I was living in Florida back after I left the Navy. I was living with a girl, who moved out, and abandoned, I ended up with some extra tickets to a Aerosmith / Journey rock fest. Yeah. She wasn’t there at the time.

She went back home to visit a guy. She thought that he was boyfriend material (I found out later). He wasn’t. Not even friend material. And she regretted turning down Florida to go sit waiting on this boy who didn’t know how to treat a hot chick.

Anyways…

So I went to the concert alone.

I spent the entire day there in Miami and enjoyed the concert as much as I could. Though, it wasn’t the same being alone.

Being alone pretty much sucks.

I found a hitchhiker. Took him to the concert. He made some friends there. And all four of us enjoyed the concert. They were younger than myself. But it was cool. I was the stable older guy. LOL.

Anyways, I ate a a sandwich on the way to the concert, and wouldn’t you know it… a big blob or mayonnaise plopped down right on my white tee shirt.

What a mess. It was about the size of a quarter.

But I noticed, and then got caught up in the traffic. I forgot about the glob.

…

I arrive at the concert. Got inside, and am jamming to the music, when I notice a few girls pointing at me, looking at me and laughing at me.

This happened again. Different girls.

Then a few minutes later… another group of different girls.

Hummm. What’s going on?

…

Anyways I had to pee, and went into the mens-room, and looked in the mirror. Sure as shit, it looked like I had a big blob of cum right above my groin. The sun had baked it into the exact appearance of days old cum. Oh Lordy!

Oh. My. God.

How embarrassing.

I cleaned myself up as best I could, but the glob made a heavy stain that REALLY looked like I ejaculated right then and there. Yellow-white on a bright blue-white tee shirt. Ugh!

I mean it.

It was the splittin’ image!

Sigh.

…

Anyways… Yeah… I met a couple of chicks from Cuba. Met some younger guys that I hung out with for a spell, and then went home late at night alone. Ah, my tale for the day.

…

The one persistent memory of the event was that glob of fake cum that all the chicks were joking about.

And… Sammy Hagar the “red rocker”.

And… getting hosed with water in the heat of the day…

And… the Journey songs at the end of the concert.

…

Now you know.

Today…

What was the most you’ve ever eaten in one sitting?

You wouldn’t know it to look at me now, but when I was a teenager, I used to ride my bicycle several hundred miles per week.

Somewhere along the line, I read an article that said you could burn more fat by eating after you exercise than eating before. (Never mind that I was already at something like 12% body fat at the time.) I thought this sounded like a great idea, so I had a tiny breakfast, and set out for a 100-mile ride in the mountains.

All you experienced cyclists and marathoners know where this is headed. The bonk. The wall. I used up all the readily available fuel in my system, and started burning anything my body could find—fat, muscle, heck, brain cells for all I know. And I was still 40 miles from home.

10 miles from home, I couldn’t even stand up, let alone ride a bicycle. I called my sister from a pay phone to come get me. She was a long-distance cyclist herself, and knew what I was up against. There were two huge bagels with cream cheese waiting for me on the passenger seat when she arrived.

I walked into the house still eating, and headed for the kitchen, where I ate an entire bag of granola. Not a little one, either—one of those 3-pounders from Trader Joe’s. I was still starving, so I started in on a box of cereal. (Honeycombs, I think it was? The ones that hurt your mouth if you don’t soak them in milk for 10 minutes? I wasn’t bothering with the milk.)

While I was still shoving handfuls of painful cereal in my mouth, my parents arrived, and said they wanted to go out to eat at Souplantation. I scrambled for the car, box of cereal still in hand.

For those of you not familiar with Souplantation, picture the biggest soup and salad bar you’ve ever seen in your life, and double it. Now double it again, and add a baked potato bar, a bakery, and a dessert area with a dozen kinds of cake, pie, and frozen yogurt.

One price . . . all you can eat.

I ate. I think I lost track of how much I was eating about the seventh time I went back to get more food. I ate as much as all of the rest of my family put together, and then some. And then I went back for dessert.

By that point, I finally started feeling normal again. Not stuffed . . . normal.

Holiday Glazed Pork Roast

Ingredients

• 1 (4 pound) boneless pork loin roast
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 2 tablespoons dry sherry
• 1 (14 ounce) can Ocean Spray® Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce
• 1 large red onion, cut into 6 to 8 wedges or 12 small whole onions, peeled

Instructions

1. Combine cornstarch, cinnamon, salt and orange peel in small saucepan. Stir in orange juice, sherry and cranberry sauce. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened. Set aside.
2. Place roast in shallow roasting pan. Insert meat thermometer. Roast at 325 degrees F for 1 hour.
3. Place onion wedges around pork. Spoon about 1/2 cup cranberry mixture over roast and onions. Continue to roast for 30 to 60 minutes or until meat thermometer registers 155 to 160 degrees F.
4. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes before slicing.
5. Serve with remaining cranberry mixture.

Attribution

Recipe and photo used with permission from: Ocean Spray
Recipe from the National Pork Producers Council.

What is your most memorable cultural shock?

I had written this elsewhere but it was unfortunately collapsed due to an image policy violation. So, here it is again with the offending image removed.

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It’s been 15 years now, but here’s what I remember finding shocking about moving to the United States:

• The pervasive waste of food. I grew up in a culture where even in rich families, the memory of poverty isn’t that far off: either your parents grew up poor or their parents grew up poor. There’s a strong taboo against putting more on your plate than you can finish and throwing away the food you don’t want instead of saving it for the next meal. But this is what greeted me in high school… every single day.

• Acceptance of gays: people being openly gay… and it not being a thing, like not at all. Now, I know we have a long way to go on gay rights but the concept of gay rights doesn’t even exist where I grew up. Homosexuality isn’t viewed as a matter of sexual orientation so much as a matter of sexual deviancy. But here were people being gay and the sky wasn’t dropping. What a concept!

• How ignorant so many people were of life outside the US. Here, 2 things specifically come to mind:
  • I grew up in Africa. You wouldn’t believe how many times I was asked versions of:
    • “Hey Kunta, ever been hunting a lion?”
    • “Hey, Motumbo, do you guys sleep in trees?”
    • “Are you married? Cuz, in your culture, people get married at, like, 15, right?”
    • “You guys have TVs/cars/zoos/cell phones in Africa?”
  • People also didn’t seem to understand just how freaking huge Africa is.
    • Random guy: Oh, you’re from West Africa? This guy over there is from Tanzania.
    • Me: O….kay.
    • Random guy: Do you know him?
    • Me: …ummm
• How intensive parenting is! Holy cow, people! How the hell do you guys do this? People have full time jobs and then another full-time job attending the litany of things they enroll their kids in: recitals, soccer games, hockey, baseball, summer camp, etc. The last thing any kid in my country wants is their parents showing up at a soccer game, loudly yelling words of encouragement. Oh no, the horror! Your friends will laugh at you for being a baby forever. The loss of prestige would be so immense, you’d never recover any shred of dignity. Parents might show up to big events like if you’re a national finalist in some competition. That’s about it. But here I saw parents everywhere, hovering like so many helicopters. It was mind-boggling!
• Nerds. Where I grew up, the most respected kids in the school were those with the highest grades. Everybody’s GPA was public information and there was a high premium placed on being seen as one of the smart ones. That annoying kid sitting in front and answering all the questions? All the smart kids wanted to be that kid. The first few times someone poked fun at me for being a nerd, I answered something like “wait, you’re making fun of me because I’m smarter than you?” and proceeded to laugh in their face. Needless to say, I wasn’t very popular in high school.
• Hugs. Mine was not a touchy-feely kind of culture. No “I love you” among family members. Hugs were reserved for when someone was going on or coming from a trip. Once, when I was 9, my mom was coming from a 3-month long trip and came to pick me up from school. I ran to give her a hug… friends made fun of me for months afterwards. Like, look at the little baby running to hug his mom when she picks him up from school. I tried to explain that I hadn’t seen her in 3 months, but they were having none of it. Here, it seemed like everybody wanted a hug. At first it was “what is wrong with this girl?” But after it kept happening, I realized that I was the odd one for not liking hugs. (I’m really cuddly now, having lived half my life here, but it was definitely an acquired taste).

