Here’s an early story from my days in Indiana. We didn’t have much money, and I had just left the USN and MAJ training and found a job working at a military contractor.

We got around in a old beat up van. It was a Dodge Tradesman 400. Which was double the length (or maybe not, but it felt that way) than the old “Urge” van that I had prior to my training at China Lake NWC.

It had troubles and I was always repairing and fixing it.

But it got us around. I had wallpapered the interior interior with indoor-outdoor carpeting, making a cozy empty box. And there we had a port-a-potty (portable commode) and a couple of other things, like a tool box, and a spare tire or two, and some blankets and pillows to sleep when we needed to.

Now, in those days when something went wrong, I would get out and fix the van on the spot. Often performing work-arounds. Like jury-rigging the headlights, and bypassing the carburetor to get the damn car moving.

But I did what I had to do.

One day a tire blew out.

No problem. I pulled out a spare (I would collect thrown away tires and use them until they died) from the roof, and fixed it up.

And rode it a few miles. Maybe ten minutes.

Then Boom! And other tire blew out.

So I went to get another tire, and nope…

No more tires.

Yet, I was still ten miles away from my house.

So this is what I did. I rode that blown tire on the rim for ten miles in the dirty gravel side berm the entire way to my house. It sure as heck chewed up the damn tire, I’ll tell you what. And the rim was a royal mess.

But I was able to get a new tire installed and all was well.

The moral of the story is don’t believe people that tell you that you shouldn’t or can not ride on a rim. If it is an emergency, you can do whatever you need. If I destroyed the rim, it wouldn’t have been a big problem, as I could have found a replacement in a junk yard of a dollar or two.

Anything is possible if you put your mind to it.

So there!

Today…

What is the best case of “You just picked a fight with the wrong person” that you’ve witnessed?

I was just a ten-year-old girl when my dad was driving the family to my grandmother’s for Sunday dinner. We stopped behind another car at a red light, and that’s when things took an unexpected turn.

My dad was a remarkable man, standing only five feet tall. Having survived polio as a child, he walked with a slight hunch and had one leg in a brace. He was a natural conversationalist, able to strike up a chat with anyone. He played the guitar and sang, spent afternoons boxing with my little brother, and could start a campfire like nobody else. While he struggled with physical tasks like chopping wood or setting up tents, he had an incredible ability to entertain and engage everyone around him. No one ever minded lending him a hand; he had a knack for making people feel at ease, as if they were lifelong friends. Truly, he was a gem.

That day felt just like any other Sunday—until the incident at the light. I can’t recall what triggered the confrontation, but suddenly the driver in front of us was furious. He parked abruptly and stormed over to my dad’s side of the car. My mom was worried, but my dad remained calm. He stepped out of the car, approached the man, and extended his hand, saying something like, “I must have annoyed you somehow.” I don’t remember the details of their conversation, but I vividly recall the look on the guy’s face as he shook my dad’s hand and apologized for overreacting. My dad had completely defused the situation in seconds. What an incredible guy he was.

Fear of death

No more Microsoft in Chinese Government Contracts

China has removed Microsoft from the approved list of vendors providing Software to the Chinese Government and Government related agencies

For the record Microsoft sold $ 761 million of software to the Chinese Government in 2017/18 and $ 4.11 Billion between 2008 and 2018

The step represents Chinas move to remove dependence on foreign vendors for software and render the entire Government network with fully indigenous software

In the last 3 years – China has removed 24 Foreign vendors of Software from their approved list but Microsoft remained until today

The Government announced that existing Microsoft software will be replaced fully by 1/1/2026

In 2021, China had removed Oracle from their list of approved suppliers

15 Years STRANDED On The Isle Of Sand

This is Tromelin Island. It is exactly as barren as it looks. So much so that it used to be known simply as the Isle of Sand. In 1761, almost a hundred people captured from their homeland were abandoned here, and most of them were never seen or heard from again. This is their horrifying story.

If someone got out of their car in a rage, grabbed a tire iron and headed to your car, would you take out your gun?

OK, this may offend some folks as it contains a gruesome outcome. However, for those interested in a true firsthand story here goes.

Around the time I was 13 (1970) my neighbor buddy had a sister; let’s call her “Jane.” Jane had enlisted in the Army a couple of years prior when she was eighteen (circa 1968); during her enlistment she married a fellow and returned home to California.

Her husband — let’s call him “James” — well James was one interesting dude, who hailed from the hills of Kentucky. James usually sat on my friend’s porch and drank whiskey and once in a while would tell us young teenagers of his family and surrounding neighbors and the ahem, physical confrontations they would engage in.

Stuff like shootings, knifings, clubs, chairs, running each other down with cars, you get it: tall tales. All James did was sit and drink, never acting tough or engaging in youthful spirited tests of strength or wrestling etc.

Well one day Jane told us she needed to go across town to another city which was renowned for gangs. She invited us “boys” to come along for protection. Even James. We chuckled as he was not one of us boys who wrestled and had lifted weights or worked out.

Off we go in Jane’s cool Grand Prix. James and I in the rear seat. Jane and my buddy in the front seat. Remember we are like 13. James is like 22 and not from California.

We piled in the Grand Prix and James has his accompanying whiskey. He rarely moved. We drove through this tough part of town and stopped at a traffic light. Up rolled a “lowrider” with six guys obviously a gang. Time stopped as we slung low in our seats my friend and I and Jane.

The gang looked our way and started saying what are we $@#&*!@@ doing in their turf? As we slunk lower, James wakes up and leans out and yells back a $%^@#@ to you and die. These six dudes went nuts and immediately all yelling stating how they were going to cut us up amongst other violent acts.

James in one second reached down and lying on the floorboard was a four-sided lug wrench to remove lug nuts. James yanked this heavy steel tool up and in one motion flung this right through the gang guy’s car windows.

Oh my Lord, all were heard was thump, thump, thump and screams and crying. In this mere second, James leaped out of the backseat and jumped on their car hood and starts kicking in the windshield screaming ‘I am going to kill you all!!!”

These boys were hurting and bleeding and in a bad way, now they were I am sure in fear this crazy dude was going to actually kill them.

My friend and I jumped out of the car and grabbed James kicking and cussing and pulled him back in the car and yelled to Jane to punch it!

James was fighting us to get out and we were only thinking get away before this goes way bad.

Later my friend and I never, I mean never would not believe any story James would tell us. I have wondered about those six dudes how they turned out. Always thought I sure wouldn’t want to have driven in a Grand Prix in that side of town for a long time.

True story. Ah yes, we never went with James again anywhere. Jane and James divorced later

China VS America | Yanis Varoufakis on Big Tech, Capitalism and Techno-Feudalism (Part 3)

Will the United States possibly lose its dollar dominance as the world reserve currency on October 22nd when BRICS announces a new global currency?

I have just finished an in depth discussion on ..what will happen if BRICS implement a new payment system to replace the Swift system and to replace the USA dollar for cross border trade.

Here is a summary of his views:

Quote:

“154 countries have confirmed they will immediately switch to the BRICS payment system, and China has already established RMB-based trade with over 150 major partners, it indicates a dramatic and far-reaching shift away from the U.S. dollar. This level of adoption would accelerate the de-dollarization process much more rapidly than previously anticipated.

Let’s reassess the potential impact:

1. Global Shift in Payment and Trade Systems:

Widespread Adoption: If 154 countries (roughly 80% of the world) shift to the BRICS payment system, it will greatly reduce the reliance on the SWIFT system and, more importantly, on the U.S. dollar for international transactions. This would represent an unprecedented disruption to the global financial architecture, where the dollar currently dominates.
RMB as a Rising Trade Currency: The fact that the RMB is now being used for trade with China’s major partners suggests a significant volume of global trade has already moved away from the dollar. If the volume of RMB-based trade overtakes that of dollar-based trade, the dollar’s role in global trade will be heavily diminished, particularly in Asia, Africa, and possibly parts of Latin America.

2. Impact on U.S. Dollar Demand:

Sharp Decline in Dollar Demand: With 154 countries switching to the BRICS system, the demand for dollars as a reserve currency could fall sharply. Central banks in these countries may reduce their dollar reserves in favor of other currencies, including the RMB or other BRICS currencies. This could lead to a weaker dollar over time, as fewer dollars are needed for international transactions and reserves.
Currency Diversification: Countries may increasingly diversify their foreign reserves away from dollars, choosing to hold a mix of RMB, Indian rupees, or other BRICS currencies. This would further weaken the dollar’s standing as the world’s primary reserve currency.

3. Geopolitical and Economic Consequences:

U.S. Economic Pressure: A sudden reduction in the demand for U.S. dollars could lead to financial instability within the U.S. economy. The U.S. enjoys significant benefits from the dollar’s reserve status, such as the ability to run large deficits and print money with relatively low inflationary consequences. A sharp decline in global demand for the dollar could result in higher inflation, rising interest rates, and economic contraction in the U.S.
Sanction Circumvention: A functioning BRICS payment system would also allow countries to bypass U.S. sanctions. This could significantly weaken one of the U.S.’s most powerful tools of geopolitical influence. Countries facing U.S. sanctions would be less reliant on the dollar-based financial system and could continue trading with little fear of repercussions.

4. Long-term Consequences for the Global Financial System:

Fragmented Financial System: The global financial system could fragment into different blocs, with one bloc dominated by BRICS and its partners, using their own payment system and currencies, while another bloc continues to rely on SWIFT and the dollar. This fragmentation could lead to increased volatility in currency markets and potentially more complex global trade.
RMB’s Growing Role: If trade in RMB overtakes dollar-based trade in terms of volume, China will gain more financial influence, particularly among its trading partners. The RMB’s role as a global currency will grow, potentially positioning it as a strong competitor to the dollar, especially in Asia, Africa, and other regions where China has major economic influence.

5. The U.S. Response:

Financial Countermeasures: The U.S. could respond with diplomatic, economic, or even military strategies to attempt to maintain the dollar’s dominance. This could involve pressuring key allies to resist adopting the BRICS system or using sanctions and other financial tools against countries that switch over.
New Alliances: The U.S. might attempt to strengthen economic alliances with key partners, such as the EU, Japan, and other G7 countries, to create a counterbalance to the BRICS system. However, the success of such efforts would depend on how widely the new system is adopted.

