I once had a cat named Phelie.

I wrote about this cat in another post. She was the kitten next to the bigger cat cat that was hit and killed by a car in a rainy Kentucky night.

Life moved on, and I was living with my cat, and two others (Texie and Smokie) and we were living in Milford Mass. Nice place. At that time, my wife and I were separated. She was in a mental hospital and under treatment for her raging mental illness. Yeah. Overall, we were functionally separated. And I was living with this slim blonde model named CJ.

She was a stunner. Really.

But her personality was a real shit, and she caused me a Hell of a lot of grief until I was finally able to kick her out.

But I will tell you that when I came home, this cat of mine… tiny and tender Phelie was always crying hysterically, and literally leaped into my arms, and while I was in the house she would not leave my side. She just hung out on my shoulders.

I thought that she “just” missed me.

What I know now was that CJ and her “friends” were probably terrorizing my cat. This went on, I am sure, while I was at work. This must have been true, even though, on the surface, she actually loved (or at least pretended to love) cats.

What I know now…

…

Sorry Phelie.

I let you down. I was too soft and too kind to others. I gave THEM the benefit of the doubt, instead of standing beside those that loved me unconditionally.

Be aware of the signals and the vocalizations of the ones you love.

Today…

How do you think China will respond to the US restrictions on advanced AI chips?

Chinese companies will continue to work and innovate, and make new products to sell at prices about 30–50% what western multinationals charge.

One unsubstantiated rumor says that President Biden recently watched a product presentation made by Richard Yu 大嘴鱼 of Huawei。 It is said that the esteemed president became upset halfway through the presentation and and threw and smashed the notebook computer he was watching the presentation on.

In the next decades, American presidents will have plenty of opportunities to throw and smash their computers after watching Chinese new product presentations.

Who do you trust more, the American or Chinese Pharma Industrial Complex to develop medicines that truly cure diseases affecting humans?

China

China simply has sufficient laws and regulations and doesn’t have the cut throat capitalism that the US has

In China – for every $ 100 spent for Pharmaceutical Research, a whopping $ 69 comes from the State and $ 31 comes from Private Industry under law

As a result, Chinese Researchers don’t have that IMPATIENCE to rush through research that US Researchers have

US Pharma Research is now almost entirely funded by Private means.

This means there is always a bottom line, a ticking clock and deadlines and timelines which are decided by PROFIT AND LOSS

Every Drug Research in US has its path decided by potential profits and as a result, even if clinical trials are unfavorable, they are rushed through

---

It’s a cold blooded calculation

A Pharma company invests an average of $ 600 Million on Research for a Drug

Once the Drug hits the market, it averages $ 3.5 Billion in revenue in a single year

It makes $ 7 Billion Revenue in 2 Years

If the drug has problems later, the drug is withdrawn from the market and some 2000 victims are paid $ 500,000 each , that’s $ 1 Billion

Add another $ 400 Million for Lawyers fees

Thus even a bad drug earns a Pharma company $ 5 Billion profit across 2 years

So US Pharma no longer has any ethics left

Even a bad drug will not cause any problem to the company because they make enough money to pay off any potential victims of the drug

They have enough money to pay top class Politicians , Lobbyists to blame something else and to take the attention from the drug itself

---

In China, the laws are different

A Bad drug pushed to the market is blamed on the officials of the company who will face jail or even the firing squad

Plus the deadlines aren’t so pressurizing and Chinese scientists can be a little more relaxed with their research schedules than the American scientists

Has a cop ever said something to you which was completely unexpected?

Yes. About 30 years ago I was living in London and had traveled up to Northumberland to visit friends. I was driving back home and a mate was following behind in his Lada (this is all just context) and he drove into the back of my car while searching for his bag of crisps that had fallen into the passenger footwell. I was in my first car, a Ford Capri (go boy racers!). We pulled over and the back of my car was caved in – there was no damage whatsoever to his bloody Lada!

Fast forward a few months, I’d bought a new boot door for my car from a scrapyard and had it all repaired. But the door was red whilst my car was silver. (Again, context – but important).

My friends and I went up to Northumberland again, only this time Mr Plod pulled me over. I was puzzled. I hadn’t been speeding or driving dangerously, so I was intrigued as to what the officer had seen that required me to stop. I got out of the car and, in my best innocent look, I asked him what the problem was. He said this…

“Hello sir, I was just wondering whether you knew that your boot door is a different colour from the rest of your car?”

Several answers flipped through my mind. I could’ve slapped my forehead and shouted, “Never mind the back door, where’s my caravan?” Or I could’ve been incredibly more sarcastic.

Instead I settled for, “Bloody vandals! They’ll spray paint anything!”

He didn’t laugh. Instead he asked me to produce my licence at the station when I got home. He asked where I lived so I said London. He sighed, put away his ticket book and said, “Never mind. They never send anything up here anyway.”

With that he got back in his car and drove off.

Acts like me

What’s a rule your employer implemented that backfired terribly?

Many years ago, I worked at a factory that did plastic and wax injection molding. The guy running the place had worked there since he was in his early 20s, so you’d think he’d have a good handle on how things were done.

The problem with his leadership was that he had come up through the ranks as a salesman. He spent little to no time actually doing engineering or production. He was a wonderful salesman and a couple times landed contracts that were a great boon to the company. The man had a gift. He could have sold manure to a cattle farmer.

One of his biggest contracts was a government contract. We were going to be making parts for the US military. During wartime, these types of contracts are as good as they come. The type of high demand production runs that fill bank accounts. Workers were asked to work a minimum of 60 hours a week, with unlimited overtime pre-approved. Some of us younger workers were working 80+ hours a week – only going home during the work week to get some sleep, then coming right back at 5 a.m.

Bank.

I was running a machine that made a part, we’ll call it Widget X. Well, Widget X was a fairly large part that required a lengthy cooldown phase. You can’t just inject molten wax into a mold and expect it to hold shape until it has properly cooled. We only had one machine that was large enough to make Widget X, so it ran 24/7.

A few months into the production run, management was in a bit of a panic. Widget X was one of the most important parts of the contract and we were falling behind on production schedule. Engineering and quality control were asked to find a way to speed up production, but they told management the biggest time sink was in the cooling phase. There just wasn’t any way around that. If they lowered the temperature of the wax, it would be too thick upon injection and break the fragile ceramic cores in the mold. If they actively cooled the die, the wax would solidify unevenly and cause warping.

Mr. Leader, despite the fact that he had oversold our production capabilities, insisted that there was a way to increase output to meet demand. So he began looking into each and every step of the process.

