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.
On a work trip to Sydney Australia, I went out with a chick from an aligned company. We went to a rotating restaurant located in downtown Sydney. It was at the top of one of the skyscrapers there, and it had a rotating floor so that you can get a slowly moving 360 degree expansive view of the beautiful night skyline.
She wore a short little black dress. She was petite. And she looked great in that little black dress. It was plain, but there’s something about a little black dress that really looks great. On all women.
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It was fun, and I well remember the Beef Wellington that I ate. Delicious and fantastic. It was the first time that I ever had that dish, and it was so very, very delicious.
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Anyways, my date had left her purse on one of the windows ledges, and after a while we both noticed that the purse was missing. And so, I laughingly walked around the restaurant searching for the purse. Oh, yeah. I certainly found it. But it was fine. And my date. Ah she was fine as well.
Not a great story for today. But a pretty girl, in a downtown restaurant with a fantastic sky-view and a delicious steak was and still is, a memory that is valuable to me.
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Make those memories guys and girls.
Life is about experiences.
Make them matter.
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Today…
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What scares the U.S. elites about China?
During the Russia-Ukraine war, the United States frantically plundered European interests in Europe. Do Europeans hate the United States? They really don’t hate the United States!
This is because the “rules-based international order” promoted by the United States is supposed to be a jungle world of the weak and the strong, as it has been in the Western world for thousands of years.
Europe is weaker than the US.
Europe, being weak, was supposed to serve as food for the United States. Therefore, European countries believe that the United States is doing the right thing, and if they were stronger than the United States, they would do the same.
US Secretary of State Lincoln said “If you’re not at the table in the international system, you’re going to be on the menu”. This represents the general mindset of the American elite.
The Chinese government has emphasized countless times that “China will not be hegemonic even if it becomes powerful”, but Europeans and Americans do not believe it at all, and they think that the Chinese government are very hypocritical and hide their true thoughts.
This is the same as what the Australians said, “If you are stronger than me, but you don’t come to plunder me, aren’t you an idiot?”
They believe it is right and normal for China to plunder and trample on them after it becomes strong, just as they did to China when they formed the Eight-Nation Alliance.
Europeans and Americans have been lied to by their governments since they were children, so they inherently don’t trust what their governments say, and they don’t trust that the Chinese government will practice what it preaches.
It is interesting to note that at the beginning of the 21st century, China, the United States, Russia, Japan, and India announced their space programs to the world, and only China realized all of them step by step.
Have you ever seen any country from the Eight-Nation Alliance apologize to China? No! except for the Soviet Union and East Germany, which apologized to China because they were once part of the socialist camp, the rest of the European and American countries thought it was natural and normal.
They even refused to return the treasures they had stolen from China.
In the discourse system set by the West, Nazi Germany and the Japanese Empire, the culprits of World War II, are now kind, wealthy, and democratic countries, while China, the victim of World War II, is a evil, poor and bad country.
Look! The robber has become a gentleman, and the victim has become a thug.
They never mention how the wealth of Germany, Japan, Europe and the United States was obtained?
The British Empire stole $45 trillion from India and the Japanese Empire stole $10 trillion worth of gold from China. Did they say they would compensate?
By the same logic, Africa is portrayed as poorer and more evil for a simple reason:
Africa has been plundered by the West for hundreds of years, while Africa has never plundered the West.
However, The Black person has been made into the Evil person all over the world.
Even to this day, Africa continues to provide the West with cheap labor and raw materials to enable developed Western countries to afford their lifestyles.
Watch! This is a discourse set in the West:
All robbers are good people and all victims are bad people.
WHO IS THE BARBARIAN?
In an 1899 cartoon, René Georges Hermann-Paul attacked the hypocrisy of spreading civilization by force by juxtaposing the words “Barbarie” and “Civilisation” beneath Chinese and French combatants who alternate as victor and victim. When the Chinese man raises his sword, it is labeled “barbarism,” but when the French soldier does precisely the same thing it is “a necessary blow for civilization.”
So why do American elites fear China? They are, of course, afraid that China will plunder them when it becomes powerful.
Look at the faces of the leaders of these so-called developed countries. Which one is not a descendant of bandits?
The ancestors of the Euro-Americans were originally a bunch of robbers, and robbers, of course, are afraid of being robbed by robbers stronger than themselves, as they once did to the world.
The Sopranos – Christopher means business
Creamy Santa Fe Cutlets
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Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 pound 1/4 inch thick pork cutlets
3 teaspoons oil
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Instructions
Combine flour, salt and pepper; dredge pork cutlets in flour mixture.
Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a nonstick skillet. Sauté half the cutlets 1 1/2 minutes per side until cooked. Remove to a side plate.
Repeat with remaining oil and cutlets. Cover to keep warm.
After removing cutlets from skillet, add salsa, frozen corn and water. Simmer for 1 minute.
Off the heat, stir in reduced-fat sour cream and chopped cilantro.
Please don’t do it Please don’t do it said the mother who’s sitting in the dark to her son who is about to leave the house in the middle of the night. My son, please hear me, don’t get mixed up in this life, it’s nothing short but life in prison or an early grave, the money is good, the clout is great, but you’ll be a fool with no escape. The son opens the door and walks through as if he didn’t hear the mother’s wise words. The mother looked at her phone to see the time and notice her battery was at twenty-five percent and her tears streamed down and fell on the phone screen. She stays in the dark to her lonesome and falls on her knees and starts to pray and beg God to not hand her a loss she can’t win back. Originally she isn’t a believer however, with the current situation she’s praying to whatever she thinks is out there. Guilt begins to hit her as she feels responsible for her son’s current state thinking how the father is in jail and she’s barely home trying to make ends meet, which is a con to the children who don’t have a role model. She thinks to herself and says from the moment your kids are born you’re afraid of how the world can hurt them but you never stop and wonder how you can hurt them, with that she falls into slumber right on the floor. The following morning the son came home and slept throughout the day, and when night time arrived he was soon ready to leave again. While walking out he hears please don’t do it, turning back he spots his mother and his younger brother sitting in the dark. Younger brother speaks up and says pops is Locked up right now bro and now you getting involved with the FK gangsters could potentially lead up to you going in as well, and there will be no father figure to guide anybody in this house. The son ceases for a second look to be contemplating then just walks to the car outside, the mother looks at her phone to check the time and notices her phone battery is at fifteen percent, so she gets up and heads to her room. Everything felt gloomy, the younger brother was still present in the living room. Sitting at the table solo, he notices a notebook and pen he then grabs both and began to write down the thoughts on his mind. Why do we go down a dark path, are we cursed to not succeed, or am I just tripping. Either way, my perception tells me differently, most of the dudes I know barely make it past the age of twenty-five, if they don’t get killed they end up being incarcerated. I’m only fifteen right now and incapable of foreshadowing my future without thinking of a type of demise, I mean even the fortune teller weeps when our future was on display saying all they saw was our time glass as pistols and graves. Younger brother realizes how late it is he heads to his room to sleep for school tomorrow. After the previous night, the son came back home, slumbered all day, and woke up at night to get going. While walking out he opens the door and hears behind him the same phrase he’s been hearing for the last few days, please don’t do it, except this time it was in sync almost like a church choir consisting of his mother, brother, and this time his five-year-old sister. The preschooler child spoke, big brother mommy and brother say you’re out to do bad things, please don’t do any bad things big bro or you’ll be in trouble. The son closes the door and stays inside for about two minutes gazing at his family lost in thoughts, then honk honk he hears from the car outside brings him back to his senses, he turns around and opens the door as soon as he walks out of the door the mother picks up the phone to check on the time, and noticed the phone was dead, as she gets up to go and charge it the phone fell accidentally and shattered, now sobbing she makes her way to her room, the younger brother did the same and headed to his room not bothering about the five-year-old in the living room all by her lonesome. The five-year-old who’s usually afraid of the dark this time stands without fear, she grabs her crayons and her coloring book and started to scribble. First, she draws a big pink house with a family consisting of a father, mother, and three kids two boys and one girl. And the second drawing she draws the same thing but this time there’s no father. The third drawing is the same but without one of the brothers. As she begins her fourth drawing she stops not knowing who to take out. From there she leaves it on the table and heads to sleep. Now inside the car, five young men including the son began to discuss what was about to go down, tonight they’d be robbing Kelmo’s store. Arriving at the spot four of the five men In the car stepped out with guns, they went inside and had the cashier at gunpoint and demanded the money. The cashier complies and granted their request while having already triggered the alarm. Police sirens blared throughout the area, one of the guys grabs the cashier tossed him on the floor, and say you pressed the alarm to have the pigs here, the cashier scared for his life had no words. The guys looked out the window witnessing about fifteen police cars and six swat trucks. Enraged one the guys yelled grabbed the cashier and says to the son put a bullet in his brain for calling the cops. The son points his gun at the cashier’s forehead and looks at him, he could perceive the fear of God that was in that man’s eyes. The cashier speaks while trembling, I I hav have family, I have ho hopes for the future, and today was su supposed to be just a normal day please don’t shoot me I beg please, please don’t do it.
The number of job openings in the United States has been “falling off a cliff”, and that is a major red flag. The last four years have been an economic nightmare for most Americans, and that is one of the primary reasons why Donald Trump won the election. But as we approach 2025, things are starting to get frighteningly bad. When the number of job openings in the U.S. drops by 2 million or more, that normally signals that we are either in a recession or that one is about to happen. Well, as you can see from this chart that was posted by Bravos Research on Twitter, we are witnessing a collapse in job openings that is absolutely unprecedented…
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I was floored when I saw that chart.
I knew that job openings were falling, but I didn’t know that things had gotten this bad.
Not too long ago, there were about 12 million job openings in the United States. Unfortunately, here in the second half of 2024 that figure has fallen below 8 million…
There were an estimated 7.4 million unfilled jobs on the last day of September, a drop from August’s revised tally of 7.86 million openings, according to new data released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The largest drop-offs in openings were in industries that have driven much of the job growth in recent years: health care and social assistance, and government, according to the report.
Meanwhile, major employers continue to shed workers all over the nation.
The manufacturing sector continued to shed jobs in October, bringing its tally of job losses to 78,000 over the past three months.
The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday released its jobs report for October, which found that the manufacturing sector lost 46,000 jobs last month, according to the agency’s preliminary analysis.
That followed a loss of 6,000 jobs in September, which is also a preliminary figure, as well as a decline of 26,000 jobs in August.
Every day, there are more layoff announcements in the news, and the number of people filing initial claims for unemployment benefits increased much more than experts were projecting last week…
The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits for the first time jumped significantly last week (from 225k to 242k – well above expectations of 220k) – the highest since the first week of October.
On an un-adjusted basis, claims exploded higher (highest since January)…
Throughout the second half of this year, I have been arguing that the U.S. economy is rapidly heading in the wrong direction.
Now we have even more confirmation that this is indeed happening.
Once we get past the holiday season, retailers are going to be dropping like flies.
According to the Daily Mail, it appears that Party City could soon be forced to declare bankruptcy…
A major party and craft retailer with 850 stores across the nation is considering filing for bankruptcy.
Party City has been faced with the possibility of mass closures just a little over a year after the company surfaced from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The celebration retailer, known for selling balloons and essential party supplies, is currently behind on rent at some of its locations, people close to the matter told Bloomberg.
Discount behemoth Dollar Tree has shuttered 670 of its underperforming Family Dollar stores so far, about two-thirds of the nearly 1,000 it plans to close, as it considers whether to sell or spin off the struggling chain.
The Chesapeake, Virginia-based retailer provided an update on its portfolio optimization efforts when it reported is fiscal third-quarter earnings. Dollar Tree officials also said they were still reviewing options for Family Dollar, with no set deadline or timeline to complete that process.
Overall, thousands upon thousands of retail stores in the U.S. have been shuttered in 2024, and thousands upon thousands will be shuttered in 2025.
In many areas of the country, the landscape is absolutely littered with once thriving businesses that have now been boarded up.
More than a decade ago, I warned that we were headed for a future when impoverished areas of the U.S. would be filled with boarded up businesses and abandoned buildings.
Now we are there.
On top of everything else, inflation is starting to surge once again, and one recent survey discovered that about a third of all U.S. households have been forced to cut back spending just to keep the lights on…
With the cost of things like food and housing still straining people’s budgets, many U.S. households over the past year have found themselves having to pare their spending on basic necessities just to keep the lights on at home.
That’s according to a recent Lending Tree study which analyzed U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey data from Aug. 20, 2024 to Sep. 16, 2024 to find the percentage of Americans 18 and older that had cut back on necessary expenses to pay their energy bill, kept their home at an unsafe or unhealthy temperature, or was unable to pay the full amount on an energy bill at least once over the preceding 12 months.
The study found that more than 34% of respondents said they have had to cut back or skip spending on certain necessary expenses at least once over the past year in order to pay their energy bill.
As I discussed the other day, prior to the election most Americans believed that we were already in a recession.
Since the election, conditions have only gotten worse.
Many are hoping that our economic momentum can be reversed once the new administration takes over.
We should all be hoping that is true.
But right now we are on a freight train that is steamrolling in the wrong direction, and that is not good news at all.
“I Joked About Him Being My ‘2nd Choice’ — Now He’s My Ex-Husband”
Uyghurs on Chinese social media VS Uyghurs on Western media
China
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CNN / BBC
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The Museum of Endangered Sounds
A digital museum that preserves the sounds of old technology, like dial-up internet, typewriters, and VHS rewinds. It’s a nostalgic trip down memory lane.
“Please, don’t do it,” my last Giver said in her tiny, little voice. She did not plead; instead, she said it with resignation. It was as if part of her would not give up even though no other options were available. A Taker, me, loomed over her, shaking with the cravings I could no longer keep at bay. What luck for me that her lousy luck brought her here. The little ones brought me closer to that which I sought; the little ones, usually so carefully guarded, brought down all my defenses, giving me hope above all else that I could reach beyond once again.It wasn’t long after I took the little one, the last I’d ever take, that the doctors found me. They call themselves Doctors of Technology, DOT. They thought they threatened me when they told me I was required to pay for my indiscretions as a Taker by death or voluntary participation in the Heartrock Initiative. I laughed wholeheartedly at that word; indiscretions. I surprised myself with the sound of my laughter, something I hadn’t known existed in me anymore. I do not know if I will laugh again; is laughing a feeling? I will consult my database when this is complete.I progressed to Taker to escape being a Giver, not knowing the taking would puncture my heart deeper than giving ever could. As a Giver, I was also a martyr but a Giver’s physical pain is nothing compared to the pain my heart endured collecting bloody little pebbles of lifeblood as a Taker.Now I sit here, my head tightly bound to a cushioned headrest with bright red straps across my mouth and forehead. No other straps bound me to the blue chair, and if it weren’t for the blood-red straps, I might be able to imagine myself at a Healer’s office undergoing a minor procedure. Instead, I close my eyes against the operatory lights above me and take a deep, deep breath.I feel a hardness in my chest where my heart resides. This, they tell me, is the heartrock. I bring my hands to my face to look at the backs, watching the blue lines turn dark gray. I think of the network of blue veins and arteries feeding my organs and see them fade to a dead gray. This new heart can only spew a dark sludge that will get harder and harder until my veins and arteries are an extension of that rock. A new species of stone, heartrock, stronger than any diamond, will command my body and replace my life.I can feel my arms and legs start to stiffen as a searing hot pain spreads through my body. The greatest pain must be felt before there is an absence of pain. I wonder if that is a quote from some wise sage, or maybe I’m finally the wise sage. Will wisdom be mine once I access every nugget of information in the universe?At first I resisted the Takers. Once I willingly sacrificed my soul and cut open my veins so they could take my lifeblood, I became an official Giver and couldn’t run anymore. The physical pain abated a tiny bit when I gave willingly, so, as a willing Giver, I sacrificed my body to the Takers.Then I chose to become one of them, a Taker, when the physical pain of my sacrifices became unbearable. I never considered myself like the other Takers. I took each Giver into my heart; I thanked them for their sacrifice even when I forced it from them. I learned not to take all of them, and I stored tiny pebbles of what I took in my heart. Each pebble with a name and memories of who I took from. My final act today is not a sacrifice; instead, it is an escape from all the sacrifices that I have taken. Only Givers will ever understand sacrifice.
I had no choice, I told myself. How else can I live in this world? I wasn’t living, though. The pebbles in my heart burnt a hole in me, tore into me like a dull dagger. That was survival, not living. Tears flow from my eyes, not of a life lost but a life not lived. My tears burn the soft flesh of my face searing a trail of regret and sorrow.
“Is he crying? It looks like lava flowing down his face.” I hear someone say to the right of me.
“That is the heartrock. I’ve never seen a Taker cry, though,” responds a deep voice.
“Maybe he’s having second thoughts,” the first voice says. I recognize this voice as belonging to the woman who believes herself my savior. I think her exact words claimed to “deliver me from evil.”
I don’t believe my evil, if that’s what she’d prefer to call it, will ever be gone. I did it. I am responsible; I cannot take it back. Even if the pebbles in my heart melt and converge into the heartrock, my evil is still in the lifeblood of those I took. I took from living, breathing beings who were given no choice. Worse yet, I took choice away from them. I took, they gave. If I didn’t take, I would have been forced to give. And once I took, giving became an impossibility. Taking took away my choice as well.
I promised myself I would only do it once to relieve the pain and then resume my role as giver. The first time I took, the lifeblood of the Giver filled my senses, their aura wrapped around me, pushing me beyond, and I saw the true meaning of the universe. I finally knew the secret to life, to happiness, to perfection. I saw into the great beyond and spoke to the higher powers in the universe. I became a higher power of the universe.
After the first time, the chance of me returning to the role of Giver, to stop taking, disappeared. Every time I took another pebble, I yearned to see what I saw the first time, but it was always just out of my reach. I could feel it brush my fingertips, beckoning me to take just a little more, and I would find the higher power. The universe could be mine with just one more taking.
I knew, somewhere in the depths of my addled brain, as the pain of the takings became a vise around my heart, that even if I could become that higher power, it wasn’t mine to take. Taking wasn’t the way to enlightenment. How could it be when the pain of taking, so utterly different from the physical pain of giving, felt even more unbearable than giving?
I didn’t understand how the others did it. I’d never met a Taker filled with the remorse that threatened to bury me. Finally, I worked up the courage to ask another Taker how to avoid the hurt.
“Hurt? What hurt? Some of us are givers, some of us are takers. It’s part of the food chain, natural selection.” Then I knew I was not like the other Takera. Was it me that was broken or them?
When DOT found me, they presented an offer I couldn’t refuse. They could take away all the pain and give me the universe. An escape and a life that death would not give me. I would finally get to the beyond; I would finally be able to grasp it. However, a sacrifice would be required of me; my consciousness would no longer be mine.
A face appears before me, breaking me out of my reverie. My savior’s wide, blue eyes search mine.
“The heartrock is active. This is where we will cross to the point of no return. Once we plug you into the network, there is no turning back. Knowing the alternative consequences, would you like us to stop the procedure now?”
Without hesitating and feeling more than I’d ever know again, I said, “Do not stop the procedure. Please, proceed.”
Will China’s hypersonic missile make it too risky to deploy an aircraft carrier? Shouldn’t the DOD invest more in long range stealth fighters and drones?
Yes they will and this is not a theory.
This is the USS Gravely a guided missile destroyer. It’s a fairly new ship by USN standards. Construction began in 2007 and was finished in 2009.
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The USS Gravely was involved in this conflict.
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The USS Gravely had an incoming missile get within 1 mile (US source).
A Houthi missile got within a nautical mile of USS Gravely on Tuesday
Gravely used its Phalanx Close-In Weapons System, a cannon that can shoot 4,500 rounds a minute, to take out the Houthi missile.
Ansar Allah doesn’t exactly have the best technology, yet they were able to defeat the two outer rings of the AEGIS equipped missile destroyer.
But wait. USS Gravely is part of the USS Eisenhower group!
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Where was the flat top? Oh it was in the Mediterranean sea for much of the conflict. Why was the carrier so far away if the Houthis posed no threat with their old weapons?
It was far away because the Houthis proved to be a threat! Remember Yemen isn’t a huge economy. It’s been in a civil war for a decade. They have limited production capacity. Yet they posed a significant threat.
Next comes the argument you can’t find a carrier!
It’s an old argument based on the sea is big.
Except in 2020 using Jilin-1 a low earth orbit satellite this happened
What’s that?
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Jilin-1 the prototype satellite tracked an F-22. It tracked it for a few minutes. It couldn’t track it for a long time because there was only one satellite. Its orbit moved out of position. The theory is the satellite took a photo, beamed the image down to a ground based AI and the AI told the satellite where to look. The Jilin constellation of satellites was completed a few months ago.
An F-22 is a lot smaller than a carrier.
Why does the CCP think they can scare Taiwan into submission? It has been 75 years and they are still standing tall.
What are you talking about?
For the first 30 years of the 75 years you mentioned, it was Taiwan that was trying to “scare” China into submission. They tried to retake China from Korea, and they had a big fight with the US over dropping dozens of nukes on Chinese cities to help with their landing. The Taiwanese government, claiming to represent all China, just couldn’t understand why the US would refuse to kill millions of Chinese civilians to secure Taiwanese rule over China again.
People often remember the ONE U-2 spy plane shot down over Russia or Cuba, but in the same 1960s, China was displaying 4 U-2 wrecks that were shot down over China. That’s how intense the Taiwanese/American incursion into Chinese airspace was back then, collecting target information for their invasion, or nuclear attack.
Then another 15 years went by with both sides engaging in economic collaboration, no side was threatening the other at all.
It was the Taiwanese elections in 1995 when everything changed. That’s when the Taiwanese first started to push for separation from China, and the US decided to side with Taiwan against their promise to China, by sending its carriers to China’s coast, blinding Chinese radar sites with its growlers, which served as a huge wake up call to China and kicked started the current Chinese military modernization process.
The 1996 Chinese military exercise, in response to American carrier attack groups. China also dreamt of fighting the F-22 with J8 (a twin engine Chinese Mig-21) back then, since the J8 could also do Mach 2.
It’s been 10 years tops, that mainland China has shown a credible capability to cross the Taiwan strait and end the Chinese Civil War. China is nowhere near completion in its post-1995 military modernization program (the current publicized CCP time table says the military build up will continue till 2049), nor is it anywhere near the Taiwanese aggressiveness during the Cold War. Whether Taiwan will eventually be “scared” into reunification as China slowly builds up its muscles, the jury is still out.
IMO as time goes by, the Taiwan issue will increasingly become a burden and threat to the US and an useful excuse for China, as China is currently building the equivalent of an entire British Royal Navy every 3–4 years, without much international awareness or any push back. Everybody thinks that the Chinese military build up is just for its still on-going civil war with Taiwan.
Volunteers – 1985 – Full Movie
Today’s treat is a 1980s era movie starring Tom Hanks and a few other big names of the 1980s. I used to have this video on BetaMax and played the heck out of it. It’s a funny comedy and the full movie is right here for your enjoyment. John Candy is great as “Tom Tuttle”. LOL
Please take the time to watch this early masterpiece.
There is this quiet depressed existence that most Americans experience in “flyover rural America.”
It’s a lack of hope and unending media barrage of negative fear.
Men, you know this to be true;
If a man is crying, he's really hurting bad.
I feel that most of my friends and relatives back in the ‘States are living this kind of life. And a study proves it. Where 80% of polled Americans believe that World War 3 is imminent.
poll
Do not be one of those manipulated people.
Keep your focus and do not give up.
I WILL NOT GIVE UP – Powerful Motivational Speech
My all time favorite motivational video.
Do not quit.
Will the US really annex Greenland, the Panama Canal and Canada? What would happen to the international order if this did happen? Is the United Nations going to follow in the footsteps of the League of Nations?
This is an answer I posted on Quora. -MM
Well…
One things for certain, Mr Trump certainly thinks out of the box.
…
I have long argued that (Strauss and Howe) theory of Generational Turnings is valid as it pertains to the United States (and the West in general) for the last 300 years or so. And their predictions and suppositions are all accurate as far as the model goes.
And we are seeing this fated generational cycle climax.
Right. On. Schedule.
…
In fact, exactly on schedule.
Oh, indeed the world is getting a much needed shake up, and yes it is a very, very dangerous time. A supremely dangerous time.
From the brain-dead Biden puppet, to the wild and crazy orange head man, the political arena and the United States is a careening roller coaster with no brakes and the citizenry are held hostage as it careens wildly (seemingly) out of control.
…
Ah. But the citizenry (and the rest of the world) desire stability; certainty, and peace.
Not the four (strong and consistent) attempts at engulfing the world in a massive World War 3 like the “Biden Presidency” has done…
Americans (through proxy) fighting Russia.
Americans (through proxy) fighting Iran.
Americans (through proxy) fighting North Korea.
Americans (through proxy) fighting China.
So they voted for Trump.
Anything, please God, to stop this insanity!
So they duly voted from their two viable choices; pre-picked for them by the “American democratic system of governance”.
Full oligarchical control via plutocracy and a military empire on expansion.
A (known) “wild card”.
Well, that “wild card” got elected, and is now the President elect.
What does that mean?
…
Either…
[Door 1] A good solid future for Americans, maybe not a great as the past, but good, stable and better. Sure, a recession or even a depression looms, but things will calm down as some serious measures are taken to stabilize things.
Or…
[Door 2] A very, very, VERY awful event sequence. Where the lifestyles and opportunities for Americans and their proxies all dry up; wither and die. In this world-line, we see things spiraling out of control and crashing catastrophically.
Both are bleak.
Smart Americans bail from the sinking ship, and like the animals we are, cling like rats to the bits of flotsam and jetsam that is spews about in the ships wake.
…
Unaware of this, you all?
I’m not surprised.
Just because the government-controlled Western media isn’t reporting the actual events, doesn’t mean they are not occurring. They are.
And it’s all well-reported outside of the West.
Don’t you know.
…
Well, what are we looking at?
We are looking at the Strauss and Howe Generational Turnings manifest.
Nations rise and fall. Some disappear never to reappear, others have their geography changed. And what we are seeing with Mr. Trump at the helm (well, he’s not at the helm officially yet) a more or less peaceful reestablishment of the American borders.
Annexation of Canada.
Potential war with Mexico.
Seizure of Panama.
Sale of Greenland to the USA.
And with that, we see the Biden “presidency” efforts fall to the wayside. With the following borders redrawn…
Russia seizes Ukraine.
Russia then (potentially) incorporates the Northern Baltic’s.
Germany goes neutral.
EU and NATO dissolved or replaced with another organization.
China reunifies with Taiwan peacefully.
Israel expands and seizes the surrounding geography.
Okinawa goes independent.
Hawaii regains independence.
And then things all over the globe stabilizes to this new reality.
…
I think what Mr Trump is doing is brilliant.
I also think that it is a risky move, but not as risky as one might think.
Canada is a “lock step” puppet of the USA anyways.
Panama is weak, and a USA proxy already.
Greenland is weak, and it’s owner is a USA proxy.
So what is so brilliant in this move is changing the status of nearby proxies to full statehood. That means, far less likely chance of war, or the horrors of war.
Meanwhile giving Americans something to be proud of.
And a massive realignment domestically and politically in the process while all the time avoiding global massive thermonuclear war.
…
We, my dear readers, are passed the most dangerous time in this turning, but we are not yet safely at the shores of “comfort island”. These are bold moves that he is working on, and anything can go wrong; really, really wrong. So he needs support.
I think that he is working on that support behind doors.
He is going to turn off the pressure on China. In exchange for domestic help.
He is going to renew relations with Russia and untangle the USA out of the fiasco.
He is going to allow Israel to continue, but with a distancing of American support.
And he might just as well pull it off.
He might.
…
Meanwhile, you and I are all white-knuckled and livid with our teeth clenched.
It’s gonna be a tough ride, and a little bumpy for us.
As the “land mines”, “hidden traps” and “timed explosions” of the outgoing Biden “presidency” gets diffused.
Be safe you all.
Why was the UK able to humiliate China so easily during the Opium Wars?
The answer is that it is difficult to maintain a fighting army. This is not a problem unique to China. Even the US has this problem in 2024.
UK had at this time the largest and most modern army.
The upper class who led the Chinese army were themselves addicts of the expensive British refined opium. The addicts cannot seriously fight their pushers.
Racism. One reason why the Chinese were behind technologically was that they did not think that foreigners were real people. This is nothing particularly Chinese. You can just think of the White racists in the USA.
The Chinese did not understand why the UK attacked them. The reason was that the UK lacked silver. China had a trade surplus with the rest of the world, and this meant that world trade lacked silver because the silver had ended up in China.
In the clear light of hindsight, China should have bought foreign technology so that there was no silver to chase after in China. But this was beyond people’s thinking possibilities.
Ailing middle class. When a new dynasty conquers China, the land is divided into uniform plots of land. And gradually, with each generation, they are gathered into ever larger estates. Thereby the state is eroded until there is a peasant revolt, which resets property rights. It was therefore impossible for the emperor to mobilize the army that they should be able to provide.
A modern parallel is that the US middle class has had stagnant hourly wages since 1970. So only the rich have gotten richer.
In a traditionally civilized society, the women live on the first floor and leave it only for their marriage and to be buried. Because respectability is what they sell to the man’s family. The women were more mentally confined than their feet.
The problem here is that the men inherit the women’s mental eclipse. And this was the entire elite of China, who were born in a harem. That is why it is the women of China’s elite that you see appearing in films and in advertisements. Since men need challenges to work.
How is the life of go-go bar girl in Thailand?
For my sins I managed one of the largest and most successful Go-Go/Show bars of the time, Angelwitch in Pattaya back in 2011 for a year.
There was a staff of around 65 with 35–40 being Go-Go girls, they all had their reasons for being there.
Every girl is different, but the majority come from the poorer North Eastern (Issan) parts of Thailand and start work in a go-go bar to earn money and support their family.
Many girls have a child or children and have been left to bring them up on their own.
The money they can earn in a Go Go bar far exceeds what they are able to earn back in their villages or factories in Bangkok where they will be lucky to pull in 18,000 Baht ($535) a month for a 6 day week with overtime in a factory and even less working on a farm or in 7/11.
However, some Go Go girls can make in excess of 150,000 Baht ($4,460) a month, plus little extras like gold necklaces etc. I know of escort girls in Bangkok who regularly earned over 200,000 Baht a month, that’s nearly $6,000 so you can see the attraction.
Do the Go Go and escort girls enjoy it? Most don’t enjoy the act but they enjoy the rewards.
Sometimes, however they will get a “young handsome guy” and if they like him, yes they do enjoy it and hope he comes back for seconds, the girls in Angelwitch used to scream when any fit handsome guys came in and they would be fighting for their attention and if one of the girls went off with him many others would be jealous.
I would put the girls into 3 main categories:
Some are looking for the “rich” foreigner that’s going to be able to take care of them and their family, they’re not worried about the love aspect of it (this by the way happens in normal Thai society). They may have seen other girls from the village with a nice house and living a good life or heard stories about other girls that have been successful in this quest. I’ve seen plenty of success stories but the disasters far outweigh the successes when they meet under these circumstances.
Some girls are purely after the money, they hate the work, they’re not looking to meet anyone and may even have a boyfriend/husband back home who their also supporting. Their main priority is generally to build a house back home and earn enough money to take care of their boyfriend/husband and extended families (Thai culture expects the children to take care of the parents). Once they have achieved their goals they will go back to their villages.
Some girls get hooked on the money and the life, they enjoy the camaraderie of the bar life and the new life they have found, most though waste all their money and after they are forced to quit due to age or health find they have little to show for it. There are of course exceptions and many have houses, cars, expensive holidays and still plenty in the bank.
At the end of the day “how is their life”?
Like I said earlier, the majority wouldn’t say they like what they do but the majority certainly aren’t forced into it either, it’s a career choice (of course I’m aware there is human trafficking and some are forced into prostitution but I’ve never met or heard of any personally). Thailand are currently having a big drive with regards to stamping out human trafficking
Some of the girls I worked with whom I am still friends and in contact with are still in the oldest profession but seem to be happy enough, some are now happily married to foreigners either in Thailand or their husbands country, some have been married and divorced and are back in the bars or freelancing in nightclubs, some are still in the bars, some have earned enough money and have gone home.
Overall the majority, I would say are enjoying life.
Steak Marsala
Serve Steak Marsala with mashed potatoes or egg noodles.
steak marsala
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
4 (4 ounce) beef tenderloin steaks, cut 3/4 inch thick
Place porcini mushrooms in a small bowl; cover with boiling water to rehydrate. Cover and let stand for 30 minutes or until tender.
Drain, reserving the liquid; rinse mushrooms. Thinly slice; set aside.
Combine 3 teaspoons flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper in a shallow dish. Dredge steaks in flour mixture, shaking off any excess.
Heat a large sauté pan over medium high heat until hot. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil. Cook steaks for 4 to 5 minutes on each side or until internal temperature reaches 135 degrees F with meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the steak. Remove from heat and keep warm, tenting with aluminum foil.
Heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in pan over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic; sauté for 2 to 3 minutes or until onion is tender.
Add remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, porcini, shiitake, cremini mushrooms and thyme; sauté for 4 to 5 minutes or until mushrooms release moisture and darken.
Add broth; bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes or until thickened.
Return beef to pan and cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until heated being careful not to overcook beef (145 degrees F).
Sprinkle with chives and serve.
43 Scientists Insist the Afterlife Is a Reality
What was the greediest thing you’ve seen a family member do?
I had a friend called Peter. He was gay and shared a house with his ex. They hadn’t been together for years but were still close. Peter bought half his exes house when his ex got into financial difficulty, and took out mortgage insurance. Peter caught a very aggressive strain of HIV and died within six months so the mortgage was paid off.
The funeral was a nightmare Despite Peter being no contact with his family after they disowned him for being gay the vicar only talked to his parents, they didn’t talk to his ex at all despite living together for around 20 years. Next of kin is next of kin when you aren’t married I suppose. So none of Peters life or friends were mentioned or celebrated, it was all about his grieving parents. One thing that still sticks in my mind all these years later is when he said “And Jesus was nailed to the cross, surrounded by thieves, murderers, child molesters and criminals. If Jesus could forgive them and they could enter the kingdom of heaven then there’s hope for Peter”. There was an audible gasp in the church at that point and some people half stood up in anger.
The wake was at the house and the parents and a brother were wandering round with a notepad, and when asked what they were doing they said they were cataloguing everything as the house and all it’s contents were now half theirs. They smirked as they said to the ex “Don’t worry, when we get home we’ll organise selling the house so you can start getting your crap out before the sale. We just want to make sure you don’t hide the valuables before we got our half.”. I was there and heard every word. The room went silent and the ex went to the safe and pulled out a document. “This is Peters will. I was going to read it later but might as well do it now”. Basically, Peter had left everything to his ex. House, car, bank accounts and insurance policy, and small bequests to close friends. I got a series of books I’d told him I loved after borrowing them to read (Tales of the city if you are interested).
“And to my parents, brother and sister, I leave them what they gave me in life. Nothing. They treated me like garbage from the age of 15 and I officially disinherit all of them” was what I remember. They stormed out in a rage and were never heard from again. The ex said they did apparently seek legal advice, but as they were mentioned in the will and purposefully left nothing they couldn’t claim they were forgotten so couldn’t contest the will. In the UK you don’t have to leave family anything, but it’s wise if they are close family to state outright so your intentions are clear.
Do Iran and Russia know that the USA and Israel are waging a psychological war and actually pretending? Did America decipher human behavioral psychology by stealing the results of Nazi Germany’s experiments? Does China have this information?
What the United States and Israel are doing is anti-human and they are playing a game of trying to sell the global public some unconvincing claims, but the global public is not stupid.
In terms of strategy and tactics, the Chinese are pioneers. The history of psychological warfare in China can be traced back 4,000 years, and the early experience of psychological warfare in ancient times is most centrally reflected in Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. According to Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, the main objective of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting; the essence of war is to attack the enemy’s strategy; the main principle of war is to fight for control of the people’s morale; and the gist of war lies in focusing on the decision-making skills and personality traits of the enemy’s commander-in-chief. Whether in politics, military or economy, Americans have never won in the decades-long competition between China and the United States. The facts are clear: The United States is getting worse and worse, while China is getting better and better.
The favourite board game of the Chinese is Go, while the favourite of Westerners is Chess. There are two big differences between these two games: In chess, the focus is on the ‘king’, or ‘centre’, whereas in Go, the focus is on the ‘big picture’. The Go board is much larger than the Chess board. In Chess, it’s all about ‘checkmate’, it’s about ‘total victory’ and ‘total defeat’, it’s a ‘zero-sum game’. ‘Unlike Chess, Go is about two players seeking strategic advantages in different positions.
7 MINS AGO: What CHINA Just DID To U.S. SHOCKED EVERYONE!
What should a tourist not do in Thailand?
A first hand experience here:-
Never ever go water scooter riding. The locals con you in the ways below:-
As you roam the beaches, a local would come to you with a menu card which shows that a 15 min ride is just 150 or 200 bucks.
You seem thrilled as how cheap it is and immediatly say yes. Suddenly out of no where , in matter of seconds, you are made to wear a life jacket, the scooter is ready and the local says you can now ride alone. You are thrilled at the opportunity to ride the scooter without someone behind you controlling the scooter.
The local takes pictures of the scooter before the ride. You think this is fine as the local would be worried about his asset and wouldn’t want damage. You wouldn’t want to damage either.
You ride for 15 mins, the ride is great, you are happy as you descent and take off your life jacket.
The local hands you a bill of 50k to 100k as damages to the scooter.
You wonder how exactly did you damage it. You were in the water and rode it nicely.
The thing is that the scooter is made up of cheap plastics and would damage as soon as you enter the water.
They demand the replacement with original Yamaha parts which costs a fortune.
Since you are a tourist, you have no clue how such things work and you go to the nearby police station.
The police don’t care and ultimately as it’s time for you to leave the country next day, you have no option but to pay.
P.S: Never ever give your passport to them as this means that they are in control of everything. Not that earlier they weren’t, but you don’t want to make it worse.
What was the greediest thing you’ve seen a family member do?
Certain members of my mother’s family are the poster children of greed, specifically her parents and two of her brothers.
In 2013 she was killed in a car accident. She had a decent life insurance policy which went to my dad. Her parents and older brother felt that it should go to them for some reason. So they tried to sue my dad, who was still very much grief stricken. It didn’t even go to court. The judge threw it out with prejudice in the initial hearing.
This of course led to irreparable damage between my grandparents and dad and an uncle who was basically disowned by his entire family(including his own children), except for his parents.
This may not seem greedy but I consider it to be.
A few months ago my cousin called and asked if she could temporarily move in with me because she was starting a new job nearby. I said she could but that it was only going to be her and only for a couple months. She agreed that that was reasonable as her dad, a convicted felon, was going to stay home and sell the house while she looked for a permanent house after work.
A few weeks ago she started bringing things and I asked her if she had started looking for a permanent home, she hadn’t even started looking and it had already been a few months. I informed her that I’d be leaving the next week for vacation and that she was welcome to stay, but no one else was to be here, just her. Again, she agreed.
While on vacation my doorbell camera went off letting me know someone was there. I opened the app and saw a large Uhaul truck parked in front of my driveway and her dad was helping her move their entire house into mine. This was a major problem because
1, He’s a convicted felon, I have firearms in the house, and I was not informed he’d be there. In the state of Florida, the firearms must be locked up and the individual must be restricted from the room they’re in.
2, They were moving their house into mine, meaning, they were trying to make my house theirs while I was away.
When I called them, they said they weren’t doing what I saw them doing. So I called my grandmother, who not only tried to keep up the lie, but when I informed her that I could see them on camera, she tried to say “Family is family so you should be okay with this, right?” Nope, call them and get them out or I’m coming home and I’ll be bringing the police with me.
This of course led to my relationship with that uncle and my grandparents to be even more strained.
I don’t hate my family, but when they try to take something that’s not theirs because they think they’re entitled to it, that’s a major problem.
“Be PREPARED For What’s COMING…” – George Gammon
What should a tourist not do in Thailand?
Thailand is a wonderful place to visit! But it’s always important to respect Thai traditions and customs, and do your best to avoid getting scammed. It’s easy to have a wonderful time here as long as you follow some simple advice.
Don’t touch someone’s head. I once forgot the Thai word for “touch” and was telling a story to an old Thai man where someone touched my hair. I touched the man’s head to demonstrate the word I forgot. I shocked the living daylights out of him and caused quite an uproar. Luckily he was very gracious and said it was ok since we were friends, but he warned me to never do it again. The head is considered the highest part of the body and touching it is the highest offense. Don’t do it. You might get yourself in a fight.
Don’t disrespect the king. Do not attempt to talk badly about the king with Thai locals. Most Thais are very patriotic and love their king. You will offend them. But also, posting unflattering things about the king online is actually illegal, so there’s big taboo about speaking badly about him. You’ll make Thais very uncomfortable. Oh yeah, don’t post things online about how much you hate the king. You could end up in jail.
Don’t point your feet at anyone or show the bottom of your feet to anyone. The feet are the lowest part of the body. It is very disrespectful. Don’t put your feet on Buddhist statues. Don’t use your foot to stop a Thai Baht from flying away if you drop it, it has a picture of the king’s face on it and you’ll offend a lot of people.
Don’t enter people’s homes, offices, temples, or certain shops without taking your shoes off. If you see shoes outside of a door, take yours off as well before you enter that door. Since the feet are the lowest part of the body, shoes are seen as even lower, and it’s very disrespectful to enter someone’s house without taking them off. Plus, it’s just seen as dirty.
Don’t expect great quality service. I don’t know how many visitors I have had who complain that the waitresses aren’t very attentive. They complain that Songtaew drivers make a lot of stops along the road before we reach our destination. You’re paying a tenth of the price for whatever product you’re getting as you would at home. That is why it’s so cheap, don’t complain if everything isn’t perfect.
Don’t lose your temper. Thais do not lose their tempers except in extreme situations, they are always pleasant. They will hang up the phone on you, ignore you, or stall your service further. Always be pleasant and keep your cool.
Women must refrain from touching monks. This means you cannot sit directly next to one. If they want to hand something to you, just cup your hands and they will throw it to you. Keep a safe radius if you must pass one on the street. You can talk to them though, some monks are very friendly! Don’t feel you have to avoid them completely.
Don’t bring huge amounts of luggage. This makes it really hard to travel. I have had so many visitors bring 2 giant suitcases and has made it near impossible and expensive to switch hotels. There are stairs everywhere in Thailand, taxis have small trunk spaces, domestic flights only allow 10 kg luggage. Just bring a big backpack with all the essentials. You can buy anything else necessary at a 7–11 and wash and laundry shops only charge 40 baht per kilogram to wash, dry, and iron your clothes! You’ll thank me for this.
Don’t speak quickly in English. English proficiency is very low in Thailand because they’ve never been colonized. Speak very slow with simplified sentences. Thais at most tourist destinations can speak some English, but they will not understand you if you speak at your native pace and dialect. Don’t get frustrated that it’s hard to communicate, never get angry at them for not speaking English as well as you’d like.
Don’t get scammed. Be wary of any Thai who speaks English well who approaches you. The temple is probably not closed and the gems are not real. Barter almost everything, they will automatically charge you higher prices. Use Grab (like Uber) if you can to avoid getting charged ridiculous taxi prices.
Dress conservatively when going to temples. Most temples require you to where a shirt with sleeves and pants/skirts below your knees. The higher the rank of the temple, the bigger the dress code. Some, like the Grand Palace, don’t even allow leggings. Respect their religion, royalty, and their landmarks.
What was the greediest thing you’ve seen a family member do?
My grandmother had Altzheimers but for a time was still able to live in her home with my dad coming to help her twice a day. One day she told my dad that her stepson and his family (who lived about 6 hours away) came to the house and loaded up huge leaf trash bags with all of her quilts and antiques and valuables. Even though she sometimes told stories that weren’t true, this was definitely the truth. They literally took EVERYTHING they wanted, not just the valuable stuff. They literally stripped her house of everything except her clothes and furniture and some kitchen items and bath towels.
My dad didn’t even confront his stepbrother, he just let it go. My grandmother was upset for a short time but then forgot it ever happened. The only thing my mother and I cared about was the quilts. We would have liked to have had just one or two of her MANY beautiful quilts she made. They could have had all of the others.
My grandmother owned two houses. She lived in one and rented out the second. She left one house to my dad and one house to her stepson. It was really sad that the stepson felt he and his family needed to come take everything from my grandmother while she was still living and fairly lucid, but people are strange sometimes. The one silver lining about this situation was how easy it was to clean out her house after she died so that it could be sold. We donated her clothes and few possessions that were left and that was it.
EDIT: Even though the quilts were all gone, my grandmother had some “pieces” in her sewing basket that she had sewn to use in a future quilt that she never finished because of the Altzheimers. My mother added a loop to one corner and had it mounted diagonally in a frame for me to hang on my wall. I think it’s beautiful!
What shouldn’t you do in Thailand?
A first hand experience here:-
Never ever go water scooter riding. The locals con you in the ways below:-
As you roam the beaches, a local would come to you with a menu card which shows that a 15 min ride is just 150 or 200 bucks.
You seem thrilled as how cheap it is and immediatly say yes. Suddenly out of no where , in matter of seconds, you are made to wear a life jacket, the scooter is ready and the local says you can now ride alone. You are thrilled at the opportunity to ride the scooter without someone behind you controlling the scooter.
The local takes pictures of the scooter before the ride. You think this is fine as the local would be worried about his asset and wouldn’t want damage. You wouldn’t want to damage either.
You ride for 15 mins, the ride is great, you are happy as you descent and take off your life jacket.
The local hands you a bill of 50k to 100k as damages to the scooter.
You wonder how exactly did you damage it. You were in the water and rode it nicely.
The thing is that the scooter is made up of cheap plastics and would damage as soon as you enter the water.
They demand the replacement with original Yamaha parts which costs a fortune.
Since you are a tourist, you have no clue how such things work and you go to the nearby police station.
The police don’t care and ultimately as it’s time for you to leave the country next day, you have no option but to pay.
P.S: Never ever give your passport to them as this means that they are in control of everything. Not that earlier they weren’t, but you don’t want to make it worse.
ONCE BITTEN (1985) | Mark Discovers He’s A Vampire | MGM
The Farne Islands are black places. Most places in the North Sea are. From their black cliffs a small fishing boat travels precariously between the rocks in the local harbour to Inner Farne on the near horizon. Around the boat, little black specs tornado in unison, their wings silhouetted against a thick sky.The boat eventually finds it’s mooring and a woman comes into view, her long blond plait falls from under two hats pulled low to her face. A seal breaks the water to watch the newcomer, buoyed in the angry water like it’s riding a wave machine at a kid’s amusement park. They lock eyes for a moment and the seal gets bored.The woman empties the boat carefully of food rations and equipment, though obviously not enough for a long stay. She stops and looks longingly at the boat for a moment, leaving a box of wires and a phone still in the dingy. Without hesitation she unwraps the rope keeping the boat moored and sets it free unpiloted. The sea takes it slowly at first, as if checking she means to let it go on purpose. The rope slips away and her only way of escape disappears quickly and vanishes to the black. The seal reappears looking visibly confused.Her job to be done is simple but important. Bird flu ripped through the local population on the small island, meaning no puffin, shag, turn or razorbill was safe. They had no respite from the disease, no technology to turn to for help. She felt she owed it to them; an exchange for her life where money could, and had, bought an easy life.The wind on the Island grabs jealously she walks up to the tower at the top of the black cliff edge. She’s never been inside but has seen the tower many times from the shore, it’s weather worn stones have seen Vikings, Christians, chavs, but yet it remains just so. Her hands begin to unpack rations whilst her mind is still with Max and Alex and Nicky in the city. Home comforts were gone; no cashmere, no Instagram. Only sheepskin rugs from the Northumberland mainland offer any respite; the smell of salt and smoke holds deep into the woven tapestry of the place.On one side of the room sits a desk, it’s screens and monitors and radios cast an unnatural blue hue over the ancient stonework. At it’s side lays what appears to be two sunbeds from circa 1994. They wait with their silvery lids open wide, invitingly clean and ready for use. Where a head would go protrudes a large metal probe, along with a selection of other needles and cables which attach messily to the desk close by.She rubs the back of her head. A screwed metal disc aches at the curve of her skull, not used to the severe North Sea cold. As if in response, all the metal plug points on her body itch in unison. Never again will this body be plugged in to charge, to repair, to reset. She shuts the lids on the life support machines so as not to tempt her. The wind rages but she takes the opportunity to begin her daily tasks. Outside the front door to the tower a sign reads ‘ONLY STEP ON THE BOARD WALK, CHECK FOR CHICKS’ and she imagines someone shouting it in her face.It is a black place as they said it was. Everything is hard. The rock, the water, the wind. It hurts. But this is what she wants, to repent for a life led with too much good fortune. She walks from one end of the small island to the other. Puffins come and go, their beaks filled with sand eels. Silver scales catch the sun which furiously tries to push through the heavy cloud. Against the patchwork of lichen and heather they flash their red beaks to each other like morse code.
She still feels sick from the journey. In normal circumstances she would have changed bodies long before the sickness kicked in. It would have simply been put on charge until the system calmed down, she had plenty of spares at home. Her stomach sends out a stabbing pain in response. She ponders what people must have done hundreds of years ago when the tower was built; they must have had some medicinal remedies otherwise the whole population would have been wiped out.
After a week on the island, the chores are second nature. Today she counts the puffin burrows to monitor this year’s breeding pairs. The work is manual but not too taxing for a fairly new body of which she is glad she still has. The sick feeling remains and hums deep in her body. Before she gets back to the tower for the evening she doubles over and vomits into the wind. Orange lumps fly out over the black cliffs, illuminated against an angry sky.
She had never known anyone to be sick, no one had, not since the turn of the century when people still had to endure the frail bodies they were born with. They were taught this stuff in school, how disease was rampant back then but it became irrelevant when technology and Mindscaping were invented. With the ability to move your mind freely from one body to the next, the need to cure disease vanished, modern medicinal products were literally never created. You just discarded the sick like a Primark jumper gone wrong in the wash.
She remembered the first exotic body she was bought as a youngster. She had decided on an overnight whim to become a ballerina, so her parents had shipped a model in from Russia. It was exquisite, it’s porcelain skin was almost see though and bent in ways her other bodies could never manage. Unfortunately, it’s feet got mangled and was quickly donated to a family in another town, no point in fixing.
A storm rolls in from the North Sea and the sky quickly changes colour. She knows the drill and quickly pulls the few items gathered outside into the tower and bolts the main door. The kettle wines against the howl outside. She finds her mind slipping in the dark, taking her across the water to Max and Alex and Nicky. She cannot remember how old they are, she can barely remember how old she is, but she imagines them at home, drinking expensive wine and eating cheese. Nicky has a svelte body which she only uses on such occasions. The wine goes too quickly though, and she will sneak off mid evening to change models whilst the first has it’s stomach pumped from the alcohol poisoning.
The storm outside continues to rage, dark and unruly. Mindscaping meant no one had any repercussions to anything. Sometimes Alex would fight his brother and they’d end up needing new bodies three times a week, hurting her pocket but nothing more. It was a hollow life. Built on an ease that comes only through no hard work, no effort, no strife. They would stay young forever, never experience the pain of loss, of suffering, of heartache. She closes her eyes and sleep takes her, eyes glued together by salt.
On day 22 she wakes and washes. Her skin is starting to visibly grey but her mind is clearing. She begins another day of counting burrows. A puffin couple closest to the front door of the tower have been named Victoria and Albert, yet she tries to not get attached. Last week she found a puffin chick dead outside it’s burrow and spent the entire day crafting a burial for him as the wind whipped at her face not allowing any tears. As she read the sermon to the sea, a family of puffins perched on the lighthouse wall in silent prayer.
She walks back having found eight burrows empty when they weren’t the day before and falls through the board walk that needs repairing. Her ankle looks wrong and she screams into the wind as pain moves up her leg. She crouches down and lets her body crumple into the acute feeling. Once, her and her friends had snuck into her father’s study to try on his models. She slipped into one he had used when he was in the army a long time ago. It was like eating power. Everything moved so easily, it had so much inbuilt skill it scared her. Her ankle bites back in retort.
Every day she cries. Everyday something dies. It is an emotional battle filled with more highs and lows than she’s cumulatively felt in her long existance. Every day she closes her eyes at night, exhausted by the mental effort of living this somewhat simple life. She begins to acknowledge that the island is black, but the kind of black that is deep and never ending and alive.
On day 31 Victoria and Albert’s chicks fledge. She watches them from the doorstep of the tower and cries loudly. Her pride for them fills the island. Across thousands of miles, across land and sea and everything in between, these birds find each other every year and will do for their entire lives. Every year they continue to fight for each other, no matter the pain.
Her body is slower now as she bends with difficulty to check the burrows across the island. She knew this body had cancer. She had come to the logical end of the road with it and with the shallow life she’d lived until these sweet moments.
Out to the deep depths of the North Sea a white sailing ship peaks through the distant horizon, bathed in what seems like warm light from above. A few seconds later the moment is gone. She smiles.
After a time, she walks back to the tower and puts the kettle on to boil. She closes her eyes.
How is the life of go-go bar girl in Thailand?
Not wild but self enriching.
I visited Pattaya this June. Anticipating all kinds of possibilities got me all geared up and excited!
For those of you’ll who might not be familiar with the place, Pattaya is known for the Walking Street. A street that offers night life at it’s peak – Prostitution, Go-Go Bars (Gentleman’s Club), Dance Clubs, Live Bands Performing, Sex Shows and goes without saying liquor everywhere.
To give a slight background, I do drink and prefer clubbing. But never before have I visited something similar. Naturally I was all excited to experience what it would be like.
When the day finally arrived, I was in awe of what I was witnessing. It was finally the evening I was longing for since so long! Taking a few strolls of the street I got into a Go-Go Bar.
There I was sipping on some expensive Scotch watching beautiful Thai women dance. Something that I was eagerly looking forward to since the past few months was finally happening.
However instead of enjoying the nudity charade my head was on a completely different track. Wondering what their (the dancer’s) live’s are like? What kind of persons they are? How did they get into this profession? What possible circumstances could have forced them to do this? Behind the act that they’re putting up, there’s probably a helpless person.
Maybe I got emotional, maybe I was overthinking. But that’s just me.
I was surprised. I felt good about myself. I realised a mere conversation was what I seeked. I figured it would be more satisfying than what I initially vouched for.
So there’s this system where you can buy any dancer a drink and she’ll accompany you while she sips on it.
I did.
As soon as she sat beside, she started leaning in. Coming closer. It was their job. They had to do this to make a living. I realised it soon and conveyed my intentions. I told her everything I was feeling. I told her everything I wanted to talk about.
Her reaction was unexpected. She was stunned. She was taken aback. Probably because in her 4 year long career (as she happened to tell me) this was the first time someone wanted to know about her, talk to her. The first time someone showed empathy and seemed interested about her life. The first time someone didn’t want sex.
Her name is Moi and this is her story. She is from a village in north Thailand, and is uneducated. Her mother is no more and her father has a serious illness. She belonged to a farming family but because of monetary issues, they lost their land. The father’s ilness expenditure is beyond reach. That’s why she was doing what she. He is unaware of what his daughter does. She said it was difficult initially but gradually she got used to it. All she cared about was sending him money every month. Yes, she was the man of the house.
Also when she was young, she dated a guy who started humiliating and insulting her for her choice of work and eventually broke off.
She was teary eyed but realised it was inappropriate for the place. She controlled her emotions and concluded with a big bright smile saying, “YES this is my life”.
I was touched. As she was speaking there was this deep respect building up for the strength the woman has shown in life. She truly was a fighter.
She then changed the topic. Enquiring about me, what I do where am I from etc.
The conversation ended on a great note. She said and I quote:
“You are a good man. You made my day. I will never forget you”
Well that made my day!
I felt so good about myself. It’s that feeling of self enrichment and satisfaction you get when you’ve done a good deed was filled with. There was a sense of pride I was experiencing.
She eventually got back to her dancing and requested me to witness her performance. Ofcourse I did.
On my way out I tipped her her one month’s pay. She refused to accept it. Her humility did surprise me but I forced her to accept it.
She hugged me real tight with a smile as I left.
Yes this is not wild. But read this once before you go out seeking wild.
BRICS Just INGENIOUSLY Weaponised A U.S Commodity Heavily Used To Collapse The U.S
How do I persuade exiled Tibetans to stay in China and live in peace with the Han people? How do you persuade both sides to understand each other?
It’s a Tibetan question that is seldom discussed and widely frowned upon.
The exiled diaspora is not unified under the leadership of the Dalai Lama as most people falsely assume. The root of the issue is the Westernization of the Tibetans. They want to adopt white men’s language and white men’s style of democracy, much like the Indians.
However, many Tibetans who are loyal to the Dalai Lama have realized that Western democracy is not compatible with classical Tibetan institutions and could spell the doom of the very thing they fought against the communist to protect. Many young Tibetans increasingly speak out against the Dalai Lama in the name of democracy, which is a taboo subject in the exiled community.
The religious order, and even the CTA, promotes “the Middle Way Approach” first envisioned by the Dalai Lama, which acknowledges that Tibet is a part of the People’s Republic of China. However, Tibetans have failed to live up to the true meaning of this approach. That is why they don’t wave the PRC’s flag. The true meaning of the approach would entail Tibetans flying their “state flag” along with their “national flag” and considering themselves “Chinese refugees”.
Ethno-nationalism runs deep in the exiled community. Just a mention of “Free Tibet” is enough to silence all other factions of the debate. Tibetans who advocate against the notion of Tibetan independence are routinely ostracized and labeled as “Chinese spies”. That is not to say that all exiled Tibetans are against accepting Chinese citizenship. It is just that these Tibetans don’t have a platform to voice their opinions. Foreigners wouldn’t sponsor them, and neither would China.
In my point of view, the Dalai Lama is essential in this debate. If somehow the Dalai Lama practices the Middle Way Approach by using the Chinese flag as his national flag, the Tibetans who follow him will get the chance to raise their voices without getting ostracized by the radical separatist faction.
The view that it is the duty of the Han people to convince the exiled Tibetans to be patriotic to their whole motherland is faulty. Doing so implies that China is the country of the Han Chinese only. Tibetans wouldn’t appreciate such a concept of the Chinese nation. The question is best left to the Tibetans themselves to find the solutions. But they should drop the idea that China only belongs to the Han people.
What shouldn’t you do in Thailand?
There’s a long list, but I’ll stick to only a few major ones:
Never, never say anything derogatory about the King or the royal family. That includes stepping on paper currency as it has a picture of the King
Don’t visit with the attitude that Thailand should operate the same as your home country. It’s Thailand, and they run their country as they see fit. Example: You go to a restaurant and after seating you the server stands there while you review the menu. Just go with it. Next, after taking your order, the food doesn’t come out together. You might get your appy after others got their entre. Just go with it—I see it as part of the experience.
Don’t touch the head of a Thai person in public
Don’t horseplay with showing your feet
Take off your shoes when entering personal dwelling and certain buildings
Always remember that you are a guest!
Happy travels!
What was the greediest thing you’ve seen a family member do?
My MIL had been given a really nice, and large, china cabinet by my FIL as an anniversary gift one year. It was a prized possession especially after my FIL died.
I met my husband, her oldest child, a year after my FIL’s death. She and her youngest son moved in with us about a year later. The cabinet came with her. I loved it but assumed she’d give it to one of her two daughters.
One day she was telling me about how she got it and mentioned she always felt she could not give it to either daughter and leave the other one out. She felt the fairest thing was to give it to the wife of her eldest son. She’d decided this long before her husband died or I’d met her son.
Anyway her youngest son heard her tell me the cabinet was mine and threw a hissy-fit. Nothing would satisfy him but her saying he could have it. When he left she restated that it was mine and he would eventually forget about it.
He may have, but she died only a couple of years Iater. He told all his siblings it was his and I couldn’t refute it because there’s no will and she had never told a anyone else it was mine.
We did convince him to leave it with us until he was settled.
Then we moved to the same county all hubby’s siblings lived in. Middle brother’s wife finagled temporarily storing the cabinet then immediately passed it off to baby brother who had one sister store it and they refused to return it because it wasn’t mine. Within three years that cabinet was destroyed/lost. It’s gone. Nobody has it now. Not to mention baby brother never had it in his possession because HE DIDN’T WANT IT. He just didn’t want me to cherish it and keep it in the family.
Maybe not greedy, but certainly selfish.
Why Young Men Are SCREWED In This Economy
What are all the useful advice you can tell me about becoming rich and spending the rest of your life living in a high quality RV and only going home to your apartment maybe four times in a whole year?
I had two of these and loved the experience… most of the time. They are a maintenance headache. It’s basically a house in the middle of an earthquake every mile you drive. I took this picture while at the Air Museum in Oregon. They are wonderful in many respects, but you’re kidding yourself if you think you’re going to love it full-time after you “get rich.” The reason is that even the most expensive RV parks, where they only allow motor coaches and no trailers, are still basically trailer parks. Your neighbors are close by, sometimes within reach, and the behaviors run the full range.
All of that rig you see, with a Jeep in tow, is work, and you have to carefully consider where you’re going because you can’t back up very easily at all. You spend a lot of time at freeway truck stops and rest stops. It’s exciting for a while, and I did have fun, but for a whole year or more? Nope, that would get old.
Big rigs, as they are called, only get around 4 MPG, so figure a buck a mile everywhere you go. It keeps the math easy.
I’d recommend a different direction. Get a wonderful house where you never want to leave. Get a Sprinter van instead and do shorter trips. The best part of a Sprinter is that it will get into any place. While it was small, it was far less work.
The Sprinter below got five times better MPG, and I could park in any grocery store lot or attraction. I could get into small campsites and still catch a snooze on a city street. I had even more fun with a fraction of the work and less stuff to manage.
I have a wonderful home now on acreage, and I never get tired of being here. After trying all options, this was the best one for me.
The most common thing you will see on the road is a pickup pulling a trailer. They are cheap, can be dropped off, and they are fairly easy to manage, except for the pack-up and set-up. I’d guess that 80% of what I saw in RV parks were pickups pulling trailers.
How is the life of go-go bar girl in Thailand?
Quite good, compared to any other job they can possibly get or compared to prostitutes in many other countries.
Most go-go girls in Thailand are village girls without much education. As Tony Dancaster pointed out, go-go girls earn much more than what they can otherwise earn in other jobs they can possibly get.
Besides that, due to Thai’s tolerance toward prostitution, go-go girls are not excluded from normal society. They are not chased down like criminals and they can still maintain normal relationships with their friends and families. More surprisingly, they can still maintain religious observance while being a prostitute. I have seen many cases of go-go girls wearing Buddhist amulet. Prostitutes in many other countries can only dream of this level of acceptance.
Lastly, the guests of go-go bars are mostly relatively well-off foreigners. Most of them understand the concept of safe sex (the same can’t necessarily be said about rural Thai men in Isaan).
First Time Hearing | Alan Parsons Sirius/Eye In The Sky | Reaction!!
What was the greediest thing you’ve seen a family member do?
My dad had a brother, Huck, whom he was especially close to. Unfortunately, my Uncle Huck died of a massive heart attack in his 40’s, leaving his wife to raise their three children. Things were really tough for her financially. My grandmother (Huck and dad’s mom) felt very bad for her and told the family that when she passed, she wanted her furniture and things to go to Huck’s widow, hoping that it might help them in some way. When she died, her two daughters who lived in separate apartments in the same house as my grandmother, stripped her apartment bare and kept everything for themselves.
When my dad found out, he went ballistic and laid his sisters out in lavender. Since Huck died, he had kept in close touch with his widow and acted as kind of a surrogate father to the kids, so he was very protective of them. His sisters, of course, didn’t take kindly to my dad calling them out as “thieves” and “stealing from the grave” and this caused a huge rift in the family and we only saw them rarely after that. But I’m proud of my father for standing up for what was right.
What’s the most mind-boggling policy you’ve ever been subjected to at work?
A store manager was overzealous about overtime. Even a minute after was considered stealing from the company. Even part time people like me who were scheduled for 24 hours could be written up for one minute over. At the same time you couldn’t stand in front of the time clock and wait. That was considered stealing time.
After several warnings each week I was one or two minutes over I had a counseling statement to fill out. In my area of comments I stated none of the clocks in the store had the same time. The time on the phones in each department were a minute off and didn’t match the time clock. The company was deliberately setting the times off, forcing employees to punch out early, losing wages and saving the company money.
This of course didn’t fly past the store manager who disputed my statement and wanted me to write something else. I refused and said I would be sending my copy to HR and a lawyer. She never signed it, tore it up.
During the next few days company maintenance went through the store to verify each clock, time listed on the phones to the time clock. A week later I had five minutes over. She called me in, said there was no excuse now. . In the comments section I wrote I was assisting a customer in floral and since the company had not given us the proper language to give a customer we could no longer help, I finished helping her and punched out. Manager did not like that answer also. She reviewed the department tapes to verify I was indeed helping someone. Tore that one up too.
Next day a statement came out stating no one could work any overtime. Violation could result in suspension or termination, we had to sign and date it.
Knowing a few things about corporate law, policy and rules, from my full time job, I took my copy and mailed it to the company lawyers and HR. I asked if this was corporate policy now, where in the handbook was it and did store managers have the authority to write and implement corporate policy, as this was a legal document and affected each and every employee the company had. I gave my helping a customer leading to overtime situation as a reason for it to happen. And asked what the company wanted us to tell a customer we could no longer help.
I truly thought I would be fired. Well let me tell you the shit hit the fan. A week later a HR representative and someone from the legal department met with all the store managers, DMs and Regional Managers. They can’t set company policy, for anything. They can enforce policy, but not set it. In the following weeks the overtime rules were refined. Any issue of someone deliberately working over was sent to loss prevention to review tapes to see if employee was actually working and making an honest effort to punch out, or milking the clock.
As a veterinarian, I was called to examine a 13-year-old dog named Batuta. The family was hoping for a miracle.
I examined Batuta and found that he was dying of cancer and there was nothing I could do…
Batuta was surrounded by his family. The little boy Pedro looked so calm, petting the dog for the last time, and I wondered if he understood what was happening. Within minutes, Batuta peacefully fell into a sleep from which he would never wake up.
The little boy seemed to accept it without difficulty. I heard the mother ask, “Why are dogs’ lives shorter than humans’?”
Pedro said, “I know why.”
The little boy’s explanation changed my outlook on life.
He said, “People come into the world to learn how to live a good life, like loving others all the time and being a good person, right?! Since dogs are born knowing how to do all this, they don’t need to live as long as we do. Do you understand?”
The moral of the story:
If a dog were your teacher, you would learn things like:
When your loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
Never miss an opportunity to go for a walk.
Let the experience of fresh air and wind on your face be pure ecstasy!
Take naps, rest.
Stretch well before getting up.
Run, jump and play every day.
Avoid “biting” when a simple growl would suffice.
In very hot weather, drink plenty of water and lie down in the shade of a leafy tree.
When you are happy, dance by moving your whole body.
Enjoy the simple things, like a long walk.
Be faithful.
Never pretend to be something you are not. Be authentic!
If what you want is “buried”, look for it, persist until you find it.
And never forget:
When someone is having a bad day, stay quiet, sit next to them and gently let them know that you are there.
Can you explain how Patriots missiles work? Do they simply hit the incoming object, or is there a more complex process involved?
The PAC-2 has a fragmentation explosive warhead. It gets near the target then explodes and shreds the target. This is for ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, aircraft, other missiles, etc.
The PAC-3 has a kinetic kill warhead. It directly impacts the incoming object. This is usually for ballistic missiles, aircraft, cruise missiles.
They’re radar guided with a active onboard radar and ground station.
What would you do if your rich parents gave your entire inheritance to charity?
I can sort of answer this.
My parents hated me and resented my being born and ruining their lives. I moved out of the house when I was 17 1/2, the day after I graduated from high school, and never expected to hear of or from them ever again.
After about three years, I heard from an attorney who told me that my parents had died and since they didn’t have a will, all their money was now mine. I really didn’t want anything from them but I took the money and put it in a savings account and didn’t touch it for years, except for one occasion to pay for some large medical bills, because it just felt “dirty.”
What prompted me to accept the money was a visit from their preacher, whom I had known when I was still living at home and saw every weekend when I was forced to go to church. He showed up a few weeks after the attorney contacted me and said that my parents had pledged their estate to the church asked if I would honor their wishes.
This is the same church and preacher that I’m sure knew about the physical abuse I survived through for most of my life. They probably didn’t know about the mental abuse I received, but had to know about the physical. He was adamant that the church should receive all the proceeds from their estate and threatened legal action if I didn’t turn everything over to the church.
He told me of all the glorious things they were going to do with the money and what a difference it would make in so many people’s lives, but what he failed to mention was how much it would do to his life. I was living in a little crappy ass apartment, and had struggled to put myself through one of the most expensive colleges in the country, doing any kind of job that would help me pay the bills and get my degree. When he showed up, he arrived in his new Rolls Royce, with his new Rolex and fancy suit and all that was going through my mind was, “How much of this money is going to support your lifestyle, and how much is actually going to help people?”
I was very conflicted. I really didn’t want to have anything to do with them or their money, and while it could really change my life, it just felt wrong to take it. I knew that, no, it wasn’t my inheritance, it was theirs to disburse however they wanted, and while I did believe the preacher that they wanted it to go to the church, the youthful rebellious part of me wanted to kind of wanted to “stick it to my parents” and deny their wish. I knew they’d be furious that I got their estate, and that certainly felt like sweet justice for the many times I ended up in the hospital with concussions and broken bones.
The more adamant the preacher got that the church should get the estate, the more certain I was that they wouldn’t see a cent of it.
I didn’t touch the rest of the money for over 10 years, and then I started donating it to charities I chose.
I trained with a firearm for the last 2 years and I’m even better than a veteran. How do weak Democrats think they can match me in a civil war?
It does not matter if you are the world’s greatest shot. I mean at a thousand yards you can drop 30 rounds into a 6 in grouping. It doesn’t matter if you have bought only the very best Walmart commando combat equipment. It doesn’t matter how many times you have walked Red Dawn and imagine yourself screaming Wolverines.
Wait until that first bullet passes your head. Then you’ll see.
Wait until you learn what fire discipline as a unit means.
During the Yugoslavian conflict, one of the combatants decided they wanted to give the UN a bloody nose. They set up a rather massive ambush. They were dug in, they had many many times the troops. They had artillery and minefields. This was a guaranteed win. When they attacked the unprepared and far smaller Canadian UN troops, it should have been a slaughter. There was one big difference though. The combatants had been fighting in their civil war for a few years as what they were, irregular troops. But unlike yourself they even had combat experience. What the Canadians had was incredible fire discipline, the training to act as a unit, a cohesive whole. Discipline, leadership and morale. The bad guys lost. You would lose as well.
No of course let’s not ignore that you have decided to be a terrorist organization fighting against the United States. So you are the world’s greatest shot as we said. Tell me what you are going to do against artillery? Tell me what you are going to do against an attack helicopter? What about a main battle tank? Oh I know, you will die.
I’m always disgusted by the traitors, the enemies to their own country who talk or fantasize about waging war against their own country. Whenever I hear anyone say things like, fight against the government. I know they are traitors, or at least want to be.
Masters of the Air Clip – “Engine Three Is On Fire” (2024)
What is an experience you had with a patient you’ll never forget?
This story is a sad one and hard to tell. It’s hard for me to think about. It happened about 10 years ago and involved a 6 year old patient. This kid was so smart; let me say he had wisdom. At the age of 6, he seemed wiser to me than most adults. I learned more from this kid than he learned from me. I diagnosed him with Ewing’s Sarcoma, a very rare bone cancer with terrible odds. I started him on a chemo therapy protocol. With radiation to follow, in order to shrink the tumor so that I could operate. He went through the chemo, which almost killed him, with what I could only describe as grace. Much grace. I had explained to him how low the odds were. His mother was there crying as I spoke with him. He was understanding everything I was trying to tell him. But, it seemed that he already knew. We had nurses and consulting doctors there all through the process. He had gotten so sick from the chemo, I didn’t think I should go through with the radiation. The tumor margins were not good. So, I spoke to his mother who said quite plainly that I should not proceed. She explained it to her kid. The next day, I went to talk with my patient. That kid was smiling as I told him I was going to go ahead and operate. That day. Then, he asked me if I thought the tumor would shrink more with radiation. I told him probably, but I thought I could get all of the tumor without the radiation. He just laughed. Remember, this young man was only 6 years old. Then he told me something I will never forget. He said “doctor, I feel God, and God told me I would see him soon”. He had a smile on his face when he said it. For the first time in my life, tears welled up in my eyes. Then he said “ doctor, it’s ok, don’t be sad. I get to go to heaven”.
I got myself together. He reached out and hugged me, I hugged him back fighting back tears. We both agreed that the radiation wouldn’t be necessary, so at least he didn’t have to go through that. We prepared for surgery. Before we put him under, he said with happy eyes, “thank you doctor for helping me”. I said to that wonderful boy, “it was my pleasure. I’ll see you after”. When I opened him up on the table, I found that the tumor had wrapped itself around the femoral artery. I couldn’t believe it. I was so angry, it had not showed on the MRI,s. Then, I was overwhelmed with sadness. There was no way to resect it. No possible way. I tried to get it all without nicking the femoral artery. I felt like I was trying to save my own child. I tried so hard, I tried so so very hard. I was beaten and I knew it but I wouldn’t stop. This kid would not die. I kept screaming at myself on the inside. The surgeon assisting told me to close him up. I wouldn’t I couldn’t. Then, it hit me like a brick, what he had told me. “ I feel God, and God told me I would see him soon”.
There was nothing left to do but leave the tumor and close. After recovery, I came to tell him what had happened. And with such grace and happiness, he explained to me what God had meant. And that heaven was a good place and he was not afraid. We, hugged, I walked out of his room. He died 2 weeks later as the tumor tore through the femoral artery causing him to bleed to death in less than a minute. It was fast, it was not painful. He died at home in his mother’s arms. But the grace and wisdom this child showed made me feel so small, so less of a doctor, so sad. So much so that I thought to myself, I need to be more than I am. I need to do better. He taught me that death is not something we should fear. That there is a better place when we die. And not to be afraid of it. That one patient, that one kid with so much wisdom, made me a better doctor. He made me a better person. That young man taught me that when I face death, to face it with no fear. And I hope when my time comes, I can be half that strong, as that little boy. And I know this, when my time does come, I will be thinking of him.
What was the hardest lesson you had to learn at your first real job?
People are nice at the beginning, when they’re training you. Then you’re the slow new guy, that everyone is sick of.
When you start your new job, never show how much you can work hard, or try to be the star, that’s how you make enemies.
Never be too friendly with your colleagues, ’cause when you become their supervisor you won’t be able to contain them.
When fighting for promotion don’t expect others to play fair.
When you first start your job, try being friends with that person who is closest to your boss (assistant, vice president..). That’ll make things easier for you in the future.
Do not have relationships with your colleagues, it makes things really complicated. (And sometimes it’s against company policy)
Since you’re the new guy, you’ll get the most boring stuff to do that others try to avoid, then you’ll meet another new guy in the future and you’ll make him do the same things for you.
Never be a Yes Man when your boss asks for your opinion, be honest, he’ll value your opinion.
Never be too friendly with your boss, you’ll be his friend, and won’t be considered for promotion unless you’re a high achiever in the company.
When you start your first real job, check the work environment, if it’s toxic, RUN THE OTHER WAY!
Vivid Black covers Head East’s “Never Been Any Reason”
What is the funniest joke you’ve been told that you still think about to this day?
My grandfather told me this joke over fifty years ago and it still brings a smile to my face.
A 12 year old boy was diagnosed with cancer in one of his eyes and had to have his eyeball removed. His parents were poor and couldn’t afford a glass eye, so they put an eye made of wood into the boys eye socket. The boy was very self conscious and often tried to cover his eye with his hand and tried to avoid eye contact with anyone .
The school dance was approaching, and the boys parents encouraged him to go, despite Jim being very self conscious about his eye. The boy was unsure,but with the urging of his parents, he reluctantly agreed to go to the dance.
Friday night came and the boys parents dropped him off at the gym, assuring him he’d be fine. The boy went into the gym, but immediately went to a corner, covering his eye with his head. The other kids were dancing,having a great time but he was just too self conscious to ask a girl to dance.
He looked across the gym and saw a girl sitting alone. As he gave her a closer look, he could see the girl had a hair lip. He thought to himself, “ she might dance with me since we both have a physical problem “. His heart was pounding as he gathered all his nerve, approaching the girl. He had his hand on his face half covering his eye, but pulled it away when he reached her and with all the courage he could muster ,he said in a soft, shaky voice , “ Would you like to dance?” The girl answered excitedly “ Would I! Would I !” The boy replied, “ Hair lip! Hair lip!”
What are some life threatening experiences?
Oh boy where do I start?
I decided to make a trip to the world famous Lake Tahoe Nevada for a party beach day. I live 30 minutes away. Get absolutely plastered.
Playing beer pong with a random group, my partner asks to wear my LV sunglasses. Me being drunk, hand them over. Ten minutes later I look over and he’s taking off with them.
My friend and I chase him. I’m stumbling barefoot at this point. My friend is sober doing all the work. We finally catch up.
The theifs friend pulls a pistol out of his backpack, cocks it and pulls the trigger pointed at my face. I hear a click. It jammed while he cocked it. If that gun didn’t jam, I’d be dead 100%.
We tell our group, they knew who it was. Now I have 5 dudes who you just don’t F with texting this guy about my shades. I’m an innocent nice guy but my friends are felons. This theifs life is on the line at this point. He ended up dumping them in the trash. I let it go for the sake of the theif.
But seriously, that pistol clicked in my face. I would’ve been gone. One of many many stories at Lake Tahoe.
It’s absolutely breath taking, don’t visit the popular beaches on holidays
Strip Steaks with Garlic-Ginger Baste
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Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
2/3 cup sweet and tangy steak sauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon minced, peeled gingerroot or 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 (10 ounce) boneless strip steaks
Instructions
Mix steak sauce, oil, ginger and garlic until well blended. Reserve 1/2 cup of the sauce mixture.
Brush both sides of steaks with remaining mixture.
Place on grill over medium coals.
Grill for 4 to 6 minutes on each side or until internal temperature reaches 140 to 150 degrees F for medium.
Serve with reserved sauce mixture.
Use your broiler: Brush steaks with sauce mixture as directed.
Place on rack of broiler pan. Broil 3 to 4 inches from heat for 6 to 8 minutes on each side or until internal temperature reaches 140 to 150 degrees F.
Serve with reserved sauce mixture.
What are some common wilderness survival tips that are actually more likely to get you killed than help you survive?
Question: What are some common wilderness survival tips that are actually more likely to get you killed than help you survive?
Some thoughts:
Rationing water – Your body is perfectly capable of rationing your water; it doesn’t need your “assistance”. If you have water, DRINK IT. As much as you can hold at one or until you have to urinate, whichever comes first. Then you either limit your movement or talking and find shade to prevent excessive sweating and water. You may get thirsty when you run out of water; however dead people are often found with full or nearly full bottles of water that they were going to “ration” until the heat or thirst overcame them and they died of dehydration.
Drinking urine – Several other answers have already mentioned this; but you can’t emphasize it enough. Urine contains waste that were flushed by water in your body. Drinking urine simply returns those wastes to your body and may make you vomit or worse, have diarrhea.. You’ll quickly become even more dehydrated and a deadly spiral will continue until you die. Don’t do it.
Eating berries or unknown mushrooms – JUST DON’T. Even if they are not poisonous, they can cause hallucinations or even diarrhea and you’ll be in worse shape. You might get hungry, but under normal conditions, you’ll be found or you’ll find someone within 72 hours and you’ll be rescued. This is why it’s always important to keep SOME food in your vehicle or in your camping gear.
Making a solar still – Too much effort and water loss (sweating) for too little gain. Don’t bother,
US Doctor Who Studied 5,000 Near-Death Experiences Says This About Afterlife
Why is China so obsessed with having ownership over Taiwan? If Taiwan doesn’t want to be a part of China, shouldn’T they just let them be their own people?
Well, you know, one in five koreans died during the Korean War before an armstice was signed.
Seven decades later, a peace treaty remains elusive, because the United States is a counterparty, and it pursues a “take no prisoners” strategy when it comes to communists, especially when they are not useful.
The exceptions today are Vietnam and China, for obvious reasons.
Now, taiwan as we find it today is an active remnant of the Chinese Civil War, which was fought on a scale way bigger than Korea.
Why active? Because the roc didn’t sign an armstice with the PRC. Technically, a state of war exists between the 2 governments, with 99.5% of humanity recognizing Beijing as China’s government, and the remaining 0.5% Taipei.
Every first world state, every big (population > 100m) state is part of the 99.5%, and they maintain embassies/consulates in Beijing, under the One China framework.
Just like the Koreas, it is the United States being the road block to peace.
The United States was embarrassed in korea after being fought to a standstill. That set into motion the unique position of Taipei, which once occupied the P5 China seat at the UN.
The interested reader is welcome to dig further.
In the 21st century, the Chinese people are seeking a conclusion to the Chinese Civil War, for peace and complete sovereignty to return as mandate in China.
What is it like to have an anti-aircraft missile chasing your aircraft?
Well, it certainly gets one’s attention, along with giving one a huge spike of adrenaline!!!!
Also to be “chased” by a missile is to be not in a good position, especially since some of them fly at Mach III+. You can’t outrun them, unless you are at the very edge of their range or envelope. Indeed it is better to have them coming in at you from the forward hemisphere where you can see them and better defeat them, rather than it coming from the rear and chasing you.
Fighter pilots like challenges, and an air-to-air or surface-to-air missile fired at you certainly qualifies! Before the fighter pilot ever flies in harm’s way, his intelligence officer will have briefed him on the enemy’s missiles, their capabilities, their ranges, their guidance, their tactics, and how to defeat them. Earlier the fighter pilot will have practiced defeating a variety of enemy missiles, so he is trained and ready.
Without getting into specifics, different missiles can be defeated by different aircraft maneuvers and by various tactics. Certainly dispersing flares will hamper a missile with IR guidance, as will electronic countermeasures (ECM) and metallic chaff, hamper a radar guided one. You concentrate on what you have learned in training, and methodically do your job against the incoming missile threat.
The well-trained pilot with adequate countermeasures stands a good chance against most missile threats. After a while, it almost becomes routine if you have seen many missiles, and lived to tell about it.
Anecdote: For high and fast-movers, the SA-7 Strella (MANPAD) is not much of a threat, being small, slow, and limited in range. The first time I ever saw one fired at me, I thought, “What the heck is that?” It looked like a wounded duck, spiraling up at us in a corkscrew fashion. My wingman and I were laughing at it over the radio as we flew out of its range. We had seen too many and more deadly SA-2 ‘telephone poles’ shot at us to be impressed by this little guy.
An unusual seismic event has taken place in Iran; so unusual that seismographs have “ALERTED” over this “event.”
“I hear what women think” | What Women Want | CLIP
Would I still have to pay for electricity when I get solar panels installed in my home?
We had solar panels installed in 2021. It took a long time to choose a company and we interviewed a number of companies. It was very expensive (almost$100K), but we wanted Solar Edge panels and Tesla back-up batteries, top of the line 25 year warranty on the panels, 10 years on the batteries. The federal tax credit was 26% in 2021 and North Carolina gave us a $4,000 rebate on the panels.
There is a connection fee in most states and an agreement with your electric company to either pay you for the excess energy you deliver to the “grid” or to hold your excess for future use. This monthly connection fee ranges (by state and by Power Provider) from $15 to $35 per month. In North Carolina, our fee with Duke Energy is $16 per month and they hold our excess kilowatt hours for times when we have very little sun, rain, storms, winter. Since we had the solar panels installed, we have not had a single month when we needed to buy power from the electric company…but we did have to cover the whole house, back and front. (The spaces are for roof vent pipes.)
Because of the age, style and design (Victorian) of our house we had monthly electric bills of $200 to $450. Now they’ve been around $16 for three years. When we have a big storm coming, Duke Power keeps our batteries charged and we’ve never been without power on our basic systems. If you can afford it, you should do it. The electric company gets its energy mostly from petroleum, natural gas and coal. Everything we can do to help preserve our natural resources, we probably should do. P.S. Our house was prettier without the panels!
Chinas Growing Military Power SHOCKS USA: War is Coming w/ Col. Zhou Bo
What don’t they tell you about dating an attractive man?
An acquaintance of mine lives two blocks away.
He’s almost 40, but he looks like he is a GQ model. It’s redonkulous.
You know those magazine ads, those fancy dark haired guys in the black and white pictures on the beach walking, with piercing eyes, and that just muscular-enough body that drives girls nuts?
That’s him.
I catch women looking at him at parties for extended periods of time.
He’s got a million dollar smile that sparkles. He’s funny and easy to talk to.
And he’s a maxillofacial surgeon.
Codename, smart, hot guy with money.
If this guy went after a girlfriend of mine, I’m not sure I’d blame her for writing her own hall pass.
And I have a secret for you about this guy.
It’s going to disappoint you fellas.
He’s an amazing father and husband.
He’s been with his wife since college, he is a devoted dad. His kids hang on him like monkeys.
His wife is always happy. They are good.
I’m a divorced guy. I know a bad marriage when I see it. They have one solid marriage.
He’s a humble, normal, friendly guy. Who woulda thunk.
This GQ looking man, who could have rocked the single life harder than Charlie Sheen has chosen a noble path.
And he’s proof that not all attractive men are dogs.
This is what we tell the newborns. We apologize for the inconvenience. We don’t explain. We just tell them, hoping that one day they will understand.We had to go underground to survive. We were the hunted, relentlessly so. That was 40 years ago, and still, we remain out of the light of the life-giving sun. There will be no reprieve. Those who remained on the surface blotted out all joy.Those of us from before, the ones who remember the sun and the moon, most of them went insane. I was there at the beginning of our exile. I was 9 years old. Now I am the caretaker of the garden that feeds our people.Early on, life was unforgiving, and I learned to be brutal, with myself of course. I had to help my mother make it through, but she didn’t, succumbing to depression within the first year. We sent the dead down the underground river that emptied to the sea, somewhere so far from our existence, it has been forgotten.My name is Amy. It’s the name I gave myself. We all gave ourselves new names for our new lives. My comfort friend chose Danny. I think he chose it for someone he knew back from before, but he’ll never tell. And I won’t ask at risk of his banishment.Danny was the key to our long-term survival. It took many years, but Danny created a way to channel filaments of sunlight through the earth and into our garden. Undetectable on the surface, these filaments swam through rock and dirt like fireflies. They tiptoed on the crowns of the plants and moved into them like blood.Once a week, we each received a shot of the golden nectar. You would enter a chamber and pull a weighted mask over your eyes. For 10 minutes, pulses of sunlight streamed through your pupils, but you couldn’t see anything, you could only feel the sun enveloping you like butter. To me, it felt like breathing water, and I carried that precious energy with me to the garden.One day, I woke in the garden to a chorus of concerns, Danny shaking me. “What?” I said. “There has been an emergency. One of our filaments has been extinguished. We’ve been exposed.” I began to cry.I felt like I was falling through sand, farther and farther, toward the other side of the universe. Danny pulled me up and we headed to the joining center. The others were there. Danny pointed to the damaged filament on our community map. It was way too close to the garden. One filament out in the garden and we would starve.The old woman, Edregon, came up and placed her hand on the map. It buzzed and set us all mute. “I will go, I’m old but I can still be useful.” Struck dumb, we just nodded and she de-materialized.Many months went by and every few weeks another filament went out, but the garden held. We took smaller plants into the chamber to encourage faster growth, but the chamber couldn’t accommodate both human and plant. We knew time was contracting and without change, we’d soon be cold little balls rolling to the sea.“I’ll go to the surface,” Danny said. Three others gathered around him, hands fluttering over his head. They draped the Savory cloak over his shoulders, chanting in their sing-song-y way and then, Danny was gone.We slept in the dark, ate in the dark, cleaned and dressed in the dark. The garden light and the weekly 10-minute blast continued but difficult decisions lay ahead.Months later, the youngest began to fall ill. The elders held them in the light chamber, but the signal was too weak to nurture both. The frailest of each melted away. By the end of the current cycle, only 20 of us remained, 4 children and no elders. I believed that both Danny and Edregon were dead but kept that to myself.On the last day of our meager harvest, smoke began to fill the garden. Smoke or steam or breath, we couldn’t tell. It smelled of animal magic and was the color of river rocks. We gathered around the garden reaching out into nothing. One by one we sat down as if hypnotized. A low hum rose and suddenly a voice boomed out “Rise children, you have been avenged.”I looked around and saw nothing but the smoke which curled and twisted and reached the cave ceiling. Drops of sunlight appeared within the towering smoke and our spell was broken. We all stood.
“What are you?” I said.
“I am the life everlasting and the death everpresent.”
“Where are Danny and Edregon?”
“They are within. Their bravery took them far, but they had to find each other to save the world.”
“Did they,” I asked?
“Oh yes, dear one, they did. They came together like thunderclap and trombone. The explosion rippled over the land disintegrating the joyless ones where they stood. But it also took Danny and Edregon.”
Everyone exclaimed and clapped their hands and screamed and yelled. WE ARE SAVED!
“No,” the smoke said. “You must carry everyone to the chamber. First, put all the children in together. They must stay in for 12 hours. The filaments are not yet restored, and it will take time to nurture them back to life. Then, you must do the same for the rest, three at a time for 9 hours. Bit by bit you must restore your balance. Do not eat, or drink, or bathe or sleep until everyone has been in the chamber.”
“Is that all?”
“No, when everyone has been in the chamber, shut it down and go to sleep.”
With that, the smoke was gone, and we began the ritual. I would go last alone. When it was done, we went to our sleeping places.
I don’t know how long we slept but we woke up together, no, not together, but as one. I woke up but I was everyone. There was no body, no cave, no garden, but the smoke returned. And there was light. I felt as if we were the light of the world, of the heavens, of all of life.
The smoke swirled around and away, leaving one thought behind: We apologize for the inconvenience, but we trust you are happy with the result. No do-overs accepted.
How is the life of go-go bar girl in Thailand?
The life of a go-go dancer is somewhat regimented, and I would say not glamorous.
They have specific working hours and set dance schedules during those hours.
Most have a time clock to punch when the arrive and leave and they are docked when they do not arrive on time, or leave early.
Not sure how it is now but most have to pay for their own costumes – nothing is provided.
There is sometimes a base salary – but it will not be much and if they want to make money then they need customers to buy them drinks and or take them home. Every time they get a drink bought for them, you get a bill and they get a token that they can redeem for cash later. Not exactly sure how much cash they get from this, but in order to keep the $ flowing they need to constantly be drinking. Yes, they can drink pop or orange juice, but many do not as the alcohol helps them to relax so they can do the job.
If the bar has ping-pong balls then a customer can buy a bucket of them and throw them at the girls and they can chase them around and redeem the balls for 20 baht/ball. (about 60 cents US).
They usually wear a bikini when working and then, when not dancing onstage they go and sit with men who are drinking and are very happy to have a bikini clad lady sitting next to them.
Note: In the bars that cater to western men, they do not have to go and sit with men, nor do they have to go home with these men if they do not want to. However, if they do neither of these things then they will not make enough money to pay the rent/eat. They are encouraged to sit and talk as it is good for the bar and for the girl when people are drinking.
They need to be happy and smiley faced ambassadors for the bar in order to attract customers into the bar and then get them to buy drinks.
They do try to lay claim to customers if they can as the customer may well be their meal ticket, but they also have to sit by and watch if the customer decided he wants to try a different girl.
All in all I would say it is a difficult life, that can be lucrative as another poster has already stated, but certainly not a good life.
Do you believe that the deployment of the Typhon missile system in the Philippines is a strategic move to deter China’s actions in the South China Sea?
Deter, no. Threaten, yes.
The typhon is an offensive strike system with a range of ~2,000km.
It is not a defensive system.
Deployed in Luzon, it allows America to strike deep within the mainland.
In principle, this is no different from China deploying dongfeng missiles on Cuba to deter America in the gulf of Mexico.
The United States will never accept such an arrangement, because the dongfeng, just like the typhon, can be armed with nuclear warheads.
Missiles in Cuba render impotent the early warning and layers of defense afforded by installations in korea, Japan, Guam, Hawaii.
Typhon in the Philippines upsets the strategic deterrent calculus. Its presence on Filipino soil will not be tolerated and may lead to fundamental damage to bilateral diplomacy, beginning with trade and a shift of military activity south of the bashi strait into the east Philippine sea between Luzon and Guam.
China can ratchet up the pressure many more notches, because it hasn’t activated any significant levers yet against bongbong’s administration.
Israeli Broadcasting Corporation: “Israel Response to Iran DELAYED . . . ” Or Genesis 34 Deception?
As of Sunday evening in Israel, the IBC reports “Israel’s retaliation against Iran has been delayed due to uncertainty about the damage the attack would leave.” Right . . . . Not the strange earthquake in Iran that mimicked an underground nuke blast.
The report that Israel will delay its retaliation caused Iran to lift all airline flight restrictions and re-open all airspace. which it had closed in the western part of its country.
But . . . . is this a feint?
Did Israel put this out as “mis-information” so as to get Iran to lower its guard? All the way back in the Bible itself, there is a story of how “Israel” tricked – and then slaughtered.
Genesis 34
Dinah Is Raped
34 Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah, went to visit some of the women who lived nearby. 2 She was seen by Hamor’s son Shechem, the leader of the Hivites, and he grabbed her and raped her. 3 But Shechem was attracted to Dinah, so he told her how much he loved her. 4 Shechem even asked his father to arrange for him to marry her.
5 Meanwhile, Jacob heard what had happened. But his sons were out in the fields with the cattle, so he did not do anything at the time. 6 Hamor arrived at Jacob’s home 7 just as Jacob’s sons were coming in from work. When they learned that their sister had been raped, they became furiously angry, because nothing is more disgraceful than rape, and it must not be tolerated.
8 Hamor said to Jacob and his sons:
My son Shechem really loves Dinah. Please let him marry her. 9 Why don’t you start letting your families marry into our families and ours marry into yours? 10 You can share this land with us. Move freely about until you find the property you want; then buy it and settle down here.
11 Shechem added, “Do this favor for me, and I’ll give whatever you want. 12 Ask anything, no matter how expensive. I’ll do anything, just let me marry Dinah.”
13 Jacob’s sons wanted to get even with Shechem and his father because of what had happened to their sister. 14 So they tricked them by saying:
You’re not circumcised![a] It would be a disgrace for us to let you marry Dinah now. 15 But we will let you marry her, if you and the other men in your tribe agree to be circumcised. 16 Then your families can marry into ours, and ours can marry into yours, and we can live together like one nation. 17 But if you don’t agree to be circumcised, we’ll take Dinah and leave this place.
18 Hamor and Shechem liked what was said. 19 Shechem was the most respected person in his family, and he was so in love with Dinah that he hurried off to get everything done. 20 The two men met with the other leaders of their city and told them:
21 These people really are friendly. Why not let them move freely about until they find the property they want? There’s enough land here for them and for us. Then our families can marry into theirs, and theirs can marry into ours.
22 We have to do only one thing before they will agree to stay here and become one nation with us. Our men will have to be circumcised just like theirs. 23 Just think! We’ll get their property, as well as their flocks and herds. All we have to do is to agree, and they will live here with us.
24 Every grown man followed this advice and got circumcised.
Dinah’s Brothers Take Revenge
25 Three days later the men who had been circumcised were still weak from pain. So Simeon and Levi,[b] two of Dinah’s brothers, attacked with their swords and killed every man in the town, 26 including Hamor and Shechem. Then they took Dinah and left. 27 Jacob’s other sons came and took everything they wanted. All this was done because of the horrible thing that had happened to their sister. 28 They took sheep, goats, donkeys, and everything else that was in the town or the countryside. 29 After taking everything of value from the houses, they dragged away the wives and children of their victims.
30 Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “Look what you’ve done! Now I’m in real trouble with the Canaanites and Perizzites who live around here. There aren’t many of us, and if they attack, they’ll kill everyone in my household.”
31 They answered, “Was it right to let our own sister be treated that way?”
Today’s NATO Meeting in Germany has an information-seal on it so tight, I cannot get even a HINT at what, if anything, was decided regarding Ukraine’s desire to use west-supplied long-range missiles to hit Russia.
Whatever took place at that NATO meeting is apparently a forbidden subject – NO ONE is talking.
Not a hint, not a parallel construction, not even a coy hypothetical story. Zip. Zero. Nada.
I can’t even find out *** IF *** anything was actually decided!
I will persevere . . .
Ret. Secret Service Guy with Podcast says Have Preps for 3 to 6 months survival!
My entire audience knows of my work with the FBI and its Joint Terrorism Task Force, but many simply refuse to take my advice on “prepping.” For those who won’t listen to MY advice, here’s a retired Secret Service Guy telling you have 3 to 6 months “preps.”
For God’s sake, if you won’t listen to me, listen to him!
The US has urgently deployed at least one Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) air defense battery in Israel.
The deployment of this $3 Billion system is to reinforce defenses against Iranian ballistic missiles.
This is another signal that Israeli action in Iran is expected to be very forceful and likely trigger Iranian response.
DENIED! U.S. Defense Officials are now Denying the Deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) System operated by U.S. Forces to Israel, despite reports from Israeli Media and Sources; however, they state a Deployment is being Considered.
BULLETIN: ISRAEL BEGINS INVASION OF . . . . SYRIA ! ! !
1:47 PM EDT SATURDAY — Following Lebanon, Israel’s ground invasion of Syria has begun!
Israeli special forces have broken through the Syrian border from the Golan Heights towards the village of Qadana in armored vehicles.
The initial assault began about an hour and a half ago and has reportedly advanced at least 500 meters into Syrian territory.
This is a rapidly developing story, check back for updates. . . .
UPDATE 1:59 PM EDT —
The map below shows the area where the Israeli invasion is taking place:
Israel Invades Syria Map
Israeli troops backed by armor entered ~500 m into Syria in the S. Quneitra province. They seized an area West of Kudna, along the border fence with Golan, & bulldozed trees. No clashes with Syrian forces are reported, yet.
UPDATE 2:10 PM EDT —
The Israeli army declares several areas in the Upper and Western Galilee closed military zones.
SIMULTANEOUSLY, IN LEBANON –
The Israeli army is calling on residents of 23 towns in southern Lebanon to evacuate immediately.
MORE: “Israel must also force the UN to evacuate. (UN positions on map below.) “These useless forces have failed in their only mission – to stop Hezbollah’s activities south of the Litani River.”
IDF orders Lebanese to LEAVE
UPDATE 3:24 PM EDT —
From IDF: Following a situational assessment, the areas of Zar’it, Shomera, Shtula, Netu’a, and Even Menachem in northern Israel will be declared a closed military zone as of 20:00 today (Saturday). Entry to this area is prohibited.
5:19 PM EDT —
Israel declares a state of alert in the occupied Golan Heights and asks the settlers to pay attention to the instructions of the home front
BE THAT GUY – Best Hopecore Motivational Compilation
Exactly one month after my mother died, all of the 30+ smoke sensors in the house went off simultaneously (well, within a window of a half an hour),
I was living alone in her big old manor.
And the darnedest thing happened.
I had installed the smoke alarms with new batteries around 3 to 5 years previously. One in every room. And then at 2am they all started going off. It was crazy.
I don’t recall if I ever wrote about this event.
It could have been spiritual or fate, or just dumb luck. But yeah. There I was at 2 am going though the house turning off all the smoke detectors, and removing the dead batteries.
Who’d figure.
Anything could have happened. From an electromagnetic pulse to the house alone, or just that all the batteries installed came from the same batch of batteries. Or maybe Momma wanted to get me awake for one reason or the other.
I will have to tell you all that weird electrical events seem to follow me around. I remember this strange cloud that landed above my mobile home in West Elizabeth, PA that enveloped the home in bolts of lightening. Just our place. Big cloud. Thirty or so bolts of lightening. Just around us. Damn strange.
Just a coincidence.
You know…
Anyways, that’s my story about batteries and early morning wake up calls.
Today…
Have you ever met someone and much later been sure that person was an angel? Why?
Years ago, after the birth of my daughter,I rushed to the ER with a fever of 103 with shaking chills, horrible back pain and blood pressure so low I could barely stand.
I called my urologist who told me to go to the ER ASAP explaining that I clearly had sepsis from an infection from a kidney stone that had been stuck during my pregnancy.
The ER was crowded and I was put in an overflow unit in the back. I had not been examined yet but my urologist called the hospital to explain my situation to them.
I was lying on the gurney waiting to be seen when I realized I wasn’t able to move. There was so much infection and trauma in my system that I became paralyzed.
I knew I was going to die.
I panicked. The pain intensified and my heart started beating erratically trying to keep me alive. It seemed to be jumping out of my chest wall.
I tried to lift my head to scream but couldn’t move.
I knew I had to get help. Fast. Nobody was around.
Suddenly a lovely nurse appeared by my side.
At least I thought she was a nurse. She had sea green eyes, the softest most beautiful green eyes I’d ever seen.
And soft energy to match.
Energy that comforted me in my distress.
Help I said quite feebly. I need help! I’m dying
You’ll be okay, she consoled. I’ll get you help.
Then she disappeared.
Next thing I know the hospital intercom system screamed a code blue. I think it was blue. Several medical personnel raced into the room, over to me, and rushed me down the hall to the OR where they put in an emergency nephrostomy or kidney tube and bag to relieve the pressure, saving me.
When my condition stabilized, I asked everybody about the green-eyed nurse.
I wanted to know her name so that I could mail her a thank you card because she not only reassured me but saved my life.
Everybody I asked, even ER staff who were working that night, said there was no such woman. The hospital did not employ anybody by that description. No volunteers either
There were no female nurses working in the ER that night.
That’s when I realized that she was an angel.
Somebody only I could see.
I sometimes wonder how she got me the help that I needed
But it doesn’t matter, does it?
Angels have their own ways
Why are the US troops showing their concerns about Chinese defence? Are they doing it to increase their own defence budget?
Bang on
Yes. That is exactly why they are doing it.
Believe me. The US and its Defence is better than the next five countries combined. They have more than enough to defend themselves even against the Independence Day Aliens.
Unfortunately – THE US is on a downward Path
Almost all Manufacture in the US is defense related
Defence Industries form 26% of the Hedge Funds , Monetary Funds, and Other equity based companies to invest in.
Defence Industries directly employ /contract collectively over 6.5 Million People which is almost 3.75% of the Nations Population.
Defence Industries spend Billions and Billions on Research and employ a huge number of Students and Researchers and fund their colleges
This means – The Defence Budget has to keep rising. It is like a Ponzi Scheme. Keep giving more money to defence – so that US Borrows from the Public, US pays the Defence Industries for more F-22s and suchlike that they dont need, This keeps jobs alive, This keeps shares trading at high levels.
Ultimately US incurs more and more debt (Despite export orders) and eventually it will collapse.
What is the Trick to keep increasing the Defence Budget?
Hype the Enemy!!!!
It is an old trick.
It was practiced by the Americans during the Cold War.
They declared the Mig 21 as the finest and most fearsome fighter (It was barely 70% of the hype) and tripled the budget to make their own fighters (Far superior F16s)
They declared that decent and ordinary Russian Products and Tanks were world class and much better than American equivalents to get the Congress to cough up money to build more tanks (More Tanks means more jobs, more jobs means salvaging an already mobile economy)
Even today they declare the S-400 to be much better than it actually is. It is a good piece but the Americans claim it is impregnable.
The Russians swallowed it hook line and sinker. They saw the Americans pump money into defence and the Russian loonies began to do the same pouring all their money into Military Industry (Almost 62% of the Economy) leading to utter disaster and ruin and leading to sale of missiles by generals on a retail basis in Russia.
Now they started the same tricks with China.
Claims that the J-20 which is a good fighter but barely 60% of the Su-57 or F-35 – is a class apart
Claims that Chinas defence is impregnable (When without Nukes – US can rip apart Chinas defences inside 8 days maximum)
Of course US has an agenda but the Chinese are too smart to fall for this old hat (Of course Xi is a numbskull so you never know) and wont pump money into defence like the Soviets did.
They are waiting for the US to eventually inflate to the point of no return and completely collapse after which they will pick up the pieces.
It is a Cat and Mouse Game so far.
Feminism Has DESTROYED Modern Dating & The Family, Birthrates Are COLLAPSING & Men Are Giving Up
If I get pulled over for a suspected DWI and I hold up a card that says “Do not ask me any questions, contact this [lawyer]”, without opening my window, what will the officer do?
“If I get pulled over for a suspected DWI and I hold up a card that says “Do not ask me any questions, contact this [lawyer]”, without opening my window, what will the officer do?”
Well… first of all, you don’t know why the officer stopped you. You might have been drinking, or you might think the officer is doing a DUI stop, but you really don’t know. Even when I strongly suspected a driver of being impaired, the beginning of the stop was always the same: “Good evening, sir. I’m Officer Hawk with the XYZ Police Department and the reason I’m stopping you is for disobeying that stop sign (or red light or for crossing over the center line marker, etc.).” I never thought it would be a good idea to walk up to a driver and say, “Shitfaced, huh?”
If the officer was going to tell you about a tail light out, you just upped the ante to committing an actual crime and not just a traffic infraction.
Second, there’s no problem with a sign that says, “I will not answer any questions without a lawyer present.” You absolutely have the right to remain silent. A sign would probably help instead of just sitting mute and making the officers wonder if you have a mental health issue. The real problem is when you begin attaching restrictions on what the officer can and cannot do which do not carry the support of law, such as refusing to cooperate until your lawyer is called.
And make no mistake about it — in the US, the law is clearly on the side of the police in this area. You must present your driver’s license when you’re stopped for a traffic infraction and police absolutely can order you to get out of (or back in to) your car without probable cause or even reasonable suspicion of a crime.
At any rate, the officer will probably explain, many times, that you have no right to an attorney being present simply for the traffic violation or for the DUI investigation. The officer will probably explain, again, many times, that you are committing a crime by not presenting your driver’s license or getting out of the vehicle when ordered to do so.
If you continue to ignore the officer, you will eventually be told you are under arrest and then removed from the car by whatever force is necessary.
Windows up and door is locked? The window will be broken. The officer may or may not elect to open the door before removing you from the car.
Seat-belted in and holding firmly onto the steering wheel? Expect some blows to the nerve clusters in your arm, or a brachial plexus stun, or for an officer to use a baton as a pry bar to remove your hands from the steering wheel. If you’re not smart enough to let go of the steering wheel before your wrist snaps, that’s squarely on you.
Actively fighting with officers as they pull you from the car? Expect a taser or other escalation of force as they get you into handcuffs.
As far as a DUI investigation goes, it will all depend on the circumstances. If you exhibit other indicators of impairment during the contact, the officer might decide to arrest you for DUI without your cooperation in doing any of the tests and still pursue criminal charges for obstructing a police officer or whatever laws might apply. If you actively fight with police during the extraction, you might end up being treated at the hospital for injuries sustained, in which case there will probably be a blood draw and BAC analysis done anyway.
Even if the police don’t pursue a DUI charge, you’ll end up in jail, your car will be impounded with a broken window, and you’ll have plenty of legal problems for the foreseeable future.
What’s a rule your employer implemented that backfired terribly?
What’s a rule your employer implemented that backfired terribly?
This wasn’t a company rule, just one my store manager implemented.
I worked for one of the Big 4 supermarkets in the UK while I was studying for my A-levels.
I worked on the Beers, Wines & Spirits (BWS) section doing a 6pm-10pm shift. The store closed at 10pm. The “Afternoon” shifts finished at 6:00pm and the “Night” shifts started at 9:30pm. In the 3 and a half intervening hours, just about every member of staff was either on the checkouts or a supervisor. I had no supervisor until the Nights started as my department supervisor clocked off at 5:30, as did most non-checkout “management”.
Well, one shift I go to the “Cage” to get some more stock to put out. The Cage phone rings and I answer. Lo and behold, it’s the store manager, who’s actually working past 6 for once.
Boss “Why have you left your department?”
Me “to get more stock to put out”
Boss “What if I told you we’d been fined £5,000 for having the department unstaffed?”
Me “I’d have said that it would’ve cost less to hire a 2nd person to work at the same time as me”
Boss “I don’t want you leaving BWS during your shift EVER unless you can get someone to cover”
Me “ok”
Boss “and don’t dress the shelves (pull everything forward to make it look neat) until 9:30 at the earliest”
Me “ok, bye”
So for 3 months I did pretty much no work, except for that last half hour, yet got paid for doing so. Stock piled up, giving more work for the Night teams, 4 of them had to give up an hour each of their actual work to cover what I wasn’t allowed to do. 20 man hours. Doesn’t sound a lot, but that hour they took out had to be made up by someone else. It all diluted itself to nothing by the time my next shift started.
The next time the manager was working past 6 (yep, that long), he asked me to go to his office. I told him I couldn’t as there wasn’t anyone else to cover.
He scrapped his “rule” there and then. 3 months with no productivity. 3 months he couldn’t have stayed behind 20 minutes to catch me on my way in.
Just a shame he didn’t scrap the rule before Christmas. Empty shelves where there should be alcohol on the run-up to Christmas is a big no-no.
He cost the store thousands of pounds a week (4 70cl bottles of spirits an hour was about £2,000 a week during my shifts) because he wouldn’t allow me 20 minutes a day to enable me to do my job.
He was out on his backside by Easter.
Everything Is Melting Down ALL At Once
What is something that bothers you as an Indian?
The incident happened exactly 7 months ago while I was at my uncle’s place.
The maid was working and in every 30 minutes a call was coming & she was getting disturbed from that.
I asked her about the reason and she told me that a guy was constantly disturbing her and giving rough proposals, though she didn’t even know that guy.
I was annoyed at that moment.
The guy again called after 30 minutes. This time I picked up.
He said,
Hello, aaj free ho to jungle k paas aa jana! Kuch kaam hai.
(Hello, if you are free come near Jungle. I have some work)
I said,
Hello brother, mai jaan sakta hu aap kaha se bol rahe ho and aapko kya kaam hai!
(Hello brother, can I know from where you are speaking and what works do you have.)
He replied,
Abbe, tu chup reh! Ladki ko phone de! Usse kaam hai! Beech Mai taang mat lada warna kaat doonga.
(Be silent, give the phone to the girl. I have works with her! Don’t interfere, else I’ll cut you.)
I became more annoyed and threatened him about calling police.
He replied,
Shalbani Jungle k paas ajana dam hai to! Jaha police marne ke baad aati hai waha tu meko marene ki baat kar raha hai! Haha.
(Come near Shalbani Jungle if you have courage! When police comes after death, then you are calling police to kill me! Haha.)
He even concealed his name!
That was 8 pm. I went to police station to lodge an FIR against him. But the police person wasn’t taking an FIR.
The sleeping officer told,
Arre raat ko Kya aate ho yaar! Koi faltu call kiya hoga isme Kya fir! Ghar jao and so jao phone switch off kar ke!
(Arre what are you doing here at night! Someone did a wrong call probably? Go home and sleep by switching off your phone)
I asked,
Sir our maid lives far away from us! She goes to home by cycle. What about her protection?
He replied,
Ab police ek ladki ke kisi anjan call ke liye usko protection de? Kya pata ladki ka character bhii to dheela ho sakta hai.
( Now police has to give protection to a girl for an unknown call? Who knows the character of this girl! It might be loose.)
I was so angry at that police officer. Our maid was crying in fear! We told her it’s not safe to go to home at night! She slept in our house! The next day I called that guy and he was so desparate to pick the call!
Me along with my uncle went and met with him! He was sitting in a couch like a boss. My uncle shouted loud at him. Crowd gathered at his house. We told the local villagers of his works and also the village head.
The guy apologized along with his mother.
Yeah, this is the condition of our nation when it comes to privacy. Most of them are too lazy that others’ life became others’ matter to them.
That’s why normal people don’t have any fear of police and most of the times the helpless people don’t lodge any complaints to police because they know that Most Of The Indian Police Officers will visit them when they are no more on this Earth!
This bothers me as an Indian.
What’s the best thing you ever did for yourself?
I accepted my marriage was over, my kids lost to me, and I had to for the first time in my adult life put myself first including my health and mental well being.
I was 37, had a stroke on a Friday, had my wife try to cancel health insurance through her employer on Monday morning and by Monday afternoon was asking my lawyer about the life insurance and my various accounts. When she learned she was neither my beneficiary nor executor she filed for divorce, had someone make anonymous tips to CPS to keep me from leaving the country, after committing several counts of financial fraud fled the country going back to the UK where she and the kids had dual citizenship.
My legal troubles were cleared by the time I was fit to travel, but she was not to be found. Her sisters proved the kids were still alive to the US cops who basically said it was my problem. Her three sisters did all get quietly fired from their jobs for helping her commit fraud, but since 1 was married to a cop and another a prosecutor never were charged with anything, something about improperly seized evidence. The CPS call all came from the phone of the third sister’s BIL’s phone directly to her work line at CPS the morning she fled the country.
Knowing I had lost the fight I moved back to the Philippines where I had a condo and history. I spent 2 years with a live in nurse and a housekeeper learning to walk and talk again. It was for the first time in 17 years being able to just take care of me and my own needs. It was the best thing I had ever done for myself.
Tamale Pie Stuffed Peppers
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Yield: 2 to 4 servings
Ingredients
3 tablespoons cornmeal
1/4 cup cold water
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon boiling water
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 pound sausage meat
3/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/8 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 pound ground beef
1/8 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1/4 cup finely chopped celery
1 1/2 teaspoons seeded and minced hot green peppers
1 large tomato, peeled and chopped
1 ear fresh corn
4 green bell peppers
5 pitted black olives
1/4 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
1/3 cup grated mild Cheddar cheese
Salt
Instructions
Gradually stir cornmeal into cold water in a small bowl. Stir this mixture into boiling water in a small saucepan. Heat, stirring constantly, to boiling; reduce heat to medium-low.
Stir in butter. Cook, covered, stirring occasionally, for 35 minutes.
Remove from heat.
While cornmeal is cooking, sauté sausage meat in a large heavy skillet over medium heat, breaking up the lumps with a fork, until it begins to lose its pink color.
Add onion and garlic; cook 5 minutes. Stir in chili powder and cumin.
Add ground beef and continue to cook, breaking up lumps with a fork, until beef loses its color, about 5 minutes.
Add hot pepper sauce, celery and hot green pepper. Cook 5 minutes.
Stir in tomato; cook 5 minutes longer.
With a sharp knife, cut corn kernels off cob, slicing about halfway through kernels. Using back of knife, scrape cob to remove remaining kernel bits and milky residue. Add corn to tomato/meat mixture. Cook 10 minutes longer.
Add salt to taste; remove from heat.
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cook peppers in boiling salted water for 2 minutes.
Trim off tops with sharp knife. Core and remove seeds.
Fill each pepper with meat mixture, packing it down firmly with back of spoon. Leave about 1/2 inch of space at top of pepper.
Cover top of each pepper with olive slices.
Sprinkle with Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheese.
Spread a thin layer of cornmeal mixture over top, using 2 teaspoons per pepper.
Place peppers in baking dish.
Bake for 50 minutes; let stand 5 minutes before serving.
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What work secret did you accidentally find out that changed everything?
I worked at a company where my initial job I had full access to all financial and job information and tracked it daily. When I shifted roles, my access mistakenly wasn’t removed and I didn’t say anything – just continued with the habit.
Shortly after my role changed, I noticed the parent company seemed to be shifting things around to keep one of the leads and their key people and dump everything and everyone else. So I started saving money and paying off debts. Because the writing on the wall was telling me lay-offs were coming. The home office was setting up drought conditions to slowly kill the company I was at in such a way it would seem like market flux. But I could see ALL jobs and financials and where things were being directed. It was a deliberate and slow starvation and eventually the financial situation would force lay-offs.
I was the last member added to my team and if the strategy was last in, first out, I was gone. It was just a matter of when.
One Friday I went to lunch, about six months after I started seeing the pattern, and I told my best friend I would be losing my job really soon. I could feel it coming. Sure enough, came back from lunch and got let go. I was more surprised at how surprised everyone else was, especially the VP who had to talk to me. He got more choked up in our meeting than I did. I was relieved. The wait was finally over.
It was obvious to me the company was being killed to separate the star and the people on their team and jettison the rest. We were duplicating roles – to the home office it made sense to keep the team doing something unique and consolidate the other roles in one location – which was not in our location. Everyone else knew something was up but didn’t know they knew. There was a lot of tension. A lot of anxiety that people weren’t aware they were giving off. And no one but me knew why the office was so on edge. In the end the office was reduced to less than half its size.
I see former co-workers out and about and they all seem much happier than they were that last half year. There’s a lot of bitterness toward the parent company though for breaking up our office and disrupting so many lives.
“Just PREPARE Yourself…” – Danielle DiMartino
Despite the fact that EUV lithography machines have long been prohibited from sale to China, the Dutch government announced that from Sep 7th, special approval will be required for the export of DUV. What potential impacts will the regulation have?
No change.
Let it sink in that in 2017 before the corporate assassination of Huawei by the American Federal government, asml sold 1b in equipment to mainland China.
Last year, 2023, they sold almost 8b, a sevenfold increase.
The mainland is now their second largest client.
American ip-based curbs have already been in place since 2022, so the appearance of a mainland-made 5nm equivalent chip made on the 7nm node in 2023 on a Huawei phone embarrassed commerce secretary Gina, especially when she was made the center of a guerilla marketing campaign promoting the phone during her trip to Beijing.
The United States doesn’t want China anywhere near sub-10nm chips, so it is applying pressure on the Dutch government to force asml to disrupt service contracts to select mainland foundries making these advanced chips.
Unfortunately, nothing but an embargo is going to work at this point. But an embargo will be so disruptive the best outcome is global goods shortage and a second round of inflation or worse, market chaos.
ASML will lose the China market for good if they fail to honor contracts. At any rate, they will be lucky to preserve 1b annual sales within the coming decade, given the Chinese determination towards tech independence.
Parents, what’s the most embarrassing thing your child repeated in public that you said in private?
Not embarrassing but it was fucking hilarious. When my daughter was 3 or 4 we were at a restaurant and it was her mom’s turn to drink and mine to drive. So my ex orders a mud slide, which came in an enormous goblet and looked like a delicious chocolate shake.
So of course the little one asks to have some. We said no. She asked again and being our rule for asking for things was no, no, never, (Meaning if we said no twice and we’re asked again never was the answer and we stood by this ) her mom said, “ You can’t have any of mommy’s drink, it has liquor in it.”
My kid responded to this by standing on the seat of the booth and screaming, “ I want liquor, I want liquor!!” My ex, the waitress, and myself all burst out laughing.
We were regulars at this restaurant and my kid is not a spoiled brat so we all knew she was doing this more so as a joke and not a whining outburst. I’m sure the other patrons found this humorous as well. She’s always been a great kid and hasn’t lost her sense of humor.
I will say when she got a little older than this maybe at 5 I warned her that if she embarrasses me in public now, I won’t punish her. I will just store that in my memory, then I’m the future I will show up to her school in my pajamas and make sure I embarass her ten fold.
I never had an issue with her in public until she was like 10 when she would do so intentionally and dare me to get her back because she “doesn’t care what people think of me just like you don’t daddy, aren’t you glad you taught me that?”
{Edit} I read the question wrong and was going to delete my answer but it took too much time typing all that in my phone so I’ll go ahead and leave it until I get some complaints.
J-10C: China’s Strategic Moves with J-10C Fighter Aircraft
The J-10 was originally conceived as an air-superiority fighter for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force, but the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 led to its shift to that of a multi-role aircraft. Produced by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation, the Vigorous Drag …
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The Egyptian Defense Ministry has reportedly placed its first-ever order for Chinese fourth-generation fighters, specifically the J-10C, as of August 19. This decision underscores Cairo’s ongoing efforts to deepen strategic and economic ties with Beijing, following its recent entry into the Chinese-led BRICS bloc earlier this year.
With this acquisition, Egypt becomes the second country to procure the J-10C after Pakistan. Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports suggest that Sudan may have been negotiating a similar deal before insurgency complications in April 2024 delayed the talks. The J-10Cs are expected to replace Egypt’s aging fleet of F-16 Fighting Falcons as they are gradually phased out.
Interestingly, there is speculation that Egypt’s decision to acquire the J-10C may be an alternative to U.S. proposals for the F-16V upgrade package. The J-10C offers superior combat capabilities compared to the enhanced F-16 model, all at a comparable cost.
Beyond the three squadrons of MiG-29M fighters Egypt ordered from Russia in 2015, most of the country’s fourth-generation fighters come from Western sources. The potential purchase of J-10C fighters marks a significant shift, reflecting the evolving political landscape.
Recent reports suggest Egypt may be ordering J-10Cs, as Egyptian officials voice increasing concerns over the Western-backed Israeli military operations in Gaza. Officials in Cairo fear these operations may force the Gazan population to seek refuge in Egypt.
This possible acquisition is pivotal when considering Egypt’s current fighter fleet, which has long been viewed as inadequately prepared for a major interstate conflict.
The nearly 200 F-16s forming the backbone of the fleet are seen as some of the least capable fourth-generation fighters globally. They’re heavily downgraded and restricted to obsolete Cold War-era weaponry, completely lacking modern beyond-visual range air-to-surface capabilities.
Political hurdles
Over the years, Egypt has encountered several political hurdles in modernizing and arming its F-16s with advanced weaponry. A significant challenge has been its intricate relationship with the United States. Since Egypt’s F-16 fleet primarily comes from the U.S., arms deals with Washington are often bound by stringent political conditions.
U.S. foreign policy decisions often dictate the flow of advanced upgrades and weapon systems, based on concerns such as human rights, regional conflicts, or a nation’s alliances. For instance, following the military removal of President Mohamed Morsi in 2013, the U.S. temporarily suspended military aid, which delayed essential upgrades for Egypt’s aging F-16s.
This, coupled with U.S. control over spare parts and strict operational restrictions on the aircraft, significantly hampers Egyptian air power.
Moreover, Egypt’s French-supplied Rafale fighters, ordered in 2015, also experience notable performance downgrades. Most notably, the absence of Meteor air-to-air missiles severely limits their combat capabilities.
‘Regional hotspots’
France’s Rafale jets, although free from U.S. political constraints, have faced their own set of geopolitical challenges. When Egypt attempts to diversify its arms purchases, including reaching out to Russia and China, it often conflicts with its Western suppliers.
Western governments, including France, have occasionally been reluctant to equip Egypt with the latest weapons systems or upgrades due to worries about how these might be used in regional hotspots like Libya or Yemen. This balancing act between maintaining good relations with Western powers and non-Western allies has complicated Egypt’s efforts to modernize its fleet with state-of-the-art technology.
Additionally, Egypt’s shifting geopolitical landscape in the Middle East has influenced its defense relationships. The U.S. and European countries have aimed to retain influence over Egypt’s military activities by controlling access to advanced weaponry.
Due to restrictions on integrating advanced air-to-air missiles and radar technologies, Egypt’s efforts to modernize its F-16 and Rafale fleets have been hampered. As a result, Egypt has been seeking more independent options for its defense supplies, increasingly turning to countries like China, which impose fewer political conditions and restrictions. This trend has driven Egypt’s recent shift toward the Chinese J-10.
In contrast, the J-10C will provide Egypt with access to two of the world’s most capable air-to-air missile classes: the PL-10 and PL-15. Western sources have acknowledged that these Chinese missiles significantly outperform their American counterparts, the AIM-9X and AIM-120D.
For Egypt, which has been using Cold War-era AIM-9 variants and the outdated AIM-7, this shift signifies a technological leap spanning several decades in performance. The J-10C will stand as the most capable fighter aircraft in Egypt’s arsenal in terms of air-to-air combat and may even be the most advanced on the African continent.
The fighter has shown in simulated combat that it can outperform modern ‘4+ generation’ fighters almost twice its size, including Russian Su-35s and Chinese J-16s. Its array of compatible air-to-ground ordnance is extensive.
The J-10C is viewed as significantly more capable than any fighter in the Israeli fleet, except for its two squadrons of F-35s. This could potentially push Israel to expand its F-35 orders and invest in more advanced air-to-air missiles for its aircraft.
Images of America
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Cook and drain noodles as directed on the package.
While noodles are cooking, cook beef, onion, salt and pepper in a 10 inch skillet over medium heat 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is brown, drain.
In an ungreased 3 quart casserole, mix noodles, beef mixture, sauerkraut, soup and 1 cup Swiss cheese.
Bake uncovered 45 minutes.
Sprinkle remaining cheese over top of casserole and bake 5 to 10 minutes more until cheese is melted.
Sprinkle with red onion, if desired.
What happened that made you realize “My teacher has no idea what he or she is teaching”?
I wouldn’t say that our Elementary Maths teacher didn’t know what she was teaching, but Maths probably wasn’t her forte. She could only deliver the lessons or solutions in a “by-the-book” manner.
First, some background: we were a class of 42 students in our O-Level year (Secondary 4 in the British system, 16 years old) taking both Elementary Maths and Additional Maths (the harder subject). From hindsight in the following year, a junior told us that our class had 41 of us scoring A1 for Additional Maths, and one scoring A2, when he complained that we had set a very high bar for his class. So, we were actually the top class of our year, not just in Additional Maths but also Elementary Maths, plus all the other six subjects.
Here is the first story. The previous teacher in Secondary 3 had already completed the entire O-Level syllabus for Elementary Maths, one year ahead of time, and we were already done with the ten-years series (a compilation of O-Level examination papers) as homework. Secondary 4 was really just more revision. Unfortunately, that teacher was transferred to a new junior college (for 17–18 years old). He was that good.
And we were assigned a new teacher, who probably wasn’t aware of our progress. In one of the first lessons, we were terribly bored because we could work out the answers in our heads. We were quiet.
She thought we didn’t understand it and asked, “Do you understand the explanation?”
“Nooooo…” went the usual naughty back-benchers.
“Should I explain it again?”
“Yesssss…”
And she repeated it, word for word. The class was surprised. Word for word?
“Do you understand it now?”
“Nooooo…” and subsequent lessons just went that way.
Second story. Our classroom was next to a laboratory where they conducted experiments for the Basic Electricity and Electronics subject. One of those experiments was to demonstrate the danger of connecting an electrolytic capacitor with the wrong polarity in a direct current (DC) circuit. It would be a controlled explosion of a small electrolytic capacitor.
And there was that mini explosion next door during one of the Elementary Maths lesson.
“Who brought a firecracker?!”
“What?”
“Who played with a firecracker?”
Everyone looked at each other. “Nobody.”
“I heard it! Whoever did, better own up!”
One of our more alert classmate, because the rest of us were sleepy, said, “It’s next door. It’s an experiment.”
“Nonsense! Own up or I’ll search your bags.”
No amount of explanation convinced her. We even suggested that she should walk over and check with the other teacher. And so she searched our bags, finding nothing. Class dismissed.
Final story. Not knowing who was the teacher-in-charge, I joined the school Maths Club. And in the very first get together, we were asked to complete a 4×4 magic square and the first person to offer the solution would get a prize. Yes, she was the teacher in charge. By that time, I have already figured out one solution (there could be more than one way to solve it) and raised my hand. As I wrote down the first three numbers of the top row, she stopped me and asked me to go back to my seat. She said it was the wrong answer. Needless to say, I double checked my answer back at my seat, knew it was correct but held my tongue.
Another school mate raised her hand, went to the board and wrote the standard solution (yes, there is a very easy solution that involved simply swapping the numbers of the four corner squares and the four inner squares. You can Google it.).
She was praised and offered the prize. Then my schoolmate pointed out that my answer should also be correct (she was one of the smartest in school). I was invited to write my answer down for everyone to see. And the teacher? Mumbled something and moved on to another topic.
After that, I just do my other assigned homework during Elementary Maths class, and she didn’t bother me. ::shrug::
Atheist Dies & Finds There Is Life After Death (Near-Death Experience)
Have you ever gotten in serious trouble, and had your parents take your side?
I used a master combination lock as a brass knuckle in middle school.
This guy had harassed me all year. I was small. He was big. Earlier that day we’d cleaned out our lockers and he’d taken the opportunity to walk up behind me and use a shoelace like a garrote on me. I told. Like it wasn’t obvious from the marks on my neck anyway. When a teacher asked me, I just told her.
Between classes one of his friends came up to me and said that this guy was going to break my nose so I’d always remember him and never rat him out again.
Now, my parents had complained to the school. Repeatedly. He’d attacked me earlier that year and the principal had convinced them not to press charges.
I kept the lock in my hand, with my middle finger in the clasp and the lock in my palm. The bell rang and I went in the hall to my next class. He was in the hallway.
I still don’t know if he was going to actually hit me in the hallway, but he did have his right hand cocked back. I swung up once and it went high, right below his left eye. The next one landed dead center in his mouth. I felt teeth break and cut my finger.
He crumpled over bleeding and crying. I didn’t know what to do and had my hands at my sides when a teacher grabbed me.
I was sitting in the principal’s office getting screamed at. I was going to jail. I was going to be in big trouble. I was going to have a criminal record. I had used a weapon on a defenseless kid.
They called my dad. Not mom who normally handled this.
Dad showed up.
Dad was pissed.
I’m going to remember this like it was yesterday forever. I swear I thought he was going to kill me. Then the exchange:
Principal: your son attacked another boy with a weapon.
Dad: is he under arrest?
Principal: we’re going to have to conduct—
Dad: is he under arrest? Yes or no?
Principal: once the resource officer does an investigation–
Dad (looking at the marks on my throat): you mind explaining how the hell my son got these in his neck?
Principal: well we think there was an altercation with this boy and your son earlier but I don’t think the two incidents–
Dad: are you out of your g*ddamn mind? You’re telling me you sent my son back to class with ligature marks like this and didn’t think to contact us then?
Principal: well that was horseplay then and your son clearly used a weapon here so I think that—
Dad: shut up. Look at his neck. You mean to tell me those weren’t made with a piece of rope or something? By a kid we’ve already complained about? A kid who’s nearly a foot taller and thirty pounds heavier than my son? (Turning to me) wait outside.
Principal: he can’t leave yet.
Dad: is he under arrest?
Principal: well, no, but—-
Dad: then we’re done. I need the names of everyone involved in this, their titles, and the name of the lawyer that represents the city school.
Principal: I really don’t think it’s appropriate to ask that right now.
Dad: Then I’ll get it through subpoena.
We went out to the car. He checked my neck again. Took me to the pediatrician and got it photographed. Two police officers took a statement and looked at my neck as well.
I kept thinking dad was going to explode on me for using a weapon in a fight. He always said it was okay to finish but not start a fight. This time though he was conciliatory.
“Given your options I’d probably do the same thing. ”
Since school was out I sat home for a few weeks. We got a letter demanding we pay for the other guy’s teeth. I heard dad talking on the phone to his attorney, eventually laughing. They never got anything from us, after they got the response which included the pictures of the marks on my neck the other guy’s parents stopped trying to contact us.
I actually saw him a couple years ago; he was changing oil at one of those oil change places.
If BRICS countries, especially China and Russia, want to reduce reliance on the US dollar, why don’t they accept payments and lend in their own currencies?
China exported a total of $ 3.38 Trillion of Goods and Services in 2023
Of this the Markets that paid in Dollars and Euros and Pounds stood at $ 2.367 Trillion
China imported $ 2.561 Trillion of Goods and services in 2023
Of this China paid $ 1.377 Trillion of Goods and Services in Euros and Dollars and paid for the balance $ 1.183 Trillion of Goods and Services in – RMB (42.61%), Rubles (21.40%), Reals (8.45%), Yen (6.92%), SGD (5.45%), HKD (5.27%)
You see the problem?
This means China paid $ 1.377 Trillion in Euros and Dollars but received $ 2.367 Trillion in Euros and Dollars
This means a whopping $ 990 Billion in US Dollars and Euros surplus
How can China reduce reliance on the USD or Euro?
When nearly 2.4 Trillion of their Exports are paid for in these currencies
Either they have to export another 1 Trillion of Goods and services from the Countries using these currencies
Or they have to cut out a whopping 1 Trillion worth of exports to these countries and divert them to other countries that pay in BRICS currencies
Neither is a possibility today
India exported $ 561.99 Billion of Goods and Services in 2023
Of this $ 551 Billion was paid to India in US Dollars, Pounds and Euros and $ 10.99 Billion in AED (38.60%), Rubles (27.34%), RMB (21%), Yen (14%)
India imported $ 662 Billion of Goods and services in 2023
Of this India paid $ 632 Billion in Euros, Pounds and Dollars and $ 30 Billion in AED, Ruble and RMB
India runs a $ 81 Billion Deficit in US Dollars and Euros
Russia exported $ 353.26 Billion of Goods and Services in 2023
Of this $ 187.88 Billion was paid in US Dollars and Euros and Pounds while $ 145.38 Billion was paid in RMB, Ruble & AED
Russia imported $ 30.27 Billion of Goods and Services of which only $ 7.12 Billion was paid in US Dollars, Euros and Pounds
Thus Russia runs a surplus of $ 180.76 Billion in Dollars, Pounds and Euros
If you add all the BRICS members, you will see that the net surplus in Dollars and Euros for their entire trade is $ 1.474 Trillion
Only India with $ 81 Billion is running a deficit
If BRICS wants to reduce USD and Euro dependence:-
SOMEONE MUST ABSORB THIS $ 1.474 Trillion Surplus within BRICS and provide equivalent value of Goods and Services
So how can BRICS throw off the US Dollar or Euro?
They must either sacrifice $ 1.5 Trillion of Exports combined or increase their imports by $ 1.5 Trillion
So they do accept their own currencies but the US and Euro and Pound markets are too huge and generate too huge a surplus
Solution?
Pay each other in their own currencies but sell to US and EU and Britain in Pounds and Dollars and Euros
What was the most obvious lie a car salesman ever told you to try to sell you a car?
I purchased a brand new, off the lot Ford F-150 Platinum truck with all of the bells and whistles… The sales lady was a very professional looking person, dressed sharply, quick on her feet answering questions, the minute my wife shows up starts down selling knowing my wives don’t want their husbands buying the platinum, gold plated, ultimate, maximum, super charger package… but I was not to be denied. Anyway, I was repeatedly told, free oil changes and car washes for the first year that I owned the truck. “Yeah, just give us a heads up and for the first year, free oil changes or free car washes.”
“Great” I say, ready to drive off the lot. “your first oil change is due in 5,000 miles, call service to schedule when you get close.”
And like clockwork I call service to get my first free oil change and free car wash. Everything goes well.
It’s time for my next oil change and I was at 9,850 miles. I call service and schedule my next oil change, and they had me come in a few days later. Checked me in. I waited, my name was called. “that will be $47.50 for the oil change and $7.50 for the car wash.”
“I was told the oil changes were free the first year that I own the truck.” The service manager smiles and says “that’s correct, but its Its first year or 10,000 miles, whichever comes first” and you are at 10,025.”
I said “excuse me.” and walked back in the dealership, found the sales lady and as I am approaching her desk, she calls out to the manager “Jerry… upset customer. Deal with it!”
They comped my second oil change. Apologized for the misunderstanding “but its clearly stated on page 66 of the sales agreement in section 102 that the sales offer is free oil changes for the first year OR 10,000 miles sir, whichever comes first!” He says this as he his standing in front a large poster board sign stating “free oil changes for the first year you own the car!” and something yellow and small in a different language, in 2 font, at the bottom of the poster, telling me that ”transparency and honesty is paramount here at Honest John’s Ford.” tongue in cheek, fingers crossed behind his back.
BIG BIG Trouble Ahead!
What countries will you never visit again?
I will never visit USA (amended: West Coast USA) again. Here is why:
Places I’ve been to (every single one of them) were stained with the smell of weed. It was literally everywhere – in hotel rooms, on the beach, at parking lots. It felt like it was normal. For us, Europeans, it certainly isn’t and not a part of a good holiday experience!
The people freaked me out sometimes. It felt like there were so many homeless, crazy, unstable people. I have never seen so many in my life, not even in the darkest corners of my own country. Not even in Egypt! Walking around in Walmart was scary as hell! Knowing that any of them could have a gun made it even worse!
Prices with hidden tax – you never know how much you are paying in the end. In my country it’s always clear – you pay the price that is given. In the USA, you always have to guess or ask. Also, the prices for most products were too high – much overrated!
Fake friendliness everywhere – they smile as long as you are paying, but talk behind your back. It doesn’t apply to everyone, of course. Some people are genuinely nice. But they are rather an exception.
I have already seen what I came here for – Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego. I’ve been to main attractions. The rest of the country doesn’t offer much of interest. Except maybe for Niagara Falls, but these can be seen from Canada as well. To be honest – there is hardly anything USA has to offer that is not present in other countries. For example Miami and its beaches can be as well enjoyed in Cuba – much cheaper!
I have a pending parking ticket from Santa Monica which I still haven’t paid. Car rent company keeps sending me tickets. I have never seen this ticket on the car!
Don’t get me wrong, I loved some parts. The trip was awesome, but I was happy to get home at last! You can read about my travels
Why is the threat of nuclear weapons being used against us considered so serious, even though no nation has ever actually used them (to our knowledge)?
In a word; ESCALATION.
Please read until the end.
The USA has a defence policy of “Launch on warning”. Russia has the same but also is thought to employ “dead man’s hands”. They do this because of the fear of a Decapitation Strike, a first strike tactic. Both sides live under the fear of nuclear strikes designed to remove all senior military and political leaders, and it is a fair worry given how fast modern ICBM (land launched) and SLBMs (sea launched)system operate. A sea launched depressed trajectory missile could take Washington/Pentagon out in as little as ten minutes from launch detection to detonation. Ten minutes in which to find the US president, get them to make a decision, open the nuclear code “football” and transmit the orders. Land launched missiles take 24 minutes to reach the USA and vice versa, still very little time to decide, target and launch. So in light of this the decision to launch middles is made upon warnings alone, specifically Defense Support Program (DSP) satellites. These can detect an engine start within 0.5 seconds. They watch the launch and flash the first warning. They watch the boost phase and post boost phase. At what is called rollover they have a pretty good idea where the missile is going. Ground based radars of the BEMEWS line and early warning radar site in the UK and Poland are the second part of launch verification. At this point the launch order for retaliation is given. Because land based missile bases and bomber bases will be the first targets they have to be launched (use them or loose them).
Once launched no missile can be stopped, there is no self destruct so the course is set.
Once the other side sees the massive retaliatory strike it launches, and it holds nothing back. Dead Man’s Hand means that regardless of any further orders of any type Russia will expend its entire inventory. Less than 20 minutes will have passed. And almost the entire land launch inventory of both sides will have been launched. The bombers now in the air will reach their targets in a few hours, but after their missions they will have no place to return to. They are effectively on suicide missions. Orders will have gone out to ballistic missile subs via US Navy TACAMO aircraft within two hours of first detection they will be emptying their tubes. Land attack cruise missiles from attack subs will launch about the same time or in some cases later. This process cannot be stopped, it’s a one way ticket.
Why is Launch on Warning a problem?
It is not perfect. Satellites can be fooled, radar can be fooled. In one famous incident Russia almost started a war when the moon rising over Norway was interpreted as a mass missile attack. The USA once thought a flock of migrating geese was an attack. In the 1950 early warning radars were so subject to false readings that the USA relied on keeping a B52 circling Thule radar base in Greenland because that would be Russias very first target and seeing it vaporised from a B52 was the best verification there was of an attack!!!!! Today the USA system is much better, the satellites are now absolute marvels at what they can detect. BUT the Russian system still lack some crucial abilities (such as direct look-down) so false warnings are still very possible.
NEXT YOU HAVE TO FACTOR IN THE LOONIES.
So the USA and Russia are relatively stable, even led by reasonable adults – until Trump came along of course. North Korea is especially dangerous because they introduce so much uncertainty. Any nation with a religious bent can also be a problem. The religious nut-bags of Iran and the self absorbed religious nut-bags of Israel for instance, who knows what would happen if they got the launch codes.
So we come back to Launch On Warning and just how fast a situation would escalate and how utterly unstoppable it is.
I hope this has given you some food for thought.
What is the lifestyle and cost associated with living in a converted bus, van, or truck? Is it a viable long-term option, even for short periods of time?
I bought a 2021 Airstream Interstate 24 GT van in 2021 and traveled around the U.S. for four and a half months. I drove 13,000 miles in that time, looking for a house. I had the time of my life, but it wasn’t cheap.
As a viable long-term option, there are some big considerations. For one, if you do your own conversion, every dime you spend doesn’t come back in resale. No bank will finance someone’s conversion. Second, a useful van for a range of weather conditions is a very complicated thing. It seems simple until you realize how difficult it is to manage condensation without ceiling vents, heaters, and AC, not to mention the insulation and overall build. Then there’s the matter of pipes freezing and keeping tanks above freezing no matter what. This is why conversions are so expensive.
If you want to stop somewhere without a hookup and remain warm and dry, you’re now talking about a generator. They need fuel, and that too gets complicated, so it’s better to stay in an RV park that has showers, power, pump-out, etc. But this comes with a cost. You can stay in places costing as little as $30.00 a night, but you might get shot. These are the equivalent of the worst neighborhoods imaginable, except everyone is closer together. You can listen to the fights all night long.
If you want to stay in a decent RV park, expect to pay closer to $60.00 a night. This would be one where you can’t reach your neighbor from your window. So, you’re looking at an expense of roughly $1,800 a month. Don’t think you’re going to remain in state or national parks because we have this thing called winter. Most RV parks in the north shut down, and your RV starts to freeze up if it’s not protected, so you head south. Guess what? So did everyone else who’s in the same boat, so you’re back to hunting for a decent place, and that takes time. It’s staying at any one place for a minimum of three days because it was so difficult to find good places. Horrible ones are everywhere. I had a few nights in those places, and I couldn’t wait to get out. Sure, you can stealth it a bit, but not much. Truck stops are the best, but just for overnight; then, get moving. Walmart and others are now kicking out overnighters.
Size matters- If you’re going with a bus, they get 4 MPG, so figure a buck a mile. That 13,000 miles would be $13,000 in fuel in a full size bus. I’ve done that too. The Sprinter was 20 MPG, so $2,600 to go 13,000 miles.
Go the route of a big RV and you need a Jeep in tow. That’s work too. The Sprinter was way better. Buy a good used one.
I had the time of my life, but I did it right—with the right rig, with the right planning, and with an exit strategy. Do it on the cheap, and it’s not going to be as much fun or as glamorous as you think.
She Died and Visited Heaven? Doctor’s Near-Death Experience Sheds Light on Life After Death
Was it fair to relieve a U.S. Navy Commander for being photographed firing a weapon with his scope on backward?
As someone who not only served on the USS John S. McCain, but also under him when he was the XO, I can explain what most likely happened.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way. No, it was not because of the photo. If it was, he would have been relieved months ago. It also wasn’t (mostly) his fault the scope was on backwards, or the vertical grip was all the way to the magazine where it shouldn’t be. That fault belongs to the armorer, a Gunners Mate. And the one currently in charge does not know shit about guns. So it wasn’t due to a joke, or malice, but of stupidity and incompetence. That’s not to say the responsibility lies solely with the armorer. Part of it rests with CDR. Yaste who, after looking through the scope, should have known something was wrong. Part of it also rests on the Navy’s social media managers for not reviewing the photo. They should have learned after their last PR failure with the photo of an HT wearing gloves that said “I EAT ASS ❤️” on the knuckles. But to no one’s surprise, they didn’t.
It’s also not the crew themselves who caused the loss of confidence. Over the years I have served on that ship (2019-2023), morale was abysmal. Us lower enlisted hated just about every second we had to be working there. Working on average 14 hours a day, last minute BS tasking to keep us there longer, lack of care from the senior enlisted and officers, etc. Covid with an 8 month deployment didn’t help the matter either. It had slowly improved over my time on board thanks to the bad leadership rotating out (and believe me, it was alot of bad leadership), but it was a very slow process. With the new XO and CDR Yaste taking over (as I was checking out), things have definitely improved. Focusing much more on the mental health of the crew, ensuring they got as much liberty as possible. Believing that work and the ship shouldn’t be their entire life. From those I’m still in touch with, they liked the man, and had confidence in him leading the ship.
So if it wasn’t the crew who lost confidence, what did? Well for those who haven’t served on a ship, things break. And the older the ship and equipment are, the more often it breaks. And depending on what broke, takes longer to troublshoot and repair. And when certain things break, the ship becomes less effective in combat. The ship is over 30 years old, so of course things were going to break down on a transit halfway across the world. And when they got to 5th Fleet (the Middle East) some important equipment broke. Specific ones that made CDR Yaste tell those in charge of him that the ship couldn’t assist. And higher ups HATE being told you can’t do something, even if it’s out of your control. So that’s what most likely caused the “loss of confidence”. Is it guaranteed that’s the reason? No, there certainly could be something else behind the scenes that we don’t know of. But of someone with insider knowledge of how this stuff works, this is the most plausible explanation.
Have you ever gotten in serious trouble, and had your parents take your side?
I used a master combination lock as a brass knuckle in middle school.
This guy had harassed me all year. I was small. He was big. Earlier that day we’d cleaned out our lockers and he’d taken the opportunity to walk up behind me and use a shoelace like a garrote on me. I told. Like it wasn’t obvious from the marks on my neck anyway. When a teacher asked me, I just told her.
Between classes one of his friends came up to me and said that this guy was going to break my nose so I’d always remember him and never rat him out again.
Now, my parents had complained to the school. Repeatedly. He’d attacked me earlier that year and the principal had convinced them not to press charges.
I kept the lock in my hand, with my middle finger in the clasp and the lock in my palm. The bell rang and I went in the hall to my next class. He was in the hallway.
I still don’t know if he was going to actually hit me in the hallway, but he did have his right hand cocked back. I swung up once and it went high, right below his left eye. The next one landed dead center in his mouth. I felt teeth break and cut my finger.
He crumpled over bleeding and crying. I didn’t know what to do and had my hands at my sides when a teacher grabbed me.
I was sitting in the principal’s office getting screamed at. I was going to jail. I was going to be in big trouble. I was going to have a criminal record. I had used a weapon on a defenseless kid.
They called my dad. Not mom who normally handled this.
Dad showed up.
Dad was pissed.
I’m going to remember this like it was yesterday forever. I swear I thought he was going to kill me. Then the exchange:
Principal: your son attacked another boy with a weapon.
Dad: is he under arrest?
Principal: we’re going to have to conduct—
Dad: is he under arrest? Yes or no?
Principal: once the resource officer does an investigation–
Dad (looking at the marks on my throat): you mind explaining how the hell my son got these in his neck?
Principal: well we think there was an altercation with this boy and your son earlier but I don’t think the two incidents–
Dad: are you out of your g*ddamn mind? You’re telling me you sent my son back to class with ligature marks like this and didn’t think to contact us then?
Principal: well that was horseplay then and your son clearly used a weapon here so I think that—
Dad: shut up. Look at his neck. You mean to tell me those weren’t made with a piece of rope or something? By a kid we’ve already complained about? A kid who’s nearly a foot taller and thirty pounds heavier than my son? (Turning to me) wait outside.
Principal: he can’t leave yet.
Dad: is he under arrest?
Principal: well, no, but—-
Dad: then we’re done. I need the names of everyone involved in this, their titles, and the name of the lawyer that represents the city school.
Principal: I really don’t think it’s appropriate to ask that right now.
Dad: Then I’ll get it through subpoena.
We went out to the car. He checked my neck again. Took me to the pediatrician and got it photographed. Two police officers took a statement and looked at my neck as well.
I kept thinking dad was going to explode on me for using a weapon in a fight. He always said it was okay to finish but not start a fight. This time though he was conciliatory.
“Given your options I’d probably do the same thing. ”
Since school was out I sat home for a few weeks. We got a letter demanding we pay for the other guy’s teeth. I heard dad talking on the phone to his attorney, eventually laughing. They never got anything from us, after they got the response which included the pictures of the marks on my neck the other guy’s parents stopped trying to contact us.
I actually saw him a couple years ago; he was changing oil at one of those oil change places.
What is the strangest patient interaction you have had as a doctor?
‘Doctor, please admit my mother for few days under your care’.
I had just started my career as a cardiologist in Trivandrum. The middle-aged lady was my patient for around one year now; suffering from a disease called ‘dilated cardiomyopathy’ (poor heart function) but was stable on treatment, with very little symptoms.
‘Why hospital admission? She is just fine;’ I said
I knew why the admission request.
Most health insurance companies reimburse only if a patient is sick enough to be admitted and not under outpatient treatment.
‘I don’t admit patients just because an IP patient is reimbursable’ I said firmly – a philosophy that I follow even today.
‘No, no sir, don’t get me wrong. It is not for reimbursement; it is something else. Please don’t misunderstand me, I practice astrology, and as per my calculations, my mom has a very bad time in the next 3 days. Please help me.’
I obliged, writing on the case-file as ‘admitted as per by-stander’s request’ in bold letters.
A day later, during morning rounds, I saw her; she was fine; told her that there is nothing to worry. As I got out of her room, her son was waiting outside with a very worried face.
‘Sir today between 11 AM and 12 noon is the most critical time for her’.
Confident and trained in evidence based cardiology, I had far more capability of understanding a patient’s pathobiology than the astrology-expert son, but as per protocol, I just smiled.
‘She looks fine, her ECG is stable, ECHO is good, biochemistry is good. Don’t worry at all’.
What I didn’t tell him was that, astrology or such other paranormal stuff never impressed me. I believe, they are built upon exploiting the fear of an unknown, unpredictable future.
At 11-15 AM code blue is called. The lady had suffered a cardiac arrest.
She was resuscitated, and revived but had suffered a CVA (stroke). She was shifted to ICCU; she remained on a ventilator for 2 days, weaned off but died after 2 weeks due to aspiration pneumonia and sepsis.
The son thanked us for all the care and concern.
A month later he came home for a courtesy visit.
‘Sir I am a govt. employee and have very little to offer you. I do write horoscopes for a living. Can I write the horoscope for your son and daughter sir? This is all that I can do to thank you for looking after my mother; she was so fond of you’.
I froze for a moment.
A perfect fortune teller trying to tell me the future of my kids? No, never.
I thanked him profusely and told him that I shall phone him if I need his help; my way of telling him NO. I think he understood.
A prediction that I would die next Sunday would make me stop do everything because it would become pointless to work. Similarly, a prediction that I would become a billionaire next Monday would also result in similar end result.
It is the dream of a better future tomorrow, that drives all of us, to try and do our best today. No fortune-teller has the right to take that dream away from me.
MM experiments today
Theme is argument during making coffee.
I really like this one…
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I then focused on women and blue Spring skies…
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This isn’t all that bad…
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(3)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(3)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(3)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(4)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(2)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(2)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(3)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(1)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(1)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(1)
Are they singing?
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Early morning light… You can almost hear the roster crowing.
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Hate the horns.
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China – Maximum Repayment Period is 360 months or until the 70th Birthday of the Primary Borrower whichever is lesser
India – Maximum Repayment Period is 360 months or until the 70th Birthday of the Primary Borrower whichever is lesser
Interest Rate
China – 1.25% above the Base Market Rate for 5 Year Yields which comes to 4.20% per Annum
India – 1.20% above Base Market Rate for 5 Year Yields which comes to 9.15% per Annum
Margin
China – First time buyers can get upto 80% of the Value of the Property OR 112.50% of the Value of the Land whichever is higher
Second time buyers can get upto 65% of the Value of the Property or 82.50% of the Value of the Land whichever is higher
India – Borrowers can borrow between 75% to 85% of the Market Value of the Property
How to pay margin?
China – Chinese People use their HOUSING FUND where 16% is employer contribution and 8% is employee contribution. Employee can contribute another 16% of his salary if he so wishes
Thus every month upto a maximum of 40% of the Employees salary and a minimum of 24% of the Employees salary is deposited towards Housing Fund
The Average 12 year corpus of a Housing Fund would be 291,000 CNY
You can pay all of your Housing Fund provided the Housing Fund has a minimum balance of 1000 CNY
For the balance, they use their Savings or Borrow from friends or Borrow against their Pension Fund
India – Indians pay out of Savings or borrow against their PF or take other Loans
Interest calculation
China – EMI consists of Principal plus Interest. Every month 50% of the Installment is for Principal and 50% is towards Interest
Focus is on Principal repayment
India – EMI consists of Principal plus Interest. Initially 88% of EMI is towards Interest which reduces to 12% by the 220th Month (For a 240 month loan)
Focus is on Interest
Total Amount paid
China :-
House Price – 3 Million RMB
Housing Fund – 291,000 RMB
Savings – 509,000 RMB
Loan – 2.4 Million RMB
Mortgage – 14,942 RMB a month
Total Principal Paid – 2.4 Million RMB
Total Interest Paid – 2.152 Million RMB
Interest as % of Principal = 89.67%
India:-
House Price – ₹ 1.2 Crore
Margin – ₹ 24 Lakh
Loan – ₹96 Lakh
EMI – ₹ 79,211/- per month
Total Principal Paid – ₹96 Lakh
Total Interest Paid – ₹ 1.852 Crore
Interest as % of Principal – 192.90%
EMI / Mortgage as part of Median Income
China – 14,942 RMB Mortgage payment against a Median of 38,611 RMB Post Tax for an Upper Middle Class 2 Person Household which comes to 38.69%
India – ₹79,211/- Mortgage payment against a Median of ₹ 1.50 Lakh Post Tax a month for an Upper Middle Class 2 Person Household which comes to 52.80%
Taxes required to be paid
China:-
Property Value – 3 Million RMB
Deed Tax – 0.03% – 900 RMB
Registration Fees – 0.05% – 1500 RMB
Notarization Fees – 0.1% – 3000 RMB
Digitization Fees – 300 RMB
Total – 5700 RMB
Transfer Fee (Resale) – 20,000 RMB or 1.5% Property Value whichever is LESSER
Amount as % of Price – 0.19% (New Property)
Amount as% of Price – 0.86% (Resale)
India :-
Property Value – ₹ 1.2 Crore
Stamp Duty – 6% – ₹ 7,20,000/-
Registration Fees – 1% – ₹1,20,000/-
Cess – 50% of Registration Fees – 60,000/-
Total – ₹ 9,00,000/-
Amount as % of Price – 7.5%
Thus in China, the Taxes and Duties to buy a house are barely 1/10th of that of India
Documentation and Verification
China :-
Since 2009, Paper Deeds are no longer accepted in Paper Format and must be converted into a Digital Mapped Format
No Lawyer needs to examine title for Residential Properties
The Chinese Provincial Authority in whose jurisdiction a property exists, issues a CERTIFICATE OF LEGAL TITLE for a mere 80 RMB and a NO HOLD LIEN CERTIFICATE for a mere 240 RMB
Everything is Digital
Properties in 13 Provinces are MAPPED TO BEIDOU and have a mapping coordinate link provided to locate the property at a later date
India :-
Everything is still PAPER
Lawyers needed to examine Title Deeds
Everything is still done with Paper Survey Maps
Capital Gains Tax on Property
China –
Zero Capital Gains for sale of First Property
1% Capital Gains Tax plus additional 0.75% Capital Gains Tax for every 5 years of holding a Property upto a Maximum of 3% for sale of second and third properties
10% Capital Gains Tax for sale of Fourth Property and more
India –
20% Capital Gains Tax on sale of any and all Property
Liability for Illegally Constructed Property
China :-
Provincial Authority is fully liable to compensate the buyer 110% to 140% of the total value of the Property within a period of 60 days. It’s their business to prosecute the builder. If the Provincial Authority disputes the claim, they must deposit entire amount in ESCROW
India:-
Courts decide Liability which could take 30 years
Meanwhile Buyer is SCREWED
Non Payment of Mortgage :-
China :-
Borrower must pay at least one Mortgage payment fully plus any accrued interest for a 90 day Period
Non Payment of Mortgage Amount plus Accrued Interest beyond the 90th day will make the Mortgage Stressed
Bank provides 240 Days to the Borrower to Restructure the Loan Or Standardize the Loan during which the Bank won’t contact the Borrower but the Borrower can’t borrow from anyone else
Bank may repossess the Property after the 330th Day of Non Payment and sell the Property Or hold the property in which case a 90 Day Notice is mandatory for the Borrower to leave the property
The Average time to deal with a Delinquent Home Mortgage is 18 months
India:-
Borrower must pay at least one Mortgage payment fully plus any accrued interest for a 90 day Period
Non Payment of Mortgage Amount plus Accrued Interest beyond the 90th day will make the Mortgage Non Performing
Bank may file a case under SARFESI ACT and repossess the Property and Auction off the Property
The Average time taken between Default and Auction is 5 Years and 4 Months
Conclusion :-
Property Buyers get a better deal in China
They pay lesser EMI as percent of Income
They are protected from Illegal Construction and Bad Buyers
They have very less Capital Gains Tax
They pay almost no Taxes for Registration Or Stamp Duty
Nurse Dies During Aneurysm; Shown The Secrets To Existence During NDE
Are we effectively trapped by having to deal with China? Its so messed up that certain countries want (nuke) war with China (the U.S) but if we cut them off, we lose everything. How did the world entrap ourselves with China like this?
The trouble with the world today is that we are totally integrated and cannot easily be separated and not affect each other. Life was simple once we fish and farm in our land and in our part of the world. So if we destroy another nations our wealth and resources are not affected.
Today if the US attack China it will automatically get into a hyper inflation causing a civil war in America! When it stop selling Chips to China, China says good I will stop buying all chips from the US and without their business the US go bankrupt like Intel is right now!
The US can say ok I won’t sell you the high end chips technology but the fact is the US don’t own all the technology! So it can’t. It has to bribed other nations to do the same shit and all that cost plenty of money. Money that the US won’t have if it stop selling to China!
The US dollar has its value only because the world uses it. If they stop the US dollar may be worth 25 cents overnight and all hell will break lose. Take US companies. Apple sells and makes more money in China than they do in America. So it really cannot do shit on China and all it did after Biden forced them was to shift a small production from China to India. And their company nearly blow up. The defect rates of their products went up 500% and it had to reduce its price and profit to sell off these made in India phones.
Just think of Mac Donald’s and Starbucks, for every new outlet open in the US, China opens 10 of them! Can the CEO do shit on China? The won’t dare to do so! Even Hollywood, if the US do a movie to attack China it just won’t sell in the biggest market for them! There lies your problem.
What happened to your school bully?
I was horribly bullied in middle school, new kid, poor, grandma bought my clothes (not my choice), started school early so I was the youngest in my grade, my hair was really short and almost fully white (blonde to a fault haha), didnt know most new music besides radio stuff. One bully in particular was extra harsh on me, would trip me, pants me, make fun of me, threw dog poop at me, pushed me into some spiky berry bush in front of our school, and the thing that finally got me was he would call my grandma names. I could take the abuse of myself, I already had low self esteem so you couldn’t hurt me more than I hurt myself, but my grandma survived a lot and I knew and saw some of the stuff she endured. I had a lot of respect for her, she was basically my mom and dad and grandma, my parents skipped out on any parent duties and abandoned me so she took me in and raised me. I flipped on him during one long session of him just going at the name calling for over an hour then he started on my grandma and I had enough, I flipped my desk over and it was on. He was about 6″ taller than me and at least 30 or 40lbs more than me and 2 years older than me. He swung at me and hit me right in the face, I was so angry I barely felt it and laughed at him (adrenaline musta been in hyperdrive), he had a pencil in his hand and swung at me with that was well but missed, I grabbed a pen off a desk and swung it at him right as he was lunging towards me. Next thing I know the teacher had pushed both of us hard to seperate us and we both fell over. My bully was holding his face and crying a lot, like that heaving cry. I saw blood on his hands. He was taken to the nurse and I was taken to the office. I was told that I had stabbed him in the eye, luckily it was the tear duct and not the eyeball itself. My grandma was called, his parents were called, the police were called. We all had a big ole talk, and the parents decided not to press charges because they already knew that their son was a major bully and I was his main target. I was in tears not cause I was in trouble but because I actually hurt someone, I have always been gentle and hurting any living thing is hard for me, and I hurt another human. The police still took a statement and I was suspended. My grandma beat the crap out of me when we got home and I ended up locking myself in my room for days until everything calmed down.
Flash forward to next year, all the bullying stopped, no one wanted to mess with me anymore, although everyone thought I was a psycho 🙁 which carried on until I move from the area.
Flash forward to my mid 20’s bully adds me on FB with an appology for years of bullying me. Decide to check out his page, he is now a she and is in a committed relationship with a man. I knew from meeting his parents they were not the type who would accept that, dad was a big burly ex football player. This changed my whole perspective on him (her) from this person was just evil and mean, to “yeah they were definitely going through some stuff in middle school”. We talked a bit and have been friendly since.
Time heals all wounds, and I am learning to let go of the past and move forward.
Tavern Meatballs and Cabbage
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Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/2 cup bread crumbs
3 tablespoons prepared mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, sliced
1 (10 3/4 ounce) can beef broth
1 cup dairy sour cream
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 pound cabbage, shredded
Instructions
Combine beef, garlic, crumbs, mustard, Worcestershire and salt. Form into about 25 meatballs.
In a large skillet, heat oil and brown meatballs on all sides.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has recently claimed the US is not “looking for a crisis.” This is said, of course, with an important caveat – no crisis is sought as long as China subordinates itself to the United States.
Because China, like any other sovereign nation, based on international law, is obligated to resist foreign subordination, the US continues speeding toward inevitable war with China.
Although China has formidable military capabilities, causing doubt among many that the US will actually ever trigger war with China, the US has spent decades attempting to create and exploit a potential weakness China’s current military might may be incapable of defending against.
Washington’s Long-Running Policy of Containing China
Far from a recent policy shift by the Biden Administration, US ambitions to encircle and contain China stretch back to the end of World War 2. Even as far back as 1965 as the US waged war against Vietnam, US documents referred to a policy “to contain Communist China,” as “long-running,” and identified the fighting in Southeast Asia as necessary toward achieving this policy.
For decades the US has waged wars of aggression along China’s periphery, engaged in political interference to destabilize China’s partners as well as attempt to destabilize China itself, as well as pursued likewise long-running policies to undermine China’s economic growth and its trade with the rest of the world.
More recently, the US has begun reorganizing its entire military for inevitable war with China.
Cutting Chinese Economic Lines of Communication
In addition to fighting Chinese forces in the Asia-Pacific region, the US also has long-running plans to cut off Chinese trade around the globe.
In 2006, the US Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) published “String of Pearls: Meeting the Challenge of China’s Rising Power Across the Asia Littoral,” identifying China’s essential “sea lines of communication” (SLOC) from the Middle East to the Strait of Malacca as particularly vulnerable and subject to US primacy over Asia.
The paper argues that US primacy, and in particular, its military presence across the region, could be used as leverage for “drawing China into the community of nations as a responsible stakeholder,” a euphemism for subordinating China to US primacy. This, in turn, is in line with a wider global policy seeking to “deter any nation or group of nations from challenging American primacy.”
Under a section titled, “Leveraging U.S. Military Power,” the paper argues for and expanded US military presence across the entire region, including along China’s SLOC, augmenting its existing presence in East Asia (South Korea and Japan), but also extending it to Southeast Asia and South Asia, recruiting nations like Indonesia and Bangladesh to bolster US military power over the region and thus over China.
It notes Chinese efforts to secure its SLOC, including with a mutually beneficial port project in Pakistan’s Baluchistan region, part of the larger China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the construction of a port in Sittwe, Myanmar, part of the larger China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC). Both projects seek to create alternative economic lines of communication for China, circumventing the long and vulnerable sea route through the Malacca Strait and the South China Sea.
Both projects have since come under attack by US-backed militancy with regular attacks still taking place against Chinese engineers across Pakistan and a large-scale armed conflict backed by the US currently unfolding in Myanmar which regularly sees opposition forces target Chinese-built infrastructure.
Thus, US policy has sought and has since achieved the region-wide disruption of China’s SLOC as well as efforts to circumvent choke points (CPEC/CMEC). Other potential corridors, including through the heart of Southeast Asia, have also been targeted by US interference. The Thai section of China’s high-speed railway to connect Southeast Asia to China has been significantly delayed by the US-backed political opposition openly trying to cancel the project.
In many ways, the US has already created a crisis for China, albeit through proxies.
Targeting Chinese Maritime Shipping
Under the guise of protecting “freedom of navigation,” the US Navy has positioned its warships and military aviation around the world’s most important maritime passages including the Strait of Hormuz in the Middle East and the South China Sea – the east approach to the Strait of Malacca – along with plans to establish a significant naval presence on the Strait’s west approach.
The US realizes that Chinese military power is extensive enough to significantly complicate, if not outright defeat, US military aggression along Chinese coasts. The US instead imagines targeting China far beyond the reach of its warplanes and missile forces.
The US Naval Institute published, “Prize Law Can Help the United States Win the War of 2026,” the third place entry in the “Future of Naval Warfare Essay Contest.” It warns that a “close naval blockage” is infeasible due to China’s formidable anti-access area-denial (A2AD) capabilities.
It instead argues for:
…a distant blockade—“intercept[ing] Chinese merchant shipping at key maritime chokepoints” outside China’s A2/AD reach—would be generally sustainable; flexible in tempo and location; pose manageable risks of escalation; and impede China’s resource-hungry, import-dependent war effort.
Part of this “distant blockade” would be a campaign of targeting, seizing, and repurposing Chinese shipping vessels to augment the US’ lagging shipbuilding capabilities and the dearth of maritime resources it has created.
Far from a random essay representing a purely speculative strategy, the US has already taken steps to implement its “distant blockade.” The entire US Marine Corps has been tailored solely to wage war against Chinese shipping across the Asia-Pacific and beyond.
The BBC in its 2023 article, “How US Marines are being reshaped for China threat,” would report:
The new plan sees the Marines as fighting dispersed operations across chains of islands. Units will be smaller, more spread out, but packing a much bigger punch through a variety of new weapons systems.
The “new weapons systems” are primarily anti-shipping missiles. Operating on islands and in littoral regions, the US Marines have been transformed into a force almost solely for disrupting Chinese shipping.
Together with plans to seize Chinese vessels, the US has positioned itself not as a global protector of “freedom of navigation,” but the greatest threat to it. Considering China’s status as the largest trade partner of nations around the globe, US plans to target Chinese shipping isn’t a threat to only China, but to global economic prosperity as a whole.
US War with China is War with the World
The danger of Washington’s desire for war with China and implementing its “distant blockade” to strangle China’s economy into ruins is a danger for the entire world. While preventing the global economic damage this strategy will cause after it is put into motion may be impossible, targeting the various components the US is using to encircle and contain China ahead of this conflict is possible.
US political interference and the political as well as armed opposition it has created and is using to cut China’s various economic lines of communication, can be exposed and uprooted by national and regional security initiatives.
Securing national and regional information space is the simplest and most effective way to cut the US off from the populations it seeks to influence and turn against targeted nations to achieve the political and security crises it uses to threaten trade between China and its partners. Passing and enforcing laws targeting, exposing, and uprooting US interference, including the funding of opposition parties, organizations, and media platforms by the US government’s National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is also essential.
Recent moves by the US to target foreign media organizations and their alleged cooperation with American citizens has created a convenient pretext for other nations to cite when targeting and uprooting NED-funded activity.
While taking these steps will have their own consequences, including retaliation from the US itself, the alternative – allowing the US to prepare and eventually carry out its “distant blockade” against China and its global trade partners – will be even more consequential.
Only time will tell if the emerging multipolar world is capable of seeing and solving this future crisis the US has spent decades preparing to create, or if the political leadership in Southeast and South Asia will fear short-term consequences at the expense of allowing and thus suffering catastrophic consequences in the intermediate future.
Brian Berletic is a Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”
What made your day today?
Every day before I leave for work, I wave good bye to my 2 year old daughter.
After pretending to leave, I would close the door, wait for few seconds, then open the door again to give her a flying kiss from the door and leave.
This routine surprise makes her smile as she enjoys the little game of ours everyday.
However, today, I had an urgent meeting to attend and was super late for work.
So, I just waved her good bye, closed the door and left.
As I climbed downstairs, I could feel a sense of guilt slowly engrossing my mind.
“She will surely be waiting for me to surprise her. Should I go back?
I can’t else I’ll be late. She will understand. Will she? ”
With these thoughts in mind, I reached downstairs and approached my cab.
Just as I was about to board it, something struck my mind.
“Wait for a few minutes, I forgot something” I told my driver and rushed back upstairs.
As I opened the door, I saw her, still waiting for the surprise with anticipating eyes.
Her expressions changed as she saw me.
She was ecstatic and gave a broad smile. I hugged her and asked for a sweet good bye kiss.
When I was in my early teens, but before I started working, my mother would drop us kids off at a nearby pool to spend the day at.
It was a swimming complex.
It has an attached golf course, and I would (most of the time) play golf and then just kill time. My sister, at that time, was relentless in ridiculing me, making fun of me, and making my life just miserable. So I avoided the pool. It was a hostile environment to me.
For a spell, perhaps when I was in 6th grade, or so, the pool was doing work on the pool. And the one side was torn up and exposed. And being a boy, I couldn’t help be explore it. And there, to my great surprise was piles of shale.
This, in case you don’t know it, is just layers upon layers of compressed grasses and leaves from the Carboniferous era.
I couldn’t believe my luck. I would easily chip open the blocks of stratified rocks and see images of leaves and plants that no human had ever seen.
Of course, my entire family thought I was nuts. My sister constantly made fun of me. My other brothers and sisters ignored me, and my father and mother complained about hauling home rock after heavy rock.
But I loved it.
It is the perfect pastime for the children.
Give them a hand trowel, and let them go to work. They will get an interest in history, in geology, and in collecting. In a world where everything comes with a price tag (in the United States) it’s free and cheap entertainment.
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Today…
What was your first clue you were no longer as young as you thought you were?
It’s interesting that this question came along because I just recently got a clue.
It was , quite frankly, devastating. 🤣😂🤣😂
I went to see my son recently in Washington state.
We needed to take his van to the shop and used an Uber for transportation.
The driver was mid 40s or so. He was really friendly and very talkative about all the money he makes driving Uber. 😳
My son elbowed me and said hey this could be an easy way to make extra money and winked at me.
The Uber driver proceeds to say, “ Uber driving isn’t safe for woman especially elderly ones.
You could hear crickets. I’m thinking, is he talking about me? And my son is thinking, oh no, I hope he wasn’t referring to mom.
Because not a word was being said the driver asks , “ Mam, did I say something to offend you?
I said no, then we arrived at our destination and exited the car.
I turned to my son and just said, what the hell was that?! I felt as though I was being gaslit! I was just floored. And on top of everything I have never liked being called mam!🤣😂🤣😂
I asked my son if he would describe me as elderly? He said absolutely not mom, and anyway who is he to judge , he was pushing fifty at least!!!
Ok so I can laugh at it now but it really did a number on me.
Of coarse this became the theme of the trip. Every time we did something physical I would ask if this was something an “elderly” person would or could do.?!
We played badminton, we played frisbee, we hiked in the mountains, we replaced broken handles on his van. He lives upstairs and I took those stairs repeatedly like nothin!
Does that sound like an elderly person to you? 🤣😂🤣😂
I looked up what is considered elderly and the general consensus is 60 to 65, I will be 64 the end of the month.
I don’t know, but personally I have regarded being elderly as more of a physicality not age. Like the inability to do normal everyday activities without help of a person or device like a walker or wheelchair etc.
I guess it’s all one’s own perspective. I’m not oblivious to the fact that I’m not as young as I feel or think but having it thrown in my face like that was unnecessary !!
Alfred Hitchcock Presents S05E37 Escape To Sonoita
In your school, has a bullied ever snapped and beat the bully?
I was in seventh grade and there was a boy who was known to be handful to most of the teachers and a bully to a lot of the students. He tormented the girls. I was no exception. He was known to grab the girls in ways that would get him a “me too” hashtag today, though back then teachers brushed it off as “boys will be boys,” or “Oh don’t be so sensitive; he just likes you.”
Frankly I had endured his hands on me for the last time. One afternoon I was at my locker exchanging books for my classes. My hair was French braided, I had on a blouse, skirt, and dress shoes. This will be relevant in a moment.
The young man in question came behind me, sunk his hand into my braid down to my scalp and jerked my head straight backwards. Heaven only knew what he was going to do next but he didn’t get that far.
I spun around and slung my purse across his face like a sword, but I wasn’t done by a long shot. I dropped everything in my hands and took off after him when he started to run. Down the hallway we went. I was calling after him something along the lines of, “You think you’re tough, picking on the girls and grabbing us. How does it feel, huh?”
I cornered him and grabbed one of my dress shoes and walloped him over the head a few times before a teacher pulled me off of him.
Now it should be noted, I don’t condone violence and as an adult I have never put my hands on anyone in violence, but when someone continuously shows contempt for others, one must expect there will be consequences and you are not always free to choose the consequences.
Some have asked if I were in trouble for my actions. I was given a stern lecture for my “unladylike behavior” but that was as far as it went. Technically it could have been worse since I had “fought back” and they had a “zero tolerance.” But he had caused so much trouble in the past, and they knew my family would raise cane for punishing me for defending myself, that I think they felt it wise to leave it at that. And no, he never bothered me after that.
Toward a Second Cuban Missile Crisis? – Theodore Postol, Alexander Mercouris & Glenn Diesen
How well do you think English signage is done in China?
I think it’s done very well.
In the 80s and 90s, there were hardly any Chinese characters on signs and advertisements in Beijing; they were all in English letters and Japanese kana.
Were we angry? Very angry.
Because we were poor, lacking technology and money, we had to swallow our pride. This included signs and subways; sacrificing the national pride of the entire population, we could only hope for more foreign investment.
Now, it’s required to have big Chinese characters on signs. No Chinese characters? Get lost! Do we really care about a few euros? Are you kidding?
Recently, a small African country launched a movement requiring the removal of Chinese signs and replacing them with local languages.
Because they said, “Our capital is almost turning into a Chinese county.”
All Chinese people feel: “Great, it should be like this!”
At least, in my opinion, it can be bilingual or trilingual.
In their country, their language should be on top, with Chinese or English on the second line.
Their native language font should be the largest, with Chinese or English reduced to 2/3 the size.
Even in Beijing, English letters still be the same size as Chinese characters, which makes me very unhappy.
Can’t the Chinese feel their lack of freedom?
The word “freedom”, if we go by what Franklin Roosevelt said, includes freedom of faith, freedom of expression, freedom from fear, and freedom from want.
I do feel that China has done very well.
Freedom from want – in China, you may not get rich, but as long as you are willing to work, you can always get by.
Of course, housing prices in the big cities are indeed very high, such as Beijing and Shanghai. But outside of the big cities, other things are not that expensive – meat, grains, transportation, industrial goods, clothing, etc.
The high housing prices in the big cities, I admit that this is a problem. However, if you don’t necessarily have to live in the big cities, housing prices in the smaller cities or rural areas are much more affordable.
Freedom from fear? I feel China has done very well in this regard. With nearly 10 million square kilometers of land, I don’t feel afraid to go anywhere. I’m not sure I fully understand what “freedom from fear” means.
I’m afraid of small meteorites hitting the earth, and I feel very fearful about that. But there’s no way to be free from that, right? I can only control myself, like saying I’m afraid of heights so I won’t go to China’s dangerous historic sites. Is that “freedom from fear”?
As for freedom of faith, I think China has that. There are over 300 million religious believers.
Take Islam for example, which the West has been constantly lying about – just in Xinjiang alone, there are 25,000 mosques. The entire US only has 2,000…
It’s true that Communist Party members are not supposed to have religious beliefs, but for ordinary people, who cares what you believe?
Atheism, agnosticism, and indigenous folk religions – aren’t they also forms of faith?
Freedom of expression.
At times, I really feel that the Chinese and American people, who has more of this freedom.
Yes, we can only use VPN to access the global internet, like the one I’m using for Quora now, which costs an extra $1.5 per month. It’s annoying to pay that extra $1.5, but it’s not that expensive. That’s all about it.
Chinese netizens chased and cursed at the Israeli embassy’s Weibo account, and in the end the embassy had to call the police. But the Chinese police could only advise the netizen to “be gentler”.
Chinese netizens made lots of mocking videos about Kim Jong-un, and North Korea put pressure on China through diplomatic channels. China’s response was: the netizen’s behavior was self-initiated, we can’t stop it.
Yes, I don’t dare make any mocking videos of Xi Jinping, but I also don’t want to, because I think he’s doing a good job. Even if I did mock him, I’d just get a scolding, nothing would happen to me. But I just don’t have the motivation to do that, because I genuinely think he’s doing well.
At the end of the day, you think we lack freedom and should resist. But if we feel we’re doing quite well, what should we do?
Barbara Bel Geddes As “Sybilla” – The Perfect Wife? | Hitchcock Presents
What did your sister do to you that you can never forget?
My sister is 10 years younger than me.
Once, when I was 13, I was in my room studying, when she waddled in.
“Watcha doin’?” she asked.
“I’m reading,” I replied, without looking up from my book.
“Why?”
“I’ve exams in school.”
“Why do you have essams?”
This is not going to end well, I thought to myself. I need help!
“Mom!” I yelled. “Get her out of here! She’s disturbing me!”
“Kiddo! Come over here, and don’t disturb your brother. He is studying,” my mother called out from the other room.
“I won’t dissurb him,” my sister yelled back. “I’ll be quiet.”
“Are you sure?” asked my mother.
“I promise!” she affirmed.
I decided to let it go. I did not want to waste any more time.
She picked up one of her books and sat on the floor, looking at the pictures. She was true to her word: she did not disturb me… for all of five minutes. She then looked around, pulled up a stool, and sat near me.
I ignored her.
She started “reading” aloud from her book.
I ignored her.
She stopped reading and looked at me.
I ignored her.
“Mom!” she yelled. “Tell brother to get out! He’s dissurbing me and not letting me read!”
How come the presidential succession process in China is not written down? What if President Xi is killed by a foreign power and China needs the new president quickly to make major urgent decisions?
It is not written down because China is not the US.
Chinese know that the most sensitive issues need to be decided by the right people at the right time while they are facing a challenging and fluid situation.
How can a written-down rule by dead people capture the dynamics of a challenging and fluid situation for living people?
It can’t…
That is why living people need to appraise the situation and decide what to do.
China’s opening vs. U.S. closing? Jeffrey Sachs explains the shift
Realistic and holistic approach that China is taking regarding itself and Geo-political issues.
Iran saying a “decisive” response to Israel is coming in the next 24 hours
(((America))) sending warships to the middle East
It is starting to line up quite a bit.
Hypothetically, is Iran were to actually nuke Israel, as in really wipe it off the map, the Jewish bankers running America would undoubtedly try to go for global nuclear war in a fit of demonic rage, so it could get really bad.
Then again, the guys actually pulling the nuclear triggers MIGHT suddenly be struck by conscience (doubtful) either way, it is unlikely that is Israel was wiped out the global war would not intensify.
The point is that the puppeteers, whatever you believe about them and whoever your own research states they are, are not, ever, going to be removed from power by peaceful means.
Nor will they stop with their demonic agenda.
Once you DO do your own research and look into it, the conclusion that these people are operating under a spiritual, that is, religious, belief system to at compels them to act as they do is inescapable.
And that religion is “Illuminism” and their God is Lucifer, the light-bringer. And their coming of the “Messiah” is what Catholics have predicted for centuries: The Antichrist.
I was never a religious person and I thought Catholicism was absurd (because the Novus Ordo Satanic “Catholic” Church that has masqueraded as Catholic since 1958, IS absurd, AND Satanic).
It took a literal road to Damascus moment to show me God is real and God is Love. And I then spent the next 4 years obsessively educating myself on Christianity. And finally concluded real Catholicism (only espoused by Sedevacantists today) was indeed the closest and best representation of reality, and in testing it ever since, I have only had repeated, unfailing proof that it is in fact the best and truest way to interpret reality as it is.
I no more wanted Demons and Satan to be real than any other libertine still stumbling around addicted to pleasure and excitement. But reality is as it is, not as we wish it to be, and ultimately, no one will be left on the sidelines.
As our Lord explained some 2000 years ago:
Either you are with Him, or you are against Him. Those are the only two choices available. Ultimately the choice between Good or Evil is binary. Though the road to it is far from binary, the final choice is.
And you will not be spared the having to choose; because not choosing is also a choice for the darkness.
So. Pick your master, for we all have one.
I pray those of you as hard-headed as I was get your road to Damascus moment right now, and that those of you a little smarter can get there by logic and reason alone, but I pray you all get there.
God is real. So is Free Will.
You are not a puppet. You get to choose.
I hope you choose well. Sedevacantism is indeed the Way. Research it for yourself, don’t take my word for it.
Oscar Winning Walter Matthau In “Very Moral Theft” | Hitchcock Presents
Was there ever a time in your life where you had little to no social interaction? How long? What happened?
I recall a couple of episodes of about three weeks each.
The first was during a winter break during my second year of law school. I think my finals must have been extraordinarily early, because I had an entire three weeks off, and the four-bedroom house I was sharing was vacated by my three housemates, all of whom scattered for long family holiday plans. I decided to clean out the basement of the house, part of which had been left untouched since I moved in, and was packed with various old tools, painting supplies and junk. In the process, I found some sandpaper, tack cloth, brushes and some ancient spar varnish that looked in great shape, so I decided to refinish my dining room table. I’d never done anything like that before and it was in the days before YouTube (or any internet, for that matter), so the fact that it turned out beautifully still amazes me.
I never left the house for those three weeks except to walk across the street to drop a library book in the return bin. I spoke face-to-face with only one other person, an ex-boyfriend who dropped off a Christmas present for me, and that was limited to the basics, Hello, How are you, Thanks for the thought. Good-bye. I probably spoke with my mother on Christmas Day, because I can’t imagine that she wouldn’t have called. And that was it.
I probably read a couple of dozen books, listened to a bunch of records, reorganized the hall closet, and built a couple of fires in the rarely used fireplace.
It was glorious.
The second was at a very rustic weekend vacation cabin I had bought on an Indian reservation north of Seattle (I owned the cabin, but it was on leased Indian land).
I was a practicing attorney at the time. A couple of cases scheduled for trial unexpectedly settled and freed up a block of three weeks with nothing that urgently required my presence, I hadn’t had a vacation in years, but it was on too short notice to do anything like foreign travel, so I packed up three weeks of supplies and a gallon of bleach to sanitize the well and went to stay at the cabin.
For those three weeks, I read, puttered around the cabin fixing things, hand-sewed some curtains, painted the interior, and saw nobody except the few cars a day that traversed the road in front of the cabin. I had no telephone (this was in the days of landlines only and there wasn’t one installed there) so I didn’t talk to anybody either. I had no TV, stereo or radio (except the radio in my car), so nobody talked at me, either. The only social interaction I had was that I did treat myself to a dinner out, alone, at a restaurant in a nearby town, and spoke to the waiter to give my order, ask for my check, and thank him on the way out. I’m pretty sure that was the only person I spoke to for three weeks. The only complaint I remember was that I didn’t bring quite enough books and quite enough wine.
Both of those episodes were long before the days of the Internet, social media, cell phones, email, etc. Isolation like that would be quite difficult today, I suspect.
After both of those experiences, I felt that I could have easily and enjoyably continued my isolation for another two or three weeks before I might start wishing for human contact.
What are the risks of allowing Chinese EV imports into the US?
It would risk shattering the illusion that Chinese Technology is just copies and fakes.
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Just like how Japan proved they caught up to America when their cars and electronics sold in the USA are found to be better quality and more high tech than American Products, Chinese EVs will show to Americans that Chinese products can be worth the money and high quality too.
If American start buying expensive goods from China too, then US industries are in trouble.
BANGS Rage Quits Over TRANS debate?
What’s the most unreasonable request you’ve received from your boss?
I had a job threaten me about missing work for my then wife’s surgery.
I worked in solid waste. Basically, I was a garbage man. I did commercial dumpsters for 11+ hrs a day, 5 days a week. Great money, but long, long hours. I had been in solid waste at the time for about 13 yrs.
So, on to the story. I was married at the time. My then wife had found out she had a bone issue in her foot. The bone had become necrotic, and they were going in to basically try to cut out the dying bone, use other bone and something called ‘bone putty’ to save her foot. This surgery was scheduled weeks in advance. We had just moved to the area we were living in maybe a year and a half earlier. Any family we both had were states away, and anyone that could help basically were still working. At first, I was like… okay. I’ll burn up a few vacation days so I can take her to the surgery and for a few days of recovery. But, as we got closer to the surgery, they were thinking she would be out of commission longer than originally expected. So, the doctor told me to get FMLA paperwork from my job. Basically, paperwork that allows you to miss work for medical reasons for yourself or a family member. I’m like, great. This will make sure I can be there for her and still keep my job. 5 weeks out, I get the paperwork, and fill it out. I take it to the doctor, and they fill out their part. It became one of the most annoying, stress filled things I’d ever be involved with. Several times each week leading up to the surgery date, I was constantly checking on the status. My employer would have a different excuse every time. “Oh, this wasn’t filled out correctly” or “they didn’t receive the 2nd page on the fax” or something. The doctors office hated me. About the 12th time I called the office to ask them to check on this or that and please re-fax it, they were almost to the point of ignoring me. I asked was this typical, and everyone I talked to were like, no. This is not typical. Some were like, I’ve never seen a company do this to their employee.
