I know this town.
Yeah. It’s not too far from where I (once) lived, and I (even) used to have relatives living there. Like most of the old steel sections of PA, it’s dead.
Dead.
Dead.
Nothing is going on there except government offices and a flourishing drug trade. The video discusses something that is so typical of what America has become.
Watch this clip… soak it up.
Tucker Carlson: This is shocking
Yeah. It’s a mess, and it’s typical for Western Pennsylvania. This is a tale of the “kids of oligarchs” taking over and driving a disaster further into the ground…
Fitness coach Dmitry Stuzhuk
This is the last photo of fitness coach Dmitry Stuzhuk, husband of the famous Ukrainian blogger Sophia Stuzhuk and father of three little children.
Dmitry posted this photo on his Instagram account shortly before he fell into a coma and died. The caption ran: “I got COVID-19.”
After returning home from vacation in Turkey, Dmitry was tested positive with Coronavirus.
He was suffering from problems with the cardiovascular system.
Earlier Dmitry escaped from the hospital, deciding to continue treatment at home, because “they don’t feed their patients.”
…There’s a guy playing with his kids, working in a gym, posting pics on Instagram, and vacationing in a five-star resort in Turkey, and the next moment he is being buried in a closed casket.
This is a reminder that life is short, so don’t postpone things you have always meant to do.
Tell your loved ones things you have always meant to say.
Because tomorrow it might be too late.
Every moment needs to be enjoyed to the fullest because this moment is all we got.
Kirk & Scotty after the fight with Klingons
Scotty threw the first punch!
Protecting your car from being stolen
My mom’s 1965 Ford Mustang.
That’s my mom on the right with the ‘Stang, a ’65 she bought from her brother who worked at a dealership in Hollywood back then. He arranged for 5 Mustangs to be painted in a Thunderbird color just so she could get her preferred color without paying extra. It’s a rare car.
(Next to her is her good friend Cindy and her Thunderbird, year unknown to me. More on her and that car in a moment.) [Edit: Thanks to Matthew Lallo I now know that a 57 T-Bird. Thanks, Matt!]
That Mustang was stolen three times in the 80s and 90s. Each time the thieves were able to get into it, pop it into neutral and push it down the block to a small cul-de-sac to try to get it running. Each time they failed. Each time we found the Mustang sitting there, lightly molested but otherwise intact. I think we had to replace the radio once.
The reason they were unable to start the car is simple. Dad installed one of these:
A small toggle switch mounted under the dash, too small to be noticed easily, acted as a simple ignition interrupt. The thieves pulled the wires off the ignition switch but were unable to get a spark. They’d pop the hood and check the battery, but weren’t able to figure out why there was no spark. None of them noticed the little toggle switch.
Mom was religious about flipping that switch each and every time she parked, and it paid off.
As a side note, Cindy’s T-Bird was stolen a number of times, too, and each time foiled, but they were using much more sophisticated anti-theft devices. I think it even has a LoJack. I find it kind of funny that Mom’s cheap toggle switch was just as effective as Cindy’s more expensive devices.
Arnold Ziffel Tests his Civil Rights – Green Acres – 1967 & 1968
Enjoy!
Xi Jinping’s visit to Saudi Arabia is heralding more tectonic changes in the rules of the Great Game in ways that few have begun to realize.
Xi Jinping’s visit to Saudi Arabia is heralding more tectonic changes in the rules of the Great Game in ways that few have begun to realize.
While many people are quick to criticize China for having looked the other way while the atrocious Saudi-led offensive in Yemen has continued to kill hundreds of thousands of civilians since 2015, these same people miss the fact that a higher geopolitical reality is being born which will have a much greater benefit to both the people of Yemen and humanity more generally if it is not sabotaged.
Just to be clear: Saudi Arabia has a lot of blood on her hands.
However, the monarchy is also not merely the unidimensional player which many often assume whose goal is to simply bask forever in oil profits while spreading wahhabite radicalism across the Arab world while subduing any nation who stands in their way.
