However, we also cannot deny that the protests in some areas, such as Shanghai, have deviated from their purpose, showing very classic and traditional color revolution routines. In Hong Kong, in Ukraine, wherever there is turmoil and disaster, similar patterns of behavior are constantly being played out. NGOs, CIA, and the media used social incidents as an entry point, hired gunmen or instigators at the protest site to quickly intensify the situation, and even resorted to direct murder to promote confrontation. For example, during the protests on Middle Urumqi road, traditional Chinese characters, which are basically not used in mainland China, were written on the banners hanging; those who first started chanting political slogans had obvious Hong Kong or Taiwanese accents. It is almost impossible to obtain explosives or guns in mainland China, so by elevating a social issue to a political issue is a common tactic used by American conspiracy agencies to incite color revolutions. As a native of Sichuan, I have witnessed similar tactics in the suicide incident of student in Chengdu 49 Middle School. Protesters from southern China, armed with symbols (flowers, like carnations), chanted slogans in unison. Their behavior constitutes all the necessary elements in a political upheaval. The simultaneous protests in many places in China are essentially a farce of young and fearless students being manipulated and instigated by malicious foreign political forces. It took advantage of the public's dissatisfaction with the current epidemic prevention policy, induced student groups who did not have a deep understanding of national security to take to the streets to protest, and then tried to detonate social incidents into political incidents through extreme means at the scene. Another attempt at a color revolution.
However, there is nothing to worry about. During major policy adjustments, instability or errors in implementation are quite normal. If you believed US propaganda that this was the standard for China's imminent collapse, then I'm sorry - as we've apologized to you many times - that but was your pipe dream.
You know, it’s Friday and I am suffering from America=crazy fatigue. I really have no desire to post articles in regards to Ukraine and the latest insanity out of the United States. I will put some stuff that is a fallout from the failed color revolution that the NED tried to launch in China, but other than that, I just want to chill and smunch.
This is intended to be a fun article, with all kinds of cool stuff that kinds of reminds me of my boyhood in various ways, interspersed with some NED color revolution stuff. LOL.
Have fun.
The Modern Handy Book for Boys, by Jack Bechdolt
This is a book that I had as a boy and that somehow got lost over the years. I treasured this book of inventions and dreams…
China – Protest Instigators And Zero-Covid Policies
Within the last two days the New York Times produced four anti-China opinion pieces:
- Are the Chinese Protests a Moment or a Movement?
- The Communist Party Is Losing China’s People
- Banana Peels for Xi Jinping
- Xi Broke the Social Contract That Helped China Prosper
All four predict doom for China and president Xi’s leadership. In typical color-revolution fashion the sudden onslaught of these pieces follows recent reports of minor protests in some Chinese cities related to zero-Covid measures.
But the biggest recent protest was actually a labor conflict at a factory where the Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn is producing iPhones:
A violent workers’ revolt at the world’s largest iPhone factory this week in central China is further scrambling Apple’s strained supply and highlighting how the country’s stringent zero-Covid policy is hurting global technology firms. The troubles started last month when workers left the factory campus in Zhengzhou, the capital of the central province of Henan, due to Covid fears. Short on staff, bonuses were offered to workers to return. But protests broke out this week when the newly hired staff said management had reneged on their promises. The workers, who clashed with security officers wearing hazmat suits, were eventually offered cash to quit and leave.
Within a day that labor conflict was largely resolved.
Other protests were mostly small symbolic events carefully designed to get some media attention in the ‘West’.
biggerFor a huge country like China the total number of protests was laughable small:
Nathan Ruser @Nrg8000 - 23:17 UTC · Nov 30, 2022 For our China Protest Tracker map, we tracked reports of 7 protests that took place across China on November 29th. Totaling 51 protests since November 25th, across 24 cities. See the third edition of our map.