• How forthcoming people were with personal matters. You’d meet strangers in the bus and have a conversation with them where they’d proceed to tell you their dad was dying from cancer, or that their parents were getting divorced. I still can’t get my mom to tell me exactly how my grandma died. People are really, really, really protective of that kind of info where I grew up.
• How readily available information was! No need to go borrow the ONE family encyclopedia from 15 years ago. Get online and research any topic you want. I just about had a mental orgasm when I first discovered Wikipedia.
• Puns are not funny to most people!!! Puns were, like, the epitome of cleverness. Sigh. Never going to win this one. Never going to stop thinking that I’m hilarious for telling people that:
  • Coffee is not my cup of tea.
  • Sometimes, I’m meaner than average.
• Abortion rights!!! Again, a very strong taboo in my country. Not something most women there want to openly be associated with. Hell, people are still shy about talking about oral contraceptives!
• Female equality. Women are equal people! What a concept! Again, things are not perfect here but it would come as a shock to most of the men I grew up with that their wives should enjoy the same rights/decision-making powers as themselves.

Anyway, I could go on, but that will have to do for now.

I Lived 2 Weeks In A Parallel Universe | 4 TRUE GLITCH IN THE MATRIX STORIES

Explore four more true and extraordinary accounts where ordinary lives intersect with alternate realities, offering us glimpses into parallel universes. These tales challenge our understanding of reality, inviting us to question what lies beyond the realm of the known.

What do you think about Russia?

Meet Kirill Cherkalin. He’s an ordinary Federal Security Service (ex-KGB) colonel.

Police officers had found 12 billions rubles ($165 million) in cash in three apartments owned by Mr. Cherkalin.

Mr. Cherkalin calmly announced that he agrees to return to the Russian state 6 billion rubles, or about half, in return for keeping the other half for himself. He claims he has every right to take the rest, because it was acquired through honest work.

He said he “did not mind” if the investigators confiscate 6.5 million euros, 4,000 pounds, 793 million rubles, a Porsche Cayenne and, “all my Swiss watches and cufflinks too”.

But this is where Mr. Cherkalin wants to draw the line.

“$85 million in cash, the apartments, the private residences, the non-residential property, the land, and the jewelry belong to my ex-wife, my parents and other relatives.”

The investigators calculated the colonel and his whole family had earned 55 million rubles (less than $1 million) in the past fifteen years.

Mr. Cherkalin had a special talent that distinguished him from the rest of his colleagues. He is soft spoken and intelligent. That’s what made him perfect for the job.

A group of Federal Security Service officers had insider information about banks with bad debts that were on the radar of the Central Bank. They sent Mr. Cherkalin in to explain to the bankers in the most polite terms that they would provide protection in exchange for a certain compensation. They received compensation, but the bank licenses were still revoked by the Central Bank.

In other instances, they “created problems” for the banks and then offered their protection services. If the bank didn’t pay up, they organized for their licenses to be revoked.

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

It wasn’t the person themself..

Years ago, I worked as a receptionist in the showroom of a prestigious car dealership. I would greet customers, settle them comfortably in the seating area, then ask a member if the sales staff to attend to them.

One morning, a gentleman came in, and after exchanging pleasantries, he gave me his name, and explained that he had an appointment with a particular member of the sales staff. I invited him to take a seat, offered tea or coffee, then called the salesperson to advise them that he was waiting for them in reception.

Minutes later,vthe staff member all but ran over to my desk to ask where he was (I think he’d excused himself to use the facilities) and hissed at me “Don’t you know who he is?!!” I told her that he’d said his name was XYZ, and she stared at me like I’d lost my mind.

“YES! DOESN’T THAT MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU?” she sounded outraged when I told her that no; I understood he was an important customer (they all were) but his name wasn’t familiar to me

As he walked up behind her, she told me furiously that I SHOULD recognise his name: he was the star player for one of our city’s football teams. Looking her right in the eye, I told her “Oh… that explains it. I support the OTHER guys…” salesperson was mortified into silence!

The customer just about died laughing; told the salesperson that I’d been nothing but courteous and professional, and off they went to arrange delivery of his shiny new car. When they were done, he made a point of coming to thank me for the coffee, and say goodbye, shaking my hand, and wishing me well.

Nice guy: awful taste in football teams, though

What is the most ridiculous thing you had to deal with regarding an HOA?

A few days after I moved into a townhome in Flagstaff, I received a visit from my local HOA representative, who was an old and very severe looking woman. She provided me with a pamphlet detailing the rules I had to follow, and explained the trash and recycle pick up days/times.

For the most part, they were pretty simple, and easy to follow.

Except for the garden gnomes.

Every townhome needed to have a garden gnome somewhere near the entrance. The purpose of this was to keep up the whimsical spirit that the neighborhood wanted to convey to outsiders.

Unfortunately, I hate garden gnomes. I find them cheesy and annoying.

While the HOA representative offered to provide one to me, I declined her offer and decided to find one of my own that I could tolerate.

A few days later, I happened to be walking around Downtown Flagstaff, when I spotted this whole set of garden gnomes on a table. There were garden gnomes on motorcycles, garden gnomes staging a rock concert, garden gnomes going to the bathroom, among other weird garden gnome offerings.

Finally, I spotted a lawn ornament that perfectly conveyed my feelings for them.

Upon seeing this, I just knew I had to have it, and bought it without a care for the price.

When I returned home, I immediately placed it in the little garden area by the entrance of the townhome. I was certain that the head of the HOA would hate it and ask me to remove it.

A few days later, I heard a knock on the door. It was the head of the HOA.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, she mentioned that she had seen the lawn ornament, and absolutely loved it! She thought it was a quirky and unique twist on the lawn gnomes, and gave me a batch of homemade butter cookies for my cheekiness.

This kickstarted a friendship that remains to this day.

MINDBLOWING NDE! Woman POISONED, Shown the Layers of REALITY!

The West is wrong about China’s economy says Irish Economist Philip Pilkington

Open a Western business newspaper and one would probably come away thinking that the Chinese economy is doing poorly, or perhaps even on the verge of collapse. While it is true that the country’s economy continues to suffer from structural problems, this perception is not just wrong but risks undermining the credibility of Anglophone publications and the capacity for our policymakers to make rational decisions.

Last week Chinese price data showed mild deflation, a data point out of which the Western financial press made hay. “China’s deflation worsens as economic pressures mount”, read the Financial Times headline. Bloombergran

with “China’s consumer price drop worsens, fuelling deflation fears”. The mild deflation that is taking place in China does indeed stem from structural problems in the economy — especially the fact that it is overly reliant on investment spending and insufficiently reliant on consumer spending. But, at a certain point, the negative press becomes outright misleading.

Two other data points were released last week which show the Chinese economy growing robustly. The first came

from the private sector Caixin Services Purchasing Managers Index survey, which showed stronger than expected growth in the very sector about which bearish commentators have raised concerns.

Interestingly, the private sector surveys of the Chinese services sector show it expanding quicker than the official

Chinese government studies which showed a mild contraction in November. Those who accuse the Chinese of inventing economic statistics would do well to explain why government surveys are more conservative than their private sector equivalents. Whatever way one looks at it, the Chinese services sector is now expanding.

Then there is Chinese export data, which showed exports expanding for the first time in seven months. Combined with the service sector data, this shows a broad-based expansion of the Chinese economy. Not a veritable economic boom, it must be stressed, but continuous growth that is consistent with the IMF’s own projections

. These show that Beijing will comfortably meet its 5% growth target this year — a projection China bears seem to ignore when they pass judgement on the economy.