There is also an emergent robust young generation in Saudi Arabia (half of the 31 million Saudis are under 25) and a renewed embrace of advanced technological progress as a driver for a post-hydrocarbon age. This more healthy dynamic within the Saudi population and governing class was outlined clearly in the Saudi Vision 2030 program of April 2016 and earlier the January 2016 Joint Statement between the People’s Republic of China and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which read: “In the process of jointly pursuing the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiative, China is willing to coordinate development strategies with Arab states, put into play each other’s advantages and potentials, promote international production capacity cooperation and enhance cooperation in the fields of infrastructure construction, trade and investment facilitation, nuclear power, space satellite, new energy, agriculture and finance, so as to achieve common progress and development and benefit our two peoples.”
This positive orientation can be seen by an array of common sense transformations of the Saudi foreign policy priorities over recent years made possible by the smooth diplomacy of both China and Russia who are leading in the creation of a new viable security/financial architecture far outside of the control of western unipolarists. Among the chief of these new priorities is a focus on vectoring east towards a pro-China policy, and improving diplomatic relations with historic enemies within the region.
Rebuilding Relationships and Stability in the Middle East
In November 2020, Saudi Arabia and Iraq re-opened their borders and began restoring cooperative ties 30 years after Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait saw a near total cutting off of relations. Saudi Arabia and Turkey (both of whom having suffered from overlapping spheres of interest within the Middle East) have also gone far to reset their relations with Erdogan and Crown Prince Bin Salman announcing a “new era of cooperation” after the latter’s visit to Ankara. In their joint communique, Saudi Arabia and Turkey wrote of “their common determination to enhance cooperation in the bilateral relations between the two countries including in the political, economic, military, security and cultural fields.”
It wasn’t three days after this meeting that Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi met with the Crown Prince in Jeddah where matters of economic, regional stability, “bilateral relations and opportunities for joint cooperation” was discussed (followed by the Iraqi PM’s meeting with his Iranian counterparts a day later). Iran and Iraq are currently in the final stages of work on the first rail connection between the two states in history with the Shalamcheh-Basra rail line that can easily connect to the existent 1500 km railway across Iraq and could then easily stretch into Syria and Lebanon as part of the Southern corridor of the BRI.
Iran and Saudi Arabia have also sped up their efforts to rebuild diplomatic ties after the disastrous execution of Shiite cleric Nimr-al-Nimr caused the total rupture of ties in 2016. Other gulf states who had also cut ties with Iran such as UAE and Kuwait have already restarted relations. It is this author’s contention that this breakthrough would have been entirely impossible were it not for the fact that both China and Russia have made it clear that Iran is an integral pillar of the Greater Eurasian Partnership, playing a potential stabilizing role in the middle east, as well as a key node in the functionality of both the International North South Transportation Corridor and also the southern route of the Belt and Road Initiative.
This turn towards rationality by Saudi Arabia makes perfect sense.
The western overlord of the Middle East who have used Saudi Arabia and other regimes as weapons in their geopolitical arsenal of oil geopolitics and the creation/deployment of terrorism have made it clear that the “post-Great Reset” rules based international order sees little room for hydrocarbon fuels which have been deemed “enemy #1” to be destroyed at all cost in the pursuit of “global net zero” by 2050. As such, even on a practical level, there will be very little role which Saudi Arabia or any other oil-reliant state will play within this utopic new order.
A Sane Energy Policy
China, on the other hand, has no such delusional green visions and instead offers a more rational energy vision with its partners outlined in the August 2022 Memorandum of Understanding signed by Saudi’s Aramco and China’s Sinopec to vastly expand cooperation on petrochemical integration, engineering, construction, up and downstream technology and hydrogen production. The head of Aramco even said: “Ensuring the continuing security of China’s energy needs remains our highest priority – not just for the next five years but for the next 50 and beyond.”
Ever since Saudi Arabia first floated the idea of selling oil to China in yuan rather than U.S. dollars back in March 2022, it has become increasingly clear that the age of the U.S. dollar as the sole reserve currency is quickly coming to an end. Since 2016 Sino-Saudi trade has expanded massively with China becoming Saudi Arabia’s primary trade partner with bilateral trade hitting $87 billion in 2021. Meanwhile China purchases over 25% of all the oil Saudi Arabia produces.
