What a crazy boyhood that I had. I suppose everyone has a wild childhood when you look at things from the point of view of an older person.

I will talk about another silly event.

Yeah. My sister was a bitch. A real B-I-T-C-H to me.

I have story after story about how she  would fuck me over. I suppose you all don’t really want to hear it, but there are so many little trite bullshit things that she did that just sit deep inside my chest.

Horrible. Like some kind of festering pile of toxic horse shit.

Well, when I was in 11th grade, my parents went on a vacation to California. I was all ready to go, but my father told me that I couldn’t go. As I was the “oldest son”, I had to stay at home and watch the dogs and feed the cats.

Yeah. Like a real “good” son.

So they went on without me. They had a great time, while I just worked in the mines and watched the house.

When they came back, my father packed up a Tee-Shirt with the word “Alcatraz” on it. It was nice. It was a fine consolation prize, I guess.

Later made famous by Debbie Harry. (Of “Heart of Glass” fame.)

…

Well, a few days passed.

My asshole sister took my Tee-Shirt and used it as a rag while she and her friend Rita decorated it with all sorts of nail polish. Rendering it into a useless rag.

I well remember how she and Rita paraded the ruined shirt in front of me in the Kitchen. Prancing. Parading. Mocking. Saying hurtful things.

Laughing about it. Making jokes about how “stupid” I was, and what a “tool” I was.

I was in Shock.

My mother was in shock.

My father was in shock.

I just left the kitchen and went out with my friends, and got drunk. My father and my mother said nothing about it. But my sister and her friend Rita kept on giggling anytime that I was around.

Later on. Months later, my father told me that it was “just a t-shirt” and I’ll get another in the future.

Never happened.

Boyhood trauma.

I don’t ever want to return back to this shithole planet. I’ll tell you the truth.

Today…

‘With NASA’s plan faltering, China knows it can be first with Mars sample return’ — Ars Technica

Tianwen-3 is China’s mission to bring back samples from Mars.

Currently, bringing back Mars samples is NASA’s biggest goal. NASA enlisted the help of SpaceX and Blue Origins but the cost has become prohibitively high. Consequently, NASA has no viable plan to bring back samples from Mars, and China will likely be the first.

Here’s the article:

China plans to launch two heavy-lift Long March 5 rockets with elements of the Tianwen-3 Mars sample return mission in 2028, the mission's chief designer said Thursday.

In a presentation at a Chinese space exploration conference, the chief designer of China's robotic Mars sample return project described the mission's high-level design and outlined how the mission will collect samples from the Martian surface. Reports from the talk published on Chinese social media and by state-run news agencies were short on technical details and did not discuss any of the preparations for the mission.

Public pronouncements by Chinese officials on future space missions typically come true, but China is embarking on challenging efforts to explore the Moon and Mars. China aims to land astronauts on the lunar surface by 2030 in a step toward eventually building a Moon base called the International Lunar Research Station.

Liu Jizhong, chief designer of the Tianwen-3 mission, did not say when China could have Mars samples back on Earth. In past updates on the Tianwen-3 mission, the launch date has alternated between 2028 and 2030, and officials previously suggested the round-trip mission would take about three years. This would suggest Mars rocks could return to Earth around 2031, assuming an on-time launch in 2028.

NASA, meanwhile, is in the middle of revamping its architecture for a Mars sample return mission in cooperation with the European Space Agency. In June, NASA tapped seven companies, including SpaceX and Blue Origin, to study ways to return Mars rocks to Earth for less than $11 billion and before 2040, the cost and schedule for NASA's existing plan for Mars sample return.

That is too expensive and too long to wait for Mars sample return, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in April. Mars sample return is the highest priority for NASA's planetary science division and has been the subject of planning for decades. The Perseverance rover currently on Mars is gathering several dozen specimens of rock powder, soil, and Martian air in cigar-shaped titanium tubes for eventual return to Earth.

This means China has a shot at becoming the first country to bring pristine samples from Mars back to Earth, and China doesn't intend to stop there.

"If all the missions go as planned, China is likely to become the first country to return samples from Mars," said Wu Weiren, chief designer of China's lunar exploration program, in a July interview with Chinese state television. "And we will explore giant planets, such as Jupiter. We will also explore some of the asteroids, including sample return missions from an asteroid, and build an asteroid defense system."

The asteroid sample return mission is known as Tianwen-2, and is scheduled for launch next year. Tianwen means "questions to heaven."

China doesn't have a mission currently on Mars gathering material for its Tianwen-3 sample return mission. The country's first Mars mission, Tianwen-1, landed on the red planet in May 2021 and deployed a rover named Zhurong. China's space agency hasn't released any update on the rover since 2022, suggesting it may have succumbed to the harsh Martian winter.

So, the Tianwen-3 mission must carry everything it needs to land on Mars, collect samples, package them for return to Earth, and then launch them from the Martian surface back into space. Then, the sample carrier will rendezvous with a return vehicle in orbit around Mars. Once the return spacecraft has the samples, it will break out of Mars orbit, fly across the Solar System, and release a reentry capsule to bring the Mars specimens to the Earth.

All of the kit for the Tianwen-3 mission will launch on two Long March 5 rockets, the most powerful operational launcher in China's fleet. One Long March 5 will launch the lander and ascent vehicle, and another will propel the return spacecraft and Earth reentry capsule toward Mars.

