Did you know that today 3 million Americans have already come to Russia for permanent residence? -Irina
Things are settling down. I hope you all are doing well. Life is truly interesting. No rain during the typhoon, but oh lordy is it raining now.
Big outbreak in Guangzhou. Thank you (sarcasm) to the Taiwan and American owners that released all their workers into China to infect everyone.
I am introducing everyone here, in this post to BABYMETAL. The music is heavy metal, and it’s a kind of a stage show / art form. There are elements in the audience where this would resonate. And I strongly urge everyone to watch the live performance, at least the first one.
I admit that it’s an acquired taste, but jeeze! If you were a military mech-a-godzilla space marine in a previous life…
…well…
… I’m certain that you would appreciate this posting(s).
Check this all out.
But first…
Funny
Netherlands lifts some sanctions imposed on Russia
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Kyary Pamyu Pamyu – PONPONPON
Before we get to BABYMETAL, let’s check otu some Japanese pop music. Let’s start with the strange. Japan can be very STRANGE.
Chorizo Al Vino (Chorizo in Red Wine)
“Tapas recipe from Ryland Peter’s Tapas: Delicious little dishes from Spain.”
I could not stop eating this! The crispy chorizo with the sauce was out of this world! You definitely need some crusty bread for soaking up the sauce because it’s that good.
Ingredients
- 1 1⁄2 lbs uncooked chorizo sausage (may sub kielbasa)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2⁄3 cup red wine
- 4 sprigs thyme
- ground black pepper
- torn bread, for dipping
Directions
- Heat half the olive oil in a large, nonstick skillet until very hot.
- Cut the chorizo inot 1/2 inch rounds.
- Add half the chorizo and fry on both sides for 1 minute each. Remove with a slotted spoon and keep hot.
- Add the remaining oil and remaining chorizo and cook as stated above.
- Add the wine and thyme to the pan and swirl to dissolve the sediment. NOTE: if using kielbasa, add 2 t of paprika to the pan as well. Cook gently to thicken and reduce the sauce.
- Pour the sauce over the hot chorizo, sprinkle with pepper and serve with chunks of torn bread for dipping.
Funny
Why are most non-Chinese unaware of how intensely competitive Chinese society is?
.
Funny
BABYMETAL // CATCH ME IF YOU CAN
The first time I saw a vid of them I was like "WTF?" Now I'm hooked. The weird combination of Loli-goth cuteness, pop-dance choreography and bonafide heavy metal music makes a weird logic all its own. It's like getting the shit kicked out of you by a leather-clad Hello Kitty.
Welcome to Japanese-style death metal.
It’s really…
…really…
…REALLY different.
I hope you watched the entire video. It’s not that long. Do you have any thoughts?10′ Tall WALL put around Federal Reserve Bank in Washington on SUNDAY!
As shown in the photo above, a ten foot tall wall was erected around the Federal Reserve Bank in Washington, DC today (Sunday).
What do YOU suppose is the knowledge they already have, that makes them feel they will need this type of protection from the General Public?
When I received this photo, I stopped what I was doing, went to the bank Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) and withdrew the maximum amount of cash I am able to get on any given day.
I strongly recommend YOU have cash too. Right now. Sunday night. Then more after midnight when the day resets and you can get more out of an ATM.
Whatever they know, it won’t be long until everyone else knows, and the Bankers want to be protected from the general public.
This doesn’t seem good at all.
Babymetal
From Wikipedia…
(Japanese: ベビーメタル, Hepburn: Bebīmetaru) (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese kawaii metal band consisting of Suzuka Nakamoto as “Su-metal” and Moa Kikuchi as “Moametal”.
The band is produced by Kobametal from the Amuse talent agency.
Their vocals are backed by heavy metal instrumentation, performed by a group of session musicians known as the “Kami Band” at performances.
The band was formed in 2010, with the original lineup of Su-metal (vocal and dance), Moametal (scream and dance), and Yui Mizuno as “Yuimetal” (scream and dance), with the concept of creating a fusion of the heavy metal and Japanese idol genres.
Originally a sub-unit of the Japanese idol group Sakura Gakuin, Babymetal became an independent act in 2013, following Nakamoto’s departure from Sakura Gakuin.
- Babymetal released their eponymous debut album in February 2014.
- Their second album Metal Resistance was released worldwide in April 2016.
Babymetal has also embarked on several tours, with a majority of their tour dates taking place outside of Asia.
- The group released their third album Metal Galaxy in October 2019.
On October 19, 2018, Babymetal announced that Yui Mizuno had decided to leave the band due to poor health, following her absence from live performances since December 2017.