On a deeper level which touches on the substance of long term successful survival (vs mere momentary pragmatic tactical survival), Saudi Arabia has increasingly come to the realization that it needs a new way of doing things. The age of oil geopolitics shaped by speculative spot and futures markets as it was played since 1973 is by all intents and purposes over and anyone wishing to continue playing by those rules will not survive for long. The new reality setting the tone for the Middle East is based upon real, measurable growth with a focus on interconnectivity, rail, and industrial corridors. The prices of oil and other commodities is increasingly being set by the measurable needs of nations and people, instead of the myopic impulses of speculators obsessed with making money and no concern for the real world.
As such, it makes perfect sense that China has worked so hard to help Saudi Arabia become the second nuclear powered gulf state (following the UAE’s recent leap into the 21st century with 2.7 GW of energy now constructed as of this writing).
As early as 2016, China signed an MOU to help Saudi Arabia build 4th generation gas cooled reactors and in 2020 Chinese companies signed an agreement to help Saudi Arabia not only utilize its vast uranium resources but also become proficient in all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle. This would be vital not only to help Saudi Arabia successfully transition off of its reliance on hydrocarbons, but would also create vast new reservoirs of oil for the global markets now desperately in need of fuel. The vast opportunities for mass desalination is yet another reason why nuclear is the obvious choice for any nation seriously thinking about overcoming water scarcity in sustainable ways.
Interconnectivity Grows
Besides the $500 billion NEOM megacity on the Red Sea which Xi will be visiting shortly, the Saudi Vision 2030 has also made the construction of several megaprojects a high priority such as the 450 km high speed Haramain Railway completed by China Railway Construction Corporation linking Mecca to Medina.
This project provides a solid extension to the 2700 km north-south railway completed in 2015 which connects Riyadh to Al Haditha on Jordan’s border.
An additional 460 km of railways connecting various GCC members is also being built.
Additionally, the $200 billion Persian Gulf-Red Sea high speed railway (aka: Saudi Land bridge) received full support from all six Gulf Cooperation Council members in 2021 which will see a 2100 km high speed railway stretch across the Arabian Desert with branches that could easily extend north into Egypt where similar projects are already underway and south into Yemen and beyond through the 26 km Bal el-Mandeb Strait across the Red Sea into East Africa.
If a successful peace process can endure between Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and if Iran can be brought into a mediating role, it is entirely feasible that this project dubbed “The Bridge of the Horn of Africa” when it was first unveiled in 2009, may finally see the light of day.
During the 14th century, European artists noted that oil and water cannot be mixed without a third element of egg tempura serving as a medium whereby an array of pigments arriving from as far as Arabia and even Asia, could be turned into paint.
In this same way, China and to a large extent Russia have become this “third medium” which has made antagonistic political interests across the Middle East harmonize under a new paradigm of cooperation and trust.
A potentially beautiful new future driven by the re-awakening of the spirit of the Silk Road is being painted before our eyes.
Dio – Heaven And Hell Live In London 2005
Ronnie James. Rest in peace.
As a Hong Konger, what can we do if China sends their troops to Hong Kong finally?
Question:
What can we do if China sends their troops to Hong Kong finally?
Answer:
PLA soldiers already stationed in Hong Kong.
Did you drop out of elementary school or something?
Have you not seen the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Forces Hong Kong Building in Central? It’s right next to Victoria Harbour. You can’t miss it.
Chris Cornell – Black Hole Sun Acoustic
Enjoy.
It Is Going To Take “Trillions” To Fix The Massive Derivatives Crisis That Has Erupted In Europe
This thing in Europe is rapidly becoming rather serious. Vladimir Putin’s decision to end the flow of gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline has caused an enormous derivatives crisis to erupt in Europe, and it is going to take a giant mountain of money to fix it. Some are already referring to this as a “Lehman Brothers moment” for the European financial system, and authorities all over the EU are really starting to freak out. We haven’t seen anything like this since 2008, and if the Europeans are not able to contain the damage we could soon see a tsunami of financial panic sweep across the entire globe.
It is being reported that energy trading in Europe “is being strained by margin calls of at least $1.5 trillion”…
European energy trading is being strained by margin calls of at least $1.5 trillion, putting pressure on governments to provide more liquidity buffers, according to Norway’s Equinor ASA. Aside from fanning inflation, the biggest energy crisis in decades is sucking up capital to guarantee trades amid wild price swings. That’s pushing European Union officials to intervene to prevent energy markets from stalling, while governments across the region are stepping in to backstop struggling utilities. Finland has warned of a “Lehman Brothers” moment, with power companies facing sudden cash shortages.