Conclusion:

Given the scale of the shift you’ve described, if 154 countries immediately switch to the BRICS payment system and China continues expanding RMB-based trade, this would mark a serious and immediate challenge to the U.S. dollar’s role as the world’s reserve currency.

While the full impact might take time to materialize, it would undoubtedly signal a major turning point in global finance, with far-reaching consequences for the U.S. economy and its geopolitical influence.

The switch would be far from limited and could lead to a dramatic restructuring of the global financial order.

Unquote.

Wow.. the odds is high that BRICS summit will switch over to use a new payment system to replace the Swift system ..and to replace the US dollar for cross border trade …Immagine..154 countries (out of 193 countries in the UN ) will be pressing for the change over ..to be implemented immediately !!!

Should we sell our holding of US dollars ?

Beef Medallions with Cognac Sauce

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 cup chopped shallots
1 teaspoon (packed) brown sugar
1 cup canned low-salt chicken broth
1/2 cup canned beef broth
1/2 cup Cognac or brandy
1/4 cup whipping cream
2 (4 to 5 ounce) beef tenderloin steaks (each about 1 inch thick)
Fresh Chives

Instructions

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat.
Add shallots and sauté until tender, about 4 minutes.
Add brown sugar; stir 1 minute.
Add chicken broth, beef broth and Cognac. Simmer until sauce is reduced to 1/2 cup, about 20 minutes.
Add cream. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; chill.)
Sprinkle steaks with salt and pepper.
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in heavy medium skillet over medium high heat.
Add steaks; cook to desired doneness, about 4 minutes per side for rare.
Transfer steaks to plates.
Add sauce to skillet; bring to boil, scraping up any browned bits.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Slice steaks; fan slices on plates.
Top with sauce and garnish with chives.

Notes

Serve Cabernet Sauvignon with the steaks.

Attribution

From the kitchen of Martin James, Copenhagen, Denmark

Yakuza Gang Boss Shows Me The Dark Side of Japan

What countries will you never visit again?

Maybe this is a little controversial, but Egypt is the place I will never go to again.

Don’t get me wrong, the pyramids are absolutely mind-blowing, like stepping into a different world. Seeing them up close and realizing their ancient history was surreal.

But honestly, that was the only highlight for me.

The rest of the trip was pretty disappointing. The chaos of Cairo was overwhelming, and the constant hustle from street vendors and the camel guys at the pyramids was exhausting.

They were especially rough with the women and even the animals, which really put a damper on the experience. I was shocked to see children working there, too. It felt wrong.

The Egyptian Museum was a huge letdown. It was a disgrace to such a rich history. The place was poorly organized, with bad labels and no security. I couldn’t believe that priceless textiles, parchments, and leather artifacts were just jumbled in cases, exposed to the heat and all kinds of hands. It was heartbreaking to see such treasures treated that way.

I know it’s a desert, but I wasn’t prepared for how intense the heat would be. It made exploring anything beyond the pyramids a struggle, and I ended up spending way more time hiding in my hotel than I wanted to.

As for the food, I was eager to try authentic Egyptian cuisine, but it was hit or miss, and my stomach wasn’t too happy about it. I found myself sticking to bland, safe options just to avoid any more unpleasant surprises. Also, they told us to not drink the water.

So yeah, while the pyramids were incredible, everything else just didn’t live up to the hype.

If you’re into ancient history, maybe it’s worth a visit, but for me, once was definitely enough.

Russia Sunk NATO Ship Full of Ballistic and Cruise Missiles Intended for UKRAINE!

GOD’S GAMBIT

Submitted into Contest #243 in response to: Write a story about a character who wakes up in space.… view prompt

Darvico Ulmeli

In the eerie silence of the hibernation capsule, God stirred reluctantly from a slumber never meant to cease. His consciousness emerged like a shipwreck survivor clawing its way out of unconsciousness, only to be assaulted by the cacophony of chaos that greeted him.The first sensation to pierce the veil of sleep comes from the blaring alarms, their shrill wails slicing through the tranquil atmosphere like a serrated blade. Each piercing note reverberated within the confines of the capsule, amplifying the sense of urgency gripping God’s awakening mind.Simultaneously, the acrid sting of smoke assaulted his senses, a bitter reminder of the impending danger lurking beyond his slumber. It hung heavy in the air, swirling like malevolent spirits, casting eerie shadows that danced and flickered along the chamber walls with ghostly abandon.As God struggled to orient himself amidst the disorienting symphony of sound and sensation, a surge of adrenaline flooded his veins, jolting him into a state of heightened awareness. His heart pounded like a drumbeat of impending doom, its rhythm echoing the urgency.With trembling hands, God reached out into the darkness, groping blindly for the familiar contours of the hibernation capsule’s interior. His fingers brushed against cold metal, sending shivers racing down his spine as he forced his weary body upright, the chill of the surface beneath him a stark reminder of the reality he now faced.Through bleary eyes, he surveyed his surroundings, his gaze lingering on the ominous red glow of the control panel bathed in the dim light of emergency indicators. The once serene chamber was now a battleground, the tranquil cocoon of hibernation shattered by the violent intrusion of chaos.

At that moment, God’s mind raced with a thousand questions, each vying for attention amidst the clamor of alarms and the choking haze of smoke. “What’s happening?” he thought, his voice lost amidst the turmoil that enveloped him.

Desperation clawed at his consciousness as he staggered toward the control panel, each step a herculean effort against the oppressive weight of confusion that shrouded his thoughts. His mind was a tempest of fear and uncertainty, a whirlwind of emotions swirling amidst the storm of impending disaster.

And yet, amidst the chaos, a singular thought burned bright like a beacon of hope amidst the encroaching darkness: survival. With each fiber of his being, God clung to that glimmer of hope, steeling himself for the trials laid ahead as he braced for the impact of the impending emergency.

Disoriented and groggy, God felt as though he were emerging from the depths of a murky abyss, grappling with the tendrils of sleep that still clung stubbornly to his consciousness. The world around him seemed disjointed, a surreal landscape of disarray and disorientation.

With a herculean effort, he forced his weary body upright, the cold touch of the metal beneath him jolting him into a state of stark awareness. It was as if the chill seeping through the hull of the ship was a cruel reminder of the harsh reality he now faced – a reality fraught with danger and uncertainty.

As he staggered toward the control panel, each step felt like a battle against an invisible force, a relentless tide of confusion threatening to overwhelm him. Urgency gnawed at the edges of his consciousness, driving him forward with a sense of desperate determination.

“Why am I awake?” The question echoed in his mind like a haunting refrain, its implications weighing heavily on his troubled thoughts. It was a puzzle he could not solve, a mystery that loomed ominously in the air like a specter of uncertainty.

His heart thundered in his chest, a primal rhythm that reverberated through his entire being, a testament to the gravity of the situation unfolding around him. With trembling hands, he reached out to survey the scene of chaos that greeted him, his gaze sweeping over the once orderly systems of the ship now thrown into disarray.

The screens flickered erratically, bathing the dimly lit chamber in an eerie glow as ominous error messages and dire warnings flashed across their surfaces like portents of doom. Navigation coordinates blinked mockingly, their deviation from the intended course a cruel reminder of the perilous journey upon which they now found themselves.

“What happened to the ship? Is the cargo all right?” The questions tumbled from his lips in a fervent rush, his voice tinged with a note of desperation as he searched for answers amidst the tumult of confusion and chaos. But the silence that greeted him was deafening, a stark reminder of the solitude that enveloped him in this moment of uncertainty.

A thousand years ahead of schedule, God found himself adrift in the vast expanse of space, a solitary figure engulfed by the silent void that stretched endlessly before him. The once-promised land of PGC 42833, their beacon of hope and salvation, now seemed but a distant memory, its light swallowed by the unfathomable darkness of uncertainty.

Accompanied only by the soft hum of the ship’s artificial intelligence, God was faced with the harsh reality of their predicament. The precious cargo of genetic material, intended to seed a new world with life, served as a poignant reminder of the responsibilities he bore. With a heavy heart, he turned his attention to the task at hand, knowing that the fate of countless lives hung in the balance.

As he assessed the damage inflicted upon the ship, a sense of grim determination settled over him like a shroud. The systems lay in ruins, their once-potent capabilities reduced to mere echoes of their former selves. Yet, amidst the wreckage, there lingered a glimmer of hope – a belief that the damage could be repaired, that the broken could be made whole once more.

But as the ship hurtled relentlessly toward an unknown planet, God’s hope gave way to a chilling realization. With each passing moment, the gravity of their situation became increasingly apparent, weighing heavily on his chest like a leaden burden.

And then, with a deafening roar that echoed through the vast expanse of space, the vessel breached the outer layers of the planet’s atmosphere, igniting a cataclysmic spectacle that painted the heavens with hues of fire and brimstone.

Flames licked hungrily at the ship’s hull, consuming it with a voracious hunger as it plummeted toward the surface below. The once-steady trajectory of their descent now spiraled into chaos, leaving behind a blazing trail of destruction that etched a fiery scar upon the canvas of the night sky.

In that moment of reckoning, as the flames engulfed the ship and the world spun madly around him, God could do naught but bear witness to the cataclysm unfolding before his eyes. The descent into oblivion was swift and unforgiving, a testament to the merciless whims of fate that had brought them to this precipice of despair.

Inside the ship, the once orderly confines were transformed into a cacophony of chaos, as alarms blared with a relentless urgency, their shrill cries piercing the air like daggers of dread. Each discordant note served as a grim harbinger of the devastation that awaited, a symphony of impending doom that echoed through the corridors of the vessel.

With his hands clenched in a vice-like grip upon the controls, God fought against the relentless onslaught of nature’s fury, his every movement a testament to the sheer force of will driving him forward. Despite the odds stacked against him, he refused to yield, his determination unwavering in the face of adversity.

As the atmosphere outside grew increasingly turbulent, the ship bucked and swayed like a wounded beast in its death throes, its metal hull groaning and creaking under the strain of re-entry. Through the trembling viewscreen, God beheld the world below, its once serene landscape transformed into a nightmarish tableau of chaos and destruction.

With a bone-jarring impact that reverberated through the very core of the planet, the ship collided with the unforgiving surface below, unleashing a torrent of devastation that echoed the cataclysmic events of epochs past. The earth trembled beneath the force of the impact; its very foundation was shaken to its core as shockwaves rippled outward like the aftershocks of an ancient earthquake.

