We are just a group of retired spooks that discuss things that you’ll not find anywhere else. It makes us unique. Take a look around. Learn a thing or two.
I have continued to play with text to image creations. Lately I have been generating women with vegetables. Here’s some of my works. What do you think?
My favorite Internet kitty
What’s an experience you had in a hotel you’ll never forget?
I was island hopping in the Caribbean, and I had prebooked a mid priced hotel for my stay in Puerto Rico.
I fly in after dark and get to my hotel and evidently they were overbooked, they told me that they would upgrade me to a better hotel. I am deeply suspicious, because its been my experience, if you get moved its to a worse hotel.
Still, its after dark, I’m in a strange place for the first time, I let them move me. We get it to my new hotel, which is beach front, as opposed to the block from the beach one I had booked. It had a huge arena/auditorium/entertainment center that had an ice capades like show that night. My room is about the cheapest in an upscale hotel, so not to shabby.
Lots of nice restaurants, great pools etc. The next day they have a circus move into the entertainment center, and I think I will go see that later in the evening.
I go to the pool, and this guy comes in, leading two tiger cubs on leashes. He takes them to the edge of the pool, and takes off the leashes, and they jump in with me.
I end up playing with two tiger cubs for the afternoon.
It was awesome. I will never forget it.
Breaking Bad | Combo’s Death
What is the most brilliant example of taking advantage of a loophole you have ever witnessed?
I was a maintenance worker on a paint line, working a 4-day work week. Monday through Thursday, 10 hours per day. This day, a slow Thursday, I was greasing the wheels on the chain as it passed through the line.
A top manager was passing through, steamed off for some reason. He noticed the line was running with no work on it, and he screamed at the line leader, “Why is this line running with no work?! He (pointing at me) gets three days off with no pay!” and stormed off with no explanation.
After he was gone, the line leader came up to me and said, “You heard the man. Three days off with no pay. Let’s make it this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. OK?”
Wow! Half a day, and already almost 500 upvotes. Thanks, everyone.
Fought in Afghanistan and Iraq, But…”| Why Putin’s War Has Jolted Ukraine’s “Foreign Fighters”
Chicken Diable
Chicken Diable makes a wonderful sauce, and it is delicious served over rice.
Prep: 10 min | Bake: 1 hr 30 min | Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
1 (3 pound) frying chicken
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup wet mustard
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Cut frying chicken into large pieces.
Melt butter and add honey, mustard, curry powder and salt. Coat chicken pieces with the sauce and place in a baking pan (do not stack).
Bake at 350 degrees F for 1 1/2 hours, tightly covered.
Can China maintain its leading role in EV and lithium battery technology?
Yes
Unless other nations understand and introduce Socialist elements and State Subsidies into their EV architecture
China can make the best batteries and best integrated platform – two most crucial elements of an EV at a cost that is 65% of the next cheapest manufacturer in South Korea
The Americans make far lower quality batteries at a 170% higher price
This puts a Chinese EV at $ 30,500 with a nice profit to the Brand versus the same American EV made in USA at a minimum of $ 52,000 at a lower quality
You just can’t compete
It’s why the US is so keen on keeping China out
It’s why no other nation is building Charging Infrastructure so comprehensively like China is doing
China has such a vast charging infrastructure that it is easy and quick to charge your EVs
Yet the Infrastructure network is only 6% profitable
No issues because it’s State Subsidized
And that’s 6% at such a huge scale
At a fifth of this scale, a charging infrastructure of so much quality would make a loss of at least 10% to 12%
Do you think a single private player would take such a risk?
Nopes
Ultimately the EV Maker has to provide the charging infrastructure like Musk is doing
Yet Musks profits from EV sales are shrinking due to his losses in the charging infrastructure
This ain’t new
The US heavily subsidized it’s industries for the earliest motor cars
Back then you had Hansom cabs driven by Horses and roads were paved with bricks not with Tar
The US Government floated almost $ 36 Million of Bonds to build Roads in various cities and State Governments floated another $ 40 Million
To build tarred roads for Cars owned by Ford and Others who incidentally didn’t chip in a penny
Likewise you had a 30 year tax subsidy from 1907–1937 afforded to six car makers to enable them to keep the costs of their engines as low as possible
An Engine could cost $ 100-125 to make, almost 4/5 of the value of the car
Yet the companies pumped back a share of their profits and kept the engine cost lower and lower until by the 1920s the cost of the engine dropped to around 1/2 the value of the car and later to around 40%
It’s why US had a lead in Cars
It’s why Germany had a lead in Engines
Today they may rant about Free markets but all these countries had subsidies in their early days and protectionism
US imposed an import duty of 67% on Cars from UK and Germany until the Mid 1970s
So as on date, China is gaining huge traction for EVs
They are discarding the Lithium Battery in the next five years or so for the next generation batteries
Their charging infrastructure is very strong and fast, fastest in the world
The others who can compete include
Korea – $ 110 Billion in Subsidies to make Batteries
Japan – $ 15 Billion in Private Research Funds to make Batteries
Yet China has more engineers and more money in subsidies ($ 250 Billion) for battery technology alone
So i feel China will have a lead in EVs for at least half a decade or maybe longer
Coconut life
Do you have to pay for food in prison?
Have you ever read a nutritional content label and wondered what a 2000 calorie diet would be like? In prison you get to find out.
The government says 2000 calories are what you need, so that’s what they provide to inmates. You can inflate that number some with carbs or roughage.
Here’s how it worked at CCA (the for-profit privately run prison): the US Marshalls defined what a detainee’s diet should look like. CCA would design meals around those goals, then turn the food service over to a sub-contractor. The sub would get a fixed amount for every meal produced. Ahha! Every dollar we save by skimping on ingredients is a dollar in the sub’s pocket. We can all see where that’s headed…
In federal prison the food was much better because there were no sub contractors. In this situation, the inmates are their own worst enemies. The kitchen would make sheet cake without any sugar. Why? Inmates stole it all! Same for spices.
The federal low had two lines that inmates would shuffle through for each meal. All items that were costly for the prison (protein) were dished out to the inmates from behind the counter. Low cost items like rice, those nasty grease pad potatoes, and lettuce would be “on the bar” where you could take as much as you want.
All of this is “free.”
You can pay for food. You can buy stuff on commissary, or you can buy the stuff that’s being cooked in the units. This is usually a mix of items stolen from the kitchen and things bought on commissary. It’s always better than what comes out of the kitchen.
Teachers Are SICK Of Dumb Gen Alpha Kids..
What is something a guest in your house did that made your jaw drop? How did you react?
Ok warning this is GROSS!!!!!!!!!!
A co-worker of my now ex-husband came over with his “side piece” (was not thrilled about that as it was condoning this behavior but I go off topic) and she asked to use the bathroom, we told her where the guest bathroom was and thought she went into there. While they were leaving I went through our bedroom into our bathroom. I then noticed she didn’t use the guest bathroom but had been in our room b/c things were out of place and that where my jewelry box was had been opened and gone through. I went into the bathroom really fast to see if some other personal items were missing I noticed that this nasty girl used a…feminine cleaning product (BARF) and MY wash cloth to “clean up”. Luckily they were still outside talking when I went out there and lost my fking mind!! I tossed a plastic bag with MY wash cloth and the empty product at her (I WAS WEARING 2 PAIRS OF GLOVES AND HAD A BAG OVER THE OTHER BAG I PUT EVERYTHING IN) and then told her to empty her purse and pockets. Now, the guys were at first shocked and then my now ex-husband was embarrassed by my “request” and behavior and his co-worker was pissed that his “friend” was being treated in such a manner. When she finally did what I “asked” there were 2 pairs of earrings (pearls, and black diamonds), a custom made pearl ring I got from my father, a gold pinky ring my grandfather had custom made for me, the onyx and diamond ring, pearl necklace and matching bracelet I got for my first communion and confirmation as well as my pearl drop. I told them to get the fk off our property and they were never allowed back or I would call the police. I recorded the whole encounter outside. Now I did NOT yell at them, I was pissed the fk off but the neighborhood did not need to know what was going on.
Brazil reality
Have you ever accidentally found out that you were about to be fired?
Not accidentally found out, but figured out months in advance that my entire department was going to be laid off. I basically followed a bunch of clues.
This was way back in 1998 when I started working at Kodak. Kodak is headquartered in Rochester, New York. One of the managers convinced higher-ups that Kodak should open a software development center in Washington, D.C., because of availability of software engineers in the area. There were many people against it, but she got approval to head a development center in the D.C. metro area. The development center was called Washington Development Center (WDC for short).
So, she came to D.C., found an office in Maryland, did a bunch of hiring. I was hired as part of that. Eventually, after six years, she found a better position in Kodak. So, she left. They got a guy who was completely against WDC to manage WDC. This was clue #1. Let’s call him Mike.
The first thing Mike did was give everyone raises. He said the previous manager was underpaying everyone. Everyone was happy. I thought “Why? No one asked for a raise. Everyone is happy here.” A couple of months later, I saw several projects moving away from us. I went to my boss and asked him. He said, “The way Kodak works is that business units control the money. BUs propose projects, and development centers bid on them. Since we have higher real estate costs than Rochester, we bid higher.” I asked him, “Were the recent raises a factor?” He basically shrugged.
Clue #2: Making us uncompetitive by giving raises. Actually, I have to say it’s a touch of genius right there. We used to be competitive before because we didn’t pay people as much, which offset our real estate costs.
So, then the question became, “Should we move to a new location?” My boss found a location in Virginia where the rent was low. What Mike did was put the idea of moving to Virginia up for a vote. Most employees in this location lived in Maryland. They would have to commute an hour to get to Virgonia. So, most of them voted against it.
Clue #3: Mike knew how the vote would go. His job was to make the right call even if it was an unpopular one. By having employees make the wrong decision, he absolved himself of all responsibility.
Clue #4: Then there was a re-organization, and Mike got a new boss: let’s call him Jake. First thing Jake did was to meet everyone in his new organization. They planned for him to visit us. We all prepared presentations for him to show our technical strengths. He slept through 75% of the presentations. I didn’t realize this until I started my presentation. I walked up, started talking, and then looked at him and saw his eyes were closed. I stopped short because tears were coming in my eyes. Everyone else was saying “Go on. Go on. It’s OK.” I felt like wadding up some paper and throwing at his bald head, but didn’t.
We gradually kept losing projects. Eventually, a lot of people weren’t doing anything. One day, I went to the break room to get some coffee. There were two people in the break room chatting. These two people were the ring leaders in getting everyone to vote against the move to Virginia. They asked “Hey, how’s it going, Jayesh?” I replied, “Oh, nothing. Just waiting to get laid off.” They were looking at me with their eyes wide as I walked back.
A few months later they announced that we are getting laid off. We were given options: a) Voluntarily accept to get laid off now and get severance b) wait till the last day. If you waited, you might be offered a job in Rochester that you could work remotely. If you were not offered a job, you would get a slightly better severance. If you were offered a job, and you refused, then you don’t get severance (you are technically resigning, not getting laid off). I knew I would be offered a job, because I knew the ins and outs of a critical project. So I said “Lay me off! Lay me off, please!” My boss got offered a job because he was the second person who knew about that project.
Oh there was a guy, who had been in Kodak for 29 years 6 months. When he had joined, Kodak offered pension, if you stayed in Kodak for 30 years. Six months more and he would have been set for life. He wasn’t offered a job and got a severance pay for five years. He was probably around 55. If he had been offered a job, he could have stuck around for six months more and gotten a pension for life. He was one of the people who didn’t want to move to Virginia. I was thinking if we had moved to Virginia, we could have staved off the inevitable for at least a year or so. He would have been set for life.
I still have respect for Mike for engineering our closure so beautifully. He did it in a way that he doesn’t get the blame; instead, he was able to show how he saved Kodak lot of money. I was merely a by-stander. He was the puppet master. He used people’s inclinations against them. Pure evil genius. Respect.
Funny and odd thing about this. The video is glitching out!
Can I ask a parked police car why it’s posted on my street days in a row? Can they opt to not to give any information or ignore you, or are they obligated to disclose information?
There once was a plain unmarked van parked directly in front of my house for about one week during the daytime. It had tinted front and side windows. One day, I decided to walk closer so that I could see the license plates. They were VA (Veteran’s Administration) plates. That gave me the impression that federal law enforcement had borrowed that vehicle to use on a stake out. And since they were parked directly in front of my house, I assumed I was not their target. So I went back to my house instead of seeing if anyone was inside the van and blowing their cover. Then after about one week, the van was gone. Then after another week, all hell broke loose. Marked and unmarked police cars surrounded a neighbor’s house across the street and even drove on their lawn. There were many men dressed in black uniforms with POLICE on their backs carrying what looked like automatic weapons. After things calmed down, I went up to one of the officers to ask what is happening. All he would admit to is that they were conducting an investigation. Not satisfied with that answer, I wrote a letter to our Chief of Police. He did admit it was a drug raid but offered no other details. He also said to contact him if I have any questions about police activity in the future. Unfortunately, he retired a short time later so I lost my contact.
Many years later, one morning, I looked out my living room window and was shocked to see the street in front of my house filled with black SUV’s and men dressed in black standing around their vehicles. Once again, the men had POLICE on their backs and were holding automatic weapons. I got scared thinking they were about to burst into my home. But after a few minutes, there was no knock at my door. So I peeked out the window and the officers I saw seemed relaxed. So I opened up the front door and started to exit to find out what is going on. That’s when one of the officers waved at me to go back inside which I did. I eventually discovered it was another drug raid, but at a neighbor’s house on the same side of the street as my house, just two doors away. I think it is time for me to move.
A nice technique
Why won’t the Chinese premier Li Qiang face reporters for the duration of his term, which runs until 2028?
That’s not his job, and not in his remit.
Yes, Zhu Rongji began the tradition of meeting the press during the two meetings. This has been retained by his successors, but the PM is not obligated to give press conferences. His job is to deliver the nation’s progress report and announce Beijing’s economic and social targets for the coming year during the two meetings.
We are entering an era of America pushing for war, and this is but another sign of the Chinese closing ranks.
Entertaining foreigners is best left to the experts at the foreign ministry who train a lifetime to accommodate them.
There is Wang Yi, who just concluded his 90 minute long press conference, and there is the daily press conference helmed by a senior foreign ministry spokesperson that can be up to vice-minister seniority.
To my knowledge, China is the ONLY government that provides this level of open access to foreign journalists year-round.
This is how all America feels
What is something that most people don’t know?
You can taste garlic with your feet.
When you speak inside your mind small muscles in your throat mimic the formation of each word.
When you lose weight, most of it ends up as carbon dioxide which is exhaled from your lungs.
Prince Charles has a car fueled by wine.
Polar Bears aren’t white, they’re just glowing.
The raptor sounds in Jurassic Park are actually mating tortoises.
Pirates wore eye patches to increase night vision, not cover a missing eye.
Parts of Canada have less gravity than the rest of the planet.
1 teaspoon of honey is the lifework of 12 bees.
A small fraction of the static on your tv is radiation left over from the Big Bang.
Your ears and nose are connected to your tear ducts.
Once Charlie Chaplin entered a contest for “Charlie Chaplin look-alikes” and he came in third.
People in the southern hemisphere see the moon upside down compared to the north.
Humans have patterns (like stripes, spots and geometric shapes) on our bodies that are invisible to us but cats can see them.
There are 80,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 possible arrangements of a 52-card deck.
Whats going on with this?
Why is Toyota so hesitant to build electric cars?
Profitability!!!!
Always Profitability
Same reason why most of the world cannot manufacture EVs on China’s scale
You see Japan has a fully integrated supply chain for ICE Vehicles. From the Engines to the Chassis to the Intelligent systems to the Fuel Injection
So Japanese Cars can make a lot of profit
Same for Hybrids
Japan has the entire supply chain for Hybrids and the best quality in the world
So Japanese Hybrids are very profitable
EVs are a different kettle of fish
China thanks to ten years of ENORMOUS SUBSIDIES by the State amounting to almost $ 600 Billion (4 Trillion RMB) have managed to scale up and keep refining the quality of EVs, Solar Panels and Wind Turbines until they completely control the supply chain and technology on a scale that NO CAPITALIST ECONOMY CAN MANAGE
It’s easy for BYD to invest 10 years in making EVs and researching and refining EV Quality because China always cut them a cheque to ensure BYD stayed in Business for 7 1/2 years until they finally produced the most efficient and best technology
For Tata?
For Toyota?
For Honda?
Impossible
India doesn’t have the money to subsidise anything and Japan is capitalist
You certainly can’t expect Honda or Toyota to invest 10 years perfecting their batteries and integrated platforms when they don’t get any profits right?
Same for Tata or Hyundai
Right now the best batteries are Chinese, platforms Chinese, Chassis and Components Chinese and all of them well ahead of any other nation
So if Japan makes EVs using Chinese Basic Components, the Japanese companies will barely make profit while the cream will be taken by the Chinese players like CATL Or Korean players like SK
So Japanese Car Makers have put up around $ 15 Billion and have been trying to develop Hydrogen Cell powered cars as a Rival to EVs
Of course China has already pumped up another 380 Billion RMB ($ 55 Billion) of Subsidies and their Hydrogen Fuel Cells are surging rapidly
They plan to power trucks and trains using Hydrogen powered cells
$55 Billion in China is nearly the same as $ 130 Billion in Japan against a mere $ 15 Billion
Eight times more investment
In the Capitalist world, Profitability is what drives everything else
New Technology won’t be explored unless it can be profitable
In the Chinese Model,Necessity and Demand drives everything else
The State will fund things and players until they finally are able to develop the core technology and ensure a commercial production model that is a generation better than anyone else
It’s why, after Iphones & galaxy , when Alcatel and many phone makers simply abandoned further development and research – China kept going on and on and on with their smartphone models even if it meant paying the cream to the American entities like Qualcomm or Intel or other such entities
So that one day they could crack the supply chain and then build their own superior and most cost effective supply chain and indigenous technology
Fish gangs
What was the strangest thing that happened to you as a foreigner in Japan?
I arrived in Tokyo with a terrible stomach ache and followed by bad diarrhea. For the first 2 days I could barely walk and only eat very little.
I then decided to go see a doctor, my wife called her friend who lives in Tokyo to ask about the closest hospital etc. He and his girlfriend showed up in our apartment, taking me to the closest clinic just in case the nurse/doctor don’t speak any English.
It was a normal clinic routine, I (or was it my wife?) filled up a form with my names etc, we wait and then saw a doctor. True enough, the doctor doesn’t speak English well, so he communicated with my friend while sometimes punching some keys on his phone for English translation to say things to me. By this time I feel really bad for my wife’s friend as he has to translate what i feel, in detail, to the doctor, about my diarrhea. It’s probably his worst first conversation with someone ever!
All good, he prescribed medicine, while explaining to my friend what and how much to take when. The doctor was very very responsible, he found translations on his phone again to write the name of the medicine and what each pill is for etc in English.
The strange thing comes when I want to pay the bill. The nurse said that the cashier was closed on weekends (it was Saturday), she estimated that the cost would be around JPY 10,000 or less. So, she asked me to give her JPY 5,000 and comeback on Monday to settle the rest with the cashier.
The strangest thing is, I told her that Monday is my schedule to take my kid to Disneyland and Tuesday to Disney Sea, to which she replied (translated by my wife’s dear friend, obviously) “ok, come whenever you have time, it’s OK”
I was dumbfounded by her answer, I asked again to confirm and she said yes.
I mean they know that I don’t live in Japan, nor do they ask my friend’s number/ address. My wife’s friend, my savior, then explained to me that it is quite normal in Japan because Japanese people are very responsible and honest, so they always pay what is due.
Big respect for their culture.
PS: I ended up paying the balance on Thursday, it was around JPY 3,500 🙂
Forbidden books
Where is the most dangerous island in the world?
Personally, I think it’s the Pitcairn Islands.
But not for the reasons you may think.
For those of you who don’t know, the Pitcairn Islands are a British Overseas Territory in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It’s one of the most isolated places in the world, and only has a population of 47 people, most of whom are descended from the nine people who originally settled the islands. They’re also all mostly interrelated, in one way or another.
The territory is owned by the United Kingdom, but governed by New Zealand’s British High Commissioner. They rarely visit, and ships only come to the islands about two dozen times a year.
[1] So I think it’s fair to say that the Pitcairn Islands are very isolated from the rest of society. The 47 residents of the Islands don’t have too much contact with the outside world.
But that’s precisely what makes it so dangerous.
In 1999, a policeman from Kent, England was serving an assignment on the islands, when he started to uncover some sinister things going on. He started uncovering allegations of sexual abuse, including against children.
An Australian pastor visited the island around that time, and made some shocking observations
“I noticed worrying signs such as inexplicable mood swings,” he says. “It took me three months to realise they were being abused. I tried to raise the subject at a meeting of the island council, and one gentleman replied: ‘Look, the age of consent has always been 12 and it doesn’t hurt them.'” [2]
When further questioned, residents of the island basically said “that’s just how it is here”. Girls would get into relationships at a disturbingly young age on the island, and nobody really noticed from the outside for a long time. Most girls had their first child between ages 12 and 15.
That’s pretty messed up. As it turns out, the remoteness of the island had allowed a disturbing culture of sexuality to develop. The policeman started questioning every single woman who lived on the island, and they all saw nothing wrong with it.
But British officials definitely saw something wrong with it, and pressed charges against seven men. That may not seem like a lot, but consider that that was most of the island’s adult male population at the time, including the mayor of the islands.
This was a huge scandal, and raised a lot of questions about extraterritoriality and law and stuff. During the trial, they had to fly in policemen, judges, lawyers, journalists and other court staff; from the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
This effectively doubled the island’s population during the trial.
Lawyers for the defendants made a strange argument in order to try and get their sentences reduced: they argued that if they were imprisoned, the island would cease to function. And they had a point. When an island has a population as small as the Pitcairn Islands, locking up seven able-bodied men has a huge impact.
Four defendants got reduced sentences because of the unique nature of the island’s population. Two were spared from jail entirely, and one was acquitted.
This is what I think makes it one of the most dangerous islands in the world. Not the wildlife, not the flora and fauna, but the people living there.
The same way anonymity can make people cruel and immoral, isolation can do the same thing, allowing cultures of abuse and mistreatment to develop. In my opinion, this case is no different to cases of abuse within cults. Both involved small groups of people and corrupt leadership, who basically created a little realm in which they could get away with horrible things.
China’s Military Aircraft Can Vanish ‘Off The Radar’ As Scientist Developed Plasma Device
In another remarkable leap forward in the realm of military technology, Chinese scientists have unveiled a groundbreaking development that is sure to revolutionize aerial warfare: a new plasma stealth device that could render Chinese aircraft virtually invisible to enemy radar systems. You heard that right! We might see the time where Chinese aircraft will go undetected on enemy radar systems and in turn inflict a plethora of damage. Today’s episode will uncover the new development of Chinese scientists that might make Chinese aircraft invisible in the future. https://youtu.be/TD20CoQ1dPA
What are the consequences the world faces if China goes for war over Taiwan?
India may suffer massive shortages
Luckily not of food products but many other things.
Electric Vehicles , Electronics, Vehicles, Smartphons, Pumps – will all reduce significantly as they primarily depend on Chinese Components and Import Substitution is impossible due to the Ukranian Crisis.
The Biggest problem is ANTIBIOTICS, PAINKILLERS, ANTIVIRALS
India manufactures a lot of these but 80% Pharma Raw Stock comes from China
A Blockade by US could prevent Crucial Antibiotics from being delivered to more than 60% of the Countries in the World (95% Developing Countries)
Globally the Biggest Problem will be – CHIPS
Taiwan exports 93% of its Chips and controls 70% of the Global Supply Chain
A Blockade on the Taiwan Straits by China could result in an existing supply crunch intensifying several times over.
As on date only 7 Stacks of Chips are being delivered for every 12 Stacks of Chips relative to 2019 Globally -ie:- only around 60% of the Global Supply
If Taiwan joins in then you could have 7 Stacks for every 36 -48 Stacks or only around 15%-20% of the Global Supply
That would impact many many Industries
ASEAN Nations will lose Big
The Seas are very profitable for Trade. Those routes are disturbed – it will lead to a Supply Crisis like EU is experiencing.
And the Western Economies will crumble even worse
A Lot of their Hedge Funds invest in Chip Manufacturing Entities and a Huge Shortfal market could collapse such funds by as much as 40%-60%
It will all pass…
Do you think China has the guts to attack Taiwan, or are they just lame threats?
Its not a Question of Guts
Its a Question of having the ability to follow through
War is a drain on everything and fighting a War against several enemies could be a huge obstacle to any country.
Every repurcussion has to be planned , anticipated and handled
Putin took 8 years and even then it was a Weak Joe Biden that finally moved him into the Ukraine Conflict.
8 years of planning, contingencies, new alliances
Has the US ever fought a Conflict or War where there is a threat of either China or Russia coming for a defensive battle?
Not since the 1960s
Same Reason.
Attacking Taiwan is a 2 Week Job, 4 weeks Tops
Taiwan cannot hold against China and no amount of alliances can hold a Determined China from hoding Taiwan
The Political Repurcussions, Global Repurcussions, Financial Repurcussions – these are Chinas largest obstacles.
China has to plan for these and how to counter these
Strong Alliances are crucial here
China already has Russia and Central Asia
Turkey mostly will not condemn China in any way
However ASEAN?
ASEAN nations are headless chickens and if pushed and pressurized heavily could create problems for China
Long story short – China will attack Tiwan only if threatened beyond anything we have seen until today
What is the most shocking thing that’s ever happened on live TV?
In 1997, Gay Byrne was hosting the Late Late Show.
His two guests of the evening were a nun and Irish poet, Brendan Kennelly.
The night was going well – at the midpoint of each episode, they usually hosted a phone-in competition. You know the format; they ask an unbelievably easy question, get people to send in the answer, and they pick one person to call and tell them congratulations! you’ve won a prize!
This evening was no different.
The prize of the evening was a new car and Byrne dials the lucky winner.
Ring ring.
Ring ring.
The phone is answered by a quiet sounding woman. She sounded meek, even when told she had won.
“Are you happy, Rita?”
“Yes,” Rita replies quietly.
“Are you watching the show tonight?”
“I wasn’t”, Rita replies …
… “my daughter died last night”.
Instantly there were gasps and Byrne’s face drops and his tone changes.
“Oh no. Oh dear Rita, I’m very sorry.”
You have to remember that this was live TV. Thousands of people, including a studio audience full of people, were sat in front of him. Byrne probably also had his studio team giving him instructions in his ear. So, he flubbed, and very inelegantly asked:
“And why did she die?”
“Are you being funny?” she shot back.
“She got knocked down. She was in a car crash last night.”
It turned out that it was Rita’s daughter who had entered the competition – she was so hoping to win a car and it was a car that ended her life only a day before.
Byrne, being the fantastic host that he was, realised that he should really give Rita, the poor woman, an out if she wanted it.
“Good heavens. Well Rita, I don’t think we can continue with this in the circumstances. Do you want to?”
“I do.”
This led to applause from the audience and Rita continued.
The first guest, the nun, offered her some consolation, saying that it surely was no accident that the postcard was picked tonight.
Next, it was passed to the poet, Kennelly, who recited one of his most famous poems, “Begin,” from memory:
“Though we live in a world that dreams of ending
that always seems about to give in
something that will not acknowledge conclusion
insists that we forever begin.”
Towards the end, Rita was quietly weeping.
Byrne then tells her that she has the support and prayers of the entire country, and Rita, in turn, told Byrne that she felt it was important to stay on the line for her daughter, that she was accepting the prize “for her”.
I’m describing this clip because I can’t find the full version of it anywhere.
Graham Norton, the extremely popular Irish chat show host of his own show on the BBC, actually once said that this moment inspired him to move into chat shows.
Gay Byrne died recently at the age of 85, after a short illness battling cancer.
He will forever be missed and remembered fondly by Irish people of a certain age.
Edit: It turns out that the video in that article has since been removed, which must have only happened in the last few days — unfortunately.
Also, many people have pointed out how I feel like this was more shocking than events like Budd Dwyer’s suicide.
I knew these would be discussed in-depth, so I figured I’d go with an event I knew most people wouldn’t have heard of.
On February 14, there was an incident between a Taiwan coast guard ship and Chinese fishing boats in the waters off Kinmen, a very short distance from Xiamen. In this incident, the Chinese fishing boat was hit by the Taiwan coast guard ship and capsized. Two of the Chinese fishermen drowned.
Since then, there have been 15 rounds of discussions between the Chinese authorities and the Taiwan authorities. The Chinese side has demanded compensation and an apology to the fishermen from the Taiwan side; Taiwan has refused. The DPP, which controls the Taiwan government, has refused any responsibility for the action, and claims that there is no video recording of the incident It has appealed to the US to become involved in the discussions, which the US so far has ignored.
The incident has received widespread coverage in China, and this has led to a hardening of Chinese popular opinion, and the government’s stance to Taiwan. Chinese public opinion feels that the Chinese authorities have been too accommodating to Taiwan for too long, and instead of treating Taiwan as “fellow Chinese”, they should be treated as an enemy. For a long time, PRC Chinese considered the DPP and KMT to be hostile to the PRC, but that ordinary Taiwanese were decent Chinese who wanted to be re-united with China. Now that view is dismissed as a fantasy which should be rejected.
The Chinese government closely follows public opinion from online media, and has shifted its public stance during the Two Congresses meeting in Beijing. When discussing Taiwan, there is no more talk of an appeal to our “Taiwan compatriots”. Instead the talk is of reunification, without specifying whether it should be done peacefully or by military means.
As the PRC increases its military patrols in the Taiwan straits and around Taiwan, it is likely that the PLA forces will ignore Taiwan’s demarcation lines for the sea and air. The DPP government is likely to look to the US for support in enforcing these demarcation lines, and the US will need to decide how far it wants to go in supporting the Taiwan authorities.
On the military front, the US is thinly spread with the Ukraine war, which may escalate into a more direct confrontation between NATO and Russia, and the Israel/Hamas war, which may evolved into a multi-front war for Israel, involving the Houthis in the Red Sea and Yemen, the continuing war in Gaza, and a possible northern front including Lebanon and Syria involving Hizbollah. The longer the war lasts, the greater the damage for Israel’s economy, which has already lost 20% of its GDP since October 7.
This presents a major dilemma for the US: it already has two major wars on its hands, and it needs time to build up its military for a possible major confrontation with China. But the US won’t be able to fully prepare itself for military confrontation through re-armament until 2027. If the US confronts China militarily before then, it is likely to lose.
Economically, China is on the move by selling products which are just as good as American products, if not better, at much lower prices. Notable areas are solar panels and EVs, where western manufacturers and exporters cannot compete.
As if that were not enough, we face a re-run of the Biden-Trump battle for the presidency in November. If Trump is elected, he is likely to disengage on the foreign policy front, and will tell Putin that he can have Ukraine, and maybe Europe. NATO will only exist on paper.
He has talked about raising tariffs on Chinese imports to the US to 60%.
Interesting times indeed.
Chicken farmers in Australia be like…
If money is not an issue, would you rather live in Miami, the SF Bay Area, Los Angeles, or New York?
New York is an absolute no no
Too many blacks at night everywhere and 90% of them wearing hoodies and giving the “mugger vibe”
And not the Good African blacks or the blacks you see in UK
The Stereotype 1990s blacks depicted in family guy
You may think you landed in Lagos
Except Manhattan and i dont like Apartment living too much.
Miami?
I have never been to Miami. In Florida, I have been only to Orlando.
SF Bay Area
Sorry
Too many Homosexuals
I went there twice and both times, you had many men holding hands and resting heads on shoulders and giving you the shudders
Beautiful place though
Like South Mumbai to a certain extent
Los Angeles?
Again I have been to LA only to go to Universal Studios and Rodeo Drive and when I land in US
No idea how life in LA can be
In the US, I would prefer living in New Rochelle in Westchester County Or some of those nice Suburban communities, ones where Indians are not discriminated against
Or even San Jose
My Son lived in a place called Los Gatos and he was told all the white guys were uppity people who would be racist to Indians. That never happened. Good people, Friendly people
My idea of a money no limit place would be :-
One Acre minimum property
Excellent Medical Facilities nearby where the Labs process results in a day and not four days
Where a Specialist makes an appointment to see you, the next day and not next Thursday
At least two Indian eateries in a 1 Km radius. Not the Naan, Roti one but the South Indian one which is rarer in the US
Low rate of crime
Accessibility to a City for emergency
The Answer was Westchester County
I advised my sons to consider this place as a final retirement place in the days when US was a better country than it is today
My wife is already not too pleased about one son settling in China and has warned me “You kept praising China, and now our younger son is in China. Now you are praising Russia. If the elder one settles down in Russia, you can live with him and I am out of here”
Meanwhile in Texas
Do you know anyone who had a good heart who went to prison?
I’ve known men who had good hearts and went to prison.
Where they lost them.
I’ve met men who went to prison and grew larger hearts, just like the Grinch.
I’ve met men who never had good hearts and never will.
And, I’ve met men who managed to hold on to their good hearts in spite of it all.
Shortly after arriving at the facility where I did the bulk of my time, I met a man who was almost the same age as my father. This was a spry fellow, slender, medium height, and bearded.
He had been in Vietnam.
He was just a kid when he went to war. While away he kept an unusually candid journal. Later in life he transcribed the journal faithfully into a book and self-published a small number of copies. It must’ve been tempting to edit out the parts that made him look like the stupid teenager he was, but he didn’t. The journal and the book tell the same story without so much as a spelling correction.
He allowed me to read his journal.
It was filled with the concerns of an eighteen year old boy, “Does she love me? What did she mean when she said that? What should I tell her about John?” All these normal, adolescent, girl-centric concerns projected against a backdrop of horror.
On his first day of patrol in Vietnam, his outfit marched into a village and demanded to know where the Viet Cong were. One bad apple threatened a woman by holding her infant over a well and screaming for answers about the VC.
The sergeant saw this and said, “C’mon Smith. Let it go.” Smith (or whatever his name was) dropped the baby into the well. The sergeant calmly walked over, pulled out a hand grenade, removed the pin, and dropped the grenade into the well after the baby.
After the explosion he said, “Don’t have to worry about that fucker.”
This was day one of patrol. Imagine the shock. Imagine being ripped out of your Mid-West suburban utopia and being cast into this asylum for the chronically cruel.
The entire course of this young man’s life was forever altered. His experiences at war led to a drinking problem. The drinking led to DUIs. Three DUIs became a felony conviction. His father’s guns still in his home became “felon in possession of a firearm.”
This was a good man. His heart was in pain for his entire adulthood as a result of the things he saw.
Instead of offering him help, we locked him up.
Oh baby…
Senior Russian Military Colonel: Possibility of full-scale war in Europe “not ruled out – growing significantly”
A senior Russian military officer warns that the conflict in #Ukraine could escalate into a full-scale war in #Europe and says the probability of Moscow’s forces becoming involved in a new conflict is increasing “significantly.” Colonel-General Vladimir Zarudnitsky, head of the Russian army’s Military Academy of the General Staff, made the comments in an article for “Military Thought”, a defense ministry publication, the state RIA news agency reported on Thursday. “The possibility of an escalation of the conflict in Ukraine – from the expansion of participants in ‘proxy forces’ used for military confrontation with Russia to a large-scale war in Europe – cannot be ruled out,” RIA cited him a saying. “The main source of military threats to our state is the anti-Russian policy of the United States and its allies, who are conducting a new type of hybrid warfare in order to weaken Russia in every possible way, limit its sovereignty and destroy its territorial integrity,” he was quoted as saying. “The likelihood of our state being purposefully drawn into new military conflicts is significantly increasing.” The war in Ukraine has triggered the deepest crisis in Russia’s relations with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and President Vladimir Putin has warned that the West risks provoking a nuclear war if it sends troops to fight in Ukraine. Putin has cast his decision to send tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022 as a special military operation designed to secure Russia’s own security against an increasingly hostile US-backed Ukrainian leadership. Kyiv says it is defending itself against an imperial-style war of conquest designed to erase its national identity. Zarudnitsky’s comments come at a time when the West is scrambling to help Ukraine with more arms and financing after Kyiv’s failed counteroffensive last summer and after Russian forces regained the initiative on the battlefield. Zarudnitsky advocated a number of changes in the way Russia organizes its military and security, RIA added, including placing greater emphasis on relying on what he called friendly countries to ensure Russia’s own security and consolidating the whole of Russian society around its defense needs.
Fathers be like
Apricot Chicken
Ingredients
Chicken
4 to 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 (13 ounce) jar apricot preserves
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
3/4 cup water
1 1/4 cups Russian dressing or use store-bought
Russian Dressing
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup chili sauce (or ketchup)
3 teaspoons prepared horseradish (or to taste)
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
Instructions
If using homemade Russian Dressing, prepare it first. If using store bought Russian dressing, proceed with the recipe.
Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Chicken
Wash and place chicken breasts in a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
In a medium size bowl, mix together preserves, dry onion soup mix, water and Russian dressing. Pour over the chicken breasts. Bake for 1 hour.
Russian Dressing
Place onion in a small bowl and mash to create a paste. Stir in the mayonnaise, chili sauce, horseradish, hot sauce, Worcestershire, paprika and salt.
Stability
What habits did you pick up in prison that non prisoners don’t understand?
Don’t make eye contact. If you happen to, do not smile. The general friendliness we see as acceptable and desirable in the real world (except France) can get you into trouble in prison.
Look in every trashcan. I still can’t break this habit. Prison is a constant state of want. You learn to make do or do without. There’s stuff in there that you need.
Trust no one. Eventually you will come to know one or two well enough to exempt them from this rule… but even with these select few, you still shouldn’t lean on them. Practice solidarity with yourself.
Don’t ask questions. You’ve no right to know, and asking can cause problems with inmates and guards alike.
Lock up everything. It only takes a moment for someone to walk off with whatever you hold dear. If it’s further than arm’s reach, it’s at risk.
Beware the quiet. If you’ve been reading and suddenly realize that the normal background idiocy has mysteriously squelched, pay attention. There’s a reason, and it’s probably not good.
Don’t stand out. Don’t ask for special privileges, don’t complain, and don’t go around trying to make friends. Squeaky wheels get greased with blood.
Stockpile books. You never know when you’ll be in lockdown for a fortnight. You’ll be grateful if you’ve got something to do besides another game of cards.
A warning from veteran who went to Ukraine
Is Britain’s idea of using frozen Russian assets as collateral for a loan to Ukraine any less illegal than simply stealing them, and how would this affect London’s reputation as a financial centre?
It’s literally stealing.
You can make all the olympic level mental gymnastics you want, oh it’s only stealing from bad people. But all in all it’s still stealing, it’s taking stuff that isn’t yours.
Oh sure you can of course decide that it is yours or make contrivances and change the law so that it becomes ‘legal’. But in the end it’s intentionally depriving somebody of their property on a permanent basis thus means theft.
affect London’s reputation as a financial centre?
It will affect confidence, in that if you can steal theirs or change the rules so that they can take it legally, what stops you from doing it to others?
If anything the UK is doing this over and over.
They’ve literally refused to give Venezuela’s gold back to them.
But it goes back to this:
affect London’s reputation as a financial centre?
London’s reputation as a financial centre is evaporating. EU passporting is ending in 2024 😀
So they’re literally resorting to looting.
That’s not particularly surprising as most of them why pay for something if you can steal it?
Ukraine War: Irish fighter ‘Rambo’ describes ‘terrifying’ Russian tank chase
What can I learn in one minute that will be useful for the rest of my life?
Adjust a picture frame at your desk so you can see behind you with the reflection of the glass.
In a pinch, the seatbelt in your car can be used as a bottle opener.
Balance an empty can on the doorknob to alert you if someone tries to open the door while you’re elsewhere in the house.
Anything you say before the word “but” does not count.
Suspect someone’s giving you the wrong phone number? Read it back to them incorrectly, if they correct you, it’s legit.
Windows key + E to open My Computer.
To confirm which circuit breaker is associated with an outlet, plug in a hairdryer and turn the volume up before you flip the circuit breaker.
When you want to cross words out you don’t want to be legible, instead of scribbling over them, write random letters and words over the original.
Using ‘~ ‘ before a word in Google searches includes synonyms of that word in your search.
When filling your car with gas, hold the trigger halfway. You’ll get more gas and less air in the tank.
Have an Excel file too big to e-mail? Save it as an xlsb it shrinks the size by 50-75%.
When you’re on an elevator, the floor with the star next to it is the one that leads outside.
Save the job description when you start a new job. It makes updating your resume a lot easier.
When showing people pictures on your phone, zoom in a little bit so they can’t easily swipe to other pictures.
Can’t decide if you’re hungry? Ask yourself if you want an apple. If you answer no, then you’re not actually hungry.
This is what a “real” man does…
How can we remind Russians we have no problems with them? We have a problem with their despot.
You don’t. You have problems with Russians now.
There are many dimensions of current conflict between Russia and collective West or whatever you call Russian opponents. Anyway the U.S. are the main enemy and there would be no conflict without their involvement. A lot has been said and written on the matter so I won’t delve into it further.
Now comes the definition part. Who are “you”? Ok, I assume you are talking about people of collective West. Not governments, not military industry lobbies, not bankers, not oil traders, not oligarchs. Just people.
Why do you have problems with Russians? Because your countries are our enemies. And no sweet words will change that simple fact.
Could this be different? Yes. Your countries made a plethora of pointless, stupid and self-contradicting decisions.
Yet, the most stupid of those decision was the decision to attempt economic isolation of Russia.
This:
1) Made Russian people your enemies
2) Forced modernization of Russian industry and economy at unprecedented rate
3) Boosted Russian military-industrial complex
4) Resulted in further consolidation of Russians around Putin
5) Destroyed all “soft influence” that you had in Russia through your corporations and business ties
The list is long.
Now a small personal story.
By February 2022 I was mainly working for a couple U.S. corporations (Intel and HP if you are interested) as lead localizer / reviewer of Russian content (freelance).
I was generally sympathizing Americans and Europeans and had no communication problems. I was quite against any confrontation. However, actions of European and American governments made me lose these jobs and, naturally, my attitude to them has seriously changed.
You made a Western-minded person in Russia angry about “the West”. There were millions of Russians like me who had ties with the Western world or who earned their income working for Western companies. Actions of U.S. and European governments made you lose our sympathies and lose any leverage the West had in Russian society.
Not that we would work against Russia or became “the fifth column”, but had this “economic blockade” remained a threat, we would surely push for decisions that would help us save our jobs and sources of income.
Now it is just too late. Pro-Western people in Russia were forced to adapt and vast majority of them are no longer pro-Western. Sure, some just fled Russia but even then, this didn’t have any noticeable impact on Russian economy and Russian society.
To sum it up, you had your influence in Russia but lost it. You earned money in Russia but lost it. Even your cultural influence is fading. Simply because Russians are no longer looking on your content through rosy glasses. And well, TBH your media entertainment content in last few years mostly sucks.
Maybe your own audience is brainwashed enough to push any “agendas” but I don’t remember any new Hollywood blockbusters in last few years that would be really appealing to Russian or any other third-world audience. I haven’t even feel the desire to watch anything like that.
Moreover, your “brands” are rapidly losing value in eyes of Russians and more and more Russians look at them with disdain.
Moreover, Russia is setting the example for “Global South” demonstrating that a large part of your “superiority” was just imaginary. The further our hostilities go, the greater is this understanding. Especially when it comes to “cultural superiority”.
Still… if you are talking about people… many Russian still don’t think categories. Most of us still don’t assume that every American or European is an enemy. Yet, we assume that most of you are simply brainwashed about Russia, Russian people and Russian so-called “despot”.
A side note for more context. I do support the ruling party of Russia but I don’t support President Putin. I am a big fan of Russian Prime Minister and other efficient administrators from United Russia team.
So enjoy your “politically correct” remakes, dull comics that are indistinguishable from each other and reanimation of long-dead franchises that can’t be saved even with once great actors.
Las Vegas babysitter who beat 5-year-old boy to death sentenced to life in prison
Horrific.
Terrible.
What is the most disgusting thing that someone has done in a restaurant?
I have a three-way-tie. We had a family come in with a baby, toddler, and a small child, maybe 6 or 7. I noticed the baby didn’t look well to begin with. You could just look at this kid and tell she was miserable and running fever. I asked if she was alright and the mom assured me she was just tired.
The toddler decided to suck the sauce off her noodles and stick them to the wall. Mom and dad said nothing. A little while later the older child put her hands in the baby’s diaper and announced to everyone “Ewww! Chrissy’s got runny poo!” She wiped her hand on the white tablecloth. Mom pushes plates aside and changes this horrendously smelly, runny diaper right on the table. She couldn’t understand why I was making a big deal out of it when I asked her to take the baby to the bathroom.
Next we have the lady who ordered a huge meal and requested a large, empty to go cup. It wasn’t until after she left that I realized what she was doing. She was chewing her food and spitting it in the cup instead of swallowing it. I’m pretty sure she had an eating disorder. It’s none of my business if she did or didn’t, I’m not judging, but it would have been nice if she had thrown her cup of chewed food out herself instead of leaving it for me to deal with.
Finally, we have the man who decided that instead of using his big boy words to show his displeasure at being denied a take out box for an all-you-can-eat meal (There were signs and the menu stated no to go boxes on it) that he would urinate in my lobby. He did this right in front of a cop that was dining with us. The guy was not too bright. Yes, the cop took action.
Let’s see something nicer.
The internet found her and destroyed her
She was deserving.
When have you cheaply or inexpensively fixed an item someone thought unrepairable?
Not exactly unrepairable but definitely expensive.
I recently treated myself to a used luxury automobile because I’m getting old and wanted to splurge. I had it less than 2 weeks when the power driver’s seat wouldn’t move forward or backwards. Unfortunately it was frozen slightly too far back so I really had to stretch to reach the pedals … not a very safe way to drive.
The dealer looked sad when I brought it in. He said this was a common problem with my model, but the “repair” involved replacing the whole motor assembly under the seat, it would cost upwards of $3k, and extended warranties almost never covered it.
I went home and contacted my insurer who said they didn’t know if it was covered, I should have the $200 diagnostic done and then the dealer would present a claim for the repair on my behalf and they would “work it out”.
The night before my follow-up appointment, my husband (not a mechanic) looked under the seat with a flashlight. The gear to move the seat had come out of its track. He hit it a few times just so and the gear popped back into place. Now the seat works perfectly again.
I have been experimenting with AI. I have been making movies, asking questions, and generating all sorts of art. Today we will chat about my latest adventure…
I played around with it, used the Haddock style (Tin Tin clone) and ended up with this…
Then I tried again with a “flying saucer” preset.
Check out the results… The block to the right never managed to generate… sigh.
It’s fun.
Worth your time to visit and try your hand at it.
Easy . All you need is a story line, and some dialog to add.
Today…
Have you ever been banned from a place due to your behavior?
The AT&T store. My mom had died in a car accident, and it was left up to me to close her accounts and different things like that, after grieving a couple weeks I got started. She had bought an IPad and for probably nearly a decade had AT&T service for it as my parents didn’t have WiFi. I called them and told them, my mom is dead. Please cancel auto pay from her bank account. THEY REFUSED. The person had no sympathy at all. I asked for a supervisor, and they said go to a certain store, they would call there and say to cancel.
I go to the store and when I tell them the situation, nobody would touch it. Finally a call came and they said OK now it has to be approved by corporate (or some stupid answer like that). Two months go by and they kept taking 39.95 out of her bank account. I call them AGAIN, and they say go back to this store with her death certificate (which I just received). I go back and am treated like shit. The manager was a snotty little snip who barely looked at the death certificate and her two beta male minions shrugged me off when I asked if this would finally end this bullshit. They basically ignored me and turned away. I blew my stack, finally. I started shouting to everyone in the store to not get AT&T because they will charge you even if you are dead. That they are stealing my dead mothers money and these assholes don’t care. The little bitch manager said for me to leave, and I got in her face..how would she feel if her dead mother was getting robbed and nobody gave a shit?? Anyway the police came, they were actually sympathetic and I went to my moms bank still crying. Due to having her death certificate + administration of estate credentials the bank stopped the auto payment. A few days later got a letter addressed to my mother’s estate demanding payment from AT&T. The IPad was not used since she died. They had already gotten three months of payment from a dead woman. AT&T SUCKS. Now I’m going to run on my treadmill, my adrenaline is demanding action, lol.
Awesome China
Why is the US doing such a bad job countering China’s rise?
Oh, that’s a lot of reasons.
For America:
no unified policies and strategies, every department has its own stance, and their stances may conflict each other. Like, the department of commerce wanted to continue high tariffs on Chinese products, but the department of treasury wanted China to buy American debt, this is paradoxical, you can’t ask someone to buy your goods while pointing a gun at him.
no unified benefits on “countering China”, Wall Street companies do not wish to counter China, while some domestic companies wish to. Because WS companies are financial sectors, they invest and make profit, no matter from where, but domestic companies rely on domestic market and labors, if everything can be made in China, then they die.
no unified strategies, Trump prefers solve China first, while Biden prefers solve Russia first. Given America’s strength is limited, it can’t handle both, but wavering between the two only waste precious time. And China, Russia, Muslim world, the global south won’t give America this chance, when it tried to solve one, the rest will rise up.
democratic. America’s democratic system allows people in 1, 2 and 3 can’t reach to an agreement.
no real representation of China, as many answers here pointed out, China’s image in Ameican media is twisted, which made Americans not able to make objective evaluation and correct decision. Sometimes the images are controversial, sometimes China is weak and easy to win, sometimes China is a threat…I don’t konw how come a country could be both weak and threatening at same time. However, if China is correctly and honestely reported, the politicians in WH and Capitol Hill will afraid losing power after American people found they’re fooled and manipulated, not just China, on everything.
no correct mentaility. America’s an amatuer in international politics, it adopts a zero sum mentality, which cuts off alternative options, and behaves like a red-eyed bull. Like Vietnam war, it could let the souther Vietnman go and admit it’s lost the war, but it can’t step back, so the only option is to increase the stakes, until the final collapse. Zero sum is an ideal result, but the world is complicated.
For China:
it’s big enough, so trade war can’t defeat China’s industry.
it’s advanced enough, so technology war can’t stop China’s development.
it’s strong enough, so a real war can’t defeat China and bring it kneeling in front of you.
For countering philosophy:
the correct comepetion is: you run fast, then I run faster. But America’s strategy is: you run fast, then I cripple you. Such a denial philosophy only makes the other side knowing there’s no chance to compromise.
for a third party observer, America’s philosophy is somewaht suicidal, when it is countering China is wishes its allies to pay the cost, or, its allies were unfortunately influenced, there’s no compensation. In long run, America wins the game but loses hearts.
pursuing defenite advantage than others will make a third party felt chilly: am I the next? How to avoid this fate? Can I unite all potential targets to avoid being taken as a target? Like I said, wins the game but loses the hearts.
Generally, present America is like the final days of Ming Dynasty of China, the empire treasury was almost empty but big heads possessed gold mountains, there’s outside threats (Manchu, Mongolians and Japanese), and ministers, lords, princes, all had differnt stances, they fought each other in the hall, the whole political machine is used as a weapon to attack the enemies in government, rather than enemies in field, the big heads controlled the information, they only report good news to the emperor, then emperor was blind and deaf, however, making final decision the right of the emperor, but a blind and deaf emperor only made wrong decisions. When farmers uprose to fight the unfair treatment, the big heads refused to fund the army, when Manchus and Japanese invaded, the corruptive army can’t fight. Finally, the emperor looked at the empty empire treasury, hang himself on a tree, when the emperor died, the empire collapsed, and Manchus conquered all China.
The history told us, for a big country, it collapses from inside, eyeing on an outsider is useless, or just put off its collapse. When an empire’s rotten from the root, “countering” an outside opponent only speeds up the bleeding.
Yes, me. It was a small company, a start up, still in a fairly early state. 22 people. The guy who hired me had great plans to get the company going, but the CEO didn’t like him. So fairly soon after I started the CEO fired my boss.
Now the reason I was hired was to replace an old guy who helped build the company but wanted to retire. Key role, materials engineering, for a company that wanted to be big in that field with new ideas. That guy taught me everything he knew, which was a lot.
But the CEO had certain plans, and because he fired my boss he decided I’d be next, so he let me go. But the guy that I was supposed to replace didn’t like what the CEO was doing, so when he heard I was fired, he decided to retire on the spot. Same day. We both walked out the door together.
So now there was a start up that wanted to become big in materials engineering, without any materials engineers, and nobody to teach any potential new employees what needed to be done.
I got lucky, I found a new job within a month. But the company that fired me went into administration shortly after, then a bigger company bought them, very cheaply, together with all their ideas, fired the CEO, merged all assets and basically deleted the company from existence.
WTF?
Who was the most unfortunate person in the history of mankind?
This Darrell Simmons of Morley, Alberta in Canada. Not only was he unlucky enough to have been born in Canada, but his luck never improved throughout his life.
He was forced to be chemically castrated after he was wrongfully accused of multiple sexual assaults in the 1980s. Once he was released from prison, he was given a pretty substantial sum of money.
Through bad investments though, he sadly lost everything. While working at a saw mill to try and get his life back together, he lost his hand in a freak accident.
One night while was out hunting with a friend, he was shot three times after being mistaken for a charging elk.
After recovering from the shooting, he was at home shoveling his driveway when he was struck by lightning in a snow storm. Darrell ultimately died that night, but it was determined that he survived the strike and actually froze to death.
More Men Choosing NOT To WORK And It’s Freaking Everyone Out
Fuck yeah. I have a friend. He worked construction doing Masonry well. One day he and his friend left work, and they got some beer on the way home. They went to my friend’s house, and they drank all the beer. My friend told his friend to watch my daughter. I’m going to go to the store and get some more beer his friend said all right, no problem. My friend left to go to the store, and when he came back, he found his friend inside of his 2-year-old daughter. He snapped. He beat the man unconscious and dragged him into the front yard. As he was dragging him to the front yard, he grabbed a can of gas and poured gas all over his friend and had to go back inside the house. Because he forgot his lighter when he came back out, he didn’t waste any time at all in turning his friend into Captain Crunch. He would have beaten the charge altogether if he hadn’t walked back inside the house , it would have been called a crime of passion,
but when he stopped and went back inside the house to get his lighter, it became premeditated murder because he thought about it first they tried him and found him guilty of premeditated murder and gave him a life sentence. I say we should have given him a medal.
“We have a world food system based on large multinational companies. It’s based on private profits and a very, very low measure of international transfers to help poor people (sometimes no transfers at all). It’s based on the extreme irresponsibility of powerful countries with regard to the environment and a radical denial of the rights of poor people, as we just heard.
We’ve just heard from the Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Many point a finger of blame at the DRC and other poor countries for their poverty.
Yet we don’t seem to remember, or want to remember, that starting around 1870, King Leopold of Belgium created a slave colony in the Congo that lasted for around 40 years; and then the government of Belgium ran the colony for another 50 years.
In 1961, after independence of the DRC, the CIA then assassinated the DRC’s first popular leader, Patrice Lumumba, and installed a US-backed dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko, for roughly the next 30 years.
And in recent years, Glencore and other multinational companies suck out the DRC’s cobalt without paying a level of royalties and taxes.
We simply don’t reflect on the real history of the DRC and other poor countries struggling to escape from poverty. Instead, we point fingers at these countries and say, ‘What’s wrong with you? Why don’t you govern yourselves properly?’
Yes, we have a global food system, but we need a different system.
We cannot turn the global food system over to the private sector. We already did that about 100 years ago, and not only to the private sector, but to the private sector with the U.S. military behind it to defend these companies.
We just heard from the Minister of Honduras.
Let us recall that United Fruit Company essentially ran his country for a long time. United Fruit’s attorney was US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, and his brother Allen Dulles was the head of the CIA.
On behalf of United Fruit Company, the two Dulles Brothers conspired to overthrow President Jacobo Árbenz of Guatemala, next door to Honduras, in order to stop the land reforms that Árbenz was trying to implement.
So, yes, we have a global food system, but we need a different system.
That different system must be based on the principle of universal human dignity in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the principle of national sovereignty in the UN Charter, and the economic rights in the Universal Declaration and the International Covenant of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.
In the Universal Declaration, all governments agreed that social protection is a human right, not merely a ‘nice thing,’ or a pleasant thing, but a basic human right.
That was 73 years ago.”
Excerpt from the speech by American economist and academic, Jeffrey Sachs, at the U.N. Food Systems Pre-Summit, Rome, July 27, 2021.
She was never specific. Where she was going, what she was doing. Especially whenever I asked her a question, she wouldn’t give specifc answers.
“Where are you going after this?”
“Oh, just to the library.”
“What are you doing there?”
“Just some work.”
“What kind of work?”
“You know, school work. Some assignments and stuff.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
I never pressed. If she asked me anything I’d be upfront about it. I think I was pressing her because I had always suspected. Now I’d like to think deep down, I knew, but the truth is I didn’t. I didn’t want to.
“What are you doing right now?”
“Just laying in bed.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
“Did your roomates go out for the weekend?”
“No, they just went out.”
“Are you going home for the weekend?”
“Maybe.”
“Do you want me to come drop you off at the station?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Oh”
“Yeah.”
Heard from a friend of mine she was going with someone else. Apparently they met before we did. Luckily I was at the point where I really liked her but didn’t love her, so that made dropping her a bit easier. Still hurts, though.
When I worked at the electric company, after 14 years, the company decided to lay off 3,400 employees and hire contractors to replace us. I spent a lot of time hunting down lost demand meters, and had to jimmy some doors open with a coat hanger, go through dungeons that connected to other basements, till I found all 22 of these meters, I never missed a month of reading those meters, so I never had to give anyone else directions to find them all. After being laid off, I got a call from one of the supervisors asking if I could tell them how to find those meters, for free. I told them I couldn’t just tell them how to find them, there are tools involved and I never really mapped it out, I just kind of know how to go once I’m in that location. I would have to go there and show them what to do and how to go, or it wouldn’t make sense. The supervisor couldn’t be sure he could get the okay to allow me to physically go down there since I’m not covered on their insurance anymore. I suggested that he have faith in these new contractors to figure out how to find the meters on their own, after all, I did it. They only found 9 of the 22 meters in 5 years of looking, I was informed in 2002.
I just left a job that I loved, and there are a few things that only I know how to do, but so what, someone will have to take over doing my jobs, and the flavors may be different, but they will survive. After all they must have thought it through before making up their minds to make the changes they did. I didn’t advise anyone this time, as you said the advice goes unheeded anyway. I figured it out, so can they. Have a good day
You Won’t Believe What These Graphs Reveal About Women!
Keep learning throughout your life. Even if you stop learning life will teach you lesson till end.
If you feel to cry, cry for the whole day but don’t cry next day for the same thing. Next time if you feel to cry for that tell yourself that you have already cried that day for that.
Love someone lot but not at the cost of your self identity. Be yourself.
Don’t judge the people immediately.
Listen the other person very carefully. Try to listen those words which he/she couldn’t speak.
Learn the fastest ways to get out of your mental prison, depression and trauma. Time is not infinite.
Your words can cost you a lot, use them wisely.
Deliver only as much information as required to know to the other person and not as much as you know.
Plan your day at least before a day, everyday. Be consistent.
Find out your natural abilities and believe in that.
Increase your sources of income. Live a simple but meaningful life.
Keep your moral values high. Forgive the people as much as possible and move on.
Everyday try to get out of your comfort zone, feel uncomfortable to achieve something better.
Have patience, it is your biggest strength.
Be successful as much as that world know you without any introduction
A couple of years ago, three other members of my women educators group and I met up at the bank. Three of us were new officers who needed to sign on to our organization’s bank account.
Our treasurer had made an appointment as required, explaining ahead of time what was needed. When we arrived, the woman assigned to help us couldn’t find the forms we needed to sign, so she took our personal and organization information and told us we’d need to come back another time to do the signing once she’d completed the forms.
Returning was going to be difficult because our treasurer was just days away from going on a scuba diving trip with her husband and one of the new officers taught full-time and also worked for an after school program, but we checked our calendars and found a time that would work for the four of us once again.
When we returned another day, we told the person greeting us that we were there to meet with the woman who was to have completed the forms and have them ready for signing. The greeter said, “I’m the only female employee at this branch, other than the tellers,” and she wasn’t the woman we’d met with before.
Now we’re in Twilight Zone territory. We know the four of us didn’t imagine meeting with a woman at a desk, so one of us thought to ask, “Do you ever have temporary workers?” That was the “Ah ha!” moment for the greeter.
“We do have people from other branches of the bank come to help out occasionally. Maybe one of them was a woman,” she said. She then directed us to a man at a desk, we explained once again why we’re there, and he began the process of looking for the paperwork. He comes back to where we’re waiting, opens the folder with our organization’s name on it…
And finds blank forms.
Nothing was ready to be signed. “I’m sorry,” he told us, “but all your information will have to be entered into the computer, then they have to be printed for you to sign. Unfortunately, we close in 15 minutes and this is going to take about half an hour, so you’ll need to come back tomorrow.”
That was our final “You gotta be kidding me!” moment.
But there’s a good ending to the story. When we explained our time constraints and what we’d already been through with the other woman, he took pity on us and said, “I’m going to help you.”
It took about forty minutes in all, with him staying past closing time, but he got it done for us.
The first time was a young lady who was driving erratically. She had her flashers on, and it was raining. When I got to her window, I saw it was a teenager I knew, and she was sobbing saying her grandmother had had a heart attack and was in surgery. I told her to follow me to the hospital. I drove a LOT slower and safer than she was driving when I stopped her. When we got to the hospital, I went in with her to get the status of her grandmother (who wasn’t in surgery, but was stable and having a lot of tests run). Then, I accompanied her to the waiting room where I had a little chat with her about her driving. I was gentle, yet firm while I explained to her that I would rather her be visiting her grandmother at the hospital instead of being a patient along with her … or worse.
Not on the way to the hospital, but I pulled someone over who was driving erratically to get home because his blood sugar had dropped. He was a diabetic. I had a Snickers bar in my patrol car, so I gave it to him and sat on the side of the road with him until an ambulance showed up. By the time the ambulance arrived, his blood sugar had come up considerably. It was still “low,” but he wasn’t disoriented anymore. He had taken his regularly scheduled insulin, but hadn’t eaten. He thought he would make it home before his blood sugar “bottomed out.” He refused treatment, and I followed him home to make sure he got there okay.
I pulled a mom over for speeding, and she said she was taking her son to the ER because he had the flu. I got her to step to the back of the car where I scolded her for driving so fast (85MPH in a 50MPH zone). I explained “the flu” was NOT a medical emergency that was worth risking her life, as well as her son’s life, and the life of every other driver. I remember that stop so well because I thought she was so audacious for driving THAT MUCH over the posted speed limit while seeing me posted there. I didn’t cite her, but I did sternly warn her to slow down.
I responded to a residence to assist EMS on a cardiac arrest call. I cleared when the fire department showed up, as there were enough responders. I posted in my “usual spot” and saw the ambulance “running hot” to the hospital. I knew the patient. Just before the ambulance got out of sight, I stopped a car for speeding. The driver told me he was following his mom to the hospital … who was having a heart attack. Well, he got the heart attack part right, but his “mom” was one ugly bearded dude! (I told the patient the story when he got out of the hospital. We had a good laugh over it.) I cited the driver and suggested he bring his mother to court to help him contest the ticket.
He hated this one kid. He was umm, you know a kid with really short hair, wears chav jackets, always hanging with his mates, making jokes and never studies.
The teacher kept picking on him. He would give him looks and comments.
One day kid got really pissed off and said things like I don’t care. The teacher took him to his desk after the class.
He came back two hours later with a steaming hot red face. According to the kid, he had hit him and said some things. Kid called the police.
The police car came to our school. They had a chat with the kid and the teacher. Everyone tried to go out and see it but the other teachers didn’t allow us.
Later he made an apology to the kid and his parents. They didn’t accept it and wanted to make it formal at first, but when he told them his story they forgave him and dropped everything.
Turns out, his wife died from cancer when their daughters were just 6 and 8. Before they could do anything the hospital bills were too much and they were in debts. So he worked very hard day and night. He would teach during day and drive taxi at night. He had then later got hired for our school, a private school, and were able to pay all the debts. He even managed to send his daughter to one of the Ivy League schools.
However the little daughter had hard times and started causing trouble. She smoked, stole and hurt people. She would blame her dad for all of it. But he couldn’t get her straight because he felt too sorry for everything.
She also kept sleeping outside, then one day she never came back.
So the kid had reminded him of his daughter. Now this time he couldn’t let him drive off the course like how his daughter did. He tried to get him straight, in his own way.
He wasn’t fired. He kept teaching but he looked very depressed.
After a month or so he had quit the job and was never seen again.
GDP is a faulty measure of wealth and prosperity. So example if you get all your education free and healthcare is totally free of charge you are well and live till on average 2 years past the U.S. life expectancy if you earn half of Americans. You are just as will be just as well off. Or if Americans don’t earn twice as much as the Chinese you are certainly not as well off! Stop fooling yourself.
When I was young I thought Malaysian padi planters are not as well off till I realised they don’t need to buy rice for obvious reasons, and buy fish which they catch or chicken which they rear or indeed the vegetables which they plant. All they ever need is some cloths which they don’t need to look especially good since they hardly need to impress anyone. so whatever they earned they can saved it almost entirely.
In the same logic Americans were fooled to think they are rich due to this nonsense call GDP! In the U.S. GDP is overstated and wrongly represented. If 1% owned 80% of everything and 99% shares the 20%balance. These 99% are very poor! Right? What is worst is that your dollar in the U.S. buys you only a third of the same dollar in China!
For me Average Chinese are just as well off as the yanks by 2020 with less liabilities and more asset by 2010. Today they certainly live better than your average Joe! With better cars, bigger homes, better cloths and eat better than your 99%. Hence there is zero homelessness versus 1 million tent living Americans!
To me Americans are intentionally fooled into thinking they are rich to prevent Americans from rebelling against the forever wars and the 75 years decline in real living standards!
Early in my career, I had a boss with an unbelievable temper. Anytime I did anything wrong or if I just did something in a different way than he would have, he went ballistic. I’ll call him Don since that was his real name. One day Don stopped by the job site I managed and found that I had let the roofers work on five houses out of the order they had been assigned.
I didn’t ask why. Had he asked He would have found that the building inspector had inadvertently skipped the framing inspection inspection on that one house. We were not allowed to roof a house before the framing had passed inspection or we would have to tear off the new roof (destroying the shingles) and risk a good relationship with the inspector, something you always wanted and needed.
What did Don do? He screamed at me until I put my palm about an inch from his nose and and yelled back, “Don, would you shut up for just one minute!”
His response, after the shock of having someone yell back was, “You are fired! Fired! Fired.”
I was fed up with his temper after putting up with it for a month or so and was more than happy to pack up and leave, Construction was booming in our county so I knew I could find another job with little or no problem.
To my surprise, Don called my house at seven that evening and asked, “Are you coming to work tomorrow?”
“Fired employees don’t come to work the next day because THEY’RE FIRED.” Okay I admit I might have added some less than polite exclamations.
“Oh come on, you know I didn’t mean it. What’s wrong? Do you need more money?” He actually sounded contrite but did not offer an apology.
I knew he didn’t have anyone to cover my job and I also knew he was an administrator, not a builder, so I told him, “I’ll come back for three weeks so you can find my replacement IF you pay me double and do not show up on the site until I’m gone.”
I knew it would cost the company more money than my double pay to fall behind on the completion of the project so I wasn’t surprised when he agreed. Don was true to his word and didn’t show his face on site but did call me twice. Both times, I hung up as soon as I found who was calling.
I went on to another job after the promised three weeks and never looked back. Sometimes you just have to stand up to a tyrant boss and let the chips fall where they may.
Harry Potter And The Hogwarts Rave
What’s the worst thing that you did on a school computer?
It was actually in University, not the university I went to… a university… way back it was common for universities to simply have no security whatsoever in the UK.
Even in Hong Kong only PolyU and CUHK have barrier gates to the campus. This is unsurprising as they were the centre of the 2019 riots. You can go to many places on the HKU campus and Ling University campus I don’t know about HKUST without being challenged by security.
Anyway, it was at a university not going to say which one. It was one of my friends who was there and we used the university computer labs to play LAN games.
Anyway he was studying computer science. He’d done his coursework thing and found others had copied it. They’d copied it and claimed HE had copied them. He always documented his work though so was always cleared of plagiarism.
Anyway, he’d buy a load of cheap USB sticks and Floppy disks. He then wrote a program on it that looked like it was the coursework bit it linked to some program module or something… I don’t know how as I’m not very computer savvy.
This program went and searched for all the files on a persons computer and deleted them AND wrote over the HDD sector that it was stored on. It then displayed a message I hate you fucking cheating bastards it then wiped the USB stick and the floppy.
He then left it around various computer labs. We then went for a beer.
Catula
What made you lose interest in someone?
She got crazy and hung up on me mid-conversation.
When we’d been dating for less than a month.
She was angry I couldn’t do something on a Saturday with her friends. I was in grad school. And working full time.
It simply wasn’t an option. I had a group project we were doing.
More importantly though: I’m 31 years old. She’s 27. And she’s hanging up on me like a middle schooler.
I knew it then.
If she’s acting that crazy within a month. It would only get worse.
She texted me right after she hung up on me saying something to the effect of,
“I’m not going to include you in plans anymore. I’m making them without you.”
And I said, “Look – I’m a simple guy. I don’t know what is going on right now. But I can’t do all of this stuff. Make plans without me.”
And of course, she did a 180 and was apologizing via text and then sent me a video apologizing with her face all pressed up in the camera.
It was a strange scene. That Yo-Yo, up and down, drama stuff was already starting with her.
Against my better judgment, we hung out two more times. Which only further confirmed the crazy and my fading interest.
Younger people reading this: there’s a reason we write about red flags so much. Red flags are freaking real. They become your nightmare if you don’t see them.
Some videos are just unexplainable. Take a look at these
One day everything is fine. I shut off my computer, and go to sleep.
Next morning I wake up, grab a cup of coffee and sit at my computer, and it is “locked”. And, you know, I didn’t lock it.
Computers have different modes aside from “on” and “off”.
…
There’s “suspend“.
There’s “sleep“.
Somehow, my computer went into “Rip Van Wrinkle” mode.
…
No matter what I would do, It just wouldn’t wake up.
Speech!
Stressed me out to no end.
So…
I used another computer to download the latest version of Lunix Mint. It’s called “Virginia”. And then booted up with that ISO.
Works great.
But, when installing, I lost all of my files, and other stuff.
It took me the next two days to recover all my passwords and links and stuff. But somehow, I did manage, and now I am back up and running. Though…
I lost all my gaming history… back to the beginning for me. Ugh.
I lost all my pending articles, not yet uploaded. Oh well.
I lost all my family videos and such… Sigh.
But the bulk of my system is saved and secure.
The reason… Well let me tell you…
…
Firstly, I have backups on all meetings. If my computer goes down, I have my Chief Engineer and we use his systems, and phones. So I do not rely on one meeting operating system.
Secondly, I connect my phone to my computer browser. If my computer goes down, I can sync with my phone and vice versa.
And, most importantly, thirdly… I wrote all my passwords and criticals in a book. If my electronics are locked, stolen, compromised, or whatever, I still can access the internet data.
Phew!
For once, the thing that everyone made fun of me for doing, worked out and saved me in the end!
1. Eat the frog and start with the things that are most important.
“Crush” time is from 9 to 10 a.m.
We finish our trickiest assignments during this period and avoid bothering one other with inquiries. First thing in the morning, you should probably finish the task that you are most afraid of.
2. Make plans for tonight and tomorrow.
Making a brief list of easy tasks to complete at night will enable you to get started quickly in the morning and create a constructive momentum that will last the remainder of the day.
3. Enumerate your day’s “crucial results.”
Make a spreadsheet with your top three priorities listed for each day. This will assist you in organizing your days and ensuring that you stay focused on the most crucial things each day.
4. Modify your inner monologue.
Your drive and energy levels can be greatly enhanced by making a small change in viewpoint. Say “These are the two things I need to focus on today” rather than “I have too much to do today!”
5. Complete administrative activities during downtime.
standing in line for example at the bank, the grocery store, the elevator, etc. Bring along a book you’ve been wanting to read, some emails to get through, or some status updates to catch up on. Alternatively, just wander your thoughts and take in your surroundings.
6. 70% of the wealth is generated online, so you should too start an online business. Here join this challenge to learn how to start an online business
7. Make time for “me” at the beginning of the day:
Sort through and prioritize the accumulation of accumulated emails and social media posts from the previous night. Eliminate prompt comments and
recommendations so that others can get to work on their duties. Plan out the larger jobs. And remove the informational or unimportant content.
9. Get rid of private distractions:
Workplace productivity can also be severely hindered by personal diversions. You would quickly lose focus and waste hours doing nothing if you allowed personal distractions to interfere with your work.
10. Take a bigger stance:
Around 3 p.m., do you start to feel a bit sleepy? Get up!
China will peak after it is 5–6 times the U.S. real GDP size of the U.S. which I suspect will be around 2075–2100 period. Why do I say 5–6 times that of the U.S. China will in real terms match China i.e. 4X USA economy around 2050–2075 period because China has 4 TIMES the population of the US.
But China won’t stop there because Chinese are generally smarter recieved better education, willing to work harder, are more industrious and learn more than US citizens hence it will not stop growing till it hit 5–6 times the US size at the minimum. So stop hallucinating China wants to catch up to the U.S. it wants to lapped the U.S. many folds.
Chinese political system is more sustainable and its infrastructure is presently miles ahead of the U.S. now. And while the Chinese are focus the U.S. will always be embroiled in conflicts after conflicts till it implodes in a mess of debts and deficits wasting resources that it barely has. I ammmetely pointing out facts that scare the shit out of you guys especially US lackeys or U.S. dogs and slaves or simply ignorant and naive brain dead Americans here in QUORA. You hate me for saying this and will prefer to be in denial. But lying to yourself is what you did for the longest time.
Interviewer : You have 10 minutes to impress me. Go.
Me: If I do that, if I dazzle you within ten minutes, would I get this job?
Interviewer : Young man, I must warn you, I’m extremely hard to impress. But if you’re able to pull that off, I shall hire you on the spot.
Me: You see, that’s the problem. I’ve been working in this field for a long time. I’ve done a lot of projects with a lot of programmers. Most of these guys started out as mere acquaintances. I had no idea how good or bad at coding they were. It was only after working with them for a while that I got to know their true calibre. And one strange pattern I noticed was that the guys who I didn’t think much of in the first meeting, later proved to be some of the best collaborators. While the ones who completely floored me with their dazzling first impressions, later turned out to be complete assholes and a total pain in the ass to work with. Right now, I could throw in a bunch of complex projects I’ve done in the past, or I could tell you about the research I’ve been doing, or competitions I’ve won. Any of those would be sufficient to impress you. And as you promised, you would give me this job. But if you do that — give me this job going by whether I’m able to impress you within the first ten minutes or not, then I’m not so sure I’d still want it.
Your workers expect 5 times Chinese workers salary and 10 times more benefits and your rental and utilities are 5 times more expensive in the U.S. than in China. Hence a dollar in the U.S. buys you a big mac and the same dollar translated into RMB allows you to get 3 similar Big Macs. That is why your nominal GDP means shit! Everything that you pay 3 bucks in New York you pay merely a buck in Shanghai! Simply speaking your purchasing parity is a mere pittance of China.
So who do you blame? Your big mouth. You told the world you have a great Union who protects your workers income! Great your worker get paid more but your product can’t sell ! Without sales you cannot pay your staff all together.
Eggs with Peppers and Sausage
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
1 large onion, sliced
1 pound Italian sweet peppers or banana peppers, seeded and cut into strips
I worked in a doctor’s office, internal medicine so they did gynecological exams among other things. We used metal speculums and after each patient, the speculums would be dropped into a solution to soak. Near the end of the day, they’d all be put in the autoclave machine to sterilize them. One Friday, the nurse forgot. The speculums remained in the soaking solution all weekend and you’d think maybe it wouldn’t be that big of a deal but BOY OH BOY let me tell you….when I got to work Monday morning I saw the exterior doors were open with box fans in them, trying to help remove the most hideous and sickening odor you could imagine. It was like somebody had taken a dead body, stuffed it with expired tuna, and hid it behind the magazine rack. How ANY patients consented to be treated in there that day, I do not know.
In the summer of 2015, my two sisters and I set out on a backpacking journey across Europe. We were all quite athletic: I was devoted to the gym and cycling, Mary worked hard as a waitress, and Joanne excelled in high school sports.
Despite only having basic German skills, I was somewhat fluent, thanks to my mother’s influence. Along the way, we encountered many German tourists, providing ample opportunities for interesting eavesdropping.
One particularly memorable moment took place during our first visit to a topless beach. While relaxing in our bikinis, my sisters Mary and Joanne decided to go for a swim. Nearby, two German men, whom I’ll refer to as Hans and Klaus, began discussing us.
Hans: Look at those girls. They’re cute, but…
Klaus: …they have big muscles.
Hans: Yes, they would be very pretty if it weren’t for the muscles. What’s the deal, I wonder?
Klaus: They’re American. Americans like girls with muscles.
Hans: What makes you think they’re American?
Klaus: They’re covering their breasts.
I stayed silent, but when it was my turn to enter the water, I couldn’t resist a playful gesture. I waited for them to look, then flexed my muscles, Popeye-style, and gave them a wink.
When I was in graduate school working on my doctorate, I had a “friend” who was as cheap and as greedy as a person could be. She was one of those people who always begged for a bite, a piece, or a sip. Even if I had eaten half of my food, played around in it with my fork, or sat talking over it, she would tell the server clearing the table to leave my plate so she could eat the rest. She did this in an Indian restaurant once, and the server literally blanched and looked at me incredulously. I just shrugged as this woman proceeded to scarf down my half-eaten cucumber salad. Any time I didn’t eat everything on my plate, she’d ask if she could have it. Well, the last time we ever went out to eat was when we went to a Chinese restaurant and she decided that she wasn’t really “in the mood” for the teriyaki beef dish she had ordered and was really hankering for the shrimp fried rice I had ordered that came on a large platter with a serving spoon. Her eyes got really wide when our server brought out our food, and she saw all of that rice. She never offered to pay for half my meal even though she readily helped herself. Because I was taught that it is rude and petty to deny someone food who asks, I silently watched her heap her plate with fried rice and eat it. When the check came, she paid for her untouched meal and asked the server to wrap it up so that she could take it home and eat it at another time. There were other incidents. There was the time she went into an ice cream shop to get us ice cream while I waited outside with my dog who could not go in for obvious reasons. Moments later she came running back out with only her cone because my cone cost 30 cents more than I had given her. But eating half of my dinner and never offering to pay was the last straw and the last time I ever went anywhere with this woman.
Russia is one of the most resource rich land masses in the planet
They have enough oil based on current reserves and current increase in consumption to last for 63.6 years
They have enough Gas based on current reserves and current increase in consumption to last for 118 years
They have enough of the Top 6 Industrial Raw Materials in Ore Form to last for 70.1 years
They have enough Fertile Wheat production to feed 15.6% of the World’s Population outside their own country
They have access to nearly 137 Million Metric Tonnes of Seafood which is enough to feed and export for the next 56 years.
And that’s not counting unexplored reserves
If they peg the Ruble to the value of Oil, Gas Gold and Wheat and price the same independently – their GDP would be close to $ 4.73 Billion nominal
Next the Russian Army
Russia has :-
548,000 Professional Soldiers
784,000 Active Personnel serving on Contracts
1.903 Million Reservists between 18–44 years old
The Russians are among the toughest hardest soldiers in the planet and among the most patriotic
Any other Nation in 1942 would have broken to the Nazis but the Russians died and died and died, hated Stalin but for Mother Russia, they found and kept dying
The Brits broke under far less stringent conditions in Singapore in 1942
Their Production Capacity is very high
Only Next to China who is an Ally
Today Russia can outproduce the ENTIRE NATO at 3:1 to 7:1 for Artillery Ammunition, Tanks, BMPs, Armored Vehicles, Drones etc
Except Fighter Aircraft
Economically Russia is one of the MOST UNDERUTILIZED NATIONS on earth
First the Tsars
Next the Early Commies Lenin and that Moron Trotsky
Then Brezhnev
Then Gorbachev
Then Yeltsin
For 150–200 years, barring a brief period when Josef Stalin and Nikita Khrushchev where in charge (1929–1966) , Russia was always suffering under Moron Leaders or Oligarchs or Indifferent people
The Russian people may love Russia but they rarely respected their Leaders
Very few people Earned the Respect of the Russian People
Stalin for one
After Stalin, only Putin has managed to earn the same level of respect
Yet Russias development has been uneven, slow because of these reasons
Plus the fact that Russia has a mere 150 Million people and couldn’t attract migrants due to harsh communism for almost a century and due to the freezing weather
So I can say Russia can NEVER be defeated in Battle and War
I can say Russia can always ensure its Economy doesn’t collapse
Russia can always survive due to so many Natural Resources
However because Russia has only 150 Million people, it cannot be the most powerful country of all time
Because Russia only grew and surged for 54 years in the last 200 years, Russia isn’t the most powerful country of all time
Still thinking it’s a Gas Station is why 450,000 People are dead and Europe is in bankrupt chaos
When I was a paramedic I was called to a home for an unresponsive person.
As we made our way into the house a woman greeted us and she was extremely upset. She hurried us into the kitchen where we found her husband on the floor. He was in full cardiac arrest.
As we started to attempt resuscitation, we went through our normal steps. My partner would place an advanced airway while I readied the cardiac monitor and defibrillator. There would need to be an IV and medications given and we would have to breathe for him. Of course we were doing all this while maintaining CPR.
As we moved him to the cot and prepared to move to the ambulance and go to the hospital, I noticed more details about the room we were in.
It was Valentine’s Day. This husband had gotten up early and lovingly prepared breakfast for his wife. He had a vase full of roses on the kitchen table and a card with her name written on the envelope. The food was still warm on their plates. It was untouched. Everything was perfect, except this kind and considerate man was dead. Sadly, his lack of response to our efforts to restart his heart told me he was very likely to remain that way.
I’ve had to relive this particular scenario dozens of times on birthdays, Christmas and pretty much any other holiday. I have performed CPR in restaurants and at birthday parties. I guess what all this taught me about life is that, more often than not, it ends right in the middle of your plans. Large plans, life plans or, sometimes, breakfast plans.
In the annals of Western New York history, one particular individual found themselves on the receiving end of a cautionary tale during the winter of 1987. The National Weather Service had issued a dire prediction: a major storm was poised to sweep over Lake Ontario in the early hours of the morning, heralding an onslaught of snowfall that threatened to disrupt the region’s daily routines.
For those acquainted with the capricious nature of Lake Effect snow, the forecast served as a somber warning. Yet, as dawn approached, the storm’s arrival remained a matter of speculation. In Western New York, where the resilience of residents was matched only by the reluctance of employers to cancel a day’s work, the impending snowfall was met with a mixture of apprehension and resignation.
In this climate of uncertainty, our protagonist made a fateful decision. Rising at the early hour of 5:30 or 6:00, they peered outside to find a light dusting of snow. Without a second thought, they returned to the warmth of their bed, lulled into a false sense of security by the meager accumulation outside their window.
Meanwhile, the rest of the region braced themselves for the impending storm, diligently monitoring their radios and televisions for updates on the weather front. As the morning progressed, it became increasingly apparent that the storm had veered off course, sparing much of the area from its wrath.
Yet, despite the absence of significant snowfall, our protagonist found themselves facing the consequences of their premature retreat to bed. Upon arriving at work, they were met with skepticism from their employer, who, in a display of fairness, sought confirmation of the purported inclement weather.
Contacting local authorities for verification, the boss received confirmation that no road closures or emergencies had been reported due to the light dusting of snow. Faced with the ultimatum of providing evidence of a two-foot snowdrift at their doorstep or collecting their paycheck and departing, our protagonist wisely chose the latter.
In the end, the moral of the story was clear: in the unpredictable realm of Western New York weather, it pays to stay vigilant, lest one find themselves left out in the cold.
My brother passed away unexpectedly in April of this year. He was 9 years younger than me, and we were extremely close. We grew up in an extremely dysfunctional family, and were always there for each other in ways that the rest of our family was not. In a lot of ways, especially when he was little, I was as much a mom figure to him as his big sister, our relationship was one of the greatest sources of comfort and joy in both our lives. l was, and still am, devastated by the loss of him in my life.
I work in the town where he lived a few days each week, and had my own room in the house where he lived with his husband, “J”, who is like another brother to me. My brother loved vintage fashion, and was always bringing home his latest “amazing finds” from local thrift stores. He definitely had hoarding tendencies. His plan was to resell most of what he bought at the flea market for a profit in the summer, which never happened.
In the immediate weeks after his death, J and I started sorting through his things, including the bags and bags and bags and racks and racks and racks of thrift store “scores” that were all over the house, often mixed with his personal clothing. We kept some, and gave away or donated the rest. We always made sure to check any pockets; since he often stashed money and other valuables in random places, which he sometimes forgot about.
I was going through the pockets of a heavy pea coat, which neither of us had ever seen him wear, and felt what I thought might be a credit card. I pulled it out, and saw that it was actually a card key from a hotel that the previous owner presumably had forgotten. I turned it over, and was stunned. What are the odds of finding a random hotel key card in the pocket of a random thrift store coat, less than 2 weeks after my brother died, printed with an image of puffy clouds in a blue sky, and a single sentence that read “It’s time to let me go”. There have been other inexplicable moments in the weeks and months since he passed, that I believe are signs from him, to reassure and comfort us that in some way, he’s still with us. I am so grateful for those moments.
Walking away from marriage, children, and other stuff we’re supposed to have
Everyone – including me – thought that this was a ridiculous excuse. A girl showed up late, out of breath and red in the face. She was the kind of student who was usually very conscientious, so I expected a common and reasonable explanation like car trouble. Instead she stood right inside the door, panting, and explained that a snake had been holding her hostage.
I knew that this fifteen year-old girl was responsible for getting herself up and getting ready for school because her single mom worked the early morning shift at the hospital, so I was already inclined to go easy on her. That snake story just didn’t sound right, so I asked her to explain.
The girl lived in a small apartment on the first floor, and it was a small town so I knew that these apartments only had one entry. She had woken up and gotten ready as usual, but when she opened the door, she found a big rattlesnake sunning itself on the mat. She had called several people until her uncle finally answered and came over to kill the snake – with a pistol! He did manage to kill the snake, but he also brought all the neighbors outside. The girl and her uncle had to wait until everyone had finished telling him off for being stupid enough to fire a gun right in front of their homes before he could drive her to school.
I accepted her excuse but I remained skeptical until I got off work that afternoon and stopped at the store, where everyone was talking about the moron who shot a snake in the town’s one and only apartment complex. I still suspected that she could have just walked around the snake or something, but two years later a watermoccasin decided to take me hostage. I mentally apologized to my former student, because there was no way in hell that I was gonna just step around that thing.
The question is do you need his recommendation? The urge to tell him to get lost is strong but if you do you could wind up screwing yourself later on. After all, if somebody calls up for a reference and they ask him… it’s not going to be good.
So you ask yourself would it benefit you to be polite or not?
Let me tell you a story of when I was younger. It was my first real IT job for the summer. Small company needed to upgrade everything and needed a jack of all trades type to do it and I got it. So I spent months crawling under desks, running cable, setting up the servers and backups and during all this the owner’s girlfriend would be looking over my shoulder and asking what I was doing. I’d show her because why not? She was nice. A bit of a ditz but she had… assets if you get me.
So the end of the project comes. I’ve done all the testing, present him with the documentation and ask what’s next. He says nothing because his girlfriend was taking over and she could do my job. I laughed, he was serious. Gave me my severance and I was out the door.
About a month or two later I get a call from him and he’s frantic. Seems they had a problem, they lost all their data and when they went to restore from backup found out his girlfriend wasn’t doing the backups like she said she would do. He promised me the world at this point, back pay, bonuses and all that. I told him to go screw himself as he got what he deserved. I think he went out of business in a month or so later. I didn’t need him. I was in school and that was just a way to make some money while gaining experience. But you might need him later.
So I’d ask yourself if it’s worth it to tell him to get lost or whether it’s in your best interest to at least not be as dismissive. Don’t just give it to him but make him understand you’re doing this for the good of the company, not him. And you could just as easily have told him to get lost.
I was born with fatal Asthma. My lungs have collapsed three times, and every year I’d spend approximately 3–4 weeks in the ICU under an oxygen tent. When I was big enough, I got to use the regular mask and/or tubes in my nose. I’d have severe asthma attacks every night, but it was just my way of life (I still played sports, etc.).
I got to know who some of the regular nurses were- especially because, though they’d let my parents stay after visiting hours, I’d get really sad when they had to leave. The nurses were always so great about making me comfortable. This was in the 1980’s. I’ll never forget the head nurse, Norma. She always made me feel less alone.
In those days, there were TV’s in the room- attached to a big arm on the wall, but you had to order it- and a cable guy would come in and set it up. You had to pay per day. My parents always got it for me.
I always knew how hard nurses worked and I never understood how come they had to be there for so long. At night, when the ward was dark- I’d leave my TV on so the nurses could watch “Dallas”. I’d make it so the face of the TV pointed toward the hall. It’s not like they could sit there for the hour, chillin’ in my room. But I liked to keep a chair by my bed for them. I’d fall asleep, and in the morning the TV was off. I guess I didn’t “catch” a nurse- it’s more like I encouraged them. I was just little. I always knew how much they wanted me to get better, and I always knew they really liked Dallas.
Norma never watched it, but she never seemed to be mad about it.
1. Waiting for someone to save them. You can’t wait for some hero to come and snatch you from the claws of life’s difficulties. You can seek advice and get support from those closest to you, but even they can’t bear the weight of being your hero because the only one who is capable of fulfilling that role is none other than yourself.
2. Victim mentality. You will never be able to change your life for the better if you believe that everyone and everything is out there to sabotage you. It will only make you feel more powerless and helpless, robbing you of willpower and motivation to change anything.
3. Extreme poverty. With extreme poverty, there comes extreme desperation, which often pushes people into doing things they’d have never imagined they were capable of.
4. Constantly lying to themselves. When you can’t be honest with yourself, you are unable to face all the fears, weaknesses, and problems holding you back. And the more lies you tell yourself, the tighter their grip will get on you until your life is left in shambles.
5. Being in a toxic relationship with a master manipulator/narcissist. Not only will they destroy your self-esteem and your sense of self, but they’ll try to make you stay with them and even guilt-trip you into it when you say you want to leave them.
6. Having enemies disguised as friends. A friend is supposed to have your back, not stab you in it, which is exactly what these people do. They try to discourage you from pursuing your goals because they don’t want to see you succeed, they always find a way to criticize you under the guise of “friendly feedback” and are never there to support you when you need them.
7. Growing up in a dysfunctional family. If one or both of your parents were abusive, toxic, etc., you will start noticing the consequences of it after stepping into adulthood. Once you do, you’ll have to unlearn some things you subconsciously picked up during childhood and completely destroy the rest. Otherwise, you’ll risk repeating the vicious cycle by turning into your parent(s) or living with the damaging consequences for the rest of your life.
Paluski (Polish Potato Fingers)
Do these bring back memories. Paluski! We always had them with homemade kapusta and kielbasi. I make these all of the time. My family loves them with a nice mushroom gravy. They taste delicious fried in some bacon fat with onions and crisp bacon. I sometimes cut them up into small pieces and add them to my homemade chicken soup. I have even gone so far as to fry them up and serve them with sunny side eggs, scrambled and poached.
Ingredients
4 cups all-purpose flour + extra if needed to make a pliable dough
4 cups mashed potatoes, cold
1 tablespoon salt
4 eggs
Instructions
Cook potatoes and drain well. Press through a ricer and place in a large bowl. Cool.
Combine flour and salt in a large bowl, mixing well. Make a well in the center of flour and add eggs, one at a time, mixing well until all the eggs are mixed well.
Add the riced potatoes and mix until all ingredients are blended real well. If necessary add some water to make the dough pliable if too stiff, this will depend on how much flour you add. (I have found that 4 cups will make a very wet dough, so I add 1/4 cups of flour at a time until the dough feels just right. This is done by feel. Do not make the dough too stiff.
Roll out dough in portions at a time onto floured surface, rolling out into a long log about 1-inch thick.
Cut logs into 3/4-inch pieces, rolling slightly to even out.
Drop into rolling salted boiling water and cook until paluski float to the top, allowing them to simmer a few minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and place in a large bowl.
Have some melted butter ready to drizzle over the paluski to coat them.
You can sauté some onions in butter and toss in with them.
Notes
Either way you doctor them up, they taste wonderful.
Woman says she’s breaking up with boyfriend over this…
I bought the security guard company I worked for when the owner decided to retire and move to Las Vegas. He wanted 3 months billing for the whole tamale; office equipment, gear, patrol car, and clients. He was billing around $237,000 annually so the asking price was just over $59,000.
I got a business loan for $30,000 and agreed to pay him $1,700 a month over 18 months for the balance owed. The extra money was for interest.
A couple of years later he showed up in my office. The $30K was gone and the monthly payments had ended, and he needed money. So he asked me for a job selling for my company.
I’d quadrupled his annual billing — from $237K to $980K — so I told him I’d pay him a $1,500 monthly draw against commission.
After 6 months he’d sold 3 patrol accounts, for a grand total of $1,100 a month, so I cut my losses and let him go.
While at university my roommate and I lived a couple blocks in from the beach. He walked up to the beach to check the surf late one evening. A cop pulled up along side him and said “Hey, are you [my name]?” My roommate said “no” and the cop drove away without another word.
A few days later at about 8:00 PM I left our apartment and started to drive to our university. My small truck had an automatic transmission and the parking break was broken. So I kept a large rock by my feet that I would wedge behind a tire when I parked. As I drove away from our apartment a cop pulled me over. I asked what the problem was and he didn’t answer. He shined his flashlight inside my truck. He saw the rock and asked in a very serious tone why it was there. I explained. He then told me to get out of the car. I complied. He didn’t go inside, but looked inside the door. He saw my backpack on the passenger seat. He said he wanted to search it and asked if I had a problem with that. Knowing I had done nothing wrong, I was getting annoyed. There was nothing but textbooks and notebooks in my backpack, but I didn’t like his attitude. And I was upset about the cops asking my roommate if he was me for some reason a few nights earlier. So I said I did have a problem with it and I would not be allowing him to search it. He said he had the right to search for probable cause. I asked what he was defining as probable cause. He replied that the rock on my floor was a weapon. I told him I thought that was a pretty weak position after the explanation I gave him and I objected to his search. He said if he called a judge he could provide me a warrant to fully legalize any search he wished to perform. I then told him I would wait calmly while he radioed the station (before mobile phones), they called a judge, and a search warrant was issued. I also asked how he thought a judge would react to being annoyed at home to get a warrant to search a [local university] student’s backpack after being pulled over for not committing any traffic violations. He looked at me, said “you better pray I never catch you doing anything wrong” and turned away. He got in his cruiser and drove off. It was all very strange, but I never had another incident after that.
I came from a very ordinary background, and I have advised countless people who are very wealthy and grew up poor or middle-class.
Even if we look at larger studies, we find that most of the richest people in the world came from working and middle-class backgrounds.
Only in some places where inherited wealth dominated, like some parts of Europe, is it 50%-50%.
If you mean is it possible to get rich, or wealthy, on a middle-class income, then the simple answer is yes.
This man was a UPS driver for years. He made a maximum of $14,000-$15,000 a year:
Theodore Johnson died with $70million after a friend told him about investing, which is why he got into it.
Yes, you read that right. $70million. Now sure, when he started investing, 14k-15k a year was worth 50k-75k in today’s money.
Yet it still wasn’t a huge salary. So, how did he manage it? Well, he invested very smart, long-term.
He wanted to make a difference when he died, so he gave it to charity.
He isn’t alone. This man was a janitor called Ronald Read who accumulated $8million:
This lady was a secretary and accumulated $9m:
You might think these are one-offs. However, stats show that 14% of the world’s millionaires are teachers, and about 50% are middle-income professionals.
The reason is simple. Income doesn’t always rise exponentially with time. Wealth can.
What is more, there are always investment opportunities out there, as I mentioned on a recent CNBC interview:
As a final comment, I will speak about risk, as it is the most misunderstood subject.
Do you assume that you are playing it safe with money in the bank?
You are fooling yourself 👉🏼 and here is exactly why:
1. If you save money in the bank you’re buying into the sure risk of inflation.
2. If you only rely on your savings for retirement, you’re risking everything on the assumption that things will go to plan.
But life doesn’t always go to plan. Some sort of risk is inevitable, it’s everywhere.
It is far better to:
Put your eggs in numerous baskets and not just the bank or property
Pick the risks you will take. It gives you more control.
Take action, rather than setting New Year’s resolutions to save/invest more money + lose weight and forget about it!
When a tattoo is removed, the ink particles are eventually broken down and excreted through the urine.
Our own immune system, meant to protect us, can kill us faster than the fastest-killing virus, Ebola (4 days)
Your brain can play tricks on you, making you feel referred pain from your organs in unexpected places! For example, a painful pancreas can present as pain in your flank or back; a heart attack can feel like jaw or shoulder pain; a kidney stone can feel like testicle pain;
The cause of period cramps is the uterus suffocating itself. During a period, the uterus contracts to shed its lining, and sometimes the contractions are so strong that they squeeze the blood vessels, cutting off the supply of oxygen and causing pain.
The front of your tongue has a mind of its own and is always on the move, secretly exploring your mouth. Dentists are well aware of this behavior during impression taking, when the tongue can be seen chasing the dental tool or licking their fingers around the mouth.
Your eyes are “immune privileged,” meaning the rest of the body’s immune system has no knowledge of their existence. If this immune system were to suddenly become aware of the eyes, it may treat them as a threat and try to neutralize them, potentially leading to blindness.
Through various work events, I’ve met the late Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, Prince William, Prince Edward, Sophie (Countess of Wessex), Princess Anne, James (Viscount Severn), and Lady Amelia Windsor. Though James was only a toddler at the time. Regardless, none of them ever treated me with anything but respect and cordiality (when time allowed more than a passing handshake). And I’m about as lowborn as it gets. The bastard scion of an unwed mother, who was herself the daughter of a gangland enforcer and the 2nd cousin of the man who *ahem* allegedly disposed of the evidence of murders conducted by one of the UK’s most notorious gangs. My more distant ancestors on my mother’s side were Irish loyalists, and on my father’s side were Welsh coal miners. Sailors, miners, and criminals were what went into making me. And yet still, never have I ever been treated poorly by any member of the Royal Family I’ve ever had any interaction with.
As to loyalty… Dolce et decorum est pro patria mori. I’m from a family with a long military tradition. Loyalty to my nation and sovereign go without question. It’s Parliament, not the Royals, who inevitably fuck over me and mine. I’ve no reason to be disloyal. Furthermore, Queen Elizabeth is one of the most dedicated monarchs we’ve ever had. She gave her all to her country and her people. It is only proper that loyalty and service be returned.
The U.S. Has Made Taiwan a Trigger for War. Can China Disarm It?
Taiwan is a useful pawn in the U.S. strategy of confronting China as a “great power competitor”, Finian Cunningham writes.
Ever since China’s civil war ended in 1949 with victory for the Communist side, the island of Taiwan off China’s southern coast has been a U.S. pawn as a haven for anti-Communist forces. The United States has sponsored the Taiwanese separatists first under the dictatorship of Chiang Kai-shek and up to the present administration in Taipei. Ironically, Washington portrays Taiwan as “democratic and free”.
Washington’s support for Taiwan waned in 1979 when the U.S. endeavored to normalize relations with Beijing under the so-called One China Policy which defines Taiwan as under the sovereign control of the People’s Republic of China. The U.S. position conforms to the international norm of recognizing China as one sovereign nation in which Taiwan is but an island province.
The U.S.’s so-called normalization of relations with China was not genuine. It was a geopolitical move to wedge relations between Beijing and Moscow. Now that China and Russia have reestablished strategic connections under Presidents Xi and Putin, the U.S. has reverted to overt hostility towards China and its policy of using Taiwan as a cat’s paw to destabilize the mainland.
After the Obama administration embarked on its Pivot for Asia strategy in 2011, Washington earnestly reinstated relations with Taiwan in such a way as to deliberately provoke Beijing and undermine its sovereignty.
Tensions over Taiwan have become increasingly fraught as the United States steps up military supplies to the island territory. The weapons systems have become increasingly offensive in their capability of attacking China’s mainland. This development not only undermines China’s sovereign authority. It also poses an overt national security threat to Beijing. Taiwan is a mere 130 kilometers (80 miles) from the Chinese mainland across a narrow sea called Taiwan Strait.
This places China in an acute dilemma. Should it take preemptive military action or wait it out until politics takes its course?
A recent election in Taiwan was won by a pro-independence party. But there was a greater combined vote for parties that want more friendly relations with mainland China. That strongly suggests that Taiwanese people are against a military confrontation and are amenable to political reconciliation as proposed by Beijing. Perhaps over time, the Taiwanese population may develop a decisive majority that desires peaceful reunification.
The problem is the United States has control of the initiative to inflame tensions with China. In that case, Beijing might eventually be drawn into a military confrontation despite its aspirations.
The Return of Great Power Competition
Since the supposed end of the Cold War in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union, for most of the ensuing three-decade period, the United States declared its main national security concerns to revolve around international terrorism. In recent years, however, the U.S. has relegated the perceived threat of terrorism and officially prioritized its strategic concerns about “great power competition”.
Russia and China have been labeled the top geopolitical rivals for U.S. global power. In this way, there has been a return in Washington to the Cold War geopolitics and rhetoric that dominated international relations during the five decades after World War Two. While Moscow and Beijing have both repudiated adversarial relations and have repeatedly urged peaceful coexistence in a multipolar world, the United States has relentlessly sought to depict the so-called “global rules-based order” as being threatened by Russia and China.
The current U.S. administration under President Joe Biden has contrived to portray international relations as an existential contest between “Western democracy versus autocracies”. This zero-sum terminology is typical of Cold War ideology which aims to polarize international relations into geopolitical camps of “us and them”. Such polarization is an essential function of U.S. and Western power politics and the promotion of U.S. hegemonic ambitions.
By dividing the world into “blocs”, the resulting conflictual relations and tensions are amenable to American militarism. In other words, cooperative peaceful international relations as advocated by Russia and China in their multipolar visions are anathema to the pursuit of U.S. hegemony based on unilateral domination.
China is Enemy No. 1 for the United States
Several U.S. strategic planning documents indicate explicitly the emphasis on “great power competition”. The 2022 National Security Strategy defines the U.S.’s priority concerns. The document states:
“We are now in the early years of a decisive decade for America and the world. The terms of geopolitical competition between the major powers will be set… the post-Cold War era is definitively over, and a competition is underway between the major powers to shape what comes next.”
The strategic outlook clearly determines China as the bigger threat to U.S. power. The document states:
“Russia and the PRC [People’s Republic of China] pose different challenges. Russia poses an immediate threat to the free and open international system, recklessly flouting the basic laws of the international order today, as its brutal war of aggression against Ukraine has shown. The PRC, by contrast, is the only competitor with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to advance that objective.”
Another major U.S. planning document, the 2022 National Defense Strategy, also defined China as the “pacing challenge” to American global power. It was stated that China is “the only competitor to the United States with the intent and increasing capability to reshape the international order.”
The term “pacing challenge” is a euphemism for Enemy Number One. The prioritizing of China over Russia as the designated top threat to U.S. national security was reiterated in the National Defense Authorization Acts in 2023 and 2024. The NDAAs govern annual U.S. military spending of over $850 billion – about four times the military budget of China and more than eight times that of Russia.
The war in Ukraine which erupted in February 2022, has certainly accentuated tensions and hostilities between the United States and Russia. This may give the impression that Russia is deemed by Washington as a greater threat than China. Nevertheless, despite the heated rhetoric and war in Ukraine, the strategic outlook according to the U.S.’s own planners is that China is perceived as the long-term principal adversary.
Even Russian President Vladimir Putin in a recent interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson acknowledged that China was seen in Washington as a bigger threat than Russia. “The West is afraid of a strong China more than it fears a strong Russia,” said Putin.
U.S. is Planning on War with China
The United Air Force announced on February 12, 2024, a major overhaul and expansion of force structure in the Asia-Pacific. Its commanders specifically cited China as the motivating threat and reason for renewed military build-up for “high-end conflict”. When the civilian head of the U.S. Air Force, Frank Kendall, was appointed to the post in 2022, he told the U.S. Congress that his three priorities were: “China, China, and China.”
Several senior American commanders have publicly warned that the U.S. could be at war with China in the next five years. And they mention Taiwan as the flashpoint.
This war planning accounts for an overall U.S. military build-up in Asia-Pacific involving air, navy, and land weapons. Washington has been expanding military bases and missile systems in Australia, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Guam, and most provocatively on China’s territory of Taiwan.
On January 16, 2024, it was reported by Taiwanese news media that the island territory was building two new missile bases on its east coast facing the Taiwan Strait and China’s mainland. The new construction stemmed from the expected arrival of more U.S. anti-ship missiles. The reports also indicated that five more bases were under planning.
These developments point to long-term planning by the United States for a military confrontation with China in the coming years.
Taiwan is the Primary Cat’s Paw for U.S. Hostility
Following elections in Taiwan on January 13, 2024, U.S. President Joe Biden stated that the U.S. did not support “independence” for the island territory.
Biden was thus publicly affirming Washington’s adherence to the One China Policy (OCP).
However, Biden’s public position on Taiwan and China can be better understood as part of the United States’ other policy of “strategic ambiguity”. Officially, Washington claims to recognize China as the sole sovereign power concerning Taiwan. Whereas in practice, U.S. actions point to another, treacherous agenda.
When Chinese President Xi Jinping met Biden in November 2023 at the APEC summit in San Francisco, the American side reiterated its obligations under the One China Policy. At that summit, President Xi called on the United States to stop arming Taiwan. He said Taiwan was the “most dangerous” issue and warned that China would use force if the matter is not resolved diplomatically for reunification.
Under Biden and his predecessor, Republican President Donald Trump, the United States has ramped up weapons supplies to Taiwan.
Provocatively, it seems, the U.S. has chosen to ignore President Xi’s admonitions about desisting from arming Taiwan.
The reported expansion of missile bases and supply of U.S. missiles to Taiwan indicates that Washington has set a course for antagonizing China by undermining its sovereignty over Taiwan.
On February 8, 2024, it was reported for the first time by U.S. and Taiwanese media that American special forces were being permanently stationed in Taiwan and the neighboring Kinmen islands near the Chinese mainland. This development is a major violation of the One China Policy by the United States. It puts into perspective the purported pledges made by Biden in person to Xi during the APEC summit.
Furthermore, the purpose of the U.S. forces in Taiwan has offensive connotations. The American personnel are reportedly engaged in training Taiwanese military units for conflict and monitoring China’s mainland forces.
It should be noted that these U.S. military developments in Taiwan followed a high-level meeting between America’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi which took place on January 26 in Thailand. Earlier that month, Chinese and U.S. officials also held “high-level discussions” at the Pentagon after a two-year suspension. The series of talks was reported in Western media as an effort by the American side to reduce tensions and improve communications.
Again, rather than such contacts being a genuine effort at improving relations, they seem to be more illustration of the U.S. policy of “strategic ambiguity”. More accurately, that policy should be called “strategic duplicity”.
It seems plausible that Washington is trying to mislead China over what its real intentions are regarding Taiwan and the wider issue of strategic confrontation. The Biden administration may state adherence to the One China Policy and call for better military-to-military communications to avoid conflict.
Yet, in practice, the United States is pushing ahead to supply Taiwan with more missiles. This unprecedented build-up of offensive U.S. capability is replicated in other territories across the Asia-Pacific.
The election in January of Lai Ching-te as the Taiwanese president provides Washington with a strident “pro-American” voice in Taipei for the next four years. Lai has previously called for Taiwan’s independence from China. Indeed, during the election campaign, Lai said there was no need to make such a declaration because Taiwan was “already independent”. Beijing has repeatedly declared its desire and sovereign right for full reunification of the island territory with the Chinese mainland. However, President Xi has warned that if Taiwan were to formally announce independence, China reserves the right to use military force to assert its legal sovereign control over the territory.
Taiwan is a useful pawn in the U.S. strategy of confronting China as a “great power competitor”.
By giving tacit support to pro-independence politicians in Taiwan, Washington is inciting separatist sentiments. Supplying the territory with U.S. weapons and military personnel also foments Taiwanese notions that Washington is a military patron who will come to Taiwan’s defense if a conflict were to erupt with mainland China.
Significantly, the incoming Taiwanese president is the third administration of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The DPP first came to power in 2016 under President Tsai Ing-wen. She was re-elected in 2020. Her vice president Lai Ching-te is taking over in May when he is inaugurated as president. The DPP has inflamed pro-independence politics over the past eight years with the full encouragement of Washington under both the current Biden administration and his predecessor Donald Trump. This political saber-rattling will likely continue over the next four years of Lai’s presidency.
It is also significant that the last eight years have seen a build-up of missiles in Taiwan’s arsenal. Before 2016, the island’s military capabilities were limited. Under the DPP, and with supplies from the U.S., Taiwan’s forces have acquired ballistic missile capabilities, especially anti-ship missiles. The target range of these weapons is short-range up to 500 kilometers which could reach China’s southern coastal provinces.
What needs to be monitored is the supply of longer-range U.S. missiles which would indicate greater strategic ambitions in a conflict with China. The American-sponsored militarization of Taiwan is correlated with the incitement of separatist politics on the island, which in turn foments tensions with Beijing.
On February 13, the U.S. Senate approved a $95 billion military aid package for foreign allies, including $60 bn for Ukraine, $14 bn for Israel and $8 bn for Asia-Pacific. The latter portion will allocate nearly $5 bn to Taiwan. The Asia-Pacific funding will cover the U.S. build-up of missiles in the region.
This is another indicator of U.S. hostile intentions towards China. It belies the seeming diplomatic engagement and renewed military-to-military communication exchange. The litmus test for rhetoric concerning the One China Policy is the facts on the ground of military offensive capability toward China.
The facts testify that Taiwan is being honed as a cat’s paw to antagonize and provoke China.
The Ukraine-Russia Analogy
There is a vivid analogy with how the U.S. has cynically used Ukraine as a provocation toward Russia. Ukraine has deep cultural ties with Russia and a long history of disputed territorial control. Over the past decade, the United States has ramped up military support for Ukraine and incited animosity with Russia. The tensions erupted in February 2022 with Russia ordering a military invasion of Ukraine to halt mounting provocations. A two-year war ensued and is continuing. It is the biggest war in Europe since the Second World War. An estimated 500,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed. The conflict has had a devastating impact on Europe’s economy. It brings nuclear powers perilously close to catastrophic all-out war.
China’s former ambassador to the United States, Cui Tankai, recently stated that China would not be drawn into a military trap in Taiwan. The seasoned diplomat alluded to the U.S.-instigated scenario of Ukraine and Russia. On the matter of increasing American arms supplies to Taiwan, Cui was quoted as saying: “Someone may be preparing a proxy war but we will not fall into that trap. We don’t want to see a situation where Chinese are killing Chinese.”
Such aspirations are laudable. Nonetheless, such a view is a hostage to fortune. The Chinese authorities may not want a war over Taiwan and may try their utmost to avoid a war. Beijing’s aspiration for peaceful reunification with Taiwan is no doubt genuine.
Still, unfortunately, the United States has the sinister power to turn Taiwan into a trigger. Washington is ramping up offensive military capability and fomenting incendiary pro-independence politics. Beijing does not control that hostile process. There may come a point when Taiwan becomes what Ukraine is to Russia – a site of proxy war by the United States.
In that case, there is a stern prognosis: China should act militarily sooner rather than later to assert its control over Taiwan. A war seems inevitable given the U.S.’s reckless and incorrigible provocations. The belligerence in Washington is constant regardless of who sits in the White House. The U.S. presidential election in November this year will make no difference to the strategic course. The longer China leaves its response, the bigger will be the military confrontation as a result of the increasing U.S.-supplied offensive capability of Taiwan.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview on February 14, 2024, that a major regret he has about the current two-year-old war in Ukraine is that Russia did not act sooner to intervene against U.S.-led provocations. Putin ordered Russian military intervention in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, to defend the ethnic Russian population of former east Ukraine and to preempt the growing threat from NATO to Russia’s national security.
This author wrote an article 10 years ago regarding sinister developments under the NATO-backed regime in Kiev which came to power in February 2014 in a CIA-backed coup d’état. The article made the argument that Putin should have sent troops into Ukraine in mid-2014 to preempt what was a looming U.S.-led proxy war. Subsequent events in Ukraine – the horrendous scale of death and destruction – and Putin’s own recent admission of regret would suggest the author’s prognosis in 2014 was correct.
On the matter of Taiwan, there is a real risk of China repeating Russia’s problematic delay in acting decisively. By not acting decisively to preempt, China’s President Xi Jinping might also share the same regret about Taiwan as Putin does over Ukraine.
When I was about 20 years old and at that time I lived with my parents. They had a plastering company in after being rewired. One was an elderly man, due to retire the next year. The other was younger, tall, quite good looking, but there was something about him I couldn’t fathom. Every time he came into the room, the hairs on the back of my neck prickled, and the dog would whimper and go into the other room. I’d catch him watching me as I went about my business. I was crocheting to pass the time while they were there and he kept asking me about it and coming over to see how it was going. He’d put his hand on my shoulder as he leaned over to look. It freaked me out.
My parents went to walk the dog and left me to hold the fort. The older man randomly started talking about personalities and first impressions of people. He kept looking from his colleague and back at me. He said do you find you get a gut feeling when you don’t like somebody? I said that yes, I do. He still kept looking at his colleague, then he said that when we have a gut feeling it’s important to act on it, and that 9 times out of 10 it’s correct, even if the person seems to be okay. He looked at me, raised his eyebrows, smiled slightly, nodded slowly, and carried on with his work.
I swear to this day that he was warning me not to trust his work colleague.
Personally, I wish America well, because it is vital to the global economy.
But I choose to make a stand when it comes to war in East Asia, which America is hell-bent on provoking for selfish national interest—preserving American primacy.
I cannot, and will not accept that, and my efforts here on Quora is a mere token, informing and explaining developments to fellow East Asians.
For example, how the demonization and dehumanization of mainland China will inevitably lead to the victimization of Chinese diaspora, repeating the age-old pogroms and witch hunts suffered by Chinese diaspora over the last 4-500 years.
For example, how a weaponized dollar will bring ruinous harm to the financial health of East Asia, and options being developed against the certainty.
For example, the many hotspots around the region through which conflict with China may arise.
For example, the multi-dimensional economic war being waged on the mainland economy, and its fallout, rules-based order be damned.
America is not my home. I maintain an interest because what happens stateside directly affects my family’s future.
A strong, well-run America is good for the world. Unfortunately, both conditions are ebbing today.
And that spells danger for the rest of humanity.
I am merely curating and explaining developments, as America loses its primacy.
It is up to American society to recognize, accept and change course.
During my (ours, including my wife) time that I refer to as the “out in the wilderness” period, we had many unique experiences. This period of time was right after I left the United States Navy as an aviator, and joined the ONI as a MAJestic operator. I was a shared resource, and reported directly to Domain. Which I still do.
At that point in time, I was “aimless”. Unemployed at the height of a major recession, homeless, married and living in a van. Moving from town to town finding work. Always the call of California called me to Ridgecrest…
Anyways, I got a job as a short-order cook at a family-owned restaurant in the town of San Louis Obispo. I worked from five in the morning to around 2:30 in the afternoon.
I worked just above minimum wage, but I got to keep the tips (which varied from a dollar to sometimes $20) and I could take home what ever leftover daily specials were available.
Now, remember… at that time, I was a Naval Aviator. The top 1% of the 1% and I did have a degree in Aerospace Engineering, and I WAS a “rocket scientist”. But in the working world.
And of course, I had traveled off-world to Mars (and the Moon), and I was interacting with Domain.
But that meant nothing.
Especially at that time in California, I was judged by how much money I made. What job I held. What car I drove. What clothes I wore, and what neighborhood that I lived in.
Not what I knew.
Not what I experienced.
Not what I was capable of.
Not how good I was, not what my experiences were, and not what I knew. And so, well, I was treated horribly by the owner of the establishment.
She called me “dingle berry”. That was her name for me.
“Dingleberry” is a slang term for a piece of dried poop that clings to the hairs in your anus or gooch region. When you don’t remove all the fecal remnants from your bum after a bowel movement, they coagulate into a crumb-like substance about the size of a sprinkle or Dippin’ Dot.
At that time, I took the insults. Over and over. And when her son would point at me and say (to his mother), “Don’t worry, I’ll never end up as a loser like him” I took it.
Punching bag MM.
You do what you need to do to survive.
So whenever I hear entitled Gen-Z making fun of others, or screaming that they “can’t handle a 40 hour work week” I scoff and think to my self… “you have no idea, Honey. Not a clue”.
You endure. And, you survive.
You give up, and you die.
Even if the insults pummel you relentlessly on a daily basis. You need to keep forging ahead, step by step.
He was probably in his twenties, blonde and gorgeous and had been teaching six months at the language center where I was a trainer and supervisor. His American background showed no teaching experience nor education courses.
He had a great, supportive rapport with his students. He prepared them well for most activities and helped the weak ones. He picked up on errors and dealt with them in a friendly, helpful way, and his students adored him.
But I could see he hadn’t looked at the materials before coming to class, even though he knew he would be observed. In fact, he misunderstood the purpose of one exercise and focused on the wrong grammar. With another, he failed to see that necessary activity details extended to a second page. But each time, he managed to cover and still see that students learned something.
I complimented him on how quickly he had become accustomed to teaching and had built such great rapport.
Then I said, “Sam, you are a really good teacher, but you could be a GREAT one if you prepared before class.”
Shrugging, he looked directly at me and answered, “I am not interested in being a great teacher. I do this only so I have enough money to live on and go out for a good time.”
That saddened me.
Fast forward 30 years. A former colleague asked if I remembered Sam. Then he told me that Sam had gone back to school and gotten a master’s in teaching English as a foreign language and had been teaching in a Thai university.
I love when people use the gifts they are born with.
"Ukraine's independence, sovereignty, and statehood have been sold, squandered, and disposed of by all six presidents.
This happened according to a single pattern—presidential candidates promised one thing and did the complete opposite. They promised wealth but created poverty, promised legality but encouraged lawlessness and corruption, promised peace but provoked war.
Analysis of their rule shows that none of the six presidents respected their people.
They acted not in their interests, considering lies, deceit, corruption, and lawlessness as state policy.
And this tradition in Ukrainian statecraft has developed to the point of absurdity.
If the first presidents still tried to maintain some decency, the later ones displayed their stupidity, greed, and cynicism for all to see.
This is not the first time such events have occurred in Ukrainian history.
Traditionally, Ukrainians go home to Russia, often in parts, but quite actively and without regret.
What Zelensky's clique today calls separatism is in reality an escape from the psychopathically abnormal leadership that, with its incompetence and stupidity, is finishing off the country and its citizens.
If the first five presidents undermined the foundations of Ukrainian statehood to varying degrees, Zelensky has completed this process by staging a grandiose bloody show.
But this show is coming to an end, and now, in place of the country, we see a desolate wasteland.
Reviving this Wild Field will traditionally be done together with Russia, which is currently being done by the residents of Crimea, Donbass, Zaporozhye, and Kherson regions, using their right to choose normal living conditions for themselves and their children.
They made this choice, considering the mortal danger from the actions of the Nazi Kiev regime, the gross violation of their basic rights and freedoms, and the genocide unleashed against the Russian-speaking population.
The residents of Crimea, LNR, DNR, Kherson, and Zaporozhye regions exercised their right to self-determination, enshrined in paragraph 2 of Article 1 of the UN Charter, Article 1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of December 16, 1966, held referendums, and sought help from the Russian Federation.
As a result of the people's will, the territories of their residence became part of the Russian Federation.
And, while Zelensky plays his last perfomance, the number of new regions of Russia will continue to grow."
Excerpt from the article written by exiled Ukrainian opposition politician, Viktor Medvedchuk, in Komsomolskaya Pravda, April 15, 2024.
If someone would have told me twenty years ago that I’d be running a semi-successful custom house painting business that was responsible for finding and securing enough projects to provide six families with consistent, reliable income, I would have said “is that it?”.
My aspirations and sights were set so much higher in my early twenties than the reality I live today.
Maybe I’ll be the sea-fairing captain of a vessel that has no less than a thousand souls aboard, I thought to myself.
Maybe I’ll be the catalyst for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine with my commanding yet delicate approach to conflicts that arise between neighbors.
Maybe I’ll be an actor, the president, an astronaut — and if asked what I wanted to do when I was in fifth grade, I ALWAYS responded with “I want to be an electroencephalographic technologist.”
That was the coolest thing to say when I was a pre-teen.
The coolest thing — It was always about being, or saying, or doing what I felt others thought was the coolest thing.
I was identity-less because I was more concerned with other’s thoughts than I was with my own dreams or hopes or wishes.
What I really wanted back then was a father who could teach me how to beat the bolts off of the school bully that used to humiliate me in front of my classmates.
What I really wanted back then was to have money, like the other kids to pay for my school lunches. Not those embarrassing lunch tickets that the dorks and nerds and dweebs had to use at the musings of our tormentors.
It just wasn’t meant to be. That life, for me, wasn’t meant to be.
Turning to a life of substance abuse may not have been an inevitability, but it certainly was the easiest way out of the life I thought was so dreadful.
I got high, and then got higher and then got SO DAMN HIGH that I touched the clouds, or heaven or whatever.
It was a real blast.
Getting high was so much fun in fact, that for it, I traded a 150K dollar home, a loving and dedicated wife, a supportive family, encouraging friends, a career with endless opportunities for growth, my hygiene, my dignity and ‘insert any other cliche here’. Blah blah blah.
Which led me here, to this moment, to this question.
I gave up getting high. I gave up drugs not because anyone promised me a better life, but because I wanted to see if a better life was possible. Actually I gave up getting high because I knew any life was better than that life — and by golly it is a better life.
This life is so much better, that a few weeks ago I decided to insure it. I figured that if I die any time soon, I want my family to be insured against the hardships that are certain to follow.
I reached out to Primerica and got the ball rolling with life insurance.
After I answered a few questions asked by their representative, I waited for a phone call from their traveling nurse who was supposed to call me to schedule an appointment to draw blood, collect urine, check my height and weight and whatever else they do.
Yesterday, before I even got a call from the nurse, I got a call from the representative who informed me that I was declined.
I was so surprised. Why the hell would I be declined? I don’t get high, I live a healthy lifestyle, I don’t even drink alcohol. Do you know who I am? Boy I was pissed. Actually, my feelings were hurt and I was embarrassed.
Here is a screenshot of why I was declined.
I wondered what abnormal labs meant so I called the number they gave me.
Last February I had a tooth infection and was prescribed an antibiotic. I haven’t gotten high in more than a year, what the heck does a tooth infection have to do with life insurance?
As it turns out, (according to the lady who shared the actual truth with me, probably against protocol) the bigger (or real) issue is my background history and driving record, not some bs excuse about abnormal labs.
I haven’t had a single driving violation in many years and as far as my background history goes, well, I have a past. I used to use drugs.
I found out today, the hard way that they will not insure me based upon the mistakes of my past.
I can promise you that the decisions you make today will MOST CERTAINLY affect your ability to achieve the dreams you have for your future.
Drug abuse was grave mistake I made in my twenties and thirties and it seems that it has cost me the ability to protect my family from the financial burden that an untimely or early departure would have on them.
All-in-one pressure cooker. Don’t buy it they said, you’ll only use it twice they said. Well I bought it anyway to prove them wrong. I used it twice. It’s now in a cupboard never to be seen again.
Home gym. Been a lifelong dream of my wife and I to have our own gym. I converted our car port into quite a cool area with loads of nice equipment. It’s quite cold out there when windy though. A year later we’re still going to gym down the road.
Nintendo Switch. I bought it as Zelda Breath of the Wild was considered to be one of the best games ever made. Played it for about an hour. The older I get, the less I can get into games, which sucks.
Stryd foot pood for running. The latest and greatest in running aids. A pod that ties to your shoe to give statistics on your running that you’ll never need. I was so convinced it was a great idea I was preaching how great it was to fellow runners. Used it for about a week and haven’t bothered to charge it since. What a dick.
Kindles. Have a few, wife and I never use them. Just read normal books.
Alexa. I never got past asking it the time or the weather. Think my wife and I tried a quiz on it once. Was awful. People love them, I’m not sure how they are getting the most out of them.
PS4. I purposefully kept this away from number 3 as it’s embarrassing. I’ve also got an Xbox One X which is the only one I use. The Switch and the PS4 are just not used. This I why I shouldn’t be allowed to spend disposable income without moderation.
Huge amount of fishing rods and tackle. A couple of years ago, I got back into sea fishing which I used to do as a kid. Spent a small fortune buying new fishing gear. About six months ago, it dawned on me that fishing is probably not much fun for the fish and I felt really bad. Not been since.
DSLR camera. Feel bad about this one as it’s very expensive. Used it for a few weeks and photos were amazing. Was sure I would take it everywhere with us. Got lazy, now just use my phone. Going to try and make more of an effort with this one.
Bread maker. Don’t buy it they said, you’ll only use it twice they said. Well I bought it anyway to prove them wrong. I used it twice. It’s now in a cupboard next to the pressure cooker.
Garlic Rosemary Focaccia
Ingredients
3 whole heads garlic, not cloves
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 scant tablespoons or 2 (1/4 ounce) packages active dry yeast
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
2 cups warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)
4 1/2 to 5 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons salt
Cornmeal, for pans
2 tablespoons crushed fresh rosemary leaves or 2 teaspoons dried
Coarse salt (optional)
Instructions
Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Separate garlic head into cloves and peel. Add olive oil in a small heavy saucepan, add garlic, cover and cook over very low heat for 20 minutes, or until softened but not browned.
Remove from heat and strain. Set oil aside to use later. When cool, cut cloves into lengthwise slivers and set aside.
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Add 1 cup of unbleached flour and stir thoroughly. Let sit for 15 minutes or until mixture is filled with tiny bubbles.
Add 2 tablespoons of reserved garlic oil and 1 more cup of unbleached flour and all of the whole wheat flour and salt to the yeast mixture.
Beat vigorously with a dough hook or a heavy sturdy spoon for 2 minutes. Gradually add more of the remaining flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until dough forms a mass and begins to pull away from sides of bowl.
Turn out onto a floured surface and knead, adding more flour a little at a time as necessary for 8 to 10 minutes, or until you have a smooth elastic dough and blisters begin to develop on surface.
Place dough into an oiled bowl. Turn to coat the entire ball of the dough with oil. Cover with a tightly woven kitchen towel and let rise for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Sprinkle a well greased 13 x 18 inch baking sheet with cornmeal. Turn dough onto an oiled work surface. With the heel of your hand, flatten dough into an 11 x 16 inch rectangle. Lift dough onto baking sheet. Using hands, press dough into corners and edges of baking sheet.
Flattening dough with hands rather than a rolling pin will give the irregular texture associated with focaccia. Cover dough with towel and let rise 20 minutes.
Sprinkle top of dough with rosemary and the slivered garlic. Using fingertips, make indentations in dough about 1/2 inch deep and 1 inch apart, to give a dimpled effect. As you do this, press garlic slivers into dough to keep them from falling off or over cooking. Cover dough with towel and let rise an additional 20 minutes.
Place a shallow pan on lower shelf of oven and heat up.
Drizzle remaining garlic oil over top of focaccia. Use a brush to pat the oil over the entire surface, allowing any excess to pool in the indentations. Sprinkle with 1 to 2 teaspoons of coarse salt.
Put 1 cup of ice cubes in the heated shallow pan in the oven. Immediately put the focaccia in the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until pale gold.
Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.
Notes
It is best eaten slightly warm or at room temperature.
You can substitute Parmesan cheese for the salt, or use both.
Let me put a scenario to you. A terrible fire erupts at a local school. The fire brigade has arrived, but because of the ferocity of the blaze it won’t be possible to save everyone, leaving the fire chief with a decision. Should he:
A) Save as many people as possible.
Or
B) Let everyone die.
I’m assuming most people would choose option A. Because of sanity. I think most people would find a fire chief who chose option B – who, if ideal circumstances were impossible, chose to maximise death and suffering – a bit disappointing, to say the least. If we could give Jesus a call and ask him what to do, I’m having difficulty imagining him advising us to let everyone burn.
And yet people arguing that terminating an ectopic pregnancy is unethical are taking exactly this position. Everybody dies. If you can’t save absolutely everyone the ethical decision is the one where the highest number of people die.
Neither mother nor foetus can survive an ectopic pregnancy that runs it’s course. Nothing we do can save the foetus. The only person we can possibly save is the mother. There’s no saving everybody, there’s only saving as many people as possible.
So your response is… everybody dies! The ethical thing to do – nay, the Christian thing, is make the decision that shows the least compassion, that does no good whatsoever, that causes the most death and the most suffering. Its what Jesus would have wanted. For is it not said “treat others how you would want them to treat someone they were homicidally disposed towards.” Or something.
Best of all though, the reason your ethics demand that as many people as possible die, the reason you shouldn’t save anybody’s life in this situation, the reason you should maximise grief and suffering and death is… wait for it, this is a real thigh slapper… because you believe in the value of human life!
Now that is some seriously freaking warped reasoning.
Any system of morality which isn’t actually trying to do good and limit evil isn’t a system of morality, it’s a system of control. And a sick, twisted and cruel one at that.
EDIT: For all those people telling me nobody has a problem with treating ectopic pregnancies and I’m spreading disinformation, oh look! A bill that specifically criminalises treatment for ectopic pregnancies.
I’ve spent my life taking care of others in one way or another since I was 10 years old. Mom went to work, and I had to cook supper 6 days a week, do the dishes, clean the house, watch my younger siblings. I gave up my friends and my social life to take care of her family.
I did have a boyfriend at 15 and at 17 I got pregnant. Pretty much on purpose. I’d already asked my dad if I could get married and he said no. So, when my bf came home from boot camp, I just wasn’t careful and thought, if it happens it happens. It happened. I finished out my Junior year of High School and went to summer school, then moved to be with him near base. My baby was born, and I was taking care of a baby and husband.
We divorced so I had to get a job. Still taking care of my child.
When I remarried, again taking care of a husband, child and working now. I did quit for about a year then went back to work. I pretty much ended up taking care of people at the job too. People just can’t do their jobs, put things away, always need help. I was kind of an overseer.
After 20 years I quit. My son was raised, my husband didn’t need to be taken care of anymore, he learned to do some things on his own, I was having a good time with friends and making quilts.
Then my mother got sick after my dad died. My siblings and I took on different responsibilities to keep her in her home and every year more responsibilities were added as mom lost the ability to do things for herself. This went on for 13 years.
After mom died, I was excessively depleted. My siblings and I no longer can get along with each other, so we haven’t seen each other for at least 5 years. I have 3 grandsons, 2 who don’t want anything to do with family, including my son.
I’m just so burnt out on people and their drama. It’s just my husband and I. He goes and sees a couple of his friends from time to time. I let my friends go before mom passed, I just didn’t have the energy to “be” a friend.
I like it being just me and my husband. I don’t know what it will be like if he goes first. I don’t like it when he goes to his friends, but I don’t say anything because he should go, but I miss him even when he’s gone a short time. His job of 40 years took most of his time from me and now that I have him, I hate to be away from him.
Other people though, they just aren’t worth my effort. (I do see my son from time to time).
One night my then boyfriend, now fiance, and I were watching a movie. It was a romantic one – not his preferred genre and he fell asleep midway into the movie. I continued watching. The 2nd half turned out to be quite emotional. Near the end I started crying softly. He woke up to my tears and immediately wrapped his arms around me to sooth me. He asked if it was the movie and I nodded. Since it was already late, we went to bed shortly afterwards.
The next morning I woke up, readied myself for the day and headed downstairs. He was eating breakfast in front of the TV – his usual routine before work. As I rounded the corner, I saw he was watching the movie from the night before. I was surprised as he was clearly not that interested then. “Why are you watching this?” I asked. He gave me a sweet, sincere look and said, “I wanted to see what made you cry.”
My fiance is not one for grand, sweeping gestures but it’s the every day small things that he does that melts me.
———————————————————
Update from the morning after:
me: OMG! OMG! *screaming*
him: hunnie, when you scream like that I think something is wrong with the house
me: baby! the quora post i wrote last night reached 1.4K upvotes!! ahhh!!
him: wow thats great baby! …can you stop screaming?
me: See?! I always say you do the sweetest stuff!!
him: *chuckle* as long as you like it baby
GEN-Z is literally f**king brain dead and I’m genuinely scared…
Why should the US contain China? Has China threatened the US? I think it is the other way around. The US has threatened China. The US has been the world’s predator nation.
I think the industrial-military complex always has to have an enemy in view or it loses funding and interests. Yesterday it was Russia, today, Russia is fading so the US has a new enemy, China. The rationale is China’s rise. When China was poor, China was befriended and used to increase the wealth of US multinationals. As China rose, concerns started to pop up, China could not be easily dominated by western interests. Now that China is competitive, especially in America’s monopoly of technology, the US has chosen to oppose China. It no longer wants to compete probably because it realizes that because of China’s size and her growth in STEM education, the US could lose its dominance in tech. The US has chosen not to work together.
What Americans seem not to realize is that much of America’s technology rise was built on immigrants. In today’s world, that technology strength comes dominantly from China and India. 75% of tech workers in Silicon Valley are immigrants. 80% of graduate STEM students are foreigners. In both cases Chinese and Indians dominate the demographics.
What seems disconcerting is that Trump is destroying that strength with his racist immigration policies.. What used to be the pot at the end of the rainbow for many immigrants in technology is becoming a nightmare. From engineers to doctors, H1-B and L-1 visas are being reduced and recently Trump is making them denied to certain STEM graduate students and workers. Their path to citizenship has become a nightmare. Their dream of being an American is no longer visible. Many are looking at other countries. Canada and the EU are the current choice of destinations plus their own home countries. India and China welcomes these STEM grads which will help their efforts to increase their presence in technology to compete with the US and each other.
The further the US demonizes China, the more Chinese students and investments in the US will dry up. American isolationism is succeeding and US political and economic interests in the world are starting to fall. Yes, the US can surround China militarily, like we did with the Soviet Union. Did we gain anything except to make our military might greater? Have Americans improved their life style and economic situations? Have we succeeded in overcoming poverty? Have we improved our infrastructure? Have we improved the lives of our citizens? You know the answer.
1. Marijuana laws. It took me almost the first 20-years of my career to see how much time I was wasting for a crime that no one from the county attorneys, to judges, to juries, to the general public were happy to see. I’d find an ounce of weed, wasting three to four hours of my shift, while calls were backing up and the guy hauling metric tons of meth drove by.
Later, I left the Midwest and came to Alaska which made the point almost moot. Since a 1970′s supreme court case, personal possession of Marijuana in your house was legal (and offenses involving it in other areas were considered rather minor). Then several years ago, Marijuana was legalized here.
I have yet to find one police officer who has ever fought against anyone high just on Marijuana. Or, been to any type of assault call involving just Marijuana.
If I could ban alcohol and make Marijuana legal, we could lay off half of the police forces, social workers and judges in the US. It’s the alcohol that’s the problem, not stoners. And no, I’ve never used the drug.
2. Prostitution laws (not sex trafficking). It is illegal to sell what can be given away. Odd. I’ve told many county and district attorneys that if they ever get me on a jury involving this type case, I would hang the jury so fast, I’d make their head spin because I’d be so angry at them for wasting my time.
3. Bar closing times. I could never understand why grown adults can’t decide how late they want to stay out and consume alcohol or even go to the store and buy some. Especially for those on second shift.
4. Alcohol and nudity laws. Many states have laws that you can’t have a beer or liquor license and allow nude or even semi-nude performances. The kicker? Many states allow customers to BYOB. The same owners at times have owned the liquor store right next to the strip club…Huh?
5. 21 years old as a drinking age. You can serve your country, vote, go to jail, marry and in some states, become a police officer before you can legally drink?
I’ve been in 65 countries. Many of them have the legal age from 16 to 18 years old (none have the age as high as ours), and they don’t have the issues with ETOH we do.
6. Gambling laws. In the 1970′s, Iowa was so backwards, state agents raided church Bingo. Seriously. Why does society care if I pick Texas A&M to beat Auburn and decide to bet a hundred?
Now that the states have sanctioned gambling, the remaining laws seem to be there to stop the competition.
7. Seatbelt laws. The Nanny State has to tell you how to be safe. I don’t enforce a “drink milk or get fined”, or join the “eat your vegetables or ticket” campaign.
You not wearing seatbelts does not affect a third person, therefore I fail to see how the state is concerned about seatbelts any more than, say, ordering people not to eat lard directly out of the can.
8. High and always getting higher traffic fines to plug government spending gaps. I remember when I started in law enforcement and speeding tickets started at around $30 (total). A sting to gain compliance.
Now many states (looking at you, California) use a sledgehammer. Between the fine, court costs and surcharges, tickets run in the mid to high three figures in some areas.
9. The FAA minimum flight hours for airline transport pilots that went from 250 hours to 1500 hours. The Colgan Air crash was not related in any way to low-time pilots. Both pilots had high flight time hours, but made rookie mistakes. This was the FAA looking for a law where there was no problem.
While US carriers are having trouble finding pilots, and some are canceling flights, going bankrupt and raising fares, other countries, (including the EU) still allow low-time pilots to fly as a co-pilot. Those planes are not falling out of the sky…and they are still allowed to land in the States.
10. Artificially low speed limits. Rural areas with low traffic and with good roads (dating from before the national speed limit laws of the 1970′s and can handle high speeds) need to properly reflect what the drivers can handle.
I’ve driven the Autobahn many times. In rural areas, there is no set speed limit, while in developed areas there is a reasonable speed limit. Makes sense to me.
11. CCW permits. In Alaska and Vermont, you don’t need a government agency to tell you that you are allowed to exercise your Second Amendment right.
12. Smoking rules in commercial businesses. I say let capitalism run her majestic course. If people do not want to be around smokers, those places that allow smoking will go out of business. We don’t need the Nanny State telling businesses what they can and can’t do.
Proof that this has nothing to do with secondhand smoke? Why is smokeless tobacco also banned in many areas? How is chewing tobacco affecting anyone?
*UPDATE: 99.9 percent of the people responded to the seatbelt statement. I would have never guessed that would be the contentious issue out of the 12.
I guess society has changed; I’m old enough to remember my mother holding my baby brother in her arms while I sat on the third row with the seat folded down in the station wagon.
No one cared about seatbelts, but society at that time cared about Marijuana, gambling, paid sex workers including strip joints and alcohol sale hours.
UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: I have been repeatedly asked if society can specifically exclude the safety net to people who refuse to wear seatbelts and have an accident. Here is my answer:
Only if we allow society to exclude other activities that it might not agree with. No coverage for smokers, excess drinkers, speeders, those who have sex with random people, those who partake in risky pastimes, or those who are obese.
Of course, we never think of the costs to society for the activities we agree with or partake in and how we normally expect everyone to pick up the tab for something they’d never do.
Should/can insurance require higher premiums? Sure, they are a private business and they already do: higher premiums for smokers, and – in many states – those who are males, those with bad credit, those unmarried and those of a certain age.
To be intelligently sound, you either believe in freedom from government interference for victimless crimes or you don’t. You don’t pick and choose. Many of my 12 I don’t personally agree with, but I believe the choice is up to the person.
Harry Potter but as a Drunkard in a remote Russian Village.
I very briefly dated a girl who was several years younger than me. I think I was 29ish and she was 21.
We were messaging each other on WhatsApp and after a while she insisted that I get Snapchat so she could message me on that. I downloaded it and was given instructions that the pictures only last for a few seconds before they are deleted.
I, in my tiny male mind, assumed she was going to send me titilating photos of herself in various states of undress.
I was excited!
What I actually got was lots of pictures of breakfasts. Lots of pictures of the back of someone’s head with “bored on the bus LOL” as a caption. Lots of pictures of books with “studying” as the caption.
I simply didn’t get why anyone would remotely care about mundane normal stuff, let alone want a picture of it?
She chastised me for not sending her many messages back on it. I sent maybe one every couple of days if I thought I was doing something vaguely interesting. “Here’s a nice view from this place I’m working” or, “Here’s a nice dog I met this morning” was about the best I could come up with.
Anyway, after a few days she said me to me, “You just don’t get it do you?” and I agreed.
Nope. I don’t get it.
And then it struck me. For the first time a massive part of youth culture was beyond my understanding. I simply don’t get the current youth’s need to send pictures to each other of completely mundane day to day things.
I’m too old to understand.
I’m not sure if Snapchat was the sole reason for it, but she decided she wasn’t interested in me shortly after.
Harry Potter as a Mexican Soap Opera | Telenovelas are Hell
Ever wondered what prompted the US to start a dedicated spy agency?
It wasn’t the Russians. It wasn’t a Nazi plot.
It was a mine.
Here’s what happened:
It’s 1916. The Western Front has become a gigantic stalemate. The Germans can’t push through the Allied line, and the Allies can’t push through the German line.
The Germans are trying to figure out a way to demoralize the French, whose country everyone is fighting in (and generally making a mess of). They’ve got a gun that they constructed in 1914, called the Paris Gun (or “Big Bertha” by the Allies). It’s the largest gun built during the war (the barrel alone is over 34 meters – that’s more than 111 feet – long!) and it lobs 211 mm shells nearly 95 miles. Test firing indicates that it can definitely hit Paris from a permanent position. Several are built.
But with all good things, there is an end. And unfortunately for the Germans, there is a nasty issue with the Paris gun: the metal they’re using is normal steel, and has a really bad habit of melting after firing more than four or five of their mega-caliber shells. After several guns are able to let loose only a couple shells before having to have an expensive barrel replacement, German High Command is disgusted and instructs the German war machine to figure out a solution.
The Germans poke around in their laboratories. A young chemist discovers that a hitherto mostly ignored element, molybdenum, can help improve the tensile strength of their steel if mixed in the right amounts (.2-.3% molybdenum mixed into the steel.) High Command is thrilled: this is the solution they’re looking for! They order several new barrels for the Paris Guns to be constructed with the new alloy.
There’s just one problem: the only known source of molybdenum is in the United States – the Climax Mine, in Colorado. (Another source was discovered in China later on, but not until after the war.) And by the point in our story that this happened, the Germans were not exactly on good terms with the good ol’ U.S. of A.
High Command scratches its head, thinks really hard, and comes up with a brilliant plan.
A few weeks later, a small team of German “tourists” disembark in New York. According to what others hear them say, they plan to head up to Colorado and do a little ‘prospecting’.
The Climax Mine is owned by a small mining group who have been able to get very little money out of it. They originally thought the element they’re bringing up in .30% quantities was silver, but unfortunately it’s not silver – its an element that very few people seem to have any use for.
Along come the German “tourists”, who’ve you guessed by now are actually German government agents. The Germans offer to buy the mine for an extremely cheap amount. But while they’d be happy to sell the unprofitable mining operation, the owners are unwilling to sell for the offered pittance.
A “bad neighbor war” breaks out. The Germans are DETERMINED to get that mine, whilst the owners are just as determined to avoid selling. The German team rents a shack near the mine and camps out, pressuring the owners to sell the mine. Both sides harass the others with shotguns in the middle of the night, with dogs, and with arguments and confrontation.
Eventually, the Germans exit the field victorious: the owners, tired of constant harassment and (according to some reports) in serious fear for their lives, sell the mine for the asking price. The German team, glowing in their victory, starts extracting the molybdenum and quietly shipping it back to Germany by the shipload. The new barrels for the Paris Guns are built, and Paris suffers shell damage throughout much of the remainder of the war.
When it’s discovered, after the war, that the Germans had an entire team of their own agents in the USA, extracting and exporting a rare, war-essential resource without the sanctioning of the United States government, there is a great deal of anger running loose in the upper echelons of government. Plans are formulated to form an agency to prevent similar happenings in the future, should a war break out. These were the first plans for the OSS.
As we all know, the CIA was formed from the base of the OSS. But the plans for the OSS would never have come into being if a team of Germans hadn’t penetrated to the very heart of the United States and shipped metal off to shell Paris.
EDIT: 12/26/2021. So I’ve been getting a LOT of comments on how the dates are wrong, the Paris Guns weren’t called Big Berthas (they were, as were all large-caliber German weapons during the war) and how the Germans actually pulled molybdenum from a small mine in Norway rather than the American mine.
While some parts of the story can be found elsewhere (see link below) I cannot verify it from multiple sources, and must therefore reluctantly conclude that this story, for all it’s coolness, is only about 50% accurate.
I was first told this story by my grandfather, who is generally very truthful and historically accurate. However, it seems that in this instance he was greatly exaggerating.
China was Given an $80 Billion Project by Afghanistan, Making America Angry
I wanted to go anonymous as I don’t want anybody to feel sympathy on me.
I was married to wonderful person on may 29, 2015, who always take care of me more than my parents. Since it was an arranged marriage, we decided to have baby a year later so that we can understand and have time for each other. A year later, when we decided to have baby my brother’s marriage got fixed. So we planned to postpone for another 3 months. But god had another plan for us.
My brother died on an accident and it brought a total loss to the family. May be I’m unable to express here how his loss impacted our life. My mother still not recovered and my father is just living his life. This is the day I cried most and I’m still crying and could not overcome such loss.
After 3 months of my brother’s loss, myself and my husband decided to have baby, so that baby can change my parents thought process . I also got pregnant and parents were happy and was proudly saying that I’m going to bring back my brother. In April 21, 2016 in anamoly scan it was told that baby had a congenital heart disease. It was told by the doctor, that, Even if the baby is born, it has to be treated as soon as possible or it will be dead. The doctor claimed even after the operation they cannot assure of life of the kid. So we both planned to abort instead of making the baby to suffer from birth itself. That day I cried like a hell and it took an year to recover from the incident.
Somehow we managed to overcome from the incidents and tried to live a happy and normal life.
A year after abortion, again we planned for baby. Now I’m 7 weeks pregnant and went to scan centre to check my baby’s heart beat. But doctor said this time yur baby has died already and doesnot have a heart beat.
There are no words to describe our pain. As others say, God will have other plans for yu. It is not at all true. I don’t find any meaning in living my life again.
These incidents made me to cry, making me to cry and will make to cry.
China’s Waiting For The U.S. To Make THIS Ultimate Mistake
I rented the same place for over twenty years before moving recently. Years ago I was sitting out on my deck one evening and to my shock FBI and DEA agents with rifles drawn were swarming my back yard from both sides to jump the fence between my property and the driveway area of the property next to me. Of course this pissed off my dogs and I had to drag them inside barking like crazy. From the kitchen I could hear the guy yelling “I ain’t do anything, I’m just down in the basement watching TV! You’re harassing me!” I quickly hear, funny I don’t see a TV but I see you’re running a meth lab!” Anyway, about a week or two later I get a call from my landlord. He tells me the same guy had called him and filed a police report because my dogs were too loud. Landlord started laughing and said the police officer stopped by his house since he knew him and I was out at work when he came by. He said he told the officer that you’d expect my dogs to bark and be extra on edge in the back yard after the raid of the neighbors house! Cop laughs, and from his cell phone calls the guy and tells him he’ll tell me to keep my dogs quiet if he can keep from making meth. Guy was never seen or heard from again, lol.
In the throes of active heroin and methamphetamine addiction, there is always an angle. There are no acts of kindness or altruistic events. Everything, down to the smallest of favors, comes with a price. If I need a ride, I owe you two bags. If you need a spot, you owe me dub. If you accept what is labeled a gift, you will undoubtedly and eventually be called to repay that debt. When I was actively using, what was given as a gift in good times, was remembered as a marker in bad times. And if ever comes a day you’re called on to make good and you can’t, or won’t, you’re labeled bad money. Which, as an addict with a habit, might as well be a death sentence.
Having lived that way for most of my life, I struggle to take people at face value when they’re being kind.
Tomorrow I start a project for an airline pilot. I was referred to them by a mutual acquaintance. When I offered to give that acquaintance a percentage of the projected profit, they looked at me like I was an alien. I pushed for them to take the money because I was afraid they’d call on me to pay that debt in the future, which is always uncertain. They refused and made it very clear they had referred me because I was a good fit for the work this pilot was interested in having done. They wanted nothing in return.
I could feel myself wanting to push for them to take the money. I don’t want to owe anyone anything. I like being free from that cycle I was stuck in for all those years. So I’ve been working on taking people at face value. If they say it, I try to believe it. But it isn’t easy.
The subtle details I’ve trained myself to notice are internal. They’re in my behaviors and actions when I’m on the receiving end of kindness. When someone is nice I start to withdraw and isolate. It’s not that it rubs me wrong, it’s more a fear that I won’t be able to repay that kindness. And the reason I’ve trained myself to notice this isolating behavior in myself? Isolation leaves me with the one person who has historically been able to justify getting high again. Myself.
CODE RED EMERGENCY: PENTAGON IN PANIC, BIDEN BRIEFED, RUSSIAN “SPACE NUKES TRIGGER MASS PANIC”
Today, this June 2023, China is the dominant nation in the world.
In every metric, China dominates.
Some metrics are obvious and astounding. Where it is obvious that China is the predominant nation in the world in that particular role.
Lifestyle for it’s citizenry.
Destruction of poverty.
Elimination of air pollution.
Manufacturing ability.
New technologies.
And so on and so forth.
It is no mistake that the rest of the world (well, the nations that are not proxies of the United States, that is) turn to China. They turn to China for trade. For economics. For science, and manufacturing. They turn to China for help and assistance. They turn to China for guidance, and direction.
They turn to China.
…
Now that being the truth, you have a multi-billion anti-china funded effort. This effort is designed to keep the American public, and the citizens of the proxy nations, ignorant of reality. Anything positive or neutral is withheld, and colored with outrageous lies. There’s no other way to describe the war propaganda; it’s untruths, and lies that are the direct opposite of the truth.
And if you, the reader are not aware of this, shame on you.
…
The rest of the world is turning into a multi-polar world based on individual national sovereignty, They no longer use American currency, follow and obey American laws, rules and conventions, and are distancing themselves from the insanity that has gripped the United States and dragging it downward.
There are exceptions.
A “color revolution” in Thailand, and South Korea has placed “puppet governments” in power. And the first things that these puppets do is pull their nations closer to the United States, and then engage in a war where many of their countrymen are killed.
It’s the United States method of Geo-Politics.
…
But, back to the question about China.
Do you know what the United States will look like in 2040? Do you know the projections? What are the economic, social, scientific, and cultural changes that will manifest int he United States in 2040?
Well, you don’t know.
Because there just isn’t any writings, projections, or videos about this subject. The United States has no plans for this far in the future. Instead the United States fully intends to “kick the can down the road” and let someone else deal with the various messes and problems that are sprouting up left and right everywhere.
RAND studies are looking at regional wars, and proxy war and color revolutions well into the next decade. But NOTHING about building the American domestic society. Nothing about the future of schools, society, and infrastructure. It’s almost as if those issues are not important.
But…
China knows.
China knows what the world will look like in 2040.
…
I see a prosperous China. Where China is a wealthy nation. Far wealthier than anything in Europe today.
I see a vibrant, and healthy Africa. Crime being eliminated, and social services expanding as industry does as well.
I see South America growing and modernizing. And like Africa, a strong middle class.
I see Chinese bases on the Moon, and the start of a Chinese colony on the surface of Mars.
I also see some amazing breakthroughs in national governance across the world where nations restructure their nations to be more efficient like China, and to punish the evil and greedy like China has.
Yes.
…
I see a bright future ahead.
And it is all starting today with the global leadership of China.
Mandatory Paternity Test LAW Passed Now GUESS WHO’s MAD
Italian Spinach Bread
Ingredients
2 cloves garlic, minced
Scant 2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup reserved spinach liquid
2 1/2 teaspoons (1 package) active dry yeast (not RapidRise)
Lightly sauté the garlic in oil, then let cool to room temperature.
Warm 1/4 cup spinach for yeast to activate (105 to 115 degrees F).
Stir yeast, sugar into warm spinach water in large mixing bowl; let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.
Add remaining 1/2 cup room-temperature spinach liquid, garlic with oil, the spinach and nutmeg and stir thoroughly.
Mix the flour and salt into the spinach mixture.
Knead on floured surface, sprinkling w/additional flour to absorb moisture from the spinach, until dough is well marbled, soft and velvety, about 8 to 10 minutes.
Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.
Shaping and second rise – Dough will be wetter after first rise. Put dough onto a floured surface and flour the top of dough – don’t punch down or knead. Shape into round loaf and put on lightly oiled baking sheet (or parchment on the baking sheet).
Cover with a towel and let rise for about 45 minutes.
Heat oven to 425 degrees F.
Slash a big V on top of loaf with sharp knife.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Reduce heat to 400 degrees F and bake an additional 30-35 minutes.
I didn’t actually see it. I wish I had. I was in the kitchen when it happened.
It was a popular pizza restaurant that served cheap beer and lots of it. In big heavy frosty mugs. Until the owner replaced all of the expensive and fragile glass mugs with plastic ones.
I remember how he was real proud of the fact that he had found cheap plastic mugs that looked exactly like the ones he’d always used. And it was true, they were nearly identical and looked totally like glass.
So, of course, customers started throwing beer all over themselves when they would pick up the now much lighter mugs. That in and of itself is pretty funny. But it gets better.
So the owner quickly instructs the wait staff to say something like, “Before I give you your beer, I want to warn you that the new mugs are much lighter so be careful.”
That was going well until a boisterous group of relatively young men sat down in the large corner booth. This booth was kind of isolated from the others, so perhaps they didn’t hear this spiel given to other tables.
The waitress shows up with a tray of 8 beers and proceeds to say, “Now before I can give you your beer . . .”
“Just give me my damn beer,” the nearest one says while he grabs a beer off the tray.
Because the tray was at eye level to him, he didn’t just spill his beer. No. He threw it right in his own face.
And threw his hands up as if to push away whoever was attacking him with this beer shower.
And hit the tray. The unbalanced—due to his impetuous actions—tray of beer. The tray upends and drops the remaining 7 mugs of beer on the table.
Hearing the commotion and swearing, I ran to the dining room to find 8 people swimming in beer, trying to exit, one by one, from a tight booth. The waitress, covered in beer too, couldn’t help herself. She was laughing so hard she had tears running down her face.
Later she said that she knew she should be apologizing, but it was so clearly their own doing that she couldn’t stop.
They didn’t stay. But they did pay for their beers before they left. That was thanks to a couple of police officers who frequented the place.
The U.S. Military just Crossed China’s RED LINE and War is Coming
I viewed the world from the lens of television, and I thought that the stereotypes thrown at me was real. I believed that wars were gallant men fighting for just purposes, and that work as an never ending adventures with one mystery after the other.
Ah. The harsh reality wasn’t that at all.
Now, that was decades ago. Today, it seems that Gen-Z is having some real coping issues. This is the West, buy the way, not in the East. And what I am reading, hearing about, and watching is terribly disturbing.
The ship USS America is now under water.
The water has breached the deck and starting to go down the air funnels and leech into the duct-work. The hallways have inches (3 cm) deep water that one has to splash through to get to the upper flooded deck.
The signs are all there.
Perhaps the sinking will be complete before the captain of the Ship; whatever “president” that might be might want to reconsider a war with a vibrant, healthy, professional boxer like China is today.
Just sayin’
Today…
French Defense Reports Acknowledge Ukraine Is Done With
The French president Macron has recently pushed for an engagement of foreign troops in Ukraine. The idea was immediately rejected by every country that would be able to send a reasonable number.
The question is why Macron suddenly came out with this.
A series of recent reports from the French defense establishment might have caused his irritation.
The French magazine Marianne got access to “several confidential defense reports” from the French army on the situation in Ukraine.
The situation looks exceedingly bleak for Ukraine, which might in part explain Macron’s recent declarations around sending troops to Ukraine. I translated the important parts of the article:”A Ukrainian military victory now seems impossible”
The reports Marianne consulted write that Ukraine’s counter-offensive “gradually bogged down in mud and blood and did not result in any strategic gain” and that its planning, conceived by Kiev and Western general staffs, turned out to be “disastrous”: “Planners thought that once the first Russian defense lines were breached, the entire front would collapse […] These fundamental preliminary phases were conducted without considering the moral forces of the enemy in defense: that is, the will of the Russian soldier to hold onto the terrain”.
The reports also highlight “the inadequacy of the training of Ukrainian soldiers and officers”: due to a lack of officers and a significant number of veterans, these “Year II soldiers” from Ukraine – often trained for “no more than three weeks” – were launched into an assault on a Russian fortification line that proved impregnable.
Somehow people who had never heard of the Battle of Kursk convinced themselves that Russian soldiers in defensive positions would run away as soon as they would hear a tank rumbling towards them. They of course did not do so.
These Russian troops are well managed and cared for:
The reports also highlight that contrary to Ukraine “the Russians have managed their reserve troops well, to ensure operational endurance.” According to this document, Moscow reinforces its units before they are completely worn out, mixes recruits with experienced troops, ensures regular rest periods in the rear… and “always had a coherent reserve force to manage unforeseen events.” This is far from the widespread idea in the West of a Russian army sending its troops to the slaughter without counting…
The Ukrainians on the other side are done with:
“To date, the Ukrainian general staff does not have a critical mass of land forces capable of inter-arms maneuver at the corps level capable of challenging their Russian counterparts to break through its defensive line,” concludes this confidential defense report, according to which “the gravest error of analysis and judgment would be to continue to seek exclusively military solutions to stop the hostilities“. A French officer summarizes: “It is clear, given the forces present, that Ukraine cannot win this war militarily.“
The fall of Avdeevka has shown that the Ukrainian military, even on the defensive, will inevitably lose the fight:
“The Ukrainian armed forces have tactically shown that they do not possess the human and material capabilities […] to hold a sector of the front that is subjected to the assailant’s effort,” continues the document. “The Ukrainian failure in Avdiivka shows that, despite the emergency deployment of an ‘elite’ brigade – the 3rd Azov Air Assault Brigade –, Kiev is not capable of locally restoring a sector of the front that collapses,” alerts this last report.
In consequence the Russian forces will simply move on:
What the Russians will do with this tactical success remains to be seen. Will they continue in the current mode of “nibbling and slowly shaking” the entire front line, or will they seek to “break through in depth”? “The terrain behind Avdiivka allows it,” signals this recent document, also warning that Western sources tend to “underestimate” the Russians, themselves adept at the practice of “Maskirovka,” “appearing weak when strong.” According to this analysis, after two years of war, Russian forces have thus shown their ability to “develop operational endurance” that allows them to wage “a slow and long-intensity war based on the continuous attrition of the Ukrainian army.”
There is nothing really new in the above for people who have followed the facts on the ground.
So why were western media, and politicians like Macron, late in recognizing the real situation?
Posted by b on March 12, 2024 at 16:59 UTC | Permalink
When a coward meets a man
What did a teacher say that made you immediately walk out of the classroom?
My teacher told me, “No you may not leave the room. Stay in your seat.”
This was said after I glanced out the open door to see my younger brother standing in the doorway crying. (I was a Jr, he was a sophomore) This was so out of character for Mike, that without thinking, I had jumped up from my desk and asked the teacher if I could be excused for a minute. He, too, saw my tall, goofy, big-hearted brother standing there brushing away tears.
I never sat back down, I just kept on going toward the door and my brother. My brothers and I had a very tight relationship. We were always there for one another, and this time was the same. The teacher didn’t say another word as I exited the classroom.
I immediately hugged my brother and asked him what was wrong. He then told me, between the tears that a boy in his gym class had made a nasty remark about me, and without thinking, Mike had sent a basketball soaring across the gym, which hit the offender right square in his face. Blood went everywhere, and it turned out that he had a broken nose. Mike felt terrible about breaking his nose and just knew he was in trouble big time.
I got Mike calmed down and he went back to class, but only after I assured him that I wouldn’t tell our mom about the incident. Then I went back to class and sat down and continued to listen to the lecture for the day. Teacher never said a word to me.
I’d do it just the same if it happened all over again. Nobody, but nobody ever came between my brothers and me.
Damn! This guys is a menace
What is the strangest thing you’ve found buried?
I worked as a field archaeologist for ten years or so and in that time I participated in the excavation of many historic and prehistoric sites in North America.
One of my more unusual finds was in South Western Wyoming.
Wyoming is a big state, comprised of deserts and mountains and little in between. The population is scant and you can drive for hours in some places without seeing another car or an occupied home. A common problem in Wyoming is running out of gasoline because gas stations are few and far between. Many residents have a second gas tank installed in their pickup trucks for this reason.
One spring the company I was working for was scheduled to excavate a prehistoric Native American site in the very rough terrain of the South Western corner of the state. The site was nestled on a terrace on the side of steep hill surrounded by canyon walls. The site had been discovered decades earlier when an oil company put an oil well pad near the site but it had not been investigated further.
The site had some interesting characteristics. First, it was located on a terrace, a flat spot on the side of a steep hill. Then the site was protected from wind on three sides by canyon walls. And finally the site had access to fresh water via a stream that crossed below the site. These characteristics made the site uniquely suited for settlement to ancient people. Such a perfect place was extremely rare.
Upon arrival, we located a series of petro-glyphs or prehistoric rock drawings which were spread across the sandstone walls that protected the terrace. The panels were crowded with images, many of which featured stick like hunters stalking groups of antelope in the desert dunes. Occasionally bison, goats and birds made appearances. But one panel included a dog.
At the time it was known that Native Americans had domesticated the dog but the details were sketchy. For sure dogs were common among the “civilized” late prehistoric tribes of the Carolinas on the Atlantic coast and a breed of tiny dogs were known to the famously civilized Aztecs of Central Mexico but after that it was a big blank as of early 1990s.
The crew examined the “dog” and then looked at the antelopes and it was our collective opinion that the dog was a dog. The ancient artists were particular in their portrayal of the animals, there was little variation in the way they made the antelopes. The antelopes were antelopes and the dog was a dog. We wondered about a domesticated “coyote” or even a “wolf” but this figure had a dog like profile and posture.
We did not spend much time on the rock drawings. They would be documented and preserved. Instead we focused our attention on the sizeable archaeological deposits on the terrace. Imagine the terrace as a bowl with 5 feet of stratified sand in it, with each strata containing the remain of multiple seasonal occupations. In all 8,000 years of ancient American history were recorded in these thin layers, like the pages of a giant history book.
In the coming days, we revealed layer after layer after layer of ancient camp site, with excellent examples of finely designed arrow heads, dart point, and spear tips and all or most of the specimens fit neatly into the historical typology of types which were well documented for this region.
And then we settled into a number of strata that were all from the Archaic age. In the archaeology of the Americas, the Archaic period is this incredibly long and undifferentiated period that starts roughly at 6,000 BC and continues to 1,000 BC. From this period we have only the slightest indications of what life was like.
In the archaic, humans lived in small bands, they hunted, they collected foods from the wild and they moved in seasonal cycles to harvest things as they became available. Almost everything else about the archaic peoples are unknown. We occasionally get a very detailed snap shot of archaic life from a particular region and then hundreds of miles and thousands of years of silence .
Early on, it became apparent that we were going to be looking at many layers or occupational instances of the Archaic. As we peeled the top off the archaic strata we found a multitude of “features” which are stationary archaeology remains that can indicate particular human activities. Features might include storage pits, bone piles, fire features (hearths or fire pits) and so on.
And then we found what looked like a small burial. We quickly adjusted our pace of excavation, and out came the smaller pics and brushes. In the bottom of an oval pit some 80cm across we found the well preserved remains of a dog, curled as if asleep. Our best bet at the time was that the dog dated to the Late Archaic and could be anywhere between 3,000 and 4,500 years old.
Finding the dog was a shock to us. Maybe the specimen was a mutated coyote or adolescent wolf, or maybe the dog was “intrusive,” i.e. from a latter date and someone dug a deep hole into more ancient deposits… However, the features start point was well within the Archaic strata.
This find would indicate that the “dog” appeared in North America at a date much earlier than originally believed and that maybe the “dog” was domesticated separately by ancient native Americans in very distant communities separated by hundreds of miles and thousands of years.
Random, Rome and R
Have you ever called in a “welfare check” to the police? Did it turn out there was a real need? Officers, how often are “welfare checks” something where a person does need assistance?
My lovely youngest brother.
He lived in the local city, I live just outside with my family, he used to talk to our mother every day. She rang me on my daughter’s birthday, and told me he’d not answered his phone, or texted back all day.
We popped over, on the way my husband ran over a raised island, with curbs around, there was usually a lit bollard on top.
We went on, parked, and went in the block of flats. He didn’t answer the door, I rang him. In the end he shouted back. I wanted to call an ambulance, he didn’t want me to. We stayed about 10 minutes. I said you sound terrible ally. He refused help again.
We started driving home, and he rang me, we chatted and he said he’d talk to mum. He sounded the normal Ally then. I said I would call him tomorrow. And he said love you.
Later, on our drive home, we realised we’d damaged the wheel, on that island. The tyre was slowly letting out the air, and I think the wheel rim took a knock. So now the car was out of commission for a day or two.
Later I put my mum at ease, and had a chat with her.
He didn’t answer the next day.
So the day after, I had my daughter take me back. He really didn’t answer any calls through his letter box. I could hear his phone ring.
I rang the police and ambulance. They said yeah, contact the hospital and see if he’s been admitted.
Nope, not there. So I rang ambulance again. The ambulance came first, they called the police, and they crashed in the door.
No one let me see him, but he’d died.
I think he died the evening I spoke to him.
Then I had to ring my family. That’s something I don’t want to do again. I had to tell everyone when our father died, that was shit, too.
I was sent away by the police and the paramedics. It was the start of more worry. The police called the council to seal up the door.
In the UK, a death like this always warrants a postmortem.
LOL
What is the best way a friend has showed you that they are a true friend?
My dad was being taken off a ventilator at the hospital. They put him in a room because they expected him to die. I sent my son and husband home because they were so antsy and while upset didn’t want to stay. So I sat by myself. I held my dad’s hand and thought of why had my normally very smooth rather dull life turn into this horror movie. My mom was becoming somebody I didn’t know with dementia 😢. She said these horrible things to me that I know she didn’t mean but hurt anyway. Then she was killed in an auto accident. Three months later I’m sitting by my dad in this surreal hospital room watching him labor for breath. Suddenly I see the person who has been respite support for my autistic son for years come running up with tears running down her face. She found out I was alone up there. Well, now I wasn’t ❤️.
She has my heart and my sword forever.
Can The US Compare To CHINA’s High-Speed Rail?
Disturbing trends.
What was the best hidden bonus you found in your old car at a new car dealership, when you were cleaning it out before taking your new car home?
I had an elderly couple trade for their “final car” several years back. They had been married a long time and were coming up on their 50th anniversary, and in conversation I had noticed the little old man was not wearing a wedding band. I didn’t mention it as it was none of my business, but I had noticed he was fairly frail looking.
After they left, I was going through their car to double check to see if they had missed anything, and I noticed something gold poking out from under the driver seat rail, so I grabbed a long screw driver and gave it a wack to knock it out from under the rail. It was a very old looking wedding band. I called them to let them know I found something they would want back and asked them to come by to retrieve it. When they came by and I handed it to them, they both teared up. They told me how he had been battling illness over the last 6 years, and he had lost a lot of weight and at some point it had fallen off. They couldn’t figure out where he lost it, but I figure it happened when he was putting on or removing his seat belt. She had offered to replace it, but he said it was irreplaceable and God would make sure he got it back.
That one still gives me chills, and I was glad to get it back to them in time for their 50th anniversary.
We don’t wanna…
In the USA, it’s not just taxes, and inflation, you HAVE to tip!
What is the rudest/most unusual/most obnoxious thing you have seen someone do at a wedding?
I was at a wedding many years ago. The groom’s family were Jewish. The bride’s family were Christian.
The bride’s father stood up to speak. He started with “I love my daughter, Abigail, with an A because she is Amazing. Then he gave a couple of sentences about why she was amazing. Then “I love my daughter, Abigail, with a B because she is Beautiful”.
Okay so he is going to spell out Abigail – that’s cute. But no, he went on to C, then D, etc, all the way through to Z. I have no idea what he came up with for Z because everyone on my table was asleep and/or drooling by then. He spoke for 25 minutes, which is the longest father-of-the-bride speech I have ever had the misfortune to witness.
But it’s not the length of the speech that was the obnoxious thing. Or the gushing sentimentality of it.
For ‘C’ this woman’s father said, “I love my daughter Abigail with a C because she is Clever.” Lovely! Right? No!
He wasn’t proud of her cleverness because she had a very good degree from one of the two best British universities. No! She was clever because she had snagged a rich Jewish husband, who worked in finance and had a trust fund.
The father-of-the-bride looked so proud of her and he clearly didn’t have a clue he had pissed off the Jewish half of the room, with this massively antisemitic trope.
Even now many many years later, the groom’s mum and her friends still talks about that speech and how tacky it was.
Why Gen Z and Alpha Are Making Teachers Quit
Disturbing trends.
Are inmates respectful of the medical equipment that other inmates have to use?
I never saw anyone mess with a wheelchair. Most of the guys in chairs were pretty easy going and got along with everyone else. If someone were to try and swipe a chair, it’d be obvious where it came from, and if they were trying to damage it, they’d quickly discover how rugged the things were.
I saw a little horseplay with crutches, but nothing serious.
The only cases I was aware of where someone actively targeted medical equipment were all against the same guy. Crazy Dave was universally hated by everyone. He’d pick needless fights because he simply had no idea when to quit, or how unpopular he really was.
CPAP machines could be an easy target. The machines are loud and therefore unpopular. Of course, destroying the CPAP will only make the inmate snore and that’s even less soothing. So, to destroy a CPAP, it’s pretty clear who your beef is with.
No idea if this guy is crazy, or if his name is Dave. Image from eBay.
Crazy Dave had a CPAP. Of course he didn’t need it, but he was such an incessant whiner that the staff would give him stuff so they didn’t have to listen to him. He was the kind of guy who would feign a heart attack if we had a new female CO in the unit.
One time someone stole the hose from Dave’s machine. I think it was later found in the showers with some unsavory something-or-other on it. The next attack was more clever. The guy in the very next bunk waited until Crazy was sleeping and used a needle to put dozens and dozens of tiny holes in the hose. After a while, that hose was about as air-tight as a whiffle ball.
Dave wanted a walker too. Nothing wrong with the man (physically), but he wanted a place to sit while waiting in line for commissary. He also had a need to keep up with the hypochondriac Jones crowd. He dumped reams of kites in the box until he eventually got one. Dave couldn’t keep the walker in his locker like the CPAP, so it was always vulnerable. Several times random people would undo the screws that held the handle on, or adjust the legs so they were at different heights.