We aren’t talking about 1.5 million dollars.
We aren’t even talking about 1.5 billion dollars.
1.5 trillion dollars is a colossal amount of cash.
To put this in perspective, if you were able to create a stack of one trillion dollar bills it would be 67,866 miles high.
So a stack of 1.5 trillion dollars would be over 100,000 miles high.
We often use the phrase “a mountain of money” rather flippantly, but this really would be a colossal mountain of money.
The problem is not with the physical markets. Rather, we are being told that 1.5 trillion dollars in “liquidity support” will be needed because derivatives trading has gone completely haywire…
“Liquidity support is going to be needed,” Helge Haugane, Equinor’s senior vice president for gas and power, said in an interview. The issue is focused on derivatives trading, while the physical market is functioning, he said, adding that the energy company’s estimate for $1.5 trillion to prop up so-called paper trading is “conservative.”
1.5 trillion dollars is the “conservative” estimate that we are being given right now.
That means that the final bill will likely be in the “trillions”.
Where is all of that money going to come from?
Over the years, I have done so many articles about the dangers of derivatives.
Is the inevitable global derivatives meltdown finally upon us?
At this point, one option that the European Commission is considering is the “temporary suspensions of derivatives markets”…
The European Commission is also examining measures to help with liquidity. These could include credit lines from the European Central Bank, new products as margin collateral, and temporary suspensions of derivatives markets, according to a policy background paper seen by Bloomberg News.
If they actually decided to temporarily suspend the trading of derivatives, that would actually create even more panic.
This entire crisis could be solved if the war in Ukraine ends and Russian gas starts flowing back into Europe.
But that isn’t going to happen. Neither side is going to back down, and there will not be peace any time soon.
And so this is going to be a very bitter and very cold winter for Europeans, and the Russians are openly taunting them…
Russia’s state-controlled energy giant Gazprom has taunted Europe with a sinister video warning about a long winter with snow and ice sweeping across the continent. The two-minute clip titled Winter will be Long shows how Europe will freeze amid the exorbitant energy prices caused by Vladimir Putin’s savage invasion of Ukraine. The footage shows a worker turning off the supplies, sending the gas pressure needle to zero, as icy clouds ominously creep across the screen, interspersed with aerial shots of Brussels, Berlin, Paris and London.
According to Zero Hedge, it is now being projected that energy bills in Europe will increase by a total of 2 trillion euros and will ultimately reach 20 percent of all disposable income.
Needless to say, we are now in unprecedented territory.
We have already started to see absolutely massive protests in major European cities, and Italian politician Matteo Salvini is openly admitting that this crisis has brought Europeans to “their knees”…
On Sunday Salvini urged an end to Russia energy sanctions which are only leaving Europeans “on their knees” due to higher energy bills and lack of supply. “Several months have passed and people are paying two, three, even four times more for their bills,” he said in an interview RTL radio. “And after seven months, the war continues and Russian Federation coffers are filling with money.” He explained that not only are the sanctions not working, but they hit Italy harder. While saying he stands in solidarity with Ukraine, he’s not willing to stick with something obviously counterproductive where the blowback is felt more in Europe, Italy in particular with its soaring energy import prices, and not the intended target of the Putin government.
The longer the gas stays off, the worse things are going to get.
So what happens if the Russians never turn the gas back on?
Already, companies are shutting down facilities all over Europe because energy costs have made it unprofitable for them to continue operating. This includes the second biggest steel producer in the entire world…
The second-largest steel producer in the world, ArcelorMittal, is the most recent business name to announce the closure of a factory in Europe as a result of rising gas and energy costs. Due to the outrageously high surge in energy prices, ArcelorMittal is shutting down one of the two existing blast furnaces at its steelworks plant in Bremen of Germany, starting by the end of September until any further updates.
Many have warned that Europe is plunging into a “recession”, but the truth is that what the Europeans are facing is much more serious than that.
This is going to be bad.
And things are going to stay bad until there is peace with the Russians, and the truth is that peace with the Russians may not happen at all.
Months ago, western leaders were openly bragging that they were going to crush the Russian economy.