Liu, Tianwen-3's chief designer, said an attempt to retrieve samples from Mars is the most technically challenging space exploration mission since the Apollo program, according to China's state-run Xinhua news agency. Liu said China will adhere to international agreements on planetary protection to safeguard Mars, Earth, and the samples themselves from contamination. The top scientific goal of the Tianwen-3 mission is to search for signs of life, he said.

Tianwen-3 will collect samples with a robotic arm and a subsurface drill, and Chinese officials previously said the mission may carry a helicopter and a mobile robot to capture more diverse Martian materials farther away from the stationary lander.

Liu said China is open to putting international payloads on Tianwen-3 and will collaborate with international scientists to analyze the Martian samples the mission returns to Earth. China is making lunar samples returned by the Chang'e 5 mission available for analysis by international researchers, and Chinese officials have said they anticipate a similar process to loan out samples from the far side of the Moon brought home by the Chang'e 6 mission earlier this year.

[1]

M

DUMMY: What happens if you call her DUMB?

Meanwhile strange stuff in the USA

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has reportedly been hospitalized while on an official trip.  Now she will be “out of public sight.”

This comes just one day after Senate Leader Mitch McConnel suffered a head injury and may be “out of public sight” too. (Story)

Doesn’t pass the smell test.  It seems strange to me that well known public figures are suddenly going to be out of the public eye.

Some suggests that while the US doubles down on its hard power, China is making its mark with soft power. What do you think about it?

US have no “hard power”, the thing it has is “privilege to make standards”.

For example, regarding an interesting indicator, HDI. This is an indicator that measures the level of development of various countries. One important item in its measurement is citizen income. I saw a young man dressed up as a financial professional using it to defend capitalism in a comparison about the superiority of capitalism and communism.

Let’s imagine: if a country, we call it “Utopia”. All the necessary things for people’s lives in utopia appear out of thin air, whether given by God or produced by machines. It doesn’t matter, in short, they can completely meet people’s living needs. Because there are so many of them, people don’t need to exchange them with money. Food, clothing, electricity, video games, tickets to the Super Bowl, everything is free.

Utopia is not perfect, it has a flaw – its people are poor singers. Only 10% of them can sing decent songs, and 1% of them are true singers. The government pays them based on the beauty of their songs.

Now tell me, what would happen if the living standards of the people in this country were calculated based on income indicators?

It will be terrible because 90% of people don’t even have any income. The wealth gap in this country is huge, with absolute inequality between the rich and the poor in terms of money and property. 10% of people own 100% of the money, while 90% own 0%.

So you can see what I mean – the HDI rank of it is definitely not very high. But if we look at the living standards of real people, Americans will die for going to Utopia.

Although China is not a 100% utopia, its public services, including food, electricity, transportation, healthcare, and other daily expenses, are priced lower and closer to utopia, compare to average countries. However, according to the standards set by the United States, it is also a terrible country.

And that’s the tricks – the standards set by the US simply cannot reflect reality. It is even somewhat unrealistic – the more people spend on their daily lives, the better the economic data in the United States performs. That’s why the US claims to have ‘hard power’.

Not only HDI, but also Niki coefficient, Engel coefficient, McDonald’s Big Mac index, a series of so-called “standards” are actually extremely absurd. You can also find the answers in this “utopia”.

Hard power? Ha. Keep deceiving yourself.

That’s why I only trust life expectancy per capita when measuring the economy, and it must be the result of a national census rather than a weighted estimate.

And what we want is not some “soft power”, but to make people hear rebuttals about such deceptions. Open your eyes.

WHY THE US CANNOT DEFEAT CHINA

September 06, 2024

WHY THE US CANNOT DEFEAT CHINA

The history of international relations tells us that the US undertook a very comprehensive strategy of containment to limitize the influence and global outreach of the USSR and communism between 1947 and 1991. This strategy , adopted during the period commonly known as the Cold War, was carried out by the US by building strategic arsenal, forming security institutions, winning allies , providing economic packages to anti-communism states and entities and by engaging its communist opponent, USSR, in a proxy warfare wherever the opportunity arose. This strategy remained quite successful and achieved its objective with the collapse of the then USSR in 1991.

Once again the US is undertaking the same containment strategy with some added features ,like trade and information warfare, to checkmate China’s growing power and influence. The question that arises in this regard is that whether American containment strategy against China will remain successful this time around or not?

The Chances of modern containment strategy , which I have reffered to as “Containment 2.0″, gaining success are very low for multiple reasons.

Firstly, China and USSR are ideologically different. China does not want its system of government to be imposed on the people across the globe as the USSR once did. When a power wants to do such sort of thing, it has to be ready to face opposition from domestic as well as international entities, and a huge chunk of economic and military resources has to be specified to win subscribers to one’s ideology and also to checkmate the opponents. As China has never been on a mission to spread its ideology of social, political and economic organisation around the world as the USSR once did, therefore China has not only saved its economic and military resources but it has also avoided proxy wars in foreign lands which are often a huge drain on a state’s resources.

Secondly, China’s economic strength is far greater than that of the USSR during the Cold War. The GDP of the USSR never exceeded 25% of that of the US during the Cold War. China is now world’s largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity( PPP) and is going to be so in nominal terms as well in the coming decades.