His own private chair. Image from Amazon.
Aside from Crazy Dave, pretty much everyone else’s medical equipment was off-limits. If there had been a way to make a tattoo gun out of CPAPs however, I’m sure that would’ve been a different story.
More Gen-Z WTF?
SpaghettiOs
Kids will love this homemade version of a favorite canned pasta.
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Ingredients
1 (26 ounce) can tomato sauce
3 cups water
1 cup milk
2 cups Cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon garlic powder
8 ounces ditalini or pasta of choice, uncooked
Instructions
In a large pot mix together the sauce, water and milk. Bring to a boil.
When it reaches a bowl, stir in the cheese and turn it down to a simmer. Continue to stir until the cheese is melted.
Add the garlic and stir.
Pour in the uncooked pasta. Simmer on low for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally during the first 5 to 6 minutes to prevent the pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Check the pasta after 20 minutes, if it’s not as soft as you would like, cook it a little longer. Sauce will thicken even more over time.
Why Are Men Falling Behind?
Disturbing trends.
Have you, while repairing a computer, ever found anything that made your jaw drop?
I got called to look over the computer and network for a very meek looking, slightly overweight, older grandmother..
First, I noticed that her router had no firewall enabled.. Upon inspecting the computer, I noticed that there was a strange folder in the windows directory, filed with foreign copyrighted videos. I found that a ftp server had been hidden in the system and was serving the films to the Internet. I figured the system had been hacked and the ftp server was installed by malicious malware, but then after opening the GUI for the ftp server, I found several other directories.. The contents of one directory took me by surprise.. The directory contained photos and movies of the little old lady involved in BDSM activities with various men. The must have been hundreds of files in it.
I talked to the woman about the firewall and the ftp server and discovered, from the now red faced woman, that she had installed the ftp server herself but supposedly had no clue about the foreign copyrighted movies.. I deleted the foreign copyrighted movies, reconfigured the server and installed a firewall and left her BDSM stuff.. Telling her to be careful of what she exposed on the Internet..
I love this
Why is TikTok going to be banned in America without any scandal meanwhile Facebook is left untouched with massive scandals like Cambridge Analytica?
Facebook is banned in China
Google is banned in China
YouTube is banned in China
This led to China developing some of the finest and best internet applications on earth and today Chinese Software programming beats everyone else hollow
The Chinese Apps are so good that if they ever came out they would beat Western Apps in seconds
Didi has far more features than Uber
Douyin makes Tik Tok look like a Ford Taurus and YouTube like a Ford Model T
WeChat is a combo of everything and runs the entire Chinese nation digitally
Taobao and JD are as good as Amazon and better than flipkart
The US Point of view :-
You guys deny our Internet Giants from playing in your massive market
Your Internet Services & E Commerce market has a 80% share for Domestic companies
Once you come to our markets, you will put all our players at risk and take a large chunk of revenue from our markets
We cannot have that
The Chinese Point of View :-
We don’t pretend and never pretended to be a fan of the FREE MARKET like you did
You have used FREE MARKET and throttled all your competitors but NOT US
The fact is our products are better than yours because we don’t have a saturated market and we have 20 engineers for 1 of yours
The bottom line is
US has a $ 3.5 Trillion a year Internet services market today
China has a 12.6 Trillion RMB Internet Services market today ($ 1.8 Trillion)
The two combined have a market equivalent to 80.3% of the World’s combined market
By 2035, US is expected to have a $ 4.5 Trillion Internet services market
China is expected to have a $ 4 Trillion market
Both nations will fiercely protect their own markets and evolve within their own markets
This is inevitable
Karen is upset
What are the strategies of China and Russia to deter America from using nukes in a desperate situation as a Samsonite option?
China and Russia can’t
raise the IQ of US presidents,
stop US presidents from putting the US neocons/chickenhawks in their cabinets,
improve the critical thinking skills of the US electorate,
make US cable news, the New York Times, and the Washington Post better than the paper you’d use to clean up dog shit.
Right now, we’re relying on Putin and Xi Jinping to be the adults in the room and not the crash-test dummies that we Americans keep putting in the office of the US presidency and Congress.
From the US side, we’re not preventing nuclear war but heading straight into an idiot apocalypse.
I’m old enough to remember when US presidents tried not to provoke a nuclear war, but those times are long gone.
Nuland resigns. China hawks take over
“Project Ukraine is her child.”
“Her resignation was insisted upon by powerful people in the United States.”
Swiss Steak with Tomato Gravy
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
1 large slice round steak
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large cans tomatoes
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 large onion, diced
Kosher or sea salt and pepper
1 cup water (for gravy)
Instructions
Spray slow cooker with Pam. Turn on LOW.
Heat oil in large skillet.
Cut round steak into serving-size pieces.
Put flour into a shallow pan. Add salt and pepper to flour and flour steak well.
Fry steak in hot oil until brown.
Pour a few tomatoes into the slow cooker. Add pieces of browned steak and remaining tomatoes in layers. Add diced onion.
Cook for 4 hours on LOW heat.
Remove meat from slow cooker.
Put 1 cup of water in a pint jar. Add 3 tablespoons flour. Shake well. Add to tomato mixture in the slow cooker. Cook and stir until gravy is thickened.
Put meat back in long enough to heat.
Serve with mashed potatoes.
Men Are Lost? No they aren’t- they are DONE! Women are clueless about why!
Disturbing trends.
What does it feel like to live in a super-large house?
For years I lived in a large Tudor home, or as a family member called it, an “English two-door”. It was built in 1920 in the U.S. and was most certainly a relic from the days when people had live-in domestic help.
Maintaining such a home is a time consuming and expensive proposition. It was sometimes hard to find a balance between restoring with historical accuracy and updating to modern systems.
The front door looked as though it could withstand a battering ram, 4 inches thick, wooden and heavy. Inside the front door was an ante-room, another heavy door and then the foyer. This was the size of an average living room and was for the most part unused space. It was large enough for a 5 piece orchestra to play comfortably in when we agreed to participate in a walking tour of historic homes, in support of a local theatre one Christmas. There was room left over for a sizable Christmas tree and a grandfather clock that chimed. Being asked to participate in fundraising events becomes a regular occurrence when one owns a home like this.
In addition to all the usual rooms found in an average home, there was a library, a solarium with a stocked bar, a sewing/ironing room, sleeping porch, butler’s pantry, mud room and servants quarters. There were window seats everywhere. Nearly every room had at least one wall of windows with an upholstered seat running along the length.
We installed new hardwood floors throughout the first and most of the second floor.
Secret wall compartments were tucked away around the house. Certain panels opened when pressure was applied, like in a Hercule Poirot mystery.
There was a kitchen original to the house used for food preparation, with stainless counter tops that ran the length of the walls, prep sinks and a pass through to another slightly smaller kitchen with a swinging door that led into the dining room. There was a dumb waiter (no longer in use) that went to a hallway on the second floor, great for playing hide and seek. Once in a while someone would get stuck and be forced to give away their position in order to be helped out of the little cabinet.
There was a narrow back stairway used by the staff, back when there was staff – 2 flights that led to the bedrooms on the second floor and then 2 more that led up to the attic. The attic itself could have served as a very nice living space except for it being unbearably hot in summer and bone chilling in winter.
The doorways were narrow in the “service” area. They led to the basement, laundry room, butler’s pantry and a small apartment. These floors were original to the house.
The bathrooms were almost completely original. Nice in some ways, but not very practical. The tubs were free standing and large, there were only 2 real showers in the entire house; the rest had bathtubs with handheld sprayers attached to the taps. The most popular bathroom with a shower was located in the master suite which meant a steady stream of traffic coming through the bedroom in the mornings.
Many of the bathrooms had the original fixtures similar to these. Others had been updated. There’s also a tub and shower in this bathroom that’s partially visible in the mirror. This type of radiator was throughout the house.
The concept of locking bathroom doors was unheard of in our house. The locks on the doors were all original and the skeleton keys had become either lost or were in the junk drawer in the kitchen and it just wasn’t worth anyone’s time to try to match each with its proper door. This created some minor issues when company came. Our house rule was a closed bathroom door meant occupied and visitors would have to try to trust in that. At yet another fundraising event, even our soon to be Governor wasn’t comfortable in a bathroom with no lock and asked one of his staff to stand outside when he went in.
There’s an episode of Downton Abbey when Lord Grantham says “I’ll sleep in my dressing room tonight” as if he’s making some sort of sacrifice. The master suite in our house had a dressing room. One wall was lined with rows of shallow drawers, meant for folded shirts, ties and other sundry items, a full length free standing mirror and a window seat overlooking the back of the property. There was also a full-sized bed and a small bathroom. Lord Grantham wasn’t exactly roughing it.
There were very few overhead light fixtures except in some of the bedrooms upstairs. There were sconces in most of the rooms that didn’t provide much light. Even with white ceilings and light walls, the house seemed dark much of the time. Extra lamps were a necessity.
The winters were cold not just in the attic but in the entire house. There was a fireplace in every bedroom and common area. The house didn’t seem designed with New England winters in mind. I’d be comfortable wearing a turtleneck, fleece jacket, sweatpants and heavy socks to bed. The original owners probably spent their winters somewhere much further south or maybe this was the height of modern heating in the early 20s.
The furnace was always on its last legs, propped up in some spots by blocks of wood. It was originally coal burning, but had been converted to oil at some point. I remember the furrowed brows on many a technician’s face when I’d lead them down to the cellar to service this behemoth.
All windows had to be covered in plastic every winter to keep the heat inside. The covering of the windows was an annual family activity that began in October.
A large house like this is an amazing place for children to grow up. A magical place of discovery. There was plenty of room to play with friends. There were areas inside large and empty enough to ride a scooter around. There was an empty room on the second floor that became the train room. I filled it with low plastic tables and we designed quite an impressive railway system with 2 separate train sets. There was a high speed bullet train on one side and “Thomas the tank engine” on the other. It was the sort of thing you’d only want to set up once, and because of the size of the house, we were able to do just that.
The cellar was divided up into several small rooms, most with doors and shelving on the walls. There was also a bathroom down there. They were designed to serve a purpose back in the day; wine rooms, cold storage, dry goods, etc. The cellar was avoided by most and was off limits to kids. It was full of dangers, such as a deep well-like hole in the floor that was often filled with water.
The house is unique on the street. It was the only house with any property to speak of. It was situated between two parallel streets with a “service entrance” that led out the back of the property.
The yard was by far. where the kids and I found the greatest joy living in this house. It was an oasis from the world, surrounded by 3+ acres of lawn and woods, insulated from traffic sounds and the dogs could run free. It was like having our own private park. A hill on one side was perfect for sledding in winter. The kids also learned how to make maple syrup with sap that we collected with a simple tap and bucket attached to a tree.
Sledding. The copper beech tree in the background is over 100 years old. The black figures sitting in the leaves to the left are the dogs.
The grounds were full of various wildlife. Some transient, some permanent residents. The array of birds was incredible for a yard in the suburbs. One night, we heard a noise outside and the motion sensor floodlights came on. The kid’s grandmother opened the front door and found herself eye to eye with an eight point buck, standing in the circular drive. There were deer living in the woods adjacent to the lawn. I often caught a glimpse of one or two lying in the woods during the day. I put food out for them on a feeding station I set up on a tree. I provided the food because there was nowhere for them to go that didn’t require crossing a busy street or wandering through a parking lot and residential neighborhoods and a few had already been hit by cars.
We grew Dahlias. I was very proud of those Dahlias. We divided and saved the bulbs from year to year and had a magnificent crop every summer. One spring morning, I was utterly devastated to find the deer had dug up and eaten most of the bulbs. I was upset, no doubt, but unlike one of our neighbors, I would never think of retaliating in any way. I knew a neighbor who had no tolerance for deer and skunks ravaging their gardens. So, I fed them hoping to keep them safe in our yard. The only hazard they faced was one of our dogs bounding after them through the woods occasionally. Raccoons, skunks, foxes and plenty of neighborhood cats (due to the large crop of catnip we planted in the garden) came through on a regular basis. We had hawks, owls and crows that would stop for a few days.
I discovered the bird feeders were attracting wood rats. As much as I respect wildlife, I couldn’t abide rats and took down the bird feeders that were closest to the woods. I don’t particularly like crows either – or rather the racket a flock can make – waking everyone at the crack of dawn with that incessant “CAW… CAW… CAW”. Usually, my husband would go outside and hit the trunk of a tree with a broomstick or something to shut them up. It did, but only until he got back into bed. Early one morning he had had enough of one particularly brazen crow and went outside, picked up a rock and threw it at the thing. We heard the “thwack”. Neither of us could believe he’d actually hit the bird, it was quite a distance away, in a tree in the cover of other trees. We thought we saw it fly away and went back inside. Later on, he found it, dead, lying on top of a bush back in the woods. I felt bad. I didn’t want it killed, just out of our yard. It was a crime of passion though, committed in the heat of the moment. He had been working all night.
There was a small fenced in fish pond where the only resident was a bullfrog that reappeared every summer and a brook that, when it rained, overflowed and flooded parts of the lawn.
There was a fountain (which we didn’t run). The wooded areas had originally been manicured lawns with flower beds and daffodils that I was often asked about as they seemed so strange popping up 100 feet back in the woods. Nearly half of the original lawn had been taken over by various bushes and saplings. There was still plenty of lawn area left, more than most people need. It must have been incredibly beautiful back in the 1920s.
The “thinking rock”, was a large boulder just off the patio, where we would sit and talk about things, sit and think or just sit.
There was a patio next to our thinking rock with a sitting wall that was covered in geraniums from May through October. Pulling the weeds from between the flagstones was a weekly project. The many trees in the yard provided a spectacular show in the Fall. We pressed leaves into a heavy book and labeled them every year.
One day the kids found a small hole at the base of a tree with a flat rock covering it. There was something barely legible scratched into the rock but it looked like it said “Sara’s…something”. We couldn’t quite make it out. But, in the hole under the rock they found an arrowhead, a small blue bottle and a key. It was so much fun for them to find this and they eventually added a few things of their own to this mini time capsule.
The little quirks of daily living in a big old house are endless and many features of the house definitely spark the imagination. It served both as a teaching tool and a window into a time where things were simpler (at least in our minds), and understated opulence was possible. The over-sized rooms that often seemed so empty and lonely magically became just the right size when the house was full of family and friends. The livingroom, that a friend once said seemed about as homey as a hotel lobby, came alive during family gatherings, full of laughing children and clinking glasses.
Outside, there were dogwood blossoms, hickory nuts and widow makers that fell from above. The house was equal parts hazard and haven. Overall, it was a wonderful experience living in a home that size; essentially unchanged from the early 1900s. It was our home and we very much lived in it. It provided my children with room to spread their wings and make all sorts of discoveries all on their own. It gave them a sense of a connection to the home life of a family much like ours 100 years ago, and to learn to appreciate the beauty and value of nature in their own back yard.
History, Bitch!
What would happen if a nuclear bomb were to detonate mid-air when it was halfway down its fall?
Five guys actually volunteered to stand at ground zero of a nuclear blast just to see what would happen.
No, they were not crazy. Nor were they being punished. It just shows how stupid some people can be (I’m joking guys, don’t take out your pitchforks).
During the Cold War when the US and Russia were both trying to set the world record for spending the most amount of money on nuclear weapons, the general public was getting a little bit worried about these weapons of mass destruction.
Despite US claims that nothing bad would happen if a nuclear bomb detonated above civilians, nobody was buying it.
So what did the US do?
They decided to prove it.
On July 19, 1957, five exceptionally brave Air Force officers and one cameraman (probably reevaluating his life at that point) stood about 65 miles northeast of Las Vegas.
Sure enough, two F-89 jets flew above their heads and shot out a nuclear missile. Thankfully for the group, the missile did not malfunction and promptly detonated directly above their heads.
According to Major Body as it happened,
“We felt a heat pulse. A very bright light. A fireball it is red. The sky looks black about it. It is boiling above us. It is rapidly losing its color…”
Then the blast could be heard and he continued to say,
“There is the ground wave! It is over folks, It happened! The mounds are vibrating. It is tremendous! Directly above our heads! It is a huge fireball. … Wasn’t that a perfect, perfect shot.”
Now, at this point you might be wondering about all of that radiation from that blast that was hovering over their heads. Surely they have been exposed to a decent amount of ionizing radiation, right?
Since the blast occurred pretty high up in the air (around 18,000 feet or 5.5 km from above), no ground material was sucked up to create a giant mushroom cloud, and thus no giant radioactive cloud was present. As for the material in the bomb itself and surrounding dust, those radioactive particles would have traveled quite a large distance before descending back down to Earth. EDIT: As others have pointed out in the comments, you don’t need to worry about gamma rays because by the time it reaches them, the radiation is halved by 20 times. Thanks Lyle McElhaney and Graham Ross Leonard Cowan .
So it made sense that later on when the men were being examined, it turned out that they were exposed to negligible amounts of radiation from the bomb. It was even less than the amount the pilot was exposed to.
The irony here is that while this was entirely devoted to proving the safety of nuclear blasts high in the air, radioactive particles from such tests often ended up settling on nearby towns, leading to a number of health issues.
While it’s not certain that it’s related to this particular blast, interestingly enough all 6 men (including the cameraman) eventually ended up with cancer later in their life.
What was the weirdest phone call from a random number you have ever received?
A couple of years ago, I got a rather random call on my business phone. Unlike my regular calls from product vendors or salespeople (or occasionally a potential client) this was a young woman’s voice, quite tentative.
“Is that Nick Malik?”
I confirmed that she had, in fact reached me. But then came the odd question:
“Are you a relative of Mary Wolf?”
I was dumbfounded. That was my maternal grandmother’s maiden name.
“Yes, that’s my grandmother’s name.”
She pressed on “Is that the same Mary Wolf who earned a business degree from Ohio State University in 1918?”
At this point, I was glad I had created a genealogy chart for my family. But this was the most curious call I’d ever had.
“Yes, I think so.”
It turns out the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State was going to celebrate their 100th Centennial. This young woman was trying to get information on Mary Wolf, the first woman to graduate from the OSU college of business.
I knew it was unusual for a woman to attend a public university in those days. I did not know she was the FIRST WOMAN to graduate from the OSU College of Business.
Of course my beautiful Grandmother had passed away many years ago, but her eldest daughter, my aunt, was still alive. Her son had contacted me on Facebook a few years ago, so I looked him up and passed along contact information on my aunt for her to get some biographical details.
This young woman had found me from an old article on a defunct blog where I mentioned my parents. Somehow she had tracked down my mother (a published author, artist, and poet) (who had passed away) and then managed to find me by googling her name, then my name, then found my business site. TENACIOUS!
The nice young woman sent me a set of coasters from OSU and a box of Buckeye chocolates as a thank you. The real thanks was finding out what a pioneer my grandmother was.
Trump 2024
And
And
What did a family member say or do that you don’t talk to them anymore?
“Your Dad may have just died, but he’s been dead to me for 5 years. I just want to know what I’m getting.”
My amazing Dad passed away in 2019. My brother and I were from his first marriage to my mom, and he had 3 more girls with my step-monster. As it turns out, he and step-monster had been divorced for about 20 years and he and my mother rekindled their romance after the death of my stepdad in 2001. His eldest daughter hated my mother with a passion, which caused a lot of drama and neither my mom, myself, or my dad had spoken to the Brat in about 5 years.
My Dad had his first stroke in April 2019, worked extremely hard to recover his speech, walking, etc., but had a massive stroke in June 2019, after which we took him off life support. Only the Brat lived in his city during his illness and did nothing to help or support. I flew cross country and stayed for months to help take care of him and my mom.
My Dad was my hero and I loved him immensely. Watching him struggle was so hard, but nothing prepared me for seeing him have the final stroke and the difficult decision to remove him from life support. He was only 67 and in the prime of his life.
While my mom, brother and I were at the funeral home making arrangements, the Brat walks into his house with a pad and pen – telling her own sister “Your Dad may have just died, but he’s been dead to me for 5 years. I just want to know what I’m getting.”
Needless to say I definitely haven’t spoken to her since. My Dad had talked about removing her from from will for years, but apparently never did. It frustrates the hell out of me that she only saw him as bank. That she received equal shares of his sizable estate kills me to this day.
Biden’s handler
If you see an attractive girl in public, how would you personally approach her, and what would say to her? (I’m trying to learn better social skills)
“Excuse me – do you know anything about making gravy?”
I was at the supermarket, in the flour aisle. A guy was talking to me, looking lost and deeply concerned about the multiple bags of flour that he was holding in his arms.
Me: “Umm… a little bit, what do you need?”
Guy: “I’m confused by all of these different types of flour. I’m making dinner tomorrow for my sister and her family, and the recipe calls for ‘flour’, but I have no idea if I need all-purpose flour, pastry flour, whole wheat flour, spelt flour…”
He gives a confused and embarrassed look and shrug with the hint of a smile as he finally looks at me and makes eye contact. If he’s attempting to flirt, he’s doing a great job of it.
Me: “I’m pretty sure that they would all work, but all-purpose flour is usually a pretty safe bet.”
Guy: “Thanks so much. Why on earth do we need so many types of flour?”
Me: “I don’t know, it’s kind of crazy isn’t it.” I turn to leave
Guy: “I see that you’re buying candles, are you making a birthday cake?”
Me: “Yes, my husband and I are celebrating my daughter’s second birthday tonight.”
Guy: “Wow, congratulations! And let me just tell you that you look amazing. Your husband is very lucky.”
Me: “Thank you.”
I think we both felt good about the exchange. Had I not been happily married, we might have continued the conversation, and who knows where it could have led.
The best way to approach a woman is indirectly, and by talking about something that will pique her interest. Never ask her out until after you have had at least 5 minutes of fascinating two-way conversation.
The West is NUTS!
How do lifers cope with the fact that they will never be outside the prison walls ever again?
There are two types of lifers in Missouri. Those with life without and lifers who have the possibility of parole. Most in both cases accept that prison is their home now and where they will spend a large portion of their lives if not all of it
Those who have life without the possibility of parole do not have to worry about parole hearings.Many cut ties with family and friends on the outside They just want to deal with their life in prison.
I knew many who had life without. Most were laid back and just wanted to do their time. They had their circle of friends. Usually others doing a lot of time. Many are willing to give advice to new people to prison if they think the person will listen.
However, get on their bad side and it’s usually not going to be just a fight , but a stabbing
Only a few had trouble dealing with the life sentence. I remember one young guy who came in with life with the possibility of parole. So he at least had a chance. But he complained to everyone that he couldn’t do the life sentence. He even said he was lost without his phone. Rarely said anything about missing his family , it was always the dawn phone he missed. I think someone got tired of hearing him and beat him up
China Warns New Zealand about Joining AUKUS!
What is the most intelligent one liner you have come across?
Late one Christmas eve my 65 year old father encountered a man who had broken into our warehouse store. The man was half my dad’s age and muscular. When my father realized the man had a handgun he dove behind a counter. The man fired a shot but missed. He started to make his escape but my father got up and tackled him. The burglar fought him off and ran toward the other end of the building but was tackled again. After fighting him off the man limped away but realized there was no exit. He turned and shot at my dad three more times. I arrived to hear those shots. The burglar finally found a way out but I followed him in my truck until the police arrived and took him into custody.
The evening before the man’s trial my father received a phone call from the man’s wife who asked him to think about her husband’s four kids before giving his testimony. My father’s immediate response – “Was your husband thinking of my kids when he shot at me?”
China’s Two Sessions as the World Watches What It Does!
Have you ever seen someone call the cops and it backfired on them?
Oh, yes…
My oldest son’s girlfriend “A” had moved in with us. She was 19, legally an adult and could move wherever she wanted. She also wanted absolutely nothing to do with her mother or her sister (though she and her sister have since reconciled and are now very close). Their mother has serious substance abuse issues and their childhood was much less than ideal.
We still don’t know how her mother found out where we lived, but one night she showed up on our doorstep, demanding to see her daughter. She was yelling thru our locked security screen door how I’d “put a spell” on her daughter, that she refused to believe her daughter didn’t want to see her, we were keeping her against her will, etc. My son’s girlfriend had been hiding in their bedroom while my husband had been calmly replying to the mother’s histrionics, but he finally convinced “A” to at least come out to where her mother could see that she was alive and unharmed. “A” stood under the light in our dining room so her mother could see her, and she once again told her that she was fine, but she wanted nothing to do with her and to please leave her, and us, alone. The mother started up her screaming again and told my husband that she was going to call the sheriff on him. He told her to go ahead and do that if she wanted. We were on our own property and hadn’t broken any laws, so he wasn’t sure what she thought the sheriff would do, but hey…if she wanted to call them, have a ball.
She went back to her car, he closed the door and went back to watching TV. Maybe 10 minutes later, there was a knock at the door. My husband opened it to find a sheriff’s deputy on our front porch. He was invited in and he told us he’d already talked to the mother and he wanted to get “A’s” side. He spoke to her, then went back to where the mother was waiting in her car. He told her that “A” was an adult who was of sound mind and body and she’d made it VERY clear that she wanted nothing to do with her. Not only that, but my husband and I wanted her trespassed, so should she enter our property again, she would be arrested. He then returned to the house and gave us instructions on how to obtain PPOs (personal protection orders) against “A’s” mother.
Yeah…calling the sheriff certainly backfired against her that night.
What’s the biggest thing from childhood that still bothers you today?
From the outside, my family looked pretty normal: Mom stayed home and Dad worked, a full-time job in the Post Office and sometimes one or two part time jobs. But the family dynamics and child rearing were off-kilter.
Unfortunately, my Dad had been injured in a non-combat accident in WWII. That led to multiple medical procedures and left him in continuing pain. He’d come home from work and go right to bed. He even had a sandbag traction device at the foot of his bed attached to a kind of girdle he wore to relieve the pain.
My parents were nice folks, saw that we had what we needed growing up, weren’t the horror parents of abuse stories. But they lacked good parenting skills.
My mother would frequently say to my brother and me (born 1948 and me 1950), “Don’t bother your Father now” when he went to bed. That meant “be quiet and go away” to us. I don’t remember my Dad spending much time with me, unless it was something he was interested in. And his hobbies were… different. Like rock collecting, hand tooling leather crafts and copper enameling jewelry. I don’t remember him so much as throwing a ball back and forth with me, ever. He followed sports, but never explained how baseball or football worked. I think other extended family members recognized this and took pity on me. My maternal uncle took me to one San Francisco Giants game. My
brother-in-law took me to a World Series Giants game in the 1960’s. That was my total sports exposure.
I taught myself to ride a bike borrowed from a neighbor kid. By myself, no help from Mom or Dad. That taught me a lesson: if I wanted to learn something, or do something, I had to do it myself.
So… benign neglect.
As I look back from my 70’s, I wanted to understand my life journey, as many seniors do. What was the narrative?
One of the early signs of a problem was in High School English. The teacher was baffled. He told me, “I don’t understand. You write beautiful sentences and even paragraphs. But you can’t write a story.” I also couldn’t understand literature. Because I didn’t fully understand people.
I wasn’t stupid, although I thought I was an idiot. Was a college graduate, had a job as a computer programmer for decades, so there were some working brain cells. What I lacked were social skills and political savvy. The social skill deficit would come up in job interviews, where the interviewer would pick up on tells like lack of confidence or hesitation. More than once, an interviewer said something along the lines of “Well, you’re going to be working for so-and-so. You’ll be their problem”. The lack of political sense caused problems that could have escalated to job loss.
Lately, I was comparing notes on childhood with my brother. I got so far as to say: “In childhood, did you ever feel like…” and he finished for me: “ we were unwanted? Yeah, me too!”.
Modern Women FURIOUS they also GET REJECTED in Other Countries While Passport Bros find HAPPINESS
Have you ever put your child in a daycare only to take them out shortly after because something didn’t feel right?
My daughter was coming home with bruises on her shins. I asked her what was going on, and she said that a boy was kicking her. I spoke to her teacher about it, and next day, police and CPS were at my house questioning my father. They said she said it was her grandfather. I have been caring for my elderly parents for over 20 years, and at that time, my father had just gotten out of the hospital and was still hooked up to an IV and catheter. It was ridiculous. It was obvious both to me and to CPS and the police that they were covering something up. They knew all about him being ill and in the hospital. And I spoke to another parent having the same problem. They said the teachers would go outside with the kids and stand around talking to one another without watching the kids. I took my complaint to the director, and she said that I had no right to talk to other parents about the school, and my daughter was obviously partially retarded because she couldn’t speak well. I demanded my money back and told her never to even think about breathing the same air as my daughter or I would serve her her own ass on a silver platter. That was the end of that. And I made a formal complaint to every agency involved with them.
What trivial knowledge might save your life one day?
When walking downstairs, don’t put your hands in your pockets.
If you’re ever at a party and your drink tastes unusually salty, do not continue drinking it. Rohypnol is reported to have a salty taste.
If a power line falls next to you, do not walk or run. Put your feet together and do a bunny hop to jump and get away.
When the waterline is abnormally far from the shore, this is a sign of a tsunami.
If you see a photo of anyone where they only have one “red eye” from the flash, this could be a sign of retinoblastoma, a type of eye cancer.
Don’t leave ice packs on wounds or swelling for more than 15 minutes at a time to avoid irreversible nerve damage!
A gray ring around the edge of the cornea is an indication of the high level of cholesterol in the blood.
Keeping transparent water bottles in your car can cause a fire if sunlight passes through them.
A finger up the bum will get the dog (or any animal) to stop what it’s doing real quick.
Baking soda will extinguish a fire, even grease and electrical fires.
Losing weight without trying could very well be cancer.
If you are a male and you pee on a pregnancy test and it comes out positive, go get yourself checked for testicular cancer.
If your car is broken down, do not stand in front of it while waiting for help.
Money falling from buildings? Don’t pick it up, get the hell out of there, it’s a way terrorists kill more people, is by having them all in one place.
If you’re ever unsure if an electrical wire is live, use the back of your hand to touch it. Regular contact could trigger muscle contractions, potentially leading to a fatal grip.
China SHOCKED us 🇨🇳 (British family arriving for the first time)
Have you ever found something in your food that was clearly not supposed to be there? How did you react?
Money was tight when Dad was in the Navy and Mom was home with 3 very young girls. As a rare treat we got popsicles. My youngest sister and I split a 5 cent popsicle. My middle sister insisted on getting a 7 cent banana one. As she started eating it she said it tasted funny and Mom said she demanded it so she had to eat it. She cried but kept eating. Mom started eating the other half and it was bitter. She saw something green on it. My crying sister had finished hers but threw up. The man at the little store gave Mom her money back and offered a free popsicle if a different flavor. He pulled the rest of the banana flavors off the shelf. My sister had some ulcers in her mouth and Mom felt terrible. At that time they used liquid quick lime to speed up freezing. Apparently some got into the mold for the banana flavor. The store owner gave them Mom’s name and she was pleased with the cash settlement they sent to her.
When I was in college I used to wear two particular hats. Syracuse was a cold, snowy place. With wind, rain, ice and snow. And wearing a hat and scarf was mandatory.
Today, I just want to tell you all about these particular hats.
Both were real leather. Most hats are made out of other materials, but both of these hats were made out of leather. One was a brown cowboy hat. It looked a lot like the one that Don Williams wore…
The other hat was a replica confederate soldiers cap.
I loved wearing it, and so many people complemented me on wearing it.
In today’s hyper-polarized woke society, wearing it might end up getting me shot. But the 1970’s were a different time, and I loved wearing it. I had long hair, and often wore either a combat parka, or a leather jean jacket (with a fluorescent orange hoodie underneath.) .
The last thing that was stolen from me didn’t have a great deal of monetary value. Some, if you are a collector. The last thing that was stolen from me was an old hubcap off my grandpa’s ancient Chevrolet pickup truck. I’m still sour over it.
I live on part of what was my grandpa’s old farm. There is old stuff all over this place. In the outbuildings, in the barn, in the cellar and wash house you will find old things. Old tools, old bottles, there are a couple of wine casks from when my mother was a child and her daddy had a still hidden out in the pasture. Lots of old farm implements sitting around.
This stuff is treasure to me. I love nostalgic stuff. I’m fascinated by old items. What looks like junk to some looks like treasure to me.
One day, I was poking around in an old shed, and found that old hubcap. I set it aside and made a mental note to bring it to my house. As I was leaving the shed, I noticed some broken glass on the ground. So I picked up the glass and put it in that old hubcap. From time to time another piece of glass would surface, and I just put it all in that old hubcap. It was out there in that shed with glass in it for a few years, but I knew it would be there when I wanted it.
Then one day about a month ago, I noticed the hubcap was missing. The glass was all over the ground and the hubcap was just gone. I asked my dad about it and also my nephew, and they don’t know anything about it… They are the only two people who have been around, to the best of my knowledge.
Now here is the thing. This is way out in the boonies. People don’t just wander around our property. I would never have dreamed of anything going missing from this place. But my hubcap is still gone.
Like I said, some people will wonder why I’m worked up over an old hubcap. It’s because I have a collection of things that belonged to my grandpa, and because I learned how to drive in that old chevy truck the hubcap belonged to.
Also, it frosts my butt that someone just picked it up, dumped out the glass, and walked away with it. Who would do that?
I have my suspicions. But I will never know for sure. You can bet, I will take care to protect my treasures a little bit better from here on out. And I will watch the suspicious one like a hawk from now on too. Just in case.
Pasta with Three Cheeses (Pasta al Tre Formaggi)
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 cups milk
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Fontina or mozzarella cheese
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Gruyere or Swiss cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
6 cups (10 ounces) uncooked egg noodles
3 tablespoons dry bread crumbs
1 tablespoon butter
Instructions
Heat 2 tablespoons butter in 2-quart saucepan over low heat until melted. Blend in flour, salt and pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until smooth and bubbly; remove from heat. Gradually stir in milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Stir in cheeses; keep warm over low heat.
Cook noodles as directed; drain. Alternate layers of noodles and cheese mixture in ungreased 2-quart casserole. Stir bread crumbs and 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat until crumbs are toasted; sprinkle over noodles.
Bake uncovered at 350 degrees F until bubbly, about 20 minutes.
My GF Had A BREAKDOWN After The Open Relationship She Wanted Backfired
Flying back from Mallorca on Jet2, the pilot said on the intercom:
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I have some good news and bad news. The good news is that we’re ready early and we’ve made it with plenty of time for our departure slot. The bad news is that unfortunately it seems the Spanish air traffic controllers have decided to walk out in solidarity with striking French controllers so we currently have a 2 hour wait. However, to ease the boredom, I’ll step out of the cockpit and you can all come up, sit in the pilot’s chair and be shown around by the first officer who’ll answer any questions you have”
The second I saw him come out of the cockpit I sprang out of my seat to get to the front of the inevitable queue and had a good chat with the FO while sitting in the seat. My impressions were that the cockpit of a 737–800 is a lot smaller than you’d think and that the seats are pretty difficult to move.
After 90 mins the pilot is on the intercom again:
“Folks, unfortunately we’ve been told we have another 2 hours, 45 minutes wait (huge groans from the cabin) Only joking, we’ve got to get going quickly so back to your seats and buckle up soon as you can! (cheers from cabin)”
The pilot landed pretty hard in Birmingham and 10 seconds after reducing reverse thrust was back on the intercom:
“I’ve just been informed that my landing was a bit on the hard side. I don’t know what the fuss is about, it seemed fine to me. But apologies to anyone with loose fillings”
Most American tourists who make it as far as Australia are the best of your country, and we enjoy having them. Those who we would rather hadn’t come do share a few characteristics, though.
Ignorance. No, you can’t drive from Sydney to Alice Springs in an afternoon. Yes, the beaches have flags you swim between for a reason. No, you won’t get bitten by snakes walking through the suburbs. And no, no, for the love of God NO you CAN’T see all of Australia in a week flat. Not even if you fly everywhere.
Arrogance. If you come to any country as a guest, and spend half your waking hours telling people how much better your country is than theirs, you won’t make friends. This applies to any two countries, but with special particularity to Australia and America. There are STILL Americans about who’ll tell any Australian they can find how they, the mighty US of A, saved our “asses” in any number of conflicts, but especially the stoush with the Japanese in the early mid-twentieth century. We didn’t actually need our donkeys saved, and we’ve been paying for it in a number of ways ever since. And no, your health care may be wonderful for that five percent of the population who can afford it, but we cover everybody, so that we don’t have people begging in wheelchairs for their next oxygen bottle. Also, no, we can buy guns if we want to, but we don’t have to.
Loudness. Now I know the average Australian has a pretty good paddock voice, but we don’t take it inside. There are some Americans you can hear three streets away, and sitting next to their table in a restaurant can be a penance.
Lack of manners. As I said at the beginning, most US visitors to the antipodes are darlings. But anybody who snaps their fingers to summon a waiter here is likely to be ignored at first and ordered to leave if they persist. It is standard here to thank people who do stuff for us, whether they are paid to or not. We thank our bus drivers, our wait staff, our cleaners and our hotel staff, our shop assistants – everybody. They’re people. Lack of common courtesy marks you out as an arsehole.
Not fired, but gave them 7 weeks notice to quit. I was maintenance person in a nursing home. Within 6 months of being employed there, my manager asked me to undertake a level 2 course in social care. She had noticed my interactions with the residents and tried her best to convince me to extend my duties to include care work. After about a year of “ thinking about it,” I decided to study for a qualification in health and social care.
Around this time, after I’d already started the course, the nursing home was sold to another company. The new boss, for whatever reason, didn’t like me. Once qualified, I was picking up extra shifts on the weekend as a care assistant. It took him (and his wife) 3 months to realise I was also doing care work. He came and saw me at work, telling me, “We only want qualified staff looking after residents.” I showed him my certificate, indicating I was indeed qualified to look after residents. He then told me “ I don’t want you getting too tired.” ( I was only working 30 hours per week on maintenance.) I pointed out that a lot of his care assistants were actually working 60 hours a week and would often ring in at weekends saying they could not come in and I was prepared to cover any illness by other staff. He refused to accept this offer, restricting me to my working hours.
Anyway, I’d decided I enjoyed looking after elderly people and applied to our local NHS hospital for a position as a healthcare assistant. I passed the interview and selection procedure and handed my notice in. He avoided me for the next 6 weeks. On my final day there, he approached me and told me, “Get a year’s clinical experience and you can come back as a care assistant.” (An offer I could refuse.)
I finished work on Friday at 3pm.
Next morning, the nursing home phoned me at home, telling me there was a major water leak in the kitchen. I told them I was no longer an employee and to call an emergency plumber. “But that will cost us lots of money.” No shit, Sherlock! I almost relented, but my wife pointed out that I wouldn’t be paid, had I gone in. They asked me where to turn the water off, but I reiterated that they should call a plumber ( who would also not know where to turn the water off, as there were actually two incoming supplies to the one building.) I have now been with the NHS for almost 5 years and can honestly say it’s the most rewarding job I have ever had.
I was 18 and had gone for an interview. The secretary of the guy who was to interview me took me inside his cabin and told me to wait.
I was too nervous, hungry and desperate.
All of a sudden I had this huge urge to sneeze. But it just died midway. I reached for the handkerchief in my new trouser to realise I forgot it at home.
When the urge was back I was desperately looking for a tissue on my still-to-be-boss’s table. When I didn’t get any, I reached over and grabbed a notepad, tore off a page and made its way to my nose at the correct time!
I blew my nose. Had a grin on my face. And sat there satisfied only to see my boss standing just behind me.
I smiled awkwardly.
He came over, offered the little dustbin to me. I slowly put the soiled paper in it and muttered a ‘thanks’ and a ‘sorry’.
I thought I would be looked upon as a gross teenager, so it came as a surprise when he hired me.
For the next few months whenever he passed by my department, this would be the conversation.
“Enjoying Shefali?”
“Yes Sir!”
“Any problems?”
“No Sir.”
“You got a handkerchief?”
“Yes sir.”
And then he would laugh and wink at me. Colleagues could never understand why would we have such a conversation everytime.
Don’t even ask me how badly I wanted the earth to swallow me.
Putin Offers INCREDIBLE Terms For Peace With Ukraine In Tucker Carlson Interview!
The sketchiest contract I was ever forced to sign what was the Little Rock School District’s teachers’ contract. I hesitate to name the district, because I suspect this isn’t uncommon, BUT:
I was handed a signature page, like the one above. And no contract. At the top of the page it said something along the lines of “I agree to be bound by the contract that the union has so selflessly negotiated on my behalf.” Again, we were told we were not allowed to see it unless we joined the union. Multiple teachers told me they were threatened every year not to show the contract to anyone, including the teachers who were bound by it.
Why did I sign it? Because they gave it to us 3/4 of the way through the year! It was a retroactive contract! I had two kids and a pregnant wife. We had sacrificed to work in education, had chosen to live in squalor for the greater good, and so needed the paycheck. Plus I had hundreds of students counting on me.
I was told that I had to pledge to obey the contract, but couldn’t know what was in there. It had all my rights and responsibilities in it. But I couldn’t see it, nor could any of the signatures that preceded mine. The fact that I was hired at the significant level of those with a master’s who had been principals before, yet was only offered $40,000—that was supposedly explained in there. The reason why that $40,000 manifested as a net income of $18,000 was in there. The reason my room had no decorations, no computer, no phone, 325 students, and fewer than 20 textbooks—all would be revealed—just not to me because I didn’t join the mob.
That’s right, I said it. I’ve bought used cars, leased cars, homes, worked in corporate law, even bought a timeshare, and I’ve never dealt with a contract-situation as icky as the teachers’ union contract. If someone ever hands you a signature page with no contract, I hope a migraine-inducing klaxon alarm goes off in your head and red flags drop from the ceiling.
I had a friend like this, not a coworker. We would go out to eat and took turns paying the entire bill. After a while, I noticed that when it was HER turn to pay, I would order less than $20 worth of food + tip (I didn’t drink alcohol), usually ordering a moderately priced entree and a lemonade, with no appetizer or dessert. However, when it was MY turn to pick up the tab to “pay her back,” she’d order the most expensive menu items, including appetizers, multiple cocktails, and dessert in addition to the expensive entree. The bill would be upwards of a $100, even though my portion was usually under $30 since i only ordered one entree. This happened frequently enough, that I realized she was doing this on purpose, insisting she pay when we went to eat at a cheap chicken shack when our meals were dirt cheap, but then picking expensive restaurants when it was my turn to “pay her back.”
I tested this theory; we went for sandwiches once at Jimmy John’s and she insisted on paying: I carefully only ordered a $12 sandwich with taxes and that’s it. She didn’t even tip.
The following week, we went out to eat and it was my turn to pay. She immediately said she wanted to try out this new sushi restaurant that opened downtown. I told her ok, and as I drove us there (I always drove, but she NEVER offered to pay for gas), I casually mentioned “hey, my meal was only $12 the last time you paid, so I’m only paying for $12 for your meal this time.”
This person had the GALL to say, “oh really? Never mind, then, let’s just go grab sandwiches at Subway.”
I didn’t respond, I just couldn’t believe how shamelessly disappointed she looked.
Our friendship didn’t last long after that, but it was due to her overall abusive, manipulative behavior, besides what a cheap moocher she was.
that is to say, china can launch a 1000 sorties drone swarm attack with merely $57 million, that is merely 6 abrams tanks, or one apartment building in Shanghai.
In addition, Xi will very likily get 80% off because he owns Norinco.
So that is 5,000 sorties with the same budget. or 40,000 sorties at the price of a villa in SH.
Imagine 40,000 of this flying over your head.
in addition, this costs $200 ea for Xi
500 of these equals to the death pension on a private.
taht is to say, evey TW soldier will have to dodge 500 such drones to survive the war.
500drones looks like this, a common recreation in chinese cities.
imagine the drones in a “i wanna f_ck u” formation before running towards you.
this drone bomber costs $340,000 (=3.4 soldiers) and can deliver 1 ton of explosives to 2500km away.
I don’t think Trump wants that. He is smarter than that. And he is smarter than Biden for sure. Privately he certainly don’t want that. If anything he wants the U.S. to be a strong 2nd largest economy. And his own companies benefit profusely.
He like fools who ask this question to thinks he like to decoupled because he wins votes and can do shit. He knows severing trade with China is like cutting of your limbs to fight China. Decoupling with China means decoupling from the world by the U.S.
I wish he does that, but he won’t. His companies will cut the sweetest deals, his group will strike up the most profitable venture and he will say shits like Kung Flu or Chiiinaaa! And guess what you bunch of morons will ejaculate.
I have been reporting to all of you the developments in Poland that lead many to believe NATO will enter the Russia-Ukraine conflict before May 5. I have renewed my urgent suggestions that all of you have emergency “preps” like food, water, medicine, a generator, communications gear like a CB or HAM radio, and I want you to know what I am doing/have done to “prep” this show.
When the Russia-Ukraine thing broke out, and it became clear that the US and NATO would be getting involved by shipping weapons, I worried to myself if Russia might take that as us being a “participant” in the conflict. So I MOVED the servers for this web site to South America. It’s a big deal: one primary server, providing content via the cloud to 19 other data centers around the planet. When you type in my website address and your browser goes out to the DNS server, my DNS routes your request to the geographically closest data center (that’s up and running) to speed-up your content delivery. Not everything is coming into or going out of a single place.
Every time YOU have visited this site for the past 2+ years, it has served you from South America!
I also established back-up streaming audio servers down in South America as well, but have never utilized them.
The streaming audio right now comes out of Oregon and it’s a big deal, but in a different setup than the website. Multiple audio servers operating through a load balancer, which can automatically spin-up additional servers to accommodate demand. But Oregon is near Washington State and we have a gigantic naval base in Bremerton, WA, which is home to much of our Pacific Fleet.
So if Bremerton gets nuked, Oregon will likely feel the EMP repercussions and that data center may go offline. Hence, the reason I set up a big audio server system in South America, just in case.
Here in New Jersey, just outside NYC, all of you are aware that the show goes out over a fiber optic line and there is a separate, fiber optic line as a fail-over. If both fiber optics are down, there is a cellular data fail-over. For awhile, I also had laser failover but it was just too expensive and I had to get rid of that. I have a backup generator and fuel for it on-site. It’s all on battery back-ups which can provide at least one hour of service, which is more than ample time to go out and crank-up the generator. The NJ house also has an EMP SHIELD in the main electrical panel with the hope it bleeds-off any EMP.
In the Pennsylvania home I inherited when my mom died, (after I had to pay off her Reverse Mortgage) I have a Cable modem and, just recently was able to add a single Fiber optic connection. But because trees falling can take out those land-based lines — and have done so in big storms quite frequently — I also have a cellular failover, and two satellite uplinks.
ALL of that gear is on Uninterruptible power supplies that can provide power for at least one hour, and I have two Generators on site, all hard-wired in. The one generator is 13KW and surge to 15KW, the other was my mom’s and it’s tiny 4KW. That house also has an EMP SHIELD in the main electrical panel.
All our motor vehicles have EMP SHIELDS installed in them – even my snow plow truck!
So I have done everything I know how to do to make certain the show __can__ air each night, no matter what.
Late last week, after finding out that Poland issued a NOTAM to all aircraft flying in the eastern 1/4 of the country, to maintain radio comms with air traffic control and to use their Transponders even at flight levels below 9500′, it became evident to me that NATO is likely to enter the Russia-Ukraine conflict within the time period of the NOTAM, which continues until May 5.
It seems clear to me that if NATO enters that war, the missiles will fly and some of them would – in my view – fly here. If Russia takes out the US, then NATO collapses immediately. So we ARE, in my view, an early target.
So I spoke to Alan Weiner at WBCQ and inquired of him as to whether WBCQ has a back-up generator for the transmitter on 7490. It does! A 250KW generator which, according to Alan, EATS FUEL.
I have also inquired of WRMI in Miami, Florida and WWCR in Nashville, TN. I am waiting to hear back from them.
I tell you all of this because I want you to know I’m not just out here telling YOU to prep, I’m actually doing it myself.
I have no idea where all this crap is heading, but I am thinking about it and am taking steps to actually BE PREPARED.
You are not a skinflint, you are now spending more for food than your boss. Depending on your work place. If you have evidence that your boss is doing this you could go to HR and tell them your boss is stealing your food. Theft is theft.
When I was first out of university, and had no money, I would go to the grocery store and buy a package of 5 sausage rolls. I would eat one each day. It worked out to about $1.50 for lunch.
Then my sausage rolls started disappearing, first just one a week, then 2 and finally 3.
I used to buy them on Monday, and they were just edible on Friday. Now I was buying two or three packs a week.
If I bought them on Thursday, I didn’t trust them by Tuesday . So in this case I bought them on friday, and knowing I would probably only be able to eat one more out of the package before they were either stolen or stale dated, I took them home, and I drilled out a tiny hole in the center. Then I some hot sauce that I had never been able to use, because it was just too hot. It was concentrated, so that its scoville rating was similar to pepper spray.
I filled up all of the 4 remaining sausage rolls, with this killer hot sauce, and put them in the work fridge.
Later that day, around 4:00 when the next shift was coming in, there was screaming coming from the locker room. The guy was frothing at the mouth, his eyes and nose were leaking, he had been eating the sausage roll with his locker door open, to keep out of sight.
Fortunately for me I had never complained to anyone about the missing sausage rolls.
It took 15 minutes before the guy was functional again.
He wouldn’t tell anyone what had happened, because he didn’t want to admit to theft. But it turned out, he had a bunch of stolen knick knacks from people’s desks, in his locker. It turns out someone who will steal food, will steal little items from the day shift as well.
He was fired.
But then I had to find something else cheap to eat. Because I couldn’t be seen eating sausage rolls.
Why don’t you understand the ABC of human behaviour? After all I presume you are a human, right?
Ok let me explain. No human want to buy anything 5 times a price it can pay in the market easily. And do you know why the U.S. makes everything at several fold cost compared to others? That is simple. The U.S. workers are paid at least 5 times other workers are paid yet it can only achieved half their productivity. And U.S. CEO insist they must be paid 100 times more! Your government insist it must focus on forever wars! China focus on making peace and being competitive!
So how can the U.S. makes anything that can be competitive? No way! Not in a million years! So you cannot make anything competitive but you have money to spend more on weapons than the next 10 biggest defence spending nation put together! Perhaps the U.S. thinks it can use the military to force other countries to work as slaves to produce cheap goods and hand over to the U.S.!
I had a 4th grade teacher that was fairly strict. One morning, during a reading session, she caught me drawing pictures, a fairly elaborate illustration of King Kong and Biplanes shooting at the poor guy. She snatched it up and scolding me for not paying attention in class. “maybe this will get your attention” she cackled, as she proceeded to tape the drawing onto my back. Before you could blink, it was lunch time, and as I was in the lunch line, all the reviews from my young peers rolled in. All positive, with “cooools” and “holy smokes!” and questions. Well the soul-killing deterrent backfired on the old witch, and I went on to study art, Illustration, and design. I’ve been employed as an artist for over 40 years and have won dozens of awards and accolades. Although this may sound boastful, the real point is, don’t let anyone kill your dreams.
A guy I’ll call “Cecil” was one of our frequent flyers. He was a Paiute Indian and had pretty much fried his brain with alcohol. He was also legally blind and carried a white cane. He would get arrested on some nuisance offense, spend a day or two in jail, get released, rinse and repeat. The two-officer crew of the downtown prisoner transport van, aka “the wagon,” were usually the arresting officers.
One night, the wagon crew decided to take a different approach. They picked up Cecil for something-or-other, but instead of taking him to jail, they got on the freeway and headed east. Fifteen or twenty miles east of town, they let Cecil out on the side of the road. Freeway and sagebrush, not much else. The wagon drove back to town.
Cecil was found by a state trooper who wondered how he got there. Cecil was only of marginal help, as it was difficult to know whether he was comprehending what was going on around him. When asked any question, his typical response was to shout random numbers at his interviewer.
Eventually, investigators were able to piece together what happened. The two cops were fired and criminally indicted on charges of kidnapping and oppression under color of authority.
Trial was scheduled several times. Each time, Cecil was either in the wind, out between arrests, or brought to court from jail. He couldn’t respond coherently to the simplest question. The attorneys defending the former officers capitalized on this and moved for dismissal of all charges, as Cecil was the only material witness and didn’t always seem to know where he was or what was happening around him. The ex-cops walked.
One got a job driving a bus. He was considered by all involved to be the instigator and mastermind, with his former partner sort of along for the ride. The partner was eventually hired by a sheriff’s department and worked there long enough to qualify for a pension.
When I was 17 I had a son I had to give up for adoption as the father was going off to Vietnam and we were unmarried. It was heartbreaking to say the least. When he returned, we married and had our daughter. Always looking to find the son we had to give up, as my parents had insisted. As the years went by, we searched and tried every imaginable source to find our boy. Our daughter was told she had a brother eventually, and my parents eventually regretted this adoption and begged me to “”find the boy” -impossible. Our daughter moved across the United States from Florida to California eventually and I had given up all hope after 34 years of searching. One night while in California, she told her roommate about her brother – it was his birthday, and she was sad. That night the roommate invited her for dinner with a friend. During dinner her friend questioned her about this brother….after everything my daughter told her, the young man said””me too”! He, too, was from Florida – adopted, this was his birthday, a miracle! Millions of prayers answered- she was indeed sitting across the dinner table from her long lost brother!! Found at last!! It all turned out beautiful. He had been blessed with an amazing adoptive family for which I will be FOREVER grateful. Many coincidences in my life but this? BEST ONE!!
Going Viral: Behind the AI-Generated Wes Anderson Trailers for Star Wars and LOTR
My siblings and I were sent to bed VERY early compared to our peers – most annoying. In rebellion, we often stayed up late, reading in bed while our parents remained downstairs watching TV. I had an old lamp and learned rather quickly that if I turned it in the normal direction it made a ‘click’ sound. But, if I turned it backwards, the light would quietly go off. So, in our creaking Victorian house, I had plenty of warning someone was coming and could get the light off and the book out of sight before they were anywhere near my room.
We had been given flashlights and batteries at Christmas soon after we joined the Girl and Boy Scouts. We needed them for camp and other scouting activities. Of course, we also found they made it really easy to stay up reading as well. At the first creaking boards, we’d turn them off and pretend to be asleep.
There were times that we might have been so engrossed in our books that we didn’t hear anyone coming upstairs and wouldn’t react until we heard footsteps outside our doors. The lights would have been easily visible beneath our doors. But, somehow, we managed to get the lights off before either parent noticed.
YEARS later, we had a good laugh when our father asked us why we thought we were given new batteries every Christmas and birthday (and any time in between when we said we were out). There were not enough scouting activities to burn as many batteries as we seemed to go through. No, the flashlights were to ENCOURAGE us to read more. They weren’t going to catch us with lights on if they could help it. If they did, though, the usual comment was, “Don’t you think it’s time you went to sleep?” We were never punished.
I was working at my local coffee shop. It was pay day and my pay didn’t come in. No phone call from my boss about it. It was 630 am as I was waiting for my pay to get to work for 8 am. I called in and ask if there was a problem with the pay. He said rudely there is a problem at the bank it might be in later today or tomorrow. I said well then I am not coming in today for my shift as I am not walking 2 hr to get work. If you called me at 5 to tell me about the problem I could have asked my sister and brother in law for bus fare before they went to work .
next day, I checked my account and my pay was in. I showed up for work and my boss thought he would tell me off in front of coworkers and customers. I said it’s not my fault you didn’t bother calling or texting your employees about the problem. And you should really wait to talk to be about it when it is appropriate not in front my coworkers and customers. The smirk came off his face quick walked away and didn’t say anything about it after. 1 month later we got a new manager
American society is imploding. Every decade this century has seen its strength weaken, particularly the social fabric, which has been torn asunder by division.
This is an American problem that require Americans to fix.
Alas, the talk never strays far from eternal war with a musical chair of external enemies.
A new world order is emerging, whether America wills it or not.
Can you imagine 4 years of Donald “making America great again”, followed by 4 years of Joe’s “Build Back Better”, followed by another 4 years of “MAGA”?
Again and Back? That’s Michael Jackson’s moonwalk—the illusion of forward motion while moving backwards.
The global south doesn’t want to be stuck on the american gameboard, because it hasn’t led to long-term development. And as Barack openly admitted, America has an agenda to keep the global south poor, because the planet cannot sustain itself providing the American standard of living for the unwashed masses.
A nation that continues to believe its Constitution is perfect and cannot be updated will not see out the 21st century intact.
America will discover it is merely one nation, out of >190, and learn to live like the rest of humanity. No one is immune to the poison of exceptionalism, particularly the hegemon.
In other words, atrophy develops in the absence of resistance.
I was a high school rowing coach and we had to leave at 3:30 a.m. for an event far away. As usual, I was running late and had 15 minutes to get to the school meeting spot, 20 minutes away. The two-lane road snaked through woods and up and down hills and it was pitch black: no street lights. My Jetta and I were flying and I suddenly heard the word “DEER!” shouted in my dead grandmother’s voice. I stomped on the brake as a deer shot right past the hood of my car. I pulled over, shaking. As I took a deep breath I smelled daffodils. Confused, I looked around: there were no flowers here. An image of a pink bottle of perfume popped into my mind and it struck me- the smell was White Shoulders, my grandma’s perfume.
I smiled and thanked her, promising more responsible driving in the future. As I got to the meeting place, a few rowers commented on the smell of flowers.
All these answers are great, and most have been tried on me. Back in the 80’s, I had a printing business and a “customer” gave me a rather expensive rush order for an event that was happening in a few days. I asked for payment up front because it smelled fishy. He gave me a check for about $5,000. Before I printed anything, I went to his bank and asked if the check was good. The manager told me there was not enough funds to cover the check. He could not legally tell me how much money was actually in the account, so I asked him if I added $100 if it would cover the check. No. Went through this dance till I came to $700 or something. Great! I deposited $700 into his account and cashed his check for $5000. Printed his order, (still had a tidy profit) and called him to pick it up. He was delighted, thinking he had scammed me. Then he showed up absolutely furious, having found out about the $5000 he never intended to spend. Said he was going to call the police. I told him to wait just a minute, the police were walking in right now. I had called the venue and what he was having printed was bogus tickets. My next call was the police. They walked in and he had the gall to ask them to arrest me for theft. I said he gave me a check and I cashed it. Then I showed them the tickets he was having printed. They took him out in handcuffs with him yelling that he wanted his money back. Never saw him again.
Wow. Ok I’ll bite. Not in the sense of being a hermit, but relationship wise.
A lifetime of abuse.
That will do it to you. As I recover, I am starting to realize that I don’t have any capacity for conflict. I don’t want to extend trust. I am suspicious and quickly withdraw from anyone that remotely, even unintentionally upsets me. My defenses are beaten down and I am an open wound.
No relationship is going to be without conflict. And you can’t really extend love without extending trust. So here I am alone and I am realizing that I will probably remain so for the foreseeable future.
I don’t really want to be alone. But I have realized, quite painfully, that I am going to hurt someone that tries to love me. That’s unacceptable and depressing. I will NOT become the abuser.
I’m in therapy and one of the first meaningful things he said to me was “I may not be able to help you. Due to the length and severity of your trauma, you may carry the effects for the rest of your life. The best we can do is hope to manage your PTSD.”
I appreciate his honesty.
So no, lonely as I am, I will not afflict some poor woman with my messed up self. I will go on alone. Well, not completely alone…
I don’t know about incorrect, but it was certainly unusual.
My church had a lock-in for high school aged kids. If you haven’t participated in one of these, it is essentially a big slumber party. But it is chaperoned. It is church after all. Sometimes schools do them too.
Anyway, there are all kinds of events that happen. Often there is a scavenger hunt, and this particular lock-in was no different, except with a twist. They had a “tape recorder and Polaroid camera” scavenger hunt. In other words, we were divided into groups and had a list of crazy things we were to get photos and recordings of our group doing. These days we could just use our phones for this, but this was in the 80s and technology was obviously not the same.
So we set off on the list. There were all kinds of things. We did a picture with a human pyramid. That was relatively tame and easy. Then we came to another. We had to get a photo of us walking through a drive thru restaurant line. Oohkay. I was our group’s driver, so I took us to a local Wendy’s. We got out and walked through the drive-thru line. Remember this was the 80s and I don’t think that many restaurants had cameras watching the drive-thru line back then. So, the staff of the restaurant didn’t know we were walking through the line till we got to the window. Wow, that turned escalated into drama really quickly. The manager was really mad at us, and they refused to serve us. Well, that didn’t really matter much. We tried to explain why we were doing it, but he was having none of it. I guess he thought we were drunk or on drugs or something. So, he called the police on us and they promptly showed up.
I guess he thought that was going to scare us. Actually, we were thrilled. We also had “recording the sound of a police siren” and “taking a photo of the group with a police officer” on the list.
Because of a grumpy Wendy’s manager, our group won.
When I was 18 I moved into a share house with some friends. On the second or third day I was checking the mail box when a man walked over from across the street where a little model car shop was located.
He said to me “excuse me, do you live here?” I said “yes, I’m Susan, we just moved in”. He replied “Good, would you like to come and work for me? The girl who used to live here worked for me for 3 years, but she moved out”. I asked “what sort of work did she do? What do need?” He told me that she did office admin work, tallied invoices, paid bills, occasionally sold merchandise….
I asked how many hours and how much and then, happy enough with the repky, I took the job on the spot. On my front lawn, next to my letter box.
He seemed to just trust that the house knew the right person to work for him. I worked their for 4 years and then I moved out. I can only assume that the new resident got offered a job soon after…
I love this one! Many years ago a police officer had a BIG guy handcuffed in the back seat of his squad car. He was trying like all hell to get the guy out. Another officer came to assist him. This guy wedged his feet into the floor under front seats. They didn’t want to mace him because they would not be able to use the squad for a long time. He was not a violent offender. It was something with being intoxicated but not driving. I think his wife called. He wouldn’t budge. Lots of swearing and threats to get him out. It was actually funny to see. He was not coming out.
Anyway, this state trooper I know, who is also a teacher in aikido and a few other martial arts, goes and asks him to PLEASE COME OUT. This guy is dying from laughter. He was calling him all kinds of Asian insults. So, the trooper asks one of the cops to hold his hat. He starts to put on rubber gloves. This guy is yelling, what cha gonna do? Check my prostate? Even the cops were laughing. Trooper says, “No. I’m gonna get you out of the squad.” Guy yells, “Go ahead, you &$@#@ eyes”. So trooper reaches in and with one hand pinches his nose closed. He put the other over his mouth. In about 60 seconds that guy flew out of that squad! We all learned a lesson that day. No matter how big the engine, it will not run without oxygen!
Jurassic Park but with a Cat
The West’s Not-So-Subtle Message To Russia: Photo Emerges of F-16 with U.S. Nuke (Trainer) on Wing; Ukraine?
A photo has emerged of an F-16 Fighter Jet with a U.S. B-61 Nuclear Bomb (Trainer) mounted under its wing; the exact same type of plane the West plans to “give” to Ukraine. A message to Russia?
That photo – shown above with (my) added text showing the B-61 nuclear trainer, was clearly taken during summertime; there are dandelions showing in the nearby grass. That such a photo was even TAKEN would be a gigantic breach of nuclear security. The fact that it has suddenly “emerged” in public is nothing short of astonishing. Unless, of course, its release is to send a message.
A “Trainer” is the same size, shape, and weight of the real thing, but is inert; there is no nuclear warhead in it. It is designed to provide pilots with a “feel” for the aircraft when it is carrying such a device, so the pilot can get used to how the plane handles with the weapon mounted, and what it feels like when it is released.
It also allows a pilot to train on how and when to release the bomb so that it actually hits the intended target.
The B-61 is a gravity bomb and is not guided by its own engine or any wings, to hit a target.
The B61 nuclear bomb is the primary thermonuclear gravity bomb in the United States Enduring Stockpile following the end of the Cold War. It is a low-to-intermediate yield strategic and tactical nuclear weapon featuring a two-stage radiation implosion design. Here is a FILE PHOTO of the actual, functional, B-61:
The B61 is of the variable yield (“dial-a-yield” in informal military jargon) design with a yield of 0.3 to 340 kilotons in its various mods (“modifications”). It is a Full Fuzing Option (FUFO) weapon, meaning it is equipped with the full range of fuzing and delivery options, including air and ground burst fuzing, and free-fall, retarded free-fall and laydown delivery.
It has a streamlined casing capable of withstanding supersonic flight and is 11 ft 8 in (3.56 m) long, with a diameter of about 13 inches (33 cm). Basic weight is about 700 pounds (320 kg), although the weights of individual weapons may vary depending on version and fuze/retardation configuration. As of 2020, it is undergoing a 12th modification. According to the Federation of American Scientists in 2012, the roughly 400 B61-12s will cost $28 million apiece.
Back in May of 2023, when the issue of giving F-16’s to Ukraine first surfaced, I reported that the U.S. caused severe consternation among its NATO allies by insisting that the planes given to Ukraine be the type already modified to handle the B-61 nuclear bomb (Story HERE).
At that time, the Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federation Council, their version of a Senate, publicly commented that if the US allowed Ukraine access to such bombs, Russia would have no choice but to make a “preventive” (pre-emptive) nuclear strike against Ukraine!
In the months since that story, the US and NATO have been training Ukrainian pilots on how to fly the F-16. At US insistence, those pilots are ALSO being trained how to use the B-61 nuclear bomb!
Not to put too fine a point on it, but why would those pilots need such specialized training unless the intent of the US and NATO is to actually allow them to use nuclear bombs?
This is the reality that is being forced upon Russia by the U.S. and NATO, and Russia is quite plain about how they will respond. For instance, while military radar can determine what type of aircraft they see on radar, they have no way of knowing if that plane has a B-61 nuclear bomb under its wing. Thus, the Russians will have to treat ALL F-16’s as if they are nuclear-equipped. Should one such plane approach Russian Territory, the possibility of Russia being nuked __could__ cause them to strike first.
Moreover, within the past two months, a lot of news has come out about Ukraine being given German “TAURUS” cruise missiles. The Taurus KEPD 350 is a German-Swedish air-launched cruise missile, manufactured by Taurus Systems and used by Germany, Spain, and South Korea. Taurus Systems GmbH is a partnership between MBDA Deutschland GmbH (formerly LFK) and Saab Bofors Dynamics.
The missile incorporates stealth technology and has an official range in excess of 500 km (300 mi). It is powered by a turbofan engine at Mach 0.95 and can be carried by Panavia Tornado, Eurofighter Typhoon, Saab JAS 39 Gripen, McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, and McDonnell Douglas F-15K Slam Eagle aircraft. The missile can easily be adapted to other aircrafts such as EF Typhoon, JAS39 Gripen, F-16 Fighting Falcon, and F-35 Lightning. Here is a FILE PHOTO of an actual Taurus Missile:
While the missile’s actual range is never publicly disclosed, the specifications readily reveal it has a range “greater than 500km.”
The map below shows a 500km range from the northern-most area inside Ukraine, and Moscow is CLEARLY within range; especially given the fact that Germany readily and publicly admits the Taurus missile has a range “greater than 500km.”
So as you read this, the US and NATO are training Ukraine Pilots on F-16’s. Training those same pilots on the use of the U.S. B-61 nuclear bomb, and debating also giving them German Taurus missiles which can reach Moscow.
Thus, the West is escalating and escalating the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
This week, Poland issued an ominous Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) changing flight regulations in the entire eastern quarter of their country. Pilots up to flight level 95 (9500 feet) must now be in radio contact with air traffic controllers, and must use their Transponders so ground controllers can see EVERY plane in the sky within that vast area.
The geographic area covered by this NOTAM includes the entire Poland Border with Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania. Here is the map from the NOTAM:
Poland’s NOTAM also makes clear they are adding these new rules “due to the possibility of Unplanned Military Actions related to ensuring National Security.”
What “unplanned military actions” does Poland foresee? Missile exchanges with Russia, perhaps? Why would that happen?
Well, it turns out that the F-16’s being given to Ukraine require a lot of maintenance, refueling and re-arming, which the airfields inside Ukraine can no longer accomplish because Russia has hit them so many times.
So it is now within the realm of __POSSIBILITY__ that those F-16’s may have to be flown into Ukraine from NATO bases in Poland or Romania!
Just this week, Russia made it explicitly clear that if F-16’s take off from NATO bases, and are used to attack Russian forces inside Ukraine, Russia will “mercilessly destroy” those bases.
That . . . . that right there . . . . would then be called “A Russian attack against NATO” which would then be used as an excuse to trigger NATO Treaty, “Article 5” Collective Self Defense.
When Russia began its Special Military Operation (SMO) to “de-militarize” and “de-Nazify” Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin made clear “Russian conventional forces are not comparable to NATO. We know that. But Russia is also a nuclear power. And our nuclear capability is superior to all others. If NATO declares Article 5, Collective Self Defense against Russia, it will be a war no one will win.“
Readers are no doubt aware that the only “war no one will win” is a nuclear war.
So from the start of Russia’s SMO, the US and NATO have known Russia may use nukes. Now, the US and NATO are setting the stage for exactly that, by supplying Ukraine with nuclear-capable F-16’s, training Ukraine pilots to fly those planes and to use the B-61 nuclear bomb, and allow those planes to takeoff from NATO bases outside of Ukraine, attack Russian forces in Ukraine, then land at those NATO bases for refueling, re-arming, and maintenance.
The US and NATO are doing this despite knowing the Russians will “mercilessly destroy” those NATO bases, and will use nukes if NATO declares Article 5 self defense against Russia.
Here’s the punch line: The Poland NOTAM began February 5, 2024, and will remain in effect until May 5, 2024.
That tells most people that Poland knows between now and May 5, 2024, the fight between NATO and Russia will break out, and they are warning pilots in that area over what they KNOW is coming . . . . because Poland, the US and NATO are going to actually cause it.
Of course, the mass-media in the United States and in Europe, has been completely derelict in their duty to report these facts to the general public. As a result, the general public has no idea at all, their own governments are escalating the situation between Russia and Ukraine to the point that actual nuclear war may commence between now and May 5.
Do you have Emergency food, water, medicine, flashlights, batteries, an electric generator, fuel, communications gear like a CB or HAM radio? If not, how do you expect to survive if this thing happens? How will you and your family eat? How will you get information once the electric grid goes down from the electro-magnetic pulse from nuclear detonations which take down all the TV and radio stations?
You’ll be left, cold, hungry, in the dark and without information, because YOU chose to do nothing and not prepare.
Better get prepped. There’s very little time left.
Frègula Sarda
In the Mediterranean island of Sardegna (Sardinia), locals call this pasta “frègula.” In current Italian, it is known as “fregola.” At home, Chef Rosario simply calls it a delicious pasta option!
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups Frègula Sarda; alternatively, use orzo pasta, acini pepe or large cous-cous
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1/2 red onion, diced
2 garlic cloves
1 red chile pepper, fresh or dry, with the seeds removed, crushed
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced
1 tablespoon capers, drained
4 cups homemade shrimp or vegetable broth
1 celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 pinch saffron
12 ounces large shrimp, preferably shell-on
Fresh marjoram or oregano, chopped
Fresh Italian parsley, chopped
Lemon zest
Bay leaf
Salt to taste
Instructions
Peel and de-vein the shrimp, reserving the shells for the broth. Make broth by heating the shells in a little olive oil and adding a handful of roughly diced carrots, celery, onions, tomatoes, parsley stems and a bay leaf. Cook for one minute with a little olive oil; then add water and bring to a simmer. Keep at a simmer until needed. If you use pre-peeled shrimp, use a light vegetable broth instead.
In a large casserole start the soffritto: add EVOO, onions, garlic and chili peppers. Cook on medium heat until golden (not brown).
Add frègula and sauté for a minute.
Add wine and cook to evaporate alcohol.
Add capers, tomatoes, and saffron. Once heated through, add 1 cup of the simmering broth. Stir occasionally. Add broth in 1 cup increments as needed to keep the frègula moist and brothy.
When the pasta is almost cooked “al dente” (10 to 15 minutes, depending on the size of the pasta grains) add shrimp and cook for a couple minutes more (or until they reach an internal temperature of 160 degrees F). Remove shrimp from pot to avoid overcooking and set them aside.
The frègula is ready when all the broth has been absorbed and it has reached a creamy, risotto-like consistency.
Remove from heat, add herbs, and stir thoroughly. Transfer to a serving platter or individual plates. Place the cooked shrimp on top and sprinkle with freshly grated lemon zest.
Notes
Frègula resembles a large size cous-cous, but it is also reminiscent of other “berry sized” pasta varieties, like “acini pepe” or orzo. The word frègula derives from the Italian verb “sfregolare,” which describes the action of hand rolling the dough against a terracotta surface. The Sardinian version is made with 100% durum wheat semolina and pure water. Once shaped, it is lightly toasted to a golden color and “ecco fatto,” it’s ready for this delicious recipe!
Sommelier’s Notes
Sella & Mosca 2017 La Cala (Vermentino di Sardegna) – Sardegna, Italy
Vermentino is a white wine grape indigenous to the western Mediterranean. It thrives in northwestern Italy, southern France, and the nearby islands of Corsica and Sardegna (Sardinia).
This pleasing wine offers herbaceous Mediterranean flavors heightened with hints of pineapple and citrus.
I worked at a staffing firm in New York City. I was the top producer and my two bosses loved me.
One of the bosses who is on his second marriage, and having an affair with the receptionist. It was not a secret. Everyone in our small company knew.
both bosses or cocaine addicts. As their addiction increased, they were decreasing our commissions.
Counselors started leaving. The bosses were bringing in inexperienced losers, who were requesting the company more money than they were making.
I decided to leave.
I typed up a letter of resignation and included the amount of commissions that were currently owned to me.
They never gave me a penny.
My husband is an attorney and wrote a “lawyer letter“ to the two principles. They didn’t care.
I got together with a few of the other counselors, who had also left, and also didn’t get their commissions. We decided to write a letter to his wife, telling her about the affair that her husband was having with the receptionist.
He used to tell his wife said he was going to the gym every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. He always left with a gym bag filled with a change of clothes.
We told his wife that he had no gym membership and that she should check his gym bag when he comes home on those days and see that not one thing in the gym bag was used and nothing was sweaty or dirty. The gym bag was exactly as it was in the morning when he left for work.
She obviously knew the receptionist, and put everything together and filed for divorce.
he was furious, and called each one of us, and asked if we had done it! Lol!
We will still had to go to court but I sued for $23,000 which was $10,000 more than my original claim. I knew that he had an idiot doing the bookkeeping and they would have no idea what they are with me.
You know, I have taken to playing “mood music” that I pull off YouTube. My favorites are slow, coffeehouse jazz on rainy or snowy evenings. Such as this LINK.
There is always a slightly slow animated image on the video. Usually with a fireplace. Here’s a screenshot. It’s got a animated cat, rain, books, cozy fireplace, and of course, a leather chair with a throw.
Long time mm readers will recognize the similarity of this imagery with my own personal studio in Erie, PA. Check out the link HERE.
Notice anything familiar?
Aside from the disorganized clutter… heh heh.
.
The picture is crap, but imagine it is a snowy or rainy night.
It was actually very nice in the house. It had character, and quite cozy.
My cat Coco is sleeping on a throw on a pile of books.
Here’s Coco…
Coco chillin’ out.
Meanwhile, the wood burning stove is glowing. Mellow music is playing, and I am either painting, or reading a book. A cup of coffee or tea is near by.
It’s funny how thoughts and reality sometimes coincide…
it is not how much is spend it is what can you do with it!
If the U.S. spends 3 times that of China and one can buy 3 times more in Beijing than in Washington then essentially both the U.S. and China can buy the same amount and technology.
I have not factored in corruption. That probably take away another 50%! China is corruption free. Thanks to Xi Xinping. So after factoring in corruption you essentially has half of what Beijing has!
So that is why China is getting stronger by the day! The truth is far from what you see from a western hubris, superiority complex point of view. This is the price you pay for the forever wars you fight using money you print.
“Don’t swipe left or right when someone hands over their phone to you for viewing the picture”.
2-Never give advice until you’re asked.
“ Keep calm and oil your own machine. All people are not going through a crisis, even if they are, they just might know how to pull themselves out of it”.
3-Password also needs privacy.
“If someone is typing a password, just look away, turn the other side”.
4-When someone compliments you, just thank them. Or say, “That is very kind of you.”
5-Respect people, not their position.
“Treat the cleaner with the same respect as the CEO. Nobody is impressed at how rudely you can treat someone below you but people will notice if you treat them with respect.”
7-The speakerphone is not for public use.
8-Cover your mouth when coughing and sneezing.
6-Curiosity can look bad at times.
“Never, and I mean Never even touch anyone’s mobile until they say so”.
7-Order wisely when someone is treating you.
“Never order the expensive dish on the menu when someone is treating you for lunch/dinner”.
The entire quote by Stalin is as follows: “I understand it if a soldier who has crossed thousands of kilometres through blood and fire and death has fun with a woman or takes some trifle.” With this, he all-but encouraged his Red Army to rape at will… which they did.
The Germans had inflicted great damage on the Russians during the war, treating them as less-than human and murdering, raping and torturing a great number of them. Does this make literally crucifying German citizens on their own doorsteps and in their own streets, raping women and children of all ages, okay? I don’t believe any sane person would say it’s ever “okay”.
Also, the wording… fun? I heavily side-eye anyone whose idea of ‘fun’ is the rape of innocent civilians. “Hey, guys, I just arrived in enemy territory after a long and grueling military campaig, dying to have some fun… do you guys know any fun activities for me to indulge in? Hmmm let me think… what about… sexual assault?”
But, sure, Mr. Soviet Super Mario says it’s okay, so it’s okay, right? Hitler and the Nazis were awfully evil, so it’s okay to rape the women of Germany, after all, the men of Germany raped plenty of Russian women, too… nah. That just doesn’t fly. This tiny little Borat looking human mite has no right to call upon his soldiers to rape to their heart’s content…
The Japanese army more or less ordered it’s soldiers to rape as many women as they desired in Nanjing, China. They went all-out, acted like animals. It’s a great war crime and regarded by everyone as such. Likewise, the conduct of Russian soldiers in the aftermath of WWII was appalling. And it’s not just German women, either — Polish women too and other Eastern European innocents were raped, murdered and robbed by Soviet troops as they made their way to Berlin. The human suffering was enormous and Stalin was a cheerleader to these horrors.
It’s not okay. It’s never okay. You cannot repay war crimes, with war crimes. You cannot undo evil, by doing evil. Restore balanced, by doing immoral and unhinged things. Stalin was wrong. Every bit as wrong as Hitler. Because they both dehumanized their enemy and endorsed tremendous human suffering. Encouraged it, even.
What are some dirty tactics used by fast food restaurants?
Just before every spring and all throughout spring it happens.
It has been a long day. I am tired. I really don’t care for fast food but when I’m tired and lazy, what the heck – right?
I get to the drive through window.
voice:
“welcome to _______ would you like to try a value meal?”
Me:
“Sure gimme a number <whatever> and a strawberry shake”
voice:
“OK that will be $10.59 please pull forward”
So far so good right?
I pull up, hand her a twenty, she takes my money then looks at me and says one of the following:
Would you like to donate 5 dollars to feed starving third world children?
Would you like to donate 5 dollars to send an underprivileged inner city kid to camp?
Would you like to donate 5 dollars so an amputee can receive a leg?
OK I made that last one up but you get what I am saying here.
Now I am just the kind of person these people are looking for. I feel guilty if I walk past a bell ringer in the supermarket during the holidays if I don’t at least give them a buck so it used to always work on me.
Until one fateful day it happened.
The woman at the window asked me:
Would you like to donate 5 dollars to send an underprivileged inner city kid to camp?
I told her “sure keep 5 bucks”
Then as I drove off it hit me
“I can’t afford to send my own kids to camp!”
Strombolis
Ingredients
Strombolis
1 pound ground beef
1 tablespoon chopped onion
1/2 cup ketchup
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon fennel seed, crushed
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
6 to 8 hamburger buns
6 to 8 slices Mozzarella cheese
Garlic Spread
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
Instructions
Strombolis: Brown meat and drain. Add onion, ketchup, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, fennel, and oregano. Simmer for 20 minutes.
Split hamburger buns. Spread 1 teaspoon Garlic Spread on each bun top. Divide meat mixture evenly on bun bottoms. Top meat mixture with a cheese slice and add top bun. Wrap each sandwich in a square of foil.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes, or until heated thoroughly through.
Garlic Spread: Combine butter, garlic powder and paprika. Mix well.
I trained Budo (Nimpo) for a couple of years and got jumped by five people unprovoked at a buss stop with my friend. Probably because me and my friend had a girl at each side and they had football atire on them and probably lost a match or something. I’m a small person and so is my friend. Smaller than most. This isn’t my first unprovoked aggro because of that size.
There where several other persons at the buss stop too and no one intervened except the girl that was at my side (everyone else just moved away). She screamed at the three jumping me to stop it and tried to move in front that halted two of them a bit before rounding her. My friend didn’t have the same luck with the other two and fell to the ground behind me after a couple of hits.
I saw the first charging me with the two following and had the thought, keep them at a distance and plunged a under hand fist and hit the person in the ribs and followed up with a foot push with my momentum. Two moves I trained alot during my practice. The first when I didn’t have a practice sword and needed distance. The second to make room to draw my practice sword. What was new to me was to combine them in the move. I did it because my master had told me.
If you end up in a fight do three things. Keep them at a distance so they can’t hurt you. If they hit you, make it hurt back so they give up due to pain and if you ever have a chance. Always run, because if you don’t you can get damage for life or loose your life. Fight with that in mind.
I was just thinking, I can’t run from the girs or my friend so went for the two other rules.
The first hit better than I intended, by pure luck or perhaps training. The two others could se the hit as extremely painful when he screamed and started saging(never done the move with full force before). The followup push moved him several meters, more than I thought and that stopped the others in their tracks. They where chocked and didn’t want that pain.
I screamed at them to keep their distance and turned to my friend and saw the other two using him like a football on the ground. I moved in behind one of them and did a locking and draged him off my friend, without hurting him. So my friend could roll out of the way and only get one on one.
This was a misstake because it fixed me too him and sacrificed my movement, the other three jumped me then.
So my masters feedback that I could get a permanent damage was true. My left wrist was broken in a way to remind me every day now, what pain is.
My own experience told me that Grappling a person and killing your movement is something you never should do with more opponents than one. Why did I do that. Yes because of training and the training also teached me to never hurt a person if I could avoid it.
One opponent in front of me do one opponent defence, was drilled into me. Bad decision. It’s wrong, thinking like that. They where four, just one active.
More will always defend a friend if you have hurt them before. Even if you are not hurting their friend at the moment and just keeping him out of the fight. Remember telling him will you stop fighting if I release you.
So three things was in my favour.
Some of my training had helped me alot and the training had also given me the time to think because I acted faster and reacted faster than my opponents due to training without thinking how I did things. This speeds things up alot and gives you awareness if you use it to your benefit. I even combined different moves in my head.
Traning also gives you better results when you do things, that will give you an edge if you can minimize their damage.
Distance is a key factor and a safe direction like what my girl did to the other two in the beginning so there where no one coming from that direction during that time. Also used the buss stop like that after the grappling because I had pulled the person into the buss stop and ran around it a couple of times to avoid getting hit. Must have looked ridiculous.
They where also not sober and I was.
Still grateful that they didn’t jump my girl!
Have Women Lost Their Minds? (It Sure Looks Like Some Have!)
I’d gone into Best Buy to replace a bad mp3 player. The counter I had to go to was next to the same counter as the Geek Squad incoming counter.
While an employee was looking up my receipt I had time to overhear the Geek talking to a customer with a computer with no power.
Geek: “Well since it won’t power on that means the motherboard(?) is dead and would cost more to replace than a new computer. I’d recommend picking up a new one on Aisle 5. Hopefully we can transfer your data from this dead system.”
The previous night we’d had a lightning storm and in that day dial-up was still a think. Also I was, and have, worked in legit computer repair stores.
Also I’d drank heavily the night before and was still feeling the effects.
Me: “Why don’t you try pulling the modem out of the computer and try it again. There were lightning strikes in the area last night and it may have blown.”
Geek: “I’ve been doing this for 6 months and I think I know what I’m doing and talking about!”
Me: “I’ve been doing computer repair for 10 years and I think I’d try the modem.”
Customer: “Pull the modem like he said and try again, please.”
So the Geek in a huff opens the case and removes the modem. He hits the power button and turns to us with a smirk on his face while the computer boot into Windows behind him.
I was asked to finish my business and leave the store.
As you may know, Atlantic City, New Jersey isn’t doing so well.
They are losing thousands, if not millions, of tourists to other cities. Many casinos have closed down and the ones that are still open are struggling to make a profit.
Today, I’m going to be showing you a casino that opened in 2012, and it was supposed to be an iconic symbol of Atlantic City.
Revel Casino
(Today it’s called TEN Atlantic City)
Construction began in 2007, the project would cost an astonishing 2.4 billion dollars.
It would became the tallest casino in Atlantic City, and the second tallest in the United States.
It opened its doors on April 2, 2012.
Revel went through a rough start. The building was too massive to fill all of the 1,399 rooms it had. The debt began to build up right as they opened doors, and the owners had no idea what to do.
On February 19, 2013, they announced they would file for bankruptcy in March. The total debt was estimated to be around $1,000,000,000!
On May 21, 2013, Revel exited the bankruptcy court by giving lenders an 82 percent stake in the property.
On June 19, 2014, they filed for bankruptcy again!
They tried to sell the property, but there were no buyers. I wonder why?
In result, they closed their doors on September 1st, 2014. However, just 20 days later, a court-based auction was held. There was a $90 million bid on the property. Then another bid was placed for $110 million! Shortly afterwards the $110 million bidder walked away. The property was eventually sold to Glenn Straub for $95.4 million.
In the end, Revel lost over $2.3 billion dollars.
It may have not been the biggest waste of money, but it was a pretty big one.
The problem was obvious. You can’t build a multi-billion dollar casino and hotel at an already struggling city! Some people can be so weird.
The Revel was suppose to be an iconic symbol of Atlantic City. It was designed to be flooded with tourists and to host world class shows. Instead, it’s looked down on as a symbol of enormous failure.
Cannelloni
For a complete meal, serve Cannelloni with a crisp tossed salad, a loaf of Italian bread and fresh fruit.
Heat oil in a 2 or 3 quart saucepan until a light haze forms over it. Add onion and cook until soft. Add tomatoes with liquid and other remaining ingredients. Reduce heat to very low and simmer for 40 minutes with pan partially covered. Stir occasionally.
Blend tomato mixture in blender and taste for seasoning. Correct if necessary. May be made up to a week before serving and stored in refrigerator.
Meat Filling
Heat oil in skillet. Add onion and garlic. Cook over moderate heat, stirring frequently, for 7 to 8 minutes until soft. Stir in spinach and cook 3 to 4 minutes, stirring constantly. When all the moisture has cooked away, transfer to large mixing bowl. Melt butter in same skillet and lightly brown meat, stirring. Add meat to spinach mixture. Add cheese, cream, eggs and oregano. Mix and season with salt and pepper.
Besciamella
In a heavy 2 or 3 quart saucepan melt butter over moderate heat. Remove from heat and stir in flour. Add milk and cream all at once, stirring constantly with whisk. When the sauce comes to a boil and is smooth, reduce heat. Simmer, still stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes or until sauce is thick enough to coat the whisk wires heavily. Remove from heat and season with salt and white pepper.
Assembly
To assemble cannelloni, cook lasagna until done. Cut each whole lasagne noodles into 3 equal sections. Pour a light film of the tomato sauce into 2 (14 x 10 inch) shallow baking dishes. Place 1 tablespoon of the meat filling on the bottom third of each of the pasta rectangles and roll them up. Lay the cannelloni side by side, seam-side-down, in 1 layer on the tomato sauce. Pour besciamella over cannelloni and spoon the remaining tomato sauce on top. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the assembled cannelloni and dot with butter. Cannelloni may be assembled to this point the day before serving, then refrigerated until time to heat and serve. It may be wrapped and frozen.
When ready to cook, bake cannelloni in 375 degrees F oven uncovered for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and sauce bubbling.
Notes
* Variation: Use tufoli or manicotti, cut in half after cooking, for pasta.
An argument can be made that Formula 1 drivers are the most fit athletes in the world. For example, the drivers encounter these conditions:
When in wide turns at great speeds, the heads of F1 drivers can experience 5g’s
When a driver releases full throttle while on a straight with no application of brakes, he experiences greater deceleration from the braking power of the engine alone than we would if we slammed the brakes hard in our cars
F1 drivers experience massive g-loads when they crash. In almost all cases, they walk away from the crash.
Their sustained heart rates can be 190 bpm during a race
The drivers can lose 2 – 3 liters of water through perspiration during a race
Formula 1 drivers are human marvels. They have insanely fast reflexes, have great eyesight, possess an innate sense of how a car moves around a track, endure high heart beat and respiration rates, need to manage a massively complex car through steering wheel controls and conduct conversations with the pit crew throughout the race.
A Mercedes F1 Steering Wheel.
F1 drivers train constantly and have excellent aerobic fitness and endurance. A typical F1 race lasts 1.5 – 2 hours, usually in warm conditions. They constantly run at the edge of their performance.
I don’t think any other athlete has more to contend with than does an F1 driver during a race.
I did this once, and what ensued remains one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.
I worked for a mid-size office supply company for a couple of summers in the late 80s when I was in college. Our department of about 25 people was great — everyone got along and we had lots of fun despite the heavy work load.
We had a tiny kitchen with a fridge just outside the conference room. Occasionally there would be a small item missing — a piece of pie here, a can of soda there. It always annoyed us that someone would filch a coworker’s food, but we couldn’t figure out who was doing it. We ruled out someone from another department as they would have to walk clear across our office to get to the kitchen and would be spotted. No, this was an inside job.
One day as I was getting my lunch from the fridge, I saw that my small container of potato salad was gone. I was pissed, and said so to my coworker Ann. She motioned with her thumb to the workstation behind hers and whispered, “I saw Mike eating it. I think he’s the one who’s been stealing from the fridge.”
Mike B., our neurotic, rotund salesman. How had I not suspected him? He was an otherwise good guy so I couldn’t really get mad at him, but I did want to get revenge.
So after work I bought a slice of cake at the supermarket that looked like this:
I carefully removed all of the frosting, put half of it in a mixing bowl and tossed out the rest. To the bowl I added at least half a tube of this:
Mixed it all up and “re-frosted” the cake. I even added some of these to make it more enticing:
He didn’t touch the cake the first day, or the second. Ann and I were getting worried. But on Day 3 he could hold out no longer. Ann came rushing to my desk late in the afternoon and told me to look in the conference room. I stood up and peered over the dividers to see Mike sitting alone in the darkened conference room making calls with a beautiful slice of buttercream and Crest cake in front of him.
Ann couldn’t see, so she asked, “What’s he doing?”
“He’s eating the cake.”
“What do you mean, ‘He’s eating the cake’?”
“The man is eating the cake,” I said, nonplussed.
I watched him eat the entire slice. He paused at one point to poke at the icing with his fork — something wasn’t right — but he kept eating. He hoovered down the cake, toothpaste and all, within two minutes.
By now others had gathered to see what was so interesting, and by the time Mike emerged from the conference room the entire department was waiting. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw us.
“There’s some white on your lips, Mike,” one of the other salesman said. “Did you just brush your teeth?”
“What? What’s going on?”
Ann told him what he’d just eaten and we all burst out laughing.
“Oh my God!” Mike shouted. “I knew there was something wrong with that cake! I could be poisoned!”
Half of us were doubled over by now, as much over the prank as over Mike’s histrionics.
And then came the crowning moment, totally unforeseen by any of us. Margaret, our frail, 72-year-old bookkeeper, stepped forward carrying a small bottle and a spoon. She was genuinely concerned for her coworker’s health.
“Mike, you need to take this — quickly.”
“What is it?” He asked.
“Just take it. It will help,” she said solemnly.
What this woman was doing with a bottle of Ipecac in her desk drawer I’ll never know, but Mike, by this point desperate over potentially being poisoned, took two spoonfuls and downed a glass of water.
If you know what Ipecac used to be used for, then you won’t be surprised at what happened next.
Mike spent the next half hour in the bathroom, vomiting his guts out. He definitely purged the cake, the toothpaste, and anything else he’d eaten that day.
I went in at one point to check on him. “I’m okay,” he muttered from behind the stall door. “But I’m going to strangle that old woman.”
Mike survived and eventually came around to appreciate the humor of what happened, what came to be known as “The Ipe-Cake Incident.”
I Bought America’s Most Expensive Storage Unit (He HOARDED GUNS!)
It’s a hard question to answer, because as a percent of GDP its pretty hard to compare building the pyramids to anything else.
However I have a great Canadian example.
Canada wanted to save its ship building and technology sector by building a whole new fleet of 15 warships, plus more coastguard ships.
To make this economical, we were buying a hull design from the British navy, but were building them in Canada, and using Canadian built armaments, Canadian radar, Canadian developed software, etc. We were building 15 warships for 24 billion dollars, or $1.6 billion each.
But then the navy decided that they didn’t want anything Canadian in it, they wanted everything to be compatible with the US systems. So everything has been redesigned, where we now buy all American parts, and software, and install them on our ship. But we now have to pay licensing fees every year to a foreign government, to operate our war ships, and if we have a dispute with that government, our systems are shutdown.
So now the cost of frigate has soared to 5.7 billion dollars, or $84 billion for 15. But it gets worse, with maintenance costs, its over $300 billion, and we have to contract out a lot of maintenance to the Americans for their proprietary systems.
The UK bought a used US aircraft carrier, for what we are spending on a frigate.
It gets even worse, the US is willing to sell us their off the shelf, brand new frigates, that have everything the navy wants, for the same $1.6 billion each, that we were going to pay in the first place. Since the new ships will have no new Canadian technology in them, there is little gain for Canada to spend an extra $4.1 billion a ship more than forecast.
The government announced that they will have to cut the armed forces budget.
Doomsday Prepper’s ABANDONED Mansion | Found Secret Bunker with EVERYTHING Still Inside
Upon arriving, Steinmetz rejected all assistance and asked only for a notebook, pencil and cot.
Steinmetz listened to the generator and scribbled computations on the notepad for two straight days and nights. On the second night, he asked for a ladder, climbed up the generator and made a chalk mark on its side. Then he told Ford’s skeptical engineers to remove a plate at the mark and replace sixteen windings from the field coil.
They did, and the generator performed to perfection.
Henry Ford was thrilled, until he got an invoice from General Electric in the amount of $10,000. Ford acknowledged Steinmetz’s success but balked at the figure. He asked for an itemized bill.
Steinmetz responded personally to Ford’s request with the following:
Making chalk mark on generator: $1.
Knowing where to make mark: $9,999.
Ford paid the bill.
I’ve told this story before, but I can’t think of a better one to show: the single most valuable skill in the world is judgement.
At first I thought great judgement would just make you rich, but that’s not true. It’ll also make you happy. Deciding who you trust requires judgement. Choosing who you marry is a judgement call. How you spend your time is a direct result of your judgement.
That’s why nature made it hard to get. The only way to good judgement leads right through experience, which you pay for in time, energy, and taking risk. But most of all, you need courage.
Because while life is one big judgement training camp, those who really embrace it must ask what the most important decision is, choose an option, and then see it through. Over and over again. And that’s not a matter of judgement at all.
Maldives is a small country barely visible on the map. Of course there are smaller countries, but the islands in Maldives are scattered all across the ocean making some islands big as a regular apartment or just sand banks (which is useless. No one can live there). This means, we do not have a lot of land and landlords take advantage of the people with skyrocketing rent.
Our capital city, Male’ is where literally every Maldivian wants to live in because it has got everything that a regular islanders could never have.
To give you a clearer picture; regular islanders live in suuuper tiny islands, sometimes with a population of 200 or more. Zero cars sometimes, because these islands are so small you can literally walk anywhere. One small school for 10–20 kids and one health clinic (worst).
Right after they see the city, they want to move there at any cost and this is the story of EVERY Maldivian. And is also the reason why three quarters of the population lives in Male’ city . Hence, skyrocketing rent.
The people who actually belong to Male’ rent out their houses or build huge apartment buildings and rent it out for prices however they like. Why not?!? People still want these places at any cost, even if that means working two jobs, even if that means sharing one small unit with 10 other people. And don’t even get me started on investing in these tiny ass apartments, that is just a topic for another day pheww.
Ever wondered where these ‘rich’ landlords are? They rent out even the tiniest places they own for ridiculous prices and move to a cheaper country. Basically they are set for life. However, they live like normal people in those countries , no crazy fancy life but the quality of life is better of course.
Basically anyone who owns a little piece of land in this concrete jungle, Male’ city, is SET FOR LIFE.
Everyone wants to know the “most” the “best”, I too am guilty of that :-p However, its not that easy to say which is the No 1 in everything especially if there are multiple measures to grade against, that the scope (time & geography) is so wide, that some may be lost to us and hence not enough is known, tactics-strategy-war tech change even within the medieval time frame so as to affect what is desirable in a fortress and as with all things strategic and tactical – there is always differences in opinions. So knowing full well there is no right answer and I can’t even pretend to know more than a tiny fraction of fortresses within the question scope, I will hazard a few candidates and also why.
Illustration by Peter Dunn of Siege of Dover Castle in 1216 (from english-heritage-uk.co)
Before going into individual fortresses, 3 things. 1) the question used the term fortress, the word emphasis a combat role, so I will take it entirely from a military perspective and ignore all other factors. 2) The term medieval refers to a span of approximately 1000 years between the fall of the Romans and the start of Renaissance. However the word is a essentially a European and perhaps Middle Eastern due to the degree of interaction back then. It does NOT apply to “the world”. Despite this I will simply assume coverage include examples from somewhere around c500AD to c1500AD without geographic limits. There is a slight difference in the time when we refer to “Medieval” because depending on the civilization in question there are differences in the start of the Renaissance period. 3) There is a difference between castles and fortresses, but its a minor one of generally greater focus on battle priorities by fortresses than the castles (eg relatively thicker walls) and castles encompass more. For this answer, I will NOT distinguish between the 2, but I will ignore non-military strengths of castles per (1).
About individual castles I would first point out that I will only be touching on them in brief, which frankly speaking will be a disservice to them since a lot of their defensive features may be left out in the process. But this is quora, I am not trying to do a research paper.
These castles may have their surrounding defense works overtaken by development. In addition, its common to have temporary defense works added outside the permanent parameters if they have the troops for it. Example of temporary defense works are ditches and earthen works for layers of defense and fall back positions.
In no particular order.
(from:architectureofcities.com) Le Mont-Saint-Michel, Normandy, France
from 8th century
Top view (from:pininterest/Luc Vieri)
The castle at high tide is accessible by one narrow approach at high tide (narrower in the past). And at low tide the waters around recede and is clay-like sand. Defense is oriented more towards the land approach which is deemed the greater threat.
(from:art.com)
(from eart.esa.int)
What its location means is by land you are restricted to 1 approach at high tide, and at low tide siege engines won’t work from other sides, foot approach will also be a real pain. By sea, you only have a short period to do anything and you risk running aground. It is conceivable that if the defenders anticipates assault by sea, they can prepare some surprises for the ships.
You will see it has concentric walls of higher and higher elevation, which makes each breach just meaning a harder fight coming up with the next wall (attackers gets “boxed in”). Also elevation gives all sorts of advantages to the defenders. Seaward side you will note the sheer inclines.
The abbey has never fallen.
Murud-Janjira – Murud, Maharashtra, India
(from:architectureofcities.com)
from 1200s
(from:holidify.com)
(from reddit)
from wiki
40’ high walls and 19 rounded bastions, has fresh water wells and made made lakes. Not a star shape fortress, but the concept of one is present with the bastions to provide fire on “at wall” targets. Has multi walls, can only be threatened by sea but will out class sea vessels guns of the time with weight and range of fire of their guns as well as advantage of elevation.
Edinburgh Castle – Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland
(2 pics from:architectureofcities.com)
from 1103
High elevations , commanding view (more on this point from next castle), very thick walls. I actually visited the place, even as a visitor it can be tiring to go around. For attacking troops, there will be so many obstacles and death traps along the way even if you get pass the outer walls, or even reach the outer walls for the matter. And if for some reason you managed to get inside, there are so many little details that will disadvantage the attacker vs the defender. Simple things like the direction of spiral stairs to disadvantage a right handed attacker moving upwards vs a downward fighting defender for example.
Besieged more than 25 times but never fallen by force. When it did fall it was through treachery, deceit, politics, surrender etc. The 1 case a comment managed to dredge up was when the castle was bombarded extensively by the largest siege engines of the time for 3 days, and practically demolished the place. By the time the defenders gave up and surrendered, the damage took many years of rebuilding to restore and with help of master craftsman from Wales. So in that 1 case they dodged the “taken by force” on a technicality of surrender before the defenses were actually overwhelmed.
Hohensalzburg Fortress – Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
(from:nomadbytrade.com)
from 1077
Its very much similar to Edinburgh castle in terms of military perspective but the picture above shows a cannon point out from the defenses, this is what I had meant about “commanding view”.
Château de Puilaurens
from 13th century
(source: pininterest/Susan Calderon)
(source:catharcastles.info)
Other than the fort on a hill top and aspects already mentioned, I draw your attention to the only approach is not only steep and zigzag, but there are also zigzag walls to let the attacker face wall after blood letting wall.
Mehrangarh – Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India
from around 1459
(from architectureofcities.com)
Same strengths as Edinburgh and Hohensalzburg
There are actually many such hill top fortifications so rather than go into too many I will just show some without explanation:
Königstein Fortress – Königstein, Saxony, Germany
from c860
(from spottinghistory.com)
Ksar of Aït Benhaddou – Aït Benhaddou, Morocco
from 11th century
(from:architectureofcities.com)
Himeji Castle
from 1346
(from:jrpass.com)
(from Japan-history-travel.net)
I actually visited one of these. Unlike most ‘on the hill top’ type fortifications, many examples of the Japanese forts show much more extensive modification of the surrounding area for defensive reasons. Just moving from the outer perimeters to the castle proper is quite a challenge for an attacker. Every step of the way is uphill with things designed to give the defender plenty of chances to kill or maim the attacker from relative safety, some of which are really devious. Even if you reach the main door of the castle, you face an entrance way that is almost vertically upwards with each of the steps so high you have to literally climb up (all the daily convenience aspects are retracted away). The entire fort from outer perimeters, courtyards to hallways designed to be a meat grinder.
There are many such fortifications around the world from that time period and my relatively short coverage of so few does no justice at all to all the examples not yet mentioned.
Key aspects:
Command the surrounding
Difficult to approach
Time consuming to besiege/attack
Able to take attacks from weapons of the time
Supplies – especially water
Death Trap – cost the attackers every step of the way
Layer after layer of defense
Cozy Fireplace 4K (12 HOURS). Fireplace with Crackling Fire Sounds. Crackling Fireplace 4K
LOL. This is 12 hours of fireplace blaze. Great for a background video on your living-room television. But useless otherwise. Enjoy the link if you want to.
It was a party. He was hassling a girl and calling her boyfriend “scraggly Jesus”.
Fifty kilo (110 lbs.) me asked him to stop. Hundred kilo he, lifted me under the armpits and pinned me against the wall while lecturing me on minding my own business in front of 50 or 60 partygoers.
A few of his friends told him to stop, and he did.
I left the party.
Three days later, I saw him get out of an open convertible in the parking lot and leave it open.
My eyes happened upon the poison ivy growing along the fence.
Knowing my tolerance was high (after many severe and very itchy cases), I tore off a dozen leaves and rubbed them all over his steering wheel and seat before tossing them away at the fence again.
I then went back into work and washed my hands thoroughly.
I had a light case on my hands.
He spent three weeks looking very pink (from the medication) and very unhappy and never able to figure out why the poison ivy kept spreading to new areas.
Originally Answered: Was the D-Day scene of World War II in the movie, Saving Private Ryan overrated?
My dad was part of the landing shown in the movie “Saving Private Ryan.” He was a combat engineer and landing three minutes into the invasion. I grew up hearing his war stories. I guess talking about it made it easier for him. It wasn’t until years later I realized how important those “boring” conversations were.
Dad landed with 44 men. Eleven made it through that first day. After he saw “Saving Private Ryan,” he confessed to me that the only thing missing for him was the smell.
When I saw the movie, I vividly remember the guy walking around looking for his arm, because that was a story Dad had told me long before the movie ever came out. He talked about being pinned down and how there was only one choice: forward. There wasn’t an evacuation plan if the invasion didn’t work out.
He spoke about how tired they got waiting to die and how welcomed it was when people began organizing and attacking again. He told me how he just had to move and ignore the bullets. He described the bullets as like buzzing bees flying past him. They didn’t matter. Getting off the beach was the only thing that mattered.
As for the scene after D-Day where they show Tom Hanks’ character sleeping beneath a Jeep and just shaking with fear, I asked Dad about that. He explained how brainwashed they were going into the invasion; how they had been convinced it was going to be a cakewalk to Paris; how some of the guys were even (jokingly) asking for weekend passes to Paris on the boat ride over. That first day was supposed to be the easiest day and when it was over, all he could think about was, “If this was the easy day, I don’t want to see tomorrow.”
After seeing the movie, Dad called each of his children and asked them to see it, too, out of respect for him and the people he served with. I called him after I saw it for the most chilling phone call I ever had with him. In the course of that phone call, he recited the name and rank of every soldier he served with who didn’t make it. Over 50 years later, he still remembered every one of them.
Please find and read D-Day: June 6, 1944: The Battle for the Normandy Beaches Paperback – June 5, 2002 by Stephen E. Ambrose – which was written after receive 1400 oral histories from people who were there.
My Wife Said She “Identifies” As Poly & Wants An Open Marriage…So I Made Her My Side Piece!
When did you see a police officer do a clever, but sneaky thing?
I didn’t see it but was told this story firsthand.
My cousin was an undercover Narcotics detective in Vancouver. He’d arrested a low level dealer and talked him into revealing his supplier. He also got the date for when the supplier would have a shipment in.
With search warrant in hand the group went to the drug distributor’s home to search his premises.
While officers searched every nook of his home my cousin focused on watching the dealer while the other officers did the search.
The dealer looked confident and relaxed during the search. My cousin was starting to worry that they had missed the delivery.
They finished searching the house and went out to the garage. Again, my cousin focused on the dealer while the rest did the search.
He noticed a stacked pile of new plywood in the center of the garage. When the other officers searched elsewhere the dealer looked calm. But when they passed by the plywood he flinched.
My cousin did a gotcha-smile and had the officers remove a half dozen layers of plywood. Then they found a cut-out in the middle containing a large quantity of drugs.
A clever detective indeed!
Addendum:
I’m delighted that many Quorans found the answer interesting. So let me add to the story.
I was reluctant to add my cousin’s name because frankly I didn’t think you would believe it. His name is Rick Crook and he had an incredible career in the Vancouver Police force. He went from undercover drug enforcement to homicide and ultimately worked for the RCMP. He wrote a book and did some script work for Canadian crime dramas. The story of the drug bust was from 1985. Rick in his “cop” look was as straight as can be. However, in his druggie garb he was amazing. I remember looking at this picture of him in his druggie role. He had a beard, jeans and looked like a country hick. No one would ever have guessed he was a cop. He went on to major crimes/homicide during which he dealt with a major mob informant, later murdered, as well as investigating the Air India bombing. (links below)
Side note: He was the only cop at the station who was paged by his badge number. Apparently paging Detective Crook created way too much humour.
Back in 2000, I was in the national guard. During the summer, I would ask to be put on orders to for the money. Since they apparently had the money to spare, they put me on orders for a couple of months in the summer, so I was full time. Well, since i lived 200 miles away, they put me up in a hotel not far from the base.
One morning, I was not working for some reason, or I was going in later or something. Point is, I was just getting out of the shower and apparently did not hear the maid knock at the door. As per usual, she let herself in and proceeded to clean up….of course unbeknownst to me. I opened the bathroom door and walked out in the buff—of course not expecting anyone to be in my room. The maid was making the bed as I walked out. We caught each other’s eye…we both stopped dead. I didn’t even have a towel to cover with. Suddenly, she turned red and apologized profusely. I went back into the bathroom and told her not to worry, it was my fault for not hearing her come in. Well, she left. I got dressed and headed out.
On my way to the car, I saw her sitting outside looking troubled. When she saw me, she apologized again and said she was really really sorry. I could tell she was worried about it. I told her not to worry. It didn’t bother me at all. It was just one of those things that happen. I actually thought it was kind of funny. She smiled at that and relaxed. I was there for a couple of months in that hotel room. Every day, I passed her in the corridor and we always said hi to each other.
Those are the ingredients responsible for the “sour” in sour candy.
Exactly what I used one day to make homemade Warheads.
Homemade candy is an art form. The precise timing allows expression of individual preference for the hardness; that, combined with absolute control over amounts of flavoring, shaping and texture as it cools means almost anything imaginable is possible. And I imagined candy more sour than any of that weak “legal” stuff.
I bring the corn syrup and sugar to a boil, and it’s time to add flavoring. The options were lemon oil, apple, or even cherry, but I didn’t use any of those. Everyone knows natural taste distracts from the most important flavor: sour. I didn’t want that. I wanted the perfect pucker, a sour so undeniable that even the coolest dude would wince and beg for mommy.
So that’s what I did. I wasn’t using a recipe, so I could add as much as I wanted. Forgoing the measuring spoon entirely, I poured the acid in. Once the liquid had consumed the acerbic powder completely, I calmly whispered to myself, “That should be enough.”
Enough it was, because when it came time to test it, the immediate reaction of every family member followed a predictable pattern:
Gag
Run and spit candy out
Wash mouth repeatedly
Criticize my ability to cook
They all gave scathing reviews, which I’ll do my best to recreate:
“This isn’t candy, these are literally acid drops.”
“Tastes like gasoline.”
“What did you put in these? They’re terrible.”
They were perfect — exactly as I imagined.
See, there was this kid at school who loved candy too much for his own good, if I dare foreshadow the inevitable.
He had a habit of literally rummaging through people’s lunchboxes and eating any candy he found, as well as snatching things from people’s hands. No respect for personal space and no hesitation.
Which is what made him the perfect victim. That morning I put every single sour candy I had in a plastic bag, and put it at the top of my lunchbox.
Dude couldn’t even wait for lunch, it happened during chemistry, ironically.
“What are these?” he said, holding the bag of dark brown pieces. While I replied, “some candy I made,” he had already opened the bag, grabbed an entire handful of them, and shoved it in is mouth. I had rolled them in powdered sugar, so it took a bit for the sour to kick in.
“AAAAACTHVK AAACK TBBD GAAACK GAHCHK NGAH”
He gagged and ran to the trashcan by the door, spitting the dozen or so pieces out, while the class watched, proving that not even the sugar content could keep him from following the reaction process.
“WHAT ARE THOSE?”
Even though I had already replied, I realized he hadn’t fully heard the first time, so I again said, “some sour candies I made.”
“THOSE WERE GROSS.” Yes, yes they were.
The lesson had been made. Don’t throw foreign objects in mouth without first seeing someone else eat them.
Honestly it was more funny than in bad taste, as everyone in the class including the teacher then got a chance to try one. They all agreed I had bested Warheads
and created something truly inedible, yet still somehow candy.
Those “acid drops” will always be remembered, for the special way they burned our tongues and seemingly melted our teeth, but more especially for how that greedy kid partook of sweet, sweet karma.
Welcome to manhood, kid…
Caprese Sandwich
A classic Italian vegetarian sub sandwich is a spring and summer favorite of ours. Creamy mozzarella, lush ripe tomatoes, extra-virgin olive oil and basil are the basics of this sandwich.
Yield: 1 sandwich
Ingredients
1 Italian sub roll (or similar)
1/2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tablespoon balsamic glaze
5 fresh basil leaves
2 ripe tomatoes, thickly sliced
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
3 thick slices fresh mozzarella (buffalo, if possible)
Instructions
Using a serrated knife, slice a sub roll in half lengthwise.
Drizzle the inside with extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic glaze.
Add basil and tomato to one side and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Top with fresh mozzarella and close sandwich.
Top the tomatoes with mozzarella.
Notes
It is best to assemble this sandwich just before eating since some moisture from the cheese and tomato will seep into the bread as it sits.
Don’t have balsamic glaze on hand? You can use regular balsamic vinegar or make some by adding 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar with 1/4 cup apple juice and boiling it down until it reduces into a thick syrup.
I was a lifeguard as a teenager, and was working at a summer camp as are so common in US.
This kid, who I had been teaching to swim that morning, was out on a float in the lake. He wasn’t a strong swimmer but was safe, in my estimation. On the shore side of the float, the water wasn’t very deep. On the other side, about 10 feet from the float, it was *very* deep- a float-cord warned swimmers to not go on that side. The float was about 50 metres from shore. It had a ladder and a little slide, both on the shore side.
The kid starts yelling that I need to come get him as he is too tired to swim back. I told him that he was capable of getting to shore on his own.
So he said “Oh yeah? Well what about this?” and the little pillock dove off the back of the float, swam to the float-cord, and went under to the deep side- screaming he was drowning.
I was ready to murder him.
But, I went off to get him- by the time I got to him, he was actually in real trouble.
I dragged him back to shore, told him off, reminded him of the rules, told him he could have drowned, and the little weasel said “It’s your job to come get me if I don’t want to swim. I’m going to tell my mother [a high flying criminal attorney] that you pushed me in the water.”
I went to the Senior counsellors about this, and we put measures in place… the next day he was outfitted with a “swimmie”- a bright yellow and red vest with flotation material in the abdominal/chest area- and told he could not be within 10 feet of the water without it. It made kids look like they were fat with a well endowed chest, but it kept their head out of the water if they couldn’t swim. The Senior Counsellor told him if he could not safely get back from the float on his own, as he had proven, then he had to wear the swimmie.
His mother was told by her outraged child, who clearly expected her to chastise the evil counsellors who didn’t want him to drown… her response was to threaten to have a life size picture of this 12 year old hotshot in his swimmie made, and put it on the front lawn.
I got an interview for a program manager job at a company where I felt like I wasn’t a great fit… a job that was 5–10 years more than my experience level in that particular industry would usually give me. I mentioned this to the interviewer early on in the interview and he said something like “Yeah… You aren’t a great fit. I’ve just never met anyone who graduated from Yale. I wanted to see what you were like.” This frustrated the hell out of me… thanks for wasting my time leaving my job, dressing up, an hour in the interview and the travel time back to work in the middle of the day.
After the first 10 seconds of “F-you, a-hole” that ran through my head, I then thought “OK. Let’s have fun with this. I’m already here. I can either tell the guy what I think about his wasting my time and walk out or I can flip the table and make it a learning opportunity or an experiment.” I decided on option 2, as I was already there. I continued w/ the interview, asking my usual questions about what they wanted the person to do and the problems they saw in the organization, but 5 min in I stopped him. “I think you are hiring all wrong for this position. You say that you are looking for X, but that person is going to fail, and here’s why… What you REALLY need is Y. THAT kind of person and knowledge is what you need to be successful, if what you told me about your problems are true. I’m also guessing that you badly need Z skills in your group, if not in this position, then another.” I didn’t hold back. I was professional, but I basically told him that he was unimaginative, dim and was doomed to repeat the mistakes that had plagued him over the past few years with his current hiring plan (This is sarcasm here folks. I, of course, was polite and professional, but as the interview had stopped being about me getting a job and started being a learning experiment, I wasn’t worried about pulling any punches or staying on his good side).
It’s funny, but he called me a few days later, told me I was right and made me a job offer. I turned him down nicely. I was looking for a new job to leave a bad company… there were so many red flags that came up during the interview (more than the reason above) that I was never going to work for that place. I would have been jumping from the frying pan and into the fire.
Japan need to rid itself of this strange bedfellow call USA of its back. Without which the nation will stagnate till it fully collapse.
It is not easy when the US has over 100 military base big and small in its small territory. I dare say it is bad for both the U.S. and Japan. But let’s focus on Japan. They are threatened, coerced and bribed into talking shit, doing shit and stirring shit on China 24/7, 365 days a year by their master USA. As a slave they have no say and no opinion that can differ from its master.
In 1945 they had no choice having lost the war and nuke twice, by 1970 it seemed a perfect arrangement, US is a behemoth market while China is minuscule underdeveloped nation. Japan gets protected and sells its goodies to its master and got filthy rich. By 1991 Their master says no way, we decide to double the Japanese yen value overnight.
For 33 years and counting the Japanese economy is in a deflationary, stagflation. Meanwhile by 2010 China as a market and as manufacturing base has overgrown Japan and today in 2024 China as a market is equivalent to the U.S. plus the entire G7 put together. So try imagining talking shit, doing shit and stirring shit at China!
But that is what they are compelled to do! There lies the problem. Their product won’t sell, their companies suffer losses, their people lose jobs, Investment dry up and consumption fall flat or going down. Their debts are highest in the world and they lose a million population a year. And what do they do?
They suck up to the Yanks!
What choice do you have!
You don’t resign from a mafia boss!
Japan vs China in the 1930s – 1940s
Baked Spaghetti Pie
Ingredients
2 pounds spaghetti
2 pounds ricotta cheese
1/2 cup whole milk
3 large eggs
1 pound ground beef
1 pound spicy Italian sausage
1/2 cup spaghetti sauce
1 pound Provolone cheese, sliced thin
1/2 cup Romano cheese, grated
Instructions
Heat oven to 475 degrees F.
In a large pan, boil spaghetti 20 minutes; drain and set aside.
Mix ricotta, milk and eggs together in a small bowl; add to spaghetti and stir together.
Press into a 13 x 9 inch baking pan until compact and even.
Cook ground beef and sausage in a large skillet.
Drain fat, removing as much as possible.
Stir in spaghetti sauce.
Spread evenly over spaghetti base in pan.
Layer slices of Provolone over meat mixture, then add the grated Romano on top of that.
Yes,a work friend. We worked together at Wamu (before it closed) and got along really well. She seemed a bit rough around the edges and normally not the type that I associate with, but we clicked well. I didn’t want to be judgmental. I found out that she was homeless and lived in her car at night, so since it was only my husband and me raising our grand-daughter with a 5 bedroom house, I offered her a place to stay. I told her not to worry about rent for the first month but after that we would expect it. Was I stupid or what?
She ended up yelling at my grand-daughter for dumb things when she didn’t think I heard (g-daughter was only 7) , and then would be sweet when I was around. RED FLAG. After the first week, she started creating problems with my husband and me by pitting us against each other. She would say things like, “and you know what else he said?” as if my husband was trashing me behind my back. Because of that, she created a number of arguments. I learned she was drinking in her room and I suspected drugs . My husband wanted her OUT OF OUR HOUSE NOW.
I went to work and talked to a few other friends who told me that she is using meth. They said to get her out of our house. After a week I asked her to leave (before I had to evict her) and had my daughter and her husband come over as a witness (by this time I didn’t trust her). My manager at Wamu along with my supervisor also advised me to get her out , and gave me support while doing so. Once she left, she harassed me at work, made harassing phone calls at work and at home. She would go into an empty office and call my extension and hang up…..and eventually she was caught. I went home one night and found my dog dead in the garage, and it was suspected she poisoned her, but I couldn’t prove it. The manager became so concerned that she was eventually fired and security escorted her out. I will never do that again,….lesson learned. Why is it when you try to be nice, the person becomes a jerk?
One week after my mother died, I was alone in our house. It was a big old mansion and it was cold and dark, and I was lonely. Then suddenly late at night all the (battery operated) smoke detectors started going off. All 20 of them. All went off at the SAME TIME.
Three years earlier we installed the detectors and installed the batteries in all of them. What a coincidence! So yeah, all the batteries ran out of juice at the same time, and doing so, set off the alarms. And it was just a coincidence that it was a few days after my mothers’ burial.
I will never forget that. Of course, no one believes me. They don’t consider it important or anything. Just a random bit of trivia. But for me, alone and lonely in the big empty manor, it was significant. And that is my story for today.
We all experience odd things from time to time, but it is how we react to them… what we consider about them… well… that matters.
As a law student, I was an intern for a federal judge. When I graduated law school, I asked her to write a letter of recommendation for me to take the bar exam. On the day of this story, I was swinging by her courtroom to pick up the letter and I caught the end of a hearing.
The hearing involved a pro se plaintiff suing the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in federal court. What happened was, he was involved in a domestic violence situation. The Massachusetts Department of Child Protective Services placed custody of his child solely with the child’s mother (whom I presume was separated from the plaintiff). A condition of him regaining shared custody was that he had to complete an anger management course with a satisfactory grade.
So he took the course, got the good grade, and submitted his paperwork to the state. The state lost his paperwork, and for whatever reason he was unable to submit it again. He decided the path of least resistance was to re-take the class. Then he sued Massachusetts for negligence, seeking to recover the cost of the second class.
To be sure, this is a pretty modest ask. I could imagine other plaintiffs being… shall we say… more aggrieved under these circumstances. Maybe throw a million or two for emotional distress, etc. Nope. This guy was just asking to be made whole. This probably is why the judge ended up being so sympathetic.
Although the hearing I walked in on was only a preliminary hearing, the judge was absolutely livid that the case made it that far. She absolutely grilled the Assistant Attorney General (“AAG”) who was representing Massachusetts. Along the lines of:
Judge: I’ve read the pleadings, and it appears to me there’s no factual dispute here. Ms. AAG, is there a dispute?
AAG: Well, your honor, we can’t really be sure that we lost anything, but…
J: But the man has documentary evidence that you did! Are you disputing these documents?
AAG: [sheepishly] No…
J: SO WHY HASN’T THIS SETTLED?
AAG: Well, your Honor, it was never… ummm… it isn’t clear the exact amount he is seeking in damages…
[Maybe in his complaint, he only asked to be reimbursed for so-and-so expenses without actually stating a dollar amount]
J: Oh, it’s not huh? Did you bother asking? You know what, never mind. Let’s figure it out right now. Mr. Plaintiff, how much did the second course cost?
Plaintiff: About $2100?
J: Call it $2400. And did you incur any other expenses?
P: I had to take off work early and I had to take a taxi to the school. I make so-and-so dollars and hour and the taxi was such-and-such. The course lasted so-and-so many days.
J: Okay, call it $3000. Ms. AAG, how’s that? $3000. Can we settle this?
AAG: Well, your honor, I… ummm…. I don’t know if I have the authority to se….
J: Don’t give me that!! Do you have any reason to dispute that this is the correct dollar amount?
AAG: [again, sheepishly] No your Honor
J: Great. Then there’s no reason to not to settle this, right?
AAG: [whisper-soft] R… right.
J: Great. Let’s get this done right here, right now. [To her clerk] Rex, go ahead and print off one of the form settlement agreements, and put in $3000.
[The settlement agreement is signed, and apparently the hearing is over]
J: Ms. AAG, one more thing: When will he get his money?
AAG: Well, your Honor, I really don’t handle that aspects of settlements, I really couldn’t…
J: You have thirty days.
AAG: Your Honor, all due respect, but I…
J: You have. Thirty. Days.
AAG: Yes your Honor.
Not only did this pro se plaintiff win, but he won without ever really opening his mouth.
Take a Product made in China and off a factory line for 130 RMB
By the time the product is packed and shipped to an exporter, the product costs 225 RMB to the exporter including 8% to the Manufacturing Factory, 32% in Taxes and other charges
The Exporter pays a further 24% in Taxes and Shipping Changes plus his own profits and sells it to the US Importer for 300 RMB
The US Importer pays around $ 43 for the product to the Chinese exporter
Earlier he would give it to the distributor who would sell it to the retailer who would retail it for $ 79.99 or around 580 RMB
From $ 18 to $ 80 is the journey of the product in the capitalist market
Now comes Tariffs
Imagine a 30% Tariff imposed
That would price the product at $ 58 to the importer as he has to pay $ 15 to the US Government
This rises the retail price to $ 109.99 for the retailer whose profit margins on the product fall by 18–20%
That’s the hourly wage of an extra worker
Nothing changes for the Chinese
The Product at $ 109.99 is still unbeatable at that price and no US manufacturer can compete and make a similar product for less than $ 275 Retail
Yet
The American customer pays $ 30 More
The Retailer loses profit cut
The Importer gains zilch
The US Govt gains an extra $ 15 paid by their own public
That’s all that’s happening
The US, the great capitalist country is slowly becoming Soviet Union
This Brainless Syphilitic hoped that he can reduce customers who aren’t prepared to pay the extra 30 Bucks for the product and hence reduce orders by the retailer from China and they would buy American products made in Mexico
Now they sell the same product for $ 109.99 with a MADE IN MEXICO sign, pay $ 30 to the Mexican partner and MAKE THE SAME $ 43 that they did when they made the product in Fujian
So US as usual is screwing up its economy every single day
The crime rate is so low in the Netherlands that they have closed 23 prisons since 2004 because they don’t have enough criminals to fill them
Back in the 90’s Denzel Washington paid the fees for a young aspiring actor who couldn’t afford to go to Oxford’s summer theatre. That young actor was Chadwick Boseman (R.I.P). Chadwick publicly thanked Denzel at the AFI life achievement awards in 2019
In 1963 a Turkish man was renovating his home. After knocking down a wall in his basement he found a tunnel. He followed the tunnel and discovered an ancient underground city called Derinkuyu which once had a population of 20000 people
In 2009 an autistic artist named Stephen Wiltshire was able to draw the New York City skyline from memory with a pen after taking a helicopter ride for just 20 minutes
Princess Diana was known for ignoring royal protocols. She would often ride the tube. At theme parks she would refuse preferential treatment and make William and Harry wait in line like everybody else
The blue Nelson lake in New Zealand has the clearest body of water known to man with visibility in the lake of up to 260 feet
The record for the biggest car theft of all time was 1000 Volvo cars. The cars were ordered and delivered then the invoice was ignored and to this day has still not been paid. The cars were ordered by and delivered to North Korea
In 1963 the Bronx zoo opened an exhibition titled “the most dangerous animal in the world,” it was a mirror
2 muggers in New York City once tried to mug former heavyweight champion of the world Jack Dempsey (who was in his 60’s/70’s at the time). It ended as you might expect with both muggers unconscious. The dates and circumstances leading to the event are a bit uncertain although Dempsey did reference the incident in his book
My personal favourite: In 1996 an avid birdwatcher in Devon, England spent a whole year hooting at owls and then recording their responses unaware that it was one of his neighbours pretending to be an owl and hooting back
I got convinced to buy a couple of lottery tickets and won a good amount of money when I really needed it.
My ex had offered to run to the store before leaving for his business trip. While we really didn’t have much of anything in the house, I told him not to bother, b/c it was in walking distance and I could go for the extra exercise.
A series of unfortunate events occurred: He called me after the first night to let me know the reports were in worse order than he anticipated, so he’d probably be gone an extra 2–3 days (not a problem, though we did share a vehicle at this time). Instead of going to the store, I decided to order food only to have it cancelled because my debit card had been declined. Twice.. The next day when I called the bank, I was informed someone had tried to use my card number to purchase 2k in airline tickets, so they cancelled my card & I wouldn’t receive another one for 7–10 days.
This was during a period where I’d yet to see the importance of an emergency credit card and rarely carried cash, but fortunately, I looked in my purse and checked the clothing pockets in the laundry room and came up with about 35 bucks and some change.
I walked down to the store and got some basic necessities, and relayed my woes to a cashier I talked to quite often. They jokingly suggested with luck like mine, I should use my last 10 bucks for scratch offs. I knew she was being facetious, but given the mood I was in, I said “why the hell not”, and bought two, $5.00 tickets. On the first one, it said I won a free ticket and she asked if I wanted another or cash, but since I was going all in I asked for the another ticket. I scratched that one off first, and to my surprise, won 250.00 dollars. I was so shocked, she had to remind me I had one more, so I scratched that one off and had won another 250.00. It was an unexpected and pleasant surprise during an otherwise frustrating situation.
This still angers me 23 years later. So I lived in a village which had a river that runs through it. And every year it floods at least once due to heavy rains and high tides. The river was once big enough that boats would come up and our little village was a kind of harbour. When it flooded the river would come up and over the fields and accross the main road. Now cars and buses would go through this flood water with no issue. Until October 2000. My class had been kept behind so I missed the bus home. My brother who was 11 (was tiny for his age and looked about 2–3 years younger because of his height) and my sister who was 15 were on the bus along with about 5 other kids all between 11–15
Now remember that other buses got through, including the bus from another school and our school buses aren’t like Americans but just regular coaches that are used for holidays etc and the councils pay for this. Our bus driver contacted his manager and asked what to do about the flood. The manager said to let the kids off and not go through the flood water. The only way for the kids to get home was to walk through the flood water. It was about 2 foot deep but was incredibly fast flowing.
When I finally got home I found out my little brother had nearly been swept away by the force of the water and my sister nearly died trying to stop him. Luckily all the kids made it through safely. The bus would have just got it’s tires wet. The worst part was, the following day was my granddad’s funeral so it was already a horrible time.
My mum kept us of school both to grieve and also because she couldn’t trust the bus driver with her 3 children. The manager promised us a trip to Alton Towers. We never got that trip as the manager was fired but the driver kept his job. He wasn’t allowed to drivw the school route again but instead was put on a mini bus driving little old ladies to town and back.
BOTH should have lost their jobs. He would have seen the other bus go by (was also a coach but a different company) so he knew he could get through it but to make my tiny little brother walk through rapid flood water….. that’s something you can’t forgive. My sister is terrified of water now, struggles to even cross a bridge with running water below. my brother seems to be unaffected, he was more worried about losing mum’s Tupperware and the pizza he’d made at school.
A hillbilly went hunting one day in West Virginia and bagged three ducks. He put them in the bed of his pickup truck and was about to drive home where he was confronted by an ornery game warden who didn’t like hillbillies. The game warden ordered to the hillbilly to show his hunting license, and the hillbilly pulled out a valid West Virginia hunting license. The game warden looked at the license, then reached over and picked up one of the ducks, sniffed it’s butt, and said, “This duck ain’t from West Virginia. This is a Kentucky duck. You got a Kentucky hunting license, boy?” The hillbilly reached into his wallet and produced a Kentucky hunting license.
The game warden looked at it, then reached over and grabbed the second duck, sniffed it’s butt, and said, “This ain’t no Kentucky duck. This duck’s from Tennessee. You got an Tennessee license
?” The hillbilly reached into his wallet and produced an Tennessee license. The warden then reached over and picked up the third duck. “This duck’s from Virginia. You got a Virginia hunting license?”
Again the hillbilly reached into his wallet and brought out a Virginia hunting license. The game warden was extremely frustrated at this point, and he yelled at the hillbilly, “Just where the hell are you from?”
The hillbilly turned around, bent over, dropped his pants, and said, “You tell me, you’re the expert!”
In the mid-nineties I was a big city police officer. Just before Christmas I was dispatched to a driveway auto accident. It seemed minor as I arrived but a young woman had fallen and struck her head resulting into a head injury that lead to a two month coma. I had a friend badly injured in the same hospital ward and I spent many hours sitting with the family of the the injured woman and grew to know them. As she slowly came out the hospital staff tried to wean her back to solid foods, she resisted. As a middle aged police officer I developed a voice of authority. The family ask me to help, with my voice and commands she began to eat a few bites. As she regained clarity she began to know who I was. After time my friend was transferred to a long term facility and the coma girl was released to go home with family supervision.
Months go by and I am dispatched to a car break-in in the courtyard of the coma girl’s apartment building. I was taking a report from another young woman victim. I heard a voice from several floors above, “Wayne is that you”? Because I am so sophisticated and know one Shakespeare scene, I answered “but soft, what light through yon window breaks? It is the East and Christine is the sun!” Chris who still had memory problems replied “ay me”. We completed the scene while the car break-in victim stared as though she was an extra in a Woody Allen movie.
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Zesty Chicken Oregano (Kotopoulo me Riganates Skaras)
Ingredients
1 (2 1/2 to 3 pound) broiler- fryer chicken, cut up
1/2 cup olive oil or vegetable oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 clove garlic, chopped
Lemon slices
Instructions
Place chicken in ungreased 13 x 9-inch baking pan.
Mix remaining ingredients except lemon slices; pour over chicken.
Bake uncovered at 375 degrees F, spooning oil mixture over chicken occasionally, 30 minutes.
Turn chicken; cook until thickest pieces are done, about 30 minutes longer.
I worked as a temporary at a place that tried this crap. I told the agency that the supervisor refused to sign my time sheet with the extra 15 minutes, because they don’t pay their own employees and won’t pay me for it either.
The agency called the other temps working there and found out that they were adjusting their time sheet so they can get paid. The agency owner then called the client, who was so sure about herself. She said she had the right to have the meeting every morning and not pay anyone for attending.
The agency owner informed her that he was going to audit every time sheet of every temp that they have sent her, calculate the lost time and charge her for it. He then pulled out all of the temps and paid us for the rest of the week and any back pay. Which was kinda sweet, this happened on a Monday afternoon.
I was one of the last people to leave the office and she came out of her office and was yelling at me for calling the agency. I was temping a payroll clerk position, so of course I knew what she was doing was illegal. I told everyone in the office this and that they can get backpay for every meeting every morning, if they filed a wages and hours complaint with the labor department.
Then I walked right past her and said have fun with that. It cost her a lot of money to pay back those employees and temps. She had a hard time getting temps after that, because they didn’t want to be part of her hours scam.
Looking for a sign
What the fuck 1
High-Value Woman: Traits, How to Find and Make Her Your Girlfriend
Last Updated On December 15, 2022by Andrew Ferebee
Some men waste their time on women in lower leagues. You don’t want to be that guy!
High-value women are not desperate for a relationship. They don’t rely on men for finances, validation, or even their security. No, they’ve got it all figured out.
I won’t lie to you — these women are rare. If she is self-possessed enough to know what she wants and go out there and get it, she’s a real keeper. When you meet her, you will know it immediately. You need to do something about it before someone else does.
Miss this opportunity and she will have a ring on her finger before you know it.
So, how do you spot a high-value woman and what should you do about it? I want to help you with just this conundrum. Read on to elevate your chances of getting a shot with her now.
Traits of high-value women
First things first, what is it that makes a high-value woman? Like most men, you’ve met — and even dated — countless women in your lifetime. What makes this one so special?
Trust me, you will know that she is different. But you might not be able to pinpoint exactly why that is. Whether you’re already dating her or ready to make your move, there are some things that you will have noticed about this woman. Here’s a quick breakdown:
1. She has her own career or knows what she wants to do with her life
You’re not looking for a 1950s housewife — you want a woman who has her own drive, her own passions, and her own career. You know that there is nothing more attractive than a woman who has set her own life goals and is reaching them at every turn.
That’s not to say that she has to have the biggest paycheck. She might be dedicated to a career in nursing, be a teacher, or have a small business.
Whatever it is that drives her, it’s about the fact that she’s not waiting around for some man to come and ‘save’ her.
2. She doesn’t play games or try to ‘win’ your affection
Some women play endless, tiring games. They won’t call you back. They pretend to be mad about small things.
They ‘test’ you to see how you will react to certain things. They sneak around and don’t treat you right. All of that is nothing but high school drama.
You deserve to leave it behind. Real, grown-up women know that there’s no point in playing games when they meet someone that they value. If she is direct and lets you know that she is interested, that is a green flag.
As the relationship moves forward, you can trust her to never play around. She’s not here for those games. She wants to live her best life — with you by her side. You need to make sure that you can measure up to her standards before you even try to approach her.
Real women want elite men. Before you can win her over, you need to make sure that you have your own life sorted out. I’ve worked with many men to help them regain their masculine power and elevate their lifestyles.
The journey toward the life that you deserve might sound tough, but it’s worth your time and effort. Backed by a supportive community of men and coaches, I’ve seen men get the results they’ve been looking for quickly. When you transform your life, the right women will notice and, trust me, they don’t play games.
3. She is upfront about what she wants and expects from a relationship
You’ve got no time for a woman who is giving you riddles. Some women think that it’s cute to be oblique and never let a guy know what they want. Then — as if that weren’t bad enough — they have the audacity to get angry when the guy doesn’t fulfill their needs.
You can waste your time, energy, and money on dating these women. All that you will get in the end is a loss. When you’re seeing a woman who is obsessed with drama, you need to get her claws out of you as soon as possible. Repeat after me: It will not end well.
Dating a high-value woman is a completely different experience. From date #1, she will show you what she wants and you will never feel in the dark. You won’t have to play dumb guessing games with her to keep her on the side. She has the maturity to be upfront about it.
4. She is self-assured and can make her own decisions
Confidence is a rare trait. 79% of women say that they struggle with their self-esteem. You’ve likely seen the signs: she is unsure of her decisions, constantly asks you for advice, and needs reassurance that she’s attractive all the time. It’s exhausting.
High-value women are different. When you meet one, you will notice the difference straight away. She is self-assured and doesn’t need a man’s advice. In her career and personal life, she makes her own decisions. She is the one calling the shots here.
You won’t find this woman begging for your attention — you will want to give it to her.
5. She is in control of her own life and doesn’t need a relationship
This woman was fine before you came along and — if you do break up — she will be fine once again.
Elite women are the opposite of clingy. They know themselves and their own minds. These women are not waiting around for the right guy to come along. Far from it.
She doesn’t mess you around or beg you to stay with her because she’s ‘lonely.’ No, she has her own stuff going on each day. If you’re the right man for her, you will fit into that.
6. She is kind and compassionate to the people in her life
Kindness goes a long way. You might think the woman I have described here is cold. That’s not the case. You don’t want some uptight or cut-throat businesswoman.
High-value women care about the people in their life — and they are not afraid to show it.
She might be close with her family. She might have a tight-knit group of friends. She might spend every Sunday with her sister.
Whatever it is, you can see that she has compassion.
How to make a high-value woman your girlfriend
You’ve got your eye on her — she’s got it all together and has ‘girlfriend’ written all over her. Now that you’ve found a high-quality woman, how do you make the first move?
Over the years, I’ve worked with a wide variety of men in my elite coaching program. It’s no secret that the vast majority of men worry about dating.
When you’re new to the game, you don’t want to end up making rookie mistakes. Luckily, I’ve got your back here.
Here, I share my expert-backed advice on where to find high-value women, how to catch their attention and make them want you.
1. Make the right first impression — it counts
75% of men are scared to first approach an attractive woman. Let’s say that she catches your attention when you’re in a local bar. How do you react? Do you stare at her across the room for hours on end? Or do you get up out of your seat and do something about it?
When you find yourself in the presence of a high-quality woman, every second matters. What you do from the offset will make an impact on her and determine how she reacts. No matter how nervous you may be, it’s important that you act like a complete gentleman.
Be respectful of her space and whether she wants to be approached. When you first introduce yourself, ask her if she’d like to have a drink with her. Women often find men intimidating when they approach them out of the blue. Let her know that you won’t take up too much of her time and that you purely want to get to know her or get her number.
2. Show her the respect that she deserves from the start
High-quality women are worthy of your respect. Scratch that — all women are worthy of your respect. One of the most important lessons that all men have to learn is to treat women as they deserve to be treated.
When you meet a woman who ticks all of your boxes, you need to treat her like a lady. There are no exceptions to this golden rule.
Forget the tricks that pick-up artists tell you will work. They won’t.
If you want to make this woman your girlfriend, your best bet is to go back to old-school dating techniques.
That means showing her that you are interested, taking her on dates, and giving her the space to make up her own mind. Take some tips from your grandpa — he knew a thing or two.
3. Avoid playing games or using cheap gimmicks to get her attention
Men and women both play games when dating. You know the drill. You might not text her for a few days after the first date.
You might pretend to have plans (when you don’t!) to seem more in demand. You might even lower yourself to the old ‘negging’ tactic.
None of the above will work. You’re dealing with a high-quality woman here and you need to show her more respect. Leave those playground tricks behind.
If she notices that you are playing games, you will lose her attention fast.
Chances are, she’s met men like that before and — as you might expect — swiftly dismissed them. Women who are self-possessed don’t have the time to mess around with players.
4. Show her that you are a high-value man and worth her time
You’re looking for a high-value woman — have you stopped to think about what she’s looking for? Yes… *ding ding ding*… you guessed it: She is looking for a high-value man.
The most effective strategy in attracting this woman is showing that you have your sh*t together. Women who know what they want will be on the lookout for elite men.
They don’t want some man-child who they will have to pick up after. Nothing is less attractive than that. No, they need a guy who calls the shots in his own life.
What are you bringing to the table? A good job? A house? Financial independence? A lively social life? Think about what it is that you have to offer and subtly let her know about it. You don’t need to flaunt it. Be quietly confident in what you have to share with her.
The moment she sees that you’re a strong, stable man, she will be interested. You don’t have to bend over backward to get her attention. Make sure you let her know that you are on the path toward your most elite life and that she has the chance to join you.
Takeaways
Before you can win the affection of a high-value woman, you need to elevate your lifestyle. I’ve worked with a selection of the world’s most elite men to support their growth.
My coaching program teaches men like you to change their mindset and regain the masculine power that has been taken from them. Taking control of your life is the first step.
Unfortunately, there’s no magic trick that will make a high-value woman fall in love with you. Life doesn’t work that way. You need to put in the groundwork and figure out your own life before you can attract a woman of this caliber. You have to start that journey.
Having the support of coaches and a community of like-minded men can make a real difference. I’ve worked with countless men who have tapped into this power and used it to upgrade their lifestyles and relationships.
It’s time to stop missing opportunities – in your work, romantic, and social life – and start living the best version of your life now.
Yes. My cousin was dating an unemployed airline pilot. Her father was a pilot, so flying was the ultra in pride and desirability. She was quite wealthy, and very desirable to a man who wasn’t into working. He was divorced, living with his momma, and dodging child support payments, blaming the wife for all of his problems.
She was diagnosed with cancer. I went to help out when she had her surgery. Since she lived in another state, I stayed with her at her parent’s house. They were both too busy to care for her due to their high powered careers.
After she got out of the hospital, I walked into her room to give her some medicine. He was leaning over her body in a way that struck me as strange. He almost looked threatening. It was like he was that Harry Potter character who sucked out your energy and soul. When I saw his face, I can only describe it as a window opened up and I saw evil. I warned her and her family about him.
As a result, I was kicked out of their house and shunned for a good two years. I was not invited to Christmas and her father told my grandmother it was because I didn’t like “the nicest guy” he had ever known. Keep in mind this family is quite prominent and he was sucking up to them big time.
The next time I saw my cousin, she had a badly broken shoulder. He had tried to kill them both by ramming his car at top speed into a tree. She had jumped out of the car and shattered the shoulder. Unfortunately, he did not kill himself- he just wanted to kill her. She suffered with that shoulder until the day she died. It never stopped hurting. His abuse started not long after I gave the warning she ignored.
Another year passed and my uncle came to me to apologize. He said, “You were right about somebody.” He went on to tell me that he had been arrested and given a long prison sentence for trying to kill his ex-wife. I wish they had listened.
When I was very young, I decided to move in with my girlfriend. At the time, I did not realize that I was way too young to do this and not really ready to take this step with this particular young lady. We looked at apartments and were interested in looking at furniture. My girlfriend told me that she knew a family friend who sold quality furniture at a store that give discounts to members of her labor union.
We visited this furniture store located at the time (mid 1980’s) in the Empire State Building. Her friend was happy to see us and even offered us an additional discount since he knew her family so well. He explained to us that his company offered a money back guarantee on all deposits. This guarantee was printed on their receipts. We picked out a bedroom and living room set and I left a healthy deposit.
Long story short, we ended up breaking up within the next two weeks. I went back to the furniture store to get my deposit back but my former girlfriends friend was not in. I visited the store two more times and I always seemed to go on his day off. The manager and his assistant noticed that I had been there a few times asking for him and offered their assistance. I explained that I was there for a refund of my deposit. They informed me that they had no record of me putting a deposit on furniture. They asked for my receipt which readily I produced. Very few businesses used computers at that time. They looked up my matching receipt number in their book. When they turned to the matching page, it was blank. They determined on the spot that the salesman had not entered the transaction in their records and pocketed the money. They stated that he was probably going to come up with the money at a later date and enter it in the book then. He probably thought that he had time to pull this off without anyone finding out. The manager and his assistant were very angry. They handed me back my receipt and told me that I was going to get call from the salesman by the next day, and that he was going to make arrangements to refund my money out of his pocket. They also told me that If I do not hear from him, return to them and they will refund my money and they would then go to the police and have him arrested.
The next day the salesman called me and made arrangements to meet me at my job to give me the deposit back. The check that the former salesman gave me was drawn on his mother’s account. It appeared that Mama had to come to his rescue. The Furniture store manager called me 2 days later. He informed me that he fired the salesman and if in the future I wanted to purchase furniture, he would offer me furniture at cost.
Yesterday I read an article that rather haunted me.
[1] It’s about a boy, aged 9, who lived alone for almost two years. His mother abandoned him to live with her boyfriend. The boy didn’t know how to operate the heater, so he would sleep under three blankets in the winter just to keep warm. He’d eat canned goods, and scavenge for food outside like a hyena.
He did go to school, however, managing to be present every day for two years without fail, having a perfect attendance record. His grades were excellent and he was reportedly in good spirits. Nobody in school new he ate stale food and took cold showers in a cold apartment with no one by his side. Authorities speculate the boy’s routine is likely what kept him alive — going to school every day, eating lunch there and talking to his friends in class. He never had friends over, always finding excuses not to.
Now the kid’s in foster care. His mother is being charged with all sorts of crimes for abandoning him. He reportedly never wants to see her again. Does he even have a father, grandparents? God. It’s just so sad, leaving a child alone to fend for himself in this world.
China containment becomes a lose-lose strategy for everyone
In trying to fight Beijing, Washington is causing irreparable damage to the world economy and it may be too great for even America to bear
Alex Lo
As Nobel economics laureate Paul Krugman recently observed in Foreign Affairs, “China’s role as the workshop of the world … might be as hard to replace as the global role of the US dollar.”
And yet, that hasn’t stopped Uncle Sam from trying to wreck the China workshop, which has the unintended consequence of pushing more countries to try to “de-dollarise”.
The United States has been strong-arming countries and companies to divert their supply chains away from China, and these involve not only advanced tech products such as superfast computer chips but also mundane items such as rare commodities. Meanwhile, it has weaponised the global economy and financial systems to pursue its own foreign and trade policy goals.
They are the two economic aspects of its full-spectrum containment against China, which of course, also includes a predominantly military component. Countries such as India, Vietnam, Indonesia and even the US were supposed to benefit from the supply-chain redirection. But they now find it hard to take up the slack. Much of the re-routing with new chains turns out to be just longer, more opaque and expensive, without severing ties to Chinese suppliers. Costs are adding up.
Last year, Taiwan’s Pou Chen Corp, a leading shoe manufacturer for the likes of Nike and Adidas, had to cut more than 6,000 jobs at its Ho Chi Minh City plant. The Vietnamese government once heavily advertised the investment of Japanese electronics giant Kyocera Corp, but it ended up producing low-tech ceramic packages for electronic insulation and resistance, rather than the more advanced packages for crystal devices.
Labour unrest, official corruption and red tape are cutting short the allure of Vietnam for foreign manufacturers. Comparatively, getting permits, licences and subsidies for foreign businesses in Vietnam for many has made China almost a bureaucratic paradise. Volatile internal party politics in Vietnam may be as tricky and scary as in China.
Cheaper labour costs at first made Vietnam attractive, but it turns out relocating factories, hiring locals and reorganising supply chains away from China can eat into whatever savings are made. Many Vietnamese contractors still go to China for supplies, so Western clients end up, as the Economist recently reported, inviting in more middlemen.
The story may be better for India and Indonesia, as both are competing with even cheaper labour, so long as they stick to low value-added production. But they may fare worse if they aim higher, as Vietnam can boast good infrastructure with modern ports, newly built highways and power supply. In any case, China doesn’t want those jobs any more as it is moving up the hi-tech value chains.
It’s highly ironic that Taiwan’s TSMC, which agreed to build a big chipmaking plant in Arizona after intense pressure from Washington and the island’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, has just announced production delays to next year, and for even more advanced chips, until 2027 or 2028. Perhaps by then, the US plant will come in handy and replace production in Taiwan, as that was the date some Pentagon generals claimed the mainland would invade!
Brics, the bloc originally made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has long been criticised for having no viable economic or political coherence or purpose. Well, now it does. They are all afraid of US economic warfare with sanctions being its primary weapon. From digital currencies and currency swaps to restricted computerised messaging for financial transactions, they are trying to de-dollarise.
Dozens of countries, especially those in the Global South and are not US allies, want to join now. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been invited to become members.
As Krugman said, the China workshop and the US dollar are two pillars of the global economy and are extremely hard to replace. Yet, Washington has made it a policy to erode those pillars, one by design, the other inadvertently.
The collateral damage may be too great for even the US to bear.
Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso quit ECOWAS regional block
Reuters January 28, 20243:52 PM GMT+1Updated 37 min ago
NIAMEY/BAMAKO, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Three West African junta-led states Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso said on Sunday they are immediately leaving the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a regional economic bloc that has been urging them to return to democratic rule.
The decision by the three countries, announced in a joint statement read out on Niger national television, is a blow to the bloc’s regional integration efforts after it suspended the three countries following military takeovers.
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“After 49 years, the valiant peoples of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger regretfully and with great disappointment observe that the (ECOWAS) organization has drifted from the ideals of its founding fathers and the spirit of Pan-Africanism,” Colonel Amadou Abdramane, Niger junta spokesman, said in the statement.
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The three countries are also members of the eight-nation West African Monetary Union (UEMOA) that uses the West Africa CFA franc currency pegged to the Euro. The monetary union, following decisions by ECOWAS leaders after the coups in Mali and Niger, had cut off their access to the regional financial market, and the regional central bank. It later restored Mali’s access but Niger remains suspended.
A lower left tooth was loose (#21 for the cognoscenti). I went to the dentist.
He looked concerned, said it was broken vertically, removed the part that was broken, and took a look at what was left.
“You’ll have to see an oral surgeon for this. It’s a dental emergency. I’ll have my office set up the appointment.”
I get a call a few minutes later. Can I come in to see the oral surgeon the next day?
Next day, I’m there. Terrified. I’m a total dental chicken. “The tooth was reabsorbing into the jawbone” (What?!!) “so we have to take it out. It is likely to get infected. You need …”
And he proceeded to give me a few minutes of dental speak.
With only laughing gas and huge horse syringes full of novacaine, and wearing intense magnifying glasses, he drilled and chiseled a tooth/root/bone unit apart.
None of that was necessarily the coup de grace.
The hard part is not having to drink smoothies for a week until the stitches are removed.
The hard part is not waiting seven months with a toothless gap in my smile, as I wait for my gums to heal before they can do surgery a g a I n to place an implant into my jawbone (but that’s a huge Y I K E S for the future).
The hard part — is — overwhelming and aching bone pain in my jaw socket where the tooth infiltrated the bone. It hurts so much that pain has been preventing me from sleeping or moving much during the past four days since the tooth was separated from the jawbone and extracted.
I didn’t anticipate any of this pain with just a loose tooth. The pain afterwards was totally unanticipated and a thousand times worse than I thought it would be.
If a dentist ever tells you that a tooth is infiltrating your jaw bone, act sooner than later. Even if you don’t feel that anything is wrong.
Dental pain should be avoided at all costs.
Do You Have Jason Bourne in Custody? | The Bourne Supremacy | All Action
I’ve met guys over the years who find all kinds of physical traits unattractive. Everyone has their own personal visuals they like or dislike.
But there seems to be one universal, non-physical trait that men find unattractive with women: complaining.
You’ll never hear a guy complain that he wishes his woman would complain more to him. You’ll hear a lot of guys complain about how much their woman complain. (Or, complaining’s close cousin, criticizing.)
This includes things like:
Complaining that their guy didn’t do something that he either didn’t know he was supposed to do, or planned on doing later.
Complaining about the quality of work their guy did for something that no one is ever going to see or care about.
Complaining to their guy about things the kids or pets did wrong, as if it’s their guy’s fault that the kids or pets did those things wrong.
Complaining to their guy, like its his fault, about things that the guy has absolutely no control over, like the weather.
Complaints that are essentially versions of “my man did not read my mind.”
Criticizing their man’s choices for things that have no impact on the woman whatsoever.
Criticizing their man’s choices when their man asked for the woman’s input, but the woman didn’t offer any.
Tangentially related to “complaining” are things like:
Attempting to hold a deep conversation while the guy is trying to focus on something else, like a television show or driving.
Attempting to hold a deep conversation with the guy within 10 minutes of falling asleep or waking up.
Greeting their man with a task to do as soon as he gets home.
Adding on to their man’s “to do” list while he’s actively doing something the woman already put on that list.
Around 3,000 years ago, Hebrew men realized how much they didn’t like their wives’ complaining, and wrote it down in the book of Proverbs.
Hard to imagine, but an ex-colleague of mine was fired for something they DIDN’T DO outside of work but were ACCUSED of doing.
The company we worked for had a code of ethics that said you could be fired not just for doing something wrong, but for there being a public IMPRESSION that you did something wrong.
In his case, he had been in the chain drugstore the previous weekend, and was accused of shoplifting. After some unpleasant exchange with the store’s security staff and my colleague insisting that he would NOT allow them to examine his bags, but would only allow the police to do so, the police were called. He was searched, his bags were searched, and nothing was found.
Store management apologized to him. He said fine, okay and that was that, right?
Nope.
On Monday when he came to work, and people were saying what they did that weekend, he said “You won’t believe what happened to me!” and he related the incident.
Within a couple of hours, he was called to Human Resources and fired. Reason? Small town, everybody knows everybody. The accusation of shoplifting was made publicly in the store, where some of the other customers knew or might know him, and who also might be OUR customers. In our company’s eyes, that made our customers question whether they should give us their business, if we kept him as an employee.
He appealed but to no avail. Lost his job.
Lesson – don’t share too much about what happens on your time off, even if you didn’t actually do something wrong, perception can be everything.
I was in Las Vegas and was shopping at the Caesar’s Palace mall. I came across a sport memorabilia store that had two sports stars there signing autographs. At one end of a long table was Pete Rose and the other end was Kenny Stabler. I noticed that there was a long line waiting for Rose’s autograph but no one was at Kenny’s side. I didn’t know why Kenny didn’t have anyone in his autograph line, since he did have a super bowl win and was in the NFL HOF. My son-in-law was a huge Oakland Raider fan, so I went over to get Kenny’s autograph. As I was talking to Kenny, I noticed that Rose wasn’t really talking to the fans in line. He just signed the picture and his handler told the fans that Rose didn’t have time to answer any questions and told them to move on. Rose never even cracked a smile and actually looked perturbed to be there.
On the contrary, Kenny was most gracious and talked to me for over 10 mins. Instead of the stock picture they were passing out, he posed for a picture with me trying on his super bowl ring. He took down my address and said he would mail it to me. To my amazement, within a week I received the photo. My son-in-law treasured that photo for many years until his passing. What a difference in personalities between two superstar athletes. I never respected Pete Rose after that incident even though I once supported his failed attempt to get into the baseball HOF.
In college, a fellow fraternity brother named Mike met me after class to tell me he had the key (answers) to the upcoming engineering-physics mid-term exam and I could buy it for just $25. It was to be a 100 multiple-choice question exam to be given in a week.
Unfortunately, Mike spoke a little too loud and the professor heard him. The professor did not know who or how many people had the answer key so he decided to create an all-new test. He contacted two of his top grad students (Paul and Jim) to help and they toiled over the task for the next 4 days.
On the day before the exam, I overheard the professor ask Paul if he “was ready”. It seemed out of context so I got suspicious and decided to check with Mike. I heard MIke was over by the WPC Student Center so I headed over there. As I was scanning the area for Mike, I saw him talking to Paul. I hid and watched as Mike gave Paul an envelope and Paul gave Mike several sheets of paper. Mike had just bought the answer key to the new exam.
I waited until they separated and then went to Mike. I asked, “Are we all set for the exam tomorrow”. I wanted to see if he would offer me the new exam key. To my surprise, he did. I took it and sold it to two of my friends – Bruce and Khan – for $30 each. We all aced the exam and repeated it all again for the finals . . . . but with less drama.
So what were the unintended consequences? Bruce and Khan went on to become structural design architects at a prestigious firm in Chicago and were the design engineers for the 1,450 ft tall Sears Tower (it’s now called the Willis Tower) – the one that had 90x 5×8 ft, 380-pound windows that blew out in high winds.
As it turns out, the semester that we all cheated on the exams was when they taught the aerodynamics of wind on structures and how to compensate for the stresses involved. If Bruce and Khan had attended those classes and learned the topics taught that semester, then the Sears Tower would not sway 18″ in high winds and would not have ultimately spent $6 million to replace all of its 10,343 windows. All those unintended consequences because of an exam answer key that sold for $30.
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If this isn’t all true, it should be, and if it isn’t then how could it be? I’m not one to make up stuff unless I do and then it is only to prove my credibility or not. Wouldn’t you do the same if you didn’t know what you say you know in the context of being honest and trying to tell people that which could be true if it was? But, being a smart person, you knew all that already, didn’t you?
11 Signs A Woman Has Multiple Partners and What to Do About It
Published On January 22, 2024by Andrew Ferebee
So, you’ve met a woman that you’ve completely fallen for. You’ve been dating for a while, and everything has been going well. She might even be “the one.”
The problem is, you’re not entirely sure you’re the only one in her life. You can’t place your finger on it exactly, but something leads you to believe she may be seeing other men.
You want clarity, but you’re unsure how to broach the subject. After all, things are going well, and you don’t want to mess up a good thing. But at the same time, not knowing what’s going on is driving you crazy.
Dating multiple people at once is a tricky subject to navigate. In an ideal world, both partners will communicate their ideas and expectations about dating other people. The problem is we don’t live in an ideal world.
More often than not, people dance around the issue because they don’t want to hurt the other person’s feelings (or damage the relationship’s potential). This leads to one or both people playing the guessing game.
If this sounds like your current situation, understand you are not alone. And as difficult as it can be to navigate this situation, you can gain clarity — if you know what to look for.
Today, I’ll give you a framework you can use to gauge whether or not the woman you’re dating has multiple partners and how to approach things if she does. Signs That The Woman You’re Seeing Has Multiple Partners
1. Unless You’re Told Otherwise, Assume She Is
In today’s dating climate, you should always assume that the woman you’re dating is also seeing other men. Unless she comes out and explicitly tells you that the two of you are exclusive, you’re probably not.
Understand that couples seldom become exclusive off the bat. Nine times out of ten, one or both people will date around before settling on their chosen person.
So, even if you’re really into the woman you’re seeing and everything seems to be going great, that’s fine. But just remember that nothing is official until it’s official.
2. Other People Call You The Wrong Name — Or Think They’ve Met You Before
If she brings you around to meet a group of friends or family, and those people call you the wrong name or think they’ve met you before, it could be a sign that she’s dating other guys.
Don’t assume that these friends or family members are misremembering. It’s far more likely that they were introduced to another man recently.
And if you want to gauge whether she’s being honest with you, press her on the issue. Ask her about it and see what she says. If she tries to dodge the issue or acts unnatural, it’s probably because she’s dishonest.
3. She Avoids Introducing You To Friends Or Family Members
Oppositely, she may avoid bringing you around to meet her friends or family. For this one, look at the context of the situation to see if something seems odd to you.
If she has to attend a wedding and tells you she’ll go alone, that’s odd behavior. Why? Because no one likes to attend a wedding alone. And chances are, she’s not.
It’s far more likely that she’s just going with someone else.
If you’ve been dating for several months and have not met anyone from her social circle, that’s just not natural. If she often tells you she can’t meet because she’s going out with her friends but doesn’t invite you to come, that’s also odd.
Chances are, she’s bringing another man to these gatherings. And rather than letting her friends or family know she’s dating multiple men, keeping you on the back burner is easier.
4. She’s Had An Unreasonable Amount Of Partners
Does the woman you’re dating talk about more exes than you can count? If so, it could indicate a pattern of behavior.
Just because a woman has many exes doesn’t inherently mean that there’s something wrong, but the time frame matters. If you get the sense that she’s dated ten different guys in the last three months, there’s a very good chance she was dating them simultaneously.
And there’s also a good chance that’s the same thing happening with you. Chances are, you have much in common with the men who came before you.
So, always be mindful of the patterns that are right in front of you.
5. She Shies Away From You And Isn’t As Affectionate As You Are
Do you feel like you’re the one who’s always being affectionate, but she isn’t doing the same? Sure, you may be intimate with this woman, and everything could be great in the bedroom, but what about other acts of affection?
Does she allow you to wrap your arm around her while walking together? Can you hold her hand? Hug her? Kiss her in public?
Sure, some people aren’t into public displays of affection, but it can also be a sign. These “loving” affections are sometimes more significant than sex. And if she shies away from your affection, ask yourself why.
There’s a strong possibility she’s seeing other men and doesn’t want to lead you on any more than she already is.
Remember that men and women approach dating and relationships in very different ways. You’ll seldom see a man stay with a woman after losing interest, but women do this often.
If you think she’s lost interest in you but doesn’t have the heart to tell you, read the signs and don’t let things last any longer than they need to.
6. She Craves Sex Less Than You Do
Oppositely, it might not be the public displays of affection that are the problem, but your sex life. If she approaches intimacy with a take-it-or-leave-it attitude, again, ask yourself why.
Of course, it’s perfectly normal for people to not be in the mood sometimes. What you have to look at is the underlying pattern. If your relationship started with a great sex life, but that drive suddenly faded, there’s a reason for that.
If she tells you she enjoys sex and that she enjoys having it with you, but the two of you inexplicably go long periods without sleeping together, it could be a sign that there’s someone else in the picture.
Again, nothing is certain. But if something feels off, it’s probably because it is. It could be a sign if you’re a generally rational man who doesn’t have underlying trust issues, but something is telling you not to trust this woman.
7. She Tells You She’s Busy — But Doesn’t Tell You Why
Does it seem like you can never get a straight answer from her? Does she give you ambiguous answers about what she’s doing and who she’s doing it with?
If so, it indicates that she’s seeing other men. Also, look at how often you meet up with her. If it’s every couple of weeks or once a month, that’s probably because she’s seeing other guys when she’s not with you.
Does she only meet you during the week and always have a full calendar on Fridays and the weekends that doesn’t include you?
Again, look at the underlying patterns. If they seem strange, it’s probably because something’s up.
If you’re really into her and want nothing more than to spend time with her, but she seems unwilling or unable to do the same for you, it’s a sign that something is off.
8. She Takes An Excessive Time To Respond To Your Messages
Most people are glued to their phones between six in the evening and midnight. They unwind from work with a glass of wine, Netflix, and their social media feeds.
If you text this woman without a hitch all day, but then she suddenly goes MIA during the evenings, that’s almost certainly a sign that she’s with another man.
She’s not texting you back because she can’t text you back. Again, look for things that seem odd. If she tells you she’s going to the gym after work, that’s fine, but if she doesn’t respond to your messages until noon the next day, it may be because she was with another man.
9. She Only Meets You At Odd Times
It’s nine o’clock on a Friday night, and she suddenly hits you up to go out. And this happens after she told you she already had other plans.
While you told her that you would also make other plans, that wasn’t entirely true. Your “plans” entailed ordering a pizza and playing Call of Duty.
You want to say ‘no,’ but you are also sitting at home feeling sorry for yourself, so you can’t resist.
If a woman likes you, she’ll make you her first priority, not the fallback guy. If the woman you’re seeing asks you to meet at odd hours or with little notice, she’s using you as a backup.
Now, some guys are okay with this, but if you’re not, you need to say so. You should not suffer in silence and play the guessing game.
10. She Still Has Active Dating Profiles
Whether you met this woman online or not, if you find that she has an active dating profile, you can be almost certain that she’s using it.
Don’t let her sell you on the “I didn’t have a chance to delete it yet” or “I forgot I had it.” Having a dating profile as a woman means dealing with a constant barrage of messages. It’s almost impossible to ignore.
And if the woman you’re seeing has an active dating profile, she’s not ignoring it, either.
11. She Gets (And Seeks) A Lot Of Attention On Social Media
While an active social media presence isn’t necessarily a sign of something wrong, keep an eye out for odd activity — especially from other men.
If you see comments like, “I can’t wait to see you again,” or “We had such a great time,” from men, and you have no idea who these guys are, there’s a good chance she’s dating them.
Just look for anything that seems odd or out of place. If your instincts tell you something doesn’t feel right, then something is wrong. Don’t turn a blind eye to it.
What Do I Do If The Woman You’re Dating Has Multiple Partners?
Well, for one, you could just talk to her about it. And if you haven’t done this already, it’s probably because you’re scared of the consequences.
You may fear that if you talk to her about it, she’ll tell you that she is, in fact, seeing other men and isn’t interested in seeing you anymore. Or that she’ll just cut you off completely.
And this leads us to the true problem…
In any relationship, no matter how casual or serious, a certain power dynamic develops. And the person who is more confident, grounded, and self-assured is the one who has the upper hand.
And in instances like these, that person is not you. If you’re reading this, I’m going to assume that you are not dating other women, even though you suspect your partner is.
I’m also going to assume that deep down, you know exactly what’s going on with your current relationship. The problem is that you’re having a hard time accepting the truth.
The question is, why are you putting yourself in this position?
Why are you allowing yourself to be subjected to this treatment? Why are you allowing this woman to essentially “play you”? Why are you allowing yourself to be treated in a way that feels disrespectful?
Is this what an alpha male would do?
Certainly not. An alpha is the type of man who doesn’t chase women but has women chase after him.
Just imagine how great it would feel to be the type of man who could have his choice of high-quality women instead of being at the mercy of situations like these.
In other words, there are several things you could do to remedy this situation, but the first thing you should do is…
1. Raise your value in the dating economy
Let’s just face the facts for a moment and be brutally honest: You’re at the mercy of this woman you’re dating. She has you wrapped around her finger, and she knows it.
Because if she truly valued you for the man you are, she would never let an opportunity to be with you pass her by. There’s no point in playing the field when you have the home run sitting right in front of you.
But that’s the thing: she doesn’t see you that way. And that may be your fault. Are you doing everything you can to show her your value as a man? Is it abundantly apparent how great of a catch you are?
Become the type of man that women would line up to date. Be the type of man who can give women experiences unlike any other. Be a grounded, cultured man who takes risks and gets what he wants in life.
Invest in yourself so no woman can deny your obvious value. Prioritize your physical fitness, expand your mind, embrace new experiences, and be a fun person to be around.
When you put your power on full display, women will take notice.
2. Talk to her about it and have an honest conversation
Or, if you’re really interested in this woman and genuinely think your relationship has the potential to be something special, discuss the issue.
Tell her what you think is going on and explain that you’re uncomfortable with it. Tell her that you value the connection the two of you have and want to see it grow into something more.
If she doesn’t feel the same, yes, that will hurt a lot, but at least you won’t have to spend your days guessing. Remember, sometimes, the fear of pain (especially emotional pain) can be worse than the pain itself.
The first step to resolving the issue is getting it out there in the open so you can discuss it.
3. Consider your options
If you’re aware that the woman you’re dating is also seeing other people, it might be worth thinking about exploring other relationships yourself.
This suggestion isn’t for everyone. If it doesn’t align with your values or comfort level, that’s completely okay. However, it’s important to reflect on the dynamics of your current situation.
She’s keeping her options open, which raises the question: should you do the same? It’s natural to have strong feelings for her and to hope for a more committed relationship in the future. But, if you’re not at that stage yet, it might not be wise to fully commit yourself to someone who isn’t making you their priority.
Instead of focusing solely on this relationship, consider the possibility of meeting other people. This approach can provide a more balanced perspective and prevent you from feeling overly invested in a situation where your needs might not be fully met.
4. Stop wasting your time and prioritize self-respect
If you’re fed up with the situation and can’t take it any longer, end it. Tell her you no longer feel comfortable with the relationship and move on.
Many people forget that they are responsible for how others treat them.
If you’re being treated in a way that makes you feel undervalued, it’s because you allow it to happen.
So, don’t allow it to happen any longer. Make the hard choice and end the relationship.
Takeaways
If you’ve grown sick and tired of these dating situations you find yourself in, it’s time to make a change. Leave the past behind and become a high-value man who attracts high-value women into his life.
If one thing is certain, it’s that anyone has the power to change. Society has a nasty habit of conditioning us to believe we’re fixed in our current situation and that we’ll never be able to improve and embrace our full potential.
Not true. I’m proof of that. And if you want to gain insider knowledge of everything I learned on my journey, the professional coaching program at Knowledge for Men is just what you need.
How nice would it be to be surrounded by a group of strong, grounded, like-minded men who will challenge and push you to become the best version of yourself?
And to be clear, this isn’t a place for those faint of heart. Honestly, you’ll probably have to face aspects of yourself that will make you quite uncomfortable.
But if you’re looking for the single best place to grow into your true potential, this is it. No complainers are here, only serious, dedicated men committed to helping others.
Are you ready to take the next step? Are you ready to embrace your untapped potential and live a life you previously only imagined?
If so, the time is now. I’ll see you on the other side!
Lambert here: Not a geopolitics maven, but Iran sure did offer Russia the right hand of good fellowship with those drone sales.
By Simon Watkins, a former senior FX trader and salesman, financial journalist, and best-selling author. He was Head of Forex Institutional Sales and Trading for Credit Lyonnais, and later Director of Forex at Bank of Montreal. He was then Head of Weekly Publications and Chief Writer for Business Monitor International, Head of Fuel Oil Products for Platts, and Global Managing Editor of Research for Renaissance Capital in Moscow. Originally published at OilPrice.com.
• Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei gave his official approval to a new 20-year comprehensive cooperation deal between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Russia.
• The agreement will replace the 10-year-deal signed in March 2001 and has been expanded not only in duration but also in scope and scale.
• The new deal includes far-going agreements on defense and energy.
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, gave his official approval on 18 January to a new 20-year comprehensive cooperation deal between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Russia, according to a senior energy source in Iran and a senior source in the European Union’s (E.U.) energy security complex, exclusively spoken to by OilPrice.com last week. The 20-year deal – ‘The Treaty on the Basis of Mutual Relations and Principles of Cooperation between Iran and Russia’ – was presented for his consideration on 11 December 2023. It will replace the 10-year-deal signed in March 2001 (extended twice by five years) and has been expanded not only in duration but also in scope and scale, particularly in the defense and energy sectors. In several respects, the new deal additionally complements key elements of the all-encompassing ‘Iran-China 25-Year Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement’, as first revealed anywhere in the world in my 3 September 2019 article on the subject and analysed in full in my new book on the new global oil market order.