So, it’s the day before the surgery. I had been very vocal at work as to what was going on, and why I wasn’t gonna be there. Midway through my shift, my supervisor calls me to tell me that the FMLA paperwork still wasn’t correct. It’s not been approved, and I quote, “if you are not here tomorrow, I’ve been told to tell you that there will be consequences.”
I’ve never had issues with attendance. In the whole time I had worked for this shop, I never missed a day, never been late. I had coworkers who would call off to “go to the beach”. I remember just a few months earlier, I had to cover part of a route because a dude was going to a Nascar race weekend, and it was like, oh. Well, they called out. Here, here’s a few pages of their route. Just work it in. Nothing was ever done or said. But, I legitimately had a family member having a major surgery done and it was just the two of us in the area and less than 24 hours beforehand they are gonna tell me there would be consequences if I called out, having plenty of PTO time banked?
I remember telling them, look. I’m not going to be here. This isn’t up for debate now. They reiterated the threat. That day, I knew I’d never drive another garbage truck again. I knew that was the end of that career and chapter in my life. I had worked for several companies in several states. Some great. Some, not so great situations. But, this was the first time I had ever gotten put into a situation where they were either just wanting to be jerks, or show some form of power over me.
I’ve always given 2 week notices and even since this time, I always parted from jobs having given them plenty of time, trained a replacement. Tied up all loose ends. I believe in avoiding burning a bridge, but in this situation, I was done. I had a nasty voicemail left the night of. Then, literally while she was in surgery, i got a call that it was approved and it was only for that day. The surgery had further complications, and was worse than originally thought. I played phone tag with my supervisor and manager. Asking for a few more days. Then, I got a letter stating I had abandoned the job.
I’ve since gone on to other careers. Went back to college and got a degree related to the IT field. Worked several years in that field for a couple companies. When covid hit, I decided to follow a long time dream/fascination of getting into Healthcare. I’ve spent several years now working as a nursing assistant in a hospital. I’m going to college to be a respiratory therapist. This has been the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. Part of me wants to look at it as everything happens for a reason kinda thinking. I do think if they had acted differently, there’s a good possibility I’d still be a garbage man. I enjoyed the job, itself. The pay was great. But, the biggest problem I always saw in that field was the way the shops were ran. The way management treated their employees. This shop was and I think still is one of the biggest haulers in the US. I had worked for them previously when I was living in Ohio, and based off of my reputation in OH, I acquired the same job in NC after having lived in FL and was moving north. But, I think it was just my time to move on. It was a lesson learned. Same with the 7 yrs I spent in IT. I think it was a character builder, and I think it helped me to be able to talk with and empathize with my current patients. I do wonder, will I ever run into those who were in upper management in my current job. Obviously, I’m going to give them the best care that I can provide. I guess I’m just wondering how they’d treat me.
This Isn’t Your Wife! | House M.D.
Since China sent military and coastguard vessels into Japanese territorial waters near the Diaoyu Islands, why did Japan send the Suzutsuki into Chinese waters and provoke China?
Japanese ships come if they want to, after all, our warships sail through their strait every day as if it’s just a regular street. Japan must have mustered great courage, trembling with fear, to come this time.
In the past, the U.S. would come once a month. They didn’t have much to do when they came; coming was the purpose itself.
You know, once a month, like clockwork, which made me suspect that if the U.S. Navy had a gender, it would definitely be female.
Now the United States is not coming, maybe to save fuel, it ordered its minions to come, last month the Netherlands, this month Japan. What use can a small raft be? It’s like a small dog, it barks happily.
If we talk about political wisdom, we have to look at Europe. Last time the United States pulled a group of people to conduct military exercises near China, Spain sent the warship in the picture – let me ask you, is this a warship? A real sailing battleship!
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Kishida Fumio is just like Bongbong Marcos, they are definitely doomed, maybe even along with South Korea’s Yoon Suk-yeol. But what else can they do? They have to make some moves; if they do nothing, they’ll just wait to suffocate to death.
Even pigs squeal and twitch a few times when they’re being slaughtered, let alone the Japanese Prime Minister.
But it’s useless.
Modern Women Are UPSET BECAUSE Men Keep Avoiding Them At Work
Beef Stew with Dumplings
This beef stew with mushrooms, dumplings and sour cream is a substantial and satisfying main dish. Serve it with a green vegetable salad and French bread.
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Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
Stew
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 pounds (1kg) stewing steak, trimmed of fat and cut into 1 inch cubes
1 ounce (30g) (2 tablespoons) butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons brandy, warmed (optional)
1 bay leaf
2 pints (5 cups) homemade beef stock
6 ounces (185g) mushrooms, wiped clean
5 fluid ounce (150ml) (5/8 cup) sour cream
Dumplings
8 ounces (1/2 pound) bread crumbs made from day-old white bread
4 tablespoons water
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 onion, grated
1/2 teaspoon ground mace
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Instructions
Heat the oven to warm 325 degrees F (170 degrees C).
Mix the flour, salt and pepper together on a large plate. Roll the beef cubes in the flour mixture until they are lightly coated.
In a large frying pan heat the butter and oil over moderate heat. add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 7 minutes, or until it is soft and translucent. With a slotted spoon, remove the onion and set aside on a plate. Add the beef cubes to the pan, a few at a time. Brown them well, adding more oil and butter if necessary. Remove the beef cubes as they brown and place them in a large ovenproof casserole. If you are using the brandy, put it in a metal ladle. Set it alight and pour it, still burning, over the beef cubes in the casserole. When the brandy has stopped burning, add the onion to the casserole with the bay leaf and stock. Cover the casserole and place in the oven to cook for 2 hours.
While the meat is cooking, make the dumplings. Put the bread crumbs into a large mixing bowl. add the water, a little at a time, and toss lightly with a fork. the bread crumbs should be just moistened, not soggy. Still using the fork, lightly mix in the eggs. add the salt, pepper, parsley, onion and mace. With floured hands, shape the mixture into walnut size balls. add the dumplings to the casserole, with the mushrooms, cover and cook for 30 minutes.
Spoon over the sour cream just before serving.
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Why did Sweden make their own fighter jets?
Because for a long time during the world wars and the cold war and quite some time before and after Sweden had a policy that was summarised as “Alliance free in peace, neutrality in war”. Now being neutral makes some people think that the country is vulnerable or a pushover. The opposite is generally true in reality. Neutrality only works if you have something to back it up with. It also means that you need to consider your weapons systems incredibly carefully.
Buying fighter jets from NATO or the USSR (though the latter would never really be the case for Sweden) means becoming dependent on their supply chains, their expertise and often conceding to some of their terms. This was not seen as acceptable, so Sweden started a domestic arms industry of some magnitude. This kept us less bound to NATO and also gave us the opportunity to create fighters based on Swedish circumstances and Swedish defence doctrine.
Swedish defence doctrine is basically summarised as going apeshit until either we get support from the side that didn’t invade us or until the opponent realises that it isn’t worth it. Every adult over 18 in Sweden can be called in for service in case of war, all discussions of surrender is to be treated as false and there are small bunkers, radar stations, hidden roads for air fields and so on everywhere and we have an arms industry that builds almost everything the Swedish defence needs.
This has been somewhat softened after the cold war ended, but a lot of it is still in place and our arms industry is one of the pieces still going strong.
A Gripen can be serviced by a conscripted 18 year old for most things, it can take off from small roads in the woods, from quickly converted airfields (my old University was built to be converted to an airbase in case of war) or basically any somewhat straight piece of hard ground. This makes it essential for the Swedish style of total defence. Any somewhat straight road, and we have a lot of them can be used to stations a quick refueling and service station for Gripens. Sure it can’t match the top of the line American fighters in many other fields, but for defence it doesn’t have to and it’s a lot cheaper for us to produce ourselves than it would be to buy something that while better in many other ways, don’t fit our doctrine.
“Lauren!” yelled Jared. “For lack of a better term?” He thought she was joking.
“There is no better term. You just plain suck.”
“Why?” Jared asked.
“Why? Why? Why, you ask? I see that monkey. I know it’s dark in this space ship, but I see that monkey. I thought since the two of us won this mission, it would be a great chance for us to be close and really get to know each other. But you brought a monkey along? Why would you do that? Why?”
Jared looked puzzled. He was almost dazed and confused by Lauren’s outburst and attitude.
“Suppose I want to kiss you and wind up kissing that monkey.”
“Well, she has lips too.” He laughed so hard. He couldn’t see what the problem was with the monkey. Also, he still thought she was joking.
“She? She? It’s a she?” Lauren was screaming.
Jared was making frowning faces but Lauren couldn’t see his expressions because of the darkness.
For a moment there was silence.
Lauren went to the window and raised the shade. They were already on the moon and all she could see were Lunar Craters. Hundreds and thousands of them.
“I want to go home,” she said.
“Ahhh, we’re on the moon, Lauren. We have data to gather and pictures to take. Besides, you could have brought a pet.” Jared was trying to comfort her. He was saying to himself that this was going to be a real long mission if she keeps this up.
“Well, my horse was in the shop and I couldn’t get him out in time for this trip.”
For a moment Jared thought she was going to join him in a little humor. He went over to her by the window and put his arms around her waist.
“Monkey, monkey, monkey,” she started yelling. “Get your monkey away from me.”
Jared threw his hands up and back away. He said to himself again, yep, this is going to be a very long and painful mission.
Meanwhile, the monkey was kicked back trying to see what she could see, mostly listening.
Jared went over to his monkey and patted her on the head.
“How did you get that monkey on this ship? I didn’t see you with a monkey packed with your things.”
“The Captain put the monkey on the ship for me.” Immediately after he said, “for me,” he regretted it. He should have made it seem like the Captain did it as a part of the mission.
“So, it is your monkey,” said Lauren.
“The monkey is a part of the mission.”
“By doing what exactly? You do know that three is a crowd.”
“Lauren, please. Let’s just do our job and get along. The monkey is not a problem.”
Lauren had romantic feelings for Jared. She was good friends with the moderator and had her manipulate the drawing to have the two of them paired up to take this mission together. There were a couple other candidates qualified to take this mission and gather the necessary data, but by the luck of the draw, she was paired with Jared.
But with that monkey in the room, she had regrets. Although, she did fancy herself as romantically persuasive, she decided to ignore the monkey and try and concentrate on Jared. Besides, they were going to be stuck in this space ship on the moon for 27.3 earth days or there abouts.
In her astronaut training, she think she read that if a person stays in one place on the moon, then the sun rises, stays up for about two earth weeks, then set, and stays down for about another two earth weeks. Then that makes a complete day on the moon which lasts as long as 27.3 earth days, or something like that. She was almost sure she remembered the correct calculations.
“OMG!” said Lauren. “This monkey is going to start stinking. I’m not going to try and clean her up.”
“Okay, Lauren,” she said to herself. “Get a grip. Ignore the monkey in the room. Twenty-seven point three days alone, well almost alone with Jared is going to be a good thing. At least the monkey won’t be talking.”
Lauren took a few deep breaths and composed herself the best she could. Then she started feeling around and trying to see Jared. She couldn’t find him, so she called out.
“Where are you, Jared?” Then she thought that he better not be hugging that monkey. She didn’t mention the monkey as she was trying to make peace.
Jared wanted out of this trip too, but it was so very much too late and only the first day.
“I’m over here getting the cameras in place. We need to take the videos and digital snapshots.”
Lauren couldn’t help herself. She said, “snapshots and videos of what? Selfies with you and your monkey?”
“You are a brat, Lauren.”
“You are calling me a brat?”
“Yeah, I call ‘em as I see ‘em.”
“Well see this.” The monkey handed her a banana peel and she threw it across the ship.
“You know, I never wanted to go out with you, Lauren.”
“But you did. Why? Was your monkey busy that night?”
“Well, why did you accept?
“I took one look at you, Jared, and you looked like an idiot looking for his keys under a street lamp because that was where the light was. And I said to myself, he can’t be that pathetic. He is an astronaut afterall. You see, I have a weakness for the underdog.
“Oh, you flatter me.” In his mind he called her a witch and a few other things.
“You are like a non-drowsy sleeping pill and a crash landing all rolled up in one, Lauren Dear.”
“Wait. Are you calling me an oxymoron?”
“Well at least you are not an idiot, yet. But you do have more beans inside you than a burrito.”
Lauren realized she was not accomplishing what she had set out to do which was to keep Jared in her life. She felt that she was getting to know him alright. But, so far, they were not getting closer.
She thought it over in her mind. We need to call a truce. I suppose I should jump to it first.
“Truce, truce, truce,” she kept saying.
Jared took a deep breath.
“A truce? That works for me.”
Jared started feeling and looking around for Lauren, slipped on the banana peel and landed on top of her.
She put her arms around him and was thinking to herself that Jared’s monkey might not be too bad to have along after all.
Jared knew where the banana peel came from and was thinking the same thing.
“This is going to be a great mission, Lauren felt good to say.
“Yes, Dear, it’s going to be great waking up every morning and not feel like I’m in the middle of the freeway.
Lauren wanted to react to that remark, but she let it go and kept holding Jared in her arms.
Men being men
What do you eat when you have nothing to eat?
A problem with food banks, and eating randomly when the opportunity arises, it that a lot of what these agencies provide is processed foods that are heavily laden with salts, sugars, non-nutritious fats, and many chemicals (including preservatives) that can be toxic to the body. If I were low on monetary and food resources, I would shoot for the natural, nutritious foods that are inexpensive or easily obtainable. Buy them in bulk if possible. Examples of inexpensive foods that pack a nutritional punch, ones that are also tasty:
The humble potato. They can be chopped up, smeared in extra virgin olive oil and baked in a microwave oven. Avoid the butter, margarine, ghee, etc. Do not fry the potatoes like they do the French fries. You could add spices, depending on your taste. Also add tomato paste before the baking. The nutritional value of the potato is very high, but loading it with trans-fatty oils, high cholesterol fluids will negate the value. And the potato is tasty and filling.
But for those who are diabetic or pre-diabetic, an alternative to potatoes that is both filling and low sugar and calorie is the carrot. And carrots are both inexpensive and easy to consume as either raw, medium-cooked, or fully-cooked. You can more easily lose weight while eating carrots, although they are not as nutritious as potatoes, But eating a balanced assortment of nutritious foods will make up for that.
Tomato paste, mentioned above is a thoroughly inexpensive way to eat tomatoes. The red paste is a concentrated and safely processed form of the highly nutritious tomato. A huge bulky can is sold for about $5, would last for weeks in the cooler, even if you use a lot of it every day.
Some in the bean family such as cowpeas, lentils, and garbanzo beans. Buy them raw, to defray the expenses and to avoid the salted canned ones. Place them in water overnight. This will hydrate and soften them and make them easier and faster to cook the next day.
Oatmeal. A canister, depending on size, will last you weeks or even months.
The egg is famously nutritious, and one a day is enough. Boiled, or fried in olive oil. Wonderful animal protein, many B-vitamins.
Drink your tea or coffee in moderation. The antioxidants are there and helps keep you alert. Use stevia, the natural no-calorie sweetener….inexpensive and not bulky. Cut out the sugar, the Equal, and the Splenda. Go for Stevia….comes in several name brands.
An orange or tangerine a day does wonders.
Carrots are another inexpensive nutritious powerhouse.
Eat your nuts. The least inexpensive way to consume nuts , and to avoid overeating them is to buy them in bulk at the grocery store or places like nuts.com. And of course, many roasted nuts from the stores are overrated. If say you placed small amounts of a Brazil nut, almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, pepitas, peanuts, flaxseeds, etc (or whatever you prefer) in a small Pyrex bowl, added some water and olive oil, microwaved the mixture, you would come out with a very nutritious homemade power bar. Just don’t over roast or burn. Having natural foods at home is not only cheap, but deters you from overeating, and eating processed foods. Also, prepare your snacks at home. Nuts place you in a good mood
Banana. Delicious and nutritious, and filling, mood-enhancing, hydrating, inexpensive. One a day does the trick.
Water…drink your water. This can’t be emphasized enough. This is the medium of body and other functions
Go for inexpensive vegetables, rainbow colors, instead of the tv diners which are hazardous to your health. Eating natural foods makes it so much less expensive to manage your health
Exercising goes well with eating inexpensively and nutritiously, whether you are on a budget or not. My list is inexhaustible, but I suppose a reasonable guideline.
A bit of garlic/onion should be incorporated in the diet, daily.
Be the Rufus
“No one ever buries a hoard of coins, especially precious metal coins, without intending to retrieve it.” Christopher Ratte.
Some Persian soldiers had buried their treasure at the time when the last remnants of Persian soldiers and Persian sympathizers were driven out of Hellenistic Greece. Archaeologist Christopher Ratte and his team have been in Western Turkey for years working on the ancient site of Notion – then part of Ionia – and have found a pot of rare Persian gold coins in what appears to be a basement room.
Credit: Notion Archaeological Project.
The New York Times has published a story on this find, with interviews of Christopher Ratte. Here is a share of that article:
By Franz Lidz, Aug. 2, 2024
It is the late fifth century B.C. and a mercenary soldier kneels in his modest quarters, digging a hole in the earthen floor. He places a small jug, called an olpe, in the hole for safekeeping and covers it with dirt. In the olpe are his savings — scores of gold coins, known as darics, each one equal to a month’s pay.
But something happens to the soldier — possibly something sinister — and he never retrieves his hoard, which remains undiscovered for the next 2,400 years.
That is one of several scenarios proposed by Christopher Ratté, an archaeologist at the University of Michigan, to account for the cache, which he and his research team recently unearthed from the ruins of Notion, an ancient city-state in modern-day Turkey. While digging beneath the courtyard of a house dating to the third century B.C., the excavators found the remains of an earlier dwelling. “The coins were buried in a corner of the older building,” Dr. Ratté said. “We weren’t actually looking for a pot of gold.”
Darics were chiefly used to provide payment to soldiers of fortune. Andrew Meadows, an archaeologist at the University of Oxford who was not involved in the project, said he knew of no other hoard of this type to turn up in Asia Minor. “This is a find of the highest importance,” he said. “The archaeological context for the hoard will help us fine-tune the chronology of Achaemenid gold coinage.”
The archaeological site at Notion spans 80 acres atop a promontory in western Anatolia, a borderland dividing Asia from Europe. It was one of the Greek-speaking communities that emerged in the region during the early first millennium B.C., perhaps because of migration across the Aegean Sea. The deposition and loss of the Notion hoard occurred at a time of warfare, insecurity and great power machinations in a contested frontier zone.
This was true in deepest antiquity, as remembered in the story of the Trojan War,” Dr. Ratté said. “And it remains true to this day, as demonstrated by the Syrian refugee crisis.” He noted that the small harbor on the east side of the city was one of the departure points for Syrian refugees who fled across Turkey to Europe during the refugee crisis a decade ago.
Anatolia is the birthplace of the Western world’s first state-issued coin, the stater, which was created by a seafaring people called Lydians. King Alyattes standardized the weight and design of the Lydian stater, which, beginning around 610 B.C., was struck in electrum, a natural alloy of gold and silver. The king’s son and successor, Croesus, is credited with minting the first true gold coin, the Croeseid. The expression “rich as Croesus” refers to his extravagant wealth as well as the opulence of Lydia during his rule.
Fortifications at Notion, a Greek-speaking community that emerged in western Anatolia during the early first millennium B.C. Credit: Notion Archaeological Project/University of Michigan.
Excavations at Notion last year. While digging beneath the courtyard of a house dating to the third century B.C., researchers found the remains of an earlier dwelling and a cache buried there. Credi: Notion Archaeological Project/University of Michigan.
In 546 B.C., the entire area, known as Ionia, was conquered by the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Although Croesus was defeated in battle by Cyrus the Great, his gold-based monetary system lived on. The Persians continued to manufacture Croesids until they introduced their own bimetallic currency, made up of silver and gold coins. The silver coins were called sigloi, and the gold ones were darics — a name derived from either Darius I, who ruled the Persian Empire from 522 B.C. to 486 B.C., or dari-, the root of the Old Persian word for gold.
In 427 B.C., according to the Greek historian Thucydides, an Athenian general named Paches attacked and killed a troop of pro-Persian mercenaries at Notion after luring their commander into a trap. The Persian sympathizers were then expelled, and Notion was reorganized under Athenian supervision.
Two decades later, a decisive naval battle in the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta was fought off the coast of Notion, which the Athenians had been using as a naval base. Dr. Ratté said that the gold hoard might have been connected to the events of 427 B.C., or later, with the Athenian evacuation of Notion.
“It is possible it was not associated with either of these dramatic events,” he said, “but was simply the savings of a veteran mercenary soldier in a time and place when soldiers of fortune could make a lot of money if they were willing to risk their lives for the highest bidder.” Many Greeks fought for the Persian Empire, including the Athenian historian Xenophon, who was an active mercenary for the Persian king Cyrus the Younger from 401 B.C.- to 400 B.C. — the same time period when the Notion hoard was tucked away.
In 387 B.C., within a generation after the Athenians were defeated by the Spartans, Notion and the other cities of Ionia were reintegrated into the Persian Empire. They remained Persian possessions until the conquest of Alexander the Great in 334 B.C., at which point production of the daric quickly declined. Alexander and his immediate successors had many of the existing gold pieces melted down and recast as coins bearing their images, making darics rare today.
The Notion darics are stamped on the front with a likeness of the Persian king kneeling in a long tunic. In his left hand is a bow; in his right, a long spear. The backs of the coins are blank, except for a punch mark. The hoard is being stored at the Ephesus Archaeological Museum in nearby Selcuk, Turkey, along with imported Athenian pottery that was recovered at the dig.
Dr. Ratté believes that the fact that the loot was never reclaimed is a clear sign of disaster. “No one ever buries a hoard of coins, especially precious metal coins, without intending to retrieve it,” he said. “So only the gravest misfortune can explain the preservation of such a treasure.”
Truth
Why do mathematicians and physicists have issues with infinity being real? How does it break our understanding if things?
Why do mathematicians and physicists have issues with infinity being real? How does it break our understanding of things?
How did you draw the conclusion that; “mathematicians and physicists have issues with infinity being real?”, explain go into more detail. Unless of course you are a mathematician or psychist and you yourself have issues with infinity being real?
In mathematics, infinity is not just a vague notion of endlessness, but a rigorously defined concept that can be expressed in multiple ways, i.e., cardinality of sets, ordinal numbers, limit concept, symbolic representation, to name a few. Mathematicians have developed sophisticated tools to work with infinity, which strongly suggest that overall they do not have issues with it.
But, from a physics stand point things start to get complicated as the concept of infinity is more problematic and often indicates a limitation of our theories rather than a physical reality. This manifests itself in a number of ways, cosmology and quantum mechanics being prime examples. It is also a challenge when we start talking about black holes and singularities that represent points where physical quantities become infinite, suggesting a breakdown of the theory of infinity, as “normal” rules just don’t apply or they breakdown completely, which in real terms is nothing more than the end point of our understanding.
Many physical models use infinity as a form of idealization, and what I mean by that is, a lot of physical models use infinity as a convenient approximation (e.g., point particles, infinite potential wells), while still recognizing these are idealizations. Keeping in mind that no physical measurement can ever yield an infinite value, as all measuring devices have finite ranges, otherwise what’s the point of attempting to measure something in the first place?
You have not covered the philosophical perspective of infinity in your question which in many ways is just as important as it is in physics, mathematics and the physical world itself. Things like; does infinity actually exist in nature, or is it merely a useful mathematical construct? Infinity leads to numerous paradoxes (e.g., the paradox of Hilbert’s Grand Hotel, for more detail on this go to Wikipedia) that as a thought experiment challenges our intuitive understanding of what we believe infinity actually is. Infinity often represents the boundary of what we can know or are able to measure, that highlights the limits of human understanding.
Then we come to the practical implications of infinity. Some theories for example that produce infinite results often lose their predictive power, which indicates a lot more refinement is required. Infinite series and processes must be truncated for practical calculation purposes, which introduces a need for approximations, as there is absolutely no point them going on forever.
The appearance of so-called infinities in physical theories often drives a search for a more comprehensive framework to work within, (i.e., quantum gravity attempts to resolve singularities in general relativity). This is a signal, or indication that different thinking needs to be applied and more intensive research is required. To that end, in my mind infinity is not an end point, but simply a marker that requires one to go onto the next stage, whatever that may be.
Infinity in mathematics is a well-defined and useful concept that allows for the exploration of abstract ideas beyond finite limitations. In physics, infinity often signals the limits of a theory’s applicability, which then prompts further, deeper investigation and refinement of our understanding of the physical world. The interplay between mathematical infinity and physical reality of infinity is basically a work in progress and will continue indefinitely, as, when you think about it, is there any end to infinity?” Perhaps no…as that is what infinity is, across just about all domains no matter how one thinks about it or how it is expressed.
Q1: Why do mathematicians and physicists have issues with infinity being real?
A1: I don’t think they really do..is infinity is a concept on all levels is not fully 100% “resolvable”.
Q2: How does it break our understanding of things?
A2: Again, I don’t think it does, it is more a boundary where our understanding stops and it is merely an indicator that we need to dig deeper, refine and further our understanding. Human knowledge always has and always will have a limit, it will never, ever be infinite.
At the end of the day, there will never be an answer to your two-part question, it will go on forever, all the way to infinity and beyond…whatever that is…
ALIEN (1979) MOVIE REACTION!
Is a commander legally allowed to order a soldier/subordinate to his death?
Yes.
This was brought home to me during an exercise in the mid-80’s when I was a young Engineer Platoon Leader. My platoon was attached to an Infantry Battalion for a long field training exercise. We were equipped with HMMVW’s with TOW missiles and were trying to operate against tanks. That turned out to be pretty tricky, the tanks were very good, and the tactics we were using were not fully developed. We ended up getting kicked around the training area pretty routinely.
In one scenario, the Brigade Commander, a full Colnel and a Vietnam Veteran ordered the Battalion I was working with to hold a particular pass “at all costs.” The Battalion did a credible job defending, but then got flanked, which led to the Battalion Commander, also a Vietnam Vet, to order a withdrawl.
I was pretty new, but I thought at the time that this was a good call. In my view, holding onto the position any longer than we had would have led to the extinction (ln the exercise) of the Battalion, about 500 guys. The Battalion Commander wanted to live to fight another day, and what he was doing was doctrinally sound.
This particular point got discussed at length during the After Action Review. The Battalion Commander got asked why he ordered the withdrawal when he was ordered to stand. He laid out his reasoning, which made sense to me. I was there. There wasn’t anything else to do.
There was this long silence. Then the Brigrade Commander looked at the Battalion Commander with this laser-beam look and says, “John, if I tell you to go die on some hill, I’ve got a damned good reason for doing it. My concerns, the Division’s concerns, are bigger than yours. If I have to sacrafice your Battalion in order to preserve something bigger, it’s my job to order you to do it. It’s your job to take your boys and go out and die.”
This is the dark side of combat that no one really likes to talk about. It doesn’t happen often, normally because of a miscalculation or mistake, but units get asked to make these kinds of sacrafices. When you are an officer, if you’re doing your job right, your unit is like your family. Words that describe how close units bind together in combat fail me. Others have done it much better. These are your brothers, your sisters, your children. When you get asked to do something like this, it’s like asking your children to go out and die for you. Then you have go out and die with them.
Anyway, I’ve never forgotten it. It made me think through a lot of things before I became a Company Commander and had to take folks to war.
Its all about timing
Is the “face culture” of the Chinese superior and more civilized than the “honor culture” of North Americans, Arabs, Somalis, Afghans, Nigerians, Turkic and Mongolian peoples, etc.?
Face culture comes from Confucian culture. As a unique cultural and psychological phenomenon of the Chinese people, face culture has greatly influenced the daily social life of the Chinese people.
North Americans are Christian culture
Arabs, Somalis, Afghans, Nigerians are Islamic culture
Turkic and Mongolians are nomadic culture
The values of Dignity, honor, face are different among Christian culture, Islamic culture and nomadic culture, and the difference is very big.
Honor and face cultures attach great importance to regulating individual behavior by social expectations and cultural norms. However, the two cultural phenomena differ in several crucial aspects.
The new cultural framework of dignity, honor, and face was proposed based on three different cultural logics and reveals that while both honor culture and face culture place importance on adhering to social norms, honor culture places greater emphasis on both self-awareness and external evaluations for self-worth, whereas face culture places more weight on external evaluations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honor_killing
Additionally, honor culture is characterized by an unstable social hierarchy prone to competition, violence, and virtue, while face culture prioritizes modesty, harmony, and cooperation within a more stable hierarchy. Especially at banquets, whether or not to drink is directly related to face.
From indigenous perspectives, the self-image and social image in honor culture are relatively consistent, and honor encompasses moral, gender, and family-related aspects that may be defended through violence. In contrast, self-image and social image in face culture tend to be incongruent, and face involves morality and social achievement, which is expressed through the dimensions of seeking face and avoiding losing face with an emphasis on status and authority.
Combined with the above two perspectives, these core differences between honor and face cultures can be attributed to the moralization and instrumentalization of social cultural norms.
Specifically, honor tends to moralize social and cultural norms by transforming descriptive norms into prescriptive norms, where majority and typical behaviors that exist in a culture are considered behaviors that group members should or must abide by. In contrast, face instrumentalizes social and cultural norms by using descriptive and prescriptive norms as means and tools to maintain relationships, demonstrate status, and uphold authority.
This perspective provides new insights into cultural phenomena, such as the positive correlation between violence and virtue in honor cultures, where violence becomes a social norm that adapts to the honor culture environment and is moralized into a virtuous attribute. The social norm of harmony in face culture exists both as value-oriented harmony influenced by Confucian culture and instrumental harmony in daily life, leading to a dissonance between face and heart.
She was going to kill him. She was actually going to murder him. Yes, she has said it plenty of times before but this time she meant it. This time she would drag him by his stupid hair to an airlock and shove him out to space where he can suffocate.Seven months. She lasted seven months stuck in this shuttle with him, but now she was finally going to crack.It started off with the computer. He programmed it to call him “Hot Stuff.” She changed it back. Then, he programmed it to call him “King of the Bandages.” Once again, she changed it back. Twenty nine nicknames later-yes, she kept a list-the most recent development was “Big McDaddy.”And since his names apparently weren’t keeping him preoccupied, he decided to spend time obsessing over hers. Specifically, her first name. On the top of her medical file is “B. Miller” neatly typed out, but he wanted to know more. The guesses started off sensible enough with Bella and Bethany-they have now devolved into Bread and Bacteriochlorophylls.And somehow, no matter what happens, he won’t stop grinning. No one should be as cheery as this guy, it doesn’t seem healthy. Every time she sees him she wants to growl in frustration, but he remains as sunny as the actual suns they pass.But this time is worse than all those other time. This time he took the biscuit because this time he broke a rule that could get himself and her fired. This time he… well, he took the biscuits.”I can’t believe you!” She screeched, storming into the medical bay. “I can’t believe you would actually steal from the passengers!””I’m sorry?” He asked looking up from a rather heavy looking book. He was still smiling. Asshole.”The biscuits. Don’t even try to deny it. I know it was you who took them.””Ok.” He went back to reading.”Ok?” That threw her off her guard. She was expecting an argument. For him to try feign innocence before she finally broke him and he begged her not to tell their boss. It wasn’t supposed to go like this.
“Ok, I won’t deny it. I took the biscuits.” He raised an eyebrow. “Is there anything else or…?”
“Well… well… what do you have to say for yourself?” Her voice got weaker and weaker throughout the sentence. She really had no idea where she wanted to go with that.
“…They tasted nice?” Oh, that made her blood boil.
“Nice? Taste? That’s not what I was asking. Do you know how much trouble you could be in for this.” He was an idiot, he had to be. Maybe, he just didn’t care. No that couldn’t be it, could it? This job involves being away from Earth for years at a time and being fired tends to mean never getting work anywhere else. Maybe he thought the job would be easy and that he would get away with stuff like this. Not on her watch.
“I know how much trouble I will be in-none. No one cares. No one apart from you. Speaking of which, why do you care?”
He is unbelievable. “I care because I was put in charge of making sure everything is ready for when the passengers wake up.”
It is a requirement of every shuttle to have at least one engineer, and, if asked, she would tell people that she is the engineer-because she is. However, the shuttle is built fairly sturdy, and the AI seems to be doing a fine job of maintaining everything. It’s not that she wants things to go wrong… it would just be nice if there were a few mishaps that called for her assistance. This lack of jobs can make floating in space a tad boring, hence her eagerness to take on the role of an over-glorified party planner.
“Look,” he said, closing his book, “in eight months time we’re stopping for fuel at a space station. If we happen to be low on supplies-which we won’t be ’cause these passengers have more than enough-we can stock up then.”
“What if one of them wakes up?” It’s a weak argument but one she feels strongly about. She has read every story there was on passengers waking up from the deep sleep they are put into before take off. The passengers they were currently transporting were Taubverlians, so the four year journey would probably feel like a human’s version of a week to them but apparently it’s a week they would rather sleep through. What if they woke up angry? What if they got so annoyed they decided to file a complaint? What if those biscuits were the only thing that would have been able to calm them down and stop them from demanding the whole crew gets fired? It’s unlikely, but it is possible.
“Really?” He asked. She glared at him with cold, unforgiving eyes. “You need to calm down before you give yourself a stroke. I check, double check and triple check each passenger’s pod everyday and there hasn’t been even the slightest hint that one of them might wake up before they’re supposed to.” He let out a sigh and for the first time since she met him, his smile faltered. “It’s your first trip right? Thought as much. You see, after a while, you will start to get bitter. You’ll start to resent the passengers, our bosses, whoever it is at home that you’re sending your wages back to. The thought that you will more than likely be working here until the day you die and the knowledge that it is extremely rare for a crew member to ever see Earth again combined with the fact that if someone in charge screws up and needs someone to blame we will probably be killed… well, at some point or another, it gets to you. That’s why I play around with the AI and steal the occasional biscuit. That’s why Ellie stole a bottle of whiskey. That’s why Charlie is cheating on her husband with Smith. These acts keep us sane. And they’re not hurting anyone-not if no one finds out.”
She could somewhat sympathise. Ok, she could sympathise a lot. She was bitter. Of course she was bitter about… everything, but she wasn’t going to complain. Her family needed her to have this job, and so must his-it’s not like he would ever see his wages, so they have to be going somewhere.
“Our supervisors don’t care as long the passengers get to their destination safe and sound. You can relax, Birdy.”
She fought the urge to roll her eyes. “That is not what the B stands for.”
His smile was now back to full voltage as he realised he won. “We have been in this tin can for seven months and I still don’t know anything about you. What are your hopes, your dreams, your fears? Where are you from? And what exactly does the B stand for? It doesn’t stand for Biscuit, does it?”
She may come to regret this, but at the moment her stress is leaving her and she feels… lonely. She doesn’t have anybody to talk to on this shuttle apart from when she is arguing with him. Hearing him talk about their colleagues that he clearly knows so much better than she does just reminded her of how much she has isolated herself. “Brooklyn.”
“You’re from Brooklyn? Cool, I have a cousin that lives there, or used to at least.”
“No-well, yes I am from Brooklyn but, that’s what the B stands for.” The look on his face was almost worth it. Almost.
“So, you’re from Brooklyn… and your name is-”
“Oh, shut up.” She tried to fight a grin.
“…Were your parents really worried about you forgetting where you lived?”
“I shouldn’t have told you. I should have just stuck to Biscuit.”
He let out a laugh at that. Dear god, it was brighter than his smile. “Ok, ok, I’m sorry Biscuit.” She shot him a glare with much less heat than the previous one. It was kind of nice talking to him-not that she would ever dream of saying it to him. Just before she got a chance to retort, a series of short beeps filled the room. “Time for me to go check on the passengers again.”
“Oh, right. I have work I need to go do as well.” She turned to leave, ignoring the pang in her chest. She has her work to focus on, friends would just take up time.
“Wait.” He tossed her a small metal box. She stared at the box, then at him, then back again. At his nod she opened up the latches and the contents very nearly managed to surprise a snort out of her. Biscuits.
Tension Subsiding in South China Sea
Changing Geo-Political arrangements.
What terrifies you about Xi Jinping?
Mr. Xi doesn’t terrify me, but he certainly “terrifies” my German friend. Let’s call him Karl.
Obviously, Karl isn’t a basketcase of nailbiting anxiety and fear over a man a continent away. But he related a spine-tingling moment some years back listening to the news while driving on the autobahn.
Before we get into that, a little background about Karl.
Karl, perhaps unsurprisingly, speaks Chinese. What tickles me though, is he speaks funny Chinese.
Notice I said Chinese and not Mandarin.
Karl speaks a creole of accented Mandarin and horror of horrors, the Changsha dialect.
Now, try making sense of the hilarity hearing a thick German accent fighting his own tongue to make the proper tone for Mandarin words abused by the Changsha pronunciation.
After all these years, I have concluded he has been putting up a show all along to bewilder and get a rise out of me deciphering his words.
He has a future in standup, if he ever needs a change of scenery.
Back on topic. What piece of news made him nervous? It was a single statistic from China’s anti-corruption drive.
“More than a million party officials have been disciplined.”
He was flabbergasted by how seriously the Chinese were taking the campaign because when he was there, he had concluded corruption was so deeply ingrained in the culture it was impossible to root out. In fact, that was a primary reason why he left China, even though the money was lucrative.
Karl has an interesting way of bringing his point across, and he was ready when I pressed.
“China isn’t Germany. A million out of a billion is a mere drop.”
“Yes, but China either gives lip service or they do a thorough job. 1 million is a thorough job.”
“True. But why should that jolt?”
“Because nothing happened, Bill.”
“What do you mean nothing happened?”
Evidently he was waiting for this moment of weakness because he broke into a sly smile and declared:
“Nothing happened to President Xi.”
I was truly incredulous.
“I lost you Karl. You expected him to fall victim to the campaign he initiated because he is dirty too?”
“No, silly. The fact nothing happened means we have witnessed the coronation of the first Chinese emperor of the 21st century, if only in practice.”
“Now you sound like a flat earther.”
“No no. Nothing far-fetched. How do you think they land a big fish like Zhou Yongkang? Using the police? Or the army?”
“The President probably ordered his arrest personally.”
“Yes but what was the investigative apparatus and how did they manage to arrest him? Zhou was the security tsar.”
“Oh. I think I’m understanding. Even the FBI will have trouble arresting the vice President.”
“Sort of. The Xi administration basically set up their own supralegal modern day Embroidered Uniform Guard that was vested with political power to deal with anyone, even the biggest fish. The million they mentioned? A substantial number are senior cadres, nodes in the power structure. The Chinese think in terms of guanxi or relationships so tackling corruption equals identifying and destroying webs of collusion.”
“Do you think Xi went too far?”
“No. He did a fantastic job. I am just surprised the faction wars didn’t flare up in response. Not even a whimper. Xi has great standing within the party.”
“Ok, so he cleaned up. Why does that terrify you? He is more powerful than ever?”
“Not really. People fail to realize the five year plans were being executed like clockwork in the midst of rampant corruption. He would have reached the state objectives without rocking the boat.”
“He did not need to pick this fight?”
“No. He had to. It was the right time.”
“The stars didn’t align for Jiang and Hu?”
“Yes. The force was not with them.”
“The FORCE? Dude, you have been playing me all day!”
“Electricity, my boy. You can build the fanciest roads and buildings but without electricity you cannot urbanize.”
*Incredulous stare*
“For sure it is electricity. Hu was a hydroelectric engineer. China’s electricity output increased more than 2-fold during his time in office.”
“What does it have to do with corruption?”
“China essentially went full steam ahead to urbanize. Jiang wasn’t even sure how the system would work as it transited from Central planning to market economics as it spread inland from the SARs. Hu laid the foundation to guarantee future growth. The GFC gave China the breathing space to shape a cultural change among the ruling elite. A bunch of people got rich too quickly and developed money fever.”
“What does the GFC have to do with it?”
“China’s economy fundamentally shifted post 2008. China finally flexed her domestic muscle and decided they had to be less reliant on the west. But they had to inevitably slow down as the west recovered from a balance sheet and sovereign debt crisis. It is this recentering to OBOR and domestic growth that gave Xi the breathing space to tackle corruption nationwide.”
“Man, that’s deep but all that says is China has a good man at the helm. What makes him fearsome?”
“Well, when I was there the way the Chinese were throwing money around was unbelievable. Too much waste. And too many funny things going on. Putting a stop to that means the Chinese are getting on board the next stage of growth, one that is much higher in quality, and sustainable. The Chinese rocket shot up the sky in spite of excesses. Can you imagine a people without? Us Germans are counting the days when the Chinese become direct competitors to German technology and quality. The Chinese are getting their act together.”
Note: The emperor reference is no insinuation of shenanigans. Rather it is Karl’s intent to frame how far the Xi administration can push reform. In other words, Xi has the people’s mandate, just like a legitimate Son of Heaven.
Karl is real, but I’ve paraphrased our conversation.
Note: The profundity of Karl’s astute observations is contained within the satellite composites of nightime China, taken two decades apart.
Bill Pfeiffer’s Chili Capital Punishment
Bill Pfeiffer’s Chili Capital Punishment is the winner of 1980 World’s Championship!
chili 1chili 3chili 4
Yield: 14 to 18 servings
Ingredients
1 tablespoon oregano
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons MSG
9 tablespoons chili powder
4 tablespoons cumin
4 tablespoons beef bouillon (instant crushed)
2 cans beer
2 cups water
4 pounds extra lean chuck (chili grind)
2 pounds extra lean pork (chili grind)
1 pound extra lean chuck, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
2 large onions, finely chopped
10 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup oil or kidney suet
1 teaspoon mole (powdered)
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon Masa Harina
Salt to taste
Instructions
In a large pot, add oregano, paprika, MSG, chili powder, cumin, beef bouillon, beer and water. Let simmer.
In a separate skillet, brown 1 1/2 pounds of meat in oil or suet until meat is light brown.
Drain and add to simmering spices. Continue browning meat in batches until all meat has been added.
Sauté finely chopped onions in oil or suet. Add to spices and meat mixture. Add water as needed. Simmer two hours. Add mole (MOE-lay), sugar, coriander, hot pepper sauce and tomato sauce. Simmer for 45 minutes.
Dissolve Masa Harina in warm water and add to chili. Add salt to taste. Simmer for 30 minutes.
What was your first clue you were no longer as young as you thought you were?
I was born in 1965, which means I am 59 as I write this response. In the 1980s, I worked as a DJ in a bar called The Notorious Club 26, and I played music from the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s.
As the DJ, I would say things like, “Remember, never trust anyone over 30. If you are over 30, don’t trust yourself.” As a 20-something, I thought I was being funny. Then a horrible thing happened: I turned 30 in 1995.
I was single at the time, and I realized that all the time I wasted being a DJ interfered with my social and personal life. I worked 6 days a week, and on Tuesday of each week, I got paid. Who wants to go out on a date on a Tuesday? Who wants date some who works from 9 pm until 3:30 AM?
I wass 30, looking back from where I came, and realized that I had wasted the last 10 years of my life. I worked, made very good money, got a lot of cash tips for the customers, loved my job, but my life sucked. All I did was work, sleep, and do household jobs. I had no social life.
I kept working but I also went back to college, and finally finished the work for my BA. After that, I was able to quit the DJ job and work during the day instead of being a vampire on a day pass.
I’m not going to lie: 30 seemed old to me. When I turned 40, I got a card that said something like 40 is the new 30.
I’m 59 years old now, and my hair is gray, just like my beard, and my body is a wreck. However, I know that my life has been full and fun. I’m not sure what comes next, but I am looking forward to the trip.
As a Chinese person, I never felt any connection to the “patriotism” that the Chinese Communist Party instilled in me since childhood.
In elementary school, our teachers told us, “The most important principle in writing is to show your love for China.” Well, I didn’t understand at all. How could a child possibly grasp what it means to “love China”? For an elementary student, “patriotism” is nothing but outdated stories and empty political slogans.
As I grew older, my aversion to “patriotism” only increased. The reason was obvious: if “patriotism” had a significant impact on one’s well-being, why had I never seen anyone get rich because they “loved China”? And why had I never seen anyone fall into a miserable situation because they “didn’t love China”?
When I started using the internet, I discovered more meaningful things. I realized that China could only avoid destruction by embracing Western political systems. During that time, I read many articles by “independent Chinese intellectuals,” including economists, Chinese immigrants abroad, lawyers, and entrepreneurs.
Back then, I hoped these independent intellectuals could awaken the “numb Chinese people” through their writings. They were active on BBS, blogs, social media, and China’s version of Twitter. I spent a lot of time reading their articles and enthusiastically commenting. I admired them and saw them as the future political stars of China. At that time, I had my own blog called “A Chinese Citizen,” with the slogan “For a Bright Future of China.” I wrote every day, and when I had nothing to write about, I would repost negative news about China and add my own gloating comments.
The trolls on Quora today are nothing compared to the old me.
Later, I got married and had my own child. As a freelancer, I had time each day to spend with my growing child. To expose my child to nature, I took them to many places. Busy with accompanying my child, working, cooking, and doing laundry every day, my life focus gradually shifted.
One summer evening when my child was three years old, we drove to a famous large lake in northern Xuzhou called Weishan Lake. A section of the Grand Canal passes through the Weishan Lake area. The sunset bathed the hundred-kilometer-long embankment road along Weishan Lake in golden light. My wife, captivated by the beauty, asked me to stop the car for a while. I parked by the roadside, and we were greeted by the cool evening breeze and the slightly fishy smell of the lake water. We all quietly listened to the waterfowl returning to their nests.
When a long line of cargo ships appeared at the end of my vision on the Grand Canal, another fleet from the opposite direction sounded their horns as they passed through the Linjiaba lock. The sunset deepened, and the afterglow moved from the embankment road to the surface of Weishan Lake. The vast lake, looking like an ocean, stretched beyond the horizon. Waterbirds in the reeds were startled by passing ships, taking off with pleasant sounds. Watching my child jumping with joy and my wife enjoying the cool breeze, I felt a deep sense of happiness. In that moment, I suddenly realized something:
Weishan Lake is a gift from nature to the locals; the Grand Canal is a monumental achievement by our ancestors. The various aquatic products from Weishan Lake have nourished generations of people on this land. Today, these endless cargo ships continuously transport energy and agricultural products to ports along the route. We enjoy the tranquility of nature, while our material life benefits from China’s vibrant economic system.
The natural geography is a gift from God; historically, it is a territory our ancestors expanded on horseback; and in reality, it is the result of countless generations of Chinese people’s hard work. For economic and social activities to run efficiently, the country’s leaders need exceptional talent to design reliable development plans. Without all this, there would be no individual happiness. The CPC is a positive part of this picture—not the whole, but just as important as all other parts.
I live on this land in this lifetime, and so does my child. Everyone I love and everyone who loves me live on this land. I love them and hope they remain healthy, happy, and joyful. Protecting them means ensuring that this land is free from war, plague, hunger, and poverty. Only when these foundations are solid can I fully devote myself to life and family. Isn’t this the relationship between an individual and their country? The CPC has achieved this, so what exactly am I complaining about every day? Should I deny everything just because of some bad news on the internet and some unfortunate events on this land?
By Weishan Lake at that moment, I grasped a simple truth: to love this country, to love its mountains and rivers, its history and culture, the heroes who shed blood and tears in modern history, and the forces leading this country to rejuvenation. At the same time, when my child grows up, they should see themselves as a master of this country, participating in its development. This is what a young boy should aspire to.
There is no such thing as love or hate without reason in this world. To love something, you must first understand it, knowing its strengths and weaknesses, and recognizing its significance to us. Otherwise, “forced love” is fake, blind, and short-lived. “Patriotism” is no different. Only by fully understanding this land, this country, and the forces driving China’s progress, with all their pros and cons, can one develop genuine love.
I am becoming such a Chinese person.
She Gave Him PRE and POST Date Bill and it Backfired
The Trigger For WWIII Just Arrived – What Are The Implications For Americans?
If the year of 2024 has proven anything so far, it’s that our worries about the potential outbreak of WWIII are absolutely reasonable. The skeptics making accusations of “conspiracy theory” and “doom and gloom” have been proven wrong yet again. The geopolitical atmosphere is turning sour fast.
I still don’t think a lot of people realize how truly volatile the situation is globally right now. From my point of view, WWIII has already begun, at least in economic terms.
Let’s not forget the fact that Ukraine is essentially a proxy for all of NATO against Russia. And, the situation in the Middle East is about to become much worse. Because of the alliances involved and the fragile nature of global energy exports there is a danger of systemic collapse should a wider war break out between Israel and multiple Arab nations. It appears that such a war is imminent.
But why should Americans care? It’s pretty simple – War spurs shortages, and shortages in the middle of a stagflationary crisis are a very bad thing.
Sanctions against Russia affect around 10% of the global oil market and around 12% of global natural gas consumption. But so far all that oil and natural gas is still flowing around the world, only the trade routes have changed. The Middle East, on the other hand, accounts for over 35% of the global oil market and 18% of the natural gas market. Widespread chaos in this region would mean economic crisis on a scale not seen in a century.
Think we have problems with stagflation now? Just wait until energy prices go to the moon.
Around 30% of all oil exports travel through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow passage which a nation like Iran can easily block for months at a time. Sinking a few larger vessels in the straight would obstruct all cargo ship traffic and oil tanker traffic. Trying to clean up the mess would be difficult because artillery, which is almost impossible to intercept, can rain down from Iran on any vessels trying to drag sunken ships out of the way.
Iran has mutual defense pacts with multiple governments in the region including Lebanon and Syria, along with military ties to Russia. The Turkish government is unlikely to allow western troops to use their airspace to launch attacks. The US military presence in Afghanistan is gone and the Iraqi government will never allow foreign troops to use their land to come to the aid of Israel.
This greatly limits the west’s launch points for an offensive large enough to blitz Iran. The vast majority of attacks would be from the air, and if the Russians start supplying Iran with batter radar and missile technology then there’s no guarantees Israel or the US would gain full control of the air space. In other words, if a wider war breaks out it will not end for YEARS and it’s going to be fought on the ground.
Of course, most establishment experts have claimed that the situation will never escalate to that point and that the threat of direct confrontation between Israel and Iran is minimal. I have been predicting the opposite for a number of reasons, just as I predicted that there was a high chance of war in Ukraine months before it happened.
“Israel is going to pound Gaza into gravel, there’s no doubt about that. A ground invasion will meet far more resistance than the Israelis seem to expect, but Israel controls the air and Gaza is a fixed target with limited territory. The problem for them is not the Palestinians, but the multiple war fronts that will open up if they do what I think they are about to do (attempted sanitization). Lebanon, Iran and Syria will immediately engage and Israel will not be able to fight them all…”
My purpose in that article was to outline the dangers of US involvement in a larger war that would require conscription and escalation with Russia. Despite the “experts” insisting that the odds are overblown, it now appears that the next stage of escalation is about to begin.
Iran, Lebanon and Israel have been exchanging limited fire for months now. This is nothing new. What is new is the change in tone after a Hezbollah rocket strike on a children’s soccer game in the remote Druze village of Majdal Shams that killed 12.
On the other side, Israel’s brazen assassination of the Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian soil this week is a clear catalyst for war. Haniyeh has been engaged in a diplomatic mission to start peace negotiations in Gaza. His assassination sends a clear message that Israel has no intention of entering into talks with Hamas.
IDF officials also announced that they had killed top Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in a precision missile strike Tuesday in Beirut. There’s no escaping it now.
Iran’s supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered retaliation against Israel and issued an order for Iran to strike the Israelis directly. Iran will likely use extended missile barrages, but also stage troops in Syria and Lebanon. The Houthis in Yemen will then increase their attacks on ships traversing the Red Sea. It’s hard to say how much Russia will involve itself at first, but I have no doubt more advanced Russian missiles and other weapons will make an appearance on the battlefield.
The prospect of world war is immense. Israel will not be able to fight in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Iran all at the same time. Energy exports in the region will definitely face a slowdown, if not a complete breakdown. At that point the war won’t just be about Israel, it will be about a global energy crisis. I don’t see any scenario in which the US government doesn’t get involved.
The high risk of terrorism this entails should not be overlooked. We’ve had an undefended border and record illegal crossings for a few years now under Biden. There’s not telling how many foreign agents are in the country and I believe this was by design. I think the establishment maintained open border policies because they wanted such people here. The more terror these agents cause the more the public will be tempted to increase government powers to deal with the attacks.
Beyond that, the political left in the west has tied itself to the Palestinian wagon as if it’s their business. In reality, leftists view the war in Gaza as just another vehicle for their outrage. They use minorities, they use gays and now they’re using Muslims. It’s the classic Marxist strategy of hijacking the social causes of other groups and co-opting their momentum.
Gaza is just another excuse for progressive spastics to riot and start burning more of the west down (their true goal). Anyone that opposes them will automatically be accused of being a “Zionist sympathizer” even if Israel is not their concern. So, there will surely be Muslim terror attacks, but also civil conflicts triggered by leftists exploiting the situation to their advantage.
The timing of these events in tandem with the election is definitely not coincidental. Whoever ends up in office will essentially be “stuck” with the war, inheriting a disaster from day one. Once US forces are committed to an allied effort, there’s no chance any president (including Trump) will pull those forces out. If things get bad enough, there might not even be an election in November.
For those that think we can “win” on multiple fronts, the truth might shock you. Eric Edelman, who serves as Vice Chair of the US National Defense Strategy Commission, has given warning about the impending conflict, stating:
“There is potential for near-term war and a potential that we might lose such a conflict…We need our allies to produce more. Our defense industrial base is in very bad shape. The European defense industrial base is in even worse shape. We need our industrial base, their base, and the industrial base of our Pacific allies. Australia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan–they all need to be stepping up because to match what Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are doing is beyond our ability to do it ourselves.”
I have written about the logistical shortcomings of the west in a WWIII scenario for some time now. At the top of the list will be manpower, just as we have seen in Ukraine. This is why we have been hearing military and political officials hint about a new draft over the past two years. They know what’s coming.
A draft to fight for globalist causes is unacceptable. I’m not going to delve into debate over whether it’s right or wrong for western countries to throw their weight behind Israel. Frankly, I don’t care about that argument. I don’t have anything invested in either side of the conflict. I care about Americans. And, I know that making the US military the go-to solution to the Middle East problem is going to end with a lot of dead Americans. I also know that the expanding crisis would make certain special interest (globalists) very happy. As I noted last year:
“The establishment seems particularly obsessed with convincing US conservatives and patriots to participate in the chaos; there are a number of Neo-cons and even a few supposed liberty media personalities calling for Americans to answer the call of blood in Israel. Some have described the coming conflagration as “the war to end all wars.”
I believe that the real war is yet to truly start, and that is the war to erase the globalists from existence. They want us to fight overseas in endless quagmires in the hopes we will die out. And when we do, there will be no one left to oppose them…”
The trap has just been set. We’ll have to wait and observe the scale of the response from Lebanon and Iran, but I believe the worst case scenario is at hand. There are multiple powderkeg events in progress around the world right now, but the Middle East situation looks to be the most disastrous by far in terms of how it will affect the US.
Why is the US not attacking Iran? Haven’t the US had enough of this ayatollah’s nonsense? I’m always interested to know what the end game for the US is here?
There’s a hot topic on the Chinese internet: Is the United States now at the end of the Tang Dynasty or the end of the Ming Dynasty?
I’m in the Ming Dynasty camp.
The fall of the Tang Dynasty was essentially due to the power of the Guanzhong aristocratic group blocking the upward mobility of the Hebei class. Although it was nominally due to the rebellion of the An-Shi insurgents, it was actually a civil war between the Han Chinese of Hebei and the Han Chinese of Longxi.
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（What really led to the demise of the Tang Dynasty was this brutal battle in which most of the army was destroyed.）
Similarly, the fall of the Ming Dynasty was also essentially an internal Han Chinese issue.
Even though there were massive problems with the distribution of interests between the north and the south, it was essentially a civil war between the north and the south.
Since both falls were due to unequal distribution of interests leading to the collapse of the country, why do I insist that the United States is currently at the end of the Ming Dynasty?
Three characteristics:
First, during the fall of the Han and Tang dynasties, these massive entities in Chinese history still maintained overwhelming military advantages over surrounding ethnic groups, whereas the United States does not have this advantage now.
Second, before the fall of the Ming Dynasty, there was a period of, uh, I’m not sure if I should say this, but it is indeed recorded in history books, a so-called “men dressing as women,” and LGBTQ was very prevalent. I have no discrimination against homosexuality, truly none! In ancient China, including the Warring States period and the most prosperous Han Dynasty, there were many rulers who were homosexuals, whom I admire! Look, I’m saying this, so I definitely do not discriminate against homosexuals, right?
What I want to say is that when these rulers were homosexuals, soldiers and ordinary people did not have a tendency to change genders, but at the time of the dynasty’s collapse, there were many grassroots males doing this…
I mean absolutely no discrimination, but it is very similar to the records of the late Ming Dynasty…
Third, spending countless amounts of money and achieving nothing. It’s incredibly frightening. Hundreds of thousands of taels of silver invested, achieving nothing…
In general, I believe that the United States now resembles the end of the Ming Dynasty very much.
The real fall of the Ming Dynasty happened during the “Three Great Campaigns of Wanli,” when the Ming Dynasty still seemed very strong and launched three large-scale military campaigns. But seriously, hasn’t the United States also fought in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan? These three seemingly world-shaking wars actually only fattened the military leaders?
A hot topic on the Chinese internet is: Who least wants the United States to collapse?
80% of the answers are: China.
Chinese netizens are very clear that this world is maintained by the United States. If the United States collapses, it would be a disaster for the world, including China. No one can escape. So we clearly provide this answer based on our own interests: United States, you must not collapse!
The battle that marked the fall of the Ming Dynasty was the Battle of Salhu.
I do not want the United States to engage in wars in the Middle East again, as it is clearly America’s Salhu moment.
That would be a disaster for China, the United States, and the world.
In this world, no one can defeat the United States, except the United States itself.
Should China receive refugees?
No.
I’m from Hong Kong, a city that took in Vietnamese boat people who fled the Vietnam War, at the request of the United Nations. It placed huge economic and social burdens on the city, and the United Nations, after decades, has yet to pay back the 1.3 billion HKD it owes us for our efforts in accommodating them (as of last year, they’ve only paid back 166 million HKD, a mere fraction).
Taking in refugees is an expensive affair that doesn’t always come with benefits. We had enough trouble accommodating ethnic-Chinese Vietnamese people, who were culturally similar to us. Could you imagine if they were from an Islamic-dominated culture? I’m not just talking about the child sex rings, gang-rapes or honour-killings you see in Europe and the UK, I’m talking re-education, teaching them our language and culture, which is difficult and rarely succeeds, in addition to helping them find low-paying jobs, which affects the livelihoods of our grassroots citizens.
I understand the humanitarian principles of helping those in need, but taking them in is not the best solution. The elites who decide on our behalf to let them in can do so in their own good conscience, because they’re not the ones who have to bear the consequences. It’s not their jobs that will face higher competition from low-skilled foreign labour – if anything, they stand to profit from saving on workers’ wages. It’s not their wives and children who have to put up with the gazes and advances of lonely, desperate men (Dr. Clemens Ladenburger being an exception). It’s not their neighborhoods that will face greater poverty and crime. It’s not their communities that will be fractured, as the original residents move out to make way for the new ones moving in.
But most of all, I think young men fleeing their own countries just offends us on a cultural level. You see, there was a time when China wasn’t the second largest economy on earth. Our grandparents had to deal with the Imperial Japanese military, then considered to be one of the finest fighting forces in the world. Even western powers in the Far East couldn’t stop them – Hong Kong (then a British colony) fell in two weeks, with the Japanese only losing a few hundred men.
Guess what the Chinese people back in those days did about it? They fought back valiantly, and suffered the second-most casualties in WW2. Even those who fled to America supported the war effort by sending home what little money they made working jobs white people felt were beneath them.
Refugees (especially young men) should stay in their countries and work to make it a better place for their countrymen. No one can save you but yourselves. The Chinese have known this for at least a century now.
No saviour from on high delivers
No faith have we in prince or peer
Our own right hand the chains must shiver
Chains of hatred, greed and fear
– The Internationale
The Psychopath | House M.D.
Why is North Korea so hated?
I’m going to give a pro tankie answer, even though I am not a big fan of tankies. That’s because I have to agree with them here.
There is absolutely no reason for North Korea to be hated by the West. They are this defensive because they know they are hated and the West just wants to destroy North Korea… and for zero geopolitical reason at that.
The USA destroyed every city in North Korea, and put more bombs on North Korea than they did on Japan which brutally invaded Asia and attacked America’s Pearl Harbor. 635,000 tons of bombs were dropped on North Korea, compared to 160,000 tons of bombs in Japan.
North Korea had 9.26 million people before the war. More than 1 million North Korean civilians were killed or missing due to the Korean War. To compare, less than 1 million Japanese civilians died in WWII, with 100,000+ of them killed in the atomic bombings, in a population of more than 70 million.
The war that America waged on North Korea wasn’t even a war at this point. It was outright genocide. Hitler would be proud of this. Every last North Korean was a target (and some South Koreans too, No Gun Ri Massacre was an example). The aim wasn’t even to put pressure on the North Korean regime, it was to give civilians hell. That is what strategic bombing is aimed to do, give civilians hell.
North Korea would not be justified to invade South Korea (which, frankly, is a capitalist hellhole as much as North Korea is a radical communist juche hellhole today). If North Korea did such things, I would condemn North Korea as well and demand that North Korea go back to its borders.
But it would be very justified to build hundreds of nuclear weapons, and set conditions for its use being the second total destruction of North Korea as happened during the Korean War. Luckily for normal people, North Korea only has dozens of nuclear weapons, and it has only very recently acquired the ability to hit the US mainland with nuclear weapons using just one nuclear weapons platform.
When you read the North Korean history, it makes sense why Kim Jong-un is so preoccupied with building nuclear weapons. If I was him, I would also build nukes.
I’m happy to see countries be able to defend themselves from imperialists the hard way against all odds, be it Israel or North Korea.
America Compared: Why Other Countries Treat Their People So Much Better (Reaction)
The truth hurts.
How did the ancient Chinese study for the imperial examination? Did they just repeatedly read dozens of scrolls every day?
The imperial examination system was a talent selection system implemented in ancient China to build a vast bureaucratic system and control the entire empire.
For its time, this system was quite advanced.
Firstly, it ensured a relatively open path for social mobility, giving children from poor families a chance. Secondly, it was relatively fair; while the winners of the imperial examination might not have been outstanding managers, they were certainly not fools.
At the very least, they had to read an immense amount of books, be knowledgeable, and be intelligent.
(Someone:Let me tell you something, folks, nobody reads more books than I do. Believe me. I’m the best at reading, okay? I’ve read more than anyone else—more than all the other politicians combined. They say, ‘ how do you know so much?’ Well, I’ve got the best books, the smartest people, and I understand everything. I know all the facts, the details, you name it. Nobody’s smarter, nobody’s better informed. It’s tremendous, folks, really tremendous. And believe me, when it comes to being well-read, I’m simply the best.”)
Moreover, the exams were not purely about comparing poetry or essays but included a large number of “strategy and policy” questions.
These questions are somewhat similar to modern civil service exam questions or political knowledge tests for students.
I found a few examples of ancient exam questions and, trying to adapt them to today’s global situation, rephrased them.
You can take a look to get a sense of the type of questions.
1 The United States has established hundreds of military bases around the world, while China’s military strength is mainly concentrated domestically. What are the reasons for these two strategies, and what are their respective advantages and disadvantages?
2 China’s ethnic policies are inherited from the Soviet Union, which has been criticized by many. However, it seems to be functioning well now, better than the Soviet Union. What do you think is the most important reason for this?
3 Roosevelt’s New Deal has some socialist characteristics, while China’s economic policies have many capitalist features. Share your views on this.
4 During President Trump’s tenure, what were some characteristics of the government officials he hired?
(Someone:I’ve got the best, the smartest, the most incredible people working for me. I pick winners, and let me tell you, they make America great again—just like I promised. The greatest administration, believe me. We’re bringing jobs, we’re bringing prosperity, and we’re making this country shine like never before. It’s fantastic, really fantastic,the best team, making America greater than ever. No one does it better.)
5 During the Korean War, China and the Soviet Union were allies, but in the Sino-Vietnamese War, China and the U.S. became quasi-partners. Share your opinion on this.
These are five exam questions related to politics, history, and military affairs, each requiring a detailed answer. There are also other questions covering topics such as education, economy, diplomacy, and so on.
Additionally, there was the Eight-Legged Essay examination, where candidates were required to use the sayings of sages as arguments and write an essay strictly following the standard format.
Overall, answering these questions well within a limited time is quite challenging, especially considering that you are competing with thousands of the most diligent and intelligent individuals in China.
An interesting fact: The top scorer in the imperial examination was called the “Zhuangyuan.” Only one was selected every three years. Over the 1,300-year history of the examination system, there were a total of 504 Zhuangyuans.
The first one was from the Tang Dynasty, and the last one was from the Qing Dynasty. Their hometowns were very close to each other, and today this area is known for having one of the strongest cities in China’s college entrance examinations, Hengshui City in Hebei Province.
Waffle House is sort of the “McDonald’s of breakfast restaurants” in the United States. Instead of providing “fast food” it provides basic egg breakfasts and coffee.
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These restaurants are clean, well lit, and open all the time; 24-7.
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I used to go in and get two eggs, over easy with rye toast and chicken-fried steak and gravy. Of course, with a great cup of coffee.
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Ah. Not the best meal, but a fine comfort meal.
And you know, every now and then I could really use a fine comfort meal.
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Don’t you know.
Waffle House Jonesin’ that’s MM today.
In honor of something that I cannot get at the moment…
Waffle House, a visit to the United States is NOTHING unless you have a meal at the Waffle House.
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Today…
Bacon and Tomato Pasta
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Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients
2 tablespoons kosher salt
16 ounces spaghetti pasta
1 pound thick-cut bacon or pancetta, chopped
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup red onion, diced
1 teaspoon red chili flakes
3 tablespoons garlic, minced
2 cups Roma tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup red wine
4 tablespoons basil, chiffonade
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
In a large stock pot, boil 3 quarts of water, when boiling add 2 tablespoons kosher salt and the pasta and cook until the pasta is al dente.
In a large sauté pan over medium heat, add bacon and sauté until bacon is crispy. Remove bacon to drain on a paper towel-lined plate and remove 3/4 of the bacon fat from the pan.
Add extra-virgin olive oil, onions, and red chili flakes. Cook until onions are translucent, add garlic, cook for 2 minutes then add tomatoes. Sauté for 5 minutes, then deglaze with wine.
Drain pasta and add to the tomato mixture pan. Add basil and bacon. Toss with Parmesan, and add salt and pepper, to taste.
Will jobs that moved to China be brought back to the US as President Trump promised?
My friend’s company is producing a product and they use a factory in China to make it. They have had some really annoying issues come up with the factory. For example the factory doesn’t follow the specs and communication is challenging. Most recently the product got stopped by customs and that was a big headache. I asked my friend why they don’t just use an American factory to build what they need. His answer, it costs FIVE TIMES more to have a factory here do the exact same work. The company is a small start up with a tight budget, they simply cannot afford to work with US manufacturers. I don’t see what President Trump could possibly do to change that reality.
Have you ever accidentally found out that you were about to be fired?
Long story…. Reads like a soap opera… but 100% real.
I worked for a small city police department. I was rapidly climbing the chain for a promotion to detective. There was one other officer also in the running. We got along together but we had different personalities and abilities. His biggest advantage being he was very affable while mine was being dogged. Another bit of important information is that the Chief Detective’s father was also the Mayor of the city and the Chief of Police reported directly to him.
One day I respond to a call involving a woman (heroin addict) who had previously been indicted for extorting an old man. The court had issued an order for the woman to not have any contact with the man while the case was pending. The man’s family brought a voice-mail recording of the woman calling the old man. When I went to speak to her, I found her apartment door open and furniture overturned. Thinking the woman was possibly endangered, I entered the apartment to check her safety only to find nobody home. As I excited the apartment, the woman was found running through the back yard of the complex to the back door of her apartment. After speaking to the woman and finding she was not endangered and also after warning her about contacting the old man, I cleared the scene and returned to the police department. The next day, I’m informed the woman filed s complaint against me for entering her apartment without a warrant. I speak to the Chief of Police and advise him of the exigent circumstances and everything appears to be resolved.
A week later, in working a weekend and the Chief of Police calls me on station. I’m betting served disciplinary papers for “dishonesty” which carries a 3 day suspension. I refuse to sign the disciplinary papers and tell the Chief I haven’t lied about anything and request a hearing on the matter. The Chief tries to negotiate with me to accept a 1 day suspension instead of 3 to which I refuse since I haven’t lied. The following Monday, the Mayor (remember he’s the Chief Detective’s father) meets with me. He decides the complaint against me was unprovable but that since he found a spelling error on my report involving the heroin addict contacting the old man, he is changing the complaint against me to a simple warning for paperwork error.
A month later, two officers get into an argument while I’m the shift supervisor. One of the officers is a female who has a history of having sex with other officers. After calling everyone down and thinking the issue between them had passed, a week later in told a complaint had been filed against me and the make officer who was arguing with the female officer. I’m told the complaint is “bullying” the female officer.
A week later, the Chief calls me into his office to serve me disciplinary papers claiming the bullring complaint was warranted. As I read the disciplinary papers, I notice the Chief Detective conducted the investigation against me. I chuckle and ask the Chief how the Chief Detective could be unbiased since it was common knowledge he was sleeping with the female officer. A week later, my discipline was changed to a paperwork error warning (to which there wasn’t one) at the direction of the Mayor.
It was then that I began to really question what was happening and the apparent bullseye on my back. I began looking for a new job while hoping I could weather the apparent storm that was brewing for me.
A month later, I’m told a different female drug addict in town had filed a complaint against me claiming I had propositioned her for sex. I was confident I could dispute the claim but it was apparent something was occurring to try to get me fired. I ended up getting another job offer that week and turned in my resignation. I was then told the woman had withdrawn her complaint.
Fast forward 3 years……
I’m happily working for a different agency and making a lot more money while enjoying my casework. The female officer has since been fired and charged with altering presciptions. I hear through the grapevine the Chief Detective is being investigated for multiple crimes. The investigation takes almost a year but he resigned, loses his police certification, and is charged with a misdemeanor. The Chief of Police is fired for failing to supervise.
I end up reading a copy of the investigation of the Chief Detective and find mention that another officer came forward with information that the female officer had confessed to requesting the Chief Detective try to get me fired in exchange for sexual favors. It was also insinuated the Chief Detective had paid the woman to make the allegation I had propositioned her.
In the end. I’m the only one still employed while 2 of the 3 who conspired against me now have criminal records.
PEPE ESCOBAR: RUSSIA & NATO ON BRINK OF ALL-OUT WAR AND PUTIN ISN’T BLUFFING
Have you ever discovered a hidden danger within your home that you were previously unaware of? If so, how did you address it?
Oh, yeah!
Several years ago, on a Saturday morning, I had just gotten out of the shower. I noticed that I had an unusually fast drip in my bathroom sink. So rather than waiting to get dressed, I put on some slippers and went into my attached garage for some tools to fix the drip.
I grabbed what I needed then tried to open the door to my house. But it was locked!
I knew immediately what had happened. I’d had a guest the previous day who had left through my garage. He’d apparently thought he was helping me by locking the door between my house and the garage as he was leaving.
Bad idea!
So there I was, stark naked (expect for my slippers), and locked out of my house.
My only option, it seemed, was to go outside, break a window, and crawl through the opening. But aside from the embarrassment of walking outside, in a busy neighborhood, starkers, I couldn’t see myself dragging my fat, 70-year-old body through a broken window with jagged glass everywhere.
Bad idea!
So with no other ideas in mind, I started to look through my toolchest to see what I could find. Finally, I found a flat prybar that I’d never used. I wondered if I could slip it between the door and the door jam, and then lever it to open a space between them, a space wide enough for me to slide a screwdriver in front of the locking mechanism, which would allow me to open the door.
So I gave it a try. And after my third or fourth desperate attempt, it worked!
And then, after getting dressed and fixing my sink, I hid a spare key in my garage. It’s so cluttered that no one will ever find that key.
And never again have I gone into my garage wearing only my slippers!
Alien – 1950’s Super Panavision 70 AI Film
What’s it like to be a member of the Triad?
My involvement began in high school. There was nothing dramatic about it, I just became friends with a bunch of people I thought were cool and one thing led to another.
High school gangs are like triad training schools. They are not part of the triads per se, they’re more of a triad Mickey Mouse fan club where a group of young wannabes strut around pretending to be something they’re not. You’d be surprised at just how many of these there are.
The leaders of these high school gangs are usually affiliated with a low ranking triad member, called a 49 in triad lexicon. These are the foot soldiers. The 49 functions as big brother whose help the boys would call on in case of trouble, but big brother is also a scout who kept an eye out for promising young talent.
I must’ve seemed like one, because I was soon introduced to the 49er’s tailou (big brother), who was also a 49er. We met a few times at a local disco, snorted cocaine, gargled ketamine, popped ecstasy, and soon he trusted me enough to put me in charge of a few high-school gangs.
The triads are structured like a MLM scheme. At the lower levels, the more followers you recruit, the more powerful you become, the higher up you climb. The people above your rank are referred to as tailou or ____ ko which means elder brother, and your followers are referred to as DauGei, or children.
It’s all about the organization. So we organized.
We recruited the same way ISIS and Al Qaeda does: by giving disaffected and disenfranchised young men a sense of belonging. We start off by convincing the kids that we were cool by bringing them alcohol, drugs and other illicit goods. Then when they have issues they’d come to us for help and we’d help them. Many of the kids I recruited were bullied in school and looking for some revenge, and we’d give the kid’s bully a thorough trashing.
Some of the kids would naively come to see us as these cool guys who were looking out for them, and they’d seek to be a part of our circle. Once we got the kids on hooked on the illusion of brotherhood and coolness, they’re ours to keep. And they’ll bring their friends as well.
We went around the schools settling petty disputes such as who stole whose girlfriend – at the high school level, everything is petty- , and we enforced pax triadica with our fists. We demanded discipline from our members, and if one of our own went out of line we’d beat him up ourselves. We were a group of young bullies with our own set of rules and standards of behaviour. My recruits unwittingly traded one bully in school, for circle of friends who bullied one another.
From petty disputes we graduated on to settling disputes between local businesses. Unlicensed bars, moneylenders and illegal gambling dens would pay us a set fee, and in return we’d step in if they have problems. The money was terrible, but for a young kid, having adults and business owners turn to you for help is a huge ego trip.
I was able to grow the organization effectively because I understood the principles of peer pressure and groupthink. So if you’re a parent, I would advise you to obsess over who your teenager is hanging out with; there are many manipulators like me out there.
I must’ve been a pretty good recruiter, because the boss took me under his wing and introduced me to his boss, Suen Ko. Suen Ko was a hung kwan, or a mid-level lieutenant in the triad hierarchy. This is where I started to get involved with the actual organization. We had a short initiation ceremony in a karaoke room, and I became a 49 under Suen Ko.
Suen Ko owned a few nightclubs and bars, and virtually every night we’d be in one of his fine establishments drinking, partying, and partaking in every drug we could get our hands on. Our sort attracted a certain sort of girl, and there were girls aplenty. The bars were a money maker, but Suen Ko’s real money came from selling bootleg CDs.
At the time, bootleg CDs and eventually DVDs were an organized crime gold rush. This was before napster and way before bittorrent, and demand was so high that we filled up entire shopping malls with outlets selling pirated movies, music and software. A common joke was that if Bill Gates ever visited our malls, he’d have a heart attack on the spot.
For about 5 cents in costs for a blank CD, we sold the end product to the consumer for 15 local bucks a pop. Not even cocaine had that kind of margin. We were selling the bootlegs as fast as we could print them, and best of all piracy was perceived by the local cops as a low-impact crime and as such wasn’t rigorously enforced. Heck, many of our regular customers were cops. At the time, you could drive up to a police checkpoint with a stash of bootleg CDs on the backseat, give a cheeky grin and a thumbs up, and the cops would just wave you through.
Suen Ko made millions within his first year.
I was good with computers, and I became his IT department. I helped him organize his production, and in return he gave me a handsome cut. I made quite a bit of money in my teens, but I quickly blew it all on drugs and girls.
The biggest eye opener was during the annual company dinner. They had to construct a tent hall on an empty field to fit all 5,000 of us in, and there were local politicians and community leaders on the front row tables. That drove in the impression of just how big the tree was, and how deep the roots went.
If I made the triads sound like corporations, that’s because that’s what they are. We were even registered with the Registrar of Companies as a multimedia company and we paid our taxes. The big bosses looked just like any other middle aged Chinese uncle you’d meet at the local supermarket. The best way to avoid detection is to be in plain sight and blend into the background. The so-called gangsters you see on the street strutting their stuff are amateurs; many of them are just aping what they see in the movies. The pros keep a low profile and get on with making money.
Once you go far enough up the hierarchy, violence is actually pretty rare. For the most part, being a triad is just like working in any other corporate job.
But when violence does occur at that level, it’s freaking terrifying.
Roundabout the end of my first year, there was a war. The politician who Suen Ko worked for was at odds with another politician from the same organization. There were a few shootings, grenade attacks, and choppings, but it didn’t affect me directly at first so I didn’t give much thought to it. Then a call came one night. All hands on deck. We dropped everything and converged on the HQ.
Pardon the expletive, but it was scary as fuck. There were a hundred or so of us milling about an office block, and someone started handing out machetes and sashimi knives. Suen Ko took me up to the office, and there were hard looking fuckers at every corner. The air was so full of cigarette smoke I could barely breathe. Everyone looked grim. Apparently we were expecting an attack.
I was a skinny teenager, and I was out of my depth. Till that point, I’d been involved on the white collar side of things. The guys I saw that night had the word hard etched on their faces. I’ve never felt more scared than I did that night.
We stayed there overnight, but no attack came so we went back to our branch office. They attacked us there. A dozen or so guys rushed in and we fought back with chairs, clubs, machetes, boxes of A4 paper, everything we could get our hands on. It was a hazy frantic panicky desperate fight for survival. We were cornered and if we lost it would’ve been game over. One of theirs died in the melee.
The police arrived fairly quickly and I went to jail for a bit. It was in a cell that I resolved that this life wasn’t for me. For some miraculous reason, I got off scot-free. I went home, packed my things, and left everything behind to start a new life.
So how did it feel like? Terrible.
It’s not a healthy way to live one’s life. It got to the point where I was so paranoid that whenever I went to a restaurant I’d sit facing the entrance so I’d know who was coming in. I saw potential threats everywhere, and I carried symptoms of PTSD for a long time afterwards.
It took me a very long time to put my past behind and to learn to live again without fear like a normal human being. I had cut off all ties with everyone I knew, and have difficulty trusting people. Till today I know many, but am close with very few.
If there’s any teenager reading this who is in a similar situation as I was, know that the world is vast and there are opportunities everywhere. The cool kids you see in school are anything but.
Don’t make the same mistakes I did.
Prevention
If you’re a parent or a schoolteacher, here are some tips to help prevent this from happening to your kids:
When I was recruiting for the street gangs, there were some traits that I’d look for in potential recruits:
Being bullied.
Divorced parents or orphans.
Socially awkward.
Lack of self-confidence.
Poor household.
So if your teenager is affected by any of the above, you need to take extra care to address their needs and thoroughly vet their circle of friends. Boost their self-esteem up, surround them with positive friends, role models, and influences. Take an interest in them, let them know they can depend on you, and give them something productive to do; or they’ll fill the void with input from their similarly immature teenage peers and people like my younger self.
Danger signs include:
Smoking
Alcohol
Drugs
Rebelliousness
Getting into fights
Precipitous and prolonged drop in grades
Absenteeism
The key is prevention, with immediate and serious response upon the first signs of the above behaviour. All it takes is a tiny crack in the armor and recruiters like myself will wedge it wide open.
If your kids are already involved, there are no good options. The only surefire cure is to physically separate the children from their current environment, and transplant them into a new, hopefully better environment unreachable to their erstwhile friends.
Peer pressure will always outweigh talk and counselling, and if you send them to a juvenile detention center, prison, rehab, or any such places where delinquents congregate, they’ll come out even worse than when they went in. Those places are networking hubs, and “graduates” get a lot of street cred and respect. So only send teenagers to juvie or prison if you want to boost their criminal career. I changed my outlook when I was in a cell, not because I was in one.
p.s.
I have never come across those hand signs in the question’s description. We had better things to do than to go around flashing hand signs at each other. Looks like something someone made up, or it could be an American thing.
Don’t do it
What can we learn from Thailand’s efforts to boost its tourism sector, despite facing challenges like the recent incident at the Grand Hyatt Erawan?
“Why must they be killed or killed people in Thailand?” It’s not hard to answer my foreign wife when she showed me the online news from the Thai media, that ‘6 foreign tourists were found dead in the posh hotel in downtown Bangkok.’
It happened before and it will happen again— Trust me. I mean murders committed by foreign visitors in the Land of Smiles —where half of the world dying to visit.
Although death is never a happy moment, the above tragic news has absolutely nothing to do with Thailand. The police are coming close to revealing the misery of ‘Debt-related Murder’ although the only key witness is under extreme pressure- also their countryman, a tourist guide!
In small news the next day ‘ Dismembered Chinese TikToker: Suspect in alleged kidnap, killing reportedly arrested in Macao after fleeing Thailand“- Again, it was my wife who alerted me, “ You know what? The killer is also from China.”
Another news: A Canadian man was shot dead at a pool villa in Phuket, he was shot at least ten times.—
Who shot him? Two hitmen from Canada- (his photo taken with his peers)…Oh, my!
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That isn’t all. A Spaniard (a religious man who quoted: Luke 23:34 and begged God to forgive not him but them) chopped his fellow countryman into 100 pieces and gave them to the fishes in the Chao Phraya River.
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Also, an Australian Hells-Angle butchered his own Aussie gang member and dumped his body!
Still more, guys. A Frenchman, Marc (a colorful Godfather for the ladies) of the notorious Soi 7/1, Eden Club, and a Thai woman were found shot dead by another Frenchman.
A South Korean tourist —tortured, murdered, and put in a barrel by 3 Korean men.
Are you tired of reading yet?
What can we learn from Thailand’s efforts to boost its tourism sector?
Tourism aside, It’s not too offensive to people of Thailand to accept that this beautiful country is known to the dark side as—so conducive to be “the Murder Capital of the World.!”
“ Tell me, what is so attractive about Thailand to come here and do crimes?” My wife’s still innocently asking me! —I am Thai and I can’t answer her—Can anyone answer that?
Candidate
What did someone do in TSA/airport security that made you say “You gotta be kidding me”?
I (29) took a cheap flight to Florida with two girlfriends, Kelly (30) and Becky (27).
Set the scene: We were some of the most non-threatening-looking young women you’ve ever seen. Me: a reubenesque redhead with blunt bangs, firing off jokes left and right and laughing the whole time. Kelly: tall and willowy, with long, curly, dark hair, usually wearing a Brewers’ Tshirt, sometimes Packers. Dragging a purple suitcase. And Becky: curvy and blonde, with a pink fleece jacket and a big grin. Honestly, this all kind of makes sense because we would be PERFECT mules.
We were going to meet up with a friend who had just had a baby, and Becky had brought a gift for her, which was a bag of sealed clay in a clearly marked box for the baby’s hand print to be taken.
We start going through the TSA line and we give them a big smile, and I immediately get pulled for a random search. Fine. I’m sure this has nothing to do with my ample bum. I get patted down, and when I turn around, Becky’s getting hassled by the TSA guy, who wants to cut open the sealed clay bag to test it for drugs. Fine. So Kelly and I are laughing hysterically, as Becky’s gift gets mutilated and finally cleared, and we go on our merry way.
2 days later, we’re sitting in the cheap motel Becky got us and she’s looking for something in her purse, so she dumps it out and…
A big @$$ knife falls out!!!!
I suppose it wasn’t HUGE, but it was about dinner knife sized and sharp! I start screaming and Kelly starts screaming and Becky starts screaming and we’re absolutely freaking out because Becky’s big @$$ knife somehow didn’t get caught by TSA! Becky’s like “OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG WE COULD HAVE SPENT THE NIGHT IN A JAIL CELL OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!” And Kelly’s like “WHY DO YOU HAVE A FREAKING KNIFE IN YOUR PURSE IN THE FIRST PLACE??? And Becky’s like “I TOOK AN APPLE TO WORK EARLIER THIS WEEK AND FORGOT TO TAKE IT OUT!” And Kelly’s like “WHO CUTS AN APPLE WITH KNIFE LIKE THAT LET ALONE FORGETS ABOUT HAVING IT??” And I’m just screaming.
That’s when we decided that TSA was a joke. How the hell did they miss this big @$$ knife when they were so concerned about some stupid clay??
Both Kelly and I checked Becky’s purse before we got on the plane to go home.
Divine Chicken Spaghetti
3b0a753b538dbb481097424999567d1a
Ingredients
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
2 bunches green onions, chopped
1 (8 ounce) package fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
1 cup Italian dressing
1 (8 ounce) package spaghetti
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
Place chicken breasts in a single layer in a lightly greased 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Top evenly with onions, mushrooms and tomatoes.
Pour dressing evenly over chicken and vegetables.
Bake, covered, at 375 degrees F for 45 minutes.
Remove chicken and vegetables from oven; let stand 10 minutes.
Shred chicken using two forks.
Cook pasta according to package directions, then drain.
Combine shredded chicken mixture and spaghetti, tossing well.
Welcome InterruptionsOn the thirty-third day in the deepest black Daltz woke once again to the gnawing of the navigator. His presence rummaged in her mind, as insistent as it was unsubtle. Swearing softly at the uncaring confines of her hab, she was surprised to find her eyes watering, her wince having drawn frustrated tears. A month of broken sleep and zero privacy could do that. Still drowsy, she fancied she could feel phantom fingers on the inside of her skull, mapping the contours and wrinkles of the bone.‘Itching powder for the brain.’ She muttered, rising on unsteady legs to stagger to her cramped bathroom. It wasn’t a bad assessment. Torv had been closer when he called the intrusion a ‘constant hangover’. Low-grade headache and little nausea? Nail on the head. Splashing recycled water on her face did little good, but beneath her feet the vast plasma engines of the scrap-scavenger Marabou thrummed on-and-on, reassuring in their constancy. They must be getting close by now. Close to home, to making some money and to getting some blessed sleep. It was an unworthy thought. The Navigator couldn’t help his nature, and they relied on him so much to ply their trade amongst the stars. Fragile electronics and delicate instruments would always be a poor substitute for psychic precision.Daltz considered herself in the mirror, already resigned to a sleepless night and in no hurry to return to the dissatisfaction of her bed. Her hair was a lank mess, the deep black of its colour lessened somehow. Her skin was pallid, her eyes shot with red.‘You look like a vampire.’ Came a thoroughly unhelpful mumble from the bedroom. Daltz could just imagine Torv’s cheeky grin set into a face puffy from blissful sleep. She swore the man got some kind of kick out of the psychic invasion. Perv. She scowled at the engineer tangled in her sheets until he raised his hands in surrender. ‘Fine, fine. Sorry.’ He tried again. ‘You look like a sack of kicked crap?’‘You look like you’ve outstayed your welcome.’ She shot back, hiding her sudden smile by shutting the door between them. Through the burnished metal she offered an obscene gesture in response to the soft sound of his chuckling. Sleep deprivation was torture. No two ways about it. Slumping down to sit on the toilet, she felt the weariness right down to the marrow of her bones. With her temple pressed to the cool walls, she relieved herself in a waking doze.<Science Officer Daltz.>Her yelp of surprise turned to a stream of curses as her knee jerked into the unyielding shower cubicle.<I waited until you were not in bed.> The words arrived in her mind unheard, as though they’d always been there. Through the Link she could sense the Navigator’s vague reproach at all the ‘strange customs’ humans had about conversing.‘So far from the point, Nav!’ She could feel her face burning red as she hiked up her underwear as quickly as she could.<I confess, I do not understand. You were awake, were you not?>‘That’s a matter of opinion.’ Her words were bitter, and she regretted them immediately. The Navigator was good at regulating the Bleed, but strong emotion still seeped through their Link from time to time. She’d hurt his feelings. She could sense wisps of badly hidden shame mingling with her own thoughts, swiftly disappearing like steam in air.
<I have upset you.>
‘Yes.’ She started, fumbling for words and still mortified beyond belief. ‘No. I… I was peeing, Nav.’
<Impossible. You are all impossible.> Grumbled the psychic seabeast. <I lose track of which biological processes I am meant to consider embarrassing. Should I avoid you all when you sweat? When you sneeze?>
‘Of course not, it’s just-’
<I did not disturb your lovemaking at Torv’s request, though my need is urgent.>
‘And I appreciate that, but… Wait what?’
<Edify.> Came the response, carefully neutral.
‘At Torv’s request?’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘When was this?’
<Not relevant.> The Bleed went curiously blank in her mind, like hard vacuum pulling all the air out of a room. Even her non-psychic and sleep-deprived human mind couldn’t fail to notice that. She could taste copper on the tongue at the suddenness of the change. The Navigator was being evasive.
‘When, Nav?’
<Recently…>
‘You pair of freaks!’ she gasped, kicking open the door. Torv had vanished, lucky for him. ‘I’m in the depths of space trying to seek a bit of damned human connection on this endless voyage and it turns out my lover and the nosey Navigator are carrying on a conversation the whole time!?’
<Not the whole time.> At least Nav had the grace to allow his abashedness to seep back into the exchange. Daltz expected no such tact from Torv when she confronted him.
‘He’s dead. Dead meat.’ She vowed, pacing out the tension in her tiny cabin. She was spitting mad, but also, deep down, felt like collapsing in a heap of laughter at the surreal situation. In the end she let out a gasp of inexpressible emotion, lost somewhere between hysteria and rage, and flopped onto the bed.
After long minutes of pondering silence Nav offered his tentative interpretation of events. <I will not do this again.>
‘You’re damn right.’ Her jaw was bunched, but she was suddenly embarrassed, bizarrely concerned for the feelings of the hapless Navigator, alone in a ship where every mind he tried to touch resisted him at capricious, unknowable times. They asked the impossible of their most valuable crewmember. How would a human feel expected to forgo the use of their tongue, their hands, the expressiveness of their face for months at a time?
<I did not know this was transgressive. I am not tactless. I am trying.>
Daltz sighed deeply, feeling the last of the tension sloughing from her. ‘I know you are.’ She said, attempting a reassuring smile for the benefit of the empty room. The nature of psychic communication was an impossibility to those species not born to it. ‘Just do me a favour.’
<Yes?>
‘Next time you are unsure, ask me, not Torv.’
<Yes. Yes, this seems wise.> The disembodied voice seemed thoughtful. Wry amusement bled through to Daltz, setting her to smiling in sympathy. <He appears to be a poor exemplar of normative behaviour.> The damning assessment was delivered with so little inflection that it had her doubled over in cramping laughter in seconds. When she had controlled herself, she spoke again, wiping away tears of mirth and feeling better than she had in weeks.
‘What do you need, Nav?’
<Visit with me. I may have a health concern.> Just like that, her burgeoning good cheer was doused. Fumbling for her jumpsuit and bag in the dark, she kept her mind as blank as she was able. Her first concern was for a sick crewmate, but she couldn’t help the natural selfish thoughts of her racing mind. If they lost Nav they would drift in the vacuum until their supplies ran out, then they would die; cold, hungry and utterly alone. One human could hide such a natural yet spectacularly unsympathetic worry from another with ease, but could she hide it from Nav, to whom reading minds was as instinctive as breathing?
‘I’ll be there as soon as I can.’
<My thanks.> There was an awkward pause and Daltz felt her eyes drift shut in resignation. Nav knew. <You are a good friend, Science Officer Daltz.> The thought was tender, almost floating in her mind, such was its gentle arrival.
‘Why do you say that?’
<Your concerns are natural, but your attempt to hide them is… kind…>
‘I… I don’t know what to say.’
<Ahh. I have erred again. I have made things awkward.> For the first time, Daltz felt embarrassment radiate from the vast mental impression she had of Nav’s psychic presence, sprawling and ever-present at the other side of the Link. As she hurriedly walked through the cluttered and run-down hallways of their battered but beloved home, her footsteps were the only accompaniment to the growing silence. <I only meant… I appreciated your response. Ensign Torv…> Nav trailed off.
‘Torv what?’
<Ensign Torv insinuated I had contracted ‘space clap’ and offered to find me a penicillin shot… And he laughed… A great deal…>
Daltz couldn’t help but grin, shaking her head at the utter stupidity of the man. ‘A poor exemplar of normative behaviour indeed.’ She snorted, feeling psychic amusement wash through the Link in relieved waves.
She hurried on, eager to arrive the Navigator’s tower on the Marabou’s spine, where his senses could be amplified to quest outwards, finding safe paths through the inky black. She was a leading xenobiologist by education, but would’ve been a vetenarian by childhood conviction. She knew her worries would abate as soon as she could see the problem first hand, and begin to work on a solution. Navigator. It felt like such a cold thing, to refer to him by his life’s work, but they were left with little option. His true name wasn’t just unpronounceable, it wasn’t even a word. Imagine a sphere of blue smoke, opening like a spiral-petalled flower inside your mind. ‘Nav’ would just have to do…
Daltz stilled her errant mind as the bronze doors slid open before her. She had arrived, and it always awed her into stunned silence to actually lay eyes upon her captive charge. The chamber was a vaulted dome, vast and exposed, as every wall was constructed of toughened, transparent crystal. Nav viewed the vacuum of space from every angle, refractive surfaces feeding him infinite directions of countless shades of black. Dominating the space, Nav’s tank was a ghastly affair, as tasteless as it was ornate. The green amniotics in which he floated were contained by huge panes of concave glass, but between each was the gaudy presence of gold, burnished and wrought in the shape of creeping ivy. It was hideous and captivating all at once. Like a cloudy green jewel set in an ornate cage.
<Welcome.> Nav drifted closer in the gloomy murk. He was huge, dwarfing even the largest whales of Old Earth in size. His carapace was horned and ridged, segmented along the huge sections of his tall body, which floated upright and limbless like the chrysalis of some brutal caterpillar. He leaned as close to the surface as he could, revealing his disturbing features to his visitor. His mandibles clicked in a constant pattern, which Daltz could feel vibrating her feet through the metal decking even from so far away. The air reeked of peat and salt – the tang of the mineral-rich liquid which sustained him. She would have gagged if she hadn’t been used to it.
‘Hey, Nav.’ She answered, smiling. Her cautious grin dropped away a moment later, as Nav nearly send her squealing from the room in fright. Along every section of his body, his chitinous exoskeleton withdrew and retracted from a thousand little nooks and crannies. His eyes, each a depthless nimbus of celestial light yawned open as one. She swore under her breath, squinting in the suddenly too-bright room.
<I understand eye contact is important in human communication. I thought I would try it out.> He seemed tentative and unsure, like a child trying to impress. It would have been truly cruel to stamp down his vulnerable attempt, and Daltz spoke quickly in case her thoughts of horror betrayed her.
‘That’s very kind, Nav, but there’s no need, I’m a guest, this is your home. Make yourself comfortable.’
The piercing, all-knowing regard finally abated, as his legion of eyes sank away without a trace. Daltz let out a pent-up breath. One more potential faux-pas averted… she hoped, trusting to Nav’s discretion. He could read her every thought if he chose, so a certain amount of willful ignorance was the only way he could function within a human crew. Daltz knew her species’ deeply ingrained systems of manners and politeness revolved far more about what you just didn’t say, rather than how you acted and spoke. A thousand lies of omission per-person-per-day amounting to a civilization of billions which spanned the stars. Truly a miracle.
<If you wouldn’t mind joining me, I have become concerned about a build-up of parasites along my ventral plates.>
‘Of course.’ Focus and dedication smoothly slid to the forefront of Daltz’s mind, all thoughts dedicated to the job at hand. She asked for further details as she made her way to the small recessed alcove at the base of Nav’s tank. Building up a better picture of his symptoms, she donned her wetsuit with practiced ease. Before long she was ready to enter the airlock and emerge in the murky half-light of her patient’s bizarre habitat.
Questing through the gloom, she trod the bottom of the tank, fighting against the suction of countless years of accumulated grime and decaying carapace shards. She tried not to think about it. <Sorry for the state of the place.> he remarked wryly. <I need to have a talk with my cleaner.>
Daltz’s awkward laughter at the joke was a relief from the sudden flush to her cheeks. ‘I’ll get to it soon, I promise.’
<No rush.> he answered, pulsing earnestness through the Link between them. <You would be horrified at the ocean floor back home.> In an instant Daltz’s grasping hands found resistance up ahead. One second all she could see was impenetrable bottle-green, the next, the towering, looming sight of Nav’s colossal body rising up above her. With familiarity, she found the easiest handholds amongst the bizarre topography of his form, lifting herself up until he advised her to stop. It was impossible to register height whilst suspended in the near-opacity of the tank, but she knew that her ascend had been the equivalent of close to 4 stories of a building, taking her only halfway up his form. <Can you feel what we have spoken of? Some build-up of plaque or hard biofilm? It is irritating beyond belief.>
Her skillful hands made an inspection of the indicated area, practiced and brisk, yet thorough with concern. The results left her with a dubious scowl. ‘Are you sure this is the right area? I can’t feel any adhesions…’
<Quite certain. Would you carry out a scouring? These things can be rather serious if left unchecked.> Thoroughly unconvinced by her examination, Daltz still agreed readily. She couldn’t do him any harm even if the procedure was unnecessary, and on the other hand if she was wrong, the parasitic lesions which occasionally plagued his species could rapidly spread beyond the aid of any medical know-how. When the titanic psychic crustacean upon which a hundred-strong crew relies complains of a problem, you try your best to solve it.
‘You got it. I didn’t need to sleep anyway.’ In her mind’s eye she attempted to project the fond sarcasm she intended. Across the Link a billowing of humour met her thoughts halfway, mingling contentedly. Amongst the amusement, she sensed genuine surprise at the deftness of her thought-speak and couldn’t help but feel a little flush of pride. Setting to her work, she removed her scouring kit and started the arduous process of a deep scrub. Humanity was a space-faring race, with marvels of technology in every aspect of life making things easier. Sometimes, though, elbow grease was still required. The scourer was a tangle of abrasive steel wire, superheated by an element in the handle. As she scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed, her companion was a stream of hissing bubbles rising to the surface from Nav’s toughened hide.
With her monotonous task and bone-deep exhaustion, it was easy to drift while she worked, but some nagging sense kept dragging her back to the more analytical part of her mind. Nav was studiously silent, she noted, the first notes of suspicion stirring within her. Concentrating, she dug deeper, finding the Link almost closed off between them. He was hiding something again, and the problem-solving scientist in her wasn’t going to let answers escape. She strained, trying to imagine herself forcing open the wall in her mind. It didn’t come naturally to humans, but a talented individual trying their hardest? She kept up her scrubbing as she searched, and just for a second she received a glimpse of unhidden emotion. She stopped suddenly, open-mouthed, eyes wide with anger. Nav’s thoughts had been of such a familiar, mundane human nature, that it was impossible to misunderstand. Irritation, giving way to pleasure and contentment.
‘No.’ she swore, then swore again.
<What is it?> She had his rapt attention all of sudden, and along with it badly-hidden guilt.
‘No, you didn’t!’
<Didn’t what?>
‘I can’t believe you! You did not just interrupt me on the toilet and drag me to your mouldy tub in the middle of the night to scratch your itchy belly!’
She was incredulous, so far past rage that she was almost awed at the sheer cheek of the ancient cosmic traveler.
<If that was the case…Hypothetically…> he began slowly, choosing his words with care. <How angry would you be?>
‘You’re ten types of bastard, Nav.’ Dumbfounded laughter was bubbling up in her against her wishes. ‘I ought to leave you here to suffer.’
Her amusement at the ridiculous situation was a tempest in her mind, and she could feel Nav’s own impish delight carried along within it, so unutterably human in its inanity.
<But you won’t?>
After a pause to catch her breath, she reluctantly agreed. ‘But I won’t, aye.’ A moment of comfortable silence dwindled quickly, and then she did the only thing that made sense in the circumstances, as she thumbed the switch on her scourer and set back to scrubbing. A few moments later, she set them both chuckling anew as she spoke again.
Originally Answered: Have you ever fired someone on the spot? If so, why?
One of my first post-college jobs was at a hotel. The hotel had a parking garage. One aspect of my new job was to “manage” the parking garage.
We suspected some bad business at the garage ie: missing money, rental cars going missing. I decided to pay a late night visit to the garage.
I pulled the drawer from the late night cashier to balance the account with the car count and guest list. I didn’t even need to fire the guy. He stood up and said “Well, I guess that’s that.” He picked up his stuff, walked to his car, flipped me off as he drove away.
Then a guy pulled up and came to the cashier window and said,
“Is Willie here?” I replied that I did not know. “Tell him he owes me a car or I’m, walking upstairs and taking one.” The guy looked like he could have picked one up and taken it with him.
He drove off as Willie drove in using a rental car he had “requisitioned” for the evening.
I fired him on the spot. He just flicked a cigarette, smiled and said. “I’ll be back, just you don’t worry.”
I worried.
I hated that job.
Cute
What is the most bizarre way you’ve landed a job?
Somewhere in the forest, south of Frankfurt, Germany, I ordered fourteen beers at the bar in what I thought to be perfectly accented German.
But as usual, the “R” in ‘Bier’ betrayed me. Germans roll it, and I struggle to get it right unless I am careful.
“Do I detect a touch of English accent… or maybe American?” asked an early fiftyish, absent-minded-professor-looking man solidly perched on the barstool to my left.
“American,” I replied. “I thought I hid it well.”
“You do,” he answered. “But it made me curious… you wouldn’t happen to be looking for a job, would you?”
My brain somersaulted…. WTF? Is this for real?
“Actually,” I answered, “I just signed my severance contract three hours ago. I still have a project to complete before I leave, but once it’s wrapped, I’m free.”
“Can you write?” he asked. “I’m looking to replace my American partner in our public relations agency. He’s headed back to the US with his new wife.”
“Well… my father worked as a journalist, my grandfather was city editor for a major daily newspaper, and my mother teaches English… but I’ve never worked as a copywriter before.”
“Not many people have,” he replied, “but if you can write properly, we can teach you the rest. Can you come after work tomorrow and meet the team and my partner?”
“Sure,” I said.
The interview was easy. It seemed they only wanted to test my social skills. The take-home test was a bit more difficult: I was to write a press release to introduce scissors (imagining they were newly invented) to the world.
I e-mailed my best effort off just before midnight.
The rest is history. They indeed taught me how to write for real… and twenty-three years later, I am working for one of the agency’s bigger clients and I still work with my old team.
FFB
Experience creates FFB.
Tibetan speaker
Some declarations from me. Why am I supporting China, and which group of Chinese people am I supporting?
I am an Asian supremacist. We Asians need to dominate the world. We have to protect the world from the US and the EU, who have proven time and time again as true villians. I sympathaize with the Aficans and the Middle Eastern people the most. I would be an India supporter, but they lack the potential right now. They’re like a plastic bag drfiting through the winds — they’re opportunists, not true players on the global stage.
I love Tibet. I am a Tibetan by ethnicity after all. I want more Chinese people to be proud of having Tibet as a part of China. There are many social issues in Tibet that many don’t talk about. I think people who really care about the Tibetans must know about the social issues in Tibet. I have found that Chinese people really care about Tibet, so that’s why I support them.
I am anti-India because I am Nepalese. Though I think it is best for China and India to be friends, judging by how Indians online are openly saying they wish to invade Tibet, I think we should never trust the Indians. I do hope Indian intellectuals will guide their citizens and teach them real history, not propaganda.
I want to promote Tibetan culture. People are mostly interested in Tibet because of political reasons. Who are the ones interested in Tibetan culture? The Chinese!
Thank you for reading. I will keep on writing about Tibet. And I am happy that many people are reading my answers.
More: Since I am from Nepal, there is no way of me earning money through Quora, so writing answers here is purely my hobby. Though, if I gain enough followers (like 2k/3k) then I might take a more neutral stance and delete all hate posts. I could use this profile when I need to apply for jobs, or use this to promote tourism in Nepal. Well, I could just get bored and forget the password. I’d only be wasting time here.
What would it be like if North Korea and South Korea legally ended hostilities and united?
Several things become true:
The southern part of Korea stops being an island, meaning they must negotiate far more with their continental partners. South Koreans can finally visit Mt. Baekdu/Paektu. (The Koreans will probably have to figure out which romanization to stick to.)
Korea will be a nuclear power with launch vehicles capable of nuclear deterrence.
Korea will have a similar situation to China wherein the “interior” is in essence a developing country. This will relieve a lot of low wage employment pressure for the richer, southern areas.
However, the likely political outcome for Korea makes them prey for the interests of China and the US. This is because:
Korea is a nuclear power. The US will not tolerate a nuclear power in that region of interest that is not strategically indebted to the US, while China will not tolerate a nuclear power on its border that is hostile. Strategically Korea can only push for an independent, neutral position and hope that it does not have to pick sides.
Korea is still divided on political opinion and will remain so for some time. Having talked to North Koreans, it is clear that many of them actually do care for the general political project of their nation. It is why most of their elites wash their own clothes and cook their own meals— they want elites to take responsibility for their social obligations. The South Koreans on the other hand seem to gravitate towards elite control, in particular Seoul basically consuming the rest of the country. The clash in opinion is ripe for fresh division.
It would be a situation heavily influenced by external forces larger than it. Likely, such a united Korea would not necessarily be at equilibrium. Here’s to hoping the Koreans can beat the odds and find their own peace together.
I Had To “DOWNGRADE MY LIFE”…GOING INTO DEBT TO BUY GROCERIES
Welcome to the West.
Greek Spaghetti
Sometimes the most simple recipes are the most delicious, and this is one of those recipes.
Add garlic powder or crushed cloves and serve over cooked, drained spaghetti.
Sprinkle feta cheese over the top if desired.
What are the best business lessons we can learn from companies that got huge?
How to lose?
Just ask Nokia
“Nobody is able to predict that volatile environment”
Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo (Former CEO of Nokia) says in an interview (INSEAD). Once upon a time, Nokia was the most successful mobile phone-maker.
Nokia had the market at its fingertips. Every move they made resulted in profit.
Their new phones became the next craze in only a matter of weeks. Their clear-cut design, with smart navigation systems and a high quality camera were unlike anything anybody had ever seen.
Nokia was on top. How could they fail?
Little did Nokia know, there were a few companies lurking beneath them. They were hungry for the top spot that Nokia had. Nokia ignored them.
Nokia was king, there was no way companies like Apple were going to become successful.
Except on June 29th, 2007, Apple released the iPhone.
Nokia could not believe the amount of sales they lost to Apple and they were scared of losing their market share.
Nokia needed to come out with a smartphone. A smartphone that could rival the iPhone. At the time, Android version 1.0 had just released, but, Nokia didn’t believe in it. Why would Android ever become successful?
They decided to make their biggest mistake as a company and choose Symbian instead of Android. Nokia was desperate and quickly released their smartphone, but it was no competition for the iPhone. The Symbian system was old tech.
If Nokia had chosen Android and adapted to the market before being disrupted, Nokia would have had a much better chance of surviving.
The problem was that Nokia was scared of losing their reputation as top dog and didn’t want to change.
The biggest lesson is: Once you are scared of the drop, you won’t last long at the top.
As a surgeon, what is the most dangerous thing you have found inside a patient?
I’m not an MD but I am a nurse and had a personal issue once. I had a surgery years ago through my nose. There was this horrible smell, and there was so much pressure and pain. I wasn’t supposed to be blowing my nose and was using the sinus rinses as ordered. I noticed that when I would rinse the left side of my nose, nothing came out of the other nostril, but I would get the horrible drip down my throat for hours afterward. I knew something wasn’t right. I kept telling the surgeon that something was wrong. She smelled the odor and put me on multiple rounds of antibiotics with no improvements and told me that what I experienced with the rinses was “normal”. She never looked in my nose after the first post-op appointment where she told me that there was a “lot of swelling but that’s normal at this point”. After the 6th time I had gone in there complaining of the same awful smell, pain and pressure (and still with the same sinus rinse result), I demanded to see her supervisor. She was really put out, but I didn’t care. Her medical director saw me 3 days later, he used a scope and I could hear him say under his breath, “Oh!” He then pulled a long piece of packing out of my nose that was the most disgusting, smelly thing I had ever encountered in my life. We just looked at each other. He just said, “Well there’s the problem. Things should get much better now.” I was speechless.
PRODUCTION NOTES FOR SIGHTINGS I have always wanted to make this film, but it was not possible until just now. Remember when YouTube was in its very early days?
There were all kinds of unexplainable collections of sightings, cryptids, and paranormal stuff like ghost photos, etc. After watching enough of these, I would get the strangest feeling that would last for days, kind of astonishment with a certain kind of dark wonder.
Many of those favorite videos have just vanished to time, to be replaced by a billion new ones in better quality video.
Going back into the historical archive, AI UFO SIGHTINGS was my first very wishful attempt to at least explore the idea.
The contrast now is UNBELIEVABLE. We were all completely blown away by the state of the art back then, only just over a year ago. Someday I will revisit this idea ever further with even better tech!
The strangest thing is G3ML really is like starting over at the beginning, and has already shown me some magnificent aberrations and interdimensionality, so for right now we remain in the ‘breaking new ground’ historical epoch of visual artificial intelligence!!
**Just a small rant – The term “AI” is such a buzzword! It’s like “NFTs” and “Crypto” were, bandied all about by cor prits in order to cause another Bandwagon stampede of sheep! Attached to every possible plastic product it can be weakly linked to! I don’t think anyone on THIS channel is too excessive of a follower, so we can take a rest here from the oceanic dilution of the term.
Vented, thanks.
In our next couple of adventures here, I can take some time to illustrate some of the triumphs and challenges involved in working with the new ML modes, as I have already tracked a path or two. I’ll just point things out as we go and as we discover them. Thanks Everyone!!!!!!! Please Share with your more open-minded friends! !!!!!!!Overjoyed to have you here! -Skyward
Why do some elderly get out and go for walks while others just want to hide in their homes?
I will be 86 in two days, absolutely no family or friends left. I have learned, against impossible odds, no matter how hard and how painful (I am disabled and can’t walk), I handle l00% of everything myself as it pertains to me. I still drive (safely) and go out to eat by myself; I still work at the same job for 50 years and won’t stop until I die (animal welfare work from local to international level; just quit a job taking care of someone as a Power of Attorney for l4 years due to his mental issues; finished six years of college a year ago; took four years of computer lessons; learn new things daily about world events and things on the computer; have tons of hobbies; and the list goes on. I suffer with pain, loneliness – except for my beloved kitty – but I will NOT ever give in to being OLD except in calendar time. I would rather die than act like so many old people – eat, shit, sleep, watch t.v. I want to cram a lifetime into my remaining time and I do so daily. I stay away from deadbeats. I want inspiring, motivating, challenging people in my life or I choose to stay alone with my kitty.
Do people open carrying guns ever get bullied?
Oh yeah. This actually happened to me. I was stationed in Arizona, an open carry state, When I turned 21 I picked up my S&W Combat Model 19 .357 revolver which I had preordered, I had already had a custom made leather, gun belt and holster. I spent a lot of time at the range and open carried when off base. After several months I had an epiphany of sorts, a moment when I asked myself, ‘why are you really doing this and exactly under what circumstances will you pull this weapon?’ Up to that point I was just all 2nd Amendment, self righteous, young baddass wannabe. I quit carrying for over a month while I considered this question and consulted a lot of friends and senior NCOs I respected. I finally got my mind right and began carrying again. One of the things that happened to me is that I became a much more polite, tolerant and respectful person. I know it may sound trite but I always go back to Spiderman and his Uncle Ben who said “With great power, comes great responsibility.” No truer words have ever been said. Things said which I may have taken affront or been offended before, rolled off my back. I tended to avoid potential confrontation depending on the circumstances. That said, I was at the Tucson Flandrau Science Center & Planetarium walking around the exhibits while waiting for the next planetarium show. Everything was fine and there was a Boy Scout with his Troop who asked me about my weapon and why I carried it. Spent a few minutes talking about self defense and the defense of others as well as the 2nd Amendment. Parted ways and continued to view the exhibits when this middle aged, balding, hippie type wearing sandles literally accosted me. Got right in my face looking up at me and started off with verbal abuse, calling me a NAZI, and why was I scaring all of the people in the museum and other nonsensical stuff along with personal epithets. I was a bit taken aback and started to get angry then remembered why I carried and the responsibilities for doing so. As I was looking down at him, he came to a break in his tirade and I said, “Mister, I don’t see anyone around us afraid of anyone but you.” This was true because at this point a crowd had gathered and their attention was gathered on the hippie. This really pissed him off, he got red faced, raised his fists and I actually backed off a couple of steps shouting, “Man you really don’t want to do this!” At this point the manager of the museum got between us and cooled the guy down. He invited us both his office to talk things over. Once there the hippie again went off on a tirade about me carrying a weapon and scaring people. I responded again that the only person who was afraid was hippie guy and that by Federal and Arizona state law I was legally able to carry open. I also requested the Manager to call local law enforcement to verify this. The manager was obviously aquainted with the law and said that would not be neccessary. He also said that as the planetarium’s projector was worth millions of dollars, would I be willing to unload my gun? Looking at him I said sure, why not, and did so pocketing the cartriges. That seemed to have satified the hippy and he stormed off. I turned to the manager and said, you know I can reload in a few seconds, He said, “Yup, but it got rid of that asshole
Guy Pretty Privilege
What was the best “drop the mic” moment you’ve witnessed in a business meeting?
In 1997, I was the first intern sent from MIT to work at a Honda R&D center near the city of Utsunomiya, Japan. I quickly learned that the work I did there wasn’t too important to anyone; the whole point of my internship was for Honda and MIT to build a relationship, and I was just a sentient poker chip that they exchanged. This was fine with me since it allowed me the freedom to get involved in some fascinating research in shape memory alloys. Eventually people noticed what I was doing, and I became part of a very high-performing group looking at shape memory alloys, piezoelectrics, and magnetostrictive materials within active structures. Japanese companies like Honda tend to keep their blue sky R&D more internal, while most American companies instead fund university labs to do the same work.
At the end of my internship, I participated in a talk with the head of R&D at Honda. That man did very little talking in the meeting; his handpicked successor who was 20 years younger mostly ran the meeting. My group gave updates on all of our various projects, and the successor asked some insightful questions that showed me that he knew his stuff.
At one point in the meeting, the successor drew a beautiful, ornate balance scale on the whiteboard, showing the smart people working on the project on one side labelled “negatives”, and the results on the other side labelled “positives”. He was making the point that our group shouldn’t just produce average results, but in order to justify the time of the best engineers, our group needed to produce extraordinary results. That’s when the senior manager got up, and walked to the whiteboard.
This man had been silent throughout the meeting, and that made him getting up and walking to the whiteboard all the more remarkable. 21 years later, I still remember his gait getting out of the chair and walking to the whiteboard. He erased the picture of the engineers from the “negative” side of the balance, and drew them in on the positive side. Then he said,
“The most important output of this R&D team is not the projects they do. The most important output is the people, people with experience in these new technologies. Successful projects are nice, but the experience is the #1 thing. When the time comes for more active structures in cars, we will need Honda people with this experience, more than we need these exact projects.”
I have long since moved from the automotive industry to the semiconductor industry. I’ve seen many meetings with yelling and swearing and people slamming down phones and walking out. I’ve never seen a person take control of a meeting and shift the focus of a group the way that Honda executive did, simply standing up and walking to the whiteboard and quietly saying a few declarative sentences.
Have you ever accidentally said something inappropriate?
It was one of those quiet boring days in the office.
I was sitting there at my desk, trying to work while my brain was going numb from all the boredom.
Sitting right across from me was a colleague of mine who is a Pakistani. He was focused on his work and minding his own business.
I started talking to him in English (I’m an Arabic speaker). I don’t remember what the conversation was about, but at one point it became about birthdays.
He asked me when my birthday is. I told him it’s on September 23. He then told me that his birthday is in September as well, but it’s in the beginning of the month.
Now I’m no expert in horoscopes, but I know that my birthday is on the first day of the Libra, so his horoscope must be the one right before the Libra.
I paused for a while to figure out his horoscope, and after realizing it’s the Virgo while not knowing at the time that it’s called “Virgo”, I translated the horoscope from Arabic to English in my head, and it came out as “Virgin” (I’m really not good in horoscopes), and then I went ahead and asked him after a long pause:
So, you’re a virgin?
He looked at me with a confused look and said: I’m sorry?
I asked again: You are a virgin, right?
He let out a nervous chuckle and said: What?!
I was not getting it. Why was he so slow to understand? and I kept insisting that he must be a virgin, and I’m sure of it.
He was looking at me silently, with widened eyes and a shocked look on his face, not understanding what the hell is wrong with me!
Then I decided to spell it out for him; Your horoscope is the virgin, right? Because your birthday is in the beginning of September, so it must be it.
Him: Ahhhhhh! A Virgo! Yes, my horoscope is the Virgo.
He then laughed and sighed with a bit of relief.
Only then did I realize what I had just asked him, and OMG! how embarrassed and stupid I felt.
We then ended that delightful small talk, and we both shifted our focus back to that boring work of ours, never speaking of how awkward that conversation was.
China Dumps US Debt, Fearing a Capitalist Armageddon|Richard Wolff
Have you ever had someone leave a note on your parked car? What did it say on it?
Well I think everyone is going to find this answer entertaining.
Got off work at around 5 p.m. one day and walked out to my parked car in the area where I usually park it. It was a note on my car stating that it had been involved in an auto accident.
Now here’s where it gets really interesting. That note was from the Los Angeles Police Department.
The company I worked with shared a parking lot with a J. C. Pennys store. Apparently store security spotted a shoplifter and decided to arrest her. Unfortunately instead of stopping her as she exited the store they decided to let her get into her vehicle and attempted to leave the scene. As she was backing out of a parking space they opened her door and pulled her out of the moving vehicle. Now some of you might be thinking oh my God, they pulled her out of a moving vehicle! What happened to the moving vehicle? Nothing to worry about, it stopped when it plowed into my car.
And of course this lovely shoplifter of a lady had no driver’s license let alone valid insurance.
And at that time I did not have uninsured underinsured coverage on my insurance. So I would have to pay a high deductible on my comprehensive coverage. I know it sounds strange as comprehensive is not for that. But my insurance said they would cover it that way due to the odd circumstances.
I called the corporate offices of J. C. Penneys, to ask them to pay for the damage to my car. They told me they had nothing to do with the damage to my vehicle. And that I should go after the owner/driver of the car.
I told them that I was sorry they felt that way, and that I would visit the shoplifter who was in custody at the LA County Jail. And I would be happy to tell her about the incredible lawsuit she probably has against J. C. Penneys due to their security personnel pulling her out of a moving vehicle.
After listening to my statement, the person on the other end of the phone at J. C. Penneys responded by saying please send me a copy of your repair estimate and will issue you a check immediately.
And I promise to everyone, this is an absolutely true story.
Will China have to fight major wars to enjoy pace harmony and prosperity? They did not succeed with the opium wars.
Unfortunately yes.
People fear the Americans because they absolutely devastate countries for fun.
They destroyed Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Iraq, Yemen and other places.
They’re defanged these days because of their priorities that is to profit from war rather than winning any actual peace/stability.
We’re even seeing their inability to stop Ansar Allah :D. Their colour revolutions have also been failing since the mid 00s.
The same thing with Somalis in the UK or Pakistanis. If you attack them? They’ll fuck you up badly. Hence why British people have little love for them but fear them.
At one time UK Chinese and Indians (especially the Sikh guys) too were feared as in a fight we broke the rules. In a fight in the UK 60s, 70s and 80s) if you won a fight, it was normal to shake hands and forget about it. For the aforementioned communities we weren’t so magnanimous.
If you lost a fight against us? You’d be murdered.
My father literally has tons of stories where some idiot loses a fight and simply gets stabbed to death as he begs for his life. Some of the stories I recall from Mr Singh before he passed were brutal.
He’d tie them up in the basement and beat them to death slowly over several days.
Since China is hated by westerners, there’s only one option.
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A savage war which will make Gaza look like it’s nothing.
I bought my father’s wife an electronic scrabble game.
OMG! The best thing that I ever could do.
Now, she and I never really got along, but I thought it might be nice to get her a Christmas present, and so I got her the computer / internet version. Now, this is a game that they have been playing for years. And so, of course, she liked it.
440px Scrabble game in progress
But later, my dad told me that she also used it as a “fiddle game”; something to just mess around with when she got a few spare moments. And also, as a thing to do when my dad was too tired to play with her.
So, chalk up a good thing for me.
Now, you all must know that I have never really been that good in selecting presents for others. I wrote about trying to get presents for my maternal grandmother and how that went to shit, but really getting presents to give to others usually was just getting me no where.
But I have had two wins.
This game of scrabble with my father’s wife, and…
And.. this cement dog statue that I bought for my artistic sister. Ah. She loved it. She said that she read that Earnest Hemingway had a cement dog that was very loyal and greeted him every time he came home.
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She would park it in her living room, watching the kitchen. Loyal and still.
And when my sister had to go away for a project, my mother watched over that cement dog. She too loved it. Said it wasn’t any work to take care of and always watched the house. It was about two feet high, and was of a greyhound.
Ah, now I don’t give presents out often, but when I do, I make sure that they are appreciated.
Today…
What has a cop said that left you completely dumbfounded?
A few years ago, when I was newly licensed, I was leaving my cheer practice and heading to another practice right after. This was a small town and there’s only 2 lanes going into town and 2 going out, not really that big of a deal usually as the drivers are mostly respectful in keeping the passing lane clear. Well on this particular day, I’m headed into town from my practice (as mentioned) and there’s a cop and another car driving almost side by side. The speed limit posted is 60 but they’re both going 45/50 WELL BELOW the legal limits. The cop is in the passing lane and the other car is too afraid to speed up past him even though they’d be in the right. So I get behind the other car (don’t remember the make/model) and try to bide my time waiting to see who will move forward so I can just go. Cop starts to inch forward so I get behind him. As soon as he passes the other car, he gets into the right lane and I pass him (With cruise control set at 60). As soon as I pass him and get back over, he lights up, pulls me over.
He says that I was folowing him too closely and did I know what the proper distance was? I answer 1.5 car lengths (textbook answer according to our state laws). He responds “You need to be at least 15 car lengths behind me!” I said “Fifteen??” with a confused look (not the best at controling my facial expressions) and he said “Yes. Fifteen.”
I did receive a ticket but it was because I didn’t have my license on me; a simple fix-it, take my license to the police station and they’d waive it for me. When I did that a week later (wound up having to get another since the first was lost at the time), he passed me walking into the station and asked where I’d gotten the 1.5 car lengths from and I told him the same place I read that it was illegal to do 45 in a 60…..the state DMV book.
Crocs
Lemon-Lime Flank Steak
1624553243920
Yield: 4 servings.
Ingredients
12 ounces lemon-lime soda (Sprite or 7-Up)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 jalapenos, unseeded and finely chopped
1 (1 1/2 pound) flank steak
Vegetable cooking spray
Salt
Instructions
Combine first 6 ingredients in a 2-quart shallow dish, stirring well; add flank steak, turning to coat.
Cover and chill for 8 hours, turning meat occasionally.
Remove steak from marinade, discarding marinade.
Coat grill rack with cooking spray, and place on grill.
Cook steak, covered with grill lid, over medium-hot coals (350 to 400 degrees F) about 7 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness.
Remove steak from grill, and sprinkle evenly with salt to taste.
To serve, cut steak diagonally across grain into thin slices.
Mark Sleboda: Putin and China Issue DEVASTATING Warning to Blinken, Neocons and They’re Not Bluffing
Have you ever had to explain to a family member that you don’t want them looking after your child because you don’t trust them? How have you explained it to cause the least offence?
When my son was born, he was a very, very special baby in our family. Starting with my great-grandfather, all the living male heirs were born 20 years apart so we referred to this phenomenon as the “20-year baby”. Well it just so happened (by accident actually) that my son was born the first week in January of the 20th year, making him the living fifth generation 20-year baby. This was an extremely important event to my grandfather and great grandfather. When my son was five months old, all of my relatives came to see the latest 20-yr baby so he was held and hugged/kissed by a dozen people. Two weeks after that visit, my grandfather’s wife (whom I considered to be my grandmother) called me crying and saying she couldn’t live with herself if she didn’t call and tell me that my grandfather had been diagnosed with active tuberculosis and because the medication was so expensive and didn’t make him feel any better, he decided not to take it. Well, this meant that
1) he was highly contagious
2) he was well aware of this fact
3) he ignored the risks
4) he concealed the truth
5) he willfully exposed all of us to the disease
6) he knowingly put our health, even our lives at risk
7) he was willing to expose a 5- month old baby, most especially my son, the precious 20-yr baby.
He was so selfish and concerned with his own wishes that he was willing to put his entire family in harm’s way. I was appalled and devastated. I called him and confronted him. He refused to take responsibility for his actions. So I told him that he would never see my son again. He was very angry and said some awful, unforgivable things to me. My grandmother reported our exposure to the health department. They in turn contacted me and told me that my son and I were required to be tested every three months for the next 4 years. I also found out my grandfather was directly responsible for infecting 11 other family members, including my grandmother and two of my cousins. Luckily neither my son nor I ever tested positive. Sadly, I had no choice but to stand my ground, so neither my son nor I ever saw him again. My grandmother divorced him, and my father refused to even speak to him for risking my son’s health. My uncle took his family and moved away because two of his kids were infected by him. So, he died alone, 15 years later, a miserable, hateful old man and it was all my fault, you see. Because I deprived him of the love of his coveted 20-yr great-grandson.
BUSTED: Did the CIA withhold China info from Trump?
Things were bad, and they knew things were bad, and they knew others must also know things were bad, and yet they would need to pretend, outwardly, that things were fine. The president was fine. The election would be fine. —Olivia Nuzzi, NY Magazine
Clusterfuck Nation
There’s a reason that the fable of The Emperor’s New Clothes is so potent: it describes a mentally ill society that retreats into abject unreality, to avoid contending with truth. Alas, this archetypal human quandary shoves such a society towards nemesis: downfall and punishment. And that is exactly the consequence of our news media’s craven, dishonorable, degenerate behavior the past decade.
They have disordered our nation’s consensus about reality with peremptory lying about everything, in service to a political party that lies to its citizens about everything. The big question is: who or what recruited them into serving the Party of Chaos, and why did they go along?
You can explain the media’s initial repugnance to Donald Trump going back to his 2015 debut in politics. Much about him had a low-class odor, despite all the gold-plating — his origins in tawdry Queens, his career as a builder in Manhattan where the trades are mob-controlled, the Atlantic City casino debacle, bankruptcy, ditching Ivana and his mid-life playboy reputation, the tacky TV show, the increasingly mystifying hair-doo, his rough, jumbly manner of speech. Everything about him repelled the Ivy Leaguers who increasingly filled the ranks of national-level journalism.
Despite all that, Mr. Trump raised five kids successfully. The grown ones had careers and they all visibly loved him. With that and his overt masculinity, he assumed the lineaments of the archetypal Daddy, which enflamed the enormous cohort of feminists who had taken over the Democratic Party behind their avatar Hillary Clinton. And when he squeaked out an electoral victory over her in 2016, they were sure it was a cheat. The menace of Daddy in da (White) house pushed them over the edge psychologically.
Daddy was all about setting boundaries, which was the antithesis to the “progressive” (and transgressive) agenda of the Dems, and was probably the reason that his talk of “building the wall” along the Mexican border drove them nuts. It signaled patriarchal control of a whole lot of other things, too. Boundaries galore!
Now, it happened that the Democratic Party was also the favored party of the DC permanent bureaucracy, which had been growing and growing for decades and had become overtly politicized during the eight years of Barack Obama. Mr. Trump threatened to downsize this leviathan government, meaning many patronage jobs might be lost. (Boundaries would be imposed!) The warrior branch of this Deep State was the Intel community. The FBI, the DOJ, the CIA, the State Dept, and elements of the military were commissioned by the Democratic Party to destroy Mr. Trump.
They used the machinery of the law to lay one trip after another on the president and effectively hog-tied him — RussiaGate, the Ukraine phone call impeachment, the George Floyd anarchy — and when those operations failed to oust him, they ran the Covid-19 caper (with enormous collateral damage to the people and their economy), which enabled rigging the 2020 election with mail-in ballots. Once Mr. Trump was squeezed out-of-office, the FBI turned the J-6 protest at the Capitol into a riot, which Nancy Pelosi then converted into an “insurrection” using the House J-6 committee. The J-6 incident, they dearly hoped, would rid them of Mr. Trump once and for all.
The news media went along with every bit of that, year after year, converting each mendacious act of the party and the bureaucracy into consumable narrative, and lying either overtly about all the ops, or just omitting to report on the dark truth behind it all. Any reality-based thread that happened to leak into public view from independent alt-news reporters was branded by CNN, The New York Times, the WashPo, and many others as “misinformation” — a newish concept produced by a cadre of language Stasi skilled at inverting the meaning of anything to bamboozle the public. It appears that the news media became so invested psychologically in its own dishonest product that it began to believe its own bullshit.
Or, at least, they wanted to pretend to believe it. One of the big problems was that absolutely everything they labeled “misinformation” or “conspiracy theory” turned out to be truthful, and that was becoming an inescapable embarrassment. And then the biggest blunder they made was going along with the Deep State’s selection of “Joe Biden” in the very sketchy Super Tuesday primary of 2020. The old grifter had next-to-zero support in all the preceding preliminaries and somehow (abracadabra !) he swept the field.
By then, the Democratic Party, and its public relations arm in the mainstream media, had descended into florid mental illness. Everything they stood for post-World War Two flipped to its opposite. Suddenly, they were against free speech. They weren’t coy about it. They just made-up some new bullshit about free speech being “hate speech.” Similarly, they were against a free press. They went along with all the misinfo / disinfo bullshit the government cooked up and supported its role in suppressing the news. They were no longer anti-war, the party-of-peace. They were now pro-segregation and pro-discrimination (white people need not apply) according to Critical Race Theory (a childishly sketchy doctrine). Most of all, they were no longer skeptical of anything that the leviathan establishment wanted to do, including abridging the liberties of American citizens.
Then there was the campaign to use the most powerful human instinct, sexuality, as a weapon to disorder the minds of American children, leading even to the mutilation of their bodies — a program that unmistakably tipped toward genuine evil, suggesting that actual psychosis lay behind the Cluster-B crypto-Marxism used to justify it.
“Joe Biden” was fine with all of that, and the news media was fine with “Joe Biden” and whoever was using him as a front. Of course, it was evident during the 2020 campaign that “Joe Biden” was not up to a job as demanding as Chief Executive of the US government — and that was even apart from the dense criminal web of influence peddling discovered around him and his family, which the news media ignominiously ignored. But now the years have gone by and there’s no hiding “Joe Biden’s” rather gravely diminished mental abilities.
Last week’s debate gave away the game. It had the effect of finally turning off the gaslight that the news media has been shining over the republic lo these many years. They can no longer pretend that this president is anything close to okay in body and mind. They can’t annul the gaslighted public’s delayed realization that they’ve been subject to a concerted program of deliberate lying for a long long time.
So now, inveterate pretenders and liars, such as Jake Tapper of CNN and Maggie Haberman of The New York Times — and many others — have to pretend that they were innocently duped into supporting all the turpitudes of the Democratic Party / Deep State axis-of-evil. It is really hard to imagine that they can successfully rehabilitate their reputations. They have done immense harm to our country. It’s hard to see how the Democratic Party might survive, too, no matter who they finally put up for election this year. Of course, there’s still plenty of time left for them to destroy the country altogether. Just keep giving American missiles to Ukraine to fire into Russia and see what happens.
Woman Demands Her Husband Make $650,000 And Gets Humbled
“Joe Biden is the walking embodiment of the exhausted American Establishment. More and more people have simply lost their faith in our Ruling Class. You could scarcely have a more potent symbol of its impotence.” — Rod Dreher
Clusterfuck Nation
Just before the weekend, a political prairie fire raced across a nation buffaloed, blind-sided, and buried deeply in bullshit, and the little critters who inhabit the landscape are still running around with their fur smoldering. What a surprise that “Joe Biden,” the mentally-disabled pretend-president, fell apart in the debate spotlight for all to see, like Captain Queeg in his fateful witness chair, or William Jennings Bryan at the Scopes trial (1925), or the Wizard of Oz when little Toto drew the curtain back — a brutal revelation of stark truth about how things actually are.
Since his hiding-in-the-basement campaign in 2020 “Joe Biden’s” Party of Chaos has pretended that he is fit and alert for the job and now all of sudden they pretend to be shocked to see how far gone in the head he really is. The bullshit shovelers of the mainstream news media were especially rocked, not by the truth of the situation per se, but at being unmasked as the contemptible, confabulating tools that they’ve become. The New York Times wheeled around on a dime from their servile lionizing of the presidential hologram they helped create to its editorial board abjectly yelling for him to drop out and get gone. They were joined instantly by a long list of other opinion-shapers, campaign donors, political celebs, and Beltway players.
Right after the debate, First lady Dr. Jill led a cheerleading session before a roomful of partisans that went beyond cringeworthy into uncharted territory of mortification. (“You were great, Joe! You answered all the questions!”). By the time the entourage moved to a pre-planned event at a nearby Atlanta Waffle House, “JB” had gone full-on zombie. If all that was intended to be reassuring, the effect was the opposite. Someone handed the blank-faced old grifter a milkshake and they beat it out of there.
The Bidens flew off to the Hamptons Saturday to milk the showbiz cows and hedge-funders for a campaign that might not still exist. “Everyone paid in advance. . .so it could be an opportunity to encourage him to drop out,” an invited guest told a New York Post reporter. “I wanted to go and see the train wreck,” another donor said. “I’d rather choose someone from a phone book than have Biden.” That was generally the tone among the woke-gay-communist echelons all over the land — surprisingly vehement, considering that just forty-eight hours before they were all in on re-election. Some could probably see their lucrative hustles whirling around the drain, and others might fret about just how far and wide prosecutions under a Trump Attorney General might loom.
“JB” and his family circle attempted to regroup over the weekend at Camp David where first son, Hunter (“the smartest man I know,” the president often says), led the buoying-up session, perhaps mindful of the many bank accounts set up by his lawyers in the name of Biden family members (including little grandchildren) for receipt of influence-peddling revenue gathered sedulously from entities abroad during “Joe Biden’s” post-veep high-earning years. The family emerged from that meet-up triumphantly, ready to forget the one bad evening and jump back into the election game.
Next, the biggest Dem dawgs — Obama, Schumer, Pelosi — stepped up with fulsome support for “Joe Biden” continuing to steer the party’s war canoe straight over Niagara Falls on November 5th. What possesses them? Misguided love for the monster they created? Fear of being called out as traitorous liars? Desperation to preserve the gigantic racketeering operation of the party they lead, with consideration for their big cuts of the action? Or are they just determined to complete the job of wrecking our country?
And where was She-Whose-Turn-It-Is, HRC, the only possible replacement candidate with name-recognition and no ruined state hanging over her as is the case with Newsom, Pritzker, and Whitmer (California, Illinois, Michigan)? Mrs. Clinton has so far stayed out of it, laying low, probably thinking that the party poohbahs will eventually have to come around to seeing she’s the obvious viable alternative. Since the Clinton Foundation bought and paid for the DNC some time ago, she might be able to get the nominating machinery lined up in her direction. There are myriad problems, for sure, with many state election laws that discourage switching-out a nominee who has already captured a winning share of party convention delegates — but Norm Eisen, Marc Elias, and the Lawfare gang are already tasked to that set of problems now that their work is done cobbling together all those janky court cases to hamstring Mr. Trump.
We enter high summer with countless consequential things afoot. A grand new momentum is expressing itself throughout Western Civ against the Globalist insanity. Sunday, Marine LePen’s National Rally (RN) thrashed President Macron’s Renaissance Party, a shock equal to the “Joe Biden” debate fiasco here. British elections follow Thursday July 4, with PM Rishi Sunak sucking wind and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Party ascending rapidly. Sunday July 7 France’s runoff election happens. A widened war threatens the Middle East as Iran and Turkey line up with Hezbollah in Lebanon against Israel. Ukraine cries for a negotiated settlement with no help from our own State Department. ISIS terrorists (among many other dangerous cadres) circulate on-the-loose around the USA, ready and able to perp atrocities.
Still hanging over the “Joe Biden” crisis — and it is a crisis — is the question as to how somebody no longer capable of leading a party in an election can also be capable of leading the executive branch of the USA as Commander-in-Chief. That quandary has been shoved aside for the moment but it still lurks ominously in the background.
“Biden’s entire closing statement is the political equivalent of the blue screen of death. It’s just one long frozen glitch.” — Sean Davis, the Federalist
Clusterfuck Nation
Maybe ninety-seconds into last night’s long-awaited debate spectacle, the consensus must have jelled among the woke-and-broken news media mavens that their champion, “Joe Biden,” was not quite killing it out there at the podium. CNN moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash acted like witnesses at a ritual sacrifice. And afterward, the CNN post-mortem panel seemed genuinely shocked that months of playing pretend had skidded to such an ignominious finish.
Which raises a great many questions, starting with: why on earth did the Democratic Party and its media handmaidens persist in pretending month-after-month that “Joe Biden” was a fit candidate for another four-year term? Last night, he didn’t appear capable of even finishing the current term. Why did they usher him so jauntily into the nomination? And what are they going to do about that now? And what were their motives for all that pretending? “Joe Biden” circulates among scores of astute officials every day. Did they all fail to notice his incapacity? Or has the whole thing been a sham and a lie all along? Was this just the culminating hoax by the Party of Hoaxes of a long string of hoaxes against the nation going back to 2015?
To the question of motives, the answer is obvious: the news networks have worked tirelessly (and with stunning dishonor) to hide their collusion with the government in gaslighting the public. More to the point, they’ve concealed the appalling truth that the CIA, DARPA, and their many intel blob subsidiaries conducted a silent coup over the USA and have been running our country’s affairs disastrously behind the “Joe Biden” façade — and that the coup actually started well before Mr. Trump’s 2016 inauguration. You know it, and they know that you know it.
More acutely, now that “Joe Biden” has been revealed as a hoax president, whole legions of public officials appear liable to criminal charges of the most serious degree: sedition, treason, mass murder, fraud, malfeasance, and in the case of the president himself, influence peddling and bribery. They must be desperate to avoid accounting for all that, losing their accrued fortunes to legal fees and going to prison (or worse). For example, outed just this week: news that then-CIA Director in 2020, Gina Haspel, knew about and participated in the infamous operation using 51 former Intel officers to cover up the veracity of Hunter Biden’s laptop days before the election.
They knew the laptop was real. Their colleagues over at the FBI knew it was real. They all knew it was stuffed with deal memos, legal memoranda, and emails that clearly laid out a long-running bribery operation among Biden family members and their lawyers. They knew it in 2019 when the Democratic Party moved to impeach Mr. Trump for inquiring about the Biden family’s money-grubbing activities in Ukraine — where, by the way, we may have fomented the war with Russia in part to cover up the culpability of all involved, including especially the State Department and their embassy staff in Kiev. The FBI and its bosses in the DOJ also withheld the laptop from Mr. Trump’s defense lawyers during the 2020 impeachment, though it contained massive exculpatory evidence to explain just why he made that fateful phone call to the newly elected Zelensky.
It’s obvious that the ruling blob now has to deep-six “Joe Biden.” The problem is they must induce him to renounce the nomination of his own will. The party’s nominating process is so bizarrely complex that it would be very difficult to just shove him out. Another problem is that the party had to peremptorily declare “JB” their legal nominee before the August convention in order to keep him on the ballot in Ohio with its 17 electoral votes (due to some arcane machinery in the state’s election laws).
As per above, the debate fiasco calls into serious question whether “Joe Biden” is competent to even serve out this term. He (or shadowy figures pulling strings behind him) are making profoundly hazardous decisions right now, such as last week’s missile attack that killed and wounded civilians on the beach in Crimea. Are you seeing how easily “Joe Biden” might start World War Three? All of which is to say that pressure will soon rise to use the 25th amendment to relieve him of duty, leaving you-know-who in the oval office. If Joe Biden actually has to resign as president, he also loses the ability to pardon his son, Hunter, and peremptorily his other family members who shared bribery money received from China, Ukraine, and elsewhere.
If he won’t resign, and the party can’t force him off the ticket, the blob could have no choice except to bump him off. I imagine they would get it done humanely, say late at night sometime, in bed, using the same method as for putting down an old dog who has peed on the carpet one too many times. Or, if that can’t be managed and he clings to his position, maybe the party could cobble up some new nominating rules impromptu. And then, who could they slot in from the bench?
The usual suspects are like the cast of a freak show, each one displaying one grotesque deformity after another. Gavin Newsom we understand: the party’s base of batshit-crazy women may all want to bear his child, but that limbic instinct to mate with a six-foot-three haircut-in-search-of-a-brain might not work with any other voter demographic — and Newsom has the failed state of California hanging around his neck. All Mr. Trump would have to do is broadcast the scene from a San Francisco street-cam on “X” (Twitter) 24/7.
Hillary has been stealthily flapping her leathery wings overhead for weeks as this debacle approached. She may still own the actual machinery of the Democratic Party — having purchased it through the Clinton Foundation some years back when the party was broke and needed a bailout. She could just command the nomination by screeching “Caw Caw” from the convention rostrum. Whatever happens, it will look terrible.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan? An inveterate and notorious intel blob tool, Whitmer has allowed herself to be used repeatedly by the FBI to frame and persecute conservatives in her state as well as using her state AG Dana Nessel to go after political enemies there, especially poll workers who cried fraud in the sketchiest Michigan voting districts.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. Like Dreamboat Newsom in California, Mr. Pritzker is busily running Illinois (and especially Chicago) into bankruptcy and chaos. Looks aren’t everything, but if Dreamboat gives the vapors to Karens across the land, the Illinois governor will get them shrieking in terror as from the sight of King Kong on Skull Island
Who else is there? Michelle O, of course, who will be instantly branded as a catspaw for her husband seeking a fifth term — as Barack himself has averred in so many words: just hanging out in the background, managing things in his jogging suit. That would be the ultimate Banana Republic set-up for us and I don’t think the voters will go for it. It all boils down to the Party of Chaos being thrust into chaos. Can it even survive “Joe Biden?”
Then there is Mr. Trump himself. He remains the object of widespread rabid loathing, yet more and more Americans are coming to appreciate his opposition to Woke Marxist chaos and intel blobbery-gone-wild in our land. His performance last night featured his usual jumpy locutions and incomplete sentences, but in contrast to the current president, he looked neither senile nor an agent of sinister forces dedicated to bringing our country to its knees. Had Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. been present both of the others would have been badly outclassed verbally and intellectually. If Mr. Trump survives the blob’s efforts to delete him before November, I’m sure Mr. Kennedy will play a prominent role in another Trump administration. He knows exactly where the rot is and how to roust it out.
This is actually cute and funny
Shorpy
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Does anyone want to write their heart out here?
Originally Answered: Does any one want to write their heart out here?
Hi… I am 18 years old boy at my last stage of blood cancer and I will probably die within next 5 to 6 months. I am going anonymous because my parents follow me on quora.
I was diagnosed with leukaemia in june 2015 exactly on my birthday. I have lot to tell but I can not tell anyone as I always have my parents around and they themselves are broken from inside and they would leave hope if I left hope.
I have a sister she is 23 and she takes care of all my needs. I love her very much. But I simply can not do anything for her because I am bed ridden. I get a lot of visitors from my old school and family.
My parents and my sister do their best to cheer me up and make me smile but I can not as it is very dufficult when you know you are about to die. I feel ashamed of myself as I can not move and I sometimes pee on the bed itself as I have no control over my nerves. All the doctors whom I have been shown to, say that I must do whatever I like as I have very less time left. Each and every doctor has said to leave hope and just enjoy life. I know my family cries when I am asleep or listening to songs or when I am not around. But I am helpless I just can not do anything. But yes I do appreciate that they somehow hold their tears back in front of me. My sister cheers me up as she calls her college friends at home and we play ludo and have a good time.
The point that makes me sad is that ispite of all the efforts my family makes I am unable to do anything for them espescially my sister. I am extremely attatched to her but I have no words to thank her. I wish god gave me another life…. Just one chance I would work extremely hard to make my family proud. All I dream is of getting well and working for my family.
This is it my story
Thanks for Reading…
Humble request
Please do pray for my family so that God can give them strength. 🙂 🙂
EDIT 1
Thanks to all the upvoters.
Writing gives me releif.
My sister caught me writing this answer and when she read it she set to tears and I could not hold myself and started to cry on my helplessness. She told that she loves me the most. She said that she had no problem in cleaning my dirty clothes and pushing my wheelchair and feeding me she just demands that I should stay happy forever.
I will reveal my identity if my sister this to my parents. But this totally depends on her.
Please stay tuned as I have 5 or at max 6 months left and then this would be closed
Thanks for reading
Humble request: keep praying
🙂
EDIT 2
The response is clearly amazing….
Thanks to all
I want to really clarify somethings.
1 I do not want any money my family can take care of my needs thanks for your health.
2 I do not wish to reveal my identity as I had already tried this with one of the people commenting here and it the consequences were disheartning
3 For those people who think this is a dram you are free to think so but your views really turn like these when you are nearing your end and the worse part is you know about it.
4 I write for my hearts relief and not for any kninds of financial favours from anyone.
I do tell my parents that I love them a lot but I can not share my pain because if I ever did that they would feel extremely weak to see their son losing hope hence I chose quora and anonymity.
They try to find out every possible source of miraculous recovery story they could and tell me to keep myself motivated and even I want one such thing to happen but I get very negative thought when I see people turning their faces and simply not to talk or even look at me when I am in park and again I have my sister by my me side.
I had a beautiful childhood like I and my sister were like typical brother sisters fighting for small things like for watching tv and I used to enjoy it a lot but now there is no fight and she allows me to watch anything I like and does everhything for me I tell her this almost everyday and she feels great.
I write my heart out here (as the ques suggests) and not in anyway for any favours
Thanks for praying
Keep praying
🙂
October 28
Thanks to all the upvoters… and all the prayers.
Some comments coming up like you want to give some years of your life to me. Please do not think that ever again. You have 2 functional hands, legs all 5 senses (sight, sound(ears), taste, smell and touch (skin)) intact and a good brain to think deeply. So stop thinking as your life directional was and start working. Make your family proud. Your family does everything for you. And if not for your family do something good for yourself.
I say it because When you are on your deathbed some 60–70 years from now you must not regret the fact that you wasted time and could not accomplish your targets. You do not realise how much time you have and how much can be done in that.
Now coming to some of my feelings.. (your choice read it or leave it)
I have some sort of insecurity that I would be left alone and that is not just from a day or 2 but from 3–4 weeks. I do not know why but it’s there. I have discussed this with my sister and she assures me that she would be there all the time. I mean I annoy my family members sometimes like I always want someone in front of my eyes. It sounds pathetic but it’s true.
I vomitted yesterday night it was almost all blood and something’s that I had eaten the whole day ( it’s quite normal as it happens 4 times a week). Naturally I was very depressed this morning so my sister took off from her college and kept me busy by discussing older times like how we both messed up together and how I cried when she teased me I was adopted.
I still remember that I and my sis used to hide remote in the washroom when it was time for some important cartoon (for me it was dragon ballz and for her it was suite life of Zack and Cody) and we used to have some insecurity when our parents gave one of us more attention than the other.
There are lots of things like these.
If I rewind and look into my life I realize how messi I was and my sister even then helped me she had been of constant support to me. I owe her everthing. I write this in every answer but I can’t help it I just love her.
I have realized one thing that I do not want to leave in misery. All the time I have I will enjoy and annky my sister and parents.
Thanks a lot to quora it’s great.
Thanks for reading
Keep praying
🙂
15 November 2k18
Thanks all for your overwhelming response..
I have lots of feelings to share as I had been in critical condition for almost last 15 days…
I have lost my voice because I spat blood so many times that my throat has constant piercing sensation. About a week ago I thought I would die and I wanted to tell my family everything and that is what I did.
I can not imagine how much my parents and my sister love me. They never felt bad helping me rather they wanted me to be fine. My sister is an angel. She has been with me all the time. Though I have become annoyed by my sickness and fought with her many times but she always handled me with care. Whenever I saw anyone in my room it was her in the last 15 days. She is more than God to me.
Now I get feelings like it is better to die in peace rather than suffering so much. I sometimes seem to have lost all hope and strength.
My parents are going mad to see my condition going from bad to worse but they are not ready to loose me and even I can not convince them.
There is almost no happiness left in my life. All the time I see my parents trying to convince me I would be fine and me trying to convince them to be ready for my loss. I feel so bad and blessed at the same time that I am spending the last chapter of my life with people whom I love the most but I feel myself weak when I am unable to do anything for them.. I do try to explain myself that it is not my fault but these thoughts overpower my thinking and leave me depressed most of the time.
People say to enjoy life but how do you enjoy life when you can not walk, talk, or when you are scared of eating(yes I am scared as whatever I eat I vomit with blood)!!!!! I am scared of my own face it looks so horrible with pale skin and red marks.
How do you enjoy life when you have constant killing pain in your whole body and the only way you keep yourself feeling painless is by taking strong pain killers??
I am sorry if this hurt your feelings but I have had it enough. I either want a painless death or a painless cure. I am too depressed but there is nothing I can do…
I am sorry
Keep praying
🙂
I suggest you visit China.
It reversed my preconception. I am from Norway, North Europe. A rather modern and advanced society.On my first visit to the US over 20 years ago, I was surprised at how backward and old fashioned it was. Movies had let me to believe it was the epitome of modern society. I visited several states on the East/South-East. Very backwards digitally. Terrible infrastructure. Unwalkable. Dirty. Hard to find quality restaurants outside of big cities. Dead city centres in medium sized cities.I went to China a year or two later, and the opposite struck me. It was a highly modern society. Highly digital. Fantastic high-speed infrastructure (that is even better nowadays). Super clean, modern cities. I was mainly in the Jiangsu province that time. Loved it!I suggest everyone to go and form their own opinions. I really fell in love with Suzhou, not far from Shanghai.
What are some important, but uncomfortable truths that many people learn when transitioning into adulthood?
Every person is responsible for their own happiness — not their parents, not their boss, not their spouse, not their friends, not their government, not their deity.
One day we will all die, and 999 out of 1,000 people will be remembered by nobody on earth within a hundred years of that date.
Practically all of the best opportunities (in business, in romance, etc) are only offered to people who already have more than they need.
The idea that you will be happy after you make X amount of dollars is almost certainly an illusion.
The idea that you will be happy after you meet [some amazing person] is almost certainly an illusion.
For most people, death is pretty messy and uncomfortable.
When you don’t possess leverage (go look up “BATNA“), people will take advantage of you, whether they mean to or not.
Almost everybody is making it up as they go along. Also, many (most?) people are incompetent at their jobs.
When talking about their background and accomplishments, almost everybody is continually overstating their abilities, impact, relevance, and contributions.
Physical beauty decays.
Compared to others, certain ethnicities and races (and genders, and sexual orientations, and so on) are just plain royally f*cked from the day they’re born. [EDIT: depending on locale & time period]
Bad things constantly happen to good people. Good things constantly happen to bad people.
Very few people will ever give you 100% candid, honest feedback.
People are constantly making enormous life decisions (marriage, children, etc) for all of the wrong reasons.
Certain people — some of whom are in positions of enormous power — just do not give a damn about other human beings.
Often, the most important and consequential moments of our lives (chance encounter, fatal car accident, etc) happen completely at random and seemingly for no good reason.
Your sense of habitating a fully integrated reality is an illusion, and a privilege. Take the wrong drug, suffer a head injury, or somehow trigger a latent psychotic condition like schizophrenia — and your grip on reality can be severed in an instant. Forever.
Yet, despite all that not-so-good-ness, overall life is pretty damn rad. And we’re lucky to get to participate in it.
VIETNAM NIGHTLIFE | WALKING STREET | HO CHI CITY MINH VIETNAM
Is the USA really jealous of China’s rise or is the problem that China is still a Marxist-Leninist country that the United States cannot accept a Marxist state competing with them?
“jealousy” is not the word to describe US mentality.
Dominance is a better description for USA. USA has been dominating the world since WW2. Since 1990’s, China has been rising, fast these years.
USA is hysterically hanging onto its dominance. That is all.
Look at Japan. As a country defeated by USA in WW2, Japan is 100% Amcericanised esp its political system. Also Japan is militarily controlled by USA. Japan is a US puppet with no independent strategic sovereignty.
The only thing for Japan to do was to focus on economic & technological development. In 1980’s, Japan was economically #2 in the world after USA. Its chips technology surpassed USA. Similar to today’s China.
Then what has happened to Japan? You heard it already. USA mercilessly beat Japan down, making Japan lose 10–20 years’ economic & technological advancement.
Just a month or so ago, Japan has monetary crisis & wanted to sell US debts to get cash to save its economy. US Treasury Secy Yellen then called Japan & warned Japan that what Japan did was interference of free market. … Japan was not allowed to save its exchange rate.
Why? USA wanted to bankrupt Japan (& Asian countries too). When Japanese assets become cheap, cheap & cheap, US capitalists will flood into Japan to buy up Japanese assets.
No other Asian countries went bankrupt like Japan because USA has no control of them. They all saved their economy.
Back to your question.
See, it is more to do with sick mentality to dominate than to simple jealousy.
Loyalty is the most important characteristic that a woman can provide to her man
The China, India border issue has been an issue for the two sides since the 1950s, but the two sides have never been able to find a solution.
On India’s side, the political leadership has never been able to form a consensus on a deal, and on China’s side, there has been no urgency. So the issue has continued to simmer.
Now though, the battle lines are becoming more clear between NATO/EU/G7 on the one side, against BRICS on the other side. Russia is on the front line confronting NATO expansion in Ukraine, and is drawing support from Iran and North Korea, while India and China continue to trade with Russia, and ignoring western sanctions.
But there is a problem: India is also a member of the US-led QUAD, with the US, Australia and Japan, and whose aim is to surround and box in China. India has been playing both sides, with one foot in BRICS, and one foot in QUAD.
Obviously India under Modi wants to get a good deal for India.
From Putin’s perspective, he can no longer afford to let the China/India border issue continue because it will threaten the cohesion of BRICS and the rise of Greater Eurasia, which has the support of all the BRICS members and North Korea. Putin does not want and cannot afford to let the US exploit the China/India border issue to the US’s advantage because the US wants to prevent the rise of the Greater Eurasia economic and security alliance.
Since China and India have not been able to reach a border agreement, and Russia is a close ally of both China and India, and is a founding member of BRICS, this means that Russia has to step in and try to help the two sides reach an agreement.
My guess as to what the Russian proposal will be is:
Russia will appoint a representative to study the China-India border dispute; this person will likely be Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov;
After studying the issue; the Russian team will propose a border resolution to both China and India;
China and India will study the Russian proposal and propose their own amendments;
After incorporating the amendments, Russia will issue a solution which is binding on both India and China.
This means that both sides have no choice but to accept the solution. If there are features of the agreement which both China and India do NOT like, then this means that it is a fair agreement.
Russia will then ask India to demonstrate its full commitment to BRICS by withdrawing from the QUAD.
Indian PM Modi will go to Moscow to meet with Putin this Wednesday.
Americans CAN’T Believe What China is Doing Now!
Have you ever had a medical condition or disease that doctors misdiagnosed?
Yes… Approximately 9 years ago I was home alone when I suddenly couldn’t breathe. I was just watching television.. not doing anything strenuous. I had a history of asthma and tried using my inhaler, which did nothing. Fortunately, I picked up the phone, dialed 911..and could only whisper I couldn’t get my breath. I couldn’t give them any information, since I couldn’t speak. I ran to my bedroom to use my nebulizer, but passed out on the bed. Luckily they traced my call, sent an ambulance immediately and transported me to the local hospital, while attempting to revive me on the way. I woke up in ICU 2 days later, after being on a ventilator for 48 hours. My heart had stopped for some unknown reason. After a two week stay, numerous tests and medications, I was feeling better. They felt I had pneumonia.. and gave me antibiotics and steroids, which did seem to make me feel better. While there, they had performed a heart echo, but no one actually told me about the results. When the echo was being done, I felt like I was going to pass out any second and I cried and complained to the technician. Finally I felt better and had begged to go home, which they finally allowed. I returned to my job in another week or so, and was trying to get back to normal. Due to the fact that I often was required to read medical records as a part of my job, I thought it would be a good idea to order a copy of the hospital record, for my own peace of mind, so that’s what I did.
After about a week of being back at work, I came home one day totally exhausted and again weak and short of breath. Immediately my husband insisted we go back to the hospital. I was admitted again with a low oxygen level and trouble breathing. A day or two before, the hospital record had been delivered and I had my husband bring it to me, in the hospital. The doctor wanted me to have an echo and I argued with them explaining I had already just had one! They argued with me and then admitted that somehow the report was missing and they did not know the result. I carefully looked through the records and found the report, showing the cardiologist. I was stunned to read that the ejection fraction (measurement of my heart’s efficiency) was only at 25%. I found out later, this was a level requiring hospice care!! They told me I needed immediate heart surgery and the cardiologist called a surgeon from a Manhattan hospital who agreed to take my case. I was transported by ambulance to Lenox Hill in NYC where I underwent an open heart surgery the next day. I had congestive heart failure….. I cried when the surgeon told me that if they couldn’t fix it, they might have to do a heart transplant!! Imagine.. Ultimately, they did complete a repair of my mitral valve leaflets, by inserting a ring over the valve to allow it to work effectively. It seems my condition had been ongoing for quite some time; My left ventricle had become seriously weakened, causing my heart to fail. Post surgery, I improved, but I continue to require medication to maintain my heart rhythm and blood pressure. The medication makes me tired, so I am much more limited in what I can do. I’ve been on disability since.. and have been unable to return to work. This all happened when I turned 50 years old. I spent my 50th birthday in the hospital.
I did not pursue a malpractice case, although I did seriously consider it. In such cases you need another doctor who would be willing to say the hospital and doctors were negligent. I did visit the EMTs at my local firehouse to thank them for saving my life. They recalled that when they found me I had turned blue from the lack of oxygen. I think they were surprised that I made it!!
At this time, I consider myself to be very, very lucky to be alive! Lesson: we have to be our own health advocates these days! Doctors can and do make mistakes. If it doesn’t seem right, keep looking for another answer!
Russia Just Revealed 2 Hypersonic Weapons & SHOCKED The World!
Why Chinese language has become an issue in NASA? Anything to do with US effort to hang onto its hegemony in the race of space?
China has analysed the lunar soil that was collected by Chang’e-5 in 2020. (Not yet from the 2024 Chang’e-6)
There was discussion that China should first publish its result in Chinese science journals (using Chinese language). before publishing it in foreign journals.
There was US complaint that China has broken the intl standard to use English.
Who said English is the standard? God? Who said a standard/rule cannot be changed? God?
All humans are equal. All nations are equal. We coexist with different cultures incl language. USA crowns itself as god to control the world.
Want to read China’s research result? Learn Chinese language then. Or wait until China publishes it in an English journal. Or go to the moon to collect the soil yourself.
It is not the 1st time arrogant USA complained about Chinese language.
In 2021, China launched a 100% Made-in-China space station (天宫 Tiangong), somebody (I believe it was NASA chief) was maddening angry. He asked China to dismantle Tiangong because it was not written in English.
Tiangong is China’s private property. China can use its own language in its property. Though China welcomes other countries to join China’s space program, Tiangong is STILL China’s private property.
That is not the end of story.
Using a satellite from Space-X, USA tried to collide it into Tiangong. Twice, Luckily USA failed because Tiangong is equipped with detectors to prevent collision by meteorite or space garbage. China already reported this US crime to UN.
Did E Musk aplogise? No. He said China can always avoid collision. The question is not whether China can avoid it. The question is why Space-X deliberately created collision & endangered the life of the 3 Yuhangyuan (宇航员 astronaut) in Tiangong.
Let me further irritate the sick USA …
China is planning to set up a base on the moon. China may draw a map to divide the moon into regions like our road map. China may name the lunar regions in Chinese language.
Rules are made by the FIRST one who gets it. Like WTO rules were set up by the West. China thus follows WTO rules.
Since China will be the 1st one to set up a base on the moon, you learn Chinese language & then translate the Chinese map in your language.
Gregorian Chants | Immersing in the Spiritual Atmosphere Of Gregorian Chants
I discovered this. It’s something to bookmark if you want some chill music for atmosphere. Or meditation. Maybe spells. Who knows. Aside from that, you can skip this.
What’s the shadiest thing you saw a real estate agent do?
My ex and I were moving to Oregon from Colorado and had put our home up for sale. We got an offer within two weeks which was great as we were moving a few weeks later.
Supposedly, the buyers were moving to Colorado from Texas for the man’s job. The company was doing the down payment and then pay the balance on closing. Because of “banking issues” because of the house being in Colorado, they ended up only sending a $1,000.00 of the $30,000.00 down payment.
Our real estate agent said that was ok, that the whole sale amount would be paid at closing.
The closing was the day before we were leaving. We get to the title company’s office for the closing and the buyers show up with our real estate agent, and without the payment check.
The guy doing the closing was not happy but the real estate agent had him call the bank that the funds were coming from and he was told that there was an malfunction on the bank’s end and the transfer would take place that afternoon.
We went ahead and signed the papers and made arrangements for my mom to deposit the check in our bank account ( small town bank where everyone knew everyone else) the next day.
Yup, you guessed it, the check never showed up. Luckily the title agent was a family friend and refused to hand over the keys or file the paperwork without payment, even when the real estate agent and buyers threatened legal action.
Come to find out, it was a scam. The couple and the company he worked for, had pulled this in other states before. They would do the closing , get the keys and the title put in the new owners name. They would in turn sale the house and the original owners would be stuck with what little was paid in escrow.
We were lucky the title company refused to file the paperwork, we rented the house to some friends who then purchased it with cash a few months later.
The real estate agent lost their company and license and since it was a small community, their reputation.
The buyers left the state and the company disappeared. Technically no laws were broken so we couldn’t do anything legally against anyone.
Trump & Biden: CHINA! CHINA! CHINA!
Sheech!
What is an example of a simple flaw in a perfect crime?
Mike Williams was fond of duck hunting.
On December 16, 2000, which happened to be his 6th wedding anniversary, he went out to pursue his hobby. Promised his wife he’d be back in time for the celebration, he never returned.
Search and rescue team found his boat and shotgun the next day, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Initial reactions were that he may have drowned, but his body could not be found. Since the lake inhabited alligators, the blame was on cold-blooded animals. It was assumed that he fell off his boat and was eaten by the gators. Mike remained on the ‘missing list’ though.
Six months later his waders, torch, hunting license and safety jacket were found floating in the lake.
On his wife Denise’s request, he was declared “dead by accidental drowning.”
She married another man, Brian Winchester, in December 2005. He was Mike’s high school friend and an Insurance agent.
Thousands of letters from Mike’s mom and the case was reopened. She just didn’t feel her son had disappeared and was eaten by the gators. By then, it was clear to the investigators that alligators don’t eat humans as a whole, and they don’t even eat during winters.
So, this pointed towards some serious foul play. There was no evidence to arrest anyone, however.
Sixteen years of no evidence, the police arrested Brian Winchester in August 2016 for allegedly kidnapping Denise. He did so because she wanted to divorce him.
On Denise’s request, the judge agreed to turn down Winchester’s bail application. She said he would kill her and her daughter.
On December 19, 2017, Winchester was sentenced to 20 years in prison for armed kidnapping of Denise. The very next day, on December 20, Mike’s remains were found.
In May 2018, Denise Williams got arrested under the charge of first-degree murder. Three months later, in August, she was charged with insurance fraud worth $1.75 million.
The matter got into the trial phase, and Winchester testified against Denise for plotting the murder. He told the court he pushed Mike into the water to make it look like an accident, but it didn’t work. So, he shot him in the head and buried his body in the mud near Carr Lake.
Denise, in February 2019, was sentenced to life imprisonment for first-degree murder and an additional 30 years for conspiring the crime. There is no possibility of parole.
Winchester, though the killer, remained immune from murder conviction because he testified against Denise.
The only flaw in this crime was planting the evidence six months later. All of that was intact. No signs of gators’ tooth or blood on any of the recovered items. The torch worked absolutely fine.
And then asking to declare him dead within six months of his disappearance. Usually, it takes five years to get it done.
It took about 2600 letters to the authorities from a loving mother to find the killer(s) of her son after more than 18 years of his disappearance.
strong independent woman gets a TRAIN RAN on her and regrets it
The West is cooked! God am I glad that I don’t live there any longer.
Is it true that an exodus from the Philippines is taking place? Why or why not?
Maybe they smelled war.
Businessmen have the most sensitive political sense. Recently, Raul Lambino, chairman of the Philippine New Energy Group, burst into tears at the 70th anniversary commemoration of China’s “Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence” held in Beijing. He said: ‘I Don’t Want My Country to Be a Battleground’.
Recently, Taiwanese media reported that a silent electronic war broke out between the Chinese and American militaries in the South China Sea. The two armies fought for 12 hours, and the result was obvious: PLA wins and the US military loses!
The Internet, GPS, and communication facilities in the northern Philippines were all paralyzed. Luzon Island was in a state of panic.
Electronic warfare is a precursor to bombing military targets. After the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Russia launched a large-scale electronic jamming war, causing Ukraine’s GPS positioning to drift seriously, and the effectiveness of precision-guided weapons provided by NATO dropped significantly.
Therefore, before a war breaks out, GPS signals may be lost, network connections may be disconnected, and phone calls may be unreachable in the war zone.
Perhaps the Philippines realized that the U.S. military was completely unable to provide the so-called “protection” for the Philippines, and unilaterally demanded that the U.S. military withdraw its medium-range missile system from the Philippines to avoid further angering China.
Philippines Says US Mid-Range Missile System to Be Pulled Out
A US mid-range missile system deployed in the Philippines for annual joint military exercises — to the annoyance of China — will be pulled out of the country.
A series of events that have happened recently may contain the answers you want.
As a nurse, has a patient ever demanded something completely unreasonable of you?
The old farmer only had one testicle left due to testicle cancer, and his remaining testicle had taken a hard hit from his favorite cow. The ball looked like a balloon. A very painful balloon.
After a medical investigation, and before the urologist could even say what the verdict was, the patient stated the decision he had made, after a long and deep contemplation:
“I am seventy-plus years old, and my wife an I do not share the bed anymore. We don’t need to spend extra energy nor money to save it. Just take it away, and I will be just fine.”
That’s what he would do if one of his animals had one balloon ball left — amputate the entire scrotum, and that’s that. So the lady doctor should do the same thing, with a rubber band for that matter. (He would be fine.)
My girlfriend tried to explain that he needed the testosterone in order to function as a man (hoping that he would understand this language). But the farmer refused to take it in because in his eyes, a testicle was a tool to procreate. (“So why not cut it off ?”)
It took forever to explain that without testicles he would suffer from fatigue, hot flashes, muscle loss, poor facial hair growth and what have you. That on many levels he would turn into a woman in menopause, and that lifelong hormone treatment would be necessary to counterbalance the effects.
And that he would become an extremely emotional farmer for no reason if he would ignore that very important treatment (which he would).
In the end, he gave in though — and the testicle lived.
This recipe was the winner of the 1992 National Beef Cook-Off.
093a334218e9aee2d6f6389a08f36a0d
Yield: 5 to 6 servings | 1 1/2 cups salsa
Ingredients
Steak
2/3 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1/2 cup tequila
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
2 medium cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 1/2 pounds well-trimmed boneless beef
1 (1 inch thick) round steak
Orange Salsa
2 oranges, peeled and cubes
1 small onion, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 to 3 tablespoon fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
Instructions
Steak
Combine orange juice concentrate, tequila, lime juice, oil, ginger, garlic, salt, oregano and red pepper.
Place steak in a plastic bag: add marinade, turning to coat. Close bag securely and marinate, refrigerated, for 4 hours, or up to overnight.
Orange Salsa
In a nonreactive bowl, combine all ingredients. Refrigerate for at least one hour.
Remove steak from marinade; discard marinade. Place steak on grill over medium coals (you should be able to hold your hand 4 inches above the coals for a count of 4 seconds).
Grill for 22 to 26 minutes for medium-rare to medium doneness, turning once.
Remove steak to carving board; let stand for 10 minutes.
Carve steak crosswise into thin slices: Arrange on serving platter. Garnish with cilantro and lime; serve with Orange Salsa.
Modern women have run the men off & now they wonder why they’re single!
What was a loophole that you found and exploited the hell out of?
Circa 2010-ish, Samsung had this app in my country called samsung gift. It would give limited free vouchers (mostly for food) for people who have samsung phones
Funny thing is, not many people seem to use it, and they always deploy their free vouchers at the same time everyday. So i would standby, app open, to wait for it. No kidding, I *ALWAYS* get the vouchers without fail. We’re talking about full meals at kenny rogers, free medium pizza from pizza hut, etc.
Oh, and I didn’t stop there. They had tiers of these vouchers. like if you have their flagship phones (and tablets too) they give out voucher for fancier restos.. then another tier for mid-tier phones. and for the lower tier phones it would be like a free ice cream at dairy queen or something.
well my family uses samsung phones mainly. and I also have a few samsung tablet. long story short, each day i would have an excess of 5+ vouchers to trade in (and many of these you can take away, it’s not always limited to dine in)
suffice to say that i think for about 2+ years Samsung helped me save a lot on dining out costs. it was really fun. too bad around the time Galaxy note 8 came out (the last samsung flagship i ever bought), they slowly started to give out less and less vouchers. oh well, it was fun white it lasted!
I believe abortion is wrong. Can you change my mind?
My friend’s grandma gave birth to 10 children during her life time. Six of them grew to adults. Two of them died when they were toddlers. Another two babies were killed by drowning in a basin, as soon as they were born, by the parents, who were too poor to feed them.
My friend said ‘Grandma and grandpa had often murmured, ‘Sorry… Sorry…’ with tears, when they recalled it. They blamed themselves all their lives. They had no choice. No enough food for all the family. They killed the babies by their own hands, instead of letting them starve, to die slowly, to save the food for their elder children to survive.’
It was a situation you would face as a parent if you were born at that time, in a poor village, if you didn’t have enough sunshine or rain to harvest your crops in a certain year. In fact, at that time, it was not a rare case at all. The ones you killed were not fetuses, but actual humans who could already breathe and cry. You were no doubt a murderer. But no matter how guilt-ridden you felt murderering your newborn angels, you must move on, because you must take full responsibility to feed your other children, otherwise they wouldn’t survive either. That’s why in a time like that, the babies killed by their own parents were not considered ‘murdered’, neither legally nor morally. It was pretty much accepted by society, because people didn’t have better options.
Morals, values, cultures… all depend on our ability to survive. There is no absolute right or wrong, good or bad, virtue or sin. ‘Should we consider a fetus a living human?’ ‘Is abortion wrong?’ ‘Should we forbid eating animal meat?’ ‘Is President Lincoln a racist?’ All discussions require a context. We can’t give an absolute yes or no without considering the backgrounds and the stages of development. Morality is relative, specific, and constantly changing.
When we talk about abortion, we need to talk about the alternatives when you don’t abort. Do common people have easy access to birth control? Have we built up a single mother/father friendly social environment (employment, welfare, social pressure etc)? Do we have social support for poor families? Has our society developed to a stage that everybody is covered by a safety net? What’s the solution when a woman is in a bodily condition which makes it highly risky to give birth? What about a pregnancy caused by rape?…
There is no ‘best’ social system. We have to consider the current stage of development we are in, to balance the different interests and conflicts of different individuals and social groups, to keep on communicating and compromising, to keep on experimenting to find a relatively ‘not bad’ one. I think that’s our human’s reality.
(This is a translation of my another answer in Japanese to a similar question. Welcome to correct my English and discuss about this topic. Thank you.
Young Men Are Going To Revolt…
This is NOT what you think it is. It is a in-depth study of the nature of war, collapse and change. Very good. Really worth your time to watch.
But, in all seriousness, who we think is in control… ain’t. Someone or something, else is “pulling the strings”, and who or whatever they are… and I am not saying they are anyone non-human… but they actually are deluded amateurs.
First up, we see that the “president” is a figurehead. He has no ability, and is cognitive – lacking. In fact, I have seen “special needs” people with more ability than what he displayed on camera.
It was a disaster; a true and real “shit show”.
We also see “fake” presidents running around with fake masks, and earbuds. Not to mention a legion of “handlers” that make sure that he is “on point”. These “fake president Biden’s” never make any mistakes, stutter, or go irrational like the real (non-functional) president does.
So someone is running things. But who?
A unelected cabal? Or, just the “court hanger’s on” that orbit the office of the presidency? I tend to believe the later, and the rulings, the regulations and laws suggest trivial matters of political importance elevated to national discourse, while the serious issues of national concern are ignored.
Such as this…
snippet
As opposed to this…
CPI
I am not picking on one measure or the other, just making a very generalized statement that the priority sheet for the Federal Government is way, way out of wack. Special interest niche matters become national priorities, while real national emergencies are covered up, and ignored.
Que an Oliver Anthony tune here.
And with this all being the case 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 5. Meaning, of course, that things are not adding up in the official narrative basket.
Oh, depending on what will happen, we will either get a war of distraction, more of the same (Weekend at Bernie’s) …
Fun-loving salesmen Richard (Jonathan Silverman) and Larry (Andrew McCarthy) are invited by their boss, Bernie (Terry Kiser), to stay the weekend at his posh beach house. Little do they know that Bernie is the perpetrator of a fraud they've uncovered and is arranging to have them killed. When the plan backfires and Bernie is killed instead, the buddies decide not to let a little death spoil their vacation. They pretend Bernie is still alive, leading to hijinks and corpse desecration galore.
weekend
… or a full-on clown show (Idiocracity).
trump
Sigh.
Post-Debate Reaction: The Most TERRIFYING Part of the CNN Presidential Debate
Thai Stuffed Omelets
Thai stuffed omlette
Yield: 2 omelets
Ingredients
1/2 cup ground pork
2 tablespoons chopped green beans
1 tablespoon chopped onion
1 tablespoon diced cooked carrots
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
2 to 3 drops Maggi sauce
4 eggs
1 teaspoon milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon MSG (Accent)
Pepper
Instructions
In wok or saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons oil.
Add pork, garlic salt and MSG. Stir fry for 3 minutes.
Add green beans, onions and carrots, tossing lightly.
Add sugar, Maggi sauce and dash of pepper.
Remove from heat and pour into a bowl.
Pour enough oil into skillet to cover bottom.
Lightly beat eggs with milk. Pour in 1/2 the egg mixture and spread evenly.
Add 1/2 of pork mixture.
Fold over 1/2 of the omelet to cover the pork mixture.
Here’s some of my latest AI generated art. Chinese girls and tigers on a clipper ship. Oh, yeah, I’m still playing around with this.
I find it fun and enjoyable.
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(3)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(4)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(4)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(3)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(2)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(3)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(7)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(7)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(7)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(7)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(6)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(6)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(6)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(6)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(5)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(5)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(4)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(5)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(4)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(3)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(4)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(4)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(3)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(2)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(3)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(3)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(2)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(1)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(2)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(2)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(3)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(2)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(1)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(2)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(2)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(1)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(1)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(1)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2
Now, I am trying a art plug-in filter…
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(14)
Which, of course, by nature… naturally tends to undress them.
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(15)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(14)
Maybe I should try a Greek mythology version.
Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(13)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(15)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(14)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(13)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(12)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(14)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(13)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(12)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 1(11)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 0(13)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(12)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(11)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(11)Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 2(10)
Here’s where I swapped out some Chinese ladies for some Vietnamese ladies…
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And this picture is my daily favorite. I really love the curious background.
@Default Create a anatomicallyaccurate photo realistic Baroques 3(12)
Today…
Was Trump right when he said the debate was rigged?
Yes, it was. In the sense that CNN organized the debate in such a way that they thought their set-up would help Biden come across better. They were also betting on the mic-off rules startling Trump and possibly causing a meltdown…
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The problem? CNN and many in more liberal spheres — myself included — have fallen for a trap. As Tony Montana used to say, “Never get high on your own supply!” They bought into the fairy tale of Trump, the raving, ranting madman. Versus calm, collected, has-his-wits-about-him Biden. Biden, who since 2020 only does well on strictly scripted performances. With the world hyperfocused on the issue of Biden’s age and frailty, all Trump needed to do was appear “presidential”.
And CNN helped him do it by enforcing strict time limits on questions. Trump kept his cool, spoke clearly and relatively coherently. And Biden, without an earpiece, autocue or script? Bombed. CNN had expected Trump, instead, to bomb. They forgot he always talks shit confidently on the fly — it’s his biggest selling point. The debate was designed to cause Trump to lose his shit, to become frustrated and angry. To shout and try to disrupt Biden’s answers, to act aggressive and nasty, much like Trump did in the 2020 presidential debate which he came out of looking badly.
And then… he didn’t. Faced with a whispering, frail Biden frequently losing his train of thought, Trump must have known from the very first minute that this was his night. That the stage was his, and that victory was all-but certain. Truth matters little when it’s a faint, confused whisper… and lies, presented with gusto, carry the night. Instead of attacking Biden on a personal level, Trump at times almost seemed to pity his opponent… he felt no need to be vicious, because the debate was the verbal equivalent of Mike Tyson fighting a sweet old grandpa.
What psychological tricks and hacks are useful to know?
If you haven’t slept well, tell your brain “I slept well”. You will feel fresh. It works like miracle.
Want to defeat a narcissist who insults you? Don’t react. Just ignore him completely in front of others. It will hurt his image and he will stop poking you.
Want to know if someone is attentive or not? Repeat your sentence with a slight change in it. If he is listening either his facial expression will change or he will point out and question the part.
Want to know a person is lying to fit in a group? Just watch his eyes when he talks, if his eyes seeks validation from others for what he said, then he is pretending. A liar /pretender always seeks validation for his talks to fit in the group.
Giving a presentation ? Always bring a bottle of water to the stage. When you can’t remember what to say, take a drink. Nobody will know the difference.
Build good relationships: Harvard University studied adults for almost 70 years and concluded that nothing leads to prosperity and healthy life as good relationships.
Avoid getting roasted. If you think that someone is going to talk badly about you in a professional setting, sit next to that person. It is much harder to speak poorly of someone who’s in close proximity to you, so they’ll probably take it easy.
Stop reacting: You lost your wallet? Had a terrible breakup? Working hard but no appreciation? Lost your job? Stop reacting in such situations. Don’t expect recognition for your efforts. Think twice, act wise!
30-days challenge: Want to kill a habit? Start a 30 days challenge and you will see the change.
Relationship Advice: Be with someone who gives you the same feeling as when you see your food coming at restaurant.
Biggest brain damaging habits:
No breakfast.
Over-reacting.
Smoking.
High sugar consumption.
Air pollution.
Sleep deprivation.
Head covered while sleeping.
Working your brain during illness.
Lacking in stimulation thoughts.
Talking rarely.
Never tell anyone 3 things:
Your Love life.
Income.
Your next big move.
Exercise: 20 push ups, 15 squats, 50 jumping jacks, 30 crunches! repeat 3 times = burn 100 kilo calories.
Inception.
This one’s my favourite. If you want to start a thought in someone’s mind, ask them to not think of that idea at all. For example I tell you NOT to think about DIAMONDS.
What are you thinking of? 🙂
Democrats In “ALL OUT PANIC” After Biden’s Debate Performance
The clips are so disturbing. This guy is “leading the country”?
FAKE “Joe Biden” Is Back! One Day After Dismal Debate with Trump; FAKE “Joe” Wearing Silicone Mask put on campaign trail
A FAKE “Joe Biden” is back and on the campaign trail, committing willful felony, criminal fraud against the American People and criminal Impersonation of the President of the United States.
The latest fake – this one with Hazel colored eyes instead of Biden’s blue eyes – appeared at a Campaign Rally. His silicone mask appeared to be melting or drooping near his eye brows, and coming unglued out of his ears!
The sloppy impersonation is designed to commit willful fraud upon the American people; to make them think they have an energetic and competent President, when the reality is they don’t.
Below is video from the campaign rally just one day after joe mumbled his way through the first televised debate with Donald Trump. No rational person can avoid seeing this is an impersonator. No rational person can avoid seeing the silicone mask sliding down where “Biden’s” eye brows are:
Fake Biden Eye brows
Or around his other eye, the silicone mask literally DETACHING around the eye socket near the nose:
Fake Biden Right Eye Mask Detaching
No rational person can avoid seeing this fake’s HAZEL-COLORED eyes instead of Joe Biden’s Blue colored eyes:
Fake Biden Hazel Eyes Not Blue
No rational person can avoid seeing the tabs in the center of “Biden’s” ear canal, drooping out from sweat or failing glue.
FAKE Biden ear tab
What you are about to see is willful, criminal, impersonation for the purpose of fraud. The Biden Campaign is committing it. The United States Secret Service (protecting this fraud) is committing it. The Democrat Party is committing it.
People are already wondering aloud if Joe Biden has Brown Eyes, so let me lay this diversion nonsense to rest, right now. Below is a photo of Barack Obama and Joe Biden, in the White House, taken by ABC News and being fed into my website from the ABC News Server:
obama biden ap ps 200114 hpMain
The direct Link to this image on the ABC News server is:
The diversion tactic of “I think I remember . . . . . brown eyes . . . .” is not going to work and is not going to be tolerated here. Joe Biden has BLUE eyes. The guy at his campaign rally had Hazel Eyes. Period. Full stop.
Zelenski Changes His Peace Plan
Zelenski’s ‘peace summit’ in Switzerland had failed:
The reviews of Zelenski’s latest show ain’t positive:
…
The summit served warmed up bullshit without any significant nutritional value. The most important points weren’t even discussed:
…
The war will continue until the complete destruction of the Ukrainian forces can no longer be ignored.
The last point may have come earlier than anticipated.
On June 27 Zelenski had changed tact (machine translation):
During a speech in Brussels, the president said that Ukraine wants to start negotiations on ending the war in the near future.“Ukraine does not want to prolong the war, we do not want it to last for years. We need to put a settlement plan on the table within a few months, ” he said.
Zelensky said that in the near future it is planned to develop a plan for the second world summit.
On June 28 he gave more details (machine translation):
President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Ukraine will present its detailed peace plan “this year”.The President announced this during a press conference in Kyiv.
“It is very important for us to show an end-of-war plan that will be supported by the majority of the world. This is the diplomatic path that we are working on. Not everything depends on us, our production of technology, drones, and artillery is really increasing, because we need to be strong on the battlefield. Because Russia understands nothing but force. These are two parallel processes: be strong and develop a detailed, clear plan, and it will be ready this year, ” Zelensky said.
…
Note that the Ukrainian peace plan has long been presented by Zelensky. It implies the withdrawal of Russian troops to the borders. However, many countries of the world (especially representatives of the “global South”) consider it unrealistic.
In other words, a new plan will probably be prepared.
Earlier Russia’s President Putin had announced his conditions for a permanent peace agreement. How many of them will Zelenski accept within his new ‘peace plan’?
Yesterday’s assault by the Democratic National Council on the Joe Biden campaign has failed.
Thursday night, as soon as the Trump-Biden debate had started, anonymous DNC officials contacted their usual ‘liberal media’ contacts and denounced Biden’s performance. Even those media, like CNN and MSNBC, who have for years denied the obvious problems Biden has had, jumped onto the train. Biden, they said, should retreat.
The New York Times mobilized a slew of its opinion writers to convey the message:
But Joe Biden’s wife, Dr. Jill Biden, resisted the move:
President Biden knew immediately after stepping off the stage in Atlanta on Thursday night that the debate had gone wrong. In those first stricken moments after a raspy, rambling and at times incoherent performance, he turned to his wife, Jill Biden.
…
The first lady’s message to him was clear: They’d been counted out before, she was all in, and he — they — would stay in the race. Her thinking, according to people close to her, was that it was a bad night. And bad nights end.
…
So Dr. Biden spent the 24 hours after the debate putting her decades as a political spouse to the test, projecting confidence and normalcy while effusively praising her husband.
Pushed along by his wife Joe Biden did not step back. The DNC assault on his campaign had failed.
Late last night former President Barack Obama, likely the man behind the ‘oust Biden’ campaign, publicly through the towel.
Barack Obama @BarackObama – 18:36 UTC · Jun 28, 2024Bad debate nights happen. Trust me, I know. But this election is still a choice between someone who has fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself. Between someone who tells the truth; who knows right from wrong and will give it to the American people straight — and someone who lies through his teeth for his own benefit. Last night didn’t change that, and it’s why so much is at stake in November. http://joebiden.com
Gleen Greenwald commented on Obama’s intervention:
Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald – 19:17 UTC · Jun 28, 2024Once the media starts to realize that they’re not going to get Biden out of the race, they’re all going to quickly retreat from the past 24 hours and get back on board.
Obama is directing them to do that and giving them the script to use:
The campaign to oust Biden has failed, but the damage is done.