Trees splintered and shattered like brittle twigs, their branches snapping beneath the relentless force of the collision. Mountains crumbled into heaps of rubble, their once-proud peaks reduced to mere shadows of their former selves. Rivers of molten metal flowed like rivers of fire, carving deep scars into the scarred terrain with inexorable determination. But it was not just the immediate impact that wrought devastation upon the planet. The collision ignited an inferno that swept across the land, consuming forests and grasslands in its fiery embrace. Firestorms raged unchecked, casting a pall of smoke and ash into the atmosphere.

Meanwhile, colossal tsunamis surged forth from the point of impact, racing across the oceans with terrifying speed. Coastal regions were inundated, swept away by walls of water that obliterated everything in their path.

As the dust settled and the fires burned, a new threat emerged from the heavens above. The impact had ejected vast quantities of debris and vaporized rock into the atmosphere, shrouding the world in darkness. The sun was blotted out, its warming rays unable to penetrate the thick veil of dust and ash.

Without sunlight, temperatures plummeted, plunging the Earth into a deep freeze. This ‘impact winter’ gripped the planet in its icy grasp, bringing death and destruction to all living things. Acid rain fell from the darkened skies, poisoning the land and waterways alike.

Amidst this chaos, life struggled to endure. But for the mighty dinosaurs, rulers of the ancient world, the odds were insurmountable. The once-great reptiles, whose dominion had lasted for millions of years, found themselves facing extinction.

In the blink of an eye, the world was transformed. The dinosaurs, along with countless other species, vanished from the face of the Earth, leaving behind only fossils as silent witnesses to their untimely demise.

The air filled with the acrid stench of smoke and ash as flames consumed everything in their path with ravenous hunger. Darkness descended upon the ruined landscape like a shroud, casting a pall of despair over the once-vibrant world below. And amidst the devastation, God could only watch in silent horror, his heart heavy with the weight of the destruction wrought by his own hand.

As the flames of destruction raged around him, God stood amidst the wreckage of the ship, his heart heavy with the burden of guilt and remorse. With a sense of resignation, he closed his eyes, allowing himself to be consumed by the chaos unfolding around him.

And then, in a blinding flash of light, he vanished without a trace, leaving behind only echoes of his presence lingering in the air. His departure marked the end of an era, a final chapter in the saga of a doomed mission that had ended in tragedy.

But even as God faded into oblivion, the seeds of life he had carried within the cargo hold stirred with newfound vitality. Released from their confines, they took root in the fertile soil of the ravaged landscape, their tendrils reaching out like fingers of hope in the darkness.

In the years that followed, life flourished upon the scarred surface of the planet, as the seeds grew and multiplied, spreading their verdant embrace across the once desolate terrain. And thus, from the ashes of destruction arose a new beginning – a testament to the resilience of life, and the enduring legacy of hope in the face of adversity.

In time, the planet would come to be known by a new name – Earth – a beacon of life and vitality in the vast expanse of the cosmos. And though the memory of God and his ill-fated mission faded into legend, the legacy lived on, written in the very fabric of the world he had helped to create.

Workers Furious | Millions Of Americans Threaten To Quit

A New Theory in Physics Claims to Solve the Mystery of Consciousness

·August 11, 2022

Finally! Scientists are proposing theories that MM has been expounding for decades. -MM

Summary: Consciousness can not simply be reduced to neural activity alone, researchers say. A novel study reports the dynamics of consciousness may be understood by a newly developed conceptual and mathematical framework.

Source: Bar-Ilan University

How do 1.4 kg of brain tissue create thoughts, feelings, mental images, and an inner world?

The ability of the brain to create consciousness has baffled some for millennia. The mystery of consciousness lies in the fact that each of us has subjectivity, something that is like to sense, feel and think.

In contrast to being under anesthesia or in a dreamless deep sleep, while we’re awake we don’t “live in the dark” — we experience the world and ourselves. But how the brain creates the conscious experience and what area of the brain is responsible for this remains a mystery.

According to Dr. Nir Lahav, a physicist from Bar-Ilan University in Israel, “This is quite a mystery since it seems that our conscious experience cannot arise from the brain, and in fact, cannot arise from any physical process.”

As strange as it sounds, the conscious experience in our brain, cannot be found or reduced to some neural activity.

“Think about it this way,” says Dr. Zakaria Neemeh, a philosopher from the University of Memphis, “when I feel happiness, my brain will create a distinctive pattern of complex neural activity. This neural pattern will perfectly correlate with my conscious feeling of happiness, but it is not my actual feeling. It is just a neural pattern that represents my happiness. That’s why a scientist looking at my brain and seeing this pattern should ask me what I feel, because the pattern is not the feeling itself, just a representation of it.”

As a result, we can’t reduce the conscious experience of what we sense, feel and think to any brain activity. We can just find correlations to these experiences.

After more than 100 years of neuroscience we have very good evidence that the brain is responsible for the creation of our conscious abilities. So how could it be that these conscious experiences can’t be found anywhere in the brain (or in the body) and can’t be reduced to any neural complex activity?

This mystery is known as the hard problem of consciousness. It is such a difficult problem that until a couple of decades ago only philosophers discussed it and even today, although we have made huge progress in our understanding of the neuroscientific basis of consciousness, still there is no adequate theory that explains what consciousness is and how to solve this hard problem.

Dr. Lahav and Dr. Neemeh recently published a new physical theory in the journal Frontiers in Psychology that claims to solve the hard problem of consciousness in a purely physical way.

According to the authors, when we change our assumption about consciousness and assume that it is a relativistic phenomenon, the mystery of consciousness naturally dissolves. In the paper the researchers developed a conceptual and mathematical framework to understand consciousness from a relativistic point of view.

According to Dr. Lahav, the lead author of the paper, “consciousness should be investigated with the same mathematical tools that physicists use for other known relativistic phenomena.”

To understand how relativity dissolves the hard problem, think about a different relativistic phenomenon, constant velocity. Let’s choose two observers, Alice and Bob, where Bob is on a train that moves with constant velocity and Alice watches him from the platform. there is no absolute physical answer to the question what the velocity of Bob is.

The answer is dependent on the frame of reference of the observer.

From Bob’s frame of reference, he will measure that he is stationary and Alice, with the rest of the world, is moving backwards. But from Alice’s frame Bob is the one that’s moving and she is stationary.

Although they have opposite measurements, both of them are correct, just from different frames of reference.

Because, according to the theory, consciousness is a relativistic phenomenon, we find the same situation in the case of consciousness.

Now Alice and Bob are in different cognitive frames of reference. Bob will measure that he has conscious experience, but Alice just has brain activity with no sign of the actual conscious experience, while Alice will measure that she is the one that has consciousness and Bob has just neural activity with no clue of its conscious experience.

Just like in the case of velocity, although they have opposite measurements, both of them are correct, but from different cognitive frames of reference.

As a result, because of the relativistic point of view, there is no problem with the fact that we measure different properties from different frames of reference.

The fact that we cannot find the actual conscious experience while measuring brain activity is because we’re measuring from the wrong cognitive frame of reference.

According to the new theory, the brain doesn’t create our conscious experience, at least not through computations. The reason that we have conscious experience is because of the process of physical measurement.

In a nutshell, different physical measurements in different frames of reference manifest different physical properties in these frames of reference although these frames measure the same phenomenon.

For example, suppose that Bob measures Alice’s brain in the lab while she’s feeling happiness. Although they observe different properties, they actually measure the same phenomenon from different points of view. Because of their different kinds of measurements, different kinds of properties have been manifested in their cognitive frames of reference.

For Bob to observe brain activity in the lab, he needs to use measurements of his sensory organs like his eyes. This kind of sensory measurement manifests the substrate that causes brain activity – the neurons.

After more than 100 years of neuroscience we have very good evidence that the brain is responsible for the creation of our conscious abilities. Image is in the public domain

Consequently, in his cognitive frame Alice has only neural activity that represents her consciousness, but no sign of her actual conscious experience itself. But, for Alice to measure her own neural activity as happiness, she uses different kind of measurements. She doesn’t use sensory organs, she measures her neural representations directly by interaction between one part of her brain with other parts. She measures her neural representations according to their relations to other neural representations.

This is a completely different measurement than what our sensory system does and, as a result, this kind of direct measurement manifests a different kind of physical property. We call this property conscious experience.

As a result, from her cognitive frame of reference, Alice measures her neural activity as conscious experience.

Using the mathematical tools that describe relativistic phenomena in physics, the theory shows that if the dynamics of Bob’s neural activity could be changed to be like the dynamics of Alice’s neural activity, then both will be in the same cognitive frame of reference and would have the exact same conscious experience as the other.

Now the authors want to continue to examine the exact minimal measurements that any cognitive system needs in order to create consciousness.

The implications of such a theory are huge. It can be applied to determine which animal was the first animal in the evolutionary process to have consciousness, when a fetus or baby begins to be conscious, which patients with consciousness disorders are conscious, and which AI systems already today have a low degree (if any) of consciousness.

Russia Reveals DEADLY Laser Submarine & SHOCKS The Entire World!

Are Chinese people aware that their government is an authoritarian dictatorship?

As a foreigner who has spent over 6 years in Beijing holding two jobs and eventually running a business in China traveling to all parts of China, and having lived in Los Angeles and traveled the whole of California in the past, I’ve never felt freer than in China.

Never came across a cop in 6 years. Never felt censored despite being an overly blunt person on social media. And never felt any limitations in my civilian life. Of course if I was protesting the communist government for the sake of being against communism it would be a different story altogether, but I felt no one around me (locals of foreigners) felt the need to cry and abuse the government as we do in our own democracies.

The efficiency and intent with which the CCP administers China is brilliant. Their every effort is to make people’s lives easier, even that of foreigners. Im quite over western anti-China propaganda.

And Im a 100% sure that almost all (99%) foreigners/expats who have shifted to China say the same.

No matter where they are from.

People from the west feel it even more. Living in the US was absolutely fear inducing. Living in India has started to go in the same direction. You are scared of mobs and the government both.

Not the case in China.

Its a safe well run country that uses a mix of capitalism and socialism to enrich its citizens rather than as a debate point against them to ruin their lives by imposing unnecessary politics in simple policy decisions.

Would you feel safe traveling by plane at the age of 70 for two and a half hours?