In the energy sector to begin with, the new deal gives Russia the first right of extraction in the Iranian section of the Caspian Sea, including the potentially huge Chalous field. The wider Caspian basins area, including both onshore and offshore fields, is conservatively estimated to have around 48 billion barrels of oil and 292 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas in proven and probable reserves. In 2019, Russia was instrumental in changing the legal status of the Caspian basins area, cutting Iran’s share from 50 percent to just 11.875 percent in the process, as also detailed in my new book. Before the Chalous discovery, this meant that Iran would lose at least US$3.2 trillion in revenues from the lost value of energy products across the shared assets of the Caspian Sea resource going forward. Given the newest internal-use only estimates from Iran and Russia, this figure could be a lot higher. Previously, the estimates were that Chalous contained around 124 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas in place. This equated to around one quarter of the gas reserves contained in Iran’s supergiant South Pars natural gas field that account for around 40 percent of Iran’s total estimated gas reserves and about 80 per cent of its gas production. The new estimates are that it is a twin-field site, nine kilometres apart, with ‘Greater’ Chalous having 208 bcf of gas in place, and ‘Lesser’ Chalous having 42 bcf of gas, giving a combined figure of 250 bcm of gas.
The same right of first extraction for Russia will also now apply to Iran’s major oil and gas fields in the Khorramshahr and nearby Ilam provinces that border Iraq. The shared fields of Iran and Iraq have long allowed Tehran to side-step sanctions in place against its key oil sector, as it is impossible to tell what oil has come from the Iranian side or the Iraqi side of these fields, which means that Iran is able simply to rebrand its own sanctioned oil as unsanctioned Iraqi oil and ship it anywhere it wants, as also analysed in full in my new book on the new global oil market order. Former Petroleum Minister, Bijan Zanganeh, publicly highlighted this very practice when he said in 2020: “What we export is not under Iran’s name. The documents are changed over and over, as well as [the] specifications.” Another advantage of the shared fields is that they allow effectively free movement of personnel from the Iranian side to the Iraqi side, and the utilisation of key oil and gas developments across Iraq is a key part of Iran’s longstanding plan, fully supported by Russia, to build a ‘land bridge’ to the Mediterranean Sea coast of Syria. This would enable Iran and Russia to exponentially increase weapons delivery into southern Lebanon and the Golan Heights area of Syria to be used in attacks on Israel. The core aim of this policy is to provoke a broader conflict in the Middle East that would draw in the U.S. and its allies into an unwinnable war of the sort seen recently in Iraq and Afghanistan, and which may soon be seen as the Israel-Hamas War escalates.
The price of all manufactured items traded between Russia and Iran, including military and energy hardware, has been formalised in the new deal, although also not in Iran’s favour. For Iranian goods exported to Russia, Tehran will receive the cost of production plus 8 percent. However, these export sales to Russia will not be transferred to Iran, but rather they will be held as credit in the Central Bank of Russia (CBR). Moreover, Iran will receive a huge markdown on US dollar/Rouble or Euro/Rouble exchange rates used to calculate its credits in the CBR. Conversely, for Russian goods exported to Iran, Moscow will receive the payment in advance of delivery and at a much stronger exchange rate that benefits Russia. Moreover, the base price before any exchange rate calculations are made, will be founded on the highest price that Russia has received in the previous 180 days for whichever product it is selling Iran. This system has informally been in place for several weeks now, and according to the senior energy sector source in Tehran exclusively spoken to by OilPrice.com last week, Russia has ensured itself the highest possible price by selling to Belarus at a very large premium whichever product it intends to sell later to Iran, so establishing the required pricing benchmark. Payments for goods and services falling outside the direct finance route between the central banks of the two countries can now be done through interbank transfers between Iranian and Russian banks. Those also involving renminbi can also be done through China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) system, its alternative to the globally-dominant Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) system.
In many cases, the expansion of military cooperation between Iran and Russia is tied into the energy sector elements of the new 20-year deal. Progress is earmarked to be made on upgrading the facilities at the key airports and seaports that have long been targeted by Russia as being especially useful for dual-use by its air force and navy, and which are also close to major oil and gas facilities. Top of the list of Iranian airports that Russia regards as the best for dual-use by its air force are Hamedan, Bandar Abbas, Chabahar, and Abadan, and it is apposite to note that in August 2016, Russia used the Hamedan airbase to launch attacks on targets in Syria using both Tupolev-22M3 long-range bombers and Sukhoi-34 strike fighters. Top of the list of seaports for use by its navy are Chabahar, Bandar-e-Bushehr, and Bandar Abbas. Similarly linked to Russia’s gaining the first right of extraction in the Iranian section of the Caspian Sea is that it will also be given a joint command capability over the northern aerospace defense section of Iran’s Caspian area.
It is also apposite to note here that Iran’s electronic warfare (EW) system can easily be tied into Russia’s Southern Joint Strategic Command 19th EW Brigade (Rassvet) near Rostov-on-Don to the northwest of the Caspian. This can also be linked in with China’s EW capabilities. These EW capabilities would include jamming systems for neutralising air defences in the region. This will be augmented with new missiles designated to be sent to Iran by Russia under the new deal, according to the senior E.U. security sector source exclusively spoken to by OilPrice.com last week. “Selected IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] personnel will be trained on the latest Russian upgrades of several short- and long-range missiles – the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal, the Iskander M, the RS-26 Rubezh, the BrahMos3, and the Avangard – before the plan to manufacture them under licence in Iran begins, with the aim being to have 30 percent of them stay in Iran, with the rest being sent back to Russia,” he said.
“What all of this means, is that the new 20 -year deal between Iran and Russia will change the landscape of the Middle East, southern Europe, and Asia as Iran will have a much-extended military reach that will give it much more leverage to make political demands across those region,” he exclusively told OilPrice.com last week. “This reach also means that countries in these areas will feel that continuing to rely on the U.S. for their protection is a lot more of a precarious option than it was before,” he concluded.
Be careful how to treat others
Old Fashioned Greek Shortbread
Ingredients
1 pound butter (NO margarine)
2 egg yolks
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon anise
4 to 5 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
Beat butter at medium speed of electric mixer for 10 minutes.
Add egg yolks and confectioners’ sugar. Beat 5 more minutes.
Add anise. Add flour one cup at a time, kneading.
Roll dough into 1-inch balls and bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 375 degrees F for 12 to 15 minutes or until very lightly browned.
Being a new Grade 11 student in a small city was devastating. I had come from the “big city” to a rural cowboy type environment.
In the school of 259 students there was a huge class difference. Some families had money, some were farm kids bused in and as always the partiers. I didn’t really fit in, but I wasn’t bullied either.
The cheerleader girls snubbed everyone. Including me, they gossiped and ignored everyone but their clique. As I only had a year and a half before graduation I existed, couldn’t wait to get out of this place. As soon as school was done, I went back to my home city.
I was fortunate to get a job at the library, which was unionized. A year went by before the wages were negotiated and settled. When this was completed, we were back paid a year of difference.
This was in the early 1970’s and when I got my huge cheque and took it to the bank. I went through the teller, who recognized me and I was shocked to see the cheerleader queen working for the bank.
She took my deposit and with her snooty voice asked me if this was a severance payout. I looked her in the eye and smiled. I assured her that I hadn’t been fired. She looked at me and I could see she was looking for a snide remark. Just then I got my revenge.
I smiled and said to her, heavens no, I love working at the library. I told her, no problem, this is my bimonthly cheque.
She was so shocked that she turned on her sweetness and asked me, would you like to go for coffee this week. Again, I smiled and told her, thank you for asking but my social calendar is very busy.
“I am an American. I am not a tourist in your country.”
I was working as a Tourist Officer for the GNWT. My job was to maintain a park, and do tourist services. Simple work. One of the services was a visitor exit survey to see if people were enjoying the north. Let me set the stage.
Fort Smith NWT, is a community of about 3000 people. The airport is very small, and usually only has one person on duty for a flight. Her name was Mary*. She was both ticker agent and security guard. She pointed at an older woman and said “Tourist” so I went over and asked if she was willing to do the survey. “No problem, young man” was the very southern response. She was from Peachtree Georgia and had a classic plantation accent. After a few questions about what hotel she stayed at, and and activities she did, Mary called for pre-boarding, but to please do a tourist survey with me as there was “Plenty of time.”
The woman got absolutely infuriated with me instantly. And very loudly yelled “I am an American. I am not a tourist in your country.” And stormed over to the gate. The entire airport started laughing. And “In your country” because a new standard greeting between us for the summer.
*All NWT airports have a “Mary” and it seems like they are all the same women. A wonderful native Lady with a wicked sense of humor.
One of the things about my mother was the ashtray in her car.
Yeah. I know. I know.
Many of you youngsters have no idea what an “ashtray” is, what it does, and why it is important. Let alone what one was doing in a car.
Well, let me tell you. It is a receptacle to hold the ashes of a cigarette in. You see, when you smoke a cigarette, the end burns. Turns to ash and dissolves. If you don’t flick the ashes away they fall over everything. So you’ve got to deposit them in a tray to get them out of the way.
Anyways, I once went to clean out her can and pulled out the ashtray. And it it was about $30 worth of change (mostly quarters) and a ton-load of ashes and one or two bubblegum wrappers. Man, oh man. They made those things DEEP! Lordy! I had no idea.
I understand that you can still order cars with this feature, but they are no longer as common, and certainly not standard like they used to be.
Happened to me with my ex MIL. She started in on me about the mess my kitchen was in the day after I got back from a 2500 miles business trip I had been on. My ex left dirty dishes everywhere, dried food on them, spanking clean dishwasher, and laundry piled by the back door. As soon as she started, I was furious. First she wasn’t to be in my home but he let her in, second, he said nothing about the mess being his, and finally, I was exhausted and had 3 days of paperwork ahead of me. I looked at him, he looked away while she was yelling at me. I basically told her to can it, her son had created the mess while I was out making money and that I had paperwork to do to make sure I finished the job of the trip. Since she created a spoiled brat who wouldn’t clean up, she had dispensation to be in my kitchen while she did the dishes. She turned to him to back her up and the coward that he is, he told me it was my job and I said, nope, I quit, hire a maid if you won’t do it. She left and we had a blowout fight (led to divorce in a couple of month).
Three days later after getting my paperwork complete and I was scheduling my next trip away, the kitchen was still a mess. I actually packed up every dish, glass, pan, silverware, etc. that was mine and refused to cook or clean anything. I was really totally fed up. I did purchase paper plates and cups and plastic eating utensils and left him with a pretty much bare fridge. He ate at his mom’s while I was gone or at a restaurant but I had a clean kitchen.
Stand up for yourself. Tell them that if they can’t behave with decency, there is the door and until they learn some respect and manners when it comes to you, they are not welcome in your home. If you are in theirs, tell them goodbye and that you won’t be returning. Hubby can visit when he likes but you won’t be back. And by the way, you are no longer welcome in my home either.
I was prosecuting a committal hearing against a defendant for an allegation that he sexually assaulted his younger step daughter. The victim was a ‘not so polite’ 13 year old. My first question to her was, “Please tell the court your name.” Reply, “You already know that.” It was a struggle just to set up the identity of the victim. I just knew it was going to be difficult to adduce the evidence necessary for the matter to be committed to the District Court for trial from this young victim so I then asked a very broad open question and I was going to build my case from there. “Can you just remember what happed to you at your 12th birthday party?” Reply, “Get Fucked.” That was later followed by, “Can you now tell the court what your step gather did?” Reply, “Get Fucked. You know.” By then I wanted to palm face but pressed on.
Such answers are a body blow for a prosecutor as two rules apply, 1. I can not ask leading questions and 2. I can’t normally cross examine my own witness. From there on the defence lawyer started to frequently object to my ‘leading’ and ‘cross examining’ questions.
Eventually, I was able to (unconvincingly) put the barest evidence necessary to the court. When the victim was cross examined she gave numerous answers that were very detrimental to the prosecution’s case.
I then called evidence of ‘complaint’ from the victim’s older sister. She gave evidence that shortly after her sister’s 12th birthday party that the victim told her about her step father sexually assaulting her. She gave very credible and convincing evidence. She was then cross examined and was ‘not shaken’ in her evidence re the sexual assault.
There is an old saying in court that you should never ask a question when you don’t know the answer. The following supports that view.
The questioning of the older sister swung around to the credibility of the victim, her younger sister. And the defence was on a roll. “You know that your sister tells, don’ t you?” ‘Yes.’ “And she has often told you lies hasn’t she?” ‘Yes.’
I considered, having heard the victim’s evidence, that these question were reasonable and the the replies were very predictable. My case was almost totally destroyed at this stage and no court would ever committed with this standard of evidence.
It was then time for the defence lawyer to sit down but he was on fire with favourable answers now flowing freely from my witness. Then came, and my ears immediately pricked up, “You don’t believe you sister is telling the truth about your step father do you?” I was looking at the face of the defence lawyer as he was asking that question and I could almost read his mind that he was starting to regrett asking this question but it was out of his mouth before he could retract it. I thought, that’s an interesting question, I wonder how my witness will answer this question?
Then came the immediate reply, with gushing tears, screams and finger pointing to the defendant, ‘I know she is telling the truth, dad also did it to me on my 12th birthday.’
Horror was in the face of the lawyer. That was one question too many. He had nowhere to hide and it was high drama in the court room.
The female social worker who was comforting the victim then ran across the courtroom and started attacking the defendant with her handbag shouting ‘You Bastard, You Bloody Bastard.’
And the reaction of the defendant? He was wimping like a mongrel dog during the attack and not trying to defend himself to any degree. If anyone ever ‘acted guilty’ then this defendant was acting as absolutely guilty.
The first time the older sister had ever told any person about her being sexually assaulted by her step father was just then in the witness box.
The mother then rushed up to the witness box to console her older daughter and the police were trying to protect the defendant from the social worker.
Me, I just sat back in my chair with a smug smile and thought … well such thoughts were not complementary to the defence lawyer who was trying to now object to his own question as the witness was crying out to her mother, ‘Mum, Dad did it to me all the time till he started fucking her.”
It was too much for the Magistrate who stood up and adjourned the case till ‘order was restored’.
It was utter joyous pandemonium for this prosecutor.
I had two, the lawyer and his client who needed to palm face!
And yes, the defendant was committed that day for the offence and he was later charged with sexually assaulting his older step daughter.
Such high drama is exceptionally rare to see in a courtroom but that day still lives with me some 20 years later.
Greek Souvlaki with Tzaziki
Souvlaki are kabobs, usually made with beef, lamb or chicken and sometimes shrimp.
Yield: 6 servings; about 3 cups
Ingredients
Souvlaki
2 pounds lamb shoulder or 2 pounds sirloin tip, cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks
2 cups dry red wine
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons lemon rind, long strips
1/4 cup olive oil
Sweet peppers and cherry tomatoes as needed
Tzaziki
2 cups plain yogurt
1/2 English cucumber, peeled and grated
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Begin preparing the tzaziki a few hours before serving. The flavors need time to blend.
Marinate the meat overnight to absorb the wine and garlic.
Souvlaki: Place the meat in a large bowl. Pour in the wine and sprinkle minced garlic and oregano. Imbed the lemon strips among the cubes of meat and drizzle with olive oil. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate 12 hours or overnight. Shake or stir the mixture several times during the marinating period.
About 30 minutes before serving, drain off and discard the marinade. Thread the chunks of meat onto long skewers, brushing with a little olive oil.
Over medium coals, barbecue the souvlaki until it’s done the way you like it.
Serve on a bed of rice and pass the tzaziki to spoon on top.
Tzaziki: Line a colander or sieve with cheesecloth (or gauze) and set it over a bowl. Pour in the yogurt and allow it to drip for an hour or so.
After the yogurt has drained, combine it, in a small bowl, with the cucumber and the garlic. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until just before serving.
While the meat is barbecuing, drizzle the olive oil over the surface of the Tzaziki and, without stirring, sprinkle on the salt. It needs no mixing as your guests will do that when they dollop it onto their souvlaki.
When I was working as a police officer I had a call of a shoplifting with a minor, a girl of 14. At that age I was required to take her home to find an adult to release her to as she was considered “arrested on paper.”
When we got to her house she got out of the cruiser rather quickly and ran inside the home and brought out another teenager with her. I told the teen I needed to release her to an adult and as I started to go to the front door she blocked my way which seemed very odd.
I pressed on asking “is there an adult inside?” She responded that there was but that she would go in and get her. I stood about 6 feet from the open door and inhaled an odor from inside that I can only describe as truly putrid from inside that house.
I immediately began to suspect that the inside of the home was a “filth situation” and I walked around to the back to see if I was correct by looking in the windows, but almost all had closed curtains and it was dark inside the windows that I could see into.
The girl then exited the back door which again produced a rush of air that was truly disgusting. Again I attempted to gain entrance to the house but the girl stood in my way. Since I didn’t have a warrant to search the house and I couldn’t prove that it was a dangerous situation to justify a warrantless entry, I then released the girl to an adult relative who also eventually came out of the home,
Afterwards I wrote an information report to Child Protective Services relaying my suspicions that the inside of the house was filthy and a potential danger to those living inside.
A few months later I received a letter from one of the CPS investigators who had received my report. She wrote to tell me that she thought I’d want to know that they investigated the home and that it had been the worst case of child neglect and filth they had ever seen!
She said there was urine and feces everywhere from both humans and animals. She said that she was amazed that I had been able to make a determination that the house was a problem having never entered and by only using my sense of smell.
In 15 years I had been in a lot of dirty to filthy homes and somehow my sense of smell let me know that this home needed a look inside. The investigator said everyone (7 children in all) had been removed from the home, as there were no adults living there,the utilities had been shut off and the oldest child was trying desperately to keep the family together.
I felt sad that the family was split up but I knew how dangerous continuing to live in that house was going to be. This was one of the saddest cases I worked on and has always remained in my thoughts.
The best example of someone leaving their job was a former associate that I worked with. She had been through hell and back with the company. The boss had harassed her for years, causing her emotional and physical pain. She was overworked without getting much praise for it. She was blamed for every little thing. All this being said, she was no push over. She routinely stood up for herself, even putting her boss in his place several times. In all honesty, he was beyond incompetent. So there was no shortage of ways to put him in his place.
She was on the brink of quitting. What pushed her over the edge was a phone call she received while on her day off. The boss would start to berate her and blame her for the disarray the store was in. He called her lazy and good for nothing. This was the straw that broke the camels back. She walked into his office the next day and quit. She warned him that if his behavior continued, he would lose all his good workers; which he proceeded to lose. This turned out to be true because the following month, he lost two of his managers.
Fast forward to the present, the store is in worst shape and bleeding people constantly.
One of my kid’s friends who came over after a bday party to play said something to me I’ll never forget.
He was around 8. When offered snacks he declined.
When offered to play toys he declined.
He wanted to go on my patio to “ watch the sky”. When I joined him he was staring intently up. He pointed to the sky and said “ You should watch out. Watch out for the triangles. They come sometimes. They look at you and you can talk to them but it’s not like we talk. “
I asked him to elaborate. Who comes? What do they look like? How do they come to you?
“ No. Not just me. Lots of people see them. And animals too. Some are nice. Some are mean. You should watch out because you might see a mean one. They come in triangles. Big triangles. With lights. I can’t see them. But if you don’t run and listen they talk. The mean ones say they own us. The nice ones say they’ll protect us. The nice ones come in circles. So watch out for triangles. “ He said all this very matter -of -fact and seemed afraid but confident in his words. He claimed to have seen one just the other day
He then went inside and I don’t remember much after that. When his mom picked him up I asked her about what he said. She looked embarrassed and said something like oh don’t mind him and his wild imagination. This was late 90s and we were temporarily in Northern Canada in a rural area for work. We left shortly after. I still to this day watch the sky a little differently.
*Edit to Clarify
Forgot to mention when I asked the kid how many times this happened he said only a couple.
This was not a normal part of our planet for background. This was a vast frozen tundra with small communities accessible by dogsled and helicopter. Near the Arctic Circle. I don’t believe him per se but also don’t disbelieve entirely. I hope it’s not true.
“Can you hug me too?”Seeing owner embrace another companion,the rescued stray cat longs to be loved
I passed out engineering in 2007. I did not get any campus placements even after scoring first class with all papers cleared in first attempt.
So I moved to Bangalore in search of job by end of 2007, and joined a course for Java. I have 50 K money with me, this is the money I got as part of my mothers share. All my aim at that time was to get into a job, before I exhaust this 50K rupes.
I paid 10 K to java institute and spent 2 months there. The training was so poor and contrary to what they promised, no companies came for campus recruitment. Every month I need to pay 2500 rupees rent in PG, and cost of food is around 100 per day. The total cost per month would be around 5500 Rs.
After 2 months, I was left with 30 K. Again I spent one more month, the balance amount came to 25K.
I couldn’t get a job in software, and my real passion is VLSI since I am commimg from ECE stream. I attended around 30 placememts both inside and outside the campus, but not a single one I am able to crack.
I went to home with 25 K money. I told my parents about my VLSI dream. But my poor parents couldn’t afford it. The fees was 50K for 6 months course, and rent + food cost 30 K till course completion.
So I need another 55K for my dream course.I have to sell the golden chain of my mother as well a gold chain my grandma given to me before her death. We sold those gold chains and arranged money for my course. I was able to make some 45 K by selling those.
So I went to Bangalore back with 70 K rupees and paid 25 K as first installment of the course. Now really I need to cut short my expense, otherwise I will run out of money. So I moved to friends house, where I pay around 2000 Rs for rent. That way I can save 500 rs per month.
My bus fare was 10 rupees one side that time, so I walk past 2 stops so that I can save 2 rupees per day. Then I will have dosa from road side shops in the morning, so that I can skip lunch. I only ate breakfast and dinner. Lunch I used to have water, and then opted for tiger biscuit.
On Saturdays and sundays, I will sleep the whole days and have one time food. This saves money. I will study the whole night on weekends. Weekends are holidays for the institute.
On monthly basis my bank balance started diminishing, and I have to save each one rupee coin I have. Now I started walking 8 kms to office and then return in the evening by bus. That way I reduced bus fare from 20 rs to 8 rs. Earlier I saved 4 rupees by walking past 2 stops, so I can go for 8 + 8.
To manage money, I brought all my B.Tech text books from native and sold it in Bangalore. I managed to bring some 20 Kg books by train. O got another 2500 Rs for that.
By 5 th month, I am left with 4 K, and don’t know what to do. I tried myself and got placed in a small company that is willing to pay me 3000 Rs per month. The company is working in the field of VLSI. I happily joined the company.
The work hours are from 9 AM and can extend up to night 10 or 11. Sometimes night shifts. Though weekend are officially OFF, but they make us work on Saturdays mandatory. But I am so happy that they give 100 Rs food reimbursement on Saturdays and 100 Rs from snacks for night shift. I made use of this opportunity happily by testing my stamina and deteriorating my physical health.
By 20 th, my purse will be left empty, and I need to survive for next 10 days. So I keep 100 rs in my wallet for bus fare for the next 10 days. I am lucky that they distribute snacks at 6 PM daily. So I will have only snacks from 20 the to 26 th, and tons of machine tea. Tiger biscuits for lunch and dinner.
I get sodexo coupons worth 350 Rs on 26 or 27th of the month. So I use sodexo coupons from 26th to 30th the for food expense.
By 1 st, I get 3000/rs stipend, in which Rs 2000 will be given as rent, and Rs 1000 would be iny purse. I need to manage food for 1000 Rs for next 20 days from 1st to 20th and bus fare as well.
Me and my mom have 2 separate accounts in SBI. Since we don’t have money to maintain AQB, I use this 3000 Rs and swing between both of these accounts to maintain a 1000 Rs AQB in bank savings account. Cumulative amount in account shall be 90K for a quarter. I manage it somehow to maintain bank account.
This went for few months and one day
I was not even left with 10 rupees for bus fare. Then I made a call to my parents and asked them for some 400 rupees, telling them that my sandals got broken and I need money. I can’t say my real situation to my parents because they will feel bad that they were not able to support me.
My weight got reduced from 80 to 65 Kg in one year gap, and every time I say my parents its due to job stress. I hide the fact that I starve of limit my food intake to save money.
All my friends were placed in tops MNCs in Bangalotr., earning some 18 to 20 K per month.
I don’t know I should say it here, there are couple of times, I searched the left overs of the food, which my friend brought as parcel. It happend 2 to 3 times.
By this one year time frame, everybody branded me as a failure and only my parents given me the fire to pursue further.
By end of 2009, I got 10 k per month, and my weight suddenly spiked from 63 Kg to 75 Kg in 2 months. Everybody got surprised, I told them I started eating junk food, that’s why. Succcesfully hidfen the fact again.
After 2011, I changed 2 companies and now its my 3 rd company. Now I get in hand around 1.8 lakhs per month and other benfits.
Persistence and hardwork never goes waste.
############
Edit:
I am really overwhelmed with happiness after seeing the comments, as I never thought my story would be an inspiration to others.
I will clear some of the questions being raised in the comments:
Anonymous – Though I don’t like to go anonymous, but I have to because I have mentioned my take home salary. If I link my linkedin or Facebook profile, it would become a clear violation of company policies as I disclosed my salary in public forum. Second reason is that my friends and other know people are there in quora and online world. I am sure that some of my close friends will feel bad that I did not go to them for help in times of need.
Regarding my salary, its after 10 years of work experience, I am getting the mentioned amount. May be luck also matters, that few of my colleagues resigned from the organisation, and management looked at me to lead the team. In that way, I got few extra lakhs every year. Not my hardwork alone.
3. Somebody pointed about Government job, I somehow managed to arrange Rs 500 for applying BSNL JTO 2008 examination. After a great difficulty only I was able to arrange that money for application itself.
4. Shiv Shankar Panda – Appreciate your comment. You said said the fact to the point.
5. Happy to see that Shailesh sharma , Neha Yadav, and Bhaumik Raja that my story inspire the juniors.
Thanks for all the comments.
“Even the darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer”.
I landed a factory job in Michigan between my freshman and sophomore years of college at MSU. I was making $10/hr, which was great money at the time, considering minimum was $2/hr, and you could almost survive as a single guy on a minimum-wage job.
I was coming up on the end my 90-day probation when the general foreman dropped by my mill and asked me if I was going back to college, or did I want a full-time job. You know the phrase “young dumb and full of c.” I told him I wanted the job. He told me it was mine as of the next week.
The next day, the plant manager (big suit) never seen in my part — dirty part — of the plant, was in my foreman’s office when I started my shift. A little while later, I saw my grandfather walk in, and they all talked for a bit. After a while, my grandfather got up, pointed to me, shook the GM’s hand, then left.
A few minutes later, I was called to the office, and the GM said, “Sorry, Rich, we like the way you work, but Joe said I need to fire you. He said to tell you that he knows you are mad now, but you are going back to school, and he will get you canned from any job you take until you do.”
I really wasn’t mad, but I was more than a little bit frightened. My 5′6″, 120# grandfather, who had never worked anything other than plant labor (a different plant and a different company) his entire life (except for WWI army and WWII navy), called a high-and-mighty suit, and got him to go to the dirtiest part of the plant just to fire me and make me go back to college.
2023 Review: How China is Catching Up with the US in Key Tech Domains?
If my boss behaves inappropriately, particularly toward me, the last thing I’m concerned about it being respectful toward him/her. While working in IT at a community college, I had a boss who attempted to embarrass a coworker and I in front of an office full of staff, students, and school visitors. He announced, loudly, that we were doing our job wrong — we were rerouting a netwok cable — and asked if he had to do it himself. The thing is, he came as we were finishing the job up and were in the process of installing the wall port at the new location. That didn’t stop me from laying my tools on a desk and telling him to go ahead and finish up, since he could do it better, while my coworker and I went to lunch. Then we walked out of the office.
My coworker was so angry and embarrassed that he never returned; he sent the douche an email the next day saying he wouldn’t be back. The douche tried to write me up for insubordination — the douche was angry and embarrassed because I’d told him to finish the job and then walked away in front of a crowd of people — but his boss had heard about what he’d done and told him to leave me alone. The douche could dish it out, but he couldn’t take it, apparently.
The douche and I had a mutual dislike for one another from my first day at the school. In fact, he tried to have my job offer revoked when he was named to replace the former IT Director on an interim basis, but his boss wouldn’t let him do that, either. It pissed me off that my coworker was collateral damage in our feud — even though my coworker told me later that he’d planned to leave before the next semester — and I went out of my way to make life miserable for the douche my last two years at that job. It wasn’t difficult because he was not well-liked — even his boss would insult him in front of the techs he was supposed to be managing.
When I turned in my resignation he asked why I was leaving and I told him I could no longer work for someone I didn’t like or respect. In retrospect, I should have been ruder.
1. Pay attention to who you’re with when you feel your best.
2. How you are treated is more important than how much you like someone. Read it again.
3. You can leave a toxic relationship but if you don’t heal what attracted you to them, you will meet them again. The same demon, just in a different person.
4. If you get that gut feeling that something isn’t right about a person or situation, trust it.
5. Being alone is the beginning of something better with someone better.
6. You break your own heart by making somebody more important than you are to them. Never play yourself like that.
7.A boy will say: You deserve better.
but
A man will say: I will make myself better to deserve you.
Choose wisely.
8. You can feel when someone ain’t being real with you, energy never lies.
9. Sit with it.
Instead of drinking it away, smoking it away, sleeping it away, eating it away, f*cking it away, running from it.
Sit with it.
Healing happens by feeling.
10. Feeling safe in someone’s energy is a different type of intimacy. That feeling of peace and protection is really underrated.
11. Imagine a man who doesn’t stop pursuing you, even after he has you.
12. A good relationship is when two people accept each other’s past, support each other’s present, and love each other enough to encourage each other’s future. So don’t rush love. Find a partner who encourages you to grow, who won’t cling to you, who will let you go out into the world, and trust that you will come back. This is what true love is all about.
If you like my answer, drop it an upvote. Check out my profile for more relationships tips – Amy Swift
[Updates]
Don’t maintain relationships for the sake of it.
Age: 18–25, the age where you meet a lot of temporary people
Reports Claimed China’s Missiles Tech Could Wipe Out US Bases in Minutes
In today’s world of global power hungry giants, China emerges as a formidable force with an arsenal of thousands of missiles, capable of reshaping the dynamics of conflict. The alarming prospect of China having the ability to swiftly incapacitate U.S. bases in a war sparks intense discussions about the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific and settles one discussion of the whole debate, China has lurked in the shadows long enough and now it’s time is here.
As a young, newly qualified police Constable I was on mobile patrol with a more experienced officer. We stopped a car because one brake light was not functioning. But the driver was enraged. He didn’t think his transgression was worth stopping him. He had an urgent appointment to meet, and he communicated this very angrily, loudly and with lots of swear words. In a normal case it would be “Yes officer, why have you stopped me?” “Your brake lights are not working properly sir.” “Oh, thanks, can I carry on?” “Yes sir, if you are careful and don’t brake suddenly. Get them fixed asap.”
In this case my colleague could see I was getting angry at all the abuse. He pulled me aside and whispered in my ear “The ruder he gets, the politer you get. But don’t forget there are a lot of other things you could check. He’ll either calm down or he’ll assault you and then we’d have a good case.”
So I became excruciatingly polite. But… “So sorry to delay you sir, but I just have to measure the depth of tread of your tyres, including the spare. And make sure your screen wash bottle has sufficient water. Would you demonstrate that your wipers are working please?” “Yes, I’m really sorry about the delay, and my colleague will probably want to see all your documents.”
In this case his road rage melted away, and when he apologised for his attitude, we let him go.
Years later I became a senior officer in charge of a large traffic police formation. I told them all the story.
My teen years were tough because my father and I didn’t get along at all. When I was younger my little sisters would look for trouble for fun. When they were caught they’d lie to my parents and say I dared them. They’d smirk while I was beaten – not spanked. When I got married at 22 I began to understand my father as a man. On Oct. 30, 1979 I was saying goodbye to him. He was leaving PA to take a job as a quality control inspector at a nuclear power plant that was being built in Oregon. I suddenly grabbed him into a tight hug and begged him not to go. He’d already signed a contract and all arrangements had been made. I said “If you go I’ll never see you again.”. His reply was “ The next time you see me I won’t be able to see you. The pay is too good to pass up and I’ve never been to the west coast.” He had a heart attack and died on April 5, 1980, one week before he was to go home. The nuclear power plant never opened. It was 40 miles from Mt. St. Helens. When the volcano erupted it caused an earthquake which cracked the foundation of the plant. Thank goodness it wasn’t in operation yet. (Dad and I both had precognition. We often knew things were going to happen before they happened. I prayed for God to take away that ability as no one ever took my warnings seriously and I couldn’t save anyone from accidents or injuries. I’d talked to Dad the day before his death. He told me he had a strong feeling he’d never see home again. I knew that back in Oct. and we were both right.
Went out to a bar with some friends for a birthday party for my ex girlfriend. She really messed me up when she left me, like really bad, but I was trying to be nice since she invited me so I figured I’d go out and be there for a drink or two.
So, a mutual friend who had been broken up with a few days before and was there, so as I made the rounds I talked to her and tried to do whatever I could to let her know it would be ok. I’m no therapist, but I did my best ya know? I knew what a bad breakup felt like, as I was also going through one, so I tried to help.
Anyways, after I left the table I overheard her talking to my ex at the bar about me trying to give her advice and she said, “Well nobody has ever loved him so what does he know about any of this?” And they started laughing. Don’t think they know I heard, but I grabbed my coat immediately and took a long walk home.
I don’t need people like that in my life, haven’t willingly seen either of them since.
Enlisted in the military during Vietnam because there was no college money. Not drafted. Got out and got undergraduate and graduate degrees. Made absolutely sure I got the degrees in a field that paid off. Got a job at a company that had cut out retirement plans the previous year — so much for that myth. Did not have lifetime guaranteed employment complete with a gold watch. Worked for six companies over my career. Got married and had kids. First house was small enough to afford, 1300 square feet. It had a 17% mortgage. That’s seventeen, not seven. Paid every cent of the kids’ college educations, and they all have high-paying jobs. Told the kids to always save twenty-percent. They didn’t. They moved to Latteville and immediately rented McMansions in wealthier areas they couldn’t afford, even with their high salaries. They live hand-to-mouth, but make sure they have swimming pools and eBikes with custom paint jobs rendered by highly-regarded eBike artists. They occasionally hit me up for money. I retired 12 years before the average guy, so there’s that. I have more dough than I know what to do with, no one gave me a cent, and I’m not taking a beating from a real-estate agent to help you satisfy whatever selfish desires you may harbour. I like the house I’m in. It’s quite hard to understand why anyone would want to allocate living quarters in America the same way they did (still do) in the ex-Soviet Union. If so, you would qualify for 90 square feet. Anyway, just stay off my lawn.
Hi there. One of my biggest losing it moments occurred many years ago. I was still married to my now ex. We walked around the block to visit family for tea and a swim.
After dinner we all had quite a few drinks and I wanted to get the kids home. So we all said our goodbyes and proceeded to walk home. We were happily chatting on our walk, when my nephew, who wanted to stay at our place, said something smart assed to me in a joking way.
My ex whacked him up the back of his head, for disrespecting me. I wasn’t disrespected by anyone and we were all just mucking around having a laugh.
I absolutely lost my shit on him. My ex not my nephew. I grabbed him by the front of his shirt, punching him in the face as I rode him down to the ground. I then sat on top of him punching him over and over for hitting our nephew.
Next minute, flashing blue lights and a tall cop is telling me to stop and get off him.
I stood up and my ex just sat there, hands on his head, saying it’s ok because he deserved it.
They let us go home and my kids have never forgotten how pissed off their little muma can get if needed.
Happily divorced now. Kids all have kids. And he’s not in the picture much anymore.
In the late 70s I went to Phoenix for the first time and was staying with a friend who lived there, I bought a cheap car that was a long ways away from my friends house and was following him back to his place. He took a left, the light turned yellow. I had no clue where I was and I didn’t want to lose him. The cop that pulled me over said the light was red. He looked at my New York State license and said hey, you’re from a little town about 25 miles from my little home town. I’m thinking wow, we’re practically neighbors, he won’t give me a ticket. He saw my name and asked any relation to a Vince Dano? Holy shit, no ticket THAT’S MY UNCLE! That little prick he said as he wrote me a ticket. I asked him why my uncle was a prick? He called my uncle an asshole and said he used to be his little league coach. I guess he got benched. About 6 months later I’m in Florida with a job installing lawn sprinklers. I went to my apartment for a minute with the old work truck, left it running and ran inside, heard a crash ran back out and the truck was across the street in a guy’s yard. It had crashed though his fence and wiped out some lawn sprinklers. The old guy came out and I’m apologizing saying don’t worry, I’ll fix everything. As I’m working he asked me where I was from, I told him a little town in nys and he said he’s from a little town about 25 miles away from there. He told me his name I told him mine. He asked if I was related to Vince Dano? I was kind of hesitant thinking what did my little prick uncle do to piss this guy off and now he was going to call the cops. But I said yeah, he’s my uncle. Oh my God! the man said he’s my best friend, we used to coach little league together
Star Trek: TOS Enterprise Bridge Background Ambience *8 Hours* w/ quiet conversations, calming
Most aren’t. Most are saying one or more of these things:
The charges are politically motivated. (Doesn’t mean that they are true. Crimes go uncharged on a regular basis.) The charges aren’t meant to ruin his reputation or lead to convictions, but to tie up his time during the general election.
He is being charged for things that everyone in his position does. Not his position as president, but the charges against him for his business dealings, some of which were before his presidency. I remember hearing a real estate developer defending Trump’s supposed fudging of some real estate numbers to get more favorable terms as “standard operating procedure in the real estate business.”
The charges against him don’t make any difference, because no one ever voted for him for his squeaky-clean record.
I’m not a Trump supporter, but I see the logic in that last one. One saying I heard during every election, when the mud starts flying, is “Jesus isn’t on the ballot.” Every real contender for higher offices in the U.S. has a lot of skeletons in their closet. Many people don’t vote for who they want; they vote against who they don’t want.
Support for Trump is based largely on the fact that he’s not a Democrat. Support for Biden is based largely on the fact that he’s not Trump.
That’s why I’m convinced that any Republican candidate other than Trump can easily walk into the presidency if running against Biden. When three of the four pillars holding up Biden’s platform are simply “he’s not Trump,” his entire platform falls when Trump isn’t the other real contender.
A mere 30% voted for some form of independence but some kind of union with China!
70% prefers a one country 2 system with China but higher autonomy without independence! That is the result as much as you prefer to twist it. And of course all western media twist it as an independent minded candidate wins!
Win? He get a president title but it is weak minority that the 2 main party rule in the next 4 years. He cannot decide on shit let alone do shit for the west! The election result is a simply a pure disaster for Tsai Ing Wen and it ought to be recognised as such.
For China it is a decent result. And for Taiwanese people it hurts them! For western trouble makers. They twist and spin it as Taiwan wants independence! 30% result? 70% wants China. It knows it needs China!
Open letter to Chinese American high school students
Chinese Americans should look beyond the Ivy League farce and consider instead getting a real university education in China
The jig should have been up when the Varsity Blues scandal broke. Oh was it delicious. Hollywood actresses, hedge fund managers, winery owners, real estate developers and other assorted muckety-mucks sneaking their low-watt spawn into elite colleges. The fraud was so absurd you couldn’t make it up.
Rich people Photoshopping their kids playing sports, paying for medical “stupid” certifications to get “special” proctoring, hiring a Harvard grad SAT ringer able to deliver any score you want. Stanford, Yale, Cornell, Georgetown and we are not going to make USC jokes because the school has gotten a lot better in recent years.
And that Chinese girl who paid US$6.5 million to get into Stanford. Did you see her hour-long “I got into Stanford” video on YouTube? Oh the burns in the comments. If you could only read Chinese. Epic!
Of course, the joke is really on us. Because four years later, elite American universities – with additional malfeasance in the interim – continue to command the same prestige, elicit the same anxiety and demand the same obeisance.
The college counseling business is as hot as ever. Some are reportedly charging over a million dollars for white-glove service starting in the 7th grade, with a perfect record of admissions into HYPSM (if you have to ask, you can’t afford it).
And Asian Americans. Did you really think you scored a win when the Supreme Court scrapped affirmative action last year? The universities saw it coming a mile away and became test-optional well before the gavel came down. Underrepresented applicants are polishing their essays on how they’ve thrived in unsafe spaces while you are stuck with the surname Zhang.
So what can you do? You’ve already maxed out the SATs, signed up for every AP class, play the oboe, do bogus charity work and took up a ridiculous sport like fencing. At this point, it’s just one giant crap shoot.
Will the admissions officer like your essay on teaching inner-city kids at math camp (but they really taught you)? Does Yale need another oboist? Will your history teacher write a flashy enough recommendation?
And even if you do get into HYPSM (or its sorry near peers), you will be surrounded by a sea of people who maxed out on the SATs, took every AP class, play an instrument, did bogus charity work and took up a ridiculous sport like water polo. If it is true that you learn the most from your peers, then HYPSM will likely prove less educational than high school.
If you are lucky and go to a regular high school, at least you are exposed to regular people with regular aspirations and regular opinions – deplorable as they may be. In HYPSM, you will join the tiresome Westoid elite with their anxious entitlement and risible pretensions. It’s a nauseating mélange of sanctimony, condescension, virtue signaling, victim larping and look-at-me posturing.
The only people you might learn something from are the international students who mostly keep to themselves after discovering how loud, deranged and solipsistic their American classmates are.
You will discover that student cliques mostly keep to themselves – international students with international students, blacks with blacks, Asian Americans with Asian Americans, frat boys with frat boys, sorority girls with sorority girls (okay, frat boys and sorority girls do mix).
You will while away four years, slowly socialized into Westoid elitism with its arcane rules of self-censorship and approved aspirations, until your life path is narrowed down to finance, consulting or tech. This is made tolerable by drunken debauchery and meaningless hookups (that’s what the kids tell me anyways) that passes for a social life.
All of this is to deliver an indoctrinated end product to Wall Street and Silicon Valley which has accomplished the miracle of hijacking both progressivism and capitalism while impoverishing the rest of America. Evidently, there are progressive non-solutions to every problem which coincidentally increase FAANG share prices.
Somewhere in the back of your mind, you know it’s all a giant farce. The system broke down decades ago. Really, what are the chances you go to a “regular” high school and expect the meritocracy to pick you from the haystack? No, your parents scrimped and saved, fought tooth and nail, to buy that house in Tenafly, New Jersey or Mountain View, California.
College admissions was your religion since birth. Sunday afternoon is for test prep classes (Saturday mornings are for Chinese school; we will get back to that). And when the time comes, your anxiety-ridden parents will fork over a pretty penny for a college counselor, if not white glove S-Class level.
If you think this isn’t farcical enough, the racket has now gone international. Longtime China resident and insightful Twitter commentator Arnaud Bertrand relays a familiar story. His ultra-wealthy Chinese friend has decided to move his family to California largely to buy his children into the American elite.
The friend plans to purchase a house in the best California school district and hire top tutors for his children, confident that it will pave the way to prestigious American universities and elite status in Western society.
Mr Bertrand explains, “Why isn’t this possible in China? Because China has invested considerable efforts – and continues to do so – to ensure that wealth couldn’t ‘game’ the education system.”
China’s schools are not funded by local property taxes. The government did away with guaranteeing school placement based on property ownership. Private schools exist but enrollment is by lottery. And famously, China, in one fell swoop, scrapped the entire for-profit tutoring industry.
Of course, explains Mr Bertrand, none of these measure are perfect. An underground tutoring industry continues to operate. The ultra-wealthy can hire household “help” with PhDs. But his wealthy friend likely reached the correct conclusion – his money has a better chance of buying his children into America’s elite than China’s.
Some of Mr Bertrand’s observations deserve to be quoted in full:
This all raises the bigger question of the reproduction of elites. In the long run, which society is more sustainable and fares better: one that does little to avoid the reproduction of elites like the US (which – contrary to the “American dream” narrative – is one of the high-income economies with the lowest rates of relative upward mobility) or one that actively fights it to enforce, to the extent possible, a meritocracy?
What my friend’s story illustrates is actually even more than this: in the US you don’t even only have a reproduction of local elites but you also have elites from other countries who come to the US because it’s easier to reproduce there!
This may all be grim reading for the anxious Chinese American high school junior. But fear not! Han Feizi does not come bearing bad news but rather with an offering of devastating logic.
Remember Saturday morning Chinese school? Where you go to socialize and misbehave? Well strap yourself down and get back up to 1,500 characters!
An arbitrage opportunity of historic proportions has opened up. Forget about HYPSM. There is nothing for you to learn there. It was already done and dusted 20 years ago. The sheeple just haven’t realized it.
Remember this acronym: TPSFZUN. That’s Tsinghua, Peking, Shanghai Jiao Tong, Fudan, Zhejiang, USTC and Nanjing. Yeah, it’s a mouthful, but it’s not like HYPSM was so obvious. And we are not talking study abroad. We are talking the full four-year degree shebang!
Vaclav Havel famously said that China’s development “has happened so quickly, we have not yet had time to be astonished.” This applies to higher education as well.
In 2004, Tsinghua was ranked 62 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. In 2024, Tsinghua ranked 12th in the world and 1st in Asia (with arch-nemesis Peking University at 14th). Both ranked higher than the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth and Brown.
Seven of the top 10 research universities in the Nature Index are now in China – University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), Nanjing University, Tsinghua University, Peking University, Zhejiang University and Fudan University.
One of the metrics weighing down the rankings of Chinese universities is their lack of international students. And that’s where you come in! This arbitrage is just asking to be exploited. As an overseas applicant, you get the full DEI treatment. You are the underrepresented minority, the diversity admit, the token international student!
Don’t get me wrong, they don’t take just anybody. You still have to be a top student with a near 4.0 GPA and SATs over 1400. The biggest hurdle will probably be Mandarin proficiency which, depending on the school, you need either HSK4 or HSK5 to matriculate.
All things considered, however, it’s a buyer’s market allowing you to short-circuit both the soul-crushing hell of the gaokao and the humiliating dog and pony show of applying to HYPSM.
Let’s first get one jaw-dropper out of the way. It is an important consideration for many families, especially if yours stretched themselves sending you to private school. Four years of tuition as an international student at Tsinghua will set mom and dad back about $17,000 (room and board are extra). You are free to do your own calculations for HYPSM.
This is, of course, about much more than arbitraging school rankings and acceptance rates (and cheaper tuition). What you are actually getting by choosing this road is a real education. Let me explain. There are important directionality and timing elements involved.
There is a lot of truth to the cliché that modern China is a closed society with an open mind while America is an open society with a closed mind. It is relatively straightforward for a Chinese national to study in the US given the open minds of China’s youth and America’s open society. The reverse is problematic. Chinese society is far more insular and the minds of American youths are generally closed to outside input.
The Chinese American, however, is a different animal and has a window of opportunity. The width of this window depends on how seriously you took Saturday morning Chinese school. Some of you are actively discussing Genshin Impact on Weibo and can sail through HSK7. Others have more work to do.
But for most of you, there is a solid enough base to build on. The best strategy may be to stretch college out to five years with the first year in language immersion (five years of undergraduate tuition is $21,000).
To be sure, this road is not for the faint of heart. You will not be comfortably surrounded by cookie-cutter versions of yourself who maxed out on the SATs, took every AP class, play an instrument, did bogus charity work and took up a ridiculous sport like diving.
You will be surrounded by gaokao mutants whose intellect can be so blazing it’s like staring at the sun (thankfully, there are slackers as well). You might be constantly fighting a language deficiency. And through it all, you have the additional burden of going through the many stages of culture shock.
On the positive side, the liberal arts education at elite Chinese universities may surprise you. The resentment warriors in American academia are laying siege to the Western canon, poisoning every facet of the liberal arts education.
While politics has always encroached on academia in China, the boundaries are far better defined. Chinese universities may, in fact, be a healthier environment to study the Western canon given the immolating culture wars currently being waged on American campuses (see here). Nobody at Fudan cares if Hegel is dead, white or male.
On a side note, this letter is addressed to Chinese Americans (and the diaspora in general) to knock some sense into them. It also applies, with certain caveats, to non-ethnic Chinese. It can be done, has been done and should be done more.
Anecdotally, non-ethnic Chinese Westerners who have successfully taken this road are eccentrics. These oddballs have gotten a far superior education than HYPSM could possibly provide because they would have had to shake off Western solipsism and open their minds.
All of this, in the end, represents an opportunity for a real education – to be outside your comfort zone, to be stretched, to interact with the unfamiliar. You have a short window in your youth to gain lifelong access to the closed society that is China. It cannot be done after undergrad anymore.
Decades ago, when China was short on talent, carpet-bagging Ivy League Chinese Americans flocked to Beijing and Shanghai. Nowadays, one can run a couple hundred meters down Chang’an Avenue with arms outstretched and knock over a dozen Chinese nationals with HYPSM degrees.
Don’t worry, you will never lose access to the West. That is guaranteed by your native command of English. For many of you, especially if a decent amount of Chinese was spoken at home, you have the opportunity in your university years to claim full native command of Mandarin. If you want it, it is yours for the taking. If you don’t claim it now, it will be lost in time.
I sense skepticism and hesitation. Of course, this is normal. This is not a well-worn path. There are no how-to manuals or consulting companies guiding students on this road. The street lamps have not been installed and you even wonder if this road comes to an abrupt end just outside your view.
If you are worried about future placement chances at Goldman Sachs, you should probably forget the whole enterprise. With decades of experience in investment banks, Han Feizi can say that he was always looking for the unicorn, the luminous being, the perfectly bilingual and bicultural animal.
At some point, you have to have Confucian faith that learning is its own reward. Planning for the future is a fool’s errand. To take the road less traveled, next to having children, is the ultimate expression of hope. We leave you with perhaps Lu Xun’s most famous quote:
“Hope cannot be said to exist, nor can it be said not to exist. It is just like the roads made across the earth. For actually there were no roads to begin with, but when many people pass one way a road is made.”
COMMENTS
Brilliant! I’d also encourage the same audience to consider other English-track degrees at universities in Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, and to a lesser extent Malaysia, Germany, and Korea. Also thanks for summarizing the entry requirements and tuition in China. Note that not all of the TPSFZUN have a full slate of majors for international students studying exclusively in English. But especially those seeking STEM careers that will hold outsized weight back in the United States, one can tap into the unique Chinese economic leadership in engineering, AI and data mining, and environmental mechanics. A quick browse of English-taught curriculum at Tsinghua is impressive:
Great essay! As they say “its funny because its true!” Really a brilliant idea
NASA Confirms the Discovery of the Tenth Planet! It Is Larger than Pluto!
A little over two years ago I filed a small claims suit against a guy I made the mistake or renting a room to. He asked to have the hearing rescheduled, then rescheduled again. He asked for a third time and they said no. He was unprepared. He was asked about some documents and said he had seen them, then moments later denied ever having seen them. It didn’t go well for him. The judge issued a judgment in my favor. He stormed out, saying he was going to file an appeal.
He had three weeks to do so. He didn’t. I suspect that is because he would have been required to put up the amount of the judgment as a bond. Since he rents rooms he can pack up and move easily, and before the three week appeal period was up he’d moved again.
It took a couple of months to find him again. I sent a demand letter and got no response. I sent post judgment interrogatories (questions to try to determine what, if any assets, he had). He didn’t respond. I repeated that a couple of times. No response.
I filed for a motion to compel. The judge issued that in October. He had to respond, and the judge added a $500 penalty. He didn’t respond.
We currently have another hearing scheduled for early February for Contempt of Court. I’m not optimistic.
The legal system is set-up to protect the deadbeats of the world. I called a legal aid service but they said they couldn’t advise me because of a conflict of interest — he had contacted them for help sometime in all this. A lawyer I paid for advice said the court could issue a bench warrant and have him held for up to six months and issue another $500 fine but I don’t believe this Judge will do so.
After all this got started I learned that the guy had two small claims cases he lost in California before coming to Texas. One was for $15k and involved rent he owed to a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy. He’d rented a room from this officer. The officer got deployed and the deadbeat was supposed to pay his rent payments to the bank and never did. It wasn’t until the officer started getting contacted about insufficient funds for his mortgage payments he knew something was wrong. In the other case, he’d told someone he met at a gym that he was a licensed stock broker. He eventually persuaded the person to give him $25k to invest with promise of $300k in a matter of a few months. Then he gave the victim the run around. The victim found out he wasn’t a licensed broker (required in California) and demanded his money back. He then ghosted the victim and moved. The victim filed suit and was awarded $30k with interest. He left the state.
We don’t have debtor prisons and the judge in this case isn’t likely to put him in jail over a pretty modest sum (about $1,600 now).
She thought I was an extra that would eventually fade away. My wife and I have been lucky in love and lucky to stay that way. We were married thirty years when my mother in law passed.
This long happy marriage was a thorn in her heel.
One of the last Christmas’s consisted of nice envelopes from the bank with Ben Franklin’s reassuring face smiling through the old time holly and Christmas bells. There was a bit of a problem. One Benjamin was missing, but there was a present that looked like half of a basket ball that had enough tape on it to secure a team.
It had my name on it.
I carefully removed the paper so she could use it again. When the present was revealed, it was not a basket ball in need of a pump. It was a three piece set of plastic mixing bowls with blue ducks waddling around them in an unending line.
My wife was furious.
The next Christmas there was a Ben Franklin with my name on it.
Greek Sesame Bread
Ingredients
1/2 cup lukewarm water
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 tablespoons lukewarm milk
1 envelope active dry yeast
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
Instructions
Combine the water, oil, milk, and yeast in a mixing bowl and stir to dissolve the yeast. Add 1 cup of the flour and the salt and beat with an electric mixer for 2 minutes. Add the remaining flour and beat to form a stiff dough. Knead the dough on a floured surface until smooth and elastic. Place in a lightly greased bowl, cover with a dish towel, and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in volume.
Punch the dough down and form into a round loaf on a lightly-floured baking sheet.
Beat the egg with the milk and brush the dough with the mixture. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, and cut a deep cross in the top of the loaf with a very sharp knife or razor blade. Cover and allow to rise until double in volume.
Place a cake pan with 1 inch of water in it on the bottom shelf of the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Bake the loaf for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and bake an additional 15 minutes, until golden brown. Test for doneness by thumping the bottom of the loaf – it should produce a hollow sound.
I can tell you that having been an EMT, I have seen a lot of rough stuff with home break ins. Of those where the occupant did not make it out, They were all unarmed. Some tried to fight back, some didn’t. But the absolute worst cases were those where the intruder felt they had absolute control of the situation.
Of those where the occupant made it out and successfully fought off an intruder, by the time the police arrived (with us not far behind) The occupant was STILL ready to fight and kill.
with a home intruder, you are not shooing off a rodent. You are fighting off natures apex predator, humans. One thing that can get you killed faster than anything is hesitation in your purpose.
If there is someone in your house that is not supposed to be there, You can not confront them with the hopes of tying them up scooby-doo style and waiting for the cops. There is three things one can do; Kill, hide, or run.
I say “kill” and not “fight” because “fight” confuses the purpose. Your purpose when they are in the house, is to KILL. Thinking ANYTHING ELSE, can make your body do weird things, like NOT STRIKE in the place it needs to in order to kill. It is already hard enough to put a sharp object though a breast bone, Even worse if you are half-hearted about it.
It takes far less to slash a throat, stab the gut, kidney etc. Or just start stabbing quickly and repeatedly and randomly. You won’t do that if you have confused your purpose.
I want you to know, though, that this is one of the most brutal you will ever engage in and will likely cause permanent mental scars as what will result is a **LOT** of blood. This will also likely cause a divorce as it will quite possibly cause your significant other to fear the living hell out of you. No matter what you did, stab them, beat them You will have used your hands to have killed another human.
With a gun, there is a degree of separation that somehow allows humans to think there is a “not as bad” level to it. You don’t have to REALLY commit to killing, just let the bullet do it for you.
In the end, all of your options are calculated risks.
EDIT: After re-reading this, I find that My recommendation for using a knife in place of a firearm (if you just *have* to) is not clear. But you need to realize that a knife is more brutal and traumatizing to the user on average than a firearm. Obviously, this is subjective to the individual, and my only “Data” on this is the calls I have responded to over about a decade as an EMT.
Hire slow; fire fast
Our local version of Costco is called PriceSmart.
Isn’t that a clever name?
A lady in front of me, at the queue to cash, decided she was cleverer than me and all the fine people employed at PriceSmart.
To shop at PriceSmart you have to be a member. You do this by purchasing a membership subscription card which allows you a year of membership. For the average Joe it’s a tad costly ($265 TT) but the savings you get shopping at PriceSmart, more than makes up for it.
I’m a very economical shopper and I tend to purchase only the bare necessities and would treat myself to something nice only once in a blue moon. This lady in front of me had a cart piled with groceries and also several treats ranging from frozen salmon burgers, Lindt, Toblerone and Mars chocolates, smoked almonds and ribs. Clearly she was not a poor lady.
When we neared the cashier she suddenly turned around to stare me in the eyes. This is the conversation that followed.
Lady: You don’t mind if I use your card right?
Me: For what?
Lady: To cash.
Me: You don’t have a card?
Lady: No. Can’t afford it.
I then stared at her pile of groceries tethering at the edge of her trolley. Her bottle of Grey Goose Vodka was almost $300TT but she ‘couldn’t afford’ a $200TT (at that time) membership.
Me: It’s only $200 for the membership and it takes just a minute.
I saw her face suddenly transform into a look of complete irritation. It was as if I was asking her for the favour.
Lady: I don’t have the money right now. I just told you. People need to help each other.
Me: Well I can’t lend you my card.
Lady: Why?
Me: Because I don’t know you.
Lady: You need to know me to help me?
At that point I remained silent. I didn’t want to call her out for attempting to use random strangers for her financial convenience. I didn’t want to argue that I spent my hard earned money on this membership and she ought to make that sacrifice also rather than gorge on her four rotisserie chickens as it was not my place to say.
Instead she went to the man in front of her, giving him a sad story of how she just lost her card and this stuff is for her mother. The guy took the bait and lent her his card. She then stared at me as if to say, ‘Got anything to say now?’
Clearly this wasn’t the first time she did this and it definitely wasn’t going to be the last.
Some people may not see the big deal of what happened there but to me she is trash: a selfish and cheap opportunist. She is a leech on PriceSmart (who generates a profit from membership fees) and on the good people around her who make the necessary sacrifices for the greater good.
Edit 24.11.21Whoa. 5K upvotes. I always thought venting anger never got people anywhere. Was wise enough to avoid that lady’s scheme. Was not so wise as a teenager when I fell for a bootlegger’s silly scam. Click hereto read all about it.
No matter how bad is your life now, how disgusting your life might be, how ugly you may look and how badly life is f*cking you, never ever lose hope.
Have the positive attitude towards life and get surrounded by the positive personalities.
Never ever lose hope!
Couple of months back I met my 2 engineering friends after 2 years from engineering days. We are all living in 3 different cities as of now, somehow we managed our busy schedules and we met finally.
Sharath and Sagar, my engineering close friends. Sharath is the one who introduced me to alcohol in engineering days.
Sharath, a son of highly influential politician son. He need not to worry about money in life. He is preparing to crack “Sub Inspector” post and he is taking coaching in Hyderabad now.
Sagar, a son of a farmer. He is working in apprenticeship program for an year in a manufacturing company in Chennai for a stipend of rupees 5,000 per month. He has 2 sisters and he needs to marry them off. His father is in debt. He is from lower middle class family.
Me?
I’m too from a lower middle class.
We were sitting in the outer ring road at 10 pm that night, talking random things. Then, Sharath got a call from his girlfriend, so he went aside to talk to her in private. So, me and Sagar were having a conversation in the absence of Sharath.
Me: Sharath need not worry about life and he need not to struggle in his life to make money, because his parents are already making huge money and property for him. You (pointing to Sagar) and me should work our ass off to get settled and to become rich in life.
Sagar: Sharath’s parents didn’t give him the opportunity for him to become rich. Look how lucky me and you are, because our parents gave us the opportunity to become rich. Shouldn’t we take this as a fire in our belly?
Sagar is getting a stipend of rupees of 5,000 per month from a manufacturing company in Chennai. He is still struggling to find a job. He failed in 14 interviews so far. He has 2 sisters and he needs to bear the expenses of their marriage. His father is a farmer and is in debt.
Despite having such obstacles in life, Sagar’s confidence and attitude towards life is simply appreciable.
I have said this many times before. But I want to underline some things today.
When I was a senior in High School, I proudly wore a choker collar, puffy sleeved polyester printed shirts with a wide collar, and elephant bell-bottom jeans. Oh, and I also wore earth shoes, and rock-star boots. I was so fashionable!
I also drove a orange “goat” GTO.
And that was my life then.
Today, I am really different, as is my life.
Life changes. You will change.
ADVICE…
Embrace your moments. Savor your experiences. Remember that they will wane over time. So please treasure them.
When I was a teenager I was bullied by a local group of kids, all of them a few years older than me. Two of them were particularly vile. I am changing the names. One was Patrick and the other was Gavin. Patrick was a horrible weasel who basically incited the others to beat the crap out of me, and rarely got his own hands dirty. Gavin was a sociopath who rarely showed any emotion whatsoever. One particular time me and friends were playing near a train track (as kids did in the 90s), and I heard Patrick’s voice saying “Hey Gavin there he is he wants to fight you.” Sure enough along walks Gavin and grabs me and says “I hear you want to fight me….” I assured him this wasn’t the case, but he proceeded to knock the shit out of me. And I don’t just mean a few punches in the ribs. He pummelled my face multiple times. I am pretty sure I had concussion. Anyway, halfway through the beating I hear the unmistakeable sound of a train coming. Gavin hears it too. “Come on, we’re both going to die.” and he begins dragging me onto the tracks. And he was correct, in that we both would have been killed. He clearly didn’t care. The only thing that saved me was that I was able to grab hold of a length of builder’s wire that was half buried in the ground, and must have been attached to a lump of buried concrete because miraculously it held firm. Gavin was straining with every ounce of his strength to drag me and him into the path of the train. I vividly remember the train zooming past and I looked at Gavin, his teeth bared in anger as he tried to dislodge me. I remember giggling because Gavin was closer to the train than me. If my t shirt had torn, or if the wire had come loose, then Gavin would surely have fallen under the train first. Gavin eventually tired of beating me after the train was gone and I stumbled home, sore, ashamed and shaken. My face was so badly battered that when I told my father that I had fallen off some scaffolding while playing at a building site, he believed me. Both my eyes were so badly bloodshot that my eyeball went red. I had black eyes and bruises all across my face and neck and ribs. The bullying wasn’t a once off, but that was one of the worst instances of it for me.
Polish Cinnamon Cake
Ingredients
12 tablespoons butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
3 teaspoons cinnamon
A grating of fresh nutmeg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Beat the butter until it is soft and fluffy. Add 3/4 cup of the sugar and the egg and continue beating. Add 2 teaspoons of the cinnamon, the nutmeg and flour, and beat until well mixed.
Spread about 1/3 of the batter on an ungreased baking sheet, forming a rectangle about 10 x 12 inches and bake in a preheated 400 degrees F oven for 8 minutes, until lightly browned.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
Repeat two more times with the remaining batter.
Whip the cream until stiff, and fold in the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, the remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon and the vanilla extract. Spread a thin layer of whipped cream on one of the cakes, top with another cake, and repeat.
Spread remaining whipped cream on the top and serve immediately.
We lived in Base Housing, kids all over the place, filling the sandbox, fighting, arguing, being nice, being nasty. My four-year-old was a little redhead like his mommy and, like his mommy, often in trouble. Or, if not in trouble, causing it.
One day, another mommy, who was often irate because someone had wronged her little golden-curled darling who had the demeanor of an angel and the personality of a wasp, came to me with her howling little guy. His tears looked genuine. So did her anger.
“Your child needs to be controlled,” she said, “he bit Tony. Look!” She dragged Tony’s plump little arm out to show me four perfect tooth marks.
I said, “Are you sure it was Brian?”
She snarled, “Of course I’m sure. I saw him do it. He sank his teeth right into Tony’s arm.”
I said, “Bri, did you bite Tony?” He shook his head.
Mama Bear, filled with righteous fury, shrieked that he was a liar and my husband would be hearing from the CO if we didn’t teach our child civilized manners.
I just said, “Brian, smile at the lady.” Because he was an obliging child who genuinely liked people, he willing smiled at the lady—with his three front teeth, two on the bottom, one on the top, gleaming in the sunshine. His left top incisor had been knocked out when he was acting the fool in the bathtub about six months before. She didn’t even apologize to him, just stomped off, dragging poor, injured little Tony behind her like a pull toy.
Well, you shouldn’t be. At least not yet. Let me tell you the whole truth first. Because once I do that, you aren’t going to be just shocked. You would be horrified, outraged, possibly traumatized for life.
I’ve been working in the tech world for quite a while now, and the wealth of “insider secrets” that I’ve accumulated along the way would be sufficient to fill a book in itself. But nothing comes close to this one single revelation, that I can positively say, has destroyed my faith in humanity. Once you finish this answer, you are not going to be the same person anymore, that much I can promise.
Let me ask you a very simple question –
How do you think the login process works?
Let’s say you want to open your Facebook.
You go to the login page.
You enter your username.
You then enter your password, which appears in all asterisks to prevent any unwanted ‘shoulder-surfing’. That’s crude. But effective too. And necessary. You see, the First Law of Passwords (okay, I just made up that phrase) states that there should be only one entity in the entire universe that should have access to your password – your brain. If a second copy of your password exists somewhere – say, on a piece of paper where you casually wrote it down thinking it’ll help you remember later, or in the password box where you just entered it, or engraved on a rock on planet Jupiter; somebody might be able to access it (theoretically speaking) and your security would be completely compromised. So, only one copy. Ever. Remember that.
Now, you press the Submit button.
But Abhimanyu, wait a minute! After I just pressed the Submit button, I got logged in. This means that some system on the other side must have verified that what I entered was indeed my password. But then, this system must have access to my correct password too! Otherwise, what will it compare my input with? Facebook must keep a second copy of my password somewhere!!!
The host website needs a copy of the password!
You are right. That’s a problem indeed. You might think that this is kind of okay since this second copy would exist with Facebook, which is the website that hosts your account in the first place. They would keep it safe, wouldn’t they?
But think about it.
Facebook, as an organization, is made up of humans just like you and me. What if some employee at Facebook has access to this code and could see your password? What if this was your bank account instead. What if Facebook was hacked and the hacker could see this code that has your password in it. Imagine the havoc this person might cause.
So a second copy is never okay, even if it exists on the parent website itself!
But then how would the website log you in? If it does not know your correct password, what will it compare your input to? How will it verify that you’re you?
That’s precisely the problem our engineering godfathers faced when they set out to design the entire system of passwords. And these guys were smart! They come up with an ingenious idea that would beautifully solve the problem.
The idea of Hash Functions.
The concept is extremely simple. A hash function is just a mathematical function. You input any word into it and it generates an output that looks like complete garbage.
But the devil, as they say, lies in the details –
The same word would always give rise to the same garbage.
Two different words would (almost) always lead to two completely different garbages.
There’s no way to look at the garbage and tell what the original word was. And just to be clear, this is not for the lack of trying. No. This is a fundamental mathematically restriction on the nature of hash functions. They are not invertible. They work one-way only. There’s no way to reverse engineer the garbage and get a peek at the word that produced it. Not even when you know the exact hash function.
Fun fact – This garbage is called the ‘hash’ of the input word.
Here’s how Hashes are used in login systems –
When you first create your account, you choose a password. This password is never stored by the website as it is. Rather, the website first hashes your password and then stores this hash in its database.
Now, when you try to log in the next time, the input you enter in your password box is first hashed, and then sent to the website. If your entered password is the correct one, this incoming hash would be the same as the hash the website had earlier stored in its database. That’s because the same word always gives the same hash (Rule 1 above). On the other hand, if you entered something different, the incoming hash would be different from the one that the website has got stored in its database next to your name (Rule 2 above).
The website compares the two, and if they match, bingo! You are logged in.
Now even if someone hacked into Facebook and copied the entire database, all they would see are these garbage hashes stored next to the usernames. They wouldn’t be able to deduce the original password from these hashes (Rule 3 above).
What if they tried to copy your hash from the database, open Facebook login page in their browser, and then enter the copied hash in the password field as it is (along with your username in the username field)?
Since Facebook’s login flow always hashes the incoming input, it would hash this hash too, and that would produce something completely different. On matching that with what is stored in the database, a big fat fuck-you would be returned.
So even when the hacker has got the entire user table, he still can’t do any damage!
Beautiful concept, isn’t it?
Except that it’s a complete pain in the ass for companies to implement and manage.
For starters, you have to integrate the hashing mechanism in your login flow which leads to considerable overhead. Actually, with modern libraries and frameworks, this part is no longer that big of a deal. The real pain lies in providing technical support to the customers.
Let’s say you are Flipkart.
A customer calls in to complain that he is unable to add a certain item to his cart.
The customer’s issue is escalated to the development team, where you, the poor developer, just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and lo and behold! The issue gets assigned to you.
All you know is that there’s a certain customer with this particular customer id and he’s unable to add an item to his cart.
That’s it.
That’s all you know.
Remember, the user can see the issue happening on his device in real time, but you can’t. You don’t have access to his account.
So, you send a request to the server team to access the error logs from the server, all the while praying to God that you find something useful in those logs – something that will nudge you in the right direction. But you have to be extremely lucky to find something helpful. More often than not, the issue would turn out to be a ghost issue that occurred because the user was doing something stupid, and you would spend an entire night on a wild goose-chase.
If you do manage to learn something helpful from the logs, you would then have to create a test account and try to replicate the issue there, which is just the beginning of the long and tedious process we call bug-hunting.
Either way, it’s going to be a long night.
But what if, let’s say, you did have access to user’s password? (Imagine a red devil sitting on your shoulder whispering this entire paragraph in your ear). You could simply log into his account and check if it’s a ghost issue. You’d be done in like five minutes. Even if it turns out to be a legitimate issue, you can trigger it again from the user’s account itself, and get a much quicker lead on the location of the bug!
The convenience is just too much to ignore!
You begin to get lusty.
Your mouth begins to drool.
And you give in.
Most of the companies in the IT industry that are customer-facing, store your passwords in their database in clear text. Without hashing!
Most of the clients that I’ve worked with as a penetration-tester, most of the companies I’ve done projects for, most of the websites I’ve hacked – all were storing passwords in stark naked clear-text. Plain as the day. Sitting right there for any employee or hacker to see.
I have seen database tables – with rows upon rows of clear text passwords – hundreds of thousands of them – all visible to the naked eye – ripe, juicy, ready to be exploited – their owners completely unaware, utterly naive, sleeping peacefully in their beds without a care in the world.
Now in all fairness, I must admit here that I’m sure none of the top-tier websites are doing this stupidity. Google isn’t doing it. Facebook isn’t doing it. Flipkart isn’t doing it. Your bank, definitely not.
But tier-two and three websites? They are. Startups? You bet your ass they are.
But that’s not all –
Most people, in an act of supreme foolishness, set the same password for all their accounts.
Because let’s face it, they’re the same. Aren’t they?
All I have to do is hack this le random website, which is going to be a piece of cake. Sites like these are not big on security. As soon as I get into their database, I’ll have access to thousands of email id and password pairs, most of which will work verbatim on Gmail.
If you’re extremely unlucky, they’ll work on Paytm too.
And if with some cruel and twisted idea of fun in mind, your fate decided to truly fuck you over, they would work on your Bank’s website too !
Not me but my father in law. In 1957 he got out of the Army and first thing he did was buy a new Plymouth Fury. Not being a car guy he just picked the first one on the lot and drove it home. He had moved back in with his parents and his dad still had a curfue for him. One night he was going to be late so he opened it up to get home faster. He soon saw flashing lights in his rear view mirror but soon lost them and made it home in time. A few minutes after he got home a police car pulled up in the yard. Small town and the cop had recognized his car. Instead of getting arrested the cop told him to be at the start of Nine Mile Road at 9:00 the next night. This road had a long straight part through a swamp with no side roads. So he shows up and county police have set up a drag race. They had stopped traffic at both ends of the straight and the cop with the fastest cruiser lined up beside him. They had new Plymouth Furys with the police engine option. They take off and are neck and neck until the police car tops out and my father in law’s car keeps pulling away. He was fully stopped and out of his car at the other end before the cop car got there.
The cop comes up and ask him what modifications he has made to the car. He tells them he hasn’t even opened the hood since he bought it. They then open the hood and instead of the standard 301 Plymouth engine it had a 392 Chrysler Hemi.
One day my Mom asked me where to go to replace a broken window on her car. When I asked what happened to the window, she said someone threw a brick through it. She was driving through an area with a lot of gangs and saw 2 guys chasing 1 guy. She didn’t like the odds, so pulled her car onto the sidewalk between the guy being chased and the guys doing the chasing. That gave the guy being chased enough of a lead that he got away. The guys who were chasing him weren’t happy about being stopped. They threw anything they could grab at Mom’s car, and a brick went through a window as she drove off. And that’s how Mom got a broken window on her car.
My Dad was also a badass, but in different ways. He was a veteran, but never told us about his military service until he was dying of cancer. He couldn’t see or hear anymore, but he could talk. He told us “funny stories” that were just plain crazy.
Elleigh was a mouthy Little darling from ages 4-10. She just said anything that came to her mind, and sometimes, those things were hilarious. Elleigh once said:
“What’s up boys, take me out to dinner.”
I’m “unstopaddle.”
“You’re old!”
“Daddy looks like Mr. Clean.”
“Me: What’s your dad’s name? (Elleigh: Tyrell)”
*Doing her hair* “Oh, but I’ll look like a jerry.”
“Why was I in your tummy and Leo was in your gyna?” (She was delivered by a c-section, Leo was natural).
“Thong Thong Thong up your heiny.”
“I just had to itch my butt.”
“Ok boss!”
Me: Alright, let’s call… (Elleigh: Punk!)”
“Mommy, you don’t run, you gallop.”
“You did not do sports today because I was with you all day. Ooo, it’s just a joke.”
“I’m constipation” (we were doing affirmations).
“Stop annoying me. Excuse me, you’re not supposed to be talking to me, you’re a stranger.”
Me: You’re going to school. (Elleigh: Yeah, why?) Me: Because that’s what you do every morning. (Elleigh: Are you going to the gym every morning?”
“This dang deer.”
“This is not her real hair, her just put extensions in it. long extensions.”
Me: What’s your favorite kind of food? (Elleigh: Fruit). Me: What kind of fruit? (Elleigh: Fruit loops).
When she was really little, she would call a computer a “cubidiger.”
She would say “feel good” as “fuck you” (really threw people off sometimes).
I don’t know why I have so many footages of her saying these kinds of things.
I had been there three years. Since I disliked the job and had strange vibes for the last 3 months, when I was told I shrugged and said “If that’s the way you feel.” They wanted me to sign a release. I was 61–1/2, Social Security at reduced benefits wouldn’t start until I was 63. I said I wanted my attorney to look at it before I signed, picked up the paper and walked to my office where I packed up my stuff. I kept nothing personal there except safety shoes for walking on the manufacturing floor (I got laughed at a lot because nobody wore safety shoes even though they’re required at most manufacturing facilities), my prescription safety glasses , a sweater, my favorite (and personally purchased) mechanical pencils and left.
My attorney said to sign the release after he crossed out two clauses noting the employment statues they were violating, and faxed it to them. I got a nice settlement and was able to collect unemployment for the 18 months until my 63rd birthday. This was in 2008/2009 when we had up to 100 weeks of unemployment due to recession.
Before anybody calls me a piker for collecting all that UI, I was offered two positions during that time. Each would have required a 100 mile round trip commute daily and only paid about 75% of what I had been making. The Unemployment Service said I was not under an obligation to accept either.
I used to own a small tavern. We had a guy who started hanging out there quite regularly. Nice guy, played darts with the other regulars, bought rounds in order , but didn’t talk much about himself or his past. But it’s a bar, so no one cares. We’ll call him Danny.
He was in early one night around 7pm. My staff is all away on lunch, partner wouldn’t be back til 10pm. I’m all alone. Usually not a big deal. This night, a couple of college jocks got way out of hand and started tearing the place up – breaking cue sticks and tossing around empty kegs. It’s just Danny, me and the college boys. I’m trying to de-escalate and get them to leave. Then, one of the big guys starts pushing me and throwing punches. I’m screwed. That is, until Danny steps in and beats the shit out of two guys much bigger than himself. I was completely shocked! We toss the guys out and he tells me not to call the police. He leaves shortly afterwards.
Next time I see Danny, I want to pick up his tab and chat. He asks me not to tell anyone or talk about it. I figure he’s ex-military and a private guy. He becomes pretty scarce. We’re looking for him, but he doesn’t come around anymore.
About a year later, we see his pic in the paper. He’s on trial for a pair of mob related murders. Turns out he might be responsible for more than a couple of these. I’m very glad he liked me.
There was a time while I was in college that I could only afford to spend about $3 per day on food. Needless to say it wasn’t an easy time.
One day, I spent part of my daily ration on a granola bar. As I walked out of the grocery store, a homeless woman asked me if I had any spare change. I told her I didn’t have any money to spare so instead split my granola bar with her and sat down to have a chat. She continued to ask people for change as we talked. After observing the responses, I asked her: “Would you rather people ignore your question, or say ‘no’ as meanly and rudely as they possibly could?”
She responded without hesitation: “I’d rather have the mean ‘no.’ At least they’re treating me like I’m a person, more than a piece of trash lying on the street.”
I’ll never forget that. I wouldn’t have been able to rationalize it myself, but it makes perfect sense. Her name was Anne.
When I was a much younger airline copilot, I flew with this Syrian captain. He was a Muslim and had flown F-4s for the U.S. Navy. He was a nice guy but kind of kept to himself mostly. I would always ask about the religion and how it was living in Syria and he gradually warmed up to me.
One day I was complaining about a relationship with a woman and he turned to me and said:
“Randy, I am going to give you two words that will ensure that you will have a long and prosperous marriage. It will end your problems in this relationship and any in the future. It is very old Islamic advice that has stood for centuries, long before the great advances in mathematics. It is among the oldest of all Middle Eastern knowledge”
“If you follow these two words. You will increase your happiness by a factor of 1000. Your wife will adore you and you will live in peace and harmony until you finally die and she mourns your death forever.”
“These two words? Obey and Relax”
“Randy, simply follow these two words in all of your interactions. Obey her demands and then simply relax. The West has not yet discovered this fundamental truth. If you just obey and relax, you will always be happy.”
Edit 1:
This guy was funny.
One day we were talking about his home life and he said: “Randy, Allah came to me before I was born and he told me I was a very bad man. He said I must be punished so he gave me a choice. I could live for ten-thousand years in hell or I could marry this woman. Like a fool, I marry woman!
I guess he didn’t follow his own advice. I heard he finally divorced. Even with this outcome, I still try to follow his advice and it works pretty well.
My wife and I moved from the San Francisco Bay Area to a small town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas three years ago. For anyone wondering, our new town is Grass Valley, pop. 13,000.
Coming from the dining heaven that is the San Francisco area, we set out to find some special occasion restaurants nearby. We were not disappointed.
Our favorite go-to fancy place is called Lola’s, in neighboring Nevada City. It’s comparatively pricy—$250 is the typical check, including tip, for the two of us. It’s located in the Gold Rush-era National Hotel.
We went recently for an anniversary. It was a Wednesday evening and the restaurant was not particularly busy, although there was some kind of event beginning to happen in the attached lounge.
We waited for an unusually long time, but we had no place to be, and we enjoy each other’s company. The server finally came to our table, apologizing, and took our drink order. After about ten minutes, she came by and told us our drinks would be out any minute.
We got our appetizers and waited a long time again for the entrees. The server apologized again and said our drinks would be on the house. We had not complained or looked dissatisfied, but it was a nice gesture on the restaurant’s part. We ordered a second round of cocktails.
The activity in the lounge explained the delays: they had a combination burlesque show and lottery going on. Everyone was having a boisterous good time. Evidently, they swamped the bar and the kitchen.
When our entrees arrived after another unusually long wait, the server apologized again and told us our entire meal and drinks were being comped because of the slow service. We were flabbergasted but happy to have a $200 meal comped. This was all the restaurant’s initiative; we did not complain or even look dissatisfied.
We ordered desserts, one of the many things this restaurant does extremely well. The total bill came to $26.00 for the desserts. The total bill would have been $250.
We tipped 20% of the whole amount. Our server was attentive and even embarrassed at the long delay. We would have been perfectly happy even if we’d paid the whole bill.
That’s the first time I’ve ever had an entire satisfactory meal comped. But it was a good illustration of this restaurant’s commitment to excellence in food quality and service.
Here are 12 tricks I learned from the book ‘12 rules for life an antidote to chaos’, written by psychologist Jodan B Peterson. These life rules really help me a lot:
1: Stand Up Straight With Your Shoulders Back
If you present yourself as defeated, then people will react to you as if you are losing. If you start to straighten up, then people will look at and treat you differently.
So, attend carefully to your posture. Quit drooping and hunching around. Speak your mind. Put your desires forward, as if you had a right to them — at least the same right as others. Walk tall and gaze forthrightly ahead. Dare to be dangerous. Encourage the serotonin to flow plentifully through the neural pathways desperate for its calming influence.
2: Treat Yourself Like Someone You Are Responsible for Helping
We deserve some respect. You deserve some respect. You are important to other people, as much as to yourself. You have some vital role to play in the unfolding destiny of the world. You are, therefore, morally obliged to take care of yourself. You should take care of, help and be good to yourself the same way you would take care of, help and be good to someone you loved and valued.
3: Make Friends with People Who Want the Best For You
This is similar to the idea that you become the average of the five people you spend the most time with.
Don’t think that it is easier to surround yourself with good healthy people than with bad unhealthy people. It’s not. A good, healthy person is an ideal. It requires strength and daring to stand up near such a person. Have some humility. Have some courage. Use your judgment, and protect yourself from too-uncritical compassion and pity.
4: Compare Yourself to Who You Were Yesterday, Not Who Someone Else is Today
We only see what we aim at. The rest of the world (and that’s most of it) is hidden. If we start aiming at something different — something like I want my life to be better” — our minds will start presenting us with new information, derived from the previously hidden world, to aid us in that pursuit.
Then we can put that information to use and move, and act, and observe, and improve. And, after doing so, after improving, we might pursue something different, or higher — something like, I want whatever might be better than just my life being better.” And then we enter a more elevated and more complete reality.
“What could I do, that I would do, to make Life a little better?”
The content is too long, so I put the rest rules here
JEFFREY SACHS HONEST INTERVIEW ABOUT NATO ARROGANCE ON RUSSIA, SUPERPOWER WAR IN UKRAINE, CHINA RISE
I was selling cars and my friends mother said I should have a job that pays a salary and commission and not just straight commission. She suggested a software company and the one she worked at had a position available. I had no background in software or computers at all but I sent in a CV and called the Sales Manager and left a message. Then I would keep calling all day seeing if he would pick up the phone. Around 12 additional times.
On the 3rd he picked up and said NOBODY has ever called him so much in his entire life. I asked if he looked at my CV and he said yes, but there was no experience in computers and software. He even asked some basic questions which I failed miserably.
He finally said that I was obviously persistent and if I read some books about computing I could probably get a job in this industry. I asked which books and he suggested two. I told him I would read both, memorize them and call him back in 2 weeks where he could quiz me about anything. He was incredulous and said ya sure.
Well I bought those books that day and in 2 weeks had them memorized, with yellow highlighter throughout both of them. I could tell you what chapter something was in and the next point the author made. That’s how well I learned them.
2 weeks to the day I called and he picked up on the first 2 rings. I was very nervous and told him I had those books down cold and he could quiz me about anything.
He said to come in on Monday at 9 am. I said how long would the quiz take and he said, “There isn’t a quiz. You start your new job on Monday at 9 am”
I am happy to say I stayed in the computer software industry for 20 years.
I was on a plane once, flying across the US. The guy next to me (in the middle seat) just kept talking nonstop. Eventually the person in the window seat said something back to him. This set the guy off, he told him everything he knew about Australia, what a great country it was, how much he liked Australians. Then he asked what part of Australia the guy was from. He replied that he was from Wales.
Middle seat guy said he loved New South Wales. The Sydney opera house was his favorite piece of architecture in the world.
Window seat guy, replies, No, I am Welsh, from the British Isles.
Middle seat guy, just wouldn’t let it go. He wanted to know why someone from the UK spoke with an Australian accent. Eventually window seat guy lost his patience, and pointedly pulled out a book and started to read.
So, I would say you don’t ask someone from Wales, why they speak with an Australian accent.
I was recently divorced and working for a company that had just opened a branch in Germany. My boss told me four interns were coming from Germany. “You’re a supervisor,” he said. “This is a very big deal, so make sure they are comfortable and happy here.”
But there was a problem. We had three shifts, and I was on the second shift—by which time my boss was long gone for the day, so he couldn’t introduce me in person. When I got to work I found only a list of four first names and the desks they were sitting at. And then when I got to that part of the office, there were only three guys.
I went over and talked to them for a bit, tried to make them feel welcome, made sure they had everything they needed. I was hoping one of them would mention the fourth fellow, but nobody did. I figured he’d be sitting somewhere else, so I excused myself and went to look around.
Then I heard a guy speaking German. Bingo, I thought. I sneaked a look at the name on his desk: Arnold, same first name as the missing fourth fellow, and a German last name. This was him! He turned out to be much nicer than the other three and we had quite a good talk. His English was excellent.
In the following weeks I saw Arnold often and talked to him for a little while each time. The other three were polite, but distant. So when a fax came in written in German, I knew which one to take it to for translation.
When I handed him the fax, he looked at it for a long time. “I’m sorry,” he said. “My German isn’t really good enough to read this.”
And so it turned out that this Arnold wasn’t the fourth German at all—that particular Arnold, the intern my boss was so concerned about, had been out getting a sandwich the afternoon I came to meet them. Then he’d gone home to Germany a week or two later for some unrelated reason.
The Arnold I’d made friends with was an American with a German father—who had taught him just enough to get by in conversation. They’d spent plenty of time in Germany—so when I’d asked him questions about what it was like there, he knew all the answers. And living with his dad had given Arnold just a trace of German accent in his English.
That was 20 years ago. Arnold and I are still having good talks daily—in spite of being married.
In the Army I served, simply asking that question would disqualify you from service.
They don’t want gun nuts. They want you to have the weapon issued, nothing else; unauthorised weapons on military grounds is a lengthy prison sentence, if you survive. The guards are armed, you know, and authorised to fire when they identify a threat. An unauthorised firearm is a threat.
They want you to fire your weapon when ordered to do so, and only when ordered to do so. Unless given that order, you don’t even have access to your weapon.
A pen knife, possibly. Extra supplies – food, yes. Nothing else. Protective gear – buster, you dress in the uniform issued, nothing else is allowed to be visible (so you’re allowed your own underwear). Ammunition – see above re. “identify a threat”.
The military take weapons seriously. It’s dangerous stuff, and they don’t want them fired except under strictly controlled circumstances.
And during my year in the Army, I did, in fact, not even once see an armed officer. Unless you count the Captain’s ceremonial sabre, which he dismissed, along with his entire parade uniform, as a “bloody spectacle”.
I have a friend that makes $200,000,000 annually. He lives in a $3,000,000 house that he probably paid $1,200,000 for. He drives a five year old Toyota. (He owns and runs a fund…was voted the best in the world at his profession not too long ago)
I have a friend that lives in a $4,000,000 condo downtown. He flies in his $17,000,000 jet and drives a $2,000 old pickup truck to his $60,000,000 ranch. (He sold his business to a bank/insurance company for huge money and has grown his wealth rapidly since the sale)
I know of another extremely wealthy family that when we took our kids to get treats after an event, their kids would ask for toppings on their ice cream. The mom kindly told her children, “no, we don’t spurge like that”. I thought, “what?” You own the entire mall that we are eating ice cream in. (He owns malls and resorts globally)
I don’t know of any that live like they are poor, they just live well within their means. They have different financial priorities than many people.
I hope you like really hot, spicy food. Pack up some tasty leftover meat, veggies and rice or potatoes in a take- out tub – then add a full quarter cup of Tabasco, Psycho Bitch or Dave’s Killer hot sauce to it. People usually have a pretty good idea of who is stealing their lunches so, when the suspect heads for the lunchroom, follow them, hang around nearby and wait for the fun to begin. (Hot sauce is food, so you can’t be accused of trying to poison your co-worker.)
I was being tried on a driving charge (i.e.. “recklessly causing an accident”).
Where I live, people being tried for “minor” offences will be assigned a common courtroom (i.e., Courtroom 335 12PM July 5, 1923).
I was in my courtroom waiting for my trial to begin when I was approached by an officer and asked to leave the courtroom.
In the hallway, I was told to go to another courtroom (no explanation).
The other courtroom was practically empty. A judge sat on the bench, one suit was standing behind the crown’s desk and one suit was standing behind the defense’s desk. Court reporters were present.
I was urged to stand at the defense’s desk and, at that point, I accepted the suit standing at the defense’s desk as my legal representative.
When I got to the desk, there was a short conversation between the judge and the suits. It took about a minute (maybe less).
And then I was told that I was “Free to go”.
And everybody just left the courtroom.
PS: The “accident” was, I think, a fraud. By the time I got to trial, nobody cared (and not even the police showed up to swear evidence … nobody in that courtroom was involved, in any way, with the case).
I was “constructively dismissed” by a new owner. I was offering my opinion as a good manager should and was told “shut up, sit down and do what I say; or leave”. To everyone else’s dismay, I left; I was off the property less than an hour later.
About two weeks later, I received a call from the controller desparately asking me for the admin passwords for the company’s mainframe (I was the one and only “unofficial” IT administrator for about three years) as it had crashed. I told him I couldn’t help him as my current employment contract prohibits me from directly assisting them (within 1/2 hour of driving off the lot and calling my wife to tell her I had left, I had already received calls from three competitors offering me a job. I had accepted an offer with their biggest rival); but that he could try contacting my current employer to “purchase” my services (there was no such condition, but I reported the contact to my current employer who was ecstatically happy to play along). They did, and was charged $5,000 for my single visit of less than an hour; to type in the master password and let them change it (1/2 of that fee was paid to me as a bonus).
I later found out that my former employer also had to pay over $20,000 in OT to recover the system, as there was no current tape backup. At the time, I was also the only one that was responsible for managing the daily tape backups; specifically inserting a new tape cartridge every morning. There were two daytime receptionists that I had trained to cover for me on my days off and when I went on vacation, but the full-time one was let go only a few days prior to me leaving, and the part-time one had quit in protest of being asked to work 7 days a week until a new full-time one was hired and trained. They had to manually re-enter two weeks of parts invoices and service work orders, while at the same time work off manual invoices and work orders until the system was caught up.
That owner didn’t last long; three years after I left, the franchise agreement was yanked by the manufacturer and the dealership closed permanently.
Because talking to a stranger is actually easier than you think it is.
Commit to the five seconds rule – my personal ace in the hole. I approached 100 women in 40 days with this trick. All it involves is that you make a decision on the first five seconds of seeing the stranger whether you are approaching or not. At first, I kept saying no, not yet, next time and then one day I just said fuck it! I’m doing this and I did. Don’t ask me how it turned out.
Use the universal opener and stop thinking – yes our mind is the great storyteller and a perfectionist one at that. If you give yourself too much time to think, you will end up not approaching the stranger so do what I did. Use the universal opener. It’s something called Hello. I think you’ve heard about it.
Avoid the alpha male trap – I know some people will tell you dress up, look cool, beef up and hold a wine glass standing by the corner, that advice is the worse shit in the world. It’s what I call the alpha male trap, feeling so confident in yourself that you don’t wanna talk with anyone and you expect them to feel your vibe and gravitate towards you. Avoid practicing this, calm down! Relax and smile when you are out there.
Open up! – still on the same point. Avoid closing up your body language by holding something in front of you such as your phone or glass bottle. Make sure in social settings, your body is open and you appear calm and relaxed. Please don’t ever approach anyone with the wrong body language. Research shows we process body language faster than sounds(as little as 0.2sec).
Smile like a lotto winner – one crazy genius called Ralph Waldo Emerson made the great statement that “the whole world loves a lover”, damn but he was right. The key to people’s heart is positivity if you are not aware. You just have to know that most people are not comfortable with meeting new people. So you have to put their minds to rest that you’re harmless and you want nothing but a good nice conversation. Smiling and exuding positivity does this perfectly.
Ask for the name and use it – I read this in Dale Carnegie’s book, How to Win Friends & Influence People, and it has never failed me. When you meet a stranger, make sure you get the name and use it repeatedly in the first conversation.
Watch comedy shows – apart from the added benefit of this improving your overall life happiness exponentially, this will add a funny tint to your conversations. People love humor you know.
Observe the rules – the thing about social situations is that there are no universal rules anywhere. How you should behave depends on where you are – you have to behave differently in a church compared to a networking party. The Super trick is to take some time to observe how people are acting around you, are if they are being upbeat or cool headed. Don’t bring noise into a cool environment or calm into a sizzling energetic room. Observe the rules and play by them. Then you win!
Go radical truth on them – out of those 100 women I approached, the ones who became my closest friends were those I went total truth on. Here’s what I mean; I approach them and said hello, then told them I’m a shy guy on a mission to approach 100 girls to build his confidence and that she is my number 41. This perks them up and they usually laugh, then they look at my face, see that I am serious and then we have a wonderful conversation and I always get their numbers. Crazy, right?
Guess – a lot of strangers are really not cool with you offloading a truckload of questions on them. They close up quickly and excuse themselves and that’s why I use guessing at times. I read about it in a blog post that I can’t really remember. It goes like this – during the conversation, instead of asking “where are you from”, observe them and say something like “you look like a new yorker”. Or instead of “what do you do”, say “something tells me you’re a fun person” or “something tells me you stay indoors a lot”. You get the Gist already.
Prepare to be human – I still approach women and get rejected, I still try to make friends on the bus, parties, church, etc, and get rubbed on. You just have to be ready for being a human, not everyone is going to like you or want to talk to you. Accept this and when the time comes that someone rejects you, remember that it’s normal and go find someone else to talk to.
Several years ago, I was on the ladder working on the roof of my shed. Off in the distance there were some people shooting. This is common here as I live in the South (of America). Most people around are fairly safe with their practice shooting. While on the ladder, I heard what sounded like a hummingbird fly by. I looked around for him/her and couldn’t find it. I heard another and another. It dawned on me that these were not hummingbirds, but bullets. I got off the ladder, and yelled as loud as I could that they were shooting towards my house. A few more shots and I went inside and called the sheriff department to go by and tell them they were shooting at my house. I waited a couple hours and heard the shots again. I got in the truck, drove around to the property behind mine and pulled up. The guy and some friends were out shooting targets. I introduced myself and we talked a bit about guns. Then I pointed out that behind their fence was my house about 500 yrs through the woods. I had been up on a ladder and several of their rounds had come near me. They were horrified. I told them to point toward the sand plant since it was closed on the weekend or build a berm to shoot into. they apologized and changed where they were shooting.
I’m Jewish and was marrying a Roman Catholic woman. My parents were vehemently against it, but they also demanded that it be a civil ceremony. My bride wanted the church wedding.
I told her if she wanted the church wedding, that’s what we’ll do. I was not really practicing Jewish traditions, I wasn’t going to synagogue, I routinely worked on Saturdays if my job called for it, and didn’t keep kosher. In fact, since leaving my parents’ home at age 20, I had eaten a cheeseburger for the first time in my life, and had a milk shake along with it!
My parents tried to pressure me to pressure her to at least make it a civil ceremony. I had never even discussed it with her. I told them I would ask, but if she said she wanted the church wedding, then that was the way it would be. They told me they were severing all communication with me. I told them that was okay. They were north of 60 and 70, and living across the ocean, so I replied that I would have to get used to not having them around eventually and I might as well start.
I never backed down, and never regretted it. It set the tone for our future dealings. They knew I was immune to any bullying or any pressure they could bring to bear. If they wanted me to do something, they were going to have to be reasonable and try to convince me with valid argument and not arbitrary stubbornness.
My husband is more approachable than they are, more down to earth.
We married in our 40’s after failed marriages, so we had a civil wedding with my step kids as our witnesses. They were excited to have me in their family, and I was happy to be their stepmom.
He rarely spoke of the rest of his family and I didn’t meet them until after we were married.
I moved to his hometown which was an hour away and where the family lives.
I was a wreck when Christmas rolled around. The few encounters I had with these people were not welcoming. In fact, they completely ignored me.
I went shopping with my husband to buy gifts for everyone, and the spirit of Christmas eased my fears.
When we arrived I felt the chill. I spoke directly to several people and they didn’t acknowledge me in any way.
So, with my Christmas spirit extinguished, I reluctantly sat by the Christmas tree to open gifts.
After the presents were all passed out, I sat and tried to not act surprised by not having anything to open.
In reality, I was totally embarrassed and fighting back the tears.
My family always bought a few extra gifts in case someone unexpectedly joined us.
I wasn’t expecting much, but I never dreamed they would be so rude.
“Eat the frog”. Write down 1 task that you must absolutely perform in order for the day to be a success, and do it first when you get to work.
Send 1 call/text/email to an old friend or colleague that you haven’t spoken with in a while. Over one year, that adds up to 365 reignited relationships (or 61 relationships reignited six times apiece).
End the day with fewer emails in your inbox than you started with. Repeat until you get to inbox zero.
Give away / donate one item in your household every single day. Repeat until you have an uncluttered, restful home.
Answer one question on Quora per day. Work on your writing ability while contributing to the organization of the world’s knowledge.
Walk to and from work, if possible. Exercise! Sunshine!
Eat at least one fruit or vegetable each day. Sure, you should probably eat a half-dozen servings of each. But things can get really screwed up when you are eating zero fruits and veggies. Start small and be consistent.
Express gratitude. My days go so much smoother when I remind myself: “dude, you could just as easily have been born in a Sudanese refugee camp. You’re one lucky mo-fo.”
Spend at least 20 minutes reading something that is completely unrelated to your career (or “personal development”). Creative thinking requires varied inputs. If you have monofocus (e.g. only read about startups all day), you’re severely limiting the amount of interesting ideas you can come up with.
Get uncomfortable at least 1x per day (ideally 3x or 5x). By “get uncomfortable” I mean “summon the courage to do something that makes you anxious”. Speak up during the work conference call. Say hi to the pretty girl or fella standing next to you in line. Run 4 miles instead of 3. Et cetera. Remember: “Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” – George Addair
Polenta with Cheese (Mamaliga — Rumania)
Ingredients
1 cup yellow cornmeal
3/4 cup water
3 1/4 cups boiling water
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup shredded Swiss or Kashkaval cheese
Instructions
Mix cornmeal and 3/4 cup water in 2-quart saucepan. Stir in 3 1/4 cups water and the salt. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils; reduce heat. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes.
Remove from heat; stir until smooth. Spread 1/3 of the mixture in greased 1 1/2-quart casserole. Dot with 1/3 of the butter; sprinkle with 1/3 of the Parmesan cheese. Repeat twice. Sprinkle with Swiss cheese. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees F until hot and bubbly, 15 to 20 minutes.
Fried Cornmeal Mush
Omit butter and the grated Parmesan and Swiss cheeses. After cooking 10 minutes, spread in greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Cover and refrigerate until firm, at least 12 hours. Invert pan to unmold; cut into 1/2-inch slices.
Heat 2 tablespoons butter in skillet until melted. Coat slices with flour; cook uncovered in butter over low heat until brown, about 5 minutes on each side. Serve with molasses, jam, maple syrup or sour cream if desired.
These friends formed “circles”, close groups, sport groups, nerd groups, drinking buddies, and so on and so forth.
One of the extended groups of friends were part of one of my constantly changing “drinking friend group”. And within that group was a fairly nice kid, a guy that we shared a brew and two at various keggers. I will call him “Marko” (not his real name.)
He lived on a farm; an isolated small home off the tail end of a dirt road.
He was ok. Really.
But his mother… Oh Lordy!
There was something really wrong with her. Not all together there, and man was she odd, and she really tended to behave strangely. Really strangely. Over the years, all of us, decided to avoid her, and actually all of us felt really sad for our friend Marko.
Now, with this as the background, I will now relate the last moment when I saw Marko’s mother…
…
It was 3am on a Wednesday in late Summer; say July or early August. We (myself and my buddy Robbie) were riding in his International Scout (a 1970s era vehicle) on the dirt gravel road though the cornfields in the hills of Western Pennsylvania. We were riding, drinking beer, and smoking… And the headlights on the truck illuminated the gravel in front of us.
As we went up a hill, the road turned to the left and as we turned that curve, we saw Marko’s mother. She was standing there, at the edge of the cornfield, at the side of the road. Wearing a old stained white nightgown, and standing there. Her expression looked like something out of a horror movie. I’ll tell you what.
…
We didn’t stop.
We kept on driving.
The corn blended into the dark background.
Then Robbie let out a sigh.
“Poor. Poor Marko” he said. And we turned up the 8-track player and listened to The Rolling Stones play “Gimmie Shelter”.
As we continued to drive though the dark night in the cornfields.
Never compare your sex life with porn videos. Because porn videos are totally fake.
Never be sad for losing someone. No one lasts for long period of time. Even, you are gonna lose your beauty, money and health with age.
Never underestimate failure.Only a failure gives you the proper perspective of success.
Never “Trust” easily on anyone. Because trust is the most expensive thing and so don’t trust blindly. Even, your friends get jealous when they see your progress.
Never share your password of social media accounts, email, Internet Banking, and ATM pin\CVV number with anyone. Never!
Never get involved in sexual activities till you are not serious in your relationship.
Never believe on that girl\boy who have lots of relationship in their past. They can easily manipulated you by crying their bad past.( Exception is everywhere)
Never try to hurt your parents. They have lots of expectations from you.
In any situation, Never think about ending your life. Even plants regrow leaves after one leaf shed.
Ouch!
Polish Salad with Pickled Eggs (Salatka z Piklowanymi Jajkami)
Ingredients
Pickled Eggs
3 cups beet juice (cooking water from beets)
1 cup red wine vinegar
8 whole black peppercorns
4 whole allspice
4 whole cloves
1 bay leaf
6 hardboiled eggs, peeled
Salad
1 bunch leaf lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced and separated into rings
1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
Dash of pepper
Instructions
Pickled Eggs
Heat beet juice, vinegar, peppercorns, allspice, cloves and bay leaf to boiling; pour over eggs.
Cover and refrigerate at least 24 hours.
Salad
Toss lettuce and onion. Divide among 6 salad plates.
Cut eggs into slices or fourths. Arrange 1 egg on top of each salad.
Shake remaining ingredients in tightly covered container; drizzle over salads.
The QSPR ‘Tunnel Weapon’. When US forces had to crawl into tunnels to chase the enemy it was a very intense experience. A GI often went down there with just a 1911 .45 and a flashlight, and once his buddies dropped him down there he was pretty much on his own. As you can imagine, firing a .45 in a space the size of a closet does your hearing no favors and also alerts other bad guys down there to your presence. The militay, in conjunction with AAC, came up with the ‘Tunnel Weapon’ a specially modified S&W .44 Magnum for the ‘tunnel rats’ to use.
It had a short barrel and a smooth bore like a shotgun. The gun used a special ‘captive piston’ ammunition that was almost perfectly silent. When fired, the propellant pushed a piston in the case forward, launching buckshot made from a special alloy. When the piston reached the end of the case, it was caught and did not leave the case. As a result, all the propellant gas was captured in the case … so no noise signature. The pellets, driven forward by the force of the piston, continued down the bore and out the muzzle. The result was a totally silent and flash-less weapon that could be used in a confined space like a tunnel. They never were distributed in any meaningful amount and only a few went into practical field trials. The guns almost never turn up but some of the special ammo shows up once in a while.
Hot afternoon, sitting at my dinner place doing books and covering the phone. Don’t open for dinner until six…it’s three. Happy to be alone. The front door is unlocked because we are out in the country and it doesn’t need to be.
Girl in her twenties pushing her bike in the door, walks by the “closed…open for dinner at 6” sign, and, before I can say, “Sorry miss, we’re closed,” asks me for a coke. Ok, this is a custom walnut bar, 150 label wine list, crystal glassware, fresh flowers, dress code…you know, and she needs a coke in a paper cup with a straw.
I bite my tongue as she leans her bike against the wall next to the front door. “Uh, I don’t have a to go cup, but, have a seat…how’s your day going?” I poured her a coke on ice and she told me she had guessed wrong on her bike trip, trying to pedal up the mountain had wiped her out. She was a college kid and did not have the money to eat at this place, but I had her look over the menu and grab a brochure. I didn’t charge her the ridiculous price for the coke. And away she went.
Four years later, it had been a really busy shift, customers all over the place. I acknowledged one of our regulars as he left with a party of six and thanked him for his business. He replied, “You know we always love to come here, it’s been what? Four years now? Birthdays, holidays, homecomings, my daughter’s rehearsal dinner…” He gestured to a young woman. “Honey? Come over and say hi to the boss.” You have already guessed who the “young lady” was. She had bicycled home that day four years ago and told her family about our place. I can’t estimate what her family had spent there over those years helping keep us in business.
Remember the communication range, huh? The thing is that the larger gap of intelligence between two people, the greater likelihood the reaction of the lesser endowed is outright hostile.
Acting stupid and dumbing down is a survival mechanism. To howl with the wolves (or rather bleating with the sheep). Humans are social animals and we all want to fit in. Therefore acting stupid is a way to a) pretend you fit in and b) not to evoke a hostile reaction among the lesser endowed.
The thing is that it is a) incredibly consuming and b) never foolproof. But I wouldn’t be alive today if I couldn’t act stupid when needed.
When I was a teenager, my mom took me on a trip to visit the tobacco plantation where her mother had grown up. The land had been in the family since the 1700s. It was really cool seeing antiques that had been in the family for generations. There was even an old muzzle-loader that had been used to fight in the Revolutionary War. It was so heavy that I had to rest my elbow on my hip. I couldn’t even lift it like you would an ordinary (modern) rifle.
While we were there, a cousin told us we could take whatever we wanted from stuff she’d stuck in an old shed that had been used originally for drying tobacco. My mom filled a large paper grocery sack with papers, documents, letters, and antique books.
Later, while driving home, I began going through the contents of the bag while my mom drove. There were letters from the early 1900s and throughout the 1800s, some sad; some hilarious. There were wills and other business documents. Kind of boring to me at the time. Two-thirds of the way down, there was a strange piece of “paper” folded into fourths. It was obviously very old and bulky.
I carefully unfolded it to discover . . . the original land grant from King George III bestowing on my ancestors 600 acres in the colony of North Carolina. It was a piece of parchment with such tiny, perfect calligraphy spelling out the description of the land, etc. It was a legal document. Just as astonishing was that it still had King George’s seal attached! The seal was round and about the size of a coaster you stick under a mug to protect wood. It was maybe an inch thick and very hard. That was the coolest thing I ever helped to “rescue.” 🙂
Often people say hi, or hey, or they give a little wave or salute, or they nod or smile in passing. All these rituals of greeting communicate: I know you, you’re within my greeting circle.
But some people and some friendships require an actual conversation. If it’s a really good friend whom you haven’t seen in years, there’s a lot to catch up on. “It’s been so long, how ya doin’?” You talk about substantive things. “Betty’s been declared cancer-free for the past five years, but that was a bad scare.” “I wish I’d known what you were going through, while all I ever worried about was getting through tax season.” That’s a real conversation.
But there’s a space between, where the person once meant something to you. Or you moved in the same circles and you don’t remember them all that well. That’s when empty conversation tides you over till you get your bearings in the conversation. “Hi, how are you?” “What do you want to pretend is interesting, my sciatica, my year of unemployment, or Tina’s and my separation?” “Wow, that’s rough! So much time has gone by.” “I can see you’re struggling to remember —” “No, not at all —” “I introduced you to my roommate’s sister at that boating weekend on the lake and after that you two were so into each other that I don’t think you came up for air for six months.” “I can’t believe I forgot that connection. It’s like I’m your roommate-in-law.”
So those empty how-are-yous serve a purpose, to string the conversation along until you find your footing — or realize there’s no way to remake the old connection — or there never was a connection. Empty forms evolve because we NEED them, so don’t waste time disparaging those social forms. They can delay or avoid a lot of social awkwardness.
The war between the United States and China began in 2008. At the time of this writing, it is 2024. So the war has been on-going for 16 years. During this period of time it has been characterized by the following realities…
Not reported in the Western “news” media.
Characterized by offensive actions by the United States (either direct or by proxy).
Characterized by defensive actions by China.
Characterized by unconventional warfare at every level.
This idea that “someday” a conventional war will manifest between China and the United States is a false narrative. This narrative was concocted in 2017 under the direction of both Mike Pompeo and John Bolton in the Trump Administration. Anyone who believes this narrative is foolish.
We know today, in 2024, that both the Pentagon and RAND have repeatedly announced though various channels that the United States is unable to win a conventional war against China. This is true whether it uses proxy nations or not.
Leaving only the nuclear weapon option.
China has long prepared for a first-strike nuclear attack by the United States. China fully expects the reality of this situation.
Thus, China has been manufacturing, preparing, and training to absolutely eviscerate the cities of the United States, and the participant proxy nations, that dare attack it.
…
Were a “HOT” shooting war to erupt between the United States and China… it will eventually turn nuclear.
What we know about this situation is frightening…
The United States neocons believe that a war is inevitable with China, and that the United States will “win” it, because it is “exceptional”.
The United States fields 3rd generation nuclear systems, and rely on advanced pin-point accuracy for “surgical” destructive objectives.
The United States does not have any ABM defense against the Chinese and Russian current technology.
Meanwhile, in China…
China has active fielded 6th through 8th generation nuclear systems, in great quantities, with modern cutting-edge delivery systems and avionics.
China military doctrine is to saturate the target area broadly with multiple cascades of weapons. They believe that if a target in located in a city, that you destroy the entire region surrounding that city over, and over, and over until no life remains.
China also has a massive ABM system purposely designed to intercept American and Western missiles and destroy them long before they arrive at their targets.
The Chinese policy is soundly defensive.
The American (neocon) policy is resoundingly offensive.
…
Were a HOT war to erupt between the two nations… the citizens will not be aware of it. As the “news” media will not report on it. Any war prep in the West will be reported as “aggression by China”.
And in a blink of an eye, the cities of the West will be erased one by one.
True story from my days of working in industrial controls.
A co-worker + I visited a refrigerated warehouse to take a look at a controls PC that had stopped spitting out readings on a printer every so often as it should have. Based on the old principle of “if it doesn’t work. turn it on; if it still doesn’t work, plug it in,” I checked the printer’s connection the PC and, lo and behold, it had fallen off.
I plugged it in and told my co-worker “OK, we’re done.”
“We can’t just do that and leave,” he responded.
So, I decided to clean out the PC just on general principles. I should note that this was in the mid ’90s, and smoking was allowed in this office. Lots of smoking. Without especially good ventilation. Right next to the PC.
So, I took the PC to the loading dock and opened it, figuring I’d “breathe life into it” by simply blowing the dust out of it. But that wasn’t going to do the trick. Nor would the typical can of compressed air. A trowel would’ve done the trick, though.
Needless to say, I did clean out the PC using whatever tools I had handy. When I returned it to the office, I suggested that they either stop smoking around it – as if that was likely, improve ventilation, or at least get some smokeless ashtrays, or else they’d be paying a lot more for new control PCs.
Of course, my employer would gladly have sold said new PCs to this customer, since damage from smoking was not covered by the warranty.
Quite a few times, this played out in front of me and for different reasons.
I was the HR coordinator assigned to a branch of a company and had to be present during all disciplinary or fact-finding meetings between management and employees to make sure that management didn’t do anything stupid and bear witness to anything actionable said by the employee during those meetings.
In one case, I worked with a manager with no real gift for social grace. He was intimidated by conflicts and hated the fact that none of the “damn kids” working for him gave him the respect he felt he deserved from his position. When he held these investigatory meetings with employees over minor infractions like tardiness or excessive call-offs (minor infractions), he would escalate the situation by leading with the attitude of “why shouldn’t I just fire you?” which was all but stated in his long, rambling opening remarks.
One guy who was transferred over from another facility was a GIFT engineered by regional management to make up for the loss of two machine workers who walked off because of poor working conditions. Without them, we would have lost more than a week’s production based on their unique maintenance knowledge and ability. The employee sitting in the hot seat was brought in at a decent wage to compensate for asking him to commute an hour each way to work. Our manager did not take this into account when listing all FOUR late punches collected in the employee’s first month as he worked out the parking and other transportation issues related to his new job.
The problem was that the boss was intimidated by the young man’s ability to do the work of two people and fix problems that even HE couldn’t. I think the boss just wanted to assert power or compensate for this feeling of inadequacy, but the replacement employee was having none of it.
“I volunteered to help you out. I’m doing my best to get in and get to work. I stay a little late each day, too.” “If you’re doing your best and can’t get to work on time, you’re not doing good enough.”
I saw from the employee’s expression that he knew the kind of poor manager he was dealing with. He stood up extended a hand and said, “Okay, then. Thank you for the opportunity. I’ll be heading back to the other store on Monday. Good luck.”
The boss was so stunned (as was I, but for different reasons) that he accepted the handshake and said nothing while the employee walked out of the room. Knowing what this would mean to the store’s production and morale but wanting to maintain some sense of managerial control, I waited until the door closed behind the guy before I called the boss the most polite kind of short-sighted imbecile that I could.
I intercepted the employee and apologized, asking him to reconsider. As I expected, he said he would take the matter up with the Regional Manager who set up the reassignment. When Monday came, I received the paperwork promoting the once temporary machine operator to Assistant Manager of Production at a decent salary and to schedule a disciplinary conference with the Branch Manager for being an incompetent jackass.
Well, I just read a very typical ‘Merica answer on this. And I’ll have to tell youse guys, I got one Hell of a belly laugh. I mean it. It was deep and long…
The four points made were…
[1] It will not happen. The USN isn’t stupid and would stay out of the range of the Carrier Killer missiles.
I had to laugh at this. China has the ability to sink aircraft carriers ANYWHERE on the globe. If you all think that ONLY the DF-17 can sink a carrier group, then you are reading too many propaganda pieces.
[2] It could not happen. China doesn’t have enough of these Carrier Killer missiles to be a threat.
Again, this gave me such a howling laughter. As if some basement bozo knows how many missiles and non-missile weapons that China has. No one knows how many missiles that China fields, but I can positively tell you that China does things in mass.
[3] It cannot happen. China isn’t stupid to take on the United States. The USA is invincible, and China doesn’t know how to fight a “real” war.
Oh, my belly was laughing so hard on this canard. China has the oldest army in the world. China also has the oldest Navy in the world. The Chinese military was perfected during the Tang dynasty. Then bested Genghis Khan, and then was absorbed into it, resulting in the massive Yang dynasty armies. Aside from the fact that the Chinese beat the living snot out of the USA during the “Korean War”, China has been engaged fighting with the USA on all fronts since at least 2016
[4] Carrier Killer missiles are just hyperbole. They are just normal missiles with some undemonstrated abilities that the USN can easily thwart.
Ha ha ha ha. I mean talk about living under a rock. Jesus, this nonsense is so thick that you need waders to trudge though the muck.
…
China is a peaceful nation.
But, it is NOT stupid.
…
The United States has thrown EVERYTHING at China. And I do mean EVERYTHING.
From “color revolutions” inside of China, to “color revolutions” in all the nations surrounding China. From undersea excursions and conflicts, to near-space satellite warfare. From cyber warfare, to bio-warfare attacks. From managed famines to lawfare assaults. From efforts designed to collapse the Chiense banking industry to efforts to collapse the Chinese real estate industry.
It’s been full spectrum and absolute.
But not reported in the “news” of the West.
…
Instead we hear of submarines ramming undersea mountains, freak geomagnetic storms, the “apparent random” firings of Naval Commanders, and the Secretary of the Navy. We read (in the West) about Chinese “warmongering” a build up for a “Taiwanese invasion”.
All this interspersed about how Putin has brain cancer, and how Russia is running out of ammo. We read about how Xi Peng is going to be disposed and how the poor downtrodden people of China are going to rise up for “democracy” and Freedom”.
…
Info war is in full swing.
There is ZERO credibility in Western “news” media. Today it is so outrageous and comically fake and ridiculous that it is amazing that these tabloids are still able to have people that watch and read their content.
…
So… Yeah. It’s full spectrum. EVERYTHING.
Of course…
The clueless in the West would believe the fake narratives of Putin losing, China collapsing, and America remaining strong. They will believe that COVID was fake, or if it was something of concern, then it was “China’s fault” for one reason or the other. That’s the narrative, and that’s want the oligarchy expects Westerners to believe.
…
The United States is a feudal plutocracy.
While China is military-based meritocracy.
…
Oh, it’s just like the United States is throwing EVERYTHING at China, China is preparing with EVERYTHING as well.
And, let me tell you all…
They don’t read American / Western “news”.
They know what is REALLY going on.
…
So China is ready.
If you are a consumer of Western “news” you will be unaware of the following facts, but you do need to brace yourself for the realities.
Were the USA, either directly or through proxy, attacks China… China will throw nuclear warheads at American cities and military installations.
Oh, sure. China has a “no first use policy” in regards to nuclear weapons.
But within the FORMAL WORDING of this (particular) policy is one sentence that you all should all pay attention to…
“…if attacked… China reserves the right … to use every means at its disposal … to attack the nation that attacks it.”
For some reason, the Western “news” media glosses over this sentence. Perhaps they cannot read Chinese, or simply just cut and paste their “news articles” directly out of Langley VA. What ever, the FORMAL STATEMENT regarding nuclear weapons use is very carefully worded, and ambiguous enough to give the most aggressive neocons pause to consider.
…
So, yeah. China is ready.
It was ready in 1950–53 when it defeated the United States in Korea, and is ready today as it dishes EVERYTHING thrown at it, right back to the United States to consume.
…
At this point in time…
The United States and China are like a married couple living together weeks prior to a divorce. The United States is cheating, bending words, manipulating systems… and thinking “They’ll never find out”.
While China, is playing it smart.
Already has contacted the divorce attorneys, arranged the legal papers and made all the necessary arrangements. Just waiting for the time of CHINA’s choosing to terminate the relationship.
…
So… that being said…
“How can the USN defend against China’s formidable anti-Naval missile forces”?
There ARE a number of things that the United States government can do.
Not fight China. Give up. Stop the war-mongering.
First strike against China using a barrage of nuclear ICBMs and SLBMs.
That’s it.
Nothing else is realistically possible.
By the way… this is the OFFICIAL view of the United States Pentagon as of late fall 2023.
Of course, it all depends on the temperament of the “leadership” in Washington DC. And since they are clueless morons that are evil psychopathic narcissists, I can’t help but believe that they will be as delusional with China as they are with Russia. And the end result will be disastrous for the Untied States.
And the world as well.
Nothing quite ruins your day as a cascade of nuclear weapons hitting you.
…
Quick summary
China is READY to take on the United States, simultaneously with it’s proxy “allies”.
China WILL use nuclear weapons.
China is above-peer capable with the best equipment of the West.
China is a military-based meritocracy.
…
Quick Note
The disinformation about China permeates all levels.
China is a military-based meritocracy, but the West portrays this reality as “conscription”. Which is disingenuous. It gives the Western reader a pre-conceived illusion of poorly trained, unmotivated troops. But the reality is something quite different.
I once worked in a Michelin star restaurant with over 3,000 bottles of wine. One night a couple was dining at my bar and they were ordering multiple courses. With each course they ordered, they would order a different glass of wine to pair with it. Pairing wine with food is an art, not a science. One person’s nirvana can be another person’s acid rain. Wine tends to bring out the snobbish in people, too; all the worst stereotypes about wine nerds are true.
There were two other bartenders working that night and they got their food and first wine pairing with one of the others. I was clearing their plates and setting them up for their next course when the guy indicated the Vouvray they had finished, and then asked me for an opinion on what they should have next with whatever-fucking-dish they had coming.
“I really like this sauvignon blanc,” I said earnestly, and held out the bottle for them to inspect.
The guy looked at me like I just farted on his face. “AFTER A VOUVRAY?” He said, horrified.
He shooed me away and got one of the other bartenders to help pick the next wine. I was now a social leper, apparently. My judgment could not be trusted any further than I could throw that bottle of wine. I was a rube, an unsophisticated novice who had no right to even be working in such an establishment. I might as well have suggested for him to drink his own piss. And he could have, for all I fucking cared.
The line became a running joke at the bar. Anytime I touched the sauvignon blanc bottle someone would gleefully ask, “They weren’t just drinking the Vouvray, I hope?” And we’d laugh our asses off. I have since asked multiple people why that might be a faux pas as a wine suggestion and no one has ever given me a legitimate answer.
Cat claws aren’t really meant to kill (although they can and surely do). They are meant to grab and hold.
A kill typically consists of a sequence: grabbing the prey and getting it to the ground, suppressed, and then finishing the job.
And boy do they come equipped:
A lion claw to hand comparison:
Now it is a different story for most birds of prey.
A harpy eagle, and many eagles, can actually use their claws to kill their prey.
They pin their prey down and hold them, jerking their claws back and forth.
They also use their beaks to tear the animal apart, which, if it is lucky, happens quickly.
This is why you often see a predator eagle seeming to just stand and stomp on its prey. The prey moving around is actually what kills it in many of these instances.
It’s believed that the T-Rex shared this in common with predatory birds.
Their arms weren’t functional for hunting, so they would use one leg to lean in and hold the prey down on the ground, while their jaw did the rest of the work.
One of the closest living examples of what dinosaur claws looked like belongs to the Southern Cassowary, which lives in papua new guinea and looks like a deformed ostrich.
But when you see their claws, it’s immediately obvious who they are related to:
Fortunately, they are omnivores.
Nature is metal AF. Death by another animal never seems to be a fun way to go.
Airline executive: hey, if we squeeze the seats closer together, we can fit in one more row of seats, sell more tickets, and make more money!
Health and safety: but you can’t squeeze the exit row seats closer together — people have to be able to get through to the exit. So those seats would have to stay further apart while you squeeze the other ones closer together. It’ll look stupid.
Airline executive: that’s not a bug — that’s a feature! We’ll sell those seats at premium rates for people who want legroom just a little less than what they used to have, rather than a lot less!
Exit row seats used to be unattractive, due to the additional responsibility.
Now, they’re apparently fairly popular, due to the guaranteed minimum legroom. Which the airlines are not providing out of the kindness of their heart, but because an ‘exit row’ has to, you know, allow people to exit, so they’re legally mandated to keep them a certain width.
And some people apparently get annoyed when the stewardess asks them whether they are willing and able to assist in the unlikely event of an evacuation….
In high-school my friend and I were selling Christmas wreaths door to door.
We would take turns with the sale line.
This time it was his turn.
My friend was usually out going and very talkative.
We get to this door he goes up and knocks. This beautiful girl opens the door and kind of lifts her leg around the door cradling it and she bites her lip.
My friend was silent didn’t say a word he just stood there dumb founded.
I laughed, said sorry for my friend here…and then gave the whole sales pitch. She giggled and declined. Thr whole time my friend just stood there looking like a fool with his jaw just hanging open.
After she closed the door ot took him a moment to collect himself.
He commented about how beautiful she was. I said yeah, she was nice.
We go down another street and I realize that this side of the street was just the back side of the houses from the other…
I tell my buddy who was still somewhat dazed he gets this next house… (it was hers but from the other side)
She opened the door again same spill but this time I sold the Christmas wreath.
I don’t remember what happened after the second incident. I just remember it was hilarious.
I have so many different stories. We’ve even run across people answering the door in the buff. Usually not the good looking type though!
He has set a world record for the farthest swim under ice, going 188.6 feet under.
He has the fastest half marathon barefoot on snow and ice, running 2 hours and 16 minutes. (most can’t do this in regular climate!)
He has spent 1 hour and 53 minutes in full body contact with ice.
Normally, this should kill anybody between 15 and 45 minutes in.
He has climbed Mt. Everest to 25,000 feet in just shorts and boots.
So the big question remains.
How?
He employs something called “The Wim Hof” method.
He manipulates his mind and his breathing patterns to help his body create an ability to warm itself.
Sounds weird right?
He went under a study with researchers at Wayne State University.
He showed that when he didn’t employ his method of rapid breathing, “his skin temperature would fluctuate between about 33.5 degrees Celsius with the warm water and 31.5 degrees Celsius with the cold.”
However, when he did use his method, “his skin temperature stayed almost perfectly steady at just under 34 degrees Celsius.”
They found in the PET scan later that “the rapid breathing exercise worked by warming the capillaries in the lungs.”
Additionally, and weirdly enough, “Hof didn’t demonstrate an increase of activity in the anterior insula, where higher-function thermoregulation is done. Instead, he had an unexpected spike in the periaqueductal gray matter, which is associated with control of sensory pain. Maybe it really is mind over matter after all.”
During the filming of the movie Robert De Niro had a huge crush on her.
He even asked her out on a date.
But she turned him down.
After that during the entire shooting De Niro did not speak to her except when he was in character.
Shooting over.
Movie released.
Taxi Driver did really good business at the box office and also received positive response from Critics.
But rejection from his crush did not stop De Niro. He did classic films like The Deer Hunter, One upon a time in America, Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, Casino, Heat , Goodfellas, Cape Fear, The Irishman etc.
He won an Oscar for the Best Actor for Raging Bull.
And now he is considered as One of the Best Actors of all time.
On the other hand Cybill Shepherd was forgotten with time.
The only character she played worth remembering was Betsy in Taxi Driver.
40 years later when she wrote an autobiography, She wrote that she regretted turning him down a lot. She wrote, it was the biggest mistake she made in her life.
Now what De Niro did after she turned him down is worth reading
Did he threaten her boyfriend? NO
Did he start doing drinking and drugs? NO
Did he try to get revenge from her anyhow? NO
What he did was – He kept working. He concentrated on his career. And now he is THE ROBERT DE NIRO. Who inspired hundreds of other actors from all over the world.
So if a girl rejects you, what is the best way to get her to regret her decision?
Respect her decision and focus on your career. Build an empire. Self destruction and revenge mindset (Easy Path) will not do anything. Forget about her. You’ll regret later if you choose the easy path.
One of the most badass thing ever uttered was: “We’ve been fighting in the West throughout the war and we have enough experience to assess our situation. We will not allow ourselves to be taken hostage! You will die like rats when we break out of here!” – Viktor Leonov.
This man is Viktor Leonov:
In 1945 after the fall of Berlin, Viktor Leonov, a grizzled old Russian naval commander who had inflicted crazy amount of death and misery on his Axis enemies was sent to fight the Japanese in the east.
Viktor was assigned to a naval parachute division and was dropped with over 145 men into what was supposed to be a lightly-defended airfield somewhere in the midst of china. Fun fact, it wasn’t lightly defended. Over 3000 Japanese soldiers were waiting for them and the second they landed they were rounded up.
Viktor and his officers were forced marched into the Japanese HQ where the Japanese garrison commander ordered their surrender. Viktor refused and told the Japanese to surrender.
The Japanese officers laughed and told them this is no place for jokes and that he should just sign the papers for the Soviet official surrender and get it over with. Viktor was not joking. He jumped out of his chair, slammed his fist on the table and yelled in a heavy, very deep and intimidating Russian accent:
“We’ve been fighting in the West throughout the war and we have enough experience to assess our situation. We will not allow ourselves to be taken hostage! You will die like rats when we break out of here!”
Right at the end of the sentence, one of his men pulled out a hidden grenade and threatened to blow up every single man in the room.
The Japanese surrendered.
Viktor and his troops walked back to the soviet base with his over 3,000 Japanese prisoners who only hours ago were telling the captured soviets to surrender.
After that, he went back to fighting and captured four Japanese ports along the Korean and Manchurian coastlines. During his daring operations against the Japanese, he lost a grand total of nine soldiers. Seven of them died parachuting into that airfield I just talked about. Viktor apparently only retired because there was no more room on his chest for any more medals.
Viktor died in 2003, his death was not even mentioned in the newspaper.
Back in the late summer of 2000 or 2001, I was looking for a job because a freelance customer had stiffed me on six weeks’ worth of invoices. I wasn’t thrilled about either of those things, but hey, at least I like my field. Anyway, my brother called me up out of the blue and we had a conversation that went something like this:
“Hey, you’ll never guess who I sat with on the plane today: John Prine!”
“Oh, cool. How’d he look? He wasn’t looking all that good last time I saw him.”
“He looked OK. He was coming into town for a show tomorrow night with Mary Chapin Carpenter and someone named Lyle Lovett.”
“OMG! Don’t ask any questions, just GO.”
“Oh, I’m going. But I was wondering if you want to go.”
“Uh… I’m broke and in Winnipeg. And I have to be at a job interview at 3:00 pm the next day. Is that even doable?”
“Oh, yeah, it’s totally doable, I have a zillion points. Let me see…” <keys tapping> “OK, I can get you on a flight that comes in about 4:30. I’ll pick you up, we’ll grab some dinner, take in the show, then I can drop you at the airport in the morning and you’ll be back in town by… about 1:30.”
“Uh… OK!”
Next day I take the bus to the airport, fly to Toronto, Scott picks me up in his minty 89(?) Porsche 911, zoom we’re downtown, bam we’re getting a falafel for supper, then we’re off to the venue. Prine was awesome as ever, Mary Chapin Carpenter was great, but Lyle Lovett and his Large Band absolutely killed it. I’ve seen a lot of damned good shows, and that one was right up there with the very best. Then it’s back to Scott’s place, up early, zoom back to the airport, fly back to Winnipeg, and I’m taking the bus to my interview and asking myself, “Did all that really just happen?”
It was an incredible pick-me-up at a time I could really use one, and by far and away one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me. (He’ll probably read this, so I’m just going to say “Thanks again!”)
After a 4 year stay in Japan, representing my husband’s company, we returned to the States and settled in California. We registered our children in school. After a few days our youngest daughter came home and reported that a man had come to the school and taken her out of class and they had gone for a walk. The man had shown her lots of pictures. I was horrified and asked what kind of pictures. She told me one was of a policeman with a bad guy.
next morning I was at the school and in the Principal’s office demanding to know if it was true and if so, why. I was told that I had made a mistake when filling out the enrollment form and had put down that my daughter was born in Japan. My reply was that as her mother I would certainly know where she was born and that was in a hospital in Tokyo. Then I learned that California law requires that any student that doesn’t understand English must have an interpreter.
I told the Principal that if she had spent two minutes in conversation with my blue eyed daughter, born of a British mother and American father she would have known my daughter was fluent in the English language.
Hungarian Pork and Sauerkraut Sandwich (Peshene)
Ingredients
4 slices pork butt, as meaty as possible, sliced thin, pounded if necessary
1 large can (27 ounces) sauerkraut, rinsed, squeezed dry
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
Salt
Pepper
Hungarian sweet paprika
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) salted butter
8 slices of the best rye bread
Instructions
Prepare the pork butt and add some seasoning to it. Gently brown the pork in the butter until done. Don’t over cook.
Set pork aside and add sauerkraut, onions, garlic and seasonings to the pan. Be generous with the paprika. Fry the kraut until browned.
Make up 4 sandwiches being generous with the sauerkraut mixture.
I sometimes add 1-2 peeled raw potatoes (diced small) to the frying kraut.
Every time I visit my parents’ house, I would see someone drinking tea and talking to my mother. They’re usually female, ages 20 through 40. From their appearance, I can see that they are not doing well financially. I call them my mother’s “projects.” She has maybe 4–5 “projects” at a time.
They are visiting my mom to get help, discuss a problem, get some advice, and occasionally some of them would bring gifts to say thank you. I don’t know how it started, who these women were or how they met my mom. But their stories are depressingly similar. All of them were women who had kids, frequently didn’t have husbands, or were in abusive relationships. Let me tell you about one of them.
I’ll call her Zaya. Zaya is a young woman, around 27 years old. First time she met my mother, was when she was 20. She’s developmentally a little slow. Reads and writes with difficulty, and it takes her some time to understand difficult concepts. But she is a hard worker. Always does her tasks diligently. From what I know my mom helped her in some small things:
One winter she bought her and her child winter clothes.
Helped her daughter go to a good public school nearby. To do that my mom registered her to her house.
What is special about her? Nothing really. But she has encountered so many problems in her life that, I think, really shows how difficult it is to be poor:
She was adopted and her family, except her mother, treated her like an unpaid maid.
She became pregnant when she was 18. The father of the child disappeared, never to be seen.
She worked as a cleaner in a small company and received a modest salary. My mom took her to a bank one day and helped her open a savings bank account. After several years, she saved an equivalent of 5–6 months salary.
When her relatives learned about it, they pushed her to liquidate her account and contribute to her brother’s wedding.
She met one guy, who was a driver and they decided to live together. They built a small house. She used her savings to buy appliances, furniture etc. Just before they officially registered, the guy died in a car accident. His family, moved in and kicked her and her kid out on the streets. I offered to help her write a report to the police and go with her to submit it. She didn’t want to go to all the trouble.
She opened a new account and kept the bank book with my mother for safekeeping. Her family learned about it and forced her to pay for renovation at their house.
Her mother, the only person who supported her, passed away. She told her on several occasions that if she passes away she wanted her daughter to live separately from their family.
The last time we heard from her, she was moving to a different city, since her oldest brother was moving there and opening a small barber shop. He promised he would pay her salary. After she moved there, she changed her cell number and stopped calling my mom. It has been more than a year since we heard from her.
Whenever I hear people say that the poor are lazy, or bad at managing money, I always think about her. Her life is like a boxing match with a pro boxer. She gets knocked down, she gets up to be knocked down again. The sheer amount of sh*t that she experienced in her life is really astounding. This is why many of the poor remain poor. Because life is unfair…
Neocon Debacle and Declining Empire | Richard D. Wolff
When I was growing up, I referred to my Maternal Grandfather as “Uncle”. Mind you, this was in a Irish Catholic household, and unless you were the first husband, and the father of the mother, you became “uncle”. Not grandfather.
So…
My grandfather on my mother’s side was “uncle”, not “grandfather”, because as I surmise today (as a much older man) he was not my mother’s father.
Ok.
They, like my father’s family had separate bedrooms for the man and the woman. My grandmother had her bedroom, and my “uncle” had his own bedroom. This was actually quite common in my family, as the men-folk from both families all started to snore when they turned 40 or so.
LOL
The poor women would never get any sleep unless that arrangement occurred. Yeah. It was never really explained that way to me. It’s just that you figure out these things over time as you age. Otherwise, it’s just a “family affair”, and something that you are supposed to “understand” and absorb like osmosis.
Jeeze!
That was not the only room that the women and the men folk didn’t share. Oh no. They also did not share the bathroom.
The men’s bathroom, for the people on both sides of my family was in the basement. This also included my father. Who had a little cubby hole under the basement stairs. As well as all my uncles. Later on, when I was much older, and my father was in his 70’s this arrangement continued with his new wife. She had her own bedroom, and bathroom, and so did my father. And his bathroom was in the basement… yet again.
…
Anyways, one day we (as kids, I was perhaps 14 at the time) were visiting my maternal grandmother, and she and my brother was in “uncle” Frank’s bedroom. And going through his credenza. And she was all Hell bent on giving away some of “uncle” Frank’s old items that he never wore.
And he just stood there. Really kinda emotional.
He had a leather jacket, “bomber “highwayman”style with a logo on the back that dated to the 1940’s and my grandmother was giving it to my younger brother Daniel. It fit him perfectly.
But, it was painful to watch because my “uncle” Frank did not want to part with that jacket. It’s not that he ever wore it, but it held some important memories and emotions to him, but my grandmother seemed oblivious to his emotional state.
I didn’t understand.
Two years later… he died. I was working in the mines, and it was mentioned as an off-hand remark at the dinner table one weekend. “Oh, by the way… Uncle Frank died”…followed by “please pass the peas”, and “How’s your cheerleader project going…” (said to my sister).
…
Odd. Really odd.
I have never been able to go though the emotional disconnect with “uncle” Frank and my grandmother, as all my uncles and aunties. When I checked on ancestry dot com, he is officially listed as my maternal grandfather… so what is up with that? Eh?
It only seems to point to another man being my mother’s father. But I’ll never know the truth.
An “official” father, but referred to as an “uncle”. Hum… Was a different “father” involved?
Anyways… here’s to Frank.
You were certainly unappreciated, and not as well respected (I believe) that you deserve. Perhaps it’s an Irish-American thing, but this little post will allow you to live on somewhat… in the minds of thousands of strangers.
…
As far as the leather jacket was concerned, yeah… my brother loved it and wore it all the time in his high school years and into his college years. It was a “truckers leather jacket” (highwayman) and fit him well.
And Frank. When you reincarnate… please never allow yourself to be P-whipped by anyone. It’s not becoming. Your clothes are YOURS. No one else’s.
I think I may have answered a similar question before but the best response I’ve heard was from my wife. She was a senior manager in Children’s Social Services in the UK. She was involved in a very unfortunate case about a social worker with Schizophrenia which came before the Family Court. Due to the social worker’s condition it was felt that her child needed to be taken into care for their protection. In challenging this, the social worker’s barrister quoted from a manual providing guidance to social workers. My wife challenged his defence saying that he was taking the particular section out of context and what was really intended was something quite different.
The barrister then challenged her in the sort of language beloved of smart-arsed lawyers ‘Oh, you are blessed with this wonderous gift denied to us mere mortals that you can look at the written page and and read the mind of the author when they wrote it’.
My wife then replied……
‘If you look at the author’s name on the front page of that document, you will see that I did indeed produce that guidance. ‘
The judge was covering his mouth with his hand to hide his snigger.
Deactivated or deleted all my social media – this removes the temptation to look.
Deleted their phone number and any trace of them that I could – photos and any other memorabilia I had.
Went on a long holiday on my own somewhere warm by the sea, sparsely populated and that I’d never been to before.
When I got home, I came out of my very early retirement (at 50) to throw myself back into my work in law and business so that I could direct all of my energy & emotion & passion into something positive that ended up making me quite a bit of money. I was so busy that I didn’t have the time to feel sorry for myself or miss her.
I got fit. I was never obese and had been quite fit & athletic up to my 40’s which was a hold over for my military service, but I was middle aged and starting to feel it. I worked out 5 times a week like a mad ba$tard, walked 3–4 miles every day, dropped 42lbs and looked 10 years younger. I’d never felt better, more energy, less aches and pains and my libido went through the roof 😁
Two years and six months later my life was completely different and I didn’t care about the Narc anymore.
I will admit that despite all of this I do still miss her sometimes… for maybe about ten seconds – or at least I miss the illusion and dream of who she led me to believe she was. But in focusing on myself I was able re-establish my own identity again which then reinforced the fact that it wasn’t my fault. That I wasn’t to blame for what happened.
Because some people are just wrong in the head and can be quite toxic & poisonous to the people they latch onto.
The moral of this story is that when you leave the narcissist, you have to focus on YOU! Fuck them, try and forget about them as best you can and work on yourself. It doesn’t matter what you do or where you are, but if you concentrate on levelling up and doing whatever you can to better and improve yourself, you will eventually heal and no longer give a $hit about the Narc.
And your life will be better too!
I promise.
Bread and Butter Pudding
Ingredients
Butter for greasing
5 slices white bread, crusts removed, thinly spread with butter
1/2 cup raisins
2 pieces lemon rind
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 medium eggs (at room temperature)
2 cups milk
1 tablespoon brown sugar
8 ounces heavy cream, lightly whipped
Instructions
Thoroughly grease a 6-cup round ovenproof soufflé dish.
Lay a slice of buttered bread, butter side up, in the base of the dish, sprinkle on a few of the raisins, and repeat until bread and raisins are used up, reserving enough raisins to sprinkle on the top.
Slide the 2 pieces of lemon rind down into the dish on opposite sides from each other.
Place the granulated sugar in a mixing bowl, break in the eggs, and beat for 1 minute with a balloon whisk or electric hand mixer.
Add milk and mix well. Pour over the bread and push the bread down so that it gets soaked, then sprinkle the brown sugar on top.
Heat the oven to 425 degrees F and after 5 minutes of preheating, place the pudding in oven.
Bake for 30 minutes until the dessert has risen well and the top is crusty and golden brown.
Serve immediately with whipped cream.
Secret Door Reveals Killer’s Darkest Secrets | Documentary
The world—American or otherwise—should bear this in mind.
Chinese ports handled 300m containers last year.
To put the number in context, American ports struggle with 50–60m, with the 10% increase during covid provoking loud creaks of protest from the antiquated system, resulting in transpacific shipping rates going up by an order of magnitude, or >10x.
China is the truly the world’s factory. It imports plenty, and exports plenty.
A naval blockade of China equals a naval blockade of the world, tradewise.
What happens to the >1t in annual revenue that American MNCs generate from within the mainland? Note this is not visible from bilateral trade figures.
What happens to Wall Street?
Good luck with that foolhardy scenario, which will lead to material collapse of civil society everywhere, because China is indispensable to the global supply chain.
Cheese and Onions
Serve with potatoes.
Ingredients
7 or 8 large onions, peeled and sliced
1 cup water
14 ounces extra sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
Instructions
Put half of onions in a microwave proof dish and add water.
Microwave about 15 minutes, drain and put into a glass casserole dish.
Put half of cheese on top of onions. Repeat with remaining onions, adding them to dish when cooked in microwave and adding remaining cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes or until cheese is browned to your taste.
I was eight months pregnant, and I was huge. I was at the grocery store and I had just gotten in line and was putting the items on the conveyor belt when a very strong contraction hit, you know, the stop you in your tracks kind. While I was standing there trying to catch my breath and wait for the pain to pass, the customer behind me, who was apparently in a hurry, told me to “move my fat a@&^$” on so she could go. The cashier, who knew me figured out what was happening, had already reached out to her supervisor and was closing down the line so she could help me, when the customer said really loudly, “That fat cow just peed on the floor”, ( my water hadn’t broken, but it had started leaking). Hilarious chaos ensues, I’m hunched over the counter being yelled at by the customer, the cashier and my friend are both yelling at her, and the supervisor is trying to herd the yelling customer and the others, who are trying to see what’s going on, to another line to get them checked out. The last thing I remembered was being called a “fat cow”, everything else receded into the background. What I remembered of that incident was what the cashier and my friend told me when they visited me in the hospital. The cashier later told me my friend ripped that woman a new one while the paramedics were putting me into the ambulance.
This happened to me. A woman wearing a hijab was in my seat. I politely said “excuse me but I think this is my seat.” The man next to her, by the window, very sternly said “no, this is my wife and she will stay here.” He was middle eastern. I say this not because I’m racist but because I realized there was a culture concern here. I showed him my ticket, but he very rudely proclaimed that his wife was not moving. The poor wife never spoke, but kept her eyes down the whole time.
The flight attendant came over to see what was going on. The husband was very rude to her as well and said his wife would not move. After some more conversation, in which the man wouldn’t budge, the flight attendant looked at me with a bit of desperation in her eyes. I knew that if things escalated, the man and his wife would be removed from the plane and we’d all be delayed. She asked me if I would consider changing seats with the woman, whose assigned seat was a couple of rows back.
I looked at the rude man and said, “No, I don’t mind. All he had to do was ask me.”
Part of me wishes I had made a thing out it, because his rudeness should not have won, but ultimately I didn’t want the plane to be delayed. The person I felt sorry for was the embarrassed, subservient wife.
Fear
Rare Ferrari Daytona Found After 40 Years In Japanese Barn
Many thought this car didn’t even exist.
Ferrari had, in fact, only ever commissioned one street version of its Daytona with a full aluminum body. Completed in 1969, the car was exported to a Japanese dealership in 1971 and then featured in the January 1972 issue of Car Graphic, a Japanese motoring magazine.
After passing hands several times, it ended up in the barn of its last owner, Makoto Takai, some time around 1980.
The car is in “barn find” condition and is being put up for sale unrestored. The odometer displays just over 22,000 miles. RM Sotheby’s expects the car to fetch up to 1.7 million euros ($2 million), according to the auction catalog.
It’s jury selection for a medical malpractice case. It’s tedious, and the judge appears to be asleep. Lawyers have questioned a dozen potential jurors already. “Do you know anyone on the witness list?” “Have you ever been harmed by a medical practitioner?” “Has anyone you know been harmed by a medical practitioner?”…he’s reading the questions off a clipboard and making notes from time to time.
They get to one juror and before questions even begin he’s giving lawyerman the eye, like “Tread carefully, sir.” Lawyer doesn’t seem to notice.
“Do you know anyone on the witness list?” “Yes.” Eye. “Who do you know?” “The doctors listed as expert witnesses for the prosecution.” Eye. “All the doctors listed as expert witnesses?” “Yes.” Eye “How do you know them?” Juror sighs. “Through my…profession.”
He’s clearly trying not to provide extra info, but lawyer plows on. I’m already smirking. I don’t know what’s coming, but I sense a train wreck. The lawyer looks at the juror expectantly. The juror finally says, “I’m an investigator.”
“Of what?” “Insurance fraud.” Oh snap.
“CHAMBERS NOW,” says the judge. Oh hell, I guess he wasn’t asleep after all.
They ended up dismissing the whole jury pool—we’d been hopelessly tainted. The judge was pissed. I just thought it was hilarious.
One day,a bus driver went to the bus garage, started his bus and drove off along the route.
No problem for the first few stops,afew people got on , a few got off and things went generally well.
Google image
At the next stop, however,a big hulk of a guy got on. Six feet height, built like a wrestler,arms hanging down to the ground. He glared at the driver and said, “ Big John doesn’t have to pay!
Google image
The driver was five feet three,thin, and basically meek.
Naturally,he didn’t argue with Big John,but he wasn’t happy about it.
The next day the same thing happened. Big John got on again,made a show of refusing to pay, and sat down.
And the next day, and the one after that..
This went over the driver,who started losing sleep over the way Big John was taking advantage of him.
Finally he could stand it no longer.
He signed up for body building course,karate,judo and all that stuff.
By the end of the summer,he had become quite strong and the big thing is that he felt really good about himself.
So on the next Monday, when Big John once again got on the bus and said, “Big John doesn’t pay!” The driver stood up,glared back at the passenger and screamed, “And why not?”
With a surprised look on his face,Big John replied, “ Big John has a bus pass.”
Like the story above, most often in life, without realising the basics of the problems,we work hard finding solutions at the cost of time, effort , money and relationships. But in reality the problems are not that big. This is an ugly truth of life.
I had a patient with Shy Drager Syndrome. Nothing at all wrong with her mind, but she had very limited use of her body. She was a very nice person who used to drive a school bus. She was in her mid 40s. She was incontinent of bowels and bladder.
There was a CNA (certified nursing assistant) on my hall who was kind of tough. She had a harsh demeanor and some patients and other employees were a bit afraid of her. I wasn’t.
One day I heard a commotion down the hall. I went down there to find my patient crying and the CNA speaking to her in a very loud and rude voice. She had had a bowel movement in her briefs and had tried to make herself more comfortable because she hadn’t been checked by said CNA and I’m sure it was cold and lumpy and uncomfortable.
The CNA was loudly berating her for everyone to hear. She was saying. “You’re disgusting, Margaret! You are so nasty! Do you think I want to deal with this mess that you made”??? Oh hell no. I was livid. I called another CNA to please tend to the patient while I had a talk with the bully CNA.
She didn’t want to hear what I had to say and gave me attitude so I told her to gather her belongings and clock out. I told her that she was no longer employed by us. I advised her to find a line of work where she wouldn’t have the opportunity to terrorize helpless human beings who depended on others for care. She gave me the side eye but left with no issues.
News travels fast and soon the whole facility knew that I had just fired her. They advised me to have someone walk with me to my car that night. They feared retribution. I was called Monday by the administrator to discuss the situation. He was in agreement with me. Problem solved.
When I was 16 I was driving to a friend’s house for the first time with only an address (pre-GPS – pre-cell phone). It was the dead of night and I was having trouble reading the numbers on the houses so I got out of my car, left it running to read the numbers on a house. I read it and realized I wasn’t close so I ran back to my car only to discover that I had apparently hit the door lock on my way out. I stared in horror at my locked car, running, with lights on, in the middle of the road. Finally I went to the house I had looked at and explained the situation. My window was cracked so I asked if I could borrow a coat hanger to try to lift the door lock. I was 16, the man was a full adult and taking pity on me he not only got a hanger but came out to the street to try to unlock my car for me – which was so huge for me as a teenager! As he is is working on it the street lights up. We both look up and a HUGE craft is sailing over us trailing PURPLE fire! I was speechless. We both were. After it passed, the man turned to me and said ‘I’m so glad you’re here… no one would ever believe this….’. He succeeded in unlocking my door and I told everyone this crazy story about a space ship that flew RIGHT OVER ME.
A couple of days later the local paper had a story about it. Apparently it was a satellite burning up during re-entry. Nevertheless it is the most astounding thing I have ever seen with my own eyes.
Probably a long shot that the man who helped me that night will see this but OMG you saved my life that night. 30 years later I still feel immense gratitude, I’m sure 16 year old me did not express that adequately and I’m glad that someone else saw this with me!
Scientists Think There Could Be LIFE on Europa and It’s Even Weirder Than We Thought!
So I went to market yesterday with my mom to buy some vegetables for home. I always purchase vegetables from a specific vendor, as he gives me fresh vegetables in lower price than the market and his respectful behavior towards me. A person came out from a BMW car with his small daughter to buy vegetables. I asked mom to look at his car and said that it costs around 80 lakhs. He was in hurry and asked the vendor to pack 1 kg of tomatoes and cabage with some other vegetables. And then he asked to sum the bill. The vendor said ₹135 . He gave him a 100rs note and started leaving towards his car.
Then the vendor yelled – Bhaiya ji aur 35 rupay.
Brother you need to give me more 35 rupees.
He – Aree ho jayega rakho tum.
Keep it. It is sufficient.
Vendor- Nahi bhaiya, nhi hoga. Mera khareedi bhi nahi hai utna.
No Brother. Even my purchase is not that much.
He – Tu na kisi aur ko thug na.
You, deceive someone else okay.
Vendor – Nahi, bhaiya meine aapko bahut kam rate lagaya hai. Aapko itne kam mein koi nehi dega.
Nope brother, I have gave you these in less price possible. Nobody is gonna sell you vegetables at this price.
He – Aree hojayega tum rakho na.
Come on ! Keep it na
Vendor – Bhaiya agar aapko nahi lena hai toh aap rakhdo, parr mein itna kaam mein nahi de sakta.
Brother, if you don’t wanna take it then let it be, leave these vegetables. I can’t give you in this cheap price.
After that the person threw all the vegetables in front of the vendor and said ‘rakhle apna Sabji, sadh jayega magar koi nahi lene wala ‘.
‘Keep your vegetables, nobody is gonna take this and it will be rotten’
Me – Aree aapne aise kyu feka Sajiyo ko, usne jab aapko diya tha toh ache se diya na
Why did you throw these vegetable ?! When he sold you the vegetables, he gave you with respect right.
He – Bhai tu apne kaam se kaam rakh.
Bro, you mind your business.
Me – Aap unke boss nahi ho jo aap unse aise vyabhar karoge. Aapko nahi lena tha toh ache se bhi lauta sakte the.
You can’t behave with him like that as you are not his boss. If you wouldn’t want to take vegetables, you could’ve given it back with respect.
He – Yeh kya tera Mama lagta hai ? Tu kyu uska wakil ban rah hai.
Is he your uncle ? Why you are being his advocate!
Me – Han yeh mere mama lagte hai, aur mein banunga uska wakil. Tumhe kuch problem hai
Yes he is my uncle and I will be his advocate. Have any problem?
To divert the argument between us my mom yelled at me to keep quite and said , ‘Bhai Saab aapko toh sabji lena nahi hai, parr hume late hora hai. hume sabji kharidne dijiye’
‘ Brother, you don’t need vegetables, do you ? We are being late so please let us shopping for home.
That person threw daggers at me and finally went away.
Like what’s the benifit to maintain a BMW car when you don’t have money to buy vegetables.
So coming back to the question
What instantly makes a person less attractive?
Abusive behaviour of a person towards the people who stands on the road side whole day to provide us service and feed his family. Towards those people who considered as lower class according to our so called society. Showing your rude behaviour to others won’t make you look either rich or cool. It certainly makes one less attractive no matter how much rich he/she is or how great he/she looks.
Spreading kindness is not that expensive. But the love that we get in return is priceless.
5 Times TikTokers Messed With The Wrong Cartels
Watch this.
Now read this…
From a follower…
This is legit; Gordon Duff claimed years ago that the Mexican cartels (heavily involved with Mossad) own the entire legislatures of many southern states. NM and Az are 100% cartel.
Connecticut and New Hampshire are also fully controlled.
Flabbergasting, right?
2 of the richest, "whitest" states and yet cartel controlled.
As I knew years ago: the US isn't even a country anymore, just competing, very dangerous factions vying for control. The US military (Navy and Army deadly rivals) is still the top faction for now holding it all together.
Intel agencies half compromised. Irish/catholic and Mormon mafias fight for control FBI and CIA.
But for how much longer?
The "jews" are just minor players despite what everyone seems to think. But definitely the money guys.
Interesting times.
And this shows up on Hal Turner.
As the Domain said: by 2024 the US won't be in a position to make war on anybody.
Looks like something is definitely happening at the border, regardless.
https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/en/news-page/news-nation/flash-u-s-border-being-over-run-by-cartel-trucks-in-arizona
Cheddar Cheese Soup
Cheddar cheese originally came from the English town of Cheddar, where it was made as early as the sixteenth century.
Ingredients
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium stalk celery, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1 (10 3/4 ounce) can condensed chicken broth
1 cup milk
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese
Paprika
Instructions
Cover and simmer onion and celery in butter in 2-quart saucepan until onion is tender, about 5 minutes.
Stir in flour, pepper and mustard. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth and bubbly; remove from heat.
Add chicken broth and milk. Heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute.
Reduce heat to low. Stir in cheese; heat over low heat, stirring occasionally, just until cheese is melted. Do not boil the soup after the cheese has been added, as the soup may separate.
Sprinkle soup with paprika.
The TERRIFYING Last Minutes of Lynyrd Skynyrd
I was in university when this happened, and we were all big fans. We were shaken to the core! Fact.
When I was a teenager, there was a flood along the river where we lived. A large number of mobile homes that were located on the shores of the river were taken out, and destroyed. And six people were missing.
One day after the grand storm, I was walking alongside the tracks beside the river. I was in a remote section of the track. Perhaps two miles away from the town, and in the woods.
Eventually I came across a section that smelled really, REALLY bad. It was so foul that I got off the tracks and went to the edge of the river, where the smell was so damn intense.
I couldn’t see anything, and left. But that afternoon, I later discovered that a body was found at the exact location where I was standing looking for the body.
When I was around 11 I was snooping around in my parents room and saw their bank passbook sitting on their dresser. I opened it up expecting to see a healthy sum of money. Instead there was less than $30 in it. I saw the weekly deposits from my dad’s work and regular withdrawals for cash.
even at that young age I realized that we were poor and what little we had got spent on us kids. I felt terrible when I thought of all the times I’d pushed my folks to spend what they had on treats for me and my sister and brother.
A year ago, filled with a longing for Western freedom and democracy, I applied to the University of Auckland, thinking that it would be great if I could stay and work or live in New Zealand after graduation.
Now, I am firmly convinced that I should return to China after my graduation because:
1.The salary here is not as high as what I can earn in China,
2.The best city here is only equivalent to a third-tier city in China. Shopping and daily life are not as convenient as in China, and the cost of living is four times higher.
3.The knowledge taught in universities here, I can learn for free on Chinese websites, and it’s richer and more advanced.
4. I participated in two research projects at the University of Auckland and found that the level of research and development here is behind that of equivalent universities in China. I realized that by studying here, I probably won’t be able to bring back advanced knowledge. Therefore, I am considering returning to a Chinese university to further my education.
5. Moreover, I can feel that the majority of people in Western countries still believe they are more developed than China. This is the general perception, and I don’t need to explain it. I’ll just return to China and quietly contribute my strength there.
6. Western culture, there seems to be a preference for those who are boastful and talkative rather than those who are low-key and pragmatic. Coincidentally, as a Chinese person, I am not good at boasting, and I prefer to fulfill my responsibilities and then rest. The Chinese workplace is more accommodating to someone with my traits.
In fact, I spent hundreds of thousands of RMB to come to New Zealand, to see the real Western world, improve my English, and then met a group of Chinese students and a few friendly foreign students, and ate food that I wasn’t quite used to for a year.
I’m not a parent, but as a teacher I had to explain to a mother about bedtimes and sleep for a seven year old.
Her son was always tired and had difficulty staying awake during class. He was not working to his potential.
His mom came to discuss his poor grades. Come to find out, she was under the impression that he slept too much. So, she kept him up to midnight and had him get up at 6:00 a.m. No wonder the poor lad was always tired. I would be, too.
So, I explained to her that growing children needed at least 10 hours of sleep nightly as their bodies were growing and sleeping gave their bodies time to rest, heal, and grow.
She started having him go to bed at 8:00, especially on school nights. Within a week, he was brighter, more chipper, and the quality of his work improved immensely.
The interesting part? About a month later, he gave me a big hug and thanked me for telling his mom he needed to go to bed earlier.
I took my nice little VW Beetle Diesel to a mechanic for an oil change. After they got the car on the rack, the service advisor came out “Your car has a really bad oil leak.”
Before you go farther, bear in mind: This was a diesel. This comes in important later.
I go back to the bay and take a look at the purported oil leak. The bottom half of the back of the engine was covered in fresh, amber colored oil. “Oh, you’ve got a huge oil leak. You need to pay us $200 to diagnose the problem.” I called for the shop manager.
“Your employee claims that this car has an oil leak.”
He looks under there. “Yup. Sure does.”
“You know this is a diesel.”
“Why does that matter?”
“Have you ever seen the oil drained from a diesel?”
“Yeah.”
“Then you know that if I put fresh oil in this engine and drive the car three blocks, that oil will be as black as the Ace of Spades. This supposed oil leak, which is in a place oil can’t leak out of, is fresh oil.”
“Umm…”
“Listen. Clean all the oil he sprayed on my engine off it right now so I can go somewhere honest.”
The climate. Finland is located between 60th and 70th North, which makes the climate absolutely miserable.
The location means the winters are long, dark and miserable – sun rising at Christmas only at 09:00 in Helsinki and setting at 15:00. The situation isn’t exactly improved by the fact that Finland is located at the occlusion zone of Ferrel cell, which means the whole Atlantic comes down from the sky each Spring and Autumn. (Oh, Autumn is really Fall – I mean, rainfall. Finnish rain is not the warm shower as the Mediterranean rains, it is hard, cold and scourging.)
Finland has the worst of both littoral and continental climate: cool summers and freezing winters. Oh, and did I mention rasputitsa? Yup, we have it too.
The cold and miserable weather and the long and dark winter has left its permanent mark on our national soul. Finns tend to be emotionally cold, dour and close-minded. Not rude nor impolite, but cold. Sorry, no jolly reggae tunes here. Hero metal, power metal, black metal and prog metal. If your playing sucks, turn on more overdrive.
Which leads to another problem. Alcohol use is commonplace. Simply to carry over the worst. Getting hammered is a method to cope with the cold, dark and miserable winter.
Which leads to another problem. Suicides tend to be common, but not as common as they used to be. Many people simply cannot stand it all and quit their living.
Atheism is in Scandinavia a far older phenomenon than science. When the soil is poor, weather hostile and everything in the climate tries to kill you, you relate to supernatural as enemies and any deities as intolerable cosmic oppressors. The divine is not seen as a provider, but oppressor – as something which attempts to make living even more miserable than it already is. This is one reason why the Scandinavians are so hostile to religion and spirituality they tend to be. Already the Hrafnkell’s saga from 10th century tells of a Viking chieftain who ditches the Viking gods and becomes godhlauss, Atheist.
I wish I had wings so I could fly to Spain for winter like the migratory birds.
A bit of background: My parents recently got divorced and my dad got most of the money, furniture and he got the house. My brother (10) and I (13) only see our mom every second weekend and sometimes my dad just keeps us for the weekend. I always stop by my moms After school everyday to let her dog out and clean up any messes she made (She’s 17 and black lab). I usually wait there for bit until I have to pick up my brother.
Anyways, one day, my math teacher asked me to stay behind for a few minute so to talk about an opportunity to compete in a math contest. It was country wide and was for grade ten and eleven math. I’m grade seven but he said that’s he talked to the people who were running it. They said I could try but might have some trouble with it. I really like math so I said yes.
Fast forward two weeks and I’m sitting in the cafeteria with a bunch of really tall people. They hand out the papers and say go. I finish in about half an hour and turn mine in.
About a month ago i got the results and i placed third in the country. Apparently, there was a prize and i won three hundred dollars.
Now, my mom has been struggling financially although she didn’t tell us, I figured it out. Every time I stop by her house, I put some of the money in her jar and she hasn’t but noticed. I know it’s probably not a lot but I like to think I’m helping a at least a little bit. I can’t legally work yet…
When my due date was getting very close, I told my 3 and a half year old daughter that her little brother is afraid to come out of my belly. He thinks to himself: Oh, its a big scary world out there. Who knows what is awaiting for me outside. I’m just a little baby boy. I don’t want to go out and live with big grown up people all by myself.. Who will understand me and help me when I’m outside? Oh how I wish there was a little girl out there who would be my sister, so we can grow up together…
She was deeply moved when she heard this. She put her little hand gently on my belly, and whispered to her brother with a voice filled with tenderness. Come out little brother. I am your sister M. and I will always take care of you. You don’t have to be afraid. Few days after this, her brother came, and the love and connection that the two of them have is something I, as an only child, never imagined could exist. The way they cherish one another, help, encourage and comfort along the way is truly amazing.
It’s not going to eliminate the difference at all. However, it could help the less rich kids to maintain their dignity.
This is the most common school uniform in China. It’s ugly, oversized, and appeard since my school ages, but totally affordable. It wouldn’t change the fact that some kids have a poor family background, but it could reduce the possibility of students getting isolated in schools for either being too poor or rich. Trust me that kids do that all the time, and it could be quite hurtful sometimes.
Besides, with an ugly uniform, how one looks like purely relys on face. Dad’s mercedes or even GTR wouldn’t save it.
I am a welder and applied to a job through a temp agency. Their ad said hiring welders from $23 to $26 an hour depending on experience. They gave me a weld test and decided to hire me at $23. I told them I want $26 because that’s what their add said. I was told that was dependent on experience. Well I have 24 years of experience and I want 26. In the end I agreed to work for 25.
On my first night it was time to clock out so I went to the time clock and clocked out. I noticed all the other welders were still there cleaning up their work areas. I shouted at them so they could hear me, “hey it’s time to go. What are you all still doing here?”
I didn’t get an answer and left. Coming in the next day I asked them about this and they said they cleaned up the shop after hours on their time. With all the workers around and the boss I told everyone, “I don’t work for free. This mess wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t been here working. I won’t be cleaning the shop for free. I am loud quitting boss” as I made eye contact with the foreman, “when my shift is over I am clocking out and going home. I will have my area cleaned up before then.”
That night was the first night they did weld testing because new clients demanded all their welders were certified welders.
The next morning the temp agency called me and asked me not to go back to the job because I had been terminated for not listening.
The morning after I was called back again. I was the only person on 2nd shift who passed the weld test and many on first shift also failed.
Company representative: “Would you come back to work for us, please?”
Me: “OK but I want $28 an hour and switched to 1st shift.”
In Vietnam, when we meet someone for the first time in the new (lunar) year, we usually give each other a red envelope with some lucky money – as a good wish for a bright and happy new year.
I was in 11th grade in high school. We were just back from the Lunar New Year holiday (”Tết” holiday in Vietnamese), happily exchanging red envelopes and good wishes. Coincidentally, it was also Valentine’s Day that year. But, 20 years ago, I had no idea about that, so when this boy handed me the red envelope with a chocolate bar, “Happy Valentine!”, I happily took it, “Thank you! You’re so sweet!”, and I gave him a big hug.
Before he could say anything else, I opened the chocolate bar, broke it into pieces, and… shared it with the whole class, everyone got a piece. I couldn’t explain the emotion in his eyes when he watched that happened.
Years later, every time we meet up for our class reunion, he always brings this story up and we laugh. Still can’t believe I missed that hint.
CIA
Back in the late 70’s I found myself between jobs. I had 10 years as the GM of aof a chain of convenience stores which had been sold and that ended my job! My parents lived in the Washington DC area and one of their neighbors, who I had known for many years, worked for the CIA. At a neighborhood gathering while I was visiting I mentioned to him that I was job hunting and asked if he had any connections in the CIA. After we had returned home I got a call asking if I would like to interview so I flew back up and stayed with my parents for a week.
I was instructed to report to a building in Rosslyn VA which is across the Potomac River from DC. I remember having a hard time finding the address I was given because there was no name or numbers on the building. Maybe that was my first test! In any case, the interview lasted all week. One thing that I remember was is how low key the whole process was. Mostly a series of different people asking me a lot of questions about myself. What my hobbies were, favorite foods. etc. It reminded me of shooting the breeze with a bunch of strangers at a college mixer. Not much in writing, no physicals, drug tests, etc. Not many probing questions, very relaxed. Definitely the strangest interview I’ve ever had, and this went on for 5 days.
There was one woman who was my primary contact. From the beginning to the end, she was the one who was always there at the end of an interview and introduced me to the next person. Never their last name or title, just a first name, always in the same room, never in their office. On the 5th and final day, she brought me into her office and said that they would like me to work for them as an operative. I had never heard that term before, but knew that it meant that the CIA wanted me to be a spy. Immediate visions of James Bond came to mind. Fast cars, nice clothes, A GUN…all the things that we associate with being a spy. Obviously I was very interested.
I had a bunch of questions but the two that I remember were: 1. Where would I be stationed? and 2. What did they want me to do? I was married with two young children, and I was thinking maybe they wanted me in Europe where I had spent many years as a boy. WRONG! They wanted me to operate a small grocery store in PAGO PAGO! I had never even heard of Pago Pago, let alone knew that there was a large US Navy Base there. Out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, thousands of miles from everything and everyone we know, it was out of the question.
That was the end of my spy recruitment.
LOL. All, I do mean ALL of the stores in Pago Pago are owned by Chinese nationals. No fucking shit. -MM
I was a semi-freshly divorced single mom working in a chain of gas stations. It was my job to cover if someone called off and to run the money every day.
I had a reliable car only because my parents both took the time to teach me about cars including how to find a good used one and repair it when it broke.
I was enrolled in college. One class at a time is all I could squeeze in my schedule and budget.
My child was suffering under a rural southern school district. She is gifted and they had refused to set an IEP, refused to challenge her, and in fact persecuted her and myself due to our religion. We were told more than once we were going to Hell by school officials.
It was an uphill battle with them that required an attorney who volunteered his services. I couldn’t have afforded him otherwise.
Despite these difficulties, life was OK. We were surviving. We had food, shelter, and running water. My child never went to bed hungry or cold.
Then I started getting tired. Abnormally tired. I didn’t have the energy to function. My mother forced me to go to her doctor. She paid for the visit because I didn’t have insurance.
The doctor called me at work two days later and asked me to come in. I made arrangements for my child after school and I went.
He told me I was sick. Very sick. The tiredness was a symptom of this. It wasn’t just lack of proper nutrition or being over worked. This wasn’t something that could be fixed with a pill.
I started treatment the next week. I still went to work. I still took care of my child. I had to drop my class and adjust my schedule. I had to fight — and fight I did.
Then the medical bills started coming in. Uninsured and dead broke, I almost gave up. The state said I did not qualify for assistance of any kind because I made too much money.
If I had another child, I’d be at the income threshold. If I had another child, I could collect benefits like food stamps, Medicaid, and housing assistance.
If the state would have straightened out the child support instead of counting it against my income, I might have been able to pay a little bit of the medical bills.
I made arrangements for my child’s care after I passed. I had a small life insurance policy that would cover my final expenses. I managed to keep fighting.
The medical bills kept coming as did the phone calls from debt collectors. The threatening letters. The calls to my work. To say it was stressful is an understatement.
Until one day they stopped. The medical bills still came but showed a zero balance. The bills that had gone into collections were paid in full.
My rabbi approached me one night after services. He told me that a member of our shul had paid everything on the caveats I finish school and don’t stop.
I begged him to tell me who but he would NOT budge. He just said, “Finish your education and don’t stop.”
Finish school and don’t stop.
I still do not know who. I’ve had my suspicions, but I keep them to myself.
I have graduated but haven’t finished my education. (That is something that is never going to be finished.)
I haven’t stopped.
Smart Cat
Downtown Grill Catfish LaFitte
This is one of my favorite ways to prepare catfish. Even those who dislike catfish love it fixed this way.
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
2 large eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons salt, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons ground red pepper, divided (may need 2 1/2 teaspoons)
4 farm-raised catfish fillets, about 1 1/2 pounds
Vegetable oil
12 large fresh shrimp, unpeeled
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/4 cup sweet vermouth
2 cups whipping cream
1/4 cup chopped green onions, divided
2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 very thin cooked ham slices, cut into strips
Garnish: lemon wedges
Instructions
Combine eggs and milk, stirring until well blended.
Combine flour, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon red pepper in a shallow dish. Dredge fish in flour mixture; dip in milk mixture. Dredge again in flour mixture.
Pour oil to a depth of 3 inches into a Dutch oven; heat to 360 degrees F. Fry fish for 5 to 6 minutes or until golden; drain on paper towels. Keep warm.
Peel shrimp; devein, if desired. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat; add shrimp and garlic, and cook until shrimp turn pink, stirring often. Remove shrimp, reserving drippings.
Stir vermouth into reserved drippings; bring to a boil, and cook 1 minute. Add whipping cream, 2 tablespoons green onions, lemon juice, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1 to 2 teaspoons red pepper; cook 12 to 15 minutes or until sauce is thickened, stirring often.
Place catfish on a serving plate, and drizzle with sauce. Top with shrimp and ham; sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons green onions. Garnish, if desired.
Notes
I make the sauce first and keep it warm. I then fry the fish and finish the dish.
The Big Lie that Women Keep Believing in Modern Dating
As a 31-year-old Chinese person who lived in China for 30 years and has been living in New Zealand for a year, I find that this question seems to be of particular concern to people in the Western world, while we ourselves are not so concerned about it. I have also thought about this for a long time, and I would like to give a rather serious answer.
When I was living in China, politics really didn’t have much to do with our lives. In the daily routine of a normal person, we were essentially free and democratic. Moreover, from childhood, we learned about both Chinese culture and Western culture. We were quite familiar with the Western world from our media, and we knew roughly what the world was like. After going abroad, it was also easy for us to embrace Western culture.
However, after coming to New Zealand, I found that the Western media is full of prejudice against China and North Korea, while reporting differently on East Asian countries like Japan and South Korea. In fact, I particularly want to tell many Western friends who have never been to China that it is easy for us to accept Western civilization, but your points of concern about China seem to differ from what we care about ourselves.