Since her departure, the band has performed with backup dancers at live performances. In 2019, the band introduced three backup dancers called “Avengers” who performed in rotation at each live show to form a trio with Moametal and Su-metal.
Funny
But according to the American “news”, China is going to get rid of their COVID policy…
Seriously. That is what the American mainstream media has been saying…
But what does China say. Here is from China…
Huh?
How could the American mainstream media be so wrong?
Truckers Reporting NO DIESEL FUEL – Parts of North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee
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American truck drivers are sounding the alarm that Diesel fuel is running out.
It was on October 14 that the US Energy Infrastructure Agency (EIA) publicly stated the nation was down to 25 days of Diesel Fuel reserves. That would put the run-out date, Tuesday, November 8.
Yet Diesel fuel continues to be refined throughout the country, so while “reserves” may have been down to 25 days, there was still ongoing production.
Fuel Distributors in Tennessee announced they had begun LIMITING purchases of diesel fuel in that state, too.
Like all other nations, the United States runs on diesel fuel. All tractor trailers, trains, and cargo ships require diesel fuel to operate. If that fuel runs out, then there is no way to transport cargo . . . anywhere.
Supermarkets have only three (3) days supply of food on store shelves. In large metropolitan areas, those supermarkets must get truck deliveries EVERY DAY to keep shelves stocked. If diesel runs out, re-stocking cannot take place.
No one is saying WHERE the nation’s supply of Diesel fuel is going.
The US economy is so huge, it uses 148 MILLION gallons of diesel fuel each and every day. Without that fuel, the economy grinds to a halt.
What that would mean for average Americans is simple: Go to your refrigerator, open it and look at what’s in there. Then go to your pantry, open it and look what’s in there. The food you see . . . would be all you’ve got. Because there won’t be any more shipments to bring anything else.
While Diesel fuel remains in production, clearly something is very wrong and large areas within the US are now openly running out of fuel.
Get food while you still can. TODAY.
Funny
Spanish Thick Hot Chocolate
“Hot chocolate first came to Spain by means of religious orders at the beginning of the Conquest. Spanish chocolate(Chocolate a la espanola) is thick and served throughout Spain. Adapted from cooking.com.”
Ingredients
- 10 -12 ounces semisweet chocolate, grated (or use semisweet chocolate chips)
- 2 1⁄4 cups milk
- 1⁄2 – 1 teaspoon cornstarch, dissolved in a little cold water
- 1⁄2 teaspoon instant coffee (optional)
Directions
- Heat the grated chocolate and the milk in a saucepan.
- Mix in the instant coffee if using.
- Stir to completely mix and make sure the chocolate is melted.
- When it comes to a boil, add the dissolved cornstarch.
- Bring back to a boil 3 times, whisking vigorously and removing from the heat each time it starts to bubble to prevent the mixture from boiling over.
- Ladle into cups from a suitable height to make it nice and frothy.
- Serve immediately and enjoy!
Q & A: Is China ready for conflict?
Funny
Why do people know so little about China?
BEIJING: Many people think they know a lot about China but that’s not true. Some people claim to be experts on China and get invited to interviews with the Western media and yet it’s possible they never visited the country.
Many outsiders only hold a superficial understanding or false perspective of China. They do not dive deeper except to review anti-China media reports, books and TV news reports.
I have a friend from Texas, who insists that he’s one of the foremost experts on China and believes all conspiracy theories about the country are facts. He never visited China and his idea of embracing Chinese culture is to go to an “all you can eat Chinese buffet” every Tuesday at a restaurant near his home.
When I had brought my wife and son, both born in China, to visit Texas in 2015, he invited us to this Chinese restaurant. Although the food was delicious, my wife pointed out that Chinese restaurants in the US do not serve the same cuisines as in her homeland.
And when driving my family to the hotel, he described a China that my wife and I had never experienced. According to his so-called expertise, he said all Chinese wear hazmat suits because the air is so polluted nobody can breathe there. He explained how all Chinese eat bats, cats, snakes, insects and dogs every day.
My wife was laughing because she thought he was joking. I reminded him that I lived in the country and had not observed such silly behavior. But he just kept chattering away citing anti-China media reports about the country.
Later that evening my wife asked me if he was being serious and I informed her that most Americans think similar to him. She was shocked, but the next day we met my friend again and he introduced us to his other friends and they too said strange comments about China.
This is not a rare incident. When I visited New York City in December 2019, I met a very successful investment banker on Wall Street and a graduate from Yale University. He believed the Chinese were cannibals and performed horrible science experiments on other human beings. He would speak about such allegations with all sincerity and I tried to point out that I had not witnessed such actions, but he refused to change his mind.