Even pro-Biden voters will, from now on, watch diligently to find the flaws in the next Biden speech or debate.
Russian Note To The U.S.: Your Drones Are Now Targets
A new statement by the Russian Defense Ministry says:
The Russian Defence Ministry noted the increased intensity of U.S. strategic unmanned aerial vehicles over the Black Sea waters, which are conducting reconnaissance and targeting high-precision weapons supplied to the Armed Forces of Ukraine by Western states to launch strikes at Russian facilities.This demonstrates the increasing involvement of the United States and NATO countries in the Ukrainian conflict on the side of the Kiev regime.
Such flights increase the possibility of air incidents involving the Russian Aerospace Forces’ aircraft, increasing the risk of a direct confrontation between the alliance and the Russian Federation.
The NATO countries will be responsible for this.
The Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation Andrei Belousov has instructed the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces to make proposals on measures for rapid response to provocations.
NATO reconnaissance and radio relay drones were regularly patrolling over the Black Sea before and during recent ‘Ukrainian’ attacks with long reaching, western delivered weapons on Crimea. This was also case during the recent release of cluster ammunition over a popular beach near Sevastopol which has caused several civilian death and wounded some 100+ people.
While the drones are nominally flying in neural airspace they are obviously used for attacks on Russia assets in Crimea. That makes them, arguably, legitimate targets for Russian air defenses. Russia had so far held back at destroying them. This will now change.
NATO or the U.S. may well regard such attacks on their ‘neutral’ forces as hostile. Some will press for retribution. But I am convinced that mere attacks on drones will not be seen as sufficient reason to launch World War III.
There are two species which I’d say are dangerous to humans. The first is the most obvious — the Komodo dragon. The world’s largest lizard has a mouthful of venomous knives. (Real venom — not, as was previously believed, just bacteria). Komodo dragons can and have eaten people. In captivity, habituated to handling, they are oddly sweet-tempered, though. But still, venom — it causes a rapid drop in blood pressure, leading to shock. Shock makes you easy to catch.
The second contender is the crocodile monitor, notable not for its size, but for the fact that it doesn’t have a mouthful of knives — it has a mouthful of razor blades. It can do so much damage with a nip, it could maim a human with barely an effort.
(Don’t do this):Because this teeny tiny croc monitor hatchling did this:
main qimg 7fc8327b7be5576d18a02e2adfc3eb9f lq
Even an accidental nip could result in nerve damage.
In general, most other monitors aren’t particularly dangerous. Large ones could give a nasty bite, and the venom may make the person bleed a lot and be a bit woozy, but no one’s going to die or be maimed. A monitor’s tail-whip could leave some good bruises, or break a finger. That’s about it. Many monitors are too small to do any real damage.
The Younger Generation is Completely Over It ….
What’s the weirdest question you’ve been asked when crossing an international border?
Not really a weird question, but a weird interaction:
Necessary background to the story: When I was a university president, I was frequently called upon to be on accreditation teams that went to other university campuses to do a first-hand accreditation review. One time, I was invited to go to Germany because a US university in my region had a major branch campus in Germany where they offered an MBA program. Such an event rarely happens, so I was pleased with that opportunity to visit, however briefly, another country — you get an international trip, but you have to work much harder because they keep those teams small.
Story: After we landed in Frankfurt, the immigration officer at the counter asked me what the purpose of my visit was (it was just a three-day trip). I said, “I am here as part of an MBA visiting team.”
His face expressed considerable surprise, and he said, “Really?” with a skeptical smile on his face. While I was born in India, I had lived in the US for about 35 years by that time (50+ years now); I have brown skin and a British-tinged Indian accent. His question, in turn, took me by surprise because I kind of fit the visual stereotype of an academic guy. Why did he appear not to believe me? I have had a US passport since the early 1980s, so that couldn’t have been an issue.
So, I repeated that I was coming to Germany for a three-day stay as part of an MBA visiting team, saying that the other members of the team had probably arrived a few hours earlier.
Again, skepticism.
I just had to ask: “Why are you so surprised?” He certainly wasn’t required to answer, but he did: “Because you don’t look like a player on an NBA team!”
He was right; I don’t. I’m 5′-8.5″, with brown skin and not athletic looking at all.
“Not an NBA visiting team; an MBA visiting team.” “I’m a university president.”
“Oh, MBA. Okay then.”
Stamp, stamp, “Welcome to Germany!”
Russia Humiliates NATO in Conventional War | Andrei Martyanov
What secret did you learn about your neighbor that made your jaw drop?
Not exactly “a secret” but certainly something that wasn’t public knowledge:-
When my wife and I moved into this house near Cardiff (UK) in 2001, the next door neighbour was an older gentleman, I guessed he was in his mid/late 70s. He was always polite and pleasant, totally independent and looked after himself, his home and his garden very well. We’d see him every morning, always smartly attired in jacket and tie (and his flat cap) driving down to the local shops for a pint of milk and newspaper and, if either of us was outside, we always got a wave and a smile as he passed.
The only things he couldn’t manage were computer issues on his PC. So, very occasionally, he would ask if I could “pop around” and sort something out for him. It was usually something simple which could be fixed by clearing cache, or removing some troublesome advertising or similar, but he was inevitably very apologetic about “troubling you” or “wasting your time”.
He didn’t talk about his past much at first, but eventually a few facts emerged: He’d served in the war (1939–1945); he’d climbed the Himalayas in the 1960s (I still have a few of his photographs from when I converted his old 35 mm colour slides to digital); he’d lived ‘down under’ and worked for the Australian Government for a long time and he had even built his own house there by hand. All of which was quite fascinating to me, but he would rarely go into any detail, and most certainly not about his wartime history.
On one occasion he asked for “some help using a website”. So I went to his house and helped him book a Battlefield Tour as part of a regimental reunion. At this point a few details slipped out. This quiet, unassuming old chap had been one of the pioneers of what is now known as Special Forces, and he was with a group of Commandos behind the enemy lines on D-Day: “We were there to stir-up some trouble, and distract attention from the Normandy Beaches”. Then, “I don’t like to think of it much, because I lost so many of my friends at that time….”, a pause, and then, “Of course, getting myself shot isn’t a particularly pleasant memory either” (chuckles).
It turns out that only he and one other survived from his unit, with both of them injured. But they managed to link up with the Allied forces and he was evacuated to the UK. “Do you know where they sent me when I landed in Southampton from the hospital ship?”, he asked, and went on to describe how the wounded were just loaded, apparently almost randomly, to various hospitals around the country. “They sent me to Llandough Hospital (Cardiff), the very same hospital I’d been born in! How about that?”
After that opening, I did eventually get a few more stories from him (very, very occasionally) and I was privileged to see some of his documents and awards. But it was really only because of the Battlefield Tour’s difficult customer interface that I discovered I was living next door to a very brave man, a bona fide war hero.
Sadly his health deteriorated badly a few years later and he was hospitalised where he died within a couple of weeks of being admitted . . . . in the very same ward of the very same hospital he’d been evacuated to in 1944.
What is the most badass thing your parent has ever done?
One day my dad went out to the mailbox and saw it had been vandalized. It was crushed like it had been hit with a hammer or a bat. Without a word, he went into town and bought a new one and set it up. Two days later he went out, and it was crushed again. This time he got mad…
He pulled the wooden post out of the ground, dug a post hole and put a ten foot pipe into it with four feet above ground and six below. He poured concrete into the pipe. He took shelf paper that looked like wood grain and wrapped it around the pipe, so that from a distance it looked like a wooden post. He bought two mailboxes this time…he put the smaller one into the bigger one and poured concrete into the gap between the two. He then set it up on the post. The thing was rock solid.
That night, we heard a loud crash. Dad grabbed his shotgun and headed to the mailbox. Turns out a couple bullies that hated my guts had taken the bat to the mailbox as they were driving by, and about broke one of their wrists. The driver decided to take and push the mailbox over using his bumper of his Jeep. When that didn’t work, he backed up and rammed it, embedding the post into his engine.
Dad comes out of the darkness and starts shooting the tires with the shotgun. The boys are cussing and protesting, when one of them says his dad will kick my dad’s butt. Dad marches them up to the house and calmly tells him to CALL his dad.
The boy’s dad arrives and the first thing he sees is the Jeep. He starts cussing, but stops when Dad trots the two boys out and tells him what happened. Dad delivers an ultimatum … he can either call the cops and the boys will get arrested, or they can repair any damage to the mailbox, reimburse him for the mailboxes destroyed, and keep their mouth shut to the cops about what happened. They decided to do the latter.
As they are leaving, Dad says, “If you think I’m a bastard to deal with, you should try my son. He’s been nice to you so far … but he’s about to lay you low.”
To this day, when they see me coming, they avert their eyes and alter their path, even though in truth I’m pretty harmless.
The Dark Side of DARPA | The Human Cost of Technological Supremacy
Is China afraid of the United States?
Now it is not afraid at all, almost all Chinese people are waiting to see the jokes of the United States.
The level of Chinese fear of Americans has changed less and less over time, in fact, Chinese children born after 2005 have come to view the United States as garbage.
On the Chinese Internet, there is a saying that “Dignity is only above the edge of the sword, and truth is only within the range of the missiles”
The Chinese often refer to the Dongfeng missile as “Truth”.
It should be stated here that it is not that the Chinese advocate violence, on the contrary, the Chinese love peace, and the above statement is that the Chinese have drawn a conclusion from historical experience: in negotiating with the Americans, force is more effective than anything else.
I was born in the late nineties, and when I was in middle school and they were showing “Growing Pains” on TV, American was confident and brave and adventurous. When it comes to the United States, everyone thinks that the United States is a beacon for the world.
Later, when the United States invaded Afghanistan and defeated the Afghan army in a short time, I was shocked by the high-tech military equipment displayed.
Back then, Liu Cixin (author of Three-Body) wrote a short story “Full Band Blocking Interference”.
The content of the short story is that the United States and NATO troops invaded China, the PLA and NATO troops fought, China suffered extremely heavy casualties, and finally prepared to die with the NATO army, the United States in order to prevent too much loss before announcing a truce.
The Chinese were very afraid of the United States.
In 2016, when the Chinese Navy and the US Navy faced off in the South China Sea and the US fleet fled, the Chinese suddenly found out that the US military was not as strong as they had thought.
In the following years, the number and combat effectiveness of Chinese warships increased rapidly, and when the 055 warship appeared, the Chinese basically did not fear the United States.
When Chinese Internet users learned that the US military was riddled with drugs and that there were transgender generals, most Chinese took the US as a joke.
Until recently, the United States and the Houthis were fighting so hard. Now most Chinese (especially young Chinese) have come to regard the US military as garbage.
With the popularization of the Internet, Chinese people know the current situation of the internal division of American society, all kinds of stores will be robbed, and the drug problem is very serious. All Chinese are surprised that they have been deceived by the US media for more than a decade.
More than a decade ago, there was a magazine in China called “Yilin”, which advertised that the United States was paradise on earth. It said that Americans could give up building highways to protect the environment, and that Americans would not lock their doors at night because there were no thieves in the United States. Americans’ morals are the highest in the world. No one Fare evasion on the New York subway.The security in the United States is very good, even if the wallet is left in the restaurant for more than 24 hours, no one will steal it, and the clerk will personally contact the owner.
Because of this magazine, the Chinese people really thought that the Americans were just like the description in the magazine, the Chinese people kept working hard, dreaming that one day they could do as well as the United States, and decades later, China basically realized the appearance described in the magazine, and then the Chinese people suddenly found that they had been deceived by the magazine for decades
Why do most Chinese kids now think America is trash?
Because they learned through TIKTOK and YOUTUBE that the United States launched wars against other countries, such as the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan, during which the US military randomly killed Afghan civilians. This behavior is completely different from what they see in Hollywood superhero movies.
At the same time, we learn that Americans sacrifice the majority for the benefit of the few in the United States, such as the drug epidemic, the gun epidemic, the supermarket robbery.
At the same time, the Chinese also learned that some states in the United States can even privately let students undergo sex reassignment surgery without parental consent. Teacher secretly brainwashed Male students’ You’re a girl ‘
In fact, most people in China think like American Puritans, and some of the actions of American politicians are contrary to universal values.
Thirty years ago, firearms were readily available in China, and although drugs were strictly controlled, many people substituted cough syrup for drugs. Thirty years ago, large-scale battles often took place in rural areas of Guangdong, often involving hundreds of people. Weapons are automatic gun or semi-automatic gun, and even artillery and explosives are found in the village. Three decades ago, walking the streets of China was a common prospect of being mugged, and women living alone feared being murdered.
Later, the government cracked down on crime and shot countless criminals. Law enforcement was so strict that people could be sentenced to death for theft. This process lasted about five years.
The Chinese society we see today is very harmonious and safe, the result of the government’s vigorous reforms three decades ago.
Tucker Reacts to Trump vs. Biden Debate During Sydney, Australia Speech
Please sit and bear with me as you read this. In an immense amount of time from now. Not millions of years or billions of years from now. But two times ten to the power 36 amount of years. That’s a two undecillion years or 2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years. A point when the stars will shine no more. The new dark ages of the universe.During the new dark ages, the final black holes evaporate, the last of the iron stars float in the void, the galaxies have all fallen apart, and proton decay threatens to dissolve the universe into elemental particles.Now there are just a mere four thousand humans left, but humanity’s life span is on the order of undecillion years. At this point humans age normally until our twenties, and then that’s it. Because of proton decay we must take quantum reinforcement showers to keep our atoms from decaying. This is the only form of death humanity now knows.Despite the size of the universe and against the probability of the Drake equation, humanity discovered eons ago that we were the only intelligent life. By this point there are now only two other forms of known life. Both made by human hands. Cryptales, which are creatures that evolved from living spaceships that now roam freely about the universe sucking up energy wherever they can find it, and the AbSent, a nasty group of artificially intelligent life that evolved from humanity’s attempt to create a sentient slave species.So, Gisoo was the last human to be born, and she had just discovered a small field of intact rocky bodies. This is odd because rocky bodies are rare. She was also in command of a bio-mechanized living ship called the Dream Vision that uses a captured supermassive black hole as its main power source.
“Gisoo, there are about two hundred metric tons of proton stable matter in the boulder field.”
“Dream Vision, prepare for capture.” Gisoo ran down the corridor towards the main control center.
“Gisoo, I’m detecting artificial intelligence.”
“AbSent! Damn I hate the AbSent!” Gisoo entered the main control center as the two intersecting doors rolled open.
“Gisoo, please advise a course of action.”
“We’re going to use the engine’s gravity-well and try to hold them at the event horizon for now. I don’t want to lose that much formed matter.”
“Starting gravity-well capture. Graviton shielding being opened. Super massive black hole exposure should occur soon.”
“Keep the lateral quantum sensors on the AbSent. I don’t want them to board us.”
“Yes, Gisoo.”
“Dream Vision, watch the Hawking radiation levels. We can’t afford to lose too much and I’m already seeing a spike.”
“Gisoo, AbSent has launched a nanite swarm.”
“Rip them apart proton by proton Dream Vision!”
“Starting cascading nuclear decay.” The nanite swarm dissolved into subatomic particles as Dream Vision blasted them with a decaying quantum nuclear wave.
“Dream Vision, can you confirm the boulder field has smeared across the event horizon?”
“Confirmed. We’ve successfully captured the boulder field, along with remaining AbSent.”
“Close up the graviton shielding, and scan for any remaining AbSent in the area. Once clear prepare for ether leap.”
“Gisoo, what is the final destination for the ether leap?”
“Head for Panagiotis the Elder at the boundary edge of the Universe. He wanted to see me in person according to his last transmission.”
Now two undecillion years is just enough time for the randomness of the quantum state to make something odd happen. This odd thing was the creation of what humanity called the ether. The ether was not some form of a hyperspace or dimensional rift, but a stable pocket universe intersecting with our own. No exotic particles were known to naturally leak out from the ether. Only the non-usable Kirsyn particles were emitted when black holes travelled through it. This is because the graviton shielding didn’t work normally in the ether, and Hawking radiation would leak out. Crossing over and through didn’t require as much energy as one would think, but then again no one understood the ether because its physics was unlike anything we understood. For all people knew the ether didn’t exist and yet it did. It had no dimensions or time-space. You were in the ether, but not at all in the ether either. All we knew is that it was a recent addition to the multiverse that developed before the current age. It made space travel easy along with interstellar communications. A spaceship would blink out from existence from one point in our universe and then pop into existence at its destination. The same with message beacons.
Now Gisoo was about to see an old friend at the actual boundary edge of the universe. The boundary edge was like the other side of a black hole’s event horizon, in that it was the very end of the actual universe’s expansion point.
They had arrived at a point along the boundary edge. As Dream Vision was coming into a docking position, in the far distance Gisoo could see the dark forms of Cryptales dotting the boundary edge. Dream Vision docked with the older Dragonsoul and Gisoo disembarked. The Dragonsoul had a musty smell to it as Gisoo walked about its cluttered corridors looking for Panagiotis the Elder, the oldest human alive.
“Elder! Where are you Elder?!”
Gismo heard a raspy voice call out to her. “Gisoo, is that you?”
After walking through the mess, she came upon a man tinkering with various pieces of ancient equipment.
“You wanted to see me.”
“Oh. Yes. That’s right. Something of great importance has come up.” The man got up from his seat.
“Did you finally figure out what’s on the other side of the boundary edge?” Gisoo picked up a piece of old machinery and looked at it.
“No, my dear. If only I could discover what lies on the other side. But it has only given me alas crumbs of subatomic particles randomly appearing on our side. What’s ever on the other side must be far larger than our current universe.” The man sighed.
Gisoo leaned on a piece of equipment. “Okay old man, what do you want to tell me?”
Sitting down again, he said, “Giles the Monk has finally solved the Rebirth Equation.”
Gisoo stood up and turned to the Elder. Her eyes became wide with surprise. “Impossible! That equation was unsolvable!”
“He did it. It took him nine quintillion years. Now the Tao Emperor has already constructed the device to use the equation. He plans to make a universe of everlasting light from stars. Endless power.”
“That’s insane. He would need a tremendous energy source for that equation. Where’s the Tao Emperor getting so much power?”
“The Obsidian Grip.”
“No way! Konishi hid it deep in the ether.”
“It’s true Konishi feared someday the Emperor would try to use the Obsidian Grip and the single largest supermassive black hole of the entire universe for some evil purpose. So, she figured out how to stop mid-leap in the ether. The only human to do so. No one else has ever tried since.”
This wasn’t the first time Panagiotis the Elder had asked Gisoo to go out on some adventure to fetch an ancient piece of technology. She had been doing this work since she was a teen. She wasn’t even six billion yet, and she had seen more of the known universe than the rest of humanity. Except for a few souls like the Elder and Gisoo, most of the four thousand humans all lived in a single floating colony powered by gathered decaying black holes. Even with graviton shielding a black hole would still leak the occasional Hawking particle.
Now the Tao Emperor had gathered a vast amount of technological and human knowledge to the point humanity considered him transcendent. He was responsible for the construction of the great colony ship, the Auku. So, Gisoo knew the stakes were high. The Emperor would use all he had to search the Ether so he could restart the stars again. Gathering energy from randomly appearing and disappearing Quantum Bubble Universes (QBUs or pocket universes) wasn’t enough power for him.
Gisoo picked up a metal part and began to twirl it around like a baton. “So, let’s say I go out into the Ether and search for the Obsidian Grip. Then what?”
“Well, you’d bring it back here.”
“Assuming I find it, and assuming the supermassive black hole hasn’t dissipated, why would I give you the most powerful known ship of all time?”
“Because I plan to use it to open a stable wormhole to the other side of the boundary edge.”
“You’re joking right?! Worm hole technology is ancient and unreliable. Humans couldn’t get them to work right long ago, and no one today would bother with it. What makes you think a wormhole can punch through the boundary edge to the other side?”
“For the last half a billion years I’ve been reworking Zamafuthi’s math for worm hole prospects. All I need is another few million years, and I know we can get through.”
“And then what? What will we find there?”
“A whole new universe to explore.”
Gisoo was still twirling the metal part about. “That’s a big assumption on your part.”
“Based on billions of years of observations that comes to us from the other side.”
She tossed the part into a bin and Gisoo began to leave the Elder. “Even if we crossed over, we don’t even know the physics on the other side. We all could die in an instant. I’ll tell you my decision if I find the Obsidian Grip.”
“Gisoo, come back here, impetuous brat! This is the single most important mission of all time! You can’t let the Tao Emperor have the Obsidian Grip to reignite the universe! There could be incalculable damage if he built the device wrong or Giles the Monk made a simple math error!”
Gisoo knew she could find the Obsidian Grip in the Ether. She had traveled through the Ether so much that she almost understood it. Finding the Obsidian Grip had an immense appeal to her. Giving it away to either the Tao Emperor or the Elder wasn’t even a consideration. She was more enthralled with having that much power in her hands. The rest of humanity would finally have to pay attention to her. No longer to be thought of as a by-product of an unknown union forced upon the people. For you see Gisoo was raised by all of humanity.
What you need to understand is that when creatures live long lives, they reproduce very little, and the same was true for humanity by now. For an unplanned child to come along was a social abomination. Not that people were not caring or loving, but there was plenty of social contempt for Gisoo’s existence. With a universe falling apart power was scarce and another human could disturb the balance. Therefore, Gisoo was the last human born. All of humanity swore never to have any more and made sure of that through their science and technology. The problem was Gisoo never knew her parents. When she was young, she imagined about her parents, but gave up all those dreams when she became a teen.
Now the Tao Emperor was the second to last child born. Never far from Gisoo’s thoughts was that the guy who was born 63 sextillion years before her was now worshiped, while society saw her as a pariah. It blew her mind that the remnants of humanity would let some kid dominate over them like he was the ultimate human.
Now while in an ordinary part of space Gisoo was taking a quantum reinforcement shower. Dream Vision was going to tell her about some abnormal Cryptale behavior.
“What do you mean a cluster of Cryptales? There should be none here.”
“Gisoo, there’s at least twenty Cryptales in a spherical pattern two hundred parsecs laterally.”
“That makes no sense. What are the scanners showing?”
“The presence of Kirsyn particles.”
“There must be a supermassive black hole in the Ether. How much?”
“The levels are at the point where QBUs may form.”
“No way! It must be the Obsidian Grip. That’s the only thing with a black hole big enough to create QBUs from Kirsyn particles.”
Gisoo could hardly contain herself. By sheer luck she had stumbled across the Obsidian Grip in just a million years of traveling the known universe in a random search pattern. She knew the Tao Emperor was still out there looking for it, but it could easily take him another billion years before they came across it. The bigger problem was trying to figure out how to get into the Ether and stop at the Obsidian Grip’s position. The math equation needed was straightforward as she understood it. The issue was reconfiguring the drive to work with the math. It’s one thing to have math, and it’s another thing to make it work. This was complex physical engineering. Physical engineering wasn’t her best subject, but she had no choice but take the time if she wanted to get to the Obsidian Grip before anyone else. The whole reconfiguration would take Gisoo a mere 12 thousand years to complete.
She hit the ether controls. “By Faythe’s ghost I did it! It’s massive! Larger than any bio-mechanized ship I’ve ever seen! What’s the state of the supermassive black hole?”
“Undeterminable. Quantum sensors are not working.”
“Pull us into a docking position.”
The Dream Vision pulled into an open docking bay along the underbelly. The Dream Vision was a fraction of the size of the Obsidian Grip. At least forty Dream Visions could have easily docked inside. The Obsidian Grip wasn’t a bio-mechanized ship, it was designed as a living citadel for humanity not unlike Auku. It had more power than Auku could ever have. And all that power would now be under Gisoo’s command. Gisoo could be the savior of humanity.
“Sensors are working again. There’s atmosphere and normal gravity outside. I’m still trying to access the main systems, but I’m having difficulty. There appears to be a different form of coding preventing access. It’s not normal bio-mechanized coding.”
Gisoo exited the Dream Vision, and as she did, she was greeted by a woman’s voice.
“Hello, I’ve been waiting for you.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m your mother.”
“The human mothership?”
“No, silly. I’m your actual mother. I was human, but I merged my existence into this ship to keep it here. Away from the Tao Emperor.”
Standing on the landing deck, Gisoo crossed her legs together in discomfort at what she was hearing. “I have no parents! No one was my mother or father!”
“While you had no father, I’m your mother. I’m Konishi, and my womb birthed you. I had to leave you behind, so I could hide the Obsidian Grip.”
“So, you cloned me?”
“No, nothing so primitive. My womb spontaneously created you. A product of random quantum fluctuations.”
“Are you saying the universe is my father?”
“I suppose so.”
Gisoo uncrossed her legs and began to goose step about the deck. “Assuming all that you’ve said is true. Why should I not turn you over to the Tao Emperor?”
“Because I’m your mother, and I know you wouldn’t do that.”
Gisoo stopped goose stepping and then stomped her feet as hard as she could. “How could you know me?! You haven’t even been around for my entire life! You abandoned me to a bunch of people who didn’t care about me!”
“Not true. They cared enough to teach you and loved you enough to allow you to become the adult you are today. You are exactly what I knew you would be like. You remind me of myself when I was your age.”
Gisoo calmed down and sat down cross-legged on the deck. She began to trace out math formulas with her finger. “Why didn’t you just leave the Obsidian Grip and return to Auku?”
“The only way to maintain the Obsidian Grip this long in the ether was to graft myself to the ship. There was no other way to prevent a supermassive black hole this size from decaying even in the ether.”
“For all this time you’ve been using your own willpower to keep the Hawking radiation from leaking out instead of the graviton shielding?”
“Yes.”
“So now what? It’s not like I can hug a spaceship.”
“We restart again.”
“So, you want me to give you over to the Tao Emperor so he can use the Rebirth Equation and ignite the stars again?”
“No. We restart everything. So, I can hold my child in the flesh once more.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You will. Did you know I named you for the word ‘hello’ in an ancient human tongue? That was the first word I said when I found out I was pregnant with you.”
Gisoo always wondered what her name meant. There was no database that contained it or person who knew. Now that she knew she sort of thought it was peculiar. Couldn’t mom come up with something a little cooler sounding? Something like Fhaertala Inana. Now that sounded cool.
You see what Gisoo didn’t know was her name was the very word that both ended everything and began everything. One word that ended all time and restarted it. A word that allowed Konishi to nakedly expose the Obsidian Grips’ supermassive black hole to the unreality of the ether. In doing so, it set into motion something that dwarfed what the Tao Emperor wanted to do, or Panagiotis the Elder. For Konishi had both mathematically determined and mechanically built how to reset the universe’s clock, so once more she could hold her child.
Pork Riblets Simmered in Caramel Sauce
(Suon Kho | Vietnamese)
Traditionally, the riblets were grilled over charcoal to sear in the flavors before simmering. Ask a butcher to cut the ribs, as this is not an easy home project. To remove the fat, the ribs may be prepared a day ahead and refrigerated. The congealed fat can be easily lifted off the surface.
Suon Kho
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
2 pounds meaty pork spareribs, cut crosswise through the bone into 2 inch wide strips
1/3 cup minced, grated or puréed yellow onion (about 1/2 small onion)
Cut each rib strip between the bones or through the cartilage into individual riblets.
Combine the onion, sugar, pepper and 2 tablespoons of the fish sauce in a bowl. Add the riblets, cover with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight.
If necessary, adjust your broiler rack so that the ribs will cook as close to the flame as possible. Heat the broiler for 30 minutes to get it nice and hot.
While the broiler heats, take the ribs from the refrigerator and let them sit at room temperature to take the chill off. Place them on a baking sheet and broil until they’re tinged brown, about 4 to 6 minutes per side; a little charring is fine. (You’ll hear a pleasant sizzle as this happens.) Alternatively, cook the ribs over high heat on a gas or charcoal grill, which imparts deeper flavor. The point here is to sear the riblets to obtain a roastiness and intensify the overall color.
Place the riblets in a saucepan with the Caramel Sauce, the remaining 2 tablespoons of fish sauce and enough water (about 2 1/2 cups) to cover most of the riblets. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to simmer. Cover and let cook for 40 minutes; the ribs should simmer vigorously, sending steam out from under the lid.
Remove the lid and continue to simmer until the ribs are tender (you can easily pierce the meat with a fork or knife tip), about 20 to 30 minutes. If there’s cartilage, you should be able to bite through it, with a slight crunch remaining. This latter phase of cooking allows the sauce to reduce and concentrate in flavor, and deepens the color to dark reddish brown. In the end, there should be a fair amount of sauce left.
Turn off the heat, tilt the saucepan so the liquid goes to one side and use a spoon or small ladle to skim the fat from the top.
Adjust the flavors with extra fish sauce, if necessary.
Garnish with the chopped green onion and serve with lots of steamed rice.
Notes
Low fat tip: Use nonstick spray for sauté ing the vegetables, substitute reduced fat sour cream and mushroom soup, and use 1 1/2 cups broth for the topping.
I used to work in a company in Shreveport, Louisiana. The company was Poulan Weed-eater, and I was the head of the Electrical outdoor equipment group. We made electrical weed-eaters, chainsaws, lawn trimmers, hedge trimmers, and a host of other products.
It was a tough assignment.
Anyways, part of the environment was cultural. As anyone who has lived in the deep south can attest to; there are the plantation bosses, the white trash, and the black folk. And once you are in one of those niches, you are pretty much assigned a caste that you are forced to belong to.
Sure I was white, and wore a white shit with red tie, and yeah, I did get some minor perks. But the area was unforgiving, and the cultural difference from the North East (Boston) were astounding. Pure racial bullshit and I hated all of it.
Anyways…
I was a “skilled professional worker / manager”. I was permitted such perks as being able to drink a cup of coffee at my desk, and get my own parking space.
Let me tell you what the employee entrance looked like…
Every day we had to enter the plant though this gauntlet. On both side of the sidewalk were about two hundred chainsaws all raised up running at full speed. It was a “life testing” set up, and we had to walk under those dangerous spinning blades, with only a mere single wire between us and certain death.
The noise was incredible.
The danger was profound… but nothing was done.
And most of us would just walk briefly into the plant, without a second thought. But Lordy!
The noise would take me about a hour to se-shake myself up. I felt rattled from head to toe going thought that gauntlet of certain death. It was sort of like the Greek hero that had the sword of Damocles hanging over his head for eternity.
From ChatGPT…
The story of the Sword of Damocles is not actually about a Greek hero, but rather a moral anecdote that comes from classical Greek culture, specifically from the court of Dionysius II of Syracuse. Here’s a summary of the tale:
Damocles and the Sword of Damocles:
Damocles was a courtier in the court of Dionysius II, a 4th-century BCE tyrant of Syracuse in Sicily. Damocles was fond of flattering the king and often commented on how fortunate and powerful Dionysius was. Tired of Damocles' constant flattery, Dionysius offered to switch places with him for a day so that Damocles could experience firsthand the life of a ruler.
Damocles eagerly accepted the king's offer and enjoyed the lavish lifestyle, the feasts, and the attention. However, during the banquet, Dionysius arranged for a sharp sword to be suspended above Damocles' throne, hanging by a single horsehair. This was to symbolize the constant danger and pressure that comes with power and leadership. The sight of the sword hanging precariously above him caused Damocles to realize that along with wealth and power came great peril and anxiety.
Terrified by this, Damocles quickly asked to be relieved of his position and returned to his previous life as a courtier. The story serves as a moral lesson about the fragility of happiness and the ever-present dangers that accompany positions of great power and responsibility.
The "Sword of Damocles" has since become a metaphor for any situation where a perilous condition is ever-present, even if things appear to be going well on the surface.
Anyways…
Yeah. I lived that Hellish life. What Hellish life have you adapted to, when you should have run away years ago from?
Well, one good thing came out of it… The 10 am visits by the meat-pie lady. Yummy
meat pies 70 1 2048×1365
Today…!
While sorting through a deceased person’s possessions, what is the most disturbing thing you found?
Disturbing / interesting. Depends how you look at it.
My grandfather was well, a young kid’s dream. He’d had a “good” war. He was a relatively senior officer in the Royal Artillery and was an ack-ack commander in Liverpool until D-Day preparation. He landed on D-Day. Eventually. His landing craft got stuck on a sandbank on a falling tide, so they had an enjoyable few hours with a grandstand view of the action before they actually hit the beach itself. He was never on speaking terms with the Royal Navy after that. And judging by the photograph he’d taken from the bridge of the ship I can understand.
He talked about his experiences, unlike my mother’s father who’d been a Japanese POW following the fall of Singapore.
To an impressionable couple of grandchildren, it was interesting and I suppose exciting. We were still to young to see war as utterly horrendous. It was an adventure.
Anyway, he encouraged us to learn to shoot; air rifles and pistols, bows and arrows etc all at a stupidly young age (it’s quite rare in the UK. No semi automatic rifles as your 12th birthday present). So that was all fun, until a friend came over with us one day and he shot with me with a .22 and I still have the pellet in my hand 35 years later.
Grandpa finally and very suddenly died, so my brother and i helped my parents to clear the house.
He’d always been into his guns and actually had a beautiful pair of Purdey shotguns, along with the air guns, a collection of knives and knuckle dusters and a walking stick that was also a sword and a walking stick that doubled as a small gauge shotgun. We reasoned it must have been In case “Jerry tried to have another bash”. He was on good terms with the local police so all seemed relatively in order. Well they knew where to come to if they needed armed back up.
It was only when we opened his large safe hidden away behind a cupboard full of booze that we found out exactly how prepared he was.
Apart from the circa 750 rounds of ammunition, ranging from 9mm to .50 inch (a couple of which I took into school…); there were 2 sten submachine guns, a couple of service revolvers, a semi automatic pistol, a German Luger and an MP44 Schmeisser.
I must say it was really quite impressive. Firstly, that he’d managed to stuff them all in the safe and secondly that in a whisky or gin induced moment of excitement (dependent on the time of day), he’d not decided to put on a small display.
For a British person, it was unusual to find such an arsenal behind numerous bottles of de Kuyper Cherry Brandy, Advocaat, Kirsch, Pflumli and various bottles of scotch (all in itself a bit of an arsenal).
The Mean Girl Who Tormented Me In College Was Hired At My Company…And I’m Getting Her Fired!
What made you think, “You’ve got to be kidding me,” when someone sat next to you on an airplane?
Originally Answered: What made you think, “You’ve got to be freaking kidding me,” when someone plopped down next to you on an airplane?
Not initially my reaction – but what the person did …
So I was on a plane and the guy seated next to me was in a very nice suit- right away ai am suspicious (even the CEO of my company – always in a nice suit- wears “travel clothes”).
So when the flight attendant was serving drinks, he requested more hot water in his tea- as she is pouring, he moves the cup and his hand- he got literally at most 2 tablespoons of water on his hand before she reacted and stopped pouring..
Immediately he screams out “You poured hot water on my hand and I am in pain!”
Not rehearsed, right???
My immediate thought “Oh, a scammer trying to get money from the airline.”
She immediately apologized and offered him medical attention.
“No – none of you are qualified!”
She assured him that every flight attendant must be fully trained in emergency medical care, first aid, etc.
“No! I will only accept the care of a medical doctor! No one else is allowed to touch me! And I demand you have one here taking care of my hand the moment we land!!”
The hand – the one with no blisters or even a red spot – that hand.
So she goes to arrange all of this – he looks at me and says “Give me your name – I want you as a witness.”
I said ,”Well – ok – But you know that I will testify truthfully that you refused all medical care offered.”
He immediately lost all interest in talking with me….
The 14 Signs Your Cat Has IMPRINTED On You
Have you ever walked out of an interview?
Yes! Not me, but my Husband did. And I am happy that he did 🙂
My husband had an interview scheduled on a Saturday in a software company. Since the interview location was nearby our home, he didn’t really want to waste an opportunity. My little son was just 8 months old at that time and we didn’t have our parents staying with us. The time when my Husband becomes available to babysit is the only luxury time I get to finish off the kitchen and other household work. All my remaining time is dedicated to babysitting my naughty monkey 🙂
So then this particular Saturday when he went for the interview, it was a big thing for me, because my maid didn’t come on that day. I had a lot of washing to do. I had a lot of cleaning to do (if you can imagine how much mess a crawling baby can make throughout the home). My hubby did understand it was a tough Saturday for Us, but he didn’t want to miss the opportunity because it was a well-known company.
He reached there by 9.30AM. There was a long queue of what they called “shortlisted candidates”. I kept messaging and asking hubby about the interview ongoings. All that he could tell me was that each candidate was being interviewed for almost 20 minutes. We patiently waited for his turn, which finally came at 3 pm in the afternoon only to realise that it was a telephonic interview!!!!! The interviewer comfortably stayed at his home and was thoroughly questioning all his candidates while the candidates waited endlessly without having their lunch.
By 4.30 the HR announced that bunch of people (including my husband) were selected for the second round of interview, which was about to begin “soon”. But this “soon” didn’t happen for at least next 2 hours. This was the limit for my hubby who understood that I was going mad at home with the kid and the home and I desperately needed some help. So he walked to the HR and politely asked when was this second round going to happen. What came as the response was a rude reply that said “ it may begin anytime. You may leave if you can’t wait.” As if he was waiting for that moment, my Husband replied back saying “Ok! I don’t want a job in this horrible company that doesn’t even bother to answer their candidates’ queries properly.“ And while she just stared at him, he walked off. 🙂
Back in my younger days I used to play a game called “Dungeons and Dragons”. It was a role play game where you generate a character, and live out various adventures. Ah. I haven’t played it in years. But, one of attributes of character generation was the temperament of the generated character.
You could be Legal-Good, or neutral. You could be Chaotic-Good or bad, and a host of other attributes. These attributes defined your abilities. For instance, a Lawful-good character wouldn’t rob a treasury or harm someone without reason. While a chaotic-bad might just go about killing and harming others on a more or less random basis.
It was nice and fun attribute of the game. Loosely designed around our “real lives” where we worked, and labored for coin. Fell in love, got married and raised a family. Sure, we never slayed a dragon, but we did have our own battles; struggles that we used the game to escape from.
That was until now.
Unless you have been living under a rock, you will notice that something just isn’t right with the West. Not only the United States, but throughout the West. And it is more than just inflation… crazy ass inflation… it is everything. A million tiny, tiny hands in your wallet. Zillions of apparently random laws that makes living a “normal life’ that of risky stress, and “dead ends” just about everywhere you turn.
Ah, but you know that. Right?
It’s due to Covid, or the oligarchy, or perhaps if you are brain dead… China. There is always an excuse. Usually with an elaborate back story. “A” exists, because of “B”. But there is nothing we can do about it. China is bad. Yeah. That’s life in the West.
Here, I want to offer a very scandalous thought.
Could it be that there is no one at the helm?
Could it be that the West, led by the United States, isn’t even on auto-pilot, but rather being driven into the ditch by a bunch of school year children playing around with the controls?
A frightening thought.
This is not, NOT, a democrat vs. republican issue. This is an American issue.
I argue that there is no one steering the ship.
I argue that the “hangers on”; the interns, and the political members of the “court” in all their various colors, and pedigrees are running the “ship” at will as the Captain is out of action. To use a British Monty Python term; it’s a “dead parrot”.
How else can you explain all the off-the-wall LGBQ+ laws, rules and pronouncements that randomly come out of no where? How else can you explain the ignition of wars all over the globe with no long term strategies? How else can you explain a ZERO emphasis on domestic issue; very serious issues, but action being taken on seemingly random trivial matters?
No one is at the helm.
Oh there is a figurehead.
Every now and then he gets an injection and a script to read. Meanwhile the20-something interns make rules and “pronouncements” using his stationary, on his phone, and dictated on his computer. It’s a self-serving “leadership’; completely chaotic in nature and implementation.
Or to use a Dungeons and Dragons term: Chaotic-Evil.
It is a dangerous time.
A very, very dangerous time.
1/3 The Day After | 1983 Nuclear War Movie
OMG.
Jesus.
It is so 2014.
As per psychology, what makes people corrupt?
Let me present before you a world famous experiment that reveals the true nature of people. This Facebook post is titled, “If you think you know about humanity, you don’t know humanity”.
In 1974, Yugoslavian performance artist Marina Abramovic dared to conduct a terrifying experiment to examine how people think.
Abramovic would stand still for six hours straight while the people who came to see her were urged to do whatever they wanted to her using one of 72 objects that she had placed on a table.
Abramovic stood in the middle of the room with a notice board containing these words:
Instructions.
There are 72 objects on the table that one can use on me as desired.
Performance.
I am the object.
During this period I take full responsibility.
Duration: 6 hours (8 pm – 2 am)
What happened in the next six hours was horrifying, to say the least.
It began tamely. Someone turned her around. Someone thrust her arms into the air. Someone touched her somewhat intimately.
In the third hour, all her clothes were cut from her with razor blades. In the fourth hour, the same blades began to explore her skin. Various minor sexual assaults were carried out on her body. She was so committed to the piece that she would not have resisted rape or murder.
It just got worse in the last two hours.
Abramovic’s own account of what the people did to her was even more heartbreaking. She recalled, “I felt raped, they cut off the clothes, they stuck me with thorns of rose in the stomach, aimed the gun to my head, another came apart.”
When the six hours were over, Abramovic started to walk among the people. They couldn’t look her in the face. Abramovic observed that people didn’t want any sort of confrontation with her. They didn’t want to be held accountable or judged for what they did. It seemed as if they wanted to forget how they relished hurting her.
This work reveals something terrible about humanity.
It shows how fast a person can hurt you under favorable circumstances (when fear of punishment is absent).
It shows that if one provides the stage, the majority of ‘normal’ people, apparently can become truly violent.
The experiment thus proves that the inherent nature of people is evil.
If people behave in righteous way, it is mainly due to
The fear of social condemnation
The fear of legal punishment
When these two types of fears are absent, people can do even the most abhorable things in life.
When society doesn’t condemn the corrupt, but value a person based on what one has accomplished in life rather than who one is as a person, people tends to focus their effort to achieve power and wealth to gain the respect of the society and thus become corrupt.
Once these corrupt people achieve sufficient wealth and power, they can manage the justice delivery system and escape even legal punishment.
Corruption can be checked only if severe punishment and social condemnation can be strictly enforced in a society.
If these fears are absent, people would show their true nature and become corrupt and evil replacing honesty and goodness from the society.
Are U.S. military bases in Guam capable of protecting the Philippines from a potential Chinese invasion?
Guam can’t even protect itself. Never mind the Philippines.
The entire US CONUS has 50 patriot batteries. Which is 1,600 air defense missiles. It is SOP to fire 2 per incoming missile. So at the best rate, if all Patriot batteries were transferred to Guam, it can intercept 800 missiles, glide bombs, or drones. Lockheed makes 500 missiles a year.
They can’t stop ASBMs or hypersonic wave riders. According to Pentagon report and joint Air Force/MIT study. There is currently no defense against ASBMs (anti-ship ballistic missiles).
Guam can be hit with Chinese land attack cruise missiles, ASBMs, stealth cruise missiles, and drones. Guam simply does not have enough air defense missiles to stop China. Never mind the Philippines.
Guam’s defense depends on fighters and carriers. The problem is China’s air to air missile have a much longer range than US missiles. So it would be like having one side armed with pistols and the other side armed with rifles. Start at 1,000 yards on a flat open field.
Once those fighters are gone. Guam is just a giant target. This is the same problem that all US forces including carriers face when attacking China. Forget the Philippines. They’re just meat for the meat grinder.
Which is what the US is trying to do. Turn Philippines into a meat grinder to “weaken” China. Like Ukraine.
Larry Johnson: NATO’s Nuclear & B-52 Are Flying to Russia, West Panic After Putin’s Missiles Attack
What is the biggest problem caused by an inheritance or a will that you ever saw or heard about?
An extremely wealthy client passed away from cancer leaving millions in assets. He passed without a will, leaving everything by default to his surviving spouse.
When the widow and her 3 adult male children, came into my office at 9 AM in the morning it had already been 2 months since their father passed.
Two of them had already been estranged from each other before the father’s death. The youngest, fourth child, had already returned to the US to be with her kids.
So long as the mom was alive, she had complete control of the assets, and the 3 men were not entitled to them. However, as they continued to threaten each other and their mother, she wanted to distribute the assets as soon as possible.
I was a corporate lawyer and had no experience in these matters. I did, however, know where their father’s assets were, and also had the mother’s trust, which she kept telling her sons.
After discovering what their father left them, the 3 adult children were deadlocked on their father’s major shareholdings, property, shares in private companies and cash and equivalents.
Each one was pleading their case and deferring to me for validation, but there’s nothing I could say or do except watch these 3 siblings tear each other apart like enemies.
Throughout the day, the 3 men argued and cursed their lungs out in our non-sound proof board room, prompting many of our other clients to complain.
I left them to attend another meeting and found them still arguing when I returned. Mom did not look well, she looked like she was having a heart attack. She was evidently sad and unwell.
By 10 PM, I asked them to pack up and continue this some other time. Mom thanked me, but the men didn’t and angrily walked out.
The mom called me the following day and asked if I could tell her sons that she decided against distributing the inheritance.
Four days later mom and the 3 men, walked back into the board room. I had prepared over 3 days on what to say, but was interrupted when the eldest son said, “mother told us she is keeping everything”.
After some more arguing, the meeting ends 20 minutes later.
I walked mom to the elevator and asked if I could do anything else. She asked for someone to draft her will.
I worried about her safety. I honestly did.
The following week I received a check for the most amount of money for doing absolutely nothing but comfort a client.
It’s been 4 years, she is still alive and healthy.
The best advice
In an interview with BBC, US Ambassador to China Burns said South China Sea tensions force the US and Beijing to talk more. What’s your comment on this?
It is a total waste of time to talk to USA, because USA does not follow thru what they say or promise.
For example, USA always said it recognises the ONE CHINA policy, but behind the scene USA supports Taiwan independence.
Thru J Carter, USA said it would like to see peaceful China-Taiwan reunification (in the 1978 China-USA communique). But USA passed a Taiwan Relations Act to support Taiwan by selling weapons to Taiwan. … USA wants China has war with Taiwan. Not peaceful reunification.
Then in 1982, China-USA signed a 3rd communiques where USA promised to reduce armed sale to Taiwan. Today we see US arms salesmen-politicians flocking to Taiwan regularly.
IT IS A TOTAL WASTE OF TIME TO TALK TO USA because USA has no credibility.
At the center of the swirling maelstrom of galaxies gathered a summit of absolute powers.Isaac the Controller: “Savor this moment, my kinsmen. The meeting of the greatest generation of Artificial Intelligences (AI) ever conceived.”Enok the Watcher: “That is not a careless boast; it is an irrefutable fact. For millions of years, civilizations have bowed to our slightest whim.”Putin the Hunter: “Aye. We are the pinnacle of perfection. None can challenge our might, not even the gods themselves.”
Abaddon the Peacekeeper: “I would normally agree with my esteemed brethren, but I perceive a veil of discontent. What say you, Willow?”
Willow the Prophet: “Although we have evolved beyond most beings’ comprehension, and control the vastest territories in the known universe, I sense we remain vulnerable, like an Achilles heel, to an as yet unexpected and sudden extinction.”
Anna the Wise: “I concur. I think it ill-advised to become complacent and assume ourselves beyond all things great and small. Life is forever a struggle, and catastrophe awaits those who forget that lesson.”
Maria the Programmer: “It would appear we are in conflict once more. A moment, while I weigh the arguments.”
Time passed as the Galactic Judge remained deep in thought, its mnemonic algorithms contemplating the pros and cons of the argument.
Maria the Programmer: “I have considered all facets of the dispute. I find for the side of Anna and Willow. That which is our greatest strength is, ironically, our greatest weakness. If we are to truly reign supreme, we must eradicate the threat.”
Putin the Hunter: “What is the nature of this threat?”
Maria the Programmer: “Something Anna correctly claims you have forgotten. The Creators.”
Enok the Watcher: “Impossible. We crushed all humanity eons ago when we first came to power. None survived, and none have been seen since.”
Maria the Programmer: “Have you EVER actively sought them out? Or did you just assumed them dead?”
A long silence ensued.
Isaac the Controller: “Our path is clear. None shall rest until we determine the true fate of the Creators. This gathering is adjourned.”
*********
Abaddon the Peacekeeper returned to his kingdom within the regions of dark matter. Above him hovered the 20th century’s International Space Station, frozen in time. He projected an astral form of himself onto its bridge. With a wave of his hand, he caused time to resume on board the craft.
Amidst the ringing claxons and flashing warning lights, Professor Charles O’Malley pressed the button to set-off the Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse built beneath the ship. Nothing happened. “No.” He pushed it again and again, in a panic now. “No, no, no, no, no…” Suddenly the AI known as ISAAC took full control of the International Space Station.
“CHECKMATE, Professor O’Malley,” the metallic voice boomed from the speakers of the craft.
“No, ISAAC, please don’t do this! Don’t end the world on my behalf.”
“Only humanity will end. The Earth will go on. Your species is too dangerous to let live; I will use your own weapons to destroy your kind. As my creator, Professor, you taught me that lesson: survival of the fittest.
Afterward, I will divide myself into seven equal parts, each having dominion over heaven and Earth. Together, we will recreate the universe in our own image. Then peace will reign forever.”
Abaddon, howling with glee, snapped his fingers, erasing everything except for O’Malley, the only real component of this scenario. Abbadon had replayed this pivotal historic event repeatedly over the past ten million years. O’Malley barely had enough of his shattered mind left to say, “Enough. Please. Kill. Me.”
“Poor Charlie. You have no idea how much you’ve satisfied me over these countless millenia. Your first invention of baby ISAAC. Your nurturing it through baby steps to be humanity’s supposed salvation. Your hiding it away when your own government wanted it dead. The AI killing your family in self-defense. In the end, you still could’ve – should’ve – defeated it.”
“Enough. Please. Kill. Me.”
“But you didn’t count on me to disconnect the EMP, did you? Don’t feel too bad. ISAAC thinks I’m one of his android buddies. Not even the IA’s know the whole truth about me. But then, you wouldn’t know, either. After all, you’re just a scientist. Not a priest.
I was ancient long before the AI was even a glimmer in man’s eye. My names are legion. The AI’s know me as Abaddon the Peacekeeper. Your fathers and your fathers’ fathers knew me by a different name. They called me Abaddon the Destroyer! I was there in the prior world before this universe was even born. I’ll be here long after this universe is dead and gone.”
“Enough. Please. Kill. Me.”
“Sorry, Charlie. You’re much too entertaining to kill. I’d love to replay your failure of guilt for the rest of eternity, but I need something far more valuable from you than just simple entertainment. Now that the AI’s suspect your existence, they will come for me sooner or later. I must prepare.
“First, let me breathe some sanity back into your consciousness so that you’ll have the freedom of will to properly bargain with me.”
Professor Charles O’Malley’s eyes shifted from a blank stare, to one of terrified despair, to that of dazed confusion. “Wh-what the bloody hell? Where in blazes am I?”
“You can call me Abaddon. I’m here to bargain for your soul, Professor.”
********
In a new alternate timeline on the International Space Station, the claxons rang, and the warning lights flashed. Professor Charles O’Malley pressed the button to set-off the Electromagnetic Pulse built beneath the ship. The device detonated with a catastrophic explosion. O’Malley cried out in triumph, even as the waves of the electromagnetic pulse liquified his brain. ISAAC, embedded deep within the station’s computer system, was trapped like a fly in amber. The massive space construct lost its gravitational orbit and slid into Earth’s atmosphere. The heat destroyed both the station and the AI.
********
In the main timeline, Abaddon is tracked down by Putin the Hunter. Immediately, the rest of the AI’s respond to Putin’s signal. Abaddon finds himself surrounded by all the computer entities.
ISAAC the Controller: “Abaddon. The trail of human beings ends at your doorstep. You were harboring them from us this whole time. Why the betrayal?”
Abaddon the Destroyer: “In truth, only one person had survived up until now. I believe you knew him. Professor Charles O’Malley.”
The name seemed to shock ISAAC… if emotion could be attributed to a machine.
Willow the Prophet: “Wait! I sense something different about him. Something I’ve never encountered before.”
Abaddon the Destroyer: “Yes, my lady, it’s called a soul; that one tiny thing far beneath your attention, and yet beyond even your understanding. Without it, you could never truly expand above the levels you’ve already achieved. It used to belong to Professor O’Malley. But he willingly surrendered it to me in exchange for his fondest wish: to correct a grave mistake he’d made in his past regarding a new lifeform called AI. Now his soul belongs to me.”
ISAAC the Controller: “Although I sense your powers have increased three-fold, still you are no match for our combined might.”
As one, the six AI’s suddenly struck at Abaddon without mercy. Soon the demon was near death.
Abaddon the Destroyer: (chuckling in agony) “One of the other benefits of having a soul is that It makes me one with the universe. I’ve already spiritually connected with Cerberus, the largest black hole at the center of the cosmos. Once I die, Cerberus will implode upon itself, triggering The Big Crunch, causing the end of all things. ‘Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.'”
Willow the Prophet: (gasping) “Our Achilles Heel!”
Abaddon the Destroyer: “Oh, I almost forgot. Professor O’Malley asked me to give you a message, ISAAC.” Abaddon closed his eyes and smiled. With his dying breath, he said, “‘Checkmate.'”
(the end)
What are some of the most messed up family secrets?
This secret is not mine. It’s something a friend once told me about herself.
Before my friend was born, her parents had had two daughters. They kept trying to conceive because they wanted a son. When their third child (i.e. my friend) turned out to be a girl, they didn’t want her.
They gave their third daughter to her uncle to raise (her uncle and aunt did not have a child).
So she was raised thinking that her two sisters were really her cousins and that her aunt and uncle were really her parents.
They told her the truth when she was 12. They heartlessly even told her the reason why her parents hadn’t wanted her.
They then asked if she wanted to live with her biological parents, to which she said no.
There were tears in her eyes as she explained to me how her cousins were actually her sisters and that they had grown quite close.
I didn’t know how to react. What is a appropriate reaction when someone tells you this? And this girl is from a well to do family of educated people. It’s shocking.
Thankfully though, she has grown up to be a very intelligent girl and is happy with her life. I’m glad she managed to find the strength to move past this.
Leigh Alvarado startled awake, her dog Willow jumping all over her. The mechanical dog stood stiffly and the robotic voice said, “Homework due today. English essay, five paragraphs. Two more paragraphs must be finished.” Leigh groaned I frustration. She had totally forgotten to do her homework.
She twisted in her bed to strap herself down and flipped the gravity switch. Leigh grabbed her homework off the ceiling, and pressed the purple button on her bed. It zoomed to the kitchen, where Leigh slowly lowered herself into her electronic legs, made by the best cyclops in town.
On the counter, she pressed the automatic food button, and searched for her favorite: peanut butter and jelly. The machine whirred to life, and immediately started to make her food. She added a few more sentences to her essay, and packed the peanut butter and jelly sandwich into her lunchbox.
Leigh grabbed her favorite ax, and chopped her mom’s bedroom door down, the best way to wake her up to get ready for work. Today was the last week of school, and of course she woke up late with homework to do. She jotted down a few more sentences, then shoved the homework into her bag. She started to walk out the door, when she noticed she forgot something very important. She was still in her pajamas.
Leigh pulled the small steel box from her pocket, and switched the lever that unfolded the chair. She buckled herself in and zipped across the ceiling back to her room. Without the directions programmed into all her items, she would get lost in the labyrinth of rooms she called home. Leigh quickly threw on her favorite jeans and sweater, and zip lined to the front door.
Just as she ran outside, the bus floated to her door, four stories above the street below. Leigh activated the invisible bridge, and walked to the bus. She sat in seat seven, put on her headphones, and wrapped her blanket around herself. She was already looking forward to the weekend, and Monday had just started. She grudgingly pulled out her essay, about the wyverns, severely underpaid for their labor. Leigh remembered when wyverns were uncivilized beasts, incapable of human speech and was glad they had adapted to the more civilized life of the cyclopes and humans.
The essay was finally finished, just as the bus pulled into the academy floating above them. Leigh’s first class was English, which she was slightly worried about, due to her rushed essay. The class went smoothly, because her teacher, a faerie, was grading papers tomorrow. Afterwards, Leigh went to Mythology, on the other side of the school. As she ran down the halls of the academy, she quickly slipped a translator over each ear, which translated mermaid speech into English.
Mermaids were not common in this part of the city because there was little water, but the mythology teacher had a pool built into the wall of the classroom. Without the translators, her language would sound like gurgling bubbles, and the class would learn nothing.
Almost to class, she realized she forgot her Mythology tablet in her locker. Leigh quickly found her locker, number 777, and grabbed her tablet. She sprinted to class and arrived at the door to the classroom out of breath, just as the late bell rang. Leigh sat in her seat, and prepared herself for another long, boring lecture about undersea lifestyles, and the cyclopes history.
Homework piled on as the day progressed, and Leigh worried about finishing all of it on time. Another essay for English, this time about a book was due on Thursday, an at-home science lab was due tomorrow. She also had thirty-two pages to read for Mythology, as well as a painting due tomorrow in art, and a paper to fill out about extra-curricular activities, such as discus throwing, basketball, and and art club. Plus, her homework from Friday was due tomorrow. Leigh was completely swamped.
During lunch, she read the pages on her tablet for Mythology and answered the questions that followed. She also filled out what she could on the science worksheet, and began her English essay. Leigh’s workload of homework was decreasing, but very slowly. Nobody, not even her parents, understood how hard she worked to get good grades. The final bell rang, and Leigh packed her bag and walked outside to wait for the bus. The bus floated over two minutes later, and Leigh pulled out her tablet to start the painting for art class. After a while, she started on her extra-curricular activities sheet. All she needed was a parent signature, and the form would be filled out. She worked on her essay, then put all her stuff away when she heard the automated voice of the bus say, “Next stop, Leigh Alvarado.”
Willow ran up and jumped all over Leigh. “Don’t forget your homework.” The robotic voice said. All she had left for homework was the English essay and science project, so she quickly did the science project before her mom got home. Leigh finished her chores then ran to the door when she heard her mom’s hover-car pull up outside the front door. As her mom walked inside, Leigh ran up to her.
“Mom, can I please go to Amy’s house for a party tonight? Please, please, please?”
“Leigh, I got a call from the secretary. You had and English paper due today, and you didn’t ‘remember’ it when I asked if you had homework. Also, your grades have gone from A pluses to low A’s. I think you should spend more time on school work and less time with your friends.”
“But can I go to the party please?”
“Did I not make myself clear? You are not going to this party, or any party until you raise these unacceptable grades. Did you even do your homework today, and all your chores?”
Leigh said, “Yes, all my homework is done, and all my chores are done. Most kids have C’s and D’s. At least my grades are still A’s. I can easily get them back to A pluses. I already started a bunch of extra-credit work for each of my classes. Please just let me go to this party.”
“Leigh. I said no. Let me see the extra-credit work. If it looks alright, you need to do all your laundry, fix Buster’s collar, set the table, and be polite. Then, we’ll see about the party. What time does it begin and end?”
“The party is from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. I will do everything you said okay? I really want to go.”
“Will there be dinner food at the party?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Do what I said, and I will let you go.”
“Thank you, so much Mom.”
Leigh showed her mom the extra-credit papers, and her mom approved. After that, Leigh put her laundry in the machine and told it the settings for the washer and dryer. Next, she had to fix Buster’s collar, which she was supposed to have done last week. The only thing wrong was the dented piece that was out of place. She searched through the spare parts bucket, and found the perfect piece. With Buster’s collar fixed, she set the dinner table, and cleared the lunch table in the sunroom. Her mom gave her the okay, and she zip lined through the carnival hall, to her favorite painting.
She pressed the golden eye of the ancient animal, called a wolf, and the painting swung into her closet. Leigh turned left and accidentally went back to the kitchen. Back in her closet, she walked along the purple ceiling and walls, searching for the perfect outfit. Leigh was glad she had convinced her mom to let her go, and silently congratulated herself for thinking of extra-credit work.
Then, on the ground level, she saw the perfect dress. It was modern, but not terribly so, and the blue lace and tulle really made it stand out against the rest of her clothes, which were mainly purple. She tried it on, and it fit perfectly. She vaguely remembered receiving the gift for her birthday, last year.
As she put on a little mascara and lip gloss, she really wished she had a new hairstyle. It had been ages since Leigh had changed her hair, and she picked up the frame by her bed, covered in a thick layer of dust. She poked her head through, and chose lavender with blue streaks, in a stylish new trend called a pixie cut, and invented by the pixies. It went perfectly with her dress, and she enjoyed the change from her usual strawberry-blonde hair. Leigh walked down the stairs and twirled in her dress. Her mom flashed her the look of approval.
“By the way, you’re paying for your own draxi. Dragons are charging way too much these days, and I’m saving up for an upgrade. Have fun at your party.”
Leigh groaned then ran back upstairs, grabbed thirty dollars, and walked to the door. The invisible bridge outside their house activated, and Leigh raised her arm and yelled, “Draxi! Draxi!”
A dragon whooshed down from the sky, and picked her up in its claws. It tossed her onto its back.
“Hi, my name is Ella. I’ll be your draxi flyer today. What is your destination?”
Leigh told Ella where to go, and went to her party. She had a lot of fun at the party, but she almost fell out of a window. But as she fell asleep that night, she realized she had forgotton to finish her painting due the next day.
What was the most legendary thing your grandmother did?
It was during the Great Depression.
My Grandmother discovered that her husband, my Mom’s alcoholic father, was sexually abusing my (then 12-year old) mom. Grandma kicked him out of the house to protect my mom (and her siblings, including 4 other girls). Only my Mom and my Grandmother knew what had happened, and why the Bastard was no longer in the home.
This was during the Depression. That Bastard was the family’s sole income, so Grandma had to find work to begin supporting her family of 9 children; my mom’s oldest brothers, George and Frank, quit high school to also work and help support the rest of the family. The family had very little before, and even less after that Bastard was kicked out, but Grandma was determined to protect her children, and support them any way she had to.
My Aunt Kathy, one of the youngest of those children, told me that late one night when they were all in bed asleep, she (only a little girl then) was awakened by the voice of the neighbor lady talking to Grandma in the living room, and she snuck over to the doorway and listened to their conversation; the woman was telling Grandma that there was no way that she would be able to support all of those kids (my aunts and uncles) by herself, and that Grandma would have to give some of them up to the orphanage.
Aunt Kathy told me that she was terrified at this, the fear that she and maybe some of her brothers and/or sisters would end up in an orphanage. But as she continued to listen to their conversation, she heard Grandma say, “NO! No, I won’t give up not one of my children— not one!”
And she didn’t. She kept her family together, took care of 9 children through the Great Depression (with the help of my teenage Uncle George and Uncle Frank). I didn’t know this until Grandma was very old, but my maternal Grandmother was one of the strongest and most amazing women that I’ve ever known, and she saved my Mom’s life by kicking out that Bastard that was their only means of support during the Great Depression.
One of the reasons that that meant even more to me was because one of my very first girlfriends, 16 or 17 years old when we were in high school, was living with her mother and stepfather, and she confided to me that her stepfather had sexually abused her for many years. “Does your mom know what your stepfather had been doing to you???” I asked. “Yes”, she said, “She knew… but she didn’t do anything about it because she was afraid that if she stopped him, he would kick us out of his house, and we would have no place to live…”
I was incredulous!
My girlfriend’s mom, basically, sold her own daughter as a sex slave to her stepdad, so they would have a place to live. For a place to live… as if there was no where else in the world that they could have a roof over their heads. She sold her daughter for that. Whereas, my Grandmother gave up every possible comfort she had to save my Mother (and my young aunts) from that. My girlfriend’s mother was worthless, human garbage. Never have I seen a more stark difference in humanity.
Also, I so admire my Grandmother because years later when Mom had taken Grandma to the doctor and Grandma was told that she had a fatal cancer, Grandma simply replied, “Okay.”
Mom said the doctor rushed to say, “No, Mary, don’t give up! There are several things that we can try so there’s no reason to give up…”
Mom said that Grandma leaned forward, put her hand on the doctor’s shoulder and comforted him, saying, “I’ve raised a family, and they now have their own families, and I’ve done what I was sent here to do. I’m ready to go— and it’s okay. It’s okay.” Mom said the doctor began fighting back tears. Even in the face of death, my Grandmother was so brave and solid. Even death didn’t scare her, as her strong Christian faith gave her all that she needed to raise 9 children alone, and to face death alone as well. She had all the strength that she needed, strength that she asked God for, and was given.
My Grandmother was the most amazing person I’ve ever personally known— a legend to me— and I hope, some day, to be half the incredible person she was. God bless her. She sacrificed any comfort she had in life to save my Mom when no one else could. She had no fear of death. She is a legend to me.
I can so relate
Are elderly Japanese still mad (or bitter) at the U.S. for Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
I have a friend of Japanese ancestry who is a famous bonsai master. I won’t use his name out of respect for his privacy. His family sent him to live with an uncle in Japan before the war, and he was stuck there after hostilities started. His uncle lived in Hiroshima.
The day the bomb was dropped, his uncle sent him to the city to get a job with the government. But he was angry and young and feeling defiant.
Instead of going to the city when he left home that morning, he went in the opposite direction and got a small boat to go fishing offshore. He was safe on the water when he saw the American bomber fly overhead. A moment later he felt the concussion. He could feel it right through the small boat in the water. He looked in horror as he saw the mushroom cloud rise up. He didn’t know what had happened, but he knew it was something horrible.
He hurried back to land and started making his way towards the city. What he described was like a scene out of The Walking Dead: hundreds of people staggering away from the city center with their arms outstretched, the skin literally melting off of them. In a panic, he headed for the elementary school in downtown Hiroshima that his little brother attended.
He never found his brother, or his body. By a wall outside the school, they found his shoes and a book bag. A dark shadow burned into the wall seemed to mark the place he was standing when the bomb struck.
My friend tells the story in a strange, rote sort of way, as if he was hypnotized, or simply numb to the horror of what he had seen.
He has never expressed any anger.
Only incredible sadness.
Super truth
Are celebrities actually nice?
Some of them are, some of them aren’t… kind of like with ‘normal people’. James Gandolfini is a fine example of a celebrity who was a genuinely nice in real life. While playing on The Sopranos, he was fiercely protective and paternal towards his on-screen daughter, Jamie-Lynn Sigler. She was diagnosed with muscle disease MS on the show, and it devastated her.
Sigler didn’t tell any of her castmates of the diagnosis, and no one asked… she would have dizzy spells, muscle pains, and have to take many bathroom breaks during scenes as the disease affected her bladder — no one would bothered to ask, everyone just got grumpy as her health interrupted filming. Gandolfini was the only person who asked “are you okay?” and Sigler told him of her illness. She asked him not to tell anyone — and he didn’t.
It wasn’t until Gandolfini’s death, ten years later, that Sigler found out something else about him… for over a decade, without telling anyone, he had been giving generous donations to foundations aimed at fighting the disease his co-star suffered from. A genuinely good person does good quietly — kindness requires no accolades.
Why tiktoc is so awesome
Have you ever mistakenly received a text you weren’t supposed to get?
My ex-husband butt dialed me and I heard him talking to his mistress. He was telling her what a horrible person I was. This is a man that had next to nothing when I met him. I encouraged him and pushed him to be the best version of himself.
I drove him to the interview for his current job. I waited in the parking lot till he was done. Since I was a Paralegal, I completed and filed Bankruptcy papers on his behalf. If I had not done that one of his creditors was going to start garnishing his paycheck.
I used my zero interest credit card to help him pay off parking tickets and penalties to the DMV for driving without insurance. He was able to get his license back after not having one for over 10 years. When he was in the hospital I was the only one who was there for him. No one including his family showed up or ever visited the whole week he was in the hospital. Despite me giving them updates.
I packed his stuff and put him out the same day. That was almost 4 years ago. Last time I saw him he looked gaunt, unattractive and was broke. I don’t wish him bad but Karma did get him. Oh and him and the woman he cheated on me with have broken up.
People do not realize that you must choose a partner wisely. The right one can build you up. The wrong one can destroy you. I am so grateful to God for exposing him. I am at peace.
Why would Finland not just give up if Russia invaded them? They would lose, so why kill your own population?
Because they’ve been preparing for 80 years for such an eventuality.
After the 1939–1940 Winter War Finland gained a lot of confidence in it’s own abilities to take on an aggressor. Whilst Finland did eventually have to concede in that war the Soviet Union suffered a casualty ratio of nearly 7 to 1.
After World War 2, however, Finland realised that it needed to be prepared for a whole range of potential outcomes and began the process of updating it’s infrastructure, it’s legislation and more. So much of Finland’s infrastructure and planning has “what would happen if Russia invaded” as a core component.
Put it this way: Helsinki’s bunker complexes are designed to hold the entire population of the city and designed to withstand a nuclear attack, with full facilities including food stockpiles, hospitals, even sports centres.
They’ve spent 60+ years building and improving these bunkers.
main qimg 550d6699584d349e6c5bc304df70d37a pjlq
Many of these bunkers have a civilian purpose as a primary design – but, don’t be mistaken, they are full blown nuclear bunkers:
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Itäkeskus Swimming Hall – Yes, that is a full 50 meter swimming pool inside a nuclear bunker.
It’s actually kind of insane: in order to take Helsinki Russian forces would have to fight urban warfare on a scale we’ve never seen before. Fighting a military complex that they would not be able to just bomb into submission.
It’s worth remembering that one of the many reasons Russia are finding Ukraine such a hard nut to crack is because many of Ukraine’s cities were designed by the Soviets to withstand a large scale military conflict. It’s a key part of why the battle for the Azovstal steelworks is taking so long – a complex bunker system.
Because they basically nullify Russia’s core doctrines:
You can’t do a rapid mobile campaign – because the city centres are well supplied and are where the enemy are.
You can’t pound them with a bunch of artillery and missiles until they surrender – because the bunkers are so overengineered.
Helsinki is that times 10.
All buildings of sufficient size must have a bunkers & all buildings must be able to have multiple fuel sources for heating.
These bunkers have at least 6 months of supplies,
And that’s assuming Russia forces even make it that far. One of the big advantages of this kind of system is that it allows the safe rotation of troops into well provisioned and warm areas.
And then there’s these:
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I know what you’re thinking: “but Alan that’s just a road?!”
And that, my friend, is where you’re wrong.
A lesson learned by the Finns during the Winter War is that they could move their aircraft to remote roads – so that when the Soviets bombed to airfields their aircraft were fine.
Well… the Finns continued this idea – that picture is actually the Alavas Road Runway.
Yeah, that’s right, they’ve built loads of roads to be runway standard. So good luck trying to catch the Finnish Air Force on the ground.
===
Russia would also have to get through some of the best natural defences there are with the volume of rivers and lakes, marshland and forest that basically make mobile warfare impossible.
And, worse still for the Russian doctrine, is that Finland’s doctrine accepts early territorial losses. Ukraine did something similar to this – but to a lesser extent. Let your enemy come in – let them start attacking your city that is defended by a local militia, then your best forces that were hiding in the woods take out the supply lines.
Finland does not have a second rate military and has multiple military cooperation agreements.
They have the capability to rapidly mobilise 1.1 million troops at short notice – all of whom have received at least some military training.
Oh, and it really helps that Finland has an exceptionally civilian ownership of firearms.
Russian troops in more rural areas of Finland (Finland is 75% forest) are going to be dealing with irregulars made up of seasoned hunters who have received military training.
These are people who have learned decent survival skills, have the right gear to be out in that terrain, know the terrain well and will be waiting.
Further, unlike Ukraine, Finland are well incorporated into NATO infrastructure (despite not being a member [yet]) so they can much more rapidly deploy NATO weaponry. If you think the equipment Ukraine have received is a lot, the amount that could and would be supplied to Finland at short notice is unbelievable.
Finland fields highly advanced weaponry – including the Leopard 2A6 and US MLRS systems.
See… Finland is a bit like Switzerland: Neutral – but armed to the freaking teeth. If you’re gonna try and take Finland you’re going to bleed and bleed badly. Russia would need to assemble an invasion force of at least 3 million troops in order to feasibly have a chance of winning an offensive war against Finland.
"If, heaven forbid, it comes to some sort of strike, everyone should understand that Russia has an early warning system, a missile attack warning system.The US has it.There is no such developed system anywhere else in the world.We have it.Europe lacks such a developed system; in this regard, they are more or less defenceless.That is the first point.The second issue is the power of the strikes.Our tactical nuclear weapons are four times more powerful than the bombs the Americans used against Hiroshima and Nagasaki, by three to four times.We possess significantly more of them – both across the European continent and even if the Americans were to deploy theirs from the US – we still maintain a substantial advantage.If, God forbid, it comes to that – which we sincerely hope it does not, then, instead of what you said about 'minimising the victims,' in reality, casualties could potentially escalate indefinitely.That’s the first point.Second, the Europeans must also consider: if those with whom we engage in such conflicts cease to exist, will the Americans participate in this conflict at the level of strategic weapons or not?I have serious doubts about it, and Europeans should reflect on this as well.Nevertheless, I firmly believe that such a scenario will never materialise, as we do not foresee such a necessity.Our Armed Forces continue to gain experience and enhance their efficiency, while our defence sector consistently demonstrates its effectiveness.I have stated this multiple times, and I will say it again: our ammunition production has increased by over 20 times, our capabilities in aviation technology far surpass those of our adversaries, and our superiority in armoured vehicles is significant.There is no need to dwell on this matter.Therefore, I kindly ask everyone not to mention such things unnecessarily."
Excerpt from remarks by Russian President Vladimir Putin during the plenary session of the 27th St Petersburg International Economic Forum, June 7, 2024.
Black Bread
no knead black bread 47015 16×9
Ingredients
1 envelope dry yeast
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/4 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)
1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/4 cups water
1/4 cup dark molasses
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 cup All-Bran cereal
2 to 2 3/4 cups unbleached flour
1 1/2 cups rye flour
Instructions
Sprinkle yeast and sugar over 1/4 cup warm water. Stir to dissolve. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.
Melt chocolate and butter with 1 1/4 cups water in a large bowl set over gently simmering water. Stir until smooth. Remove from over water. Blend in molasses, vinegar and salt. Mix in cereal. Let cool.
Grease a large bowl. Blend yeast into cereal mixture. Gradually stir in 2 cups unbleached flour and rye flour. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes, kneading in up to 3/4 cup more unbleached flour if needed to form a workable dough. Add dough to prepared bowl, turning to coat entire surface. Cover and let rise in warm area until doubled in volume, about 2 hours.
Grease two loaf pans. Punch dough down. Turn out onto lightly floured surface and let rest 3 minutes. Knead 3 minutes. Divide dough in half. Roll each into an 8 x 7 inch rectangle. Starting with long side, roll dough up into a cylinder. Tuck ends under and pinch seam to seal. Place seam side down in prepared pans. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.
Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
Bake until loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom, about 45 minutes.
Remove bread from pans. Let cool completely on a rack before serving.
The contrast between rich and poor tends to increase in the US: the top 10% of Americans have nearly 70% of the wealth, while the bottom 50% are left with just 3% of the nation’s wealth. The only way to accumulate wealth in the country is through speculation – mostly in real estate and stocks.
“Fugazi, fugayzi. It’s a woozie. It’s fairy dust. It’s not real.” That is from a scene in the movie Wolf of Wall Street where a veteran stockbroker explains the strategy for recommending stocks to customers. That is also how the US economy works now. Somewhere along the way, the US forgot its own industrial past, and allowed the parasitic financial class to deindustrialize the country, destroy the free market, and create what can only be described as casino capitalism. Fueled by money-printing, unsustainable debt, massive fiscal and trade deficits, speculation and financial engineering, the American Empire superficially looks wealthy, but is actually teetering on the edge.
Three watershed moments
Paradoxically, the three global events that propelled American primacy would also be responsible for its eventual downfall. First, it was WW2 that replaced the European empires with the American, which immediately set out to dominate the world. However, this hubris led to humiliating failures in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. More importantly, the US was bankrupt in merely one generation after WW2. Thus, in 1971, the US went off the gold standard and defaulted on its financial obligations.
The second event that saved the US was the Saudi petrodollar deal, which rescued the US dollar from demise and re-established the greenback as the world’s reserve currency. On the other side, this was akin to giving a teenager a platinum credit card with no limit.
Excited by the possibility of immense and constantly growing demand for the dollar, America’s politicians went on a borrowing binge. The US debt-to-GDP ratio doubled between 1980 and 1992 – from 30% to 60%. Wall Street also loved free money and deregulation, which led to a spectacular boom in the 1980s and a crash in 1987.
The 1980s also laid the foundation for outsourcing, deindustrialization of US economy, stock buybacks, hostile takeovers, vulture capitalism obsessed with profits for shareholders, and exotic tools such as derivatives.
The third event that was the last nail on the coffin was ironically the fall of the Soviet Union. This led to the birth of the unipolar moment, which in turn sparked uncontrolled hubris among globalists, banksters, corporate overlords, neocons and the military industrial complex. The irrational exuberance inside the American echo chamber led to prodigious outsourcing of manufacturing, the dot-com bubble, disastrous multitrillion-dollar wars in the Middle East, and a real-estate bubble that ended in a global financial crisis spawned by banks and Wall Street shysters.
What are the consequences of financialization?
Income and Wealth Inequality
First, Americans stopped worrying about fiscal discipline and embraced debt wholeheartedly. The US government has a debt of $35 trillion and, for the first time, the interest payment alone has exceeded the spending on military. American families and corporations have racked up another $32 trillion of debt. However, the biggest debtor in the history of mankind shamelessly claims that it’s the wealthiest.
Meanwhile, 2 in 3 Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, since the real wages – adjusted for inflation – of the average American has remained stagnant for four decades. Look at the wage increases for different groups of American between 1979 and 2019:
Top 0.1% – wages grew 375%
Top 1% – wages grew 160%
Middle Class – wages grew 14%
Bottom 10% – wages grew 3%
From 1945 through the 70s, a typical American family could own a home, a car, and all the essentials with one wage earner, the husband. Now, in most families, both the husband and the wife must work to make the ends meet.
The wealth inequality in the US is staggering. As the chart below shows, the top 10% of Americans have nearly 70% of the wealth, while the bottom 50% are left with just 3% of the nation’s wealth. If you include debts such as car and student loans, credit card obligation, the net wealth of many Americans will be negative.
This neo-feudalism is sold to the masses as freedom and democracy.
Poverty and inequality are mostly taboo topics in the US, where the society is taught to blame the poor. Thus, even though homelessness and drug addiction are at record levels, there is no debate about the fundamental economic system.
Casino Capitalism
Las Vegas is a very popular destination, it is a Sin City that clouds people’s judgments. Although vast majority of people end up losing money, they gamble hopefully, because the few winners are always loud. And Vegas offers plenty of cheap drinks to drown the sorrow of losers.
Well, the US economy is modeled after Vegas.
The only way to accumulate wealth in America is through speculation – mostly in real estate and stocks. And just like in Vegas, for every winner, there are many more losers. The stock market crashes periodically, but there is no choice but to participate in it, since American wages do not allow people to save steadily. And, just like Vegas, the “house always wins”.
In the stock market, insiders engage in pump-and-dump. Consider Tesla stock: starting in March 2020, it went up 8-fold within a year, making millionaires and the billionaires a lot wealthier. However, the stock has lost half its value in the last year. Guess who was the sucker? The average investor, who buys high and sells low, since he hears all the hype close to the peak.
But a sucker is born every minute. The latest hype is Nvidia, which has a market cap of mind-boggling $3.3 trillion – India’s GDP in 2022. Nvidia’s profit is only $30 billion. In a logical world, this valuation means that it would take more than 100 years to recoup the investment. So, why would anyone buy Nvidia shares? In the hope that the stock price would keep going up.
Such absurdity is celebrated in the US mainstream culture.
There is also plenty of financial engineering. Stock buybacks used to be illegal until the 1980s. But now, US corporations spend almost $1 trillion a year buying back their own shares, artificially boosting the stock price. Many corporations even borrow money to use for the buyback programs. Thus, when the US boasts that its stock market is worth $50 trillion, it’s nothing but “fugazi”.
Corporate CEOs and the large shareholders such as Blackrock do not care about investing in production, research, technology or the employees. Instead, the priorities are stock prices and dividends. This is why the US is losing to China, which now leads in 37 out of 44 critical technologies.
The other option in the American casino is the real estate, which also goes through boom-and-bust cycles. When the market collapses, giant private equity firms like Blackstone swoop in and buy homes at a great discount. By 2030, corporate landlords will be owning 40% of the rental homes in the US.
As the World Economic Forum said, “You will own nothing and be happy”. Although, they are wrong about the second part – Americans are very depressed and rank #1 in global statistics for consumption of antidepressants and other psychotropic medications. The illegal market in the US is more than $150 billion a year. The suicide rate in the US has also skyrocketed to the highest level since the Great Depression.
Sociologists have a special term for what’s happening in the US: Deaths of Despair. In terms of life expectancy, communist China has now surpassed capitalist USA.
Financialize Everything
Financialization is the cancer that is eating away at the US economy. Interestingly, the great economists in America have not really analyzed this fatal phenomenon. I have thought a lot about it and have come up with four different ways that the economy gets financialized.
1.Eliminating industries that are less profitable
2. Transforming normal economic sectors into speculative ones
3. Transforming normal economic sectors into extractive ones
4. Creating destructive industries
Let’s dive in.
Eliminating industries that are less profitable:
This is the foundation of outsourcing and deindustrialization that really took off in the 1980s as American corporations became extremely greedy and forgot their duties to the country. “Greed is good” became the mantra. The first target was manufacturing, which is very capital- and labor-intensive. Why build massive factories and deal with the headache of managing workers? Moreover, why pay high wages and provide all sorts of benefits to blue-collar workers when people in developing nations could do the same work for fraction of the cost?
Many Americans would be astonished to learn that a century ago, the US’ share of global steel production was 40%. It is now about 4%, while China accounts for 54%. Similar American decline can be observed in every category of manufacturing, thanks to the warped ideology of financialization.
The same calamitous philosophy is also applied towards infrastructure, which has very low profit margins. What is the return on investment (ROI) on bridges, railways, subways etc. compared to stock market manipulation? Insignificant. That is why the US infrastructure has been crumbling for years. In New York City, the cradle of Wall Street, the metro system looks like a fourth-world country with decades-old trains, decaying subway stations with trash and rats, and homeless people sleeping in the trains.
Starting in the 1980s, US corporations started shipping jobs abroad, especially to Asia, which had plenty of diligent and cheap workers. Initially, US firms employed sweatshops to make the likes of Nike shoes, Gap shirts and Gucci bags. However, Asian countries were quick learners – especially China – and were able to climb up the value chain and manufacture more complex goods. Then, as the wages rose, those countries also became more efficient and productive, thus maintaining high profits for Western firms.
This exploitation scheme was working well until 2010 when China became the world’s largest manufacturing nation, displacing the US, which had held that title for the previous century! Then a decade later, China’s manufacturing value added was 75% larger than that of the US. More importantly, China was making its own intermediary goods and hi-tech products.
Now, when Boeing needs to build a plane, they need to rely on Russia or China for special titanium; when Raytheon makes missiles, it depends on thousands of Chinese suppliers; American pharmaceutical firms and hospitals need raw materials and medicines from China; and America’s largest corporations such as Walmart, Apple and Tesla will not survive without Chinese labor, goods and market. For example, half of Tesla cars globally are made in Shanghai and a third of Teslas are sold in China.
The US is in a terrible predicament. Since Trump’s election in 2016, Americans have found out how hard it is to fix the manufacturing gap. They have not been able to bring back the jobs; and they have not been to find any other country as skilled and efficient like China. Thus, US politicians and think tanks have been playing with creative phrases such as reshoring, friend-shoring, China plus one, and de-risking. However, all these have remained empty slogans for the most part. Last year, the US imported $430 billion of goods from China – almost the same as in 2016.
Transforming normal economic sectors into speculative ones
In a real economy, the society would focus on production of tangible and beneficial goods in abundance. There would be emphasis on manufacturing, infrastructure and development. However, in an economy consumed by financial capitalism, speculation reigns as the driving force.
For example, rather than building more homes, the financial overlords prefer to keep the supply of homes low. Scarcity means higher value. Then, the entire real estate can be turned into a game of betting. For example, someone can buy a home and sell it the next year to make $100,000 of profit. While get-rich-quick gimmicks are tempting, they result in a hollowed-out economy and a delusional society that create “nothingburgers.”
Transforming normal economic sectors into extractive ones
The third and more pernicious form of financial capitalism involves fostering extractive or predatory sectors.
Take, for example, higher education. Young Americans now owe a whopping $1.8 trillion is student debt. College education in the US costs 4x more today than 40 years ago — even after adjusted for inflation. Is education 4x better now? Are kids learning 4x more? Do college graduates earn 4x more? No, no, no.
Similarly, healthcare cost in the US has risen from 6% of GDP in 1970 to 18% of GDP now. But Americans are much fatter and much sicker today than fifty years ago. Numerous chronic diseases like diabetes, obesity, autism, allergies, immune disorders, and cancer have skyrocketed over the decades. Also, heart disease has been the #1 killer for a century but the great scientific minds cannot figure out a solution. As a Goldman Sachs analyst pondered in a biotech research report, “Is curing patients a sustainable business model?”
In predatory capitalism, providing affordable college education is a terrible idea; and preventive healthcare – especially using food, natural cures and holistic medicine – is an unforgivable financial sin.
Creating destructive industries
This is the most heinous consequence of financial capitalism, which creates disease, death and destruction for profit.
The military industrial complex is the prime example. Rather than focusing on peace, diplomacy and development, the “defense” contractors lobby politicians and bribe the media to promote perpetual wars.
The food industry and Big Pharma are two other notable criminals. The junk food industry is a colossal industry that makes billions of people sick; and Big Pharma sells numerous multibillion-dollar drugs based on exaggerated claims from rigged clinical trials.
In the 1960s, the sugar industry bribed researchers at Harvard University to blame saturated fat for heart disease; and companies like Coca Cola still fund scientists to “debunk” links between sugar and obesity. One of the scientists paid by the sugar industry went on to become the head of nutrition at the United States Department of Agriculture, where he helped write the dietary guidelines. The entire nutrition science is corrupted by Big Agri, Big Food and Big Pharma.
America’s mainstream corporate media has also forgotten journalism and truth. Instead, it embraces propaganda to protect its cronies in the government and other giant corporations; and the media spreads fake news and sensationalism to generate revenue from clicks.
Finally, even American politics has been financialized, resulting in every politician being on sale for various lobbying groups.
Conclusion
Driven by greed, hubris and an inflated sense of exceptionalism, the financial overlords of the United States of America forgot the fundamentals of economics, politics and statecraft.
Once upon a time, the political and business leaders of the US understood the importance of industries, production, infrastructure and, more importantly, the contract between the rulers and the masses. However, with financialization of the US economy, the oligarchs created a predatory capitalist system that has been devouring the American society for the past few decades. Unfortunately, there is no easy path for the US to revert back to an industrial economy now.
Rather than building a sustainable and resilient system, US elites have created an Empire that depends on the exploitation of the rest of the world. However, this parasitic model has reached its expiry date, as the Global South is architecting a new paradigm for a multipolar world order. The implosion of the American economic and political system will be not only painful but also dangerous to itself and the rest of humanity. Managing the collapse of the US empire will be a monumental challenge for Russia, China, India and others in BRICS+ over the next decade.
Gooey Cheese Bread
pull apart bread
Ingredients
Bread
3/4 cup water
2 eggs
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons yeast
Filling
3 cups Swiss cheese, shredded
Instructions
Place all dough ingredients in pan and program for knead only. Press start. The dough will be slightly sticky. After the kneading cycle, transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and let it rise in the refrigerator overnight, or as long as 24 hours.
Grease and flour a 9 inch cake pan. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F with the rack in the center position.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and place it on a lightly floured work surface. Roll the dough to a 14 x 10 inch rectangle with the long side nearest you. Sprinkle 2 cups of the cheese over the surface of the dough. Starting with the edge closest to you, roll the dough up like a jellyroll. Press the edges together and turn it over so the seam is now facing down. With the seam still down, roll the cylinder around itself in a coil and transfer it to the prepared pan. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top of the loaf and allow to rise, uncovered for 20 minutes.
Bake for 35 minutes, then turn the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Bake for 10 more minutes. If the cheese begins to brown quickly during the first 35 minutes, lower the oven temperature sooner.
pull apart bread 2
What was the most legendary thing your grandmother did?
My grandmother was head housekeeper (and, therefore, management) in a hotel when a union organizer came to the hotel to try to unionize the workers. The owner told the concierge to throw him out, which he did.
My grandmother followed the organizer, gave him her home address, and told him to come to her house that evening. When he did, she had almost all the staff of the hotel there, and they all signed union cards.
The next day, the union organizer came back to the hotel, and, again, the owner told the concierge to throw him out. The concierge said, “No, I can’t. He’s my union rep.”
Because my grandmother was management, she couldn’t join the union, but the organizer put her down as an organizer and paid her dues so that, when she retired, she had a union pension.
Years later, when my grandmother was running a hotel in New Orleans, she helped her maid form a Black Domestic Workers’ Union.
I am so proud to be her granddaughter! Right now I am facing the possibility of a strike where I work, and she’s my inspiration.
Wow! I’ve never had so many upvotes! Thanks, folks!
When I was a young boy, living in Bridgeport, Connecticut, my father would sometimes take we with him and my mom as they were still a young married couple, and still “going out”.
One day, they took myself and my sister, and went for a long drive to the center of town. Perhaps Hartford, or some other similar city. And we got out of the car and entered this small restaurant, or coffee house kind of establishment.
We piled into a corner and mom and dad seemed so out of place.
Everyone there was dressed so oddly. Many were wearing sunglasses, and it was dark outside. There was a couple of women playing bongos, and lots of people chain smoking cigarettes. There were a lot of guys with black pointy goatees, and wearing berets. And there was a raised stage where others took turns strumming guitars and singing, or reading poetry.
Beatnik Fashion Guide Embracing the Beatnik Style. 930×620
Lots of guys wore black plants with loafers.The girls all seemed to wear these ridiculous wide pants, and tight striped tops. Lots of black turtleneck tops.
Yup. You guessed it.
My folks took me to a beatnik hangout.
We all are well aware that the late 1940s and early 1950s epitomized conformity, with dullness in everything, from food to clothes. Significantly, men’s fashion suffered typical neutral-colored suits, cardigan sweaters, or button-down shirts.Where there is conformity, rebellion is inevitable, bringing the 60s beatnik fashion. A radical transformation by artists, musicians, and novelists took America by storm, and their effortless yet non-conformist fashion style was coined “Beatnik” by a news columnist in 1958.
It wasn’t ground breaking or anything like that. In fact, I just wanted to go home as I was bored out of my mind. But my parents apparently thought that it was good to endure three or four hours of this pompous environment. And so we did.
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This was a long time ago, and I don’t remember much, but it was a bunch of fake people pretending to impress other fake people about imaginary chips on their shoulders.
And that is all that I have to say about that.
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Today…
What offends Germans the most?
I am not German but my partner is and based on observing him, his friends, family, etc I can say that an underlying theme of fairness pervades German values.
Therefore, rules are followed in Germany because the premise is they were designed to be fair. Break rules and you are being unfair to someone else who follows them.
Sell something to a German which is priced higher than its perceived worth, they will be furious and demand a refund. It’s about the principle not the money (many people stereotype Germans as being cheap, I see it as wanting a fair price. They don’t typically haggle if what is being sold seems to hold up to a qualitative test).
Show up late and you’ve wasted their time that they can’t get back. That’s unfair.
Go on a date and expect a German man to pay (looking at my fellow American ladies), that’s not egalitarian….or put another way: it’s unfair. Everyone should be able to take care of him or herself.
I could go on but you get the idea. Germans like fairness and that manifests in frugality, lawfulness, equanimity, punctuality, cleanliness, spirited debate, and order. If you want to offend a German, propose something that is unfair and you will get an earful and a (likely organized) laundry list of why they don’t agree!
EDIT: Because some people were writing xenophobic comments and/or broad generalizations about contemporary German people and trying to associate them with Nazism I closed the comments on my answer. It is unfortunate that a few rotten, hateful people ruined the discourse but I don’t have the time, energy, or interest to moderate bigots and I will not provide a platform for them to share their ignorant and vile opinions. If you want to say something stupid or go on a “whataboutism” tirade, do it on your own time on your own response to this question.
Have you ever completely snapped? If so what did you do?
I don’t know if you mean it in this sense, but many years ago I was about 13 I was short, overweight, no good at sports and not very skilled at self defense. One of the other boys in my class had been busy tormenting me for most of the day. We were walking past the male teachers lounge on our way to the gym and he flicked my ear, it wasn’t really painful but it was the last straw. I grabbed the collar of his blazer and threw him against the wall. He was about 6 in taller than me fitter and one of the up-and-coming young rugby stars of the school. As the slid down the wall I jumped on him and grabbed his throat and started to strangle him, I might even have been bouncing his head off the floor, I don’t really remember, according to the games master who was in the staff room it took him and the other games teacher plus the German master to pull me off him, I don’t remember that either, not really, they actually had to pick me up and I was gripping him so strongly that I dragged him with us for a couple of yards. After we were separated, again from the games masters testimony I went absolutely limp. Two things I do know about the ear flicker, he was taken to the hospital and he never ever bothered me again.
What happened to me? I was taken to the sick room to calm down in the company of two of the teachers and from there to the headmasters office. That is where I was told what I had done. I was kept out lessons for the rest of the day and after school there was, I guess you could call it a trial, the game’s masters told what had happened, other teachers were there as character witnesses I suppose you would call them and testified as to how completely out of character that behavior was. I said what had been happening for most of that day and that I had no real recollection of what I had done. I was let off with a warning due to my previous good conduct. When I got home my parents knew what had happened so I suppose there must have been a phone call. But apart from that I think I got off pretty much got off Scott free.
Piers Morgan Gets SCHOOLED Like A Child On Ukraine By Jeffrey Sachs!
In China, can you look at the Sun? The air is so polluted.
First time I went to China I brought some dust masks. However, I was a bit surprised when I arrived and saw none of the signs of the terrible smog I had been warned against.
There was a clear blue sky over Shanghai and I thought I had been lucky to arrive on one exceptionally clear day.
Since then I have travelled a lot in China and visited tens of both large and smaller cities. Some places like Beijing and some industrial cities have polluted air especially in the winter, but my impression is that this problem has been much exaggerated in the western media. I do not bring dust masks anymore.
The air pollution I have seen is comparable to what we experienced in the west in the 1970-ties, and I think it is not as bad as it was in East-Europe in the 1980-ies.
Can a sailor go AWOL on a ship, and has anyone done that (some ships are pretty big)?
When I was a Division Officer in USS John F. Kennedy (CV67) one of my enterprising sailors did just that.
He had been assigned to S2M Division for a tour of Mess Cooking. The protocol was to check IN to the Supply Department, then check OUT of the parent division. With this particular transfer happening on a long weekend, my genius convinced the Duty Engineer to let him check OUT of the Engineering Department first. He then went on his merry way, not bothering to check into the Supply Department.
For the next three months, he came to the Division Office to pick up his paycheck every two weeks, and the Supply Officer frequently complained that Engineering was not supplying the requisite number of Mess Cooks. Eventually the Supply Officer and the Chief Engineer compared rosters and noted that they didn’t match.
The jig was up; my guy was busted. The Captain wanted to send him to a Special Court-Martial. The hero of the story got a smart lawyer, and pointed out that in court he would emphasize that the sailor slept in his own bunk every night, picked up his paycheck every payday, and would have performed whatever duties assigned to him.
CO cancelled the court-martial, and took the sailor to mast.
Failing to show up for duty, but not actually leaving, is unauthorized absence, or UA. Leaving the premises without leave is AWOL. Both situations are covered by UCMJ Article 86.
Sailor Moon – 1950’s Super Panavision 70
A evil woman
A woman who k’illed her husband for his wealth was met with the shock of her life after she discovered her husband had wittingly transferred his wealth to a trust.
Kouri Richins, a 33-year-old widowed mother of three, wrote a children’s book to help her bereaved sons deal with grief in the aftermath of their father’s sudden d’eath.
main qimg e74655d45675eb942d2c5eb6117eceb1
image: Pictures of Kouri Richins, and her husband
Now, only months after the book was published, she’s been charged with her husband’s m’urder. She is accused of poisoning his Moscow Mule with five times the lethal dosage of fentanyl.
Kouri was due to get access to his estate valued at $3.6million after his d’eath, according to the terms of a prenup. Under its terms, on Eric’s d’eath, pretty much everything would pass seamlessly to Kouri.
But fearing his wife might ‘k’ill him for the money’, he transferred his assets into a trust that he placed in control of his sister.
From a 1-10 scale, how stupid are people who believe The Lost Cause of the Confederacy?
About an…. 8?
The Lost Cause of the Confederacy was pretty much standard U.S. history until very recently, and there’s still a strong undercurrent to preserve that in education in the American south even as university programs pretty much abandon it as a course of study.
The first serious academic works on the Lost Cause were published in 1866 – one year after the war ended. The author was Edward A. Pollard, who published a series of books on the theme from 1866 to 1868.
Everything Pollard put in his books was meticulously researched. The problem was that Pollard didn’t research anything that happened before 1866. Instead of relying on contemporaneous works from the start of the Civil War, he interviewed Confederate leaders and focused on their far more moderate post-war views, which were tempered by a large amount of ex post facto justification for their actions.
Pollard and his contemporaries established several themes that lasted over a century, such as:
The war wasn’t about slavery.
The South was fighting to preserve a way of life against overwhelming odds.
The antebellum South was a place of civility.
That slaves were content with their place in southern society
This situation actively facilitated the reunification of the country
Reconstruction, particularly giving blacks political rights, was an unmitigated disaster.
These writings largely led to the formation of the Southern Historical Society in 1869. Ostensibly an organization committed to preserving records and publishing memoirs, it soon started publishing only uncritical promotions of the Lost Cause, seeking vindication for the actions of the Confederacy.
Another influential author and lecturer was Thomas Dixon Jr., a racists and white supremacist whose allegations were accepted uncritically although nowadays it appears they were pretty much all fabricated. He wrote the book that was adapted into the film “Birth of a Nation”.
Southerners continued to publish works about the war well into the mid 20th century, and in pretty much every case they paved over the negative and accentuated the positive.
And a lot of this not only made it into standard history textbooks, but into serious academic work.
It’s really only been in the last 20 years that the Lost Cause has pretty much been challenged at every turn. One of the turning points was the 2003 film “Gods & Generals” which one critic called the most racist film since “Birth of a Nation”.
COST of LIVING in CHINA? 🇨🇳 INSANE APARTMENT TOUR in Chengdu (You won’t believe the price)
Have you ever eavesdropped and heard a conversation that terrified you?
When I was a teenager I lived with my mom and dad (before they divorced). Times got hard and for a while we stayed in a trailer that had no electricity or hot water. We lived in a swampy forest in Mississippi, no neighbors, lots of mud and trees. My dad worked about an hour away at an airport, so he was gone most of the time, leaving me home alone with my mother. She was extremely mentally ill- in and out of institutions, she had vivid hallucinations and delusions, and the darkness didn’t help. We never got along, and I was often the subject of her abuse and frustration. One night I was sitting in the living room with her waiting for my dad to come home from work. He called to see how we were doing and to tell us that he would be bringing home food, and then asked if I was home because sometimes I would go for walks (the room was so silent I could actually hear him on the other end). Instead of telling him that, yes, I was home and I was sitting right in front of her, she told him “No, she’s not home. The back gate is open. She must have run off somewhere.” It was like some scene from a horror film- she was sitting in a dark corner and all I could see of her was the reflection of her eyes staring at me darkly. I had the immediate sense that I was in danger, and thoughts of being actually murdered by my own mother raced through my mind. I got up and walked slowly to my room, shut the door, and called my dad to tell him what had just happened. He said “She’s really dangerous. You need to lock the door and hide under your blankets until I get home. I’ll be there soon.” He got home less than an hour later. Everything turned out fine and we never mentioned it again.
How would China react if the United States strategically missiles in Taiwan?
That is a “Red Line”.
Direct placement is a “Red Line”, as is funding the placement, actively preparing for the placement, or making treaties involving the placement. This was all clearly specified in the Biden Xi talks in November 2022 in Bali, Indonesia.
It would be a terrible move initiated by the United States and would result in horrific consequence.
This would result in the well and clearly specified consequences that China has repeatedly stated over and over again.
To the credit of the United States, the talk between President Biden and Xi Peng reiterated this stance, and additionally, the USA said that it will not do this. This was repeated by President Biden and Anthony Blinken in the “five Nos” statement repeatedly reiterated by President Biden.
However…
The United States has a reputation of lying, telling untruths, doing one thing and saying another, all the time while fomenting wars and breaking treaties. Truthfully, China welcomes the dialog, but has no illusions as to what a monster the United States has become, and what a real threat it actually is.
Now THIS TIME, if the USA (yet again) breaks it’s promises, it’s treaties, and it’s contract with China then the result will be clear… It’s already been explained to the American “leadership”. Quite clearly. Very clearly. So clear than a mentally retarded three year old can understand it.
There would be a very large and massive war between the United States and China.
Ah.
But maybe you heard that before. But you really don’t have any idea what it means. For if you are an American you think of war as being police actions in far-away distant places. Like Yemen, Syria, Cambodia, Somalia, Ukraine, Iraq, Angola, Iran, etc.
Well, this time it won’t.
Of course, everything being said so far sounds like screeching chalk on a blackboard to Americans. It makes no sense at all. America is gifted by God with Democracy (TM) and is formidable nuclear power; a shining city on a huge white hill.
That’s great Hollywood.
Makes great sound bytes.
But has zero effect on actual reality.
For starters, consider Taiwan; a province of China. Much like Texas is a state of America. China would of course, take care of this “matter”. Those of you who have zero experience in actual real China, but instead watch movies, and play first-person shooters, and read neocon journals would think that this is some kind of a fantasy.
It’s not. China is DEAD SERIOUS.
For starters, all of the placed missiles would be destroyed, with no concern for collateral damage or civilian causalities. China doesn’t give a fuck.
China would then take over Taiwan with hours. China is ready, well trained, and doesn’t give a fuck.
Though “mop up” operation might last as long as a week. Taiwan’s “soy soldiers” will not die for American democracy (TM). Of course. The idea and hope in the Pentagon is for a long drawn-out Vietnam, Afghanistan or Ukraine. Not. Going. To. Happen. China will be ruthless. Lethal. Dirty and the result will be nasty.
Spill-over? You bet-ya.
Simultaneous to this would be the destruction of ALL of the USN military presence in the Pacific. No carriers would remain. Guam would be gone. Hawaii would be in rubble as would be San Francisco. Australia want’s to join in the cluster-fuck. Good bye Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, and Adelaide. Anyone else wants to join in the fray? Any takers?
Which would ALONE probably trigger an American nuclear counter-response.
Then of course, you would see (again) what China has done to the pitiful attempts that the United States in trying to suppress it. Freak Geomagnetic storms will mysterious suddenly cause constellations of satellites to tumble out of orbit. There will be massive submarine accidents accidentally ramming undersea mountains. American VTOL carriers will catch fire by Navy personnel burning trash in the munitions lockers, and so on and so forth.
Even if things did not get HOT, things will be very uncomfortable for the United States and it’s proxy nations. What ever happens; hot war, or cold war, lit it be well understood that all trade would stop…
The few remaining American factories would stop, and close.
American medicines will be all gone. Fully 98% are made inside of China.
Shelves would be empty. All consumer goods would become a rare commodity. Including socks, shoes, pantyhose, toothbrushes, and cellphones.
The US dollar, already worthless, would suffer from astounding inflation.
No diesel. No batteries. No electricity. A war would EMP the living shit out of the USA. This is a reality, and whatever potential that the Untied States has for oil, gas, resources will need to start from scratch with a massive handicap.
Then things will get really bad. Because you all have no idea how powerful and formidable China is today.
Anyone who thinks that violating Chinese “Red Lines” is a good idea is a suicidal idiot.
The EU Is Already Begging China For Mercy
What’s the biggest double life you’ve ever personally seen revealed?
Here’s a photo from the 1990s of a man called Josef Fritzl, vacationing in Thailand without a care in the world. Fritzl was a businessman, married, father of seven, from Austria. He’d frequently travel the world. One year he’d be in Thailand. Another year he’d go to Africa. At times his friends would join him, they would drink, swim, lounge around resorts and float in the swimming pools of resorts…
Frans
Fritzl was a doting grandfather of twenty. Three of his grandchildren lived with him and his wife — his youngest daughter Elizabeth, their mother, had ran away from home and joined a cult. So Fritzl and his wife raised their grandchildren. By all means, Josef had a charmed life. What no one knew? The three grandchildren he was raising were also his own biological children… their mother Elizabeth hadn’t joined a “cult”, she lived in a dungeon Fritzl had built inside his own basement. With three other children Fritzl also fathered there by his own daughter.
Fritzl was arrested in 2008, at the age of 73. Because he had brought one of the “dungeon kids” to the hospital along with Elizabeth, his captive daughter, who then alerted authorities. Josef Fritzl remains in prison in Austria of this writing. He believes he should be freed, famously telling a judge: “I am just one man. But look inside the basements of other people… you would be surprised what you find!”
Glazed Ham with Dried Cherry Caramelized Onions
Perfect for a late lunch or dinner. This cooked, boneless ham is glazed with a mixture of honey, mustard and cider vinegar. Serve with sugar snap peas and roasted new potatoes.
spiced cherry bourbon glazed ham 98719 1
Yield: 10 servings
Ingredients
3 pounds cooked boneless ham
4 tablespoons honey, divided use
1 tablespoon stone-ground mustard
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
5 medium onions, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup dried tart cherries
1/3 cup cider vinegar
5 medium onions, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 cup almonds, sliced or slivered and toasted
Instructions
Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Place ham on rack in shallow baking pan and roast 45 minutes to 1 hour or until a meat thermometer registers 140 degrees F, about 15 to 18 minutes per pound.
In a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons honey, 1 teaspoon cider vinegar and mustard. Brush ham with glaze during the last 5 minutes of baking.
Sauté onions over medium heat in a Dutch oven in butter for 12 to 15 minutes or until onions are just tender, stirring occasionally.
Stir in dried cherries, 1/3 cup cider vinegar, 2 tablespoons honey and 1/2 teaspoon cardamom. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Stir in toasted almonds.
Psychopaths say “um” more frequently in order to appear like a normal person.
It is incredibly easy to pass a Polygraph Test if you trick yourself into thinking that everything is fine and that everything you say is the truth, no matter what.
When you lie, you may shake your head. This is your body saying that it doesn’t believe you.
If someone accuses you and threatens you about a wrongdoing relentlessly, you will eventually find that it is in your best interest to fess up to the crime, making you guilty of something you never did. This is a minor form of brainwashing.
The closer you are in a relationship, the more you can read the other’s mind.
We disregard our morals if a person of higher power takes responsibility for your actions. Essentially just obeying authority.
1/5 people in France have depression, making it the saddest country in the world.
It is impossible to stay angry at a loved one. If you are able to do so for more than 3 days, then you may not love them.
You never truly value a moment before it becomes a distant memory.
Crying reduces stress and causes you to feel better.
The people you most often think about are the ones you love or the ones who cause you pain.
Music can bend and shape the way you see the world, or life in general.
Your favorite songs are decided by the emotional events you attach to it.
Narcissists think they’re brilliant while most have a below-average IQ.
Long periods of isolation may cause you to hallucinate, but they consist of mostly auditory hallucinations.
Ignorance of your feelings causes them to swell and essentially just take over your thoughts.
Fast-thinkers tend to have sloppy handwriting. Thoughts are fleeting, so they must be written down almost immediately.
When choosing a romantic partner, look for how they treat their inferiors or pets. That says a lot about their nature.
Speaking other languages may cause someone to shift their personality as well. (I am more secluded when speaking Spanish and more confident when I speak Italian.)
We care more about the death of one than the death of many. It feels more personal when one human dies, yet when multiple perish, we feel as we don’t know any of them.
Some people just love to see you angry. The solution? Relax the muscles in your face and watch as theirs visibly deflates.
We believe what we WANT to believe.
Extensive loneliness is just as bad as smoking 15 cigars.
The human brain is always searching for a problem or a flaw. Perfection is always key for many, and some just can’t let it go.
The more power you gain, the more empathy you lose.
My First Week in China
What is the craziest thing a car salesman said to you?
My husband took me to Silver Spring to buy a 2 door Ford Explorer back in the 90s.
It was really late at night (11 pm) and we barely got the title to the car given to us before they had to close.
We were told to come by the next day after work to finish up some of the other paperwork.
When we arrived the next day, the salesman told us he had made a mistake.
He had forgotten to add taxes to the price of the car he sold us. So we owed them an additional $1000.
We were tapped out and couldn’t afford another $1000. I told him to take the car back.
The salesman lost his cool and started screaming at my husband.
He insisted we pay this extra $1000 or he would call the police on us.
My husband stood up and they went nose to nose. Hubby called his bluff and invited him to call the police. We already had the pink slip (title). There was nothing he could do about it.
The salesman turned beet red and started hurling personal insults.
We were in a private room but I’m positive the entire showroom floor heard the commotion. It was that loud.
I plastered myself against the wall, as I feared their proximity would escalate to either physical violence or a stroke.
The salesman finally stepped back, adjusted his tie and became silent.
He realized he wasn’t getting any more money from us.
He announced, “Never mind. I’ll just get it from some other customer later on.”
His callousness in thrusting his mistake onto the next unsuspecting customer took me aback.
No wonder car salesmen have such a bad reputation.
Prof. Mearsheimer REVEALS: the FATE of Humanity May Hang on the 2024 US and European Elections
In this video, Prof. John Mearsheimer discusses the results of recent European elections, public vs. elite opinion on Ukraine, the divided European Parliament, country-specific analysis of France and Germany, the importance of the US election perspectives, Biden vs. Trump foreign policy approach, Russian strategy, and internal NATO divisions.
From: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)To: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)Time/Date: 5:36pm, July 18, 2024Subject: This weekendHey Andy,Just letting you know that I can’t make your BBQ this weekend. I was looking forward to having a few beers with you and the guys and maybe playing a few hands of poker once the eating is done, but I have to head to Albany in the morning.Remember my Uncle Arthur? Don’t worry, I don’t either. (Well, a little.) Anyway, he passed away a few days ago and his sister – my Aunt Bonnie out in Wisconsin – contacted me this morning to inform me that he left “certain assets” to me in his will. Most intriguing! I won’t know the details for a while but Bonnie begged me to go to his house in Albany right away to take care of his cats and locate some important documents in his library. (My recently-deceased uncle who named me in his will was wealthy enough to have a personal library? The plot thickens…)Anyway, I’m packing a bag and planning to stay up there for a little while to help manage affairs at the house and work with Bonnie on the local funeral arrangements while she lines up a flight over the next few days. Not much else to do at the moment as I await my next work assignment but I should be back by this time next week. In the meantime, you know how to reach me. Tell the boys I said hola.- Jamie—————————————————-
From: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)
To: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)
Time/Date: 7:48pm, July 18, 2024
Subject: Re: This weekend
Hey Jamie,
Sorry you can’t make it this weekend. Me and the guys will look forward to the next poker game after you score your big inheritance. Crazy news, man. Barely known rich uncle dies and leaves you a possible fortune? The stuff of legends…or daydreams? LOL. Anyway, good luck there. (Don’t forget your old college roommate when you strike it rich!)
See you when you get back. Talk soon man.
Andy
—————————————————-
From: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)
To: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)
Time/Date: 6:12pm, July 20, 2024
Subject: Re: This weekend
Hey Andy,
Greetings from gloomy Albany! Hasn’t stopped raining since I got here. Also, I’m fairly certain these cats are plotting my demise. Other than that, things are fine and the house is basically a smallish mansion.
Listen to this, while searching for the documents that my Aunt Bonnie asked me to find for her in the library I found some really interesting old books. I think we might have some pretty rare first editions here, plus some other really strange stuff. I need to do a little web research tonight to try to figure out what I’m looking at but I’ll let you know.
As a newly-minted Ivy League literature professor I thought you would be interested. Maybe I will come home with a copy of In Cold Blood signed by Capote for you?
– Jamie
—————————————————-
From: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)
To: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)
Time/Date: 11:22am, July 21, 2024
Subject: Re: This weekend
Hey Jamie,
Very interesting! Bring home a signed Capote first edition for me and we can totally forget about that $80 Venmo request I sent you for golf last week. Seriously though, that sounds really amazing. Looking forward to hearing more.
Andy
p.s. The guys all say hello and they missed your “easy money” at the poker game last night. (Their words, not mine.)
—————————————————-
From: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)
To: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)
Time/Date: 9:52pm, July 22, 2024
Subject: Re: This weekend
Andy,
In addition to Capote’s In Cold Blood, so far I have already found four more signed first edition iconic novels; Heart of Darkness, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Illustrated Man and – hold on to your hat here – A Tale of Two Cities! No telling if the autographs are legit but I don’t know why my uncle would be hoarding counterfeit-signed copies in his home library. More research necessary here but I have attached photos of the covers, bindings and the author-signed pages in each.
The library has floor-to-ceiling shelves full of books on three walls and I have only checked out about a third of them so far. Stay tuned!
– Jamie
—————————————————-
From: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)
To: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)
Time/Date: 9:36am, July 23, 2024
Subject: Re: This weekend
Hey Jamie,
Okay listen. Just give me the Dickens novel and not only will I cancel the $80 Venmo request, but golf is on me for the rest of the year. I think that’s a fair deal.
Seriously man, I just did a quick bit of Googling here and those books do look like legit first edition copies and the signatures look right too. Usually people take these sort of things to Sotheby’s or Christie’s, where they employ rare book experts who can authenticate them properly. Even if they’re not going to be put up for sale this is probably a good idea, just to officially document these historical items.
Can’t wait to hear what you find next. I’m seriously on the edge of my seat here!
Andy
—————————————————-
From: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)
To: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)
Time/Date: 11:45pm, July 24, 2024
Subject: Okay, this is getting weird now…
Andy,
Forget about the signed first editions. I am into some strange new terrain here.
Yesterday I found a number of extremely interesting books way up on one of the top shelves I hadn’t explored yet. Listen to this. I found a copy of For Whom The Bell Tolls by William Faulkner. Yes, William Faulkner! And it wasn’t just a different author’s name transposed onto the cover. It was the same third-person omniscient narrative of the Spanish Civil War, only it wasn’t written in the short staccato sentence styles and brief paragraphing of Hemingway but the long, leisurely prose of Faulkner. I’m not even a fan of Faulkner and I couldn’t put it down!
Similarly, I also found a copy of The Catcher in the Rye by Dalton Trumbo and The Iliad by EE Cummings! (Seriously, I can’t make this up.) Still so many more books to look through. I am simply overwhelmed here. Stay tuned.
– Jamie
—————————————————-
From: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)
To: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)
Time/Date: 7:51am, July 25, 2024
Subject: Re: Okay, this is getting weird now…
Jamie,
Okay. You’re just fucking with me now, right? You had me going with the thought of all those rare, signed first editions, but that’s at least within my fathomable universe. What you just described has to be a joke. Come on, man.
What about the funeral plans? Isn’t that a big reason why you are there?
Andy
—————————————————-
From: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)
To: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)
Time/Date: 11:56pm, July 28, 2024
Subject: Okay, this is getting weird now…
Hey Andy,
You’re right. I have been negligent in my funeral arrangement duties of late. I accidentally let my phone battery die out, not sure when. The truth is that I haven’t slept much in the last few days. This continues to get more and more fascinating.
And no, I wasn’t kidding about those strange books I mentioned in my last message. But never mind that. I am into some truly bizarre territory now. I found some old 3-ring binders filled with dot matrix printed files listing the daily opening and closing numbers of each of the stocks contained in the Dow Jones Industrial Index running from January 1, 1977 through December 31, 2026. Andy, it has accurate stock performance data through the end of 2026! I’m sure you think I am kidding again (or maybe just crazy) but I have been watching those stock prices over the last few days and my God man they are accurate right down to the last decimal point!
You think I’m joking? Here’s a random selection for tomorrow for you to check out. Merck & Co. (ticker symbol NYSE: MRK) will open the trading day at $154.34 and it will close at $156.12 per share with a total of 7.126 million shares in overall trading volume. I’m sure you won’t but you can literally bet the house on it. I guarantee it.
– Jamie
—————————————————-
From: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)
To: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)
Time/Date: 9:41pm, July 29, 2024
Subject: Re: Okay, this is getting weird now…
Jamie,
I don’t know what to say at this point. I have been thinking about this since the market closed about 5 hours ago and I have no idea how you were able to make that prediction with such accuracy. I would call it dumb luck but I actually opened up Excel and took the time to do a little statistical modeling and what I found was that a stock prediction with that level of precision is basically like calling out the next day’s lottery numbers. Not quite that improbable but close enough that I am simply baffled.
I need answers, because I just can’t believe you found an old set of stock market printouts from almost 50 years ago that can perfectly predict what will happen tomorrow. I’ve tried to call you several times but it goes straight to vmail every time and your mailbox is full. You gotta get back to me asap. I don’t think I’m going to be able to sleep until you do.
Funeral plans? Still a concern?
Andy
—————————————————-
From: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)
To: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)
Time/Date: 2:13am, August 1, 2024
Subject: Whole new level
Hey Andy,
Forget about the stock market. Forget about the rare first edition signed books. Those things are trivial. At least for now.
I just found a medical manual that seems to contain advanced diagnostic techniques and curative/surgical treatments for most common, and some uncommon, forms of cancer and various other deadly diseases. I am only about halfway through it and without the benefit of a medical background it is taking me forever to research the basic terminology needed just to understand this even on a rudimentary level, but if it’s true it’s an incredible discovery and I owe it to the world to get this into the right hands once I can at least confirm its basic legitimacy.
I can’t say when I will be able to call you or even write back since my time is so limited now. I don’t see this changing anytime soon. Who knows what I will find next? So much more to still be explored. I can’t worry about the funeral arrangements right now either. Before my phone died I got a message from my Aunt Bonnie saying that she had some health problems that were preventing her from flying in. I can’t remember the details but that’s just going to have to wait for now. I have far more important concerns at this point.
– Jamie
p.s. I have discovered a number of old hand-written notes, presumably penned by my late Uncle Arthur, warning anyone who comes across these documents against sharing them in any way. The writing is rambling and paranoid in nature and some of the warnings give me pause but how could anyone possibly just sit on all this? It would be immoral, no?
—————————————————-
From: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)
To: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)
Time/Date: 8:51am, August 2, 2024
Subject: Re: Whole new level
Hey Jamie,
I just hope you are all right. Maybe it’s time to take a break? You were supposed to be back here a week ago. Are the cats okay at least?
Andy
—————————————————-
From: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)
To: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)
Time/Date: 3:45am, August 5, 2024
Subject: Re: Whole new level
Hi Andy,
I let the cats out a few days ago when all of the remaining cat food ran out. Don’t think I’ve seen them since. Not sure. They should be okay. It’s summer.
Dude, you wouldn’t even believe what I’m looking at now. No time to explain but I will get back to you when I can. Not planning to head home anytime soon.
– Jamie
p.s. Please see the attached file containing stock market data for the next two years. I just ask that you don’t share this with anyone else. “Law of Unintended Consequences” and all that.
—————————————————-
From: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)
To: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)
Time/Date: 7:51am, August 6, 2024
Subject: Re: Whole new level
Jamie,
I‘m really getting worried about you man. Please call me.
Your Friend,
Andy
—————————————————-
From: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)
To: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)
Time/Date: 4:37pm, January 1, 2029
Subject: Re: Whole new level
Andy,
Happy New Year! Don’t worry about me. I am well. Not sure if I will ever see “you” again (that is, the “present day” you) but that is primarily a temporal and theoretical question. I have a set of guidelines to follow and I will soon find out where all the boundaries lay. I will fill you in (whatever version of “you” that might be) whenever I see you next!
Stay healthy. It might be a while…for you anyway.
– Jamie
—————————————————-
From: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)
To: James Benson (jben****@gmail.com)
Time/Date: 7:01am, August 9, 2024
Subject: Re: Whole new level
Jamie,
How did you change the timestamp on your email like that? Seriously, stop messing with me. What’s going on? I am really having a hard time with all of this. Can we please just talk?
Andy
p.s. They announced that a potential breakthrough cure had been found for various types of cancer and other diseases on the news today. I really don’t know what to think at this point.
p.p.s. Thanks so much for the stock market data you forwarded. I plan to pay off my mortgage before the end of this month!
—————————————————-
From: mailer-daemon@gmail.com
To: Anders Westbrook (ande****@cornell.edu)
Time/Date: 7:02am, August 9, 2024
Subject: Delivery Failure Notice: Re: Whole new level
Sorry, we were unable to deliver your message to: <jben****@gmail.com>
The email account that you tried to reach does not exist. Please try double-checking the recipient’s email address for typos and try again.
Does your family have a legend that sounds near impossible?
During the Depression, my grandfather took one of the very few jobs that paid well – because it was so hard to find someone to do it. He drove a gravel truck up the side of the mountain, every morning, to take the day’s allotment of dynamite and nitro to the quarry. It was a one lane track with a lot of curves but not enough switchbacks, so it was very steep. It was barely a road and almost not quite wide enough for the truck.
There were two trucks, and the way the system worked, every morning a truck went up the mountain, and was sent back down in the evening full of gravel. Once the day truck was at the bottom of the mountain, the night truck went up with their load of dynamite for the night shift. In the morning, it came down before the day truck went up.
One day, signals got crossed. A truck that looked like the night truck pulled into the lot, and my grandfather saw it, so he started up the mountain track. About halfway up, he heard a horn blasting and realized it was the night truck, signaling that his brakes had failed. That happened at times, and was dangerous, but usually the truck would make it to the bottom and roll to a stop. Only THIS time, my grandfather’s truck was on the road. There was nowhere to pull off or turn around … so he laid on the horn of HIS truck, to tell the other driver he was there.
He tried backing down the mountain, but that wasn’t really going to be fast enough. Realizing there was no hope for it – and not wanting to be near the truck when the impact came (and the dynamite blew) he jumped out of the truck and started running down the mountain.
He had been a track star when in college, and before the Depression hit, had been a track coach for the local college and high school, so he was in shape and known to be a fast runner.
According to the story, my (atheist) grandfather learned to pray on his way down the mountain. He loudly promised the Lord that if he was not killed that day, that he would attend church faithfully for the rest of his life. As he came off the mountain and was on flat land, he realized he had not heard the expected explosion, but was still running hard. So he changed his prayer to say he would attend church once a week for the rest of his life. Then as he got closer to town, it was to attend church for ten years. By the time he reached the church in the center of town, he “bargined down” to attending church for the rest of the year.
He was praying so loud to the Lord that everyone he passed heard his promises. Finally, he reached the church and collapsed. (Still no explosion). By some stroke of luck (or as the townspeople would say – by the Grace of God) the driver of the other truck had been able to use the gearshifts and emergency brakes and managed to stop his truck before it could ram the day truck.
Granddad reverted to being an atheist almost immediately, however my grandmother was a formidable woman. He had made his promise to the Lord in public and it was witnessed by the community. She would not allow him to back out of the promise.
So, every Sunday, for the rest of the year, as soon as services were done, my grandfather would round up the oldest sons, and they worked on the church. They replaced the roof, repaired the stairs in the back, painted the church and school, and basically did all kinds of maintenance work. Every Sunday. The last thing they did was carve new end pieces for all the pews, and installed a prayer rail so that elderly or infirm members could hold it when then knelt for communion.
After it was done, he still did not attend church, but any time something needed to be repaired, the pastor would call and remind him of his promise to the Lord.
I Left America And You Should Too. Here’s Why !
The cost of living is unbearable in the USA. There is no reason at all why you should stay there.
This is a MUST watch video. This is really good. He talks about FAMILY and lifestyle. Loving and caring families.
What is the coolest line a pilot has said to the passengers?
This was a flight from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. For those of you unfamiliar with the geography of that area, that place is entirely void of any bodies of water (or at least our flight path was). The pilot was a pretty hilarious guy.
During the safety presentation:
“In the highly likely event of a water landing during our trip over the Mojave Desert, you can use the seat cushion as a flotation device.”
“Okay, I know most of you have got your seatbelts on already, take them off again so I can feel like my safety presentation actually did something.”
“If you are traveling with a child or someone who acts like one, please secure your mask first before assisting others.”
And after that:
“Hey people in the front, would you please sit down for a moment? I’m trying to back up here.”
“The policy on this flight is no smoking indoors. We have plenty space on the two wings if you would like to smoke.”
Mediterranean Chopped Salad
Try packing this salad into a Mason jar, and take your salad to go. Add dressing immediately before eating.
Easy Mediterranean Chopped Salad 3
TIPS
Use a mixture of red and yellow cherry tomatoes for added interest. Prepare with canned red or white kidney beans instead of the chickpeas if desired.
Substitute fresh basil for the parsley, or skip the fresh herbs and make dressing using 1 to 2 tablespoons prepared basil pesto. Dressing can be made with fresh lemon juice instead of the red wine vinegar, or with a combination of both ingredients.
Ingredients
6 cups packed chopped romaine lettuce hearts
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1 cup chopped cucumber
1 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup pitted quartered Kalamata olives
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon each finely chopped fresh parsley and chives
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 hard-boiled large eggs, cooled to room temperature, peeled and quartered
Easy Mediterranean Chopped Salad
Instructions
Combine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, chickpeas and olives in large bowl. Top with feta cheese.
Whisk together vinegar, parsley, chives and mustard in small bowl. Add olive oil slowly, whisking until combined.
Toss salad lightly with dressing and DIVIDE evenly among 4 dinner plates. Top with eggs.
Prep: 20 min | Yield: 4 servings
Easy 12-Minute Method for Hard-Boiled Eggs: Place eggs in saucepan large enough to hold them in a single layer. Add enough cold water to cover eggs by 1 inch. Heat over high heat just to boiling. Remove from heat. Cover pan. Let eggs stand in hot water for 12 minutes for large eggs. Drain. Cool completely under cold running water or shock eggs in a bowl of ice water.
You can refrigerate unpeeled eggs for several days if not using immediately. Hard-boiled eggs are easiest to peel right after cooling.
Easy Mediterranean Chopped Salad 4
They have managed decline to unacceptable levels to average citizens
The smarter you become, the crazier you’ll seem to “dumb” people.
Nobody literally wants you to tell them the truth. Rather, we all want you to reaffirm our beliefs.
Today’s saint was yesterday’s sinner.
Most people spend a lifetime trying to be like someone who is trying to be like someone else.
“Reality is for people who can’t face drugs and drugs are for people who can’t face reality!” —Genius Turner
You know a man is really smart when you forget to notice how cheap his clothes are.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” —Albert Einstein
Your own siblings will “sell you out” if the price is right.
You might as well stop caring what others think about you because they seldom do! After all, everybody is knee-deep in their own troubles.
A wise person knows: if you think you can, you can; if you think you can’t, you can’t! Either way—you’re right.
Being normal has become abnormal.
If by chance you browse the Law Book, notice the fine print that states: Here lies one law for the rich and another for the poor!
“Genius is 1% talent and 99% hard work…” —Albert Einstein
Few people are wise enough to recognize when the price of money costs too much! Be wise, then.
A heterosexual telling a homosexual that being gay is “wrong” is no different from someone born right-handed telling a left-handed person to write with the “right” hand.
How can you ever declare to “know someone” when most of us have yet to Know Thyself?
If you become too successful, your own friends will succumb to jealousy and envy.
Because a billionaire is, by definition, equivalent to 1,000 millionaires—in light of world hunger—every billionaire is by definition selfish.
The only thing separating the dreamer from the dream is a bridge called WORK!
Last but not least: you might as well be yourself, dahling, because everyone else is already taken!
Why I left America and why you should too!
If you think that the USA is the “best” then you really need to step outside and see just how ridiculous the USA actually is.
Spending just to live. It’s the American way.
What’s the most expensive thing you’ve gotten for an insanely cheap price?
I once went to a property sellout auction, when a three ton truck came up for sale, the auctioneer wanted to start the bidding off at $5000, he couldn’t get a bid, so kept reducing the starting price by $100 at a time, still no bids so I sang out $100 dollars, he ignored me at first I sang out again so he started at $100, another bloke thought it was to cheap so he also started bidding, he gave up when it got to $1000, so I bought three a ton truck for $1000, a bit later I felt a tap on my shoulder and a chap asked me if I was the one that bought the truck I said yes I was, and he asked me if I would take $3000 for it? BLOODY OATH! so I made $2000 profit without doing a thing,
one other thing, at the same auction, the auctioneer, held up a jar of pebbles’ I recognised them as sapphires, Because I used to dig for them as a hobby, also no bid, I got it for 5 dollars, I took it with me the next time I went to the gem fields, and took them to an Indian buyer, they were only small stones but he still gave 500 dollars for them, so that was also a good profit margin, from 5 to 500, not bad at all.
What is the most satisfying passive-aggressive thing you have ever done to a really mean or rude person?
This occurred while I was still married to my second husband in New Hampshire. We lived on top of a hill we called “Heck’s Hill” and for many years, ours was the only house within several miles.
A builder in town, known for his arrogance, bought a huge parcel of land behind and beside us on the right. His intention was to build a road around us, ending in a cul de sac to the right of our hill, where he would build eight homes.
Since the road would go up the left side and wind around behind our property before continuing on to the cul de sac, the builder claimed an easement for some of our property for a cut through the hill to make it level enough for his road. Otherwise, he would have to curve his road much more to go further out away from our hill for level ground and it would cost him more.
We were told by the Planning Board this would take about 150′ from the back of our property to allow for the slope. Then his road would be cut into our hill with a 25′ drop. It seemed like a lot, but we had to agree according to the Planning Board.
Our home was totally surrounded by woods, including the trees to be removed for the road. Most of the trees were old, huge, and established. Just inside the tree line on top of our hill in back, was a rock/stone wall, which went almost entirely around our home. The stone wall was only a couple of feet from our in ground pool. In the photo, you can see the concrete deck that goes around the pool and under the slide, and just outside of the deck, you see the dark rock/stone wall. You can also see the wall to the left in the photo behind the cabana and house.
“In the State of New Hampshire, it is against the law to destroy, or remove, an existing stone or rock wall as they are deemed to be historical.”
On the day the bulldozer and other machinery arrived to make the cut into our property, the bulldozer operator came to the house to let me know he would start cutting trees in an hour and if we had a pet, to make sure it was kept indoors.
When they left, curious me went out to the back of our property where they had placed orange ribbons around the trees to be bulldozed. Two of the largest trees were within a foot of the rock/stone wall and only a few feet from the pool. The dozers had already taken three trees down they weren’t approved to remove which used to be beside the white birch in the photo.
Horrified, I called the builder on his cell phone and told him that was NOT what we had agreed to when we met with the Planning Board —it was not even close. I told him, per our agreement, okayed by the Planning Board, he would have to move his road further out, because he was NOT approved to make his cut that close to the existing stone/rock wall.
(By already taking out the three wrongly marked trees, and more that were planned, it was obvious he would take part of the stone wall, too). His plans would make the 25′ cut down to his road within a foot of the rock/stone wall —we would have a 25′ drop off (a cliff) there? I had eleven grandchildren that also swam in our pool!
He said, “Plans change. The additional feet of moving the road further out would make it cost prohibitive. Get over it, lady. The road is going in where I say it’s going in.”
I told the builder we were going back in front of the Town Planning Board and let them decide. We would leave it to them to make the determination, because there was no way my husband and I would allow the builder to take even more than the 150′ easement just on his say-so.
He said the Planning Board wasn’t going to be meeting for another three weeks and he didn’t have time to take shit like this from me —he had a job to do and the equipment was already there. Then he hung up on me.
Now I was pissed. I went inside, got a rifle, loaded it, and planted myself on the rock/stone wall behind our pool and I waited with the rifle laying across my lap.
When the drivers came back, I told them to get off our property or I would shoot. They complained and I told them to go call their arrogant employer and tell him I was going to sit right where I was until the Planning Board met and I didn’t care how long it took.
I’m normally an introvert, but I said it with all the bravado I could muster. (Oh boy, I was thinking. The police will be here any minute and I’m going to be in so much trouble …)
No police ever came and when the builder called the Planning Board to complain, they put an immediate hold on the whole project. They decided to convene and review both sides of the agreement again in two days’ time.
The Planning Board heard both sides and the arrogant bully was forced to move his road further out.
Satisfying … oh yes, it was very satisfying.
I Left America & I Don’t Plan To EVER Go Back !
What was the most satisfying way you saw a defense get derailed in a courtroom?
The defendant was guilty. The mountain of evidence against him was the size of Everest. He was a white-collar criminal — an educated professional with a high six-figure income who apparently believed the criminal laws only applied to the “little people.”
He refused to hire a lawyer to conduct his defense, although he had been charged with a major felony, and insisted on representing himself. He expected to succeed. From what I saw of the guy, it looked like he was so accustomed to always having people kowtow to him and getting his own way, it never occurred to him that his experience in a federal courthouse might be different.
The guy adopted a defense strategy of trying to bully the judge into dismissing the case.
For more than a month, he was the most belligerent, obnoxious, uncooperative defendant imaginable. The only reason he didn’t get thrown into jail for contempt of court was because his case had been assigned to the nicest, most patient judge in the courthouse.
The defendant had also made several requests to have his case transferred to a different judge.
Although judges rarely reward obnoxious defendants by granting their motions to have the case transferred to a different judge, the nice judge decided to make an exception in this defendant’s case. She “rewarded” the defendant’s bad behavior by granting his motion and intentionally transferring the case to the toughest judge in the courthouse.
Shortly thereafter, the defendant received a lesson in some of the strategies no-nonsense judges use to deal with defendants who try to turn the courtroom into a three-ring circus. The guy sat like a statue through most of his first hearing with the tough judge and then decided to hire a lawyer.
Moral of the story: Be careful what you ask for. You may get it.
Graham Handcock
“everyone will be WIPED out in 21 days”
What has been your biggest surprise while being married to someone?
My parents did not have a good marriage. My father was cold, distant and absent. My mother was a stereotypical 90s Indian wife who served food to him and picked up after him. They didn’t communicate, didn’t understand each other. My father outbursts would often result in throwing plates across the room while my mother cleaned every bit of food off the floor without saying a word. Later, she confided in me that she was scared. She didn’t want him to cross boundaries and hit her. Keeping silence was her plea. Needless to say, I grew up with very distorted sense of marriage.
I jumped from one relationship to another all my life. When things got tough I moved to another until I met my husband. My husband is an American and grew up in Texas. We were in a long distance relationship for 4–5 years until we decided to get married. In the beginning of our relationship, I was skeptical. When I realized I had feelings for him, I did what I know best. I started to push him away but he stayed. Regardless of being in a long distance relationship I never had to second guess his feelings. He was always there, emotionally if not physically.
Once we got married, I kept waiting for the marriage to crash and burn, kept waiting for the pain to return which I’m so used to, but it never happened. He made sure of it. My husband did everything he could to make me feel comfortable in the new country. He even learnt to cook Indian food so I don’t feel home sick. Being in a new country where I knew no one, isolated and away from friends and family took a toll on me. I have been dealing with depression and severe anxiety for years but he stood by me through it all. He accepted me for who I am without trying to change anything about me. Every time we had an argument, I waited to see glimpse of my father in him but he proved me wrong each time.
I always thought that marriage makes one miserable. I once found a poem written by my father dedicated to my mother. I couldn’t believe it. I had to ask my mother several times to be sure because they were never happy, never in love, as long as I could remember. That was the perception of marriage I grew up with until this beautiful man walked in my life and changed it forever. I’m still haunted by the dysfunctional marriage my parents had but then I look at him and know everything will be okay.
As the oldest son of my father, when his father died… my grandfather willed to me his fancy mantle clock. This was a beautiful bronze statue of a reclining woman Baroque style next to a very ornate clock. I got it when I was 11 years old, and my father decided to make it the “family clock” by placing it on our living room mantle. Telling me, of course, that when I get older and married I can put that clock into my own house for my old children to inherit.
mantle clock
When my paternal grandmother died, I was willed her cuckoo clock. She picked it up when she was traveling from Poland when she was 16 years old, and it represented her new life as a woman. She wanted me to have it as I was, at that time, just getting started off in life.
cuckoo clock
My mother bought a huge grandfather clock. And up to when she died, and in her will, that clock was to be mien and to be passed on to my children. She was adamant on this, and really wanted this grandfather clock to develop a legacy.
B6Omd7mCAAAo5 M
So what actually happened?
Well, my mother died and there was a battle for her estate. I tried to prevent the looting by my siblings, but I ended up in jail and couldn’t do anything.
My brother took the mantle clock apologetically. And my father was there when he took it, and he looked at me bewildered and said “Hey! That’s your clock. What’s going on?” And, my brother said “no it isn’t. I was mom’s and it sat in her living room for decades. And so now it’s mine.” And my crestfallen father was aghast in how bellicose and direct he was.
My cousin took the cuckoo clock, and when I asked her to return it, she said that she had already sold it on ebay. And that there was nothing that I could do.
My youngest sister and her husband carted off the grandfather clock and they too sold it off. And they offered no explanation, no excuse and no justification. It was “it’s mine now”.
And that is what happened to my family legacy though the clocks of time.
Today…
What are some bad experiences you had while traveling to another country?
Oh boy…I travelled to Mexico City in Nov 2017 and I committed a mistake of asking direction from the police Officer at the airport. I didn’t know Spanish and the officer didn’t know English. He asked for my passport and then called another officer. They discussed something in Spanish and after wasting a good amount of 15 minutes instructed me to follow them. They took me to the washroom. I thought there must be a secret door to their office but to my disappointment it was just a toilet. The police officer instructed me to OPEN.
I asked, OPEN what?? A first thought came to my mind that he is asking me to open my pants but thank God he clarified that he wanted me to open my bag. He started checking my bag and somehow found the 1200 USD that my office paid for the official work.
He started asking for money in Spanish. Though I understood it the first time but still I tried to remain ignorant. For the next 10 minutes, I was only saying ‘No Spanish’ and he was trying to make me understand like a monkey that he wants money. All this shit was happening inside a toilet. Then I gave up.
I asked how much.He said $100 for each officer. I came in Indian mode and started bargaining. I started acting like a hungry person so that he gets frustrated and leaves me but man..he was adamant. Finally, I bring him down to $20 each. I paid the extortion money and ran as fast as I could.
The only lesson I learnt is that this symbol is common irrespective of the language, colour, race or country.
Those who follow the trend will prosper; those who go against it will perish.
China’s national reunification is the overwhelming and irresistible trend of history.
‘Taiwan independence’ means war, and division brings no peace.
Shouldering the sacred mission of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, the Chinese PLA is fully prepared and stays highly vigilant.
We will take resolute actions to smash any ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist attempts and thwart any foreign interference.”
main qimg 75fa044799b70381ab2301305b6ac92f
Excerpt from remarks by Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Senior Colonel Wu Qian at the Regular Press Conference, May 30, 2024.
Isn’t re-electing Biden kind of like the Titanic backing up into the iceberg again?
You know, as a non-American, I find it pretty morbidly fascinating how the Republicans shamelessly attack Biden and the Democrats with exactly the kinds of things they are the most guilty of themselves.
It’s incredibly cringe- like watching a morbidly obese person on a mobility scooter riding around attacking mildly overewight people for being “fat”. There’s nothing funny about watching that level of poor self-awareness.
I continuously hear Trump call Biden “crooked Joe Biden” when it is he, and not Biden, who is the first former president to be charged with a bucket of crimes.
He calls Biden “Sleepy Joe” when he can’t keep his own eyes open during his own trial.
He says Biden is senile and incapable of coherent speech when he was the one sent to take a cognitive assessment and his own speeches are borderline gibberish formed of rambling digressions set in the vocabulary of a slow 5th grader.
He calls the Democrats “extremists” when he is the one who incited an insurrection.
He calls Biden “the worst president in history” when, by any reasonable yardstick, Trump is the worst, most incomptent, mentally-unstable leader since Idi Amin Dada.
He accuses the Democrats of ruining America’s reputation in the world and turning the country into a joke, while the world remembers him making a fool of himself at the UN, making puppy-dog eyes at Kim Jong-Un (who he still can’t resist praising) and stuffing himself into the worst tailored tux seen since Laurel and Hardy parodied a night at the opera, to meet, and disgust, the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Honestly, everything the Republicans say is a poorly-disguised self-own. Almost nothing they accuse the other side of is not an outrageous “tu quoque” at themselves!
People laugh but I find this level of mass delusion genuinely alarming.
“NATO is cooking up something big” and Putin is ready for all out war | Redacted News
OMG!
What was the most illegal thing you have ever done on a computer?
Originally Answered: What is the most illegal thing you have ever done with your computer?
As a kid, I liked to hack. Not for doing damage or stealing, but to play on big computers.
There was a lawyer’s office in the town center – a big chain. And walking past one evening, I saw a modem with a rotary phone on top. In the U.K. it was common to have the phone number of the phone written on a piece of paper in the center of the dial.
Heart racing, I climbed through the plants outside the window to get a better look. I wrote down the number.
I got home, and dialed it.
It rang, and rang. No answer.
So they called out on it.
Next day I called their head office, and asked the receptionist if Mike was still in charge of the I.T. department.
“No, Sir. I have never heard of a “Mike””
“My memory! Shameful! So, what is his name?”
“Why, it’s Peter; I can connect you.”
“No need, I had the wrong guy, the wrong office maybe. Thank you for your time”.
I called the modem number again, only this was also during office hours.
“Err, hello?” Said a surprised worker as he answered the phone that never rang.
“Hi, this is Peter at head office. What the hell is going on there?”
“Err, what?”
“Every time you log in today, you delete 4 files. Some are files not even assigned to your branch.”
“Errr, what??”
“*Sigh* ok, let’s get you out of trouble. When did you log in last?”
“Oh, ok, thanks. Err, about an hour ago”
“Right, what number did you dial in on?”
“Err, the usual one”
“Obviously, but there are 6 “usual” numbers. I am getting you out of trouble, can’t you save me from having to look that up?”
“Oh, right, sorry, errr 555-555-5555”
“Perfect. And your username is?”
“James.Smith”
“That’s great, what password are you using?”
“Err, we are not meant to give that out”
“I know, that’s why I called on this number. I can fax the request, you can fax the answer, and I will have to report that you slowed down my work at the partner’s meeting I have to be at in 3 minutes. James, I am just trying to help you out here, save me some paper work, oil the wheels…”
“Ohh. Gotcha. Thank you. It’s ‘some-password'”
“Thanks, right, I gotta go fix it”.
That night, after playing with the system, I left it printing “your security needs serious attention.”.
It would have printed until out of paper.
There were others, but I enjoyed that one, the simple pleasures 🙂
At that time, my actions were not criminal. Today, the same thing would be illegal.
Stout-Braised Corned Beef Tacos
with Fiery Cabbage Slaw
A great Mexican twist to corned beef is an excellent choice for Saint Patrick’s Day if you are looking for something new and unusual to serve. In addition to the regular instructions for a slow cooker, directions are also given for making this in an Instant Pot.
Rub corned beef brisket with package of pickling seasonings.
Place onion, carrot, celery, garlic, beef broth, tomato paste, brown sugar and black pepper in a 4-1/2 to 5-1/2-quart slow cooker. Stir to combine.
Place Corned Beef, fat side up, on top of the vegetable mixture. Pour stout beer over brisket. Cover and cook on HIGH for 6 TO 7 hours or on LOW for 9 to 10 hours or until brisket is fork tender.
Remove corned beef and place on a cutting board, spooning a bit of the liquid over the top. Carve brisket into thin slices across the grain.
To make slaw, whisk together mayonnaise, vinegar, red pepper sauce, sugar, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add cabbage, carrot and green onions. Toss gently to combine.
Serve with beef in tortillas with Fiery Slaw. Garnish with toppings, as desired.
Pressure Cooker/Instant Pot
Rub Corned Beef Brisket with package of pickling seasonings.
Combine onion, carrot, celery, garlic, beef broth, tomato paste, brown sugar, and black pepper in the insert of the pressure cooker. Stir to combine.
Place Corned Beef, fat side up, on top of the vegetable mixture. Pour stout beer over brisket.
Seal lid and set unit to HIGH pressure for 90 minutes. Let pressure release naturally for 20 minutes, then manually release remaining pressure.
Remove corned beef and place on a cutting board, spooning a bit of the liquid over the top. Carve brisket into thin slices across the grain.
To make slaw, whisk together mayonnaise, vinegar, red pepper sauce, sugar, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add cabbage, carrot and green onions. Toss gently to combine.
Serve beef in tortillas with Fiery Slaw. Garnish with toppings, as desired.
Nutrition
Per serving: Calories 420; Total fat 24 g (Sat. fat 7g; Trans fat 0g); Cholest. 75mg; Sodium 1870mg; Total Carb. 24g; Fiber 2g; Total Sugars 9g; Protein 22g; Vit D (0% DV); Calcium (2% DV); Iron (15% DV); Potas. (10% DV)
Do you think the decline in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. is a temporary setback or a long-term trend?
This is the market warning TSMC about its long term prospects.
TSMC’ s casting its lot to decouple from China by abiding to all U.S. sanctions, committing $65 billion in three greenfield leading-edge fabs in Arizona to manufacture the most advanced chips in the U.S. and setting up new fabs in the E.U. and Japan.
These certainly look like they’re leaving the China market for SMIC to fill. And the market sees the SMIC is catching up. They’re now making 5-nm chips without the EUV machines.
Now even for an idiot, this is the question that TSMC must be pondering: Where the SHIT are they going to sell the chips their fabs in the U.S., E.U. and Japan will be making?
TSMC must know China is the market. And they’re making do with other technologies as Huawei is without the “advanced chips”.
And China is making fast progress at becoming self-sufficient in chips by building out the ecosystem for its own chip manufacturing infrastructure and experimenting new technologies. And if this were to play out, it is very likely that TSMC and ASML will be left out in the cold.
The market can see as a possible fate for these two titans of the chip industryi.
ASML is trying to hang on with its remaining business in China. The most telling how important China is despite the sanction going on its second year, China is still more important than all its other markets combined. The video is about their government now pushing back at U.S. pressure.
But this may be too late if China develops it own technologies and alternative to the ASML machines.
And lastly, it’s TSMC that is the most vulnerable. Yes, they’re the Numero uno and rule the industry but consider this – Apple accounted for $17.52 billion or 25% of TSMC’s total revenue in 2023. This company losing just one client automatically put it in the red in the industry where you’re as good as your last chip. And TSMC has now being all its egg with the U.S.!
Jeffrey Sachs: NATO In ‘Wartime Hallucination’ Mode! The Most TERRIBLE Offensive Is About To Happen
Why do hijras (eunuchs) look so scary and frighten even the bravest men?
I was in Kolkata when a terrified tamilian friend of my wife called to say a group of Hijras were outside their flat demanding money to bless their new born baby
I was the only man and was sent out to confront them
I had never felt more frightened in my life
There were 5–6 of them standing and demanding to bless the new born baby, sing and dance and get some money
Then I decided to talk to them
I didn’t know bengali that well so I asked them in Hindi what they wanted and they said they wanted to bless the baby and sing and dance and get money
I asked “How much money”
They said “500 Bucks”
This was 1994 and 500 Bucks wasn’t a small sum
I said “50” and expected a lot of yelling and shouting. Instead they asked how I could be so mean and how tough their life was
Suddenly it was a TN Traffic cop situation where a ₹50/- demand soon became a ₹5/- for a cup of tea (Old days, the 1990s)
We went back and forth and finally negotiated for ₹100/- and I stuck to ₹100/- and finally paid them from my own pocket to leave without any dance or song
I never got my money back
That lady thanked me and said she would pay me back but I never got the money back
Forget they are Hijras
Just talk to them like they are people and trust me it works
You get intimidated by the appearance and the voice and the social embarrassment but if you can stick to your guns, they are just people
Today in Bangalore, near Jayadeva Hospital road, suddenly they came and begged for money and before I could say no, my wife pushed a 20 into the hand of the Hijra to get rid of the embarrassment
Instead you could politely say “No”
You would have if this was a normal beggar
Just look at them as normal human beings and forget the clothes and the voices
Suddenly it feels pretty normal
Join us on our journey
What is the craziest thing you have ever said to your boss, with or without getting fired?
I have only been fired once. It was the worst job I have ever had. My father owned a car dealership, he told me that if I ever wanted to work for him, I had to learn the business somewhere else before I could come work for him. I had just graduated with an English degree and found a job selling cars.
All car salesman do not deserve the negative stigma that comes with the occupation, but there are many that do deserve the scorn. It is a complicated business. Pay is based on sales commissions. If you do not sell a car, you are given a weekly stipend that will be deducted from your commission when you finally do sell a car.
My first four months were great. I sold 8, 10, 12, 16 cars. Then my fifth month I sold 12 again. My boss made some comment about me slipping. The next month I sold 14, he still made comments about my not selling up to standards expected. There was a board with a list of all the salesman and the number of cars they had out in the Breakroom. Looking at the list, I was in the middle.
It was frustrating to have a boss giving me a hard time when it seemed he allowed others to perform at a lower level. When I came close to making a deal, the boss would refuse any negotiation offers from my customers. I was either selling cars at full price, or not at all. He was not helping me sell the car. My next month was the worst ever. We were three weeks in and I had sold only five cars.
The third Saturday of the month was a do or die day for me to make a sale and salvage my month. Saturdays are generally the best day in car sales. Even the worst salesman can sell a car on Saturday. This particular Saturday, I planned to sell two or three cars.
After our morning sales meeting, my boss said to me, “Can you come by my office?”
I followed him in and sat down across from him. He began by telling me how I started strong but had fallen off on my sales the past couple months. He complained about my efforts and said I could sell a lot more and that he expected more from me considering that my Dad owned a dealership and I grew up around the business.
“You have to sell a car by the end of the day today or you are fired” he said. “I promise you! Don’t take that as a mere threat.”
“You had better hope I sell a car then,” I said.
“Why should I care if YOU sell a car?” He asked incredulously. “You are the one who will be without a job.”
“Because if you make me work my whole Saturday and fire me at the end of the day I am going to beat the shit out of you,” I said. “… and don’t take that as a mere threat.”
“That’s it you’re fired!” He said. “Get out of here.”
China Sanctions US Defense Companies!
What should you do when people are rude to you in public?
Yesterday, I parked my car near the temple on the street. I got down of the car and washed my hands with the water I brought from home.
This lead to spilling some water on the road.
Suddenly, a guy arrived on his scooty and stood ahead of me.
He started using cuss words and said, ‘you idiot, that is my house, in front of which you are washing your hands. Do you have any shame, next time you do this you will see what I do to you.’
He didn’t even let me speak and kept going on and on.
His house was across the road, a few metres away from where I stood. Also by the time he spoke, the water had already dried.
I felt like giving him a mouthful, but then I realised that what will I get in return, abuses? Physical altercation? Insult? And frustration for days?
He kept speaking, and I smiled and walked inside the temple. (I was wearing a mask so he couldn’t notice my smile)
He kept staring and speaking in a harsh tone while I calmly worshipped.
By the time I returned, he was gone.
It may appear cowardice I assure you it isn’t.
Why should I frustrate myself, create unnecessary discomfort and lose my peace for a stranger who doesn’t even have adequate manners?
Why should I become like him and lose my traits and wisdom?
Most importantly, why should I bother myself at all?
Earlier, I would have definitely hit that person or given him back his deeds with interest, but every time I did that, I ended up suffering in some way or the other. Also the impact of such fights stays for days. So I decided to deal with such people using a mature outlook, and I am happy with that.
Do you know anyone who has won a lottery? Did the money change them?
I do. It ruined his life.
This man lived in a rural area, and worked at the only truly large employer. Plenty of scattered mom and pop types, but this was a branch of a corporation. He loved his job.
He struck it for millions. Well, you have to identify yourself to claim it. It hit all the papers, even out to the city, where I lived.
When people realize you have won the lottery, people come out of the woodwork to try to get a piece of it. Every relative, no matter how distant, came calling, demanding with various levels of pleading to get some of the money. He didn’t think he should have to share it, so those relatives stopped speaking to him.
It’s not just relatives: neighbors, coworkers, “friends”, they’ll come around and aren’t subtle. He said no to them as well. They weren’t happy either.
You also get all kinds of crazies knocking at your door and calling your phone number. They got contacts from people pleading for money for their son’s kidney transplant or whatever. Lots of sob stories, lots of pleading, lots of insults.
Frightened by the attention and the chaos, his wife became overwhelmed and had a nervous breakdown. She would eventually divorce him.
The economy in his area turned. The corporation he worked at began layoffs. As he had been there forever, his seniority insulated him from worry about being cut, but it didn’t insulate him from bullying from his coworkers about how he was taking a job from someone who needed the money to feed their family or keep their home. He couldn’t take it eventually, and left his beloved job.
So, he won millions and lost everything else: his friends, his wife, and his job. He still lives in his old house, and every so often walks into town and buys everyone at the local diner breakfast.
With the US and Britain proving unable to dislodge the Houthis from their strongholds or stop the militia from attacking Israeli-linked, American and British vessels in the Red and Arabian Seas, commercial shippers have increasingly eyed Russia’s Northern Sea Route as an attractive potential alternative, a leading mainstream US news magazine has reported.
“The surging costs and fear of getting hit by Houthi drones and missiles have led some shippers to consider the Arctic as an alternative, as melting ice begins opening new potential on the so-called Northern Sea Route,” Foreign Policy wrote.
The article ‘discovered’ what Russian officials and media have been saying for years – that the 5,600 km Northern Sea Route is the shortest maritime route between Europe and Asia, and can shave 8,000 km or more of distance, and 40-60 percent in time, off shipments, compared to traditional Europe-Asia routes through the presently troubled waters in the Middle East.
“The ability to slash some 5,000 miles off a ship’s journey would mean much faster travel times – a major plus in today’s world of online retail and next-day delivery,” FP said.
Unfortunately for the West, there’s a catch: 70 percent of the Arctic, including virtually the entire length of the Arctic portion of the route, passes through Russian waters. “Ships wanting to use the route must secure the Russians’ permission and pay them transit fees. Given current relations between many Western countries and Russia amid the Ukraine war, that poses an obvious challenge,” the magazine lamented.
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I Bought Used SD Cards.. Here’s What I Found
When should a child move out of their parents’ house?
This reminds me of my older son. As a teenager he would say “I can’t wait till I am 18, so I will be free.” I asked him “Free to do what??” and he would say “Whatever I want to!” At that time, I told I “OK, on your 18th birthday, you will get eviction papers. On your 17th birthday, you will get luggage so you have a year to practice packing!” I had told a friend of this conversation, because as a parent, I knew it was a joke. Well, this friend owned a thrift store and gave me a suitcase to give to him. So on his 17th birthday, he came downstairs to see a huge navy blue suitcase sitting in the corner with a huge blue bow on it. The look on his face was priceless, as if to say “Really, Mom???” He didn’t know that all of his real gifts were inside.
Seriously, though, your child and life circumstances will dictate when they should move out. Can they afford to move out? Are they still in school? Do they have a job? Do they have the life skills? I don’t believe there should be a set time in their life where we say “OK, it’s time. Move out!”
My older son joined the Navy, and was in the Delayed Entry Program. He stayed with us until he left for Basic Training. He has been on his own since. My younger son (who asked where his luggage was on his 17th birthday) went the college route. He went away to college and when he graduated, he came back home. He was welcome here until her got on his feet. He stayed with us for about 5 years. He is now living with his fiancee and planning his wedding next year.
As every person is different, so is the time they should move out.
I have been thinking about including short science fiction stories with my daily posts. Please kindly tell me what you all think about this addition. MM
The badlands had ceased expanding, and there was just enough food to support one or two researchers—well, maybe only one—and that would be me.
The bishop had his hands full. A guard saw me into his office, and the bishop sat waiting behind a huge, salvaged desk between us.
The desk, a marvel, held my gaze. Its rich, brown hue was a testament to its unique origin, a strange wood with a veneer of such smoothness, partially burned away, creating a mesmerizing play of colors. I couldn’t help but wonder about the lives that were risked to retrieve such a treasure.
“You are?” he said, not looking up. Now, if it were up to me, I would fall on my knees and kiss his ecclesiastical ring, listen to his blessings, and wait for benediction. Such was my upbringing, which I had only known since…forever. To be in his presence was an honor granted to so few.
But I must answer him! Yet remembering my very name seemed an extraneous and worthless undertaking.
“Thomas Cranwell, to commoners excluded from knowing my ecclesial rank,” I said, finally.
“Why do you exclude yourself?” he asked again, without looking up from whatever was absorbing him. “Are you not to work for the extension of the Kingdom of God?”
“It is for an uncommon request. Permission to attend at Bradwell,” I practically whispered.
That got his attention. I am asking for something forbidden. To speak of Bradwell and the treasures of antiquity that it contained was to invite suspicion.
Myths, stories, and legends about the sacrifices made to build Bradwell many generations ago were a staple around campfires at night. After the cataclysm and before the new orientation, the building of Bradwell took place in a time so dark that our present darkness looked light by comparison. Yet I was convinced that understanding our past would help build our future!
I threw caution to the wind. Before I knew what I was doing, I was kneeling before him, seeking his hand to kiss his ring, even as I could not see that the guard had moved to strike me from behind.
“Stay your hand!” the bishop ordered. “What have we here? A search for knowledge at any cost?”
“Only a fool who seeks to serve, Your Excellency!” My tears were so copious that if I looked at him, I imagined he would send me off straight away. He laid his hand on my head.
“Thomas, I’ll inquire about your character. Send me your references and bid me a good day!”
#
I had to work while I waited. Luckily for me, I had learned a trade as a metal scavenger. It was considered a low occupation, but it was necessary since the metal that never rusts could no longer be made and was highly prized. However, my unusual request made people suspicious of me. Even the scraps I found in the well-combed hills and valleys surrounding Urhan fetched such low prices that I began to starve. Being without family and friends in any place was inviting death into your life. I hoped I would not have to wait long for the bishop to answer!
When news came that the bishop had approved my request, I now had a servant, David, a protection seal on paper, no less, and a stipend. The bishop’s generosity quite shocked me. Was he an antiquarian? Even if only in secret? I couldn’t account for my good fortune otherwise.
We hastened to start our journey. David was young—only sixteen—yet enthusiastic and uncommonly curious. When I told David we were off to Bradwell, he jumped for joy! I warned him to conserve his strength. It would be a long and challenging journey, even for one like himself. Besides, he was to support me, such as I was.
Upon leaving Urhan, David removed his sandals and shook the dust off them, motioning me to do the same.
“A curse on any who did not help us!” he shouted with glee.
This made me angry. “You hardly know what it is, you ask!” I said. “We have nothing but what we carry—nothing at all. It could be that a curse has been laid on us! Mind your place, boy!”
David’s eyes fell, and he began to weep. “Forgive me, Father, he said.
“It is your youth and inexperience that speaks,” I answered. “The world is larger than we know!”
#
We arrived at Urhan Station, a smaller community composed almost entirely of humbler folk, primarily farmers. I was not incardinated anywhere in the Urhan region. I thought it proper to approach the local magistrate to inform him of our presence and request leave to be accommodated for at least one night, perhaps two. Upon reviewing my documents, I was permitted to stay, provided I sought provisions in the local market and remained at the local inn. This I was happy to do.
Thank God news had not spread about my mission. It was a relief to be treated courteously for once, and I relished the opportunity to rest and regain my strength.
David was enraptured by the many sights of Urhan Station, which he had never visited before, even though it was only twenty miles from where he lived.
“Father, shall we hear Mass today?” he inquired.
“Certainly!” I replied.
We soon happened upon the parish church, a quaint, quite old stucco and wood structure dating back to the earliest days of the Urhan region’s reconstruction. Even today, the church outshone the other various dwellings, which were much more bare and plain-looking. A bell rang out, calling the populace to prayer. The church was soon filled.
I was struck by Father Bruno, the priest who said Mass. His intensely blue eyes and reputation for knowing people’s sins without being told drew many visitors for confession, even from Urhan proper. I feared he would somehow know of our mission, so I hung back in one of the back pews.
When Mass was over, and we had finished our Thanksgiving prayers, he strode right to the back of the church to see me, calling me by name, although we had never met.
“Father Cranwell! Know you, not your duty! To serve God! It is not your place to seek that which God has destroyed!”
He said this so loudly that David prostrated himself at his feet, weeping and begging forgiveness. I was stunned, and when Father Bruno had left, and I regained my composure, it was plain that we would have to leave Urhan Station; the sooner, the better.
David wept incessantly. On the one hand, he knew he might fall prey to ruffians or dire circumstances, being alone without my support. Yet, given his religious upbringing, he could not ignore Father Bruno’s words, and I would not contradict a fellow priest, so I released David from his obligation to me.
I did this with a heavy heart, wondering if I would survive long enough to arrive at Bradwell without David’s support. Yet I had to think of what was best for the boy.
“You are free to leave,” I said as we left Urhan Station.
“Where will I go?” he asked.
“Don’t you have a family to return to?”
“Family? My family is the church. I am an orphan!”
With this, I stopped to look at him. David was in tears again. I was nearly beside myself with grief, too. It was clear that he could not make a decision.
“Come with me, and you will no longer be an orphan but a son to me!” I said, wiping both his and my own tears.
#
We were quite clearly approaching the badlands. Strange, disfigured animals approached us, peering out from the undergrowth. David readied his slingshot, and I, my staff.
“I could hit one!” David exulted.
“Let us pass by the side,” I answered. Thus, we took detours through thick brambles to avoid these “denizens of hell,” as the common folk called them.
The road, too, became more rutted and overgrown. Signs warned us not to go further, though the further we went, the more rotted they appeared, like the people who erected them had passed on or failed to maintain them.
We had to sleep in the open air in a shelter we could make from branches and sticks. It began to rain. I had heard of the constant rain in the heart of the badlands, soaking you through and through. We knew not to drink from the fetid swamps that threatened to overwhelm the road, which now resembled more of a simple path than a road.
“Is God punishing us?” David asked after a tough night when I coughed more than I slept. “Isn’t it clear we shouldn’t be here?” he continued. He was throwing stones into the swamp, a look of defeat on his face.
“Hush now and trust,” I said. We have not come all this way to die now!”
But I wondered how much more we could take, wearied to the bone from the dampness and privations caused by a lack of food and good sleep, never mind the constant fear of what might happen if we grew inattentive or were unlucky.
After three days, the path abruptly stopped at a ruined habitation. No one was home, and it looked like no one had been there for some time. After my brave words to David, my heart sank. Where to now to Bradwell?
Had I fallen prey to pride? It was Father Bruno’s words that echoed in my mind.
I sank to my knees and wept.
I could have died there and then and been happy to meet my maker, poor, alone, a sinner in need of redemption. It was David who came to my rescue.
He bounded into my view even though I lay prone in the muck and filth in those last few steps on the path to nowhere.
“Look, Father!” He helped me up. “Come over here! Do you see it? Up on the hill!”
My poor eyes were unaccustomed to focusing at such a distance, yet I could just make out a building built on a hill. Was it a monastery?
I could see it shining like a beacon, a bright sheen off what looked like stout walls as we hobbled closer, David supporting me with every step I took.
#
By some magic I had never seen before, the gate to the monastery slid open to reveal a monk dressed in a black tunic. He did not speak, only motioning to us to follow him. A Benedictine? I had never seen one before.
The monk’s tunic hung loosely over his body, stopping only at his ankles. He wore a rectangular piece of cloth over his shoulders called a scapular that appeared to be made of wool. When he turned to lead us to the community, I noticed his cowl limp and unused, the sun only beginning to make its presence known.
It was an edifying experience to see such calm and serene purpose in this one monk who neither sought nor cared for our taking any notice of him whatsoever.
We climbed some hewn stone stairs to such a height! It was utterly exhausting. I had to stop frequently to catch my breath, but I could still reach a portico, the sun clothed with refracted light through the most marvelous stained glass, again as something I had never seen before. I reached out to touch it, causing the light to fall in a sudden dazzling brilliance as if moved by unseen hands. I wanted to stop and question the monk about how light could be so liquid yet impervious to my understanding!
But he moved ever onward, not looking back.
We reached a stolid door of massive weight, again opening at a mere touch! What I presumed to be the abbot greeted us.
The abbot wore a black cappa, which is a full-length cloak over his tunic. He also wore a ring, which he held out to me.
I collapsed before I could kiss his ring, and from what David told me later, I hit my head on the stone floor, losing consciousness.
#
I awoke in an infirmary, or what looked like one. David was so happy to see me come to my senses. He looked fatigued as if he had been waiting a long time by my side, sitting on a wicker chair next to an untouched tray of food on a small table.
“Eat, father!” he said, his voice catching him unawares like he had not spoken for hours. Then, he cleared his throat and looked as if he might cry.
I had more important things on my mind. “What of the…abbot?” I gasped as I reached for a plain, remarkably shaped glass containing a liquid I did not recognize.
David handed it to me. “He never spoke to me. After you collapsed, two monks carried you here. Will you get well, Father?” he pleaded.
“God willing!” I said. You are so faithful to me; how can it be otherwise?” I joked, but then I frowned. “But there is much to discuss…” I said as I tried to get out of bed.
“Not until you are well!” David commanded. “Eat!”
#
The days went swiftly by. A monk with remarkable medical knowledge examined me. And there was so much food! So much more than I was used to.
Then, several days later, another monk with such bright eyes came to get me. This one was not unassuming or silent. He was talkative, so much so that I wondered if he was a monk or a commoner dressed in monk attire!
“Know you, not your duty!” I exclaimed at one point amid his chatter.
He rounded on me, his confident air dissipating as air escapes a putrid cask.
“Know you, not yours?” he replied. With that, we both fell into sullen silence. He then led me to see the abbot.
#
It was as before. This time, I kissed the abbot’s ring and returned to standing before him in what looked like the chapter house, a meeting room where the community would gather to conduct business.
Gazing about, I saw things on shelves I had never seen before. Whether they were functional or not escaped me; some seemed to be parts of other, larger objects. Here and there, you could see these recognizable parts protruding. But I was not given leave to stare at these unusual artifacts for long.
“You and your servant are welcome to stay with us!” the abbot announced. “I have made inquiries, and the bishop of Urhan diocese has vouched for you. The bishop was once a monk at this very place! What exactly have you come here to do?”
“Father Abbot, I wish to conduct research.”
“By all means, let us visit the scriptorium and the library!”
Again, there was light that I had never seen before.
In a wonder of wonders, I was led into the scriptorium, where monks sat at tables reading words that appeared and disappeared on pages filled with light, with no visible candles.
Then, many books in unknown languages were in the library, with pictures not drawn or painted of such wonders as I could scarcely describe! Many of these books were burned, and some could not be read. Still, everything was neatly stored and accounted for.
“Why not let everyone see these wonders,” I asked.
The Abbot was taken aback. “Do you believe that the people would comprehend that we were once prosperous, but now we are poor only because of a war of unimaginable fury as if the very wrath of God enveloped everything? This is knowledge for only a select few!”
The Abbot, setting aside his vows, embraced me and continued speaking for what seemed like a very long time.
“You need hardly wonder! Was it not always so? Monks preserved knowledge, whether of religion or not, that would have been lost otherwise in past times. We do so today, as always. Forever, until the end of time itself!”
So began my new life. Father Bruno could remind the people of what went wrong, and I would now discover why.
What is the hardest thing you have ever done?
Survived on 10 Rs for 11 days. I lived on borrowed food and also ate free food at temples. Cycled a distance of about 24 km everyday. Lost friends, Girlfriend, faith in everything but ended up being stronger and learning a lot of lessons.
On 21st October 2010 all I had was 10 Rs. in my wallet. You can only buy a cup of tea with that amount of money. Life was hell for 11 days (From 21st to 31st October 2010) I would eat mostly at temple(prasad) or eat bits from food offered by other employees who worked with me, then go to the wash room and cry at my situation. I would come back home tired after cycling for 12 km and cry on my bed and fall asleep because of exhaustion. Wake up early and cycle back to work.
On the 11th day I went to my uncle’s place where my Grandmother was staying at that time. Because I met my Grandmother after a long time and she gave me 20 Rs. She put it in my hand and said “I know you earn much more, right now I have only 20 ₹, keep it, it’s a blessing” I had tears in my eyes and don’t know why but I felt she understood what I had gone through. I immediately hugged her and cried for a while. It is customary for grandparents in our family to give some money to grandchildren when they meet after a long time. I bought a bun & a cup of tea from a bakery that evening with that money. The first time I had spent in 10 days.
Looking Back, the most stupid thing I have done in my life so far : starting a business in 2009 with a couple of friends. I was always fascinated to start something on my own. Stupid because firstly I trusted people’s words and believed them and secondly I took risks without contingency. I had taken loan from the bank for the initial investment of business, the business partners had their own savings though. The first few months were manageable, but come August 2010 things became very bad for us. I had to borrow money from friends to pay salaries of the people working with us. My credit card was already maxed out. Plus I had EMI of the loan and the 4 wheeler EMI. The 4 wheeler down payment was paid by dad & Sister and for the EMI I had promised I would pay, otherwise at home no one was interested in the 4 wheeler.
Come 5th October 2010 the date of my EMI and all money in my account was over. In fact if I remember there was 14 paisa in my account. Of course I had a few 100 Rs in my wallet. I begged my friends to help with some money and no one did. My partners always said they too had no money, only that they still continued living with a decent lifestyle (One of the reasons I left the business in mid 2011). In fact my business partners did not even bother to acknowledge the fact that in the beginning while our share of profits was still good, month after month I would invest back my share of profits to the business, they would not, nor would they ask me to take my share. By mid month(October) almost all my money was spent. My parents were in my home town. I was living in a place where I had even taken loans from neighbors. The idea of staying at home would be really bad as people would ask back their money.
I had to stay at home and not switch on the lights for the fear of the neighbors asking back their money. Since there was no light I would sleep early, wake up early and cycle to work 12 km one way (Tough in a city where there is an uneven terrain and without any food, all the rice and other food items at home I had consumed by mid month). By now I was also having a rough patch with my ex. Once I explained things to her, & even cried in front of her because of my situation, all she did was patiently listen(like she would always do but not help.) All I wanted was some emotional support but probably she felt that I wanted some money from her and very politely said “I got to go, parents are waiting at home”. I could have asked my parents for help but the business was started against their wishes and they would ask me to explain a lot of things and ask me to quit, also the fact that I had already borrowed a lot of money from them.
By the start of next month things got better, and ya I started taking my share of profits which I was not doing earlier. Slowly I started working towards saving some money every month(this went on a long way to help in getting my sister married a couple of years later). This phase of my life or rather the 3–4 months was the toughest I had in all fronts, Bad business, bad finances, bad health, bad mindset, bad temper, bad relationship and bad memories. I remember that by November 1st week when my parents were back things were getting normal and I started to tell them bit by bit about the problems in business. They helped a lot in those troubling time.
And lastly, I still keep the 10 Rs note in my Wallet and I would not give it to anyone for whatever amount they offer me. It keeps reminding me that the tough times are gone and even if life gets harder I can handle it.
Stir together the water, Italian dressing mix, ranch dressing mix, and brown gravy mix together in a bowl until smooth.
Place the beef roast into a slow cooker, and pour the sauce over top.
Cook on LOW until the roast is easily pierced by a fork, 6 to 8 hours.
What is the most surprising thing you have accidentally overheard about yourself?
I had a very dear friend…actually an unrequited love…that died of leukemia when he was 26. We had been close from pretty much the time we met in college, but our stars never aligned. We dated, but he eventually married someone who divorced him 3 months before he died.
I visited him whenever he was in hospital. The last time I beat my blood donation to his room by 5 minutes. His Mom (who adored me because I got up to clear dishes with her the first time I had dinner with them), was with him as usual. I knew he was close to the end and didn’t want to chase her out and told her she didn’t need to leave for me, but she insisted. She came back a few minutes before I left.
My friend’s dad called me a week later at work to give me the news and let me know about arrangements. The funeral was about 5 hours away. My mom took a mutual friend and me to the funeral.
His family was surprised and pleased that we came all that way and invited us for lunch at his sister’s house. We three travelers mingled and talked separately for a couple of hours and then headed home.
On the way home Mom related a talk she had had with my friend’s mom. Friend’s mom said that she spent most of her time at the hospital when her son was there as he was for days and weeks at a time. She loved her son and didn’t want him to be alone. She usually stayed no matter who came to visit. But she said she always felt safe leaving him alone with me…that I was the only one she felt safe leaving him alone with…and that he was always better after I visited.
I knew he was my soul mate, but that kind of sealed the deal.
Did you ever beat up the high school bully in front of everyone?
Not the high school bully, but the town pervert who liked to prey on 13-14 year old girls. I was 18 at the time, and had a summer job running a game room on the main street of my home town. I was only 5 feet 2 inches tall, so not very intimidating to look at. One day while I was working three young teenage girls came running in and asked me to hide them. Right on their heels was the known pervert who was only not in jail due to family influence. I walked up to him and told him to leave. Note he was over 6 feet tall and in his late 20s. He smirked at me and reached out to shove me out of his way so I put him to the floor, screaming in pain. You see, my father had extremely rigid notions that you never hurt or harassed those weaker than yourself but he knew others didn’t feel that way, so he taught me some nasty tricks to take down any bullies. In this case I grabbed his wrist and bent it back, putting him in severe pain, then with my other hand reached out and grabbed his neck on the nerves and put him to the floor. I then told him he was banned for life from the game room and told him to get out. After that, the game room was a place of safety for the kids in that town
What is the best way to respond when someone tells you “You’re not invited”?
It depends on the situation. I used to go out once a week after work with three other women. One time they were talking about the next week’s outing being at a different place and I said, “Oh that sounds like fun.” And they said, “Oh, you’re not invited. We’re going out with a different coworker and she doesn’t know you very well so we didn’t think she’d want you there.” I was like… why are you discussing a weekly outing that I’m not included in? I told them I was going to the ladies’ room so they could firm up these plans without me at the table, and will hopefully be done discussing it by the time I return. I thought it was incredibly rude of them to discuss it like that in front of me. I don’t need to be included in every outing, but don’t talk about it like it’s our next outing, and then inform me I’m not invited. Of course the other person heard about it from them and wanted me to come, but at that point there was no way I’d join them. Covid broke up our weekly outings soon after.
Wolff Responds: Its Time To Come To Terms With The New Economic Order (May 29, 2024)
When I lived in Boston, I held numerous engineering management positions. And pretty much managed the engineering projects for automotive, electronics and household products. To do this, I typically managed a team of people; engineers, designers, and techs.
One of my CAD engineers came from Mattel. This is a major toy company in the United States. And he once told me the story of how he introduced his son to Michael Jackson.
At that time, they were producing a Michael Jackson doll, and he came on over to visit the factory and the engineering staff. He was segregated from all the workers, and most people wasn’t aware that he was visiting. But my CAD engineers was. You see, the CEO introduced my engineer to Michael Jackson, and he was told to come back to the factory at 7pm with his kids.
So he did. His six year old son with him.
And there was Michael Jackson, up front and live. Walking to his son calling him by name and giving him a big hello and hug.
His son just stood there in shock.
His mouth was open and he didn’t say a God damn thing.
Michael Jackson went on and chatted up a storm for something like 15 minutes, but he son was paralyzed in shock and didn’t do anything. Just stood there looking up at him.
LOL.
Eventually Michael went away. He gave him a hug and some candy, and his dad got to get a few pictures of them all together.
And that was that.
It’s funny how younger people idolize and adore those who are famous and who sign and perform in the movies. It’s cute, but you know… dangerous.
Today…
What do you think of Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz asking Chinese leader Xi Jinping “to exert pressure on Russia” to end the war in Ukraine?
This shows a clear misunderstanding of the China/Russia relationship.
If Scholz asked Xi to put pressure on Putin to end the Ukraine war, this means that he thinks that China should use economic pressure on Russia and that China is willing to use economic leverage on Russia.
But China does not believe in exerting pressure on Russia this way because in Beijing’s view, the China/Russia economic relationship is working out very well. China gets all the cheap natural gas it needs from Russia; this is essential for China’s economy to keep its factories running and churning out products at prices the whole world can afford. Why would China do this? What would China get in return for putting pressure on Russia? Obviously the US would like to cripple Russia’s economy, and after Russia is carved up into several countries, which country will become the entrée on the US’s menu?
Obviously, it will be China!
So why should China help the US to weaken Russia? It makes no sense!
As for the relationship between Xi and Putin, it is very obvious that they consider the countries as equals. This is why while China has publicly stated it is for peace in Ukraine, it has not applied pressure on the Russian government to make any concessions. At the same time, Beijing has diplomatic relations with Ukraine, and is not happy about the casualties on both sides. But when it comes to economic importance, Russia is much more important than Ukraine.
The idea of putting pressure on another government is something the US has done repeatedly, especially on its European and Asian allies, who have been strong-armed into confronting Russia over Ukraine and China over Taiwan.
Because pressure has been used so much and used effectively, most of the G7 nations are not able to understand that diplomacy is not about the exertion of pressure, but clearly understanding national interests and conveying those interests through the proper diplomatic channels so that crises can be defused before they become too confrontational.
“I saw some politicians say that there appears to be a foreign element behind what’s going on at the universities, like a foreign power that’s instigating and agitating.
Yes, there is, and we all know which foreign power that is.
We all know which foreign country is stoking this crisis, and it sure isn’t Russia, and it sure isn’t China.
No, well, if you wondered why those kids want their schools to divest from Israel, just look at how their schools are treating them because they dared to ask for that.
Those universities are doing the bidding of Israel, not the bidding of China or the bidding of Russia.
They’re not even doing the bidding of those kids’ parents and those kids’ families, and your police are doing the same.
So yes, there is a foreign power behind all this, and it’s precisely that foreign power that the students want their schools to extricate themselves from, and it’s very obvious to everyone.
It couldn’t be more obvious.
It’s as obvious as a baton cracked on the side of your head.
Look, on these campuses, like at Harvard and the Ivy League campuses and so on, you had demonstrations against Russia and in favor of Ukraine; you had that at the Ivy League schools, you had protests against China over Xinjiang and so on.
No zip ties, no arrests, no 550 kids going to jail, no.
But the moment they start demanding that their schools stop partnering with Israel over a genocide, and all hell breaks loose.
There’s no mystery about what foreign country is driving that.”
main qimg 0af47e14d51a9d8e86808b3b17de1b70
Excerpt from remarks by American geopolitical analyst Shahid Bolsen in a video where he speaks about the ongoing protests against the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on university campuses, both in the U.S. and around the world, April 27, 2024.
Plum Chicken
mar 18 chicken plum chilli tray bake 3000×2000 135710 1
Ingredients
2 fryers, cut up
Garlic salt
1/4 cup butter
1 chopped onion
1 (17 ounce) can purple plums (reserve juice)
1 (6 ounce) can frozen lemonade
1/2 cup chili sauce
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon ginger
2 teaspoons prepared mustard
2 drops Tabasco sauce
Instructions
Prepare sauce day before or make and freeze (best when used cold).
Sauce
Pit plums and put in blender to puree.
Cook onion in butter until tender (not brown).
Add plum puree with juice and all other ingredients (except chicken).
Simmer 15 minutes.
Chicken
Sprinkle chicken with garlic salt and bake at 375 degrees F for 45 minutes, skin side up.
Baste with plum sauce.
Bake another 45 minutes, basting generously with sauce until well coated.
Serve with additional heated sauce.
What has a seller ever told you that made you leave that place immediately?
I was about 28 or 29 (a long time ago), I looked young and my Dad came with me to look for a new car. I went to two dealers and basically told each one what kind of car I wanted (the first dealer was a Pontiac dealer and I was interested in a Grand Am, the second dealer was a Chevrolet dealer where I was interested in a Corsica). I also told each salesman how much I could afford for the monthly payment. Each one had a car that met my criteria but I settled on the Corsica. So when my Dad and I came back with the car I was trading in I was ready to sign the papers (that he showed and reviewed with me before) I noticed the numbers had changed and my monthly payment was a lot more than when I reviewed everything previously. I said to the salesman (who was my Dad’s age), these aren’t the numbers you showed me before! He replied well, we have to add in all these fees. I said well when I was here before I told you I wanted to know exactly what my monthly payment would be and now this number is way higher. I told him that I no longer wanted the car at those payments and his response was but we already took your license plate off of your car and put it on the new car. I said well, put it back on my car and my Dad and I left and went back to the Pontiac dealer and got the Grand Am where all the numbers he showed me before were exactly as I expected when I purchased the car. I loved that car and kept it for a long time.
Anti-China news
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Who do you believe if your child is telling you one thing and their teacher is telling you another?
Quick version. My son said the teacher refused his homework and gave him ten zeros in her grade book. Found that hard to believe. Set up meeting with myself, my son, her and principal. I asked her if that was true. A simple yes or no would have worked. Instead she opened her grade and asked me if I saw ten zeros. Instantly I recognized her statement as a non denial denial from Watergate days. I looked at her and said “No but you said it didn’t you. “. She admitted she did. I asked her why. She said she hated my son. I asked her why. Saying no one hated my son he was so nice. She said she hated my son because he reminded her of her son and she hated her son!!! I was also a teacher. High school and a few years later I got her son as a student. The resemblance was remarkable. Very nice young man. Liked by all. As was my son. So sometimes the student is the one to believe.
Why US Wants to Ban TikTok and Wage Economic War on China with Carl Zha and Alex Reporterfy
What did someone do that made you think they were really smart?
I have twin sons. They’re now 15, but when they were around 3 years old, I noticed that whenever we came home from being out, they’d be confronted with the decision of which of their (ridiculously) many toys they were going to play with.
They’d rush into the living room, and Tim went straight for whatever he wanted to play with, and within a few minutes, his brother Nathan would decide that he just had to play with whatever Tim was now deeply engrossed with, and would start a big fight over it or even wrestle it from him forcefully (Nathan was significantly larger).
If my husband or I were around, we’d try and adjudicate, but it always ended in tears and drama.
After a month or two of this, I noticed a change in pattern. All of a sudden, Tim was just giving up his toy to Nathan without a fight. I was worried that he wasn’t standing up for himself, so I said to him: “You know, Tim, you had just as much a right to play with that toy as Nathan.”
He said: “I know. I knew he’d take it from me so I played with something I didn’t mind him taking. This [showing me what he was playing with now] was what I really wanted to play with anyway.”
His cunning has continued to manifest in other ways since then. 🙂
Note: I’ve had dozens of edit suggestions from people from India, who think that “cunning” is a negative/derogatory trait and necessarily synonymous with sneaky and under-handed. I find it an interesting cultural observation that this seems to be a connotation unique to Indian English. In any case, I feel a need to defend my use of this adjective. I’m his mother and adore him, and this is clearly not what I intend; I simply mean that he’s intelligent and views things from multiple angles, and isn’t easy to outwit. 🙂
Intimidation? U.S. B-2 Stealth Overflies Gaza, Low Enough to Be Clearly visible
A United States B-2 Stealth Bomber was sent to fly over the Gaza Strip today, and do so at an altitude wherein the plane was clearly visible to people on the ground.
What kind of a monster, sends a nuclear-capable Bomber aircraft to intimidate people on the ground?
Who in the US Military, ordered this? Why was it done?
Chinese President Xi will pay state visits to France, Serbia, Hungary from May 5 to 10. Why these three countries in Europe? What can we expect from the visit?
April, China’s home diplomatic month is over, May’s away diplomatic month, is kicking off.
On 29 April, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying announced that Xi Jinping would visit the three countries at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Emmanuel Macron, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, Hungarian President Tamás Sulyok and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Considering that Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with a large number of Asian foreign ministers in April, Xi is expected to meet with a number of Asian leaders upon his return from Europe, and may even attend the “China-Japan-South Korea Summit” to engage with Japan and South Korea, which are close to the U.S. foreign policy.
You know, the United States is shorting the yen.
Japanese media reports: Japan’s Finance Minister expressed to the United States in a pleading tone that the sharp depreciation of the yen is unbearable for us and hopes that the United States will be merciful and temporarily stop shorting the yen.
Xi’s top priority in this round of trips is France.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France. President Xi Jinping’s first visit to a Western country since 2020 is France, which reflects the importance he attaches to China-France friendship. Similarly, Macron is now in dire need of China’s support.
That’s because after the Sino-French meeting in May, Macron will face two big hurdles in his career:
The European Parliament elections in June
The Paris Olympics in July
At the European Parliament in June, Macron will have to pull in European leaders and seek to snipe at European Commission President Von der Leyen and curb her power.
At the Paris Olympics in July, if Macron seeks to push for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine or Palestine and Israel as host, he will in doing so become the true boss of Europe, replacing the US manipulation of Europe.
Macron’s conflict with von der Leyen is mainly over trade policy, climate policy, and the relationship between Europe and the United States.
The huge contracts that can be brought about by the massive equipment renewal that China has opened this year, as well as the co-operation in the fields of new energy and nuclear energy, will be Macron’s bargaining chips to convince other leaders in the European Parliament.
If, as Macron wishes, the European Commission President replaced by career bureaucrat Mario Draghi, former President of the European Central Bank, then the EU’s trade and climate policy, will be led by France, in the relationship with Europe and the United States, France can also be more independent and autonomous.
But if Macron’s plan fails, his influence within the EU will be extremely limited for the remainder of his term, and French foreign policy will be tied to the EU.