Historically, China has never actively pursued religion, so how could it be actively enamored with politics? As long as the party does not disturb the people, we won’t pay too much attention to it, and a political party is the least intrusive solution. China is a country that has been agriculturally based for thousands of years. Our ancestors loved the land that could grow crops, and this love has flowed into our blood. The charming land that produces enchanting crops makes us ordinary people happy. China is large enough that whether at the top or among ordinary people, everyone can find their own focus in life, everyone takes responsibility for their own duties, rather than thinking about taking advantage of others or stealing from others. This is more efficient and safe.
If the leadership does not perform well, the people will resist together, and our history has always been this way. An ordinary person can grow to be a top figure in the country, or a top figure over a piece of land. With 5,000 years of detailed recorded history, many historically high-ranking people came from common families. So, when you ask if Chinese people want to live in a democratic country, I want to say that we have always been democratic. Every Chinese person knows: “The noble and the humble have no determined lineage,” but as a culturally united nation, if we are in a high position and do not make the contributions we should, we will be shamefully recorded in history, which is as important as life itself to every Chinese person. Thus, even though we have equal opportunities to become influential figures, not everyone wants to be the most powerful because that also means taking on more responsibilities, which can be more tiring (the positions of emperor, prime minister, and general in Chinese history were high-stress jobs). So usually for us, enjoying the life of an ordinary person also seems more relaxing.
However, it seems that Western politicians do not have the same immense pressures as Chinese leaders, nor do they have the same sense of responsibility. Your leaders seem very relaxed, speaking eloquently with expressive gestures, whereas our leaders are sparing with words, and mostly very serious. How should I put it? They are also under great work pressure, as they are not only supervised by hundreds of millions of common people but also by their competitors. But from my heart, I like this Chinese style where everyone has their role and does not interfere with others.
Compared to many Western countries, China is very open. I grew up in a very ordinary family in China, reading masterpieces from all over the world from a young age, experiencing different cultures, which is why I chose to go abroad after getting married and having children. I have also read modern and ancient Chinese books, which enables me to answer this question today.
For foreign friends curious about China, if you want to understand China, you are sincerely welcome to visit, especially if your daily exposure is only to English media. Because they seem to be the most heavily brainwashed region at the moment.
Somewhere in my graduate school years I noticed a trend.
An undergraduate philosophy major will sound absolutely brilliant. They often speak in a jargon-dense diction, delivered at high velocity, one idea bouncing off another to produce a spiderweb of spiraling associations. The effect, rhetorically and aesthetically, is often overwhelming. Logic doesn’t really play a role because one hardly knows what they are saying. The unwitting listener feels himself outmatched, drowned and blinded by the naked light of unbridled genius.
The graduate student is a much dimmer light. He is still full of abstract phrases and obscure references, but he is someone who is starting to sound, again, like a human being — explaining things, pausing, asking questions to insure the listener is following. This is not nearly as impressive as the undergraduate, but it does have the virtue of allowing the ordinary among us to understand what is being said.
The professor sounds like your basic “dad,” albeit one with a lot to say. He can at times seem unsure of himself. He pauses to define his terms and to add qualifications to his statements. He speaks carefully. He might even speak slowly. He explains as he goes, almost apologizing for whatever obscurities he falls into. His manner of speech is, well… designed to communicate! A quite boring and not evidently bright fellow, you almost feel embarrassed for him.
In light of these observations, I was forced to conclude that there is either something terribly wrong with our educational system — since the higher people go the dumber they get — or intelligence is not quite what we sometimes think it is.
In my van. We would drive away with the pedal to the metal. In 30 minutes, I could expect to get at least 50 kilometres away, and that ought to be far enough to be safe. Moreover, the van has a Diesel engine, so it does not need electricity to function – it will run as long as there is fuel and air.
If it was summer, I would drive to our yacht, put SCUBA gear on, and dive in the sea in the marina. There is enough oxygen to survive the blast underwater. Most radiation is absorbed in the sea, and the shock wave would not get to the water.
I dated a girl for a few years and we lived together for the last half of the relationship. Things hadn’t been great for several months before I decided to break it off, but it was a single statement she made that convinced me it was time.
The yard was in serious need of some attention. The grass was a bit high and we hadn’t done weeding in a few weeks. So I decided to spend my day off working in the yard.
I mowed the grass and edged the walks, I weeded all the flower beds, watered and fertilized our plants, got some new plants to fill in the beds. After I was done with all that, I decided to do some cleaning. I power washed the driveway and the house. The concrete looked brand new.
I finished shortly before she got home from work. When she got in, I was in the backyard admiring my handiwork. I was proud of how the yard looked. It hadn’t looked that nice in quite a while.
When she came into the backyard, I motioned towards all my hard work with my hands as if to says “look what I did!”.
The only thing she had to say about it was “You forgot to sweep behind the chiminea.” and pointed to a small pile of leaves off in the corner of our yard. Then went inside to take a shower.
Something snapped in my brain. All the times she had criticized stupid things just to have something to criticize came flooding back. I suddenly realized the obvious pattern that had been there all along. She didn’t just do it to me either. It was just who she was to everyone. She just enjoyed criticizing people.
I knew I couldn’t live life like that. I knew that if I stuck around, she would keep doing that for the rest of our lives and it would make me miserable.
I had just spent my entire day doing yard work in the middle of June and she couldn’t find one positive thing to say about it. I left that evening and stayed with a friend. The next day, I came home and broke it off with her.
I was about 10 years old, and in bed – about 11pm. I was supposed to be asleep, but as usual, I was reading by the light of my nightlight. I heard my dad slam the front door, and my mom yell. This wasn’t normal behavior, so I went into the living room.
The police were called, and my dad told me the story. Mom and Dad were in the living room, and heard a knock at the front door. We lived out in the country, and the neighbors all knew Dad was a doctor, so Dad thought it might be a neighbor needing help. When Dad opened the door, he saw a man with a mask standing there with one hand behind his back. Our super friendly, loved everybody German Shorthair, Ringo, followed Dad to the door. As soon as she saw the man, she gave a huge bark, and lunged for the guy. Dad said that 3 things happened nearly simultaneously – 1) he grabbed Ringo’s collar, 2) the guy pointed a gun at Dad (it was in the hand behind his back), 3) the man shot the gun. Dad slammed and locked the door. Dad was unhurt.
When the police arrived, they spent a long time looking opposite the door to try to find a bullet hole. At one point, one of the officers said that maybe it was a blank. But eventually, one of the policemen noticed that the row of art books we had on the bookshelf facing the door wasn’t completely even; one of them was pushed back about an inch. He peered closely at it, and noticed something odd about the O (it might have been Michelangelo) in the title – it had a hole in the middle of the O. He opened up the book, and sure enough, the bullet was nestled in the pages.
Needless to say, there was a rule in our house after that – don’t open the door at night without asking “Who’s there” first!
I used to own a small tavern. We had a guy who started hanging out there quite regularly. Nice guy, played darts with the other regulars, bought rounds in order , but didn’t talk much about himself or his past. But it’s a bar, so no one cares. We’ll call him John.
He was in early one night around 7pm. My staff is all away on lunch, partner wouldn’t be back til 10pm. I’m all alone. Usually not a big deal. This night, a couple of college jocks got way out of hand and started tearing the place up – breaking cue sticks and tossing around empty kegs. It’s just John, me and the college boys. I’m trying to de-escalate and get them to leave. Then, one of the big guys starts pushing me and throwing punches. I’m screwed. That is, until John steps in and beats the shit out of two guys much bigger than himself. I was completely shocked! We toss the guys out and he tells me not to call the police. He leaves shortly afterwards.
Next time I see John, I want to pick up his tab and chat. He asks me not to tell anyone or talk about it. I figure he’s ex-military and a private guy. He becomes pretty scarce. We’re looking for him, but he doesn’t come around anymore.
About a year later, we see his pic in the paper. He’s on trial for a pair of mob related murders. Turns out he might be responsible for more than a couple of these. I’m very glad he liked me.
US Ambassador threaten to shut Ghana’s economy down if Anti-Gay bill pass
I lived in northern Manitoba and southern Ontario, both in Canada, for about 25 years before I moved to southern Maryland. Snowmageddon struck in January-February of 2010. Everything was shut down for 10 days or so. Finally, I ventured out onto the roads.
My apartment complex fronted a 4 lane divided roadway, which was a designated Snow Emergency Route. The left lane was bare, the right lane was still covered with ice and slush. Both lanes were blocked where an SUV had gotten stuck then started to slide into the ditch to the right of the road. Pickup trucks, cars, other SUVs, vans, all were parked higgly jiggly and tall, brawny men were attempting to get the vehicle out.
I parked well back, walked to the crowd in my Canadian snow boots, and offered to help. They all had a good laugh, then turned away. I tapped on a man’s arm, “I grew up in Wisconsin and lived in Canada for 25 years. I know snow.”
“Hey, let the little lady here give it a try!”
I cleared them away from the car, crunched around it, repositioned the men, instructed the driver to straighten her wheels and put it into LOW gear, no gas! Told the men to push again, rocking, and told the driver to release the brakes.
The SUV popped right out of the icy ruts and kept going. Silently, the men returned to their cars and left. Too cold for crickets, I guess…
I was interviewing for a Canadian regional sales manager’s job for a company that sold patent medicines, made in Saudi Arabia. (Yes, I wrote the correct country name.)
After having introduced ourselves the interviewer handed me a package of papers, about ten pages thick.
“I’ll be quiet for a few minutes until you have read and signed this.”
It was the most horrible secrecy agreement you could imagine. If I break this, my grandson’s firstborn would be burned on the stake, or something along those lines.
I put it down, and politely bade my adieus.
The interviewer followed me all the way to the elevator door, trying to explain that not all was cast in stone. Some details could be negotiated.
I entered the elevator and left.
My next job was selling industrial valves, no secrecy agreement required. (I stayed there 9.5 years.)
The school arranged for a bus load of junior high students to go to a live play in the city.
This was the second bus trip in a month. The first one had gotten a little steamy on the ride back to the school in the dark. But not so bad it stopped the second one from happening.
The second trip, stopped all future bus trips, and caused a general assembly to be called. The principal and vice principal were dismissed at the end of the school year.
I didn’t have a girlfriend, and my best friends sister wanted to make out with me, but I knew that would end my friendship with my best friend. She wasn’t attractive enough to risk that.
In the back row, you could only see two guys sitting up, one in each seat. There had been girls sitting beside them when we left for the school.
What brought it to a head, was that the majority of students had hickies that were visible to their parents when they got home from the school trip.
There were a lot of phone calls leading up to the general assembly. It was amazing how many students had purple splotches, vainly trying to be covered with turtle necks, and long sleeves, and they had to sit in the front row of the general assembly, as we were told the consequences of our actions.
One day, she came home with a bruise on her cheek – just a small one, but it was a bruise. I asked what happened to her? She told me that a patient’s son hit her in the face because he thought she was ignoring his father – who was in pain while actually she was busy with another patient who was more critical. I asked her what happened next? She told me: “Oh, I came to that patient as soon as I finished with the one I was working on. Talked to him, comforted him and gave him some meds. Then I explained the situation to the son, and he apologized”. 7 year old me that day got angry and asked: “Why? You’re the best nurse, why didn’t you let someone else deal with that patient? His son hit you. He didn’t deserve your care!”
And my mom’s answer that day became one of the most important lessons I carry with myself through life: “Sweetie, you should never let someone’s bad action to be the reason for your own. Fixing something wrong by doing something wrong will never work. That man hit me may have been wrong, but if I hadn’t taken care of his father, I wouldn’t have been right. Moreover, it was the son who made the mistake, why should the father has to face the consequences? Your mom is the best nurse, so I do the best, right?”
So, if my neighbor never says hello to me first? That doesn’t stop me from saying hello and wishing them a good day.
I still believe that in this world full of sad/angry people, it’s much better if we’re sweet to each other, even just a littleeeeeee bit.
I strongly condemn Chinese military using sonar of mass destruction near Chinese coast which caused damage to Australian soldiers close Australian coast.
Wait… the Australians were near Chinese coast.
Oh… so you were their collecting seabed information, right?
In case of WWIII, it would be useful to intercept Chinese submarines.
International water or not, it’s definitely a hostile activity against China.
I can already make the draft about the same thing but reversed, i.e. PLAN soldiers got hurt by Australian sonar near Australian coast.
There is no “pro-China government in Australia”.
We know that already.
Stop lying.
Miao Ethnic Group
This is one of the 65 recognized ethnic groups in China.
The flags for the cars at my mother-in-laws funeral.
Well, they tried.
When they were doing their consult, they went over about a million things with my wife, and her brother. Both of whom were pretty deep in grief as they had just lost their mother. This woman was more of a mother to me than my own, so I wasn’t exactly NOT grieving.
Before my wife signed on the dotted line, she asked me to look the paperwork over. I saw a HUGE line item, it was around $2000, and just listed as “flags”. I asked the wife about it, and I asked the brother-in-law. Both had no idea what it was. I asked the representative from the funeral home, and they said it was for the funeral flags for the cars. The little magnetic “flags” that say “FUNERAL” on them. They are plastic, and have a magnetic base on them and you put them on your front fenders. If you have seen a few funeral processions, I’m sure you have seen them.
So I asked why we were paying $2000 for these.
I was told we had estimated 100 people, and they charge $10 per flag, and 2 per car. so 100x2x$10=$2000.
I asked if these were required, or if they thought that literally every single person was going to be driving their own car, or, the pretty obvious question, would this get re-rated based on how many people ACTUALLY showed up and needed a flag.
I was told that no, they were not ‘required’ but that they were recommended to make it more visible, and that wouldn’t my MIL want that item? They would re-estimate based on how many cars I expected (yeah, they KNEW that the estimate of how many guests was NOT the same as how many cars there would be), but that once the order was put in, it was non-refundable, and that if we didn’t use them all, then that was just how it was. They were basically being paid to make them available.
I went back to the wife and BIL, and explained, they agreed, nope, not necessary. I told them we didn’t need this, and to remove it immediately. They acted like that was some manner of travesty, and basically implied that people would think poorly of us for it. I knew my MIL, and KNEW she would have spit her teeth out if we had wasted $2k on this. There was a lot of shade from the funeral people for this.
Strangely enough, day of, not a single person asked about the flags. We turned out headlights on, and drove in procession with absolutely no problems whatsoever. Ironically, the only vehicle with the flags was the hearse, it had them permanently attached to it. We weren’t charged for that.
The funeral industry literally preys on people at their most vulnerable. They prey on your emotions, and your fears and insecurities. They have no trouble manipulating you into paying more than is necessary, and they will pad that bill out to match any insurance you might have. Do NOT just give them the insurance information, magically, if you have $35000 in insurance, they will eat every penny of it up. We had, $0 and paid every penny out of pocket… They still tried to pad the bill at every turn.
“What is the most absurd thing you’ve been charged for on a bill?”
edit
yes, these ARE reusable, and yes, they are returned after the procession, and yes, that does make it so much worse.
Good men won’t stick around if they are unwanted
Canadian “Mercenary” Killed By Russian Army in Ukraine
When I decided to move halfway across the Earth, from Vietnam to the U.S. to marry my (then) boyfriend, the only ‘condition’ I made my boyfriend agree to was I wanted him to move closer to his parents. My reason was that I would be in a new country, I wanted to stay close to our family. He agreed.
So, when The Teenager & I moved over, we settled down in a place within one hour drive from our parents.
Then came the first meet-up, we invited a few other family friends over. My mom & I were in the kitchen preparing food when a lady came in. She saw me, smiled, and asked my mom, “So, here is your daughter-in-law hah?” My mom smiled back at her, “No. She is my daughter in love.”
That sentence struck a harmonious chord within me and made my heart sing.
My wife and I were living in our first house in Oklahoma City. One day while we were both at work, the city sewer department tore down all the fences in the rear of the houses on our block to replace the sewer main. When we got home from work we were heartbroken because we had had our young dog in the backyard and now he was nowhere to be found. We searched the area for days and put up notices but to no avail.
We were starting to believe that we would never see our dog again. My wife was so upset she decided to call the city to “give them a piece of her mind” about the lack of notification on the sewer work causing us to lose our dog.
So she gets a person on the phone from the city’s Ombudsman Department. My wife explains the situation and tells the person that we loved that dog and had paid good money for him because he was a registered Irish setter. The person asks where we live and my wife gives our address. The person says “Well that’s amazing. I live about a half mile from you and there’s been an Irish setter hanging around lately.” My wife tells me the address and when I got to the person’s house, there’s our dog.
Oklahoma City is a big metropolitan area. Of all the people in the metro area my wife might have got on the phone, our dog happened to be at that person’s house.
I managed a cookie shop once. It was in a college town, and was open til 11:30 pm. At the end of the night, a homeless person showed up asking for cookies. I gave him some.
the next night, he brought 3 friends. There were just enough cookies for them. The next night, I was swamped. Literally dozens showed up. I didn’t have enough cookies for all of them. The crowd became enraged. They started yelling at me, then they started throwing things at me.
i told them not to come around again, there would be no more free cookies. I had to take a cab home that night, it was unsafe for me to walk.
The next night, a few of them started following me as I walked home. They were loudly talking about how they were going to rape and kill me. I ducked into an open business and called a cab home again. I was very young, and made just over minimum wage. I couldn’t afford to take a cab every night, but I had to for weeks.
I did make arrangements with a night nurse, who worked at a local hospital. She dropped by at closing every night on her way to work, and picked up the last cookies to take to the break room.
Having had that experience, I would never give food from a restaurant to homeless people again. Many years later, I owned a bakery, but still remembered my lesson.
The UFO Incident That Shocked Ariel School: Telepathic Extraterrestrials (Re-Edit)
“It’s like story time for grown-ups. I really appreciate this channel. Hecklefish is my spirit animal.”
I was banned from my local Walmart because I miss scanned an item. I went to self checkout one day because I had 4 items and wanted to teach my sons how to scan items. To make the story easier to understand, I had a tshirt, set of bras, shorts and some socks. While scanning, we had accidently double scanned the bras rather than scan the shorts, honest mistake. We finish up and as we are heading out, loss protection stops me and says “My name is XXX I’m with loss prevention please come with us” I was genuinely confused, my son got scared because of how aggressive they were but we complied. While in the security room they proceeded to rummage thru my bags and asked to search my purse. Again, I complied, but they never explained why I was pulled in. They searched cameras for probabaly 20 minutes. At one point, I hear one of the workers call across the radio “We need security detail for an escort.” I started getting REALLY scared and demanded an answer. Finally, they explain I miss scanned an item, because of this I am being escorted out of the building and will not be allowed back on property, should I step foot on property I will be arrested. I was baffled! They didn’t even give me a chance to fix my honest mistake! Needless to say, again I complied, but I put in a call the corporate after leaving, they reached out to me and lifted the banned immediately, apologized, and fired the entire loss prevention team. It wasn’t the first time they had abused power!
Every shit that the US does on China, the Chinese can do even more, faster cheaper and more painful to the U.S.
China prefers not to but it is always ready. Chinese people has a saying. If you do it on the 1st Luna calendar. We will reciprocate on the 15th. You mentioned rare earth but this is just one out of a thousand measure. It could checkmate the US. Don’t even think about it. Every hurt on China will be returned by several fold hurt on the U.S.
After I had disconnected the call, I thought – What if it was a call from my best friend, would my response have been the same?
The answer was a big no and I was unable to figure out why. This restlessness drove me to call him again.
Dad: What happened? Are you ok, son?
Me: Yes, I’m fine, Dad. Just, missing you a lot.
He was surprised at first and thought I needed money.
Soon after, I began cracking few jokes (lame ones) to which he laughed his heart out. We talked for straight 40-45 minutes, engaging in topics we had never discussed before.
Strangely enough, I felt like talking to a different person. The person whom I had spent my life with, yet knew so little about.
The blissful conversation ended with a ‛Khush Raho’ (Stay Blessed!) from his side and a wide smile from mine.
And so, I realised, not taking your dear ones for granted and making a deliberate effort to know them is something worth consider doing.
In ancient China, common people had the following ways to meet the emperor.
1. The imperial examination. The final stage of the imperial examination is the palace examination, which is personally supervised by the emperor.
2. Assassination. The emperor went out to patrol and ambushed him by the roadside. Even if the assassination fails, before being executed, the emperor will personally question you, who is behind the scenes?
3. Emperor Banquets Centenarians. This is a large-scale honoring and respecting activity for the elderly where the emperor invites centenarians to participate in the royal banquet. But the prerequisite is that you must be able to live healthily to a very old age despite the lack of medical treatment and medicine in ancient times.
4. Become a eunuch. This is not recommended because ancient castration surgery was very risky.
5. Becoming a famous prostitute. Although the emperor had many wives, he would never refuse beautiful women.
When I was in Malaysia, during breakfast they served dim sum in addition to other traditional breakfast foods and it was very nice. However, Malaysia is a country with a 20% Chinese population. Back here in the West we don’t have a high percentage of Chinese people. There are some Westerners like myself who would enjoy Chinese food, but the majority of people who would eat it would be Chinese people themselves. The lack of demand means there is little incentive to supply it.
1999. I had a four-year-old Internet advertising agency with 15 employees. A global corporation was buying it.
Weeks before the sale was finalized I had an early morning doctor’s appointment and saw these cups in her bathroom marked URINE SPECIMEN.
I took a bunch of cups, got into the office before any of my employees arrived, left a cup on each person’s desk with a memo that said the buyer required a urine test from everyone in the company before the sale could be approved. A nurse would arrive at noon to test the samples.
One by one they trickled in and proceeded to go batshit. Violation of my rights. They can’t do this. My personal life is my personal life.
I commiserated, but reminded them that if I didn’t sell the company, we’d probably go belly up, and we’d all be out of a job.
Not a lick of work got done all morning. Finally, at noon we all gathered in the reception area, each of us holding a full urine specimen cup.
I spoke to the group. “Guys, I hate this as much as you do.” I looked at my cup. “And I really hate my sample. The color of this piss is terrible. I think I’ll run it through one more time.”
And then I drank it.
I didn’t have to tell them it was Peach Snapple. They knew they’d been had.
15 people. 45 man-hours (and woman-hours) wasted. Pissed away, so to speak. And I loved every second of it. Best. Prank. Ever.
“Hey guys, it’s Heather. I’m running a bit late, but I should be there in a…..”
There was absolute silence in the room.
“Message received: September 3rd at 11:55 am.”
Not a word was spoken among the three of us listening to the message and none of us could muster anything useful to say afterwards other than a very weak, “save that message”.
It was September 5th. In less than 24 hours, we would be going to Heather’s funeral. Her car had been t-boned by a large truck and she had been killed instantly.
The police report showed that the accident had happened on the 3rd. Slightly before noon.
Try to fully understand China. Unless you do you will always have imaginary Chinese action. Let me help you. To China currency is meant to help transaction and to store wealth not trade currency for currency sake.
To China and to BRICS the SWIFT and its manipulative money trading scheme is just another western conspiracy to destroy countries by a stroke of a pen. China will not and will never play a meaningless game it is stacked against. China. So
it will not internationalise RMB or the Yuan. It will not try to helped prop it currencies artificially and it wanted a real currency value that. Is sustainable trusted. Playing Russian roulette’s with its 1.4 billion people’s wealth is not what China will do.The U.S. dollar used to be able to buy 100 items to day a mere 78 years later it can buy 3 of the same item. That is not good for Americans.
In fact between 1980–2020 Real Chinese income grew 30 times and the U.S. during the same time frame not only not grow. It went back to the 1960 level. So try imagine this. American today is doing worst than their grandpa! China wants its currency to buy roughly the same 78 years later. And an average Chinese have 50 times more Yuan.
What’s the funniest reason you’ve been called in to school to collect your child?
We were called to get our 16 yo boy. He had drunk a bottle of some alcohol during the lunch break. Then during the relaxation class, he fell asleep. When we got there around 90 minutes later, the high school was closed. We couldn’t get there any earlier as both of us worked around 70kms away.
We discovered from the cleaner he had been taken to the police station as they couldn’t depend on when we would get there.
Unfortunately, the police [ it was a small unit] had been called out to a large bushfire. So they put him in the outside exercise yard. The problem was it didn’t have a roof. When our boy saw us coming he climbed the chain wall and high-tailed it.
He slept at a mate’s place that night. The next day the high school said they were going to have him placed under care. His mum also a school principal said, “ over my dead body”.
We came and collected him. He was terrified his mum was going to hit the roof. Which she did.
We got called by the police to discuss his behaviour as they wanted to know how he had purchased the bottle. We counted with how could you lose our son when he is in your care. In the end nothing became of it and our son grew up and gained some brains.
As my first son learned to crawl and then walk, my wife and I played mantras to him, meditated by his side, and lit sacred sandalwood incense around him.
We co-slept and in the day he was always strapped to one of us, skin to skin.
He was breastfed exclusively for nearly a year and then given only organic, vegetarian food.
We didn’t buy him any guns or other toy weapons, only simple wooden and cloth playthings.
He was so peaceful that he radiated a tangible serenity.
Which made her happy—and me—because we wanted him to be calm, loving, and spiritual.
He’s seven years old now.
His favorite dish is a medium rare burger, he knows an embarrassing number of juicy curse words, and he’s obsessed with Nerf guns.
He likes to listen to rap music with phat bass lines, he finds talk of spirituality to be boring, and is not in the least bit interested in receiving affection.
But everyone is impressed by how determined, free-spirited, and bright he is.
And between you and me, I’m kind of happy he chose to do his own thing, to be his own being.
We love him more intensely than the blazing of the sun.
It took me a long time to realize that you can spend years and years of your life aiming for a particular outcome, just to have things turn out wildly different than you anticipated.
It took me a long time to realize that life is like a wild animal, like my son—fierce and free and beautiful, but ultimately, unpredictable, untamable, and unruly.
And I have the feeling it might take me the rest of my life to fully realize that this built-in uncertainty gives life a unique flavor that, after being acquired, tastes exquisitely delicious.
It could be because a lot of older people have tooth problems. An older relative, has dentures, I suggested that we go for steak, and she countered with a fish place, so she could be sure, that she wouldn’t embarrass herself having problems eating a tough steak.
The next time she was over, I had bought tenderloin steaks, and I cooked hers medium, which wasn’t as well done as she would have liked it, but was still pretty tender. Ours were medium rare.
She was upset with me, saying that she wouldn’t be able to eat the steak.
I showed her I could cut mine with my fork. She took one bite and was in love. She hadn’t had a steak she could eat in 10 years. She finished the whole steak, which she had said was too much, when she was looking at it. But once she started eating she couldn’t stop.
Every time we eat at restaurant, we have to make sure there is something on the menu that is soft for her.
So this is one possible reason.
Swarms of drones – kamikazes – attacked USS Thomas Hudner
The USS Hudner (DDG-116), an Arleigh Burke-Class Destroyer of the United States Navy, was attacked by a swarm of drones this morning, while patrolling the Red Sea. The ship sustained no damage or injuries to its crew.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) reported the incident after Houthis in the country of Yemen, took credit for launching the attack.
Houthis are now attacking United States Naval vessels over US Support for Israel, as the Israeli government engages in conflict with the Municipal Government HAMAS of the Gaza Strip.
The Houthis launched swarms of Iranian-made “kamikaze” drones in an unprecedented act of war.
Yemeni rebels who have become a force to be reckoned with in the Middle East, attempted to sink the U.S. vessel.
Not much more than a few thousand, which is surprisingly small. This is based on our DNA.
Unlike our chimpanzee cousins, all humans today have virtually identical DNA. In fact, one group of chimps can have more genetic diversity than all 8 billion humans.
Our minuscule genetic diversity indicates that at some stage, around 70,000 years ago, the human population dwindled to a very low level — maybe 2,000. In fact, it looks like we came close to extinction.
It was also around this time that our ancestors began migrating out of Africa.
This suggests there were dramatic changes to our traditional environment, possibly caused by the Toba supervolcano eruption 74,000 years ago, the biggest eruption in 2 million years, which left entire regions devastated by ash and climate change.
It’s 1964. Republicans are sane and intelligent. But they just got handed one of the largest losses in modern history, with LBJ winning the largest popular vote majority since James Monroe in 1820. Desperate for votes, they start pandering to racists who are upset about the Civil Rights Act and desegregation.
It’s 1974. Republicans just had their President outed as a criminal. They need an edge to get back in power. They start pandering to evangelicals, hoping their ability to believe in things they can’t see will make them easy targets for brainwashing.
It’s 1984. Republicans are scoring big points thanks to looking like the tough guys in the Cold War. They double down on the idea of growing the defense budget.
It’s 1994. Republican economic policies are dividing conservatives and just cost them the White House. They launch a 24-hour fake news channel to keep their base uninformed.
It’s 2004. Democrats have nominated a war hero for President and he should easily defeat the Republican incumbent. It’s time to start lying about his war record. Disinformation becomes the new norm.
It’s 2014. The economy is good. The nation is safe. But the President is black. Republicans dig up the 1964 playbook and capitalize on racism in their base.
It’s 2024. Sixty years of tactics have produced Republican voters who are racist, uninformed, misinformed, brainwashed, and violent. Now these people aren’t just voters anymore. They’re in Congress.
The president of the United States
China’s New Subs and Sonars Challenge Supremacy of US Silent Hunter Fleets
The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) surpassed the US Navy in total number of warships in late 2021. Technologically too, China has made major strides, including in the area of submarine construction and detection. These advances have sparked concerns from observers that America’s powerful fleets could be left dead in the water in a crisis.
The PLAN’s military and technological prowess against the US Navy in the field of submarine construction and anti-submarine warfare is progressing apace, and the “era of total US submarine dominance” over the People’s Republic of China is reaching its end.
That’s the conclusion reached by one of America’s top cited business newspapers in a piece focused on the Asian nation’s scientific and industrial advances for naval warfare. China, the paper pointed out, is gradually “narrowing” the gap between itself and the United States in the highly complex fields of submarine technology and undersea detection.
These developments not only threaten the Pentagon’s regional strategy of hemming China into its home ports, but could challenge US naval supremacy globally over the long term.
Earlier this year, for instance, research by the US Naval War College’s China Maritime Studies Institute pointed to Chinese advances in efficient nuclear reactors, quiet-running pump-jet propulsion systems and internal quieting devices, the latter based on “imitative innovation” of Russian technology, predicting that the PLAN’s latest nuclear-powered subs will be much harder to track than before.
Additionally, analyses of satellite photos of the Huludao Shipyard in Liaoning, northeastern China taken last year showed the construction of sections of submarine hulls larger than anything US analysts have ever seen in a Chinese sub, along with what seemed to be plans to increase production capacity.
US media citing leaked US Navy intelligence already sounded the alarm about China’s impressive shipbuilding capacity this past fall, which at 23.2 million tons per year, compared with 100,000 tons per year in the US, gives the People’s Republic the ability to build warships at a rate some 200 times greater than the US in a pinch.
On top of that, the PLAN’s rapid construction of a vast network of underwater sensors in the South China Sea and other areas along the Chinese coast known as the “Underwater Great Wall”, to look out for sub, surface warship and aerial activity, means that the Pentagon will find it more difficult to place its warships, subs and aircraft in areas around the Asian nation. The Underwater Great Wall’s construction is reportedly nearing its completion, and includes a vast network of passive and active sonar sensors, plus remote controlled underwater and surface drones which can look out for enemy activity.
China is reportedly also “getting better” at finding silent-running US attack and cruise missile subs sneaking around near its home waters, combining buoy and drone-based monitoring with the use of patrol aircraft and helicopters, for example.
In addition are the PLAN’s growing number of exercises with Russia, which, it can be assumed not only increases the Chinese Navy’s ability to coordinate with its northern neighbor in the event of an emergency, but allows it to learn from the Russian Navy’s half century-plus year experience as a major global naval power rivaled only to the US.
“The implications for the US and our Pacific allies will be profound,” former US Navy officer Christopher Carlson said, pointing to the headaches the US Navy will face, and the additional resources it will need, to locate and keep track of China’s new generation of quiet-running nuclear subs.
Strategically, the outlet noted, maneuvers that the US once took for granted, like the ability to approach close China’s home shores, will now no longer be a given, with the PLAN’s nuclear-powered attack subs able to pick off approaching American warships before they could reach Taiwan in a crisis, for example.
On top of that is the Chinese sub-based ballistic missile threat to the US homeland –a threat Washington has long been used to meting out, but not experiencing itself, in relation to the Asian giant.
“Finding a boat this quiet is going to be really hard,” Carlson said of the Chinese sub threat, predicting the new Chinese boats will probably be about as quiet as the Project 971 Shchuka-B (NATO reporting name Akula, or “Shark”) class fourth generation nuclear-powered attack subs which the Soviet Union and then Russia started fielding in the 1980s and 1990s.
China’s fleet of 79 submarines includes at least 16 nuclear-powered attack and ballistic missile subs, including six Type 093 (NATO reporting name Shang class) attack subs and six Type 094 (NATO reporting name Jin) ballistic missile boats operating “near-continuous” patrols between Hainan Island and the South China Sea. But Carlson warned that the Asian nation could build up to triple the current US rate averaging 1.2 subs per year.
Costly as Aircraft Carriers, Difficult to Build
“Submarine-building is the pinnacle of technological excellence in economics and industry, and only a few countries have mastered the technologies which China has now broken into – France, Britain, the Soviet Union/Russia, and the United States,” Vasily Dandykin, a veteran Russian military analyst and retired Russian Navy Captain 1stRank, told Sputnik.
Several factors account for the US’ slowing pace when it comes to the construction of new submarines, according to the observer, starting with Washington’s decision to rest on its laurels after the end of the Cold War, to the drop in the number of high-class specialists in the field.
“The downtime” in the US’ submarine-related programs resulted from “complacency after the collapse of the Soviet Union,” when “not just America, but also Europe rested on their laurels,” according to Dandykin. “The Americans have the world’s largest military budget, which exceeds those of all other countries in the world. That means that somewhere they got carried away with such gigantic and expensive projects which did not justify their cost,” the analyst said, pointing to out of control spending on novelties like the $8 billion-per ship Zumwalt class of destroyers.
“There were a lot of such projects that sucked up a lot of money. And now it turns out that all of these experiments boil down to the fact that they’re 10 years behind Russia in the creation of a new fourth-generation strategic nuclear submarine,” made possible, according to the analyst, thanks to the backlog of revolutionary Soviet sub designs that Russian builders have been able to develop and build on.
“The ‘downtime’ that occurred had an impact in this area, not just with submarines, but the construction of the surface fleet, the entire American fleet. Here, without a doubt, China’s pace has been impressive, first and foremost in terms of the construction of large ships for the surface fleet. But I think they will push themselves and try to build up their nuclear submarine fleet as quickly as possible,” Dandykin predicted.
As far as China’s subs themselves go, Dandykin pointed out that for the moment, the majority of the PLAN’s fleet still consists of diesel-electric subs, and for them to reach the same technological level as the US, as they have already done when it comes to ships like universal landing ships and destroyers, will take time. The PLAN’s current nuclear-powered ballistic missile-launching subs belong to the second generation at best, in the retired naval officer’s estimation, and the newest efforts are aimed at the creation of third-generation vessels.
Accordingly, Dandykin believes US efforts to hype up the “Chinese threat” are “a little disingenuous,” and designed mainly to lobby for the allocation of even more resources for US sub-building efforts – a titanic effort equivalent, more or less, to the construction of an aircraft carrier in both technological and financial terms.
Surreal. Uncanny. Deja vu. That’s how I felt as I looked down on Southeast Asia from my seat aboard an airplane. The feelings intensified the longer I was there. While my friends made me feel so very welcome, even in my time alone the feeling never left me.
I began the first leg of my long journey back home by crying into my teacup in a cafe in Changi Airport. My heart felt heavy. I was glad to go home to my daughter but if she’d been with me on the trip I’m not sure I’d have returned to the U.S. willingly.
I have said that when I die I want my ashes to be scattered in China, because America is the place of my birth but China holds my heart. There’s something about the Asian region that draws me deeply. I have no Asian background or ancestry so I can’t rationalize it. It’s just how I felt.
I was fired after 11 years in a PR firm. I never clicked with the owner, and the feeling was mutual. I loved my colleagues, got along well with everyone, and consider them friends to this day.
I had just come off of a very trying time related to a proposal I was writing, had slept little, was burned out and mentioned to a colleague that I wasn’t sure I belonged there anymore.
Soon afterward, the boss took me into his office and said nobody wanted to work with me and that we had just lost a client that reduced our budget. His second in command sat through this with his head in his hands the whole time. He helped me clean out my office the next day.
There were other things going on at the firm. The owner was advancing in age and had promised a succession plan. He never delivered. One by one, after my firing, everyone quit. His firm, started in the mid-80s and one of the most prominent in the city, was done.
Two people told me that my firing was the trigger that made people start thinking about whether they wanted to be there anymore. I can’t take the credit or the blame for what happened, but the exodus was fast and devastating.
The public image of a celebrity can often be quite different from their true character. Take Ellen Degeneres, for example. On her show and in interviews, she appears to be a lovable, down-to-earth aunt-like figure. However, there have been numerous accounts from staff and crew members claiming that she is actually a nightmare to work with and a terrible person. So, which version is the truth?
Then there’s Sean Penn, who was once in a relationship with Madonna. It has been alleged that he kidnapped and raped her during the 80s. Additionally, Penn has been involved in some truly awful activities throughout his life. On the flip side, he is also the CEO of a large charity and engages in humanitarian work.
Another celebrity, Mark Wahlberg, is often seen as an extraordinary role model and a decent guy. However, it is important to note that he blinded a Vietnamese man during a fight and is a high school dropout. Please note that the mention of being a high school dropout does not imply that it automatically makes someone a terrible person, but it is worth considering when evaluating their status as a role model.
Tim Allen, known for his lovable and funny dad roles, has a dark side. Despite making people laugh out loud with his jokes, he has been described as a severe asshole who disrespects those around him. Furthermore, he was caught smuggling a kilo of cocaine in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and served time for it.
On the other hand, we have Danny Trejo, who was once involved in drug running for a cartel and had a long history of violence and addiction. However, he has transformed himself into a humble and honest man who actively tries to steer kids away from his former lifestyle. In person, he is charming and genuine.
Slave nations like Germany and Japan wrap themselves around US and western economic orbit. And the U.S. increase interest it destroy their banks and industry. Not China. China is in its own stable orbit. Today the U.S. interest is between 3–5% and China stays under 1% or so. It do its own thing.
US banks are dropping like flies. China’s bank is loaded with Cash. Chinese citizen on average save 35% of their income in Chinese banks. The U.S. citizens meanwhile saved in average less than 4%. So every year the Chinese add another 6–7 trillion dollars into their wealth and funds.
On FDI if the west reduce other nations made up for it and China’s own investment is so humongous. FDI from west means nothing.
I grew up in the USA. In high school, the lunch period was 25 minutes. On a normal day I washed down three peanut butter sandwiches and half a dozen cookies with a quart of milk and headed to the break room.
At least my parents enforced a family sit-down dinner, though it didn’t last long either.
My eating behaviour in college and working part time jobs was not any better, though the food choices were smarter and more varied.
When I started working in sales after college, I graduated to fast food eaten in the car.
At restaurants, servers were all over me, trying to turn the table in 45 minutes or less.
For me, eating was like putting gas in my car. Get it over and move on to the rest of life.
Then I moved to Germany. It was a shock. The canteen served excellent full hot meals and everyone took their time eating, chatting (but not about work), and taking turns buying coffee for the table.
It was impossible to get out of a sit-down restaurant in under 90 minutes without pushing the staff.
Dinner at friends was a four-hour affair.
I learned to love food and the community of sharing it with others. It wasn’t uncommon for less formal outdoor restaurants to seat me with other diners. I met dozens of fascinating people in that manner.
Ten years later I moved to France and learned that the French take mealtime even more seriously than the Germans. Employers even subsidise the canteen or pay part of the meal vouchers for each worker.
I think this question might be better phrased if it asked “What are the influences of culture on food?”
While the food does vary from country to country, I have little trouble in Europe to eat exactly what I ate in the USA. That’s why I don’t think it’s the food that matters.
Instead I think it’s the value people place on taking the time to savour their meals and those they share them with.
Zelenogradsk: What does a Russian city of CATS look like?
They are literally everywhere: occupying benches at observation decks, sitting next to tourists at restaurant terraces, strolling along pedestrian streets and (alright, fine) allowing you to take photos of them. Let’s pay them a little visit?
You can definitely call the small city of Zelenogradsk (pop. 16,000) in Kaliningrad Region the “cat capital” of Russia. Everything there is dedicated to these furry animals, from souvenirs to… traffic lights!
The many cats of this city will gladly show a tourist the best photo spots (and the best lunch spots!). But, how did it come to this?
Zelenogradsk (Cranz until 1946) is an old resort city at the shore of the Baltic Sea. Cats usually like to settle in such seaside towns, closer to fishermen, fish and vacationers. But, in Zelenogradsk, they have become a real attraction of the city.
According to legend, centuries ago, cats saved the city from rodents that were destroying their food supply and spreading disease. Caring for stray cats is the locals’ way of expressing gratitude.
Cats have always been living in Zelenogradsk. But, it was only recently that the city itself became the “cat capital”. It all started with the Murarium Museum in an old 1905 water tower. Local inhabitant Irina Klochkova decided to set up an exhibition hall for her cat statuette collection in the unused tower in 2012.
Real cats also live in the museum, with ginger-furred ‘Semyon Semyonovich’ chief among them. He became the prototype for the first museum souvenirs. ‘Murarium’ gained a lot of popularity among tourists; soon after, a lot of everything “cat-themed” began to appear in the city.
As soon as you visit, you’ll immediately notice an incredible amount of cat graffiti on buildings. Souvenir stores, on every corner it seems, sell anything from keychains and magnets to shopping bags and mugs with cats on them.
The city’s central street, Kurortny Prospekt, even has mini-benches for cats, little traffic lights with flashing cats, as well as vending machines where you can buy cat food. The city administration even has the position of cat chief, a cat caretaker. Their responsibilities include feeding and taking care of cats.
And for those tourists who decide to have lunch on an open terrace of any cafe, just know you won’t be able to so in peace and quiet! The local cats will always investigate and will not be against the idea of sharing a meal with you.
By the way, there are plenty of dogs in the city, as well, but they seemingly maintain a neutrality with the cats. There are literally no fights or altercations to speak of these days.
There are two approaches to an answer, one superficial.
I’ll begin with the superficial.
Democracy, or one man one vote, is practiced by the Chinese. They have found the process is good at selecting leaders from small groups that work or live closely together. In fact, this is how the President is selected among the Politburo, and so on.
Unfortunately, one man one vote can and has been hijacked, particularly if money and power enters the equation. There are innumerable tales of village/town leadership seizing power through the “democratic process” and terrorizing “voters” for years on end.
When groups grow too large, voting among strangers can lead to undesirable outcomes.
That’s the modern Chinese experience.
Unfortunately, “Western democracy” isn’t just voting systems. It is a system of values and beliefs built on the foundation of western prosperity. For the past 5–600 years, it has been the absolute dominance in technology that has kept the West on top. That is how the top 12% of humanity today maintain radically different standards of living from the rest of the 88.
Until the emergence of China, only willing acolytes of the “Western model” made the leap into the first world, leaving has-beens by the wayside. All of them, to a fault, adopted Western-style constitutions, governments, legislation and thoroughly reformed society, in order to qualify for membership into the “globalized world”. In return, their economies boomed, powered by export-led demand from the first world.
Along came China, which is distinctly different, especially in the post-Soviet age of “the end of history”. Unfortunately, Communist China has succeeded wildly, way beyond the imagination of the “last man”.
Herein lies the rub. Chinese leaders had enough self confidence decades ago that the Western highway to prosperity wasn’t exclusive. Today, Chinese society is increasingly convinced their leaders were right, because they are living the best times in the sum history of Chinese civilization, a realized boast that reverberates through 4 millennia and >100 generations.
Western prosperity in the 21st century is no longer the shining city on the hill, cities of the future one can only dream of being teleported back home. A Chinese tourist visiting NYC, London, Paris and Berlin will be nonplussed by the sights, and perhaps repulsed by the smell and experience. Chinese cities have the same modern hardware, and services is rapidly catching up. And Chinese cities are evolving rapid improvement in quality of life metrics, while the west is stagnating, or worse, regressing.
The Chinese will go, that’s “Western democracy”, “in God We Trust”, and “all men created equal”?
Thanks, but no thanks.
Communism has our vote, because we live and breathe its outcomes.
Ukr Hard Day: Avdeyevka Cauldron, Kherson Bridgehead Cut Off, Wilders Wins; Biden BRICS Gaza Plan
She came to the surgery OPD by mistake on a day when our Plastic Surgery OPD was closed.
She had her face covered with a dupatta. I was immediately aware that she had some disfigurement that she was trying to conceal but it was only when I saw her treatment card that I realised what the reason behind it was.
I read the entire card and slowly looked up at her. She was looking at me with one eye while she kept the rest of her face covered.
“I was asked to come after 4 weeks. Here I am.” She told me quietly.
“Yes, I see it written here, ma’m, but our plastic surgery OPDs are on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I am afraid, you’ll have to come back tomorrow.”
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“Can’t you or the doctors here do anything about this?”
“We can but we are not plastic surgeons. We are not experts and we are not the best people to help you.”
“No one can help me, doctor. You know it.”
I had no answer to that.
“If there’s anything else I can do for you…” I said.
“What can you do? My life is ruined. All I do is travel between my home, the hospital and the court. The last few of weeks my life have been hell. The pain has been unbearable. I can’t even look into the mirror anymore. What do you think you CAN do? Can you get me to look like before?”, she said, her eye moist and a hint of desperation in her voice.
I was trying hard to act professional.
I wanted to say that I was sorry that this happened to her. I wanted to tell her that I felt a burning hatred for the person or persons who did this to her. I wanted to tell her that she shouldn’t give up because her life wasn’t over.
Yet, I didn’t say anything. Everything that came into my head began to sound empty as I was about to say it out loud. My words all seemed so woefully inadequate to offer any kind of assurance to her.
That’s why I was trying to be calm and professional. No pity, no sadness, no anger. I was just trying to do what I was there for: my job which was to try and help her.
“I’ll try to call the Plastic Surgery resident to see if he can come here and take a look at you. I can’t promise that he will but I will give him a call.”
“Thank you.” She said quietly.
Nodding, I took out my phone to call the resident.
“I shouldn’t have spoken like that to you.” She said, looking straight at me.
“It’s completely fine.” I said immediately. The last thing I wanted was for her to feel bad for me.
“No, it’s not. I know what it feels like to be spoken to like this, especially if you haven’t done anything to deserve it.”
“Really, ma’m, you do not need to apologise at all. It’s okay-”
“You know, what hurts the most? Before this I was recently-”
Married? Did the husband abandon her? That was the first thought that came to my head.
“-promoted. I was a receptionist in a famous hotel. I was good at my job. People speak to us rudely all the time but I was really good at handling them. There wasn’t a single complaint against me to my manager in the one and a half years that I had the job.”
She paused, looking down at her feet.
“It’s all gone now. They won’t let me work with this…face. It doesn’t matter how well I handle our customers if they can’t handle my face.”, she said, in a voice that was so matter-of-fact that my heart felt like it was being stabbed.
This was a woman who had been serious about her job. She had been excited about her future. She had been independent. The first thing she told me about her life was that she had lost the job she had worked so hard at.
I don’t know why but this case affected me so much more than other cases. Medically, there exist even more severe cases in which acid attacks have caused complete blindness, paralysis or in the inability to eat or swallow.
I know, of course, that you can’t quantify suffering and everyone has their own battles but this one…this one made me want to stop doing my work and go cry in a corner.
I forced myself to look away and called the resident. I managed to convince him to come and examine her.
“He’ll be here in fifteen minutes. Please wait outside.”, I said with difficulty because I felt a lump in my throat.
“Thank you.”, she said softly and left the room.
When you throw acid on someone’s face and they survive the attack, you take from them much of what we consider “life”. You take away choices, opportunities, self-respect and throw them into a world of such suffering that they have never known before.
My grandfather was once a lightweight boxing champ. He was healthy most of his life, but like everyone, he grew old. At 90 years old, though, he still liked to go dancing. He took his girlfriend to their elder community’s weekly dance. We went to join them for dinner and just visit them a while.
While I was up getting them plates from the buffet, two scummy men came in. They had been drinking and were looking for some old people to bully – no joke. They were in their late 30s/early 40s. They stopped at my grandpa’s table and started talking about his girlfriend. My grandpa stood up and told them to leave. I looked over and saw this jerk spit on the floor and shove my 90 year old grandpa.
I saw my grandpa stumble backwards against the wall, and I dropped the food tray and started moving towards him. It felt like slow motion.
Before I could get there, I saw my grandpa push off the wall and punch the guy square in the jaw. The man landed on his butt and slid backwards nearly all the way across the room! No one could believe what we saw, especially not the two creeps. His friend went over and helped him up, and everyone watched them leave with their tails between their legs.
I finally went back and got the food for them, and we sat and talked about what happened while they ate. After a bit, the two idiots came back with the police. They pointed by grandpa out to the officers.
The police didn’t believe their story, and we all acted like we didn’t know what they were talking about.
In last two decades hundreds of millions of Chinese have travelled overseas. Annually about 130 million Chinese travel outside of their country. So by now most of them may have realised that most of the rest of the world is very backward and not as advanced as they used to think.
And secondly they have their own continent sized country to travel and explore and will probably take a lifetime to explore fully. And every kind of tourist related attractions are within their own country be it tourist spots, beaches, deserts, cultural and historical sites, valleys, grasslands, snow and glaciers means in short every experience and to say the least their excellent infrastructure that makes travelling within China indeed a cakewalk.
If a Muslim unknowingly eats pork it isn’t a terrible problem. That doesn’t mean they won’t be upset though.
Regardless of how they feel about the pork, they will probably be more upset with you. Letting them unknowingly eat pork as a joke is a dick move of the highest order. I would recommend that you never tell them, if you want to maintain the relationship you have with them. If you tell them and laugh about it, no one is going to blame them for hating you forever. Others might join their camp.
Like I said, it’s a dick move, so proceed at your own risk.
Hoo boy. This is going to be one rough ride for humanity.
If we act fast, there is a chance that our species might survive for the long term, but we’re going to have to do things quickly. As soon as the Earth starts to move away from the Sun, things are going to cool off. A lot depends on exactly the trajectory, but even with a conservative estimate, we’re facing a snowball Earth scenario within a matter of years, when the surface of the planet can no longer support liquid water. It won’t take long for everything living on the surface to die.
However, not all hope is lost. The oceans will freeze from the surface downward, and as they freeze over they will in fact insulate the deeper layers. It could take hundreds of thousands of years before the oceans freeze solid, meaning some life may still manage to hold on in the deeper parts of the oceans for millennia, particularly where there is active volcanism going on, keeping things (relatively) warm. In theory, given enough time, we might be able to construct underwater habitats in the deep oceans as a refuge for humanity.
Another option is to simply go underground. On average, the temperature increases by about 25C for every kilometer we go down into the ground. Even when the surface temperatures have plummeted to -200C (when we’ve wandered out past Pluto), we “only” have to dig down a handful of kilometers before we can bask in the relative heat from the heart of our planet.
That heat from the planet’s core is what might ultimately provide the salvation for the species. While the rest of the energy sources we have available to us are ultimately based on solar radiation and will be forfeit once we’ve drifted from the Sun, our planet’s core is powered by radioactive decay and will keep on cooking for billions of years to come. We can harness this either directly via fission reactors, or indirectly through geothermal energy sources.
So here’s the scenario we might enact to provide for the continuation of humanity.
First, we determine what capacity we have for tunneling down into the crust and excavating areas large enough to create underground settlements. Perhaps the Boring Company will be in high demand in this scenario! Governments across the world pool their resources and a number of candidate sites around the globe are selected. Access to existing geothermal energy sources might be a good starting point.
Then we start digging. Temporary “camps” are excavated at shallower depths while digging proceeds ahead for future movements. In the meantime, each of these future colonies is prepared with resources that they’ll need to survive. Deep underground, some of the challenges will be oxygen and clean water; however, with artificial sunlight and proper preparation it should be possible to grow crops even underground. We’ll probably have to say goodbye to eating meat as raising animals for food won’t be an efficient use of resources, though we might keep some animals around for the sake of having animals.
At some point there’s going to be some kind of selection process for who gets to go down and survive. This won’t be pretty. Most of us will be left on the surface to freeze to death. But once it’s done, the selected groups can descend into the bowels of the Earth and begin a new subterranean existence.
Would it succeed? It’s hard to say. They have to dig deep enough, and that presents dangers in and of itself. Colonies could be destroyed by seismic activity that collapses them. In those kinds of close quarters, a disease outbreak could prove fatal to the whole group. Issues with food supply or water supply could doom a group. There are many ways in which any underground colony could fail, and it is almost a given some of them would.
But with enough luck, persistence and hard work, some of them might make it, and over the generations adapt to this new lifestyle. Maybe they’d even thrive to the point they could send excursions back out to the surface, exploring the frozen wasteland, travelling across the ice to visit other underground colonies. Maybe even once again find ways to build ships to leave the planet and try to find someplace nicer to take the family, so to speak.
From the Bayou Crawfish Louisianne
Yield: 4 to 6 generous servings
Ingredients
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
1/2 cup chopped andouille sausage
3/4 cup chopped bell pepper (can mix the colors)
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1/2 to 3/4 cup whipping cream
1 pound crawfish tails
1 quart peanut oil
4 to 6 catfish fillets (2 to 3 ounces each)
Egg wash (egg white, water, milk)
Seasoned flour
Seasoning to taste
Cajun seasoning, pepper, red pepper and garlic powder
Instructions
In a small saucepan, melt butter. Add andouille, peppers, onions and Italian seasoning and sauté until tender (about 5 minutes.) Add mushrooms just before completion.
Add whipping cream, and reduce the sauce over medium heat.
Add crawfish, and cook for 3 minutes. Adjust seasoning.
Heat oil in a large saucepan.
Dredge fish in egg wash and then season with flour.
Make decisions for yourself and do not follow the opinions or actions of others.
Have a clear sense of who you are and what you stand for.
Spend time reflecting on your thoughts and emotions and deeply understand yourself.
Be capable of taking care of yourself and do not rely on others for support.
Enjoy spending time alone and find it more fulfilling than being with others.
Have a few close friends or family members and do not rely on the need for an extensive social network.
Enjoy exploring ideas and concepts and be comfortable contemplating complex topics.
Do not seek validation from others and be comfortable relying on yourself.
Have a unique perspective and approach to life and be confident going against the crowd.
Do not conform to societal norms or expectations and march to the beat of your drum.
The Chinese warship sonar incident
This mature and analytical write-up by John Menadue, November 23 is very constructive and logical.
John Menadue is the Founder and Editor in Chief of Pearls and Irritations. He was formerly Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet under Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser, Ambassador to Japan, Secretary of the Department of Immigration and CEO of Qantas.
…
“What a feast of anti-China stories we have had again from the Coalition and our media over the incident between HMAS Toowoomba and a Chinese PLA-N destroyer.
The whole issue really looks to be overblown – and seeded by some in the Sinophobia school who are worried about where Prime Minister Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong may be headed. The idea of “stabilisation” scares them, so they react by promoting some destabilisers.
The proposition that the Chinese warship was directed by Beijing – let alone President Xi – to initiate such “aggressive” action beggars belief. Like the ‘spy’ balloon exercise, where it seems clear enough that President Xi initially knew little about the whole thing.
Our ‘spooks’ depend on the CIA for about 90% of their overseas information and the Pentagon is building a network in our Department of Defence. I would very much doubt whether Albanese and Wong really know what ‘information’ the CIA and the Pentagon are feeding into our spooks.
The US expects that a pliant ally like Australia will do what it is told. It is concerned at recent events and prefers that we do not stabilise our relations with China. So this incident is a great opportunity for some destabilisation. And our poorly informed media tag along as always.
Given the unsurprising PLA comments the chances of misunderstanding the message or even miscommunication would have to rate high. If the PLA ship had been shadowing the RAN ship, which then decided to stop dead in the water to check for nets, would the Commander of the PLA ship not be a bit suspicious about what the RAN was up to and activate some of his intel alerts including special sonar to try to find out more? In any event presumably he would have had some of his sonar devices running while he was sailing anyway? Even if the PLA just happened on the RAN in the middle of the sea (electronically of course) would its initial reaction not be one of suspicion?
We probably will never get the real story of the actual communications between the two ships, but language problems cannot be excluded.
But Albanese and Marles (again and again) have been panicked into hasty responses for which we will pay. Marles should have tried to hose things down, but he invariably sings from the US song sheet. Albanese should stick to the line of not commenting in detail on his private conversations with world leaders. Blinken did this repeatedly over questions about the Xi-Biden talk. If necessary, the government can call in the Chinese Ambassador at Secretary level to make the point.
It is strange why Marles would want to play this up right now. The incident was not in the SCS but in Japan’s EEZ heading towards Japan. This could be in the contested area of the East China Sea, south of Okinawa.
It is also not clear what UN sanctions RAN was monitoring unless they were part of the regular monitoring of UN sanctions against North Korea. We have been doing that in the Sea of Japan further north.
These incidents should be sorted out by military to military communications and not as a stick for those who want to destabilise our improving relationship with China.
We would be more concerned if this incident occurred in waters adjacent to Australia and not in waters adjacent to China, which is already encircled by scores of US military bases. China would understandably be very sensitive about what happens in its proximity.
In any event, this incident is minor compared with the aggressive things we do that are hostile to China. RAAF P8 aircraft operating out of the Philippines drop Sonar buoys in the SCS to monitor Chinese submarines. This is not for the defence of Australia but to support the US in a possible conflict with China over Taiwan.
Our media have shown no interest in this issue. It does not fit the Western ‘China threat’ narrative that our White Man’s Media works so hard to construct and maintain, and so is ignored.”
If you’ve worked retail long enough, even if you’re amazing, you have one of these.
I work retail pharmacy. I had a woman come up to the sales counter with her adult daughter, wanting to buy a large quantity of Sudafed, but within the legal limit. Both of them were planning to buy, and they happened to mention that they were buying it for the woman’s mother, both of them. This is illegal, as in my state you must purchase it for yourself or your minor child. You actually sign an electronic document stating so.
I apologize to the women and tell them I can’t complete the transaction, and explain why, that it is against state and federal law.
Immediate attitude, along the lines of “Who do you think you are, you low born classless person to tell me and my daughter, with our bleach blonde hair and snooty attitudes ‘no!’”
The mother demands to speak with the manager, who isn’t there, we just have a staff pharmacist who’s witnessed the whole thing. She tells the woman that I can complete the sale.
I stare at her for a second before asking the pharmacist if she intends to pay my legal fees to reinstate my pharmacy tech liscense, and tell the pharmacist that if she wants to process the transaction she can, but that I WILL NOT.
She demands my register login and codes, because she’s not a regular pharmacist at my store. I refuse to give them to her, as that is a fireable offense.
The customer is staring at us, red faced and ready to burst, and demands I listen to the pharmacist, then demands I page store management when I explain that the pharmacist cannot compel me to break the law.
I page store management, and my favorite assistant manager comes over and asks what’s going on. By this point, the woman is using abusive language, and exclaims “This f*ggot won’t sell me Sudafed that is for me!”
At that point the manager raises an eyebrow and tells the woman she’s going to have to move her car.
Woman asks why.
“Because our parking is for customers only. You need to leave now. Our customers know they can’t talk to people like that.”
The woman throws a shrieking fit, shoving over a display of medication… which her adult daughter stops to pick up, apologizing the whole time.
The pharmacist in question got written up by corporate for an Ethics violation, and when my Pharmacy Manager told me I should just turn my ears off and not listen to conversations at the register and do my job, he got an Ethics violation that has left him stuck as a pharmacy manager.
The woman emailed the corporate office, and I got to see the reply which was basically ‘We’re sorry you had that experience, but our stores are committed to following state and federal law’ and they attached the laws in question, highlighted.
It was nice to be vindicated and defended for once, instead of thrown under that well known bus.
I was in a hospital, here at Rome, to visit a friend, and when I was going away I saw two American girls, one could hardly walk because she had fell and hurted badly her leg. I helped them to call someone to bring a wheel chair and they went to emergency. I went with them to help because they didn’t speak italian well. I asked why they didn’t call for an ambulance and they said they didn’t want t to spend too much money. They were worried about how much they would have to pay at the hospital too. I explained them, in Italy, the ambulance is free, and so the hospital. Even if she would have to stay there for days or weeks. No one in Italy could dare to ask a girl with a broken leg for money. Nobody could leave her without medical care even if the didn’t have money.
They couldn’t believe me . They continued asking if the hospital was going to send bills later. If they could pay later in installments.
The girls wanted to ask the administrative employee too, because they wanted to be sure. He gave them the same answer and they were very surprised.
Later the girls left the hospital, one had a cast on her leg but they had big, beautiful smiles!
Not me, but my mother. She was visiting the US for a ski holiday in New England and had a bad fall that resulted in a broken bone. As a result, she had to spend a bit of time in a hospital. Her stay was fortunately paid for by Canadian health insurance; can’t imagine how US citizens who don’t have or can’t afford coverage manage to pay for their care.
Anyway, I was curious to see what it cost after she got home, so she showed me the detailed bill. The total was shockingly high, no surprise, but one thing caught my eye. She’d been invoiced for 3X “helically wound cellulose absorbent matrix units” at $48 each. Curious, I contacted the hospital to ask what these could be. Can you guess?
They turned out to be rolls of bog-standard toilet paper, the number she was tracked as having consumed during her stay.
This was a Church of England (Christian) secondary school (ages 11-18) in the late ‘80s and the dress code was quite strict. Among the many rules was one that boys weren’t allowed to have long hair.
There was this old-fashioned teacher (Mr. Barabell) who’d been teaching there for ~30 years already by that point and was well-known for being strict but fair.
Anyway, there was this one boy (Luke) who decided that he wanted to grow long hair and he wasn’t going to let a stupid school rule stop him, and so he just let it grow. Initially he started getting comments from teachers about being “scruffy” etc. but eventually the situation came to a head in Mr. Barabell’s class:
A confrontation begins with the teacher telling Luke off— “There are school standards to maintain, “ and, “Does he think that he’s special, ” and so on. Well Luke—smart alec that he was—has a pre-prepared answer ready to go:
“But sir, Jesus had long hair didn’t he?“
As this point the class is completely silent waiting for a response, but instead of answering Mr. Barabell says, “Right, everyone come with me now,” and he turns and exits the class room. We all follow, including Luke, wondering what on Earth is going on.
Eventually we reach the school swimming pool and gather around. Then Mr. Barabell turns to Luke, points to the swimming pool and says, “Walk!”.
Luke is just standing there kind of shaking his head (knowing that he’s defeated) and the whole rest of the class is cracking up.
The teacher finishes with, “When you can walk on water, you can have long hair at school.”
Americans foolishly screamed and shout that they are the leader of the free world without ever questioning if it is even remotely true or not! Please don’t be angry or upset if I help you guys since I understand you can pretend to be free or even dare says you are ordained by god to spread democracy and freedom but you Americans are one of the least free country on earth.
Let me help you good American. So first I like to explain how unfree you guys are.
35% of you cannot get health care when you fall sick! The most basic of freedom is the freedom to see a doctor and get cure when you fall sick. At least 100 million Americans don’t have this basic of basics of freedom.
Next 1 million Americans are homeless and don’t have another basic of basics of freedom. The freedom to have a roof over their head.! They have to live in makeshift tents on the streets.
20% of Americans don’t have 500 dollars to their name and don’t know where their next meal is coming from! Surely everyone must have the freedom to have a hot meal to stay alive!
USA with about 4% of world population has 25% of the worlds prisoners population! Think about this my American friends, prisoners are certainly. Not free. Many of them coloured people thrown into jail for the slightest reason. How on earth can you keep a straight face to say U.S. is the leader of the free world. No one know!
In many cities in the U.S. one cannot go to certain parts of the inner city like the Queens in New York. As crimes are rampant. So normal innocent and good Americans like you have to avoid that part of America! Surely freedom means you can go to anywhere or any part of America.
Kids and parents suffers the mental turmoils daily for just going to school. Many got shot to death in schools, public places, cinemas and even in Capitol Hill! Is that freedom? Even your kids are not free to go to school without a random mass shooter lurking with military grade weapons to murder them! Is this freedom?
If you are not fortunate to have a white skin you could be necked to death in the bright daylight of even driving a good car may be be shot to death just for suspected of stealing the car! Everyday you live in fear of a white policeman! Is that freedom to live? Freedom to avoid death at the racist inclination of the white racist? Surely not.
Freedom means you can choose who you really want to be your leader. Only 30% choose Biden. Or 35% choose Trump! Why are they your president? Your system allowed 0.8% of the richest and most influential people to choose your candidates! Surely this is not political freedom. This is far from democracy. How on earth can you call yourself the “beacon of democracy” who in a sane mind can claim that?
Oh today you country stop the Americans from having access to best 5G technology, Smartphone, best EV’s, drones and others for some geopolitical nonsense! Is this freedom? Freedom to be deprived? Let me help you understand. You are deprived from buying a 10 bucks EV. And need to be charged once a week but you are not allowed to! You cannot buy your Tesla like for half the price! Just to support your too big to fail auto industry paying 100 million bonus doing shit for good Americans!
But to me EVs and Drones are just the top of the iceberg of your draconian and suicide policies that takes away the freedom of Americans like you. Think about Jullien Assange, Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden! Freedom? American is anything but free.
It was 2016 in Bruges, Belgium. I was with my parents and we had just hailed a cab that somehow turned into a ride-share with this British family.
All was well in the van until about three minutes in, when I heard the lady say: “These people look a bit funny, don’t they?”. I looked up to notice that they were talking about my family. In plain English.
I stayed silent as much as I could, as they went on discussing among themselves and chuckling over how we were so bundled up (It was in the middle of a freezing winter and I live in the freaking equator!) even though it wasn’t that cold for them, or how they couldn’t figure out where we’re from because apparently we didn’t look Chinese enough nor Middle Eastern enough for them (Answer: Neither – we’re Indonesian) and all. During the whole ride, they were mocking us.
My mother must’ve seen me giving them a death stare and asked if anything was wrong, in Indonesian. Topping it all off, they were of course chuckling at how my mom was talking really funny. I couldn’t stand it any more, so I answered my mom in English, making sure the British family heard me well:
“Yes there is a problem here. Some people actually still think that English isn’t a universal language by now, and think that it’s good fun to mock and make fun of other people just because of how they look”.
I spent the rest of the cab ride watching the blood drain from their faces. At least I was no longer the one being uncomfortable in that cab.
Feeling sad after making a decision doesn’t mean it was the wrong decision.
Life is not tiring. Wanting life to be a certain way but not having the confidence to make it that way, is tiring.
Self-awareness is realising that there is no opponent -you’re fighting against yourself.
Sometimes saying ‘goodbye’ doesn’t mean you don’t love something, it just means you love yourself too.
That lesson will repeat itself until you learn it.
If you keep one hand on your past and one hand on your future you’ll never have either. To embrace tomorrow, you must let go of yesterday.
The world starts and ends entirely inside your mind. No matter where you end up, no matter how rich, or successful you become, you won’t enjoy any of it if you get there at the expense of your mental health.
As a teenager, I worked in a gas station for a couple of years. A younger kid got hired who had some odd work habits. When the station owner would leave, the kid would just go sit down in the office. Meanwhile, I’d be pumping gas, changing oil, or mounting tires. I had no authority over this kid.
A few days after he was hired, I told the owner what was going on. An hour or two later the owner mentioned he was going home for an hour or two. He departed, the kid sat down in the office, while I finished doing an oil change and waited on customers at the pumps.
Ten minutes later, the boss walked out the alley where he’d parked his truck out of sight, and stood quietly in the shadows, watching me work, and the kid sitting on his butt. A few minutes later, the kid was fired. Word got around our small town pretty quickly, I don’t think this kid could find another job that summer.
Years ago I strained a tendon in my thumb. I went to one of those jenky quick service medical clinics to have it looked at and a person, who I assumed had some training in doctoring or nursing, prescribed me ibuprofen and put my hand in a brace.
I paid them like 50 bucks and went on my way.
A few weeks later I got a bill for the brace from a medical billing company in Texas. They assigned a cost of $750 to the brace, and only the brace, claimed to have billed my insurance for $450 and expect the rest from me. Of course, I sent them nothing, and the bills kept coming. The brace was essentially the same as one you’d buy at the drug store for about $35. It was nothing special and there was no way I was sending them any money. I tried to call them, but no one ever answered their phone.
Once my tendon healed, I put the brace in a box, along with a copy of their bill and mailed it to them. I never received anther bill afterwards.
In fact, there is no eternal empire in human history. From Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, China, Ottoman, Russia. The lifespan of any empire established by a civilization is limited. In other words, crashes are bound to happen.
But the difference between China and other empires is that most ancient empires collapse only once. Because the collapsed empire can never be rebuilt again. But China has such a magical power that no matter how it collapses, it will always be reunified after a period of time, and then climb to the peak again.
This picture shows the whole history of China. The crown represents peace and unity, and the sword represents division and war.
So much so that the opening sentence of the famous ancient Chinese novel “The Romance of the Three Kingdoms” reads: “The general trend of the world is that if it is divided for a long time, it will be united, and if it is united for a long time, it will be divided.”
Why China has such magic power, historians have many opinions.
One of the more widely recognized statements is this:
4,000 years ago, the Chinese were born on a land suitable for farming. Since the earliest civilized countries were established, they have been a typical agricultural civilization.
From the earliest recorded history of China, they have faced the threat from the north. That is the nomadic civilization galloping on the grasslands. In the early historical documents of Chinese dynasties, the invasion of nomadic civilization was recorded many times, and even the most brilliant Western Zhou Dynasty perished because of the invasion of nomadic civilization.
The ancestors of the Chinese discovered that the agricultural civilization, which is good at farming and construction, cannot compete with the nomadic civilization, which is good at riding and archery, in war. (Infantry can hardly defeat cavalry). But as long as they are united, they will become more powerful. If 1 person can’t defeat the enemy, then 3 people; if 3 people can’t, then 10 people. Since agricultural civilization can breed more wealth and population, once China is united, the nomads are no match at all.
In 221 BC, the Qin Empire unified China for the first time, defeated the Xiongnu in war, and built the Great Wall to keep them out of the cold north. The Han Empire went a step further and formed a professional army of hundreds of thousands of people, went on an expedition to the desert, and completely defeated the Xiongnu. A unified and strong state always protects its people from harm. And when the empire crumbles and divides, China becomes weak. For example, the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period were all like this. At this time, the enemy from the north invaded, the internal war was in chaos, and the society was dark. People cannot live a normal life, and starvation and death become the norm. Every round of imperial collapse and division in Chinese history will be accompanied by wars and a significant reduction in population. The lessons of history have engraved this truth deeply in the hearts of the Chinese people—unity is justice and light, and division is evil and darkness. The Chinese yearning for unity transcends history, time, religion, and nationality.
Therefore, the ultimate political goal of every careerist who wished to seize power in ancient China was the same: to unify the country and obtain the “sky destiny”. Only in this way can we gain the support of the people.
Imagine if in Europe, every German thought the German government was evil, the British thought the British government was dark, and the French thought the French government was corrupt. These governments should all be overthrown. As for the reason, there is only one: they don’t want to unify Europe, which is not the right direction.
What a terrible and incredible power this is, but the Chinese have such power.
I used to date an American. At the time I lived on an estate where to get out, you had to drive under a railway bridge arch. He got annoyed with having to wait for oncoming traffic to clear and demanded to know “why the hell didn’t they build this with two lanes?” I said it was built 150 years ago for stagecoaches, before cars were even invented. Americans forget how old England is.
I asked a cycle rickshaw driver in India if I could have a turn. “This’ll be as easy as riding a bicycle,” I thought.
Technically, that’s exactly what it is. Only that you’re pulling someone else’s weight as well. Or even that of several people.
His face had all those deep grooves from the harsh sun beating down on him all day. His arms and legs were as thin as twigs. His ribcage bulged through a sweat-drenched tanktop.
I was less than half his age and enjoyed the kind of nutrition he could only dream of.
“You’re a tourist,” he protested.
But I insisted and he sat on the vinyl seat in the back.
I mounted the driver’s seat brimming with confidence and pressed down on the pedal.
It didn’t even budge.
I stood up and pushed down with all my might.
The rickshaw squeaked forward a couple inches.
By this point, the driver was laughing hysterically.
I conceded defeat, we changed positions, and he sailed down the street with an ease I could not even begin to fathom.
And while he was no industry-disrupting maverick, he was solving a real problem—helping people get from A to B.
My view of manual laborers was forever changed.
I learned that technique always trumps strength.
And that every honest line of work deserves our utmost respect.
Well, my doctor has stated that I need to stay in the hospital for a week or longer. And then afterwards, I really have to be very moderate and calm in my activities. Apparently, I can trigger my blood pressure to launch towards the stars, and I need to tame that beast. So, this is MM going calm and serene.
Drinking is going to stifle for a spell. Same with smoking, and many of my favorite vices. Sigh.
Gotta be good, and lend myself to some serious chill.
…
I really get upset about the crazy relationship scene that the West has collapsed into. And this mix of rampant sexuality, free-lovin’ (not that I’m complain’) and isolationism with a woke political class is just another sign of a seriously collapsing Western society.
Men need love.
Women need understanding and compassion.
And let’s not forget about our kitties. Right?
Let’s all strive to be a tad better to ourselves, and to those around us. It’s so easy to get caught up, and ignore our very own needs and situation.
…
We need to chat about food. And stews are great Winter fare. (Unless you live down under) then I would recommend prawns. Stews are great, and I’ll guess that many readers haven’t had a home-made stew in some time. I suggest that you make up one and enjoy it.
With butter and bread.
Life is too short otherwise.
Today…
Cajun Meatball Stew
Ingredients
Meatballs
1 pound ground round or chuck
1 1/2 cups soft bread crumbs (3 slices)
2 tablespoons each minced parsley and cold water
1/2 clove garlic, crushed
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon each cayenne and pepper
1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 green onions, trimmed and minced (save tops for gravy)
2 teaspoons salt
Gravy
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
5 cups cold water
4 envelopes or 4 teaspoons instant beef broth
1/4 teaspoon salt pinch of pepper
1/3 cup minced parsley
4 green onion tops, sliced thin
Meatball drippings plus vegetable oil to total 1/4 cup
Instructions
Meatballs
Combine beef, bread crumbs, green onions, parsley, garlic, egg, salt, cayenne, pepper and cold water in a medium size bowl. Mix lightly and shape into 24 balls. Place on tray and chill for 30 minutes.
Heat oil in large, heavy skillet and brown meatballs quickly on all sides (don’t overcook or the meatballs may toughen).
Drain on paper towels; save drippings.
Gravy
Place combined meatball drippings and vegetable oil in a large, heavy saucepan or skillet. Blend in flour, and heat and stir over moderately low heat until flour begins to brown, at least 10 to 15 minutes. Good Cajun cooks take about 45 minutes to make a roux. The roux should be a rich topaz brown.
Add water and instant beef broth gradually, whisking until thickened, about 5 minutes.
Add meatballs to gravy. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally for 45 minutes.
Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed.
Stir in parsley and green onion tops. Heat for 15 minutes longer.
Serve in soup bowls or on plates with the meatballs and gravy ladled over fluffy rice or egg noodles.
I’ve seen this question hundreds of times over the years on Quora and the knee-jerk answer is always some version of “Follow your passion is terrible advice.”
There was a time when I thought exactly that and wrote a similar answer. Sure, following your passion can lead you to become a starving artist or a passionate amateur beach volleyball player who lurches from one financial crisis to another.
At the other end of the spectrum, you have accountants under neon lights, droning through their days like robots, their life becoming a series of monthly, quarterly and annual closes.
Having been on both sides, I didn’t see a lot of difference in the happiness between those two groups.
My biggest advice is to “see the grey” and not take anyone’s career advice as a one-size-fits-all tip. Be like a CEO and take in differing perspectives of your VPs, and attach weights to each piece of advice given your own circumstances.
Don’t ever, ever, treat anyone’s advice as gospel. And that includes anything I say or write.
Hustle culture has spawned this nauseating obsession with meme-quotes from billionaires that supposedly solve all of our problems.
Spoiler alert: I don’t give a shit what Elon Musk said. He’s smart and capable. But he came up through a very narrow silo in the world. His circumstances are extreme and hardly applicable to most of our own. Hell, I’m half-convinced he’s a narcissistic sociopath.
You can do what you love. Or you can learn to love what you do. Life changes. New passions evolve and the economics of those passions make new paths possible while destroying old ones.
You may wake up one day and realize you hate the thing you thought you’d spend your life doing.
The only constant in success is hard work and focus.
The more I’ve accepted that life is a fluid situation, with everything in constant change, and given assumptions always being tested, the better I’ve done.
Work hard, stay flexible, and expect waves of upheaval. Because I promise those waves are coming. We all get our turns.
The first military tactic, and for thousands of years the most successful by far, was “stand together in a line and point our sharp sticks in the same direction.” Here’s the Sumerians doing it about 4500 years ago:
Proto-warfare involved individual fighters going essentially one-on-one with other individual fighters: think a modern gang fight or bar brawl. But you can’t really do that if the guy you are trying to fight has two guys immediately adjacent to him also holding spears: they’re going to stick you. If the guys in the line have shields and/or armor, you can’t even hang back and chuck shit at them, which was the other proto-warfare classic.
Now, this sounds really easy, but it turns out it actually isn’t. Warfare involves a bunch of people you hate trying to kill you. The natural response to that is to either (1) sensibly run away, or (2) run over and get the bastards first. Standing in a strict formation with even spacing is fairly unnatural in those circumstances: you need to practice it a lot, especially if you want to have any hope of moving.
(1) in particular is hard: even if you know that in theory your phalanx will survive a cavalry charge, it’s a harder sell when you have a couple thousand pounds of muscle and steel coming at you at a gallop. Gaps in your line means you are fucked: it’s hard to convey how absolutely shafted (pun intended) disordered infantry are in the face of cavalry, but it might be helpful to recall that the reason Napoleonic and Civil War soldiers stood in closely packed formation while getting mowed down by musket and cannon fire was because that was the safer alternative. And, to make things even more fun, the first guy to run away is probably going to be fine: he’s got all of his buddies holding them off. The last guy is going to get shishkebabed by a Gothic/Frankish/Norman/English lance, so how much do you trust your buddies?
(2) also isn’t actually easy to overcome, either. If you are a professional soldier, you might like the fighting. That’s how you get honor and, more importantly, loot. If it looks like you’re winning, you might really want to be the first person on the scene. You might make a lot of money. This is actually how the English lost at Hastings. The English housecarls, who were pros, successfully stood in a line with the pointy sticks the right way against a half dozen Norman charges, but broke when the Normans faked a retreat. They were then slaughtered.
But yeah, “get my guys in a line with sticks the right way” was sufficient for Alexander, the Romans, and Napoleon to get into the world conquest game. Simple, but that shit really works if you can actually do it. But you do need to actually do it.
We bought a building that previously had section 8 tenants. None paid on time, the very first month that we owned it. The housing authority didn’t pay either. After 8 phone calls spanning 3 weeks, during which time we had already given 3-day notices to pay, and filed for eviction, the housing authority finally called us back, asking what the heck we were doing evicting THEIR tenant.
We informed them that under state law, we were following the required procedure for eviction for non-payment. They told us that under the terms of the 17-page Section 8 Contract, we could not evict the tenant for any reason whatsoever, including non-payment. We asked why they didn’t pay us on time, and they replied because we had not signed the Section 8 Contract yet, after the purchase. Ah-Hah!
We then informed them that we would be proceeding with the eviction, and would not be signing the Section 8 Contract. They told us that the previous owner had already signed it, and it is not revocable! They then threatened us with legal action if we continued with the eviction.
We told them that we had already consulted our attorney, who told us it is illegal to enforce or coerce anyone into signing or upholding an agreement that they did not willingly enter into. Thus, upon the sale of the property, as clearly stated within the Section 8 Contract itself, and apparently unbeknownst to the Housing Authority, the new owner has a choice to enter into Section 8 or not. And, oh by the way, selling the property is the only way to get OUT of Section 8, and the only way to evict Section 8.
The Housing Authority huffed and puffed, and went away. The tenants were evicted.
End of Story. Yes, it is legal. We’ll never do Section 8 again, ever, for any reason whatsoever.
An articulate well known diplomat with high integrity and trust Wang Yi is meeting a 6 year old mindset, with Neocons drumming his voice with China hate and U.S. hubris thinking China is still in its 100 years of humiliation and the U.S. is still the one eye king after everyone loses both eyes after 2nd World war in 1945.
I hope for Blinken’s sake he will stop talking like the U.S. is the angel and China is the devil. He may think so but 180 out of 195 nations think it is the other way around. Best don’t even go there! Pretend to act civil and learn humility. That will go a long way Blinkyboy!
Confucian ethics says it is better to overestimate your opponent and underestimate yourself than the other way a around. The U.S. needs a lot of this balancing. China don’t listen to hot air after all. China sees more than hear. Anyone can say anything.
The U.S. better not talk about its own self made propaganda, lies, misinformation and fabrications. China is way too smart to let you lecture. Moreover the U.S. has done too much evil to even dare preach. Better focus on how to work with China on each others progress. Projects of common interest and goals to enrich the world, China and the U.S.
Without China the U.S. will die of pneumonia, with China it may suffer common influenza once in a while. Sure China will fly with the U.S. and still travelled at breakneck high speed rail without the U.S. but the faster China goes the more the U.S. will benefit too. If it knows humility.
We bought a house in a small California town, primarily because of our dogs. It had two and a half fenced acres, and was in a semi-rural area. Our dogs were getting old, and we wanted them to have a peaceful place so that they wouldn’t be stressed while we were at work. Well, it seemed like we bought a house in the “snob hill area.” During the first week we were there, a man stopped by our gate and informed me that our car was too old, and that we needed to get a new one. I told him that we were new to the area, and asked him to recommend a dealership. He did so, and I told him that I would meet him there the next morning, and to remember to bring his checkbook. For some strange reason, he hasn’t spoken to me again.
In the military, are you only allowed to keep on you what is issued to you by the government or can you buy extra protection if you want to? (knives, extra guns, extra supplies, etc), also, is your weapons and gear all new when you get them?
From a Navy perspective…
In the military, are you only allowed to keep on you what is issued to you by the government or can you buy extra protection if you want to? (knives, extra guns, extra supplies, etc)
Being on ships, there are some things you can and can’t have. No one, except a few watches, carries a gun on a regular basis. Generally, they’re issued out prior to watch, during security drills, or during actual events that threaten the security of the ship. Having a personal firearm onboard would have been useless, as it would always need to be locked up in the armory. There’d be no reason to have a personal firearm. The only people who MIGHT be allowed to have one would be the Commanding Officer, or a flag officer.
As for knives, I used to have one or two I carried everywhere while on ship. I was an engineer, and knives are essential, but not issued. I usually had a large Buck folding knife (I liked how they kept an edge), along with a small Swiss knife on my keychain. At one point I did have a double edged boot knife that I would keep hidden, specifically because they weren’t authorized. And only certain fixed blade knives were allowed (based on size).
Other types of gear we could go outside of regular issue were certain uniform items. When I was in, we had what were officially called “chukkas”, but which we all called “boondockers”.
These weren’t too bad, if they fit right, and they got more comfortable as they wore in, but they were about as mass produced as you could get, and the quality was inconsistent. They had steel toes that would cut through the inner lining and tear your toes apart, and a little saltwater would destroy the shine and eat the leather.
So, many of us would spend a small fortune on civilian shoes, much like these…
The Navy was fine with them, as long as they had steel toes and were black (for enlisted). They were supposed to be leather, too, but a lot of us would go for the ones that were synthetic, specifically because they were water proof.
There were other items that were not “issue”, but were sold as extras in the uniform shop. Back in the 80’s, there was a light black jacket we called the “Johnny Cash” (not to be confused with the black working uniform with the same nickname). If you ever went to certain overseas ports (generally Hong Kong), you could get your dress blues lined with an Asian motif embroidery on silk. This was out of sight for inspection, so the command never had a problem with them.
As for “extra equipment”, we sailors really didn’t need much more than what was already given us. We were allowed to bring on personal items, as long as they could be stowed properly. Electrical items always needed to be safety checked, and might need a request chit (permission slip) to bring it on board, but I usually had a computer for cruises, and game consoles were popular.
…also, is your weapons and gear all new when you get them?
This all depends.
Your primary issue for almost everything is in Boot Camp. That’s all your uniforms, toiletries, and other kits, such as sewing. These are always new, and upon issue, you have to identify your items with you name. In my time, we had a “stencil party”, which consisted of the entire company sitting down on the deck and using a machine cut stencil and special pens, we stenciled our names on everything.
I can literally smell the stencil ink as I write this. Not unpleasant, but strong.
From that point on, you’re responsible for replacing any items that aren’t up to standard. You get an annual allowance for this, and you can choose where to buy your gear.
I have broken service, and my uniforms weren’t in the best shape when I got back in. I was given an allowance that was meant to buy a new seabag (what we call our full set of uniforms), but I decided to save a little money and go “used”. There are always “boot drops”, the recruits who didn’t make the cut, and they have to return their uniforms. These were in good shape, but stenciled. We could buy our uniforms used, then cross out the old stencils and add our own. Saved about half what I would have paid for new.
Ships also have a lost and found, and those items are sometimes auctioned off for the welfare and rec fund. You could get some decent items from that.
As for weapons, well, you don’t keep your service weapon when you leave. Those are turned around and reissued. You might get new, you might get used.
The Evidence has been submitted and the case is closed
The Judgement has been delivered.
DEATH.
…
The MEA tried many times to help out but Qatar refused to comply
So there is no point discussing the evidence
We can go to the ICJ but given that Qatar is a gas lifeline to Europe, I am certain ICJ will pass
They openly bankroll the Hamas and yet not even a pinky finger has been pointed at them to this day
We need to get our boys out
That’s crucial
Now I am almost certain, the death sentence would not be carried out.
It never does
Except Eli Cohen and a handful of others, most spies are never killed or executed
Eventually there will be trade offs and exchanges
My guess is if India backs a Two State Solution in UN and votes against Israel for a cease fire and UN involvement in the Gaza conflict, that alone could secure a commutation to life imprisonment
Typically there could be a round robin exchange
Meaning a third country could mediate the release of hostages in exchange for India doing something for this third country
Like US or Russia or China
Ideally if we had a few Qataris in our Jail, we could do a swap
We don’t
Qatari tourists to India are non existent
We can’t pull out business contracts because we have only 6% and the Chinese would grin and happily take over
We can’t pull out of Oil and Gas contracts because we have no major long term deals and these are fungible goods
Of course they will, that is a a done deal, in fact they have already. Overtaking the U.S. is a piece of cake. A bunch of war monger selling stuffs no one one wants to buy at astronomical prices because they pay their greedy CEO 100 times that of China with workers that demand 10 times higher salaries working half the hours and insist 5 times more benefits!
Never mind this, the Yanks believed they can spend till thy kingdom come and spend like there is no tomorrow! China will pretend that they fear the U.S. but to the Chinese they not need to lift a finger, Uncle Sam will bankrupt it selves.! Hubris will bury them. Superiority complex will destroy themselves!
Let me help you hubris and racist Yanks understand the real world. As long as you still think the world belongs to you, the easier it is for us! China today in reality is at least twice bigger than you and that is being highly overestimating Uncle Sam and underestimating ourselves!
At the very worst., China is growing 5 times faster than you. The U.S. is totally fxxked! But we will pretend that the Chinese is 50 years behind the US! You loved that don’t you?
Embrace a lifestyle that costs only a fraction of your earnings.
Living below your means is like having a superhero cape you never have to show off. It’s the ultimate life hack for me, it makes one feel invincible, calm, and in control.
It’s likened to standing in a rock-solid tower while chaos swirls around you, that’s a feeling words won’t be able to capture.
In many places, especially in my home country, living modestly is more than just a money-saving trick; it’s a shield against life’s darker corners.
It keeps you off the radar for all sorts of unpleasant situations, from kidnappings for ransom to targeted robberies.
It also makes you less of a walking ATM for friends, family, and even strangers who see you as their personal bailout fund.
Choosing simplicity when you could go grand is a power move. It’s like having an invisible army guarding your peace. You’re not just scraping by; you’re flourishing but on your terms.
This lifestyle is the ultimate stress-buster. You’re cruising in a relatively comfort zone where you’ve got the choice but not the pressure to splurge. When you do spend, it feels like tossing a pebble into a pond, not like drilling a hole in a dam.
Living this way gives you access to a type of joy most people can’t even put into words, let alone experience in their lifetime.
Imagine being able to book a dream vacation or buy a dream home on a whim, leaving everyone around you stunned. That thrill is something money can buy only with a huge dose of discipline.
When you can comfortably afford your belongings, life takes on a different hue. You’re the boss, and everything you own is just a tool to make your life better, not a golden calf to be worshipped.
You only hurt one person, you, when you chose to live above your means. It is a recipe for sleepless nights and constant stress.
Being smart about how you live pays dividends in happiness and freedom, the very assets that are truly priceless.
There was a tall, lanky fellow who always wore long sleeves and sat down the table from me in engineering class. He didn’t talk much, had a strange sneeze and mostly kept to himself.
I had a sneaking suspicion he was smart, really smart. I shouldn’t have cared either way but between my bloodthirsty competitive side and penchant for people watching, my radar was always on.
And it wasn’t like I had any evidence, grades, test scores or even a remote conversation to draw my conclusion from.
All I had was a subtlety I’d noticed: His body language.
It was a cool confidence juxtaposed with a complete lack of stress on his face.
This absence of stress is not to be confused with slackery. He was laser focused on our material but rarely took notes. That pencil just sat by his hand begging for playing time, but no. Class didn’t seem to faze him. It was as if he was just in cruise control, coasting along while we all paddled to keep up.
He would go on to graduate first in his class.
But I had confirmation before that.
One day towards the end of the term, our teacher put a very high level problem on the board and asked who knew the answer. I immediately looked at him – he knew the answer. I could tell. His head sat still while his eyes were darting around waiting for someone to answer.
He was smart. He had it in his pocket. But he wasn’t looking for attention.
The teacher reiterated, “Anyone?”.
Finally, he slowly raised his hand and read off the answer like a trained assassin: calm, cold and collected.
You don’t need test scores to realize someone is smart.
Just watch them, it’s usually there. And it’s usually the quiet ones. Still waters run deeper.
China is TAKING OVER! Tiangong Space Station HUGE Update
Zero! Unless the US cancels all sanctions and restrictions it has placed on China. China is using the proceeds of its bond selling to buy gold. The expectation is that China will begin using gold backed currencies whether the Yuan or a BRICS currency. China sees the US headed for bankruptcy or at best, a financial and economic restructuring. So far, the US continues to print dollars and spending like there is no tomorrow, especially its spending on foreign wars. Yesterday, it was Ukraine, today it is Israel, tomorrow???
Schumer’s recap of his meeting with Xi has the tone that is as condescending of a lecture by an adult to a child. Here are all the points.
Point #1: At the foundation of our relationship must be a level playing field for American businesses and workers as well as responsible competition. We need reciprocity. That means allowing American companies to compete as freely in China as Chinese companies are able to compete in America. I made clear to President Xi that we do not believe there is a level playing field or reciprocity now.
Schumer is complaining about a level playing field? Reciprocity?
This is from a Congress and administration that has more than 1,200 Chinese tech companies on the Entity List and cried economic coercion when China placed restriction on one U.S. companiy. And he’s “making it clear to President Xi” that the U.S. wants a level playing field?
Point #2: “I raised the huge structural inequities and serious imbalances the U.S. faces in its economic and trade relationship with China. For decades, the Chinese government has erected significant barriers aimed at restricting the ability of American companies to compete in an open and fair manner in China. I made clear that the United States cannot sit idly by and that we must address the Chinese government’s forced technology transfers, theft of intellectual property, required joint ventures, and intimidation of U.S. businesses operating in China, among other troubling actions, that undermine economic reciprocity.
“Specifically, I also raised the need to remove restrictions and open up the Chinese market to U.S. companies, including from the semiconductor, financial services, and aerospace industries, and putting an end to policies that intimidate U.S. businesses operating in China.
What restrictions? What structural inequities?
Shouldn’t U.S. companies be making their own decisions on these? And as they say, the proof is in the pudding.
U.S. companies are making money in China. This is why they’re in China. It is precisely because of the structural benefits that China offers that U.S. companies are accepting the Chinese terms for doing business in China. U.S. companies can at any time decouple to India but are not because of the superior structural benefit China offers. And it is also why there is a “structural inequities” between the U.S. and China because, like India, we do have the infrastructure and manufacturing resources to compete with China’s. And this is not China’s fault. If the U.S. and India want to compete, then its incumbent on themselves to build the requisite “structure”.
Evidence of China’s open market? There’s Tesla in China’s automotive market and Apple in the mobile market, both market leaders in the world’s largest market. Nvidia was also the market leader in the world’s largest semiconductor market but its the U.S. banning them, not China.
Point #3: “Equally important to the need for reciprocity is the need for China to take more aggressive action to stop fentanyl from coming into America. Right now, the scourge of fentanyl is costing tens of thousands of lives and destroying American families. I called on President Xi to work with the United States to stem the flow of precursor chemicals that are fueling America’s fentanyl crisis.
And how exactly is China suppose to do this when precursor chemicals are not even banned substances in the U.S.? Fentanyl is a legal drug precribed by U.S. physicians for their patients.
Enforcement of illicit drugs is the sole responsibility of the U.S.. Blaming China is just a sorry excuse for failing at controlling an epidemic of our own making. It’s our greedy Pharmas in collusion with the FDA and physicians that promoted opioid use and solving this can only done by us alone.
Point #4: “I raised with President Xi the unfolding atrocities carried out against Israel and the need for the world community to stand together against terrorism and with the Israeli people, and pointedly requested from President Xi that the Chinese Foreign Minister strengthen their statement; they did.
Schumer is lecturing China on its foreign policy. He stressed the “unfolding atrocities” against Israel but omitted the greater “unfoldering atrocities” that the Israelis are committing against the Palestinians that he wants China to ignore.
Point #5: While we must ensure that our trade policies are fair, the United States will also prioritize our economic and national security, including protecting advanced technologies. Our delegation made clear that America is not seeking a confrontation with China, but we will remain steadfast in our commitment to promoting stability in the region, freedom, and democratic principles, and vigorously defend our values around the world.
This is just BS political talk. He’s saying that U.S. policies should be fair but justified when it’s not when we prioritize economic and national security, including protecting advanced technologies. So the U.S. subsidizing companies to the tune of $52 billion on building chip fab in the U.S. is ok but accusing China of doing the same subsidizing its tech companies as unfair and illegal trade practice. And its ok to sanction China from advanced chips and machines that make them – even forcing the Dutch, South Korean and Japanese companies to join – is justified for the sake of U.S. national security.
Now, how different would a Biden meeting with Xi be from Schumer’s? The Democrats has an election in 2024 and this will be nothing more than an electionering tactic at China bashing to win votes.
Radical Culture Change
Russia’s Top General: “Ready for Post-Conflict Negotiations”
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said today “Moscow is ready for negotiations on post-conflict resolution of the crisis in Ukraine and on further coexistence with the West.”
Russia knows Ukraine has lost. Russia knows the West can no longer provide weaponry or money to keep that conflict going. Russia knows it’s defense production is SEVEN TIMES GREATER than all the West combined. Yet, they are extending an olive branch.
Hal Turner Remarks —
We in the West should seize the moment and take this opportunity to move forward in peace.
Sadly, I fear the West simply CANNOT seek peace. I think the West – especially the United States — is literally Bankrupt. I believe the West **needs** a nuclear war or at least a partial nuclear war, so they can blame their financial collapse on the war. I perceive the West **needs** debt forgiveness and the only way they can get it is through mass destruction.
It seems to me the West needs to be able to go to their creditors and say “Our cities are destroyed, our people are dead, our economy is smashed. We have no hope at all of ever paying you back. We need debt forgiveness.”
If I am right, the Creditors, seeing this is the actual reality, will have little choice.
I suspect at that point, the very people in the West who perpetrated the massive financial destruction, get to walk away, free and clear, **remain in power ** (that’s the key) and start the whole shitshow all over again. Then, in maybe another 75 years, they have to do it all again. Round and round the wheel spins. Same old, same old.
If the West turns down this move for peace that Russia is offering, then ALL OF US know the whole Russia-Ukraine thing, and the whole Israel-Hamas thing, was specifically designed to intentionally CAUSE nuclear war for debt forgiveness.
Nothing else about these situations, makes any sense to me.
This is especially true of athletes in their mid and late 30s.
Men’s testosterone begins to decline around 30. We don’t recover as fast and lose a bit of our power over time. It’s a subtle change that catches up to them.
And many champions don’t know when to walk away in their prime.
Ronaldo is now sitting the bench on Manchester United:
True soccer fans knew this day was coming—as in fans who aren’t Ronaldo fanboys. He wasn’t playing at a high enough level to start on Manchester United. He was leaving the midfield too open while he camped out waiting to score goals.
He’s 37 and feeling his age. And that’s fine. Father Time catches up to everyone.
The sad truth is that this happens to the best of athletes. And it’s never more evident than in combat sports. Fighters that seem invincible, will go from being 31–1 to suddenly losing 8 of 10 fights in a row.
Muhammed Ali stuck around wayyyy too long and at least accelerated his mental decline.
Anderson Silva used to look untouchable. And then, age 38, he began a long losing streak.
Losing 6 of his last 8 fights.
The only person smart enough to walk away seems to be Khabib Nurgademedov. He was 29–0, and the allure of 30–0 whispered his name—but he stayed disciplined and knew to step away.
Meanwhile, his nemesis Conor McGregor has been racking up losses.
It’s a good metaphor for life.
Some phases of our life have an expiration date. Relationships. Jobs. Parties. And if you stick around too long, it just makes things worse.
The most dangerous creation of society is the man who has nothing to lose.
Today, at age 34 our combined net worth is $1.6M, not including equity in our home and equity in a small business my wife runs.
I can tell you our story, but it will probably bore you to sleep.
I had it in my head at the age of 25 that I wanted to be a millionaire in 15 years. So I sat down in front of a computer and opened up excel. I made a simple spreadsheet that assumed market returns of 7%. I then calculated how much we needed to save each year to obtain millionaire status by 40. We then proceeded to save the amount of money generated by the spreadsheet and invest in index funds, basing our lifestyle around the remaining income.
That is it.
Why did it happen sooner?
My wife hated her job. She was treated with very little respect by some members in the office, I suspect because she was young and good at her job. So she left. I told her to take some time for herself and figure out what she wanted to do. Little by little she began doing some book-keeping and tax work for former clients (she is an accountant). As word got around, more people called. She began networking and eventually built up a small accounting business with her and two employees. It’s humble, but we are able to save 100% of her earnings which helped us reach our goal sooner.
If you met me on the street you’d think I was a generic 30-something with all the same stresses of a corporate job, house and kids that most middle-class 30-somethings deal with. You’d probably assume I was barely getting by when you saw my dirty 14-year-old car, especially after you learned that I like to commute by bike most of the time anyway.
And that’s it. Having means is often more about your life style than your earnings. Unfortunately I’m not a savvy business man who made millions in his 20’s while driving a Ferrari and flying first class. I used a spreadsheet, saved that amount of money and built my lifestyle around that savings rate.
Then my wife and I woke up rich.
I told you it was a boring story.
Cajun Pork Chili
Ingredients
2 pounds ground pork
2 large onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 sweet red bell pepper, chopped
1 sweet green bell pepper, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 (28 ounce) can tomatoes
1 (28 ounce) can kidney beans, drained
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
1 teaspoon dried oregano*
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Dash of hot pepper sauce
Salt and pepper
Instructions
In a heavy saucepan, cook the pork over medium heat, stirring to break up the meat, for about 5 minutes or until browned. Pour off the fat.
Add onions, and cook until tender.
Add garlic, red and green peppers and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until vegetables are softened.
Add tomatoes, breaking them up with the back of a spoon.
Stir in kidney beans, hot pepper flakes, oregano, cayenne pepper, hot pepper sauce and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
Notes
* If you prefer a more traditional chili flavor, use cumin instead of oregano, and add chili powder to taste.
The MWI is real, and it is valid. However, the idea in the movie that consciousness is equally shared between the world-lines is a tad distorted. Instead the centering of consciousness on a given world-line is the actual REALITY within this universe.
At a tense meeting with IRS inspector Deirdre Beaubeirdre, Waymond's body is taken over by Alpha-Waymond, a version of Waymond from the "Alphaverse."
Alpha-Waymond explains to Evelyn that many parallel universes exist because every life choice creates a new alternative universe.
In the Alphaverse, the late Alpha-Evelyn developed "verse-jumping" technology, which enables people to access the skills, memories, and bodies of their parallel selves by performing bizarre actions that are statistically unlikely.
The multiverse is threatened by Jobu Tupaki (Alpha-Joy), whose mind was splintered after Alpha-Evelyn pushed her to verse-jump beyond her endurance; Jobu experiences all universes at once and can verse-jump and manipulate matter at will.
She has created a black hole-like "Everything Bagel" topped with everything,[18] which appears as a toroidsingularity[19] that could destroy the multiverse.
Evelyn is given verse-jumping technology to fight Jobu's minions, who converge on the IRS building.
She discovers other universes in which she made different choices and flourished, such as becoming a kung fu master and film star; she also learns of Waymond's plans with the divorce papers.
Alpha-Waymond believes that Evelyn, as the greatest "failure" of all Evelyns in the multiverse, has the untapped potential to defeat Jobu.
Gong Gong is taken over by Alpha-Gong Gong, who instructs Evelyn to kill Joy to stop Jobu from using her to enter Evelyn's universe.
Evelyn refuses and decides to face Jobu by gaining powers through repeated verse-jumping.
Alpha-Gong Gong, convinced that Evelyn's mind has been compromised like Jobu's, sends soldiers after Evelyn.
While they fight, Jobu locates and kills Alpha-Waymond in the Alphaverse.
As Jobu confronts Evelyn in her universe, Evelyn's mind splinters, and she collapses.
Evelyn uncontrollably verse-jumps alongside Jobu across bizarre and diverse universes.
Jobu reveals she does not want to fight at all, but that instead, she has been searching for an Evelyn who can see, as she does, that nothing matters, while killing the Evelyns that do not agree with her.
She brings Evelyn to the Everything Bagel, explaining that she wants to use it to allow herself and Evelyn to truly die.
Upon looking into the Bagel, Evelyn is initially persuaded, and behaves cruelly and nihilistically in her other universes, hurting those around her.
As Evelyn is about to enter the Bagel with Jobu, she pauses to listen to Waymond's pleas in her universe for everybody to stop fighting and to instead be kind, even when life does not make sense.
Evelyn has an existentialist epiphany and decides to follow Waymond's absurdist[20] and humanist[21] advice, using her multiverse powers to fight with empathy[22] and bring happiness to those around her; in doing so, she repairs her damage in the other universes and neutralizes Alpha-Gong Gong and Jobu's fighters.
In her home universe, Evelyn reconciles with Waymond, accepts Joy and Becky's relationship and tells Gong Gong of it, and talks with Deirdre after Waymond convinces Deirdre to let them redo their taxes.
Jobu decides to enter the Bagel alone while, simultaneously in Evelyn's universe, Joy begs Evelyn to let her go.
Evelyn tells Joy that even when nothing makes sense and even though she could be anywhere else in the multiverse, she would always want to be with Joy.
Evelyn and the others save Jobu from the Bagel, and Evelyn and Joy embrace.
It is a fantasy. Which is still a fun illustration.
So that is OK, don’t you know.
But what does the audience get from this movie?
That there is a multi-verse; and MWI.
That you can travel between different world-lines.
That the traveling consciousness can absorb simultaneous experiences that color the actions in the reality.
I personally view this movie as an entry bridge towards enlightenment of the true and really pertinent reality that we all experience.
World-line slides… shown in the movie.
The three key points above are all in alignment with MM’s MWI narrative.
Edward. We called him Crazy Ed. At 12 years of age during a family reunion he grabbed his dad’s shotgun and started shooting. He got mad at his parents over some little crap. Shot his ma, pa, aunt and was chasing his uncle but ran out of shells. In a juvenile prison, this was the 1960s, he tried to poison a few people. And beat another thug with a broom half to death before they hauled him off. He was a polite, fairly polished, soft spoken youth. Looked like a mousy little accountant, glasses and all. He told people when he got he wanted to be a hit man for the mob. He enjoyed killing. I have no doubt that’s what really became of him.
I was an IT director for a company that had been acquired by a much larger company. When I declined to move to their IT location half a continent away, I was laid off. by phone. (my whole group was effectively laid off because they moved my group’s functions to the parent companies group much larger group and they all refused the move).
This was not unexpected, but the knowledge transfer had not taken place yet between the groups. (it was just beginning)
I accepted the severance package and told them we needed to call my counterpart in the corporate group to make sure the transfer was done securely.
When they asked why, I said that as an IT directory I have all the adminstrator passwords and could literally shut down the business if I was upset about the termination. I want to make sure that any issues that come up will not be pointed back at me or my team.
They agreed to conference call with my counterpart so he could take the necessary steps to secure the system.
The call went like this:
Me: Hey! You need to change all the administrator passwords on our unix servers and close out some accounts:
Him: Why?
Me: My group and I just got terminated and you need to secure these servers to make sure everything stays copacetic. You need to terminate my accounts, all access, and those of my team laid off effective immediately to protect corporate and customer assets.
Him: <explodes>What Assh*t did that? We haven’t got anyone to manage those systems, There has been no knowledge transfer on what the systems are used for, <folornly>I’m screwed!
Big Boss: That would be me. Just do it.
Him: OK, OK. I am logging on to the servers. What is the command? Oh Sh*t, I can’t ask you can I….
Big Boss (to me): This is a surprise. Would you be willing to stick around for a couple of weeks….
Me: Sorry- Even though I don’t particularly have an issue about being laid off, Corporate Security Rules identify me now as disgruntled employee and I am not allowed access to secure systems or even the building spaces.
When I was about 17 years old, my dad walked in on me and my then-boyfriend having sex.
The house I lived in at the time was located directly across from my high school. I was enrolled in a lot of sports, as was my boyfriend. Our practices often didn’t start until a half an hour or so after school ended, so most days we had a little bit of time to, um, kill. This particular day, I thought my dad would be at work. We raced to my house, went to my bedroom, and went at it. A few minutes later, without warning, my dad did the thing he always did – knock, then immediately open the door. Seriously? What was the point of knocking? I’ll never understand.
So there I was. His precious baby, naked with a boy. I did the only thing I could think of, which was to do a little *roll* off the bed, and then a second *roll* to hide myself underneath my bed. Leaving my bare-bummed boyfriend to the nightmare above me.
The only words my dad said was, “get dressed.”
I did not go to practice that day. Instead, I had to have dinner with my dad, alone. I couldn’t even look him in the eye. I was mortified.
We tried to have small talk???? “How was your day?” “Fine, yours?”
Worst. Day. Of. My. Life.
Cajun Style Cube Steaks
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
4 (4 ounce) beef cube steaks
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 (15 ounce) can no salt added tomato sauce
1 tablespoon of Cajun seasoning
2 cups hot cooked brown rice
Instructions
Place foil grilling bag on cookie sheet. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of flour in bag.
Arrange steaks in single layer on top of flour; top with pepper and onion.
In a small bowl stir together tomato sauce, Cajun seasonings, and remaining 2 tablespoons flour. Spread evenly over steaks and vegetables. Seal bag by double folding open end, leaving room for expansion.
Coat grill rack with nonstick cooking spray. Heat grill to medium indirect heat.
Slide bag from cookie sheet onto grill rack. Cover and grill for 35 minutes.
Remove bag from grill. Use kitchen shears to carefully cut open bag.
We had a a couple of very dear and long- time friends coming over to watch a DVD a few evenings ago. I went into the living room to make sure the sofas were clear of books, newspapers, knitting etc, but there was still some clutter around. The odd grandkids’s toys sitting in a corner. A laptop my husband was fixing for someone In bits on the coffee table. I said to my husband “ Oh, it looks OK. It’s only Angela and Colin coming.” Then I thought that’s a horrible thing to say! But then it occurred to me – it was, in fact, a great compliment. They were like family. I don’t do a big tidy up, making it pristine, if my daughter is coming with her children. Like them, Angela and Colin are part of our lives. It’s clean and comfortable, but it doesn’t have to be “ visitor ready.” When they arrived I told them what has gone through my mind, and they agreed – they would feel the same about us.
Newlywed Has MELTDOWN After Husband Gathers Proof Of Her Cheating For Their “At Fault” Divorce State
All these stories are so sad. But this one seems to be really authentic. The human situation sucks. Ugh. I am sorry for all three people.
USA and Australia are clearly stolen nations or stolen continents after barbaric and phenomenally cruel slaughter of natives living in their land for centuries. These lands don’t belong to the present inhabitants and it must remind all humans in earth of what savagery and imperialism occurred during the 1600–1900 where rampant European colonialism and aggression happened throughout the world.
Australia and the Americas have to be seen as naked aggression and raped of land and destruction and real genocide whatever culture is a 200–300 years old remnants of these atrocities.
China and Japan has long history spanning thousands of years. It possesses history and philosophy of life and both nations were helped by Confucianism and its ethics of discipline, hardworking, respect for the elders and authorities and constant learning and meritocracy. Both are highly educated and very successful societies. For a while Japan was infatuated with western style colonialism. Not the Chinese as it sees that is wrong to steal other people land.
Nations that grew out of stealing land that belong to others naturally sees themselves entitled. Dominate its regions. The U.S. Latin America and Caribbean while Australia the Islanders and thinks they have a right to command South China Sea too. That to me is clearly wrong and high handed with a tinge of colonialism.
Both Australia and the U.S. benefits from the so called international rules based order that favours the west at the expense of the developing world. But that privilege is being stripped away bit by bit. And truly free competition is beyond them. Hence the huffs and puffs.
Only one word RESPECT. Without respect US will always think their way is always the right way. China is not trying to change the U.S. liberal democracy. That is the U.S. way the U.S. sees fit for the U.S. it is the U.S. that insist China must not practice Socialism with Chinese characteristics! There lies the problem.
As long as one thinks and believed that they and only they knows best no relationship can work. The U.S. must know that to each it’s own. And one man’s meat is another man’s poison. I dare say the problem in the entire 100 years passed us that the U.S. wanted every nation on earth to be submissive and subservient to them!
China is very mature. China wants a rich and prosperous USA to sell to and to go for holidays. It doesn’t want to change a thing. The U.S. wants to weaken China. It wants China to be split into a 100 bite size nation for the U.S. to chew on it! It sees itself as the standard, the authority and the god ordained nation to rule the world.
That disrespect cannot go on. It gets no where. A 5000 years responsible civilisation cannot accept a 247 years old rogue stolen nation of cowboys telling them what to do.
This is HOW MUCH My Vending Machines Made in 365 Days!
I have taken a while to collect my thoughts. Some things need to be said.
This will be a disturbing post. So let’s cling precariously to reason. Please.
Two things are obvious here. The first is that the actions by Hamas rip a new gash in the face of humanity. No thinking person can deny this. Generally reliable news agencies like Reuters [1] report:
“We’ve seen dismembered bodies with their arms and feet chopped off, people that were beheaded, a child that was beheaded,” a reserve warrant officer identified only by her first name of Avigayil told reporters.
She said multiple cases of rape were found by forensic examination of the bodies, which have been stored in refrigerated containers.
A large number of international journalists have viewed graphic footage [2] that documents these atrocities:
Other sequences showed a militant with an agricultural tool hacking at the head of a man lying on the ground, gunmen killing wounded female Israeli soldiers and a jubilant Hamas fighter calling his family: “I killed 10 Jews with my own hands. I’m using the dead Jewish woman’s phone to call you now.”
Only a really crazy conspiracy theorist with his underpants on his head would doubt that these terrible things are absolutely, shockingly real.∗
But there is one more thing …
The other obvious thing
Hamas planned this attack meticulously over months—almost certainly with Iranian support.
[3] Israeli intelligence failed comprehensively. But no, these are not that obvious, other thing. The second thing is the answer to the question “Why?”
One answer is “Because Hamas hate Israel, hate Jewish people, and want to erase Israel from the face of the Earth, as they have often declared”. This is almost certainly true, but it is too glib. It is not the answer. If you follow this reasoning, then Hamas are like a fox in a henhouse—ripping away until no living thing is left alive.
The problem with this glib answer is that it doesn’t make complete sense. Yes, of course those who killed 1400 Israelis and kidnapped many more did so with almost indescribable savagery. Yes, of course they went out of their way to document the bloodshed and atrocities. And yes, of course, this is a new low—by even the lowest imaginable standard.
But this is far less than half the story. Those who set up this atrocity surely knew how Israel would respond. They could predict that Israel would pummel Gaza. They invited a blockade, and an invasion by the Israeli army. So the correct answer to that “Why?” question is …
This is all going according to script
Hamas knew that this would result in a huge number of deaths of their own people in Gaza.
Hamas are hoping that thousands—or even tens of thousands—of their own people will die. They have planned for a bloody fight in Gaza, with civilians all around. They want this. They want large numbers of children to die in Gaza. This is part of the plan.
At least thirty Israeli children died. By 24 October 2023, two thousand three hundred and sixty children had died and over five thousand had been injured in Gaza. [4] This is precisely what Hamas want. It is part of their plan. It is surely what they predicted. They are malevolent—but they are not stupid. So then, why did they do this?
Why?
They knew that Benjamin Netanyahu would have no choice but to retaliate not just in kind, but on a vast scale. They knew that had he said something like:
We will not descend to their level. We will hunt down every single one of these terrorists, but we will do this in our own time. Not one will escape. We will move mountains to preserve international law, and protect innocent civilians …
… then he would have been labelled ‘weak’. He would have been out on his arse. The atrocities were so bad that people would have demanded an immediate military response from his successor. This is the main reason why the atrocities were quite deliberately so atrocious.
So thousands of children are dead, and thousands upon thousands of innocent civilians of all ages will still die. Quite according to the script that Hamas has laid out. They don’t care. In fact, it’s precisely part of the plan.
Now you asked:
Will people forget the massacre of innocent Jews by Hamas after seeing the Gaza attack?
No, of course not
That day will live in infamy. But it won’t matter.
Because the countries around Israel will also never, ever forget the vastly greater number of children who died. They will never forget Israel’s response. And here’s the truly terrible thing.
For every one who died, several more will spring up, their heart filled with hate for Israel. There are about two million people [5] packed into the Gaza strip. It’s like a vast kindergarten—and from this kindergarten, hundreds of thousands of people will emerge, and none of them will forget Israel’s actions.
Israel is running things entirely according to Hamas’ script. And when they deviate, they do so in the wrong direction …
A bonus for Hamas
Israel has even provided a few unanticipated bonuses that make things worse. For example, Israel’s UN envoy Gilad Erdan has accused the Secretary General of the UN as follows:
[6] The UN Secretary-General, who shows understanding for the campaign of mass murder of children, women, and the elderly, is not fit to lead the UN. I call on him to resign immediately. There is no justification or point in talking to those who show compassion for the most terrible atrocities committed against the citizens of Israel and the Jewish people. There are simply no words.
This was in response to his speech on 24 October, [7] that went as follows:
I have condemned unequivocally the horrifying and unprecedented 7 October acts of terror by Hamas in Israel.
Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians – or the launching of rockets against civilian targets.
All hostages must be treated humanely and released immediately and without conditions. I respectfully note the presence among us of members of their families.
Excellencies,
It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum.
The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.
They have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled; their people displaced and their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing.
But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas. And those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
Another perhaps unexpected bonus for Hamas is how Israel has cut off supplies…
Fuel
By far the most important supply Israel has cut off is fuel. No, not water. Not food. Fuel. [8]
This is because the hospitals with their thousands of bomb-injured and crushed people need fuel to run. And water cannot be pumped (or even desalinated) without fuel. Oh yes. The Israelis also supply one third of the water to Gaza. And this has been cut off, too.
They are allowing a few percent of the supplies needed. This will result in multiple deaths, particularly of vulnerable people—the elderly, and children, and the sick.
The most disturbing bit
In the video clip associated with this post, the Israeli defence minister describes Palestinians as ‘human animals’—and says that this justifies cutting off food, fuel and water.
This is from the international playbook [9] of dehumanisation:
During the Holocaust, Nazis referred to Jews as rats. Hutus involved in the Rwanda genocide called Tutsis cockroaches. Slave owners throughout history considered slaves subhuman animals.
In summary
So this is the way I see it. Israel has provided a knee-jerk response.
In consequence, their entire state may not survive. This will likely take a few decades to play out—but I think Israel has just signed its own death warrant in the blood of thousands upon thousands of the sick, the elderly, and children.
This is precisely what Hamas scripted. Israel has simply followed the script.
I find this all tragic beyond words.
My 2c, Dr Jo.
∗
It’s sad we even need to say this. But already the conspiracy nutters are out there in force.
Image was generated by Poe/StableDiffusion in response to the prompt “a fox in a henhouse with lots of feathers and blood”.
Based on my observations after having lived in most of the Anglosphere and in West Europe, I feel that many of the people from said countries would not consider Singaporeans “Native English Speakers”.
Which is pure snobbery, in my opinion. I guess they see themselves as the gatekeepers of who can or cannot be a native English speaker.
I have been to Singapore several times, and in the early part of my career, I was even seconded there.
While it’s true that there are many Singaporeans who grew up in a Chinese-speaking (or Malay-speaking, Tamil-speaking) household and might not have reached the level one would expect from a native English speaker, I also came across many Singaporeans (admittedly, I only worked with Chinese Singaporeans during my time there), the young ones, especially, who could only speak English.
Sure, they’re ethnically Chinese, but their Chinese is…. below even the rudimentary level. Like, if you ask them something very simple and basic like “Can you state the four cardinal directions in Mandarin?”… they can’t.
If they can’t even do something as simple and basic as that in Chinese, and their main language, the one they’ve been using since birth, is English – then how are they not native English speakers?
If you don’t consider them native English speakers – then the question becomes: So, what is their native language?
They can’t, or, to be generous, barely, speak or read Chinese. The only language they know is English.
Shouldn’t that, by definition, make them native English speakers?
Or is it really possible for someone to not be a native speaker of any language?
I would definitely consider this demographic of Singaporeans native English speakers, but, you know, I’m not one of the “gatekeepers” mentioned above, so my opinion might count for nothing.
Taking my morning shower, I felt a twinge of stomach pain. “Man, I’m really hungry!” I thought. “I’ve got to hurry up this shower and get some breakfast.”
Then I started to feel a little light-headed. I put my hand out and braced myself against the shower wall. I felt even more faint. “I could pass out and fall in here,” I thought. “I’d better get out.”
So I did, and as I was toweling off, I started to feel nauseated. I went to the toilet and threw up—blood! Holy shit! I called to my wife, “I’m vomiting blood.” She came and took a look; “You sure are!” It wasn’t a whole lot, about 30 ml of bright red blood and mucus, but it was scary as hell. I was hoping it was only an ulcer or something, but I couldn’t help thinking cancer, especially since a friend of mine had recently died of stomach cancer. It was mid-January and my daughter’s wedding was coming up in April. “I’m not going to make it to Nicole’s wedding,” I said to my wife.
The nausea passed. I finished drying off, laid down in bed, and fell asleep for 2 hours. When I woke up, I threw up more blood.
It turned out that it was in fact cancer. I had a rare type called GIST—gastrointestinal stromal tumor. There was a tumor in my upper stomach exactly the size of a billiard ball. But I’m writing this 7 years later. I lost very little stomach to the surgeon—only an area a little larger than a (U.S.) silver dollar—and I was eating at a fine Italian restaurant in Houston five days after the surgery, everything from red wine to tiramisu. I danced with my daughter at her wedding and I’m a grandfather now. I’ve been fine and very healthy since that surgery. Scared the hell out of me in 2010, though.
I hope never to have another bathroom experience as bad as that one.
Baby Poo
Huawei and Meituan announce collaboration to develop HarmonyOS ecosystem
Huawei and Meituan announced a comprehensive partnership to innovate industries, apply technologies, and develop businesses using HarmonyOS. Huawei will fully back Meituan in launching the development of native applications for HarmonyOS.
The announcement comes on the heels of Huawei’s HarmonyOS Next is expected to ditch Android app support as early as 2024. Several of Huawei’s self-developed OS concept stocks rocketed and hit the daily limit after the news was released, according to ChinaDaily.
Huawei partners with Meituan for HarmonyOS ecosystem
Meituan is a Chinese tech giant that offers a wide range of services, including food delivery, online grocery shopping, and ride-hailing. It is one of the most popular apps in China, with over 600 million active users.
Huawei’s confidence in its alternative ecosystem strategy on the mainland received a boost in late August when the company launched its Mate 60 Pro smartphone, its first 5G handset since the Mate 40 series was released in October 2020.
The Mate 60 Pro was met with strong public support, and Huawei became mainland China’s fastest-growing smartphone vendor in the third quarter of 2023.
Recently, multiple job applications in China have announced the launch of HarmonyOS app development. For example, 同程旅行_旅游_旅游线路_旅行_出国旅游_自驾游_周边游_旅游网站 (formerly known as Tongcheng) announced the launch of HarmonyOS native version App development, with plans to complete core version development by the end of 2023.
In addition, a number of internet giants, including Meituan, have listed several job openings related to HarmonyOS. For instance, Meituan publicized a variety of HarmonyOS-centric roles, such as Senior HarmonyOS Engineer and HarmonyOS Infrastructure Engineer.
According to data, as of August 2023, the HarmonyOS ecosystem boasted over 700 million devices and was supported by more than 2.2 million developers actively contributing to its development. By October 30th, the number of devices upgraded to HarmonyOS 4 had surpassed the hundred million mark.
The connection between “body count” and “cheating while married to a man”
They are still slowly trying to clean it up. The areas that were too dangerous are called Red Zones. Restrictions within the Zone Rouge still exist today. After the war, the French government declared a 460-square-mile area unfit for human habitation or development. It stretches roughly from Nancy through Verdun and onto Lille, with various non-contiguous zones so riddled with unexploded shells (many of them gas shells), grenades, ammunition, and human and animal remains that it was simply too dangerous to enter.
In the 1920s and ’30s, the government oversaw the planting of 36 million trees, mostly pine and spruce, in part of the Zone Rouge. This the Verdun forest.
The Department du Deminage, was created after the war. Over the decades, it has helped to reduce the extent of the Zone Rouge, destroying hundreds of thousands of munitions and chemical shells, and has returned some land to civilian and agricultural use. They calculate that they have 300 years work ahead of them before they have cleared the whole battlefield. French farmers collect a huge amount of unexploded ordnance, barbed wire, shrapnel, and bullets every year. It is called the “Iron Harvest.”
Some areas remain entirely off-limits, the soil so full of arsenic that 99 percent of all plants die. There is still the ever-present threat of unexploded shells. There are many ghost villages that were left abandoned after the war, deemed beyond repair. The bodies of roughly 80,000 soldiers whose bodies were never recovered are still there. The bomb depressions are still there.
I mean, that’s the simple, and charitable, way to put it.
The more complex answer is…less charitable.
Most people don’t have moral principles. They have a general set of guidelines they absorb from the society around them without really questioning too much. These guidelines are tribal in nature, and as often as not are more about marking in-groups and out-groups than about a coherent, consistent set of morals.
A great many people want to think of themselves as “good,” but aren’t particularly interested in thinking a lot about it, and particularly aren’t interested in sacrificing comfort or lifestyle for it.
And given that what passes for morality in many folks is actually a set of tribal signifiers, they most definitely aren’t willing to give up social standing for it.
In fact, I’ll wager you that more than a few people who truly consider themselves moral, scrupulous people willing to give up money for morals, will still toss their values aside the moment they involve loss of social standing.
We are social creatures. We need the support and approval of the people around us to survive. Not just in the sense of an income stream to keep ourselves fed and a roof overhead, but in the sense of a social group—without that, we suffer.
So yeah, confronted with social censure for not adopting the opinion of the people around them, most folks absolutely will surrender their values. Confronted with losing money for not adopting the opinion of the people around them, most folks absolutely will surrender their values. If you’re reading this, odds are pretty good you’re one social smear campaign or a few hungry days away from letting go of what you imagine to be your most cherished moral principles.
Originally Answered: What is the best case of “you just picked a fight with the wrong person” that you’ve witnessed?
Ooh yes this brings back the memories from the early 1980s.
A bunch of us went to the next town for a few drinks and a laugh. I seem to recall one of the lads (not me) was getting married so for reasons that won’t become apparent we trooped off to a bigger town 10 miles away instead of our own little town.
We walked into a quiet little pub, grabbed some drinks and sat down on a round table which perfectly suited our group of seven.
The pub was totally empty apart from us and the barman. It was very early in the evening.
A group of three guys walked in and one of them looked very angry. Big and mean he was too. They walked straight over to us and the angry guy looked directly at me.
Angry – You! You’re a big cunt. Let’s have a fight now. Outside!
Me – No thanks mate. We’re here on a lads’ night out and don’t want any aggro.
The lads – Nah come on mate. We just want a drink. Blah blah blah.
Angry – Come on you cunt. Let’s fucking fight now.
By now he’d walked around to my side of the round table. He was a big and very tough-looking guy and I really didn’t want a punch in the mouth off him. I was probably the biggest in our group at 1.90 metres and 110 kg but even so, I didn’t want to fight this big lummox.
Me – Listen mate…
Angry punched me in the side of the face so hard I thought my head had come off. Blood spurted out but no teeth. It hurt a lot and I just held my face thinking “what the hell do I do now?”
I didn’t have to do anything. Andy, who is a very slender and weedy and very sweet young friend of mine stood up.
Andy – No-one hits my mate. Big mistake.
Angry – Oh yeah. What you going to do about it you strip of piss?
Andy sent him sprawling across the next table with one perfect punch to the face. Angry got up and together with his two mates left the pub without another word being said.
The barman walked over and spoke to Andy.
Barman – Wow. That guy you just floored is the hardest guy in town!
Me – Not any more he isn’t. Cheers Andy.
My face hurt for ages but thankfully no serious damage. Andy was our new top mate of the group.
I was offered a $500/month truck allowance, by my employer, to use my own vehicle on service calls. I bought a used truck, for that purpose. I had to carry a $1 million liability insurance policy, due to some customer’s requirements, in order to drive on their property, too. Then, he changed the number to $250. I told him that wasn’t what he had originally told me. That Friday, he gave me a note, as I left to do service calls, and said to think about it. All it had on it was “$350”. Monday morning, I showed up early, and loaded EVERYTHING that belonged to me into my truck. When he showed up, I gave him my building keys. He wanted to know what was going on, and I said “I’m gone.” When he asked if that was how I negotiated, my reply was “I don’t negotiate with liars.”
I sent postcards to the customers I did work for, telling that I was no longer with that company, but was available to keep their equipment running. I was the ONLY one at that company who knew how the stuff worked, and all the repair business went to me. The company had to down-size, and then sold out to a competitor, so my old boss went from owning his own business, to being just another employee.
Too late! The U.S. allows South Korea to produce chips in China, and China is not doing it!
Too late for South Korea, the China ship has sailed.
On a regular basis? Taking a giant gas guzzling car and lifting it to make it even less fuel efficient.
The trucks you see here in America are so obnoxiously big and with callous disregard for global warming. It’s crazy when you drive around here in Florida: 70% or more of the cars are SUVs or Trucks. Literally, 70% or more.
It’s definitely a cultural thing but I wish it would go away. The guys in these lifted trucks are almost always the hyper aggressive drivers the push up behind you and lay on the horn and then flick you off as they go by.
But then, a few minutes later, I’ll see one of them pulled over by a cop. That’s always the most gratifying feeling.
US Supreme Court Tackles Game-Changing Social Media Censorship Case!
Well that’s exactly the thing. The point of attacking the harbor was so they could take on America. There are two reasons that Japan carried out the attack.
The Paper tiger
The Japanese referred to America as a “paper tiger.” What they meant by this was that their military was all bark and no bite, and if the fleet was destroyed there was no way America could come back. What the Japanese underestimated was America’s production capabilities. America was at the time of 1941 one of the largest and most efficient producers of the world, and while FDR was of the intention to stay out of the war, the factories of the United States were churning out tanks, rifles, planes, and ammo to the Soviets fighting the Wehrmacht in the Europe, and Britain fighting the blitz, the Italians and Germans in North Africa, and the Japanese in Burma, China, and Australia. US Shipyards were just as impressive, with destroyers and merchant marine ships built by the hundreds, sold to Britain to protect against the u boats tearing up the Atlantic trade. Japan made the mistake of underestimating the capabilities of US industry. When the US declared war on Japan in retaliation, production went towards building their own military, including the navy. The US navy numbered in the thousands, from the dozens of capital ships to the hundreds of destroyers and submarines, and all of the auxiliary ships and escorts included. In addition, right after the attack the navy raised most of the sunken ships in the harbor. Of the eight battleships we lost, five were raised and went back into the fight, one of them sunk on refloating, and only two of them remain there, USS Arizona and USS Utah. Pearl Harbor remains one of the greatest tragedies in US history, but because of America’s industrial might, it was not the end.
2. The target
From a tactical perspective, another reason for Japan’s attack was what they believed they would destroy and how it would impact the fleet. The Japanese’ main target was not the many battleships and destroyers that were stationed in Pearl Harbor, not the oil tanks, command, or airfields- These were very significant, and their destruction was all devastating to our efforts in getting in the fight, but the most important targets were but one part of the navy:
The US Carriers
It is often said by historians that Pearl Harbor was the end of the days of mighty battleships and battlecruisers and the dawn of the carrier. The six Japanese carriers, Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, Hiryu, Zuikaku, and Shokaku, were the most important part of the Japanese fleet, and carried out the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Japanese knew that the US would only have a chance against the Japanese carriers with the carriers of their own. Therefore, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor believing that the US carriers were there. Fortunately for the US, and the Allies as a whole, the carriers were at sea, safe from the carnage. As a matter of fact, the battleship USS Utah was painted to look like a carrier from the sky, to train US dive bombers, and because of this saw some of the heaviest bombardment of all of the ships, being one of the ships unable to be raised from the bottom. The assessment that the US carriers were essential to the US staying in the fight proved correct. The US launched the Doolittle raid the following year, striking Tokyo for the first of many times in the war from the carrier USS Hornet. The Shoho was destroyed in the following battle of Coral Sea at the cost of the carrier Lexington, but where we really see the tide turn in the Pacific is Midway. The carriers USS Hornet, USS Enterprise, and USS Yorktown crippled the Japanese fleet by destroying Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, and Hiryu. This would not have happened if it wasn’t for the stroke of luck we had with our carriers out at sea when the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor.
Admiral Yamamoto, the brilliant Japanese commander who was behind the attack, which I should say despite its failure to knock out America was still a well planned and impressive attack, astutely believed that a drawn out war with the United States would end in defeat, and despite his best efforts to prevent a drawn out war, he was correct. In the film portrayal of Yamamoto in Tora! Tora! Tora! He is quoted for saying:
“I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with terrible resolve.”
Yamamoto was killed in April of 1943, and with the carrier might have Japan gone as well, the rising sun was doomed to set.
Men are GIVING UP on Women and their hypergamy
There is such a serious problem with RELATIONSHIPS in the West.
Her department acquired a new department head, a newly promoted V.P.
One of his first actions was to identify all of the highest paid (and most productive) managers and terminate them as a cost cutting measure. At that point managers at my wife’s level were considered “at will” employees and, as such, could be terminated at any time with or without cause.
In any case, the V.P. then proceeded to fill the vacant management positions with much lower paid and less qualified staff. All of this happened within a matter of hours on a Friday afternoon. My wife was understandably quite distressed when she got home that evening.
Over the weekend, though, my wife received a call from the executive V.P. who oversaw her department. He called from his home in Southern France late in the evening so he could speak to my wife in the mid afternoon here in SoCal. He asked her to please report to work as usual on Monday morning.
When she got to work on Monday everything was back to normal and the new department head was gone. Fired for incompetence.
My wife stayed with the company more than a dozen years after that. She was eventually terminated permanently after her department had been sold to a different company. This time, though, she received a rather generous golden handshake — 32 weeks severance pay — as she left for the last time.
This is why men are no longer approaching women; Top 10 reasons WHY
I never experienced unconditional love until I got a dog.
Very likely. Their recent MOU to develop semiconductor lithography, naval shipbuilding, marine nuclear reactors are just another episode in that relationship. The glue that binds them is energy and technology. China needs energy and Russia needs technology. Trade between both countries are growing exponentially, currently at about 40% per year. Russia recently announced it would allow China to build a container port in Vladivostok, another indication China is preparing to use the Arctic belt road via northern Russia.
My opinion: There could be a day when Russia buys warships from China. It has already begun with Russia buying a Chinese frigate. It could also be possible that Russia and China will jointly develop gen 6 and gen 7 fighters and bombers, reducing non-recurring costs. Russia needs ‘China speed.’ China needs Russia’s energy from oil/gas to uranium. It is also likely that Russia and China will standardize military calibers and weapons between them so interchangeability and user knowledge will be compatible between both countries. The SCO makes the case for this standardization to increase to SCO members.
Both are BRICS and SCO members and both organizations are growing which gives them more world influence.
It wasn’t exactly on accident. I worked in the office of a commercial laundry business and they asked me to come in on a Saturday to mail out the monthly bills. During the time I was there the assistant manager came in and started hitting on me. He kept urging me to “go in the back and make out”. I refused and soon one of the drivers came in and he had to go talk to the driver. I finished up with the bills and went home. I told my boyfriend “Well, I don’t think I will be working there very ling”. Sure enough the next Tuesday I was let go for some “bookkeeping errors” that weren’t errors and I had been doing them for months without any problems.
What men and women want
Creole Meatloaf and Macaroni
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
1 onion, minced
1/2 green bell pepper, minced
2 tablespoons butter
1 (28 ounce) can tomatoes
1 1/4 cups elbow or broken macaroni
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 to 1 1/2 cups meat loaf, cubed*
Seasoned salt and pepper
Instructions
Cook onion and green bell pepper in butter for 2 or 3 minutes.
Add next four ingredients and 1 cup water. Bring to boil and simmer, covered, about 1/2 hour, stirring frequently.
Add meat loaf and seasoned salt and pepper to taste. Heat through.
Notes
* Use leftover meat loaf.
What will these snowflakes do when things get REALLY tough? We haven’t even started yet.
For a serf: It sure beats being a slave. You are treated as a human being, you have your law-encoded rights and responsibilities, your taxes usually were reasonable and your lord had the responsibility to protect you and provide a free access to the castle. He also had the responsibility to provide you work and livelihood, and if he abused you, you had the legal right to flee to a town.
For a freeman (franklin or yeoman): You had the right to your life, body and livelihood, you could freely carry weapons outside a town, you did not pay rent to a lord and you could choose your profession. And should things go sour, you could freely move to a town.
For a town dweller: Towns were semi-independent domains who often were subordinate to the king alone, and while working can give you living, trade will make you wealthy. Townspeople usually were richer than countrypeople, and towns were bastions of freedom.
For a clergyman: You are the subject of the Mother Church and Father Pope alone, and nobody else. You are no more a subject of the lord, the king or the emperor. You will learn how to read and write, and you are free to pursuit your intellectual tendencies. If you join the Cistercian order, there are good chances you become a great engineer.
For a civil servant: You are the subject of the King alone, and nobody else. Same as with the church on intellectual pursuits, but you also may marry and have kids.
For a nobleman: You are first and foremost a soldier. You practice martial arts and train for war, military skills, leadership skills, equestrian skills and anything needed to serve in arms. You are exempt of taxes because upkeeping a military lifestyle is expensive. Your life is likely to be violent, nasty, brutish and mercifully short, but you might become a knight and a lord one day if you avoid that.
For a lord: You are a semi-independent ruler of your domain, and you are the lord and the hidalgo. You owe allegiance to the King alone, and you either pay it in taxes or serve 30 days in his service. Your main profession is to be the supervisor of the peasants who work on your estate, and maintain the balance between overworking them and providing them decent livelihood. Sorry, no ius primae noctis – that is an Age of Enlightment myth.
For a King: Think positively. You do not have the same absolute power as the sultans and czars in despotism, but neither you will face the same chances of getting assassinated or ousted or mutilated as they experience, and you do not need to kill your little brothers to ensure the throne. It is a good idea to run the country as a family enterprise – give important tasks to your younger siblings – and use the most talented of the lords as civil servants. Just maintain the balance between Church, Lords and Commoners, and you will do just fine.
If you are asking me personally, what is my biggest regret, I would have to say that I regret not taking more pictures of things I did when I was younger, and not documenting the adventures I had.
I find that after 50+ years on this earth, I remember bits and pieces of my life, but there are big chunks of my life that I cannot recall, so having more pictures of those events and having a documented record of those activities would be something that would truly bring me joy, being able to remember more of the life I lived.
My international company failed to have routine office supplies at our US location. Entirely. No office supplies.
So one day I needed a new pen. There were, of course, none. But rather than going out and buying my own at a local store, I decided to order one just to be ornery.
So I filled out the formal requisition form for one pen. I justified it (I wrote stuff and my old pen was empty), then used the proper channels to submit the requisition. The form:
Traveled from my California office to the main US branch office in Boston.
Boston routed the form to their home branch office in London.
London sent the form to the main International headquarters in Paris.
Paris approved the req. then…
Cut out one layer of bureaucracy by sending the approved form direct to Boston (the Paris and London offices hated each other)
Boston sent the approved req. back to my office.
I was then able to go out and buy one pen at corporate expense from the local store.
I was tempted to ask for a sheet of paper next, but Boston eventually decided to fund a small office supply in our location.
Oh. The Internet was around, but I should add that the original requisition form was hard copy. A piece of paper. That form physically travelled from California to Boston to London to Paris back to Boston then back to my office before I bought my pen.
This is what the Nile looks like when it goes through Sudan
This is The Sudd. It’s Arabic for “barrier”. It’s also part of the Nile. It’s also much bigger than what you see here. It’s not much better even when it floods. Imagine you’re an explorer in, well, any time really and you come across this. The Ancient Egyptians tried to navigate past it for centuries. They utterly failed. Then the Romans decided to have a go at it. They failed too. Europeans tried in the 19th century. They had no better luck.
And where there’s swamp, there’s malaria. Good luck with that.
Europeans only found the source because they decided to avoid it entirely and attack it from the other direction, exploring into Central Africa. That’s not much easier.
Richard Burton decided to make a go of it. He started in lovely civilized Zanzibar and worked his way overland until he found Lake Tanganyika. “Eureka” he exclaimed, “I have found the source of the Nile”.
However, the guy he brought along with him, John Speke, told him he was nuts. Tanganyika was too low and too small to account for the fact that the Nile never ran dry. Burton told him was an idiot and they returned to England triumph…. no, wait, the scientific community wasn’t convinced.
So Speke got to go on his own expedition. He turned north instead and found the much larger and much bigger Lake Victoria.
He returned to England well, not triumphant, but with enough good data to get funding for another expedition to try to make it to the Sudd and not only did he do that, he found another source of the river that met up in the Sudd, what we now call the “White Nile” as opposed to the larger source flowing out of Lake Victoria, the “Blue Nile”.
So, Speke gets the credit, literally for “connecting the dots”.
Image: Me sitting on my porch at my home in the Central Valley of California.
Well as a disabled person, I am legally blind the cruelest thing, in my opinion, was not said with words.
Deeds speak out loud and clear.
I took a class on a subject of interest to me.
The teacher with a happy smile in her voice told me she had a special place in class for people like me.
It was the back corner, furthest away from all of the others in the class.
Total isolation. I could hear the other members of the class, I could see the shadows o of the other members of the class.
When the class had a pot luck of snacks at the last week of class, somehow I didn’t get the e-mail to ask me to take in something. So I didn’t.
Then no-one actually told me directly that there were snacks available nor did they come over and tell me about the pot-uck offerings.
Though they did make quite a bit of a racket, going back and too to the snacks tables and telling each other who had brought which items.
Another classmate came to the class in about the second week and was sat close by in the same corner. She only attended one week and disappeared. She was profoundly deaf. We could chat okay as she could lip read. But as for interacting with the class it was difficult.
Me being bloody minded as I am, finished the class. I paid good money so I wasn’t going to surrender to unspoken insults.
Biden Angry, Calls Xi ‘Dictator’, US Business Applauds Xi; US Isolated UN SC; Sullivan Sleepless
Very good, and clearly explains the Geo-political situation today.
I was fired on the day I was going to hand in my resignation.
I hated the company: boss played favorites, personnel feedback was nonexistent, and they were very stingy with vacation time, even if you earned the days.
The third point I found out too late. After earning 10 days of personal time, I requested for time off six months ahead. Not only was it declined, I also got a stern talking-to by the same boss who played favorites.
I was so pissed off that I started looking for a job that very same night.
Within two weeks, I got an offer from a company I interviewed the previous year who kept my résumé in the active bin.
I moved my vacation date to the next month, upped the number of days, and got a business class ticket. I printed a resignation letter once I signed the offer at the new job.
The next day, I cared not an iota at work. I was just waiting for 5:00 so that I can hand in my two weeks.
4:30pm came and I got an email from the boss. I was being let go. They didn’t really say why (not that I cared) but they were going to give me a full month’s pay to help me find a new job.
i cleared out my desk, gave a quick thanks to my boss (co-workers have left at this point), and screamed when I got to my car.
I got the final pay the week after, then collected unemployment for a few weeks, and had a bloody fantastic time on vacation.
Growing up in Florida, we used to play at the beach almost every day. At least once or twice a week, we’d be building sandcastles, or kicking the surf when we’d watch a tourist with wide eyes knowing what’s to come…
I’m an empath, and often tried to warn them. As a pudgy six year old however; I wasn’t usually fast enough. By the time I’d be close enough to yell “don’t touch that!!”, the elderly tourist or drunk college kid was already screaming in agonizing pain! The Portuguese man o’ war looks like a shiny blue balloon, or plastic grocery bag. The venom is insanely painful. I watched about a dozen people pee on each other by the time I was 8.
Pretending you are not hungry when going to an expensive restaurant with friends, because you can’t actually afford to order food there.
Acting like you don’t like after-school sports, because you have to bolt to your after-school job, so you have lunch money and bus fares.
Pretending that family commitments prevent you from going on the school trip. You know there’s no way you can pay for it.
Declining invitations to weddings because you don’t have proper clothes to wear and because you have no way of getting there either.
Spending an extra hour in the supermarket so you can make the best choices with the $28 you have for food for a full week.
Listening with horror as co-workers trash the boss who only gave each a $20 gift Visa card. You, on the other hand, are silent and also excited beyond words – you plan to get much needed shoes, a winter coat, and a backpack at the Goodwill store.
Having teeth pulled, which should instead be filled and capped, because it costs one-tenth this way.
Talking to supervisors in chain food stores to find out what they do with damaged food. (Poor people know these stores often have a place where you can go to collect it.)
Adding water to the quart bottle of milk to stretch it.
Taking home unused sugar packets, tea bags and napkins from the fast food place and feeling grateful for them.
These are my memories of being poor. Although I am no longer poor, these memories keep me grateful, and, more importantly, I will always understand the behavior of those whose actions are continually checked by empty pockets.
After Denmark surrendered to the Nazis in April 1940 the status of Iceland was ambiguous. Although Iceland was an independent state, it’s ‘personal union’ with Demark, and dependence on Denmark for its defence and foreign relations, potentially meant it could be occupied by Germany. Its strategic location astride Britain’s Atlantic supply route to the United States made it vital to the United Kingdom’s security.
Britain invited Iceland to join the war as any and, when they rejected this, plans were made to occupy the island. Four Royal Navy ships led by HMS Berwick (above) deposited 745 Royal Marines in Iceland who met no resistance from the Icelandic police force, who were the only permanent armed presence on the island.
Iceland was occupied first by a British Division, then by elements of two Canadian Divisions and then by a brigade of US Marines. The latter arrived in June 1941, a whole six months before the United States officially join the war. This was one of Roosevelt’s most partisan decisions and greatly helped the British war effort as the Canadians could be sent to Britain, where eventually they would take part in the Dieppe raid and the battle for Normandy. Roosevelt sent the Marines as, being part of the US Navy, they were under his direct control, whereas sending the US Army would have required the approval of Congress, which was uncertain. The occupation of Iceland was not always popular with the locals, but one benefit of it was the construction of Rejkjavik airport.
Although planes and ships based in Iceland saw action, the garrison itself saw no action. There were, however, casualties as a result of the Icelandic climate and terrain. A five man patrol of the Kings Own Yorkshire Infantry were lost to the elements, for example. Despite the cold though, there were definitely worse places to spend the Second World.
NOTE
A lot of people have asked why the US Army couldn’t be deployed before war broke out. The answer is complicated, but it’s due to a policy decision rather than an act of the Constitution. Here are the details:
“At the same time, the War Plans Division raised inquiry concerning the effect of the legal restrictions that prohibited the National Guard, members of the Reserve, and men drafted under the Selective Service Act from serving outside the Western Hemisphere and which limited their terms of military service to a period of twelve months. For purposes of naval defense the President had placed the Atlantic frontier of the western world, quite arbitrarily, along the 26th meridian, which excluded the whole of Iceland. [25] The question was one of policy, not geography; and if policy for the moment dictated a course of exclusion, circumstances at any future time might well prescribe a change in policy. Whatever concern was felt during these first days in June seems to have arisen over the time limit rather than the controversial geographical restriction. On this basis it was entirely rational for the Chief of Coast Artillery to observe that selectees would have to be used in constituting the harbor defense regiment proposed as part of the Iceland garrison. In any event the problems posed by the legal restrictions did not seem insuperable as long as the 1st Division was being considered for the nucleus of the force. Although 75 percent of the officers of that division had been drawn from the Reserve, it was presumed that most of them would volunteer for duty in Iceland. The problem, in this respect, was considered to be one of maintaining secrecy. As for enlisted men, only a “small percentage” of them were selectees, and only about 10 percent of the men of the two antiaircraft regiments-the 61st and 68th-were subject to the restrictions written into the Selective Service and National Defense Acts. “
We were once renting a house and saving money towards a down payment to buy, when the owner came and told us he had to sell and had already and we had to be out by the end of the week. We refused since our lease guaranteed us 30 days. The new owner said that lease was void and had our utilities turned off. So as a goodbye gift, we went to the store and bought some old fish and 10 cans of cat food. There was a fireplace in the basement built of brick and had come separated from the back wall. We dropped the fish behind that. The cans of cat food, we opened and placed in crawl spaces throughout both floors of the house.
Well, according to my ex girlfriend of 40 years ago, I am blind, because I didn’t notice that the hostess, had sat down next to me, leaned in close to talk in a loud room, laughed at my jokes (hey, I’m funny) and played with her hair.
My girlfriend said it was so obvious she was about to throw up. Guys are oblivious.
Steve Jobs sold all but one of his stocks in Apple when he left in 1985, when Apple stock was at an all time low. He founded NeXT and was the majority owner when Apple bought the company, though at that point he was almost out of money, on the brink of bankruptcy. He also bought Pixar and it has been rolling out blockbusters every other year for 20 years. He also invested in other companies. Toy Story alone made Steve Jobs a billionaire because Pixar was publicly traded company.
Woz on the other hand gave away a lot of his stock. He financed more than a few huge rock concerts that lost a lot of money. He started a company making remote controls that failed and lost money. He got divorced more than a few times. He helps old Apple employees that are out of luck and deal with sickness. He gives away a lot of his money. But you don’t need to worry about him, he still has a lot and he is according to everyone who actually knows him, a super nice guy. He was never in it to have money, he just wanted a computer that he could fiddle with.
China Warns US “Don’t Try THIS” As Biden Prepares To Hug Xi
Just develop the smart bombs to change the equation from MAD to MGD – i.e., from the “old-fashion-not-so-accurate assured” to the “IoT-satellite-guided guaranteed” way of mass destructure.
These are the AI-enabled hypersonic bombs that cannot be defended against and only a few hundred launched from a control center are needed to completely annihilate the entire country the size of Russia, China or the U.S. Then the 5,000-plus warheads in the nuclear arsenals of Russia and the U.S. would become redundant and useless.
Even the triad security concept of land, air and sea delivery system becomes redundant. No need for those expensive bombers and subsmarines to deliver nuclear warheads as backup when those smart ICBMs can do the job.
The calculus for disarmament becomes very straightforward and simple.
War can be so simple when you know its guaranteed and forever.
And isn’t it why Biden is trying to deny China our advanced chips?
We were in a beautiful relationship for about 3 years. And then suddenly she over texts, broke up with me. No explanation given. Like every other guy, I cried, pleaded for just one reason, and all she said was it’s over, I don’t want to be with you. She has changed her college a month before the break up. And like I suspected she fell out of love with me because there is new guy who approached her. Quite similar to everyone’s love story. Lol
Anyway, I was literally shattered, and broken. I couldn’t believe the girl I thought to be my future left me in such a dire condition.
It’s been three years since she is gone. Yesterday, I got a phone call from her at 2am. Basic points from the calls were:
She was unhappy, crying profusely over the phone. She said she don’t have anyone to trust and talk to, except me. And yes, I talked to her because pretty much I loved her too much.
She said the guy cheated her, and when asked him for a breakup, he said he will going to kill her, he abused and hit her off. And she thought everybody will leave silently like me.
I asked her to do a police complain, she said, she doesn’t want her parents to know, she is stucked.
After few minutes on call, she was laughing, talking to me as if we were never separated, I was wondering how easy the things are for girls.
Then she told me even before her father and brother, I am the person she trust and respect the most. I was flattered but I knew, it’s no more important.
I was again at ground zero, I felt happy talking to her, but the wounds were yet fresh.
I tried not to make her feel bad and bid her bye.
Today I Changed my phone number, and email id!
I do love her a lot, still? Yes. But I cannot give her the power to destroy me again.
One day, I had a woman come into my checkout line and wanted to buy ALL the $1.00 Bic cigarette lighters at the checkout stand.
Between the two sets of lighters, she was purchasing about 35–40 lighters.
I was then ringing up all the rest of the completely full shopping cart of stuff she got in line with. At the end, she then handed me a bunch of coupons.
I was already on guard because buying so many lighters was very unusual. I looked at the coupons and there was a whole stack of them that were for $4.00 off of a $6.00 Lady’s Bic shaver.
She never purchased any shavers, and I told her these coupons could not be used, as she did not have the item.
She said they were for the lighters. I told her, “No, this is for 4 dollars off the shaver, not the lighters.”
She insisted that it would accept, and scan for, the lighters, too. I agreed. I told her I knew it would, but it was because of an error in the coupon codes, and it was not deliberate. We had been made aware of the error and did not accept it. She persisted in telling me that if it scanned, we had to accept it.
“No, Ma’am,” I said. “The coupon has to be for the item the coupon is for, not something else.”
What she was attempting to do was get 4 dollars off a 1 dollar item, giving her a negative 3 dollar balance with every lighter purchased. With about 40 lighters, that would leave her total at -120.00 dollars, which then got balanced out with all the rest of the items in her cart. Had I not paid attention to the actual coupons and just blindly started scanning them, not only would she gotten 40 dollars’ worth of lighters free, she would have gotten over 120 dollars’ worth of other merchandise completely free without paying a single cent.
I told her that what she was attempting was theft. She got irate and claimed it was not theft because she was not trying to take the items out without purchasing them. I told her that was exactly what she was doing by running what she knew to be a scam.
She then did not want to buy any of it, and wanted me to void off all the items.
That is when I got rather devilish myself. I told her quietly that no, she was going to buy everything rung up, as-is, without the scam, or that I would be calling the police for her to be charged with theft of well over 180 dollars’ worth of merchandise.
Either she got charged with theft, or bought what she wanted to buy at the correct total. But, it was not getting voided.
She bought it all.
I never saw her in the store again. Before that, she had been a semi-regular customer, always holding up the checkout as she constantly scammed coupons for far more than what the coupons were supposed to allow.
can’t do the 15th,” John said. “Can we push it back two weeks?” I looked at my calendar, trying to align the dates with our friend Derrick. Then, after finding a great window, John came back with another complication. I rubbed my temples in frustration.
I’m 40 and most of my friends are married and buried in toddlers. They also live in other cities. I try to arrange a trip each year, but coordinating it feels like pushing a boulder up a mountain. Beyond the scheduling conflicts, I’m in competition for their PTO with grandparents and extended family.
As a kid, it was all so simple. The only prerequisite for new friends was the spirit of play. If the other person was down, and nice, they became friends. In college, it was all about who I partied with and saw the most frequently. Everyone was so social. Then, this blur of obligations pulled us all apart.
As social primates, friendships are central to our health and happiness. Yet so many of us are painfully lonely and it isn’t entirely our fault. Since the 1950s, sociologist have asserted that modern life makes it difficult to meet the three conditions for close friendships: proximity, repeated and unplanned interactions, and an environment that encourages people to confide in each other.
Which is why it feels so forced to be planning hangout trips months in advance. It feels like I’m scrambling to keep legacy friendships on life support. I can scarcely plan to meet for dinner with people without complications.
In school and college, it was so easy because there was endless time for socializing, and we were all on top of each other in dorms and classrooms. And, we didn’t have real bills and adult problems. So how can we make more friends as adults?
Converting new friends
Per one study, it takes 40–60 hours within the first six weeks of meeting someone to turn them from an acquaintance into a casual friend. It takes another 80 to 100 hours to elevate them to true friend status. Which feels like a ton of time as a career driven person. But these connections can be built up over longer stretches.
The obvious answer for me was work, back when I had an office job. But the people at my office weren’t necessarily the people I wanted to spend my time with. Sometimes, we just have to work with what is in front of us. It can even boost competency. Researchers found that doctor coworkers who became friends, performed better at their job. A personal connection and trust can boost performance in team environments.
In March of 2020, four teens were stuck on a boat in Cuba. They’d intended to fly back to the Netherlands. Then the pandemic struck and they decided to sail home. The intensity of spending weeks on the boat together, working to navigate as a team, turned them all from strangers into close friends. One friend said, “Being around someone 24 hours a day, you tell them everything. You don’t do that when you are home.”
My friend, who went to prison in his early 20s after being caught up with a bad crowd, said the same thing happened during his five year stint. Today, he is doing fine and in his late 40s, but is still friends with his former cellmates.
The challenge is that we apply more filtering mechanisms with age. We often filter people out by political views, social class, and do so without realizing it. It’s useful to be attuned to what you want in a friend, but beware of letting this turn into snobbish gatekeeping.
Getting a grip on potential friends
One study used Christmas cards in Western society to approximate social networks and estimated each of us have around 121 acquaintances. Other studies have found wide variances from this number. But it is exceedingly rare for anyone to have zero acquaintances.
These acquaintances are potential friends and not to be dismissed. Weak ties, as sociologists call it, are still great for mental wellbeing even if it is just a brief conversation. Today, I found out my beloved gym of seven years is closing. The owner, Joe, let me in for a final workout, even though the lights were off and they were cleaning up. We found time to chat about life and his decision to quit. I’ve always enjoyed talking to him so we exchanged phone numbers to potentially hang out. The other option is to reconnect with older friends you haven’t spoken to in years.
Accept that rekindling friendships is just more work in adulthood. Remember when your buddy got their first girlfriend or boyfriend and stopped hanging out? That’s everyone now. If you have a partner, it’s worth thinking through which potential friend has a partner who would vibe with them.
Also, practicing “self-disclosure”, or opening up about your life, is proven to boost connections with people. One study found three great insights about disclosing. One, people who give more intimate disclosures tend to be more liked than those who don’t. Two, people disclose more to those they like. And three, people like you more after you disclose. This comes with a caveat: don’t make it too personal, too soon. Avoid mud slinging from your divorce and giving play-by-plays from the bedroom.
The importance of maximizing time
My buddy has two kids and said he has one hour of total free time each weekday, and that when he finally gets that hour, he is desperate to decompress and have some time alone. Yet he also wishes we hung out more. This is a common theme around the country. People are lonely and crave more connection. Operate with this assumption, rather than starting from the assumption of someone judging or not liking you.
Remember to think about the places you frequent, and the potential friends you could make and maintain through those interactions. List out a few acquaintances and consider upgrading them. The key with any of these people is to also do things outside the place you regularly see them.
If you don’t see people on a regular basis, consider joining a club or taking up a hobby that involves other people. Then, get to work. Initiating doesn’t have to be heavy. Just something as simple as, “We should hang out some time.”
Lastly, be real and have conversations. Don’t spend 45 minutes talking about the weather. Vulnerability has a mutually boosting likability effect. You’ll both be happier in the end.
Don’t say “I am here if you need anything” when being more specific will truly help. “I am coming over tomorrow to drop off some soup” is way better.
Don’t glance over someone’s shoulder when they are in the middle of a story that matters to them.
Don’t look at your phone at all when you are spending time with someone.
On a plane if your seat is tight don’t recline it. Also, let the person squeezed in the middle seat use both arm rests.
Be extra nice if someone is serving you: giving you a manicure, bringing you food, preparing you a drink. Also please don’t hit on them. They are not charmed. They are serving you.
If anyone says “you hurt my feelings” the only correct response is “I am listening.” Not “I didn’t intend that” or “I was joking” or “wow you are sensitive.”
If you can make someone’s day a bit smoother, please do.
People want to feel heard more than they want advice.
People want to feel seen more than they want to be fixed.
People want to be sincerely complimented more than they want constructive criticism.
Say thank you a lot. Say it all the time. Add why you are saying it. “You always get my coffee just right. Thank you.” “You make my day sunnier. Thank you.” Thank you for reading, sharing and commenting on what I write. It encourages me. It makes my day.
American Couple React “America Compared: Why Other Countries Treat Their People So Much Better”
When he was 87 and slipping into dementia, I asked my father exactly this on one of his “good days.” He smiled and said that it had been worth it, even when he became the last of his siblings alive and started to lose his ability to remember names, first, and other things later.
He became a very gentle person to be around (he had been an angry and argumentative Democrat for most of his life) and enjoyed his children, grandchildren, and even their pets. We got along better than we ever had. I remember taking him to the Fourth of July parade and whispering the names of people who came up to greet him. Once he knew their names, he could have a great conversation. Then I brought him back to a school reunion and that was wonderful. He needed no introductions as everyone wore a name tag.
Having watched my father in those years, I hope that I may live long enough to navigate old age just the way he did despite his obvious infirmities.
I’ve worked with the company I’m presently employed with for not quite 12 years. Up until a year ago, we were a small personable, easy going, family owned company of about 250 drivers. If you were around for any length of time, everyone in the office and shop knew you, and vice versa. That was up until about a year ago when the owner of the company retired and threw us under the bus by selling us out to a larger company and everything changed.
It’s common practice for just about any trucking company to require any damage to their equipment be reported and documented. With my company, if the damage was minimal, the report would still go in the driver’s jacket, but no further. It would stay in-house instead of being reported to a national data base.
I’ve always been the type to man-up in situations such as this. I was raised that way, and it was the right thing to do. Even leaving small damage unreported could result in the next driver having to have it repaired and possibly being late for a delivery.
So, after pulling out of a customer’s driveway and cutting it too tighly, I felt something go bump in the night. Upon further inspection, it appears I clipped one of those large landscaping rocks placed to prevent idiot drivers like me from cutting corners too tightly, and running over their curbs. When I stopped for the day and was doing my mandatory post-trip inspection, I came upon this,
Thinking it was no biggie, and my company would normally think likewise, and wanting to do the right thing, I called it it. What happened next was nothing short of a shit storm. The new people acted like I ran over a carload of nuns. Initial phone call to my parent company, followed by a call to the new company’s safety department, followed by a call-back the next day from same, followed by submitting pictures and a full accident report, followed by a call-back from the new company to review of same, followed by a never-heard-of-before-review from Greg in our safety department.
When I related the story to the former head of our . safety department, her reaction was, “It was just a fuckin’ rim!”, as she shook her head.
Trust me, if it ever happens again, I won’t think twice about going palms up with a “Dunno nuthin’ ‘bout it. When I dropped it off, it was fine “, should anyone inquire.
I was driving down the freeway and all of a sudden I couldn’t see the cars ahead of me. It was if someone had pulled a shade down in front of my line of vision. I could see all around the shade, but not right in front. Although it was only for a few moments, the terror I felt was devasting.
I was a 21-year old college student, a senior at academically prestigious school, getting good grades, working part time, and enjoying a fun social life.
So, what was the matter? Where did the intense headaches come from? Why did I frequently wake up in the middle of the night, jumping out of bed and running to the bathroom, to vomit repeatedly? Why did I feel that I was about to fall down whenever the sidewalk was a little uneven?
Then there were those crazy nightmares I was having.…. I dreamed one night that I was driving on the freeway. The car next to me pulled up right beside me. The driver pulled a gun out. He shot me in the head. My head exploded. Everything became dark. I woke up in a terrified sweat. What on earth was wrong with my head that I would have such a dream?
In spite of everything, I was doing okay and maintaining my studies. But finally it became too much for me to handle. Especially the shade covering my eyes on the freeway.
I saw several doctors. They said I was fine.
I went to a psychologist. I figured that since the doctors said I was fine, it must be all in my mind. The psychologist listened to my symptoms. He said that I didn’t need to see a psychologist. Instead, I needed to see a neurologist and he urged me to see one right away.
I took his advice and went to a neurologist. The neurologist admitted me to a hospital. Still no answers. Many tests were done, but it was during the days before C-T scans or MRI’s were used, so it was hard to figure this out. Finally a diagnosis was made: brain tumor.
Surgery was scheduled. They operated for 10 hours, and were able to remove half of the tumor. The surgeon told me the tumor was the size of a large orange and that if I hadn’t been diagnosed when I was, I would have had 6 months left to live. It was just taking over my whole brain and growing so fast.
I was in intensive care for 2 weeks. I can’t remember too much about that time. It seemed like a dream, for just a few hours.
Then, more surgery. And then some more.
I lost the ability to walk. I couldn’t see very well. I lost hearing. I was fed intravenously. Because I had stroke-like symptoms, one side of my body became weak and uncoordinated. I no longer could hold a pen and write.
I had physical therapy and occupational therapy to regain some of the skills that I had lost.
I finally left the hospital and went home to live with my parents. The tumor was not all gone, but I needed a break. I needed time to get stronger before the next onslaught of surgery.
While I was home, I had physical and occupational therapy at a nearby hospital. I still couldn’t walk or write, but I was beginning to feel better. In physical therapy I worked on learning to walk with a walker and then eventually on my own. In occupational therapy I worked on strengthening my very weak hand. I did many activities with my hands, including making some beautiful crafts. Occupational therapy was so much fun! I loved therapy.
I went back to the hospital and had the last surgery. Finally the tumor was gone. After some more time had passed I felt that maybe it was time to return to school.
Living on my own again was not easy. I still couldn’t walk or write well. But I persevered. Sometimes I fell down. I used a tape recorder during lectures since I couldn’t write fast enough to take notes, and my professors gave me extra time to write exams. With the support of my family and professors, I did well and succeeded.
As graduation approached, a brilliant idea occurred to me. I remembered the great time I had in occupational therapy, and how I had been helped so much. Maybe I too could become an occupational therapist. I thought of how wonderful it would be to spend my life helping others just like I had been helped. I decided that yes, I would try, and so I applied to a master’s degree program in occupational therapy.
There were many more applicants than spots available, but much to my delight I was accepted into the program!
The program was so difficult and very competitive. But I worked hard and after two years became an occupational therapist.
That was 40 years ago, and I am still going strong. I have worked with literally thousands of patients during my career, from little 1-pound premature babies all the way up to 103 year-old patients in nursing homes, and everything in-between. I have loved every minute of it.
Occupational therapy is a flexible career with an abundance of interesting and meaningful jobs available. During my career, I traveled the world, met and married my husband, gave birth to and raised two beautiful children, and enjoyed my life!
I turned what could have been a terrible, frightening experience into something really wonderful.
My sister-in-law once called me to borrow my fax machine. This was in the days before most people had computers and internet. She had a very important document that had to be faxed to a company showing proof of payment.
I took my fax machine to her house that night, hooked it up, walked her through the simple instructions and left.
She called me at work the next day in a panic. She said she had tried to send her document several times and it would not go. This was important, and she needed it sent right away. I was getting off early that day so I agreed to go by her house and help her with it.
When I arrived I checked the machine and connections and everything seemed fine. I told her to send it again so I could see what was going on. She did everything correctly and at the tone hit Send. The fax machine pulled the paper through and indicated a successful receipt at the other end. My sister-in-law grabbed the paper as it came back out of the machine and said, “See. It doesn’t go, it just spits it back out.” My jaw hit the floor. It turns out she thought the actualpaper was being sent over the phone lines.
After I explained the concept to her, I let her know that this story would be told at every family get together for the rest of my life. It is now firmly a part of the family lore and enjoyed by each successive generation.
My sister-in-law fortunately took it in stride. She declared it her worst blonde moment and laughs as hard as anyone when the story is retold.
P.S. My sister-in-law did call the company still to confirm receipt. They told her they had four copies and that was absolutely sufficient.
Close? I accidentally found out I was going to be demoted which lead to me quitting.
In my 20s I worked at one of those places that made huge cookies, I was specifically hired by the manager to be the assistant manager, she’d worked with me as a key holder at another place so she knew I would be good at it. A few months after I was hired the owner sold the business.
One day I was hanging out with the Manager L when she got a call from one of the kids at cookie shop. “Hey L, the owner is in here with some chick he says is the new Manager, what’s going on?”
Too bad L had no answers for her, we had no damned idea what was happening. She and I jumped in the car and headed to the cookie shop to talk, in person, to the owner.
Sure enough, he was demoting L into Assistant and me into just a regular employee. Neither of us had done anything wrong, the new owner just planned to make this new lady a manager. He told us a bunch of BS saying she had experience bla bla… but we found out later she was actually just his girlfriend. We told him how messed up that was, and that both of us would quit if he planned to do this. He was unrepentant, even gaving us the whole “I’m sorry you feel you need an apology” line.
She and I looked at each other, got up and walked away.
Apparently he truly didn’t understand what had just happened because when he saw the kid who called us changing the schedule he was confused. When he was told by her we had just quit, he was completely stunned and didn’t understand why we would have done that. Dude, we literally told you to your face that’s what we’d do if you demoted us for no reason other than to put someone else in as manager, WTF did you think would happen?
Turns out the girlfriend was horrible as a manager, and the owner ended up folding in a few months. Funny how that happens when you take actions that force the people with a clue out, and put someone clueless in just because you are dating them. The two of us were the ones who knew how to run the store, knew how to run the fundraising side, which is where most of the money was made. He screwed himself by being an idiot.
Cajun Butt
Yield: about 8 to 10 servings
Ingredients
1 (6 pound) boneless pork butt
15 to 20 garlic slivers
3 tablespoons red pepper flakes (or less)
4 tablespoons yellow mustard
3 tablespoons Tony Chachere’s Original Seasoning
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
Cut 15 to 20 slits 1 inch deep on external surface of pork butt. Press one garlic sliver into each slit with thumb, to bottom of slit. On top of each garlic sliver, insert 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes in the slit. Pinch slit closed.
In a bowl, mix mustard, Cajun seasoning, brown sugar and black pepper. Mix well and apply to pork butt. Lightly dust with a coating of red pepper flakes.
Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Smoke-cook using apple and hickory chips on a covered barbecue pit off the heat for 1 hour per pound or until the internal temperature reaches 190 degrees F.
Perhaps one of the most effective improvised weapons was the Rhino tank. An ordinary tank – usually a Sherman but with improvised steel teeth welded to the front.
In 1944 just after D-Day the Americans, Canadians and British troops were getting held up in the ‘bocage’ countryside of Normandy. Bocage consisted of high hedgerows built on thick banks of earth. This environment proved ideal for German ambushes, providing plenty of defensive cover. It also meant that the Germans could pick off tanks because they would be funnelled down the lanes, or forced through the narrow gaps in the bocage hedgerows. The Germans knew exactly where the tanks would come through and could lay anti tank mines, or train their guns on that exact spot. If the tanks tried to avoid the gaps and instead drive over the top of bocage embankment, it was so steep that it would expose the thin underside armour. Allied tanks were getting wiped out. Until this man, Sergeant Curtis G. Culin had an idea.
When one of his fellow soldiers joked and said they needed a big set of teeth to bite their way through, Culin didn’t laugh but took the idea seriously. He welded some of the steel that the Germans had used as tank traps to the front of his tank, like this.
The teeth allowed the Sherman to burst straight through the hedgerow, surprise and then destroy any Germans waiting in ambush on the other side.
When General Omar Bradley saw what Culin had done and saw how his tank was able to smash its way though the bocage hedgerows, the General ordered that as many tanks as possible be fitted with this improvised weapon. The Normandy beaches had been filled with landing spikes which were conveniently just the right shape and type of steel to make the ‘teeth’.
This simple but effective innovation enabled the Americans to swiftly move on and cut off the Cotentin Peninsula and then move south and meet up with the British and Canadians cutting off the Germans in the Falaise Pocket.
I bought the house we are in now exactly 10 years ago in “as is” condition. In fact this was the entire listing:
“Seller and agents make no representations and warranties. Sold as is.”
The house is in a fairly upscale suburb, and was about 15 years old at the time. There was plenty of cosmetic damage — water damage on the hardwood floors, a filthy kitchen, holes in some drywall, a half-full leaky pool clogged with algae. Plus the interior and exterior were just sad looking, with ugly brown paint and outdated stained oak stairs.
But the funny thing was that no matter how carefully I looked, I could not see any actual serious problems. In fact, it was a bank repossession, and I eventually figured out that since it looked so bad they just assumed there were real problems, and they listed it the way they did to avoid any liability. Over 100 people looked at the house, and we were the only ones who put in an offer, and we got it way (way!) under the asking price, which is rare in Toronto.
I was planning on doing a full renovation anyhow, so I didn’t care about the drywall and flooring. The entire kitchen went in the dumpster. And for $600 we repaired the pool, and it worked perfectly.
I’ve been here for 10 years now and we have not had a single serious problem with the house.
I am sitting outside Quoraing this morning and I took this picture 60 seconds ago:
When you can’t destroy a target by dropping bombs vertically, you can drop them horizontally. That’s what the 617 Royal Air Force Squadron did in May 1943.
The squadron carried out Operation Chastise, designed to destroy German dams and hydroelectric power stations. Reconnaissance and simulated bombing runs revealed that bombs dropped vertically on top of dams were not effective. So instead, the RAF used an experimental bouncing bomb, designed by Sir Barnes Wallis, that was dropped at low altitude onto the surface of the reservoir and skipped along the water horizontally until it hit the face of the dam.
The strategy proved effective. “The Möhne and Edersee Dams were breached…Two hydroelectric power stations were destroyed and several more were damaged. Factories and mines were also either damaged or destroyed.”