As we can see, many people are ignorant of China but don’t realize it. They believe in nonsensical stories about the country and can’t separate the facts from fiction. This is why I love to be a ‘bridge builder’ by explaining China to the West and to explain the West to the Chinese.
I have lived and worked in Beijing for over 11 years, so I’m familiar with the country. I would advise non-Chinese people, who never visited China, to stop the self-proclamations they are China experts.
We can learn more about how China has become a stronger and more prosperous nation from Xinhua. The link is here:
As reported by Xinhua:
“The Chinese nation has a long history, diligent and intelligent people and splendid civilization. Over the history of thousands of years, eliminating poverty has been the persistent goal of the Chinese people, who suffered hardships and difficulties frequently. From the middle of the 19th century, foreign aggression and the decadence of the imperial dynasty reduced China to a semi-colonial, semi-feudal society, and hundreds of millions of its people were plunged into poverty or even extreme poverty. But the Chinese people have fought with fortitude to realize their dream – achieving economic prosperity, national rejuvenation, and a happy and better life.”
We all should try to learn more about China.
Funny
Which country will be the next world’s factory when China can’t be anymore?
To get an answer to this – You need to first know What it means to have a Factory in China
In 2006 – China was 84% Assembly and 16% Manufacture – this meant that China received various components from Korea, Taiwan, Japan and China would merely assemble these components at super efficient rates.
In 2021 – China is 9% Assembly and 91% Manufacture – this means China literally has every component made in house for 91% of their Products and only 9% of their Manufactured Products like the Iphone or Smartphones are still assembled in China
Guess where other countries stand when it comes to Commercial Assembly and Manufacture
- Vietnam comes second with 34% of their Products being manufactured and 66% being Assembled
- Mexico comes third with a 27% Manufactured and 73% Assembled products
- Bangladesh comes fourth with a 20.5% Manufactured and 79.5% Assembled Products
- India comes fifth with 13% Manufactured and 87% Assembled Products
Guess their average output combined in a Single day on a Per Worker Per Unit basis????
Answer – 32.46 Units Per Worker
Guess what is China’s?
Answer – 63.50 Units per Worker
Guess what the Average Combined Output of all these countries are on a Per Day Per LIne basis ???
Ans – 22,766 Units per Line
Guess what is China’s?
Ans – 115,000 Units per Line
Guess what the Combined Dependency on Imported Components is for all these countries put together?
Ans: – 60.85% – Meaning 60.85% of the Components for production are Imported and mainly from China
Guess what is China’s?
Ans:- 5.83% – Meaning only 5.83% of the Components for Production are Imported mainly from Taiwan and Japan and Korea like Chips
So China is not just a Global Factory.
China is also a Global Supply Hub
China is a Beginning to End Chain of Manufacture for a huge number of Products that are very badly needed in the Western Countries.
China has Combined Factories with 40 LInes or so where each line manufactures a different product. On One line you may have Boat Headphones manufactured according to Boats Design from India while on the Other 10 Lines you may have Skullcandy phones manufactured according to US Design
A SIngle Factory in Shenzhen manufactures Components for upto 400 Different Robotics Companies globally based on their own designs.
So lets say you want a Country that can replace China as a worlds factory
The Short answer is – For at least 70–80 years, NO Single Country can
However a Group of Countries can
Say you have a consortium of Vietnam, Bangladesh,Mexico, Ethiopia – each country manufacturing say 25% of the Global Components and all being Assembled by India for Local Markets and Exports.
Then it may be possible in say 25 years to perhaps reach somewhere in the level of China
However that requires a…
(a) RCEP with Uniform 0% Taxes and Tariffs for all Goods flowing between these Nations
(b) Huge Lines of Credit from Somewhere (West gave the Lines of Credit to China from 1983 to 1996) which in todays world is unlikely
Conclusion – A Consortium of Countries with a Wealthy Partner who can bankroll massive credit and LIberal Taxations and Tariffs can help equal China’s influence as a Global Supply Hub by say 2040
Yet China is already 10 steps ahead
They have Bangladesh nobbed up and now have Cambodia and Laos and Indonesia nobbed up for low grade manufacture and big lines.
Despacito
How did Boeing and Airbus independently evolve to become technical giants?
Airbus (company) almost failed. The story of Airbus is one of the most fascinating of all. When the company introduced their first aircraft, the Airbus A300, Boeing (company) brushed them off as another government product which had failure written all over it. And for the first few years, it was turning out be true. Lufthansa and Air France were the only major airlines that were using the aircraft in day to day operations. And this was also more of an obligation, because the government of France and Germany were the two main countries involved with Airbus.
