West rejected immediately out of hand and ironically criticized as being “vague” even though the outcome of this Swiss summit is now far vaguer, in fact it’s so vague it removed all the aspects of the Chinese plan that actually proposed a path to a sustainable peace …
Just goes to show how far away we are from peace, almost 2 years and a half into the war… And also goes to show that maybe, just maybe, China’s proposal wasn’t so bad after all 😏
As Strana summarizes (machine translation):
The final declaration included a clause on the need to involve “all parties” in the negotiations, which can be interpreted as a desire to involve the Russian Federation in future summits. This was stated by many participants of the summit (primarily from the countries of the “global South”). Zelensky also said about his desire to see Russia at the second summit, saying that Russia’s presence there would mean that it “wants peace.”But given the complete discrepancy in the positions of the parties regarding how they see the end of the war, it is still very early to talk about any negotiations. These positions may become closer under the influence of two factors-the situation on the battlefield and / or coordinated pressure on both belligerents by their key international partners. And only in the case of such a convergence of positions will real negotiations become possible.
The war will continue until the complete destruction of the Ukrainian forces can no longer be ignored.
This family has got it goin’ on
Today’s thought
What most people suffer from is an act of Learned behavior, inherited behavior or acquired character.
A lot of people do this because there is someone they admire and because of that they tend to adopt a certain character that does not fit into their original model of originality.
When you go about adopting people’s original way of life, You alternate your own originality.
What this does in your mind is this, It creates a chaos in your mindset as it struggles to balance your own unique identity with the one you have chosen to adopt especially if it’s totally new or different from what you are known for.
Now someone might be asking, But can’t we model someone? The answer is yes, You can emulate some good qualities of someone you admire but do not alter your originality.
It’s just like saying you want to learn how to be left-handed because you admire left handed people, It is good you admire them but adopting that character of being left handed will alter the cognitive part of your brain.
So the way out? While you may love certain qualities in someone, Do not all together erase your own good qualities while adopting another person’s own.
The characters you adopt can compliment yours or erase your own.
Maintain your character.
Maintain your good qualities.
Borrow a leaf from one you admire and infuse in what aligns to yours. If it does not align, There’s no need, drop it!
But, In no wise erase what you’re built to be.
Erasing your originality can put you in a place of fixation or split identity.
Compilation: Time Travel stories!
Wine Mushroom Pizza
Yield: 1 (12 inch) pizza
Ingredients
- About 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
- 1 package active dry yeast
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup dry red wine
- 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 2 teaspoons instant minced onion
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
- 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 (6 ounce) can sliced mushrooms, drained
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Combine 3/4 cup flour and yeast in a medium bowl.
- Combine water, cooking oil and salt in another bowl. Heat to lukewarm in microwave.
- Add to flour mixture and beat well.
- Add 3/4 cup more flour to make a stiff dough. Knead until smooth. Place in a greased bowl. Turn once to grease surface. Cover and let rise until more than double.
- Punch dough down. Let rest 10 minutes.
- Roll dough to a 12 inch circle. Place in a 12 inch pizza pan. Form edge. Prick crust.
- Bake at 450 degrees F for 13 to 15 minutes.
- In a small saucepan, combine red wine, tomato sauce, onion, basil, oregano and Worcestershire sauce. Boil until reduced to 1 cup. Spread over crust.
- Arrange mushrooms on top.
- Sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan.
- Bake 10 minutes more.
What incident from her childhood does your mother often narrate to you?
My mother had a bad childhood.
My grandfather was a disciplinarian. He was strict. He was loud. He was ruthless. And yet he was a well known, respectable man.
He would run a tuition centre for children back in the 60s and 70s. All the parents who thought their kids wouldn’t study or who thought their child was a nuisance were sent here to study. My grandfather would resort to all kinds of punishment to make a child study, from making them stand outside in the sun to hitting them with a long stick.
“And their parents didn’t tell him anything?” I had asked sitting all of 12 years old wide eyed in front of her as she narrated her ordeal.
“No. Those days it was okay to hit a child and punish them especially if the child was mischievous and a nuisance. Parents would come in abundance to get their child admitted in the classes.” My mother told me.
I had sat there aghast.
“We had a strict regime. We were supposed to wake up by 4 am. Study till 6.30 am and then get dressed, have food and leave for school. Come back study again still dinner time. Then have dinner by 7 and sleep by 8.30 pm. We never played outside. We never listened to the radio.”
“TV?” I asked looking at the black colored giant TV that sat on our living room which I absolutely adored.
“There was no TV back then. We had a radio,which we were not allowed to touch. We would hear news on it and commentary for a cricket match sometimes. But that was rare. It was just studies everyday. You know, I was never allowed to come second. So I stood first every year.” She said as I sat there shocked. I felt bad for my mother. Not because she was not allowed to come anything but first but because she got me as a gift who would pass with bare minimum marks and yet dance and celebrate.
“My mother was my only best friend. Who protected us from his wrath every now and then. If it was not for her her, I don’t know what I would have done.” She continued.
“You didn’t have any friends?”
“No. Not until I entered college.”
I hugged her.
“I wanted to go to school picnics. I wanted to be friends with someone. I wanted to learn dancing. I wanted to learn how to ride a cycle. I wanted to go on a trip with my friends. I couldn’t do anything until I got married to your father.”
My parents had a love marriage which my grandfather was dead against. It was my grandmother who had gotten them married. My grandfather had only come around when I was born a year later.
“And that is why I don’t stop you from anything. Just don’t misuse the trust I have on you.” She had said loud and clear.
She was right, though.
I danced. I made many friends. I went alone on trips with them. I had sleepovers and learnt to ride a two wheeler. I went on every picnic that my school organised. I played out on the streets till it was dark. I was given the freedom that she always craved for.
I lived her dream. And she was happy too in living those dreams through me.
And now, years later, there are days when she is over at my house, I smile when I see her all engrossed in playing some stupid game on her cellphone with passion to win.
She is finally living her teenage years in her fifties.
Better late than never!
Something Terrible is Happening To Boomers
What are some examples of criminals acting too smart for their own good?
In theory, Israel Keyes was a pretty smart serial killer, being implicated in 11 murders over the course of 15 years. How did he do it?
- He had no victim profile – essentially picking targets at random, whomever he deemed “worthy” of being his victim.
- He had no personal connection to his victims
- He abducted/raped/home invaded/murdered all over the country, and never in the same area twice. Once he flew to Chicago, then rented a car and drove 1000 miles to murder in Vermont, strictly to avoid detection.
- He hid “murder kits” across the country, so he wouldn’t have to worry about procuring items. One kit he had stashed for two years before returning to the area to use it to commit a murder.
- He may be linked to as many as 11 deaths in the United States, burgled 20 to 30 homes across the United States and robbed several banks between 2001 and 2012.
So how did he get caught?
He used a victim’s debit card.
On February 1, 2012, Keyes abducted 18-year-old Samantha Koenig, a coffee booth employee in Anchorage, Alaska, while she was working. He then sexually assaulted her, killed her the following day, left her in his shed, and went on a two-week cruise.
When he returned he took a picture with her dead body (trying to imply she was still alive), and demanded a $30,000 ransom. He took Koenig’s debit card and proceeded to use it – multiple times. Police were able to track withdrawals from the account as he moved throughout the southwestern U.S.