Lancaster bomber dropping bouncing bomb during the Operation Chastise raids on Germany’s Ruhr Valley.
The operation was later the subject of the movie Dambusters, released in 1955.
I remember seeing a girl, her parents were millionaires due to a massive inheritance.
She would try and talk about her “Working class background” how the struggle was real.
One day she was telling me how her parents only bought her a brand new mini when she passed her test and how that went to show how much her family had struggled. One of her school friends got a brand new Range Rover.
I listened to that thinking “My Mum couldn’t have afforded a driving lesson let alone a car”
My sister’s daughter and her husband were about to lose their house in Texas because neither of them had jobs, they had one very young daughter and were expecting another baby. My 80 year old mother couldn’t stand to watch this happen. So, she took out an equity loan on her house and lent them $100,000. They were supposed to make the equity payments for my mom, and at first they did and were supposed to pay the whole loan back when they sold their house.
A few months later, they sold their house but told my mother they needed her money as a down payment on their new house in california. So, they kept the money, and continued making the monthly payments until they had a big fight and split up. Suddenly, no one wanted to make the payments on my mother’s equity loan so my mother had to. If she couldn’t keep up on them, she would have lost her house.
She is now 85 years old, completely disabled, living on a tiny pension, and trying to pay off this loan. Since my niece split with her husband, they did not make payments on their house either. So, it went into foreclosure, and Mom cannot even put a lien on it to get her money back.
Needless to say, I am truly disgusted by my niece’s behavior as well as her husband’s. I have now sent my mother money; my sister has sent her money, and another one of my nieces has sent money. The only people in the family who do not seem to feel terrible about this are the two people who should.
When i decided not to break up with my boyfriend at that moment.
I had just joined post graduation course and found this guy who was extremely caring about me. Within a month, he proposed me. I was confused however i said yes.
We use to talk, study and laugh together. However even after six months, i was not sure about our relationship.
AND Here comes the blow. He was back to his hometown. He was ill since a week. Meanwhile, i had a introspection round with my roommates. I found i was still unsure about our relationship. So i decided, on the next call, i will tell him that this is not the right time to fall in love etc., we should be friends only.
He called me around 8 PM. I was full prepared to say him a No. As soon as i picked the phone, he was crying on the other side. He was suffering from a fatal disease, Meningitis. I could not gather courage to leave him at this crucial moment. I just said, “I am with you today and always. No matter what happens.”
He was not in position to join college. His parents was insisting him to leave the college and repeat next time. He refused and joined the college next month. He had not recovered fully. In fact, he lost his hearing power around 40%. When he came back, he told me – how my words motivated him to join the college again. I took care of him. I used to call him reminding his medicines, diets etc. Meanwhile, i actually fell for him and then never told about that breakup thought.
Today, i am happily married with him.
P.S. I do not want my husband to know about my breakup thought even today. He is on quora. So i am writing anonymously.
I visited a radio station for an interview, at the station manager’s request. At the time I was somewhat “known” as a pleasing radio “personality” and therefore many stations wanted to talk to me.
Part of the interview process includes a station tour where the owner or manager shows off their office, production facilities, etc.
But at this particular station, I noticed all the shelved albums (well over a thousand) were locked in place by a steel bar which prevented their removal from the shelf, unless the bar was unlocked.
But who the Hell would steal the records? During business hours, when the station was open, advertisers or promoters might come in, but they were always accompanied by station staff, so visitors couldn’t steal an album (or even a 45). So, when the doors were locked after 5 PM, who did that leave as a potential thief?
Answer: the DJ who was on air, and the news guy or gal. Sometimes, the sales manager might come in.
So, the owner of the station was paranoid about theft from his or her own people! I had worked at a number of stations, and had never seen a lockdown of the music library. It had to mean that employees and top management were not happy with each other, and I was NOT going to work in that kind of environment.
Thus, I stopped in my tracks and said, “Thanks for the tour, but I don’t think this will work for me.” And I was out the door before anyone could say, “Huh?”
Years ago, I lived in an apartment in a two-family building. Upstairs and downstairs.
The landlord had rented the downstairs to a woman and her three teenage kids. They were obnoxious, had fights constantly, played music so loud it literally shook the walls, and despite multiple complaints by other neighbors to the landlord and the police (because yes it was that bad), nothing was done.
While technically, landlords are supposed to do snow clearing after a snow fall, getting some landlords to do so in a timely manner is more effort than digging out the snow yourself. This was one such landlord.
That winter we had a bad snow storm, a few feet of snow.
The downstairs neighbor knocked on my door to ask when I, the older woman with no kids, would be shoveling out the apartments and driveway, all of it, by myself.
I told her I wouldn’t, but we could split the cost to have someone come over and do it since the landlord was extra full of excuses as to why it would take days to get to the property and do so.
She laughed and said she wasn’t paying. She then told me I was welcome to hire her 3 kids to dig out the entire property. Her kids were a big part of the problem as to why the cops were coming over constantly, and so no. I’d previously had problems with her children opening my mail and putting it back in my mail box or opening deliveries of mine. There was no way I’d pay them.
Oh hell no, first you expect someone older than you to do the work for free, then expect that I will pay your kids, who are apparently perfectly able to do so, to dig YOU out? Fuck that.
A friend’s husband was offering to dig people out for a reasonable rate. I contacted him and hired him. When he got there, I explained the neighbor issue and what I wanted and was willing to pay for. He was only to clear out MY half of the driveway/garage/sidewalk. Her sides were still untouched, because no one(Me) would pay her kids to do it.
He went the extra mile, splitting the snow between the yard, and her side, of everything. AKA her side ended up with more snow that needed to be cleared.
This level of petty
Picture from Google.
She complained to the landlord that:
1. I refused to shovel her side of the property for her and her family (I was not obligated to do ANY property maintenance at all)
2. I had refused to hire her kids to do it
3. I had hired someone and refused to pay him to clear her side.
Now this was a kinda shitty landlord, but still… I was amused that the landlord contacted me about it and agreed to reduce my rent the amount I paid to have MY side cleared, as well as tell me about the downstairs neighbor’s complaints about me.
Until I moved out, whenever there was snowfall, you would see a similar clearing pattern on the property. SO much so the other neighbors joked about it, and refused to hire her kids to clear their properties as well.
EDIT: Apparently there are a large number of people who feel the need to comment about how she could just use my side of the stairs as if I lack a functioning brain. Seriously, the level of condescending ‘splaining in the comments is a sad statement on so many here. Thanks all you Captain Obvious’.
Of course she could, as could the postal worker who had to use them to deliver mail(Something not one of those commenting about her using the stairs seemed to consider).
Her being able to use them or not wasn’t the point. So many of you making the same comment as if the more of you who say it, the more I will regret it, or as if I didn’t realize that years ago when I did it is mind-boggling.
For those clueless ones that feel the need to comment the obvious, you all missed the obvious point that it wasn’t about her use of the stairs, but the refusal to clear her side on her command.
My partner (not my husband). My mother had been really sick from cancer for 18 months, we were told that she was unlikely to make it past the weekend. With that being said I was completely distraught… my partner of 9 years said pack your stuff and leave first thing in the morning (400km drive). He woke me up at 430 am, had already packed the car and fueled it up for me. Had a travel mug of coffee ready and said call me when you get there. I left 5am Friday morning.
mum passed 8am Saturday morning (the next day). I called my partner and told him, he said I’ll move heaven and hell to get there as soon as I can. I said, don’t worry, there is nothing you can do, just be here in time for mums funeral (the upcoming Friday).
in the mean time, it was my birthday 4 days after mum had passed. My family tried to make it as special as it could be. But, it was quite a somber occasion. At 8pm, there were headlights at the top of the drive way (rural property). I know the sound of his car. I’m like it’s *partners name.
he had worked 12 hour shift (construction) then drove 400km to be with me in my darkest time to help me feel better on my birthday. In the days after mums passing I had not been able to sleep, or cry or anything but just barely function. I slept solidly that night.
I know most would say that or like to think their spouse would do the same. But, that level of love and support got me through my darkest days. Love this man so very much.
Unfortunately, this is the point. The U.S. is not filty rich but filty poor.
All those money for Ukraine and Israel we got by using the printing press. We’re now $33 trillion in debt.
We can’t pay for basic utilities to keep our house in order but we believe we’re still able to live the high life of showing off to the rest of the world how powerful we are.
Genghis Khan, the legendary Mongol conqueror, had a unique approach when it came to treating his soldiers. Known for his strategic brilliance and military prowess, Khan understood the importance of a strong and loyal army in his quest to build the largest empire in history. So how did he treat his soldiers?
First and foremost, Genghis Khan believed in meritocracy. He valued skill, loyalty, and bravery above all else. Regardless of their background or social status, anyone who demonstrated these qualities had the opportunity to rise through the ranks of his army. This approach fostered a sense of unity and purpose among his soldiers, as they knew that their achievements would be rewarded.
Khan was also an astute observer of human nature. He recognized that soldiers needed to be motivated and inspired to fight with unwavering dedication. To achieve this, he led by example. Genghis Khan was renowned for his courage on the battlefield, often placing himself at the forefront of his troops during crucial engagements. This not only boosted morale but also instilled a sense of camaraderie and trust among his soldiers.
In addition to leading from the front, Khan took great care of his troops’ physical well-being. He ensured that his soldiers were adequately fed, equipped, and cared for. The Mongol army was known for its skilled horsemen, and Khan prioritized the breeding and training of horses to provide his soldiers with superior mounts. This gave them a significant advantage in maneuverability and speed during battles.
Furthermore, Genghis Khan implemented a system of rewards and recognition for valorous acts. Soldiers who displayed exceptional bravery or achieved notable successes on the battlefield were given honors, titles, and even land. This not only motivated his soldiers to excel but also created a sense of pride and camaraderie within the ranks.
However, Khan was also a strict disciplinarian. He demanded discipline and obedience from his soldiers, as he believed that a well-disciplined army was crucial for maintaining order and achieving victory. Disobedience or betrayal was met with severe consequences, ensuring that his troops remained loyal and committed to the cause.
Woman EXPOSES The INEVITABLE Problem With Dating Modern Women | TRAINED/GROOMED To Be Masculine
I was in talks to design a business plan for one of those “Become a Millionaire” guys – aka a “Life Coach”.
As we moved along in talks I immediately got the heeby jeebies from the guy.
He was in his late 50’s and only seemed to brag about things he did in high school and his early 20’s. When I would ask about subsequent years, just to understand his career narrative, he would get thin on details and then squirm and change the subject.
So then I watched a few of his media interviews where his go-to story was about this incredible and vivid vision that came upon him when he was a child. A vision that he would someday become rich.
To his credit, it indeed came true. He was a wealthy man.
But it became true because he inherited his dad’s company when his dad passed away unexpectedly. He then immediately sold the company and spent the next 30 years doing a whole lot of nothing.
So now he is one of those people going around telling everyone he knows “that ONE special secret to getting rich”. He released his first book on becoming wealthy, which a bunch of unfortunate suckers bought.
And, no, I won’t tell you the title because he will sue the hell out of me.
But I’ll give you the cliff notes version, “Get rich by having a rich dad.”
Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there that are like him.
Preying on people’s hopes and dreams in search of a dollar.
The American industrial system does not have such production capacity.
American shipyards do not have such production capacity: There is only a dry dock suitable for manufacturing aircraft carriers, and aircraft carriers waiting for repair are still queuing;
The steel mills in the United States do not have such production capacity: The last scandal involving the use of low-quality steel made in Kobe, Japan, by US nuclear submarines has not yet passed. This batch of nuclear submarines with quality issues cannot dive at all, and diving into deep water will explode due to increased pressure. American warships are even unable to withstand the impact of fishing vessels, which fully proves the quality issues of the steel used in their shipbuilding.
There are not enough skilled workers in the United States
20 And Back – The Super Soldiers Defending the Kuiper Belt
Joe Biden is taking the World to the brink of World War III
What can the American people do about it?
SQUAT
…
Until 19/1/2025 at least, there is nothing any American citizen can do about it except watch the World plunge into war under the watch of a senile idiot who needs Diapers
So what is the use of saying
Biden is destroying USA and he must be kicked out
It’s just empty gas isn’t it. It’s just 10 words at the end of the day. Biden laughs and keeps doing whatever he likes for four years, unchecked
…
Same with every Democracy in the Planet
At the end of the day – WHAT IS THE END RESULT OF ABUSING OR CRITICISING THE LEADER?
Nothing
Either the Media suppresses it or people shrug and brazenly keep doing what they are doing
…
Take India
We have had Protests on every decision that has ruined the country
Demonetization, CAA, NCR etc
They matter Squat
Once in, Modi is in power for minimum 5 years and he can’t be shaken by the common man
…
France?
Same story
All those Protests and Screams and Shrieks about Pension reforms and Macron did exactly what he wanted
He is in charge till 2027
…
Same with South Korea , exports plunge to historic lows and people scream and protest but does it matter? Nopes
Taiwan?
Japan?
Germany?
So many protests begging to end the war and Germany openly and brazenly calls for Escalation
So what is the use of this damn free speech? You can say the words but they are worthless in every possible way
Now China
Yes
Maybe in China, saying these 10 words could be counter productive
However the people’s voice in China is heard much better than in any democracy
Lockdowns were ended post protests
Rural Banking Reforms were initiated after Protests
Crackdowns on Real Estate Financing was initiated after Protests
1.03 Crore Jobs have been added due to vigorous Weibo Netizen criticism
Tagging Schoolkids Or regulating online gaming has been deferred due to Weibo online protests
Plus the Biggest Biggest Thing…
Recently on the XI Jingping app, they asked if Chinas History for 6–9 Classes be modified and whether Chapters on the Boxer Rebellion and the Opium Wars had to be reduced
The Question was asked of Students who had already passed out their 9th Grade and above
79% Students said NO.
DON’T CHANGE HISTORY
They didn’t.
…
In India, US, and all those wonderful democracies – they don’t ask the kids do they????
So on one hand you have Western Democracies and their lapdogs where you can say what ever you want but can do zilch
Or China where your criticism must be tempered but as citizens you can achieve much greater control on Governance
The Chinese say WE LIKE OUR MODEL BETTER
I kinda agree with them
So you keep your Senile Alzheimer’s Ridden President and your ‘Freedom and Democracy’ and let the Chinese have their own version
I think you might want to edit the question to ask which item from Italian cuisine does the US actually get right.
Italian American cuisine is a cuisine in its own right. Millions of Italians immigrated to America and they adapted their traditional dishes to use American ingredients. Some of the ingredients they used at home were unavailable or too expensive in America, so changes were made. Successive generations didn’t know there was a difference between what they were eating and what was being cooked in the old country. They just accepted the food their families prepared as being Italian cuisine, which at heart, it is.
There’s a lot of water between America’s East Coast, the epicenter of Italian American cuisine, and the old boot herself. It’s that distance that led the creation of Italian American classics. If I had to point at one item the made the leap unmolested though, I’d name Sfogliatelle.
Sfogliatelle are a flaky pastry that originated in Campania. They’re made by rolling out dough, brushing it with lard or oil, rolling it up, cutting it into portions, shaping the pastry, filling it and baking. Sfogliatelle can be baked unfilled or filled with sweetened ricotta, almond paste or candied citrus zest. They’re simple to make and don’t call for any exotic ingredients. It’s the thin flakey layers that make sfogliatelle unique.
Ricotta filled:
If you’ve never tried these pastries, seek them out. They’re amazing and their recipe has not been molested by time or distance.
Life robbed me of my childhood. My parents had to quit school after grade 9 to help support their families. They vowed that my brother and I would not be barred from finishing school and going to University.
But we were poor, so they had no way to pay for it. So they propped me early. I knew by grade six that if I wanted to go to university, I would have to pay for it myself.
So in grade 8, I started mowing lawns and shoveling snow.
In grade 9 I got a part time job and worked 20 hours a week, in grade 10 ,30 hours, and grades 11 and 12 it was 40 hours. I graduated first in my class. I lived in a 10×14 ft room, with a roommate and the bathroom, was down the hall. I worked in the dorm cafeteria. When summer came I got a camp job, where I worked 360–380 hours a month, and they also paid room and board.
This was the way I graduated from university debt free.
So, as soon as I turned 13, I stopped having a childhood, and had an adulthood instead. So much for life being easy for baby boomers.
I’d do it all over again in a heart beat. Its what it took to break the cycle of poverty.
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.
This wasn’t me, this was my wife. She is a lawyer and was interviewing for a job managing the sale of properties. She was interviewing at a firm that specialised in really expensive and tricky sales and when she turned up to the interview she was told by the recruiter that the partners had told the last two people who were interviewed to leave midway through so they were quite abrupt!
She went to the interview, which went quite well, and they asked her to prepare an answer to a legal sale question. When she looked at it, she knew she had no hope: it was madly complicated and about a type of property sale that is known to be horrendous to do. She thought about trying to brazen it off and decided to be honest and say she had no idea.
It turned out the partners knew from looking at her CV she would have no idea about how to do it; it was something so complex the partner himself had had to do it himself. What they were trying to do was see how she reacted to something she didn’t know. The last two people interviewed had tried to make something up and so failed the test.
I was nowhere qualified as a computer tech but one time a friend of mine brought over a a desktop machine and keyboard and asked me to see if I could get it running as it wouldn’t boot up. Every time you’d plug in the power cord to the wall socket a strange odor would start permiating from the cover. I figured something was wrong with the power supply, which if push came to shove I could’ve probably went to an electronics supply store and bought another one and installed it. I was adept at soldering and replacing some common components at the time, which is why my friend thought that I could fix it.
Anyhoo, I removed the screws holding the cover to the unit, lifted the cover off and got the most absolute shock of my life!! Hundreds of live cockroaches start running out all over everywhere not to mention many more that were obviously dead inside that cover!
I came unglued along with a major panic attack! I’d never, ever had to deal with roaches after I became an adult. I despised them because while growing up my family and I always had a major problem with roaches and they were always into everything and would drop from the ceiling when you went into a room after turning on lights, etc etc etc.
I spent 2 hours stomping on and smashing roaches trying to prevent them from getting into places in my apartment where I couldn’t reach and in the long run wasn’t successful. Ended up moving out to get away from them making sure in the process that I didn’t inadvertently take any with me.
I was not happy with my friend. It caused a major, almost homicidal argument with him and it would be several years before we spoke again. The creepiness and ick factor of watching those roaches pile out of that machine that day still haunts me to this day.
Huawei refused to disclose its foundry information, sending the Biden team into madness.
Let’s talk about smart children. Particularly smart children in the United States. Particularly those in grades K-8 at a public school.
A lot of you reading this are, yourself, a product of the American public school system. Think back to your K-8 years. Do you remember people whose only job was to deal with the students with behavior problems? Were there “special education” teachers who had special classrooms with aides and all kinds of equipment for just a handful of students? Do you remember being bored a lot in school, because your teacher didn’t have the time to challenge you, because they were so busy re-teaching things to the students who didn’t get it the first time? Do you remember a handful of students who seemed to set the pace for the whole class, and that pace was much, much too slow for you? Do you remember a handful of students whose attitudes and behavior set the tone for the whole class? And was that a negative tone that left your teacher spending most of their time dealing with that small handful of students?
That was my experience, at least. In grades 4–8, I was one of about 20 students in a special gifted program in my school. But that gifted “program” was just two teachers who were given a spare classroom in five schools in the district, and they went to a different school every day of the week, and pulled out the gifted students from their classes for an hour, to play logic games with them.
One hour per week. That’s what we got.
Meanwhile, the students on the other end of the spectrum had resources thrown at them, including permanent classrooms with full-time teachers for students whose only “special need” was that they didn’t give a damn about learning.
I remember one incident in particular, when I realized just how much time my teachers wasted trying to get one particular student under control. His name was Anthony. One day, in seventh grade, we were learning about feudal Japan by playing a game where we were all on teams, given items to trade, and could use money we made to hire soldiers, and then there was a huge map of Japan on the wall, separated into regions, with the number of regions under each team’s control represented by different colored push pins.
My team started in Osaka. To this day, I know exactly where Osaka is because of this game back in 1992. I remember that we were the blue team, our main thing to trade was fish, and we began with five pushpin armies.
Also Judith was in my group, which made it even that much more enjoyable for me. She was forced to interact with me for a few minutes each day because of this.
It was a computer-less strategy game. I loved it. The game was supposed to last for a few weeks.
It lasted two days. On the third day, Anthony vandalized the giant game board, and some of his friends laughed. And that was it. The teacher was tired of putting in so much effort for something that students like Anthony just kept ruining. We did the rest of the unit, and every unit afterwards for the rest of the year, through textbook reading and worksheets.
But, as I thought about it, I realized that Anthony had been that way since he was first in my class in second grade. He was always out of control. He always set the pace and the tone for the class. In middle school, he got kicked out of class a lot, which just wasted a lot of time because he rarely went willingly and they had to call and wait for security. But he was always back in the class the next day. He just needed to “chill out.”
That was actually the name of the kick-out room for students like him: the “chill out room.”
I just Googled him and found a story that he was sentenced to six years in prison in 2004 for “domestic battery, drug possession, and forgery.”
Yep. All of that extra time, effort, and money the public school spent on him… how’d that work out?
That would be fine, if the public schools spent the same amount of time, effort, and money on the upper end of the spectrum.
My point is this: What’s the saddest truth about smart people? Public schools just aren’t equipped to deal with your special needs, because they’re too busy dealing with the special needs of students on the other end of the spectrum. The very people who have the most potential to give the most back to society are the same ones who school prioritizes the least.
Imagine a school system where every dollar spent on students on the lower end of the special needs spectrum had to be matched by a dollar for students on the higher end of the spectrum.
Imagine if, just like schools have resources in place for when the teachers need to kick out the Anthonys of the world, those same schools had resources for teachers to send out the students who were too smart for that day’s lesson.
“Timmy, you can read this and learn it on your own in five minutes, but I’m going to be teaching it to the rest of the class for the next hour. You can go to the gifted resource room and work with the teacher there on more advanced stuff.”
Imagine if, just as schools pay extra attention to students with special needs due to federal laws and fears of getting sued, schools did the same for students on the high end of the spectrum. Imagine if parents could threaten a lawsuit because the school wasn’t meeting the needs of their child… the legally-mandated requirement that the school challenge them on their academic level and not let their classmates hold them back.
Imagine how high your hot air balloon could be now, if not for the classroom sandbags that weighed you down when you were in school.
Instead of “No Child Left Behind,” it should be “No Child Forced To Wait.”
Gavin Newsom goes to China, one-ups Biden and meets Xi Jinping
“As a Californian, I can tell you that not only is Newsom not acceptable to the rest of America, California is not acceptable to the rest of America”.
It is likely that China will sell virtually all of its remaining U.S. Treasuries.
It is useful to look at Russia’s experience in this regard. Russia sold virtually all of its Treasuries in 2018, fairly quickly. At that time, Russia encouraged the world to dump U.S. Treasury bonds. Thus, it is possible for a country to officially not hold Treasuries.
After 2018, Russia continued to hold some foreign currency reserves in U S. dollars. When the Ukraine War started in 2022, the United States and its allies froze hundreds of billions of dollars held by Russia.
As a result, the world has been forced to look elsewhere to store its savings. Both China and Russia are storing much of their wealth in physical gold. Other countries are doing the same. The planet is also increasingly doing business in currencies other than the dollar.
As a result of these trends, China will increasingly no longer need U.S. Treasuries to do business. In October 2023, China bought its first oil for Chinese Yuan. If this continues, China will get its oil for free, by printing Yuan. America will be forced to trade hard goods for oil in the future.
America’s leaders were very short-sighted to weaponize the dollar. A global reserve currency requires trust. The United States had a money-making machine, and voluntarily gave it up.
FLASH TRAFFIC ADDED – TURKISH NAVY DEPLOYING 100 SHIPS AGAINST ISRAEL –~FIFTY (50) U.S. Military Transport Planes in 24 Hours to Middle East
FLASH TRAFFIC ADDED – SEE 12:27 PM EDT UPDATE BELOW —— From Friday-into-Saturday, the United States sent no fewer than fifty (50) military transport planes loaded with troops to the Middle East. In addition, the list below shows “unprecedented” naval deployments. Today, Iran said they WILL NOT abide U.S. warnings to stay out of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
We begin with Naval Deployments into the Middle East showing 11 Countries in Support of Israel:
All of the above, along with Submarines and other support ships show an utterly massive naval deployment. I am told this present deployment is larger than the ones done prior to the US war(s) against Saddam Hussein in Iraq in 1991 and again later.
In addition to all the above vessels, another Aircraft Carrier, the HMS Queen Elizabeth II, transited the Strait of Gibraltar yesterday morning around 11:00 AM, enroute to the eastern Mediterranean:
In addition to THAT additional aircraft carrier, the Navy of Italy is also now deploying vessels:
AIR
In the 24 hours period from Friday into Saturday, the United States flew 49+ military transport aircraft from the US to the Middle East, carrying TROOPS!
On top of those troop transport flights, a Significant number of C-17A Globemaster lll and C-5M Super Galaxy Transport Aircraft from the U.S. Air Force’s Air Mobility Command have been arriving in the Middle East.
The flight info above DOES NOT even cover the regular commercial airline flights the US has chartered to exclusively move troops!
Yesterday, Saturday 28 October 2023, Germany put 1,000 soldiers on alert for deployment to the Middle East in case of emergency The German Army keeps 1,000 troops on alert for possible deployment to the Middle East in case of emergency, given the prevailing tension in the region as a result of the war between Hamas and Israel.
This flight from Fort Sill, OK has my attention at the moment. Fort Sill is home to a THAAD battery and this flight appears to be headed overseas. There are no helpful ACARS for this flight, but this is possibly a THAAD battery flight enroute to Saudi Arabia:
At about 1:47 AM eastern US Time Sunday, which was about 11:00 AM in Tehran, Iran, the President of Iran said Tehran will not follow US warnings against interfering in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. According to the Press service of the President of Iran: “Israel has crossed red lines, forcing everyone to take action.”
The President made it a point to also say “the presence of U.S warships in the region will make no difference to Tehran’s decision.”
Hal Turner Analysis
Based solely upon the movement of ships, troops, and planes, it is obvious to me the United States is going to war. A big war.
Trouble is the federal government under the Biden Regime has intentionally left the US southern border with Mexico, virtually open. Literally millions of illegal aliens have been entering the country via Mexico since Biden took office.
It is my opinion that many – but not all – of these illegal aliens are a “5th Column” sent here by adversaries to be “sleeper cells.” I believe that when war erupts in the Middle East, that WE HERE IN THE USA will also be attacked by these sleeper cells.
YOU must be ready with emergency food, water, medicine, a generator to make electric in case the grid is taken down. Have CASH MONEY in your possession incase cyber attacks take out the financial networks, making credit, debit, and SNAP/EBT useless. After all, almost no one takes checks anymore. So folks with cash will eat. Those without cash will go hungry.
The utterly massive movement of troops and weapons indicates to me that hostilities are imminent. Which could — and I emphasize “could” (not necessarily “will”) — trigger sleeper cell attacks here in America.
If you wait until trouble starts, then YOU and every other person who failed to plan, will all be rushing to stores at the same time trying to get food and supplies. In short order, store shelves will be empty and those of you who took no action, will find yourself standing in an empty store.
Don’t be like “the masses who are asses” that wait until the last minute to get supplies. Do it right now. Today.
And gas-up your cars, trucks, and spare gas cans for your generator.
Lastly, have COMMUNICATIONS GEAR – a CB or a HAM (Shortwave) radio — so if things go wild weasel, and communications like phone, fax, email, cellular/Internet all go down, at least YOU will be able to communicate locally (CB) and hear international news on shortwave (HAM).
Of course, some of you will say that this story and its advice is sort of like “Chicken Little, the sky is falling.” To those who would scoff I merely point out that, this morning, a U.S. E-6 Nuclear Command Post is now flying over the US East Coast:
The E-6B Mercury is a communications relay and strategic airborne command post aircraft. It provides survivable, reliable, and endurable airborne Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications (NC3) for the president, secretary of defense and U.S. Strategic Command.
So it isn’t just ME telling you to take steps to prepare, it’s the US Military, too. Take the hint!
(PERSONAL: Sorry my coverage today begins at this late hour of 11:00 AM EDT. I slept-in this morning. Didn’t wake up until 9:25 AM. I was literally exhausted.)
********** FLASH ***********
UPDATE 12:27 PM EDT —
The Turkish Navy is, right now, transiting ONE-HUNDRED Naval Warships through the Bosporus Strait from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.
It is BELIEVED Turkey plans to engage Israel over its ongoing military action in Gaza. War may break out between Turkey and Israel within Hours! ! ! !
Unlike its better known relative, the Enigma machine which was infamously deciphered by code-breakers at Bletchley Park throughout the war, the Lorenz cipher posed a much greater challenge. Utilising 12 wheels to scramble up the message being sent as opposed to the 3 or 4 rotors found in the Enigma machine, the Lorenz cipher was incredibly secure. As a result, unlike the Enigma that was used by the German standard armed forces, the Lorenz cipher was used only by high command with messages coming from Hitler himself. As a result, to crack the Lorenz cipher (or Tunny as it was code named by the British) would have the potential to change the course of the war.
Not much headway had been made in breaking the Lorenz cipher through the war until a German operator made a catastrophic mistake on 30 August 1941. When a German receiving operator did not receive a message correctly, he asked the transmitter to resend the information and despite clear protocol against it, the two operators resent the message without changing their key settings (the settings that determine how the text is scrambled up). However since the message in question was 4000 characters long, the lazy German operator abbreviated several words, thus changing the length of the message. Since their key settings were both the same, the two messages had the same scrambling pattern of characters. Thus by comparing the locations where the message text changed, details of the way the rotors worked could be determined.
These two messages were intercepted by the British who soon realised the importance of what they had discovered. This task of cracking Tunny was given to W T (Bill) Tutte who began to find repetitions in the cipher which allowed him to reverse engineer the Lorenz machine’s logical structure in what would be later described as “one of the greatest intellectual feats of World War II”. In order to support the painstaking decryption of German messages, the British Colossus was built in 1943 by Tommy Flowers, the first ever modern computer.
The Colossus Machine
The impact of the decryption of Tunny was enormous. It gave the British intimate details of Hitler’s most secret communications which was most notably vital in D Day where the Allies were able to deceive the Germans that they were going to attack at Calais as opposed to Normandy and at the Battle of Kursk in 1943, Germany’s last ditch attempt to reverse their fortunes on the Eastern Front and one of the largest battles in history. Involving 3 million men, without foreknowledge of German planning provided by the British, the Soviets would have been badly prepared defensively and could have lost this crucial battle and as a result, the war would’ve been prolonged. In fact, historians estimate that the breaking of the Lorenz cipher shortened the war by two years and thus saved millions of lives all due to the careless mistake of two lazy German operators.
However this pivotal event is not well known due to the Official Secrets Act keeping the nature of the code breakers working to break the Lorenz cipher secret until 1974 and some former staff even today still refuse to break their vow of secrecy, preferring to take their knowledge to the grave.
W T (Bill) Tutte, the man responsible for cracking the Lorenz Cipher
Cajun Pot Roast
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
1 (3 pound) beef sirloin or chuck roast
2 large garlic cloves, cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces
3 cayenne chiles, or jalapeno chiles, cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces
Salt and pepper to taste
1 large onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 (4 ounce) can whole or sliced mushrooms
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Creole seasoning to taste
Instructions
Cut 1/2 to 3/4 inch slits into beef. Stuff one piece of garlic and one piece of chile into each slit. Season the roast with salt and pepper.
Heat a large nonstick pan over medium heat. Add beef and brown well on all sides.
Add onion, bell pepper and minced garlic land sauté until tender.
Add water to pan to cover the beef.
Stir in the mushrooms and Worcestershire sauce and season with Creole seasoning.
Simmer, covered, for 3 to 4 hours or until tender, adding more water if needed to keep liquid level halfway up the beef.
Notes
You may stir 1 tablespoon flour mixed with 1 cup cold water into liquid near end of cooking for a thicker gravy.
I broke off a 10 year off and on relationship over a single piece of gum.
He and I weren’t on great terms for a long while. It was mostly out of his cheapness. He wouldn’t take me out to eat-we ate at his place. That wouldn’t have been bad except that he bought cheap items and used foods that had expired. I told him I wasn’t eating his cooking anymore, thank you. We watched TV but only shows he liked-he didn’t want to waste his time on my shows. I could watch them at my place.
Things were coming to a head and I knew the next fight we had would be the last. It was November when he called me and asked me to come over and fix his computer. I wasn’t in the best of moods-I finally had a free afternoon with the kids out with their father and I had things to do. Ok, I decided I would go over and see if I could do something to help. I got there and he already told me I had just an hour to get things right. Perfect start-no thanks for coming over, great to see you, etc.
He offered me a piece of gum. I haven’t chewed gum in years because it sticks to my dental work, and he knew it. Why was he offering me gum-was my breath stinky? After I thought about it for a moment, I took a piece. I didn’t even get it open when he started to yell at me-why is everything in your life a big decision? Don’t waste my gum-either take it or don’t! I paid money for that!
I immediately put the gum back on the table. He flips out again-you touched it not you don’t want it! What’s the matter with you? With me? I don’t chew gum, not in years! You knew that! I thought you were hinting my breath stunk so I took a piece of gum. Now you don’t want me to take the gum! Why don’t you make up YOUR mind?
He immediately moved my tech bag away from his computer and began to work on his computer. Don’t you want me to do that? No. You asked me to cone down here to help you, now you don’t want me to help you? Silence. Are we really going to have a fight about a piece of gum after I wasted my time and gas to come here? Silence.
I sat on the couch for a few minutes. I could have just stormed out the door. I wanted to compose myself and make it clear what would happen. I told him that I have spent 10 years doing for him, taking care of him when he was sick, lent him things like my cell phone and my car, then paid the repairs when he broke them and he never paid me back. I have put up with all this, and if we didn’t resolve what was really going on, I was leaving and not coming back. All I got was silence. Are we really going to break up over a damned piece of gum? Silence.
I picked up my things and I left. I never went back. I blocked his number from my cell phone. I had a feeling I knew what happened because he did it to me before. He used to get moody around Thanksgiving time and lots of times we broke up so he could avoid my birthday in December and Christmas/Chanukah/Valentines Day. He used to call around March to renew our friendship but his birthday was in April and he really wanted a present. I just had enough of his childishness, his cheapness and his abusive control. It was just one fight too many and I was done.
He did email me the following April-after I sent nothing for his birthday. I emailed him back that I told him that after our last fight, I was done and I wanted nothing more to do with him. He replied that he forgot what we fought about, and I told him that it was over a piece of gum. Then I blocked his email.
He called from another phone the following September, demanding I stop being stupid and get back together. What a lovely invitation, no woman can resist that, I answered. Then he threatened me. I told him to come over and try to f*** me up. I had an old lead pipe my father had and it had his name on it. I told him I’ll invite my neighbors to watch me smear him all over the street. My temper broke and I told him about the horrible things he did to me over the years. He finally said “I guess you’re mad at me, huh?” I hung up and blocked his new number too.
He attempted to contact me a few times through his friends but I told them I would go to the police and file harassment charges. He finally moved out of New York City-he attempted to contact me from his mother’s home in Tennessee. I blocked that too. He’s been blocked in every social media site so I don’t have to deal with him.
He had 10 years to grow up and apologize. The words aren’t in his vocabulary. I know the piece of gum wasn’t the reason our relationship ended-it was years of my giving and him taking and never appreciating what he got. But that stupid piece of gum was the catalyst. To this day, when I see a pack of Wrigley’s gum, I still smirk with amused disgust.
I interviewed for a support engineering role, the interviewer asked me how a fluorescent light fitting worked. I explained what I knew about the ballast, starter and gas tube etc. He delved deeper and I drew a rudimentary circuit diagram. When he asked exactly how the starter worked I was stumped, so I said “I don’t know”.
He told me that he must’ve had 2 dozen other applicants attempt to convince him how it all worked, but being able to admit I didn’t know something landed me the job. I learnt how knowing one’s limitations is so important.
Despite increased attacks on US occupation bases, Joe Biden has reportedly turned down more ‘aggressive bombing options’ in Syria out of fear that a wider conflict may erupt
NOV 13, 2023
(Photo credit: AFP via Getty Images)
Several missile and drone strikes targeted US occupation bases in Syria on 13 November in response to the latest round of US airstrikes on alleged Iranian targets in the country.
Fifteen missiles targeted the US base in the Conoco gas field, sources told Al-Mayadeen, adding that US helicopters began making flights ten minutes after the strike.
“The Conoco base was targeted with advanced Grad missiles, which led to the death of four US soldiers,” Al-Mayadeen’s correspondent reported.
Field sources told Al-Mayadeen that the attacks were carried out by the “Popular Resistance” in Syria.
In a second response to US airstrikes, three drones struck the Al-Shaddadi military base in Hasakah, northeastern Syria.
The US Green Village base at the Al-Omar oilfield northeastern Syria, was also hit with a drone. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq is a coalition of Iraqi resistance factions formed last month in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance in Gaza.
The coalition was formed to confront US forces in Iraq and Syria as part of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and in rejection of US support for Israel in the war, and has been targeting US bases on a regular basis.
Hours before Monday’s attacks, US warplanes carried out several airstrikes in eastern Syria.
Washington claimed the attacks targeted facilities used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
According to Al-Mayadeen’s correspondent, the US airstrikes “targeted a house in the town of Al-Mayadeen, which led to the death of a citizen and the injury of another.”
US jets have struck Syria several times over the past month in retaliation to the unprecedented surge in resistance attacks against US military bases in Iraq and Syria. Washington has labeled the attacks as “self-defense.”
According to the New York Times (NYT), US President Joe Biden “has rejected more aggressive bombing options proposed by the Pentagon out of fear of provoking a wider conflict with Iran.”
The newspaper also cites Republicans in Congress as saying that Washington’s strikes on Syria “only invite more frequent and more dangerous attacks against US troops in the region.”
There have been at least 48 resistance attacks against US forces in Iraq and Syria since 17 October, the Pentagon said on Saturday.
“At least 56 U.S. service members had been injured. Roughly half of those suffered traumatic brain injuries, and two had to be flown to Landstuhl military hospital in Germany for treatment,” the NYT adds.
There doesn’t seem to be many who are rude. My story is about a beautiful and kind woman.
Many years ago I was in O’Hara airport getting ready to fly home from Navy boot camp. As I waited, I saw what looked like a Hollywood photo shoot going on. I walked over with my nearly bald head and baggy Navy uniform and talked to an absolutely beautiful woman, dressed like an Elf. She was friendly and asked where I was from and what my home was like. We talked for about 10 minutes. As I needed to catch my plane, I thanked her for taking the time to speak with me. I asked her what her name was. It was Ann-Margaret. Surprise! I’ve had a soft spot for her since our meeting.
There have been a lot of memes lately, discussing this subject:
It’s viewed as a sort of work-around to all of life’s problems:
These’s memes are funny and all (sometimes), but they also have some truth.
A good portion of depressed people definitely view suicide as a way out and they genuinely think it’s the only way.
But it’s not.
Sunday, Nov 18 is my late-uncle’s birthday.
No one ever talks about him in my family. And of the few times he’s brought up, is always in relation to his suicide or mental illness.
He lived a pretty amazing life, but the memory of his suicide looms over the conversations around him.
It’s not like we never talk about him, or that suicide is strictly the only thing that we remember about him. There’s just no solace to the memory of his passing, suicide is something that is preventable, it didn’t have to be this way.
And, unfortunately, it’s the same with my idol, Chester Bennington.
In every Linkin Park YouTube music video, all the comments are the same. They’re ALL about his depression or his death.
No one talks about his life, how he made it big after a period of being homeless. How Linkin Park immediately knew who their lead singer was after his audition; how Chester would always do screaming vocal warmups, which could be heard several changing rooms away, before each of his live performances.
No one talks about that anymore.
If I’d killed myself on year ago, all I’d be remembered as was “that quiet kid who killed himself.”
You have a lot to be remembered for.
Stan Lee, who passed away on Nov 12, 2018, is positively cherished by fans.
So much material was circulated recently about his life and work.
There was a meme about how he drew the Peter Parker meets MJ comic strip based on the time he first saw his future wife. There were memes of his cameos in Marvel movies, memes of Infinity war, Spider-man memes….
It was awesome.
And nobody was particularly sad, rather they celebrated everything he did in his 95 year life on Earth.
You have a lot to live for.
And a lot to be remembered by.
And even if things don’t get better quickly.
Don’t tarnish that with suicide.
It’s not worth it.
You are worth it.
You are worth a good life and the world deserves your proud legacy.
During my very first visit to China, there were a couple of things that took me by surprise:
Massive malls absolutely everywhere
I’ve heard that Chinese food is so much better in China than what you get in other countries, but that’s is a massive understatement. There is so much diversity in food options, all of it is amazingly delicious and very reasonably priced. I could not get enough of it, and I can’t wait for my next visit so I can stuff my face with all that deliciousness again!
I didn’t expect to have that much trouble finding restaurants or shops that accept foreign bank cards. Some locations only allow Alipay. Also, apps like Didi are not available to foreigners as you need a Chinese number to sign up, and hailing a taxi is not always easy.
I saw very few tags or graffiti on buildings in big Chinese cities. Those are a major issue in pretty much every European city, as even historical buildings get smeared in tags, so this was a welcome surprise.
Excellent public transportation – so cheap and easy to use!
All the people I’ve met were absolutely lovely and extremely helpful. Also, there are so many older people in the parks, exercising or dancing, which is refreshing to see.
There is never any paper in bathrooms, so you have to carry a roll with you
The only thing that slightly threw me off during my very first visit was that people in China often take pictures of foreigners without asking. I’m very visibly a foreigner, so I always get quite a bit of attention when I’m travelling in Asia. I’m used to that, and I never decline a picture with some curious locals, as I find it a sweet experience. However, in China, while many approached and asked for a photo, there were many more who just tried to ‘’sneakily’’ take it, which made me feel a little bit uncomfortable at times.
As a tiny woman travelling alone I felt quite safe, even at night in less populated areas.
My wife and kids lived upstairs in my parent’s house. My Dad passed before my Mom. When she passed, as the only child, I had to sort out her bills, insurance, etc. My Mom was a school teacher for many years and received SS and a pension. At her time of retiring, she did not make as much as teachers do today. A few days after her funeral, I was sitting at her desk going through her checkbook to see what was paid and so forth. When I looked at the deposits, I started to see bill after bill after bill being paid, leaving her with very little left over. I am still saddened to this day, many years later, that I never knew the depth of how bad things really were. We could have contributed more to the household, but she hid most of this from us, trying to spare us any hardship. This is the single biggest regret I have in her passing, knowing I could have eased her burden, as she was the most loving mother one could ask for. She worked her whole life to teach children and raise me, who deserved so much more in her retirement. I am shedding tears as I write this, and hope that others can take more of an active role in their parents lives (when allowed) while they are still with us.
While employed as a pizza delivery rider, after the lifting of the COVID lock-down, our company decided to pull a fast one.
A memo from the head office was circulated among all restaurant staff at all branches. It basically said that the company was so concerned about our welfare in these trying times that they were willing to keep a percentage of our weekly salary for us as a form of savings. The memo also mentioned that if we agreed to this ‘Pizza Savings’ (my term, not theirs) that we will be getting 0% interest.
My delivery co-worker and I had a field day with that memo. We read it several times in disbelief and laughed. The owners could not be serious.
It was obvious they wanted to get a loan/invest in something. It was as if they told themselves instead of taking a 16% interest loan from the bank why not simply take it from their uneducated restaurant workers, all they needed was our signatures.
I went around some of the co-workers joking about it. Most of us laughed it off but two of them couldn’t understand what was so funny.
‘But we’re getting 0% interest!’ an older woman working the grill said.
She seemed to have the idea that this was a good thing. Apparently she had had so many loans in the past that to her the word interest = bad.
I explained to her it was a savings and not a loan. That with savings you want the highest interest you could get and the exact opposite when it comes to a loan.
‘But isn’t it good to have a savings?’ one of the teenaged girls working the pizza table said.
I explained to her it is a good thing but it makes no sense to save your money with someone giving you 0%. I tried explaining how banks work, about buying shares etc and getting the best rates for your money. Both women looked at me in silence.
In the end they both decided to ‘try it out.’
I didn’t know what shocked me more. The fact that the restaurant attempted that stunt or the fact that it actually worked on two employees.
Controller got fired for all the right reasons. On his way out, and before his access was deleted, he programmed a very, very offensive message on the Windows start menu for the entire company-something along the lines of “fxxx you, (name of the CFO)”. Now I’ll admit the guy had it coming, but will also say that the CFO was the biggest a-hole I’ve ever met. Anyway, it took the IT guys weeks before they were able to fix it (always wondered why it took sooooo loooong).
As a 45 year old, I started feeling very tired. I fell asleep in the bathroom at work one day. Went home and thought I was coming down with a cold. Never actually got cold symptoms, but could barely move my body. It felt like all of my extremities were filled with lead. Then I started getting dizzy. Then I started to vomit. I went to an urgent care center and told them all of the above symptoms and how now I’m vomiting and peeing every 5 minutes. I even told them I was vomiting black stuff which they informed me was blood. I was told I just had a stomach virus like people get on cruise ships. I said I have never been on a cruise ship in my life. I was sent home with antinausea meds. I had lost about 15 lbs in 3 days. That night and next day still vomiting and now breathing in short gasps. Now my body is shivering uncontrollably and I can barely move and still vomiting blood. My kids found me on the kitchen floor and took me to the ER. I was rushed back and found out I was in diabetic ketoacidosis. My body was shutting down. I was about a day away from death. My blood sugar was 854. I was diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic.
While hospitalized, I received a survey from the urgent care center asking how my experience was. I’ll told them that I almost died thanks to them, but other than that it was great.
Years back when Subway still gave you tickets to collect for free subs, my kids’ mother and I were going to have dinner and movie night with my brother and his wife. Subway was the night’s choice. Well, it is Friday evening and the video store is packed. So we’re standing in line waiting to check out our movies, and she is going through these Subway tickets. She asks me,
“I don’t supposed you’ll eat a 6 inch?”
To which I responded, in a building with over 150 people in it, without even missing a beat,
“No, if I don’t get 12 inches, I’m just not satisfied.”
Children were laughing at me. Had it not been so hilarious, I would be mortified of that story getting out.
In China, if you hit a dog or a cat, or any pet for that matter, and the owner comes out and makes a claim against you for killing or wounding their pet, the insurance company will pay no questions asked.
It is automatic.
Most insurance is no-contest up to 3000 RMB, and many (but not all) go up to 5000 RMB for the death of a beloved pet involved in a car accident.
You would NEVER see this anywhere else.
…
So, consider this scenario…
In China, Fido bolts across a busy road. He gets hit, the car and driver slows for a minute but then continues to drive on.
A day later, the owner finds the crushed bones of Fido.
He files a police report, which NORMALLY causes the AI cameras in the region to identify what actually happened.
And just like the Tom Curse movie “Minority Report” the car is identified, the driver is identified, and the time of death is established.
The driver is contacted. He apologies, and his insurance is notified.
There is a insurance pay out to the aggrieved pet owner.
…
This would NEVER happen in the USA. But it’s pretty common in China. It’s an accident and there are no civil or criminal penalties for the driver, but the aggrieved pet owner needs to be compensated, and this is the way China does it.
At one, the funeral of an elderly woman, her only child used the eulogy to mock and insult her to the startled crowd. Also, there was no body and no mention of one. We showed up to a bare room where her child stood at the podium and went on about her shortcomings for about forty-five minutes, until we were dismissed. No gravesite was ever disclosed. To this day we have no idea what happened to her.
At another, a relative leaned over a coffin and contemplated the deceased as he took a long, loud slurp from a Super Big Gulp.
via The Blaze
And, although strictly speaking this took place after the funeral, I should mention my spirited aunt who tormented my uncle from Beyond. She informed everyone as she was dying that she’d reincarnate as a bird and peck out the eyes of those who’d done her wrong. After the funeral, which was in early spring, her husband came home and a bird was nesting in the back porch overhang. It chose to dive bomb him at the worst (best?) possible time, and for the rest of his life he swore the bird was his dead wife returning to haunt him.
My grandfather was a WWII sniper. It was always funny to me…he had the worst eyesight you could imagine, and I remember seeing pictures of him as a little boy with glasses thick as milk bottles. But by a very wide margin, he was the best shot I’ve ever seen.
One example is something that happened when I was a little girl. We used to go to an annual state fair, and one of the attractions was a turkey shoot. Basically, it was a wooden maze that a live turkey would run through…the body was hidden, but as the turkey ran, he’d bob up and down and his head would be visible for a fraction of a second every now and then. Contestants would pay to take a shot – you stood maybe ten yards behind the maze and you had one shot…if you hit it, you won the (dead) turkey and some sort of cash prize.
We watched other shooters…apparently it was a big test of manhood among the locals, and all the heavy-duty serious shooters were out there, many in camo with various military or law enforcement patches. Definitely some seriously mean looking dudes. The tool of choice seemed to be an expensive looking shotgun, and while some of the shooters seemed to come close, the turkey always eluded them. Many shooters tried, but the turkey was still alive – I started to think maybe the whole thing was rigged somehow, and that there really was no way to win.
Thing is, the crowd was loud enough that you couldn’t really tell where the turkey was at any moment. It might make a beeline for the exit, or it might linger in the maze. It might hear something and keep its head up, or it might not…very unpredictable, and shooters would have to spot the turkey, swing their weapon and get a shot off in almost zero time.
Many of the shooters seemed to use a technique where they’d just pick a small area of the maze and keep their guns focused there. Didn’t seem to make a difference…the movement was just too fast to acquire the target and get a shot off.
My grandfather watched the event too, shaking his head at each of the shooters and telling us what they were doing wrong. At one point, my father suggests that grandpa should show them how it’s done…only issue is that he doesn’t have a shotgun.
Out of pure coincidence, grandpa had taken my older brother to the range a few days prior, and my brother remembered that his .22 was still locked in the trunk of the car. Grandpa starts considering it, and he asks the folks running the event if he can shoot a .22 instead of a shotgun. There was discussion whether this was allowable, but before you know it, my father and older brother head off to fetch the .22.
Grandpa takes out the .22 and the crowd sort of laughs…here’s this feeble 70-something with thick dark glasses and a pretty well worn .22 that might just as well have been a slingshot. People try to explain to him that he needs a shotgun, and one or two of the shooters even offers to lend him one…I remember him laughing them off with, “well, what kind of contest would that be? I have to at least give the poor bird a fighting chance.”
Of course, by now, grandpa’s pride was at stake, and there was no way he was putting down that .22.
Grandpa pays his fee and lines up. He draws a crowd, and with the help of my dad, he gets down into a kneeling stance, and suddenly he looks a little more like he knows what he’s doing.
I was maybe ten, and grandpa looks at me and tells me to stand close, but not too close, and to put my fingers in my ears. I remember him telling me he wanted to make sure I had a good view, and someday I’d either tell my kids about grandpa’s amazing shot, or I’d be telling them what a silly old man he was…either way, he wanted me to witness it.
The buzzer goes off, the crowd starts yelling and the turkey starts its run through the maze. I remember seeing its head bob up and down a few times, and then as it got about halfway through the maze, I hear grandpa’s shot ring out.
We didn’t see the turkey after that…it wasn’t clear if it had been hit or it just ran to the end of the maze with its head down.
Then I heard someone in the crowd: “the old man hit it!”
And sure enough, grandpa hit the turkey with one shot from his lowly .22.
The crowd was going crazy, and I asked grandpa how he did it: “easy – I just watched for the gleam of the sunlight in its eyes.”
I thought he was kidding, but when the bird was fetched, we found out that grandpa managed to put a bullet exactly through the eyes of the turkey…in fact, the bullet went in one eye, and out the other. If I hadn’t seen grandpa shoot before, I would have thought it was pure luck, but I knew better.
We didn’t know it at the time, but grandpa had pancreatic cancer – he died within the next six months…this event, grandma complaining about having to go home and roast a turkey even as she beamed with pride, and the twenty dollars grandpa gave each of us as thanks for believing in him, were some of my fondest memories of my grandfather.
I’m sure there are others that could make that shot, but when you consider his age, physical condition, primitive equipment, and the stress of the situation, it was one in a million in my book.
I was just a girl, probably about 10. My Dad was driving the family to my Grandmother’s place for Sunday dinner. Dad stopped behind a car at a red light when it happened…
Now to know my Dad was to love him. He was all of 5 feet tall, had polio as a child so was bent over with a hump back and had an undeveloped leg in a brace. He was a talker, could converse with anyone. He sang and played the guitar, he boxed with my little brother and built a mean fire when we went camping. He couldn’t chop wood or put up a tent or anything that required muscle, but he could and did, entertain his friends and family as they did it for him. Not one person ever resented helping my Dad. He had a way of making everyone feel comfortable, like he’d known them forever. So… he was a gem.
This day was just like every other Sunday. Except for what happened at that light. I don’t really remember what caused the problem but my Dad did something that pissed off the guy driving ahead of him. This guy slams his vehicle into park and gets out of the vehicle then starts stalking over to Dad’s door. My Mom is worried but not him. He got out of his door, walked all 5 feet of himself up to this brute, stuck out his hand and said something like “I seemed to have annoyed you somehow.” I don’t remember the conversation but I do remember the guy shaking my Dad’s hand and apologizing for getting mad over nothing. Yup, took the wind right out of his sails in a few seconds. Quite the guy.
I became friends with Gordon in Grad School. Gordon suffered from Acromegaly. Acromegaly is a hormonal disorder that develops when your pituitary gland produces too much growth hormone during adulthood. When this happens, your bones increase in size, including those of your hands, feet and face.
He never had friends and had been shunned his whole life. I heard a voice (as I do when it is very important) that said to befriend him. I did, going out for chicken drive-thru, having long talks and visiting each other’s houses. His mom was very curious of me.
I wanted to have a graduate party, about 100 students, at my Dad’s house. Guess whose name was at the top of the flyer? Three hosts, including Gordon. Supertramp was on the record player and it was a great time.
Wonders of wonders, Gordon announced he was going to throw a party. It was word of mouth since there was no internet. Gordon had timed it so his parents were out of town. I arrived early to help. He was busy setting out nuts and such. Unfortunately, it was pouring down raining, hard. Gordon lived in an outer suburb of the city, so it was a drive.
7:30 came and went. Nobody showed. Nobody.
I started to talk to Gordon that it was raining hard, and people do not like to drive in the rain, etc. He listened but was still busy.
At 8:00, there was a ring on the doorbell. Then another, then another.
EVERYBODY was there. He was so happy and I was happy for him.
The next day I went to help clean up. All good.
Later he told me his parents wanted to know why there were shoe prints in the bathtub.
I have had success in school, business, and my marriage, but one of the proudest moments was seeing Gordon’s face that night.
I was working at the corporate headquarters of a major Consumer product goods company in the late 80s. They were undergoing the threat of being purchased by a tobacco company, which was going on at the time (late 80s and early 90s). As such, they were having a significant 14% layoff to improve their position in a potential hostile takeover. (and it did work!), Well, there was a lot of hurt and pain the morning people came in to discover they were pink-slipped. One guy and there was some concern from a PR perspective, was a guy who had worked at this company for over 40, yes, 40 years! He was a year out from retirement(meaning he planned to retire the following year) , and the company was giving generous severance packages. Well, the guy under the terms of severance was getting the maximum full year of 100% pay for 52 weeks. Basically, he was retiring with full pay and retirement benefits but was able to do so a full year early. He and his wife had planned a world cruise to the year after his retirement. Evidently, the first call he made was to his wife to book the ship and pack because we are going this week! He was so gleeful that he had to be escorted out of the building because his utter joy was inappropriate for so many in that office who were now unemployed and hurting. They were also concerned that at his age, he might have a heart attack from his ecstasy and how the press would report it!
I was at an outdoor shooting range and had been talking to the guy next to me during cease-fire breaks. He had his granddaughter with him and he was shooting an old .22 revolver at a 25 yard target. Two men came in and went down to the 10 yard range and were blasting away at their targets, often hitting the ground in their haste. At the next cease-fire, they packed up and walked down the shooting line to leave. The guy next to me said something to them about maybe slowing down their shots and focusing on accuracy. They informed him that they were rookie cops and that they knew what they were doing because of their extensive weeks (days?) of training. He replied that he was a retired Louisiana cop and held up 2 of his targets that he had pulled from the range. He had been shooting heart shapes into the target with that old revolver. As they left, I heard one of the rookies tell the other, “We just got schooled, didn’t we.”
The best badass story I ever heard was in the news here maybe 20 years ago. A guy was running the register at his little convenience store when a punk came in and pulled a pistol demanding money. The store owner started complaining about being robbed several times and that he needed to get a gun. Then he asked the robber how much he would take to sell him the pistol. The robber gave him a price, the owner paid him, took the gun, and turned it on the robber and told him to put his hands up. The story made the news because the police thought it was such a great “dumb criminal story” that they pulled the robber out of his cell at each shift change and made him tell the cops coming on duty what had happened. His lawyer threatened to sue the police department for embarrassing the guy.
I never got amazing grades in my science class. Or any classes really. I was a very distracted student. Class was boring. I enjoyed daydreaming in the back.
But I won the school science fair in 9th grade.
Almost as fun as winning the science fair?
Enjoying death stares from all the smart kids.
I was told that the smartest girl in our class, Liz, who went on to study at MIT, was pissssed. Both of her parents were doctors. She fancied herself a descendant of Science.
The quote that got back to me was, “I can’t believe I lost to Sean.”
But alas. Lose she did. Yours truly, Captain Dumbass, topped a future MIT Grad.
What was my experiment, you ask?
Well, for context, this was back in 1998 after a bunch of major oil spills had occurred and the news had lots of terrible stories about wildlife dying, covered in the tar-like oil.
My experiment measured the use of different types of animal hair in oil spill cleanups. I used hair from barber shops, llama farms, horse farms, and beyond in the experiment, which was done in the backyard in a kiddy pool.
Several types of fibers ended up testing with better results than the synthetic buoys used during actual oil spill cleanups.
After winning regionals at a local university, we traveled to states a month later, where about 50 science experiments were featured.
I think I was the dumbest guy at this science fair, but I placed 3rd somehow.
The guy who placed 1st, a 15-year-old, designed a roof that doesn’t blow off during hurricanes. He brought his own wind tunnel and everything.
Yeah, he kinda deserved the gold.
But I was happy with 3rd. And for having trolled the smart kids at my school back home.
May 6, 2008. My husband of 28 years came home early from work one day, sat down at the table and told me he was just fired for having an affair with a 25 year old girl at work. In that moment, with that one sentence, everything inside me shut down and I was in shock, numb. Until then, I had truly believed he was my best friend and I was a lucky woman.
We ended up losing our dream home, went bankrupt, sold everything of value and cashed out our retirement to survive (I have a good job but his salary was 4x’s mine). We now live in a small apartment like we did when we first got married. Those are just “things” though. What hurts most is how it affected the future of our (then) teen children. We couldn’t help them through college or keep them on health, dentist, and car insurance. All for a few quick fucks.
He is extremely remorseful and worked long and hard to win my heart back. Our marriage counselor considers us a huge success story. I have forgiven him and all seems happy now. But secretly, whatever it was that went numb inside me on May 6th at that breakfast table, has never come back to me. I’m afraid it never will.
I hope if you are married, or even happily employed, that this post will make you think twice should you need to.
The only crucial battle of WW2 that the Axis almost won was the Battle for the Atlantic. This plane and the others that performed anti-submarine patrols enable the flow of men and materials from America to Britain.
When I was growing up, I saw my father going to office every day. He would eat his breakfast at 9 and leave for office by 9.30. It was a six days week during that period. Since he was a civil servant, he had to many times go for work even on Sundays and holidays.
When I was in school and then in college, I seldom missed my classes. It was fun going to school and college and meet with friends and participate in all activities.
When I joined my job, everyone in office used to come in time without fail. There were many who wouldn’t even avail their full quota of casual leaves (15 in a year). There were a few instances when due to Deewali or some other vacations, there were continuous holidays for 4–5 days. People used to wait for offices to open.
Even today, in most government offices, there is no concept of working from home. All government employees go to office every day.
During the covid pandemic, most of the private sector companies introduced the concept of work from home. It was the need of the hour and was very convenient for the employees. Lots of people shifted to their home towns and worked from there. It became a new normal.
Now that the things have gotten back to normal, a number of people are still preferring to work from home. I know a few youngsters who resigned their jobs when the companies asked them to report to office for work. They became too comfortable perhaps working from home.
Maybe I am old school, but for me staying home all day is not done. I want to go to my office and work.
I was 14. No friends. Each day I dragged myself home to where I lived with my schizophrenic Mother, just the two of us. I would be in trouble for something: I lived in a perpetual state of confusion as I often couldn’t remember what she told me I had done. She told me I was stupid and needed to go to a special school because I didn’t know what I had done wrong. In the past she had often slapped me until my nose bled and beat me with the metal pole of a fly swatter, but that stopped the summer before high school. She told me she didn’t love me repeatedly for months. According to her I was a horrible daughter. Her friends from church had stopped coming weekly to yell at me and slap me senseless as well. I knew when she sent me away with my Aunt and Uncle the summer that had passed she had read my diary, where I detailed all the abuse and talked about wanting to die. She denied reading it, but it stopped the physical abuse so now it was just verbal and believe it or not that hurt just as bad. I was unloveable and alone.
She didn’t work and depended on government assistance. She just sat at home chain smoking and playing cards. During the week I woke myself up, made breakfast, went to school. She complained about the smell of eggs in the morning and of course I was useless. I had a hard time socializing, and she decided she didn’t like the friends I’d managed to make the previous year, so put me in a very small private Christian high school the church paid for. As a low income, single parent house I was a freak among higher income two parent families. So I spent my days an outsider and bullied at school and then came home to be bullied some more. I got in trouble once because someone told her I walked around with my head down and never smiled! I remember trying out and making the school play that year. I was so proud. My Mother decided to use that as leverage for her every whim: if I did anything wrong (sang doing dishes) she threatened to not allow me to be in the play. It got so bad I just quit the play rather than have it continually be held over my head as a threat.
A school councillor regularily made me talk to him. I refused to give anything up. He persisted. He asked me if I was abused: as she was no longer hitting me I said no. I had no words to explain the verbal abuse. Being stupid and unloveable didn’t seem to qualify. Then one magical day a girl at school approached me and we became friends. A few weeks later she asked me if I could spend the weekend at her house. Her house was beautiful and she lived with her parents and siblings and it was loud, noisy and chaotic. On the Saturday of this weekend sleep over, my new friend had to take piano lessons so I was to hang out in her room until she got back. I was surprised when both her parents wanted to speak with me while she was gone. They informed me that the school had asked them to be my foster parents and presented me with a ‘contract’. They gave me 30 minutes to decide if I wanted to live with them.
I was 14 years old. I had no friends. My Mother was the only family I had ever known. I knew I was stupid. I knew that I was worthless and unloveable. 30 minutes was a ridiculous amount of time for a decision that would change the course of my life that I was too young to make. I didn’t know these people at all. But a voice in my head screamed at me to do it, with everything it had. So I took that leap of faith. I jumped off the cliff away from everything I’d ever known.
My roller coaster ride wasn’t over my any means, but to this day I am so grateful I left. My life 30 years later is wonderful and I often wonder where I would be if I had stayed growing up in that house.
I spent several weeks in a Prisoner of War camp in Central Bosnia. Conditions were bad and so was the food. We basically ate the same things every day:
Breakfast.
A small slice of bacon with bread. The bacon was as tough as leather and full of bones. If you were lucky, one of your roommates was working outside and brought you some Turkish coffee.
This slice of bacon looks much better than the ones we ate. (Photo: Rainer Zenz, wiki:de)
Lunch.
Most of the time, there was no electrical power and our food had to be heated over a small fire in the backyard. Our captors just threw a bunch of tinned food into a big pot of boiling water. There were two different meals: peas with beef and beans with beef. You always had to be careful when you opened the tins because they were under pressure. Once, I opened a tin and the content just sprayed over my T-Shirt.
Dinner.
We either had another slice of sh*tty bacon or tinned sardines with an onion. Both, the bacon and the sardines, were extremely salty which caused you to drink a lot of water during the night. This was a big problem because there were no toilets in the rooms. If you needed to pee, you had to knock on the door (waking everyone up), shout the number of your room to a guard, and wait. There was only one toilet for all of the seventy prisoners and it could take an hour before someone came to open the door.
The aircraft itself was pretty crappy but that didn’t matter as kinks would be worked out later.
It’s main job was to attack targets in Western Europe and its speed could not be matched by NATO interceptors stationed in Europe except the British Lightning and the F-104 Starfighter … BUT …
The Lightning had a short range and was only operated from British soil, it couldn’t go after the Tu-22. And the F-104 was a very good interceptor but the Europeans used it in the low-level fighter-bomber role, so again not a real threat to the Tu-22.
On top of that, the Tu-22 was a versatile aircraft that could carry a wide range of weapons.
But the most important aspect was psychological.
The fucking commies have a bomber we can’t intercept !!! and NATO collectively shit its pants.
Think about all those billions wasted on modern NATO Air Defences while Khrushchev had already decided to go with ballistic missiles instead of bombers.
With a large arsenal of relatively cheap missiles, the Soviets could have taken out expensive NATO Air Defences and then mop up the rest with cheap (and often crappy) bombers.
The Soviets couldn’t keep up with the West financially so they came up with a wide range of ploys to force the West to spend money on expensive systems that could be easily circumvented … and usually NATO fell for it (they still went broke in the end, but that is another story).
I don’t like to share my personal life with anyone, so writing this anonymously. Though I have made some mistakes in life, this one really tops the chart.
So me any my father were never really close, although he cared for me but never really showed it (like most indian dads) and I was the same as well. It was my final year engineering exams when I received a call from home, it was my sister who said that dad just fainted and we are taking him to the hospital. I reached as soon as I could, he suffered from brain haemorrhage. Though the doctore saved him, he was not able to walk or speak properly after that. He was 57 at the time.
After 3 years went by, we had accepted this fate and were living peacefully. My dad was now able to take care of himself(doing his day to day activities that is) and he used to exercise as well, since the doctors mentioned it was very important for him to keep his body moving.
One fine day he complained to us that he is having some chest pain so he’ll skip exercise, we all thought it was due to gas so didn’t pay much thoguht to it. This continued for 3–4 days after which I had an argument with him and I shouted these exact words to him “You are just finding excuses to not exercise, there’s nothing wrong with you. You are just being lazy.”
Guess what! Next morning he started sweating really bad and fainted. We took him to the hospita and found that he was suffering from a heart attack and doctor said that it must be going on for about 4–5 days now. He asked us how come we didn’t notice any symptoms and we were all blank and cried like anything.
He was not so lucky this time, after being in the ICU for 15 days, he didn’t make it. Life has never really been the same since, beacise all I can think of now is our last coversation in which I shouted at him. That’s my last interaction with him, the amount of pain and guilt I feel now, if I could give everything I have just to change that one moment where I shouted at him, I would not even think twice.
But I can’t, after that day I’ve realised the importance of words and parents as well. Although they may not always show but we(their children) are the best thing that ever happened to them.
Please guys, treat your parents with the love and respect they deserve, because you don’t know which conversation is going to be the last one.
1. They are extremely punctual. For eg: I had a dinner planned with my labmates at sharp 6.00 PM. I was in my room till 6.00 PM and I wondered where everybody has gone as no one was to be seen. Suddenly, I remembered that there was a dinner at 6.00 PM and immediately I rushed downstairs. I reached at there around 6.02 PM and saw everybody there in their seats waiting just for me and they had set a plate with the food for me. When I sat down, then they sang their prayer and started eating.
2. People politely line-up in front of the metro unlike in Delhi metro where people cover the whole door just to get inside (at least that was my experience when I traveled in Delhi metro during my visit there) and it is considered rude to speak in the metro.
3. Even if train is delayed by 15-20 seconds, a message is displayed “Sorry for the inconvenience”
4. Technology is used even in toilets to keep the seats warm and bidets are there. There is also an audio track to mask the unappealing sounds you emit 😛
5. Has excellent garbage management: For eg. Mon, Thu – Burnable, Wed- Non-burnable, Fri- Bottles and plastics to be kept in street corner
6. You can find almost everything of daily use in the 100 yen shop. Not to mention the cheap electronic goods in Japan.
7. There is a 10,000 yen note. And the travel is very expensive. For eg: a ride of 2 km by taxi costs 710 yen in Tokyo.
U.S, tech companies are unfortunately being squeezed by our own government. The Chinese market is existential to these companies. . . . and its the U.S. government banning them from this market.
Biden is continuing trump’s sanctions of China’s tech companies – that latest salvo being the ban on U.S. tech companies from selling to China the latest version chips. But for what end?
Bottomline, on a head-to-head confrontation, the U.S. just can’t win because ultimately, you need to be able to sell what you produce. And this has to be through China because they are the market.
And by banning U.S. tech companies from the Chinese market now is allowing Chinese startups to take over the vacuum left open and effectively replace the U.S. tech companies not just in the Chinese but the global marketplace over the long term.
Back in the ′90s, a new neighbor moved in to the house just down the block. He was a single guy in his early 40s, seemed to be one of those guys who worked with his hands and kept mainly to himself. But… it wasn’t very long before we (as in the ENTIRE block) found out that he was a jerk.
He had a beautiful vintage ‘69 Ford Mustang GT 500, with (what I found out later) one of the fastest engines ever commercially made. Here’s one below, and you have to admit, it looks absolutely stunning, eh?
Well, the neighbor in question definitely thought so as well, especially the over-powered engine. But in a suburb, where can you show off the power of the engine, really?
How about EVERY MORNING AT 5 AM when he went to work.
Every morning, that lunatic would pull out of his driveway, rev up the engine and demonstrate why that car could go 0–60 in 3.3 seconds! That car (and he) would go straight down the length of the block in practically 2 seconds and burst out onto the cross streets until he disappeared in a tell tale cloud of smoke and exhaust. Our neighborhood had become a 5 AM RACE TRACK.
To put it lightly, the entire neighborhood was NOT impressed. The sound of that car engine could be heard from two blocks away. I think practically all of the residents went to him in the period of a week asking him to not drive so recklessly and dangerously and wake up the entire block every weekday (and some weekend) mornings.
He would fake concern, and assure everyone he won’t do it again. And of course, he did it again and again. We complained to the cops, and they gave him a warning several times, but at the time there were no laws on the books in Montreal about sound decibels between 11 PM and 5 AM. Needless to say, we were stuck.
This went on for about two months until winter set in, and I and several neighbors were assembling the local outdoor hockey rink. As we were filling in the rink, making the ice and so on, we were talking about the jerk when an inspired idea suddenly flashed in our heads. Looking at the wooden boards that we used to make the ice rink, a devious plan came to mind. We rushed back to my kitchen as soon as we could, and started to work on the math. Later, we went door to door to see who we could conscript to help with our evil plans.
(By the way for all you car enthusiasts and collectors, I have NO idea why this guy was using such a classic car as a daily driver, and why drive it in the winter either.)
A few more weeks we all waited (by this time, the secret neighborhood revenge task force grew to about 30 households) for an ESPECIALLY cold day in Montreal (-20C and below) and waited for the chance to execute our plan… and then the forecast came of one especially cold night and day. The time had come.
Seeing as the neighbor always went to work at 5 AM, he almost always went to bed around 9 PM. Assuming that he would take about an hour to get ready for work, that gave us a window of around midnight to 3 AM for our plan. And like clockwork, at the stroke of midnight, 30 people came out, with small shovels, wood brackets (the ones we use to make local rinks), buckets and several hoses from the houses surrounding the target house. We all worked efficiently and effectively seeing as we never did anything like this before. Brackets went up. Snow got piled in. Water poured in.
Did I forget to mention again that it was -24C that night?
By 3 AM, we were all done. Our act of vengeance was complete, and had a few more hours still to harden and solidify. And yes, you’ve probably guessed what we did… and at 5 AM, we heard a very loud man ranting and raving, wanting revenge on whomever that did this, screaming that he was going to do horrible things to the people that did THIS to his beloved car.
Oh, as for what we did… imagine the next two pics COMBINED to see what we did to that beloved ’69 Ford Mustang GT 500.
Yes, we turned his car into A HUGE ICE CUBE.
Needless to say, when life resumed on the street around 7 to 8 AM as people were going to work, we were greeted to a pretty pissed-off guy hammering at iron-strong ice walls surrounding his car. He wouldn’t even look at anyone as people passed by, and only kept muttering to himself something pretty nasty.
It was about three days before he managed to get his car completely free, and that involved a LOT of hot water, hours of labour and god knows what else he had to do. Add on that he had to get back to work each day, the mornings were peaceful as there was nary a roar or sound of anything.
The cops came and asked for statements from everyone in the area to find out who could have done something so terrible, but no one pointed at anyone, and everyone reiterated about how that neighbor had been a jerk from day two. He even went door to door, absolutely furious and demanded that someone tell him who did this. I think someone must have called the cops on him because he was threatening too many people. Needless to say, his complaints fell on deaf ears, and even the cops, who I think figured out that this was a group event, brushed his rantings away and threatened him with arrest and told him to calm down or else. Overall, a pretty satisfactory conclusion.
Well, there was a slight miscalculation though… the hot water (then cold) had to drain somewhere, and went down the street turning half the block into an ice rink for a while. Still, aside from a few bags of sand and ice, plus the help of the city and ANOTHER warning from the cops about how he was endangering the street, it was still a successful operation with only a minor inconvenience.
For the next few months, the mornings were quite peaceful. No more 5 AM revving or barreling out of the neighborhood like a bat out of hell. And in the spring, a For Sale sign popped up on his lawn. By the summer, we greeted a brand new family to the neighborhood, and life went on in a sleepy (no longer sleep-deprived) suburban neighborhood in Canada.
An acquaintance of mine took his daughter’s college savings away so that he could buy a boat. He did this the year before she went to college to “teach her responsibility” after they had an argument.
After they got into a (relatively minor) fight he told her she had two choices:
1) They could transfer ownership of an almost-paid-off car to her.
2) Let her keep the college fund they’d been growing (they told her this fund was for her, her entire life).
She chose “Keep the college fund”. He changed his mind, took that option away, made her take the car anyway, and kept the college fund for himself instead. Perhaps 2) was never an option, but he hoped she’d choose the car so he wouldn’t feel like such a jerk for taking her college money away.
Shortly after taking her college fund away, a brand new fishing boat appeared in his driveway. It looked a hell of lot like he just wanted an excuse to get his boat.
I am still in abject disgust.
She was a fantastic student and had been told throughout her life that her college would be paid for if she had good grades.
If my daughter had great grades and had the desire to go to a good school, even if I was poor, I would work 3 jobs to make sure she could have the best education.
School always came first in my family so I didn’t understand his actions. Bad grades were quickly punished. Good grades forgave many sins.
Natchitoches Meat Pies with Pepper Jelly
Pepper Jelly is also very good over cream cheese and served with crackers.
Yield: about 90 to 100 meat pies; 9 to 10 half-pints Pepper Jelly
Ingredients
Filling
2 pounds ground sirloin
2 pounds ground pork
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon red pepper
1 cup chopped green onion
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
Vegetable oil for frying
Crust
2 cups self-rising flour
1/3 cup Crisco shortening
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup milk
Pepper Jelly
2 cups finely chopped bell peppers
20 to 25 jalapeno peppers, some but not all of the seeds removed
7 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups white vinegar
1 (6 ounce) box Certo pectin
Instructions
Filling
Cook ground sirloin and pork until it crumbles. Add salt, black pepper, red pepper and green onions. Stir in all-purpose flour. Set aside to cool.
Crust
Sift self-rising flour into a large bowl. Cut shortening into flour. Add egg and milk. Form dough into ball.
On a floured board, roll about a third of the dough about 1/4 inch thick. Cut dough in circles about 3 inches in diameter. Place a heaping tablespoon of meat mixture on each circle. Dampen edges. Fold over filling. Crimp edges with a fork and prick with fork on top. Deep fry at 350 degrees F until golden brown.
Serve with Pepper Jelly.
Pepper Jelly
Chop peppers very fine. Place peppers, sugar and vinegar in a tall pot and bring to a boil. Boil for 7 to 8 minutes, then add both pouches of Certo pectin. Boil for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Put into sterilized jars and seal.
Serve Pepper Jelly with Natchitoches Meat Pies.
Notes
You may need to repeat the crust recipe three or four times to use all of the meat mixture.
Freezes well. Place uncooked pies on cookie sheet in freezer until set. Put in recloseable plastic bags and freeze.
His name is Wang Enlin. He is a Chinese farmer. He was a primary school dropout.
In 2001, his farmland was flooded by chemical waste from a nearby chemical company. The chemical pollution made the land unusable . Wang had written to the local officials about the pollution but he had no idea what law the company had broken by polluting his land.
‘I knew I was in the right, but I did not know what law the other party had broken or whether or not there was evidence.’
He decided to study law by himself, so he would be able to sue the company.
He spent 16 years educating himself about the law, from 2001 to 2017.
He studied law books in a local bookstore.
He sued the company and had won the first round of the legal battle against Qihua Group which is a state-owned chemicals company.
Took a friend’s child (11m) to swim class. The instructor was a 19 yo college varsity swimmer. First class of the day, heard her talking about her new swimsuit and how her BF got it for a romantic trip they were taking that weekend, but since she had not done laundry, she pulled it out early.
She always swam a couple of hard and fast laps before starting class, finishing with this dramatic pop out of the water to stand infront of where her class gathered. This day was no different. Turns out her suit was a joke swimsuit, made with dissolving threads. It was intended to fall apart in the hot tub of where ever they were going for the romantic weekend. She did her normal dramatic pop out of the water to stand on the deck in front of her class, and let’s just say those 11-year-old boys got quite the education that day.
Showed up for a college English class just as the class was starting. There was only one seat left by the time I got there.
That seat was next to a very hot woman who was way out of my league. So far out of my league that I didn’t bother talking to her. Why set myself up for failure, you know?
Over the next few classes, people kept sitting in the same seats, even though they weren’t assigned or anything. I started to talk to the woman, mainly because the professor had us discuss some things with people near us. Eventually I got comfortable talking to her and forgot she was so far out of my league. Then, after class one day, I offered her a ride to the other side of campus, even though it wasn’t a large campus. I told her I wanted to show her my new car (which was true). She accepted, we started talking more.
Finally, I asked her out; she accepted. We dated for five years, got married, had three kids, one dog, bought a house, and now she’s sitting next to me, trying to figure out how to set up some new speakers she got for Christmas.
All because I was the last one in class and had to take the one seat that was left. Otherwise, I would never have sat next to someone like her.
Cheating Wife LOSES IT After Husband Puts Her Through The Ultimate Mental Gymnastics Before Divorce
Tactically Interesting.
"It's always the dad that ends up broken about the actions of his daughter..."
I was the company’s first employee. It started with just me and the owner working from his living room. He promised me as the company grew so would my paycheck. Two years later… I am running the whole back end of the company out of two warehouses and he is running the front end and doing the administration side. As he travels the world I step up and run it all. He bought his wife and father each a Lexus. I was still living with my grandparents and driving an old beat up car because I couldn’t even afford a studio apartment anywhere in our county but my annual review was coming and since the company and his pay had grown exponentially, I expected a large raise.
My annual review was nothing short of perfect, but all I got was a $0.25 per hour raise. It was bull****. He cried when I gave him my notice, but in my opinion, he kind of asked for it. I would have gladly stayed if he kept his word and my pay really had grown as the business did. After I left apparently there was a power struggle with all the employees in both warehouses all fighting over who would be in my position and it fell apart. He begged me to come back and help it get under control again but that was a big NO.
Harsh truths about men and divorce
Xi calls for letting internet better benefit people of all countries
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday called for letting the internet better benefit people of all countries when he addressed the opening ceremony of the 2023 World Internet Conference (WIC) Wuzhen Summit via video.
Xi said that the vision of jointly building a community with a shared future in cyberspace, which he proposed at the second WIC in 2015, has garnered widespread international recognition and positive responses.
The vision answers the questions of our times related to resolving the development deficit, addressing security challenges, and enhancing mutual learning between civilizations, Xi said.
Xi stressed that the international community needs to deepen exchanges and practical cooperation to jointly advance the building of a community with a shared future in cyberspace to a new stage.
He called for prioritizing development to let the fruits of internet development benefit more countries and people.
Xi emphasized the need to improve public access to information-based services, bridge the digital divide, and improve people’s livelihood with internet development.
Calling for building a more peaceful and secure cyberspace, Xi stressed the need to respect cyber sovereignty and each country’s way of internet governance and the need to oppose seeking hegemony, bloc confrontation and arms race in cyberspace.
Xi went on to underscore the need to crack down on cyber crimes, strengthen data security and personal information protection, and properly respond to the risks and challenges brought by sci-tech development to rules, society and ethics.
China is willing to work with all parties to implement the Global Artificial Intelligence Governance Initiative and promote the safe development of AI, Xi said.
He also called for building a more equal and inclusive cyberspace. He stressed the need to better promote the shared values of humanity.
Xi underlined more high-quality online cultural products and efforts to fully showcase the outstanding achievements of human civilizations and actively promote civilization preservation and development.
After working for several companies, I came to a grim conclusion. In most organizations, only ~10% of people are truly high performers. They have great attitudes, are self-starters, smart, and great to work with.
25% are hard-working, competent, and carry most of the company’s workload. About 50% are lazy and just cross the minimum standard of work. 15% are completely incompetent and shouldn’t be at the company.
Many in this bottom 65% are gone at 5:01 PM despite being on a performance improvement plan. And the thing that stinks: many of them once held promise in the eyes of the interviewer. Nobody wants to hire and manage a dud.
Many in that bottom wrung are managers too. They slid up to their own level of incompetence (the Peter Principle). There’s another key distinction between the top 35% and the bottom 65%.
Their attitude.
The high performers don’t grimace when something goes wrong because it means more work. They don’t pout or complain incessantly about their job.
They are all in. They are there to crush their goals.
I noticed this in particular with the Indian coworkers who were there on a work Visa. They were the ultimate in keeping their head down and working, never complaining, and investigating problems thoroughly.
They appreciated the opportunity in front of them. They weren’t spoiled and had grown up in a competitive academic environment.
The head of my department was anonymously accused of sexual harassing a female senior student. Immediately an investigation was started, and he was put on hold.
When first days, and then weeks passed, it became obvious that in this kind of case, you are presumed guilty until proven innocent. I always thought it had to be the other way around.
(Stupid me.)
The weird thing was that although the accusation had been filed anonymously, the student was named in the document — she had not filed it by herself. After a round of interviews, it also became clear that she had not been harassed at all.
In fact, she was totally shocked by the way she had been questioned, as if she had been almost forced to “admit the accusation.” But nothing had happened, which she had repeated over and over again, and still the same questions came.
From the beginning, I was involved in the case as a confidant, and after reading the accusation, it became crystal clear who had written it. (And it wasn’t the girl.) This was a retaliation of the darkest evil, written by people who wanted to get rid of the man, and this was the easiest way.
They tried to erase his every accomplishment by making him a sexual offender. And it actually worked.
Because although he was totally cleared in the end, many people had already decided that he was a sexual predator before the outcome of the investigation. And that type of people usually don’t change their mind afterwards.
And although he was declared innocent, soon after he was “asked” by the dean to step aside as the head of the department (to save the faculty from losing face), and a new head was appointed.
I was running late to a family gathering at my older brother’s house. When I got there I saw my cousins step son going under the water in the pool.(my cousin leaning on the fence,) watching this happen and does nothing. Turns away, my son, the same age and build as the other boy, dove in to help. He can swim, but not well enough to handle a panicking person. I was on my way to the pool, removing my boots to help the first boy, when I saw my son I panicked. Knowing he wasn’t going to be able to help, but become someone else needing help. Meanwhile no one is paying attention except my ex wife. So now I have to get undressed, leaving my underwear on. My clothing would have been too heavy to swim with a child in each arm. By the time I got to the edge my ex was there with 2 towels. And I said, “see, that’s what I’m talking about. He treats those kids like shit. And he just walked away seeing him go under”. Not more that 10 seconds later my aunt was jumping down my throat, saying I was just an ass…… and then it was the rest of my family. I said I am speaking out in defense of a child and you are calling me messed up. But he can watch the kids go under, yelling for help and turn around? I never went to another family function again. And recently decided that I am going to just disown the entire lot.
She: Do you have any specific seat preference, sir?
Me(lightly): A seat beside a cute girl would be great.
She(smiling): Sure, you can take that chair and sit beside me.
Slightly taken aback by that unexpected response.
Me: Not now, but maybe some other time. You can give me your number and I would definitely call you next time I’m in the city.
She: That’s private.
Me(delivering my well rehearsed dialogue): Ultimate privacy is a myth. God sees everything. The cloud records everything. NSA files everything. So, live transparently and don’t waste useless energy hiding yourself.
She(placing the ticket on the counter): Here’s your ticket, sir. If it’s meant to be, we’ll meet again. Till then have a nice journey.
Me(with a wide smile): Thank you.
Later in the flight while I was reading a novel, my attention diverted towards something scribbled at the back of my ticket which I was using as a bookmark. To my horror I saw this:
A half written name and mobile number with a smiley.
One of the security staff must have torn and kept the other half. I re-winded that conversation and cursed myself a million times for not paying attention.
Now, every time I travel through Mumbai I just glance through the Jet Airways counter once, just in case….
A bored, 25-year old intern in Microsoft – named Wes Cherry wrote Windows Solitaire (Klondike) in his spare time and never got royalty for it!
The story in his own words:
I wrote it for Windows 2.1 in my own time while an intern at Microsoft during the summer of 1988. I had played a similar solitaire game on the Mac instead of studying for finals at college and wanted a version for myself on Windows…
At the time there was an internal “company within a company” called Bogus software. It was really just a server where bunch of guys having fun hacking Windows to learn about the API tossed their games.
A program manager on the Windows team saw it and decided to include it in Windows 3.0. It was made clear that they wouldn’t pay me other than supplying me with an IBM XT to fix some bugs during the school year — I was perfectly fine with it and I am to this day.
A few people have paid me “a penny” as a joke. I’d get them in the mail, or in person if someone introduced me as the author of Solitaire and the obligatory no royalties conversation came up. I think I’m up to about 8 cents now.
Microsoft thought that Solitaire will train people how to use mouse, a newly introduced input device back then.
Initially he programmed a Boss Key into the game, which would instantly switch out the game with spreadsheet looking display. He knew already how addictive the game is. But, Microsoft told him to remove that feature.
He is also creator of Pipe Dream which was part of Microsoft Entertainment pack. Although, this time he was paid a few thousand $ in stocks for that (those worth millions today!).
After his internship, he joined MS Excel team.
Today he is growing apples (fruit!) on an island west of Seattle.
In 2004, Microsoft’s Chris Sells described Solitaire as the most-used Windows application in the world surpassing MS-Office itself!
To celebrate Solitaire’s silver anniversary, Microsoft arranged a Solitaire tournament on the Microsoft campus on May 18, 2015.
Hats off to this genius intern, who took the internship to another level just out of self-interest!
I was baking a banana bread yesterday. When I took the loaf out of the oven, my finger accidentally touched the hot baking pan. I exclaimed, “Sonofabitch!”. My husband heard and rushed into the kitchen, “What’s that?”. I showed him my finger, “The hot baking pan burnt me!”, faking a cry. “Lemme see!”, he held my finger and gave it a ton of small kisses. “Better?”, he asked. I nodded and grinned like a little girl.
Sometimes, there is a helicopter hovering over our property. When my husband hears it, no matter what he’s doing, he will drop it, rush out to the backyard, and look up to watch the helicopter. Then he will come back inside, and announce to me with a grin, “It’s a helicopter!” like a seven year old boy.
We definitely are two kids living together (three, if we count The Teenager), and it’s pretty good. I recommend it!
I was once told that a patient in our waiting room was disruptive and probably drunk or high. I got him back to my office, and began to ask him questions. He talked about working all day outside. At that point, something struck me as odd. I asked him how long he had been in our office—less than ten minutes.
It was the hottest part of the Texas summer, and his clothes were dry. There had not been time for them to dry out. He was not sweating.
I got staff to help call EMTs. He went to the hospital with heat injury. He had been in heat stroke. He told us later that the hospital thought he might have kidney damage from it, but he recovered.
Everyone knows cold can kill you. Not as many know that heat can. If you are out in the heat and someone who has been sweating stops, or starts acting crazy, get help. People die from heat stroke, and pretty quickly.
I will never forget it. K.K. Lim had taken me to breakfast at a restaurant in Singapore known for their Laksa. It really is delicious. We were eating and talking and having a pleasant time.
When it was time to leave I pushed back from the table, forgetting the stool I sat on had no back. I proceeded to fall off of it, flat on my back. Did I mention it was a popular restaurant with high traffic? Lots of people to witness my embarrassment.
K.K. was afraid I was hurt and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to show my face there again, but I was fine. Extremely embarrassed, but fine.
We’ve had a pretty stable routine the last three years, my dog and I: Before we both go to bed, I walk her, then come home and brush my teeth. While I’m brushing my teeth, she goes to the bedroom ahead of me.
A few months ago, we came back from our final walk of the day, and I went to brush my teeth, expecting her to go upstairs to the bedroom. But she didn’t. She just stared at the basement door.
I didn’t think much of it at first. I finished brushing and began walking up the stairs, expecting her to follow me. I was only about two steps up before she started barking at the basement door. I told her to “knock it off,” thinking that she was barking at some other dog’s barking in the distance outside that I didn’t hear. She does that sometimes.
But she wouldn’t stop. She seemed distressed.
So it finally dawned on me that she was trying to tell me something. Something was in the basement that she wanted me to see.
So I opened the basement door and went down the stairs. Sure enough, she was right… there was a problem. I’d left the door to the outside from the basement wide open. I was taking things out of the basement earlier, and I totally forgot to close the door completely. The wind must have opened it all the way.
Had she not let me know about it, it would have been open all night. God only knows what woodland creatures would have found their way into my basement that night.
I rewarded her with a piece of bologna… her favorite treat. Well, really, any meat that humans normally eat makes her really happy.
Elon Musk: Taiwan is an integral part of China; the country will incorporate Taiwan 100 percent
Succeeding to American billionaire Elon Musk’s public indication that “Taiwan is an integral part of China,”which drew backfire from Taiwan authorities according to CNN, in a recent media video, Musk once again voiced his opinion about the Chinese island, which has gained widespread support from the Chinese public.
And the video has gone viral:
China does feel very strongly about Taiwan.
They’ve been very clear about that for a quite long time.
I understand the frustration. A couple of my kids had friends that were constantly underfoot. After talking with my kids, there were good reasons those friends didn’t want to go home, and were just looking for a safe haven to shelter in.
At that point, I stopped treating them as guests, and started treating them like my kids. If there were chores to be done, then everyone did chores. If there was homework, everybody sat down and did homework. If we had errands to run, everybody got in the car and we did errands. If any guest balked, they had a simple choice to make—they could participate with us or go home. Easy peasy.
Yes, it jacked up the food bill. Oh, well. I still have children and grandchildren who are no blood relation to me. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
When in doubt, be kind. But being kind doesn’t mean giving over control of your home to someone else.
A few years ago, I was teaching Earth Science to college undergraduates, and I had brought in a bag of small oranges and a bag of larger grapefruit—because you can stack them in various ways, as a visual aid to demonstrate how atoms are packed together in mineral crystals. Sort of like this:
Anyway, when class was over, I offered the fruit to anyone who wanted some. . . and a student came up and took an orange. She happened to mention that this would be the first time she had ever eaten an orange.
I said “Whut?” or something like that. Who the heck reaches the age of twenty without so much as trying an orange at least once?
In the ensuing conversation, it came out that my student’s mother evidently either couldn’t cook, or didn’t want to cook. . . and my student had been raised on fast food throughout her childhood and teenage years—burgers, fries, chicken nuggets, and so on. (For the record, I don’t remember if she had only eaten McDonald’s food specifically, or if she balanced her diet with other fast food chain menus.) She had never tried—or had only recently tried—all the fruits and vegetables that I pretty much took for granted as I was growing up.
You might think that someone who’d grown up on a diet of nothing but fast food would weigh 800 pounds and have lost all her teeth to scurvy, or something like that. But this student was of normal height and weight, and had no obvious medical conditions that I could detect. As a professor I try not to pay too much attention to my students’ looks, but as such things are commonly reckoned she was not bad-looking at all—and pretty smart as well; she did quite well in the class.
So I’m damned if I know how she did it, or what kind of trick metabolism she must have had—but it is evidently possible to eat McDonald’s food for many years and suffer no obvious ill effects. I still wouldn’t recommend it, though.
As I recall, she enjoyed the orange.
RICH Chinese LEFTOVER Women Are Not Attractive to AVERAGE Men Despite Women Being Outnumbered
A Chinese man had brought a dog home from an animal shelter after adoption.
The dog was caring and obedient; however, one night the owner found the dog awake. The dog stood outside the man’s fenced bedroom door. He had been staring at the man while he was asleep.
The man shrugged it off, thinking that the dog was getting used to his new surroundings. But when the pattern was followed night after night, the owner was scared for the dog.
The owner used to play with the dog to make sure he was exhausted at the end of the day and would eventually sleep at night.
But the dog would stay awake and gaze at him every night.
The man showed him to the vet, but the dog was declared healthy.
Finally, the man went to the shelter from which the dog was adopted to seek closure.
The shelter workers revealed that the dog’s previous owner wanted to get rid of him as he had a pregnant wife and he found it difficult to take care of the two.
The owner waited for the dog to fall asleep and then left him at the shelter.
When the dog woke up, he realised that he had been abandoned. Deeply traumatised by it, he found it difficult to trust his new owner and feared being abandoned again if he fell asleep.
Upon learning this, the owner broke into tears. He removed the fence and shifted the dog’s bed beside his own. He believed that this would help build the dog’s trust, lost after being abandoned.
I had a teacher in the 5th grade who kept calling me Jessica. I’ve dealt with this my whole life. Usually, my go to is to politely say, “Excuse me, but my name is Jerrica actually. It’s not Jessica.” That is what I said to this teacher the first day of school. He didn’t respond. He called me Jessica EVERY SINGLE DAY. I corrected him, and he would laugh at me or just shake his head.
At one point, he even said “No, Jessica is your name, stop trying to change your name.” I had a few friends in class try to explain to him that my name is in fact JERRICA. He told them to stop encouraging me.
I asked my mother what to do about this predicament. She, being the wonderful and supportive woman that she is, suggested that I ignore him until he called me by the correct name. So that’s exactly what I did. It got to the point that he was literally crossing out my name on my assignments, writing Jessica on them, and taking points off of everything I handed in with my actual name on it. I would end up with zeros for the day for “being obstinate and refusing to participate.”
I had a D in his class but was an A/B student in everything else. He requested a conference with my parents, and he requested that they both attend as my father was in his opinion the more reasonable parent. As soon as he sat down he started in about me, using the wrong name. “Jessica ignores me in class.,’’ “Jessica does not complete assignments.,” “Jessica is disrespectful.”
My mom asked him what he was talking about and if, in fact he knew how to read. My dad said “I don’t know who Jessica is, but I’m sorry you’re having issues with her. My kid’s name is Jerrica.” He apparently told my parents they shouldn’t have given me such a difficult name, and that this still should not have resulted in the behaviour I exhibited in his class. To which my wonderful father replied, “If your name was Joe and I called you Steve every day for four months, you would be pretty pissed off too.”
I got a grudging, half-hearted apology from my teacher and ended up with a B for my final grade. He never used my name after that, but he did stop taking points off when I wrote it on assignments!
Three takeaways from Wang Yi’s U.S. visit
A meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House, two rounds of talks with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken across two days, strategic communication with U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, and separate sit-downs with members of the U.S. strategic and business communities.
This is what China’s top diplomat Wang Yi has achieved during a closely-watched three-day visit to Washington that concluded on Saturday.
During the visit, the two sides had “in-depth, constructive and substantive” strategic communication on many issues of common concern, and jointly sent a positive signal of stabilizing and improving China-U.S. relations, said Wang, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and China’s foreign minister.
Here are three key takeaways from his visit.
Road to a San Francisco meeting
Throughout the visit, the Chinese foreign minister stressed, more than once, the importance of following through on the common understandings reached between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart when they last met
on the sidelines of the G20 Bali Summit in Indonesia.
During the Bali meeting on November 14, 2022, the two heads of state conducted their first face-to-face talks since Biden took office in January 2021. Xi said China and the U.S. should respect each other, coexist in peace, pursue win-win cooperation, and work together to ensure bilateral relations move forward on the right course without losing direction or speed, still less having a collision.
Biden, on his part, told the Chinese president that the U.S. respects China’s system, and does not seek to change it; that it does not seek a new Cold War; that it does not seek to revitalize alliances against China; that it does not support “Taiwan independence,” and does not support “two Chinas” or “one China, one Taiwan;” and that it has no intention to have a conflict with China. The U.S. side has no intention to seek “de-coupling” from China, halt China’s economic development, or contain China, he added.
In the roughly one-hour – more than double than originally planned – meeting with the U.S. president on Friday, Wang said his visit is aimed at communicating with the U.S. side to follow through on the Bali meeting, and proceed toward a San Francisco meeting, so as to prevent bilateral ties from further deteriorating and bring the China-U.S. relationship back on the track of healthy and steady development at an early date.
During the talks between Wang and Blinken on Thursday and Friday, both sides agreed to make joint efforts for the meeting between the two heads of state in San Francisco, which is set to host the leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation economies in mid-November.
“The road to San Francisco will not be a smooth one, and it will not be left to ‘autopilot,'” warned the Chinese foreign minister when he was hosted by the Aspen Security Group, a policy program of a namesake think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., on Saturday.
Wang urged real efforts on the part of the U.S. side to eliminate interference, overcome obstacles, enhance consensus, and accumulate results to make the meeting happen.
Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at Renmin University of China in Beijing, said that the U.S. side, in conducting its so-called Indo-Pacific strategy, has been making trouble for Beijing on the Taiwan question and the South China Sea issue, among others.
“So the key is to watch whether the U.S. side can really follow its words with actions,” the scholar told CGTN.
Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, meets with U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in Washington, D.C., the United States, October 27, 2023. /Chinese Foreign Ministry
Need to restart dialogue
The Chinese foreign minister’s trip followed Blinken’s Beijing visit in June, as well as a visit to China by a bipartisan delegation of the U.S. Senate led by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer earlier this month, and was partially coincident with California Governor Gavin Newsom’s week-long stay in China that is still underway.
Wang stressed the importance of keeping communication channels open between the two sides during his talks with Blinken. In the coming days, both sides will hold separately China-U.S. consultations on maritime affairs, arms control and non-proliferation, and foreign policies.
“China and the United States need dialogue. We should not only resume dialogue, but also have in-depth and comprehensive dialogue,” he told reporters while standing next to the U.S. secretary of state before their formal talks, which eventually lasted over seven hours across two days.
The call was shared by U.S. strategists, who told Wang in their meeting on Saturday that the U.S. strategic community does not agree with the rhetoric about the so-called failure of U.S.-China engagement and wants the two sides to restart dialogue in various fields.
To stabilize and improve China-U.S. relations, both sides should also have objective understandings of each other’s strategic intentions, Wang told Blinken, in his latest call for following through one of the common understandings reached between the two presidents at the Bali meeting.
Wang Yiwei, the expert on international relations, said it is important to put a strategic framework in place for the two largest economies to manage their relations.
“If ‘competition’ is the word [to describe the bilateral relations], then the competition should be an orderly one, not one with no bottom line, no principles or no rules,” he said.
It should be in line with the expectations of the international community, and be responsible for globalization and the international market, he added, referring to the U.S. rhetoric of “de-coupling” or “de-risking” its supply chains from China.
People-to-people exchanges
During Wang’s visit, China and the U.S. also agreed to further increase direct passenger flights between the two countries, on top of the commitment made during Blinken’s June visit.
Hours after the talks between the two top diplomats, U.S. officials announced that flights between the U.S. and China will increase to 70 per week starting November 9.
The Chinese civil aviation authority said the increase in flights will help facilitate personnel, economic and trade exchanges between the two countries.
In terms of promoting people-to-people exchanges, the two sides also agreed on a China-U.S. Coordination Meeting on Disability Affairs to discuss the signing of a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in disability affairs in the coming days.
Structure
Louisiana Cajun Style Hot Tamales
Yield: approximately 25 dozen tamales
Ingredients
Meat Preparation
10 pounds beef shoulder meat
2 onions, quartered
2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
Salt
Pepper
Water
Cornmeal Mush
2 pounds shortening
3 pounds cornmeal
Salt
Pepper
Meat
3 large onions
2 garlic buttons
2 bottles chili powder
1 small bottle red pepper
Salt
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
Instructions
The night before you make your tamales, wash each corn shuck and place in water to soak overnight.
Boil meat until done and falling off bone, about 1 1/2 hours.
While meat is cooking, make mush in heavy skillet. Get shortening hot and add salted cornmeal. Stir meat until golden in color. Make a paste by adding soup off the meat and stirring until smooth.
Take meat off bone and grind together with onion and garlic. Add chili powder, red pepper and salt.
Put shortening in skillet and fry until onion is cooked, stirring constantly. Add tomato paste and soup from meat making it soft. DO NOT GET IT TOO SOFT.
Spread meal mush on shucks about 1/4 inch thick with a flat knife. Then put meat on top and roll into tamale shape.
Notes
DO NOT UNDER-SALT THIS DISH. Cornmeal requires a lot of salt.
What was the most inappropriate thing someone has done in a church service?
Around twenty years ago, when I was pastor of a former congregation, there was a young woman named Anna,* who attended the church. At the time, Anna was in her mid-twenties, but had the mental functioning of a young child. She was brought to church by a kind and caring couple who had a heart for helping people like Anna, and as Anna began inviting her friends to church, we soon found ourselves with four or five of Anna’s friends attending on a regular basis. We had a ministry to some wonderfully unique people dropped right in our laps.
Most of the church did a wonderful job of ministering to these folks. They loved them and were very patient with them. Along with Anna, I fondly recall Mike, who like Anna lived in a group home. Mike would slip into my office at the church and leave little action figures for my then small children. My boys couldn’t wait to get to church and see what Mike had left them. On any given Sunday, there would be Star Wars or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures in a zip lock baggie on my desk. Mike was a real character and he possessed a sweet and caring nature. Later, his family moved him to a group home in Chattanooga, Tennessee and I eventually lost touch with him, but he will always be remembered as the Boo Radley of that little group.
During all this, Anna asked me if she could sing in the church choir. I referred the matter to our church choir director, a kind and compassionate man, and he saw no problem with it. The choir, around twenty members, welcomed Anna as one of their own. Anna couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket, but it was a joy for her to be up there with the choir on Sunday morning, and her sheer delight of singing along with the choir made it a blessing for all of us.
Not long after Anna began singing in the choir, a cantankerous church member named Madge, whom I have written about here before, came to me one Sunday morning before church with yet another complaint, which was no surprise, as I could always tell when Madge was complaining; her lips were moving. The conversation went something like this:
“Pastor, it’s embarrassing that this woman, Anna, is singing in the choir.”
“Awe, come on Madge; she enjoys herself.”
“I don’t care! She’s an embarrassment to this church!”
“Madge, didn’t Jesus say something about letting the children come to him for such is the Kingdom of Heaven?”
“Yes, he did, but she’s still an embarrassment.”
With that, she huffed away and that was the end of it. Her comments and attitude towards Anna and her friends were among the most inappropriate things I have ever seen during a church service or at church.
Eventually, Anna’s family moved to another town, and welater left that church and I was called to another congregation. However, for the last twenty years or so we have kept in touch with Anna. We consider her a very special friend. Last April, her family brought her to our part of Virginia for a visit and my wife and I took her out to dinner. Here we are enjoying some time with our old friend Anna.
Friendships come in all forms and with all sorts of people.
He writes quite a few things and almost always does 1–3 of the above things sometimes all of them backing them up with calculations a lot of the time.
Same thing with Carl Hamilton he questions things and quantifies things.
If more people did that? Politicians wouldn’t get away with half the shit they do. Yet here we are with people literally saying it’s true because the BBC said so!
Reuters a WESTERN News agency counted the number of protesors in Hong Kong.
So let’s go through the thought process above with the 2 million protestors.
Do some calculations.
Does it pass the smell test.
Check later on things you think to be true and see if they are no longer true.
2 million is almost 1/3 of the population.
2 million cannot fit into such an area as other than telephone box challenges you can’t fit more than 3 people per square meter.
So let’s critically read the Reuters source.
Who wrote it
Why did they write it
What possible bias is there?
What was the methodology?
Reuters – Western news source so according to westerners themselves unbiased. If anything anti China.
They wrote it to check on the massive claims.
The possible bias is they side with the protestors.
The methodology was putting cameras at bridges and certain buildings and counting people passing every few minutes.
Meanwhile the 2 million claim? It came from Jimmy Sham
Let’s do the above with Jimmy Sham.
Who wrote it
Why did they write it
What possible bias is there?
What was the methodology?
Who is Jimmy Sham. He’s a anti government rioter, he was encouraging violence there are speeches you can still find videos of them on Yandex but not google.
Jimmy Sham claimed he’d been attacked for well over a minute by 6 men with hammers. Yet he managed to recover within a few days with only a slight cut to his forehead. Jimmy Sham also produced fliers documenting his attack 2 days before the ‘attack’ Hong Kong leaflets at the bottom state the date of printing.
Why did he write it – To claim more support than there actually was. PORI at HKU (they parted ways) found only 16% had any real support for what the protestors wanted.
What possible bias? – Again he’s anti China.
What was his methodology – He made it up.
Yet westerners are convinced Jimmy Sham is completely credible and Reuters isn’t.
Here’s what I learned from dating/marrying a poor guy: the idea that since he’s not working, he’ll clean and get groceries and cook, is completely lost on men.
They honestly think they can watch TV and play video games all day then when you get home, complain that there are no Doritos and the dishes are all dirty. With a straight fucking face.
And have the nerve to accuse you of assigning them “busy work” when you realize they aren’t going to do it on their own so you still have to be in charge and make them a damn list because they don’t mind wearing the same dirty socks for a week.
There was a time I would have gladly supported the family if I was getting the home handled as part of the deal, but taking care of a fully grown child in addition to everything else is too much to ask.
You broke? If she’s paying the rent and buying the food, you better be cooking it and not just ordering pizza on her card and leaving the laundry in a pile because you put it through the machine but couldn’t be bothered to fold it, sort it or put it away because you had a raid starting.
In the Second World War and under the ruthless command of Surgeon General Shirō Ishii, Unit 731 of the Imperial Japanese Army conducted a string of depraved experiments on Chinese civilians.
Shirō Ishii.
One of the most heinous of these experiments saw soldiers gift chocolate to Chinese schoolchildren. Why was it heinous? Because the chocolate was laced with anthrax. Killing unsuspecting children with chocolate was far from the only cruel experiment undertook by Unit 731, though.
In another example, they went around villages offering “vaccinations” on the pretence that they would protect inhabitants against a rising epidemic. The truth was actually the reverse; they were creating epidemics by injecting residents with the live, deadly forms of pathogens like cholera. The cruelty in these examples is clear; they were taking advantage of people’s good faith and stabbing them in the back.
They were, in essence, weaponizing people’s trust.
An older, post-war Shirō Ishii.
Whilst Shirō lounged around in his pristine mansion, eating, relaxing and bathing without a care in the world, the civilians condemned to hellish terror by him were spewing their guts up, writhing in agony and taking their last breath. However, none of that would be enough to see him face punishment.
Understandably even in that era, the kinds of experiments conducted by him would not have been green-lit by most other countries, meaning that Shirō had unique information that other countries coveted. Using that, he was able to get immunity from prosecution in exchange for divulging everything in relation to his research.
With that, Shirō was allowed to go free and live out the rest of his life despite the trail of death that he’d left behind him. The kick in the teeth is that the information he provided proved to be of little use anyway, so he really did get off scot-free in the end. After the war, he opened his own medical clinic and became well-liked in the community, caught religion and lived out his remaining years in peace.
For a simple example, if you binge eat a huge delicious unhealthy brunch, you’ll likely get a double crash: your dopamine and blood sugar levels fall at the same time, leaving you on the couch groaning. If you drank a few mimosas, consider it a triple crash.
A more extreme example is ecstasy. I’ve never done it but my ex did and I was around a bunch of people who were high as a kite on it.
It’s super bizarre to watch. Everyone is touchy-feely, warm, and excessively friendly. However, not in the way that someone on cocaine is, talking fast and moving around a lot. Ecstasy produces a massive release of dopamine. They’d always do it and then go to raves and dance until 4 AM. It was nuts.
Consequently, it carries a huge dopamine hangover and makes people sadder and less motivated for weeks. I saw it several times with my ex. She was miserable, mean, and incredibly hard to be around.
Nothing is wrong with seeking healthy sources of pleasure, but moderate it and resist the urge for chemical sources of it. The price of entry isn’t worth it.
Biden’s invitation to Xi Jinping to visit the United States was just a delaying tactic by the United States. For two reasons:
For the needs of the new round of elections.
Currently, the United States is deeply tied to Israel. In the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, it has strongly supported Israel despite the opposition of the world, and even put aside its support for Ukraine. Therefore, under the current world situation, the White House first compromised with China and gave China some “verbal promises”, such as “reiterating the one-China policy”, “no arms sales to Taiwan”, requiring China to purchase U.S. debt, stabilize the U.S. dollar market, and stabilize the U.S. economy, to trick China into lifting certain sanctions against the United States. After the situation in the Middle East slows down in the future, the White House will go back and tear up the agreement.
The United States is so shameless, so China will not have any illusions about the United States.
I think another way to ask your question: why don’t more Infantry use a scope on their rifle?
This is my M-4 (I’m in the middle) for Ought-Three Invasion of Iraq, April 4th, 2003, modified with a 14x Leopold scope:
So, if you want to spend a little bit of money, you can change your Army issue rifle into a “sniper rifle” of sorts. That Leopold scope was better than binoculars, and was always ready. I still had an M2 laser to aim, and believe it or not, I could even still use the Iron-sight. That scope was extremely useful tactically. Just being able to check out whether movement at 500 yards was friend or foe was priceless.
Let me help you with some myths about snipers you might be entertaining:
Myth buster #1.
Snipers are great at choosing a target, but they are not a mass casualty producing weapon. Mortars and Artillery are still today doing 60–90% of the killing. It’s true snipers can call in the artillery/mortars, and that makes them even more deadly, but you still have to realize any soldiers on the battlefield with a radio and a hiding spot can and does do the same thing.
Myth buster #2. There are tactical snipers and there are sniper teams. Tactical snipers are just a dude with a scope, in any Platoon. They will usually be in a Scout Platoon, but could be Infantry/Mortars as well. That is just a dude with a scope, and I agree with your question: units should have more dudes with scopes… Sniper teams are ultimately wasted resources, who do not assault or help with the attack beyond suppression. However, it is a gamble; sometimes they spend weeks hiding, and hit a high value target. If you kill the enemy General, then the gamble of wasting your manpower for a week payed off. If you are a 30 man infantry platoon, dividing out a third of your force just to have three OP-sniper teams waiting in a hide, is ultimately wasteful. Most of those sniper teams will do nothing, and come home having accomplished nothing.
My favorite Scout Sniper in Iraq, switching to M16 so he can help assault:
Navy SEAL Sniper Team who do their own thing, and do not help assault:
Myth buster #3.
Wait until we fight an equal Army, like China or Russia, who actually takes ground from us; wait until you see what Infantry do to captured snipers. When your Army retreats, those sniper teams are stranded. If those enemy have any suspicion about whether that sniper has had success on the battlefield, those Infantry will make him squeal before they say goodbye.
There were many people that had done this so I can not take credit for it but it was amazing. There was a certain bank that would give you 5% rebate for purchases. So the trick was I would buy gift cards with the credit card and then take the gift cards and pay the credit card bill with an online bill paying service. This would lead to about 3.5% profit. It got to the point I was spending the whole credit limit of the card each day to buy the gift cards. I had a $19,000 limit on the card. So 4 times a week I would spend $19,000 on the card, come home and pay it off with the gift cards and then go out and do it again. There were some people that did this for over a year. I was only able to do it for about 4 mths before the credit card company shut it down. It was nice while it lasted.
China urges joint efforts before highly-anticipated Xi-Biden meeting
Ahead of the highly-anticipated meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden, a Chinese official on Monday called for joint efforts from both sides to bring bilateral relations back on track.
China hopes the U.S. will act on its commitment of not seeking a new Cold War with China, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning in response to a query about the upcoming China-U.S. summit meeting.
China doesn’t seek to change the U.S., nor should the U.S. seek to shape or change China, Mao said.
The Chinese government has confirmed that Xi is set to meet with Biden in San Francisco, where the two leaders will also attend the 30th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting.
Mao said China views and handles its relations with the U.S. in accordance with the three principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation proposed by President Xi Jinping. Major-country competition runs counter to the trend of our times and provides no answer to the problems in the U.S. or the challenges in our world.
“China does not fear competition, but we do not agree that China-U.S. relations should be defined by competition,” said Mao.
Speaking of concerns, the U.S. needs to respect China’s concerns and legitimate right to development, rather than emphasizing its own concerns at the expense of China’s interests, Mao added.
“To seek to remodel other countries in one’s own image is wishful thinking in the first place and typical hegemonism which is going nowhere,” she said.
Mao stressed that the Taiwan question is China’s internal affair and resolving it is a matter for the Chinese that brook no foreign interference.
“Successive U.S. administrations have made clear commitments on the Taiwan question,” Mao said. During the summit meeting in Bali, the U.S. said explicitly that the U.S. government doesn’t support “Taiwan independence,” Mao noted.
“The U.S. needs to honor its commitment to one China and oppose ‘Taiwan independence’ with concrete actions,” Mao pointed out.
Over the South China Sea issue, China is committed to settling relevant disputes through negotiation and consultation with relevant countries and will not waver in our determination to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity, Mao said.
“China will neither take any inch of territory that is not ours, nor give up any inch of territory that belongs to us,” Mao said, urging the U.S. to stop creating pretexts and interfering in the disputes between China and relevant countries over territorial and maritime rights and interests.
Noting the world is paying close attention to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Mao said China stands on the side of equity and justice, stays in close contact with relevant parties and is committed to deescalation and protection of civilians.
“We hope that the U.S. will follow an objective and just stance and play a constructive role in halting the conflict,” said Mao.
I started working at age 8. Mowing lawns and collecting bottles and newspapers to sell at recycling.
At age 12 I had two paper routes, one morning and one evening, and still mowed lawns.
At 15 I was working at a grocery store after school and on weekends. I took drivers ed in school and at that time you could get a provisional license within 180 days of your 16th birthday.
Could only drive dawn to dusk. I told my parents as my 16th birthday approached that I wanted to buy a car. They said no, and how could I possibly pay for one. They had no idea I had almost $10k stashed in a secret place in my dresser.
On my 16th birthday I climbed on my bicycle, with twenty $100 bills in my pocket, and headed for the Volkswagen dealership 14 miles away.
When I arrived I spotted a Bahama Blue 1968 VW on the lot. A salesman came out and asked if he could help me. I asked about the car. He asked where my parents were. I told him they were at home. He went inside and came back with a sales manager. Manager said, “Son, you can’t buy a car because you can’t sign for a loan unless your parents do it or you’re 18”.
I responded “Who said anything about a loan? How much is the car?”
It was a dealer demo and had 2,500 miles on it. I’d done my homework and knew the going prices. “I’ll give you $1400 cash, right now.”
The manager said, “But you can’t buy a car at 16!” Wrong. “I can’t borrow money but state law says I can own a car in my name.
If you won’t sell me this one, I’ll just go somewhere else.” After much consternation and discussion, a few phone calls to the owner of the dealership, they wrote up the sale.
I had called an insurance agent earlier in the week, and called him with the info. Told him I’d be right over to pay him if he’d issue a binder for the dealer.
He did, and I drove from the dealership to the agents office and paid him. A full year of insurance in ‘68 was $120. Drove home and my asshole father had a fit, but he couldn’t do anything. I moved out on my 18th and never looked back.
Put 235,000 miles on the Beetle. Wish I still had it!!
A close friend of mine shared a story that always warms my heart. She had been going through a tough time, dealing with the stress of her job and personal life. One evening, feeling particularly down, she decided to take a long walk to clear her head. Lost in her thoughts, she didn’t notice the time and soon found herself in a part of town she wasn’t familiar with, after dark.
Just as she started to feel uneasy, she noticed someone approaching her. It was a colleague from her office, someone she’d only spoken to in passing. He had seen her walking and, concerned for her safety, decided to follow at a distance to make sure she was okay. When he caught up to her, instead of just offering a ride home, he suggested they grab a cup of coffee at a nearby café.
They ended up talking for hours. He listened to her troubles, shared some of his own, and offered a comforting perspective that helped her see things in a different light. It wasn’t a grand gesture or a dramatic declaration of love; it was a simple act of kindness and empathy at a moment when she needed it the most.
Years later, they’re happily married. She always recalls that night as the moment she realized she’d found someone truly special. Someone who, without even knowing her well, showed her kindness and compassion when she needed it most. She often says it was the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for her, not because it was extravagant, but because it was genuine and heartfelt.
Yes, After a recent merger, I was on a MGT call with the new CEO(. He was like…’Alright team, all of the changes will be done by May 23rd (3 weeks)’. I was not aware of any of the changes, and knew immediately that I would be part of the changes. I was in the early stage of a house sell and purchase and knew that losing my job would create a problem for the new loan, so I immediately rescinded my offer on the house, and never signed the sell contract. Sure enough May 23rd, I got the call at 9 a.m. that my job was gone. Best thing ever! I could not stand the new CEO.
I took the summer off, travelled with my wife, and then looked at 3 offers in sept, increasing my income and stock significantly. Fast forward to a year later. I sold my house for $250k more than I had verbally accepted in 2021, and was able to get my dream house on the golf course!.
Everything worked out well and 2 years later, I am killing it with my new company!
Joining BRICS. This means China and Xi will have nothing to do with the U.K. There’s just absolutely nothing in it for China. The U.K. brings nothing to the table.
As for the U.S., the U.K. can’t afford to decouple. Better to feed off crumbs than nothing at all. The U.S. has nothing to spare especially now that we have to spend billions to support Israel.
I heard this, if memory serves, from a Frenchman whose grandfather was in the Free French forces.
Said grandfather once remarked this:
It was 1945, merely months after the Germans were thrown off my country, and every man I could talk to was in the Resistance. Everyone. Then I wondered, if there had been forty million people in the Resistance, how the hell had the Germans kept France occupied for years?
The truth of it is, when a country is occupied, most people are minor collaborators. For most places, life goes on as it did before the occupying troops arrived, only the authority changes. To keep on with the French example, for the most part, you’d live just like you would a few months earlier, except the police on the streets would be reporting to Germans and sometimes a few German soldiers would be visible passing.
The reason for that is as varied as the people who lived like this. Some feel apathy, others cowardice. Others do not want more blood to be spilled, some see no personal incentive to fight on, some see no point in it all. But for this reason or the other, people do nothing.
Things become problematic when, if, their allies, or the intact parts of their country, come to break the occupation.
Because when that happens, everyone wants to pretend they fought valiantly, like lions, for the freedom of their country.
And so, as the liberation forces approach and the occupiers pack up and leave, they band into gangs, seeking among themselves scapegoats, people whose collaboration with, or apathy towards, the occupiers were more visible than others. They use accusations of collaboration to settle old grudges and deal with jealousies. Societal order breaks down utterly and is replaced by mob rule of the worst sort, where women can be accused of being German whores because of some jealous bastard, where accusations of war profiteering and snitching run galore, where a man’s life is one convincingly accusatory voice away from destruction. Instead of justice, there are executions, humiliations, beatings meted out to those decided by a mob, oftentimes without a single Resistance member involved, so that its members can feel good and pretend they were helping the liberation all along.
If anyone wants to see what happens when the court of public opinion is the only court available, let him look at any occupied area just after the Germans left. He’ll find arbitrary judgment meted out by people who want the status of having been with the Resistance without suffering through its pains, meted out by people just brave enough to look into the eyes of whichever poor man or woman was the next target of the mob, but not brave enough to look into the barrels of German carbines.
This is sickening.
Ten thousand people were executed summarily without even the barest farce of a trial in France alone. Hundreds of thousands were humiliated, accused, cast out, by people no better than they were. And this is merely a single country. Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, all repeated the same scene.
Just how callously, no, not callously. Just how bloodthirstily a movement supposedly for the good of its nation has devoured the members of which it arbitrarily declared traitors is a horrifying sight.
The answer to how, with this context, is clear.
By whatever punishment the law allows, in a fair trial.
Or we will have this instead:
And if anyone here is thinking that this is not a deeply troubling sign of profound injustice, let me remind you.
The way the victims of the mob were picked, that could just as easily be you.
These are not “squeegee men” just being annoying and obnoxious, and they are not merely delinquents running past with a key to your door and taking off laughing to one another.
They were throwing rocks (legally deadly weapons, assuming you’re talking about decent-sized rocks, not pebbles), surrounding the car, and making you feel it was not safe to leave.
John Locke opined that it was justified to kill someone who tries to steal from you, because a man who will violate your right to property won’t stop at your right to life. This isn’t the way the law works, generally, but… when it comes to using force in self defense, the relevant question is twofold: 1) Do you, subjectively, have a sincere belief that your life is at risk? 2) Would a reasonable person in your circumstances believe his/her life was at risk? Note that “Is your life actually at risk?” is not one of the questions.
So, you don’t have to think like a juror. You don’t have to give these thugs the benefit of the doubt [Note: it’s been mentioned to me before that “thug” is sometimes taken to have racial connotations, but you don’t say what race they were and I don’t care – white thugs, black thugs, Latino thugs, Asian thugs, or Purple-People-Eater thugs are all thugs]. You don’t have to make the generous assumption that all they want is to commit petty vandalism.
If they are surrounding your car and willing to use physical force, then you are at their mercy – the only thing stopping them from escalating to physical battery, rape, or murder is their supposed good will… and you have no obligation to rely on that.
So honk once for warning, count to three (out loud if you prefer, but silently is fine), then gun it. Any injury will be in self defense.
As for the stop light – non-criminal regulations (and even many criminal statues) yield to the affirmative defense of “necessity”. Basically, the law considers human life and well-being more important than slavish obedience to the law, so if you run a red light to get away from assailants, the law considers that justified.
Disclaimer:
This answer is not a substitute for professional legal advice. This answer is a response to a generalized fact-pattern based on the personal recollection of the posting attorney, and not a response to any specific case or based on any diligent legal research. This answer does not create an attorney-client relationship, nor is it a solicitation to offer legal advice. If you ignore this warning and convey confidential information in a private message or comment, there is no duty to keep that information confidential or forego representation adverse to your interests. Seek the advice of a licensed attorney in the appropriate jurisdiction before taking any action that may affect your rights. If you believe you have a claim against someone, consult an attorney immediately, otherwise there is a risk that the time allotted to bring your claim may expire. If you act on any information contained within this answer, you do so at your own risk.
Two weeks after I started working for a company Walmart pulled their contract with us. They were 60% of our production.
Things got crazy fast as the owners tried to find new customers and cut costs. One night a coworker and I were working late when he came into my office and showed me the new budget schedule our boss accidentally left in the copier. It listed all our names and salary by month.
Mine however showed salary for me only until April then nothing. Being the astute finance professional, I knew what that meant. I got my paper out on the street seeking new employment.
As March rolled around with no new job in sight I was understandably worried; then luck shined down on me. My boss’s boss suddenly took ill and suddenly I was needed again, at least temporarily.
This gave me some breathing room but I knew my days were numbered. I continued my searched. Then one night, again working late, that same co worker stopped by and showed me a legal bill showing charges associated with the sale of the company. Now we both knew the end was near and a race against time.
A few months later we were all called into the lunchroom where we were told the company had been sold. As accountants we were told to close the books one last time before being let go. Everyone filed out quietly and returned to their work areas. As I sat in my office contemplating my next move I got a call from the recruiter I had been working with. Good news he said, you have a new job! As I like to tell the story, I was unemployed for 20 minutes.
I closed the books one last time for company A on Friday and started my new job on Monday. I firmly believe somebody up there was watching out for me.
My story starts nice – neither poor nor abused or depressed. My father worked in a PSU and was doing well financially. My mother was a house wife and is the sweetest. We resided in a tiny town in Middle India. I am the eldest son of three children. I studied well, got into an NIT – premier engineering institute in India.
But my under-graduation was a waste. No, I wasn’t one of those never-wanted-to-do-engineering type of person. I like engineering but like many young and naive people, I didn’t like working hard. I slacked a lot. In the first year, I got 2 backlogs. I did not clear them up in summer hoping to clear them up along with other semesters. I wanted to enjoy my first summer. But it only got worse after that. I accumulated 8 backlogs by the end of my graduation. During this whole time, I was least worried. Seniors had told us grades didn’t matter, ideas did. And we worshiped these words. Only, I did not create any relevant ideas either. I lied to parents constantly and they never knew that my marks were so bad. I even made fake marksheets to show them. I started smoking, drinking and was having fun doing all these. I bought a second hand bike during my third year too.
I participated in lots of extra curricular things though. I was member of the writing club, the Rotaract club, and also a dance club. I used to dance well. Despite my poor academics, I was sure I would make it in life. I thought i was smart, talented and witty and had lots of start up ideas too. And I knew seniors far dumber and with more backlogs who have had awesome careers. I fell in love with a girl too. We started dating and by the end of Btech, we were soulmates.
It should not be a surprise that the only job I grabbed was a 15k per month NGO job. But to me, it was shocking. “I was so smart. How come no company took me!” All my friends left after the course and I had to stay back to clear my backlogs. Slowly reality started hitting me. It was still hard to admit that there were difficult backstories to all these senior-success stories. Hence, I was still adamant not to join a stupid NGO job. I told my parents I am not interested in job and took money from my dad saying I wanted to prepare for UPSC. I tried working on my start up ideas during that time but I realized that it was not easy. No one was ready to fund and I wasn’t skilled enough to build it all on my own. So I thought I will just try UPSC instead while clearing my backlogs. A month passed by.
Then the worst happened. My father suffered a stroke and passed away that winter.
I couldn’t even meet him once, all because I was too fucked up to go home. I hadn’t been home since my third year summer. My family was devastated. While my dad’s salary was good enough, he didn’t have any major savings per se. My mom was old. And my sister was studying in a private Btech and my brother was about to give his high school finals. Everything came crashing down.
I went to mom and said, “I am sorry, Mom. I couldn’t be what you wanted me to be.” But as expected, my mother told me that she only wanted me to be her son and nothing else. She told me I can prepare for UPSC as long as I want and have no pressure to take a job since dad’s savings would work for atleast 2–3 years. She would be very happy to see her son as an IAS officer. And if I didn’t get selected, I could get a job anywhere after passing from an NIT. I was so devastated after hearing this I didn’t say a word. I couldn’t lie anymore but I couldn’t tell her the truth either. That her son was a failure. That no company would take him. That I wasn’t capable enough for UPSC. That I had no goals.
But I knew I had to be strong. I calculated dad’s finances and realised we can go by a couple of years with that if we spend carefully. I started looking for job. I tried to contact the NGO just so that I had 15k in hand atleast. Luckily, they agreed to take me after my summer. I tried getting other IT jobs at the same time. I kept preparing for UPSC but as you know, it’s not easy.
After my summer was over, No company took me, so I continued to work in the NGO. As I said, I wasn’t skilled either. So, I took courses from course-era and udacity to build my skills on the side. I took projects in Freelancer to get some extra money. I was working 20 hours a day with hardly any sleep. My UPSC exams were not up to the mark. But I kept trying. During all these time, I released all my anger and frustration on my gf. My gf and I had constant fights. At the same time, her family wanted her to get married and with her words, it seemed like she wanted to too. And you can’t blame her, the way I was treating her, I would have dumped me too.
And one day finally, she told me that she cannot fight anymore. She asked me to cut all contacts with her. I did.
I cried that night for the first time since father died. I realized what I had lost. But I thought that I wasn’t in a position to fight for her. I wished I could stop her. But I didn’t know how.
The next three years were extremely hard. I moved from the NGO to an IT company but the salary was only 25k per month. Our economic condition was the worst. There were leaks in our home. I stayed in a small shared dormitory to make ends meet. I couldn’t buy anything new for my family even on festivals. I was so broke. My sister was in her final year and I was hoping that atleast she would get a decent job to support the family. My mother was thinking of keeping our house and land in mortgage to make ends meet as my brother will start bachelors soon. I was feeling defeated at that point of time.
I had appeared UPSC 3 times. The last two times I had cleared the prelims but couldn’t clear the mains. This 4th time also, I cleared the prelims and was hoping to get further.
I was depressed and suicidal by now. I stopped all kind of social interactions. I avoided meeting my friends. And only talked to my mom and my siblings daily.
But finally, in 2016, the UPSC results did carry my name. I joined IOFS.
Now, my sister works in a good PSU, just like dad. And my brother took up commerce stream. My mom is happy and healthy. We repaired our house and there’s no question of mortgaging it.
What lessons life taught me?
That just because everything is good now, it won’t stay like that for ever. That just because something worked out for someone else, it won’t work out for you too. That grades are important. That hard work matters. That UPSC can be cleared.
Why MEN have MIDLIFE CRISES: you have to practice being selfish
Yep, you read it right. Killing someone, taking some innocent teenage girl’s life, is the worst thing to happen to ME. Quite ironic, isn’t it? So here’s what happened.
It was about the 27th of March, 2007. It was a windy Tuesday evening, and I was driving my minivan down a foggy lonely road, and was going well below the speed limit, because I couldn’t see anything. I was listening to Lazarus by Porcupine Tree, and merrily making my way to my family, when I suddenly saw a teenage girl, whose name I later found out to be Laura, crossing the street oblivious to my van, and by the time I saw her and hit my brakes and turned my car, I had hit her. I immediately leapt out and raced to look at her, and she was fine. She was on the ground, but there was no bleeding, and she looked conscious but bruised. She got up by herself, and apologized for crossing the road without looking. I was proud of myself for braking in time, but I apologized for not seeing her too. She said that she had a bruise on her abdomen, and a pain in her leg. I suspected a minor fracture, and wanted to call 911, but she asked me to take her to the hospital myself, as she said she was in pain. Just as she said that, I thought to myself, how can a girl get into an accident so easily. I braked, and I swerved. She still got hit. What if she wanted to get hit? What if I take her to the hospital, and she accuses me of something that I can’t defend myself of, and not calling the cops would make me look guilty. So, I called the cops. They came, dealt with me and my insurance, and took her away to the hospital. I went on my merry way home, and forgot about it.
2 days later, I get a call. A call from the police, saying that Laura had died of internal bleeding. I was speechless. The doctor apparently said that she could’ve been saved if she was in eariler, but that was not certain either. I went over to the police, where the family of the girl was waiting for me. As soon as they saw me, they started blaming me for their little girl’s death. They said that I stole a life, that I was probably drunk, and that I should’ve gotten her myself. The cops pulled me aside and asked me to ignore what they said, because calling the cops is always the best option. It didn’t really leave a mark on me at the time, until I was driving home one day, and Lazarus started playing. I stopped the car and broke down. I had taken a life, an innocent 17 year old life, just because I was scared that she was going to set me up. I had nightmares about it for years.
I went to a therapist, and she asked me to get rid of my van, not listen to Lazarus, and to not blame myself for her death. Everyone kept telling me that it was no fault of mine, but in the end, I know that it was me who stole a life. It was me, who stole a daughter from a lovely couple, and a sister from a 6 year old kid. It was me, who killed her.
I know that I shouldn’t really blame myself for it, but it was me who hit her. It was me who didn’t take her to the hospital. It was me who didn’t bother listening to her complaints about being in pain. If I could, I would trade my life to get Laura back. But since that’s not possible, I’ll just be in this regret forever.
That, by far, is the worst thing to happen to me.
Ignore Yellen’s Pleas! China Sells $62 Billion in US Bonds, Adds 7.82 M Ounces Of Gold Reserves
When I was in prison, I worked on the “hoe squad”. This is what “hard labor” actually is. We march out to the fields carrying hoes. Wearing our white prison clothes, we then form a line and then beat the ground relentlessly tearing up the grass to dirt.
However…
If you are sick or ill, you can get “one arm duty”. You end up being set apart and then you just putz around off to the side.
In general, the only time that I got “one arm duty” was after I had a heart attack on the “chain gang”. Though, the doctor who saw me; the “prison doctor” gave me two aspirins and told me to visit him the next Monday morning.
…
Yeah. It was not fun, but little “perks” such as “one arm duty” were highlights of my days in the ADC. Other highlights included being allowed to eat some wild onions, and then mix them with the black beans we ate during dinner.
So remember guys… no matter how bad things might get, there is always some good that can be found about. Beans with onions! Good times! Good times!
This is what happened to University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier when he stole a political flag from his hotel hallway.
Wikipedia
Otto Warmbier
Otto Frederick Warmbier (December 12, 1994 – June 19, 2017) was an American college student who was imprisoned in North Korea in 2016 on a charge of subversion. In June 2017, he was released by North Korea in a vegetative state
Warmbier entered North Korea as part of a guided tour group on December 29, 2015. On January 2, 2016, he was arrested at Pyongyang International Airport
while awaiting departure from the country. He was convicted of attempting to steal a propaganda poster from his hotel, for which he was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment with hard labor.
Shortly after his sentencing in March 2016, Warmbier suffered a severe neurological injury
from an unconfirmed cause and fell into a coma, which lasted over a year.
North Korean authorities did not disclose his medical condition until June 2017, when they announced he had fallen into a coma as a result of botulism and a sleeping pill. He was freed later that month, still in a comatose state after 17 months in captivity. He was repatriated to the United States and arrived in Cincinnati, Ohio on June 13, 2017. He was taken to University of Cincinnati Medical Center
for immediate evaluation and treatment.
Warmbier never regained consciousness and died on June 19, 2017, six days after his return to the United States when his parents had requested his feeding tube
to be removed.
A coroner’s report stated that he died from an unknown injury causing lack of oxygen to the brain.
Non-invasive internal scans did not find any signs of fractures to his skull.
In 2018, a U.S. federal court found the North Korean government liable for Warmbier’s torture and death, in a default judgment
in favor of Warmbier’s parents after North Korea did not contest the case.
In 2019, U.S. President Donald Trump caused controversy after saying that he believed the word of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that Kim was not responsible for Warmbier’s death. In response, Warmbier’s parents criticized Trump for making excuses for Kim and “his evil regime”.
The APEC summit is about to begin in San Francisco. The key reason why this APEC summit is so important is the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In order to welcome Chinese visitors, the city of San Francisco swept and flushed all streets in just 48 hours, clearing away all homeless people, tents and garbage on the roadside. Decorations are placed on the roads where visitors pass, and some roads are even screened.
For the visit of a head of state from another country, what San Francisco did seemed a bit out of line. When was the last time they did this? No one seemed to remember at all.
I checked the Chinese newspaper data in 1972, and there was this news:
“In preparation for US President Richard Nixon’s visit to China, the Beijing Municipal Government launched a city-wide cleaning campaign. Citizens, students, and soldiers took to the streets. They cleaned up garbage, planted trees, and painted walls. In just one week, Beijing had a completely new look.”
In fact, until the end of the 20th century, whenever important American figures visited China, Chinese cities would do the same thing.
However, I have never heard of Americans doing this.
Now,you must know that it is China’s head of state Xi Jinping who is visiting San Francisco, the United States.
Not the foreign minister, not the economic minister. The last official visit was in 2013, under President Obama. In 2017, President Trump also had an unofficial visit. many years have passed
In the past few years, relations between China and the United States have been tense, and the Chinese President’s visit to the United States again undoubtedly revealed a lot of information. I personally predict that relations between the two countries will soon ease.
With such an important visit, the city of San Francisco was understandably nervous. However, this incident also highlights the fact that the status between China and the United States has undergone subtle changes.
More than ten years ago, former head of state of china, Hu Jintao, visited the United States. Ten years ago, current head of state Xi Jinping visited the United States.
The United States was in good shape at that time and did not need to “make America great again”, nor did it need a “trade war”, nor did it need “trade decoupling” or “risk reduction.” There are not so many homeless people on the streets of the United States, and prices in the United States are at a good level.
During these visits, the United States responded very appropriately. Whether in Washington or other cities, daily life went on normally. Americans confidently present the face of their country to Chinese leaders. No matter what the Chinese head of state sees on the streets, good or bad. It doesn’t matter, this is America, and this is the confidence that comes from the United States.
After all, at that time, the visit of Chinese leaders was, to the United States, a visit by a “backward competitor” to a “leading country.”
But over the past decade, a lot has changed.
From the United States:
1. Social divisions and the widening gap between rich and poor have led to the election of a president like Trump. Under the slogans of “America First” and “Make America Great Again,” a series of actions that harmed allies and irritated China and Russia took place one after another.
2. The United States launched an “easy-to-win” trade war and prices soared. The 2020 pandemic has added to the nation’s chaos. Many people have lost their properties, and there are more and more homeless people on the streets and drug addicts. American cities have become cluttered.
3. In 2023, in order to deal with domestic inflation, the Federal Reserve will continue to raise interest rates. This has caused heavy economic losses to America’s global allies. In the Russia-Ukraine war, the United States lagged behind and was unable to truly contain Russia. The international influence of the United States has declined rapidly.
From China:
1. After ten years of economic growth, China’s overall economic strength has almost become equal to that of the United States. Although the GDP figure is still lower than that of the United States, the GDP calculated by PPP has already exceeded that of the United States. Key data such as social car sales and power generation also prove this.
2. In the economic war between China and the United States in the past few years, China has quickly adjusted after experiencing initial damage. Not only did they successfully respond to the pandemic, but they also expanded exports and boosted economic growth during the pandemic.
3. Amid the containment of trade wars and decoupling, China has attracted 151 countries around the world through the “Belt and Road Initiative” and successfully resisted the “de-risking” actions of the G7 countries led by the United States. China’s export volume will continue to increase in 2023.
4. China did not fall into the quagmire of the Russia-Ukraine war and did not have continuous military expenditures. On the contrary, they obtained more stable and cheaper energy, and a broader trade market.
This change was vividly demonstrated in the last diplomatic game between China and the United States. After Blinken’s aggressive speech, Liu He said: “The United States is not qualified to talk about strength with China.”
For the first time since the Cold War, the Chinese are sending a historic signal: The United States is no longer the only superpower.
Now, behind the seemingly eye-catching economic data in the United States are the debts of companies and individuals that are about to explode, as well as the high interest rates. After two years of debt stimulus and one year of interest rate hikes, the U.S. economy is like a fat man taking stimulants, with his face flushed and his strength boundless. In fact, he could fall down at any time.
China not only avoided global inflation, but also successfully resolved its domestic debt crisis. China is one of the very few countries that has not followed the United States in raising interest rates in the past six months. Although their economy is not as bright as in previous years. But it was very smooth and without any crisis. In the third quarter, major global financial institutions raised their economic expectations for China. In front of the United States, China is very comfortable and still has a lot of cards in its hand that it has not played.
The changes in the forces of China and the United States and the changes in the situation faced by both sides have made this meeting very delicate. In fact, the United States needs this meeting more than China.
In the end, the changes on both sides led to a change in Americans’ mentality towards China’s visit.
They have many more ideas than they had ten years ago:
There are too many homeless people on the streets of San Francisco, so much trash and drug addicts that they cannot be seen by the Chinese head of state.
It would make our great America appear weak and in disarray.
We must work hard to present a strong and beautiful image of the United States to continue to maintain the strong image of the United States in the past.
Not only will this prevent our president from losing face in front of Chinese leaders, but it will also prevent the Chinese from seeing more of America’s weaknesses and raising the price in negotiations .
There is an old saying: every dog will have his day.
I was on a contract in Boston USA for 4 years (back in the 2000’s) and at the end of the contract they offered me a full time job, Green Card, etc.
I asked what are the terms? 5 days leave at the end of the first year, no overtime payments, no company car……
I said I have worked for this company in France for over 20 years and you want me to give up my 65 days annual leave, being paid when I have worked longer hours and a reduction in salary, no job protection and having to take out health insurance.
No, fucking way! I’m going back to France.
Australia Just Destroyed America’s Plan For China!
Few reasons. One I don’t like liars, sitting at my kitchen table talking a bunch of smack gossip, another is telling me how I should do things when you have a zero clue of how hard it is being disabled. Trying to be the boss of me when you can’t even manage your own self. Stealing from me cause you might like what I own. My own grandmother came down to visit and stole my dried flower arrangement out of my bedroom, didn’t ask just five finger discounted it and got half way to the car when I saw it missing from my dresser. My father had an anger issue and to make him feel more manly, he’d make the 30 minute trip to my place actually looking for a fist fight. Mother read me the riot act when I had the nerve of buying a new fridge. So these days, I don’t even allow you on the property you can’t be trusted.
Two of my best friends in high school were dating, all four years. I love them two like genuine brother and sister (still do). Herein, the dude I will refer to as “bro” and his girlfriend “sis”. Nearing graduation, bro moved a state away (close enough to still come to school on time every morning) and almost immediately starting acting different. He had a new friend group who were terrible influence and became close with this other girl and we all kind of knew where this was going but didn’t want to believe it.
We graduated together, they were still together.
He and I went to trade school together, so we hung out on campus. My sis and I live in the same city so we hung out all the time (no, we never had feeling for each other anything beyond “siblings”). All the accusations of him cheating started to be noticeable. One day we sat in his car during lunch and I said to him, “If you cheat on my sis you know that’s the end of this friendship, bro. I love you but I hate the idea of what you’re getting yourself into.” He nodded…it kind of felt like he knew what he was doing was wrong but he was deep in it. He never told any of us two what he was doing but we ended up finding out from someone out of our friend group that he was planning on leaving my “sis” for this new chick.
He ended up doing so, and we lost each other as friends. Sis and I are still close. I haven’t talked to my ex-best friend in over 15 years. Things happen but seeing how he was treating her and lying to the both of us was ridiculous. No need to be leading people on like that. If you’ve moved on, actually move on.
Certainly, the most surprising thing for me when I lived in the US was finding that many Americans believe that, for practical purposes, the rest of the world doesn’t really exist.
To be fair I don’t mean that it is really non-existent, but that Americans think of the rest of the world in pretty much the same way someone in Europe would think of Pluto. It’s something you’ve read about, you know its there. But when it unexpectedly gets downgraded to not really being a planet any more it doesn’t really matter because Pluto can’t really have any effect on your everyday life.
And that’s how a large number of Americans regard the rest of the world – yeah, it probably exists, but it isn’t of any really practical relevance.
Let me give you an example of how this works. During the recent pandemic both the UK and US had idiot leaders who screwed up the pandemic response. But no one in the UK would think that the pandemic had just been made up to make Boris Johnson look bad. After all we saw how it spread around the world, first China then spreading all over Italy and other countries. So, it would be insane to suggest this worldwide problem was all make believe to humiliate Boris.
But large numbers of Americans have no qualms about believing that it was a lefty hoax to make Trump look bad. Its not that they believe the whole world is in on the plot its that since the rest of the world doesn’t really exist and so whether they also had the pandemic or not just doesn’t matter. It’s the same for the recent Israel-Palestine war. After it starts Trump announces that there are Hamas terrorists flooding across the US-Mexico border, because of course Hamas really want to attack the US. After all they can hardly really just want to target Israel, since it doesn’t really exist. To a subset of Americans, it just unthinkable that two sets of people could really have a war of their own. It must somehow really be about America because only America is actually real.
I joined a startup during the initial days of my career. after everything was discussed, I was given the offer letter. I accepted it and went to Mumbai, India to join the firm. After 1 week from the day of joining, I asked the HR for my appointment letter, which he should have given me on day 1. Since a startup and all young people around, I was OK with the delay. After 2 weeks, I was given the appointment letter, where it was mentioned that if ever I resigned from the organization or they terminate me from the firm, I will not be able to join any other firm in the same sector for a period of 1 year. (let me tell you, I am an engineer, with a masters degree in the relevant field.) This was mentioned under the competitive clause. I argued with the HR manager, asking him why didn’t he inform about this earlier, to which his answer was everything cannot be written on the offer letter.
I didn’t accept the letter and asked him to change the clause or else I won’t accept the letter. Now the problem with them was they were not in a position to leave me as I was the only person from that specific field and that field was giving them a good revenue, and I was never gonna accept the letter. Time flew and I was working without the appointment letter.
1 year later, I resigned as the organization was in a loss and was not being able to pay even our regular salary. I found another job in a well-established firm in the same field. So the last day, HR came to me and told that he will not be able to pay the whole amount of my salary, he gave me a cheque of 1/3 of my total pending amount. I was furious but was of no use as I knew this coming and I knew the financial status of the organization. They promised me to settle the amount in next 45 days.
Days passed, no sign of payments. When I called up the HR to know the status of the pending amount, I was told that as I didn’t sign the appointment letter, he cannot pay my salary. I knew what to do. I kept calm and didn’t reply anything. a few weeks later, I asked him my salary slips, I told him I needed those for my PF, and to my surprise, he instantly gave all my salary slips. Now the ball was on my court, and after receiving my Salary slips, I asked him for the pending amount. he told his same answer about my appointment letter; to which I replied, how can he issue salary slips to an employee who was never a part of the organization (which he mentioned earlier to me that I was never a part of the organization as I haven’t signed those papers). he was shocked to my answer, and he fumbled up. I took advantage of the situation and asked to pay my pending amount or else I have no option but to take the matter to the court. within 2 days the amount was credited to my account.
In 58BC, Julius Caesar entered Gaul with ~30,000 Legionarys and Auxillia troops to conduct “punishment” campaigns against the Celts and Germanic tribes. Eight years later, rather than subduing the responsible tribes, he had conquered all of Western Europe.
Caesar never had more than 50,000 total troops at any one battle and yet his Legions killed over 1,000,000 Celts and German warriors in battle, as well as captured another 1,000,000 for enslavement.
This was accomplished through the excellent generalship of Caesar and the training & discipline of his Legions and Auxillia (foreign support troops, who were trained to equal level with the Legions).
The disciplined and ordered men of the Legions were able to stand and hold back relentless charges of undisciplined tribesmen, until the Celts had tired themselves out, before moving forward against the exhausted enemies, killing everyone before them.
Caesar’s final battle in Gaul, to subdue the revolt led by Vercingetorix at Alesia in 52BC, Caesar and his Legions had built and defended a “tactical doughnut”,where ~70,000 Romans besieged Vercingetorix’s army inside Alesia of ~75,000, while defending against up to 250,000 Celts who attempted to free Vercingetorix.
It was quality of leadership, training, discipline, engineering and construction excellence that defeated sheer but undisciplined numbers.
Flamin’ Cajun Riblets
Deliciously seasoned pork ribs that will delight the taste buds!
Yield: 12 servings
Ingredients
3 pounds pork loin back ribs
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
1 cup bottled chili sauce
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 Serrano pepper*, seeded and finely chopped
2 tablespoons quick cooking tapioca, crushed
1 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 to 2 teaspoons bottled hot pepper sauce
Snipped fresh parsley (optional)
Instructions
Sprinkle the ribs with Cajun seasoning rubbing it in with your fingers.
Cut ribs into single rib portions.
Place ribs in a 3 1/2 to 4 quart slow cooker.
In bowl, mix chili sauce, onion, Serrano pepper, tapioca, lemon peel, lemon juice and hot pepper sauce.
Pour sauce over ribs.
Cover and cook on LOW setting for 5 to 6 hours or on HIGH setting for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
Serve at once or keep warm, covered, on warm setting or lon LOW heat setting for up to 2 hours.
Remove any bones without meat. If desired, sprinkle with parsley.
Notes
Because hot chile peppers, such as Serrano’s, contain volatile oils that can burn your skin and eyes, avoid direct contact with chilies as much a possible. When working with chile pepper, wear plastic or rubber gloves. If your bare hands do touch the chile peppers, wash your hands well with soap and water.
50 MOST DISTURBING Moments Caught On Camera Vol. 10
A rewards program
We had a rewards program in Canada called Air Miles. Both my wife and I collected them before meeting, then merged accounts after getting engaged.
One of the grocery chains gave you 10 times airmiles for prescriptions on the first Tuesday of the month, we had both been taking advantage of this. Then they dropped it to 7 times rewards, any time of the month.
Whenever a store was renovated, they offered massive air miles, at just that store, to get people to come back after the renovation. These were super deals, like spend $200 and get 700 airmiles. Every first Tuesday of the month was 10 times airmiles on groceries. You normally got 1 for $20, but on Tuesdays you got one for $2. They would also have air mile specials on particular grocery items. For example buy 5 packs of flavored rice cakes for $15 and get 100 air miles. Buy frozen chicken wings for $10, and get 100 airmiles. Air miles were worth 15 cents a piece at the time, then dropped to 14 cents, then 11 cents.
But when they were 15 cents a piece, spending $10 for a kg of chicken wings earned you $15 worth of airmiles. They were paying you $5 to buy the wings.
Back to the renovation sales. I had 6 of the grocery stores within 3 km of me. Most within 2. They renovated them one after the other, and the sales each lasted 3 months. Then the next one would start.
So I would hold off groceries, until the first Tuesday of the month, then buy $200 . This got me 700 airmiles, with the coupon, plus 100 airmiles for the 10 times airmiles, plus, I would buy 5 boxes of chicken wings, and 5 bags of rice cakes, which gave me another 600 air miles, plus all the other individual sales. From this one shopping trip averaging $220 , I would get about 2500 air miles, worth $375.
Plus whatever we got for prescriptions. Other companies also offered airmiles, but not as great a deal. But if you shopped at 6 different companies, and you earned more than 6000 airmiles, you got an onyx card, which meant you could get 10 percent more for your airmiles.
So for two years, we got about $5000 worth of airmiles each year..
The trick was to only use them on package vacations, which is where you got the 15 cents per airmiles, and the 10 percent discount.
So we would pick a $6000 tropical flight and all inclusive hotel two, because we were onyx, we would pay $5400, and we would pay that out of our airmiles. At the time, that gave us a spectacular vacation, for buying stuff that we would use anyway.
With the renovations we got two years earning $5000 worth of airmiles, then down to about $3500 worth, then down to $2000. Then they stopped offering airmiles all together.
But, we got two years of free vacations, and another 10 of half price vacations.
I knew people who didn’t work the system, who only collected $300 worth of airmiles over 10 years, and said it was a ripoff, but it worked for us. It was nice while it lasted.
In the Irish Sea
In April 1985, an extraordinary event took place over the Irish Sea, captured by Adrian Meredith in what would become the only photo of Concorde flying at supersonic speed. Adrian, who was flying a Royal Air Force (RAF) Tornado jet, had the opportunity to participate in a planned rendezvous with the legendary Concorde.
The Tornado, a versatile and powerful combat aircraft developed and used by the RAF, was primarily designed for air defense, ground attack, and reconnaissance missions. While it could match Concorde’s cruising speed, its fuel consumption rate was significantly higher, allowing it to sustain that speed only for a matter of minutes.
Despite the Tornado’s capabilities, capturing the iconic photograph posed a unique challenge. To maximize its speed and keep up with the Concorde, the Tornado was stripped of all non-essential equipment. The crew made every effort to maintain the pace, racing to catch up with the Concorde as it soared through the skies. However, due to the Tornado’s limited endurance at high speeds, the crew had to make the difficult decision to break off the rendezvous after just four minutes. Meanwhile, the Concorde, an engineering marvel of its time, continued its journey, gracefully cruising towards its destination at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK).
Despite the Tornado’s formidable capabilities as a combat aircraft, it could only briefly keep pace with the Concorde’s supersonic flight. The juxtaposition of these two aircraft highlights the distinct roles they played in aviation history—the Concorde as a pinnacle of supersonic passenger travel and the Tornado as a versatile military workhorse.
Together, the Tornado and the Concorde symbolize the remarkable advancements in aviation technology during the late 20th century. Their fleeting rendezvous over the Irish Sea and the remarkable photograph captured during that encounter stand as a testament to the ingenuity, dedication, and pursuit of excellence that define the aviation industry.
That is what the west thinks. That is what a hubris superiority complex western Caucasian xenophobic racist thinks!
The truth is China is very happy the west especially thinks this way! Do you know why?
Chinese is always 3 steps ahead of these type f westerners. We like the west to be burnt all their cash here and go bankrupt. Parading aimlessly flexing its muscles at 100 billion a month! We loved the stupidity.
We spends nothing and enjoy our popcorns while you implode. So YES IT IS TRUE CHINA CANNOT FIGHT YOU. FLEX YOUR MUSCLES. TILL YOU DISINTEGRATE INTO OBLIVION. GOOD LUCK. HAHAHAHA. WHAT A BUNCH OF FOOLS.
After working my ass off during the pandemic, I was promised an additional bonus. I received a “low performance“ review conveniently timed a day before my bonus was to be paid. The low performance feedback canceled my bonus. Given all the other bullshit I was putting up with, I broke and quit.
I had a nice month off and my new job pays significantly more. Never work for people that don’t appreciate you, there are always others that will.
About three years ago, I wanted a cat. I love tuxedos; I really think they are something special.
His name is Othello. Apparently, he got into a fight in the county shelter one county up from us and was transferred to my county. That should have been my first warning he was trouble. He has a tiny triangle of his left ear that’s missing (it’s not even visible in this one.)
But he was warm, sweet, and cuddly. Just beautiful.
Two weeks in, we are at my mum’s house. I’m trying to bake, but Mr. Tux here decides he wants snacks from the plastic shelving where we kept the pet supplies. A two-hour battle ensues, where I pull him down and five minutes later, he’s back up there again. I finally pulled everything about 6 feet away from the shelving, thinking it will stop him jumping up there.
I go back to what I was doing, and then I hear a crash.
“Darn that cat…” as I walk over there to scold him for the 85th time.
He was hanging off the side of the pet shelf by both front feet, having leaped the 6 feet across the room. I asked him if he thought he was James Bond or something.
I have also discovered:
He can open flip lids with his nose or his paws. I made this crucial mistake when I got his adoptive brother, who was a kitten at the time. I bought kitten food for Mercury and after a half hour’s consideration, trying to outwit my cat again, bought a container with a flip lid. I mimed having paws when I bought the darn thing. I thought I was smart. I left for a night and came back in the morning. There’s the kitten food, spilled all over the floor. The two of them obviously thought I wasn’t coming back and decided to fend for themselves.
He will destroy any package left within reach. He destroyed all the dry soup packets my mother had downstairs in the basement. No idea on that one.
He has busted the screen on my porch TWICE in order to get out into the Great Wide Open. I don’t mean going through it – I mean prying it loose from the wood surrounding the bottom.
I cannot leave one gap in the lid of the food bucket (NOT a flip lid) I keep the kitty kibble and the snacks in, or he will pry the lid off in ten minutes or less. He checks every night. One night, my sister was over and I didn’t attach the lid properly. My sister and I were watching a movie and we heard the lid clatter to the floor. 10 minutes.
He has been known to eat puppy food and dog biscuits.
When angry, he hits things -the curtains, the side of the fridge, the wall, any paper bag that’s handy. Just beats his paws on whatever surface is nearby. He pitched a fit last summer when he broke the screen the first time and I would not let him out. A full on temper tantrum, beating on the door and howling like he was being tortured.
I don’t dare leave food out anywhere he can find it. Anything I make is put away in the fridge or weighted down under stuff he can’t shove off. I have been known to booby-trap stuff so I can hear lids falling if he attempts to knock them around!
He eats plants. We now have one. I experienced to strategize locations to put this one so he wouldn’t nibble it to demise. For his security, i’ll n’t have any toxic plants in the house.
He really loves everybody but me personally. Folks come to your house, and he’s Mr. Personality. Loves everyone. Leaps into laps, cuddles, nice little kitty. I will be mother, and clearly we’re caught with each other, so he doesn’t just like me all that much because We curb his widespread enthusiasm for destruction and mayhem.
I love him dearly and he tends to make life interesting, but oi. I invest half my entire life outwitting him. it is tiring.
She was a good friend, but nothing like that between us. One day I came to visit. Her mom let me in (they lived in a 8,000 sq ft house) and said she’s upstairs. So up I went and there was no Monica.
So I sat down to wait and suddenly out of the bathroom comes butt naked Monica. She yelped. I laughed. Even though Monica was very easy on the eyes, I never saw her like that and it just ended up as a funny story between us.
I haven’t seen her in years, but my daughter is named after her, so that’s how much I cared for her.
Dear god no. Closest I’ve ever come is Dilaudid (injectable hydromorphone), which the hospital gave me whilst I was spewing blood when I went to visit my Talespinner.
Hated it. In fact, I hated it with every fiber of my being. If words could adequately convey my fiery hatred for the way it made me feel, you, Gentle Reader, would spontaneously combust upon reading them.
It’s not just that it made me vomit, though it definitely did that. It’s everything about the subjective experience. It made me feel like I was wrapped in a too-warm blanket made of steel wool and television static. It made me feel like I was floating just a little outside my body, but in a skin-crawling, AmericanHorror Story way, not a fun way. It made everything around me feel blunt and dull, like all the color and texture had been bleached out of the world.
Have patience my friend. Wait for another 50 thousand years. Then perhaps, may be, with a lot of luck your dream might come true. For now go bury your head in the sand.
He Took the Most Unwanted Cat At the Shelter In the Night, the Cat Had a Surprise!
I was asleep in bed, about 2am, when Spider (My cat, not my choice of name) came into the bedroom, placed his mouth by my ear, and Miaowed, LOUDLY. I woke up, suddenly, and not too happily! I tried to push him away, but he repeated himself, then stood up and walked to the end of the bed, and looked back at me. When I tried to lie down, he came back, caught my hand in his mouth, and gently, but firmly, pulled me towards the door. Eventually I gave up, and got out of bed, as he ran to the bedroom door, paused, looked back at me, and waited until I followed him. Eventually, he got me to the French doors in the living room, where he sat, looking at me and then at the light switch, until I turned the light on to illuminate the patio outside. There his baby kitty sister was sitting, in the rain, not coming into the house. I called her, but she just looked at me, until I opened the door, and picked her up. Although she was purring madly, her leg was swinging oddly, and it was obviously badly broken. I pushed her gently into a basket, pulled my clothes on, and called for a taxi to take me to the emergency vet. Without his intervention, she would have been stuck outside for at least another five hours, in the pouring rain, badly injured. The vet said that, without prompt attention, she may well have been dead by morning. Spider had saved her from, at best, considerable pain and suffering, at worst, a painful and cold, wet death. It took considerable surgical skill to save her leg, but without him, she may well not have had that chance. He was a lovely cat; He died aged 18 of acute kidney failure, and I miss him a lot!
When Shanghai was under lockdown due to severe COVID-19 outbreak in April 2022, many residents resorted to group purchases for daily necessities. Among the coordinators of these purchases, one young volunteer showed maturity and a sense of responsibility beyond his age.
Cai Hanxiao, a second-year high school student in Shanghai.
Cai Hanxiao, 17, a second-year high school student living in the city’s suburban Qingpu district, voluntarily took charge of group purchases for the residential community he lived in, helping more than 600 people obtain daily supplies.
Cai shared his experience on Chinese video sharing platform Bilibili. He said, after the residential compound was put under lockdown, like everyone else he had to cook himself. After only a few days, he ran out of fresh vegetables.
Then, Cai posted a massage in a community chat group to find residents who also needed vegetables. After some answered his call, Cai created a new group for collective purchasing.
He pooled together 80 orders and negotiated with a supplier. A deal was made, and the vegetables were delivered to the doorsteps of residents the following day.
After that, more residents joined Cai’s group, and demand grew rapidly. The goods on his purchase list expanded from vegetables to meat and milk.
The young man admitted, at first, organizing group purchases affected his studies. But later he optimized the work flow and started using a mini-program which enabled people to sign up for a group purchase automatically, which saved a lot of time.
“I want to show you high school students are not nerds that know nothing but how to solve problems on exercise books. We can help people solve practical problems in real life.” Cai said.
The one where doctors open the heart, repair it and seal it back. Everything seems so simple on paper, isn’t it?
It was a random Tuesday morning when we visited the Operation Theatre of the CTVS (Cardio Thoracic and Vascular Surgery) department, not knowing what was to come.
One of our senior professors was operating, and she was being assisted by some Resident doctors and nurses.
The surgery was Triple Valve Replacement. It basically involves replacing the damaged heart valves.
Sounds so easy!
The patient’s chest was cut open, the underlying bone was drilled and when they reached the heart finally, I was thrilled beyond expectations.
We all have heard heartbeats on a stethoscope, but to see it beat right in front of you is an altogether different feeling!
A number of different tubes were connected to the heart then. Lots of different liquids were made to run through the tubes.
And then, they put an ice solution over the heart.
This is called cardioplegia – the phase where the heart is stopped from beating. It is during this stage that the actual valve replacement is done.
The tubes help in supplying blood to the heart during this time.
Throughout this entire time, our Professor kept teaching us important stuffs related to the surgery. She could have chosen to ignore us and continue with the tiresome surgery, but she didn’t.
She showed us the important blood vessels and valves. She taught us the mechanism of cardioplegia. She showed us which incisions to make and where.
And all this while, she kept on standing and operating.
After 3 hrs at 1 pm, it was lunchtime for us. But the surgery was nowhere near complete. So me and my friends decided to stay till the end of the operation.
We didn’t expect the surgery to go on too long.
But here’s the thing. We finally came out of the OT at 5.30 pm, having missed our lunch as well as our afternoon classes!!!
But what did we gain?
Our respect for our Professor ma’am increased by leaps and bounds. Her surgical team members kept on changing every few hours, but she never left the OT table throughout the 8 hour period.
If this isn’t patience and dedication then what is?
Coming to the question.
What is something that money can’t buy?
It’s patience.
Master patience, and it will open the doors of greatness for you.
I am eligible for answering this question.A quick background about me.
A good developer with task completion abilities with 4.5 years of experience as of now
Year late 2015 joined the Pune based company this was my second company…Joined as a developer performed pretty well in initial 3 months of probation…They chose me to send on-site for 2 months
I was on cloud 9 and happily went to on-site UK ,performed exceptionally well there and returned to India.Now was into regular job activities of development stuff…
Suddenly HR and Dev manager calls me for a meeting and said you are in PIP..I was taken by shock because in the recent time I was the one who has delivered the most work from team.
They assigned me tasks for 1 month and said we want 100 percent completion the actual time that will be fair to complete the task was 3 months but they given me only one month..I delivered 80 percent and wanted a week extension but they were adamant that you have not completed in one month hence we have to let you go.
Later few of my friends from HR told me that they wanted you out from company and it was a trap.
On the day it was around 6 pm half collegaues were already gone.i got informed that today is my last day.
Gone out of the office cried with a friend for 10 mins and then told myself let’s bounce back and will get a new job in 7 days.
Cleared my stuff started applying for new jobs set the deadline for 7 days.
On the 5 th day I had the job offer in hand with 50 Percent hike
To the rest of the world especially the entire Global South we are clear as hell, why!
Because they are envious and fear China will overtake them and lose their hegemonic powers. The rest are all excuses and made up face saving lies. Frankly it should stop right away.
The more it demonised and blame China the more we see it as China doing well. Most culture including the west I believed, don’t take kindly to a person who bad mouthing someone. It shows that such person are weak and insecure. That is how the world sees the U.S. now.
Don’t do it. It looks bad on you. It makes you look weak. Fooling your own people weakens them. And fooling them int being ignorant and naive of the biggest consumer and producer on earth is like committing suicide! Yes you are right Americans in general don’t know and understand the real China.
But don’t blame them. The U.S. has been spreading lies and demonising China since 1949, 74 years straight! So today’s American has been lied to from their grand parents generation to their parents generation and they were fed misinformation to doubt, hate and fear China.
For a start 99.99% don’t know why 1949. Let me help you starting with this. After world war 2, the US at its strongest point in history go all out to fxxk up China. It is knee deep to ensure a puppet rule China do that it can break up China into 100 tiny nation. But at its strongest. Point it failed to do that even when China is at its weakest and the U.S. is at its strongest.
What about now! China grew from an economy the size of Zambia to the biggest in purchasing power term. The growth of China in the last decade is bigger than the entire G7 by 35%! It can toast the US from coast to coast if the U.S. choose the end of life options.
So the U.S. do the only thing it can do. Talk and do shit. Hence Hong Kong, Tibet, Uyghurs, Taiwan, Xinxiang and any shit it can find. Is it helping? Frankly no. Not at all. It counts on fooling people around the world. But instead it only fool their own yanks. But that is good, they can hide their own weakness and failings by blaming even their migraines on China. After all after lying about China 74 years to its citizens. They will buy anything.
Other people don’t hate the human race like you do because you don’t see the human race for what it is.
You see a small sliver of the human race for what it is, and that, plus your own confirmation bias, blinds you to the whole of the reality.
The human race is not all one thing. It’s a blend of light and shadow, good and evil. It’s trendy and oh so fashionable among a certain kind of person to see the dark and think that makes you somehow more knowledgable or informed, but it doesn’t. A nuanced, balanced approach must see the whole.
Seeing the whole means recognizing the evil but also celebrating the good. Hate is easy. It costs to love.
We do not see the world as it is; we see it as we are.
Worrying about what someone else is thinking, saying, or doing will not make your life better.
Celebrities, politicians and the mainstream media don’t live in the same truth as you do.
The person you marry can be the biggest financial decision you will ever make. The right one: an asset who will build with you. The wrong one: a liability that will destroy you. Choose wisely.
There’s literally nothing appealing about going out to bars, drinking and partying all through your 20s. Use this time to create a solid foundation for yourself and your future self.
Choosing a life partner based solely on looks and your sex urges is going to cost you in the end.
Nobody is going to pay attention when you are dead and most likely, they are not even paying attention now. So why be concerned about making mistakes?
The person you see in the mirror who has gone through a lot, the toughest times and is still standing. That’s the same person who deserves all the best from you.
No amount of love from others will ever be enough. To fill the yearning that your soul requires you work on a daily basis to make sure you are in love with yourself.
My husband recently rented a beautiful mansion on Maui via AirBnB. He did it on the AirBnB website. The owner asked him to send the money ($6,000) by a wire transfer because she lives in Europe. Red flag! He contacts AirBnB which confirms the listing is legitimate and it’s common to wire the money that way for international owners. So, he wires the money.
The next day the listing is gone and redirects to a Russian no service page. Apparently someone hacked AirBnB and created a fake listing within it.
Fortunately, our bank stopped the transaction so the money never left our account.
Fast but inaccurate heuristics that fail with Type 1 errors have positive survival value.
So think of the brain, first and foremost, not as an organ of rationality but as an organ of survival, like fangs or claws. The brain is a pattern recognition and categorization machine, and when you think about it that way, it becomes patently obvious why cognitive errors exist.
Cognitive errors are often the result of overly promiscuous pattern recognition or of category errors (or both).
When you live on the savannah, you frequently find yourself in situations where the only thing standing between you and being a leopard’s dinner is very fast pattern recognition. You don’t have time to consider and analyze whether that flash of orange you just saw from the corner of your eye is a charging leopard or not, and whether you should be categorizing it as a threat.
While your buddy Grog is sitting there evaluating the evidence, your adrenal glands are screaming WAAAUGH A LEOPARD IS ABOUT TO EAT MY FACE and you’re booking it out of there.
Result, you live to transmit your genes. Your rational, analytical buddy, the late Grog Grogson, does not.
And these fast heuristics evolve toward Type 1 errors (false positives), not Type 2 errors (false negatives). If you mistakenly think a gazelle is a leopard and flee, you’re still alive. Your buddy Thok who mistakenly thinks a leopard is not a leopard, well…
So the people who survived the savannah had brains optimized for fast but low-resolution heuristics for identifying threats and aggressive, promiscuous pattern matching. Surprise! We no longer live on the savannah, but we still have those traits, legacy code in our firmware.
My professor has not been able to sleep well. He has been getting very dizzy lately. I bought him a fuzzy purple pillow and gave it to him. “Fuzzy pillows fix everything,” I said. He hugged me. It probably won’t fix his insomnia but he knows I care.
I am notorious for waking up late. Because of this, I never check the weather and I never have time to grab coffee in the mornings. When I picked my friend up for school, she always brought me a jacket on cold days and a thermos of coffee ready for me.
When I moved to Thailand, I was very lonely. A group of guys could see I was lonely and asked me to hang out. I couldn’t speak Thai, and they couldn’t speak English, but they took me to dinner most nights though we couldn’t say a word to each other. That meant everything.
The ladies in the office at my school will see my eyes linger on something they’re eating. They know I don’t know what it is. They always bring me a bowl of whatever they’re eating without me asking because they want me to try it. They gave me a whole pomelo last time. It makes my day.
My fruit lady always asks about my family in America. She remembers every detail about my family every time we talk as she cuts my pineapple for me. I’m always amazed she cares enough to listen, remember, and ask more questions.
The opportunity to be kind is everywhere. The smallest acts of love have the greatest impact. You just have to look for them.
HIGH ALERT! Putin and China just changed EVERYTHING with this move, and Biden has NO response
Creole Pot Roast with Dumplings
Ingredients
1/4 cup butter, divided
1 (3 pound) beef pot roast
1 (16 ounce) can whole tomatoes, undrained
2 cups sliced onions
2 teaspoons curry powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup hot water
1 2/3 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 tablespoons chopped pimiento
Instructions
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add beef and brown on all sides.
Add tomatoes and onion; cover tightly. Cook over low heat for 2 hours.
Stir in curry powder, 1 teaspoon salt, sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Cover and cook an additional 1/2 hour.
Place pot roast on serving platter and keep hot.
Add 1 cup hot water to broth in pot; bring to a boil.
Blend together flour, baking powder and remaining 1 teaspoon salt.
Cut in remaining 2 tablespoons butter, using a pastry blender or 2 knives.
Add milk, parsley and pimiento to flour mixture. Stir until moist.
Drop batter by tablespoonsful into boiling broth. Cover; cook over low heat for about 15 minutes.
Place dumplings around pot roast.
Strain broth and serve as gravy.
Dating Matchmaker quits working with women, modern women are DELUSIONAL, men go ABROAD
“I’ve seen videos of women giving the long lists of their requirements and, just because I’m a math geek, I’ll look up the statistics and do the calculations. In a lot of these cases, statistically, these men don’t even exist. They’re looking for a winning lottery ticket.”
My wife went to a local DPS (Department of Public Safety) office, and I escorted her, to renew her driver license. While at it, she decided to change her name to match the name on her Certificate of Naturalization when she became a US citizen.