There are rumours that China may have advanced in its capacity to produce semiconductors. A specialist hardware website notes how a recent Huawei laptop listing suggests that the Chinese have broken the 5 nanometer chip barrier. If the listing is correct, it suggests that China has advanced even further than the 7 nanometer processor found

in the new Huawei Mate 60 smartphone. The phone shocked Western analysts who thought that such technology was beyond the production capacity of the Chinese. It increasingly looks like the American-led chip sanctions are just pressuring China to produce the needed technology domestically, and thereby undermining the competitiveness of incumbent Western players.

The Chinese economy will not grow at the runaway rates it did in the 2000s and 2010s. No one expects this now that the average Chinese person has become wealthier. Indeed, the Chinese government’s own growth targets reflect this new reality. But at a certain point, the obsessive bearishness about China is discrediting. Last year at a conference, Fang Xinghai, vice-chair of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, stated: “I would advise international investors to find out what’s really going on in China and what’s the real intention of our government by themselves. Don’t read too much of the international media.” In response to this, UBS Chairman Colm Kelleher said

that he and his colleagues were not reading Western media on the issue.

How long can the financial papers continue to push their bearish China narrative without discrediting themselves? More importantly, who exactly do they think they are helping? Policymakers benefit from being well-informed, and businesspeople who actually engage with China will quickly turn to other news sources, as Kelleher alluded to last year. Critical stories on China may make Westerners who have recently soured on the country feel good. Yet they are nothing but a soporific, and the effects cannot last forever.

As Sun Is Killing Humans , Plane Must Avoid Daylight By Travelling Around The World

In World War II, there was an SS group so evil that even the Nazis and Hitler questioned what they did. What happened to them after the war?

You’re likely thinking of the notorious Dirlewanger Brigade, led by infamously sadistic necrophile, alcoholic and rapist Doktor Oskar Dirlewanger, which unit was filled with convicted criminals and other undesirables recruited from prisons and concentration camps.

Dirlewanger himself had been in trouble for various odious crimes, including raping a 14 year old girl, prior to the war, but his disgrace was short-lived, and he was rehabilitated (and his doctorate, in political science, reinstated) for pragmatic reasons, it seems; his willingness to do things that most normal people would consider unthinkable a useful asset in the amoral environment of the SS.

His disgusting sexual proclivities and intense cruelty and sadism meant that the unit he led was given more or less free rein, to murder, torture, rape and burn. They started life guarding a concentration camp, and the cruelties inflicted on the prisoners by Dirlewanger and his criminal cronies were so evil as to almost defy belief.

Thereafter, they were moved on to Belarus where they took action against “gangs”, basically a euphemism for terrorising the population, with rape, torture and extortion aplenty. Dirlewanger and his brigade, a division at this point, was eventually shot to pieces by the Red Army during Operation Bagration, and then reformed to suppress the Warsaw Uprising, with more of the cruelty and sadism that had come to characterise the unit, and for which Dirlewanger was promoted and received the Knight’s Cross.

Oskar Dirlewanger himself survived the war, but not for long. He died in a prison camp in 1945; most likely he was beaten to death by the guards.

You may also be thinking of the Kaminski Brigade, led by Bronislav Kominski, pictured below, which was a unit of the Waffen SS formed from Soviet nationals who for whatever reason chose to collaborate with the Nazis.

Similar to the antics of the Dirlewanger Brigade, the Kaminski Brigade was noteworthy for their evil practises behind the lines, and during Operation Bagration and the Warsaw Uprising. Rape and torture, as well as large scale murder of the civilian population, characterised these men, much to the disgust of the Army and even the SS, which recognised the unruly and ungovernable nature of the unit, dissolving it in 1944.

What is a problem that people who smoke weed every day face?

I can’t smoke on my balcony anymore, even though I live in a country where cannabis became legal from shore-to-shore on October 17, 2018. And the tobacco smokers in my apartment building in Peace River, Alberta, Canada, can’t smoke on their balconies either.

For a while, the landlady of my building turned a blind eye to tobacco and cannabis smokers in the building. From 2021 to the spring of 2023, we all smoked on our balconies until someone complained.

All the smokers received notices as summer began in 2023. We were warned not to smoke in common places including the balconies, or we faced immediate evictions. We all were expected to smoke or vaporize at least five metres away from the building.

At first I was angry, but I have since adapted. I also smoke less a bit less now, because that puff is a little harder to get at.

During the summers, when the skies never get dark, I smoke up in the hills behind the Catholic school near my apartment.

A little girl warned me not to up into the hills once because of the bears. The neighbourhood up in the hills behind the school is active with nature, as I discovered in the summer of 2023. I heard a bear several metres above me on an August day. He might’ve become irritated or attracted to the fruit-scented smoke of my flavoured pre-roll. Another time, a marten ran along the path in front of me. A creepy deer often followed me around the schoolyard after I had walked down the hill. The animals were cool, but the dirt biker in July was annoying. Still, he was easy enough to miss or evade.

In the winters when it starts getting dark after 4 p.m. in December, I have been going out for puffs on the pipe in the parking lot, taking care not to smoke less than five metres away from the building. The winters often freeze our patio doors shut anways, so the balconies aren’t easy to open up from January to March.

Below is a photo of the hilly area where I often smoke above Peace River in the north part of town taken in September 2022.

4 Unexplained TIMESLIP AND TIME TRAVEL STORIES From The US & UK

Explore five more true and intriguing timeslip tales that challenge the boundaries of time. From Jacob Ward’s historical encounter with a centuries gone indigenous village, to Amanda Clark’s pastoral encounter with an ancestral homestead, Karen Sinclair’s eerie descent into a 17th-century stable, and Jeff Morgan’s nostalgic glimpse into his own childhood. Such extraordinary time slip accounts defy reality and invite us to ponder the mysteries of existence.

For those of you who keep a clean home, how do you do it? What tricks or techniques do you use?

My mother was a nurse. You know how busy a nurse could get? Really, really busy. But I had a clean home growing up and I maintain a clean and tidy home now, thanks to my mom’s rules:

• You take something out to use, put it back where it belongs after you’re done using it. Right away. For example: get the scissors out of the drawer to use? Put them back in the drawer RIGHT AWAY after.
• If something take under two minutes to do, do it RIGHT AWAY. Right away, not “in a bit”, not “later”. For example: after taking a shower, it takes just 1 minute to wipe down the shower glass door and walls, do it right away.
• Always spend an extra minute looking back at what you just did. – This may sound silly, but it’s so true for me. For example, after doing the dishes and thinking I’m done, when I look back, I might notice a wet spot on the floor that need to wipe up; a bowl left out on the countertop that should be put away;…
• If you spend 5 minutes cleaning up every day, you won’t have to spend 3 hours cleaning up at the end of the week.
• Train your kids (and your husband/boyfriend) these rules.

I hope these rules could help you a little bit!

Will a warning shot scare a bear?

Not always. When I was a younger man, I used to guide on the rivers in Northern BC and the company required us to carry large-frame revolvers to protect our guests and ourselves. Predatory grizzlies in remote areas have one of three reactions when you fire a warning shot – they either run away, they stop in their tracks or they continue to come at you. Literally, it’s “Oh. Oh sh*t. Sh*t sh*tsh*tsh*t no no nononono….”

It’s the last scenario that usually ends by shooting the bear and having to take photos to accompany a report. These revolvers are ridiculously loud, but some bears simply don’t give a rat’s ass and continue to come at you. I’ve personally seen it happen more than once, and it’s absolutely terrifying – it’s like they’re on a death wish and they come at you with a locked-on stare, as if their heads were mounted on a gyroscopic frame. Not sure why it happens, but it does – if they’re deaf, how does one tell, right? 😉 . And you would not believe how fast these monsters can run, it’s mind-blowing that something that big can move that quick over rough terrain. No one can outrun a grizzly at full pace.

Other bears like black bears are more timid, but if they’re sick or starving, one can’t predict their behavior. Kodiaks are even bigger than grizzlies, but I’ve never been to the Kodiak Archipelago – I’ve never seen one in person. Can’t imagine they like head-pats from smelly fishermen.