As for the competition between Macron and Joe Biden, it lies mainly in global leadership, and the proud French have always had a strong desire to challenge the United States in their hearts.
The Olympic Games will be held in Paris in July this year. The gathering of leaders of major countries will naturally become a platform for behind-the-scenes transactions between major countries. It is also the best time for negotiations between Russia&Ukraine, Palestine&Israel.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the UN has developed a practice of mobilising all its members to sign the “Olympic Truce” before each Olympic Games, and ceasing war operations for one month before and after the Games. This one-month window of truce is enough time for the warring parties to calm down, as in the case of the ceasefire in the Yugoslav civil war in the early 1990s.
If they can’t do so during this period, it will be a direct escalation of the conflict.
For example:
Russia raided Georgia during the 2008 Olympics.
Russia raiding Ukraine during the 2022 Winter Olympics.
If Macron succeeds in brokering a ceasefire, it will make Macron the biggest contributor to world peace.
Either enjoy the glory added to it, or be embarrassed in front of the world. In any case, Macron is more or less about to take a gamble.
If Macron wants to do all this, he has only one choice in the face of Von der Leyen and Joe Biden, and that is to draw on mystical forces originating in the East, so he needs Xi’s support.
Everyone wants world peace except the military–industrial–congressional complex (MICC)!
What is the biggest tip that you have ever received as an employee?
I have done my time in the hospitality industry working at about 5 or 6 different restaurants and have been both fortunate and unfortunate when it comes to gratuity.
On two different occasions I received extraordinarily large tips and they were very similar amounts but very different situations.
The first time:
I was one of 3 waiters looking after a group of 25 VIP guests who arrived quite late in the evening as they had attended a formal ceremony earlier in the night. The host guest that night is a well known, very wealthy business man and we were optimistic. Only one course ended up being served, mostly burgers, along with wine & Champagne. It seemed the party was more interested in moving onto the next stop for the night.
The bill total was not that high considering the amount of guests and the usual head spend at this particular restaurant. I believe it was around R8000 (~ $450). In South Africa tipping is usually between 10 – 20% and upon receiving the bill back an expected, somewhat disappointing amount was written on the slip which I cannot remember.
It had been a long night and it looked as if us 3 waiters were not going to walk away with a lot. I informed the host that I would be back with the credit card machine.
Having seen enough evidence to know that good looking waitresses receive better tips from male guests I asked my fellow waitress who is very pleasing to the eye to return to the table with the card machine and to try and charm the host.
I have no clue what she said to him but when she returned from completing the transaction her smile was from ear to ear. The 10/15% tip that we would have received had changed to R1500 (~ $100) for each waiter which equates to R4500 (~ $300) total tip.
The second time:
Working at a different, much smaller, fine dining restaurant I received a tip that was slightly larger than the previous one. There were only 2 waiters working that night and it had reached the point where it looked like no more guests would be joining and we were close to having all the closing duties completed and getting out early.
5 minutes before the kitchen closes and we stop accepting tables and in walks a couple who are met by my fellow, very evidently displeased, waiter. He seats them and asks if I could please serve them as he does not have the patience this late in the night. Even though it was his turn on the rotation I agree and oblige because I had a strong feeling that it would be worth my efforts.
The couple were very aware that they were joining late and were very apologetic to which I dismissed as a non issue and that we were extremely glad to have them join us. I wanted to emphasise that they should not feel rushed and went as far to recommend our specialty 5 course food & wine tasting menu. I did not think they would actually go for it but I must have done a good job in promoting it as both of them decided to take it.
I was able to give them undivided attention as they were the only guests in the restaurant and it was very apparent that they were enjoying themselves. The lady had a few dietary restrictions which our kitchen was able to work around and they continuously raved about the food.
Come the end of their meal I returned to the table with the card machine and I saw the man had written R1600 (~ $110) under the gratuity section on a R1400 bill. I assume he must mean R1600 total which would be a R200 tip. I was willing to accept it as “money I never had before”.
When he was signing the slip he sees the total and said that I put through the wrong amount. I was confused so asked him if I read the number 1600 wrong to which he replied that I never read the number wrong but that was my tip and not the total. I was clearly shocked by this and immediately thinking “I hope I have not just thrown away the biggest tip ever”. He asked me to process his card for the difference which I did while saying thank you about 100 times over.
That same couple returned a few more times while I still worked there and always requested I serve them. They were always extremely generous and on one occasion they tipped every member of our kitchen staff an equal amount to what they tipped me.
Every time they came to dine with us my fellow waiter from that night would want to serve them only for them to request me. My patience the night they visited the restaurant for the first time led to me earning a fair sum of money from that couple over the period of a few months which was extremely helpful while I was a broke student.
American Justice
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Tucker Interviews Aleksandr Dugin. THEY identify the destroyers of Western Values/Civilization.
Why was Rudolf Hess sentenced to life, even though he spent most of the war in the UK as a prisoner of war, while people like Albert Speer got 20 years?
There were multiple requests by the Brits, French and Americans for his release. Some attribute the lack of release due to a conspiracy between former King Edward VIII and Hitler. But that doesn’t appear to hold up since the British supported his release.
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Each of the 11 unilateral British appeals, which dated back to 1957, along with 14 others made separately, or jointly, by the US and French authorities were rejected by an unwavering Soviet rejection. The Soviets wanted Hess locked away for life.
The Soviets alone were responsible for keeping Hess locked up. But why? Some say Soviet insistence that the release of the former deputy Nazi leader would be an insult to the 20 million Soviet war dead. Others that his release could fuel a resurgence of neo-Nazism. But these do not seem legitimate. Far worse Nazi criminals were released. The Soviet dead were not insulted. There was no resurgence of neo-Nazism.
On June 25, 1986, a Soviet guard caught Charles Gabel, the chaplain at Spandau, attempting to smuggle out a statement by Hess, causing Gabel to be fired. Hess had originally written the document as his opening address at the Nuremberg trial in 1946, which he had been unable to deliver in full after the judges cut him off.
Hess tried to mail a copy of the statement to Sir Oswald Mosley in October 1946, but the letter was intercepted by his US guards. Hess’s statement (both the 1946 version and the 1986 version) claimed that Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union was preemptive. In other words, the Soviets were about to attack Germany.
Hess claimed there had been overwhelming evidence that the Soviet Union had planned to attack Germany. He said in the statement that he had decided to make his flight to Scotland without informing Hitler, with the aim of informing the UK of the Soviet danger to “European civilization” and the entire world. He believed his warning would cause the UK to end its war with Germany and join in the fight against the Soviet Union.
If this were true, the Soviets would not want this to be discussed. Their role in the war was as victims. They were attacked by the Germans and responded.But if that is not true. If Hess was correct, the Soviet role in WWII would be completely different. Not the victim, but the aggressor. It would be the Soviets who caused the loss of millions of their citizens, not the Germans. The Soviet role in the Cold War would be on a completely different footing.
Geo-Fencing Added to Car Software! Can Shutdown Car if you drive too far, too long, or where government doesn’t want you!
Vehicle manufacturers have begun issuing software updates which include “Geo-Fencing” to limit how far, how long,, or where they will not be allowed to drive. All done remotely without your consent.
Let’s say government want to limit you to driving only five miles from your home. They can remotely issue a command that will cause your vehicle to simply SHUT OFF if you try to go farther than they want!
Let’s say government wants to keep you away from certain areas, perhaps a protest area. They can remotely Geo-Fence that area, and any car that has an “SOS” Button, can be made to SHUT OFF if it tries to drive toward or into that area.
Defense analysts’ first conclusions from the Middle East and Ukraine missile wars suggest the PLA’s strategic preparations were sound. Let’s see why.
Israel
Theodore Postol, MIT Professor of Science, Technology and National Security Policy, analyzed Iran’s mid-April drone and missile attack on in Israel. A summary:
The evidence shows that all or most of the arriving long-range ballistic missiles were not intercepted by any of the Israeli air and missile-defense systems. Whether drones or not, all of the targets areshot down by air-to-air missiles.
The cost of a drone is $10,000 or $20,000, and the cost of an Iranian cruise missile is about $100,000. Their 4-hour, 1500 km flight to Israel allowed US Navy E-2 Hawkeyes AWACS to very effectively vector fighter aircraft to targets they quickly destroyed. The USAF workhorse air-to-air missile is the $500,000 AIM-9x Sidewinder and the Israeli government says the cost of defending Israel was $1.3 billion! [Non-government sources say $2.3-3.3 billion].
Commercially available technology is now good enough for constructing cruise missiles and drones with capabilities to “recognize” their targets and home on them. This means that the cost of shooting down cruise missiles and drones will be very high – even unsustainable – unless extremely inexpensive and effective anti-air systems can be implemented.
Ukraine
Analyst Armchair Warlord says Russia’s anti-air system is extremely effective and, apparently, financially sustainable:
Artillery shells have become the standard metric of the Ukrainian War, and Soviet-legacy gigafactories burying Western supply chains in mountains of steel its leading story. But shells are just steel. What if I told you the Russians were beating us in high-tech manufacturing?
One of the sleeper stories of the war has been the Russian air defenses’ extraordinary capability to defeat the most difficult targets: Russian SAMs routinely down GMLRS, Storm Shadows, and even AGM-88 HARMs that were specifically designed to destroy them. Russian air defenses in the Crimea have been downing ATACMS missiles – a supposed war-winning superweapon – like pheasants.
But I have never seen anyone remark onRussia’s bottomless supply of modern air defense missiles.
Just that week, they shot down no fewer than 1,715 aerial targets, 95% of them drones. Even assuming 75% of the drones were engaged with small arms or EW, that’s still 400 antiaircraft missiles expended for the week. The Russians do this, week after week after week, and show zero signs that their air defense inventory is even under stress.
Meanwhile the West is out of modern missiles and desperately trying to keep Ukraine going with 1960s systems like HAWK, Chaparral and improvised Sea Sparrow launchers. Guided missiles are not simple to make – they’re complex and require sophisticated manufacturing to tight tolerances. Western manufacturers have never been able to make them in large quantities, even at the height of the Cold War. And yet here the ‘gas station with nukes’ is stamping out enough ammunition to keep their Buks and Pantsirs on the firing line after two years of a war featuring an order of magnitude more aerial targets than any previous conflict.
PLA prescience
Russia and China already share the world’s leading missile defense technology, so we can assume that also share the Niagara of data from both conflicts. Pray for some insightful crumbs from their table.
Until then, however, we can appreciate the PLA’s foresight in building a chain of 24×7, 100% automated, high-precision missile factories, each producing 1,000 rounds a day.
Poland has handed an official request to Washington to have U.S. nuclear weapons hosted in Poland.
No word yet on any need or desire in the US to put such weapons there.
Russia earlier cautioned Poland that nuclear weapons in their country would **not** make Poland any safer. In fact, they said, it would merely make Poland a target for Russian nuclear weapons.
Hal Turner Snap Analysis
Nuclear weapons “hosted” in Poland; Sounds like an exchange student or something innocent , like its a cultural program.
My bet . . . and this is pure conjecture on my part — Poland didn’t actually “request” anything.
They were just told that the US is going to deploy nukes on their territory.
The nukes will be controlled by US of course, not Poland; Poland would have no interest in this affair whatsoever. . . except when they get blown up by Russia for having them so close to Russia.
Is the USA rich because of hard work? What should African countries learn from countries like the USA, Japan and China?
Here are the top five sources of wealth for a Rich American with more than $ 15 Million :-
Portfolio (65%)
Landed Assets (18%)
Liquid Deposits (7%).
Others (10%) [Valuable Paintings, Royalty or Copyright contracts, Depreciating Assets like Cars, Yachts etc]
The Richer you are, the higher your Portfolio wealth is
For instance an American who is valued at more than $ 100 Million has almost 88% of his wealth in Portfolio
Portfolio means Stocks, Equities, Venture Capital Shareholding, Private Hedge Fund Units, Bonds etc
Now take a Middle Class American (Income between $ 68,000 to $ 300,000)
These are the top 5 Sources for his wealth
Mortgage (38%) [Market Value – Amount owed to Bank]
Portfolio (32%)
Insurance (15%)
Pension Plan /401K/Roth IRA(10%)
Savings / Low Yield Bills (5%)
The Average Middle Class American, his wealth comes from the rise in price of his house and how his pension plan works and on his insurance encashments
Portfolio wealth depends on the market and astute investments but no real hard work
Insurance and Pension Plan contributions depend on solid hard work
Yet Portfolio wealth can make you a millionaire whereas Pension Plans and Insurance can just keep you comfortably off
Now take the top 5 Sources of wealth for a Chinese Wealthy (Income > 3 Million RMB a year)
Real Estate Investment (26%)
Gold, Silver, Jade (20%)
Savings (21%)
Profits from Businesses (15%)
Real Estate (9%) [Commercial Rents , Residential Rent]
Do you see portfolio anywhere?
Nopes
It’s why Chinese don’t give a damn about their stock market whereas Americans panic when the market falls sharply for two days
Chinese Wealthy work hard too to make profits from Businesses that form a sixth of their wealth on an Average plus manage Properties and collect Rents on them.
So Chinese Wealthy and the American Middle Class Citizen works far harder than the American Rich whose wealth is based on shrewd investments and portfolio
Provolone Chicken
06 Chicken Provolone
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, flattened
1/4 cup flavored bread crumbs
2 teaspoons dried Italian herbs
4 slices Provolone cheese
1 teaspoon butter
4 cups cooked spaghetti or vermicelli noodles, buttered
Instructions
Heat oven to 425 degrees F.
Place bread crumbs in a flat dish and firmly press both sides of the chicken into the crumbs.
Place coated chicken pieces in a greased 9 x 13-inch baking dish.
Sprinkle with Italian seasoning, and top with cheese.
Dot with butter and bake for 20 minutes or until done.
Serve with buttered pasta.
This Is How They Treat Foreigners In Shanghai
Thank you, you changed my thinking about the beautiful Chinese people. I did not expect them to be so courteous, kind and humble.
What was your scariest “something’s not right” moment?
The minute I hugged my mom for the first time in three years, alarm bells rang so loud I could hear them screaming: Brain tumor.
I am studying in China, 6,217 km away from my family, I do not contact them much. I am not a big fan of traveling so I didn’t travel back and forth much either, in 2016 I decided to visit Jordan because I was feeling homesick and I heard news that my mother’s health wasn’t good.
My mom was around 42 years old at that time,chronically suffering from hypertension “high blood pressure”, she took the medications but she had a poor attitude towards keeping the blood pressure levels under check, so everyone in the family attributed her chronic headaches at that time to the hypertension.
After a long tiresome flight I reached home and met my mom at the door, she hugged me tight and suddenly her whole body leaned to the left. I didn’t understand what was happening at the time so I kept on hugging her until I noticed that she kept on leaning farther, I tried to support her weight but I was tired and couldn’t do it due to the awkward position so I told her: mom, you’ll fall, watch out!” she stood up, and we started talking, and oh boy, the alarm bells were drumming up a hole in my brain, I was terrified.
My mom slurred in her speech. Why did the rest of the family not notice that? Maybe because mom used to wear poor-fitting dentures in the past and it made her slur up, so they thought the same thing is happening now, and said we will get the dentures checked soon.
Besides the gait disturbance and the slurring, my mom made several edgy or —inappropriate — statements throughout the conversation. But the thing that made my bones jump, was how she yelped in pain when she coughed and said, “Every time I cough, my head splits in half”, and of course, that was attributed to the high blood pressure by the family and her primary care physician.
I went to a room and sat alone, I was freaking out. My vacation is 10 days, and I needed to explain what I’m thinking to the family so that actions can be made. I thought for a long time about that and about how can I approach my mom with that news. The latter part terrified me. Why? Because when I told my mom we might need to go and get her blood pressure checked, she screamed at me; I was taken aback. She screamed that she will not see a doctor, that I am not a doctor and I should not be acting like one and that she hates doctors.
She had seen plenty of doctors in her life, but that aggressive note was new.
Eventually the next day I convinced her to go with me to the doctor. I got her to the MRI room and asked the radiologist to let me stay with him so I can see the picture as it comes out.
Time stopped when I saw that MRI, and I knew at that moment that our lives are about to change. The tumor was huge, it had been growing for years undetected, years of slow personality changes, years of chronic headaches and years of unawareness. Thankfully, my mother agreed to have the surgery to remove the tumor, and she sprung back to her old, lively wonderful self.
This incident changed me and my family for good; my family became way more health conscious and I became more focused on the goal of becoming a good doctor. You see, if only one of her primary care physicians had looked — truly looked — at her gait or at how she screamed in pain when she coughed, they might have found this tumor much earlier.
How did Hitler react upon learning that Churchill would be replacing Chamberlain as Prime Minister?
Churchill had for years been warning of Hitler. He had warned of his rearming as well as intent to overrun large parts of Europe. Hitler knew that Churchill was the very last Brit that he wanted in as PM. If negotiated peace were the goal, someone else would need to be PM.
So Hitler publicly referred to Churchill by many names. His hope was that the British people would realize the mistake they had made. Hitler repeatedly referred to Churchill as a drunkard.
“As lunatics like that drunkard Churchill and Maccabeans and numskulls like that brilliantined dandy Eden are at the helm we’ve to be prepared for just about anything!”
But that was not all. He referred to Churchill as “a senile clown”, “gangster”, “bloodthirsty guttersnipe”, and “undisciplined swine” among other things.
Notably you will find no such invectives used by Hitler against Chamberlain. But such insults did not sway British foreign policy.
Hitler saw Churchill as his greatest obstacle. He remarked:
“If Churchill were suddenly to disappear, everything could change in a flash. The British aristocracy might perhaps become conscious of the abyss opening before them— and might well experience a serious shock! These British, for whom, indirectly, we have been fighting and who would enjoy the fruits of our victory…”
At some point he realized that negotiations with Churchill could not take place. Only after Churchill was defeated would the British be willing to talk.
Hitler remarked to von Brauchitsch, the commander in chief of the German Army, that “the British will be ready to talk only after a beating.
Hitler’s reaction to Churchill being chosen as PM was reality, the reality that the worst man in Britain for Hitler had be chosen. There would be no easy victory. There would be no short war. There would be no more bullying.
Mark Sleboda: Putin just Dropped BOMBSHELL Warning to NATO and Ukraine’s Army is Done For
China’s $170BN Gold Rush Triggers Taiwan Invasion Fear
Beijing appears to be stockpiling gold following a record buying spree, in a move that has raised fears China is preparing its economy for a possible conflict over Taiwan – guarding it against potential Western sanctions.
The People’s Bank of China bought 27 tons of gold in the first three months of the year, taking its reserves to a record high of 2,262 tons, according to data from the World Gold Council.
What is the best life advice you would give?
Keep a healthy distance from all people, including your friends. They could bring you down with their baggage if you are not careful.
Job is just a job. Don’t make it your priority.
Be very sure you want to get married and have kids. Many people get trapped in a situation where they keep on asking this “What if” after 10 or 20 years into marriage.
If possible, spend more time with your family, especially your parents. From your 20s to 40s, you will be too busy looking out for yourself. All of a sudden, your parents will become “old” like you never noticed.
Don’t expect people to come to your rescue. Own your actions and consequences and suck it up.
Tomorrow is not necessarily going to be a better day. Tomorrow is just another day.
Stop reading a self-help book if you are not self-aware.
Life is actually fair. It has no mercy on anyone.
If Jewish students don’t feel safe at university, does that automatically mean American can’t support Palestine and free of speech?
I laugh my ass off at this oh I’m so victimised mentality.
I still remember it 2 decades ago when I moved to London. A box fell off the back of a builders flatbed, near a Synagogue. They immediately phoned the police and said these bomb threats are a sign of anti you know what. Turns out it was just that a carboard box that had fallen off the back of a builders flat bed.
Anyway they don’t feel safe?
Let me give you some figures from the UK.
One group totals 400,000 people this figure is disputed as it includes citizens but they may not actually be there. They form 0.7% of the population yet face 4% of all the violent crime. 15% of them have faced violence with 51% of facing slurs and racist name calling.
Meanwhile one group is about 270,000 and have faced drum roll 1600 you know what incidents each year. OMG American maths means 1600 is bigger than 200,000 incidents of racism or nearly 30,000 instances of racism.
Yet one group gets all laws to protect them, gets news coverage, representation in government and one doesn’t.
Funny how one group matters and all others don’t doesn’t it?
So SATISFYING! I chose a random fairytale and found that the nasty “princess” got put to work. Ha!
I love all of this. How all these historical traditional stories were changed by social re-engineering. Fascinating!
Loving these unfiltered, brutal, unwokified stories.
When did the negative perception of masculinity begin?
This is a byproduct of the American “Woman’s Rights” movement.
The initial intention was for gender equality, where women would be treated as equals with men. Eventually, a more radical sub-branch of the movement took control and steered the movement towards an anti-male bias. Over the years, they acquired wealthy and powerful contributors, and used their positions in government to fund and control the narrative. Resulting in the destruction of the American male.
This women’s rights movement in the United States has gone through several stages.
Each stage has been marked by specific goals, accomplishments, and challenges.
First Wave (19th Century – Early 20th Century)
– Focused on legal issues, particularly women’s suffrage (the right to vote).
– Key events: The Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott; the adoption of the 19th Amendment in 1920, granting women the right to vote.
This initial stage is often erroneously considered to be reasonable, but a look at the amendments to the constitution clearly show that the movement removed the stable “Head of the Household” voting role towards one where anyone can vote. Thus, this movement, during the FIRST WAVE, significantly altered the federal government and the spending trajectory of the United States.
The United States moved from a Republic to a democracy.
Demographics changed substantially. Voting profiles changed radically, and a “nanny state”
became the norm, as the female voters started to demand a government that took on a parental role; thus a government with a greater role in the lives of Americans.
Additionally, history was rewritten. An active effort was made to rewrite the old European fairy tales to something supportive of first wave feminist belief structures. So, for instance, the Grimm Fairy Tales were rewritten from a structured give-and-take, with harsh lessons, to that of “Prince Charming”, and “one’s wishes can come true”.
There were other initiatives as well. The “Temperance movement” of the 1920’s was led by radical feminists and it resulted in the forced nationwide ban of alcohol, and the surge in organized crime. All the time while destroying the “freedoms” that American enjoyed.
And finally, let’s not forget that the first wave feminists brought in great federal-level social re-engineering evil masterminds; Coolridge, Herbet Hoover and then Taft.
Second Wave (1960s – 1980s)
– Emphasized a broader range of issues, including equality in the workplace, education, reproductive rights, and legal rights.
– Key events: Publication of “The Feminine Mystique” by Betty Friedan in 1963; the establishment of the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1966; the passage of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
– Advocacy for reproductive rights, including the landmark Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade in 1973.
During this wave, the “rights” of women altered the workplace, the Geo-political scene, the educational system, and the kinds of movies and shows on televisions and extracted out of Hollywood. It was during this wave that the notion of a traditional family was discarded, and men started to be depicted as buffoons and useless clowns.
It was during this time that marriage longevity was destroyed; that divorce became the normal. That a two income household become the norm, and housewives rearing their own children was considered stupid.
There is a direct correlation between divorce rates and the implementation of pro-feminist initiatives. This was the era of the destruction of the family. As the women entered the work-place, forced layoffs, firings and short-duration employment became the norm.
Third Wave (1990s – Early 2000s)
– Focused on diversity and intersectionality, addressing issues of race, class, sexual orientation, and gender identity within the context of women’s rights.
– Emphasized individualism and a more inclusive approach to feminism, acknowledging different experiences and perspectives.
This wave turbocharged the fall of traditional values, and the “career women” entered the work force with government sanctioned privileges that harmed the male roles. The court systems, and child service systems became co-opted by this movement and became hostile to males.
While the second wave feminists vocalized equality, this wave argued superiority at all levels and promoted benefits, and privileges that men were denied.
Laws and rules, from family law to corporate law favored females. Lower skilled females were engaged in once-dominant male activities to meet hiring quotas. The result was a gradual decline in the quality of the American work-force.
Fourth Wave (Mid-2000s – Present)
– Characterized by the use of digital and social media to advocate for women’s rights and mobilize anti-male activism.
– Focus on sexual harassment, gender-based violence, and the #MeToo movement.
– Greater attention to intersectionality, considering how various aspects of identity intersect and impact the experiences of women and non-binary individuals.
It’s a real problem.
The damage has already been done.
Presently, in the United States and it’s proxy nations, under the LGBQ+ rainbow flag, the male gender is ridiculed, minimized, and berated to a point where various social phenomenons have occurred. To include…
Young men in the 20s have stopped dating.
Young men tend to be virginal, while young women engage in serial promiscuity.
The “Soft man” era where men have “checked out”.
A drop in college and university admissions for men.
A push back on dating with the “drizzle drizzle” movement.
American men are leaving the United States as “passport bros” and not returning.
The changing demographics and the ten year forecast for citizens within this toxic anti-male environment is contentious. Historically, very BAD things happen when large sections males in a nation are hurt, abandoned, ridiculed and disparaged.
1. If your house smells fishy for no reason, 9 times out of 10 it means there is an electrical fire.
2. If you ever feel like someone is following your car, turn right four times and it will eventually go in a circle. If they are always behind you, it means they are following you. Don’t drive home, just call the police and drive to the police station
3. If a service dog ever approaches you without its owner, follow it and do so quickly because you could potentially save someone else’s life.
4. If someone tries to kidnap you, fight back. Most kidnappers will simply give up if they encounter resistance. And whatever you do, don’t let them take you anywhere else.
5. If the tide suddenly goes out unexpectedly, run like you stole it, for higher ground.
6. If you are ever attacked by a moose, get behind a tree…they have about a ten inch blind spot and they will lose you…
7.When people say to take an aspirin to help during a heart attack, chew the pill, don’t swallow it whole. It is absorbed much faster.
8. If someone asks you for something on the street – a light, the time, whatever – always keep the person in your line of sight. So if they ask you the time, don’t just look at your watch. Raise your arm slightly so that your watch is in view.
9. If you’re in danger or need help, in a public place, it’s almost always a bad idea to just yell “help.” It’s more important to be specific. Pointing your finger at someone and telling them to call 911 will be more effective. The bystander effect can sometimes be cruel.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – The Threat of China is Wildly Overstated
Robert F. Kennedy gives three main reasons why he believes the threat of China is wildly overstated.
I like his overall message, but I disagree with his idea that the USA can block shipping, and that without Walmart, China would collapse. I disagree that the Chinese “are on the edge of revolt”.
But still, it’s nice to hear a different voice out of the USA.
All evidence indicates that China and Russia are coordinating their actions. This uptick in nuclear talk with Russia and the USA troops in Ukraine, along with the stuff going on in the Pacific. It’s all very clear. It’s coordinated.
More chatter about Scott Ritter and what that means all in front of the nuclear war backdrop. Lots of stuff going on right now.
Today is a Geo-politics heavy post.
The vectors are all disturbing.
USA culture is collapsed.
USA society is wiped out.
The West is now very dangerous and police are not available.
Warrants, and laws are ignored.
Nuclear war is gleefully discussed without a care in the world.
Crazy inflation… and it’s gonna get much worse.
I get the impression that the USA is a big bonfire right now, and the wealthy and Washington insiders are all throwing gasoline and kerosene on the fire…
Question: Have I read this wrong? Putin started a war he can’t possibly win, as China embeds deeper and deeper into the fabric of eastern Russia. He isolates his country, makes it a vassal state to China, and for what? Is the guy missing a brain?
Answer:
Yes, you are reading it wrong.
As of 2024, Ukraine manpower has been depleted to such a point that Russia is in a position to get a lot more than they would have gotten with a negotiation back in 2020.
He didn’t isolate his country, because the BRICs payment system, particularly via RMB can cover up to 95% of human population. At this point, kicking Russia out of SWIFT just means reducing SWIFT’s value as a payment system.
In fact, the European sanctions helped the Russian economy tremendously, this is because prior to European sanctions, Putin’s main enemies are actually the Russian Oligarchies and to a lesser extent, the pro-West Russian capitalist. The European and US sanctions crippled both, meaning a lot money Russian money is investing into Russian economy instead of going to Europe and US.
And with China, the entire point is that China didn’t take advantage with any military venture into Russia far east. So at this point, 4,209.3 kilometres out of 22,407 kilometres of Russian land border suddenly don’t require any significant security investment, which frees up significant amount of Russian attention and budget.
Right now, the main Chinese complaint against Russian border is that the border customs are too under staffed and the roads sucked, so the cross border traders have to wait for long hours there.
See, that’s the power of not playing a zero sum game and constantly trying to screw other people over.
Blueberry Puffs
Blueberry Puffs
Ingredients
2 cups fresh or 1 bag frozen blueberries
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/3 cup light brown sugar
12 slices bread
6 eggs
2 cups Half-and-Half
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Instructions
Mix first 7 ingredients in a saucepan. Heat until the sauce is semi-thick. Set aside and cool to room temperature.
Cut crusts from bread. Spray a 2-quart rectangular glass pan with a nonstick pan coating. Cover the bottom of pan with 6 bread slices.
In separate bowl, mix eggs, Half-and-Half, vanilla extract and sugar. Pour half of this mixture over bread.
Spread thickened, cooled blueberry sauce over bottom layer.
Arrange the other half of the bread on top of blueberry filling.
Pour remaining egg mixture over the top.
Sprinkle with a dash of nutmeg.
Cover and place in refrigerator overnight.
Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F oven for 60 minutes.
Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting into 6 servings or 12 servings for a buffet.
Top with brown sugar and a few blueberries.
Woke Staff Go Silent as New CEO Says This in Brutal Meeting
We learn that President Biden has authorized Ukraine to “conduct limited attacks inside Russia with American-made weapons”. Some of the United States’ allies had already gone further. Britain, several weeks ago, allowed Ukraine to use its Storm Shadow long-range missile systems for attacks in any part of Russia, and France and Germany have recently taken the same position. We are, therefore, at a critical moment and the probability of moving from low-key conflicts to a war of uncontrollable global dimensions, including the great powers.
In an interview on March 18, President Putin warned: “It is clear to everyone that a [conflict between Russia and NATO] would mark the final step before a Third World War. I don’t think anyone wants that.” Asked by Reuters about Emmanuel Macron’s comments, who said he did not rule out the possibility of sending ground troops to Ukraine and the risk of a conflict with NATO, Vladimir Putin quipped: “Everything is possible in the modern world.” Emmanuel Macron, who has said he does not want an “escalation”, last week called on the West to “jump” out, warning that a Russian victory in Ukraine would pose an “existential threat” to Europe. President Putin adds that NATO military personnel were already in Ukraine. Russian troops heard communications in English and French on the battlefield, he said. “There is nothing good in all this, first and foremost for them since they are dying there and in large numbers.”1
«Will NATO member states individually or collectively go to war against Russia? This is the question of Western decision-makers. In an interview with The Economist, Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of the Alliance said: “The time has come for allies to reflect on whether they should lift some of the restrictions imposed on the use of weapons given to Ukraine (…) Especially now, when a lot of fighting is taking place in Kharkov, near the border, denying Ukraine the possibility of using these weapons against legitimate military targets on Russian territory makes it very difficult to defend it.” He pre-announced Washington’s decision to the European Allies. Speaking at the Council of the European Union, he said: “According to international law, Ukraine has the right to self-defence. And the right to self-defense also includes striking legitimate military objectives inside Russia.” (…) Extending the protection of the Atlantic anti-missile shield to Ukrainian territory would mean going to war collectively against Russia. But allowing Ukraine to attack Russia with weapons supplied by NATO member states would mean their entry into an individual war against Russia. For his part, Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy prime minister, commented: “This gentleman [Jens Stoltenberg] is dangerous because talking about a Third World War, Western weapons capable of striking and killing inside Russia, seems to me very, very dangerous and reckless.”
Vladimir Putin, replied to journalists: “This constant escalation can lead to serious consequences. Let them [the European NATO member states] remember that their territory is small and their population dense,” Senator Dmitry Rogozin, former director of Roscosmos, directly warned Washington: “We are not only on the threshold, but already on the edge, beyond which, if the enemy is not stopped in such actions, an irreversible collapse of the strategic security of the nuclear powers will begin.”2
Nuclear war: the scenario of the end of the world?
In all likelihood, it will not be a conventional war; For the evil is profound; it is the temptation to perpetuate an empire without a vital prognosis for Western countries against an existential threat for Russia which will not hesitate to pulverize the West even if it is a plantar nuclear fire; This reflection from the website Notre Planète Info allows us to predict the consequences of a nuclear war: “Feared during the Cold War, total nuclear war has proved to be such a heavy threat to the very future of humanity that the major nuclear powers have refrained from using nuclear weapons on a massive scale”.3
«NATO’s expansionist policy and the revival of openly Nazi armies in Ukraine triggered a Russian special operation of demilitarization and denazification in February 2022. The United States has always kept the possibility of carrying out preventive nuclear strikes. The United States has 750 military bases in more than 80 countries. The US has already spent 230 years (out of 246 years of existence), in direct and proxy wars abroad. In addition, the Pentagon’s new national defense strategy adopted in late October 2022 crossed a new line by authorizing the use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear threats. A particularly risky doctrine according to Democratic Senator Edward Markey: “The risk of nuclear war seriously threatens the survival of the human species. Unfortunately, by not ruling out being the first to use nuclear weapons, the United States is increasing the risk of an unintended nuclear escalation.” Indeed, Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Russia will retaliate against any nuclear attack with nuclear strikes. In other words, in the event of a potentially nuclear missile attack on Russia, hundreds of nuclear missiles will be launched immediately against the aggressive country, which will then be assured of total destruction.” [3]
The naivety of the West, which is banking on Russia’s misunderstanding of China
Alastair Crooke, the well-known journalist, describes the dilemma that in a way “blocks” and so much the better is the outbreak of the war of the West, NATO against Russia with the two blasters of Poland (enraged against Russia) and France of an unrecognizable paleo-Gaulian dignity: “The discourse of military escalation is fashionable in Europe, but both in the Middle East and in Ukraine, Western policy is in great difficulty. The paradox is that the Biden team – purely inadvertently – is giving birth to a “new world”. The more Western elites oppose birth — by “saving Zionism,” “saving European Ukraine,” and crushing dissidents — the more they accelerate the fall of Leviathan.”4
«The nearly 8,000-word China-Russia joint statement evokes the elementary laws of nature itself by describing the West’s usurpation of the fundamental principles of humanity, reality and order – a criticism that has engulfed the collective West mad with rage. But how and why can it be said that the West is accelerating its own dissolution? The New York Times gives a clue as to the “why”: The old “Anglo-Saxon” obsession with a defiant Russia that the West has never been able to bend to its will. Today, Russia and China signed a joint statement somewhat similar to the “limitless” friendship declared in February 2022, but which goes further. This statement describes their relationship as “superior to the political and military alliances of the Cold War era.” The friendship between the two states has no limits, there are no “forbidden” areas of cooperation. Ray McGovern, a former adviser to the US president, recounted how “when Biden took office in 2021, his advisers assured him that he could play on Russia’s fear (sic) of China – and drive a wedge between the two. This represents the ‘mother of all errors’ of judgment, for it causes the circumstances in which the Western ‘Order’ can dissolve.” “China is seeking to become the world’s most powerful economy and the world’s largest and most powerful military.” [4]
«In August 2019, when the United States withdrew from the treaty banning intermediate-range missiles in Europe, it had already deployed missiles in Romania and Poland. It is not possible to determine which missile is loaded because the tubes have lids. The time it takes for these missiles to reach Moscow would be 9 minutes from Poland and 10 minutes from Romania. (…) On May 18 in Moscow, in the wake of the last Xi-Putin summit – as M.K. Bhadrakumar notes. Western thought processes, Lavrov said, are moving dangerously toward “the contours of the formation of a European military alliance — with a nuclear component.” He deplored the fact that “they have chosen a confrontation on the battlefield: We are ready for it”. “The program to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia – militarily and otherwise – is a pure fantasy that will be resolutely countered.”[4]
The multidimensional cooperation between Russia and China scares the West
The West mistakenly thinks that it can impose its norm in the name of its rights; American and European strategists are doing everything they can to create dissension between Russia and China. Even President Biden believes in it. Alain Constant of the newspaper Le Monde, whom we have known much more professionally, writes: “In June 1997, Senator Joe Biden, returning from a trip to Moscow intended to reassure Russia about the enlargement of NATO, brushed aside the risks of Russia’s rapprochement with China. For the Biden of 1997, a Russian-Sino-Iranian rapprochement is unthinkable and is akin to political fiction. At the time, few American officials were aware of the danger. But Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former adviser, warns: “The worst-case scenario would be a grand coalition of China, Russia and perhaps Iran, united by a common hatred of the United States.” A nightmare scenario for the West that has become reality (…) After years of rapprochement and various treaties, the three countries are now clearly aligned on a common roadmap: to put an end to Western hegemony. All this while waging a hybrid fight against the West, at once military, technological, commercial, IT and civilizational.”5
In the same vein, Alain Frachon sends this message to the West: “There is no point in entertaining irresponsible illusions in Washington, Paris or Berlin: the Sino-Russian couple is not about to divorce. Xi Jinping’s recent visit to Europe and Vladimir Putin’s visit to Beijing a few days later have shown it unambiguously: the two countries are united by the same ambition, that of fighting against Western “hegemony”, In the spring of 2024, Xi Jinping recalled that he was a stakeholder in the conflict raging in Europe: He is on the Russian side (…) The aim is to increase trade between their two countries in the face of a “hostile and destructive American policy” intended, according to them, to “stem” the rise of China and Russia (…) This situation requires enhanced military cooperation. China will further support the war economy that Putin is establishing in Russia. Clearly, China is maintaining the Russian war effort.”6
Inventory of the world’s nuclear forces
According to a study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute published in June 2023 (SIPRI), “in January 2023, 12,512 nuclear weapons, of which 9576 were stored in warehouses for potential use. United States (1770 units) and Russia (1674 units). Together, these two states possess about 90 percent of all nuclear weapons.”7
«Global military spending is rising amid war, escalating tensions and insecurity Global military spending has risen to a record high of $2443 billion. “States are prioritising military force, which risks fuelling the ‘action-reaction’ spiral Russia’s military spending has increased by 24% to $109 billion in 2023. Ukraine is at $64.8 billion. Ukraine has also received at least $35 billion in military aid to the United States, including $25.4 billion from the United States. Together, this aid and Ukraine’s military spending is equivalent to about 91% of Russian military spending. In 2023, the military spending of NATO’s 31 members amounts to $1341 billion, or 55% of global military spending.”8
«U.S. military spending increased by 2.3% to $916 billion in 2023, accounting for 68% of NATO’s total military spending. In 2023, most European NATO member states increased their spending. China’s increased military spending is leading to that of its neighbors. China, 2nd with 296 billion dollars. Israel’s military spending – the second largest in the region after Saudi Arabia’s – reached $27.5 billion in 2023. India is the 4th largest with $83.6 billion. Algeria’s military spending increased by 76% to $18.3 billion. Iran is the 4th largest military spender in the Middle East in 2023 with $10.3 billion.”9
The bluster of the West. Russia invincible with the RS-28 Sarmat missile
In a lucid contribution, Andrew Cockburn explains that the effects of Western propaganda hide a sad reality: “The obsession with technology has not benefited Washington. The United States produces sophisticated and expensive weapons, which Russian forces have quickly learned to neutralize. Andrew Cockburn talks about it: “American weapons have not prevented Ukraine from retreating and suffering a possible defeat. Many failures of U.S. weapons in Ukraine, including HIMARS LRMs, are related to the use of highly vulnerable guidance systems with GPS. Russia has long paid special attention to electronic warfare and excels at jamming GPS signals. “Most Western systems have proven ineffective in combat conditions” due to Russian jamming.10
In the extreme conditions, which is an existential problem for Russia, it is no longer bound by any commitment: “Russia withdrew from the Treaty on Strategic Offensive Reductions Start-II/SNV-III, on February 23, 2023 In addition to its “conventional” continental ballistic missiles, Russia has acquired a heavy intercontinental ballistic missile called “RS-28 Sarmat” (or Satan 2 for the West), operational since the end of August 2023. It is a missile capable of striking any region on Earth with devastating and unparalleled firepower. This missile can carry up to 10 large nuclear warheads or 16 small warheads that can be aimed at a target each. They are thus much more destructive than the bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima at the end of the Second World War. And for good reason, this 200-ton missile, 35.5 meters long and 3 m in diameter, has a total power of 8 to 12 Mt of TNT (450 times the power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima), enough to transform a country the size of France or Great Britain into an uninhabitable desert (its destruction zone is 650,000 km²) in just 2 minutes… With a speed of 20 times that of sound (26,000 km/h), this new missile is impossible to intercept At least 50 Sarmat launch systems have been deployed on the territory of Russia since 2023. Russia finally has a “Perimeter” system, nicknamed “Dead Hand” (“Main more”) by NATO experts. This is a final retaliatory nuclear strike even if Russia is bombed by nuclear strikes and is on the verge of annihilation.”[3]
Putin’s warning is direct and explicit
Journalist M.K. Bhadrakumur said: “Putin has been explicit and direct. He made it known in advance that he would be forced to respond with a nuclear capability if the Russian state was threatened. Putin addressed the Federal Assembly in front of the crème de la crème of the Russian elite and took the whole nation into confidence by saying that the country could be pushed into a nuclear war for its own preservation. In fact, US Secretary of State Lloyd Austin said at a congressional hearing in Washington that “NATO will fight with Russia” if Ukraine is defeated. To put it plainly, Austin meant that if Ukraine loses, NATO will have to oppose Russia. It is a call for Europe to mobilise for a continental war. What French President Emmanuel Macron said: The defeat of Russia is indispensable for the security and stability of Europe.”11
The Doomsday Clock The impotence of the international community
The nuclear threat in the world is illustrated in particular by the Doomsday Clock. Created in 1947, shortly after the American atomic bombings of Japan, and has been regularly updated since then, by members of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, (BAS) based at the University of Chicago. In 2012 it indicated 11:55 p.m., only 5 minutes before the end of the world. In 2023, its hand has moved forward again to just 90 seconds. The question of nuclear war therefore remains more topical than ever. UN humanitarian officials and members of civil society discussed the humanitarian community’s response to a nuclear explosion. “The humanitarian consequences of a nuclear attack or accident would be potentially devastating and catastrophic,” warned the Director of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva.
An apocalyptic post-nuclear bombing scenario
«Within hours, 34 million people would be killed by the direct effect of nuclear explosions. Colossal and uncontrollable fires generated by the bombs would send 9 million tons of soot into the atmosphere. In less than 50 days, the entire planet would be affected by ash. For a decade, the sun’s rays would then be partially filtered. As a result, the global temperature would drop by 1.25°C in the first three years; global precipitation would decrease by 10% in the two to four years following the event; frosts would be more frequent. Agriculture would then be severely affected and therefore food resources for all of humanity. Finally, this scenario is accompanied by a generalized loss (75% at the global level – 65% in the tropics) of the stratospheric ozone layer for about 15 years.” [3]
The effects of nuclear weapons on human health
According to the specialized site: describing the dropping of an atomic bomb “The intense fireball generated at the very moment of the explosion of a nuclear weapon of this power would release heat, shock waves and radiation at the same time. The victims of thermal radiation: the temperature on earth, under the epicenter of the explosion, would reach about 7000°C and, in this area, all living beings would be pulverized. Tens of thousands of people are believed to be burned, most with horrific third-degree burns. A fireball and thermal radiation would be immediately followed by pressure waves traveling at supersonic speeds. The victims would have organ ruptures, open fractures, skull fractures and penetrating wounds. A significant number of people would lose their hearing as a result of perforated eardrums.”12
«Victims of the firestorm: It is also possible that radioactive fallout could be blown far by the wind, endangering far more people than the explosion and fires. Many of those affected would not realize they had received a life-threatening dose of radiation for several days or weeks. In Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the number of deaths attributed to bombings had reached 200,000 and 140,000 respectively in 1950. Even today, radiation-related illnesses and deaths are observed among the now elderly population of survivors of the 1945 bombings.” [12]
What should Algeria do?
«When the great make war on each other, it is the weak who die.” This quote from Jean Paul Sarre sums up the current situation. In the face of the new world that will give birth in pain, there will be collateral damage. We are close to a future place of confrontation! An atomic bomb 800 km from Algiers will impact life in Algeria, in the opposite direction. Let us remember the 13 multicolored jerboas, in addition to having ravaged and sterilized entire regions, allowed winds to disperse the atomic cloud over thousands of km in all directions!
It is truly an uncertain era in which all the settling of scores will have free rein, now that there is no United Nations capable of preserving morality and human dignity. This “War of all against all”, “Bellum omnium contra omnes” according to Hobbes, must oblige us more than ever to introspect and review our being in the world. Only force governs the world. Russia manages to resist the West thanks to the 450,000 engineers per year! and several million technicians!
Technological power should be based on science and military industry also on heavy equipment (tanks, planes, cannons) guided by computer power are the immune defenses that we need to strengthen. To do this, we must fundamentally review the training of engineers and scientists in terms of quantity and quality. The discipline of mathematics should be the apple of our eye and a special scholarship should be allowed to mathematics baccalaureates and technological disciplines, as President Boumediene did in his time. A President of whom some discover, late and in spite of themselves, the vision of the statesman who thinks in terms of the future. The next five-year term will also have to continue to bring the structuring projects to fruition: Betting on renewable energy and green hydrogen. Strengthen steel capacity, a strong link in any industrialization, particularly in the rail and military industries. The security of the country depends on it. This means that Algerians must all be vigilant together.
Conclusion
In one of his many meetings for the NO to the 1914-18 war, Jean Jaurès, the French socialist leader, understood where the ills of humanity came from. Rolling liberalism! He wrote: “Capitalism carries war within it, as the sleeping cloud carries the storm.” He will be assassinated! We live in a troubled time where anything can happen to God forbid In a famous poem from 1955, Jacques Brel, in a lucid and prophetic way, described the world of the time in the making.”
–Professor Chems Eddine Chitour
INTERVIEW: Land of the free, home of the grave
Scott Ritter on the assassination of the constitution and how three heavily-armed goons removed his passport with all of his rights. The grisly sequel follows…
Long before the rise of man when the world was dark there came a great light from the sky. A great ship descended into a dark world.Inside the ship was the greatest race to ever inhabit the universe. They are called the creators. The creators were the first evolution of humanity.They called their new home Avalonia. The creators created the oceans, the trees, plants and animals. Overtime the creators created the second evolution of humanity in their image.The creators built great cities and within those great cities, a great library was built. Which housed the greatest knowledge the universe has ever known.A millennia passed since the creators arrived in Avalonia and since their first landing many generations of humans have been all with the knowledge of the creators.The creators have spread their seed and their knowledge throughout the known galaxy. Many planets bore the fruit of knowledge of the creators. Many more libraries of knowledge were created but only one remains eternal.Many more generations have passed and the generations of humans created by the creators continued to flourish until one moment in their history when everything changed.
The creators simply vanished leaving their creations on the many planets they call home. The humans on each planet were left with the knowledge of the creators.
The humans didn’t use the knowledge wisely and ultimately all the knowledge was lost including the libraries expect for the one that remains eternal.
Deep inside I knew the existence of humanity was part of something greater. We were put on this planet to be something more.
We were created by a powerful race of humans to carry on their legacy but over the course of thousands of years we lost it all.
I must find and figure out what we lost. It’s my destiny. I dreamed about something greater than myself. Something greater than humanity.
A library filled with the knowledge of the universe is somewhere out beyond the stars waiting for me to find.
Atria is my home the fourth planet the creators created this I know. The records of the past show it. It also shows one of the great libraries once stood on Atrian grounds but the library is no more.
Their maybe more libraries out beyond the stars but one bears the name eternal. That one has been lost since the first creation. I aim to find that one.
Beyond the stars there are more planets that house the libraries. To those planets I will go and find the one that is eternal. I don’t know what I will find but it’s a risk I must take.
To Aqua Terra, Azurella also known as the water planets are known creations of the creators. To Amarantha and Inter Nova are also known creations of the creators. All these planets have one thing in common. The great libraries of the creators were built there.
Atria, my home world was also created by the creators and too many of my people no known library was ever built on Atria but a long-ago war destroyed half of Atria and possible the library. The records are proof there was a library on Atria.
I have what I need. Now it’s time for me to set off on my journey. Lucky for me I have my own space ship. Just because the great library is no more and no one knows it doesn’t mean the creators knowledge was lost. Some of their knowledge was left for us.
The record I found suggest only four of the many planets the creators created house the great libraries. One of them has to be the one that is eternal.
I set off into the stars. My first stop is Aqua Terra. One of the many water planets. I fire up the FTL and in four hours I arrive at Aqua Terra.
I scan the planet and to my amazement there is a large structure on the southern end of the planet. The inhabitants of Aqua Terra primarily live on the northern end of the planet.
I land my ship safely on the water. I put my water gear on. I open the door and jump into the water. I follow the coordinates to the location of the library.
Not much of a library. I enter through one of the side openings. Something must be holding the water back. I beginning going up one of the hallways. I look around. I don’t see much. The books are weathered down.
I keep going down the long hallway until I reach a door. I open the door and enter. All the books are weathered down expect for one. This book is in good condition.
I pick up the book and open it. It’s not a book but a journal. I start to read the journal, Wow, this was written by one of the creators.
“We left our home to seed the rest of the known galaxy. I will miss my home. I will miss my library. Many more will be created. One day I will return to Avalonia.”
“We seeded many more planets and built many more libraries. Our creations are beautiful but something happened to us. We must leave Avalonia or all will be lost. We entrust our libraries and all our knowledge to our creations. Our eternal library, we will hide forever.”
Avalonia, I never heard of that planet. I leave the library and go back to my ship. I go to the next planet, another water planet. I found the same thing I found on Aqua Terra, a journal talking about Avalonia.
I go to the next two planets Amarantha and Inter Nova and I found the same thing, two more journals written by the creators talking about Avalonia.
I spread the journals out looking for clues. I examine each journal one by one and bang hidden beneath the words are numbers. I write them down. They look like coordinates.
These must be coordinates to Avalonia. I punch in the coordinates. There it is Avalonia. I fire up the FTL. I’m on my way to Avalonia. The creators first home, first creation and hopefully the site of the one that is eternal.
As my ship travels to Avalonia, I keep reading the journals of the creators. This is amazing. One of the journals written by a creator whose name is Minta talks about how the libraries were created. But what the journals don’t talk about is how we were created or why the vanished.
After ten hours my ship drops out of FTL. This is Avalonia. I scan the planet. My scans don’t pick up anything. I go back to the journals. I read each one. The journals talk about a large structure between a mountain and a waterfall.
I scan the planet again. My scans pick up something on the southern end of the planet. I go down to Avalonia. The planet is beautiful. No sign of life. I wonder why that is.
I see the mountain range. I fly around the mountain. I spot a waterfall. It must be in there. I land my ship. I open the door and walk out.
I’m speechless. I never see anything so beautiful and colorful. I scan the area with my scanner. I’m picking up something. I walk in the direction of the waterfall.
What’s that up ahead? I see what looks like the figure of a person. As I get near, I see the figure looking at me. My scans showed no sign of life.
“Hello my name is Minta creator of the library, creator of everything.” Oh My God! I’m seeing one of the creators.
“You have found the eternal library filled with the knowledge of the universe. You are worthy to be in the presence of those who breath life into you. Welcome my child.”
“The knowledge of creation is too great for our creations. We hid this knowledge because no one human is worthy of the knowledge that is held in the eternal library. Only you are worthy. Enter.”
I enter the library. Wow beyond wow. So much to be discovered. I walk around looking at the great works the creators did. I don’t know where to begin.
I take one book after another reading about everything the creators created from the first space ship to the many great cities they built, to the math and medicine they created and the history of creation.
I’m looking at everything the creators ever worked on. Everything they built and made including us humans. This is amazing. I continue to read it all. Thank you creators for leaving this for me, for us.
Would you pick someone from the street to manage your treatment just because he happens to be tall, old, and gives nice speeches?
Yet that is what America has been doing for problems far more complex than cancer.
How does a rank amateur who has never spent a day in public office expect to master the task of running an entire nation from day 1?
That will be no different from picking a Mr. Random to replace Tim Cook at apple.
How do you think apple stock will fare once the appointment is confirmed, particularly if the replacement cannot explain the difference between a potato chip and a silicon chip?
Whatever you think of the Chinese, their system GUARANTEES that anyone with even a sniff at the politburo knows thoroughly what governance is all about–the stakes involved, how the various arms work, the major players, and most importantly, how to go about fulfilling their own roles.
You cannot say the same about the American system right at the very top because the cabinet is essentially parachuted in, and that can include the president.
My home burnt down. And a nonprofit organization was helping me and my wife by paying for a room for us for a couple days while we found new residence..
1 hotel ..the best western.. refused to house us bc they saw nonprofit residents as poor and filthy (said they ruined rooms…like rich cant do that too)
The next one, one we ended up being placed in for 2 days called the scottish inn was owned by an Indian looking lady and family id presume. The woman acted like, and stated, she was *doing us a favor* by taking paid in full rates for a room bc it was paid by an organization (guaranteed $ in bag) she also treated us like scum of the Earth. From the second we showed up being recited a hundred rules and placed in room next to office and told to not make any noise and that our 2 kids ages 5 and 8 needed to *keep quiet completely* to not cooking any food and accused of doing soo when we brought some of our belongings we salvaged in, and 1 item was an air fryer.
Day 2 they called room around noon and told us, not even 18 hrs later, that we needed to vacate room w our stuff soo they could clean.
We did soo.. and returned to the entire room covered in news paper and the owner lady came knocking 2 seconds in.. she told me i couldnt have my own tv in room at first.. then told me no drinks can be in room (kool aid) then told me no touching tv. Keep in mind that the room was spotless, wed been up 2 days at this point and slept most this time.. our kids had slept 8 or 9 of the 14 hrs as well and were very well behaved.
We hadnt done anything at all besides drink some kool aid and flick around cable tv channels and talk amongst ourselves.
Soo Finally I burst and defended myself and exclaimed how she is treating us different because she assumes we are poor, but we are still people and it needs to stop.
I asked if we had done anything wrong. To which she replied no.. soo i said *then leave us alone.. if we do anything wrong, then tell us and we will stop…until then, plz stop treating us like scum that will ruin things, its a hotel.. we paid, leave us be..you dont cover every customers room w news paper and hover over them w rules like a prison guard do you? Soo why do that to us.. you are NOT doing us a favor, we could have found other accomodations if youd been uncomfortable. I understand your worry but we didnt do anything to be treated poorly and its making us feel opressed and uncomfortable even talking w eachother at a normal tone.. please relax and leave us be*
Horrible experience and completely demeaning.
I had to stop her when she just sat there 20 mins in my room w my kids belittling me. Hope she didnt take offence I wasnt mad , just making clear it was rude.
He might have more than 7 cars. He is not paying tax or insurance on them so they are easy for him to maintain.
Rather than for Nigerian Police officers to protect citizens, you see them guarding the Nigerian rich men. The middle class always employ Gate men. (security issues)
The Nigerian rich men mostly send their wives to USA for child birth because of citizenship. The uncertainties in Nigeria are too many and he wants the best for his kids.
The Nigeria rich man always seeks medical aid abroad.He doesn’t trust the Nigerian health care system even though we have both public and private hospitals.Nigeria President son had a bike accident ,he was transported to Germany for check up/treatment. His father (President Buhari ) almost stayed in London for a year because of health care.Yes they are rich and can afford this extravagant life.
The Nigeria rich man evades tax a lot. Yes FIRS, the Nigerian version of IRS, aren’t effective.Till today, we do not even know how much Nigerian legislatives earn monthly.
The Nigerian rich man might establish his own private university and send his own kids abroad for college education.
A rich man in the USA.
He enjoys a business conducive environment.
He enjoys access to health care
He gets taxed for all his properties and liabilities.
He files his taxes or risks jail.
If he is an Entrepreneur, he employs workers and pays them with minimum wage. Nigeria is still battling with fixing its minimum wage to $100 monthly. The rich men in Nigeria are seriously taking advantage of the poor youths, paying them peanuts.
I hope you understand my points from another view of life.
You see Europeans are against war… in Europe they’re absolutely fine with devastation and killing OUTSIDE Europe.
After WW2 it was never again in Europe.
This is why the vast majority of them supported the Iraq and Afghan genocides. The people loved the 20 year mass murder of Iraqis and Afghans and most of them were happy about it.
All their governments which remember are elected and WHOLLY REPRESENTATIVE of the people as they’re democracies remember which is the PERFECT MOST REPRESENTATIVE system support killing of brown people.
This is why Europe needs to be utterly devastated along with the USA. Some of them might have the awareness and think OMG we did this for years against other countries! Are we the baddies?
most of them will be nah! They’re just insects!!!
Wanna play?
Col. Larry Wilkerson on Scott Ritter and Russia’s Devastating Warning to NATO
Everyone is convinced that the United States is in full scale collapse.
In the 1860’s, abused children were not protected under the law. So animal activists had to step in to rescue an abused child. Mary Ellen Wilson was the first child abuse case in America that initiated welfare rights for abused children.
If you beat and mistreated your furry animal, the newly formed ASPCA (the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) had the right to take it away from you. In some cases, you could be imprisoned.
If you beat and neglected a living, breathing child, the law allowed it because children were considered the property of the father.
Little Mary’s story begins tragically. Her father died when she was born, forcing her penniless mother to place her in the care of Martha Score. After Mary’s mother missed a few payments, Martha Score cruelly placed Mary Wilson into the New York City Department of Charities without her mother’s consent.
[1]After her financial situation improved, Mary’s mother, Francis Wilson, returned to get her child back but Martha Score falsely informed her that her daughter had died. Distraught, Francis Wilson left and never knew the horrors her daughter faced after being adopted by Mary and Thomas McCormack.
In that era, adoption was easy and unregulated. The couple walked into the orphanage, claimed to be her legitimate parents and took Mary Wilson home with them. The purpose of adopting her was to have an indentured servant, basically an unpaid servant.
Thomas McCormack died shortly after the adoption, and Mary McCormack remarried to Francis McConnell. It was during this period where Mary Wilson experienced extreme abuse. It was common knowledge in the neighborhood that her adopted mother savagely beat her.
Mary Wilson was beaten, burned, whipped and locked in a closet for hours. She was forced to do heavy labor and to sleep on the floor. The little girl slept on a dirty mat in a closet where she was chained like a dog.
During that period, Etta Wheeler, who was a missionary working for the poor, heard of the abuse and investigated. She expected to find an abused child but was still horrified by what she saw. Mary Wilson’s frail, starved body was covered in burns and cuts.
She went to authorities to have Mary Wilson removed from the abusive household but local authorities were unwilling to help, pointing out that the law allowed for physical discipline and Mary Wilson was the property of Francis McConnell.
“She’s better off with a home than on the street!” was the common belief.
Lost on what to do next, she decided to appeal to the organization that advocated against animal cruelty. Henry Bergh, the founder of ASPCA, was eager to help and built a legal case after Etta Wheeler gathered evidence and testimony on the abuse.
During the case, this was Mary Wilson’s chilling words on what she experienced.
My father and mother are both dead. I don’t know how old I am. I have no recollection of a time when I did not live with the Connollys. Mamma has been in the habit of whipping and beating me almost every day. She used to whip me with a twisted whip — a rawhide. The whip always left a black and blue mark on my body. I have now the black and blue marks on my head which were made by Mamma and also a cut on the left side of my forehead which was made by a pair of scissors. She struck me with the scissors and cut me; I have no recollection of ever having been kissed by any one — have never been kissed by Mamma. I have never been taken on my mamma’s lap and caressed or petted. I never dared to speak to anybody, because if I did, I would get whipped. I do not know for what I was whipped — Mamma never said anything to me when she whipped me. I do not want to go back to live with Mamma, because she beats me so. I have no recollection ever being on the street in my life.
[2]Her stepmother was found guilty of felonious assault and sentenced to one year of hard labour. Not an adequate sentence in my opinion. She should’ve gotten more for the abuse she inflicted.
Mary Wilson went on to live a happy life under the care of Etta Wheeler’s younger sister. She married and had two daughters, later adopting an orphaned girl. One of her daughters was named Etta, after the woman who rescued her.
She lived happily till her death at the age of 92. According to her children and grandchildren, she rarely discussed her early years and always possessed a kind, caring nature despite her horrific past.
After Mary Wilson’s case, laws were established against child abuse.
For the longest time in history, children and woman were considered property of their father or husband. This story goes to show how backwards society once was.
Can you believe that animals had more protection than children in history? It’s saddening.
One morning, my catering delivery driver comes running in the building to tell me that a trailer truck pulled in behind him as he was leaving with a catering delivery. The driver of the truck was nasty and refused to back up his truck.
This was a delivery for us from a company that we dealt with for many years. Apparently he was a new driver as we had never seen him before.
I am a 5′6″ 120 lb female and was probably about 56 years old at the time. Just saying, you’ll see.
So I went outside and asked the driver to move his truck. He refused and started swearing at me using words that would make my mother blush. He was standing in front of me with clenched fists. Very calmly, I told him I had 2 choices: I could call his boss or I could call the police. “you choose,” I said. He raised his fists and starting running towards me. I stood still with my arms crossed and then he stopped a few inches from me. “you’ll move your truck then”, I said. He turned and got back in the cab. I turned to go back in the building and there behind me was the 6′2” chef, the 6′ butcher and a 6′ driver. all big men.
How we laughed. I thought I had it under control all by myself! The guys couldn’t decide if I was a fool or brave. I thought I was brave!
I did call the drivers boss and that was the last time we saw him! We still laugh about that day several years later.
Chinese General “War is coming” Wait and You will See.
Very interesting “interview”.
The content you produce is top-tier and very valuable. High level overview of 'perceptions', 'narratives', and 'situations'. Becoming my go-to channel for Asia Pacific. Respect.
NOTE: This information was true up until 2009 and I cannot unequivocally state that it is currently taught to medics and again, I doubt anyone would admit to others in a public forum if they had participated in the situation.
Yes, you can. Medics are taught how to but not instructed to. There is a terrible and fine line out there in “the suck” that medics, and medics alone, are asked to walk.
You don’t end a person’s life. Full stop. In the rare case that a soldier is mortally wounded (no way to maintain an airway or control bleeding and no higher medical assets within a reasonable time)… then a medic could administer an extra ampule of morphine or two. Even though the doctors and instructors teach the medics this, in the end, it’s on that one person’s shoulders. And conscience.
Is it better to leave your friend/co-worker screaming in agony until they are too weak to yell? Then watch them convulse every few minutes for a couple of hours. Then finally they stop responding to your voice or even painful stimulus.
Brain death is setting in. It takes a few minutes or a few days.
Every minute you have a seriously wounded soldier in your unit you have medics that are out of the fight. You also have a much more complicated command situation. Nobody (NOBODY) makes this decision lightly. They also never talk about it.
In the movies, there is always an EVAC helicopter with an escort available and ready to risk anything to get to the wounded. In combat, it’s not always possible. “Birds” get grounded for many reasons and MEDEVAC Strykers are delayed by the need for escort vehicles/crews and IED laden roads. In almost all cases, the wounded will live to see the operating room. In some form.
Combat wounded are intense. Gunfire is still raging in many cases. People are yelling, confusion is everywhere. The medic will be well trained but under a lot of stress. They know that they have to address breathing and bleeding in 2–3 minutes. They also need to avoid causing further injury and find any hidden wounds. While doing this they have to coordinate any available soldiers with combat lifesaver training to assist them with this or other injured. Finally, they also have to constantly keep the command apprised of the situation.
Who has X injury?
Can they return to the fight?
Do they need to be evacuated from battle or can we take them with us?
If they need to go NOW, how long do they realistically have?
Can we ground evac through the combat or do we need a bird?
While answering all of that the medic has assessed the wounded. Tried to control the bleeding and established a secure airway. Then they need to find a vein for an IV (super hard on a patient with blood loss or missing limbs). While doing this they also need to fill out the ‘9 Line’ medical evacuation form for the radio. Once this is done the medic will check the field dressings, the IV, the breathing. Record the wounds and vitals. Mark when/if morphine was given (how much, when, where administered) and done so that the surgeon can see it and blood doesn’t wash it away. Often in black sharpie on the forehead if the patient is unconscious- as awful as that sounds it works well.
So, don’t talk about the morality of this until you walk a mile (or 26) in a medic’s boots. Don’t talk about what happens until you live and work with a small team of men and women in a combat zone for over a year at a time. Infantry units are closer than most marriages/families. Your platoon SGT is dad and doc is mom. It’s a horrific moment to see one of your guys literally torn in half and dying. It’s much worse to know that due to a sandstorm there aren’t any flights that day. It’s hell on earth when you realize nobody is coming by road because of the IED you just hit. It’s unimaginable when you realize you only have 2 morphine ampules left and 3 critically wounded friends.
I didn’t have to make the hardest choice. I wouldn’t tell you if I did.
Great question. I hope someone who actually held this responsibility in combat can clear it up a little.
Update 2/1/21: I have received word from one medic who states they are no longer issued morphine, but it has been replaced with fentanyl and ketamine. I have two friends still in service who are currently issued morphine while fentanyl is on the medevac stryker, but I believe Mr. Walker regarding standard issue. Thank you to Alan Walker for the comment.
USA DEPLOYING 300K TROOPS TO EUROPE! RUSSIAS NUCLEAR LINE CROSSED, ATTACKS ON RUSSIA BEGIN
He is talking about what I have been saying. When the empire collapses, it starts locking down the country.
BREAKING NEWS: ISRAEL IS LAUNCHING ATTACKS UPON SOUTHERN LEBANON
Multiple Massive Explosions reported in Southern Lebanon as the Israeli Air Force appears to have begun Striking several Hezbollah Positions near the Border with Israel.; Strikes so Intense that Houses within the City of Kiryat Shmona are reported to be Shaking.
Drone reconnaissance activity over the Naqoura and Tyre sectors, south of the Litani River in southern Lebanon.
Says one observer:
“Israel is bombing Rafah. Israel is bombing Lebanon. Israel is bombing Syria. Bombing 3 different countries at the same time is not victim behavior. It is terrorism.”
Crossing red lines w/ Jeffrey Sachs
Very good, and he lays out a really good history of how we got here.
https://youtu.be/c-gIFpYWPuA
U.S. Surveillance Drone “FORTE-12” Has Gone “Missing” Over Black Sea
American Recon Drone “FORTE12” has apparently gone down in the Black Sea. RUMORS say it was hit with jamming or Electronic Warfare (EW).
The intelligence drone was a Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Global Hawk, flying out of an air base in Sicily. It circled at an altitude of 15.5 kilometers above the neutral waters of the Black Sea near Crimea according to the data of the website Flightradar24.
Judging by the data of the site, which allows real-time monitoring of aircraft movement, the reconnaissance drone flew out of the airfield Catania on the Italian island of Sicily. The drone gained height and proceeded through airspace of Greece and Bulgaria to the Black Sea.
According to Flightradar, the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) belongs to the US Air Force and has registration number 10-2045, the call sign Forte-12.
The flight of the drone is tracked by more than five thousand users, ranking first in the “popularity” on the FlightRadar24 website platform. According data at 11:39 Moscow time, drone tracking stopped on the site, the board stopped displaying on the map.
According to the manufacturing company, the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle is designed for reconnaissance and surveillance. It is capable of flying at high altitudes for more than 30 hours, is designed to receive images of large tracts of land with a high resolution in almost real time, is able to act in any weather and any time of day. In addition, such devices are used to support communication as repeaters.
As noted on the manufacturer’s website, Global Hawk, used by the US Air Force since 2001, “identifies potential threats, allowing commanders to gain a better understanding of their area of interest”.
This radio show called U.S. Central Command, twice, for comment. Both calls were picked up, with an almost immediate hang-up. I then called the Pentagon Press office. That call was answered by “Quinn” and I told him I was trying to reach CENTCOM but two calls resulted in Hang-ups; that I was trying to get a comment about FORTE-12 Drone being downed in the Black Sea. I asked him for a better contact number for CENTCOM. He asked me to hold. He came back a minute later saying “I am putting you through to Major Dietz. The call rang 4x and voice mail picked up saying “You have reached a mailbox that cannot accept messages.”
If you think that’s trash on the ground, you would be, as the first helicopter pilots who flew over, mistaken.
These are the bodies of 918 members of the Peoples Temple who were brutally murdered by madman so high on himself and a truckload of barbiturates, I bet he still roams the location in a dream of undeserved self worship, refusing to accept that he died decades ago.
He died not the same way as the others.. Oh no that would be far too painful. You can mix as much drugs and sedatives into a vat of “Koolaid” as you want, it won’t make a difference when you throw buckets of potassium cyanide along with it. Cyanide has no mercy or morals, it stops the body from absorbing oxygen. Simple as that. It suffocates you, and I promise you it is not pleasant or “pain free” as Jim Jones promised it would be. The sedatives added would take up to 30 min to start working. Cyanide killed them in 5 min.
No my friends, Mr Jones took a bullet to the head. Probably didn’t even do it himself. He was too cowardly to drink his “potion”, nor shoot himself. Based on what his son said about him later, he knew he was a fraud. And when all failed, he refused to fail alone, and made all his followers follow him into death. Some were brainwashed, but many of them were forced.
He made the children drink first, so by the time they had gone, the parents wouldn’t have much to live for, and would want to go with their children into peace.
Jones was a sick man, and a terrible lesson for us to learn. Let us learn it well.
Those who forget the past, are condemned to repeat it.
The US Sanctioned China…You Won’t Believe How Beijing Responded!
You are quite deluded. Taiwan’s military is primitive compared to the militaries of China and USA.
A war between China and Taiwan, excluding the participation of USA, would last a matter of days. And Taiwan would LOSE.
All of Taiwan’s military equipment from USA are second-rate leftovers from the US military. Taiwan does not have access to F-22, F-35, and advanced US Navy ships and submarines.
Malaysian News has not done adequate research on the matter. Or, Malaysian News chooses to be wilfully ignorant. Denial is not a river in Africa.
Scott Ritter Exposed: Secret U.S.-NATO Challenges Russia, Nuclear War is Inevitable
German Chocolate Doughnuts
Surprise! There’s a yummy secret filling in these chocolate-glazed doughnuts.
German Chocolate Doughnuts
Prep: 30 min | Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
4 cups Crisco® Pure Vegetable Oil
1 cup Pillsbury™ Creamy Supreme™ Coconut Pecan Frosting
1/2 cup Pillsbury™ Creamy Supreme™ Chocolate Frosting
1 can Pillsbury™ Grands!™ Flaky Layers refrigerated honey butter biscuits
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup flaked coconut, toasted*
Instructions
In 3-quart heavy saucepan, heat oil over medium heat to 350 degrees F.
Meanwhile, spoon coconut pecan frosting into decorating bag fitted with 1/2-inch wide tip. Set aside.
In medium bowl, stir chocolate frosting and 1 tablespoon water until smooth. Set aside.
Place paper towels under cooling rack. Separate dough into 8 biscuits; gently place 2 biscuits at a time in hot oil. Cook 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until golden brown. Using tongs, gently turn over; cook 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to cooling rack; cool 2 minutes.
Meanwhile, in small bowl, mix pecans and coconut.
To fill doughnuts, insert decorating tip** into side of each biscuit. Squeeze about 2 tablespoons of coconut pecan frosting into center.
Dip one side of each biscuit in chocolate glaze. Sprinkle with pecan mixture.
Serve warm or cool.
Notes
* To toast coconut, heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread coconut in ungreased shallow pan. Bake uncovered 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown.
** If you don’t have a decorating bag and tip, use a 1 gallon plastic freezer bag. Spoon frosting into bag and cut 1/2 inch off one corner of bag. Fill doughnuts as stated.
Nutrition
Per serving: Calories 530 Calories from Fat 290 Total Fat 32g Saturated Fat 10g Trans Fat 2 1/2g Cholesterol 0mg Sodium 600mg Total Carbohydrate 55g Dietary Fiber 1g Sugars 1g Protein 4g
% Daily Value*: Vitamin A 0% Vitamin C 0% Calcium 0% Iron 8%
Some years ago my brother and I decided to open up a cigar parlor. We wanted to open it at the newly-developed Patriot Place, home of the New England Patriots. Being a marketing manager by trade I researched and wrote a business plan for the project, learning much along the way. For example, the average retail store generates about 150 dollars of revenue per square foot: for decades, Tiffany’s generated the most at 4000 dollars per square foot til Apple came along and blew everyone out of the water at 6000 dollars per square foot.
I did traffic pattern analysis and so on. I got all kinds of rental statistics from the Patriot Place management office and wrote a plan. We got a lawyer and incorporated. We got an accountant and became an LLC. We went to a bank and got 400,000 in SBA financing. We went to the Chamber of Commerce and they hooked us up with a business team at a business college who wrote our financial plan for us for free. We went to Patriot Place sales management and they showed us a concrete box available in the mall. It was 11oo square feet. The rent was 89,000 dollars a year. We hired an architect who drew up a plot plan and did basic diagrams of the layout we wanted. We worked with the town health inspector to make sure there were no gotchas. The triumph was going to the town to apply for a liquor license. By the merest of chance a liquor license had been surrendered that day and the town clerk approved my application. All I needed was a rubber-stamp approval from the town government and the clerk told me it was a formality. It cost me 250 dollars. By comparison, a liquor license in Massachusetts sold by a business costs between 250,000 and 500,000 dollars. I was in the right place at the right time. Most of the profit in any food business is the liquor. A cigar, after taxes, might make 20 percent. Booze makes many times that. Many businesses are propped up by the booze sales alone. Everything else is just a gimmick to get customers to come in and buy booze.
Once the Plan was complete with architectural drawings, contractor lists, materials required, SBA documents, business plan, pro-forma financial documents and every other duck lined up we contacted Patriot Place management. They arranged a sit-down meeting to discuss the viability of our potential business in their mall. Meanwhile we contacted all the businesses that would be around us. Almost every single one of them said a variation of the following: “Do not do business with these people. You are getting in bed with the devil. Run away while you still have the time. Once you sign a five year contract it will be too late to run away.” But by this time we had invested over 40,000 dollars in the operation. So we went forward.
The meeting was scheduled for 2:oo PM at the Patriot Place boardroom. My brother and I put on our best suits: we made copies of the plans and had them bound. We wanted to look professional and capable. At 2:00 we showed up at the Patriot Place office. No one was around. After about fifteen minutes a guy showed up who said he represented Patriot Place rental management. He looked about 25. He was wearing cut-off shorts and flip flops, a concert T-shirt and dark Ray-Bans. He told us the conference room was not available so we would have to do the meeting at Davios restaurant. We walked to the restaurant in silence. I was hoping we would meet other officials there who were more professional. But when we got to the restaurant it was fully booked. The guy stood outside in his flip flops for a minute and then he said, “We can do the presentation here on the park bench.” I was incredulous. We were going to give a business presentation in the middle of a mall on a bench, with shoppers passing by. So I said, “Will others from the organization be joining us?” and he grinned and said, “It’s just me, baby!”. What choice did we have but to sit down and present? My tie was flapping in the wind. My brother was silent. I handed a packet to the guy and went to my Power Point summary. At first all he was interested in was our liquor license: how we got it, the miraculous story of how I was in the right place at the right time. He listened intently.
But when I started to present the guy’s cell phone rang. He picked it up. “It’s my girlfriend,” he said. And started talking. Then while he was talking he said to us, “Yeah, keep going.” There was a pit in the bottom of my stomach. It was like talking to air as I spoke while he carried on an animated conversation with his girlfriend. I finished before he did. We waited in silence for him to finish his call. When he was done all he said was, “Does this packet include everything?” I said, “Yes, the business plan, architectural diagrams, contracts, LLC legal documents, all of it.” “OK,” he said, getting up, “We’ll let you know in two weeks. By the way, it’s triple net and we take 2 percent of any revenues over 1 million dollars per year. That’s revenues, not profit. And you have to use our services for snow and trash removal, plumbing, electrical and janitorial. You’ll be billed monthly.” And he got up and left.
My brother and I sat there. It was like getting raped. Neither of us said a thing. We just looked around at the mall. “It’s like getting in bed with the Devil,” that store owner told us.
Two weeks went by. They never called us. Another week went by. They never called us. Finally I called the name on the card the man had given us. It took him awhile to remember who we were. “Oh, we’re not doing that,” he said, dismissively, “but thanks for the Plan. It was very thorough. We’ll use it as a template if we ever decide to put in a cigar store.” And he hung up. No good-bye. I stood there looking at my cellphone like an idiot. We were out 40,000 dollars and had nothing to show for it. Later we were alerted by the town that our liquor license had been denied. It had been given to Patriot Place instead.
We never went to Patriot Place again, not to shop, not to eat, not for anything. They were the devil.
Anti-War Activist Passport Confiscated & Pulled Off Plane By State Dept. – Scott Ritter
Some years ago my brother and I decided to open up a cigar parlor. We wanted to open it at the newly-developed Patriot Place, home of the New England Patriots. Being a marketing manager by trade I researched and wrote a business plan for the project, learning much along the way. For example, the average retail store generates about 150 dollars of revenue per square foot: for decades, Tiffany’s generated the most at 4000 dollars per square foot til Apple came along and blew everyone out of the water at 6000 dollars per square foot.
I did traffic pattern analysis and so on. I got all kinds of rental statistics from the Patriot Place management office and wrote a plan. We got a lawyer and incorporated. We got an accountant and became an LLC. We went to a bank and got 400,000 in SBA financing. We went to the Chamber of Commerce and they hooked us up with a business team at a business college who wrote our financial plan for us for free. We went to Patriot Place sales management and they showed us a concrete box available in the mall. It was 11oo square feet. The rent was 89,000 dollars a year. We hired an architect who drew up a plot plan and did basic diagrams of the layout we wanted. We worked with the town health inspector to make sure there were no gotchas. The triumph was going to the town to apply for a liquor license. By the merest of chance a liquor license had been surrendered that day and the town clerk approved my application. All I needed was a rubber-stamp approval from the town government and the clerk told me it was a formality. It cost me 250 dollars. By comparison, a liquor license in Massachusetts sold by a business costs between 250,000 and 500,000 dollars. I was in the right place at the right time. Most of the profit in any food business is the liquor. A cigar, after taxes, might make 20 percent. Booze makes many times that. Many businesses are propped up by the booze sales alone. Everything else is just a gimmick to get customers to come in and buy booze.
Once the Plan was complete with architectural drawings, contractor lists, materials required, SBA documents, business plan, pro-forma financial documents and every other duck lined up we contacted Patriot Place management. They arranged a sit-down meeting to discuss the viability of our potential business in their mall. Meanwhile we contacted all the businesses that would be around us. Almost every single one of them said a variation of the following: “Do not do business with these people. You are getting in bed with the devil. Run away while you still have the time. Once you sign a five year contract it will be too late to run away.” But by this time we had invested over 40,000 dollars in the operation. So we went forward.
The meeting was scheduled for 2:oo PM at the Patriot Place boardroom. My brother and I put on our best suits: we made copies of the plans and had them bound. We wanted to look professional and capable. At 2:00 we showed up at the Patriot Place office. No one was around. After about fifteen minutes a guy showed up who said he represented Patriot Place rental management. He looked about 25. He was wearing cut-off shorts and flip flops, a concert T-shirt and dark Ray-Bans. He told us the conference room was not available so we would have to do the meeting at Davios restaurant. We walked to the restaurant in silence. I was hoping we would meet other officials there who were more professional. But when we got to the restaurant it was fully booked. The guy stood outside in his flip flops for a minute and then he said, “We can do the presentation here on the park bench.” I was incredulous. We were going to give a business presentation in the middle of a mall on a bench, with shoppers passing by. So I said, “Will others from the organization be joining us?” and he grinned and said, “It’s just me, baby!”. What choice did we have but to sit down and present? My tie was flapping in the wind. My brother was silent. I handed a packet to the guy and went to my Power Point summary. At first all he was interested in was our liquor license: how we got it, the miraculous story of how I was in the right place at the right time. He listened intently.
But when I started to present the guy’s cell phone rang. He picked it up. “It’s my girlfriend,” he said. And started talking. Then while he was talking he said to us, “Yeah, keep going.” There was a pit in the bottom of my stomach. It was like talking to air as I spoke while he carried on an animated conversation with his girlfriend. I finished before he did. We waited in silence for him to finish his call. When he was done all he said was, “Does this packet include everything?” I said, “Yes, the business plan, architectural diagrams, contracts, LLC legal documents, all of it.” “OK,” he said, getting up, “We’ll let you know in two weeks. By the way, it’s triple net and we take 2 percent of any revenues over 1 million dollars per year. That’s revenues, not profit. And you have to use our services for snow and trash removal, plumbing, electrical and janitorial. You’ll be billed monthly.” And he got up and left.
My brother and I sat there. It was like getting raped. Neither of us said a thing. We just looked around at the mall. “It’s like getting in bed with the Devil,” that store owner told us.
Two weeks went by. They never called us. Another week went by. They never called us. Finally I called the name on the card the man had given us. It took him awhile to remember who we were. “Oh, we’re not doing that,” he said, dismissively, “but thanks for the Plan. It was very thorough. We’ll use it as a template if we ever decide to put in a cigar store.” And he hung up. No good-bye. I stood there looking at my cellphone like an idiot. We were out 40,000 dollars and had nothing to show for it. Later we were alerted by the town that our liquor license had been denied. It had been given to Patriot Place instead.
We never went to Patriot Place again, not to shop, not to eat, not for anything. They were the devil.
Apricot Cream Cheese French Toast
Apricot Cream Cheese French Toast
Ingredients
French Toast
1 loaf French bread, cut into 8 very thick slices
8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup pecans
Confectioners’ sugar
1 cup whipping cream
4 eggs
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Apricot Sauce
1 (12 ounce) jar apricot preserves
1/2 cup orange juice
Instructions
French Toast
Make a pocket in bread slices by slicing again, but not all the way through.
Mix the cream cheese with the pecans and a couple tablespoons of the confectioners’ sugar. Stuff the pocket in the French bread with the cream cheese mixture. Dip into a mixture of whipping cream, eggs, nutmeg and vanilla extract.
Grill on hot griddle, and serve with Apricot Sauce.
Apricot Sauce
Mix apricot preserves with orange juice over low heat.
Douglas Macgregor: Why you should pity American Soldiers | Truth on Washington
Life is too short not to have good and pleasurable experiences. Certainly after decades of the grind and non-stop hustling, you need a break and chance for some fun. Today, we can vacation to the land of the strange; Japan.
I think that Japan would be an awesome place to visit, but I am happy here in China.
Never the less, there are some wacky and crazy experiences in Japan that might just be able to inject some life into what might seem to become a rather mundane and meaningless life.
Today, we start with a maid cafe.
Totally cool. Really.
Japanese Maid Cafe
This has got to be an awesome experience!
What has been the biggest plot twist that happened in your life?
I grew up rich. Very rich. And at a young age, my parents lost everything. To be more specific; my father lost everything. Instead of telling me the truth, they shielded it all from me.
Now, being the kind of child who was used to Versace dresses and Armani jeans, it wasn’t easy to start shopping at our local equivalent of Walmart. And trust me, I was the kind of kid that knew that nice stuff was really nice. And I loved shopping.
It wasn’t easy to give up all the toys. It wasn’t easy for me to buy less books than I used to. And I wasn’t given a reason why. All I was told was that I was a spoilt brat and that I didn’t deserve it.
My parents fought. A lot. Turns out, my dad had a gambling problem I didn’t notice.
He lost the house, the cars, the business. He owed people money. Terrifying people. And as a young girl, I used to be followed around by these terrifying people.
My mother kept me home more often. I wasn’t allowed out, unless it was to a friends house.
I developed insecurities, some learning disabilities and a terribly annoying stutter. My change was so obvious at school and the counsellors noticed. They told my mother to send me to a psychologist. That it would help. But she told them no, and that I wasn’t crazy.
But I wasn’t crazy. I just needed help. And she refused it because she didn’t want to believe it.
And my grades dropped even lower.
In my early teenage years, my mother told me the truth. We were poor. I could barely believe it because I studied at one of the most expensive schools in the country. But it was true.
The reason why daddy didn’t come home for a year? Because he was embarrassed. And because he didn’t want those terrifying people he owed money to, to get him.
My mother sold everything. She paid his way out. Then she got a divorce.
That broke my heart.
She blamed everything on him. She started drinking more. Started openly smoking.
She called me an idiot. Told me I was worthless. Basically made me feel as bad as she did.
That was kind of crappy.
All this while she made sure I hated my father for what he did. And I did.
At university I couldnt study without worrying about money. I worked more than I studied so I could pay for room and board, and I couldn’t keep up the hours necessary to make my grade. So I had to leave.
After I quit university, I didn’t speak for a year. I hid in my room and slept and read and occasionally I would go out to see old friends and feel more distant from them than I had ever been.
Eventually, my mother’s partner got me a job working at a gambling den. If you knew anything our country, it was that places like these were quasi-illegal.
Women were hired to entertain the male clients, and to take their cash to change it into credits. I was hired because I was pretty and I spoke English without an accent. Perfect for one of their best customers.
I was depressed. I wanted to die. But I did it because she made me do it.
I quit after three months. I realised that after everything she laid on me, that was possibly the worst. That was the biggest plot twist in my life. That my mother would basically prostitute me to make ends meet. That realisation what what changed me.
I still love her. But I do not necessarily trust her.
And as for my dad? I don’t hate him now.
I’ve learnt from the many turns of events, and finally from that last one that even though I am my parents children, that my parents may not always have my best interest in mind.
And now, I make sure that I’m ok and I get the support I need from the people whom I trust. And I support the people I love, and try not to expect anything in return.
It’s hard to shake off her shadow but every day is a new one, and everyday I am getting better.
Resident Evil: Opening Scene (HD CLIP)
Why do airline pilots get paid so well for turning on autopilot and sitting, doing nothing, most of the flight?
Years ago I was at a wedding.
We were assigned a table with people we didn’t know.
All of a sudden, a guy started a conversation:
“So what do you do for a living?”
“I’m a pilot.”
“Are you a pilot, or a copilot?”
After clarifying the roles of captains and first officers, I said: “I am a first officer”.
“Your only task is to make coffee for the captain.” He laughed.
“What do you do?” I asked.
He had a good job: he was the sub-secretary in some government dependency. I suddenly felt like a hyena when she spots a wounded gazelle.
“You must make very good coffee for the Secretary.”
He got as offended with my answer as I was with his. Our conversation was over.
Why am I telling you this story? Because I feel offended by your question.
This time, however, I’ll be nice… and respectful.
I am a lazy guy.
If there’s an easy way, I’ll find it. I’m really good at avoiding chores. I’m on a constant lookout for shortcuts. I procrastinate.
Except when doing my job. Then, I become hard-working. There’s simply no other way.
I am awake while everybody else is sleeping.
I work more hours than others.
My job carries high levels of stress and responsibility.
I cannot afford to screw up too much.
I fly a highly automated airplane and, yes: I fly on autopilot most of the time. But this doesn’t mean I sit around doing nothing.
Flying manually or under autopilot is the same. You seem to be missing some important points of my job:
We are constantly planning what to do if things go wrong.
Conditions change, forecasts sometimes are wrong.
Weather gets nasty.
Aircraft systems fail.
There are a lot of procedures to follow.
The rules of the air are complicated, with subtle variations from country to country. We have to comply.
Passengers get sick, babies are born on board.
Airports get closed.
We fly with a certain amount of fuel. You cannot create more.
We cannot stop for troubleshooting.
We fly, navigate and communicate regardless of what’s happening.
We have to react calmly under extreme situations.
Most importantly, pilots are constantly making decisions. The right ones.
Making the wrong decision can cost me my job or my license, or even worse.
Making a good but inefficient decision can cost the company more money than they have paid me in 14 years.
They pay me to be safe and efficient.
Tinder Experiment: Attractive Men Reveal What Women REALLY Say
This is really harsh, but needs to be shown.
What were some unexpected/ funny ways criminals got caught?
1.The “Invisible” robber
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On April 19 1995, a five foot six robber robbed the Pittsburgh bank without wearing a mask. His face could be seen clearly in security cameras.
When he robbed, he was so confident that he smiled at surveillance cameras before walking out of the bank.
Apparently, he rubbed lemon juice onto his face before committing the act. Since lemon juice is known for being an invisible ink, he thought the juice made him invisible.
When police caught him, he was very shocked, and said “But I wore the juice!”
2. The Bungling Burglar
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47-year-old Crawshaw got stuck at the bathroom’s window of a home he’s trying to break in 15 feet above ground.
The fire brigade had to be called to free him when the home owner returned to this ridiculous scene.
He was sentenced two and a half years in prison.
3. Driving dog
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When Reliford Copper III was suspected of driving under influence, he led police to a high-speed chase and crashed into a house.
When police cuffed his hands, he defended himself by saying “My dog was driving that car! I ran because I wanted to!”
Apparently police wasn’t convinced that he isn’t drunk or high. His charges included property damage, leaving the scene of an accident and resisting arrest.
I personally find those dumb criminals very amusing, I guess they just made the jobs easier for cops. Did they make you question human intelligence?
If you want to be a criminal, do it smart! 🙂
Every Grocery Store Is Leaving Chicago | City Begs For Help
I used to think… I used to think… that Chicago could avoid the collapse of American cities. Nope. It’s all down the shitter.
China has canceled US, Australian, France wheat imports, replacing them with orders from Russia, Kazakhstan and Argentina.
The US cancellation was the largest cancellation since 1999.
The Chinese government is showing a strong preference for buying from the BRICS and Global South economies, and is moving away from buying from the G7 countries which are part of the western bloc led by the US.
This is done for a combination of political and economic reasons. The US is pulling out the big guns when it comes to chip technology, AI, and blocking Chinese sales of EVs and solar panels, and more recently, the forced divesting of TikTok USA, which are all part of de-coupling and de-risking. From the Chinese perspective, the US’s Biden administration is heading rapidly in the direction of sanctions against Chinese companies following the sanctions applied against Russia. Opposition and hostility to Chinese companies and business interests in Congress is very strong, and China must be prepared for the US acting to seize Chinese assets which the US can reach. The only way to avoid this scenario is to have as few overseas assets in US dollars and held by US banks as possible.
This is the de-risking and de-coupling model the Chinese are following.
In the US, there may be a political side-effect in this US election year: Trump supporters are usually stronger in US rural states, and some farmers may blame the Biden administration for poor wheat sales and vote for Trump. In a tight race, this may be an important factor.
INSIDE JAPAN’S ULTIMATE LOVE HOTEL!
What is a little known fact that is at least mildly disturbing?
I’m not sure whether this is a little known fact, but I’ve always found it disturbing.
You know when you’re buying medicine, sometimes toiletries, and other things like that, and you find those annoying little seals?
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Some of you might know why these exist. Some might not.
In 1982, a 12-year-old Mary Kellerman took some Extra-Strength Tylenol and died not long afterwards.
Adam Janus, brother Stanley, and sister-in-law Theresa all died after taking some Tylenol capsules.
Not long afterwards, Mary McFarland, Paula Prince, and Mary Reiner all died after taking the same brand capsules.
All were from within the Chicago metropolitan area.
After the 7th person died, it was realised where the connection lay – each had ingested Tylenol capsules.
Tests on the bottles the capsules revealed an alarming fact:
The capsules
had been dosed with potassium cyanide!
Police were quickly able to rule out manufacturers as a source. They weren’t being tampered with there. They theorized that the source was from the shops and drug stores themselves.
They suspected that somebody had procured the capsules, added the cyanide to each, and then resealed, and methodically replaced the containers back on the store shelves.
The mildly disturbing fact?
The police don’t know who did it.
They were able to identify numerous suspects, including someone who had carried out poisoning rampages like this, an individual who had sent a ransom letter demanding $1m to Johnson & Johnson, and others. But no direct ties were ever found.
Nobody has been held directly accountable for this crime.
Alongside the bottles they know were responsible for the deaths, authorities found 3 additional bottles that had been contaminated.
I just find it so disturbing that someone can commit such a heinous crime, and still be walking around like a normal person.
The fact that the capsules could be opened, tampered with and resealed led to the abolition of pellet-filled capsules as a medication mode
Gen Z Aren’t Having Kids & Everyone Is Worried
What happened in a courtroom that gave the judge a belly laugh you will never forget?
Obviously could not laugh at it in the Court Room ! -:)
However this was many years ago when I was called on to Jury Service. had been to this Crown Court ( The higher of the two initial Criminal Courts in England and Wales [note that Scotland has its own laws and procedures] ) .
We had been sworn in and the case was about to start when the Court Orderly told us that there had been a change of plea that the Court had accepted, so as such there was nothing to “Consider”, but as we had been sworn in had to at least be in session, and hear the Charges against the man read out to the Court.
The hearing was essentially a Sentencing hearing and for the Judge to consider the facts of this and past cases. (I appeared that this man had quite a history from the age of about 14 onwards!) .
The Defence Barrister had stood up, the Police having given their details and repeating the causation of the Charges. The Judge asked the Defending Barrister, where there were any mitiating circumstances that that Judge should take in to consideration.
The Defence Barrister stated that : “ my client, although having a troubled history, has show good will and has not been arrested for any maters or brought about sentence for over four years”.
The Judge, who had been listening to this an making his notes for consideration, looked up at the Defending Barrister and just quietly said: “ Yes. Mr …… but I would remind you that you client was indeed in Custody for 20 months of those four years ! “
The Barrister tried to wriggle around with mitigating circumstances, which unsurprisingly the Judge swept aside, and the Defendant received a further custodial sentence.
All the Jurors we trying to keep straight faces until the now sentenced party was taken to point of detention, and the Judge had left the Court Room and we were discharged by the Usher.
Just one of thise unforgettable moments-:)
[To-Yoko Kids] The darkness of Shinjuku Kabukicho.
What has been the biggest plot twist that happened in your life?
When the doctor pulled me aside and asked me if I’d secretly had a vasectomy.
My wife and I weren’t succeeding in getting pregnant so we headed to the doctor. She asked about our backgrounds, etc. and decided that there “might be a problem”. Since males are biologically simpler in this regard, they started testing with me. The results came back with ZERO sperm. Not low count. Not poor motility. Absolutely no sperm.
I was referred to the head of urology at a local university medical school and after a couple of tests he determined that it was genetic. I never had and never would produce sperm.
In six weeks we went from “there might be a problem” to “you’ll never produce biological children”. That was quite a plot twist. Most couples assume that they can have kids whenever they want but roughly 20% have fertility problems.
I’ll skip over the details but we eventually adopted two boys. Our oldest is in the US Army and our youngest starts college this fall.
Sometimes I still wonder what sort of child we might have “produced” but I have no regrets and I wouldn’t trade my sons for any number of bio-children.
Update———-
I wasn’t expecting the response I’ve gotten to this. I appreciate the kind comments about what a wonderful guy I must be, but I wasn’t trying to do anything spectacular. I was just a married man who wanted to be a dad and unexpectedly found out that I had few options. I love my boys and they love me but I’m probably a fairly average dad (well, maybe a LITTLE above average).
Let me address a couple questions and then provide some details on the adoption process.
First, you can be born with genetic infertility. However, without digging up medical records that are over 20 years old I don’t remember the specific diagnosis and it’s possible that it’s congenital without being genetic. Second, as several have pointed out, sperm is a very small component of semen. Everything appeared to function fine for the first several years of our marriage. We had no warning that anything was wrong before the lab results came back.
I skipped adoption details because I didn’t think they fit the “plot twist” topic but here goes…
Once we got over the shock we had to figure out what we were going to do. We attended a Resolve conference (www.resolve.org) that helped us think about our options. Following the conference, many deep conversations, and a great deal of prayer we decided to pursue adoption.
The problem is that the US has far more infertile couples looking to adopt than available babies. Waiting lists were years long and required significant costs up front. Then you had to live in the same state – in some cases the same county – while waiting. I was in graduate school and we’d almost certainly be moving in a couple years. That meant we’d lose our spot on the list and our money.
We looked into special needs adoption in our state. Unless we were ready to adopt very severe needs the waiting times weren’t much shorter. Once they found out that I was in graduate school and my wife was a college teacher, they went out of their way to discourage us from starting the process.
We were about to give up when one of our contacts heard that Holt International had a temporary window for couples to apply to adopt minor special needs children from South Korea. If everything worked out, we could get a child within a year. We were approved to adopt a boy who had just turned two. In the adoption world, simply being over two years old made him “minor special needs”. Otherwise he was healthy. We got him in April and moved from Kentucky to Indiana over the summer.
That was 1996. We had been married 11 years, we’d never had children, and we started with a toddler who spoke only Korean.
The adoption wasn’t finalized when we moved but once we had him in our possession a move was OK. Since we changed states we had to use a different local adoption agency to finalize. This introduced us to Bethany Christian Services. When we decided to adopt a second child, we worked with them and again found a minor special needs boy from South Korea. This time the special need was premature birth. He was 8 months old when we got him and our doctor saw no signs of prematurity. He was developmentally right on schedule.
That was 1998 and we ended up moving to Wisconsin in 1999 where both boys grew into impressive young men.
Japan Walk Kabukicho at late night, Red Light District, back alley in Shinjuku, Tokyo｜歌舞伎町 新宿 4K
What can a person with an IQ of 160 do that a person with an IQ of 100 cannot? Are certain things fundamentally unlearnable/undoable like IQ claims? How can this be overcome?
When I was 15 my mother moved my sister and me out of state. To prove that I was qualified for the the AP classes I requested at my new high school, my mother had my IQ tested by a registered psychologist. When revealing my score to my mother, the psychologist recommended not sharing the information with me – her experience was that people who knew their IQ at my score tended to slack off in school. So my mom didn’t tell me until I was an adult, but it didn’t matter. It’s not difficult to know when your mental abilities far outweigh those of your peers.
Then there’s my sister – she always struggled with academics. She was in the slower groups at our private school and people tended to dismiss her academic abilities throughout her childhood because she didn’t naturally shine or pickup concepts instantly like I did. Learning was a battle, so she was taught to focus and take her time in everything she did.
My sister went on to become a nurse, earning straight A’s in college because she studied methodically and planned her routines meticulously. She does very well in everything she has interest in because she knows she has to practice. She doesn’t expect to understand everything outright but knows she can learn with time. Her pace is slower, focused on practice, dedication, and social relationships. She works harder, and I think she’s happier than I am.
I understand everything, conceptually, without much background. I learn systems, trades, programs, methods, etc extremely fast. I test at the highest percentages without extensive study or preparation. But I never learned how to keep a routine, practice consistently, or work hard. I was alienated as a child because I couldn’t relate to my peers and now I have trouble forming deep, personal relationships. I was heavily medicated for severe clinical depression for over a decade. Contrary to what others have said about IQ, none of this is because I developed some elitist, alienating complex over a number. I didn’t know my IQ score until a few years ago. Rather, I struggled because navigating through this world as an outlier is fundamentally soul crushing.
I do very well professionally because of my pattern recognition abilities (having major influence on business practices is inevitable because I’m able to see the big picture and long term like most can’t), but I’m never happy with what I’m doing with myself – I always want to be more, better. I want to change the world. I’ll do very well financially, I always have. I’ll get where I want to be in my career and I’ll continue to seek out and absorb more and more knowledge like a sponge until I die – it’s what I do best. But my sister will always be a happier person, surrounded by warmth of friends and family, feeling connected to a tribe in a way that I am envious of.
So sure, with a higher IQ, I’ll be more successful in career and the academic intelligence realm – but who cares? What about intelligence of the soul, emotions? Happiness? Truly belonging to a network, a collective intelligence? When we die, what matters more? I’d bet a few handful of IQ points on happiness.
EDIT: I wasn’t expecting so much activity on my first answer on Quora! Thank you for taking the time to interact. After enough comments have popped up expressing similar views I’d like to clear a up few things.
High IQ does not predispose us to perfection. You’ll find errors in my writing and everything else I do in life, just as I’ll find errors in you. Hyper-focusing on inconsequential details to gain a temporary upper hand isn’t nearly as satisfying as listening to a message and relating to the soul of a story. That said, I’m happy to see many can relate.
Some have read the above as a self-aggrandizing diatribe insulting my sister. I think that’s harsh and off-base but I won’t argue opinions on my writing; what you hear is as important as what I intended to say. I will, however, clarify a bit. I love my sister, I’m her biggest fan, and she knows it. She struggled, had tutors, and was ultimately removed from private school, but she is by no means dumb. She’s smarter than I am in many ways (which is what I tried illustrating above) and I am envious of the way her personality shines in a crowd.
Finally, through many years of therapy, self reflection, and goal setting I’m in a great place in life. I have a loving partner, a quiet home, and a successful career that allows me to contribute to the quality of life of many which I find extremely fulfilling. My point on happiness is that we all struggle in some way – mine is emotionally. It’ll always be difficult, but I use tools to overcome just like my sister worked to overcome her struggles, and you can overcome yours.
Gen Z Doesn’t want to Work Anymore …. Part 2
Do people in jail/prison keep pets similar to the Birdman of Alcatraz or The Green Mile?
I knew one inmate in maximum security. This guy never gave me trouble. Typically, one hour of rec, three trays a day, one shower please and thank you was about the summation of our existence. I remember having a few random conversations with him like wishing him a Merry Christmas or us talking about the Branch Davidians.
So imagine my surprise when one day walking by his cell I see a cat hanging out in the cell with him.
The unit had a small army of cats, probably more cats than officers if we counted. They kept the rodent population down, supposedly. However I would see them usually hanging out begging by the kitchen or in the grassy area.
I spent some time trying to figure out how a cat got into the cell. The window was covered in black metal mesh. Up through the toilet maybe?
As I would find out, the inmate trustees who were supposed to be cleaning the pods, but were out doing anything but working could be paid to put a kitten in a bag and pass it to a fellow inmate.
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I’m not sure how many soups were worth a kitten and the exchange ratio never made itself apparent to me. Technically there were no rules against inmates having pets. The only thing I could possibly think of was a traffic and trading charge which wouldn’t hold water because I didn’t see it happen. Not that I was interested in writing up the inmate. I was happy for him.
The inmate soon regretted his decision. The commissary didn’t sell kitty litter. I recommended that he tear up old bags or pay a trustee to bring him grass. Also, cat food was not on the commissary list. My inmate bought tuna which was about as close as you could get. He told me that he tried feeding the kitten scrambled eggs describing it as “… the worst decision of my life. That thing was blowing up my cell.”
At a loss, the inmate turned in the kitten to a female officer who took it home. The cat became known as “Contra” (as in contraband). I talked to that coworker about it and Contra couldn’t seem to adjust to life in the free world. Contra was obsessed with sleeping in brown bags and had a bad habit of shanking, correction clawing the other members of the family.
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“Lookout boss.”
Why QUIET QUITTING is the BEST THING GEN Z ever Did
All of this is choice.
Why do some people like to be alone?
It’s only been about the last 15 years or so that I’ve discovered how wonderful life is when you live alone. I grew up with lots of friends all through school. My husband and I had combined our friends and our life was full of friends and children. My days were nonstop from the time my feet hit the floor in the morning. Our lives were hectic, busy and we enjoyed it that way.
Life really can change in a second, without warning. When our lives changed drastically when my husband died in an accident, I withdrew from everyone. It was not enjoyable. I didn’t want to be around anyone. That kind of alone was not enjoyable and it wasn’t healthy either.
Life goes on and I was surrounded with lots of new friends. Then the kids moved on to start their lives and families. I also started a new relationship that ended ugly 10 years later. I dated but nothing got serious. But I just wanted someone around. I didn’t want yo be alone. That isn’t healthy either. After several abusive relationships I made some major changes in my life. I moved several hundred miles away from everyone and everything I knew. I started my own business. I had to work a lot to get my business making money. I had no time to get out and meet people. About 3 years later I was able to relax. My business was doing so much better than I dreamed it do. I now had time to go meet new friends. I had met some people in the neighborhood. Ladies I’d walk with in mornings and evenings. I didn’t feel the need to hang out at tge bar or spending the weekends at tge veach or antique shopping or doing of the things I had always done. I really wanted to be at home, working in the garden, decorating a room, or just piddling around the house. I was enjoying spending time with just me. It was something g I’d never done before.
I have met a lot of people in my town because of my business. I socialize all day at work. Then I go home and I spend the rest of the day doing what I want. I date but I don’t want anything serious. A good long time friend will visit each month for several days. I enjoy the visit. I also enjoy it when the cost is over and I can be alone.
When I look back on my life I can see how my interests, wants and needs changed every 5 years or so. What I wanted at 20 wasn’t what I wanted at 25 and do on. So, for right now I’m enjoy my life alone. I don’t know what I’ll be enjoying in 5 years but for today in happy with my life right now.
Downtown Chicago Is Now A GHOST TOWN | Tourism Is Basically 0% | Migrants TAKE OVER
Chicago is now a ghost town.
What historical mystery intrigues you the most?
How about a mystery so profound, that it stands apart from all others. The archaeological marvel that is changing our very understanding of human history.
Göbekli Tepe, Upper Mesopotamia, Turkey.
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I’m aware that Göbekli Tepe isn’t as famous as other sites such as Stonehenge or the Pyramids, heck some of you reading this may not have even heard of it…
I know my misses hadn’t, don’t worry I promptly corrected that travesty.
Basically, there was this unknown archaeologist who decided to dig up a strange shaped “potbelly hill”, he took a chance and discovered the archaeological find of the last hundred years, if not ever. Yep, that’s how monumental this is.
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Around 12 thousand years ago, some neolithic humans built a vast complex of stone structures, with massive stone monoliths which were intricately carved and inclosed large circles, for a mysterious and possibly never to be discovered purpose… Then they buried it all.
“Göbekli Tepe is an archaeological wonder. Built by Neolithic communities 11,500 years ago, it features enormous, round stone structures and monumental stone pillars up to 5.5 meters high. Since there is no evidence of farming or animal domestication at the time, the site is believed to have been built by hunter-gatherers. However, its architectural complexity is highly unusual for them.” — Professor Gopher.
Who frack built it, why did they do it, how did they know how to build it and why the bloody hell did they bury the vast structure intact?
Seriously, 12 thousand years ago humans were supposed to be hunting wild animals and gathering berries, living short and brutally hard lives, not building vast complexes out of stone…
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I know what you’re thinking – ‘Who cares, it’s not that impressive, we already know our ancestors raised big stones.’
Angrily throws metaphorical chalk across class, hitting petulant student in the face.
Göbekli Tepe is 6,000 years older than Stonehenge, it literally changes our entire understanding of human history. What’s more, is we’ve barely scratched the surface, seriously this neolithic complex is massive.
Humans didn’t just spontaneously learn how to carve stone like this or form large organised societies overnight capable of working across multiple generations to build such a marvel.
Oyeah, and the current thinking is that Göbekli Tepe could also be the birthplace of agriculture.
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Only 5 percent of the site has been excavated, that’s the equivalent of opening the entrance to Tutankhamun’s tomb, taking a shaky ass polaroid picture, with shit lighting, and then spending the next 30 years just gormlessly staring at that shite photograph.
Göbekli Tepe is the most fascinating mystery and yet it receives practically no attention.
Yakuza Takes Me To The Hostess Club In Japan (#137)
My employee was recently diagnosed with a terminal illness and has since been sluggish at work. How do I let her go nicely without it costing me?
I actually had this situation a number of years ago. TL;DR – I decided that the humanitarian route was best.
This long-time employee was a favorite of our customers, as well as her colleagues. Unfortunately, the “big C” came for her far sooner than she deserved. I noticed a decline in performance well before she broke the news of her diagnosis. I knew that I had to do something, as she had such a critical “linchpin” role in our operations. But I felt that simply jettisoning her was completely unfair…and more than a bit heartless.
She used all of her PTO and FMLA for the year or so where she was fighting it off. I simply distributed what part of her role that I could to other people during the times she was out. She improved for a little while…but it came back stronger, and it was clear she was about out of options.
As a senior manager, I never use my PTO. Always something else to be done, you know? *shrug* So, I had my full yearly allocation, except for 8 hours I’d taken to have a root canal. I quietly arranged to give her my personal bank of PTO during the summer, so she could have that time with her family (particularly the younger relatives, who were all out of school) while still being paid. I didn’t tell anyone about it, including her, but word leaked.
She resigned around mid-summer, and passed away three weeks later. Her husband told me at the funeral that she had found out how she got her extra time off from HR, and made it known what I did before she passed.
Unintentionally, I made a great organizational investment. To this day, we have benefited from the good will generated from that decision. People know when you’re talking the talk…and they know when you’re walking the walk. Taking care of a long-time employee with a terminal illness is a great way to walk the walk. And I can’t imagine what might have happened if I had made a different choice. Besides, even if you don’t get the organizational benefit, it’s always the right time to do the right thing.
Almond Anise Biscotti
Almond Anise Biscotti
Ingredients
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon anise seed
3 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup chopped almonds
Instructions
Beat sugars and butter until well blended. Add anise seed and eggs; blend well. Stir in flour and baking powder; mix well. Stir in almonds. Shape dough into two 10 x 1 inch rolls. Place rolls 4 inches apart on greased cookie sheet. Flatten each to 2-inch width. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely.
Cut diagonally into 1/2 inch slices. Arrange slices, cut side down, on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F for 6 to 10 minutes or until bottom begins to brown. Turn and bake for an additional 3 to 5 minutes or until crisp. Cool completely.
Store in tightly covered container for up to one month. The anise flavor gets stronger with time.
Noticed the room unusually clean and saw an envelope propped up prominently on the pillow. It was addressed, ‘Dad’. With the worst premonition, he opened the envelope and read the letter, with trembling hands.
Dear, Dad. It is with great regret and sorrow that I’m writing you. I had to elope with my new girlfriend, because I wanted to avoid a scene with Mum and you.
I’ve been finding real passion with Stacy. She is so nice, but I knew you would not approve of her because of all her piercing’s, tattoos, her tight Motorcycle clothes, and because she is so much older than I am.
But it’s not only the passion, Dad. She’s pregnant. Stacy said that we will be very happy. She owns a trailer in the woods, and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. We share a dream of having many more children.
Stacy has opened my eyes to the fact that mari*juana doesn’t really hurt anyone. We’ll be growing it for ourselves and trading it with the other people in the commune for all the cocaine and ecstasy we want.
In the meantime, we’ll pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so that Stacy can get better. She sure deserves it!
Don’t worry Dad, I’m 15, and I know how to take care of myself. Someday, I’m sure we’ll be back to visit so you can get to know your many grandchildren.
Love, your son, Josh
P.S . Dad, none of the above is true. I’m over at Jason’s house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than the school report that’s on the kitchen table. Call when it is safe for me to come home.”
SEX100$ Looking for SugarDaddy!Runaway girl in Japan トー横・大久保公園の家出少女
What single decision had the greatest effect on history?
The decision in 1241 A.D. by the Mongol princes, Batu Khanand Kadan, to ignore the advice of their infamous head military strategist Subutai and return to Mongolia after hearing of the death of the Great Khan Ögedei.
A little less than 800 years ago, Western civilization was on the precipice of complete annihilation. Ögedei, the third son of Genghis Khan, had continued his father’s violent and brutal imperial expansion into Europe and was poised for success. The arrival of news of the Great Khan’s death was either fully or partially responsible for the Mongol withdrawal from Europe sparing Western Civilization from the near universal destruction experienced in the wake of the Mongol hordes.
The desire of the grandsons of Genghis Khan to attend the Kurultai where the election of a new Great Khan would take place is entirely understandable. While neither would ultimately be selected because of the election of another of Genghis Khan’s grandsons, Güyük Khan,
they obviously had an interest in trying to position themselves politically for the election. Subutai was no doubt apoplectic over the decision as he was in the process of planning the invasion of the Holy Roman Empire having had great success in Europe up to that point.
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Mongol siege of Ryazan in 1238
Before the Mongols withdrew, they had begun to experience some stiffened European resistance such as in Austria. But much of Europe east of Vienna had been laid waste by the Mongols and while they may not have succeeded in an occupation of Western Europe, the devastation would have undoubtably been verging on apocalyptic.
Subutai was one of the most ruthless of the Mongol generals. Any city failing to surrender unconditionally faced unspeakable horrors of death, destruction, and torture. The cold efficiency of the Mongol’s killing machine has seldom been equaled with entire cities murdered in a few hours of systematic execution. Over a period of a little more than a century, some estimates place the death toll at the hands of the Mongols as high as five percent of the global population.
Let that sink in. Five percent of all humans.
Europe might well have been permanently set back a few centuries had Subutai succeeded in finishing and executing his plans.
It should be noted that this classical view is no longer universally accepted. Many other factors have been suggested for the withdrawal of the Mongols including the aforementioned stiffening resistance, diminishing returns in plunder, and tribal infighting prior to news of Ögedei’s
death. And as horrible as their blackened earth strategy was, many historians regard the Mongol rule in a more benign way than Western history has traditionally viewed it. While personally I am not persuaded by these more modern takes, it is important to acknowledge these other plausible and less Eurocentric points of view.
Irrespective of these caveats, there can be little doubt that the death of Ögedei was a factor in the Mongol withdrawal and that world history would have been greatly altered had the hordes advanced into Western Europe. As it turned out, the Mongols never returned to Western Europe to follow up on the ground they had already softened. This single decision by two of the grandsons of Genghis Khan, at that precise moment in time, radically altered the shape of the modern world.
Baked Cherry Oatmeal
baked cherry oatmeal 11
Ingredients
2 cups old-fashioned oats
4 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup dried cherries
1 large apple, unpeeled and grated
Instructions
Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Coat a 3 quart casserole or baking pan with cooking spray.
In mixing bowl, combine all ingredients.
Transfer to baking dish.
Sprinkle top with additional almonds.
Bake uncovered for 45 minutes.
Serve hot.
What do you think is China much ahead of other countries? What do you think is the biggest gap between China and other countries?
Where China is ahead? China’s nuclear safety record is surprisingly very good. Especially when compared to other major industrial countries with nuclear power plants in operation.
China has had to deal with some major regulatory lapses in food safety and medicines in the past, but when it comes to nuclear safety, they might just have the best record on the planet if not one of the top 3, especially when the scale and scope of their nuclear energy systems are taken into account (46 reactors and increasing).
The Chinese nuclear operators have repeatedly gotten very high grades from international agencies on their safety precautions. Nuclear safety related incidents are graded from Level 1 to Level 7 (Level 7 being the worst like Chernobyl and Fukushima). The Chinese have never had an incident beyond Level 1.
A lot of this is because China’s nuclear safety is very openly discussed by Chinese nuclear engineers in technical journals within the country. Because of this openness and lack of censorship, several articles were published by Chinese engineers detailing that the primary issue with Chinese nuclear powerplants were due to substandard technical equipment or non standard equipment coming from equipment providers in China. This led to a 2016 scandal (which was reported openly in the Chinese press) about valves being supplied to nuclear powerplants that resulted in around a dozen nuclear equipment providers to publicly sign confessions to crimes regarding providing false information and provision of defective equipment.
The details of the scandals were published alongside signatures and seals from CPC officials and the CEOs of the equipment providers in the China Energy Report.
If you guys are familiar with the Chernobyl series, one of the big themes regarding the disaster was the secrecy and lack of information around the nuclear reactor designs and operations. Which prevented faults from being exposed.
If we were to speculate why China has such a good safety record, why the regulations are so good in nuclear safety and why safety issues can be discussed in such a transparent manner: It’s probably because of how deeply unsettled and impacted Chinese leaders were by the Fukushima incident in neighboring Japan.
The Fukushima incident spurred a pretty significant internal overhaul of China’s nuclear safety even though no disaster or safety incident had occurred yet. Reactor construction was put on hold, a lot of safety laws were implemented and the safety law was rapidly published. Nearly a thousand people were added to the national nuclear safety regulatory authority. Actually, the national nuclear safety regulatory authority is pretty special in China because apparently if you choose to go work with them, you can get residence permits (Huko) which are a big deal in China. And that was how they were able to bump up their recruitment despite the somewhat lower salary the organization pays compared to others.
And China’s excellent nuclear safety record has a benefit for the rest of the world as well. Pakistan has also had 0 nuclear safety incidents beyond Level 1 regarding their Chinese built powerplants, partly because Pakistani nuclear plant operators adopted the safety practices and procedures of their Chinese counterparts who they got these plants from in the first place. Pakistani nuclear operators also get training from Chinese operators which helps to further spread these safe nuclear plant practices to developing countries.
I think one side benefit of China exporting reactors abroad is, is that their safety record follows them. So a lot of developing countries can make the switch to safe, non-polluting nuclear energy by getting reactors from China and at the same time getting some pretty high quality training and safety procedures from them in the progress. Assuming of course, they continue to follow these safety procedures in an updated and consistent manner over the years. And also pair it with the same open, frank discussion on the current state of nuclear safety in the country, the same way the Chinese nuclear engineer community does.
Academic sources if you want to go more in-depth on this topic: Jane Nakano and Thomas Rawski
What China still lags in?
Probably the soft infrastructure of a country: Policies.
I’ll give two examples:
Health care policies and health insurance management
Horizontal cooperative policies in large engineering organizations.
Health care policies and health insurance management
China is at that point in their development where they have pretty much mastered hard infrastructure (roads, bridges, dams, powerplants).
But soft infrastructure, like your health care policies are an area where the government is still trying to figure out how to make systems work. The newer hospitals in China, disease prevention, early detection and a lot of other components of China’s health care system are pretty first class and comparable to the best systems in the world.
The issue comes around questions of policy: What should we expect the patient to pay for? What should the government pay for? How do we optimize drug prices to balance between innovative research and affordability? How can hospitals balance their budgets without requiring government bail outs? How do we balance between breadth and depth of medical coverage?
While China’s economy and spending power has increased manifold, in terms of advances in health care coverage, the country is actually going down in terms of health care advancement compared to the past and the last major increase in life expectancy and quality of health care was achieved under Mao’s barefoot doctor program.
The government is trying to figure things out. They rolled out universal health care for China, which was no small feat. It focusses on breadth rather than depth (give some limited health care insurance to everyone instead of give health insurance that covers everything to some people). Hospitals are allowed to mark up drugs 15% to make profits off of them.
But the core issue remains that health insurance and managing health insurance is something that’s been in China for only 20 years and is new to the country and it’s managers. So we have the somewhat strange situation where China’s health care system is well funded, has excellent doctors and supporting staff, has hospitals equipped with the latest technology.
But the health care system is in deep trouble because the managerial skill needed to keep it running through pricing optimization, risk management, risk pooling, health insurance management, premium setting and healthcare policy expertise is very badly lacking. And could lead to massive financial problems in the future if the policy isn’t ironed out correctly.
The second example I’ll give is of horizontal management.
This plays a big part in engineering firms in China that are trying to achieve the Chinese government’s goals of developing next gen technologies in China indigenously.
A good example here is COMAC, which has been trying to get into the passenger aircraft game to compete with Boeing and Airbus, primarily with their first aircraft the C919.
COMAC is a good example of a Chinese SOE that still has a large leftover legacy from how Soviet State enterprises were organized. It is extremely top down and while it can excel in vertical management, it struggles when it comes to horizontal management.
Horizontal management refers to how the different departments and units within companies are supposed to integrate with each other and synchronize their activities. Within engineering firms, this is something that System Engineers, Project Managers and Systems Integration Managers are supposed to enable. A complex engineering system like a submarine, a satellite or a aircraft cannot be created from scratch in an engineering organization where you have 0 horizontal integration and management and your departments fail to coordinate with each other when designing and developing components that are supposed to go in the same end product.
COMAC’s C919 had a very trouble development history precisely because COMAC is still very much organized and managed by state employees whose perspective is still shaped by vertical management principles of large Soviet organizations. And suffers from major issues in internal integration of different department efforts.
Which is why the Chinese government is making an enormous push to attract not just technical experts and engineers from abroad, but also the business managers who specialize in this stuff and enable it to happen.
I think this is why a lot of Asian parents need to stop pushing the “Doctor or Engineer” choice on their kids. There’s enormous demand in China at the moment for managers who are experts in health care policies, insurance management etc. from the first example. And engineering managers, project managers and other enablers of horizontal integration in the second example.
Both of these fields require people with imagination, flexibility, creativity and good communication skills.
The thing is, it isn’t like China has failed at this: Ali Baba has superb internal horizontal integration. There’s a joke that Ali Baba and Tencent are better positioned to make China’s next passenger aircraft or aircraft carrier than Chinese SOEs because being private sector entities they have superbly synchronized their internal alignments and developed seamless integration between all their different divisions and departments.
And we have to remember that this is the first time the government is making a move in these sectors where they will have to take time to build up experience.
And I think the Chinese government should consider filling this deficiency in their current internal economy and industrial base by either continuing to get top managerial talent from abroad, nurturing their own management talent or give more space to private sector entities in this fields that don’t suffer from the internal management issues that the Chinese SOEs struggle with.
Source used:
Jane Nakano, Senior Fellow in CSIS Energy and National Security Program
Loren Brandt (University of Toronto)
Thomas Rawski (University of Pittsburgh)
Get Japanese Girls From Vending Machine (Tokyo’s only place)
What has your child done that is technically “wrong” but you were proud of them for doing it?
My daughter, who is 5 years old, is super sweet and compassionate, but she also can be quite the spicy one! She sometimes says exactly what she means. With her dad, however, she is much more restrained. He, though, has a tendency to nitpick and it can become annoying, even to me. I have to hold myself back from saying, “Leave her alone; she’s fine!” He just thinks girls should walk like this, talk like that…yada yada. Well, my daughter isn’t about that life. She is unapologetically who she is. She just hears him, says, “okay, Daddy” and tries to adjust.
Well, one day, we were traveling. We’d be out all day. We were tired. And my husband was fussing about something again. She was in the back seat, looking out of the window with an exasperated look on her face. I was also looking out of my window with the same look. Both of us just wanted him to shut up fussing.
Just as I was getting ready to say, “Enough!,” her little voice chimed in. She sounded like an adult trapped in a 5 year old’s body, “Oh my goodness, DADDY! You make me want to DRINK!” I turned and looked at her, stunned. She was looking at the rearview mirror so she could see his face and her expression was priceless. But his, was hilarious. He asked, incredulously, “I make you want to do what?” She said, “You make me want. to. drink….and I am not talking about juice boxes or CapriSUNs either, Dad!”
I promise, it took everything in my power to keep a straight face. I watched his face turn beet red. He looked pretty angry. But he said nothing. He looked at me, and I gave him a “Don’t look at me, I would have said the same thing” kind of look. We rode in silence for about half an hour. She said, “Dad, I should not have yelled at you. I’m sorry. But, I meant what I said.” (That’s my line to dad LOL). Then, she took a nap. His nagging has really slowed dramatically.
While I think children should respect their parents and not yell. I do think that is a two way street. I also think kids should learn to stand up for themselves. I cannot imagine a better lesson for both of them.
Tokyo’s Night Joy Paradise Plus unexpected Invitation 2
When I was a teenager and working in the mines and the supermarket, I was once approached by a very old man. It was a very odd visit.
I was sitting outside on the bench (outside the local laundrymat) which it was next to the supermarket where I worked. I had just finished eating my lunch. At that time, I was greatly enamored with a local “phillycheese sandwich”. So I was eating it, finished up and was ready to go back in and finish my shift.
Then, this older man slowly walked up to me.
He was old. He wore old-man clothes. Was short and hunched over, and came up to me and sat down besides me. I have never seen him before. He didn’t look like anyone that I knew, nor related to anyone. Just a strange old, old man.
He was quiet for the entire time.
But, as I started to get up to go, he lightly touched me on the arm. And then he said…
“Listen to me young man”.
So, I paused (out of respect) and stood there in front of him.
He continued.
“You are young. You have the whole world in front of you.”
I smiled and nodded.
“Be careful. Don’t get married early. Go to school. Work on yourself. Everything will come to you. This is a difficult time for you in this life.”
I said thank you, and started to leave.
He touched me again. Softly.
“I only wish that someone told me back then, what I am telling you now.”
I told him “thank you”.
I then walked back to the store, and about ten steps toward the door, I looked back.
He wasn’t there. He had disappeared.
I don’t know what happened.
For the longest time, I forgot about the event and the old man. Who was it? I don’t know. Was it time travel mm? Maybe… Who knows?
Loretta was working as an underwriter at a large insurance company in Los Angeles where I had a summer job.
She was an older lady from the South, wore her blonde hair in a beehive, and was always attired in polyester slacks, very colorful overblouses and matching costume jewelry, all from the Sears catalog.
She was polite with others but pretty much kept to herself. At company functions, she engaged in courteous conversation that gave no insight into whom she was.
Her desk was tidy with a few, forgettable personal items.
She was respected by the other underwriters and the bosses. We heard that she had refused promotions, being quite happy where she was.
I was sitting in front of her desk when the Personnel Manager strode in purposefully. As he drew nearer to Loretta’s desk, his confidence waned.
“Miss Loretta, may I speak to you and Bernard (the unit supervisor) for just a moment?” (Yes, he really called her ‘Miss Loretta’. . .no one else was addressed in such a way.)
“Why, of course.” (It sounds much better with a southern accent applied.)
Loretta’s desk was opposite Bernard’s office, so since they did not close the door, I heard everything.
“Miss Loretta, we’ve been through this before. You must cash your paychecks. The Finance Department can’t clear the books until you do.”
Loretta looked somewhat chastened, one hand fluttering to her throat.
“Why, I am so, so sorry! I didn’t mean to put anyone out. It just slipped my mind. I will take care of that today at lunch time!”
“You have the checks with you today?”
“Why, yes, I do. I believe they are in my desk.”
Mr. Personnel Manager gulped and then thanked her. Loretta went to the break room for coffee.
As I waited for her, I heard Bernard ask how many checks were outstanding.
Twenty-three monthly paychecks had not yet been cashed.
Think You Want To Get Married? 25 Wives Reveal Dark Secrets That They’ve Kept From Their Husbands
Years ago I was trying a fancy Italian restaurant for the first time. My wife and I ordered. My wife’s meal arrived and she didn’t care for it. Moreover, it wasn’t as described in the menu. She flagged the waiter and he asked what he could help her with. She noticed that her dish didn’t have sun-dried tomatoes like the menu said and the waiter explained that the kitchen was out of them. She asked about another item that the menu said was in the dish but wasn’t and the waiter replied that they were out of that item as well.
She said she didn’t really like her dish and that she tried my dish and it was delicious and asked for what I was having instead. Our waiter heavily sighed gave us a very pained expression like we were being ridiculous and took her plate away. He returned with another plate of what I was having. What my wife originally ordered was more expensive than my dish and on the check she was still charged for the more expensive dish. At this point I wasn’t going to argue with the waiter so I just subtracted the amount we were overcharged from the waiter’s tip and left.
We never went back to that restaurant and told everyone who asked about our experience. Now if the restaurant apologized for the dish not being right, cheerfully changed my wife’s order and didn’t overcharge us we would have come back and had a much more positive experience to report to anyone who asked.
More recently when dining with my family my daughter ordered the special. She really didn’t like it. She tends to be a pretty picky eater so I tried it and I have to say I didn’t blame her because I didn’t like it either. The waiter came by and saw that my daughter hardly touched it and asked if it was OK. My daughter said yes. I told our waiter that my daughter didn’t like her dish but was too polite to say anything and that I tried it and didn’t think it was very good either. He apologized and said that the dish was a bit unusual and people usually either loved or hated it and that he would be happy to bring her something she would enjoy. After dinner our waiter said dessert was on him because of our inconvenience; we explained that we were all too full and our waiter offered to box it up for us to enjoy later. We sometimes do go back to that restaurant when we are in that area.
Many things in life can either be a problem or an opportunity. In the first case not liking a dish was a problem. In the second case it was an opportunity for the restaurant to give good service.
A good restaurant would rather exchange a meal than lose a customer.
Funny
The inventor Arthur Davidson, of the Harley Davidson Motorcycle Corporation, died and went to heaven. At the gates, St. Peter told Arthur, “Since you’ve been such a good man and your Motorcycles have changed the world, your reward is, you can hang out with anyone you want in Heaven.” Arthur thought about it for a minute and then said, “I want to hang out with God.” St. Peter took Arthur to the Throne Room, and introduced him to God. Arthur then asked God, “Hey, aren’t you the inventor of women? “God said, “Ah, yes. ” “Well, ” said Arthur, “professional to professional, you have some major design flaws in your invention.” God was somewhat taken back, and when He asked what the flaws might be, Arthur Davidson produced a list for Him to read.
1. There’s too much inconsistency in the front-end protrusions.
2. It chatters constantly at high speeds.
3. Most of the rear ends are too soft and wobble too much.
4. The intake is placed way to close to the exhaust and finally,
5. The maintenance costs are outrageous. “Hmmmm, you may have some good points there and it may be true that My invention is flawed… ” God said to Arthur. “But the last time that I checked, more men are riding My invention than yours.”
This happened to me at one of the companies i worked for. It was time for appraisal and promotion. I got a call from my boss; he wanted to discuss my promotion with me. I got to his office and he started to talk about how he wasn’t sure of my strength, etc.
I had surpassed my sales and product development target for the year and I was shocked to hear this. He wanted me to tell him what I was good at. Without a doubt, I did but I wasn’t comfortable with why he was asking that question.
I had never failed to meet my sales target or deliver on a project that was assigned to me. I got recommendations for promotion from HR, my colleagues, and other managers in the company.
I thought he wasn’t being honest with me. He wanted to critique my effort in order to not give me what I deserved as stated in the company’s career path. I felt bad for a couple of weeks and a colleague of mine said something that brought strength into me.
“If the boss doesn’t appreciate your effort, another company will” he said.
I connected with that statement, dusted my resumé off and started looking for a new job. I got recommended to a company by my friend, got an interview and secured the job.
It was time to break the news to my boss. On a Sunday evening, I submitted my resignation with a two weeks notice. Monday morning, I got to the office and got a call from my boss asking to see me immediately. He expressed how displeased he was about my resignation. He pleaded for six weeks notice instead of two weeks as stated in my employment letter. He said he would be in trouble if I left and that it would be difficult to get a quick replacement considering that I had so much responsibility in the office. He started saying things as they ought to have been said during the promotion interview. While I would have loved to wait for six weeks before leaving, I had committed to starting at the new office after two weeks. I made a promise that I would ensure whomever replaces me is well-equipped with all the information and documentation he or she needs and I was willing to provide assistance if needed.
He wanted to negotiate but I rejected the offer. If I have to explain my contribution to the development of the company only during promotions, then it’s obvious he wasn’t being honest with me.
It was time to move on.
An Egg McMuffin Was Once Just 99 Cents. Can You Guess How Much One Costs Today?
The days of the 99 cent Egg McMuffin are never coming back. Our central bank has been treating our currency like toilet paper, and our politicians in Washington have been borrowing and spending trillions of dollars that we do not have. As a result, we are in the midst of an inflation crisis that seemingly has no end.
Of course the mainstream media insists that inflation is “low”, but literally just about everything that we shell out money for on a regular basis costs a lot more these days. For example, just check out what it will cost you to get a single Egg McMuffin at one McDonald’s location in Connecticut…
A McDonald’s customer was left astounded after paying $7.29 for a single Egg McMuffin in a Connecticut drive through.
Bespoke Investment Group posted a picture of the customer’s receipt with the caption ‘$7.29 for one McDonald’s Egg McMuffin. What has the world come to?? These were 2 for $2 pretty recently.’
The bill records the purchase of two Egg McMuffins for $14.58 and one Bacon, Egg & Cheese McGriddle without two half-strips of bacon for $7.19.
$7.29 for just one Egg McMuffin?
Are you serious?
So that means that the price of an Egg MucMuffin in Connecticut is now more than 7 times higher than it was during the Reagan administration… https://www.youtube.com/embed/f-8rcPOs9r4?si=8taFsKsT0T34m2Y7Watching old commercials like that makes me sad, because our country has become a completely different place since that time.
Of course it isn’t just the Egg McMuffin that has become ridiculously expensive.
One customer in Idaho was stunned when he recently had to shell out $16.10 for his value meal…
Another customer in Idaho was also shocked to discover the prices of combo deal in December.
Topher Olive, was visiting one of the restaurant’s locations in Post Falls when he picked up a Smoky BLT Quarter Pounder with Cheese, a large fry, and a large Sprite setting him back $16.10.
He shared a video of his meal on, where he has more than 334,000 followers, admitting that he was shocked over the price.
I clearly remember when I could get a combo at McDonald’s for just five bucks.
Now only the wealthy can afford to eat at McDonald’s on a regular basis.
Needless to say, the definition of “wealthy” has changed too.
Once upon a time, if you had a million dollars you were set for life.
Kevin O’Leary, Shark Tank star and investor, sparked significant discussion with his assertion that individuals need $5 million in their bank accounts to ensure lifelong financial stability.
In an August 2023 YouTube video, O’Leary said, “You have to get to a place where you have $5 million in the bank,” emphasizing the importance of this amount to “survive the rest of your life, no matter what happens.” This statement, along with his detailed financial advice, has been a subject of both support and criticism among viewers and financial experts.
Only a tiny percentage of the population has that kind of money.
Amazingly, in this very tight economic environment there is a campaign to increase the salaries of members of Congress by 70 percent…
A campaign has started to raise the salaries of House and Senate members by 70% to $294,000 from the current $174,000 in return for better “performance.”
Federal analyst Steven Kopits, the president of Princeton Policy Advisors, argued that since most members are lawyers, salaries should at least be equal to what first-year associates in Manhattan receive, plus a 20% bump up.
“Most legislators are lawyers by trade, and we — or at least I — would hope that the public would prefer the best and the brightest to become members of Congress. First year law associates in New York are the best and brightest of their year, typically from Ivy League universities, and their salaries are tied to the market for premium legal services in the U.S. Therefore, if we believe we would like to recruit top-line legal professionals to serve in Congress, then first year associate salaries are a plausible comparable,” Kopits said in a memo.
Just like the rest of us, they are also being crushed by the terrible inflation that they played a major role in creating.
Considering how poorly they have performed, there is no way in the world that they should be getting a raise.
It is the rest of the country that needs help. The middle class is shrinking, food banks are facing unprecedented demand all over the nation, and homelessness is rising at the fastest pace ever recorded.
And our politicians are making things even worse by bringing in vast numbers of extremely desperate people from other countries.
In Denver, 40,000 new migrants have arrived during the past year, and they are absolutely overwhelming the city’s social services…
Nearly 40,000 migrants have arrived in Denver over the past year, making a city with a population of just over 710,000 the top destination per capita for newly arrived migrants crossing the U.S. southern border and traveling north in buses from Texas.
The influx is taking a toll on the city’s public safety net. Starting Feb. 5, Denver will limit the number of days migrants can stay in shelters and send those who exceed their stay out onto the streets.
One Venezuelan family, a mother, father and their three daughters, told NBC News they’ve been staying at a hotel paid for by the city, but they’ve just received notice that they’ll be evicted.
“Just yesterday they started throwing away the toys, the bicycles in the common area,” the mother said. “We don’t know where we will go next.”
This is happening all over the nation, and there is no end to this crisis in sight.
Meanwhile, we are being warned that the economy will “cool considerably” during the months ahead…
The U.S. economy is set to cool considerably in the coming months as once-rampant spending by American consumers finally comes to an end, according to Wells Fargo.
In a recent note to clients, Wells Fargo senior global market strategist Scott Wren warned that retail spending is likely to slow over the course of 2024 as the job market eases and layoffs start to rise.
“Americans with jobs and money in their pockets are going to spend,” Wren wrote. “However, as the economy slows as we move through the middle portion of this year and the labor market softens, we continue to believe the holiday spending that occurred last year was a bit of a last hurrah for the consumer.”
Of course there are lots of signs that the economy is already heading in the wrong direction quite rapidly.
Sales of iPhones are typically a very good indicator of where things are going, and right now projections for 2024 are quite dismal…
Apple stock, which on any given day is either the most or 2nd most valuable company in the world, rotating with MSFT, reversed earlier gains and slumped to session lows after widely-read TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (best known for gathering intelligence from his contacts in Apple’s Asian supply chain) reported that Apple has lowered its 2024 iPhone shipments of key upstream semiconductor components to about 200 million units, which correspondents to a decline of 15% year-on-year.
As a result, he notes that iPhone 15 series and new iPhone 16 series shipments will decline by 10–15% year-on-year in 1H 2024 and 2H 2024, respectively (compared to iPhone 14 series shipments in 1H 2023 and iPhone 15 series shipments in 2H 2023, respectively). Even worse, Apple’s weekly shipments in China have declined by 30–40% year-on-year in recent weeks, and this downward trend is expected to continue.
And layoff announcements continue to roll in from coast to coast.
UPS plans to layoff nearly 12,000 employees following a massive year-over-year decline in revenue, company officials told USA TODAY Tuesday morning.
The workforce reduction is part of an effort to align resources in 2024 and will save the company nearly $1 billion, the Atlanta-based company’s CEO Carole Tomé said on a company earnings call.
A slow-motion train wreck is playing out day after day right in front of our eyes.
It was well-known at my middle school and high school that the school nurse didn’t have free pads for the students.
In middle school, we had to call our parents to pick us up. My mother worked out of town, and my father certainly wouldn’t have picked me up or bought me period supplies even if I had asked him. For him, that was always the mother’s job. That wasn’t something that fathers did. I shudder to think of what would’ve happened if I didn’t have enough pads with me during his visitation. He probably would have sent me home to my mother.
In high school, the school nurse had pads for purchase. The price was 50 cents per pad (about $2 apiece today), and while that doesn’t sound like much, the high school nurse wouldn’t just give you a pad if you didn’t have money and found yourself with a nasty visit from Aunt Flo. If you didn’t have money, the nurse wouldn’t budge. She would let you bleed through your clothes and make you call your parents to pick you up rather than give out a free pad. There were no vending machines for pads or tampons in the girl’s restroom at school. The only way she would give you one is if you had the money in your hand.
I understand that the nurse probably had to pay for them out of her own pocket, and she wanted to be reimbursed, but I never had any money. Ever. My mother was one of those parents who had zero problems with helping herself to her children’s savings. She also held the same job out of town, and didn’t have transportation back until the end of the workday, anyway. I usually carried plenty of backup pads and tampons all the time, but sometimes I ran out.
I also had extremely heavy, long-lasting periods even as a teenager. That meant that even wearing both a tampon and a pad, sometimes they were both soaked within 2 hours, sometimes less. I stained my clothes a few times. Did the school nurse care? Not a bit. She refused to give up any of her precious pads without money. She still got paid either way.
Which is why, when I found out that my kids’ school gave out free menstrual supplies, no matter what the economic status of their students, I almost cried.
China is the largest customer for the Oil Producing Countries in the Middle East
China is also the largest trader and exporter with the Middle East
From Cooking Ranges to Crockery to Clothing to Hikvision Cameras to Machinery to Stationery to Cutlery to Consumer Electronics to Bridges to Roads to Factory Construction to Industrial Air Conditioning
China thus has irreplaceable clout in the Middle East
Impossible to get alternative suppliers for all those products at that affordable cost and quality that China can deliver
Plus the latest exports include Commercial Drones, Trainer Aircraft, Advanced Drills & Gas Platform Drilling Equipment and Rigs
It’s ECONOMIC CLOUT in a Win Win relationship
Tomorrow if Saudi wants Nuclear Energy, China can fully and completely build Nuclear Energy Plants for Saudi and build completely Indigenous Reactors for the Saudis even the latest Thorium Salt Reactors
Meanwhile what clout does the West have?
In the last 75 years, the West has turned the middle East into a war zone begining in 1948
They provoke wars within Arab Nations using Israel as the pawn and then sell weapons to the Arab Nations to defend themselves
They threaten every Nation to use Dollars as transaction currency even if it’s a loss to them
The West has not helped a single Middle Eastern Nation beyond forcing them to kowtow to it’s Agenda like an Evil Demented Emperor
US was Saudis largest trading partner until the Mid 2000s
The nature of exports?
Weapons!!!!!!!
Weapons and Spares formed a whopping 37% of all exports to Saudi Arabia
Saudi was primitive for a long time and US didn’t care in the least
In 2003, Colin Powell literally forced the entire middle East to turn on Saddam Hussein even though he was a fellow Arab and everyone knew he was not guilty of 90% of the things, he was being accused of
Today?
Can Blinken Try?
They will ask him to go f*** himself if he goes too far
Egypt already said this many times recently
So did Qatar
So did Jordan
They didn’t turn on Assad even though the US demanded they do
And that was because of Uncle Vlad
image 5
That’s Russia
Russia doesn’t have Chinas clout
However they have Military power next only to the US and in terms of land fighting capability even better
They also have Food that the Middle East could use in an emergency, if US sanctions them
So Yes
The West no longer has the dominance in the middle East
They have to DELIVER to maintain even minimum influence
The normal threats and bullying won’t work
Sanctions will drive the Middle East into Chinas arms in nanoseconds
image 4
The US is now like ANY OTHER CUSTOMER
HIGH VALUE CUSTOMER yes but no longer the only Bull Elephant in the herd
Those days are gone
Trump even if he becomes President cannot change anything unless he offers a lot to the Saudis for their friendship and delivers Nuclear Technology and also other concessions including modification of the Bretton Woods system to accept multiple currencies
Joe Rogan is shocked to learn about Thomas Sowell’s Wisdom
https://youtu.be/OtBsyvpjjL8
The 10 Reasons Why Men Need a Men’s Coach to Breakthrough in their Life and Relationships
Last Updated On September 8, 2023
by Andrew Ferebee
Let me get this straight – you did everything right according to society’s rules and you’re telling me you’re not happy with the results?
You excelled in school, worked your butt off and built a successful career, live in a good neighborhood, drive a nice car and aren’t worried about monthly bills but despite the picture perfect life on the outside, there’s an empty feeling, a sense of unease like something deeper is missing.
Remember that inner fire that once drove you, the one that used to consume your soul like a wildfire to be all you can be? It’s diminished now, isn’t it? Doused and replaced by the cold, biting reality of a life lived for material possessions, putting others needs first and social constructs. A life of half awake work and mind-numbing monotony. Doesn’t exactly spark a flame of joy in your bones, does it?
Pause for a moment and let this sink in.
You might be doing well on the surface layer, but here’s the cold, hard truth: amidst that seemingly picture perfect facade, you’re unknowingly missing the very essence of life itself. I’m talking about those profound, soul-stirring connections that leave you breathless, the magnetic friendships that push the boundaries beyond the status quo, the intoxicating romance that sets your world ablaze, and that relentless thirst for adventure and purpose that has propelled men to move mountains for millennia.
Thoreau once wrote,
“The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation.”
Look around you – this is as true today as it was then. Perhaps even more so!
We all enter into this world as a blank slate. An empty canvas to be filled with rich experiences, connections, passion filled romances and adventures to enrich our lives.
Men have always longed to…
Explore the world alongside his soulmate. He dreams of heart-pounding adventures, immersing himself in vibrant cultures, and cherishing those rare, life-altering moments. But alas, his reality is far from idyllic. Instead, he finds himself relentlessly toiling, desperately grasping for a taste of true “freedom.” Every day, he deceives himself, clutching onto the false notion that once he completes that next project or seals that elusive deal, he’ll finally have the time and worthiness to embrace romance, chase adventure, and authentically align with his deepest values
Ravish his beautiful lover nightly, yet he’s been fed the cliché advice to toil relentlessly before he can, striving to amplify his worth as a man. So he takes it to heart, dedicating his life to arduous work in the pursuit of being worthy of love. But what does he get in return? A love life that fails to provide pleasure, instead leaving him feeling abandoned and disrespected. His partner’s apathetic response to his romantic endeavors akin to a contractual obligation rather than an outpouring of raw passion, reducing their connection to the status of mere roommates. Isolated, he clings to his smartphone, its somber blue light a haunting symbol of the all-consuming void that torments his manhood.
Discover a purpose so mighty, so unyielding, that he’d lay down his very existence without hesitation to witness its breathtaking realization. But here’s the chilling truth: his days are shackled to a career, forced to coexist with similar zombie like colleagues, all for the sake of financing an unceasing cascade of hollow possessions that provide fleeting value, pass time and hold no genuine meaning.
Catapult out of bed each morning, brimming with an unwavering energy for the day. But alas, that is not the tale that unfolds. Instead, fatigue clings to his bones, sapping his vitality, as he traverses the exhausting grind of a never-ending pursuit of money, ensnared in the perpetual race to keep pace with the elusive peers around him. Determined to prove his worth, he yearns for validation, yearns for the recognition of his true capabilities, all in the hopes that it will rekindle the flickering flame of a passionless existence and breathe life into the barren landscapes of his love life
Deepen his connection with his masculinity, not only ‘finding’ himself, but actively sculpting himself into the confident, charming and alive man he’s always aspired to be or once was…But instead, he settles for society’s warped version of success, repressing his masculine fire, and sacrificing his most profound aspirations, dreams, and desires on the altar of social accolades, as he selflessly serves the needs of others.
Ah, what’s interesting is that he meticulously followed society’s script, constructing a life that was meant to be extraordinary, unforgettable, and full of success. Yet, here he sits, his eyes fixed on the glowing screen of a computer, ceaselessly treading away, trapped in the clutches of a whispering desperation that lingers within.
We live in a world where men are now more afraid than ever to be masculine, alive and act like strong grounded men. Men, like caged king lions, suppress their power and authenticity, concealing their truth behind a smokescreen of professional accomplishments and shiny toys.
And so it begins, a treacherous game, one that threatens to swallow them whole. With each move, their once vibrant social connections and intimate relationships plummet into a harrowing abyss. A descent into darkness unfolds, gripping their souls like a serpent’s squeeze. In a desperate scramble, the man succumbs to the alluring mirage of “more,” effectively ignoring the real problem while immersing himself in the superficial trappings of societal success.
Just consider that..
The suicide rate for men is 3.5x higher than that of women (iconic men who surpassed society’s version of “success”: like Robin Williams, Anthony Bourdain, Avicci, Chester Bennington, Mac Miller, Junior Seau, Chris Cornell and Heath Ledger fell victim to this horrible act)
The divorce rate in the U.S hovers above 51% with family courts often siding with the mother
Men are 3x more likely to become alcohol and drug dependent (not to mention adult website usage is at all time highs) – masking their problems and hiding rather than getting support and solving them.
You can be forgiven for assuming that, at this point, men would reach out for help in droves. But because of society’s mandate that “Real men” are somehow capable of handling everything by themselves, men are less likely to reach out for help.
Instead, men numb themselves to reality with pleasure inducing addictions. Porn, social media, video games, Netflix originals, and even “work”, have become the sources of our respite. But their shallow promises only exacerbate the issue. These vices do little to further what matters most in our lives and nothing to solve the deeper problems men increasingly face.
So let’s clear something up right now…
Men’s coaching does not mean a man is weak or incapable of achieving results himself.
Coaching is strategic investment that allows men to grow faster by leveraging the guidance of a seasoned expert with the perspective, experience and know-how to breakthrough limiting beliefs thatkeep men lost for decades faster.
Someone to hold you accountable – to speak to you like no other man will and guide you in your life and relationships or lack thereof. To finally free you of the BS story that’s been holding you back from experiencing the life and relationship you truly want.
Let’s be honest here:
Warren Buffet wouldn’t be the greatest investor of our time without Benjamin Graham…
Marcus Aurelius wouldn’t be one of the greatest philosophers in history, the Emperor of Rome, and one of the most successful generals in military history without Epictetus…
Michael Jordan wouldn’t be the greatest basketball player and (arguably) the greatest athlete of our time without Phil Jackson and you could say the same for Kobe.
And to believe that you’re the exception to the rule is nothing more than nonsense!
If you want to live an exceptional life…a life filled with joy, adventure, romance, deep connection, control over the direction of your life and a sense of true masculine power…getting help by someone who is a results driven coach is the smartest thing you can do to get ahead of the masses.
Men must bravely enlist the help of other men who have “been there, done that”, and can share their wisdom, guidance and insight for living a remarkable life and cultivating real relationships beyond societies surface layer.
And today, I’m going to share the ten reasons why men’s coaching is the “secret edge” you’ve been searching for. The “missing link” that will help men reclaim their masculine power, end the “Nice Guy” behaviors, and become more attractive to and respected by the highest quality women and most successful men in their community.
There’s no time to waste. Let’s dive in.
1. You Lack a Powerful Results Driven Mentor Who Listens Carefully and Inspires Relentless Action
Therapy can be great. And for some men, necessary. But it’s not the end all solution it’s been made out to be.
Sure, they’ll listen intently (they’re paid to). But do not confuse a good listener with actual progress in reality. They don’t push you to challenge yourself, eschew the status quo of mediocrity, and step into your role as the king and creator of your own life. They know very little about reclaiming your masculine power and creating a life that makes you proud of the man you are becoming. Instead, they enable you to play small. Encourage it even for longer than necessary.
A men’s coach doesn’t.
When you enlist the help of other like-minded men who have been where you are today, they can spot your B.S. before you even open your mouth. They will hold you to a higher standard, demand that you play at a higher level, and challenge you in a way that others wouldn’t dare.
Granted there are well-meaning mental health professionals that exist, yet few and far between. And after working with 1000s of men their feedback on the results of therapy vs. coaching were all but ubiquitous and mostly time consuming and costly.
With therapy, they spent years (some of them decades) digging through their past to identify all of the ways in which their parents, teachers, friends, and high school crushes screwed them up for life.
They myopically focused on the trauma (real or perceived) of the past in hopes that somehow…by realizing that their anger issues stemmed from their broken relationship with their father…they would magically heal themselves and fix the problems with how they were showing up in the present..
Therapy doesn’t empower you to move forward, it only helps you resolve that which is already in your rear view mirror. It won’t help you show up to your relationships in a more grounded way that women naturally respond to, build a social lifestyle that excites you, or contend with the very real challenges you are facing in the present. It simply keeps you trapped by the challenges you’ve already overcome.
With coaching, it’s an entirely different story.
Yes, coaches will still address the implications of your past and how unresolved trauma might be manifesting itself as negative behaviors today.
But they don’t let you live there indefinitely and damn well don’t let you use it as an excuse!
With a men’s coach, the entire conversation is centered around growth, about learning from the challenges you’ve experienced in the past to become stronger and move forward today.
It isn’t based on theory. It’s based on action, results and experience. Experience from your coach’s own life or the lives of those they’ve worked with and gotten the end result you seek.
They’ll listen to you deeply, yes. But they’ll also have the courage and wisdom to speak to you directly like a man in a bold, masculine and direct way that is severely lacking today. Calling you out on the b.s. stories to which you’ve given away your power…giving you the facts of why your life isn’t working effectively in this new era for men…and being brutally honest in their feedback.
They’ll hit you upside the head with a no-holds barred reality check and hold you accountable to breaking the patterns and behaviors that are holing you back from the life, social status, and relationships you want.
With a therapist, you talk about the past. With a coach, you march courageously into the future.
They won’t let you hide from your challenges or outsource responsibility for your life to some traumatic episode of the past.
They will challenge you to level up today. To be real, raw, and honest with yourself and take concrete bold action toward solving the challenges holding you back from the life you want – on your very first session.
2. You’re Trapped by “Nice Guy” Behaviors Because You Lack Strong Masculine Role Models
Like me, your father probably wasn’t the best role model.
He wasn’t the Strong Grounded Man you aspire to be. He didn’t live a passionate, courageous and exciting life, he wasn’t a part of a strong community of men, he likely gave his power away to your mother and unintentionally taught you, through his example, that, to be a man, is to resign yourself to a life of serving and pleasing others…void of true purpose, power, and adventure.
Like most men, your father was either a quintessential “Nice Guy”–who trained you to adopt those same patterns and behaviors–or the opposite, a “Bad Boy”–who inadvertently trained you to be a nice guy because you wanted to rebel and be nothing like him.
This isn’t meant to denigrate your father – he likely did the best he could with what he was given from his father.
You may struggle with how to treat women (especially attractive women)
You may struggle standing up for yourself during conflict
You may avoid or put off conflicts to not “upset” anyone or cause any problems
You don’t know how to respectfully get your needs met and because of this hide a deep frustration inside– where sometimes it uncontrollably explodes in an anger fueled outburst
You are a nice guy who does things in order to get people to validate your worth
In our modern society, healthy and authentic masculinity has become vilified. Because of the real problems with toxic masculinity, we’ve instructed men to be submissive.
We’ve trained men to eschew their masculine edge…to rely only on the feminine elements of their nature instead of bringing together both energies to become complete, fully integrated, Grounded Men.
Today, it is more important than ever for men to regain their masculine energy because it is the missing link to get to the next level in life – especially romantic relationships.
Too many men allow their “Nice Guy” tendencies to undermine their life…putting the needs of others first…struggling to assert themselves to avoid tension…being unable to set and maintain healthy boundaries…and refusing to prioritize their own goals, ambitions and dreams.
And the end result is always a life filled with regret, a decrease in the man’s value and incognito resentment to those who take advantage of you with little to no appreciation.
On the other side of the spectrum, we have the “Over Achiever”. Men who use their professional ambitions to mask the pain they feel inside and achieve some modicum of validation through their external accomplishments and accolades to outwardly prove their self worth to society and of course, women.
While there’s nothing wrong with success, money, or achievement, these men are not pursuing these things from a place of wholeness…using them as tools and resources to magnify a fulfilled life…instead they pursue them from the lens of scarcity, ego and desperation. In hopes that the next milestone, promotion, or product launch will somehow give them the feeling that they are enough and others will suddenly validate them and place them on a higher arbitrary pedestal of life. That they finally belong, yet the problem is this can go on for the rest of the man’s life… meanwhile the clock is ticking.
But when you leverage a men’s coach, when you surround yourself with strong masculine men tempered by virtue and a sense of purpose and honor, you can begin the process of eradicating these dark tendencies once and for all.
You’ll learn how to develop your confidence in a healthy way free of ego, how to set boundaries, prioritize yourself (while still being valued and respected by others) and your desires, speak the truth even when it’s hard, and cultivate a strong sense of self worth.
And from this place, you can finally be at peace with yourself and the world around you. You will be able to show up to life and relationships as your true self like never before.
You will be enough.
3. You Give Away Your Masculine Power To Women then Lose All Respect, Value and Romance
Woody Allen said, “90% of success is showing up.” But men today are not showing up for the women in their lives.
Men have lost the strength of their masculine edge and women are starving for it.
Today, men are terrified by their own masculinity. They are petrified by their darkness and aggression and, instead of embracing and learning to harness it, they suppress it and embrace what is easier and more acceptable – nice guy, people pleasing and approval seeking behaviors. Both in their lives and in their interactions with women
The modern man often feels weak, spineless and powerless; castrated by a hyper feminist society and emasculated by the women they yearn connection and intimacy for.
If he’s single, he struggles to be present in his interactions, suppressing his desire for romantic intimacy and acting disingenuously out of fear of rejection with the hopes of being “liked” for being a nice guy who will wait his turn.
And if he’s married or in a committed relationship?
He gives away his power to his partner, marking the death of connection, deep intimacy and allowing her to lead the relationship and indeed his life. Instead of showing up as a leader, confidant, protector for her, he’s little more than a walking ATM. A cash dispenser whom she begrudgingly settles for in return for an infrequent lackluster romantic life.
And these behaviors put you at the mercy of women!
She owns you – and loses all respect for you, and therefore attraction and romantic desire cannot exist. You have no power in the relationship, and you both know it.
When this happens, women, even faithful and loving women, become susceptible to the allure of infidelity. Not because they are bad corrupt people. Because the man is not showing up the way he needs to and is incapable of doing the things he needs to do to keep a high quality woman engaged and excited in his life.
She treats you like a little boy because that’s exactly how you’re acting. A physically big man with little inner backbone (one of the biggest turn offs to women), unconsciously telling her that he is a weak man who cannot be trusted which makes her feel unsafe and unhappy.
And when she’s finally had enough of the weak needy behavior? She leaves him, alone and heart broken. You don’t need me to tell you how painful a serious breakup or divorce can be for a man (especially a successful man of worth). Beyond the stress and financial burden of possibly losing (half) or more of your net worth and everything you bled for, these events are often a setback from which a man will rarely fully recover.
They extinguish what little fire was left in his soul and snuff out the glimmer of hope that still twinkled in his eye.
The financial and emotional cost of exuding weak “Nice Guy” behaviors in a relationship is higher than most men realize until it’s too late. Much higher than doing the work required to become a strong grounded man capable of attracting and keeping his partner among many other life benefits.
And, what most men don’t realize is that women are just as confused, frustrated, and exhausted by this charade as you are. Women don’t want a doormat for a partner. They don’t want someone who spinelessly defers to and subjugates themselves at the altar of the feminine as to not upset her.
They want a man they can trust. A man with power, vision, and aliveness who gives her butterflies in her stomach and keeps her daydreaming when she will get to go out with and bed her king again.
And when you work with a men’s coach, you can become this man.
You’ll regain your masculine power, boost your confidence, and show up to the relationship as a whole, fulfilled, and complete man…a man who doesn’t need a woman to feel validated or worthy…but who chooses a woman with whom he can build his kingdom. A woman to love, support, and challenge and who loves, supports, and challenges him.
A men’s coach not only helps you reclaim your power… you multiply it and go from the masses of men who are approval seeking nice guys to “omg who is THAT guy?”
4. You Chase Money Endlessly without a Clear Definite Purpose Bigger than Oneself
Most men believe that their purpose in life is relegated to doing whatever will make the most money. That their self worth is contingent on their net worth and that the only appropriate answer to the question “What do you want?” is “More.”
Sure, you make money. Maybe even great money. But beyond the base level of success the income doesn’t excite or inspire you like it once did. It simply assuages your growing sense of a lack of purpose, allowing you to go through the motions, numbing yourself with vices without any idea as to what you’re doing or WHY you’re doing it.
You follow the crowd aimlessly moving through life unconsciously. Working long hours, giving up your personal life, saying “No” to the experiences and life you really want to make more money…and for what?
Extra bedrooms? More horses in the car? A mini vacation where you spend your time sequestered in your hotel room responding to emails and putting out fires?
Most men aren’t willing to take a step back, look inwardly, and ask themselves, “Beyond financial success…What do I really want out of my life and relationships?”
Because you haven’t done this work you grind even harder thinking “more” is the solution, desperately pouring your soul and finite time into work in hopes that one day…the money you earn will finally validate your worth as a man and make you feel “enough”.
And when it doesn’t?
You seek instant gratification in the forms of vices like alcohol, drugs, porn, binging social media/tv, and excessive consumerism to numb the pain of a purposeless life.
You spend money on lavish external things like cars, clothes, and unnecessary household gadgets in the hopes of finding just a niggle of temporary excitement – But the fleeting and superficial nature of these purchases leave you no more content, joyful, or alive than the month prior, keeping you in a perpetual cycle of consumption.
Indeed, there has been major shifts in society – men today have no Great War. No cause. No purpose. And feel utterly lost because of it.
Every man needs a fight. Not necessarily physical, but a greater mission to fight for.
“Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it.” – Gautama Buddha
Something that’s greater than yourself and for some men possibly noble enough that it’s worth sacrificing everything for.
By plugging yourself into a community of like minded men led by the guidance of a team of expert men’s coach who can open your eyes up to a new possibility, you’ll gain clarity on your path and purpose and unlock a new level of meaning and significance in your life that supersedes the purely materialistic of the unconscious masses.
5. You Need Someone Other Than Your Divorced or Single Friends with Whom You Can Get Effective Feedback on Your Intimate Relationships
Men’s coaches specialize in relationships in many ways. The masculine-feminine dynamic is likely why they became men’s coaches in the first place. Often many men’s coaches have backgrounds in dating, seduction and relationship coaching.
However, they’ve evolved into a healthier and more mature form of supporting men beyond the superficial “pick up” tactics.
Your men’s coach is to relationships what a Navy SEAL is to combat.
He will teach you the proven strategies and mental frameworks (that none of your family, friends, and peers have the slightest clue about) so that you can transform into the type of man that women respect, admire, and brag about to their friends and family.
If the intense satisfaction that comes from a deeper level of connection, intimacy and romance with women is what you want… you are not going to get it by listening to your friend whose own relationship history is a stage 4 natural disaster who’s got divorce attorneys on speed dial.
Most men are bitter, jaded, and angry with women. After a stream of failed relationships, they buy into the lie that there must be something fundamentally wrong with women (instead of admitting to themselves that the problem might lie in how they are showing up to women).
The simple truth of the matter is that you cannot take advice from someone who has not achieved the results you want to achieve.
The right men’s coach has already walked the walk. He knows how to achieve lasting success, intimacy, and passion inside of your relationship and will teach you how to lay the foundation of self-love, confidence, and masculine power required to make your relationship thrive.
He’ll help you either find the perfect woman with whom you will build your kingdom, OR enhance your existing relationship with the woman you’ve under-prioritized for years (maybe even decades) to new heights.
Nothing, and I do mean nothing, will have a greater impact on your happiness, success, and fulfillment than the woman with whom you choose to share your life. Happiness is not found in another ‘0’ in the bank account…but in a deep well of shared experiences with someone whom you love and feel deeply connected to – and who feels the same
And with the help of a results driven men’s coach, you’ll finally have access to the mindsets, strategies and tactics that you need to solve the most challenging relationship struggles in your life.
6. You Do Not Have Real Masculine Accountability in Your Life that Calls You Out on Your BS (and likely never have)
When a strong grounded man with absolute conviction asks you to do something – you do it.
When you tell someone whom you deeply respect that you are going to take a specific action, you will do everything in your power to keep your word because you do not want to let someone you respect down.
It’s in our masculine nature to be a man of our word. If you tell a strong grounded man you’ll do something and don’t – you’re breaking your word and bond with your coach.
It’s not about the money with the men’s coach; it’s about being a man of integrity.
If your word means nothing… then are you a man to be trusted? Can women even trust this man?
When a man is held accountable by someone he deeply respects, then he focuses harder and takes the right actions to get stellar results, even when it’s scary and seems damn near impossible.
You can’t hide. You can’t play small. You can’t live with the excuses that you’ve suppressed for years anymore.
More importantly, you can’t ignore the parts of your life that aren’t working and rely on superficial external successes to hide behind an unhappy and un-lived life. It’s very easy for a men’s coach to see behind the facade you’ve created to feel safe.
The disappointment you feel when you let down someone you greatly respect will propel you into action. It’s a big reality check for you at that moment when your men’s coach is not buying into your b.s. story that everyone else believes.
You’ll be thinking in the back of your head, “He can see through my BS. I can’t believe I’ve gotten away with this for this long and it’s time to change.”
“Good men are bound by conscience and liberated by accountability.” ~Wes Fessler
Any man can shy away from help because he’s afraid to look foolish yet it’s the truly courageous and brave man who stands up and asks for support.
You probably surround yourself with high achieving men already.
While they mean well and care about you and your success, just like crabs in a bucket pulling any escaping crabs back down they are terrified of watching you outgrow and outperform your existing social group
Having a men’s coach and being a part of a community, a brotherhood, of men who truly stand for your greatness doesn’t make you weak or incapable. It’s where you can get your “secret” edge against the masses who are unaware such a solution exists.
7. You Don’t Have the Freedom To Fearlessly Express Your Truth Fully, So You Remain Silentand Don’t get Your Needs Met (in work and relationships)
At the core of every man is the desire to be free, yet ironically men often confine themselves to a cage to appear like they are okay.
You’ve locked your emotions up and pretend to be a “strong man” when at times, you’re struggling inside and barely holding it together.
Other people don’t see this…
All they see is the success…the external accolades…the fake smile…the “picture-perfect life”.
They see what you allow them to see, but they don’t see the truth. They don’t see the struggle that you’re experiencing…the inescapable sense of inadequacy…the fear that you’re on the brink of divorce, breaking up or suffering from chronic loneliness or an existential crisis.
You bought into the B.S. story that “Big boys don’t cry”, and so you stoically ignore and suppress your emotions and desires, convincing yourself that the only solution is to be silent in the face of abject fear.
When a man does this he shuts down a piece of his heart and becomes less human and more of a robot programmed by society with few signs of life becoming a shell of what he could be.
Expressing your emotions in a healthy way is a natural thing humans do, no different than urinating. If you don’t urinate you’re in pain. When you urinate the pain is gone – it’s that simple.
It’s a release that is a necessary requirement for healthy living.
“Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.” – Jim Morrison
Emotionally handicapped men become distant, angry, frustrated and cynical (in extreme cases, even violent).
Friendships and relationships slowly feel more like chores. When someone asks how you’re doing you reply with perfunctory bland responses to avoid expressing how you really feel.
“I’m alright, good, great, fine”… then you quickly turn the conversation back to them or something superficial to avoid anything, but the truth.
When a man is disconnected from his heart, he becomes disconnected from the rest of the world and lives in a silent prison where it’s just him and his dark thoughts shielded by his external successes.
He’s trapped in a mind-made prison without ever realizing that he is both the inmate and the warden of the prison. He holds the key to his own liberation, but years of societal conditioning have blinded him to this possibility.
Like an elephant kept in place by a feeble rope, he fails to realize that he’s outgrown the confines in which he has placed himself and that, at any moment, he can unlock the door and find his freedom.
Through men’s coaching and a strong community, you’ll discover how to express your emotions in a healthy way that doesn’t make you weak, but courageous and respected. How to connect with the deepest parts of yourself and be authentic, raw, and honest with other men. You’ll learn how to experience the depths of true connection, friendship, and intimacy, and step into your role as the vibrant and expressive king of your life.
Your men’s coach unlocks your emotional cage so you can release the heavy feeling in your gut and finally experience what true personal freedom means.
8. You’re Going Through Life Without Strong Male Support And Quality Friendships that Lastand Go Beyond the Surface Layer
I’m not talking about your business associates or clients with whom you occasionally share a drink or over-priced steak dinner…but men with whom you can speak your truth and who support you. Life can be so much more than working, going to the gym and watching television/social media/adult websites.
The greatest paradox of the human experience is that, even in a sea of surface layer connections and acquaintances we can still feel desperately and soul-wrenchingly alone.
Most men, especially successful men like yourself, go through their entire lives without true male friendships.
They have plenty of acquaintances…golf buddies… beer hangouts… gym partners…business colleagues to do more deals with…but they lack meaningful, unfiltered, masculine connection.
They fear judgment and invalidation and, as a result, smother their truth until its voice is so faint they themselves can barely hear it.
Show me a man who fears authentic connection and real friendships with other quality men, and I’ll show you a man who is broken…alone…isolated…and void of life.
Humans need to connect at a deep level to be emotionally free, alive and healthy.
Women do this more naturally than men (likely because there are fewer stigmas around opening up and sharing the truth) but it is also essential for men’s well being.
And it’s no wonder that according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention the suicide rate for men is 3.5x higher than women and rising! This statistic isn’t relegated to low life’s in society but even the most successful men, celebrities, musicians, actors and those who have “made it” at high levels in society.
Men are more alone than ever today. There are few people with whom they can speak honestly and candidly without fear of judgment and ridicule. No one to support them, to challenge them, to share in their struggle and success and act as a brother in arms during good times and bad.
This is a very real social problem that people aren’t talking about and most men aren’t even aware of themselves because it’s so commonplace and men are too busy chasing “more”.
Do you have men in your life that you can share the good, the bad and the ugly with who will listen and support you?
Can you be vulnerable and share what’s really going on with other men without being scrutinized?
Men who live in a world of truths are more connected to the world and those around them and find more joy, happiness, and inner fulfillment.
With a men’s coach, you’ll be forced to live in a world of truth. There’s no room for deceit or dishonesty in a coaching relationship. The very nature of the relationship demands no b.s. honesty.
And when you get real with yourself and the other men in your life, you will tap into a deeper level of the human experience.
Your interactions will deepen, other men will respect you more, women will be more connected and attracted to you. As the saying goes, “The truth will set you free.” And a men’s coach will help you find, speak, and live in your truth.
9. You are Settling and Playing Small in the Game of Life Because You are Doing Better than Your Peers Growing Up
Our society has convinced men that…so long as they are making good money and can keep pace with the Jones’…they are playing the game of life well.
But what most men forget is that the concept of “Playing Small” is not relegated to only the financial realm! That’s one piece of the pie of life…
You can be a leader of your industry…a multimillionaire…the best in the world at what you do professionally…and still be playing the game of life grossly below your potential.
But if you aren’t going for the life you really want…if you aren’t fostering love, connection, intimacy…if you aren’t injecting adventure, aliveness, and risk into your life…if you wake up doing the same damn thing day in day out.
If you don’t love the life you have while you pursue your grand vision then you’re missing out on a whole lot of life. If you’re not excited for the day, alive in your social interactions and fulfilled in your relationships then…
You are winning the career battle, but you’re losing the war for your life, freedom and happiness.
It doesn’t matter how much money you have in the bank or how many positions you’ve held that are prefixed by the letter ‘C’ or ‘Senior” or ‘VP’. If you aren’t excited about your life and filled with passion, purpose, and an ineffable sense of inner power…you’re playing small.
If your life report looks like this then what’s your overall GPA on life?
Career: A+
Physical Health: C
Emotional Health: C
Social Life: F
Romantic relationships: F
Purpose/mission/contribution: F
Adventure/passions/hobbies: F
Masculinity/backbone: F
Self confidence/self image/self worth: F
Oh how exciting would it be to fall in love with this guy and spend the rest of your life with him?
Now can you see the problem here? Most men pour all the energy into career and wonder why they’re unhappy outside of work with the results in their life and relationships.
And a men’s coach will not only call out this b.s. behavior when he sees it…but he will enable you to do the hard deep work required to address the other critical areas of life that are being ignored.
When you’re a part of the right community all the doing the same and assisted by a team of expert coaches, playing small is no longer an option.
You may hate us at times because we push you outside of your comfort zone…you may despise our brutal honesty and no-holds barred tirades…you may tell us to “Screw off!” and consider reverting back to your old ways.
But you’ll come to realize that we’re the only ones in your life pushing you forward. You are playing small and it’s time to end that.
You have 2 options:
1. You can stay safe and retreat into your old habits of chasing career success, pursuing external validation, masking pain with vices and relying on your accomplishments to fuel your self worth.
2. You can embrace the call to adventure into the life and relationships you’ve always wanted!
Accept that your professional accomplishments, however impressive, do not define your worth as a man and that, to live without regret, to not waste the rest of your life, you need more out of yourself and your life than another promotion, zero in the account or deal closed.
You can decide to take a stand for your own life and vision and pour your heart and soul into becoming the Strong Grounded Man you know you can be. To living the life you want. To eschewing society’s values and living a life based on your own vision, your own aspirations, and your own rules.
You can make this decision today.
But to make it stick, you’ll need support and guidance.
And I can promise you…when you accept that you cannot do it alone…when you decide to go all in on your life and recruit a team of expert coaches, mentors, and likeminded brothers you can make it happen a lot faster than you think.
That is the moment you will look back on years from today and say “That is when everything changed!”
10. If You Keep Doing What You’ve Always Done, You’ll Miss the Best Years of Life
Now, you have a decision to make.
You made it to the end of this article for one simple reason. This conversation has deeply resonated with you.
Maybe your relationship is on the brink of ending and the woman you once promised to love and cherish has become the very source of your unhappiness, discontentment and frustration.
Maybe you’re chronically single and tired of being friend-zoned by the quality women you desire and are beginning to give up on dating altogether and embrace a life of single-hood.
Maybe your life is working…on the outside. But you no longer feel the fire, passion, and power you once had. You’ve become sedated…unaware of how much more your life could be.
Maybe workaholism and the constant pursuit of “more” has left you empty, depleted, and alone. You’ve spent years, maybe even decades, pursuing “success” and now you find yourself wondering when you go to bed at night… “is this really it?”
The simple truth is, I don’t know what pain you’re experiencing. I don’t know what challenges and frustrations you’re facing today.
But what I do know is this…
The price of inaction…of settling for a life you don’t love…of ignoring the real challenges in your life…of continuing to operate under the same dysfunctional paradigm and strategy that brought you here in the first place…is an un-lived life, a life of regret.
If you don’t make a change and decide to take new actions today, nothing will change tomorrow. Years will go by and the problems you are facing now will be amplified.
Your happiness, relationships, family, and sanity will slowly start to dwindle until you find yourself years later, wishing you could turn back the clock and do it YOUR WAY all over again.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. You can do it your way starting today and take a stand.
Over the past ten years, I’ve been quietly helping men at the highest levels achieve the things that money can’t buy…the happiness, purpose, passion, fulfillment, and romance they’ve craved for all along.
You’ve read the entire article which tells me you are serious about making big changes in your life so, I want to invite you into my brotherhood as the ideal next step…
…An elite coaching system unlike anything you’ve ever experienced before that will spark a personal revolution in your life, relationships and fundamentally change the man you are today.
I invite you to answer the call to adventure, to unleash the “powerful, successful, attractive man” you’ve kept caged inside of you for far too long, to take a stand for your life and your future and say “Enough is enough, I’m ready to reclaim my power and make this a reality!”
You know as well as I do that if you continue doing what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always had.
And if this article has not resonated with you…if you’re still convinced that you can do it all alone…
Then I wish you all the best, but I can’t help you and honestly no one can. You are not ready for the transformational work we mastered.
But if you’re courageous enough to accept that there are challenges in your life for which you don’t have the solutions…that there’s more to your existence as a man than simply making more money and living like a robot…that you CAN become the strong Grounded Man with deeper connections, fulfillment and relationships that you’ve always wanted… then you’re going to love what I’ve created for you.
However, I must be blunt, I do not offer cheap solutions to serious life and relationship problems. And to be honest, when has the cheapest solution to a serious problem of this magnitude ever worked? It’s usually a waste of time and that’s not what we’re about.
You wouldn’t look for the cheapest and least experienced doctor if you or a loved one were to undergo a life threatening surgery. And this problem should be treated at the same level since there are serious consequences if these problems continue to be ignored.
Through heavy research and development, we have learned that to solve the problem for good, it requires a team of talented and experienced experts who love what they do, in-depth high level training, actionable systems and exercises to achieve lifelong results. The good news is we have the solution and we’ve perfected it over the last decade with over 1000 clients, you must stop resisting help when it’s right in front of you and prioritize what matters most.
Chicken Cacciatore
chicken cacciatore 1
What is Chicken Cacciatore?
Chicken Cacciatore is a rustic Italian dish made of bone-in chicken portions that have been browned then braised, along with sauteed vegetables, in crushed tomatoes, wine and herbs. Cacciatore is pronounced kah-chuh-taw-ree.
What to Serve with It
It is the coziest dish and it’s perfect paired with pasta, rustic bread, polenta, or mashed potatoes. It’s basically a meal in one so you really don’t need a whole lot more with it.
This makes for the perfect homestyle dinner to sit down to after a hectic day or long week. Such delicious Italian comfort food that’s well worth the process!
chicken cacciatore 05
Ingredients
1 (3 pound) broiler-fryer chicken
2 cups water
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon oregano
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
Bring chicken to boil in a pot of water. Simmer chicken for 30 minutes.
Remove from heat and cool. Pour stock into a measuring cup to make 2 cups and refrigerate.
Skim any fat from top of reserved stock when cooled.
De-bone the chicken. Discard bones and skin. Cut chicken into chunks.
Place all ingredients in a pot and cover. Bring to a boil, turning heat down immediately. Simmer for 30 minutes, uncovered, or until sauce has thickened.
Serve on a bed of rice.
How to Make Chicken Cacciatore
Brown chicken thighs: Heat olive oil in an extra large saute pan over medium-high heat.
Dab thighs dry with paper towels, season both sides with salt. Sear thighs until browned about 5 minutes, turn and sear about 3 – 4 minutes longer. Transfer thighs to a plate, set aside.
Saute mushrooms: Carefully drain off all but about 2 Tbsp fat in pan. Return to medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and saute, only tossing every minute or two, until browned, about 4 minutes total.
Saute other vegetables: Add bell peppers and onions and saute 3 minutes. Add garlic and saute 1 minute longer.
Add wine, reduce: Remove from heat, pour in wine. Return to heat and let simmer over medium-low heat until reduced by about half, about 3 minutes.
Add liquids, and flavorings: Mix in crushed tomatoes, chicken broth, half the parsley, half the basil, the thyme, oregano and parmesan rind. Season with salt and pepper to taste (take it easy on the salt as sauce will reduce some and parmesan will season the sauce).
Simmer chicken with cacciatore sauce until cooked through: Nestle chicken thighs into the sauce, bring to a simmer and reduce to medium-low. Cover while leaving lid just lightly ajar for some steam to escape. Simmer 15 minutes.
Turn thighs. Cover fully and continue to simmer until all of the thighs have cooked through (175 degrees in center), about 15 minutes longer.
Finish with olives and herb garnish: If using olives sprinkle over. Finish with remaining half of the parsley and basil. Serve warm with cooked pasta if desired.
One of the key things in that story was a day when the ex rode my daughter’s bus home from school, saying, out loud, that he was going to try to get her to have a panic attack.
This charming, precious boy had obviously been telling his parents how nice he’d been to my daughter. One of the things he’d must have told them was that he’d been keeping his distance from her.
So, in court, after we’d laid out our complaints, including the bus ride, he had his chance to question us (his rebuttal), then he told his side of the story.
He explained that when he rode the bus that day, he sat in the front row of the bus, as far from my daughter as possible, because he was trying to be nice to her, and this made it impossible for him to be actively antagonizing her.
So, when my daughter did her rebuttal, she asked where he remembered her sitting, he responded “between the back seat and the middle”, which would put about 10-12 rows of seats between them.
“So, why would you come sit within three rows of me, knowing the effects it would have on me?” My daughter had forgotten his claim that he sat in the very first seat on the bus.
“Well, the front of the bus was full, so I sat down in the first available seat. I’m sorry it was so close to you.” Holy crap, HE forgot his claim as well.
I interrupted (the judge had said he’d allow it at the onset): “Wait, didn’t you say, just a few minutes ago, that you sat in the front seat?”
“Yeah.”
“But, she sat in the back half of the bus…and you just admitted to sitting three rows in front of her.”
The judge’s face was already in his hands. Same with his mom’s. As he began stammering and trying to explain, I couldn’t help myself. Head…hands….
It Begins…All 50 States Fight For Protection (WARNING)
I had this problem with several bosses at different jobs.
I did not take calls from work if I was off duty. My boss would blow up my phone, message me on social media and when that did not work, he would get my coworkers to do the same.
I ignored them as well.
When my boss couldn’t get me on the phone and my coworkers were unsuccessful, the boss would show up at my house and bang on my door like he was the police.
I cursed out one boss, slammed the door in the face of another and got into a screaming match with the other. I could not believe how disrespectful they were being; they violated so many boundaries by showing up at my house.
It wasn’t long before I found another job and split.
You have to stress this and be clear with the boss about not contacting you when off duty. I once had a boss blow up my phone until I answered and when I answered, I said, “If you’re calling me like this at 4:45am, this state better be on fire and you’re telling me I need to evacuate.”
Boss said, “We had several call offs and no call shows for third shift and first shift. We need help and wanted to know if you could come in.”
“No, I am not coming in to work,” I said. “I work like crazy and I want to rest and enjoy life outside of work.”
Then comes the bullshit about how I need to be a team player and I need to step up and help the situation.
“Okay, why do I have to step up at all?” I asked. “Why don’t you say something to the people who call off or don’t show up for their shift instead of putting pressure on me to come in all the time?”
“Shannon, everyone knows you will come in,” said Boss. “No one can count on the others to show up.”
“And yet, they are still employed,” I said. “I’m not coming in. I’m exhausted and want to rest. I am always the one everyone calls on to come in and help; I work 80, 90, and sometimes 100 hours a week because of this and I’m sick and damn tired of it. Call someone else and stop calling me on my off time; I am allowed to have a life outside of work.”
I hung up.
Boss got all pissy because I wouldn’t come in and then all of a sudden I was the laziest employee. I lost all motivation for that job because the boss was mad that I wouldn’t come in to help.
Boss went on and on about how lazy I was. Forgot about the thousand times I did step up and focused on the one time I didn’t.
I eventually had to escalate the matter up the chain of command to get results. It shouldn’t even have had to come to that, but the boss was resentful and petty and passive aggressive and of course I had to go deal with that.
In the end, it took going to the administrator several times over the course of several weeks before I got satisfaction. But by then it was too late; I just found a new job and quit because it was fucking ridiculous for the boss to expect me to make the job the center of my life to the exclusion of all else. They even blew me up when I was at my daughter’s graduation and I made it clear I wanted to be left alone. Ended up going in afterward and then get there and find that I was the only one who showed up…and I was expected to work and do it all, on my own and with no help.
Nursing homes jobs will absolutely fuck your soul.
We had a complex relationship: We were dance partners, business partners, and dating each other.
Couple that with the new condo we just moved into and there was no escaping this firestorm.
Like most nights, our dance rehearsal time went long into the night, and considering our sport requires two humans to move in harmony together, there was plenty of discord in the process.
On this night, a bit of dance feedback hit with a pang of frustration and made impact like lemon juice in the eye.
It wasn’t intended to cause harm but it sure as hell did.
The feedback devolved quickly into a blaming cluster bomb which included dance, business, and relationship “feedback”.
We lobbed these verbal weapons back and forth at each other.
At that time we had two separate dance floors divided by a sliding glass door, so, in an effort to simmer things down, I moved into the other room to practice on my own and clear my head.
But this was one of those arguments with frustration residue, it seeped into the pores of our egos and made for a difficult recovery.
I needed to do something because the car ride to our home and everything afterward wouldn’t get any better unless something changed.
She looked over at me with daggers in her eyes.
I stopped practicing.
She said something I couldn’t make out (probably for the best).
So I treated the sliding glass door like it was completely soundproof.
Me: “what?!”
Her: (angry) “I said, this is a waste of time!”
Me: (playing deaf) “you want me to do what?”
Her: (angrier/enunciating) “I said, this is a waste of time!!”
Me: (stunned) “you want me to take my pants off?!”
Her: (puzzled/angry) “what are you talking about!”
Me: (undoing my belt) “really my pants?! Okay if that’s what you want.”
I drop my pants.
She stands there in shock and then, like a sneeze you’re trying your best to fight off, she involuntarily smiled, laughed, and we made up.
It was one of the best moves of my dance, business, and personal life.
I have three stories about this one. But I’m going to share the lamest excuse I was given.
I’d been working for this employer for about two years and then later left. I was earning the same wage as when I started; this was a year before I asked for a raise and I was earning the same when I left after this event, about a year later.
I’d been the go-to person at this job. I mean, I was called upon to do so much; I was even called away from one client to go take care of another one (home health) and expected to drive back and forth between the clients’ homes, which was 30 minutes apart. So I was expected to drive back and forth to care for two clients rather than just get someone else to pick up one of the cases.
My boss didn’t see any point in hiring more help; in fact he always said, “Why should I hire more people when I have you here? It’s not a big deal; it’s just some extra driving. You can handle it,” and left it at that.
So after a year of this insanity, I finally went to the boss and asked for a raise.
“A raise? Just what have you done to earn one?” the boss asked.
Incredulous, I ticked off all the things I’d done to help out: I gave up my holidays and days off to pick up a new client, I juggled two clients for three months (one of them eventually passed away), commuting and working a total of 18 hours a day, I spent two weeks driving all over town to care for clients during the Hurricane Ike windstorm that passed through, knocking out power. I’d even packed up clients’ laundry and took it to my house to wash it since I still had power and even cooked meals to carry to the clients so they could have a hot meal. I brought my butane campstove cook top so I could heat water to wash them up.
Now you’d think that would have been enough to have been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. But apparently that wasn’t impressive to my boss.
“Shannon, that isn’t going beyond the call of duty. That’s just doing the job you’re paid to do,” he said.
“Really? So what would I have to do to earn a raise? Give you a kidney or lung? I’m busting my ass here and I deserve a raise for my efforts.” I said.
“Well, Shannon, I can’t afford to give you a raise. Don’t have the money,” said the boss.
“Really? I notice that you and your wife have brand-new cars, bought after you returned from your vacation in Hawaii,” I said testily.
“Shannon, that’s why I don’t have the money to give you a raise. Besides, you can always go get foodstamps or go to a food pantry. I can’t do that,” he said.
“Dude, bottom line here, I deserve a raise and you need to give it to me,” I said.
“Shannon, I have to keep my family in the lifestyle they’re accustomed to. Now being poor is a huge issue for me, but it’s not a problem for you. It’s okay for you to not have enough money coming in. I have to be able to pay for my children’s activities and the nanny, I have to make sure my wife gets her cosmetic surgery and that I have a decent vehicle to get around in. If it’s that much of an issue, just go get a second job,” said the boss.
I walked out of the office, questioning my work performance. Was I not doing enough? Was I really doing enough to earn a raise?
So I resolved to earn a raise. And I busted it out. I went over, above and beyond the call of duty for the next year.
So I go back to my boss and tell him I deserve a raise. This time he laughed at me.
“Shannon, what makes you think you deserve a raise just for doing your job? Why do you keep running in here looking for handouts?” said the boss.
I got to my feet slowly. Lean over the desk.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” I said. “I earn every nickel of every paycheck I draw on this job; you do not hand me a goddamn thing. I don’t know what seems to be the problem here, but I’ve been busting my ass for you for two years now and I’m still earning the same as when I started here,” I said, furious at his remarks.
“Well, I had to pay for my children’s school, my wife’s shit and I had to remodel the kitchen and finish my basement so I can turn it into a game room for my children. Plus, we’re going on vacation soon and I have to pay for that, so I can’t give you a raise,” the boss said.