Back to me running the machine. As I said, there was a very lengthy cooldown phase where the machine remained locked shut until the part was ready. During this phase, I took a little time to pick a new CD to listen to while working. (I said this was many years ago)

Seeing me “dicking around” with my Discman, Mr. Leader went into a fit of rage.

“NO WONDER WE’RE SO FAR BEHIND SCHEDULE!”

“That’s it! No more listening to music while working. We need to get back on track and I don’t want to see another set of headphones in this place until we do!”

If you’ve never done it before, injection molding has to be one of the most boring jobs on the planet. You press the two start buttons, wait for the machine to close, do its thing, then wait some more until the part is ready. You remove the part, push the buttons again, and wait. That’s the whole job.

Music was one of the few things that made the job bearable. We could disappear into our own heads and only surface every few minutes to restart the process. Now that we couldn’t do that, the boredom was up in our face. Staring at a giant metal press for 5–15 minutes at a time was dull. Very dull.

So, we had to find ways to amuse our minds for that time. Being the social creatures that we are, we turned to our neighbors and began talking to each other. The problem is that machine shops are really really noisy. In order to have a conversation that is not at a scream, we’d often have to take a few steps toward our neighbor.

This, as you could imagine, meant that the machine operator’s attention was not focused on the machine they were running, but on their conversations. Then when the machine was done running, they’d take a few seconds to finish their sentence and walk back to their machines.

Production slowed. In cases like the machine I was running, not by much. However, some of the smaller parts only had 30 – 60 second run times. An additional 10 seconds per part added up very quickly. Now parts that were running on-time were running behind.

Two weeks into the new rule, the owner of the company paid our department a visit. This almost never happened. He was always in his office on the phone or out on business. He had found out that every single part we were working on had fallen behind and wanted to know why. Mr. Leader had fed him a line that he didn’t buy for a second and was going to figure it out himself.

Luckily, the owner of the company understood production because he had done it early in his career. He knew how boring the job was and that asking employees to sit and stare while doing nothing was cruel.

He rescinded the no music policy immediately and production resumed at a normal pace. He also then called one of his friends in the business and subcontracted some of the production of Widget X to him.

In the end, nothing changed about how fast we could produce Widget X, but at least the rest of the contracts were back on schedule and we could listen to music again.

Why are Americans willing to be governed by political leaders who lack integrity, honesty, social discipline, and intelligence?

It’s 8pm and I’m about to go do something else.

So I’ll let Isaac and JC Denton from Deus Ex do the heavy lifting here:

On governmental power

Isaac: “*China is the last sovereign country in the world. Authoritarian but willing — unlike U.N.-governed countries — to give its people the freedom to do what they want.*”

JC Denton: “*As long as they don’t break the law.*”

Isaac: “*Listen to me. This is real freedom, freedom to own property, make a profit, make your life. The West, so afraid of strong government, now has no government. Only financial power.*”

JC Denton: “*Our governments have limited power by design.*”

Isaac: “*Rhetoric… And you believe it! Don’t you know where those slogans come from?*”

JC Denton: “*I give up.*”

Isaac: “*Well-paid researchers — how do you say it? — “think tanks,” funded by big businesses. What is that? A “think tank”?*”

JC Denton: “*Hardly as sinister as a dictator, like China’s Premier.*”

Isaac: “*It’s privately-funded propaganda. The Trilateral Commission in the United States, for instance.*”

JC Denton: “*The separation of powers acknowledges the petty ambitions of individuals; that’s its strength.*”

Isaac: “*A system organized around the weakest qualities of individuals will produce these same qualities in its leaders.*”

JC Denton: “*Perhaps certain qualities are an inseparable part of human nature.*”

Isaac: “*The mark of the educated man is the suppression of these qualities in favor of better ones. The same is true of civilization.*”

In your recovery (from addiction, trauma, etc.), what was the most helpful thing anyone did for you?

On September 11th, 2017, I overdosed on heroin in a Starbucks parking lot. Between the paramedics and the police, a total of six shots of Narcan were administered to revive me.

Photo is my own.

I was fined $454.96 which I paid in full the following week. I paid it right away because I knew my probation officer was going to lock me up when I arrived at my appointment at the end of the month.

It’s been documented since my childhood that I have a problem with authority figures. My teachers, the police, my probation officers and every counselor I’ve ever had reminds me of that fact.

The truth is, it feels like they have a problem with me. They go on and on about social norms, the rules, the laws and the consequences of my actions. Ohhh the consequences.

It seems to me that once you’re in the system, they do everything in their power to keep you there.

No slack. No second chances. No excuses.

It pains me to think of all the police contact I’ve had. And it always ended the same.

They. Win.

So I walk into my probation appointment sweating bullets. I knew I was going to county lockup that day so I left my phone, my wallet and my keys with a friend. I walked in with just an identification card. That would make processing me into county jail so much easier.

After signing in to adult probation, my p.o. called me up to the fourth floor.

He handed me a specimen cup, knocked on the bathroom door and walked in with me.

I unzipped, turned towards him and sealed my fate.

After failing the urinalysis, I handed him the above-pictured ticket, along with the receipt (as if that’s gonna change anything) and told him exactly what happened.

He gave me the courtesy and respect to explain that I had a problem. He never interrupted and never actually looked at the ticket.

He handed the still-folded ticket back to me and explained the position that I was putting him in. It was complicated. I had already been to jail, while on probation, three times. Probation already sent me to rehab, twice.

I sat there silently. I already had my turn.

He told me, Mr. Brennan, I don’t want to lock you up but I’m supposed to if you catch any new charges or get a tech.

A tech is a technical violation. The difference between a new charge and a tech is pretty simple.

Rob a bank — new charge — bank robbery.

Late to an appointment, fail a drug test, don’t show up to a counseling appointment or overdose on heroin — no charge — but, I’m violating the agreement I made with the courts for the remainder of my jail sentence to be walked off on the street. Those are called techs.

So it’s really a no-brainer. He has to or is supposed to lock me up for 90 days.

Here’s what he said: Thank you for being honest. That shows me that you respect me. I spoke with the judge a few days ago. He left the decision with regards to your freedom up to me. Because you were honest and told me exactly what happened, I’m going to put you on walk-in-status for the remainder of your probation. If you screw up, you go to jail.

Walk-in-status — Instead of meeting with him once a month, I had to meet him every five days for the remainder of my probation. I couldn’t be late, by even a minute, to any scheduled appointment. I had to take three drug tests a week and pass. I had to attend intensive outpatient therapy and get help.

I agreed to the strict(er) guidelines and walked out that day when I knew for sure I wouldn’t.