It turns out that Europe is the one being crushed instead.
Summer is almost over, winter is coming, and the Europeans are completely and utterly unprepared for what is coming next.
What is life like for Uyghurs in Xinjiang now that the Chinese Communist Party is in power?
A lot better than before.
When I was living in China, Uyghur induced acts of terrorism were just every day events. Dozens of police were killed in Xinjiang every week. I wanted to go and visit some of the beautiful places in the Chinese wild west, but Uyghur friends strongly advised against it. My life would be in danger every minute I was there. Daily news reports confirmed this.
I nearly lost a good friend who was almost in the wrong place at the wrong time due to Uyghur terrorist acts. A group of deranged Uyghurs stormed into a train station in Kunming (which is not in Xinjiang btw) with big knives and started killing random people. My friend had just left the station 10 minutes before.
Uyghur fanatics were pressing for an independent islamic state in Xinjiang, and were perpetuating numerous acts of murder and mayhem to get their way. They would show up in Beijing with the family vehicle, with wife and kids on board, and go plowing into crowds of innocent people, killing as many as possible until they were finally stopped.
In such an environment, it’s impossible to distinguish between the good guys and the bad guys.
Previous dynasties would have quickly exterminated the entire Uyghur population. The CCP demonstrated extreme restraint by just gathering everybody up and sending them all to facilities where they would be taught to be polite neighbors. Of course, the normal aggrieved crybabies wept their crocodile tears over the oppression that prevented them from doing random acts of murder. Waah waaah waaaah.
Xinjiang is a beautiful and safe place to visit now. Try it sometime. I plan on doing so when the pandemic stuff calms down.
Look at it this way. How would the people of the US react to a large group of Muslims taking over an entire state and attempting to establish an islamic republic within our borders, while perpetuating bloody acts of terrorism all over America? Would the US government exercise any restraint at all? I think not.
Liam Gallagher – Champagne Supernova (MTV Unplugged)
Ohhhhhhh.
About my Siamese cat “Kiki”.
Five years ago at 4:41am she started yowling and crying and walking all over me and nipping my nose. I couldn’t figure out what her problem was until I heard the most devastating sound coming from my Bengal cat “Mouseman”. He was 20 years old.
The night before he could not walk anymore. He lost a lot of weight. He had no control of his bladder.
I had an appointment for that morning for the vet to come to the house to help my boy Over Rainbow Bridge.
Anyway I awoke to him gurgling.
He was asleep on a blanket next to my pillow. I picked him up and placed him on my chest.
Kiki kept nuzzling him as he took his final breath in my arms breaking my heart.
If it weren’t for Kiki I would not have been able to say goodbye to my heart.
Which country have you visited that turned out to be nothing like how it is depicted?
China!
When I first came to China for work, most of what I had known about China was from the western media.
Trump visited Beijing’s Forbidden City (Nov 2017).
However, after living here for a few years, I feel that there are lots and lots of junk information in the western media. It seems that a good number of journalists, who write articles about China, in all likelihood, have never been to China. 🙂
Well, China is a lot better place than what we typically read in the English newspapers. In fact, China is one of the safest place to live on this earth.
Shanghai.
Here are some simple facts about China:
1. Don’t get into drug related crimes. Even the Spartans can’t save you.
2. In general, you don’t need to worry about safety. You can wander in cities and in the countryside. You can wander in days and in the nights. No issues. Just don’t touch the law.
3. Learn some basic Chinese if you are coming to live here for a long term. It’s really important.
4. Learn to use chopsticks. You’ll meet them on a daily basis.
5. China is huge. So many awesome places to explore. Travel in China. I prefer to go solo. It’s fun.
6. People are very friendly and willing to help you all the time. Make sure to strike a conversation as most of the locals are shy, especially if you only speak English to them.
7. Try some local food. Much affordable, and delicious. There are so many authentic local food. You don’t have to eat those western pizza and burger in China.
8. Public transportation is very efficient, and couldn’t be cheaper. Just RMB 2/ride in Shanghai buses, doesn’t matter how far you go. Further, if you buy the city smart card, you can save more.
9. Economy is doing great. Lots of foreigners in China for work and long term stay. So many expat communities.
Living in China has been a wonderful experience.