He was finally arrested in Texas at a café on March 13, 2012 – after he used her debit card.
Finally captured, indicted, and being held in jail, he committed suicide on December 2, 2012.
The West is DONE: Take These 5 Steps to Survive WW3
How do relatively small missiles like the Patriot PAC-3 and AIM-120 generate electricity for powerful radars in their heads?
Many years ago, I worked for Honda doing some R&D into crash safety mechanisms. We ran into an issue where we had actuators requiring a couple of joules to trigger them, but in the context of a car crash we only had a couple of milliseconds. This caused a near intractable problem; a joule is a reasonable amount of energy, a millisecond is a reasonable amount of time in a car crash, but a joule per millisecond is a kilowatt which is an unreasonably large amount of electricity. We just didn’t have spare kilowatts of electrical power sitting around.
One of my Japanese coworkers had an aerospace background, and suggested thermal batteries. These are batteries with almost zero self-discharge and a 20+ year shelf life. When needed, a pyrotechnic charge melts an insulating eutectic salt within the battery, which turns into a liquid and suddenly becomes a highly conductive electrolyte for the battery. When the salt is in its molten form, the battery can provide obscenely large amounts of power for a short amount of time. One American company, EaglePicher, dominates the global supply of thermal batteries.
We worked with Eagle to select a battery that met our needs in rapid melting, and tried to buy two of these batteries for our tests. We ran into an issue where they were held up in US customs in LAX for several months, requiring lots of paperwork before we could get them to the testing facility in Tochigi prefecture, Japan. When the batteries finally arrived in Japan, we understood why. They came in large boxes labeled “CAUTION MISSILE PARTS”.
In looking for a battery with light weight, good shelf life, and the ability to rapidly produce kilowatts of electricity, we had accidentally selected the exact model of battery used to power the radar in an AIM-120 AMRAAM, the advanced medium range air to air missile used by the USAF.
So, one answer to the question is that some missiles use thermal batteries.
I will note that I’m translating from Japanese. I called them “netsu denchi” at work, and I’m pretty sure the English name is “thermal battery”, but it’s a technology I’ve never worked with in English, even though English is my first language. They are also called “molten salt batteries” and I’m not sure which English name is more common.
Shorpy stuff
China’s modernization beyond the expectations of Canadian vlogger
By Vinod Dsouza
The BRICS summit is scheduled to be held in the Kazan region of Russia in October 2024. The 16th summit will see the attendance of four newly inducted countries the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Iran, and Ethiopia. The nine-member alliance will decide the course of the bloc in the upcoming summit and commit to a stronger partnership.
BRICS aims to cut ties with the US dollar and use local currencies for all cross-border transactions among member nations. The move is attracting other developing countries to be a part of BRICS in 2024.
The attraction comes as it’s the only alliance that’s challenging the US dollar and giving importance to local currencies. Therefore, a handful of developing nations in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Latin America have expressed their interest in joining the BRICS bloc in 2024.
Anton Kobyakov, Russia’s presidential advisor confirmed in a latest press conference that 59 countries have expressed interest to join BRICS in 2024. He also added that apart from BRICS, many other countries have applied to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in 2024.
“We have announced figures that are not commercially confidential,” he added. Kobyakov also explained that several countries are interested in the multipolar concept and want to stay away from the US dollar.
The advisor to Putin stressed that both BRICS and the SCO will be a power to reckon with in 2024. “We can safely say that the SCO is destined to become a new center of economic power in a changing world,” Kobyakov stressed. “Now most of the Earth’s inhabitants are with us,” he summed it up.
In order to reduce carbon emissions to protect our lovely Earth & human races, China should put high tariffs on all conventional cars to promote EVs cars in China first such as 2,400 km BYD EVs. It is revolutionary technology. Isn’t it?
Due to strange logic and incorrect facts:
Initially, China produced a large number of clothes, toys, and everyday goods. They were cheap and came in a wide variety. The United States didn’t say, “We need to sanction China for its overproduction.”
Later, China began manufacturing a vast array of electronics, hardware tools, and machine parts. These were affordable and available in many models. The United States didn’t say, “We need to sanction China for its overproduction.”
Now, China has started producing a large number of electric vehicles. Most of these cars are sold domestically in China. A smaller portion is exported to Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and South America, with even fewer going to Europe, and only 2,000 units were shipped to the United States in the first quarter. The United States says, “China’s overproduction of new energy vehicles must be sanctioned.”
This is the world we live in. Some countries freely say whatever they want at any time and place, while other countries work diligently, continuously optimizing engineering and supply chains to produce cheaper, more environmentally friendly, and better cars.
Then those countries say, “You are only allowed to work hard, not to upgrade your industries. You can only forever produce stockings, underwear, bikinis, bras, whips, silicone toys, vibrators, sound-emitting pussies, silicone dolls, gags, masks, ropes, low-temperature candles, and lubricants.” I almost forgot one item: fentanyl. Because drugs and toys together yield the best results.
And then they declare, “This is the axiom of the world; it is civilization, democracy, and freedom.”
P.S. Let me tell you my story about China’s “overproduction” of new energy vehicles:
In April 2023, I bought my first new energy vehicle, a Chinese brand “Geely Auto” with a beautiful name “Thor.” However, this wasn’t the car I planned to buy the week before. A week prior, after discussing with my family, we agreed to buy another Chinese brand, BYD’s new energy vehicle, model Qin Dmi. Both are hybrid cars. The difference was that the BYD was only $15,000, while the Geely was $25,000. The price difference is because the Geely has a 100 km EV range and a 1065 km fuel range, while the cheaper BYD has a 55 km EV range and a 900 km fuel range. There weren’t many other differences.
Ultimately, we decided to spend more on the Geely because the BYD required a wait for a new car to be produced. In April, the BYD dealership manager told me, “If you pay the deposit now, you might get your new car by July.” So, I had to wait 2.5 to 3 months! Impatiently, I said, “This is a marketing gimmick. It’s not the Soviet planned economy where everything is in short supply. I don’t believe you; I’ll check with other dealers.” The result was the same: BYD Qin Dmi customers nationwide had to wait an average of 2 months for their new cars. Why? Because it was the only hybrid model among all A-class sedans in China at the time that cost less than 100,000 RMB ($15,000), so it was in high demand.
As for me, after getting my Geely hybrid, my monthly fuel expenses dropped from $300 to $0. Of course, my electricity bill increased. Geely installed a charging station in my garage for free. The State Grid Corporation of China approved my electricity application within 36 hours and sent staff to complete the preliminary installation for free. Another 24 hours later, the State Grid app notified me that off-peak electricity rates were activated, allowing me to charge at night at 40% of the daytime rate (China’s electricity rate is $0.08 per kWh, $0.05 at night). Now, my monthly EV electricity cost varies with the season. Generally, in spring and autumn, when the weather is mild, I don’t drive much. In winter and hot summer, I drive daily to pick up my wife and children. In these seasons, the electricity bill is about $40 per month. Yes, $40 in electricity costs covers 1,200 kilometers, with the air conditioning always on.
That’s my experience with the “insufficient production capacity” of BYD EVs.