There are signs of foreign meddling:
Angelo Giuliano 🇮🇹 🇨🇭/ living in 🇨🇳 @Angelo4justice3 - 3:08 AM · Nov 30, 2022 Telegram Channel / protests China They have open channel with Western journalists, here is the list. Here a list of organisers, all based outside China. Sydney Daddy one of them, YouTuber based in Australia. So much for "organic" movement. Covid protest YES, foreign meddling NO Image
To me this looks as if some ‘western’ color-revolution instigators are trying to hitch a ride with reasonable protests against some zero-Covid measures. They are likely to fail.
Exactly three years ago Wuhan reported the first case of an unknown type of pneumonia. China had since then adopted a whatever-it-takes stand against the spread of Covid.
While the zero-Covid measures at times seem harsh they are also a necessity.
The Chinese medical system is still underdeveloped and can not handle large outbreaks in multiple big cities. Not all Chinese elderly are vaccinated. A free running epidemic would cost several million lives and would leave tens of millions hampered with long-Covid conditions.
That is unsatisfying for the young who are unlikely to die of Covid-19 but have to live with the zero-Covid restrictions.
But China is a Confucian society. People in China are traditionally valuing their elderly. China’s constitution makes care for the elderly in ones family an obligation for every Chinese citizen:
Article 49 Marriage, families, mothers and children shall be protected by the state. Both husband and wife shall have the obligation to practice family planning. Parents shall have the obligation to raise and educate their minor children; adult children shall have the obligation to support and assist their parents. Infringement of the freedom of marriage is prohibited; mistreatment of senior citizens, women and children is prohibited.
China can therefore not open up and let the pandemic run its course. Its government would likely see more protests than it does now should it suddenly decide to fully open up and to let the elderly die.
But China can, as Peter Lee predicted, modify its current policies.
chinahand @chinahand - 12:54 UTC · Nov 30, 2022 My prediction that CCP crabwalking to a new covid policies (w/ collateral political and public health implications) holding up rather well. Subscription required! Less Than Zero...Covid - Peter Lee's China Threat Report on Patreon.
Two weeks ago the Chinese National Health Commission had already announced 20 new guidelines.
What it can further do to avoid more demonstrations and unrest is to apply sensible zero-Covid measures in a less restricting way.
Some local governments have already reacted to some of the protests:
Chinese cities including Beijing, Guangzhou and Chengdu, where the virus is rife, have continued to optimize their anti-epidemic policies in recent days, with Guangzhou resuming businesses, allowing dine-in services in low-risk areas; and shopping malls gradually opening in Beijing starting Thursday. Some cities have also started to allow close contacts to have home quarantine under certain conditions and exempt some groups from routine nucleic tests. Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan underlined again on Thursday the importance of continuously optimizing China's response to COVID-19, following similar remarks she made on Wednesday saying the country is facing a new situation and new tasks in epidemic prevention and control as the pathogenicity of the Omicron virus weakens. Epidemiologists said such optimized measures aims to strike a better balance between COVID-19 control and ensuring people's normal lives. Allowing home quarantine for some risk groups also relieves pressure of already strained hospital resources.
China wants to hold out as “the pathogenicity of the Omicron virus weakens.”
The Omicron variant seems to be more transmissible but less lethal than the original version of SARS-CoV-2 or the delta variant. But we do not know if it will further develop in that direction.
New variants are found on a nearly daily basis.
If China can hold out for another years until an even milder variant becomes prominent it probably can avoid a huge number of deaths.
Some economist predict that China will open up around the mid of next year:
China is expected to fully lift its Covid restrictions in the third quarter of 2023, leading to a dramatic economic rebound, said Hu Yifan, regional chief investment officer and chief China economist at UBS Global Wealth Management. The estimate echoes a forecast by Bloomberg economists, who said they expect a full reopening by mid-2023. A survey by Bloomberg News earlier this month showed that most economists see reopening starting in the second quarter of 2023 after China’s annual top political meetings. The Chinese government has given no public indication on the timing of an exit from the current “zero-Covid” pandemic control policy, although some municipal governments recently eased controls.