What is it like to have a beautiful wife?

My wife is an insecure woman’s nightmare: IQ in the 130s, talented musician, funny, head-turningly beautiful.

We’re both in our 40s, at her work this year she’s had a guy literally fall down the stairs after seeing her. Multiple guys from the IT department come along if she needs something. It’s hysterical.

I get it easy. Comments from men about her being better looking than me, is about it really. I’ve had a guy come on to her whilst we’re at the bar together ordering a drink. Found it funny. I can pretend when we’re both dressed up and we walk into a restaurant and several people turn and look at us that I’m remotely anything to do with that. She doesn’t notice.

I was shocked when we first met (mid to late 30s) how women reacted around her. Passing her on the street she would be looked up and down with the most hateful, evil faces. She’s told me when she was younger on nights out women would put cigarettes out on her clothes or lie about her to start arguments in group situations.

She deals with a load of envious rubbish, which is a shame because she’s a naturally shy person. I just have to deal with people wondering if she’s married to me because I’m rich, hilarious or very well endowed. Let them wonder.

GHOST ARMY* Summoned to Fight- Lord of the Rings

What did someone do on an airplane that made you say “You’ve gotta be kidding me”?

I was on an airplane flying home from a work trip. I noticed a young lady sitting across the isle from me. I don’t remember exactly what it was that clued me into the fact that she was military but, I noticed it and commented, being a military brat, I am always happy to chat with our military personnel. Turned out she had just graduated from advanced schooling (or something like that, its been many years ago) and was heading home to visit her family before heading out to whatever was next. She mentioned that she had her dress blues in the bin above her because she was worried about checking the uniform. As the last of the plane was loading this fellow sees her clothing bag and goes to shove his carryon bag in on top of her uniform, crushing it. I quickly told the fellow to stop, that the bag he was crushing was her military dress blues, and that he needed to find another place for his bag. (To be clear, her bag was neatly folded up and only taking up the space of a single suitcase, the fellow just decided that it would be acceptable to crush someone else’s clothing rather than finding another place for his bag). He started to argue with me when the flight attendant (who must have overheard) approached and asked to see his ticket. His seat was in the back of the plane and we were up in the expanded economy section. The flight attendant calmly told the man he would need to take his luggage to the back of the plane and find a spot for it there since the bin was obviously full. (which it was). He grumbled but, carried on his way. The flight attendant carefully pulled the girls uniform bag out, refolded it correctly and neatly, put it back in the bin and closed the bin lid. The young lady told me, “Thank you for stopping him”. I simply replied I was happy to be of help for our military personnel.

When the flight landed and I was at baggage claim, a couple came up to me. It was her parents. Apparently the young lady had told them the story and they wanted to thank me. Again, I told them I was happy I had seen it and been able to stop it. Wished them all the best, grabbed my bag and headed on my way.

What is the number of tanks in China compared to other countries such as the USA, UK, and France? How many tanks does China produce annually?

Do you know the basic difference between China versus US, UK and France?

These group of nations regularly attack and invade nations at their will and certainly get drawn in on conflicts at any moment in time. So these despicable nation can and will need tanks in abundance apart from its own defence need.

China don’t. China only need it for defence and it has more than necessary. China have not been at war since 1979. Or 44 years ago! You ought to know this as it showed clearly China is not an aggressive or a war mongering nation like these despicable barbaric nations.

But since you ask, China can and will build anything including tanks on immediate notice and it can build more numbers than what these 2 nations put together. Hopefully it never have to as China prefers peace not war. Making tanks don’t make China rich, making cars do!

What’s the funniest court case you’ve seen?

I didn’t think it was all that funny, but my courtroom was in tears over this, they were so amused.

I found myself sitting as a judge pro tem in Los Angeles County’s night court, which is held once a month at various courthouses in LA County. I had a Spanish language interpreter for this one case, and the lady before me was crying and doing her best to control her tears. I could tell she was very, very upset. I gently asked her what was wrong. Through the interpreter, she said she was so scared and so nervous about what was going to happen in court. I told her not to worry, no one is going to jail tonight, so let me see what was going on.

I read through the county’s paperwork, but my copy was terrible and I could only see that it looked like she was cited for an expired dog license, it had turned into an arrest warrant, and the bail was enormous. Then there were penalties on top of the bail.

I said, “Ms. Doe, are you really here for an expired dog license?” The audiences laughed aloud, and she said, “Yes,” with tears streaming down her face. I was confused because I had never seen anything like this before. I must have really looked confused, because the people in the courtroom laughed harder when I tried to read my terrible copy of the paperwork, then looked up at her which led to more laughter.

I told the woman that I am confused by why the fine was so high. Then she said she didn’t know what the fine was, and I told her it appears to be $7,000, give or take. She began to cry again, and the audience laughed again. I reminded the audience that they were in a courtroom.

I told the woman that it looks like the citation was given in 2012, and she said she got the ticket in 2002. I asked, “You got this citation 15 years ago, and only now you decide to come to court?” The woman nodded tearfully, and said, “yes.” Again, laughter.

I asked her what happened to cause this citation, and she said she was out jogging and had Goofy with her. I said, “Who’s Goofy?” She said, “My little dog.” I asked what kind of dog is Goofy, and she said, “a chihuahua.”

I asked her to go on, and she stated, “I crossed the street, and there was a police car that I didn’t see, and the cop motioned for me to come back across the street back to him. So I ran back across the street to him, and the police officer said I jay walked and he was going to give me a ticket. I told him that that was crazy, because he is the one who called me to come back across the street. Then he said he wasn’t going to give me a ticket, and he was playing with Goofy. Then he said that Goofy’s tag was expired, so he wrote on a paper to get Goofy’s tag renewed. I didn’t think it was a real ticket, because I didn’t have to sign anything, and it didn’t look like any ticket I’ve seen before….” The audience again started chuckling.

“I see,” I said with a sigh. “And where is Goofy today?” Her eyes welled up with tears, and she said he just died. And I asked if I was correct in believing that she got a note to update Goofy’s license it didn’t look like a real ticket to her, so now, 15 years later she decided to come to court. She said, “Yes, because I got a letter saying there was a warrant out for my arrest and I had to come to court. I thought I was going to go to jail today for Goofy’s license.” This amused the audience to no end.

I kept thinking that this is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen in court. I said softly to myself, “What to do? What to do?” which brought laughter to the room again. I asked if she has other dogs at home, and asked if they have licenses. She said yes, and yes, of course.

I looked at this lady with tear-stained cheeks and said, “OK, here’s what I’m going to do.” Her eyes were welled up with tears, she sucked in her breath and looked like she was going to faint. The courtroom for once became very silent. “This ticket is over 15 years old, you were never properly noticed, as you never signed a promise to appear, and the legal file has nothing indicating you signed any such promise, but you did appear when you received notice by mail, 15 years later. In the interest of justice, I am recalling your arrest warrant, and dismissing this citation in its entirety and waiving all fines, fees and assessments. I need you to go to the cashier and get a document saying this is all cleared up. Do not leave without this. I don’t want to see you back here on this matter. The cashier may ask for a $25.00 administration fee, and I am ordering that fee waived. If the cashier disagrees, have them call me, and I’ll walk over there and straighten this out myself.”

The audience applauded, and this lady, for once actually smiled, and said, “Oh my God, thank you, thank you.”

Then of course I said, “This concludes this matter. Next, I have matter number…”

What is the most misunderstood foreign policy issue of our day?

North Korea.

The usual way of covering them in Western Media is as utterly irrational. This is in the long tradition of viewing East Asians as “inscrutable orientals.” But generally speaking, if you think a country’s foreign policy is entirely devoid of reason, it’s safe to assume that you’re not getting the full picture.

The picture we get is of Kim Jong Un as an overgrown baby.