What are the reasons for using liquid propellants instead of solid ones in modern day missiles/rockets?
You use liquid propellants because it gives you better performance.
But you have to load it right before you launch it.
So satellite launches use liquid.
Missiles use solid. Solid propellant is very stable and is sealed into the rocket engine. So no air reaches the fuel. It can sit somewhere for years or a decade and still work when taken off the shelf.
Pregnant Cat Sits in the Rain, Having Nowhere to Go and Begging for Food On the Road
What was your “Wow, monsters hide in plain sight!” moment?
In 2019, a retired French police officer joined a popular game show on television. He laughed, sharing some banter with the host. Just a friendly older gentleman, having some fun. His name was François Vérove and he didn’t do very well in the show — after just two rounds, he was booted from the show. He took it in stride, and went off. Its all fun and games, right?
In the 1980s and 1990s, a series of rapes and crimes shocked the Paris region. Nine young girls and children died in the attacks, twenty more survived. Barely. Those who survived all described the attacker as “a pock-marked man”. He would flash his police badge to get the young victims to cooperate. They would do as he told them, although authorities believed he likely made use of a false badge. The perpetrator couldn’t possible be one of them, right?
But he was. It was police officer François Vérove all along.
Vérove changed his appearance, growing a beard to hide his facial scars, scars that were particularly bad in the lower half of his face according to some survivors. He married, fathered two children and lived a normal life. In 1997, he committed his final murder. He then stopped, afraid DNA evidence would one day catch up with him. Still, he didn’t hide — he even joined a game show, laughing with the host and audience…
François Vérove received a phone call in 2021 — all police officers active in the area the killings took place were to give a DNA sample to police to help the investigation as recent evidence had shown it may have been a cop, after all. A total of 750 men received the call. Vérove, knowing his time was up, wrote a suicide note confessing to the crime. Then took his own life. Some monsters hide in plain sight, and aren’t shy about being seen.
Shorpy
What are the weirdest things said to a telemarketer?
I answered and immediately went into my customer service voice.
Me: Hello and thank you for calling the phone of David Jockers, we have a short list of questions for you today and we’ll get you back to your busy day. May I start by asking your name please?
Telemarketer: (sounding completely confused.)Um….. Sarah… I’m fr….
Me: Thank you Sarah! I appreciate your prompt answer and want you to know that your time is precious to me. My next question for you Sarah is in what state do you reside Sarah?
Telemarketer: …..Texas…
Me: Thank you Sarah from Texas! You’re doing great Sarah from Texas and we’re just going to ask one more short question and we’ll get you on your way. My next question for you Sarah from Texas are you calling me from your home or from a call center?
Telemarketer: …Um…. A call… center.
Me. OKAY! Sarah from Texas in a call center! I’ve been doing this a long time and let me tell you Sarah from Texas in a call center you have been the best part of my day! I’d like to thank you Sarah from Texas in a call center for taking the time out of your busy day to take my survey and I sincerely invite you to call back anytime! You have a nice day Sarah from Texas in a call center! Keep being awesome!
Telemarketer: Wait! Sir…..
Me: *Click*
They never called again. Which sucks because this was fun as heck to do.
Did you ever accidentally overhear a conversation about you on a conference call?
A person in a middle management position once called a manager of our biggest customer and bitched him out because he hadn’t received some prints we were waiting on. My desk was just outside the door and I heard every word of the call.
A day or two later there was a conference call with this customer containing four or five of our management and owners and a number of the customers people.
Before the actual meeting started their manager did an ass chewing about that previous phone call emphasizing that it had better not happen again and the caller should be terminated.
Again I was right outside the door and heard that caller sit right there and tell the entire room that I made the call. At that time I had never once made a call to that customer as my job never gave me a reason to talk directly to the customers only the occasional supplier.
I didn’t say anything while all the bosses were still in the room. Once the room was empty except the back stabbing A-hole I went in stuck my finger in his face then told him I heard him make the original call, I heard him blame me and if one single word came back to me shit is going to get real.
His eyes got as big as dinner plates he stuttered and turned red as I walked out. I don’t know what happened but I never heard a single word about it.
Run Away From Kerry
Submitted into Contest #250 in response to: A character overhears something at a black-tie event that puts the night in jeopardy. … view prompt
William Malave
Run Away From Kerry
“That’s game two! The winner is Early, that beautiful man of iron! Round of applause everyone!” Early was cheered up to the stage as he accepted his “reward,” which was just a hastily wrapped bag of food and half-opened drinks, some of which were spilling out of the package. Early snorted as the mixed dark fluid of beers and liquors seeped out of the bag and onto his sleeves.
“Thank you!” he shouted, causing everyone else to cheer more. Almost everyone here was so drunk or high that they had no clue what was going on. Even I had a bit to drink. Although, I was nowhere near intoxicated enough to let whatever the hell they packed in that bag leak onto my brand-new clothes. “I’d like to thank my mom, Sash, Jim-Jim, all of…all of you pe-” Early vomited on the stage, a hurl of mixed cheeses and seafood that had such a potent odor it permeated my nose immediately. The announcer Jim-Jim and a few others helped Early off the stage, while everyone else continued cheering and laughing. I watched and shook my head as they hauled him through the party room’s doors.
“Every time I come to these, someone either pukes or shits themselves,” Ama, one of my close friends, said from behind me.
“My kind of party, always,” I quipped, although she didn’t seem to care much for my joke. “Well, at least it didn’t start like this. I remember the invite saying ‘wear your best clothes, this will be a serious and professional party.’”
“An obvious lie, Jim-Jim couldn’t throw a black-tie if he was forced to. Once I saw the drinks I knew this thing was going to shit.” I laughed as she spoke. “Seriously, this makes me so sick of them. For once, why can’t they just go out for a game of cards? We could take a trip to a nice moon resort or something. Instead we’re here on Jim-Jim’s personal ship, fucking floating in the middle of nowhere.” She scrunched her face in frustration, and I smiled at her. She noticed and asked, “What?”
“It has nothing to do with Jim-Jim and his new girl does it?” Ama rolled her eyes and started walking away. I laughed as I jogged to catch up to her. The rest of the party-goers had all but left the main room, aside from a few stragglers who were either asleep in one of the few corners or mingling drunkenly as they awkwardly danced. “You know, this whole party was just to celebrate the two of them getting together. Why did you come?”
“I don’t know, if I’m honest with you. I think some part of me wanted to be here for it, and another just wanted some closure. Maybe some other reasons too, who knows?” There was a person sprawled out on the floor, their blue suit sparkling under the hallway light. He was snoring loudly, and his bottle was nearly empty, hovering over him like a guardian angel. Ama and I stepped over him, giving each other a small smile as we continued, making our way towards the common space, a small area aboard the ship that acted as a recreation area for passing crew and passengers. It was nestled between the medbay and the living quarters, and it only contained a sitting space with a knee-high rectangular table, and two booths for those who wanted to eat in a group. There were also two seats by a window with a small table between them, which gave a nice view out into space. That’s where we chose to sit.
As we settled into our seats, I felt my body tilting from side to side, and Ama seemed to be laughing at me. “What are you laughing for?” I asked her.
“You’re so drunk.”
“I didn’t think I had so much. Maybe I went a little overboard.