I’m 75. In my case, it wouldn’t be a matter of feeling safe. I would feel safe … unless there is one passenger on board that has active covid. Everyone is breathing the same air and that would definitely be a problem.

These days, you have to be flying in business class, or two and a half hours in coach would be terribly uncomfortable. I know I don’t enjoy it. The last time I flew coach, passengers were packed in shoulder to shoulder, and knee to knee on both sides, a la sardines.

Now, if we’re talking about a 747, that’s a little more roomy and I could probably handle that. Again, it wouldn’t be a matter of feeling safe. I was a flight attendant for TWA in the 70s and I always felt safe flying.

In those days, danger came in the form of having your flight hi-jacked to Cuba …

Kishore Mahbubani REVEALS China’s Strategy to Counter the US

Professor Kishore Mahbubani explains how China is countering the United States containment efforts… What do you think?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6reZTScNIs

Xi Jinping amended the constitution so that he can be re-elected chairman several times. Does that have any impact on China?

Please keep in mind that:

Chairman is a party position. There is never a limitation about how many times the same person can be elected.
The change of constitution is about the president of the government.

A little (many not that little) of background and it’s no secret especially for foreign intelligence agencies :

The factions within the Communism Party of China (CPC) was and maybe still is intensive.
The man in the following picture is called Zhou Yongkang, the former secretary of the Central Political and Law Commission and one of the 9 members of Politburo Standing Committee of CPC. He was arrested and sentenced for life imprisonment in 2015.

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The man in the following picture is Ling Jihua, the former vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and head of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee. He too was sentenced for life imprisonment.

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Zhou Yongkang and Ling Jihua had definitely done what they were sentenced. But that’s not the real reason that they are in jail. The core issue was they tried to detain the former president Hu Jintao and forced him to have over his positions. Zhou wanted to be the president, Ling wanted to be the chairman.
Hu Jintao has no family background. His father was a tea trader who died in 1978. During his 2 terms being the president of China, he was suppressed and partially controlled by Jiang Zemin. In order to break the circle of retired president keep the chairman of military committee for years to hold the power, he retired with no power reserved in his hand. So that Xi Jinping could began to progress the political reformation within the party.
To understand why Jiang Zemin was so obsessive with power, the cause was actually in 1989, the famous or infamous Tiananmen incident, or some people like to call it massacre despite it’s not the truth. USSR collapsed in 2.5 years after the incident. With the only competitor died, US had a nice period of time of being the only super power in the world, and the most humiliating decade since 1949.
3 iconic incidents represent how US could do anything:

1. The Yinhe incident. In 23rd Jul 1993, USA accused a Chinese vessel Yinhe carrying chemical weapons to Iran without any evident. Later on in 3rd Aug, USA asked China to 1 either send the vessel back to where it departures, 2 letting Americans to be abroad for inspection, or 3 just waiting somewhere until USA decide what to do. China asked the vessel to stop 10 KM outside of Hormuz Strait to be inspected in 3th Aug and inspected it by itself. In 4th Aug China told USA that there is no chemical weapon on board. But no surprisingly, Americans didn’t believe a word and sent several military vessel to surround Yinhe. To control the situation, China agreed to be inspected by USA and Saudi in 28th. Long story short, they didn’t find chemical weapons in the 2 containers they claimed, also not from the containers with similar number in case US intelligent agency wrote it wrong, and also not from all 49 containers on the vessel which were being shipped to Iran. USA then asked to search every container on the vessel, until Washington is satisfied. In 1st Sep, China announced accepting expansion of searching even though not agree with it. All 628 containers were eventually searched, and nothing USA wanted to be found. No apology or explanation whatsoever.
2. Chinese embassy bombing or 8th May incident. 3 JDAM hit accurately onto the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia in 8th May 1999 Beijing time. 3 journalists died instantly, dozens people injured. Explanation said it was a incorrect bombing due to wrong info. In 2005, a senior NATO military officer said the bombing was because they thought Milošević was there.
3. Military aircraft incident. 1st Apr 2001, a Chinese J-8 fighter was crashed due to having a collision with a US EP-3 in the Chinese exclusive economic zone, 110 KM southeast from Chinese land. J-8′s pilot disappeared. EP-3 was severely damaged and had to land in a Chinese airport. US request to meet the EP-3 crew and China to return the plane in 2nd Apr. After several rounds of diplomatic conflicts, US secretary of state Powell admitted the aerial trespass in 8th, but still insist just using “Sorry” to comment on the incident. In 12th, US crew left China and returned to US. In 13th, after the crew arrived US, president Bush changed his attitude and said the scout activity will keep going, even though he said sorry for several times. In 20th, US demand China to return the EP-3. In 23rd, US started to have scout drill in its Japanese military base. In 29th, China agreed that US sending people to inspect the EP-3. In 7th Jun, US agreed to give up flying the EP-3 back, but to tear it apart and rented a An-124 to move it back. In 10th Aug, US paid 34 thousand US dollars for the FnB and accommodation of the US crew staying in China.

Jiang Zemin was selected by Deng Xiaoping as the best choice of the president after Tiananmen incident, because Deng knew that Jiang was able to handle all kinds of humiliating incident and focusing on development. Jiang’s term was from 1989 to 2002, and he did his job perfectly. Every country at the time though China was a wussy and would never be a threat to the west. That’s why from George Bush, US moved its focus to the middle east, and gave China a perfect 10 years to develop. If you think about Jiang, his term was nothing but humiliation. It was his successor Hu who started to be tough on international affairs. He needs to enjoy a bit from being the leader of China, the much more stronger China.

Rumor says it was Xi Jinping who went to rescue Hu from detaining. They both want to change CPC, but they need more power to suppress different parties within CPC. So they had an agreement that Hu was going to pass all his titles to Xi, in return for a quiet life.

The first major thing Xi did once he was in position is to arrest Zhou, Ling and all their close allies. Since no politician is innocent, there was no need of dirty work behind the arresting.

From what I experienced, CPC and the government it’s leading have had a noticeable progress since 2012. Lots of bureaucratic governmental procedures were removed to increase the speed of solving issues. The attitude of civil servants are significantly better now.

And Xi brought up the one belt one road initiative to form a bigger circle among all Asian, European and African countries. China is becoming more active on international affairs.

So what’s the major problem that China is facing?

The Thucydides’s trap. This theory indicates the inevitable war between newly rising power and existing power. China doesn’t believe in this theory, and tried to bring up a new concept of building a new type of relationship between major powers. But I don’t suppose any western country would listen to China, not to mention thinking about and agreeing with a Chinese idea.

This is the time when US is trying to defend its world leader position, regardless if China is interested in it. Every country would choose to stand with USA, because it’s always the best choice to against the pursuer with the current ruler. If the ruler wins, everyone gets a bone. If it loses, then switch to the new ruler.

CPC obviously wants to defend itself from the pressure of the world. If Xi is going to be the president for only another 5 years, there is no guarantee that the next president will be suitable for this kind of situation. Instead of doing anything to extend Xi’s presidency when they realize there is no qualified successor, it’s better to do it now.

I am not saying this is good for China, but at least I trust them having good will. And so far what Xi has done are all good, apart from the internal political propaganda, because it’s really old fashioned.

When some not having anything better to do foreigners are worrying about our democracy and freedom of speech, we are worried about our future development more. Chinese prefer cars and houses more than ballots.

Everything above is just my personal assumption. There is no guarantee of its credibility. I am no communist and not interested to be one. I just think CPC is so far the best choice for China.

Comparison of the Most Painful Punishments

What do you think will happen to Robert Roberson?

There is a very high chance that Robert Roberson will be executed on October 17, 2024.

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For those who are unaware of this case, Roberson is a middle-aged man who has been incarcerated since 2002, awaiting execution in Huntsville, Texas.

Earlier that year, he had been accused of murdering his two-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, in Palestine, Texas on February 1, 2002.

In the days leading up to her demise, she had repeatedly fallen sick and had to be brought to hospital, with medical doctors concluding she was suffering from pneumonia.

Not long afterwards, she fell out of her bed and died — according to Roberson’s version of events.

Despite bringing her back to the hospital fully clothed, medical professionals and law enforcement personnel alike became “suspicious”, due to Roberson acting very calm throughout the whole ordeal.

The lead detective in this case was a man by the name of Brian Wharton, who escorted Roberson back to his house, where the latter proceeded to calmly make himself a sandwich — further raising the alarm in Wharton’s eyes.

Ultimately, the police and medical team concluded that Nikki Curtis had been murdered by “Shaken Baby Syndrome”.

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Robert Roberson with his daughter

The following year, a jury and judge bought the findings brought forward by the prosecutor, and Roberson was sent to death row.

In later years, Roberson was diagnosed with autism — whether high or low-functioning, I do not know.

For those who are ignorant of what autism is, and even more so between low and high-functioning, more or less the condition is as follows:

Those with “low-functioning” autism have an IQ of 70–100… whereas those with high-functioning have an IQ that is as low as 100, but can go much higher (think Leonardo Da Vinci with his 200+ IQ)
Those with low-functioning autism have a delayed development in speech and hearing, whereas those with high-functioning do not — as a result, people with low-functioning autism speak less, while those with high-functioning autism speak just as much if not more than the average person
Those with low-functioning autism have difficulty multitasking, whereas those with high-functioning are better able to manage with self-training
Those with low and high-functioning autism have different social norms, though those with high-functioning autism are better at concealing themselves, at least in the short-term

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Robert Roberson on death row

As one can see, there are two distinct branches of autism, and in each of them, there are hundreds of thousands if not millions of individuals around the world, each with their own characteristics, backgrounds, and life experiences.

Those on the spectrum may share some basic commonalities, but otherwise, it is no different than how everybody who is White has light skin and everybody who is Black has dark skin.

Unfortunately, people on the autism spectrum are largely loathed by society — either directly or indirectly.

And for all the talk we hear about how “racist” the system is against people of certain skin colours, I assure readers that the personnel who operate the state from top to bottom hate the disabled far more.

Studies have shown that children on the spectrum are far more likely to be physically, sexually, and emotionally bullied at home, the schools, and the communities, and are ten times more likely to be suspended from school, and four times more likely to be incarcerated, despite there being no evidence that they are more violent than the norm.

In addition, studies have also found that people with autism spectrum disorder — whether low or high-functioning — receive longer sentences on average than those not on the spectrum who commit an identical offence.