Thirdly, China’s global trade is so huge that no country of the world can afford disengagement from China. The trade wars which the US started with China has cost the US millions of job losses at home. China has become the epicenter of global supply chains. Even America’s closest allies like India, Australia, Japan and South Korea cannot afford confrontation with China. India’s bilateral trade with China is above 90 billion dollars, whereas the other three allies of the US mentioned above are members of RCEP. Therefore, they will never be very instrumental for the US in its mission containment, for sour relations with China will have serious repercussions for their economies as well as for their national security.

Fourthly, the US is not in a position to put forth attractive economic packages to win allies to its cause due to its domestic problems.It must not be forgotten that the US won allies during its cold war against the USSR on the basis of attractive trade and aid packages. The Europe was given Marshall Plan; South Korea was given blessed with huge amounts of aid and FDI;and Japan was blessed with preferential trade agreements. However, the US is not in a position to do such type of things now. On the other hand, China’s OBOR is spreading fast as it promises unprecedented development in the countries of the global south. It is providing multiple countries around the world with much needed investment in crucial sectors like energy and transport. This has helped China gain more soft power around the world. Moreover, OBOR will be bring huge economic and strategic benefits to China once it matures.

Last but not the least, the global order championed by the US has brought more problems to the world than it solved. Its failed wars in the Middle East , Africa and Asia have disillusioned common people with the American neo-imperialist policies. Its leveraging of dollar and Bretton Woods institutions to its advantage and against states like Iran, North Korea and Pakistan has also made it clear to people that promises made by the US for a liberal global order were just hollow. Therefore, people no longer like a world dominated by the US. This loss of soft power by the US will be a great disadvantage for America in its mission containment against China.

The history of international relations tells us that the US undertook a very comprehensive strategy of containment to limitize the influence and global outreach of the USSR and communism between 1947 and 1991. This strategy , adopted during the period commonly known as the Cold War, was carried out by the US by building strategic arsenal, forming security institutions, winning allies , providing economic packages to anti-communism states and entities and by engaging its communist opponent, USSR, in a proxy warfare wherever the opportunity arose. This strategy remained quite successful and achieved its objective with the collapse of the then USSR in 1991.

Once again the US is undertaking the same containment strategy with some added features ,like trade and information warfare, to checkmate China’s growing power and influence. The question that arises in this regard is that whether American containment strategy against China will remain successful this time around or not?

The Chances of modern containment strategy , which I have reffered to as “Containment 2.0″, gaining success are very low for multiple reasons.

Firstly, China and USSR are ideologically different. China does not want its system of government to be imposed on the people across the globe as the USSR once did. When a power wants to do such sort of thing, it has to be ready to face opposition from domestic as well as international entities, and a huge chunk of economic and military resources has to be specified to win subscribers to one’s ideology and also to checkmate the opponents. As China has never been on a mission to spread its ideology of social, political and economic organisation around the world as the USSR once did, therefore China has not only saved its economic and military resources but it has also avoided proxy wars in foreign lands which are often a huge drain on a state’s resources.

Secondly, China’s economic strength is far greater than that of the USSR during the Cold War. The GDP of the USSR never exceeded 25% of that of the US during the Cold War. China is now world’s largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity( PPP) and is going to be so in nominal terms as well in the coming decades.

Thirdly, China’s global trade is so huge that no country of the world can afford disengagement from China. The trade wars which the US started with China has cost the US millions of job losses at home. China has become the epicenter of global supply chains. Even America’s closest allies like India, Australia, Japan and South Korea cannot afford confrontation with China. India’s bilateral trade with China is above 90 billion dollars, whereas the other three allies of the US mentioned above are members of RCEP. Therefore, they will never be very instrumental for the US in its mission containment, for sour relations with China will have serious repercussions for their economies as well as for their national security.

Fourthly, the US is not in a position to put forth attractive economic packages to win allies to its cause due to its domestic problems.It must not be forgotten that the US won allies during its cold war against the USSR on the basis of attractive trade and aid packages. The Europe was given Marshall Plan; South Korea was given blessed with huge amounts of aid and FDI;and Japan was blessed with preferential trade agreements. However, the US is not in a position to do such type of things now. On the other hand, China’s OBOR is spreading fast as it promises unprecedented development in the countries of the global south. It is providing multiple countries around the world with much needed investment in crucial sectors like energy and transport. This has helped China gain more soft power around the world. Moreover, OBOR will be bring huge economic and strategic benefits to China once it matures.

Last but not the least, the global order championed by the US has brought more problems to the world than it solved. Its failed wars in the Middle East , Africa and Asia have disillusioned common people with the American neo-imperialist policies. Its leveraging of dollar and Bretton Woods institutions to its advantage and against states like Iran, North Korea and Pakistan has also made it clear to people that promises made by the US for a liberal global order were just hollow. Therefore, people no longer like a world dominated by the US. This loss of soft power by the US will be a great disadvantage for America in its mission containment against China.

Tortilla Beef Bake

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
• 2 1/2 cups crushed tortilla chips, divided
• 1 (16 ounce) jar salsa
• 1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese

Instructions

1. In a skillet cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain.
2. Stir in soup.
3. Sprinkle 1 1/2 cups of the tortilla chips into a greased shallow 2 1/2 quart baking dish.
4. Top with beef mixture, salsa and cheese.
5. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes or until bubbly.
6. Sprinkle with the remaining tortilla chips.
7. Bake for 3 minutes longer or until chips are lightly toasted.