“I have to admit, it’s nice seeing this again.”
“The…stars?” I said, struggling to get the words out. She was peering out the window, watching as we flew past the open black.
“I think you might need some Alleviator.”
“Yeah, that would..oh, god.” I covered my mouth as a vomit-flavored burp escaped my lips. Ama reached into her bag and handed me an Alleviator, and I sloppily scooped the chewable tablet out of her hand, fumbling with it until I eventually got it into my mouth. I sat back in the chair, holding my head in my hands as I let the tears stream down my face.
“You’re crying.”
“Shut up,” I laughed as she handed me a tissue. Alleviators drained excess alcohol and other intoxicating fluids via sweat and tears, filtrating them through an intense internal process that chemically changed them into what was essentially water. Alleviators were a staple at almost any party, as they were a pain-free and simple way to sober up within a five-to-ten minute timespan. “You think Early is alright?” There was a subtle doong sound somewhere far from us. Ama turned her head to face the noise, looking down the hall back towards the party room.
“Did you hear that?” I nodded.
“Probably just debris. Loose mineral or something.” She nodded back.
“Want to know something strange? I heard Kerry whispering some stuff about a fight earlier.”
“A fight?”
“Yeah, he seemed pretty upset, probably something to do with Jim-Jim, I don’t know.”
“Didn’t he just get released from Len?”
“Yeah, but they said he had a full recovery, no more drugs, or whatever the hell he was on when he went in.” She sighed. “I just hope it doesn’t cause any shit.”
“I don’t think it will. Last I remember he was trying to come off it, and doing pretty good with it too.” She nodded.
“Also, yes.”
“What?”
“Yes to what you said. About Early?” I nodded my head, closing my eyes as I felt my head clearing.
“Yeah, I think so too. He threw up so much. Did you see the color? It was like a yellowish-blue. What the fuck did he drink?” Ama giggled.
“Some of that rich-boy shit. Top shelf.” I took my hands off my eyes and looked at her with clearer vision. Her wavy red hair draped over her shoulders and settled on top of her glittery red dress.
“Since when are you wearing red again?” She rolled her eyes and looked back toward the party room again, where another doong, this time louder, caught both of our attentions. “Should we check on that? They could need help.” Ama nodded and sighed as she zipped up her bag. I stood and pushed in my chair, and we walked together back towards the party room, where the double doors were slightly ajar. The guy in the blue suit was still laying on the floor, with his bottle by his head. We looked ahead and saw that most of the people who were dancing had disappeared from the dance floor. I motioned for Ama to enter first, and she gave me a curt look as she pushed open the door.
Upon entering, Ama screamed at the top of her lungs, and I quickly shoved the door open, looking with her at what had terrified her. There was blood everywhere, and people were sprinting to the other side of the room. A masked gunman was shooting people as they fled, and he noticed us, aiming his gun at Ama and I as I pushed her out of the way. His shot hit me in my shoulder, and I cried out as I ducked out of the room, running down the hall to grab the emergency firearm. Every hallway had an emergency sidearm or rifle in case of boarding or an event like this. I tripped over the blue suit guy’s leg and he sprung awake, yelling as I scrambled for the gun. “Get the fuck up and run!” I yelled at him, as I heard the door slam shut and Ama sprinting down the hall.
“Miko!” She shouted for me, but I was focused on finding which section of wall hid the firearm, searching for the small yellow label as she neared me. The blue suit guy slowly got up, looking for his bottle. “Miko!”
“What?!” I found the yellow label and pushed it into the wall, releasing the lock as the compartment extended from it.
“There were so many, so many, Miko,” She was sobbing, her hands shaking violently as she kept checking the door for any signs of the gunman coming. The compartment was empty, and I slammed my fist on it, crying out as I felt a twinge of pain in my shoulder.
“There’s no fucking gun!”
“Gun?” The blue suit guy sat up as he looked back at the party room, then at Ama and the blood all over her. “Oh, what? What the fuck is happening?” He rubbed his eyes and winced, most likely from the alcohol that was on his fingers.
“I can clean your wound, Miko, but we have to go.”
“He took it. There’s no gun here, which means there probably isn’t one anywhere.” The doors burst open, and a bunch of people covered in blood sprinted out of the room, screaming as gunshots sprung from behind them. Everyone ran down the hallway, except the blue suit guy. Someone was shot and had fallen onto him as they tried to flee. “RUN! This way!” I tried to lead the rest of the people towards the shuttle bay, which was a straight shot through the medbay, but half of them scrambled towards the living quarters. Shots rang out, striking people in their arms and legs, some of them headshots, spraying blood over everyone else as they tried to escape. I turned to go back, to try and help those who would be trapping themselves, but Ama yanked my arm hard, pulling me to the medbay. As soon as we got inside, the gunman quickly let off a few rounds before stopping to reload, putting down whoever else was going to make it through those doors before we shut them.
Ama and I threw some medical beds and a cabinet down in front of the door, attempting to build some sort of barricade. Only a few people made it in with us, all of them lathered in the blood of their friends and crew members. All of them were sobbing hard, and I couldn’t help but shed tears as well, as I remembered the faces of those terrified people running towards the living quarters making a call that would cost them their lives. My heart was thumping, and I felt like it was going to burst from my chest if I didn’t calm down. I clutched my shirt as I took some deep breaths, trying to tune out the horrified whines and moans of the people around me. Ama was searching for bandages for the people with us, while everyone else was panicking and trying to figure out what to do next. The combined sound of all their noise was stressing me out, and I quickly walked over to the unbarricaded door, opening it and looking down the hall. It was quiet and empty aside from the open gun compartment. I bit my lip as I tried to strategize how to escape. A hand touched my shoulder, and I flinched, turning to see Ama’s worried face. She was scared, and visibly shaking as she tried to provide a bandage to my shoulder, which had bled so much that my shirt was half red.
“You’ve lost a lot of blood, Miko.” She applied the bandage, and I sucked in a deep breath as the pain skyrocketed. I kicked the door hard as she tied the knot, trying to alleviate any of the pain but failing. Ama wiped down my left side with a damp, bloody cloth, grazing over my breast and reaching down to my hip. There was a dark stain of blood on my skin, and I felt weak enough to pass out, but I held my gaze on the shuttle bay doors, just at the end of the hall, past two other doorways. More gunshots rang out, signifying that he had breached the living quarters. I couldn’t hear their screams but my brain made me listen, forcing me to play it out in my head to remind me that I didn’t help them, or step in front of the gunman for them. The guilt was eating at me, but the rest of the people with me distracted me from that thought, as well as Ama’s doctoring, which stopped the bleeding on most of the survivors.
“Alright,” I said through pained breaths, “can everyone walk?” The majority nodded, and those who couldn’t had someone to support them. “We’re gonna get out on a shuttle. Follow me this way.” We all moved together, watching our backs in case the barricade was broken. I led the group, holding my bandage to help stop the bleeding. Ama moved in front of me to open the door, and we quickly entered the larger area, looking for a shuttle big enough to fit all of us among the fleet of smaller ships and transports.
“Can anyone here pilot?” Ama asked as she opened the doors to a silver shuttle.