Before I left, I thought of something. How could he have talked to the judge before I told him what happened? So I asked.

He told me that when I overdosed, the police put my information into their database. When they did that, he received an email because my Social Security number was tied to his caseload. He knew the day after I was hospitalized what had happened.

After he talked to the judge, he decided that if I was honest I’d go free. If I lied, I wouldn’t.

Not every authority figure is the same. They are people, just like me. Collin (name changed) helped me when I was struggling. I’m still eternally grateful for his help in getting on this path.

Notes: I was reminded a week ago that I’m coming up on 1 year since I last shot heroin. Everyone’s so excited. Except for me. I mourn. I mourn the loss of heroin. I feel like I couldn’t figure out how to be a successful junkie. I feel like I failed at doing what I loved. I feel like I’ve lost my identity and I don’t fit in with anyone. I’ve been quiet because I don’t have anything nice to say. I’m sad and it comes out as anger. I hurt the people I love with words when I’m angry.

Nods: Thank you to B.B., B.G., and my girlfriend for all your help this week. I know I can be a self-centered miserable bitch. I try not to. I’m sad.

Leon

What was a red flag that made you stop talking to a person immediately?

I moved to a new state for my husbands career and made fast “friends” with a retired neighbor. I went all in with this friendship. Birthdays, Christmas’s, holidays, I always made sure to bring her food and gifts, and to invite her over to celebrate. She never reciprocated gifts and never came to our house unless other friends and neighbors came over too. I knew she had no extra spending money and is retired, so I didn’t consider that a red flag. I’ve lived next to this woman for 3 summers now. Well, we were just given the company home we live in and I got a new job making great money and now this womans ugly side has been coming out loud and clear. She would always make snide comments about my husband “putting work before me” and just somewhat hateful things, but I always chalked it up to her being a crotchety old lady and I would razz her about it, thinking it was all in good fun! I guess that’s what rose colored glasses can do to someone. Well recently, I went to St Vincent’s to buy some hangers (I have 5 kids so even though we do great financially, I try to be frugal with this economy) and the credit card machine wouldnt work, so I said to the cashier it’s nbd and I’ll come back tomorrow. A lady came up to me and handed me $5 and said here ya go, pay it forward and I was so grateful for that $5, bc of the kindness of this woman and bc I had no cash on me either. I went home and ran into my neighbor and told her what had just happened, and she just looked at me, scoffed, and said, “you look poor, that’s why she gave you the money”. That’s when I realized, nothing I could say or do for this woman would ever make us friends. She helped me realize that most people just make summations of who you are in their eyes to make themselves feel better. I went inside and blocked her landline phone number and her email (the only ways she communicates outside of in person). I also learned, if someone can’t be happy for you for $5, they’ll never be happy for you for anything!

Do you think that any countries are doing a good job with COVID-19? If so, which ones and why?

China of course.

China a nation of 1.4 billion lose less than 5000 lives to Covid-19. The U.S. with a mere 330 million people lose 1.1 million. Lives to Covid!

China used the Covid-19 locked down between 2020–2021 to refreshed their economy from low to middle level technologies to building the biggest ships and jumping from 3rd biggest vehicle’s manufacturer to being the 1st in 2023. During that time China launched its own jet planes, expanded its infrastructure!

The U.S. meanwhile provoked and goaded Russia into a war that it is losing badly now and running out of ammunitions!

China acted decisively and locked down cities and regions. And that stop the worst of early pre vaccination infections by at least hundreds of millions people. It saved their lives. China waited and checked and checked till it became 100% safe to totally let a much weakened strained of the virus to infect everyone and get immune to Covid.

China showed that in the event of pandemic, the Chinese government of socialism with Chinese characteristics is best suited to overcome. Challenges and difficulties. Liberal Democratic type of government simply could not match!

What is the best comeback you used on someone?

Mid 80’s, only female in a pretty hard core, rough talking oil field sales office. I had only been there for a few months and we were all still getting to know each other. Worth noting, I was kind of foisted on them, hired downtown and sent out to the field office.

My probie self was quiet and hard working with no input into the some what adolescent big men trying to shock me.

I had two kids, both in elementary school.

One morning the school called to advise I needed to come pick up my youngest as he clearly had chicken pox.

I walk into the boss’s office to let him know. He says – much to my amazement – well now, do you want to work or do you want to be a mama?

I couldn’t believe that he said that! 1989 not 1900!!!

My nonprobie real self surfaced. I straightened in my chair, preparing to rise looked him straight in the eye and – let’s just all do what’s right and see where we end up.

That was Thursday, when I returned on Monday no one said anything. I stayed another 8 years.

Seems strange

What joke will make one burst into laughter for at least 30 seconds?

A wealthy man walked into a bar in Miami. As soon as he entered, he noticed an Afr*ican woman, sitting in one corner. He walked over to the counter, removed his wallet and shouted, “Bartender! I’m buying drinks for everyone in this bar, except that woman over there!”

The bartender collected the money and began serving free drinks to everyone in the bar, except the Afr*ican woman. Instead of becoming upset, the woman simply looked up at the guy and shouted, “Thank you!”

This infuriated the wealthy guy. So once again, he took out his wallet and shouted, “Waiter! This time I am buying bottles of wine and additional food for everyone in this bar, except for that Af*rican sitting in the corner over there!”

The bartender collected the money from the man and began serving free food and wine to everyone in the bar except the African. When the waiter finished serving the food and drinks, the Afri*can woman simply smiled at the man and said, Thank you!”

That made him furious. So he leaned over the counter and asked the bartender, “What is wrong with that woman.. I have bought food and drinks for everyone in this bar except for her, and instead of becoming angry, she just sits there, smiles at me and shouts ‘Thank you.’ Is she mad”

The bartender smiled at the wealthy man and said, “No, she is not mad. She is the OWNER of this establishment.”

May our enemies work unknowingly in our favour…….

Semolina’s Muffaletta Pasta

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

Olive Salad

• 2 1/2 cups green olives
• 1 cup black olives
• 1 cup diced tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons diced pimiento
• 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
• 2 tablespoons basil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons red pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon black pepper

Muffaletta Pasta

• 1 1/2 ounces ham, cut in sticks
• 1 1/2 ounces Genoa salami, cut in sticks
• 1/2 cup olive salad
• 2 cups cooked penne pasta
• 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
• 1/2 cup provolone cheese
• Chopped parsley

Instructions

Olive Salad

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

Muffalette Pasta

1. Sauté the ham and salami in the olive oil until lightly browned.
2. Add the olive salad and the penne pasta and cook until the pasta is heated through.
3. Transfer the ingredients to a serving plate and garnish with the remaining ingredients.