After my wife filled out the required paperwork, the clerk says that in order to change the name, my wife must present a valid court order/document to prove that she had officially changed her name. According to the clerk, the Certificate of Naturalization is not a valid court approved document. Below is a sample of the Certificate of Naturalization.
Anyone with half a brain would realize that it says “United States District Court” in the lower right-hand corner, especially after we pointed it out several times, but not this particular DPS clerk.
Needless to say, we asked her to call her supervisor. Fortunately, the supervisor knew that a Certificate of Naturalization is the real deal and told the clerk to change the name, but not before hearing several “but, but, but…” from the clerk.
To use the mine, the soldier would remove the security pin, and then charge the enemy armor, just like in a bayonet charge, making the top of the mine collide with the objective. The weapon needed to be held by the center with the left hand and by the bottom with the other hand. When the legs of the mine hit the objective, the handle was pulled forward, cutting a pin and making the detonator move forward to the detonator charge. This would set off the mine, blowing up its user and, probably, the targeted enemy armor.
The mine was capable of penetrating about 150 mm of RHA
at an angle of 90º, and up to 100 mm at an angle of 60º. However, the mine would almost always impact at 90º because the impact angle with the objective would be decided by the weapon’s user, and he would probably aim for a 90º armor plate.
The nature of the weapon was similar to a panzerfaust in that it was a single use type weapon. Unlike the panzerfaust the operator was a single use soldier. There were no records I could find of it being used successfully. Of course I don’t know how there would be any feedback on its effectiveness.
The NVA used it as well with some reported success in Indochina against the French and the US later in the South.
In the parking lot at Walmart. I saw a motorhome identical to mine. So I was looking at the twin of my motorhome when the owner walked up and looked at me curiously. I introduced myself. I explained I owned the same model and I was having some mechanical issues. We all got along well, so we exchanged emails and decided to keep in touch. Well we started camping together, a couple of times a year. Our motorhomes were old. Our new friends lived simply. They cut coupons. Shopped at thrift stores. After years of getting together, California had an earthquake and our friends had to leave early to “check the cars” . I was puzzled. My friend explained he had a car collection. On racks in California. I guess he felt after years of knowing us he told us he had been a CEO of a Silicon Valley technology company. They knew by then we liked them for who they are. Not what they have.
The Marijuana Menace 1938 | Crime, Drama, Propaganda | Colorized Full Movie
When I lived in Milford, Massachusetts I worked at an appliance company as a Chief Project Manager in the R&D group. During that time, early on in the company, I was living with a model named CJ. She was extraordinarily beautiful, but a royal pain in the ass. Ugh! That’s a story for another time, I’ll tell you what.
Anyways, there was one of the guys in my company, way a youngish (in his late 20’s) man who worked in Marketing. I got along fine with him.
But my girlfriend, CJ (the chick that I was living with) told me that she had a “bad feeling about him”. But I shrugged it off.
About a month later, I noticed that he was driving around and waiting outside my apartment. I wondered why, but couldn’t figure out what was going on.
Later on, after that, CJ told me that he was following her.
…
Two weeks later, he came to work completely beaten up, and his face was a real mess. He worked for a day or two, and then quit. I never found out what happened to him, but I figure that he messed with the “wrong people”. Not me. But perhaps someone else…
I was asked, as a consultant, to handle a very delicate matter. It appears that the company president’s teenage daughter had taken a liking to one of the system assembly people who was building rack servers. He told her that he was busy and she was not authorized to be in the department. She complained to daddy, and the employee was subject to a screaming match in front of his co-workers and told by his boss that he needed to apologize by the close of business when the executive and his daughter left. And that some token of his contrition might be a nice gesture.
Near the end of the day, the technician located the daughter, said he was sorry, and gave her a handmade electronic sculpture as a token of his contrition. He then wrote a resignation note and left it with H.R.
I was called to resolve the issue and get the employee back to work because they had a backlog that was building on the workbenches. I could not find any reason why someone else could not build-out the server blades and none of the employee’s co-workers volunteered any information. That is, until I learned that he had fashioned the sculpture out of the all of the motherboard chips on hand.
There was no attempt to gain restitution for the ruined chips and the employee was paid in full — including two weeks severance. I later heard that the president reimbursed the company for the entire amount. I pocketed my fee — which only added insult to injury.
I Live Better in The Philippines Than I Did in The U.S For Cheaper – My Story
“It was reassuring to hear of JJ’s positive experience in BCG, and of his low monthly budget. I’ve been thinking a lot about my future retirement and moving somewhere that will provide a better quality of life for my budget. I’ll try to spend time in several countries, before picking a place to settle down. Thanks for another great video, Evan.”
Texas Iced Tea
Ingredients
6 tea bags or 2 large tea bags
Water
1 cup granulated sugar (optional)
Instructions
Heat 1 quart to boiling 1 quart water in saucepan.
Remove from heat; add tea bags, cover and let steep for 30 minutes.
Pour into 1 a gallon pitcher.
Add sugar, if using, then fill pitcher with cold water.
To make sun tea, fill a 1 gallon glass jar with cool water.
Add 6 tea bags and place in direct sunlight.
Leave in sunlight until desired color (strength) is obtained (reddish brown) – about 2 to 3 hours. Do not leave in the sun too long (over 4 hours) as mixture may become bitter.
A very stupid woman in my social group was my bully. She hated me and did & said what she could to trash me.I was involved with someone that she had a crush on. She did everything she could to break us up, including making up stories about me sleeping around with other guys (I wasn’t), stealing $$$ from him (I earned 3x what he did), badmouthing him, etc. It did cause some tension in my relationship.
However, she thought it was funny and sent screenshots of what she had said & done to a friend of mine. She didn’t know he was an old friend of many years. He sent me copies which I gave my guy. He blocked her on the spot and cut off all contact with her.
At the time she was living with a guy in public housing and collecting disability. Again, Ms. Stupid sent to our mutual friend comments like she was only living with him so he would pay her bills. That she really didn’t have a disability but she had a corrupt Dr who would fill out “appropriate l” paperwork for a fee. And that she had a job off the books and making very good $$$.
He sent me everything. I filed a complaint on the doctor with the state medical board. I forwarded her comments to the Housing Authority and federal offices. But the best was, being crafty, I created a mini-book that listed all of her comments from her lies about me to using the boyfriend as a paycheck. I wrapped it up nicely and sent it to him at his place of employment. (I did put a note on it saying to open in private…he didn’t need to be embarrassed in front of co-workers)
So long story short, she lost her apartment but gained a new one at the local jail. She lost her boyfriend but gained a new corrections officer. She lost her social circle but gained new cellmates. She lost her lucrative income but got a job at the prison making cents on the hour.
On March 7th, 2002, Gabi Altaraz, owner of the Cafe Caffit was walking around his crowded restaurant, full of families and young couples, full of the sounds of children. He noticed a young man sitting alone at the table. The man seemed nervous, agitated and odd.
Despite the day being quite chilly in the tail end of the Israeli winter, the strange man was sweating profusely.
Gabi walked over and asked to take the order, figuring the man was just a bit distracted by work.
The man seemed annoyed by the question. “Just water,” he snapped, clearly bothered. He then asked who Gabi was, giving him the most chilling smile that looked murderous.
As Gabi listened, he noticed a very large backpack by the man’s feet.
Gabi didn’t change his expression, but said he’d get it. Instead, he went and got twenty three year old Shlomi Harel, one of the waiters. “I think we have a problem,” he said.
Now, with spiked hair, tattoos and a pierced eyebrow. Shlomi may have looked like some bored college student currently fetching drinks and food, but he was also a recently released elite commando.
Shlomi walked up to the table and asked in Arabic for the man’s ID card (which all Israeli residents must carry) The man produced a blue one, indicating he was an Israeli citizen. However, Shlomi had already noticed the bag.
More importantly, he noticed the wire which protruded from it, and which ran through the man’s jacket and through the man’s right sleeve to a detonator in his hands.
The cafe was full, 50 innocent civilians, women and children and elderly, all of whom were defenseless. In seconds, they would be a red mist unless he was willing to risk his life.
With a fearlessness bordering on superhuman, Shlomi pounced on the terrorist and threw him out of the restaurant.
Once outside, before the terrorist knew what hit him, Shlomi had already jerked out the wire, separating the bomb from the detonator, as he was trained. He then ripped off the pack, threw aside and slammed the terrorist to the floor to restrain him.
As he wrestled the terrorist to a safe distance, he also yelled to clear the streets, take cover and call the bomb squad, while using the skills of Krav Maga to make sure the would-be murderer didn’t go anywhere until the authorities could take him away.
Shlomi’s excellent training, heroism and sacrifice prevented a massacre. 10 kilograms of explosives and shrapnel was packed inside the backpack, enough to kill all 50 people and wound and blind and maim and mangle 50 more.
If a soldier has to resort to Krav Maga, the goat droppings have really hit the fan. Ideally, you never want to be in a position where you need to be that close to the enemy, but there have been situations where it was required.
Remember, Krav Maga isn’t just about a form of self defense so you can go home at night safely.
In the army, it’s about making arrests. (And his knee isn’t on the detainee’s neck but shoulders, as can be clearly seen by anyone with training)
It’s about disarming suspects.
It’s about self defense for situations like knife attacks.
And as the story makes clear, it has other uses.
So yes, soldiers use it. Otherwise, why would they teach it?
And yes, the stuff related to arresting and neutralizing terrorists. Not the stuff I do.
Me and a buddy were at his house watching TV and some person on the screen was eating a strawberry. I don’t really care for them, but it looked good and I asked if, by chance, he had any strawberries in the house. He almost laughed at me, we were two 20-year old’s with a higher chance of beer or mac & cheese or Fruit Loops than strawberries. About twenty minutes later, there’s a knock at the door and he goes to answer it. He yells out to me to come see something. His mom is standing at the door with one of those low-cut boxes with a bunch of strawberries. he said, “Tell Jeffy what you said!” She looks a little strange and says, “I was driving home and there was a guy selling strawberries out of the back of his truck and I thought, “I bet David and his friends would like some strawberries…” My buddy says, “Well, you blew it. We all have one wish and you wasted yours on strawberries.”
As an example, there was a woman who worked for me at one point. She used to always brag that she has a 174 IQ. Everyone was tired of it and it really kept her from forming good relationships at work (the “I am better than you” complex). One day, I was just not wanting to put up with it so I said “wow, your IQ is higher than Albert Einstein!” When she agreed, I responded “he invented the theory of relativity, what have you done?” She never mentioned her IQ after that. You see, IQ matters less than what you do with what you have.
P.S. I am a member of Mensa, too, and realize that it is just the measure of potential, not an accomplishment.
Edit: thanks for everyone who up-voted my response. I think this is my highest. I went to my first Annual Gathering (AG) this year and it just reinforced my belief. It isn’t what you have, but what you do with it. Many wonderful people, but just like the rest of society in so many ways.
How is she surprised he responded like this? She deserves everything she gets
Lordy! This is everything that wrong with the United States today.
Have you ever been accused of something very wrong ,and been totally innocent.
I have this mentally I’ll neighbor a block down the street ,he will say just about anything with no remorse whatsoever, he is so envious of me, from what other people have told me that it’s almost some type of fixation.I warned my new girlfriend about him and to keep her distance from him, quite frankly I don’t trust him at all.One day I see she was at the bottom of the driveway picking up the mail as usual only potty mouth is blabbering to her about something, he was out walking his dog. When she parks her car and heads for the house she usually stops to see what I’m doing. Today she goes straight up and into the house, I knew that idot had said something to upset her, unfortunately for me I was in the middle of spraying and couldn’t drop what I was doing.I head into the house an hour later and she seems very tense, but when I mentioned what did the ding dong down the load have to say, she said ahhh nothing really.
A couple hours later when we met at the doorway between the master bedroom and the bathroom, she actually ducted away from me. Now I knew something was wrong and I had to get to the bottom of it, but when I asked what was bothering her every time she had the same response, ahhh nothing really.
Finally I had enough, I said I want to know what is going on ,and we’re not closing our eyes until you tell me. Then she says, whatcha going to do hit me.I was totally floored, I have never in my life struck a woman and told this to her. She says that the guy down the street told her, he used to hear my ex wife screaming and that I had been arrested for abuse a couple of times.I started to chuckle a little and she says this is very serious ,and that if I layed a hand on her she’s going straight to the cops.
I pointed to a couple of shotguns leaning in the corner by my dresser. See those, well if I had any sort of domestic violence charges brought against me , there wouldn’t be any fire arms allowed in the house. She says you have several guns, that’s against, the law then. I warned you about listening to that asshole some time ago didn’t I ,she couldn’t believe someone would make up a story like this. So let’s just look up my criminal record and see how bad I am, in Wisconsin you can go to the clerk of courts on line and check out anyone’s history. Look here there nothing, nothing at all, squeaky clean. She seemed a little shocked. Now I said let’s check out your new friend, Oh Look two convictions for domestic abuse, spent two weeks in jail twice for failing to pay child support and a felony conviction for distribution of cocaine.Maybe now you will take what he says with a grain of salt. She still looked a little puzzled, but gradually got back to normal. One of these days he’s going to say something about the wrong guy and find himself in big trouble. I fail to see what he hopes to gain, except cause me grief. Maybe someone else has a clue, I just totally avoid him and have for several years now.
The expression, “get your ducks in a row,” means to get prepared to do something. But where did this expression come from?
Many years ago, an old-time JPL engineer explained to me the origin of this expression. Sadly, I don’t remember who it was. There are a number of people I regarded highly who might have been the source of this. I certainly believed them because it made so much sense.
Consider an old drafting tool used to hold splines to make curves. It is called a drafting duck, also known as a lofting duck.
What the heck is a drafting duck, you might ask?
Before we get to that, let’s talking about lofting.
Back in the days of building large wooden sailing ships, they used to create full size drawings of the ship. The only place big enough for such a drawing was in loft above the shipbuilding building. The loft had a lot of space without posts in the way. Creating such drawing became known as lofting.
If you’ve ever done any computer-aided drafting, then you will have come across splines. These are smooth curves passing through a series of dots.
But how did they do that in the days before computers? Well, they used splines! A spine was a long flexible piece of wood that was held down on the drawing to make a curve passing through the points on the drawing.
or the very long splines they used in lofting, they had a bunch of weighted objects to hold the spline in place so they could run their pencil along it to make the smoothly curved line.
Lofting Ducks. The little bent nose sticking out was poked into the top of the spline to hold it in place. The body of these ducks was something like steel so they would be weighty and able to hold the spline in place.
So, before they could draw the line along the spline, they had to …
get their ducks in a row.
And that’s where the expression came from. At least according to the ancient engineer I knew a couple of decades ago.
I promised the Screamy Blonde Thing £200 if she passed all her GCSEs except RE, which we don’t care about.
Yeah, my money’s safe because I’ve seen that kid’s Eng Lit essays. I’ve just spent two years shouting and cajoling just to get her Eng Lang up to scratch and the chances of her passing Eng Lit is the same as that of Kylie Minogue dragging me into Meadowhall Travel Lodge and giving me a damn good seeing-to.
Is what I thought.
Do you know what she bloody well did? Passed the bloody lot except RE. I swear she did it on purpose just to annoy me. Sigh. Bye-bye £200. I knew I shouldn’t have spent a week going through Romeo and bloody Juliet with her, still less another one going through The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mister Hyde. Because of this, she now has a morning off from her computerses things at the Tech whilst the dim kids retake their Maths and English GCSEs. That kid has always been as jammy as a Co-Op doughnut, I tell you.
Anyway, the point. Stump up. You promised it, you bloody well deliver or you’ll be persona non grata in kidworld and they’ll never trust anything you say again for the rest of your life.
Back to the subject of the SBT, she’s spending her morning lying in bed playing with her Nintendo.
Or so she thinks.
I’m about to break the news that nobody could be arsed to do last night’s teapots and there’s a sinkful, and guess who’s drying? BWUHAHAHA! It’s not that I’m evil, it’s just……no it is. I’m evil. But not evil enough to renege on my promise for hard work. Get your wallet out.
In terms of absolute military power, they will never catch up with the USA. They simply do not have any intention to do this.
I think that Americans simply do not comprehend this. They live in a country that is accustomed to wars, The USA destroys countries and kills people in wars continuously. Afghanistan; Iraq; Syria; Bosnia; Somalia; Vietnam; Libya; Grenada etc etc. This has gone on for so long that Americans think it’s normal – as normal and ordinary and unremarkable as their regular school shootings.
China isn’t interested. They just want to build highways, sea ports, airports, railways etc; link up the world and do more trade and business.
“I know who’s wetting the grass mummy!” My three year old daughter one day stated proudly.
We were eating breakfast at the time and my husband and I both looked at each other dumbfounded. She continued beaming at us. Clearly very proud of herself.
“Honey what do you mean?” My husband asked her trying to make sense of it.
“You know daddy…” She said shaking her head as if it what she was talking about was common knowledge. I was struggling to keep a straight face. “Explain it to daddy,” I said to her.
“Ok mummy.”
“Well,” she said. “In the mornings the grass is wet right?”
“Right, yes it’s a dew.”
“No…” She corrects him. “It’s a man dressed in black.”
“Are you sure honey?” My husband asks her.
“Yes I saw him last night…”
At first we were dumbfounded, then we were very worried. Turns out she had seen someone. The next night I stayed in my daughters room and someone actually tried to break in. Luckily some fly spray in the eyes and a quick call to the police soon put him out of action… Though my daughter said “mummy don’t do that to the grass wetter”
Turns out he was a child abuser, not the grass wetter. Luckily he won’t be doing that ever again now. And my daughter still can’t get over the fact that I sprayed him in the eyes with fly spray…
What did she say to me afterwards? “Who will wet the grass now mummy?”
And the next morning. “They found a new person, I haven’t seen him yet but the grass has been wetted again.”
Kids. They are so innocent and at times hilarious 🙂
I’m technically homeless for the second time in my life. Finances were at a real strain earlier in the year but I held on until my son went off to college. At 68, my career in print media ground to a halt and with an exploding real estate market where I saw my rent quadruple in a matter of months. My life was unsustainable.
Car payments, car insurance, prescription medicines and food, I’ll admit, I was drowning. When my son left I no longer had a reason to maintain a household or a car. I stopped fighting the inevitable. My social security payment was all I had. I sold my possessions and booked a one-way ticket to the far east. I can live on the pittance provided me for my years of work as an American. I just can’t live in America.
Since I left the states, I’ve lived in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Nepal. Next week I’m heading to India for a month before returning and spending Christmas and New Years in Vietnam. I live in decent three star hotels typically with free breakfast.
My social life had already slowed considerably as I got old.
I stopped drinking nearly three years ago so I no longer have that monkey on my back. But life, in general is good. It’s adventurous. And I no longer have the burdens that come with life in the US. My son is happy and thriving. My older daughter and her family are doing very well. I’m a phone call away from them and we talk frequently. The difference is I’m alive and living with few worries.
My son had an FBI agent come to his apartment. He sold noncommercial DVDs on his web page of 80’s cartoons. Someone had bragged about not caring about copyright and given the FBI his name in order to get him in trouble.
When asked, he said, “Yes, I sell those DVDs on my web page. Oh, do you want copies of where I have the rights? What’s your fax number?”
Many years ago my first wife’s father was died. He was married at the time. He also had a girlfriend. When my mother-in-law, my now ex-wife, her grandmother and I arrived at the funeral we were expecting, of course, to sit on the front row. It is typical for the spouse to sit there. Unfortunately, the girlfriend with her children showed up prior to the wife and had seated herself and her kids on the front row. The wife, who had more restraint than I would have, decided not to make a scene and sat behind the girlfriend and her kids. If my memory serves me correctly, she did fire the girlfriend, who worked at the store now solely owned by my mother-in-law.
I get that the girlfriend was also grieving. After all, her sugar daddy was now gone. If she had had more manners and civility at the funeral, she would probably have been given time to find a new job (my MIL was a nice person), but since the gf intentionally embarrassed the wife in public, she didn’t deserve to be treated nicely.
My father was the epitome of impeccable health well into his older years, the strongest, healthiest person I knew. Walking 25,000 steps per day, always energetic, near perfect vision, mentally sharp (he had a PhD in mathematics), my father had every quality in his 70s that I wish I had in my 50s! Best of all, he was a very humble man and wonderfully loving father.
My dad was a renowned scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory where he studied nucleology. Unfortunately, he and many of his fellow scientists developed sarcoma later in life, a rare form of cancer. Some of his cohorts had already died in their 30s and 40s. My father didn’t acquire sarcoma until the age of 73, striking with little warning and spreading quickly throughout his entire body. It remains unknown whether or not the fate of these scientists was connected to the decades of nuclear research projects they performed.
My father awoke in the middle of the night in pain, was driven to the hospital by my mother, and by the time he arrived 15 minutes later he had no feeling below his rib cage. A tumor had grown along the spine and rapidly shut off the nerves, blocking any feeling all the way to the tip of his toes. After some tests, the doctors gave him three to six months to live. He lasted three months.
The question
To answer your question, how did he know the end was near? After three months of being bedridden and paralyzed, with his spirits high and his faith strong, he was lying awake around 4:00 a.m. when he suddenly struggled to breathe. He summoned my mother who was asleep in the same room. He knew it was the end.
The finale
My parents had been together for 55 years, meeting when they were teens. My mother held his hand, and he whispered, “Will you be okay without me?” to which my mother replied, “I’ll be fine.” And within seconds after those words, he was gone. I was on a plane flying to come see him when he passed, so I didn’t make it in time to say goodbye. But we had spent plenty of time together, especially in the final months, so I was at total peace. The world lost one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century that day. But I lost the greatest father.
A co-worker and I were given new employee contracts to sign and we saw that if we were to leave the company we could not work as software developers for three years. We refused to sign, so the company controller came to us and asked why.
After we explained why we wouldn’t sign, he said, “Oh, that’s not what that means. What it means is that you won’t start a new, competing contract firm and steal away employees.” So I told him to change the contract language to state exactly what he’d told me. He just kept saying, “But you know what it means!”
I finally told him that until the contract says what it really means, I wouldn’t sign it. He said he’d have it corrected, but we never received a corrected copy, so we never signed a new contract.
His explanation made more sense than the contract’s language, but I wasn’t going to sign away my right to work on blind faith.
A husband
“This man worked a 13-hour day in 90-degree weather and walked through the door and said, ‘I’m home. What can I do to help you?’
Yet, these are words I hear from him often.
He is not a ‘unicorn.’ Men like these exist.
The kind who wash the dishes after you cook. Who do the yard work because they know you hate it. Who work 60+ hour work weeks and still come home and play with their kids, give their wife a kiss, and ask, ‘What can I do to help?’
Who gets up some nights to change the baby’s diaper while you get ready for a night feeding. Who gives the kids baths and puts them down for bed. Who spends his weekends with his family. Who cracks a cold one once the kids are down, and plays Farkle and Rummy with his wife.
Leader of the home, equal partner with his wife, provider, protector, and hands-on father. I’m so glad I married this man, and that he also acknowledges my hard work at home with two kids, nursing, cooking, and cleaning.
We take care of each other. It’s 50/50, and we are raising our boys to be men, just like their fathers.
I see so many women cry and complain their partner doesn’t help with the kids, bills, housework, give them any attention, etc.
My heart breaks when I hear, ‘Oh, that’s men,’ or ‘I just deal with it and suffer.’
Ladies, that isn’t a man. Make him do better or find better! If you have a good one who treats you like a queen, then treat him like the king he is.
Marriage is a partnership, not a dictatorship. My husband and I both take care of each other and are very happy.
Many blessings and happiness to all you kings and queens.”
Shared with permission via Jessica Maddux
Cajun Orange Mopped Chops
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
1/2 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons orange marmalade
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
2 tablespoons chopped green onions with tops
4 boneless loin pork chops
Instructions
Combine first five ingredients and pour over pork chops in shallow glass dish. Marinate for 10 or 15 minutes while heating grill or broiler to high.
Reduce heat to medium. Place marinated pork chops on grill or under broiler for 7 to 10 minutes per side, brushing marinade on chops as they are turned. Be careful not to overcook.
Serve with rice or potatoes and a vegetable or salad.
Something Very Βizarre Is Starting To Ηappen At Walmart.. (This Seems Unbelievable!)
I have (as of late) been drawn to the horrible stories about infidelity between married couples. Just terrible stuff really. And then one of my followers asked for help on this matter and I responded in a post.
When I get these urges, there are always deeper meanings underlying their intrusion into my consciousness. And it just occurred to me what is going on.
The “marriage” is the United States and China.
The United States is “having sex and fooling round”, and China knows all about it, but wants to keep the relationship stable.
So the United States denies, and denies, and then denies…
What are you talking about?
Nothing is going on?
You worry too much?
You are reading too much into the picture of me and a coworker…
…but the texting behind the back keeps on occurring, and the sex orgies still occur in (apparent) secret.
But China has a PI investigating everything and knows everything. China has transcripts of all the text message. China has videos of the sexual events taken from the phones, and the sexy pictures sent back and forth between them. China knows when, where, how and how often these events occurred.
But hasn’t shown its hand yet.
What will China do?
The normal thing (the most common event) is confrontation; a “lot of fireworks” and screaming and yelling, and then a hostile divorce.
But I really don’t think that China wants, or has any plans, to do that.
China does not want a divorce (a war; in any shape or form.)
However, if push comes to shove, China (as a partner) will make life a living Hell for the United States….
…if push comes to shove.
If all these non-stop provocations keep on occurring while the USA puts on the face that “all is just fine, nothing is going on. You are the one with the issue.“
And were a hard and harsh divorce were to manifest, it would be China who would hold all the cards. It won’t go in any way that the USA thinks.
…
All these are ugly thoughts.
The USA and China are (at least on the surface) making amends. Dating again, things are getting back to normal. Plane Flights are opening up. Businessmen are cutting deals and all the rest.
But the USA is still up to it’s old bag of tricks.
A “color revolution” in Burma by the CIA was just squelched. Lots of dead (CIA trained) insurgents.
“President” Biden got up and made a public warning to China to stop provoking The Philippines…
My gut feeling is that the Chinese know everything, and are just “waiting out” the United States. It will run out of money, resources, banking, finance, and cred sooner than later.
Ai! Hopefully the hidden texts, the late-night “meetings”, and all the rest will come to a quick and decisive end.
Hopefully.
One more year of Joe Biden. Sheech!
I don’t know if I can handle that. Oh Lordy!
I swear that he has his foot on the gas petal towards war and is FLOORING IT.
Well China gave the west a 2 century head start and caught it up in less than 50 years! Go figure. The west don’t have civilisation it has a war mongering barbaric mind set that thinks they are ordained by god to loot and plunder. Colonialism U.S. not civilised it is a cruel, despicable act of stealing land and carrying out genocides to slaughter most of the natives.
Civilisation is like the Chinese and Confucianism edicts on discipline, respect, compassion, hard work, eagerness to learn, winning without fighting. Murder, slaughter, genocide done by the west to steal land and resources is barbaric not civilised.
Star Trek: The Silent Skies | 1920 Universe
This is AMAZING!
Zero-sum mentality in US won’t halt China’s tech rise — Global Times
American automaker Ford said on Monday it’s pausing construction of a $3.5 billion electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in the US state of Michigan until it is confident it can run the factory competitively, the Associated Press (AP) reported. Although the US government is flexing all of its policy muscles available to suppress China’s high-tech industry, US competitiveness in cutting-edge technologies has continued to decline as a result of multiple factors.
Ford’s decision comes as the company is in the midst of national contract talks with the United Auto Workers union, which wants to represent workers at battery factories and win them top wages, according to the AP report. Intense competition among global EV manufacturers has unsettled the US automotive industry, which had been a pillar of the US economy, as US automakers are under pressure both at home and abroad.
On the one hand, competition from international competitors, including Chinese EV makers, poses a challenge to American firms, especially as Chinese companies have accumulated technological and price advantages against the backdrop of fierce competition in the Chinese domestic market.
On the other hand, deep-seated problems in the US economy, including insufficient labor protection and the widening wealth gap, have erupted in a concentrated manner. The car industry, like other manufacturing industries in the US, is facing increased pressure due to rising production costs.
As reported by the AP in March, Ford’s EV business has lost $3 billion before taxes during the past two years. If the US automaker wants to catch up with rivals amid intense international competition, one option for Ford is to collaborate with top Chinese companies.
Ford in February announced plans to build the plant in Michigan, betting that making the batteries in the US would help it and Chinese partner CATL attract US customers to embrace a lower-cost technology pioneered in China, according to Reuters. Honestly speaking, Ford’s cooperation with CATL benefits the development of the US EV industry. However, the sector’s survival opportunities are being stifled by politicians in Washington. Republicans in Congress have been probing Ford’s battery plant plan over concerns it could leave Ford dependent on Chinese technology.
As reported by Reuters, Rep. Mike Gallagher said lawmakers were “encouraged to see Ford take a crucial first step to reevaluate its deal” with CATL. “Now, Ford needs to call off this deal for good,” he added.
Not only in the EV industry, but also in most high-tech and cutting-edge industries, some people in the US possess an extremely unhealthy and unfair zero-sum competition mentality toward China. However, it is evident that this thinking is counterproductive in promoting the development of domestic US industries.
Apart from Tesla, other American vehicle companies still have a relatively low share in the domestic and international EV markets. Although the US government has devised protectionist measures such as the Inflation Reduction Act, it is still moving slowly in terms of addressing domestic supply chain issues, particularly in the production of batteries.
Washington is working toward a zero-sum competition with China, with American firms serving as victims. What Chinese enterprises need to do is to confront external challenges, continuously enhance their competitiveness, strengthen technological innovation, seize the opportunities created by Washington’s zero-sum competition mentality – which has caused difficulties for American enterprises – and continuously strengthen themselves.
China is becoming increasingly competitive in EV manufacturing capacity and technology innovation. Chinese EV brands, such as BYD and NIO, have made significant strides in developing advanced EV technologies, including battery technology and autonomous driving features.
China holds a superior position in the EV supply chain, with about three-quarters of the world’s battery production capacity. Moreover, China houses more than half of the world’s processing and refining capacity for lithium, cobalt and graphite, which are essential materials for making EV batteries.
The West’s narrow-minded, zero-sum game mentality has indeed put some pressure on China in the short term, but it cannot fundamentally hinder technological progress. If the US always opts for dirty tricks against China instead of learning how to conduct healthy competition with Chinese enterprises and develop its own economic competitiveness, this will just lead to a larger gap between China and the US.
If you don’t understand why I use the word “monster” to describe Huawei, please look at this picture. Here is a summary of the business Huawei is doing.
It is different from traditional foreign technology companies, such as Samsung, SONY, Nokia, and Alibaba, which only challenge advanced American companies in a certain field.
It has launched a comprehensive challenge to its American counterparts in almost the entire information technology industry.
It not only challenges, but has already achieved success in many areas, and this trend is getting faster and faster.
If the US doesn’t stop it, it will slap American companies on the butt in global markets. Just like Toyota and Honda slapped Ford’s ass back in the day.
Currently, high-tech companies are a key means for the United States to gain wealth from around the world. Once these high-tech companies are stepped on by Huawei, how can the United States maintain its status as a developed country and maintain Americans’ living standards?
Therefore, when American companies have no choice but to rely on the U.S. government to take action. Kill the monster before it grows up. As for the reason: threatening national security
Senior shelter cat desperately hugs woman for adoption
“I adopted the oldest cat my shelter had. She was owner surrendered at the age 15 which I just thought was wrong. I named her Hope and she gave me 4 of the best years of my life. Thank you so much for adopting a senior cat. I wish you many years of happiness and love with her.”
REPORTS: Thousands of Ukraine Soldiers SURRENDERING To Russian Army
A special radio frequency being used so that Ukrainian soldiers can safely surrender to Russian forces is now chattering like never before. Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are opting to surrender to the Russian Army.
These surrenders were seen even by Clayton Morris, an American journalist, who expressed his astonishment and said, “this is a story the western media does not want you to see.”
Ukrainian forces are laying down their Western-supplied arms and surrendering en masse! Using emergency radio frequencies, they’re receiving food & medical care and even sharing critical intel with Russian forces.
Is this the final chapter?
As Zelensky hears of mass surrendering of Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines he will likely be very concerned. Not about the soldiers; about what happens to him
The question now is who gets to him first. The Russians will want him but the west may want him too. Dead.
They will not wish to have him expose the money laundering, child sex slavery and child organ harvesting that has been going on in Ukraine; the Globalist Parasites cant allow that.
Either way its not looking good for the man in Green.
By most credible accounts, the recent Ukronazi+NATO attack in the Kharkov area was even more costly in KIA/MIA, wounded and lost hardware than the attack towards Kherson. The combined losses from these attacks are staggering.
Yet there are all the signs that the Ukronazi+NATO forces are preparing for even more such attacks.
The Ukronazi+NATO seem happy to trade human lives for territorial gains, no matter how small or how irrelevant that territory is.
The Russians seem happy to trade space and time to protect the lives of their soldiers and equipment.
We could say that the Ukronazi+NATO are trading bodies for shells.
Let’s remember the two goals set by Putin for the SMO: denazify and demilitarize. Both of these goals are human-focused, not terrain-focused. In other words, if a tactical-level withdrawal allows the Russian to kill scores of Ukronazi+NATO personnel and destroy their equipment, they will gladly accept the trade.
The other goal was to protect the LDNR. Kherson is not part of the LDNR.
Territory can be reconquered, equipment is hard to replace, especially complex weapon-systems.
Soldiers cannot be resurrected.
It is absolutely clear that Ukronazi+NATO are “betting the farm” into these offensives. Not only is the coming winter a major threat for them, but the political chaos in the EU and the US this fall and winter means that now is the time to try has hard as possible to conceal the magnitude of the disaster for the Ukronazi+NATO.
So, most of what is taking place now can be summed up in this simple question: who will run out of resources first: the Ukronazi+NATO in terms of manpower and equipment or the Russians in terms of firepower (mostly artillery, missiles and airpower)?
I think that the answer is obvious: Russia wins.
U.S. Plans To Ethnically Cleanse Gaza
This is, presumably, the U.S.-Israeli plan for the Palestinian people in Gaza:
Amazing: President Biden is working on a plan with other countries that would allow civilians to safely leave Gaza and cross the border into Egypt. This is great news. President Biden is making sure that innocent people don’t die due to the actions of Hamas. That’s leadership.
No, it is not leadership. It is ethnic cleansing, a war crime disguised as humanitarian gesture. It is ethnic cleansing of people who’s land has been stolen by Zionist settlers. These people would have no right of return to the homes and land they once owned. People who have been put into an open air prison, who have no access to electricity, water and food and are currently under intense attacks.
Egypt, the only country where they potentially could be moved to, is already bankrupt. It can not even provide for its own people. Two million new people from Gaza, all poor and some of them radicalized, would undoubtedly unbalance the Egyptian state.
Should such a plan be put into action it would guarantee that the resistance axis, Hizbullah and various other Sunni and Shia groups in the Middle East, would step in. The would attack Israel to prevent such a move.
The U.S. thinks it can deter resistance action by threatening to move in with its own forces. That’s why the USS Herald Ford, its newest carrier, was moved into the Eastern Mediterranean. Rumors have it that a second carrier will come in too.
But the resistance can not be deterred by that. The last time the U.S. tried to intervene in Lebanon it ended up with 241 dead Marines and had to retreat in shame. Hizbullah at that time was only a handful of men. Today Hizbullah has tens of thousands of very well trained men. Then there are also Iran and Russia:
As I said in my analysis today of the NATO intervention in the Israeli northern front, it’s inconceivable that Russia should stay silent in the face of such brazen NATO overreach. This seat-of-the-pants, unmandated NATO panic move will speed up Russia’s pivot from pro-Israel to pro-Arab that started with the deaths of Russian airmen caused by an IAF aggression against Syria and was locked in with Netanyahu’s support for the nazi regime in Kiev.
The Russian military has long identified Israel as an enemy state and Putin is now conceding to them, acknowledging the failure of yet another one of his strategies, namely the political use of the Russian Jewish community in Israel via his “friend” Avigdor Lieberman. Russian Jews in Israel are virulently anti-Arab, so Putin tried not to upset them.
Today, however, with Bibi bringing in the full might of NATO to the Eastern Mediterranean to threaten not only Lebanon but Russian bases in Syria, it’s no more Mr. Nice Guy. With Patrushin and Shoygu holding the reins of state and a clear and present NATO threat on Syria’s doorstep, expect a strong and unexpected Russian intervention in the multifront Israel-Hamas-Hezbollah war.
The U.S. Embassy in Beirut has not evacuated and is open and operating normally. Reports saying otherwise are false. For more information and travel advisories, visit our embassy website: lb.usembassy.gov
Posted by b on October 11, 2023 at 15:43 UTC | Permalink
When I was young I was pretty much left to my own devices as far as personal hygiene and was always had dirty clothes. My parents were drunks and as the youngest of 7 it was total chaos for me. For some reason though this girl in my class who was smart, funny and popular became my friend. She was just the best friend a girl could ask for. Her father was a prominent doctor and she came from a big loving family. Whenever she could she would include me in whatever she was doing.
We were freshman in high-school and were sitting having lunch and a girl who was just as popular invited my BFF to a party but told her not to bring me because her mother wouldn’t appreciate it if I brought vermin or disease into her house. My friend just stood up and told me that we had to get to our next class and didnt engage with her. The next Saturday was the party and I was home sitting in my room and my BFF showed up at the door and said she thought the party was boring and we ended up going to the movies and then to her house for a sleepover.
Fast forward about a week and the girl who had the party was talking about how her mother was upset because their house apparently smelled like something died in it. They couldnt figure out what the smell was. It was awful. My friend said to the girl that “maybe you have some type of vermin in your house.” She then said she didnt think she could hang with someone like her because there could be vermin in her house. This immediately caught my attention. I asked her about it later. She came clean and told me that when she went to the party – she brought with her some canned shrimp and discreetly placed the raw shrimp in places throughout the house. Under area rugs, on top of a grandfather clock even in the hem of the drapes in various rooms. She said that nobody fucks with me – and she would always have my back.
THAT IS A FRIEND
The Average Age Of Ukraine’s Army
Ben Wallace, the former Secretary of State for Defence of the UK, writes in the Telegraph:
Putin is desperately grasping at the final two things that can save him – time and the splitting of the international community. Britain can do something about both. We must help Ukraine maintain its momentum – and that will require more munitions, ATACMSs and Storm Shadows. And the best way to keep the international community together is the demonstration of success.
Ukraine can also play its part. The average age of the soldiers at the front is over 40. I understand President Zelensky’s desire to preserve the young for the future, but the fact is that Russia is mobilising the whole country by stealth. Putin knows a pause will hand him time to build a new army. So just as Britain did in 1939 and 1941, perhaps it is time to reassess the scale of Ukraine’s mobilisation.
Let us not pause for one day. Let us see this through. The world is watching to see if the West has the resolve to stand up for our values and the rules-based system. What we do now for Ukraine will set the direction for all of our security for years to come.
Think for a moment what the aside insert “The average age of the soldiers at the front is over 40” really means. Can Storm Shadows change that fact?
Sollte stimmen, was Wallace da über das Durchschnittsalter an der ukrainischen Front sagt, 40 Jahre, dann sind die schlimmsten Mutmaßungen über Verluste weit übertroffen worden. Paraguay 1870.
Translated from German by Google If what Wallace says about the average age on the Ukrainian front is true, 40 years, then the worst assumptions about losses have been far exceeded. Paraguay 1870.
Paraguay suffered massive casualties, and the war’s disruption and disease also cost civilian lives. Some historians estimate that the nation lost the majority of its population.
Ukraine ain’t there yet. But looking at pictures of Ukrainian soldiers at the front Wallace seems to be right. If you are forty or above are you really still able to run, react and fight like when you were twenty? I am not.
The young Ukrainians are gone. They either have fled from Ukraine or are wounded, disabled or died. You can not mobilize what is no longer there.
Have your chili 3, 4 or 5 ways, Cincinnati style. This is also great on hot dogs, smothered with shredded cheese.
Yield: 5 to 6 servings
Ingredients
Chili
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
2 medium onions, chopped
1/2 cup chopped celery
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons mild chili powder
1 tablespoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 (14 1/2 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
Have It 5 Ways
1 pound spaghetti, cooked
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 cup finely grated Cheddar cheese
1 (15 1/2 ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed, drained and heated
Hot sauce (your favorite)
Instructions
Brown ground beef, onions and celery in a large skillet, drain off all fat.
Place slow cooker ingredients into a slow cooker and stir well. Cover slow cooker and cook for 7 to 9 hours on LOW, or for 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours on HIGH, stirring during last part of cooking if using HIGH setting.
Cook spaghetti 1/2 hour before chili is done.
To have chili 3-ways, serve it with spaghetti, chili and cheese.
To have chili 4-ways, serve it with spaghetti, chili, onion and cheese.
To have spaghetti 5-ways, serve it with spaghetti, chili, beans, onion and cheese.
Douse chili liberally with hot sauce, if desired.
US Shutdown CANCELLED, No Money For Ukraine, Economy In Ruins
At the last minute, the US Congress passed a Stopgap Bill to keep money flowing for government spending. However, funding was cut to Ukraine in a shocking move. This is most likely political theatre as American support will likely continue. Here’s why the US government is trapped and borrowing money will never end!
I was a store manager at family dollar and I inherited the store and like 6 employees. I was a new manager and didn’t have much experience in such a leadership role. Fast forward I am learning as the days go by. One of my employees come to me and ask me for a ride from work. I typically don’t mingle with coworkers or employees just to keep the possibility of drama down. Well long story short I ended up befriending this middle aged lady I worked with. She frequently got rides from everyone because she didn’t have a car. I ended up hiring another middle aged lady because she had to get a job to get her kids back from the state(I know I know not a good reason to hire someone but I was young soft hearted and above all a mother) so I gave her a chance. I worked around her visitation and allowed her to work a sporadic schedule. This went on for about two years. Well one day I came in on my day off which I frequently did just to make sure everything was up and running and things didn’t feel right. Everyday at a certain time the cameras cut off and reset to save memory or storage(one do them) well I see those two employees pushing carts full of merchandise to their cars along with other people. So I stop them and the people who were with them and ask them for receipts. They produced receipts for like 5 items but the amount of items In their carts greatly exceeded the receipt description. I fired them on the spot and they took two of four carts back into the store. Their family refused and I called loss prevention and police at this time. I was stressed out because she lost her job which means she was going to lose her children and I know it wasn’t my concern I just didn’t understand why she put her children in that position. They both had been stealing expired and new merchandise for the last 6–9 months. I was shocked at how they behaved so normally around me. I learned a lesson here though, I am more strict and don’t allow my heart to lead my professional decisions! I am an exceptional leader today because of my family dollar experiences!!
Not fight but they were hard to get back. As the younger brother, two years younger, of two older sisters, twins Lori and Tracy, I often had to go into their bedrooms and retrieve my stuff.
Yes it’s odd girls would be taking their brother’s clothes but mine did. Tracy would take my ball cap. She had a lot of blonde hair but that didn’t stop her from wearing my cap. She wore ball caps before girls wore ball caps and she got a lot of looks. She would also borrow a military style belt I had.
Tracy wore jeans ripped on the knees, purposely, to school one day before that came into fashion. The teacher sent her home. He told her that her knees were showing. She went home and changed into a short skirt and came back to school. The teacher stared at her shaking his head.
“Oh my God. My knees are showing. Should I go back home and change?” she said coyly. That was my sister. She was ahead of her time.
Lori would often take my school football jacket and wear it going to games with her friends. She often came to my games wearing it and cheered me on.
It was hard getting these things back sometimes and I’d have to sneak into their rooms that looked like cyclones hit them. Mom called them ‘Cyclonic Rest Areas.’ Fashion models since age 15, the girls had a lot of clothes and they were all over the rooms. You wouldn’t think they’d borrow their brother’s clothes having all those clothes in their rooms. Of course as soon as I got them back Lori would ask, “RJ, can I borrow your school jacket?”
I remember once I had to run out into the backyard to get the dogs out of the rain. Mom’s orders. The dogs never wanted to come in, even out of the rain. I had no shoes but there was a shiny pair of white boots by the back door. I was thirteen then. I put on the boots. I then ran outside and herded in the three dogs. Tracy, 15, was at the door with her friends. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING WEARING MY BOOTS? THEY ARE ALL MUDDY NOW!” She scolded. “Do you have any idea how much they cost?”
“Oh, but it’s fine for you and Lori to wear my ball cap, belt and jacket having them smell like perfume later!” I said to her as I took off her boots. She looked at her friends and laughed. She sighed. “Touché!” she said smiling at me.
I remember the girls were at a school football game I was playing in. One of the guys asked, “Is that Tracy wearing your cap RJ?” In those days, girls were not often seen wearing ball caps.
“Yep, that’s her,” I said.
“Wow! She sure looks a hell of a lot better wearing that cap than you do,” he said..
As Apple found out, limited amount of skilled labor and poor quality output. Apple tried to assemble in India and found they had a 50% yield rate and about a fifth of its required manpower needs. Further, as word got around, Europeans are not buying ‘made in India Apple iPhones. Almost all developing countries are similar in condition and experience. Simple things like garments work fairly well, but assembly of high end mobile phones are a bit harder.
While India offered what appeared to be the greatest possibility, Vietnam is always cited. Vietnam has limited skilled labor, lack of electricity, and lack of infrastructure. Again, garments, toys, and simple assembly are possible, but complex items get poor results.
Further, the supply chain is non-existent, so parts have to come from the supply chain developed in China. For Apple, lesson learned. It has lost $70 billion in this exercise to move to India, only to return to China and expand its operation there. The labor costs may be higher, but still cheaper than the US and the skilled labor is in quantity that Apple needs plus the yield rate is almost 100% and the supply chain is well developed.
I would also mention TSMC’s attempt to build a 4nm fab in Arizona, only to find lack of skilled labor, and work culture below that of Taiwan. It appears TSMC has closed the fab, laid off the workforce, and for all intents and purpose, shut down its US operations.
This break-up is epic. And classic. It was the ultimate f*ck you and the horse you rode in on.
A former co-worker had this “boyfriend” for four years. Didn’t want to marry her. “Marriage is just a piece of paper” and all that guff. So this woman was diagnosed at a fairly young age with cancer. Boyfriend still didn’t want to marry her; really, he didn’t want to have to deal with making her medical decisions, caring for her, etc. It became obvious during chemotherapy when she needed tending to.
Luckily, she had adult children and friends who stepped in and did all of the heavy lifting he was unwilling to do—and unable, by law, to do.
The cancer turns terminal. So, of course there’s the issue of inheritance to sort out and other financial and legal matters. This woman wasn’t rich by any stretch of the imagination, but she did okay. She had a house that was paid for, and some investments. A nice pension and Social Security benefits, and of course, health insurance.
The ne’er-do-well boyfriend has a lightbulb moment: he could get the house, basically double his monthly living income, and get really good health coverage, if he just married her. So he proposed when she was at her very weakest.
Not being a foolish woman, she told him to take a long walk off a short pier. He scuttled away in disgrace and let her spend her final days in the company of those who loved her.
When she did die, it was very sad. She was too young and still had a lot of living to do. But at least Mr. “marriage is just a piece of paper” didn’t profit out of the deal. Her adult kids got everything instead. To this day, I hold her in very high regard for not letting him bamboozle her.
He got nothing, nada, niente, as it should always be for people like that.
Oliver Anthony Rich Men North of Richmond”REACTION” It Just Got Real
China’s 18 main trunk lines of high-speed railways, only 6 lines are profitable, and the remaining 13 are loss-making.
In 2022, China’s high-speed rail suffered a total loss of US$15 billion.
Therefore, if all high-speed rail in China is regarded as a company, it is a company with huge losses.
But in the eyes of the Chinese, high-speed rail is not a business. They believe that high-speed railway is a kind of social infrastructure. The purpose of its existence is to provide basic services for the entire social and economic development without maintaining profitability itself.
Therefore, as a state-owned enterprise, China Railway Corporation must bear losses. The funds lost are subsidized by the government every year.
The question is, how can the Chinese government have so much money to subsidize high-speed rail?
The reason is simple. After the Chinese built the first key high-speed railway, the Beijing-Shanghai High-speed Railway, they were surprised to find that for every US$1 they lost on the high-speed railway, the economic growth generated along the high-speed railway would increase by US$1.8. Three years after the high-speed rail was completed, tax revenue from governments along the line increased by 68%. The economic growth is 1.5 times faster than that of other regions. This increased wealth is enough to build ten more high-speed railways of the same type.
At the same time, there are 140 core enterprises and 500 general enterprises producing high-speed rail parts in China, distributed in more than 20 provinces. A 200 billion yuan industrial chain has been formed, providing a large number of jobs. Just look at the construction process of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway, which involved more than 700 construction companies and provided jobs for 110,000 people.
Ultimately, high-speed rail became an engine of economic development in the eyes of the Chinese.
Wherever high-speed rail is built, wealth will be greatly increased. As for the funds invested in high-speed rail construction and operating expenses at a loss, they seem insignificant in the face of these increased wealth.
I worked in a small rural hospital in the central part of Texas. This hospital happened to be in between two high-security prisons. It was not a rare occurrence that while being transferred, they would stop at our hospital for blood work, x-rays, cat scans, etc. One time they brought two prisoners to the lab for blood work. (they remained chained and the officers kept weapons at ready.) I drew blood from the first guy. He was charistically covered with prison tattoos; tears, a clock with no hands, and several gang tattoos. He had one I never saw before. On his cheek were the numbers 5150.
I asked the other guy what 5150 meant. He said that guy is completely nuts! Nobody messes with that guy! What does 5150 mean? He said it is Part of the California penal code. It means criminally insane. I don’t who he is or what he did but he sure was creepy.
P.S. I got to know the transfer crews pretty well. we developed a practical joke with the prisoners. For all of their toughness, many of them were afraid of blood draw needles. When I was done with the blood draw I put a pink Barbie band-aid on the site. Then I told them they had to keep it on until they were admitted to their new home. The guards would back me up and say that they had to have proof that the blood was drawn. So the possibly badest, craziest, most evil, person I will ever meet wore a pink Barbie band-aid in prison because of me.
After a countless string of falsehood dangled by American leaders, government agencies, the mainstream media, thinktanks and intellectuals, why are we still debating if a particular American interpretation of China is credible?
Odds are it is false or embellished/exaggerated.
Remember this guy?
He made history becoming the first Cabinet-level official to be sanctioned by China, after passing a genocide determination on China’s treatment of the Uighurs in Xinjiang during his final weeks in office.
Surprisingly, few have spoken up for him, neither blue, nor red.
The State Department has quietly shelved his statement, with its lawyers concluding there was insufficient evidence to make the genocide designation. Antony certainly hasn’t acted on his predecessor’s words, even though the designation remains.
There was also balloon-gate, which was recently absolved by the Joint Chiefs.
“It was a weather balloon we shot down.”
It doesn’t matter how many warheads China has, because Zhou Enlai’s words remain relevant today.
“China has enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world once over”.
Stopped a motorcyclist who blew through a 4-way stop intersection. The guy pulled over and after I got out of my car, took off.
I chased him down and again, he stopped. He continued to straddle his bike while I approached him. I asked him to shut down his ride and swing off of it. No compliance. I reached down and turned the ignition off and removed the key. He went ballistic and decided to fight. Guy was huge and clearly under some form of influence. Inhumanly strong.
Tried to mace him, only to have the wind push it back at me. I had left my baton in the car and all he wanted to do was grab my holstered service weapon. We had no portable radios. Frankly, he was besting me and all I could do was keep him from ripping my revolver away from me.
Very, very fortunately, a county traffic officer approached from the other direction and he called it in before diving into the wrestling match. A few minutes later, LOTS of needed manpower arrived and we got the guy down and cuffed. We got him to his feet and watched while he “stiff-legged” it back to my car. Went to put him in the back seat and he wouldn’t fold. Tucked his knees with my stick; nothing. We knocked him back down and shoveled him into the car for the trip to the jail.
Upon booking, he ripped his (artificial) leg off, hopping around and swinging it at the jailers and everyone else……again, subdued and hauled off…aggressive, foul-mouthed, non-cooperative. Next day at his arraignment, a totally different guy! Disabled Vietnam vet…..double amputee….off of his meds. Contrite and apologetic.
Even as the arresting officer, the magistrate gave me no opportunity to comment or o’wise condition the arrest. The vet pleaded guilty and drew a 60-day sentence for battery to police officer(s). To this day, not certain that justice was served, but rolling around in the street fearing for my life was an eye-opener!
Many years ago, I was walking down a road in Bristol (England) and suddenly, a figure burst out of a door knocking me over, He stopped dead, and apologised profusely, helped me to my feet and noting my accent said ’You’re Welsh,- me too.’
He took me inside and got me a coffee, and we chatted awhile, and he said, ‘You don’t know who I am, do you? I had to admit I didn’t, So He said ‘I’m Tom Jones’ You know, the singer?
‘Bloody hell, I thought you were in America’, I said He replied ‘I had a date to appear in the Colston Hall and didn’t want to let them down’, ‘What can I do to be sorry?’ he said. ‘You said you were looking for a short-term job, weren’t you?’ ‘Yes’, I replied, ‘Let me help’, said he, and got on the phone and arranged a job for me there and them with a famous wine importer, saying he’d vouch for me ‘cos I’m Welsh.
I was well received and took up the job for the remainder of the time I spent in Bristol, and it opened a new horizon for me to explore in work which changed my life. So, I’ve often looked back to that chance encounter with a bloke renowned for being brutal – but who changed my life.
China is more ADVANCED than we realised!
Since returning to China, our minds have been blown by the rapid technological progress we’ve witnessed! In this video, @Huawei invited us to explore some of China’s most cutting-edge technologies, including robotic arms, futuristic robots, 5G factories, and mind-blowing augmented reality experiences.
LOL. The rest of youse guys are just NOW figuring all this out?
If the PLA liberates Taiwan by force, 99% of Chinese want Japan to send troops to intervene in the China’s internal affairs or China’s civil war.
As for why the Chinese think differently than you think, I think Asians understand.
Even the dispatch of 1 soldier from Japan is something the Chinese would be happy to see.
In 1937, the Japanese launched the Marco Polo Bridge Incident under the pretext of the disappearance of 1 soldier, and began a full-scale invasion of China.
So, 1 soldier is enough excuse. New grudges and old grudges can be returned together.
One evening in the London casino I worked at, I was having dinner in the restaurant with another client.
Then at a nearby table very old Greek man had a catastrophic failure of his bowels. This is a very exclusive Michelin equivalent restaurant. The restaurant unsurprisingly cleared, leaving me alone with the incontinent gentleman and his wife. I shamelessly pulled rank and had one of the wait staff wrap a table cloth around the unfortunate soul and then informed our reception that we would take the member home in one of our cars.
The car took the old couple home. The restaurant cleaned up the mess. And we were down one Bruges lace tablecloth. I thought the matter dealt with.
I received a phone call the next afternoon from the irate wife of the unfortunate guest. She took great pains to inform me that the quick thinking car jockey had covered the £100,000 Bentley’s back seat with something like clear plastic wrap. Obviously this was deeply humiliating to the couple. Especially to her faeces covered husband. The fact that he was wrapped in tablecloth after soiling himself in a packed restaurant was apparently not even comparatively humiliating.
The wife demanded I discipline the very rude driver. I agreed* and promised I would, and that the next time anyone fouled themselves in my presence at work I would not try to protect the interior of a hugely expensive car.
*Obviously I did not discipline the driver. He saved us an obscenely large valeting bill!
America is one of the biggest criminals in this modern world. They fights for their economic interest. Media defames nations and leaders from the intelligentsia.
Today there will be talk of a leader whom most of the world considers as a dictator.
Who should have got the Nobel Prize. But got death. Unfortunately, people think them as a criminal.
Libya is an African country bordering the Sahara Desert. There 80% of the land is desert. Only 10% of the land is such that people can live. Most of the parts of the country are such where not a drop of water has fallen for 20 years.
When oil was discovered in the world, oil was discovered in every country. What was found instead of oil in Libya was astonishing.
500 meters down in the desert, a thick layer of water was found, its thickness was somewhere around 700 meters thick.
According to experts, this is so much water that it can give water to Libya for 2-3 thousand years.
Its importance can be understood for a country where 90% of the land is desert.
But extracting this water, sending it to other parts was nothing less than Bhagirath’s penance. The money needed for this work in 1960 was $25 billion. From today’s point of view, it will be above 100 billion dollars.
Consideration on this project was abandoned. But when Colonel Gaddafi became president, they started this work.
The West was opposed to Gaddafi. IMF, World Bank no one gave loan to Libya for this work.
Gaddafi took this impossible project forward by making arrangements with their own nation.
Engineers from South Korea helped in this. Later, UNESCO also trained engineers.
Large pipes were built. So wide that the metro train passes.
The project was inaugurated by Colonel Gaddafi on 28 August 1984.
500 meters deep, 1300 wells were constructed. Which used to carry water through a 4000 km long pipeline. So many dams were built that 12 Egyptian pyramids could be built. Astronauts can also see the well built in it.
$33 billion was spent by Gaddafi. The whole of Africa was expected to be green.
In 2008, the Guinness Book of Books included the project as the largest project ever.
People went crazy with joy when water reached the major Libyan cities of Tripoli, Bayanji. Irrigation started in 13 thousand hectares of land.
But in 2011, America attacked NATO by spreading propaganda against Gaddafi.
The surprising thing is that he dropped the maximum number of bombs on this project. Due to which more than 25% collapsed.
How Western countries have turned the boon to Africa can be seen in ruins.
Now urgently we will sell bottled water to Africa, some Mother Teresa will come and get her converted. The Nobel Prize will take the title of a saint.
Gaddafi was bad, so the people of his country would have understood, who are you people who dropped bombs and missiles.
Indian External Affairs Minister Jaishankar, this is all he is saying. Your intention is not right. He says Britain robbed India 45 trillion dollars in 100 years. This is the research of UK universities only. India could not become a 5 trillion dollar economy in 75 years. So how much it will be looted can be estimated.
This project was made in collaboration with engineers from all over the world! What makes Gaddafi a great leader.
Burden X Steven James – Rich Men North Of Richmond Remix
My parents needed a new housekeeper because our old housekeeper was retiring, so with a very heavy heart — Hermione had become part of the family after all these years — they hired a new one.
And what a different person she was.
Vera was in her late twenties, good-looking, was energetic and quick, and had a smart mouth. We needed some time to adjust, but we immediately liked her.
Still, some things were really different. Sometimes she was caught red-handed leaving early, but she aways had some original excuse —
“My mom’s really sick. My husband needed urgent help. My boy needed an unforeseen ride. I started earlier than planned.”
It also happened a couple of times when my mom came home earlier than expected, that Vera was on the phone. (A classical rotary phone in the conversation pit in my parents’ living room.)
(Yes, dear reader. A rotary phone. With a cable.)
The excuse was always the same — urgent matters for sick people and needy children.
Till the day when my parents got the phone bill.
It was humongous, and an absurd number of very long calls had been made to an unknown number, each and every time during Vera’s working hours. When she alone was home.
It turned out that Very had a lover, and had used my parent’s house as a call center all along, so that her husband wouldn’t find out.
She was fired on the spot.
Not much later she left her husband for the lover, and that’s the last thing we ever heard of Vera. When Hermione heard the news some time later, she proposed to come back and spend one or two extra years in our family.
Purchase a marine air horn that works with a canister of aerosol gas. I keep two in my truck, one in each door panel. You may know them from hearing them at soccer matches in big stadiums. They are extremely loud and piercing. If you point one in a person’s face and discharge it with a long blast, the person would become discombobulated instantly. It is actually painful and can hurt eardrums. It would render them unable to hear for a minute or more and affect their equilibrium, causing trouble moving, walking, running, or aiming. The surprise effect is stunning; they do not expect anything like that. You then have the option of running and getting the hell away or physically counter-attacking. It is hard to defend yourself when your faculties are compromised. It is also hard to chase someone. Keep the horn in your hand and be ready to give them a second dose if needed. If you do the wise thing and run, you can keep doing short blasts as you are leaving. The beauty of this is that anyone who is within 100 yards of you will be alerted to that sound and will turn to look and see what is happening. The perp is put on full display and probably will abandon his assault attempt. This can be a lifesaver in a gas station scenario where you are pumping gas and getting approached by someone walking up to your car. I tried a test on a friend who was 3 feet away and his back was turned. A one-second blast, aimed at the ground, made him jump three feet and run about twenty feet away. He didn’t know what happened, he just wanted out of there. Think what a 10-second blast directly in the face would do!
Twenty years ago my wife and I saw an ad in the New York Times travel section. Round trip from JFK to Barbados on the Concorde, plus a week at the hotel of your choice (there were 5 hotels to choose from).
The Concorde? Let’s do it.
We called British Airways Holidays. (It was still the early day of Internet commerce. Back in 2000 you picked up the landline.)
“We’re flexible on dates,” I told the agent. “But the hotel has to be the Fairmont Royal Pavilion.”
No problem. The agent found a date that worked and took our money (about $13,000 all in). Pricey, but hey — the Concorde.
Two nights before our departure date there was a message on our home answering machine. “This is British Airways Holidays. We’ve had to make some adjustments to your itinerary. You will now be staying at the Royal Pavilion’s sister property, Glitter Bay.”
Sister property. It sounds like kind of the same thing. Except it’s not. Royal Pavilion is for adults only. Glitter Bay is for families with kids. Lots and lots of kids. We love kids. We raised two. But the reason we picked the Royal Pavilion was because we wanted to spend a week without kids.
I called British Airways Holidays. No answer. They’re not an airline. They’re just the travel planners for the airline and work from 9 to 5. We left a voicemail.
The next morning we called the Royal Pavilion and spoke to the General Manager of both properties. He said, “British Airways does this all the time. They take your money, and then they switch your hotel. Here’s what I can do. For the same price I can put you up in a large one-bedroom private villa at Glitter Bay. It’s off the beaten path, far from the kids, an easy walk to the Royal Pavilion, and you’ll have complete access to all our facilities and amenities. I’ll send my wife over to take photos of the villa.”
An hour later I got the pictures. It was incredible. We decided to take it.
British Airways never called back. The guest relations guy who met us at the airport in Barbados never told us we’d been switched to another hotel. He drove us to Glitter Bay. Or as we called it all week, Glitter Bait and Switch.
Let me sum up that week-long vacation: The Concorde was a once in a lifetime experience. Our villa was spectacular. But still, it wasn’t what we’d signed on for.
The General Manager was a total sweetheart. He suggested that I write to British Airways, but warned me not to get my hopes up for a refund.
We’ll just see about that decided the man who writes for a living. I spent days crafting the letter. A week after I sent it I got a call from a British Airways rep in London. She apologized for the “misunderstanding,” and asked how she could make it right.
I told her I wanted a public apology. An ad in the New York Times travel section telling the world what they had done and promising not to sucker in any more people. She said, “Sir, we can’t do that.”
I told her if she didn’t I would go public on this Internet thing that was still just taking hold and tell the whole world wide web what a bunch of crooks they were.
She said, “I’ll get back to you.”
A week later she called back. “We’d like to offer you and your wife an all-expense paid trip from New York to London,” she said. “We’ll fly you there on the Concorde, put you up in a five-star hotel, and fly you back first class on a 747.”
If she had seen the look on my face, she’d have known she had me. But she couldn’t see me. So I doubled down.
“Absolutely not,” I said. “You already flew me to a hotel I didn’t want to go to. Why would I want you to fly me to another place I don’t want to go to? I want a public apology. An ad in the New York Times.”
“Let me talk to my management,” she said.
Another week passed. She called back. “Sir, we absolutely can’t print a public apology. The best we can offer you is a full refund. Airfare and your entire hotel bill including meals and other amenities and services you may have charged. If you say yes, we will credit your American Express card with the entire amount.”
I grumbled, and told her that it wasn’t what I wanted, but she’d won. I begrudgingly accepted the more than $13,000 refund.
Then I hung up, did a happy dance, and told my wife the news.
The next day I called the General Manager of the Royal Pavilion and booked their best villa for a week the following spring. Three bedrooms. Perfect for me, my wife, my son, my daughter and their significant others. The cost of the villa, along with airfare (non-supersonic) for six people — a little over $13,000.
Best all-expenses-paid vacation ever.
—————————————————————
EDIT — Sometimes I post and hear crickets. But this one — over 100k views and 9k upvotes in less than 24 hours. That’s like Mach 2 in Quora terms. Thank you. Several people asked if they could see the letter I sent.
I’d have thought that after 20 years it would be lost to the ages, but I was amazed to see that it was still buried in my archives. It’s 1700 words, and I’d be embarrassed to reprint it. My recounting of the event on Quora was written with a smile on my face. The complaint letter is me at my pissiest.
But I can give you the highlights. Basically, the letter stated the facts. Re-reading it after 20 years, it’s clear that British Airways was even more underhanded than I remembered, so those facts were pretty damning. The manager of the Royal Pavilion taught me some of the tricks of the trade, and he explained why they waited till I was 48 hours away from departure, even though they knew they had overbooked weeks before. He also assured me that BA overbooked, not the hotel. I made sure they knew I was a very knowledgeable consumer.
My closing was this: “I feel violated and am angry enough to take my complaint to the FAA, the appropriate consumer fraud departments in New York, the travel press and travel newsgroups on the Internet. I also feel justified in pursuing legal action where I would seek compensation for both the cost of a lost vacation and for being the victim of dishonest business practices.”
But my best line was this: “Under no condition would I have considered a vacation at Glitter Bay, much less pay $13,186.90 for the privilege of living in the middle of a high rent day care center.”
It’s hard to go up against a corporate Goliath and win. But every now and then… I hope this is the kind of encouragement you need to never quit trying.
Russian Spetsnaz Captured German Army Officers in Ukraine! NATO Armies Suffer Heavy Losses!
The Kursk was an Oscar II class submarine, one of the largest and most powerful subs ever built. It was armed with 24 cruise missiles and 24 torpedoes, some of them tipped with nuclear warheads.
It was supposed to be a show of force and a demonstration of Russia’s military capabilities.
But something went horribly wrong on August 12th, 2000 around 11:30 a.m. local time.
According to the official investigation, one of the practice torpedoes that the Kursk was loading had a faulty weld in its casing, which leaked high-test peroxide (HTP) inside the torpedo tube.
HTP is a highly reactive substance that can explode when it comes into contact with metal or organic matter.
The leak triggered a catalytic explosion that blew off both the inner and outer tube doors, started a fire, and killed or injured most of the crew in the first two compartments.
Two minutes and fifteen seconds later, another explosion occurred, much bigger than the first one.
This one was caused by the detonation of five to seven torpedo warheads, which ripped a huge hole in the hull, collapsed several bulkheads and decks, destroyed the fourth compartment, and killed everyone who was still alive in the front half of the sub.
The second explosion was so powerful that it registered as a 3.5 magnitude earthquake on seismographs around the world.
The Kursk sank to the bottom of the sea, at a depth of about 350 feet. The rear half of the sub was still intact, and some of the survivors managed to seal off the ninth compartment and activate an emergency beacon.
But they were trapped, with no way to escape or communicate with the surface.
Meanwhile, the Russian Navy had no clue what had happened. They did not realise that an accident had occurred until six hours later, when they noticed that the Kursk had missed a scheduled communication check.
They did not initiate a search and rescue operation until 16 hours later, when they finally located the sub on sonar.
But their rescue efforts were hampered by bad weather, poor equipment, and bureaucratic delays.
They tried to attach four different diving bells and submersibles to the escape hatch of the Kursk, but failed every time due to technical problems or human errors.
They also refused to accept help from other countries’ ships nearby, claiming that they had everything under control.
It took them five days to admit that they needed outside assistance, and by then it was too late.
On August 21st, British and Norwegian divers managed to open a hatch to the ninth compartment of the Kursk, but found no signs of life. All 118 sailors on board had perished.
….
Now, there are those who believe that the U.S. Navy had something to do with the disaster, either by sabotaging or attacking the Kursk. Why would they do that?
– To prevent Russia from testing or deploying new weapons systems
– To send a message or a warning to Russia about its military ambitions
– To cover up an accidental collision or confrontation between U.S. and Russian subs
– To distract attention from other issues or scandals in U.S. politics
These claims lack substantial evidence.
Some people claim that there were two U.S. subs near the Kursk at the time of the accident: USS Memphis and USS Toledo.
Memphis
They say that these subs were spying on or harassing the Kursk, and that they either collided with it or fired a torpedo at it.
But there is no proof that these subs were actually there. The U.S. Navy denies any involvement in the incident, and says that its closest sub was hundreds of miles away from the Kursk.
Even if these subs were there, they would have no reason to attack or sabotage the Kursk. The U.S. and Russia were not at war, and the Kursk was not a threat to them. It was only carrying practice torpedoes, not live ones.
And if there was a collision or a confrontation, why would the U.S. subs not report it or try to help the Kursk? Why would they risk an international incident or a nuclear war by hiding their actions?
Some people claim that the second explosion on the Kursk was not caused by its own torpedoes, but by an external source, such as a U.S. torpedo or a mine. They say that the explosion was too big and too loud to be from the Kursk’s weapons, and that it left traces of uranium or plutonium on the seabed.
Again, there is no evidence to back up these claims. The official investigation concluded that the second explosion was consistent with the detonation of five to seven torpedo warheads, each containing about 500 pounds of high explosives. The explosion was big and loud because it happened in a confined space, and because the Kursk’s hull acted as a resonator.
And there is no proof that there was any radioactive material on the seabed. The Kursk’s reactors shut down safely after the first explosion, and did not leak any radiation. The traces of uranium or plutonium that some people claim to have found were either natural or from other sources, such as sunken ships or waste dumps.
Verdict:
There is no credible evidence to suggest that the U.S. was behind the Kursk submarine disaster. It was a tragic accident, caused by a faulty torpedo and compounded by a series of failures and mistakes by the Russian Navy. It was not a conspiracy, but a catastrophe.
The Chinese people are such a nation that when you give them comfort and enjoyment, they will self collapse, just like every dynasty change in China and the late Qing Dynasty.
But when external pressure is exerted to suppress the development of the Chinese people and limit their pursuit of happiness, the Chinese people will erupt in strong resilience, use their talents to break through the blockade, and ultimately achieve rise.
From resisting Japanese aggression during World War II to becoming the world’s second largest economy, the Chinese people have come step by step due to external concerns.
The characteristics of this ethnic group can be summarized by a famous quote from the Chinese Confucian philosopher Mencius two thousand years ago:Born in distress and died in peace and contentment
Coincidentally, the United States is such an ultimate concern from outside, and its extreme pressure and sanctions unite all Chinese people. Regardless of whether they support the government or not, they have found that only by overcoming American oppression can they have a happy life and a bright future.
China has a population of 1.4 billion, and the number of university graduates in China far exceeds the total population of Japan. China has over 70 million science and engineering talents, which is a huge treasure trove of human resources.
For example, the Huawei Mate60 series, which was just released in September, under four years of extreme sanctions and pressure, more than 100 companies listed by the US Department of Commerce worked together to break the world’s strictest blockade and create 7nm chips with independent intellectual property rights and production capabilities. This is the first time in the history of a company or industry’s battle against the world’s only superpower.
In the chip disassembly video, the encoding is all 2035CN.
CN is easy to understand, it implies China. 2035 needs to be explained as it represents China’s national research plan. If completed according to the plan, China will become the center of the world’s manufacturing industry and advanced technology by 2035.
It goes without saying where the sword points
The local manufacturing of high-end chips means that the bargaining power of Chinese local chip consumers will be epic strengthened – the space for manufacturers to rely on exclusive technology to obtain excess profits will be compressed, and domestic companies that need chips to drive their own products will welcome a round of “technology driven cost reduction and efficiency increase” – industries such as AI, new energy vehicles, autonomous driving, etc. will benefit from this.
If this is just a celebration of the country and the company, it’s not a big deal. But Chinese consumers joined the frenzy, using their own income to support this domestically produced phone with fully autonomous and controllable technology, and even sparked a wave of frenzy.
This high-end phone with an average price of over $800 sold over 1.6 million units in just 6 weeks, according to Counterpoint data. It is expected that the remaining few units will be sold over 5 million units in 2023, with a full life cycle sales of over 20 million units. Such sales have boosted Huawei’s sales forecast for 2024- reaching 60 to 70 million units. You know, this is the single market of Chinese Mainland, and $800 is not a small amount for a country with an annual per capita GDP of $10000.
Due to the release time of this phone, which coincides with the visit of US Commerce Secretary Raymond to China, Chinese netizens have divided and joked about Raymond and the US government, and even spliced the phone’s advertising image with Raymond’s photo, using the phrase “Raymond is a Huawei certified spokesperson” to mock the US blockade for not being able to stop China’s technological progress.
In the capital market, after the release of mobile phones, there was a wave of enthusiasm in the stock market – various semiconductor related stocks have been strengthening all the way, and SMIC International has ushered in five limit up boards in the stock market.
China’s capital market has always been cautious, but now it is full of confidence. How did you say this confidence came about? I have not yet achieved satisfactory results in the journey of technology with my strength.
The wave of new products from Huawei shows this trend: consumers use money to support the products of consumer electronics manufacturers, and manufacturers can collaborate with upstream chip factories to strengthen production processes after withdrawing funds, gradually increasing yield rates, reducing costs, and polishing production processes to maturity.
Then the chip factory uses the money earned to encourage upstream equipment and material suppliers to upgrade and iterate. This is a virtuous cycle, driven by a large amount of capital and technological capital intensity, and an upward spiral towards development and progress.
In addition to continuously developing on the path of EUV,DUV, China is also exploring other surpassing and disruptive technologies, such as chip lithography factories.
To understand the great significance of this scientific device, it is necessary to first briefly understand some basic knowledge of lithography machines.
As the most core equipment in the chip production process, the lithography machine mainly works by passing light through a specific mask, shrinking it through the lens, and projecting it onto the wafer – the wafer is coated with photosensitive photoresist, and after the development program, a specific pattern can be left behind.
This is the basic process of building integrated circuits on chips by a lithography machine. But with the development of technology, chips have become increasingly complex – in a limited space only the size of a fingernail, people need to put billions of transistors inside.
Therefore, the requirements for lithography machines are becoming increasingly high, specifically for the light source of lithography machines. Because if we want to achieve more advanced process technology, we must have shorter wavelengths.
Early lithography machines used ultraviolet radiation emitted by mercury lamps, also known as g-line light sources, with a wavelength of 436nm.
The most advanced process capable of processing was 250nm. Later, with the development of technology, it was replaced with an excimer laser light source, which can emit deep ultraviolet light at 193nm wavelength, also known as an ArF light source – under the ArF light source, the most advanced manufacturing process is only 22nm.
But the problem is that technological development has no end. The 22nm process cannot keep up with the booming development of the consumer electronics industry, and people need more advanced chips. 7nm/5nm/3nm…
Although these data are common now, industry scientists have long anticipated this trend, and in fact, they have been launching impacts on these process nodes since the 1980s. The result of the impact is that there must be a new light source – the 193nm wavelength of the ArF light source is still too long to meet the requirements.
The final solution to this problem is the Cymer company in the United States, which provides an extremely complex light source – extreme ultraviolet light with a wavelength of only 13.5nm. The working principle of this light source is extremely complex: a high-energy carbon dioxide laser is irradiated on a dripping target of tin droplets with a diameter of only 20 microns.
This bombardment causes the tin material to instantly produce plasma, which emits extreme ultraviolet rays with a wavelength of 13.5nm – ultimately, these scattered extreme ultraviolet rays are gathered together through a complex lens group and projected onto the mask. This is the effort made by European and American companies and scientists to obtain an extreme ultraviolet light source with a wavelength of 13.5nm.
However, this type of light source actually has significant drawbacks. Firstly, it is too complex. In order to hit a tin target with a diameter of only 20 microns, a carbon dioxide laser needs to “shoot” 50000 times per second, and the evaporated tin target can also pollute the precision optical equipment inside the equipment – most importantly, the power of this light source is too low.
Under a 20kW laser bombardment, the radiation power generated by the plasma is less than 500W – not as powerful as a household refrigerator. Low power ultimately leads to impressive output; And the impressive output means that there is no scale effect and the cost remains high. But even so, this is currently the most advanced thing.
Now, it’s time to talk about our so-called “lithography factories”. Huairou HEPS and Xiong’an SSMB actually belong to the same category, as both study “synchrotron radiation”.
And synchrotron radiation is a type of light source. The history of synchrotron radiation light sources is very long: in 1947, scientists first discovered a phenomenon on electron synchrotron: when charged particles with speeds close to the speed of light deflect in an electromagnetic field, they emit electromagnetic radiation along the tangent direction of the motion trajectory – this is called “synchrotron radiation”.
This type of synchrotron radiation has many excellent characteristics, such as high brightness, wide energy spectrum, high collimation and polarization. Therefore, since the 1970s, scientists around the world have been studying light sources based on this synchrotron radiation. In Chinese Mainland, we have four generations of synchrotron radiation light sources: the first generation stands in Beijing (BSRF), the second generation stands in Hefei (HLS), the third generation stands in Shanghai (SSRF), and the fourth generation stands in Beijing Huairou (HEPS).
And Xiongan’s SSMB is actually within this category, but SSMB has taken a step further – Steady state micro bunching, a new light source solution developed by Professor Tang Chuanxiang’s team from Tsinghua University in collaboration with German and American scientists.
The specific technical details are too complex, so we won’t go into more detail. What we need to know is that the most attractive aspect of SSMB light source is that it can provide a variety of wavelengths of radiation, not to mention extreme ultraviolet rays with a wavelength of 13.5nm. Soft X-rays with a wavelength of 5nm are also effortless, and the maximum power can reach 4kW, far surpassing Cymer’s “tin droplet bombardment method”.
Therefore, the implementation of SSMB-EUV light sources is expected to help China achieve leapfrog development in EUV lithography.
At the same time, the SSMB accelerator light source can provide coherent radiation from terahertz to soft X-ray bands with high average power and narrow linewidth, and its time structure can be adjusted in a large range.
It can provide unprecedented tools and means for cutting-edge basic research and applied basic research in physics, chemistry, energy, environment, and other disciplines.
The SSMB accelerator light source has attracted widespread attention from the scientific and industrial communities With the deepening of physical research on SSMB storage rings and the mastery of their key technologies, SSMB accelerator light sources can be expected as light sources for the lithography industry and scientific research.
Their performance will also continue to improve, and the cost will gradually decrease. At the same time, the application of SSMB accelerator light sources will also be more widely expanded.
In summary, we can see that China’s scientific research team is not blindly following and catching up with the West, but is also developing the next generation of technology in a new way while following – this is not a “curve overtaking”, but a dignified linear acceleration overtaking.
I even think that the domestic lithography machine industry is highly likely to replicate the success of China’s new energy vehicle industry in the future: comparing the traditional “tin droplet bombardment” lithography machine is like comparing the engine and gearbox of traditional fuel vehicles.
Time is not waiting for us, and it is difficult for us to reach the most advanced level in Europe and America in a short period of time. But competing for the brand new SSMB light source is like competing for new energy vehicles, where everyone is on the same starting line, and we are even the leading one.
Therefore, I would like to end with Mao Zedong’s famous statement: “Imperialism blockades us, then blockade it. After ten to eight years of blockade, all China’s problems have been solved
‘Steve’, a new person at work (it was about his second or third week) called in one morning to say that his grandma had died. He was told he could take some time off, and get back to us in a few days and let us know how he was doing.
Soon afterwards, co-workers noticed that Steve had unfriended them on Facebook. All except for his line manager who, we can only presume, he forgot to unfriend.
A few days later, Steve posted on Facebook, saying that he’d been robbed.
By a prostitute.
In Ibiza.
When he returned to work, Steve was called into a meeting with the line manager, who opened with: “Sorry to hear about you getting mugged.” By all accounts, it was a short meeting.
Credit where credit’s due, Steve didn’t waste anyone’s time trying to claim that the Ibiza trip had been an attempt to deal with his grief – apparently, he owned up straight away that a friend of his had got cheap last minute flights to Ibiza, and he’d made the dead granny up to get time off at short notice. He was still fired though.
US Suspiciously Activates Global Fragility Act To Intervene In West African States
How does the US have the right to interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign nations? How would the dominant society feel if Russia and China intervened openly in American affairs?
For refusing to help a coworker and making them miss a deadline.
That was the story the guy gave to his boss, who confronted my boss about it, who brought the other boss into my office to get to the root of the problem.
My boss: Did you get X for John Doe?
His boss: He said you refused to help him, and I don’t appreciate people preventing my team from getting their work done.
Me: I haven’t talked to John Doe in ages, but let me check my records.
~pulls up database of work requests which I’d built myself for just such occasions~
Me: Oh it looks like he caught me after a meeting 6 months ago and mentioned it, and I asked him to follow up with details so I would know what to get him… but he didn’t contact me again.
His boss: Oh. Okay, well, that clarifies things.
Me: I’m here whenever he he has free time, or, if he doesn’t want to call or come over, he can just submit a request, telling me what he actually needs, on our intranet page.
My boss was cool, he was used to me being blamed and fully approved of my tracking every interaction I had with everyone I worked with (internal and external)… I was the only female technical staff and was young enough to be the daughter of most of the folks I worked with.
His boss was cool with me after that point… he knew anyone smack talking me wasn’t doing their job and was trying to blame-shift and he’d whip them into shape. He ALWAYS stood up for his guys, so I had mad respect for that.
I set up a worm composter inside my home and ended up with a fruit fly infestation.
It was over a decade ago and I was really into gardening and soil biology.
I had a regular compost bin in my backyard, but it was taking almost a year for my kitchen scraps to turn into finished compost.
I wanted a way to make compost faster and worm composting seemed like the best solution.
From my research, it was supposed to be really easy. You set up a tray with moist bedding and kitchen scraps, and you let the worms go to town. What could go wrong?
Apparently, a lot.
Take one:
When my worm composter and red wrigglers arrived, it was fairly easy to set up.
I placed the worm bin in my back patio, and I checked on them every day for the next few days. The worms seemed really happy.
On the fifth or sixth night, we had a heavy rain. When I went to check on my worms the next morning, I discovered a bunch of worms outside the bin.
When I looked inside, the tray was waterlogged and the few worms left inside had drowned.
Apparently, the heavy rain had caused a bunch of rain to leak into the composter, causing the mass worm exodus of 2008.
Take two:
I ordered more earthworms, and my husband fashioned a rain cover for the composter from a trash can lid.
After I set up the worms, things were going really well for several weeks.
One morning, when I went to add food to the trays, there was a bunch of dried worms outside the bin and a horrible stench coming from the composter.
When I looked inside, all the worms were dead and had already started to decompose.
I had started the worm bin in early spring when the weather was still mild. But as the weather warmed up, the bin apparently heated up too much and literally cooked all my worms, causing the great worm extinction of 2008.
Take three:
There wasn’t any part of my patio that was completely shaded, and even though I had placed the bin in the shadiest part of my patio, it still got too hot.
So I came up with the bright idea that I would set up the composter in my basement. It was climate controlled, and I would never have to worry about rain.
I ordered more red wrigglers and after I set them up, things were great for several months. The worms were munching through the trays, and I was getting rich, finished compost that I added to my garden.
One day, we noticed we were getting a lot of fruit flies in the house. The next week, they grew into a few dozen. Before we knew it, they turned into a full blown infestation.
As I walked through the house, the little pests would fly into my face and get lodged in my hair.
We had fruit flies peppering all the windows, trying to get outside.
At night, we itched and scratched as fruit flies wandered around in the air and crawled on our bodies.
There were so many swarming around our ceilings, that they would trigger our fire alarms, setting them off at odd times of the day and wee hours of the morning.
We tried everything to get rid of them.
We set up vinegar fruit fly traps.
We strung sticky fly strips from the ceilings and pinned fly paper everywhere.
We withheld water from our plants, letting them dry out completely between waterings to kill off eggs.
But still, the population kept growing.
For the life of us, we didn’t know where they were coming from, or why they were multiplying so quickly. That is, until one day, when I went down to add food to the worm trays.
I was pulling a finished compost tray out when it suddenly clicked. I knew that fruit flies laid eggs in moist soil. But it wasn’t until that moment when it occurred to me that I had been making moist soil right in my basement.
Trays and trays of dark, rich soil, teeming with nutrients. What fruit fly mama wouldn’t want to lay eggs in that?
At that moment, I knew that I had to give up my worms.
I took the trays of worms out back, to the grassy community area behind my house. And I said goodbye to my earthworms, as I carried out the great worm liberation of 2008.
Wisconsin Chicken Booyah is famous in the Fox River Valley region — Green Bay, Wisconsin. Booyah and beer go great together. Booyah King, Bob Baye, of Green Bay, Wisconsin, has been making Booyah since about 1946 in 100-gallon cookers.
Ingredients
1 roasting or stewing chicken (about 4 pounds)
1 pound beef stew meat, with bones
1 pound pork stew meat, with bones
1/2 cup minced parsley
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon rosemary
1 tablespoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon sage
4 cups quartered potatoes
2 cups chopped onions
2 cups chopped celery
1 cup carrots, cut up
1 cup green beans, cut up
1 cup fresh peas
1 cup skinned, seeded, chopped tomatoes
2 lemons
Instructions
Put chicken into a deep kettle with the beef and pork. Cover with boiling water. Bring slowly to a simmer, remove scum from the top, and add herbs and seasonings. Simmer very gently, covered, about 1 hour.
Remove chicken and, when cooled, take meat form the bones and cut into pieces. Let beef and pork continue to cook until tender, 45 minutes to an hour more.
Remove and let cool enough to remove meat from bones. Add vegetables to the broth and simmer 5 to 10 minutes.
Grate lemon rind and set aside; remove white pith and seeds from the lemons, chop the pulp, and add to the broth. Taste for seasoning.
While vegetables are still crisp, return the meat pieces to the broth to heat through. Serve in large soup bowls and sprinkle with the lemon rind.
This particular company had a major office building with hundreds of employees. All the offices were decorated in shades of burgundy and green. It was quite pretty actually.
Anyhoo… due to changing departments, I was moved from 3d floor NE to 3rd floor SW. As I’m settling into my new space (which was identical to the old space except I looked south instead of north out the window), the head of the Committee On Office Ambiance appears.
“Oh no no no!” says she. “You aren’t allowed to have original artwork in your office because you are not a manager.”
I glance at the generic painting on the wall, one like every office had. It was ugly as sin. But apparently it was an original rather than a print. Miss Committee snatches that piece of original art and returns with a print, which I liked better anyway.
But it gets better.
So years go by and eventually the hydraulics on my chair gave out. The chair would periodically drop me to the floor without warning. Rather annoying as you can imagine.
I ask my boss for a new chair but he says he doesn’t have the budget for it. I ask to fix the chair but he says he doesn’t have the budget for that either.
This is ridiculous, I think.
So one night I stay late. In the dark of night, I hasten my broken chair down to another office and steal one from an empty. But I get caught! Manager sees me switching chairs. Yells at me because he doesn’t have the budget to fix a chair either, even if that chair is in an empty office. Foiled!
I wait. I plot.
Another night comes and again I wait until not a soul is in the building. I make my switch and I’m not caught! Victory!
Next morning, I’m all happy in my new chair until Miss Committee stops by.
“Oh no no no!” says she. “That’s a burgundy chair! You must have a green chair to match your office.”
Out goes my nice chair and back comes my broken one. Foiled again.!
Once again, I wait. I plot.
Darkness of night. I steal through the building with my broken chair seeking one of identical color. Find it. Make the switch. Life is good.
Until Miss Committee stops by again.
“Oh no no no!” says she. “That’s a manager’s chair. You are only allowed a peon’s chair.” Back comes my broken chair. Foiled yet again!
I’m bemoaning my fate to sit on the floor for the rest of eternity when the maintenance dude happens by. He tells me he has a fix for chairs like mine. He takes it away and comes back in a few with a fixed chair. He’d put a pipe in the stem. The chair can never be lowered again, but what do I care?
I’m finally happy. Miss Committee is finally happy.
I tell this to some folks in the plant. One day, mysteriously, a Dilbert cartoon appears on my desk. Poor Dilbert’s chair is broken and he tries to steal one, only the accounting troll catches him and sentences him to prison at the bottom of the elevator shaft.
I laughed so hard I nearly fell off my (fixed) chair.
I dare anyone to come up with something stupider than this tale.
I had this experience. My boss had already let me know they were eliminating my position due to budget constraints. I wasn’t upset; I had seen the writing on the wall, and I had included a 90 day severance notice in my contract, since the company was known for poor budgeting and finances. In addition to my being let go, I was going to have to let go of several members of the office staff as well. That was fine, but I asked for some time to put everything in order for doing so, at least a week. We didn’t have an HR dept, and being in California, there are certain steps that need to be taken when letting someone go.
The owners didn’t want to wait and insisted I inform people immediately, giving them a two week notice of their termination. Obviously, there were a lot of questions from the employees being let go about benefits and unemployment, which the owners were unprepared to answer. One of the employees complained to me in an email about how vague the owners were being in their answers.
Well, a couple of hours later, I received an angry phone call from the owner’s wife, because this employee had spoken ill of her, and I hadn’t defended her. She and her husband were reading everyone’s emails and were unhappy to learn the people they were firing had little good to say about them. The next call I got was from the owner, demanding I resign immediately in writing for not defending his wife. Of course, I laughed and refused.
His next tactic was to demand I leave home for an unspecified amount of time to work with him on the east coast on new projects. This was the week of Thanksgiving. I had one more card to play: the owner of the company thought it was hilarious to send explicit photos to upper management. I had asked him in front of witnesses to stop; it was a whole other level of weird. I refused to go to the East Coast or resign on advice of attorney based on the hostile sexua environment at the company.
The moment I mentioned sexual harassment and attorneys, the owners went on radio silence. They wouldn’t fire me, and I received zero emails from them for the rest of my 90 day term. I still had to come in to work, but I just sat in my office. I did start taking my private laptop and a hotspot, though, and completed my masters thesis on their dime. I think they thought they were punishing me by making me come in to work for the remainder of my time, but in reality, they gave me an air conditioned, private office to complete a major project. So, thank you?
US Forever War vs Russia and China
In 2014 there was a coup. Soon after, there was a massacre in Odessa (dozens of people were burned alive). Ethnic Russians living in Ukraine were treated as subhuman. Their language and culture was being oppressed. A civil war broke out due to the rise in ethnic tensions.
For 8 years the Ukrainian military was indiscriminately shelling civilians living in Donbas.
If Zelensky honored the Minsk agreement and pledged neutrality, none of this would have happened. The 8 year civil war would have ended and Donbas would have remained part of Ukraine. War is the ultimate failure of diplomacy.
When I was a young boy, growing up in Bridgeport, CT, my father would take myself and my sister to the butcher to buy meat. He would always buy meats that a typical 1960’s era family would buy. This would include pork, beef, chicken, and many many roasts. I am sure that he bought some occasional steaks, as well as lots of pork chops.
What I remember most from that time was the wood sawdust floors, and the fresh hotdogs that he would procure for us from the butcher there.
Today… the “local butcher” is more than likely an employee at a supermarket chain, rather than an individual with a shingle and a business storefront.
It’s a sad thing… you know, to lose something that seems all so common at one time.
In those days, the meat were all wrapped in newspaper or butchers paper, today, it’s all prepackaged in cellophane and sterile.
Appreciate what you have today. The mundane is soon to be replaced with something different. And as you get older, you will reminisce of the common day to day lifestyle that you had once taken for granted.
Today…
2nm Chips
2nm Chips: China to challenge ASML with a new technology better than EUV — Techovedas
In the race for semiconductor chip manufacturing, China has embarked on a groundbreaking venture to revolutionize lithography technology by exploring novel avenues that could potentially disrupt the industry especially ASML.
China is strategizing the establishment of an immense chip manufacturing facility propelled by a particle accelerator to challenge ASML. This technology could be a game-changer that outstrips US sanctions and make China a key player in the chip world. They’re actively pushing forward with the construction of a crucial particle accelerator to bring this cutting-edge technology to life.
This initiative is focused on leveraging particle accelerators to create a cutting-edge laser source for lithography machines, a crucial component in microchip production. Unlike traditional approaches, the Chinese project aims to localize manufacturing and bolster high-volume, low-cost chip production by constructing a colossal factory housing multiple lithography machines around a single accelerator.
This innovation could position China as a global leader in the industrial production of advanced chips, including coveted 2nm chips.
“One of the potential applications of our research is as a light source for future EUV lithography machines. I think this is why the international community is paying close attention,”
Professor Tang Chuanxiang from Tsinghua University in a report on the university’s website.
The SSMB Theory and its Potential:
At the core of this technological breakthrough is the innovative Steady-State Microbunching (SSMB) theory, proposed by Professor Zhao Wu at Stanford University and his student Daniel Ratner in 2010. SSMB theory utilizes the energy released by charged particles during acceleration to act as a light source, resulting in a narrow bandwidth, small scattering angle, and continuous pure Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) light.
ASML prioritizes downsizing chip manufacturing machines for international trade. In contrast, the Chinese initiative centers on domestic production. It aims to construct an extensive facility consolidating numerous lithography machines around a central accelerator. This advancement can fuel abundant and cost-effective chip production. It positions China as a leader in industrializing advanced chips, including 2nm and beyond.
China tech Better than ASML EUV
Compared to the existing ASML EUV technology, SSMB, china tech proves to be a superior light source. It offers higher average power and increased chip production while maintaining lower unit costs.
ASML utilizes laser-induced plasma to generate an EUV source, involving the projection of strong laser pulses onto tin microdroplets. This impact crushes the droplets, producing EUV pulse light. Following intricate filtering and focusing processes, an EUV light source with an approximate power of 250W is generated.
Conclusion
China’s ambitious project aims to create a new light source for lithography machines. It utilizes particle accelerators and SSMB theory. This endeavor could reshape the semiconductor industry significantly. China seeks to localize chip manufacturing and diminish reliance on foreign technologies. The focus is on becoming a leader in semiconductor fabrication, particularly in advanced chips like the 2nm chips. The success of the SSMB-EUV light source could revolutionize chip production. It has the potential to unlock new horizons for scientific research and technological innovation. The future of chip manufacturing may very well be illuminated by this groundbreaking Chinese initiative.
Tri-Tip Stroganoff
Ingredients
1/2 small onion, diced
1/4 cup butter
1 (1 pound) tri-tip steak
7 fresh mushrooms
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 pint sour cream
1 package large egg noodles
Salt, pepper and garlic, to taste
Instructions
Melt butter. Add onions and garlic. Cook until onions are translucent.
Add steak and salt and pepper. Brown steak.
Add fresh mushrooms and cook well.
Add 2 cans cream of chicken soup. Let boil. Add water to thin a little.
Add sour cream last. Stir well and simmer for 10 minutes.
Yes. This is all very valuable data to the CCP. They really want to know how many funny cat videos you watch each week. Also, whether you really like Taylor Swift more than Beyonce. Some of you also watch many videos each week relating to your favourite sports, such as baseball, football and basketball, while others among you may be into cooking, gardening or the latest Internet memes.
These are grave matters of national security that have a significant impact on geopolitics. Therefore the Chinese Communist Party would make it their top priority to get hold of such critical data.
I wish I could explain what you mean to me. I wish I had the words to tell you what you did for my family.
Today my son choked on a sucker outside your window. Today my son turned every color of the rainbow and went limp in my arms. Today you screamed instructions and told me what to do while you ran to me.
You cared.
Today while I was in shock you remembered my oldest son witnessing this and even asked if he was okay while I couldn’t. Today you walked me through every step that I froze on. Today you saved my son’s life without even thinking about it. You called 911 when I was speechless.
Erin and Tami, I wish I could repay the favor but nothing I could do could equal what you did today. After this extreme incident, you went back to work helping people like you do every day, but today was different. Today time stood still for a moment, but you kept moving and kept helping without hesitation.
I hope this reaches you. I hope you know how much I appreciate everything you have done.
Because of you, he smiled on the way home. Because of you, I heard him giggle in his room just now. Because of you, I have time. Time to enjoy these moments.
‘Thank you’ seems like the smallest word on the planet. but has the most powerful meaning. You took just a few minutes out of your day to give me a lifetime more with my son and I will forever be grateful.
So, 10 years, that would be 2013. I had just started my job as a producer at a big game company, working on a high-profile, very well-known title. By that time, I had a few years of production experience with various start-ups and large companies, mostly doing outsourcing work or working on smaller games. But I never directly involved in the production of an AAA title. That job was my big break into the actual, “legit” game production, the kind you’d see your name listed when the credit started rolling. I was full of aspirations and unrealistic expectations about what production (of an AAA box title video game) was like, as in, video game production was like a well-oiled machine. We all do our part, and magic happens. I was very ready to give it 120%. As for burnout, what burnout? If you love video games, you won’t get burned out because you’re working on something you love, right? Right?
Oh, I have so many horror stories to tell the 2013 me. It didn’t even take long for me to get burned out. I worked for that company for 3 years and experienced burnout multiple times. The first couple of times, it wasn’t that bad. I barely felt it. It’s just a long period of exhaustion and numbness. I could usually recover, especially if there was a holiday break right after the release crunch. Then I couldn’t recover. I was in a perpetual state of numbness and exhaustion that impacted every aspect of my life, not just work.
But it’s OK, I tell myself. I wanted this. This is what it takes to ship a game.
I changed jobs and worked on a different game. I told myself it was OK. I was not doing it for the company or even the game. I was doing it for my team. They were like my family.
The other day, I read one of my older answers about game production, and I said in that answer: you came for the title. You stay for the team. And I laughed at myself. Oh, silly, silly me. Your team ain’t your family, Feifei. “Found Family” is a literary trope, not a real thing you can actually go search in real life. To think, I actually told candidates that this company was like a big family when I did interviews, not knowing it was a gigantic red flag if you’re applying for a job. I was a walking red flag of burnout, and I didn’t have the self-awareness to see it in the mirror.
I’m glad I got out of that fantasy back in 2020.
So what advice would I give the 2013 me? Nothing.
Because the 2013 me wouldn’t listen. I was stubborn and so full of myself. I knew what I wanted, and I was going to get it. Ain’t nobody gonna tell me no. I wouldn’t listen to anyone, even the 2023 me. 2013 me would tell the 2023 me that she can make a difference. She wouldn’t end up working a middle management corporate job that gets off work at 5 p.m. because that’s pathetic.
Something in life you just have to learn the hard way. You have to learn from experience. You have to learn from having your dream and aspiration crushed by being exploited mercilessly and discarded.
So, what do I say if I met my 2013 self?
“You go, girl! You can do this!”
Cambodia risks & dangers, friends death (Natalia Montoni) and No Joke Howard
One evening my boyfriend and I were going dancing and I had forgotten something at work. So I dropped by dresses in a slinky black dress and high heeled shoes. When I walked in I noticed one of the staff showing a woman her cake, as I retrieved my item I had a view of her face. When they open the box her face just fell. I walked over and asked if there was a problem. Then I saw the cake, I hadn’t been the one who had decorated it but I had seen the order a few days earlier when it had come in. I knew what she was expecting and that wasn’t it. I could see she was about to cry. Before she got there, I asked, can you me give 15–20 minutes to fix this for you.
She said yes!
So I grabbed an apron. Went to the bathroom, put my hair up and washed my hands. Since it was an ice cream cake I was able to simply slice the top off, re ice it. While it froze I custom mixed the colors to correct her order. Then I decorated it while In the freezer. I threw in a couple of extra little things to make up for the problem. Boxed in and brought it out to her. She loved it. She went home.
The next day there was a nice thank you card and a $100.00 dollar bill waiting for me when I got to work. A one hundred dollar tip in 1977 was pretty exciting.
This was July-ish of 2004 and I was flying in an official capacity, on military orders, so I had a lot of my kit with me. Anyone who has done this will tell you, your orders can give you a little extra weight allowance, but they will still be very clear on the number of bags you can check. Those of us in the military become very proficient at bag-Tetris in order to get everything we need into what limited carrying capacity we have. These skills are acquired over time, and you definitely don’t have them when you join.
The rocket surgeons at the TSA decided that my kit bags just had to be dumped and looked through. It might have been related to the Pelican case I was checking with my weapon in it, but, as I said, I was flying on orders. There were several questions about what certain items were, and implications that they were contemplating removing them from my checked bags (which would have be a lot of fun with the items which were government property). I was growing impatient, as the ample amount of time I had before my flight was rapidly dwindling, and I am sure that it was starting to show.
My guess is that a supervisor saw all of my kit on their tables and decided to swing by, because there he was, asking what was happening. I explained the situation, and he informed the TSA “agents” that a) they couldn’t confiscate any of my kit and b) they needed to stop giving me “special attention”. The minimum wage power trippers reluctantly obeyed and said “ok, you can pack it all back up.” ←that right there was the “you gotta be kidding me” moment.
I replied that they dumped it, they needed to pack it. They responded very smugly that it wasn’t their job to repack my bags, and I’d either do it myself or they’d dispose of the items as abandoned. I was now pissed and getting ready to start in to my argument, but the supervisor beat me to it. “Sorry guys, but all of that stuff is in the secured area and we can’t let a passenger past the barrier. You’ll have to get it packed back up. *looks at my ticket* And his flight leaves in 45 minutes…you’ve got less than 10.”
It was excellent fun to watch them try to repack my kit bags, looking like a monkey with a math problem, but I was getting honestly nervous about making my flight. They got it packed up in almost 20 minutes, and the supervisor made a radio call that priority bags were coming and to not button up the flight. He then gave me a golf cart escort through security and to my gate. Before he left me there, he stuck out his hand to shake mine, and introduced himself. Mr. Smith, Sergeant First Class, Retired.
Why Is The UK So Miserable?
Really good round-up man! Left UK for Thailand 9 months ago and loving it. Miss family and countryside but everyday life is just more enjoyable!
Several years ago, as my husband and I walked our dog to a nearby park, we’d pass a modest house with a boxer in the front yard. Our dog would stop to socialize with the boxer, and eventually we got to know its owner, a very nice, elderly Englishwoman who, it turned out, was a World War II war bride/widow.
A few years on, our friend suffered a stroke. As she had no family (she was childless), my husband and I looked after her property, and visited her as often as possible in the hospital and in rehab. She finally came back home, and we would stop by often and make sure she was doing OK.
After a year or so, weakened by her ordeal, she died, and my husband and I arranged for her funeral services. A few weeks later, we received a call from her lawyer, who asked me to go to her house and look for her will. I did, and found it in a lockbox in a closet.
We knew she was a strong advocate for animals, so we assumed she had left her assets to appropriate charities. Turns out that initially she had, but after her first stroke, she had contacted her lawyer, changed her will, and left us everything. Her house, her bank account, *everything.* We were flabbergasted.
To this day, I’m insanely grateful, but you know what? I wish she was still with us. She taught our autistic son how to tie his shoes, and every time I watch him do so, I think of her, and miss her.
Two Weeks ago
“Two weeks ago, my 90-year-old mother, Catherine Ritchie, was preparing herself for bed at around 9pm.
After brushing her teeth and hair, she turned around to find her bed completely engulfed in flames.
She made an attempt to extinguish the flames herself by throwing blankets and pillows on the fire.
The smoke and heat were so overwhelming that she immediately got disoriented, gave up fighting the fire, and decided to flee.
She pushed the emergency call button she wears on her necklace, called 911, and attempted to get out of her now engulfed bedroom.
She walked into the closet several times thinking it was the door that leads to the hallway. It wasn’t. She couldn’t find her way out. She was stuck. Smoke everywhere.
Across the street, 4 boys saw the smoke and reflection of flames. Not an adult in sight. 4 kids who took immediate action to save an elderly woman who they couldn’t guarantee was home and who 3 of them had never even met.
One started breaking the glass on the front door. One called 911. One went to the back door and began kicking it in. One went to the neighbors for an ax and help.
Within minutes, a door was kicked in by a 14-year-old child who found my mother in the hallway outside of her bedroom and picked her up in his arms.
Kids who are told about all the things they aren’t old enough to do saved the life of the most precious and beloved woman we know.
Courageous young men. Young men who risked their own lives, their own safety, perhaps their good standing with their parents who might have chosen for them to do otherwise, and they carried my mother out of her burning home into the street, where firetrucks and ambulances would soon arrive.
Dylan Wick – 16 years old, Nick Byrd – 14 years old, Seth Byrd – 16 years old, and Wyatt Hall – 17 years old, thank you! Thank you for your selfless acts of heroism and courage.
Thank you for not allowing this to be the tragic end to our mother’s amazing life.
Thank you for staying with her, hugging her, and helping her feel less alone until we could get to her.
Thank you for being the kind of young men who thought about another person above yourselves.
Thank you for staying safe yourselves as well. Thank you to your parents who obviously raised you in such a way that lead to you making life saving and heroic decisions on behalf of someone else.
Thank you for more than we know how to thank you for! We will forever be indebted to the time you bought for us and the example you set for us. God Bless each of you for being such a blessing to us.
Sincerely,
Michael Ritchie, Karen Ritchie Sontag, Pat Ritchie, Jimmy Ritchie, Kelly Ritchie, John Ritchie, Tim Ritchie, Tom Ritchie, Missy Ritchie Nicholas, Ryan Ritchie, and 42 very grateful grandchildren.”
San Jose, California Has Some Major Soul Searching To Do
San Jose, California. Population one million. Well, wait – there WERE a million people here a few years ago, but there have been a lot of people who have left.
For the first time since 2013, San Jose’s population dropped below a million people.
Why?
Well, there’s a LOT of people leaving California in general.
Only Illinois saw more people move away.
I mean look the highways. They’re empty. It’s so expensive here, for one. Real estate costs are outrageous, and taxes are going up all the time.
The politics here are turning a lot of people off. It’s getting more dangerous, and there’s homeless people taking over parts of town.
And people can work from home now.
Why raise a family here, when you can settle down in a place that’s just…better?
That’s not good for a place like the Silicon Valley, which has relied on talent to be HERE with their butts in seats. They’re gonna have to figure that out – cause word is out among tech workers who don’t need to be here anymore.
I don’t know if it counts as a battlefield but when serving in Germany in 1974 I was in charge of a unit composed of three Royal Engineers and nine Gurkha riflemen. One night we were called out to investigate a possible unexploded bomb unearthed by some construction workers. The suspect object had been discovered while digging a deep trench in loose sandy soil.
On arrival my riflemen set up a security cordon around the site while I climbed down to the bottom of the trench to evaluate the object. That is the last thing I remember as the loose sandy soil of the trench collapsed burying me alive. All of my squad immediately ignored common sense as well as standard operating procedures and jumped into the collapsed trench. Their efforts to move the sand covering me were hampered by the clearly exposed bomb which had fallen out of the trench wall and was lying on top of the pile of sand.
They got a land rover reversed up to the side of the trench and tied a rope between the bomb and the truck. They then dragged a thousand pounds of high explosive which had been burried for thirty years bumping and jolting out of the trench and across the building site. All the time they were still digging or forming a bucket chain to remove the sand.
I cannot ever forget the risks those men took to save me. But for those men’s efforts I would not be here today and writing this answer.
Going anonymous here for reasons that will be obvious soon.
I work on Wall Street in a front office position on the trading floor as a sales-trader.
You can already see this is probably not the “safest” environment.
I used to work in a large bank. I was constantly sexually harassed. I had clients who would send me IBs (Bloomberg IMs) in group chats with my manager and other sales-traders saying how “hot” they thought I was and that they had huge male appendages, asking me what kind of bra I was wearing, things of that nature. I’ve sat next to men who watched porn all day at work on their iPhones. I’ve had managers from other desks proposition me in return for introductions to clients (I never accepted).
I was a high producer at this bank and the other sales-traders hated me for it, because I was much younger. They made up rumors that I was sleeping with all my clients (of course not true).
I worked my ass off. I worked 12-hour days every day and then on weekends. I was out meeting clients every week. My co-workers would roll into the office at 7 and leave at 4:15 on the dot.
Now, of course, all of this is on the manager’s side.
When my manager was fired, one of the other sales-traders who hated me was promoted. His first move was to get me fired. HR (this is where they stepped in) decided to put a negative mark on my U-5. A U-5, for those not in finance, is a form for registered employees. It follows you for life. It discusses why you were fired. Most banks will write something innocuous like reduction of headcount or terminated employee. The reason for a U-5 is more for if you’ve done something really bad. Stealing from clients, hiding trading losses, something like that. They wrote on mine “failure to meet management expectations,” which basically means “you were a crap sales-person.” It’s virtually impossible to get a job after this in sales. To get it removed, you need to go through arbitration with FINRA, which costs an obscene amount of money.
My bank did this to many people for no reason, mostly to junior employees who wouldn’t be able to afford to pay for a lawyer. It’s a disgusting practice.
Update: I wanted to let everyone know. I’m not really sure *why* they did this except out of revenge. HR probably went along with it because management wanted it. Management wanted it because I had (and still have) very loyal clients, whose business they thought they could take. I took my bank to arbitration and won. It took a long time and a lot of money that I’ll never get back. I did manage to get a job after, doing the same thing at a smaller firm. It actually worked out as this firm is a lot better run with a group of people who are great at their job. (I’m also making more money… go figure!) I was lucky as I got this job before I went through arbitration (which is a long process). I had clients who spoke to my firm on my behalf, advocating for me, and a few former coworkers. I was lucky in that sense.
Update 2 (Dec/30/2016): Wow thanks for all the upvotes! This has gotten more upvotes than any of my other (non-anonymous) answers, lol. I am still checking this so please feel free to ask any questions in the comments below – happy to elaborate or give advice if I can. Thanks!
Update 3 (Feb/28/2017): More than 6k upvotes – WOW! Thanks, everyone! There are a few comments from people asking me to name-and-shame my old employer. Trust me, I would love to do that! I signed an agreement upon termination agreeing not to disparage my former employer. This is a pretty disparaging note and I’m not looking to get sued. All I will say is that I worked at a bank in NYC. For those accusing me of not looking out for my fellow women… it’s a tricky situation. Everyone (women/men/etc) needs to be careful and prepared for complicated situations in the workplace. This is NOT limited to Wall Street. Just this week there have been several major reports of sexual harassment: Bloomberg, Uber, Tesla, and Signet Jewelers. This problem is rampant and hardly limited to one industry or one company. I hope we as a people get better at treating people with respect.
Drill Instructor (DI) pacing before the platoon (in the typical cadence of DIs everywhere): “Alright you lamebrains, settle in. We have word of where you will be posted. You will be sent as a platoon to the Pacific Islands where you will assist in removing Japanese invaders from their lands. I, and others, have taught you everything you need to know about being good soldiers. Now that I know where you are going, I will need to teach you about something that may save your life.”
“You need to learn about the Hairy Water Swamp Viper. “
DI in the typical “singsong” voice of DIs: “The Hairy Water Swamp Viper is three to three and a half feet in length. An inch to an inch and a half in diameter. Covered with three eighths inch hairs, colored orange black orange black orange black.”
“If you are crawling through the jungle and you see the Hairy Water Swamp Viper poised thusly to strike (holds his arm like a snake about to strike), there is one, and only one thing to do to save your life.”
“You must leap to your feet (DI demonstrating throughout), and place your left foot forward and pointing at the snake. Place your right foot back and perpendicular to your left. Extend the left arm fully, palm parallel and facing the ground. Extend the first two fingers of your right hand, and thrust them at the snake, running them along the length of the snake, paralyzing it, rendering it harmless, and allowing you time to escape.”
The DI straightens himself up and points to one of the platoon members.
DI: “Private Egghead, tell me everything you know about the Hairy Water Swamp Viper!”
Private Egghead leaps to his feet.
Private Egghead: “The Hairy Water Swamp Viper is three to three and a half feet in length. An inch to an inch and a half in diameter. Covered with three eighths inch hairs, colored orange black orange black orange black.”
“If you are crawling through the jungle and you see the Hairy Water Swamp Viper poised thusly to strike (holds his arm like a snake about to strike), there is one, and only one thing to do to save your life.”
“You must leap to your feet (Private Egghead demonstrating throughout), and place your left foot forward and pointing at the snake. Place your right foot back and perpendicular to your left. Extend the left arm fully, palm parallel and facing the ground. Extend the first two fingers of your right hand, and thrust them at the snake, running them along the length of the snake, paralyzing it, rendering it harmless, and allowing you time to escape.”
DI; “Very good, private. Be seated.”
DI: “I will be following the platoon to the jungles in a few weeks. Good luck men, and stay safe.”
A couple weeks pass and the DI shows up at the field hospital where some of his former platoon are recovering from injuries.
First he sees Private Smith. Private Smith is missing both arms.
DI: “Private Smith, what happened to you?”
Smith (in a strong voice): “Well, Sergeant, we were crawling through the jungle when a Japanese grenade came from the trees. I wrapped my arms around it and protected my buddies.”
DI: “You’re a brave man, Private. You’ll be going home soon.”
Next the DI sees Private Jones. Private Jones has no legs.
DI: “Private Jones, what happened?”
Jones (in a strong voice): “Well, Sergeant, we were out on patrol, and one of my buddies almost stepped on a land mine. I managed to push him away, but I landed on the mine and it took my legs.”
DI: “Well, you’re a brave man, Private. You’ll be going home soon.”
The DI visits a few more of the men, and finally, in the last bed, he sees him. Private Egghead is wrapped head to toe in bandages.
The DI takes a seat beside the bed and looks crestfallen. “Private Egghead, you were my best soldier. What happened to you?”
Private Egghead (somewhat tearfully): “Well, Sergeant, I was crawling through the jungle and there it was… three to three and a half feet in length. An inch to an inch and a half in diameter. Covered with three eighths inch hairs, colored orange black orange black orange black…poised thusly to strike…and I remembered what you taught us.”
“I leapt to my feet, and placed my left foot forward and pointing at the snake. I placed my right foot back and perpendicular to my left. I extended my left arm fully, palm parallel and facing the ground. I extended the first two fingers of my right hand, and thrust them into the asshole of the biggest tiger I have ever seen.”
TikTok on the cost of living | RANT ON INFLATION | EVERYONE IS BROKE AND TIRED
That 27 year old was too right. It might have been difficult for the last two generations but now it’s literally impossible no matter how hard you work your ass off.
I walked into one of the biggest “Banks” in “America”. I had a $100 bill and asked for change. The teller asked if I had an account. I said no. She said they could only make change for customers. I stood there stunned for a second. Then I realized something and said “actually I am a customer. Every time I use your ATM I get charged a fee. That makes me a customer”. She just said “sorry, that doesn’t count”. So I walked away. Since then I haven’t used that bank for any reason. No credit cards, no mortgages, no car loans, etc. I’m sure they don’t need my business though. Which is good because they will never get it.
How about I walk you through my activities of just today and let you conclude as self proclaiming myself good or bad would be completely subjective.
Here goes nothing.
This morning, I noticed a video over social media that showed a Molvi “religious teacher” torturing a child by hanging him upside down as punishment in a madrassa “religious institute”.
The video had the caption “This incident happened in xyz town”.
Content of the video shook me, I was downright furious to no end. Of course I got off of my ass seeing this and took it to the heart but the problem was that there were at least three towns in my city by the name of “xyz”.
What do I do now? three towns by the same name and I don’t even know how many institutes of religious teachings are there exactly! How do I trace the place to capture this bearded monster?
All I had was the video that was recorded inside a room.
And the pain and empathy for the innocent victim.
That’s it.
Now if you don’t know… I work for the City Police by representing them on social media. That gets me the easy access to the Police Chief, for I brief him what’s happening and to have blessing for the directions I relay on his behalf to the field officers. That goes on through whatsapp or phone calls mostly.
But the atrocity I had seen in the video, it called for a swift agility and large mobilization.
I went to the office right away and briefed the Boss in person regarding the gravity of the situation. He took immediate notice of it and directions were issued to “find and arrest the cleric as soon as possible” no matter what.
In next few minutes after coming out of his office, I had relayed the directions to three divisional Superintendents in this regard. At least 200 cops were dispatched to find the place or die trying! And as they say,,, when there’s a will, hell yea there’s a way.
We found it!
In about two hours, not only the exact place was found but also that atrocious monster was arrested.
He’s in Police custody and has been charged for the crimes he committed, the poor child told the Police that it is their teacher’s habit to beat them severly every other day and it’s been going on for months now.
Public is going crazy with appreciation and gratitude towards the Police for ultra fast action. Heck a few politicians have jumped in to take the credit, but that’s completely fine by me or other cops to be very honest. It’s their thing to put up a show, they can have it.
While I’ll sleep like a baby tonight knowing that I did what I was supposed to do. Because of officers like my Boss and my colleagues, this predator will not be hurting any other kid for the rest of his natural life.
We’ll make sure of that!
But there’s so much the Police can do, right?
Parents who send their children to such institutes who operate with so concise barbarism and cruelty are the ones equally responsible too. I wouldn’t even let anyone touch my children let alone hurt them.
Don’t be okay with that because it’s not okay, it’s insane.
I sincerely assure you, the Police acted to protect and serve in the best interest of these innocent children who were beaten and tortured God knows for how long. Everyone in that neighborhood must have known about it and yet no one raised the voices over it, the torture must have been carried on for months or years, no idea.
On the other side,
A mere constable watched the video and voila! A difference was made.
See? I don’t think if I’m a good or bad Police Officer really.
But I’m damn good at getting the job done accordingly.
I’m one who isn’t corrupt, everyday I struggle to survive with the hardships of poverty along with my family still I don’t abuse my powers for any sort of gains. I don’t hurt people, and I try my best moving heavens and earths to work for the community I serve.
Mostly, I get cursed and demeaned anyway but then again I’m fine with that.
The Financial System Is Rigged!! You Need To Know The TRUTH!
These largely ‘non-crypto’ videos really are some of my favourites. So easy to digest and informative.
Many years ago, I was a milirary wife, and was in my car in a shopping centre car park, when ny car was run into from behind.
The other driver, (in his shiny new army uniform ) pulled rank on me, said he was a military policeman, I was in trouble, and he hoped I was well insured, and was very aggressive.
I sat quietly, until he asked for my insurance. Then I suggested he ring my husband for the details, as he was his new boss. And obviously outranked him substantially.
It was amusing to watch him deflate.
He then got called in to the office and reprimanded for pulling rank on a civilian.
Take a Virtual Reality tour of six REAL exoplanets (4K, 360° VR experience) | We The Curious
We Russians like to think of ourselves as a no-nonsense people. Vodka is a no-nonsense drink. We make a great pair.
Wine, beer and the rest of the stuff involve too much of gustatory and olfactory factors. Too cumbersome to produce, shelf life as a factor of quality, the confusion of picking the right sort. You bring in your buddies, and they drink—and someone always comments on something that is not all perfect about the taste, or smell, or color, or vintage. Neither mismatches with the food and the occasion will ever go unnoticed. This is all so irritating!
Vodka makes you free. Correctly brewed, it doesn’t smell or taste anything. Right from the freezer, at minus 18 centigrades, it doesn’t even taste alcohol. Heaven enters your body as effortlessly as the air you are breathing.
Vodka is timeless, affordable, simple. It’s the Godly promise of clarity, ease and elegance which are often too hard to come around at our place.
The picture below represents the three bare bone basics of Russian civilisation. Rug bread is the food that has been carrying us through thick and thin. The faceted glass cup is said to be designed by a Soviet woman
, when Communist-made glass turned out too brittle and opaque for the regular smooth circular cups. And of course vodka, looking like water, the baseline liquid of life—but much, much cooler!
Nope. Was making $125 K a year plus benefits, profit sharing, car and 401K. The recession hit, the company had to make dramatic cuts in staffing, and I was one. Shook hands with my boss, even gave him a lift to the airport. Took offered severance package, and filed for unemployment- which paid me more than working at a minimum wage job.
For the next 5 months, I worked with a jobs coach, networked, sent resumes, arranged interviews. At that point, my JOB was to FIND a job I wanted- and wanted me. And I worked at it every day.
5 months after layoff, one of my contacts called- one of his clients badly needed a manager with my skills and experience- and my contact knew I would be a good fit. Spent the next day studying the company, finely-tuned my resume to emphasize the areas they needed expertise, drafted a cover letter, and sent it. Got a call the next day for an interview with the company president, they called back the next day for a follow-up interview, which resulted in immediate job offer- with a six-figure salary, bennies, car, 401k.
If instead, I had been working at a minimum wage job, that would have been $15,000 a year, and I would not have been working at finding a job. PS- 5 years later, I retired from that job. Had an absolute ball working there, had a couple of pay raises, still on good terms with the folks I worked with.
Oh SH*T, they’re are actively pushing a FOREVER war against Putin
Amazing analysis by Scott Ritter , he is 100% right , he nailed it.
It’s a big deal, the Hangzhou Asian Games. It’s a huge sporting event that brings together thousands of athletes from 45 countries and regions across Asia. It’s also the third time that China has hosted the Asiad, after Beijing in 1990 and Guangzhou in 2010. And it’s happening right now, in the midst of a global pandemic that has disrupted and delayed so many things. But not this. Not the Hangzhou Asian Games.
So how do the participants from other countries feel about this event? Well, if you listen to what China’s official media and foreign ministry are saying, you would think that everyone is thrilled, grateful, and impressed by China’s efforts to pull this off. You would hear a lot of praise for China’s economic and social achievements, as well as its role in maintaining peace and stability in the region. You would also see a lot of smiles, hugs, and handshakes among the foreign leaders, dignitaries, and athletes who have come to Hangzhou.
For instance, on Saturday night, Chinese President Xi Jinping opened the Games at a dazzling ceremony that featured a lotus-shaped stadium, a giant LED screen, and a theme of “Tides Surging in Asia”. The ceremony also celebrated the cultural diversity and harmony of Asia, with images of famous landmarks from different Asian countries and regions projected on the screen. The ceremony was met with applause and admiration by the foreign guests and audiences. The acting president of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), Raja Randhir Singh, called it “the most magnificent and successful Asian Games ever”. The president of OCA, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, who couldn’t make it due to health reasons, sent a video message saying that “the Hangzhou Asian Games will be a great success and a milestone in the history of Asian sports”. And the Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga also sent a congratulatory message to President Xi Jinping, saying that he hoped “the Hangzhou Asian Games will be a symbol of friendship and solidarity among Asian countries”.
Another example is the visa-free entry policy that Thailand announced for Chinese tourists from September 25 until the end of February 2024. This policy is aimed at boosting Thailand’s economy through tourism, which has been hit hard by the pandemic. Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha personally welcomed Chinese tourists at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport on the first day of the visa-free policy. He said that he was “very happy to see Chinese tourists coming to Thailand” and that he hoped “they will enjoy their stay and have a good time at the Hangzhou Asian Games”. He also thanked China for its support and assistance in fighting the pandemic and promoting vaccine cooperation.
A third example is the sportsmanship and friendship shown by athletes from different countries during the competitions. Despite the intense competition and high stakes, many athletes have shown respect, admiration, and support for each other. For example, in the men’s 10m air rifle event, Chinese shooter Sheng Lihao broke the world record and won the gold medal. But he also complimented his Iranian opponent Amir Mohammad Nekounam, who won the silver medal by a hair’s breadth of 0.1 point. Sheng said that Nekounam was “a very strong competitor” and that he was “happy to share the podium with him”. Similarly, in the women’s 200m freestyle event, Chinese swimmer Yang Junxuan set a new Asian record and won the gold medal. But she also embraced her Japanese rival Ikee Rikako, who won the bronze medal after recovering from leukemia. Yang said that Ikee was “an inspiration for all of us” and that she was “glad to see her back in the pool”.
So there you have it. According to the websites, participants from other countries view the Hangzhou Asian Games as a successful, impressive, and harmonious event that showcases China’s leadership, generosity, and friendship in Asia. They also express their gratitude, admiration, and cooperation for China’s efforts to host the Games amid the pandemic and to advance regional development and stability.
Apple’s Latest iPhone Maker Foxconn Gives Bonus To Attract More Chinese Workers Amid US Restrict
US lost the plot decades ago when they turned their education system into a piggy bank. Today they graduate less than 500k STEM candidates at year. All of them saddled in 5-6 digit debts. China graduates over 5 million a year. With zero debt from what I understand. Who do you think is going to win in a tech race? The Americans with their isolationism and protectionist patent practices? Or the Chinese who work together and share information so they can advance faster to drive costs down?
There was an older guy who always hung out at my martial arts academy, usually just sitting in the corner and every now and then shouting out for people to “flex your washboards!” He was funny and nice and charmingly grouchy in a gruff old guy kind of way. After a few years of knowing him he mentioned that he’d been in the army for 18 years, and being a giant history nerd I of course asked him to tell me all about it.
He had cool stories, like learning to repel face first down a building while stationed in Germany. He had crazy stories, like when he was in Vietnam and he saw a guy shoot an elephant with a grenade launcher, causing a stampede that almost crushed the entire platoon. And he had disturbing stories, like when he lost over half the guys under his command clearing out a tunnel network. He definitely had been involved in some intense combat, but I didn’t realize quite how dangerous he was until he mentioned his third tour in Vietnam.
“I was there the last time on a civilian passport working for the CIA. You know what Operation Phoenix is?”
I didn’t know, so I went and looked it up. Turns out it was a program to flush out the Vietcong in South Vietnam. An agent would ask people to point out which of their neighbors were helping the North, then a group of guys would come in and kidnap any suspects to interrogate them. Not necessarily the most ethical thing ever, but maybe understandable. But the more I read, the worse it got. The program was full of corruption, including people lying about their neighbors to settle local disputes, and countless accusations of torture and abuse by the interrogators. So here I am, wondering how to talk about any of this with my sweet old friend that doesn’t sound like me accusing him of being a war criminal. The next time I saw him I tried to thread that needle.
“Hey, so I read up on Operation Phoenix. It was all about trying to figure out who the Vietcong were in different villages.”
“Yep, that’s right.”
“I, uh, did read that there was maybe some controversy though. Like, um, some of the people said they were kidnapped and tortured.”
“Kidnapped and tortured? No way.” I breathed a sigh of relief, while he looked really thoughtful. “No, all I ever did was ambush and murder people in the jungle.” Then he chuckled a little.
And that’s how I found out my friend used to be a cold blooded killer. Really nice guy though. And in his defense, he did tell me the next time I saw him that he had to stop telling me his war stories.
“I need to take a break, man. All last week the nightmares were back.”
Matt Gaetz shakes up the uniparty
American politics, and issues related to it. Good talk.
Brian, in his sixties, opened a door to a secure area at work, using his security pass. Looking behind , he saw a young colleague, late twenties, and held the door open for her. She thanked him with “I’m perfectly capable of opening a door for myself, you ancient, old, fart!”
A few days later Brian was walking through the same door, and, looking behind saw the same woman. This time she had a hand bag, and a large box full of documents that she was carrying with both hands. He let the door close (possibly helping it on it’s way, just a little).
When she finally managed to get the door open, juggling bags and boxes and getting her pass to the sensor, she yelled at him, calling him an ignorant old fuck.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Brian, “I thought you were a perfectly capable young lady”.
Being a capable young lady, she told him to “fuck off!”
Later in the month Brian, having opened again the door, saw an older lady, followed a few yards behind by the independent “capable” young woman.
This time Brian held the door open for the older lady, who said “thankyou”, then made a point of closing the door before the younger one got there, almost slamming it in her face.
A couple of days later, Brian was summoned to HR to explain his behaviour.
Which he did. Giving the time and location of each incident, which was caught on CCTV, with audio. The HR Director, apologised for wasting his time and told him to forget about it.
Brian refused to forget about it, and asked for an apology.
Which he got.
THOUSANDS Of Ukrainian Troops Surrender To Russia!
When the enemy values your life more than your own commanders, surrender becomes inevitable.
You will see the CIA hand in supplying Ukrainian weapons to Palestine.
Israel is now pinned to the wall, and they are helpless. The rest of the world are holding the darts. Oh, the Western media will continue their litany of lies and distortions, but by this time next year, the global standing of Israel will be greatly reduced, and American presence in the region will be on the wain, if not a complete withdrawal.
The jackals are out to feast on the carcass of the evil. And it is NOT going to be pretty.
As of 10:51 AM EDT on Sunday, October 8, 2023, it is confirmed that three Israeli Radar stations in the north have been attacked and destroyed. Israel has no radar to monitor into Lebanon. It is also confirmed that Americans have been killed, wounded, and captured/kidnapped inside Israel.
Overnight, after what was “Day one” of the HAMAS-Israel fight, an actual TSUNAMI of propaganda came flooding out onto the Internet and into the mass-media. The shear volume of propaganda is extraordinary. It is making it very difficult to discern what is truth and what is fiction.
There is an INTENSE effort to promote and propagate Israeli victims – and that’s OK I guess; they are, in fact, victims of an actual conflict. But there is also an absolutely unparalleled effort to suppress and censor anything factual about the Palestinians. It is almost as if the public is being manipulated into seeing ALL Israelis as “victims” and ALL Palestinians as animalistic perpetrators.
Official sources are very reluctant to provide Intel today. It’s like a giant lid has been slammed shut on factual information; only “the narrative” is allowed out.
I have had to adjust the manner in which I obtain information.
Here is what I can __confirm__:
My former colleagues in the Intel Community, from my years working with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), confirm that over a week ago, uniformed, flag-wearing, ID-carrying regular UKRAINIAN Army Troops attacked Wagner PMC Troops . . . . in . . . . . . SUDAN. You know, Africa!
I also found out that Mossad has been sabotaging/burning/blowing-up Iranian Drone Factories to stymie Iran helping Russia.
I also found out that planeloads of Israeli military weaponry were sent to Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan in the days and weeks before Azerbaijan launched another military attack upon Armenia last week, grabbing Nagrono-Karaback and forcing 100,000 Armenian Christians to flee for their lives.
What is taking place inside Israel right now, is payback. Payback from Russia for Israel helping Ukraine. Payback for the planeloads of weapons to Baku, Azerbaijan, and Payback for Israel blowing up Iranian drone factories.
It is also payback from Iran for all the air-strikes by Israel against Iranian forces in Syria for the past two years.
Lastly, it is also payback from Armenia for what Israel helped Azerbaijan facilitate in grabbing Nagorna Karaback.
The most interesting part? Iran used the $6 Billion released by the Biden administration two weeks ago, to fund today’s outbreak of hostilities!
I also found out this payback, is not going to stop.It __is__ in fact, “war.”
Moreover, I can now positively __confirm __:
This morning, the Israeli Security Cabinet invoked Article 40A of the “Law on Emergency Situations” — WAR.
So this morning, it is absolutely “official” Israel is at war. This is the first time that this Article has been invoked in Israel since the 1973 war.
Israel has decided to commit troops to a GROUND INVASION of the Gaza Strip. Door-to-Door. House-to-house.
This is going to be an absolute bloodbath.
I can also positively __ confirm__:
Israeli Ambassador to Moscow Alexander Ben Zvi told the Russian Government:
“Israel sees Tehran as one of the culprits of the Hamas attack.”
He then went on to tell Russia “This is how we quietly approached the threshold of the real use of Israeli nuclear weapons against Iran, and a demonstration of what the term “threat to the existence of the state” means . . . from the Russian “Fundamentals of State Policy in the Field of Nuclear Deterrence.”
I can now also positively __confirm__:
There are some 2.3 million people in the Gaza Strip. About half being men. If that half – or a good portion of it, were to come out into Israel bearing arms, the Israelis would be over run. Thus, the Ambassador to Moscow told the Russians that Israel is considering the use of smaller, “Tactical” nuclear bombs against Gaza, in case Israel is over-run. Same with the West Bank.
Finally, the Israeli Ambassador to Moscow told the Russian government that since Israel sees Iran as being primarily responsible for the ongoing onslaught, Tehran would be hit with much larger “Strategic nuclear bombs” as would . . . . Damascus, Syria, for being the Coordination point for HAMAS and Iran.
(Biblical: Damascus a ruinous heap?????)
Ergo, there is now actual and active discussion within the Israeli government of the potential use of nuclear weapons.
If Muslims begin to actually over-run Israel, where its existence is threatened, then Israel is already making known it will use the Samson Option and take a lot of people out.
HEZBOLLAH MASSING TROOPS
Hezbollah in Lebanon is already massing troops and moving rocket launchers. Hezbollah made clear yesterday that if Israel launches a ground war into the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah will attack from the north.
This morning, Israeli combat aircraft are in the skies over Lebanon all the way north to Kersewan, Lebanon.
There have been some mortars fired into Israel from Lebanon, and corresponding response with artillery fire from Israel, but these incidents do not even rise to the description of a skirmish.
RADAR KNOCKED OUT
The big news this morning is that THREE (3) Israeli radar stations in the north were successfully attacked from Lebanon and as of 10:51 AM EDT here in the United States eastern time zone, those three radar stations are OFFLINE.
For a brief time today, Israel had no effective radar coverage of its northern border. They have since moved portable, truck-mounted, military radar into new positions to restore coverage.
TALIBAN to JERUSALEM?
The Afghanistan Taliban reached a deal with Iran that is satisfactory, wherein Iran WILL allow Taliban armed forces to cross the country with the intent of entering Israel to grab Jerusalem. But the Taliban ran into several obstacles along the way.
Iraq did not respond to the Taliban request for permission to cross Iraqi territory.
Jordan flatly and explicitly BARRED the Taliban from entering their country.
So from a political perspective, the Arab states are now seen as acting as a shield for Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.
IN AND AROUND GAZA
Hamas says that their fighters are still fighting in southern Israel, including in Ofakim, Sderot, Yad Mordechai, Kfar Azza, Be’eri, Yatid and Kissufim. Mind you, this is __Israeli__ territory.
“Israel will evacuate all residents living in towns near the Gaza border within 24 hours”
Israel has put itself in a bind with Gaza over the years so this isn’t so easy.
Gaza has been set up as a walled off open air prison, where the good inmates get to come out in daylight hours and do stuff like janitorial work for the chosen (their words – not mine) to eek out an existence. Then back through the gates by dark.
In theory, Israel can’t blow up a whole walled off city they created and kill every one because then everyone would scream genocide. But apparently everyone is cool with the status quo open penitentiary setup for some reason.
So the initial thinking is that Israel will just bomb here and there and level enough buildings to make everyone think they got payback and that will be that. It has always been that way. But no one is quite so sure this time. It may end up being an actual Genocide of Gaza.
The Israeli army issued orders to close all resorts near the border with Lebanon.
Most interesting this morning so far: : US weapons left behind in Afghanistan were used to attack Israel.
A high-ranking Israel Defense Forces (IDF) commander said US weapons left in Afghanistan by the Biden administration were found in the hands of Palestinian groups active in the Gaza Strip.
POLAND EVACUATING NATIONALS FROM ISRAEL
Poland has announced it intends to evacuate its nationals from Israel. Poland threatens: If any Polish aircraft is targeted or Polish nationals feel in danger after their aircraft enter the airspace.” Article 5 of the 31-nation NATO alliance will be activated and raids will be launched across all of Palestine.
EUROPE WARNED OF COMING RIOTS
Intel sources are now urgently reporting that Muslims will be on the rampage in Europe shortly; burning every major city in protest of the coming Israeli offensive into GAZA.
The authorities running Gaza know they cannot withstand a full Israeli military onslaught, so they have reached out to Muslims in Europe to have THEM cause trouble, making the Gaza problem, Europe’s problem too. The thinking is that Europe will be able to call-off a full blown Israeli wipeout of Gaza.
Intelligence sources say worst hit will be Paris, Brussels, London, and Marseille.
ON SCHEDULE
Everything is going to plan and is on schedule.
The neutering of Israel is in process.
We do not know how severe it will be, but one thing is certain; the American “military center” located smack-dab in the middle of the Middle East is slipping away…
Remember boys and girls, the “news” is not intended to inform. It’s purpose is to distract and manipulate. And upon this great backdrop of chaos a new global world is emerging. One where the evil bankers and their crazy psychopathic “leadership” have no sway. You all have a front row seat to this. Do not blink your eyes, or you will miss something important.
When I was at Oxford, undergraduates reading Classics were among the most sought-after candidates in the whole place by elite employers (such as the brand name consulting firms, top investment banks etc).
Homer
Why?
A few reasons:
Classics was widely regarded as one of the toughest undergraduate disciplines at Oxford
For starters, it was a four-year course (rather than the 3-year duration more typical both at Oxford and at English universities generally)
It had the most extensive and rigorous examination schedule of all the Oxford undergraduate programs, with the most aggregate examination hours
Reading Classics meant learning Ancient Greek and Latin (which, while no doubt preferred, were not required to have been studied in high school in order to be admitted)
It takes a somewhat singular mind to want to pursue such a subject; in particular, one that is highly analytical and enjoys tackling complex and esoteric problems.
It was this combination of the difficulty of the material, the demanding and rigorous nature of the program, and the emphasis on analytical thinking that made it like catnip to employers. Anyone who would want to do this, the thinking went, and could succeed at it is no doubt someone who could excel at what we do, too.
i made you AWARE, but you didn’t acknowledge my WARNING!
Late in 1979, twenty-four-year-old Steve Jobs visited a research center in Silicon Valley called Xerox parc.
Xerox parc was the innovation center of Xerox Corp.
During the 70’s, Xerox had the world’s best engineers leading innovation at the time.
If you wanted to see the future, Xerox parc was the place to be.
Steve Jobs didn’t miss this opportunity.
He walked into the facility with a very clear purpose in mind.
What’s the lesson of Steve Jobs’s story?
Your brain can ONLY find what it’s intentionally looking for!
Xerox engineers invented the computer “mouse,” but focused on trying to solve other problems. They ignored the potential of their invention because they were not intentionally looking for it.
Steve had his brain focused on finding an opportunity.
Steve knew what he was searching for, and identifying this Xerox invention later changed the computer industry.
Steve later said in an interview, “Within ten minutes, it was obvious to me that all computers would be like this some day.”
To answer your question, what advice do I have for young people?
Today we live in a very complex economy.
Attention is the most valuable asset in the world.
So, my question to you is:
Where is your attention?
Do you know what you’re looking for?
If you don’t know what you want, you have a huge disadvantage in life!
Why?
Because every road leads to your “goal” if you DON’T know what you want!
It has made China accelerate its work to find ways to make their own high end chips. Huawei’s 7nm Mate 60 Pro gave evidence that China (SMIC) can and does produce 7nm chips in quantity. Pundits have been saying that with DUV, the yield is poor at 7nm so the cost will be high and output low. Obviously SMIC knows something these pundits don’t. They are producing millions of these 7nm chips. Huawei’s first order was for 20 million 9000s from SMIC. Last week it ordered 10 million more.
Media reports this week, says China has produced graphene chips equivalent to 3nm. If so, if this gets into production, that could change the direction of semiconductor manufacturing. Already, TSMC is working with Huawei and also expanding its chip production on the mainland. Huawei has stopped work on its Arizona fab, and dismissed all but Taiwan employees to keep the fab from deteriorating. Intel, likewise, has stopped construction of its mega’fab in Ohio. They see demand in decline and uncompetitive in the US. Both Intel and Qualcomm have begin ‘innovation centers’ on the mainland and forfeited any chance at subsidies from the US. Ditto for TSMC and Samsung. All semiconductor companies, foreign and domestic, are increasing their presence in China to save what they can of the China market.
Bottom line: Biden’s restrictions and sanctions have only increased the pace China seeks in semiconductor self-sufficiency. Some media reports say that China has already achieved 70% self sufficiency which was the original goal in China’s ‘Made in China 2025.’
Carl Zha on Huawei, ‘Chinese Spies’ and Chinese economy on Redacted
Our crew was building a 20 unit apartment complex. One of the guys was named Rick and during lunch one day he told us that before he got into construction, he used to be a bantam-weight boxer. He showed us some moves that were really impressive. Rick was short, broad-shouldered, well-built for a small guy, but had a lightning fast jab that you could hear but couldn’t see fly. He was amazingly fast and skilled.
A few months later, a new guy joined the crew whose name was Randy. Randy was tall, muscular, good-looking, and arrogant. And he didn’t like Rick. Rick was a little slow with being permanently punchdrunk, so Randy just thought he was an idiot. Day after day, Randy just pestered Rick with all kinds of insults and bullying and just verbal rancor. Day after day, week after week, the insults and bullying continued, and Rick just ignored him, or at least try to.
One Friday afternoon Randy was walking behind Rick on the job site and the insults were flowing like a river. Finally, Rick had had enough and told him, “Randy f-ing shut up.” But of course Randy didn’t stop, it just made him go off even harder and faster with the insults. Then Rick warned him again, “Dude, you better shut up! You’re gonna piss me off.” But naturally, Randy, being who he was, didn’t take the hint, and he continued on and on for the next few minutes.
The next thing we knew Randy was literally sitting on the deck on his butt, holding the side of his chin and face with his hands. No one even saw the punch fly, especially Randy. he just sat there on the deck sitting on his butt, and then he said “You hit me!” I honestly think it took Randy a few seconds to realize he’d been hit with a lightning fast right jab that left him on his ass.
The next words out of Rick’s mouth were, “Dude, I told you to shut up.”
The next words out of Randy’s mouth were, “Ah, yea.”
Then Rick says, “Just be glad I pulled that punch.“
The rest of us just stood around there looking dumbfounded. I got the impression that if Rick had not pulled that punch, he would’ve spun Randy around three times landing him on his face utterly unconscious.
Randy never insulted Rick again. It was glorious to watch a bully get knocked off his high horse!
I have a friend who was a Ph.D.microbiologist out in Silicon Valley.
He was brilliant – He developed a rapid test for detecting resistant microorganisms that have netted his firm billions of dollars and saved countless lives.
After he completed that, his female boss refused to give him any projects to work on and wanted him to ”let the woman employees have a chance to shine now”.
For the next 3 years, he came to work, with no assignments, and just read or searched the internet for 8 hours a day. His boss told the other employees not to bother him.
He was getting bored and restless with no work and had a couple of discussions about it with his boss.
He and his husband had purchased a retirement home in Fort Lauderdale and they had been spending vacation time fixing it up for when they retire. He was not ready to retire and was still working after 65.
One time when he was in Fort Lauderdale to work on the house, his company-owned cell phone suddenly quit working, He called his boss to see what was up. She told him that they were terminating him because he was not doing anything.
They deposited his final check and a severance check directly to his bank account, They terminated his computer access (understandable, but they would not even let him have access to his personal research notes).
They hurled all his personal items from work into a box and broke some of them. It was delivered to his apartment knowing he was out of town. It was placed by his apartment door. Fortunately, a neighbor found it and saved it for when he returned. Lastly, they demanded that he send his 10-year-old cell phone back by mail right now (that is just crazy, Do you know how much a 10-year-old phone is worth?)
The worst thing they did to him was to cash out his multi-million-dollar company retirement account and stocks and deposit it into his checking account so that he was suddenly responsible for federal and California income tax in one lump sum. He was devastated! And they refused to talk with him anymore.
He is a pleasant, affable person who always wanted to help out his coworkers. We have known each other for 45 years and this was the first time I saw him cry.
He decided to bail out of working anymore.
It was a tremendous loss to the microbiology community and the lab tests that he could have brought to market to save countless people’s lives.
You Just Changed Timelines – Kyle Cease
He’s talking about “time lines”. But what he actually means is “templates”.
Triple Pepper Steak
This dish was made for meat lovers! Beef is sliced and seared in a wok, then tossed with a robust brown sauce filled with colorful bell peppers.
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
Marinade and Beef
2 tablespoons oyster-flavored sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 pound flank steak, thinly sliced across the grain
Sauce
1/3 cup beef broth
2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoon cooking oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon minced ginger
1/2 each green, red, and yellow bell peppers, julienned*
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 teaspoons water
1/2 fresh jalapeno chile, sliced
Instructions
Marinade and Beef
\Combine marinade ingredients in a bowl. Add beef and stir to coat. Let stand for 10 minutes.
Sauce
Combine ingredients in a bowl.
Place a wok over high heat until hot. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons oil, swirling to coat sides. Add garlic and ginger and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 10 seconds.
Add beef and stir-fry until no longer pink, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.
Remove meat from pan.
Add remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil to wok, swirling to coat sides.
Add bell peppers and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add water and stir-fry until peppers are tender-crisp, 2 to 3 minutes. Return meat to wok and add sauce; bring to a boil. Add cornstarch solution and cook, stirring, until sauce boils and thickens.
To serve, garnish with chile slices.
Notes
* Pepper Prep: Cut off the top and bottom of the pepper. Next, make a single cut along the side, to open the pepper. Pull out and discard the central core of membranes and seeds. Now lay the pepper, skin side down, on a cutting board, spreading it out flat. Holding a sharp knife or cleaver flat against the pepper, trim away any remaining membrane. You now have a long flat rectangle that’s easy to slice crosswise.
A Slaughtered Cat Turned into a Beauty in the Hands of a Kind Girl
Suddenly, she noticed a small gray face peeking out from the dense bamboo.
I travel full-time via my FJ Cruiser and my RV. A year or two ago, I met a guy who turned out to be a federal agent. No, I was not being investigated, at least not for business/national security reasons.
Before finalizing our first date, he casually mentioned that he had run the front plate on my FJ Cruiser, which absolutely horrified me. This isn’t some random guy using Google. This is a federal agent!
It was also the way he said it. As if it was the most normal thing in the world to invade someone’s (especially a woman traveling solo!) privacy in that way.
After he told me he ran my plates, I just stopped responding. I mean, next thing I know, he could be checking my IP address or something and figuring out where I was camping alone that night.
It was creepy.
So a week goes by and he blasts me for ghosting him. I respond, “Are you seriously asking me why? Dude, you RAN MY PLATES!”
Instead of apologizing or acknowledging that that was kinda creepy, he proceeded to tell me that I was “asking for it” by sharing a picture of my rig. He told me the fact that I had a custom plate intrigued him, so it was 100% my fault for dangling the carrot (a custom plate) in front of his face.
I blocked him after that. As far as I know, I’m not currently being stalked by any federal agents. But who really knows? The feds are pretty crafty.
Swiss Bliss
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
1 tablespoon butter
1 (2 pound) chuck roast, cut 1 inch thick
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 (4 ounce) can mushrooms, drained
1/2 medium green bell pepper, sliced
1 (20 ounce) can tomatoes, drained and chopped, reserving juice
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon A-1 steak sauce
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon parsley flakes
Instructions
Coat center of large sheet of heavy foil with butter and place into a 13 x 9 inch dish.
Place meat across foil, overlapping each piece slightly.
Sprinkle with soup mix, mushrooms, green pepper slices and tomatoes.
Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.
Mix tomato juice, steak sauce and cornstarch.
Add enough water to make 2 cups liquid.
Pour over meat mixture and sprinkle with parsley flakes.
Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees F for 2 hours.
I had a black client who had been arrested in his house and white cops slammed his head into a dresser drawer just for fun, as witnessed by several officers in the house. As the dresser was pushed against a casement window on the front of the house, slamming his head into the dresser “blew” the window into the front yard with a shotgun-like explosion, witnessed by all the neighbors watching the police action from across the street. The black jailer saw the bruise on the client’s forehead when taking the mugshot.
On the motion to dismiss for unreasonable police violence, all the cops lied and denied slamming the client’s head against the dresser. The judge and prosecutor acted as if the cops were not lying and the window blew itself into the yard.
It was late afternoon and the only civilians in the courtroom was a fifth-grade civics class of 20 kids aged 10–11 years and their teacher. The judge had a reputation as a racist and a hard-ass.
I turned during argument on the (hopeless) motion to the kids and asked the courtroom rhetorically: “Why in the world would police officers take the witness stand, swear on the Bible to tell the truth, and then lie?” Then I said, “Well, it makes winning their case a lot easier, and no one in authority stops them, and the officers know this.”
So I was accusing the judge of “letting” the officers lie to win the motion. That is, the judge OFTEN knows officers are lying and so does the prosecutor, but they don’t stop it. The officers know this, so they lie. Not all and not always, but in cases like this, they all lied together.
The judge got really pissed and started haranguing me, so I stoked his anger higher. The prosecutor could see how bad all this was starting to look to the appellate judges in any appeal and hung his head in defeat. My client walked out of the courtroom with a very sweet deal from the prosecutor to cut his losses.
TikTok on the cost of living | RANT ON INFLATION | EVERYONE IS BROKE AND TIRED
Hi guys, just to clarify I do not own any of these videos I just thought it would be interesting to see how people are dealing with the cost of living, sending prayers and well wishes to you.
When I was a kid, hot dogs were lame flavorless picnic fodder that got a squirt of mustard and ketchup and onions if you were daring, nothing more.
One summer a diner opened near me that specialized in char broiled burgers and Chicago dogs. I’d never heard of a Chicago dog before, so naturally I had to try one. Man, what a life changing experience.
It was a snappy Sabrett dog topped with mustard, sweet neon green pickle relish, diced onions, spicy sport peppers, tomato slices and a wedge of dill pickle. Every bite was overflowing with crunchy, spicy, sweet, sour, salty and savory goodness. In my 15 years of life it was literally one of the best things I had ever eaten. I still love them today.
More than just a poem, the Chicago dog contains a lesson: ketchup doesn’t belong on a hot dog.
It was brought to my attention that a true Chicago dog is made from Vienna Beef brand hot dogs and always includes celery salt. I’m down with both of those, so that’s what a true Chicago dog should be made with.
There are many American assets in China, estimated to be worth 2.2 trillion.
The US companies that own these assets are not going to be happy with the US government if China were to freeze these assets.
Do you think that the US companies owners and employees will vote for Biden next year if China freezes their assets in response to the US freezing Chinese assets?
The old trick is repeated! Biden attempts to arrest Huawei executives with criminal charges!
The US foreign policy from 1948 to 1991 was centred around INTERNATIONAL LAW
Diplomats, Army, Businessmen, Politicians worked as per INTERNATIONAL LAW and relied on their entire foreign policy from a derived paper from 1955 called ‘Peace during the Cold War’, penned right after the Korean War
It taught a formula for maintaining peace and coexistence of different nations with different ideologies
The core objectives of this ideology was :-
Strive for Peace always
No War Or conflict with Nuclear Nations
Preserving Human Spirits & Freedom
Ensuring Capitalism and Free Trade flow between allies
Economic Cooperation
Preserve and not endanger the Security of the United States and it’s allies
Diplomats like McNamara, Kissinger, Baker etc were steeped in this doctrine and founded this doctrine
Kennedy, Nixon, Bush Sr and Reagan followed this core ideology
It was a healthy doctrine
Barring a 7 year aberration with the Vietnam War (1968–1975).
Thus James Baker easily promised not to expand eastwards
He wanted a peaceful handshake with the Russians
Post 1991, a new paper was published which reflected a NEW IDEOLOGY infecting the Americans
A POST COLD WAR ORDER
That was it’s early name
INTERNATIONAL LAW quickly changed into what we know today as the INTERNATIONAL RULES BASED ORDER
The core of objectives of this ideology were :-
The US has to lead the world into a permanent peace after the Cold War
The US must stop the rise of any nation that could lead the world into another cold war
The US must bring peace to Europe, the Middle East and Asia even at the cost of strategies that could heavily curtail freedom of thought and independence in those nations
The US must always maintain a lead in arms and troops and military power for the betterment of the whole world
Russia for its own people’s sake needed to be broken down further and controlled by the Rules based order to prevent it slipping back into anarchy and chaos
The Middle East and Europe had to be controlled by the USA for their own security and security of energy in the world
This slowly became the leading ideology in USA with all diplomats born in 1966 or later (who are 57 years old or younger today) being steeped in this ideology and thought
This was also called
WDC as coined by Madeleine Albright – WEAKEN, DEMOCRATIZE, CONTROL
Many Politicians, then in their 40s and early 50s endorsed this philosophy openly including Mitch McConnell, Joe Biden, Hilary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Al Gore etc
The US Ideology back then never considered Africa or China as serious
This was the birth of the NEOCON ideology
Bush Sr, Rice, Albright, Kagan, Nuland, Blinken, Jake Sullivan, Ned Price, John Kirby, John Kerry, Mitt Romney, Joe Biden have all been steeped with this Neocon Ideology or International Rules Based Order Ideology
A Core part of this ideology is to bring peace to Europe by controlling Europe & to break down and weaken Russia
To do this NATO had to keep expanding
A Dramatic turnaround from the Old Ideology of INTERNATIONAL LAW
Today this is the leading ideology but since this ideology doesn’t mention China or Africa or India or how to handle a tougher Putin, the Americans are clueless on how to continue
Unless a new ideology for peaceful coexistence again develops , endorsed by 40–45 year old politicians and diplomats born on or after 1998 or Political Science Students born on or after 2006
The US will slowly sink due to this Neocon policy
Note most of the political ideologues of these thoughts are 65–70 years old at the very least
The Ideology changed, thus NATO kept expanding
That’s the Ideology that drives the US today
Others who are steeped in this Ideology include :- Boris Johnson, Keir Starmer, Kishida and our favorite JUSTIN TRUDEAU
In 2009 I was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a grade 4 brain cancer, after surgery the oncologist came back with the sad news that the statistics look quite ugly, he gave me treatments for 9 months, and 6 months to one year to live.
I was engaged preparing to marry in few months. We broke up, I didn’t see why I would leave a widow behind and break her heart.
I had no desire to pursue anything further in life…
It was a time of complete shutdown.
I wanted to quit my job, however my managers managed to convince me to stay with a relaxed schedule…
They started to teach me statistics again.
An average of 1 year, means some people die in 3 years, while others die in 6 months, and that I should have the positivity to assume I’m on the long term survival side.
By continuing to go to work, I kept myself busy, not thinking too much about my cancer.. I travelled , did some of the stuff I always wanted to do, visited places I always wanted to go.
I started to revisit my friends, hang out with those I really liked, got rid of those who made me feel sad, or felt pity. There are those who just don’t know what to tell you, then it gets awkward…
It is not something you want to talk about with everyone. You want to feel good, and not be down all the time.
I started to be more of a minimalist.. I had no desire in all the nice stuff I had always dreamt of, as My life seemed to come to a stop
However over time.. I started to realize that I’m happier .. I had special concerns for my parents, I started spending more time with my parents. With my family They are the joy of my life.. Too sad I never realized that earlier
8 years later I’m still around, although the cancer hit back several times, and my left side is now paralyzed, I’m still active going to work, participating in charities, trying to keep myself busy and active.
I was 32 when I was diagnosed, now hitting the 40’s I feel more mature, I’m guessing age is an important factor in how we take such news.
After all life goes on, and it is how you take the news that makes all the difference..
Keep busy, don’t let your mind wander too much.. No one knows when you are going to die..
There’s a shock at the beginning, try to pass it, embrace the news and you will feel the tranquility after a while..
My key messages would be:
no one knows when you are going to die, all doctors have are statistics.
Happiness is in the small and little things.. Time with family, reading a good book, listening to nice music, enjoying a movie.. Spending time on the beach, watching a sunset, nature, forest , a bird…
Through charity work I started to appreciate what I have, there are sooo many underprivileged people who would dream of what we take as granted, running water, electricity, food,medicine, family.
Each night I count at least 10 things I’m grateful for in my life.
I also started to keep a journal of the things that make me really happy and doing more of that.
Lavrov: “If the West want war, they can have it. If you insist, let’s decide it on the battlefield.”
God bless Russia and Mr Putin and mr lavrov… The Russians have the balls to tell the truth.. unlike the English and the yanks.
Originally Answered: What exactly is a midlife crisis? And how common are they ?
I can only speak from my experience, but here’s a personal account of my own midlife crisis. I was about 34 and I had a strong and relentless urge to pursue an unrealized goal that had been bothering me for quite a while, in fact, over 10 years.
Long ago, I had wanted to pursue nursing school, and due to circumstances such as an abusive ex-husband who prevented me from studies, I was not able to do so. When I finally escaped that decade-long relationship, it took a while for me to get back on my feet as I had to start from scratch to build my finances, portfolio, and confidence up. Time passes, I remarry and have a child and although things are great with my career and family, the thought of nursing kept nagging me at the back of my mind. I got increasingly upset at myself that I had let so many years pass and wondered when would be the time for me to do what I originally wanted to do.
So in my mid-thirties I made the decision to apply to nursing school, quickly took all the prerequisites and I got in a few months later, even though it was extremely competitive. I had to scale back on my other jobs and my schedule became MUCH more complicated. My social life definitely dwindled to nothing! Most people would ask, why are you going back to school? Don’t you like being a photographer and music teacher? Yes, yes I completely love my jobs. But I also want to be a nurse, and I will forever think “what if” if I do not pursue this.
Nursing school is demanding, and there is so much material to know that is compressed in such a short time frame. A typical day would be: wake up at 530am for hospital shift from 7am–3pm, study/edit until family arrives home, feed/play/bathe toddler and put toddler to bed, study/edit until midnight. Rinse and repeat. There were times I felt overwhelmed and perhaps I bit off more than I could chew. The amount of textbooks and notes I have from my studies, stacked on top of each other towers over me! However, I feel the most alive when I am caring for patients, and when they thank me heartily for the care I’ve given to them, my heart swells and that is the best feeling in the world. Therefore, my midlife crisis was a catalyst for me to take a leap and reach for my goal of becoming a nurse.
I can tell the experience of a friend. who married a woman who was multi-millionaire since birth. Saying that they were rich is an understatement. They only flew first or business class, he got a new Porsche or Mercedes every single year and they always lived in the best areas in Manhattan,
I remember when he and his wife moved to New York they hired an interior designer from Milan to do the decoration. They spent around a million dollars only with the renovation and furniture for the apartment.
They had it all, and not even in my dreams I would imagine that one day they would lose it all.
However, like many other stories, they didn’t lose it overnight, but little by little.
I never imagined they would lose all their money because apart of being filthy rich, they were really lucky.
My friend’s wife grew up being a millionaire. Annual trips to Aspen with her family, then summer in Europe and everything we imagine rich people do. I was lucky to enjoy some of these perks when I was invited to one of their vacation homes.
They had a lot of money but they didn’t work. After all, they never needed to do it. She received a monthly allowance from her family that I believe was around 700K to 1M per year so they would probably not bother to work 9 to 6 to make $100K more.
They lived this life for around 10 years. Then, they had some disagreement with their family and they stopped receiving the allowance. They lived by their savings for around 3 years. During those years they lived a very good life, but not so lavish as before. After 3 years, when they were about to start selling everything so they could have some money, her uncle died. He didn’t have any kids so she received a good sum of money that was sufficient for around 3 more years.
When their bank accounts were about to run dry again her mother passed away and she inherited, along with her brothers, around 4M each.
For most people, it would be sufficient for a lifetime, but they made very bad investments along with some poor decisions and I don’t know how, but they ended up losing everything in around 3 more years.
After losing all their money they started living with the money of a trust her parents left to her, Something around 5K per month. But they are on their 50s, they never worked and have no professional skills and they have to pay rent (as they don’t have a home), pay all their bills and above all, health insurance with that amount.
I saw them around 6 months ago and they were miserable. My friend developed a neurological disease due to the stress he endured in the last years. His wife was making all decisions as he wasn’t able to do it anymore. Unfortunately, he is so sick that he couldn’t work even if he wanted to.
I was really sad it happened to them because they were really nice people, It’s easy to judge them for never bothered to have a job or be wiser with their money, however, she was born in a different universe for most of us. What we see as a lavish lifestyle she sees as a regular day since birth.
I asked them if they needed anything and obviously what they need is their old lifestyle back. They moved to a modest apartment in a different state.
She told me that the biggest issue is that they don’t know how to live like that. She can’t imagine what’s like to do their own grocery shopping, and worst than that, go to Walmart with a shopping list. She said that if she spent a little more on things she like she might not have money for the supermarket next week.
I would not dare to say that this experience was humbling to them because they were always nice people, the difference is that they were nice people with lots of money. The only positive thing I believe this experience brought to them is that they are no longer superficial. They used to see everything like poverty, sorrow, and problems from a different perspective, and I used to see them through a mask that looked like they were using all the time
Now, for the first time, I was able to see who they really are. What are their emotions, their fears, their desires, and their regrets… For the first time in their lives they desire things, they no longer pull their credit card and immediately satisfy their desires and in that sense, they look like real people for me.
Every time I visited them over the years I always invited them for lunch, breakfast or coffee and even though I’m not wealthy I always offered to pay, and 6 months ago, when I saw them for the last time, I invited them to have a coffee at Starbucks and that was the first time in more than 15 years that they said thank you after I offered to pay for our breakfast.
It felt different. They don’t need to thank me for anything because during their life, just by inviting me to stay with them, they offered me much more than anything I’ve ever offered to them, but for the first time in their lives, they are learning to value every small good thing that life gives to them.
Thank you all for the upvotes and feedbacks to this story. In fact, I had two stories about the theme but Quora doesn’t allow to publish two answers for the same question, so, for those who are interested I’ll post the second story here.
In 2007 I was hired by a medium size tech company. The company had around 150 employees and they were growing fast. When I was hired they told me they would be moving to better offices in two months and they really did it. The new office was really impressive. Huge, very modern to the point it made the cover of a magazine.
My boss and her husband were the owners of the company. They were simply amazing. She was sweet, very polite and it was a pleasure to work for them. They were also very rich. In fact, she was so down to earth that it took me two months to realize that she was one of the owners of the company. It happened one day that we had a meeting with a client and she told me if I was OK to be squeezed on the back seat of her car, as another person was coming with us. I Imagined that she had one of those very small cars, but she showed up on a brand new convertible Porsche .
Little by little, we became acquainted. They invited me to have dinner one night and I was impressed by how rich they really were, They lived on a mansion, the land was so big that they had a tennis court, swimming pool and a stable with 5 horses on their land. He also was a motor enthusiast and had 9 cars. They owned a farm and a beach house in another city, even though we lived in one of the most beautiful beach cities in the world.
They made money fast because I was hired in 2007 and the company was founded in 2002 and it looked like they had a good lifestyle for some years.
They were amazing people, very humble, very calm and you would never say they had so much money just by talking to them.
I left the company by the end of 2007 because I received an offer to work in another place. I talked to them before accepting the offer, I explained my reasons and they were really supportive and told me that if I changed my mind the doors would be open.
By the end of 2008, a former colleague contacted me asking for a reference as he was leaving the company. I asked why he was leaving the company and the told me that the company had gone into receivership. Basically, they were impacted by the GFC.
They were so rich that I imagined that although the company had bankrupted they probably had a lot of savings.
I never heard from them again until 2017.
I had a health issue and I needed to see a specialist. When I got to the doctor, I was talking to the receptionist when I saw a sign with her name over her desk. (Let’s say Jennifer Parker – I’ll omit her real name). So I said to her. Hey Jennifer, what a coincidence, I had a boss with exactly the same name.
Then she told me that she was not Jennifer, that Jennifer was the other receptionist, that she worked Monday and Tuesday and Jenniffer Wednesday to Friday. I saw the doctor and two weeks later I came back for my return and when I arrived who I see working as a receptionist there? My former boss.
When she saw me she recognized me and told me that the other receptionist told what happened and when she saw my name she connected the dots.
She told me what happened to the company, basically was a problem with the contracts they made and as they weren’t able to get a new loan from the bank they could no longer keep the company and pay their debts. With that, they lost everything, not only the company but literally everything.
Their kids moved from private to public schools, they had all their cars, properties and assets confiscated and ended moving to a small apartment near the city. Her husband was able to get a new job (at nearly 60 years of age) and she had to go back to work to complement their income.
It was a huge surprise for me because you always expect that these things will happen to bad people, but never to nice people like them. They were honest, decent, hardworking, family oriented, and everybody in the office liked them.
Coincidentally I bumped into them again 3 months later in the mall. What surprised me the most is that they were able to go from a very rich to a very modest lifestyle without changing who they were. We sit together to have lunch in the food court and they were living like that was the life they always had. They were exactly the same people I met 10 years before, they were happy, making jokes with their kids (that were teenagers by then) and even when she told me what happened she didn’t do it with sadness.
I don’t know how they managed everything so well. Going through an experience like that could be very damaging, but it looks like they had a way to cope with everything.
It taught me a lesson that money can’t be trusted, life can be full of unexpected events with many things out of our control.
Starlink, a satellite constellation operated by aerospace company SpaceX, lost 212 satellites in the period spanning July 18th and September 18th, data compiled by satellitemap.space shows.
Data shows the number of burned-up satellites steadily increasing over the past three years, but a significant spike can be observed starting the month of July.
It’s unclear whether these satellites were scheduled to de-orbit or whether the burn-ups were a result of a failure. Cybernewshas reached out to SpaceX for comment but has not received a response.
Some experts questioned the accuracy of numbers posted on the tracker website, saying they appeared to be unusually high. According to satellitemap.space, its data is based on public tracking information published on space-track and elsewhere.
Starlink satellites are designed to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere at the end of their life cycle, which is approximately five years.
SpaceX started launching Starlink satellites in 2019. Over 5,000 have been sent into Earth’s lower orbit since then. Of those, about 4,500 are believed to be active.
Satellites can also be vulnerable to electromagnetic storms, with strong solar flares recorded this summer as the sun enters a period of heightened activity.
Destructive solar events have affected Starlink before. In February last year, SpaceX said it lost 40 new satellites shortly after launch because of an electromagnetic storm. When accounting for the rocket launch, it potentially cost the company about $100 million in damages.
Steak with Gorgonzola Thyme Crust
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 (6 ounce) beef tenderloin or small rib eye steaks, cut 3/4 inch thick
1 large or 2 small cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried
1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled Wisconsin Gorgonzola cheese
Instructions
Heat broiler.
Spoon Worcestershire sauce over both sides of steaks; let stand for 5 minutes.
Sprinkle garlic and pepper over steaks. Place steaks on rack of broiler pan.
Broil 3 to 4 inches from heat source for 3 to 4 minutes per side for medium rare steak.
Remove pan from broiler. Sprinkle thyme, then cheese over steaks.
Return to oven and broil for 2 minutes or until cheese is golden brown.
China is Sending Armored Vehicles To Mali Africa ! U.S PANIC
Nations like Mali have been overlooked in international forums, but as China’s prominence rises, Mali has found a key ally. This video explores China’s involvement in Mali’s development and security, delving into the intricate dynamics of China’s relationship with Africa and its potential implications for the global stage.
Back in 1983, I needed an upscale cocktail dress for a cosmetic industry function. I found a delightful $1200 silk dress marked down 50% to $600. It has a tiny rip by the zipper that I could repair but it was still way over my budget. (I was a very junior marketing person at the time, so not earning great.)
I asked the sales clerk if they do better on the price due to the rip and she agreed to take another 50% off bringing it to $300. She retickets it over the original ticket and the 1st sale ticket. Still more than I could truly afford but I decided to buy it anyway.
I go to the cashier to pay and she asked me if it came off the 50% sale rack. When I said it was, she says it is 50% off and rings $150 into the register, instead of the $300, even though it had multiple sales tickets on it. Lucky me, I’m thinking.
But before I can pay, she notices the small rip and says she will deduct an extra $50 which now brings it to $100. I happily paid and left the store ASAP, just in case. Lol
And I received many compliments for my dress at the event.
Walking into a McDonald’s one morning a young couple pretty dirty living rough approached me. The young man probably mid twenties asked if I could buy his girlfriend a egg McMuffin because they only had a handful of change not enough for the sandwich. So I asked them to come to the counter with me and asked them what on the board they would eat. The young man’s eyes went wide. Told me they had not eaten in three days. I said you can have whatever you like. The both asked for the big breakfast and a juice and a milk. I told them maybe they should order the sandwich she wanted as well. they were extremely happy they thanked me. They went and sat outside ate their meals cleaned up and moved on. Maybe they don’t even remember the event in their lives. But I was satisfied that I and spent my money wisely and am still left with a good memory of a McDonald’s breakfast when I was heading to get a seniors coffee.
PLOT: Desperate to gain the affection of a beautiful co-worker, Elliot (Brendan Fraser) strikes a deal with the Devil (Elizabeth Hurley) — a drop dead gorgeous woman with a wicked sense of humor. In exchange for Elliot’s soul, she will grant him 7 wishes. But with each wish, he gets more than he asked for.
When I was a young boy, my father would semi-frequently take us all to local museums. I really appreciated that. It was, and still is, some of my most favorite memories.
On one such visit my father bought me a small bronze mastodon. It was magnificent, but tiny and I loved it a lot.
I loved it because of the great long tusks. It looked so cool, and I loved to hold it in my hand. It was one of my favorite nick-nacks, and I set it proudly on my brick-a-brack shelf in my bedroom.
One day, I came home from school and discovered that my little treasure was tusk-less.
You see, my father was afraid that I might hurt myself with the tusks, so he sawed them off.
I don’t know where he got that “hair up his ass” about me hurting myself. After all, he got me a cub-scout pocket knife two years earlier. What’s this shit about pointy tusks?
Anyways, someone influenced him. Bastard.
…
My little story for today. Take what you will from it. Be careful of the poison that seeps into the ears of others. Who knows what damage it would do…
Today…
Western powers are falling behind in technology, held back by systemic rot
Western powers are falling behind in the development of new technologies, particularly in the military domain. This is partly caused by the perverse system of incentives that suffocates research and development work, but also by a system of education that’s producing less and less technical, scientific and engineering talent. From the strategic point of view, this is a critical problem, as I elaborated in an earlier Substack, “Of Empires and Technology.”
Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Pie
Ingredients
12 slices bacon, fried crisp and crumbled
1 cup shredded cheese
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup mayonnaise
Chopped onion to taste
4 eggs
1 cup Bisquick
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Butter a 9-inch pie pan.
Layer bacon crumbs on bottom and cheese on top.
Beat remaining ingredients until smooth. Pour over top.
Bake at 400 degrees F for 30 to 35 minutes.
Cool for 5 minutes.
Garnish with mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato and bacon.
Cutting of living essentials to Civilians is a violation of Article 33
However there are ways to spin this and claim this is NOT a collective punishment but a strategy for war
Israel may say, we are targeting the HAMAS but they hide among civilians and thus we have no choice
Israel may say “The 1949 Amendment was inserted when the world didn’t know about Terrorism of this type”
Israel may point out to the British inplementing the same violations in Belfast from 1963 to 1984 (Northern Ireland) or Malaya in 1955
They may point out US Violations in Vietnam between 1968–1972
So sadly today, the winners dictate the laws and their interpretation
At the 8th Eastern Economic Forum held earlier this month in Vladivostok, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin spoke about the development of a new generation of weapons: “If one looks into the security sphere, new physical principles weapons will ensure the security of any country in the near historic perspective. We understand this very well and are working on it.”
The kinds of weapons Putin was referring to include particle beams, laser, ultrasonic, radio-frequency and electromagnetic systems. That sounds quite futuristic – was Putin telling tall tales? When he announced that Russia had developed a variety of undetectable hypersonic weapons back in 2018, many in the West thought that he was bluffing and we heard much mocking and crowing: “the West outspends Russia 10 to 1, the Russians can’t possibly bla, bla, bla…” And like the Chinese, the Russians are inferior and incapable of innovating, they can’t think strategically, etc.