“Yeah, I-” Bullets pierced the air as the gunman erupted from a side door. He missed, but everyone scrambled away from the shuttle, except for Ama, who had managed to get on the ship. The gunman howled, releasing a guttural roar of rage.
“FUCK ALL OF YOU!” He fired a few more shots into the crates and containers that we hid behind. “YOU!” He fired another shot, and it pierced the wood of the crate I hid behind, nearly hitting me in my side. “I DID EVERYTHING RIGHT!”
“Come here, motherfucker!” Another voice boomed as the gunman was tackled. We looked up from our cover to see the guy in the blue suit struggling to fight the gunman, holding the gun down with both hands as he tried to steal it from him. I erupted from my cover, and a few others did too, to try and help, but the gunman reacted faster than we could, and he fired shots at us, killing two more as he was getting punched in the face, his mask breaking apart as the blue suit guy tried to disable him. I pushed forward, rushing to do what I could to aid the guy, and I managed to reach before the gunman fired again, punching his wrist as hard as I could and pulling at the gun. But he was stronger than me, and even though both of us were there, he was still lifting the gun, forcing it towards the blue suit guy.
I tried to leverage myself, pulling back with all of my weight, but the gun was still moving, and the others were too scared to come help. I turned and saw Ama, looking down from the shuttle doors, and she looked so sorry, so hurt and betrayed, as if I wasn’t supposed to help, as if I wasn’t supposed to protect the people. I didn’t understand the expression at first, or the sadness in the eyes she pleaded with, but I got it fully when she closed those shuttle doors, and the ship started up. “AMA!” I called out to her, and the others started running to the shuttle, banging on it as they tried to escape, their bloodied hands leaving imprints and scrapes on the shuttle doors, but she ignored us, all of us, and she took off, blasting everyone back with the shuttle’s liftoff.
The gunman had lost his gun, and the blue suit guy was getting pummeled by his gloved fists, his broken mask revealing his rough and bloody face, his unkempt blonde hair that hung down over his eyes, and his crooked nose, which was leaking blood onto the blue suit guy’s face. I recognized that it was Kerry. When he cocked his arm back for another punch, he revealed his eyes, which were bleeding black blood, and his pupils were extremely dilated. He was on Ex-Rev, a lot of it, and that punch he delivered was going to be stronger than anyone could stop. Someone picked up the gun and shot him, but he kept punching, harder and harder as bullets penetrated his skin. He forced himself through the pain to try and kill his target.
Eventually, a bullet pierced his skull, and he fell back, his arms twitching violently as his body emptied itself of the drug. It seeped out from all of his pores and openings, covering his skin in black blood as he died. The shooter dropped the gun, putting his hand over his mouth as he collapsed onto his knees. I stood on shaky legs as I looked down at the blue suit guy, who was still breathing thankfully, and then out of the port at Ama, whose shuttle was gradually flying away. I was seething, my shoulder was leaking again, but I didn’t care. I felt like my skin was boiling, and I was watching with hateful eyes as I fell to my knees, and released a loud scream. I let everything go, and the tears came soon after, as I watched the shuttle escape into the darkness of space. I looked over again at Kerry’s body, and then at the survivors, and I sucked my teeth and gathered myself, shuffling over to help them return to the medbay and try to assist whoever else we could onboard.
What are the weirdest things said to a telemarketer?
I answered and immediately went into my customer service voice.
Me: Hello and thank you for calling the phone of David Jockers, we have a short list of questions for you today and we’ll get you back to your busy day. May I start by asking your name please?
Telemarketer: (sounding completely confused.)Um….. Sarah… I’m fr….
Me: Thank you Sarah! I appreciate your prompt answer and want you to know that your time is precious to me. My next question for you Sarah is in what state do you reside Sarah?
Telemarketer: …..Texas…
Me: Thank you Sarah from Texas! You’re doing great Sarah from Texas and we’re just going to ask one more short question and we’ll get you on your way. My next question for you Sarah from Texas are you calling me from your home or from a call center?
Telemarketer: …Um…. A call… center.
Me. OKAY! Sarah from Texas in a call center! I’ve been doing this a long time and let me tell you Sarah from Texas in a call center you have been the best part of my day! I’d like to thank you Sarah from Texas in a call center for taking the time out of your busy day to take my survey and I sincerely invite you to call back anytime! You have a nice day Sarah from Texas in a call center! Keep being awesome!
Telemarketer: Wait! Sir…..
Me: *Click*
They never called again. Which sucks because this was fun as heck to do.
What was the stupidest thing someone has called the police on you for?
We had a cheap kiddie swimming pool for the summer when our sons were small. They were having a wonderful time one hot summer day jumping in and out of the pool laughing and occasionally shrieking as they splashed other. At about 11:00am, a police car pulled up in front of the house and an officer walked into the back yard. The kids were very excited to see a policeman until he sternly started lecturing me about a noise complaint from my neighbor.
I was furious (I still am 20 years later). I indignantly pointed out that the “noise complaint” was normal children’s play in the middle of the day when there were no noise restrictions. With a pompous tone, he told me to “keep it down” and he didn’t want to have to return.
This launched 5 years of noise complaints from my neighbor when my sons played in the backyard. We didn’t have the money for a legal fight. I was often forced to keep my children indoors to play because she would complain whenever they were outside.
The noise complaints ended when the kids complained to me that this neighbor was trying to scare them with her car while they were waiting for the school bus. We share a long driveway with a group of houses and all the kids wait for the bus at the entrance to the driveway. I talked with the other neighborhood children who said she yelled at them to get out of her way and drove her car very close to them to scare them to jump into the bushes.
The next morning, I walked down the driveway with my sons to wait for the bus. Sure enough, as we were waiting on the side of the driveway where the bus stopped, the neighbor came whipping into the driveway at a high speed and drove within 6 inches of me. I pulled out my phone and dialed 911. I told the dispatcher that my children and I were being threatened by the driver of a motor vehicle while waiting for the bus. The police were there within minutes. The officers took my report with eager embellishment from the neighborhood children until the bus arrived. The officer tried to dismiss it as the long running neighbor dispute. I pointed out that this was a threat with a deadly weapon — a motor vehicle — and that a child could end up injured or dead.
He have a small smile and said “I’ll talk to her.” He must have put the fear of god into her because we never had another complaint and she drives carefully whenever someone is walking in the driveway. I suspect the entire department was tired of her complaints. I think it helped that this was the first complaint I had ever made against her.
But this did have long term consequences. On the good side, my sons were very careful about noise and parties as teens. Today as adults they are both highly skilled esports gamers. But on the negative side, they do not do any outdoor exercise except walking (which is pretty silent). My husband and love being outdoors and my sons do not.
Why I Won’t Move To The USA – American Expat Life
Living abroad for 14 years has given me a unique perspective on the country that I come from.
Even though I've been far removed from the goings on I've always kept up with what is happening there and have challenged myself on whether expat life is the right life for me, or would moving to the United States be a better choice.
I believe it's important to take a look at the financial aspects of life abroad and in this episode, I'll bring up some comparisons specifically in regard to the cost of living in Portugal compared to the US, and the resulting implications for work-life balance.
But as an American abroad, there are some elements I also can't help but look at such as the American work ethic, credit scores, and opportunities for small business. Yet while there are positives that are possible to look at, there are approaches to life I feel are more common to find among certain cultures.