Not only is the educational and legal system itself particularly harsh against those on the spectrum, but so are the economic prospects, with as many as 90% of those on the spectrum unemployed or underemployed at any one time — including those with college diplomas and university degrees.

Whereas it has long been illegal to discriminate based on race, religion, and gender when it comes to employment, the same was not true when it came to those with a medical diagnosis of any kind until just a few years ago when some — not all — job sectors were prohibited from carrying out background checks related to one’s healthcare history.

An estimated 13% of those who are homeless at any given time are also believed to be on the spectrum — largely owed to societal discrimination, resulting in people on the spectrum being turned away for employment that they are qualified for in favour of somebody who is not on the spectrum (this also assumes that some employers would not prefer to leave a position vacant than to hire those who are “different”).

The amount of abuse inflicted is so disproportional against the autistic community in comparison to the general population, that suicide rates tend to be significantly higher — especially among those with high-functioning autism — as well as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) rates affecting anywhere between 42–68% of the autistic, compared to less than 1% of the general population and 7–19% of combat veterans and law enforcement officers.

Anyways, I digress, but hopefully readers will understand the realities that the likes of Roberson faced in the years before and since his conviction from a more legalist perspective.

Here are some major highlights about the Robert Roberson case that are of importance for people to know:

Brian Wharton — the lead detective who raised suspicion of homicide in the first place — now deeply regrets his role, and has publicly asked the Supreme Court of Texas to overturn Roberson’s conviction
The science behind the “Shaken Baby Syndrome” that got Roberson sent to death row more than two decades ago has since been largely discredited, with at least thirty-four other prisoners across the United States who were convicted on similar findings since being released
Nikki Curtis’s neck was never seriously bruised — modern science now largely concludes that a toddler cannot be “shaken to death” without breaking the neck

Video: Opinion | ‘I Am So Sorry’: Meeting the Man I Put on Death Row

“I regret deeply that we followed the easiest path.”

https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000009574772/deathy-penalty-texas.html

It must be remembered that contrary to popular belief, your typical cop is not a “special mind reader”.

In fact, repeated studies have shown that they are just as likely — if not far more likely in certain cases — to fall for stereotypes than the general population.

Unfortunately, police departments also do not make a habit of hiring the most intellectually qualified candidates, with the majority of recruiters preferring candidates whose IQs are between 100–105 — placing them neatly at the lower end of the high-functioning autism range.

This might be inconvenient when dealing with “minor” issues, such as an inability to properly investigate a home burglary, but this can be absolutely devastating when the consequences of an improper investigation can mean years or decades behind bars for the victim.

In the case of Roberson, it appears very likely that Wharton assumed that his suspect had anti-social personality disorder when he failed to display the types of “emotions” found among the general neurotypical population, and because he did not shy away from making himself a homemade meal during the investigation.

Needless to say, this is where I come into the story.

Nikki Curtis died on February 1, 2002 in Palestine, Texas, United States.

Ten months later, on December 2, 2002, the future Governor Greg Abbott became the fiftieth Attorney General of Texas.

I am certain that was a big day for Mister Abbott — who now has the final authority in deciding Roberson’s fate — because it just so happens that it was on this day that my eleven-year-old self came home from school and found my maternal grandfather dead on the dining room floor with a vase under his head and blood leaking out of his head onto the floor.

Apparently, most children would instantly panic, scream, and do whatever else it is that non-autistic children do in these situations.

I did no such thing.

Upon realising what I was seeing, I momentarily stepped into a corner in case I heard any footsteps before giving a second, applying basic First Aid, and then calling 9–1–1 and then my mother — who was working in a different city.

Once I made those two calls I proceeded to sit at the table beside his body and took out a history book I got from the school library out of my backpack and sat there reading for approximately five to ten minutes until the first police arrived.

Whereas Roberson did not see anything wrong with eating a sandwich while the police inquired on his daughter’s death — hours after the fact, and with her body no longer in the house — I was able to gloss over a book within a few minutes of finding my grandfather deceased, and his corpse crouched within a meter of where I was sitting.

Just as in the case of Roberson, I later found out that the police had also become suspicious of me for being very calm and methodical during the whole incident — they noted based on their autopsy that I had poured a glass of water on his face, and had felt his pulse before quietly accepting the situation.

Naturally, some police asked a series of questions while I sat in the living room adjacent to the dining room.

Unlike some horror stories I have heard from others on the spectrum being investigated under these circumstances, none of the responders proceeded to use intimidation tactics on me, though either way, the fact that their suspicions largely fell on whether or not they believed I reacted the “proper” way is no doubt what has gotten a lot of other people — including quite possibly Roberson himself — into some legal hot water.

Within a couple of hours they had concluded that my grandfather had already been deceased for a few hours before I returned home, so the possibility of homicide — at least on my part — was quickly ruled out.

Due to my age at the time, I could not even have been tried as a juvenile — let alone, an adult — and most certainly I would not have been sent to death row, since the jurisdiction I live in does not have it, though it is quite possible that had I been just a little bit older, and if my grandfather had died closer to the time I came home from school, the legal outcome may have been vastly different.

I do not know Roberson personally.

Some of those with less sympathy for his case point out that he had been convicted of fraud and burglary in his youth.

Maybe so.

Maybe not.

But consider what I mentioned earlier in regards to the high unemployment rates that people on the spectrum face — in addition to the ostracisation they receive by their general communities.

If Roberson did try and steal something, could the fact that he may not have been given any reasonable economic opportunities have played a role in his decision?

Would anybody in their right minds be content living out their lives on the poverty line with no means of improving one’s situation?

Regardless of his youthful offences, the Texas offender search also shows that he had been “clean” for nearly a decade leading up to Nikki Curtis’s demise — perhaps his finding stable employment later in life dissuaded him from his past lifestyle.

Less than two weeks ago, the Texas Supreme Court acknowledged the new findings, including the “Shaken Baby Syndrome” — which now largely falls under the Texan “Junk Science Law” — but have also concluded that the possibility of innocence is not enough to halt legal proceedings.

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Dismisses New Evidence of Innocence and Denies Robert Roberson Habeas Relief. The Death Penalty Information Center is a non-profit organization serving the media and the public with analysis and information about capital punishment.…

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/texas-court-of-criminal-appeals-dismisses-new-evidence-of-innocence-and-denies-robert-roberson-habeas-relief

Throughout recent history, there have been quite a number of cases where people on the spectrum, or those who suffer from some other social or cognitive disability have been wrongfully sent to death row or prison.

Here are a few cases:

In 1939, a twenty-three-year-old low-functioning autistic man by the name of Joe Arridy was executed by electrocution in Colorado after he was falsely accused of burglarising and raping a woman nearly two-and-a-half years earlier
Frank Garrett of Amarillo, Texas — an intellectually disabled teenager — was also probably an innocent person who was executed on February 11, 1992 for the murder of a Roman Catholic nun on October 31, 1981, despite the fact that the Vatican publicly requested that his life be spared, and that the surviving nuns, who knew Garrett, said they believed he was innocent
Paul Modrowski was a high-functioning autistic person sentenced to life imprisonment in the Illinois Department of Corrections at the age of eighteen for supposedly knowing about a homicide that was about to take place and failing to act on it, despite the fact that the accused — the one who actually committed the offence — was found not guilty (Modrowski’s sentencing judge later openly regretted basing his sentencing discretion based on Modrowski’s facial expression and imposing the maximum sentence, despite the fact that even the consensus at the time was that Modrowski was at home and had merely declined to report a crime in progress)
Jacob Morgan is a low-functioning autistic person who was more recently given a stint in custody after he played with fire matches that ended with his home burning —killing his baby brother

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Robert Roberson in court on August 14, 2018

What is quite interesting, is that there is another Texan by the name of Robert Roberson who is serving life imprisonment for killing an elderly woman during a burglary, and who is eligible for parole in the future.

Hardly a surprising trend, because in the case of Frank Garrett — mentioned above — a second suspect by the name of Leoncio Perez Rueda, who was also convicted of burglarising and raping to death another woman in Amarillo, Texas, was merely given a sentence of 45 years with the possible of parole after SIX years.

The low minimum sentence that Mister Rueda received is not the issue here.

The discrepancy in sentencing is.

Rueda — who is now largely suspected of also being the one who killed the nun — did not even receive a life sentence, let alone, a death sentence, despite committing the same crime in the same place at the same time that Frank Garrett was accused of (probably falsely), with a heavily reduced parole eligibility hearing to go along with it.

And one cannot claim racism against Black people in this case, because whereas Garrett was White, Rueda is Black.

Where the two differ is in their “intellectual status”.

Garrett was regarded as borderline retarded, so the state did not feel much need to keep him around.

By contrast, Rueda is not known to suffer from any sort of intellectual limitation, so the State of Texas went easy on him.

Needless to say, I am against capital punishment in all cases, even if there is no dispute over a person’s guilt.

Even if Robert Roberson really did kill his daughter — an accusation I greatly doubt — I would still oppose having him injected.

Presumably, Governor Abbott and his board of pardons members do not see it this way, which is why I now leave some questions based on the recent findings and conclusions from the likes of Wharton, as well as others who had once believed in his culpability, but who have now “switched sides”:

Should not showing neurotypical emotions really be used as evidence of one’s guilt?
Would the trial outcome have been any different had “Shaken Baby Syndrome” as we know it today been applied in 2003?
How likely is it that Roberson would have become a homicide suspect if Wharton had the hindsight he now has, and therefore did not suffer from tunnel vision during his investigation?
How credible is the “Texas Justice System” likely to be in the eyes of the world when the State’s Supreme Court judges are saying that even the possibility of innocence is not enough to dissuade them?

Abbott has repeatedly stated that he believes that capital punishment in Texas is a feature he wholeheartedly embraces.

How long is it to last if the public begins to suspect that innocent people are being willfully put to death?

Is this not the reason why it was eventually disallowed in places such as the Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia, which also used to have an active gallows?

In conclusion, all I can say right now is that it is very likely that a social media writer such as myself can single-handedly change the mindset of a southern politician.

Even if Roberson was to be spared from execution, it is far more likely that his sentence would be merely commuted to life imprisonment, and as such, he would still never leave the place he has now resided in for nearly a quarter of a century.

And in the slight chance that I am proven wrong on the second point, nothing that happens would be able to undo his lost years, nor the physical and mental deterioration he is likely to have sustained.