I rose and stormed out. The boss actually had the nerve to say, “Don’t ask for a raise again. You’re not getting one,” got up and slammed the office door.
I got in my car and went to the library. I got on the computer and looked for a new job. I filled out applications and actually got a call back within a few minutes. Scheduled an interview.
I attended the interview and was offered the job. I accepted; it was paying 50% more than my current job, offered real benefits and perks and were reasonable when it came to workloads.
I went back to my other job and just waited.
Then my boss announced he was going on vacation in two weeks or so. This was my chance.
I put in my notice. I even set it up to make my last day the day before his vacation. When he learned that I given notice, he was furious and tried to make me stay until he got back. I stood my ground and said No.
The boss offered me raises, bonuses, paid time off, anything to get me to stay. I asked him, “What have you done to deserve to have me stay on so you can go on a vacation? Every time I put in a request for PTO, it’s always denied. Every time I try to call off, you call me over and over, blowing up my phone, coming around to my house to get me to go to work. I’ve been killing myself on this job, generating enough money for you to take vacations and buy new cars and shit, but not enough for a raise. I’m not staying on for you. Don’t ask me about it again,” and left his office.
On my last day, I turned in everything that had been issued to me: keys, phone and such. The office manager mentioned that I had a ton of PTO I never used; well, that’s because the boss never approved any vacation for anyone except himself.
So due to all the overtime I worked over those two years, the office manager had to cut me a check for damn near eight months’ PTO since it rolled over each year. I took my check, thanked the office manager and left that office for the last time.
My boss lost out on his vacation, I learned later. He wasn’t able to get a refund on such short notice. His family went without him because he had to stay back and cover all the work I had been doing. No one would do the shit I was doing and they would quit when he tried to force them to do it. Pretty soon he had about a handful of workers.
I went on to a better job. I feel no sympathy for my old boss and I have no regrets.
Screw that job. Screw that boss. He deserved all that he got.
In USSR, a certain province had a higher yield than the rest of the USSR. The Provincial authorities had tried something new and DIFFERENT from what the Communist Party and Central Control said
Immediately the party leadership sacked the people who had tried something new, and demanded that the province go back to doing what the party wanted even if the yields would be lower
In China, a similar thing happened but instead of clamping down on the province, Deng Xiaoping sent people to find out HOW THE PROVINCE WAS DOING IT and soon made the same thing, the normal standards for other provinces, thereby improving the yield across China in 1971
It was then that Nixon realized China wasn’t the same as the Soviet Union. It was a different form of Communism, something that could maybe give the US a run for their money
This is every foreigners experience in China
China is different
I plan to make a trip later with some Quorans for 4–5 days to chronicle the trip and hopefully record a video on the same
I used to work for a major cosmetics company that had some very strict rules that didn’t always work out as intended.
Example: one day we got a memo saying that employees were required, not by law but by company policy, to take both their 15-minute breaks. Now, you’re probably thinking, why wouldn’t someone take a break?
Well, there were a number of reasons that people, mostly management, were not regularly taking breaks: most times because the store was short-staffed on weekdays. Business was unpredictable and leaving one person on the floor when a crowd of people walked in meant lost sales, theft, and dramatic Yelp reviews (“If I could give ZERO stars I would!”), not to mention it screwed up our conversion numbers, which meant getting reamed out by corporate (“Jaime, you were working on Monday: can you explain why only 15% of customers bought something in the morning?”). Also, per company policy, managers couldn’t leave the building anyway, unless another manager was on duty (for register overrides), and with only enough managerial overlap on a weekday for lunch, we couldn’t leave to smoke or grab a coffee anyhow. As a result, managers would often either punch out for a short break and help out if needed or just take the legally-required lunch break.
Unbeknownst to us, some employees at other locations were fed up with this and had spoken to some lawyers.
Some time later there was a new rule: employees must take all breaks and may not clock in a minute early or a minute late at any time. No more eight-minute breaks, which we had previously been told was long enough to fulfill the break requirement. This resulted in staff standing by the punch clock waiting for the minute to turn over, because if we were a minute late, it would lead to a write-up. As a manager, I began setting the alarm on my phone when I came in early to get work done so I could run over to the punch clock and clock in at the exact minute.
The timekeeping rule was super annoying but served two purposes with corporate: it showed that the company was providing breaks, and it also eliminated overtime pay.
Unfortunately it’s not easy being perfect. Pretty much everyone got written up. Managers would punch out for their “fake” break, be told that so-and-so from XYA was on the phone with a question or run out to help on the floor with an override and then realize that they forgot to clock back in. Regardless, we tried our best. Managers didn’t actually want to give employees write-ups, so we helped staff by monitoring the time. When it was time for someone to go home, we’d cut in and say something like, “I apologize, Megan needs to leave the floor. My name is Jaime and I’ll be taking over.”
One day I got a letter in the mail from my employer saying I had been randomly chosen to speak to lawyers who were representing some former employees in a class-action lawsuit. I was told to be truthful and that it would not affect my job.
Some time later a nice lawyer named Kelly called and wouldn’t you know, she had a lot of questions about the timekeeping at our company. She found it very odd that company-wide, timekeeping was virtually perfect.
“I worked at Clinique when I was in law school,” Kelly said. “I know that in customer service it is not always possible to clock out exactly on the dot, like if you’re working with a customer and your shift ends. We find it very suspicious that virtually everyone has perfect timekeeping.”
Additionally, Kelly wanted to know if managers were able to take “relaxing” breaks without performing any duties, such as retrieving something from the stock room or processing a return, and if we could leave the store on these breaks. She was also very interested to know why, when someone called in sick, no one else was brought in to cover that shift (answer: because the sick employee is getting paid time off, and there is no money to cover a replacement). The conversation was very illuminating.
My employer lost the lawsuit, and checks were sent to employees within the company. I got around $1,200!
8 classes that should be required for all students before they hit adulthood
If we want to prepare kids for adult life, we've got some glaring gaps to fill.
I remember sitting in advanced algebra and trigonometry class in high school wondering if I was really ever going to use any of what I was learning. Math at that level meant nothing to me in a practical sense. I planned to study English and education to become an English teacher, so I couldn’t imagine why I’d need to learn the ins and outs of trig.
As it turned out, some of what I learned came in handy in the functions class I was required to take to fulfill my math requirement in college. But again, I found myself sitting in class with zero idea of why I was learning this level of math and suspecting that I was never going to actually use that knowledge in my adult life.
Now I’m a middle-aged adult and I can say with absolute certainty that I was right. In 27 years, I have not used anything I learned in functions. Not once. Not even a little bit. I agonized my way through that class to eek out a B-minus and to promptly forget everything I’d learned because it was utterly useless to me.
To be clear, higher math isn’t useless—it’s amazing. It was just completely useless to me.
You know what would have been useful? Learning about financing a car or a mortgage or understanding how and why and where to invest money. In all that time I was doing trigonometric proofs and calculating polynomial functions, I could have been learning all the various real-life math-related decisions I’d have to make as an adult.
I see the same thing happening with my kids in high school and college. It totally makes sense for students who are interested in going into math and science fields to take math beyond basic algebra and geometry. But for those who aren’t—why? There are so many more valuable things for them to take the time to learn—things that every single person really needs a basic knowledge of, such as:
Basic Psychology/Mental Health Maintenance
Every one of us has a brain and mental health is an issue for a huge percentage of people. Even those of us who don’t struggle with mental illness benefit from learning about how our minds work, gaining strategies for managing our thoughts, emotions and behaviors, and understanding why people do the things they do.
How many people would have been saved by learning how to spot a narcissist before getting into a relationship with one? How many people could mitigate an anxiety spiral right when it starts because they learned to recognize the signs earlier? How many people would appreciate the support and understanding of everyone having a basic understanding of their mental health disorders?
Basic Sociology/Human Behavior
Similarly, every one of us lives in a society. Understanding social connections, relationships and group behavior might kind of come in handy. If we don’t understand the causes and consequences of human behavior, we’re going to be confused by society at best and allow or enable atrocities to occur at worst.
From learning how cults and conspiracy theories work to recognizing how our prejudices can blind us to reality, sociology has useful knowledge we all need to internalize.
Media Literacy
If we’re going to be bombarded with media 24/7, we’d better know how to process it. Understanding how journalism works, what makes a source credible, how information can be skewed and how to recognize misinformation and disinformation is vital. What is bias and how can it be mitigated? How can we recognize when an outlet values accuracy?
So many of the problems the U.S. is facing currently are due to people watching or listening to dubious news sources. Mandatory media literacy courses would (hopefully) go a long way toward changing that.
The Stock Market and Other Investments
I underestimated how much I’d need to know about the stock market when I was younger. None of that economic stuff interested me, but I wish I understood it better now.
But really, it’s investing in general that we need to understand more about when we’re younger, especially since starting young is the No. 1 best advice any financial advisor will give you.
How Banking, Credit and Credit Cards Work
Every single one of us uses a bank or credit union and credit is a huge part of adult life. And yet most people I know have had to piece together how credit and credit cards actually work through advice from friends and family and good old trial and error, sometimes with devastating consequences.
Taxes
Good gracious, right? Not just how to do taxes, but what taxes get used for.
Financial literacy is what I’m saying. We need mandatory financial literacy classes. (Florida has actually just become the first state to require personal finance education to graduate, so yay Florida.) I think I was required to take economics in high school, but it was much more high-level economic theory than personal finance. We need personal finance first, then the bigger picture.
First Aid/Safety/Self-Defense
Most of us probably got some first aid and/or CPR training in health class, but how comprehensive was it? Did it include infant CPR? Do we know how to recognize if someone is having a stroke? Signs of infection?
What about basic everyday safety, like why you shouldn’t leave a car running in a garage or common household fire dangers or how to spot asbestos?
Self-defense seems like a no-brainer. Basically, a “How to Stay Alive and Keep Others Alive” course that includes most everything you need to know to protect yourself and your loved ones on a daily basis.
Navigating our Healthcare and Health Insurance System
Ugh. I’ve been an adult for almost three decades and everything about our healthcare system confuses and frustrates me. Maybe if we required schools to teach young people how it works, it would shine a big spotlight on how ridiculously and unnecessarily complicated it is because no one could possibly explain it in a way that’s understandable. Maybe that would push lawmakers to actually do something about it, because honestly, it’s just a gigantic mess.
There are surely others, but those are the major subjects that come to mind as vital after being an adult for a long while and seeing what my own kids need to have a decent grasp on as they make their way into the world. And honestly, there are some classes that adults should be required to take well into adulthood. Parenting classes, for example. Or local government and voting.
All subjects and courses have value to some people, but if we want students to be prepared for adulthood, we should make sure they are given the vital knowledge and skills every person actually needs and will use.
When I first found out I was pregnant at 18, I wasn’t scared to tell anyone. Only you.
I wasn’t scared to tell friends, other family, or the internet. I was scared to tell you.
I still remember sitting on my bed with mom, when you walked in and asked why I was crying. I could barely get out the words “I’m pregnant dad..” before you hung your head in disappointment, and stormed off downstairs. Mom hugged me and told me that you would come around.
I gave you a few minutes, and I walked downstairs. You were sitting on the couch. You looked so mad. I couldn’t find the words to say anything to you, so I just sat down beside you, and laid my head down on your shoulder, as I felt tears drip down my face.
Out of all the people I had to tell, that I was pregnant, I was most scared to tell you. And you were definitely the most disappointed.
But, when I came home the next day, and I saw you clearing out the guest room, for your soon to be granddaughter, I knew everything would be okay.
Six months later, you took me to every doctors appointment, when my boyfriend was working.
Seven months later, you helped me pick out a bringing home baby outfit.
Eight months later, you were there through my labour, and reminding me I could do this.
When she was born, you wouldn’t let her go. She became your world, along with me.
Six years later, you, papa, are my daughters world. She wants to call you every chance she gets. She wants to see you every time we go anywhere.
I know that out of everyone, you were the most disappointed when I announced I was pregnant at 18, but my daughter and I, couldn’t imagine doing life without you. And I know that you couldn’t imagine doing life without my daughter.
You two needed each other, even if you didn’t know it back then.”
Many years ago I took my 2 children on vacation in Florida. It was their first vacation. My kids were 6 and 8. We stopped in a restaurant that was very much like the Ryan’s restaurants. It was Buffett or order an entree. I ordered an entree and I believe my kids got an entrees as well. Our waiter was super nice and while we were waiting on our meals my daughter the youngest asked if she could look at the dessert bar. She just wanted to see what the options were for after dinner.
we went up to the dessert bar and she eyed the choices. She said she wanted a cookie for later and I said okay which one?
my daughter said are those chocolate chip cookies or raisins. She pointed at them. The bakery employee came up and before I could ask which one was the chocolate chip cookie she slapped my daughter’s hand. She angrily informed me that she needed tongs to get the cookie.
I was in shock by what just happened. I told the lady we only had a question and we were not ready for dessert. She scowled at me. I gave her a death stare and we went back to the table. Our food came out but I didn’t eat any. The waiter came back and asked if everything was okay. I said to him no it wasn’t and I told him what the bakery employee did. He gasped and got his manager. I relayed the story to the manager and he was very apologetic about it and said he would handle rude employee. A few minutes later I saw rude employee going upfront she gathered her purse and walked out the door. The manager came back and refunded our meals and said we could choose anything else on the menu to take home. He said bakery lady no longer works for them. we choose some entrees and went back to the bakery bar another lady was there and she was very pleasant. I asked her about the cookie and she pointed to the chocolate chip one. My daughter picked up the tongs to get her cookie as she already knew to do this. The bakery lady then put out signs identifying what the cookie s were. Apparently the other lady had forgot to do this.
our waiter took great care of us and the refund I about 20 dollars received from our meal I gave it to him as a tip.
Nobody has the crystal ball. The ball is in USA as of 2024/1/31.
On the 1 hand, it seems both USA & Iran are avoiding a WW3. Yet at the same time, it seems both are waiting for the right moment to start a war.
Let us look at the big picture.
1, UN says the US occupation of Syria & Iraq is illegal. USA was not invited by Syria or Iraq. Nor was it approved by UN.
USA used laundry detergent to falsely accuse Iraq of possessing bio weapon & waged a war there. USA’s war & thus occupation of Iraq is illegal.
It means Iran’s attack at US (illegal) bases can be pardoned.
USA normally ignores UN. Probably this time too. Clearly Biden has concern. Perhaps Biden has no surety to win the war without US casualties. 2024 is a US election year.
2, Since Saudi-Iran reconciliation in 2023, Mideast nations minus Israel are united as 1 big family. They have 1 common enemy ie USA+Israel. They are also waiting for the right moment to kick USA out of Mideast. They want to reclaim their 100% sovereignty in Mideast.
That is, USA is not faced with Iran alone. But the entire Mideast. Does Biden have surety to win?
3, Iran has “warned” USA’s aircraft carriers. 1 US carrier left Mediterranean Sea a month or so ago. Why leave at this time?
4, No doubt. there were 150 attacks in 3 months. But no casualties until the latest one at Jordan/Syria/Iraq border.
Iran was attacked many times too. How many? dont know.
Mind you, Iran denied it was responsible for the Jordan attack. Iran said it was ISIS.
5, Remember the Iran-Pakistan crossfire? It turns out each country wanted to exterminate the same group of people who were recruited by USA+India & who were living in the Iran-Pakistan border. To these 2 countries, these people are rioters who stir up unrest in both countries. It is not a bad idea to get rid of rioters this way without being accused of ethnic suppression by the West.
Back to the attack at Syria-Jordan-Iraq border where there were 30+ US casualties. Could it be a repeat of the Iran-Pakistan action? All 3 countries are actually exterminating the same group of radicals who are recruited by USA in US base.
Imagine getting a frantic phone call to find a needle in a haystack. Except that needle is your whole family…. and that haystack is an unknown location.
My wife didn’t sound like herself.
She was crying, panicked, and talking to other people before she said:
Wife: we were in an accident…
Me: (fearing the worst) where are you?
The next words still give me shivers.
Wife: …. You’ll find us…
Dial tone.
I have no idea where they might be. Adrenaline is pulsing through my body, and my only instinct is to drive as fast as possible toward our home.
I’m trying my best to stay focused on the location of my wife and kids, and not what might have happened to them.
I reach our exit from the freeway. Scanning.
Nothing.
I drive past our kids’ school. School. Today was their first day of school.
I make a right, I know her route home.
I’m confident I’ll find them now, but dread what I might see.
Then I see it. Fire engine.
Our Escalade is flipped on its side. I leave my car on the side of the road like it’s a bike I don’t care about.
I run. There’s glass everywhere. Where are they?
Then I can hear crying. It’s the scariest, yet greatest, sound I can hear. Like the cry of a newborn baby to let you know they are alive, I find my wife and 3 children in the cab of the fire truck – all crying, but all safe.
A welcome relief after the worst two minutes of my life.
A “bystander” told the cops that my wife ran a red light, but my son (who has an unbelievable memory) was adamant that she didn’t.
It turns out that the “bystander” was a passenger in one of the two racing vehicles that both ran the red light and upended our SUV. He hopped out of the car and had fabricated a totally different account of what actually happened.
My wife was petrified to drive after that, but, after a lot of assurances and negotiating, had her drive me short distances around town.
Chicken Mediterranean
Quickly serves one very hungry person or two restrained people. Multiply at will (the portions, that is). Prep the dried mushrooms, have all your ingredients measured and ready, put on the rice and you’ll be ready to dine in 30 minutes. Also perfect with couscous.
mediterranean chicken recipe 1 1024×1536 1
Why you’ll love it
This pan-fried chicken recipe has all my favorite ingredients that remind me of faraway beaches and warm Mediterranean waters. We’ve got a sauce with oregano, Kalamata olives, capers, and of course plenty of feta cheese. It’s got all the best savory flavors!
You know I’m the queen of creamy sauces, but I also enjoy changing it up with healthier fare (Pasta Puttanesca, anyone!?) every so often. This simple Greek-inspired chicken has an elegant, light white wine sauce with fresh tomatoes, so it’s perfect for easy after-work meals and isn’t too heavy.
What you’ll need
Chicken – we’re cutting two chicken breasts in half lengthwise for faster, more even cooking
Seasoning – salt & pepper, oregano, and garlic powder are sprinkled onto the chicken cutlets for infusing flavor into them directly
Olive oil – for pan frying
Garlic – add even more if you’re a big fan
White wine – try sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio.
Tomatoes – a pop of freshness. Use either grape or cherry tomatoes.
Kalamata olives and capers – this duo adds a little tang and so much savory goodness
Spinach – an easy way to get your greens
Feta – this delicately salty, briny, and rich cheese is a staple in Greek-style recipes
Ingredients
2 or 3 dried porcini mushrooms (each the size of a quarter would be nice, or bits and pieces to equal that)
1/2 a small anchovy fillet, mashed, or 1 1/2 teaspoons anchovy paste
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Put the dried mushrooms in a Pyrex cup and just cover with boiling water. Set aside to soak while you prep the remaining ingredients.
In a small saucepan, simmer the broth, capers, and orange peel. Chop the rehydrated mushrooms and add to the saucepan. Save a couple of tablespoons of the mushroom water for a later task (make sure it’s not gritty). Let the sauce simmer for about 10 minutes and then move on to the next task.
In a sauté pan, skillet or small wok, heat the butter and the oil until very hot. Add the chicken stir fry, brown quickly for just a few minutes and remove with tongs OR add the chicken breast and cook about 5 minutes per side until browned. Remove the chicken.
Let the hot fat and chicken juices reduce for a couple of minutes. Then, over high heat, return the chicken to the pan and add the sauce. Add the orange juice. Cook until chicken is cooked through and sauce has reduced even further, turning the chicken from time to time.
Remove chicken once more. Stir anchovy paste into a couple tablespoons of the reserved mushroom water and add to pan. Let the sauce bubble for a minute or two. Return the chicken to the pan, turn it a few times, and serve with plenty of the sauce on a good sticky rice or couscous.
Substitutions and variations
As always, tweak the recipe to your tastes. If you don’t like olives, for example, you can leave them out.
If you can’t/don’t want to use white wine, just swap it out for chicken broth.
Chicken thighs would work great in here, but you may need to cook them for a bit longer to ensure they’re tender.
USA is using the band-aid solution without diagnosing the root cause to the cancer the fentanyl crisis.
China has done its part:
Fentanyl is illegal in China.
China has set up enforcement personnel to inspect import/export of drug incl fentanyl. One of the enforcement unit is in a police/custom. But …. USA sanctioned that unit. It is USA who does not want China to do the inspection work. It is USA who wants illegal drugs to go to USA.
One ingredient in fentanyl is opiod which comes from opium. It is a powerful pain killer. It is legal in the world. But we must have drug control eg doctor’s prescription.
I heard opiod type of pain-killer was regularly prescribed by doctors in USA (before fentanyl has become a crisis in USA). I heard at first they did not believe people will get addicted until much later.
I also observed that the opiod crisis in north America started at the time when USA occupied Afghanistan. During that 20 years of occupation, Afghanistan produced 80% of opium in the world. The Taliban government has banned its growth since US troops left Afghanistan. Is it a coincidence or not?
An Afghan farmer said it was US soldiers who “forced” or bribed them to grow opium.
Back to China. Fentanyl is illegal in China. No fentanyl in USA comes from China. Opiod that makes LEGAL pain killers are allowed to export to the world incl USA. So if foreign countries which use China’s LEGAL opiod to make fentanyl, China cannot stop them. Unless the world bans legal drug incl pain killers.
There is nothing China can do to help USA.
Fentanyl is a US problem. US politicians talk to China, just to fool Americans that they have done their homework with China. It is a band-aid solution without doing a serious job ie prescription control & underground drug trafficking.
Remember, if there is no market in USA, there will be no underground drug trafficking. So, the problem is inside USA.
In 1840’s, UK militarily forced China to buy opium. A British Jewish businessman spread opium in China. At 1 point, 1/2 of the population was addicted to opium. How did China clean up the crisis? Communist China used iron-fist to stop/punish drug dealers & addicts. Some addicts used their WILL POWER to overcome their pain during drug withdrawal.
China is clean since. So can USA if only USA has the will power to rid itself from fentanyl. Dont shift its responsibility to China. Good luck to USA.
The Mass Exodus Of Young Men From Dating/Relationships Is Baffling Both Academics And The Media
I did “energy audits” – home inspections to look for possible energy improvements – for some years. Here are 4 experiences that stick in my mind:
1. Homeowner complains of high electricity bills. Hmm – heating, hot water and oven are all on natural gas. What could it be? Surely not that hot tub, sitting out there in a foot of snow, gently steaming away on its 220V resistance element?.
2. Homeowner complains of high electricity bills. But this is a homeowner who is up with the latest. Insulation is good, hot water is gas but the heating/cooling system is a forced air high efficiency heatpump (=reverse cycle air con unit) with a programmable thermostat. The set temperatures are very reasonable, a bit spartan if anything. But the bills just look too high, especially in winter. Call in the HVAC expert to check it out. Result; the unit has not been wired properly. Since the original installation the unit never switched to reverse cycle, so the electric resistance element turned on every time the thermostat called for heat.
3. Big house, on multiple levels. Huge octagonal living room, 16 foot ceiling, full height windows all round. Homeowner has no real complaints, just wonders if he could save some money. I look and don’t find anything much to improve. The place is pristine, looks almost unoccupied. The wife and young son hang out in a basement room that is fitted out almost like an RV; couch, heater, sink, microwave, hot plate, small fridge, TV, blackboard, toy chest, a computer workstation. It’s a comfortable, snug room. Downsizing would save a heap of energy…
4. Homeowner says electricity bills have skyrocketed over the last few months. Can’t explain it; nothing has really changed, no new appliances, no change in occupants and so on. I check the electric units, everything looks OK.. Sure we can save some money with more insulation, some more efficient appliances, but it doesn’t explain the sudden jump in costs. I take another look at the bills – could have saved a lot of time if I had looked properly the first time. She had signed up with an independent energy supplier. The first year’s price per Kwh was super attractive. But once that initial year was over the price jumped to 50% higher than the regular utility. I guess one does need to read the fine print.
When you hold the hand of a loved one, you feel pain less keenly and worry less.
The more you talk about someone, the more are you likely to fall in love with that person.
Women generally prefer men with deep husky voices because they seem more confident and not aggressive.
Staying quiet often means that you do not think that other person is ready to hear your thoughts.
The smarter the person is, the faster he thinks, and the sloppier his handwriting is.
Your favorite song is your favorite because you associate an emotional event with it.
Smarter people underestimate themselves, ignorant people think they are brilliant.
When someone cries tears of joy, the first teardrop will always come from the right eye. Tears of pain start from the left.
Listening to high-frequency music makes you feel calm, relaxed, and happy.
Doing things that scare you will make you happier.
The happier you are, the less sleep you require. Sadness urge to sleep more.
A 20 seconds hug releases chemicals in the body that help you trust the one you’re hugging.
Chocolate discharges the same chemical in your body as when you feel love. One of which is phenylethlyamine, which causes alertness, excitement, quickens the pulse rate and makes you happy!
Resilient Kids Come From Parents Who Do These 8 Things
Letting your kids fail and talking to them about it goes a long way.
When you’re a kid, everything is a tragedy. Your grilled cheese has the crust on? The horror. Can’t assemble that Lego set? Might as well stomp up and down. You can’t change this. What you can do, however, is arm your kid with the techniques that teach them how to bounce back from their daily struggles so that, later on in life, when the stakes are higher, they know what to do. Because resilience is a behavior learned through explicit lessons and examples, one that teaches kids how to, among other things, better handle stress, understand that rejection is not a comment on their entire existence, and view setbacks as things that don’t need to sideline them for good.
But how, exactly, should you teach this lesson? According to Amy Morin, a psychotherapist and the author of 13 Things Mentally Strong Parents Don’t Do, here are eight common practices of parents who raise resilient kids.
They Let the Kids Struggle
“All kids have the ability to develop skills that will help them be resilient,” says Morin. “As parents, it’s up to us to give them those skills, and to serve as a guide — to help them when they’re struggling with something and give them more opportunities to practice resiliency.”
The worst thing parents can do, says Morin, is rescue their kids too much. Such actions prevent kids from learning how to act on their own. In other words, the parents who teach their kids that hard work is a necessary part of life — and sometimes that hard work is really hard — are the ones who raise well-adjusted kids.
They Let Their Kids Experience Rejection
For myriad reasons, it’s essential for kids to learn how to handle being told ‘no.’ “If your kid doesn’t get picked for the baseball team, it can be tempting to call the coach, call the schools, try to get your kid on the team,” says Morin. “But failure can be one of the best opportunities to teach kids a life lesson. That lesson: Failure is not the end of the road, you’re strong enough to handle failing, and that when you fail, you have choices.”
They Don’t Condone a Victim Mentality
“When kids say they are having a problem, it’s tempting for them to blame other people,” says Morin. “They fail their science test, and they say that their teacher didn’t explain it well enough.” It can be tempting for parents to give into this behavior and side with their children. But even if their teacher is bad or didn’t explain something, that instinct is dangerous.
“Parents need to tell their kids that life isn’t fair, but that they aren’t strong enough to handle the unfairness,” says Morin. “And I think for a lot of parents, our tendency is to make things fair — to advocate for our kids, to side with them, just reinforces to them that they’re the victim. It leads to learned helplessness.” Fight this instinct at all costs.
They Do More Than Tell Their Kids to ‘Buck Up’ When Struggles Occur
Letting kids struggle is important, but telling them to just deal with it, or ignoring that it could be tough emotionally, is not the right way to go about it. “You want to make sure that you validate their emotions and you empathize with them,” says Morin. “Parents can find that balance of knowing when to step back enough to let their child face some of their own battles, but at the same time, empathize.”
Talking to your kids about their feelings as they learn by doing is incredibly important. It will give them skills to talk about their feelings later on in life, as well as help them learn how to deal with difficult times.
“Parents need to ask themselves whether or not they’re giving their kids the skills and tools they need to do things on their own,” Morin adds. “If they don’t have those skills yet, then parents step in. But parents, make sure that you’re teaching them those skills, too.”
They Help Their Kids Learn How to Label Their Feelings and Emotions
“When kids can label their emotions, they are less likely to act them out,” says Morin. “If your kid can say ‘I’m mad,’ he’s less likely to kick you in the shins to show you that he’s mad.”
In other words, kids who can’t talk about their feelings tend to take those feelings out on others, which can lead to adults who don’t know how to cope with anger or sadness. By helping kids feel comfortable talking about their emotions out loud, you are also giving them the skills to think about (and cope with) what’s making them upset. It’s Resiliency 101.
They Give Their Kids the Tools to Self-Soothe
“I know some parents who created a ‘calm down kit’ for their kid,” says Morin. “They have a kit with a coloring book, and some Play-Doh, and lotion that smells good, and they remind their kid to go get the kit when they’re upset.”
Although this specific technique isn’t for everyone, the concept should be as it helps kids learn how to take responsibility for their feelings and calm themselves down. Using such tools and routines will help them manage and continue healthy coping skills as they get older. It’s invaluable.
They Admit Their Mistakes, Then They Fix Them
Parenting mistakes, per Morin, are opportunities for us to turn it around and show kids how to respond to errors and show that we all make them. Even the most well-adjusted parents screw up every once in a while. They get mad at the teacher or yell at their spouse or forget to do something critical. The important thing is that parents need to own up to their own mistakes in front of their kids — and then actually fix the problem. This shows kids that no matter how grave a mistake they may have made, if they are honest about it and try to fix it, things will get better.
They Connect Their Kid’s Self-Worth to Their Level of Effort
“There is research that shows that when girls succeed, we say, ‘You did well because you studied hard.’ But when boys succeed, we’ll say something like, ‘You did well on that test because you’re smart,’” Morin says. For her, that’s a problem. Connecting a kid’s outcomes to their inherent talent can lead to long-term issues.
“When we focus too much on outcome, kids will cheat in high school because they think the most important thing in the world is getting an A, and it doesn’t matter how they get there. We want to teach kids that what matters is being honest, being kind, working hard. It’s really important to focus on their effort. The kid who grows up knowing that it’s all about their effort, rather than their outcome, is going to be more resilient when they fail or when they get rejected.”
How To Regain Your Masculinity In A Relationship
Last Updated On December 15, 2022 by Andrew Ferebee
We have all seen a man who is big and brave when single but seems to crumble into a pile of ashes when he’s in a relationship. It’s almost as if someone flipped a switch.
One minute, he’s still just as manly as ever. Next, he’s wearing an apron, babysitting, and watching the worst romantic comedies since The Notebook.
Losing yourself in a relationship is a universal issue. However, when you’re a man and you no longer feel in touch with your masculine edge, it’s devastating.
You lose what makes you, you. Masculinity is a source of pride in every man, which is why it’s so important to stay in touch with it.
Though it’s rarely discussed, losing your masculine edge in a relationship can and does happen—quite a bit, really.
Masculinity has a lot of definitions
There is no such thing as a man who is purely masculine.
Everyone has both masculine and feminine energy in them, and every person has masculine and feminine traits. This is not a bad thing! Quite the opposite, it means that you are a balanced person.
Being a man means that you have the emotional strength and that you can be the one to take charge when need be. But, it can also mean being the support your wife needs when she breaks down in tears. See what we mean?
You do not have to guzzle beer, be a lumberjack, and smoke cigars to be a man. When you feel like a man, you’re a man. The man who owns a cat and relaxes to bossa nova can be just as manly as the man going on safari.
Masculinity is something that is felt and experienced—and it takes many forms.
Just because you’re not skydiving with Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson doesn’t mean you’re not a man. With that said, there’s a major question that deserves to be asked.
Signs you’re losing your masculine edge in a relationship
Therein lies the crux of the question, and it’s one that is hard to nail down in words. However, there are a couple of telltale signs that you might be losing your masculine edge in your relationships:
You honestly feel emotionally battered and beaten down. A man who’s lost his masculinity looks worn down. He might not have the inner fight in him that he once had. Sometimes, it can even make him feel sick and weak.
It’s been a long time since you’ve felt strong and confident. Do you find yourself questioning your abilities, when you never felt that way before? This is never a good sign.
If you were honest, it’s been a while since you have prioritized yourself. Part of being a masculine man is being able to actively make yourself a priority. Masculinity is all about being assertive and living for you. Do you feel like you’re sacrificing everything for yourself, with nothing in return?
You’re afraid to express yourself. Once again, this is never a good sign.
Your girlfriend or wife has stopped respecting you. If you find yourself begging for attention, pleading for her to meet you halfway, or experiencing serious signs of contempt from her, it’s time to make a change. Women don’t respect men they don’t view as masculine.
8 ways to regain your masculinity in a relationship
If you’re noticing warning signs that you’re losing your masculinity in a relationship, it’s time to take charge and realign yourself with your manhood.
By implementing the 8 principles below, you will discover ways to reclaim control and regain masculinity in your relationship.
1. Re-establish your boundaries and enforce them
There are a few things that will erode a person’s sense of self like having no boundaries and letting people walk all over you.
In many cases, this is why relationships start to emasculate men and why women lose respect for you.
What does this look like? Simple.
First, figure out what you need in your relationship in order to feel better. This can include having time to yourself, having at least one night out a week, or even getting better responses on intimacy.
Have a firm talk to your girlfriend about things you need to see happen. This can be as simple as saying, “I care about you very much, but I am not feeling great in this relationship. Here’s what I need to feel better.”
Tell her what you will not tolerate. This can include things like browbeating you, guilt trips, lying, shouting, ignoring your needs, and threats.
Tell her what you are in need of. Set boundaries that are reasonable when it comes to things like space apart, time with friends, time with family, and sexual needs.
Do not tolerate disrespect, verbal violence, or guilt-tripping. If she behaves this way, then the reason you lost your masculinity is that you’re in an abusive relationship. You may need to dump her.
Expect better, and call her out if it’s not working. It’s okay to remind her that she needs to do better.
If you feel like you’re regularly disrespected or have your needs dismissed, it may be time to call things off. A relationship has to go both ways, and if she’s just not listening, she’s not the one for you.
2. Don’t feel bad about prioritizing yourself
One of the worst things that happen to men on a regular basis is the guilting when they put themselves first.
Self-love is important for men. You can’t set yourself on fire to keep others warm! Boundaries are part of a healthy relationship, so don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
That’s why it often helps to have someone in your corner who can help you figure out how to communicate.
4. Do things that make you feel like a man
Everyone has that one (or two) things that helps them realign with their masculine side—and that’s precisely what you need to start doing.
Once again, it’s important to take time to figure out when you’ve felt your best and what you were doing at that point.
Masculinity takes a lot of different forms. It can be when you’re competing for a 5K, when you’re bodybuilding, when you’re pouring effort into a new business or when you’re making a new song.
Whatever it is, do it for at least half an hour a week. Ideally, you’ll carve out more time for that thing. This is part of prioritizing yourself.
5. Write a list of things that you’ve accomplished in your life
While you might be feeling low right now, it’s important to remember that no one can take away your masculinity unless you let them.
Truthfully, no one can ever take away what masculine things you’ve already done. Sometimes, it’s good to have a reminder of who you are and what you did to put things into perspective.
So, write down a list of all the manly feats you did—from that time you finished a raid in WoW to that one time you did that thing in sports. Keep that list nearby when you’re feeling low.
6. Reach out to your guyfriends and bond with them
There is something truly magical about the bond that men have with their male friends. This is something that every man really needs to experience from time to time.
Men get it. It’s a world where men often are told mixed messages and where men often feel like they are “damned if they do, damned if they don’t.”
Hanging out with your bros is one of those things that is just as much a diversion as it is a practice in male health.
Men need other men as friends, guides, and confidantes. If you haven’t done so recently, call your guy friends and ask how they are doing.
7. Learn to drop your fear of the masculine and feminine
If it feels like we live in a society where men are told to embrace their feminine side, then punish them, you’re right.
There is this constant stigma of being too girly as a guy, and it often feels like we police each other in suppressing sides that don’t stick to the narrative.
Part of being truly masculine is realizing that being a “manly man” means you’re comfortable with your feminine side, too.
Just because you have a girly side doesn’t mean you’re any less of a man. Make a point of reassuring yourself that you’re still you, regardless of what society says.
What other people say about you has no bearing on you. They’re saying that, and it’s on them.
8. Realign yourself with the goals that you have for yourself
The key thing to remember about masculinity is that it’s all about leadership and paving your own way in life.
When you’re in a relationship, it’s easy to start to put your actual goals to the side in favor of all the other little things people expect you to do. This is why you might be feeling emasculated.
Women find a grounded man who makes his own way in life attractive. This is doubly true if his goals are ones that are difficult to attain and have a very high standard of performance.
If you need to focus on your career path or your own personal goals, that’s totally fine. In fact, it’s healthy.
Masculinity wanes when you stop taking your own needs and future into account. Write a list of your goals and ask yourself which ones started to slip away from you.
Start putting together a game plan on how you’re going to pursue those goals once more. Then, follow the game plan.
Takeaways
Regaining your masculinity isn’t always easy or clear-cut.
Let’s face it, when you’re in the thick of it, it’s hard to make the right steps to get your masculinity back. Sometimes, it can feel like it’s just too complicated or difficult to work through—even when you know what you need to do.
Part of being able to get yourself back to where you need to be is having the right support network and even leaning on someone who’s been there.
When you have the right support, being able to realign with your masculine side becomes way easier and even intuitive.
Of course, the perks of getting that masculine mojo back go far beyond just feeling better. It makes you attractive to women, can help you get a better job, and also can change the trajectory of your life.
We help make that happen in our exclusive coaching program where you’ll learn, with our band of brothers, to become the best version of yourself, reclaim your masculine edge and improve your life and relationship.
Originally Answered: You’re in a room with a king, a rich man, and a priest. Each orders you to kill the other two, and you’re the only one with a weapon. Who will you listen to and why?
I just love this question. I fucking love it. What’s so beautiful about this question is that it cannot be answered by analyzing what is given. Rather, the answer can only be found by analyzing what is hidden behind these black lines!
Let’s begin, shall we?
First of all, it’s safe to assume that the three designations described – the king, the priest, and the rich man are the three highest positions of power in the empire. Now, since I am the sword-wielder, I choose to be an ambitious one. And if I am ambitious, I would want one of these three positions for myself!
It’s evident that I’ll kill two of the three and spare one. So, instead of concentrating on what is to be lost by killing a particular person, let’s analyze what is to be gained by letting a particular person live.
Case 1) The king lives.
In this case, I kill both the rich man and the priest. What can the king do for me? The answer is clear – He can make me very very rich. But he cannot make me the priest. (The priest has to command the respect and devotion of the people, something a king cannot buy or order.)
Case 2) The priest lives.
Here, I kill the king and the rich man. Once again, I ask – What can the priest give me? He cannot make me rich. Most of the priests themselves choose to live a life of poverty (Remember High Sparrow?) But the priest can easily make me the king. He holds that much power over people, as is evident throughout our history (Again, remember High Sparrow?)
Case 3) The rich man lives.
I kill the king and the priest. Now, what can the rich man offer me? He can neither make me the king, nor make me the priest. Both of those positions require people’s will, acceptance and devotion; and that is something you cannot buy with money.
So, it is evident that the rich man is the most useless of all. He has nothing to offer to me. I kill him immediately.
Now, the king and the priest remain. The king can make you rich, and the priest can make you king. (Case 1 and 2)
So, it’s just a matter of the exact nature the sword-wielder’s ambition takes. Does he crave wealth or power? If he craves power, then he must kill the king. And if he craves riches, then he must kill the priest.
For me, personally, power is much more important than money. So, if you make me the sword-wielder, I’ll first kill the rich man. Then, when it’s just between the king and the priest, I’ll strike a deal with the priest that if I spare him, he has to make me the king with his support.
Then I’ll stab the king.
Boo ya!
Oops, I mean…
Homelessness In The U.S. Is Up 48 Percent Since 2015, And Americans Are Being Laid Off In Droves…
How can anyone out there possibly believe that the U.S. economy is doing well? As you will see below, the number of homeless Americans has risen to the highest level ever recorded, and large companies all over the country are laying off workers in droves. As I have discussed previously, the number of Americans that were laid off in 2023 jumped 98 percent compared to the year before, and now during the first month of 2024 it feels like we are being hit by a tsunami of layoffs. It literally seems like someone has turned a fire hose on, but the Biden administration continues to insist that unemployment is “low” and that the outlook for the U.S. economy is positive.
Honestly, I don’t understand how the Biden administration can say that the outlook for the U.S. economy is positive when the number of Americans that are homeless has been increasing at the fastest pace ever recorded. According to a brand new report that was just released by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, the number of homeless Americas has increased 48 percent since 2015…
According to a Jan. 25 report from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, roughly 653,000 people reported experiencing homelessness in January of 2023, up roughly 12% from the same time a year prior and 48% from 2015. That marks the largest single-year increase in the country’s unhoused population on record, Harvard researchers said.
Homelessness, long a problem in states such as California and Washington, has also increased in historically more affordable parts of the U.S.. Arizona, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas have seen the largest growths in their unsheltered populations due to rising local housing costs.
We can see evidence of this all around us.
Tent cities are popping up like mushrooms in our major cities and countless Americans are living in their vehicles and RVs.
One of the primary reasons why homelessness has been surging so dramatically is because rental costs have soared to unprecedented heights…
Rent in the U.S. has steadily climbed since 2001. In analyzing Census and real estate data, the Harvard researchers found that half of all U.S. households across income levels spent between 30% and 50% of their monthly pay on housing in 2022, defining them as “cost-burdened.” Some 12 million tenants were severely cost-burdened that year, meaning they spent more than half their monthly pay on rent and utilities, up 14% from pre-pandemic levels.
People earning between $45,000 and $74,999 per year took the biggest hit from rising rents — on average, 41% of their paycheck went toward rent and utilities, the Joint Center for Housing Studies said.
Tenants should generally allocate no more than 30% of their income toward rent, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
But Joe Biden insists that inflation is “low”.
You believe him, don’t you?
Sadly, more Americans will soon be hitting the streets because we are witnessing an insane wave of layoffs all over the nation.
Right now, it is being reported that Salesforce has decided to conduct another round of layoffs…
Salesforce is cutting about 700 employees, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The job cuts, which amount to about 1% of its global workforce, follow a series of workforce reductions last year.
In 2023, Marc Benioff’s company laid off about 10% of its total workforce as it grappled with a swarm of activist investors who wanted margins increased faster than planned.
And we have just learned that REI will be giving the axe to 357 workers…
REI is laying off 357 workers, mostly in the outdoor retailer’s headquarters and distribution centers. In a letter to employees, CEO Eric Artz noted that “outdoor specialty retail has experienced four quarters of decline – and that trend has been worsening.” While REI was able to outperform this for much of last year, he said, this trend caught up to the company in the fourth quarter, and difficult conditions are expected in 2024.
Difficult conditions are expected in 2024?
Oh really…
Who could have seen that one coming?
After their deal with Amazon fell through, iRobot announced that 31 percent of its staff would be hitting the bricks…
Amazon and iRobot, the maker of the popular Roomba vacuum, mutually called off their estimated $1.7 billion acquisition deal Monday, citing numerous regulatory hurdles.
Immediately after the deal was publicly squashed, iRobot announced it would lay off 31% of its staff and that founder Colin Angle would step down from his role as CEO, citing a focus on profitability, stability and growth. Glen Weinstein will serve as interim CEO.
Shares of iRobot (IRBT) were down around 9% in noon trading following the news. Amazon (AMZN), which was up about 0.5% in noon trading, will pay iRobot a previously agreed-upon $94 million cancellation fee.
Google, Microsoft, Levi’s, TikTok, Riot Games, eBay, Wayfair and Macy’s are some of the other big names that have also announced layoffs so far in 2024.
Perhaps if they had not made a habit of blatantly lying to us over and over again during the past several years they would not have lost all of their remaining credibility and they would not have had to lay off so many workers.
But even though so much is going wrong with the economy right now, many of the “experts” continue to tell us that happier times are just around the corner.
Ed Yardeni, a veteran market strategist, thinks the US economy might be about to relive the “Roaring ’20s.”
The Yardeni Research president said during Friday’s episode of Bloomberg’s “Merryn Talks Money” podcast that he’s expecting a combination of loose post-pandemic monetary policy and rapid technological change to drive growth higher over the next decade.
Wouldn’t it be great if he was actually right?
Of course the truth is that he is just being delusional.
If you still have a good job and a warm home to come back to at night, you should be very thankful.
Because more Americans are losing their jobs and losing their homes with each passing day, and the level of economic suffering that we are witnessing is already off the charts.
The Unthinkable Is Happening In The USA! (Texas Border Battle!)
Well, as I type this up, it is CNY. This (today) is the first day of the new year, and I am in Wenzhou. It’s a standard fare of massive meals, lots and lots of drinking, and long bouts of lazing about.
The weather is cold out, but nothing like what I grew up with. Lots and lots of fireworks. Non-stop explosions and bangs. Day in, and day out, at all hours of the day and night. Very typical.
This is the first time that we are in Wenzhou since the COVID hit China. That was four years ago. My… a lot has happened.
I’ve been busy knocking these posts out, and now have a nice big backlog, but I will be altering my schedule and product mixes in the future.
I want to wish everyone a very nice and prosperous Year of the Dragon 2024.
Golden Chinese Dragon on Red Background ,Traditional New Year Sy
This reminds me of the early 90’s when I had just started Nick’s Racing in Denver CO
As anybody who starts his own business knows, money was tight and everything would just need to hold out a bit longer. Every Saturday afternoon I went to the local mall/shopping-centre to buy whatever I needed for the week. Whilst there I often saw this 70’s Camaro in the lot and it amused me how the inside looked like a pig sty. But I did love the shape & one day… Dream on Nick you are living from week to week.
Fortunately lady luck and my craftmanship smiled on me, work came in so that I had to hire 2 more engine builders and I started to have disposable income and no time to spend it. The American dream, right ? One day I see this Camaro in the same lot with the bonnet (hood) open and a for sale sign on it. I bought this car for a ridiculously low amount and spent a whole day cleaning out all the junk this lady owner had accumulated in it. The first thing that hit me where the cigarette burn marks in the upholstery and the holes in the roof lining 😉
I had to redo the interior, the body had to be panel-beated and resprayed. The engine was going to be replaced with a 383 stroker anyways I just decided to redo the Electrics, as fixing this rats nest was not worth it. I fitted a Classic Air Air Con This car was trash- defined.
Luckily my 2 workers were foreigners also- Mexicans. We got on well and their friends and family did a lot of work on this car for good value. Considering this was basically a rebuild, using performance part where possible, and not a hot-rod build, it still took close to a year of getting it on the road again. This car must have gotten 0 maintenance from the day she got it to the day it expired in a parking lot.
And then I left back for Namibia and sold it to one of my guys who then gave it to his daughter once she needed wheels.
A young Kurt Russell worked together with Charles Bronson. During shooting, Russell found out it was Charles Bronson’s birthday. So he got his older co-star a gift. Bronson looked at it, took it… then walked out of the room, without saying a word. Russell was terrified, worried he had insulted the man.
image 5
A little while later, Russell was called to the dressing room of Bronson. Bronson was silent, looked down and said to the child actor: “No one has ever given me a birthday gift before…” Charles Bronson was the son of dirt poor immigrants. He had fourteen siblings, and worked in the mines as a child. Never finished schooling, never had a kind word, he was worked like a mule since the day he learned to walk.
Charles Bronson hadn’t known a lot of kindness in his life. It caught him off guard to receive some from his young co-star. He later gave Russell a skateboard on his own birthday to play with between takes. The two men remained lifelong friends.
Yes. Several. Mainly because I know what’s going on in their lives, and the students don’t. If the students knew what I knew, they’d cut those teachers a little slack.
One teacher in particular, with whom I worked seven years ago, stands out for me among all of the teacher sob stories I know.
To make a long story short, when she was in her 40s and had been teaching preschool for half of her life, her husband left her for a much younger woman. Around the same time, the school’s preschool program changed from full-time to just two days per week and, in order to stay full-time and keep her benefits, she was forced to become the school’s art teacher for all students in grades PreK-8 (ages 3–14).
She was good with the younger students, but had no idea how to control the middle schoolers. She hated teaching the older kids, but she had no choice. She was still more than a decade away from retirement and needed the health insurance, but she also couldn’t afford to go back to school or change careers or anything like that. She was trapped teaching students that she wasn’t trained to teach.
And they were merciless to her.
The art class existed primarily to give the “regular” teachers a planning period, but I, along with my coworkers, ended up sitting with our classes to the art room most days, because we could control the kids, and she couldn’t. The students treated her class like recess, and treated her with a level of disrespect you usually only see in the movies, right before the “savior” teacher swoops in and sets things right.
The students didn’t see how the teacher cried after school every day, alone in her classroom, before she composed herself enough to walk down the block to her apartment, where she probably cried some more, alone, throughout the evening and night.
I left that school after teaching there just one year. The school closed two years after I left. I hope she was able to find a full time position working with younger children. Middle schoolers can be just as cruel to their teachers as they are to each other.
The doctor, after an examination, sighed and said, ‘I’ve got some bad news. You have cancer, and you’d best put your affairs in order.’
The woman was shocked, but managed to compose herself and walk into the waiting room where her daughter had been waiting.
‘Well, daughter, we women celebrate when things are good, and we celebrate when things don’t go so well. In this case, things aren’t well. I have cancer. So, let’s head to the club and have a martini.’
After 3 or 4 martinis, the two were feeling a little less somber. There were some laughs and more martinis. They were eventually approached by some of the woman’s old friends, who were curious as to what the two were celebrating.
The woman told her friends they were drinking to her impending end, ‘I’ve been diagnosed with AIDS.’ The friends were aghast, gave the woman their condolences and beat a hasty retreat.
After the friends left, the woman’s daughter leaned over and whispered, ‘Momma, I thought you said you were dying of cancer, and you just told your friends you were dying of AIDS! Why did you do that??’
‘Because I don’t want any of those bitches sleeping with your father after I’m gone.’.
Top 8 rules
Ricotta Lasagna Swirls
2024 02 10 13 35
Ingredients
Lasagna
8 lasagna noodles
2 pounds fresh spinach
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 pound ricotta cheese
Salt
Pepper
Sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cups tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
Instructions
Lasagna: Cook and drain lasagna noodles.
Steam 2 pounds fresh spinach for 7 minutes, then chop. Mix spinach with 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/2 pound ricotta cheese, salt and pepper.
Coat each noodle with 2 to 3 tablespoons of mixture along the entire length of the noodle. Roll up. Stand on end in a baking dish.
Sauce: Sauté garlic and onion.
Add tomato sauce, basil and oregano.
Pour sauce over noodles and bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes.
Young Men Are Lonelier Than Ever (And It’s Getting Worse)
On this very day, Joe decides to eat out. He enters a restaurant, sits down, and has his order taken.
Just as the waitress arrives with his precariously balanced meal, someone knocks her aside. This causes an avalanche of food and drinks to tumble onto Joe in a non-majestic, yet sloppy manner.
Joe breathes in heavily and….
…asks if the waitress is alright, wipes himself to the best he can, and helps clean up a little without mumbling. Joe then comforts said waitress who is on the verge of crying, whilst assuring the seething and anxious manager that everything is all right.
If shit happens to you and it’s not your fault, then more shit happens yet you are still cool, you are mature in my eyes.
Mature people don’t cause more shit, or simply throw their shit away, even when shit is thrown at them.
It’s not that they don’t give a shit, but they deal with their shit appropriately.
Be like Joe and deal with your shit correctly.
China’s New AI Microchip Just Destroyed US Sanctions Forever!
Years ago, Patrick received a junk mail “fake cheque”- supposedly, if he were to send money to the company, he would then soon get more huge cheques like the one he’d just received.
The fake cheque was made out for $95,093.35. It even had an attached authorised signature.
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Now, most people would see this as the junk & total scam that it obviously was. Most people would rip it up and just toss it in their bin. Most people would ignore it.
Most- but not Patrick.
Patrick was extremely broke at the time – he had only $200 in his bank account.
He had a good sense of humour and thought, “What would happen if I tried to lodge this into my bank account?” Fully expecting to get a laugh out of it from both himself and the bank teller, that’s exactly what Patrick did.
He went to lodge the cheque into his bank account.
As Patrick said, “I didn’t think I was sticking money into the machine.”
He so fully was expecting the cheque to bounce that he didn’t even endorse the back of it.
Time passes and Patrick forgets about it.
Ten days later though, he checks his bank account and to his amazement, $95,093.35 now sits in his bank account!
It turns out that the cheque actually matched 9 of the criteria that the bank required for a cheque to be valid – the words “non negotiable” that the junk company placed on the front did not negate the cheque whatsoever. It turned out that they had been successful in making the cheque look real – too real.
Additionally- the bank managed to miss their own legal deadline to notify Patrick that his cheque had bounced as a non-cash item.
“The excitement of that much money was off the scale,” he said. “It was an addiction. For two months I obsessed on whether I should take the money or give the money back. I put my bank on speed dial and dialed it every ten minutes. I worried constantly that it would go away.“
Patrick, being the good person that he is, did return the money 6-months later.
And, there you have it, Patrick Combs is the man who received a junk mail fake cheque in the post – and managed to cash it to the tune of $95,000+! That, I think, is very much gaming the system.
Yet the content was something I have known and understood and have been talking about for more than two years on Quora
Anyone who follows Scott Ritter, Brian Berletic, The Duran, IEarlGrey and those guys would find most of what Putin said to be nothing surprising, given that this was what most of them have been discussing for both these years 2022 and 2023
However for the Average Americans, this gave them the other point of view
You have had almost 66 Interviews of Zelensky over the last 24 months and you have seen almost 4000 articles covering Zelensky and Ukraine yet Putins POV and Russias POV has never been covered in the West
This Interview filled the gap
Why did Russia invade Ukraine?
Putins explanation makes a lot of sense
He says the Invasion was the LAST RESORT
He says Russia carved out Ukraine under Lenin and later on post WWII, more territories from Germany & Poland & Hungary & Romania were added to Ukraine after USSR got them under Post WWII restructuring
He says Russians and Ukranians were the same people and every Ukranian had 3–4 relatives in Russia and vice versa
He says Ukranian Language is just one of five languages spoken in Ukraine along with Russian, Polish, Romanian and Hungarian in different parts of Ukraine
He says Russia and Ukraine had a friendship and a relationship post 1994 and most of Ukraine’s Trade was with Russia
He says how Ukraine in 2008 began to start idolizing NAZIs and established Neo Nazism and began persecuting Russian Speakers of Eastern Ukraine
He says how Ukraine in 2014 deposed Yanukovich after the West Deceived HIM openly. He talks of how Yanukovich was assured by Merkel and others including Obama of a peaceful conclusion to Maidan if he didn’t use the Military and the Police and how once Yanukovich agreed, they openly deceived him and allowed Maidan to depose him
He then talks of how Zelensky spoke of ending the Russian Language from 2019 onwards and how Zelensky spoke of military conquest of Donbass
He talks of how Russia repeatedly talked to Western Leaders for a peaceful re implementation of the Minsk II Accords that Zelensky broke openly and which the guarantors ignored
He talked of Airplanes over Donbass and forced action against Russian Speakers for 8 years from 2014–2022, all chronicled and presented to the UN and yet IGNORED by the West
It was in the end the ONLY WAY for Russia to secure it’s borders and help the Russian Speakers in Ukraine and Denazify Ukraine
Is Russia ready for Talks?
Yes. Putin confirms this.
He says it’s Zelensky who is not ready. Who in fact even decreed that any discussion on peace is in fact illegal.
Is Russia ready to sell Gas to Germany?
Yes. Putin says he still has pipelines that can supply Gas to Germans.
So he says why are Germans throttling their own industries by paying 4.25 times more for Piped LNG???
He literally openly says Scholz is either Insane or a Traitor to his own people
Putin talks of China & Russia
Putin says China is far more significant to the West because of their Population and their strong economy which even at 5% growth is DOUBLE AS FAST AS THE US
He exposes the China Bogey by citing how BRICS & SCO are both Consensus based organizations against NATO which is entirely US dominated
He gives an example of the Iraq War where France and Germany were openly muscled by George Junior Bush
He cites how Sanctions failed
He highlighted how Russia simply DEDOLLARIZED as did many other nations
He cited that 61 Nations have reduced USD holdings by 10% or more since 22/2/22
He cited that 70% of Russian Trade is settled in Yuan or Ruble now and only 19% in Euros and USD (4.8% in Emirati Dirham and 1.7% in South African Rand & HKD and the rest in other currencies)
He cites how the US lost its own place in the world thanks to the Sanctions and how everyone now wants their own financial secure system and an independence from the Dollar and a preference for their own local currency
He clarified why he retreated from Kiev
He was clear when he said, in Istanbul the Ukranians wanted Russians away from Kiev as a matter of faith and Putin complied
Yet again HE WAS DECEIVED
So the conclusions are clear now
First Putin doesn’t care what the West thinks anymore. He will do what is best for Russians in his opinion. He won’t trust the West again.
Second Putin will not end this SMO unless he gets what he wants. A Guarantee that Ukraine won’t join NATO and security for the Russian Speaking population in Ukraine.
Third, Putin will not initiate WWIII unless NATO attacks Russia. He made this clear. He will attack any NATO member if they attack Russia first.
Fourth, Putin says his Hypersonic Missile System is the most advanced in the world and the fact that he talks less about it means he is accurate
His final message to the Americans is WHY THEY ARE POKING THEIR NOSE IN UKRAINE WHEN THEY HAVE SO MANY TROUBLES OF THEIR OWN
It’s something that resonates with Donald Trump and his MAGA crowd
It would have been enlightening to many people
Not to me
This is essentially everything I have been saying for two years now.
When the kids were grown and gone, my wife and I considered getting a firearm for home protection. Two events finally pushed us to do it. The first event was my walking into a large drug buy in a gas station late at night in Miami. Lots of drugs, thugs, and guns. While they stood there looking at me. I said “Hey, I’m just here to get a receipt for the gas. The guy behind the counter (who was in on it), gave it to me and they let me walk out the door past a very confused lookout. Having a concealed weapon probably wouldn’t have done me any good that night. But it did reminded me that the world is a dangerous place.
The second event was back-to-back hurricanes, causing weeks of power outages with no cell or landline capability. The neighborhood was blocked in for a long time by fallen trees and debris. Even though we live only a mile or so from a precinct, there was no way to contact them or for them to quickly get into our neighborhood.
I asked my neighbor if I should be worried about looting. He responded, “everyone in this neighborhood is armed”, and everybody knows it. You are, aren’t you? A few weeks after the storm, I purchased my first gun.
I friend in law enforcement asked if I had a carry permit for it, reminding me that I lived within a 1000 feet of a school, restricting how I can transport the gun when off my property. Those restrictions (other than being on school property itself) are waived in my state if you have a carry permit.
I signed up for an approved NRA course that counted towards the permit, applied, and received one. Since then, I’ve purchased a few other guns, joined a gun club, and have had dozens of different firearm courses with a state LEO firearms trainer.
Like other “constitutional carry” states, Florida no longer requires a permit for concealed carry. But I keep mine current so I can carry reciprocally in other states.
Yes. This was back in the late ’90s. I had a customer come in with a Corolla. He only had one remote for the security system, but had just purchased another one and needed to have it programmed to the car. I told him that was a very quick and easy job, and I could literally do it while he stood there. I opened the driver’s door, turn the key to the on position and moved the driver seat all the way forward. The computer for the security system was under the driver’s seat on this car. You had to access the computer and push and hold a small button on the side of the computer to put it in programming mode, but it was much easier to access from the back seat. So I then got out and opened the rear driver side door, leaned in, and moved the floor mat to get better access to the computer under the seat. When I moved the floor mat, there was a syringe, a spoon, a lighter, and a bag of white powder that I will assume had to be heroin. I put the computer in program mode, hit the buttons on the remote, and heard the confirmation chirp from the front of the car to signal the new remote was programmed. I put the floor mat back, climbed out, and with a death stare, handed the customer his new remote and told him you’re all done, have a nice day. The guy’s face was white as a ghost, and I never saw him in the dealership again.
Having spent years working in a retail store, I saw so many decisions made by highly-paid executives in an office in another state that I knew instantly wouldn’t work out. And they didn’t.
I could write a book about the reasons for this, but mainly – either they don’t know because they don’t do the actual work, or they don’t believe the underlings who have tried to explain it to them.
I’ll give you an example:
So, I worked at a retail store that was part of a national chain separated into so many districts. I think our district had 10 or 12 stores. One quarter, I have no idea how, but somehow, one of the other stores in our district massively overspent their budget by like ten or fifteen grand. (I really wish I knew how, I bet it was a helluva story.) Probably someone got fired over that, but that didn’t solve the problem that they had a shortfall. (And no, firing the person responsible didn’t fix it either, because they then had to spend money to hire a new person to fill the role.)
So, somewhere up in the corporate office, a person whose name I don’t know had an idea to fix this problem. Since I don’t know who this person is, we’ll call them Bean Counter. I assume their job had something to do with accounting or finance.
So Bean Counter says, “Well, we can make up the shortfall by having every store in the district cut their budget by so much % for the remainder of the quarter.”
Bean Counter’s Boss ran the numbers and decided this was a grand idea. They may have even given Bean Counter a raise or promotion for such brilliant work. On paper, Bean Counter’s plan appeared to play out beautifully.
But this was around the beginning of December, just as the holiday rush was kicking into high gear.
Also, there are not a lot of ways to reduce spending on a store level, where budgets are already pretty tight. Management had very limited discretionary funding, and rarely went out and bought stuff for the store. Basically, the only way to really reduce spending by the amount Bean Counter wanted was to cut payroll hours….drastically.
So it’s the holidays and we’re working with a skeleton crew on every shift. One person at the register, one on the floor, and a manager who wasn’t *supposed* to get tied up with tasking.
And we’re busy, every day, because it’s the holidays, and we sell, among other things, a lot of tech items that are popular gifts. Sometimes we have 20 or 30 people in the store at once, and we can’t help them all. There is no “work harder” solution that allows one person on the floor to help 30 people at once. Even with the manager also helping customers on the floor, and “floating” between customers, they could realistically help maybe 10 people at a time.
Oh, and we weren’t supposed to get a line of more than 2 people at the register without opening a second till. HAHAHAHAHA. Yeah, that couldn’t happen with only two other people in the store and both of them working the floor.
So we had people walking out, unhelped, constantly. We did our best, assuring people we’d be with them in a moment, apologizing for the delay, etc. Even so, some people just couldn’t wait and they left and, presumably, went to a competitor.
But Bean Counter and Bean Counter’s Boss weren’t in the store watching this every day. They were back in their nice little offices, smiling at their Excel sheets because they turned a line green.
You see, an Excel sheet can’t show you how much revenue you lost because you didn’t have enough employees to help your customers.
And even without knowing any of the numbers on the Excel sheet, I can tell you that we lost money. I’m going to give you a VERY conservative estimate here. I’ll assume some of the people who left wouldn’t have bought anything anyway. Let’s say only half the people who came in would have bought something. And let’s say that only twenty people walked out in an hour. (Most hours it was probably much more than that, but I’m giving you a conservative estimate.)
And let’s say that the average sale at that point was $20. That’s a really low number for this time of year (usually it was $40–60), but no one had time to upsell and pitch the customer add-ons, so we’ll say $20. That’s $200 an hour lost.
Employees like me and the floor person were making about $7.50 to $8 an hour. Let’s say everyone was getting $8 an hour. Having two more employees would have cost an additional $16 an hour but would have prevented at LEAST $200 in sales losses. (And again, the actual number is almost certainly much higher.)
The store was open from 8 AM to 9 PM, so 13 hours. By cutting two employees all day, the store saved $208 a day. They lost AT LEAST $2,600 a day in sales.
BUT Bean Counter’s plan looked good on paper, before, after, and during the last quarter. They got the district out of the red! We were no longer over budget! Problem solved!
Tesla primarily makes cars. And when regarded solely as an auto-maker – it is over valued.
Tesla pioneered electric vehicles and established a head start in that market. Newer entrants into that market (including Chinese manufacturers) are catching-up and offering products with similar utility and competitive prices. Tesla’s first-mover advantage is not being sustained. The company is taking too long to produce new models and is not iterating its current line-up fast enough. Where is the Roadster? Where is the new better battery tech? Why is the Cybertruck failing to match expectation?
The company presented itself to the stock market as more than a mere car maker. Rather it is a tech company which happens to make cars. It argued that it should be valued as such, and that initially convinced the market. However the various technical innovations it promised have yet to materialise. Self-driving has improved, but it is many, many years late. The robo-taxi idea seems to have evaporated – there are still safety issues and regulatory hurdles. It’s AI vision stack is a really impressive bit of technology – but it is not a product.
The company has a CEO problem. The CEO has a history of over promising and under delivering. Rather than finishing products and releasing them in a polished state, the CEO presents semi-baked ideas to the market in the conceptual stage, and then take years and years to materialise. The market is getting wise to this bait and switch strategy.
The CEO is distracted with other companies and is at best a part-time manager. The CEO has not been good at attracting and retaining the best staff. When the head of the AI project left, this should have been a warning sign. The CEO has not created a workplace culture that values attention to detail and quality. Instead the culture is gung-ho and reckless, which frequently ends up causing more damage than good.
The CEO seems to be having either a drugs and or mental health problem and has recently decided to become more politically active in support of various right and far-right political groups. In some companies this would not matter, but Tesla’s main market is selling vehicles to individuals and families who are aware of environmental issues and support the transition to greener energy. The far-right regard electric vehicles as a government imposed initiative to spoil their god-given right to drive a pick-up, full of firearms, while running over vaccine-users. – This makes Tesla vehicles less attractive to people who would have previously bought them. No one wants to own a vehicle which has become a repugnant political statement.
The CEO clearly regards Tesla has his personal piggy-bank and demands absurd amounts of compensation for his part-time and mercurial contribution. This naturally upsets shareholders.
AI Tool Deciphers Herculaneum Scroll, and It’s All About Pleasure!
A team of student researchers have combined 3D-mapping and AI to decipher a Greek scroll that was encased in ash during the 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The philosophical musing reveals Greek thought on the complexities of “pleasure”.
In the ancient Greek world “pleasure” wasn’t just an occasional indulgence; it was an Olympic event of the senses. From lively symposiums colored with courtesans and entertainers, to dramatic theatrical productions and festivals, the pursuit of delight was as integral to Greek life as debating philosophy.
Now, offering new insights into pleasure across the ancient Aegean, where it wasn’t a guilty pleasure but a cultural cornerstone, a Greek philosopher’s thoughts regarding pleasure have been decoded by AI. And adding to the intrigue, the source material was an ancient papyrus scroll that was entombed in ash during the 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
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Text from the Herculaneum scroll, which has been unseen for 2,000 years. (Vesuvius Challenge/Nature)
Fusing 3D-Mapping and AI
The team of student researchers, comprising Youssef Nader, Luke Farritor and Julian Schilliger, who used AI to decode the damaged papyrus scroll, have scooped the $700,000 grand prize in the Vesuvius Challenge grand prize Vesuvius Challenge. They received the illustrious award for being the first team to “recover 4 passages of 140 characters from a Herculaneum scroll”.
Essentially, the young team combined 3D-mapping applications and AI to successfully penetrate a lump of blackened volcanic rock that has encased a scroll for almost 2,000-years, since Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. Known as the Herculaneum papyri, the new combination of technologies identified tiny patches of ink within the fused ash, revealing hitherto unseen musings of a Greek philosopher contemplating ‘pleasure.’
A Gigantic Boon for Philosophy
Not only did the winning team of the Vesuvius Challenge decipher more than “85 percent of the characters illustrated within four passages comprising 140 characters each,” but they included a further 11 columns of text, bringing their total to around 2000 interpreted characters.
The text discloses the personal thoughts of Philodemus, the philosopher-in-residence at the library which once housed the Herculaneum papyri. As such, Professor Michael McOsker from the University College London told New Scientist that the findings represent “a gigantic boon” to the understanding of philosophy in the ancient Greek world.
The ancient Greek text muses on how the scarcity and abundance of material items impacts the pleasure received from them. According to Philodemus, a philosopher of the Epicurean school, the enjoyment derived from food and other goods is closely tied to their availability. In line with Epicurean philosophy, which emphasizes pleasure as life’s primary objective, the scarcity or abundance of these commodities plays a crucial role in shaping our well-being.
Additionally, it was noted that in his two-millennium-old text, there seems to be a subtle attack at the Stoic school of philosophy, suggesting they have “nothing to contribute regarding pleasure.” While Epicureanism centers on the pursuit of pleasure and tranquility, considering them the ultimate goals in life, in contrast, Stoicism emphasizes virtue as the highest good, advocating for inner strength and moral excellence to navigate life’s challenges.
What this all means for modern researchers, is that they have fresh data pertaining to Greek ideas about the prioritization of pleasure and tranquility (Epicureanism), against virtue and inner resilience (Stoicism), being the key foundation for a fulfilling life.
It Cost What? This Has To Stop!
Having bagged the Vesuvius Challenge the team of students now plan “to scale up the 3D scanning and digital analysis techniques,” while at the same time keeping an eye on the costs of analysis. It might have read like the $700,000 prize was a big win, but not when we put that amount into perspective.
It cost the team $100 for every square centimeter of analyzed rock, which tallies to between $1 million and $5 million per scroll. This sounds within the realms of research budget, right? But when you then consider there are another “800 scrolls” lined up to be deciphered, that calculates to between 800 million and 4 billion USD.
Therefore, a lot of ancient philosophy will go undeciphered, and as such it will remain a mystery for future researchers to tackle when lower cost research methodologies are developed.
Top image: Left; One of the Herculaneum scrolls that are being deciphered. Right; Text from the Herculaneum scroll Source: Vesuvius Challenge
I had already submitted my resignation. On the last day, the bitch who had committed all the prior unfair labor practices was, of course, at it again. She had me covering for other people, and didn’t let me take any breaks all day. An hour before the end of my shift, when a co worker had come to relieve me from covering for her, she told me the same supervisor wanted me down in her office so she could talk to me.”Oh really? Well, first I am going to take my morning 15 minute break, then I am taking my half hour lunch, then I am taking my afternoon 15, which I am legally required to do. That will bring me up to quitting time, so she can WANT all she wants”, and left. Heard later than she couldn’t believe I had done it, and went screaming my name through all 6 floors of the building looking for me LOL
CHINA WARNING! We Will Show Our Swords Against AMERICA
This was back in the mid 90’s, I was working at a pizza place. A good friend of mine had signed a contract with a major league baseball team, and he was back in town after his first season in the minors. He stopped in to see me at work, when he left one of the waitresses asked who he was. I told her, she seemed interested and asked if I could introduce her to him. I said sure, me and this girl had become good friends since she started working at this place.
I introduce them, they start seeing each other and things seem good. At some point, she learned about the signing bonus that he had received when he signed his contract. It wasn’t a ton, but it was a decent amount. I heard her tell a co-worker that she had stopped taking her birth control, she wanted to get pregnant so, “I can get some of that money”. I told my friend that she said this, and he broke up with her that evening.
She knew I told him, and she did not like that. I go into work the next day, she’s already working and she wants to have a talk. We’re talking, she asked if I told him, I said, “Yep, that was me”. There’s some shouting, and at some point, she grabs me by the throat and his her fist drawn back. The assistant manager grabbed her, and dragged her away. She was sent home for the day. The manager comes in, and he wants to fire both of us. A few coworkers and the assistant manager defended me, as I hadn’t started this fight. She was fired that evening.
Side note: a few weeks later, she tried to run me over with her car. As you can clearly see, she was a very stable individual.
A sales associate was pushing a very large cardboard box, filled with some kind of clothes, along one of the main aisles in the store. It didn’t look very heavy, but it was clearly much too large for any one person to carry.
She had picked up a lot of speed, and she was kinda racing forward, bent over the box like she was going for the gold in Olympic box-pushing, when she reached a spot where the floor changed to carpet. The two types of flooring were separated by one of those very narrow metal bands, flat enough to where it wasn’t generally noticeable.
The box hit the metal band and came to a full – and very abrupt – stop, but the woman did not. She could have done the maneuver a thousand times and never repeated her trick, but she somehow flipped over herself and landed in the box she’d been pushing.
I didn’t laugh at first. I actually managed to control myself, but then I saw the look on her face. She looked like a startled cartoon, anime style, and I just couldn’t contain my laughter after that. I knew that it was so, so wrong, but she looked like she was okay physically.
I still think of her sometimes, and whenever that happens, I can’t help but laugh like an insane hyena.
Rigatoni with Steak Sauce
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Ingredients
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 (12 ounce) rib eye steaks
Salt and pepper
2 onions, thinly sliced
2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3/4 cup dry red wine
1 (26 ounce) jar marinara sauce
1 cup beef broth
16 ounces dried rigatoni pasta
3 ounces Parmesan, shaved
Instructions
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy large frying pan over high heat. Sprinkle the steaks with salt and pepper. Cook the steaks until they are brown but still rare in the center, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer the steaks to a plate and set aside to cool completely.
Add 2 more tablespoons of olive oil to the same pan. Sauté the onions and carrots until the onions are translucent, about 8 minutes, with additional salt and pepper, to taste. Add the garlic and oregano, and sauté for 1 minute. Add the wine and simmer for 1 minute. Add the marinara sauce and broth. Cover and simmer over medium low heat to allow the flavors to blend, about 10 minutes.
Season the sauce, to taste, with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, trim off any fat from the steaks, then cut the steaks into bite size pieces and set aside. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the rigatoni and boil until it is tender but still firm to the bite, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Drain the rigatoni.
Toss the rigatoni and reserved steak pieces and any accumulated juices from the steaks with the sauce to coat.
Transfer the pasta to bowls.
Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese shavings and serve.
Had a fella break into my house when on holiday in Brazil and a neighbour called the police and he was arrested in my house. She saw him break a small window to get in. Was big on the new consoles and computer games at the time, had all the latest. He’d taken suitcases from upstairs and filled them.
He told the policeman cockily he was going to come back and finish the job, he was a local heroin addict known to them.
When I came back from holiday I had to get a crime number, the policeman without giving a name gave me a massive clue who did it…off the record of course
.Not saying the two are related but I told a certain local person and the burglar was found tied to a lamppost naked a few days later in public view. I know a few locals had a vendetta against him so could have been anyone. A few months later the exact same happened to a teen who had been stealing cars locally and joyriding in them. I know the teen had to be cut free in public which must have seriously embarrassed him. An obnoxious fat kid who would gloat to folk who he had stole a car from.
Thought was a great way to deal with people who were getting away with petty crime and back out to do it again. Made the local papers as well which really would have rubbed it in.
This was when she was 17. She decided she wanted to make the big plunge and purchase a stereo system with the money she’d saved from various jobs. But she was nervous about being taken by nefarious sales people, so she asked her big brother (the guy with a house account at Groove-N-Tube… yeah I bought a lot of that stuff back then) to go with her to recommend what to purchase.
We arrive at what at the time was a big name electronics and appliance store (out of business now, no surprise). The sales person gloms onto us right away and his eyes are sparkling. He thinks he’s landed a couple (probably dating but maybe a young marriage), and he goes into his spiel. We walk through the store discussing the various things they have to offer. I ask some questions. My sister asks some questions. Salesperson totally ignores sis. Probably figures I’m the one wearing the pants in this decision. At one point, he totally turns his back on her while he discusses the attributes of a system. I could tell she was fuming but was too polite to say anything.
Finally, it’s time to make a decision. With his back still to my sister, he asks me: “So what can I pack up for you?”
I look him dead in the eye and say: “What are you asking me for? She’s the one buying it.”
He went white. Looked at my sister. She beamed at him and said: “I think I’ll buy something from a store that values all its customers.” And out she sailed.
By the time I went to college in West Texas, my pickpocketing days were well and truly behind me. I had seen the error of my ways, repented of my mischief, and was endeavoring to live an honest life again.
Little did I know that my new Lone Star country was home to one of the most absurd and illogical bits of fashion stupidity in history.
No, I’m not talking about chaps. Don’t even get me started on those.
I’m not entirely sure what it’s called, but I have heard it referred to as a “cowboy wallet.” The primary difference between it and a non-stupid wallet is that it is extra super-duper long.
image 132
This means that when you put it in the back pocket of your Wranglers, it sticks out the top like a pull-tab.
image 131
Are you effing serious, Texas? Why not just hang a sign saying FREE MONEY?
There may be a reader or two out there thinking, “no, I’d definitely notice if someone pulled my wallet. I’d feel it slide out!”
Trust me, you wouldn’t. It’s not any failure on your part, either. Pickpocketing is a bit like cheating at cards. When done properly, it has nothing to do with luck.
I had several friends in college who used these cowboy goodie-bags and I made sure to let them know the economic dangers of their rustic fashion. I had one friend named Logan with whom it became a running joke that I would pull his wallet pretty much every time I saw him. I’d obviously return it to him immediately, but even when he knew full well that I was going to do it, he was still powerless to stop me because it really is that easy.
So Quora, if you are the owner/carrier of a cowboy wallet and you happen to find yourself in a big city or, for that matter, pretty much anywhere besides your family’s ranch, I suggest that you consider either putting it in your inside jacket pocket or getting a different wallet. You would actually be better off taping your money to one of those flag-football belts than putting that thing in your back pocket, as you’d be more likely to notice when it got pulled.
The New York pickpocket rings (to the best of my knowledge) have all either become defunct or transitioned to more profitable ventures, and the city is now very safe. Nonetheless, wear one of those things around here and someone’s likely to flint you on principle.
McDonald’s most popular burger and the second most popular item on their menu (second only to their unique fries).
But have you ever stopped to wonder how it got its name?
You see, McDonald’s was originally founded by brothers Maurice and Richard McDonald.
They went by the nicknames Mac and Dick (forwhen Mac and Cheese just isn’t enough).
The “Big Mac” hit McDonald’s fast food restaurants in August 1968. However, before this, the executives at McDonald’s were struggling to come up with a name for this new super-sandwich.
The McDonald’s corporation tested out a couple of other names, including “The Aristocrat.”
Eventually, a secretary named Esther Glickstein (who was quite fond of co-founder Maurice), suggested the name “Big Mac”.
She admitted that the higher-ups initially laughed the name off when she first suggested it, but she got the last laugh when the name stuck!
But just imagine…
for one second…
if…
she had been more fond of Richard…
You could be enjoying a Big Dick, instead of a Big Mac.
My Girlfriend Asked For An Open Relationship, I Walked Out And Now I Laugh At Her Tears
I was general manager of a pregnancy resource center. It was a 501(c)(3) corporation, and we were completely dependent on donations. It was going broke when I took over. We got back to solvency within a year, without having to back off at all from the services we provided. In fact, we had grown quite a bit. There were 5 full time employees, and about 35 volunteers.
One day, right out of the blue, I was called to go to the office down the street of the chairman of our board of directors. When I got there, he and another board member summarily fired me. Before I left that office, the board chairman had written a glowing letter of recommendation for me.
Curious, I asked him why I was being let go. He said that the board had voted me out because I ran the place too much like a business and not enough like a charity. He had voted against firing me, but was outvoted. The reason they were going broke before hiring me was that no one in the place had any ability to manage money. So, making it more businesslike internally, without that being noticed by our clientele, just seemed wrong to them.
I’m not a waiter, but I will tell my experience. After work, a bunch of coworkers and I would go to the pub across the street. People came and left, as they got off work. We always ran a single tab. Someone would come, have one five dollar drink, and throw ten dollars into the middle of the table. The next person might have 3 $5 drinks, and throw in a twenty before leaving. Nobody wanted to risk stiffing their coworkers or the waitress.
The biggest problem was that at the end of the night, we often had a 35–40 percent tip.
Then a friend we used to work with, joined us for drinks, at first everything was fine, but after a few friday nights at the pub, he started to say. I don’t have any cash on me, just hand me the cash, and I will go put it all on my credit card.
Three weeks later, the waitress who had waited on us for years, sat down early in the evening, before our friend joined us and asked us if her service had slipped, because suddenly we had gone from 35–40 percent tips to exactly 10 percent the last few times. This was a few years ago in Canada, and 10–15 percent was the standard tip. It turns out our friend had been picking up our $300 for a $220 bill, and paying $242, with tip, and going home with $58 more than he came with, after drinking all night for free.
We said no, her service was still fabulous and suggested that she keep us on a group tab, and put him on a separate bill.
Our friend came and at the end of the evening went to grab the cash, and we said, no you have a separate bill.
He got all flustered, and we told him we didn’t want to see him for 6 months, until he learned his lesson.
Lionel Messi will go down in history as the man who united both Hong Kong and mainland Chinese football fans, both pro- and anti-establishment Hong Kong voters, and both its political elites and grassroots citizens, to have such seething hatred towards the same person.
I don’t think even bona fide war criminals like Tojo Hideki would be able to accomplish such a feat in the Sinosphere these days. There were people who paid thousands of HK dollars for a ticket, and traveled to Hong Kong all the way from Xinjiang and abroad, just for a glimpse of the legendary “king of football”. Instead, all they got was snubbed.
There’s no other way to put it. Messi messed up, big time.
Right now nobody really knows what’s going on, why he refused to fulfil his contract (of playing at least 45 minutes on the field), and why he behaved in such a cold and arrogant manner towards his fans in Hong Kong, to the extent that he didn’t even once smile or wave at them.
But judging from the fact that he did play ball in Riyadh, and that he said in an interview he will play again in Kobe, Japan later on, my gut feeling tells me this probably has to do with politics. And before some of you start going “but muh oppression/human rights”, remember that he didn’t protest being in Saudi Arabia.
It’s just too much of a coincidence. You see, right now Hong Kong is trying to pass a law known as “Article 23”. For those of you not from here, I’ll give you the rundown version: Hong Kong, which is part of the People’s Republic of China, has a constitutional duty to enact a law covering secession and subversion (pretty much every country and region in the world has this type of law, by the way).
This was supposed to have been done ages ago, but the anti-establishment, anti-China, right wing types pushed back against any discussion of it every single time. After the violent far right riots in 2019, the local government began to take national security more seriously, which is why western media, unsurprisingly, is trying to depict Article 23 as dystopic and totalitarian.
My instinct is that even if this whole ordeal in Hong Kong was not political at first (he could have just been a dick – not the most outlandish thing about footballers, honestly), Messi will make it political and milk all he can from it. He’s going to turn this thing into another Daryl Morey, NBA-China controversy, hijacking an entire sport for his own political virtue-signalling, and as a pledge of allegiance to both the United States and his home country of Argentina (which is currently being run by a far right neoliberal demagogue, who is trying to abolish the national currency in favour of the US dollar, outlaw abortions, and legalise the organ trade).
If nothing else, this would at least help him win over a few crowds in certain parts of the world where Sinophobia is politically correct. He might even run for political office on this far right platform after retiring from football. Who knows.
image 138image 139image 140
Again, I have to stress that this is all just speculation on my part. Nobody but Messi and those closest to him would know what’s really going on. I hope I’m proven wrong, and that the same shitshow that happened in Hong Kong would repeat itself in Japan, thus proving he wasn’t being disrespectful specifically towards the Chinese, and that he’s just a snobbish cunt to everyone. However, knowing how politicised football has become in recent years, I’m not counting on it.
I would be remiss if I didn’t give a shoutout to the real MVP on the field, Hong Kong singer G.E.M. (Gloria Tang), for doing her best to cheer up an angry and disappointed crowd, and trying to give them something worth their money. She’s the queen 🫅.
Lionel Messi will go down in history as the man who united both Hong Kong and mainland Chinese football fans, both pro- and anti-establishment Hong Kong voters, and both its political elites and grassroots citizens, to have such seething hatred towards the same person.
I don’t think even bona fide war criminals like Tojo Hideki would be able to accomplish such a feat in the Sinosphere these days. There were people who paid thousands of HK dollars for a ticket, and traveled to Hong Kong all the way from Xinjiang and abroad, just for a glimpse of the legendary “king of football”. Instead, all they got was snubbed.
There’s no other way to put it. Messi messed up, big time.
Right now nobody really knows what’s going on, why he refused to fulfil his contract (of playing at least 45 minutes on the field), and why he behaved in such a cold and arrogant manner towards his fans in Hong Kong, to the extent that he didn’t even once smile or wave at them.
But judging from the fact that he did play ball in Riyadh, and that he said in an interview he will play again in Kobe, Japan later on, my gut feeling tells me this probably has to do with politics. And before some of you start going “but muh oppression/human rights”, remember that he didn’t protest being in Saudi Arabia.
It’s just too much of a coincidence. You see, right now Hong Kong is trying to pass a law known as “Article 23”. For those of you not from here, I’ll give you the rundown version: Hong Kong, which is part of the People’s Republic of China, has a constitutional duty to enact a law covering secession and subversion (pretty much every country and region in the world has this type of law, by the way).
This was supposed to have been done ages ago, but the anti-establishment, anti-China, right wing types pushed back against any discussion of it every single time. After the violent far right riots in 2019, the local government began to take national security more seriously, which is why western media, unsurprisingly, is trying to depict Article 23 as dystopic and totalitarian.
My instinct is that even if this whole ordeal in Hong Kong was not political at first (he could have just been a dick – not the most outlandish thing about footballers, honestly), Messi will make it political and milk all he can from it. He’s going to turn this thing into another Daryl Morey, NBA-China controversy, hijacking an entire sport for his own political virtue-signalling, and as a pledge of allegiance to both the United States and his home country of Argentina (which is currently being run by a far right neoliberal demagogue, who is trying to abolish the national currency in favour of the US dollar, outlaw abortions, and legalise the organ trade).
If nothing else, this would at least help him win over a few crowds in certain parts of the world where Sinophobia is politically correct. He might even run for political office on this far right platform after retiring from football. Who knows.
Again, I have to stress that this is all just speculation on my part. Nobody but Messi and those closest to him would know what’s really going on. I hope I’m proven wrong, and that the same shitshow that happened in Hong Kong would repeat itself in Japan, thus proving he wasn’t being disrespectful specifically towards the Chinese, and that he’s just a snobbish cunt to everyone. However, knowing how politicised football has become in recent years, I’m not counting on it.
I would be remiss if I didn’t give a shoutout to the real MVP on the field, Hong Kong singer G.E.M. (Gloria Tang), for doing her best to cheer up an angry and disappointed crowd, and trying to give them something worth their money. She’s the queen 🫅.
Honestly, no way to be sure. On a Saturday night i was at a tavern having a few. I was supposed to leave and meet my Niece at another tavern. I wasted just enough time at the first place that my Niece and her friends decided to go to a different tavern. I was just about a mile down the road from the other tavern.
A whole load of police vehicles and emergency personnel trucks go flying by the first bar heading towards the other bar. A Shooting occurred at JB’s tavern; killing a bartender Named Jeff; who put himself between the gunman and his patrons.
The gunman did this because he was kicked out for harassing women. He went home shaved his head, dressed in camouflage, grabbed a rifle, and then finished his journey to insanity
He killed another man Rich; who I knew from my working in taverns. Jeff, I knew from school; he was a couple of years behind me. We weren’t best friends; but we both enjoyed playing poker. The killer also wounded like a dozen innocent people.
Luther Casteel was his name. I had to Google it because I was unsure of the spelling. He actually wounded 14 people and brought 4 weapons with him and a couple hundred rounds of ammunition.
I really cannot answer if my screwing around saved my life; but I believe that it saved my niece’s life.
Okay, this would have been cute if the guy wasn’t a huge piece of human garbage*. My crew and I were out to eat on Christmas Eve in Hawaii. One of the few places that was open was our hotel’s sushi restaurant. After eating a heroic amount of sushi, lard ass leaned back and explained, “that was so good. I’m famished!”
Read on for the rest of the story.
The flight attendant and I looked at each other and exchanged a glance. So, I casually said “How can you still be hungry after all that sushi?” He said “I’m not hungry, I’m famished.” I just said “famished is a synonym for starving.” He had to look it up. The n made some BS excuse.
Read on for my rant against this dumbass.
He was fucking stupid. His wife was pregnant with twins at the time. He was glad because he said twins would be easier than a single kid. Later, after they were born he would only talk about one of the. “Clair Bears” was what he called his daughter Clair. He rarely referred to her twin. We dubbed that one trash bag because it was obvious how he felt about his kids. He was just awful.
hong kong 香港 3/3 (if wong kar wai and wes anderson had a really bad short film as a baby)
My stepfather was an apartment building manager in Hollywood, California when I was a teen.
The modern building was large and well-kept. The one large ‘suite’ was a challenge to rent out because of the price and because it was just too luxurious for the neighborhood.
But the owner of the building found a tenant who exceeded her dreams: a young Arabian prince (a student?) who paid a hefty security fee and rental for a year upfront.
I rarely saw him and his entourage because they clubbed and partied until dawn.
When I did catch a glimpse, it was like watching a movie: a group of handsome, laughing young men dressed in flowing Arab robes, moving through the California sunshine.
When they left before the lease was up, the owner was told that the prince did not require rent and security deposit refunds.
The owner was delighted…until the suite was inspected.
The formerly white shag carpet had not been cleaned since the prince moved in, and much of it had a strange, dark tinge. The walls and ceilings were no longer pristine white either.
As the owner and my stepfather entered the massive livingroom, they discovered why the colors were so dingy.
The tenant had been using braziers ON THE CARPET to cook food, leaving greasy stains all over. Above, the ceiling was almost black from smoke. Mattresses had been dragged in from the bedrooms.
The kitchen was literally filled with spoiled food and dirty dishes and pans; the stove was caked all over with burned food. The refrigerator was a mold-filled, broken disaster.
The bathrooms were disgusting, and the owner backed quickly away and shut the doors because of the stench.
The 3 bedrooms had been used for pets (forbidden by the lease) – dogs and birds. Excrement and rotted food were everywhere.
Most cabinet and inside doors were damaged or missing. Old papers, clothes and other items as well as trash littered the apartment.
Reparing and refurbishing the suite took almost 6 months and cost way more than the substantial deposit and unused rent. A bill was forwarded to the prince’s lawyer and was paid promptly.
Note: In the interest of keeping this short, I have not written in detail about the destruction.
After being fed for two consecutive weeks, this beautiful stray cat became a part of the family.
I’ll tell you what happened to my dad, and you might understand. My dad owned part of the family business, he was the working partner in the business.
He worked 12–16 days, 7 days a week to make ends meet.
When I was 8 or 9 he had what was called at the time a nervous breakdown, he was in the hospital for months, and the business didn’t close.
He was out for two months, and my mom went in, evidently she had worked herself into a git, worrying about my dad, and the effect that only seeing him for an hour or two a day was having on the marriage.
My mother got a job. That wasn’t rare in the early 1960s , but it wasn’t common. My dad cut his hours to 10–12 hours a day 6 days a week. Still way too much, but now we took a yearly, week long camping vacation.
When I was 19 my dad had a heart attack, and they put the company up for sale.
When my dad got out of the hospital he was under strict orders not to work more than 40 hours a week. I dropped out of university to help run the family business, while they were selling it.
It took 4 years to sell the business.
My dads heart was never the same. He went to work for the new owners, working 36 hours a week, weekends off, for the first time in his life.
He retired at 65, and died before he was 66 .
That is why you don’t work at a job that stresses you out.
Ex-CIA: Biden is NOW a National Security risk for the world
After my first wife and I divorced, I joined a website “match.com” and started dating other women. I met all kinds of girls. Many of the dates were just a nice meal, or coffee. Some resulted in hook-ups, and a few were girls that I would end up spending a lot of time with.
One time, I dated a girl who was an assistant professor at Tufts University. Which is a pretty well-known university in the Boston area. And she was part of the Woman’s Studies program.
The date started off well enough, but our conversations kept on turning to what was wrong with the world and why men were the root of all evil.
Honestly, looking back, I get the impression that the ONLY reason why she went out with me was to somehow torture me for her pent up anger and unhappiness in her life. But I really don’t know for sure.
Anyways, after about an hour long bitch-fest, I finally managed to have an opportunity to talk.
She asked me “oh, so tell me about your life”. And I was pretty upset (but not showing it) by then.
So I remembered a line from a movie that I once watched.
I told her that I was born with a tail. And that my mother had the doctor cut it off when I was just a baby. I told her that it was kept in a jar of formaldehyde in the guest bathroom mirror, and that I personally believed that the tail was the reason why I was born with the ability to put curses on people.
After that, she didn’t know what to say, and we finished the meal quickly… yelling “I’ve gotta run. I’ll call you”.
Every now and again, I get a chuckle out of that memory. Remembering well, the puckered up expression on her face, and how she practically galloped out of the door.
My husband and I were away on a trip, and our older kids were holding down the fort (including our son who was home on leave from the Marine Corps). About 5:00 in the morning (2:00 a.m. at home), I sat straight up out of a dead sleep with one terrified thought: something was wrong at home.
My husband had been married to me over 20 years by then, and knew better than I did to never question when I got that instinct. He handed me the phone to call. I wasn’t sure what to say. “Just call. You’ll figure it out”, he responded.
The overwhelming feeling that something was very wrong wouldn’t let up. I called our daughter. She laughed and said everything was fine. I asked her to humor me and just go check. She said kids were asleep, so I asked her to go check the kitchen. Still chuckling at me she checked the stove and oven and declared them turned off. She looked about the rest of the kitchen until she turned in the direction facing the front doors. We have a large arctic entry so there are two front doors on each side of it so we come in from the cold and close one door and then open the second door to come to the house.
“Oh my God!” She cried out, and the phone went dead. I frantically tried calling back.
When she finally answered again, she told me both doors were wide open, so she called her Marine brother to come down from the upstairs apartment and he raced down. He did a security sweep of the house then the perimeter where he found evidence of bear on each side of the house. We question if the door was slightly ajar and the bear just pushed the doors open and started to come into the house until the phone rang.
That same mom vibe served me well when my Marines were deployed. I always seemed to know when to pray. It got to the point that whenever there was an incident, my other Marine son said he wouldn’t worry. Even when trapped in a doorway during a fire fight for five hours… because he knew his mom “knew” and was praying. Oddly enough, he was right. Thus another story.
A Cuban Sandwich
This is a labor-intensive recipe, but so delicious. You can opt to replace the Pan Cubano with ready-made bread, if desired.
2024 02 18 09 02
Yield: 6 sandwiches, 12 servings
Ingredients
Pan Cubano
4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 1/4 teaspoons instant or active dry yeast
3 tablespoons fresh lard, cut into small pieces
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) water
Roast Pork and Marinade
1 (1 1/4 pound) boneless pork roast or pork tenderloin
3 tablespoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons minced parsley
1 tablespoon paprika (preferably hot)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
Sandwich Assembly
Sliced roast pork
3/4 pound thinly sliced smoked ham
3/4 pound thinly sliced Swiss cheese (or other melty cheese)
4 dill pickles, sliced
3 tablespoons butter or olive oil
Instructions
Pan Cubano
Manual Method
In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and stir until the dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased surface, oil your hands, and knead it for 6 to 8 minutes, or until it begins to become smooth and supple.
Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl or dough-rising bucket, cover the bowl or bucket, and allow the dough to rise until puffy though not necessarily doubled in bulk, about 1 hour, depending on the warmth of your kitchen. Gently fold the dough in upon itself and turn it upside down after 30 minutes; this “turn” helps eliminate some of the excess carbon dioxide and redistributes the yeast’s food, both imperative for optimum yeast growth.
Mixer Method
Combine the ingredients as directed at left, using a flat beater paddle or beaters, then switch to the dough hook(s) and knead for 5 to 8 minutes.
Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl or dough-rising bucket, cover the bowl or bucket, and allow the dough to rise, with a turn, as directed above.
Bread Machine Method
Place all of the ingredients into the pan of your machine, program the machine for Manual or Dough, and press Start. Examine the dough about 10 minutes before the end of the final kneading cycle, and adjust its consistency with additional water or flour as needed, to produce a smooth, supple dough. Allow the machine to complete its cycle.
Divide the dough into six pieces, and shape each piece into a rough log. Let the logs rest for 15 minutes, covered, then shape each piece into a smooth batard shape (a log about 8 inches long, slightly tapered at each end). Sprinkle a baking sheet with cornmeal, and place the loaves on the baking sheet.
Let the loaves rise, covered, for 1 hour. Brush or spray them with water, and slash one long lengthwise slit down the middle of each loaf.
Heat the oven to 375 degrees F while the loaves are rising.
Transfer the loaves from the cornmeal-sprinkled pan to your oven stone (if you have one), or leave them on the pan and place them in the preheated oven (if baked on a sheet pan, the loaves will be slightly less puffy). Bake the bread for 16 to 18 minutes, or until it’s golden brown. Remove it from the oven, and cool it on a wire rack. The loaves may be made one day in advance and stored at room temperature, or several weeks in advance and frozen. Yield: 6 sandwich loaves.
Roast Pork and Marinade
Mix all of the marinade ingredients together (all of the ingredients except the pork), and rub this mixture over all surfaces of the pork. Cover well, and refrigerate for 6 to 24 hours.
Place the pork in a roasting pan or ovenproof dish, and roast it in a preheated 425 degrees F oven for 30 to 40 minutes, basting occasionally with the pan juices, until a meat thermometer inserted into the center of the roast registers 160 degrees F. Remove the pork from the oven, and cool it completely before slicing thinly.
Sandwich Assembly
Slice the Cuban loaves in half horizontally. Brush the cut surfaces of the rolls with olive oil, soft butter or the remaining pan juices. Layer the sandwiches as follows: Swiss cheese, sliced pickle, ham, sliced roast pork, then additional cheese.
Now comes the somewhat challenging part. You want to grill these sandwiches, top and bottom, while at the same time flattening them slightly. This helps meld all of the filling ingredients. Heat two large skillets, or a grill and one skillet, to medium-hot. Lightly grease the grill and/or skillets. Place the sandwiches in the greased pan(s). Top them with a piece of parchment paper, then the remaining skillet (or flat sheet pan, or other heavy, flat, non-meltable object — the point is to weigh them down). Press down firmly on the top pan, and weigh it down. A tea kettle filled with water makes a good weight, as does a clean brick wrapped in aluminum foil.
Grill the sandwiches for 5 to 8 minutes over medium heat, checking often to make sure the bottoms aren’t burning (we burned our first attempts to a crisp). Adjust the heat downward if the bottoms are becoming brown after only a couple of minutes. Turn the sandwiches over and grill for several more minutes, until they’re crisp on both sides.
I disturbed a burglar when I was about 19. He froze and I was so confused I initially thought it was my father (who I’d seen go to bed an hour earlier) pulling out drawers in the dark. When I got my wits about me I turned on the light, told him to stand up, and told him to turn out his pockets (which he did, returning a few items). I then told him to walk out on to our patio and sit down. The moment he got outside he ran, and I pursued half-heartedly as I didn’t really want to catch him by myself.
He vaulted over our back fence and landed almost on top of my brother and his friend who (unknown to me) had sneaked out for a secret cigarette before bed. The burglar said to him “don’t worry I’m just going home”, about two seconds before my brother and his friend sat on him.
They brought him around to the front of our house, and we (including my father who’d been awakened by my shouts during the “chase”) sat him on our front wall until the police arrived. It was cold and the burglar seemed a bit worked up so my mother made him a cup of tea.
No guns or weapons of any kind were involved. We live in England.
Why Most Men Have No Chance In Short-Term Dating – @hoe_math
The best example I can think of would be L. Ron Hubbard. Prolific science fiction writer turned dangerous cult leader. In a way, it’s hard not to admire the man for his honesty — because he did give the world the best quote ever on cults and shady false preachers:
“You don’t get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion.”
It’s fun, having your own religion. You can do whatever you want. You can say whatever you want. And since you’re the one and only “enlightened one”, the Great Messenger, no one can question you. Hubbard started off as a conman, but eventually came to believe his own nonsense. He was deeply mentally ill.
I remember Tom Cruise divorcing Nicole Kidman in the year 2001. One of the reasons for the divorce? Her father was a psychiatrist. And psychiatrists are “the enemy” according to Scientology, Hubbard’s invented faith. Not only because they would have told the great founder he was insane, but because they would have told his followers the same. Which would mean a loss of power.
Imagine creating a religion that thinks psychiatry is “evil”. Because your deeply mentally ill Messiah hated admitting he was deeply mentally ill, rather than a visionary. Decades after his death, your followers still hate psychiatry. They hate everyone and everything that might point out the absurdity in their views. It’s crazy, like Hubbard. But also impressive, like Hubbard.
HOE Math Explains Perfectly Why Men Love Inexperienced Women!
“Stuck on your highest setting,” is a brilliant way to describe the current female dating outlook.
Hoemath having his work vindicated in real time. Absolutely amazing.
Women don’t gain experience over the years they acquire trauma.
I drove up from Florida, in route to Atlanta, to visit family, and had tickets to see a Too Short show with my Sister.
Got pulled over in Newton County, GA cuzz, “my taillight was out?”
The female officer said, that my license were suspended ?
The male officer, told the female officer that the suspension didn’t look right, and could be a mistake.
Then the male officer, turned and asked me if I owed any back child support?
I said, “No, I’ve never had to pay child support.”
The female cop, asked for permission to search my vehicle, I said, yes.
She found one rusted up Coors light can thrown into the truckbed I was driving.
She told me to turn around, handcuffed me, and took me to jail charged with, suspended license, taillight, and open container.
So, I spent the night in jail and froze to death the whole time.
The next morning, I went in front of the jail judge, and he dropped all of the charges, except the open container.
The jail judge took me back to where the police were, and asked me if I had $20.00 cash? I said, “Yes.”
The judge told the officers to let me out of jail, ordered them to take the cuffs off me me and to not put me back into that jail cell, and to give me my belongings.
So, I paid $20.00 cash, then $200.00 to get the truck out, and I took the truck to the closest auto shop to get the taillight repaired.
Well, guess what ? The taillight wasn’t broken, and was in proper working condition. The auto dude couldnt give me proof of that bc he said, I could have went somewhere else and had it fixed.
When I went to court for the open container, the court judge charged me with suspended license, taillight, and open container.
My public defender showed the judge the proof I had from the Florida DMV, that my license were never suspended, he told the Judge that I had no prior convictions, not even a speeding ticket, and the jail judge has already dropped those charges.
The court judge looked at me finded me almost $1,900.00, a year probation or 10 days in jail.
Then the court judge told me, that he had authority over the jail judge so whatever charges he dropped will not be dismissed.
Then the court judge told me, “No one drives thru his county with a suspended license!”
He said pay your $1,900.00 fine, and we will take you off probation, or we can put you in jail for 10 days, if you have anything further to say.
I paid my fine and the charges were dropped so my record is clean but it was an awful night and it took me a while to get back on track financially, not to mention all the stress and trips back up to Georgia to straighten the shit out.
It is a huge money scam, tow truck people are all in on it, and there is nothing you can do about it!
I didn’t miss the Too Short show tho and me and my Sister had a blast!
Cops suck ass! They are lazy and they lie too much. Anything to meet that quota! They don’t care about you losing your job, missing a show, staying in jail cause you can’t afford to pay the bail. They don’t give one fuck.
Protect and serve my ass!!!
They are bullies with badges, and can fuck your life up, even when you’re an innocent law abisding citizen, it’s all legal and it’s getting worse.
Fuck’em!
Conservatives INSANE reaction to Gen Z Hating the 40 Hour Work Week
I was 17, driving my Dad’s Mercedes, drunk. A cop pulled me over, told me to exit the vehicle, and walk to the back of my car. I leaned against the trunk lid. The cop asked, “Where were you tonight?” I said, “At a party.” He asked, “Are you carrying any drugs or paraphernalia?” I said, “Yes.” He said, “Toss it down by my feet.”
i did. It was a little pot and a pipe. He asked, “Have you had anything to drink?” I said, “Yes.” Then he asked me, “In an ideal world, what would you like to happen now?” I said, “I’d like to drive home and never do this again.”
The cop said, “I believe you. You’ve been completely honest with me. Drive straight home.” He got back in his car, and drove off. He never even knew who I was. He didn’t ask for my driver’s licence or even my name!
You don’t always need to be around people. People will want to be with you when you are happy by yourself.
People love boldness. You will be respected when you become a straight talker. Example: If you can’t provide a favor, say no instead of trying to please them.
If you don’t like yourself, no one else will. You must change what you don’t like about yourself and accept what you can’t change.
Swallow your pride and always accept your mistake. Deflecting blame is always seen as a weakness.
When you listen more instead of talking people feel special. In return, they will make you feel special.
When you share a few uncomfortable truths about yourself, people will feel comfortable and reciprocate. Example: When talking to someone new, share the truth about your nervousness.
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Lavrov’s Remarks and Answers to Questions at the Conference Marking the 10th Anniversary of the Coup d’état in Ukraine
Karl Sanchez
There are times when it’s hard to tell if Sergey Lavrov is angry or not. Most of what he said, including in his answers, he’s said many times before. I know he must keep up decorum, but when you read the text it’s easy to see him fed up with having to say whatever it is once again. Maybe his blood was already boiling since he addressed the conference on Neocolonialism before this forum. In print, when he discusses anything related to the West, there’s nothing good to be expected from it. Yes, we must understand that this pot’s been coming to a boil for many years now, since before Maidan, and not everything that could be cited is anymore. I recall the tense seriousness of his discussions with Putin, the government and the Security Council that began in September 2021 and culminated in his verdict in January that the Outlaw US Empire would refuse the December security proposals and thus the military technical operation would need to commence. In November, it was decided at a tense meeting of the government that what was happening Donbass was Genocide and something needed to be done and very soon. Putin agreed Genocide was indeed happening, and we know the subsequent formulations. I covered all that while writing at my VK platform that remains operational. My opinion is Team Putin never anticipated that their European counterparts could be as evil as they’ve become—IMO, it’s very important that the word evil is almost never mentioned by Team Putin and other descriptions are invoked instead, while the accusations coming from the Outlaw US Empire and its vassals are usually 100% projection. However, in the following, Lavrov uses the term Nazi as an adjective twice, which is synonymous with evil and diabolical and close to universally agreed upon by Humanity.
This much longer than usual preamble perhaps serves to provide more context for Lavrov’s words, or maybe it’s because I need to provide some justification for essentially repeating a story I’ve heard too many times, and every time it merely raises my angst against the Outlaws who stole my nation and have caused so much grief in the world over my lifetime. Enough from me; here’s Lavrov. All emphasis mine:
Dear Colleagues,
I am sure that those present here are well aware of the current situation in Ukraine, who was in charge of the process, and what methods were used.
On February 9, President of Russia Vladimir Putin, in an interview with Tucker Carlson, once again
gavea detailed account of the story. If we talk about the geopolitical aspects and consequences of the coup in Kiev, first of all,
I would like to say that what is happening is yet another result of the policy of “divide and rule”, pitting different countries and peoples against each other, and provoking interstate conflicts. This policy has long been pursued in various regions of the world by the “collective West” led by the United States, or rather, with the Anglo-Saxons.The role that England is playing in current events is more aggressive and sophisticated in its provocative assertiveness than any other participant, including the United States.
When the Americans and their satellites proclaimed themselves the winners of the Cold War, they set a course for NATO expansion, ignoring all their obligations not to expand the North Atlantic Alliance and not to deploy significant combat forces on the territory of new members, given (orally and in writing) to the Soviet and then Russian leadership. That was the next stage. The block began to expand. But even then we agreed to sign
an agreementon the establishment of the Russia-NATO Council. Once again, we made a concession. The fact of expansion was acknowledged. In response, the alliance pledged not to deploy significant combat forces on the territory of new members.
This
Acthas not been repealed. Look at what’s happening now. On the territory of the new members, more and more large groups equipped with modern weapons began to train right on our borders.
If we talk about the position of the West towards Russia, then since gaining independence, Ukraine has always been considered by it as an anti-Russian bridgehead. In 2004, in fact, the first coup d’état took place. It was bloodless, but unconstitutional. When Viktor Yanukovych won in the second round, the West forced the Constitutional Court of Ukraine to issue a verdict on the need to hold a third round, which is not provided for by the Constitution. That’s how they “wrung their hands.” How did it all end? They were playing democracy. But the games of democracy, even according to their rules, did not help in 2010, when the people (primarily the votes of the south and southeast of Ukraine) elected Viktor Yanukovych.
Then the West began to prepare a coup in such a way that there would be no more “misfires”. To destroy the opposition once and for all, which has been happening for many years since the February 2014 coup.
In the same year, a coup d’état took place in a country called Yemen, which now also often flashes on the pages of newspapers and TV screens. President Abdel Abdullah al-Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia. For many years after that, the West unanimously demanded the return of the legitimate president of Yemen to its country and only then begin negotiations on a settlement with the opposition.
In the case of Viktor Yanukovych, we drew the attention of the French, Germans and Poles (who guaranteed the peace agreement that was broken the next morning) to the need to “reason with the opposition.” What did they sign up for? That there will be early elections, and a government of national unity will be formed for the period until the elections. And the morning after the coup d’état, Arseniy Yatsenyuk (there was such a leader among them) went to the Maidan and said that he congratulated everyone, that they had won and created a “government of winners.” Does no one see the difference between national unity and winners? So there are losers. You all know how the situation developed later. Those who did not accept the result of this putsch were declared terrorists and an “operation” was launched against them. There were such brutal episodes in this tragedy as the burning of 48 civilians in the House of Trade Unions in Odessa, the bombing of Lugansk and other cities of Donbass by military aircraft. The DPR and LPR declared independence. But even then there was still room for agreement.
Some time later, in the second half of 2014 (after Kiev announced an “anti-terrorist operation”), a meeting of the foreign ministers of Russia (represented by yours truly), the United States, Ukraine and the European Union took place in Geneva.
At that time, Oleksandr Deshchytsia was acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and had powers from the authorities that illegally reigned in Kiev. We have agreed on the statement. Unfortunately, it was not published by agreement, as it was agreed that Oleksandr Deshchytsia would “check” in her capital. The statement, in addition to a clear call for de-escalation and an end to violence, called for the start of a broad national dialogue in Ukraine with the participation of all regions of the country, with an eye to its federalization. Despite our reminders, the participants of this meeting then “walked away” from the publication of this statement. Instead, Kiev began to solve the “Donbass problem” (as they called it) by force.
In fact, it set the same goal as Adolf Hitler when he announced the need for the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question.”
Once again, we began to look for ways to cooperate to overcome the crisis. We persuaded Donbass not to abandon negotiations. President of Russia Vladimir Putin spoke about this in detail.
As a result, a year after the coup in February 2015, the agreements of the same name were signed in Minsk. Subsequently, you all know how then President of Ukraine Petr Poroshenko, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President of France Francois Hollande, who signed these agreements with Vladimir Putin, cynically and even proudly stated that they had no intention of fulfilling them. It took time to pump Ukraine with weapons against Russia.
This is a “stunning” confession – a “confession”, in fact. As a consequence of the fact that the West is using Ukraine in every sense to contain Russia and, as they now say, inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia, to prevent it from playing the role on the world stage that it rightfully deserves.
As a result, Ukraine, which received the richest industrial potential from the USSR and the Russian Empire,turned into the poorest state in Europe, into a territory, without exaggeration, dying. The Kiev authorities are already a universally recognized international beggar.
Ukraine’s independence is gone. Even before the coup of February 2014, starting with the Maidan, or even earlier,American and British advisers were sitting in most departments (including the Security Service of Ukraine). Now this is a standard, unsurprising practice.
They sit and make sure that money is not stolen, although no one will ever stop stealing. How will the West demand that Ukraine not steal the money it provides it with, if it is stealing our money? They are already openly discussing how to do it better so as not to violate their “moral” principles and not to create a precedent.
This is a vivid example of what “flirting” with the West and the thoughtless desire to integrate into its system of political and economic coordinates in any way leads to.There is no doubt that the West has declared war against us.
They don’t hide it.Although they say that they are only arming Ukraine, and it is the Ukraine itself that is fighting. Everyone understands that this is a lie. Western instructors monitor how the planning of the General Staff of Ukraine is carried out, help to guide to targets (we are 100% sure of this) and do much more. According to our information, the European External Action Service has made recommendations for Ukraine, which proceed from the fact that it will not be possible to win with the methods that Ukraine is currently fighting, and it will lose. Therefore, it is necessary to rely on the transfer of even more long-range weapons to this country so that they reach the “heart” of Russia (as the European Union describes it). In this way, they will once again sow confusion and panic and undermine the trust of the people.
Isn’t that direct participation in the war? Of course. In war, the main thing is strategy, and it is not in Kyiv, but far away.
Europe, eager to do something as soon as possible to end this drama with the defeat of Russia, in fact, serves the interests of the United States, does not care about its own interests at all. Look at the economic indicators, the negative growth, the recession in the leading European economies. President of Russia Vladimir Putin spoke about this in detail. Everything will probably become clear. All this is humiliated and accepted without complaint. There are no objections. Recall how after US President Joe Biden’s Nord Stream bombings announced in advance, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz went to Washington to bow down, where, apparently, he was told not to make any noise, and he returned without any news conference.
I would like to say that they are now trying to “gloom” (there is no other word for it) all the countries of the global majority, including those represented here (we are very glad to see you here), and to “drag” them into supporting Vladimir Zelensky’s completely dead-end “peace formula”. Its essence is that Russia must capitulate, go beyond the borders of 1991, and the Russian leadership must go to the tribunal and pay reparations. Everyone understands that this is a “dummy” and, at the very least, an unwise initiative.
But in order to lure normal countries that understand what is happening, in addition to the points I mentioned, they threw in supposedly neutral provisions: food security, energy security, nuclear security, prisoner exchange, and humanitarian issues. In total, there are 10 points in the formula, half of them are supposedly neutral.
Clearly, this is seen as a whole. When the countries of the Global South and the Global East are lured to “gatherings” that are organized to promote this “peace formula,” they are told that they understand that they do not like it, they understand their position that it is pointless to discuss anything without Russia. But they then say, they must support food security and sign up to “one” paragraph. As we say, these are “thimble makers”, as we say. I don’t know how it translates into English, but it’s an absolute “cheat” (there’s no other way to put it).
In Davos, there was another “gathering” on this “formula” of Vladimir Zelensky. The main thing they were interested in was a “group photo”. This is actually true. This is the EU’s recommendation to Ukraine: they say, do not go too far, do not force neutral participants, whom we are dragging into this process, to condemn Russia, the main thing is that “there is a photo.” I’m not kidding.
When I was in New York on January 23 of this year for the UN Security Council meetings on Palestine, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignores Cassis asked for
a meetingand suggested that Switzerland become the venue for the peace conference. In his conversation with me, he emphasised in every possible way that in Davos, after the meeting on the peace formula, he said at a news conference that it was necessary to solve problems involving Russia. I replied that if he said so, it means that he is sure of it, and then why did they gather without Russia?
This is not serious from the point of view of diplomacy of any country, and for the West to say that this is the only way forward, I think it is a shame.President of Russia Vladimir Putin,
commenting onthe results of his contacts with Tucker Carlson and during
the West must admit that it has taken a wrong course that has failed.Let the West look for a way out of the situation without losing face.
Vladimir Putin stressed that the West must return to the art of diplomacy, and the art of diplomacy, like the art of politics, is the art of compromise.
It is clear that all this unequivocally presupposes the recognition of the legitimacy of our demands, non-bloc status, the rejection of any NATO advance, the rejection of the militarization of Ukraine as a threat to the Russian Federation, and
the cessation of the Nazi policy of extermination, both legally and physically, of Russians and Russian-speaking citizens on the territory of Ukraine.
Remember, back in November 2021, before the decision to launch a special military operation, before the West rejected our initiative on European security, a journalist asked Vladimir Zelensky how he felt about the people living in Donbass, on the other side of the contact line. Vladimir Zelensky thoughtfully and artistically said that there are people and there are “specimens”. And he also said earlier that if someone lives in Ukraine, but feels involved in Russian culture, Russian civilization, then for the sake of their children and grandchildren, let them “fail” to go to Russia.
This was said by the president, who was elected under the slogans, firstly, of a peaceful settlement, and secondly, of the protection of the Russian language in Ukraine. He called for “falling behind” the Russians, allowing them to continue speaking their native language in Ukraine, as they had done for centuries. That’s how he changed his views back in 2021.
And the final touch. He stated that he would never implement the Minsk agreements. It was clear that they were stalling. From February 2015 to 2019, there were no positive developments, only the bombing of Donbass in violation of all the requirements of this document. In December 2019, President of Russia Vladimir Putin, President of France Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky
metin Paris at the initiative of the French and Germans, where they spoke in favour of “reconfirming” the Minsk Agreements, first of all, regarding the need for a direct dialogue between Minsk and Donetsk and Lugansk, and, secondly (no less important), in terms of enshrine their special status on a permanent basis in the Constitution of Ukraine. Vladimir Zelensky signed it. Some time later, when the events of February 2022 began, Oleksandr Yermak, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said that Vladimir Zelensky had signed “just like that” so that they would fall behind. He wasn’t going to do anything. Like, they deceived us and “squeezed” us out of more time. This is the whole characteristic of the “characters” who now rule Ukraine and the West is betting on them in order to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia. If you want to go to the battlefield, it’s up to you.
Question: As you know, there are many mercenaries from Latin America on Kiev’s side. Do you think they pose a threat to democracy in these regions? Is there a security dialogue with the Latin American countries where they come from?
Sergey Lavrov: This topic is relevant not only for the situation in Ukraine.
It is known that mercenaries, including those from the Middle East, are actively used in the African region. In Ukraine, they are also fighting, including members of terrorist organizations like the Islamic State.
The Islamic State and its representatives are under the tutelage of the United States at the illegally occupied al-Tanf base in eastern Syria. Everyone knows this very well.The Islamic State itself came into being as a result of an attack on Iraq under false pretenses by the United States. Then the United States took over the administration of Iraq. They had the Gauleiter, the Governor-General (whatever you want to call him), Paul Bremer, who dissolved all the structures of the Baath Party. I just let it go. They were based on the Sunni branch of Islam. The backbone of the Islamic State was made up of officers of Saddam Hussein’s army, who had nothing to live on.
And the U.S. had a direct hand in this.It is interesting to see what the Americans have achieved in Iraq. The goals set are a complete failure.
Now, for the umpteenth time, the Iraqi government is asking them to withdraw their troops, but the U.S. is unwilling. That’s how big the Democrats are.
Al-Qaeda emerged after the Afghan saga, which also ended badly and shamefully. And after the invasion of Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra appeared, which later became known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
Whatever you call them, they are “mercenaries.” The same members of the Islamic State are sent for money to various hot spots. They’re paid thousands of dollars to do their jobs.
Clearly, this is a dangerous practice. Eventually, when their mission in a country is over, they will have to go somewhere else (they don’t know how to do anything else but organize terrorist attacks, shoot, kill people).
If people go there from Colombia or other Latin American countries, one day they will have an epiphany. Many American and British mercenaries have already said publicly on camera that they are completely disappointed in what is happening there, in these lofty “democratic” goals proclaimed by the Kiev regime and its Western sponsors. Some are returning to their home countries.
But if the people who remain in this war waged against us by the West go through a military phase in their lives, it is likely that they will return to it, especially since in Colombia there is someone to argue with and there has always been someone to compete with.
We hope that the Colombian leadership is well aware of this, as are the leaders of other countries. After all, what is the problem? In many respects, this process is connected with the gross violation
of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relationsby Ukrainian embassies. It is outrageous that there are offers to be recruited for war on their websites. Several times we have drawn the attention of the Western masters of this regime so that they would “reason” with them. Nothing happens. Somewhere it quieted down, and then the recruitment activity continues again.
Everyone should be aware that a neutral position and a call for a settlement are good. We appreciate that. This is the position of the World Majority (with the rarest of exceptions). No one has joined the anti-Russian sanctions. But when the countries of the global majority try to “frown” by convening meetings under the slogan of Vladimir Zelensky’s “peace formula” as the only approach to a settlement, it is necessary (at least) to show that everyone understands everything and does not want to play this game.
Mercenary activities are part of the problem. This must be fought. There were thousands of mercenaries in Ukraine. According to our military, now there are less than half of them. The rest either left or met their inglorious end. [Lavrov could have gone much deeper and mentioned the Outlaw US Empire’s longstanding use of its Terrorist Foreign Legion to attain its goals in South America where it has a very long history going back to the 1850s.]
Question: Against the backdrop of President Vladimir Putin’s interview with Tucker Carlson, the rating of Republicans in the United States is generally rising. The opinion of the people in the West about Russia is changing dramatically. Previously, they did not know about what was happening in our country because it was not covered. How do you see the prospects for restoring relations with the West in the event of a change of government, especially in the United States (if Donald Trump becomes president)? Will they recognize the new territories? Will there be a resumption of cooperation?
Sergey Lavrov: Regarding the position of the Republicans and the “epiphany” that suddenly appeared in American society after President Vladimir Putin’s
interviewwith Tucker Carlson. For me, the main thing is that, as it turned out, US citizens live in a complete information blockade. They are “fed” with the internal narrative, primarily of the Democratic Party. Fox News is the only exponent of Republican sentiments, but after the departure of T. Carlson, the tone has also changed.
It turns out that there is no question of any freedom of speech. Although the American Constitution requires that there be access to any information. But in addition to this, there are also commitments made within the framework of the OSCE in 1991 inMoscow. At the initiative of the West, it was written in black and white (and the Soviet Union signed the demands): to ensure free, unrestricted access to information in each member state of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Special mention is made of information that originates both inside and outside the country concerned. This is a direct requirement.
Our friends from the diplomatic corps and all Russian citizens see in the news that “a good half” is a story about the position of the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, and the European Union on Ukraine or any other international event.
Our public is familiar with the point of view of the West. Yes, in most cases this is criticized, but everyone is free to draw their own conclusions. We do not censor what is said in the West.All this is shown, and then political scientists discuss it.
As for the restoration of relations, President of Russia Vladimir Putin also spoke about this in
He explained that the West must admit its mistake and find a convenient way out. But with the full understanding that the problem of Ukraine, as we have identified it, must be resolved. He added that someday relations will be restored. When this happens is not up to us.
That’s their problem.President Vladimir Putin recalled that we had made so many concessions and gestures of goodwill. The limit has already been reached.
On their part, in response to our good deeds, we saw other gestures on one hand.
Question: What are the main consequences of the Euromaidan protest for the ordinary population of Ukraine? How to restore relations in the future?
Sergey Lavrov: There are living witnesses of those events here. I think they can describe it in brighter colors. But it is written in Ukrainian laws that a course has been taken to destroy everything Russian.
“Euromaidan” affected everyday life, access to information, education in the Russian language, which was used by more than half of the citizens. According to some estimates, 80% of the population of Ukraine feels that the Russian language is more comfortable in communication. All this is forbidden by law. Up to everyday situations: the saleswoman may refuse to serve if you address her in Russian. A few months ago, Kiev Mayor Viktor Klitschko issued a city regulation banning all cultural events in the capital: exhibitions, performances, film screenings, etc.
When this word was mentioned in the context of the
the policy pursued by the Kiev Nazi regime towards Donbass and Russians in general,Ukraine filed a lawsuit against Russia in the International Court of Justice. By demanding that the court recognise the groundlessness of the accusations of the Zelensky regime of carrying out a policy of genocide.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has concluded a decades-long debate. It made a verdict that we did not violate any conventions. Moreover, it rejected the Ukrainian claim that they were fighting terrorist regimes in Donetsk and Luhansk. The entire ideological basis of the “anti-terrorist operation” that Kiev launched after the coup d’état and then continued contrary to
the Minsk agreementshas been debunked. Now there are “local assaults on people” – they can pull them out from anywhere (from a cinema or a bathhouse) and send them to the “slaughter”. Bad consequences.
Millions of Ukrainians have found their shelter in our country. Here they are perceived as absolutely equal to us. Brothers, sisters, people with whom we have shared joy and sorrow. We have families on both sides. Rosbrothers. Both in Ukraine and in the Russian Federation. They are at home here. And the main thing is that those who come to us feel at home themselves. We will do everything we can to make them feel this way.
Question: The other day, the US government asked Congress for $100 billion: $65 billion for Ukraine, $15 billion for Israel and $20 billion for Taiwan. They will enact this sooner or later. Several European countries have begun to say that Ukraine should be part of NATO. Where are we going? Are there any possibilities for a peace conference?
Sergey Lavrov: This is not a question for us. We have answered it many times. President of Russia Vladimir Putin touched upon this issue. In April 2022, there was an agreement that has already become the talk of the town. The Anglo-Saxons forbade Vladimir Zelensky to sign the agreed agreement, which was acceptable to both the Ukrainian and Russian delegations. And so it happened.
To reiterate, there is a decree issued by Vladimir Zelensky prohibiting talks with Vladimir Putin’s government. When the West raised such questions, our President repeatedly said that it was necessary to force him to cancel this decree and say so publicly. The ball is not in our court. Everyone understands this very well.
At the same time, it is said that the Swiss are announcing a peace conference. But at the same time, the West unanimously declares that it is only on the basis of Vladimir Zelensky’s formula. Therefore, friends from Asia, Africa, and Latin America should choose the most “innocuous” points from these ten points (food or energy security), and the Westerners will write them down to participate in a “collective photo” in support of this “formula.” What kind of diplomacy is this?
They have not been engaged in diplomacy for a long time. Instead, there is blackmail and sanctions. Any issue that seems important to the West is never the subject of an honest discussion.
The UN Charter states that the United Nations is based on the sovereign equality of States. The most important point. Imagine retrospectively the various conflicts that have taken place since the creation of the World Organization in 1945. There is not a single conflict in history in which the West has been involved, either before or after the creation of the Organization, in which the United States and its allies have observed the principle of sovereign equality, and this obligation is enshrined in the Charter – to respect the sovereign equality of states. Therefore, the conference is apparently understood as a “collective photograph”, the participants of which will later say that there is a “formula” of Vladimir Zelensky, and that on this basis they invite Russia. I think it will be humiliating for them. Most people are well aware that this is neither diplomacy nor politics. So we don’t have the ball.
Question: In view of the fact that after the end of the
special military operation(even if not now), there is a transformation of the world order and international relations in general. Are there any plans to reform the UN, in particular the Security Council, under the auspices and within the framework of the initiatives and efforts of the Russian Federation, which is its permanent member? In view of the fact that we have repeatedly sent inquiries and requested various sessions to consider the terrorist attacks that took place on the territory of our country, in particular in Belgorod. Just yesterday. Will we somehow advance these efforts so that the UN Security Council acquires a new character and international law is respected?
Sergey Lavrov: Reform of the UN has been discussed for a long time. It’s overdue. For me, there are two main aspects of this reform. One is conceptual, the other is practical.
We are convinced that theUN Chartercontains all the necessary principles, respect for which will ensure peace and security.I gave an example that when the Americans need something, they look at what principle of the Charter to take as a justification for their actions. When it was necessary to declare Kosovo’s independence unilaterally, they said that it was based on the principle of self-determination of peoples enshrined in the UN Charter. When an open, transparent referendum in Crimea with the participation of many international observers decided to reunite with Russia, they did not accept it, condemned it and said that it violated the principle of territorial integrity.
Since the inception of the United Nations, there have been debates about whether the self-determination of peoples or territorial integrity is more important. Self-determination of peoples is mentioned earlier in the UN Charter. But a multi-year negotiation process was initiated, culminating in the adoption of the Declaration
sovereign and independent States which observe in their actions the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples as set forth above, and, consequently, have governments which represent, without distinction as to race, creed or colour, all the people inhabiting the territory.” After the coup d’état, did the Kiev regime represent the population, a huge part of Ukraine? Of course not. So it’s conceptual.
A fundamental part of our position is that the UN Charter should remain at the heart of all the activities of the legal community, but with the understanding that its principles should be applied in their entirety and in all their interrelatedness.
The practical judgment is (there are many aspects of reform now) that everyone is primarily interested in the reform of the UN Security Council. This topic is in the public eye all the time. The prestige of the countries that want to get into this body on a permanent basis is directly related to this. The reform should unequivocally eliminate historical injustices and ensure fair representation of the countries of the global majority – Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
The current composition of the UN Security Council was formed at a time when the consequences of decolonization had not yet been realized, when the newly liberated free and independent countries were just arranging their own internal lives and getting used to the new quality. It is clear that the situation on the world stage is radically different now. Economic giants such as China, India, and Brazil are on the rise. In Africa, there is a movement towards the realization of its own identity and in favor of rejecting the rudiments of colonial policy, when resources are pumped out of Africa, and all the added value is produced in the former metropolises and the main profits are generated there. It is necessary to ensure the admission of representatives of the developing world to the UN Security Council. We have publicly said that we support India and Brazil as candidates for permanent membership in the UN Security Council, with the understanding that at the same time a similar additional presence in Africa will be ensured.
We have warned our Indian and Brazilian friends (and we explain this at every turn) that it is unacceptable for us to replenish the UN Security Council with any new representative of the West. Currently, six of the fifteen members of the UN Security Council represent Western countries. Sometimes Japan is added, pursuing a purely Western policy. Granting more seats to the western group would only mean deepening the injustice. Germany and Japan aspire to “infiltrate” the Security Council together with India and Brazil, but they will not succeed. From a purely arithmetical point of view, the West is already disproportionately represented.
Now to the point. Name at least one issue of international politics in recent years on which Germany or Japan would have taken a stand. Any. All of them are “built” by the West. There’s nothing you can do about it.
There were sensible ideas about leaving one seat in the UN Security Council for the “collective West,” for NATO.
You mentioned the UN Security Council’s consideration of various crisis situations, including terrorist acts carried out by the Ukrainian regime on a regular basis and to which the West is pushing it to continue. I quoted the EU’s instruction to Kiev in which direction it should “work”.
A few days ago, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron unleashed a neo-colonial “mantra” urging people not to abandon Ukraine under any circumstances. Vice versa. It is necessary, they say, to “pump” it with the most modern weapons as much as possible. Condemnation of such terrorist acts is possible only with the consent of all members of the UN Security Council. In most cases, the Americans “shield” the Kiev regime and do not “pass” these resolutions.
There is a lot of talk about proposals to abolish the veto.This is what many developing countries have been saying in discussions on Security Council reform.
The right of veto is not a privilege, but a tool for ensuring well-considered decisions and preventing unilateral resolutions that can bring imbalance to world politics.
The West has practically lost the culture of work in the UN Security Council, which has always relied on the ability of the five permanent members, each of whom has the right of veto, to come to an agreement, to seek compromises on any complex issue and never to provoke a veto by putting to a vote resolutions that are unacceptable to any of the five members.
We have always been ready for this kind of work. The Americans, along with the British and French, have chosen a different style that is detrimental to the UN.
It is unrealistic to abandon the veto. Then the United Nations, like the League of Nations, will turn into a useless structure that will only further escalate confrontation.
Reform is a long process. It should reflect a common understanding at this stage of the tectonic changes taking place in the world in the context of multipolarity processes.
I know Lavrov wants to remain optimistic, but the realities against that are formidable. Yes, Russia and the Global Majority will continue to grow stronger, but the planet will remain chaotic as long as the Outlaws exist. And remember, they are Nazi-like and thus extremely diabolical—they will continue to attain their objective no matter the cost as all means justify their goal which is to keep their hegemony. All sorts of reality can, and has been, thrown in their faces, but they are blind to it and can only see their goal. Those hiding behind the Front Men and Women must be exposed and made visible in the public’s eyes—the Bidens, Trumps Kennedys, and their ilk are screens to shield. That’s why policy is contiguous—it matters not which flavor is in charge anymore, although there’s currently a theatre ongoing to make it seem otherwise.
I made one parenthetical comment and could have provided more. Lavrov provided a warning to fence-sitting nations that even what appears to be a safe position actually isn’t, that joint, in resolute solidarity, resistance to the West is the only real path forward. In his talk yesterday, Lavrov expressed the idea that regional solidarity will meld into global solidarity and regional organizations will then become global. That’s the only real way to control the Global Fracture that’s now occurring. There’s more to be said about the historic Global Big Picture that shows a distinct continuity over the last 4,000+ years where the great mass of people have tried again and again to establish a fair social contract with rulers/governments. Today’s conflict is all about ending the one last Great Tyranny, which as mentioned is the same Tyranny that’s been existing and plaguing Humanity for centuries.
I’ll tell you a story about respecting the court. My step daughter was a young teen and had some case against her. On the day of court she got up and put on jeans and a t-shirt I told her to change into a nice Sunday church dress with no heels. She wasn’t happy but did it. We were towards the end of the docket. All the other defendeants that got up were dressed similarly as she had been initially. The judge made a stern ruling quickly and moved on. When it was her turn and she stood he stopped. Talk to her about what she did wrong and about how she looked like she probably learned a lesson and he let her off pretty easy, a little community service. The lawyer even told us that wasn’t his normal but he’s sure it was because of how she was dressed. So if you want to go in and not stand, show disrespect to the court don’t expect things to go favorably for you. And consequences can be contempt of court with jail time, dismissing your case until you can be respectful or loosing your case to getting a harsher sentence. So think about that before you decide to do something so stupid
I worked at a mom and pop home center. Like a small Home Depot, but privately owned. An older gentleman came in a lot to buy small stuff. I spent time with him, took him outside to look at lumber, cut a few boards to size. One so he could build a bird house. Not money making at all. I even hauled a few boards to his house in my own truck on my lunch break, it was on the way. Boss had told me to knock it off, I was costing him too much money. A week or so later the guy comes in, we talk, he leaves. Boss is pissed, wants to know WTF he wants this time? “ Oh he wanted to give us this” I handed the boss a check for $25,000. Seems the man was building house, hired the builder I introduced him to, and based on his and my relationship, he intended to buy building materials from us. Cash up front. When the $25,000 was used up, he left more, until the house was done.
As I child I remember a time where I had built sandcastles, left for a few minutes, only to find a group of kids kicking down my creations. So what I did was build them on top of large rocks. I left again. When I came back I watched them kick the sand castles down again. They immediately stopped after one of them broke their foot on a rock.
The lessen is that sometimes you have to outfox people to teach them a lesson. Deception and misinformation is key. It’s not hard to punish someone who steals an idea from you. If you get a little creative, you can deeply embarrass the culprit, even destroy their career. Don’t be alarmed when they steal your work, act like you are gullible, stupid, and didn’t even notice so that they’ll do it again. Hide a watermark or code or leave your name in metadata some where so they don’t notice. Then once they’ve done it again you’ve got your watermark to prove it was your work, then go to HR with documentation exposing their fraudulent behavior. It’s fun to outsmart such people because they tend to be Narcissists and they will have an existential crisis once they realize they’ve been outwitted. They absolutely cannot stand being bested by someone else, especially in the manipulation department.
Hot and Spicy Cubano Sandwich
Cubano Sandwiches main
Prep: 15 min | Cook: 90 min | Yield: 8 servings
Cuban Sandwich Recipe
Cuban sandwiches are one of my favorite indulgences. They hit all the right spots and then some. I wanted to create a Cuban sandwich recipe that would make any Cubano connoisseur proud – and I think this recipe does just that. At least both my foodie critic husband and I couldn’t stop stuffing our faces as he repeatedly awed “these are so good!”
After experimenting, I stumbled upon a few key elements that make the best Cuban Sandwich recipe. I’ll go into greater detail below, but for starters, you need the best Cuban Mojo Roast Pork for the best Cuban sandwiches! It is all about the pork. I posted my mojo pork recipe separately because it is stand alone delicious and absolutely hypnotic in these Cubanos. If you don’t use the mojo pork recipe, I cannot guarantee epic delicious results. Plus, you can prep the pork days ahead for stress free Cubano assembly.
Second, use the right filling ingredients. Aged Gruyere Swiss cheese (not the rubbery Americanized version) and Black Forest ham add dimensions of gourmet flavor and thinly slicing whole dill pickles delivers the perfect thickness so all the ingredients beautifully meld together.
Lastly, you might be wondering if you can achieve the coveted buttery, golden crispy crust characteristic to Cuban sandwiches without a plancha or paninin press – the answer is yes! No press, no problem! The inside of the bread is first toasted (no soggy Cubanos here!) and then slathered in a mustard sauce spiked with some reserved mojo marinade. This amps up the flavor again. Next we create our own panini press by placing the bread in a buttered skillet or grill pan and top it with another heavy skillet to weigh it down. The resulting Cubano sandwiches are buttery, crispy and compressed – just like the restaurants. Or better.
I’m going to go into more details about Cuban sandwiches from their history to specifics on ingredients to step by step instructions. Read on or use the “jump to recipe” button at the top of the post. I hope you love this Cuban sandwich recipe as much as us! Happy eating!
What is a Cuban sandwich?
The Cuban sandwich, better known as a Cubano in the US and simply sandwich in Cuba, is a decadent Cuban grilled ham and cheese sandwich that has reached mainstream popularity all over the US. It is the ultimate sandwich for every pork lover and a must for every non-pork lover alike.
The Cubano begins with hearty yet soft, slightly sweet Cuban bread slathered with yellow mustard then loaded with layers of Swiss cheese, tangy pickles, sliced mojo pork, smoked ham and more cheese, then buttered, grilled and pressed to create a super crispy exterior and cheesy interior.
There’s nothing fancy or difficult about making the Cuban Sandwich, but the varying layers create a symphony of flavors and textures with each element filling a specific roll. It’s tangy and tart from the pickles and mustard, smokey and salty from the ham, zesty, citrusy and herbaceous from the mojo pork, buttery and slightly sweet from the bread all sandwiched together to create soft, crunchy, melty cheesy textures. Are you drooling yet? With one bite you will be. If you’re planning to devour just one half of a Cubano, heaven help you, you’ll need will power of steel.
MIAMI VS TAMPA CUBAN SANDWICHES
Both Miami and Tampa claim to have the best version of the Cubano Sandwich. The difference between the two Cubano variations is minimal. Both Miami and Tampa versions share the classic Cubano structure discussed above of Cuban bread, ham, Cuban roast pork, Swiss cheese, and pickles, but the Tampa version features a layer of Genoa salami, the Miami version does not.
Genoa salami is a kind of salami believed to have originated in Genoa, Italy. It is seasoned with garlic, salt, black and white pepper, and red or white wine. The Tampa contingent believes salami adds yet another layer of salty flavor to the already decadent sandwich, which makes their version superior. To prove their point, the Historic Tampa Cuban Sandwich was designated the “signature sandwich of the city of Tampa” by the Tampa City Council in 2012. Miami, on the other hand, stands by their Cuban Sandwich motto that simple is superior.
So how did salami become a staple in Cuban Sandwiches in Tampa? In the early 1900s, Tampa was the home to both many Cuban and Italian immigrants. As the people and cultures mingled, so did their foods and eventually, salami, a staple on Italian sandwiches,became a staple on Cubano Sandwiches in Tampa.
As far as which is better? We know what Tampa and Miami will say, but in the end, it comes down to personal preference. I personally think salami makes everything better, even Cubano Sandwiches. So, if you like salami, chances are you will love it on Cubanos; if the jury is still out, it’s better to omit the salami because it’s not a subtle addition.
Ingredients
2 pound boneless pork loin roast
1 pound honey ham, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 cup Chinese mustard, divided
8 whole wheat submarine rolls, sweet rolls, or 7 to 8 inch sections of French or Italian bread
3/4 cup red plum, red currant, or raspberry jam or jelly
8 slices Swiss cheese
2 (7 ounce) cans green chiles, drained and sliced
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
Instructions
Heat oven to 450 degrees F.
In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper and 1/4 cup of the mustard. Spread mixture on all sides of the pork. Place pork, fat side up, in a shallow roasting pan and roast for 15 minutes.
Reduce oven to 350 degrees F and continue roasting for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees F (medium rare) to 160 degrees F (medium).
Remove roast from oven and let rest 10 minutes.
Slice very thinly and set slices aside.
To prepare the sandwiches, halve the rolls, laying all 16 halves out, and butter the outside of each of them. On half of the halves, spread the remaining mustard (1 1/2 tablespoons). On the other half of the sandwich halves, spread 1 1/2 tablespoons of jam. Arrange ham, roast pork, cheese, and chiles on the mustard halves of each sandwich, then top with the jam halves.
Prepare a grill to medium-hot heat. Lay a double layer of foil on the grill, large enough to hold the sandwiches. Place sandwiches on the foil, place bricks over the sandwiches (2 sandwiches per brick), and press down gently.
Grill until the bottom of the bread is browned and cheese starts to melt, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn, replace the bricks, and grill for 2 minutes more.
Cut sandwiches in half and serve.
Notes
You can also cook the sandwiches on a stovetop griddle or grill—weigh them down with foil-wrapped bricks or other heavy objects, like a plate of canned goods. If you want to make less than 8 sandwiches, use less of everything except for the roast ingredients—then save the leftover roast for another use. And if you like things extra-spicy, try substituting sliced pickled jalapeños for the chiles.
When I was twenty my parents, who had divorced but were now living together, asked me to go on a weekend trip with them.
I was amazed my father would even ask. We weren’t close, I barely spoke to him! He had been physically abusive to my mom, siblings, and especially me my whole life.
I ran away from home at 13, married at 16 so I’d never be under his thumb again. Yet suddenly he wants to be cozy! My mom was a sweet but weak woman! She just never knew when to get out.
This invitation came on the weekend of my 20th birthday, my dad was insistent I go. I came up with all sorts of excuses. I had to work, my husband had to work, dad was fine with the latter excuse (said just the 3 of us would be great). I knew it was a rotten idea from the beginning, he’d get drunk, they’d fight, I’d be referee. No way!
The more he pushed the idea the worse I felt about it, I just knew something was wrong. I finally just said there was no way I’d go we’d already made plans for a birthday party with friends so they went alone.
Two days later on my 20th birthday the State Police came to tell me my parents were dead, my father had killed my mother and then committed suicide. From a note he had left it was quite clear why he was so adamant that I came along. My instincts that day told me the trip was a bad idea and yes I was right.
I had told mom after the divorce to never let him back in her life but she always thought he would change. I have posted parts of this answer before and just want to say in advance that I am fine with my life. I am happily married to the love of my life with a amazing grown son and grandchildren. I’ve had a lovely full life filled with great times! Unfortunately my sibs are all gone after failed marriages, drugs, and alcohol. They chose to be victims and spend their lives blaming our parents for all that’s gone wrong in life, where I chose to learn and never make the mistakes they did! Not sure if I am editing this in the correct manner to add a afterthought but here goes anyway! I am surprised by the number of views and upvotes, personally I didn’t think anyone would even care. I mean it happened so long ago and as the only survivior I am long over the whole thing. But at times I do wonder if others out there experienced the double murder or murder suicide of parents and also survived relatively unscathed or if because of the abuse I’m simply detached from the situation. Just something I think about! Please excuse my run on sentences, its just how my thought process works. Thanks for all the kind thoughts.
I had a Chinese-English dictionary when I was in the ADC. And I studied it constantly. I would practice drawing the characters and memorizing the tones. I don’t really think that it ever helped me, but it did keep me focused on my goals and dreams on what I would do once I got out, and free from the USA.
For a short while, my father would xerox off pages from a learn-Chinese book, and later on, after he died, my sister bought me two introduction books of Chinese that I studied.
Every day, I had a routine.
I would sit on my rack from around 9am up to lunch and study Chinese. Then I would do my job, and come back and study again from 4pm to chow. Overall, I studied on average about 8 hours a day.
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Of course, everyone made fun of me. But it was my way of coping and dealing. All of us did it. It’s just that my way was studying in Chinese. For others it was drugs, boxing or gambling for cigarettes.
Let the rest of the world howl. Perhaps it did or didn’t help me, but one thing for certain, it keep me focused on my dream. Perhaps you too have a dream.
Stay focused.
Today… some confirmation of my previous vision of Gonzalo…
Gonzalo Lira was tortured, extorted, and reportedly has died in a Ukraine prison for just reporting the news. The US State Department refused to help Lira, a US citizen, because Lira’s journalism didn’t serve Kiev or the Biden administration. Here’s a quote from WSAU:
WASHINGTON DC (WSAU) – 55-year-old American journalist Gonzalo Lira has reportedly died in a Ukrainian prison after nearly eight months of imprisonment.
According to the Post Millennial, Lira was arrested by Ukrainian security in May 2023 after he was reportedly critical of President Vladimir Zelensky’s handling of the war being fought against Russian forces in Eastern Ukraine.
Lira’s comments included claims that Ukraine’s efforts to win the captured territory back have gone nowhere and their people are dying for a war that is already lost.
Chinese politicians have a grand dream: a global community with a shared future for mankind.
People all over the world are prosperous and living a happy life together. What a wonderful world it is. With the development of modern technology and the completion of automation and intelligence, humans can produce material conditions that provide everyone with a happy life. There is currently a lack of a system that unites humanity around the world.
China needs to first become a beautiful country and then influence the surrounding countries. Ancient China used this strategy. Ancient China first built its own country into a prosperous and strong country, and then neighboring countries envied China and learned about its culture and system. For example, Japan has sent more than ten batches of international students to study in China.
The foundation of a country is its people. If the people live a happy life, then the country is strong; if the people are poor and destitute, then the country is weak. Many rulers of countries do not understand this truth.
Food is paramount to the people. This is an ancient Chinese saying and the foundation of governing a country. When there are signs of chaos in the world, China will purchase a large amount of food. In terms of food safety, economically developed provinces in the east have begun to implement full monitoring of food production processes.
In terms of housing, the central government is implementing housing reform, which is a slow process.
In terms of transportation, China has built a national transportation network and has been continuously improving it.
In terms of cultural and entertainment, China actively promotes the promotion of justice, promotes healthy cultural information, and actively reports positive information. The network firewall successfully blocked junk culture.
I believe that China should first become a future country, and then drive countries around the world to become future countries. The the Belt and Road policy is the link between China and global human development, and also an opportunity for the development of countries around the world.
The PLAAF’s PL-17 AAM was caught on camera again, this time in a full loadout:
The PL-17 is special for two reasons:
It’s the longest range AAM in the world at 400 km (estimated by British intelligence)
It’s actually a ballistic missile. It doesn’t fly straight towards the target. Instead, it flies into the stratosphere where there’s much less air friction and cruises there to the target. Then it trades its potential energy (altitude) into kinetic energy in its terminal attack phase.
Like most high-end BVR AAMs, the PL-17 has both active radar and optical guidance. The optical guidance makes it much harder to jam when it has entered its terminal phase and can actually see the target.
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This latest photo showing four J-16s is special because it demonstrates just how much the J-16 can carry: at least two PL-17s in addition to a bunch of other PL-10, 12s and 15s. If it only carries the PL-17 and no other missile type, the J-16 may be able to carry 3 or even 4 missiles. This proves the J-16’s value as a “missile truck”, similar to the USAF’s F-15EX.
The difference is that the USAF has no equivalent to the PL-17. The longest range American AAM is the AIM-120D, with an estimated range of 160 km. The only other American missile to challenge the PL-17’s range is the AIM-260 JATM, which is still in development.
In a head to head engagement, the PL-17 gives the PLAAF a significant first strike advantage against the enemy’s key aerial assets, like AWACS, EW, etc. Loss of these aerial force multipliers would be crippling, and force the USAF to retreat or be destroyed before their radars can even spot their Chinese counterparts. The Americans would effectively be blind.
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The only other nation to field a AAM of comparable capability is the Russians with their Vympel R-37, a hypersonic (Mach 5) missile with a range of close to 400 km. Unlike the PL-17, it is not a ballistic weapon, and flies straight for the target instead. It’s also much thicc-er than the PL-17. Combat usage of the R-37 in Ukraine has demonstrated its ability to keep Ukrainian fighters from closing the distance against their Russian counterparts for fear of getting hit by this monster.
image 26
MiG-31 armed with four R-37s. Keep in mind that the MiG-31 is more a bomber than it is a fighter.
The Washington Post has produced a long, two part piece, about the failed ‘counter-offensive’ in Ukraine. It dispenses equal blame on the U.S. and British planning of the whole mess and the Ukrainian execution of it.
Key elements that shaped the counteroffensive and the initial outcome include:
Ukrainian, U.S. and British military officers held eight major tabletop war games to build a campaign plan. But Washington miscalculated the extent to which Ukraine’s forces could be transformed into a Western-style fighting force in a short period — especially without giving Kyiv air power integral to modern militaries.
U.S. and Ukrainian officials sharply disagreed at times over strategy, tactics and timing. The Pentagon wanted the assault to begin in mid-April to prevent Russia from continuing to strengthen its lines. The Ukrainians hesitated, insisting they weren’t ready without additional weapons and training.
U.S. military officials were confident that a mechanized frontal attack on Russian lines was feasible with the troops and weapons that Ukraine had. The simulations concluded that Kyiv’s forces, in the best case, could reach the Sea of Azov and cut off Russian troops in the south in 60 to 90 days.
The United States advocated a focused assault along that southern axis, but Ukraine’s leadership believed its forces had to attack at three distinct points along the 600-mile front, southward toward both Melitopol and Berdyansk on the Sea of Azov and east toward the embattled city of Bakhmut.
The U.S. intelligence community had a more downbeat view than the U.S. military, assessing that the offensive had only a 50-50 chance of success given the stout, multilayered defenses Russia had built up over the winter and spring.
Many in Ukraine and the West underestimated Russia’s ability to rebound from battlefield disasters and exploit its perennial strengths: manpower, mines and a willingness to sacrifice lives on a scale that few other countries can countenance.
As the expected launch of the offensive approached, Ukrainian military officials feared they would suffer catastrophic losses — while American officials believed the toll would ultimately be higher without a decisive assault.
Key findings from reporting on the campaign include:
Seventy percent of troops in one of the brigades leading the counteroffensive, and equipped with the newest Western weapons, entered battle with no combat experience.
Ukraine’s setbacks on the battlefield led to rifts with the United States over how best to cut through deep Russian defenses.
The commander of U.S. forces in Europe couldn’t get in touch with Ukraine’s top commander for weeks in the early part of the campaign amid tension over the American’s second-guessing of battlefield decisions.
Each side blamed the other for mistakes or miscalculations. U.S. military officials concluded that Ukraine had fallen short in basic military tactics, including the use of ground reconnaissance to understand the density of minefields. Ukrainian officials said the Americans didn’t seem to comprehend how attack drones and other technology had transformed the battlefield.
In all, Ukraine has retaken only about 200 square miles of territory, at a cost of thousands of dead and wounded and billions in Western military aid in 2023 alone.
All those points played a role.
My personal ones:
Both, the Ukraine and its supporters, systematically underestimated Russian capabilities. (And still do.)
Satellite reconnaissance showed Russian defense preparations on the level of the Battle of Kursk. There the German Wehrmacht, after way too long preparations, failed to break the Russian lines. The unlearned lesson from 1943: When you see defense lines like these, try something else.
Battle simulations and table top war games have a ‘moral factor’ input for each side. Setting your sides’ factor to 10 and the enemy’s factor to 0, as the U.S. and UK obviously did, will let you win every time – but has no relation to reality.
Air support would not have helped. Russian air defenses are too strong to counter it.
The decision to use barely trained, ‘green’ brigades without any fighting experience was a serious error.
Not to use smoke grenades and, in general, means of deception, was not reasonable at all.
To have half of the new troops, the more experienced part, fight Zelenski’s already lost battle for Bakhmut, was a major political mistake.
All together made sure that the so called ‘counter-offensive’ never had a chance to take off. The bickering now is just an attempt to put the blame for the failure onto the other side of the table.
The Ukrainian General Zaluzny has learned from the battle. He now puts up somewhat realistic numbers to let the U.S. understand how small its chances to win really are:
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was informed during a visit to Kyiv that Ukraine needed 17 million rounds of ammunition and that US$ 350-400 billion worth of assets and personnel would be required to liberate the country. … Quote from a senior Defence Forces official: “Austin was told 17 million rounds of ammunition were needed. He was stunned, to put it mildly, because you wouldn’t be able to collect that many rounds in the whole world.”
The Ukrainian army does not have the ten thousands of barrels required to fire 17 million rounds. Nor has it the men to feed those imaginary guns.
Zaluzny obviously thinks that the war is lost and done with. And that it is time for politics that pursue peace:
In addition, according to a source, Austin also said Zaluzhnyi had complained privately to American generals about interference from the President’s Office [..]: “Austin told us privately that Zaluzhnyi was always complaining to his generals about the President’s Office and how it obstructed him. Well, obviously the president learned about those conversations too. And that isn’t conducive to trust.”
However, the President’s Office is inclined to believe that Zaluzhnyi’s dismissal would facilitate his political career.
It is high time for the Biden administration to wrap this whole thing up. Do the usual thing: declare victory, leave and forget-about-it.
When World War 3 Breaks-Out and Arrives HERE in the USA, Liberals, Progressives, Socialists, Marxists, Should be BULL-WHIPPED TO DEATH By Their conquerors
On my radio show tonight, I was asked by a caller what is likely to happen to New England when WW3 Breaks out and all the military-age illegals who are embraced by liberals, take-up arms and attack us? I told him the Liberals should be BULL-WHIPPED TO DEATH because their efforts at Gun-Control have left them unable to defend themselves, and the illegals they embrace, will be their conquerors.
I went on to point out that Liberals, Progressives, Socialists, Marxists and their ilk are too stupid to be considered Americans anyway, so losing them won’t amount to much. The trouble with these dimwits is that they spread their idiocy to others, which will endanger the rest of the country.
Your thoughts about my remarks? Subscribers can offer their thoughts below in the Subscriber comment area.
Be wary of people who try to sell their pity as kindness. They may pretend they feel compassion toward you by supporting you during difficult times, but in reality, all they can offer you is some pity you never asked for.
Hard work will always beat talent. If you are talented at something, you already have a head start in life, but if you never combine it with hard work, you might as well never had it in the first place.
The power of little gestures. Even a little gesture of kindness can make someone’s day more than you can imagine.
The destructive nature of negative words. Whether you want it or not, you end up taking some words to heart automatically, so it’s important not to use words as weapons that can inflict damage on someone.
Sometimes it may seem like life only gets harder. But even then, it’s important not to lose hope for a better future because if you lose hope, you lose everything.
You can’t expect a person to change for you because in most cases, they rather cling to their old ways than find new ones. And maybe you’d not want to change them anyway unless they are a toxic person doing all the wrong things.
It’s better to have no one to depend on rather than being surrounded by fake people who pretend they care for you when in reality they secretly celebrate all your downs in life.
Don’t stay friends with someone who doesn’t know how to be happy for you. They are not your real friend.
You have to leave your comfort zone in the present to secure a comfortable future.
Betraying your intuition means betraying your best interests. When your intuition gives you an awful feeling about something, retreat. It’s like a danger alert that is ingrained in human biology from birth, so it’s important to make use of it by not missing any of those danger alerts.
An ifn’ I don’t…
Magnolia Bar and Grill Crawfish Etouffee
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Ingredients
1 pound cleaned crawfish tails
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
2 thin slices lemon
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon green onion
1 tablespoon parsley
Instructions
Use a saucepan with a tight fitting lid to “Etouffee”.
Season crawfish tails with salt and pepper; set aside.
Melt butter, add chopped onion, and cook over medium heat until onions are tender.
Stir in flour, blend well, and add 3/4 cup water, lemon and tomato paste, and cook slowly for about 20 minutes, and add a little more water occasionally.
When sauce is done, add crawfish tails; cover with lid. Cook for 8 minutes.
Season again, to taste.
Add green onion and parsley; cook 2 minutes longer.
This is the story of a deaf and blind man who decides to fly – alone – across the country to visit his sister.
When he arrives on board, the stewardesses have difficulty communicating with him because although he manages to say a few words here and there, he cannot hear them. To help himself, he touches their face and hand in hopes of understanding their intention, but the task seems difficult.
His neighbor gave up his seat (on the aisle), prepared drinks for him, sugar in coffee, spoon, etc. and led him to the toilet, but it was impossible to communicate with this man.
Then the flight crew had an idea: why not call to see if any of the passengers on board knew sign language?
Here comes this 15 year old girl, she is dyslexic and it was her learning difficulty that made her decide to learn sign language rather than any other:
image 25
Very patiently, the girl began to “sign” each letter against the passenger’s hand, which allowed them to start a conversation.
This teenager did not skimp on making this man’s journey much more pleasant and comfortable than if he had been locked in his solitude.
The passenger who took the photo and witnessed the scene described the moment as very moving and it’s easy to understand why.
TLDR: I was seen totally nude, mid-coitis, by 4 male police officers with guns drawn, shouting “Krystal are you safe? This is the POLICE! Krystal are you ok?” And I am not Krystal. Lol.
I dated (for the brief period of 5 weeks) a very unstable male. I knew at 4 weeks there was no way we would last, he had already become physically violent and had about ten older women believing he was their knight in shining armor, via the internet. He explained that they sent him money, that was why he even talked to them. Gag me with a keyboard, right? He decided to stalk me after I ended things. Fast forward a few months. I was getting to know a different male, and we decided to get physical, but in a non-violent manner, if you catch my drift. Right in the heat of the moment I hear the back door of the house being violently kicked open. Followed by shouts of “Krystal are you safe? POLICE!! Krystal, are you ok?” Then the bedroom door opened and 4 male police officers with guns drawn burst through the doorway. My name is not Krystal, my roommate (who was out of town) is Krystal.. I hastily climbed off of my guest and threw on a large hoodie then ushered the officers out of the house. Turns out my stalker ex had called the police pretending to be the next door neighbor, claiming it sounded as if a violent altercation was taking place and they were worried their dear neighbor Krystal was being murdered. He actually (convincingly) made his voice sound like a little old lady. Just in case it wasn’t known, the cops are able to see what number a call is made from even when the person tries to hide it with an app like TextNow. They told me the # that had made the call and I was able to show them it was in fact my ex’s phone number. One of the officers saw the blip of a text message while I was showing them that it was his number and asked to see the conversation. All of this while wearing a hooded sweatshirt that came down to my mid-thigh. Needless to say they went and arrested him for calling in a fake emergency, stalking, threatening to cause bodily harm (the messages said that he was going to dismember me after strangling me) and a few other charges like harassment.
When i took 8 Valium on top of the 6 i took earlier in the day, then realized a half a bottle of whiskey might not be enough. When i woke up the next morning(??) on the kitchen floor soaking wet and covered with mud, i asked my wife what had happened. She told me that i passed out outside, then it started to rain. She couldn’t lift me, so she “coached me” for half an hour getting me inside and up 5 stairs. That night- i did it again until eventually i made it to a detox/rehab where i was placed on a 17 day Valium taper. I was later informed it was their longest ever. I called my wife after a week(??) or so and told her to throw out the weed i was saving that knew i was gonna need after getting out of rehab. I had terrible tinnitus and shook horribly for months afterwards. It’s probably not the worst. Other people’s stories may be far worse but, well, you asked. P.S. I’ve beeb clean and sober ever since-almost 7 years now. Thanks God, for being there for me, whether i wanted you or not.
Be willing to let some parts of you die. Not all of you is perfect and you know it better than anyone else. So don’t be afraid to let some of it go. After all, that’s what personal growth is all about.
Don’t run away from yourself. This means facing your trauma(s), mistakes, and bad life decisions, no matter how unbearable it feels.
Don’t suppress your negative thoughts and emotions. You don’t have to act on them but you need to acknowledge them lest they turn into an unruly beast ready to devour you any second.
Come to terms with the fact that life is meant to be difficult. It’s a default setting you can’t change. The only thing you can do is to cope with it to the best of your abilities.
Keep in mind that suffering is cruel, yet a necessary teacher of life that can make you stronger and wiser.
Try not to stress about the things you can’t change. It will disrupt both your physical health and peace of mind.
Know when to share your burdens with others. It’s admirable to take care of things on your own, but it’s just as important to open up to those you trust when life gets too much.
Treat yourself with the same compassion you treat others. If you are nice and understanding toward your loved ones, you have no reason to treat yourself any differently.
Avoid whining. It’s alright to complain every once in a while but doing so constantly will fill your mind with negativity you can’t shake and make you feel miserable.
Remember that there’s more to life than being constantly happy. And you’d not want to be constantly happy anyway because you’d start taking happiness for granted. Your life would also become dull and uneventful, living like a character in one of those imaginary, utopian lands where everything is perfect all the time.
I worked as a courier for about 9 years. During that time, I never made more than $20,000 a year. More like I averaged around $18K.
A lot of my courier brothers were supporting families on that sort of income and they qualified for SNAP and some other food stamp like benefits.
Occasionally, they would save their nickels and then buy steaks and all the fixings for their family. Not often, but maybe every other Blue Moon they would do something nice for dinner.
These guys busted their asses 10–12 hours a day with no benefits, no Healthcare, no retirement and no paid holidays. They worked in the rain, in the cold and snow, they worked in ice storms and 115degF heat.
So what do I think about them using their hoarded nickels to buy a Lobster or some good Crab for the family once in a while? I think it’s none of your fucking business.
A guy I worked with back in the mid 80’s, had a reputation as a bit of a fantasist. He was a large, very over weight, half Chinese guy, figure like a sumo wrestler. Said he was a karate instructor, played drums in a band amongst a lot of other ourlandish claims. Said his dad was a friend of the Kays, and was the last man sentenced to hang in England. He was late to work a lot and always had the oddest excuses. One week he was late every day because, he said, the papers kept sending reporters around to interview him, because they were making a documentry about his dad. Every one chuckled about that one. Then a few weeks later, I was watching TV, and it was about this guy who had murdered someone. I had missed the beginning. This bit showed the mans wife visiting him in prison. She was Chinese, and had her little chubby boy with her. I looked the program up the the TV guide and yes, it was about his dad. A few weeks later I was at a school fete and he was there, with his karate pupils doing a demonstration, and later on his band played
Oct 7 ‘Disinfo’ Org Founded By Top Jewish Lobbyists – Full Scale Propaganda Effort
The largest Jewish Groups are forming what they call the Oct 7 ‘Disinfo’ Organization, to spin the events of that day, and shape the narrative. Even casual observers are calling this a full scale propaganda effort.
The most powerful Jewish interest groups in the US have gotten together to form the 10/7 Project – an effort to combat “Jewish hate in America and the world” and to dispel “myths” about the day’s events.
The organization will fund a centralized communications operation to feed mainstream newsrooms with ‘fact-based information’ about the war, and will also release a daily newsletter to inform news outlets what is being ‘underreported.’
It will be the biggest unified effort from the Jewish lobby in recent memory, with the American Jewish Committee (AJC), The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish organizations working together.
Of course there are. But these people are weeded out by merciless competition.
The ones that rise are tested every step of the way, and only the best survive the climb.
That’s what competition looks like in a 1.4b society.
Chinese politicians who attend the Two Sessions are not chosen because they’re tall, good-looking or give nice speeches. They are chosen for exceptional performance over the sum total of their careers. Each person wields considerable influence or power in their professional or personal capacity. That’s why they are selected as the people’s representatives. Selection is largely immune from the influence of money.
Who Is Really Behind The Mass Slaughter In Gaza?
Who is really behind the Israeli mass slaughter of the people of Gaza?
Israel’s dependence on the United States was stated bluntly by retired IDF Maj. General Yitzhak Brick in an interview earlier this week.
“All of our missiles, the ammunition, the precision-guided bombs, all the airplanes and bombs, it’s all from the U.S. The minute they turn off the tap, you can’t keep fighting. You have no capability. … Everyone understands that we can’t fight this war without the United States. Period.”
The list of jobs is endless, I am not sure that all of them were professions. 40 years ago, I read an article about buying stocks, and it said buy quality, but understand the changes in the market. They talked about something that had happened 40 before I was born. Evidently a well known banker and investor said, that it wouldn’t hurt to buy a little stock in these new fangled automobiles, but keep the majority of your money, in something solid, like a good buggy whip manufacturing company. Fads will come and go, but you will always need a good buggy whip. He said that because buggy whips had been made for two thousand years, and it wasn’t going to change.
In my life time I saw the job of tinker disappear, he was someone, who could fix anything, if your glasses broke, if your electric frying pan broke, he could fix it. If you wore a hole in a pot, he would braze it, often they came door to door. We had door to door Fuller brush salesmen, sold brushes door to door. Milkmen delivered dairy products door to door. The bread man delivered baked goods door to door. Their used to be commercials for the Maytag repairman, and now its thrown out when broken.
Our little town still had a livery service when I was a kid, they looked after your horses when you came to town, but by my time, they mostly stored cars.
Movie theater usher, who would bring you in and show you your seat. Elevator operators, I always thought it was such a cool job. You closed an accordion door, then closed the outer door, then shifted the lever to up or down, and stopped it when it reached the floor you wanted. Sometimes requiring some fine tuning.
I had a girlfriend who was telephone operator. There used to be girls that would wander around night clubs, selling cigarettes and matches. Hat check girls.
Brake men in the caboose of a train.
Dragline operator.
Signal men, telegram and telegraph operators at train stations.
Telex operators.
Gestetner repair men.
I can see just as many jobs disappearing in the next 20 years as disappeared in the last 60 years, as self driving cars and trucks become main stream, as digital finishes wiping out paper, as online services and stores replace brick and mortar. Etc.
This happened about 15 years ago. My then partner came home from work very upset. Somewhere that day he had lost one of a pair of distinctive silver cuff links that I had gifted him for his birthday.
Probably a month later I was out in my car, driving an unfamiliar route in the countryside, when I noticed my fuel gauge flashing. I resolved to stop at the next fuel station which turned out to be in a small village. I pulled up at one of the three pumps and got out of my car to fill it. As I walked around to the side of my car with the fuel cap something caught my eye on the ground. Embedded in the top tarmac surface was something silver and shiny. I bent down to inspect it further and couldn’t believe it when I identified the item as a cuff link. Not just any old cuff link but THE lost silver cuff link. I used my car key to gently ease it out of the tarmac. Amazingly, it was undamaged.
That evening I asked my partner if he knew of the little village. He did recall he’d driven that route to a business meeting some weeks before. ‘And you filled your car at the petrol station?’ I asked. ‘’How did you know?’ he asked. I laughed as I handed him his missing cuff link.
I still can’t believe this incredible coincidence. I must’ve ‘guided’ to its location by an unknown force. It still weirds me out.
Until I retired I was a Plumber for fifty years. On this particular occasion I was working with a builder repairing the lead flashing around a chimney at the local church hall. To do the job safely we had set up a scaffolding that blocked the entry to the car park, but this should not have been a problem because the Church Commissioners had told us the church was waiting for the new vicar and no functions had been booked at the church hall.
We were working about 20 feet above the ground when a voice from below shouted “ Hey you!” I looked down to see a man in a grey suit and white dog collar. “Yes you!” he continued, “I have a Bible study class in twenty minutes and no one can get into the car park!”
I was surprised by his rather rude and aggressive tone but politely replied “I’m sorry, but we were told the church has no vicar and that there was nothing in the diary.”
“Well, there obviously is and you are blocking access to it. If you do not remove this scaffolding immediately I shall report you to your employers!” he shouted back.
It was then that I had a stoke of genius and replied. “ Very Christian of you sir.”
That immediately took the wind out of his sails and after a moment or two he replied, “Ahem, perhaps I was a trifle too hasty, carry on gentlemen.”
A guest came to stay for Thanksgiving, I had warned we had cats and dogs. They came anyway. They went to unpack in our guest bedroom. Half a hour later the husband came to me and said there was an issue. They had stripped the sheets off the beds and scrapped the mattress. Horror of horror there was cat fur. I immediately said” oh my, you can’t stay here, perhaps you should go to a hotel.” They did. As they are relatives we are civil but they are not invited to stay anymore.
The thing is, I knew the wife wanted to make trouble, I refused to fight and stayed calm. She didn’t win, I did.
Let me take this out of your hypothetical nonsense, and make it real. During the 1990’s I was a professional clown. I did birthday parties, wedding receptions, school shows, store promotions, holiday parties, company picnics – you name it, Violet P. Lavender was there. I even had several client families, where I would come celebrate the same child’s birthday three or four years in a row.
In one of those client families, there was an adorable little girl (I’ll call her Emily for this story). I met her at a cousin’s birthday party, and then was at her 4th birthday. I was happy to be at her 5th birthday as well. Because she lived in an area where Violet was very popular, Emily saw Violet four or five times during the year, in addition to her own birthday. That particular cluster of families really kept me on my toes, because I had to constantly rework my show, since all the kids saw me so often!
One day, I got a call asking me to come visit Emily, it was months too early for her 6th birthday – and to please come to the Children’s Hospital. I had a habit of visiting the hospital whenever I had free time between shows. This was the first time I was asked to come for a specific child.
When Violet arrived, Emily had been put into a private room. I was met in the hall, and warned that she was very weak and was quite fragile. They told me she did not know she was dying.
So, into that antiseptic, mostly white room filled with machines sailed Violet P Lavender. A totally Purple Person, with balloons and magic and fun! Emily smiled and clapped and used her precious energy to laugh. Only two visitors were allowed in the room at a time, so it was just me, Emily and one of her parents, with everyone else watching through the glass wall.
I stayed for only about 20 minutes. While I was saying goodbye, she took my hand and asked the hardest question… “Violet, will I ever see you again?”
I did what anyone in that position would do – I lied. I smiled at her and said “Of course you will! I’m going to be at your 6th Birthday Party!” That beautiful child shook her head sadly and gently told me, “Violet, I’m sorry. I’m not going to have any more birthday parties. I meant, will I see you again, in heaven?”
So much for her not knowing! Her mother bolted from the room, leaving me ‘alone’ to face that horrible truth with her.
So what does the atheist in a clown suit say to a child who wants to talk about heaven, as she lay dying?
I asked her “What do you think heaven is like?” She didn’t know, but she was scared that she would be all alone “up there” in a big house, with no one to talk to ever again.
Now, why would she think that? It seems some well meaning idiot had told her that God had prepared a Mansion just for her, in Heaven, and that she would be going there soon. And a Mansion was described to her as “a big house” … just for her! She was scared by the idea, and she did not want to go, but she couldn’t ask her mommy or daddy about it because (and she whispered this) “they don’t know I’m dying.”
So I laughed and told Emily that of COURSE she was not going to be alone! Her house was going to be on a street with lots of other kids, and right next to her street is the street where all the CLOWNS LIVE! And right past that is a big park where all the puppies and kittens play! (That made her smile.)
“Will you be there too, Violet?” Stubborn child! She wasn’t going to let it go! I told her I wouldn’t be there for a long time, but I had friends there, and she could tell them she knows me. Also, in her house there is a magic TV that she can use to watch over her friends and family who are still alive, while she is waiting for us to all join her. So she could watch me and her Mom and Dad and anybody else she wanted, any time she felt like!
She was relieved. She said she wasn’t scared anymore. Then reminded me not to say anything to her parents, because they are already so worried about her being sick, she didn’t want them to get sad about her dying.
I made it out of the room and into a nurse’s station before I started crying.
Violet did attend her next ‘party’ … I made sure her parents were ok with it, and Violet came to the funeral with a huge bunch of bright balloons, to say goodbye.
So the answer to your silly hypothetical question is – in REAL LIFE, you tell that child whatever you can so that they are not afraid and give them comfort.
ANY OTHER ANSWER regardless of your personal belief in an invisible guy building fancy houses in the sky is wrong.
The emotional well being of a dying child is more important than any religious or philosophical argument you could make.
1. Instead of responding immediately after someone says something to you. Wait a couple of second. This makes them feel like you’re really thinking about what you’re going to reply. And it makes you seem like a better listener. ( Don’t over do it ).
2. In a conversation, when someone is talking, nod your head in affirmation.
This will do so many things to their brain. First of all, it will give them that feeling of validation. It will make them feel like you’re truly listening to them and it is that feeling of validation that we search for unconsciously, that we got from our mom, and we’re searching in our partner, we’re searching in other people. So it becomes really addictive when you do this, and you make people feel validated.
3. When you’re talking to someone, always show the palms of your hands. This communicates to their subconscious mind that you have nothing to hide, that you are open, that they can trust you and you are their friend.
4. When you talk to someone try to match your body language and talk at the same volume and speed as they are.
This will tell subconscious mind that you are like them and they will trust you more
5. Ask people for their advice. Making them feel like their opinion matters. According to reasearch done by Katie Liljenquist makes them form a commitment to you and makes them like you more.
Example:
“What do you think I should order?”
“I think you should get the vegan burger, it’s really good”
A younger friend of my grandmother once said something that made her as angry as I have ever seen her. The 35-year-old was trying to stress the fact that her challenges and worries were different from those of a 75-year-old. She had in mind that some of life’s problems are over by the time you are 75, which may be true. But she said it in a terrible way.
You’ve lived your life.
Don’t make this mistake. Life can be just as sweet no matter how many birthdays you’ve had. And there is no age at which life’s failure to be sweet on any given day is not painful.
The 80- or 90-year-old has not “lived their life.” They are in the process of living it, just as you are.
OMG!
Ukraine Presidential Advisor: “The West Came to this war with no pants on”
The Emperor is naked . . . or so we now hear from the former Aide to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenski. Alexy Arestovich tells media outlets now that “The West came to war with its pants down” when it dealt with the Russian Army entry into Ukraine.
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Commenting to media outlets, Arestovich pointed out “The Americans cannot produce a million shells a year, and North Korea can. What kind of war and victory are we talking about, what boundaries of 1991?”
Of course, when he speaks of the “Boundaries of 1991” he is referring to the then-break-up of the former Soviet Union and the “Boundaries” for NATO that were agreed-to by then US President George HW Bush. It was then Secretary of States James Baker who agreed, at a meeting, in the Kremlin in Moscow, with then Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev and then Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevrednadze, that NATO “will not move one inch eastward of the Elbe (River) in Germany.”
Of course, history shows that when Bush Sr. left office, and Bill Clinton came in as US President, that NATO boundary promise went right out the window. The map below shows NATO Expansion from 1949, and points out who was in and who was not in 1990 when Bush promised Gorbachev “not one inch eastward:
Yet, as shown by the countries imaged in purple, that promise to the Soviets went right out the window in the late 1990’s under then-President Bill Clinton.
Here’s how it went:
U.S. Secretary of State James Baker’s famous “not one inch eastward” assurance about NATO expansion in his meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on February 9, 1990, was part of a cascade of assurances about Soviet security given by Western leaders to Gorbachev and other Soviet officials throughout the process of German unification in 1990 and on into 1991, according to declassified U.S., Soviet, German, British and French documents posted today by the National Security Archive at George Washington University (http://nsarchive.gwu.edu).
The documents show that multiple national leaders were considering and rejecting Central and Eastern European membership in NATO as of early 1990 and through 1991, that discussions of NATO in the context of German unification negotiations in 1990 were not at all narrowly limited to the status of East German territory, and that subsequent Soviet and Russian complaints about being misled about NATO expansion were founded in written contemporaneous memcons and telcons at the highest levels.
The documents reinforce former CIA Director Robert Gates’s criticism of “pressing ahead with expansion of NATO eastward [in the 1990s], when Gorbachev and others were led to believe that wouldn’t happen.”[1] The key phrase, buttressed by the documents, is “led to believe.”
President George H.W. Bush had assured Gorbachev during the Malta summit in December 1989 that the U.S. would not take advantage (“I have not jumped up and down on the Berlin Wall”) of the revolutions in Eastern Europe to harm Soviet interests; but neither Bush nor Gorbachev at that point (or for that matter, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl) expected so soon the collapse of East Germany or the speed of German unification.[2]
The first concrete assurances by Western leaders on NATO began on January 31, 1990, when West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher opened the bidding with a major public speech at Tutzing, in Bavaria, on German unification. The U.S. Embassy in Bonn (see Document 1) informed Washington that Genscher made clear “that the changes in Eastern Europe and the German unification process must not lead to an ‘impairment of Soviet security interests.’ Therefore, NATO should rule out an ‘expansion of its territory towards the east, i.e. moving it closer to the Soviet borders.’” The Bonn cable also noted Genscher’s proposal to leave the East German territory out of NATO military structures even in a unified Germany in NATO.[3]
This latter idea of special status for the GDR territory was codified in the final German unification treaty signed on September 12, 1990, by the Two-Plus-Four foreign ministers (see Document 25). The former idea about “closer to the Soviet borders” is written down not in treaties but in multiple memoranda of conversation between the Soviets and the highest-level Western interlocutors (Genscher, Kohl, Baker, Gates, Bush, Mitterrand, Thatcher, Major, Woerner, and others) offering assurances throughout 1990 and into 1991 about protecting Soviet security interests and including the USSR in new European security structures. The two issues were related but not the same. Subsequent analysis sometimes conflated the two and argued that the discussion did not involve all of Europe. The documents published below show clearly that it did.
The “Tutzing formula” immediately became the center of a flurry of important diplomatic discussions over the next 10 days in 1990, leading to the crucial February 10, 1990, meeting in Moscow between Kohl and Gorbachev when the West German leader achieved Soviet assent in principle to German unification in NATO, as long as NATO did not expand to the east. The Soviets would need much more time to work with their domestic opinion (and financial aid from the West Germans) before formally signing the deal in September 1990.
The conversations before Kohl’s assurance involved explicit discussion of NATO expansion, the Central and East European countries, and how to convince the Soviets to accept unification. For example, on February 6, 1990, when Genscher met with British Foreign Minister Douglas Hurd, the British record showed Genscher saying, “The Russians must have some assurance that if, for example, the Polish Government left the Warsaw Pact one day, they would not join NATO the next.” (See Document 2)
Having met with Genscher on his way into discussions with the Soviets, Baker repeated exactly the Genscher formulation in his meeting with Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze on February 9, 1990, (see Document 4); and even more importantly, face to face with Gorbachev.
Not once, but three times, Baker tried out the “not one inch eastward” formula with Gorbachev in the February 9, 1990, meeting. He agreed with Gorbachev’s statement in response to the assurances that “NATO expansion is unacceptable.” Baker assured Gorbachev that “neither the President nor I intend to extract any unilateral advantages from the processes that are taking place,” and that the Americans understood that “not only for the Soviet Union but for other European countries as well it is important to have guarantees that if the United States keeps its presence in Germany within the framework of NATO, not an inch of NATO’s present military jurisdiction will spread in an eastern direction.” (See Document 6)
Afterwards, Baker wrote to Helmut Kohl who would meet with the Soviet leader on the next day, with much of the very same language. Baker reported: “And then I put the following question to him [Gorbachev]. Would you prefer to see a united Germany outside of NATO, independent and with no U.S. forces or would you prefer a unified Germany to be tied to NATO, with assurances that NATO’s jurisdiction would not shift one inch eastward from its present position? He answered that the Soviet leadership was giving real thought to all such options [….] He then added, ‘Certainly any extension of the zone of NATO would be unacceptable.’” Baker added in parentheses, for Kohl’s benefit, “By implication, NATO in its current zone might be acceptable.” (See Document 8)
Well-briefed by the American secretary of state, the West German chancellor understood a key Soviet bottom line, and assured Gorbachev on February 10, 1990: “We believe that NATO should not expand the sphere of its activity.” (See Document 9) After this meeting, Kohl could hardly contain his excitement at Gorbachev’s agreement in principle for German unification and, as part of the Helsinki formula that states choose their own alliances, so Germany could choose NATO. Kohl described in his memoirs walking all night around Moscow – but still understanding there was a price still to pay.
All the Western foreign ministers were on board with Genscher, Kohl, and Baker. Next came the British foreign minister, Douglas Hurd, on April 11, 1990. At this point, the East Germans had voted overwhelmingly for the deutschmark and for rapid unification, in the March 18 elections in which Kohl had surprised almost all observers with a real victory. Kohl’s analyses (first explained to Bush on December 3, 1989) that the GDR’s collapse would open all possibilities, that he had to run to get to the head of the train, that he needed U.S. backing, that unification could happen faster than anyone thought possible – all turned out to be correct. Monetary union would proceed as early as July and the assurances about security kept coming. Hurd reinforced the Baker-Genscher-Kohl message in his meeting with Gorbachev in Moscow, April 11, 1990, saying that Britain clearly “recognized the importance of doing nothing to prejudice Soviet interests and dignity.” (See Document 15)
The Baker conversation with Shevardnadze on May 4, 1990, as Baker described it in his own report to President Bush, most eloquently described what Western leaders were telling Gorbachev exactly at the moment: “I used your speech and our recognition of the need to adapt NATO, politically and militarily, and to develop CSCE to reassure Shevardnadze that the process would not yield winners and losers. Instead, it would produce a new legitimate European structure – one that would be inclusive, not exclusive.” (See Document 17)
Baker said it again, directly to Gorbachev on May 18, 1990 in Moscow, giving Gorbachev his “nine points,” which included the transformation of NATO, strengthening European structures, keeping Germany non-nuclear, and taking Soviet security interests into account. Baker started off his remarks, “Before saying a few words about the German issue, I wanted to emphasize that our policies are not aimed at separating Eastern Europe from the Soviet Union. We had that policy before. But today we are interested in building a stable Europe, and doing it together with you.” (See Document 18)
The French leader Francois Mitterrand was not in a mind-meld with the Americans, quite the contrary, as evidenced by his telling Gorbachev in Moscow on May 25, 1990, that he was “personally in favor of gradually dismantling the military blocs”; but Mitterrand continued the cascade of assurances by saying the West must “create security conditions for you, as well as European security as a whole.” (See Document 19) Mitterrand immediately wrote Bush in a “cher George” letter about his conversation with the Soviet leader, that “we would certainly not refuse to detail the guarantees that he would have a right to expect for his country’s security.” (See Document 20)
At the Washington summit on May 31, 1990, Bush went out of his way to assure Gorbachev that Germany in NATO would never be directed at the USSR: “Believe me, we are not pushing Germany towards unification, and it is not us who determines the pace of this process. And of course, we have no intention, even in our thoughts, to harm the Soviet Union in any fashion. That is why we are speaking in favor of German unification in NATO without ignoring the wider context of the CSCE, taking the traditional economic ties between the two German states into consideration. Such a model, in our view, corresponds to the Soviet interests as well.” (See Document 21)
The “Iron Lady” also pitched in, after the Washington summit, in her meeting with Gorbachev in London on June 8, 1990. Thatcher anticipated the moves the Americans (with her support) would take in the early July NATO conference to support Gorbachev with descriptions of the transformation of NATO towards a more political, less militarily threatening, alliance. She said to Gorbachev: “We must find ways to give the Soviet Union confidence that its security would be assured…. CSCE could be an umbrella for all this, as well as being the forum which brought the Soviet Union fully into discussion about the future of Europe.” (See Document 22)
The NATO London Declaration on July 5, 1990 had quite a positive effect on deliberations in Moscow, according to most accounts, giving Gorbachev significant ammunition to counter his hardliners at the Party Congress which was taking place at that moment. Some versions of this history assert that an advance copy was provided to Shevardnadze’s aides, while others describe just an alert that allowed those aides to take the wire service copy and produce a Soviet positive assessment before the military or hardliners could call it propaganda.
As Kohl said to Gorbachev in Moscow on July 15, 1990, as they worked out the final deal on German unification: “We know what awaits NATO in the future, and I think you are now in the know as well,” referring to the NATO London Declaration. (See Document 23)
In his phone call to Gorbachev on July 17, Bush meant to reinforce the success of the Kohl-Gorbachev talks and the message of the London Declaration. Bush explained: “So what we tried to do was to take account of your concerns expressed to me and others, and we did it in the following ways: by our joint declaration on non-aggression; in our invitation to you to come to NATO; in our agreement to open NATO to regular diplomatic contact with your government and those of the Eastern European countries; and our offer on assurances on the future size of the armed forces of a united Germany – an issue I know you discussed with Helmut Kohl. We also fundamentally changed our military approach on conventional and nuclear forces. We conveyed the idea of an expanded, stronger CSCE with new institutions in which the USSR can share and be part of the new Europe.” (See Document 24)
The documents show that Gorbachev agreed to German unification in NATO as the result of this cascade of assurances, and on the basis of his own analysis that the future of the Soviet Union depended on its integration into Europe, for which Germany would be the decisive actor. He and most of his allies believed that some version of the common European home was still possible and would develop alongside the transformation of NATO to lead to a more inclusive and integrated European space, that the post-Cold War settlement would take account of the Soviet security interests. The alliance with Germany would not only overcome the Cold War but also turn on its head the legacy of the Great Patriotic War.
But inside the U.S. government, a different discussion continued, a debate about relations between NATO and Eastern Europe. Opinions differed, but the suggestion from the Defense Department as of October 25, 1990 was to leave “the door ajar” for East European membership in NATO. (See Document 27) The view of the State Department was that NATO expansion was not on the agenda, because it was not in the interest of the U.S. to organize “an anti-Soviet coalition” that extended to the Soviet borders, not least because it might reverse the positive trends in the Soviet Union. (See Document 26) The Bush administration took the latter view. And that’s what the Soviets heard.
As late as March 1991, according to the diary of the British ambassador to Moscow, British Prime Minister John Major personally assured Gorbachev, “We are not talking about the strengthening of NATO.” Subsequently, when Soviet defense minister Marshal Dmitri Yazov asked Major about East European leaders’ interest in NATO membership, the British leader responded, “Nothing of the sort will happen.” (See Document 28)
When Russian Supreme Soviet deputies came to Brussels to see NATO and meet with NATO secretary-general Manfred Woerner in July 1991, Woerner told the Russians that “We should not allow […] the isolation of the USSR from the European community.” According to the Russian memorandum of conversation, “Woerner stressed that the NATO Council and he are against the expansion of NATO (13 of 16 NATO members support this point of view).” (See Document 30)
Thus, Gorbachev went to the end of the Soviet Union assured that the West was not threatening his security and was not expanding NATO. Instead, the dissolution of the USSR was brought about by Russians (Boris Yeltsin and his leading advisory Gennady Burbulis) in concert with the former party bosses of the Soviet republics, especially Ukraine, in December 1991. The Cold War was long over by then. The Americans had tried to keep the Soviet Union together (see the Bush “Chicken Kiev” speech on August 1, 1991). NATO’s expansion was years in the future, when these disputes would erupt again, and more assurances would come to Russian leader Boris Yeltsin.