New Evidence For The Simulation Hypothesis? Donald Hoffman on The Simulation Argument

What is the biggest failure of American liberalism?

I see two great failings. Which one is the “greatest” depends, I suppose, on what day of the week it is, and what the phase of the moon is.

So, in no particular order:

Information by itself almost never changes attitudes. Liberals tend to be policy wonks, living in what Karl Rove sneeringly dismissed as the “reality-based community.” Liberals let facts speak for themselves. Meanwhile, millions of people in this country sincerely, truly, absolutely believe in a conspiracy where Democratic political leaders are running a sex slave ring from the basement of a pizza shop that doesn’t have a basement.

Liberals believe the fact that there is no basement in Comet Ping Pong Pizza means it’s quite clear that there is no child sex traffic ring in the basement of Comet Ping Pong Pizza. Ah HA ha ha ha ha. If only.

In the real world, which liberals claim to believe in, simple observation tells us that people reach conclusions based on emotional impulses, then their rational brains follow along behind. Yet liberalsconsistently, over and over, refuse to acknowledge this; they cling to this weird delusion that if you show someone facts, you’ll change their minds.

Liberals eat their own. To far too many liberals, if you agree with them 98%, you aren’t an ally, you’re 2% enemy. conservatives tend to construct vertical social hierarchies based on submission to recognized authority. Liberals tend to construct horizontal social hierarchies based on ideals of egalitarianism. Liberals clearly hold the moral high ground here, but in functional terms that means if a conservative is told by a recognized authority to vote for a convicted rapist and conman, he will crawl through broken glass to vote for a convicted rapist and con man. If a liberal’s favored candidate said something in 1977 that might possibly be construed as not fully supporting whatever the liberal cause du jour happens to be today, the liberal will reject him utterly.

Any person insufficiently ideologically pure is evil. There can be no disagreement, no nuance, no difference of opinion, oh no; if you don’t agree with me, you are actively evil. It’s about virtue, not governance. There is no room for nuance, no shades of gray, no legitimate disagreement, no complexity; you are 100% with us 100% of the time or you are cast out. Liberals love the way it feels to cast out the wicked and the impure. Picking up the torches and pitchforks feels good. It feels righteous.

One of these leads to better outcomes than the other.

Why do the Chinese eat birdhouses?

Hi, Alexander Plishko . Thanks for your very interesting question.

I’m not sure what birdhouse you’re referring to.
The number of times I’ve thought about eating a birdhouse is exactly the same number of times I’ve thought about eating a car tire.
Which is exactly zero.

Some of my close friends say that I have a habit of overthinking things – and I admit I do – but when it comes to food, I stick to edible things.
Why would I eat a birdhouse or a car tire when I can eat some rice / noodles with vegetables and meat?

A thought just occured to me.
Are you asking this question because YOU feel like eating a birdhouse and are ashamed that you might be judged for it and thus you busied yourself with concocting this very interesting question instead?

In that case, I would encourage you to go for it.
Don’t let shame and guilt stop you from chasing your dreams.

Remember – if you can dream it, you can achieve it, Alexander Plishko !

You know what?
Another thing just occured to me, Alexander Plishko.
Your inability to see what Chinese are eating could be a result of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
I mean, in your profile picture, you look like you’re in your 60s.
At that age, you want to get your eyes checked often.
AMD is a disease that affects a person’s central vision – and if left unchecked, can result in severe loss of central vision.
I would advise making an appointment with an ophthalmologist – eye issues at your age are no joke and you should get a professional to check out your eyes as soon as conveniently possible.

I’m always serious about my health and will never hesitate to make an appointment with a doctor or specialist if I feel something out of the ordinary going on with my body – if there is really something wrong with your eyes, I would strongly advise you to do the same as well.

Just looking out for you, Alexander Plishko.

Now, given that you may be having some eye problems and thus are probably finding it difficult to make out what you’re seeing, I wouldn’t be surprised if you mistook what you saw some Chinese folks eating for a birdhouse.

Some of my fellow Chinese Quorans have already mentioned bird’s nest soup, but I highly doubt it, given that bird’s nest soup is almost never served in Chinese restaurants that cater to Westerners such as yourself.

I think it is far more likely that you were seeing Chinese patrons digging into a Cantonese dish called 雀巢海中宝 [English: I think “Seafood Nest” is an okay translation, though I have seen some menus refer to it as “Seafood Bird Nest”, which is where your confusion might stem from, given that a bird’s nest can also be thought of as its house, amirite?]

Basically, it’s seafood placed inside a “nest” made from deep-fried julienned taro.
The nest is crunchy and edible.

I ate it a few times as a kid, but haven’t eaten it since.
But I know that this is one of those old Cantonese dishes that got “exported” to the Anglosphere and became more popular in Anglosphere countries than it ever was back home.

I’m not a fan of this dish – just not a fan of deep-fried anything.
But if you’re curious and thinking of giving it a try, then I encourage you to do so, if only so that the experience helps to broaden your culinary horizon.

Unintended consequences

What is the most shocking diagnosis you have received after going to the doctor for a routine checkup?

Went to the ER with symptoms I believed were cardiac in nature. As a nurse, I knew that heart attacks in women do not always present with the classic signs. I was very light headed and short of breath, but no chest pain. All the heart markers were negative. I was feeling pretty good just resting on the stretcher. That was until the doc comes in, pulls the stool up close to me and puts his hand over mine. Oh F$?K, I think. Turns out I had acute leukemia. Boy did things start happening fast! Well, I didn’t get home for 104 days!! Eventually had a stem cell transplant and I’m around 7 years later, telling my story.

What is your most memorable cultural shock?

In Nigeria, you’ll have to be rich to convince people you’re only walking for the love of it.

Walking is considered poor by many and the distance and pace with which you walk could determine your rank in poverty.

Similar to how some tribes or people consider the obese to be wealthy.

But in a couple of developed countries, I’ve been to, people walk a lot and walks super fast.

To them, walking is not just a means of getting from point A to B; it’s a sign of health-consciousness, a badge of environmental awareness.

I’m currently in Australia and walking is embraced with a sense of pride.

It’s not just about reaching a destination; it’s about embracing the journey, appreciating the environment, and prioritizing personal health.

People stride with purpose, their steps counted and celebrated on the latest smartwatches.

Public transport in these countries further accentuates this cultural divide.

In Nigeria, a day on public transport can feel like a trial by fire, a stark contrast to the efficiency, cleanliness, and reliability of trains, trams, and buses I’ve experienced abroad.