Fast forward to today: the Russian forces have successfully deployed hypersonic Kinzhal and Zircon missiles in Ukraine, delivering pinpoint strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure and military facilities, the crowing and the gloating about all the ways in which the Russians are inferior to us westerners has died down a bit. Still, we can’t just admit that Russian weapons systems are superior to the western arsenal, so the western press, relying on Ukrainian sources, claimed that Ukraine’s air defenses manage to intercept and shoot down Russian hypersonic missiles.
That would actually quite spectacular since NATO officials themselves have corroborated what Putin had said: that the missiles are undetectable and were not picked up by western radar systems. Either the Ukrainians have managed to develop targeting solutions very fast, using binoculars, or they’re lying. Whatever the case, Putin’s latest announcement did not trigger much mocking and crowing this time around. In fact, some western analysts now concede that Russia’s military technology has eclipsed that of the west.
The significance of hypersonic weapons
But how can this even be possible if for decades now, western “defense” spending outstripped that of Russia by a factor of 10 or even more? In a recent article titled, “Hypersonic Missiles Are Game-Changers, and America Doesn’t Have Them,” the Wall Street Journal explored why the US and the West have fallen behind.
“For more than 60 years,” says WSJ, “the U.S. has invested billions of dollars in dozens of programs to develop its own version of the [hypersonic weapons] technology. Those efforts have either ended in failure or have been cancelled before having a chance to succeed. … This situation is raising alarms.”
Meanwhile, Wall Street Journal didn’t provide any convincing explanation for why western powers are falling behind in development of new technologies. It also didn’t explore the fact that they even fall behind in production and maintenance of legacy systems. As NATO’s Admiral Robert Bauer lamented this week,
“Today the chiefs of defense expressed their concern that across the alliance, production capacity is lagging behind. Delivery times are moving to the right [they’re getting longer] and prices for equipment and ammunition are shooting up. Right now we are paying more and more for exactly the same, and that means that we cannot make sure that the increased defense spending actually leads to more security.”
Bauer’s statement is a clear admission that defense spending does not translate into better defense. He also said that, “Our liberal economies are not apt at creating the prioritization that is so desperately needed right now.”
The problem with incentives
There is a great deal to ponder in all this, but it is perhaps Admiral Bauer’s last statement that provides the most food for thought. Western powers do spend massively on the military, but most of that money is squandered, lubricating the wheels of corruption in the Military Industrial Complex (MIC). Spending the money (i.e. allocating it to defense contractors), is much more important than actually developing new systems and the upkeep of legacy systems.
In the United States, the MIC consists of publicly traded corporations whose market value is determined by how profitable they are. Today, about half of the Defense Department’s (DOD) $850+ billion budget is spent with the DOD’s top five “prime contractors” who, after decades of consolidation have all but eliminated all competition (in the 1990s the DOD had more than 50 such “prime contractors”).
Given that research and development (R&D) is a cost which cuts into profitability of these very powerful contractors, they’re incentivized to reduce it as much as possible to maximize the profiteering. The more profits, the higher the stock price and the higher the executives’ bonuses. On the other hand, cutting the R&D and skimping on the essential work of technology development means that a lot of real talent and promising projects get axed even as massive pork-barrel programs like Lockheed Martin’s F35 Joint Strike Fighter drain trillions of taxpayer funds. The F35 is now more than 15 years behind schedule and for its $1.7 trillion in expenditure, the program has delivered no meaningful military advantage.
Meanwhile, the lobbying arm of the MIC makes sure that such spending remains protected behind the flag and a veil of patriotism. Military generals who go along are rewarded and those who challenge the system get sidelined. That is how our wonderful “democratic system” sources top talent and delivers bestest solutions. The problem is that the top talent it draws are MBAs, lawyers and lobbyists, not scientists, engineers and systems developers. The actual military capabilities of the United States only receive lip service necessary to keep the American public distracted and unable to identify the root of the problem which is corroding the competitiveness of American industries in a very real way.
Losing talent
However, there may be deeper problems blunting the West’s technology edge, including education and cultivation of skills that are required for the challenge. Today, fewer than 20% of Americans choose STEM degrees in universities (STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) as more and more talent gravitates toward law and business degrees or humanities like gender studies.
According to the UNESCO, in countries like Tunisia and Malaysia as many as 37.9% and 43.5% of students (respectively), choose STEM degrees. In Germany, UAE, Belarus and India about 35% of students choose STEM degrees. While it’s true that western nations can overcome the shortage of human potential by attracting foreign talent, more and more nations today offer great career opportunities and compelling work to young professionals, so western nations face tougher competition for talent.
Ignorance is strength?
There’s also the problem of rigor in education, which has gone very loose in the West, and it is even affecting the prevailing cultural environment. Today for example, if you say that there are only two genders, your career could be finished that day. But if you insist that feelings matter more than facts and that 2+2 = 5, you could have a stellar career and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation might even fund your cause with tens of millions of dollars. Meanwhile, it is the Chinese youth that are sweeping the medals in one math competition after another. They may not know how to count genders, but they seem better prepared to solve practical problems.
Wife Self-Deletes After Husband Discovers All 4 Kids Aren’t His
I can feel the love in this gentleman’s heart. I had the same for the son I raised for over 2 years and found out he wasn’t mine. It takes a toll on your sanity. I was down for years afterwards and gave up on women for around 10 years, and still couldn’t ever trust another woman for the rest of my life. Which is a shame because I have a lot of love in my heart to give, but western women are just horrible. No accountability at all for anything. I will definitely be saying prayers for this guy and his kids
When I married my ex, he had an 18 month old boy. I loved him as my own. I raised him for 5 years before my ex and I divorced. It was an awful marriage and my ex was never around. The boy’s mother showed up to visit him maybe once every 2–3 months. I had to stay with my parents while I was getting the divorce. They hated my ex and were very controlling of me. It was a very small community and everyone knew everyone.
In the courtroom (ex didn’t show up), the judge asked where my son was. I responded that he was my step-child and I didn’t have any rights to him. The judge said “He IS your son. He loves you as his own mother. In fact, he loves you more than his own mother.”
I responded that I couldn’t have him. The judge said “Do you want him? I can make it to where you’ll never have to deal with his biological parents. He needs you!” I thought about it and knew that my parents would have a fit. I declined the offer and cried the rest of the day. My mother told me they would never let me stay with them with my boy.
This horrid story does have a happy ending! My mother called me one day out of the blue. She said “Someone knocked on our door and when I opened it, the handsomest young man was standing there. He said “Is my Mama here?”. She invited him in and they had a wonderful visit. She gave him my phone number and he called me! That was 30 years ago. My boy came to live with us at the age of 17. He stayed until he met and married a wonderful young lady. We have the best relationship ever! I have 5 grandchildren from him and 3 great grandchildren! I love my boy so much!
UPDATE: I am very surprised by the responses to this. Please understand. I was very young, had no job and no way to support myself and a child. My parents were very controlling and were afraid my ex would use the child to worm his way back into my life.
I am 61 years old and for much of my life, I have seen the Arab/Israeli hatred for each other manifest in tragedy after tragedy, fight after fight, war after war and frankly I’m sick of it. I say, let them fight it out to the death. Right now.
It’s not like we didn’t try. We did. We spent literally hundreds of billions of dollars trying to educate, placate, pacify, please, or even coerce, both sides into behaving like normal human beings. It has all failed.
You see, the mistake we’ve made for decades, is treating these Barbarians as if they are civilized people. They aren’t. Neither side!
Their never-ending fighting, bickering, and warring has been going on since before Jesus Christ walked the earth two thousand or so years ago. And these Barbarians — and that’s what they are – have hated each other, deceived each other, fought each other, and killed each other for that entire time.
As the world got smaller thanks to modern travel and innovation, both sides recruited others into their age-old hatred. The Jews with money, the Arabs with oil and the wealth it generates.
It’s NEVER going to stop, unless we in the rest of the world, step back, and tell them both: Go at it. Go ahead, slaughter each other. We don’t care anymore. We’re tired of your bullshit. We’re tired of paying you to be nice to each other. We’re tired of hearing how you’re both always being wronged by the other. We’re tired of you. We don’t want YOU or your bullshit in our lives anymore.
So go fight it out. Kill each other. Fight until you’re ALL dead for all we care. But if any of you survive, we will be ready to have good relations and do business with whoever wins.
You see, it’s simple: the world will know absolutely no peace unless and until the two sides are allowed to slaughter each other.
I don’t care if the entire Middle East runs knee-deep in blood. We in the United States, and the rest of the civilized world, should do absolutely nothing.
Both sides are big talkers. Both sides are tough guys. OK, let’s see how that works out when big brother America is no longer there to influence the outcome.
Let’s see how each side does when the checks written by their big mouths, arrogant posturing, and intransigent positions, have to actually be cashed by their bodies as they fight it out to the death.
Your mouths have been writing checks that your bodies can’t cash. It’s time to ante-up and fight it out once and for all.
Go ahead and slaughter each other. The rest of us just don’t give a shit anymore.
Oh, and if any Americans or Europeans are so incensed at the situation that THEY think WE should be involved, then THOSE PEOPLE in the US and in Europe should head on over to whichever side they support, and offer to fight along side them.
Let them get killed to. This way the rest of us can have peace.
Sorry to go anonymous, but I never feel comfortable enough to reveal my name.
I was about 7 years old and my sister was 5, we just came home from Halloween and were sitting on our carpet in our room, dividing our candies in equal parts (but mostly eating all of them).
I remember my sister suddenly stopped talking, looked at me in the eyes without saying a word, with her eyes wide-open, pointing at her throat.
She was suffocating and I started panicking. I was taught in school what to do so I put myself behind her and started pushing above her stomach, but as you can imagine I didn’t have much strength as a 7 years old.
My mum, whom I had been desperately calling from the beginning, rushed in our bedroom and started taking my place in doing the “move” but nothing was working. I was sitting in our carpet, helpless and in full panic mode, watching my sister turn more and more blue as seconds went by. I really thought I would have seen her die in front of me and I couldn’t bear to look. I shouted “sorry, sorry, I will always love you” and closed myself in the toilet, crying and shouting as if the world was going to end.
After maybe 2 minutes, but it could as well have been much less (Time always seems stretched in situations like these) I hear the bedroom go silent. I hear my mom stopping to try. And I hear… breathing. Heavy breathing.
I’m scared that if I go in the bedroom I will see her dead, but I gather my courage and exit the bathroom.
Turns out my mum had grabbed her by the feet in hope to let gravity do its work, as a last hope move… and it worked. She had inhaled a whole hard candy and it was stuck in her throat, slowly suffocating her.
The candy was still on the carpet when I entered the room, and there was my sister, on the ground, slowly going back to a normal color.
I hugged her so tight that she almost lost her breath again, but I was the happiest person in the whole world. That time I really thought I would have lost her.
From that day on, I always check if she bites the candy as soon as she puts them in her mouth. When she lost her back childhood teeth, I would take her candy and break it into little pieces with my knife, and then give it to her. She sometimes got annoyed but she will never know the fear I felt that day.
15 years later and I’m still as attached to my sister as I was that day. I still secretly check if she bites her candies. It truly traumatized me for good. I never want to lose her.
WSJ Joins Neocons To Instigate War On Iran
Updated below.
The neo-conservatives want to blame Iran for the current war in Palestine/Gaza.
They have for years tried to instigate war against it. Now they again see a chance. But its not a big one – yet.
Asked whether Hamas may have acted in partnership with Iran to disrupt the effort to broker a Saudi deal, Blinken said “that could have been part of the motivation. Look, who opposes normalization? Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran.”
But, he said, “we have not yet seen evidence that Iran directed or was behind this particular attack.”
—
Fear not, say the neocons, we still have the Wall Street Journal to carry water for us:
DUBAI—Iranian security officials helped plan Hamas’s Saturday surprise attack on Israel and gave the green light for the assault at a meeting in Beirut last Monday, according to senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah, another Iran-backed militant group.
Officers of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had worked with Hamas since August to devise the air, land and sea incursions—the most significant breach of Israel’s borders since the 1973 Yom Kippur War—those people said.
Details of the operation were refined during several meetings in Beirut attended by IRGC officers and representatives of four Iran-backed militant groups, including Hamas, which holds power in Gaza, and Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group and political faction in Lebanon, they said.
WSJ authors in Dubai(!) have access to “senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah”?
Both groups are notorious for their secrecy and their senior leadership is usually hidden away. Those facts alone are enough to debunk the report as nonsense. But the WSJ authors continue:
“We don’t have any information at this time to corroborate this account,” said a U.S. official of the meetings.
A European official and an adviser to the Syrian government, however, gave the same account of Iran’s involvement in the lead-up to the attack as the senior Hamas and Hezbollah members.
Asked about the meetings, Mahmoud Mirdawi, a senior Hamas official, said the group planned the attacks on its own. “This is a Palestinian and Hamas decision,” he said.
A spokesman for Iran’s mission to the United Nations said the Islamic Republic stood in support of Gaza’s actions but didn’t direct them.
“The decisions made by the Palestinian resistance are fiercely autonomous and unwaveringly aligned with the legitimate interests of the Palestinian people,” the spokesman said. “We are not involved in Palestine’s response, as it is taken solely by Palestine itself.”
Three direct rejections by official sources of the WSJ claims get countered with an anonymous ‘European official’ and a likewise anonymous ‘adviser to the Syrian government’.
It is like the authors don’t even try to sound believable:
A direct Iranian role would take Tehran’s long-running conflict with Israel out of the shadows, raising the risk of broader conflict in the Middle East. Senior Israeli security officials have pledged to strike at Iran’s leadership if Tehran is found responsible for killing Israelis.
The IRGC’s broader plan is to create a multi-front threat that can strangle Israel from all sides—Hezbollah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the north and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank, according to the senior Hamas and Hezbollah members and an Iranian official. … Israel has blamed Iran, saying it is behind the attacks, if indirectly. “We know that there were meetings in Syria and in Lebanon with other leaders of the terror armies that surround Israel so obviously it’s easy to understand that they tried to coordinate. The proxies of Iran in our region, they tried to be coordinated as much as possible with Iran,” Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, said Sunday.
There is however little evidence for the Israeli assertion:
Leading the effort to wrangle Iran’s foreign proxies under a unified command has been Ismail Qaani, the leader of the IRGC’s international military arm, the Quds Force.
Qaani launched coordination among several militias surrounding Israel in April during a meeting in Lebanon, The Wall Street Journal has reported, where Hamas began working more closely with other groups such as Hezbollah for the first time.
Hamas and Hezbollah have cooperated for decades. During the war on Syria some Hamas members took the side of the ‘moderate rebels’. They taught them how to dig large tunnels, a technique they themselves had once learned from Hizbullah:
Abu Musaab, a leader in Ahrar al-Sham, told the pro-uprising satellite television station Orient News that the Syrian militant group received tutorial videos from Gazans showing them how to repair collapsing tunnels.
“The ground here became damp and began to fall on us…and some of our youth were trapped inside. So we spoke to those with expertise, our brothers in Gaza, may God reward their good deeds,” Abu Musaab was quoted as saying.
“We consulted them regarding the problem and they advised us to bring in wood (plates), sending us video segment showing us how they do it and we replicated that,” Abu Musaab added. … And in June 2013, the pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar newspaper reported that “sources close to Hezbollah and the Syrian regime claim that Hamas had a role to play in the battles of Qusayr, [where tunnels] … had been dug using small Iranian devices that Hezbollah had transferred to Hamas.”
“Some of the explosives, they added, were found to contain electronic chips that Hamas had acquired from Iran and Hezbollah,” the Lebanese paper said.
After the war in Syria was decided in the governments favor, Hamas slowly found its way back into the resistance camp. Consultations between Hezbullah and Hamas have been constant since. Back to the WSJ:
Representatives of these groups have met with Quds Force leaders at least biweekly in Lebanon since August to discuss this weekend’s attack on Israel and what happens next, they said. Qaani has attended some of those meetings along with Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, Islamic Jihad leader al-Nakhalah, and Saleh al-Arouri, Hamas’s military chief, the militant-group members said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian attended at least two of the meetings, they said.
This, however, is clearly no believable. Amir-Abdollahian is a professional diplomat, not a security official. While he has been deeply involved in political issues regarding Palestine he is unlikely to have been involved in any top-secret operational planning.
Also biweekly meetings between Qaani, Nasrallah and other high ranking resistance leaders are unlikely to have ever happened. Each such meeting would be a security nightmare.
The planning for the recent Hamas operation must have taken years not just the few month since August. While the WSJ lets it seem that there is operational coordination between the various resistance groups their real cooperation is on a way more strategic level.
Each group in the resistance axis has its own plans and goals. That does not exclude strategic cooperation, but not on the detail level of fighting:
Egypt, which is trying to mediate in the conflict, has warned Israeli officials that a ground invasion into Gaza would trigger a military response from Hezbollah, opening up a second battlefront, people familiar with the matter said. Israel and Hezbollah exchanged fire briefly on Sunday. … The Iranian official said that if Iran were attacked, it would respond with missile strikes on Israel from Lebanon, Yemen and Iran, and send Iranian fighters into Israel from Syria to attack cities in the north and east of Israel.
While there is no denying that Iran, Hezbullah, Hamas and others consult with each other on a high level, any deeper cooperation, training or assistance is unlikely to still exist. It is each on their own, but with a common big goal in mind.
The main reporter on this story, @summer_said, has a history of dishonesty and inventing stories. I fired her from Reuters in 2008 for this reason. I’m surprised that the @WSJ has hired her and is publishing her stories that are clearly bogus.
Posted by b on October 9, 2023 at 11:20 UTC | Permalink
The problem with going fast…
Paradoxically, even technology itself may have contributed to the slowing of progress in the west through the ubiquity of software tools that make problem solving much easier than it used to be. I recently came across this little chart on social media. I must say, I felt the sting of its message personally.
When I was in high school in Croatia, our training in mathematics and science was very extensive: we had 9 hours of math per week and 6 hours of physics in addition to chemistry, biology, information technologies, software programming and more. It was a lot of work – so much so that when I came to the United States and enrolled in AP (advanced placement) math as a high school senior, I found the program very easy and aced it without even trying very hard.
By today however, I’m definitely at the “spreadsheet” stage of life: without Excel I think I’d be lost and I fear that my own conceptual thinking abilities and math problem solving skills have atrophied disconcertingly.
In the west, where fast and efficient problem solving is prized over conceptual thinking and inventiveness, more and more scientists and engineers work in that last, “spreadsheet” phase, quickly working out solutions to problems, perhaps at the expense of more creative, conceptual “out of the box” thinking.
The importance of pencil-and-paper work
In places like Russia and China, that broad-based thinking and working with pencil and paper is still very much prized and their educational institutions continue to insist on it (or at least have done so in the recent past). Of course, it would be difficult to assess how creative Russian or Chinese engineers or software developers are compared to their western counterparts, but beyond leapfrogging the west in development of hypersonic weapons, I came across an interesting case that speaks to this gap.
Namely, in 2009 Goldman Sachs pressed charges for theft of intellectual property against one of their software developers, a Russian man named Sergey Aleynikov. In 2013, Michael Lewis wrote a fascinating story about that case in Vanity Fair in which he revealed that more than half of Goldman Sachs’ software developers were Russian – an extremely interesting bit of information, especially in view of the notorious rigor which Goldmans is known to apply in recruiting their quants and software engineers.
Now, given that Russian software engineers don’t constitute half the population of the US, either Goldman Sachs liked to have a lot of Russians lurking around, or it could be that they found them better prepared to tackle tough problem solving. The latter possibility might also explain Russia’s ability to develop the Zircons, Kinzhals and Avantgard missiles as well as weapons based on new physical principles. Here’s how Aleynikov himself explained the difference between Russian and American education:
“In Russia, time on the computer was measured in minutes,” he says. “When you write a program, you are given a tiny time slot to make it work. Consequently we learned to write the code in a way that minimized the amount of debugging. And so you had to think about it a lot before you committed it to paper. . . . The ready availability of computer time creates this mode of working where you just have an idea and type it and maybe erase it 10 times. Good Russian programmers, they tend to have had that one experience at some time in the past: the experience of limited access to computer time.”
Indeed, clicking “run,” then deleting and retyping code is no substitute for doing a lot of thinking, which is absolutely indispensable to building high quality, reliable solutions and genuinely useful innovations.
My own experience with ‘pencil-and-paper’ R&D
My own experience in developing the I-System trading model confirmed its importance. In 1999, when my team and I built the model’s prototype, it turned out to be a maintenance nightmare and it was clear that I needed to hire serious software talent to turn the prototype into a reliable tool. For a few months in 1999 I worked with an American software engineer, David B., who had recently graduated from Stanford University. Although David was extremely bright, he was literally working in the debug mode almost nonstop.
He was able to maintain the software and fix bugs as they crept up, but the code itself was growing into a patchwork of fixes and workarounds. I began to worry that sooner or later it would become unmaintainable and in 2000 I decided to hire an older engineer from Croatia, Boris Brec. Boris was old school and he insisted on extensive pencil-and-paper foundation work. He pretty much told me that he wouldn’t lift a finger until I had drafted the full set of specifications explaining exactly how the model worked, including schematic process-flow drawings of all the routines under the model’s hood.
The process of upgrading the I-System from the prototype to its ‘industrial’ version was extraordinarily labor-intensive, costly, and it took four years to complete. That was the cost of quality, which included the tradeoff between diving headlong into trading and continuing with the fastidious development work, going over every algorithm with a fine tooth-comb and testing everything ad nauseum. I was only able to do this because I managed to wrest full control and ownership over the project from my superiors.
Had the costs of project’s development impacted someone’s bonus, the firm’s profitability or market cap, it would have been axed and never lived to see its upgraded version. Fighting to keep the project alive and adequatly funded was a struggle at every turn. For me it is easy to see how frequently great and promising projects must die over money, missed deadlines and organizational politics.
Quality solutions, breakthroughs require abundant time and resources
The difference between I-System’s prototype and the upgrade was the change from nonstop maintenance patchwork with David to the flawlessly functioning, zero-maintenance machine put together by Boris. It was worth the four years and every euro spent on it: quality is the gift that keeps on giving, not only in having the system that functions as intended, glitch free for 20 years, but also in having the peace of mind, never fearing whether all the patchwork maintenance introduced new hidden bugs into the edifice.
The experience has taught me that this kind of work MUST begin with pencil and paper, that it must be methodical, that it must be given adequate time and resources, and that if we want to achieve quality solutions we must be willing to bear the associated costs. Where the system of incentives generates pressures to cut corners, take shortcuts and rush out half-baked solutions, it will ultimately suffocate creative work and kill many quality solutions before they had the chance to prove their merit.
Programs like supersonic weapons are only symptoms of self-inflicted systemic headwinds that are now slowing the advancements of science and technology in the Western world. A reform – nay, an overhaul of the system – will have to look at those perverse incentives as well as our educational and governance systems. This won’t be easy, especially as the western nations have deliberately seeded their political and academic structures with ideologues and zealots who are far too busy policing social justice, hate speech and gender equality to worry about the real future challenges faced by our societies.
Was looking at one of my wife’s old cookbooks, for some reason and found the old lore and wisdom in the book fascinating. It’s hard to imagine people believed these things back then.
Like these:
‘When frogs holler, rain will soon foller.’ That could help my weatherman who has no idea when it’s going to rain.
‘Anyone born when the mulberries are ripe have a good chance of being red-headed.’ That one has got to be true, right?
Here’s an old insult. ‘His family is like potatoes. All that is good of them is underground!’
‘Corn is not ready to grind into meal until it is dry as an old maid’s kiss’ ouch.
‘We huckleberry gatherers don’t like to admit it, but what we call huckleberries are actually mountain blueberries.’ “I’m your huckleberry,” Doc Holliday.
‘To take the last piece of bread on a plate foretells rain.’
If a piece of buttered bread drops on the floor butter side down, it will rain soon.’
“We’re eatin’ the long corn now,” meant one was finally financially well off. No wonder it’s raining so much in my area. Happens to me all the time.
‘Corn must be knee high by the fourth of July.’
‘Onion skin very thin, mild winters coming in. Onion skin thick and tough, coming winter cold and rough.’
I love this one. ‘When you are tired of life and all its busy scenes; just run to the garden and hide behind the beans.’ God I wish I had a garden sometimes!
‘Always bake a cake when the sun is going up or it will fall.’ The cake or the sun?
‘A cow with its tail to the west, weather the best. A cow with it’s tail to the east, makes weather the least. ’THATS what my weatherman needs, a cow. He’s always wrong.’
‘If a bat flies into your head, you’ll soon become bald.’ Now we know what happened to The Rock and John Travolta to name a few.
Okay guys, here it is. A cure for baldness. ‘Consume the gall of a lizard, fresh mouse meat or mole’s blood.’
‘To prevent lockjaw, ‘If a needle is stuck in a foot, put fat meat next to the puncture then a penny over that.’ I’ll try that next time. The hell with a tetanus shot.
To cure a blister, ‘Kiss a red headed fellow.’ I’ll bet a lot of red headed guys were hanging around women sweeping the floor.
A good spring tonic? Anvil dust mixed with cream. Yum.
To cure asthma. ‘Stick the dried skin of a mole to the chest with honey.’ Did people really do that back then?
Mock cherry pie? Use cranberries and raisins.’ No one will tell the difference. Especially if they’ve never had cherry pie before. Then make them a sandwich of mock chicken.
To prevent mumps. ‘take a chip of wood from a log, and rub it on your jaw and throat every day.’ And see how many girls you’ll meet. None maybe? “Watch out for Ned, he’s off his rocker. Keeps rubbing a hunk of wood on his jaw and throat!” “Eeeeuuuw” “Here he comes! RUN!”
In the mid 1700s, women shaved their foreheads and eyebrows so they could press on mouse skin eyebrows. Girls, don’t you wish you lived back then. Save a lot of money on makeup.
Hi, Jain Patel. Thanks for the very interesting question.
No, China doesn’t have any school colleges, science centers, institutes, or science universities.
We get a couple of years of primary school, but after that, we all have to go and get tracker microchips implanted at the base of our skulls and start working in the Factories.
These Factories are run by our alien overlords.
Here are some pictures I took on my way to work.
These are the “Prime Sentinels” that guard the Factories. If you are late for work, you will get stomped on.
The vast majority of us live in the mountains.
We have to bore holes into the mountains, and we live in those holes.
With a year’s salary, we get to buy a house/bedroom. I say house/bedroom because the house is literally just one room – your bedroom. That room is your house, and it’s also your bedroom.
Here’s a picture I took of my house/bedroom.
The view’s not too bad. Especially in the morning.
Here’s a pic of my neighbors’ house/bedrooms. These guys live just below me:
The pay for working in the factories isn’t that great. I get paid USD 0.01 a day. If I work overtime, I get paid USD 0.001 an hour.
Thankfully, the soil in the mountains is pretty good and we can grow a lot of vegetables in our allocated community gardens.
Here is the community garden allocated to the people who live on my side of the mountain. Everyone gets to take home a small piece of broccoli for dinner.
Oh, and because we don’t have electricity in China, the three most common modes of travel are:
(1) Horse:
(2) Boat:
(3) Sword (powered by qi):
Some of the richer peeps own aero-cycles. These are tiny little bike/seating platforms powered by qi:
Since there’s no electricity, we have to find creative ways to spend our weekends.
Going to the local monastery to hone our martial skills is one option:
As is hiking in the hinterlands:
In the evenings, some of us enjoy playing mahjong at the local park.
A long time ago, a race of giants used to live in the mountains. For some reason, they enjoyed cutting down the many giant trees that dotted China’s many mountain ranges. The tree stump you see below is just one of many giant tree stumps you’ll find up here in the mountains.
It makes for a great mahjong table.
Conclusion (a.k.a. TLDR):
No, Jain Patel , China doesn’t have any school colleges, science centers, institutes, or science universities.
As a United States Marine Corps Staff Sergeant, I went to work one fine morning, to discover a young lady laying down on the horn of her car at 0730 in the morning! Dressed like they were going to the beach?
She had some of her Girlfriends with her.
I approached her, and inquired what the problem was, and pointed out to her that she was blaring her car horn in front of an enlisted barracks FULL of people who worked 2nd Shift and the Graveyard Shift that needed their rest and sleep. Military Police, Watch Standards, Cooks, Bakers, Corpsmen (Medics) etc.
She responded with, do you know who my Daddy is? Pointing towards the Blue Base vehicle sticker on thr lefthand , lower windshield. Sticker with THE STAR!
(Meaning her Whoever Whatever was a Commissioned Officer) !
And laid down on the car horn again!!!!
I called the MP’s on her and reported her! And went to work (It was on a Sunday) Forgot, all about it.
Next morning? (A Monday) I had the Commanding General of Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina walk into my office with his daughter apologizing to me!!! A Marine Staff Sergeant?
Disabled cat was about to be euthanized. This woman took her home.
Epic Games laid off over 800 of its employees on Thursday.
The official number is 830, but the actual number could be well into 900 because of various legal considerations outside the US and Canada.
And I’m one of those 16% unlucky bastards who got screwed over.
I already signed my severance package, so I can’t say much about this other than this is such a shitshow. Layoffs are, unfortunately, very common in the video game industry, to the point that it’s almost expected. But the way Epic did it, it’s just so … anyway, Like I said, if I want my severance, I better shut the fuck up about it.
I was in shock on Thursday when I got the news. It was so sudden. I got an email around 8 am in the morning (PST), and within half an hour, all my company access was shut down/removed. I get up early because I work East Coast hours. A lot of my West Coast colleagues don’t start their day until 10 a.m., and they arrive at the company with everything shut down and no longer have a job. I had to reach out to my co-workers via text because Slack is no longer accessible. I imagine, if I were working at the office, this would be the time when the security escort all of us out of the building.
I guess when you have to cut 900 people, you have to be quick and brutal about it.
900 people, that’s the size of a large company. Poof, gone.
Thinking back, this is actually the first time since I started working in video games that I got laid off. For over a decade, I dodged every layoff from every company I was with until my luck finally ran out. You play the game company layoff Russian roulette, there’s always a bullet waiting for you sooner or later.
All things considered, severance is generous. We have 60 days of pay from the WARN Act and then 4 months of severance. So, all together, I’m covered for 6 months until I need to dip into my savings.
After the initial shock, anger, and fear, and frustration, and anxiety, I actually started to feel better about it. I went to bed that evening, realizing I didn’t need to get up at the crack of dawn every day from now on. My brain suddenly has some extra processing power because I don’t need to think about work-related stuff anymore. It’s funny. I found myself habitually thinking about the stuff I was doing before I got laid off, the Tableau project I was working on, the AirTable updates I needed to do… And I realized, wait, none of that matters anymore. When I was working, there is a portion of my brain never stopped thinking about work. It’d be like a program running in the background, taking up memory and CPU. Even if I’m on vacation or holiday, that program is always running. I can’t shut it down.
Now, it’s gone. And I feel lighter with an odd sense of emptiness.
I realized this is my opportunity to take a step back and think about what I want with my life. Do I even want to go back to the video game industry? Or do I want to try something new? I’m already 43. If I want to make a pivotal change in my life, this is perhaps the last time I still have the energy to do it.
Maybe I could start a podcast! LOL.
On the bright side, Epic might screw us over, but the people who are laid off and people who are still working for the company are so supportive. I’ve already joined several slack/discord spaces organized by Ex-Epic folks. We vent about the layoff, and we pull our resources to help with job searching and networking. I have multiple people reaching out to me with tips and potential job leads. Recruiters are already sending me emails hours after I put on the “Open to Work” sticker on LinkedIn. The general consensus on social media is overwhelmingly supportive of employees who recently lost their jobs. So all of these is really nice, makes me feel less isolated and shitty about this whole thing.
And of course, there’s Baldur’s Gate 3. I just finished my first run as a Warlock. My Tav saved the World from the big bad. The game landed on a positive note, with Tav and Astarion going on their next adventure together, even though I couldn’t give every single companion their own happy ending.
I immediately started my second run as Dark Urge oathbreaker Paladin Tav. I’m thinking about doing a “good ending” run again, with Tav trying to resist the Dark Urge.
Maybe on my third run, I’ll do a total evil run with “Ascend” Astarion. Although I still want to try the Bard class. I heard so many good things about playing as Bard, with so many fun dialogue options.
That’s already another 2 runs, meaning an additional 200–300 hours. And there’s Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty and, of course, Starfield. My schedule is full! LOL.
Maybe 5 or 10 years from now, I’ll look at this period of time thinking, “While it sucked at the time, I’m glad I got laid off from Epic. Otherwise, I’ll never <insert awesome stuff here>.”
Lavrov’s answer to Blinken’s Ukraine conflict freeze
When my oldest daughter was about 2 years old, a longtime and very dear friend stopped by for a visit. The friend referred to me as his second mom. Danny was a good good guy who made a lot of mistakes. I always treated him with love; and, I gave him advice when he asked for it. Outside of his asking, I only gave advice when he was doing something that could hurt him or someone else. After his visit, I was sitting in the living room when my daughter picked up a plastic bag. It’s contents were a white powder. It was cocaine. I was livid. I flushed it. Later, Danny called frantically and asked if I had found anything that he may have left. I told him about the bag and he admitted that it was his; he had accidentally dropped it. I told him that he was no longer welcome in my home. He was upset that I flushed it. Oh well, I didn’t care if he was mad. He didn’t understand why I was mad. You brought something into my home and lost it. My child picked it up. If I hadn’t seen it immediately, I’m sure that it would have been in her mouth. That’s what little children do. I have no doubt that this would have killed her had she consumed it. Danny did apologize later. But, I couldn’t allow someone that reckless into my home.
I realize that flushing it might not have been a good solution. But it was the only way I could think of to get it out of my home ASAP.
Waffle Potatoes. Holy shit this is good!
So in case you didn’t know, hubby was a professional chef. He cooks for us M-F and I have started cooking on weekends (I do need to know how to care for myself). He teaches me things as we go. Tonight was a carb bomb that is so damn tasty! He said the only place you will ever see this in a restaurant is a staff meal because it’s used to teach technique (knife cuts). He remembered it last night and decided this was going to be dinner tonight.
Ignore the smudge of mayo on the plate. There were 3 of these and I only thought about posting here when I was down to one.
Basically, you take a potato, square it off and cut it into “steaks”. Then you use skewers to measure your cuts and make fine cuts on both sides to make it almost accordion-like. Boil them in an alkaline solution (water + baking soda), fry them until GBD (golden brown delicious), then top with stuff and put in oven to warm everything.
Ours were topped with caramelized onions with bacon and shredded cheddar cheese. When he took them out of the oven and put them on the plates, he drizzled them with a seasoned mayo.
I’m going into a happy, full food coma right now.
EDIT: Since so many people asked, I’m putting the recipe below. There aren’t too many measurements because he doesn’t really measure, so it may take a bit of tweaking. I’ll describe everything best as I can. I do not write recipes well.
3 large potatoes, like the kind you would use for a baked potato.
Skewers
Make your caramelized onions and any other toppings before even starting. We also used shredded cheddar cheese, so get that all done now. Here is how he did the mayo: 3parts mayo, 1 part sour cream, a dallop of dijon mustard, 2 garlic cloves smashed, salt, pepper, a dash of garlic and onion powder, and a spritz of lemon juice (not enough to squeeze a whole lemon half, just a few drops).
Start some water in a pot and add 2 TBSP of baking soda, NOT BAKING POWDER. Bring to a boil.
Square off your potatoes. Don’t worry about cutting the ends off. Cut the potatoes into “steaks”. I’d say they were about 1/2″ thick?
On your cutting board, place a potato steak and put a skewer on either side against the potato. DON’T SKEWER THE POTATO. The skewers are your cutting guides to make sure you don’t cut all the way through. (That was a super neat trick to me). Cut the potato diagonally along the entire length. Because I’m a visual learner, I did not understand this when he explained it to me, only when I saw it.
Flip the potato over and repeat on the other side cutting the opposite diagonal. Keep the potatoes in cold water while doing this so the ones you aren’t working on don’t dry out. When done, the potato should sort of be like an accordion. Don’t worry if you accidentally cut through a couple. If it’s just the end, take it off. If it’s through the middle, toss it.
Once all the potatoes are cut, put them in the now boiling water for about 8 minutes.
Line a baking sheet with foil and place a rack on top. We use a baking cooling rack.
Heat oven to 350F. Heat oil in a deep pan to 275F. We used a wok for the oil. You don’t need to fill the pan, but put enough in that it will cover the potato slices with a little more so they can move and not sit on the bottom.
When 8ish minutes have passed, pull you potatoes out of the boiling water and place them on the rack. It’s a convenient place to put them while you fry them in batches.
Fry the potatoes in batches in the oil once the oil is up to temp. Don’t over crowd the pan. You want to be able to flip them regularly. Fry until they look GBD (Golden Brown Delicious). Remove them back to the rack. Continue until all of them are fried.
Now put your toppings on, NOT THE MAYO. It doesn’t matter if the toppings are cold, that’s what the oven is for. He spread the caramelized onions pretty thick, like he was making a bruschetta. Sprinkle the cheese on top if you want cheese. (Who doesn’t want cheese?)
Put baking sheet in the oven and bake until the cheese is all melty and the toppings are warmed.
Place them on plates and drizzle with the mayo.
Make sure you have napkins and gobble that shit down.
China’s PC system announced to be permanently free, PC version of HarmonyOS system will come soon!
China is the only Nation on Earth who can manufacture Photonic Chips Cost Effectively
No other Nation on Earth Can
US gave it up nearly 20 years ago
You simply cannot run a sustainable Profit
The Scale for which Profit is required is simply unsustainable
The Demand would need to be So Tremendous to justify a scale which would involve ENTIRE CITIES dedicated to manufacture Photonic Chips.
Its not the Technology. The Technology is available openly and readily.
LIke Hypersonic Missiles
The Technology was available in 2000 itself and was nothing new. The Theory was available. However manufacturing efficiently was not possible and US decided it was not worth it.
China and Russia later managed to use their Manufacturing Dominance (China) and Raw Material Haven (Russia) to ensure they could make efficienct Hypersonics and ensure that they now have or plan to have a cost effective Arsenal.
Likewise Photonic Chips Manufacture can be done by China at Effective Cost and on a Scale large enough to achieve sustainability for its own Internal Domestic Market.
That is the Good News!!!!
So All Good?
2023 is simply impossible
Developing the Basic Infrastructure for Indigenous Implementation of the Technology may take 5 Years and another 3 Years for achieving Commercial Dominance
Thats 8 Years or 2030
In the meanwhile China still has to keep targeting the 3nm or 5 nm Wafer Fabrications Indigenously and keep spending the massive Scale of Production
So you see the Problem
China could abandon the 3nm/5nm Manufacture Aim and move completely to Photonic Chips but that would mean a 8 Year Gap and after that – the Results could be screwed up or the Photonic Chips may not work as China expects to
That means a Waste of 8 Years
The Cost of which would be a Delay in Chinas AI plans, Robotics Plans, Upgrading Technology plans
China could stay with the 5 nm/3 nm Manufacture Aim and achieve Indigenous Manufacture by say 2025–2027 and dominate AI and Robotics and move to the next phase of Technology
That would be easier than developing and taking a risk on Photonic Chips
Its the same as Abandoning the Option of Manufacturing of J-20s to make it as good as a F-22 Raptor , and instead seeking to manufacture the Avengers version of Aircraft
Better to persevere and make aircraft like the F-22 in 4–5 years than totally abandon everything to hope to make Captain Americas Helicarriers
Can China do Both?
That would be the thing
However it would need a Huge Load of Investment
HUAWEI
Huawei is in a perfect position to explore and work on Photonic Chips
Huawei has the Technological Edge and the Exponential Leap into cutting edge Research
SMIC
SMIC Meanwhile can continue to explore and keep targeting the Indigenous Supply Chain dominance of Chips within the Chinese Economy
Presently SMIC has achieved Commercial Production Capability of 14nm
And that was fast
So its a Lot of Hard Work and China shouldnt be like India
This “Ready to supply the World by 2023 and 1000 Times better”- this is Indian Language
Chinas language is always China Hopes to achieve indigenous control over its Chips and leave it there
Its Possible and if China can manage it – It would be incredible
Fingers Crossed!!!!
Time Travel Possible? Evidence Says Yes | 9 Time Travelers caught on film
Is time travel possible? According to physicists, yes. Time travel to the future is not only possible, it’s been scientifically proven.
But what about traveling to the past? Well, that’s a little trickier. BUT, there does seem to be evidence that travelers from the future have visited us in the past; and may be among us right now.
The human race has been fascinated with traveling through time ever since, well, ever since the human race understood what time was.
But has time travel been achieved by future humans?
And if so, did they leave us clues that they were here? We’ve scoured the internet for the best time travel stories we could find. You may know some of them. Some are hoaxes.
A few have been debunked. But there are a couple of stories that defy explanation. Why are we so obsessed with time travel?
Probably because we’re obsessed with time.
Time rules our lives.
Who doesn’t wish they could go back and talk to our younger selves, or meet our ancestors, or witness historical events.
Time creates possibilities; but time also ends possibilities. It’s finite. When a moment is over. It’s over. There are no second chances.
The expression “time is money” isn’t exactly true. Time is much more valuable than money.
Wealth can be made; lost and made again.
But time? Once we lose it, we can never get it back. Time is the most valuable thing you have.
Spend it wisely.
Beef Pies
Ingredients
2 (8 ounce) packages refrigerated biscuits
1 pound lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon oregano
Instructions
Separate biscuits; then pat each on floured surface to 5-inch circles.
Lightly brown ground beef, onion and bell pepper in a skillet. Pour off fat.
Add remaining ingredients to the skillet and stir.
Place heaping portion of meat mixture on each biscuit circle. Fold in half and seal edges with a fork.
Deep fry until golden brown in 2 inches of oil at 375 degrees F.
Drain on paper towels.
Yield: 10 pies
My Wife & F**inist Daughters Turned Against Me & Took EVERYTHING…Now I’m Thriving & They’re Toast!
Amazing story. Many mistakes. Modern America. (Sigh)
The US is the true “empire of lies”, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Saturday, lashing out at a US State Department report that accused China of ploughing billions of dollars annually into information manipulation efforts.
China is manipulating global media through censorship, data harvesting and covert purchases of foreign news outlets, the US State Department said.
Despite the unprecedented resources devoted to the campaign, Beijing had hit “major setbacks” when targeting democratic countries, due to local media and civil society push-back, according to the report, which was produced under a congressional mandate to detail state information manipulation.
The report has disregarded facts, and is itself false information, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.
The agencies of the US State Department that produced the report “were the source of false information and the command post of ‘cognitive warfare’,” the Chinese ministry said.
“Facts have repeatedly proven that the United States is the true ‘empire of lies’,” it added.
The US report comes amid controversy over China’s attempts in recent years to increase the global footprint of its government-controlled media. Beijing is seeking to combat the negative images of China it feels are propagated by global media.
Huawei chip disassembly report,18-core chip far exceeds its peers.TSMC Intel are starting to panic
Huawei chip disassembly report, The 18-core chip far exceeds its peers. TSMC and Intel are starting to panic
Well, in the smartphone arena, there is really only one foreign brand left in China.
Yes, Apple.
LG is gone.
HTC is gone.
Samsung is irrelevant.
Nokia, Motorola, Blackberry, Pixel, Sony and a host of has-beens or bit-players are all irrelevant.
It’s Chinese brands, and Apple, with 3 ecosystems, Hongmeng, iOS and Android.
No prizes for guessing how the balance will evolve, given the clear and present risk of disruptive sanctions forcing Google to pull Android licensing from other Chinese vendors.
In Africa, Transsion outsells Samsung, and Chinese brands as a whole dominate market share. Transsion, based in Shenzhen, has a sizable global share of >10%. It is the hidden champion no one has heard of.
The Chinese EV makers recently made waves in the Munich car show, with several media outlets trumpeting them as the “star of the show”. The Chinese overtook Japan as the No. 1 car exporting nation this year, and next year promises more growth.
Fancy Toyota defending its position in a sunset industry? I thought it impossible but the speed of the Chinese transition and the scale plus depth of the EV supply chain they have built is putting lots of doubt in my mind. Not to mention the dearth in AI/ML/big data/UI and battery advances among Japanese automakers.
It isn’t all doom and gloom.
Let’s take a cursory look at Hyundai’s EV strategy. The Ioniq series is a clear step up from the typical Hyundai ICE offering, with premium materials, interiors, paintwork and fit and finish typically not found in the price segment. It is positioned as a bang for the buck premium series, almost luxury, but affordable.
Why?
Because the Chinese are making the mass market EV impossible to compete on cost alone. Besides, volume production necessary for economies of scale are impossible without Chinese partners. Hyundai wisely decided to cede market space and move up the segment instead. Fewer but better, or like my friend puts it, becoming “German”. Hyundai is quietly positioning itself as the Korean BMW or Audi EV.
The Japanese have been slower in response. I am increasingly pessimistic about their chances. What happened to Honda and Mazda’s mainland operations in the past few years portend seismic shifts ahead. EVs are not like ICE cars, because there are critical materials and technologies upstream that China controls.
This time, the patent walls and enabling tools/tech favor China, too.
What happens when the Koreans, Taiwanese, and Japanese can’t make a killing through export-driven demand for their mass market goods?
They will have to move upmarket, selling less for hopefully, more, much like Sony’s repositioning and reorganization. Those that cannot adjust to the speed of the Chinese transition will be crushed.
There we have it.
The days of Samsung and Toyota hitting home runs from economy to premium is coming to an end. They will have to specialize and move upmarket, or bleed red competing with the Chinese.
We’re in for interesting times.
Very interesting times.
This is the real trade war, with abiding consequences.
Mirror Spock mind-melding McCoy
The part of the 4th episode “Mirror Mirror” of TOS 2nd season.
This oversight is easily fixable. Once NATO falls apart, and Finland faces the angry bear it poked and provoked for cheap thrills, its entire population will be shaken by the violent paroxysm of love to Russia and all things Russian.
Just kidding! Relax. Russia does not need Finland. Russia created this pesky nation from the ass of Sweden, like Eve from Adam’s rib, and let them go long time ago. It had many opportunities to re-annex them. If it did not, it means it just does not want to, because it is much better the way it is. That Finnish state and many Finns in Quora forgot all the good between the two countries and sold out their soul to the overseas Russophobes is too bad.
As an American of Russian background, I feel enraged that rabid Russophobes and neocolonialists possessing our government started the bloody conflict in Europe in 2014. When President Trump called Zelensky, in order to find out what is going on, he was impeached. Elections 2020 were rigged on an unprecedented scale, followed by the January 6th false-flag provocation timed to prevent Objections to be heard in Senate. The corrupt elite illegally holding power that belongs to We the People will not go without struggle.
USA Terminates Project! China Takes Over $25 Billion Saudi Military Projects | USA is Disappointed!
When I was in High School, I had a opinion column in the High School newspaper. I wrote weekly opinions, and was rather prolific in that endeavor. I would write up an opinion, then I would type it up in an electric typewriter (in the typing class) and hand it in.
But somehow, for reasons that took me until the end of school to find out, my editorials were always botched up with a ton of spelling and grammar errors.
I would type;
Jimmy Carter made another promise in his on-going litany of promises.
And the newspaper would print…
immy Barter madddde ANother premise in e5ton-going litterany, of GH8mises.
At the end of the school year, I discovered that all my work… week after week were being sabotaged by under-classmen who thought it great fun to destroy my work.
…
Yeah.
What great “fun”.
…
I took no action. And, I moved on with my life.
Who knows where these kids are today. Given their habit of hurting others for fun, they are either in positions of power, or living in mobile homes and prostituting themselves for yucks.
Probably the latter.
…
When you take time to be DESTRUCTIVE instead of CONSTRUCTIVE, your life develops and unfolds exactly as you have programmed it.
Do not make that mistake.
Do not cause hurt and pain.
Be good.
…
Remember, to manifest your desires, you must confront all your negative behaviors that you have colored your life with.
A few months ago, I was taking care of patient “Johnny”.
Johnny was an elderly man who had his stay in hospital extended due to multiple poorly controlled comorbidities. For privacy’s sake, I won’t go into detail about his medical conditions.
For one whole month, I was part of Johnny’s medical treatment team, and the main junior doctor taking care of him.
Every morning, I visited his bed, engaged in some small talk with him, auscultated his chest and lungs and palpated his abdomen and ankles.
Every week, I updated his family, i.e his son and daughter, on the progress of his condition via phone calls.
Due to the complexity of his condition, his family agreed to have him on partial code (i.e not for CPR/Intubation/ICU). While his condition had stabilised, I warned them that any further infections or cardiac event will likely cost his life.
Despite all this, the son and daughter did not visit Johnny once, not even once, in those 30 days. Over the phone, they would always have a convenient excuse ready. Business trips, commitments, you name it.
One morning, when I visited Johnny for his usual checkup, I observed that he was drowsier than usual. A vital sign perimeters check revealed a significantly reduced oxygen saturation. The medical team was immediately informed as I took and sent off bloods and ordered a chest x-ray. Investigations indicated a new-onset hospital-acquired Pneumonia, likely due to his age and compromised immunity.
As was discussed with him and his family, at this stage, it’s better to allow a natural death instead of prolonging his suffering by sending him to ICU and putting tubes down his throat.
His son and daughter were promptly informed and voila! Within an hour, somehow both of them were able to ditch their “commitments” and arrive at bedside. By then, the patient was already unresponsive and on morphine.
The son had tears in his eyes while the daughter was bawling uncontrollably. Johnny could no longer recognise them, nor respond to them in any way. He had spent his last 30 days without a single family member beside him.
Imagine being imprisoned in a small box for years, with just a small hole to push food through. The Coffin Prisons of Mongolia were as the name described. They were small, cramped boxes with barely enough room to sit up or lie down. They had a little hole at the side so food could be fed to the prisoner, that’s if you get food.
Being placed in one of these boxes meant a death sentence, hence the name. Even if you were fed, the temperatures would drop below freezing at night, and you would probably freeze to death. Prisoners who managed to beat the odds were imprisoned in these boxes for life sentences, and the ones who didn’t go blind went insane from being confined for years in the cramped box.
Sometimes, the prisoners were fed once a day and had their human waste cleaned out once every three weeks.
The picture above was taken by French photographer Stephane Passet in 1913, and it shows a woman condemned to death and left to die of starvation in the box. This form of punishment was only abolished in the late 20th century.
Male lions act alone, while hyenas travel in packs.
Hyenas like to prey on animals that are weaker than themselves. They are used to bullying the small with the many and the weak with the strong, but they never dare to attack many with one like the Male lion.
The male lion loves to eat the hyena named “Japan”.
Taiwan is the bait, and the Male lion is waiting for the hyena called “Japan” to take the bait.
The Chinese very much look forward to Japan joining the ranks of intervening in Chinese civil war (China’s internal affairs).
Only small countries need alliances to seek security; superpowers never do so.
WWI exposed the drawbacks of haphazard alliances that could drag allies toward all-out war.
WWII showed that the compacts and agreements made between allies were no different than used toilet paper.
Therefore, after WWII, no country in its right mind was interested in military alliances. After all, they had just crawled out of the cesspit, so their memories were particularly profound.
This is a picture of an astronaut helmet a Texas farmer found in his field following the Columbia space shuttle disaster that killed several crew members in 2003. Along with the helmet and pieces of the shuttle, they also found human body parts, including a torso, arms, feet, and a heart.
One of the main engineers behind the Challenger space shuttle said that NASA ignored multiple warnings against launching in cold weather. The night before the launch, he told his wife, “It’s going to blow up.”
He was one of five engineers who told NASA to postpone the launch, but they didn’t listen to their warnings. The shuttle exploded 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members on board.
I used to manage a 24-hour chain auto parts store. Yes, here in Chicago, one can buy auto parts at 3 a.m., if you really wanted to. One could do that every night of the month except one. We had to close the store for six hours (11 p.m.-5 a.m.) once per month to get the floor waxed.
The chain I worked for outsourced their overnight floor waxing to a third party. That third party had a four-man crew. They’d usually show up an hour early and start moving all of the floor displays to the back of the store and doing the other prep work they could do while the store was still open. Once they started with the floor-stripping chemicals, though, the doors were locked and the store was closed.
But two of our employees stayed in the back of the store. It was a huge store and there was plenty for them to do back there, like stocking the shelves, dusting, etc… Most of the parts we sold were stored in the back of the store. The “back of the store” was 4/5 of the entire building… the parts that are car-specific, and you have to ask someone who works there which part you need, and let them get it for you.
Among the tens of thousands of parts in the back of the store were carburetors. In the three years I worked there, I never once saw anyone buy one of those. They’re old technology that old timers like to work on as a hobby. The carburetors were in boxes and sold for about $500 each.
Every now and then, we’d discover that one of the boxes was empty. We, of course, assumed it was internal theft, because we’d notice a customer walking to the back of the store, unboxing a carburetor, putting the box back nicely, and walking out with the merchandise. We did have security cameras in the back, but there were many blind spots for them.
I didn’t know it at the time, but the head store manager began checking the carburetor boxes every day, and, when one was missing, he checked who was working that day. He did this for several months before he saw the pattern: they were always missing the day after the floors got waxed.
The floor waxing crew used a giant floor cleaning machine, like you might see at an airport:
When really, a machine this size, which is what similar companies used at similar-sized stores, would have been more reasonable:
One morning, as the floor guys were leaving, my boss met them at the door. He had two police officers with him. I believe he knew these cops as friends… I don’t think they would have been there otherwise. Anyway, my boss asked the head of the floor crew to open the hood of their giant cleaning machine. I don’t know if he did it willingly, or was compelled to do it by the cops. (I was there, but I was in the store, doing the opening paperwork.) But, when the hood was opened, there were four carburetors sitting in it where a water tank should have been.
The entire floor-cleaning machine had been modified for stealing items from the places whose floors they cleaned. It wasn’t just our store… they’d been doing this at several different stores.
Later, we heard through the grapevine that the head of the cleaning crew got a long prison sentence for stealing, because he had several prior convictions for other things.
China Angrily Cuts Railway Trade Link With Lithuania!
In today’s video, we delve deep into the ongoing geopolitical tensions involving Lithuania, China, Russia, and the European Union. We aim to shed light on the intricate dynamics, diplomatic maneuvers, and economic implications that have arisen due to recent decisions made by these global actors.
A previous employer of mine had an office in Scotland. Their main office, I worked pretty remotely in fact.
Twice in a year, people spilt coffee over their computer keyboards, and had to have new keyboards. Cost to the company, almost nothing.
Suddenly a new rule was introduced that no-one was allowed a mug on their desk. They had to use tip-resistant travel mugs, with a screw on lid, and a small opening to drink through. Genius.
Apart from the coffee machine had space for a cup. A standard size mug. It was one of those coffee machines with a little ledge. You put your cup on the ledge, pressed whatever pretentious coffee choice you guessed might be similar to “normal coffee” and it filled the cup.
The only issue, is the travel mugs didn’t stand up in the ledge. Too tall. So you had to hold the cup at an angle so it would fill from the machine.
Two weeks in, someone seriously scalded their hand, and required hospital treatment, and a substantial pay off.
The travel mugs were removed, normal mugs reinstated, and 2 USB keyboards kept in the stock room.
Edit : This story seems to resonate with people, I’m not sure why. It’s my fastest upvoted answer, with 400 in about a day. If you’re not Scottish, don’t know any/many Scottish people, and haven’t worked with them, you might not understand why they didn’t just “take away the coffee machine” as some commenters suggested.
I managed performance and scheduling for this office. One Monday, my work mobile rang early.
I answered it, the caller said “Is this Ben, it’s Davey here.”
I replied “Hi, yeah this is Ben, what’s up Davey?”
Davey : “I’ll no be in the day”
Me: “No worries, how come?”
Davey : “I’m in Amsterdam”
Me : “Sorry Davey, it sounded like you said you wouldn’t be in because you were in Amsterdam?”
Davey : “Aye, I’ll be haim Wednesday.”
And then he hang up. He went out on a Saturday night, passport for ID, and woke up Monday morning in Amsterdam, not really knowing what happened. He wasn’t fazed by this, he politely let me know he wouldn’t be in due to being in Amsterdam, and hung up. They. Give. No. Fucks.
How China is Beating U.S. GPS Dominance with BeiDou
The Global Positioning System, widely known as GPS, stands as the oldest and most globally recognized satellite navigation system, boasting an impressive user base of approximately 6 billion individuals worldwide. China has now emerged as a formidable challenger to the long-standing dominance of the United States’ Global Positioning System (GPS) with its ambitious satellite navigation project.
I lived for a handful of years in the States, on both the East and West coast.
Before I went over, I had to undergo six months of intensive mental and physical training.
I’m not at liberty to reveal the details of aforementioned training, but part of it involves learning how to disguise myself as a panda.
As part of my training, I had to learn how pandas communicate with each other in a group setting.
So, for 2 months, I basically holed myself up in a monastery with 30 pandas, and every day, I would observe and learn from them.
They thought I was their teacher … sent to teach them the esoteric martial arts of the Kunlun Sect.
But, in reality, they were my teachers. All 30 of them.
After I completed my 6 months of training, I was given a glass bottle containing a dark brown liquid.
“What is this?” I said.
The agent in charge of my assignment told me it was a super soldier serum, made from a super top-secret 3500-year-old ancient herbal formula that only 8 people in the world had access to.
I was advised that if I were ever to find myself in a tight spot, in a situation where my real identity risked being uncovered, I should quaff the super soldier serum.
The agent told me it would boost my strength, agility, reaction speed, balance, endurance, durability, hand-eye coordination, speed of thought, wisdom, and senses to peak human level – for up to 3 days.
I took the serum with me – as insurance, as my just-in-case-I-get-caught card.
I guess I was fortunate, because there was never a situation where I was forced to use it.
My wits and unassuming personality were enough to extricate myself from every difficult situation I found myself caught up in.
Here are some pictures I took while I was out in the field on my intelligence-gathering assignments:
This one was in Hollywood.
Here’s the picture of a stone troll I met during one of my assigments.
Fortunately, I have extensive experience dealing with trolls, so I could understand what he was trying to convey despite his heavy accent.
This is me on another intelligence-gathering mission, stopping to have a quick bite for lunch.
A tough but necessary decision would likely force the West to back off, enabling an earlier end to the Ukraine crisis and preventing it from expanding to other states
By Professor Sergey Karaganov,honorary chairman of Russia’s Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, and academic supervisor at the School of International Economics and Foreign Affairs Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow
has sparked major debate among experts in Russia about nuclear weapons, their role and the conditions of their use.
This is especially the case given Sergey Karaganov’s status as a former presidential adviser to both Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin, and his position as head of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, a noted Moscow think tank.
Some prominent figures have reacted with dismay, while others have been less critical.
RT has decided it would be beneficial for our readers to read it in full. The following piece has been translated and lightly edited.
***
Our country, and its leadership, seems to me to be facing a difficult choice. It is becoming increasingly clear that our clash with the West will not end even if we achieve a partial – let alone a crushing – victory in Ukraine.
Even if we completely liberate the Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, it will be a minimal victory. A slightly greater success would be to liberate the whole of eastern and southern Ukraine within a year or two. But it would still leave part of the country with an even more embittered ultra-nationalist population pumped full of weapons – a bleeding wound that threatens inevitable complications, such as another war.
The situation could be worse if we liberate the whole of Ukraine at the cost of monstrous sacrifices and are left with ruins and a population that mostly hates us. It would take more than a decade to “re-educate” them.
Any of these options, especially the last one, will distract Russia from the much-needed shift of its spiritual, economic, military and political center to the East of Eurasia. We will be stuck with a wasteful focus on the West. And the territories of today’s Ukraine, especially the central and western ones, will attract resources – both human and financial. These regions were heavily subsidised even in Soviet times.
Meanwhile, hostility from the West will continue; it will support a slow-burning guerrilla civil war.
A more attractive option is the liberation and reunification of the east and south, and the imposition of capitulation on the remnants of Ukraine with complete demilitarization, creating a buffer, friendly state. But such an outcome would only be possible if we are able to break the West’s will to support the Kiev junta, and use it against us, forcing the US-led bloc into a strategic retreat.
And here I come to a crucial but hardly discussed issue. The root cause of – and indeed the main reason for – the Ukrainian crisis, as well as many other conflicts in the world, and the general increase in military threats, is the accelerating failure of the contemporary Western ruling elites.
This crisis is accompanied by an unprecedentedly rapid shift in the balance of power in the world in favor of the global majority, driven economically by China and partly by India, with Russia as the military and strategic anchor. This weakening not only infuriates the imperial-cosmopolitan elites (US President Joe Biden and his ilk) but also frightens the imperial-national elites (such as his predecessor Donald Trump). The West is losing the advantage it has held for five centuries to siphon off the wealth of the entire world by imposing its political and economic order and establishing its cultural dominance, mainly by brute force. So there is no quick end to the defensive, but aggressive, confrontation that the West has unleashed.
This moral, political and economic collapse has been brewing since the mid-1960s, was interrupted by the collapse of the USSR, but resumed with renewed vigour in the 2000s (the defeats of the Americans and their allies in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the crisis of the Western economic model in 2008 were milestones).
In order to slow down this seismic shift, the West has temporarily consolidated itself. The US has turned Ukraine into a punching bag to tie the hands of Russia, the politico-military lynchpin of a non-Western world freed from the shackles of neocolonialism. Ideally, of course, the Americans would simply like to blow up our country and thus radically weaken the emerging alternative superpower, China. We, either not realizing the inevitability of the clash or hoarding our strength, have been slow to act preemptively. Moreover, in line with modern, mainly Western, political and military thinking, we were rash in raising the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons, inaccurate in assessing the situation in Ukraine, and not entirely successful in launching the current military operation.
By failing internally, Western elites have actively fed the weeds that have taken root in the soil of 70 years of prosperity, satiation and peace. These comprise of anti-human ideologies: the denial of family, homeland, history, love between men and women, faith, service to higher ideals, everything that is human. Their philosophy is to weed out those who resist. The aim is to neuter people in order to reduce their ability to resist modern “globalist” capitalism, which is becoming more and more obviously unjust and harmful to man and humanity.
Meanwhile, a weakened US is destroying Western Europe and other countries dependent on it, trying to push them into a confrontation that will follow Ukraine. The elites in most of these countries have lost their bearings and, panicked by the crisis in their own positions at home and abroad, are dutifully leading their countries to the slaughter. At the same time, because of greater failure, a sense of powerlessness, centuries of Russophobia, intellectual degradation and a loss of strategic culture, their hatred is almost more intense than that of the US.
Thus, the trajectory of most Western countries clearly points towards a new fascism, which could be called “liberal” totalitarianism.
In the future, and this is the most important thing, it will only get worse. Truces are possible, but reconciliation is not. Anger and despair will continue to grow in waves and waves. This vector of Western movement is a clear sign of the drift towards the outbreak of World War Three. It has already begun and could erupt into a full-blown conflagration either by accident, or due to the growing incompetence and irresponsibility of the ruling circles of the West.
The introduction of artificial intelligence and the robotization of war increase the risk of unintended escalation. Machines can act outside the control of confused elites.
The situation is aggravated by “strategic parasitism” – in 75 years of relative peace, people have forgotten the horrors of war, have stopped fearing even nuclear weapons. Everywhere, but especially in the West, the instinct for self-preservation has weakened.
I have spent many years studying the history of nuclear strategy and have come to an unequivocal, if unscientific, conclusion. The advent of nuclear weapons is the result of the intervention of the Almighty, who, appalled that mankind had unleashed two world wars within a generation, costing tens of millions of lives, gave us the weapons of Armageddon to show those who had lost their fear of hell that it existed. On that fear rested the relative peace of the last three-quarters of a century.
But now that fear is gone. The unthinkable in terms of previous notions of nuclear deterrence is happening – a group of ruling elites, in a fit of desperate rage, have unleashed a full-scale war in the underbelly of a nuclear superpower.
The fear of atomic escalation must be restored. Otherwise humanity is doomed.
It is not only, and not even so much, what the future world order will look like that is being decided in the fields of Ukraine right now. But rather whether the world we are used to will be preserved at all, or if all will be left is radioactive ruins, poisoning the remnants of humanity.
By breaking the West’s will in imposing its aggression, we will not only save ourselves and finally free the world from the Western yoke of five centuries, but we will also salvage the whole of humanity. By pushing the West towards catharsis and the abandonment of the hegemony of its elites, we will force it to retreat before a global catastrophe. Humanity will be given a new chance to develop.
Proposed solution
Of course, there is an uphill struggle ahead. It is also necessary to solve our own internal problems – to finally get rid of the mindset of Western-centrism and of the Westernizers in the administrative class. Especially the compradors and their peculiar way of thinking. Of course, in this area, the NATO bloc is helping us, unwittingly.
Our 300-year journey around Europe has given us a lot of useful lessons and it has helped us to form our great culture. Let us cherish our European heritage. But it is time to return home, to ourselves. Let us begin, with the baggage we have accumulated, to live in our own way. Our friends in the Foreign Ministry have recently made a real breakthrough by referring to Russia as a civilizational state in their foreign policy concept. I would add – a civilization of civilizations, open to the North as well as to the South, to the West as well as to the East. Now the main direction of development is to the South, to the North and, above all, to the East.
The confrontation with the West in Ukraine, however it ends, should not distract us from the strategic internal movement – spiritual, cultural, economic, political, military and political – towards the Urals, Siberia and the Pacific Ocean. A new Ural-Siberian strategy is needed, one that includes several powerful spiritually uplifting projects, including, of course, the creation of a third capital in Siberia. This movement should become part of the much-needed formulation of the “Russian Dream” – the image of the Russia and the world to which one aspires.
I have often written, and I am not alone in this, that great states without a great idea cease to be such or simply disappear into the void. History is littered with the graves of powers that lost their way. This idea should be created from above and not rely, as fools or lazy people do, on what comes from below. It must correspond to the deepest values and aspirations of the people and, above all, it must take us all forward. But it is the responsibility of the elite and the leadership of the country to formulate it. The delay in putting forward such a vision is unacceptably long.
But for the future to come to pass, the resistance of the forces of the past – i.e. the West – must be overcome. If this is not achieved, there will almost certainly be a full-scale world war. Which will probably be the last of its kind.
And here I come to the most difficult part of this article. We can keep fighting for another year or two, or even three, sacrificing thousands and thousands of our best men and grinding up hundreds of thousands more who are unfortunate enough to fall into the tragic historical trap of what is now called Ukraine. But this military operation cannot end in a decisive victory without forcing the West into a strategic retreat or even capitulation. We must force the West to abandon its attempts to turn back history, to abandon its attempts at global domination, and to force it to deal with its own problems, to manage its current multifaceted crisis. To put it crudely, it is necessary for the West to simply “piss off” and end its interference in the direction of Russia and the rest of the world.
However, for this to happen, Western elites need to rediscover their own lost sense of self-preservation by understanding that attempts to wear down Russia by playing the Ukrainians against it are counterproductive for the West itself.
The credibility of nuclear deterrence must be restored by lowering the unacceptably high threshold for the use of atomic weapons and by moving cautiously but quickly up the ladder of deterrence-escalation. The first steps have already been taken through statements to this effect by the president and other leaders, by beginning to deploy nuclear weapons and their delivery vehicles in Belarus, and by increasing the combat effectiveness of the strategic deterrent forces. There are quite a few steps on this ladder. I count about two dozen. It could even go as far as warning our compatriots and all people of good will about the need to leave their homes near the objects of possible nuclear strikes in countries directly supporting the Kiev regime. The enemy must know that we are ready to launch a preemptive retaliatory strike in response to its current and past aggression in order to prevent a slide into a global thermonuclear war.
I have often said and written that with the right strategy of deterrence and even use, the risk of a ‘retaliatory’ nuclear or other strike on our territory can be minimized. Only if there is a madman in the White House who also hates his own country will the US decide to strike in ‘defense’ of the Europeans and invite retaliation by sacrificing a hypothetical Boston for a notional Poznan. The Americans and the Western Europeans are well aware of this, they just prefer not to think about it. We, too, have contributed to this recklessness with our peace-loving pronouncements. Having studied the history of US nuclear strategy, I know that after the USSR acquired a credible nuclear retaliatory capability, Washington never seriously considered using nuclear weapons on Soviet territory, even though it publicly bluffed. When nuclear weapons were considered, it was only against “advancing” Soviet forces in Western Europe. I know that the late Chancellors Helmut Kohl and Helmut Schmidt fled from their bunkers as soon as the question of such use came up in an exercise.
Movement down the ladder of containment-escalation should be fairly quick. Given the current direction of the West – and the degradation of most of its elites – each successive decision it makes is more incompetent and ideologically veiled than the last. And, at present, we cannot expect these elites to be replaced by more responsible and reasonable ones. This will only happen after a catharsis, leading to the abandonment of much ambition.
We cannot repeat the ‘Ukrainian scenario’. For a quarter of a century we were not listened to when we warned that NATO enlargement would lead to war; we tried to delay, to “negotiate”. As a result, we ended up in a serious armed conflict. Now the price of indecision is an order of magnitude higher than it would have been earlier.
But what if the present Western leaders refuse to back down? Perhaps they have lost all sense of self-preservation? Then we will have to hit a group of targets in a number of countries to bring those who have lost their senses back to their senses.
It’s a morally frightening choice – we would be using God’s weapon and condemning ourselves to great spiritual loss. But if this is not done, not only may Russia perish, but most likely the whole of human civilization will end.
We will have to make this choice ourselves. Even friends and sympathizers will not support it at first. If I were Chinese, I would not want an abrupt and decisive end to the conflict, because it will draw back US forces and allow them to gather forces for a decisive battle – either directly or, in the best Sun Tzu tradition, by forcing the enemy to retreat without a fight. As a Chinese person, I would also oppose the use of nuclear weapons because taking the confrontation to the nuclear level means moving to an area where my country is still weak.
Also, decisive action is not in line with the Chinese foreign policy philosophy, which emphasizes economic factors (with the accumulation of military power) and avoids direct confrontation. I would support an ally by providing him with rear cover, but I would go behind his back and not enter the fray. (In this case, perhaps I don’t understand this philosophy well enough and am attributing motives to my Chinese friends that are not their own.) If Russia uses nuclear weapons, Beijing would condemn it. But Chinese hearts would also rejoice knowing that the reputation and position of the US had been dealt a severe blow.
How would we react if (God forbid!) Pakistan attacked India, or vice versa? We’d be horrified. Upset that the nuclear taboo has been broken. Then let us help the victims and change our nuclear doctrine accordingly.
For India and other countries of the world majority, including nuclear weapon states (Pakistan, Israel), the use of nuclear weapons is unacceptable, both for moral and geostrategic reasons. If they are used “successfully”, the nuclear taboo – the notion that such weapons should never be used and that their use is a direct route to nuclear Armageddon – will be devalued. We are unlikely to win support quickly, even if many in the Global South would feel satisfaction at the defeat of their former oppressors who plundered them, carried out genocides and imposed an alien culture.
But in the end, the victors are not judged. And the saviors are thanked. Western European political culture does not remember, but the rest of the world does (and with gratitude) how we helped the Chinese to free themselves from the brutal Japanese occupation, and many Western colonies to throw off the colonial yoke.
Of course, if they do not understand us at first, they will have all the more incentive to educate themselves. Still, it is very likely that we can win, and focus the minds enemy states without extreme measures, and force them to retreat. And after a few years, we take take up a position as China’s rear, as it is now performing for us, supporting it in its struggle with the US. Then this fight can be avoided without a big war. And we will win together for the good of all, including the people of the Western countries.
At that stage, Russia and the rest of humanity will pass through all the thorns and traumas into the future, which I see as bright – multipolar, multicultural, multicolored – and giving countries and peoples the opportunity to build their own destinies in addition to the common one, which should unite worldwide.
Ukraen’s parliament and its speaker taunted billionaire Elon Musk on Monday after he posted a meme on his social media platform mocking President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s pleas for wartime assistance from the West.
Musk owns SpaceX, which provides Starlink satellite communication services that are vital for Ukraen’s defense effort, but his statements have sometimes angered Kyiv since the Ukrosia war in February last year.
Early on Monday, Musk posted a meme on his platform X, formerly known as Twitter, showing Zelenskyy and the caption: “When it’s been 5 minutes and you haven’t asked for a billion dollars in aid.”
The Ukraenion leader and his top lieutenants have appealed to their allies throughout the war to secure billions of dollars of military aid to weather and push back Russia’s invasion.
The speaker of Ukraen’s parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, hit out at Musk’s jibe with his own post on X.
“The case when … (Elon Musk) tried to conquer space, but something went wrong and in 5 minutes he was up to his eyeballs in shit,” an apparent reference to SpaceX’s failed rocket launch in April.
Ukraen’s parliament, on its official page on X, accused Musk of spreading Russian propaganda, posting its own version of the meme with a picture of Musk and the caption: “When it’s been 5 minutes and you haven’t spread Russian propaganda.”
A Ukrainian presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, who has criticized some of Musk’s statements in the past, said in a post on X that being silent or ironic about Ukraen played into the hands of Russian propaganda.
“Unfortunately, not everyone and not always, while being significant media figures, but being thousands of kilometers away from the war’s epicenter, is able to realize what the daily bombardments and cries of children losing their parents are.”
Ukraenion officials criticized Musk earlier in the war for suggesting that they should consider giving up land for peace, a position that Kyiv has staunchly rejected.
Tuesday, 26 September 2023 12:40 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 26 September 2023 12:40 PM ]
By Shabbir Rizvi
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Tehran last week and held meetings with top Iranian military leadership, including the Chief of the Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces General Mohammad Bagheri and Defense Minister Brigadier General Mohammad-Reza Ashtiani.
Shoigu, heading a high-ranking Russian military delegation, was in the Iranian capital on the official invitation of General Bagheri, who welcomed him during an impressive ceremony in Tehran.
Shoigu was invited to Iran to discuss “defense cooperation” between the two all-weather allies.
The two countries have historically been the favorite targets of Western aggression: from sabotage attacks to economic sanctions meant to destabilize their economies.
Both countries have, however, held course despite all such oppressive measures and pursued independent policies to strengthen their respective economies and bolster bilateral cooperation.
Shoigu and his accompanying delegation appeared to be in positive spirits while meeting their Iranian counterparts. Shoigu was particularly vocal about the positive relations with Iran’s top leadership.
‘“The pressure of sanctions on Russia and Iran is proving to be futile, while Russia-Iran cooperation is reaching new highs,” Shoigu lauded, as cited by local Iranian media.
The Islamic Republic’s ability to operate independently and create a healthy national economy despite Western meddling has proved very fruitful. It has recently been included in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) economic alliance, as well as the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization).
Naturally, it is important for Iran to consider security issues to protect its interests within these organizations, and Russia is a natural ally in this context as it is also a member of both groupings.
In a growing multilateral world order, which many are referring to as “Multipolarity” as well as “The End of Americanism” (see President Ebrahim Raeisi’s historical speech ), cooperation based on mutual trust and benefit holds the key.
However, the remnants of the dying US-led unipolar world order will try to sow disorder as they fight off the inevitable new reality shaped by new emerging powers.
Projects within BRICS countries as well as SCO countries have notably been subject to Western-backed sabotage. Most notable would be the destruction of the Nord Stream-2 pipeline which impacts Russia’s ability to deliver gas to western Europe.
Other examples include terrorist attacks on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor by the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), Takfiri terrorists that were once on the US list of terror groups but have since been removed as they play a role in the US strategy of destabilizing targeted countries.
The US use of proxy forces to conduct economic sabotage and destruction is a serious threat to regional development and stability as Iran has repeatedly warned about.
These projects will help facilitate regional independence for countries and incentivize less reliance on trade with predatory Western countries. With Iran joining two economic alliances that are going to shape the new world order, it can count on Western-backed disruption to regional projects.
Despite both BRICS and the SCO being economic alliances, in order to ensure their success, the defense of their ambitious projects must be factored in.
The meeting between Shoigu and Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Akbar Ahmadian was a key moment for discussing the looming threat of Western sabotage seriously.
This is a particularly important equation – foreign interference has either been the United States and its allies overtly or its various proxy forces covertly.
As Iran and Russia strengthen the reality of a unified “Eurasia,” it would be in both countries’ interest to secure regional interests – and to expel the threat of Western sabotage completely, as implied in the latter part of the statement.
A mutual understanding of adversaries in the region is a first step that cannot be ignored.
Already, Iran and Russia’s incalculable assistance in Syria can prove the importance of understanding this equation. A unified effort to expel Western invaders and their proxy armies has led to a hard-fought victory for Syrian President Bashar Al Assad – to the point that the Arab League and other countries that once turned their back on Syria are now being forced to accept reality – Syria is here to stay.
This week alone, Iranian intelligence forces thwarted at least 30 bombings at populous areas of the capital Tehran, arresting 28 operatives affiliated with the Daesh Takfiri group.
In this arena, Iran is highly skilled. Iranian intelligence services have also been fiercely exposing and shutting down internal terror networks associated with terrorist organizations such as MeK all the way to Kurdish separatists and Mossad.
Russia would be very interested in Iran’s anti-terror approaches – and vice versa. Russia has been subject to internal terror plots as its military operation in Ukraine continues, including bombings in Moscow and drone attacks on civilian bridges.
A “skillshare” and an open line of communication between the two countries’ intelligence forces could result in protected trade routes and corridors, as well as routing out existing hostile forces.
Furthermore, Iran’s weapons, particularly new military technology that includes drones, missiles, and radar systems – are also highly attractive to Russia, and the Russians do not shy away from admitting this.
It is becoming undeniable that Iran’s military hardware is a game-changer. Iran’s drone program, particularly the Shahed and Mojaher systems, are so sought after that demands are outpacing production
– multiple countries have expressed interest in purchasing them.
Currently, the only countries in the world with Mach 5 capabilities are Russia, China, and Iran
. Iran joined the former this year, with an extremely successful demonstration of the Fattah missile.
Russia has reportedly used its own Kh-47M2 “Kinzhal” hypersonic missiles to strike targets in Ukraine. Although Iran is neutral with respect to Russia’s military operation, proposing dialogue instead of escalation, it could potentially work with Russia to supply Fattah missiles for defensive purposes.
Speaking of which, Russia is also in a unique situation with its military operation in Ukraine. Billions of dollars worth of NATO equipment have been provided to Ukraine in order to stop the Russian advance.
Russia has not only destroyed many of these highly coveted weapons of war, but also captured intact equipment including tanks, rocket launchers, MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket Systems), and more.
Being able to reverse engineer NATO weaponry and exploit its pain points is highly valuable information that Iran would be interested in – especially as these weapons are often wielded by forces hostile to Iran.
If the objective of the meeting in Tehran is deterring the West, then a serious transfer of information obtained on NATO weapons to Iran would be in order. Anything less than a delivery of this vital information is not taken seriously.
This is just the first official defense meeting with Iran’s ascension into BRICS. In Shoigu’s declaration of “reaching new levels” of cooperation with Iran’s military, more meetings will commence as the countries draft various security agreements to protect the region and build multipolarity.
We can also expect more joint military drills between Iran and Russia – similar to the drills held in the Sea of Oman between the two countries and China earlier this year.
Lastly, we can also expect the West not to leave the region gracefully, despite the odds becoming increasingly against them.
Come whatever may, the new alliances – formed by economic mutual cooperation – have a chance to bring much-needed stability and prosperity to the entire “Eurasian” region.
To invoke President Raeisi, it is indeed the end of “Americanization.”
deleted Aliens sentry gun scene
This is fun.
UPDATED 10:05 AM EDT — U.S. Money Supply CONTRACTING; Down 3.69% and Falling
In the past 150 years, the US Money Supply has only contracted five (5) times; and they were Recessions and the Great Depression. It is happening again.
Two U.S. money supply metrics that investors tend to pay close attention to are M1 and M2. The former accounts for the cash and coins in circulation, as well as the demand deposits within an individual’s checking account. Meanwhile, M2 factors in everything in M1 and adds money market accounts, savings accounts, and certificates of deposit (CDs) below $100,000. The main difference is that M2 factors in cash that takes a little extra work to get your hands on.
For as far back as the eye can see, M2 has been climbing. Since the U.S. economy steadily grows over the long run, it’s only natural that more cash/capital is needed to facilitate transactions. In fact, M2 rising is so common that some economists may not even be paying attention to it as a monthly reported datapoint.
But in the rare event that M2 meaningfully declines, pay attention!
Back in March, Reventure Consulting CEO Nick Gerli posted what you see below on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. It highlights M2 money supply growth and contraction dating back to 1870 using data supplied by the St. Louis Federal Reserve and the U.S. Census Bureau.
Over the past 153 years, there have only been five instances where M2 has declined by at least 2% on a year-over-year basis: the 1870s, 1893, 1921, 1931-1933, and 2023. In order, these instances resulted in a depression, panic, depression, Great Depression, and (insert your best guess here). In the previous four instances, it was an ominous sign for Wall Street.
As of July 2023, M2 money supply was 3.69% below the all-time high recorded in July 2022. This marks the first time since the Great Depression that we’ve witnessed a meaningful decline in U.S. money supply.
To be completely fair, the declines in the 1870s and 1893 occurred prior to the creation of the Federal Reserve, while the drops in 1921 and during the Great Depression came shortly after its creation. Today, there’s a far better understanding from the nation’s central bank and Capitol Hill on how to utilize monetary policy and fiscal policy, respectively, to avoid a depression.
Furthermore, multiple rounds of fiscal stimulus during the COVID-19 pandemic led M2 money supply to catapult higher by 26% on a year-over-year basis. It’s always possible that the decline we’re witnessing now of 3.69% represents nothing more than a return to some sort of mean after a historic expansion of M2.
However, history has been unkind to meaningful M2 money supply declines. With the core inflation rate more than double the Fed’s long-term target of 2%, less capital in circulation would more than likely lead to a deflationary recession.
YIELD CURVE INVERTED – 1 YEAR +
Add into the above facts, the reality that the yield curve, as reported by the Federal Reserve, has been inverted for over a year, and you’ve got the makings of financial disaster:
As you can see on the chart above, the yield curve is now starting to normalize.
The crash ALWAYS comes after it normalizes.
And when the yield curve is inverted for an extended period of time, the crash is bigger and harder.
Why is this happening, you ask? Because NO ONE wants to lend money to the US for a long term anymore. The US is so in debt, people have lost faith in its ability to repay. So the Treasury is having to offer MUCH higher interest rates just to get people to lend them money.
Meanwhile, the short term Bonds are Flat or Dropping as seen below because more people are interested in short term loans; no faith in the long term.
OK, so what does all this actually MEAN to you and me? I found some of this information in comments on the web, by people who know a lot more about this stuff than I do. I found their remarks worth repeating here.
THE YIELD CURVE COULD NORMALIZE AT ANY TIME, MAYBE EVEN TODAY.
After that, combine the contracting money supply with high inflation and . . . MEGA DOOM
The way I see it . . . . it’s literally THE END. The US economy is 100% kaput
The last time this happened, they talked the Boomer’s parents into sending their kids to die overseas to fight Communism and Socialism. Kids by the millions coming home in body bags and idiot parents posting yellow stars in their windows so everyone could tell them how brave their kids were for fighting Nazis and Communists, when actually they were just covering up what they did to the Weimar Republic.
All for what? So the Bankers could move here en-masse and take over the west while telling us we won, and then spend the next century raping an pillaging our society too, like a plague of locusts.
You think they’re going to get their Draft and War this time? I’m not sure bout that. Most everyone knows that Ukraine is a money laundering operation for them to get the rest of the loot out and convert the dollars to something useful before the crash becomes obvious to the pleebs.
This is why the “Elite” are building bunkers.
This is why they have a puppet instead of a real leader in Washington.
It’s why they have fences around the US Capital.
It’s why they don’t seem to care if anyone sees their crimes and greed right now.
They think we’re stupid, and I’m willing to bet that most people don’t get what the money supply running backward on the debt clock means, except for you folks who visit this web site.
They want us to give up our kids IN Ukraine.
Well, my position on that is simple: no gold star for this Dad.
They want us on Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and to own nothing. This is how they figure on doing it, another great depression and another World War. Just straight up evil.
They’ll give us another “New Deal”
This time, the Green New Deal.
They’ll talk about how dirty money spreads disease (COVID), pushes illegal drug sales (they Kensington St. in Philly is on a 24/7 youtube feed…it’s propaganda), how it causes global warming (the Maui lasers…oops, excuse me, I meant entirely accidental fires), etc.
They figure once they get us on the digital currency, that’s it. They can do whatever they want with us forever.
And forget ever having a fucking independent retirement. Any money you save will be squandered with inflation. Perhaps they even intend to make gold and silver worthless because there’s no way to buy or sell it without cash.
We need to say NO to this New Deal, and shove it right back down their evil throats with a simultaneous boot up their ass.
I don’t know about Indians, but on the other side of the equation, forget about Sichuan cuisine.
Sichuan cuisine is mild compared to Jiangxi cuisine.
Seriously, Jiangxi folks consume chilis like they’re vegetables.
I remember going with a colleague (from Sichuan) to another colleague’s (from Jiangxi) apartment.
When we arrived, he (colleague from Jiangxi) was cooking and as soon as we stepped into the apartment, the “spicy-ness” in the air was so overpowering and overwhelming that our eyes started to water.
Then dude proceeds to bring out this huge-ass noodle dish from the kitchen, and the entire thing is mostly chili.
At the time I remember thinking – is this a noodle dish, or a chili dish?
Just looking at it – well, sweat beaded my brow and made my hands moist.
Sichuanese colleague was not exactly enthusiastic about the offer and said, jokingly, that he would stil llike to be able to go to work on Monday.
Even a Sichuanese is quaking in his boots at the thought of eating Jiangxi cuisine.
To me, Jiangxi cuisine doesn’t appear to be food for humans.
Before we retired, my husband and I worked as educators and lived in a small rural town in California’s Central Valley. When we bought our home there the realtor covered all the basics, but after we moved in we discovered a hole in the ground with a metal lid covering it.
Lifting up the lid, my husband saw that the hole was actually an empty 30 gallon steel drum buried in the ground. Still not sure of its purpose, he put the lid back on and didn’t think much more about it.
A few weeks later we were across the street talking with our firefighter neighbor and his wife when my husband mentioned the weird hole in the ground thing. Our neighbor got excited, asked to take a look at it, and the two men crossed over to our house to check it out.
When they returned, the neighbor said our hole in the ground was a barbecue for deep pit tri-tip and other meats that are cooked low heat and very slowly—typically 12 hours or more. He loved to barbecue and asked if he could use it sometime.
We said he could use it any time he wished, and that’s how we came to enjoy delicious “low and slow” barbecue many times over the twenty-five years we lived there—without lifting a finger.
Our neighbor wouldn’t even let us pitch in to pay for the meat. This was like a new toy to him and he was in hog heaven. So what was weird to us as people from the San Francisco Bay Area was a much sought after item to him.
The first serious story I wrote when I was a kid was about a man who had a heart transplant and began taking on the characteristics of his donor, who turned out to be a serial killer. It was always a topic that interested me, and one story stands out as evidence that this phenomenon exists.
In March 1995, 33-year-old Terry Cottle from South Carolina took his own life by shooting himself in the throat with a shotgun. After four days in a trauma unit, his wife Cheryl decided to take him off life support and donate his organs.
His heart went to a 57-year-old man named Sonny Graham, who was dying of heart failure. After a successful transplant, Sonny started to write to his donor’s wife Cheryl. Over the next ten years, the two ended up falling in love and got married.
People who knew Terry Cottle started to notice that Sonny was taking on some of Terry’s personality and characteristics. He started liking things he never enjoyed before, like beer and hotdogs, which were some of Terry’s favourites. This isn’t uncommon for transplant recipients. Many people have reported taking on the tastes, emotions and even memories of their donors.
This phenomenon was taken to the extreme thirteen years after Terry took his life when Sonny took a shotgun and shot himself in the throat the same way Terry did.
The Noor-3 was reportedly placed in an orbit 450km (280 miles) from the surface of the Earth and, like its predecessors, was taken to space using a Qased – meaning “messenger” – carrier developed by the IRGC.
Despite criticism from the West, Iranian officials have promised to carry on with the expanding satellite programme and are expected to launch several more satellites into different orbits in the foreseeable future.
In August 2022, an Iranian-owned and Russian-built satellite – said to be capable of taking high-resolution images – was successfully launched from a base in Kazakhstan.
Western allies have suggested the development of Iranian satellites may violate a United Nations Security Council resolution underpinning the country’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers because the technology could potentially be used to facilitate nuclear weapons.
Iran has repeatedly dismissed such claims, maintaining that its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful.
The nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), continues to be in limbo after the United States unilaterally withdrew from it in 2018 and reimposed harsh sanctions on Iran.
Iranian officials have recently suggested again that they are open to returning to the accord but would first need to see political resolve from the Western parties, which also include France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
As part of one of the clauses of the accord, a number of restrictions on Iran’s development of ballistic missiles is set to be automatically lifted next month.
But with tensions lingering over the Iranian nuclear programme and Western accusations that Iran has armed Russia with drones for the war in Ukraine, the European powers have said they will maintain their own sanctions on Iran despite the clause.
On December 25, 2015, a farmer named Jose Antonio Nievas discovered something unusual near a stream on his farm, located about 15 km from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Initially, he thought it was just a rock. However, when he removed the mud covering it and dug around it, he realized that it wasn’t an ordinary rock at all.
His discovery turned out to be much more extraordinary than he had imagined, so he decided to involve experts from the scientific community.
After careful analysis, scientists concluded that this mysterious object, which appeared similar to a rock, was neither a meteorite nor a dinosaur egg, but something much rarer: the shell of a glyptodon.
The glyptodon was a huge armored mammal that lived during the Pleistocene era and was an ancestor of the modern armadillo. These imposing animals could weigh up to two tons and it seems they shared territory with humans for about 4,000 years before disappearing from the face of the Earth.
Originally Answered: What do you wear when you go to work ?
I work for a game company, so like most IT companies, our dress code is on the far side of casual. Checkered shirts are a must (since it’s the uniform for programmers), people come to work in sweatpants, slippers, old T-shirts, hoodies, sneakers… Instead of having casual Fridays, we actually have Fancy Fridays that encourage people to dress formal once in a while, just for the kicks.
When I first started working in the industry, I was “t-shirt+hoodie+messenger bag” ALL THE WAY, EVERYDAY.
(this is my “I don’t give a fuck about how I look” face).
Then I got a bit more “sophisticated” mostly because dressing up make me feel good. Picking out clothes and socks and such is fun, shopping is fun.
So I “evolved” to a what I call “Japanese casual”.
When I was in seventh grade, my father bought me a hat for Christmas. It was some kind of furry alpine hat with flair and it even had a feather in the top. Man! Oh man! was I ridiculed by everyone in the class for wearing it. My other classmates all wore orange hunting caps, but I had my Alpine masterpiece…
I got to be the brunt of many a joke because of this hat.
Anyways, one day, one of the loudest boys who made fun of my hat, took me aside and told me in private that he liked my hat and thought that it was really cool. Well… good for him. I appreciate it.
If you are a parent, please take the time and give some thought to what your children might think of your fashion choices…
I own the building in the picture, 6–8 Commerical Street, Castleford, West Yorkshire, England.
(picture omitted)
My financial advisory company occupies the two two floors. The electricity Supplier Opus Energy tried billing me for a standard charge to supply the non-existent number 10 Commercial Street, so I wrote to them as below –
Dear Sirs
Account Number ********** Invoice Number ***************
Your bill (scan attached) has nothing to do with me.
1. I own 6-8 Commercial Street, not number 10. There is no number 10. It does not exist.
2. I have never signed a contract with you for any premises whatsoever.
3. The meter to which this refers has a label attached to it saying ‘Dead’. You say that the bill is for my ‘connection to the network. I am not connected to the network via your company but via British Gas. I have 2 meters with British Gas, one for the 1st floor and 1 for the 2nd (top) floor. The baker and hairdresser on the ground floor have their own meters. I refuse point blank to pay you for a dead meter that supplies absolutely nothing.
4. The reading on your meter – 94717kwh – is the same as it was on the day I bought the building, 1 March 2017.
5. The ‘balance before this bill’ of £33.08 plus VAT should presumably be directed to the previous owners if anyone, though they did not own 10 Commercial Street either. If they were paying you in error then that is their problem. I do not intend to make the same mistake.
In view of the above:
1. Please cancel this invoice and ensure no more are sent. You are not supplying me with electricity; British Gas is.
2. Please arrange for your engineers to safely remove your meter without affecting my supply or that of my tenants.
3. I reserve the right to charge you £1 per day rent for the wall space your meter is taking up backdated to the date I acquired the property.
This argument went on for two years! They eventually threatened to take me to court. I said “Okay, get on with it. I’ll see you in court.” At that point somebody with a brain in his head (their legal department I’m guessing) looked at it and dropped the demand. Case closed.
Mexican Pepper Steak
Ingredients
6 steaks
1 cup red, ripe Anaheim chiles or 3 red bell peppers, seeded and sliced into thin strips
2 tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic, minced
Instructions
Choose your favorite steak.
Grill the steaks al carbon and serve them topped with the chiles or bell peppers.
To prepare the topping, heat butter in a skillet over medium heat.
Add garlic and chiles or peppers and sauté them until they are soft.
If you are using bell peppers, add black pepper, to taste.
China permanently stops exporting two important minerals for manufacturing electronic chips
In a significant development, China has made the decision to permanently cease the export of two crucial minerals essential for the production of electronic chips. This decision is expected to have far-reaching implications for the global electronics industry.
The move comes as China aims to prioritize its domestic technology sector and strengthen its position in the global market. With the halt in the export of these minerals, manufacturers of electronic chips worldwide will face challenges in sourcing the necessary materials, potentially leading to supply chain disruptions and increased costs.
As electronic chips are vital components in various devices, including smartphones, computers, and automotive electronics, this decision by China is likely to impact the availability and affordability of these products globally. It may also prompt countries and companies to explore alternative sources or develop new technologies to mitigate the impact.
The implications of China’s decision on the electronics industry are significant, and stakeholders will need to adapt to this new landscape. Stay tuned for further updates on how this development unfolds and its potential ramifications for the global technology sector.
I’m convinced we are going to see a politician die on TV — and not because of an assassination.
Neither of our two likely presidential candidates can run up a flight of stairs without great risk. Even back in January 2021, the top three candidates (Trump, Biden, and Sanders) would have each been the oldest president ever at the start of their terms.
Mitch McConnell’s eyes are rolling back like a ref is giving him a standing 8 count against Mike Tyson. His publicized medical report said there were no signs of any problem. But politicians decide if medical reports are released. For context, Trump’s doctor also said he was in “extraordinary” good health.
I’ve also stopped buying into Biden’s speech impediment excuse. Watch a few of his younger speeches — there’s a huge difference. Notably, he was also one of the youngest senators in history at age 30. At the time, he said, “The seniority system has more drawbacks than merits”.
God bless Biden for hanging in there but even as a left-leaning moderate, I can’t watch anymore. Per a NYT piece, even his aides are extremely nervous each day, worried he’ll fall or make another serious gaffe.
Politicians have never been a bastion for youth —but a revival is in order. I watched the Republican debates and saw a number of bright candidates, who’d be a much better alternative to Trump. But we are boxed in as usual. Even my parents, who are die-hard conservatives, have lost their enthusiasm.
It’s either a fascist narcissistic billionaire or a democrat who forgets which country he is in.
What a mess.
So what gives?
Why is it so hard to find a fresh 40-something with bold, good ideas —and more cognitive shelf life?
For starters, there’s an incentive problem. The US political system favors experience — but not experience in drafting policy or leading. It favors experience in building allies and raising money.
You might wonder: Why doesn’t a wealthy donor support a younger politician? Because political donors aren’t altruistic. They want people with power, who can use that power to benefit them.
We have abysmal representation for young voters— especially when it comes to issues like climate change. I see countless older politicians advocating for the use of coal when it’s one of the most dangerous sources of energy on a per KWH basis. We have embarrassing, recurring viral moments of politicians completely misunderstanding technology and social media.
But incumbent politicians are devilishly difficult to dethrone, particularly after they’ve been in office for a few terms. They have name recognition and access to enormous campaign financing. They are on TV constantly, dropping zingers on their opponents. And —there are no term limits.
There’s a reason you rarely see 80-year-olds running for their first term.
The only means of entry seems to be through extreme partisanship, which is why you see so many young and over-the-top politicians.
We are to blame
Voters often prefer candidates who are closest to themselves in age. Moreover, we tend to vote for demographics that align with us, and voter turnout remains terrible for young people.
It isn’t just politicians getting older. The average age of incoming S&P 500 CEOs has increased by 14 years over the previous decade. Two-thirds of the nation’s wealth is held by Americans 55 and older, despite them being less than one-third of the population.
The age in Congress dropped slightly after the midterms, with an average age of 58. The average age in the Senate is 64. Meanwhile, the average American is only 38.
We live in a technical age, with sophisticated and evolving artificial intelligence sweeping across every sector. Meanwhile, 72-year-old Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer is still using a flip phone.
Many of these leaders were born in the 1940s and were shaped by an era that has blinded them to massive problems at our doorstep. How can you care about climate change if you aren’t concerned about what 2050 looks like?
Biden looks and seems much older than he did only a few years ago. Trump lost his marbles long before he hit his 70s.
And age is causing problems in the actual procedures of governance. Senator Diane Feinstein (90) has well-documented health problems issues that have held up passing legislation.
The lack of a filtration system
There are no real physical demands of the job. This isn’t construction in equatorial heat. If you have a sound mind, and sometimes, even if you don’t, you can stay in office.
Perhaps the job is too easy. Most of us have stressful work that involves tons of multitasking and recurring deadlines we lose sleep over. We look forward to retiring. If people are eager to leave office in a coffin, maybe we haven’t asked enough of them. CEOs rarely last work past decline as they do in politics. They are typically shown the door or leave when they hear the creak of it being opened.
And is that how you’d want to be remembered as a politician? As a cantankerous curmudgeon who refuses to leave?
Sure, there is an appeal to age and experience. Wisdom isn’t inherited. But only to an extent. We need younger blood in office now more than ever.
And so to the people voting, on both sides of the aisle, and both sides of the hill, consider giving fresh voices a chance. Being president has morphed from being a popularity contest —to being a contest of which politician you hate the least. It doesn’t have to be this way.
And more broadly, this is a reminder that just because things are done a certain way, doesn’t mean they should always be done that way. Keep an open mind and good heavens, exercise your right to vote.
HOW I SEE THE USA AS A EUROPEAN (after 6 months)
“Cultural shocks? Differences between Europe and the USA? Regrets, struggles, positive surprises? In this video, I want to share with you some of my impressions of the United States after spending 6 months traveling the country. So, do you reckon I should come back?”
America loves wars. And it wages wars on enemies and allies alike.
Recent events this year indicate that the US is waging a hybrid war on India. It started with a BBC documentary that recycled Hindu-Muslim conflicts from 20+ years ago; then, allegations against Indian billionaire Adani by an American company; followed by calls for better democracy by Soros; and now the latest bombshell accusations from Canada against the Indian government regarding the murder of Sikh separatists.
By the way, the word “allies” is just a euphemism for vassals. Modern wars are hybrid in nature — they include hot wars, economic wars, tech wars, trade wars, propaganda wars, spy wars, political wars and so on. The US wages hybrid wars on its vassals to make sure that the vassals don’t collude or start making independent decisions. Thus, the US spies on its European allies, stages soft coups in allied countries, wrecks their economies when they get too strong, and even forces them into proxy wars. This is standard procedure, and India is now getting a taste of it. With Soros’ involvement, there might even be a color revolution.
To counteract America’s hybrid war, India should re-embrace China! Yes, bring back Huawei 5G, TikTok, Alibaba etc., and the US will back off quickly. That’s smart, “Chanakya” geopolitics.
In this article, we will discuss one of the powerful modern tools for regime change — use of NGOs by the US foreign policy establishment. Then we will discuss why India is under attack and how India can fight back to protect its sovereignty and focus on rapid growth.
How the Attacks are Unfolding
2023 started with a BBC documentary on Modi that rekindled the controversies about the Hindu-Muslim riots 20 years ago. (I thought the documentary was pretty good; and the Indian government should not have banned it). The US and its Western allies are like a geopolitical Godfather and his consigliere.
The BBC documentary was not a coincidence as evidenced by the Hindenburg report that came a couple of days later in a one-two punch fashion. The allegations of fraud have eviscerated $100 billion of (corrupt?) Indian oligarch Gautam Adani’s wealth. He quickly fell from the 2nd wealthiest man to #25 in the Bloomberg Index
.
Then came George Soros, the king of color revolutions, who linked these two incidents, attacked Modi, and called for a “democratic revival” in India. This was the final confirmation of America’s war on India.
The latest attack is from Canada, a member of the Anglo-American Empire and Five Eyes. Don’t mistake me — it’s very likely that the Indian government in some level was involved in the shooting of the Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. The media is now reporting that there are incriminating recordings of Indian diplomats in Canada. Not surprised at all.
The whole thing was an entrapment. Just like how the US ambassador in Iraq told Saddam Hussein that if he invaded Kuwait, the US wouldn’t do anything.
In India’s case, it’s likely that someone from the CIA (or even the Mossad) gave the green light for the assassination, while other groups collected the evidences.
(Note that India’s intelligence group, R&AW — which is like the Indian CIA — has carried out such assassinations of Khalistan or Islamist terrorists in Pakistan before. However, to carry out such acts in a NATO/G7 country — killing a Canadian citizen in Canada — is quite brazen and probably a massive geopolitical blunder by India).
What is America’s goal? Either regime change or forcing Modi government to change some of its domestic and foreign policies.
Another sign of the escalating hostility is the sudden change in the tone of the Western media. Look what the influential journal Economist says
:
🔹“India is invariably weaker than its leaders publicly proclaim”
🔹“If the investigation confirms Indian involvement in this crime, it is time for a tougher line.”
🔹“On its own turf, India has muzzled the press, cowed the courts and persecuted minorities”
Understanding America’s Overt Regime-Change Ops
A quick history lesson here is important. During the Cold War, the CIA blatantly assassinated many leaders of sovereign nations all over the world to “stop the spread of communism.” The real reason was, of course, to extend American hegemony globally and ensure cheap supplies of raw materials as well as open markets for American products.
However, by the 1970s, a lot of allies started to complain, since murdering political leaders was a bit too much even for the co-conspirators and obedient puppets of imperialism. Thus, in the 1980s, the US polished its regime change operations and came up with the idea of revolutions through propaganda and soft power. This was the result of people like George Soros and a myriad of organizations like NED and NDI.
Thus, the US shifted many of its operations from covert to overt. Rather than knife-and-dagger, try to overthrow leaders openly!
In 1991, Allen Weinstein, the founder of NED, admitted
that, “ A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA.”
The goal was to spend billions of dollars in “NGOs” in developing countries, especially those that are resistant to American influence. In an Orwellian fashion, these “non-governmental” organizations are funded and directed by the US government! The term “NGO” just means that they are free from the governments of the countries where the NGOs are located.
These NGOs create a vast array of groups including those that promote “journalism,” “free speech,” “women’s rights,” “environmentalism” etc. Plus, to give some legitimacy, they also include groups that allegedly help fight poverty or illiteracy. However, all their actions are focused on promoting pro-American sentiments and Western corporate interests. The leaders of these groups can make a lot of money and enjoy celebrity status. They can attend workshops in Europe, get to testify before the US Congress, write articles for the NY Times, appear on CNN etc. If they are really good, like that North Korean defector Yeonmi Park, they can make $10,000 a speech, making up absurd stories.
You can see these US/EU-funded fake NGO groups now, in 2023, in Myanmar, Thailand, Belarus, Kazakhstan etc. For more than two decades, they were busy in Hong Kong, until they were completely dismantled by China two years ago. The separatist movement in the Xinjiang-Uyghur region is also fueled by the same people. Other places that were recent victims of US-led protests include Venezuela, Syria, Libya, Cuba and even the so-called Arab Spring.
In Ukraine, they started in the early 1990s and lasted until 2014, when the Nazi-led and US-orchestrated Maidan Coup overthrew a democratically elected leader. Since then, the Ukrainian NGO groups have shifted their energy to 100% anti-Russian propaganda.
George Soros, the General of Color Revolutions
While the US government funds groups like NED and NDI to create chaos in not-so-subservient nations around the world, these groups still had direct links to the US government, which was embarrassing at times. Thus, the US deep state picked George Soros as its henchman or general. He was a Jewish immigrant from Hungary, had strong anti-Russian and anti-communist feelings, and was the perfect pick.
And Soros has been extraordinarily successful. In an interview, he boasted
, “After the fall of the Soviet Empire, I picked up the pieces and created the Soros Empire.”
With Wall Street’s help, the CIA made him a billionaire. With insider information, Soros made his first billion by shorting the British Pound in 1992. Then, subsequently, he made more billions during the Asian financial crisis, Russian crisis, and Mexican crisis during the late 1990s. Get rich by destroying others!
He started his grassroots movements in the late 1980s — first in Hungary, then expanded to Poland and even mainland China.
Soros played a significant role in the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. Soon after that, China banned him and his organizations. A couple of years ago, Putin finally banned Soros; and now even his native place Hungary is trying to ban him!
Soros and his groups play the long game. For example, his “Open Society” group brags about how it has spent billions of dollars in Ukraine since the 1990s.
A characteristic of his movement is the use of colors — like:
“Rose Revolution” in Georgia in 2003
“Orange Revolution” in Ukraine in 2004
“Tulip Revolution” in Kyrgyzstan in 2005
In each of the above cases, when a pro-Russia leader won the election, Soros turned on his useful idiots and provocateurs, who started large protests. Then, the US/EU governments would cry crocodile tears about human rights, freedom, and democracy. US/UK media operating in those countries would carry out intense propaganda campaigns about corruption. Then the governments were forced to hold another election, in which the pro-US leader won by a small margin.
The interesting and obvious phenomenon is that when a pro-US government is established, Soros quietly shuts down all his “grassroots” organizations. All those protesters and influencers quietly vanish in thin air. Thus, the people are left with the same corrupt system but with different or worse rulers.
Take Ukraine, for example.
In 2004, Ukraine became slightly pro-US after the first color revolution;
In 2014, Ukraine became a total American puppet.
What did the Ukrainian people gain? Nothing but poverty and destruction.
In 2021, before the war started, the average pension in Ukraine was just $150 a month. Ukraine was still the poorest country in Europe. Worse, the Ukrainians got a comedian president, rule by the same oligarchy, Nazism, civil war, Russian invasion, millions of people turned into refugees, and utter destruction of the entire country.
While the US has groups like the National Endowment of Democracy (NED), people like Soros are even more effective. Why? It gives US deep state “plausible deniability” — “Hey, he’s just an individual, not the US government.”
For Soros, he enjoys immense power — to manipulate millions of people and overthrow governments. Of course, the new puppets installed in these countries will let Soros and his financial buddies in New York and London make enormous amount of money through various “reforms” such as privatization. So, for example, Soros’ hedge fund would be able to buy a natural gas field, a bank or an airline for pennies on the dollar. The investment money belongs to other oligarchs and financial institutions in the US/Europe, and Soros gets a juicy commission. This strategy of OPM — Other People’s Money — is more discrete and smarter than Soros himself becoming the owner of a new bank or an airline — then, even the average useful idiot of the color revolution will be able to connect the dots.
For example, after the fall of the USSR, vampires like Soros descended upon Moscow, handpicked Russian oligarchs and politicians- based on their loyalty to US/EU, and looted hundreds of billions of dollars.
What India Needs to Realize
Indian leaders should understand the complexity of this network. Indian FM Jaishankar only attacked Soros personally, which gives the wrong impression. George Soros is part of the US/EU Deep State — a group of elites from the foreign policy establishment, Wall Street, military, spy agencies, and the media.
Similarly, Canada is not a tiny country acting alone. Whatever Trudeau says or does is a reflection of the collective decisions made by the Five Eyes — US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Of course, the US is the boss.
Also, in order to circumvent pesky constitutional limits, the Five Eyes do dirty work on each other’s countries. So, British agencies spy on certain Americans; and the CIA/NSA spy on diplomats in Canada, and so on.
Canada is a key designated member of the Five Eyes to attract separatists from all over the world — Sikh separatists from India, Uyghur and Hong Kong separatists from China, Islamists from Syria and so on. These groups are geopolitical pawns for the Western countries to harass developing nations, rivals, or simply any country not being “cooperative” — a.k.a. obedient.
Thus, it’s not just BBC or Hindenburg or Soros or Trudeau attacking India. The entire Western establishment is targeting India.
And the attacks are not going to stop, unless the Modi government gives into the US demands. And what does the US want? I am not sure, but here are my guesses:
Stop buying weapons from Russia. Instead, buy US weapons.
Allow US military bases in India.
Stop helping the expansion of BRICS, especially with the addition of Saudi Arabia and Iran. (This threatens the petrodollar hegemony).
Be more anti-China. (Recently, the Indian government has been trying to downplay the tensions with China. When there were some border conflicts, it was the British media that leaked the news. Also, India-China trade has been booming. It looks like the Modi government realizes its mistake of over-hyping anti-China sentiments).
Allow privatization of India’s financial sector — let US giants buy shares in Indian banks, insurance companies, stock market exchange etc.
America is a Brutal Empire
Many Indians have no clue about the real nature of the U.S. partly because of immigration and partly because of the abysmal job of the Indian mainstream media. For example, how many Indians know that the U.S. blew up the Nord Stream pipeline? It’s pure terrorism, like a 9/11 on Germany, America’s “ally.”
Most people also don’t know that the U.S. has armed and funded Al Qaeda since the fall of the Soviet Union — as seen in Chechnya, Kosovo etc. ISIS was also a U.S. creation in the proxy war against Syria. And the U.S. has been funding, recruiting and training Nazis in Ukraine for a decade; U.S. Pentagon also established bio-weapon labs in Ukraine and quickly ordered them to be destroyed when Russia invaded. There are many more such examples of atrocities committed by the USA.
Whatever it takes to maintain the American primacy.
Now, think for a moment what the U.S. would do to create more tensions between India and China. For example, could the U.S. have rigged the GPS system of Indian soldiers in Ladakh in 2020?
to remove President Dilma Rousseff, when she wasn’t acting like an obedient puppet.
Consider that India’s 5G is all 100% foreign and from US and its close puppet allies. Plus, Indian leaders all probably use Gmail, Outlook etc., which are all spy tools for US deep state. Thus, all forms of communications — phone calls, text messages, emails — in India are under American surveillance.
The spying on Indian diplomats in Canada should wake up Indians to one more gruesome fact: The US is also spying on key business and political elites in India through 5G, Google Pay, WhatsApp, e-commerce (Amazon & Flipkart), Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, Amazon AWS cloud, undersea fiber optic cables and so on. Go back and read Edward Snowden’s revelations from a decade ago. Even hard drives and semiconductor chips have back-doors for the NSA to spy. Don’t be fooled by the Indian CEO faces in some US hi-tech companies.
Finally, imagine if the US sanctions India. It will ruin the Indian economy. Imagine if Google Pay, Whatsapp, Amazon, Flipkart etc. get turned off at the snap of a finger! Thus, India becomes very vulnerable when it depends on US technology so much.
The current American chutzpah in attacking India can only be explained by India’s distancing itself from China. Without any powerful ally other than the US, India is hapless. India must rectify this immediately with a shot across the bow: Seek detente with China! It will absolutely blow the American mind.
Bring back TikTok and watch Facebook and Google cry! Bring back Alibaba or AliExpress and watch Amazon shake in its boots! Approve Huawei 5G for India’s networks and watch the CIA weep about how it can’t spy on Indian elites! Let China build some massive infrastructure projects in India — from clean coal power plants and solar farms to airports and highways. Create joint ventures with Chinese firms to create massive manufacturing ecosystems.
India’s strategic ambiguity will get it better deals from China (including technology transfer in some areas) and force the U.S. to curtail its imperialist actions.
If you’re worried about the border disputes, see my blog
on some ideas on resolving them.
Conclusion
India is at a critical inflection point. The next two decades will determine India’s 21st century. Thus, it’s a geopolitical imperative that India navigate this exigent period carefully and wisely. This is the time to focus on growth and prosperity, while making sovereign decisions. India’s focus and goal should be:
Maintaining Strategic ambiguity while balancing China and the West
Stopping any nefarious regime change operations… and
Resisting being a geopolitical pawn of the American Empire
Huawei Stealing American Technology? Ha ha… We’re ‘Stealing’ America’s Technology of Tomorrow!
The spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs made a statement emphasizing that Huawei, a Chinese company, is excellent but faces prejudice due to its Chinese origin.
Meanwhile, in the United States, there is a department called the “China Task Force,” led by Mike Gallagher, which aims to tarnish China’s image and suppress Chinese technology companies.
Even before the US government released an official report on Huawei’s Mate60 smartphone, which featured the Kirin 9000S chip developed domestically, Mike Gallagher called for a halt to all technology exports to Huawei and SMIC.
He also accused Huawei of relying on US technology to produce the Kirin 9000S chip.
These accusations from US politicians are not new and have been ongoing since May 2018, with claims of national security concerns and technology theft by Chinese companies like Huawei.
In response to these allegations, Ren Zhengfei, the founder of Huawei, stated that if Huawei had stolen US technology, it would mean stealing technology that the US hasn’t even developed yet.
He suggested that the US may be attempting to suppress Huawei because it is ahead in technological advancements.
It is an omen of what social collapse and government breakdown looks like. I’ve been to many countries, but unlike any of these places, there were no traffic rules properly enforced in Cairo. Some streets are absolute wrecks of apocalyptic chaos. Honking everywhere, shattering your ears. Swerving cars with cracked windows. Smog pouring out exhaust pipes. I saw a woman pulling a donkey and cart on a congested highway surrounded by cars. Many cars break down on roads.
The pyramids were overrated and very difficult to appreciate due to the madness around them. This included all sorts of merchants or vehicle operators screaming at you or fighting each other. They are also fringed by what is essentially the slum construction site of Giza with donkey faeces and piles of litter everywhere. Many buildings look like they are crumbling and I heard they appear like this on purpose because painting them technically means they are complete and thus available for taxation. So the population has seemingly agreed to not paint their buildings.
Much of Cairo is falling apart. The old city really is about to roll into a coffin. The sheer scale of people flowing down the small streets was extraordinary. At some points it was almost impossible to move without pushing through crowds. The dining options were not great either. Some places stunk of raw meat or looked unbelievably unsanitary. I saw a man sitting in a cafe looking nonplussed as he seemed to be covered in exhaust smog with his ears being obliterated by honking.
Your instincts are screaming at you everywhere. The pictures online are nothing like experiencing it in reality. The best place is your hotel, away from the chaos. I’ve seen inside perhaps an average home and it seemed well organised and clean, but the outside world is unmitigated lunacy.
The tourist industry is also probably the most aggressive in the world. Many of those working within it actively scam tourists as a major aspect of business dealings. This is ingrained in almost every aspect of it from tour guides to hotels. You cannot trust the prices they quote and they also demand tips quite hawkishly. Cafe owners will mislead you and taxi or tour drivers will take you to so-called museums which are gift shops where owners sit you down to try and sell you stuff. Even in Luxor, ticket sellers demanded tips.
The tourist industry is also very dystopic and along Egypt’s east coast, it is basically an infinite line of resorts for many miles. All of them are heavily guarded by the military and police because one incident against a tourist bankrupts the industry for months or over a year. The military is necessary here, but seeing machine guns and road blocks everywhere puts you on high alert, being afraid that some crazy person is going to burst into the resort and rampage around or it could be one of the guards. Of course, this doesn’t happen and terrible events are very rare, but the thought remains.
Finally the sun. It is so powerful and without sunglasses you will be squinting everywhere. The sun is very intense. This can’t be helped geographically, but with all the traffic congestion it makes the country exceptionally broiling.
I hope the country can fix itself. There are good people who I encountered, but they are very far away from the tourist industry.
Immigrants have started to Leave Canada in 2023 – WHY?
True 100%. We decided to move out of Canada due to lack of access to health care and influence of gender ideology in schools.
It was not what I said but really what I did. I brought a pen.
It may seem like a small thing, but I truly think it made a huge impact. When I went to my interview I was handed a packet of documents that outlined the responsibilities of the position I was hoping for. I immediately brought out a pen and as we went over each bullet point I made notes. For instance things that she hoped the hire would take on complete responsibility for, I put a star next to. If she mentioned a software or computer program the company used, especially if I was not familiar with it, I wrote it down to look up later. On things I wanted clarification on, I marked down the new information I was given. I was called in for a second interview.
I brought my pen again, and I brought all that information from the packet. I had researched the program that was mentioned during the first interview. I referred to points made previously. At one point I even brought out a small notebook to jot another note down. I was called in for the final interview.
Not going to lie, I did not need my pen here, nor did I get the opportunity to use it with the VP of HR who was conducting the last phase. She told me she wanted to hire me right then, and if it were not for assessment needed for my department it would be a done deal. I went outside and took my assessment. I did horrible. I am not the best at math, and I had not used fractional math for years so I am sure I got every question wrong. The rest of it I aced. Since math took up over half, I was sure I was out. I cried all the way home, even though they told me strait up it was not pass/fail so much ad they wanted to see where I needed training.
I was called two days later and offered the job. I am sure it was because I came prepared with a pen and showed how serious I was taking things. Take a pen with you.
To retire Yoon Seok-yeol weightlifting, which works evil in the entire area of puppet The struggle of all walks of life is expanding day by day.
On the 16th, Yoon Seok-yeol Station was retired from all areas, including Seoul The 3rd Pan-National Congress of the withdrawal of the Yoon Seok-yeol Regime was held.
November, we held the “People’s Gun Contest” and announced the withdrawal of the Yoon Seok-yeol regime. I’m going to have a total struggle for it.”I decided.
Yoon Seok-yeol, chairman of the Democratic Ro-gun, is not only in Seoul, but also in all over the world.On this day, he said that he was raising the eccentricity of the regime’s departure. We have been informed of the situation of the rally that is taking place in the entire area of the puppet.
He continued, ” If we don’t struggle together against the Yoon Seok-yeol regime, we don’t fight together.” We can only be forced to continue to work for a long time.”Once again the protest of the people who brought down the Park Geun-hye regime Let’s organize. We in this position will take the lead, and the people will step out together..”, “In November, the Yoon Seok-yeol regime with the people’s guns stopped your runaway.> , <There’s no place for you guys to live.>Let’s declare it unabashedly.”It was a great place to stay.
On the other hand, the participants of the 3rd Pan-National Convention for the withdrawal of the Yoon Seok-yeol Regime on this day “Japan Radioactive Polluted Water Marine Dumping” held in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, Korea in the afternoon! Yoon Seok joined the 4th Pan-National Convention and condemned the defeat of the Yeomanry I raised my voice even more.
In order to stop the runaway of the Yoon Seok-yeol regime, the speakers said, ” Everyone from all walks of life We must unite as one.”, “One day, one day, one day, one day, one day, one day, one day, one day, one day, one day, one day, one day, one day Of course, I ask you to be responsible for non-walnut Japan’s nuclear pollutant second world war. We must order the impeachment of Yoon Seok-yeol to the National Assembly in the name of the people..”He strongly insisted.
“Only COWARDS fear World War 3!” Sean Penn on giving more money to Ukraine
Ugh.
Minute Steak Parmesan
Ingredients
5 minute steaks
1 beaten egg
1 tablespoon water
Dash of pepper
1/4 cup soda cracker crumbs
1 (8 ounce) can pizza sauce
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Instructions
Dip steaks in combined egg, water and pepper. Coat with mixture of crumbs and half of the cheese.
Brown in hot oil; drain on absorbent paper.
Arrange in baking dish; cover with pizza sauce, and top with remaining cheese.
We worked for a LOT of apartments. A lease renewal clean was done by the apartment complex once a year for the tenants lease renewal. The apartment community paid for the clean so it was free for the resident and we did not move furniture as part of the deal.
Clean an apartment for a Spanish couple. SHE complained (in Spanish) the entire time that I was doing a horrible job and I needed to move everything. Me, the VERY white Gringo-American just kept cleaning and asking the husband, in English, if everything was alright. HE explained, in English it was fine and kept telling his wife, in Spanish, that it was fine amd to stop complaining. SlThis went on for the entire clean.
Getting done, packed up and heading out, I looked at him and in English asked if they needed anything more. Nope was his reply.
I turned to her amd in SPANISH said, “Thank you for the job, please open your windows a crack to help the carpets dry. It should take about 2–3 hours. Have a good day.”
My mother in law did something similar to me. She was a terrible cook and her two grown daughters asked if they could all come to our house for Mother’s Day one year. I knocked myself out fixing dinner for 14 people but ordered 2 pecan pies and a cake from an expensive bakery since I didn’t have time to make desserts too.
Everyone arrived and complimented the table but my sister-in-law pulled me aside and told me their mother had insisted on taking them to a buffet at a restaurant an hour before the time I had set for our dinner.
Only my husband and our kids ate. Everyone else pushed the food around embarrassedly. I was furious and finally couldn’t hold back. I looked at my mother in law and said I wished she hadn’t taken them out to eat when she knew I was cooking for them.
Instead of apologizing she giggled and said “My bad.” I’ve never forgotten that smug look on that witch’s face.
The next time anyone asked me to cook for a holiday I politely said no, we were having a small feast with just the four of us and I stuck with it.
People who pull that kind of stunt are emotionally stunted and don’t deserve anything from us except contempt.
USA on the Brink of Chaos: How Americans Are Living the End of the American Dream
In case you were unaware about how things are going in the United States today.
I watched the grilling of the Commerce Secretary by Congress about Huawei.
The anger was thick. And the compensate measures were astounding. There was an open hostility and a degree of frustration on the “representatives” faces.
The Commerce Secretary recovered herself and exclaimed… “well, maybe I was “bushwhacked” by Huawei while in China, but China cannot make to scale.”
Not true.
But it is a hope. They wish to be true.
Let that sink in.
The USA threw EVERYTHING at China, discovered that it is resilient, and decided to “take a step back” and try to “compete”.
That competition is OVER.
Huawei’s actions were an open alert. China, and it’s national companies are immune, inoculated, from the USA, and far more powerful than anyone in Washington is willing to consider.
You can see it on their faces.
It is the realization that you just drove your car into a tree because you drank too much, and your girlfriend is dead. Now you are going to jail.
That was the expression.
A feeling of utter hopelessness.
It’s all over. The only thing left is global thermonuclear war, and the Pentagon already briefed these “Senators” on what that means…
…
The “Commerce Secretary”.
I have some words about this person.
This is the person who implemented the switch from manufacturing to service industry.
This is the person who assisted in the “hollowing out” of the United States.
This is the person who permitted the demise of unions.
This is the person who permitted to demise of company sponsored health care.
This is the person who allowed unemployment benefits to atrophy.
No grilling on those things.
Not so important, eh?
…
The United States is FUCKED.
We all have realized this, but slowly the Senators in Congress have gotten the message. And they do not like it. It’s a grim day at the start of a very grim century.
The only people who have anything to fear about in China include :-
Persons who have received funding from an organization perceived as favouring internal destabilization in China (WEF, NED for Instance)
Persons who are belonging to groups favouring Taiwanese Independence. Not everyone. Only members of specific Groups
Persons who are members of Falun Gong, offshoot groups of Falun Gong & specially funded groups of Falun Gong
Persons who encourage or organize protests without prior permission of authorities that call for counteractive measures instead of pro active measures
Persons who participate in above protests
Persons who spy on China or commit active treason against China
That’s it
That’s all
The above categories, these people will be dealt with brutally
Many of them will never be seen again and exiled to remote regions
However apart from that if you stand in the middle of the road in Beijing and scream “Xi Jingping is a Coward” in your loudest voice
A Cop will come, pull you to the side and ask you not to create a public ruckus and go on his way
If you continue, you will be fined 800 Yuan and spend 24 hours in detention for PUBLIC DISTURBANCE
At worse, there is an older law still in statutes where ridiculing the Supreme Leader carries 6 months to 2 years jail but it’s unlikely Xi will enforce it because according to Xi only Mao is the supreme leader
So insulting Mao in China is more serious than insulting Xi
If you keep talking nonsense, someone will investigate you to see if you belong to the above categories
If you dont, they will simply ignore you like they ignore a madman
If you do, you disappear
Li Keiqang is one man who criticized Xi in 2012
He was Xis premier for 10 years
Xi only cares about Corruption and how close you are to the West
He knows his power is very strong to fear criticism and challengers
Cracked Pepper Steak
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients
1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
2 (4 to 6 ounce) beef tenderloins, 1 inch thick
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup brandy or dry red wine
Instructions
Combine pepper and rosemary in a large bowl. Coat both sides of the steaks with the mixture.
Heat butter and olive oil in a skillet until hot.
Add steaks and cook over medium to medium-high heat for 5 to 7 minutes or until a thermometer inserted in the center registers 160 degrees F (for medium). Remove the steaks from the skillet and cover to keep them warm.
Add brandy to skillet and bring to a boil over high heat, scraping particles from the bottom of the skillet. Boil for about 1 minute or until liquid is reduced by half. Spoon sauce over steaks.
I worked at a factory making furniture. Every night I would leave the gate with a wheelbarrow full of sawdust and every night the factory guard checked through the sawdust as I left, looking for what I might be stealing… but I was too cleaver, he never found anything!
After 20 years, the guard was retiring. He pulled me aside and said”Look, I know you’ve been stealing SOMETHING for the past 20 years and it’s driving me crazy not being able to catch you. I’m retiring and, I swear, I’ll not tell anyone – I just need to know… just what have you been stealing?“ “Wheelbarrows”, I said.
US pleads with China to re-purchase chips as chip supply chain collapses!
Welcome to VOC – Vision of China,In recent years,”In today’s episode, we delve into the United States’ supply chain crisis caused by the loss of chip orders to China. The China-US chip war, intensified by the launch of new Huawei smartphones, has raised concerns among American lawmakers.
Join us as we explore the implications of this conflict and its impact on the global semiconductor industry. Discover how U.S. sanctions against China’s semiconductor market may have unintended consequences, affecting not only the U.S. economy but also global stability. We discuss the challenges the United States faces as it strives to maintain its technological dominance and competitiveness.
Donald the Orange upended the supply chain with the cluster bomb dropped on Huawei.
That was pre-covid.
It caused a scramble within the industry as players stockpiled on existing supply, especially mainland corporations.
When covid and lockdowns hit, the canceled chip orders were diverted to domestic mainland players, only too glad for the padded security. The rumor is mainland orders hijacked the queue and tied up production for months or even years. Honda’s million vehicle swing in recent years is one of the unfortunate fallout victims.
As mainland production ramped up to sidestep the stop-gap measures, there appears to be a chip glut developing ex-China, with the economic downturn due to monetary contraction and rising rates squeezing demand, exacerbating the fracture in the fragile and temporal equilibrium.
It is hard to forecast such a market, especially with the growing fog of war surrounding mainland players who are going dark and playing among themselves as a matter of survival.
I don’t think TSMC, Glofo, Samsung, AMD, Nvidia and Intel will be able to retain their market share in the coming years.
The Reason why Men are Walking Away from Dating (Ep. 411)
When my husband and I got married, my cousin gave us what I perceived to be a very bizarre gift. He bought us a red toolbox filled with many tools. I have to admit that I just looked at it and thought to myself “What a weird gift for a wedding!”
Well, my husband and I have been married for over 34 years and I have to say that this turned out to be one of the best gifts that anybody ever gave us! We still use it regularly and if you think about it, it’s very expensive to buy a lot of tools. This ages well, it doesn’t go out of style, it doesn’t break and you don’t have to worry about if it matches your decor! How many wedding gifts can anyone say they still use regularly after 34 years?
The Terminator – all deleted Scenes
Confession of the Day
$300k in debt (no mortgage). $297,677.49 to be exact.
$215k law school debt, $40k graduate school debt, $25k credit cards, $11k car loan, and a personal loan.
After 5 years of deep denial- I think I’ve finally accepted how badly we fucked up. I feel like I’ve gone through the stages of grief multiple times this year.
We paid for very expensive degrees that didn’t need to be. We racked up a shit ton of credit card debt by spending money like entitled a**holes and not using a budget. I wish I could go back in time, slap 23 year old me (and my husband) and ask, repeatedly- what the hell are you doing??
We would go out to bars and dinners every weekend with friends. insert Discover card. We would regularly order takeout. insert Amex card. We went on yearly vacations. insert Jet Blue card. We financed furniture???? Not to mention we walked right into the “prestige” private school bullshit.
We ate that shit up.
And for what? To impress people? To prove that we’re worth something? All the above? It’s so normalized to be in debt as a millennial.
Everyone had credit cards, everyone was going out, everyone had student loans. We were super normal! You’re only young once- amiright?!
I found Dave last year, when I was hitting rock bottom. My debit card was getting declined at the gas station and the grocery store regularly.
After listening to The Ramsey Show for a couple weeks, I realized how screwed we were. I remember the first time he talked about the borrower being a slave to the lender.
That’s exactly how I felt.
I couldn’t breathe. I had a mental breakdown. I haven’t really been able to relax since. My husband and I spent all last year fighting about money and almost got divorced.
We’re on BS2 right now. We should bring in around $170k this year before side gigs. We have paid off $12k since June. We started FPU last week. We’re throwing everything at the debt. I’m working my ass off. Husband is working 65+ hrs a week and donating plasma.
We dropped more than half of our “friends.” It’s a humbling experience to say the least. My mother in law makes us dinners a couple days a week to help out.
Family and friends ask why we’re not having kids or buying a house yet. The whole situation is embarrassing, but we deserve it.
I don’t blame anyone but myself. I’m not expecting anyone to “forgive” or payoff our dumpster fire. We were extremely stupid and entitled, but we need to get out of this ourselves. I just need prayers that we can make it out of this. We will. Hopefully better than who we were before.
Just trying to “embrace the suck” and keep up the motivation.
Tony Soprano | A Conflicted Man
This is why the Sopranos is the best tv show ever.
I did the small-town-to-big-city move in 1998, for college. I lived in a dorm my first year here, and didn’t have a car. But, my second year, when I was just 19 year old, I got my first studio apartment and brought my car with me from my small hometown.
One of the biggest adjustments I remember was getting comfortable with parking my car on the street overnight. In my small hometown, everyone had driveways. Most people parked their cars in their back yard or garages. And all of the businesses had parking lots. There were only a few streets in my small hometown that had parallel parking spots on the sides of them, and those spots were huge, clearly marked, and largely optional. They were for people who didn’t want to walk about a block from the nearest parking lot, just in the downtown part of my hometown.
But here in Chicago, driveways for people’s houses are rare. Most people park on the street or, if they’re lucky, in a garage. Street parking doesn’t have marked spots. You just squeeze in where you can.
It took me a few weeks to get used to the idea of just leaving my car on the side of the street all of the time. I remember my first night with it here, waking up several times in the middle of the night to look out the window and confirm that it was still there. Sure, there were cars bumper-to-bumper on both sides of the street, and mine was a cheap car that no one would want to steal anyway. Still, it took me about two weeks to get completely comfortable with the concept of just leaving a car parallel parked on the street overnight.
It took a while to get used to driving down a street next to parked cars as well. In my small hometown, since most streets didn’t have parallel parking, you didn’t need to worry about clipping people’s mirrors when you drove past them, or them opening their doors as you drive past, or someone stepping out from between cars, in front of you while you’re driving. The sides of the streets in my small hometown were usually clear of everything.
But, here in Chicago, you can easily be driving 50+mph down a 4-lane street, inches away from parked cars on the side. It’s kind of weird if you’re not used to it.
Mandatory Paternity Test Law Passed – No More Paternity Fraud From Single Women
Just imagine, the strongest, toughest school bully, out of jealousy-turned-into-fury-then-to-desperation, mobilized all possible means, together with his allies, and wanted to kill his most challenging competitor.
At the high-time when he thought and believed he was to succeed and gonna to celebrate with champagne, and when some schoolmates are waiting to watch the tragedy of the competitor, while some other schoolmates are considering which side to take, and of course there are also others wishing for the competitor to survive, though inevitably with bruises and bumps……
All of the sudden, the competitor came back, with a beautiful, ace-trumping, and formidable hitback, standing even higher, better and firmer!
If you happened to be one in the school and witnessed all these, how would you feel?
Shocked, whoever you are, whichever side you are with, right?
China offers subsidies to their EVs in battery making and other areas, heavy subsidies in taxes and waivers to ensure that EVs are produced at a final cost that is 20% cheaper
This makes Chinese EVs deliver lower cost at better quality than many European EVs
Second complaint is that most of the world pays a premium for Chinese EV batteries but BYD and other players pay 45% lower costs for the same battery due to the fact that the batteries are made in China
This is alleged as unfair competition
They want either the batteries at lower costs or a 20% mark up on Chinese EVs that eliminates the subsidy effect
It’s Classic Protectionism 101
Soviet Style rather than Adam Smith
China didn’t do this
When Volkswagens and Citroens and Mercedes Benz and Toyota and Mitsubishi dominated the vehicle markets of China a decade or so ago:-
China didn’t impose extra tariffs on them nor make it unfair for them to import custom made parts by imposing 60–260% tariffs
China told BYD and SAIC and Great Wall to either make similar quality cars or go out of business because the customer needs the best
Thus these companies formed partnerships and purchased technology and leased technology and made a living with limited market share
Yet this competition helped them prepare a lead in EVs and dominate today
However the West isn’t prepared to do the same thing and ask Renault and Chevy and Volkswagen to COMPETE or go out of business
They want to protect their companies
Like US , Germany, France
They talked of free trade when their products were much superior and Asian nations imposed protectionism
Today when they are being left behind, they scream and yell and whine about tariffs and duties
China has many weapons here
China sells 61.5% of the EV Batteries in the world and 86% of EV Batteries today are made by Chinese players with only Tesla having it’s own supply chain and making it’s own battery for it’s own cars
If you want EVs – you need the Chinese Battery, Electric System and Motors and Chargers
The Chinese make the world’s best and most cost efficient products
Even Tesla battery technology is inferior to CATL and it’s latest batteries
It’s only in Autonomous driving that Tesla has an edge
So frankly China for the next 15 years at least can simply ban the export of batteries or impose a 80% tariff on EV exports and ensure European and US EVs simply can’t compete with ICEs
It throttles the EU green initiative
China loses the EU market but critically ensures Russia & Saudi gains a major leverage as EU and US become more dependent on Oil
That is one card
The Bigger card is
China can play it’s own protectionism
China has a huge market for European Cars with Eight Brands having their largest market in China
That’s 157,000 Jobs
China could simply ban the imports tomorrow and that would finish these companies revenue and share wise
Like the Iphone
Intel & Qualcomm openly said if China forced them to choose between the Chinese market and the Commerce Department restrictions, they would have to choose China for the sake of their US stockholders
If China banned Qualcomm entirely today and said “Okay. We will live with inferior phones but you B******* won’t sell or get a fifty cent piece from us”
Qualcomm would be brutally mauled
The Entire smartphone industry will be brutally mauled
The Entire Semiconductor industry will be brutally mauled
The Chinese are VERY PATIENT PEOPLE and they will play their cards very slowly
They thrive on competing
If China simply decides to close its markets to Foreigners except it’s Russian and Global South friends who will sell it all the Energy and Food it wants
Then most of the Tech firms will be brutally mauled
It was predicted that if Apple was banned entirely from China – $ 1.02 Trillion of it’s market share would never come back
The Total hit on the entire industry could touch $ 7–12 Trillion
Who will take up the slack?
India is expected to touch 40% of Chinas present market in 17–21 years (2040–2044)
Nobody else can take up even 3% of this slack
So China has a lot of Brahmastras to use
There will be no more Huaweis
Huawei was a blow
Nobody expected the West to be so brutally lawless and act like a mafia state , like a land with zero laws
Today China is ready
Every US attack has a party from China including the biggest Brahmastra
CUT OFF ACCESS TO PHARMA APIs & Cut off all components needed for Medical Equipment
Devalue US Debt by suddenly pegging an exchange rate of 2 Yuan to 1 USD. China will lose 17 Trillion Yuan and after the peg is removed the rate could reach 10–11 but US will lose 160 Trillion Yuan ($ 25 Trillion) , 8 times worse than the 2008 Crisis
Here’s Why They’re Coming For Russell Brand
Back when he was a hard-partying movie star, Russell Brand was the darling of the mainstream media.
But ever since the British comedian started turning hard against the establishment, exposing the mainstream narrative on COVID, the Ukraine War and empire, the knives have been out for him. And now we know how they plan to get him, with a series of questionable rape allegations emerging from anonymous sources in his distant past. Guest host Craig “Pasta” Jardula and Americans’
Comedian Kurt Metzger discuss why the establishment would have determined that Brand had to be disappeared from the discourse.
My dad is the best mechanic, I’ve seen him pull apart motors, transmissions, put them back together with no problem. Cars pull better, the knocking sound gone from the motor, take a test light and track down a short in a ticket making brake light system.
He can lay boards to a deck or floor and they fit perfectly everytime.
Make a brace for a wobbly door that hides from view, eyeball a fence line to be exactly lined up post to post. Watching my dad work is like watching an artist paint a masterpiece or craft a sculpture.
After school I would fly through my homework so I could start dinner and be ready when dad got home.
Some nights I would be doing my homework and trying to make dinner simultaneously and dad would come in. “Let’s have a look” or “let’s knock this out”.
But when I started junior high school, dad stopped helping with my homework, he started stirring the pot or watching the oven. He still watched me do my homework and was certainly right there but he didn’t offer to read or assist. Then I caught him.
One hot humid night I couldn’t sleep, my oxygen machine was drying my throat, but I’m sweating bad (I know not sexy for a girl but I have high metabolism) and I get up for some water.
Dad is sitting at the table with one of my school books. He jumped when he saw me, like he was stealing something or about to get in trouble.
He was saying sorry and mumbling about not having permission to go in my backpack.
I didn’t care it was just a school book and I have nothing to hide from my dad so being in my backpack was no big deal. But what he said next floored me; “I wanted to understand the lesson, I couldn’t understand what you were doing earlier and I hoped I could figure it out. I know I’m not very smart but I don’t want you to think less of me.”
I was shocked, me think less of the greatest person in my life, why would he, how could he ever think that?
This was when I started to learn of dad’s disability, he has severe dyslexia.
Now I know people will say that’s not a disability or several people have that but it’s the way it affects the individual.
My dad graduated high school on what is now considered a 9th grade level, and then just barely. He is a hands on learner, because he doesn’t trust himself to read and comprehend instructions, words plainly written on a page seem like a foreign language to him.
Numbers to a simple math equation would make him basically stop thinking and just have a blank mind. I was beginning to see why dad couldn’t balance the bank account, why he only had oral agreements with clients, and hated texting.
People had called him dumb, lazy and stupid until he believed it himself and he was afraid the person he admired most would think less of him.
Russell Brand – sinister demonetisation attempt by MP
Big major changes all over the collective West. Sheech!
I grew up and was mostly raised in “the inner city.” So that’s my experience with being poor. I don’t know what it’s like to live rural poor.
I don’t live there anymore. Right now I’m pretty comfortably middle-class.
One way that I am marked out as “different” compared to many of my peers, is that I am very, VERY cynical when it comes to the treatment of the poor. It is one of the few big things I am not really partisan or ideological over.
Poverty is a burden, and it’s a burden that most people will hate, despise, and pity you for carrying. This is regardless of party, race, color, or creed. I am amazed and saddened to know just how much easier life gets when you are not poor, and how much more people will like you.
Life really is pay-to-win. And with that realization, I see that my poverty was really nothing more than a hinderance. My life would’ve been much easier, in virtually every way, had I not been poor growing up. I see no glory in coming out of it, no special mindset for having been in it — other than cynicism. I can’t find any narrative for myself to have made the sheer unfairness of being born into poverty mean something. It just happened. Like getting hit by a bus.
Although, one way I suppose it’s affected me, is that I don’t hate or blame the poor for their poverty. This isn’t to say that some poor people don’t make disastrous choices. But I went to an expensive college. I’ve been around rich people. They make plenty of disastrous choices; they just have the money to mitigate the fallout. Humans make bad choices. The poor are expected to be superhumans and are blamed for failing.
*sigh*
Another way it has affected me is that it’s made me much less sympathetic to the middle-class, and I am middle-class. The middle-class complains endlessly, about everything. They are constantly sucking all of the air out of the room. Politicians dote on them regularly. Middle-class this, middle-class that. The middle-class even has this theory where they are the defenders of democracy and without them everything would fall apart. And on and on and on.
Let me tell you, the middle class is spoiled. The gulf between the poor and the “middle class” is so enormous it would make you cry if you lived it — as I have lived it. But the middle-class get to complain constantly about their property taxes (imagine owning property!) and how college scholarships don’t help them because they’re “at the cutoff” and blah blah blah.
And the poor? They get a swift kick and are told to “work harder.”
Sometimes you have to laugh…
4 Airplane Outburst More Terrifying Than Tiffany Gomas
JP MORGAN CEO SOUNDS ALARM – Dark Winter for Banks
Yesterday, speaking at an industry event organized by Barclays, CEO Jamie Dimon sounded the alarm on a slew of headwinds that will hit the U.S. economy hard in the next couple of months, and pointed to several risks that could deal heavy blows to consumers, investors, businesses and banks.
On Monday, he weighed in on how new regulation by the Fed will impact customers in the coming months. The changes will certainly not make them happy. Dimon explained how plans for new capital rules in the United States could damage the attractiveness of bank stocks, and make banking costs go even higher for consumers.
He argued that the Fed’s “’Basel III Endgame’ reforms” would make loans even more expensive, and would force banks to reduce the amount of money they lend, which could drive banking activities into less regulated sectors. Dimon stressed that more lenders could run into problems just like Silicon Valley Bank did this spring. “Any crisis that damages Americans’ trust in their banks damages all banks — a fact that was known even before this crisis,” he wrote. “Even when it is behind us, there will be repercussions from it for years to come,” he emphasized.
He also said that it is “a huge mistake” to think that the U.S. economy will boom “for years” given that there are so many risks out there. With interest rates still going up, conditions will become even more recessionary, and “you are going to see more people out there with problems”.
It is for that reason that JPMorgan has just reiterated its bearish stance on the stock market, urging its clients to stay defensively positioned. Analysts at the firm also adjusted the bank’s investment strategy in response to rising commodity prices and the potential spike in inflation. JPMorgan strategist Marko Kolanovic also noted that the increased potential for bank turbulence, an oil shock, and slowing growth is poised to send stocks back toward their 2022 lows, as reported by Bloomberg News.
We still have three more months to go before this year is done, and a lot more can happen in financial markets. One of the biggest concerns right now is the real estate sector. Warren Buffet’s investment partner and vice president of Berkshire Hathaway, Charlie Munger recently observed that hundreds of banks are exposed to commercial real estate loans that are at risk of going into default. He thinks there is trouble ahead for the U.S. commercial property market. “A lot of real estate isn’t so good anymore,” Munger said. “We have a lot of troubled office buildings, a lot of troubled shopping centers, a lot of troubled other properties. There’s a lot of agony out there.”
These are the very early chapters of this crisis. But when even the head of one of the biggest financial institutions on the planet is worried about growing risks, we should definitely brace for pain because much worse is yet to come. Although it may take a while for all the dominoes to fall, we won’t be able to avert a decline that is already in motion. The clock is ticking, and time is running out for the U.S. financial system.
They promoted meritocracy and hired thousands of people of ability
Including hiring 3 Colored Women in Texas well before the Civil Rights Act
It’s because THEY DIDN’T SANCTION THE USSR
They COMPETED
They used their resources and advantages and competed aggressively and took advantage of the fact that USSR had the worst leadership from 1966 onwards
That’s all they need to do
Compete and allow Economic forces to decide markets rather than the Congress or Politicians
Take Alipay and Wechat
Amazing Apps
If we bring Alipay and Wechat to India today, they will compete one on one with Phone Pe and Google Pay
That will lead to fierce competition and lead to one superior product evolving or a market resolution
Instead if we keep protecting US Apps from competition, the Chinese will build their apps and compete ferociously in their own markets and evolve their apps on a far superior level than US Apps as is already happening today
Chinese Apps like JD or Meituan or Alipay or Wechat or SHEIN are far superior to US equivalents and of course Tik Tok which has launched ecommerce functions in US
Meanwhile because of Chinese protectionism, Google wasn’t allowed in China and due to no direct one on one competition, Baidu has never reached the level of penetration and functionality of Google
The US today have a sense of entitlement that is unbelievable
Anyone develops some product that could compete with their licensing of core technology, and they invent some trumped up security threat and sanction the product and threaten anyone who uses that product
It may work against small players
Against China, a Nation of tremendous talent and intelligence plus a superb merit based system – It is a huge axe blow on your own feet
US has abandoned free economic forces and fair competition
That signs their death warrant
China had decide to embrace both. That means they will win.
Ultimately Economics is always the same
RESPECT THE ECONOMIC FORCES
The US must abandon all sanctions and go for free trade and competition with China including full access to each others markets.
Oh my gosh. I’m still getting over this one. I travel a lot on business and, when I do, I usually try to find someone to come in and house sit for me. Well, I met a woman whom I thought would be great for house sitting. Because she was going to be taking care of 3 dogs, 5 cats, and 4 horses, I told her that I’d pay her $150/day, which she agreed to.
I told her that she could sleep in the guest room (which is decorated very nicely with a new bed, sheets, blankets, etc. I showed her how to use the big screen tv, etc — and I told her that she could eat any food in the house with the exception of a certain coffee and also to please not do anything illegal on my property.
When she came over, I was very specific and left written instructions so she wouldn’t be confused. The specific rules were for the protection of my animals.
Feed the horses in the feeders and don’t move the feeders.
Fill up the water trough daily so they have fresh water and, because it was winter and freezing, make sure that the water de-icer was left on.
Put the dogs in the house before going out the gate, then go back and let them out. If you open the gate, the dogs will run out and you’ll have a difficult time getting them back.
Do not allow the cats to go out. They’re indoor cats and 1 is a female that I just adopted — she’s not spayed yet so under no circumstances can she go out.
She agreed to everything and I was happy that I’d found someone who could take care of my house and animals.
During my business trip, I called several times to make sure things were going ok and she said they were so I was happy that I didn’t have to worry about things.
When I returned from my trip, I was absolutely shocked. I walked into my house and couldn’t breathe. The house was completely filled with pot smoke. (And I have a BIG house). I thought she’d spent the entire time getting stoned. But that wasn’t all. She had gone through ALL my cupboards and closets and taken everything out and rearranged things. NOTHING was where it had been. All the furniture was changed around. My bedroom had been completely changed, including my bed — which she’d been sleeping in and had stained the bed and sheets — not sure with what but it was disgusting.
She had also thrown all the cats outside — because “cats don’t belong in the house.” I’m not sure what she’d done to the dogs, but they were terrified of her. I do know that she had left the gate open and they got out and it took her hours to find and get them back in. (I live in a rural area where people shoot stray dogs so they were in danger.)
I also found out that she’d just dumped the feed for the horses in a completely different area than where they were supposed to be fed AND it was where there was a lot of sand — so essentially the horses were eating feed mixed with sand (which can be deadly.) She’d pulled the de-icer out of the watering trough and pulled the plug so the trough was empty and the horses had no water.
The back of the remote control for the tv had disappeared — and I found it a month or so later hidden in the back of my closet. She’d ripped out plugs from my desktop computer and taken all the ink out of my printer.
I had a brand new washer and dryer. She pulled them out and the hoses and plugs were disconnected. I had a beautiful handmade wooden bowl was on my fireplace mantel. She took it off the mantel, took it into the bathroom and poured liquid soap into it, then put it into the shower so the wood had warped beyond saving. It was ruined.
I collect art and she’d moved all my pictures around and turned them upside down.
My best friend had died a few years before, and he had given me a ceramic angel before he passed. It had a lot of meaning for me and I loved it — it was so precious to me. It had disappeared. I found out later that she’d thrown it away — I found it in the trash in a bag of dirty cat litter.
Oh, and my coffee that I’d specifically asked her not to use (there were at least 5 other kinds there) — what she didn’t use, she dumped out in the trash.
There were a lot of other things that she’d done, but you get the idea. I was freaked out and horrified, and honestly, she scared me.
I asked her why she’d done all this and she said got belligerent and told me that she had every right to do it because it was HER house and she could have it any way she wanted to. She told me that my dogs were too spoiled and they deserved to be “trained”. Part of that training was making them sleep outside. (Imagine a Basset Hound being made to sleep outside with no shelter, in the middle of February when the temperatures were down to 0 degrees F.) The same with the cats. (Oh? and that female cat? Let’s just say that there are now two more kittens here. ::::sigh:::::)
When I asked why she’d say that she’d house sit if she didn’t want to follow my instructions, she said that she came from a family with 6 sisters and she was the youngest. She hated it when they told her what to do and so she ALWAYS did the OPPOSITE of what anyone “ordered” her to do.
Then she said that NOBODY orders her around. She got more and more angry and upset and I was actually afraid that she would become violent. She started screaming at me and daring me to call her a “F’ing C*** B****”. (Sorry, I don’t use that kind of language.)
I did pay her, because I just wanted her gone. I did tell her that she was never to set foot on my property again or I’d have her arrested. After she left and had given me back my keys, I noticed that one of the door keys was new so she’d obviously had extras made. The next day all the locks were changed, including the locks on the gates.
The next day the texts from her started. She told me that she’d thrown away my angel but I didn’t need anything from a dead friend and SHE’D be my new best friend. The texts continued to get creepier and creepier.
I responded that if she ever texted, called or tried to contact me again, I’d have her arrested for stalking. Then I blocked her. She totally freaked me out.
I haven’t seen her since. But I did get a new mattress. :::::shivers::::::
Combine garlic salt, chili powder, pepper and cinnamon. Use your fingers to press mixture onto both sides of each steak portion.
In a large skillet cook steaks in hot oil over medium heat to desired doneness, turning once. Allow 8 to 11 minutes for medium rare or 12 to 14 minutes for medium.
Transfer steaks to a serving platter, reserving drippings in the skillet. Keep warm.
For sauce, add white onion, leek and shallots to skillet. Cook and stir over low heat for 5 minutes or until onions are tender.
Add beef broth and Worcestershire sauce. Cook and stir for 1 to 2 minutes more or until broth is slightly reduced.
For a while, right before I was “recovered” by MAJ at China Lake Naval Weapons Systems, I found myself in California and making ends meet. I knew that I had to be in California, but where? And how to contact my “up-line handlers”?
I hadn’t a clue.
So I parked myself in various cities, and waited for their actions.
Right before they “found me”, I was working as a breakfast cook at a restaurant called “Louse’s place” in the beautiful town of San Louis Obispo. This town, a college town, was nestled in a nice area, surrounded by mountains, and built upon a network of streams. It was, at that time, quite lovely.
I wore a short sleeved shirt, a white apron, and a chef’s hat, and performed my cooking rituals in front of the customers. Basic stuff, really. Bacon and eggs, gourmet omelettes, and specialty sandwiches.
I lived off the small salary, and the tips that I would get.
I worked a 5am to 3 pm shift. And it wasn’t bad at all. I got a free lunch, and could take home leftover “blue plate specials”. And I did just that, as I would walk the distance to our broken down van, that was parked at the edge of a obscure parking lot until we could get enough money to get an apartment and leave.
We would eat the food in the front seat. And just pretty much lived a transit lifestyle.
This was in the 1980’s. I can only imagine how bad it must be today. Back then, We were a rare sight. Today, we would be just a ripple in a massive wave of homeless. Gosh! Can you even imagine?
…
I have a lot of compassion of others (homeless in California) who suffer through this plight. It’s difficult, and hard. Housing, utilities and expenses are outrageous, and they do not have to be that way, it is just the super greedy that this created this impossible situation.
If you ever get a moment, give some food to the homeless. Maybe they will accept, maybe not. But show some compassion.
North Korea will participate in a number of Far Eastern Projects and establish a Russia DPRK Labor Commission to engage upto 200,000 workers who will live in Far East for 10 years and could be Prospective migrants
DPRK and Russia will jointly modernize the Air Force of North Korea, Drones in North Korea and Air Defence of North Korea
DPRK and Russia will sign a Trade Pact
Putin has committed around 1 Trillion Rubles investment in North Korea
China will play a key role but China will remain hidden behind the scenes because it’s not a Sanctioned state like DPRK and Russia
They can’t sign an official agreement due to existing UN sanctions that Russia can’t break or violate
Yet they can unofficially make a no limits friendship which they just did
In exchange
DPRK promises assistance to Russia against ROK (South Korea) and Japan as a strong piece on the Chessboard
A Nuclear power with 50 Nukes minimum is a strong powerful deterrent
That the governments of Saudi Arabia, Russia, Venezuela have ordered their government officials to stop using Apple iPhones and switch to Mate 60 Pro for security reasons.
Chicken Fried Steak with Mashed Potatoes and White Gravy
Ingredients
6 cube steaks
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon pepper
1 tablespoon chicken bouillon
1 tablespoon chili powder
3 tablespoons seasoned salt
3/4 tablespoon celery salt
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon oregano
4 to 5 eggs
Instructions
Add the seasonings to the flour. Stir it all together.
Crack the eggs in a separate dish and mix them together.
Lay the steak in the flour and then dip it into the egg. Place it back in the flour.
Repeat with the rest of the steaks.
Lay the steak in hot oil. Let it cook for a couple of minutes at 350 degrees F.
Repeat with the rest of the steaks.
Plate the steak and serve with garlic mashed potatoes and gravy.
If I were a superhero, I want my superpower to be “involuntary empathy.” I have the power to make people feel what others are feeling. The process is simple: I mark a person as a “target,” and choose a “recipient,” and link them together. The selection can not be random. The recipient’s action must directly impact the target; otherwise, the connection will not work. Both the target and recipient maintain their independent thought and free will. They can go about doing their own thing. However, the recipient will experience the target’s emotions that directly result from the recipient’s action (and nothing else). The recipient can go kill the target if they are willing to experience death. On top of the obvious murder change, the recipient will suffer a mental breakdown and never recover. And if a person has multiple victims, the effect will compound.
For example, if a man abuses his wife, he will experience the physical pain, fear, desperation, anxiety, and shame… that directly result from his abuse. But he doesn’t get to experience the love and joy his wife felt when she was with her family or playing with her children.
I want to be able to walk up to a youth pastor who abuses children and make him experience the anguish, desperation, sense of isolation, shame, guilt, and self-loathing his victims felt while they were being molested. I want him to feel the pain that drove these poor kids to self-harm or even commit suicide. I want to make murderers feel the pain of the families of the victims. I want to make the billionaires feel the pain of their workers.
I want those pearl-clutching “concerned moms” to feel the fear and anxiety and isolation of trans kids who just want to use the fucking bathroom.
I want the shitty parents to feel the pain of the children they abuse.
I want the racists to feel the fear and anger of minority people they bully and harass. I want the KKK members to feel the pain of their victims. I want them to feel every single minute when the victims are beaten and tortured.
I want this pain and suffering to stay with these people for the rest of their lives. And the only way they can reduce their suffering is through genuine remorse and making actual amends.
I want Jeff Bezos to feel the exhaustion of his delivery guys and distribution center workers, the discomfort that they had to hold their bladder, the shame of having to pee in a bottle, the fear of being sick and missing work, the anxiety of doing full-time work and not making a living wage. I want him to feel it every day, every night, every minute of his life on his fucking 500 million dollar yacht. He won’t be able to enjoy any luxuries in life until he changes his company policy.
Of course, the recipient would experience positive feelings from the target as well if that’s the direct result of their actions. So if Jeff Bezos decided to pay his workers fair wages, give them sick leave, and some bonus, he would experience immense joy no 500 million dollar yachts would bring. If the billionaires want to experience incredible joy, they can donate to disaster relief and build schools for underprivileged children. I would be happy to connect them to the children they helped. I mean, actually helped, instead of using their charity organization as a tax haven.
I feel that I could actually make the world a better place if I had this power.
Even MOBILE HOMES Are No Longer AFFORDABLE
Today I am finally showing you around a mobile home park here in California. However, there is a caveat…Its quite expensive to own a mobile home here. However, I was able to speak with one of the residents and get you the details on what its like to live and own in a mobile home park.
I had ridden motorcycles, ATVs, dirt bikes, etc on & off since I was 5. I met a guy on line who was a biker and agreed to meet for a ride & lunch. At the time, I didn’t have a bike so I was to be his backseat “princess”.
Before the ride, I questioned him a lot about riding, how long he had been riding, where all he had ridden to, what bikes he had owned, etc to make sure he was legit. I’m not putting my life at risk with a poser. He came off as legit.
We meet, start the ride and I realize that I was in trouble….he was dangerous with his riding skills. Tailgating, splitting lanes when there was no need to, cursing out car drivers, braking too late, taking curves too fast…. basically he was dangerous. I admit to being scared shitless. He refused to stop to let me get off his bike until we got to the restaurant.
Inside the restaurant, I went from being an emotional wreck to being all out “Irish-Redhead” pissed but presented a calm and exterior. After ordering, I excused myself to go to the ladies room. While in there I called for an Uber to pick me up in 1/2 hour. I rejoined him, ate my meal, including a stiff drink to calm the nerves and thanked him. Then I just went outside and got in my Uber to go home. Be damned if I was getting back on the lunatic’s bike. And of course, I blocked him.
Huawei was once the world’s top smartphone vendor, shipping over 200m phones in 2018.
Last year, under a de-facto embargo by the US, it shipped 28m, an eight-, almost nine-fold decrease from its peak.
The volume has been cannibalized by Apple, Samsung, and other Chinese brands.
Apple, in particular, now sell more iPhones in Greater China than stateside, all thanks to Huawei’s demise.
That’s “national security” and “clean networks” for all you Apple fans.
How bad were the curbs applied on Huawei? Phone assemblers froze assembly lines overnight and refused to fulfill their contractual obligations, components on order were canceled, Google withdrew Android licensing and design license agreements were ripped up.
Huawei had no OS, a completely disrupted hardware supply chain, a deficient set of highly specialized software design tools and its CFO under house arrest in Canada.
It would not have surprised anyone had Huawei announced its withdrawal from the consumer device space.
Amazingly, Huawei the 5G telecoms champion sold off Honor, its sub-brand, and issued 4G phones under the Huawei brand, weathering a gut-wrenching revenue drop off a cliff. It conducted an internal review of the entire supply chain, from its core telecoms equipment business to consumer devices, and began the painful and expensive task of de-Americanization. Any component that had even the hint of American IP was marked for domestic substitution. The process was completed for its telecoms equipment earlier, but the device side lacked two pieces—a capable GPU for AI-assisted gestures, payments and the camera, and a 5G modem, which was protected behind Qualcomm’s giant patent wall.
Huawei found hacks around EDA restrictions, and designed its own GPU. It also introduced novel transistor geometries to boost the performance of 7nm to the 5nm node. It rapidly upgraded its inhouse Hongmeng OS to 4.0, turning it into a polished platform with large language AI and IOT capability baked in. Its software ecosystem is coming along nicely, and the platform is well beyond the market share needed to ensure survival.
To add icing on the cake, the flagship Huawei phone of 2023 can make satellite calls, showcasing its space comms tech maturity and the bandwidth/coverage of the Chinese commercial satellite network.
In field tests conducted by a Hong Kong user, the Mate 60 Pro matched the iPhone 14’s 5G network speed, demonstrating Huawei’s 5G modem was a match for Qualcomm’s implementation. Not a bad milestone for a first effort, eh?
Huawei had no need for GPS, Qualcomm’s 5G, LG’s OLED, Samsung’s storage, Micron’s memory, or even upstream chip design tools that were vulnerable to US sanction. In fact, even if we took the best in class features from Apple, Google and Samsung and put them into a hypothetical hybrid champion, the Mate 60 Pro can still stand shoulder to shoulder, because it has a couple of industry-first or performance leading features. It is truly worthy of a 2023 flagship designation, earned fair and square.
Huawei did all these in less than 4 years, a remarkable turnaround despite becoming a corporation targeted for destruction by the US government, probably a historic first.
Huawei is finding its mojo again on way firmer footing, and it will sell every Mate 60 pro the production lines can churn out this year.
The NEW American Dream: GETTING OUT!
We grew up during the 1970s and 80s in the Midwest back when the American Dream was still the goal and attainable for most people in the middle class. If you worked hard for a loyal employer (they were still loyal back then) or at your own business, you could expect to have a shot at freedom, prosperity, a house, a car, a better life for your kids, etc. Sadly, that is no longer the case for several reasons we discuss in this video. Now, the NEW American Dream is about something most people never thought they would do: Leaving the United States.
(a) If you can produce your own food and supply your own food
(b) If you have a Product that has tremendous Global Demand and its deficit would lead to significant losses
(c) You are a net exporter
Then You are immune from Most Sanctions on a Long term basis.
Its why Iran and Iraq have also survived Sanctions.
They have OIL.
Thats Why Afghanistan is likely to be roasted under Sanctions. Because they dont have the above merits.
How Will The Biden Administration Cope With Its Loss In Ukraine?
While this piece will touch on the war in Ukraine it is more about the U.S., and the Biden administration, and how they will cope with their defeat in their war on Russia. Please keep that in mind when commentating.
Washington’s moment of recognizing the defeat in Ukraine, and its consequences, has yet to arrive.
In his latest piece (archived) Seymour Hersh reports on the state of the war and of significant differences of opinion between the U.S. intelligence services:
There are significant elements in the American intelligence community, relying on field reports and technical intelligence, who believe that the demoralized Ukraine army has given up on the possibility of overcoming the heavily mined three-tier Russian defense lines and taking the war to Crimea and the four oblasts seized and annexed by Russia. The reality is that Volodymyr Zelensky’s battered army no longer has any chance of a victory.
The war continues, I have been told by an official with access to current intelligence, because Zelensky insists that it must. There is no discussion in his headquarters or in the Biden White House of a ceasefire and no interest in talks that could lead to an end to the slaughter. “It’s all lies,” the official said, speaking of the Ukrainian claims of incremental progress in the offensive that has suffered staggering losses, while gaining ground in a few scattered areas that the Ukrainian military measures in meters per week. … The American intelligence official I spoke with spent the early years of his career working against Soviet aggression and spying has respect for Putin’s intellect but contempt for his decision to go to war with Ukraine and to initiate the death and destruction that war brings. But, as he told me, “The war is over. Russia has won. There is no Ukrainian offensive anymore, but the White House and the American media have to keep the lie going.
“The truth is if the Ukrainian army is ordered to continue the offensive, the army would mutiny. The soldiers aren’t willing to die any more, but this doesn’t fit the B.S. that is being authored by the Biden White House.”
The differences between the current CIA and the more neoconned Defense Intelligence Agency extend to their view on China:
A byproduct of the Biden administration’s neocon hostility to Russia and China—exemplified by the remarks of Secretary of State Tony Blinken, who has repeatedly stated that he will not currently countenance a ceasefire in Ukraine—has been a significant split in the intelligence community. One casualty are the secret National Intelligence Estimates that have delineated the parameters of American foreign policy for decades. Some key offices in the CIA have refused, in many cases, to participate in the NIE process because of profound political disagreement with the administration’s aggressive foreign policy. One recent failure involved a planned NIE that dealt with the outcome of a Chinese attack on Taiwan.
I have reported for many weeks on the longstanding disagreement between the CIA and other elements of the intelligence community on the prognosis of the current war in the Ukraine. CIA analysts have consistently been far more skeptical than their counterparts at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) on the prospect for a Ukraine success. The American media has ignored the dispute, but the London-headquartered Economist, whose well-informed reporters do not get bylines, has not. …
The DIA is still saying that the Ukrainian army has a chance, a small one though, to break through the Russian lines. The White House still seems to believe in that. The CIA knows that the Ukraine is done.
Alastair Crooke, in a talk (vid) with Judge Napolitano, says that the moment of truth will only arrive in November.
But what will happen when everyone recognizes and acknowledges, if silently, that the war on Russia has failed?
Ukraine, today, has suffered huge losses of even greater (proportional) magnitude [than the German Wehrmacht in the Battle of Kursk], without achieving any significant territorial gains, unable even to reach the first layer of the Surovikin Line. That will clear the road to the Dnieper and beyond for the 600,000 strong Russian army equipped with weaponry the equal of what the West has given Ukraine. Hence, Moscow is poised to exploit its decisive advantage to the point where it can dictate terms to Kiev, Washington, Brussels et al.
The Biden administration has made no plans for such an eventuality, nor have its obedient European governments. Their divorce from reality will make this state of affairs all the more stunning — and galling. Bereft of ideas, they will flounder. How they will react is unknowable. We can say with certainty one thing: the collective West, and especially the U.S., will have suffered a grave defeat. Coping with that truth will become the main order of business.
Here is a menu of options for handling it:
Redefine what is meant by defeat, victory, failure, success, loss, gain. There is a new narrative that is scripted to stress these talking points: … … This narrative already has been given an airing in speeches by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland. Its target audience is the American public; nobody outside the Collective West buys it, though — whether Washington has registered that fact of diplomatic life or not.
Retroactively Scale Back the Goals & Stakes … Cultivate Amnesia … Next: China …
It is likely that the administration will use all four options to make the pain and memory of defeat go away. Declare victory over Russia because Russia was stopped at the border with Poland. Then forget about all the details and consequences and move towards war on China.
That could end catastrophically.
The focal shift from Russia in Europe to China in Asia is less a mechanism for coping with defeat than the pathological reaction of a country that, feeling a gnawing sense of diminishing prowess, can manage to do nothing more than try one final fling at proving to itself that it still has the right stuff — since living without that exalted sense of self is intolerable. … The U.S. was fortunate, in the case of Vietnam, that the United States’ dominant position in the world outside of the Soviet Bloc and the PRC allowed it to maintain respect, status and influence.
Things have now changed, though. The U.S. relative strength in all domains is weaker, strong centrifugal forces around the globe are producing a dispersion of power, will and outlook among other states. The BRICs phenomenon is the concrete embodiment of that reality.
Hence, the prerogatives of the United States are narrowing, its ability to shape the global system in conformity with its ideas and interests are under mounting challenge, and premiums are being placed on diplomacy of an order that seems beyond its present aptitudes.
The U.S. is confounded.
Major offices in the CIA, according to Hersh, have recognized the danger of such plans. It may well be the reason why the CIA’s informal spokesmen, David Ignatius, and others wrote that Biden should step down.
If he doesn’t the neoconservatives around him will have a great incentive to move on China as fast as possible. As Biden will have difficulties in winning next year’s election he needs some objective that can unify the country. A war that he can claim the U.S. will win is one. Some hostile naval exchanges with China will follow.
(Please don’t use the comments of this thread for details from the war in Ukraine. The current thread for such is here.)
Posted by b on September 21, 2023 at 17:05 UTC | Permalink
Dangerous
On topic we are at a dangerous inflection point. Ironically it is the potential of war with China that is preventing WW3 from starting, in my view. Maerica doesn’t know how to accept loss and animals are at their most dangerous when cornered.
Posted by: Doctor Eleven | Sep 21 2023 18:22 utc | 29
China’s foreign policy towards the U.S. is very simple indeed Allow the U.S. to commit suicide and give them a long rope to hang themselves since they choose ignorance, naïveté and hubris over knowing the real China.
This policy is highly effective cost almost nothing and hurt the U.S. beyond recognition. And it is the US doing to themselves. Take the Chinese response to US thinking they could knee cap China on supposed technological superiority on semi conductor. Over China.
China don’t wish to start a fight now wants to hurt snd harmed China but the US insisted. Hence China chose the precise response that will totally destroy the U.S. that cost China nothing and cost trillions upon trillions of losses in the U.S. chips industry.
But this is not the first time nor will it be the last. The last nation to threaten is one that helped you enjoyed a 30 years inflation free economy. But the U.S. started a trade war against China for no reason except it is popular for politicians. Today the U.S. is paying for a high inflation and looming recession.
Their policy as usual is sustainable, practical and pragmatic while the U.S. policy towards China hurts and harm the U.S. to no end. It is neither sustainable nor effective against China.
China Slams And Issues A Massive Warning To Europe | Sparks Tensions Over EV Exports
“Just like their master, the E.U. resorts to tariffs to try to slow down the growth of Chinese EV’s in its market. In other words, when they can’t compete, they employ dirty tricks to get what they want. How can the E.U. go about the accusation of government subsidies when the same eletrict car costs nearly twice the one in the Chinese domestic market? The madness is beyond belief.”
China can make life really bad for European car manufacturers if it wanted to.
Stanley Praimnath, was working on the 81st floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
He was a vice president at Fuji Bank, a prestigious Japanese financial institution. He had a nice office with a view of the Statue of Liberty and the Hudson River.
He had a good life, a loving family, and a strong Christian faith.
But everything changed in an instant when he saw a plane flying straight toward his building.
He later recalled:
Depiction of the plane.
“I saw this giant airplane coming towards me eye level, eye contact. I’m looking at the cockpit of the plane and I see the red markings on it and I realize it’s an American Airlines plane.” He instinctively ducked under his desk and prayed: “Lord, I can’t do this! You take over!”
The plane crashed into the building between floors 77 and 85, just above Stanley’s office.
The impact was so powerful that it tore a hole in the wall behind him and sucked out everything in his office except his desk, which shielded him from the flames and debris. He was trapped in a small space with no way out.
Meanwhile, on the same floor, another man was looking for survivors. His name was Brian Clark,
a Canadian executive at Euro Brokers, another financial firm.
He had escaped from his office on the 84th floor, which was at the top of the impact zone, and was heading down Stairway A, the only one that wasn’t destroyed by the plane.
On his way down, he heard a faint voice crying for help from behind a wall of rubble.
He followed the sound and found Stanley’s hand waving through a hole. He shone his flashlight and saw Stanley’s eyes staring back at him.
He grabbed his hand and pulled him over the wall.
Stanley was overjoyed to see Brian. He kissed him and said:
“I’m Stanley! We’ll be brothers for life!” Brian agreed and said: “Let’s go home.”
The two men made their way down the stairs, dodging smoke and debris along the way. They reached the ground floor at 9:55 am, just five minutes before the South Tower collapsed.
They ran out of the building and hugged each other in relief. They had just become two of only four survivors from above the south tower impact zone.
Stanley later said that he owed his life to God and Brian. He said: “God sent an angel to save me.” Brian said:
“I don’t know why I survived when so many others didn’t. I guess God had other plans for me.”
After 9/11, Stanley became a Pentecostal pastor and a popular inspirational speaker with religious groups and churches. He also remained close friends with Brian, who he calls his brother for life.
In short answer, Cambodia used to be a prosperous country. After the end of the Indochina War (1945–1954), under the leadership of King Norodom Sihanouk (1922–2012), the economy of Cambodia rapidly went up for the next twenty years, with remarkable achievements. In 1960, the GPD per capita of Cambodia was US$ 111,34 and it was even higher than both North and South Vietnam at that time (with US$ 51 and US$ 105, respectively).