Look! Doesn’t he look like a pudgy toddler? Look, he’s a fat and mean dictator who murders his own family members! Look, his people are starving!! Look, he’s testing yet another ballistic missile! Oh, no, that one was a flop! Hahahaha, isn’t that funny? He tried to flip this missile into the sea, near the Japanese coast, but instead, it was a flop!!!

This, to put it mildly, is not designed to inform; it’s designed to entertain and scare. And it’s succeeding. Very few people take the time to understand what kind of grand strategy lies behind their actions.

This is not to say that I myself can explain everything they do, but I’d like to submit to you a radical thought: the North Korean leadership is entirely rational. Here’s what you need to understand:

• North Korea is scared. Of what? Of the US. Why? Because we’ve repeatedly threatened them with regime change. Here we are, doing it again, less than a month ago

• .
• But, surely, they must know that we’re not REALLY going to invade them? They know no such thing. Dictatorships have this advantage over democracies: they have very long institutional memories. The Korean War is something most Americans don’t ever think about. Things are very different in North Korea. We tried to wipe them off the map, within living memory. We routinely invade countries we don’t like. Why wouldn’t they take us seriously when we threaten them?
• They want nuclear weapons because it would prevent us from invading them. That’s it. They’re not going to nuke anyone first; that would mean nuclear annihilation for them. They want one thing: to survive. They know they can’t win a war against us; they’re not stupid. But they can make the cost of a potential invasion very, very costly by acquiring the capacity to nuke one of our cities.
• There is nothing we can do about this. We have three bad options: diplomacy, sanctions, and war.
  • Diplomacy won’t work because there is nothing we can offer that will make them be willing to give up their nukes. They have seen what happens to people who make deals with the West in which they give up their quest for nuclear weapons. They know that both Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi would still be in power if they’d had nuclear weapons. It doesn’t matter what we offer; they’re not going to trust us. They will never willingly give up their nuclear weapons. It’s their biggest guarantee that we won’t topple their regime.
  • Sanctions won’t work because we’ve basically done everything we can do on our own. Their main economic lifeline is China, so China would have to agree to sanctions that bite. But China will only go so far in sanctioning them, because at the end of the day China prefers a nuclear North Korea to a collapsed one. We don’t care if they collapse. What is it to us? They’re far away and won’t affect us. But China very sensibly doesn’t want millions of refugees pouring into its borders. It also doesn’t want regime change, because that would mean replacing the Kim regime with something more friendly to the US. Why the hell would we expect China to help us replace a regime that is friendly to them with one that is friendly to us? That makes no sense whatsoever.
  • War won’t work because we don’t have the stomach for it. This is not a bad thing. We would win, but at what cost? Seoul is very close to the demilitarized border between North and South. North Korea has enough artillery to annihilate the city. They can also easily hit Japan. Potentially hundreds of thousands of civilians would die. We’re not going to invade them. If we show that much disregard for the lives of the civilian population of our allies, everyone will conclude that mutual defense agreements with us are meaningless. South Korea, Japan, and all our major allies would have renewed incentives to produce their own nukes. China would feel threatened by a nuclear Japan and South Korea and would have renewed incentive to ramp up its aggression in the region before these countries got nukes… it would not be pretty.

The reality is that North Korea has found the one thing that will allow their regime to survive: nuclear weapons. They’re very sensibly not going to give them up. And there’s not a damn thing we can do about it.

I Woke Up In A Parallel Universe Without Covid-19 | 3 TRUE GLITCH IN THE MATRIX STORIES

Venture into the perplexing realm of parallel universes with three more true and gripping accounts. Meet Seth Boyle, who after a brief nap finds himself in a world where a global pandemic is unheard of; Phoebe Donovan, whose lucid dreams offer glimpses into similar yet distinct alternate lives; and Clarissa Stone, whose deep sleep propels her into a version of her home where she’s unrecognizably out of place. Such experiences challenge our notions of human existence, and leave us wondering if we are more than what we perceive ourselves to be.

What things do Americans do that people from other countries find extremely weird or strange?

There are so many things, I don’t know where to begin. I will briefly mention a few things that friends in East and Southeast Asia have said seem strange to them:

• They think Americans are odd for constantly speaking words of love, as well as hugging and kissing family and friends so freely.
• They do not understand why comments (that we Americans consider rude) about my appearance or weight are not appreciated or welcomed by me. Literally I have lost friends because I’ve tried explaining the differences in our cultures when some do this.
• They are flummoxed as to why we tolerate an ineffectual government that switches parties every four to eight years. We don’t understand either. I assure you.
• They don’t see why Americans are so arrogant or that they are unable to be promoted in their career path because they are humble and unassuming. Many don’t realize that the arrogance and self-promotion of one’s best qualities is why those people are given a raise or a more prestigious position.
• More than one or two romantic dates for them is to be heading to the marriage altar. They don’t understand why I want to know a man very well before marriage. They think marriage should come first and then we can spend the rest of our lives getting to know one another. My anxiety could never!
• They can’t comprehend why we don’t take off our shoes before entering our homes. They think it’s unsanitary to bring in germs from the outside world. They definitely have a good point.
• Some think it strange that as a society we tend to place elderly family members in nursing facilities. Though this attitude is changing as large amounts of people are entering retirement years with not enough young family members to provide adequate care.
• Depending on the country, they sometimes think it is odd for us to be driving cars so much. It’s a necessity for us unless living in huge cities like New York or Chicago.
• They don’t understand why our desserts are so sweet. Or why we don’t season our food!
• They do not understand why people in America own so many guns!

I could go on and on. Differences don’t have to divide us though. I think instead we should share each others cultural background so that we gain understanding. I certainly need it.

What was the moment you realized your significant other didn’t care about you at all anymore?

There were many signs that my husband didn’t care about me anymore—like after 15 years of making a big deal of Valentine’s Day, he didn’t even acknowledge it. Despite the fact that the whole family came out of their rooms to find cards, gifts and candy from me, and I had hand-sewn little red lacy heart ornaments to decorate our ficus tree. Even after that, he did nothing to honor me.

I discovered that he had been spending all our disposable income taking his co-workers to lunch while I was home clipping coupons for food, buying dented and expired cans and sewing all the kids’ clothes to save money.

He had nothing to say to me anymore despite our long history of lively debates and philosophical discussions and sharing of stories from our earlier lives.

But the moment I knew beyond doubt that he didn’t care about me anymore was the day we were both in the kitchen and I aspirated a mouthful of water. My airway was completely blocked. I frantically signaled to him that I was choking, that I needed help. He just stood there completely calm with his arms folded, watching me. I signaled the Heimlich maneuver but he didn’t lift a finger to help me. I was starting to get tunnel vision. So I doubled my fist, placed it over my diaphragm and fell against the edge of the counter, launching the water out of my throat and gasping for air.

I looked at him incredulously. “Why didn’t you help me?”

“What was I supposed to do?” This, from a guy who did Search and Rescue for the Navy.

“Couldn’t you see I was signaling the Heimlich?”

“Well, yeah, but I didn’t think that would work for water.”

“So you just chose to do NOTHING?” I admit I’m a bit slow on the uptake but I finally realized that he was hoping I’d die to save him the trouble and expense of a divorce and custody battle, not to mention alimony.

And then I remembered that his previous wife, who’d been an alcoholic, had died suddenly.

He found Giants then the Government Found Him | What really happened to Andrew Dawson?

What is the most “how could that even happen” thing you’ve heard of?

Meet Frane Selak, the world’s (un)luckiest man.

In January 1965, Frane was aboard a train travelling through a cold, rainy canyon.

At one point of the journey the train was somehow flipped off of its tracks, and tumbled into a river.

A bystander rushed to the train’s aid, and pulled Frane out of the river. Unfortunately, 17 people drowned, trapped inside the train as it sank to the river’s bottom.

A narrow brush with death.

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The next year, Frane was aboard the only plane ride he would ever take.

During the flight, the plane malfunctioned, and Frane was blown out of the aircraft.

He tumbled through the air— and landed safely in a haystack.

The plane crashed in a field, killing all 19 of its passengers.