Nigeria, like many underdeveloped and developing countries, carbon footprint is not too big of a deal, yet, and as such, everyone wants to own a car, for comfort and dependability and most of all, for the pride of owning one.

One area I could forgive Nigerians is that our weather could get quite hot and humid most of the year.

Apart from the discomfort; there’s a practical aspect to consider—no one wants to arrive at their destination drenched in sweat. But even for exercise purposes, I don’t see a lot of people doing it.

If I’m not mistaken, walking for the pleasure of it is considered a rich people thing. I mostly see such folks walking about their estates once in a blue moon.

It’s a sharp contrast to my current situation, where choosing the perfect pair of walking shoes has become some sort of a ritual—a ritual that is non-existent back home.

From California to Texas

What is an insane coincidence that you’ve experienced?

I chose to give a child up for adoption during a difficult time in my life. I chose a couple who could not have their own due to a tragic illness discovered on their honeymoon. I asked the universe to show me the way, and to give me confirmation that these were her true parents.

I allowed the adoptive mother to share my pregnancy journey. One day I asked her what names was she considering for her baby. Her reply was the confirmation I sought and one of the greatest “coincidences “ of my life.

She answered my question, “ well if it is a boy we will name him Paul and if it is a girl we are going to name her Madeline”. I was stunned because my father is named Paul and my mother is named Madeline.

My daughter Madeline is now 18 years old and starting college in the fall. I’ve not met her but I know her. When she is ready I am here to get to know the woman that she has become. I know that I was simply the vessel from which she was delivered to her true parents. I have NEVER for one second of one minute of one hour of one day of one week of one month of one year doubted that I made the right choice. This was the most fulfilling, selfless act of my life.

UPDATE: Since this post, I met my daughter Madeline just after her 21st birthday. It was so wonderful. She had so many questions only I could answer about her biology, inherited traits. Her mother called after the meeting to tell me that when she left and got into her car that she cried tears of joy because she was so happy to meet me and I helped her understand so many things. She resembles me so much.

Under which president did the USA start getting in debt to China? How big is that debt now & how does that debt influence US foreign policy decisions?

The U.S. was the king of the blind in 1945 as the U.S. was the only major nation that was spared from the destruction and collapse caused by the 1st and 2nd world war. So Americans wrongly assumed it is exceptional. It is not. Not even close.

But in 1945 the U.S. economy is closed to 52% of the world’s GDP. Today it is barely 15% in real purchasing power terms! One by one, markets overtook the U.S. competitiveness and today the U.S. barely can sell a thing except from some destructive weapons and that too often coercion.

The U.S. suffers at least triple whammy. One it has a debts of 35 trillion dollars debt fast approaching 200% of the U.S. GDP. The WTO suggest keeping to 60% ceiling, so the U.S. has hit 3 times that! as a comparison China’s debts is just a little over 50% of its GDP, a very healthy level.

Two, the U.S. has one of the lowest propensity to save at less than 5% savings rate while China U.S. the world’s biggest savers at 35%!

Three the U.S. cannot stop spending it has fought 2 dozen wars from 1980 to 2023. China fought zero wars since 1979! While the U.S. spends on unproductive spending, China spends on productive investment on the state of the art infrastructure the U.S. borrows to make and spend on destruction and weapons !

So over time China’s investment will pay handsomely while the U.S. earn only hate and disdain! so the last time a U.S. president had a surplus is Bill Clinton some 25 years ago! A generation of over reach, over interference, and over spending has totally destroyed the U.S. economy and its capacity and capability to ever compete!

How are modern Chinese females becoming curvy? Is it due to extensive plastic surgery usage like Koreans or natural evolution?

It is due to an improved diet with more protein, some fat and careful monitoring of carbohydrates.

If you go online on Chinese social media, you will frequently see younger Chinese women showing photos of their meals. A little meat, lots of vegetables, some fish, and some fruit. Little to no rice.

They also are into yoga and going to the gym.

(This observation is mostly about younger women living in or from tier 1 cities. I am sure that women in other cities are different but I have less contact with them.)

Another name for America

What China thinks about many Americans.

Has corruption in politics gotten so overwhelming, that we, (Americans), have stopped searching for a solution?

Worse than that, I’m afraid: when you find a solution, you outright reject it, because you’re persuaded that it’s not a solution, or that it’s the solution to the wrong problem(s).

What we’re seeing in the United States isn’t multiple different solutions to the same problem: in reality, what we’re seeing is that both sides of the aisle identify different ‘problems’ and therefore reject any solutions that don’t match exactly what they envision. Let’s use immigration as an example:

• Immigration continues to be a ‘problem’ for the United States because it (mind-bogglingly) remains a popular destination for people from Southern American nations, primarily due to the draw of work and consistent wages, as well as being a safer environment than some of the more dangerous nations south of the US-Mexico border. However, this is identified as a ‘problem’ in different ways:
  • Democrats view immigration as a net positive (largely because it has been proven to be of significant benefit to the economy, particularly with migrant labour filling the gaps in the labour marker that ordinary Americans refuse to – largely due to low wages/benefits offered), but want to ensure that migrants are encouraged to enter through legal means, whilst those trying to enter through illegal means are caught and/or deported quickly.
  • Republican voters view immigration as a negative because they’re told that Democrats want to make citizens of migrants in order to improve their part of the vote share, and because they’re told that immigrants reduce wages and job opportunities for the average American (which simply isn’t the case). They’re told that the country is being ‘invaded’, and therefore that ‘white Americans’ are soon to be in the minority – something that scares them because they know how they themselves treat those in the minority!

Now, both go about dealing with these concerns in different ways. Democrats believe that we need to tighten up the border in an effective way, but also not to punish those migrants who are actively contributing to the economy.

Republicans seem to prefer more – shall we say inhumane? – methods:

Or purely ineffectual methods that aren’t really designed to accomplish anything:

https://metro.co.uk/2021/08/23/arizona-trumps-border-wall-already-falling-down-after-flash-floods-15135971/

Here’s the disconnect: one side wants real solutions but ones that are practical, and suit the actual issues of the United States. You have to be considerate both of immigrants themselves (because they are human beings, oddly enough), but also the impact on the economy: too many migrants might cause economic issues but we also need to factor in the net benefit. Thus, the Democrats craft solutions along the lines of “Let’s allow for those migrants contributing to the economy to continue to do so through legal means”, largely because those individuals a) are coming into the country anyway, and b) are at least showing that they intend to contribute.