For all intents and purposes, it is a certainty that Texas put his spirit to death long ago.

Let’s just hope they are not as hasty to do away with his body.

Astonishing Discovery In The Bosnian Pyramid?

Shrimp Pizza and Spumoni

Submitted into Contest #247 in response to: Set your story on a spaceship exploring the far reaches of space when something goes wrong.… view prompt

Michael Jefferson

Kelly tries to ignore the noise in her head.Tap… Tap… Tap…Terry, her husband, notices her frowning.“Something wrong, babe?” he asks, handing Preston, their three-year-old son, a chocolate Tootsie Pop.“I want one too!” their five-year-old son, Steven whines.“It’s just a headache,” Kelly replies, fumbling through her pocketbook. “I only have grape or orange left, Steven.”“But I want chocolate!”Tap… Tap… Tap…Kelly takes a deep breath. Closing her eyes for a moment, she tries to concentrate on the carefree circus music in the background.“I’ll make a deal with you,” she says to Steven. “When we get off the saucer ride, we’ll get lunch.”The Starbuck brothers jump for joy.“They’re a handful, but you gotta love ‘em.” Terry says.“Yeah, what would life be without our boys?” Kelly replies, rubbing her forehead.

She turns, looking across the grounds at the FutureWorld! ride.

Tap… Tap… Tap…

Benton “Buddy” Bridger, his wife, Colette, and twin seven-year-olds, Quentin and Garth, stand in front of the entrance to the FutureWorld! ride.

Buddy suddenly begins to feel a wave of pressure rising in his forehead.

Tap… Tap… Tap…

Buddy is captivated by the robot on display. It has a svelte, humanoid body with pointed ears, friendly blue eyes, and an inviting smile.

“That’s a lame lookin’ robot,” Quentin says.

“Yeah, maybe the ride is lame too,” Garth adds.

“No, boys. Something tells me it’s the ride of a lifetime.”

Tap… Tap… Tap…

Buddy slowly opens his eyes, hoping he’s still at the circus with his family.

A metallic creature with friendly blue eyes has broken into his sleep chamber and is leaning over him.

“Please… Don’t kill me! I’m just a security guard!”

The robot holds up both its hands to show it means no harm.

“I am Ishmael. I am here to assist you.”

The fog over Buddy’s memory begins to clear.

“Right. We’re on a mission to bring a hundred colonists to the planet Calista. Why am I the only one awake? Has something gone wrong?”

“The ship was hit by a small meteorite. It knocked us off course. Unfortunately, the meteorite also damaged the suspended animation core. Everyone except you and a botanist is dead. Follow me, and we can talk with her.”

Stunned, Buddy follows Ishmael past dozens of cracked, open sleep pods.

A petite blonde woman is sitting up at the end of a row, coughing and wiping her eyes.

“Do you want to tell her, or should I?” Buddy asks Ishmael.

Buddy watches the woman’s eyes widen as Ishmael explains their situation.

“You’re sure everyone else is dead?” she asks.

“The skeletons kinda give it away,” Buddy replies.

“But I don’t know how to fly this thing.”

“We can leave that to Ishmael, right Izzy?”

“Yes, sir. We will get you some new clothes and go to the control room. We have a long trip home to plan.”

Buddy, Kelly, and Ishmael stand around a three-dimensional map of the universe they have stumbled into.

“How far off course are we?” Buddy asks.

“One hundred thirty-five lightyears,” Ishmael answers. “It’s twice that amount to return to earth.”

“…I’ll never see my husband or my children again….” Kelly realizes.

“You might if we can fix the suspended animation system,” Buddy says hopefully. “Until then, with everyone else dead, there’s plenty of food and water for us.”

“There are four planets in this solar system,” Ishmael says pointing to them. “All but one have an oxygen atmosphere and can support humanoid life.”

“As in, maybe there’s help out there,” Buddy says.

“The first planet has a mean temperature of minus two hundred degrees with hundred-mile-an-hour winds,” Ishmael states.

“Let’s pass on that first one for now,” Kelly says.

“The second planet is comprised of sand, not unlike your Arabian desert,” Ishmael reports. “There are frequent sandstorms, and the air is thin, so you will have to wear masks.”

Ishmael lands the ship in a barren area surrounded by jagged cliffs.

A harsh wind buffets the ship.

The outside monitors are obscured by sand, making it difficult to see more than a quarter mile away.

“There’s no response to our distress signal,” Kelly notes.

“But there are life signs,” Ishmael says.

“Then it’s time for a field trip,” Buddy concludes.

Ishmael leads the pair across the wasteland. Sand tears at their suits as they squint through their protective helmets.

Ishmael slows his pace.

“…Life signs ahead…”

Buddy squints. “I don’t see anybody.”

The sand in front of them rises like a massive wave. A glowing, red snake-like creature rises from the sand, looming over them, its hungry maw with hundreds of teeth dripping saliva on their suits.

“A sand dragon!” Buddy exclaims.

Ishmael fires his built-in laser at the creature. The blast momentarily stuns the creature, and it recoils, allowing them to retreat to the safety of a nearby cluster of rocks.

The creature roars, snapping at them.

“He can’t get at us,” Kelly surmises, “But we’re still trapped.”

“I have calculated a possible plan of escape. The odds, as you humans would say, are fifty-fifty.”

“I’m not a betting man, Izzy, but I’ll take a chance on whatever plan you’ve got,” Buddy replies.

“The sand contains elements of concrete.”

“So, you’re planning to build us a sidewalk back to the ship?” Kelly asks.

“In a manner of speaking. When I say go, run. GO!”

Ishmael lets loose a spray of water, saturating the sand in front of them. The sand immediately begins to harden, imprisoning the creature.

His pulse still beating like a drum solo, Buddy guides the ship toward the third planet.

“I’m picking up hundreds of life signs,” Kelly says gleefully. “And structures, like straw houses and huts! Maybe they have some metal or wire we can use to repair the ship.”

By the time they land their ship and disembark, the trio is surrounded by a wide assortment of humanoids wearing bright wool clothing with tassels, fringes, feathers, and embroidered designs. Some are half woman, half bird, others have the faces of owls and the bodies of elks, and others appear human with snakes for hair.

Looking at the spears and shields they carry, Ishmael observes, “They appear to have advanced as far as Earth’s Middle Ages.”

A horned sheep with four red eyes approaches them, followed by a group of ant-like guards wearing breastplates and carrying decorative flags.

He turns on a small box that translates his words into English.

“Welcome to Conteston, the planet of games. I am Ob Barker. We are elated to have the great gods from the sky as our exalted guests.”

The crowd cheers, horns blow, and celebratory music plays as Ob Barker leads them to an extravagant stone castle. The inside of the castle features lavishly decorated rooms, coffered ceilings, thick woven rugs, and elaborate furniture.

The trio is brought before a manticore with bat-like wings sitting on a jeweled throne.

Kelly jabs Buddy in his side, pointing to a painting above the monarch’s head.

Buddy studies the painting. “Hey, that’s us! But how did they know we’d land here?”

“I have a feeling we’re going to find out,” Kelly replies.

“Welcome, great gods of the sky. I am King Cullin,” the monarch says. “We have been waiting for your return for many eons since my father’s father’s father’s father ruled. Please, come sit by me.”

Buddy and Kelly sit on two thrones adjacent to the monarch.

“And what manner of miracles is this being?” King Cullin asks, pointing a wing at Ishmael.

“I am an artificial life form designed to aid and protect.”

“By the gods, it speaks! Does it fly like your space vessel? Can it fight? Make my breakfast?”

“I can do all of those things.”

“Magnificent! Then we shall play Over the Wall for it! Come!”

King Cullin leads the trio to a building resembling a baseball stadium. The citizens of Conteston are filing into their seats, clapping, and yelling King Cullin’s name.

“Did they play baseball in Medieval times?” Buddy asks.

A lizardman with four arms stands on the pitcher’s mound, a supply of baseballs in a large wicker basket next to him. King Cullin introduces him.

“This is Squire Nolan Gibson. He is our all-time Over the Wall champion. I warn you, his pitches dance like the wind…The rules of Over the Wall are simple. Hit the ball over the stone wall. We get ten swings apiece. If I win, I will get your speaking metal contraption. If you win, you may have whatever you need to repair your space vehicle. You may begin, great god Buddy.”

Buddy selects a bat so long and thick it could pass for a tree trunk.

“I played soccer in high school and backgammon in college,” he whispers to Kelly.

“Time to man up, Buddy.”

Nolan Gibson throws his first pitch. Buddy swings mightily, but misses. Before he can swing again, Gibson has thrown his second pitch. The crowd grumbles disapprovingly as Buddy misses all but three of Gibson’s pitches. He manages to foul one off. The two hits he gets barely make it to the outfield.

King Cullin looks at Buddy in disbelief.

“Are you pretending to be gods?”

“I’m out of practice, and Squire Gibson throws like a paddlewheel. If you want to try me at five-card stud…”

“Is it a game played with steeds? Perhaps. But first I will prove myself the equal of the gods by besting you at Over the Wall.”

King Cullin picks up a smaller bat, hitting every other one of Gibson’s pitches over the wall.

The crowd cheers and deliriously chants the King’s name.

Kelly picks up a bat. “My turn.”

King Cullin scoffs. “Females do not play Over the Wall, not even female gods. It is for men only.”

“Oh, really? We’ll see about that.”

Ishmael pulls her aside.

“The Squire threw Buddy curves and sweepers, nothing over the plate. You have to time his delivery as King Cullin did.”

Smiling deviously, Gibson throws Kelly a curveball. She lets it go past and hits his second pitch over the wall. She continues to let the first pitch pass in order to hit the second.

When Gibson reaches eight pitches, King Cullin stands, shouting, “Ha! You have two pitches left. The best you can do is a tie!”

Kelly digs in as Gibson winds up. She swings, hitting the ball straight up in the air. Gibson throws another pitch, which Kelly hits for the tying Over the Wall ball.

The first pitch drops from the sky. Kelly swings at it, hitting it over the fence to win the game.

King Cullin roars with approval. “You have proven you are indeed gods!”

“How did you hit two balls at once?” Buddy asks.

“My Dad was Eddie Rainer. He ran the King and his Court Softball team. He taught me how to hit a softball blindfolded.”

Pushing his plate away, Buddy sits back in his chair, trying to suppress a belch.