One such problem that unfortunately, I find more among many Americans is how material pursuits can overshadow some of life's most meaningful moments and details that can be missed.
In this expat living abroad podcast episode of Not Your Average Globetrotter hosted by me, Rafael Di Furia, will take a critical exploration of American dynamics from an expat's perspective.
Have you ever met someone and something seemed so unusual about them but you couldn’t put your finger on what it was?
Many times! I was just a little girl. My Mother and I were at the grocery store when a man came up to my Mom, greeting her. She said hello as she grabbed me, pulling me behind her and pressed my body close to her. I didn’t know why she did that, the man was just saying “Hello” He bent down and asked me “And who do we have here?”
I was just about to tell him my name when my Mom blurted out “This is my youngest daughter.” He smiled and said “WOW! You have your hands full!” “8 girls and 1 boy, how do you manage?” “If you need I can take this one off your hands!”
He playfully reached around and held out his hand. It scared me. He seemed serious about taking my hand. My older sister came around the corner and saw the man reaching for me.
She told the man, “ I highly suggest you leave my Mom and sister alone!” “I’m going to tell my Father you had the gall to even greet my Mother and reach for my sister!” She was very angry.
He said it wasn’t necessary to tell my Father.( I know why now 😁)We got home and I asked why the man seemed odd(to the least!)
Mom told me “Do you know monsters are real?”
I was wide eyed and afraid. Mom told me monster’s do exist but it’s hard to tell because they look like a normal person. She said anytime you see that man walk away or find anyone around and tell them this man is bad.
Help me and make him go away. “ I will but why?” This man has been in jail because he took a child walking home and threw them in his car. He is mean to children.
A few weeks earlier 3 of my sisters were at the Five and Dime store. He took my 3 year old Cousin from my sister’s arms and started running away with him. My sisters screamed for help and yelled “STOP THAT MAN, HE JUST TOOK MY SON!” “HELP!” HE HAS MY BABY, STOP HIM!”
A man nearby tripped him, my sister grabbed my Cousin and the man started hitting him and yelled for someone to call 911. The police came and arrested him.
My sisters told the police he said “Your baby has beautiful teeth but he won’t after I get ahold of him.” The cashier called my parents.(This was in the early 70’s so no cell phones)
My Father approached the man and told him what he was going to do to him and they weren’t nice things. I told this story to my son years later. I told him monster’s don’t always look like the monsters we see in movies. They look like a regular person. If you ever get a bad feeling when you’re talking to an adult, trust your feelings and run away. I want you to yell “Stranger danger” as loud as you can and run to anyone nearby.
I didn’t want to scare my son but on the other hand I did. I told him exactly what the stranger may do to him if he took him. The expression on my son’s face was pure fear. I had to tell him though because that way he’d understand. Tell your kids about “Stranger danger” and make sure they understand. It could save thier life. ❤️
"I have one question for you: can you watch Chinese or Russian TV in Switzerland? [In Germany, we cannot. In Switzerland, we can have Russia Today, but in Germany, everything is forbidden.] If it's forbidden, is it a democracy? In Serbia, you can watch Ukrainian TV, Russian TV, Chinese TV, and also American TV, British TV, Swiss TV, French TV, German TV—whichever you want. That's your choice. Who is defining what democracy is? You know, when I was very young, almost a kid, I was very bad at drawing or painting—totally untalented. I drew a horse, but the horse didn't look like a horse. I had to make an inscription below saying, 'This is a horse.' That's what they do today. When nobody sees that there are democratic forces, they say, 'We are democracy, and you are not.' And that's it."
Excerpt from remarks by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić in an interview with Roger Köppel for Die Weltwoche, June 8, 2024.
Small Black Bundles
We all have too much to lose. Guest post by Robert Gore at Straight Line Logic
The Biden administration and NATO have steadily escalated participation in the Ukraine-Russia war. Recently, Biden authorized Ukraine missile attacks deeper into Russia’s territory using U.S.-made ATACMS ballistic missiles, which have a range of up to 190 miles. All of the expertise necessary to target and guide these attacks will come from the U.S. and NATO.
On May 22, Ukraine drones attacked two Russian nuclear early warning radars at Armavir. Much of the targeting and guidance expertise had to have come from the U.S. and NATO. Suddenly deprived of part of their ability to detect incoming threats, if the Russians had assumed the worse—that they were under nuclear attack and the drone strike was meant to cripple their command and control capabilities—the U.S. and NATO risked a nuclear response.
The U.S.-led alliance is at war with Russia, a fact that’s downplayed or ignored by American mainstream media. Being in a “hot” war with Russia increases the likelihood of nuclear war, triggered either accidentally or intentionally, beyond even the possibility that existed during the Cold War. That possibility was almost realized during the Cuban Missile Crisis. John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev demonstrated wisdom and courage in stepping away from the brink. Now, both sides are trash talking, threatening to use nuclear weapons. Their bluster increases the chances of nuclear war.
An American public that was recently scared into masks, social distancing, lockdowns, deadly experimental vaccines, and the evisceration of civil liberties by a germ about as dangerous as a bad flu bug seems blissfully unaware of the much more severe risks of nuclear war. American officials prattle on about “tactical” nuclear weapons, “escalatory dominance,” and “limited” nuclear war, oblivious to the reality that they control only one side of a chain of decisions to respond and escalate once a conflict goes nuclear.
It would be enlightening to review the effects of atomic bombs on the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The following excerpts and quotes come from The Making of the Atomic Bomb, by Richard Rhodes, Simon and Schuster, 1986, from a chapter titled “Tongues of Fire.” The Hiroshima bomb was the equivalent of 12,500 tons of TNT and the Nagasaki bomb 22,000 tons of TNT. Current thermonuclear, or hydrogen, bombs—predominantly deployed today—have an explosive force three orders of magnitude greater, measured in the tens of millions of tons of TNT, over 1,000 times as powerful. So far, these have never been used against humans.
On the morning of August 6, 1945, 8:16:02 local time, “Little Boy,” a uranium-235 gun-type fission bomb dropped from Enola Gay, an American B-29, exploded 1,900 feet above a hospital in Hiroshima.
“Just as I looked up at the sky,” remembers a girl who was five years old at the time and safely at home in the suburbs, “there was a flash of white light and the green in the plants looked in that light like the color of dry leaves.” Pg. 713
The temperature at the hypocenter, the point on the ground directly below the explosion, was 5,400 degrees Fahrenheit.
. . . . People exposed within half a mile of the Little Boy fireball, that is, were seared to bundles of smoking black char in a fraction of a second as their internal organs boiled away. “Doctor,” a patient commented to Michihiko Hachiya a few days later, “a human being who has been roasted becomes quite small, doesn’t he?” The small black bundles now stuck to the streets and bridges and sidewalks of Hiroshima numbered in the thousands. Pg. 715
The blast wave rocketed several hundred yards from the hypocenter at 2 miles per second before slowing to 1,100 feet per second, destroying everything in its path and throwing up a huge black cloud of smoke and dust.