As I’ve said many times before, neither side really wants to resolve the ‘problem’, however: Democrats recognise the net benefit to the economy, whereas Republicans are blatantly misrepresenting the issue in the first place, so aren’t engaging with the issue of immigration on legitimate grounds. They want the issue so they can win elections: resolving it wouldn’t win them anything.

That being said, we can see this from the reality: migrant labourers only come into the United States because they know they can find work. If the US Government actively prosecuted American employers who provided those jobs for hiring illegals, that well would dry up fast, and the incentive to enter and live in the US would dry up pretty speedily. No work, no reason to come.

Why does no party use such an approach? Politics. Republicans don’t want to resolve the issue in the first place – they simply want the issue for elections (although it’s always amusing to note the high number of Republicans who employ migrant labourers – even Donald Trump being known to have done so!), and Democrats have a tendency of failing to explain their perspective in a way that catches the attention of the electorate. “We want to make life easier for those already working here” isn’t nearly as “sexy” (politically-speaking) as “Immigrants are coming to replace white people!”, which ends up being how the GOP’s propaganda machine ‘re-frames’ the ‘debate’.

The sad reality: if you can’t fit it onto a bumper sticker, most Americans aren’t going to pay attention long enough to hear the reality. That’s why propaganda works so well in the first place.

So…solutions. You’re not going to get any genuine solutions because neither side can agree honestly about what the issues are, and half the time, they’re misrepresenting the issues in order to muddy any possibility of an effective solution. That’s what corruption looks like, for the record: when politicians actively engage with the electorate in bad faith in order to misrepresent the issues that are important to the nation, in order to encourage them to vote for those who actually won’t solve the issues.

It’s a blatant lie to suggest that the majority of American politicians are actively working to resolve the actual problems facing the American people – in truth, they’re not, particularly with the crop of idiots currently sitting in the House of Representatives. And since nobody can agree on what the problems are (or even how to frame the problem correctly), you’re not going to get solutions. And any time on party comes up with a solution, the other re-frames it as a problem.

We just go round and round in circles, with trillions of dollars spent, and the needle rarely ever moving – which is why the United States is looking more and more dystopian, and why the world’s most powerful superpower is steadily moving towards an existential crisis. You’ll never get solutions until you force the political system to focus on what the actual problems are, and at the moment, the American people are entirely failing in their responsibility to keep politicians focused. You’re letting them tell you what’s important, rather than telling them what is important, and where to focus.

Get a grip, or grab some popcorn and wait for the explosions.

What business problem do many leaders struggle with related to employees?

Ben was a radioactive employee and it didn’t take me long to realize it. He was a senior project executive, a big burly brown-haired man, who wore expensive frameless glasses that gave the faux impression of sophistication.

I was a doe-eyed young financial analyst at the large trucking company, which managed more than 10,000 trucks and 200 terminals. We shipped everything from diapers to oil to freon. We had trucks full of furniture and trucks on the edge of icy cliffs. The legal office controlled one corner of the building, dealing with a waterfall of business deals and personal injury claims.

Like many young employees, I was insecure and eager to please. My boss threw me in the deep end early, having me sit in on monthly meetings for my division, taking notes and assessing risks. Everything was by the books. I double checked every process and tried not to step on anyone’s toes or say the wrong thing.

Ben eyed me over during our first meeting without saying anything, and proceeded to direct people and ask questions. Nothing was unusual. But within a few months, he let his guard down and began being himself. The profanity began. The gruff shouting followed. I wrestled with his troubling lack of decorum and wondered if I should expect similar treatment, despite not even reporting to him. His anger and lack of empathy was palpable.

The biggest issue was his mouth. If there was a woman in the meeting, he was a completely different person and was relatively tame. However, most times, it was all men, and he behaved like a wild animal. For example, he randomly said, without any context, “I hate the Japanese because they bombed Pearl Harbor, and I hate the Jews because they killed Jesus.” It was one of those off-color jokes where you sensed he wasn’t really joking at all.

During another incident, a beautiful young female coworker walked by the outside of our meeting room, which was enclosed in glass windows and sandwiched between two hallways. As she walked by, her baby bump was showing and one of the team engineers said, “Oh, is Becky pregnant?”

Ben chimed in and said, in a deep southern drawl, “If she was with me, she’d stay pregnant.” It was this type of stuff that I dealt with over and over.

Perhaps a detractor might say, “OK. But he isn’t saying it to her directly, right?” Or, “He’s just joking, lighten up.” Even conceding that, it was still wildly unprofessional — to put it lightly. He didn’t set the best example and there was already a major cultural problem at the office.

My main frustration was that we couldn’t just have a meeting. There was always some distraction, be it comments or irreverence. I can’t even repeat many of the things that were said. To some extent, you expect a bit of roughness around the edges at a trucking company. Truckers aren’t known for their filters. But this was a nice, high end office, not a remote terminal near an oil field.

How his issues became more pronounced

Ben’s biggest career-threat wasn’t with his mouth, though that alone could have gotten him fired in many places. His biggest issues were interpersonal. He was an unreasonably difficult boss, in a Donald Trumpian way, who dropped the hammer too swiftly and too hard. He asked his subordinates incredibly specific questions about projects that were unrealistic to know. Then, he’d flip out on them in front of us all and make an example out of them. It felt like he was periodically reminding everyone of his authority.

I never saw Ben smile unless his own superiors were in our presence, and it was that switch that made my stomach turn. He’d spark a big smile and pretend everything was great, only to switch back to Dark Ben the moment his boss left.

And then one week, something changed. I’d just arrived that morning, and was weaving through the huge grid of cubicles, and saw Ben across the room talking to a coworker. Ben suddenly saw me and waved with a smile, “Hey Sean! How are you?” I looked his way, and held a stiff hand up as a wave but was perplexed.

“Did he finally see a therapist?” I wondered. He never smiled or greeted anyone. Then, all day, and through the week, he was extraordinarily kind to everyone — but it wasn’t out of charity. What actually happened, was that one of Ben’s subordinates, a fresh college grad who Ben had ridden like an exhausted pony, finally had enough and went to the CEO himself to complain.

It wasn’t the first complaint about Ben. The CEO pulled Ben into his office and, allegedly, gave him a stern talking to and scared him straight. Or you would have thought. Because within a few weeks, his facade of kindness started fading and he went back to his regular self: irritable, vulgar, and impossible to work around. He had the highest number of interdepartmental transfers of any manager and it wasn’t a coincidence.

Perhaps the most troubling part is that all these years later, Ben still works there. You might wonder, how could a company look past so many glaring issues that they knew about?

In my MBA program, our business professor, Dr. Fred Sturdivant, proposed an important philosophical question: “What do you do with a high performing jerk?” Generally, most people are quick to say they’d get rid of them. It is the moral, right thing to do and seems like a no-brainer, right?