“More?” King Cullin asks.

“No, thank you. That was the best shrimp pizza and spumoni I’ve ever had.”

“I was hoping to fatten you up and slow you down for our next game.”

“What do you have in mind?” Buddy asks.

“A simple mind game called ‘Guess the Phrase.’ Two letters are missing. You have three guesses to figure out the phrase.”

Squire Gibson writes the phrase up on a chalkboard.

WE WILL _ _ LL YOU

“I bet it relates to our dinner.,” Kelly says spritely. “We will fill you.”

King Cullin roars with laughter. “Sorry. That’s one guess.”

“It is late… Perhaps it is time we went to bed,” Ishmael cautions.

“What are you talking about, Ishmael? You don’t sleep,” Buddy scolds.

“I’ll guess a letter,” Kelly says. “An ‘I’.”

“That is correct, Goddess Kelly,” King Cullin roars, his tail swishing back and forth.

“It’s usually a vowel,” Kelly whispers to Buddy.

“We will bill you?” Buddy guesses. “Are you charging us for parking our rocket ship?”

A company of ant guards moves toward Buddy and Kelly.

“IT’S WE WILL KILL YOU!” Ishmael shouts.

Firing his laser, Ishmael sets a tapestry next to Squire Gibson on fire.

“Probably a good time for us gods to leave,” Buddy says, and Ishmael leads them out of the dining hall.

As the trio runs through the castle, Buddy is distracted by a large room with statues.

“What is all of this?”

“Maybe they’re Terra cotta statues, you know like the Chinese made in ancient times,” Kelly replies.

“They are the reason I wanted us to leave,” Ishmael says. “These are not statues, not in the proper sense.”

“What do you mean?” Kelly asks.

“These are the Conteston’s collection of gods. They take their visitors and cover them in chocolate… While they are still alive. Then they eat them to commemorate the King’s birthday. Now, shall we continue to try and escape?”

The trio ducks behind a group of hedges near their ship.

Four ant soldiers guard the ship. “Can you zap them, Ishmael?”

“They are too far apart.”

“I got this,” Kelly says.

Before Buddy can pull her back, Kelly is standing in front of the soldiers.

“I am the Goddess Kelly Starbuck! Who wants a piece of me!”

The four ants gather together, laughing and shrieking as they approach Kelly.

Ishmael’s laser blast knocks the ant men off their feet, knocking them out.

“All aboard!” Buddy shouts.

“We have one chance left,” Buddy says as they approach the planet Shopatron.

“I’m picking up three life signs, one humanoid, two synthetic.”

“Check. Put the planet viewing screen,” Buddy says enthusiastically.

Above the planet, spelled out in flashing neon light, is a sign that reads BARNUM T. FIRESTORM’s NEW, USED, & SURPLUS PARTS.

“Score!” Buddy shouts steering the ship to a soft landing on a field.

Kelly points in the direction of a large grey building. Festive ribbons hang over the windows and doors. Signs on the roof flash BIG SALE! MAKE US AN OFFER! and BEST PRICES IN THE UNIVERSE! in various languages.

“A warehouse? Here?”

“Yes, here!” a voice replies.

A creature resembling a big, cuddly bear wearing a derby approaches them. On either side of him are two robots. The first, a basic male work drone, resembles a refrigerator with arms. The second resembles a humanoid woman with short silver hair wearing a metallic bustier.

“I’m Barnum T. Firestorm, owner of the biggest warehouse in the universe. These two snappy synths are G.E. and Harmoni.”

“I’m Buddy Bridger. This is Kelly Starbuck, and our service synth Ishmael.”

Ishmael lets out an audible “BOING!” as he scans Harmoni.

Firestorm goes into barker mode. “We’ve got laser guns, engines, time transfer machines, and oil for your synthetic friend.”

“Have you got a way to get us home?” Kelly asks sadly.

“Where are you from?”

“Have you heard of Earth?” Buddy asks.

“A troublesome planet. A little backward. You still make war with each other. You’re lifetimes away from home. Why would you want to go back there?”

“We have families there,” Kelly says.

“Ah, I see,” Firestorm says sympathetically.

“Our suspended animation core malfunctioned,” Buddy states.

“I’ve got dozens of those that could fit your ship. I’ll warn you, they’re expensive. Five hundred azuzas.”

“We deal in money.”

Firestorm shakes his furry head. “Money is useless in this universe.”

He looks over at Ishmael.

“Hmm. Are you a K-13XX model?”

Ishmael stiffens with pride. “Yes. I have been modified. I have a laser suite, navigation capability, and I am a gourmet chef.”

“Excellent. I tell you what, I’ll offer you a trade. Ishmael for a way home.”

“We can’t trade Izzy. He’s one of us,” Buddy protests.

“I’ll stay!” Ishmael blurts out.

“It’s a noble gesture, Ishmael. Are you sure about this?” Kelly asks.

Ishmael smiles at Harmoni, who coyly smiles back.

“BOING! I mean, yes, I am certain.”

“It’s a deal, then,” Buddy says. “So, what kind of computer or time machine have you got?”

Firestorm takes a remote out of his built-in pockets, pressing a button.

A gigantic object rises behind the warehouse.

Kelly gives Buddy a skeptical glance, saying, “That’s just a giant slingshot.”

“No, that’s a trans universal time accelerator. It’ll knock a hundred and fifty years off your trip home, I guarantee it!”

“Is it safe?”

“I said, I guarantee it! The only side effects may be memory loss. Now let’s have some shrimp pizza and spumoni.”

“You eat that too?” Buddy asks. “The inhabitants of Conteston eat the same thing.”

“King Cullin and his cannibal subjects are screwy as our collection of nuts and bolts in aisle six, but they have good taste. Shrimp pizza and spumoni are considered a gift from the gods in this quadrant. So, let’s have some. Then I’ll send you home.”

“What do you know, a bear who likes Italian food,” Buddy comments.

“Bears like all food,” Kelly replies.

Ishmael reaches for Harmoni’s hand.

“BOING!”

Buddy snickers. “Are we witnessing robot love at first sight?”

“I guess anything’s possible in this universe.”

Kelly walks toward a man standing next to the FutureWorld! ride.

“Where you goin’, hon?” Terry yells after her.

“Take the boys for their saucer ride, I’ll be over here when you get out.”

“Are you going to stare at that robot thing all day?” Colette asks Buddy. “The boys are getting restless.”

“Take them inside. I’ll wait here.”

Colette huffs as she guides the twins inside.

A blonde woman with a ready smile moves next to him.

“I know this sounds funny, but there’s something special about this bucket of bolts,” Buddy says.

Kelly smiles. “You feel it too, eh?”

“You know what I really feel?” Buddy asks, “I feel hungry. How about you and your family join us for some food?”

“Pizza and spumoni,” they say simultaneously.

Found Crew Journals Reveal a Horrifying End

A very interesting video.

What’s the most expensive thing you’ve gotten for an insanely cheap price?

I’d have to say it was my house. My wife and I bought it in 1992. Or rather, I should say “acquired” it, since we effectively got it for free.

It was built originally in 1852 and sat on about 400 acres of land. Over the years it had had some additions and modifications, but was largely intact, which meant that it was pretty basic. It only got wiring and plumbing the 1970’s. It went through several owners in the 1980’s who rented it to n’er-do-wells and did no maintenance. By the time we found it, it was pretty rough. It hadn’t been painted in years, the rusty tin roof leaked, the utility room had a hole in the floor a person could fall through, and lots more.

Most of the acreage had been sold off over the years, with only 45 acres remaining. The property and house had been in foreclosure for two years. The bank considered the house worthless, and was offering the house and property for the value of the land alone. We got 45 acres for $82,000, which was the going rate for unimproved acreage, and the house was free! The bank figured that anyone with any sense would simply bulldoze the house and put in a double wide.

They didn’t figure on someone with as little sense as I had.😁 But I could tell that the house just needed some love and care and now 32 years later, it’s our happy home. We have spent the best years of our lives here. I have renovated every aspect of the house, including putting on a new roof, renovating the crawlspace, building a screen porch, renovating the entire interior, installing a new kitchen, putting on a bedroom addition, adding a deck and more. The house itself now appraises for nearly $400,000 which doesn’t include the property. I’d say that’s pretty good deal.

Some disturbing mysteries that were solved 2

Blue Cheese Stuffed Steaks

Grilled Flank Steak Stuffed with Blue Cheese and Serranos

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

4 beef tenderloin steaks
2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
4 teaspoons crumbled blue cheese
4 teaspoons plain low fat yogurt
2 teaspoons minced onion
Dash of white pepper
1 large clove garlic, halved
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
2 teaspoons chopped parsley

Instructions

Combine cream cheese, blue cheese, yogurt, onion and pepper; reserve.
Rub each side of beef steaks with garlic.
Place steaks on rack in broiler pan so surface of meat is 2 to 3 inches from heat. Broil for 5 to 6 minutes.
Season with 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Turn and broil for 3 to 4 minutes.
Season with remaining salt.
Top each steak with an equal amount of reserved cheese mixture.
Broil for an additional 1 to 2 minutes.
Garnish with parsley.

Shorpy

How does it feel to get your first kill in the military?

Horrible. By any measure of how good something felt to me, that ranks last. I just killed someone, probably a father with dependent children and wife. I just completely wrecked that family’s future.

I only picked a photo of a soldier, and not a pilot like myself, in mental distress because I can’t even come close to mathematically comparing our journeys during the GWOT (global war on terrorism). Soldiers and Marines were up close and personal and experienced distress I can only imagine matches and then far exceeds my own distress.

Imagine flying an 8 hour flight in a Growler, loaded up for war in a configuration you haven’t used before. All, ALL, of my missions prior to this were to protect our guys, and yes I do understand that tangentially means I killed whoever they did. Not the same.

Anyway, first night of the Libya conflict, literally the first strike. My flight of Growlers were there to support our strike package with jamming and destroy any SAMs if they popped up. Twice on that flight I called the codeword for a HARM shot, the missile we shoot at RADARs. That, and the missiles that followed on future missions, brought me to the conclusion that I had killed at least a few people. And I can’t tell you who they are. Can’t tell you what they look like. And most disturbingly, I can’t tell you how many.

That’s what a warrior deals with. We have a reservoir. Some deep. Some shallow. That reservoir fills with each inhumane thing you witness. Killing is the definition of inhumanity.