The Times writer who hope for some revolution in China will likely be disappointed.
China’s economy is doing reasonably well. The people are mostly content with reasonable health measure and everything else is negotiable.
‘Western’ op-ed writers like to paint picture of China as a dictatorship suppressing its people. But that is not what China is.
Posted by b on December 1, 2022 at 17:11 UTC | Permalink
Elves in Iceland
Iceland has a rich history of Nordic myth and folklore that have shaped the national identity, along with its otherworldly landscape of lava fields and glaciers. It provides the perfect backdrop for little supernatural creatures to live and roam, and that’s exactly what people in the region have encountered for centuries.
More than half of Iceland’s population ardently believe in the elves (or hidden people) living in the volcanic rocks found in the countryside. Some Islanders claim to see and converse with families of hidden people. Others just acknowledge their existence. It’s believed that they occupy an invisible world within our own, so not everyone is able to see them. It isn’t only elves that populate the area, but many believe that the trolls and dwarves have been scared off by human activity.
The locals have even defended known elf homes and special places from proposed construction sites. Building projects, including a highway in Reykjavik, have been put on hold or moved so as not to disturb the elf community residing there. Advocates have been lobbying for the elves for years, saying that disrupting their homes could result in mayhem since they are territorial creatures. Machines breaking down and accidents befalling those who disturb them are reported as signs that the elves have been agitated.
Confederate Gold in Wilkes County, Georgia
The most famous Civil War treasure and one of Georgia’s greatest mysteries are that of hundreds of thousands of dollars of the Confederate treasury that went missing right at the very end of the Civil War.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis was attending church on Sunday, April 2, 1865, when he learned that Lee’s defensive line at Petersburg, Virginia had been broken and the fall of the Confederate capitol at Richmond was imminent. Davis quickly advised his cabinet that Richmond was to be evacuated and that they would take the Confederate treasury with them. The men and the treasury were scheduled to depart on two trains on the only line still open between Richmond and Danville, Virginia.
That evening the first train with the cabinet members departed Richmond. Shortly after midnight the second train, which carried the hard currency reserves of the Confederate States of America, left. It was under the command of Navy Captain William H. Parker who had gathered all the remaining available personnel to provide a military guard.
Amongst the official records of the Confederacy were numerous crates and barrels which contained gold and silver coins, bullion, silver bricks, and a substantial amount of fine jewelry donated by women across the South. In addition, there was more than $450,000 in gold from Richmond bank reserves, taken to keep it from falling into the hands of the Union.
Although the news was bleak, it was the hope of all on board that the struggle of the South could be continued.
When the tracks ended at Danville, Davis and his staff began to travel south on horseback. Captain Parker ordered the treasure moved to wagons which would transport it to the old U.S. Mint at Charlotte, North Carolina. However, when Parker received word that the U.S. Cavalry was already in the immediate area, he zigzagged across the South Carolina–Georgia state line several times to evade capture.
In the meantime, Richmond lay in ashes as occupying Federal troops took control and over the next several weeks, General Robert E. Lee would surrender and President Abraham Lincoln would be assassinated.
Captain Parker was to camp outside Washington, Georgia, where he was to meet with Jefferson Davis and receive further instructions. Upon their meeting, the Richmond bank reserves were placed in a bank vault in Washington, Georgia. Most of the Confederate assets had been dispersed to pay soldiers and travel expenses along the way. If there was any remaining, its outcome remains unknown.
Only days later, the Richmond reserves, amounting to some $450,000 were in the hands of occupying Northern troops who set out to take the money to a railhead in South Carolina. Along the way, the Union soldiers camped near Chennault Crossroads and it was here that on May 24, 1865, bushwhackers attacked the wagons and some $250,000 was lost. The bandits were stragglers from both the Federal and Confederate armies who had heard of the treasure being transported.