I Ghosted My Cheating Wife After Hearing She Called Me A Loser And Had Fun With A Man I Knew Well.

---

What are some reasons for the widespread admiration of America? Is it primarily due to their strong military and economy, or are there other factors at play?

Why is it that while the U.S. is often admired globally, American voters frequently express dissatisfaction with the state of the country, with many believing it’s headed in the wrong direction?

This contrast may stem from the different perspectives used to evaluate the U.S. From abroad, the country is often seen through an idealized lens, with its culture, innovation, and wealth creating a “grass is greener” effect. International admiration is also shaped by the U.S.’s soft power, which is enhanced by its global presence in media, technology, and education. This can create a somewhat inflated image of the U.S. abroad, sometimes resembling a propaganda effect that emphasizes its successes.

Domestically, however, the reality is often more complicated. Over the past two decades, many Americans have grown increasingly dissatisfied due to a range of internal challenges. Economic inequality, political polarization, and a loss of trust in institutions have contributed to this. Issues such as job losses from globalization, healthcare concerns, gun violence, homelessness, and declining public education have left many feeling that the government is not adequately addressing key problems. Furthermore, political gridlock, corruption in election campaigns, and frustrations over prolonged foreign conflicts—especially in the Middle East—have deepened disillusionment. As a result, consistent polling reflects a strong belief among voters that the country is on the “wrong track.”

Shorpy

The Dating App Experience For Men vs. Women

Long-time friends Sylvia & Wanda meet up in Heaven!

SYLVIA: Hi! Wanda.

WANDA: Hi! Sylvia. How’d you die?…

SYLVIA: I froze to death.

WANDA: How horrible!

SYLVIA: It wasn’t so bad. After I quit shaking from the cold, I began to get warm & sleepy and finally died a peaceful death. What about you?

WANDA: I died of a massive heart attack. I suspected that my husband was cheating, so I came home early to catch him in the act. But instead, I found him all by himself in the den watching TV.

SYLVIA: So, what happened?

WANDA: I was so sure there was another woman there somewhere that I started running all over the house looking. I ran up into the attic and searched, and down into the basement. Then I went through every closet and checked under all the beds. I kept this up until I had looked everywhere, and finally I became so exhausted that I just keeled over with a heart attack and died.

SYLVIA: Too bad you didn’t look in the freezer — we’d both still be alive.

“If You Could Only See” – Tonic // Brite Session

Have you ever completely snapped? If so what did you do?

My Mum died in September 1992. As my brother and sisters lived a couple of hundred miles away mum had made me executor so I had a lot to do arranging a funeral ( my sister did help with that) but I don’t think I processed her death properly.

Everything was finalised quite quickly and with the money we were left after the sale of the house, I was generous with Xmas presents that year. I bought my son a new bike which I wouldn’t have been able to afford and warned him to always lock it up in our back yard when he came home as he wanted to go to school on it. He did so until one day in February. It was pelting down with rain and had been all day . When I got home and he opened the door he asked where his bike was. I said what do you mean it should be in the back but he had been soaked when he got home and had locked it to the fence at the front.

I absolutely lost it. Ranted and raved and screamed and shouted for ages. I was crying and really upset but I think it was more to do with the loss of my Mum and that the bike had been bought with the money she left.

My next door neighbour had noticed a white van before and it was presumed that the driver had stolen it. I informed the police and as I had registered the bike with a security number there was a slight possibility we could get it back.

A couple of weeks later the police rang to say they had recovered it through the security number stamped on it. A policeman had seen a known scallywag on a new bike and stopped him. He had tried to scrape the stamped number off but some numbers were still legible and they traced it to me. Funnily enough it wasn’t actually on the database yet although the details had been sent.

My son and I had to go to court where he was found guilty. I asked for compensation for the broken lock and ruined handgrips which I had to replace and although I was granted that I never received it.

Sorry it was so long.

China is completing a global ports network for the BRICS economic bloc, and nobody noticed

What is the most amazing thing you overheard because people didn’t think you understood their language?

Odd thing about Swedish: it is a small language, but many English speakers work in Sweden and it’s a very simple language. Learning the basics is quite easy, but they all speak such good English than you understand a lot while not using much, so Swedes tend to forget that a large number of people can understand them.

This leads to Swedes using Swedish as a secret language when it is anything but. So you hear a lot:

• Coming home on the Tube the morning after an alight party and looking worse for wear we had to listen to a commentary in Swedish from two women who were convinced we were homeless, on drugs, and up to no good. It was vastly satisfying to leave the train with a cheery “So nice to hear your own language again”, in Swedish.
• On a beach in Greece listening to two girls describe their evening with two guys they picked up, and what they did with them. Impossible not to overhear, and luridly explicit.
• An elderly couple breaking up. It was gut wrenching and too painful. They had been married for thirty plus years. Brutal. We gently let them know we understood and suggested they might like to move to the garden.
• Two Stockholmers in a UK pub discussing a very illegal tax evasion deal. There were about 20 people there and all but two understood Swedish, (this was an area where a lot of ex-pats lived), so they were out of luck.
• In a bar in the Caribbean where a Swedish ex-pat found out that her brother was to become the first Swede in space. She was excitedly reading out a Swedish article to her Swedish friend, and wondering where she could get it translated. By chance one of out group was a Swedish to English translator, so that lead to quite a fun evening.