That boy had been in a room at the edge of the river, looking out at the river when the explosion came, and in that instant as the house fell apart he was blown from the end room across the road on the river embankment and landed on the street below it. In that distance he passed through a couple of windows inside the house and his body was stuck full of all the glass it could hold. That is why he was completely covered with blood like that. Pg. 716
Perhaps the black bundles’ instantaneous deaths were a blessing. From a grocer who escaped into the street:
The appearance of people, was . . . well, they all had skin blackened by burns. . . . They had no hair because their hair was burned, and at a glance you couldn’t tell whether you were looking at them from in front or in back. . . . They held their arms [in front of them] . . . and their skin—not only on their hands, but on their faces and bodies too—hung down. . . . If there had been only one or two such people . . . perhaps I would not have had such a strong impression. But wherever I walked I met these people. . . . Many of them died along the road—I can still picture them in my mind—like walking ghosts. . . . They didn’t look like people of this world. . . . They had a very special way of walking—very slowly. . . . I myself was one of them. Pgs. 717-718
From a young woman:
I heard a girl’s voice clearly from behind a tree. “Help me, please.” Her back was completely burned and the skin peeled off and was hanging down from her hips. Pg. 718
A young sociologist:
The most impressive thing I saw was some girls, very young girls, not only with their clothes torn off but with their skin peeled off as well. . . . My immediate thought was that this was like the hell I had always read about. Pg. 718
A five-year-old boy:
That day after we escaped and came to Hijiyama Bridge, there were lots of naked people who were so badly burned that the skin of their whole body was hanging from them like rags. Pg. 718
A five-year-old girl:
People came fleeing from the nearby streets. One after another they were almost unrecognizable. The skin was burned off some of them and was hanging from their hands and from their chins; their faces were red and so swollen that you could hardly tell where their eyes and mouths were. Pg. 719
The burns, heat, and sounds of horror were unbearable. From a junior-college girl:
Screaming children who have lost sight of their mothers; voices of mothers searching for their little ones; people who can no longer bear the heat, cooling their bodies in cisterns; every one among the fleeing people is dyed red with blood. Pg. 719
Compounding the horror and agony were the fires and smoke. From a five-year-old girl:
The whole city . . . was burning. Black smoke was billowing up and we could hear the sound of big things exploding. . . . Those dreadful streets. The fires were burning. There was a strange smell all over. Blue-green balls of fire were drifting around. I had a terrible lonely feeling that everybody else in the world was dead and only we were still alive. Pg. 720
From a seventeen-year-old girl:
I walked past Hiroshima Station . . . and saw people with their bowels and brains coming out. Pg. 721
To escape the raging fires, many people went to fire reservoirs or one of the seven rivers that flowed through Hiroshima. From a physician sharing his horror with Michihiko Hachiya, director of the Hiroshima Communications Hospital, who kept a dairy of the bombing and its aftermath:
I saw fire reservoirs filled to the brim with dead people who looked as though they had been boiled alive. In one reservoir I saw a man, horribly burned, crouch beside another man who was dead. He was drinking blood-stained water out of the reservoir. Pg 724.
From a young ship designer trying to reach a train station to return to his home in, of all places, Nagasaki:
I had to cross the river to reach the station. As I came to the river and went down the bank to the water, I found that the stream was filled with dead bodies. I started to cross by crawling over the corpses, on my hands and knees. As I got about a third of the way across, a dead body began to sink under my weight and I went into the water, wetting my burned skin. It pained severely. I could go no further, as there was a break in the bridge of corpses, so I turned back to the shore. Pgs. 725-726
From one of Dr. Hachiya’s patients:
The sight of the soldiers, though, was more dreadful than the dead people floating down the river. I came onto I don’t know how many, burned from the hips up; and where the skin had peeled, their flesh was wet and mushy. . . .
And they had no faces! Their eyes, noses and mouths had been burned away, and it looked like their ears had melted off. It was hard to tell front from back. Pg. 726
From a man trying to help his wife escape the city:
While taking my severely-wounded wife out to the riverbank by the side of the hill of Nakahiro-machi, I was horrified, indeed, at the sight of a stark naked man standing in the rain with his eyeball in his palm. He looked to be in great pain but there was nothing that I could do for him. Pg. 725
Many of those who didn’t die in the first few days seemed to improve, but then sickened. American psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton, who interviewed survivors, explained:
Survivors began to notice in themselves and others a strange form of illness. It consisted of nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite, diarrhea with large amounts of blood in the stools; fever and weakness; purple spots on various parts of the body from bleeding into the skin . . . inflammation and ulceration of the mouth, throat and gums . . . bleeding from the mouth, gums, throat, rectum, and urinary tract . . . loss of hair from the scalp and other parts of the body . . . extremely low white blood cell counts when those were taken . . . and in many case a progressive course until death. Pg 731
It was radiation sickness, or what the Japanese called “atomic bomb illness.”
Direct gamma radiation from the bomb had damaged tissue throughout the bodies of the exposed. The destruction required cell division to manifest itself, but radiation temporarily suppresses cell division; hence the delayed onset of symptoms. The blood-forming tissues were damaged worst, particularly those that produce the white blood cells that fight infection. Large doses of radiation also stimulate the production of an anti-clotting factor. The outcome of these assaults was massive tissue death, massive hemorrhage and massive infection. . . . Pgs 731-732/
An estimated 140,000 were killed by the end of 1945 and 200,000 within five years from the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. The Nagasaki bomb killed 70,000 by the end of 1945 and 140,000 within five years. For both cities, the five-year death rate was about 54 percent of the population. The percentage killed was an inverse function of distance from the hypocenter. At Hiroshima, almost 100 percent were killed at the hypocenter, and the percentage declined to “only” 10 percent two miles away from it. Property damage was extensive. Of Hiroshima’s 76,000 buildings, 70,000 were damaged, of which 48,000 were totally destroyed.
Many of the Americans who made the decision to drop the bombs thought it would prevent the massive loss of allied lives that an invasion of Japan presumably would have entailed. The destructive force of the bombs and the aftereffects of radiation were generally underestimated. Demonstrating to the world, particularly the Soviet Union, the power of the bomb, and preventing a Soviet invasion of Japan were at least as compelling as military necessity for dropping the bombs. Those who thought the bomb was unnecessary included General Dwight Eisenhower, General Douglas MacArthur, Admiral William Leahy, Major General Curtis LeMay, General Hap Arnold, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, Brigadier General Carter Clarke, and Ralph Bard, Under Secretary of the Navy.
Almost eighty years later, it’s important to realize that as devastating and deadly as the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs were, they would be relatively tiny compared to what would happen today. The blast, fires, and radiation from one thermonuclear bomb, with a yield of 1,000 times that of the Nagasaki bomb’s 22,000 tons of TNT equivalent, would obliterate a city and surrounding countryside and kill tens of millions of people.
For America’s rulers, the other big difference between then and now is that the other side has its own bombs. Because some of the major nuclear powers’ missiles are carried on submarines, there is no way anyone’s response capability could be wiped out with a first strike. A nuclear strike against Russia or China would mean nuclear bombs dropped on American targets.
What should stop American rulers dead in their tracks is that Russia would be better able to withstand a nuclear attack than the U.S. Russian missiles are faster and more maneuverable and their antimissile technology is superior. Russia is much larger than the U.S. and has more room to hide. Their civil defense measures are far more extensive. Russia, as its history repeatedly demonstrates, knows how to play defense, even in the face of staggering losses.