Bank officials eventually recovered some $111,000 of the stolen money. Union General Edward A. Wild led a search of the area for more gold and earned notoriety for the arrest and torture of the Chennault family, who Wild believed were hiding gold.
When Jefferson Davis was finally captured by members of the Fourth Michigan Cavalry near Irwinville in south Georgia on May 10, 1865, he had only a few dollars in his possession. The fabled riches of the vast “Confederate Treasure” were not to be found.
Though it would seem that the robbers would have made off with their stolen caches, tales of Confederate gold buried in Wilkes County have persisted since the end of the war.
Through the years, rumor has it that many gold coins have been found along the dirt roads near the Chennault Plantation, located at the crossroads of GA 44 and GA 79.
By Kathy Weiser-Alexander, updated March 2020.
When the Heater Came Down
I remember the humid day Father said, “I think it’s warm enough. We can take down the heater.” No sooner were the words said than Mother and I ran for the stack of newspapers we had been saving for the occasion. We covered everything in the room. A kitchen chair was set in front of the flue into which the stovepipe fitted. Father got an empty coal bucket and the soot scraper, and then climbed onto the chair.
Carefully he removed the first joint of the long stovepipe. He handed it to Mother, who ran to the backyard with it and shook the soot into the ash pit. Joint after joint came down. Mother and I took turns running them to the backyard, trying hard not to spill any soot along the way.
When the final joint was down, Father took the scraper and pulled soot from the black tunnel into the coal bucket again and again until no more soot came out. Then he took the bucket of soot to the ash pit as well.
When he returned, he climbed back onto the chair and placed the flue cover over the yawning hole. How pretty it looked, with the purple pansies on it — and how big the room looked after the heater had been lugged out to the shed, where it would spend the summer.
Then it was Mother’s turn. “Roll up the carpet. Take it out and hang it on the clothesline. Then get the rug beater and start using it.”
That big old beater was heavy and awkward. Beating the rug with it was difficult, but it did make the dirt and dust give up their hold.
Curtains had to come down to be washed and pinned to the curtain stretchers. All around the four sides, the wet curtains had to be pinned to the stretchers and left to dry — preferably in the sun.
Walls and woodwork had to be washed. Windows were washed with vinegar and rubbed with paper until they sparkled. The floor was mopped. The furniture was polished. Papers were laid on the floor three deep before the beaten rug was brought back in.
The curtains were hung in place, starched stiff and Fels-Naptha clean. Then the furniture was returned to its accustomed place; the pictures were hung; and the taboret, with its marble top, was placed close to the door.
Father and I dropped onto the porch swing. Mother stood in the middle of the clean room, smoothing her apron as she sized up the day’s work. No words were uttered, but how plainly her expression said, “This is my home, and it is good.”
The Sunken Kingdom of Cantre’r Gwaelod
There are so many legends and mythological tales linked with Wales, especially the coastline around Cardigan Bay. One such story has a lot of parallels to the legendary Atlantis. Cardigan Bay is home to some outstanding coastal trails overlooking the bay, with many people saying that they can see glimmers of buildings underneath the water.
This has led to the story of the Sunken Kingdom of Cantre’r Gwaelod—a city that was once thriving had been lost to the waves due to the carelessness of a lock keeper called Seithenyn. As the story goes, he got too drunk one night and failed in this duty, leading to the whole kingdom being flooded and hit by a huge storm. People still claim you can see the buildings and hear the bells ringing out to this day.
Chicken Agrodolce (an Italian Sweet and Sour Chicken)
“This is such a unique Italian chicken dish. Chicken breasts are briefly sauteed, then simmered in a sauce of honey, balsamic vinegar, wine, orange and lemon juice. Toss in a few toasted pignoli, and you’ve got a quick and delicious dinner with risotto or cappellini.”