Even before the Airbus A300 gained operational status, Airbus knew they had to somehow break into the American market. And they knew it was going to be a tough task to convince airlines in United States to go European, which were buying aircraft from purely US owned companies such as Boeing and McDonnell Douglas. In 1973, in a brave move, Airbus took the A300 to the United States in a six week tour of the Americas. Not only did they carry pilots and engineers with them, but they also filled the aircraft with some of the best wines from Europe. While the tour was effective in showing the aircraft to potential customers in the States it did not turn out well. From 1975 to 1977, the A300 received zero orders and Airbus factory in Toulouse was filling up with white tails.
Then something very interesting happened.
This is Frank Borman. Former U.S. Air Force Colonel, fighter pilot, test pilot and ex-astronaut. He commanded Apollo 8, the first manned spaceship to leave Earth’s gravity and orbit the moon.
Frank Borman is as much a hero to Airbus as he is a hero to the people of the United States.
After retiring from NASA, Borman became the President of Eastern Airlines. In 1977, Eastern Airlines was losing money and they needed something to be done to update their fleet without losing money.
Fun fact. I went to college with his son. -MM
Airbus saw the opportunity and made one of the most interesting business deals of all time: they agreed to give Eastern, four A300s free of charge for a period of six months in an aircraft evaluation agreement. If Eastern finds the aircraft good enough, they could buy them, or else after the said period is over. they can hand them back to Airbus. Eastern Airlines, took the deal.
Even before the six month deadline, Eastern found the capabilities of the aircraft and the potential it had. In the April of 1978 , they made a $778 million dollar deal with Airbus, to buy 23 A300s with a lease extension of four previous A300s they had. This was soon followed by Pan Am and the rest is history.
If there had been no Eastern Airlines deal, there is a pretty good chance Airbus and its A300 will be for the history books. Today, Airbus is a leader in the aviation market and it is doing so on the same level as and some times on a higher level than Boeing. This is something many large aircraft manufacturers failed achieve over the years.
BABYMETAL // DIVINE ATTACK 「神撃」【MONTAGE】
Well done montage. Brilliant, actually.
There are early signs of a split in the Biden administration in China policy.
The US State Department and National Security are strongly for going after China, even after Russia’s recent wins in Ukraine. The China hawks are led by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and National Security advisor Jake Sullivan. Both have pushing for stronger support for Taiwan against China.
They are also former Clinton advisors.
The Federal Reserve and Defense Department are pushing for more accommodation with China. The Federal Reserve realizes that it will have to raise US interest rates more in the near future, and the Defense Department believes that war with China may result in a US loss, so it is urging caution in confronting China.
The Federal Reserve is now pushing for removing the US tariffs on Chinese imports because of high inflation in the US. Recently, China’s RMB has become popular among international investors.
Funny
Chipwar articles collected by MoA
- Biden Is All-In on Taking Out China, Whatever the Consequences – Foreign Policy
- Chip war policy hurting US firms more than China – Asia Times
- US godfather makes a chip offer you can’t understand – Asia Times
- US chip-gear makers told to wait for relief from China curbs – SCMP
- Chipmaker CEO says Washington’s anti-China tech blockade is a bad idea – Politico.eu
New Missile
A new Chinese air-launched ballistic missile emerged. It is much smaller than the previous air-launched ballistic missile we saw. It is definitely a maneuvering ballistic missile as can be interpreted from its multi-conic shape. In fact it looks like the CM-401 (manufacturer designation) which was claiming active-radar guidance and the capability to hit moving objects. The CM-401 was a ground-launched missile. As far as publicly known, the PLA never bought it. This one is air-launched.
What’s bound to upset you when it comes to owning a rental property?
A tenant that “blows up.”
She passed your income screening, background, and credit check. Sufficient employment verified, comes up with the deposit and first month’s rent. All good, starts on February.
Somewhere between then and six months later, you find this:
You’ve lost $150,000 in damage, maybe a year’s rent, plus legal costs. And for reasons I still don’t really understand, you will likely never get a cent of any of it back.The perp — your former tenant — will face no legal consequences, never spend a day in jail nor pay one dime in restitution as would happen in a normal theft of, say, a car worth a fraction of the damage done. Other than mental illness, there’s usually no rational explanation for it either. Someone just threw a rage fit and your house was in the way. There will be no justice.