Yet, in my years in corporate, it didn’t happen nearly as often as leaders would profess. When someone is great at their core competencies, in a way that is hard to replace, they tend to get enormous leeway. One former employer even had the mantra, “Performance begets privilege.” It’s no different than the problematic star athlete on a team. Coaches (and fans) will look past enormous character flaws, including violent legal trouble, all because of what the athlete does for them.

And this was the central challenge with Ben: He was fantastic at his job. His division was extremely profitable. He’d grown up in the trucking industry, and was trained on it from an early age. He was, and it pains me to say this, very intelligent when it came to the business.

Anyone who has managed people knows that, after dealing with a few underperformers, you learn to value your stars. All of that aside, I believe Ben caused enormous damage to the company’s culture and employee morale. After all of the interpersonal problems he created, I question how beneficial he actually was to the bottom line.

I learned from my father, who was a military leader, that no matter how far you rise in an organization, you should always retain your humility, and treat the janitor with the same respect you’d show to the CEO. Status should not create a personality filter. If leaders are flipping personalities like Ben does, it doesn’t promote a culture of mutual respect.

And if you are leader reading this right now, please have more discipline than our CEO had. Hold your managers accountable to conduct themselves like adults, and treat their workers like human beings. Leadership starts at the top, but is reflected at the bottom.

Have you ever picked up a hitchhiker? Was there a good or bad outcome?

I picked up a young woman hitchhiking to Houston from San Antonio. She said her boyfriend kicked her out. She was going to her Mother’s house. She was noticeably upset. I stopped to get gas and bought her a cheeseburger and a milk shake. She said she hadn’t eaten since the day before. I drove her straight to her Mother’s house and handed her my phone and told her to call her Mother to make sure she is home. She called, her Mother had gone to get some groceries and she got back in a few minutes. We waited in the driveway. She and her Mother thanked me and invited me to stay for dinner, which I did. It was a chance meeting. I was nice to them and they were nice to me, no scams or any extra drama.

The Chinese Communist Party often claims that Tibet before 1959 was a dark, theocratic feudal serfdom with cruel punishments, but Tibetans abroad often deny these claims. So what was the real situation in old Tibet?

Human skin at ceromanies in old Tibet

Letter in Tibetan from a monk to a government official to ask for blood, newly excoriated human skin for a ceremony to celebrate Dalai Lamas birthday. In the religion they believe that the dirtiest thing can purify the soul.

”Rab Ge:”

A Buddhist ceremony will be held here. We need meat, hearts, and blood from all kind of animals 4 human heads, intestines, pure blood, turbid blood, earth from ruins, the menstrual blood of a widow, the blood of a leper, water from beneath the surface of the earth, earth raised in a whirlwind, brambles growing towards the north, excrement of both dog and man and the boots of a butcher. All these should be sent to Tsechykhang on the 27th.

Tsechykhang , the 19th”

Hands with arms cuts off as a punishment

Homeless beggers in old Tibet.

A serf whos eyes and hands cuts out

Was old Tibet a cruel serfdom (slavery) sociaty? Judge for your self. Do not believe me, just read the travel diaries and other documents from old Tibet by western adventurers.

Average young girls

How does U.S. Customs detect fentanyl on packages being shipped into the United States from China?

In 2021, 215.37 kg of cocaine was found in 100,000 tons of soybeans exported from the United States to Qingdao port China. The next year, Shanghai Customs found the same thing. US Customs are wooden men，right?

Entrainment of pests such as flies and mosquitoes in export goods (carefully packed with culture tubes).Intercepted by customs again and again.Everyone knows your purpose.

I’m too lazy to talk about you, you should be more sensible！

Which Chinese minority race looks the most different from Han Chinese?

There is only one native caucasian* ethnic group in China: the Chinese Tajiks.

They are an Iranian-speaking ethnic group living in the Pamir Mountains in the extreme West of China. Most of them practice Ismail Shi’a Islam, but they are very secular. They don’t practice Ramadan. Many are also non-religious. There are still some Zoroastrian elements in their culture.

Pamiris (Chinese Tajiks):

The ethnic group with the darkest skin color is probably the Wa. They live in the SW Yunnan Province and speak an Austroasiatic language. Traditionally they follow Theravada Buddhism or Animism, but there are also Christians since the 19th century.

Chinese Wa:

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*Note: I do not use the word ‘white’ here, because the notion of whiteness is a Western social construct. By Caucasian, I mean that these people have physical traits that would make them be categorized as Caucasian by a 19th century European anthropologist. They have nothing to do with being white as a race.

Have you actually ever heard someone say ‘Do you know who I am?’ indignantly?

I am a retired Audiologist. About 15 years ago I was working in a practice in an upscale neighborhood. One patient, a well-known actor, came in for a hearing test. I was asking the usual history questions and he gave me the “Do you know who I am?” bit. I didn’t care for him to start with, but when you think you’re better than me just because your face has been on screen, you can jump in a lake. I’ll put my three Master’s degrees and one Cinical Doctorate up against your Academy Award nomination any day of the week. You may have entertained millions, but I helped people HEAR again!

Why Do Cats Get So Attached To One Person?

The chosen one.

Can animals get addicted to drugs?

Police in Australia got the shock of their lives when they busted a Meth lab in Sydney. They were expecting to find drugs and money and drug-making material, instead they came face to face with a 6-foot-long-meth-addicted python showing clear signs of withdrawal and acting very aggressively toward the officers.

It’s believed the snake became addicted to the drugs when the fumes from the cooking of the meth were absorbed through its skin.

The snake was captured and sent to a rehab centre run by inmates at a correction centre.

It took seven months for the snake to return to normal under the care of 14 inmates who were selected to work the wildlife programme.

What evil things has Bill Gates done for society?

I worked for him for eight years in the 1990s, and Microsoft employees were privy to the company’s charity efforts in a way that the public was not. And Microsoft gave many millions to worthwhile causes under Gates’ leadership.

He also forced Microsoft’s insurance carriers to have same-sex domestic partners insured as “family” — a decade before other large companies were having that conversation.

The worst I can say about him is that he’s a technocrat, with a lot of technocrat blind spots. But he’s smarter than any-three regular geniuses put together, with a sometimes-frightening ability to synthesize information from different directions and perceive the hidden correspondences and implications, then devising a workable action-plan.