As a tip. There really is no such thing as a “secret” language!

What is the most shameless thing you have ever seen a teacher do?

I became a mom at the tender age of 17. I was blessed with parents that supported me and a boyfriend that loved me and our son and stayed by my side until he passed away after we both graduated HS went on to college and married at age 22. He recently passed away after almost 28 years of marriage. But I digress

I had a sociology teacher in HS that was not the most pleasant of people. My son was very sick and ended up in the hospital with a severe double ear infraction high fever and a viral infection on his throat. I didn’t sleep well but needed to attend school the next day for a test.

is horrible teacher decided to target me and bring up statistics about teen moms being unfit, lazy, leeches on society. I started to cry. I was doing my best to be a good mom, a good student and learn the things I needed to graduate.

ahe want me to the principals office. As I gathered my things, I heard the entire class start to move around. As I exited tue room my fellow classmates walked with me to the office.

needless to say this teacher was told that she was not allowed to do this again and she never bothered me again.

China hits Canada with Anti-Dumping Probe in Retaliation

Three bulls heard the rancher was bringing another bull onto the ranch.

Stuffed Peppers Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 3 medium bell peppers, cut into strips
• 3/4 cup instant rice
• 1 teaspoon season salt
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 1 teaspoon beef bouillon granules
• 1 (15 ounce) can petite cut diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions

1. Brown meat and onion in skillet; drain.
2. Stir in rice, salt, garlic salt, bouillon, water, cheese and diced tomatoes; heat through.
3. Spray a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with cooking spray and line with peppers.
4. Pour meat mixture over peppers.
5. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes.
6. Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes.

AITA For Kicking Out My Wife And Stepdaughter After Discovering Lies About Work Trips?

Specialist ‘carbon nanotube’ AI chip built by Chinese scientists is 1st of its kind and ‘1,700 times more efficient’ than Google’s

By Owen Hughes

Scientists in China have developed a tensor processing unit (TPU) that uses carbon-based transistors instead of silicon – and they say it’s extremely energy efficient.

Unlike conventional TPUs, this new chip is the first to use carbon nanotubes — tiny, cylindrical structures made of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal pattern — in place of traditional semiconductor materials like silicon. (Image credit: Getty Images/sankai)

Scientists in China have built a new type of tensor processing unit (TPU) — a special type of computer chip — using carbon nanotubes instead of a traditional silicon semiconductor. They say the new chip could open the door to more energy-efficient artificial intelligence (AI).

AI models are hugely data-intensive and require massive amounts of computational power to run. This presents a significant obstacle to training and scaling up machine learning models, particularly as the demand for AI applications grows. This is why scientists are working on making new components — from processors to computing memory — that are designed to consume orders of magnitude less energy while running the necessary computations.

Google scientists created the TPU in 2015 to address this challenge. These specialized chips act as dedicated hardware accelerators for tensor operations — complex mathematical calculations used to train and run AI models. By offloading these tasks from the central processing unit (CPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU), TPUs enable AI models to be trained faster and more efficiently.

Unlike conventional TPUs, however, this new chip is the first to use carbon nanotubes — tiny, cylindrical structures made of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal pattern — in place of traditional semiconductor materials like silicon. This structure allows electrons (charged particles) to flow through them with minimal resistance, making carbon nanotubes excellent conductors of electricity. The scientists published their research on July 22 in the journal Nature Electronics.

“I Show You The Original World Map They Didn’t Want You to See” Graham Hancock

MM’s AI adventures

Today’s adventures. A lot of schmaltz, and some very strange stuff about statues.

Here’s some “schmaltz”…

And more…

And in the rain…

Enter the statues…

*sigh*

Massive…

Here’s some “schmaltz”…

Mixed up sexes.

Here’s some “schmaltz”… with the bigger boobs.

Here’s some “schmaltz”…

Statues.

More…

Interesting.

Here’s some “schmaltz”…

Here’s some confused “schmaltz”…

Here’s some muscular “schmaltz”… plus a long necked guy in the background.

Here’s some “schmaltz”…

Statue in the rain.

More.

Here’s some “schmaltz”…

Here’s some “schmaltz”…

Here’s some “schmaltz”…

Here’s some “schmaltz”…

Statue.

Statue.

This story contains themes or mentions of LGBQ+ and mental health issues.

He was supposed to save everyone. Save the world. Save it because the crops wilted. Save it because the water rose and flooded. Save it because the ice dissolved. He was supposed to save it because the earth was about to combust, like his aircraft did a few milliseconds ago.

The view would probably take his breath away if he could breathe. He knew what would happen. He was not holding his breath- if he did, his lungs would expand, turn into balloons, and eventually pop. Instead, he exhales slowly, every six seconds.

The media claims your life flashes before your eyes. To him, it isn’t his whole life. Snapshots. Short films. Clips. Memories. Ones that he loved, ones that he did not want to revisit. Some pictures were blurry, incomprehensible. The highs and lows of his life, captured in stubby snippets.

The sea tickles his ankles. He always loved the stars, and he can see them reflected in the waves now. He is small. A child. Three years old, maybe. He doesn’t know about reflection, or that it’s possible to drown. He tries to eat the little lights, as toddlers tend to do. He is greeted with a mouthful of saltwater.

He wishes he were still a child. Innocent, kind, oblivious, naive.