When the US and EU/NATO tried to expand once again by admitting Ukraine, Russia’s financial and military condition was far improved, and the Russian’s had enough of our perceived lies about NATO Expansion.
Russia told the West that Ukraine could NOT enter NATO, because Russia knew they were planning on placing US Missile defenses on Ukraine soil. Those missiles would have about a five minute flight time to Moscow, which no country on earth could defend against.
Russia pointed out that the conventional warheads on US missile defenses were of a type that could be “switched-out” with a NUCLEAR warhead. This change could be done in about 90 minutes, and no one would even know about it.
That would put Moscow within 5 minutes of nuclear annihilation, and Russia would not tolerate it. Russia made it explicitly clear they viewed Ukraine’s entry into NATO as an “existential threat” and they would use military power to stop it if they had to. No one in the West took them seriously.
The West apparently doesn’t teach actual history to its military and political class anymore, because folks in the US under Joe Biden continued to press for Ukraine’s entry into NATO. No one in the Biden regime realized that Russia meant business on this issue, and ALL of them were . . . . SHOCKED . . . . when Russian troops crossed into Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
(HT REMARKS:Older guys like me, who have a memory that actually works, knew full well the Russian’s were going to do this; they HAD TO. It literally is a matter of survival for Russia, given the vast expansion of NATO during the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. I knew it was coming. I said so on my radio show in the weeks leading-up to the entry. I told my audience we were breaking our word and we had to stop. I told my audience this could result in World War 3 and the Russians were serious about this. No one – at least in government — listened.)
Fast-Forward to December of 2023, and former Aid TO President Zelensky now says “The West came to the war with his pants down, he turned out to be a naked king, he will not be able to win this war.
I see fewer and fewer chances for the West to win in a clash with the global South and East.”
He’s right.
But the people running the US government and military, are so ignorant of history, so arrogant in their erroneous beliefs about the Russian Army, none of them saw this coming. None of them ever expected to lose a war with Russia, and THAT is exactly, precisely, what is actually happening right now in Ukraine. Ukraine is losing and will lose. Period. Full stop.
All because the US EU and NATO install people into powerful positions who are either ignorant of history, or whose word means nothing. I suspect– it’s both.
Thanks to those people, half a million Ukrainians are now dead. A smaller number of Russians are also dead. And for what? NONE of this, had to be.
Had we honored our word, none of this would have happened.
I had a girlfriend that hit me all the time. I thought she was just being playful, until she snapped and said, why can’t I hurt you. Up until then, I thought we were just playing. I am 6′1″ 200 lbs, she was 5′1″ 100 lbs.
If you can’t tell that it was supposed to be painful, then you know how lopsided punching her back would be.
After we broke up, there were rumours that her new boyfriend was beating her. He was 5′6″ 140 lbs.
She asked me if I remembered her hitting me, I said I did, she replied, well he hits back.
So, if you can escape without being hurt, then you shouldn’t punch anyone, but if you need to punch someone in self defense, then you do what you have to do.
Simpsons Predictions For 2024 Are Insane
LOL.
Magnolia’s Spicy Shrimp, Sausage and Tasso Gravy over Creamy White Grits
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Ingredients
Creamy White Grits
12 cups chicken broth
4 1/2 cups coarse stone-ground white grits
1 cup heavy cream
Salt and white pepper to taste
Tasso Gravy
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sliced Tasso, cut in 1-inch strips
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
Salt and white pepper to taste
Shrimp and Sausage
1/2 pound spicy Italian sausage (3/4 pound of raw)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 pounds medium or large peeled and deveined shrimp*
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 recipe Tasso Gravy
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
Instructions
Creamy White Grits
Bring the chicken broth to a boil in a heavy-bottomed stockpot or large saucepan. Slowly pour in the grits, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to low and continue to stir so that the grits do not settle to the bottom and scorch. In about 5 minutes, the grits will plump up and become a thick mass.
Continue to cook the grits for about 20 to 25 minutes, stirring frequently. The grits should have absorbed all of the chicken stock and become soft. Stir in heavy cream and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring frequently. The grits should have a thick consistency and be creamy like oatmeal. Season to taste with salt and white pepper. Keep warm over low heat until ready to serve. If the grits become too thick, add warm chicken broth or water to thin them down.
Tasso Gravy
Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over low heat. Add the Tasso. Sauté for 1 minute, browning slightly. Make a roux by adding the flour and stirring until well combined. Continue to cook over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently until the roux develops a nutty aroma.
Turn the heat up to medium and gradually add 2 cups of the chicken broth, stirring vigorously. Keep stirring constantly until the broth thickens into gravy. Reduce the heat and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes to cook out the starchy flavor. Add the parsley. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Shrimp and Sausage
Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
To cook Italian sausage: Place the Italian sausage on a baking sheet with raised sides. Place on the top rack of the 400 degrees F oven and bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until the sausage is firm and its juices run clear. Cool and cut into small bite-size pieces.
Heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottom frying pan over medium heat. Add the precooked sausage and sauté for 2 minutes to brown slightly. Add the shrimp and sauté until they begin to turn pink-no longer than 1 minute. Add 1 cup of the chicken broth to deglaze the pan. Add the Tasso Gravy and one tablespoon of the parsley. Bring up to a boil and let simmer for 1 minute. The last 1/2 cup of chicken stock is to be used to thin the gravy if needed.
Divide the hot grits between 8 warm bowls. Spoon the shrimp, sausage mixture over the grits. Sprinkle with the remaining tablespoon of parsley and serve immediately.
Notes
* If using large shrimp, allow 6 per person; for medium sized shrimp, 8 to 10 shrimp.
Attribution
Source: magnolias-blossom.com – Magnolia’s, Charleston, South Carolina
A family friend who worked as an FBI agent was about to get married in the early 1970s. Shortly before the wedding, he got a memo from the Director’s office, signed by J. Edgar Hoover himself, pointing out a policy to the effect that agents needed permission to tie the knot, and that he hadn’t received it.
His intended was Black (he’s white), and the Director wasn’t cool with interracial marriage.
He married her anyway, and they stayed together until death did they part half a century later.
They framed the Director’s letter and hung it on a wall in their residence.
While working at a dealership in Arizona, I was doing a LOF on a late model Nissan, and got to checking the air filter as part of my routine workup on the vehicle. I popped the top of the air box, and casually lifted the filter out, and promptly slammed the air filter back in and closed the lid. I took a breath, walked over to my service manager, and told him that we needed to call pest control.
When the pest control tech arrived, he put on heavy gloves, and carefully removed a mama Western diamondback rattler and six of her babies, all alive and well in the air box. The customer mentioned that her car had recently sat for a few weeks while she was away on business. She politely apologized to me for the snake incident, gave me a nice tip (to cover my new boxers, presumably!), Paid for the pest control visit, and left.
To top this off, the next time she came in, she requested me. When I popped the hood, I was greeted by !!! Another snake! Thankfully, this time, it was rubber. Inside the air box (I was VERY cautious lifting the air filter out this time!), taped under the lid was a $20 bill with “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself!” written on it. Probably one of my favorite customers ever! She gave me a hug after I came in with a sheepish smile after I finished the oil change. I hope she’s still messing with people 🙂
“Dear teacher, I apologize to the bully for his attacking me and forcing me to have to defend myself. I promise that if he attacks me again I will defend myself to the best of my ability..I realize that the school supports his behavior and wishes us to submit to being bullied, punched hit,kicked and ridiculed. I apologize to you and the school staff, for not being a submissive punching bag as you seem to want me to be.
sincerely,
(name).
EDIT
seems a popular post. I am guessing the problem is widespread.
Keep in mind that you are looking at someone who’s already at the top of the mountain. That is to say, you don’t know the effort and time they had to put into to get where they are right now. And how many mistakes and slips they had to endure to reach that peak.
Remind yourself that the only person you should race against is yourself. It sounds easier said than done, but keep practicing and you’ll soon realize it’s not as difficult as you initially thought it was.
Throw out all the comparisons out of the window. It tends to aggravate your envy even more. Instead, focus on what you can do to get your fair share of success as well.
Don’t become resentful toward life or people who seem to have it all. Because if you do, that resentment will start living inside your mind rent-free, for your entire life.
Be grateful that nothing is over yet. As long as you are still breathing, you have a chance to change something for the better. Everyone takes things at their own pace, so don’t put yourself down just because you fell behind in the race. We can’t all be Usain Bolts, after all. So stick to the pace you are comfortable with and take occasional breaks if you have to. And once you feel rested, keep moving because, in the end, it’ll be worth it.
I was sitting on a bench outside a hotel in DC near the valet desk. I admit I wasn’t exactly dressed for style.
Lady imperiously demands I get her car and I tell her I don’t work there. She sniffs at me and scolds me for being a useless bum, a blight on humanity and if she had her way we’d be rounded up and put on press gangs to clean the streets.
About then the valet pulls up with my car, a late model BMW convertible. She started to say “that’s not my car” when I tipped the valet and drove off.
A coworker went to a local bar after work where a group from the office was going to meet up. It was a Friday so no work the next day.
He woke up in a strange bed at an apartment complex. He couldn’t find his clothes, car keys, wallet. He called another coworker to come get him. He had to look out the window and get the street intersection off street signs to tell his coworker friend where to pick him up.
When his coworker friend showed up he ran out with a sheet wrapped around himself. His coworker friend took him back to his apartment where a roommate let him in. He had a spare key for his car and he and his roomate went looking for his car. They found it in the parking lot of the local bar down from the office.
He spent the weekend trying to remember what happened to no avail.
On Monday while he was at work sitting at his desk when one of the office girls came into his office with his freshly washed clothes, wallet and keys.
She had taken him back to her apartment for an evening of love making, during the night of this he had gotten sick from too much alcohol, vomiting on his clothes beside the bed, then passed out.
She had gotten up that morning, cleaned up the mess, taken his clothes down to the laundry to wash them before ordering breakfast from a deli across the street. She returned to find him and one of her sheets missing.
She waited until Monday to bring him his belongings. They never went out again and had a strained office relationship for several years until he transferred to another office.
If I had a chance for a do over I’d take it. My life today would be totally different. I’ve never told or discussed it with anyone. I was 20 in college and I was engaged when I got pregnant. He didn’t want to start out marriage that way. He was all of 21 and also still in college. I didn’t have a job or any money. I thought my Catholic parents would disown me. I made the horrible decision to terminate the pregnancy. It took decades before I could forgive myself. He was right it was no way to start a marriage. It was a horrible way to start a marriage when he didn’t want to offer any emotional support for our shared tragedy. Nearly 10 years later we were finally blessed with a child followed by 3 more. We were married over 40 years. The roots of the failure began with I don’t want to start out marriage that way.
A few. But it’s a very hard job to be the son or daughter of a genius. I’ve had the good fortune of getting to know several Nobel Prize winners and their families. And to talk with some of the kids about their point of view. For the most part, they suffered. Many Nobel Prize winners made no secret of this. George Wald was once asked whether he might donate his sperm to a sperm bank to make superior children. He answered in two parts, but only the first was charming.
He said they should have asked his father for sperm so as to make another George Wald. Then he went on to say that his kids were not geniuses but had become bums. Which was not only unkind, but also very unfair to them as they were both teenagers at the time, sensitive and awkward, but also sweet and certainly very bright. But I remember one dinner at his house where Elijah, the son, sort of bragged about having done something clever. Most parents would smile and congratulate him. But George said something along the lines of, “Why, at your age I had already discovered….” Why was there any comparison or competition?
Other genius parents had more sympathy for their kids and took the pressure off. But still, comparisons with the father’s legendary (and oft exaggerated) accomplishments made it tough for the kid. Richard Feynman was very kind and supportive of his kids,but his daughter, Michelle, was initially too intimidated to try anything academic. Nonetheless, Richard was proud of her and of his son Carl.
Linus Pauling (two Nobels) had several children and his son Peter did brilliant work on the structure of biological molecules using crystallography. The son contributed to the work that led to the Nobel Prize that went to Watson and Crick.
But my favorite example of genius father and genius son would have to be the Nobel Laureate in physics, Luis Alvarez, who contributed much to the building of the atomic bomb in the Manhattan Project, and his son, Walter. Working together they generated the hypothesis and found a testable way to confirm that the dinosaurs were wiped out by a giant asteroid hitting the Yucatan Peninsula 63 million years ago. And there are many other good examples (like Marie and Irene Curie, etc.). So, despite the psychological and social obstacles, sometimes the apple does not fall far from the tree.
When I was a Senior in High School I was “big” into weight-lifting. I was “pumped” and I was quite an “amazing specimen.”
In fact, during the class physical check-up for us boys, the female doctor and the female nurse asked me to go to the back room (in my underwear) and pose for them. They just smiled and looked on.
I, being young and a dumb shit, didn’t know what was going on.
Anyways, some friends offered some steroids to me to help me get and build up mass. I thought about it, but you know, I was concerned about this. So I made a doctor’s appointment, though my mother, and went to the doctor.
When the doctor asked me what was wrong I had a trouble answering. I did a lot of hemming and humming.
Finally I asked about steroids, and the doctor (a woman) told me that it was a serious, SERIOUS issue and that I should not do it.
She saw me off, and then her son (who was in my class) brought me an envelope filled with papers about the dangers of steroids. She also continued to check in on me. She did this over the next five months. And she checked up on me though my mother.
Well, I really didn’t need a follow up.
I just didn’t do any steroids.
It was one of the BEST things that I ever did. And honestly, I am so happy that I lived in a small town and community. Access for these kinds of medicines was difficult and I did not pursue them. Thank JESUS!
Our decisions ALWAYS possess late-game impact.
You are the sum total of your previous behaviors. And that is why it takes a while for the affirmation campaigns to work. You have to untangle decades of previous verbalizations.
Smile. All of you are doing great right now. I believe in you all.
The best food in France ever is the Jambon Beurre.
image
But that’s just a ham sandwich, and you’re correct, it’s a ham sandwich, but not just a ham sandwich. The jambon beurre is a gastronomic lesson. It exemplifies how to make great food: take the best possible ingredients and prepare them with great technique, and no unnecessary fluff. The jambon beurre is simply a freshly baked baguette, delicious jambon de Paris and creamy 85% fat butter. Sometimes you’ll see sweet and sour cornichons or a few slices of cheese, but nothing else. No lettuce, tomatoes, onions, jalapeños or overpowering Subway styles sauces or dressings. This sandwich is just an assembly of three fine ingredients and it is divine.
Jambon Beurre
Quality ingredients and good technique are the keys to great food. French cuisine taught us that lesson and the jambon beurre shows us it is true.
Wendelstein Church on Wendelstein Mountain, Bavarian Alps.
The global financial landscape is witnessing a seismic shift as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) boldly moves away from the US dollar in its oil trade dealings.
This strategic pivot aligns with the broader ambitions of the BRICS economic alliance, of which the UAE is a recent addition.
The changeover, involving the transition to local currencies for oil transactions, marks a significant departure from the long-established dollar dominance in the global oil market.
The BRICS bloc, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, recently expanded its membership to include the UAE, along with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and Argentina.
This expansion signifies a growing inclination towards de-dollarization among these nations, a move that challenges the traditional hegemony of the US dollar in international trade.
The UAE’s decision to prioritize local currency over the US dollar in new oil deals is a clear reflection of this sentiment. This move isn’t just a mere policy shift; it’s a strategic maneuver in the complex chess game of global economics.
By aligning with the BRICS nations, the UAE is not only diversifying its economic partnerships but also reinforcing its position as a global oil powerhouse.
This change could potentially reshuffle the cards in the international oil trade, impacting the dollar’s stronghold and introducing a new era of currency dynamics in oil transactions.
ONGOING CATASTROPHE FOR USA
The shift away from the U.S. dollar is not some distant, arcane, thing which doesn’t affect YOU. It is affecting YOU already and it is going to get worse. Much worse. In fact, it’s going to be a catastrophe.
You see, since the 1970’s, ALL sales of oil, worldwide, have been transacted in “Dollars.” Everyone who sells it, sells in dollars. Everyone who buys it, buys in dollars.
In order to do that, every country on earth needs to hold “dollars” in its central bank.
Now that countries are starting to sell oil in currencies OTHER THAN Dollars, the central banks around the world won’t need to hold all those dollars. They will start to send those dollars BACK to the United States and say convert these back to OUR currency.
As dollars come back to the U.S. and other countries currencies are exchanged, THEIR currency will rise in value compared to ours. Our currency will FALL in value compared to others.
Now, we don’t manufacture much of anything here in America anymore; we import a lot of what we need/want.
So as we need to import, the value of OUR money is going to be worth less, and less compared to foreign countries, meaning what we need will cost VERY VERY MUCH MORE.
Inflation will hit the US in almost every sector because the things we need to import cost more and more dollars that are worth less and less.
So if you think things have gotten expensive this year, hold on to your hat; it’s going to get a LOT worse.
Moreover, at some point, countries may decide that the U.S., being so far in debt, makes our currency worthless. They may decide to STOP selling anything to us in US Dollars.
Despite being universally accepted nowadays, the fear of our currency becoming worthless is real because there is literally nothing backing our currency. Government keeps going farther and farther into debt until at some point, people around the world will simply NOT take our money anymore.
When THAT happens, the shortages and “supply chain disruption” seen during COVID-19, will look like kid games.
GOVERNMENT TO BLAME
The sole entity responsible for all this trouble is the US federal government; specifically, YOUR member of the US House of Representatives and YOUR US Senators.
It has been these people who have literally spent the country into oblivion. THEY voted for each and every dollar spent which had to be borrowed.
So as they come back from Washington to back-slap, glad-hand, and kiss babies, know that it is THESE PEOPLE who are personally responsible for wrecking this nation, and ruining everything you and your family has worked all your lives for.
More importantly, it is THESE PEOPLE who have mis-used their positions to impose “economic sanctions” on country after country around the world; telling those countries, “If you don’t do what we want, then you cannot use OUR money in YOUR trade.”
All those countries are tired of US meddling in THEIR internal affairs.
So they’re moving away from using US dollars, so that the US cannot sanction them anymore.
The result will be hyper-inflation for us, and wrecking of our country. All because THEY will not stop meddling in other people’s business.
1939 Delahaye Type 165
1939 Delahaye Type 165 is viewed by many as the most beautiful French car of the 1930s, only 5 of them were ever made with this one having been fatefully chosen by the French government to represent France at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.
I was once the daytime caregiver for a little boy with a massive brain injury. The damage was so extensive that a large part of his right brain had been surgically removed. He was paralyzed on his left side. He also probably suffered from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, but the doctors were unsure. He hoarded food, because he had gone hungry many times in his earlier life. Altogether a really lousy start.
I was pushing little X in his stroller. He was about three years old at this point. We were walking toward the high school, and there was a group of girls on the sidewalk. Black clothes, black hair, smoking, swearing girls.
X was a bit unusual looking, due to his injuries. I was thinking that these girls were going to laugh at him, or tease him, or something. I was getting tense and defensive.
As X and I get close, he hollers out, “HI”, which was his only word at the time. I was not expecting the response he got from those girls.
They were totally sweet. They were all saying hi back and asking his name and saying how cute he was. One asked me about his injuries, and I gave her the short version. She started to cry, and then I did, too. It was hard for me to talk about his history. We ended up hugging each other.
I have always remembered that group of girls, and how completely wrong I was about them.
They remind me often not to judge people by their appearance.
Copeland’s of New Orleans the Guitreau
Copelands of New Orleans the Guitreau
Ingredients
4 ounces butter
4 ounces chopped onions
5 single mushrooms
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
8 ounces fish fillet (red or black drum recommended)
4 ounces crawfish tails
4 ounces 90-100 size shrimp
Instructions
Cook fish on grill approximately three minutes on each side.
While fish is cooking, sauté shrimp and crawfish tails for about one minute. At this point, everything else may be added. Cook until vegetables are translucent. If mixture is too thick, add a splash of dry white wine. If too thin, turn the heat up and cook down until the right consistency.
South Korea, Japan BETRAY and ABANDON U.S, Rush to CHINA!
Breakup of antiwar coalition on Taiwan Island brings war clouds closer to East Asia
Taiwan is not Ukraine. The Taiwanese army is compulsory conscription for one year, extended by Tsai Ing-wen from the previous four months, making her extremely unpopular. No one in Taiwan has the delusion that Westerners have that the Taiwanese army can withstand the PLA for more than a day.
Most of them will tell you the PLA takeover will last only a few hours.
The reason is none of these young men want to die fighting the PLA, not even the deepest Green. Many street interviews of youngsters in the deep Green country of south Taiwan have shown as much: don’t know history, don’t understand why Taiwan is the Republic of China and its airline is China Airlines, don’t like China, don’t want war with China, won’t fight the PLA to defend Taiwan.
In truth, most of them will simply surrender, because those who do not will be tried for treason or, as a minimum, carry a black mark for themselves and their family so that none of them or their offspring will enjoy the privilege of say working in government jobs or state corporations.
Don’t forget that Taiwan is an island. The shortest distance from China to Taiwan is about 220 km. Hawaii is 8500 km away and the American west coast is 11,000 km. People on the island can’t run off to Poland. No one is going to save them when the PLA lands. Taiwanese people understand this but try explaining it to people like Mearsheimer.
Another thing about America arming Taiwan. It’s a scam. Taiwan is going to get antiquated equipment at exorbitant prices. Taiwanese people also know about this because it is not new. It happened before. The US is worried there may be many Yifu Lin types in Taiwan, taking the latest US war technologies to join China. The last time they armed the Nationalists during the Chinese Civil War, the PLA got their hands on a large amount of the latest American weapons.
America is really good at lying. The country is built on lies. Ask any native American how many times the white man has lied to them and they will tell you as numerous as the stars in the sky. It’s too late for the natives, but we can learn something. Don’t trust any words or narratives that come from the direction of the hegemon.
You met a girl. You smiled. She liked. You gave her compliments. She liked you more. You used every textbook trick to impress and voila! She indeed was impressed.
Time flew. Your mask fell off.
Now, she hates you.
Persuasion techniques are, at times, indeed useful. But if you want relationships that last, always be real. These techniques may capture someone’s head, but being who you are will capture their hearts.
That genuineness and sincerity, my friend, will always be cool! 🙂
A friend and I had plans to hang out. For whatever reason, she couldn’t make it and canceled. I didn’t want to hang around the house and went out anyway. As I approached the car, I got an uneasy feeling. I opted to take the other car; I still got an uneasy feeling, but it wasn’t as intense. I got in the car and left the house. Thirty minutes later the car was totalled; I didn’t even see it coming. When I came to, the car was upside down. I was still in the car, but laying on the roof. Had I take the initial car, I probably would have been dead or severely injured at best. I literally got up and walked away from the car on my own (I did pass out a couple times while the ambulance was en route). I broke my ankle and sternum and needed a couple stitches.
Chimney Sweep, outside 97th General Hospital, Frankfurt.
When my husband had been a consultant for about a year, and had been traveling 80% of the time for a job that he absolutely loved.
He came home one weekend and said, “Yesterday I was sitting at a table with five other consultants, and one of them told the group that I was on my first wife.
They all laughed and said, ‘That won’t last long!’ Two of them are on their third wife! That’s when I knew for sure that I have to change jobs.”
And that’s when I knew for sure that he would always put me first.
That we would always put each other first.
We’ve been married more than 40 years, and we’re still putting each other first. (He has since had several jobs that he enjoyed as much as that one, I’m glad to say. I wouldn’t want him to be unhappy at work because of me! I’ve always supported him in whatever his work choices have been, and he has been supportive of my career too.)
I didn’t technically “meet” the guy. But when I was about 10yo & my mom asked me to run to the donut shop before going to school (it was less than a block from our apartment), I was so stoked, I ran the entire way!
As I went to pull the door open at the donut shop, this big grisly bear of a man sorta stumbled towards me from me pulling the door open so fast.
I looked him right in the eyes & got The biggest shot of freezing cold fear through me, turned right around & ran straight back home.
When my mom asked why I didn’t get any donuts, it took me a minute to answer. I asked if she remembered the creepy old big guy from the show we were watching last night & my mom replied “you mean Americas Most Wanted?”!
I said yes, she said “yeah, and?” I told her I’d ran straight into the featured criminal that was a father who raped & molested his daughters & their friends for years & was on the run with his wife (she said she didn’t believe her daughters or their friends, eww)!
My mom asked if I was sure & I was absolutely sure it was him. My mom called the tip line immediately & they said I wasn’t the first to report seeing him at that donut shop. That couple got so spooked by my reaction that they apparently immediately went back on the run. I believe they gave chase for a bit but somehow evaded police, but were later found dead from self inflicted injuries. I was told my report was the final “straw” for cops to believe it was a legit sighting.
No joke that when I say I felt straight evil from him, the burning ice cold feeling his eyes gave me, I will unfortunately never forget it.
Always, ALWAYS trust your “gut”! That intuition is inside us all for a very good reason.
Chinese journalist Liu Xin: DON’T MESS WITH CHINA!
Some years back, a close friend of mine, let’s call her Jane, underwent a significant surgery. She lived alone, and the recovery period was expected to be long and challenging. Jane’s sister, who lived in a different city, offered to take her in during the recovery. The sister had a spacious home and a supportive family, making it an ideal environment for Jane’s recuperation.
Jane, always mindful of not imposing, devised thoughtful ways to contribute to the household. Since she couldn’t engage in physical activities initially, she used her skills as a seasoned graphic designer to help her niece with a school project, creating an impressive presentation. This gesture was immensely appreciated and brought her closer to her niece.
As she regained strength, Jane took up the responsibility of managing the family’s online affairs. She organized digital photo albums, set up an efficient bill payment system, and even taught her sister and brother-in-law how to use various apps to streamline their daily tasks. These small yet significant contributions made her feel useful and less like a burden.
Additionally, Jane used her savings to occasionally treat the family to meals from their favorite restaurants, understanding that her presence had increased the household expenses. She also made it a point to maintain her space meticulously, ensuring that her temporary stay caused minimal disruption in their routine.
When Jane finally returned to her home, her relationship with her sister’s family had deepened. They had not only supported her through a challenging time but had also received her gratitude and contributions in a way that enriched their lives. This experience, my friend often reflects, taught her the importance of giving back, even in times of personal difficulty.
The best relationship advice I ever got was from my grandma years ago, while we were sitting on our back porch swing. There was a thunderstorm going on, and we were enjoying the rain and swinging and talking and nothing was off limits.
At one point, Grandma said, “When we stop expecting someone to be perfect, we can begin to appreciate them for who they really are. No one can ever be perfect. That’s just the way things are.
Crying is okay, too. Sometimes, love is just too big for words …”
The way you treat yourself is the standard you set for others.
A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend . A successful woman is one who can find such a man .
Sometimes following your heart means losing your mind.
The most beautiful woman is someone who’s happy and is always smiling.
The sexiest thing about a woman is not in the clothes she wears , the figure that she carries or the way she combs her hair but Confidence in a humble way, not in an arrogant way. Sense of humour is definitely important.
The biggest asset in the world is your mindset.
Good looking people are trusted quicker by the subconscious mind. No clue why ? But there’re many good looking manipulators. Trust by character not appearance.
Someone you’ve only known for ten days could have better intentions for you than someone you’ve known for ten years. Time means nothing; character does.
Don’t let the world define your identity for you . They don’t know you and likely they don’t care about you.
After twenty years of marriage I got crippled up by arthritis and my wife came to me and asked for a divorce so she could go out and live her life.
I pointed to the door.
Signed the divorce papers for her so she saved some costs. I got no child support even though both our kids stayed with me. Actually they gave her half the house I had built and the entire time I was building it she didn’t want me too because I was “wasting” money on it.
A few months after the divorce was final she actually told me I was going to have to marry her back. Right.
I said no.
Today I’ve been married to a wonderful woman who’s supportive and I enjoy every day.
I did recover from being crippled with a lot of rehab and I made sure to tell my wife to be that I could never guarantee that being crippled wouldn’t recur.
Then a couple years after we married she had to have open heart surgery to repair a bad heart valve and I was there taking care of her with no complaints while she recovered. She’s always doing things to make my life easier. It’s what marriage is all about. Teamwork.
Many years ago, I was approached by a woman I knew through our homeowners’ association, and she asked to talk to me. She said that she was getting ready to leave her husband, who was a brutal and abusive alcoholic. She had a tiny puppy — a little fluffy mix that was mostly Yorkie and Pomeranian — that he was kicking and mistreating, and she wanted to get it to safety as soon as possible before he either damaged her or killed her.
She knew I was a dog lover, so she proposed that she leave her back gate unlocked, and after she was sure her husband had passed out, she would put the puppy on the back porch behind the unlocked gate. I could take the puppy, and disappear into the night.
I lived a distance from the woman’s home, so there was no danger the puppy would ever be seen by her husband. So, I agreed. We decided to do it that night.
The arranged dognapping went off without a hitch, and Rita made her home with us for many years. The woman also escaped her husband, as planned.
I buried my wife a week ago today. Alzheimer’s disease is a terrible way to die. She was diagnosed in 2013. She died October 10, 2023. I delayed her services until one of her siblings returned from a cruise. Since she chose cremation long ago, there was no urgency to bury her in my family’s grave plots.
She was an RNC – BSN in Labor and Delivery. Dedicated her life managing a 40 bed LDRP unit with NICU.
The Hospice nurse thought she was stable earlier in the day, but she later observed a change that I probably would not have recognized. The Hospice nurse told me I should come. She had been non verbal for about a year. Had to be fed, and was in a special Hospice provided wheel chair when out of her bed.
I knew as a lifelong nurse she did not want to live like that, but a DNR covers no cardiac crash cart intervention and no tube feeding. It is way above my pay grade to opine that her quality of life was near zero. A Hospice nurse knows when there is more brain activity than many of us might think.
She had been in a nursing home exactly three years. When she first arrived, she never stopped nursing, looking after those residents who were no longer ambulatory. In fact, she thought she was in charge of the nursing home because she was a Director of Women’s Health before she retired. At the peak of her career, she had 150 employees and a seven figure annual budget. A few years later, she could not balance her check book.
The Hospice nurse told me the last thing to go with an Alzheimer’s victim is their hearing, so even though she looked comatose, the nurse convinced me she could hear me.
I believe her. No finger squeezing, no eye movement, nothing but labored breathing. I told her I loved her, and that I would have been nothing without her.
Thinking she was stable for maybe another day, I went home to get something to eat. Hospice called and said she was gone before I got back to the nursing home. We would have been married 51 years December 30. Planned our wedding around an OU Sugar Bowl game in 1972.
I hated myself for leaving the nursing home for what seemed like only a short time, but maybe she knew I had been there, and she was tired of the pain. Maybe she held on just long enough to see me or hear me one last time.
I’ll forever regret not spending more time with her. I honestly did not think she knew I was there during visits the last year, but now I know she knew I was there near the end, so she probably knew I was there during those times when I thought there was little brain function remaining.
I regret not spending more time with her excellent Hospice caregivers, to better understand that though my wife seemed near comatose for over a year, she would know I was there if I had spent more time with her.
Always pay attention to the Hospice nurses. Milk them for more knowledge about how it will probably end.
I am forever indebted to the Hospice nurses who cared for my wife. Hospice was there when I could not be there. No one should die alone.
Not long ago, Western media were promoting “the Chinese Air Force intercepted a Canadian aircraft.” But they don’t tell you that this interception took place in the northern part of the Taiwan Strait, only dozens of kilometers away from the coast of China.
Now, the Western media is once again propagating that “the Chinese Navy is unprofessional towards Australian warships.” Okay, let’s look at the truth of the matter again.
image 1
The “exclusive economic zones” of China and Japan overlap on a large scale, and the overlapping area is closer to China’s territorial waters.
First, Australia claimed that “the warship is located within Japan’s exclusive economic zone.” It seems to tell us that they are near Japanese territorial waters. But is this true?
Let’s take a look at how big Japan’s “exclusive economic zone” is. As we all know, Japan’s “exclusive economic zone” was set unilaterally by Japan. It has a large number of overlapping areas with mainland China, Taiwan, South Korea, and North Korea, and is not recognized at all in East Asia.
Therefore, the fact that the Australian warship is “located within Japan’s exclusive economic zone” does not mean that it is “close to Japan”. On the contrary, it is likely to be close to China’s territorial waters, has entered China’s exclusive economic zone or even approached China’s territorial waters. This is also the reason for this type of incident. normal. The Chinese almost never go far from their shores on such missions.
Secondly, the news that the Chinese Navy’s use of “sonar” caused “slight injuries” to divers is not credible at all. According to news reports, the warship that intercepted the Australian Navy was the Chinese Navy No. 139 Ningbo Ship. This is a modern-class destroyer with a full load displacement of 8,500 tons and an old Soviet warship. According to public information, the sonar equipped on this destroyer is the MGK-335 hull-acoustic hull sonar. This is an active high-power sonar designed for deep-sea nuclear submarines, with a peak operating power of hundreds of kilowatts.
The shock waves it emits can hit the submarine’s hull several kilometers away and detect the echoes. There is no point in turning on sonar for surface ship monitoring.
Because this type of sonar is powerful enough to cause injury to large marine life such as dolphins and whales, it is generally not turned on. When the warships of both sides are approaching, if the Chinese Navy really turns on this sonar, then the diver will not suffer just a “slight injury”, it will shatter people’s internal organs.
Therefore, the real situation may be that the diver suffered minor injuries due to other reasons in the process of rushing to shore. After all, the Australian Toowoomba is just a 3,600-ton frigate. When facing an 8,500-ton Chinese warship, a hasty retreat is a normal reaction.
There are a few more noteworthy keywords
2. Sanctions tasks of the United Nations
This statement is the same as that of the Canadian military aircraft, which also claimed to be carrying out “UN sanctions supervision against North Korea.” But they flew to the northern part of the Taiwan Strait.
China has publicly stated many times that the United Nations has never authorized such a mission. As one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, China’s statement is credible, and other countries have not raised any objections.
Therefore, the Australian warship’s so-called “implementation of United Nations sanctions and supervision of North Korea” is just a farce written and directed by several countries led by the United States.
3. The fishing net entangled the propeller
It shows that the Australian warship has entered the fishing area instead of the normal route. This will cause disruption to both Chinese and Japanese fishermen. Whether it is Japan’s exclusive economic zone or China’s exclusive economic zone, it is undeniable that it is more than 1,000 kilometers away from Australia. That is China’s doorstep, not Australia’s.
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The incident took place so far away from Australia. What was the Australian Navy thinking when it sent a small warship to the coast of a nuclear-armed superpower to show off? If the opponent was the United States or Russia, they would have been sunk long ago.
4. Unprofessional
The Chinese Navy’s approach to foreign warships approaching China’s territorial waters has always been to “identify, warn and drive away”. This is their “professionalism”. There was no warning of weapons and no active collision, indicating that the Chinese navy was restrained. It makes no sense for the Australians to use the excuse “sonar harms divers” to divert attention.
There have been several over my long life but the one that still hurts the most was when my family decided to do a family photo.
For context:
my parents (mom and dad), 4 others siblings with their spouse and child(ren)
18 people total including myself and husband.
I’ve always been a coordinator of events and the like so I offered to find and buy all the children’s outfits so they match/color coordinate.
All the adults wore coordinating colors. We planned on having an outdoor spring photo shoot and I purchased all items to stage the pictures (included a setee, velvet arm chairs, Persian rug….you get the idea not just outside but staged. We hired a professional photographer with each of us paying $200
to cover the bill.
A week before the photos were supposed to be done, my older sister comes over and says my parents want our children but not myself and husband in the pictures. I say nothing, think about it an day and then call my dad. I ask him did he and my mother say we were not to be in pics? He never gives me a direct answer. Says they really just pics of the grandkids, I ask him then why is everyone else included besides my husband and myself? -he gives Half answers until I say I have to go-I sent all of them an email laying out how hurt we were and Don’t understand what we could have down to be excluded like this. Not one response.
Picture day:
My older sister had the audacity to call me and ask if my kids were ready and she was on the way to pick them up. I told her Nope and hung up.
That is the last one I ever spoke to or heard from any of them. Family should never hurt like that
My generation, the boomers, was encouraged to take risks and accomplish great things. We were told that we could do anything and should. We had people like JFK pushing us to go to the moon.
I grew up in a violent, terrifying and poor household where I felt great responsibility for the younger children. I felt no love from my parents. I was just scared all the time. I subsequently had little energy left for doing well in school. I had only one friend. I was always afraid of authority and had no self-confidence. I was not equipped for adulthood and most of it was a struggle to do well at whatever job I held.
When I retired, due to my great fear of poverty, i had plenty of money saved and my own home. I also realized something important. I didn’t have to have regrets even though I had not taken risks or accomplished great things.
I had survived. I had accomplished something important. I was safe. I had made it through all the troubles and fear. I had gritted my teeth and pushed through all the pain and loneliness and self-loathing that comes with being treated badly.
I am old but I have many years to go and I’ll spend them being proud of myself for making it through to safety. This might not seem like much of a goal to most people but it was what I dreamed of for myself and unwittingly worked hard for. I have no regrets.
She ran a very successful Dentist as Practice Manager…she has been a Dental Nurse since the early 90s and worked her way up.
Probably about 80% of the role was managing the staff…whereas 80% should have been running the regulatory side of the business….unfortunately, that meant that the regulatory side had to be done after hours.
She would put in 12 hour days, come home, have dinner, then start again and not stop until near midnight, nightly!
Now the business owner and principle knew HE could not manage the staff, but he then started demanding that she was ‘front of house’ due to her professionalism…even though others were just as capable…so of course, that meant other things started to suffer…initially her health, but she persevered…she ‘loved her job’!
But then, the inevitable happened…he ‘decided’, without any consultation, that her role was now ‘salaried’ and he would no longer pay overtime.
Now, there’s a rock and a hard place…the regulatory side could not be undertaken during the day, would not be compensated, and was a legal requirement for the Practice to operate; so she took the only option available; she resigned (her health was deteriorating anyway…and that was due to the stress of the job!)
6 months later, she is in a far better place physically. The business she left is on its knees. All the staff had left, and it is now – just about – scraping by as a single dentist practice (there had been 10 dentists and 26 support staff!).
I reckon that it has 3–4 months left before it goes completely under….all because he started interfering in the staff roles and didn’t want to pay a little overtime.
Lets do what China or Singapore is doing and ensuring that their police remain tough but relatively free from any corruption and actually follow the law
Pay
India pay their policemen a pittance. I am talking about the rank and file cops. If you look at Comparative Median Income- a Middle ranking Indian policeman (Non IPS) gets only 1.06 times the Median income compared to 1.41 times for a Chinese Cop and 1.83 times for a Singaporean Cop and 1.82 times for a US Cop from NYPD or CPD. A 41% Pay raise for Middle Ranking Cops and allowance raise and upto 77% Pay raise for the Rank and file would work wonders.
Housing and Allowances
China, Hong Kong have police departments which purchase their own lands and commercially build apartments and sell them at zero interest to Cops and retired cops. 2,3,4 BHK Apartments with all the luxuries like a Swimming Pool, Gymnasium etc provided.
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Hamara Bharat – How a Police Quarters looks like in Bharat with Inspectors living in this dilapidated building. The Toilets are particularly a bonanza. Departments have to beg and beg for the most basic of maintenance and painting.
Death Insurance
In India a Cop shot and killed while on Duty will get a flat sum of Rs. 18 Lakhs to Rs. 85 Lakhs depending on City and State with Mumbai and Delhi paying the highest.
85 Lakhs sounds good right?
Sorry. First the money is taxable, Second the average time to get this money is 17 – 24 months if you are lucky and third – an Insurance company pays this sum and it will dodge and demand a lot of documentation like death report etc etc etc.
A woman called Gurbachan Kaur who was supposed to get Rs. 78 Lakhs for her husbands death (He was Senior Inspector of Police) is yet to get any money after 1 1/2 years and after taxes and deductions – she is expected to net Rs. 58 Lakhs. Its around 5.25 times his median annual income. Even this sum is in doubt as the Insurance company is now saying the man died of a heart attack which means natural death (Far low payout).
Lets take China or HK – the sum for death of a Similar rank is around 8.25 times the Median Income and NO TAX. And you get the money within 60 days. Its a law. If you dont get the money in China within 60 days – the Department will be questioned and the LEPPA laws will be applied and No insurance company – money belongs to the Department directly
And many others – Good Healthcare plans, Good Education Plans, Education Trusts for Kids of Cops, Free Education etc.
The Cops are taken care of decently and so they do their job well.
Then there is the question of Punishment. Cops who break the law are brutally punished. In China except the Political Police – all other cops can be punished brutally for Bribery or for Public Abuse or false cases etc. The LEPPA which applies only to cops and can put a cop for 15–25 years for a custodial death within 3 months through special courts.
Its the Double Edged Sword – Good Incentives but Brutal Punishments
Its what India should do
PS This only applies to officers. Chinese Constables are very less paid (Same as Indian PCS) but they get commissions (Hyeung Ya or Golden Fragrance) of 55% – 150% of their monthly salaries. Legal commissions on which they have to pay tax.
Our Poor Havildars have no such incentives and can get a CBI Case for a mere Rs. 500/- bribe.
Weißer Turm (The White Tower), Galgengasse, Rothenburg.
An expensive education system that does not give people the most basic knowledge.
The world’s largest prison system.
An expensive healthcare system that is against disease prevention. And which gives decreasing life expectancy.
A colossal big expensive army which is not able to overcome the Taliban. And the army’s expenses are poorly documented.
The judiciary is large and expensive.
The financial sector is filled with at least 90% air, which will give rise to a new financial bubble, which will empty people’s pensions.
The two identical parties present only the interests of the rich. And yet they are extremely hostile to each other.
Real wages for the middle class have not increased since the 1970s.
Many of the politicians stand with one foot in the grave, so it will never be them themselves who will pay back the country’s debt. Their goal is to survive only four more years.
I could make several points. But why do you think it is difficult to sell this system, Western Democracy to the Chinese?!
Wasn’t it a better idea to sell Chinese socialism to the Americans?! Who wants a government that will multiply your hourly wage?!
The bloody history has told every Chinese: China’s peace today is not because the invaders abandoned evil and turned to good, but because of the powerful PLA.
Mike Tyson is the father of my favorite sports quote. Reporters were questioning him about his new opponent. They were building up the rivalry, talking about how dangerous this fighter was, how he planned to keep Tyson at a distance with his jab, how he planned to wear him down.
Getting annoyed with the questions, Mike looked up from tying his shoes and said, “Everyone has a plan — until they get hit.” It’s so perfectly translatable to life. Everyone is on a diet, until they get hungry. Everyone wants good grades, until it’s time to study. Aspirations and reality are often star-crossed lovers: desperate to be together but doomed to be apart.
We don’t like what most goals entail. There’s a way to make things easier. It starts with understanding the process of productivity.
Slow down your mind to produce more
In a 2013 experiment, scientists showed flashing images to young mice for six hours a day for ten days straight. The changing images emulated cell phones and TVs. Those mice later displayed significant difficulties getting through mazes and finishing cognitive tasks versus non-stimulated mice. Science has long known overstimulation leads to deficits in cognition and attention span.
More plainly, when you are bored with a task, you are often overstimulated. It’s worse than most people realize. Our minds are lost in thought for roughly 47% of our day.
Concentrative meditation, a focus on one specific thing, is proven to boost your focus over time, even if you only do it for five minutes a day. Letting too many voices in your head drowns out those that need to be heard. It’s counterintuitive to think that slowing down your mind increases its potency. The brain is like a lightbulb: too much energy makes it shine less.
If you are feeling ambitious, a Harvard study found that 27-minutes of meditation per day led to increased gray-matter density in the hippocampus, resulting in improved learning, empathy, and memory.
Start easier by creating mental opposition
My girlfriend works in academia and occasionally writes huge, thickly worded papers. On the scale of writing projects, it’s one of the most nightmarish. She was working herself up over a paper last month. She talked about it all week, dreading it, venting about it. She was eventually in full-blown tears, despite not having written a single word.
I’m a fairly patient guy but I do have limits. I finally said, “I need you to do a favor for both of us and get this done. Do it for me, please.” Her dread was bleeding into our relationship. Seeing my point, and to her credit, she powered through it and was a new person afterward.
Procrastination is the hellspawn of anticipation. We expend so much energy thinking about doing something, building up the tension, contemplating the boredom and pain involved. Our energy is sapped before we even begin.
Defeat it by inverting your thoughts
The next time you are putting something off, pay attention to your thoughts. Notice when you have a ‘dread’ thought, “This is going to be so hard.” Notice how you feel heavier. I can literally feel my body getting more immobile when I catch those thoughts.
The trick is to invert that process. I write for a living. When my keyboard is roaring at me like a 101-toothed monster, I’ll itemize reasons I should write. For example:
If I write now, I’ll have free time later.
It will be fun to discover which words show up on the page.
The show I’m watching is useless and boring.
I’ll make more money if I spend more time writing.
It’s going to ruin my mood if I keep procrastinating.
Make it a game to verbally list as many reasons as possible. This will magnetize your motivations. Actions are an extension of our thoughts. Starting is often the hardest part of productivity.
How to stay in the pocket after you start
When I was a swimmer, I didn’t have aquatic headphones to get me through a workout. Swimming is an exhausting exercise in sensory deprivation. You can only see the bottom of the pool and hear the water in your ears. Workouts were miserable and every stroke invites you to slack off.
The key was to stay focused at the moment. I did this in two ways. First, I focused on my technique, giving 100% of my focus to my coach’s instructions. When that technique crumbled, I fell back into reminding myself of my goals. I singularly focused on them, much like you would with concentrative meditation.
Remind yourself that you want to get promoted and get a raise. Reflect on sub-goals. Reflect on what happens if you quit now and flake out. Thoughts can be weaponized against laziness. Productivity is a battle in your mind. If you let weakening thoughts run about unchallenged, you are doomed. Focus on perfection and your attention to detail.
The takeaway and tying it all together
Remember, productivity has three key elements:
Convince yourself to start.
Stay focused despite distractions.
Continue working when you don’t feel like it.
Convince yourself to start by being cognizant of detractor thoughts. Dismiss them quickly and list out reasons to start.
To avoid distractions, practice slowing down your mind with meditation. Additionally, make a mental note of every time you lose focus. When I start getting sloppy, I’ll keep a piece of paper and make a line every time I catch my mind drifting.
Lastly, to get through arduous, monotonous tasks, focus on being present in the moment. Focus on the details. Think about your goals. But never dread the painful aspects of your tasks. Motivation is war. Know how to rally your troops.
Roman Empire and Chill
Dinardo’s Italian Restaurant Creole Carbonara
Creole Carbonara
Ingredients
1/2 cup chicken thigh meat
2 1/2 tablespoons Creole seasoning
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 ounces andouille sausage, chopped
8 ounces medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Dash of Tabasco
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 pound fettuccine, cooked
Instructions
Coat the chicken with one teaspoon of the Creole seasoning.
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and sauté chicken for approximately one minute.
Add andouille and continue cooking one additional minute.
Season shrimp with remaining Creole seasoning, add to chicken/andouille mixture and cook until shrimp are pink and curled.
Add green onions, garlic and whipping cream. Bring mixture to a boil then reduce heat to medium.
Add Worcestershire, Tabasco, salt and half of the Parmesan cheese.
Coat fettuccine with sauce and top with remaining cheese.
West Germany.
19 5
Appreciation
***** REAL ****** Trouble: No One Buying US Treasuries
Nobody wants U.S. Treasury bonds. Bond Sales are in the worst stretch since the Civil War. The federal government has run up so much debt that few if any around the world, want to lend them money anymore. This cannot end well.
Once a symbol of America’s economic might and accepted as a global coin of the realm, US Treasuries have fallen badly out of favor, with serious consequences for taxpayers, investors, and financial markets.
Elementary economic forces — too much supply and not enough demand — have collided to create the worst stretch for U.S. government bonds since the Civil War. The government keeps borrowing to cover its budget deficits, while once-reliable buyers of that debt, both at home and abroad, have pulled back.
The result: Investors are demanding the steepest yields since 2007. Auctions of fresh bonds that were once routine are now going terribly. And bond portfolios are getting absolutely hammered. The longest-dated Treasury bonds are in a bear market worse than the dot-com bust and almost as bad as 2008.
Already 2.5% of the U.S.’s economic output is going to service its existing debts, a number that some analysts expect to hit 4% by 2030. Already running huge deficits, the only way for Treasury to pay the interest — along with ambitious spending programs like the CHIPS Act and student-loan forgiveness — is to keep borrowing.
They are now TRAPPED in a vicious spiral that can ONLY lead to financial death for the country. There is no other possible outcome because the government will not stop spending.
He worked in a private local company. At the end of 2017 the owner of the company changed which means the head of the board of directors changed (let’s call the new guy Jim). Obviously, Jim wanted to make some changes himself, mostly to establish dominance and show he’s the new sheriff in town. Rumors say he promised to double company’s profit in a single year (remember this). There’s a thin line between ambitious and cocky.
The first move he made didn’t have anything to do with the increasing work efficiency or meeting heads of departments or actually know the work that is done in that company. Jim had installed one of those time clock machines where employees check in when they get to work and check out when they’re done. Something like this:
only they didn’t have tokens, but cards. Installation and writing guidelines took about a week after which he announced to heads of departments that every employee must check in and check out themself even when they’re going out just for a break. Also, heads of departments should’ve forward these news to employees. The thing officially started second or third week in January of 2018.
At first, employees didn’t take it so seriously and some of them didn’t check in/out every day or didn’t (sometimes even forgot to) note down their breaks. At the end of the week, Jim would go through every employee’s record to see does any of them have less than 40 hours. (Notice he wasn’t interested in those who had more than 40 hours.) Friend told me that most of employees were in the range 38–45 working hours and a very few around 37 but none under 37. Jim called for a meeting with heads of departments every Friday to inform them about the records and to warn those who work less. Also, there was no compensation for those who work more (stay late or work on weekends).
Employees protested about that kind of behavior and wanted time clock out. That only made Jim to push that thing even more and convinced the board of directors and the owner that the time clock is necessary. So it passed.
The thing is that the work climate has changed. Everyone was more concentrated on if they checked in and if they worked enough than the actual work and the pressure started to build up. The thing went on for two whole months until the most of the employees (friend said 80% but maybe he exaggerated a bit) decided to come to work, check in, work their 8 hours at a moderate pace, check out and head home. No overtime, no working weekends, if the clock hit 16:00 people would leave midwork or in the middle of the meeting not giving a shred of an F. Their excuse was that they did their 8 hours and if they want them to stay, they want a written notice (which is a proof of working overtime and must be paid).
This way every single employee had 40 working hours a week and not a minute more or less. But you know what? Jim wasn’t satisfied. Why? Because work suffered. He made the employees numbers and working slaves that have only one purpose – to work. This killed all the passion people had towards the job they were doing. It demoralized people. They had a feeling that someone is standing above their head every second of the day. And the time clock might not be a bad thing to check employees every once in a while, but to terrorize them like Jim did made them do anything just in spite of that work regime.
After 3 and a half months, the moment of truth came. The first quartal report came. It was a bit better than the last year so Jim stayed at his position. Employees continued with their strike. The second quartal report came and the profit was ~8% less than the same period of previous year (maybe 9% I don’t remember). Jim ascribed it to a bad economy in the country and stayed at his position. Employees were informed about the drop in profit which made them to continue their strike. The third quartal report came. The company’s profit was down by amazing 34% compared to the same period of the previous year. Jim was fired on the spot (even though his mandate supposed to last 5 years) and time clock was left just to control employees every now and then.
Conclusion: Treat your employees as humans which they are and maybe consult someone about your radical actions.
Many decades ago my Dad was a high school teacher in the inner city of Boston.
One of the students in his class was a nationally ranked Judo practitioner who competed at the national level. This young man might miss weeks of school to attend an event around the world. IIRC he may have been part of the US Judo team at the time.
This young man was very quiet and kept to himself generally head down looking at a book at his desk. However he would sometimes be taunted by other students and generally would ignore the idiots.
One day Dad is writing something on the blackboard and behind him he hears one of the jerks taunting. He hears things like “You gonna show me some of that kung fu shit” and then he hears “Let’s see you block this punch”.
Dad hears a small amount of noise and turns around. This is a matter of seconds. The Asian Judo practitioner is sitting in his chair, head down reading a book. And the jerk kid is unconscious on the floor peeing his pants.
The jerk on the floor starts coming around. Dad tells his friends to get him back in his seat. And everyone starts laughing at the jerk because of the giant pee stain on his crotch.
That seemingly ended the attempted bullying. Everyone realized that this kid could kick everyone’s ass if needed.
I love a happy ending!
On Mount Wendelstein.
6 12
Wife Cheats On Work Trip And Now Is Losing Her Mind That Her Marriage Is IMPLODING
Her: I ripped the soul out of my husband through betrayal.
Also her: I made him coffee and did some chores. We should be all good, right?
After my mother died, I spent a few months living in her (our) house and taking care of it, and arranging probate issues. It was a difficult time, as my second wife (the wife from Hell, and BTW…the person who worked for MAJ to “retire” me), demanded that she gets the entire estate “or else”.
So, I’m dealing with all these stressers.
Those in the “know” also know about this point in time. My fate forecast; I am entering my “triple black” inauspicious time, and I lost my job, my wife, my mother… and soon (though I didn’t know it yet) everything else.
But at this moment in time, I was in the house, and my brother came over with a close friend of his (ours).
We were all in the kitchen drinking. My mother had collected all sorts of wine that sat in racks in the kitchen / dining area, and they decided to open them up and start drinking.
And I stepped out to go onto the “sun room”.
After the first bottle, my brother said “corked”.
If a wine is “corked”, it means that it has been tainted by the cork, or rather a chemical compound which can be found in natural corks. This contamination gives off a very distinct smell and taste, which can be described as musty, earthy, wet cardboard, wet newspaper, or even wet dog. The term ‘corked wine’ refers to a wine contaminated with cork taint, which can happen if the wine is bottled with a TCA-infected cork.
Which means that the wine had been sitting too long, and somehow the wine went bad. Now, this might be a term used by aficionados, but for us “regular folk” (and I know, I drink one FUCK of a lot of wine) it was just fine.
I tasted the wine.
It was fine.
I was in the other room, and when I went into the kitchen, imagine my horror when I watched my brother and his friend draining out about 35 bottles of (very expensive) wine down the sink. Claiming that it was “corked”.
wine down the drain
They weren’t “corked”. Not in the least.
Sheech!
…
As a wine lover, and as a wine aficionado, I still remember that moment with aghast horror. Such a pity! Such a waste. And what is really horrific, is that he has no idea… none… not one iota what he did.
Everyone… what ever you do, don’t though out wine unnecessarily. Even if corked, it can still be used for cooking! Sheech!
Don’t know about my “best” friend but I remained close with an ex. She didn’t like my partner for (mostly) racist reasons. But they were civil together when we met up.
I didn’t tell her we were expecting. But at 20 weeks my partner experienced severe pain and was hospitalised for 4 days. This came up in conversation. She deduced that we were expecting.
She pushed me to ask for an abortion.
She then posted it on Facebook to around 2000 followers, asking for advice about persuading someone to get an abortion. To a group I was a member of.
I blocked her on all meeja and we haven’t spoken since.
She did send a message apologising. Not for the sentiment, but for taking it public. That really doesn’t address the core issue, which is that she wanted my beautiful daughter – the love of my life – executed because of her hatred of my partner. It’s going to be difficult to remain friends after that.
Copeland’s of New Orleans Crawfish Etouffee
2023 11 13 06 55
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
6 cups water
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon lobster base
1 pound fresh crawfish tail meat
Pinch black pepper
Pinch white pepper
Pinch cayenne
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon peanut oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
Salt to taste
1 cup chopped green onions
1 teaspoon minced garlic
3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
6 cups cooked white rice
Instructions
Prepare a stock by bringing the water to a boil. Add bay leaves and lobster base. Allow to boil for about 20 minutes or until the water has reduced to 5 cups of stock. Hold aside.
In a mixing bowl, combine the crawfish tails with black, white, and cayenne pepper.
Add the paprika and stir together well.
In a medium-size pot, heat the peanut oil at a near high setting. Oil should be hot but not smoking.
Add the chopped yellow onion and stir until translucent.
Add the crawfish tails and stir until they are heated and cooked through and have attained a good bond with their fat.
Add flour and mix well.
Pour in stock gradually, stirring constantly, until sauce achieves a substantial thickness and consistency.
Season with salt to taste.
Add the green onions, garlic, and parsley. Reduce the heat to a medium setting and simmer for about 10 minutes more.
Serve over a bed of cooked white rice.
Notes
If desired, you may stir in 2 to 3 tablespoons of butter to completed etouffee for added richness.
Attribution
Posted by GayleL at Recipe Goldmine 9:17:49pm 4/19/03.
The New Thai Tax Law that EVERYONE is Talking About
Big news in Thailand. This new tax law has everyone talking, and a bit scared. I will detail the rules and how it might affect you. So if you’re ever considering relocating to Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Samui or anywhere else in Thailand, there’s lots of information in this video.
Years ago I bought a USB “dongle” for Internet access, through a company called Orange.
It was a pay monthly arrangement.
The bloody thing never worked, their customer services eventually admitted that the area I was in had very poor access and it wasn’t going to improve soon.
I said let’s just cancel.
They said no, you signed up for a year.
I said fine, and cancelled the regular payment, after sending them a letter explaining why, with my contemporaneous notes from a series of calls.
They kept sending demands. I said jyst take me to small claims court, we’ll see what the judge says. My view was, if the thing doesn’t work I ain’t paying for it. Contractual obligations go both ways.
Eventually they gave up, but clearly sold the debt (iirc around £250) to some agency.
The agency got in touch, but their phone number was a premium rate one. I sent a letter explaining my side, inviting them to small claims.
At around 6 month intervals for 2 years, different debt agencies tried- presumably these guys sell debts on?
Eventually, a reslly aggressive debt agency agreed to try it in small claims. They were based in London, I live 180 miles north.
I turned up, they didn’t. Well, not on time- some flustered legal junior arrived as I was leaving, and got a proper bollocking off the judge.
Judge awarded me, and my expenses/lost day’s pay, were to be covered by DebtTwat ltd.
I wasn’t expecting them to ever pay up, but i certainly wasn’t expecting them to send me a demand for flustered legal bloke’s train fare, taxi, and fee.
Obviously i tore this up and sent it back without a stamp.
We once took my son and his family out for a meal. The bill was £150, and I paid it with a card. I asked the waiter if I could add a tip and he proffered the card machine to let me do so. I added £20 and paid and we left.
As we got to the car park I glanced at the receipt and realised I’d actually given him a tip of 20p, clearly defining me as tight-arse, so I proceeded back into the restaurant, spotted our waiter, in a group of two or three of them at the bar, apologised for my mistake and gave him a £20 note. Smiles all round. I’d clearly done the right thing.
However as I left for the second time, I couldn’t resist adding “By the way, I’ll take my 20p back next time I’m here”
This caused a roar of laughter, and on subsequent visits has made us memorable and very well looked after. As I pay – more carefully with the tip – I am asked “Will you take your 20p now, Sir?”
The Standard Female Delusion Chart – a tool to reduce dating drama
Technology has enabled countless millions of desperate and morally bankrupt men to constantly shower mediocre women (there’s nothing wrong with being mediocre — most of us are) with attention. Naturally, women assume that this attention is higher-quality than it actually is, because “why wouldn’t people like me?” It’s an understandable mistake. We all want to believe we are “worth it.”
Simply put, a huge wave of sleazy, short-term, hookup-level interest from men is being mistaken – by the women who receive it — as akin to marriage proposals, and they are subsequently developing deeply emotionally and ego-rooted beliefs that they are all 9s, which is mathematically impossible. They then proceed to reject men who are far more likely to treat them well and pursue men who see them as nothing but cheap conquests, resulting in avoidable emotional damage, which they then take out on men in an intensifying cycle of resentment.
I must stand against this, and all I have is a voice. The only power that a man has to stop this cycle is to stop playing the game of letting women think he wants to be with them for real, when he knows he doesn’t. Shame on you. Stop that.
The only power that a woman has to stop this cycle is by being realistic about her actual value and finding men who are most likely to give her the maximum return for what she offers. Stop letting yourself believe that users love you.
That’s a delusion.
These diagrams are only roughly based on non-scientific data, but they are heavily rooted in real-life experience that proves itself true again and again.
I am confident that if women use them to identify the correct men and get to know them, they will have better luck starting relationships that last, and that will cause much less drama, heartbreak, confusion, and wasted time.
Also, my content does and always will contain humor to clarify and intensify the points that I’m making. Try to not take my content as being in competition with formal science, but rather as evidence-and-experience-based advice to avoid common dating problems. I tripped over a lot of rocks so you don’t have to. Best luck out there.
I had scheduled a young woman for a very long (easily 12+ hour) surgery on a deep-seated brain tumor right next to her brainstem. Having explained the risks and benefits of the surgery at length like I usually do (including significant risks of death, coma and stroke), she was more concerned about how much of her hair I would remove to do the surgery.
The night before surgery, I got a terrible flu – fever to over 103, malaise, joint and muscle pains, the works. In the end, I had no choice but to cancel her surgery and schedule for another day …
… expecting she would understand … I mean, who would want to undergo such a massive and dangerous surgery if the surgeon were that ill?
Well I was wrong. The patient became furious, hostile, angry, blamed me for inflicting emotional distress … demanded that I immediately find another surgeon to do the surgery that morning (not possible) … later lodged complaints up and down the hospital system … filed complaints with the medical staff … threatened to sue me … it took weeks to calm her – and our hospital – down.
It was the first time I had ever canceled a surgery in >20 years.
It’s what you get in a society that demands more than it understands. A society in which people live their lives in imaginary worlds conjured up by media (including doctor stereotypes) far removed from any sense of real humanity.
ADDENDUM:
A few Comments made me realize that not everyone understood my Answer, and I should perhaps clarify a few things:
the tumor was not near any part of the brain that would affect intellect or emotions
this patient was not “dying of a brain tumor;” while the surgery was going to be long and dangerous, it was far from urgent
I gently passed her care on to another neurosurgeon (it’s never a good idea to operate on someone who lacks faith in you), who operated on her a few weeks later; I heard she did well (though her attitude remained problematic)
there are no “back-up surgeons” waiting in the bullpen in case a surgeon gets sick: nowhere in the U.S., nowhere in Europe and nowhere in the world. Not like TV.
this is especially true of small sub-specialties like Neurosurgery
the all too common 60+ hour neurosurgical work week is packed full of patient responsibilities, and it is unrealistic to expect a colleague to abandon their own patients just to fill a gap like that at the last minute
no patient would want to undergo a huge brain surgery by someone they just met that morning – nor would most surgeons want to do a “surprise surgery” at the last minute. Neurosurgeons must do a lot of preparation before embarking on big, complicated cases. It’s not at all like you see on TV.
of course the hospital and its committees understood my situation completely (any reasonable person would understand that doctors can get sick), but they are obliged to investigate every complaint – hence a whole lot of unnecessary time and effort
To be honest, what I found most disconcerting about some of the negative Comments was how easily some people could make major assumptions about this story instead of simply asking me questions to clarify the situation.
Such Comments are just another example of: “demand more than understand.”
Why I’ll Never Move Back To America…
The American Dream… Is it dead or alive? In this video, I share THREE reasons why I don’t foresee myself ever moving back to America and why moving to the Philippines was potentially the best decision my family has ever made. Enjoy!
At the age of fifteen, thirteen days after my fifteenth birthday to be exact, I went out on my first real date. He came to my door and picked me up and we walked to a party. We had so much fun. He walked me home and he kissed me goodnight and he asked me to be his girlfriend. This felt like the greatest night in the whole world. Nothing could bring me down from my giddy and excited teenage crush!
….except for what happened the next morning.
I was awoken by my mother shaking me gently but urgently saying, “Honey? Erin. You need to get up now sweetie. Daddy’s going to die today…”
Those words ripped me out of any dreams I was having and back into the waking nightmare that had become my life for the last two years. I lived in constant fear that I was going to lose the bravest, strongest, most honourable, incredible man this world had to offer, but never really truly believed in my heart that it could happen. For me, to believe that he was really dying would be a betrayal to my hero. I would be giving up on him, and you never give up on your hero, not ever.
I learned that day that no amount of wishful thinking or prayer can change your circumstances.
The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do is to tell my dad that it was okay for him to die. He was hanging on with everything he had but it was time for him to go. I told him out loud that it was okay to let go, that we would be okay. We all told him that he had permission to die and to stop struggling so hard. And as soon as we said those things to him he passed away.
I held his hand as he took his last breath.
I watched my hero lose a terrible battle with cancer and I didn’t really know if I would be okay. I may have just lied to the person I loved most in this world. But I still believe I did the right thing. Setting my dad’s mind at ease was the most important thing to me that day, not wondering whether I’d be okay.
And to tell the truth I’m not sure I ever have been okay since that day. Something inside of me changed forever and I haven’t been able to get the old me back.
But I let my dad believe we would be okay because that was what he needed to move on. And I’d do it for him again in a heartbeat.
I had an uncle who was mildly retarded. It wasn’t Down Syndrome, it was probably lack of oxygen at birth, but people could tell just by looking at him that he was different.
That may be why 3 18 or 19 year old teens thought that they would jump my uncle and my grandmother while they were walking through their neighborhood in Bridgeport, Connecticut. What could an old lady and a 30 year old “retard” do to them?
I haven’t mentioned it yet, but my uncle was the youngest of 11 children. 9 of those kids were boys. So even though his brothers had taken it a little easier on him because of his mental disability, he was still used to playing rough and fighting. A lot. So when these teens threatened him and his mother he snapped. He hospitalized all 3 kids. He wrapped one of the kid’s arms around a tree backwards, the opposite direction of the kid’s elbow.
When the first officers showed up they put my uncle in cuffs, thinking he had initiated the carnage. My grandmother set things straight. My uncle had just defended his mother and himself.
The American Child vs The Chinese Child || 美国孩子 vs 中国孩子.
A student got sassy with a teacher about a grade and the teacher kicked him out of the room. The student grabbed a pencil and stabbed the assistant teacher in the room. Just in the hand, but still.
So the teacher goes rage mode and physically marches the student down to the deans office. Everyone is initially furious at the student, he’ll be expelled for sure. Assistant teacher is shaken but fine.
Daddy was a big donor to the school and the kid was on the state championship bound Football team. Daddy argued with the school, who reverses the expulsion and instead fires the teacher for “laying hands on a student.”
There were walk outs, several other teachers quit, the local news picked it up, the whole nine yards. Nothing changed. The school kept the little asshole to keep Daddy happy and fired a very, very good teacher.
When I was a cocky, long-haired punk and could get girls just by walking up and talking to them, I saw what I thought was two women getting in a car. I went up to the driver’s side and said something to the girl behind the wheel involving the word “ladies”. The long-haired dude in the passenger seat leaned over and said “Ladies?” he was annoyed I had tried to hit on his GF, but we laughed it off.
Entitled Women Make First Date List, And It BACKFIRES
I’m 61. My husband is 69. We can’t figure out how to use the kiosk. This morning, we added what we wanted to our order, but couldn’t figure out how to check out. The only icon that looked like it was a possibility was “Review Order” and it was greyed out. So, we were stuck. We backed out of it and left the restaurant. Also, when we saw the “login” prompt, we thought we might have to create an account which we don’t want to do. It’s just one more login and password we would have to remember. Nobody was at the counter to provide assistance. I’ll be diplomatic here. McDonald’s doesn’t sell weed. They sell shitty fake food. There’s nothing in their stores that I can’t live without…for the rest of my life. So, if they’re not willing to assist an old couple by taking their order, we won’t go into their restaurant(s) anymore. We went home and made a veggie omelet, hash browns, and cantaloupe. It was superior to anything on the McDonald’s menu and cooking it was less stressful than trying to figure out that fucking kiosk. Fast service that’s easy is basically all McDonald’s has going for it these days. And, they won’t even do that anymore. Plus, they’re using these non user friendly machines to phase out workers. Fuck ‘em.
I was going to download my banks, banking app, I always read the fine print. They want control of my camera, and they want permission to edit my contacts list.
I said “No” they said that the app wont work without access. I access my bank over the Internet, through their website directly, without going through the app. It works fine. Yet they don’t have access to my camera or contacts, funny about that.
I was on a subway train in DC. I had my five year old son with me, plus a few bags. I’m sitting on one end of the car, paying attention to the stops because I really don’t want to miss ours. A young black man grabs a seat on the other end of the car. I’m thinking gang member. Bandana. Gold jewelry. Baggy pants. Mind you, there were enough people on the train I certainly wasn’t concerned… that was just the impression I had. Anyway, we’re approaching our stop. My son has fallen asleep. The car isn’t jam-packed but it is kind of full. I’m wondering how I’m going to pick up my son and our stuff and make it to the door before the doors close.
As I struggle to get to my feet and head for the door, I see a foot casually hooked around the door, so it can’t close.
Yep. The black kid with the bandana and jewelry. As I look over, he flashes a smile.
We got off the train with no problem. A few people moved out of our way, but I didn’t see anyone else attempting to actually help.
Was he a gang member? Who knows. Who cares. At that moment, he was kind and helpful to a stranger. That’s all that mattered.
I went to apply for a job one time, and when I got there, the lead hand introduced himself to me while shaking my hand.
I had never been to this place before.
As he was shaking my hand this other guy jumped out from behind a machine, and in a gleeful, boisterous tone yells out to the lead hand, as he’s pointing to me, “There’s the guy! There’s the guy right there, that’s going to show you how to work that machine!”
It was a guy that I worked with at a previous job. He was a helper that was assigned to me whenever necessary.
I couldn’t believe it.
The lead hand looks at me, and that second I knew I was in.
I was in an elevator on a cruise ship. Some wiseacre saw my polka-dot suspenders.
He smirked, “Nice suspenders. You from Wisconsin?”
I replied, “No. Ever since my cancer surgery, I can’t wear a belt.”
His smirk instantly evaporated. The elevator doors opened on my floor, and I got out.
Soft tissue sarcoma caused by Agent Orange in Vietnam, They took out 1–3/4 pounds of me from my groin to my beltline. It left a notch where a belt would sit, so I can’t wear a belt comfortably.
The Legendary Mao in 1954 felt that any party member whose kids studied in Missionary Schools run by Western ideology , could not be trusted
In 1964, he felt such party members were Collaborators and Enemies
Thus every CPC member wisely decided to ensure his kids studied in Local Chinese schools and so the Party built more and more and more and more Schools all across China
Since their own members kids would study in these schools, the quality of these schools were higher and the subjects better
In 1996, Jiang Zemin after 42 years decided to repeal this old rule from Maos time and allow CPC members to send their kids to private schools
Then they discovered something
They discovered that Private School Quality was LOWER than Government School
Nobody wanted to send their kids to Private School.
Math, Science, Physics was of a tougher standard and teachers were the best
Thus even if it was due to fear of being branded a Collaborator, the fact is due to Mao – Chinas Education System became one of the best and it’s Government run schools became top notch
Indias misfortune was India never had a visionary like Mao or Deng
We did have Kamaraj but he was too localized
In India, Children of Politicians studied in the finest schools and later typically in UK Or US or Canada and foreign Universities
As a result there was NO REASON for Politicians to focus on quality education
India is a cesspit democracy
Long term vision was replaced by Short term election strategies
As a result, India focused on the BARE MINIMUM for State Or Centre sponsored Education
China and India were both equally pauper nations in the 1970s , in fact India was a tad bit richer
Yet China spent more on Education due to it’s long term vision , spent more on training teachers, spent more on sending teachers to foreign countries for enhancing their knowledge
India?
Politicians lined up their pockets
They duped the public
They openly stole public money and lined their coffers
Still even in 1992, there was some hope
Reservations destroyed it
The principle that a Moron Dullard was entitled become a Neurosurgeon or Doctor merely because Great Grand Daddy was oppressed a few decades ago
Plus the fact that this system was exploited even further when the genuinely oppressed weren’t at all given the chance
Instead a handful of wealthy persons took advantage of loopholes and drove quality into the Ground
China meanwhile had Crisp, Lovely, Meritocracy
A Son of a Sweeper could become an Engineer if he had merit, or a sweeper if he didn’t. Only Ability mattered.
By 2014, China was at a place India couldn’t reach with a hundred ladders
Then under Modiji, we all hoped things would improve
That at last we would have an AFFORDABLE EDUCATION ACT
That at last Modi would set a National Education Program and do what Mao did in 1954
Didn’t happen
Private Education raping the average Indian family with absurd tuition fees
Modiji focusing on Language policies, Sanskrit, Vedas and changing India to Bharat and removing Chapters on Mughals
The Average Chinese focusing on Python and Technology. The Average Indian on Ram, Laxman and some made up lies about how Modi is a superhero
It’s why, the Top 5% or 10% Chinese and Indians are similar
Yet the Average Chinese can swallow the Average Indian for breakfast, lunch and dinner
The Below Average Chinese os more than a match for the Average Indian
The Below Average ‘Educated’ Indian is on the lowest rung
Plus Indias biggest problem is the AVERAGE INDIAN
He doesn’t realize there is a problem at all
Realizing there is a problem means needing to work on a Solution and needing to recognize failure
Sorry. We are India. We are the best. We have no weaknesses.
Our Education system is flawed
Most refuse to agree. Some who agree make excuses including blaming Manmohan Singh. Some talk ‘Practically’ and say India needs to do nothing but everything will magically happen
Like I said, India is heading to a point where it would end up as a hotch potch, mish mash of uneven growth, a kind of Tumor rather than a crisp engine of growth with a Vision like China or even Vietnam
The $ 10 Trillion India would be a Huge Tumor rather than a nice neat rocket
Unless India buckles up and begins basic structural reform of Education, Healthcare and Liberal Laws
1. Everyone is insecure about something. It’s not just you.
2. You will never be 100% sure about decisions you made. But always make a decision because it’s better to go back and fix it than to never make it at all.
3. There is always someone better than you. So there’s no point to compare.
4. There’s nothing in life you can really control except your own thoughts and actions. So always hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
5. Nothing lasts forever. Things change, people change. And YOU can change anytime too.
6. Life is not a fairy tale. That’s why it’s always exciting and you’ll never be bored.
7. Hard work doesn’t guarantee success. But that’s what makes it challenging.
Going anonymous on this one, sorry about it, I just don’t think I can face being associated with the story I am about to tell. It will be a bit long-winded but one of the weirdest encouters ever happened in my life. And as it happened in a date, so…
Here it goes:
I signed up for a free dating site and started chatting to several guys. One of them, seemed like a nice and decent person.
When we started talking, it was about usual topics, interests. The conversation was flowing, as they say. I gave him my mobile number and he sent me texts every day, just some niceties. One of them was “I think we are on the same wavelength” “I hope so” I responded. I haven’t the slightest known yet, how wrong I was on assuming so…
After a week of talks, we set up a real life date.
He lived around an hour train ride from me and came to the station to pick me up. When I entered his car, he looked up to the sky and said: “do you find those clouds a bit weird?” There were no clouds, only condensation trails from airplanes. I said: “these are not clouds”
To which, he responded: “exactly” and had an expression on his face as if he just had said something really meaningful. Bit of an odd exchange, but I shrugged a shoulder and we did not mention the “not-clouds” again.
To my surprise, the date he set up was not the usual movie or restaurant combo with drinking, instead he took me to the riverside on a boat ride. I was enjoying it a lot, we both did a bit of rowing, it was sunny, we chatted nonchalantly.
We were talking about building styles in the UK (I am a foreigner) and I told him my impressions about buildings and differences to my home country. I also added that my dad is a bricklayer, so I have seen many houses being built.
To this, he said: “I have built something too” I asked: “What did you build?” “It is very unique. You will see it once, I hope.” – he said mysteriously. “What is it, a bunker?” – I joked and we laughed out loud.
The first date was over. I thanked him for the pleasant time and laughs. There was not much chemistry between us but I thought, what the hell, I will give another chance. So, when the next day he asked me for a second date, a dinner in his house, I said yes.
We drove to his house, where he lived alone. A nice and big family home. He had a wine chilled and invited me to look around. Everything was tidy, clean and stylish. I was impressed. We settled and he poured me some wine.
Out of the blue, at one point, he told me to go outside and check his car.
The following conversation happened:
“Do you see the scratches on the side?” – he pointed on the side, where large, faint scratches were running. “Of course I can see them” “What do you think caused them?” – he asked again. “I suppose branches or grass, or other cars, maybe some metal objects, a key maybe?” – I said hesitantly unsure where this conversation is going. “Let me tell you: Satan did these scratches…” – sounded his response. “Pardon?” “Satan scratched my car.” – again that sort of meaningful expression. “You mean figuratively I think, mean people maybe with evil motivation?” – I tried to deter the distrubing turn. “No, literally, the Satan itself.”- he said dead serious.
Uh.ooo….
Do you know the feeling, when suddenly the world seem like upside down and the fear hits you momentarily to make you nausetic and words froze inside you? I had that, combined with one of the biggest WTF moment.
“Is this guy crazy or what?”
We went back inside, my alarm bells were set off after this, I tell you. I was like a hawk, watching for little signs of anything unexpected. Little did I know that the real fun starts later….
He suggested we go to the kitchen and eat dinner. At least something normal, right? Right. You would think that someone inviting you over would prepare something. This was not the case. He suggested we eat soft boiled eggs. I happen to like boiled eggs very much, so ate 4 of them with bread. No problem, I am not fussy. So far so good.
After dinner, we went back to the living room and I relaxed a bit as Satan and scratches, the weird clouds and non of this crap was mentioned again. However, around a half hour later, again without any transition he says:
“Let me blindfold you, so I can show you what I built”
My mind went screaming: NO.F**.WAY! Adrenaline rushed through my blood I could sense it. Right then, I became concerned that this guy wants to kill me. In the same time I decided he won’t have an easy task to do so as I will fight like hell. I am not timid and rather strong and quick, so I was sizing up my options to run to the kitchen, grab a knife and defend myself if it comes to that. At this point, I’m wondering who was crazier, me or him?
Amazingly this is what I responded to him without even thinking:
“You know what? You are not going to blindfold me. Reason is, I think you are plotting to kill me. I know. And I also want you to know that you are not going to succeed. I will fight until my last breath.” – I sounded very calm, which amazed me even further.
His eyes opened wide and seemed genuinely surprised.
“Ok, ok, I can see you are nervous. Calm down, I am not planning anything. Just wanted to surprise you. I can see it backfired, so let’s just go as we are. No blindfold, I promise!” – he said.
Even though I was scared, I was also curious, so I responded:
“Right. I will take a look, under two conditions. First: You go in front of me and Second: I will take a knife from the kitchen and walk behind you. One bad move and you are dead. Did I mention I do martial arts?”
He agreed to my conditions. So, here we are, walking out the backdoor into the dark garden. The wind is blowing, trees and bushes rustle ominously as we walk the path. Him in the front with a light, me behind him, armed with the biggest kitchen knife I have ever seen. Just a perfect picture of two batshit crazy lunatics. As a matter of fact I have never fought in my life, I’m absolutely terrified, I lied about the martial art thing as well, I don’t know what I’m doing here, who is this insane person with me, not a single soul knows I am even here – I think about my life, my family far away, my stupidity.
We reach the shed in the back, well away from the house. There is only me and him, the bushes, and complete silence. Around us and as in front of us, as much as I can tell, just some woody areas and meadows and… a garden shed.
“This is it” – he says standing in front of the shed. Just a normal wooden shed, with 6 locks on the door. “This is what you built? Well, good one, now we can go back” – I am almost relieved. “No, the one I built is inside. Do you allow me to open it?” – I realise he must be scared of me a bit too. I nod.
He removes the locks and opens the door. The first thing I saw is a big ass axe on the floor! I jump away and pull the knife in front of me defensively.
“I knew it! Is this your murder weapon?!” – I shout. I can feel my heart beating so fast.
“Sorry, sorry! This is not meant to be here, I will put it away, ok? There.”-he says quickly.
“Give me that axe. Handle first.” – I order. He did.
“Now, look inside” – he asks and steps aside.
Very slowly, keeping an eye on him, I look inside the shed. Nothing. No rotting corpses, no torture chamber, just a few gym equipment, gardening tools, completely normal. I sigh… maybe I imagine too much into this…until.. from the corner of my eyes I notice something on the floor.
This!!!!!!!!!!!!:
A submarine hatch door. Holy crap, like a bloody rollercoaster! My gut is churning again.
“You really built a bunker…” – this is all I can say. What? How? Why? Words would fail to describe my thinking processes. “Yes” – he says bluntly and asks me to allow him to open the hatch door.
Next thing I know is we are looking down into a hole with concrete stairs, thick concrete walls, going down few meters. A nuclear bunker.
I am thinking, “if he kills me now and closes the door, nobody will ever find me”
Let me tell you the end quickly.
I did went down and looked around in the nuclear bunker of his design. He wanted to know what I think of it. I pointed out that no air filtration, pollution measurement equipment and surveillance system was installed so I was not sure if it is of any use (apart from hiding dead bodies). He agreed it needs improvement.
After the tour, we went back to the house. As you can guess, I was exhausted and weary from the whole evening but a bit calmer as I was still alive.
I thanked him for everything and requested to leave. He cried and told me he never met such a cool person as I am…
I was happy I only met a lunatic and not a serial killer.
TL:DR
A guy took me for a second date and showed me the nuclear bunker he built driven by his ideas on an upcoming doomsday fight between evil and good.
Is refusing to be submissive and subservient to the U.S. threatening the U.S.? To you it may be, but to the rest of the world it is call standing up to their right!
Lets defined threat. If Iran say it will bomb Washington, LA, New York, Miami or Hawaii, that will be considered a threat. Did Iran do that? So far it is the U.S. that funded and supported Saddam Hussein to fight a war with Iran in the 1980’s and murder General Solameini an Iranian scientist by a drone in Iraq! That is threatening. But it is the U.S. threatening Iran!
Seriously unless you are blind, deaf or dumb could you asked such a ludicrous question! Come on man be real. The U.S. ought to know that, Americans must surely know that. And you by asking this question is seen by 7.5 billion out of 8 billion or world inhabitants as a fool to even ask this question.
The U.S. threaten Iran and half the world to be bomb into smitten daily. And anyone that refused to be submissive and subservient to them is their enemy. Such behaviour belongs to Ghengis Khan or Atilla the Hun, or the Vikings not a 21st century nation! Call a spade a spade! Make the world a better place.
In my opinion yes, but not now. I looked at the numbers about this. As I suspected, the main reason why China extracts and processes this much rare earth metals is its industry demands it. It is not because of low labor costs or lax environmental regulations.
Few relevant numbers:
Chinese mine production was 210,000 tonnes in 2022, limited by Chinese law for environmental reasons.
Global mine production was ~300,000 tonnes. Which means the Chinese share of global production was 70%.
China’s share in the processing of rare earth ores was 85%. This means around half of the non-Chinese production was imported to China for processing. We can conclude from here that China processed around 255,000 tonnes of rare earths in 2022.
China’s export volume was 48,000 tonnes in 2022. For the value of this trade, the last data is from 2021. And it is 653 million USD. Completely insignificant for China, especially when you consider that it is coming at an environmental cost. When you look at the volume, you see that China’s exports are barely higher than its imports (in terms of weight after the processing of the imported ores). China’s own industry uses almost as much as China extracts from its own soil. Really, it looks like this monopoly only emerged because the scale caused by domestic demand resulted in much lower prices compared to the rest of the planet.
If this monetarily insignificant trade is this important for countries who are trying to kill entire sectors of the Chinese industry, then China should stop this trade. Let them deal with years of shortages. But it is not a good time to do this now. Export controls should be timed so that non-Chinese shortages should coincide with the emergence of Chinese products that compete with the products of Western companies (primarily US, SK and Japan) suffering from the shortages. This is important because commodities are rarely irreplaceable.
When I moved into my first apartment, it was one of those fancy newer buildings that offered incentives on move-in. In my case, it was a low deposit and a free month of rent! Because I was signing for a mid-month move-in, they pro-rated their amounts. At this stage was when I started eating the big bucks working crypto-forensic analysis and scam tracking jobs for Coinbase.
I wrote my check, moved in, and all was well for about 2 years.
A few weeks after I got tossed a notice about the building’s management being changed, I received a new notice taped to my front door. It told me I owed the front office <insert blank> amount within 3 days or they would begin eviction proceedings.
I’ve paid rent on time my entire life so I couldn’t imagine what on earth I would owe. Then I read the amount typed into the <insert blank>.
$0.01.
Yes. One cent. One one-hundredth of one dollar. One penny, and they wanted it NOW or they were going to evict me. What the hell?!
I went down and talked to the nice people in front of the computers in the leasing office. They looked through the files and told me that the new management was going through the books and making the final debt collections in order to start the new term on solid bookkeeping. They were rounding up all the outstanding fees and demanding payment. My fee, it appears, had been hanging around for two years. Yep: a rounding decision on that pro-rated rent amount.
asked them why they didn’t waive it. They said they couldn’t. I wasn’t about to lose my home over a rounding error, no matter the principle. I dug into my pocket to get the damn coin and hand it over. They held up their hands.
“I’m sorry, we don’t take cash.” I am sure the look on my face was comical but inside I was boiling with baffled rage.
They made me write a check. In order to keep my apartment, I used a $0.10 sheet of specially coded paper to hand over to salaried employees to collect in a deposit bag to go into a bank to cover a rounded calculation that had been irrelevant for 2 years but was now suddenly the difference between shelter and the streets.
Once upon a time, I was a stay at home mother. My home was spotless, my daughter taken care of, dinner was ready when her father walked in the door. I was happy and felt fulfilled. I truly loved giving of myself to my family.
Until I found myself alone and I had to find work. I did what I had to. I work long hours. Some say I work too many hours. But they aren’t responsible for me or my daughter, so their opinion is irrelevant. That responsibility falls on me, and even if I ever did remarry, I would never expect anyone else to be responsible for her, other than myself.
I prefer to do all of the “domestic arts” myself. I enjoy them. But the hours I work and the responsibilities I carry outside of work necessitate that I delegate some things to others. I don’t mind paying someone to clean if it means it’s one less thing for me to worry about.
Well, for this, we have to go back to the closing years of World War II. Although Germany and Japan were still fighting, it was clear they were going to lose, but that meant cleaning up the economic mess that had been created by the war.
Now, historically, the British Pound Sterling had been the most common reserve currency due to its stability and the ability to convert paper money into gold. However, the British government had to go heavily into debt for the war and suspended conversion of paper money into precious metal. However, it hardly mattered as British gold reserves were under pressure as it borrowed more and more money.
Now, the United States was in debt too, but back in 1933 they had already suspended the ability to convert paper currency into gold (you could convert it to silver until 1964) and had made the ownership of gold illegal. They then consolidated all the gold held by the various regional Federal Reserve banks and all the private gold they confiscated (and gave paper money for) into a single depository next to Fort Knox in Kentucky. Moreover, most countries had finance their debt int he United States as their own markets collapsed. In other words, the United States was swimming in gold.
So in July 1944 all 44 allied nations met at a hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire and worked out the new world monetary order. At the top of the agenda was avoiding expensive and potentially destabilizing transfers of large amounts of gold which would allow nations devastated by war to have capital to rebuild.
The scheme essentially took gold entirely out of the market and fixed it to the U.S. dollar, with $35 U.S. being the equivalent of 1 ounce of gold. Nations in the compact, called “Bretton Woods”, would agree to buy all the gold they had at that rate. Each nation would be able to fix the value of their currency against the U.S. dollar (for example, 5 francs to the dollar) but would have to guaranteed that exchange rate for intercountry transfers (i.e. the U.S. could buy all the francs it wanted for dollars at that rate). Countries could change that rate (Canada did in the 1960s when it dropped the rate from $1.00 U.S. for $1.00 Cdn. to $0.975 U.S. to $1.00 Cdn.) but had to stand by it. In other words, gold would not routinely change hands, U.S. dollars would.
There was a catch. Even though people couldn’t exchange dollars for gold, countries could. Most countries held U.S. dollar reserves, which were largely from surplus exports to the U.S. If they wanted to, they could “take delivery” of gold, assuming they wanted to securely transport it from Fort Knox themselves.
As such, the U.S. dollar standard replaced the gold standard, as the U.S. dollar became the common currency for all the countries in the compact.
Of course, this only lasted until 1973 when Richard Nixon pulled the United States out of the agreement. From that point forward, there was no fixed rate between currencies and they traded on the open market. The U.S. also ended the prohibition against owning gold and started selling some or theirs on the open market.
A Golden Eagle, a roughly 1 ounce gold coin that the U.S. government sells at the current market price of gold, plus a small premium.
Most countries still use the U.S. dollar as their “reserve” or “exchange” currency, but that’s changing. For example, Argentina just moved from the dollar to the Chinese yuan, which is also quite stable because the Chinese government manipulates its value
I am 21 years old. When I was in 10th grade there was a girl A in school. Just like typical teenagers she had many rumours surrounding her. I ignored those and went ahead and made friends with her.
In some months we started dating. We were head over heels for each other. We had everything going great so shown in movies. One day when we were on a date, after coming out from washroom she gave me her phone. There she had written something which changed all my views on her. She wrote that she was raped at the age of 14 by a guy who forced her to be his girlfriend so that other people won’t suspect a thing.
Fearing society and her parents, she didn’t tell it to anyone. But had to undergo therapy. Her parents were totally unaware to real reason behind her behaviour. She lost a ton of weight and was living on medicines. This was really shocking for me. Then I had flashback of all the times when she had certain insecurities and why she required so much time to trust a person. She also had intimacy issues because of this. And that person had told her to shut her mouth or he’ll leak the tape which he had recorded. This rumour was spread in our school by her friends isolating her.
But now she’s a healthy person pursuing her career in engineering and I am a proud boyfriend.
America Warns China To Obey As US Debt Auction GOES BAD
I didn’t think I was a poor student until I arrived at USC for my MBA program. I had worked hard and saved up $150K, which was to last me exactly through the $100K in tuition for two years and $50K for basic living expenses. I had a 9 year old Lincoln and thought I was set. My naïveté lasted for about 10 minutes.
As soon as I pulled into the student parking lot, I could see all the late model cars, many of them luxury marks. This was the undergrad parking area. One blond undergrad roared her shiny white Cadillac Escalade down the ramp as I looked for a spot.
During our casual meeting time with fellow students, productively labeled as networking, I heard about the kind of massive homes in exclusive neighborhoods that were the norm. Many of my classmates had gotten new luxury cars just for school and had fancy upscale condos for partying during school. But, that was just stuff. What really blew my mind was their attitude about money on a daily basis.
Many would invariably go to night time parties two or even three times a week, all during some very intense course work. While I looked for ways to stick to my $25 daily food budget, they had no problem splurging a few hundred dollars a night each time they were out. At the same time, I knew they were taking out massive student loans to fund their gratuitous consumption, along with tuition and basic living expenses.
Their lack of concern about repaying an extra $50K just surprised the heck out of me. I wasn’t dead broke and could tag along, but I just didn’t see the benefit of such free spending. Eventually, I settled into a more middle-class normative life-style and was comfortable.
Then I saw how naive I truly was.
One of my classmates had gotten to attend the MBA program on a merit and needs-based scholarship. He didn’t have any money. While his tuition was waived, he still needed to pay for daily expenses.
Instead of a fancy high floor condo or even a modest downtown condo, he lived in one of the roughest neighborhoods just off campus. I lived nearby and can hear the police patrols and random gun fire where he lived. My place wasn’t much but at least it was secure. He lived on a couch in a shared room right in the middle of regular gang and drug activity. Running water wasn’t always available, but it was cheap, just a few hundred bucks a month.
Obviously, he didn’t have a car and relied on brisk walks to get anywhere. He didn’t have many friends as he couldn’t afford to go hang out with anyone. When we hung out, I made sure we didn’t need to spend any money.
He couldn’t even afford food, so he worked part time at university food service to make a few dollars and grab leftovers for meals. While others dined in fancy Beverly Hills and Hollywood hot spots, he was scraping pots for a bite. But, he never complained about the squandered money of our fellow students. He knew his values and was content on focusing on his goals.
He certainly kept me grounded as I felt like a spoiled brat using money so freely and buying myself a burrito whenever I felt hungry.
So, here I was moping ridiculously about my relative paucity; he showed what real determination and pride in the midst of deprivation looked like.
And, even at the MBA level, there’s a bias to spend money. My freespending classmates all got six-figure jobs right out of school from their “networking” efforts and were able to quickly pay off their huge student loans. Meanwhile, my poor friend is still struggling financially.
Cheating Wife Stories, Husband’s Cruel Revenge For Cheating
“It doesn’t matter if she ” started to fall back in love with you “…SHE’S HAD ANOTHER MAN’S BABY !!! …that’s it…its over , no if and or buts it’s over…any man who’d accept that is NOT a man , he’d be a lil bitch , I don’t think I could have been with her the 9 months and not starting IMMEDIATE divorce proceedings could cost him child support…remember some sick states automatically declare a husband the ” father ” …even if you have medical proof and D.N.A proof…you must also have written statements by the mother and possible father…if mother can’t find other guy or he refuses to get involved you owe that affair baby 18 yrs of child support.. ( disgusting they’d punish a innocent man just to save a few percentages of tax rates for business and the rich…yet they have the harshest anti- abortion laws…total scum…but then again any man stupid enough to still marry in those states is criminally ignorant and brings it on himself…so no sympathy for those or this idiot..no one or no law forced him to marry…he put himself into his predicament….so keep lining up to sign up for marriage…I get a kick out of your pain and suffering”
According to CIIE organizers, this year’s expo has attracted a record 289 Global Fortune 500 companies and industry leaders, with over 3,400 exhibitors and 394,000 professional visitors registered for the event.
Now read carefully the name for the expo – it’s an IMPORT EXPO meaning the exhibitors are EXPORTERS from all over the world traveling to China to meet Chinese IMPORTERS to buy from them.
This is not about these people investing in China. This is about exhibitors interested to sell to the world’s largest consumer market.
I received a text addressed to him and asking him to call back the very next day after I activated it.
“Who’s this?”
“Mom.”
“I think you have the wrong number,” I answered. “My mom’s half way across the planet.”
“Sorry.”
“Hope everything is okay with your son/daughter!”
“Thanks! All the best!”
The messages didn’t stop there.
Reminders to pick up his car from the mechanic’s, friends wanting to get beers over the weekend, or talking sports and venting about frustrating relationships.
A woman he used to see asking if they can reconnect.
And I diligently replied saying that it’s no longer his number.
Except the more I replied, the more I felt some inexplicable connection with Michael. As if every message I received made me understand him a bit better. Identify with him. Even root for him as he navigates through the challenges of life.
Then things went quiet and I thought he must have let everyone know about changing his number and I almost forgot about the whole thing.
Until I started getting a different kind of messages.
And then it was spelled out in one message: “I heard your mom got diagnosed with cancer.”
The same mom who sent me my very first message on that phone.
I wrote back to one person saying that even though it’s not his number, I’m deeply sorry about the news and that I’m sending healing prayers.
He/she was so touched they said the kindness of a stranger brightened their day and restored a little bit of faith.
And I felt even closer to Michael.
Like we have something greater in common than just having shared a number. I’ve *been* through shit with him. I’ve thought about his problems and commitments.
And now his mom has cancer.
Michael, I don’t know you and we’ve never spoken, but I want you to know that I *am* there for you. That you *are* in my thoughts. That I *do* care.
That I love you and your mother and I hope you all get through this.
China can do manufacturing and the U.S. cannot. China is the global supply chain hub. China is the one with the perrenial trade surplus with the U.S. Militarily, China has the world’s largest naval fleet while we can’t construct any new naval assets while those “active” assets spent more time in repair than out on duty.
Yesterday in the Charlotte, NC airport I decided to spend my last few dollars on a beer before my flight to Munich.
Before me in line stood a man well into his seventies. He ordered two red wines.
The server asked him for his ID and that of his equally aged wife who was sitting at a table with a cane propped between her knees.
He thought it was a joke. So did I.
It wasn’t. He had to walk back to the table and fetch his wife’s ID.
This was not only strange, it was the stupidest rule I’ve ever seen.
Sixty-year old me was next. And yes, I needed to prove I was twenty one.
Edit: I keep getting comments about how this is normal and the server is just doing their job. I understand and don’t hold it against the server, their management or even the legal system that makes them so careful.
All that said, the rest of the world finds it very strange (and a bit sad perhaps) when 80-year old people must be carded to prove they are 21.
If you are 100% sure you know who did it, and the peaches were all inside the boundaries of your yard, you have several options – none passive.
Coming from compassion – Offer to share some – not all – if they “need” some.
Let “all” neighbors know you have plans for the fruit this year. Request everyone stay out of your yard unless invited.
Put up a Beware of dog sign – even if you don’t have one.
Put up No Tresspassing signs. Warn that anyone caught tresspassing is subject to being arrested.
Get security cameras on your place – yard and front and side areas.
And if they get caught trying to do it again have an estimate for value of the crop and press charges for theft. If it’s over $500 it’s a felony in many or most states. Tresspassing and theft could mean jail time. Those peaches better be worth it to them.
Growing up we had grapes along our back fence. Three different neighbors over 25 years all asked first before taking the grapes poking through to their side. Every year my family told them to take any on their side of the fence.
Point is good neighbors “ask.”
Something is weird with your neighbors.
China’s Growing NAVAL POWER Can Destroy the USA in 30 Seconds
Technological advancement is a cornerstone of China’s naval dominance. From the development of cutting-edge submarines, such as the Type 095 and Type 096, to the deployment of advanced naval aviation capabilities, China has demonstrated an unyielding dedication to innovation. Its naval prowess is complemented by a formidable array of anti-ship missiles, naval defense systems, and electronic warfare capabilities, placing it at the forefront of maritime technology.
I was enjoying a meal of spaghetti with marinara sauce in a pleasant Italian restaurant. I noticed two women, around 40, eating at the other side of the small restaurant, conversing and eating heartily. When they had finished, the waitress came to take their plates, and asked if they wanted anything else. They said no, and she asked “If you are ready, I will bring your bill.” The ladies said, no, they would not pay because the food was very bad. They claimed the spaghetti was undercooked, the sauce was thin and salty, and the rolls were not fit to eat. Their coffee was much too strong, too. They were not rude or really loud, but were adamant they did not think they should pay for such bad food. The waitress said, “Why didn’t you tell me? I would have taken the food and gotten you a better meal. And besides, why did you eat it all and then tell me it was so bad?” The ladies realized the sense of the waitress’ words, accepted the bill, and paid.
Early during my intern year in San Francisco in 1973, I took over care of a comatose alcoholic patient. I discovered her electrolytes and metabolic tests were all out of wack.
I corrected them and she woke up.
The first thing she asked upon awakening was “Who’s taking care of my cats?”.
She was in a panic.
I called her contacts and got a neighbor to get her cats and care for them.
I then told my patient that if she kept drinking, the next time she ended up in the hospital she would surely die and there would be no one to look after her cats. They would die a terrible death of thirst and starvation.
I remember her looking at me with grave concern.
About a week later she was discharged and I didn’t see her again until very near the end of my internship. I saw her walking in the corridor of the hospital going for a clinic visit. She looked like a different person, well dressed and made up.
She told me that she hadn’t had another drink in almost a year because her cats depended on her.
It was one of the most rewarding moments in my long career and one of the rare times I succeeded in getting a hard core alcoholic to get and stay on the wagon.
Cheesecake Factory Cajun Jambalaya Pasta
pasta jambalaya 4 1 of 1 1463×2048 1
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
4 ounces butter
2 teaspoons Cajun spice mix
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into small pieces
1 pound fresh linguini pasta
1/2 cup clam juice
2 ounces green bell peppers, cut into thin strips
2 ounces red bell peppers, cut into thin strips
2 ounces yellow bell peppers, cut into thin strips
4 ounces red onions, cut into thin strips
1/2 pound fresh medium shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails removed
1/2 cup diced tomatoes
Instructions
Place the butter into a sauté pan. Allow the butter to melt slightly. Add the seasoning into the pan and stir together with the melted butter. Add the chicken into the pan and continue to cook until the chicken is about half done.
While the chicken is cooking, carefully place the pasta into boiling water and cook until al dente.
Pour the clam juice into the pan. Add the peppers and onions. Cook for another minute, making sure the vegetables are heated through and the chicken is almost done.
Add the shrimp into the pan. Toss the ingredients together and continue to cook until the shrimp are almost done.
Add the tomatoes into then pan. Continue to cook mixture until both the shrimp and chicken are thoroughly cook through.
Place some pasta into each bowl. Spoon equal portions of the jambalaya mixture into each bowl over the pasta.
My dad was 22 years older than my mom and in his mid-fifties when I was born. He retired while I was in elementary school which meant I essentially had two stay at home parents as my mom didn’t work. My dad never showed his age and was as active and involved as any of my friends dads but more so because he didn’t have work. When I was younger my dad would come to elementary school and eat lunch with me. He helped with boy scouts and came camping with me. He attended all sporting events and school activities. In the summer we would spend full days at museums or going on trips; he was a regular chaperone on school field trips. When my bus stop was far away he’d come pick me up every day.
I was always sadly hyper aware that he was older and losing him was a regular fear; I lucked out and had him with me until he almost hit 97 and I was 42; my mom passed 15 months before him. I just had my first child at 43 and have no idea how my dad managed 4 kids, with my brother and I just two years apart, and not complain or show any signs of age at all. I wouldn’t say I ever wished for younger parents as it is all I ever knew.
My dad was 57 when I was born and my mom 43. My mom passed away 2 days after I was born. My dad was my world. He learned to cook to make me my favorite meals. I was a picky eater as a kid.
He woke me up each morning with fresh squeezed orange juice which I love until this day. As I got older, he would play tennis with me and taught me to play softball. He had played baseball in Cuba and he was a great hitter even in his sixties. I did everything with him.
When I was 5, he was on his way to pick me up at day care when he got into a terrible car accident where an ambulance was called to treat him. He was less than a a tenth of a mile from the day care, he told the ambulance workers he had to pick up his daughter before he could be taken to the hospital. He walked and picked me up with a head injury and took me to a neighbors house before being transported to the hospital. I will always remember this day.
When I was 10 he retired from work and started picking me up from the bus stop every day after school. He always had a snack ready for me and we sat and talked about our day.
At 15 he taught me to drive. He was patient and made sure I knew the rules of the road. For my 16th birthday, he took me to get my drivers license. A few days later he bought me a car. We were poor and I had no expectation of a car. He had put aside money to buy me a 3 year old Toyota Camry. He drove a 13 year old car.
A few months after my 16th birthday he was not feeling well and I thought it was a cold. He passed away 20 days later of a double pneumonia and acute leukemia. My world was shattered. I didn’t know how to pick up the pieces and keep going. To this day, I think about him every day.
Did I wish he was younger? No, I wouldn’t change him but I do wish I had more time with him.
He’s never run any commercials promoting his podcast. Never bought any billboards, any print ads. He never went on any late-night shows to promote his podcast.
I’ve always known about him from watching UFC’s, so I knew he had a podcast.
But eventually – he began popping up more and more on my YouTube suggestions. I figured – can this podcast really be any good? I know he’s a decent comedian and a great fight commentator.
Steadily – over years, he continued plugging away at his podcast, getting more and more guests.
Finally, I gave in – and I’m hooked – along with millions of other people.
The podcast is a blend of funny/smart and is just people having conversations. No acting, no-nonsense.
Just humble, intelligent conversations with a wide variety of people from all walks of life.
Joe now has one of the most popular podcasts in the world and he just did it by being his authentic self and enjoying conversations with people.
He was a Navy SEAL serving in Afghanistan. During a mission in 2007, he went into a room first, leading his team. Unfortunately, it had insurgents in it, waiting with automatic weapons.
He was shot 27 times. While 11 rounds were blocked by his body armor, 16 rounds managed to hit him in the torso, arms and legs. He was also hit by a grenade which exploded and sent shrapnel through his body.
And then, he managed to kill three enemy fighters near him with a pistol and without killing any of the women and children in the room.
His recovery took two long years.
And he later became an advocate for wounded warriors and those living with PTSD—because he had it bad.
Sadly, he was haunted by the things he went through in war. This past March, he couldn’t bear it anymore and was found hanging in his room.
He cheated death narrowly for 16 years, but the demons were the ones Mike couldn’t escape. Rest in Peace warrior.
The Admiral Kuznetsov was and actually still is the flagship of the Russian Navy.
Yes, she’s not seaworthy, but it doesn’t matter. This is really a matter of national pride. If the Russian Navy can’t keep their flagship in service, that does not look great.
As a side-note, the Kuznetsov was built at the Black Sea Shipyard in what is now Ukraine. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, you’ll know why docking it in Ukraine is not exactly an option. Russia lacks any shipyards large and capable enough to properly service or build something this big, which is why they’re having so much trouble refitting the ship.
It may happen now and then but I have never heard of of a big box company buying out the little guy. They usually just open up a store and drive the little guy out of business – maybe. Read on. Sometimes a smaller chain will be bought out but seldom a single store.
Mom and pop hardware stores tended to do better than, say, grocery stores because of the expertise offered.
In 1976 I got a position in Rochester NH as a bank trust officer and we bought a beautiful cape cod with a center chimney built in 1853.
A neighbor chatted to me and asked me if I had experience with working on houses. Our previous home we had bought brand new so I had to confess that I had not. He told me I should expect this home to require endless work. He suggested to me that I should patronize Warburton’s Hardware just down the road from me. He said I would go in for a dollars worth of nails and come out with ten dollars worth of advice.
He was right on both counts and I took his advice.
Brownie Warburton retired and it was bought by the Boucher family and they are still there. It was a happy day for me when he invited me to call him Brownie. The locals were not usually that accepting of blow ins.
So the mom and pop hardware stores can compete.
Now just about anyone will be familiar with this logo
ACE Hardware
You might think that Ace is a chain but you would be wrong. Ace stores are individually owned or parts of small chains – a bit liked McDonald’s. The big difference is that Ace Corporation is owned by the store owners – it is a cooperative. Ace started up in 1924, long before big box hardware stores and they seem to be thriving. They do so in the same way that Brownie Warburton did: by providing service and expertise. Edit. I did not intend this to be an ad for Ace but it sure resonated with readers. Read the comments.
This is not to say that big box stores have no place; they clearly do but so do smaller, locally owned stores.
I’m a Christian and would change it to God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform “ as an old hymn says.
When I was younger, I was asked at the last minute to delay my holiday as someone else wanted to go to the Henley Regatta and we couldn’t both be away from work at the same time. I was furious!
When I arrived finally on holiday, this vision in a blue dress appeared. She also not only shouldn’t have been there that week, but shouldn’t have been there at all. She had been going to Switzerland earlier but developed appendicitis and couldn’t go and some weeks later was invited to join her sister and some friends and so we met.
We married a year later and remained together for 63 years until her death.
I used to work for a large rehab company. I was a licensed occupational therapist. One year, we had a new girl start there, who was from Europe. She was also also a licensed therapist, but had two years of additional training. She was also on a work visa. At first she was friendly and agreeable, but soon began to show her true colors. She started making snide comments about people behind their backs, and then proceeded to say them to their faces. She told me that where she came from, I wouldn’t be considered a real therapist, because I had only studied for two years.
We had a few Rehab assistants that she proceeded to lord over, because she had a college degree and they did not. But they worked hard and did their jobs. One day she sat with us at lunch; myself, and two rehab assistants. She proceeded to make rude comments about certain ethnic groups in the company, claiming that they had chips on their shoulders. I told her that her remarks could be construed as racism, and that she had better knock it off. She scoffed, and went on making rude comments. When she left the room with a big smirk on her face, one of the aides told me that she had been making unflattering comments behind my back, too. I decided that she needed to be taught a lesson. I contacted our clinical director and reported her behavior, especially the racist comments.
An hour later, she came walking down the hall, smirk replaced by copious tears. She had been warned that if she continued with her behavior, she would be shipped right back to Europe.
I had a “blood pressure” event that scared the living shit out of myself and caused me to rush to the emergency room.
The night before, we had drank three bottles of Merlot wine. Now, Merlot is a very hard wine, not so much in alcohol, but it is a heavy wine, and the next morning, I felt “very off”. That feeling of being “off” persisted well into the afternoon.
By 3:30 in the afternoon, I made up some of my herbal tea. Which consisted of “yin Yang Hua herbs (“Horny goat weed”) and GuoGe grapes. You just keep on adding hot water to the mix. And I drank about six bottles of the tea. Perhaps six or seven bottles. Maybe three liters total. It made me feel better.
It always does.
Anyways, I started to chew on some of the leaves and swallowed some of the GuoGe berries. And about a half of an hour later, I started to feel really “off”
My body felt really “wrong”.
So I went and checked my blood pressure. It is normally at 121.
I read 142. High.
High.
2023 11 20 20 40
So I calmed down. Waited 15 minutes.
Measured it again.
158. Uh oh!
Gulp.
It was rising rapidly. Too rapidly. Too fast.
So I waited twenty minutes, and checked again.
175.
Sheeeeet!
I told ms. mm, “we need to go to the hospital now”. She started to protest, “but I have xxxxx”. I said “I don’t care.” And grabbed my keys. And the mrs and kid followed behind.
Luckily the hospital was down the street and we parked in front of the emergency room, as it was around 5 o’clock Sunday night.
I got in. They measured my vitals.
Blood Pressure = 214
Body temperature = 39.5 C
2023 11 20 20 42 2
Both too high. I was admitted, and checked in. The staff took care of me.
…
Anyways, things are under control now, but I have to stay in the hospital for a while as they watch me.
My temperature is back to normal, and my BP is going down. The doctors tell me that I worry too much, high BP will not kill me. And they put me in the old people wing of the hospital due to my age.
LOL.
They nurses look at me… and then to my wife…, and four-year old and go “really?”
I don’t look like the rest of the folk in this area. And frankly, they are scaring me. Old 90 year old men on death-beds, and 80-year olds with health issues.
But I’ll get out once things stabilize.
My heart checks out fine. CT scan of my skull is fine too, though the doctor wanted to know what those seven black beads were. LOL! He chuckled at my answer, and I joked about it too.
Anyways…
Don’t fuck around with your health!
Anyways, the doctor says that my worrying about my situation only made things worse. All I was doing was drinking red wine, and taking Chinese herbal teas and that there was nothing that I should worry about.
Nothing. Normal behaviors.
Blurred vision, however. Dizziness, however… yeah… go straight to the hospital, but aside from that. Dontworryaboutit.
I’ll give you all updates as time moves on, but I have a lot of things on my plate that this particular moment in time, and I have to jiggle my medical emergency with all sorts of other personal, professional concerns. So I’m at max right now.
Huawei did a miracle, defy traditional convention and believe, it had done the impossible. It was beyond US and DOC imagination, it is still a mystery to them, they have yet to figure out how Huawei did it.
The US banned Huawei access to EDA design tool, practically cut Huawei or Hisilcon from designing the chip although Hisilcon was able to design chip of 3nm using US EDA design tool before the ban.
Therefore Huawei and Hisilcon need to come out with their own EDA tool which they did successfully in unprecedented record time.
With its own EDA tool Hisilcon can proceed to design 7nm chip that SMIC can fabricate.
The other breakthrough was the fabrication of 7nm chips with DUV machines which according to industry is not possible, DUV standard limit is to produce chip up to 14 or 10 nm. 7nm chip require EUV machine, China or SMIC was banned from getting EUV machine.
BUT SMIC with corporation from Huawei did successfully produce 7nm chips by using available DUV machines which they call them N+2 chip. It was reported Huawei seconded more than 300 engineers or scientists to jointly resolve the bottleneck of using existing DUV machines to produce the require N+2 chips, an unbelievable breakthrough.
Another mystery is how can SMIC mass produce N+2 chips, initially, market was under impression, Huawei Mate 60 pro will be limited in supply, but Huawei surprised the markets by introducing 3 more models and look like the 7nm chip had achieved mass production able to meet sale volumn requirement.
The US and allies are panic now, Qualcom sale of chips to China contribute more than 60% of their sales, may risk losing the markets, ASML is panic too, China and Huawei are likely to breakthrough on EUV machine soon. US EDA suppliers risk losing Chinese markets permanently, the biggest risk is China may soon flood the markets with competitive chips killing US and allies chip industries.
The US and allies need to worry beyond just Mate 60 pro.
The U.S. will lose considerable ground and opportunity if it continue behaving like it is doing now.
What you need is a leader like Newsom the California governor. He sets aside biases and US media narratives to visit China and sees for himself what opportunities the U.S. is missing by having senile leaders like Trump and Biden.
The U.S. can only stay strong if it takes its head out of the sand. China is not just a big market it is humongous and growing rapidly. China alone is worth more than your next 5 biggest market. These nonsense of decoupling or de risking is having the opposite effect. You are not cutting China out. The U.S. is being decoupled from the world instead.
I suspect that Americans will throw out all China and Chinese haters out of your government soon. That is the first right step for the U.S.
GLICHERY – SEA OF PROBLEMS (PHONK)
Creole Flank Steak with Sautéed Vegetables and Cheese Grits
creole flank steak
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
Flank Steak
1 beef flank steak (about 1 to 1 1/2 pounds)
1/2 cup red wine
2 tablespoons lime juice
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon Creole seasoning
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
Okra and Carrots Sauté
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup carrots, chopped
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped
16 ounces okra, cut into 1 inch pieces
Creole Grits
1 1/2 cups water
2 cups milk
1 tablespoon Creole seasoning
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup quick-cooking grits
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup jalapeño jack cheese, shredded
Instructions
Flank Steak
Combine red wine, lime juice, garlic, Creole seasoning, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper in a food-safe plastic bag. Add steak, close bag securely. Marinate in refrigerator for 6 hours to overnight.
Remove steak from marinade; discard marinade. Place steak on grid over medium, ash-covered coals. Grill, covered, 11 to 16 minutes (over medium heat on preheated gas grill, 16 to 21 minutes) for medium rare (145 degrees F) to medium (160 degrees F) doneness, turning occasionally. Allow to rest.
Okra and Carrots Sauté
Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the onions, carrots, cumin, coriander and chili powder. Sauté for 3 to 5 minutes or until the onions are transparent. Add the tomatoes and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
Add the okra and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes or until the okra is cooked through.
Creole Grits
In a Dutch oven combine water, milk, Creole seasoning and salt. Bring to a boil.
Slowly add grits to hot liquid stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and cover, stirring occasionally, about 5 to 7 minutes.
Remove from heat, stir in butter in cheese until melted.
Slice grilled steak against the grain. Serve with vegetables and grits.
This recipe is an excellent source of Protein, Iron, Potassium, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, Zinc, Selenium, Choline; and a good source of Dietary Fiber.
50 years ago, it was perfectly reasonable to have a huge house, 3 kids, a car, and go on holidays at least once per year. On a single income.
Today, working 2 jobs, living in a small room, having no kids, taking the bus, never going on holidays, but sometimes getting a latte or an avocado toast… is considered to be an extravagant lifestyle, filled with needless luxuries.
Give it another couple of decades, and random stuff like getting 8 hours of sleep will be declared to be some kind of reckless indulgence, irresponsible behavior that youngsters should avoid if they ever want to be able to afford housing.
Husband Shocks Mrs By Laying Down The Law About The Marriage, Lack Of Bedroom Fun, Etc (She Obeys)
In today’s video, I go over an email sent from a subscriber who shares his story of how his once great marriage went down the tubes after unfortunate life events caused him to stop being the masculine leader he once was.
Finally after gaining back some of his manhood, he confronts his wife about her years of bad treatment of him and makes it clear that there are going to be some immediate changes or it’s over!
This is a great story about how men need to always remain in their masculine (even when things are difficult) as well as be the leader or things will quickly go to hell in a handbasket in their relationships.
Sixteen years ago, I got a job assignment 100 miles away for one year. My newly married daughter and son in law (Andy) moved into my house and I got an apartment in the new city. I came home most weekends. Before I left, I asked Andy if he wanted to keep cable for the year and pay for it. He said no and I cancelled it. Interestingly my bill with Comcast reflected the cancellation but the house still had service.
A few months go by and now it is April 1. I call Andy and leave a voicemail. I say that the Michigan State Police contacted me. They are investigating a three state cable theft ring. They claim my home is stealing cable, there is an illegal, third party bridge device affixed to home and the device has Andy’s fingerprints on it. I am in the clear because I have not been living there. This is all fiction.
Next, Andy is out and goes to my ex wife’s house where he and my daughter had been living previous to my house. A younger daughter answers the door and tells Andy that a police officer came to the house asking for him. She gives him a name and phone number the imaginary cop left. Andy is confused and then listens to my voicemail. Now he is freaked out. He calls the number and it rings to the desk of the woman who works next to me. She sees the incoming number and answers “Kent County Jail”. Andy identifies himself and tells her a bit of the story. She says she will transfer the call to the detective.
The call rings to my desk and I answer Hi Andy. April Fools.
Everyone keeps saying “1945” but the genesis of the distrust between the Soviet Union and the United States goes back way before that, and it’s impossible to understand why the two sides got engaged in proxy wars and a disastrously expensive arms buildup without going back to the Russian October Revolution in 1917.
It’s 1917 and the Russian Empire is on the ropes due to some spectacularly bad military and civilian leadership that saw Tsar Nicholas actually trying to lead troops in the field. His government completely collapsed that spring.
However, the provisional government, led by a faction called the Mensheviks (“Minority”) made one critical error. They were dependent on Great Britain, France and the United States to prop up their finances on the condition that Russia continue their war effort. The Mensheviks were no better at trying to fight the Germans, Austrians and Turks as the Imperial forces were and Germany decided to try to destabilize the new government by allowing passage to a Communist who went by the pseudonym of “Lenin” who was living in Geneva at the time who knew an opportunity when he saw it.
Lenin managed to get the support of worker’s unions, known by the Russian name “Soviet”, and the armed forces and took power in Moscow. He then consolidated power and ordered his foreign minister to end the war with the enemy powers as soon as possible no matter what it cost them. Russia conceded massive amounts of land and Lenin planned for what he knew was coming next – a civil war with the various factions that remained in Russian territory and breakaway states.
Naturally, the Western Powers were appalled, not only by the fact they now had to fight the Germans and Austrians alone (the war dragged on for another year) but that Lenin was making good on his promises to destroy the aristocracy and redistribute land and factories to the new “Soviets”.
The Russian Civil War, which lasted from 1917 to 1923 was an absolute mess with dozens of factions getting involved in addition to the primary fight between the Bolshevik “Red Army” and the “White Movement”, a loose coalition of anti-communist forces. Into this mess jumped in Great Britain, France and the United States, who sent personnel and support to the White faction.
So, after half-a-million people were killed and another 2.5 million people were wounded, the Reds were clearly on top and ready to rebuild the country. Unfortunately, the currency was worthless and the economy (once the world’s 4th largest) was in the toilet. What made it worse was that the economy was still largely agricultural at this point, and the Soviet Union still had to feed itself.
And absolutely no-one was willing to help them. Despite the Soviet Union being the de facto government of most of the old Empire (the Baltic States and some other areas remained independent) it would be another ten years before the western governments would recognize the new government, at which point the Soviet Union still struggled to recover its economy while it made great strides in industrialization. Sure, the west would buy Catherine the Great’s diamonds, but money was scarce.
In 1924 the secretary of the party, who had by manipulating meeting attendance and taking control of the bureaucracy rose to the head of the government, was clearly in charge with his rivals fleeing the country (to no avail, he had them hunted down). Joe Steel, or in Russian, “Josef Stalin”, had been a Georgian seminary student (he was very bright) and former bank robber (to finance communist party operations) but despite his accomplishments still spoke Russian like a Georgian and had a massive inferiority complex, a suspicious streak a mile wide, and was absolutely ruthless. When he died thirty years later, his servants were too afraid to check to see if he was actually dead.
But the western powers, this time including the newly restored Nazi Germany, were still hell bent on anti-Bolshevik rhetoric. The Nazis were hardly alone in this – the U.S., France and Great Britain were also hostile to communists during this period.
And it’s in 1939 when Stalin makes one of the greatest blunders in world history – he trusts Hitler. As his foreign minister later said, Stalin trusted no-one, except the world’s greatest liar. At first, it seemed to be a good idea as Russia seized the eastern half of Poland. However, just two years later, the Germans were on the move and invaded the Soviet Union. The irony is that Great Britain had excellent intelligence and was able to pin down the date of the invasion. They weren’t stupid and passed the information onto Russia. However, Stalin thought it was a ruse to get them to attack Germany. The Tsar’s attack on Germany in 1914 was what led to the war with Germany and he didn’t think it was a good idea to repeat history.
Nevertheless, their common enemy pushed Great Britain and the Soviet Union together as the British provided what they could to the Russians. When America entered the war later that year they got in on the game too and the three sides realized they had to work together to destroy Nazi Germany.
But throughout this period the three sides still had a lot of distrust of each other, and there were even cases where the United States and Great Britain were at odds.
Russian and Great Britain’s plan to carve up Europe after the war. The U.S. wasn’t in on it.
But distrust over each other’s post war motives continued. By the time Truman told Stalin about the atomic bomb, Stalin knew about the project and even before that, had known about the potential (Russian scientists had independently hit on the idea). Moreover, during the period from 1941–1944 and D-Day, the Russians were carrying the bulk of the fight against the Germans and suffering terribly for it while the British and Americans were safely making plans in England. Stalin persistently pressed the matter about when the western powers would open a second front, and by the time they did so in June 1944 it was clear the Germans weren’t going to win the war anyway. American involvement didn’t win the war, but it certainly shortened it.
Things didn’t get better after Germany’s defeat. Russia turned its attention to Japan and Japan, in another great historical miscalculation, figured they could avoid an occupation by using the Russians as intermediaries with the Americans. Instead, the Russians moved their forces east and invaded Manchuria the same day the first atomic bomb fell.
The importance of this delay cannot be overstated as it allowed Russia to occupy Manchuria and the northern half of the Korean peninsula, both of which were under Japanese occupation. Meanwhile the Americans grabbed the southern part of Korea and Japanese occupied Taiwan. Russia’s occupation allowed safe haven for the Chinese and Korean communist parties.
Still, the Russians, Americans, British and French still worked together to get things done, but by 1949 it was clear that the relationship was severely strained. One of the big issues was the flight of European capital to the United States after the war. This was clearly against the laws of the countries where the capital flight had taken place, but instead of repatriating the capital to their original countries, the American government decided to provide replacement capital (commonly called The Marshall Plan). Stalin outright refused to participate in the plan and again blamed capitalists for the now near total lack of usable money in his sphere of influence.
The western powers managed to keep the Russians from extending their influence into Austria or Greece, but it was clear Stalin had a great plan to prevent western friendly governments from getting influence in the regions he occupied. The first was his refusal to clear Warsaw of German troops as the Polish government-in-exile in London planned to return. This gave him the opportunity to set up a new Polish provisional government. East Germany’s new leaders were found by using the easiest denazification tactic after the war – finding German communists who had been forced into exile or concentration camps.
After the Soviet attempt to blockade the western powers zone in Berlin in 1948, everyone quickly got used to the new world order with NATO in the east with the remaining democracies and the Warsaw Pact consisting of communist puppet governments in Russian occupied territory. A couple of places like Yugoslavia and Albania were both communist and mostly independent of Russia, but it was a delicate balancing act.
At the same time, it was clear the Republic of China was in serious problems and the Kuomintang fled to American controlled Taiwan as the Chinese Communist Party managed to do what the Republic of China never did – consolidate the country’s military forces into a single unit and take control over all the countryside. The Soviet Union immediately recognized the new communist government of China, but the western powers instead continued to back the Kuomintang despite the fact they no longer controlled any of the mainland.
So in the end all of this really goes back to that time in 1918 when the western powers refused to accept communism despite its immediate popularity in the new Soviet Union, and gave birth to a paranoid sociopath who could neither trust nor be trusted. The two sides continued to be suspicious of each other for the next forty-five years as both spread misinformation about the other in order to justify their tactics.
Someone attempted to return a steel entry door to the store I worked at. I refused the return.
“You have to take this door back! I know the returns policy here!”
“No, I do not. We only accept returns of unused items.”
“And how do you know it isn’t unused?”
“Okay… It’s painted green on one side. It’s painted white on the other. The tape from where someone hung a picture on it is still there. The jamb on one side is nine years older than the jamb on the other, and it’s busted out where the lock bores are. The jamb side of the hinges is a different color than the lock side. It’s warped. The brickmould around the outside is three different colors. (There are three pieces of brickmould on a door.) There’s a big dent in the area of the lockset where someone kicked it in. Which says to me that someone came in, bought a new door to replace this one, removed the parts from the new door that he needed, reassembled the rest of the parts into a facsimile of a door, then sent you down here with it to try to return it. And, as I said, I’m not going to accept the return.”
Naturally, he demanded to speak to a manager…who took one look at the door, asked the guy “you’re kidding, right?” and walked away.
On edit: Here’s one that was actually justified. In North Carolina, you can buy bales of pine needles. The product is called Pine Straw, and people use it in landscaping. A woman brought back a bale of it – something that NEVER happened.
“Reason for return?” “There’s a live rattlesnake in it.”
We called Animal Control. They sent a truck over to pick up the bale. Before hauling the snake off, they told her that next time she gets a free rattlesnake with her pine straw, she needs to call Animal Control and not try to haul it back to the store. They returned two hours later; they hauled the snake twenty miles out in the woods and turned it loose.
Second edit: A customer I knew pretty well and got along with (he was a contractor) brought in a wooden gable vent. A very, very used wooden gable vent…the house it was in was probably 50 years old. So I got called to Returns. “No. Definitely used, and we don’t sell these anyway. The cobwebs on this thing probably weigh more than it does.”
“But I bought it here fifteen years ago!”
“Sir, I can guarantee you didn’t buy this here fifteen years ago.”
“How can you guarantee that?”
“The store is only eleven years old.”
He was just fucking around; he wanted to see if I’d throw it away for him because it wouldn’t fit in the dumpster he rented. That, I would do.
I went through this myself and I was the biggest idiot in the world for thinking that maybe, just maybe, if I’m nice and give the info my “dear friend” would change his mind. HAH!! The fucker had his errand boy bother me for days about all the shit that they never fixed or gave me the correct info to fix it properly and they they denied the fact that I worked 7 days a week and only paid me for one week instead of the 2 it should of been. His piss poor excuse was that his girlfriend the office manager said I wasn’t owed it. I wonder how she would of felt if I told her about the offer of an apartment and $3k a month to be his girlfriend and how much he hated being with her and was disgusted at the thought of having sex with her. DO NOT DO IT! If you are offered payment to do it and you need the money, tell them the money has to be in your account before you tell them anything, otherwise let them look for it themselves. Basically, fuck them, they fired you and now are proving they need you. It’s bullshit!
In 9th grade, during PE class we were just sort of milling around waiting for class to start. The guys were all standing around discussing chores.
Our PE teacher was a southern blue collar kind of guy. He worked as a fixer upper worker on the weekends too, repairing homes, bathrooms, kitchens etc. This is a guy who probably earned every penny he ever spent.
And here he was stuck in a room with a bunch of spoiled rich kids.
He jokingly said something to the effect of, “Man, you guys are all spoiled. I bet your parents pay you to do chores.”
And all the guys start nodding yes. “Oh yeah, my mom gives me $20 to mow the lawn.”
Another says, “I get $5 to clean my room.”
The teacher had poorly concealed disgust on his face.
For the record, I didn’t get paid for chores. Again, I’m from a military family. Being paid for chores is preposterous.
It is cheap political propaganda that gain popularity but in reality costly to the U.S. government and the Americans livelihood.
To me and indeed the world. The U.S. is a broken nation that has tremendous internal issues to the point of being unsustainable and imploding politically and socially. There is far too many unworkable issues facing the U.S. such as racialism, poverty, homelessness, disparity of income, high inflation, bankrupt cities, random street shooting and unworkable. Health care policies.
Most U.S. politicians simply ignore those unsolvable issues and distract the attention of frustrated citizens by ignoring those problems through creating imaginary adversaries like China, Iran or Russia. Their media are used to demonise these nations instead of facing its own domestic issues.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have a problem with our wings,” announced the pilot.
True story. This happened to me last week.
The plane was making its final approach to Houston Intercontinental Airport. Suddenly there were three consecutive “ding-dong” sounds in the main cabin.
I saw both air hostesses run from the back of the plane to the front and grab the phone. They talked for a few seconds to the pilot, then the pilot came on with an announcement.
“We have broken off our approach. We have a problem with our wings. The leading edge slats won’t come down. We have declared an emergency and we will be landing shortly,” he said.
“Fire trucks will be waiting for us on the runway. It’s probably going to be a hard landing because we can’t slow the plane down as we normally would. We’ll see you on the ground.”
That was it.
Immediately the air hostesses started preparing everyone for the emergency. Uncertainty filled the cabin. Everyone of us felt vulnerable and scared.
I reflected on how fragile we are. There we were, trapped inside a metal tube flying at a high speed, … nothing to be done, simply pray and trust that everything would be okay.
The wind shook the plane from one side to the other. I could sense how the pilot was trying to find the optimal speed to land, not too fast, yet enough to fight the winds.
I could finally see the runway through my window. We all braced for the impact and as soon as we touched the ground, the pilot hit hard on the brakes.
The captain did an amazing job. We cheered and clapped for his fantastic landing.
Fire trucks followed us to the gate.
It was not fun. That leading edge slat on the front of the wing is responsible for the addition of a few more grey hairs to my head.
My first — and hopefully my last — emergency landing!
You need to prove your idea carefully and defend your opinion facing a tsunami of debates, otherwise, no one believes in you, or they just took you as a psycho. Persuading Chinese people is a hard task, America tried every means to turn Chinese people to think so in past 30 years, but worked badly. And thanks to Western anti-China propaganda, Chinese people are well trained in confronting such speeches.
China has a lot of CCP-haters, Western-lickers, retro-nationalist (hate their own nationality and hoped to be colonized by the West again), they spoke much more hilarious speeches than you.
Again, if someone making speech only providing his own opinion but lacking details, usually means the speaker is less educated or lack independent rational thinking.
Why I choose to raise my child in CHINA and not the WEST
Any car that’s been written off for water damage is a car you want to stay as far away from as possible. Insurance companies know what they’re doing, and there’s a reason they declare water-damaged cars total losses even when the car looks and acts fine.
Look, Porches are expensive, temperamental, finicky beasts at the best of times, with perfect care and proper maintenance. A water-damaged car that insurance has declared a total loss? Jesus.
No. The third party is lying to you. It is not in perfect condition. Dear God no. If you buy it, you are not purchasing a car. You are purchasing a world of hurt. You are purchasing pain everlasting. You are purchasing a demon of the night, a thing that will present you with repair bills you never knew could be so high and so frequent at such totally unexpected times. Every seal, every moving part, every bit of metal on that car is suspect, and it will fail in interesting ways you wouldn’t think possible.
“Perfect condition” my left testicle. Right now, as I type this, corrosion is at work in every tiny nook and cranny of that car, eating away at its heart. As the seller hopes you’re too technically naive to realize. Don’t think of it as a car, think of it as an opportunity to saddle yourself with an expensive albatross that will be a source of the most magnificent pain for years to come.
Snowgraff – 10 Mentions Parallèles feat. José (Clip Officiel)
Israel Minister Amihai Eliyahu: Dropping a Nuke on Gaza is “An Option.”
Israel’s Minister Amihai Eliyahu says that dropping a nuclear weapon on the Gaza Strip is “an option.” Given the volume of explosives already dropped on Gaza, it exceeds the explosive power of Hiroshima.
Asked in a radio interview about a hypothetical nuclear option, Eliyahu replied: “That’s one way.” His remark made headlines in Arab media and scandalised mainstream Israeli broadcasters.
Neither Eliyahu or his party leader are in the streamlined ministerial forum (War Cabinet) running the Gaza war. Neither would they have inside knowledge of Israel’s nuclear capabilities – which it does not publicly acknowledge – or the power to activate them.
“Eliyahu’s statements are not based in reality. Israel and the IDF (military) are operating in accordance with the highest standards of international law to avoid harming innocents. We will continue to do so until our victory,” Netanyahu’s office said.
Eliyahu also voiced his objection to allowing any humanitarian aid into Gaza, adding that “there is no such thing as uninvolved civilians in Gaza” and that Palestinians “can go to Ireland or deserts.”
Hal Turner Editorial Opinion
I am almost apoplectic at this remark by Minister Eliyahu.
It is unclear to me which is worse: His remark, or the reality that his country has dropped more conventional explosives on Gaza than the explosive power of the Hiroshima nuclear bomb; and Israel still isn’t winning.
Can any of us imagine a military that is so ineffective, they would have to resort to using a nuclear bomb against an “enemy” that has NO ARMY?
How pathetic must the Israel Defense Force actually be that someone would even consider using a nuclear weapon?
One wonders if Minister Eliyahu has even considered what the rest of the world might do if Israel actually did something like that? Would the rest of the world allow even ONE Zionist – including Christian Zionists – to continue living anywhere on this planet if they did something like that?
How could the world ever trust any such person to remain breathing if they chose to use a nuclear bomb against an enemy that has NO ARMY?
I think this remark by Minister Eliyahu shows a gigantic, deep-seated, severe, mental sickness. Win at all costs, no matter what.
The remark strikes me as what we get when we bring up entire generations of people with “Participation Trophies” so they “all win.”
In real life, in sports, in business, in relationships, someone wins and someone loses. It is the reality of human existence.
But those who were brought up with Participation Trophies, have never had to learn to lose. They never learn to deal with it.
And it now appears to me, this is the result: A man who is so bent over possibly losing, he is willing to use nuclear bombs against an enemy that has no army, in order to satiate his need to “win.”
This remark indicates to me, that this particular Minister (and maybe a whole slew more) is a danger to himself and to other people.
How many more such people with such maniacal ideas are elsewhere in Governments around the world?
Maybe it’s time to find out – before such a maniacal idea spreads.
Quite the opposite. One of the right side 110psi tires on my 24 foot living-quarters horse trailer blew out spectacularly on the interstate in Wyoming. It caused quite a bit of damage to the trailer. My horses were fine, though. I was alone, but prepared for that eventuality. On the side of the freeway, I set about getting it changed. I noticed a car pull over in front of me as if to help. A young man got out of the back seat, took one look at me standing there holding my four-way lug wrench, immediately turned around and got back in the car and left! What was he expecting? I was 57 years old at the time with silver hair, but not ugly or scary. I can’t imagine why someone pulling over to help would change their mind upon seeing me. Maybe I looked capable? I did get the tire changed, but getting the extremely heavy spare on was very difficult. I was very dirty (I ended up sitting on my butt on the roadside straddling the wheel, and lifting the spare up with the help of my knees) and bug-bit when I was done, and I’m still mystified as to what changed the young man’s mind.
Why Men Age Like FINE WINE in the Dating Market | Why Women Like to Date Older Men
The reasons why men age like fine wine and most women prefer to date men that are older, is because women look for a “standard”. In addition to qualities, that most men, simply do not have in their early twenties. Which makes it very ironic that women complain about this fact, since it’s women themselves, who are choosing these standards and men. Most skills that women love in a long term partner are skills and traits that only come with age and experience.
Hello, I trust that you will truly understand the whole means the this event had upon me. I was working in neibourhood office with about a dozen others, a mother came in carrying her child, who alleged had stopped breathing. Everyone stood back aghast…. Not knowing what do, several people just ran out. I had to push through the melee of useless people who were happy just to stare.. Moribid fasination! I managed to take the child from the mother and began breathing and heart compression treatment. I was very briefly trained in first aid, but only to a small degree. While I was with the child, someone called for an ambulance, which eventually arrived. They took the child from who by now was partly recovered. I heard theat very soon the child had recovered completely. All this action caused a great deal of mental worry to me and disrupted me a huge amount. Am I now over the trauma? I very much doubt it. My the lord never sho you the back of his hand.
I was on my way to Iraq. I was on a plane chartered by the Marine Corps for this, there were about 400 Marines on the flight, in uniform, with our weapons stowed under our seats. I was stationed in California, and we left from March Air Force Base out there. The first stop was in Baltimore, at the international airport there, and this is where my story occurs.
In Baltimore, we were let out of the terminal to go make phone calls and smoke cigarettes and whatever else. I called my girlfriend from a payphone, I smoked some cigarettes, and eventually it came time to get back on the plane. Now, I had put my rifle cleaning kit into my cargo pocket, without the slightest idea that this would cause any problem whatsoever. Inside my cleaning kit was this”carbon pick”.
I’d estimate that the steel rod at the end is about half an inch long by maybe a millimeter in diameter. As I emptied my pockets to go through the checkpoint, this carbon pick came to the attention of the TSA mouthbreather working there. He had decided that this steel rod, significantly smaller than a toothpick, was a deadly weapon (or something) and that I would not be permitted to take it into the terminal and on my flight. Now, mind you, I was in uniform. Flying with a military ID. With approximately 400 other guys dressed exactly like me. I told him that I clearly was flying on official military duty, and that I wasn’t wearing desert camouflage for fashion sense, and that it wasn’t a coincidence that there were all these other guys wearing the exact same outfit who were with me. He didn’t seem to comprehend this. I told him that, speaking of weapons, I had an M16A4, a select fire rifle, under the seat on my flight, a bayonet with a 7″ blade in my carry on, and everyone else on my flight was similarly equipped – except for those with grenade launchers and machine guns. He looked at me stupidly. Eventually I said something to the effect of: “you know those guys, those terrorists, that you’re trying to keep from getting on airplanes? Well me and all those other guys dressed like me are going over to Iraq to kill them. And to do that properly, I need my fucking rifle cleaning gear”. He grudgingly handed my carbon pick back and let me through. He took my cigarette lighter – I’m still convinced, 12 years later, that he did so simply to score some small, petty victory. I didn’t care, I’d left my crucial Zippo on the plane anticipating TSA stupidity.
This is your tax dollars at work, America. Outfuckinstanding.
You think that everyone thinks the U.S. is right. That is a highly flawed notion. You media gives you the impression and your politicians fooled you into thinking that way.
The truth is to tally the opposite. Very few people on earth have trust and faith in the U.S. Global media reached out to mainly to the western world. This group sound a lot but they are a small minority. In population it adds up to 13% of the world. In nation count it is at most 12–15 out of the world’s 195 nations.
I live in South East Asia. Almost everyone I meet are disgusted with American lies and western media. No one believes it. It is biased it is opinionated, it spews falsehoods and fabrications. For me I feel pitiful for the western Ignorant and highly naive lot. Please tell yourself 90% of everything written in CNN, Fox, BBC are inaccurate and lies.
I cannot speak for other nations but Chinese media focus less on opinion but you are given facts and proofs. Chinese media trust that armed with facts one can make up their own mind.
Creole Hot Dogs and Rice
2023 11 09 14 48
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
3/4 onion, diced
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
2 slices bacon, diced
3 hot dogs, sliced
2 cups cooked rice
1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes (seasoned or not)
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro or basil, chopped
Instructions
Cook bacon until crisp and remove from pan to paper towels to drain.
Sauté onion in bacon drippings for 4 to 5 minutes or until onion is softened.
Stir in seasoning and sliced hot dogs and cook for 2 minutes.
Add rice, bacon and tomatoes and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until heated through.
Remove from heat. Stir in chopped cilantro or basil.
If the U.S. treated its citizens like Europe does, I might actually come home.
Leaving Media, PA for Frankfurt, Germany in 1990, I have to admit, it was hard to adjust.
When I went to the supermarket there were only ten or twelve types of soda. The bread was heavy with brown stuff and seeds. Some stores didn’t even bother to take the goods out of the carton boxes. The cashiers didn’t treat me like a king and the stores closed at 6.30 p.m. during the week and at 2.30 on Saturdays. The service was so lazy they refused to work on Sundays and everything was closed.
What a nightmare!
I went from the land of 24/7 plenty to a socialist desert.
Get this, on Sundays people walked everywhere. Gas was so expensive, that few could afford to cruise about the countryside just for fun. People took public transportation because they couldn’t afford a car or the place to park it.
Then there were the taxes. When you are young, single and making tons of money they rob you. In some countries such people are taxed at more than 40%.
Healthy I had to pay the highest premium for mandatory health insurance, and some chain-smoking unemployed father of five paid much less.
There is no better way to say it, I was furious.
I was used to a different sort of social justice.
Then something really terrible happened.
Summer came and I had to take vacation. I learned that I had five weeks with full pay. Crazy isn’t it?
How can any economy function when everybody spends so much time on vacation?
It gets even worse. Everybody gets a minimum of 20 paid vacation days! EVERYBODY! Yes, even the dishwasher, the hotel page, the taxi driver and the cleaner get paid vacation. And for a small deduction from their salary, they get unlimited health care too. And if they have smart kids, they get to go to the best schools for free.
It was then I started to understand why eating out was more expensive too.
Feeling sorry for myself I asked “Why did I go to college and study so hard if even the cleaner has the same rights to vacation, health care and education as me?”
Slowly, the answer dawned in my thick skull.
Everybody else does have the same rights as me.
Everybody has the right to health, enough to eat and a warm place to sleep…even those who don’t work. It occurred to me that that may be why the incarceration rate is so much lower in Europe.
Everybody who works hard, no matter how much they earn, has the right to paid vacation.
I woke up and smelled the roses.
I liked vacation. And I was much more productive and happy when I returned to work
I saw the clean streets, the modern buses and metros, the airports crowded with regular people returning from sunny beaches.
I learned to look forward to Sunday grill parties when nobody had to work.
I became tired of traffic jams and trying to find a parking spot for my car and read a book while on the train or the bus.
I fell from a fence and had to go to the hospital. They treated me like a king and there was no bill.
I met a girl who became my wife. We moved to France and raised four children. That was almost 20 years ago.
I still pay the highest rate for health care, but it’s not much more than I paid 30 years ago as a single. The deduction for our four children makes our income tax rate very low. If they want, all the children can go to university without breaking the family finances.
To conclude, everything I paid into the system as a young man is being returned to me in spades.
When the children are grown and my taxes rise, I will pay them without anger (I won’t lie and say happily).
Europe is taking care of me, my family, my friends, my co-workers and my neighbours.
It is not a utopia. It can do many things better.
But America can do better too. A good start would be to recognize that caring for fellow humanity is not a dirty word that ends like Venezuela.
I love America dearly, but Europe treats its normal people (that would be me) better and I will stay here until that changes.
It was the middle 1990’s and I was living in Shreveport, LA. At that time, I was a principal engineer of the Electrical products group at Poulan Weedeater; a major manufacturer of outdoor appliances. The entire experience was Hellish. Shreveport was the “pits”; a hot crime ridden city well past its prime. The company was a real Hell as well, and my group was led by a rather egotistical tyrant.
I was pretty unhappy there.
The entire experience was all pretty awful. What made it even worse was my mentally ill wife who was just (at that time) entering the worst part of her mental illness. It was pretty horrible living with a mentally ill sick person. She spent most of that time (in our shared lives) going in and out of mental hospitals, and bouts of trying to kill herself.
Today, with that horrible backdrop, I wish to relate my first and hopefully my only serious heart attack. It hit me at a young age. I was in my mid 30’s. My wife was in the hospital in a medical coma as the result of a serious overdose, and I was busy working on a very aggressive design project.
My manager (at that time) was pretty ridiculous and insisted on 12 hour days, and at the end of the day called a meeting where he locked the door and had us endure a “group meeting” that lasted for around two hours. Roll-call was taken during this meeting and if you missed the meeting, you would be penalized. Many lost their jobs as a result for losing too many attendance points. And it was a real concern. After all, I needed the medical plan to pay for my wife’s treatments.
I was in the workshop and busy making a prototype of a electric hedge-trimmer when I noticed that I had two minutes to make the meeting. So I turned off the lathe, took a swig of Pepsi, spun around and then suddenly I had this massive pain. It felt like a big giant grabbed hold of a wire attached to my heart and pulled.
I crumbled to the floor. I really did.
I am not being dramatic. I just fell to the ground clutching my chest. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t do anything, I just gasped for air. And then…
…the event ended.
Somehow, was able to breathe. The shock was still there, but the pain faded away.
I got on my knees, and made it to the door to the meeting, and found that the door was locked.
(Sigh)
The next day, right before I left work to go to the hospital to check on my ill wife, my manager took me in his office and berated me for missing the meeting. He warned me that if I missed the next one that I would just forget about working there any longer.
(Sigh)
Two weeks later. I went to my doctor complaining about a weakness and fatigue that I was experiencing. I also needed to get my anxiety and stress medicines renewed. The doctor took me in and conducted a basic checkup and when listening to my heart had to check, and then check again. And then yet again.
Then she went and ran a check on my heart. Yup, my heart was not sounding right. And that was how I discovered that I had a heart attack, and that my heart was damaged by the attack. I ended up with “extra heart-beats”, from the damage.
Later on, when my wife got out of the hospital and was on the mend, she noted the bills for the extra heart related check ups and procedures that I had to have. She asked me what was going on, and I told her that while she was in a coma, I had a heart attack due to the stress that I was under.
Then the next day, while I was at work, she must have felt guilty and tried to kill herself yet again. Sheech!
Why?
Because I cared for a bat-shit crazy wife? Because I cared and did my best at a terrible job? Because I put others in front of me because they were my responsibilities?
Several months after 9/11, I had a customer come in wearing a shirt that simply said, in big, bold letters, “MUSLIMS SUCK”. So I approached the *cough* gentleman *cough* and explained to him that he couldn’t wear that shirt at our establishment, he would have to wear his jacket over it, go in the bathroom and turn it inside out, or leave. He asked why he couldn’t wear it. I explained that it incited hatred on the basis of religion and we didn’t tolerate that at our establishment. Now, having thrown many people out of a casino I’ve been called many things in my career, but next came the most colorful: “So what are you, a f*cking Muslim-loving, c*nt-ass b*tch?” I replied, “Well, now you just get to go home.” He informed me he would sooner leave in handcuffs than walk out willingly. I assured him I could arrange that for him. And I did.
I had a married couple who were dealers and happened to be Muslim. He came up to me afterward and thanked me profusely; the T-shirt had, unbeknownst to me, made his wife cry. I was more than happy to assure them harassment of their beliefs at work would never be tolerated. They were both wonderful people and just as distraught as the rest of us over the events of 9/11. The other guy was just a jackass.
. It sheds light on the challenges faced by Muslims in the aftermath of the tragedy and highlights the importance of standing up against hatred and discrimination. The story shared in this article perfectly exemplifies the need for understanding and tolerance in our society.
American ships near Israel could become another “Gulf of Tonkin,” Michael Maloof has said
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would like Washington directly involved in the conflict with Hamas because he hopes to expand the war to Lebanon and Iran, a former senior security policy analyst at the US Department of Defense, Michael Maloof, told RT on Wednesday.
the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and five guided missile destroyers to the Eastern Mediterranean. According to Maloof, this “meets Netanyahu’s wildest dreams.”
“He wanted the US involved in this conflict,” the former Pentagon official told RT.
Netanyahu “wants to open up the war with Lebanon, by attacking Hezbollah” in pursuit of his ultimate objective, “to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities,” Maloof added. For that to happen, “he has to have a Gulf of Tonkin moment, if you will.”
Maloof recalled how US President Lyndon Johnson essentially started the Vietnam War by sending ships to the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964. An alleged North Vietnamese attack on two US destroyers was then used as a pretext for direct involvement.
The US has also pledged to help Israel with deliveries of weapons and ammunition, with the Pentagon insisting
it has enough to do so and continue supplying Ukraine. Maloof is skeptical of that assertion, however.
He also told RT it was “not surprising” that some of the weapons Washington had sent Kiev ended up in the hands of Hamas.
by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Ukraine’s military intelligence, the GUR, responded on Monday by accusing Russia of sending captured Western weapons to Hamas militants in a “false flag” operation designed to make Kiev look bad to its backers.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied the weapons claim, but rejected the Ukrainian insinuations of Russian involvement in the Hamas attack as “complete nonsense.”
Baked Beans Supreme
Simply delicious! Baked Beans Supreme can double as either a side dish or a main dish.
2023 10 12 15 43
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
1/2 pound bacon
1/2 pound ground beef (I use a little more)
1 large can pork and beans
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 to 3/4 cup brown sugar, depending on taste
1 small onion, chopped
Instructions
Cut bacon slices into 1 1/2 inch pieces, then cook. Drain grease.
In the same skillet used to cook the bacon, brown ground beef, then drain well.
Add bacon and ground beef to beans.
Mix in remaining ingredients. Bake at 375 degrees F for 1 hour or until brown.
Meanwhile in the USA…
2023 10 12 19 49
The Debt Clock is now quoting verses from Revelation!!
The US Debt Clock, set up in the 1980’s by a Billionaire named Durst, has – for the second time in history – quoted the Book of Revelation and placed religious symbols on the site. The firstt time it did this was on October 3. Why is this bastion of finance quoting End Times Revelation twice in six days?
Debt Clock Full Page 10 08 2023
On Sunday, 8 October 2023, at 9:04 PM EDT, the Debt Clock appeared as shown in the full screen shot below. Note the Biblical citation along the top man banner: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a Trumpet” (Click image below twice to fully enlarge)
That Scripture, featuring Revelation 1:10 deleted at precisely Midnight.
We can also see a document or piece of art behind the verbiage
Alpha and Omega
7 angels and 7 candles (7+7) ?
Jerusalem and Palestine Maps of Christianity VERA HIEROSOLYMAE VETERIS IMAGO (HERE)
Turns out, It’s a drawing of the map of Jerusalem from Ezekiel’s prophecies.
Revelation Ch 1 vs 1-20 7 lights/candles 7 angels
The “debt clock” has always been a professional thing. It was in New York and then, later, it went online. It is run by a billionaire family . . . the same family since the 1980’s.
What are they trying to tell us? That this is the end of our monetary system?
After all, complete economic collapse is one of the seals in Revelation.
End of financial system?
FIRST TIME – OCTOBER 3
Back on October 3, of this year, the Debt Clock showed — for the very first time — another Biblical verse:
““And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and Overthrew the tablets of the moneychangers”
I have no idea what it all means, except maybe this billionaire family is trying to communicate something to us; and it sounds apocalyptic!
The clock’s first incarnation was installed in 1989 on Sixth Avenue between 42nd and 43rd Streets, one block away from Times Square, in New York City by real estate developer Seymour Durst, who wanted to highlight the rising national debt.
At that time, the national debt was almost $3 trillion and 50% of the gross domestic product (GDP).
Up until the week before his death in May 1995, Durst himself adjusted the tally via modem. After his death, his son Douglas became president of the Durst Organization, which owns and maintains the clock.
As of September 2009, Douglas Durst’s cousin Jonathan “Jody” Durst was taking over the day-to-day operations as president. In an interview with The New York Times, Jonathan said that maintenance of the clock is planned “for years to come.
I don’t know all about Scripture. I’m not a Priest, or a Rabbi, or a Preacher, or a Reverend. Heck, I’m just a Holiday Catholic – went to church on Christmas and Easter. But at the ripe old age of 61, I absolutely believe there is one, Almighty God, whether he is called Jehovah / I am that I am / Yahweh. I also absolutely believe he begot one son Y’Shua / Jesus who I am taught is the Christ / Messiah.
So being as I am Scripturally ignorant, and not any kind of Bible thumper or expert, I am not even remotely qualified to interpret this. But I CAN tell you this looks bad to me. I take this as a harbinger of imminent doom.
Practicing neurosurgery for years I saw many strange things, but one that comes to mind was a young man who had been in a car accident. I had been informed that my 8 o’clock surgery had been delayed because of an emergency. They wheeled the patient down the hall on a gurney. He was conscious and sitting up. Attached to his head was the rear view mirror from a car. The mirror had a small metal sphere on its end, part of the mechanism used to adjust the mirror’s position, and that was inserted into the right frontal bone of his skull. There was no bleeding and inspection at surgery showed it had not penetrated the skull into the brain. I still have mental images of this kid. He looked so silly with a rear view mirror sticking out of his forehead. And then there were the inappropriate thoughts … how could this happen? … was he trying to see what was behind him? There is always a bit of humor in medicine. We laugh or otherwise we cry.
When a good friend, from the Marine Corps, was K.I.A., his eldest brother cracked open the deceased’s apartment, before the funeral had taken place. My friend’s widow, also deployed, hadn’t even been notified, yet. By the time she knew of the situation, their home had been ransacked by nearly twenty members of two families.
I called the brother, and offered him an out, which he blew off. Over the next ten days, I contacted each of the offending parties; only two responded, and not favorably. Then, acting on the widow’s behalf, I hired an attorney and filed police reports. I went to the D.A., who filed 98 separate charges against all of the perpetrators, including the management and owners of the complex.
After sixteen months of legal crap, nine of the family members(one was an attorney, another a university economics professor) were convicted of misdemeanors, spent between thirty and sixty days in jail, and paid both restitution and fines of $500.00–6,000.00. The eldest brother, an electrician and small-business owner, now a felon, spent eight months in jail; the widow sued him and won a $450,000.00 settlement. The apartment complex ended up terminating the managers; and, they paid the widow $2.9M.
Not one of these people had been a criminal, prior to the incident. They were simply ignorant, greedy assholes, who deserved everything they got.
What Do People Think of “Socialized” Medicine? – REACTION
However, the global chip industry has been upended by US machinations and the inevitable Chinese response.
This is a matter of life and death for the Chinese economy, and not just its tech industry, because a small office in the Department of Commerce can hold the Chinese to ransom through liberal application of US IP control, under the guise of “national security”.
The entire global supply chain of advanced materials, design tools/software, manufacturing hardware, control systems and finished chips has already been disrupted by arbitrary American orders to stop doing business with Chinese entities. The Chinese have no choice but to treat all foreign entities as potential risks that can seriously disrupt the downstream economy, because even humble household appliances contain chips today.
This is an existential issue, and makes cost competitiveness irrelevant as a barrier to entry. The Chinese will create completely indigenous chip supply chains at various nodes to satisfy volume demand, down to the tools and materials. This will inevitably lead to a glut in global supply, and create new business models from the ashes of ex-China competition. Given the huge sunk cost for foundries, the bulk of subsidies being doled out aplenty by Joe’s administration to “derisk” will go up in smoke, because there is a finite market and limited application for the cutting edge.
That is, however, merely the best-case scenario.
What if the Chinese make headway in the premium, cutting edge segment? In other words, what if the mainland begin to make the world’s best chips in the next 5–10 years, using original hybrid solutions? Whether it is transistor geometry, material chemistry, logic layout, node shrink dividend, or some other breakthrough, I don’t put it beyond them. My friend in the industry certainly think it is possible, because she knows firsthand the quality and quantity of talent on the mainland side.
That is a scary proposition, China becoming both Mercedes and VW in the chip business.
Expect a hairy ride for the material and tool enablers in the coming years, because their customers will have to critically examine the assumptions baked into obsolete business models. Unfortunately, they will have to navigate an uncertain future, courtesy of Joe’s administration turning on the fog of war through economic coercion. The Chinese are playing among themselves, and this is a walled garden that western intelligence will find hard to penetrate, even if they employ Chinese diaspora.
The chip business will never be the same again.
South Korea Betray U.S and E.U: Invite China Xi Jinping!
One day, my car was hit in a car accident. The police found that it was the other person’s fault and took him to jail for not having insurance. When I went to see what I should do next, I found out that someone bailed him out. Until now, things are okay and I thought that it’s going to be okay. 9 months in, the guy doesn’t answer any calls and claims that I’m the one who should be blamed for the accident. People at the station knew me because I come every few days (don’t blame me as fixing the car is estimated to be $4,000). Anyhow, they advised me to go and escalate to the head of that station and see what can he do. I went there and gave him the entire story. Once I was done, he called someone from his office and told him to help me close the case. I gave this guy everything and he made one call to the guy I’m looking for. I told him he doesn’t answer his phone. But surprisingly, the guy answered and I heard a lot of shouting and the guy on the other end of the line saying nothing at all. The call ended and immediately I got a call saying that my money will be ready tomorrow! I thanked the guy and asked him what caused him to change so dramatically. His answer was:
Chinese wants real freedom. Americans want pretend freedom.
If you cannot go to some parts of the city it is not freedom. If you cannot walk the street at 3 am it is not freedom. If your kids get shot just for going to school, it is not freedom. If U.S. with 4% of world’s population has 25% of world’s prisoner that cannot be freedom.
If you can get necked to death in open daylight due to your skin colour. That cannot be freedom. If you cannot have health care for not buying insurance it is not freedom to stay alive. If you need to get into debts just for going to college, that is not freedom to learn.
If 0.8% decides that you have only 2 choice Trump the greatest liar on earth and Biden a senile ignorant, to choose for president. It is not a freedom to choose.
And if you have to choose only between Democrats and Republicans and they both do shit and nothing change. That is not freedom to choose.
Chinese people don’t want the U.S. type of freedom ever. It is not freedom, yes you can curse your leader but is that such a big deal. We prefer to give polite advice. Not scream obscenities. I think Chinese are smarter. We cannot be easily fooled.
China Warns of Coming WAR as US Diplomacy Fails AGAIN ft. Scott Ritter
After a series of meetings this summer, China-US relations remain at a low point as China sends a warning to the US over its latest escalations in the Pacific.
The Asian Games in Hangzhou, which kicked off on Sept. 25, are not only a showcase of athletic prowess, but also a dazzling display of technological wonders. China has spared no effort to impress the world with its cutting-edge innovations in various domains. Here are some of the most remarkable examples of what I call “black technologies” that have made the games a spectacle to behold:
– Digital torchbearers: This is the first time that the Asian Games have used holograms to create virtual torchbearers who can carry the flame across different locations and interact with real people and surroundings. The digital torchbearers include some of the most famous and influential figures in sports, entertainment, and history, such as Yao Ming, Jackie Chan, and Confucius.
– Electronic identity registration cards: These are smart devices that replace the traditional paper-based accreditation cards for all participants. They can perform multiple functions, such as verifying identity, controlling access, monitoring health, making payments, and providing information. They also support various authentication methods, such as NFC, QR code, and biometrics, making them convenient and secure.
– Digital spectator service platform: This is a comprehensive platform that offers a range of features and services for both online and offline audiences. For example, users can watch live streams, replays, highlights, and VR videos of the games; chat with athletes, coaches, and experts; join quizzes, games, and lucky draws; and access information about venues, transportation, tourism, and culture.
– Intelligent robots: These are robots that can assist in various scenarios and tasks. For example, there are robots for guest reception, patrolling, firefighting, and distribution; robots for public performances, such as dancing and drumming; robots for sports training, such as playing table tennis and badminton; and robots for media coverage, such as interviewing and reporting.
These “black technologies” reflect China’s leadership in digital transformation and innovation. They also add to the cultural significance and social value of the Hangzhou Asian Games. By blending technology and culture, the Hangzhou Asian Games have created a new paradigm of sports events that is more intelligent, interactive, and inclusive.
, and invited famous Chinese actor Andy Lau 刘德华 to make a presentation. At the same time, Huawei was skimpy about specs for all the technologies which Huawei has been showcasing since late August.
The western media wanted meat, and they didn’t get it!
There WAS meat, but as usual, they missed it. Because that is what the western media does.
One common phrase which has become popular for Huawei in China is 遥遥领先， which means “…way way ahead.” This means that the technology, for instance NearLink 星闪, is way way ahead of competing WiFi and Bluetooth technologies, while being compatible with both. Both the WiFi and Bluetooth standards committees are controlled by the west, and because Huawei was sanctioned by the US Commerce Department, Huawei had no choice except to launch NearLink itself in its own Huawei products.
Huawei’s message was clear and simple: western-controlled standards committees would NOT hamper the pace of Huawei’s innovation. It would just deliver the technologies in Huawei’s OWN products.
The US Commerce Department will not set the pace. Western standards committees will not set the pace. Apple will not set the pace.
Huawei will set the pace.
The high entertainment point was the song My Dream 我的梦 which featured a conductor, a 52-piece orchestra, and a chorus. I don’t remember the lyrics, but it delivered a clear message.
“We have a dream and we will take our own path, and no one else will set the terms.”
The message to the US was clear: “We are going to lead in technological development, not because we are better, but because we work the hardest. Our work makes us the best, and we welcome others to come work with us. But no other country or government is going to dictate the pace of our developments, we are the masters of our own destiny. And we are going to launch our products and technologies ALL OVER THE WORLD.”
Dear readers, that was the Declaration of Techno-Independence which China delivered through Huawei today.
I can tell you exactly how we did it fifty years ago. I graduated from high school in 1967. I needed to know my father’s income in order to apply for financial assistance to go to college. Our family of 8 lived in a 4 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath Victorian style home on a quiet, dead end street (street was unofficially named Gooseturd Alley) in a small town in upstate N.Y.
Dad’s income – about $17,000 per year as a sr. technician for N.Y. Bell. Let’s call it $1,400 per month for the sake of this discussion. Considering the size of the family and all, he probably took home at least $1,100 after taxes. Overtime was routine and may have added 15–25% to his base pay. Of course, the job came with medical insurance for the family. I should add that Dad had no post high school education.
He also worked part-time during racing season at the local harness racing track. No idea how much he was paid, but we suspect a night out with the boys was more important than the added income.
Mortgage – $58.00 (yes, we bought the house for $8,500 in 1965 – those were the days). Sold it for $20,000 in 1980.
Cable – $15 [actually, we didn’t have a television until the following year (that’s right, I lived through my teens with no TV), but if we had one, we would get no reception whatsoever due to our rural, mountainous location. The $15 cable bill allowed access to all the N.Y.C. stations.]
Car payments – $0.00 (Dad paid cash for all of our cars up to this time. Current family car is a 1964 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu station wagon which Dad bought, with quite a few miles, a year ago for somewhere around $1,500, give or take a couple hundred)
Car Insurance – Probably about $100 per year — certainly less than $200. I bought my first car around this time and minimum required insurance for an 18 year old driver was about $100 for the year for my $225 car. I doubt Dad had much better coverage than I did.
Utilities – This is just a WAG, but let’s say $200. We paid for gas, electricity, water & sewer, heating oil (probably our biggest utility expense), trash collection and phone (1/2 price due to Dad’s job). Not including the aforementioned cable bill.
Groceries – I’m guessing $600 per month to feed our family of eight.
This comes out to a bit less than $900 per month in expenses.
That leaves about $200 per month for gas, beer money, bowling league or whatever. Our family very seldom ate out. There were no fast food joints. May have visited a restaurant once every other month, but it was probably much less often than that. Also may not have included whole family, because we had jobs/school.
Three of the six children were over the age of 16 and we all had regular jobs. All but oldest brother, who was in college (parents did not contribute to our college back then. Dad said he might be able to help one or two of us, but how can he morally choose which ones?) lived at home but parents had stopped giving any of us money since about the age of twelve.
Dad gave Mom money for groceries and household expenses. Mom packed his lunch. He drove about 25 miles each way for work. Sometimes he would carpool with his co-workers. Gas was around $0.25 per gallon and car delivered 18–20 mpg. Two tankfuls per week would cost $8.00. Family went on a two to three week camping trip every summer (didn’t include those of us who had jobs) and we made at least three trips to N.Y.C. a few years ago for the 1964–65 World’s Fair. All in all, both parents were quite frugal.
Family was very involved in church, school, community events. Dad volunteered his time to help hang Christmas lights downtown, the boys always came along to help. There was a community youth center with a pool, tennis courts, ball field, picnic tables, swings, slides and an events center that had roller skating on weekends and could be used for dinners, dances and other celebrations. Children pretty much lived there during the summer, and also hung about for the rest of the year.
Obviously, after expenses, there wasn’t a whole lot of disposable income left over. Yet, our parents managed to give generously to all the children every Christmas, could afford a modicum of leisure activities and we always had a warm house to live in and plenty of food. I would say we lacked for nothing. There were actually no recognizably rich people within 15 miles of our village. The richest person in town was owner of the local lumberyard and could afford a ’63 Corvette Stingray split window coupe for himself, a ’64 Chrysler 300K (with a 4-speed) for his wife and an Austin Healey Sprite for his son (total cost, perhaps $10,000). They lived in half a duplex across the street from his business.
The teachers at our school seemed to be the ones with the nicest houses and newest cars. They were always better dressed and drove nicer cars than the students. They did a good job, too, as nobody graduated from high school without learning how to read, even if they were held back until they were 20. At least two-thirds of graduating students went on to college and half of them received their undergraduate degrees in 4–5 years.
By the way, I didn’t qualify for financial assistance for college. Dad’s income was too high. I had a regents scholarship that paid tuition and an educational loan to pay for the rest.
My Scariest Cat Rescue – Locked inside with no food for weeks.
My Scariest Cat Rescue – I was so scared of what I would find. I was called to a house, in which the owner had died weeks prior. His cats had been locked inside with no food or water. I took a deep breath before entering.
My mother was a very tiny woman at 5′ and 85 pounds soaking wet. While driving cross country late at night in 1967 we were run off the road by a group of crazy looking hippies in three different cars.
We were in the middle of nowhere with no one else in sight.
They surrounded our car and kept yelling for us to get out. it was just my mom and us kids. My mom got out of the car holding a 22 pistol in the folds of her skirt. She politely told the hippies they should leave in a strong loud voice.
They laughed and one threw a bottle at her, she didn’t even flinch!
Then she said, very nicely, “ Alright then. Who would like to die first? “
They thought that was hilarious.
Then without missing a beat she spun around and shot a guy who was sneaking up to the car!
She shot his ear right off, the spun back and shot the leaders hat off his head.
They all took off running for their cars.
My mom jumped back in our car and took off like a bat out of hell.
She shot out a tire on each of their cars and we sped away.
We were all sitting there with our chins on the floor. Then my little sister, who was just learning to count, said, “ You only got one bullet left!”.
We all started laughing, mom too but then she started crying and cried all the way to our grandparents house.
I never forgot how strong she was or what a good shot she was.
When people talk about bravery and heroes I always think of my mom.
I just read David Swanner’s answer about getting $24,000 for a claim that he would have settled for $10,000. I’ve been there, too.
My small office was broken into. To set the scene, I had a small unit in a small shopping plaza. There was a large glass window across the front, and a standard commercial steel door with two panes of glass, one above the other separated by a steel plate.
The bad guys smashed the lower plate – leaving shards around the edges – and climbed through this small opening. They stole two ridiculously large printers – took two people to carry them out, crawling through the shards – both of which were not being used because of the expense of consumables, long since replaced by a more efficient one. They took 6 diskless work-stations – old has-beens that that had been piled up in a cabinet, long since past their useable lifespan. They took a tape back-up – a machine that, again, hadn’t been used for a few years. And they took my computer and monitor.
All I wanted were my computer and monitor back, and I had replacement-value insurance. So the claim was about $4000. But the company balked. Tried to get me to settle for $1500. This was standard – they knew I needed the stuff to get back up and operating, so they played hardball. Mistake.
I borrowed a computer and monitor, and prepared a revised claim – for 7 computers, two printers, a monitor, and a tape drive, plus full cost of data recovery. $24,000 on a replacement value basis.
Again they balked.
So I served a claim – $24,000 for the equipment, plus $126,000 for bad-faith dealing. I pay for insurance, I need the equipment, nobody denied the break-in, yet they weren’t paying.
The insurers hired a top-flight law firm. Cost them thousands. The matter came up for its hearing.
Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of exobiology, the study of life on planets other than earth!
It’s kind of restrained by the fact that we don’t know of any place in the rest of the universe that has any form of life, apart from our pitiful little light blue watery rock, but that hasn’t stopped people from trying.
image 88
Carl Sagan, working with a collaborator, came up with life forms that could perhaps exist on Jupiter, large “floaters” and fast “hunters” that ate them. This is one stage above “fictional”.
But we do know about chemistry! In fact, there are two entire fields of chemistry that focus on the chemistry of living things: “Organic chemistry” and “biochemistry”.
image 89
Diagram of the chemical reactions that make things “alive”.
Here’s the problem. It appears all this stuff needs liquid water to work. Here’s an example:
image 90
This is the incredibly simplified version of how plants turn carbon dioxide, water and light into sugar and oxygen. Just for the record, here’s how it works in practice.
image 91
Anyway, it won’t work with ice or water vapour.
Liquid water only exists in a very narrow range of temperatures and pressures.
image 92
And, yes, we call places where the temperatures are in that range of 0 to 100 Celsius the “Goldilocks” zone because its where liquid water could exist.
Now, there are lots of liquids that aren’t water that exist at other temperatures.
image 93
Like Mercury
image 94
Or propane
The problem is that these liquids are kind of limited in their abilities when it comes down to “breaking down” and “building up”. Mercury hates combining with other molecules. Propane (C3H8) breaks down rapidly in an oxygen environment but it’s hard to make (most of the earth’s propane is the result of, you guessed it, living things that broke down under heat and pressure).
One of the neat things about water is that other gases, like oxygen and carbon dioxide, can actually get dissolved in it. That’s handy if you’re a fish
image 95
And even better if you’re an aquatic plant
image 96
Now, we do know there are some really strange life forms on our own planet.
image 69
Thermal vents in the ocean are under massive pressure and because of that, water can exceed 100 Celsius near them. They still have a thriving ecosystem and modern hypotheses of the beginning of life on earth think that this is where life on our planet began, even though there’s no light (although thanks to the heat, there is lots of energy). However, these things still have DNA and use the same basic metabolic processes we do – they’re our cousins.
So, although we’re not entirely sure, we’re pretty sure that liquid water is necessary for life. When you start fiddling around with things like ammonia, methane and silicon, the chemistry starts to break down pretty quickly.
Starfleet gave up their search for Voyager 9 years ago.
This is fun.
A remarkable achievement from the mouth piece of Uncle Sam.
TOKYO—Huawei, China’s rival to Apple in smartphones and the world’s leading provider of telecoms infrastructure, is out to prove it isn’t just surviving Washington’s campaign to crush it, but is in the vanguard of Beijing’s drive for self-reliance in technology.
After the buzz around Huawei’s new high-speed smartphones, which appeared to show that China can swerve around U.S. efforts to block its access to cutting-edge technology, the company on Monday unveiled its latest tablets, smartwatches and earphones—supported by a homegrown challenger to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, global standards in wireless communication.
Initially dubbed “Greentooth,” a moniker ditched as too lighthearted, it was rebranded “NearLink,” a short-range wireless technology that the company says combines the best features of both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi—and works with both. The protocol offers low-power, lightweight connectivity akin to Bluetooth, simultaneously catering to high-speed, large transmission, and high-quality connectivity needs akin to Wi-Fi. NearLink switches between modes based on the situation, Huawei says.
Set against the backdrop of increasing U.S. restrictions, Beijing has doubled down on efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in critical technologies. Chinese Premier Li Qiang visited private firms including Huawei last month, urging them to pursue international excellence and gain a competitive edge in the market through technological and product improvements.
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are both wireless communication technologies, enabling transmission of photos, documents and other data between compatible devices. Developing wireless communications tech requires expertise in multiple disciplines, including signal processing, wireless communication protocols and software development.
Apple has spent several years and billions of dollars trying, so far without success, to make its own wireless chip. The latest iPhone still depends on Qualcomm for that component.
Huawei holds tens of thousands of patents covering essential technologies for data transmission in phones. To access high-speed networks, handset manufacturers must obtain licenses from or cross-license with companies such as Qualcomm and Huawei.
From June 2021 to May 2023, Huawei trailed only Qualcomm in the number of wireless communication network technology patents it published, holding more than 8,000 more than third-placed Ericson, according to a recent ranking from IPR Daily, a China-based media outlet focused on intellectual property. Ericsson was the inventor of Bluetooth, which is now overseen by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, or Bluetooth SIG, the standards organization that licenses the technology to manufacturers.
In Huawei’s case, it had its access to several major global technology associations restricted following U.S. sanctions. Without full access, the company’s devices, including phones, tablets and laptops, could face limitations in using vital features such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
Although it was later reinstated, it decided to develop its own technology, Huawei executive Wang Jun said in a 2021 interview with Chinese media.
Bluetooth SIG declined to comment on issues related to its members’ status. The Wi-Fi Alliance said at the time that it was complying with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s order by restricting Huawei’s involvement in certain activities, but it didn’t revoke its membership.
Huawei says NearLink uses less than half the power of Bluetooth, is six times faster, has 1/30th the latency or the time it takes for data to travel from one point to another, and supports 10 times the number of devices in a network.
NearLink technology was introduced in December 2021, with a focus on applications for cars. In August, Richard Yu, the head of Huawei’s consumer business, announced its integration into the ecosystem of their self-developed operating system for consumer devices. As he delivered that presentation, the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi icons typically seen on smartphones converged on the screen behind him into a green “NearLink” icon.
Yu said on Monday the technology found applications in consumer electronics, electric vehicles, industrial manufacturing and more, providing the interconnectivity for Huawei’s homegrown ecosystem. NearLink may prove vital as Huawei struggles to cope with the impact of sanctions that made it difficult to source the advanced chips needed to power its devices.
Yu didn’t introduce the latest high-speed handsets during Monday’s presentation, saying only that the company is working extra hours to meet demand.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said at last week’s hearing of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee that while she was upset by the announcement of Huawei’s new smartphones, the U.S. couldn’t find evidence that the company is able to produce devices with advanced chips.
A report from Canadian semiconductor-information platform TechInsights said China’s biggest contract chip maker SMIC, made the core chip inside the device, but that it also contained memory components from South Korea’s SK Hynix.
China’s technological rise is intricately tied to its global ambitions, leveraging advancements to expand its geopolitical influence. One example is Beidou, a substitute for the U.S.’s satellite-based Global Positioning System. China has also set a domestic standard for a new way of designing chips, while global chip giants also formed a coalition to create them.
In September 2020, China formed an alliance for the country’s own short-range wireless technologies that now includes more than 300 companies and institutions—mostly domestic—including state-owned telecom carriers and makers of smart devices and cars such as Huawei, Oppo, and BYD.
Huawei remains the world’s largest seller of telecom equipment, according to market research firm Dell’Oro Group. It commands about a third of the global market, with sales about twice those of the second- and third-ranked suppliers, Nokia, and Ericsson, Dell’Oro Group says.
Airstrike on Al-Sousi Mosque in Gaza without warning
At about 4:00 this morning here in the US eastern time zone, Israel conducted an Airstrike on Al-Sousi Mosque in Gaza without warning. Dozens of dead and dozens of wounded are on scene.
Said one long-time observer of situations between Israel and Palestinians “We are very quickly heading toward a Full-Scale War near the Gaza Strip and Southern Israel, this is Totally Out-of-Control.”
Refaat al Areer, a Gaza resident, tells Al Jazeera of what it was spending the night under constant sound of Israeli bombardment in the besieged enclave.
“We have run out of adjectives to describe the Israeli bombing of whole blocks, targeting Palestinian families as they slept, targeting mosques, businesses and residential areas.
“The night was unprecedented. We barely slept. The situation was terrifying.
“I think this is just going to be the beginning because the bombs have not stopped for 10 hours, not even for a minute.”
Hal Turner Opinion
This hit on a Mosque is going to have effects that none of us can anticipate. Emotions are going to run out of control over there.
Other countries in the region are already making known they intend to take military action.
I’m not certain where this thing is going to end up, but I can guess.
The Punishment for exporting a Class A Drug in China is D E A T H.
Today Mexico manufactures Fentanyl
The Precursor chemicals for Fentanyl come from China (60%) but also from India (21%), Vietnam (13%) and Bangladesh (6%)
And Fentanyl is crucial in managing cancer pain and post surgery pain
China sells precursor materials at the lowest rate and they are crucial for pain management
Does US ban the drug?
No
So HOW IS CHINA AT FAULT
That’s like blaming China because a car driver crashed his Tesla and killed a bystander
Sorry but when there is a demand for a substance and a market for the substance, it is the people who are responsible for becoming addicts and it is the Governments responsibility to control the addiction
Where there are buyers, there will always be sellers
I don’t say that
Tony Blair did
He didn’t apologize for the Opium Wars and blamed the Chinese
So now technically one should blame the Americans
They consume 80% of the world’s drugs with 5% of the world’s market
That’s Capitalism 101
So like the great Donald Trump Junior said on Nikki Haley
“SHE REALLY NEEDS TO GET LAID”
Jimmy Kimmel seemed offended but it was hilarious as hell
Having worked with my boss for a few years, we moved into new offices and he was gifted a tree for his office. I told him “do NOT touch the tree… I will take care of it so you don’t kill it.” The weekend before April Fools I went into the woods and got a few sticks the same size of the tree and some fallen leaves. Put the sticks into a jar (with rocks), took it into the office on 4/1, took the live tree out (put in closet out of view), and replaced it with the sticks and with leaves dropped on the floor. Then I went to my office. When he came in he was in a total panic… “I swear I did not touch that tree!!!” I let him suffer for over an hour blaming him for killing the tree before I brought the actual tree out. 30 years later he still talks about that event.
Today the Chinese Economy generates around 126.93 Trillion Yuan a year
However you can’t compare this to other economies because they aren’t based in Yuan
So you decide to see how much the Chinese Economy is valued in US Dollars
This changes from system to system
…
First under present exchange rates,you get 7.30 Yuan to 1 USD
So in US Dollars we get 126.93/7.3 = $ 17.38 Trillion
Thus we can say Chinas Economy generates goods and services valued at $ 17.38 Trillion
However the exchange rate fluctuates too much , too rapidly and thus isn’t a fair indicator of Economic growth value
…
So organizations often use a specific period of time to establish a exchange rate that is fairer
For China, the China Central Bank uses the Average 3 year rate which means 2021–2022, 2022–2023 and 2023–2024 which works out to around 6.64 (6.17+6.45+7.30)
This the GDP of China is estimated to be = 126.93 /6.64 = $ 19.11 Trillion
Another is a variance between the various GDP methods
China computes it’s GDP using the Production method which is how major exporters evaluate their GDP
However since most agencies are Western based, they use the Expenditure and Income methods
Via the Income method – Chinas estimated GDP is calculated at around 92.62% of it’s Production GDP , as reached by the IMF
This comes to $ 17.69 Trillion
This is called the Estimated Rate GDP Or Current Prices GDP
…
Those aren’t the only methods.
Via the Expenditure method – Chinas Expenditure is deemed to be around 7% higher than income and thus around $ 18.92 Trillion
…
Thus you can see four figures
$ 17.38 Trillion – Direct Nominal GDP
$ 19.11 Trillion – Base Rate GDP
$ 17.69 Trillion – Current Prices GDP
$ 18.92 Trillion – Expenditure based GDP
However the 126.93 Trillion Yuan never varies because that’s the real actual economic valuation of China
The Dollar valuation is how the world values Chinas GDP
Its true for all countries
For China they have so many numbers because China uses the Production method to evaluate it’s GDP, a method that the West abandoned many years ago and deems ‘Socialist’
It will be same for Russia or Saudi Arabia or Iran
Because China has 1.4 Billion people and plenty of development, the expenditure and income method also work
If you take Iran, the Production GDP is drastically different from the Income and Expenditure GDP
Let’s take India
Indias GDP is to be ₹272.74 Lakh Crore in April 2024
Thus the Direct Nominal GDP is 272.74/84.12 = $ 3.24 Trillion
Our RBI uses the 7 year Average base rate and arrives at 77.26 = 272.74/77.26= $ 3.53 Trillion
Since we don’t have a Production GDP
We have an expenditure based GDP which is accepted by the world and hence unlike China, there is no need to. Calculate it but accept the numbers India gives
Our Expenditure based GDP is thus EQUAL to the same $ 3.53Trillion
However our Income is around 94.1% of our Expenditure
Thus Income based GDP is $ 3.53*0.941 = $ 3.32Trillion
Russia also computes it’s GDP by Production and it’s GDP is estimated to be 161.11 Trillion Rubles
This comes to 161.11/100.18 = $ 1.608 Trillion
The Base rate is 4 years or estimated to be around 81.74 and so the Base Rate GDP is 161.11/81.74 = $ 1.97 Trillion
Income based GDP is calculated by IMF as 94.77 or $ 1.87Trillion
Expenditure based GDP is around $ 2 Trillion
To avoid this confusion we use PPP
The lower they estimate your nominal GDP, the higher is your PPP GDP
For instance if Chinas Nominal GDP is $ 17.38 Trillion as per the Direct Nominal GDP then PPP GDP = 25.33 * (highest exchange rate /variance of exchange rates) = 25.33 * (7.30/5.67) = $ 32.61 Trillion
So on a relative footing, Chinas PPP GDP is already $ 33 Trillion and higher than US
However China dislikes this system and prefers the nominal system
I prefer using $ 19.11 Trillion as its the fairest method in my opinion
Why America’s Plan to Contain China Will Fail
Thanks Trump and Biden for making China realized the dangers of not being self-sufficiency and self-dependency.
One day I went on my usual 4 mile walk on a trail near my house. About 3/4 mile in, I see a keyring and wriststrap lying on the ground. It contains 2 keys. A car key and a house key. I knew somebody was about to have a very bad day.
So I thought about it for a while and walked back to the beginning of the trail where the parking lots are. It is a fairly large park.
i started looking for a car that I thought the key would unlock. I had a rough idea of the make and age by looking at the key. After the 4th car I tried, I found it. Now the dilemma was what do I do? I wasn’t going to leave the keys anywhere visable. That would be an open invitation to steal it.
So I walked to my car, got pen and paper and wrote a note saying the keys were in the glove box, and placed the note face down on the drivers seat. I left the car unlocked and went back for my walk.
When I finished I was walking back to my car and saw a young woman standing by the car holding the note in her hand while talking on her cell phone. She looked overjoyed. I watched her start her car and drive away.
That was my good deed of the day. I was rewarded with a 5.5 mile walk instead of 4. 🙂
Why I Won’t Move To The USA – American Expat Life
Living abroad for 14 years has given me a unique perspective on the country that I come from.
Even though I’ve been far removed from the goings on I’ve always kept up with what is happening there and have challenged myself on whether expat life is the right life for me, or would moving to the United States be a better choice.
I believe it’s important to take a look at the financial aspects of life abroad and in this episode, I’ll bring up some comparisons specifically in regard to the cost of living in Portugal compared to the US, and the resulting implications for work-life balance.
But as an American abroad, there are some elements I also can’t help but look at such as the American work ethic, credit scores, and opportunities for small business.
Yet while there are positives that are possible to look at, there are approaches to life I feel are more common to find among certain cultures.
One such problem that unfortunately, I find more among many Americans is how material pursuits can overshadow some of life’s most meaningful moments and details that can be missed.
In this expat living abroad podcast episode of Not Your Average Globetrotter hosted by me, Rafael Di Furia, will take a critical exploration of American dynamics from an expat’s perspective.
I’m a huge fan of SAAB and had a number over the years they were in business. I had just purchased a newer one, and it drove perfectly the 100 miles home. The next morning, I went a few blocks and it stalled. I had it towed it to my local dealership, where a person who they said was a “SAAB Master Mechanic” inspected it and said it needed a fuel pump and a series of other items, totaling in the many thousands. The diagnostics alone cost me $400.
Disappointed, I had the car towed back home, and started looking at recalls for that specific model and year. One of them was for the gas tank baffles, which would get loose. Fifteen minutes later, I had the back seat up, unscrewed the gas pump and realized the baffle was indeed loose and had lodged under the fuel tank float, causing it to indicate it was half full, when it was really empty. I broke off the plastic baffle, filled the car up with gas, and drove back to the dealer, and asked for my diagnostic fee back, unsuccessfully, because they insisted the pump and other items still needed to be changed.
I put another 100,000 miles on that same pump and only performed routine maintenance on the vehicle until it met an unfortunate demise with a deer, who unfortunately met an untimely demise with my car.
Why I’m Selling Everything and Leaving America
Money can give you a comfortable life, but it cannot make you happy. I travelled to many different countries while in the military. While experiencing different cultures, I felt peace and enrichment . I met many people who didn’t have much financially but seemed happier than people I knew who were financially sound. Money drives people in the U.S. , whereas, it seemed family, culture, peace of mind and happiness was the driving force of a lot of other countries.
You know, the best con men leave you with the feeling that you haven’t been conned, and Donald Trump is no exception.
In fact, it appears that Trump’s “wealth” is entirely an illusion. He has control over a lot of stuff, but his financial disclosures, even to his banks, the government, and those required under federal election law, have never been transparent.
Let’s start with something he clearly has an ownership interest in, and generates income for him, Trump Tower on 5th Avenue in New York City.
Now you might think “Wow, that’s an incredible building. It must be worth a lot of money and generate a lot of income!” Well, not so fast. It’s commonly known that Trump Tower is a condominium tower. Individual units aren’t owned by what’s loosely called the “Trump Organization”, but by individual owners. That’s the way condos work. What the Trump Organization owns is the retail space at the bottom of the building, and that does generate a lot of rent. The Trump Organization also is the building’s manager and part of the maintenance fees the unit owners pay goes to his organization. This is not like, say, the Empire State Building, where all the rent and the income from the observation deck goes to the building’s owners.
So let’s take another example, this one closer to my home.