Liam Gallagher – Wonderwall Acoustic
Enjoy this trip though memory lane…
This Winter, Europe Plunges Into “The New Dark Ages”
Could you imagine being sent to prison for three years if you dared to set your thermostat above 66 degrees Fahrenheit? As you will see below, this is a proposed regulation that is actually being considered in a major European country right now. If you have not been paying much attention to what is happening in Europe, you need to wake up. Natural gas in Europe is seven times more expensive than it was early last year, and that is because of the war in Ukraine. Over the past few decades, the Europeans foolishly allowed themselves to become extremely dependent on gas from Russia. In fact, more than 55 percent of the natural gas that Germany uses normally comes from Russia. But now the war has changed everything, and Europe is facing an extremely harsh winter of severe shortages, mandatory rationing and absolutely insane heating bills.
Things are going to get very cold and very dark all over Europe in the months ahead, and those Europeans that choose to rebel against the new restrictions that are being implemented could literally find themselves in prison…
Switzerland is considering jailing anyone who heats their rooms above 19C for up to three years if the country is forced to ration gas due to the Ukraine war. The country could also give fines to those who violate the proposed new regulations. Speaking to Blick, Markus Sporndli, who is a spokesman for the Federal Department of Finance, explained that the rate for fines on a daily basis could start at 30 Swiss Francs (£26).
19 degrees Celsius is just 66 degrees Fahrenheit.
If you live in Europe, prepare to dress very warmly this winter.
Some may be anticipating that they will just use portable radiant heaters to keep things toasty, but apparently using such heaters “would not be allowed” under the new regulations that Switzerland is considering…
Blick also reported that radiant heaters would not be allowed and saunas and swimming pools would have to stay cold.
This is serious.
We have never seen anything like this before, and the longer the war in Ukraine stretches on the worse the energy crisis in Europe will become.
An end to the era of cheap energy also means that a severe economic slowdown is in the cards, and this is already starting to show up in the numbers…
Europe is showing signs of heading into a recession as multiple economic surveys show the region’s services and manufacturing sectors slowing down while a large number of the continent’s citizens are struggling to cope with rising prices. The S&P Global Eurozone Composite Output Index fell to an 18-month low in August at 48.9, according to a Sept. 5 news release (pdf). The eurozone private sector “moved further into contractionary territory” in August. Both services and manufacturing output fell for the month.
Of course what we have witnessed so far is just the beginning.
Things are likely to get really bad this winter.
In fact, German Economic Minister Robert Habeck has publicly admitted that some parts of the German economy will “simply stop producing for the time being”.
Wow.
And the truth is that this is already starting to happen…
In yet another truly astonishing announcement that demonstrates the desperation of this hour, German steelmaker ArcelorMittal, one of the largest steel production facilities in Europe, has shuttered operations due to high energy prices. (See their announcement here, in German.) “With gas and electricity prices increasing tenfold within just a few months, we are no longer competitive in a market that is 25% supplied by imports,” said CEO Reiner Blaschek. This comes after announced closures of aluminum smelters, copper smelters and ammonia production plants over the last few weeks. Ammonia — necessary for fertilizer — is now 70% offline in the EU.
Many more factories will be forced to shut down in the coming months.
Deeply alarmed by what is taking place, 40 CEOs from Europe’s metals industry have jointly issued an open letter in which they warn that their companies are facing an “existential threat to our future”…
Ahead of Friday’s emergency summit, the business leaders of Europe’s non-ferrous metals industry are writing together to raise the alarm about Europe’s worsening energy crisis and its existential threat to our future. Our sector has already been forced to make unprecedented curtailments in the last 12 months. We are deeply concerned that the winter ahead could deliver a decisive blow to many of our operations, and we call on EU and Member State leaders to take emergency action to preserve their strategic electricity-intensive industries and prevent permanent job losses. 50% of the EU’s aluminium and zinc capacity has already been forced offline due to the power crisis, as well as significant curtailments in silicon and ferroalloys production and further impacts felt across copper and nickel sectors. In the last month, several companies have had to announce indefinite closures and many more are on the brink ahead of a life-or-death winter for many operations. Producers face electricity and gas costs over ten times higher than last year, far exceeding the sales price for their products. We know from experience that once a plant is closed it very often becomes a permanent situation, as re-opening implies significant uncertainty and cost.