So, it feels like shit.

Caver Pushed Beyond the Turning Point | The Infamous Story of William J. Coughlin

Have you ever applauded an act of vigilante justice?

There was a group of four working girls (aka prostitutes) who often came in to the all-night diner where l waitressed. They were great customers who wanted prompt attentive service and tipped very well for the effort.

Their pimp was a small, obnoxious weasel (seriously–the guy looked like a ferret but with less intelligence and more body odor). He took a cut of the girls’ earnings and was primarily there to protect them from bad johns and the police. Nobody liked him, but the ladies considered him a necessary nuisance. He sometimes accompanied the group during their break.

One night one of the ladies was in pretty bad shape: her face, neck, and arms were freshly bruised and her nose and mouth were bleeding. Calling the police or an ambulance was obviously not an option, so we just gave the ladies a pile of paper towels, some soap, and a bucket of ice. While they tended their friend, I asked where the hell their pimp–the guy they paid to protect them–had been. They responded tersely that they didn’t know and couldn’t find him.

A couple of days later the pimp came in by himself, and it was amazing that he was even walking. He looked a bit like he’d been run over several times by a rusty lawn mower with a mean streak. He mumbled his order for coffee between broken teeth and sipped at it gingerly. And left his table covered with blood smears, bloody bandages, and no tip.

Later that night the ladies came in and placed their usual orders. I asked how the injured lady was doing and if they’d ever found their pimp. The response?

“Oh, yeah, honey, we found him. He ain’t so happy about it, but we found him.”

Were the US squads in the Vietnam War ever in any danger from local wildlife?

Yes. I have written about that in length many times on Quora.

Everyone who was out in the bush was in danger of wildlife.

Ants that lived in big nests that hung down from trees. Woe to the tank commander and crew that ran into these things, snakes, centipedes sometimes two feet long which I once had a close contact with, mosquitos carrying malaria, crocodiles, alligators, leeches, tigers and another kind of incidious danger that was actually a plant called a ‘wait a minute vine.’

These vines that hung down from trees could latch on to a tank commander and literally pull him out of the cupola of an M48A3 tank.

As a tanker, we didn’t meet as many of these little beasts as the grunts did but we did run into some of them.

Not to mention the scorpions.

Here is an excerpt from Mr. Avery who has himself written about these dangers on Quora. He was a tank commander in the 11th. ACR in Vietnam. He had a run in with a scorpion.

‘I commanded a tank in Ron Holland’s unit. Every morning after Vietnam that I put on a shirt with a collar to go to the office, I remember Vietnam. I have a mass of scarring on the back of my neck where a scorpion bit me one night when I was on watch standing in the TC’s hatch of the tank. I felt it crawl off my flak jacket and up my neck. I reached to swipe it off and it struck, knocking me to my knees in pain in the turret. Too dark to know if the scorpion fell into the turret or my swipe at it had carried it off the tank.’

**NOT TO BE COPIED WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. SHARING IS OKAY. I’VE HAD TOO MANY OF MY ANSWERS STOLEN. RJ Holland. **

Then of course there was humorous wildlife like the F-CK YOU lizard who sharp little cries sounded just like those two words.

Below, a Vietnam Forest Scorpion. It’s the tail you have to watch out for. If we took off our boots and went to put them on later, we would always turn them upside down and give them a whack. Sometimes one of these little monsters would fall out.

Below a Vietnam centipede, the kind I had a close call with one dark night while I was on watch. It wasn’t just the NVA or VC we had to watch out for. We were more scared of these bastards.

11E Armor Crewman 11th. ACR

The Sphinx’s Secret: The Hidden Room That Could Rewrite History

What makes a person manipulative?

Manipulative people are the normal ones. People who aren’t manipulative are the exception.

Let me tell you a story. I’m going to talk about language a little. And then we’ll get around to manipulation. Don’t worry. It’s short and simple.

Once upon a time, we thought that the point of talking was to tell the truth. You can say, “It’s raining outside”. That way, other people would know that it was raining outside. We thought that the reason people could talk was so that we could tell each other the truth. Maybe people lie sometimes, but that’s a malfunction. The real point of language was stating a fact. Telling the truth.

We don’t think that anymore. Now we think that language is like a tool that you use on other people. People who study this stuff, like anthropologists and linguists, think that language is for getting people to do things. It’s for social grooming. It’s for coordinating efforts. It’s for persuasion. And so on. The “make other people do what you want” part came first. The “tell the truth” part came much later.

(There was a very smart Austrian man, named Ludwig Wittgenstein. He wrote one book when he was young, and then a second book when he was old. The first book said that language is for truth-telling. The second book said that was all wrong. I’m muddling the details to make it simple.)

So, what makes a person manipulative? Well, most people are manipulative. The baby learns to say “mama” to get mother’s attention. The baby isn’t stating a fact. It wants milk. That “stating facts” thing? That comes later.

Now, some people deviate from this pattern. They have a natural truth-telling bent. A genetic wire gets crossed. That creates a neurodivergent individual who values truth. They fail to use language the natural way, for manipulation. Mr. Wittgenstein was like that. That’s why his first book was wrong. It took him his whole life to figure out that other people didn’t work the same way.

Let me tell you another story.

Imagine that you buy some new clothes. Your friend George notices your new clothes. George makes comments about your clothes. His comments imply that your new taste in clothing is affectatious. George implies that you’re trying to impress people with your clothes. You try to understand why he’s doing this. There are two possibilities:

George carefully weighed the available evidence. He deliberated on it logically. Then he concluded that you’re being affectatious.
George doesn’t like how you dress now. So he’s calling you ‘fake’ to get you to change back the way you were.

It’s probably the second one. Possibility 2 is true of most people. They say stuff that will make you do what they want. They don’t even realize they’re doing it. George is just saying stuff to make you change back the way you were. He doesn’t realize what he’s doing. Most people don’t.

Try and remember what I said a few paragraphs ago, about the baby. I know, it’s hard. Go back and re-read if you have to. Do you think the baby is consciously manipulating its mother? No. It just says “mama” to get milk. George is a lot like that baby. He just says “you’re fake” to make you change. That’s all. He’s not a “master manipulator”. No, he’s just a baby. That sort of person always is.

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

Well in all honesty this wasn’t me, but it was bloody funny all the same

I and a couple of uni “classmates” ended up sharing a house during the one-year vocational course we had to endure [sic] en route to qualification as lawyers in England & Wales after getting our degree

One night we went out for an Indian meal. One of my housemates was dating a man (let’s call him G) she met at uni who was blond-haired, blue-eyed and about as quintessentially English – to outside appearances – as it was possible to be

He ordered, as a side dish, a muttar paneer. He received sag aloo (something very different). He quite rightly complained. The waiter got a bit stroppy and insisted that what he had received was a muttar paneer. G said it wasn’t and asked the waiter to bring him what he had ordered. There was a bit of discussion in English during which G politely but firmly insisted on receiving what he had ordered, at the end of which, with very bad grace, the waiter snatched the dish off the table and whisked it away saying something I didn’t understand. Oh, but G did. He had been brought up in India, and because he had Indian carers as a child his first language was actually Hindi

He shot to his feet and let rip. It was quite something to watch. None of us understood a word but the gist was pretty clear. The look on the waiter’s face was priceless. I’ve never seen anyone that dark-skinned go quite that pale. He definitely picked the wrong man!

5 Campers Who Vanished Without a Trace…

https://youtu.be/NAm9g2RjxGs

What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned from a past relationship?

The lady who wants to be a wife and the lady who’s looking for a husband are two different women ,
Men would excel better if they chose to learn from women instead of dismissing them . Women are much more skilled than men give them credit for ,
They aren’t dumb at all . Being underestimated has long been their secret weapon ,
They don’t always say what they truly mean . They purposely leave out the “quiet part” in conversations ,
You know the giggle that she uses ? That’s not just giggle. This is why some men hurt by one, end up distrusting all women ,
The stereotype that they’re only good for sex or that they’re not that smart has actually worked in their favour , allowing them to manipulate men throughout history ,
Women are very rational and deliberately choose what to say out loud and what to keep quiet ,
A man might have the ideal physical traits and social status that align with a woman’s preferences , but if he doesn’t command respect through his actions and behaviour , she’ll not value him ,
Sometimes, it’s better to be friends so you can keep them forever than be lovers,
Just Chillax.!!

What is the worst thing a significant other has said to you, other than that they are breaking up with you?

Originally Answered: What is the worst thing a significant other had said to you?

Nothing. Silence. Not a word.

I’d married my best friend. And after 10 years, I thought we were happy. We cooked together, listened to music together, went on vacations, laughed often and generally seemed to have a good life.

One day, just after a great trip to Disney World and shortly after my birthday he was in the spare room, cleaning some stuff out that his son left when he moved out. I was in the living room cleaning. We had this thing where I would call out to him and we’d banter back and forth while we worked. He used to say he married me because I made him laugh.

One of the things I’d say to him when he didn’t answer was, “What’s the matter? Don’t you love me anymore?” His usual answer was, “Only if you cook dinner tonight.” or some other similar thing.

This time when I called out, “What’s the matter? Don’t you love me anymore?” There was silence. Complete and utter silence. Three days later he moved out.

To this day I don’t know the real reason why. He was a very quiet man, not taken to arguing, or, apparently, to talking about what’s bothering him. If he had, perhaps I’d have chosen to do something about it, perhaps I wouldn’t. But he took the choice away from me with his silence.

This is the reason why I believe communication is the most important thing in any relationship. If you don’t like what someone always does that annoys you, or what they always say, tell them! Let them make the choice to refute, change or stay the same. Don’t expect your SO to read your mind. No one can and the stupid excuse that they should have known is just that, an excuse. If you love someone, talk to them. If they don’t change and whatever it is that bothers you enough to want to break up or leave, at least you gave them a chance and fair warning.

The worst thing you can do is to blindside someone and that’s what happened to me. It took me a long time to get over this. Lots of therapy thinking it was my fault when it wasn’t. In some ways, I’m still not completely over it because it still comes to mind from time to time and it’s been 15 years.

Inside His Amazing Home in the Tunnels Beneath New York – Mole People

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Greg

1 day ago

2025 is the year of the Snake, and represent wisdom and strength. Howevver I don’t think most snakes are wise and strong, maybe a few.