MM readers will know my story. You will well understand that he is in the cornfield and his life is certainly interesting. I'll leave it at that. -MM
Funny
BABYMETAL // BABYMETAL DEATH
The rapid fire, in time with the drums, edit during the band intro just blew me away, the work that went into that really paid off, Amazing!
Great edition! The perfect timing and the visuals just hype me up so much, I feel my energy levels are through the roof.
I dedicate this to Domain Inmates.
A fine kitty
It was very cold outside and a Sunday, so I fed her and asked if she wanted to stay. Then I opened the door to the covered breakfast room and put water and food in there and made an appt with the vet the next day.
The vet told me she looked like a stray even if she did not act like one.
He checked her for a chip and put some drops in her eyes then told me she was about 3 months old and looked like she needed a new home (he knew me because he doctored all 4 of my other pets, and said this with a smile).
We checked for communicable diseases and he treated her for fleas, then gave her her first round of shots, and sent her home with me, pet passport in hand. She has been the best unexpected guest our house has ever had.
Meet Rosa Blue.
Apollo 13: Just breathe
Classic Lasagna
“I make this a lot and serve with Italian garlic bread and salad. It always gets a rave review, especially if the mozzarella strings with every bite. This recipe comes from my mother. I think she got it off the back of a “Mueller’s Lasagna box.”
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 3⁄4 cup chopped onion
- 2 tablespoons salad oil or 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 (1 lb) can crushed tomatoes
- 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
- 2 cups water
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder (I use real clove garlic, minced)
- 1⁄2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1⁄2 teaspoon oregano leaves
- 4 ounces lasagna noodles
- 1 lb ricotta cheese
- 8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese (I like it cheesey, so I use more)
- 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
Directions
- In large heavy pan lightly brown beef and onion in oil.
- Add tomatoes, paste, water, parsley, salt, sugar, garlic, pepper, and oregano; simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally about 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile cook lasagne as directed; drain.
- In 13x9x2″ baking pan, spread about 1 cup sauce.
- Then alternate layers of lasagne, sauce, ricotta, mozzarella and parmesean cheese, ending with sauce, mozzarella and parmesean.
- Bake at 350 for 40 to 50 minutes until lightly browned and bubbling.
- Allow to stand for 15 minutes; cut in squares to serve.
- Makes 8 servings.
- I make this a lot and serve with Italian garlic bread and salad.
- It always gets a rave review, especially if the mozzarella strings with every bite.
Funny
Simple and Clean – Kingdom Hearts Final Mix Ending
What is the nicest thing you have seen a person do in a grocery store?
I did something once that was so simple, yet so rewarding. I saw this little old black man reaching for one stick of butter and without thinking I grabbed his hand and said “You don’t want that.” “Oh honey, yes I do.”
I said, “No, look the package of 4 sticks is on sale and it is cheaper than one stick.” “Honey, my wife just died and this is the first time I have been in a grocery store. Could you teach me how to shop like that?”
So I said “Sure, first we look at the store ad and see what is on sale. So maybe you wanted chicken thighs but chicken breasts are on sale, so we change the menu a bit.”
Also told him about clipping coupons and comparing brand names to generic.
The the sales bin where things were marked down because of dents and stuff. I walked the whole store with him and then said good bye and went to do my shopping and he yelled as he left, “God bless you Honey.”
That was 40 years ago and just remembering it brought tears to my eyes. You always hear “for the children” but they forget there are old people whose kids died first.
Putin signs law to mobilise Russian citizens convicted of serious crimes
During the spring autumn warring era around 2500 years ago, when a smaller Yue country invaded by Wu country, the emperor of Yue visited the prison to recruit criminals on death roll, telling them if they form a team of soldiers to commit mass suicide in front of the enemies, the state will honour their death and their families will be looking after by the state. So, when Wu soldiers arrived, 300 of their criminal soldiers moving forward in a formation shouting slogan pledging to defence their country with deaths, and begin to use their own sword to cut their own throat in front of the enemy. Then, all the Yue soldiers suddenly appear from all direction shouting kill the enemies, the morale of the entire wu soldiers collapsed and begin to ran away. The king of Wu nation who personally lead the invasion was badly injured while escaping and died, Wu nation invasion was defeated. During the Korean war , the PLA often attack the enemy at night, the front line soldiers do the shooting, and the 2nd line soldiers will move in once any on the front line is down. The rest will use any metals they possessed to generate sound to unnerved the crusaders. This is how the crusaders form the impression of a "people mountain, people seas" of armies surrounding them. 1840 opium war is just a once in a live time victory by the crusaders, such day will not repeat itself after the CCP in charge of China.