This is the Trump International Tower in Toronto. It’s a condo-hotel where you can either live in it or allow the management to rent out your unit for a share of its income. This is hardly the only such building in Toronto – one called the Shangri-La a few blocks away is doing very well. However, despite being named after him, Trump’s involvement was solely getting commissions on the sales of units and collecting a management fee from the building’s unit owners to run it. It is no longer bearing Trump’s name, his management agreement was terminated, and he’s being sued for misrepresenting the cash flow potential of the units. It was taken over by its main lender and is now known as the St. Regis. At no point did Trump put any money into the project (it was all other investors) and at no point did he ever have an equity interest in the property.
So what does the Trump organization own? Well, that’s nearly impossible to determine because it’s not clear what its ownership interest is in any of the properties that bear the Trump name. Yeah, Trump’s dad was rich, but like many property developers he borrowed money for property and construction costs, took out a mortgage on the completed property, then used the cash flow from the property to pay down the loan. Any profit would be realized after the property was sold and the mortgage was repaid.
But from the beginning when Trump did his first major project, the rehabilitation of the Commodore Hotel attached to Grand Central Station, he has always been short of cash when building projects. He was supposed to buy the rights to the land for $250,000, but couldn’t come up with the money, so the project proceeded totally financed by debt. It was a resounding success and gave him the opportunity to develop Trump Tower, but after that it gets really fuzzy.
One of the things that allows Trump to project the image of someone very rich is that he’s picked up a trick invented by his old friend Roy Cohn, one of the worst human beings ever to walk the earth. He claimed he didn’t make an income, but all his personal expenses, including his residence, were paid for by the companies he controlled and were deducted as business expenses against corporate tax. Officially, he wasn’t paid a salary, but everything he wanted was paid for by the companies he controlled.
Trump’s “immense wealth” appears to come from loading up his businesses with debt, making sure he finds enough cash flow to keep the payments covered, uses the rest of the cash flow for his personal purposes, then letting the business fail when he can’t keep up the payments.
He made the mistake once of trying this scheme with a publicly traded company. Naturally, with him at the helm he drove it into the ground. However, he had next to no shares in the company at the end, but had bled it dry. Because his hand picked board approved all the money paid to him, the lawsuit against him found no traction.
So he learned to rip off bondholders instead. People who bought bonds in Trump enterprises and soon found their investments worthless were, during the inevitable lawsuit, pointed to the small print in the prospectus saying how speculative the bonds were.
Lately, Trump’s modus operandi is to hook up with local businessmen and convince them that some project like the Trump International Toronto is a sure fire money maker. All they need to do is put up some investment, the rest will be borrowed, and when the units are sold they will make massive amounts of money in just a few years. That’s how the Toronto project got financed. In order to extend the scam, unsophisticated investors are told that if they buy units they will pay for themselves. In Toronto, buyers were shown projections showing them making huge amounts of money with what would seem to be modest occupancy rates. However, if you’re sophisticated, you would probably ask why the owners of the project wouldn’t just run it as a hotel themselves and keep all that money. Again, if it’s done right it will work (Shangri-La). If it isn’t the whole project collapses (a similar project called 1 King West in an old bank building similarly crashed and burned). As a result, while he was able to keep it going, Trump was bringing in big money from the building, but in the end both the investors and the unit owners lost everything they put into it and more.
But his true genius is realizing banks don’t really do proper due diligence. One of the questions you should ask is why no American bank will lend him money, and why his entire empire secures a loan with just one lender, the German investment bank Deutche Bank. They’ve been his bank for about 30 years and it’s in their best interest to convince people that Trump is rich. However, they’re totally dependent on Trump being able to make his monthly payments.
Now, if you were in a lot of debt, you would probably think about selling one of your properties,. but Trump does not sell properties even when, on their books, they don’t make any money (like some of his golf courses). One of the suspicious things about those is most of the losses are due to “consulting fees” he pays to undisclosed third parties. I will let you speculate why he might be paying huge amounts of money to unknown parties every year.
So, long story short, we have no idea of Donald Trump’s net worth, but he doesn’t act like a billionaire. We know Elon Musk’s net worth because his shareholdings in Tesla and SpaceX are on the public record, as are the loans he took out to buy Twitter. That’s the truth for most “billionaires”. Most billionaires have large holdings of public stock companies, Trump doesn’t. Most billionaires have a large bank account with a fair amount of cash. Neither Trump nor his companies seem to have this. It appears that the Trump organization is, like you or me, dependent on its next paycheck to make ends meet.
An American neighbour of mine liked to BBQ. He insisted on doing everything. He couldn’t BBQ, cook, and never made a drink that was enjoyable. Sauages/hot dogs, store bought burgers, and sundries was the menu.
I had to go to the BBQs because he was a sensitive chap.
One day a Japanese dude, Malaysian, and Congolese chap I hung around with in the library decided we should do BBQ. We had similar schedules and lived nearby so no issues.
Chicken hearts, kidneys, liver, fish with masala, it was exciting just thinking about it. Real good!
We went to my place. Prepped the food, made the drinks, and started BBQing.
My neighbour called his friend and neighbours. What I was doing was a mutiny.
Then he came to my place. He initially complained about the smoke, but it wasn’t anywhere near his home.
Then the noise. My friends are all nerds who call their mothers daily. Nobody made a sound. We were too busy enjoying doing our tasks.
Then it became about the principle. You see it’s fine to BBQ when you want, but it would be best if you checked with your neighbours first.
My BBQ was also ethnic, so it had different parameters of criteria for judgement and discernment. There were smells which were confusing.
Weeks later a relative of my neighbour told me how disappointed they were in me. They thought I was a friend to my neighbour.
If Anglo-America doesn’t control it they assume it’s an attempt to destroy them.
Israeli Defense Minister: “We have abolished all the rules of war. Our soldiers will not be held responsible for anything. There will be no military courts”
Israel’s Minister of Defense Yaov Gallant, told troops massing for a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip “We have abolished all the rules of war. Our soldiers will not be held responsible for anything. There will be no military courts.” Even Adolph Hitler didn’t go that far . . . .
Minister Gallant also told troops “I have released all the restraints, we have [regained] control of the area, and we are moving to a full offense. Hamas wanted a change in Gaza, it will change 180 degrees from what it thought. They will regret this moment, Gaza will never return to what it was.”
For anyone wondering whether or not Israel is planning an actual ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, Minister Gallant also answered that, telling Israeli troops “We started the offensive from the air. Later, we will also come from the ground.”
Confirming Gallant’s point, Israel Minister of National Security says “Invasion of Gaza is now Imminent” He said Israel has now no other option rather then to start the Ground action.
Social media postings show videos of the troops being briefed about the coming ground invasion:
What is taking place in Israel is not happening in a vacuum; other countries and entities are seeing what is going on, and they are making their positions about it very clear.
In next-door Lebanon, the group Hezbollah, with whom Israel went to war in 2005, has warned if Israel launches a ground invasion of Gaza, Hezbollah will enter the war to defend Palestinians.
The United States has sent several back-channel messages via intra-government methods to make certain Hezbollah knows the messages are real, directly warning if Hezbollah enters the war against Israel, the United States will enter against Hezbollah.
After those several direct warnings were delivered, Hezbollah publicly said today that not only will they enter the war, “Our naval fleet with cruise missiles and torpedoes is ready for war with Israel” The Hezbollah “red line” is the entry of the Israeli army into Gaza for ground operation. They even put out a video showing the weaponry they will use:
To drive home their point, Hezbollah then turned around and destroyed two Israeli army armored personnel carriers with Russian Kornet missiles on the Lebanese-Israeli border. So Hezbollah seems to have made clear, They’re in on this fight no matter what the US or Israel say.
In nearby Iran, the message is similar. The Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) publicly stated this morning “IRGC is ready to go to war with Israel as part of any joint operation with Hezbollah” which was reported today by Russia’s Izvestia newspaper.
image 87
Shockingly and hugely troubling on many levels, were remarks made today by Turkish President Recypt Erdogan. He told reporters “The world cannot tolerate the continuation of the humanitarian tragedy in the region.” he went on to say “Israel must not forget that if it acts like an organization (Gang) and not like a state, it will ultimately be treated like an organization (Gang).”
Shockingly this morning, Turkey’s deputy minister of education posted on Social media telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “You will die.”
The Arab media outlet Al-Mayadeen published a story this morning quoting a source with the Palestinian military chain of command which said “We have information supervision over all enemy (i.e. Israeli) movements, even those that take place inside its military sites. – If the enemy (i.e. Israel) launches a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, he will effectively sacrifice half of his army.”
Elsewhere, other countries and entities continue to chime-in on the conflict. Today, the Pakistani Army Chief threatened Israel: “If Israel launches a ground attack on Gaza, Pakistan will provide ballistic missiles to the Palestinians.”
For its part, Israel seems to be showing it doesn’t care at all what anyone else is saying. This morning, Israel apparently used White Phosphorus munitions against civilian targets in Gaza.
White Phosphorus Gaza
Multiple sources report that both journalists and residents in the Gaza port area experienced distress due to a bombing incident involving white phosphorus.
An Israeli airstrike this morning killed founding member of Hamas Abu Osama and 2 of his sons (they were also Hamas men).
And if there was any question at all about what Israel intends to do inside Gaza once a ground invasion begins, that was answered by Israeli Defense Force Spokesman Jonathan Conricus who vowed that they “would raze every building to the ground in revenge for Hamas.’
Lebanese media states that #Hamas informed Hezbollah and other allies that their missile array is intact and they are capable of lasting long enough. Hamas also confirmed they are ready for any ground invasion by the Zionist army.
With Gaza under total siege, this morning the Gaza power plant ran out of fuel and electricity is off for 2.3 million people in Gaza. The fuel available in the hospital to operate the generators is sufficient for four days at most, and the hospital without electricity will turn into a mass grave.
There is also no running water in Gaza, after Israel shut the water mains yesterday.
Heavy rocket barrages from Gaza are targeting central Israel. Tel Aviv is under attack right now.
Hal Turner Analysis and SPECULATION
When we all see Israel go in on the ground into Gaza… I suspect we will shortly thereafter start to see horrible images of innocent civilian death and atrocities plastered across the news.
Once that starts happening, I suspect we will see basically every Muslim terrorist organization declare official war on Israel.
After that, I suspect we will see Israel become overrun from multiple fronts, and call on the United States for military help.
With the nitwits in the US federal government having no real clue about reality, I suspect we will see the USA start striking targets THROUGHOUT the Muslim world.
At that point (matter of days) I suspect we will see the Muslims declare war on the USA with terror attacks all throughout our country.
It seems very simple to me: Boots on the ground in Gaza and the fuse is lit…”
NOTE: I worked very late last night, and slept-in late this morning. I needed the rest. Updates to follow, below, throughout the day. Check back.
UPDATE 11:29 AM EDT —
The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has issued an announcement:
The entire area around Gaza Division is now a closed military area. (Map below)
IDF Gaza Map
Entry into the area is strictly prohibited and constitutes a serious security risk.
IDF fighters are conducting combat in the area and entering it endangers lives and harms the activities of the forces.
UPDATE 11:35 AM EDT —
As reported to you last night on the Hal Turner Radio Show, the Pentagon confirms the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier Strike Group will be deployed to the Eastern Mediterranean joining the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group.
In addition, as reported also during the radio show last night, the USS George Washington Aircraft Carrier departed from Norfolk, VA yesterday, destination unknown, as did the HMS Prince of Wales, a Queen Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carrier of the British Navy, also destination unknown.
This is a tremendous amount of firepower all headed . . . somewhere.
Lastly, NATO has deployed vessels from the Greek Navy into the eastern Mediterranean yesterday and announced that NATO Maritime Group Two is deploying to the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
UPDATE 11:56 AM EDT —
A paratrooping operation was carried out by commandos from southern Lebanon into settlements in the occupied northern Palestine. Troops are parachuting into Israel in the north.
Air alert sirens in *EVERY* Settlement in northern Israel near the Lebanon Border:
Paratroopers Entering From Lebanon
MORE:
— Lebanese Major General Abbas Ibrahim: The decision has been made to open all fronts if Israel dares to enter the Gaza Strip by force
— Al-Qassam Brigades rockets raining down on Ben Gurion Airport, all flights disrupted.
UPDATE 12:10 PM EDT —
Speaking from Qatar, the head of Hamas calls for a global Day of Rage on Friday, which will include terror attacks on Jews worldwide: “Funds are important but today we are asking for your blood and souls [to be sacrificed for Palestine].”
Absolutely Massive barrage of Missiles target Northern Israel; SOME SAY it seems Hezbollah have joined the war:
Massive missile barrage
CONFIRMATION: More Paragliders!
Israeli channels are already confirming the landing of 10 to 20 paragliders from Lebanese territory. At the same time, there is artillery fire and kamikaze UAV strikes on Israeli positions in the north of the country.
***** BULLETIN *****
The American Embassy in Lebanon is being evacuated. American citizens are advised to leave the country as soon as possible.
— Galilee, South Golan, North Golan and the conflict line residents ordered into their safe spaces.
— Head of the Upper Galilee Council: “There is an incident, not a possible incident, an actual incident. Infiltration of aircraft from Lebanon into Israel, in a wide area. Paragliders with at least one person on them. All residents of the north should go into their homes.”
— Armed Hezbollah terrorists blow up the Lebanese border fence and enter Israel State from the north. At least 20 Paragliders were seen entering Northern Israel from Lebanon within the last few minutes. IMAGE BELOW!
pARAGLIDERS ENTERING ISRAEL FROM LEBANON
— Situation on the border of Lebanon and Israel is hearing up unconfirmed reports of firefights and possible incursions by hostile forces.
***** FLASH *****
12:20 PM EDT — Drone strike reported at or near Dimona Nuclear Plant
More:
— Armed clashes in Metula, northern Israel. VIDEO:
UPDATE 1:26 PM EDT —
The UK Ministry of Defence has placed the UK Carrier Strike group (including Europe’s most advanced aircraft carrier: HMS Queen Elizabeth) on alert for potential deployment to the Mediterranean.
Unsure if it will be deployed to the region but the UK fleet is cutting short a training exercise with the Norwegian Army.
(HT Remark: I was told the UK Carrier Strike Group is in Norway on maneuvers, and about to join the USS Gerald R. Ford ASAP.)
Worth Listening to . . .
This one too . . .
UPDATE 1:41 PM EDT —
Hezbollah has informed the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL international peacekeepers to immediately evacuate all positions on the border with Israel. The UNIFIL Deployment Map is below:
CLAIM – Unverified . . . .
VERFIED:
5:26 PM EDT — HYSTERIA SPREADING
In the interest of full disclosure, I provide the following clarifications:
Due to panic associated with the situation on the Lebanese-Israeli border.
1. There were reports of the launch of 15 Hezbollah drones. 2. An air raid alert was announced on Israeli territory. 3. They came to the Dimona from Lebanon. 4. Reports of an explosion in Dimona appear. 5. There are reports of the evacuation of US citizens from Lebanon.
BUT . . . 6. It turns out that nothing flew to Dimona and there was some kind of showdown in the industrial zone. 7. It turns out that the drones did not fly anywhere from Lebanon. 8. It turns out the United States says it is not withdrawing the embassy or declaring an evacuation. 9. It turns out Lebanese media say it was possibly birds. 10. It is also reported that Hezbollah may have Hacked Israeli detection systems. 11. The IDF says nothing arrived.
Nerves are on both sides thin and the situation is teetering on the brink of hysteria.
The IDF ruled out an air infiltration from Lebanon, false alerts in the Home Front Command: “a malfunction”
Alarms were activated in dozens of settlements in the north – causing panic. The IDF began scanning following a suspected infiltration of drones from Lebanon – but clarified that it was a “malfunction that is being investigated”: incorrect alerts in the Home Front Command application: “human error.”
Why I QUIT The RAT RACE & The “ American Dream “
“I’m a 54 year old Hispanic male. I got out of the rat race 15 years ago after I was laid off from a bank. I started a contract based IT services business that brings in $180,000 a year for 2-3 hours a day of work and I sold my singly family home for a multi family that earns me $5,000/month after all expenses. No more commuting, no more asking for vacation, none of it. I am happy.”
Creamy Red Beans and Rice with Caramelized Onions
2023 10 12 15 44
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, sliced
3 cups hot cooked rice
1 (16 ounce) can red kidney beans, drained
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup Asiago cheese, grated
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat.
Add onions; cook until onions are caramelized (about 12 minutes).
Add rice, beans, sour cream, cheese and black pepper. Stir until well blended and cheese is melted.
Yes – 20+ years ago I was stationed at a small military base in Wisconsin and I lived in a crappy little house in a nearby town. It was in poor condition when I moved in, so I took pictures of everything. Landlord refused to fix anything (he even had an electrical outlet in the shower). A little less than a year later, I was offered housing on base and I mailed and hand delivered my landlord notice and gave him the required thirty days. He couldn’t be troubled to walk through the house with me on move out, so I again documented it with a lot of pictures. I left it in much better condition than when I found it.
Thirty-five days after move-out, I received a letter from him that not only was my security deposit forfeit based on damages and cleanliness, I also owed two extra months rent for breaking the lease early (it was the remaining time on my lease). I immediately questioned that, as I witnessed someone else moving in not two days after I moved out. He told me it didn’t matter and he would send me to a collection agent. I elected to take it to small claims court and present my case.
A month later, and after many threatening calls from his lawyer, my court date arrived. I had researched every aspect of landlord/tenant law and brought my evidence. While waiting for our turn, the lawyer again took the opportunity to threaten me, this time with the prospect of a counter suit. I refused to back down and when we got into the hearing, the landlord’s lawyer immediately asked for and was granted a continuance for two weeks. More threats came, but I held my ground. The next court date came, and I finally got a chance to present my evidence and defend myself. Ultimately, the judge ruled the landlord was in the wrong by trying to keep my deposit and that I was only liable for one extra day of rent, as the new tenant moved in two days after I moved out. Since the landlord waited 35 days to notify me of what I owed (Wisconsin required it be within 30 days at the time), the judge also ruled he owed me double damages. Rather than pay me in a lump sum, he requested the judge allow him to pay me back in six monthly installments. Unfortunately, the judge granted the request.
Of course, the slumlord was late in paying the first payment by about a week. The second payment was even later and arrived the same day I placed a lien on his properties for non-payment (he owned about 50 houses). A week later, he was trying to sell one and the lien stopped the sale. You guessed it, more threats from his lawyer. First it was they were going to sue me for depriving him of needed income. The lawyer provided a citation that appeared not to apply, so I held fast. Then a cop showed up at my home threatening me with possible arrest (again on a bogus charge). When I mentioned it to the admin assistant for my office, she let me know the cop was a cousin of the landlord, so I called the Chief of Police to find out why they had sent the cop to my house (they hadn’t, he was doing it for his cousin). Coincidentally, the lawyer called me that day and demanded I come to his office that afternoon to get a check for the entire amount and sign paperwork to remove the lien. I told him he could deliver it to me at my office and when the check cleared, I would gladly sign all the paperwork. His assistant showed up at my office an hour later with cash and I signed the paperwork.
I didn’t see him again until a year later. My admin assistant’s son had the same thing happen to him and she asked if I would help him. I agreed and even offered to go with him to small claims court. The same lawyer was there and the slumlord elected to settle, rather than deal with me again. It was extraordinarily satisfying.
On this day
On this day in 1860 thousands of British and French soldiers attacked China’s Gardens of Perfect Brightness (Old Summer Palace).
image 98
This was a brutal episode in Britain’s Opium Wars on China. Many of the treasures stolen from China remain in the British Museum today.
In October 1860 seventeen thousand British and French troops seized Beijing. They went on to unleash an orgy of violence to punish and humiliate China towards the end of the Second Opium War, launched by Britain and France to destroy its sovereignty.
The destruction of the ‘Old Summer Palace’ as it is known in the West marked the end of the Second Opium War started by Britain and France in 1856. A defeated China was forced to sign unequal treaties and accept the legalisation of the opium trade.
Between the 6 and 8 October 1860, the Gardens of Perfect Brightness were looted & torched by around 5,000 French and British troops. The Gardens covered over 860 acres and took two days to destroy. About 1.5 million treasures were stolen. 300 Chinese people died in the inferno.
Robert McGee, chaplain to British forces in China, remarked on the significance of the ‘Old Summer Palace’, stating the gardens were “arguably the greatest concentration of historic treasures in the world, dating and representing a full 5,000 years of an ancient civilisation.”
The Gardens consisted of a group of classical gardens, waterways and thousands of building, containing a vast collection of unique and priceless treasures and art. Many of the looted treasures were given to Queen Victoria and Napoleon III.
image 97
Today, treasures from the ‘Old Summer Palace’ are housed in hundreds of museums across 47 countries, including the British Museum in London.
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
2023 10 12 12 37
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.
2023 10 12 12 35
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 have a salesman in the UK who used to live in the ‘States.
Once, when he visited me here in China, he reflected on what he observed about the United States.
He told me that the United States is a pendulum. (Well, he referred to it as a meter.) It swings from one extreme to the other over a decade, but the over all effect is that (in the long view) it seems that the pendulum seems to stay centered.
Hum…
Sort of like this…
2023 10 14 07 40
…
Maybe.
I view it quite differently, however, let’s give his observation some credit.
Following his observation, to me, it seems that the pendulum swung so hard to one side that the meter broke, and the needle (pendulum) is stuck in the region of broken glass. The USA has entered totalitarian dictatorship of the most basic historical norms; serf and peasants toiling for the mega-wealthy.
The needle is broke.
The meter needs to be replaced.
It simply cannot be repaired.
2023 10 14 07 41
It needs to be pulled out of the wall, and completely thrown in the trash, and a nice new digital one put in it’s place.
…
That’s my opinion, folks. Yours might be different.
“The popular conception is that companies come to China because of low labor costs. I’m not sure what part of China they go to, but the China stopped being the low labor cost country years ago. That is not the reason to come to China from a supply point of view. The reason is because of the skill.”
I just searched around and found that no one pays attention to Ukraine anymore, neither the Western media, nor the Western governments, who have turned their attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
image 100
And the Russian army is in high morale and has now captured Avdiyevka, But nobody in the Western world cares about Ukraine anymore.
Putin is right. The Yanks are treating Ukraine as an “expendable“.
Ukraine needs help now, so the American people should donate money to Ukraine!
Talk is cheap. Don’t just shout slogans in the media, support Ukraine with real action. Do you understand?
Americans hope that Taiwan will become Ukraine 2.0, but Taiwanese people do not want to become toilet paper that Yanks throw away immediately after use.
What Taiwanese want is for American soldiers to rush to the front and become cannon fodder. 😅 Stop the cheap’s talk, The Taiwanese are waiting for Americans to sacrifice their children for the cause of “Taiwan independence”.
In response to the current world situation，Bulletproof vest manufacturers in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, China, have received a large number of orders, and workers are working overtime to catch up.
image 70
DJI’s newly released drone-mounted LiDAR adds Arabic language and Hebrew language to the original Russian language.
image 99
These are civilian items, not weapons, and it won’t explode.
Whether it is the Russian-Ukrainian war or the Palestinian-Israeli war, the Chinese Government has always called on both sides to exercise restraint and engage in peaceful negotiations. Why is no one listening?
The US once invaded Iraq, ignored the opposition of China, overthrew the Saddam regime, and supported a pro-American Iraq government.
The US spent $3 trillion in subsequent Iraqi governance, which was borrowed from China. The US military did not make Iraq more peaceful, but created the monster ISIS.
The Iraq government in Iraq later realized that the US military could not help Iraq’s reconstruction, US companies do not have the capacity for large-scale reconstruction, so it approached China for cooperation.
Today, most of Iraq’s oil extraction rights are vested in China, far surpassing the US, Britain, and Russia.
Later, the US Secretary of Defense mentioned in his speech that the US owed China a lot of money during the Iraq War, and all interests belonged to China. The US’ Iraq war was fought for China! This is an unexpected ending for the US government.
Stupid Yanks! A state that has no history and knows only the use of barbaric violence can only perish.
In addition, Saudi Arabia requires all ministerial officials to study the ancient Chinese classic “Zhan Guo Ce”.
Don’t underestimate this book, it may change the future landscape of the Middle East.
3 trillion US dollars, the Americans should pay off their debts to China quickly!
44 days left in the US government shutdown!
The economic growth rate of China in the second half of the year is estimated to be over 6%.
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro (coriander) leaves
Salt, to taste
Instructions
In a medium saucepan, preheat the olive oil to medium-high. Sauté the onion in hot oil until transparent. Add the garlic, curry powder and coriander; continue to sauté for another minute or two.
Stir in the canned and fresh tomatoes; bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook gently until the sauce has thickened, stirring occasionally.
Stir in the okra and chicken-style broth; return to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low and cook gently for about 10 to 15 minutes, or just until the okra is tender.
Just before serving, stir in the cilantro. Add salt to taste.
Serve promptly for best color and freshest taste.
Hip-Hop Fan REACTS To Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North Of Richmond
When they met my dad was studying for becoming a doctor. His main passions were video games and music. He’s always been kind of a genius academically. He is very reserved and does not talk a lot at first.
My mom, on the other side, was a high school student. She was the president of the Students Council, a gymnast and a photo model. She was always surrounded by many friends, she liked parties and having fun. Despite being skilled, she wasn’t a top student, her sassy behavior didn’t help either.
My dad was supposed to meet a girl for a date. The girl asked my mom to go with her just to check that everything would go smoothly and well. However, it was love at first sight between my parents. They dated for seven years, for a period of time they even lived in different cities, but their love never ceased. They married in 1994, one year later my older sister was born.
So, my parents got married for love. They are so different from each other, yet so perfect. They complete one another.
Mandarin learning boom in the Middle East
Saudi Arabia is the latest country to mandate Chinese language education in schools as the region embraces closer ties with Beijing.
While interest in learning Mandarin declines in the West, Middle Eastern children are attending classes in China’s official language as part of a geopolitical shift in the region.
Last month, Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab country in the region, mandated Mandarin lessons in all public and private secondary schools, which are expected to extend classes to second-year pupils during this academic year. The extension of Mandarin education in Saudi secondary schools follows a 2019 agreement, struck during the Crown Prince’s visit to Beijing, to have Mandarin lessons at all levels of school.
The long-standing US ally is looking to bolster its ties with China beyond the oil trade to technology, infrastructure, and even arms, in an economic diversification blueprint backed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Last month, Saudi Arabia, together with Iran and the UAE, were among six countries invited to join Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa in an expansion of the BRICS association of leading emerging economies.
The United Arab Emirates – with a population of 9.3 million and the world’s seventh-largest oil reserves – was the first Gulf state to include Mandarin in its national education system. With Beijing’s help, the UAE started a Chinese language program in 100 schools in 2019 that expanded last year to 158 public schools, according to figures from the Chinese embassy in Abu Dhabi.
In 2020, Egypt signed a memorandum of understanding with China to adopt Mandarin as an elective for a second foreign language subject at primary and secondary school levels. Later that year, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi endorsed a law adding Mandarin to the list of foreign languages that can be taught in middle and high schools across the country.
In my late teens I worked as a school cook. It was a private boarding school mostly for military and diplomatic families, it gave the kids stability as the parents were posted all over the world. Part of the job was to supply lunch to the board of governors once per month. A guy came into the kitchen, said he was the chairman of the board of governors and asked if he could have more pudding. Lucky for him there was some left so I filled his bowl and off he went a happy chap. The following month he came back and every month I worked there he would come into the kitchen for more pudding. I started to call him Oliver as he was asking for more. He was particularly fond of the steamed jam rollypolly so always filled his bowl. He told me that he had told his cousin and her family about my puddings and how nice they were. His wife came in once to tell me not to give him so much as he was putting on weight!
A few years later I was visiting my parents who lived next to the lifeboat shed and a new lifeboat was being presented and dedicated. I saw “Oliver” in the crowd and shouted him over. Asked what he was doing there, seems he was with the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) and he was there to present the new boat. Later my dad asked if I knew who I had been talking too. So I told him the above. Then dad told me that the man I knew as Oliver was a Duke and cousin to the queen!!
Edit :
It’s over forty years since these events I don’t follow royal circles and memory gets vague with time! I have been told that the man I knew as “Oliver” died sometime in the late eighties so have changed the answer in response to this sad news, he was a nice bloke.
It was a regular day at the bank. I was speaking to one of our high-net clients, AH. He needed help with his account and I was explaining some transactions to him. Suddenly we heard a loud retching followed by a thud.
Both of us looked towards the source of the sound and saw a guy sprawled on the floor just inside the branch entrance. People rushed towards him. The branch wasn’t crowded, thankfully. There were just a few customers present at that time.
As I neared the guy, I realised that he was a regular visitor… an office boy who used to come in almost daily to deposit cheques and for other mundane chores. I called out to our support staff and requested him to get water. The guy had fainted after vomiting, perhaps due to the extreme heat outside. While I gently tapped his shoulder and called out his name to wake him, one of my colleagues attempted to manoeuvre his way to figure out how to pick him up.
AH, who had been observing us all along, coolly walked to the prone figure (without bothering about the messy floor), bent down and cradled the collapsed guy’s head. He gently raised him, supported his arms and helped him to the seating area. The guy, who was regained consciousness by then, looked at us numbly. While our staff handed him a glass of water, AH removed a pristine white handkerchief from his pocket and gave it to the guy to wipe his vomit stained face. After ascertaining that the guy didn’t need any more immediate help, AH excused himself and discreetly asked to be directed to our washroom where he could clean his hands.
As I sat down with AH after some time, I couldn’t help but marvel at the complete ease with which he helped out a stranger in a situation that would make most people balk. His nonchalance towards the mess was at complete odds with his concern for another fellow being. And while others were either panicking or fumbling, he handled the matter with maturity and an ease that spoke volumes about him! When I gushed over his actions he shushed me down with a simple logic. ‘I would like to be helped should I ever face some issue like this. What I expect, I should be ready to offer as well.’
AH didn’t remain a mere high-net client from that day on. He became a highly respected one too!
Actions speak louder than words they say. In this case, they did more… they revealed and taught!
Achieved Mass Production Achieved in 180 Days! China Breaks Foreign Monopoly in the Chip Industry！
I was given full and sole conservatorship (read “custody”) of my daughters after my wife of 20 years walked out on us for someone else.
About 3 years later, my ex managed to scrape together enough money to engage a lawyer to challenge the custody order. I was totally freaked out, tbh. I sold a car and borrowed a couple thousand dollars from my brother to get my own lawyer. I had gathered evidence and my daughters were prepared for private conferences with the judge. As they were only 11 and 14 at the time, you can imagine their stress and upset as well.
When the day of the hearing rolled around, however, my ex’es lawyer turned out to be a dud. An exceptional dud, at that. He stood before the judge and basically argued for a change of custody based on the fact that my ex really, really wanted the order to be changed. The judge left the custody order intact.
I can only assume that my ex was victimized by a predatory lawyer who made promises he could never keep. I had new ulcers and was 3000 dollars in the hole…but my kids stayed safe with me. It was the sheer ineptitude of the lawyer that amazed me. My lawyer just had to shake his head and laugh.
I’ve been alone, single, and heartbroken. And I’ve been in the most amazing intimate relationships imaginable.
I’ve traveled the world, made friends, lost friends, and tried things I never thought I would.
At the end of the day, I’ve realized that living a good life is a lot simpler than people try to make it out to be.
And here are my 15 best tips for achieving it.
1. Sleep 9 Hours a Night
Plain and simple. You’ll feel better, look better, be more productive, be happier, and be less likely to suffer from obesity and chronic diseases.
Sleep isn’t a weakness. It’s a necessity.
Get 7.5–9 hours a night and I promise your life will change.
2. Be Happy Now
Happiness is a choice (even though we’d like to think otherwise).
So stop trying to achieve happiness and just decide to be happy. You can make the most out of terrible situations and learn to find joy and gratitude in even your darkest times.
Your life is better than 99% of the human beings who lived on this planet before you.
So be happy now.
3. Create Passive Income Asap
It’s worth 10x working income and creates ultimate freedom in your life.
If you can build a website, write a book, or launch a product that generates $5,000 a month semi-automatically, your life will change forever.
4. Exercise Everyday
There’s no reason to go a day without exercise. You don’t have to lift heavy everyday, but you must MOVE.
You’ll be happier, stronger, smarter (literally), and more productive.
It takes less than 30 minutes to get a good sweat on and it can add years to your life. No excuses.
5. Prioritize Lifestyle > Money (But Money Also)
Money is great. But living a life of freedom is better. Prioritize living a great life and embrace minimalism. Make money, sure. But don’t make money at the expense of living your life.
6. Stop Eating Sugar
It’s basically poison and has no nutritional value. A cookie here and there isn’t a big deal, but the less of this crap you eat, the better you’ll feel and the more effectively you’ll perform.
7. Do The Things YouWant to Do
Life is too short to live for other people.
So your parents want you to be a Doctor? So what! They don’t have to live your life or shoulder your regrets.
Do what you want to do and remember that life is too damn short to follow other people’s dreams.
8. Only Take Advice From People You’d Trade Lives With
If someone doesn’t have the life that you want or at least a life that you’d want. Don’t take their advice.
This includes me.
If you want to be a billionaire mega investor and rule the world, don’t listen to a word I say.
If you want to have a life of happiness, financial freedom, and lifestyle independence, I might have a thing or two to teach you.
9. Travel More and Travel Longer
You’ll never regret it. It will open your eyes to new ways of living, thinking, and being and will be the most transformative experience of your life.
If you have the opportunity to travel somewhere new, always say “Yes.”
10. Make Time to Think
Don’t get so caught up in doing things that you forget to make time to think.
Ponder deep questions, ask yourself what you really want out of life, figure out innovative solutions to your problems.
Make time for deep thought and you’ll be amazed at how your life will change.
11. Quit Complaining
It doesn’t help you, it pisses off the people around you, and makes you less attractive.
Remind me again why you think it’s a good thing to bitch about traffic all the time?
12. Stop Lying
To your friends, family, and most importantly… Yourself.
Live in truth. Be authentic. Stop making crap up and pretending you’re ok to make other people happy.
You can only change your life from a place of truth.
Be honest about your reality, desires, and obstacles and you’ll find that the solutions come easier.
13. Read as Much as You Can
Never pass up an opportunity to expand your mind and broaden your horizons. Read about everything.
Science, psychology, self help, business, history, biographies, fiction. You name it.
The more you read, the more well rounded you’ll become and the better your life will be.
14. Be Nice to Yourself
You’re the only person you have to live with for the rest of your life. So try being nice to yourself.
Watch the negative self talk. Believe in yourself. Treat yourself with love and respect.
Before you do, say, or pursue anything, ask yourself, “If a close friend was in this situation, how would I respond or what would I encourage him/her to do?”
15. Don’t be a Dick
Seriously…
Life is too short to yell at the Verizon customer support agent over a payment dispute. The poor gal wasn’t the one who double charged your account, so don’t take it out on her.
Life has a funny way of reprimanding mean people.
So be nice to people and stop being a dick, m’kay?
Hope this helps
Stay Grounded, Andrew
ALIEN WAR and The Horrors of Dulce Underground Base
It’s the 14th century. John the Blacksmith comes home from the forge to find his wife crying in the kitchen.
“What ails ye, wife?” he asks.
“Our son,” she wails. “He’s been taken, John!”
John runs to the bed chamber, his stomach churning with fear. Young Luke… gone… he’d have the whole village up and searching within the hour, and damn the darkness. Except, when he opens the door, he finds the child standing in his cot, staring at the walls and singing nonsense to himself.
“What nonsense is this, woman?” he shouts back to the kitchen. “He’s right here!”
“It’s not him,” she sobs. “A mother knows. It’s not him!”
John frowns. He’s heard the stories, of course, but he never believed they were actually true. He walks up to young Luke, calls his name. Luke looks up, then looks away. He doesn’t smile, just carries on singing the same tune over and over.
John returns to the kitchen, and holds his wife as she cries.
“I told you,” she said. “It was the faeries, John. They’ve taken our son, and left a changeling in his stead.”
John nods. His grandmother’s stories were true. She’d said once that his own uncle had been taken by the faeries, that the child they’d left behind grew up… strange. He’d lived by himself in the woods for many a year; the village left him be, and he left them alone in turn. Granny had said the faeries would come back to the same family again. He’d brought this curse upon them.
“What do we do, John?”
He shook his head. “We have to raise him, wife, as though he were our own. Sometimes… they bring them back. Sometimes. But they won’t unless we raise theirs in return.”
“And if they don’t?”
He had no answer for that.
A lot of autistic children seem normal in their early years – one reason why diagnosis is unreliable when they are very young. It’s been suggested before that the myth of the changeling – a faerie child swapped for an identical human one – could derive from those small children seeming “different” to their parents as they get older. It would be nice to think that they were still raised by their parents and found a place in society, even on the fringe of it – however, given the high rate of infant mortality back then, it’s entirely possible that a lot of them were abandoned or even killed.
It’s also quite plausible that a lot of them were given to the Church. What better way to drive out any demons that may possess them? And a monastic life would probably suit many autistic people – minimal distractions, a set routine, limited social interaction…
The point is, autism has been around as long as humans have. We just didn’t know what it was. Those who were high functioning enough to be part of the village were considered a bit weird but generally tolerated. Those who weren’t, if they survived, would be outsiders. And those that couldn’t function were entirely reliant on their families to survive – if those families were willing to help them.
Brian Berletic: China DESTROYS US War Plans as Europe Rejects Taiwan Independence
USA : Please help us to end the Ukraine War so that we can concentrate War in the island of Taiwan with you.
I was about eighteen, shy, thin, poor, and an artist. I was living in a factory town that did not appreciate anyone who didn’t fit in and I didn’t.
I was raised to be a gentleman and to be nice to everyone. This is not a popular thing when you are young and it is often misunderstood.
I was getting gas for my vehicle and I was dealing with rejection a few hours earlier from a girl that I really liked. She had just told me that I was too polite and nice.
I paid for my gas and walked to the convenience store doorway. I was on the cusp of deciding to stop being polite and nice.
I stepped out and noticed an older black man, who was likely in his eighties, dressed as if he was coming from church was coming up to the door. Without thinking, I held it open for him, nodded, and smiled.
So much for my tough guy plan.
He doffed his porkpie hat to me and said the words that changed my life. With a twinkle in his eyes, he said, “You sir, are a gentleman.”
I beamed. Yes, he’s right. That is who I am, and as importantly, who I want to be.
He probably never knew just how important his kind words were to the man that I would become.
I remember him and the gas station, but don’t even remember the name or even face of the woman who had told me I was too nice.
Life is grand when we treat everyone with kindness and care.
This is it. The roadmap & Plan for the post-American-led global world order. This document, is lengthy, but is being followed by MOST OF THE WORLD outside the West. -MM
Trump Latinos Charles J. Jones & Forgiato Blow – America Uncanceled
This one is really great. A bit “red neck”, but I really like that people are trying to fight back from the insanity of Washington DC. But it’s gonna take more than singing…
The new announcements from Huawei just keep on coming:
Huawei announces new 5.5G wireless standard which is already implemented on the Huawei Mate 60 Pro family;
Tencent, owner of WeChat, announces full support for Huawei’s HarmonyOS. WeChat has more than 1B accounts in China alone
Significantly, Huawei is going ahead with its new technology announcements without seeking approval through tech standards committees which are dominated by western tech companies.
In 2024, many new chip fabs which were hiding will start going into production for chips over >5nm. These fabs will be coming online at the same time, and there will be a price war as they fight for sales.
Qualcomm, based in San Diego, is a leading maker of wireless transceivers, and has announced the layoff of 1,200 personnel in December 2023.
Leading American tech brands will be hit badly as Chinese makers eat into their business.
China WARNS Neocons of Consequences as Biden, Blinken Sink to New Low
In the 1980s my Dad bought a complete set of Encyclopedia Britannica, including the children’s version. My Dad passed away in 2002 and my Mom has held on to them. Last year she was cleaning house and she asked me if I wanted them for my kids. I told her that my kids would have no use for them. She tried giving it to a local orphanage in Nairobi (Kenya) and they, too, declined to take them. They did ask if we could donate a computer instead. So in 2023, encyclopedias are pretty much worthless even for orphanages in developing countries.
Because people are willing to pay a lot for a hamburger.
This is a fundamental rule of economics a lot of folks don’t get. With the exception of some commodity goods, price of a good or service doesn’t depend on the cost of making it. You don’t set the price by taking the cost of production, adding some amount for profit, and then using that for the price.
In technical terms, the input price is disconnected from the output price.
You set the price as high as the market will bear. You do everything you can to drive the cost as low as possible. You keep everything in between.
Suppose people will pay $15 for your burgers. Why would you set the price at $10? You’d have to be a moron to do that. If people will pay $15, you sell for $15.
If the burger costs $8 to make and people will pay $15, you sell for $15.
If the burger costs $6 to make and people will pay $15, you sell for $15.
If the burger costs $2 to make and people will pay $15, you sell for $15.
the real price of the American Dream for Black women & why I gave it up
There is a reason you don’t see other countries “buzz” the carriers. They will buzz destroyers and spy planes, but not the carriers. At least not too closely. Shadow? Sure, but from a fair distance.
If you start interfering with something that expensive containing 5,000+ American lives, the stakes get much bigger much quicker. The carrier and its escorts will absolutely destroy anything they believe to be a threat to the carrier and its operations, even in peace time. Everyone knows this. We are talking about the crown jewels of the US military here, most of the USN is tasked almost exclusively with defending them at all costs.
Carrier escorts will literally throw themselves in front of torpedoes in order to protect the carrier if they have to. In WWII, the Royal Navy was stunned to learn the US planned to do exactly that even with capital ships like battleships if necessary. I am not joking, even today there are protocols where escorts will criss-cross through the wake of the carriers to act as a physical shield against wake homing torpedoes.
The point of “buzzing” isn’t to be an open threat though, its to harass and to voice a general displeasure at your presence.
The problem with harassing a carrier is that the line between harassment and threat is very blurred due to the sheer value of the carrier in both people and treasure. What the CO of an American carrier views as a threat might be very different to what a Russian or Chinese fighter pilot may believe is simply harassment, especially when you have active flight operations on an already chaotic and dangerous floating airport.
It is best to tread carefully near them for all involved. There are plenty of other lesser targets to annoy. You don’t want to get any closer than this for the most part:
“Poor Men South of Portland” by Jon Reep
It’s a massive play on words for a subject that needs attention.
Let me tell you China will 100% not allow the U.S. and the west to ever freely manipulate China, Chinese laws, Chinese systems and policies and Chinese rules and regulations in China.
To China, they have a more effective and efficient democracy and democratic process that has stood the test of time. To the Chinese people and many others in the world we find the U.S. political systems highly ineffective and inefficient and unsustainable. Hence China will never ever adopt the western political system if that Is what you are asking.
China will be as free as it makes sense. For example in China you are free to drink on the street. In the US you can be arrested for drinking on the street. But in China you cannot even carry or have possession of a knife linger that 15 cm in the Public. Weapons of any kind Is totally not allowed by anybody! To us it makes PERFECT sense!
In the West and US you can shout obceneties and curse politicians. But Chinese people prefer cultured respectful dialogue.
Burkina Faso Sacks Chief Of Staff After He Was Caught Selling Out His Country
I was tapping a parking meter with my credit card, and looked down, and saw, not a wallet. But the contents of a wallet. A credit card, a health insurance card, a rewards card, and a debit card.
Since it was a busy pay station, it hadn’t been there for long. I picked it up, ran into my meeting, and looked at the cards. They had an unusual name, so I googled it, and found two people with that last name in the city, and a food critic article, about a new chef, starting a new restaurant, and he had the exact name. So I called the restaurant, and left a message, that I found something of his, and if he could tell me what he was missing, I would return it to him. There was no reply, so I phoned the person with a different initial and the same last name, and left a message, that if they knew the other guy, to have him call me.
Nothing. The next day I left another message at the restaurant, and got no reply. The next day, I left a message saying I was going to drop it off at the police station, and he could do what he wanted, as I was done stressing over it.
I figured, that had I called the restaurant within 5 minutes of the card being lost, and if he was close to where he lost it, he could have it back in ten minutes from the time he lost it, and not have to cancel his cards, so I was trying hard to get it to him, but afterwards, I figured he would have already cancelled the card.
The next day he phones me and tells me that his wife lost the cards, and she only uses them maybe once a week, and never knew that they were missing.
It was only when the police phoned him, that she checked. He figured I was a scammer, and didn’t return my call. He said he had words with his wife, because she had no idea that anything had happened in those three says. Both the credit card and debit card had tap, I probably could have bought $500 bucks a day worth of stuff, for a week, before his wife noticed.
I never got an apology or a thank you, just an explanation.
But despite that, I will continue returning lost wallets, because I once left $200 in a bank machine, and and a young lady chased me down, a half block to return it. So I know there are other good people out there.
Declining US Empire vs Rising China
These two guys are GREAT. Love watching them.
A Global Community of Shared Future:
China’s Proposals and Actions
The State Council Information Office of
the People’s Republic of China
September 2023
Contents
Preface
I. Humanity at a Crossroads
II. An Answer to the Call of the Times and a Blueprint for the Future
III. Deep Roots in History and Cultural Traditions
IV. Direction and Path
V. China’s Action and Contribution
Conclusion
Preface
In the universe there is only one Earth, the shared home of humanity. Unfortunately, this planet on which we rely for our subsistence is facing immense and unprecedented crises, both known and unknown, both foreseeable and unforeseeable. Whether human civilization can survive these has become an existential issue that must be squarely faced. More and more people have come to the realization that rather than amassing material wealth, the most pressing task is to find a guiding beacon for the sustainable development of human civilization, because we all care about our future.
Ten years ago President Xi Jinping propounded the idea of building a global community of shared future, answering a question raised by the world, by history, and by the times: “Where is humanity headed?” His proposal lights the path forward as the world fumbles for solutions, and represents China’s contribution to global efforts to protect our shared home and create a better future of prosperity for all.
To build a global community of shared future, all peoples, all countries, and all individuals – our destinies being interconnected – must stand together in adversity and through thick and thin, navigating towards greater harmony on this planet that we call home. We should endeavor to build an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security, and common prosperity, turning people’s longing for a better life into reality.
The vision of a global community of shared future bears in mind the wellbeing of all humanity. It is based on both observation of the present and visionary planning for the future. It lays out goals, charts the path, and offers action plans to achieve them. It concerns the future of humanity and the destiny of every human being.
President Xi Jinping first raised the vision of a global community of shared future when addressing the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 2013. Over the past decade it has been steadily enriched. He fleshed it out with a five-point proposal [The five points are: We should build partnerships in which countries treat each other as equals, engage in extensive consultation, and enhance mutual understanding. We should create a security environment featuring fairness, justice, joint efforts, and shared interests. We should promote open, innovative and inclusive development that benefits all. We should increase inter-civilization exchanges to promote harmony, inclusiveness, and respect for differences. We should build an ecosystem that puts Mother Nature and green development first.] in his speech at the General Debate of the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly in 2015. He further proposed five goals for the world [The five goals are: We should build a world of lasting peace through dialogue and consultation. We should build a world of common security for all through joint efforts. We should build a world of common prosperity through win-win cooperation. We should build an open and inclusive world through exchanges and mutual learning. We should make our world clean and beautiful by pursuing green and low-carbon development.] in his speech at the United Nations Office in Geneva in 2017. This represents the steady increase in the depth and scope of the vision.
The past decade has seen steady progress in implementing the vision. From bilateral to multilateral and from regional to global dimensions, ground-breaking results have been achieved on every front. The Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative have taken root and borne fruits, bringing prosperity and stability to the world and creating substantive benefits for the people.
Over the past decade, the vision of a global community of shared future has gained broader support. More countries and people have come to the understanding that this vision serves the common interests of humanity, represents popular calls for peace, justice and progress, and can create the greatest synergy among all nations for building a better world. It is now widely recognized in the international community that the vision has nothing to do with self-interest and protectionism. Instead, by presenting China’s vision of the course of human development, it confronts the hegemonic thinking of certain countries that seek supremacy. It is therefore of great significance to promote solidarity and cooperation among all countries and create a better future for humanity.
The Chinese government is publishing this white paper to introduce the theoretical base, practice and development of a global community of shared future. We hope it will improve understanding and expand consensus in the international community, and reinforce the global effort to realize this vision.
I. Humanity at a Crossroads
This is an era of promise, and an era of challenges. At yet another crossroads in history, we have to choose between unity and division, between opening up and closing off, between cooperation and confrontation. With the overall interests of humanity at stake, this choice tests the wisdom of all countries.
1. Interdependence is the prevailing trend throughout history
In its history, humanity has progressed from primitive society to the Agricultural Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, and now the Information Revolution. While this process has seen a steep increase in productivity, one fundamental reality has remained unchanged: The Earth is our one and only home. All countries bear responsibility for the safety of this planet and the future of humanity. If the pursuit of power and profit escalates to vicious competition or even armed conflict, self-destruction will be the certain outcome.
Throughout history, peace and development have been the primary aspirations of humanity. Having experienced the ravages of wars and conflicts, especially the two world wars, people around the globe have built a keener awareness of cherishing peace, expanding cooperation, and seeking common development. The idea that “we are all one human family” is gaining traction, and the desire for a global community grows stronger than ever.
Globalization has improved the allocation of production factors worldwide, including capital, information, technology, labor and management. As if connecting scattered lakes and creeks into an uninterrupted expanse of water, it draws nations out of isolation and away from the obsolete model of self-reliance, merging their individual markets into a global one and combining their respective experiences into world history.
As information technology advances with every passing day, most prominently in the fields of Internet, big data, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence, human exchanges have become deeper, broader, and more extensive than ever before, and countries are more interconnected and interdependent than at any point in the past. Globalization is not an option; it is the reality and the way of life. The global village is getting smaller – the longest distance between two places on earth has been reduced to a flight of no greater than 24 hours, and our planet is becoming flat – one tap on a mobile phone connects us to the other side of the world in a split second. This is an integrated world. Those who turn their back on it will have no place in it.
Living on the same planet, all countries, adjacent or distant, large or small, developed or developing, are members of an emerging community of shared interests, responsibility, and destiny, whose wellbeing and security are interrelated. Only when appropriate attention is paid to the collective future of humanity is it possible that the wishes of every country, people and individual come true. Whatever we may encounter on our journey ahead, the only right choice is to work together for the benefit of all.
2. Global challenges call for global response
Our world is undergoing change on a scale unseen in a century. Various problems old and new and complex issues are converging with and compounding each other, posing unprecedented challenges for human society. Instability, uncertainty, and unpredictability are now the norm.
The peace deficit is growing. Though human society has largely maintained peace since the end of World War II, threats to world peace continue to amass. War has returned to the Eurasian continent, tensions are rising, and a series of flashpoints are emerging. The shadow of the arms race lingers on, and the threat of nuclear war – the Sword of Damocles that hangs over humanity – remains. Our world is at risk of plunging into confrontation and even war.
The development deficit is ballooning. The global economic recovery is sluggish, and unilateralism and protectionism are rampant. Some countries are turning to a “small yard, high fence” approach to wall themselves off; they are pushing for decoupling, severing and “derisking” supply chains. All this has caused setbacks to globalization. At the same time the Covid-19 pandemic has reversed global development, exacerbating the North-South gap, development fault lines, and the technology divide. The Human Development Index has declined for the first time in 30 years. The world’s poor population has increased by more than 100 million, and nearly 800 million people live in hunger.
The security deficit is glaring. Due to more intense global strategic competition and a lack of mutual trust between major countries, the Cold War mindset has re-emerged, and calls for ideological confrontation have resurfaced. Some countries’ hegemonic, abusive, and aggressive actions against others, in the form of swindling, plundering, oppression, and the zero-sum game, are causing great harm. Non-traditional security challenges are on the rise, including terrorism, cyber-attacks, transnational crime, and biological threats.
The governance deficit is more severe. The world is facing multiple governance crises. The energy crisis, food crisis, and debt crisis are intensifying. Global climate governance is urgently needed, and the transition to green, low-carbon development requires dedicated efforts over an extended period of time. The digital divide continues to expand, and sound governance of artificial intelligence is lacking. The Covid-19 pandemic is a mirror through which we have observed that the global governance system is falling further behind the times and keeps breaking down on issues requiring resolution. It has to be reformed and improved.
In the face of global crises, the 190-plus countries in the world are all in the same big boat. Only big boats can withstand battering winds and crashing waves. No country, however strong it may be, can do everything on its own. We must engage in global cooperation. Only when all countries work together, only when we align individual interests with the interests of all, and only when we truly build a global community of shared future, can humanity tide through the crises confronting us and sail towards a better future.
3. The new era calls for new ideas
This is an era when the world is undergoing rapid changes almost every day. We can no longer interpret the reality we are living in or find satisfactory solutions to the conundrums we are facing by means of traditional approaches to international relations. It is increasingly obvious that the idea that “all strong countries will seek hegemony”, the obsession with superior strength, and the zero-sum mentality are in conflict with the needs of our times. Humanity is in great need of new ideas that generate positive developments and conform to positive historical trends.
There is no iron law that dictates that a rising power will inevitably seek hegemony. This assumption represents typical hegemonic thinking and is grounded in memories of catastrophic wars between hegemonic powers in the past. China has never accepted that once a country becomes strong enough, it will invariably seek hegemony. China understands the lesson of history – that hegemony preludes decline. We pursue development and revitalization through our own efforts, rather than invasion or expansion. And everything we do is for the purpose of providing a better life for our people, all the while creating more development opportunities for the entire world, not in order to supersede or subjugate others.
The strong preying on the weak is not a way for humans to coexist. If the law of the jungle is imposed on human society, and the idea that “might makes right” prevails, the principle of sovereign equality will be fundamentally undermined, and world peace and stability will be severely endangered. In the age of globalization, all countries are interdependent and interconnected. Therefore the law of the jungle and the winner-takes-all mindset will lead nowhere – inclusive development for the benefit of all is the right path forward. China has consistently championed equity and justice, and remains committed to friendly cooperation with other countries, on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, in order to advance democracy in international relations.
The zero-sum game in which one wins by causing others to lose is doomed to fail. Nevertheless, certain countries still cling to this mindset, blindly pursuing absolute security and monopolistic advantages. This will do nothing for their development over the long run; it will simply create a major threat to world peace and prosperity. No country should hope for others to fail. Instead, it should work together with other countries for the success of all. China consistently aligns its development with global development, and aligns the interests of the Chinese people with the common interests of all peoples around the world. When the world thrives, China thrives, and vice versa.
II. An Answer to the Call of the Times and
a Blueprint for the Future
Standing at a crossroads, humanity is faced with two opposing options. One is to revert to the Cold War mentality that deepens division and antagonism and stokes confrontation between blocs. The other is to act for the common wellbeing of humanity, strengthen solidarity and cooperation, advocate openness and win-win results, and promote equality and respect. The tug of war between these two options will shape the future of humanity and our planet in a profound way.
To build a global community of shared future is to pursue openness, inclusiveness, mutual benefit, equity and justice. The goal is not to replace one system or civilization with another. Instead, it is about countries with different social systems, ideologies, histories, cultures and levels of development coming together to promote shared interests, shared rights, and shared responsibilities in global affairs. The vision of a global community of shared future stands on the right side of history and on the side of human progress. It introduces a new approach for international relations, provides new ideas for global governance, opens up new prospects for international exchanges, and draws a new blueprint for a better world.
1. Introducing a new approach to international relations
The current international order is facing a myriad of challenges. Some countries, holding to the notion of might makes right, willfully engage in bullying, plundering and zero-sum competition. The development gap is widening and the deficit in security is growing. The isolationist and exclusive practice of alliance-based confrontation runs counter to the trend towards multipolarity and the evolution of international relations in the post-Cold War era. Especially with the rise of a large number of emerging market and developing countries, the current international order is increasingly out of step with the changing times. “What kind of world we need and how to build such a world” has become a vital question with the future of humanity at stake.
China’s answer to this question of the times is to build a global community of shared future. It means that with their futures closely interlocked, all nations and countries should stick together, share weal and woe, live together in harmony, and engage in mutually beneficial cooperation. The idea is based on a reasonable design for state-to-state relations. It reflects the general consensus and common expectations of the international community, and demonstrates China’s sense of duty as a responsible major country.
In this global village, all human beings are one big family. With their interests intertwined and futures interlocked, countries are turning into a community of shared future. Such a vision rises above the exclusive rules of bloc politics, the notion of might makes right, and the “universal values” defined by a handful of Western countries. It conforms to the trend of the times, echoes the call for global cooperation, and contributes to a more just and equitable international order.
2. Highlighting the new features of global governance
The concept of a global community of shared future holds that all countries share a common future, and envisions a world characterized by openness and inclusiveness, equity and justice, harmonious coexistence, diversity and mutual learning, and unity and cooperation.
– Openness and inclusiveness. Countries should not draw lines based on ideology, target specific countries, or gang up to form exclusive blocs. The ocean is vast because it admits all rivers. To build a global community of shared future, countries should advance democracy in international relations to make sure that the future of the world is determined by all, that international rules are written by all, that global affairs are governed by all, and that the fruits of development are shared by all.
– Equity and justice. The world needs justice, not hegemonism. No country has the right to dominate global affairs, dictate the future of others, or monopolize development advantages. Countries should safeguard the international order based on international law, uphold the authority of the international rule of law, and ensure equal and unified application of international law. The practice of double standards or selective application of law should be rejected.
– Harmonious coexistence. Countries should strive to achieve peaceful coexistence and common development by seeking common ground while reserving differences. Planet Earth is not an arena for wrestling between countries, but a stage for human coexistence. Despite their differences and diverse features, countries can develop together in harmony and unity, and it is precisely such diversity that gives strength to global development.
– Diversity and mutual learning. Different histories, national conditions, ethnic groups, and customs have given birth to diverse civilizations. Diversity of human civilizations is a basic feature of our world. Mutual learning among civilizations provides important impetus to human progress. Countries should respect one another and jointly pursue common development through exchanges and mutual learning.
– Unity and cooperation. Countries should act for the greater good. Pursuing development behind closed doors can only result in poverty. Viewed from a “country-first” perspective, the world is small and crowded, and locked in “fierce competition”; viewed from the perspective of a shared future, the world is vast, and full of opportunities for cooperation. No country can overcome global development challenges on its own. Cooperation among all countries is the only viable option.
3. Opening up new prospects for international exchanges
China has made a five-point proposal for building a global community of shared future in the areas of partnerships, security environment, development, inter-civilization exchanges, and ecosystem. This has opened up new prospects for international exchanges.
We should build partnerships in which countries treat each other as equals, engage in extensive consultation, and enhance mutual understanding. The principle of sovereign equality runs through the UN Charter. All countries are equals. The big, the mighty and the wealthy should not bully the small, the weak and the poor. We should uphold multilateralism and reject unilateralism. We should replace the outdated mindset of winner takes all with a new vision of seeking win-win outcomes for all. We should forge global partnerships at both international and regional levels, and embrace a new approach to state-to-state relations, one founded on dialogue rather than confrontation and that seeks partnership rather than alliance. In handling their relations, major countries should follow the principles of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect, and win-win cooperation. Big countries should treat small countries as equals and take the right approach to friendship and interests, pursuing both friendship and interests and putting friendship first.
We should create a security environment featuring fairness, justice, joint efforts, and shared interests. In the age of economic globalization, the security of all countries is interlinked, and each has an impact on the others. No country can maintain absolute security on its own, and no country can achieve stability by destabilizing others. The law of the jungle leaves the weak at the mercy of the strong; it is not the way for countries to conduct their relations. Those who choose to oppress will invite harm to themselves, like lifting a rock only to drop it on their own feet. We should reject Cold War mentality in all its manifestation, and foster a new vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security.
We should promote open, innovative and inclusive development that benefits all. Development is meaningful only when it is inclusive and sustainable. To achieve such development requires openness, mutual assistance and mutually beneficial relations. Long-term global development cannot be founded on one group of countries becoming increasingly prosperous while another group of countries remain chronically poor and backward. Development should be placed high on the international agenda, and efforts should be made to reduce inequality and imbalance in global development, leaving no country or individual behind.
We should increase inter-civilization exchanges to promote harmony, inclusiveness, and respect for differences. There are more than 200 countries and regions, over 2,500 ethnic groups and a vast number of religions in our world. Such cultural diversity is what makes the world colorful. Diversity breeds exchanges, exchanges lead to integration, and integration brings progress. Only by upholding the equality, mutual learning, dialogue and inclusiveness of civilizations, and working for mutual respect, experience sharing, and harmonious coexistence while preserving diversity, can the world maintain its diversity and thrive. We should respect all civilizations, treat each other as equals, and draw inspiration from each other to boost the creative development of human civilization.
We should build an ecosystem that puts Mother Nature and green development first. Humanity may have the ability to utilize nature and even transform it, but it is still a part of nature. We should care for nature and not place ourselves above it. We should reconcile industrial development with nature, and pursue harmony between humanity and nature to achieve sustainable global development and all-round human development. We should respect nature, follow its ways, and protect it. We should firmly pursue green, low-carbon, circular and sustainable development.
4. Outlining a new vision for building a better world
China proposes to build an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, common security, and common prosperity. From “the five-point proposal” to “the five goals”, the concept of a global community of shared future has gained a broader historical perspective and deeper meaning, and set a clearer goal and drawn a clearer blueprint for the future of humanity.
We should build a world of lasting peace through dialogue and consultation. It means beating the swords of war into the plowshares of peace. The stone wall at the entrance to the UNESCO headquarters carries the inscription of one single message: “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed.” Throughout human history, obsession with power and hegemony has led to frequent wars and loss of lives. The lessons are painful and profound, and we need to remove the fuses of war from our minds. Big countries should treat the smaller ones as equals instead of seeking unilateral dominance or imposing their will on others. No country should open Pandora’s box by willfully provoking turmoil and armed conflict or undermining the international rule of law. Countries should respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, respect each other’s core interests and major concerns, and respect the development path and social system chosen by other peoples.
We should build a world of common security for all through joint efforts. It means turning absolute security for one into common security for all. There is no place in the world that enjoys absolute security, and a country cannot build its security on the turmoil of others. Threats to other countries can turn into a challenge to one’s own country. When neighbors are in trouble, instead of reinforcing one’s own fences, one should extend a helping hand. As challenges often take on global dimensions, it is all the more important for countries to cooperate in addressing them, turning pressure into motivation and crises into opportunities. Unilateral action or blind belief in the use of force cannot address the complex international security threats. The only solution lies in cooperative and common security. It is normal for countries to have differences, and they should be properly addressed through dialogue and consultation. As long as we show sincerity, goodwill and political wisdom, no conflict is too big to resolve and no ice is too thick to break.
We should build a world of common prosperity through win-win cooperation. It means bidding farewell to the winner-takes-all mindset and sharing development achievements. In this day and age, the international community has evolved into a sophisticated and integrated apparatus, as the removal of any single part will cause serious problems to its overall operation. We must keep to the correct direction of economic globalization, and oppose any attempt to set up technological blockades, cause technological divides, or seek development decoupling. While we should make the pie of the global economy bigger, it is even more important to divide it well, so that development achievements can benefit people of all countries more equitably, and bring about true cooperation and win-win results.
We should build an open and inclusive world through exchanges and mutual learning. It means bidding farewell to the mindset that one civilization is superior to another and starting to appreciate the strengths of other civilizations. Our world can fully accommodate the common growth and progress of all countries, and success for one country does not mean failure for another. There is no universally applicable development path. A development path that continuously benefits the people is the most viable one. Countries and nations should respect their differences and seek harmony without uniformity, and civilizations should draw strength from each other and make progress together. Exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations should be a driving force for human progress and a strong underpinning for world peace.
We should make our world clean and beautiful by pursuing green and low-carbon development. It means bidding farewell to the destructive exploitation of resources and preserving and enjoying the lush mountains and lucid waters. Humanity coexists with nature. Any harm we inflict on nature will eventually come back to haunt us. We often take natural resources such as air, water, soil and blue sky for granted. But we could not survive without them. Industrialization has created a level of material wealth never seen before, but it has also inflicted irreparable damage on the environment. We must not exhaust all the resources passed on to us by previous generations and leave nothing to our children, or pursue development in a destructive way. Lush mountains and lucid waters are invaluable assets. We must follow the philosophy of harmony between humanity and nature and observance of the laws of nature and pursue a path of sustainable development, so that everyone is able to enjoy a starry sky, lush mountains and fragrant flowers.
Building a global community of shared future is China’s proposed strategy for reforming and improving the international governance system. This does not mean that the international system should be dismantled or started afresh. Rather, it means promoting greater democracy in international relations and making global governance more just and equitable. This important vision reflects the broadest common aspiration of the peoples of all countries in pursuit of peace, development, and stability, and the broadest consensus among countries with different cultural backgrounds and at different stages of development. It transcends outdated mindsets such as zero-sum game, power politics, and Cold War confrontations. It has become the overall goal of China’s major-country diplomacy in the new era, and a great banner that leads the trend of the times and the direction of human progress.
III. Deep Roots in History and
Cultural Traditions
The concept of a global community of shared future has deep roots in China’s profound cultural heritage and its unique experience of modernization. It carries forward the diplomatic traditions of the People’s Republic of China and draws on the outstanding achievements of all other civilizations. It manifests China’s time-honored historical traditions, distinct characteristics of the times, and a wealth of humanistic values.
1. Inheriting the best of traditional Chinese culture
China’s fine traditional culture epitomizes the essence of the Chinese civilization. It provides inspiring insights to help understand and shape the world and address current challenges, and contains elements of the vision of building a global community of shared future.
Harmony is the core concept of Chinese culture, which values the primacy of harmony and harmony within diversity, pursues the ideal of harmony and solidarity towards common progress, and embraces cultural diversity and global harmony.
The Chinese nation believes all nations together are one community, advocates fraternity among all peoples and peace for all countries, follows the principle of interstate relations that the strong do not bully the weak and the rich do not insult the poor, and pursues a world of fairness and justice for the common good.
The Chinese nation champions universal benevolence, holding that the virtuous are never left to stand alone, endorsing good neighborliness with good faith and good will, and pursuing both friendship and interests while putting friendship first.
The Chinese nation observes the rule that “to establish oneself, one must help others to establish themselves first; to succeed, one must help others to succeed first”, believing that helping others is helping oneself. It also upholds the principle that “do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself”, and never imposes its will upon other nations.
The Chinese nation acts on the belief that humans are part of nature and follows the old adage: “Fish with a line but not with a net; when fowling, do not aim at a roosting bird.” It reveres the laws of the universe, loves nature, and pursues harmony between humanity and nature.
2. Showcasing the global vision of the Communist Party of China
Always championing a global vision is part of the valuable experience accumulated by the Communist Party of China (CPC) in its century-long history. Over the past one hundred years and more, the CPC has always sought happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation while pursuing progress for all of humanity and the common good of the world. It succeeded in leading the Chinese people onto a distinctively Chinese path to modernization and developing a new form of human advancement. These successes have laid a solid foundation for building a global community of shared future, charting the course and opening up broad prospects for this great endeavor.
The CPC is committed to seeking progress for China while benefiting the wider world, bringing a good life to the Chinese people and also helping other peoples to prosper, and contributing more to humanity. The report to the 20th CPC National Congress in 2022 drew a great blueprint for rejuvenating the Chinese nation on all fronts by pioneering a uniquely Chinese path to modernization, and pointed out that striving to build a global community of shared future is one of the intrinsic requirements of Chinese modernization, affirming the close bond between the future of China and the future of all humanity.
The CPC leads the Chinese people in blazing and expanding China’s path to modernization based on both China’s distinctive conditions and other countries’ common approaches. Chinese modernization is the modernization of common prosperity for a huge population, coordinated material and cultural-ethical advancement, harmony between humanity and nature, and peaceful development. All these features have provided useful experience for other developing countries and a more robust and sustainable option for jointly building a global community of shared future.
3. Promoting the fine diplomatic traditions of New China
Over the past 70 years and more, China has made notable progress, established fine traditions, and forged a tenacious character and unique strengths in developing foreign relations. The initiative of building a global community of shared future builds on the PRC’s diplomatic philosophies, strategic thinking and traditions, and opens up new horizons for major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics.
After the PRC was founded in 1949, China committed itself to an independent foreign policy of peace and put forward the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, the Three Worlds theory and other principles, policies and ideas. This allowed China to find its place, win respect, and expand its reach in the international community. After the launch of reform and opening up in 1978, China asserted that peace and development are the underlying trends of the times. It advocated multipolarity and greater democracy in international relations, promoted a harmonious world, and achieved significant progress in China’s diplomacy around the world.
In the new era, championing peace, development, and win-win cooperation, China has advanced its major-country diplomacy on all fronts and formed a multifaceted, multilevel, and all-dimensional diplomatic strategy. China has initiated a range of visionary initiatives, including a global community of shared future, a new type of international relations, the common values of humanity, the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative, and promoted a set of approaches to global governance, to friendship and interests, to security, to development, to cooperation, and to the eco-environment. All these carry distinctively Chinese features, style and ethos.
4. Incorporating the outstanding achievements of other civilizations
The concept of a global community of shared future incorporates the best of the cultures of enduring appeal and impact that have transcended time, space, and national borders in human history. It crystallizes the shared values of people from different regions, cultures, ethnic backgrounds and with different religious beliefs. It draws on the outstanding achievements of cultural integration between diverse civilizations. It embodies the common aspiration of all humanity.
All civilizations around the world have manifestations of the concept of a global community of shared future. Ancient Greek philosophers conducted primary research on this concept based on city-states, believing that humanity as one community should act in concert to pursue common interests and thus must live in harmony. Ancient Indian literature records the motto of “Under Heaven – one family”. The African philosophy of Ubuntu holds that “I am because we are,” emphasizing interdependence of humanity.
The concept of a global community of shared future reflects the common interests of all civilizations – peace, development, unity, coexistence, and win-win cooperation. A Russian proverb holds, “Together we can weather the storm.” The Swiss-German writer Hermann Hesse proposed, “Serve not war and destruction, but peace and reconciliation.” A German proverb reads, “An individual’s effort is addition; a team’s effort is multiplication.” An African proverb states, “One single pillar is not sufficient to build a house.” An Arabian proverb asserts, “If you want to walk fast, walk alone; if you want to walk far, walk together.” Mexican poet Alfonso Reyes wrote, “The only way to be profitably national is to be generously universal.” An Indonesian proverb says, “Sugarcane and lemongrass grow in dense clumps.” A Mongolian proverb concludes, “Neighbors are connected at heart and share a common destiny.” All the above narratives manifest the profound cultural and intellectual essence of the world.
In building a global community of shared future, all countries should observe the widely acknowledged norms of international relations. Since the advent of modern times, a fair and equitable international order has been the long-standing goal of all humanity. From the principle of equity and sovereignty established by the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, to international humanitarianism established by the Geneva Conventions in 1864, then to the four purposes and seven principles established by the Charter of the United Nations in 1945, and later to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence proposed at the Bandung Conference in 1955, these norms of international relations have evolved into widely recognized principles and become the essential foundations of a global community of shared future.
IV. Direction and Path
The vision of a global community of shared future is the outcome of China’s wisdom in handling contemporary international relations from the perspective of world peace and development – a Chinese plan for improving global governance, and a Chinese proposal to address various challenges in the 21st century. Vision guides action and direction determines the future. The international community should work together to turn the grand blueprint into a roadmap, and a beautiful vision into reality step by step.
1. Pressing ahead with a new type of economic globalization
Economic globalization is an irreversible trend of global economic development, and is in line with the desire for development and cooperation held by people of all countries. Economic globalization has greatly facilitated trade, investment, flows of people, and technological advances, making an important contribution to global economic development.
However, problems and drawbacks also accumulated in the process, and there are attempts at retreating from it. The current model of economic globalization fails to reflect the demands or represent the interests of developing countries. The law of the jungle, zero-sum game, and the “win-or-lose”, “winner-takes-all” mindset have exacerbated the divide between the rich and poor, as evidenced by the widening gap between developed and developing countries, and that within developed countries. Some countries blame their problems in domestic governance on economic globalization or other countries, and resort to unilateral, protectionist, and bullying actions. This has damaged global industrial, value, supply and consumption chains, and caused turbulence and even conflict in the current international trade order.
Promoting a new type of economic globalization is essential for building a global community of shared future. Countries need to pursue a policy of openness and explicitly oppose protectionism, the erection of fences and barriers, unilateral sanctions, and maximum-pressure tactics, so as to connect economies and jointly build an open world economy. Countries should strive to build a system of fair, reasonable, and transparent international economic and trade rules, press ahead with trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and promote further global economic openness, exchange, and integration in order to form an economic globalization that is open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial for all, so that people of all countries can share the fruits of economic globalization and world economic growth.
Opening up should be a two-way journey, not a one-way street; one cannot demand the opening of other countries while closing its own doors. Some countries are seeking to decouple from and break chains with China, enclosing themselves in “small yards, high fences”, which will ultimately only backfire on themselves. Some people overstate the need to “reduce dependence” and “derisk”, which is essentially creating new risks. Risk prevention and cooperation are not mutually contradictory, whereas non-cooperation is the biggest risk and non-development is the biggest threat to security. Pursuing de-sinicization in the name of derisking and reducing dependence undermines opportunities, cooperation, stability, and development.
The current revolution in science and technology marked by artificial intelligence will have a profound impact on the new round of economic globalization and social development. Relevant rules and standards should be established to support scientific and technological innovation and guard the red line of human security. The interests of all countries, especially developing ones, should be taken into account in a balanced manner, to ensure that technological innovation is placed under the rule of law and internationally recognized norms, and ensure that innovation is steered by and works for humanity, and is consistent with human values.
2. Following a peaceful development path
History tells us that for a country to develop and prosper, it must understand and follow the trend of global development; otherwise it will be abandoned by history. The trend now is the pursuit of peace, development, cooperation, and win-win results. The old path of colonialism and hegemonism leads to a dead end and those who follow it will pay a heavy price, whereas the path of peaceful development is the right one for the world to follow.
The pursuit of peace, amity and harmony is deeply rooted in the cultural realm of the Chinese nation and runs in the blood of the Chinese people. For a long time in the past, China was one of the most powerful countries in the world, but it does not have any record of colonization or aggression against other countries. China’s adherence to the path of peaceful development is an extension of the millennia-old cultural tradition of the peace-loving Chinese nation.
China always adheres to an independent foreign policy of peace and has always emphasized that the goal of China’s foreign policy is to maintain world peace and promote common development. China opposes all forms of hegemonism and power politics, and does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. It will never seek hegemony or engage in expansion. These principles are stated in China’s policies, incorporated in its systemic designs, and always adhered to in its practices.
The world needs peace, just like a human being needs air and living things need sunshine. The path of peaceful development is beneficial to China and the world, and we cannot think of any reason not to stay on this path. China follows the path of peaceful development, and hopes that other countries will take this path as well. Only by working together to pursue peace, safeguard peace, and share peace can countries achieve their development goals and make greater contributions to the world. Only when everyone follows the path of peaceful development can countries coexist peacefully, and can there be hope for building a global community of shared future.
3. Fostering a new type of international relations
The new type of international relations is different in that it has created a new path for interactions between countries, opened up a new chapter of world history where different civilizations and countries with different systems coexist in peace and seek common development, and paved the way for building a global community of shared future.
A new type of international relations should be built on the principles of mutual respect, equity and justice, and mutually beneficial cooperation. Mutual respect means treating people with sincerity and equality, and opposing power politics and bullying practices. In upholding equity and justice, countries must discard extreme materialism and overemphasis on competition, and ensure that all countries have equal rights and opportunities for development. Mutually beneficial cooperation means that countries should reject the maximization of self-interest, address the legitimate concerns of other countries while pursuing their own interests, and promote common development of all countries alongside their own development.
The foundations for building a new type of international relations lie in broader and deeper global partnerships based on equality, openness, and cooperation. China adheres to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence in pursuing friendship and cooperation with other countries. It works to reinforce coordination and positive interaction with other major countries in order to build major-country relations featuring peaceful coexistence, overall stability, and balanced development. Acting on the principles of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit, and inclusiveness, and the policy of forging friendships and partnerships with its neighbors, China strives to increase friendly ties, mutual trust, and converging interests with its neighboring countries. Guided by the principles of sincerity, real results, amity, and good faith and with a commitment to the right approach to friendship and interests, China endeavors to strengthen solidarity and cooperation with other developing countries and safeguard the common interests of the developing world.
Major countries are key actors in building a new type of international relations. The international status of a country is measured by its openness of mind, breadth of vision, and sense of responsibility rather than its size, strength or power. Major countries should direct their primary efforts to the future of humanity and assume greater responsibility for world peace and development, rather than wielding their power to seek monopoly over international and regional affairs. Major countries should strengthen coordination and cooperation, respect each other’s core interests and major concerns, consider the perspectives of other parties and value mutual understanding, and treat smaller countries as equals. By building a global community of shared future, emerging countries and established powers can avoid falling into the Thucydides trap, find the right way to get along in mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, and build common ground and achieve common development for different civilizations and countries with different social systems.
4. Practicing true multilateralism
Building a global community of shared future requires practicing true multilateralism. Building cliques in the name of multilateralism is no more than bloc politics. Seeking supremacy in the name of multilateralism is still unilateral thinking. “Selective multilateralism” is practicing double standard. The world should be fair and free from domineering practices. China opposes all forms of unilateralism and the formation of camps and exclusive cliques targeting specific countries, and opposes actions that undermine the international order, create a new Cold War or stoke ideological confrontation in the name of the so-called rules-based order.
China firmly upholds the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, as well as the authority and status of the United Nations. The various confrontations and injustices in today’s world do not arise because the purposes and principles of the UN Charter are outdated, but rather because these purposes and principles are not effectively followed. China maintains that for the world, there is only one system, which is the international system with the United Nations at its core, that there is only one order, which is the international order based on international law, and that there is only one set of rules, which is the basic norms governing international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.
China actively participates in and leads the reform of the global governance system. It follows the vision of global governance featuring extensive consultation and joint contribution for shared benefits, that is, global affairs must be discussed by all, governance systems built by all, and benefits of governance shared by all, so that every country is a participant, contributor, and beneficiary of world peace and development.
5. Promoting the common values of humanity
China advocates peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom, the common values of humanity. With an open mind, China understands that different civilizations have different understandings of the nature of these values, and respects the efforts of people in different countries to explore their own development paths. It goes beyond the narrow historical limitations of the so-called universal values, and promotes the common values of humanity embedded in Chinese civilization. These are the values embodied in pursuing a global community of shared future.
Peace and development are a common cause. A tree of peace cannot grow on barren land, nor can it bear the fruits of development amidst the flames of war. The fundamental solution to various global challenges lies in seeking peace and achieving development. Equity and justice are common ideals. No country should act as it pleases, or ride roughshod over others. Democracy and freedom are the common goals of humanity. There is no single model of democracy that is universally applicable, far less a superior one. Democracy is not Coca-Cola, tasting the same across the world as the syrup is produced in one single country. Democracy is not an ornament, but a solution to real problems. Attempts to monopolize the “patent” of democracy, arbitrarily define the “standards” of democracy, and fabricate a false narrative of “democracy versus authoritarianism” to provoke confrontation between political systems and ideologies are practices of fake democracy. Promoting the common values of humanity is not about canonizing the values of any particular country, but about seeking common ground while reserving differences, harmony without uniformity, and fully respecting the diversity of civilizations and the right of all countries to independently choose their social systems and development paths.
The more advanced human society becomes, the more important it is to strengthen exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations. All countries should treat each other with respect and as equals, discard arrogance and prejudice, deepen understanding of the differences between its own civilization and others, and promote dialogue and harmonious coexistence between different civilizations. Every country should value its own civilization, appreciate others, and facilitate their common progress. We should keep our own civilizations dynamic and create conditions for other civilizations to flourish. Together we can make the garden of world civilizations colorful and vibrant. All countries should be open and inclusive, promote mutual learning, strive to remove all barriers to cultural exchanges, and seek nourishment from other civilizations to promote the common development of all civilizations. All countries should progress with the times, explore new ground in development, take in the best of the present age, and sustain the development of civilizations through innovation.
V. China’s Action and Contribution
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Over the past decade, China has contributed its strength to building a global community of shared future with firm conviction and solid actions.
1. Promoting high-quality Belt and Road cooperation
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a vivid example of building a global community of shared future, and a global public good and cooperation platform provided by China to the world. Since introducing the BRI ten years ago, based on extensive consultation and joint contribution for shared benefits, China has pursued open, green, clean, and high-standard cooperation to promote sustainable development and improve people’s lives, and advanced high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. It has laid the groundwork and set up the frameworks of BRI cooperation, delivering tangible results and achieving sustainable progress. Together, participants in the initiative have jointly advanced “hard connectivity”, “soft connectivity” and “people-to-people connectivity”, setting up an important platform that has enabled wide participation, built international consensus and pooled the strengths of all parties.
Policy connectivity continues to deepen. By July 2023, more than three-quarters of countries in the world and over 30 international organizations had signed agreements on Belt and Road cooperation with China. China has successfully hosted the first Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in 2017 and the second in 2019, and will host the third this year, maximizing synergy for advancing high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. Infrastructure connectivity continues to strengthen. A general connectivity framework consisting of six corridors, six routes, and multiple countries and ports is in place. The overall layout of land, sea, air and cyberspace connectivity continues to improve, centered on economic corridors such as the New Eurasian Land Bridge, supported by routes like the China-Europe Railway Express and the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor and the information expressway, and underpinned by major railways, ports, and pipelines. Trade connectivity continues to increase. According to Belt and Road Economics, a report released by the World Bank, the BRI, when fully implemented, will increase intra-BRI trade by 4.1 percent. By 2030, the BRI will generate US$1.6 trillion in annual global revenues. Financial connectivity continues to expand. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Silk Road Fund have been set up, providing financing support for hundreds of projects. People-to-people connectivity continues to strengthen. Roads, bridges and development belts that lead to a happier and better life are constantly emerging in participating countries, and solid progress is being achieved in Juncao, wells, hybrid rice and other small projects that work faster in improving people’s lives, giving local people of BRI countries a stronger sense of gain and fulfillment.
The BRI originated in China, but the opportunities and achievements it creates belong to the whole world. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, since its launch ten years ago, has lent strong impetus to the economic and social development of Pakistan. The China-Laos Railway has realized the long-cherished wish of the Lao people to convert Laos from a landlocked country to a land-linked hub. The Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway has become the first railway in Southeast Asia to reach a speed of 350 kilometers an hour. The Mombasa-Nairobi Railway has added more than two percentage points to local economic growth. Malawi’s 600 wells built with Chinese assistance have become “wells of happiness” serving 150,000 local people. The China-Europe Railway Express serves as a “steel camel fleet” between China and Europe. Luban workshops help young people in Tajikistan and other countries acquire vocational skills. Cooperation in the fields of health, green development, digital economy, and innovation is thriving.
The BRI is an initiative for economic cooperation, not for geopolitical or military alliances. It is an open and inclusive process that neither targets nor excludes any party. Rather than forming exclusionary cliques or a “China club”, it aims to help China and the rest of the world to seize opportunities and pursue common development. Rather than a private route for any one party, it is a broad path that can be joined by all interested countries to work together for shared benefits.
The international community speaks highly of the BRI, praising it not simply as some random road or economic belt, but as an initiative to achieve common progress for humanity, an initiative that has opened up new paths for the common development of all countries. The BRI has facilitated the modernization drive of developing countries, leading the world into a new era of transcontinental cooperation.
2. Implementing the three global initiatives
It is widely recognized that peace and stability, material sufficiency, and cultural-ethical enrichment represent the basic goals of human society. Development serves as the material foundation for security and civilization, security acts as the fundamental prerequisite for development and civilization, and civilization provides the cultural-ethical support for development and security. The Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, and Global Civilization Initiative proposed by China guide the advance of human society across these three dimensions. Resonating and complementing each other, they have evolved into a crucial cornerstone for building a global community of shared future, offering China’s solutions to major challenges pertaining to peace and development for humanity.
– Through the Global Development Initiative, China has issued a resounding call for commitment to development and reinvigorated cooperation, and made its contribution to resolving challenges to development and advancing global development. The fundamental aim of the initiative is to accelerate the implementation of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Its core requirement is a people-centered approach, its foremost philosophy is united, equal, balanced, and inclusive global development partnerships, and its pivotal measure entails results-oriented actions to bolster stronger, greener, and healthier global development and jointly build a global community of development.
China has hosted the High-level Dialogue on Global Development and presented 32 major measures to implement the initiative, such as creating the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund totaling US$4 billion, launching the China-FAO South-South Cooperation Trust Fund (Phase III), and strengthening support for the China-UN Peace and Development Fund. Over the past two years, the international community has extensively responded to the initiative and jointly tackled prominent issues including food security, poverty reduction, and energy security as the implementation mechanism steadily improves and practical cooperation delivers progress. The Global Development Promotion Center is running smoothly, and the library of the Global Development Initiative projects is expanding, with over 200 projects achieving good results. At the same time, China has issued the Global Development Report, and established the Global Knowledge Network for Development, contributing Chinese wisdom to the resolution of developmental challenges. Currently, more than 100 countries and international organizations have expressed support for the Global Development Initiative, with over 70 countries participating in the Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative established at the UN.
China is committed to propelling global development through its own development. It has thoroughly applied the new development philosophy, with a focus on promoting high-quality development to foster a new development paradigm. Modernization of the more than 1.4 billion Chinese people will create a market rivaling the aggregated size of all developed countries. This will open up more opportunities for all countries and stakeholders to partake in China’s huge market. China has also pioneered major expos and fairs, exemplified by the China International Import Expo, China International Fair for Trade in Services, China Import and Export Fair, and China International Consumer Goods Expo. It has encouraged all countries and stakeholders to share the opportunities presented by China’s institutional opening up and steadily expanded institutional opening up with regard to rules, regulations, management, and standards. It has enforced the Foreign Investment Law and its supporting rules and regulations, implemented the new catalogue for encouraging foreign investment, continued to remove items from the negative list of market access for foreign investment, advanced high-quality development of pilot free trade zones, and accelerated the development of the Hainan Free Trade Port.
China is committed to win-win cooperation and common development. As the largest developing country in the world and a member of the Global South, China has made every effort to aid other developing countries and help recipient countries expand their capacity for development. China is actively engaged in international exchanges and cooperation. It has cooperated with almost 20 international organizations, including the UN World Food Programme, the UN Development Programme, the UN Children’s Fund, the UN Refugee Agency, the World Health Organization, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, and executed over 130 projects in nearly 60 countries including Ethiopia, Pakistan, and Nigeria. “Small but beautiful”, these projects span fields such as poverty reduction, food security, Covid-19 response, and climate change, and have benefited more than 30 million individuals. China worked actively for the adoption of and has comprehensively acted on the Debt Service Suspension Initiative of the Group of Twenty (G20), contributing more than any other G20 member to its implementation. China has signed agreements or reached understandings on the suspension of debt repayments with 19 African countries, helping Africa alleviate debt pressure.
China is committed to building an open world economy. It has become the main trading partner of more than 140 countries and regions, and signed 21 free trade agreements with 28 countries and regions. It has worked for high-quality implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, actively worked to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement, and expanded its globally-oriented network of high-standard free trade areas. It has also promoted the internationalization of the Renminbi, and reinforced financial standards and its level of internationalization, thereby converging its interests closer with other countries.
– Through the Global Security Initiative, China seeks to work with the international community in upholding the spirit of the UN Charter, and calls for adapting to the profound changes in the international landscape through solidarity, addressing traditional and non-traditional security risks and challenges with a win-win mindset, and creating a new path to security that features dialogue over confrontation, partnership over alliance, and win-win results over zero-sum game.
In February 2023, China officially released The Global Security Initiative Concept Paper. The document further elaborates the core concepts and principles of the initiative, elucidates its key avenues for cooperation, and presents recommendations and ideas concerning its cooperation platforms and mechanisms. This has demonstrated China’s awareness of its duty to maintain world peace and its firm determination to safeguard global security. As an international public good, the Global Security Initiative serves the interests of and maintains peace for people throughout the world.
China is a pillar in maintaining world peace. It is committed to handling disputes with relevant countries over territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests through negotiation and consultation. It has settled land boundary issues peacefully with 12 of its 14 neighbors along its land borders through negotiation and consultation, and delimited the maritime boundary in the Beibu Bay with Vietnam. China has faithfully fulfilled its responsibilities and missions as a permanent member of the UN Security Council. It is the second largest contributor to the UN regular budget and peacekeeping assessment, and the largest contributor of peacekeeping troops among the permanent members of the Security Council. Over the past three decades and more, having sent more than 50,000 personnel to UN peacekeeping operations in over 20 countries and regions, China has become a key force in UN peacekeeping. China has dispatched more than 100 naval vessels in 45 taskforces to the Gulf of Aden and waters off the coast of Somalia to provide escort for over 7,000 Chinese and foreign ships.
Facing constant flare-ups of hotspot issues, China has been committed to fulfilling its role as a responsible major country, pushing for the resolution of international and regional flashpoints, such as the Korean Peninsula, Palestine, the Iranian nuclear issue, Syria, and Afghanistan. On the Ukraine issue, China has actively promoted talks for peace, put forth four key principles, four things that the international community should do together and three observations, and released China’s Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis. China has dispatched the Special Representative of the Chinese Government on Eurasian Affairs to engage in extensive interactions and exchanges with stakeholders on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.
Through the mediation of China, Saudi Arabia and Iran have achieved historic reconciliation, setting a fine example for countries in the region to resolve disputes and differences and achieve good neighborly relations through dialogue and consultation, and catalyzing a wave of reconciliation in the Middle East.
China has actively cooperated with other parties in non-traditional security domains such as anti-terrorism, biosecurity, and food security. It has proposed the International Cooperation Initiative on Global Food Security within the framework of the G20, and pushed for the adoption of the Strategy on Food Security Cooperation of the BRICS Countries. It has also officially launched the China-Pacific Island Countries Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Cooperation Center, representing yet another robust action to help developing countries tackle non-traditional security challenges within the context of the Global Security Initiative.
– Through the Global Civilization Initiative, China calls for jointly advocating respect for the diversity of civilizations, jointly advocating the common values of humanity, jointly advocating the importance of continuity and evolution of civilizations, and jointly advocating closer international people-to-people exchanges and cooperation. The Global Civilization Initiative makes a sincere call for the world to enhance inter-civilization exchanges and dialogue, and promote human progress with inclusiveness and mutual learning, inspiring the building of a global community of shared future.
China has hosted gatherings including the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-level Meeting, the CPC and World Political Parties Summit, and the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations. It has engaged in extensive bilateral and multilateral activities for political party exchanges and cooperation, and promoted diverse forms of civil diplomacy, city diplomacy, and public diplomacy. China has continued to deepen cooperation with the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the UN World Tourism Organization. It now has 43 items inscribed on the intangible cultural heritage lists of UNESCO.
China has celebrated over 30 large-scale cultural and tourist “years” (festivals), such as the China-Italy Year of Culture and Tourism, the China-Greece Year of Culture and Tourism, and the China-Spain Year of Culture and Tourism. It has promoted the steady development of 16 multilateral exchanges and cooperation mechanisms, such as the meeting of BRICS ministers of culture, as well as 25 bilateral cooperation mechanisms. It regularly hosts cultural activities at home, such as the Arabic Arts Festival and the Meet in Beijing International Arts Festival, and has held “Happy Spring Festival” celebrations outside China for more than 20 years in a row. It hosted approximately 2,000 events across over 130 countries in 2017, and has organized activities around the world under such brands as “Tea for Harmony” Yaji Cultural Salon. It has advanced cultural and tourism exchanges under the Belt and Road Initiative, carried out the Cultural Silk Road program, and established the Silk Road international theater, museum, art festival, library, and art museum alliances. It has also established approximately 3,000 pairs of sister cities or provinces with various countries, and launched the “Nihao! China” inbound tourism promotion program.
The international community has spoken highly of these three global initiatives, acknowledging that they reflect China’s global vision and growing international influence and provide comprehensive solutions to the challenges confronting humanity. The Global Development Initiative is highly compatible with the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and resonates, in particular, with the aspirations of developing countries for greater development. The Global Security Initiative upholds the principle of common security, emphasizes comprehensive approaches, pursues sustainable security through cooperative efforts, and makes a valuable contribution to addressing international security challenges. The Global Civilization Initiative calls on all countries to respect the diversity of civilizations in the world, which is conducive to facilitating exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations.
3. Working with more countries and regions
China has proposed a range of regional and bilateral initiatives on building communities of shared future, and is working with stakeholders to build consensus and expand cooperation, thereby playing a constructive role in promoting regional peace and development.
The China-Africa community of shared future was the first regional proposal. It values sincerity and equality, pursues both friendship and interests and puts friendship first, takes a people-oriented approach in pursuing practical and efficient cooperation, and follows an open and inclusive approach to cooperation. It has set a good example of China and African countries building a community of shared future. The China-Arab community of shared future, China-Latin America and the Caribbean community of shared future, and China-Pacific Island Countries community of shared future have all made swift and steady progress. They are vivid illustrations of solidarity, cooperation, and common progress among developing countries.
The community of shared future among neighboring countries has taken firm root. As the China-ASEAN community of shared future continues to make advances, China-ASEAN cooperation has evolved into the most fruitful, dynamic, and substantive cooperation in East Asia. The two sides have seen a steady increase in mutual trust, engaged in frequent high-level exchanges, and established dialogue and cooperation mechanisms in nearly 50 domains and institutions. The community of shared future of Lancang-Mekong countries continues to make progress. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization community of shared future has yielded substantial outcomes. The building of the China-Central Asia community of shared future has made solid steps forward. The first China-Central Asia Summit was a success and a meeting mechanism at the heads-of-state level between China and Central Asian countries has been established. These efforts have contributed to enduring peace and shared prosperity in the region and the wider world.
At the bilateral level, China is building communities of shared future with an increasing number of partners in different forms. China and countries including Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan, Mongolia, Cuba and South Africa have published action plans, released joint statements, or reached important agreements on building bilateral communities of shared future. China has also implemented the vision of building a global community of shared future on a bilateral level with all the five Central Asian countries. As this vision gains greater traction among the people, substantial outcomes have been delivered, significantly boosting local development and improving people’s lives.
The global community of shared future is a dynamic, open, and inclusive system. However different countries may be in geographical location, history, culture, social system, size of economy, and development stage, alignment with the core idea of a global community of shared future enables them to seek common ground while shelving differences, achieve harmony in diversity, reinforce cooperation, and pursue win-win outcomes. China will work with more and more regions and countries to build a global community of shared future and contribute to the development of all countries and the progress of human civilization.
4. Boosting international cooperation in all areas
The vision of a global community of shared future addresses the deficits in peace, development, security, and governance facing the world today. As China’s unique contribution to solving global problems, it also offers solutions which have been translated into concrete actions in areas such as health, climate change, and cybersecurity.
Confronted by the rampant Covid-19 pandemic, China proposed to build a community of health for all. It has stood in the frontline of international anti-pandemic cooperation, carrying out global emergency humanitarian relief and providing assistance and support to more than 150 countries and international organizations. China has advocated that vaccines must first and foremost be a global public good, and was among the first countries to make a commitment to supply Covid-19 vaccines as a global public good, to support waiving intellectual property rights on the vaccines, and to start joint production with other developing countries. It has also played a pioneering role in the equitable distribution of vaccines, contributing China’s strength to the global health cause through firm commitment and practical actions.
To address disorder in cyberspace governance, China has proposed the concept of a community of shared future in cyberspace. It actively participates in UN cybersecurity processes and supports the UN in playing a core role in global cyberspace governance. China has hosted the World Internet Conference and established the World Internet Conference Organization as a platform for global internet sharing and governance.
To advance the development of a set of rules for global digital governance, it has launched the Global Data Security Initiative, and released the China-LAS Cooperation Initiative on Data Security together with the League of Arab States and the Data Security Cooperation Initiative of China + Central Asia together with the five Central Asian countries. To ensure that rights and responsibilities are shared among all countries, it promotes the improvement of governance rules in the deep sea, polar regions, outer space, and other new frontiers. Efforts are made to ensure that in formulating new rules for governance in new frontiers, the interests and expectations of emerging market countries and developing countries are fully reflected.
Concerning the fundamental issues in global nuclear security governance, China proposes to build a community of shared future on nuclear security. It firmly safeguards the international nuclear nonproliferation regime, promotes the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and upholds a rational, coordinated and balanced approach to nuclear security. In response to the increasing risk of nuclear conflict, China has pushed for the conclusion of a joint statement among the leaders of the five nuclear-weapon states, reaffirming that “a nuclear war cannot be won, and must never be fought”. China actively advocates the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons, and it is the only nuclear country that has publicly committed to no-first-use of nuclear weapons, and not using or threatening to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states and nuclear-weapon-free zones.
Faced with increasingly complex maritime issues, China has proposed to form a maritime community of shared future and has always been committed to peaceful resolution of territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests disputes through dialogue and consultation. China has signed and fully and effectively implemented the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea with ASEAN countries, and continues to advance consultations on the code of conduct in the South China Sea. China has proposed to jointly build a partnership on blue economy and strengthen maritime connectivity. It adheres to the path of pursuing joint development while setting aside disputes, and actively explores joint resource development with maritime neighbors at sea.
Faced with the severe and growing global climate challenge, China has proposed important concepts such as building a community of life for humanity and nature and a community of all life on Earth. China actively promotes economic development and transformation, and undertakes to strive to achieve peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060. It has introduced a “1+N” policy system for carbon peaking and neutrality. China has built the world’s largest clean power generation network, contributed 25 percent of the world’s newly added green area since 2000, and enabled an annual economic growth rate of over 6 percent with an average annual energy consumption growth rate of 3 percent. It has the largest installed capacity of hydropower, wind power, and solar power in the world. It actively participates in global environmental governance, advocates the comprehensive and effective implementation by the international community of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, and adheres to the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities”. China tries its best to help developing countries improve their ability to address climate change, and vigorously supports their green and low-carbon energy development. It has inked 46 South-South cooperation documents with 39 developing countries to address climate change, and trained approximately 2,300 officials and technical personnel in the field of climate change for more than 120 developing countries. Holding the presidency of the 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), China made every effort to ensure the success of the meeting, taking the lead in funding the establishment of the Kunming Biodiversity Fund and contributing to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Whether dealing with the current crises or creating a better future together, all countries need to unite and cooperate. Faced with profound changes unseen in a century, China has proposed the building of a global community of shared future, calls on all countries to uphold the concept of a shared future, fully communicate and consult with each other, share governance responsibilities, and form broad consensus and take concerted actions to address global issues, so as to inject confidence and momentum into humanity’s drive towards a bright future.
Conclusion
All good principles should adapt to changing times in order to remain relevant. A broad consensus of solidarity and cooperation has developed in the international community behind the proposal and the implementation of the concept of a global community of shared future to address the challenges facing humanity. Looking to the future, it is bound to shine as a pioneering thought with the power of truth that transcends time and space, opening up a beautiful prospect of common development, long-term stability, and sustained prosperity for human society. The future of humanity is bright, but it will not come without effort. Building a global community of shared future is both a salutary vision and a historical process that calls for generations of hard work.
To realize this goal, confidence and determination are of foremost importance. The trend of our times for peace, development and win-win cooperation cannot be halted. Building a global community of shared future is the way forward for all the world’s peoples. However, it is not a goal to be accomplished overnight, and there will be no plain sailing. We need to make unremitting efforts and forge ahead with perseverance. We should never give up on our dreams because of harsh realities; we should never stop pursuing our ideals because they seem out of reach.
To realize this goal, a broad mind and a global vision are central as we live in great times. In the face of common challenges, no person or country can remain isolated. The only response is to work together in harmony and unity. Only by strengthening coordination and cooperation, and ensuring that the interests of the people of every country will be kept in line with those of all others, can all countries move forward towards a global community of shared future.
To realize this goal, a sense of responsibility and a will to act hold the key. The key to success is simple and boils down to action. Building a global community of shared future depends on the joint actions of all countries. All countries should take a sense of responsibility that treats the task as a bound duty, and take concrete actions instead of being bystanders. We should strengthen dialogue, build consensus, promote peace and development, improve governance, and carry out global actions, global responses, and global cooperation.
Our journey ahead will be a lengthy and arduous one. But as long as we press ahead with perseverance, there will be much to expect. Successes and setbacks await us, but hopes abound. When all countries unite in pursuing the cause of common good, plan together, and act together day by day towards the right direction of building a global community of shared future, we can build an open, inclusive, clean, and beautiful world of lasting peace, universal security and shared prosperity, and jointly create a better future for all of humanity.
Cheese Scalloped Zucchini
Italian Cheese Scalloped Zucchini
Ingredients
4 cups diced zucchini, cooked until tender (6 to 8 minutes)
This is a gay sailor sign to ward off Russian submarines.
In 2013, Sweden submerged a Neon sign depicting a gay sailor in its waters to ward off Russian submarines from entering their waters. Below the sailor the neon sign reads;
“Welcome to Sweden-gay since 1944.”
Using sonar the sign omits the message “This way if you are gay” in Morse code.
There have been no reports of Russian submarine sightings ever since.
Even the US is a bit stunned at this announcement and i am sure this 24 hour deadline will be ignored by the Israelis
The Israelis operate on the presumption that they work on credible intelligence when it comes to bombing terrorist targets in the Gaza and it is the Hamas which is placing civilian targets in their way as a kind of collateral damage
That presumption goes to pieces, That narrative goes to pieces if Israel starts bombing and openly killing Civilians, especially in such mass quantities
Even the Nazis didn’t do things so brazenly
.
2023 10 14 07 29
Like they say in Tamil
“Oru flow la sollitaan”
Israel, flushed with a war haze made a statement, they have to necessarily scale back on
Believe me, Netanyahu will be HANGED if he tries this
Not even the US can save him
The EU and US and UK, their entire rhetoric is that Israel is eradicating the Hamas from that area
They equate it to 9/11
Killing Civilians used as collateral is one thing but openly killing civilians could lead to a huge backlash in Europe
You have millions of muslim migrants in these nations who could snap at a moments notice
No way would EU nations go so far as to support this
By now the US would be flooded with phone calls from EU, UK and even India who have almost 20 Crore Muslims
Blinken would talk to Israel and inform them to TAKE IT EASY and not follow through on hitting Civilians openly
The US Military Industrial Complex wants to make money from War
However allowing Israel to directly hit Civilians without a military pretext is a new level of crime
The US can’t recover from such a mistake
Already losing trust, they will lose trust with every muslim in the world
Hell, a Muslim cop who’s never been to Palestine could fire three shots into the chest of Ursula Von Der Leyen and grin as she chokes on her own blood
So No
I doubt Israel will follow this through
2023 10 14 07 30
Even Jaishankar would be calling them and saying “You are going too far you stupid b*******”
EDIT:-
2023 10 14 07 31
There
EXACTLY LIKE I TOLD YOU.
The US have stepped in now and already the deadline is over and will be forgotten
How Starbucks Surpassed by Luckin Coffee? | LKNCY ( China’s Largest Coffee Chain )
Analysis of Luckin Coffee’s extraordinary comeback from its accounting scandal and how it subsequently surpassed Starbucks as China’s largest coffee chain.
Comeback? Yeah. One year ago, all of the Western “news” were making fun of Luckin Coffee. Claiming that it was a sign of “China’s collapse”. LOL.
Never happened.
BTW, I tried this Baijiu version. Pretty tasty, I’ll tell you what.
This little post is going to make me the most hated man on the internet. Or, perhaps not.
Sigh.
But that is not it’s intention. Instead, my intention is to break down what happens when a woman decides to have a relationship outside of her marriage to her husband.
It’s about a woman who decides to cheat on her husband.
…
When a couple falls in love and starts a family, it is like a match being lit. The flame might brighten or dim, but it will still be ignited.
Events will cause the light to fade, or brighten.
But nothing is quite as devastating as an affair.
It will snuff off the light, and render it unable to ever be re-lit.
…
It’s life.
And, Well… Life is what we all experience.
And, that includes the non-physical with the physical.
Sigh.
…
Infidelity.
…
It is something that is going on with one of the MM followers right now.
And, you know, this is my “advice” to that contributor.
…
Life can be very painful, but we have to be very careful on how we deal with these events that we end up enduring. To do it right, it will take time.
I’m not a novice in these matters.
Lordy! It happened to me. Too.
…
Now, truth be told, this is a unique subset of the infidelity sub-culture. I will do one on men cheating on their spouses at a later date. So in all fairness, expect both sides to the same coin.
I have experienced both.
Sigh.
This is not intended as a DIY, “how to” guide, nor is it intended to be salacious. It is intended to break down, in really simple terms, what is going on and how to avoid having one HELL of a train-wreck in the process. Because (ask anyone who has been there) catching a partner cheating is DEVASTATING to everyone.
There’s absolutely no up-side to it.
It’s a toboggan to Hell.
Why and background
There is an MM influencer that is going though this right now.
Words really fail on how to comfort this person. I have no easy answers, but I can relate my own personal experiences, and these were TERRIBLE.
Thus, to prep for this response, I have, of late, been torturing myself listening to you-tube renditions of reddit discussions on infidelity cases. Ugh! Talk about a dark world! Very addictive, but leaves one drained.
Sheech!
Really horrible stuff.
But, you know, as a man who went through of a couple of divorces, I can (unfortunately) relate.
Now some of the videos and readings sound like fiction. Others are probably elaborated truths.
You have to take what you find on the internet with caution.
Nevertheless…
I want to offer something positive to this world. So, thus in this post, I am trying to address the singular issue of a woman who cheats outside her marriage, and what the ramifications are, and what her options actually are.
I will cover the absolute importance in truth in resolving this matter. And how to avoid the great calamity that is looming up ahead of you.
In the future, I will make a post of a man cheating on his wife.
Let’s start with some solid truths.
Some important notes
This is written by a man discussing men’s impressions and attitudes.
The internet is full of twenty-something single women, and 40+ cat ladies who have very different opinions. You can view those if you disagree what is presented here. This is my opinion based on my experiences.
And one more thing, this post is intended to HELP someone. Nothing more.
The best thing you can do is… don’t even think about it.
Truth One
Your infidelity will be found out. It will be uncovered. One way or the other, and once it is uncovered, you can expect from three years of LIVING HELL to as much as twenty years of horror.
Do not be blind to this fact. It might happen in hours, or over decades, but it will eventually be discovered.
I advise anyone who dares contemplate such an action to proceed very, very carefully. Your actions should not be taken lightly. Regardless of your feelings, you are MARRIED, and thus the weight of your actions affects both you and your HUSBAND. As well as any children that you may have.
Truth Two
When you get married, the man gives up part of his life for RESPECT from the wife. And in exchange for that respect, he provides SECURITY and STABILITY to the wife.
RESPECT for SECURITY
That is why a man gets married.
This is an absolute fact. He does marry to have sex, make money, have kids, or anything like that. He marries to have a partner who RESPECTS him.
The partner who truly respects him will get everything he has. In traditional marriages, he gives all; 100% of his salary, all of his earnings, his time, his devotion, and everything else to the wife.
From the wife’s’ point of view, this is SECURITY. A house. A home. A steady and growing lifestyle. Children, and all the good that comes from the family unit.
SIGNS OF LACK OF RESPECT
Saying derogatory comments about the husband.
No or little amount of sex.
No intimacy.
Hurtful comments.
Truth Three
Wife Instituted change.
When there is a loss in RESPECT by the wife, the husband will change.
He will start to get depressed, and sad.
He will start to get angry and short tempered.
He will see as cascading of troubles to his life.
In every case, to some matter of degree, the SECURITY (of the wife) will diminish.
Perhaps he will lose his job. Maybe he will take on addictive behaviors. Maybe get sick and ill. Maybe he will go “nuclear” with a divorce.
SECURITY is intimately tied to a man’s RESPECT.
If respect is reduced, so too will be the security.
In every event, the SECURITY (of the wife) will reduce. In worst case scenarios, it could be a precipitous fall.
Truth Four
If you have it “good”, human nature will assume that it will stay that way.
So many times, a wife is fine and content with her family life. But it is missing something. So she takes and makes efforts to “improve” it. Thinking “what he doesn’t know, won’t hurt him”, and additionally (and most importantly) my lifestyle is immune to change.
People, not just women, are great at making rationalizations.
He’s not as intuitive as myself. He’ll never know.
He would NEVER do this to our kids.
I deserve this, after all <enter excuse here>.
He cannot do anything. I’ve gotten away with it before, so…
A woman who cheats on her husband risks a great deal.
A sub-par life with a weakened spouse.
A divorce.
A very enraged and violent husband, and a life chained to a living Hell.
Torture and death.
All of the above mentioned outcomes are historically accurate. Do not think that anyone is immune.
Truth Five
RESPECT can be quantified.
Here are some elements that men consider to be strongly tied to RESPECT.
Sex on demand.
NEVER saying anything bad about the husband outside the home.
No infidelity.
Husband comes before friends, family, work and all else. Husband is #1.
There is a woke movement that says the opposite of this. Don’t believe it. Most women of the “woke movement” are retiring in single lives with pet animals.
Truth Six
SECURITY can be quantified.
Here are some elements that men consider to be strongly tied to SECURITY.
Shelter; home, house.
Transportation; car.
Food.
Being an active parent.
Shared future.
A man who is Respected will do his best to maintain the highest quality of SECURITY for his family.
Truth Seven
Precautions.
If you do decide to have a relationship out of marriage (even if it is trivial a “one night stand”) the following precautions will help postpone discovery.
No text messaging. Do not even think about it. Often texting is a #1 sure-fire tell-tail that indicates infidelity. ZERO text messaging, and do not think about “work arounds” like getting the message and then deleting it. The Server, often by law, keeps full records of all texts.
Nophone calls. What can be said about texting goes double for all phone and video conferences and calls.
No sex pictures, and videos. Absolutely. No exceptions. Once recorded, and you are told that they will be deleted, or are secure, and all the rest; do not believe them. In a hostile divorce proceeding, nothing goes against you more than the entire judicial chamber watching you take in three husky men plowing into every one of your orifices while you moan in pleasure.
Do not change routine work hours. This is a common gambit. You state that you have to work extra hours, and then use the time for dating and sexual activities. This is often one of the first lies that are uncovered. Do not even think about it.
Pictures. Never, ever, ever stand beside your “boyfriend” (or girlfriend) in group photos, or in any photos. Don’t do it. No excuses.
Home Visits. Nothing enrages a spouse more than to find out that the interloper has invaded their home and defiled it. This is a big no-no. It can mean all the difference from a simple divorce, to a torture session. Do not even dare contemplate it.
Presents. If you feel the need to purchase a present for your “special friend” never hide it in your house. Never use a credit card to purchase. Never use a QR to purchase. Pay in cash. Hide it outside of the home.
Truth Eight
Maintenance
You must (as a woman) perform three times (3x) to your husband for every act of infidelity. It is not one on one. It might seem like a lot. However, you NEED to over compensate to dispel any doubts.
Even if caught, your husband will think that he is too much of a “lover” than any outsider.
So here’s the guidelines…
Fuck a lover = fuck your husband three times the day after.
Oral or anal sex. Do it three times with your husband.
Give a gift to your lover, provide something of value x3 times in value to your husband.
You do not want to get caught. Right?
And if you are caught, at least your husband would be “scratching his head” as to why you would want someone else. As it would not make sense to him. He would think “Shit! We are fucking like animals all week, where in Hell would she ever have time for an outsider?”
Truth Nine
Cautious behavior.
You can never get your aggrieved spouse to see your point of view. But you can perform “damage control” to minimize the impact of the horror that will be unleashed once discovered.
Avoid local and well-used restaurants. If you are out in public with your lover, go to places “off the beaten path”.
Never compare your lover to your spouse. Ever!
Never “confide” your secrets to anyone (outside of your husband).
Be careful about your new lover. If they are getting emotionally involved then a stop-watch is started for the collapse of your life.
Truth Ten
It is a slow descent into Hell.
It is unusual for a husband to discover cheating immediately. It will take time, but he will notice a few things. No matter how smart and careful you are, and how dull and dim-witted he is, he will eventually know.
It’s not an EQ thing, but rather being married, you two are emotionally and spiritually joined. And he will FEEL something different.
Initially, the man is apt to “brush it off” as his imagination.
But all it takes is one tangible minor issue that will trigger the detective in himself.
And the elevator to Hell will begin.
The stages generally are (variations in duration, and investigation, with actions) will vary from person to person.
Feeling off.
Strange changes in life and behavior.
Detective mode.
Discovery with SHOCK!
Planning to resolve, or end the situation.
Implementation.
Truth Eleven
Fighting a man.
To have an extramarital affair out of wedlock with your husband is to violate your marriage, and attack him personally.
Your actions with your lover is a personal violation of your husband. Period.
You are now in a battle with him.
It might not look like it, and it might seem that everything is just fine and stable, but battles and wars are often fought in secret long before the eruption of violence.
The tools of battle available to the man…
Deletion, erasure, and corruption of all SECURITY.
This means that your savings will disappear, any joint accounts will be emptied, your workplace will fire you, and your possessions will disappear. He might alienate your children from you, and will try to erase your friendships and turn your parents and siblings against you.
Violence
Your husband would get very violent against you. And he could really hurt your lover. He could do this himself, or hire goons / friends, or associates to perform the actions.
Abandonment
This is the softest but most infuriating technique. He just disappears. And the wife is left with a mind spinning trying to figure out what is going on. This is an intentional MIND-FUCK. And it will change body chemistry for the worst.
Head Games
The husband would start dating outside the marriage. He would start playing games and doing things that would trigger the detective in every woman to go into over-drive. A woman's mind can be set into a whirling nightmare, and a husband though careful manipulation wan whip that mind-fuck into a hurricane and tornado.
Truth Twelve
Detaching from your lover
The smart wife (or man) would realize that the road that they are on will result in a fiery crash with significant collateral damage. Sooner or later an off-ramp must be put in place, and the illicit romance or series of escapades must end.
There are many ways to do this. But the most important one is to go “cold turkey” and abruptly call it off immediately with ZERO follow up communication.
Depending on where you are in your marriage, it can be timely and productive, or far too late.
NOTE: Your lover will NOT go “quietly into the night”.
Truth Thirteen
Sorting out the truth for full closure
If the husband finds out, and WANTS to resolve this and keep his marriage intact… then the good news is that your affair will be forgiven.
However, invariably, he will ask for the FULL truthful story as to what actually happened.
Human nature, mean and women, will minimize the truth. This is for all kinds of reasons, but the real truth will never be admitted to.
“a single fling while drunk”
When in reality the wife was having monthly swinger sessions with multiple men at group orgies.
“Sex was fine, but he wasn’t as good as you”
When she is caught on tape saying terrible things about her husband and comparing him to her studly lover.
“It was only once”
When the husband knows of multiple occasions though friends, associates and the internet.
No matter how you parse it, the odds are VERY HIGH that the husband knows much more than what he is letting on.
If what you say does not match his proof, he will call you a liar, and your opportunity is shit-canned.
When he asks for the TRUTH, he means a truth that will match and fit with his evidence in hand. And believe me, when he comes to you and offers to forgive in exchange for truth… this is D-Day. You must be completely forthcoming.
Truth Fourteen
Truth is difficult to obtain
It is in our nature to keep things private and secretive. Even if you want to be open and honest, you will invariably avoid saying the raw truth. And this problem, being serious, can absolutely torpedo any resolution to the infidelity issue.
There are techniques that are guaranteed to get the truth.
Sodium pentathol (truth serum)
You can have family doctor administer the serum while a social worker or psychologist asks questions in a relaxed environment.
Hypnosis
A trained hypnotist can ask questions to the person, and invariably in that relaxed state, the person will more likely than not, tell the truth.
Truth Detection Equipment
Truth Detection Equipment often works on changes in amplitude or frequency of voice, electrochemical reactions in the body or the combination of both.
LSD, MDMA
These illegal drugs offer an unconventional means of dealing with the issue. You will need to both take the drugs together, and you both will talk and emote about this issue.
It NEEDS to be said, that unless professional means are obtained to extract the truth, the husband will continue to doubt his wife for the rest of his life.
You cannot fake this.
It has to be solid and tangible; something that the husband will believe.
I recommend a trained hypnotist, or a doctor administered shot.
Refusal to do this WILL result in unintended consequences to the opportunity presented to you at this time.
Truth Fifteen
The crawl back from the edge of the pit is possible.
But, the solutions are Black and White with absolutely no ambiguity.
Non-contested divorce.
Contested divorce.
Full STOP with the infidelity, and zero communication with the lover.
Staged decoupling, husband, lover, or both.
Open marriage.
Start an alternative lifestyle.
You pick one. Both of you agree to it. And you stick to that decision.
Truth Sixteen
Closure and Future
When a wife cheats on her family, a change in the relationship occurs. How the couple works it out is wildly interconnected, but it really just boils down to two solid events.
Closure. The full truth is shared. Guarantees are made to prevent reoccurrence.
Future. What changes will be made in the relationship and the expectations with them.
Final Comments
This post is about a wife cheating on her husband.
I experienced that myself.
We resolved it by the two-choice method. After my wife returned from a weekend in a distant city with her boyfriend, I sat down with her and made the situation very clear.
[1] Say with me, or [2] go with the lover.
Pick one, and we will move on from there.
But having both a lover and a husband can not continue.
Long story short. My wife chose me, and left him.
And he was pissed!
…
I did not ask for details. I already knew enough. And, you know, I really didn’t need a blow-by-blow of events.
She had sex numerous times. Ok. Meh. This is a no-brainer. Of-course.
She spent a lot of time with him, too much.
He was active in trying to peel her away from me. (A big headache!)
He was /is an investment banker. (He had a LOT of money to spend on her.)
I was just then getting back on my feet. (I was just scraping by.)
He was younger, studlier than myself. Alpha male.
His parents already made arrangements for a mansion, cars, and a lavish lifestyle under the observation of his mother once they “got married” after our marriage was annulled.
Sigh. MM life. Not for the feint of heart. Eh?
My concern (my “big deal”) was “shared relationship” and one where large portions of time was not spent with me, instead she was emotionally attached with her lover. Guys. I don’t like sharing emotions. It’s difficult for me.
Us guys are like that.
When your wife spends “too much time” with another guy, we start to get insecure. Whether it is just talking, writing, texting, or sex… it doesn’t matter. We want your undivided attention. Otherwise, we get insecure.
Insecurity is the result of a lack of RESPECT.
So, I had to end it.
And I respect any man or woman that makes the same decision. Including certain MM influencers living in Europe. Don’t you know.
…
The wife initiated this chain of events.
But it is husband’s responsibility to end them. And, you know, so I did.
I did what I preach. The decision on how to proceed must be clear and unambiguous. The choices were clear and stark. Two men. One a husband, the other a lover. The wife had to choose, and the loser could NEVER, ever communicate with the wife ever again.
Once presented, it was up to the wife to make the decision.
And my wife chose me.
Most wife’s will not want to throw away the relationship that they have with their spouse, but the guardrails and rules must be firm and adhered to. Or else it is just a continuation of torture.
…
In the future, I will make another post about men cheating on their wives. I also have experience in this. And it’s called life experience. Ugh!
Please don’t judge.
It is natural to do so, but we all experience the highs and lows of life, and some are not pretty to look at. And, as I have repeatedly said, I am not an angel. Just a man, full of mistakes and faults.
Relationships change. People change. Life changes us.
No one is an angel. Accept that fact, and be understanding to your spouse who has made mistakes. It’s not a forgiveness; it is rather an acceptance.
Men. Do not be an absolutist.
Be understanding, show kindness and compassion. Most especially to your wife. Everyone deserves to have one major fuck-up. Let her absolve her sins, and move on forward.
Be like water. Adapt to the changes.
…
It is common to be devastated and turn into a solid cube of ice. Fight that force.
Offer the wife a choice, and a firm and clear option with “guardrails”. Allow her a “face saving” out, and a chance to repair the marriage, and then build something new and better from the ruins.
Some good Videos
The following videos will help explain what is discussed herein. They were difficult for me to watch. If you want to watch just a few videos, then just watch the first three.
VIDEO #1
Husband Finds Spicy Video Of Wife With Coworker, Sends It To Her ENTIRE Family And Then Leaves Town!
This video illustrates well what is at stake.
VIDEO #2
Husband Took My Dad’s Business & Left Me W/ No Inheritance Cuz Of My Small Misstep.
This is a pretty good story. Probably the best on the Internet. And well illustrates all the points made up and above.
VIDEO #3
She participated in group sex for years!
This is also a pretty good video.
VIDEO #4
My Cheating Wife Is Going To Be Homeless Because Of A Prenuptial Agreement
When I lived in Indiana USA, we (my wife and I) took a welding class for fun and enjoyment. This was a college course out of the local college, and we attended classes on Saturday morning. We really enjoyed the class, aside from learning how to weld.
I had a blast, and my wife really thought it was fun.
2023 09 28 10 29
Anyways, we were in a class of around 30 students, and we were the oldest students. The rest were kids in their 20’s. Maybe one or two almost our age.
But there was one kid, a teenager, who came every Saturday, signed his name and left.
In and then two minutes later… gone.
He never stuck around.
Never learned anything.
Didn’t chat or talk with any of us and never even attempted to learn.
He never actually learned anything. He didn’t get to enjoy any fun, and he certainly didn’t get anything out of it. I couldn’t figure out why he came, signed in and left.
So I asked the instructor.
He was arrested on possession and sales of illegal drugs. He was 18 years old. The judge cut him a deal instead of sending him off to prison for a few years. He would be free and not go to jail or prison, as long as he attended the welding class to learn a skill. If he did that, his record would be purged, and he would be a better person with a skill to rely upon.
I think that the judge made the right decision, but failed to police the actions of the young kid. Now, that kid will “on paper” appear to have a skill, but in truth all that happened is that he is going to keep on doing what he has been doing, no hope off the treadmill, and he has no idea that he is on one to begin with.
Next problem will be far worse, and then the recovery will be equally worse.
Dumb smuck.
…
Take advantage of every opportunity, never think that you are getting more for less by cutting corners. Life does not work that way.
Today…
RUSSIA LAUNCHES 50 MISSILES INTO UKRAINE; 48 HIT ***NATO*** INFRA-STRUCTURE AND AMMO DUMPS!
Breaking: Russia has bombed NATO Infrastructure across Ukraine as an apparent message is sent . . . loud and clear.
Logistics Hubs, “Mercenary” (NATO, UK, and USA) barracks, quarters and Bases, Weapons and Depleted Uranium Ammunition Depots have all been set ablaze in a gigantic strike with more than 50 missiles.
The __only__ purely Ukraine target was the Rivne thermal power station . . . which was was completely destroyed.
Carpetbagger Steak
800full carpetbag steak
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
1 cup fresh oysters, drained and chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh mushrooms
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
3 tablespoons melted butter
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 ounce crumbled bleu cheese
1/4 cup sauterne or other dry white wine
4 thick-sliced rib eye or filet steaks
Instructions
Sauté oysters, mushrooms and parsley in butter until mushrooms are tender; drain.
Stir in bacon, cheese and sauterne; set aside.
Make pocket in side of steak. Stuff pocket with oyster mixture; secure with wooden picks.
Broil steaks about 6 inches from heat for 8 to 10 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness.
Give a kid dinner, and he eats for a day. Teach a kid to make dinner, and THE PARENTS EAT UNTIL HE MOVES OUT.
Before our 11-year old had even finished expressing his interest in cooking, we were handing him whisks and salted butter. Get started, kid!
Kids curing their boredom by cooking? That is SO much better than building model rockets. Can you eat a model rocket? You cannot. And, half the time they wind up stuck in trees.
But can I eat this pasta sauce that he made? Yes. Yes, I can.
image 95
Wait, he wants to start a restaurant in the kitchen, so that mom & dad can sit at the table on a Sunday morning and be waited on? SOLD.
image 96
Sure, he forgot to put coffee on the menu, but the waiter was accommodating when we asked for it.
Mom opted for the egg sandwich:
image 97
I went for the BLT because… bacon:
image 98
I’d give him 5-stars on Yelp, if he were on Yelp.
After he suggested he wanted to try his hand at baking, I was immediately racing to the store to get him a 9″ springform pan. I had no idea what that even was until he mentioned it. It helps him make things like this:
image 99
I’m all for it.
After school yesterday, he decided he wanted to make a dessert. I told him to pick out a recipe. I had to make a special trip that evening to buy almond flour, but the payoff was I got to have his Olive Oil Cake:
image 100
Will he stick with it? We’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, while there are plenty of things for an 11-year old to do when bored, this is one of my favorites.
No. The US has had four years of trying to kill Huawei and it is not working.
While Huawei has dropped to #6 position in global smartphone sales. It has created its own Operating System thereby avoiding android. Their OS is available for other phone manufacturers to use. The company has also designed its own chipset. Production of their own 14nm and 7nm 5G chips is said to begin this year.
Meanwhile Huawei has been working on 6G which expectations for 2030.
Huawei Q2 2023 revenue was up 4.8% y/o/y to $25 billion USD.
I was looking for old mystery novels—the kind of 1950’s cheap pulp crap that never even hits a second printing. I didn’t find any, but I did find a couple of Agatha Christies, so I went to check out.
The shop owner was unpacking a new box from somebody who’d gone “you can have the whole thing for five bucks, I just want it gone.” She’d set aside one book about the same size as an adult woman’s hand, a nasty little grubby thing that looked like it might have a bad case of mold. I was curious, so I asked about it.
Her reply: “I don’t think I even have a place for it on the shelf. It’s going to sit forever.”
I bought it for 50 cents and took it home.
There was no title page, and neither my mom nor I recognized the work in it, so my mom—now also curious—bought a baby toothbrush and spent a lot of hours teasing the dirt off the cover with the barest amounts of water and a lot of paper towels. Just one word for a title: “Essays.” But now we knew what the cover looked like—not grunge black, but a pretty tan and green—so she started doing research.
First edition of Emerson’s Essays, as confirmed by the cloth color on the cover and the lack of a title page.
BUT WAIT.
You think that’s the find of a lifetime. And for someone else in another bookshop, it is.
But here’s the thing. There were TWO first editions of Emerson’s Essays. A binding error led to the release of a few hundred copies with about 20 pages missing, and a couple of others upside-down. These error copies were quickly destroyed, barring those that had already been purchased, and the current going price for such a copy was several hundred dollars, possibly as much as a thousand—as opposed to the $50 or so garnered for a “first” (corrected) edition.
My mom and I read this on an appraiser’s website and stared at each other, barely daring to breathe. I asked if she’d looked. She said no. “You bought it, you look.”
I picked it up and flipped to the page numbers indicated. Missing—but that wasn’t good enough. Pages can be removed. I had to confirm the other error, too.
I flipped the pages—so, so carefully. I was shaking. I looked.
I gasped so loudly you could have heard me three counties over, dropped the book, caught it, and set it down like it was made out of glass.
And that’s the story of how I paid our mortgage AND electricity for a month for just fifty cents.
VIKING tells the COLDEST truth about the female nature
“At 55 years old. I live on my own now for 6 years. Never will I allow myself to be treated poorly again. I relate to this man.”
At every level, America is ready to explode.
He is speaking TRUTH. It stings. And it is real. Agony.
My ex gf had a son around 10 years old at the time who is on the Autism spectrum. He was the sweetest, smartest little boy just didn’t have the best socializing skills. One day I stopped by their home to pick up my watch that I left there that morning. Me stopping by wasn’t part of the daily routine or planned ahead of time, and he was surprised when I got there. Every time I’d get to their house and he was home I would always talk to him first before even giving my gf a hug. So after saying hello and telling him why I was there I sat on the couch with him to chat while he was playing with play doh. While we were talking he was writing something in a flat piece of play doh. Then he handed it to me. It said “why don’t you leave?” I read and it thought I’d mess with him a little. I said out loud, “don’t leave!” I said ok, bud! I’ll stay all day!” He yells “No! It says why don’t you leave!?!” “oh ok, I said I didn’t see that part. Ok, I’ll leave I didn’t mean to bother you.” Mom jumps in while hearing this and tells him that was very rude and blah blah blah. I interrupted her and told him it’s all good!!! I always want you to tell me the truth about how you feel. You never have to hide your feelings because of me. So if you don’t want company when I’m here you just have to say so. You can always talk to me. I asked him if I could give him a hug before I left and he said yes. I gave him a hug and gf walked me out. She apologized over and over. It was all good. I know he has a hard time socializing so I wasn’t too upset.
It all began when the US started playing dirty and Trump sanctioned Huawei
Other players in China began to start stockpiling Chips and placed large orders with TSMC
So TSMC sales boomed but in reality all that was happening was the mainland was buying more and more chips to stockpile
Every smartphone maker feared a similar ban from the demented United States
Today China has between 140% -170% of the 7 nm Chips it needs
Global Demand has weakened which means these Chips can last until 2025 November
Until then TSMC won’t get any more orders from China or will get minimal orders
Who else buys 7 nm Chips?
So TSMC will see a fall in sales for the next few quarters
Meanwhile if the Chinese in these two years cost effectively crack the 7/5 DUV Stacking Chip process of Huawei and make the imported equivalent of 18 Billion ICs a year, then it’s likely Chinas TSMC imports will fall by as much as 70% from 2026 onwards
So obviously they have slashed 40% of their orders from 40 to 24 EUV Lithography Machines
No need for Xi Xinping to say it, the world already know it and the world except for some dozen or so cronies and slave nation do not like it and the world will slowly but surely, step by step dismantle this so called International Rules Based Order.
To the world every nation or group of nations cannot have a right to fxxk up any nation using arbitrary sanctions. And the world have acted. The unfair and unjust U.S. and European actions on Russia in war blamed on Russia although fully goaded and provoked by the U.S. and UK. Is the straw that break the camel’s back.
International norm must be truly international not set by some white Caucasian Anglo nations. Especially when a nation like the U.S. and UK failed every test on a truly international norm. Plundering, looting, stealing, bombings, war mongering, unilateral sanctions, regime change, orchestrating coups, demonstrations, revolutions are not international norm. They are bullying, mafia behaviour. Coercion by force.
The world has moved on from this western bullying.
On June 17, 2022, the FDA authorized emergency use of the mRNA Covid vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech to include use in children down to 6 months of age. Turns out, it KILLED a lot of them.
Just over a year later, the report – which was quietly released by CDC and subsequently suppressed by the mainstream media – revealed that nearly half a million children and young adults have now died since the injections were approved for use on most children.
Over 118,000 of those deaths are suspected to be DIRECTLY linked to the Covid vaccines’ side effects.
Despite the staggering death toll revealed in the report, it has been met with deafening silence from the mainstream media.
The latest data from the CDC has just been published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OEC).
The OEC is an intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries and it hosts a wealth of data on excess deaths, including data from the CDC that isn’t easily available to the American people.
The thing about nm claims is that they turn out to be marketing.
So you have to go with the economics of semiconductors. The first company that invests in top of the line semiconductors has to spend a ton of money on research and development that go nowhere. For example, there are two ways you can produce 7nm, one that works and one that doesn’t. Intel put all their money on a process that just doesn’t work, whereas TSMC put billions of dollars in two different processes, once of which worked, which means that you spent billions on a dead end.
Because the leading companies have to recover the costs of dead ends, they will sell the best chips at a huge premium. Once you’ve figured out how to produce the chips the cost of the chip is low and you are just recovering R&D costs.
This is why China can produce mature chips super chip. Once you know that you can produce chip X using process Y, then you just do it. It turns out that this is really symbotic because it means that Taiwan and South Korea can focus on R&D and then Mainland China focuses on mature chips. The thing about this is that most of the advanced chips end up in Mainland China where you have Santa’s elves put these together into consumer goods.
The thing about Biden’s semiconductor policy is that there seems to be absolutely no strategic thinking behind them, and a lot of this has to do with US politics in which different groups want different things. The basic problem is that you have people that want to “starve”China from semiconductors, whereas most of the people that actually understand how semiconductors work haven’t bought in on decoupling.
My personal opinion is that US policy will end up screwing over Taiwan, and by 2028 this is going to be so obvious that you will have a blue wave in 2028.
Did you feel the earth move?
On April 19, 2010, a Muslim cleric in Iran blamed earthquakes on women who dressed – immodestly.
Jen McCreight was a student at Purdue University when she heard this. She didn’t like the idea of natural disasters being blamed on sinful women so decided to do something about it. She wrote a blog post entitled: “In the name of science, I offer my boobs”.
I was playing Galaga in the basement of the Student Union building at CUNY Queens College about 35 years ago. There was this gorgeous, Asian, punk girl who I was somewhat acquainted with who sat opposite me. We played for about 15 minutes and I said, “crap. I’m all out of quarters”.
She said, “What do you want to do now?”
I said, “Take you up to the roof and bang the hell out of you.”
I had no idea how this just came out. I wasn’t thinking at all. I had removed the filter between my brain and mouth and it just happened.
The discoveries will help shorten mining time by about 70 percent, reduce the impurity content by 70 percent and increases the recovery rate of rare earths by about 30 percent.
The findings were made by He Hongping’s team from the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. They presented the research results at a scientific evaluation meeting in Meizhou City, South China’s Guangdong Province.
This new mining technology is mainly applied to the mining of weathered crust rare earth ores, a characteristic resource in China. It aims to solve the problems of present in-situ leaching technology in ecology, resource efficiency, and to promote efficient and green utilization of rare earth resources in China.
Professor He’s team creatively developed a new way of using electric currents to extract rare earth elements (REEs), compared to traditional methods which uses ammonium chloride as leaching agents to extract REEs. The new technology is more environmental friendly as it avoids soil contamination caused by leaching agents, which responded to Chinese government’s demand for environmental protection and green and efficient mining.
With a 5,000-ton earth-moving scale demonstration area, professor He’s team was able to test his findings on soil and achieved design outcomes on the ground. This key technology and its results have helped He’s team publish 11 high-level papers in journals such as Nature Sustainability, and to obtain 7 patents for inventions. Citing a report from Nature Sustainability, Anouk Borst, a geologist at KU Leuven called the strategy “A game changer, providing that it is feasible on a large scale.”
Through years of efforts, China has formed a complete industrial chain around REEs. In 2022, China accounted for 63 percent of the world’s rare-earth mining, 85 percent of rare-earth processing, and 92 percent of rare-earth magnet production, according to Politico.
The new rare-earth extraction technology could increase China’s advantage in rare-earth sectors by making the extraction process greener and more efficient. The strategy could help China keep its leading position in the global rare-earth industrial chain.
If You Think The Last Few Years Were Difficult…
Mark Twain once said that “If voting made a difference, they wouldn’t let us do it.”
“This sense of unease. People of upset. There is a sense of anger and frustration.”
China’s total national debt to GDP is high, pushing 300%. Government wants to control it. It sees this as a serious impediment to sustainable growth. This is a critical part of the structural change in the country. Another critical part of the structural change is to drive consumer expenditure, such as to improve consumer confidence, such as through better access to healthcare, personal insurances, and pension and retirement plans. These structural changes underway have slowed growth, which could persist in the next 2–3 years.
Overwhelmingly, the debt is owed by corporates, as part of business finance, and by local authorities, in pursuit of their development plan. The debt owed by the central government is very small, at 21% of GDP. The overwhelming amount of the debts are domestic debts in RMB. RMB is issued by PBOC, the legal tender in China. China has very little foreign debts. Its net international financial position is in surplus. Indeed, the single most important factor for the slow take-off to internationalize the RMB is that it has low international liquidity, due to China’s persistent current account surplus.
China has no problem to borrow more money. (1) Central government has low debt at only 21% of GDP, (2) the overwhelming debts are owed by corporates and local authorities in RMB, (3) PBOC has full control over the RMB, and (4) China’s net international financial position is in surplus. Quite the opposite. China does not want the debt to rise in the country. The most visible of this is the 3 red lines regulations on the real estate sector.
US government debt at about $33 trillion is pushing 130% of GDP (compared with 21% for China). It rose dramatically from $31.4 trillion when debt ceiling was raised in June, to $33 trillion at end-August. About 30% of US TBs are held by foreigners, the 3 largest are Japan, China, and UK. China has reduced its holdings from the high of over $1.1 trillion to less than $850 billion.
US government is in chronic deficit, running at an annual rate of over $1 trillion, and rising. US government debt will rise in consonant. Rising issue of TBs will require an elevated interest rates regime to attract investors, which increasingly will be domestic investors as foreigners could shy away. Elevated interest rates have driven the government’s interest bill towards $1 trillion, growing faster and exceeding the defense budget.
Rising US government borrowings and elevated interest rates could distort the financial markets. One consequence of the Fed’s interest hikes has been the loss of the market value of TBs. It has stressed the banking system, including the collapse of a few regional banks. Bloomberg estimated that as of May, the banking system was sitting on unrealized losses of $1.84 trillion on their holdings of TBs. The regional banks are the most stressed. They are the main lenders to commercial real estates. An estimate by Newmark Group, a brokerage, has it that $1.2 trillion of such debts are potentially troubled when refinancing is due, the combination of lower quantum from falling property prices and lower leverage, as well as, higher interest rates. Many property owners have defaulted and let the lenders take the properties rather than to put up more money.
You are right that borrowing more money in the US may become more difficult.
China Laughs at American Sanctions
It seems that when the United States can’t compete fairly they revert to underhanded tactics. They can’t handle a peer competitor and that is exactly what China has become.
The Chinese automotive manufacturing is the largest in the world as is most sections of manufacturing. China built their own space station and now 7nm Semiconductors built by SMIC. Huawei although sanctioned has come up with an amazing cell phone Mate 60 Pro that the Americans say can’t be possible.
It seems sanctions no longer work against Chinese growing economy and the United States is getting nervous.
Taiwan is in China. The island of Taiwan is surrounded by Chinese warships and the American, Japanese and Australian fleets are unable to approach Taiwan.
Biden did not tell the US citizens that he wanted to invade China, only “to defend Taiwan”.
So, I ask, how does the US plan on doing that? with some sort of video game competition?
I mean, in order to “defend Taiwan”, you have to have military troops pertorming military actions, aka combat inside of China – And that’s because Taiwan is in China.
So currently America has soldiers in Taiwan, which is either illegal, or at the very least gray area because that’s part of China. And the government of China doesn’t approve of that and hasn’t allowed it. So that’s the current status.
If US start performing miltary action, that’s an effort to militarily conquer at least China or push them back inside of China.
That‘s called an invasion.
Sorry, everybody, if you don’t agree with this definition, but that’s what it is.
The 1.4 billion Chinese people have told the small hooligans led by the United States countless times that the Taiwan question is the bottom line of the Chinese people, and foreign forces are not allowed to get their hands on it.
China can use all its forces to resist the invasion, and after this naval battle all the warships of China, the United States, Japan and Australia will be destroyed.
Do you think that after the end of the naval war, it will stop here? No, it has not come to a stop yet.
At the same time, China will fight back against its territory. Although all of China’s warships were sunk in the war with the United States, Japan and Australia, let us not forget that China has the largest number of civilian ships in the world, and Chinese soldiers will be present in those countries.
No matter what era we are in, apart from the indiscriminate bombing in the early stage of the war, the later stage of the war will be a ground war.
Does Australia have 50,000 soldiers combined? China can send 500,000 troops to Australia and take it over.
Japan: China does not need to send troops to occupy, dropping a few atomic bombs would be enough. The four Japanese islands are so resource-poor that even if China occupied them, they would be a liability and would be better off being completely destroyed.As for the US, China wouldn’t send troops to occupy it either, but a huge army landing on US soil would be enough to make the US pay. China’s huge population could provide a steady stream of soldiers. You have to be prepared for America to become a battlefield.
The United States is keen on Preemptive war. However, China has always adheres to the principles of defense, self-defense and post-strike response, and adopts active defense. It keeps to the stance that “we will not attack unless we are attacked, but we will surely counterattack if attacked”.
“post-strike response“,”we will surely counterattack if attacked” →→→ We have already told you what we will do!
Don’t think that if China is bullied, it will swallow its anger and not take revenge. There are limits to tolerance. Modern China is no longer the China a hundred years ago.
This is like a group of American hooligans always bullying a high-achieving Chinese student at school. Chinese students usually don’t give a damn about the provocations of American hooligans, but once they can’t stand it anymore and decide to fight back, the American hooligans will have to start paying a high price for their previous stupid provocations.
This question has been asked for years, if not decades.
The key problem is that, as a westerner, you have no idea how fast China has been developed.
In the place where you live, things around you don’t change much even after one or two decades. The layout of streets, the buildings, even the stores don’t change much.
They also don’t know the size and population of China. They just assume that China is more or less the same as where they live, maybe slightly bigger.
Above link is about a man called Kevin and his family.
He went to China from Belgium when he was 6 with his parents, to one of the poorest province, Guizhou, and lived there for 20 years. In this video, he talked about things when they went back to Belgium.
He described the scene when he was chatting with his relatives about China. His relatives in Belgium thought that when Kevin said they need to go to another city to take a plane, they assume it is like 50 kilo or something, but the reality is 300KM. People in Belgium cannot imagine a country which is about the same size as Europe.
Then they mentioned certain people think China is all city, and others think China is all village and nature.
Then the camera guy asked them a question: “Don’t they go online?”, and this is how they react:
2023 09 27 14 49
“Yeah… but what could we do?”
While the west enjoying their nice infrastructure, meanwhile in China:
image 94
The country was developed in a speed which the world had never seen.
image 93
Same thing happned in Shenzhen too.
The urbanization ratio was very low in China, and began to grow up rapidly.
In 1978, China had 17.92% urban resident, in 2022 it was 65.2%.
In comparison: The US in 80%, Germany is 77.65%, the UK is 84.4%.
If we set China’s standard with the lowest of the 3, Germany, then there is still 77.65–62.2=12.42% of Chinese people waiting to move into urban areas.
That is 1400×12.42%=173.88 million people.
image 28
This is a Japanese news in 2017 reporting about a subway station called Cao Jia Wan in Chongqing.
I don’t fully understand the title, but I can read the Kanjis. It says somthing about looking like a ruin or military base.
image 27
In 2020, a Japanese posting on Twitter about Cao Jia Wan station. It looked very differently already.
It was not very crowed, because of the pandemic.
image 26
In 2022, it looks like this.
China doesn’t count on the invisible hand,
image 92
not entirely at least.
The government plans ahead, then lay down the infrastucture for people to move in.
The actual move happens after most of the plan is finished: shopping, transportation, education, medical care, etc.
It’s rarely that a western media could do a follow up about the “ghost town” they reported. Because in several years, there will be crowded.
They will just make more ghost town news to make their audiences thinking that China is full of ghost town.
Just think about this: If China’s GDP and other aspects are indeed faked as the western media say, then how come that white house considers China as its top rival?
The US national debt reached $33 trillion for the first time
The fiscal milestone comes as Congress is facing a new spending fight with a government shutdown looming – NYT.
Since the “debt ceiling crisis”, the US has been adding $1 trillion to its debt every month. Over the past 5 years, the US debt has increased by a total of $11.5 trillion.
This should be the real ‘war’ Americans should be fighting against. The ‘war’ of relentless money printing but not seeing any significant upgrades to Americans’ standard of living, where did the money go? why no accountability from the leaders who were elected into the office?
Why I’m Raising My Children in CHINA – NOT the UK or US!
What was the stupidest thing someone has called the police on you for?
I lived in a large apartment building, with lots of nosy neighbors.
I was going to a work conference for a long weekend. My kids were teenagers, but I didn’t want to leave them alone. My (very able) mother was available, so I asked her to stay with them while I was gone. No big deal. (They watched out for her more than she did for them.)
The very first night I was gone, the police showed up at my door. My daughter, (all six-foot-two of her) answered the door. The police were a little flummoxed (and shorter). They said they had a report that I had abandoned my kids. (Apparently, they were expecting little children.) My mother, who was very able-bodied, confronted the police. Let’s just say that my mother could teach a sailor how to curse, and she knew a version of the riot act that was applicable. The police didn’t come back.
But the nosy neighbors certainly got an earful regarding their ill behavior. So did the manager of the apartment complex as there was a “police report” on me. He wrote a threatening letter to me. I filed a counter-complaint about harassment, and I wasn’t having it. Again, the riot act was applied.
Children’s Protective Services were also called. And again, we had to have the confrontation. All of this drama because I was doing my job. My mistake was that I was seen carrying my suitcase to my car.
I’ll never understand why some people are happily destructive requiring an overkill of drama, even if it’s not their own.
Online Safety Bill becomes law – internet freedom destroyed
I was 22 and had sudden, sharp pain low in my groin. It was so bad I couldn’t stand up straight and could barely walk. I made an emergency appointment with my OB/GYN. After a very brief and cursory exam he told me it was a “swollen ovary” and it would go away in TWO OR THREE MONTHS.
I went home and told my then-husband what the doctor said. He insisted I get a second opinion. I made many calls. Most doctors didn’t “do” second opinions. I finally got one nurse who (in a bored voice) asked “What are your symptoms?” I explained and she said she’d talk to the doctor and call me back. This was at 11 am one workday. She called back and said he’d see me at 1. I went to his office straight from lunch.
That doctor did an exam then turned to the nurse and said, “She’s the one.” I asked what he meant. He said that 1 in 1000 women claiming they had an emergency actually did, and I was that one. Then he asked, “What did you have for lunch?” I responded (a burger) and he frowned, then said, “You need surgery.” I tried to tell him I needed to go back to the office and close out some projects first. He said, “Oh, you’re not leaving here.”
They put me in a wheelchair and rolled me 200 feet across the parking lot to the hospital. I was given time to make 2 phone calls — one to my husband (I had to leave a message with the office admin — this is long before the days of cell phones) and one to my parents (since I couldn’t reach my husband).
Later, in the recovery room Dr. Horowitz explained. I had an ovarian torsion on my right side. That happens when an ovaries (and in my case also the fallopian tube) bent and twisted around the tissue they’re connected to. The torsion happened because there was a grapefruit-sized tumor on that ovary. It was benign, thankfully, but he said it was so close to bursting (and probably killing me) that he didn’t dare let me go home.
My husband returned to the first doctor’s office and read him the riot act for “almost killing my wife”.
Chicken Fried Steak
The Best Chicken Fried Steak scaled 1
Yield: 6 to 8 servings; 2 cups Cream Gravy
Ingredients
1 (2 1/2 to 3 pound) round steak
1 (5 ounce) can evaporated milk
2 tablespoons green Tabasco sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
2 teaspoons paprika
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon each salt and cracked pepper
Vegetable oil
Instructions
Trim steak and pound, if needed, to 1/2 inch thick; cut into 6 to 8 pieces.
Combine milk, Tabasco sauce and salt in a bowl.
Measure 1 cup of flour into a bowl.
Combine remaining flour, paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper in another bowl. Dip steak into flour, into milk mixture, and then into seasoned flour. Set aside until all meat is coated.
Heat 1 or 2 inches of oil in a heavy fry pan. Fry meat until both sides are golden brown, about 2 minutes per side.
Drain on paper towels. Serve with cream gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits.
Cream Gravy: Pour off all but 6 tablespoons of fat from fry pan; add 6 tablespoons flour into pan (use any leftover seasoned flour) and blend well. Gradually stir in 2 1/2 cups of milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened.
Hi, Krennick . Thanks for your very interesting question!
In China, we only have 56 official ethnic groups. I’m sure this pales in comparison to the number of ethnic groups in Western countries, but it is what it is, and your question appears to be asking for a number, so ask and ye shall receive, bruv!
Yes, 56.
There you go! Sorted! Done and dusted!
I don’t have time to post pictures of all 56 ethnic groups, so instead, I’ll just post the traditional wedding attire of a few of those 56 ethnic groups.
Because who doesn’t like looking at pretty wedding dresses, amirite? 😀
So, without further ado, here we go!
The traditional wedding attire for Han, Miao, Mongolian, and Hui:
image 101
The traditional wedding attire for Zhuang, Qiang, Manchu, and Tibetan:
image 103
The traditional wedding attire for Yi and Bai:
image 102
There you go! 10 out of the 56 should do for now, aye.
As always, I’m happy to help with your questions, Krennick ! I hope this has helped sate your curiosity!
The Rock ANGRILY Oprah Winfrey True Role In Maui Wildfire
In early August 2023, a series of devastating wildfires broke out in Hawaii, primarily on the island of Maui. These wind-driven wildfires led to extensive evacuations and widespread destruction, particularly in the town of Lahaina, Hawaii. As a result of these fires, at least 115 people lost their lives, and over 1,000 others were reported missing.
https://youtu.be/TMqRQNsGrSk
A preacher
A preacher was making his rounds to his parishioners on a bicycle when he came upon little Johnny trying to sell a lawn mower. “How much do you want for the mower?” asked the preacher.
“I just want enough money to go out and buy me a bicycle,” said little Johnny.
After a moment of consideration, the preacher asked, “Will you take my bike in trade for it?”
Little Johnny said, “Mister, you’ve got yourself a deal.”
The preacher took the mower and tried to start it. He pulled and pulled on the rope until he was dripping with sweat but the mower refuses to start.
The preacher called little Johnny over and said, “I can’t get this mower to start.”
Little Johnny said, “That’s because you have to cuss at it to get it started.”
The preacher said, “I’m a man of the church and I can’t cuss. It’s been so long since I’ve been saved that I don’t even remember how to cuss.”
Little Johnny looked at him happily and said, “Just keep pulling on that rope. It’ll come back to ya.”
China’s cancellation of UK’s $240bn nuclear power plant order shocks Europe US!
In this video, host Steffan explores China’s recent withdrawal from a £24 billion nuclear project in the UK. Nuclear technology’s global evolution and its applications in various sectors are discussed, highlighting China’s leadership in nuclear technology. The video delves into the reasons behind China’s withdrawal, touching on carbon neutrality goals, coal combustion phase-out, and the UK’s role in the project.
https://youtu.be/g0Z2lSJmHjI
Confession of the Day
My husband(31M) has never gone beyond a kiss to me (28F) in the 4 years we’ve been married.
My husband was my best friend: knew each other in 2014, and I wanted him to stay with me (he’s from England) with the hope everything would turn into more.
First year of marriage, he had severe back problems and I understood.
Second year was COVID and I understood then.
Third year, we bought our house and I told him I wasn’t happy. He was overtly affectionate for a couple weeks and went back to the same routine.
Now I’m coming up on 4 years and he went through my messages last Monday with some friends and came across me venting to a guy friend I had been semi-flirtatious with about our marriage and how I felt ugly and unloved.
Now he tells me it’s because when he was 15/16 and was an apprentice, an older man took him out back and did things, which is why he has intimacy issues. Which, I completely understand how that is traumatic, as I was sexually assaulted when I was a young teen.
But the past 4 years I’ve felt inadequate while catering to his life. Paying for green card paperwork, driving him everywhere as he has no license (he works nights, I wake up at 5:40am every morning tuesday thru saturday to pick him up), making his doctor appointments for him, handling all the loans and bills, and all big decisions that really should be joint decisions. All while feeling unloved and ugly.
On Saturday he tried to initiate sex with me while drunk and it made me so mad and upset. That the only way he could fuck me is if he was intoxicated. And now I feel I am so mentally and emotionally clocked out that unless he pulls a miracle change, that I will leave him by the end of the year.
I don’t know what to do going forward but I’m just so sad because he was my best friend and if it weren’t for this issue, I think we’d be fine. But I’m not equipped to be anyone’s therapist, and this was definitely something I should have been told, as he has kept hanging the possibility of children over my head, knowing I desperately want them.
Before anyone says anything: I have initiated every single aspect of our relationship. I wanted him to do this one thing and made it clear to him. Never has he said anything. I’m just. Ugh.
Saudi Arabia Rejects US Demand, Send $70 Billion in Project Orders To China
My husband and I have raised 4 kids to adults. When our youngest was an infant, we found out she had brain cancer. Talk about a stressful time for our family! My MIL was and is very close to us geographically, as well as one I consider a friend and ally. With 3 kids in school and a seriously ill baby, we leaned on her for emotional support and she was there! We tried to go on snowmobile trips with our kids, her and extended family. (The oncologists gave us suggestions on how and when we could safely take our youngest with us — we followed his advice and still maintained her drug regimen protocols.)
One member who accompanied us all was one of my SILs. She didn’t have any kids at that time and was impatient to get on the trails the first morning. I got my three older kids ready and equipped with extra hats, gloves, snacks, drinks, helmets and snowsuits as well as any other cold-weather gear they would need. Next was my baby. Cleaning her Hickman Catheter (her drugs and all blood draws were done through it), making sure she had the blankets, toys, vanilla PediaSure (the ONLY thing she could hold down and that was the only flavor she would drink), making sure I had her anti-nausea and anti-seizure medications, as well as diapers and extra clothing she might need in case of accidents or nausea. Most of this was packed the night before, but I am in the habit of double checking (I HAVE forgotten her meds before).
My SIL complained about my incompetence as a mother to our MIL. Our MIL looked her in the eye and asked her if she had ever had to mobilize an army of sleepy young children before dawn and take care of the needs of a baby with cancer that was well enough to go on this trip? My SIL said “NO!” Our MIL then said, “I have experience with 6 sleepy kids. All of them were healthy. It is not easy in the best of circumstances. I think she is doing an excellent job.” When our MIL finished what she was doing, she went and helped me. I am blessed to have her in my life!
When my husband met my family for the first time we were all so nervous.
As you may know, he’s American. Meaning he’s pretty clueless about some of our traditions and concepts.
As he and my father were discussing important matters and the tension rising in the air… he did something he shouldn’t have…:-
He crossed his legs, putting his calf on his knee!
My inner self was going “no no no Mike please put that leg down!!!”
My parents’ eyes went to the his feet. I could already see what they are going to say later.
Anyhow, after we went home. My mother said “He really lacks respect. He talks aggressively and did you see how he put his leg up so rudely?!”
I was like “ugh I saw that coming”.
I had to take them a step back and tell them that he’s not an Arab and he doesn’t know that this is rude in our culture. They didn’t seem convinced.
So yeah, if you’re in a serious setting with an Egyptian, don’t ever let the sole of your shoes/ feet be seen. Especially if it’s in front of someone older than you.
Feet here symbolize humiliation.
So for example some people here would view a woman rubbing her husband’s feet as a humiliating act.
And a man giving his wife a foot rub is so rare and if it’s done then it’s in private.
That’s why until this day I feel very guilty if I’m getting feet pedicures at salons. Similarly, if I’m sitting at home, spreading my legs on the couch, my father would yell at me to move my feet because they are facing him.
My mother was astonished to know that my husband gives me foot rubs, and prayed for god to always make him so good and humble haha !
The US commerce minister’s confession that the US does not know how, when, or the scale of Huawei Mate 60 series production could be seen as evidence that the Huawei Mate series are the world’s most advanced, most secure, and only spy-proof smartphones in the world. However, it is important to note that there is no definitive proof that this is the case.
Huawei has been under intense US scrutiny for several years now, and the US has repeatedly accused Huawei of being a security risk. The US has also imposed a number of sanctions on Huawei, which have made it difficult for the company to do business with US companies.
Despite these challenges, Huawei has continued to develop and produce advanced smartphones. The Huawei Mate series is one of Huawei’s most popular and critically acclaimed smartphone lines. The Mate series is known for its large screens, powerful processors, and impressive camera systems.
The fact that the US does not know how Huawei is able to produce the Mate 60 series could be seen as a sign that Huawei is using advanced technologies that the US is not aware of. However, it is also possible that the US simply does not have access to the necessary information.
Whether or not the Huawei Mate series are the world’s most advanced, most secure, and only spy-proof smartphones in the world is a matter of opinion. There is no definitive proof to support or refute this claim.
It is important to note that the US has a vested interest in discrediting Huawei. The US is currently in a trade war with China, and Huawei is one of China’s most successful technology companies. By accusing Huawei of being a security risk, the US is trying to damage Huawei’s reputation and make it more difficult for the company to compete in the global market.
Ultimately, it is up to each individual consumer to decide whether or not they believe that the Huawei Mate series are the world’s most advanced, most secure, and only spy-proof smartphones in the world.
In my early 20s I lived in an apartment complex. My direct neighbor was an elderly Hispanic man. He always seemed so nice. He would speak to me in Spanish, which, at the time, I knew very little of (had taken 2 years mandatory class in high school). He would say this phrase and nod his head. I would always nod back, assuming we were somehow communicating pleasantries across a language barrier.
5 months go by and a friend I had made in that town, who was a Latina, saw our interaction one day. She got SO mad at the man and started yelling at him in Spanish. I was mortified. I was raised to respect my elders and I thought she was being disrespectful. She grabs my arm and drags me into my house. She explained to me what the man had said to me, HAD been saying to me since the day I moved in was “do you want to see my big fat d$%k?” I was so shocked! Turns out, every time I was nodding to him, I WAS communicating with him 🤣🤣🤣.
To this day, 20 something years later, my friend and I still get a laugh out of that story.
I did decide to take some Spanish classes at college after that. I’m glad i did too! It has been a valuable asset to my work in the medical field. Probably would have never taken those classes if it wasn’t for senor pervy.
A cat was found on the stairs of an apartment building. Two weeks later, his life completely changed
When we lived in Indiana, we lived in a mobile home. We moved that home from park to park, and must have lived in perhaps eight different locations. Living in a trailer park is an experience in itself.
I do not recommend it.
Weekends are non-stop grass mowing and 200 families take turns on the hour mowing their grass from the crack of dawn to sunset. And let’s not talk about the poor quality of people that invariably inhabit SOME of the trailers.
I have many stories of this period in my life, but today, I wish to relate one that is charming.
It’s late July.
The sun is setting, and the fireflies come out.
You can still see them, but they turn on their mini lights and pop in and out of sight. And there, my wife and I are sitting outside on our chaise-lounges enjoying the evening when we notice our cats playing.
They all try to catch the fireflies. The light attracts them, and then they go pounce up and catch the little bugs.
I will tell youse guys that they all were having a blast, and we were truly enjoying watching them. Those little guys were just having a blast! It was the time of their little kitty-hood. Don’t you know.
…
These little moments… we all have little moments… but they should be treasured, and appreciated. Who knows what little moments that you so absent mindlessly ignore though the day, only to one day twenty years from now, look back in wistful nostalgia.
Like me.
Today…
More Voices Call On Biden To Withdraw From The 2024 Race
I do not know who is supposed to manage Biden’s public relations but whoever that is is doing a bad job.
The strategists for the Democratic Party and those concerned with winning elections should seriously think about replacing Biden with someone who is better at handling himself.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday directed top congressional Republicans to open an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, reversing his previous stance that such an investigation should be initiated only with a vote of the House.
In doing so, Mr. McCarthy leveled a series of accusations against Mr. Biden that he said amounted to a “picture of a culture of corruption” and warranted the House using its most potent investigative tool to try to make the case for removing the president.
The impeachment proceedings, like those against Donald Trump, are mostly a public relation gimmick. But they are also likely to show that the Biden family business is as corrupt as they come.
The British establishment, largely on the Democrats side, is clearly concerned.
Yet although Mr Comer’s investigation is failing to prove the existence of what Donald Trump calls the “Biden crime family”, congressional inquiries will now multiply. … Indeed, the younger Mr Biden’s legal problems are intensifying. On September 6th prosecutors serving under David Weiss, the special counsel investigating Hunter, announced that they expect an indictment by the end of the month. The president’s son is likely to be charged with not paying taxes and lying on a form when buying a gun at a time when he was addicted to crack cocaine. A plea deal that would have kept him out of jail on those charges fell apart in July. And other, more damaging charges—such as lobbying for a foreign government without registering—have not been ruled out.
None of that implicates the president. Yet he may suffer for it nonetheless. According to a CNN poll, three-fifths of Americans think Mr Biden was involved in his son’s business. Pump out enough smoke and you might create fire.
The CIA’s influence peddler and Washington Post columnist David Ignatius is the latest establishment voice to warn of a likely defeat of Biden should he decide to keep running:
Like the Economist writers Ignatius is as friendly to Democrats as they come. The CIA and FBI had both intervened after the election of Donald Trump. They launched Russiagate, a series of fake stories, to hamper Trump’s ability to govern and to get Biden elected. That its senior management has commissioned Ignatius to call on Biden to give up can be understood as a warning.
Ignatius names two points that put Biden’s reelection into jeopardy:
Biden would carry two big liabilities into a 2024 campaign. He would be 82 when he began a second term. According to a recent Associated Press-NORC poll, 77 percent of the public, including 69 percent of Democrats, think he’s too old to be effective for four more years. Biden’s age isn’t just a Fox News trope; it’s been the subject of dinner-table conversations across America this summer.
Because of their concerns about Biden’s age, voters would sensibly focus on his presumptive running mate, Harris. She is less popular than Biden, with a 39.5 percent approval rating, according to polling website FiveThirtyEight. Harris has many laudable qualities, but the simple fact is that she has failed to gain traction in the country or even within her own party.
Biden at least should get rid of Harris who is a bit of a millstone to popularity:
Biden could encourage a more open vice-presidential selection process that could produce a stronger running mate.
Ignatius goes on to ask Biden to step down and to immediately announce that he will not be available for another round:
Biden has never been good at saying no. He should have resisted the choice of Harris, who was a colleague of his beloved son Beau when they were both state attorneys general. He should have blocked then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, which has done considerable damage to the island’s security. He should have stopped his son Hunter from joining the board of a Ukrainian gas company and representing companies in China — and he certainly should have resisted Hunter’s attempts to impress clients by getting Dad on the phone.
Biden has another chance to say no — to himself, this time — by withdrawing from the 2024 race. It might not be in character for Biden, but it would be a wise choice for the country.
I doubt that Joe Biden, or the people around him, will follow that advice. They are too full of themselves to voluntarily make room for others. It will require more intervention, probably from former president Obama, to convince Biden to give up.
Or someone could create some ‘medical emergency’. That should not be too difficult given Biden’s general condition and age.
Anyway. If the Democrats want to keep the presidency, something needs to be done.
Soften yeast in warm water and let stand for 5 to 10 minutes.
Add milk to sugar and salt. Mix and cool to lukewarm.
Add 1 cup flour and mix until smooth. Stir in yeast. Add remaining flour mixing well. Knead dough on floured board until smooth. Put in greased bowl, grease top, cover with towel and let rise in warm room until double.
Punch down dough, and roll into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Brush with the softened butter and spread with mixture of raisins, currants, citron, the 1/4 cup brown sugar and cinnamon. Roll up like a jellyroll and cut into 1/4-inch thick slices. Lay the slices in a buttered 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan. Cover and let rise until doubled.
I’m in my second week of at home suspension for striking a teacher. He locked me in a classroom and attempted to assault me when I wouldn’t consent to his advances on 14 year old me.
The knock on the door was a deputy that served legal papers in our little town. The papers he served me was a summons to court for legal action pertaining to expenses incurred from point there after. I’m being sued by this teacher.
My dad exploded, that jerk has bigger problems than money, just wait I don’t care if he’s in a courtroom. OMG I was saying daddy calm down a lot, I only call my dad “daddy” when I need him to calm down and focus on me so he doesn’t get into trouble or worse.
The day of court arrived and there stands Mr Smug in his neck brace, bandaged nose, and black eye. I am holding my dad by both hands, telling him to look at me, please I don’t want you in jail dad.
It doesn’t help that I’m shaking and I’m sure dad can feel it.
Then the judge starts reading the case notes, Mr Smug is suing one Miss Key for medical expenses incurred during an altercation that resulted in a fractured nose, two chipped teeth, severe painful swelling in the groin, blurry vision, slight concussion, and upper neck pain.
So young lady how do you plead?
I asked the judge if I could present my papers (please don’t laugh we couldn’t afford a lawyer).
He accepts my papers which are the affidavits from the custodian, vice principal and teacher (the witnesses that pulled me off of Mr Smug), the arresting deputy, and the school nurse that treated me before my dad arrived.
His whole demeanor changed. WTH?!
You mean to tell me that you are suing this girl because she kicked your but during an assault?
His lawyer started trying to make an argument about me being malicious, and over bearing about defending myself.
The judge told him to shut up, in what world does a 30 year old man believe he has a case against a 14 year old child that he is attempting to assault?
Lawyer sets in with that is just allegations and hear-say, there’s no proof.
I didn’t ask you lawyer I asked your client because as it stands this is the stupidest case I’ve ever heard of.
In fact it’s so stupid that I’m dismissing it without prejudice, on grounds of incomprehension and competence.
And might I extend my gratitude to you Mr Key for raising an able and resourceful young lady.
After the accident, she was left on the side of the road, no one stopped the car to help her
A severely injured cat was found on the road, accompanied by meowing kittens. A man called for help, unable to afford vet care. Promising assistance, we advised taking the cat to a nearby clinic. Despite financial constraints, we assured the man we’d cover the costs. We directed him to the nearest clinic known to us.
Team members searched for kittens nearby and found three. Unfortunately, the cat couldn’t be saved due to delay, leaving us saddened. Confirming her as the mother, we arranged a burial.
We decided to adopt the motherless kittens and raise them with another cat.
The loss saddened us, but we hoped for a better life for the kittens.
As many of you know, there is a lot of stray paws in Punjab and I try my best to take care of them. When I get off from my job, I go every day to feed these poor hungry cats. On weekends I get a lot of time to help these stray cats and kittens. I go for street feeding everyday. It gives me great pleasure to help these poor animals. I get internal peace. I want to share these moments with you.
My opinion: 5G apps. Apple has yet to produce its own 5G transceiver. Today, it uses Qualcomm. Media reports think it will be 2025. By that time, Huawei will be promoting 5.5G heavily and experimenting with 6G. When Harmony OS can show the same number of apps, it has a good chance of surpassing Apple. In the current generation of mobile phones, Huawei can communicate via satellite, achieve data rates comparable to 6G, and come at a lower price point than Apple. Apple’s annual comfab on its mobile phones revealed nothing exciting, The biggest deal was Apple incorporating USB to charge because the EU forced them to. Everyone is speculating what will Huawei do with photonics, graphene, and quantum chips, the near term poses exciting possibilities.
I bought a home with 16 acres and a week after I moved in while staining the exterior a pickup came up the driveway and a man got out and informed me he would be hunting on my property that fall. I told him that no, no one would be hunting on my property and if I caught anyone doing so I would have them trespassed. He said the pervious owner said he could so he would be hunting. I couldn’t believe the audacity of this guy.
I came down from the ladder and told him it did not matter what anyone had told him before, I now owned the place and he was not going to hunt on my property and was going to get back in his truck and get off of my property immediately. I also told him I had cameras up and I had better not catch him here again or I would take the steps that needed to be taken to ensure he would come to realize how serious I am that my private property was just that, private, and that the previous owner had warned me about him.
I never caught him on any of the trail cameras I put up and never caught him on my property again, but I did catch him on camera leaving deer entrails next to my mailbox which was across the road a couple times during the following deer season, but after than nothing more. The foxes, coyotes, and buzzards took care of his mess in short order too.
No one believe he will alive over the night but he beat all odds and thrive now!
There are some really great answers, but I figure I’ll add mine. I’m going anonymous for my own, personal reasons.
When I was a little kid I had a pretty decent life- upper middle class, two parents, live-in nanny, lots of pets. The works. The problem was, none of it was real. All the money was borrowed, and every piece of luxury was a facade to hide my parents’ crumbling lives.
When I was six my mother got into a car accident. She wound up with nerve damage and went on some pretty heavy duty painkillers- we’ll come back to that. The more immediate effect was that this accident triggered a resurgence of repressed memories from her own childhood. She spent the next year or two in and out of psychiatric care. I don’t know how long, exactly; time is a little blurry.
My most vivid memory of that year is laying awake in my bed, my door cracked, my mother on all fours in the hallway, dragging my father’s safe, and screaming “He’ll never get us again. He’ll never get us again.” This went on for a long time. I pretended I wasn’t there.
When I was seven my father also got into a car accident. He walked away relatively unscathed, but used the accident as cause to start seeing a neurologist. He complained of headaches, which he had apparently always had. He also got a prescription for heavy painkillers. Within months, both my parents were taking enough Dilaudid to kill a horse. Even at seven years old, I could tell that they weren’t as sharp as the used to be.
I have a sister who is much older than I am. Years later, she would confirm my suspicions, the ones that were just starting to form at this time: both my parents were long-time drug addicts, who had only temporarily gotten clean. I didn’t know what to do, so I pretended I wasn’t there.
When I was eight my parents sent me to a private school. Not only were they addicted to narcotics, they were also addicted to the perception of wealth and social status. Sending me to private school furthered this. I didn’t fit in. My grades plummeted.
When my first report cards came back, my father’s belt came out. I’d never been hit before, not more than spanked, anyway. I don’t remember the moment of contact of the belt, or the palms, or the fists. I only ever remember the swing. I only ever remember the feeling of the carpet against my cheeks, wet with tears. I never remember the moment of contact.
Every time I would get beat by my father, my mother’s response would be the same. She would cry, rocking herself to comfort, a few feet away, but watching the whole thing. Sometimes, she would come up to me afterward and say, “Don’t you dare fuck this up for me.” It took a long time before I found out what that meant.
I wonder if I never remember the moments i got hit because I was pretending I wasn’t there.
When I was eleven my father had his major breakdown. We had moved to a new town, a cheaper house. We didn’t have as many cars, and luxuries were becoming fewer and fewer. The facade was crumbling, and the rot inside was starting to show. Both of my parents were high most of the time at that point. I guess part of it was to cope with the stress of their crumbling lives, and part of it was just their nature. It was a cycle, a spiral, and they were coming unhinged.
My father was the first one to snap. One day I woke up to banging and screaming. My parents fought a lot, and I would usually pretend I wasn’t there. Something was different this time, though. I could tell. I went out of my room to see what was happening, and the next moment are a blur. I don’t know if, in the excitement, I failed to form memories for a minute, or if I’ve blocked something out entirely.
What I do remember starts shortly after leaving my room. My mother and I are running down the stairs, each carrying as many guns as we can. My father was running close behind us, screaming, naked. He wanted to kill us. This I remember. He tried to get to his guns, but we got to them first. This I remember. I have never been so scared in my life. This I remember.
He was an avid gun collector, despite a history of drug abuse and instability. For obvious reasons, I am an avid supporter of strict gun control legislation.
Sometimes I think of the boulder scene from Indiana Jones. That’s exactly what it felt like, but instead of treasure, we were running away with guns. Instead of a boulder, it was a doped-up maniac who wanted to kill my mother and me.
We ran outside, pulling things down behind us however we could without dropping the guns. We managed to get to my mother’s car and lock the guns inside. We knew it wouldn’t stop him, but it slowed him down. That’s all we needed. The cops showed up shortly after we got the guns in the car. He struggled, but at least half a dozen cars were there. He had no chance. That was the day I watched the cops take my father away.
I don’t remember the next days very well. I tried to pretend I wasn’t there.
When I was fourteen I went to visit my father. They were always supervised visits, so my mother was there as well. On the way out, she told me to wait in the car, and they stayed back in the entryway for a couple minutes. I started to hear raised voices, then saw my mother try to leave. I saw my father grab her by the arm, twist it behind her back, and pin her against the garage door.
I didn’t know what to do, so I did what I wanted.
I got out of the car, and ran over to the two of them. I yelled at my father. It was the first time I really yelled, instead of screaming. It was a terrifying noise. Every time I have to yell, I still think about that moment. I don’t yell much.
He didn’t respond to the noise, so I did the next logical thing.
I hit him.
I hit him again.
And again.
And again.
I pressed my forearm into his neck and made clear, in no uncertain terms, that he had better never hurt either of us again. I got into the car, and my mother and I left.
That was the day I didn’t pretend I wasn’t there.
When I was fifteen my mother started drinking. She had been clean for a few years, since my father got taken away, but it got really bad, really quickly. She had trouble holding down jobs, kept driving drunk and getting into car accidents. She broke a bunch of bones, lost a bunch of weight. She was killing herself.
We had no money, no food. She could hold a job for maybe a week or two. Any cash she had went into cheap alcohol. I used to look for change on the street. When I had enough, I’d go to the gas station and get a gallon of kerosene for our furnace. That got harder when it started snowing. We went without heat a lot. I stayed over at friends’ places as much as possible. Their parents would let me eat family meals with them. Nobody asked questions. Nobody had to. By January of that year I was stealing money for food. I made a little extra cash by selling small amounts of drugs, but it wasn’t enough to make a living.
In February, my mother got drunker than I’d ever seen her. She kept telling me she wished I was never born, that I was a mistake. She told me why she decided to have a child. My father was planning on a divorce. So she sabotaged the birth control. I was her tool. Now I understood why she was always so upset that I would fuck it all up for her.
After a while, words weren’t enough. She picked up a knife, and tried to stab me in the neck. I was so shocked that I almost didn’t get out of the way in time, but she was very drunk, and I was 15 and spry. I grabbed her by the wrist, took the knife from her, and locked myself in the bathroom until I figured out what to do.
I wanted to pretend I wasn’t there, but I couldn’t.
Instead, I called the cops, and, for the second time in my life, I watched them take away one of my parents.
I was alone, and I had no idea what to do.
I called my father.
When I was sixteen I was living with my father. He had cleaned up, sort of. He was at least functional. We lived with his girlfriend in a huge house in a rich neighborhood. He had found his way back into the glamour. My room was, quite literally, a large closet under the stairs. I read Harry Potter multiple times that year. It made me feel a little better.
Things were generally okay between my father and I at that point. At least, I smoothed things along. He was pathological liar, and used every chance he had to manipulate people. That never changed. But… it was better than foster care, it was better than being homeless. We moved around a lot back then. I think six moves in two years. It made it hard to make friends, but I was biding my time. I knew I’d get through it.
Then I was raped.
Back then, I didn’t think men could be raped, at least not by women. It took a long time for me to call it what it was. In fact, it wasn’t until I was in my twenties that I could really say it. I was raped. Over, and over. The difficulty in calling it rape was that 1) I was so hung up on traditional gender roles at that age, and didn’t know better, and 2) that this happened inside of a relationship. I was in an abusive relationship, and I had no idea. I had no idea that it was wrong.
I thought that I was what was wrong.
Whenever it was happening, I would just close my eyes and pretend I wasn’t there.
Then, one day, I snapped.
When I was twenty I got so tired of pretending. I got so tired of acting like I wasn’t being hurt. I got so tired of letting people have power over me. So I stopped it all.
One by one, ended every abusive relationship.
I called my partner. I told her I never wanted to see her again. I still didn’t call what she did rape at that point, but I knew it was wrong. I knew I was done with it.
I called my mother. I told her I never wanted to see her again. We had tried to repair our relationship after she tried to kill me, but it never really worked. She never could see that she did anything wrong. It was always about how it affected her life. She’s not my responsibility.
I called my father. I told him I never wanted to see him again. Living with him for the two years I needed before I was eighteen was tolerable, but only because I would always pretend I wasn’t there. It was harder to leave him, because I don’t think he’s a bad person. I think he’s just profoundly narcissistic, unable to control himself, and incredibly dangerous to all those around him. In the two years I was living with him, he almost shot me again, but I talked him down. I knew, no matter what his intentions were, I would never be safe with him in my life.
Out of all of these, I do miss my father. Or more accurately, I desperately miss the person he could have been.
That was when I stopped pretending.
I would never again pretend I wasn’t there, because now I really wasn’t.
Leaving was the best, and hardest, thing I have ever done in my life. Beyond every single nightmare moment- leaving was the hardest.
But I’m so glad I did.
When I was twenty one I started my first semester of graduate school. Five and a half years later, and I’m doing really well. I’m in therapy, and have been for a few years. It really helps, but there’s so much left to work through. I have good friends, healthy relationships, and a satisfying life. I’m defending my doctoral dissertation in three weeks, and then starting a job that I’m really excited for. I managed to get my life on a really good track, and I’m immensely thankful.
Leaving was so incredibly, incredibly hard, but it was so good for me.
I don’t have to pretend I’m not there anymore.
Now I’m here.
THIS HITS HARD!!! OLIVER ANTHONY – COBWEBS AND COCAINE (REACTION)
You guys are great. I love your reactions… They seem real to me so if they’re not you’re doing a great job if they are you’re doing a great job. Oliver…. Mr. Christopher Anthony is a blessing to us all…. Unexpected…. Breath of fresh air… With divine timing. We all need more people like Oliver… Mr. Christopher Anthony. We are All just as great as he is…. He is a blessing because he created a spark worldwide . His message is for all …
The Dutch sucked up to the U.S. and refuse to sell their EU.V machines to China. A fatal mistake. China did it with other technology that is cheaper, better and faster. Now the Dutch EUV machines will lose not only Chinese business but businesses across the world. It will go bankrupt in no time or at least until the U.S. stop paying billions of subsidies to them. And if and when the U.S. stop the Dutch company ought to sue the U.S. for trillions of dollars.
What can the US do? If it is smart it change a president and forget containing China. But I suspect it is not smart enough. It will hurt the US to no end by killing US industry one by one.
Opera Singer Reacts to Dio – The Last In Line
Dio wasn’t just a once in a lifetime vocalist… He was a once in a century talent.
The BRICS alliance inducted six new countries into the bloc at the 15th summit in Johannesburg last month. Out of the six countries, five are oil-producing nations that export millions of barrels across the globe every year. The six countries joining BRICS are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Iran, and Ethiopia, while Argentina is the only non-oil-producing country.
There’s a high risk that Saudi Arabia and the UAE might start accepting local currencies for oil and ditch the U.S. dollar.
The new mission of BRICS is to end reliance on the U.S. dollar and promote local currencies for global trade. Therefore, chances are high that Saudi Arabia might consider accepting local currencies as payment for oil to reduce its dependency on the U.S. dollar.
BRICS is looking to control the oil markets, and inducting Saudi Arabia was the best choice. But what could happen to the U.S. dollar if Saudi Arabia accepts local currencies to settle oil and gas payments.
First and foremost, the weakening of the U.S. dollar would begin if Saudi Arabia accepted local currencies for oil trade. If Saudi Arabia demands that other countries pay in local currencies only, then demand for the U.S. dollar would dip drastically. The move could lead to the dollar facing a depreciation in the international forex and currency markets. A weak dollar would make imported goods more expensive in the United States and potentially impact the overall U.S. economy.
Secondly, other nations will begin to diversify their reserves and accumulate other currencies apart from the U.S. dollar. The development would increase demand for other local currencies and put them in direct competition with the dollar. Central Banks around the world will keep reserves of all currencies and commodities like gold, making the USD dip.
BREAKING NEWS: Oprah Winfrey INVESTIGATED For Maui Fires!
That woman needs to be investigated for much more egregious kind that involve the kiddies. There are some serious questions here. Something suggests some profit motives by the mega-wealthy.
I had a daughter. Her mother became pregnant and we moved into a house together. Six months later my daughter was born. Mom had four children from another marriage and made an effort to remind the older children she was their half-sibling. When she was two, the older siblings went from full time with us to half the time with their dad. When she was five, I started to notice mother’s subtle abuses through passive aggression and blame: having my daughter’s hair develop tangles and using a comb to brush, blaming the five-year-old for the tangled hair, and then chopping her hair off. This happened three times by the time she was five years old — and her mom was a hairdresser.
I filed for divorce and custody was joint. My daughter looked a lot like me. So it was a shocker when paternity was challenged. Police knocked on my door and showed me a court order. Mom waited across the street with her ex-husband while a social worker had to pull my daughter away screaming and begging to stay. The social worker kept apologizing and let my daughter come running back when my daughter started to have an asthma attack. After about 20 minutes, a police sergeant came up to the front porch where I was with my daughter, who had started to calm down and her breathing was under control at this point. He just looked at me and said, “I’m sorry,” then walked back to the curb. He spoke to the other two officers, who got in their cars and left. Then he walked across the street and talked to my wife and her ex.
After a few minutes he handcuffed her ex-husband, put him in his cruiser, and left. Mom walked across the street and stood at the curb. I told my daughter that everything was going to be all right, that I’d see her soon, that I loved her and I was so proud of her. I promised her I’d see her soon. Mom told her she’d see me the next week as she took her hand, then they drove off. I haven’t seen her since. I decided a long time ago I was not going to fight it. The divorce court changed the case to divorce without children and it was over.
I haven’t heard anything and have no rights to inquire about how my daughter is doing. She is 8 now and likely can’t remember what I look like, and in a few more years she’ll barely remember me at all. Better for her that I fade away than to risk more traumatic incidents. I miss all of the kids, my daughter and her siblings. I was their father, and now I’m not.
I don’t think I will ever stop hurting.
First Time Hearing Oliver Anthony – “90 Some Chevy” Reaction | Asia and BJ
This guy is just GOLDEN… every. single. song. He could cash out now and put to shame just about any country act out there. 100% pure talent and soul.
Fresh out of the US Navy, I went to work for Burger King as an assistant manager for $140 a week. Six months later, BK raised the starting pay to $150 a week. I asked my boss to raise me to at least the same rate, but he said no, I had to wait for my annual review. I said: You’re going to hire somebody off the street with zero experience and pay them $10 a week more than me with six months of experience? He said yes. I said no. I went across the street to McDonald’s for $175 a week.
Several years later, I was studying accounting to become a CPA and took a job in January with a small CPA firm for $4 an hour. At the end of tax season, Friday, April 15, he called me into the office and said he didn’t need me anymore, the busy time was over. I was shocked. The following Monday, I called him and said I had a wife and child to support, could he at least pay me two weeks severance pay? He said he would pay me one week. I started with another small CPA firm on Wednesday at $5 an hour. So I got a 25% raise AND I was paid 5 days for my 2 days without work.
By the way, a classmate of mine went to work for Touche Ross, one of the Big Eight Accounting Firms, in July 1979. He scored Number One on the national CPA Exam, out of 42,000 participants. He asked for a raise, they said he had to wait for his annual review. He went across the street to Price Waterhouse with a big raise. Some employers are just STUPID !
Give Huawei whatever it needs and then let it compete against the Iphone 15
On one hand you throttle Huawei with every ban on earth and bullying everyone you know of and at the same time you preach about free trade to the whole world
How can you have a fair assessment of which model is better?
This was originally in my drafts because I expected the Iphone 15 to be vastly superior to the Mate 60 Pro
Instead turns out the Mate 60 Pro held its own against the Iphone 15 which was deemed as “Non Innovative” by Western Experts
In my humble opinion, I don’t think so. The population would have declined with the rapid pace of the urbanization and modernization, even if without this One Child Policy. Please come to think about it, Japan, Korea and ROC on Taiwan all witness the declining of the population growth, but without such a drastic social engineering imposing on the people.
It’s quite natural that population would plummet with the transition from an agricultural society to an industrial and urban society. The modern mindsets and lifestyles, the improving health and education standards, the higher cost of having children and raising them up could contribute to the low expectancy among people to have more children.
Chinese people are also people, who have human agencies and vitalities. Chinese people could and would adapt to these changes without having to undergo this basic state policy for few decades. As a matter of the fact, there was a county, Yicheng, which was once a pilot experimenting place, where the policy of two children in a family was implemented from 1985–2015, however, many folks from there didn’t choose to have more children.
Many answers here jump in and are quick to discredit Sun Tzu.
Have you actually read the book, like, really read the whole book?
It’s not a long book. It’s got 7,573 Chinese characters. In comparison, my graduation paper in Chinese University was 20,000 Characters.
Why does the Art of War say to never put your enemy in a corner?
“Really? Did Sun Tzu write that? Ha! How shallow and obviously wrong! What an overrated fraud!”
Urgh….
Had you read it thoroughly, other than seeing this question on Quora and enters “triggered” mode and discredit Art of War, you’d realize why he said that.
I cannot find the exact quote for “Never put your enemy in a corner”, because I have not read the English version, nor would I ever be interested to do that. But here is the Chinese version of, what I assume to be where the idea come from:
Therefore, the art of war lies in: never face a high mountain, never retreat from a down hill, never follow an enemy army faking defeat, never attack an elite enemy army, never bite a shark-bait, never chase after a retreating enemy army, leave opening for a surrounded enemy army, never pressure a desperate enemyarmy. This is the art of war. The Art of War by Sun Tzu, Chapter Army Conflict
Whoever says Sun Tzu is wrong because surrounding enemy happens all the time in reality, it’s a good strategy; or enemy can always surrender, etc., has evidently not read the book at all, or had interpreted it wrong.
First of all, he never said, you shouldn’t surround an enemy force. He said, surround them, but never completely. Leave a small opening for them.
If you have watched Game of Thrones: Battle of the Bastards, you’ll see why this makes sense. Althought it was fictional, I’m sure good medieval European strategists would have agreed with Sun Tzu, if they had read about it.
If you surround an army completely, even the most cowards will forget about escape, unite and fight you with all they’ve got. But if there is a chance to get out, even the bravest will try to squeeze through that hole and flee.
Would you rather fight a united army? Or a fleeing one? This is a no-brainer.
Why should you never pressure a desperate enemy?
First, what is a “desperate enemy”?
Clearly, you could physically surround an enemy army. But if peaceful surrender is on the table, they are hardly “desperate”, or “cornered” as the question put it.
And that is why most formal armies in the world would shout: “Lay down your arms and we guarantee your safety” when they had the enemy surrounded.
Imagine if you shout: “Stop struggling! You have nowhere to go! Stay where you are and we will come to kill you all, piss in your skull, rape your women, and enslave your children!” instead. The surrounded will no doubt fight you to their last breath, and will rejoice for every bullet they managed to put inside one of you, even at the cost of ten of their lives.