Ingredients
- 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1⁄4 cup flour
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic
- 3 bay leaves
- 6 allspice berries
- 4 tablespoons honey
- 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1⁄3 cup dry white wine
- 1⁄2 cup orange juice
- 4 tablespoons lemon juice
- salt and pepper (about a tsp. each)
- 1⁄4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 3 tablespoons toasted pignolis (pine nuts)
Directions
- In a large plastic bag, combine flour and chicken breasts, toss to coat.
- In a large skillet, saute floured chicken breasts in olive oil with the whole garlic, bay leaves and allspice berries until chicken is browned.
- Remove chicken to a plate.
- To the skillet, add honey, vinegar and wine; cook to reduce slightly, about 10 minutes on medium-high heat.
- Return chicken to skillet, add orange and lemon juices, salt and pepper, and cook about another 20 minutes or until chicken is done and sauce is reduced slightly.
- Remove garlic, bay leaves and allspice berries from sauce.
- Add pignoli and heat through, another 5 minutes or so.
- Delicious with angel hair pasta or a nice risotto.
The Vanishing Car
On 30 December 2019, emergency services were called to Gray Whale Cove State Beach in California. An anonymous witness claimed he had seen a Lexus SUV driving over a cliff overlooking the ocean.
Officials immediately called in reinforcements, including the U.S. Coast Guard, and a six-hour search for bodies and the remnants of the vehicle ensued. The search was halted after water conditions became dangerous and daylight faded. The only evidence they found of a car leaping over the cliff was dashboard camera footage, some debris, and tire marks on the sand surrounding the edge of the cliff.
Suspicion arose that the video may have been faked, considering there was no car in the water or evidence of any human remains. However, on 16 January 2020, another witness came forward corroborating the story and saying that they too saw the car flying over the edge of the cliff.
Some car parts have washed up on nearby beaches, which police are sorting through, but to date, there have been no bodies found nor easily identifiable parts of a Lexus SUV. There is also yet to be a missing person or missing vehicle report filed that might be linked to the incident.
Same Old Ornaments
When I was growing up in the 1940s and ’50s in Iron River, Mich., I remember complaining to my parents about having “the same old ornaments” every Christmas. Why didn’t we get new stuff? But my family was pretty conservative when it came to spending money, given that my parents were from the era of the Great Depression. So as long as something worked, it was not replaced.
In those days our Christmas tree was usually a spruce. It was always a live one, and it just wasn’t right to put it up any sooner than the day before Christmas Eve. I’d wait excitedly all day for my dad to come home from work at the iron mine and bring in the tree, all frosty and cold, with snow still on the branches and smelling all piney.
We’d set up the tree in the corner and let it warm up a bit before putting on the strings of lights, adding the ornaments, and finally, the tinsel, which we called “icicles.” Last thing to be added was the angel on the top. As the years progressed, she began to look more like a bag lady than an angel, and I couldn’t understand why we didn’t get a new one. I was well into my teens before she got so dilapidated that we replaced her with a star.
The decorations were always the “same old ornaments.” Many of them had been passed down to us from my grandmother, but as each one was carefully unwrapped from tissue paper, the excitement of Christmas grew as I recognized them from Christmases past.
I was about 5 years old when enough of the old ornaments had broken that my mother decided to order some new ones from the Sears catalog. This was just after the war years, and the beautiful, colorful ornaments I was used to seeing on the tree couldn’t be found. I was told they had come from Germany and were not available anymore because of the war. The only thing we could order were plain copper-colored ornaments, probably made in the USA. They weren’t as pretty as the old ones, but as the years passed, those copper ornaments were a reminder of the war years and how they affected a lot of things in our lives.
The next time I remember getting new ornaments was what I think of as “the year of the plastic birds.” I was probably 12 by then, and I got to choose the ornaments from the Sears Christmas catalog. I chose plastic birds. They came in red, yellow, blue and green, and we had to separate their little legs to set them on the branches. Over the years most of the little legs snapped off, but I still have a green one that I put on my tree every year. That “new” bird ornament is now about 70 years old, and I treasure it. I hold my breath each year as I attach it to the branches of my fake spruce tree, hoping its legs don’t break.