It is for sure that Russia will retaliate against the UK’s terrorists sabotage on the Russia and EU’ lifelines Nord Stream pipelines. Which countries will cry for the UK when Russia nukes the UK into ashes?
Geopolitics is a Complicated Affair
After the Nordstream Attack – Scholz and Macron seem to have developed some spine against Joe Biden
While they are still too scared of making peace with Putin – they are openly defying Biden as far as China is concerned.
Scholz literally braved all opposition against Blinken and his own minister Habeck and went to China against all odds. He went with many companies for a lot of business discussions.
He actually told Xi Jingping to call on Putin to have a Ceasefire on Ukraine.
Can you imagine the loss of Face to USA for a European Leader to acknowledge a Chinese Leader as an Alternate for World Peace?????
Macron had actually suggested both leaders fly together
And at the end of the day – Russia didnt lose much
Russia simply sells Gas to China who in turn sells LNG to Germany and Europe at a higher price making profit for everyone.
Germany on the other hand is VERY ANGRY at USA for Nordstream
So while Nordstream did have sustained damage – the Fallout seems to have worked alright for Russia and China – in the fact that Macron is openly agitating against US charging $1320 for the same Gas that France was paying $ 300 under Russia and Scholz sold a 25% stake of Hamburg Port to a Chinese Company.
So why would Putin make things worse by again Unifying the Western leaders?
Better that they be Divided and if the cost of this Division is Nordstream i would say its worth it
What are the most dangerous things people do when visiting Australia?
There are some good answers here, but by far and away the most dangerous things people do when they come here is rent a car and go driving. Driving in Australia is not like Japan, or the UK or Europe or even the USA. Every year tourists die on our roads and the same goes for NZ.
Most deaths of tourists are due to natural causes, about 75% and are mostly due to heart disease. Mosts tourists are elderly and retired, so this can probably be expected. The other 25% are mostly road deaths (14%), then drownings (5%). (and an odd murder or two)
So here are some road tips for Australia.
- Be on the lookout for kangaroos and if you see one slow down. If one jumps in front of your car hit the brakes as hard as you can, and then run over it if you have to, don’t swerve. That is how people die. With the kangaroos it is good to avoid driving at dawn or dusk which many tourists would not know.
- When changing from a sealed road onto a gravel road SLOW DOWN. four Japanese tourists were killed here recently when the road changed to gravel. They were doing in excess of 130 km/h and their car rolled over and over for 200 metres.
- On a gravel road imagine that the road is wet and slippery. Or imagine that there are eggs taped to your pedals. Don’t make any sudden moves or steering changes. It is a very delicate thing. Feel the movement of the car with your bum. Stay on the main track and avoid the edges. Edit:- as per comment below “Worth mentioning a safe speed for gravel roads? For the NZ ones, in a 2WD car, I’d set that at 60km/h. Big tendency to fishtail at 70+, even on a straight road.”
- White line fever takes tourist lives every year. Our roads are shit and unmarked and in many cases unpaved. People become mesmerised and just drive off the road. Especially people from urban places like Japan and China. And because they come with family the car is usually full of people when they do it.
- Our dirt roads are very dangerous because many are made of ball bearings.
These are actually Bauxite nodules and they are slippery as they look. Add water to this and the resulting mess is something we refer to as “snot”
5. When driving in the outback be sure to have at least 20 litres of water, 20 litres of fuel, 2 spare tyres and some canned food. AT LEAST. Every year tourists die in the outback of thirst.
6. If you break down in the outback STAY WITH YOUR VEHICLE. Every year tourists die because they tried to “walk out” in 40 degree heat. Cars are easy to spot from the air, humans not so much.
7. OTOH if you’re out in the middle of nowhere and it starts raining, pack up your camp and drive out to the nearest major road. Or be prepared to stay put for a week or two.
8. Travelling in remote areas is made very much safer if you carry a SPOT or an EPIRB or a satellite phone that can be rented from camping stores. It all makes you a lot easier to find when you go missing.
9. Thanks to Matt Hu. The edges of country roads contain soft shoulders and gravel. If you get two wheels off the bitumen DO NOT PULL BACK HARD. If you do your car may very well flip 180° and you kill your wife against a tree, or you can flip the car and hit the tree with your roof, which will kill you both. Cars don’t have airbags on the roof. If you get off the bitumen, stay there, slow down, and once you have regained control ease back onto the roadway. Most country road deaths are single vehicle accidents. This is a BIG one.