Before the bomb, wars were often won by the side that was able to escalate to a point where the other side couldn’t match it. The World War I standoff was broken when the U.S. entered the war. The idea of escalatory dominance makes no sense when either side of a conflict can escalate to nuclear war and the other side can respond in kind. Seeking escalatory dominance risks escalatory annihilation of both sides, and perhaps of the entire global population.
These considerations would prevent, among rational people, any sort of threat or provocation that could lead to nuclear war. That the U.S. is playing nuclear chicken with Russia is all the proof one needs that its rulers are insane. They may take comfort from their supposedly bomb-proof bunkers and airborne command-and-control centers, but bombs detonated simultaneously in Washington, New York, and Silicon Valley would wipe them out before they ever reached those bunkers or jets.
Nothing is more insane than the desire to destroy one’s self. Among the West’s rulers, this subconscious desire manifests itself in their reaction to a global realignment of power. Their proxy war and sanctions against Russia have been disastrous failures. Russia and China lead a confederation of a majority of the world’s countries that threatens to eclipse the U.S.-led global billion. Western economies rest on a tottering foundation of debt. The totalitarian plans of globalist string-pullers are floundering on the plans’ inherent unworkability and the resistance of millions of people, empowered by decentralizing communications, computing, and weapons technologies (see “Ants at the Picnic,” Parts One and Two).
In their desperation, Western rulers have reached this point: “If we can’t rule the world, we’ll destroy it.” Facing the loss of their exalted positions and potential prosecution for their many crimes, don’t put it past this human excrement to start a nuclear war in a burst of terminal nihilism. Their cohorts in Israel (a nuclear power) may reach the same point in the Middle East—suicide is better than concession.
Even yesterday’s COVID cowards seem indifferent to today’s much more substantial dangers: instant incineration, boiled organs, skin peeling, eyeballs popping, ears melting, body-wide burns, deadly radiation sickness, and, for those that survive, the complete destruction of everything they have and their way of life. There would be hundreds of millions or billions of small black bundles. The death toll would be a several orders-of-magnitude multiple of COVID and its deadly vaccines’ combined final tally. Incidentally, climate would change for the worse, but the climate-change crowd seems unconcerned.
Many Americans may share their rulers’ death wish. Those of us who don’t must do what we can to stop the insane and their insanity. We can start by refusing to support any politician who advocates escalation in either Eastern Europe or the Middle East, rather than diplomacy, negotiations, and peaceful resolutions. Not one dime or weapon more should go to Ukraine or Israel, who both seek full-fledged U.S. military involvement in their wars—escalation that could lead to nuclear war and annihilation. There is no U.S. “interest” that justifies running that risk, certainly not an “interest” in maintaining a faltering empire.
Admittedly a political boycott of war mongering politicians is only a small step, but it’s more than anyone’s doing now. The “movement” would gain membership after the first nuclear bomb detonates, but by then it may well be too late.
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Why are we still betting heavily in Taiwan as if we expect to send US troops there in event of China invading there?
USA is NOT betting on Taiwan.
USA knows it cannot militarily fight China in case of a Taiwan war. Simple reason: distance.
Besides, USA is using China’s Beidou (Chinese version of GPS) which surpasses GPS. China will turn off Beidou in case of a Taiwan war.
A year or 2 ago, there was a China-USA standoff at Guam. Finally, USA left.
What USA is doing with Taiwan is ARMS SALE. Taiwan is a US cash cow. Taiwan has paid dont-know-how-much to buy US weapons but has not received the weapons yet. See, Taiwan is a typical cash cow for USA.
By the way, Taiwan is a province of China, UN says so. Taiwan is China’s internal affairs. UN charter approves any country to protect the integrity of its territory. No country can tolerate secession. Not your country. Not China either.
So China is not invading Taiwan, but to suppress secession. Let’s make that clear.
Vintage illustration
Western chip sanctions guaranteed to fail as thousands of top Chinese scientists return home
S-500 Deployed Earlier Than Expected; Posture Now Consistent with Nuclear First-Strike
Yesterday, this website and radio show reported that Russia had suddenly commenced nuclear launch exercises with their naval group off the coast of Florida. What I chose to **not** report was that at the same time, Russia expanded its ongoing “Tactical nuclear weapons exercises” from the Southern Military District to also include the Leningrad Military District near St. Petersburg.
The unannounced missile drills off the coast of Florida was nerve-racking enough; but the added information about the expansion of tactical nuke drills to the area around St. Petersburg was just emotionally over the top.
TODAY things got exponentially worse.
Overnight, Russia deployed the second generation of its S-500 air defense systems . . . around Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Russia’s strategic nuclear missile silos.
This second generation system – the undisputed pinnacle of air defense systems in the world – was not expected to be ready for deployment for at least another six months.
The fact that Russia deployed them last night, and did so in very significant numbers for which mass-production wasn’t even known to be ready, never mind active, around Moscow, St. Petersburg AND their strategic nuclear missile silos, has now changed the balance of power completely.
There’s no gentle way to say this, so I’m just going to say it: This posture is one that would be expected if Russia was planning a nuclear first-strike upon the West, and was readying to defend itself from the counter-strike.
Looking at the timing of all of this, underscores the harsh reality:
Russia announced Tactical nuclear weapons exercises about three weeks ago, and began them two weeks ago in their Southern Military District.
Russia then sortied eleven nuclear missile submarines into the Atlantic Ocean, about ten days ago.
About three days later, Russia then sortied twenty-seven (27) additional nuclear missile submarines into the Pacific Ocean.
Russia then waited about a week (for the subs to get into position????) and EXPANDED the Tactical nuclear exercises to also include the Leningrad Military District around St. Petersburg.
This means the ENTIRE Russian border with the West, is presently seeing the movement of actual, Tactical nuclear weapons, brought to within striking distance of NATO forces and NATO member countries!
Last night, Russia made a surprise deployment of their newest S-500 “Prometheus” air defense system around Moscow, St. Petersburg, and their strategic ICBM silos.
Added together, E V E R Y indication is that Russia is fully prepared now to launch a severe nuclear first-strike, and successfully defend itself from a counter-strike.
The only things the Russians have not yet done are declare a General War Mobilization of the entire population, and begin moving people into Bomb shelters.
Everything else is already done.
Any person who have NO physical implant have opened the comm yet?
( I mean truly open it in the sense of hearing explicit voices or 100 percent sure they get some input) . Really hope they can write a document about the details behind the comm. I listen to Hemi-sync like groping in the dark. It’s been almost 7 months, which far exceeds the Commander’s initial evaluation( 1 month at most). I need some guidance.
Then it is not your time yet. Why are you in such a rush? -MM
I am fine with long waiting, what I find hard to accept is the big discrepancy between its prediction and reality. The ratio is more than 1:6. This discrepancy does cause a lot of doubt, so if any person who have succeeded by Hemi-sync solely, I would appreciate some guidance.
Maybe this all isn’t for you. Just because something appeals to you and you want it, does not mean that you qualify to have it. I advise forgetting everything and just living life and forgetting everything that I espouse. Later on, perhaps you can try again. But now? Nope. Give it up. -MM