The strangest ornament of all was an Easter egg that adorned my grandmother’s tree each year. It was handpainted with flowers and leaves, and hung by a ribbon from the Christmas tree. An Easter egg on a Christmas tree didn’t make much sense, but it was very special to my grandmother because a neighbor girl who went to college had given it to her as a gift, and in those days, a girl who went to college was very impressive and important. So the ornament was a treasured keepsake.
Today I’m thankful that my parents were reluctant to replace the old with new because I still put the few heirloom ornaments that survived on my tree. They bring back those happy childhood memories of putting up the tree the evening before Christmas Eve and decorating with those “same old ornaments.”
The green plastic bird and the Easter egg still decorate my tree, and in years to come, unless the legs break off the bird, they will become part of my children’s, grandchildren’s and great-grandchildren’s holiday decorations. And no doubt, if the great-grands still value those “same old ornaments,” they will be scratching their heads and wondering what an Easter egg is doing on their Christmas tree.
The U.S. is pushing China towards war
Can you imagine if China sent a cruiser between Cuba and Miami? Maybe they should and claim its doing navy exercises.
Why are the Chinese people rioting over Covid restrictions and calling for Xi to step down or is this Western propaganda that I’m seeing on MSM?
Wait wait wait.
Haven’t big brained westerners been saying for DECADES that all protest and dissent is completely not allowed in China? And that you with your free media are ALWAYS 20 million percent correct?
Yet here you are saying there’s protests in China?
The Handy Boys Book | Vintage Boys Hobby Annual
What Happened to Owain Glyndwr?
If you’ve been in Wales for any length of time or know any Welsh people, you’ll have heard all about Owain Glyndwr, the last native Prince of Wales. A national hero throughout Wales, he suffered a defeat to the English, led by Henry IV in 1400. However, no one knows what happened to the prince himself.
After his defeat, he fled and went on the run. The rest of the Glyndwr family were captured, but Owain’s men were loyal and kept him hidden for years, with the last sighting being around 1412. The mystery is that no one knows where he ended up, where his remains are, or how he died. It’s a curious ending to a huge figure in Welsh history that has baffled historians and stoked debates throughout the UK for generations.
What do you think will happen if the protests in China continue?
Chinese people will have more fun – it’s already a joke now.
I don’t think the spy organizations will work overtime at Christmas. They have already achieved one of their goals – wasted the financial budget of this year. They haven’t finished anything this year before that “protests”. This time is the only chance for them to show their usefulness, but they wasted it.
More likely, they continue to use the media to intimidate European investors not to go to China and force them to go to the US, thus to repair the poor industrial chain in the US. That is to say, even if they continue to report how dangerous and unstable China is abroad, these poor spy shows are unlikely to happen any more in 2022.
One by one, the telegram groups organizing “protests” have already been closed. Those which didn’t are busy asking for their back pay and complaining with each other. What a shame.
How to Select the Perfect Wine
The jokes of color revolution in Sichuan:
Draw people along the street like peddlers to carry out color revolution – “$70 for holding a sign for a whole night!”
Mandarin mixed with English is scolded by Sichuan dialect.
Netizens urged spies to learn Sichuan dialect, otherwise that would be disrespectful.
The Mandarin with Sichuan accent conflicts with the Mandarin with Hong Kong accent, when you learned one, it’s hard to learn another. Hong Kong spies who went to the scene tried to shout slogans several times but failed.
Sichuan people sing patriotic songs to them, but the spies can’t sing.
Passionate interaction between Sichuan people and spy show:
Don’t bring white candles when you go to Sichuan next time, Sichuan people teach spies how to mourn the dead: “We can’t stand you. It’s too unprofessional not to do research in advance. It looks like you are experiencing power failure”, “you should play majong for three days to mourn”.