10. Thanks to David Bowker. If you are on a narrow road and a road train approaches pull off the road as far as you can and stop. Ditto any large vehicle. You don’t have any “rights” against a 160 ton, 55metre long centipede doing 100kph that is throwing up a kilometre of bulldust behind it. If you get stuck behind one stay back and be patient. When it is safe to pass he will pull over a bit and signal you to pass. If you stay too close you will lose a windscreen for sure.
11. Adam Bryce has reminded me that when driving in Australia you must wear your seat belt, and you must not use a mobile phone whilst driving for any reason at all. These two infractions will cost you a hefty fine.
12. Duncan Cairncross notes that when you drive in Australia you are not following anyone. And there are no buildings. So you have no way to judge your speed. People end up driving faster than the road, or their ability can handle. So watch your speed.
Driving in Australia is amazing fun and camping in Australia is truly the essence of freedom. There are very few restrictions except be self sufficient, clean up after yourself, and don’t set the place on fire. But it requires effort, stamina, planning and experience. Much is said on Quora about Australia’s dangerous animals but the most dangerous animal is your own ignorance.
We love tourists here because we love this place and want to share it with you. Just be a bit careful OK?
Beyond the Lines: Shelley’s “Ozymandias”
By Adam Sedia
Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Ozymandias” is one of his shortest works, but also one of his best known, anthologized to the point of ubiquity. But it deserves every bit of the reputation it has gained. Short, yet powerful and descriptive, it illustrates the sonnet at its best. And it is one of the few works, classical or modernist, that addresses a subject from that lodestone of the Western imagination, Ancient Egypt.
The sonnet, like any other, should be read only in its entirety before analysis:
Ozymandias I met a traveller from an antique land Who said:—Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand, Half sunk, a shatter’d visage lies, whose frown And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamp’d on these lifeless things, The hand that mock’d them and the heart that fed. And on the pedestal these words appear: “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!” Nothing beside remains: round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away.
The historical context behind the poem is indispensable for a proper analysis. “Ozymandias” figures as an Egyptian king in the chronicles of the first-century B.C. Greek historian Diodorus of Sicily. It is a Graecized corruption of the Egyptian Usermaatre-setepenre, the throne name of Ramesses II, who reigned as pharaoh for 67 years (1279-1213 BC), and was by far Ancient Egypt’s greatest builder of stone monuments. The four colossi build into the Nubian cliffs at the temple of Abu Simbel are perhaps the most famous depictions of him – and they convey the grandiose scale of a monument such as Shelley describes in his poem.
Shelley published the poem in 1818 – three years after the fall of Napoleon. Europe was still reeling from the twenty years of war he had inflicted on the continent and his single-handed reshaping of nations that had not changed since the Renaissance. But Napoleon also raised Ancient Egypt to new prominence in the European imagination. His invasion of Egypt in 1798 brought a separate army of French scholars to study its antiquities. From 1809 to 1818, they published the “Description de l’Égypte,” a twenty-three-volume catalogue of the land and its ancient ruins. Another scholar in Napoleon’s train, Jean-François Champollion, successfully deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs in 1815. When Shelley wrote his poem, Ramesses II and his works were just being discovered as something more than the Ozymandias in the garbled account of Diodorus.
The conventional interpretation of the poem is probably as well-known as the poem itself: Shelley criticizes authoritarian government; despite all his grandiose claims, the tyrant Ozymandias, much like Napoleon, is gone and forgotten, his stone colossi smashed and abandoned in the lonely desert. This reading is certainly valid. Shelley was a famous critic of authoritarianism, and his mockery of the grandiose designs of absolute monarchs cannot escape the reader. Though valid, however, this interpretation remains merely one facet of a much more subtle and interesting analysis of the poem.
Shelley’s portrayal of the desolation is masterful. He renders the entire scene as a secondhand account from a traveler – neither the reader nor he has actually seen the scene described – highlighting the remoteness of the ruin. The poem’s final three lines achieve a descriptive pan-out effect, moving from the inscription, to the ruined monument, to the empty desert stretching beyond vision, implicitly shrinking the grand monument to insignificance.
Yet despite the ruin and desolation of the monument, the fact remains: Ozymandias’s name and image are known and on the lips of the narrator, and the traveler is able to read and convey his grandiose proclamation three thousand years later on another continent. The tyranny of Ozymandias, then, was not entirely futile if his command could achieve this immortality of sorts. If the poem only illustrates the futility of a tyrant’s grandiose designs, it fails, for the very existence of the monument belies that point. Shelley was too skilled to produce a poem with such a shortcoming. The inadequacy must lie with the analysis.