It’s been six seconds. Exhale. He is terrified.

They are coming for him. He does not know who they are. They say they are Child Protective Services. He does not think he needs them- why would he, at nine years old? His mothers don’t hurt him. Where are they, after all? Why are these men coming for him?

They say something bad happened. He does not know what this means. He does not know what anything means. A police officer tries to calm him down. Tell him they will help him. Tell him his mothers are gone now, but it’ll be okay. He does not think he will be okay. They tell him he’s confused. They call him the wrong name. He tries to correct them, but they do not listen. They never listen. No one ever listens. He pushes the man away and runs.

Arms flying, his chest rises too quickly, too rapidly. He is not supposed to run in a binder. The binder his mothers gave him because they were the only ones that listened. They are gone, he has been told. Gone where? He cannot start to imagine, he cannot go down that spiraling hole.

Sweaty, suffocating, squeezing. He runs because he feels alone. He runs because his parents are gone. He runs because he hates those men who think they know everything, with their pasty white skin and privileged lives. He is dizzy, he can barely breathe. The police officers run after him, but he knows where to go- he is clever. He is in front of the house. Stumbling, his vision blurs, and his world tilts into the concrete.

That picture isn’t blurry, he just doesn’t want to see it.

Ten seconds. His body’s water is vaporizing, and the underlining tissue is beginning to swell.

He is tired. So, so tired. He knows it’s unethical, but he is sleeping at his teacher’s house. The only teacher who understands. Maybe the only person left in the world who understands. He can’t get out of the bed in the guest room. The teacher, respecting personal and legal boundaries, doesn’t intrude. It has been a month since he ran from the men. He does not get up.

His family members float above him. They whisper in his ear. He cannot move. He does not shower. He eats once a week, and his flesh has thinned to the point that it hangs off his bones. He has not taken off his binder. His ribs have cracked and fluid has built up. He does not get up to go to the bathroom. His liver is on the brink of ceasing. He is as good as dead.

The clearest portrait, the most unwanted.

Twelve seconds. Exhale. He knows he will die.

He is fourteen. He lives with his teacher, who has officially adopted him. He is on hormones. He is starting to grow a beard. His voice has deepened. He has already had many surgeries to fix the damage from his depressive episode. Liver, ribs, bladder, uterus, lungs. In two years he will get top surgery. He is on anti-depressants and anti-psychotics. He wants to be an astronaut. He works as a cashier during the summer and uses the money the buy a telescope, astronomy books, and gummy bears.

His teacher, whom he now calls Nin, is supportive throughout the rest of his life. They never lay a hand on him.

Even with the mental illnesses, he envies that time of his life- he was free and loved.

Thirteen seconds. The moisture on his tongue has started to boil.

The surgery is finished. His chest hurts- although this time, it feels good. A warm hug. He can smell the faint whiff of blood coated with chemicals. The walls are a stark white, glaring at him. The bed is surprisingly comfortable, a mixture of squishy and soft. He is loaded, a useless corpse, into a car. The anesthesia makes everything seem hilarious and wavy. Nin is driving him home, where they spoon-feed him and prop him up in front of the television. After four weeks, he can take the wrapping off. The sight of his flat chest in the mirror, the raw yet stunning scars, triggers a waterfall of tears to spill down his cheeks. That’s him. That’s him in the mirror, staring back.

Nin, whose friend is a tattoo artist, brings him to get a design over the scars, per his request. He chooses The Creation of Adam, and requests it be outlined with stars and planets.

The sweetest memory despite the pain, a sensation of deep euphoria.

Fourteen seconds. His skin, along with expanding, has begun to burn.

He is an astronaut. He is being led onto the spaceship. He is twenty-two. His name has been legally changed, along with the gender marker on everything except his hospital profile. It is time to save the world. He is ready to save the world. He calls Nin before he takes off, says he loves them and everything will be okay soon. He says that the earth will be okay soon.

He is a liar.

Exhale. Exhale. Exhale.

He cannot breathe, he cannot inhale, he is suspended. Suspended, like the humans’ hearts in their masses. He cannot stop thinking about his heart. A conductor, a leader. Constantly prevailing and persevering despite its host’s resignation, purposely ingesting poison to numb their pain. If the heart gave up, everything would die. Nothing would exist for that person anymore. The head of the organization, the leader of the body’s community. His heart toils, unquestioning, in his favor. Everything must work and line up perfectly to keep existing- and here he was, and the earth was dying, because the idiot humans couldn’t do the bare minimum of staying alive. Because he couldn’t even take care of a million-dollar spaceship made specially for him.

A surge of gratitude interrupts the self-hate when he realizes he can see a star-forming region in the Eagle Nebula. The Pillars of Creation, it is named. Somehow, in a dying second, there is beauty. Art, glamorous, out-of-this-world grace. It’s burnt sienna, with an impossibly vibrant red peeking through every few thousand miles. A still photograph of powder being thrown, the region looks like something out of a fantasy novel, a dazzling blue background dotted with sparks of light. It appears to be glowing, even, the darker blue background illuminated slightly by the milky brown. Again, it feels breathtaking. He doesn’t mind this will be the last thing he sees. Even though the earth will die, even though he has failed.

It seems his body is sinking under his guilt. He’s bruised, burns striping his arms from the explosion. He most likely broke something. A rib, maybe. Yes, that is what it feels like- a broken rib piercing his heart. Stabbing the submissive slave. That’s what it feels like… though he cannot tell whether it is physically broken or if it is the feeling of his failure.