Yet another close call.

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It seemed that Frane had experienced his fair share of near-death experiences, but life still had quite a lot in store for Mr. Selak.

• 1966- A bus Frane was aboard crashed into a river, killing four. Frane was able to swim to safety with only minor injuries.
• 1970- While he was driving, Frane’s car suddenly caught on fire. He managed to escape just before the fuel tank exploded.
• 1973- In yet another driving incident, the engine of Frane’s car was doused in scalding oil from a malfunctioning fuel pump, causing flames to shoot through the air vents. Other than singed hair, Frane was unharmed.
• 1995- While on a trip in Zagreb, Croatia, Frane was struck by a bus. Luckily enough, he only sustained minor injuries.
• 1996- As Frane was driving, he was forced to swerve into a guardrail to avoid an oncoming truck. The rail collapsed under the car’s weight, sending it plummeting into a gorge. However, Frane wasn’t wearing a seat belt, so he was flung out of his car—right onto a tree. He held on, and safely watched as his car tumbled down into the gorge.

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While he’s lucky to have survived more than seven brushes with death, Frane Selak seemed plagued by misfortune.

That is, until 2003 rolled around.

Two days after his 73rd birthday, Frane purchased a lottery ticket—- and won. It wasn’t a small amount, either: Roughly $1.1 million USD.

Perhaps even better than his lottery win?

He’s gone over twenty years without being placed in a life-threatening situation.

Frane Selak truly has beaten all odds.

Every time I try to ask out a girl, they tell me I’m too ugly and lower my smile off my face. Why?

You don’t realize how lucky you are. Any woman who would tell a guy that he’s too ugly to date, is a horrible person, shallow and unkind. You are SO lucky not to be dating her.

Here’s the real problem: Dating is a horrible system for meeting people of the opposite sex. If you walk up to a stranger and ask her out, you don’t know her and she doesn’t know you. Therefore the transaction is based entirely on physical appearance. She judges you, not on whether she might like you, but rather on whether she will look good with you. She’s too dumb to know that when a pretty girl is with a less attractive guy, people assume he’s got amazing money, a real provider, and SHE got him.

You’re not interested in dating for show. So don’t walk up and ask out strangers.

Instead, get involved in ongoing community projects — cleanup, building, feeding the homeless, hospice service — things that really help people who really need it. You work hard at it, do it well, and are polite and kind to everyone. If a woman of merit working on the same project sees your merit, she will be drawn to you for genuine values that you share.

Even if she’s married or not into guys or is too much older than you, she still values you enough to talk about you to her friends or kin who value the same things. And you’ll allow yourself to be set up on dates by a woman who likes and admires you for your character.

Public service is far better for meeting women who aren’t looking for arm candy. than cold-call asking them out. I’ve never seen a good marriage that resulted from attractiveness dating, but I’ve seen several happy marriages arise from working together on various projects of worth. None of these people devoted much attention to looking or acting cool. But they did put in a lot of effort on being kind to others — even to less-attractive guys. And after many years together, they both had the beauty that comes from caring about other people.

What are some unwritten social rules everyone should know?

1. Sometimes the best time to call others is text them.
2. If someone says “wow, that’s crazy” 3 times, it’s probably time to wrap up your story.
3. Don’t abandon your friend at a party where they hardly know anyone.
4. Don’t fake that you’re interested in someone. Faux interest is worse than none.
5. If you’re borrowing something for a third time, you need one of your own.
6. Don’t mess up an apology with an excuse. “I’m sorry but…” only taints the sincerity of the apology you were attempting to give.
7. Sending the right rejection texts is a much better option than ghosting when online dating.
8. Don’t make plans in front of people you are not inviting.
9. When someone tells you a secret, take it with you to your grave, even if you wake up as enemies the next morning.
10. Respect different shades of opinions. Remember what’s 6 to you will appear 9 to someone facing you.

How do you bounce back when life gets hard after you lose everything in your life?

Jackson Hinkle, an American political commentator, was banned on YouTube on 12 October, he believes, for saying certain things about the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

I looked him up. He’s just 21, spent 3 years of his life building his 300,000 YouTube follower base and a livelihood instead of doing a degree, wow, but it all just went, boom, because of some decision by some committee or algorithm at Google.

YouTube didn’t give him a reason.

So he pivoted his focus to X.

Within SIX DAYS his number of followers there rocketed from 500,000 to 1,000,000, a rate of almost 80,000 per day, and he’s probably far from done yet!

Whether Hinkle should have been banned or not is not the point. The point is this, if you ever lose your job, don’t get that job offer, don’t win that contract, or any door just closes on you IF YOU STAY POSITIVE AND KEEP AT IT you’ll more often than not end up getting something way better, and this is just one of many examples I’ve seen.

How do you bounce back? By reminding yourself that there are far more doors than the one you’re trying get through.

Voyager Receives a Message from Pre-Warp Society

Star Trek Voyager Season 6 Episode 12 Blink of an Eye.

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

Field Service Engineering.

Small outfit. Manager hired an accountant.

Accountant treated the 5 or 6 of us engineers like we were all theiving fucks and she was going bust us. (best group of guys I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. I’d trust any of them with my life. Never met a better group of dudes).

Fine. The corporate credit card and accompanying expense and travel software we used at the time underwent a change of ownership and became super jank. Never worked. Like EVER. She cranked up the strictness on policies and whatnot, and made my boss the approver for ANY purchases made. Now, the thing is, at this company our per diem for food and drinks was handled with that card, and it being a small team and close knit group of guys we had an understanding that there was a dollar limit that we should try to keep it under. It was a generous amount, and let’s say you were frugal for the week and on Friday you and the boys went out for a nice dinner, nobody cares if you went over that amount. Just you know, be cool.

With the new accountant taking the reigns we suddenly had to have EVERY transaction approved, with receipts uploaded, on an app that literally wouldn’t work on the weekends, and most days of the week, and would almost never save a receipt the first time. With 6 guys on the road trying to buy breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, hygiene, laundry, plus any parts tools supplies etc for work, plus fuel and airline tickets and hotels and on and on and on.

Within days we were effectively shutdown. Unactionable while my boss sifts through hundreds and hundreds of transactions that he wasn’t even aware would be oiling up in his junk folder, and the kicker was- there hundreds that just couldn’t be approved because the engineer had expensed it, uploaded the receipt, and the app promptly deleted the photo and called it a day. When I left I still had like 300 plus transactions sitting in “upload receipt limbo.”

All the sudden it was back to the honor system again.

What do poor people in the United States of America eat?

10 years ago, I was living on a meager $600/month.

I lived in a rooming house where my rent was $250. That left me $350 for living expenses.

What did I eat?

• Not much fast food, interestingly enough.
• Lots of ramen noodles. Very filling, very cheap.

• Rice-a-Roni. Easy to make. Quick. Relatively filling.

• Chicken leg quarters bought from Save-A-Lot. I would cut those in half and have either 1 thigh or 1 drumstick per meal.
• Lots of canned tuna.
• Hard-boiled eggs.
• Peanut butter.
• Beans. Black beans, red beans, pinto beans, all beans. I ate so many beans I’m surprised there are any left on the planet.
• white rice.
• Yogurt.
• Frozen mixed vegetables. Fresh vegetables? Forget it! Too expensive.
• I lived next to a Domino’s Pizza. So, there would be some of that.
• Raisin bran cereal and whatever cheapest yogurt I could find.

My most standard meals would be:

• ramen noodles plus one chicken drumstick plus one hard-boiled egg.
• hard-boiled egg, mayo, and tuna sandwich.
• Occasionally, I would cook my chicken in an African peanut sauce and eat it with white rice (another of my staples).
• Fried plantains. This is still one of my favorite things to eat.

• yogurt with raisin bran and red grapes.
• Rice-a-Roni pasta with one chicken thigh. Aah, good times.
• When I felt like splurging, I would buy a chicken shawarma sandwich. But I would agonize over the decision: a whole $5 spent on only 1 meal… at this rate, I’d spent a whole $300 on food for the month, an unimaginably large sum.