During the 1960s, while Vietnam was stuck into a devastated war, the economy of Cambodia continued to develop rapidly. The capital of Phnom Penh was among the “pearls” of the oriental, where notable figures of the world such as French President Charles De Gaulle (1890–1970) and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929–1994) had their visits.
However…
The fate of Cambodia was sealed on 18 March 1970, after the coup d’état against King Norodom Sihanouk, which was sponsored by the United States. Since then, Cambodia was stuck into a bloody civil war during the next five years (1970–1975), with hundred thousand deaths.
Unluckily, the end of the Cambodian Civil War in 1975 did not mark the beginning of the new peaceful era for Cambodian nation. On the contrary, it subsequently marked the beginning of the Maoist genocidal regime of Khmer Rouge, as one of the most brutal dictatorships in 20th century. “Comrade Pol Pot”, the supreme leader of Cambodia at that time once said:
“In the concrete revolutionary struggle of our country, we creatively and successfully applied Mao Tse-tung Thought.”
(Peking Review (北京周報), Vol. 20, No. 41, 07 October 1977, p. 25)
With Chinese Maoism in his mind together with strong military supports from People’s Republic of China, in just four years Pol Pot rapidly transformed his country into a massive “killing field”, where 2.0 to 3.0 millions of “counter-revolutionaries” or 1/3 of Cambodian population were exterminated! Historically, it was called the “Cambodian Genocide”, in which the whole country of Cambodia was returned to the “Year Zero” (Année Zéro). From a prosperous country during the 1960s, Cambodia became a constant famine-stricken and also one of the poorest countries in the world under the rule of Khmer Rouge regime.
The whole economic structure of Cambodia was totally bankrupt to the root when Pol Pot decided not to use the paper money anymore! The city of Phnom Penh subsequently became a “ghost city”. There were no more French-style coffee shops, no more luxury cars, no more beautiful lights of neon at night, but only the so-called “people’s communes” located around the country, where people were forced to work until their last breath. These below pictures were about the city of Phnom Penh under the rule of Khmer Rouge.
The “Cambodian Genocide” was finally ended on January 1979, when the Cambodian national uprising together with the Vietnamese offensive finally overthrown the rule of Pol Pot and his henchmen. During the next twenty years (1979–1999), together with the Vietnamese military assistance, the new government of Cambodia under the leadership of Hun Sen continued the fight against the remaining Khmer Rouge guerrillas until the death of Pol Pot in 1998 and the total disband of the Khmer Rouge faction in 1999.
Since 1993, Norodom Sihanouk officially returned as a King of Cambodia. Meanwhile, all of the former leaders of Khmer Rouge regime were charged with their crimes against the humanity.
Nowadays, although Cambodia is not a rich country, but the revival process is going on, the whole country of Cambodia is again going up rapidly from zero and obtains average GDP growth about 7.5% annually.
How to LEAVE AMERICA FOR GOOD and escape the rat race in the United States
If you’re thinking that America sucks and is going to hell recently, you’re not alone and lots of people are wondering how to set up an escape plan and get out of the USA permanently before it falls apart.
Or, you might simply be thinking that it would be better to live in another country, regardless of how well the United States is doing, because you’re trying to escape the rat race that we’ve built.
Whatever your motivations for wanting to leave the USA and travel the world full-time, this video will breakdown how to make money while traveling, different jobs available to foreigners, how to work online, how to find jobs in a foreign country, a few countries that I think are good first-time tryouts for anyone who is considering living the digital nomad life full-time, and much more.
“Digital Nomad” is a very highly hyped occupation, but in actuality, it doesn’t really work out that great.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has already answered this question.
Taiwan is part of China.
Since 1956, Mao Zedong proposed the “third cooperation between the KMT and the CPC” to complete the mission of peacefully reunifying Taiwan, and proposed the policy of “One Program, Four projects”, the predecessor of “One Country, Two Systems”.
It is the hypocritical Yanks who have been blocking China’s efforts to unify Taiwan.
The United States has always been the main culprit in dividing China. Without the overt and covert support of Washington, the DPP would not be able to gain power in Taiwan.
We record everything the United States has done to China.
When service economies slow down; they resort to financialization.
This means that they create cash flow by creating debt instead of producing anything.
This is what has happened to the US economy. Most Americans are deeply in debt, and spend a significant portion of their monthly income paying interest on their debt.
It is NOT productivity.
Debt is a necessary part of life, but it should only be spent as an investment for future productivity, not for paying off daily expenses.
Frugal Living Is The Only Way To SURVIVE The Cost of Living Crisis
“I can play dirty, but you can't, it's in the rule book”-From HERE. United States administrator when asked why China cannot adopt the same policies that the United States routinely uses.
You know, I like Ron Unz. His site “UNZ” often has stuff; opinion and news that you will not find anywhere else. But Lordy! Is it full of racism! It drives me insane, and it’s really bothersome. I get it, you know. I understand the why. But I really don’t want to read about Jews this, and blacks that! Please.
I HATE it!
When The Garden of the Saker was up, I enjoyed it as well. But the comments were so filled with racism and hate that I just stopped reading them. Then Andre quit. He left the stage, and the Saker is no longer.
Sigh.
Life moves on…
Call me a wimp, if you will. But I want to live a sheltered life. One free of racism, and harsh opinions about broad brush-strokes about someones culture, society, color of skin, or tattoos. I don’t want to read that junk.
It gives me a headache. Ugh!
Especially if it is a ‘Bot, a mindless 11-year old, or a government paid troll. The United States is too fucked up right now.
Ugh!
Now… on to bigger and better things. You all know that I have been trying to hunt down this mysterious movie about a girl who starts work at a software campus, only to discover that she is a computer program. I’m still looking. Haven’t found it yet.
Here’s my list so far.
THE LIST
1954 — Tobor the Great — This science fiction film tells the story of a young boy, his grandfather, and his best friend — who just so happens to be a robot — as they work together to stay safe from the group of communist agents on their tail. Starring Charles Drake and Karin Booth.
1956 — 1984 — In a dystopian world, society is closely monitored by Big Brother, an omnipotent force for government surveillance. One man breaks the rules by falling in love and must pay a heavy price. Based on the novel by George Orwell.
1965 — Alphaville — A secret agent goes to the futuristic city of Alphaville to find a missing person and eventually stop the ruling dictator, professor von Braun, and his sentient computer system, Alpha 60.
1967 — Billion Dollar Brain — In this espionage thriller, Michael Caine stars as Harry Palmer, a former secret agent who unexpectedly becomes involved with a frenzied Texas oil baron (Ed Begley) working to eradicate Communism with a supercomputer.
1968 — 2001: A Space Odyssey — A group of astronauts is sent on a mysterious mission alongside the AI supercomputer H.A.L. 9000. What follows is an intense battle between man and machine, resulting in a mystifying journey through space and time.
1968 — Hot Millions — Peter Ustinov plays an embezzler who bypasses a mainframe computer’s security system to pay invoices from his fictitious companies.
1969 — The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes — Dexter Reilly (Kurt Russell) fixes a computer during an electrical storm and gets shocked. The computer’s brain has fused with his, and he’s a genius.
1969 — The Italian Job — A robber (Michael Caine) recently released from prison gets help from a group of Britain’s most infamous computer hackers to steal gold bullion from underneath the noses of the Italian police and mafia. One of the film’s most famous scenes is a massive traffic jam caused by hacking the city’s traffic control computer.
1970 — Colossus: The Forbin Project — Massive computer systems from the U.S. — “Colossus” — and Russia — “Guardian” — connect to each other. Nuclear war is threatened.
1971 — Paper Man — Five bored college students take advantage of a computer glitch and create a fictitious person, but the prank backfires.
1971 — THX 1138 — Set in a futuristic, state-controlled environment, this film follows a man and a woman, named THX 1138 and LUH 3417, respectively, as they instill a revolution upon their strictly-governed and closely-watched society.
1973 — Westworld — For one thousand dollars a day, guests of a futuristic theme park can visit recreations of different time periods and experience their wildest fantasies with lifelike androids. Pals Blane (James Brolin) and Martin (Richard Benjamin) have chosen to visit Westworld and walk the lawless streets of the American frontier. Their fantasies turn to terror, however, when a duel with a robotic gunslinger (Yul Brynner) goes terribly wrong.
1974 — The Conversation — Gene Hackman plays a surveillance expert using high-tech equipment (back in the day) to spy on a couple he fears may be in danger. Nominated for three Oscars.
1975 — Three Days of the Condor — CIA codebreaker Robert Redford tries to figure out why his own agency wants him dead.
1977 — Demon Seed — This science fiction horror film tells the story of Proteus IV, a sentient supercomputer made from artificial intelligence, who goes to incredible and dangerous lengths to attempt to become human.
1982 — Tron — One of the earliest hacking films. A computer engineer learns an executive at his company has been stealing his work and is launched into the world of virtual reality.
1983 — Brainstorm — Researchers Michael Brace (Christopher Walken) and Lillian Reynolds (Louise Fletcher) develop a system that allows the recording and playback of a person’s thoughts onto videotape. The project spins out of control when the technology is used to explore intense sexual and near-death experiences.
1983 — Superman III — Richard Pryor plays Gus Gorman, a hacker who is caught skimming from his company’s payroll through a program he developed and is then blackmailed to help turn Superman evil.
1983 — WarGames — High school student (Matthew Broderick) hacks into a military supercomputer in this classic and activates the U.S. nuclear arsenal, at a time when most people didn’t know what hacking was.
1984 — Cloak and Dagger — When 11-year-old Davey sees the murder of an FBI agent, the dying man hands him an Atari video game cartridge with military secrets. With Dabney Coleman.
1984 — Electric Dreams — Set in San Francisco, this science fiction romantic comedy is about a love triangle between an architect, a cellist, and a personal computer.
1984 — Hide and Seek — A young computer enthusiast develops a kind of artificial intelligence program named “Gregory P1.” To ensure its survival, the computer contacts other computers and begins to fight the humans. It also hooks into the mainframe computer of a nuclear power plant.
1985 — Brazil — When Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) gets involved in a case of mistaken identity, he’s labeled as an enemy of the state by the powerful, technology-dependent bureaucracy controlling his society. On a quest to rectify the wrong, Sam meets the woman of his dreams, but, unbeknownst to him, she may be a terrorist.
1985 — Hackers: Wizards of the Electronic Age — This documentary about the hacker community includes footage of interviews with some of the programmers that created the PC revolution, including Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple. Filmed at a hacker conference held in Sausalito, Calif.
1985 — Max Headroom — This science fiction drama tells the origin story of its eponymous character, Max Headroom, an artificially intelligent, computer-generated television host. This film was later repurposed to serve as the pilot for a British series of the same name.
1985 — Prime Risk — Computer-savvy lovers scam Automated Teller Machines and plot to sink the Federal Reserve.
1985 — Real Genius — Two teenagers working on a laser project at a prestigious engineering college begin to question the true purpose of their work when the government steps in with intentions to use their project as a military-grade weapon. Starring Val Kilmer and Gabriel Jarret.
1985 — Weird Science — Teenagers Gary and Wyatt design their ideal woman on a computer, and a freak electrical accident brings her to life in the form of the lovely, superhuman Lisa.
1986 — Ferris Bueller’s Day Off — A high school student (Matthew Broderick) who wants the day off breaks into his school’s computer system and changes grades and attendance records.
1987 — Bellman and True — Computer expert Hiller (Bernard Hill) finds himself unemployed and is bribed into stealing confidential computer information for a group of bank robbers. He gets the job done but makes the mistake of thinking he’s seen the last of the criminals; little does Hiller know they’ve tracked him and his son to London.
1987 — Terminal Entry — Picking up where War Games left off, this film tells the story of a group of high school students who unknowingly hack into the network of a dangerous terrorist organization under the impression they’re simply playing a game — but the acts of terror caused by their actions are no joke.
1988 — Defense Play — After her father is mysteriously killed while working on a project for the U.S. Air Force, Karen (Susan Ursitti) joins forces with Scott (David Oliver), and together, the two computer-savvy students open their own investigation into the murder.
1990 — Circuitry Man — In a dystopian society, narcotics come in the form of a microchip, heavily sought after by Earth’s remaining inhabitants — two of whom are a bio-android and a female bodyguard who, after stealing said microchips, find themselves being tracked by a dangerous criminal.
1990 — Demolition Man — The year is 2032 in San Angeles, a utopian city created by the citizens of Southern California. When a violent criminal breaks out and threatens the societal peace, John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone) is awoken from 36 years spent cryogenically frozen in ice to capture the fugitive, but he becomes distracted when forced to adapt to the future society made up of voice-controlled devices, autonomous connected cars, and more.
1990 — Hardware — Starring Dylan McDermott, this film — set in a post-apocalyptic America — follows a former soldier who unknowingly gifts his girlfriend spare parts from a self-rebuilding, murderous cyborg.
1990 — The KGB, The Computer and Me — In 1986, Clifford Stoll, an astronomer turned computer scientist, began working on a computer system at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. At the time, two accounting programs were responsible for charging people for machine use. When Stoll discovered a 75-cent discrepancy in the normally flawless programs, he began to investigate and eventually uncovered an undocumented user named “Hunter.” As he dug deeper, he realized that Hunter had hacked into the system and installed new programs. His investigation eventually led him and U.S. intelligence to the realization that Hunter was a computer programmer who worked for the KGB.
1991 — Terminator 2: Judgment Day — A cyborg protects Sarah Connor’s teenage son John from another cyborg intent on killing him.
1992 — The Lawnmower Man —Resembling “Frankenstein,” this science fiction horror film tells the story of a scientist (Pierce Brosnan) and his experiment: a once-simple man (Jeff Fahey) who, through the power of mind-enhancing medication and computer-simulated training sessions, becomes a genius. But it isn’t long before this experiment spirals out of control.
1992 — Single White Female — A woman (played by Bridget Fonda) advertises for a roommate. She soon discovers that her new roommate is a hacker (Jennifer Jason Leigh) intent on stealing her identity.
1992 — Sneakers — A Hacker (Robert Redford) leads a team of experts who test the security of San Francisco companies. They discover a black box that can crack any encryption, posing a huge threat if it lands in the wrong hands… including rogue NSA agents.
1993 — American Cyborg: Steel Warrior — When a fleet of murderous cyborgs threatens the remaining life on Earth after a nuclear war, two of the last humans join forces to save the future of their race. A nail-biting battle ensues.
1993 — Frauds — An insurance investigator (Phil Collins) uses games and gimmicks to manipulate the lives of others, including a couple who make an unusual insurance claim. He approves the claim but makes bizarre demands as ransom.
1993 — Ghost in the Machine — A computer-powered MRI machine extracts a serial murderer’s soul, and becomes a deadly technological weapon.
1993 — Jurassic Park — Seinfeld’s nemesis “Newman” (Dennis Nery) plays an IT guy who hacks his way into a coup that involves him stealing dinosaur DNA to sell to the highest bidder.
1993 — Knights — Set in a futuristic world devastated by war, this science fiction thriller tells the story of Gabriel (Kris Kristofferson), a cyborg, and Nea (Kathy Long), a young girl, who — despite being an unlikely duo — team up against their planet’s dominant, blood-thirsty army of cyborgs to save the human race.
1994 — Disclosure — Starring Demi Moore and Michael Douglas, this thriller balances both the virtual and physical worlds, telling the story of a senior executive at a technology company who’s on track for a big promotion — that is, until his fate falls into the hands of his ex-girlfriend, who is determined to revive their relationship … with or without consent.
1994 — Plughead Rewired: Circuitry Man II — The sequel to 1990’s Circuitry Man follows a female FBI agent and an android named Danner as they track down Plughead — a notorious criminal known for making and selling microchips that promise an extended life to those who take them.
1995 — Ghost in the Shell — In this animated Japanese sci-fi epic, a cyborg policewoman and her partner hunt a cybercriminal called the Puppet Master, who hacks into the brains of cyborgs to get information and use it to commit crimes. (Scarlett Johansson stars in a 2017 live-action remake.)
1995 — GoldenEye — James Bond tries to stop a Russian crime syndicate from using a stolen space-based weapons program and falls into the clutches of an evil genius who plans to rule Earth from cyberspace.
1995 — Hackers —A teenage hacker is back on the scene seven years after being banned from computers for writing a virus that caused the biggest stock exchange crash in history. He and his friends must prove that a sinister superhacker is framing them for a plot to embezzle funds from a large oil company with a computer worm. With Angelina Jolie.
1995 — Johnny Mnemonic — A computer chip implanted in his brain allows a human data trafficker (Keanu Reeves) to securely store and transport data too sensitive for regular computer networks. When he gets a valuable package that exceeds the chip’s storage capacity, the mnemonic courier must deliver the data within 24 hours or die. Assassins are intent on helping him do just that.
1995 — Judge Dredd — Judge Dredd (Sylvester Stallone) is sent to a penal colony for a murder he didn’t commit. On his way there, he gets an unexpected sidekick when he reunites with Herman “Fergee” Ferguson (Rob Schneider), a hacker he previously busted for destruction of property.
1995 — The Net — A computer programmer (Sandra Bullock) who lives a reclusive life is looking forward to time off when she becomes aware of a conspiracy. Her vacation turns into a nightmare when someone tries to kill her and her identity is stolen. She must prove who she is while trying to figure out why someone wants her dead.
1995 — Under Siege 2: Dark Territory — Steven Seagal returns as ex-Navy SEAL Casey Ryback in this sequel to Under Siege, which finds Ryback and his niece Sarah (Katherine Heigl) on a train headed from Denver to Los Angeles. When the train is hijacked by a psychotic computer genius and his fellow terrorist, who need it for their plot to take control of a top-secret satellite, Ryback enlists the help of a train porter (Morris Chestnut) to foil their plan.
1996 — Independence Day — In an epic fight against an alien race, computer expert David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) achieves a crucial win when he hacks into the fleet of spaceships coming toward Earth, infecting them with a virus and putting a stop to the looming alien invasion.
1996 — Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace — On a mission for world domination, Jobe (Matt Frewer), a virtual reality-based consciousness, is determined to hack into all the world’s computers, but his plans are thwarted by Peter (Austin O’Brien) and Benjamin (Patrick Bergin), whose unfaltering passion to save the world — and cyberspace — inspires an all-out war.
1996 — Omega Doom — In a world dominated by violent cyborgs, there is little-to-no hope for what’s left of humanity … that is, until one such cyborg — Omega Doom — is struck in the head, causing his wires to short and recircut, leading to a newfound interest in defeating his own kind.
1997 — Masterminds — The new security chief at a prestigious private school plans to even a score by kidnapping several of the wealthy students and holding them for ransom. A teenage computer hacker, expelled from the school for pulling pranks, thwarts his plans.
1998 — 23 — After an orphan invests some of his inheritance in a home computer, he begins discussing conspiracy theories inspired by a novel on bulletin boards. He’s soon hacking military and government computers with a friend. Based on a true story.
1998 — Enemy of the State — A lawyer (Will Smith) isn’t aware that a videotape in his possession proves a congressman was murdered for opposing surveillance legislation. When he becomes the target of a corrupt NSA official and his life begins to fall apart, he enlists the help of an ex-intelligence operative (Gene Hackman).
1998 — Mercury Rising (Code Mercury) — A renegade FBI agent (Bruce Willis) must protect a 9-year-old autistic boy who has cracked encrypted government code that was supposed to be unbreakable.
1998 — Pi — Is there a mathematical key that can unlock the universal patterns in nature? If found, can that key predict anything — even the stock market? A brilliant, obsessed, and paranoid mathematician who barricades himself in a room filled with computer equipment intends to find that key, but might go mad while doing so.
1998 — Webmaster — In this Danish sci-fi thriller, a powerful crime leader hires a hacker to monitor the security of his computer operations. When someone else hacks into the database, the webmaster must go to extremes to find him, or die within 35 hours.
1999 — Entrapment — An undercover art investigator (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is intent on tracking down and capturing a renowned thief (Sean Connery). They end up attempting a heist together.
1999 — eXistenZ — Computer programmer Allegra Geller’s (Jennifer Jason Leigh) latest creation, the hyper-realistic virtual reality game eXistenZ, takes a dangerous turn when a crazed assassin becomes intent on destroying it. With help from Ted Pikul (Jude Law), Allegra sets out to save the game, and her life.
1999 — The Matrix — In a dystopian future, humanity is unknowingly trapped inside the Matrix, a simulated reality created by intelligent machines to distract humans while they use their bodies as an energy source. A computer programmer / hacker known as Neo (Keanu Reeves) discovers the truth and joins forces with other rebels to free humankind.
1999 — Office Space —They’re supposed to be part of one big happy family, but three computer programmers hate their jobs and their boss. They concoct a scheme to embezzle small amounts of money from the high-tech company that employs them, but a mistake results in a bigger theft than planned. With Jennifer Anniston.
1999 — NetForce — In the year 2005, NetForce, a division of the FBI, is tasked with protecting the Net from terrorism. A loophole in a browser allows someone to gain control of the Internet and all the information it holds. Now the commander of NetForce must stop him, as he also tracks down a killer.
1999 — Pirates of Silicon Valley — This biographical drama about the development of the personal computer and the rivalry between Apple Computer and Microsoft spans the years 1971 – 1997. Noah Wyle portrays Steve Jobs and Anthony Michael Hall stars as Bill Gates.
1999 — The Thirteenth Floor — This science-fiction neo-noir film begins in 1999 in Los Angeles when the inventor of a newly completed virtual reality simulation of the city in 1937 is murdered. A computer scientist he has mentored (played by Craig Bierko) becomes the primary suspect and begins to doubt his own innocence because of the evidence against him. He eventually enters the simulation to unravel the truth and realizes nothing is as it seems.
2000 — Charlie’s Angels — Working for the reclusive millionaire Charlie ( John Forsythe), Angels Natalie (Cameron Diaz), Dylan (Drew Barrymore) and Alex (Lucy Liu) take on the case of a young high-tech genius (Sam Rockwell) who has been kidnapped. Part of the action involves employing a variety of disguises and technological tricks to enter a master computer’s massively protected mainframe.
2000 — Hackers in Wonderland — This documentary on hackers in the United Kingdom and in the United States includes interviews with prominent hackers who reveal what drives them. The hackers include ColdFire, Phobos, and cyberjunkie.
2000 — Takedown — Also known as “Track Down,” the controversial movie version of the manhunt for legendary hacker Kevin Mitnick is based on the book by Tsutomu Shimomura, “Takedown: The Pursuit and Capture of Kevin Mitnick, America’s Most Wanted Computer Outlaw – By The Man Who Did It.”
2001 — A.I. Artificial Intelligence — In this Pinocchio-esque tale, David (Haley Joel Osment) — a sentient, artificially-created robot — wishes to become a real boy, longing for a stronger connection with his human mother.
2001 — Antitrust — When a college graduate (Ryan Phillippe) gets a job writing software at a multi-billion dollar computer company, he has no idea that the founder (Tim Robbins) and new mentor is hiding dark secrets. Is there anyone he can trust?
2001 — The Code — This documentary covers the first decade of GNU/Linux and features some of the most influential people of the free software (FOSS) movement.
2001 — Freedom Downtime — This documentary covers the plight of convicted computer hacker Kevin Mitnick, from the standpoint that Miramax misrepresented him in the film “Takedown.” It includes the story of several computer enthusiasts who confront Miramax reps about their discontent with aspects of the script, including the film’s ending.
2001 — Revolution OS — The history of GNU, Linux, and the open source and free software movements is traced in this documentary. It features several interviews with prominent hackers and entrepreneurs.
2001 — The Score — An aging safecracker (Robert De Niro) plans to retire, but his fence (Marlon Brando) talks him into one final score, stealing one of Canada’s natural treasures hidden in the basement of a Customs House. He joins forces with another thief (Edward Norton) who hires someone to hack into the Custom House’s security system, but things go wrong.
2001 — Secret History of Hacking — The focus of this documentary is phreaking, computer hacking, and social engineering occurring from the 1970s through the 1990s. John Draper, Steve Wozniak, and Kevin Mitnick are prominently featured.
2001 — Swordfish — A spy named Gabriel (John Travolta) plots to steal a large fortune. He enlists Ginger (Halle Berry) to persuade Stanley (Hugh Jackman), who spent two years in prison for hacking an FBI program, to help. But what is Gabriel really up to, and who or what is really behind the plot?
2002 — Catch Me if You Can — Frank Abagnale is one of the world’s most respected authorities on forgery, embezzlement, and secure documents. His riveting story provided the inspiration for Steven Spielberg’s film starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Abagnale and Tom Hanks as the FBI agent fast on his heels.
2002 — Cypher — Morgan Sullivan (Jeremy Northam) is an accountant turned corporate spy working for a global computer corporation. When a mysterious woman suggests his job isn’t what it seems, Morgan ascends into a complicated world of brainwashing, where he struggles to maintain his true identity.
2002 — Half the Rent — Otherwise known as Halbe Miete, this film follows a computer hacker (Stephan Kampwirth) who, after the sudden death of his girlfriend, breaks into — and camps out at — other people’s apartments when they’re not home. But when what started as a temporary solution to homelessness becomes a dangerous obsession, will the risk outweigh the reward?
2002 — Minority Report — It’s 2054 and a specialized Pre-Crime police department in D.C. stops crimes before they are committed based on information from Pre-Cogs, three psychic beings who channel their visions into a computer. When they accuse the unit chief (Tom Cruise) of a future murder, he becomes a fugitive, hunted by his own department.
2002 — Storm Watch — A champion player of virtual reality games must suddenly race against time to stop a criminal mastermind who has stolen his identify from destroying the world with a weather satellite. Also known as “Code Hunter.”
2002 — Terminal Error — A former employee of a major software company gets even with the president by planting a computer virus on an MP3 and giving it to his son. His plan is to crash the computer terminals, but the virus has a mind of its own and begins to take out large portions of the city. Father and son must create their own virus to stop the chaos.
2003 — Code 46 — In a dystopian world, citizens are forbidden to travel outside their cities without special permits from the totalitarian government. When forged permits start to circulate, William Gold (Tim Robbins) is tasked with investigating, finding, and taking down the individual responsible, though he never expects to fall in love with her.
2003 — The Core — After several bizarre incidents across the globe, a geophysicist and scientists determine that the planet’s molten core has stopped rotating and that the magnetic field will collapse within a year. They devise a plan to bore down to the core and set off nuclear explosions to restart the rotation and enlist a hacker to scour the internet and eliminate all traces of the pending disaster to prevent worldwide panic.
2003 — Foolproof — Kevin (Ryan Reynolds) is part of a friend group with an odd hobby: they plan heists, yet never carry them out despite being perfectly able to do so. But when their plans fall into the wrong hands, the friends are thrust into the criminal world as they’re forced to carry out a jewelry warehouse heist that was never supposed to see the light of day.
2003 — In the Realm of the Hackers — This documentary reveals how and why two Australian teenager computer hackers, Electron and Phoenix, stole a restructured computer security list in the late 1980s and used it to break into some of the world’s most classified and secure computer systems.
2003 — The Italian Job — After a thief (Edward Norton) turns on his partners and gets away with the gold they’ve stolen in a heist, his former team seeks revenge.
2003 — The Matrix Reloaded — With the help of Neo (Keanu Reeves), Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), and other freedom fighters, more and more humans have been freed from the Matrix and brought to Zion. But 250,000 machines are digging towards the stronghold and will reach them in 72 hours, so they must prepare for war.
2003 — Paycheck — Michael Jennings (Ben Affleck) makes good money working on top-secret projects and then agreeing to have his memory erased, until a payment of $92 million for a three-year assignment is canceled. With his life in danger, he must get help from a scientist (Uma Thurman) he doesn’t remember dating to figure out the importance of seemingly random items.
2004 — One Point O — Simon (Jeremy Sisto), a young, paranoid computer programmer, finds himself on the receiving end of a series of mysteriously empty packages. Little does he know these deliveries are only the tip of a reality-bending iceberg that will change his life forever.
2004 — Paranoia 1.0 — A computer programmer receives mysterious empty packages inside his apartment and tries to find out who’s sending them, why, and who he can trust. Also known as “One Point O.”
2005 — V for Vendetta — In a dystopian future, a tyrannical British government imposes a strict curfew following the outbreak of a virus. An anarchist in a smiling Guy Fawkes mask seeks revenge with the help of a young woman and hacks into the television network to urge others to revolt against tyranny.
2006 — Deja Vu — Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington) is an ATF agent working to capture the terrorist responsible for a ferry bombing that killed hundreds. Using an advanced form of surveillance technology, Doug travels back in time, on a mission to prevent the crime, but his newfound obsession with one of the victims puts everything at risk.
2006 — The Departed — Boston police officer Billy (Leonardo DiCaprio) goes undercover to infiltrate — and take down — the dangerous Irish gang tearing up his city, led by Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). Becoming consumed by his secret life, Billy loses sight of his mission, though everything comes back into perspective when a career criminal infiltrates and begins threatening the police department.
2006 — Firewall — When his family is taken hostage, a security specialist (Harrison Ford) who designs theft-proof computer systems for financial institutions must break into his own system and steal millions of dollars to pay off their ransom.
2006 — Hacking Democracy — This documentary investigates allegations of election fraud during the 2004 U.S. presidential election. It follows Bev Harris, the founder of Black Box Voting, a nonprofit consumer-protection group, and other citizen activists who set out to uncover flaws in the voting system.
2006 — In Ascolto — Also known as The Listening, this film takes inspiration from the mass surveillance operations of the National Security Agency (NSA), chronicling the experience of a spy (Michael Parks) working undercover to get on the inside of a counter-listening station in the Italian Alps.
2006 — Man of the Year — A satirical political talk show host (Robin Williams) runs for president and gets elected with the help of fans who begin a grassroots campaign. It’s later revealed that his presidency was the result of a computerized voting machine malfunction.
2006 — The Net 2.0 — A young computer systems analyst arrives in Istanbul to start a new job, but finds out her identity has been stolen. She must catch who did it to get her life back.
2006 — Pulse — In this remake of a Japanese horror film, a student is shocked when her boyfriend, a computer hacker, commits suicide. Then she and her friends receive online messages from him, asking for help. Another computer hacker must help her stop a supernatural plague traveling through the network.
2006 — A Scanner Darkly — This computer-animated adaptation of Philip K Dick’s 1977 sci-fi novel is set in the near-future. The U.S.’s war on drugs, particularly a hyper-addictive substance called D (for Death), prompts the enforcement of a police state that uses numberless surveillance scanners.
2007 — Bourne Ultimatum — Operative Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) teams up with an investigative reporter to find the people who betrayed him, while a ruthless CIA official and his team continue to track him down in the hopes of assassinating him before he gets his memory back.
2007 — Breach – This docudrama is based on the events leading up to the capture of FBI Agent Robert Hanssen, convicted of selling secrets to the Soviet Union. A low-level surveillance expert gets promoted and assigned to work with Hanssen, unaware that he is to find proof that he is a traitor.
2007 — Every Step You Take — This documentary is an in-depth look at modern-day Britain and its Orwell-esque levels of government surveillance. It explores the pros and cons of CCTV, highlighted by commentary from notable experts in the field.
2007 — Live Free or Die Hard — As the nation prepares to celebrate Independence Day, a disgruntled government security agent launches an attack on America’s computer infrastructure. Veteran cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) and a young hacker must help the F.B.I.’s cyber division take him down.
2008 — 21 — Six Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) students hack their way to success — and millions of dollars — in Las Vegas casinos by counting cards until casino enforcer Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne) thwarts their plans. Based on a true story.
2008 — Download: The True Story of the Internet — Told through personal accounts from the founders of Yahoo, eBay, Google, Amazon, and many others, this documentary tells the story of how the internet became what it is today.
2008 — Eagle Eye — Two strangers, Jerry and Rachel, come together after receiving mysterious calls from a woman they never met. She threatens their lives and family to push them into a series of dangerous situations, controlling their actions using cellphones and other technology.
2008 — Hackers are People Too — Hackers created this documentary to portray their community and break down negative stereotypes. It describes what hacking is, how hackers think, and discusses women in the field.
2008 — Untraceable — Agent Jennifer Marsh (Diane Lane) of the Cyber Crimes Division of the FBI in Portland tries to track down a psychopathic hacker killing people online in live streaming video. As his site gets more hits, victims die faster.
2008 — WarGames: The Dead Code 2008 — Is an American teen hacker playing a terrorist-attack simulator game online a real terrorist intent on destroying the United States? That’s what Homeland Security believes and they set out to apprehend him.
2009 — Echelon Conspiracy — When tech whiz Max Peterson (Shane West) gets sent a mysterious cell phone in the mail, he’s unsure of where it came from or what it is — until it starts sending instructions on how to win at the local casino. But it isn’t long before Max’s newfound luck puts him at the center of a dangerous government conspiracy dealing with the world’s security cameras. Will he make it out alive?
2009 — Eyeborgs — In the aftermath of a major terrorist attack, government surveillance in the U.S. is taken to the next level via robotic cameras called “Eyeborgs,” which track and monitor all citizens for suspicious behavior. But when photographic evidence from the Eyeborgs doesn’t line up with the facts in an ongoing murder investigation, a federal agent starts to wonder, who’s really controlling these cameras and what do they want?
2009 — Gamer — Controlled by a teenage gamer’s remote device, death-row inmate Kable must battle fellow prisoners every week in a violent online game. Can he survive enough sessions to gain his freedom, free his wife from avatar slavery, and take down the game’s inventor?
2009 — The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo — A journalist searches for the killer of a woman who has been dead for forty years, with the help of a young female hacker. When they unravel dark family secrets, they must protect themselves. This Swedish language film was remade in English in 2011.
2009 — Hackers Wanted — This unreleased American documentary originally named “Can You Hack It?” follows the adventures of Adrian Lamo, a famous hacker, and explores the origins of hacking and nature of hackers.
2009 — Shadow Government — What impact does the technological landscape have on our daily lives? This documentary, led by Grant Jeffrey, explores exactly how much of our lives are being digitized and observed in the modern era.
2009 — Transcendent Man — The subject of this documentary from filmmaker Robert Barry Ptolemy is Ray Kurzweil, inventor, futurist and author, and his predictions about the future of technology, presented in his 2005 book, The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. Ptolemy follows Kurzweil on his world speaking tour, where he discusses his thoughts on the technological singularity, a proposed advancement that will occur sometime in the 21st century due to progress in artificial intelligence, genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics.
2009 — We Live in Public — Directed by Ondi Timoner, this documentary profiles Josh Harris, “the greatest Internet pioneer you’ve never heard of.” An early dot.com entrepreneur, Harris founded Psuedo.com, an early streaming content service. In 1999, he began an experiment called “Quiet,” in which 100 men and women agreed to give up their privacy to live together under constant video surveillance, so their lives could be streamed online.
2010 — Inception — A thief (Leonardo DiCaprio) who can enter people’s dreams and steal their secrets begins using his gift for corporate espionage. Can he also plant an idea into someone’s mind? The film won four Oscars.
2010 — The Social Network — Jesse Eisenberg portrays Harvard student and computer genius Mark Zuckerberg in this drama about the creation of a social networking site that would become Facebook.
2010 — Tron Legacy — In this revamped Tron continuation, Sam (Garrett Hedlund) searches in and out of the computer world for his father, Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), a brilliant computer programmer.
2011 — Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol — When mega-spy Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is blamed for a terrorist attack on the Kremlin, he and others from his agency, the Impossible Missions Force (IMF), must prove their innocence.
2011 — StuxNet: Cyberwar — First discovered in 2010, the StuxNet computer worm marked the beginning of a new era in cybercrime, attacking — and causing substantial damage to — an Iranian nuclear program. This documentary explores the malware’s origins alongside its contributions to the advancement of cyber warfare technology.
2012 — Code 2600 — This documentary explores the rise of the Information Technology Age through the eyes of the people who helped build it and the events that shaped it.
2012 — Genius on Hold — The downfall of Walter L. Shaw, a telecommunications genius who became destitute, and his disillusioned son, who became a notorious jewel thief, are the subjects of this documentary.
2012 — Owned & Operated — Using the lens of the internet, this documentary proves just how much we matter … as consumers, that is. Society today practically lives for privileged individuals — celebrities and politicians, among others — unknowingly adhering to their wicked ways of gaining control, but there is an awakening on the horizon, and it’s going to change everything.
2012 – Panopticon – Living in the digital age, do we really have privacy? This documentary examines how much our daily lives are controlled and watched by omnipresent surveillance, which — as technology advances — has only become harder to avoid.
2012 — Reboot — A young female hacker can’t remember a traumatic event that leaves her with an iPhone glued to her hand. The phone’s timer is counting down to zero and fellow hackers must help her solve the puzzle.
2012 — Shadows of Liberty — Should we trust the media? This documentary examines the five big for-profit conglomerates that control 90 percent of U.S.-based media, raising questions of who to believe in today’s political, economical, and social world.
2012 — Skyfall — James Bond (Daniel Craig) must prove he still has what it takes as he tracks down the source of a cyber-terror attack at M16 headquarters and goes up against a genius hacker.
2012 — Tracked Down — Directed by Paul Moreira, this documentary explains how governments around the world monitor their citizens through advanced electronic warfare equipment — equipment that has fallen into the hands of repressive dictatorial regimes in Libya, Syria and Bahrain. Moreira reveals how the technology can be traded in stealth and traces these deals to their source.
2012 — Underground: The Julian Assange Story — This Australian film follows the early career of the WikiLeaks founder, from his start as a teenage computer hacker in Melbourne.
2013 — The Assange Agenda: Surveillance, Democracy and You — At what point does government surveillance put democracy at risk? According to Julian Assange — founder of Wikileaks — we’re already there. This documentary explores what may lay ahead for today’s digital world if we don’t gain control over the various agencies spying on us.
2013 — Big Data: The Shell Investigation — In the digital age, a journalist’s sources are endless — when consulting big data, that is. This documentary showcases how a team of journalists used easily accessible channels, such as LinkedIn and Wikipedia, to piece together the truth about Royal Dutch Shell’s two-billion-dollar debt to the Iranian government.
2013 — The Bling Ring — Nicki (Emma Watson) and her fame-obsessed group of friends will do anything to make a name for themselves in Hollywood, including breaking into — and robbing — the homes of elite celebrities, which, if not for the internet, would never have been possible.
2013 — DEFCON: The Documentary — The world’s largest hacking conference, DEFCON, has long since had a strict no-camera policy … until now. This documentary follows the four days of DEFCON’s 20th-anniversary event, highlighted by commentary from attendees and staff.
2013 — Disconnect — Three intersecting stories center around the impact of the Internet on people’s lives. The characters include a victim of cyberbullying, a lawyer who communicates constantly through his cell phone but can’t find time to connect with his family, and a couple whose secrets are exposed online.
2013 — DSKNECTD — Do electronic devices bring people together or pull them apart? This documentary examines how human interaction has changed in light of the rise of technologies such as cell phones, social media, and the internet.
2013 — The Fear That Has 1000 Eyes — This documentary looks at various terrorist attacks — New York, London, Madrid, and Oslo — and discusses how they have changed urban life, including increased electronic surveillance. It also explores the balance between the need for security and freedom.
2013 — The Fifth Estate — Based on real events, the film begins as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Daniel Domscheit-Berg join forces as underground watchdogs and create a platform for whistleblowers to leak covert data to expose government secrets and corporate crimes.
2013 — Goodbye World — More than one million cellphones simultaneously receive a two-word message, followed by the collapse of the power grid and widespread panic. A group of people who find shelter in a cabin soon find out what it’s like to live in a post-apocalyptic world.
2013 — Google and the World Brain — The Google Books Library Project is certainly ambitious, but is it feasible? This documentary examines Google’s plan to open the world’s largest virtual library, as well as the many issues that may stem from it, such as copyright infringement and lack of online privacy.
2013 — Her — In this futuristic story, a lonely writer ( Joaquin Phoenix ) develops an unlikely relationship with an operating system designed to meet his every need.
2013 — Identity Thief — When a woman (Melissa McCarthy) steals the identity of Sandy Patterson (Jason Bateman), a financial firm account executive, and wrecks his credit rating, he sets out to confront her.
2013 — In Google We Trust — Who’s keeping tabs on your data? This revealing documentary gives viewers an inside look into how — and why — our digital interactions are tracked and recorded. If you’re worried about the consequences, watch this now.
2013 — Mickey Virus — In this Bollywood hacker comedy, Delhi Police must seek the help of a lazy hacker to solve a case.
2013 — Terms and Conditions May Apply — This documentary exposes how much the Internet and cellphone usage allows corporations and governments to learn about people.
2013 — TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away from Keyboard —This Swedish documentary film, directed and produced by Simon Klose, focuses on the lives of the three founders of The Pirate Bay — Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, and Gottfrid Svartholm — and the Pirate Bay trial.
2013 — The Value of Your Personal Data — Produced by the acclaimed VPRO series, this documentary discusses the companies that collect your personal data, who buys it from them, how it is used, and who owns it. It also gives advice on how you can gain back control of it and stop being targeted and manipulated.
2013 — War on Whistleblowers: Free Press and the National Security State — This documentary by Robert Greenwald highlights four cases — Michael DeKort, Thomas Drake, Franz Gayl and Thomas Tamm — where American government employees and contractors exposed fraud and abuse through the media at the risk of their personal and professional lives.
2014 — Algorithm — A computer hacker who specializes in breaking into secure systems, including the telephone company and people’s personal accounts, hacks a government contractor and discovers a mysterious computer program, thrusting him into a revolution.
2014 — The Bureau of Digital Sabotage — What is privacy? This documentary argues it is nonexistent in today’s digital age, delving into our new reality and its most crucial issues by asking citizens to stand up when mass surveillance crosses the line.
2014 — Citizenfour — This documentary by Laura Poitras about whistleblower Edward Snowden and the NSA spying scandal includes interviews of Snowden in Hong Kong in 2013 and features work by journalist Glenn Greenwald.
2014 — Digital Amnesia — An in-depth investigation into the shelf life of digital data and the vulnerable nature in which we store information today, featuring commentary from organizations such as Internet Archive and The Archive Team.
2014 — Ex Machina — A young programmer wins a competition that makes him the human component in a groundbreaking experiment where he must evaluate the capabilities and consciousness of Ava, a breathtaking A.I.
2014 — The Hackers Wars — This documentary discusses hacktivism in the United States, including the government’s surveillance and persecution of hackers and journalists.
2014 — The Human Face of Big Data — This documentary, directed by Sandy Smolan and narrated by Joel McHale, initially focuses on Big Data’s positive aspects, such as how the massive gathering and analyzing of data in real-time through a multitude of digital devices allows us to address some of humanity’s biggest challenges and improve lives globally. It also highlights how the accessibility of this data comes at a steep price.
2014 — The Imitation Game — M16, the newly created British intelligence agency, recruits mathematician Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his team to crack the Germany’s Enigma code during World War II. Nominated for 8 Oscars.
2014 — Inside The Dark Web — Internet surveillance takes center stage in this documentary that details the pros and cons of the World Wide Web. With all types of surveillance taking place globally — government, commercial, and more — what does the future look like for those living in the digital age?
2014 — The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz — Filmmaker Brian Knappenberger explores the life and work of Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz, a programming prodigy and information activist who committed suicide at the age of 26.
2014 — Killswitch — In a world where we rely so heavily on the internet, what happens if it comes under attack? This award-winning documentary centers on the threat of internet censorship and what we risk losing if we don’t fight back, such as free speech, democracy, and innovation.
2014 — Men, Women and Children — What does it mean to be a parent in the age of social media? This film follows multiple families, each with their own relationships to the internet, as they overcome various challenges, including eating disorders and video game culture.
2014 — Open Windows — A blogger finds out he’s won a dinner with an actress he devotes his website to and is disappointed when she cancels. When he gets a chance to spy on her every move with his laptop, his life gets crazy.
2014 — The Signal — Nic, who is a student at MIT, is on a road trip with two companions when an annoying computer hacker distracts them. They track him to an abandoned shack. After strange occurrences, Nik wakes up wounded and disoriented, wondering what has happened to his friends, and who are these people in space suits?
2014 — Transcendence — Dr. Will Caster, renowned artificial intelligence researcher, is on a controversial quest to create a fully sentient machine, but are the dangerous consequences that follow worth it? This science-fiction thriller stars Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Morgan Freeman, and Paul Bettany, among others.
2014 — Unfriended — a mysterious, supernatural force haunts a group of online chat room friends using the account of their dead friend.
2014 — Who Am I — A subversive hacker group intent on gaining global fame invites a young German computer whiz to join them.
2015 — Big Data: Unlocking Success — Experts from Berkeley Research Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Microsoft look into the use of data science and its allied fields in this documentary, noting several real-life examples, including events at Johns Hopkins University and MGM Resorts International.
2015 — Blackhat — Convicted hacker Nicholas Hathaway (Chris Hemsworth) joins a team of American and Chinese technical experts to track down a Balkan cyberterrorist operating in Southeast Asia.
2015 — Cyberbully — In this made-for-TV movie, A British teenage girl (Emily Osment) retreats from family and friends when a computer hacker forces her to do his bidding, threatening to leak compromising photos of her if she doesn’t do what he asks.
2015 — Cybertopia: Dreams of Silicon Valley — A technological revolution is looming in Silicon Valley. This documentary explores the future of digitized reality, as well as how daily life has already changed as a result of the dedicated individuals residing in California’s tech headquarters.
2015 — Debug — Six young hackers assigned to fix the computer system on a vessel drifting in deep space become prey to an artificial intelligence source intent on becoming human.
2015 — Deep Web — Filmmaker Alex Winter interviews the people behind the Deep Web and bitcoin and follows the arrest and trial of Ross Ulbricht (“Dread Pirate Roberts”), founder of online black market Silk Road.
2015 — Democracy: Im Rausch der Daten — From Swiss director David Bernet, this documentary tells the story of how politicians in the EU are working to protect society from the dangers of Big Data and mass surveillance.
2015 — Digitale Dissidenten — What price do whistleblowers pay? Interviews with David Ellsberg, Edward Snowden, William Binney, Thomas Drake, Annie Machon, and Julian Assange shed light on the cost of having a conscience in the dark world of government surveillance.
2015 — Furious 7 —Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell), a government operative, enlists Dominic Toretto to find a hacker who has created God’s Eye, a device that can hack any technology that uses a camera. In return, they can use the device to find and stop Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), who is seeking revenge against Toretto and his crew for his comatose brother.
2015 — A Good American — This documentary film tells the story of Bill Binney, former technical director of the NSA, a group of exceptional code-breakers, and a program called ThinThread, which, if not dumped three weeks prior to 9/11, would’ve been able to stop the terrorist attacks that took almost 3,000 lives.
2015 — Hacker’s Game — A cyber-detective working for a human rights organization and a hacking expert with shady connections meet on a rooftop and bond over a game of virtual chess. Will their romance survive deception?
2015 — Jobs vs. Gates: The Hippie and The Nerd — This documentary tells the story of two of the biggest men in tech, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, and the spectacular rivalry between them. Despite landing on two different sides of the battle between Mac and PC, Jobs and Gates’ mutual respect for one another endured the test of time.
2015 — Mapping the Future — Are our lives predictable? If you take the internet’s overflowing amount of data into consideration, the answer is yes. This documentary explores how the abundance of data gathered on the internet in recent years led to a mathematical algorithm for human life.
2015 — Terminal F/Chasing Edward Snowden — This documentary discusses what motivated Edward Snowden, an NSA analyst-turned whistleblower, to leak classified information about global surveillance programs used by the American government, leading him to flee to Hong Kong and later to Russia to evade authorities.
2015 — The Throwaways — Drew (Sam Huntington) is an infamous hacker who is captured by the CIA for a slew of cybercrimes. However, his impending jail sentence is renounced after the CIA gives him an alternate option — work for them. Sam agrees, but on one condition: he gets to build his own team.
2015 — War for the Web — Directed by J. C. Cameron Brueckner, this documentary demystifies the physical infrastructure of the internet and explores the issues of ownership and competition in the broadband marketplace, privacy, and security.
2016 — Anonymous — A young Ukrainian immigrant turns to hacking and identity theft to support his parents, with help from a friend who is a black-market dealer. Petty crimes soon escalate. The film is also known as “Hacker.”
2016 — Backlight: Cyberjihad — Can social media become a weapon? This documentary examines jihadism and its online presence, which, without any hindrance, has only grown larger over the past fifteen years.
2016 — Cyber War — Hackers pose a universal threat; how can we defend ourselves? This documentary explores how governments are building up protection against the ever-growing number of digital threats, including by recruiting those with the brains to wage cyberwar and espionage when necessary.
2016 — Data Center: The True Cost of the Internet — Every day, 247 billion emails are sent through the web. Have you ever wondered what powers them? This eye-opening, high-tech documentary takes viewers inside the digital warehouses that run the internet, otherwise known as data centers.
2016 — Down the Deep, Dark Web — Venture down the internet’s rabbit hole into the secretive world of the dark web, guided by crypto-anarchists, cypherpunks, and hackers. This documentary will make you question everything you thought you knew about the darknet.
2016 — Gringo: The Dangerous Life of John McAfee — Complex antivirus pioneer John McAfee made millions before leaving the U.S. to live in a compound in the jungle in Belize. This Showtime documentary, which he calls fiction, portrays his life in Belize and 2012 departure after a neighbor was murdered.
2016 — The Haystack — Due to sophisticated hacking techniques and the terrorist organizations that often use them, the British Parliament began reviewing the Investigatory Powers Bill, legislation that would provide more leniency in the interception of private email and phone communications. Prior to the bill passing in 2016, this documentary examined how effective it would be, if it was necessary, and what citizens would have to give up once the bill was implemented.
2016 — I.T. — Aviation tycoon Mike Regan (Pierce Brosnan) hires an I.T. consultant on a temporary basis to do some work at his house and is so impressed he gives him a full-time job. He’s fired when he oversteps boundaries and seeks revenge against the businessman and his family.
2016 — Jason Bourne — Former CIA agent Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is drawn out of hiding to uncover more about his past while fighting cyberterrorism.
2016 — National Bird — A chilling documentary in which three military veterans blow the whistle on the secret U.S. drone war, highlighting America’s modern warfare program through the harrowing experiences of those involved.
2016 — Nerve — Friends pressure a high school senior to join the popular online game Nerve. She becomes caught up in the thrill of the adrenaline-fueled competition, partnered with a mysterious stranger, but the game takes a sinister turn.
2016 — Offline is the New Luxury — Since the dawn of the internet, humanity has slowly but surely become increasingly dependent on various smart devices — phones, tablets, and laptops alike. This documentary asks one poignant question: what would the world be without them?
2016 — Rise of the Trolls — Is being anonymous a blessing or a curse? In this documentary, filmmakers Jonathan Baltrusaitis and Paul Kemp explore the unnerving truths surrounding internet anonymity, dark instincts, and freedom in cyberspace.
2016 — Risk — Laura Poitras spent six years making this documentary about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who gave her the opportunity to closely film him but later tried to censor the film.
2016 — Silicon Cowboys — This documentary tells the true story of how three unsuspecting friends became computing pioneers by dreaming up the Compaq Computer — a portable PC that would directly impact the future of computing and consequently shape the world we live in today.
2016 — Snowden — Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as Edward J. Snowden in Oliver Stone’s biopic of the former National Security Agency contractor who becomes disillusioned with the intelligence community and leaks classified information, becoming a fugitive from law and a hero to many.
2016 — State of Surveillance — In this documentary film, Edward Snowden — infamously known for leaking classified information from the National Security Agency — invites viewers into the disturbing world of government surveillance. A must-see for anyone who feels like they’re being watched.
2016 — Stingray — This documentary enlightens viewers to just how advanced surveillance technology has become, highlighting the Stingray, which, despite going by many different names, has certified itself as one of the most powerful surveillance devices of all time, though many see it as an invasion of privacy.
2016 — What Makes You Click — Described as both a fascinating psychological study and a gripping cautionary tale, this documentary from the VPRO Backlight series discusses how companies adapt their websites and apps to get consumers to stay on them longer and spend more money.
2016 — Zero Days — Alex Gibney’s documentary focuses on Stuxnet, or “Operation Olympic Games,” a malicious computer worm developed by the United States and Israel to sabotage a key part of Iran’s nuclear program.
2017 — AlphaGo — Can an AI challenger defeat a legendary master in the game of Go? The battle between man and machine takes center stage in this documentary film chronicling Lee Sedol’s nail-biting match against AlphaGo, a computer program devised by Deep Mind Technologies to master the 3,000-year-old game.
2017 — The Circle — Mae (Emma Watson) lands a dream job at a technology and social media company called the Circle. She is soon handpicked by the founder (Tom Hanks) to participate in an experiment that takes transparency to a new level.
2017 — The Crash — The government enlists a team of white-collar criminals to thwart a cyberattack that threatens to bankrupt the United States.
2017 — Facebook: Cracking the Code — What does Facebook know about you? This documentary digs deep into the security issues that social media giant Facebook doesn’t want you to know, including how they track browsing data, promote targeted ads, and spread false information.
2017 — The Fate of the Furious — A cyberterrorist known as Cipher (Charlize Theron) coerces Dom (Vin Diesel) into working for her, hacks and takes control of cars, and reaps havoc.
2017 — Ghost in the Shell — Major (Scarlett Johansson) is saved from a terrible crash and cyber-enhanced as a soldier to stop the world’s most dangerous criminals. She soon discovers that her life was actually stolen and determines to recover her past, find out who did this to her, and stop them before they do it to others.
2017 — Kim Dotcom: Caught in the Web — This documentary tells the story of Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom, a super-hacker, entrepreneur and notorious Internet pirate accused of money laundering, racketeering, and copyright infringement.
2017 — Meeting Snowden — Edward Snowden, former CIA and NSA collaborator, has become infamous for initiating one of the most controversial mass surveillance scandals of all time. But who is he really? In this documentary, Lawrence Lassig and Birgitta Jónsdóttir sit down with the whistleblower to discuss the future of democracy, among other things.
2017 — Nothing to Hide — Do we really have nothing to hide? This documentary takes an in-depth look into government surveillance today and why the public seems to have unanimously accepted the loss of their right to online privacy.
2017 — Silk Road: Drugs, Death, and the Dark Web — In 2011, Ross Ulbricht launched the anonymous darknet website, Silk Road. This documentary explores everything the black market site had to offer, as well as the events leading up to — and following — Ulbricht’s inevitable arrest.
2017 — Stare Into The Lights My Pretties — Many of us live behind a screen, but at what cost? This documentary examines why so many people are addicted to their screens, all the while exploring the impact this collective mindset may have on our future.
2017 — Thoughtcrime — Directed by Bernd Riemann, this documentary compares the disturbing similarities between the disclosures made by former CIA employee Edward Snowden in 2013 and the world created by George Orwell in the dystopian science fiction film 1984, where independent thinking was censored and holding thoughts opposing those in power was considered a criminal act.
2017 — Weapons of Mass Surveillance — Directed by Elizabeth C. Jones, this documentary explores the dangerous alliance of Western surveillance technology and Middle Eastern governments who use that technology to monitor their citizens. It discusses how high-tech cyber-surveillance enables governments to record, archive, and analyze communications.
2018 — Anon — In a world where everyone’s lives are transparent, traceable, and recorded by the authorities, causing crime to almost cease, a detective (Clive Owen) tries to solve a series of murders that may involve a mysterious hacker (Amanda Seyfried).
2018 — Assassination Nation — After an anonymous hacker leaks the private information of the people of Salem, suspicion falls on four teenage girls who are targeted by the community.
2018 — Black Code — Told through accounts from exiled Brazilian activists, Syrian citizens, and Tibetan monks, this documentary explores how governments across the world are exploiting the internet to gain control over their people.
2018 — Cam — Alice (Madeline Brewer) is an exotic webcam performer whose life is turned upside down when her channel — and livelihood — are stolen by a scarily accurate look-alike. Determined to get her identity back, Alice sets out to unmask, and ultimately take down, the mysterious hacker.
2018 — The Cleaners — Nothing stays on the internet forever. The web’s self-cleaning nature dominates this documentary led by field experts, enlightening viewers to the process of content removal, alongside asking one poignant question: who decides what should, and should not, be seen?
2018 — The Creepy Line — Google and Facebook take center stage in this documentary that depicts how the social media platforms have perfected various manipulation tactics, all in the name of gaining access to the public’s personal and private information. Told through first-hand accounts, scientific experiments, and an in-depth analysis.
2018 — The Defenders — Produced by Cybereason, this documentary invites viewers inside the world of cybercrime, analyzing four of the most well-known cyberattacks throughout history — highlighted by commentary from those working to protect our institutions from the ever-changing cyber threat landscape.
2018 — Digital Addicts — How much do screens affect children’s brain development? This documentary follows a group of kids growing up in the digital age, highlighting the harmful, hyper-addictive nature of social media platforms, mobile phones, and more.
2018 — Do You Trust This Computer? — Is a smarter machine always a better machine? This documentary digs deep into the dangers of artificial intelligence, highlighted by commentary from some of the field’s most respected individuals, including Elon Musk.
2018 — Edward Snowden: Whistleblower or Spy? — In 2013, Edward Snowden infamously leaked highly classified information from the NSA. Five years later, this documentary looks back at the sensational time through interviews with participants and witnesses, including some who are speaking out for the first time.
2018 — The Feeling of Being Watched — This documentary is the result of journalist Assia Bendaoui’s investigation into rumors that the FBI has monitored her quiet, predominantly Arab-American neighborhood near Chicago since the 1990s. Her research exposed one of the FBI’s largest counter-terrorism investigations before 9/11.
2018 — General Magic — This is the story of one of tech’s most influential and least memorable companies. Featuring commentary from members of the original Macintosh team alongside the creators of eBay, iPod, iPhone, and Android, this documentary explores how General Magic created the first handheld personal communicator, aka smartphone, and what happened after.
2018 — The Girl in the Spider’s Web — Computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (who is also an avenging angel for abused women) and journalist Mikael Blomkvist find themselves caught in a web of spies, cybercriminals and corrupt government officials.
2018 — Hacked — After losing his job to a state-of-the-art supercomputer, a disgruntled computer technician decides to test his replacement. In the meantime, a group of hackers infiltrates the building to steal the new technology.
2018 — Inside Facebook: Secrets of a Social Network — Which is more important: money or morality? This eye-opening documentary takes viewers inside Facebook’s moderating hub, demonstrating how the social media company regulates harmful content, such as child abuse and hate speech — although the results prove to be more concerning than comforting.
2018 — Inside the Russian Info War Machine — How does Russia undermine democratic governments, alter world events, and manipulate public opinion? In this documentary, acclaimed journalist Paul Moreira breaks down the Russian information war machine, including its hidden weapon: the trolls and hackers pushing Russia’s agenda across cyberspace.
2018 — Irumbu Thirai — A cat and mouse game for the digital age. After losing millions of dollars to a group of cybercriminals, a soldier sets out on a quest to get back everything he lost. Will his efforts be enough?
2018 — Johnny English Strikes Again — After a cyberattack reveals the identity of all of Britain’s active undercover agents, MI7 agent Johnny English must come out of retirement to find the mastermind hacker.
2018 — King of Crime — Marcus King (Mark Wingett) was a well-known crime lord on the streets … that is, until he brought his illegal empire to cyberspace. When Islamic extremists threaten everything he’s built, the newly cemented king of British cybercrime will do everything in his power to maintain his status.
2018 — Ocean’s 8 — On a mission to pull off an impossible heist at New York’s renowned Met Gala, hacker 9Ball (Rihanna) launches a spear-phishing campaign against an employee at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, gaining access to the museum’s security camera system and giving her all-female crew the insight they need to successfully steal one of the most valuable jewelry pieces in the world.
2018 — Peripheral — This horror film follows a successful young writer — Bobbi Johnson (Hannah Arterton) — who, after experiencing writer’s block while writing her second novel, employs an artificially intelligent software to finish her work. Little does Bobbi know, she’s about to uncover a dangerous conspiracy of social control.
2018 — Searching — A man becomes desperate when his 16-year-old daughter disappears and a police investigation is futile. Hoping to find clues, he searches her laptop, scours photos and videos, and begins contacting her friends.
2018 — Unfriended: Dark Web — After a teen finds a mysterious laptop, he invites several friends to play a game online. The night turns deadly when they become the target of cyber-terrorism.
2019 — BD2K: Big Data to Knowledge — Told through the stories of two patients battling disease in the information age, this documentary film explores how big data has changed the way medicine is practiced, as well as its effect on doctor-patient relationships.
2019 — Cyber Crime — In this documentary, 10 leading cybercrime experts discuss how billions of dollars a year are stolen or lost as a result of cybercrime, destroying businesses and lives.
2019 — Dataland — Living in a world that’s practically run by AI, it’s hard to think we’ve only just scratched the surface of what the technology is capable of — but it’s true. This documentary explores what the world’s top data scientists are working on behind closed doors.
2019 — The Great Hack — This documentary examines the Cambridge Analytica scandal through the roles of several people affected by it.
2019 — HAK_MTL — Tech companies claim to protect our privacy, but is it true? In this eye-opening documentary, a group of Canadian hackers launch an investigation into the internet and how it continues to track, store, and share users’ data, despite assurances that it doesn’t.
2019 — Hero or Villain? The Prosecution of Julian Assange — Depending on who you’re talking to, the name Julian Assange will provoke one of two feelings: fury or awe. This documentary, led by the ABC Four Corners Team, chronicles an investigation into the founder of Wikileaks, featuring commentary from some of the individuals who knew him best.
2019 — Kee — Siddharth (Jiiva) and Shivam (Govind Padmasoorya) share an affinity for hacking, but that’s all they have in common. When the two unexpectedly cross paths, a fight between hacking for good and evil breaks out — and the consequences are fatal.
2019 — Machine Learning: Living in the Age of AI — How do we interact with AI? The technology has cemented itself as one of the foundations of our digital age, but has yet to reach its full potential. This documentary examines what the future of artificial intelligence will look like and the many possibilities ahead of us.
2019 — Official Secrets — Katharine Gun made headlines in 2003 after blowing the whistle on an illegal NSA spy operation. This drama film, starring Kiera Knightly and Matt Smith, chronicles the scandal, as well as the ensuing legal battles that uncovered top-secret manipulation tactics used by the highest levels of government in both the U.S. and the UK.
2019 — Password — A police officer hunts for a cybercriminal who is destroying people’s lives by hacking their passwords.
2019 — The Secrets of Silicon Valley — Directed by James Corbett, this documentary looks at the long and detailed history of Silicon Valley, located in the San Francisco Bay area, including how it was founded in the aftermath of World War II, the technology companies located there that have shaped the world through innovation, the ties between different companies and the government, and according to Corbett, the shadowy underworld hiding beneath the surface and why Big Tech means big trouble.
2019 — Third Eye Spies — Directed by Lance Mungia, this documentary reveals how an experiment in psychic abilities at Stanford Research Institute led to the CIA’s study of psychic abilities for more than 20 years for use in their top-secret spy program. Parapsychologists Russell Targ and Dean Radin are interviewed, along with dozens of others, regarding recently declassified information.
2019 — Unfriends — In this Bollywood thriller, Veer, who has an idea for a startup, receives a Facebook friend request from Vijay, who becomes his investor. While on a long celebration drive, they meet a girl named Mauli. When Vijay rapes her and intends to kill her, Veer comes to her rescue and helps her escape. When she is later subjected to abuse on the internet, Veer seeks justice for her.
2019 — WannaCry: The Marcus Hutchins Story — Marcus Hutchins, a British computer researcher, became an “accidental hero” when he discovered a kill switch in May 2017 that stopped the spread of WannaCry, hours after the ransomware affected thousands of systems across the world. Three months later, the FBI arrested him because of his involvement in a banking trojan. This documentary, directed by Hugo Berkeley, is his firsthand story.
2019 — Who You Think I Am — A 50-year-old divorced teacher (Juliette Binoche) uses a photo of a young, pretty blonde to create a fake Facebook profile of a 24-year-old woman after being ghosted by her 20-something lover.
2019 — You Can’t Watch This — This independent documentary by George Llewelyn-John discusses freedom of speech and the online world. It highlights stories of five individuals who lose their access to social media and how that censorship affects them.
2020 — Archive — Roboticist George Almore (Theo James) is working to create a true human-equivalent AI, but when his focus turns to reuniting with his dead wife, Julie (Stacy Martin), he finds himself reaping Dr. Frankenstein-worthy consequences.
2020 — The Big Reset 2.0 — Every day, AI grows more functional, intelligent, and capable of completing even the most complicated tasks, but at what point does it become too much? In this documentary produced by Germany’s international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle (DW), experts discuss the field’s ongoing battle between risk and reward.
2020 — Childhood 2.0 — What does it mean to be a child in the highly vulnerable digital age? Online predators, cyberbullying, and mental health take center stage in this documentary that delves into the real-life issues plaguing kids and parents today.
2020 — Cyberlante — After getting a job at an isolated hotel run by a cruel bully, Matt (Gavin Gordon) finds himself at the center of a battle between hacking for good and evil.
2020 — Enemies of the State — This American documentary film follows Matt DeHart, targeted by the U.S. government for having confidential documents alleging misconduct by the CIA.
2020 — Interference: Democracy at Risk — In 2016, many new threats against our democracy came to light, such as misinformation campaigns and voter fraud, all of which wouldn’t be possible if not for the advanced, digital age we live in. This documentary urges viewers to make sure it never happens again.
2020 — The Internet of Everything — This documentary discusses how the internet now invades every aspect of our lives, through things beyond computers and phones — such as garbage cans, refrigerators and city infrastructures. It also talks about the problems the Internet has created and asks the question: will the future be a surveillance nightmare or an eco-utopia. Who will determine the outcome?
2020 — Julian Assange: Revolution Now — Overnight, Julian Assange went from coder to convict. This documentary tells the story of the founder of Wikileaks and how his mission to entrust the public with some of the most private information made him an enemy of the United States government.
2020 — Kill Chain: The Cyber War on America’s Elections — Produced by HBO, this documentary examines the rising number of tech vulnerabilities in the American electoral system, featuring an eye-opening demonstration of how secure electronic voting machines are by hackers at DEFCON, the world’s largest hacking conference.
2020 — KnowBe4: The Making Of A Unicorn — A Cybersecurity Story. How CEO Stu Sjouwerman built a culture of fun and a company worth $1 billion. With Chief Hacking Officer Kevin Mitnick. 23-minute documentary produced by Cybercrime Magazine.
2020 — No Safe Spaces — What does freedom of speech look like in the age of social media? In this documentary, comedian Adam Corrolla and talk show host Dennis Prager travel across America to explore what the future holds for the First Amendment.
2020 — Out Of Dark — Ever wondered what it’s like to be a spy? This eye-opening documentary invites cameras on a mission with a real-world intelligence operative, giving viewers an in-depth look into the top-secret world of foreign and domestic surveillance.
2020 — Password — A Saw-esque thriller in which an IT employee awakens to find himself tied to a chair, surrounded by a dead body and a laptop. Discovering he’s been kidnapped, the employee must find a way out, but will the financial imbalance of India post-globalization get in his way?
2020 — Screen Generation — Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z … and then what? Following the generation dubbed the “Digital Natives,” this documentary ponders what’s in store for the children that grew up behind a screen. Researchers in the U.S. and Europe were interviewed.
2020 — The Social Dilemma — This documentary explores the dangerous human impact of social networking.
2020 — Tenet — In this action thriller directed by Christopher Nolen, an organization called Tenet recruits an unnamed CIA operative known as The Protagonist (John David Washington) for a mission involving “time inversion” to counter a future threat and stop World War III.
2020 — We Need to Talk About A.I. — Director Leanne Pooley takes a close look at the future of artificial intelligence and the impact it will have on the world, including how computers will have the capacity to design and program themselves as they continue to evolve.
2021 — Chakra — Military officer Chandru (Vishal Krishna) is one of fifty people who are robbed on Independence Day. After he discovers his most prized possession was stolen, Chandru joins forces with a police officer to hunt down the dangerous cybercriminal responsible.
2021 — Cryptopia: Bitcoin, Blockchains, And The Future Of The Internet — Filmmaker Torsten Hoffmannn’s eye-opening look into the world of cryptocurrency and the controversy surrounding it, featuring commentary from some of the industry’s major players.
2021 — Dark Web: Cicada 3301 — After visiting the dark web, Connor (Jack Kesy), a gifted hacker, is invited to join the mysterious secret society Cicada 3301. He accepts and soon finds himself embroiled in an intense, high-stakes race against the NSA. Based on real-life events.
2021 —Dark Web: Fighting Cybercrime — The fight against cybercrime takes center stage in this documentary highlighting the security industry and its ceaseless determination to defend against the growing number of digital threats.
2021 — Dear Hacker — What happens when your webcam goes rogue? The directorial debut of French filmmaker Alice Lenay, this documentary is a must-watch for anyone who’s ever wondered about the inner workings of a webcam.
2021 — MY.DOOM: Earth’s Deadliest [Computer] Virus — First seen in 2004, MyDoom is universally acknowledged as the worst computer virus of all time, having caused over $38 billion in losses. This documentary explores MyDoom’s origins and chaotic run, all the while making an argument for just how essential white hat hackers really are.
2021 — Hacker Fairies — A short drama that follows two white hat hackers on a mission to retrieve stolen photos of several women. Not long into the search, one of the women asks to learn more about hacking. Can she be trusted?
2021 — Hacker: Trust No One— When Danny cofounds a new cryptocurrency, he thinks it will make him rich. When he gets caught hacking, though, he and his girlfriend end up on a hit list instead.
2021 — Love Hard — A columnist, who writes about her bad dating experiences, thinks she has met her perfect match on a dating app. When she flies across country to surprise him for Christmas, she learns she’s been catfished.
2021 — The Perfect Weapon — Based on a best-selling book by New York Times national security correspondent David E. Sanger, this documentary explores the rise of cyber conflict as the primary way nations now compete with and sabotage one another. Directed by John Maggio, it features interviews with top military, intelligence, and political officials on the frontlines of cyberterrorism.
2021 — Silk Road — Directed by Tiller Russell, this is the story of the anonymous dark web market launched by Ross Ulbricht in early 2011. Ulbricht was jailed for life after an FBI operation shut down Silk Road.
2021 — The Mitchells vs The Machines — Starring Maya Rudolph, Danny McBride, Eric Andre, and more, this animated film follows the Mitchell family, who stumble into an unprecedented robot apocalypse and find themselves fighting to save the future of humanity.
2021 — The Spy in Your Phone — The positive side of smartphones is that they keep us connected, entertain us, store data, and so much more. This documentary highlights the dangers, including privacy issues, how messaging and social media sites store our data and use it, how individuals and organizations can target us through spyware, and the concern about government mass surveillance. It also discusses what you can do to protect your data.
2021 — Twenty Hacker — Hex is a hacker who runs Better World, a “white hacker” club. When he discovers that black hackers have ruined his father’s company, he enlists his club members to take them down, resulting in an inevitable showdown.
2021 — WANNACRY: Earth’s Deadliest [Computer] Virus — This documentary examines how a computer virus that began as a small crypto worm in 2017 ended up infecting thousands of computers as ransomware. It describes the complex process that allowed it to be distributed in several ways and delves into a parallel story.
2022 — Glimpse — This surveillance-footage thriller follows three individuals, who are up for the same job, as their lives slowly spiral out of control. Starring an ensemble cast including Michael Emerson, Raúl Esparza, and David Alan Basche.
2022 — Hacker: Trust No One — This drama film tells the story of a hacker who finds himself and his girlfriend on a hit list after getting mixed up in the shady world of cryptocurrency.
2022 — Hot Seat — Mel Gibson stars in this riveting tale about an IT expert and former hacker, Friar (Kevin Dillon), who finds himself in the middle of a potentially explosive cyber robbery. Forced to choose between stealing digital funds or having his daughter abducted, Friar is left to determine what matters most while simultaneously working to get out of the hot seat.
2022 — Keedam — Main character Radhika Balan is a cybersecurity expert who believes in using technology to benefit others, but after falling victim to a cyberstalking incident and losing any semblance of privacy, she’s left with no choice but to take matters into her own hands.
2022 — Kimi — Starring Zoe Kravitz and Rita Wilson, this thriller chronicles the events that take place after an agoraphobic tech worker discovers evidence of a violent crime, which ultimately leads to her greatest challenge yet — leaving the house.
2022 — Stalked Within — This thriller follows Gary, a home security operator, who begins to spy on a single mother using his company’s technology equipment. It’s only a matter of time before his obsession turns deadly.
2022 — The Takeover — When an ethical hacker is framed for murder, she must track down those who are blackmailing her, stop them, and clear her name. Starring Holly Mae Brood, Geza Weisz, and Frank Lammers.
2023 — @ — A techno-thriller starring Rachel David as an ethical hacker, this film revolves around the dark web and the horrors that lurk within it. Audiences will become acquainted with the many crimes that take place, such as drug peddling, and the cyberattacks that come to fruition in the deep net.
2023 — M3GAN — Artificially intelligent doll M3GAN is a technological wonder, designed to befriend children and support parents. However, it’s only a matter of time until M3GAN becomes sentient and decides to take on a life of her own, leaving those around her to reap the extraordinary consequences.
2023 — Reality — This drama tells the story of Reality Winner, the former American intelligence specialist who was given the longest prison sentence for the unauthorized release of government information to the media about Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections via an email operation. Sydney Sweeney stars in the titular role.
So far no hits. I recon that the movie should be somewhere in the early 1990’s to 2005 time frame. Low budget, but a seriously important movie. Perhaps it was a spin off of movies of the Matrix genre… Which would place it around 1999. Or maybe right before it, 1995. And the movie Matrix completely overshadowed it.
Still looking.
Sigh.
12 Things Gone FOREVER…1960s
Ukraine Intelligence Chief Admits KILLING Civilians Who Say or Write the wrong thing!
A senior Ukrainian official has admitted that his country has assassinated “quite a few” Russian civilians who support Putin and his war to assert control of the Donbas region. In interviews first reported by The Times of London, Major General Kyrylo Budanov, who heads Ukraine’s military intelligence service, also promised more attacks are to come.
Budanov isn’t merely an unapologetic terrorist, he’s a boastful one. “These cases have happened and will continue,” he said. “Such people will receive a well-deserved punishment, and the appropriate punishment can only be liquidation and I will implement it.”
In a separate interview with a Ukrainian YouTube channel, Budanov said that any country could be witness to his killing of civilians who say or write the wrong things.
The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence service, Major-General Kyrylo Budanov, admitted that several Kremlin propagandists have been assassinated since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Budanov also said that Ukraine wanted to establish a demilitarized border zone up to 60 miles inside Russia to reduce the chances of future attacks, The Times reports.
When asked whether Ukrainian security services had killed Russian propagandists, Budanov, 37, said: ‘We’ve already successfully targeted quite a few people. There have been well-publicised cases everyone knows about, thanks to the media coverage.’
Several prominent pro-war figures have been killed or wounded by explosives in Russia since the start of the invasion on February 24 last year.
On May 6, Pro-Kremlin ideologist Zakhar Prilepin, 47, was left with multiple injuries after a car bomb attack.
The Russian writer and pro-war blogger’s vehicle was blown up in a village in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region. He suffered fractures but his driver was killed in the incident.
Russian investigators said that they were questioning Alexander Permyakov, whom they accused of working with Ukrainian intelligence.
Vladlen Tatarsky, 40, a military blogger with close ties to Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, was killed by explosives concealed within a statuette handed to him at a public talk that he was giving in a St. Petersburg cafe on April 2.
Later that month, a Russian court denied bail to 26-year-old Darya Trepova. She was charged with terrorism over the bomb attack that killed Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin.
Investigators said she was working on behalf of a pro-Ukrainian group with connections to jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny – claims rejected by Navalny’s associates and Kyiv.
The Russian internal affairs ministry said yesterday that an arrest warrant had been issued for Yuriy Denisov, a Ukrainian citizen they claim kept watch over Tatarsky for two months from an apartment close to his home.
It alleged that he had made his way over from Latvia under instruction from the ‘Ukrainian special services’.
In August last year, Darya Dugina, 29, the daughter of a close ally of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, was killed by a car bomb on a road outside Moscow.
It is thought that her father, the Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin, who is known as ‘Putin’s brain’, may have been the intended target.
Budanov claimed that the drone strikes that hit the Kremlin on May 3, apparently with the aim of killing Putin, were a result of ‘Russian aggression’.
On Different People, a Ukrainian YouTube channel, Budanov said that recent acts of sabotage inside Russian territory, including attacks on oil and gas infrastructure close to the Ukrainian border and the derailment of a cargo train, were perpetrated ‘almost 100 per cent by citizens of the Russian Federation’.
In another interview with a YouTube channel called Island, Budanov said he had ‘a minority of Russians’ co-operating with his Ukrainian military intelligence agency, the GUR.
He said they had ‘patriotic reasons’ for carrying out the acts and were ‘ready to change Russia’.
Budanov said that although Putin was a legitimate target, Ukraine was not trying to kill him.
He said that his agents would keep setting their sights on Russians who committed “war crimes” against Ukraine.
He said: ‘These cases have happened and will continue.
‘Such people will receive a well-deserved punishment, and the appropriate punishment can only be liquidation and I will implement it.’
Budanov blamed Moscow’s increasingly vicious tactics in Ukraine on Russian propagandists, arguing that Putin’s chances of survival had been put at risk.
He said: ‘[The Kremlin] have invested so much in this propaganda machine that it began to influence them in the end.’
Budanov added that Russia’s business elite was opposed to the invasion and was seeking ways to bring it to a close.
He argued that if the Russians managed to bring Putin’s reign to an end, Ukraine would still have to set up a demilitarised zone 60 miles inside Russian territory to avoid fighting in the future.
He added: ‘This should be our goal. If they are not going to attack and don’t decide they want revenge in a couple of years, this shouldn’t be an issue.’
HAL TURNER EDITORIAL OPINION
Well, well, well, there it is, spoken in public, for all to see and hear: Ukraine is intentionally MURDERING civilian news people/bloggers who dare to write in opposition to Ukraine. This is flat-out terrorist murder.
And YOUR American tax dollars are facilitating it!
This admission by the Chief of Ukraine Military Intelligence makes clear, by funding Ukraine, the Congress of the United States – both houses – as well as the Biden Administration, are literally facilitating MURDER.
THIS IS WW3, NATO just F*cked Up Big Time
https://youtu.be/xhl2qMCDoqo
How do you think China will respond to the G7’s joint statement?
It’s just words
China will make its own statement
It’s the normal political brouhaha
The G7 is today looks like an outdated Colonial Club making imperialist statements about economic coercion of China while sanctioning half the planet
So frankly nobody takes the G7 very seriously
Just compare
China’s Xi met his Central Asian counterparts and signed over 40 MPUs and around CNY 230 Billion ($ 32 Billion) of business deals
G7 met and made speeches with zero impact
Shows their relevance today
This Old Lady Was Selling Her Painted Baby Dolls At The Flea Market And Nobody Had Bought Any, It Was $20 But I Couldn’t Find It In Me To Haggle Her Down. She Told Me She Made The Suit By Hand. My New Fav Office Decoration!
What is an insane coincidence that you’ve experienced?
Okay, maybe not “insane”, but still pretty cool, I think. In 1997 when I was 29, I went to work for Talbots, the clothing company. I worked in their call center for the next nine years, primarily as a trainer. For maybe half that time, we were housed in a relatively small three-story office building called The Weston.
This in the largest city in our region in the state. We occupied the entire second and third floors and part of the first floor, so there were very few other tenants in the building. I’m sure I don’t remember them all, but I recall an interior design company, a law office, and a charitable foundation. So there were probably hundreds of us Talbots employees and temps, but I’d guess only a dozen or two employees of these other companies.
Fast forward to 2015. I’d been gone from Talbots for almost ten years, and from the Weston for almost fifteen. I started dating the woman who is now my wife. At some point during a discussion, we were talking about our past work lives. Turns out that my wife worked for the charitable foundation, so we worked in the same small building for five years, but over ten years before we “met”. How many times did I pass my future wife in the lobby, without a clue? (We were both married to other people at the time.) Neither of us have any memory of the other, but after further discussion, she did remember my car. I’d bought a brand-new black Mazda Miata, and I did not park in the “main” lot as I was one of the few employees who worked on the first floor. My wife remembers seeing my car, confirmed by describing where I usually parked!
You might be OLD…If You Remember These! PART 6
I remember a lot of this and now, I actually do miss, what one would consider, now, simpler times…our communities were safer and more neighborly and loving. I just love this channel!
In what ways does the United States engage in coercive diplomacy? What kind of harm does it cause to the international community?
US hegemony uses 800 military bases and 11 aircraft carriers to force the world to follow US economics, trade and finance rules for USA benefits. Anyone refusing is sanctioned, or if weak violently attacked using human rights excuses. That is coercive diplomacy.
US hegemony in last 70yrs means endless wars, endless arms sales and endless Tbills and usd printing. It is not sustainable now USA printed usd31trillion and deficits are still adding Tbills. Does the world want to continue wars and deaths for US profits? Most of the world says no.
The 1950s in SHOCKINGLY BEAUTIFUL Colorized Photos
Things Worth Experiencing At Least Once In Your Life, According To People Online
In the everyday rush and routine, we probably don’t find time to think about what we want to do in this life and what really would make us happy. It may be for our whole life or it can also be something that will make us the happiest people alive for a day. There are particular locations, feelings, purchases or activities that we dream about. I may be wrong but many of us probably have our bucket lists made. Some of us have written it down and are actually saving money for our dreams, some of us have written it in our notes and from time to time check it out to see if maybe we managed to complete some of the things. But some of us just have it in our head and create something on the spot if this topic comes up.
Reading a book so good you can’t fall asleep without reading a new chapter, and to feel slightly sad when you finish it.
Walking in the snowy woods at night.
What it’s like to work a busy shift at a restaurant – can be any role, waiting tables, bussing, cooking, hosting. Everyone should have one evening where you are trying to serve and cater to dozens of people at once. You should know how it feels to bring someone the wrong dish or spill a glass on someone. You should know how it feels to work hard af and get no tip, get told to take something back like it’s your fault, all the normal things that happen during a busy shift.
Seeing an ocean in person, from a beach.
Contentment and security. Not necessarily full happiness, but satisfaction in your own life, and safety within it.
I have two. One is seeing a starry night sky, no clouds, no light pollution, just a beautiful night sky. Or better yet, the northern lights. Second is seeing the view from a mountain peak. People always talk about how ugly the world is, but I think these two things really remind you of how beautiful earth is too.
A good nights sleep.
Being in love with someone who loves you back
The sound of it snowing. I laid on the ground, in the snow at night in the Alaskan wilderness, in December, it’s so peaceful.
Even if it’s only for a short period of time: full financial independence, while being single. You can pay your own bills, you have your own place, and you have full freedom over your free time. Whether it’s staying in and binge watching Netflix, or going out and sitting amongst strangers. Your time is your own. No kids. No spouse or significant other. I find this is when you really get to know and understand yourself.
A loving and supportive group of humans.
Having real friends
going on a forest and smelling rain
Everyone should experience the joys of traveling to a foreign land at least once in their lifetime, even if it’s just to realize how much they love their own toilet. Imagine discovering new cultures, cuisines, and the thrill of trying to communicate with locals using just charades and a phrasebook. Trust me, it’s a life-changing experience that’ll give you a new appreciation for your home and a killer accent to boot.
Moving away from your hometown, even if it is for a year
A hug, simple but important
The energy of a concert.
Being well and absolutely disconnected. No phones, no GPS. I last had that experience in the early 90s. Being somewhere with someone you trust and the two of you are the only people who know where you are and what you are doing.
Working a minimum or entry level job as a first job especially when young.
It really makes you appreciate money and interactions with people because it sucked and you got so little of anything even less some respect. Hell you even get to treat the people that work those jobs nicer because you were them once.
Another culture. And I don’t mean as a tourist where you have all the comforts of home. To fully absorb and immerse yourself in the lives of that culture. To eat their foods, drink their drinks, and do as they do.
1970s Things Found In Every Home
https://youtu.be/0g4zXepHASM
Claims that the Belt and Road initiative “could create a new epidemic” are a bizarre new line of attack on Beijing’s efforts in the country
Laos – a landlocked communist state in Southeast Asia, wedged between China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar – has the potential to be a nexus of sorts for the entire region. However, its cooperation with Beijing has come under fire from the West.
The impoverished nation holds the unenviable distinction of “the most bombed country in history” after the US dropped over 2 million tons of bombs on it during the Vietnam War. Laos is still weathering the consequences, including deaths from unexploded munitions. Faced with numerous challenges, it has leaned on its giant northern neighbor for assistance.
In recent years, Laos has benefited considerably from China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In late 2021, the China-Laos railway was built, a high-speed system connecting the country’s capital to Beijing. This has been a gamechanger for its foreign trade and exports. Сurrently, a new superhighway is also being built across the country. Last week, however, an article from Reuters
attracted widespread disdain on social media as it sought to frame China’s development in the country as risking a “new pandemic.” It was titled ‘China, birthplace of the covid pandemic, is laying tracks for another global health crisis.’
The article argued that Laos is home to a bat population that carries “novel coronaviruses,” the same source which allegedly gave rise to Covid-19. By building a highway through the country’s tropical forests, the argument goes, humans will be brought into closer contact with bats, thus destroying their environment and risking a new pandemic. This textbook example of an over-the-top ‘China bad’ story exaggerates and fixates on the speculated negative consequences of Beijing’s activities, never providing the full picture. It is never touched on, for example, how up to 50 people a year in Laos continue to die from undetonated US bombs dropped on the country during the Vietnam war.
Western media at large have it in for China’s relationship with Laos, with outlets denouncing Chinese investments as a “debt trap ” and accusing Laos of being a “vassal state.” Why is it met with such backlash? First of all, Laos is arguably the single most pro-Chinese state in Southeast Asia, the region which the US is aggressively targeting as part of its Indo-Pacific strategy. Despite being communist, Washington sees Vietnam as a potential military and economic counterweight to Beijing due to its maritime periphery; however, Laos is a landlocked state which reduces US geopolitical leverage in countering China. Laos is also fearful of neighboring Vietnam and sees Beijing as a guarantor in securing its own independence.
This, combined with America’s bloody history in the country, and the fact it is a communist state, makes Laos a very comfortable neighbor for China, which also stands as its biggest economic guarantor. Chinese-backed infrastructure is helping the landlocked and impoverished country to gain easier access to ports and markets. Furthermore, by making it a nexus of the region, China is also integrating itself with Thailand and allowing its goods to flow to more Southeast Asian ports. This becomes an obstacle to the US vision of hegemony over the region, which involves completely dominating China’s maritime periphery in a way that checks its ability to project power and shape global commerce.
As a result, the Western corporate media are encouraged to vilify the BRI, including specifically its impact in Laos. Those doubting that there is a concerted effort to do this need only look at the America COMPETES Act of 2022, which allocates $500 million to media outlets to ostensibly “combat Chinese disinformation” for overseas audiences. Among other things, it specifically targets the BRI, effectively incentivizing negative coverage of the Chinese infrastructure project. The US hates the BRI, because it creates connections in Eurasia and therefore changes the strategic landscape away from the maritime routes dominated by America.
The Reuters story in particular draws upon the tried-and-trusted practice of scapegoating China for the Covid-19 pandemic to fearmonger about its road development in Laos. But one must question whether the US ever acknowledged what it did to Laos? Did it apologize for dropping 270 million
cluster bombs on it? An estimated 80 million of those did not explode, and while the US has invested in clean-up efforts, the 50,000 lives these bombs have claimed since the end of the war clearly show this is not enough.
Now, China is not only boosting the Laotian economy with its railroad construction, but also helping clear the deadly consequences of American militarism. Meanwhile, the West keeps promising alternatives to the BRI, with a new name cropping up virtually every year, but talk is cheap and these promises have yet to bear fruit. It’s easy to take the moral high ground on an issue when you aren’t the one who has to bear the consequences. It’s fair to say, if there is a new Cold War, Laos won’t be siding with the West.
Why does the USA attack China so much?
This one chart explains it all.
“Yes, the CIA and FBI WILL rig the 2024 election”
China’s first domestically designed aircraft carrier having EMALS gets launched
The Fujian, the largest aircraft carrier ever built by China, is a crucial part of the Chinese navy. China is making rapid progress in developing advanced aircraft carriers that are on par with those of the US.
It is worth noting that China has chosen to name its new aircraft carrier after Fujian, a province located just across a narrow strait from Taiwan.
The 80,000 metric ton CNS Fujian is 50% larger than China’s current in-service carriers, putting the People’s Liberation Army Navy in the same class as supercarriers like the US Nimitz-class ships, which weigh 100,000 tons.
Unlike China’s other two carriers, the Liaoning and the Shandong, which are based on outdated Soviet technology and utilize a ski-jump launching system, the Fujian is equipped with an advanced electromagnetic aircraft launch system, similar to that used on the US’s newest carrier, the USS Gerald Ford. This new system will enable China to launch a greater variety of aircraft more quickly and with more ammunition onboard.
After approximately 18 months of trials, China’s largest warship CNS Fujian is expected to become operational by October 2024.
The Fujian and a fourth carrier, which is also under construction, are larger and able to carry more aircraft than the two existing vessels. The South China Morning Post reported in March last year that the fourth carrier might be nuclear-powered.
G7 leaders in Japan declare, China number one enemy
$200 Was Too High For Me But My Mom Insisted On Buying This
Amarjeet Sada, The 8 YO Serial Killer…
https://youtu.be/kEIMLQ-vE8Q
Chicago-Style Sausage and Peppers
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
2 tablespoons corn oil
1 large red onion, thinly sliced
2 large yellow bell peppers, cored, seeded and thinly sliced
2 large red bell peppers, cored, seeded and thinly sliced
1/4 cup Jack Daniels Sour Mash Whiskey
1/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
8 spicy Italian sausages (4 ounces each), not hot dogs!
8 good quality hot dog buns
2 tablespoons reserved sausage grease or soft butter
Instructions
Heat corn oil in large skillet and sauté the onions and peppers until tender and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes over medium heat.
Add the bourbon and stir quickly until absorbed.
Add the brown sugar and stir until the sugar melts.
Season with thyme, salt and pepper. (Can be refrigerated for one week. Let come to room temperature before serving.)
Char-grill the sausages until slightly blackened and cooked through.
Brush the hot dog buns with a little sausage grease or butter and toast on the grill or under the broiler.
Nestle a sausage in a bun and top with about 2 tablespoons of peppers and onions.
The West Sells Weapons, Sponsor Coups & Assassinate African Presidents For Natural Resources
We Found This Massive Print Secondhand. My BF Immediately Knew He Wanted It
Pan African TV Kwesi Pratt Says The West “Bombed” Democracy To Africa, China Brings Partnerships
Do you think Japan is still occupied by the Americans?
Yup. The test case was a couple weeks ago.
American soldier crashed a car. He was arrested by Japanese cops. The US government demanded he be released immediately and actual threats were made by the US government to the Japanese government.
The Japanese government rolled over.
That’s the big test of if your country is a US bitch or not.
Yangju highway incident - Wikipedia
Killing, 2 Korean girls, US army vehicle Coordinates : 37°51′28″N 126°56′56″E / 37.857722°N 126.948972°E / 37.857722; 126.948972 ( Location of the Yangju highway incident ) The Yangju highway incident , also known as the Yangju training accident or Highway 56 Accident , occurred on June 13, 2002, in Yangju , Gyeonggi-do, South Korea .
A United States Army armored vehicle-launched bridge , returning to base in Uijeongbu on a public road after training maneuvers in the countryside, struck and killed two 14-year-old South Korean schoolgirls, Shin Hyo-sun ( Korean : 신효순) and Shim Mi-seon ( Korean : 심미선).
The American soldiers involved were found not guilty of negligent homicide in the court martial , further inflaming anti-American sentiment in South Korea and sparking a series of candlelight vigil protests in protest of their deaths.
The memory of the two schoolgirls is commemorated annually in South Korea
Death of Harry Dunn - Wikipedia
Fatal road traffic collision resulting in UK/US diplomatic controversy Coordinates : 51°59′49″N 1°11′45″W / 51.9969593°N 1.1959241°W / 51.9969593; -1.1959241
Death of Harry Dunn Date 27 August 2019 Time 20:25 BST Location B4031 road near RAF Croughton Cause Road traffic collision Deaths Harry Dunn Burial 17 September 2019
Inquiries Northamptonshire Police Convicted Anne Sacoolas Charges Causing death by careless driving (convicted) Causing death by dangerous driving (acquitted)
Harry Dunn was a 19-year-old British man who died following a road traffic collision on 27 August 2019.
He was riding his motorcycle near Croughton, Northamptonshire , United Kingdom, near the exit to RAF Croughton , when a car travelling in the opposite direction and on the wrong side of the road collided with him.
The car was driven by Anne Sacoolas, who is a former US spy and wife of CIA employee Jonathan Sacoolas, stationed at the time at USAF listening station RAF Croughton.
Sacoolas admitted that she had been driving the car on the wrong side of the road , and the police said that, based on CCTV footage, they believed that to be true.
Dunn was pronounced dead at the Major Trauma Centre of John Radcliffe Hospital , Oxford. The collision caused diplomatic tension between UK and US officials.
Sacoolas fled the UK soon after the incident and claimed diplomatic immunity with US support.
1998 Cavalese cable car crash - Wikipedia
US Navy aircraft struck ski lift, Italy The Cavalese cable car crash , also known as the Cermis massacre ( Italian : Strage del Cermis ), occurred on February 3, 1998, near the Italian town of Cavalese , a ski resort in the Dolomites some 40 kilometres (25 mi) northeast of Trento .
Twenty people were killed when a United States Marine Corps EA-6B Prowler aircraft, flying too low and against regulations, in order for the pilots to "have fun" and "take videos of the scenery", cut a cable supporting a cable car of an aerial lift .
The pilot, Captain Richard J. Ashby, and his navigator , Captain Joseph Schweitzer, were put on trial in the United States and found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide .
If Americans can come and wantonly commit crimes and get almost no punishment then you’re essentially an occupied country.
The West Can’t Be Trusted, Nigeria VP Says China Is A Better Ally To Africa Than The West
Where I Am Going, There Are No Roads…
Thrift store find.
Why is China’s economy taking over the world?
Why is China’s economy continuing to grow to the point it is the largest or second largest economy in the world based on which method used to compare economies.
China has been able to harness a number of factors over several decades that has benefited its people economically. The Chinese government has taken great effort to improve the lives of its people. Its goal is to create a moderately prosperous society for its huge population. With a country of 1.4 billion people moderately prosperous equates to a large economy.
China has devoted a lot of effort to educate its people. In 1950 the literacy rate was 20%, but today it is over 97%. Eduction is highly important to the government. This has led China to produce the most STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) graduates yearly, which drives innovation.
Chinese culture is one of business and that means trade is an important part business activity. Now days China trades with almost every country globally. It is the primary trade partner with many.
With China’s huge manufacturing sector needed to produce goods for it huge population benefits from economies of scale. This in turn drives down manufacturing costs making goods cheaper in China and for export.
Developed economies for the most part are service economies not manufacturing ones, hence their need to import goods.
China’s ability to produce a wide variety of goods from simple utensils to automobiles and high speed trains means it can produce much of what other countries need but cannot produce.
All the above and more is why China’s economy continues to grow at a faster rate compared to the developed countries of the West.
1970’s Rmic Hand Chair
Thrift store find.
Kenyan President Ruto Says African Leaders Won’t Be Summoned Like Kids By The West No Longer
Ukrainian Artist Dinara Kasko Continues To Push The Boundaries Of Pastry Design
Here are the incredible edibles of pastry chef Dinara Kasko. The culinary artist from Ukraine has amassed a huge online following for her innovative cake designs and moulds. Although Dinara graduated from Kharkov University Architecture School, she found her true passion was pastry. However, she now uses her background in architectural design to create her incredible cakes as she uses the 3D-modelling program, 3DSMAX, to create silicone cake moulds.
Kenyan President Admits The Disrespect African Leaders Faced During The Queen’s Funeral In The UK
According to Ray Dalio, changing world power would mean conflict between the rising world power and the leading world power. Would this predict war between China and America?
No, because both have nukes. The US has been doing everything to stop China’s rise. Lying and accusing China on human rights, genocide, and whatever sins they can think of to discredit China. The US now summons her vassals to go to war with China to weaken China’s economy and military, similar to UR conflict.
Only BABY BOOMERS will REMEMBER these things
“Garden Decor” For Sale On Fb Marketplace
TWO BOEING E-4B COMMAND AND CONTROL AIRCRAFT AIRBORNE OVER CONTINENTAL USA
Things No Longer Found at Gas Stations
Did I Just Find A Serial Killer?
Chicago Hot Dogs
Never leave the celery salt off the Chicago Dogs! They won’t be the same. I guarantee it.
Ingredients
All-beef hot dogs
Green sweet bell pepper, diced
Yellow onions, diced
Mustard
Sweet pickle relish
Dill pickle chips
Cucumbers, sliced thin
Iceberg lettuce, shredded
Tomatoes, diced
Hot peppers (pepperoncini)
Celery salt
Instructions
Steam hot dogs and put condiments on table. NEVER USE KETCHUP! Celery salt is a MUST!
Serve on poppy seed buns, if they are available.
Kenya President Gets Standing Ovation in Pan-African Parliament for Epic Speech
No Eyedea What It Is, From Goodwill
Is Paypal a scam?
Scam may be overstating it, but they will seize your money without warning or explanation and you should avoid using them as much as possible, especially if you are a business.
I would strongly advise anyone, especially a seller, to avoid using Paypal. Like many, I was in the camp of “They’re the most established payment service on the web and I’ve never had a problem with them.” Until I did, and I’ve learned of the massive amount of unethical behavior they get away with.
In my case, the situation’s not too severe, but it’s still frustrating. I coached a client overseas in Europe. He wanted to pay with Paypal. Not having a better suggestion, I thought sure, why not? I coached, he sent the funds over, all set, right?
Paypal put a hold on the funds for a few days to make sure things were in good order. Shortly thereafter, they suspended my account. I got the following email:
Mind you, I have literally only done a single transaction on this account, the one I just did. I had no warning there was a problem with my account and my client is in good standing with Paypal. I did not receive any explanation.
On the site, my account now has a banner that looks like this:
I can no longer transfer money, unlink my bank account, remove my personal information, or anything. Paypal has indefinitely seized my money.
If I attempt to refund my client, they tell me the attempt fails due to technical reasons.
Paypal offered no explanation for the freeze. They claimed the funds would be released after a review that ended on May 15th, 2023, and I got this email:
I consequently reported them to the Better Business Bureau. Paypal actually responded on this, claiming that my account used an “anonymizing service” (I assume referring to the fact I use a VPN for all of my Internet activity) and that I share limited access with another account (I have no idea what this means). These were the only explanations given for why they seized my funds.
I will reiterate that I never received any warning or notification that my account had any issues prior to the transaction. It was only after the transaction, when Paypal had possession of my money, that they notified me they would be keeping it for themselves.
If they genuinely believed I was a security risk, they should have prevented my transaction in the first place, or immediately refunded my client’s payment. It’s like if I tried to ship a package with UPS, and UPS just said “we think you might be a drug dealer so we’re just going to keep your package for ourselves.”
As of now, I have requested only that they refund my client. Even if they have an issue with me, I don’t see how they can justify refusing a refund. At this time I have not received a response and my client has not been refunded.
So I know you might be thinking, because I was thinking – “Howie it clearly must be just something with you. You did something wrong to justify this treatment.” I am far from alone.
. They seized $172,000 from one plaintiff, $42,000 from another, and $26,984 from a third. Very similar situation – frozen account, no explanation, get a subpoena if you want to find out why.
If you’d like a plethora of horror stories, just visit the ecommerce subreddit
, or wherever else. Obviously there is a tendency to leave negative reviews rather than positive to go in appreciating that, but you’ll find many, many users who’ll tell you this same story.
Whether you think I’m just a crazy one-off case or not, I strongly encourage you take measures to protect yourself so you do not become a victim as well. I’d offer the following suggestions.
If you can avoid using Paypal, do so.
If you must use Paypal, keep as little balance in your account as possible, as it can be seized at any time.
If you can associate Paypal with a deposit-only account, do so. They shouldn’t be able to withdraw from your linked bank account without your consent, but there are some user horror stories where that has happened.
Be aware that Paypal owns Venmo as well.
There are numerous alternatives to Paypal, several of which even charge lower fees, including Stripe, Wise, Square, Google, and more. All have better reputations and at the very least I can tell you none of them have taken my money for themselves.
Good luck. I hope this post helps you avoid being a victim.
Everything You Remember And Miss About…SEARS
41 Countries Ready To Accept BRICS Currency
The list of countries interested to join the BRICS alliance and accept the new currency for global trade is growing.
China and Russia are lobbying other developing countries in joining the international efforts to dethrone the U.S. dollar.
Developing countries in Asia and Africa are looking to replace the U.S. dollar with their native currencies or a new tender.
The development is causing a roadblock to the dollar’s prospects and challenging its status as the world reserve currency...
Article HERE
Do you think the Indian economy will beat the Chinese economy in years to come? Why?
Not possible.
China is an outlier in most aspects of economy and it is impossible for India to catch up in foreseeable future because –
Current differential between the two countries is too large
Factors that enable future growth (education, innovation, industrialization) are not firing on all cylinders either
Listed below are the data points from few indicators to illustrate the situation –
Trade & Industrialization:
Total exports (2016): India – $260 billion, China – $2.1 trillion
apparel: India – $18 billion, China – $175 billion
footwear: India – $2.5 billion, China – $51 billion
electrical and electronics – India – $8 billion, China – $782 billion
Number of large companies in Fortune 500 (2017): India has 7, China has 109
Infrastructure & Facilities:
High Speed Rails:
India – first HSR project (Mumbai-Ahmedabad) started in 2017, to be functional by 2022 covering 500 km
China – already has 25,000 km of HSR network, transporting double the volume of passengers than airlines
Metro Trains:
India – 8 cities with total track length of 370 km
China – 39 cities with total track length of 3,600 km (Beijing metro alone is 600 km)
Airports: India has 346, China has 507 (2013 data)
World’s Top 1000 hospitals: India has 9, China has 84
Tourism:
Foreign Tourist arrivals: India – 10 million,
China – 60 millionTourism revenue:
India – $27 billion,
China – $114 billion
Education & Innovation:
World’s Top 500 universities: India has 8, China has 21
Adult Literacy: India 74% (2011 data), expected to hit mid-80’s by next census (2021), China – 99% (2010)
Number of Patents and Trademarks: both India and China are in world’s Top 10 (2016 data)
Patents filed by India – 45k, China – 1.3 million
Trademarks listed by India – 313k, China – 3.7 million
Rising Income levels:
75% of world’s new billionaires are coming from India and China:
Since 2010, India is adding one new billionaire every 33 days
China is adding one new billionaire every 5 days
India has world’s third highest number of billionaires and China has world’s largest:
Number of billionaires in India – 131, China – 819
Expanding Middle Class:
India – 600 million people, based on the criteria of spending ($2 to $10 per day)
Only 24 million people, if based on the criteria of wealth ($13k)
China – 500 million by 2022, based on the criteria of earning ($9k to 34k)
GDP Per Capita: India – $1.7k, China – $8.1k
Overall Economy:
Forex reserves: India – $400 billion, China – $3 trillion
GDP (nominal): India – $2.5 trillion, China – $11 trillion
Trend
Key Take-Aways and Summary:
China’s exports of only electricals and electronics ($782 billion) are three times of India’s total exports ($260 billion)
Length of metro in China’s one city (Beijing – 600 km) is more than total length of all metros in India (370 km)
China’s forex reserves ($3 trillion) are more than India’s total GDP ($2.5 trillion)
China’s middle class is not only larger, but also richer than India’s middle class – making it a more attractive investment destination
India’s growth story is real, but China’s growth story is much bigger. On most economic indicators, India has been performing good, but China has been performing a lot better
Before 2020, India is estimated to overtake UK and France to become world’s fifth largest economy
By 2030, India is expected to overtake Germany and Japan to become world’s third largest economy. But even then ($6 trillion +), it would be less than one-third the size of China’s economy ($20 trillion +)
A country that is well known for best at controlling internet trolls and media is exaggerating a non-existent event in Africa, namely “China is launching a social movement to persecute black people”. In fact, from 2023 until May 24, 2023, I have not seen any hot topics or frontpage news related to black people in China on any social media platform.
By the way, in China, the vast majority of people have never seen murder in their lifetime. It is foolish to use the lie of ‘encouraging murder’ to describe China. Because even if this kind of encouragement exists, no one will respond. Chinese people do not know how to murder, unlike the country that creates this lie.
CLOSED Fast Food Restaurants from the past
Beijing summons Japanese envoy over ‘anti-China’ G7 summit
China’s Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong has summoned the Japanese ambassador to register protests over “hype around China-related issues” at the Group of Seven (G7) summit over the weekend, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The heads of the world’s richest countries who met in the Japanese city of Hiroshima expressed serious concerns about rising tensions in the East China Sea and the South China Sea as well as voicing concerns about the human rights situations in China, including in Tibet and Xinjiang.
Huawei is preparing a number of new chipsets to launch later this year and Kirin A2 is one of them. The company is testing this chip for quite a time and it’s ready for production.
Huawei will launch the Kirin A2 chipset by this year. If everything goes right, the company could choose Q3 or Q4 for the release.
Also, Kirin A2 is ready for the trial stage and it has mass production capacity.
This is due to the past decision that Huawei took at the very last moment before launch events. Yet, the exact details are unknown. On this matter, Huawei has not revealed any details about Kirin A2 or related returns. But we’ll have to wait, as there are several months left in the making.
Kirin A2 for smartphones?
Nope, Kirin A-series was officially announced for wearable devices such as earphones, smartwatches, and others. The current breakthrough in Huawei’s chipset production capability remains low-key.
Therefore, the company may take this route to start producing self-developed wearables semiconductors. These types of chips don’t require advanced process technology. Hence, it’s very likely that Kirin A2 will be used for wearable gadgets.
Kirin A1:
Kirin A1 was the world’s first Bluetooth 5.1 and Bluetooth Low Energy 5.1 wearable chip. The A1 is developed by Huawei’s chipset designing division, HiSilicon, and printed by Taiwan’s TSMC.
Kirin A1 is designed for wireless earphones, headbands, neckbands, smart speakers, smart eyewear, and smartwatches. Huawei Watch GT 2 series is the first smartwatch to equip this SoC and it’s still running wild in terms of performance and battery.
After the US sanctions in 2019, Huawei had to stop making new HiSilicon chips. And with the recent achievement in automation tech, Huawei could print its own chipset.
Stores We Loved That No Longer Exist!
https://youtu.be/XcewCyZkvWw
What is the purpose of the US-Papua New Guinea defense agreement pact?
Leaked draft of the US-Papua New Guinea defense pact exposes the granting of legal immunity to US personnel and contractors, allowing unrestricted movement of US aircraft, vehicles, and vessels, and exempting US staff from migration requirements.
It is evident that this pact serves the US’s geopolitical interests rather than offering genuine humanitarian aid. The motive aligns with the US’s broader Indo-Pacific strategy.
However, what PNG truly needs is effective action to address the climate crisis and achieve economic growth. Unfortunately, the US is unlikely to prioritize these crucial concerns. Instead, it treats PNG and other South Pacific nations as mere pawns in its larger geopolitical game.
This behavior reflects the US’s historical tendency to come and go in the region as it pleases, without consistent commitment or genuine regard for local priorities.
Pictures from the past
Can someone please explain to them how things in REAL LiFE works:
You manufacture lies about spying and launched wave after wave of sanctions on successful Chinese companies in order to destroy it because you are resentful of its successes
AND you expect the Chinese to do nothing about it?
NOT only is their domestic Chinese market 4x bigger than hours but their manufacturers dominate manufacturing in this world
they will now use that scale to destroy your companies. They have now
STOP buying Boeing jets where Chinese jet orders was expected to be in the MANY thousands;
REDIRECT corn orders to Brazil
NOW it is clear that they are now ready………and are now targeting your high tech companies. Micron is just the first. Which will be next? It will be the US company whose CEO have a big mouth and a strong anti-China streak.
THIS is called tit for tat followed by a severe beating. Whether Micron or other American companies have security risk is NOT relevant. They have learned from you and are using what they have learned to take your companies down.
ASML, Samsung, Nikon, etc, and other non-American companies, are now all in the process of de-Americanizing their product lines so that they can continue selling to China.
The future of high tech industries in the United States will go the way of dodo birds. The Chinese will now NOT meet you halfway.
You are reaping what you have sown.
What do you suggest for a first time tourist visiting China in regards to VPN, money, and apps needed?
First
Get a SIM
It’s a prepaid sim card. The Airports have many counters. Simply present your passport and visa and get a pre paid SIM card.
That gets you around 20GB Data that should be enough for a few days
Connection takes only seconds. The minute you insert the sim, the phone works and you can make the calls
Now most loaded apps won’t work
Next Money
You can easily download WeChat and Alipay but Alipay is better
However there is a problem for Indians
OTP
You can register Alipay for foreigners and enter your card details and load Rs. 25000/— per day (CNY 2000)
You get your OTP in some cases and that OTP cannot be read by your phone unless you have roaming
In my case, a friend from SBI Shanghai loaded money into my Alipay from his account
So best option is to preload Alipay from India itself except that it’s banned
So what to do?
Don’t worry
Enterprising Chinese at the Airport will gladly take your cash dollars (No Rupee) and load money into your Alipay
They even have counters for foreigners
Next VPN
Install Nord VPN and buy the Pro version
However be prepared for a few days to not have proper Twitter or Instagram or Facebook response
Unless you have WiFi router, Mobile Data usually doesn’t use VPN that efficiently
Finally get a prescription if you are carrying medicines please
Do Volunteer for the Face Scan. That way when you reach your hotel and they simply scan your face, and your details jump out and you don’t need a passport at all wherever you go within Shanghai (Only in Shanghai)
What would you do if your neighbor came to your front door in a barely controlled rage?
I had this happen to me.
My family and I were at home one evening, when all the sudden someone started frantically pounding on my front door. My wife opened the door to the neighbor lady who was crying hysterically. She invited her in, and she told us her husband was in a rage, and had put his hands on her.
About that time, the husband came charging through my front door, and began verbally assaulting his wife with profanity at the top of his lungs. In MY living room.
Before I had a chance to address the situation, my older daughter told him to tone it down, at which point he responded with “shut the F!#K up, B#!CH”.
The words barely left his lips before those lips were introduced to my fist.
Turns out he had no interest in fighting another man.
Once he found his feet, he was out my front door faster than he barged in. I’m sure most of the folks reading this will be disgusted with my actions. I Don’t care.
What does matter to me, is the opinion of that man’s wife.
Years later, she thanked me, saying he never put his hands on her again.
Not because he didn’t want to, but because he was afraid she would run to my house!
Stay tuned. All of the subjects mentioned in the title has already been covered within the messy slush-file of MM articles. All intentionally buried within a safe coverage of delicious food, cats, music, and stories of the human condition. Impossible for computer algorithms and troll agents to root out and locate. It’s the MM way, don’t you know. What subjects?
Nordstream pipeline detonations
The Pentagon using the Musk satellites to ram the Chinese space station, and then China taking down all of them with an electromagnetic cannon
The UK launching a micro-nuke in Ukraine and caught red-handed by Russia
Bio-Weapons NATO general captured at a weaponized development facility (Ukraine) performing “gain of function” studies. Also known as “weaponizing the virus”.
China stopping the bio-weapon attempts to induce famine
China capturing and killing off all of the CIA and NED assets
North Korea missile attacks
Disabling an American nuclear sub that was “this close” to being captured outright.
Sinking another one that had to be recovered (F-35 splash into the South China Sea anyone?)
The Trump mega-flotilla that turned around and sailed back home
Covid-19, the tick-virus and the humanized swine-flu virus bio-weapons and the Taiwan “surprise” virus.
And that’s all right off the top of my head. But I’m not trying to keep score. In this “game” of world war III, it’s impossible to keep score and absolutely meaningless. You have to keep in mind the objectives of all parties (as best as we can ascertain) and then observe the elements play out. And as they play out, we migrate to areas that will not be affected by the fallout (both figuratively and literally). Remember, the reason why everyone is so confused as to what is going on is simply because no one can see the full picture. There’s a plan. There’s always a plan. Keep in mind why things appear to be a world run by crazy people…
They might actually be crazy.
The Western “news” is a propaganda arm of the US government.
Actual “news” and events are not being reported on.
Trivial events are blown all out of proportion.
Real secrets are kept secret.
Counter intelligence operations are at full-speed.
So just sit tight. The latest information from the Domain Commander is…
No change to the previous predictions; small to medium bads lie ahead.
Events are playing out within predictable patterns well known and understood by Domain (Historians).
Some humans will experience discomfort, but any areas of conflict and turmoil will be isolated and geographically segmented.
Take care. Be prudent.
Important note
WordPress has “updated” it’s software, and messed up everything MM side. Do not be frustrated, but much of the grammar corrections, formatting, and pictures were deleted or screwed up in this post, and I am too exhausted to repair what amounts to 10,000 words of text.
Self-format if you must.
Apollo 13 | “Houston, We Have a Problem”
Singapore and China sign 19 agreements to boost cooperation
Singapore and China sign 19 agreements to boost cooperation at annual apex meeting
The agreements were signed at the 18th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation meeting, co-chaired by DPM Heng Swee Keat and Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng
China is where the world future lies :
Small businesses in various states are struggling to pay their rent, a new report shows, with rent delinquency at nearly 40 percent this month.
The findings, published Tuesday by Boston-based business tracker Alignable, are raising more than eyebrows, as they illustrate the stark effect inflation is having on everyday Americans.
The survey of 4,789 randomly selected small business owners saw more than half of respondents say their rent is at least 10 percent higher than six months ago.
If you go back seven months, the majority said their rents had increased by at least 20 percent.
Moreover, the study found that roughly 37 percent of small businesses - almost half of all Americans working in the private sector - were left unable to pay rent in October.
Compounding concerns is the fact that several states, including New York and California, are well over the already-high national average.
Offering an explanation for the phenomenon, study author Chuck Casto wrote that small business owners are steadfast, but that their incomes are 'basically being eaten away by inflationary pressures' as grim figures continue to rock financial markets.
Alignable discerned that one-third of businesses are at risk of closing if revenue does not 'ramp up' significantly in the coming months, as consumers shy away from spending amid fears of an impending recession. As to the reasons for the short funds, poll-takers blamed higher rents, the impact of more than a year of high inflation, steeper-than-usual gas prices, increases in supply chain costs, rising labor expenses and shortages, and reduced consumer spending.
Worse, about 49 percent of restaurants were unable to pay their rent this month, up from 36, in September, while an identical 49 percent of car dealership and repair shop owners defaulted on their October rent.
Chips Act Won’t Work
It doesn’t make sense for the US to invest billions of dollars to support the manufacturing of semiconductors if they have to be shipped to Asia to be completed.
Down Time Recently the provider of this Website, Typepad, moved their systems to a new datacenter. It then announced an additional maintenance period to update the system’s architecture. That ended up in a mighty screw-up. For the last days Moon of Alabama was a casualty of it. After a while the Typepad engineers recognized the problems and decided, correctly, to roll everything back to the old version. It took a while, but finally most stuff is working again. There are two maxims in Information Technology. I. Never change a running system. Unfortunately there are circumstances, like growth pain etc, where one HAS to change things. That usually ends up in trouble. Another IT maxim is: II. Never change multiple things at a time. This is where the recent Typepad screw-up happened. Multiple components of the system were changed at the same time and did not interact properly with each other. Been there, done that. Back around 1995, I was working for a large international access provider who’s systems always had growth pains. Everything was well prepared for a down time and a major update of the architecture. A short maintenance period was announced and we proceeded with it. Every element had been tested before. But unbeknown to the software engineers the network providers, those with the physical access lines, had decided to use our announced down time for a change in their systems too. The two changes collided with each other and it took more than 24 hours to even find out what had happened. The roll back, not well planned, created more of a mess. We were down for 72+ hours. We had several million customers at that time. They weren’t happy. Typepad is now back and with it all the blogs that are running on it. I am pretty sure that there are still some bugs that will have to be cleaned up over the next days. But the service has, in general, been good over the many years Moon of Alabama existed and ran on it. It is relatively cheap and relieves me of setting up and administrating my own servers. That’s why I will stick to it. For now.
The European Union (EU) got hit with a double dose of nasty reality today. When the European Union “Sanctioned” Russian natural gas, they stopped buying it and had to look elsewhere, which sent the price skyrocketing for everyone.
Then The EU decided it would impose a Price Cap on . . . RUSSIAN . . . natural gas, telling all other countries they must not pay over the price cap! Imagine the nerve of the EU trying to tell the entire world what price they MUST pay for someone ELSE’s natural gas?!?!?!
Today, Qatar told Europe it will stop sending natural gas to Europe of they try to impose a price cap on RUSSIAN fuels!
Europe is already in a massive mess over natural gas; it’s not only costing them triple or quadruple what it used to, there are actual shortages.
If Europe alienates Qatar by imposing a price cap on RUSSIAN gas, and thereby gets cut off from Qatar gas – people in Europe might freeze to death this winter for lack of natural gas. Power plants in Europe would have no fuel to generate electric. Europe would be plunged into the dark ages.
Speaking of shortages, GAZPROM announced today that, by their measurements, Ukraine has presently stored 14.6 Billion cubic meters (m3) of natural gas.
But the country needs 19 Billion m3 to get through the winter. Ukraine doesn’t have that much . . . and cannot get it, either.
So it seems at first glance, people in Ukraine, will actually end up freezing to death this winter. So much for Ukraine “winning” it’s war with Russia.
Maybe, if Ukraine surrenders now, they can settle things fast enough so that their people don’t freeze to death?
Or is noble surrender too much to ask from the Zelensky tyrants in Kiev?
.
This Is Serious! We’re Gonna Crash BIG TIME” – Robert Kiyosaki’s Last WARNING
Interesting, though he’s got a problem with communism. I suppose it’s legacy fear. But check it out.
.
https://youtu.be/E4ZDEaqYQDs
Russians Hack U.S. “DELTA Command & Control System” – Complete Ukraine Battle Plans Exposed
. The United States “DELTA” Command and Control System is the computer network that the US uses for battle operations. It is constantly updated by military planners and intelligence sources with troop deployment info, weapons stock info, and complete attack plans. Russia has HACKED it; Ukraine’s battle plans totally compromised. Equally important, the DELTA system is also constantly updated with information about the OPPOSING forces, in this case, Russia. Here is what a Russian computer Hacker got access to, with videos proving he got access, and how it is likely to be dispositive of the entire Ukraine war, in Russia’s favor.
Herman And The Bank Robbers
Enjoy. https://youtu.be/f_DDvG-yv4c
Iran Raises “Red Banner of Retaliation” Over Mosque; Saudis on High Alert
Iran has raised the Red Banner of Retaliation over the dome of Jamkaran Mosque in Qom city, which amounts to a declaration of war. What caused the raising of the Red Banner is yet to be said. The last time the Red Banner was raised was when Qassem Suleimani was assassinated in 2020. After that banner was raised, Iran fired missiles which hit a US Base in the region, injuring many US military personnel. Whatever the present issue may be, Saudi Arabia notified its US Military contacts they expect what they call an “imminent” attack against Saudi Arabia by Iran. They are not certain if the attack will be by missiles, or by Iranian Drones. US and Saudi air defenses are now on high alert.
Men in Black: A Series of Tests
Fun. https://youtu.be/qHR8IdyTO1M
New Fudan Report: US-China Chip War
From HERESecuritisation of the US’s Semiconductor Industry Policy”. Its authors are Shen Yi (沈逸) and Mo Fei (莫非). The former is a controversial professor of international politics and the director of the Centre for International Cyberspace Governance at Fudan University. With a following of almost two million on Weibo as well as regular videos and opinion pieces discussing international relations, he has become a well-known public intellectual in China. Shen has previously written about his experience of being interrogated by the FBI and having his US visa revoked back in 2018. The second author, Mo Fei, is a PhD candidate at Fudan University’s School of International Relations and Public Affairs and a research assistant at the aforementioned Centre for International Cyberspace Governance. This report appears to have been written, or at least completed, in September, in other words, prior to the US’s most recent high-tech export controls. The authors, however, were aware that “the Biden administration plans to further strengthen export controls on China in the areas of artificial intelligence and chip manufacturing, and that it was considering establishing a system within the US government that would give it the power to directly block US entities from investing in China and require information disclosure.” The following summary and excerpts should therefore be read keeping this background in mind. On a side note, I may occasionally post special editions such as this one in addition to Sinification’s weekly format if and when I feel that a particular study is noteworthy, topical and too long to share as a thread on Twitter.
Key arguments from this report:
The US is making a strategic mistake in channelling most of its energy into outdoing China in the tech sector. Semiconductors only constitute a small part of the US-China rivalry.
The US’s chip manufacturing capacity lags far behind that of East Asia. The CHIPS Act is unlikely to provide enough funding and incentives to change this.
US allies will not be willing to sacrifice their own interests for the sake of America’s.
China has the financial firepower, unrivalled capacity for government-industry coordination and absolute determination to accelerate the development of its chip industry, come what may.
On the drivers and dynamics of the US-China chip war:
“China's fundamental national strategy is to strengthen its national power, improve the standard of living of its citizens and enhance its international status through peaceful economic development. The US’s strategy towards China is to 'lock up' China's rise, curtail its international influence and increase its dependence on the US in the international system. Therefore,the essence of the strategic competition between the US and China is a struggle between economic development and domestic governance rather than a traditional hegemonic or military-security struggle.”“The US, however, has rather simplistically focused on the nature of the strategic competition between the US and China as being a 'technological battle', and then even more simplistically determined that a series of [tech-related] policies will be able to successfully block the strategic challenge posed by China in a relatively short period of time and at a relatively low cost.”“The US has [now] put anti-China national security concerns ahead of such economic interests as ‘cost’, ‘efficiency’ and ‘market’.”“Advanced semiconductors have become an outlet for the US to release its security-related anxieties about China and have been turned into a symbol … demonstrating the US’s superior strength and its gradually winning in the context of US-China rivalry. At the same time, in the absence of one single effective ‘tool’ to contain China's technological rise and as one of the very few holds the US [still] has in the economic sphere that can effectively handicap China, any action that can widen the gap between China and the US in advanced semiconductor technology will have the psychological effect of ‘easing the anxiety’ and ‘increasing the smugness’ of US policymakers. Each [US] crackdown on China's advanced semiconductor technology will release the US’s security-related anxiety about China in stages. [But] when new security-related anxieties reach a certain level, it will once again drive the US to take further restrictive measures against [the development of] China’s advanced semiconductor technology.”“At the [current] stage of the strategic stalemate between the US and China, the US can only add to the semiconductor technology embargo compulsively and frequently to demonstrate that it still has considerable coercive power and strategic advantages over China.”“But the fact is thatadvanced semiconductors only constitute a small part of the strategic competition between the US and China.”
On the difficulty for the US to rebuild a chip manufacturing base at home, gain the backing of its allies and shut out China:
“Global economic integration, the formation and consolidation of global supply chains, and China’s deep roots in the global economic system make it almost impossible for the US to replicate its Cold War strategy against the Soviet Union in its strategic competition with China.”“History repeats itself but never in exactly the same way. The United States today does not have the same strategic capabilities as it did thirty years ago, and China is now already highly integrated into both the new international division of labour and the world’s science and innovation cycle. Even in the area of semiconductors, where the US is in a position of power and China is at a disadvantage, the US is no longer in a position to [simply] remove China from the supply chain of advanced semiconductors. The inherent vulnerability of the Biden administration's chip strategy leaves room for China's semiconductor industry to break out of the US’s siege. More specifically:”
“The Biden administration's semiconductor strategy runs counter to the global semiconductor industry’s development pattern and lacks an adequate domestic semiconductor manufacturing base to support it.”
“US semiconductor manufacturing capabilities lag far behind those of East Asian countries. [This is explained by] the wave of de-industrialisation that began in the late 20th century in the US, coupled with the fact that most American IC companies have opted for a 'Fabless' operating model, focusing on design and outsourcing manufacturing.”
“The US’s heavy reliance on East Asian semiconductor production capacity exacerbates the risk of disruption to the US chip supply chain, while also increasing the US's vulnerability in the context of its strategic competition with China.”
“Now, for national security and geostrategic reasons, the US is planning to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to its shores … However, such a systemic change will be very difficult to achieve with just a single ‘chip bill’.”
“The US’s current approach has seen it use mainly federal funding to invest domestically in high-tech R&D … to train new talent and to attract foreign firms to set up factories in the US. However, … if the US wants to restructure the [current] layout of the global semiconductor industry, US$50+ billion from the federal government will clearly not be enough to solve this issue.”
“In September 2022, the Center for a New American Security released [a report] … which stated that the US CHIPS Act is designed to close the cost gap between producing chips in the US versus in East Asia, but that current financial support and related incentives were still far from sufficient to close the cost gap across the industry.”“The actual effectiveness of the CHIPS Act may differ quite significantly from the optimistic estimates (in favour of the US) that are now being made in a large number of studies; one cannot exclude a scenario in which the buzz is followed by business as usual.
“Frankly speaking, although we still need to wait for [these measures] to be put into practice … it is arguably the ‘pull’ by the end customer that will prove more important than the ‘push’ by the US government’s industrial policies. If the end-consumer market proves unwilling to pay a premium [for these high-tech products] … the Biden government's semiconductor strategy … will not be able to [fully] restructure the [current] layout of the global semiconductor industry.”
“The US’s influence within its chip alliances is not sufficient to convince its allies to follow the Biden administration's semiconductor strategy on the premise of ‘America First’ and ‘each country has to pay its own way [i.e. with no help from the US]’.”
“[In reality,] the core of the US’s semiconductor strategy, is, on the one hand, to siphon off resources from Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands and other relevant semiconductor companies to make up for the technological shortcomings in its own semiconductor manufacturing sector. On the other, to convince its allies and partners, using its position of power in the high-tech world, to stop semiconductor technology deals and manufacturing cooperation with China.”
“The Biden administration is [effectively] strengthening itself at the expense of others … thus increasing the vulnerability of the Biden administration's semiconductor strategy. In other words, US allies and partners have their own semiconductor strategies and are not willing to sacrifice their own interests in order to serve the US’s semiconductor strategy.”
“[For example,] South Korea cannot [simply] decouple from China, just for the sake of cooperating with Washington in building up the US’s [new] supply chain, without taking into account the fact that China is South Korea’s largest semiconductor market … South Korea is ambivalent about the ‘CHIP 4’ alliance currently being assembled by the US.”
“Taiwan, on the other hand, still has illusions about [the effectiveness of] its ‘Silicon Shield’ and does not want the US semiconductor industry to develop in the direction of self-sufficiency for national security reasons.”
“There are deep-rooted conflicting currents in the underlying logic of Taiwan's semiconductor strategy with the US. Politically, Taiwan is investing in US factories to curry favour with the US on geopolitical issues. Economically [however], Taiwan's semiconductor industry … does not view the US ‘chip strategy’ favourably.”“In addition to [the Netherland’s] ASML, the Biden administration has also tried to pressure Nikon, a Japanese DUV equipment manufacturer, to stop exporting such equipment to China, but the Japanese have also refused. This shows that, when it comes to the technological embargo imposed on China, although the ‘public-private’ alliance formed by the US will cooperate with the US’s strategy, there is a limit to such cooperation. This can be explained by two factors: the pull of the Chinese market and a concern for US technological hegemony [among its allies].”
On the US’s tech crackdown on China and the the medium-to-long term prospects for both the US and China:
“The specific technical details involved in the semiconductor industry are complex enough to ensure that [only] a small group of elite politicians in Washington can monopolise the content and future direction of these discussions, thereby making it easier to gain indulgence and support for their contrarian actions both at home and abroad.”“Take the latest US chip sanctions against China on 1 September as an example … The ban presents a remarkable internal paradox. It was initially intended to create additional barriers to the development of China's high-tech industry. However, it may well end up having the opposite effect. Ironically, in the medium to long term, US pressure is set to ‘force’ China's high-tech industry to develop a more solid industrial base as well as [its own] core technologies. Objectively speaking and from the US’s perspective, this will lead to [the emergence of] a more challenging, comprehensive, and thus more-difficult-to-contain, powerful adversary.”“In the short term, US tech-related policies targeting China will indeed create a window of opportunity. That is to say, a window during which China will be seeking to fix the adverse consequences caused by the US’s technology crackdown. For the US, this window will mean that the US is given more time to develop itself in a number of key and emerging technologies, including advanced manufacturing and artificial intelligence, so as to gain the upper hand over China … But such a turn of events is far from being a given. In other words, in addition to restricting technology exports to China, the US government will also need to implement effective domestic policies to support and guide its efforts in these areas. However, if we look at the US’s performance on related issues since the 1980s, the picture is not particularly promising. Of course, the recently passed CHIPS Act provides some room for imagination. However, … in terms of the type of governance capacity required to steer and organise such large-scale strategic industries, the US government is not currently in a position to provide a convincing answer to observers.”“In the short term, the most immediate and tangible effects of the Biden administration's tech-crackdown on China will be: (i) to create real obstacles for the development of related industries in China; (ii) to generate a public opinion wave of pro-US and anti-China rhetoric; and (iii) to use ‘hurting the US’s strategic rival’ as political leverage during the upcoming US mid-term elections and the presidential elections two years later.”“In terms of [economic] weight, the US economy is still the largest in the world, but its lead over the second-placed has narrowed to the point where it is within sight and able to be overtaken. The US still has an overall advantage in terms of cutting-edge technology, but this advantage does not ensure that its use will simply lead to the continued development of its strengths and consolidation of its superiority. It will [probably] not be possible for the US to maintain its overwhelming technological dominance over the rest of the world. In other words, there is a lack of certainty surrounding the US’s ability to make further technological breakthroughs. Its traditional strengths are shrinking or even [already] lost, and its toolbox lacks an obvious ‘magic bullet’ like the US’s containment strategy during the Cold War, which could simply ‘solve the problem once and for all’ vis-à-vis the US’s main strategic rival. In fact, the anxiety that is spreading in Washington's policy-making circles is constantly forcing the US government to look for, and subsequently try out, any type of tool that can produce short-term results. Thus, for policy makers at least, it is a way of justifying domestically that ‘something has already been done’ and avoiding simply looking on [helplessly] at the gradual erosion of the US’s hegemonic powers.”“The specific condition [to the US’s success] is that the target of such a weapon [export controls] must have a sufficiently weak political will to abandon its intention to develop the industry in question immediately after the US’s strike … [However,] China has both the will and an unmatched capacity for industrial policymaking to drive and guide the development of its own alternative technologies [替代性能力]. Chinese companies and industries have long since begun the production of related products but are [currently] in the uncomfortable position of being constrained by the superior and more mature products of US companies. The subtlety of US bans is that it is the US government, rather than the Chinese government, that has helped these companies to achieve the effective exclusion of their competitors from the [Chinese] market [i.e. this will, according to the authors, allow Chinese companies, in the medium-to-long term, to grow even faster and invest even more in R&D].”“In terms of China's [overall] development, the development of its technologies, the development of its industries as well as a number of other dimensions, this [i.e. pressures from the US/West] does not really constitute a [catastrophic] threat akin to ‘the sky is falling’. Objectively speaking, the discomfort caused by the bans will be the best possible impetus to stimulate and push forward the upgrading of alternative industries and technological capabilities [in China]. China's [past] experience shows that once this short-term discomfort has been overcome and alternative capabilities and industries have been developed, what will follow is a complete rewriting of the rules of the game by China by virtue of the country’s superior production capacity. The potential outcomes of such a scenario are truly exciting.”“For [Chinese] policy analysts [政策观察者], it is important to maintain a greater degree of composure, resilience and patience when dealing with US policy decisions, and to analyse more systematically the [potential] discrepancies between policy intentions, policy content and, ultimately, policy effectiveness. For the Chinese government, the more pressing issue is to build [more] effective and refined countermeasures against US [policies], while maintaining the trend of opening up to the outside world and encouraging globalisation, so that the Chinese market and the benefits gained by US companies in China can be used more fully as leverage and, when necessary, a strategic weapon in China's competition with the US. This is a crucial and necessary part of expanding and improving [our] capabilities in the context of China’s rise.”
Zhu hao (祝好), Thomas
he Hangover (2009) – Stun Gun Demonstration Scene
Comeback kid Lula in the eye of a volcano
18439 ViewsOctober 31, 2022
by Pepe Escobar, first posted at the Asia Times, and reposted with the author’s permission
Lula wins but his room for maneuver will be limited by powerful forces aligned against his Global South agenda
Luis Ignacio “Lula” da Silva may be the ultimate 21st century political comeback kid. At 77, fit and sharp, leading an alliance of 10 political parties, he has just been elected as Brazilian president for what will be a de facto third term after his first two from 2003 to 2010. Lula even staged a comeback-inside-a-comeback, during the extremely fast and tight electronic vote counting, reaching 50.9% against 49.1% to the incumbent, extreme right President Jair Bolsonaro, representing a difference of only two million votes in a country of 215 million people. Lula’s back in office on January 1, 2023. Lula’s first speech was somewhat anti-Lula; noted for his Garcia Marquez-style improvisations and folksy stream of consciousness, he read from a measured, carefully-prepared script.
Lula emphasized the defense of democracy; the fight against hunger; the drive for sustainable development with social inclusion; a “relentless fight against racism, prejudice and discrimination.” He invited international cooperation to preserve the Amazon rainforest and will fight for fair global trade, instead of trade “that condemns our country to be an eternal exporter of raw materials.” Lula, always an exceptional negotiator, managed to win against the formidable state machine apparatus unleashed by Bolsonaro, which saw the distribution of billions of dollars in vote-buying; an avalanche of fake news; outright intimidation and attempts of voter suppression against the poor by rabid Bolsonarists; and countless episodes of political violence. Lula inherits a devastated nation that, much like the US, is completely polarized. From 2003 to 2010 – he rose to power, incidentally, only two months before America’s “shock and awe” against Iraq – it was quite a different story. Lula managed to bring to the table economic prosperity, massive poverty alleviation and an array of social policies. In eight years, he created at least 15 million jobs.
Vicious political persecution ended up canceling him out of the 2018 presidential elections, paving the way for Bolsonaro – a project entertained by the hard-right Brazilian military since 2014. Collusion between Brazil’s Public Ministry and dodgy “justice” stalwarts to persecute and condemn Lula on spurious charges forced him to spend 580 days in jail as a political prisoner as notorious as Julian Assange. Lula ended up being declared not guilty in no less than 26 motions against him by a lawfare machine at the heart of the – deeply corrupt – Car Wash operation. Lula’s Sisyphean task starts now. At least 33 million Brazilians are mired in hunger. Another 115 million are fighting “food insecurity.” No less than 79% of families are hostages to high levels of personal debt. In contrast to the new “pink tide” rolling across Latin America – of which he is now the superstar – internally there’s no pink tide.
On the contrary, he will face a deeply hostile Congress and Senate and even Bolsonarist governors, including in the most powerful state of the federation, Sao Paulo, which concentrates more industrial firepower than many latitudes in the Global North.
Round up the usual suspects
The absolutely key vector is that the international financial system and the “Washington Consensus”, already controlling Bolsonaro’s agenda, have captured Lula’s administration even before it begins. Lula’s vice-president is center-right Geraldo Alckmin, who can be catapulted to power the minute that deeply hostile Congress decides to fabricate some Lula impeachment scheme. It’s not an accident that the neo-liberal The Economist magazine has already “warned” Lula to shift to the center: that is, his government must be run, in practice, by the usual financial suspects. Much will depend on who Lula appoints as his finance minister. The top candidate is Henrique Meirelles, former CEO of FleetBoston, Brazil’s second largest external creditor after CitiGroup. Meirelles has expressed unrestricted support for Lula, for whom he previously worked as central bank chief.
Meirelles is likely to prescribe the exact same economic policies as Bolsonaro’s top economic enforcer, investment banker Paulo Guedes. That happens to be exactly what Meirelles himself created during the rapacious Temer administration, which came to power after the institutional coup against President Dilma Rousseff in 2016. And now we get to the real juice. None other than US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland visited Brazil “unofficially” last April. She refused to meet Bolsonaro and praised the Brazilian electoral system (“You have one of the best in the hemisphere, in terms of reliability, in terms of transparency.” ) Afterward, Lula promised the EU a sort of “governance” of the Amazon and had to publicly condemn the Russian “special military operation” in Ukraine. All that after he had already praised Biden, in 2021, as “a breath for democracy in the world.” The “reward” for the accumulated performance was a Time magazine cover. All of the above may suggest an incoming, shady pseudo-Left government by the Workers Party – neoliberalism with a human face – infiltrated by all sorts of right-wing vectors, essentially serving the interests of Wall Street and the Democrat-controlled State Department. Key planks: acquisition of key economic assets by the usual globalist suspects, and thus no room for Brazil to exercise real sovereignty. Lula, of course, is too smart to be reduced to the role of mere hostage but his room for maneuver – internally – is extremely slim. Toxic Bolsonarism, now in the opposition, will continue to institutionally prosper dressed up as – fake – “anti-system”, especially in the Senate. Bolsonaro is a self-described “myth” created and packaged by the military, coming out in the open about a month after Dilma’s election victory that propelled her to a second term in late 2014. Bolsonaro himself and countless fanatic supporters flirted with Nazism; unabashedly praised known torturers during the Brazilian military dictatorship; and milked serious fascist leanings lurking in Brazilian society. Bolsonarism is even more insidious because this is a military-concocted movement subservient to hardcore neoliberal globalist elites and comprised of evangelicals and agribusiness tycoons while posing as “anti-globalist.” No wonder the virus contaminated literally half of a dazed and confused nation.
Old China hand
Externally, Lula will play a whole different ball game. Lula is one of the founders of the BRICS in 2006, which evolved out of the Russia-China dialogue. He’s immensely respected by the leaders of the Russia-China strategic partnership, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. He has promised to serve only one term, or up to the end of 2026. But that’s exactly the key stretch in the eye of the volcano, straddling the decade Putin described in his Valdai speech as the most dangerous and important since World War II. The drive towards a multipolar world, institutionally represented by a congregation of bodies from BRICS+ to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to the Eurasia Economic Union, will profit immensely to have Lula on board as arguably the natural leader of the Global South – with a track record to match. Of course, his immediate foreign policy focus will be South America: he already announced that will be the destination of his first presidential visit, most probably Argentina, which is bound to join BRICS+. Then he will visit Washington. He has to. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Informed opinion across the Global South is very much aware that it’s under Obama-Biden that the whole, complex operation to topple Dilma and expel Lula from politics was orchestrated. Brazil will be a lame duck at the upcoming G20 in Bali in mid-November but in 2023 Lula will be back in business side-by-side with Putin and Xi. And that also applies to the next BRICS summit in South Africa, which will consolidate BRICS+, as an array of nations are itching to join, from Argentina and Saudi Arabia to Iran and Turkey. And then there’s the Brazil-China nexus. Brasilia has been Beijing’s key trade partner in Latin America since 2009, absorbing roughly half of China’s investment in the region (and the most of any Latin American investment destination in 2021) and firmly placed as the fifth largest exporter of crude for the Chinese market, second for iron and first for soybeans. The precedents tell the story. Right from the start, in 2003, Lula bet on a strategic partnership with China. He considered his first trip to Beijing in 2004 as his top foreign policy priority. The goodwill in Beijing is unshakeable: Lula is considered an old friend by China – and that political capital will open virtually every red door. In practice, that will mean Lula investing his considerable global clout in strengthening BRICS+ (he already stated BRICS will be at the center of his foreign policy) and the inner workings of South-South geopolitical and geo-economic cooperation. That may even include Lula formally signing up Brazil as a partner of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in a way that won’t antagonize the US. Lula, after all, is a master of this craft. Finding a path in the eye of the volcano, internally and externally, will be the definitive political challenge for the comeback kid. Lula has been written off countless times, so underestimating him is a bad bet. Even before starting his third term, he has already performed a major feat: to emancipate a majority of Brazilians from mental slavery. All eyes will be on what the Brazilian military – and its foreign handlers – really want. They have embarked on a very long-term project, control most levers in the power structure, and simply won’t give up. And so the odds may be stacked against an aging neo-Ulysses from northeast Brazil reaching his Ithaca ideal of a fair and sovereign land.
YOU HAVE 6 DAYS LEFT!! ARE YOU READY? | Patrick Humphrey
Really? In six days, eh? It is pretty weird that a Walmart Distribution Center in South Carolina, US. Is usually really busy this time of year. They have not hired anyone in months now. With it being seasonal time also, that is so strange to me!! Also the ones that are working there, are getting NO hours. This has been going on for months, since February. No departments are working full shifts. Check out the video and then monitor the prices at your local grocery store. Let’s watch the clown-show together. https://youtu.be/SXCtROaU-AE
Brandon’s “Usable Nukes” Are the Fast-Track to Jopocalypse
“The Biden administration’s Nuclear Posture Review is, at heart, a terrifying document. It not only keeps the world on a path of increasing nuclear risk, in many ways it increases that risk.
Citing rising threats from Russia and China, it argues that the only viable U.S. response is to rebuild the entire U.S. nuclear arsenal, maintain an array of dangerous Cold War-era nuclear policies, and threaten the first use of nuclear weapons in a variety of scenarios.” Stephen Young, Union of Concerned Scientists
Maybe you’re one of the millions of people who think the US would never use its nuclear weapons unless the threat of a nuclear attack was imminent.
Well, you’d be wrong, because according to the recently-released Nuclear Posture Review, the bar for using nukes has been significantly lowered. The new standard reads like this: (nukes can be used) “in extreme circumstances to defend the vital interests of the United States or its allies and partners.”“
Defend the vital interests of the United States or its allies”??
That’s a pretty broad net, isn’t it? That could include anything from a serious threat to national security to an ordinary economic competitor. And that loosy-goosy definition appears to be just what the authors were looking for. The hardliners wanted to fundamentally change US nuclear doctrine so the conditions under which nukes could be used was greatly expanded.
The obvious objective of this dramatic policy-shift is to eliminate any obstacle to the free and unfettered use of nuclear weapons. Which is precisely what the neocons have always wanted; a green light to Armageddon.
Now they got what they wanted. Here are a few of the changes in policy that suggest that a full-blown nuclear war is no longer a remote possibility, but an increasingly likely prospect.
1– First-Strike Use: Biden refuses to rule out first-strike use of US nuclear weapons …in reversal of his campaign promise. This is from The Daily Mail:
“… on the campaign trail, Biden had vowed to switch to a ‘sole purpose’ doctrine, which maintains that the US would only use nuclear weapons to respond to another nation’s nuclear attack….
President Joe Biden is abandoning a campaign vow to alter longstanding US nuclear doctrine, and will instead embrace existing policy that reserves America’s right to use nukes in a first-strike scenario, according to multiple reports.” (Daily Mail)
2– Nuclear Escalation: The Biden team has accelerated the deployment of modernized U.S. B61 tactical nuclear weapons to NATO bases in Europe. (The B61-12 carries a lower yield nuclear warhead than earlier versions but is more accurate and can penetrate below ground.) This is from Reuters:
Russia said on Saturday that the accelerated deployment of modernised U.S. B61 tactical nuclear weapons at NATO bases in Europe would lower the “nuclear threshold” and that Russia would take the move into account in its military planning.
Amid the Ukraine crisis, Politico reported on Oct. 26 that the United States told a closed NATO meeting this month that it would accelerate the deployment of a modernised version of the B61, the B61-12, with the new weapons arriving at European bases in December, several months earlier than planned.
“We cannot ignore the plans to modernize nuclear weapons, those free-fall bombs that are in Europe,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told state RIA news agency. (Reuters)
3– ‘Tactical’ means ‘Usable’: Biden’s new regime of low-yield nukes (which can still blow up a city the size of New York.) are called “tactical” weapons because they are designed for use on the battlefield, which is to say, Biden no longer limits the use of nukes for national defense but also supports their use in conventional wars. (like Ukraine?) This is from Aljazeera:
“Tactical nuclear warheads were created to give military commanders more flexibility on the battlefield. In the mid-1950s, as more powerful thermonuclear bombs were being built and tested, military planners thought smaller weapons with a shorter range would be more useful in ‘tactical’ situations,” according to Al Jazeera’s defence analyst Alex Gatopoulos. (Aljazeera)
4– Fasttrack to Nuclear War: Biden’s New Euro-Nukes have lowered the threshold for nuclear war. This is from MSN: Russia said on Saturday that the accelerated deployment of modernized US B61 tactical nuclear weapons at NATO bases in Europe would lower the “nuclear threshold” and that Russia would take the move into account in its military planning…
“The United States is modernizing them, increasing their accuracy and reducing the power of the nuclear charge, that is, they turn these weapons into ‘battlefield weapons’, thereby reducing the nuclear threshold,” Grushko said….
… Russia’s ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, said on Saturday on Telegram that the new B61 bombs had a “strategic significance” as Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons were in storage, yet these U.S. bombs would be just a short flight from Russia’s borders.
“We cannot ignore the plans to modernize nuclear weapons, those free-fall bombs that are in Europe,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told state RIA news agency. (MSM) 5– Increasing the Reasons for using Nukes: The Nuclear Posture Review abandons Biden’s promise to ensure that US nuclear weapons would be used for the “sole purpose” of deterring or responding to a nuclear attack. Instead, the NPR states that the US will consider the use of nuclear weapons “in extreme circumstances to defend the vital interests of the United States or its allies and partners.”
Sole purpose could significantly reduce the risk of unintended escalation and increase the credibility of more flexible and realistic nonnuclear response options in a range of importance contingencies.” (Federation of American Scientists)
6– More Escalation: The US now reserves the right to use its nukes against non-nuclear weapon countries. This is from an article at Bloomberg News: The Pentagon’s new National Defense Strategy rejected limits on using nuclear weapons long championed by arms control advocates and in the past by President Joe Biden.
Citing burgeoning threats from China and Russia, the Defense Department said in the document released Thursday that “by the 2030s the United States will, for the first time in its history face two major nuclear powers as strategic competitors and potential adversaries.” In response, the US will “maintain a very high bar for nuclear employment” without ruling out using the weapons in retaliation to a non-nuclear strategic threat to the homeland, US forces abroad or allies.” (“Pentagon’s Strategy Won’t Rule Out Nuclear Use Against Non-Nuclear Threats”, Bloomberg) Here’s more from an article at the World Socialist Web Site:
In the Defense Department briefing, this point is elaborated. The NPR, a department official stated, “establishes a strategy that relies on nuclear weapons to deter all forms of strategic attack. This includes nuclear employment of any scale, and it includes high-consequence attacks of a strategic nature that use non-nuclear means.”
The publication of the document was rapidly condemned by arms control experts. “The Biden administration’s unclassified Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) is, at heart, a terrifying document,” wrote the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).
“It not only keeps the world on a path of increasing nuclear risk, in many ways it increases that risk,” the UCS argued, by claiming that “the only viable U.S. response is to rebuild the entire U.S. nuclear arsenal, maintain an array of dangerous Cold War-era nuclear policies, and threaten the first use of nuclear weapons in a variety of scenarios.”…
This marks a significant development from Trump’s 2018 National Defense Strategy, which largely referred to the use of military force to secure economic interests in the negative—asserting that it was China that was doing so. While this was the clear implication of the 2018 document, the definition of “national interests” advanced by the Pentagon’s 2022 document to include “economic prosperity” constitutes an even more open step toward advocating the doctrine that war is an acceptable means to secure economic aims.
A section of the 2022 National Defense Strategy:
These documents, which were not seriously discussed in the US media, make clear the fundamental falsehood that the massive US military buildup this year is a response to “Russian aggression.” In reality, in the thinking of the White House and Pentagon war planners, the massive increases in military spending and plans for war with China are created by “dramatic changes in geopolitics, technology, economics, and our environment.”
These documents make clear that the United States sees the economic rise of China as an existential threat, to be responded to with the threat of military force. The United States sees the subjugation of Russia as a critical stepping stone toward the conflict with China.” (“Pentagon national strategy document targets China”, Andre Damon, World Socialist Web Site) he White House, the Pentagon and the entire US foreign policy establishment now march in lockstep behind the most fanatically-lethal defense policy in the nation’s 246-year history. The National Defense Strategy, the Nuclear Posture Review and the National Security Strategy all embrace the same reckless warmongering policy that will inevitably lead to mass annihilation and civilizational collapse. The doves and critical thinkers have all been removed from the foreign policy apparatus while the madmen and warhawks drag the world inexorably towards catastrophe. God help us.
Prussian Major General Carl von Clausewitz famously drew on his own experience in the Napoleonic Wars to examine war as a political phenomenon. In his 1832 book “On War” he provided a frequently quoted pithy summary of war versus peace, writing in terms of politico-military strategy that “War is a mere continuation of politics by other means.” In other words, war-making is a tool provided to statesmen to achieve a nation’s political objectives when all else fails. One can reject the ultimate amorality of Clausewitz’s thinking about war while also recognizing that some nations have historically speaking exploited war-making as a tool for physical expansion and the appropriation of foreigners’ resources. As far back as the Roman Republic, the country’s elected leaders doubled as heads of its consular armies, which were expected to go out each spring to expand the imperium. More recently, Britain notably engaged in almost constant colonial wars over the course of centuries to establish what was to become history’s largest empire. America’s dominant neocons characteristically believe they have inherited the mantle of empire and of the war powers that go hand-in-hand with that attribute, but they have avoided other aspects of the transition in turning the United States into a nation made and empowered by war. First of all, what comes out the other end after one has initiated hostilities with another country is unpredictable. Starting with Korea and continuing with Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq as well as other minor operations in Latin America, Africa and Asia, American war-making has brought nothing but grief on those on the receiving end with little positive to show for the death, destruction and accumulated debt. Also forgotten in the rush to use force is the raison d’etre to have a federal national government at all, which is to bring tangible benefit to the American people. There has been none of that since 9/11 and even before, while Washington’s hard-line stance on what has become a proxy war against Russia over Ukraine promises more pain – perhaps disastrously so – and no real gain. If one has any doubt that going to war has become the principal function of both Democrats and Republicans in Washington, it is only necessary to consider several stories that have appeared in the past several weeks. The first comes from the Republican side, and it includes a possibly positive development. House Minority leader Republican Kevin McCarthy warned two weeks ago that the GOP will not necessarily continue to write a “blank check” for Ukraine if they obtain the House majority in next month’s election, reflecting his party’s growing skepticism about unlimited financial support for the corrupt regime in place in Kiev. McCarthy explained “I think people are gonna be sitting in a recession and they’re not going to write a blank check to Ukraine. They just won’t do it. … It’s not a free blank check.” America’s uncritical support for Ukraine, which has been a contrivance by the White House and media since the fighting started, has led to a growing number of Republicans, particularly some of those aligned with Donald Trump’s “America First” approach, to challenge the need for massive federal spending abroad at a time of record-high inflation at home. Since Russia launched its invasion in February, Congress has approved tens of billions in emergency security and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine, while the Biden administration has shipped billions more worth of weapons and equipment from military inventories, all done with only limited or even no oversight of where the money and weapons are winding up. But, unfortunately, the GOP is far from unified on its approach to Ukraine-Russia. Congressman Liz Cheney demonstrated that her apple did not fall far from her father’s tree, taking some time off from trying to hang Donald Trump to denounce what she refers to as the “Putin wing of the Republican Party.” She put it this way: “You know, the Republican Party is the party of Reagan, the party that essentially won the Cold War. And you look now at what I think is really a growing Putin wing of the Republican Party.” Cheney criticized Fox News for “running propaganda” on the issue and in particular called out Fox host Tucker Carlson as “the biggest propagandist for Putin on that network… You really have to ask yourself, whose side is Fox on in this battle? And how could it be that you have a wing of the Republican Party that thinks that America would be standing with Putin as he conducts that brutal invasion of Ukraine?” Cheney notably did not address the issue of how the war developed in the first place because the US and UK preferred saber rattling to diplomacy with Moscow. Or why the United States feels compelled to tip-toe to the brink of a possible nuclear war over a foreign policy issue that is of no real national interest to the American people. And where did she make her comments? At the McCain Institute in Arizona. Yes, that’s a legacy of Senator John McCain another Republican who never saw a war he couldn’t enthusiastically support. Both President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi have confirmed that the US is in with Ukraine until “victory” is obtained, whatever that is supposed to mean, while other Administration officials have indicated that the actual purpose of the fighting is to weaken Russia and remove President Putin. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre glibly spouted the party line when asked about McCarthy’s comments. She thanked congressional leaders for bipartisan work to “support Ukraine to defend itself from Russia’s war crimes and atrocities,” adding that “We will continue to work with Congress and continue to monitor those conversations on these efforts and support Ukraine as long as it takes. We are going to keep that promise that we’re making to the brave Ukrainians who are fighting every day, to fight for their freedom and their democracy.” Perhaps more bizarre than Cheney’s comments is the tale of a letter that was prepared by thirty Democratic Party progressives urging US support for negotiations to end the fighting in Ukraine. The letter was prepared in June but not released until last week before being quickly retracted under pressure on the following day. Pramila Jayapal, who heads the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said it was retracted because it “was being conflated with [the] comments” made by McCarthy over his warning about budget cutting for Ukraine. Jayapal referred to the letter as a “distraction,” but what she really meant was that her group had no desire to make common cause with the Republicans over any issue, including war and peace in an escalating conflict that is manifestly pointless. A clueless Jayapal also took pains to contradict the message put out by her own group, emphasizing that there has been no opposition to the administration’s Ukraine policy from Democrats in Congress. She said Democrats “have strongly and unanimously supported and voted for every package of military, strategic, and economic assistance to the Ukrainian people.” She doubled down on the White House message, affirming that the war in Ukraine will only end with diplomacy after “a Ukrainian victory.” So basically, anyone talking sense about Ukraine in Washington is being shut down by forces within the political parties themselves working together with a compliant national media that is mis-representing everything that is taking place on the ground. It is a formula for tragedy as the Biden administration has shown no sign of seeking diplomacy with Russia to end the conflict despite the president’s recent surprising warning that the world is now facing the highest risk of nuclear “Armageddon,” which he, of course, blames on Putin. Given all of that, in my humble opinion a government that is unable or unwilling to take reasonable steps to protect its own citizens while also avoiding a possible nuclear catastrophe that could end up engulfing the entire world is fundamentally evil and has lost all legitimacy. It should recognize that fact before submitting its resignation.
The Twilight Zone – A Most Unusual Camera (clip)
Why does CCP tell their citizens they “will not be enslaved by foreigners” when no foreign nation is interested in doing that?
To the Chinese, it brings back very bad memories to see Western powers sending fleets to China’s coasts, forming alliances against China, working closely with a brutally Sinophobic Japan, speaking of the breakup of China into Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, etc., tolerating racist attacks on Chinese immigrants, trying to embargo China and cut off its access to markets and resources, speaking of the desire to overthrow China’s government (e.g. far-right scumbag Arkansas senator Tom Cotton and scumbag British diplomat Roger Garside, author of China Coup), vilifying and barbarizing China’s culture, political system, history, and even regional cuisines, and proclaiming the superiority of Western belief systems.
Anyone who doesn’t understand why should really just exit any discussion of China because they don’t know anything about China’s history over the past 200 years. All of this is extremely familiar to the Chinese. In fact, it makes up most of China’s historical experience with the West. Major Western (British) diplomats visited China for the first time in 1793. Most of the 200 years after that were quite a miserable time for all Chinese.
This is why the CPC has always refused to restore or reconstruct the Old Summer Palace (Yuanming Yuan) in Beijing, which was once world-famous, breathtakingly beautiful and something like China’s Pyramids or Hanging Gardens. It was looted and destroyed by the French and British in 1860, and today 47 Western museums exhibit and profit from its treasures. This is all that’s left of the Old Summer Palace, and it’s a depressing sight in the capital city of the world’s second-richest nation; but the dilapidated ruins are a reminder to new generations.
Can you imagine that these charred pillars and scattered stones mark the spot where the emperors of China once lived and governed for 125 years? Not in ancient times, but from 1735 to 1860.
I think the average patriotic Chinese is thinking, You did all of this before, and we were weak and you won. You really want to do this again? Well this time, we’re just as big as you are.
The story of the Old Summer Palace increases the kinship I feel with China as an Egyptian, because my country’s stolen treasures also fill Western museums from Boston to Berlin.
The West has always seen non-Western peoples more of less as barbarians, but I don’t think barbarians are people who practise polygamy, eat dog meat, worship idols, have no written language, or are ruled by an emperor instead of a parliament. Barbarians are people who have to brutalize and plunder every corner of the earth they ever go, simply because they can.
What kind of people make you ashamed to be a human being?
These absolute sacks of shit.
This is the Westboro Baptist Church. A Baptist church based in Topeka, Kansas. Every day, WBC pickets approximately six locations. They claim to have picketed in all 50 states. What kind of events do they picket? Any events that don’t align with their homophobic, transphobic, anti-Catholic, anti-Orthodox, anti-atheist, Islamophobic, antisemitic, antiziganist, and anti-American views. Organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League have accused them of brainwashing, and the church is often heavily criticized for resembling a cult (which it completely is). Some notable events that they picketed are:
Hundreds, possibly even thousands, of military funerals.
The funeral of Michael Jackson.
The funeral of Ronnie James Dio.
The funeral of Christina Green, a 9 year old victim of the 2011 Tucson Shooting. Luckily, they were unsuccessful because the Arizona legislature passed an emergency bill banning protesters within 300 ft of the memorial.
On October 5, 2011, Margie Phelps (daughter of the church’s founder) tweeted from her iPhone that the church would be picketing Steve Jobs’ funeral. Read that again. She used an iPhone to tell the world that they were going to protest STEVE JOBS’ funeral.
They tried to picket Leonard Nimoy’s funeral, but they couldn’t find it.
They picketed the funerals of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting.
They picketed the funerals of the Orlando nightclub shooting.
They protested the National Holocaust Museum, stating that the Jews are the real Nazis.
They also picketed the 9/11 memorials, with signs that said “Thank God for 9/11,” yet they also demanded that “teh gayz” be punished for causing 9/11.
These slippery little shits use every loophole in the book (or rather, the constitution) to ensure that they can continue their heinous activities.
These parasitic barrels of monkey nuts make me ashamed to not only be American, but a human being. I find some comfort in the parody of the church that was featured in Kingsman: The Secret Service.
Oh NO! This is BIGGER than the Snowden leaks, much bigger
This is pretty important. Really. Please watch this video. https://youtu.be/6lSLks0XaAY
They Won’t Be Able To Deny The Cold, Hard Reality Of What Is Happening To The U.S. Economy Much Longer
by Michael They are trying really hard to convince all of us that everything is just fine. But close to one-fifth of the U.S. population is skipping meals because food prices are too high. And nearly 40 percent of our small businesses couldn’t pay rent in October. Our leaders are trying to put a positive spin on things, but the truth is that we are witnessing a tremendous amount of economic suffering all over the United States right now. The core consumer price index just surged to “the highest level since 1982”, and this is putting an enormous amount of financial stress on American families and businesses. This week, I was stunned to learn that a survey that was just released found that 37 percent of all small businesses in the United States could not pay rent last month…
The survey of 4,789 randomly selected small business owners saw more than half of respondents say their rent is at least 10 percent higher than six months ago.If you go back seven months, the majority said their rents had increased by at least 20 percent.Moreover, the study found that roughly 37 percent of small businesses – almost half of all Americans working in the private sector – were left unable to pay rent in October.
Prior to getting this news, if someone had asked me to guess the percentage of small businesses that are currently unable to pay rent, I would have responded with a figure that was far lower. So often, things turn out to be even worse than I thought they were. If those small businesses continue to be unable to pay rent, they will eventually be forced to shut down. So what will our communities look like if millions of small businesses suddenly close up shop on a permanent basis? Meanwhile, a different survey has discovered that 18 percent of Americans are now skipping meals because food prices have become so crazy…
Over the last 12 months, nearly two in five American households (40%) received food or goods from a food bank (22% for Millennials), and the same amount (17%) stopped buying healthier foods (organic or high-priced healthy foods).Nearly one in five Americans (18%) say they skipped meals or didn’t buy groceries due to high inflation (including 28% of Gen Z and 23% of millennials).
Skipping meals can be a positive thing, because fasting is actually really good for your health. But most of these Americans are not skipping meals for the health benefits. In addition, the same survey found that many Americans are not taking medications or seeing their doctors because prices have gone up so much…
Many have cancelled or postponed plans in the past 12 months to see a specialist (14%), take a prescribed medication (10%) or get an annual physical (11%) due to high inflation.
If things are this bad already, what will those numbers look like next year at this time when economic conditions are significantly worse? The American people are going to become increasingly frustrated as our standard of living continues to plunge. All of us have to eat, and so many of the products that so many of us buy on a regular basis have gone up dramatically in price…
A year ago, a bag of potato chips at the grocery store cost an average of $5.05. These days, that bag costs $6.05. A dozen eggs that could have been picked up for $1.83 now average $2.90. A two-liter bottle of soda that cost $1.78 will now set you back $2.17.
Sadly, this is just the beginning. Even though the Federal Reserve has declared war on inflation, food prices are going to continue to rise for a variety of reasons. And as the cost of living keeps becoming more oppressive, more American families are going to struggle to make it from month to month. Even now, nearly two-thirds of the entire country is currently living paycheck to paycheck…
As rising prices continue to outpace wage gains, families are finding less cushion in their monthly budget.As of September, 63% of Americans were living paycheck to paycheck, according to a recent LendingClub report — near the 64% historic high hit in March. A year ago, the number of adults who felt strained was closer to 57%.“Consumers are not able to keep up with the pace that inflation is increasing,” said Anuj Nayar, LendingClub’s financial health officer.
The worse things get, the more we will see people clamoring for the federal government to help them. In fact, one recent survey actually discovered that 63 percent of all U.S. voters are in favor of “inflation stimulus payments”…
A recent poll found that almost two-thirds of Americans are proponents of the federal government sending out inflation stimulus payments.About 63% of eligible U.S. voters expressed some degree of support for federal inflation relief checks being distributed, the Newsweek poll conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies showed. Of those who agreed the federal government should do so, 42% indicated they “strongly agree” while 21% said “agree,” according to the poll.
Sadly, most voters don’t seem to understand that sending out more stimulus checks would create even more inflation. There is always a cost when the government gives out “free money”. If our politicians would have exercised discipline over the past several years, we would not be in the mess that we are in today. But now years of very bad decisions are catching up with us in a major way, and economic conditions are rapidly deteriorating. At this point, the vast majority of the U.S. population can see this. According to one recent Gallup survey, a whopping two-thirds of all Americans believe that economic conditions in this nation are getting worse. So many people are talking about the possibility of a recession in 2023. If all we have is a recession next year, we would be extremely fortunate. Because right now the economy is starting to crack and crumble all around us, and the outlook for the months ahead is exceedingly bleak indeed. .
What are some unwritten social rules everyone should know?
1. 1+1 = 3 if you don’t use the condom.
2. Alcohol increase size of the “SEND” button by 89%.
3. Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
4. Sometimes we create our own heartbreaks through expectations.
5. Life is too short to be with the wrong person.
6. Just because you love them, it doesn’t mean they’re right for you.
7. Feelings that come back are feelings that never left.
The following is a series of articles describing the adventure that a follower who goes by the handle "ANONYMOUS" has experienced since reading MM. They are very interesting and fascinating. I hope that you all learn from his journey and maybe learn a thing or two as he relates his unique experiences to the readership here.
A quick note. When I first posted this article I confused two contributors. This caused me some headaches and all should be resolved by now.
-MM
Preamble
MM,
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Seeing you suffer under DOS and database attack and the drop in visitations has really effected me as well, so I wanted to send you a big, heartfelt intention-bump. Without any exaggeration, your website has completely and irrevocably changed my entire life. My general way of living, mentality, and many other aspects have changed forever.
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The tale here is odd to say the least.
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Your blog basically “unlocked” me in January of this year, and prompted a very bizarre, incredibly frightening, but ultimately useful transformation including the unlocking of a number of new “abilities” which still has me totally stunned.
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I was waiting for this moment…..
How it all started
I am a middle aged man in Canada.
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During some unrelated web surfing in September of 2020, I was directed to one of your SHTF articles which was referred to on Reddit.
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As someone very prep-oriented, nothing you wrote there shocked me at all, but I enjoyed your style, grit and honesty.
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I had no idea at the time you had other experiences elsewhere, but upon return (to the MM site) I discovered your MAJ and all over documents, not to mention other hosted works in Bibliotech etc.
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As a quick backgrounder on me, I am a Spectrum-learner, with virtually no subject that I do not enjoy knowing more about, but with a huge focus on Science, ExoBiology, Planetary Sciences, Astronomy, Physics, Botany, and many more.
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But I am also a musician, artist, and I’ve worked as a professional Sous Chef before, so food is a huge thing for me.
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For what its worth, I brew my own beer, grow my own food, and so on. Where I live, I am very unusual.
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My professional background includes banking, high tech security and surveillance, and other technology related elements. I have also run my own business twice, and taken a company to the stock market here publicly. I understand computers, networks, and so on.
The Change
Before discovering you I was agnostic. One of those extremely skeptical types who values everything based on return on investment….. a “show me” kind of guy.
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This doesn’t mean I was closed. Dear Lord, no, I am voracious in learning and understanding in anything I can, and ET/UFOLOGY etc was all part of my general interest.
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For the record, I never believed we were “alone” and since I was 9 years old I took it for granted we would discover countless worlds and meet/interact with countless entities. Much of my childhood was spiritual, but that can be saved for another time.
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Sept 2020 I began reading your material, alongside my reading at the time which included Roger Penrose / Hawking but as well as a number of UFO related channeling websites and other such material.
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Nonetheless I kept coming back to MM over and over again.
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Something in the back of my mind started what I can only describe as a “rising agitation” as I consumed your material.
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I got the distinct impression I was being watched, and I hope that doesn’t sound too nuts, but it grew over time.
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As I continued reading the material, I became very very focused upon it, studying the Base 8 Number system, Functional Diagrams, Comments on Brown Dwarfs etc. It was like I had imagined a website built just for me, by you! Every article was incredible!
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But what started my experience was the growing realization that multidimensionally we were indeed being watched, every single moment of every day.
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I had a very frightening “oh shit!” moment when I finally accepted what I was learning.
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Studying Quantum Physics and other related topics for 20 years brought me to this one moment.
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I can tell you it was personally very shocking to realize everything I had ever done, every thought, every action, every Sin, every Rufus moment, was known. Also, I felt pretty stupid for not coming to this knowing earlier.
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Then something very dramatic happened, and I hope you can both understand and possibly shed light.
The Event
During a five-day period in January of 2021 I was really pushing hard to continue to read as much as possible from your site while maintaining my busy corporate life.
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Each day, I felt a rising wave of energy in me, like waves of “chills” beginning from the bottom of my feet and rising up my spine, spreading like energetic wings left and right, and then culminating in my head/crown.
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Keep in mind, I had very limited esoteric/spiritual background. I had no idea this was leading somewhere…..
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Each day the sensation grew, but it got weirder.
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Suddenly, and without any prompting or training, I had a very serious interest suddenly in sitting down on the ground, and breathing by inhaling through my nose (tongue on roof of mouth) and then exhaling as I digested your materials and revelations.
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I would pray in place (keep in mind I had prayed ZERO times for my entire life prior), and consider my own errors and successes as well as the nature of consciousness, the soul, etc.
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During this breathing, the energy would increase.
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Whilst my eyes were closed, I started to see what seemed to be a “field” of dimensionality I hadn’t seen, which was lit up. Then, shimmering light from the top of my field of view (with eyes closed).
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By the third day, I was sleeping less and less and less and reading more and more and more.
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Also, during my circular breathing moments, I started to notice all of my hair would stand on end, and massive goosebumps would show up along the entire length of my body.
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I felt pressure at the top of my head in the shape of a torus, and then soon, the sensation of a DOT roaming around on my forehead, then “fixing” in place between my eyes.
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Another sensation was at the exact center of the top of my skull, like a “pulling” upwards from my body to somewhere above me, so to speak.
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On the fifth day, I had slept less than 3 hours, and was meditating, breathing and praying a LOT. Yet, for whatever reason, even though this was totally bizarre and unprecedented behavior, I felt bliss.
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On that day, I mentally said the words “God I know believe in you, and I want to Serve Others”.
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I knew personally, that being a mixed Sentience was NOT what I was, and not the man I knew I could be.
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MM, this was nuts. I was pulled to the tips of my toes and what felt like lightning ripped through my body. The feeling was akin to a bizarre ecstasy and I knew I was a different person.
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I said “thank you” out loud.
Follow though…
During my intense meditations afterwards I began projecting block letters in my mind, and i didn’t know why, but they had themes like “Unity” “Peace” “Co-Operate” “UNITY MIND to MIND” and other ideas.
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But it got even crazier.
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I started seeing visions in my mind of our civilization in the future, and I knew it was 500 years from now approx, but I didn’t know how I knew.
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In it I saw thousands and thousands of people gathering, as I hovered over the landscape watching them assemble. These people assembled first in one triangle, and then another overlapping triangle. The Double-Tetrahedron Star of David.
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In the middle of the grouping there were elders or seers with hands outstretched. Then the entire crowd (tens of thousands of people) began to sing in a way I’ve never heard.
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Now please don’t think I am certifiable but for some reason I could sense why this was being done.
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It was a massive prayer and intention ritual used to bring Earth to a Zero-Point in a different pocket universe to allow for planetary healing and a reset as humanity began to graduate into STO Sentience and Sovereignty.
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We were growing up…..finally.
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There is so much more insane detail here I can barely begin, but it included Psychic Colleges, Parent-Child classes from birth and all kinds of incredible outcomes from this new Way. It was very detailed and incredibly inspirational….
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…and alien.
End of part 1
Pretty exciting? Right? Well this is one man's experience. And everyone will have their own personal experience that will be just as profound and just as amazing. From seeing faeries to breathless communication with cherished pets, to mind-boggling breakthroughs in understandings and realizations. It's all the same thing. - MM
What to expect in future articles…
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…an encounter with an Entity and a terrifying “debate” where I was mentally crushed by this entity. Afterwards, and to this very moment, I have the ability to pull “source/prana/energy/whatever” at will, and this seems to have a massive impact on my prayers and intentions.
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In other words, I am starting to see very noticeable manifestations.
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I have also seen many many different shapes, diagrams (which I can interact with sort of), and other images in my meditative mind.
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The synchronicities in my life are off the chart, sometimes 8 to 10 jaw dropping events in a single day. Its like living in my own Movie now, and its a trip.
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My entire life has changed. I mediate often and pray often. I am single for the first time in decades and without a solid footing.
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The MM website is a touchstone for sanity. I am becoming the Rufus……slowly. I will say, that changing ones Sentience from Mixed (which I absolutely was) to STO is the hardest and most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. Ever.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.