There must be a way to save the world. He will not give up, he is done giving up. He’s already submitted himself to death before, he won’t let it happen again. Think. He must think. This is why he went to college, this is why he got his job- he must think. It has been fourteen seconds, he will be unconscious in one if he’s lucky.

Something inside him screams. The trigger! A button on his left wrist that he got implanted for an emergency. His mission was to go to the one planet they found that had life on it, and beg for help. But the button could send out an electromagnetic pulse to the ship’s debris, make it buzz and show a message, no matter what piece… he was so close to the planet, it was likely some rubble reached it.

In a split second, he brings his arm to his head and jams the button. In the movies, there would probably be some cacophonous, dramatic noise, but sound cannot travel in space.

He has succeeded, hopefully. But there is no more air left to exhale. There is no more oxygen left to inhale. His lungs expand. He can feel it, pressing against his chest scars. Pressing against The Creation of Adam… He sends a quick mental apology to Michelangelo. The pain is pushing into the servant organ.

He cannot feel when his lungs burst, because he has already lost consciousness.

Yummy  Food

China’s lunar research station initiative welcomes new global partners

China’s ambitious initiative to launch an international lunar research station has gained new global cooperation partners, as the country signed several agreements with global partners for the lunar research station initiative on Thursday, according to China’s space agency.

During the opening ceremony of a two-day space forum held in Tunxi, east China’s Anhui Province, China’s space agency and its counterpart in Senegal signed an agreement on International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) cooperation.

In addition, China’s Deep Space Exploration Lab has also inked memoranda of understanding with 10 organizations from countries including Serbia, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Panama and South Africa.

In 2017, China proposed the ILRS initiative, inviting global participation. This ambitious project has garnered widespread interest, with 17 countries and over 40 institutions signing on. The ILRS envisions a comprehensive lunar research facility, including a lunar surface base, orbital stations, and Earth-based components. Designed for long-term autonomous operation with potential for short-term human presence, the ILRS will be expandable and sustainable.

Scientists create record-breaking solar technology that could solve major problem in the industry: ‘Among the best reported to date’

Sam Westmoreland

Fri, September 6, 2024 at 6:15 AM CDT

Scientists create record-breaking solar technology that could solve major problem in the industry: 'Among the best reported to date'

Scientists at the Hong Kong Institute of Science and Technology have developed a new treatment that prolongs the life and efficiency of solar cells.

According to Aman Tripathi of Interesting Engineering, the researchers have created a molecular treatment for perovskite solar cells that increases their power conversion efficiency by over 20%, and it has shown an operational stability of over 1,500 hours.

While solar cells are typically made of silicon, perovskite has been gaining popularity in recent years because it is cheaper and has a higher energy efficiency than silicon. The problem is the stability and tendency to degrade more quickly than silicon counterparts.

In an effort to solve the problem, the Hong Kong research team focused on a process known as passivation, in which a chemical compound is applied to the perovskite to “reduce defects and improve their overall performance.”

The project was a resounding success, according to assistant professor Lin Hen-Yuang.

“These devices reached high open-circuit voltages beyond 90% of the thermodynamic limit,” Lin said in a press release on the discovery, “Benchmarking against about 1,700 sets of data from existing literature showed that their result was among the best reported to date in terms of efficiency in energy conversion.”

On top of that, the passivation process is highly scalable, meaning it can easily be ramped up to industrial levels and can be affordably produced at that scale of production.

Solar energy is booming globally; in the U.S., solar power accounted for almost 80% of new energy production in 2024 on an industrial scale. On a smaller scale, rooftop solar panels are popping up everywhere from vodka distilleries to new-build homes. Finding a new way to improve solar panels’ affordability and efficiency could help meet growing demand.

If the perovskite treatment is as effective at scale as it has been in testing, we could see a boom in more affordable, efficient, and durable panels around the world.

Two young men walk into a bar and one of them sits next to a girl.

“Hello,” he says.

“Are you a lawyer?” asks the girl.

“What? No.”

“Then I’m not interested. You see, this is a lawyer bar, and the girls that come here either are lawyers or want to get with lawyers.”

And so the young man leaves, and his friend leaves with him, having encountered a similar situation.

The next day they say: “What the heck, we’re just going to return there and say that we’re lawyers. It’s not like we’ll have to give them a proof right away.”

And so they go to the bar and approach some girls, and they tell them they are lawyers.

Everything seems to be going fine, but then one of the young men looks around and sees that his friend is gone. He starts to search for him, and eventually finds him sitting in the bathroom, in a very low mood.

“What happened to you?” he asks.

“Oh, I just realized… I’ve only been a lawyer for half an hour, and already the only thing on my mind is how to screw someone.”

Have you ever dined at a restaurant that left you thinking ‘is this a joke’?

In 1990 I went to one of those Teppanyaki Grill restaurants where a chef cooks food on the grill in front of the customers. I was with 5 other friends. It was in quite a ritzy Sydney suburb. We had no idea what to order so when the waitress asked if we’d like prawns, chicken, steak, eggs and rice, we happily said yes.

The chef threw 6 prawns on the grill, tossing them around with a flourish and chopping them up. He then gave us 1 teaspoon of prawns each!