The white man who spent money on color revolution was caught by the Sichuan people. It seems that he should have been beaten by average people.
Is Ynys Enlli the Site of Avalon?
When it comes to Arthurian legend and mythology, Wales has no shortage of claims. One of the most common legends is that of Avalon, the Vale between worlds with mystical properties. Arthurian academics and fanatics have worked tirelessly to try and connect the mythology and stories with real-world locations. The leading theory is that Ynys Enlli (Bardsey Island) off the Llyn Peninsula could be Avalon. Other theories also posit that it’s the final burial spot of King Arthur or Merlin. It’s a rich, legendary spot!
It’s already a mythical spot, being one of the leading pilgrimage spots throughout the 6th century. In fact, some say that this island was the second most popular pilgrimage sight behind Rome at the time. It was just that significant! It’s said that there are over 2,000 saints’ souls who have been laid to rest there, bringing all kinds of supernatural and religious properties to the island. Visit the island by boat and see if you encounter any ghosts of the pilgrims or saints that have been journeying to the island for centuries.
Do you think Edward Snowden is a world hero?
He may not be a world hero but he surely exposed the hypocrisy of the west and shared with the world that the US and the American people are not free at all. In fact the NSA snoops in on every single sole in America and the world. It spies on everyone including their best friends and allies.
Edward Snowden is a brave and honourable American who helped Americans see the truth from lies. He should be adored by good, honest and honourable Americans and not demonised by them. Americans must want real freedom and willing to sacrifice for it, it means something to them.
Golden Memories With Ken Tate
Some people have cynically defined nostalgia as a type of self-delusion. After all, they say, what exactly was good about the Good Old Days? Times were tougher, money scarcer and luxuries fewer.
I remember a book published in the early 1970s titled The Good Old Days — They Were Terrible! The author claimed the Good Old Days were good only for a privileged few and were “unrelentingly hard for most.” I would wholeheartedly agree with the last half of that assertion, but I would take umbrage with the first half.
It seems to me that how we deal with adversity writes the story of whether our days were good or bad. The Good Old Days certainly were not easy. Ask anyone who lived through times of economic uncertainty and war. Oh — wait a minute! That could be talking about today. You don’t need memories of living through the Great Depression and two world wars, of reading by kerosene lantern or of taking the well-worn path to the little house out back in order to remember the Good Old Days.
You merely need the heart of a child who can have more fun turning a box into a playhouse than playing with anything the box might contain. Even children who grew up in the 1970s remember those days of wide-eyed wonder.
What is an incident that changed your life?
Last summer was my first time in a primarily non-Jewish environment as an Orthodox Jewish teenager.
It was a small summer camp, and the girls around me all arrived in regular summer clad, albeit clothes I’d grown up dismissing as sinful and immodest.
In the community I’m in, every girl is adherent to tzniut, which is the Hebrew word for modesty. Orthodox Judaism insinuates a strict dress code that determined an incredible amount about me and how I live. Our elbows and knees were like border disputes.
But these were the kind of girls I’d been always constantly warned about in school, the ones who supposedly had no respect for themselves. The kind of girls I should supposedly never be like.
But as they should be, they were respected all the same. No funny stares, comments or judgemental glares from counselors—or anyone.
What they wore didn’t determine their worth. The girls I became friendly with were some of the nicest people I’d ever met. Their bare knees were irrelevant.
I soon realized it was actually tzniut that had sexualized me all along, and all who encouraged it. The constant lecturing, pestering and obsession with our skin was what was damaging in reality. Covering my body so intensely from all men just meant that my body was inherently something to be sexualized. It meant that I can only be seen a human being away from sexual consumption if I hid behind a piece of cloth. That my body was for that one purpose only.