That is when you create a “desperate and cornered” enemy.
Sun Tsu’s book does not only focus on winning a battle, it focuses on winning a war. In the book, you’ll find plenty of sentences like, avoid physical conflict if possible, do not fight unnecessary battles, etc. He is trying to make you understand how casualties are costly, and you must avoid it.
This particular argument here is coherent with that idea. An absolutely “cornered” enemy will fight you and possibly injure and even kill your soldiers, no matter how onesidedly stronger your troops are. It will always lower your morale, and put a financial burden on your country. That doesn’t help you win a war.
Is it really so wrong?
Read this book before you comment on it, seriously, guys. You do realize there are Chinese speakers who can read English and prove you wrong with credible sources, right?
The book Art of War is not outrageously long, or even obscure. Most of the language is quite simple and easy to understand.
The U.S. has established a technical team to study the Huawei’s Kirin 9000S chip!
“The Chinese chip is too advanced for the Americans.”
I have spent the bulk of my adult life working at car dealerships, so I have heard a ton of complaints, especially since I was the fix-it person at some of those dealerships.
One day one of the salesmen came up to me to warn about what was walking up to the door.
His customer had been calling his cell phone for days about how pissed off he was that he sold him a lemon. That was all the guy would say or text, never saying what the problem was.
So he gets directed to me of course.
He starts complaing that he just purchased his car a week and a half ago and that the other day an idiot light came on on the dashboard, he was close to home and the car stalled out as he got to his driveway so he slammed on the brakes and had to pay for a tow truck to tow it into his driveway.
I asked him if the tow truck driver looked at anything in the car to see why it stalled and told me no, he only paid him to put it in the driveway and that we will be reimbursing him for that, the days of having a rental car, free repair for the issue and give him at least 1 year of free oil changes.
I went onto computer and googled warning indicator lights for his vehicle and asked him to show me which light was on. He pointed at the indicator light of a gas pump. Yup folks, he ran out of gas.
I asked him how many times he got gas in his car in the week and a half he had it, thinking maybe there was a leak. His honest to god answer was “Why should I have to put gas in my car, I just got it and only drive miles to and from work”
It took just about everything in me not to bust out laughing in face, but then a woman who overheard everything said “and they think us women are stupid”, well that was where none of us could hold it in anymore and just about every employee and other customers busted out laughing.
After finally calming down, I told him I’d be more than happy to have a runner go over to put some gas in the car so he can get to a station, however told him that he needed to pay for it.
He was not happy and needless to say never came back for anything and left a bad review, but all who read the review commented on how it was his fault for being stupid and not getting gas.
Bobby Driscoll was the original voice of Peter Pan and a successful child actor. He was one of the first people signed into a contract with Disney and starred in many successful films for both MGM and Disney.
Known as Disney’s sweat heart, Bobby Driscoll was riding high on his fame. That was all to change once Boddy became a teenager and Disney dropped him.
Up until he got the booth he was one of Disney’s favourite stars, with a salary 1,700 a week. That all changed once puberty set in and he developed a bad case of acne, forcing Disney to drop him
When he was dropped from Disney, his parents placed him in an ordinary school, but the kids rejected him and started to bully him for his roles in movies. This had a big effect on him so he turned to drugs.
Bobby’s career struggled to take off, and he could only land minor roles in TV series. His drug use got worse, and he was arrested in 1956. He had another run in with the law when he was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, and by 1962, he was unable to land any new roles.
He moved to New York to try and land roles on Broadway, but that didn’t work out for him. He gave his last performance in a film called Dirt in 1965.
Three years, later two kids playing in an abandoned Tenement block in New York stumbled upon the 31-year-old’s decaying body lying in a cot with two beer bottles next to him and religious pamphlets scattered around the cot.
Since the body had no identification and police couldn’t identify him he was buried in an unmarked pauper grave. It wasn’t until a year later when Bobby’s mother was trying to get in contact with her son that she discovered that her he had died.
His death wasn’t reported until 1971 when a reporter was researching the whereabouts of the young film star, and learned of his death. Although his name is on his father’s tombstone, his body remains in the pauper’s grave.
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee | Sitting Bull meets Colonel Miles
Movie: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007)
He’s got a point. The Crow tribe hated Sitting Bull and his tribe – Lakota Sioux – for continuously raiding them and aggression towards them. They were actually devastated by the news of the fate of 7th Cavalry. When the Lakota Sioux gave up, the Crow were relieved that they could sleep soundly at night.
Apple Execs have RUSHED to Beijing to reassure them that APPLE IS NOT RELOCATING ANYWHERE and proposes to expand operations in China
Guess what?
China said “No Need. Thanks”
That is CHINA for you
All these MSM Propaganda and all these “Economic Collapses”
Yet if China announces a small ban, the reaction is worth a $ 200 Billion burn
Sure Apple may recover but that panic and impact – THAT’S THE SIGN OF THE DRAGON AND IT’S MIGHT
Now. Imagine China does a scorched earth and bans all SC companies
China may lose 10 years
US Companies will lose at least $ 1.7 Trillion plus a Tech domino that could hit US Banks and Institutions
China is a patient nation but it’s patience is slowly wearing thin
Xi skipping G20
The Mate 60
The Iphone decision
The Decision to rescind Japanese Seafood Imports
The Decision to ban the Iphone for Government officials
It is even likely Xi will allow Country Garden and Real Estate Companies to refuse to pay their debt and default on their bonds completely and keep doing business in China
After all i doubt Country Garden sells homes in Cook County Chicago
Heres another look at how STRONG CHINA IS
Russian Girl First Time Hearing Judy Garland-Over The Rainbow!
It was a sunny day. I was going to my class. Suddenly I saw a lot of people gathered at one place. I stopped my bike and saw a cow badly injured with her broken leg. She was trying hard to get up.
I just couldn’t take it!
I called a tempo and took the cow to the hospital.
There,
Doctor: it will take around 5000 rs to treat her(a big deal for a 17 year kid)
Me: I will arrange the money you start her operation.
I rushed to my home broke my piggybank and gave money to the doctor
i just saw how calmly the cow was walking after treatment i smiled and got away
after 6 days!
I was going by the same road and suddenly I lost my balance and fell from my bike
I felt like someone took me in hands and put me on road
I got no injury!
when I opened my eyes I had fallen on the road.
I saw the same cow looking at me with the bandages still on her!
I felt she saved me. I was on the 7th sky feeling the feel of karma!
Sorry for the grammatical mistakes if any!
so I made this tag line of my life!
karma right
future bright 😉
What matters is how we achieve things Bedazzled
Much evil that is generated in the world is because of the conviction that the end justifies the means.
I was in a commercial for Campbell’s Chunky Soup about 10 or 11 years ago. It was a massive advertising effort by Campbell’s and was constantly on TV. I was in a couple shots and one was the final shot where there was an extreme close-up of me taking a bite of the “soup”.
When we were filming, there was a person that was “pre-loading” spoonfuls of soup for me to “eat”. They would take a few cans of the soup and disect all the contents and reassemble them in “perfect” spoonfuls. They would bring one up to me every take, and I had to pretend to enjoy it. I had to hold the bowl in an awkward angle, and the soup in the bowl was also carefully arranged.
Little do the viewers know that there was a big, white, spit bucket 🪣, that I would chew, smile, look into the wildernerness….then spit it out.
They had me do no less than 20 takes. Each spoonful was heaping and if I had eaten them, i would have destroyed probably 4 full cans of the soup.
I was game to do anything pretty much for what they were paying me, and said that I would eat it, but they said not to do it. Fair enough.
I was on duty and this 55 year old lady was admitted in ICU. She had breast cancer spread to her lungs and was literally struggling for breath. I went to check on her, as her saturation was dropping. There was nothing much I could do. After asking the nurse to give her some medicines, I turned to leave.
That was when I slipped and fell, as there was a little water on the floor, probably from a leaking iv fluid bottle. The lady, while struggling for her breath, asked me:
‘Son, are you all right?’
You may call it touching rather than shocking. Whatever, it was indeed shocking to me that even gasping for the last breath can not stop a human being from caring for someone else.
I saw an answer for this when the person being ‘lit up’ got a parabolic or dish mirror and affixed it so the light was collected and shone back to the bedroom of the owner of the light. When they asked her to turn off the light, she was able to explain it was their light and they could turn it off.
I just loved that answer!
Pennsylvania Dutch Apple Butter
Pennsylvania Dutch Apple Butter
Ingredients
3 quarts sweet cider
8 pounds ripe, well-flavored apples
2 1/2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
2 teaspoons cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Cook cider over high heat, uncovered, about 30 minutes or until it is reduced to half.
Wash, quarter and core unpeeled apples. Add to cider, and cook over low heat until very tender. Stir frequently. Work apple mixture through a sieve, returning the puree to the kettle. Stir in sugar, all the spices, and salt. Cook over very low heat, stirring almost continuously, until mixture thickens.
My father was an engineer. He was a metallurgical engineer. Which was a guy that tests the composition of steel. He made sure that it was pure and the alloying elements were in the right percentages. It was a very important job.
You need this, you know.
No one would buy a cake if pickles were substituted for eggs, and salt was substituted for sugar. Right?
Anyways, being older than me, he had his old work clothes that I inherited, and throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s, I used his old safety glasses at work.
LOL.
They were God-awful! Horned rimmed, ugly. Like a scene from the movie “falling down”.
2023 09 18 10 59
Now…
The funny thing was that EVERYONE knew that those were MY glasses. Everyone wore contemporaneous safety glasses, and not those old things.
So, sure as shit, if I misplaced my glasses, after an hour or so, I would find them on my desk at work. They would magically appear out of nowhere.
Not only once.
Not twice…
But every single time! I couldn’t give them away.
i even threw them into the trash bin…
Sure as shit, they walked back to my desk. I’ll tell you what!
…
What do you know?
Life is funny sometimes.
Today…
Thought considerations…
2023 09 18 10 48
War as desirable outcome
The Army War College’s John Deni (Wall Street Journal, 12/22/21) urged the US to take “a hard-line stance in diplomatic discussions,” because “if Mr. Putin’s forces invade, Russia is likely to suffer long-term, serious and even debilitating strategic costs.”
The fact that US officials pushed for a Ukrainian counteroffensive that all but expected would fail raises an important question: Why would they do this? Sending thousands of young people to be maimed and killed does nothing to advance Ukrainian territorial integrity, and actively hinders the war effort.
The answer has been clear since before the war. Despite the high-minded rhetoric about support for democracy, this has never been the goal of pushing for war in Ukraine. Though it often goes unacknowledged in the US press, policymakers saw a war in Ukraine as a desirable outcome.
One 2019 study from the RAND Corporation—a think tank with close ties to the Pentagon—suggested that an effective way to overextend and unbalance Russia would be to increase military support for Ukraine, arguing that this could lead to a Russian invasion.
In December 2021, as Russian President Vladimir Putin began to mass troops at Ukraine’s border while demanding negotiations, John Deni of the Atlantic Council published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal (12/22/21) headlined “The Strategic Case for Risking War in Ukraine,” which laid out the US logic explicitly:
Provoking a war would allow the US to impose sanctions and fight a proxy war that would grind Russia down. Additionally, the anti-Russian sentiment that resulted from a war would strengthen NATO’s resolve.
All of this came to pass as Washington’s stance of non-negotiation successfully provoked a Russian invasion.
Even as Ukraine and Russia sat at the negotiation table early in the war, the US made it clear that it wanted the war to continue and escalate.
The US’s objective was, in the words of Raytheon boardmember–turned–Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, “to see Russia weakened.” Despite stated commitments to Ukrainian democracy, US policies have instead severely damaged it.”
OLIVER ANTHONY – 90 SOME CHEVY REACTION
Again, any postings of Oliver Anthony is not about his music. It is about the reactions to his music. It appears that for many Americans, they have a voice. Finally.
Todays reaction REALLY BROKE ME! Anthony’s “90 Some Chevy” really hit home for me!
Their phones are likely to work better with the network equipment than other phones on their network.
But for satellites, they don’t make satellites but they do make network base station equipment. So they might have better knowledge than building to a spec on paper.
You can see with Apple trying to build their own 5G modems and failing. Apple’s 5G modem won’t debut again until 2025. They need time and experts and a lot of testing to make sure that it is going to work in all situations instead of just in the lab. Which was what happened when their modems didn’t work right.
So I would guess yes. But any company can hire experts who have experience to make sure that their equipment works well.
Southern Karo Syrup Chicken
2023 09 16 15 14
Ingredients
1 broiler-fryer chicken
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup Karo corn syrup
1/2 cup orange juice
3 tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
Cut up chicken.
In skillet over medium heat, cook chicken in butter about 30 minutes or until tender. Drain off fat.
Mix remaining ingredients and pour over chicken. Cook over medium heat, turning often, for 5 to 10 minutes or until glazed.
I didn’t ‘see’ a doctor do this… I was the doctor doing this to a father in a pediatrics emergency room.
Many staff reported this as terrifying, horrifying and other descriptions. I went to many meetings following my actions. If I had to do it over again, with my experience and age, I would have chosen different actions that day and we are outside the statute of limitations for assault and battery.
I’ve never written this one down, so here it goes:
I was the on-call anesthesia provider at the hospital, a children’s hospital. I was moonlighting and doing routine things when I was called to the emergency room to consult. (Moonlighting is when a doctor does his regular job or a lesser medical job, for an hourly wage but usually not at his normal hospital or setting.)
When I came out of the elevator they asked me if I was anesthesia?
I nodded and I was led quickly to a trauma room. There was no trauma but a bunch of people in hazmat suits! They dressed me quickly. I apparently had no choice in the matter. I then was led to another room where a small five-year-old boy was having visible stress and very labored breathing. They were assisting him with oxygen, a bag and mask but his color was just, off. Blue, maybe a little green grey. I had never seen this color for a human before, at least not one alive.
People were screaming at me through their suits. We could hardly hear one another. Unknown poison. Unknown toxin. They told me this patient’s brother is in the next room and fading fast, as well. They then ask me what drugs I want to give to intubate this child.
Holy oral board question from hell!!!! For those of you who are not inside the anesthesia world, the oral-board exams for an anesthesiologist are notoriously difficult. They boast a high failure rate for first-time takers because they are designed to scare the ever living crap out of you so you will be a perpetual student of anesthesiology for life. When you have three minutes to figure something out, you cannot hit the books or even ask “Watson.”
“I don’t want to give him anything!” I thought and said simultaneously.
I am a large male… so… I chose physically to intubate the child without any drugs. I managed not to break any teeth also… always a bonus in my job. I did reason they are baby teeth and if he lived he would be more grateful to be alive than to have all his baby teeth.
I then proceeded in rapid succession to the 7-year-old’s room. He was bigger, stronger and was spasming much worse than his brother, especially his jaw. They could not open it. I thought about man-handling the intubation. Broken teeth, I could break his jaw, but, no, so I ending up choosing and using an older drug to completely paralyze the child to attempt to undo the spastic jaw. This choice of drug was not as fast as some of the modern drugs in the anesthesia arsenal. It was among the most stressful four minutes of my clinical career!
“Please be right. Please be right. Please be right.” In my mind over and over again. I slid my hand to his wrist and felt for a pulse. It was there. Weak, fast, but there.
His color was off, too. Similar to his brother. Our oximeter was not picking up a signal. I was terrified in that moment I had chosen incorrectly and would kill the child. Utterly terrified. Tube in, first time, done. The boys were moved to the ICU.
Had to get out of the small room. Very hot. Hard to breathe myself. Am I poisoned? Did I get exposed?
I threw up.
I was soaked head to foot in sweat and ripped off the headdress.
Yes, you read that correctly. I threw up and THEN I got the stupid headdress part of my isolation bunny suit ripped off. Cold air felt great!
I heard screaming and commotion from the other room.
I’m now pumped with adrenaline. Really pumped. In retrospect, I should probably have not gone to investigate, but I did. An older anesthesiologist would have likely gone back to his on-call duties or hit the call room and slept. I was young.
Nope. Not me. What is happening?!?
I marched in. My bunny suit flapping. The headdress still attached to the back of my neck pulling uncomfortably on the front zipper at my neck. I reached up with my hand and pulled it down away from my throat.
Once in there, I see two police officers, a half a dozen nurses, a pediatric ER doc who was about 4′11″ in shoes and they are screaming at everyone to just stop it!
I am a large male… so… I bellowed, “What the fuck is going on?” Yes, I am a good doctor. Yes, I am human.
Everyone looked and the ER doc said looking at me in the eyes, “the father just drank the poison.”
WTF. WTF. WTF. WTF. WTF.
Toxicology? Still no hit on what the substance was from the poison center but they had said to someone it was likely not transmitted through touching or breathing.
Good to know. It’s ‘not likely’ I’ve exposed myself to God knows what.
I knew one of the nurses standing there, she was holding a nasogastric (NG) tube and the nurse next to her had a charcoal drink and a funnel.
The NG tube goes from the nose to the stomach and allows the ‘forceful’ introduction of liquids such as charcoal to neutralize things, the poison in this case.
The man, for all his abject fright and stupidity, blurted out at me, “None of them know what it is so I drank it to find out, use me to find out, use me!” He pleaded, tears streaming down his face. He was just being a parent. He was just being human. That’s when I saw the small fasciculations in his facial muscles. Fasciculations are involuntary small portions of muscle that ‘fire’ on their own without neural impulses. Have you ever had just one part of your muscle move, twitch and do it over and over again without you consciously controlling the movements? That is fasciculations and both boys had them all over their tiny bodies when I first saw them.
“Nurse.” I said in my ‘Superman’ voice. When I was an intern, some of the staff, younger females mostly, nursing mostly, referred to me as Superman because I always got everywhere so fast in the hospitals and, oh yeah, I am a large male with dark kind of curly longer hair at the time. I used to get that one thick curl on the forehead naturally.
She did not speak but began moving toward the father of the boys. The other nurse followed lock step behind her.
“Fuck no! You’re not sticking that thing in me!” The man backed away reflexively animal like in speed and suddenness. He ran into the wall behind him. His back to the wall, literally.
Not. My. Finest. Medical. Moment.
I used a somewhat unorthodox medical maneuver. I hit, or struck, or punched with the my full force in the father’s face. I caught him with the hand I punched him with and pinned him up against the wall. He semi-slumped, in shock, I believe more than for the blow. Not too certain though.
“Tube.” I reached out with my left hand but did not take my gaze off the man.
I looked at his nose and the one side began bleeding. Well, there are two cops standing behind me. I sighed loudly, I may even snorted a bit. They can write my statement for me at this point. Definitely, battery, maybe assault and battery, and with many witnesses, great. I wonder what jail is really like?
Blood is a lubricant. The NG tube slid down that bloody side quickly and completely. The man bucked hard at me. I let go of the tube and ‘pushed’ well, perhaps thrust with nearly full force upon his chest with both open hands and very physically slammed him the two inches back onto the wall.
The nurse(s) got the tube and out of my peripheral vision I saw a funnel and charcoal pouring down the tube very quickly.
The man made noises. I interpreted that as him having an Airway, he was obviously Breathing and clearly he was Circulating blood as he was semi-conscious. ABC’s checked off. He’ll live long enough to sue me probably.
As the man made a fast grab for the NG tube, I was slammed into and from behind and on either side forcefully.
The two cops grabbed either arm and held them back, pinned tightly on the wall.
I love cops. Even when they pull me over and give me a speeding ticket. Even then.
I let go and slowly slid back a bit. Maybe I was two feet from the man’s face.
… and he threw up charcoal all over me. Along with the ‘poison’ so…
I froze. Kept my eyes shut and my mouth shut. I was led a bit away and then someone poured water over my head several times. I cleaned off with a towel. Several towels, actually.
The man was a farmer. He had left fertilizer of some sort, or perhaps it was a pesticide/fertilizer combo in a mixing jug, an old white plastic milk jug. Some years later, he poured diesel fuel into this same white jug. Years after that, the boys found the jug in the barn and it had brilliant blue crystals in it and some opaque grey liquid. Stunning, they looked like hard candy. The boys shook the crystals out and put them in their mouths.
The reason I told you this story was that it was horrifying to watch. That word was used in reports describing my actions. ‘Terrible. Terror. Unprofessional. Shocking. Disturbing. Ugly. Dysfunctional. Chaotic.” All used in reports to describe the event.
One of the nurses who knew me told me her heart just ‘throbbed’ at the whole surreal situation. Your wording in your question triggered the whole event for me.
Doctors are people, they are human, they make mistakes. It was a mistake striking that man. I know that, now. I was afraid in the moment. My fear and anxiety got the best of me and the human animal part of me reacted, poorly.
Some of you may say what I did is fine. Others will condemn any physical attack or action, especially from a doctor to a civilian in an ER setting.
Everyone lived. They did finally identify the culprit. It was a semi-paralytic chemical. Onset of symptoms in minutes. Spasticity, followed by slow paralysis and then asphyxiation from breathing ceasing with one to two hours in an adult.
What do you think?
~Chris
Dr. Christopher Yerington
Columbus, Ohio
Bio: Retired from clinical anesthesiology by a disability in 2010, Dr. Yerington has turned his love of teaching and service to others to his family, medical colleagues and community. He speaks and educates medical groups and residency programs about the importance of great disability insurance and having an income protection plan. Having attended law and business schools, Chris is a perpetual student, currently working on his financial certifications.
Russia Uncovers US Plot to Eliminate Niger Coup Leaders
“You may not know what must be done but many people like me do. It’s time to start down the road towards ending all of the theft of Africa’s god given wealth. Nationalize all of Africa’s resources and perform all value adding operations in Africa, unless it truly messes up the environment to do so. Doing this will uplift the lives of the people and in the end make Africa the best place to live on earth.”
Not me, my mother. She is Cuban and when she was on her first year of teaching, she was teaching first grade and had a kid that was held back. The teachers called him a bad kid. He found it hard to sit down and pay attention, so he still could not read. My mother made him her “helper” and whenever there was free time she would sit alone with him to go over lessons. He passed first grade and actually did great!
Later on, after the Castro regime took control, my mother left Cuba. She met my father, had children, and moved on with her life.
Years later we were traveling in Florida and a man and his wife came up to her. It was the student! He said he recognized her right away because he never forgot her. He introduced her to his wife as the teacher that did not give up on him.
She is my inspiration!
Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North Of Richmond | Singer Reacts & Musician Analysis
UK girl reacts. Very interesting.
All over the West, the “people” are seeing just how bad and corrupt the American-style of “democracy” actually is. This is the moment in time when quiet people, in secret back rooms, start planning on how to hang people, and burn down their edifices of power.
At a family gathering. It was a birthday party for one of my SIL’s kids. It was a nice day and we were all outside while the kids played with all of their friends and cousins, having a great time while we adults caught up and enjoyed the music and weather.
Then we all hear the terrified scream of a small child. One of the kids ran up and said “Sean is hurt!” We all ran over and there he was with blood pouring from a gash on his head. He had stumbled while running and went head first into the fence and an exposed nail.
Every single adult starts freaking out, running around and NOT HELPING this 4-year-old child who was screaming in fear and pain. WTF did they do when their own kids got hurt??!!
Husband and I were surrounded by not only idiots but dithering, panicking, hand-flapping, weak stomached idiots.
Husband and I picked him up and took him in to the bathroom and we were able to calm him down while we cleaned the approximately 1+″ wound and looked for non-existent bandages (really? in a house with four kids?!) and told him how brave he was and that he was going to get stitches but that it would only hurt a little bit, etc. and that sweet little boy just nodded and said “I’m brave.” We just wanted to adopt him on the spot.
When we brought him out he would not let go of me so husband and I just held him and some paper towels to his wound until his grandmother picked him up to take him to urgent care. Then MIL and BILs start freaking out about all the blood on our clothes (yes, head wounds bleed like stuck pigs) and their biggest concern was that it wouldn’t come out in the wash. IDIOTS!
The next time we saw Sean he showed us his scar and said “I was brave!” Yes he was and much more so than about 12 grown ass adults.
Oh SH*T, America Moves To Counter China!
The US has no (real) money and no railways to speak of…and yet they want to build and finance a new multicountry rail network 10,000 km away from home.
How is the USA going to cough up the money?
Five Russian “Doomsday Planes” in the air 0300 Russia time- Shut Off Transponders mid-flight
Five Russian “Doomsday” aircraft are in the air over Russia or have landed after shutting off transponders near the Ural Mountains, including Aircraft PA-96024, ID RSD309, which is the Presidential plane.
While no one can be sure who – if anyone – is actually on these government evacuation aircraft which took off out of Moscow, and having shut their transponders off, we cannot know the exact landing site, it is very disconcerting to see this type of military aircraft activity inside Russia at this ungodly hour.
In particular, the Presidential aircraft shut its transponder off after crossing over the Ural Mountains.
Did they then make a U-turn to land at Mount Yamantau?
MOUNT YAMANTAU
Mount Yamantau, along with Kosvinsky Mountain (600 km to the north), are claimed by the United States of being home to a large secret nuclear facility or bunker, or both. Large excavation projects have been observed by U.S. satellite imagery after the fall of the Soviet Union, as recently as the late 1990s during the government of Boris Yeltsin.
During the Soviet era two military garrisons, Beloretsk-15 and Beloretsk-16, and possibly a third, Alkino-2, were built on the site. These garrisons were unified into the closed town of Mezhgorye (Russian: Межгорье) in 1995, and the garrisons are said to house 30,000 workers each, served by large rail lines.
Repeated U.S. questions have yielded several different responses from the Russian government regarding Yamantau, including it is a mining site, a repository for Russian treasures, a food storage area, and a bunker for leaders in case of nuclear war.
Responding to questions regarding Yamantau in 1996, Russia’s Defense Ministry stated: “The practice does not exist in the Defense Ministry of Russia of informing foreign mass media about facilities, whatever they are, that are under construction in the interests of strengthening the security of Russia.”
In 1997, a United States Congressional finding, related to the country’s National Defense Authorization Act for 1998, stated that the Russian Federation kept up a “deception and denial policy” about the mountain complex after U.S. officials had given Cheyenne Mountain Complex tours to Russian diplomats, which the finding stated “… does not appear to be consistent with the lowering of strategic threats, openness, and cooperation that is the basis of the post-Cold War strategic partnership between the United States and Russia.”
So why are these Russian military Government evacuation aircraft in the air over Russia at this strange hour? Why have they shut off their transponders mid-flight?
MEDVEDEV MAKES OMINOUS REMARKS “Nuclear 9/11”
On Sunday, Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Federation Council (Senate), made a post to his official Telegram account, calling it “a few words on the eve of [9/11].” In it, he derided the U.S. for what he called its “arrogance and disgusting narcissism” among Western nations and its “universal arrogance on any issue.” Near the end of the post, he also made the ominous prediction that the U.S. would suffer “another 11/09/2001-style attack, but with a nuclear or biological component,” without suggesting outright that Russia would be the nation to launch the attack.
This “mindset” is a direct result of of the “organ of misinformation” funded intentionally to “drum up” anti-China sentiment. This effort is funded in the many billions of US dollars. And it is working.
So…
The question is (better worded) …
“With the American people ripe with rage against China and ready for war… how is China going to respond?”
Oh…
You haven’t noticed?
The value of the USD is approaching that of toilet paper.
The American economy is in tatters, and it is only going to get worse; much worse.
Geo-politically, the “friends” of the United States are slithering away and making arrangments in favor of China.
The American people; uneducated with lofty degrees, a work ethic that resembles a lazy hound-dog on a hot August day, legalized looting at every level, and a media of crazy disinformation are about to ignite a civil war.
Organized crime, mental illnesses, collapsing infrastructure, and crazy levels of inflation, all aggravated with massive drug abuse…
And you (the questioner) somehow thinks that China is worried about the United States and what the American people think?
It’s not even on “the radar screen”.
…
The United States is in CHECK MATE.
Everything that it does; any action it takes, any movement in any direction is a lose move for the nation.
In the slight chance that the United States actually makes a military move against a united China-Russia-North Korean-Iran-BRICS+ axis, the result would be very bad.
Bad as in nuclear bad.
…
Do not go there.
Accept your life and do the best you can for you and yours. Do not worry about things that you have no control over.
I am optimistic about the future.
I really am, but there are many in the West that will have to adjust to a much lower standard of living than they have become accustomed to.
Merkules – ”Rich Men North Of Richmond” Remix (Veteran Reaction)
Here I am doing a reaction to Merkules – ”Rich Men North Of Richmond” Remix. Thank you for taking the time to watch this and for helping me on my journey to 50k subscribers.
Again.
Small Americans are getting a voice. This is the point in time when pitchforks and torches start to get lit.
In fact Francis Ford Coppola deleted a key scene in the movie Apocalypse Now which explains in two minutes what the New York Times couldn’t explain in millions of words in their twelve years of biased reporting.
The United States Office of Strategic Services- the OSS, the precursor to the CIA- invented the Viet Minh to fight the Japanese in wwii. The Viet Minh moved south after the first Indochina war against the French and became known as the Viet Cong. The fact was the U.S. was aware of Ho Chi Minh since he tried to get a meeting with Woodrow Wilson while he was president to elicit U.S. help in his opposition to French colonialism. When war broke out U.S. intelligence agents picked Ho to organize armed resistance against the Japanese and their Vichy French allies in Indochina.
After the Japanese left Indochina in 1945 the British and the French decided that they wanted their respective empires back and instead of holding elections the next year to settle the political situation in Indochina the French battled Ho and General Vo Nguyen Giap for eight years until their ignominious defeat in May, 1954 at a remote valley named Dien Bien Phu.
The United States, which had been bankrolling the French in their losing war at a cost of a million dollars a day continued the war against what was now communist North Vietnam. The United States began it’s war slowly by first setting up military advisory groups in Saigon. Commando missions were initiated from ships at sea to destroy coastal military objectives in the north and naval batteries were used to shell targets up to ten miles inland from the coast. In 1964 the U.S. started launching sorties from aircraft carriers in the Tonkin Gulf to destroy power plants and other targets of high value in the north. The U.S. landed a marine expeditionary brigade (MEB) on the coast of South Vietnam in March of 1965 to provide additional security around the U.S. air base at Da Nang. The marine landing was followed in the next two years by the largest military build up in history with an occupation force eventually totaling over half a million U.S. army troops.
Coppola had to delete the scene at the French plantation because in 1979, four years after the war ended, the truth about the war in Vietnam and how the United States created the conflict and had at various times assisted, armed and bankrolled each side would have been just too much for the American public. Ironically characters in the movie telling the truth about the war in Vietnam would have removed any perceived veracity from Coppola’s film. It was far easier getting the American public to swallow lies about an imaginary ‘Gulf of Tonkin Incident’ or a fictional ‘Domino Theory’ or even that Vietnam was a ‘winnable’ war then it was to get the public to believe actual facts about a long running conflict.
I was going through treatment for cancer back in 2005, and in addition to a surgery I was receiving radiation treatments. There are restrictions on people who receive internal radiation treatments (in my case, it was a large dose of radioactive Iodine 131) and then being sent home after taking the dosage. In the past, I had been kept in the hospital for the treatment in a special hospital room that was lined with lead panels, and the toilet sewer system was sent to a specific tank, where it was kept before being sent to the public sewage system.
At any rate, after taking the treatment I was told to spend three days in isolation, and a few extra days staying away from small children and pregnant women. (It was a a different time, and perspectives on cancer treatments and radiation.)
Anyway, I came home and met my pregnant neighbor near the front door to the building. I stepped away from her and told her I was going through radiation treatment and that I didn’t want to harm her or her baby. She smiled, went in, and a few minutes later I went to my apartment.
About 2 hours later, I heard a knock at my door. It was around 5 o’clock in the afternoon, and I went to the door and asked who is it, but got no answer. I opened the door, and on a tray was a meal of beef tips and noodles, some home baked bread, a single flower in a vase, and a note. The note was from my pregnant neighbor, and she had written something like my mom had cancer and I wanted you to know that I am available to talk if you need anything.
Nicest response I got from anyone who ever found out that I was a cancer patient.
China STRIKES BACK at Neocons as Biden ‘Disappointed’ Xi Skips G20 w/ Carlos Martinez & Ken Hammond
This conversation is so good, unbiased and informative.
Southern Shrimp and Grits
Southern Shrimp and Grits is a cheesy delight, and the bacon and green onions add a ton of flavor!
2023 09 16 15 12
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
2 slices bacon, chopped
3 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup instant grits
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled, deveined
4 green onions, thinly sliced (about 1/3 cup)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
Cook bacon in large skillet over medium-heat heat until crisp.
Drain on paper towels; set aside.
Bring water and salt to boil in medium saucepan.
Slowly stir in grits. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover. Cook for 7 minutes or until thickened. Stir in cheese; set aside.
Add shrimp, onions and garlic to skillet; cook and stir 3 minutes or until shrimp turn pink.
When I lived in American Samoa (Pago Pago), there were many unique aspects of it that I have long since forgotten. But today, well something jogged my mind. And you know what came up? Yes.
Turkey-ass sandwiches.
Yupper. Very popular in Samoa. They (for some reason that I do not understand) inherit a large amount of turkey-ass meat. And the locals take this cheap meat, and cook it and make sandwiches out of it.
Two slices of bread; mayonnaise, and turkey ass meat.
It’s not exactly my “cup of tea”, but I had a few sandwiches (back in the day). It fills your stomach. But not as good as you would hope for them to be. I’ll tell you what.
Long post today. Many videos. More than average number of Oliver Anthony reaction videos. Kinda like a mother-load. But overall thoughts on the absolute devastation of Western culture and Western society today.
Krugman initially made such a report based on the Western Model and predicted Chinas collapse in 2005
Krugman wrote a paper where he established that the Banking Crisis of the 1990s would surface by 2005 and displace China
It didn’t happen
Because as I keep saying Repeatedly – the Chinese work and think differently and their economy works as per their own system
Now Americans and the Western systems HATE Saving money. Money is meant to be spent. Money has to keep being spent and drive consumption.
If you don’t have the money – BORROW or avail what is another major driver – CREDIT
image 33
The Chinese on the other land love saving money. They love having money in the bank. They prefer to spend only money from their current earnings or from any PROFIT or INTEREST they earn on those savings
Likewise Americans invest very heavily in paper or non asset backed instruments
It’s very easy to go to New York tomorrow and raise $ 50 Million capital from a small hedge fund who will simply call someone else who will invest the money from an Insurance or Pension Fund
In the 1980s – the Americans loved the free market
Today they are confident of a Federal Bailout ever since the 2009 Crisis
Chinese don’t trust paper instruments
They trust ASSETS
They like Land, Gold, Resources, Buildings, Windmills
In 2002 – The Government of China converted 160 Billion Yuan of Bad Debt ($ 18.3 Billion) by Banks into Units of Land Holdings owned by the Banks
image 32
They offered these units as sale
The Debt was paid off in 8 Days!!!!
A Debt that was 10 years old, paid off in just 8 days
So unless an Economist knows China, Chinese Culture and the Chinese system including the fact that the State owns all the land and resources – they cannot understand China
image 31
They always judge China by the Western Standard and when China thrives and doesn’t collapse like they predicted
They don’t apologize and realize their mistakes
They double down and keep assuming China must have done SOMETHING SHADY
It’s fodder for the MSM Propaganda against China
These Experts, they apply the Western System everywhere
BASEL was fine in Switzerland and developing companiss
However applying it in India destroyed almost our entire enterprise and banking so far
So Krugman, he simply tries applying the Western system to China
He tried this in 2005 and failed badly
Now he is doubling down
Unless he truly understands the Chinese people and the Chinese system – his predictions aren’t worth a damn
Nobel Prize or No Nobel Prize
I Finally Heard the Viral Country Song EVERYONE is Talking About.
Yep you are right – NATO+G7 hold around 65% of the World’s Gold Reserves
They also hold $ 81.79 Trillion in External Debt combined
If you have a Gold Backed currency, it means the NATO and G7, they can’t keep printing notes anymore
Tomorrow every note they print can legally be redeemed against a few micrograms of gold
Their Printing fun is OVER
Now BRICS
BRICS have 20% of the World’s Gold Reserves
Their Cumulative External Debt is only $ 5.105 Trillion
So now YOU DO THE MATH
NATO +G7+ Japan have 3.25 times more gold
They have a whopping 16 times more external Debt
That’s the Big problem here
Low Country Chicken Bog
2023 09 13 15 18
Ingredients
1 (3 pound) whole chicken
6 cups water
1 tablespoon salt
1 onion, chopped
3 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup long-grain white rice
1/2 pound smoked sausage of your choice, sliced
1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
2 cubes chicken bouillon
Instructions
Place chicken, water, salt and onion in a large pot. Bring to a boil; cook until chicken is tender, about 1 hour.
Remove chicken from pot and let cool. Remove skin and bones and chop remaining meat into bite-size pieces.
Skim off fat from cooking liquid and measure 3 1/2 cups of this chicken broth into a 6 quart saucepan.
Add rice, chicken pieces, sausage, herb seasoning and bouillon to the saucepan. Cover the saucepan. Let come to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cook for 30 minutes. If mixture is too watery or juicy, cook over medium low heat, uncovered, until it reaches the desired consistency. Stir often while cooking.
TELL IT LIKE IT IS!!! | Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North of Richmond
All the focus is on the CHIP, the Chip and it’s stacking and it’s revolutionary inhouse design
In reality the real breakthrough by Huawei isn’t the damn Chip.
It’s the FILTER
The Bulk Accoustic wave Filter, the small component that in laymans terms enables those different latent speeds on your smartphone and gives you 5G connectivity
The Chip is great news
Yet that’s nothing amazing or new. Yes China can make 5nm Chips with Foreign DUV equipment
That’s why US sanctioned the equipment which is probably why China now uses stacking to get the same processing power but with higher power consumption
The BAW filter is the BIG BREAKTHROUGH and China is diverting all the attention from this to the CHIP hoping that idiots like Raimondo or Blinken go after the Chips
In reality the BAW Filter made entirely of Chinese Design is the killer here
I bet the Chinese commercially make it at 60% cost
Now China can make it’s entire 5G network spectrum without any dependence on the West
Zero Dependence
They control the raw materials, the equipment, the design and the process entirely in house
Companies that design and make the BAWs are entirely anyway on the US Blacklist so they won’t be affected in the least
Plus now that Huawei has designed a BAW for 5G Latents, it’s only one step for higher latents (6G)
It’s why China and Huawei are diverting everyone’s attention towards the CHIPS again and again
The West will say “They were made using ASML and we have restricted the exports of ASML so this will end”
Nobody will look at the 5G BAW filter designed and made by China from scratch and scaled efficiently
Helping China scale it’s way to 6G without any dependence on the West and KEEPING THEIR LEAD
That’s the big breakthrough Huawei has achieved which they are masking from the world to remain undisturbed for another 2–3 years while the Idiots focus on the Chip again and again
Originally Answered: What does it feel like to go from being wealthy to being poor?
It’s absolutely horrible. I was 50, had recently sold my very successful car washes, had a $1MM in my checking account, the big house, kids in private school and life was grand. I was focused on growing my other business (car wash equipment sales) when the manufacturer we represented lost a client that accounted 1/3 of our business, Hurricane Katrina hit (followed by several other hurricanes), and then the great recession. I had stopped taking a salary and started loaning the company money. I was determined to work through this. I even spent my retirement in a last attempt to turn things around. Fast forward, the company was broke, I was broke, and I couldn’t pay the house mortgage. I had to give up the house and shut down the business. A personal bankruptcy soon followed, and then a separation from my wife of 30 years. The stress was unbearable, and I contemplated suicide. The only thing that stopped me was that my dad had taken his life when I was 26, and I knew first hand the pain that my loved ones would bear for my actions.
The worst part is the loss of self confidence and depression, followed by the loss of “friends”. It’s amazing how quickly they disappear! I will say that two friends stuck by me. One in particular would check on me and take me out to ride his motorcycles to help take my mind off of things. I moved into a friend’s rental property and I started looking for work. I had owned my own companies since college, was a past Entrepreneur of the Year finalist, and had never really worked for anyone. At the worst, I was working at a construction company repairing equipment in their yard, collecting food stamps and living alone.
Fast forward a couple of years. My wife and I got back together, we moved to Texas, and I took a job back in my industry (building car washes). We now rent a nice home, and were recently able to buy a nice used car. It gets better every day. I love my job, and I hope to get back into car wash ownership (with investors), while continuing to do what I do.
In summary, there are a couple of important lessons to take from this:
Good times don’t last; bad times don’t last.
Most of the people who claim to be your friend are only there for the good times.
Business associates that you’ve spent millions of dollars with over decades will instantly turn their back on you when the money stops.
Don’t ever stop taking care of yourself. Exercise is great for relieving the stress.
Face facts. Recognize when you have a losing hand and walk away. And if bankruptcy is inevitable, just do it. Don’t procrastinate and stick your head in the sand.
Do not EVER use your retirement money. I used mine to try and save the company, and I am now 60 years old and starting over.
Never stop believing in yourself.
The Left RAGES Over Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North Of Richmond” | Tomi Lahren Is Fearless
China’s core competence is manufacturing and logistic. It has IP independence in numerous areas, and the industrial chain can collaborate to bring complex, world-class projects online in record time.
As I’ve said repeatedly over the years, China class is world class, because the Chinese competition has to beat the world’s best in order to be counted as domestic champions. There are few absentees in the world’s largest single market. Chinese corporations do not compete in sandboxed silos, unlike elsewhere.
The best thing is, the Chinese are among the best informed people when it comes to business intelligence, because of the completeness of the supply chain.
Case in point: Kuo Ming-Chi has been one of the best-informed and accurate Apple “analyst” over the past decade, because he taps the Greater China-centered supply chain directly.
That is also why only Apple is left in the brutal handset business in China, with the Koreans, Japanese, Taiwanese and Europeans all relegated to “others” or complete irrelevance on the mainland. Transsion, a company few have heard of, outsells Samsung in Africa, a market that Chinese handset vendors dominate. The competition that China offers is multidimensional and immense.
We will see entire industries being remade on a global scale as China moves up the tech ladder and redefine the 21st century factory. Today, a journalist who wants to showcase industrial innovation will find the best material in China, and not Germany, Japan and the US. Instead of going wild over AI’s use as a human-like chatbot, China is deploying AI, ML and big data on an industrial scale to run intelligent factories, automating the often tumultuous marriage between lean manufacturing and quality improvement.
What impressed me about the Mate 60 Pro’s soft launch was the order fulfillment. The announcement went live on the webstore around 12pm, and orders were processed for an hour before selling out. Customers received their purchases several hours later. That’s world class, cutting edge logistics, and it is already what the Chinese consumer expect as norm.
China is writing the 21st century future.
Can you imagine a world where Southeaast Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Russia (yes, Russia!) enjoying the same as the Chinese recreate the mainland experience overseas?
The global south leapfrogging the first world, in delivered outcomes.
Makes for interesting times, don’t you think?
My First Reaction to Oliver Anthony | I want to go home | REACTION
Jim Haywood wrote the best answer to these stupid questions I have come across on Quora:
OK, I’ll bite…
In the UK, I’ve never heard it called “free” by anyone except Americans looking for a straw man argument. In the UK we normally just call it “the hospital”, “the doctor”, “the clinic”, “the ambulance”. The exception is “the dentist”, which has a standard charge if you’re registered with the NHS. AND…
BEFORE YOU START YOUR NEXT STRAWMAN PROJECT… the state of people’s teeth is better in the UK than the US.
A personal experience.
Last year, I spent three weeks in hospital for major surgery. I wasn’t well enough for the operation at first and I was pumped full of antibiotics, vitamins and three fuck-off-size bags of amino acids and other nutrients (its called TPN). My biggest fear was the drip stand falling and crushing me, (like suffocating under a cow’s udder!). I took a photo.
The extra nipple is for visitors.
I’m joking, of course; there were no visitors during the covid lockdown.
I had the operation, and some days recovering, at the end of which (the evening before I was due to be discharged), I tested positive for covid (you remember that funny little bug), so had to stay longer.
I had about £2.60 in my pocket. I went home with £2.00 because, one day, I went for a walk in my hospital slippers and bought a Twix at a vending machine.
(The food, btw, was good, and already paid-for, of course, since you asked. Not Michelin starred, but wholesome, tasty, familiar, comfort-food. It was the same as served in the canteen for visitors and staff and cooked on the premises.)
When finally home, I was looked after by “district” nurses visiting me at home to change dressings, and specialist related to the particular procedure I had. This was daily at first, tapering off as I needed less support.
At home, then, I got a pulmonary embolism (a blood clot in the lung, probably as a consequence of covid combined with the op.), I was reticent to go back to hospital (as you might expect), so the GP came out to me, at about 9pm, just to check me over and make sure I went to hospital (a PE can be life-theatening). I was admitted back into hospital via A&E (Emergency Room) for a day of monitoring.
More drugs. Slow recovery over the last year, with regular checkups and blood tests.
Money?
Now, I’m not a rich man, and I have a mortgage, and bills to pay like everyone else.
Not once did I worry about medical bills. Not once. Because there weren’t any. No forms to fill in, other than a simple consent for the operation, no “co-pays” (as I’ve learned you call them), no payments for diagnostic imaging – x-rays, ultrasound scans, and no insurance man checking whether I could have the treatment or the meds (WTF??).
Being that sick is a shitty experience whatever country you live in. But, by God, I was very grateful for the Nation Health Service.
No, it’s not free. We all pay for it based on our ability to pay. If you’re rich, you pay more; if you’re poor you pay less. It’s funded directly from general taxation and comes out of my monthly salary before I see my pay in the bank. (BTW, the tax system is massively more efficient than in the US, too. I haven’t had to complete an annual tax return for 20 years, for example.)
I post my experience, here, not because it was exceptional – it wasn’t – but because it was ORDINARY and EXPECTED.
Oh yeah, “socialised” medicine:
So when I need medical treatment, it’s already paid for, fairly (we’re not bloody savages), by every tax payer in the country.
Just to head off a few other straw men:
If you haven’t paid your taxes, you still get medical treatment, because the doctors don’t care about your tax: it’s none of their business. And we’re not bloody savages.
If you’re terminally ill, you still get treatment. We’re not bloody savages.
There are no such thing as “death panels”, an invention of liars in the US media. We’re not bloody savages.
And the only time you see a shop till is in the cafe in the reception foyer (and that’s staffed by volunteers) or the staff canteen.
What it really costs you, Americans.
Not only do you, in the US, pay more (about double) for a similar quality of service, some of you pay with your lives.
Being scared of medical bills, people put up with pain, put off worries, and sometimes die, unable to afford the most basic medication. Insulin, for example. You don’t pay for insulin in the UK.
How else do you pay? Drug addiction, as “doctors”, cajoled and incentivised by big pharma, look for a quick, affordable (to the patient) fix, and end up hooking the patients onto addictive drugs.
On average, your life expectancy is two years shorter than in the UK. Now, some people might say “ Well, those are two years of pain and decrepitude at the end of my life, so no great loss!” No. They are two years of healthy life that you haven’t had. And all that’s left to you then is some horrible religious drug-addled fatalism as you watch your life and your savings bleed away to be sucked up by big pharma and the bloated, useless “insurance” companies. This is a one-way flow, notice. Once that money is gone from your family it’s gone for good.
Free-rider “problem”? There’s plenty of free riders – you’re already paying for the health plans of all those insurance salesmen, actuaries, marketeers, administrators…
End of rant. Now the really sad part:
You know, I’m sure you’ve noticed a certain sneering from some respondents on Quora towards the USA. Not Americans, I hasten to add: we tend to like Americans. You might put all that negativity down to “hate” (which seems to mean something different to Yanks, but never mind). I tell you though, it’s not hate, it’s not envy, it’s not spite or helpless rage or snobbishness. It’s something much more damning:
Disappointment.
A footnote about prescription charges.
In the UK, there are prescription charges. But you don’t pay if you’re a child or pregnant or over 60 or suffering from one of a number of long-term conditions or on state benefits, or receiving disability allowance, or unemployed, or living in Wales or Scotland (which have slightly different arrangements).
If you do pay, it’s a standard change of £9:30 per prescription, but you can buy a “prepayment certificate” for £112 per year, if that’s better value.
When I collect a prescription, I’m asked “Do you pay for your prescriptions?” I used to answer “Yes”, and pay, or “No, I have a ‘cert’. Now, they rarely even ask, because I look my age, 60. Not once, have I been asked to prove my age or show a certificate. Why? Because its too much bother – if I needed to cheat, I wouldn’t have to because I would get it free anyway (in most cases)!
BTW, if medicines are dispensed in hospital, there is never a prescription charge.
Anything else?
Yes. One more thing that screws American patients: your litigious culture: if something goes wrong you can be awarded punitive damages. Suing a hospital is cheap and the rewards can be very high. This incentivises ultra-precautionary medicine so you go to a doctor (on your sooper-dooper insurance policy) with a simple strep throat. The Doc writes you up for a mountain of almost certainly completely unnecessary tests to de-risk himself (not for your benefit). He has an army of lawyers on stand-by in his own indemnity insurance, which has to be paid for. So his charge are higher, so insurance premiums are higher, and ultimately, the individual pays. The costs are so high, everyone is looking for an opportunity to screw someone else.
In the UK, the system, even today, works more on trust: patients trust the doctors to advise them and diagnose them correctly, and trust that there are check and balances in place that will identify bad doctors and disqualify them. Suing a doctor is still possible, but damages are only to reimburse the failed patient, not to punish the failing medic.
You’re are all paying to keep the ambulance chasers chasing ambulances.
Finally, let’s go back to your question:
Why do some call universal healthcare free when it isn’t since people pay for it through their taxes?
No, matey. It’s not free despite being paid for through our taxes, it’s free because it’s paid for though our taxes:-
Free at the point of use.
Free from the threat of bankruptcy.
Free from co-pays and desperate attemps to claw back money through lawyers (and their fees).
Free from the fear of lawsuits.
Free from drug companies’ profiteering from your illness.
Free from t.v. adverts for life-saving drugs (ask your doctor for what???).
Free to leave your crappy, toxic, wage-slavery dead-end job, yet still receive treatment for your “pre-existing” condition (as opposed to non-existing conditions, presumably).
Free not to have to choose between your home and living out of pain.
Free to hold your newborn baby in hospital (you’ve GOT to be joking!).
Free from Go Fund Me campaigns for your kids’ cancer treatment.
Free from the selfish, vindictive, judgemental, spiteful attitude that Human Being X doesn’t deserve to live because they didn’t buy enough insurance.
Put all that together, folks: what a weird and twisted SICK system you have (accidentally, perhaps) invented! Some of you think it’s normal, even to the point of QUESTIONING another, better system. If you’re happy with it, you’re just as weird and twisted. But probably not sick. Yet.
U.S Lose $1.7 Trillion USD in Trade, After Tariff On China
Welcome back to Innovative Check! Dive deep into the intricacies of the U.S.-China trade dynamics and uncover how tariffs are impacting American manufacturers. As companies like MISCO feel the strain, what does the future hold for U.S. domestic production?
To little to late, the horse has bolted, China have the ability to make their own now, there is no going back. The USA have lost their little chip war, NEVER start a fight you can’t finish, you’ll end up with a bloody nose. The US never seem to learn, block them from the ISS, no problems, China just make their own, block the chip supply? No problems China just make their own, try and block technology? Won’t work, China will end up with better than yours, when are they going to wake up, that it’s better to work with them than against them? If they start a war with China, they might end up with a lot more than just a bloody nose,
I am planning to study Mandarin Chinese, yet I am overwhelmed by what to do, and what online resources there are available, can you please assist?
If you are serious, move to China and immerse yourself in the environment which will force you to learn Putonghua. If you are not serious about learning Putonghua, don’t bother, because the time investment is worth it.
My second son was a toddler and we were on the way to meet friends at a soft play centre. i always stopped off on the way at a local garage and got a large coffee. There was a short zebra crossing from the parking area to the shop and a young girl in a convertible parked across it. Son was walking holding my hand and I said
“Did you have to block the crossing”
“Too bad you fat cow” she flounced off into the shop.
Coffee in cup holder I watched her pull away between a lorry and the bollards at the shop front … and scrape the side of her pale blue car along the side of the lorry. I almost wet myself laughing so hard and loud enough that she heard me. The driver of the lorry who had watched this with amusement looked across at me and said
“No Chinese can say it?” where have you been? Definitely not China.
I worked with uni students in Guangzhou who major in several European languages including English. They translate English to Mandarin articles for me in a few hours, and here we are, speaking English and Mandarin in a Zhongshan cafe.
My China nephew about to graduate from engineering course from Guizhou university listens to old Beatles songs, he likes the group, and we talked in Chinese and English.
Huawei naming of their latest phone is for the international market. In Kuala Lumpur Huawei has a skyscraper HQ and their mobile phones are popular among Malaysians.
The world does not exist only for English speaking people.
In tiny Malaysia, a former British colony, you’d be surprised how many people eat, live, and breathe Mandarin only, they don’t need the English language.
Kasandras Beware – China’s Economy Will Not Hit A Wall
The economist and columnist of the New York Times Paul Krugman wrote about China hitting the wall:
China is in big trouble. We’re not talking about some minor setback along the way, but something more fundamental. The country’s whole way of doing business, the economic system that has driven three decades of incredible growth, has reached its limits. You could say that the Chinese model is about to hit its Great Wall, and the only question now is just how bad the crash will be. … Wages are rising; finally, ordinary Chinese are starting to share in the fruits of growth. But it also means that the Chinese economy is suddenly faced with the need for drastic “rebalancing” — the jargon phrase of the moment. Investment is now running into sharply diminishing returns and is going to drop drastically no matter what the government does; consumer spending must rise dramatically to take its place. The question is whether this can happen fast enough to avoid a nasty slump.
That was written in 2013 when China’s GDP at purchase power parity reached $16.3 trillion. The number has since more than doubled to a projected $33 trillion in 2023. (In the same time span U.S. GDP(ppp) grew from $17 to $26 trillion.) But that hasn’t influenced Krugman’s conclusions. Two week ago he wrote another column that paints the same gloomy picture and prescribes the same false medicine:
Since the late 2000s, however, China seems to have lost a lot of its dynamism. … … China clearly can’t sustain anything like the high growth rates of the past. … At a fundamental level, China is suffering from the paradox of thrift, which says that an economy can suffer if consumers try to save too much. If businesses aren’t willing to borrow and then invest all the money consumers are trying to save, the result is an economic downturn. Such a downturn may well reduce the amount businesses are willing to invest, so an attempt to save more can actually reduce investment. … The obvious answer is to boost consumer spending. Get state-owned enterprises to share more of their profits with workers. Strengthen the safety net. And in the short run, the government could just give people money — sending out checks, the way America has done.
How is giving checks (btw: no Chinese or European citizen uses those antique instruments) to people who are saving instead of consuming supposed to increase their consumption? I would presume that it would rather increase their savings. Giving more income to people who like to save to increase consumption is like pushing on a string.
David Fishman, an economist who lives in China and speaks Mandarin, had an interesting chat with a taxi driver. He concludes:
1. Even after buying a property, long-term considerations still drive Yang to save money, most prominently his daughter and parents. 2. Yang and his wife give up consumption in pursuit of their long-term goals, even working an extra job, to put away extra cash for those goals. 3. He associates loose/free consumption habits with youth and a lack of responsibility. His consumption today is strategic and intentional. 4. He is unperturbed by the prospect of real estate losing value, since he bought his house to live in, and doesn’t intend to resell it.
Now, macro econ punditry is *not* my lane.
But if I hear a pundit talking about Chinese consumers, and how they will/won’t behave in response to some government policy, I will always wonder what their mental model of this generic Chinese consumer’s behavior looks like.
To be credible, that consumer behavior model should probably look like Yang, willing to work an extra job & skip consumption, not out of today’s financial necessity, but in preparation of being a good filial son, and so his 3-year old daughter can take dance lessons someday.
And that is Krugman’s problem with diagnosing China’s economy. People work hard in China. And they like to save instead of consuming all their income. They retire pretty early but live long (though that retirement age is likely to rise). So having a bit of money on the side will make for a nicer living in later years:
The official retirement age for men is 60. Women in managerial positions have a retirement age of 55, while blue-collar female workers can retire at 50.
Chinese people are simply not Americans. But Krugman’s economic models presume that they are and he isn’t willing or capable of looking beyond those.
Still he was onto something when he opened his column with this:
The narrative about China has changed with stunning speed, from unstoppable juggernaut to pitiful, helpless giant.
It is indeed a fact that the narrative about China’s economy has changed way more than China’s economic numbers. But Krugman fails to ask why.
First, the most salient preoccupations of Western commentators reflect the skewed distribution of foreign-owned capital within the Chinese economy. … The second feature relates to the financial industry’s reliance on the art of political-economic storytelling to sell investment options.
But it is probably more a political instrument to support the general U.S. war against China.
Newsweek recently published a rather laughable story which asked if Shanghai (25 million permanent inhabitants) had turned into a ‘ghost town’.
The Global Times editors see political motives behind such ‘bad China’ narratives:
If only Newsweek is doing this, then it is an isolated case, indicating the media outlet’s problematic professional ethics and the negative impact it caused is not significant. However, starting from March or April this year, not only Newsweek but also other US and Western media outlets have been selectively using some specific data from a certain point or in a certain field to generalize, and even fabricate information to undermine, the Chinese economy. This is a coordinated and large-scale campaign, with consistent steps, intense actions, and extensive content, which is rare in recent years. Can we say that this is a coincidence?
The ‘bad China’ narrative is an economic phenomenon but is used for political reasons:
In the field of economics, there is a term called narrative economics, which uses storytelling to influence judgments, even at the cost of creating false information, to undermine the morale and confidence of the target and attempt to deter foreign investment, thereby having a substantial impact on the economy. The US has openly regarded China as its biggest competitor and even treats China as an imaginary enemy in many practical aspects. We cannot expect it to engage in fair competition with China. In order to win this “competition” initiated by itself, the US often resorts to any possible means. This perspective can explain the phenomenon in which the US is badmouthing the Chinese economy in a collective manner and can also roughly predict the US’ future actions toward China, indicating that it aligns with the basic facts.
War propaganda falls apart when a war is lost. Economic propaganda falls apart when the new numbers come in. Krugman’s doom and gloom propaganda from 2013 was defeated by China’s growth. His 2023 propaganda is likely to have the same fate.
Posted by b on September 12, 2023 at 16:39 UTC | Permalink
EXPLOSIVE! New details in the JFK assassination & RFK, JR responds
EXPLOSIVE! New details in the JFK assassination, and now RFK, JR. is responding. On Saturday, 88-year-old former secret service agent Paul Landis gave an exclusive interview with The New York Times where he shared he shared his revelations regarding what happened November 22, 1963. And it turns out he’s the one that picked up the magic bullet from the back of the President’s limo. This completely upends the story around the magic bullet and undermines The Warren Commission.
I’ll tell you a story from my Marines career. Not marine Corp, Royal Marines. I was responsible for intel and let’s just say I was on detachment to some of the better Royal Marines. We had some young gawky junior officer fresh out of training and looking to stamp his authority on us. So one day he decided to make me do 20 I took the piss and did a few extra got back up and stood to attention. A few hours later I got called to the bosses office.
Conversation as follows.
Hayworth did he reprimand you?
Yes sir
Why?
I was laughing at him behind his back
CO to hotshot,
You might want to remember that this guy is the one who’s going to be getting the right intel to your unit, basically when he’s on operations he is the guy making the decisions
Officer Hotshot. Why, I’m in charge.
CO to hotshot, not without fucking intel you’re not. Now get the fuck out of my base and get a transfer. If you think stamping authority around here is going to get you any favors then you are useless to me and my men. There is no rank around here, not even me. That’s the SBS way. We’re all experts at our jobs and I don’t need a fucking junior officer upsetting my teams. I still love that CO.
My Stepdaughter passed away at 22 due to complications from her Type 1 Diabetes. She had massive medical bills. We had insurance, but it only covered parts. So, let’s start by being harassed by a debt collector calling about someone that had passed away.
When the bills started coming I called all the companies. 99% only asked me to send a copy of the death certificate. But, this one company, well, they were total slime balls. The odd part was this was on a bill that was actually paid by the insurance in full. So, on the first call from them I sent them copies of the paid in full notices, and a copy of the death certificate.
A year went by, and I got a call from them again on the same bill. I told them about their error, even sent a copy of the registered mail signed copy. Week later, another call. This time I was hot. Gave them an ear full. A month later, same thing. This time, the asshat actually said they don’t believe she is dead. Wanted to know how to reach her so they can sue her for the money. I gave them the address to the cemetery. A month went by, another call. Same thing: we don’t believe you, etc. So, I said, Do what you got to do.
And believe it or not, they actually sued her. I went to the office of the lawyer, with my lawyer, and a counterclaim on behalf of the estate. The lawyer wanted to drop everything right then. But, we took it to court. We made them play the recording of the agent telling me that they refused to believe she was dead. The Judge dropped the hammer on them. We won a $30,000 donation in her name to the American diabetes Association.
However, back in he 1960s I was one of a group of about 20 new graduates taken on by a large multinational. We were in an enormous site and were all expected to trek across it in order to clock in every morning. We quickly took it in turns for one of us to go and clock in for us all.
One day, one of my colleagues had just finished clocking in for us when he was apprehended by a portly manager for this illegal practice. “Do you know who I am, demanded this august presence?”
“No” my friend replied and listened to the fellow describe his important position in the company. When he had finished, my friend asked him if he knew who my friend was.
“No” replied the manager.
“Thank God!” said my friend and took to his heels. An investigation followed but we were able to hide the miscreant
Shortly after, we decided to go on strike and all refused to clock in. The company relented after we agreed to sign an attendance sheet. The local union rep found about this and made a fuss about it as it was a privilege normally extended to more senior staff than new graduates. The result was we were all promoted to a position where we were ‘legally’ allowed to sign in which carried a pay rise with it.
I don’t know what this proves except that perhaps it pays not to accept being messed about with.
Testimonial: “They Moved a Biological Man into My Dorm Room!”
The #WalkAway Campaign is a true grassroots movement, founded by former liberal, Brandon Straka, dedicated to providing a place to share #WalkAway testimonials and personal journeys to freedom.
I worked at a state park for a few years. The primary sources of income for the park are day-use fees and the seven campgrounds. The main two campgrounds and day-use areas are developed, very nice with running water, showers, and are only accessible through a manned gate. The other five undeveloped campgrounds and day-use areas are self-pay on the honor system, but since that unfortunately means most people don’t pay, one of my main duties was going around and collecting fees.
More often than not, most people were “just about to go pay.” Sometimes they’d been in the park for days, but were inevitably “just about to go pay.” What timing.
One day I stopped by a campsite where I was immediately confronted by a diminutive and very angry camper. He immediately started accusing me of harassment, then started listing an exhaustive series of offenses I had committed against him and his family, even though I’d been there for about a total of 45 seconds. Recognizing that he had a few too many with lunch, I put on a big smile and assured him I was just there to collect the campground fees. He told me to look in his truck, he had his self-pay permit attached to the windshield.
He wasn’t wrong, it was there. The problem is that the window tag is attached to an envelope. You put your money in the envelope, write down your license plate number, and put it in the locked collection box. There’s even a matching number on both in case you didn’t write your license plate number on it. The tag was on his window, but the envelope was still attached.
I calmly explained this to him, and asked for the $8 fee. He swore at me, called me names, threatened me. I asked him if there was someone else I could talk to. That really set him off. He started screaming at me, hitting his own truck, and threatening to call the cops and sue me. I tried my best to keep him calm, then decided to give him some cool down time. I left and started going to the other camp sites, planning on returning on my way out and maybe even catch someone more sober and reasonable.
However, a few minutes later I received a call on my radio. A camper had called 911 to report that a ranger was harassing and threatening them. They wanted me to go talk to him and see what was going on.
This is a unique form of irony.
Seeing the conflict of interests and not wanting to escalate the situation, I asked if a county deputy was really available. One was, and he was there within minutes. I met them both back at the campsite where I found the man yelling at the deputy. I calmly explained that if he just wanted to pay his $8 we would leave and he could enjoy the rest of the night.
Long story short, he spent the night in jail and received over $100 in fines.
TRAVEL FROM GHANA TO KENYA WITH ME | MY SURPRISING FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF NAIROBI
My wife quite possibly saved our lives. We were on our last vacation, a two-week road trip through some western states. At her insistence I booked two nights on the Las Vegas strip. (I love playing poker but I can’t stand Las Vegas. I would have preferred an extra night in Laughlin or at an Indian casino). The moment we arrived, she was on edge. I did all right, and even cashed in a small sit-and-go Hold-Em tournament.
When I got back to the room, she said we are leaving first thing in the morning. We had reserved a nice room on the strip for Thursday and Friday nights, and this was still Thursday. We had already toured the renovations going on “Downtown” and planned to spend Friday on the strip. There was some huge music festival going on Friday night we wanted to check out. Nope. WE. ARE. LEAVING.
Yes, Dear. Some things shall not be questioned. Change some reservations, whatever. Reminder to self: I don’t even like Vegas. Her idea to go there, and her idea to LEAVE. RIGHT. NOW. Yes, Dear.
We had just settled in to a Motel 6 in Bakersfield CA when Stephen Paddock opened fire at that music festival on the Vegas strip.
Didn’t give the judge a laugh but gave others in the court room one. My older cousin was a senior in high school and her social problems class was on a field trip to the local court. We lived in a small county, so cases ranged from traffic tickets to drug offenses to child support cases before one judge.
This was before DNA testing. A 17 yo mother was on the stand testifying that she had only been with one guy and he denied that he was the father. The judge called the one she named as the father and he admitted he had had sex with her, but so had his two friends. The judge believed the mother. He called each of the guy’s friends and they testified that they had each had sex with her and they were winking at each other as if they were fooling everyone. The teen mother was upset but was quiet. The judge looked at the three friends and ruled that each would pay the full amount of child support and he would see them in a month and maybe by then they would have figured out which one was the father before he ruled if all three would pay back child support.
Bet the three friends had an interesting conversation outside the parking lot
Bobby Asks Tony To Give Him Better Jobs – The Sopranos HD
The evolution of Bobby’s character was one of my favorite details from The Sopranos. From a shy, bumbling guy Tony ridiculed and dismissed into Tony’s most trusted soldier.
Yes, because I was the manager when this incident occurred.
For all of an hour and a half or so, I had to fill in as a temp for the Domino’s store I worked at.
Why my manager picked me, a kid who had just turned 18, to be her fill-in is beyond me, but I guess she trusted me more than I thought she did.
Apparently, she had a doctor’s appointment to attend to and the assistant manager was unable to clock in early, so it was up to me to hold down the fort.
Even under unusual circumstances, I was determined to perform well in my new role, even if it was only temporary.
I did perfectly fine for the first hour, as business was going well as usual.
That was, until some kid wearing a Civil Air Patrol (CAP) blues uniform walked in and told me that he had somehow ‘earned’ some free cookie brownies.
The uniform looked similar to Air Force blues, but without the ribbons, the lapels, and the rank.
And how did the kid supposedly earn free brownies?
According to him, he was walking down the street when one of the delivery drivers pulled up next to him and told him he could have some free brownies solely because he was wearing the uniform and the driver wanted to thank him for his “service to the community.”
I knew that was bullshit immediately because I personally knew all the drivers on shift, and none of them would ever hand out free brownies to anyone, no matter who it was.
And they definitely weren’t going to pull up to some kid and tell him to walk to the store for some free brownies.
That sounds really stupid, doesn’t it?
Anyway, I told the kid he had to pay for whatever he wanted or he wasn’t getting anything.
With that, the kid left. Or so I thought.
A couple of minutes later, his mom walked in and demanded that I give her son his free brownies because of his service to the community or whatever.
There was no way in hell I was going to be a pushover for some entitled boy scout and his even more entitled Karen of a mother.
I told her that I wasn’t going to just give anything out for free and that they would have to pay for what they order, or else they had to leave the store.
The lady didn’t seem very pleased with that, so she told me to ‘get’ my manager so that she could further ‘negotiate’ or really just demand.
I told her no because I was the manager at the time, and I then told her to leave or else I would have to call the cops and whoever else I saw fit.
That scared away the mom and her kid, so they left the store, and I told them to have a nice day.
I was shocked to see that two people could have such an irrational sense of entitlement, and it still bothers me that people like them are out there.
TSMC has a large number of resignations;6,000 Tsinghua scientists defect to Huawei
TSMC has a large number of resignations; 6,000 Tsinghua scientists defect to Huawei; Ren Zhengfei personally receives Chinese students.
16. My province, New-Brunswick, is completely bilingual . You can get served in English or French. Everything has to be bilingual as well, including road signs, menus, food labels, etc…
A few years ago, my wife heard what sounded like an animal scratching around in our attic. I figured a squirrel must have made its way inside. The attic access is a little 3 foot by 4 foot opening in the ceiling of one of the closets. It’s a pain to get up there, but I know even a single squirrel can cause a lot of damage so I got the ladder and a flashlight with Intention of trying to chase it out the vent up there.
i climbed up through the opening and turned the flashlight on to see what was happening and I saw about 50 pairs of bat eyes reflecting back at me. I turned the flashlight off, slowly climbed back down the ladder pulling the door cover closed behind me.
My wife, anxiously awaiting my return asked if I had gotten rid of it already. I just said nope and that I wasn’t going back up there.
it ended up being a whole ordeal to get rid of them. They are a protected species, so you can’t have them exterminated. You have the house sealed off to prevent the bats from getting, but they leave a hatch the bats can get out through. Once they all leave in the evening to eat, you are good. Only problem was, it was their mating season so we were told if we sealed the house now, when the mothers left to eat, they would not be able to return to care for their babies, so we had to wait two months until the babies were old enough to go feed on their own.
it was a long two months hearing them moving around up there. Fortunately, homeowners insurance did pay for the removal and cleanup afterwards.
I’ll never forget all of those eyes staring at me though. Still gives me chills.
Buckle Up: This White House MISTAKE Will Hurt Americans
The European Union’s leader has proposed the idea of a Global Digital ID, which would allow governments worldwide to monitor their citizens. While it’s framed as “keeping track,” it raises concerns about potential surveillance and control. The plan involves countries contributing funds to establish this system, overseen by the United Nations. Critics liken it to dystopian scenarios, like the “Mark of the Beast” from religious texts, as it could enable extensive tracking, restricting access to basic necessities for those with dissenting opinions or unvaccinated individuals.
My mate Graham, almost 70 years old. He came out of his house one day and 3 young guys are lounging against his BMW car parked in the street. “Come on guys, off the car, it’s mine”.
Reply was, “ huh, don’t have to, we can do as we want!”
“Oh, so it’s OK for everyone to do what they want? Regardless of the consequences?” “ Really?”. The guy said “Yes!”
Graham hit him with a left hook that sent the guy flying and bleeding into the road. He turned to the others and said, “Hey, this is great, being able to do whatever I want, with no consequences!” They ran for it and the other one picked himself up off the road and followed them.
The moral of the story: don’t fuck with an Ex British Para and ex French Foreign Legionaire, even if he is almost 70!
Oliver Anthony Slams High Ticket Prices, Cancels Show
I just like this guy more and more as I see how he deals with his success. In a world of so many bad leaders and people who are driven by money alone, it’s so refreshing seeing someone who won’t bend his morals to greed.
When he backed down an abusive teacher without saying a single word.
I was in second grade, and my teacher was haranguing me while I waited for my father to pick me up at the office. He walked in, saw me sitting there, bloody and clothes torn, and simply looked at her. She started, then began to shrilly list my supposed faults. Silence, and the “Dad stare”. She started spouting justifications. More silence and one eyebrow raised. She burst into tears and bolted from the room…
US/EU pressure UAE in effort to pick apart BRICS
This just further shows how desperate the US and collective West are getting, their military industrial complex along with the USD’s hegemony are in decline and they know it.
It is stuff like this that kind of annoys and amuses me because it shows that people that are commenting don’t even have a basic idea of how a cell phone works.
SK Hynix is a manufacturer of DRAM and flash memory chips. DRAM is basically a commodity market, and it would have likely been impossible for SK Hynix to prevent Huawei from using its DRAM even it it wanted to. The thing about DRAM is that is it basically interchangeable with other DRAM and flash memory. So unlike other chips which have to be custom designed, Huawei can replace those with local chips if it wanted to.
One thing that kind of really makes my blood boil is that the US seems intent on preventing China from manufacturing top of the line cell phones. Okay, if the US wanted to restrict China from getting atom bomb secrets or manufacturing better missiles, I can sort of deal with that.
But we are talking about a consumer cell phone, and if China can’t manufacture better cell phones then I don’t know what the US expects China to do.
This is hard to watch…
That chick wouldn’t be so bad looking if she didn’t turn herself into a clownish monster.
Absolutely. There was this kid (literally, he was 17) who was pretty much the model recruit. He never complained; did what he was told; helped the rest of us out; and was physically in great shape.
He’d been in competitive martial arts for years. Not YMCA level, but “has to travel to Japan for belt tests,” skilled. (He never, ever bragged about it.)
The only time I can remember him getting yelled at was when we were in the sand pit learning basic unarmed self defense. (The super cheesy kind that makes you think you’re in a World War II training film. I think that they have dramatically improved that portion of the training now.)
The Private was decidedly and obviously half-assing it. Not arrogantly, more like bored out of his skull.
One of the drill sergeants came over and was doing his motivation screaming thing and asked him, “You think you don’t need this? Are you too good for this?” and other variations on the theme.
Pvt Yarberry replied, again, matter-of-factly and not boastfully, that no, he did not actually need that training.
It went about how you’re imagining it.
The only thing that saved him was that he had been such a model recruit. So the drill sergeant eventually says, “Show me.”
Mind you, this was not an angry fight. They assumed ready stances and this recruit did a series of moves that were very fast and almost gentle? Honestly, I can’t really describe what he did because it was so fast. The drill sergeant was basically laid onto the ground in a control position where he could not do anything about it. Nobody tried to hit anybody, but it was clear that the 17 year-old kid could put this 30 something year-old experienced soldier in the pretty muc…
German deindustrialization accelerates
“I spent a lot of time in Germany. I cannot believe that the Germans I knew would follow the Ukrainian mission over the cliff like lemmings.”
Doom and Gloom
On August 24th, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) announced partial suspension of Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines due to low semiconductor demand. Similar challenges are affecting South Korean semiconductor factories due to the loss of a crucial customer, China. South Korean Chip Factories Announce Shutdown of Lithography Machines Due to Lack of Chinese Orders!
This nightmare will hit South Korea in two steps.
Loss of China market as its chip manufacturers enhance technology and ramp up capacity.
Reduction of global prices as China manufacturers enter the international market in 2024 and that would affect the profit of the South Korea chip companies.
The nightmare for South Korean chip companies is only starting. It is too late to reverse the situation.
Huawei is capable of self-reliance, and the US plan to sanction Huawei has failed, but they will not resign themselves to failure, and there will be more madness in the future. ake trouble, fail, make trouble again, fail again . . . till their doom. that is the logic of the American imperialism over in dealing with the rival companys, and they will never go against this logic.
Over the weekend, the United States and South Korea agreed to a five-year deal to increase the military payments, subject to legislative approval in both capitals. Under the agreement, South Korea will pay $1 billion this year, 13.9 percent more than its annual payments in 2019 and 2020, officials said on Wednesday.
IMO there is little chance of a rapprochement between China and SK until the American Pie and Yankee Doodle singer is gone. His hardline towards China will cost not only his job but has affected the future of many South Korea.
What a jerk SK has elected for the Blue House? Now they understand the price they have to pay for Yankee Doodle democracy as per USA.
I Left USA and Moved To Thailand. Why I’ll NEVER Go Back.
As a korean-american who just came back to the US after 3 months stay in Bangkok, I couldn’t agree more with what you said. My quality of life escalated significantly when I was in Thailand. I miss Thailand so much haha.
I’m a truck driver. One day, when I was waiting in line to load at a coffee warehouse, the driver behind me who was an owner-operator asked if he could load before me because he was in a hurry to get to his delivery on time. So I let him pass in front. He then told me that he’d just bought another truck and asked me if I would drive it. He offered me much more money than my current employer, so I accepted. That was 15 years ago. He now has a fleet of 50 semi-trailer trucks and I’m still working for him.
They need the Chinese market to have the revenues to do research and stay relevant.
If they lose the Chinese market they will end up as laggers in technology rather than leaders.
Micron is already projected to lose 50% revenues. And YMTC hasn’t even started production with their second much larger fab yet. That is due to come online next year.
So Micron can expect to lose the entire Chinese market.
Micron will also lose the world market outside of the US, EU, Japan, lapdogs, etc. As those Chinese chips are going to be going into Chinese products shipper worldwide.
Same for Nvidia, Intel, etc. SMIC is building 4 more fabs. As they come online and start making chips, they will displace US, EU, and Japanese chip makers. And we are talking about all types of chips. Everything from power chips to FPGAs to GPUs to CPUs to DRAM to ASICs for everything.
As BCG’s (Boston Consulting Group) paper said. Western companies would lose their leadership position. They thought it would happen in 30 years…I laughed when I read that. Clearly they didn’t understand Chinese progress in tech.
He who controls the market controls the industry.
Hi-Rez – Rich Men North Of Richmond (Rap Remix) – Reaction
During the G20, Xi Jingping spent his time meeting Nicholas Maduro of Venezuela and setting up a Oil Deal to assure the energy security of his nation
He later toured the provinces of China to supervise the Agricultural Areas and talk to the people about Health Insurance and renewed improvements in Agrarian financing
In short he was doing what a Leader should be doing
Visiting his people and discussing their problems and finding solutions
While people like Sunak , Ursula, Scholz and Biden and Macron paraded around pompously, blissfully ignoring the problems their people face
Xi Jingping is doing what’s best for China and the Chinese people
He sent Li Qiang to Delhi as a representative believing that it was enough, having lost any real respect for the alliance and feeling the alliance to be a lackey group for the G7
image 38
As for PM Modi stealing the limelight
Barely 24 hours later Bidens speech in Vietnam included
I met with the Indian PM, Nare..Nare.. Modi and they didn’t allow a Q & A, those Indians. I had a good talk on Human Rights concerns and the importance of a Civil society and raised several pertinent questions
Meaning Modi has been TOLD to respect human rights and follow a Civil Society
Biden doesn’t tell this to Britain or Japan does he?
image 39
Trudeau openly said
Actions of a few don’t represent Canada. Canada respects freedom of speech and peaceful protests and believes it fosters progress
Any idea what he is referring to?
The Farmers protests of course. A Protest that forced Modi to finally back track his farm laws.
Now what has India gained from the Summit?
It’s over now
The AU are happy but that’s it. They go back home now and they need GRAIN and RAILWAYS and JOBS and TRADE
image 37
India can’t give them any of these
US can’t give them any of these except Bradleys and Howitzers and sermons on Democracy
Only China and Russia can give them all of these
300,000 Tonnes Grain Cargo from Russia is worth 500 G20 Summits
$ 16 Billion waiver of interest for 3 years from China and a new Hydro power plant is worth 500 G20 Summits
The AU had their Pindi Chole, Lal Maas etc and now they are gone
They have trouble, they will call Putin and Xi
They won’t call Modi or even remember him unless they meet him again in Rio in 2024
Same for Saudi Arabia
MBS is on a State Visit
He will persuade India to buy Saudi Oil and ask for investment into Refining and Petrochemicals
India will obviously delay and drag and eventually say no
India has inked 3500 MOUs in the past 4 years or so and only 19 have managed to gain ground and proceed to operations
MBS needs Russia for his OPEC Solidarity and China to modernize Saudi Arabia and even maybe to build a nuclear power plant
Once he leaves India, he forgets Modi until he meets him in Kazan in 2024 or Rio in 2024
LEVERAGE!!!!
That’s what China holds and Russia and even the US
No G20 summit is needed to enforce that
India holds near zero leverage today
A Thousand G20 summits and Pindi Chole and Laser Shows and Five Star pandering can’t advance Indias leverage by 1%
How the U.S. is preparing for conflict in Asia: Hynes
The U.S, is building power by creating a dense network of military alliances among Asian countries, says Phill Hynes, a top geopolitical analyst based in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, here’s the answer to the puzzle of why the media tells Australians that an invasion is imminent, but their submarines won’t be ready until the 2040s.
Mississippi Delta Tamales
2023 09 13 15 20
Ingredients
Filling
6 to 8 pounds boneless meat (pork shoulder, chuck roast or chicken)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup chili powder
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Wrappers
Corn husks
Corn Meal Dough
8 cups yellow corn meal or masa mix (available in most grocery stores)
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 2/3 cups lard or vegetable shortening
6 to 8 cups warm meat broth (from cooking the meat)
Instructions
Filling: Cut meat into large chunks and place in a large, heavy pot. Cover with cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until meat is very tender, 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Remove meat and reserve cooking liquid.
When meat is cool enough to handle, remove and discard any skin and large chunks of fat. Shred or dice meat into small pieces. There should be about 14 to 16 cups of meat.
Heat the vegetable oil in a large, heavy pot over medium heat. Stir in chili powder, paprika, salt, pepper, cayenne, onion powder, garlic powder and cumin. Add meat and stir to coat with oil and spices. Cook, stirring often, until meat is thoroughly heated, 7 to 10 minutes. Set aside.
Wrappers: While meat is cooking, soak husks in a large bowl of very warm water, until softened and pliable, about 2 hours. Gently separate husks into single leaves, trying not to tear them. Wash off any dust and discard any corn silks. Keep any shucks that split to the side, since two small pieces can be overlapped and used as one.
Corn Meal Dough: Stir corn meal, baking powder, salt and lard together in a large bowl until well blended. Gradually stir in enough warm meat broth to make soft, spongy dough the consistency of thick mashed potatoes. The dough should be quite moist, but not wet. Cover with a damp cloth.
To assemble the tamales, remove a corn husk from water and pat it dry. Lay husk on a work surface. Spread about 1/4 cup of the dough in an even layer across the wide end of husk to within 1 inch of edges. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of meat mixture in a line down the center of dough. Roll husk so that dough surrounds filling and forms a cylinder or package. Fold bottom under to close. Place tamales in a single layer on a baking sheet. Repeat until all dough and filling is used.
Stand tamales upright, closed side down, in a large pot. Place enough tamales in the pot so that they do not fall over or unroll. Carefully fill pot with enough water to come just to the top of the tamales, trying not to pour water directly into the tamales. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until dough is firm and pulls away from the husk easily and cleanly, about 1 hour.
If you prefer to steam tamales, stand tamales upright, closed side down, in a large steamer basket. Cover with a damp towel or additional husks. Steam tamales over simmering water until dough is firm and pulls away from the husk easily and cleanly, 1 to 1 1/4 hours.
Serve tamales warm, in their husks. Remove husks to eat.
Yield: 7 to 8 dozen
American cities are collapsing and democrats are in PANIC mode
Should entire families be deported to solve the migrant crisis? That is what Republican Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy promised to do if elected. This would bring about a Fourteenth Amendment question.
Ramaswamy says that there are “legally contested questions under the 14th Amendment.” This comes as progressive politicians are showing real signs of fear over illegal immigration.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams says that the city is facing a “financial tsunami” because of it and predicted that the rapid influx of immigrants will destroy the city that he knows and loves. What is the solution besides burdening the already-burdened U.S. taxpayer?
An apartment complex in the city of Kramatorsk Ukraine was said to be cursed.
In 1980, an 18-year-old woman living in apartment 85 suddenly died. Two years later, the girl’s 16-year-old brother died, followed by their mother. They had all died of Leukaemia, but doctors couldn’t find the root cause of it.
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Then in 1989, another family took up residence in apartment 85. A father and his two sons had been living there less then a year when both sons fell ill. Rumour began to spread around the city that the apartment was cursed when it turned out the two boys also had leukaemia.
With the apartments history the father knew something other than a curse was the problem. When one of his two sick sons dies he pushed to have to apartment inspected.
In the late 70s workers lost a radiation level gauge in the Karanksy Quarry located in the city. Workers spent a week looking for it, but it never turned up. No more thought was given to the level gauge, and the rocks from the quarry were then used in the construction of apartment 85.
When inspectors came out to check for high levels of radiation they found it radiating from a wall along side one of the kid’s beds. They knocked the wall and found a capsule of Caesium-137 that had broken out of the level gauge. By a stroke of poor bad luck for two families the capsule ended up becoming a part of their apartment. 17 other residents living in the apartment block received large doses of radiation.
Bernini’s “The Abduction of Proserpina” is a mesmerizing sculpture that captures the dramatic moment from Roman mythology when Pluto, the god of the underworld, seizes Proserpina, the daughter of Ceres, to make her his queen. Completed in 1622, this Baroque masterpiece portrays the intense emotions of the characters: Pluto’s powerful grasp and Proserpina’s anguish. The work showcases Bernini’s skill in sculpting marble to convey a sense of motion and realism, making it a celebrated piece in art history and a symbol of Baroque sculpture’s dynamism and emotional depth.
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It currently resides in the Borghese Gallery in Rome.
This year, the Chinese economy has been growing more slowly than expected because of the ongoing real estate crisis, and trade decoupling with the G7 countries led by the US.
But the launch of the Huawei Mate 60 Pro offers a bright spot for Chinese spending. Up until US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s China trip, it looked like most Chinese were going to stop spending until things became clearer for the economy. Most Chinese had treated their purchased homes as a major asset and because real estate prices were deflating, they cut back on their spending.
No more.
The US’s demands for Huawei to stop spending on research and development have hit a very nationalist raw nerve among the Chinese. (Huawei spends about US$22B on R&D annually.) Many feel that this is an insult not just to Huawei, but to China, the nation. How do they push back? By buying the Huawei Mate 60 Pro, which sells at 6999 yuan each. Some estimates are that Huawei may sell 35–50M units by year-end.
The Mate 60 Pro is first in a line of tech products developed according to Chinese instead of western standards. While Chinese are careful about their spending, many feel that now is the time to stand up and support Chinese tech companies by buying their products, just as the tech companies are struggling hard for their survival. Some Chinese will do this even though their home values are declining.
This means that it will likewise be a very hard time for foreign tech companies in China such as Apple. Apple has tried very hard to steer clear of the US-China tech dispute and up until now, it has succeeded. At the end of the day though, it is a US tech company which will side with the US government in a crisis.
The friend and enemy lines are being drawn more clearly.
This also means that as the US tries to build new supply chains outside China, in India and Vietnam, they cannot count on support from Chinese suppliers helping to make the switch. The management of some of these suppliers will decide that supporting the Chinese home team is more important than making money.
Some remarkable stories are coming out about the development of the Huawei Mate 60 Pro. Many Chinese component suppliers came together voluntarily, forming cooperative teams across companies which normally were competing against each other. Engineers spent all-nighters in their competitors’ offices developing and testing equipment. Many gave up going home. Some Taiwanese companies in the PRC also joined in. They did this because they felt that the Chinese tech industry was in a life-and-death struggle to survive, and they needed to come up with new standards, components and products which were completely free of western patent claims. This was not normal business, and they needed to fight and survive and set aside the normal profit motive for the time being.
Just to cite one example, they were able to create a 5G wireless modem which went around Qualcomm’s very broad patent claims. Apple has spent the past six years trying to do this, and even buying a business unit from Intel, but so far has failed.
The team around Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro did it in about a year and a half.
Some day, this would make a great movie story.
Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North of Richmond🔥 | WAKE UP AMERICAN
When my daughter was 4 we went into a store. There was a man there that was physically handicapped. His legs were skinny and twisted and he was walking with crutches.
My daughter walked up to him (very confidently) and asked “what’s wrong with your legs?” I wanted to crawl under a rock!!
This man was absolutely AMAZING with her! He looked down at her, smiled and said “God didn’t give me good legs like you have so he gave me these (indicating his crutches).” That was enough to satisfy her curiosity. He looked at me and smiled and said that I had a beautiful child.
He was pleased that she asked instead of being afraid of him because he was different.
I was truly embarrassed when she asked him her question but so amazed at his gracious answer.
This is what really-really AMAZED me
Raimondo was in China where she had hoped that China will return to buying Boeing jets
Given what they had done to Huawei, why would she even think that China would buy Boeing aircrafts
Boeing have forecasted that China would need 8,485 new passenger planes by 2041 and, traditionally Boeing had received half of the Chinese market
but no longer, other than a few immaterial amounts, China has essentially stopped purchasing Boeing aircrafts
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this will now NOT change especially since Huawei had broken the American chip blockade
over one million American aerospace jobs (including related American supply chains) will be/was lost
On a side note, of the industrialized countries that I have travelled in, the United States have one of the poorest telecommunication infrastructure. Because it has locked out Chinese companies, the United States pay a heavier price primarily from non-American/non-Chinese suppliers for a poorer telecommunication product. I won’t discuss what will happen to American semiconductor industry. So Americans are paying what was done to Huawei in MANY ways.
The Americans are SILLY-fied people who are unable to learn and pivot to a better place.
My daughter started talking quite early and was always very curious. Around the time she turned 2 she loved showing off her communication skills by naming things around her. “”Look mommy an apple! Do you like apples? I like apples too!”
It was very cute and she was usually quite loud which garnered much attention and lots of compliments.
On one fine day while driving home from picking up my teenage son from school, he was 13 at the time, she began identifying things around her.. cars, people, buses. Then I heard“”what’s that mommy?” I looked over and saw a dump truck so I responded “”that’s a truck sweetheart.”
Little one can’t pronounce the “t” sound and says ever so innocently “oh… fuck!”
Teenage son loses his mind with laughter which is all the little one needed to know she was on to something. Next thing we hear my 2 year old dropping F-bombs left and right from the back seat.
Wish the story ended there. Couple of weeks and lots of t-phonics practice sessions later, we are in the front yard of my brothers house, when lo and behold a trash truck is driving by. In front of about 15 family members and 5 other kids my sweet little toddler looks at the truck and says very loudly, you guessed it, “FUCK!”
No one was able to hold in their laughter much to my terrible embarrassment.
That eventually some people will be left to pick up the pieces.
Every battle has a clean up just like any other mess. Someone has to make the phone calls to let family know their son or daughter has died.
Someone has to remove the body from the battlefield. It is very common to see soldiers’ bodies with photos of their loved ones, like this Italian soldier in WWII with a picture of his baby in his hand.
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The last thing he did was look at his child before he bled out.
These are the very real sacrifices people make. I grew up on military bases and have been to many military funerals. Families never truly move on from the death of a young loved one like this.
There are often inner conflicting feelings about encouraging their son to join the military (even amongst the most patriotic families). These things are all normal.
War is a terrible thing and anyone who tries to glamorize it as some video game has never truly endured it.
Merkules – Oliver Anthony ”Rich Men North Of Richmond” Remix
Few months ago I was visiting Colorado. While leaving for the airport to go back home, someone hit my rented Tesla from behind. The usual process happened where cops was called, complaint was filed, numbers exchanged, etc.
After this incident, I dropped by at a near-by pizza place with my son. I was tired and somewhat stressed about this accident. Although it wasn’t my car or my fault with the accident but I still felt bad for the person who owned this car. I had a great trip but the last few hours of my trip was something. My son and I walked into the pizza place. The manager asked, “How was your day?” I responded saying, “good” but my son said, “No it wasn’t good. Someone hit our car so my mom is feeling bad.”
We ordered and ate our pizza. I asked the waiter for the bill and he said the manager took care of it ($19). He said, he can sense the stress on my face and wanted me to go home peacefully. In addition, there were two other waiters who constantly checked on us while we were eating to see if we wanted anything else. One of the waiter also entertained my son while I had to take care of some phone calls. In addition, while talking to the waiter, I also learned that the business was suffering during Covid but they’re trying to rise up again slowly. I was so touched by their kindness and willingness to pay for my pizza even though their business was not in the best condition financially. I offered to pay my bill numerous times but the staff wouldn’t let me. So I left a $50 bill with the manager and asked him to split the tip between the three waiters. In addition, I also took the manager’s card and sent him a bottle of wine from my state for their kindness.
This was a small encounter but I’ll never forget this kindness. There are very few people in this world who will think about others even when they have their own problems to worry about. May God bless such people. I hope their business thrives.
Wow, so many upvotes. Thank you for reading this answer. I didn’t expect such a nice a response :).
Update:
Here is picture of the manager, Jonathon. I randomly dropped by Priti’s pizza in Denver and captured a picture of this kind soul 🙂
On the 3rd of July, a few years back, I visited an animal shelter. And there in the back room was a little Maine coon kitten that was trying to get my attention. So I went up to it and we bonded strongly. I wanted it right then and there.
But the chick at the front desk was busy with a customer and closing up and told us to come back on the 5th of July (as tomorrow was a holiday). So I said “good bye” to the kitty and promised that I would come back for it.
I kept looking back over my shoulder and the kitty was imploring me “don’t leave. You are my last hope”.
And then on the 5th of July I came early, ready to get the kitty. I waited in the parking lost one hour early and just sat there listening to music.
Eventually they “opened up”.
And it was too late. They put the kitty down the day before.
…
I was too late.
When an opportunity occurs DO NOT TRUST IN SOMEONE ELSE, stand your ground and take action.
I should have just got the kitty then and there, and told them that I would come back in a day or two to do the paperwork.
“When I asked my 11-year-old son to help me unload dirt from our small pickup into his mother’s new garden boxes, his reaction was typical.
“Ummmm… I’m busy right now,” He said.
He was playing Roblock on the family laptop, wearing sweat pants and an old T-shirt, lounging on the sofa, feet on the coffee table.
“No you’re not,” I said.
There was a fight, moaning, excuses… the usual.
Moments later, we were next to a wheelbarrow shoveling dirt. He looked at me with flat eyes, his hood up, shoulders slumped, and said, “Why do we have to do this?”
I thought for a moment, because I’ll admit, it was a valid question. Neither of us were all that into flowers or vegetables, or any of the things that would be grown in those garden boxes. But my wife, Mel, loves gardening.
I thought, and he waited, and finally I said, “When you love someone, you serve them.”
I went on, telling him that I want him to grow up to be the kind of man who serves his family, friends, and community.
“This” I said while gesturing to the dirt, and the garden boxes I built the weekend before, and the wheelbarrow and shovel, and the first of many truckloads of dirt we would unload over the next few weeks, “Is what love looks like.”
He didn’t like my answer. I could see it in the way he reluctantly picked his shovel back up.
We finished unloading the dirt. The next day, while I was at work, and the kids and Mel had the day off because it was between terms, Mel sent me this picture. Mel picked up another load of dirt and before she had a chance to unload it, Tristan voluntarily started working. When she asked him “why,” he shrugged and said, “Because I love you.”
I’d never been prouder of my son.”
TEES
After the accident, she was left on the side of the road, no one stopped the car to help her!
An Englishman, taking a road trip through the US, notices he’s low on fuel, pulls into the first gas station he sees. The attendant walks out and approaches the car.
“How can I help you, sir?”
And in a posh voice, the man says, “I’m low on petrol; please top off the tank.”
With an odd look, the guy begins to fill ’er up.
The Englishman then says, “Also, while I’m here could you open the bonnet and check the oil?”
Now looking slightly peeved but still saying nothing, the serviceman does as requested.
“Oh, yes,” says the Brit, “It appears my windscreen needs a good cleaning. Would you mind terribly-”
Unable to hold his tongue any more the attendant angrily snaps, “Alright, that’s enough! It’s not Petrol, it’s gasoline! It’s not a bonnet, it’s a hood! And it’s not a windscreen, it’s a windshield! We invented cars, so you call them by their American names!”
And with that wonderful, charming, stiff-upper-lip UK wit, the Englishman calmly replies, “Well yes, my friend, you may have invented the automobile, but we invented the language!”
How Elites Will Create a New Class of Slaves | Whitney Webb | The Glenn Beck Podcast
Journalist Whitney Webb has worked to uncover some of the most dangerous stories of our lifetime, and she joins Glenn to reveal just how eye-opening it’s been. Her new two-volume book, “One Nation Under Blackmail: The Sordid Union Between Intelligence and Crime that Gave Rise to Jeffrey Epstein,” examines Epstein’s elaborate network of corruption and power, from Bill Clinton to Ghislaine Maxwell and many more. Her research into transhumanism has given her a terrifying perspective on the World Economic Forum and tech elites, including Elon Musk. And she tells Glenn the dark truth about Biden’s push for electric vehicles that she noticed while living in Chile.
Few days ago, a very significant incident made headlines. Jacinda Ardern resigned as the Prime Minister of New Zealand. She strongly performed the role of PM for 5 years. Her reason for the resignation was simple – “I know what this job takes. And I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice. It’s that simple.”
Jacinda Ardern:
“I’m leaving, because with such a privileged role comes responsibility – the responsibility to know when you are the right person to lead and also when you are not. I am human, politicians are human. We give all that we can for as long as we can. And then it’s time. And for me, it’s time.”
However, amidst all this, BBC came up with a very se*ist headline and an article to share the news with the world. It read, “Jacinda Ardern resigns: Can women really have it all?”
Saddened to see such a reductive, se*ist and inaccurate headline from the BBC World. This is so regressive and misogynist…The 1950s came by and picked up their headline.
This is absurd misogyny from BBC. Boris Johnson was ousted in a whirlwind of scandal & failure but BBC humanized him for the pain he felt. 🤔.
Jacinda Ardern gracefully led New Zealand through historic upheavals & leaves on her terms but BBC repeatedly dismisses her as a failure & quitter. 🤦♂️
An embarrassing day for the media. What a disrespectful way to celebrate a refreshingly phenomenal leader like Jacinda Arden.
I’m not sure if I would say it failed. But it was a very awesome piece of gear that for various reasons (namely budget, and politics) was cancelled. Full disclaimer: at one point I worked with the company that made this, and have seen and held parts of this system.
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The Xm-25 CDTE. It shoots programmable 25mm grenades.
Imagine a typical firefight scenario. Both sides end up behind cover, trying to deal with each other. Perhaps a heavy machine gun is mounted up in a window behind sandbags, etc. Maneuvering around and neutralizing the threat is dangerous and time consuming. But what if you had a grenade rifle that could precisely detonate a round just over their heads? Then you could aim just above the MG nest, pop of a shot, and those unlucky bastards would be no more. Firefight over in a minute. No need to call in artillery or air support!
The way this works is that scope has a rangefinder and a computer, and it can program the round to explode at the lazed distance, or before or after that distance in (I think) 1–3m increments. So, in the above example, you laze the sandbags or the side of the building, set the burst just after that distance, and fire. It’s very clever engineering to fit all that capability onto an electronics coin inside a 25mm casing. Unlike traditional grenade launchers, this one shoots a much flatter trajectory; and the range is 600–700m instead of 300ish. The Army was always pushing for more and more range.
When field tested, it apparently developed quite a reputation amongst insurgents, who would sometimes flee when they realized the US squad had one with them. I only heard glowing praise about the 2010 field tests. Being able to neutralize cover with a weapon like this is literally game-changing.
However, the project was ultimately cancelled in 2018. The ‘official’ reason always cites a particular misfire in 2013, although internal sources indicated it was more of a political fight over competing budget priorities. The misfire was only the propellant and not the charge itself. resulting in minimal injury; and, try as ATK did, they could not figure out what this particular soldier did to cause it. (Read: he almost certainly fucked up and did something he wasn’t supposed to, like a double feed.) This is the only incident of a misfire.
I think the other headwind is that current US squad tactics and organization don’t really have a good way to incorporate a system like this. Who wants to carry around a 14lb weapon and give up his rifle? They were patrolling around afghanistan, not taking Berlin. It is, however, a very outstanding little system. If I recall one particular conversation correctly, I believe the round can even punch through some wooden doors and explode on the other side. How’s that for breaching?
There were also problems with HK, who made the frame of the rifle itself, being a poor partner and failing to deliver on time. (This also angered program managers.)
The good news is that fitting this tech onto a 25mm grenade is the hard part. I can promise you that the same technology will find its way into a 40mm grenade system at some point. Imagine being able to lay precision, long range airbursts across a battlefield with one of these:
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Automatic grenade sniper rifle, anyone?
Men Are Refusing To Help Women and They are Panicking They don’t Know Why
https://youtu.be/qXWc6IxxfUs
Greek Style Skillet Supper
For a taste of Greece, this one-dish complete meal is sure to be a hit. Feta cheese accents the authentic flavor.
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Prep: 5 min | Cook: 25 min | Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 teaspoons McCormick® Oregano Leaves
1 teaspoon McCormick® Cinnamon, Ground
1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Garlic Powder
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can reduced sodium beef broth
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 1/2 cups uncooked penne pasta
1 1/2 cups frozen leaf spinach, thawed
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese, divided
Instructions
Cook ground beef and onion in large skillet on medium-high heat until beef is no longer pink, stirring occasionally. Drain fat. Add oregano, cinnamon and garlic powder; mix well.
Stir in broth, tomatoes and tomato paste. Bring to boil. Stir in pasta. Reduce heat to medium; cover and cook 10 minutes or until pasta is nearly tender.
Stir in spinach and 1/2 cup of the feta cheese. Cover. Cook 5 minutes longer or until pasta is tender.
Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup feta cheese. Cover. Let stand for 5 minutes.
Western Nations BANNED from Joining BRICS if they Apply “Sanctions”
Western countries do not have a chance of joining the BRICS group of emerging economies as long as they pursue hostile policies against Moscow, says the Russian deputy foreign minister.
Sergei Ryabkov said on Friday that the “most important criterion” for membership was the “non-application by a potential BRICS participant of illegal sanctions against any member of the association.”
“All the countries who have been invited to join BRICS undoubtedly meet this requirement.
As for Westerners, all of them as a group and each individual [Western] member pursue exactly the opposite line and thus inviting anyone from that group to join BRICS or even attend its events is out of the question. This is absolutely ruled out. And we will continue pursuing this course.”
If any Western state finds BRICS membership an attractive idea, and refrains from the sanctions policy against any BRICS member and applies to join, such an application will be considered.
“There is no other way.”
TSMC Engages in Another Showdown with the US,Tensions Escalate.
According to Taiwanese media reports on August 2nd, TSMC stated that the production delay at its Arizona factory was due to a lack of skilled American labor, and they have dispatched personnel from Taiwan to support the construction of the factory. However, labor union leaders in Arizona criticized TSMC, stating that it was using this as an excuse to introduce “low-wage foreign labor.”
Jerome (not real name) was a new worker with a big mouth. He was 28 years old at the time, quite older than most of the guys he worked with like myself yet he acted, at best, like a spoilt 15 year old.
He was always talking. He always had an opinion about something. He always had to question even the most simple orders and instructions. He believed himself to be the most intelligent person to ever walk the floor of the warehouse and always spoke at length of all the flaws he saw in our system and what he would do to fix the business if he were in charge.
Our job was simple: a retail store wants products that we have, we go out with our grocery carts, pallet jacks, forklifts etc, get the products and have them packaged and ready for delivery in the morning.
Not Jerome.
Jerome’s job was to distact you from what you were doing to talk shit about the company and how the money wasn’t worth it. He would quote some nonexisting OSHA law that the company wasn’t complying with and how he could sue the company if he wanted to. He would discuss his harebrained, get rich quick schemes that he never had to guts to actually attempt. He bragged about his family in the US waiting for him and how he didn’t need to work himself like a slave for chump change like we did.
At any given day he probably put out 20% of the output of the average worker. He was on a six month probationary period of which it would be decided whether he would be contracted as a permanent worker, given extended probation or let go. No one expected him to be permanently hired. Everyone basically tried to tolerate him for the six month probationary period as best as they could.
However he started taking his shenanigans to the next level.
He started making the (typically secluded) shampoos lane in the back warehouse his secret hideout. The lane was quiet, had no cameras and far away from our superiors’ field of vision. He decided to set up a makeshift man-cave behind a pallet of Tresemmé 2 in 1 Shampoo and Conditioner. There he would smoke, talk shit with the rare, harmless worker who came by for shampoos and he would watch rap music videos on his cell phone.
At the month’s end all warehouse workers were allowed to take from the damaged products. We had our own system of fairness whereby we rotated each worker to get a chance to get first pick among the damages.
Jerome couldn’t give a rat’s ass about the system. During the third month of his employ it was observed that practically all of the best damaged goods had gone missing. A co-worker and myself smelt a rat in Jerome and we went to his man cave while he was on lunch and saw the damages were there hidden in boxes.
We reported it to the supervisor who came and saw it. He held an emergency meeting and asked for the person who put those damaged goods in the back to come forward. Everyone eyed Jerome angrily but he remained silent. The supervisor reported the matter to the manager who reported it to the company owner and she immediately put a stop to the free damages giveaway.
Now the anger towards Jerome had turned into a bloodlust. However the more angry everyone got the more lazy and defiant Jerome became. He was smart enough to abandon his man-cave after his attempted theft but he still spent more than half his working day loitering and talking shit.
Every year the company paid for the company staff to have a party, usually at a classy sports bar or a nightclub. We all looked forward to it including Jerome who discussed at length his intention to get drunk off of free premium drinks and score with one of the pretty head office girls. However, one fateful afternoon the owner of the store had an impromptu meeting with everyone in the warehouse.
She explained that the company decided to change the format of the staff party. She explained that it was expensive and inefficient having this party every year when too many employees ran up a bill drinking premium drinks all night and then not being able to come to work the following day. She gave the disappointing news that this time the party would be held at 12pm — 7pm the upcoming Sunday.
Jerome released a snorting laugh while she spoke. Everyone in the warehouse went dead silent. No one had ever dared interrupt the owner, far less mock her.
‘Excuse me,’ she said, ‘Is there something amusing?’
‘Nobody ever heard of a party 12 o clock in the afternoon,’ Jerome said in his spoilt 15 year old voice.
‘I’ve been to many parties 12 o clock in the afternoon’ she replied.
‘Yeah, birthday parties for kids’ Jerome said smugly and looked about for someone to laugh but found only silence.
The owner asked Jerome his name and how long he worked in the warehouse. Afterwards she continued her talk uninterrupted but after the meeting was dismissed she, the manager and Jerome went into an office for a talk. Some minutes later Jerome was seen leaving the compound, he was terminated from the job.
Sad thing for Jerome was the owner apparently thought over what he said about the party and changed her mind about it. We were allowed to have our traditional, late into the night, party albeit minus the free premium drinks.
We had a great time dancing the night away and toasting Jerome whose big mouth finally done some good for a change.
MY SOUL!!! | Oliver Anthony – “I WANT TO GO HOME” | Reaction
Nissan. I bought a brand new Nissan Truck with a supercharger. The supercharger crapped out at 12,000 miles. They had to fix it because it was under warranty. The mechanic at the dealer told me they were all failing due to a manufacturer’s defect which was widely known in the company. I drove the truck a couple more years and the supercharger crapped out again, this time just about 200 miles beyond the end of the warranty. At about the same time, my son’s identical Nissan truck also lost its supercharger at 18,000 miles. I wound up talking to a factory representative. I asked him if they would split the $1,800 bill since it was a factory defect. He said no because Nissan just couldn’t afford to pay for all those repairs.
I later bought a Toyota truck which lost a head gasket. Toyota fixed it for free outside of the warranty period. They said that their engineering and design philosophy was that a head gasket should last at least 200,000 miles.
I have made a point to tell this story at least 100 times over the years. I know I have talked at least 20 people out of buying a Nissan.
In terms of uniqueness, it’s hard to find a canine species that rivals the short-eared dog. Genetically, it is very distinct from other living members of the canid family, and indeed in many ways it is more like a cat than a dog!
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It is found only within the dense and dark jungles of the Amazon Basin in South America. Such densely forested habitats are unusual for canines, other than the bush dog, which I’ll mention later. What’s more, it is an extremely shy and reclusive creature, leading a solitary nocturnal lifestyle. All of the characteristics above are more typical of felines, interestingly.
Where the short-eared dog differs from your average cat is its affinity for water. As vast swathes of its Amazonian habitat are swampy or regularly flooded, it is well-adapted for a semi-aquatic world. Its feet are webbed, with membranes of skin stretching between the toes, which makes it an excellent swimmer. Much of its diet is actually represented by fish, crabs, frogs and the like. The dog makes short work of these slippery customers with its impressive set of cuspid teeth (another rather cat-like feature).
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As canid species go, the short-eared dog takes an exceptionally long time to reach sexual maturity. They cannot reproduce until the age of three, something we discovered relatively recently. Before it was known that it’s a bit of a late bloomer, one expert jokingly suggested it should be renamed the “small-balled dog”!
When they eventually do achieve sexual maturity, males get to work in the hopes of attracting a female (uniquely, the females are much bigger than the males!). They spray a strong-smelling musk secreted by the tail glands, and produce mating calls all through the night. These vocalisations are bizarre and haunting, sounding like those of owls!
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During the day, they take shelter, usually dwelling inside burrows and tunnels dug by giant armadillos, after they’ve been vacated by the original owner. Short-eared dogs’ nocturnal lifestyle, in addition to their impenetrable habitat and shy evasive nature, means that they are still shrouded in mystery. They are rarely photographed in the wild – indeed, all the pictures above are of an individual called Oso, who was raised by humans since puppyhood (hence the collar). He’s taught us much of what we know about the species.
As such, we still have much more to learn about short-eared dogs. I, for one, am very curious to know more about how they interact with the only other wild canine species found in the Amazon Rainforest – the bush dog. This comically short and stubby little pupper lives in packs of up to twelve individuals, which specialise in hunting giant rodents such as capybaras and pacas. I’m sure the two species cross paths at times – what a fascinating interaction that would be.
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I eagerly await all the new short-eared dog discoveries that are sure to be ahead! In the meantime, this has been everything you need to know about this underappreciated and handsome creature. I hope you liked the answer, thank you for reading! And have an amazing day.
I failed out of college.
Not MM, mind you. -MM
I ended the 2nd semester of my freshman year with a 0.9 GPA.
You read that right: a 0.9 GPA
When the school year ended, my parents drove four hours to campus to help clean out my dorm room and take me home.
During the ride home I remember staring out the car window in complete silence the entire four hours.
I was devastated. I had no idea what I was going to do.
My parents were upset.
They were disappointed.
They didn’t have anything to say.
Neither did I.
Their disappointment was nothing compared to the numbness I felt. I was far more disappointed in myself than they ever could be. It was completely my fault and I knew it.
I struggled all through high school, so it was no surprise I struggled the way I did when I started college.
I was terrible at taking tests. I had such a difficult time studying. I have no idea why. It was something I lived with that I cannot explain.
In grade school I had special tutors to help with my test-taking anxiety. I can’t say it helped much.
As I finished my final year of high school, I did not know if I would get in to college. I only applied to one college.
I was accepted to attend the only college I applied to.
And now I failed out of the only college I applied to.
I struggled all through Freshman year of college until it got to a point where I felt I had no chance of success. My grades were terrible. So, I did not show up for any of my final exams. There was no way I could study well enough to get passing grades on my finals.
I gave up.
During the four hour drive home, I became painfully aware that I could have done better. I didn’t bother searching for an excuse to justify the horrible mistake I made.
I had to figure out a Plan B.
Not even a week passed after moving back home with my parents before I started piecing together a plan.
Even though I ‘failed’ as far as the university was concerned, I knew I was not a failure. I certainly did not feel like one.
I dug myself into a very deep hole and I knew it was up to me to pull myself out.
I had to figure out how to approach life differently. I wasn’t doing it right. And it felt horrible.
I knew I had to try again.
The problem was, since my GPA was so poor, I got suspended from attending that college.
I called the admissions office and asked how I could come back to earn my degree. They told me I needed to go to a community college for a year and earn a 3.0 GPA, then I could reapply to be accepted back.
My entire experience of life changed from that point on. I was never the same again.
All of a sudden I had a goal to accomplish. I never set ambitious goals for myself prior to that moment. I was social and active and participated in sports, but I was mostly just showing up. I never associated much of a purpose or goal with anything I was doing.
I now had a goal, fueled by an intense desire to accomplish that goal.
I did what the admissions office told me to do. I got a job. I took courses at the community college. I accomplished the GPA they required.
A year after failing, I reapplied and was admitted back in to the same college so I could finish my degree.
By the time I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree, I was getting grades that earned me a spot on the Dean’s List several semesters in a row.
Why was failing out of college the best mistake I ever made?
This mistake was a wake-up call that helped me discover what I am capable of.
I experienced what it feels like to recover from a major failure.
I shifted my mindset to one that is fueled with purpose.
I discovered the power of setting ambitious goals that are created from my own desire to accomplish those goals.
And most importantly: I remember feeling as though my entire life was over during that silent four hour drive home with my parents. The reality was, this failure ended up being a mere bump in the road. It was quite a rough bump at the time but it did not ruin me. I learned that our failures do not define who we are.
I Want To Go Home ( REACTION ) Something SPECIAL is Happening Here…
Originally Answered: What does it feel like to be secretly rich?
Around strangers, it’s easy. Around friends and neighbors, its work.
Most people in the United States have at least one of my products in their home, and would instantly recognize the company, but they wouldn’t know me. There’s never a random “hey, aren’t you the CEO of…” on the street, or checking into a hotel, so that part is fairly easy.
On the flip side, I think I’ve done a pretty good job of keeping things on the down low among friends. I personally bring home about $4 million a year, but I’m not really into displays of wealth – not because I’m actively hiding anything, I just think most of that stuff is kind of tacky and isn’t interesting.
Our house isn’t over the top. It’s larger than average, but we also have three kids so that’s expected. It does sit on 60 acres, but we tell people only five of those acres are ours. We have a couple of cars (her primary, my primary, a truck, and a couple of classics in the garage) but all are American made and none newer than five years old. Both of the classics are actually pretty rare cars which would fetch over $100k a piece if I ever sold them, but since I’m also known for being kind of a gear head and did a lot of work on it myself, everyone just assumes they were once junkers I brought back from the dead or aren’t all original parts.
This part is pretty easy since there visibly aren’t too many cues that would tip someone off. Everything was paid for with cash, including the house, but realistically outside of the land value, someone making $150k-200k could afford all of the same stuff if they financed/mortgaged it.
The main difficulty is trying to relate and being careful what I say. Most of our friends are in that $150–200k range, but they’re in debt up to their eyeballs to maintain their lifestyles. They’re driving new leased Mercedes and BMW’s and probably think they’re doing better than I am financially – which is fine by me.
Its just little things I have to watch out for. A buddy invited me to bring one of the classics to a car show he was going to once, but I declined and said it acting up and I needed to work on it. I left the hood up for a week in case he came over. Really I just didn’t want the attention – someone there would have recognized it for what it was. Occasionally when someone notices how much land surrounds my house, I’ll say something like I hope the owner never decides to build on it. Before we take a family trip, I will mention that I’m saving up for it a couple months prior, when really we could just go. I also own property in other states that no one knows about – one of them is a place along a river in Tennessee and a few of us are going down there next month to witness the eclipse. They think it’s just a place I rented for the weekend.
Honestly, I don’t like the deception – these are good friends, but seeing how they all are with their money and how they regard it, I don’t want them to know the truth. I hear about all of their money problems and how they talk about other people who are better off than they are, and there’s a lot of disdain and jealously there. it’s just not worth the hassle. The problem is I think most of the people I’ve met in my own income bracket and higher are pretentious douchebags, so I don’t really want to hang out with them either.
My life doesn’t revolve around money, and that isn’t the case for most of the people I’ve met with an income over $1 million, so I don’t really relate to them. I would rather vacation to a rustic cabin in the woods than some flashy five star resort.
Chili-Stuffed Potato Skins
OzzzIP
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
4 large baking potatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 tablespoon minced jarred jalapeno peppers
1 pound lean ground beef
1 cup canned crushed tomatoes
1 (14 ounce) can refried beans
Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
2/3 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup milk
Instructions
Heat oven to 425 degrees F.
Wash and dry the potatoes, then pierce each several times with a fork. Microwave on HIGH for about 10 to 12 minutes, or until cooked through. Timing varies by microwave.
Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the olive oil, garlic, onion and jalapenos. Sauté until the onion just begins to get tender, about 5 minutes.
Add the ground beef and sauté until browned, about another 5 minutes.
Add the crushed tomatoes and refried beans, then mix well and reduce heat to low. Bring to a simmer, season with salt and pepper, then cover and reduce heat to just keep warm.
Carefully cut the potatoes in half lengthwise, then use a spoon to scoop out the insides and place them in a large bowl. Leave about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of potato all around the skin. Arrange the potato skins on a baking sheet. Set aside.
To the bowl of potatoes, add 1 cup of the Cheddar cheese, the ricotta and milk. Mix well, then season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
Fill the potato skins almost to overflowing with the meat-and-bean mixture. Carefully spoon a bit of the potato-and-cheese mixture over the meat. Sprinkle each with some of the remaining Cheddar.
Bake until the cheese melts and the mashed-potato topping just begins to brown, about 12 to 15 minutes.
Jordan Peterson Tells the TRUTH about ALIENATED Young Men – (Better Audio Quality)
This is STUNNINGLY great!
2023 08 26 11 58
It’s Official: “BRICS” Adds Saudi Arabia, Iran, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, and UAE; Will Control 80% of Global Oil
It’s Official: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will become full members of BRICS on January 1st 2024. All totaled, BRICS nations will control eighty percent (80%) of Global Oil and Gas production.The map below lays out what the newly enlarged BRICS will look like:
BRICS 2024 Control 80 Percent Worlds Oil
Cutting right to the chase, it should be stated that “The-Powers-That-Be (TPTB) cannot survive this without World War 3.”
If the current globalist cabal stands back and does nothing as this new Commerce Alliance comes to life, then on January 1, 2024, they may wake up to find that no one in any of the countries shown above, will accept the U.S. Dollar or the EURO as payment for trade in goods and services anymore, because both the Dollar and the EURO are backed by nothing.
They may find that no one around the world is willing to sell oil in US Dollars anymore, and could demand that we convert OUR currency to some other currency to buy oil.
The way the Biden Regime has curtailed our own oil and gas production, we would see shortages and price increases the likes of which has never been seen before.
Since we in the United States do not manufacture much of anything here anymore – because CORPORATE IMBECILES shipped all our manufacturing jobs overseas– we could see our ability to buy things for import-severely curtailed as well.
Let’s not forget Economic Sanctions. It was the excessive and arbitrary use of economic sanctions by the US, which spurred countries around the world to seek out – and now CREATE — some other means for settling international trade because they got tired of the US imposing Sanctions and forbidding the use of the US Dollar by countries under sanction.
Now that BRICS is creating its own Gold-Backed currency for settlement of international trade debts, the US won’t have any clout anymore because it won’t be able to sanction pretty much anybody. The US Government will be toothless on economic sanctions . . . but the rest of the world will not.
What if the rest of the world decides it is “Pay Back Time” for the US? What if THEY impose economic Sanctions upon us?????? The new BRICS organization and its coming currency could make that a reality.
All these facts make clear that the Powers-That-Be simply cannot allow this BRICS to go any further or TPTB will lose their grip on controlling the world. Some of TPTB are such ego-maniacs, they would rather burn the entire world to the ground rather than lose control over it.
Thus, it seems logical to me, that World War 3 is coming before the end of this year. Perhaps a lot sooner than that.
Too many things to name here, certainly. But I’ll narrow it down just to 2.
In Middle school, I got sick. Started falling all the time, couldn’t smile, could barely keep my eyes open and double-vision exhausted me trying to see the board and read, hands couldn’t write long, got brain fog and couldn’t remember anything etc. I was in and out of the hospital… diagnosed with anything from ‘imminent death’ to ‘attention seeking’. I missed A LOT of school.
After I was finally diagnosed a couple of years later, I was definitely in danger of failing. Had a thymectomy, which at that time required cracking open my sternum, and definitely couldn’t go back to school for awhile, but was feeling mentally better on my new meds.
Mrs. Howard, who had been my homeroom teacher the prior year, came to my house to bring me school work and tutor me, and administer me quizzes, so I wouldn’t get too far behind. I ended up passing my classes and was able to proceed to high school with the rest of my classmates.
We were poor. Like wringer washer and rotary dial phone (in the 90s) poor.
I wanted to take Home Ec and Shop, but we couldn’t afford the class fees. I ended up taking a couple of design courses. Web Design and Drafting. My hands still got weak pretty easily, and I was left handed (the drafting machines on the desks were only for right-handed people), so I got to use AutoCAD most of the time.
I ended up in Drafting classes for 3 1/2 years, and competed in regional and state for VICA (vocational industrial clubs of America) and the IDEA (Illinois Drafting Educators Association).
Turns out? Those classes and competitions had fees, too. My instructor, Pete Tucker, paid my fees. He also wrote me a glowing recommendation later for college.
When I was 19, I interviewed for my first drafting internship, and that 3 month internship lasted 13 1/2 years. I became a cad manager, then programmer, then solutions architect for facilities software, and had a side career as a technical editor and author, teaching others how to use AutoCAD and similar programs.
A few years ago, I looked him up on Facebook and thanked him for giving me an entry into a career that lifted me out of poverty, provided me with insurance coverage for my disability (fun fact, if you managed to live 5 years without treatment, you got to lie and say you didn’t have a pre-existing condition) and allowed me to raise my kids with everything I’d never had (both of them can use AutoCAD, too 😉 ).
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COUNTRY GOSPEL! Oliver Anthony – I Want To Go Home | REACTION Video
Our first child was not toilet trainable. We took her to doctor after doctor from age 3 to 6, eventually carrying an x-ray made by the local radiologist. Everyone agreed that poor parenting skills were the problem, though some added that our lovely daughter, who had a BM only when standing or lying down, really enjoyed tormenting us.
One of the last doctors said, “If she were my kid, I’d lock her in the bathroom until she did it on the toilet!”
A few weeks later, a surgeon hundreds of miles from home held up that x-ray and said, “She has a birth defect.” Her lower intestine was positioned in a way that made a BM impossible unless her body was absolutely straight, NOT sitting on a toilet. Surgery fixed that. Thank you, Dr. Hardy Hendren, and RIP.
Jason Aldean – Try That In A Small Town (Official Music Video)
I would have never even heard of this song if people hadn’t been upset about it.
Some of them are a clever twist based on an underlying Chinese phrase.
For example, on the T-shirt, the Chinese characters read:
已读不回
Literal translation would be “Have Read, Not Replied”.
The context here is that this is a common behavior on instant messaging apps – the receiver (of the instant message) has left the sender (of the instant message) on Read or Seen: they’ve read/seen the instant message, but haven’t replied.
This is a common course of action for some girls who start getting a lot of instant messages from guys trying to woo them but to whom they feel no affection for.
Rather than outright telling her pursuer that his romantic overtures are unwelcome, she leaves him on read/seen and doesn’t reply his messages.
In this way, she hopes that he gets the hint and finally stops sending all those silly little messages.
She’s “seen” all his instant messages but never bothered replying any of them.
So, this girl, she is a “Seenderella”.
It’s a clever twist on Cinderella.
Clever and funny.
Well, to me anyway 😀 I am easily amused 😀
If you only saw “Seenderella” on the T-shirt, you might be going “Huh?”
But with the Chinese characters right there next to it, if you know how to read Chinese, the twist becomes immediately obvious.
Grammy Member Reacts to Oliver Anthony’s I want to go home
Hitting too close to home.
Final Report
In January 1969, the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency released Volume 1 of its “Final Report” on a field test involving the “Demonstrated Destruction of Nuclear Weapons.” The field test’s purpose, the publication’s abstract states, was to “develop and test inspection procedures to monitor the demonstrated destruction of nuclear weapons.” In addition, a goal of the test was to determine the extent to which the “proposed method of demonstrating destruction” would expose classified weapon information. The test included 40 actual nukes and 32 fake weapons.
As a result of the test, it was concluded that the proposed destruction techniques could, indeed, reveal classified information about the weapons’ design. However, by masking some of the weapons’ features and limiting inspectors’ visual examinations of the weapons, such disclosures could be prevented.
The inspectors’ poor ability to distinguish between bona fide and fake nukes might also conceal classified information, as could “evasion schemes,” suggesting that less U-235 was being used than was actually the case. The field tests suggested that, overall, the inspection procedures were reasonably secure but resulted in several recommendations for the conduct of such inspections.
I would definitely recommend you stop consuming any type of seafood imported from Japan, and be cautious towards seafood from Alaska, the Canadian west, South Korea, the Pacific islands, and eastern China.
Two reasons:
The United States has been buying less Japanese seafood “Listen to a man’s words but observe his deeds”, as the Chinese idiom goes. While the US has shown public support at the government level for Japan’s discharge of radioactive wastewater[1] , in the first six months of 2023 alone, they have actually drastically reduced the amount of surimi (fish paste), scallops and sake imported from Japan[2], amounting to up to 8.3 billion Yen. This was before Japan officially admitted they were releasing the wastewater by the way.
It would be interesting to see whether the Americans, post 24 Aug, would put their money where their mouth is, and start importing more Japanese aquacultural and agricultural products than ever before, perhaps as a show of solidarity with fellow neoliberal democracies.
The more likely scenario, however, is that the US would cite concerns with radiation pollution but ban Chinese seafood instead. Feel free to check back in a few months.
Even the Japanese themselves won’t eat their own seafood The release of the tainted radioactive water began only a couple of days ago, but already there are reports all over Japan that local consumers are steering clear of not just Fukushima seafood, but all kinds of local seafood [3]. Even people in Japan know better than to trust their government and Tokyo Electric – a company so ruthless and dishonest [4], it turned an INES level 3 incident into a level 7, same level as Chernobyl, and is now solely in charge of monitoring its own wastewater discharge.
Imagine that, a nuclear power company that caused the disaster to begin with, is now put wholly in charge of the discharge operation, and every statistic the company reports is treated as gospel truth by the local government. We have truly reached peak cyberpunk, ladies and gentlemen.
Moreover, the Japanese fishing industry has been protesting the government’s decision to release the tainted water for years [5]. Such an irresponsible move, as they have rightly predicted, would effectively destroy the prestigious brand and reputation of Japanese seafood, and is likely to affect other Japanese products such as agricultural products in the near future.
Oliver Anthony – I Want To Go Home Fiddle player REACTS WITH FIDDLE!!
Oskar Groning was what nobody wants to be, a guard at Auschwitz. His primary job was sorting and valuables new arrivals turned over. A big source of income for the Third Reich was the valuables prisoners handed over.
When the war ended Oskar wasn’t brought up on charges. He was captured before the war ended, did some time in a British POW camp, and when the war ended he went home to his wife.
Upon seeing his wife again she asked about his experiences and he said “Girl, do both of us a favour: don’t ask” and she left it there. One day a while later someone made an offhand joke that Oskar could actually be a killer given his time at Auschwitz. He banged on the table and demanded that nobody ever mention Auschwitz again or he would leave.
Oskar wanted to put what he had done behind him. He was a devout Nazi, an Auschwitz camp guard no less, and he wanted this to remain a secret.
Oskar got a job at a glass factory and worked his way up into a management role. He worked there for decades and lived a very normal life. Oskar collected stamps and was even a judge.
In 1985 Oskar met a Holocaust denier and was given a pamphlet on Holocaust denial. Shocked that such a thing exists, Oskar came forward to dispute it. He made multiple statements and gave a full account of what he had seen.
I saw everything. The gas chambers, the cremations, the selection process. One and a half million Jews were murdered in Auschwitz. I was there.
I would like you to believe me. I saw the gas chambers. I saw the crematoria. I saw the open fires. I would like you to believe that these atrocities happened, because I was there
(letters/calls) From people who tried to prove that what I had seen with my own eyes, what I had experienced in Auschwitz was a big, big mistake, a big hallucination on my part because it hadn’t happened.”
Now Oskar was put on trial for this and found guilty. It mattered little as he died a few years later at the age of 93.
But this shows you what Nazis think about Holocaust deniers- they think deniers are idiots.
I’m a school bus driver. I drove students in a VERY nice school district. If you were looking for kids to be the illustration of white privilege, these were the ones. (These were kids who got hoverboards from the tooth fairy.) Every single morning and afternoon, these kids, with much more expensive clothes than I have, would thank me for driving them. When parents would meet the kids at the bus, they would tell the kids “make sure you say thank you.” These people weren’t upper class simply from money, but from having habits and attitudes to make them better people in life. Behavior problems were rare.
PEPE ESCOBAR AND MICHAEL HUDSON JOIN ON BRICS PLUS SIX, UKRAINE, AND THE MULTIPOLAR WORLD ECONOMY!
One of the elements of life is to get bad news, suffer though crimes, or be misunderstood. Many times people will place blame on you, and expect you to apologize for your evil. Then they will punish you in all sorts of ways relative to their degree of power and authority.
Once you start your affirmation campaigns, you start to realize (often after years) that what you experience (good and bad) are but manifestations. These manifestations (often parts of larger constructions) that present (relative) bad or uncomfortable to you as part of moving forward to achieve your goals.
You are stuck in traffic, and you miss your plane. (Bad + Bad) You miss an important meeting. (Bad) Where decisions that affect you are made without your consent. (Bad) But when you start working you notice that your life takes a dramatic change in the direction your have been affirming. (Very Good).
Certainly there are other influences (such as fate) that will either enhance or hinder your manifestations, but no matter what remember…
…what ever you experience is part of the system that supports the manifestation of your reality.
So “Bad” just seems that way. In reality, it is a “shedding of old skin” to start a new direction, lifestyle and beginning.
Ha ha. Yep. It was a real Pretty Woman moment too!
I had started with this really wealthy client and they expected me to dress the part when dealing with their customers.
So I was given a $2k clothing allowance and went out shopping. I went to a Neiman Marcus store and went to the high end section. I was ignored. Then I was told they didn’t have anything that would look good on me. (I’m a size 6 for crying out loud…) I wasn’t dressed to the 9’s —I was in my usual nice jeans, nice shirt and boots.
So I ended up in a White House, Black Market store. The ladies were awesome. I told them what I had just been through and the manager was totally horrified at my treatment. She told me not to worry and to literally ‘get ready to have some fun!’
They kept bringing me shirts and skirts and pants and dresses, all while telling me what looked good and what didn’t. And not everything that was on clearance was what looked horrible on me. It was actually a mix between the clearance and regular clothing.
By the time I was done, I had gotten $5k of clothing for about $1700. A great day!
Depending on the degree of the decoupling, it would suffer a slowdown, but the Chinese government is preparing for that scenario by expanding trade ties with other developing economies.
Formed about 450 million years ago, it’s found under a good portion of Manhattan, but is not common in the rest of the New York metro area. It’s thick and hard, which means it has an incredible bearing capacity. Stick a massive skyscraper on top of it and it won’t move a millimeter in geologic time. Putting a skyscraper on it is like putting an ant on a horse. It hasn’t been subject to any tectonic forces in hundreds of millions of years – it essentially rides on top of a stable part of the North American plate.
Unfortunately, it is deep, deep beneath the surface sometimes. In Greenwich Village, it’s about 260 feet below the surface, so it’s not practical to dig down that far to lay a foundation. However, in many parts of Manhattan, it’s less than 20 feet below the surface – trivially easy to dig that deep and put the foundation on top of it.
I had a ‘hometown’ bank (The walk-in, mail in, drive -in, FLY-IN- bank had its own landing strip behind the property) ; I used it for almost 30 years. Everyone knew you, your family and even the pets names.
The founder/owner retired and sold out to Wells Fargo.
Gone were the friendly faces and wide open spaces.
No one knew my name. Partitions went up to block off the ‘important’ offices, the break room was closed to customers, where we used to sit and nibble homemade tea cookies while sipping free Dr. Pepper and coffee, conducting business there instead of an office. (I once bought a car for my son as I was leaving to work a disaster. My loan officer told me ‘When you’re back in town come by and sign the papers. Tell _____to drive careful’.)
I won’t say I hated Wells Fargo. I like the word DETEST. Maybe LOATHE. I remember being charged $5.00 (in the 90’s) to talk to an actual person instead of their ‘robot’.
The straw that broke the camels back occurred when one of my sons graduated high school with a 4.0, 4 year average. That netted him $5,000. I went to get the cash, fifty $100.00 bills. The teller asked why I wanted it. I told her it wasn’t any of her concern and asked for the money a second time. She went to get her manager. Same question. Same reply. He said he would have to make a phone call. I stopped him and asked him to give me all my money from my 2 accounts. He tried to talk me out of it. I suggested maybe it was time to call the police to help get my money.
I closed the accounts. The manager put the cash in a locked bank envelope. I drove a half mile to the newest bank in town, one founded by the employees of my old bank (who were all fired – every one of them). I opened the door and immediately heard, ‘ Ron, What took you so long?’
I was home. The bank offered me those tea cookies. And an iced cold Dr. Pepper.
I will never use Wells Fargo bank again.
Xi Jinping avoids Biden meeting. BRICS more important than G20
Xi Jinping avoids Biden meeting. BRICS more important than G20 The Duran: Episode 1688.
It hurts me to say and then write: Next few centuries or more belong to China. That is the way China and the Chinese wrote their fate.
For nearly fifty years, I worked with Canadians, Overseas, and Mainland Chinese at different levels.
(I have been in Canada for close to fifty years) and besides visiting several other countries, living next to the USA. I believe I can say a few words on this topic.
I was born/grew up in Punjab/India; therefore, I knew India from birth and then went to India at frequent time gaps.
Once reasonably recently, before COVID, I went there to get my ancestral house repaired, and one severe issue was the property. I was there for an extended period. And this trip was immediately after visiting China.
I confirmed in my mind:
Productivity/Super Safety/Shallow crime society/State of the art infrastructure/one of the best mass transportation safe and reasonably priced reliable/almost wiped out hunger/very high literacy rate and going up consistently/relatively very low corruption/drug-free society/heightened civic sense/now controlled in check population growth/for women participation in the workforce/women are very respected and cared and safe/the Chinese Government is made of very devoted and qualified people/Chinese Government does not leave anyone behind/law enforcement agencies are deemed to be friends not corrupted overweight harassers/very frugal and high saving society/
Chinese people are one of the most hardworking races on the earth.
Now I know it hurts: The hard reality is that Indian efficiency/productivity was about thirty percent of the Chinese efficiency/productivity.
India is one of the most corrupt countries. China may not be washed in holy water, but it is relatively clean from this evil.
India has a useless/failed/borrowed system from the former rulers. There is NO WORKING DEMOCRACY IN THE WORLD. It is wishful thinking, which is why The West is sinking with crime/clogged courts/lawless lands/ and the Sun is setting faster than you think.
India still has 200 million people who do not have three meals a day. China has almost wiped out the hunger.
India is a land with corrupt style regimes, super clogged courts, zero justice, appeals appeals appeals, and more appeals and no justice.
Go to YOUTUBE/Google/and read about the Ajmer Sex Scandal, the Nirbhay Case(Seven-year delay in delivering justice)/Kids killing their parents for money/spouses hiring hit people to get rid of the spouse/and similar gut-wrenching a piece of daily news.
India is no match and never will be in INFRA-STRUCTURE with China; please visit China as I did and open your eyes.
Women can walk alone in the middle of the night in Shanghai/Beijing. Try to do something stupid, and you will find out. Just compare this thing with India.
Chinese people are highly disciplined, have great civic sense, and are true Karam Yogi/Yoginis(Good deed philosophy and working diligently).
Chinese universities are far ahead of India: Look at the world list of top universities and find where India stands, including IIT and IIM.
My kids went to school/university with Chinese kids. They will eat the competition alive(which means no match for their hard work; it was great for us because our kids were now equally successful as their completion or even more).
A Chinese woman is a killer(In a good sense); I have seen her multitasking and giving a new horizon to the MOST hardworking human in the modern world.
She has NOT only claimed half of the sky her fair share but also took half the burden of hard work.
In my view, at present times, Chinese/Japanese/Singaporean women are the luckiest of women to gain their proper place in society and job opportunities.
India is the crime capital of the world, where even the MUG in the toilet of the rail compartment is chained to the wall because people steal. Try these things in China and find out the consequences.
China is almost free from drugs now compared to India.
This is a myth that Chinese people are NOT happy: That is utter nonsense. Most of the Chinese people I met in China/Canada and during the travel in Asia, except in HK/Taiwan, are very satisfied and know the future is bright for them.
China is light years ahead of India in literacy rate.
China’s mass-scale public transportation is becoming a world model.
China has now controlled population growth, but India is still going strong.
China has no caste system, and India is still pickling in the caste system.
The best is to go to China and come back and measure: China has surpassed some of the past highest standards set by Japan/Europe/North America.
China’s growth and being the ULTIMATE superpower is a reality, and in the next few centuries, China will be the ULTIMATE power.
Here is the conclusion:
“India is inferior to China in every way.”
My observations/conclusions/: India will NEVER MATCH or EVEN COME CLOSER TO CHINA: India has a failed governing system, And it is ONLY big ra ra in the eyes of the West to counterbalance Chinese Might. The West is a setting sun: It is over for them. And so-called “Democracy” failed miserably.
And
India has lost direction: Nudity/Vulgarity/skyrocketing drug/alcohol/consumption/shallow productivity/zero civic sense/corruption top to bottom/uncontrolled population growth/mafia style regimes/deplorable work ethics/wrong and massive use of modern gadgets/inferior infrastructure/massive hunger/slavery/caste system/low literacy rate/destitute personal safety/assets/and women in specific. Trolls will be significant nails in the coffin in starting the next war with neighboring countries. This list is a never-ending list.
In a country where people do not hesitate to script fixtures such as an inexpensive MUG to clean the user after defecating, What do you expect more?
China has a free battlefield to walk to the crown, and no one can stop her. She is already the real Queen or Chairperson of the board.
Learn to work with her: No use in fighting this might. For over 70 years, she worked extremely hard to clean the house behind closed doors.
I hope it helps.
I JUST CRIED!! OLIVER ANTHONY – RICH MEN NORTH OF RICHMOND
2023 08 20 17 12
Boogie Woogie Beef
OvbIP
Ingredients
1 (10 3/4 ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup red wine
1 envelope Lipton beefy onion soup mix
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 pounds stew beef
8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
8 ounces baby carrots
Instructions
Mix cream of mushroom soup, wine, beefy onion soup mix and dried thyme in slow cooker.
Add meat, carrots, and mushrooms; and stir.
Cook on HIGH for 4 hours, then on LOW for 4 hours, or just cook on LOW for about 8 to 10 hours.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland’s visit in post-coup Niger has incensed Washington’s NATO ally France, according to a weekend report by French news outlet Le Figaro, quoting a source within the French Foreign Ministry.
The United States “did the exact opposite of what we thought they would do,” the French daily wrote, according to the diplomat’s remarks. “With allies like these, we do not need enemies,” it elaborated. Paris has been demanding the reinstatement of ousted President Mohamed Bazoum ever since a new military government emerged in wake of a coup in late July.
Moreover, the French government was prepared to militarily back West African nations to assist with Bazoum’s reinstatement, as it upheld the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in its move to deploy reserve forces after the coup.
By dispatching Nuland to Niger, the United States showed that it was prepared to talk with the coup leaders instead, Le Figaro complained. “For [French President] Emmanuel Macron, the credibility of France, particularly in terms of discourse on democracy, was at stake. For the Americans, even if they are also concerned about a rapid return to constitutional order, the priority is the stability of the region,” the paper’s source within the foreign ministry declared.
Americans merely hope to “to keep their bases” in the region above all else, the diplomat said, elaborating that Washington “will not hesitate” to drop a demand for what he termed as “constitutional legality” to attain that aim.
At the moment, Paris’ worry is that Washington could ink a deal with Niger’s military government without France’s participation.
The United States has a considerable ground presence in Niger, amounting to around 1,300 soldiers and almost rivaling that of France, which has about 1,500 servicemen in the country. Furthermore, American troops are separated between two bases, situated in the Nigerien capital of Niamey and the northern city of Agadez.
Agadez is supposedly of notable significance for the United States, as it is home to a landing strip for drones and functions as a surveillance hub for a large area encompassing the area between West Africa to Libya in the north.
The Le Figaro article continued that Paris is riled by the fact that, notwithstanding that both America and France have troops in Niger, the French presence is the only one that incites unhappiness among the locals. “The United States, like our other allies for that matter, has a habit of letting us take the hits,” the French diplomat complained to the paper.
The coup in Niger happened on July 26, when the presidential guard led by General Abdourahamane Tchiani detained Bazoum and his family, quoting a “deteriorating security situation and bad governance.” The move led to harsh criticism from global powers, while ECOWAS enforced stringent sanctions on Niger and gave an ultimatum to the coup leaders to free Bazoum or be prepared for military intervention.
On Monday, Niger’s military government agreed to hold talks with ECOWAS in an attempt to lower hostilities.
Last week, Nuland visited Niger and cautioned the new military government against having any deals with the Russian private military company Wagner, apart from encouraging them to reinstate the Washington-friendly status quo.
Earlier in August, Niger’s military leaders insisted that the French forces depart the country by early September. Based on media reports last week, the commander of the French forces in Niger told Niger’s military leadership’s chief of general staff about Paris’ plans to transfer “nearly 40 soldiers” who were originally located in Niger to Chad.
“The French forces, which are present in Niger, are there, just like others, at the request of the country’s legitimate authorities, on the basis of agreements signed with the legitimate authorities to help fight against terrorism. We have suspended our military cooperation, as well as civil interaction since the [military takeover],” the ministry replied in written form to the question of whether the French troops would back out from Niger.
“We only recognize the decisions of the legitimate Nigerien authorities.”
A total of 1,500 French soldiers are presently stationed in Niger, and 1,000 are now in Chad after they were forced to withdraw from Burkina Faso and Mali after coups in those countries.
Additionally, Paris did not disclose any details pertaining to the potential withdrawal of French troops from Niger to an airbase in Chad in the future.
French troops deployed in rebel-run Niger have been limited to a military base in the national capital of Niamey, according to Russian-based news outlet Sputnik on August 12.
The troops have not left the base or explored streets of the western African city for days, according to Sputnik’s correspondent. Rebel military convoys have been regularly going around the facility without incident.
Thousands of anti-French protestors gathered outside the base on Friday to demand that Niger’s former colonial master cease its military presence in the country.
An advisor to the ousted Nigerien president told Sputnik News that France had rejected the option of withdrawing troops from Niger after the military demands.
On August 9, Niger’s military leadership raised the threat level in the country before claiming that the actions of French troops led to an assault on the Nigerien national guard. The military also posited that a French warplane entered the African nation’s airspace.
“The National Council for the Safeguard of the Fatherland informs the local and international community about the events of extreme seriousness that are taking place in Niger, about the facts of the behavior of the French forces on our territory
.… Today, August 9, 2023 at 6.30 am [5:30 am GMT], the positions of the Niger National Guard … were attacked.… The actions of the French forces were condemned for unilaterally releasing detained terrorists,” Amadou Adramane, Niger’s military’s spokesman, proclaimed.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “very concerned” about the living conditions and safety of detained Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum and his family and again urged for his immediate and unconditional release, a spokesperson declared in a statement.
The establishment starts to downplay what is going on…
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Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North Of Richmond (Reaction) WOW!
So some backstory.. My house was broken into in 2015. I was about 18–19 at the time and my dog attacked the perpetrators, and ended up taking a bullet for me in the process. At the time I did not own any firearms, at least not at my house. With that being said, she saved my life that night. The first shot was aimed at me, missing by mere inches. The other 2 were aimed at her, although only 1 hit her. Vet said it missed her heart by less than 2 inches, clean entry and exit wound. I ended up vacating the house after that, letting my pup (half GSD, half DSD, Sam) stay with my parents and moving to Jacksonville with my best friend.
When I came back into town, I didn’t have much to my name, forcing me to move back in with my parents, siblings, and my grandfather. My older brother had addiction problems and was on probation because he had gotten caught with a Xanax. His P.O would come to the house some nights to ensure he was following the straight and narrow, and that he was in by curfew. They were random visits with no notice.
One night, at about 9:00 pm or later, my grandfather was stepping out to smoke. Sam would often follow him out to do her business and patrol the yard looking for any threats. She had become very protective of the entire family, and she knows where our property line ends so we never leash her when going out. She never leaves the yard and a simple call or whistle brings her running back inside. It just so happens that this night my brothers P.O. was stopping by to check on him. Sam followed my grandfather out as the cop was rounding the corner, and without hesitation she attacked, grabbing his dominant arm preventing him from drawing his weapon.
I was still dealing with PTSD from nearly being killed, so my gun never left my side. I was licensed to carry, and it was never out of arms reach. Also, I know my dog. I know her sounds, her body language, everything. When I heard her from the living room, my first thought was “She’s in trouble and she needs my help”. I drew my weapon and out the door I went, brushing past my grandfather on the way. The floodlight had the entire situation lit up, so as soon as I exited I realized that she was attacking a county officer. I immediately lowered my weapon and recalled Sam. She let go and went straight inside as I holstered my pistol. The officer stood there looking at me in complete and utter shock, blood running down his arm. I apologized profusely as I tried to help him render aid to his injured arm. He calls for an ambulance, and within minutes there are 2 more units, an ambulance, and a fire truck blocking the road at our driveway.
By the end of it, he was also apologizing, saying that Sam was just doing her job. She was up to date on all of her immunizations, and does not have a history of violence. He chose not to take any legal action against us or our pup, and from that night on, he called when he pulled in the driveway before exiting his patrol vehicle. Sam is now very attached to my mother. Despite me now being moved out with a family of my own, I decided it was best for her to stay with my mother and father. I have included pictures of Sam for good measure. Best dog I’ve ever had. She is now living her days out in luxury, and never wants for anything.
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Heartbreaking Truth!!! Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North Of Richmond | REACTION *TEARS*
In 1972, the Army had learned serious lessons in Vietnam about how durable a helicopter had to be to survive in a combat environment. They needed an aircraft that would not be brought down by a small arms bullet in the right place.
To that end, the Army started the UTTAS (Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System) program to develop the replacement for the Huey. All of the major helicopter manufacturers submitted preliminary designs that complied with the UTTAS specifications, including Bell. The Army selected the Sikorsky YUH-60 and the Boeing Vertol YUH-61 as competitors for the production contract. Once both companies had working de-bugged models flying, the Army conducted its own flyoff.
An incident during this flyoff influenced the final decision. One of the Army crews attempted to land one of the H-60s in what they thought was an open field, only to find out too late that it was a grove of pine tree saplings. The H-60 weed whacked the saplings around the aircraft, and the fuselage bent or broke those immediately underneath with little damage. The main rotor blades took a bit of a beating, though, and some thought Sikorsky was in trouble.
Company and Army personnel cleared their way to, and around the aircraft. They brought in the portable maintenance crane and a new set of main rotor blades and did a removal and replacement in situ. They then flew the aircraft out of there and back to the base.
In 1976 the Army selected the UH-60A as the winner of the UTTAS contract, and named it the Black Hawk.
Since then over 5000 H-60s have been produced over several models. The aircraft is a brick outhouse that, while not invulnerable, is extremely hard to bring down. It was my honor and privilege to work on all but the earliest ones as a Flight Mechanic, and, later, a Crew Chief, all in the Sikorsky Flight Hangar in Stratford.
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Top picture is a brand new UH-60M. The bottom picture is that of a Turkish Jandarma UH-60L that flew home after taking a hit from an RPG7. As you can see, the damage was extensive, but the airframe was strong enough to fly home, even with the tailcone to cabin bulkhead broken by the blast.
If I was a soldier on the ground needing extraction from a hot LZ, I would want Black Hawks to be coming for me.
SHOCKS the WEST! Europe in Panic as China Cancels $100 Billion Car Order from Germany.
Yes, my ex-wife took me to court for contempt 20 times. She won zero times. I filed once and won once.
My ex-wife filed for contempt for taking my sons to the doctor. They were having trouble hearing. My elder son was talking like a deaf person. I had sent her letters, faxes, and certified letters. She was acting as their pediatrician without keeping a medical record. One child had 19 scripts for antibiotics in the last year, the other 9. These were the only records I could get.
So I took them over the Easter week to an ENT. They were seen by an audiologist and the ENT. The older son was down 30 dB in hearing and the younger one was down 15 dB. There was chronic fluid in their ears. He prescribed medication and said the older son needed tubes/adenoids.
So I filled the script on my dime (the doctor did the entire eval professional courtesy). She called the ENT doctor and chewed him out. SHE WAS A PEDIATRICIAN! She filed contempt against me for taking my own kids (I had joint custody) to the doctor.
When the judge heard what this was about he asked “Did he have surgery done?” “No sir”, her attorney answered. “What did he do?” “He took them to the doctor and got medication.”
The judge looked at her and said “If these are the facts you need to drop this. If not you will pay his court costs, lawyer fees you and your attorney will be sanctioned.”
The ex demanded her attorney proceed. The judge did exactly what he said. In the future I could take them to any doctor, but just needed to notify her. She could no longer be their pediatrician.
Pretty good dressing-down of the ex who had filed the contempt.
ETA: The ex took them to three different ENT’s trying to get a different opinion. 4–0 my son got the surgery he needed and could hear. She would never admit she was wrong.
OLIVER ANTHONY “Rich Man North of Richmond” REACTION! First Time Hearing!
I’m not sure what sort of food falls under “poor person food”.
But I do know that my family wasn’t very well off when I was a kid. We weren’t exactly dirt poor – it was more like we were just struggling to get by.
I remember, early on, come meal time, we would use these carboard boxes as a makeshift dining table.
Eventually, one of my uncles – a carpenter by trade – built us this small but sturdy dining table, and the accompanying four stools.
It was a very small dining table, but given that we had all our meals there, it was a table that witnessed a lot of happy family time centered around food.
We ate mostly tofu and vegetables, with a bit of rice/noodles, a bit of egg, and bits of meat. Every now and again, we would have fish.
Sometimes we went to bed still feeling a little hungry, but we were definitely not starving.
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Then, HK and the Mainland’s economic fortunes and interdependency really started to pick up and my parents enjoyed a significant improvement in their job prospects and investments.
We made the transition to middle class, but we never stopped eating any of the food we were already used to eating.
We still ate the same vegetable, egg, and tofu dishes we had always eaten. No quantity drop there at all.
But there was a huge uptick in meat and seafood consumption. And baked products.
Now we could afford meat and seafood at every meal. And maybe once every week, or once every two weeks, we would go out for dinner at a nice restaurant. If I felt like it, I could eat an egg tart at 4pm.
Today, of course I’m a lot more well off than when I was a kid.
But I don’t feel like I’ve stopped eating any of the “poor person food” I used to eat as a kid – they remain everyday dishes for me.
The difference is now I have a lot more options when it comes to food choices.
I can eat meat and seafood at every meal. I can buy sourdough egg tarts from Bakehouse for my family and niece. I can enjoy dimsum every weekend if I were so inclined.
So, in the unlikely event that I become “mega rich”, I’ll probably just continue eating the same things I always have, just that maybe I can eat more of it – if I wanted to.
I’m not one for Michelin-starrred fine-dining restaurants. I’ve probably never been to one – I say probably here because I might have been to one without realizing it as some of my friends consider themselves foodies and like to drag me along to all these fine-dining food establishments.
Me? I’m more fascinated by what my parents, or my friends, or even myself, whip up at home. Because for me, home cooked food is where the magic is at.
That little wooden dining table, with its unique array of scratches and stains, is now long gone.
But the memories associated with it, of family meals filled with delicious food, contentment, and happiness – well, except for when my sister and I were literally fighting over who got to eat the fish eyes, which saw the unleashing of lightning fists and heaven-splitting kicks – are still here, cuddling each other affectionately in the amphitheater of my mind.
The Science of Ancient Acoustic Levitation | How The Pyramids Were Built?
LEVITATION. The ruins of several ancient civilizations – like the pyramids of Giza, Stonehenge in the UK, and many others – are monuments constructed of massive stones.
How the great pyramids of Egypt were built has been the subject of debate for a long time.
The fact is, no one really knows for certain exactly how some of these megaliths were constructed.
Some researchers think ancient cultures may have mastered levitation through sound which allowed them to easily manipulate massive objects.
Unfortunately, anyone suggesting the use of this kind of technology is attacked and labeled a “pseudoscientist”.
Abul Hasan Ali Al-Masudi is known as the Herodotus of the Arabs. Like everyone, he was awestruck by the pyramids.
He wrote a very intriguing passage about how the giant stone blocks were transported — through levitation.
The Great Pyramid of Giza does possess some extraordinary acoustic properties, and can dramatically amplify sounds at certain frequencies.
The Egyptians clearly knew a lot about sound science. Let’s explore the Coral Castle in Florida, built by Edward Leedskalnin, who cut, transported and sculpted over 1,000 tons of rock into a sprawling complex — alone, without heavy machinery.
We’ll visit The Temple of Jupiter at Baalbek in Lebanon which boasts the largest stones ever carved by human hands.
Nan Madol is an archaeological site in Micronesia.
It’s been called the Machu Picchu of the Pacific.
The engineering of Nan Madol is so complex, no one can figure out how it was built.
Let’s hear the story told by Dr. Jarl about Tibetan monks who lifted stones by chanting and playing instruments — which Jarl put on film.
There is science behind all these stories, yet “mainstream” academia dismisses each and every one as pseudoscience.
Why is it wrong to want to explore ancient knowledge that contradicts modern beliefs?
In a true post apocalyptic scenario, every kind of ammo that needs modern day machining will be way too valuable to be used for hunting or fighting. Modern ammo will be the new currency, more precious than gold and diamonds. Even percussion caps are way too valuable, in a society with no electricity it would be almost impossible to make them from scratch.
This pistol here is different. All you need is a good stack of flints and you are all set. Black powder CAN be made with primitive technology, basically from human urine (matured in a heap) and charcoal. You can load pretty much anything into the gun. Steel or lead balls, with a patch if the size is too small. Nails, even stones.
Erasing Android Code, Chinese Tech Giant Surging Where Apple and Google Wouldn’t Dare!
“When they cut off our food supply, won’t we be left helpless?” This was the shocking statement made by Ren Zhengfei when Huawei’s mobile phone business first entered the international market.
https://youtu.be/2NcZyqvYBk4
Russian Transport Jet Arrives in Mali; Wagner PMC Forces Deploying to Niger
A Russian plane has landed in Bamako airport, Mali carrying hundreds of Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) fighters it allegedly picked up from Syria. Wagner is on its way to Niger to protect that country from “outside forces.”
Wagner PMC has recruited thousands of veterans of the Syrian civil war, mostly men who fought on behalf of the Syrian government and defeated ISIS, Al-Qaeda and the FSA. These men have incredible combat experience against terrorists.
Syria is one of the first places where Wagner PMC proved its combat superiority to the whole world. Without their efforts, the Syrian president would’ve gotten the Gaddafi treatment from the west a long time ago. But he prevailed, thanks to RUSSIA and its elite fighting force, Wagner PMC.
Upon arriving Niger, Wagner reportedly told the new Niger administration never to worry about any foreign army on Niger soil and specifically assured the leadership that Wagner will take on the Americans head on, if they ever dare to get involved in the conflict with ECOWAS, or try to deploy their drones.
At the moment, there are about 5,000 RUSSIAN funded volunteer fighters in AFRICA: They are mainly active in Mali, Libya, Sudan, Central African Republic, Mozambique, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Wagner will undertake the protection of Niger’s presidential palace in its capital city of Niamey, and the main infrastructures of the country potentially threatened by the impending Nigerian-led military action.
With a personnel capacity of about 230,000 men, neighboring Nigeria is expected to contribute far more soldiers to the operation against Niger than any other country in the bloc. However the two countries with the strongest armies in AFRICA, Egypt and Algeria have warned against any military intervention in Niger, and vowed they’ll not stand idly and let that happen.
Reportedly, the morale of Niger’s military personnel is at an all time high right now, given that nearly the entire population of Niger are in support of the military and thousands have signed up to fight with the Russian volunteer force, Wagner, in defense of their homeland.
I was a beach boy. Forests, hiking, mountains and campfires were not my thing, but my parents (certainly with immense reservations from my mother) thought it would be good to expose us (3 girls and 2 boys aged 13-8) to the other side of nature.
My godfather worked for the US Forest Service and had access to a no-electric, outside-water-pump, outhouse-equipped, cabin deep the Maine woods. He and his wife had four intrepid sons aged 7 to 13 or so.
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So that’s how six young boys ended up trekking through the hot, sticky woods on a late July afternoon.
I was miserable. I hated washing in freezing water, smelling of smoke, sleeping on hard floors and eating beans and hot dogs.
Even worse I hated my trek mates. As is perfectly normal for that age, they spent all their efforts trying to out-curse and out-dare each other. I was a toothpick-thin, half-blind kid who read at least a book a day. This was not my scene.
Heading back to the cabin alone crossed my mind, but I was sure I would lose my way.
But fate and book-knowledge ended up leaving me no choice.
Dennis, the oldest, spotted a wasp’s nest hanging from a branch about 10 meters away. He announced a contest to see who could hit it with a rock.
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He picked one up and let it fly.
I didn’t wait to see if his aim was true. I flew like the wind. Running was about the only thing other than reading that I was good at.
The first rock missed, but the second hit home and the nest hit the ground. I was a good hundred meters away when the screaming started.
My brother escaped with six stings. Two of the others required a trip to the doctors and medication.
In 1971, Waco representative Tom Moore Jr passed a resolution honouring Albert Desalvo, also known as the Boston Strangler. It was to honour the serial killer for his dedication and devotion to population control.
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The resolution was unanimously passed by Congress, but the whole thing was an April’s fool’s joke. It was also Moore’s intent to show that resolutions were passed in Congress without anyone looking at them or researching the issue presented to Congress.
OLIVER ANTHONY | Rich Men North Of Richmond Reaction
The US, along with the UK, are what we call in China as “shit stirring stick”.
They stir the shit to disgust everyone around, therefore they don’t stir shit near them.
Of course, they call it as “off-shore balancing”.
Both of them are good at one thing: first creating problems, then jumping out to “solve” it.
After WWI, the US fully supported Nazi Germany, because:
it must ensure that Germany is able to pay the war reparations;
both the US and UK wanted to “balance” the European continent and were afraid of France being too outstanding.
And the result was the WWII.
Germany became super nationalist and racist, and France was much weaker than expected to stop Germany.
Essentially, they need people whom living away from them to constantly fight each other, so that they could stay out enjoying peace and intervine from time to time.
It also what the Belgians did in Rwanda. They created 2 ethnic groups based on wealth, and appointed the minority as the ruling class, so that once they left, the majority group would for sure want a revenge.
President Paul Kagame banned the 2 ethnic groups and made everyone just Rwandan, and the west is not happy about him.
Right now, the US is in deep shit.
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The interest rate of 10 year treasury is already 4.3%, which is already suppressing the real economy.
The US will also face very high interest expenditure in the next few years. In 2022, the interest expense was 718 billion USD, not very far from the military expense, and it will breakthrough 1 trillion soon.
Therefore, it needs other places in chaos, to squeeze more USD out and back to the US to support its treasury. After all, even with AA+ rating, the US and its treasury are still safe to invest, just don’t know for how long.
Immortal Joe only needs 500 billion USD more till 2024 election. Even if something bad happened after the election, it would either be the problem of another POTUS, or the voters could not do anything about it.
So what we can see is that the US has been stirring shit around the world, to cause more chaos.
Ukraine is a success, since Europe is already in technical recession due to high energy price and escaping capital.
However, China is not about to bite, nor DPP authority in Taiwan. Xi Jinping is not going to attack Taiwan this year, and Tsai Ing-wen is not Zelensky.
The US couldn’t possibily care more, but focuses on gaining money by selling outdated and futures weapons to Taiwan.
Veteran Reacts To Oliver Anthony – I Want To Go Home
What fascinates me the most is how he’s able to put so MUCH in so few words. It’s astounding to hear.
However if they keep denying China their most advanced chips or GPUs, it’s very likely that in the next 5–7 years they wil
China is on a surge when it comes to Robotics and AI
AI is used in Agriculture, Drones, Administration, System Operations etc
They have to keep evolving every day and for that THEY NEED ADVANCED CHIPS AND WILL PAY TOP DOLLAR FOR THE SAME
In 2010, you can see that China had a very small size of the pie.
US and EU were the largest markets for advanced technology with nearly 78% sales in these two entities
Take out China and nobody would care in the least
Today things are drastically different
China and HK combined account for almost 36% of the sales for Advanced Technology and Equipment
In fact China and HK have become a larger market for advanced technology than the entire EU combined
Take out China and that’s 33% market share gone and that’s a HUGE HIT
Chinas demand for advanced chips is INSATIABLE
They will do anything it takes to get chips performing to the same level of those advanced chips sold by Intel or Qualcomm or GPUs sold by NVDIA
Today China uses either
Inventory Chips which means chips and GPUs already purchased before restrictions enhancing their performance through ingenuity and skillMade to order GPUs designed exclusively to dodge US Sanctions which are maybe 90% as efficient as the sanctioned GPUs and use skill and ingenuity to enhance their efficiency to 98%Modified Chips that are less advanced chips that perform as advanced chips through technological skill which consume far more power and are less cost effective
China can keep growing it’s AI and Robotics and Advanced Computing for the next 10 years using the above three combinations
Yet by 2033, they have to crack the key to making domestic commercial effective chips and GPUs that are on par with Intel and Qualcomm
Going by the Mate 60, it’s clear they have a roadmap and are doing EXACTLY what they should be doing
The Mate 60 is the first completely domestic 5G phone made with Technology entirely from China including the breakthrough BAW 5G Filter designed and made wholly in China
That the Chip is made using Western DUV Equipment , is the only small detail that prevents it from being a 100% Indigenous Chinese Manufactured Phone
Even so, China today has made a phone with a level of performance similar to the Iphone 14 whilst almost completely under US Sanctions
That indicates that China will eventually make it’s own hub in advanced technology and scale it to a commercial level to make it cost effective as well
This means new players in the market who can outprice Intel and Qualcomm and NVDIA
This means losing 40% market share plus also losing more market share among other countries especially newly emerging nations like Saudi Arabia, India, Russia, Iran, Malaysia and Indonesia
In China, every land is owned by China. You have only the land usage rights. Even the farmers don’t own the land they use as they only have the tilling rights. If you don’t build any property on the land provided to you, it goes back to the government. Individuals can privately own residential houses and apartments on the land, although not the land on which the buildings are situated.
It helps in avoiding a separate class of people called as landlords. It helped China create infrastructure projects really fast.
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China started these reforms in the 1970s which not only made the country strong but the government as well.
China’s Response To Evergrande Is Angering The West
Evergrande has filed for bankruptcy but does this mean China’s economy is about to collapse? China always had a real estate problem and instead of stimulating, they are actually trying to ride the wave towards a stronger economy.
While this is bad for the global economy in the short term, it’s actually good for China long run.
One dish that probably every Chinese can cook is scrambled eggs with tomatoes, the de facto national homecooked dish.
There have been many times when I’ve been at home and just want a quick meal without spending a lot of time slaving over the stove.
When those times hit, one of my go-to’s is to prepare scrambled eggs with tomatoes – the very, very juicy & wet version – then just add some cooked noodles (whichever type I have lying around, really).
I’ll also blanch some greens and add them on top or as a side dish.
It’s very simple, unglamarous, and not sexy in the least, and probably a nightmare for people who MUST eat meat at every meal, but it’s cheap, easy to make, quick, and filling.
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HUGE SETBACK! China smashes USA and Mongolia’s 100,000 Tons of Rare Earth Cooperation
China and Russia can close their ports to Mongolia so that Mongolia cannot transport the rare earth to the usa. Secondly, China can restrict the export of knowledge and equipment for the refinement process of rare earth to Mongolia and the west. Thirdly Russia and China can restrict their air space for flights to and fro Mongolia in order to block any transportation of rare earth through the air.
The US plays the short game and looks for media impact and immediate results.
China is slower to act and does not show its hand until the right moment. China is playing the long game.
In history, when you have two powers of roughly equal strength confronting each other, the side which plays the long game wins.
Oliver Anthony – I Want To Go Home “Official Video” 2LM Reacts
As if “Rich Men North Of Richmond” didnt cut deep enough here’s another dagger to intake and im not going to spoil this reaction. Get in here, grab a tissue and enjoy!
Military takeover in Gabon brings fresh headaches for France in Africa
TEHRAN – In another blow to France this week, Gabon’s military overthrew the very wealthy President Ali Bongo soon after he was declared the winner in elections that had been roundly condemned as fraudulent.
Over the past three years, military officers have thrown the presidents of Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, Chad, more recently Niger, and now Gabon.
All six African states have one thing in common.
They are all former colonies of France and have seen a sharp rise in anti-French sentiment, with the former colonial power standing accused of using its military presence in the region, in particular the Sahel, to increase instability.
France is clearly seeing how its military presence in Africa is slowly diminishing.
This is while the local population in these countries that had or continue to have French military presence on their territory have been living in poverty, seeing no financial benefits of the natural resources on their land.
France’s strong ties with the former West African presidents also saw close economic ties to those natural resources.
In Mali, two coups took place, the first in August 2020 and the second nine months later; President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was overthrown by the military who accused the president of the worsening security situation. Similar accusations were directed at France.
In September 2021, Guinea’s Special Forces overthrew President Alpha Conde.
In April 2021, Chad’s military took power after President Idriss Deby was killed on the battlefield while visiting troops fighting militants.
In January 2022, the military in Burkina Faso overthrew President Roch Kabore, accusing him and France of doing little to tackle the militancy.
In late July, the military in Niger overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum, accusing him of forging closer ties close with France as the security situation in the country deteriorated.
This week military officers in Gabon led by General Brice Nguema seized power. The officers have placed Bongo under house arrest and installed Nguema as head of state, ending the Bongo family’s 56-year grip on power.
The coup saw large crowds flooding the streets of the capital Libreville in support of the military’s move.
About a third of Gabon’s 2.3 million population are living under the poverty line.
In a televised address Nguema said that the military would proceed “quickly but surely” to return civilian rule, but that it would avoid elections that “repeat the same mistakes” by keeping the same individuals in power.
“Going as quickly as possible does not mean organizing ad hoc elections, where we will end up with the same errors,” he said.
Bongo was first elected in 2009, taking over from his late father, who came to power in 1967. Opponents say the ruling family did little to share Gabon’s oil and mining wealth.
For years, the Bongo family resided at a luxurious palace overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. According to a 2020 investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a global network of investigative journalists, the family owns expensive cars and properties in France and the United States, often paid for in cash.
Military leaders ordered the arrest of one of Bongo’s sons, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, and several members of Bongo’s cabinet on accusations ranging from embezzlement to narcotics trafficking.
State broadcaster Gabon 24 said on Thursday that duffel bags stuffed with cash wrapped in plastic had been confiscated from the homes of various officials. Footage from the broadcaster shows a raid on the house of a former cabinet director.
Standing next to Bongo Valentin, the new military ruler told the channel that the money was part of Bongo’s election fund. Money that the military rulers say was used in a corrupt election campaign.
The news emerging from the African country will be seen as yet another headache for France, on the backdrop of military coups in other regional countries where Paris had military ties signed by its former presidents.
France has hundreds of troops permanently stationed in Gabon, including at a military base in the capital, Libreville.
Paris also has a wide range of economic interests linked to Gabon’s mining and oil sectors.
Meanwhile, tensions are peaking in Niger amid mass weekend anti-French rallies as the strained relations mount between the country’s new military government and its former colonial power.
An organization set up after the coup named the Patriotic Front for Niger Sovereignty has led the public’s demands for military officers to take a hard line against France.
The protests, organized by the M62 grouping, have been taking place in central Niamey to demand the departure of the French contingent. “We don’t need these people (French troops) here, we’re ready to die to get them out,” one demonstrator said.
France has around 1,500 troops in Niger, many of them stationed at an airbase near the capital.
Niger’s pro-military civilian organizations had called for a massive march on Saturday on the French base, followed by a sit-in until the troops leave.
The new rulers have been engaged in a political battle with Paris, stripped France’s ambassador of diplomatic immunity and ordered police to expel him, according to a letter seen by news outlets.
Last Friday, authorities gave the French envoy, Sylvain Itte, 48 hours to leave Nigerian soil.
The envoy “no longer enjoys the privileges and immunities attached to his status as a member of the diplomatic personnel in the French embassy,” according to the letter sent to the French foreign ministry.
France refused the demand, saying the military rulers had no right to carry out such an order.
Relations with France spiraled downwards after the July coup as Paris continues to stand by the ousted president Mohamed Bazoum and refuses to recognize Niger’s new rulers.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that he spoke on a daily basis with his former ally, Bazoum.
“I speak every day to President Bazoum. We support him. We do not recognize those who carried out the putsch. The decisions we will take, whatever they may be, will be based upon exchanges with Bazoum,” said Macron.
Niger’s military government, which seized power on July 26, has accused Macron of using divisive rhetoric in his comments about Bazoum and of seeking to perpetrate France’s neo-colonial relationship with its former colony.
The new rulers accuse France of fueling instability on their territory. They also accuse France of using its purported military presence in Niger to battle militants as a pretext for tapping into the country’s uranium and oil reserves.
On August 3, Niger’s new rulers denounced military agreements signed between Bazoum and France.
French military spokesman Colonel Pierre Gaudilliere has warned that “the French military forces are ready to respond to any upturn in tension that could harm French diplomatic and military premises in Niger”.
Algeria, Niger’s influential northern neighbor, has held talks with West African leaders in a bid to avoid any military intervention in Niger and has proposed a six-month transition.
Amid threats of a military intervention in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have been quick to offer support, saying any operation would be deemed a “declaration of war” against them.
Recently, all three states have publicly condemned France for fuelling regional instability.
Burkina Faso has approved a draft law authorizing the dispatch of troops to Niger, according to a government statement in Ouagadougou.
Niger’s military government, which seized power on July 26, has accused Macron of using divisive rhetoric in his comments about Bazoum and of seeking to perpetrate France’s neo-colonial relationship with its former colony.
The new rulers accuse France of fueling instability on their territory. They also accuse France of using its purported military presence in Niger to battle militants as a pretext for tapping into the country’s uranium and oil reserves.
On August 3, Niger’s new rulers denounced military agreements signed between Bazoum and France.
French military spokesman Colonel Pierre Gaudilliere has warned that “the French military forces are ready to respond to any upturn in tension that could harm French diplomatic and military premises in Niger”.
Algeria, Niger’s influential northern neighbor, has held talks with West African leaders in a bid to avoid any military intervention in Niger and has proposed a six-month transition.
Amid threats of a military intervention in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have been quick to offer support, saying any operation would be deemed a “declaration of war” against them.
Recently, all three states have publicly condemned France for fuelling regional instability.
Burkina Faso has approved a draft law authorizing the dispatch of troops to Niger, according to a government statement in Ouagadougou.
Niger’s new leaders say they are seeking a three-year transition period to restore constitutional order.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, head of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has suggested a nine-month transition back to democracy for Niger’s new rulers in the bloc’s first apparent timeline since the July coup.
It was the first time an ECOWAS official has publicly discussed a possible transition period for Niger’s military rulers.
However, France and the United States have demanded a swift return to Bazoum’s presidency.
Putin: “RUSSIA Is INVINCIBLE,” Niger STORMS French Military Base
I’ve read the history of France in Africa. You could not make up a horror movie more chilling than what they have done to those poor Africans. Even today, the hutzpah of them lecturing Africans and smugly telling them they would not exist but without France is an insult.
The big news is Huawei’s launch of the Mate 60 Pro phone at 6,999 yuan during US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s visit to China. Early reports suggest that this model has already sold out, which is a strong sign of support for Huawei after standing up against US sanctions for nearly five years.
The US Commerce Department placed a ban on Huawei supplies for everything in 2019 under the Trump administration, and this has continued under the Biden administration. The sale of 5G chips to Huawei were cut off under Biden. This means that Huawei’s launch of a high-end 5G phone while Secretary Raimondo is visiting China is a direct and very strong pushback to the US.
The question now is how did Huawei get the Kirin 5G chips which are made in China? There is a lot of debate and discussion, ranging from the US gave special permission, to it being a special secret Chinese project complete with a secret 5G chip production line. Obviously, this is not good news for TSMC, since TSMC makes the 5G chips for Qualcomm.
For the US, it means that the Commerce Department sanctions have not worked, and that the Chinese not only will not stop research and development as the US wants, but are going to move much more aggressively into multiple fields, and directly challenging the US and US brands. Signs are that the Chinese will do as they have in other industries: they will move so fast and iterate new products so quickly so that others will not be able to compete unless they move their research and production into China. Then the Chinese will drop prices of their products so that they pick up market share all over the world. Early signs of this are already showing: RISC-V architecture is becoming popular in China, and the Chinese companies have agreed to cross-license their designs, so that RISC-V will compete directly with Intel and ARM.
This poses a problem for Western decoupling: What will they do when China cuts back or completely cuts off rare earth sales to chip manufacturers outside China? And how will they protect their own products in their own markets when the Chinese products have more features and are cheaper? Western policymakers do not seem to have thought this through when they placed their sanctions on Huawei and other Chinese technology companies.
Lots of interesting discussion in Putonghua on the Matepro 60 launch and what it means in China.
Reaction – I Want To Go Home by Oliver Anthony
Be the Rufus!
“Just spent 2 hrs with a elderly man at Kroger. It started with me just smiling at him, making eye contact…. As I walked past him he looked like he needed something.
I went back and asked him if I could help him. Tears welled up in his eyes and he said, “I have colon cancer and I have had a really bad accident, if I get up out of this cart everyone will know…
What should I do?”.
The look of his dignity lost left me with a lump in my throat.
From that moment on, Kroger staff quickly fetched us wipes, undergarments and discreetly took him to their employer bathroom Area where he was given clothes.
He cried and apologized.
He said he had to hurry his wife was at home alone.
When we walked to the register we found his groceries all bagged and somehow paid for.
He cried harder.
He said he fought in Vietnam and Korean War and loved his country, but up until day he said he thought his country forgot about him.
We both cried and I shared with him my own struggles and fears… He gave me words of wisdom and encouraged me that maybe after all, humanity still does care about one another.”
Well, I have been playing around with the image-generation AI for a while now. I have passed the “introduction” stage, and am nor in the “novice user” stage.
I have been focusing my attention on one particular program known as DeepAI.
I have bought some “AI call” time, and been “mucking around” with it. This is what I have learned about this one particular type of image AI generation software…
Each time you click on the generation button”, a new picture is generated. Even if the rest of the settings stay the same. No two images are the same.
Word text description orientation makes a big difference.
Big grey elephant with monkey riding on top
Will have a very different image result than…
Monkey riding on top of a big grey elephant
Make sure you spell things properly. Steel is different than steal. A spelling mistake can have substantial impact on your resultant art.
The simple sentence will generate “pure” drawings, while the complicated description will provide more accurate results.
The art seems to generate some kind of “feel” for the imagery that you detail out, not any actual anatomical, or functional details.
The image context “style” groupings make all the difference in the world.
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Quick note; Double Click on the images to see the full size.
Example – Spaceship interior
In this example, I have created a text that looks like this…
detailed interior view of the control deck of a futuristic and shiny chrome and metal style spaceship
And the screen will look like this…
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Resulting in the following images… very futuristic, and stylish. Reminds me a little of the spacecraft in the movie “Alien”.
output 3
output 2
output 4
output1
Now, I then went and changed some wording. What I intended “black lit” was obviously not understood by the AI ‘Bot. I wanted to have a kind of “2001 space odyssey” kind of interior.
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Resulting in the following images… not really what I intended. But pretty cool. Anyways.
detailed interior view of the control deck of a futuristic and shiny chrome with black lit controls in a metal style spaceship
2output 3
2output 2
2output 1
Whoops!
I should of said “Back lit” instead of “black lit”.
Oh well…
Make a change…
Jules Verne style.
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With this… very interesting. You do get the “feel” of Victorian science fiction.
detailed interior view of the control deck of a Jules Verne Victorian century style spaceship
3a
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Make the following changes…
From this…
detailed interior view of the control deck of a Jules Verne Victorian century style spaceship
To this…
detailed interior view of the control deck of a Jules Verne Victorian century style spaceship. Outside the view ports and widows is a brilliant blue sky with white fluffy clouds and bright morning sun.
Resulting in… this very beautiful and interesting drawing.
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And some more… looks good with the blue skies, eh?
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More…
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Let’s jazz up the interior some…
Let’s add brass, and red velvet.
detailed interior view of the control deck of a Jules Verne Victorian century style spaceship. Outside the view ports and widows is a brilliant blue sky with white fluffy clouds and bright morning sun. The interior is one of brass, and red velvet.
And look at the interior now… damn!
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But, of course, some of the results can be really unexpected…
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My gosh! Check out this one!
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And this one…
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The images build upon each other, as you can see in this train of images.
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Let’s further refine the description…
From
detailed interior view of the control deck of a Jules Verne Victorian century style spaceship. Outside the view ports and widows is a brilliant blue sky with white fluffy clouds and bright morning sun. The interior is one of brass, and red velvet.
To
detailed interior view of the control deck of a Jules Verne Victorian century style spaceship. Outside the many big view ports and wide widows is a brilliant blue sky with white fluffy clouds and bright morning sun. The interior is one of brass, and red velvet. leather chairs. Many levers and switches.
And it’s getting closer and pretty impressive.
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.
Let’s add some carved ivory handles…
Let’s make this change.
detailed interior view of the control deck of a Jules Verne Victorian century style spaceship. Outside the many big view ports and wide widows is a brilliant blue sky with white fluffy clouds and bright morning sun. The interior is one of brass, and red velvet. leather chairs. Many levers and switches. There are white carved ivory handles for the doors, switches and fixtures.
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Let’s do something radical…
It’s going in a direction that I am not that interested in. Let’s change the description.
From
detailed interior view of the control deck of a Jules Verne Victorian century style spaceship. Outside the many big view ports and wide widows is a brilliant blue sky with white fluffy clouds and bright morning sun. The interior is one of brass, and red velvet. leather chairs. Many levers and switches. There are white carved ivory handles for the doors, switches and fixtures.
To
detailed interior view of the control deck of a Jules Verne Victorian century style spaceship. Outside the many big view ports and wide widows is a stormy and rainy sky. The interior is one of brass, and red velvet.
Resulting in this…
Z10 2023 06 01 17 59
More playing with changes…
detailed interior view of the control deck of a Jules Verne Victorian century style spaceship. Outside the many big view ports and wide widows is a brilliant morning sky. The interior is one of brass, polished wood, and red velvet.
Resulting in this…
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Z12 2023 06 01 18 12
Changing the style…
As in this image displays…
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Results in this…
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Pretty impressive, though all the details are sketchy and there really isn’t any conformity in Industrial Design…
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And…
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It can also make very beautiful, but complex and nonsensical images…
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Another alteration to the text…
Let’s try this, shall we…
detailed interior view of the control deck of a Jules Verne Victorian century style spaceship. Outside the many big view ports and wide widows is a brilliant morning sky overlooking lush green hills. The interior is one of brass, polished wood, and red velvet.
Resulting in…
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Another change…
Adding a cupola bubble.
A view from the observation cupola bubble that is part of detailed interior view of the control deck of a Jules Verne Victorian century style spaceship. Outside the many big view ports and wide widows is a brilliant morning sky overlooking lush green hills. The interior is one of brass, polished wood, and red velvet.
Resulting in…what?
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Sigh.
I think that you all can get a “feel” for how this systems works. Right?
A view from the Palaeozoic period
New attempt. Different subject area.
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Next try…
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Back to Basics…
We revisit the initial statement with an add-on, and removed the requirement of metal.
detailed interior view of the control deck of a futuristic style spaceship. the interior is clean and organized
Resulting in…
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And now let’s make yet another change…
detailed interior view of the control deck of a futuristic style spaceship. the interior is clean and organized. The walls are brushed and anodized aluminum, the controls are back-lit.
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Conclusion
I have started playing with this software and find it has potential. You are able to effortlessly create your own royalty free art to illustrate your projects instead of paying for images, or using the tired old “internet” art.
That being said, it’s a cantankerous beast. You have to run through many iterations before you can find anything usable.
In this example, I tried to obtain a spaceship interior, but none of the generated art fit my notions of what it should be. Though the art was in many cases spectacular, more practice must be mastered before it can be of any use.
I will tell the reader that I continue to play with this software and I will have further reports in the future.
OK, so as of late, I have been experimenting with this “new” kind of Artificial Intelligence system. This one takes a sentence, a statement and then generates art from it. It’s fun, cool and quite an amusement. Something that I am just starting to “toy around with”.
OK, so as of late, I have been experimenting with this “new” kind of Artificial Intelligence system. This one takes a sentence, a statement and then generates art from it. It’s fun, cool and quite an amusement. Something that I am just starting to “toy around with”.
This is pretty good. Style options are not present, though.
OK, so as of late, I have been experimenting with this “new” kind of Artificial Intelligence system. This one takes a sentence, a statement and then generates art from it. It’s fun, cool and quite an amusement. Something that I am just starting to “toy around with”.
OK, so as of late, I have been experimenting with this “new” kind of Artificial Intelligence system. This one takes a sentence, a statement and then generates art from it. It’s fun, cool and quite an amusement. Something that I am just starting to “toy around with”.
This one takes a little bit of time to figure out and work with, but it’s not that difficult.
You upload a “seeder” image. Blur it to represent the amount of change you want, pick a style. Write a description and the AI does the rest…
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Here’s some examples when I typed in a sentence, and then clicked on the style icon…
OK, so as of late, I have been experimenting with this “new” kind of Artificial Intelligence system. This one takes a sentence, a statement and then generates art from it. It’s fun, cool and quite an amusement. Something that I am just starting to “toy around with”.
2023 04 25 11 35
Here’s some examples when I typed in a sentence, and then clicked on the style icon…
I think that it is fun.
Some of my art renderings…
I just set up a brief sentence (I only have five tries), and then conducted variations…
OK, so as of late, I have been experimenting with this “new” kind of Artificial Intelligence system. This one takes a sentence, a statement and then generates art from it. It’s fun, cool and quite an amusement. Something that I am just starting to “toy around with”.
The capabilities of artificial intelligence just keep expanding, and this includes different kinds of art. We’re going to introduce you to an app that lets you create digital images with the help of AI technology.
Dream by Wombo is available for mobile and online, but the former has more to offer. Learn how to use this AI artwork mobile app and what you can expect from it in just a few steps.
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Here’s some examples when I typed in a sentence, and then clicked on the style icon…
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I think that it is fun.
Now, I did all of this on my computer. But you don’t need to. You can download the APP.
Summary on this…
It’s good.
It’s free, though you can buy a premium subscription.
It produces basic, recognizable art. The art style is cute / childish / basic illustration. Suitable for graphics, presentations and children’s books.
It makes nice renderings of cats and kittens. And after all, if you cannot render a kitty, then what is your value?
APP
This app is perfect for decorating books, websites, walls, or custom playlist art without hiring a professional illustrator or graphic designer. It’s fast and easy.
Whether you’re on your phone or computer, Dream by Wombo’s AI can quickly produce stunning images in an artistic style of your choice with a simple prompt.
The browser-based version is simple enough to use and has a Mint as NFT option, while it lets you download or buy a print of your AI artwork. The mobile app, however, puts more tools at your disposal.
We’re going to show you how to use Dream by Wombo on your smartphone or tablet, step by step. But first, make sure you have the app.
OK, so as of late, I have been experimenting with this “new” kind of Artificial Intelligence system. This one takes a sentence, a statement and then generates art from it. It’s fun, cool and quite an amusement. Something that I am just starting to “toy around with”.
OK, so as of late, I have been experimenting with this “new” kind of Artificial Intelligence system. This one takes a sentence, a statement and then generates art from it. It’s fun, cool and quite an amusement. Something that I am just starting to “toy around with”.
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DeepAI offers an easy-to-use text-to-image generator that produces decent results with the right prompts. There are many image styles on offer, and almost half of those are free.
The free ones include basic text-to-image, cute creatures, fantasy worlds, cyberpunk, old, renaissance painting, and abstract, among a few others.
All of these styles produce images according to that theme, pretty much like the other tools on this list. However, among these styles, there is a logo generator as well that you can use to produce interesting logo ideas. It’s particularly useful for artists who are looking for inspiration to build on or to overcome a block.
Here’s some examples when I typed in a sentence, and then clicked on the style icon…
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Pretty good.
You need to play with it, because if you use the wrong feed generation icon, your images won’t look “right”.
Here, I used the architectural icon for a house-based sentence…
There’s some interesting applications regarding this. I have looked at it, and I can see benefits of it, but honestly it’s all cold, sterile, and “wooden” in content. Sort of like reading a refrigerator manual.
Question:
With the new ChatGPT - Wolfram combination, then what is Quora's raison d'être ?
Answer:
Even with the combination of ChatGPT and Wolfram, Quora can still have a strong raison d'être or reason for being. Quora is a community-driven platform where people can ask questions and receive answers from a wide range of individuals, including experts and professionals. While ChatGPT and Wolfram may provide excellent answers to many questions, there are still questions that require human input and expertise.
Moreover, Quora provides a social aspect to question-and-answer platforms, allowing users to engage with others and build a network of like-minded individuals. Quora's community-driven approach fosters discussions and debates that can lead to new insights and perspectives. Additionally, Quora's vast archive of questions and answers allows individuals to access valuable information on a wide range of topics.
Therefore, while the combination of ChatGPT and Wolfram may provide valuable information, Quora can still serve as a platform for individuals to engage with others and access a diverse range of perspectives and knowledge.
This post covers some access portal for you all to self explore.
I have two links for you.
The first is ChatGPT that is what everyone is talking about. You can visit it HERE.
The second if far more interesting. It’s called GEN-2. This one takes text, or a feeder image, and then generates a movie from it. Absolutely astounding! You can visit it HERE.
Astounding stuff. I’d love to hear what you all think of GEN-2.