The key to this conundrum lies in the second quatrain, lines 5 through 8. Ozymandias’s portrait, his “frown,” “wrinkled lip,” and “sneer of cold command . . . yet survive, stamp’d” on the stone. They are given life by the sculptor, who “well those passions read” and “mock’d them.” The great ruler, Ozymandias, is known only to the narrator because of the sculptor’s work, and only the sculptor’s portrayal conveys anything about the man behind the name.
Indeed, the narrator presumes the sculptor “mock’d” his master, rather than faithfully executing a portrait because the “cold command” in the portrayal seems too perfectly consistent with the grandiosity of the monument. The features are almost a caricature. And the narrator can “[t]ell that its sculptor well those passions read” because he, too, knows the sort of “heart” that commands for self-aggrandizement. The sculptor saw in Ozymandias what the narrator (and contemporary readers) saw in Napoleon.
“Ozymandias,” then, is about much more than the futility of tyranny. It is, first of all, about the power of art. Ozymandias’s immortality depends solely on the artist carving his portrait, and the decisions the artist makes in execution determines how the world sees the subject, and therefore controls his fate. The nameless artist, then, is truly more powerful than the monarch whose name is carved in stone.
But “Ozymandias,” too, is about the shared humanity that art conveys between individuals across time and space. The narrator presumes to declare his understanding of the thoughts of a nameless, long-dead artist because he has seen the same tyranny portrayed in his own time. He presumes the artist disdained and mocked that tyranny because he sees in the work a trueness to life that could only come from a critical eye. Truth opposes propaganda, and is found more often in mockery and caricature than in official portraits.
How much meaning is crammed into those fourteen lines! A master like Shelley unlocks the full potential of the sonnet, showing the form’s power and versatility in its full glory. “Ozymandias” remains one of the best-crafted sonnets, as much for its vivid description as for the breadth and depth of its meaning.
Funny
Why do Las Vegas locals sometimes say that the strip casinos were better “when they were run by the Mafia”?
I first started going to Vegas when it was mob run.
It was safe, clean, and inexpensive. Places would hand out rolls of nickels to get you to come in and play.
Free drinks as long as you were playing.
$1.99 cent steak and eggs at 4am cannot be beat.
Free shows, coupon books, free slot tournaments,
We used to go twice per year.
Slowly but surely all of these wonderful things went away.
Now the Vegas strip is dirty, filled with meth heads, people blowing smoke from blunts in in your face, the place smells of stale urine, people try to force the dirty hooker catalogs in your hands. It doesn’t feel safe and it isn’t fun to walk the gauntlet getting accosted by groups of people in dirty badly designed costumes trying to get you to take a picture with them for money.
The drinks are about $18 each, You can sometimes still get free drinks while gambling but otherwise there are few freebies. They illegally charge a $45 per night resort fee on nearly every room. The authorities in Carson city get kickbacks so they don’t enforce the law.
Bring back the old mob,
The new corporate and state run mob isn’t any good.
American democracy
BABYMETAL // PA PA YA!! (ft. F.HERO)
My GOD! The energy here is stunning! So blown away by the energy between them and the crowd it like a damn pre-workout.
Funny
A tail of two kitties…
Bonjo is an old man with the heart and soul of a kitten
Sano was found on the street as a crying kitten. I had no idea what to do but I took him home and learned a lot about cats in the years after. I also found out that I was a cat person!
Bonjo found his way onto my porch one night years later and shortly found his way into my heart. They have such wonderful, weird personalities. They are a bit like Laurel and Hardy!
Kingdom Hearts Simple and Clean by Utada Hikaru 720p HD Audio Boost Remix
Clean and clear.
So this happened in Montana. I’m on my way to go to my interview this morning when I get pulled over by a police officer.
I am native American and my friend that was with me is black. Just saying.
Both brake lights decided to go out this time.
As he walked to the car and I was pulling out my stuff, he quickly said,
“Don’t worry about pulling anything out. I just want you to know that your brake lights are out.”
So I’m immediately upset because I just got them replaced like last month.
So I explained to him how Firestone wants to charge me $600 just to run a test on the wiring of the car.
He looked at me like 😨 and told me to pop the trunk.
He checked the lights in the trunk and tapped them, but they didn’t come on.
So he told me to pop the hood to check the relay box then asked me to get out to check the other one.
Then worked on the wiring under the dash.
He could’ve easily given me a ticket, but Officer Jenkins stepped out of the officer role, and into the mechanic role, and human role to make sure I was straight.
By the way, HE FIXED THEM. Not everyone is racist or a bad cop.
Utada Hikaru – Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence
A classic performance. I love the expressions on the faces of the audience.