This is what an economic collapse looks like.
Things are already so bad that scientists are even considering shutting down the Large Hadron Collider…
Europe’s energy crisis is being felt by everyone – including the scientists working deep underground in Switzerland at the Large Hadron Collider. The European Organization for Nuclear Research, better known as CERN, is even considering taking its particle accelerators offline. This is due to the accelerators’ high energy demands, and the organisation’s desire to keep the region’s electricity grid stable.
So at least one good thing could potentially come out of this crisis.
But overall, the months ahead are going to be an immensely uncomfortable time for Europe.
As conditions become tougher and tougher, ordinary Europeans are going to become angrier and angrier.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is openly admitting that there will be “civil unrest”, but he insists that Europeans must make sacrifices in order to support the war in Ukraine…
Vladimir Putin’s ‘energy blackmail’ over Europe could lead to ‘civil unrest’ this winter, the NATO Secretary General has warned. Jens Stoltenberg acknowledged that winter ‘will be hard’ as ‘families and businesses feel the crunch of soaring energy prices and costs of living’ in the coming months. Writing in the Financial Times, the boss of the Western security alliance said that it is worth paying the price to support Ukraine.
Eventually, there will be tremendous civil unrest in major cities in the United States as well.
We are still only in the very early stages of this new global energy crisis, and it is going to turn all of our lives upside down.
Meanwhile, we are also plunging into a horrific global food crisis. As I detailed a few days ago, even the head of the UN is admitting that there will be “multiple famines” in 2023.
Life as we know it is about to change.
Right now, all eyes are on Europe because things are starting to get really crazy over there.
Europe is going to descend into “the new Dark Ages” this winter, and the entire world will experience extreme pain as a result.
The Ending Scene From The Trouble with Tribbles
Have fun!
What is an unexpected danger in Australia?
The unexpected danger in Australia, is how far everything is. The distances are huge.
In the outback desert especially.
Travellers die there with unnerving frequency. Foreigners die; urban Australians die; local aborigines die. They drive in cars, they think the cars can handle it, they think they have enough provisions, but no, no, no.
Guess what this shows? It shows the Shelton family—Steve, Skye, their 4 children—in the middle of the Simpson Desert. If you magnify the photo (The Australian Magazine, 24–25 November 2018), you will find their 1998 Nissan Patrol GU, plus their camper-trailer with a blue awning attached, plus the 2008 Nissan Patrol of Rick Shea and his daughter, who came to their aid. But who couldn’t do much, apart from stay with them.
The Sheltons left the Mount Dare Hotel on Wednesday, 5th September 2018. They were at the end of a 4-week driving holiday from their home near Brisbane, Queensland, across the Northern Territory.
The Simpson Desert is 175,000 sq km in area and between 550 and 715 kilometres wide, depending on which track you take. It consists of more than 1100 parallel sand dunes running north-south. The Sheltons began driving to Birdsville, 477 km away.
On Friday morning, the engine stalled on the crest of a dune. Uh-oh. They had brought lots of water, but the aluminium container stored under the trailer had burst: 110 litres were gone. They had 84 litres left.
They had a UHF line-of-sight radio. It did not reach far, what with the undulating terrain, but it did reach Rick Shea and his daughter, who were driving to Rockhampton, Queensland. They arrived.
Rick had an HF radio, which covers 1000’s of kilometres. Rick rang the Birdsville Roadhouse for its recovery service. Birdsville said to ring the Mount Dare Hotel, which was “closer”: 240 km away. Mount Dare wanted $5000 upfront.
About 10,000 to 15,000 tourists cross the desert every season, and many break down. Mount Dare effects 20 to 25 recoveries per season. If a camper-trailer needs rescuing, that requires 2 trucks (there and back), wages for the mechanics, money for fixing the trucks (they break down too and suffer terrible wear and tear). It does not come cheap. More like, $440 per hour.
The Sheltons had problems with their credit card; they eventually got $3000 from their parents. They were told the rescue trucks would arrive on Sunday. The trucks did not arrive on Sunday. One of the trucks had been in a crash, the other was waiting for a part. The replacement parts were being sourced by the Kulgera Roadhouse.