Even worse, it meant the worst things for those around me. It meant that men aren’t capable of appreciating my personality or intelligence without sexualizing my knees and elbows. And I realized how crazy it seemed.
All of it led to a spiral of realization. A mere hour of thinking led to it all unraveling. So much that I thought I knew and believed exploded before my eyes.
I began to realize that so many of the morals I’d been brought up with…. were in fact wrong.
And at that point, I’d only just begun to understand.
The Haunting of Plas Teg
More often than not, haunted buildings are a result of a romance gone wrong. Located on A541 in North Wales lies the gorgeous but dark Jacobean mansion, Plas Teg, a property with a seriously spooky history.
The legend goes that Dorothy, the daughter of Sir John Trevor I, fell in love with a farmer’s son. Obviously, her father did not approve, so Dorothy planned to elope with her beloved. In order to start their new life, she buried some jewels in the ground outside Plas Teg that she’d dig up to help them begin their marriage.
Unfortunately, things did not go to plan. Under cover of darkness, Dorothy wandered over to the spot where she buried her jewels but accidentally fell down a well to her death. Until today, visitors still claim to see the ghost of a young girl in a white dress wandering the grounds, trying to find her jewels and her beloved. See if you can spot her or the jewels on your next visit.
Ragu Bolognese
“this is one of our favorite meat sauces although it is a bit of work. this works well with campanelle or penne to catch the sauce”
Ingredients
- 1⁄4 cup olive oil
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 2 onions, chopped
- 4 stalks celery, finely chopped
- 1 carrot, scraped and finely chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, sliced
- 1 lb ground veal
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1⁄2 lb ground beef
- 1⁄4 lb pancetta, minced
- 1⁄2 cup milk
- 1 (28 ounce) can chopped tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano
- 6 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cup white wine
- 2 cups beef stock
- salt and pepper
Directions
- in a large heavy pot heat oil and butter.
- add onions, celery, carrots, garlic and cook until vegetables are translucent.
- add the meats and stir, cooking until no longer pink 10-15 minutes.
- drain excess fat from pan and return to heat.
- add milk and cook until almost dry, about 10 minutes.
- add tomatoes and herbs and simmer about 15 minutes.
- add wine and broth, bring to a boil.
- lower to simmer, and cook partially covered for 2 1/2 hrs, stirring every 30 minutes.
- season with salt and pepper to taste.
Hello good Morning everyone,
i hope you all are doing well.
It is so uplifting that you are going “back to basics” –
and not regurgigating the prevalent soom and gloom.
The Ragu recipe is near perfect!
Pro-Tip:
If you have have leftover crust from fresh parmigiano, sink it in the pot, too.
Triple or quadruple the numbers and let it simmer for the whole weekend, freeze the surplus.
You will then have the ability to make some Ragu on the fly for the next weeks.
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Concerning “Sichuan people sing patriotic songs to them, but the spies can’t sing.”
There is a german proverb:
“Wo gesungen wird, da lass Dich nieder –
Böse Menschen kennen keine Lieder”
[Where there is singing, there let yourself down –
Evil people know no songs/don’t know how to sing]
Quite fitting, isn’t it?
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My rufus story of the week:
Best regards and have a nice day!
I intend to phase out the “New Beginnings” series before CNY. (22JAN23). The result will no longer be daily posts, but more meaty weekly posts on specific topics. My concept is subject to change, but I too tire of all the doom and gloom. I will update and revise and I hope that I don’t “shake off” too many “hangers on”.
I think I know why you post, very purposefully, the subjects herein. Your words and postings have a positive influence. I believe they affect the outcomes of many realities. It really is amazing, the things you can do.
I agree. It’s almost as if MM is continuing his anchoring work, just on another level. It must come naturally.
You missed a great article about Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a part of WEF’s society controller.
The article is 埃隆-马斯克敲打维基百科威胁要删除 “Twitter文件 “页面. Here’s an English picture in it.