My dream in life used to be to earn enough to go buy a chicken shawarma sandwich whenever I felt like it without having to worry about whether I could afford it or not.

Now I’m literally living the dream.

I’ve come a long, long way.

Have you ever tried to get what you want by threatening to quit your job and then have it backfire on you?

My boss did. She was a little El Salvadoran spitfire who’d had servants before moving to America, and apparently thought her employees should fill that role as well. She made everyone’s life miserable, but especially mine. I was the IT manager, and since she had no idea what our remote system could do, she kept asking for things it couldn’t and would raise holy hell when informed of that fact. She also seemed to dislike men in general and was much harder on us penis-bearers than her employees of the female persuasion.

Nobody in administration could stand her, but she was cagey enough not to commit any fireable offenses. This went on to the point that I was actively looking for another job, but IT jobs were scarce in the remote area where I lived. Her office was across the hall from mine, and one morning my data entry person and I were talking when we heard a loud commotion coming from her office, with screaming and loud invective hurled in Spanish. We waited for things to calm down, and then went across the hall to see what was going on.

Turns out she had thrown one of her patented fits in the Administrator’s office. I never learned exactly what it was, but she was denied something she wanted and blurted out that she quit. The administrator quickly seized on that statement (there were witnesses) and asked her to give him her resignation ASAP. She tried to backpedal, but no dice. Hence the screaming, etc. I don’t usually wish people ill, but that night my assistant and I celebrated at a local bar. And life immediately got much better.

5 Unexplained TIME SLIP AND TIME TRAVEL STORIES From The US & UK

Dive into a collection of five more true and fascinating time slip accounts, each offering a glimpse into the past within the present. Experience Michael’s mysterious encounter with the revival of an old school, Sarah’s disorienting drive through Christchurch, Debbie and her uncle’s encounter with a Victorian era Preston, Callum’s discovery of a remote Scottish festival, and Stephanie’s brief journey to an earlier era on a Hillside Road. These narratives blend history and reality, challenging our understanding of time, while inviting us to contemplate its mysteries.

China slams U.S. statement for attempting to endorse Philippines’ infringement of Chinese sovereignty

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson on Wednesday said China firmly rejects the statement issued by the U.S. State Department to groundlessly attack China’s fully justified law enforcement activities at Ren’ai Jiao and Huangyan Dao, calling it an attempt to endorse the Philippines’ infringement of Chinese sovereignty and provocation.

Spokesperson Mao Ning made the remarks when asked to comment on the statement released by the U.S. State Department on Dec. 10, in which the U.S. side threatened once again that the U.S. Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty extended to the South China Sea.

Huangyan Dao has always been part of China’s territory and China has indisputable sovereignty over Huangyan Dao and its adjacent waters, Mao said at a daily news briefing.

Mao said on Dec. 9, three official vessels of the Philippines, without permission from the Chinese side, intruded into adjacent waters of Huangyan Dao. China Coast Guard took necessary measures in accordance with the law, which were professional, restrained, lawful and legitimate.

The U.S. State Department, in disregard of the facts, issued a statement to groundlessly attack China’s fully justified law enforcement activities to safeguard our rights at Ren’ai Jiao and Huangyan Dao, she said.

“The statement is an attempt to endorse the Philippines’ infringement of Chinese sovereignty and provocation. We firmly reject it,” Mao added.

Mao said for some time, out of selfish geopolitical interests, the United States has incited, supported and assisted in the Philippines’ infringement and provocation at sea, and repeatedly made threats by citing the U.S. Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty.

Such moves blatantly embolden the Philippines’ violation of China’s sovereignty, seriously violate the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and gravely jeopardize regional peace and stability. China has made clear that the so-called arbitral award on the South China Sea is illegal, null and void, and has no binding effect whatsoever, Mao said.

“The United States itself would not implement the judgement of the International Court of Justice and international arbitral awards. In what position is the United States to tell China that it should implement an illegal arbitral award?” said Mao.

The United States needs to know that no threat, coercion or unfounded attack and accusation will lead anywhere or shake China’s firm resolve and will in safeguarding its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, Mao said.

“China will continue to resolutely uphold its legitimate sovereignty and rights and interests in accordance with domestic and international law. The U.S.’s attempts will not succeed,” she added.

Caramel Walnut Glazed Spiral Ham

A delicious twist to a traditional holiday dish, this succulent caramel-glazed ham is sure to become a family favorite. Hints of ginger, crunchy walnuts and aromatic apple make this recipe a magnificent centerpiece for Christmas or Easter dinner.

Cook: 2 hr 40 min | Total: 3 hr 25 min | Servings: 30

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup toasted California walnut pieces
• 10 pound spiral ham
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 3/4 cup mulled apple cider
• 1/3 cup crushed ginger snaps

Instructions

1. Toasting Walnuts: In large, dry skillet over medium-high heat, toast walnuts, stirring occasionally, until lightly brown, about 1 to 2 minutes.
2. Cook spiral ham as per instructions found on the label (or for 13 to 15 minutes per pound in a 375 degrees F).
3. Ten minutes prior to serving ham, place a sauce pan over high heat and combine brown sugar and apple cider. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer until it forms into a thick syrup, about 6 to 8 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and add ginger snaps and walnuts to syrup.
5. Remove ham from oven and place on platter; pour syrup over ham, slice and serve.

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

I had a break in at my apartment. Someone was knocking on my door. I had one of those chain link locks and when I cracked my door open to see who was there. The person on the other end kicked the door open breaking the lock.

I then had my face beat to a pulp by the intruder. Both my eye orbits were fractured, my nose broken, my teeth were bleeding. He started choking me and I lost consciousness. When I regained consciousness I was holding the shattered remains of a desk lamp in my hands. Edit: I should mention that durring the time I blacked out I managed to move from my kitchen, where my front door was, into a roomates room and I was backed against the wall in his room. This means I traversed about 30 feet of my apartment and managed to get ahold of a lamp, ripping the cord from the wall.

My attacker was standing in the middle of the room holding the skin of what had once been the left side of his face and his left ear against his head trying not to bleed out. His skull was clearly visible, blood was spurting out of a crack in it, it was spraying over my celing. I didnt realize it but the crack that was spurting blood was his brain, which was now exposed to the air. I told him I would kill him if he didnt leave. He left.

It was winter and it had been snowing. The police followed the blood trail and footsteps. I shit you not he was found in a cemetary, passed out from blood loss. He was put in a medically induced coma and had multiple blood transfusions over the course of two days before he was able to be charged. Edit 2: After being treated by EMS I had to go to the police station to give statements. I also had to get blood work which included an STD test. I had gotten his blood in my eyes and mouth and this was to make sure I didnt contract any blood born diseases.

I dont know what he was convicted of but he was sentenced to two years. Fortunately my testimony wasn’t necessary in court. I guess the evidence was beyond debate. He may have beaten the shit out of me, but I almost killed him. I was told that if it weren’t for modern medicine he would have died. And It turns out having your brain exposed to air from blunt force trauma basically guarantees permament brain damage.

Edit 3: As of my making these edits this answer has gotten 4,200 views. I was not expecting that. There is alot of information I am leaving out of this story for my own privacy, the privacy of others involved, my personal safety and also because its just way to much to tell.

What are your most controversial or unpopular opinions?

I judge the book by its cover
Not the whole book, but not a small part of it.
Literally speaking, the book cover plays a very important part in my decision if I want to buy it or not. Of course, I don’t judge the whole quality of the book without reading it, but a good cover weighs heavily in.

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I find one of the most important skills that needs to be trained early in life and to have is the skill to judge things/ situations quickly and accurately.

For example, in this situation: my daughter was home alone, and a homeless person showed up at my door and asked her to come inside my house and asked her for something to eat. What would I want my daughter to do? I would want her to judge immediately. It’s not about the person in front of her, it’s about the situation. She was home alone, therefore, no strangers could get into the house. Simple as that.