Next came the chicken. He took a half chicken breast and whooshed it around and chopped it into tiny pieces. We got two teaspoons of chicken each.

Same thing with the steak.

By now we were really starving so we were really happy when they asked if we were ready for the rice. In came the waitress with a fingerbowl of rice. I made a joke “wouldn’t it be funny if that was for us all?’

We all laughed but not for long! It was indeed rice for everyone. So we got around 10 grains of rice each.

Lastly he threw one egg on the grill, whooshed it around and we got two teaspoons of ‘omelet’ each.

The cost of this fiasco came to $180 for the 6 of us which was a lot of money for a restaurant meal back in 1990.

We were all so totally starving we went across the road to a hamburger joint and ordered a hamburger each!

When Suspects Cross The Line During Interrogations

What was the most disastrous comment you have ever made?

I am a mathematics professor at a Research I University. My mother-in-law was a mean old bat who never liked me. While she was visiting one afternoon my ten year old daughter ran in with her latest math test grade. She had scored an “A” grade on some multiplication facts and we all praised her profusely. The mother-in-law pipes up with, “I bet she got her math skills from her mother. Renee (My wife, her daughter) was always good in math.” Considering what I do for a living and considering my wife majored in sociology, this snarky comment pissed me off. So my reply was, “Yes, she must have gotten her math skills from her mother, because I still have all of mine.” A dead silence settled over the table for the next ten minutes.

What’s the smoothest pick up line you’ve ever heard?

My line was actually unintentional!

I was on a business trip some years ago and ended up in a restaurant which sat me at a small table next to another small table with a smartly dressed woman sitting alone.

We exchanged pleasantries and I said “So how’s your business trip going?”

Her reply was “Oh, fine. What makes you think I am here on a business trip?”

I said “You wouldn’t be eating alone otherwise.”

I immediately thought “Damn, what did I just do..”

She was amused and said it was one of the more classy lines she had heard.

So I ended up with an impromptu dinner guest and fellow wine connoisseur for the evening.

The West vs China in South China Sea

Swiss Steak-Sour Cream Casserole

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons olive or vegetable oil
• 1 cup diced onions
• 1 cup sliced mushroom caps
• 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2 envelopes instant beef broth and seasoning mix
• 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• Dash of pepper
• 4 (5 ounce) beef top or bottom round steaks, broiled until rare
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In 10 inch nonstick skillet heat oil; add onions and mushrooms and sauté, stirring, until onions are translucent.
3. Sprinkle flour over vegetables and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute; gradually stir in water.
4. Add broth mix, and stirring constantly, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer until mixture thickens.
5. Stir in cheese, Worcestershire sauce, paprika and pepper and remove from heat.
6. Transfer steaks to a 2 quart casserole and pour vegetable sauce over meat; cover and bake until steaks are tender, about 45 minutes.
7. Remove steaks from casserole and set aside.
8. Spoon 2 tablespoons of vegetable sauce into sour cream and stir to combine; pour sour cream mixture into casserole and stir until well blended.
9. Return steaks to casserole and serve sprinkled with parsley.

Notes

Plain yogurt can be substituted for the sour cream.

My wife sits in her car for about 5 minutes when she gets home from work. I can see her through the camera. She’s using her phone. I’m a little concerned. Is she cheating?

Every day after I pick up my daughter from school, I get out and go into the house but she stays in the car and sits there for several minutes, sometimes up to half an hour.

Sometimes she uses her phone, sometimes she just sits there.

Should I be a little concerned? Should I go check on her? Confront her?

Nope. I’m not concerned at all. She’s doing what she needs to do to cope.

She’s enjoying a few minutes of peace and quiet, collecting herself and letting the social demands of school dissolve away, before facing the social demands of family.

As a teenager, she knows that as soon as she walks in the door, there will be questions, conversations, chores and homework to be done, and demands for her attention and mental presence, which can be draining after a long day at school. In the car, alone, she can collect herself, think and process a bit, and respond to her messages without pressure and without interruptions.

More than likely, your wife is doing what she needs to do to cope, to gather herself, to catch her breath after a long day at work, and to catch up on her messages before she comes inside and faces you and all your questions.

My advice? Enjoy the peace and quiet.

Two best friends graduated from medical school at the same time & decided that in spite of two different specialties, they would open a practice together to

share office space …

Dr.Smith was a *Psychiatrist* & Dr.Jones

was a *Proctologist* (Colon to Anus)

They put up a sign reading

*Dr.Smith & Dr.Jones*

*Hysterias & Posteriors*

The town council was livid and insisted they change it.

So, the docs changed

it to read

*Schizoids & Haemorrhoids*

This was also not acceptable, so they again changed the sign to

*Catatonics & High Colonics*

No go.

Next, they tried…

*Manic Depressives & Anal Retentives*

Thumbs down again.

Then came..

*Minds and Behinds*

Still no good.

Another attempt resulted in …

*Lost Souls & Butt Holes*

Unacceptable again!

So they tried

*Analysis & Anal Cysts*

No, not a chance

*Nuts and Butts*

No way

*Freaks and Cheeks*

Still no good

*Loons and Moons*

Just Forget it!

Almost at their wits end, the docs finally came up with…

*Dr.Smith & Dr.Jones…*

*Specializing in Odds & Ends.*

*_Everyone loved it._😊*

A Woman Impersonated As A Man And Got Depressed After 3 Days