It is 1 day’s drive from Kulgera to Mount Dare. It is 2 days’ drive from Mount Dare to where the Sheltons were stranded.
Late on Tuesday afternoon—after 5 days of waiting, with dwindling water and food—2 Nissan Patrols crested the dune with, each, a mechanic from Kulgera. They unloaded 120 litres of water. It took them 4 hours, to find the broken sensor in the timing mechanism. They built a replacement.
On Wednesday morning, the mechanics accompanied the travellers for 50 km, then turned back for Kulgera. During the round trip, one of their trucks suffered a broken shock absorber, a shredded tyre, and a damaged fuel tank.
The Sheltons rolled into Birdsville on Thursday 13th September.
Their bill exceeded $10,000.
The moral of this tale is:
take a satellite phone and an emergency radio beacon; bring 7 litres of water per person per day; tell people when you expect to arrive; stay with your vehicle; and … make sure your credit card is active.
Super-Easy Chocolate Donuts Recipe
Yum!
Catherine Semochkina, Instagram blogger
Many Russians are addicted to watching glamorous life unfold live on the social media. There is no shortage of individuals who are even more addicted to living and showing this life to them. It can lead to a tragic end.
Catherine studied at the Pirogov Medical School, and was a resident at the Department of Oncology. She was from a nice, middle-class family and had always been a good student.
Catherine’s friends spoke of her as a polite and positive person. One of of her friends, Julia, said in a TV interview that Catherine was “smart and always had a smile on her face.”
Catherine devoted a lot of time to her Instagram blog, although she never wrote or posted anything about her personal life.
Catherine had 84,000 followers on her Instagram account. She blogged about her studies in the medical school and travels.
Judging by the profile, the girl led a luxurious lifestyle: she traveled to Italy, France, and Dubai. She wore branded clothes, and visited the most expensive restaurants in Moscow.
In many photos on her Instagram, Catherine appeared in revealing outfits, swimsuits and underwear. She participated in Miss Maxim 2018 contest, and made an explicit photo shoot for the magazine.
All this gave rise to rumors that the girl provided escort services, and some subscribers openly expressed it in their comments.
“Our short but fun trip to Corfu has come to an end. It was really great to escape torrential rains of Moscow to the Ionian Sea.”
That was her last Instagram post published on July 22, 2019.
After Catherine returned from her trip to the Greek island, she did not answer calls and messages from her parents. They were worried and asked the landlord to visit the apartment that Catherine rented from him.
When he entered the apartment, he saw a suitcase in the hallway. Catherine’s legs protruded from it. She was naked except for black, lace garters. There were stab wounds on her neck and chest.
A few days later, Maxim Gareev, a fan of plastic surgeries and a regular client of the elite prostitutes, was arrested. They called him Ken, because of his fixation on his appearance.
Mr. Gareev confessed that he spent a night with Catherine. In the morning he stabbed her five times, and tried to stuff her body into a suitcase, but the girl was too tall and didn’t fit in.
During the interrogation, Mr. Gareev said that Catherine constantly made fun of his sexual prowess and called him a “cheapskate”.
Mr. Gareev was tried and sentenced to nine years in prison.
Seven Mary Three – My My
Rock on!
What is the funniest anti-China propaganda you have ever heard?
This one!
LEGO Star Trek: The Trouble with Tribbles
Great fun!
A very thoughtful and enjoyable posting. Thank you for these little gems, MM.
I don’t see Anonymous panicking when the Brits stationed troops in HK. There were numerous British military (Army, Navy & Air Force) barracks all over HK. In fact the one you mentioned is the old HMS Tamar/Prince
I don’t see Anonymous panicking when the Brits stationed troops in HK. There were numerous British military (Army, Navy, Marines & Air Force) barracks all over HK. In fact the one mentioned is the old HMS Tamar/Prince Of Wales building in Central.
The famous Gurkha was also permanently stationed in HK, being 1st Battalion Gurkha Rifles, Queens Gurkha Engineers & Queens Gurkha Signals.
The local HK territorial Army was Royal Hong Kong Regiment (The Volunteers), manned by local HK residents.
The RAF & HK Air Service were stationed in the old Kai Tak airport & Sek Khong barracks (airfield) in New Territories.
In total, the Brits had a Brigade level force in HK. Quite a large force for such a small area.