Another example: How to pick friends. I tell my daughter to look at that person’s grade. You are a student, your main job is to study, grade is the result of that. I’m not telling her that just pick straight-A students to be friends with, but look at how they try to improve their grades and their attitude toward studying. If the student with bad grades just shows up at school and doesn’t do anything to improve it, you might want to consider before making friends. Not everyone can be a top students, but everyone can be a hard-working one.

Or like when you are on your first date, look at how they dress up to see you. They don’t have to wear fancy clothes or expensive accessories. But if they wear wrinkled, dirty clothes with bad hygiene, show no interest in trying to look good to see you, I think you should consider seriously before getting into a serious relationship.

So, yeah, I find it’s very important to judge the book by its cover – but remember to judge it with the accurate aspects.

What’s something a flight attendant did to you that you will never forget?

After years of flying there are many memorable stories. These are two.

I was traveling on then Continental Airlines. The flight attendants were coming through the cabin to hand out drinks. I asked a very attractive flight attendant for an extra bottle of water. She said she would, but only if I told her she was pretty. I said she was pretty and she handed me two bottles of water.

After a moment, she told the flight attendant on the other end of the cart that I said she was pretty. I interrupted and said, “No, I didn’t. I said you were gorgeous”. The very beautiful woman responded by lipping back, “I love you”.

Years later, also on a Continental branded flight, but really another airline operating under the name. It was a commuter jet. I was seated next to a gentleman and both of us had broad shoulders. I am shoulder to shoulder with me, meaning my left shoulder is blocking a good portion of this little plane. It as a 1–2 seat configuration, if I recall correctly.

The flight attendant was a younger lady, still having fun in her job. We had started bantering around with her. And giving her a little grief. Nothing horrible, just friendly teasing. At one point, she decided she was going to turn the tables on us.

She grabs the PA mic and tells the plane that “Little Tommy and Jimmy would be by to collect the items from the plane”. At which point, I and the guy next to me got up and started collecting trash from the other passengers. It was completely funny.

That fight attendant should have flown for Southwest Airlines.

What is something that people were better at 100 years ago?

Because I am 71, I knew people who were in their prime of life a hundred years ago (1918) and there were definitely things that they did easily and routinely that are rarely done today:

• Baking bread and caramel rolls. My grandmother learned it from her mother but did not pass it on to her daughters, probably because sliced store bread had essentially taken over.
• Writing cursive and writing letters. I have saved some of my grandfather’s letters. For a person with an eighth grade education, he wrote simply but beautifully.
• Sewing and mending. My grandmother was not wealthy, but she was capable of producing wonderful pajamas for all of her grandchildren on her trusty Singer. My generation has lost the ability to create heirlooms.
• Gardening and canning the things they grew. In an era when you were not going to see fresh fruit or vegetables in stores after growing season, people developed great preservation skills. Things like pickles, berries, tomatoes were canned as were peaches and plums when in season. I do not remember kale or zucchini, however, and that was also a blessing.
• Memory work. I grew up with great uncles and aunts (all born about 1900) who had memorized massive amounts of poetry and famous speeches as well as scripture. Rote learning was fairly normal in their education, so they did group memorization. We loved to hear their recitations.

I miss those folks. They just slipped away one at a time between the seventies and today.

What would happen if someone ever robbed a drug dealer?

Working a refinery job in the 80s in Washington state a couple of guy’s from the job went into a bar one night and started asking around about where to buy some weed. A guy was there and they came to terms and went to the guy’s house. His wife was a dispathcer for the sherriffs office, she was at work at the time. The two guy’s ended up tying the guy to a chair planning on ripping they guy off, one was a real party animal and somewhere found a double barrel and blew the guy’s brains out. I went in to work and the superintendent asks me if I know where such and such is, I told him no I didn’t know he was on the job haven’t seen him. He said aren’t you roomin with him. I said no, Mad Max and I are bunked at the motel. He said the cops were looking for him and the other guy. I asked if they said why and he said they did. Homicide. The one guy lived on the other side of the cascade mountain range in a small town outside of Hanford nuclear reservation. They found him hiding underneath his trailer three days later. The other guy they found after a week. So for a couple of pounds of weed and a few hundred bucks, the one guy who they found after a few days got nine years, the other trigger dude got 40 years to life.

Have you ever kicked a customer out of a restaurant?

Yes, and I didn’t even work there.

Dennys, late night. Two drunk guys getting loud and rude with the waitress. One smacks her on the backside. Manager asks them to leave and they refuse, asking what’s he going to do? Start intentionally spilling water, making a mess.

My 3 friends and I get up and block them into their booth. “Pay your bill. You’re leaving.”

Before “Or what?” Was even out of one guy’s mouth, my buddy slapped him hard on his ear. Sobered him up pretty quick.

“Pay. Your. Bill.”

Grumbles as they start pooling cash. Once the money was on the table, “Get out.”

We followed them to the door where one turned to square off, but realized his buddy took off running. The panic in his eyes was a delicious dessert.

As an employee, if I find my manager is going to terminate me tomorrow, how should I handle or behave in the meeting?

A recruiter called for my boss. He was out so I asked if I could help. The recruiter told me he had some great candidates, and since the incumbent’s (me) last day would be that Friday, he wanted to get some people in front of him. When my boss returned to the office I relayed the message exactly as it was told to me, and asked him if they were planning on letting me go. He said no, they were looking for a counterpart for me since they had expansion plans. He was obviously not being truthful and just like that, I knew when my last day would be.

That evening I took home the few personal things I had at work, and made sure I didn’t have any company property in my possession. At the end of the day Friday, I was asked to see the owner’s son in his office. I knew I was being fired. It was a very short conversation. He said they were letting me go. I asked if they would contest my unemployment and he said yes. I said okay, got up, got my car and drove home.

The timing was horrible…if there’s ever a good time. It was February and every day was grey and below freezing. I couldn’t afford the $1200 a month for cobra, so I went without health insurance. I came down with shingles on my face and scalp. It looked like someone threw hot grease in my face. As promised they contested my unemployment.

While I was employed there I faced harassment (I’m unable to talk about the circumstances or the settlement) including very specific verbal comments, jokes, and various notes. I kept their notes to me. I believe that because of the hand written notes we were able to settle without a jury trial in 1 day. In retrospect I wasn’t hurt that I was fired. I was hurt that they knew what I was when they hired me and still did everything in their power to make it a negative and diminish me as a human being.

I eventually started collecting unemployment, put my settlement money in the bank, and found a job with a sincere, no surprises group of people.

To finally answer your question, don’t sign anything. Don’t say anything. Leave quietly. Go home and regroup and think about what you would like to happen, and what you like for yourself in the future. They’ll be a time and a place and possibly even an attorney’s office that you can square up in down the road.

Have you ever bought something at a garage sale that turned out to be unexpectedly awesome?

Once. Years ago my new husband and I wanted to buy an old trunk to use as a coffee table. So, we went to a local auction and bid on an old trunk. The auctioneer said they had pulled it from the attic of a deceased, old woman’s house. The auctioneer said they hadn’t opened it and had no idea what was inside. We didn’t really care what was inside, we wanted the trunk. We bought it for $20.00.

When we got home we opened it and found a lot of old newspaper shreds and some ribbons. But, included in there was an Irish linen tablecloth and 12 matching huge napkins. On our way home from work one day, I made my husband stop at the local fabric store. I went in and asked what Irish linen was selling for. They told me it was selling for about $15.00 a yard. lI thanked them and went home, pulled out the table cloth and measured it. It turned out the tablecloth alone was worth over $100.00. The 12 napkins combined added to the value.

I kept the table cloth and used it whenever I had a formal/fancy dinner – usually only Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. I am now 75 yeas old and have used this “find” every year since I was 35. It still is beautiful and I still have all 12 napkins.

Noir Thriller Mystery Movie – Shock – Vincent Price

Full movie. Enjoy.