His work in the area of vaccines has been to fund the development of cost-effective treatments for what in public health are termed “Neglected Tropical Diseases.” They are neglected because there is literally no money in developing pharmaceuticals for them — they’re diseases of impoverished brown people in sh*t-hole countries — but Gates did his homework and decided that the most cost-effective intervention to lift those countries out of poverty was public-health measures like vaccination — so he is funding that himself. He also funded the development of a <$200 composting toilet for areas where water is precious.

So he’s not evil. He can be abrupt and abrasive, and does not suffer fools gladly. He’s not Batman, but at least he’s doing something useful with his wealth and he isn’t a Bezos, a Musk, or a Zuckerberg either.

Restaurant August BLT
(Buster Crab, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich)

A fried soft-shell crab served open-face over toasted brioche and dressed with fresh vegetables.

Yield: 1 sandwich

Ingredients

• 1 Louisiana soft shell crab, dressed
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup seasoned all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cornmeal
• 1/4 cup mixed red, yellow and green grape tomatoes, peeled
• 1 dash 25 year old balsamic vinegar
• 1 pinch minced chive
• 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 slice brioche or challah, toasted
• 2 teaspoons favorite aioli
• 1 pinch micro greens
• 1 pinch lettuce sprouts
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Chive oil for garnish
• Beet juice for garnish

Instructions

1. In a sauté pan, heat the canola oil over a medium-high heat.
2. Season the buster crab with salt and pepper. Toss into a mixture of seasoned flour and cornmeal. Place the crab into hot canola oil and allow to cook for 1 minute on each side.
3. Season the tomatoes with salt, pepper, vinegar, chives, and olive oil. Place the tomatoes over a well-toasted brioche and place into a serving plate.
4. After cooking the buster crab, remove and allow it to drain over some absorbent towels for a moment. Place the crab over the tomatoes and top it with a dollop of aioli, which you in turn cover with a pinch of micro greens and lettuce sprouts.
5. To serve, garnish the plate with additional chopped chives, chive oil and beet juice.

Which European country has the worst food?

Filled with patriotic pride I can say with entire conviction and without a shadow of a doubt that this is the Netherlands!!!

Dutch traditional cuisine consists in potatoes cooked to dead and some other stuff all mashed and with some dark fluid called “jus” [ʒy].

The more modern Dutch cuisine consists in versions of Suriname, Asian or Turkish food mingled and massacred until any similarity with the real thing is pure coincidence and lacking any sort of taste.

Dutch cannot cook, except the few of us who have the fortune of some foreign ancestry or ascend. Our ancestral culinary arts consisted, as I already commented, in mashing stuff or making pancakes. Our modern cuisine consists in opening a package of some dull stuff and pouring it in cooking water. Or just call the pizza guy directly.

And what to say about the Crown Jewels of Dutch food: FEBO :

Or our latest 100% Dutch culinary revolution: The Kapsalon (Literally, the barber shop). It’s basically shoarma meat (there’s a vegan option too!), fries, some lettuce and cheap Gouda cheese with some suspicious looking sauce all literally thrown together in a big tinfoil container. It was invented by a guy who went to a barber shop and used to order shoarma and fries from a nearby Döner Kebab, out of convenience he asked to have it all put in the same tray and this is how it was born. This is not a joke, this is the real history behind it.

And you just don’t want to know what my landspeople can make out of any international dish. Really not, you would get nightmares.

But as the Belgians say: “What do you expect from a bunch of kaaskoppen (1) that drink Pils from plastic cups”

Hup Holland Hup!

(1) Kaaskop = Cheesehead

When your man…

China Recent News.

Episode 2

Methane and Liquid Oxygen rocket

A Chinese private company became the first in the world to launch satellites with rockets fuelled by methane and liquid oxygen on Saturday, beating SpaceX to the technology and raising hopes for its commercial applications.

Rail Gun

Chinese Navy’s rail guns can fire 120 rounds of shells that move at a staggering speed of 7200 km/hr. They can hit targets 200 km away. No defense system can stop them!

thorium-based molten salt nuclear power plant

The world’s first thorium-based molten salt nuclear power plant in operational in China.

Why are Chinese citizens not concerned about the lack of opposition in the government and their total control of the media?

Because the political ecological system is different.

For example, I come to realize why Americans are so zealous about voting and making speeches (“democracy” and “free speech”) in recent years: If you do not speak for yourself, defending your interest, then those what should be yours would be taken away by other people—legally—in American political game.

But Chinese government is a parental government in my eyes, or, authoritarian government according to Western standard.

Let’s compare what are the differences between the Chinese and Amercican government

In the end of 2022, a major snow storm hit America, some mayors told their people not to rely on the government

But in China, while the storm was still raging, government organized workers to fix the electric tower. P.S., in China, water, power and gas are controlled by government, they are run by companies, but the biggest share holder must be government.

Communist party members were organized as volunteers to clear the snow and ice on roads

Therefore, I conclude the difference between the two countries as:

In America, government only provides minimum services to people, making policies on behalf of its supporters and ignore the others.

In China, government provides overall services to all people, making policies benifits all (if not, then compensation must be count in), and no one is behind.

Another proof supporting my conclusion is, there were over 1800 government officials of different ranks died on their post from 2015–2022. Why? Because China launched “eradicate poverty campaign” during this period, officials were assigned to most remote, most poor, most underdeveloped areas, helping local people overcome poverty. The 1800+ died were died of over exhausted, or traffic accidents in the mountains, or flood when rescuing people. (That’s why Chinese people don’t believe in Xinjiang fake news, on one hand, Xinjiang received 5–6 times higher subsides and government investments than Eastern provinces, on the other hand, “genocide”?? What’s the meaning of doing so?)

So, when you have a government that’s dedicated to serve the people, what’s the meaning of opposition?

“I oppose the government serving me”?

Here I’d like to rectify a wrong perception that many Qurans have: Chinese government controls all media.

It’s not.

China-haters, West-lickers, foreign proxies, traitors can be found on every media.e

This lady worked for Chinese Central TV as host and journalist, with huge influence among people, had left CCTV after she found she’s not popular among people. Because her ideology is pro-West and think China should be the second class citizen in the world.

You may found there are numerous unfriendly, stupid or even hostile questions about China here on Quora, but I tell you, such things are rather stink on Chinese social media. Compare to those platforms in China, Quora seems to be very friendly…

The meaning of government controlled media is to provide the last and undoubtable information, to clarify the discussion and calm down the quarreling among people.

You can debate, you can quarrel, you can conduct personal attacks, but, once the government controlled media provided the most creditable information, all these vanishes.

So, no matter the policial ecosystem or media ecosystem, China and America are different.

WHY DID GOD PUT A CAT IN YOUR LIFE? || The Spiritual Connection of CATS